Welcome to Chuckles Chat where great
blogging minds unite to discuss the topics of the day mainly in the book
and blogging world. I'll be sharing my thoughts on a topic and then
inviting you all to share your thoughts. It's ok to disagree but PLEASE
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This week I'm going to talk about The Prologue Spoiler. Y'know, when we get the MC in a current or future situation and after a few pages we are left on a cliffhanger and get transported back months or years to way before the prologue event? I have never enjoyed this. I hate seeing hints of things to come later in the book and much prefer to find things out as we go along. That is a personal preference though and lets face it, prologues can be good or bad, depending on how they are used.
Lets start with when a prologue can be good:
-we get a look at the earlier event that sets the scene for where we start the book ie we see the heroic death of a character who we don't see in the main book but is mentioned because that dying deed was vitally important to current situation
-we get full action story on how characters met ie showing how an animal saves a humans life, and is now their faithful companion when we join them for main story
You get the picture, right? Those are examples of a prologue being used to give you extra information in an action scene instead of resorting to a big info dump about it once the book proper starts. It kick starts the book with something exciting and important and then jumps right to the current story, avoiding slow introductions etc. I like when a book does that.
But a new trend in books I'm reading is using the prologue to give you a big fat spoiler about something that will happen in the book. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS? WHY? WHY spoil the story for me??? Recently I had a zombie book that showed a character die in the prologue and then started the main book with the incident leading to the death. Why do the prologue at all when that character dies 15 pages later??? Pointless! Another zombie book tells of the death of this guy's whole family in a scene where he is thinking about it. We go straight to him in chapter one receiving a call for help from his family and him going over to the house. Again, there was no tension or wondering what happens because you already know they are dead! I hate these spoilers so much!
There was a book that showed a group of climbers at a funeral, all crying and it mentioned two men and two women at the grave. Prologue ends, book starts with three men and two women doing the climb. Straight away you know one of the three men dies. Book put the two women in dangerous situations they barely escape from but you already KNOW they weren't going to die so it was not very exciting. When the character dies halfway through there is still the battle to get the body down the mountain but you KNOW the others survive so there was no fear or worry for them. Had that prologue not been there, that book would have been full of excitement and tension, not knowing if any would survive! This makes the difference for me when choosing a star rating for that book, giving it 2 instead of 4!
Do you like any kind of prologue? Does it bother you seeing a spoiler in the prologue or does it make you want to read the book more? Does a prologue spoiler affect your star rating when you review the book?
“Power is what he craves. He collects it so he can turn it into wicked glory, the glory of ruling everything and everyone.”
Vanessa
and Zander Roth sit balanced on the edge of impending death and
unthinkable power. The Eroi hunting them hide in the distance waiting
for their chance to strike, but the Godlings who have taken over the
Roths’ lives keep them at bay for now. Their protection is the one
benefit to having them around.
Even though the Godling training
that the arrogant and insufferable David provides Van and Zander is
indeed improving their control, his methods are cruel and harsh. Van is
barely able to restrain her anger when it comes to David. Zander,
however, embraces the training because it is his only hope of redeeming
himself after falling into Ivy’s trap and putting his family’s lives in
danger.
In search of a distraction from everything Godling, Van
focuses on the nagging feeling that something terrible is on the
horizon. The intuition strengthens into frightening visions and leaves
Van fearing the future. She is desperate to protect her brother, but
with her sixteenth birthday looming and the eruption of the full
strength of her hunger on its way, she has her own problems to deal
with. Redemption and protection both take a back seat when a
shocking discovery puts everything they have worked for in jeopardy. The
choice between safety and freedom has never been more important, and in
the end…they may not have a choice at all.
My Review:
David is forced to stay with the Roth family to train Zander and Vanessa when they are unwilling to leave with him and the strict rules the siblings have lived by are relaxed somewhat. But things are not going well with Zander becoming obsessed with finding Ivy, David's brutal treatment wearing them both down and Vanessa becoming ever more suspicious of the secrets that Noah is keeping. David wants them to join him at the retreat for two weeks to expand their training but what exactly is this training leading them towards?
I must say a big sorry to the author! I was given a free copy of the first book to review in 2013 and despite enjoying it, for some reason it has taken me three years to get round to reading the rest of the series. Erk! It was however, well worth the wait!
Vanessa is finding it difficult to control her temper with David pushing her so hard all the time but she does find she is learning about control, which she needs as her full hunger will be hitting when she turns sixteen. She is surprised that David is happy to let her be around Ketchup as he seems to help keep her calmer, and he allows her to continue her martial arts with Noah. Tension is high between Ketchup and Noah when Noah starts trying to make a move on the unwilling Vanessa, and Noah's actions lead to an incident that proves he is keeping secrets, and Vanessa no longer trusts him. The retreat helps her discover that her hunger actually has uses such as being able to detect actual illnesses in people. Could she actually use it to heal people? And why is she now getting visions of the future?
Zander is obsessed with whether or not Ivy ever had feelings for him or if she was just baiting her trap, and he is determined to find out. He is receiving cryptic messages from her phone which he tells nobody about. He tries hard to learn from what David is teaching him so that he can control himself around Ketchup and give Vanessa a chance at having the boyfriend she wants-penance for his earlier mistakes with Ivy. Realising that their grandmother is dying, it dawns on him that with David posing as their uncle, he would take legal control over Vanessa upon her death. In a panic, Zander is about to risk everything by asking the Eroi enemies for help. Will they protect the very people that they sent Ivy to destroy? Zander, what are you DOING???!!!
I liked the addition of Chris, the retreat supervisor who is trying to help Vanessa using kindness rather than David's methods but you do know that as a leader at the retreat, he knows all the secrets that David is keeping and what the future holds for the Roths. I also like Annabelle, who becomes friends with Zander and agrees to help him do research on the Eroi-on the condition that he is not doing because he still loves Ivy. Ketchup gets a big role in this book but it seems like every time we think there is a chance for him and Vanessa, a new obstacle seems to be thrown in their path, which is heartbreaking! I was also pleased to see Oscar featuring more in this book, with his siblings visiting him in the hospital and looking for his advice and imput.
We are getting more background on the ongoing struggle between the Eroi and the Godlings. In some ways you can understand why the Eroi want someone like David to be destroyed because you can see that he is really evil and he is killing Eroi in the same way that they are coming after Godlings. It makes me wonder if anyone can be trusted as both sides seem equally bad. Are the leaders all corrupt and misleading all the followers? I was musing over these questions a lot as we went through the book. I also have to question the actions of the Roth family in the way that they raised the children and the mess they created. I suspect more of that will be looked at with Oscar being more involved in the story now.
The plot continues to intrigue as it twists and turns. Will gaining control through David's teachings turn them into someone like him? What does David have planned for the Roths? Will the Eroi be an enemy or an ally? What are the new powers that our MCs are uncovering? What is Noah's secret? (I've always had my suspicions on that) What happened the night Oscar killed his parents? Will Ketchup and Vanessa get their HEA? These are the numerous questions that are going to keep me reading this addictive series!
Read December 2016.
Vanessa and Zander Roth are good at lying.
They
have to be when they are hiding a deadly secret. Day after day, they
struggle to rein in their uncontrollable hunger for pain and suffering
in order to live normal lives. Things only get worse when Ivy Guerra
appears with her pink-striped hair and secrets. The vicious hunger Ivy
inspires is frightening, not to mention suspicious.
Vanessa’s
instincts are rarely wrong, so when they tell her that Ivy’s appearance
is a sign of bad things to come, she listens. She becomes determined to
expose Ivy’s secrets. Vanessa tries to warn her brother, but Zander is
too enamored with Ivy to pay attention to her conspiracy theories.
One
of them is right about Ivy … but if they lose control of their hunger,
it won’t matter who is right and who is wrong. One little slip, and
they’ll all be dead.
My Review:
*I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*
This
is a hard book to define (in a good way). I shelved it for now as urban
fantasy but dark fantasy is a better description I think. While it is
YA I'd describe it as mature YA that all ages will enjoy and it is a
dark story with paranormal elements.
Vanessa and Zander suffer
from the family curse-a deep rooted uncontrollable hunger that makes
them want to kill people. Trying to find outlets for the building hunger
to be safely released is the one thing that gives them the fragile
control they need to stop them killing their friends at school, and
trying to have some kind of normal life. Some people have a bigger
effect on the siblings than others and keeping control is never easy.
Zander is haunted by the loss of control he had when he was younger,
which led to him killing his girlfriend, and then trying to kill
Ketchup, while older brother Oscar is in a mental ward for murdering
their parents. But the hunger gets out of control when Ivy comes to
their school. Vanessa has the constant urge to kill her and tells Zander
to keep away from her, but Zander is torn as part of him wants to kill
Ivy and the other part wants to love and protect her-urges that could
spell terrible danger for his entire family.
I love the story of
the hunger. It is like a beast inside each member of the family that has
to be kept under control and the siblings battle daily to stop
themselves from hurting people. They want to be normal teenagers but
their situation means that they are older than their years and they are
trying to hide the secrets from everyone they have contact with. It is a
great concept for a story and as I read it I kept wondering if there
was something that could be done to help the characters as I got so
sucked into their story. I guess we will find out over the course of the
four books in the series! This is not the all action plot that I am
used to but the talent of this author is that she writes such intriguing
and interesting characters that you are swept along by them and their
story, so a slower plot doesn't matter as much.
I really liked
Vanessa. She is feisty and doing the best that she can to make a normal
life despite the hunger that blights her life. She does not want to hurt
people and has in fact saved the life of all the people who are now her
friends and she is very protective of them. All Vanessa wants is to
have Ketchup as a boyfriend, have her friends and school, and live a
normal and boring life like her friends-none of which she feels she can
have in reality. Having Ketchup as only a friend upsets her but Zander
won't allow anything more so their relationship is a sort of sweet
friendship instead of a romance. I really feel her pain that she is
constantly on edge and waiting for disaster to hit them again, knowing
that Ivy is going to destroy everything.
Zander is interesting
because of his temper and dreadful decision making. He carries the guilt
over his hunger killing his girlfriend and the lack of control that
Ketchup sets off in him means that his sister has to avoid a romantic
relationship with the boy she loves. It infuriates me as a reader that
he is stopping his sister from being happy but is prepared to risk
everything to hang out with Ivy and test himself, which could end in
disaster. You are yelling at him to stop being so stupid and stay away
from Ivy but of course he doesn't listen and she becomes his complete
obsession. The fact that she continues to hang around him when he treats
her so badly had me agreeing with Vanessa that Ivy seems to be trying
to get Zander to lose control and hurt her. Oh do I hate Ivy! Again it
is more of a dangerous obsession that Zander has as opposed to any real
romance going on.
Oscar was an interesting surprise and finding
out his story was fascinating. All we really know is that he lost
control one night and murdered his parents but we don't know much more
at this stage. I think uncovering that story as the series progresses
will be great! And poor Ketchup! I felt so sorry for him and Vanessa not
being able to be together because of Zander. Ketchup is the nicest guy
ever and he is determined to wait for Vanessa as long as it takes, and
he will do anything for her. I'm not a romance fan generally but I
really did want them to be able to be together and it was sad that it
couldn't happen. It made me love both characters so much. The other
character to feature heavily in the book is Noah, a new addition to
Vanessa's circle. He is interested in her and she feels that somehow she
she needs him as a friend, or her hunger does in some way. Don't worry,
it isn't a love triangle!
The theme of the book is clever. You
know how the hunger works but we have yet to see the full back story of
it which I assume comes in later books. I hope we get more flashbacks to
the past problems that the family had because I enjoyed the ones that
were there about Oscar and Lisa. How Vanessa and Zander learn to cope
with it should be really interesting and the way this book ends opens up
whole new possibilities and certainly make me want to read it.
What
I like about this book is that it doesn't have the YA cliches that have
so much put me off this genre recently. Noah and Ketchup both want
Vanessa but it is not a love triangle. Yes Vanessa feels a connection to
Noah that she can't explain which I think is connected to her hunger
but we know her heart is with Ketchup and she only wants Noah as a
friend. So the complex interactions between the three of them did not
annoy me in any way. I found it quite interesting. The connection
between Zander and Ivy is not instaluv or a physical relationship-it is a
form of dark obsession that Zander seems addicted to. It made their
interactions facinating, especially with Vanessa wanting to kill her!
There are cpmplex emotional bonds between the characters but it is not a
romance novel.
I don't have any negatives to put forward. The
author has taken the time to eliminate the errors that are common in the
book. I think I saw one tiny spelling mistake which is better than most
Indie books I read. She uses uncomplicated language with the right
mixture of description and character interaction. The characters are
beautifully developed so that you care about them and get right into the
story as it unfolds. Ms Gladden is a very smart storyteller and I look
forward to reading more of her books in the future. Don't let the cover put you off!
Read August 2013.
Four kilometers beneath
the plains of southern Africa a search party discover a lost world of
vicious, gigantic Carboniferous Era insects, surviving virtually
unchanged for 350 million years in a vast magma chamber. The search
quickly descends into a terrifying fight for survival against creatures
thought only to exist in prehistory and nightmares.
In a race
against time the team will struggle to save not only themselves but to
stop the monstrous bugs from ever reaching the surface.
My Review:
Verkhoen owns the Van Gotts Ngomo Mine where gold is mined in dangerous
conditions that have killed several workers, something he will go to any
lengths to cover up. He hires a team with an experimental machine which
allows safer and deeper digging to see if it can increase profits. When
it breaks through into a hidden diamond cavern, the mutant insects that
live there are released into the mine, tracking down and killing the
workers as they seek an exit...
I very much liked the idea of
this one. Who doesn't like the sound of big mutant beasties slithering
and crawling their way through a mine, killing anyone they encounter?
And of course the cover gives you the idea of what at least one of the
monsters is going to look like. As well as the mutant scorpions there
are giant spiders and other nasties, which was good. I also liked the
setting of the mine with plenty dark places for danger to lurk and a
large cast to kill off. The plot had a lot of potential to be exciting
and interesting. So why did I only give it two stars? The answer is
simple-the way it was written and the characters.
Firstly lets
look at the characters. Alan was an obsessed man, working himself into
the ground during this test as it is the last chance for financial
stability for his company. I understand his focus and his stress but I
can't say I particularly liked him. We step straight away into monster
book cliche territory by having Alan and the female biologist Eve being
attracted to each other at first sight. Of course-we can't possibly have
men and women working together without the romance element being thrown
in. What makes it worse is that it is a dumb romance element. Eve is
not bothered by missing and dead men as long as she gets to flirt with
Alan. When they are fleeing from giant mutant spiders, Eve takes the
time and opportunity to rub her breasts against Alan to try and get his
attention. Now that is seriously pathetic! Men are dying under attack by
giant spiders and she are more interested in getting laid. She is a
dreadful character.
Vince is there as an employee of Alan and is
meant to be checking the machine that will save his job and the company
but instead he starts stealing diamonds. Nice. How exactly does this
idiot think he'll get away with it? Verkhoen is the steriotype mad rich
guy who is happy to sacrifice all his workers to get the gold and
diamonds from the mine, even murdering people who are ready to expose
his shady work ethics. He knows that the monsters are down there and has
covered up the proof of them eating employees, in order to continue
mining. Duchamps the security chief also decides that after killing one
of Alan's men, he is going to steal diamonds and then flee, setting the
monsters loose as a diversion to kill everyone else. Oh it's a great
bunch of people we have in this mine. I don't think I cared if they all
died.
The other thing that I really didn't enjoy was the way the
story was delivered. There are a lot of info dumps about mining and
science that went way over my head and I found it pretty boring. I don't
need to know every detail of Alan's wonder machine, just enough to
understand what it is doing. The jargon was way too technical and I just
didn't see the point in being overloaded with all this stuff that we
didn't need to know. The descriptions of everything were complex and
hard to imagine, and I felt that this was at the expense of basic
storytelling skills. It was as if the author was trying to show how
clever they were-but it really fell flat for me.
The actual
setting was very confusing. I understand that the author was working off
a set idea of what this mine looked like but when they were talking
about levels and sub levels all the time, it was very difficult to work
out where everyone was in the mine, how close to the exit they were and
how close or distant each group was from the other groups. To be honest I
needed a map to keep it all clear in my head. It was a bit confusing at
times. Having info dumps, complex descriptions, and confusing settings
did not make it an easy story to follow in places. I also found a lack
of tension in the monster scenes as the workers had no way to defend
themselves so you knew they'd all die.
This was a book with good
ideas that lacked on delivery. I wouldn't actually try any more books
by the author as the writing was not to my personal taste.
Read October 2016.
Every year I promise to catch up on the book series that have been
sitting on my shelves brooding for years. Last year I did actually
manage to deal with a few which is better than
I've done in the last four years combined! Now it is time to look
forward with excitement to getting more series completed! January was an
ebook month so in February I'm concentrating first on catching up with a lovely paperback zombie series!
FEBRUARY:
Michael Stephen Fuchs-Arisen series. I've read books 1-4 but need to read a recently released prequel which slots in between books 3 and 4 before starting book 5.
#3.5 Genesis
#5 Exodus
#6 The Horizon
#7 Death of Empires
#8 Empire of The Dead
#8.5 Nemesis
#9 Cataclysm
#10 The Flood
#11 Deathmatch
#12 Carnage
Also plan to read the latest Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series paperback:
#9 Fire Touched
