Monday 10 October 2016

Short reviews

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Clay Jensen comes home to find a box of cassette tapes on his doorstep. He soon realises they're a recorded suicide note from classmate Hannah Baker, who had recently taken her own life.

Hannah has tapes for various different people from her life, and how they impacted and affected her decision. Clay spends a long night listening to them all, to find out why Hannah did what she did.

13 Reasons Why was a difficult read for sure, and I found the plot a little bit clumsy at times, but it was an absorbing and moving book.



Leviathan Wakes: Book one of The Expanse by James S A Corey
Humanity has spread itself out across space - from earth to Mars and beyond. It hasn't, however, conquered the stars as of yet.

When the crew of an ice miner runs into an abandoned ship and a secret they don't want on their hands, events tip out of their control very quickly.

On Mars, security officer Detective Miller is looking for a missing girl. When his case and that of the abandoned ship collide, things happen that no one expects.

Leviathan Wakes is like a noir novel but set in space, and I enjoyed the fusion of genres greatly. Also the adverserial relationship between cynical Miller and idealistic Holden from the ice miner. Good stuff.


Dragon Age: The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes
Set before the events of Dragon Age Inquisition, Empress Celene is fighting to keep her throne as the ruler of Orlais. Her cousin, the chevalier Gaspard is right on her heels for the throne, and complicating things even further is Celene's Elven lover, Briala.

Orlais is a kingdom of masks, and the Game, which plays out among the nobles and the elite. Meanwhile, the elves of Orlais suffer under the burdens of prejudice and poverty. Briala is trying to improve their lot, but when Celene takes drastic action against an elven uprising in Halamshiral, things spiral even further out of control.

I love this stuff. Honestly. Murder and masks and conspiracies and magic ... The Masked Empire fills in a lot of the background as well for one of the main questlines in Dragon Age: Inquisition and honestly leads me to the conclusion that Orleisians are collectively terrible, terrible people.

Dead Wrong by Leighann Dobbs

I picked up the first three books of this series free on iBooks. It happened to be just what I needed at the time - something relatively light, with a hint of mystery and a touch of romance.

The Blackmoore sisters all enjoy their life in a small sleepy Maine town, even as they struggle with property taxes on their home. However, when a woman that Morgan Blackmoore had a long-running feud with turns up murdered, things get a whole lot murkier.

All four sisters pull together to find out whodunit, and for Fiona Blackmoore, there's the new detective in town: Jake. Romance, mystery, family bonding. It's a short, slight novel to be sure, but it's also ideal for filling that I-don't-know-what-to-read-next gap.

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