Review: Betrayed

Betrayed by P.C. Cast

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The good news is that I'm still interested. I like the characters. I'm curious about what is going to happen in the next installment and I find the storylines interesting. The bad news is I feel like there is very little structure to this book. There are some kids, plopped down into a school in Oklahoma, and off we go! At the same time, I understand that you don't want to slow a story down by explaining a backlog of stuff to readers. World building is tedious, I get that. But, sometimes, you just gotta. World building sometimes takes away the mystery. But, sometimes, you just gotta. I need to know WHY there is this entire underground world of people who are dead, but not. I need to know HOW this entire society exists apart from regular society. I need to know the rules of the vamp game in this particular book because, as you know, it seems to change from author to author.



The other thing that began to get a little tiresome in this book was the style. There isn't anything wrong with it, per se, but there was a bit too much repetition. We get that Damian is gay and still very cool. We get that Eric and Shaunee and like twins, but different colors. We get that Aphrodite is a bitch, but is also more than we anticipated. And we get it over and over again. It's a personal style choice, so it may not bother you at all. And, even though it bothers me, it doesn't bother me enough to stop reading the books. A solid entry. I would have given it 3.5 stars if I could, but I rounded up.


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Royalties for Public Lending

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (or IFLA) has a very interesting and informative stance on the idea of Public Lending Rights that are all the rage in more and more countries. While I love authors (and make no mistake, I do love authors) I'm skeptical about the idea of authors being paid EVERY TIME a book is lent from the library. There has to be some kind of co-existence between the rights of the user who has bought the book: the library, and the author. Libraries have taken five steps forward in terms of serving the public through lending items that OF COURSE authors (and other creative artists) would rather individuals bought instead of borrowed. But there has to be balance.

IFLA says it much better than I ever could here.

One more site for college profs to check!

There is an interesting discussion going on over at the Smart Bitches blog about plagiarism. So, when I flipped to GalleyCat and saw this my first thought was: college students. They get a bad rap, generally, for the whole plagiarism thing. But, you just KNOW some idiot is going to be trying to write their paper the hour before class and being too liberal with the copy and paste.

My second thought was: how the hell do I know the person who wrote the book has even read it? Now, I suppose there will be enough people monitoring the thing to call bullshit when someone says King Lear was a black king with a white wife who killed herself with an asp. BUT, there could be other, more subtle, things that are inaccurate.

I don't know. But, it's kinda fun. And reading the summary of The Outsiders made me wanna see the movie again.

Review: Wishful Drinking

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
You know, this wasn't a bad book. Parts of it were hilarious, in fact. Fisher has a warped sense of humor, and if the book catches you in the right mood, you will find yourself laughing out loud. And, she certainly knows how to laugh at herself, and her situation, and everyone around her. What you won't find in this book is a lot of the things you want to know, especially if you're picking up the book anxious to hear every detail about the filming of a certain SF trilogy. Granted, that was but a few moments out of Fisher's 50+ years, but still.



The beginning of this book is nearly incoherent. It could be that I was tired, but I found myself reading the first ten to fifteen pages over and over and OVER again. WTF did she say? The sentences don't seem to work together. The pages don't seem to work together. The thoughts don't seem to work together..... Things straighten up soon after that, the ship rights itself, and the rest of the book is a quick page turner.



And when I say "quick" I mean just that. Clocking in at under 200 pages, you might be able to read this one during commercial breaks while you watch tv, surf the net and talk on the phone at the same time!



Bottom line: Give it a read if you're interested. If you like it, great. If you don't, at least you haven't wasted that much time out of your life.


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