September Book Reviews

I'm glad to be back with some normal book reviews this month. I've got some good, some great, and some bad ones for you, so let's get down to business. (To defeat the Huns.) As normal, all the books I didn't review here are linked to my Goodreads reviews if you want to see what I thought.

Best Books

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- C. S. Lewis

My Rating: 5 stars

Likes:

• Classic fantasy adventure. A magical realm, adventurous children, mythical creatures, and prophesies of greatness. Lewis wrote this book before any of these things were cliche, and even when you read it today, it's still amazing. This is my favorite book of the series and I love reading it over and over.

• The children. Each one has a unique personality. Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy- names that will go down in literary history. Lucy has always been my favorite. I also love how Lewis gave girls roles as important as the boys.

• The themes. Many themes run through the book, but none as deep as the theme of redemption. When I read the book this time, Edmund's story really struck me. He's always everyones least favorite character, but I realized that's because he's supposed to be like us, a sinner. Who can only be saved through someone else's sacrifice. It's powerful.

Dislikes:

Absolutely nothing. Lewis is a master storyteller and I can't find a fault with any of his Narnia books.

Design for Dying- Renee Patrick

My Rating: 4 stars

Likes:

• Lillian and Edith. These are the protagonists, and mystery solvers, of the novel. Lillian is an ex-actress-wannabe who now holds a steady job. I liked her because she had her feet on the ground and wasn't a wishy-washy young woman. Edith is a costume designer for one of the major movie studios and solves the mystery while giving fashion advice. The two of them worked well together.

• Old Hollywood glamour, with a dark side. I've always been fond of books about the 1920s and 30s, especially in California or Chicago. This book captured that old time feeling, plus showed a behind-the-scenes look at the world, past the movie making studios.

• Excellent mystery. I was engaged the whole way through, and didn't want to put it down. I didn't see any of the twists, or the killer coming. Of course, I don't like to guess who's the killer either, unlike some people. I like to let the mystery unfold in its own time.

• Fairly clean. There were no inappropriate scenes and not much cursing either, for an adult novel. It surprised me, as I haven't had a lot of success reading adult books that aren't classics yet.

Dislikes:

• Too many characters. There were a ton of characters in this book, but not a lot to tell them apart. Actresses and gangsters flooded the pages so that I couldn't keep them straight. Agatha Christie was a genius with large casts, this author, not so much.

• Why does the girl always fall for the detective? This trope is becoming overused. This was another book where the MC girl falls in love with the handsome, always ready with a good comeback, totally macho detective. The romance was barely there, which I appreciated, but why can't they fall for someone else?

Worst Books

Target Practice- Mike Maihack

My Rating: 3 stars

Likes:

• Good art. I like graphic novels with nice artwork. It wasn't my favorite style, but I liked the way it was done, the main character especially.

• Cute for kids. This book was a big pile of cliches, which I'll tell you about in a minute, but it would be fine for kids. They would enjoy it. I just didn't.

Dislikes:

• The main character. Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt one, is the protagonist for this novel. I wanted to like her, I really did. But she was mouthy and untalented at everything except combat. There wasn't much to like.

• The storytelling. It started halfway through the story, which is generally a big no-no. Then it skipped back and started over to show you how she got there. This can be done well, like Cressida Cowell does, but I didn't like it here.

• Cliche plot. The main character is dragged to another world, turns out to be the savior, and instantly rejects the idea. Plus the personality I already mentioned. It was annoyingly predictable.

Legacy of the Clockwork Key- Kristen Bailey

My Rating: 3 stars (I'm not sure why I rated this one so high, except that it wasn't horrible. It just wasn't good.)

Likes:

• Steampunk! There isn't nearly enough decent steampunk novels out there. I thought this one was fun, but it was a little over the top at times. I didn't understand how the machines worked, even though I wanted to. Steampunk doesn't have to be scientifically correct, but I like at least a plausible explanation.

Dislikes:

• Meg. Who is the main character. She was not likable. She spent most of the book being wimpy, stupidly brave, or mooning over Will. *gags* Meg also had no skills except being the key. An automaton could have been more useful.

• Instalove. Meg meets Will and instantly starts getting heart flutters. And the only reason she falls in love with him is because he's handsome. The romance felt really rushed and unrealistic.

• Formulaic plot. It was a mystery/adventure, which I normally enjoy. This one hit all the marks but remained predictable. I didn't even understand why the bad guy was bad, and everything felt too easy.

However, judging by Goodreads, the second book is better, so I'm keeping my hopes up.

Notable Mention

Time Lord Fairy Tales- Justin Richards

I'm a huge Whovian. I've seen at least an episode from every Doctor, and all of the new Who episodes (except the second half of the Satan Pit, because it scared me, and the newest season, because it's not on Amazon Prime yet). Anyway, my friend let me borrow this book and I adored it.

It takes a bunch of fairy tales and makes them Doctor Who style. My favorites were "The Angels in the Garden" and "The Grief Collector". It was fun to see all the different Doctors fairy tale style. I even once starting reading on as a certain Doctor, then it turned out to be him. I only didn't know what one tale was supposed to be.

Other Books

Passenger- Alexandra Bracken (3 1/2 stars)

Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles- Katheryn Lasky (3 stars)

The Magician's Nephew- C. S. Lewis (5 stars)

This Savage Song- Victoria Schwab (4 stars)

Flygirl- Sherri L. Smith (4 stars)

King's Cage- Victoria Aveyard (3 stars)

Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers- Deborah Heiligman (4 stars)

My Lady Jane- Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows (4 stars)

Let's talk! What did you read this month? Do you hate predictable plots? Tell me in the comments.