I would've drop kicked the superficial (read: racist) penguin a-holes who'd ostracized me from their group for being different and left with the whaleI would've drop kicked the superficial (read: racist) penguin a-holes who'd ostracized me from their group for being different and left with the whale before making friends with them when they realised how awesome I was. But that's me. I felt bad even reading this sappy, pandering garbage to my niece.
If people don't appreciate who you are, go and find people who do. ...more
I'm going to be honest, the first 30% was 1 star. I struggled against the awkwardness of the writing and really wanted to put it down and read other tI'm going to be honest, the first 30% was 1 star. I struggled against the awkwardness of the writing and really wanted to put it down and read other things especially when Lysander, the 2000-year-old vampire and leading man, openly admitted to his newly sired vampire child that he'd watched with curiosity while she was tortured, almost raped and about to be dealt a death blow.
'I regret that my fascination with the brutality of their attack prevented me from stopping them before they had done too much damage.[...] She was an innocent. A young woman. Too young to die.' ~An excerpt from Lysander's journal.
He only stepped in once she'd been stabbed and lay badly beaten waiting to be raped and murdered. I think in all the time he'd been alive he'd seen women beaten, stabbed and possibly raped before -why would he be curious about it now? Had he no feelings about it at all? I understand he was disconnected from the world but that stuck with me through the whole thing.
Anyway, after that first third of the book, the writing changed, new characters were introduced. The book lost that cabin-fever feeling with both Lysander and Alyssa getting at each other's throats and avoiding embarrassing lust-filled moments with only moderate success. The visiting clan of vampires brought with it 3 characters which made a true impact on Alyssa and the story: Jessie, Rozaline and Crystal. Jessie as the reckless youth and the others as wise elders.
Alyssa struggles with her new life as a monster killing people every night to survive. She even tries blood from a butcher which proved she had to have fresh blood from the living. She can't stand Lysander being right all the time and ignores his warning: "Immortality does not mean invincibility" defies him and follows another vampire's example leading to an unintentional death which preyed on her conscience because he was innocent and she meant to only kill criminals just as Lysander does.
Longing for her old life Alyssa imagines telling her best friend Fallon what she is and 'That I must feed every night, and because of that, I choose to feed from those who do harm to others? Even to myself, it sounded stupid. I sounded like some bastardized superhero.' I like how this was addressed because that's exactly how it sounds.
The adversary, Kallisto, was a woman scorned and we all know how that works. She's Lysnader's ex and believes herself worthy of worship and unending fealty as a sort-of queen of the vampires, as one of the eldest in existence. She's power-mad, selfish and cruel. No one matters but her own needs and survival. Lysander was her former king and mate though she never let him go, he walked away. She's given him every chance to re-join her and now she wants him dead because if she can't have him, no one can.
The people to be even more afraid of were the Saints, men of the Roman Catholic Church who came together to specifically hunt vampires. They even turned a dying warrior, Santino, into the very thing they condemned in order to kill more vampires, promising automatic entry into Heaven. He fails to acknowledge that lie, no matter how many times Lysander presents him with it:
"I know the commandments you are supposed to live by. There is no fine print in 'Thou shall not kill'."
The love or rather lust-becoming-more was borne out of a lack of other options, for Lysander in particular. I couldn't understand what he saw in 25-year-old Alyssa other than her youth and beauty. For Alyssa, on the other hand, she was presented with a knowledgeable older man who obviously wasn't hurting for money -that much was clear when their financial situation was contrasted with the gyspy-like travelling vampires. Of course, she would be infatuated by him, he was her teacher. He had power and authority over her. Her forgiveness of his hesitation to save her life at the beginning came too easily and quickly. It was brushed aside as something that didn't matter. No grudge, no fights over it. No disgust. Unrealistic.
I was surprised by Edmond's actions towards the end, honourable though they were. He worshipped Kallisto but he meant nothing to her which she delighted in telling Alyssa with Edmond in the room. I'm not sure how Lysander trusted what he claimed when he divulged the whereabouts of his life work and I'm unsure of what Edmond had ever really done to Lysander to provoke the death sentence he demanded but I found myself liking Edmond's character much more than Lysander.
Overall, I'm not particularly fond of the main characters. I liked the travelling vampires, Kallisto, Santino and Edmond. The writing was shaky and awkward to start with but improved as the author seemed to gain confidence in what she was doing, and the book became more interesting as a result.
*Although this was a free e-book from the author this did not impact on my rating or review....more
You must turn off your brain and ask no questions when reading this book. It’s a requirement to enjoy it. I failed miserably. It may be readable but IYou must turn off your brain and ask no questions when reading this book. It’s a requirement to enjoy it. I failed miserably. It may be readable but I Am Number Four is predictable and clichéd with inaccurate and vague descriptions and explanations.
For the most part I Am Number Four is an easy read although the language at times struck me as amateurish and clunky. Perhaps I expected too much after all this is YA but Lorien, it’s inhabitants and culture were too simple or too similar to that of Earth and humans. I was hoping for a bit more alieness than just boy-with-powers and shapeshifting animals. I expected a new spin on this cliché of a story but it was an incompetent rehash of old formulas.
A lot of “how� questions kept popping into my head in relation to unrealistic circumstances. A major one:
From what I understand 19 Loriens made it to Earth. The rest are dead. Those 19 have to repopulate Lorien when the time comes. Henri tries to dissuade John from procreating with humans because he’ll need a Lorien partner to produce pure children.
Erm...are you serious? How would this work? You need many more individuals for a species to prosper. Reproduction would eventually become incestuous with the result of such unions suffering the disorders (deformities + genetic disease + infertility = extinction ) associated with inbreeding due to little genetic diversity in such a small gene pool making it impossible to adapt, evolve and therefore survive and prosper. A tad scientific but this is science fiction, emphasis on the science. I learned the above in high school biology and this is aimed at that age group -I’m just sayin�.
Other “how� questions: --> How could John’s girlfriend, Sarah so easily accept his alien status without much proof? --> How did Mark come by the message that brought him to John’s home and into the fight? --> How did Henri explain what was going on to Mark? --> How did Six survive her many serious wounds? --> How can a book with so many illogical errors not only make it to publication but be turned into a movie when there are so many better ones out there?
Why is the book by Pittacus Lore? It doesn’t make sense. Didn’t he die 10 years ago with the rest of his people? There was something about the elders disappearing during the ultimate battle on Lorien so there’s a small possibility he still lives, however the book is in first person from John’s POV. WTH?!
Small sidenote: I don’t know about other countries but here in the UK “spastically� is controversial and considered highly offensive if not used in a medical context. I was very surprised to see it here but I’ll put it down to cultural difference and move on.
The final battle didn’t interest me. I skimmed. There were moments throughout the book that gripped me. That were exciting. I liked Henri, John and his dog they made a good team but it seems they’re fighting a losing battle. Henri encourages us to have hope even when the task ahead appears impossible but 6 kids with powers versus a whole race –I’m not optimistic. No matter how many abilities these superhero kids develop.
In some ways this reminds me of The Lightning Thief with the godlike powers, beasts and the run-for-your-life theme. That was targeted at 9-12 year olds and I think this should be too. I think they’d have a better time with it than I did.
The movie, released next week, looks spiffy and exciting. Hopefully it will be better than the book it’s based on because this was just terrible.
ETA Mar 2, 2011: The movie changed almost everything I had a problem with in the book. It was also 100x more entertaining so I encourage you all to see the movie and burn the book!...more
Stay away from it. Stay away. If you had any love for this series at any point, do not read this book. If you do, make sure you're a fan of eroticaStay away from it. Stay away. If you had any love for this series at any point, do not read this book. If you do, make sure you're a fan of erotica including m/m, m/m/f, f/f, and BDSM.
It’s shocking the abrupt u-turn the series takes with Bullet, deciding that sex (and lots of it) is better than guns, blood and action. The death of a character (not an important one so don’t worry) was anti-climactic, it was a good scene but I expected the death to be of someone a lot closer to Anita, and therefore more painful but she agonises over it anyway, despite knowing all along that they may have to die.
Right off the bat we go into repetitive descriptive overload. Sex politics, self-pity and whining is in abundance. LKH even uses a three-year old boy in the first chapter to give us hope that Anita will rein in her loose ways, and then uses him again (at his expense, which offended me - children should be protected) at the end to stick two fingers up at those that dislike the porn. And I’m sad to say this did read like emotionless porn -the group sex with multiple voyeurs made me think "porn movie set" with everyone taking turns. And they were doing it to save lives or for political reasons rather than because they wanted it or because they loved each other. And since when was Anita OK with her men having sex with other women, or even Anita herself having sex with women? What?! Will the real Anita please stand up?
Which leads me on to the main characters themselves who've have changed in ways I don't feel are realistic and the number of side characters has grown to a point where I don't remember who they are. Although LKH attempts to soothe my newfound dislike of Anita at the end of Flirt by making her remorseful. I can’t say it worked. She has become all-powerful and arrogant, a combination which is off-putting to put it mildly. Plus the reference to her and others possibly doing evil things in order to do good has put me on edge.
All the bits that interested me, like the plot, shocking that there even was one but it was thin throughout. It was alluded to but there was little depth. Many references were made to previous books, characters reappear with Anita's relationships with them being reassessed however, big events happen elsewhere whilst we were stuck watching Anita have sex with everything that moved. I’m not exaggerating. I’m not even sure I have enough fingers to count out how many times she had sex, or even with the number of people. At least she wasn't the only one getting it this time. Although the m/m scene between Asher and Jean Claude was incredibly disappointing. They'd been pining for each other, desperate to re-consummate their love for so long, you'd think LKH could've taken the time to describe the emotional side of it better.
More happened in the concluding chapter than in the entire book, which focused heavily on the tigers. I couldn't care less about them really, the info dump was boring. Given the chance I’d have wanted to witness the events (especially in Atlanta) in that chapter rather than the sex or sex politics. Instead they were glossed over. So sad.
I dragged myself through this book, and employed everything possible to get to that last page. I skimmed, I skipped paragraphs/pages � there’s only so much repetitive description I could take. I can’t read another sex scene for a bit because I’ve had enough. Enough. Yep, that’s how I feel about this series now. Enough. I’m done.
If I sound angry, bitter and wistful it’s because I’m all of those things. I’m angry that old-Anita is nowhere to be found despite her reappearance in the past couple of books. I’m bitter because I wasn’t expecting the abrupt change back to everything revolving around sex. I had hope and LKH had encouraged it, that old-Anita was resurfacing. She crushed it so forcefully that I don’t want anything more to do with her.
This series to me is now a sick and mangy wolf that needs to be put down, it's begging for an end to it's suffering. It needs a Bullet to the brain....more
After hearing so many good things about this audiobook, I decided to download it to my iPod. I loved James Marsters in Buffy and Angel so I thought thAfter hearing so many good things about this audiobook, I decided to download it to my iPod. I loved James Marsters in Buffy and Angel so I thought this was the perfect book to get me started in this format.
Well, James Marsters was brilliant he really made an effort to bring this book to life with different voices, inflections etc. However this is the only good thing I can say about it. Harry was a moron, he may have had magical skill but little common sense. If you risk your life in your job why not learn some form of martial arts? Or even get some regular exercise? He was attacked a number of times but lacked any real skill or strength to fight back effectively even with magic. He was pitiful yet he still managed to survive. I didn't really understand that. No one is that lucky. I was cheering on the bad guys hoping one of them would take him out and make him a winner of the . On top of this, Harry was very pessimistic, I'm pessimistic but well, Harry was so down on himself that I wondered why he hadn't tried to slit his wrists yet. Yes, there was humour but not enough to balance all the negativity, it was depressing.
The writing was awful, if it hadn't been for Mr. Marsters I would have given up on this almost immediately. There are so many bad things I can say: sexist comments, cheesy lines and a story so dull I forgot to listen in places but there was one character that woke me up - Bob. Bob was cheeky, funny and reminded me of James Marsters' former role as Spike yet he only had a small amount of stage time.
I've heard that this is the weakest of the series and that books 3 and 4 are when it really starts to take off but if this series hadn't been so popular I wouldn't even consider the sequel though I won't be touching it for a good long while....more
I HATE this book! Everything about it is terrible. I feel cheated of my time and robbed of my money.
The plot is a simple one. In fact this would've seI HATE this book! Everything about it is terrible. I feel cheated of my time and robbed of my money.
The plot is a simple one. In fact this would've served better as a novella because 300 pages was too many for what little was in them. And grammar nazis will have a fit, running out of red ink before they turn the last page.
For a supposedly lethal hunter and fierce protector of the world against monsters and demons imprisoned behind a veil, Maxine Kiss was a pansy-assed pussy. I'm sorry for my crass language but I'm so Mad. She asked everyone questions and whether they be friend or foe she never received a straight answer. Meaningless riddles are not an answer. She threatened but never followed through. ("You try anything, you even think about standing up, and I will have you shitting out of your dick so fast you'll beg me to rip it off." ~ Best threat) She just accepted these non-answers and moved on. To my frustrated consternation this happened repeatedly all the way through the book:
Maxine encountered someone, they talk some shit and do a lot of implying, she'd question them, they'd deflect or give some vague and incomprehensible response. Kick some ass, woman! Where's this fierce warrior that's supposed to "save the world"? Because frankly if you're our saviour, then kill me now. Pathetic.
And what the hell was she doing with someone like Grant? They live by such fundamentally different philosophies. Maxine kills the things that go bump in the night and Grant "saves" them. Slightly naive of him, if you ask me. Also, I'm not discriminating against the disabled here but if Maxine was going to settle down with anyone, shouldn't it be with someone who has the ability to run for his life? Otherwise, they're just cannon fodder. There's no way for him to keep up with her or effectively fight by her side. His flute would be no match for angry demon hordes.
I found none of the characters likeable, unless you count homeless teen Byron who was turned into a pitiable creature. Maxine was unkillable. It was absurdly cartoon-ish the way she was run over by a bus and got right back up again, completely unharmed. I wonder if she's hardy against poison and disease. Please, someone try it.
For someone slapped with a violently pro-active personna she did absolutely fuck all. All growl and no bite. The original premise was a good one but unfortunately it was poorly executed. By the end I still didn't fully understand what had changed from the beginning. It's taken me four excrutingly long months to finish this and that's with skimming.
"Iron Hunt sucks! I will congratulate anyone who managed to finish it. Those who gave this book 5 stars is not my friend. I've just offended 181 people but I don't care. I hate every character so far except maybe this homeless teenager who's probably just a flash in the pan. It's frustratingly slow and sparse on the background details. Good bits are few and far between. It's a challenge read so I have to finish. Stupid challenges."
I stick by this statement but to any future friends who may have rated this 5 stars, I'm sorry but we may just have to go our separate ways....more
Lately I think I've been overdosing on the young adult reads because I'm finding way too many similarities between these books.
Anyway, Hush, Hush wasLately I think I've been overdosing on the young adult reads because I'm finding way too many similarities between these books.
Anyway, Hush, Hush wasn't great. The only thing I enjoyed was Patch's embarrassing public comments about Nora and his way of antagonising her although it could also be classed as bullying. I don't think I'll be reading the sequel....more
I was bitterly disappointed by this book. I bought it after reading really good reviews in a newspaper and a magazine but after reading it I don't belI was bitterly disappointed by this book. I bought it after reading really good reviews in a newspaper and a magazine but after reading it I don't believe they read it all and just read the blurb on the back, thought it was interesting and gave it the thumbs up.
The book starts off well but then it descends into drivel and though this book is supposed to be about Dracula I would not categorise it as horror. There was little suspense or anything to keep this interesting. The characters were dull, there was a lot of scenery description which quickly became boring and the pace was slow. At one stage I got so fed up that I skipped 20 pages but at no point did I feel the need to go back and read them because I didn't miss anything. The ending was a real let down and felt as if the author couldn't be bothered to come up with something better. ...more
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