Review: A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

Title:A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Author: Madeleine L'Engle
Source/Format: Won, Paperback Omnibus
More Details: Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Square Fish, July 1978

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

When fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace Murry shouts out an ancient rune meant to ward off the dark in desperation, a radiant creature appears. It is Gaudior, unicorn and time traveler. Charles Wallace and Gaudior must travel into the past on the winds of time to try to find a Might-Have-Been - a moment in the past when the entire course of events leading to the present can be changed, and the future of Earth - this small, swiftly tilting planet - saved.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet is the third book in Madeleine L'Engle's classic Time Quintet...

If there’s one thing I always enjoy about the Murry family’s adventures, it’s the fact that science is blended perfectly with fantasy to create a consistently enjoyable story. And a Swiftly Tilting Planet, the third book of the Time Quintet by Madeleine L’Engle, is done in much of the same way. This book opens with the Murry family reunited on Thanksgiving—with the addition of Meg’s mother-in-law Mrs. O’Keefe—practically on the eve of an impending disaster. The simple call added a touch of tension early on in the story, and from there the plot took off. This time, it was Charles Wallace who was mostly on his own as he attempted to find a solution to the problem, with the occasional help from Meg. The adventure was just as dangerous, but ultimately the story was easy to get into. The setting, as always, was interesting. It began at the Murry’s house again, but quickly shifted focus as the story took its course, spanning across several When’s scattered across time. So in that aspect the concept of time travel was handled really well. Overall I really enjoyed A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and eventually I want to get the rest of this series to see how it all ends.

Review: Doctor Who: The Drosten's Curse by A.L. Kennedy

Title: Doctor Who: The Drosten's Curse 
Author: A.L. Kennedy 
Source/Format: Blogging for Books, Paperback
More Details: Science Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Broadway Books, July 14, 2015

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

“I shall make you the jewel at the heart of the universe…”

Something distinctly odd is going on in Arbroath. It could be to do with golfers being dragged down into the bunkers at the Fetch Brothers’ Golf Spa Hotel, never to be seen again. It might be related to the strange twin grandchildren of the equally strange Mrs Fetch–owner of the hotel and fascinated with octopuses. It could be the fact that people in the surrounding area suddenly know what others are thinking, without anyone saying a word. Whatever it is, the Doctor is most at home when faced with the distinctly odd. With the help of Fetch Brothers’ Junior Receptionist Bryony, he’ll get to the bottom of things. Just so long as he does so in time to save Bryony from quite literally losing her mind, and the entire world from destruction. Because something huge, ancient and alien lies hidden beneath the ground and it’s starting to wake up…

Whew, ok, so this is my first Doctor Who novel—my co-blogger reviewed one earlier in the year—and now I’ve finally read one. And I have to say that The Drosten’s Curse was pretty awesome, and kept me up till one in the morning.

The concept was definitely one of the most interesting I’ve read about in a while. There was essentially something lurking in The Fetch Brothers’ Golf Spa Hotel’s golf course that was making the unassuming guests vanish. There were also a number of strange occurrences surrounding the entire area, such as how people were suddenly able to know what others were thinking. That was just the least of it, trust me, there was a lot more to it. So I immediately knew that there was something very wrong with the place. And that made the story very interesting.

Speaking of places, I think the setting was pretty much perfect, and presented an extra challenge—the golf course really made dealing with the creature difficult. There seemed to be a lot of places where it could hide and no one ever knew where it was going to appear next. Inevitably, there were a lot of elements of suspense throughout the entire book, and I enjoyed seeing how it all played out as the Doctor tried to figure out what was really going on. There were many instances that left me wondering how the characters were going to get out of the situation they found themselves in.

It was kind of the reason why I was up so late—just as things were beginning to calm down, something else came hurtling out of nowhere, adding to the troubles that the characters already faced.

Alongside the Doctor was Bryony, a receptionist at the hotel who inevitably gets wrapped up in the mess. She was pretty awesome, and I truly did enjoy her parts of the story. There’s a lot I want to talk about but can’t because this is one story that I can’t say much about without spoiling the entire thing. So I’m just going to leave it at what I’ve already said.

So yeah, I really liked the Drosten’s Curse and if you’re a fan of Doctor Who then I recommend giving this one a try.

This copy of the book was provided by Blogging For Books for this review, thank you!

A. L. Kennedy has published six novels, two books of nonfiction, and three previous collections of short stories. She has twice been selected as one ofGranta’s Best Young British Novelists and has won a number of prizes, including the Costa Book of the Year Award (2007), the Somerset Maugham Award, the Encore Award, and the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award. She lives in Glasgow and is a part-time lecturer in creative writing at the University of St. Andrews.

Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Source/Format: freebie, iBooks ebook

More Detains: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publisher/Publication Date: August 1, 2009, Scholastic Press

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever...

I have to admit that I struggled with Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, and I really wanted to like it. There wasn’t anything particularly bad about it that immediately made me hate it. It’s just that it took me a week to read 138 pages, which was just way too long for such a small amount. For some reason I was bored despite the fact that I thought the writing was nice. Stiefvater’s style is definitely something worth noting, because it was easy to read and conveyed the story in a way that should have interested me. However, I don’t think I’m in the mood for a paranormal novel that involves werewolves, so maybe now wasn’t the right time to read Shiver. Another issue that might have something to do with why I’ve decided to put this book down had to do with the story and the main character. Grace…oh Grace **sigh** I felt like it was rushed, like there was no prior buildup to Grace and Sam’s relationship other than the fact that he was a werewolf that she saw around the outskirts of her yard. And with a relationship like that—based on so little—I just didn’t buy it when she suddenly decided to let him stay in her bedroom. So yeah, I’ve decided to put Shiver aside because I have to move on to other books. Maybe one day I’ll give it another try, but for now I’m done with it.

Nintendo Book Tag

I haven’t done one of these in a long time, so today I’m going to take part in the Nintendo Book Tag. This tag was created by Novels and Nonsense over on YouTube—you should really check out her channel, she has a lot of great videos. You can see the original tag video HERE

1. NES (Nintendo Entertainment System): A Classic you want to read

Just one? I don’t know, there are a lot of classics I want to read, but most recently I really want to pick up the novels for Jurassic Park and the complete Wizard of Oz series.

2. SNES (Super Nintendo): A Sequel you liked more than the 1st (can be a 2nd book in a series)

Wow, actually this is a difficult question for me. Usually it’s the opposite. Anyway, I have to go with Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep. Even though I loved the first one, the second one was just as good if not better.

3. Nintendo 64: A book that revolutionized the way you look at the world

It’s not one specific book that did it for me, but dozens of them that would take all day to list.

4. Gamecube: A popular book that did not go over so well with you

Oh boy, I can name a few of them—lots of them actually—but I’m just going to stick with one for today. And it’s going to be Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. It just wasn’t my kind of book.

5. Wii: A new favorite book

Finding Serendipity—it’s a middle grade novel that I read earlier this year—and I have to say that I absolutely loved it.

6. Nintendo Power: Favorite Graphic novel series or a series you want to start

I don’t read many graphic novels so for this one I’m going to go with one of my all-time favorite manga series: D. Gray-Man.

7. Super Mario: A Character that you'd love to squish like a Goomba

This is an easy one: Alcantara, a vampire from The Watchers series by Veronica Wolff. There are just so many reasons why I disliked him, mainly because of the things he did throughout the entire series. So he totally deserves to be squished like a Goomba.

8. Zelda: A newer fantasy that you consider to be a modern classic

I absolutely love Mistborn. The world building was fantastic and the overall story was entirely enjoyable.

9. Samas-Aran: Favorite Sci-fi novel or one you want to read

I would actually like to read Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (it’s just not out yet) and These Broken Stars also by Amie Kaufman with Meagan Spooner.

10. Pokemon: Book editions that you want to collect

All of the Barnes and Noble classic editions.

11. Donkey Kong: A book with original characters

For this one I’m going to go with Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius. The characters in the novel had very unique interests and habits that I’ve rarely seen.

12. Nintendo Fandom: Favorite Nintendo game(s) or game you really want

Mario Kart—I would also like a reboot of Double Dash because that game was a whole lot of fun.

Don’t forget to check out Novels and Nonsense on YouTube. And because this is such a fun one, I tag anyone who wants to participate. Happy reading!

Musing Mondays (34) Space Exploration & Other Things That Have me Excited This Week

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, that asks you to muse about something book related each week.

My Musings for the Week...

(Ok, so this might be a little off topic, but I just have to say that it’s completely awesome that Serena Williams won Wimbledon 2015 (Women’s Singles). Man, what a year for women’s sports!)

Anyway, I’m just going to move on to something that’s actually related to books. Since reading Space Exploration for Dummies, I’ve been more interested in watching shows about…well, the universe. Thankfully I have multiple History channels to watch—even a science one—that actually plays episodes dealing with the universe on some days. So far, I’m enjoying How the Universe Works, and looking forward to the new season that starts on July 14th.

Also, if you haven’t checked out NASAs Instagram you totally should. So I’m just going to link to it now. CLICK HERE TO GET TO IT

So what do you think? Do the books you read sometimes influence what you want to watch?