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The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch #2) by Rin Chupeco - audiobook
2:05 pm 19 January 2019
I'm finding it really hard to write this review, because although I really enjoyed The Heart Forger, I can't tell you specifically why.
I liked that there was heaps of action on the present tense this time around, as opposed to just dropping titbits about the past tense story to keep our interest.
I liked that the gang, expanding wonderfully to now include LGBTI rep and a former nemesis turned snarky ally, travelled to other kingdoms so we could see more of the world.
I really liked the romance. I thought it was a lovely slow burn and the tension was nicely written. I really liked how Tea had such an intense crush in the first book and ended up falling in love with someone else, because it's such a representation of what naturally happens, not only when you are a teenager but all through life as well. None of this 'the first person I am ever attracted to/have feelings for is my forever soulmate.' I think it helped that we saw who her love interest was in the present, and so I was eagerly listening for any hint of their developing romance in the past. It was cute, but also meaningful, because Tea and her love interest have a whole lot of respect and admiration for each other.
As for the plot, I did enjoy it, but it wasn't completely thrilling. I liked the antagonists and the twists, and the pacing was fine. I mean, if you asked me what it was about, I'd have to say something like, 'the gang investigate why their friend has been attacked with a sleeping spell' which doesn't sound all that interesting, but for some reason I really did enjoy the book.
I know a large part of my enjoyment stems from the magnificent narration provided by Emily Woo Zeller. She's just so immensely talented that I can't even put into words how much I enjoy it. I could ask for – and probably receive – an ARC of the third book in this series, but honestly I just want her to read it to me. She gets at the heart of every emotion, and she has a different and distinct voice for every single character, including very impressive male voices. Her delivery gives you a sense of the characters even without the text necessarily providing that.
I'm pretty keen on Book 3 and I have been well and truly sucked into this world and Tea's adventures.
Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis - audiobook
I was super excited to read a book about a magical healer facing a plague – even if they call alchemy 'science' in this book, it's totally magic – and this one definitely delivered.
It's about a girl called Nedra (narrated beautifully by Mhairi Morrison with a lovely soft Scottish accent) from a small northern village who manages to get a scholarship to a medical school in the big city of an island colony ruled over by a young Emperor. An incurable plague has been ravaging the population and making its way towards Nedra's village. She's dedicating the next year of her life to finding a cure, and must adjust to a very different life in the school, having left her family (including a twin sister) behind.
I really enjoyed this story. It delivered as promised a dark fantasy where Nedra must confront the reality of illness and death, how illness tears families apart, and the sacrifices Nedra must make to become the as-promised necromancer we see in the opening pages. I liked seeing Nedra study and make friends with Grey, the other point of view, a fellow student who has gone into alchemy for possibly less-than-honourable reasons. Grey has just kind of fallen into alchemy because he comes from a rich family, and I guess this is why his narrator,Bruce Mann, used such a pompous sounding voice I found really annoying to deliver his narration. I thought Grey was an OK character – he certainly wasn't perfect and I liked that, sometimes seeming almost coward-like in his unwillingness to rock the boat from his high level of privilege. I also thought his romance with Nedra was lacking in chemistry.
But honestly, I really did enjoy Give the Dark My Love. I loved seeing how Nedra interacted with the other characters and how she came to the conclusion to use necromancy, which was punishable by death, and there's only two things that reduce this from a 5 star read to a 4 star read for me.
One is that Nedra is just so insufferably good, and everyone around her are shits. Nedra is literally the only medical student to care about the plague. She's a bleeding heart, so stuffed full of selfless good intentions it practically leaks out of her orifices. This is juxtaposed by the fact that literally no one else gives a shit. None of the other students volunteer at the hospital, not even her love interest. None of the other students are into medicine to help others, but for selfish reasons, like advancing in politics or making a good wage. I liked Nedra, but I hate this aspect. I think the story could have had a whole other element added if there was at least one other student who volunteered – then Nedra could discover him or her at the hospital, they could become friends and study together so Nedra's not such an outsider and Nelly No Friends, maybe they could explore necromancy together and something goes tragically wrong and the friend is unfortunately killed. But no, it's just reinforced that Nedra is literally the only one who cares, the only one who is selfless and works herself to exhaustion with her caring and selfless acts.
The other factor reducing this from a 5 star read is that the particular magi that Nedra uses, medicinal alchemy, is basically magical anaesthetic. Using a crucible and a rat (warning to anyone sensitive to animal cruelty) she can siphon off the pain from her patient, and transfer it to the rat through herself. Considering Nedra experiences amputations through this magic, the descriptions of what the pain actually felt like were really lacking. For most of the book it was simply something like 'pain roared through me' but couldn't describe anything more than that, and honestly I found it a little disappointing, especially in something touted as a 'dark fantasy', and especially considering what comes later.
Apart from these issues, I really enjoyed the audiobook of Give the Dark My Love and I'm really looking forward to what Nedra has in store in Book 2.
The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
I am officially giving up after three months having read nearly 200 pages.
There is just so much damn dialogue about the most banal uninteresting things. There is absolutely zero chemistry between anyone. Everyone is so one dimensional and I have no idea how anyone found them interesting enough to pursue a relationship, let alone write about it. The romances were the most uninteresting, blasé things I have ever read, and I have no idea why anyone thought they would make a good book?
Maybe I'm too used to reading interesting (if sometimes Mary Sue) characters in my regular literature, but there is nothing interesting about any of the characters or their situations and resolutions. This book may as well be called 'Life' and it's boring as fuck (it's literally called 'The Longest Ride' because life is the longest ride). Regular issues that regular people go through? I don't find that interesting in fiction.
But I watched the movie, so does that count? Also Scott Eastwood is gorgeous, so was the scenery, and I liked the changes the film made from the book, it made it a better, more coherent story.
Here's some Scott Eastwood appreciation:
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
There were some things I liked about this book and some things I didn't, so I'm trying to go middle of the road and rate this a solid 3 stars.
I'll start with the things I didn't like:
Lei had super special pretty beautiful eyes that made her super special and she was treated differently because of this, not because of any internal characteristics.
Lei didn't have to go through the trials the other girls did to become a Paper Girl because of her super special pretty eyes, and that's because she would have failed.
One of the characters told Lei she was the strongest person she'd ever met. Lei had done absolutely nothing to warrant this praise.
Lei was the only Paper Girl ever who refused the king and he let her get away with it.
Sometimes Lei said something that wasn't particularly cutting but the person in authority she said it to always looked like she'd slapped them, because the author was trying to show how brave/mouthy/spontaneous/witty Lei was, but the reaction seemed really weird and out of place.
The betrayer was way too obvious and it would have been more interesting and a better conflict if the person betraying them was a different character who did it not because 'it wasn't fair' but because of loyalty to the king. And also, I love reformed bad guys so I would have loved it if Lei's enemy/rival had NOT been the one to betray her and become almost begrudging friends.
When Lei was confronted, she didn't even TRY to deny anything, and no one even had any proof.
What I did like:
The romance was really well written, like really. It's probably worth reading for that alone. And not because it's LGBTQ, which I didn't know going in to this (I don't really move from my corner of the interwebz and I don't really feel any kind of hype because I'm not active on social media, so I legit had NO idea), but because it's just really well written. And as unprepared as I was, it didn't seem out of place. I can safely say this is NOT instalove, and maybe even a slow burn, and really enjoyable.
The worldbuilding was kinda cool. The different caste systems, the magic. I mean, it's pretty easy to see the Eastern influences but I think it was solid worldbuilding. I've been reading a lot of diverse YA fantasy about oppressed women living in luxury lately (The Bone Witch, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, Grace and Fury etc) and it fit in really well with those books.
I liked the descriptions of the clothing and food.
Other things to note:
The blurb is kind of innocent and mentions that Paper Girls 'serve' the king as a 'consort' and that it's a high honour, but it was actually [spoiler] sexual slavery[/spoiler]. This book was just as dark as Damsel by Elena K Arnold but definitely aimed at a young adult audience.
Lei complained again and again about how the demons treated her and the other Paper caste like they 'weren't even human' and that language doesn't work at all because the demons are superior to the humans, so to treat them like they're human would mean something completely different in this world where humans are little better than animals.
It seems that to most demons, being Paper caste already makes you less than human.
Think of all the Paper castes he has his soldiers capture as slaves and kill as easily, as if we weren't even human.
I wish the author had thought more about this language when Lei made that complaint multiple times. I really hope this is changed for the final version.
I actually think that this whole story could have been more interesting if it was told from another character's point of view.
(Wren's.)
If you are more invested in the romance part of fantasy romance, you'll probably enjoy this forbidden romance as much as I did.
(I actually already own The Elites by this same author and I'm pretty keen to give it a read now!)
Two Dark Reigns (Three Dark Crowns #3) by Kendare Blake
9:47 am 9 December 2018
I'm enjoying this series more as it goes on, I think.
I feel as if every novel adds a twist or two, solves a riddle or two, and amps up the intensity.
I'd love to see Blake's notes on the history of the queens. I know the losing queens are basically erased from history, but I get the feeling Blake has done extensive imagining and somewhere has a great bundle of information on this world and its history. Names, gifts, lineage, etc.
So this is the third book in what was originally supposed to be a duology, and there's a fourth book after this that I'm also really looking forward to. In this book, the queens re-emerge, Katharine victorious, and try to solve the mystery of the killer mist that normally protects the island suddenly turning against them and leaving dead people in its wake.
So although I have worked really hard to suspend my disbelief in this series and its entire premise of murdering queens – my issue stems from the fact that until a queen is crowned, the government is basically run by the foster family of the queen's mother, who leaves the island as soon as she gives birth – I am still a little confused with the concept of the Blue Queen, who takes a larger role in this novel in the form of flashback visions/dreams. A Blue Queen is a fourth born queen, immediately crowned because her older sisters are put to death, and any of them can still have any gift. I think it's really unfair that whoever just happens to be born last in a set of quadruplets falls into ruling because her sisters are murdered. What if the fourth born queen was a seer? Seer queens are also murdered, to save them from going insane (as depicted in one of the novellas – really worth reading if you enjoy this series). That part doesn't make sense to me. I know it's the will of the Goddess, but still. There's room for fatal error there.
Anyway! Apart from that very small issue, I also enjoyed watching Pietyr come to some kind of realisation. Pietyr always bothered me. I can never quite understand his motivations. I also have a newfound respect for Jules' mother Madrigal, who is such a wealth of knowledge of low magic – which seems to be a bit of a cop out, in that low magic can kind of do anything if you have the right ingredients and know what you're doing. And all the murder! There's lots of stabby-stabby murder in this book and it's glorious.
I really enjoy watching these girls come into their power and figure out how they're going to survive in a world that expects them to murder each other. I love seeing them defy tradition and really fuck some things up. I love watching Mirabella go from nearly a White-Handed Queen (one who is so expected to become queen that the temple murders her sisters for her) to developing a deep bond and connection to Arsinoe. I love watching Arsinoe figure out who she is and the lie that has been told her whole life (and Braddock, I love Braddock – and Billy too, I guess, he's pretty realistic). And sweet, sweet Katharine, our innocent, tortured damsel turned blood-thirsty Queen Crowned.
That ending. It got me. It really did.
I really want to see how these sisters end this story in the next book.
I received a copy of this book from Pan MacMillan in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C Dao
I love an anti-heroine. I love characters who know what they want and steamroll over everyone else to get it. Xifeng's manipulation of other characters, from her lover Wei to almost the entire royal family was a pleasure to read. She was smart and driven, and I liked that.
So I don't have a problem with Xifeng as a character, but what I do have a problem with was the way the story was told.
It was BORING.
When you'd rather do anything BUT read a book, you know there's a problem. Clean the house. Shop for new underwear. Scroll mindlessly through social media. And exactly how much I DIDN'T want to continue reading this one was compounded by having books I REALLY enjoyed reading bookending this one. For the first 30% I seriously considered DNFing. Why didn't I? I should have. I read a review that said the last section was so good it made up for the first section, but that person LIED.
I think my issue was with the way 'destiny' was written. Everything was assured. Xifeng knew exactly where she was going, and even though she still had to make it happen and wasn't just there for the ride, there was little question or conflict on a deeper level beyond the shallower stuff she had to do – manipulate people, hurt people, and install herself on the throne. There was no conflict of 'is this really my destiny' or 'can I ignore this'. And that's because of Xifeng's immeasurable delusion of grandeur, hubris, and narcissism. I think it made her a brilliant character – but it made the story boring. It was GOING to happen, full stop. Absolutely no questioning it – and therefore, no conflict.
She just showed up at the palace and everyone just kind of went with the unspoken idea that one day she would be the Emperor's wife, whether or not the other three women who are her competition are dealt with. And all of this is driven by the 'darkness' inside Xifeng that is the Serpent God, some evil kind of demon king that drives the entire plot, provoking Xifeng's actions. So really, all of Xifeng's agency is completely removed. Her choices and actions are not her own, and that, to me, didn't make a good story. Even her initial choice of leaving Guma to run away to the Imperial Palace, well, that didn't make sense to me because that's exactly what Guma wanted for her, has prepared her for, and had instilled in her as her destiny, so why was she running away?
And yes, there was conflict. I mean, Xifeng kills and eats the hearts of her victims, people hated her and wished to cause her harm. But the conflict was never put in the right places. Things just happen to her because it's her destiny: free ride to the Imperial Palace, the Empress immediately wants her as a lady-in-waiting despite her being ridonkulously beautiful and clearly a threat to the Emperor's affections which no one acknowledges, her rivals are conveniently wiped out, and the Emperor makes her his wife. None of that had any conflict. That's exactly what Guma said would happen and it did. It seemed almost convenient. Where was the conflict with destiny?
I had problems with the way the story was told. I found myself reading sentences I was struggling to comprehend. Actions literally didn't make sense. At one point, Xifeng gasps in ecstasy as blood pours down her throat.
She tipped her head back, gasping as the blood gushed down her throat.
Why isn't she choking?
In another scene, she is confronted by the Empress and starts hyperventilating just a foot away, with the Empress's attention firmly focused on her, but she 'forces herself to remain calm' and the Empress doesn't respond at all to the panic just displayed even though that's exactly what she's looking for. Even though she's very clearly just seen it.
Xifeng's breath came in short, painful bursts, remembering how she had longed for this woman to be her mother. This women who may have tried to end her before they'd ever met.
"You're pale," Empress Lihua said flatly.
"I'm fine, Your Majesty." Xifeng forced herself to remain calm as the Empress studied her, as though searching for something objectionable in her manner or dress.
And I wasn't even reading an ARC! I was reading a final copy, so this is what everyone else is reading, too.
She flipped and flopped over whether she actually loved Wei or was just using him, wait no she does love him but can't have him (but does have him), but she doesn't love him because she can't love anyone, and when he leaves her suddenly she does love him, then he does something to someone she hates (or maybe loves, I can't tell) and now she doesn't love him. It was like, just write whatever sounds good and who cares if it actually makes sense or shows any kind of consistency. I have no fucking idea what Xifeng was thinking and feeling most of the time. She can be having a completely normal conversation then all of a sudden she's crying and I'm like, Why are you crying? I had no idea you were feeling that emotion. It's almost like the showing instead of telling is going overboard and going back to telling, and the whole thing feels unemotional and detached as a result.
Also, what was up with the magic? Is magic a thing everyone can do, or at least know about? Is everyone aware that demons and such exist, or are they conveniently ignoring everything? Xifeng hides the fact that she murders rabbits and rats for their hearts, but doesn't even think about secrecy around magic. She uses magic to heal her wounds and no one notices/calls her out on it. It's just sooooo convenient that no one gives a shit.
While I loved Xifeng as a ruthless character and I was super excited to read a diverse retelling with an anti-heroine, I'm afraid the execution of the novel failed to impress me.
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascanenhas
5:04 pm 29 November 2018
My friend Figgy was making status updates about this book, and despite it not being YA, I immediately felt like I had to read it. Luckily for me, it was available immediately to me on Netgalley (getting it onto a reading device was a whole other drama because I normally read mobi files and this was strictly only available in epub, and I had to reactivate my Adobe Digital Editions which had lay dormant, literally for years, and finally got to read it via Overdrive on my phone but my gosh, it was a drama and to be honest I almost cried, I was so excited to read this.)
It started off really well, initially. It had a really strong opening section introducing the concept and some key characters, certainly enough to grab the attention of a slush pile reader, an editor, or someone in a bookshop. So that was good.
But as the book went on, it also went downhill for me.
You know how Christopher Nolan used to make films that are studies into whatever he's filming? Like how Memento is a study into the viewer's memory, Batman Begins is a study of fear, The Prestige is a study in illusion, or Inception is a study in reality? This novel, about time travel, is a study about time travel with the reader as the subject. It's a great concept, but not a good execution. Unable to tell this story linearly, we jump all around the place following characters and timelines seemingly at random.
The plot meanders between extra irrelevant points of view, and coupling this with the bland voice and lack of characterisation, makes many of the large cast of interchangeable characters seem like cardboard cut outs. I don't know what anyone's feeling or thinking. The prose is completely lacking in any kind of embellishment. It's such a sterile way to tell a story. I just don't give a shit. And I want to! I want to care about these characters, but in a novel that's already time travelling itself, I can't care. It's chaotic and because of the blandness of character and voice, it's also sometimes confusing – rather like this version of time travel itself (where older selves and younger selves frequently interact with little consequences).
After I finished the book I read the acknowledgements where the author referenced this book as being about 'a time travelling grandmother' and I went, "Oh, is THAT who the novel was meant to be about?" Too many characters that have little to no characterisation cause them all to blur. No one character is favoured and the two I thought were the 'main' characters often blurred in to one because of a lack of defining characteristics that went beyond 'one is a lesbian and one is French.'
It feel like such a great concept but it lacks drama. I want to read books where characters actually feel emotion and you care about them. To me, this felt more like it would have been better as a textbook rather than a fictional narrative story with characters and plot. You know, like Quidditch Through the Ages pretends to be a textbook. Mostly because as far as I'm concerned, the author has a great concept, interesting glossary, and thoughtful, decent worldbuilding but was absolutely shite at writing characters with feelings, emotions, and anything that made them remotely human.
What it does have in its favour:
Worldbuilding. The jargon around time travelling: having sex with one's past self is a 'legacy fuck', and you know it happens often enough that it has its own name. Children's toys are created using the same technology. How they start doing something in the present because someone discovers it is done in the future. One character creates a painting in reverse. How time travel affects the people who do it and the people who don't. So much lingo and regulations and tidbits that show the author thought about her world and not only the consequences but the little things that would happen as well.
So. Many. Female. Characters. It's like Annihilation but about time travel.
Diversity! Sexual diversity, racial diversity, class diversity.
The psychology stuff was actually really good. How time travel messes with you.
What the novel lacked:
An ability to make me give even half a shit about anyone or the situation or anything, really. And look, I cry really easily. I'm a super emotional person. I own that. But I just didn't care, I didn't care who had died or how and who was responsible, and I really should have.
But look, if you're interested in the psychology aspect of time travel and you're prepared beforehand with knowledge that it's shit at characters, you might find this more enjoyable than I did.
Access Restricted (Word$ #2)
I'm really sad this is over.
I can't believe how much I fell in love with this world and Speth and all the characters and just everything.
I mean, it's horrific. It's awful. But I was just wondering yesterday if it was weird that we pay for phone calls, we pay to send letters to each other, so is it really that different to paying for the right to speak? I know that what we are paying for is the service, but we're still paying to communicate. Some of us spend outrageous amounts to communicate with each other. I would know, I probably spent around $1000 on long-distance calling cards from Australia to England over a 2/3 year period before Facebook invented its messaging service.
I think whether you enjoy this series will hinge on a combination of being able to suspend your disbelief and accepting that this could actually happen, as I believe it could. I don't mean that it WILL happen, just that I already believe that we currently live in a world where it is extraordinarily difficult for the poor to get out of poverty, where you need money to make money, the gap between rich and poor is expanding, people try to make money in the most outrageous ways, and people accept the society in which they are raised. Not to mention bystander syndrome being an actual thing. Innocent people die every day. People are shitty and that is why dystopian fiction is so awesome. It's not such a huge jump to believe that one day ads will chase people down a street and those who can't pay won't have the right to see something and that people will try to make an obscure word common in the hopes of making money from its usage. I mean come on, what was up with 'on fleek'?
This book is vastly different to the previous one. There's a road trip, a courtroom scene, and other things I don't want to mention for fear of spoilers. I loved how Speth was trying to make the best of a very bad situation, and she didn't even want to lead a revolution but she didn't really have a choice. They stumbled over some good fortune, faced terrible ordeals that made me cringe in sympathy, and fought for what they believed in: that their world was fundamentally wrong, even the laws, and it needed to change. I also liked how the adults weren't simply erased in this like they are with a lot of other YA: Speth wanted advice from an adult, she wanted to turn to someone, and they were there when she needed them. It made the world feel more real and less kid-adventure.
I thought once again how talented Katsoulis was to make me believe in this horrible future. The worldbuilding was sublime and although there were times when I reached the limit on my suspension of disbelief, I just went with the flow and accepted it as part of this bizarre over-capitalised nightmare. Speth's limited knowledge, for example, helps the reader learn as she does, about geography and history that has been out of reach for her because of her poverty.
I loved seeing the relationships between the characters, too. Not only between Speth and the people who orbit her like her own sister who isn't as smart as Speth and kind of wants everything to go back to the way it was, but also between Margot and her spunky and adorable little sister, and Speth's other friends like Nancee and Norflo.
I also noticed, as I did in the first book, that Katsoulis loves words and names that begin with S. It's as noticeable as JK Rowling's love of the letter H, and I wonder why that is.
Overall, this is a brilliant duology, and I wish there was another book coming out after this, even though almost everything seemed pretty wrapped up to me. I'd love to see how the consequences of the final scene play out across this world. In the meantime, I'm going to track down some paper copies so I can get the full impact of reading this instead of listening to the wonderful audiobook.
Damsel by Elena K Arnold
My friend Emily May called this an ''ugly, awful little book" and she's absolutely right, it is ugly, it is awful, and it is absolutely awesome.
I found Damsel to be highly readable once I figured out it was quirky and whimsical (it took me about two pages). I also found it to be serious and melancholy, a great discussion on consent, women's rights, misogyny and dismantling the patriarchy.
I also don't know why this is being marketed as a YA. It's technically suitable for young adults, as in, people over the age of eighteen but under the age of 30, but in the book world, YA is the term used in marketing toward teens and sometimes even tweens, and it's really not 'suitable' for younger readers because of the glib and blunt use of sexualisation, sexuality, innuendo, and sexual assault. I know sexual assault and sexual activity does appear in loads of YA, but there's something about the way this is written – it's blunt, it's not romantic, and it's on-page. So I'd be cautious about younger readers, in my opinion anyone under 15 reading this. But since everyone is different I'm not going to say it's not for teens full stop. I mean, I studied Atonement in school and that had C*UNT in it (without the apostrophe), and sexual assault and on-page sex, so who knows? Maybe a sniggering class of teenagers could handle this story of Emory, his damsel, and all the weird euphemisms for penis.
So the basic plot is this: to be crowned king, Prince Emory must defeat a dragon and bring home the damsel as his bride, who will then provide him with a single male heir who will repeat the same quest ad nauseam. This is the way it is and the way it has been for as long as anyone can remember. Emory's own mother was a damsel. Emory names his damsel Ama, and this is her story.
From the way it's written, its brutal yet effective storytelling, I think that people are either going to love this or hate this and not have many in-between. To top off all the sex stuff, there's also animal abuse, gaslighting, suicide and a really creepy friend of the king who thinks he can do anything he pleases. It'd be a great novel to dissect and look at all of the symbolism and imagery woven into the novel, and finding parallels with modern-day issues like the #MeToo movement and even mansplaining. It shows what happens to a woman in a man's world when her future husband is the entitled king of that world. Not only does he gaslight and infantilise her (Twilight lovers should love this), he sexually assaults her and blames her for his actions (Hush, Hush lovers should love that), and constantly threatens her animal companion, a lynx kitten she saved from her own future husband's murdering hands, to control her.
I think this may be one of the darkest books I've read, just in terms of the horrible threatening feeling and feeling of hopelessness staining each and every page of this book. It depicts an abusive relationship: Ama can't escape her fate, because where would she go when Emory, the most powerful man in the world, believes her to be his own property? She has no family and no memory and is incapable of looking after herself. Even as she questions the world around her, she learns quickly that Emory wants her a very specific way and she is forced to shrink into that shape just to please him and be spared his wrath. Then of course, he is mollified, and almost seems to be a decent person again, until something triggers him and Ama is once again in danger. The cycle of abuse continues.
I know when I'm loving a book because I want to read it at every chance I get, and as such, I only took a couple of days to get through this. It's well-written and a quick page-turner so long as you find it engaging and not off-putting (which some people will), and although I (in my slightly conservative way) think it's not exactly appropriate reading material for young teenagers, I do really recommend this as an enjoyable, challenging read. Also, the ending made everything worth it.
Note: The publisher website says this is for ages 14+.
I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis
I don't remember the last time I read a dystopian and thought from page one, "This is where we are heading, this is totally plausible."
The basic premise in All Rights Reserved is that in the future, copyright is used as a weapon, everyone has to pay the rights holders to use words and gestures, and one girl inadvertently rebels against the system by refusing to speak.
I know a few people think it's far-fetched and requires a big suspension of disbelief, but from where I stand, it's plausible. Social credit already exists in China, where 'top citizens' get VIP treatment (including fast tracks to University and jobs) while lower scoring citizens find it hard to travel or find employment. Americans already love to sue for the weirdest reasons. There are warning labels on everything, like not to operate electrical equipment while sleeping and that a carton of eggs has an allergy advice for, you guessed it: eggs! Capitalism runs rampant. They don't even have socialised healthcare! People literally die because they cannot afford to go to hospital, or are driven into severe financial hardship because they do go. The richest 1% of the population own more wealth than the other 90% combined. Lack of financial access to legal assistance means the rich crap all over the poor. That already seems like a weird dystopian to me. We're not going to jump from the 'free' world we live in today to this dystopian tomorrow, but we're already attached to our mobile phones, and getting a permanent Cuff doesn't seem too weird if it's first there for the same reasons we use a phone and then gradually turns into a words monitor. This futuristic dystopian world has been stagnant for hundreds of years so we're far in the future.
All Rights Reserved terrified me as a good dystopian should. It was an amazingly well-written book, although I suspect reading it is a different experience entirely that listening to it on audiobook, as I did. I missed out on the futuristic spelling (I think Speth's friend Nancy might actually have been spelt 'Nancee' because I happened to glance at my phone when that was a chapter heading in the second book) and the use of capital letters and formatting to help tell the story. Despite this, the audiobook was hugely enjoyable and worked particularly well with the main character being a girl with no voice and a very talented narrator providing her with one.
Katsoulis put a lot of effort into the worldbuilding and the atmospheric setting, giving a plausible futuristic feel by having 3-D printing technology for everything from buildings to food, ads generally overwhelming everyone, InstaSuits so you can instantly sue anyone who slightly inconveniences you for whatever reason, pop up terms of service to ring a doorbell, and corneal implants to give a horrible electric shock anyone who spoke without their wrist cuff attached. In this world, lawyers charge you to speak 'legalise' at you, libraries are extinct places called 'liberties' (because books only belong to the rich 'affluents' and you need to pay for the rights to read them), people who run too far into debt are enslaved, and word costs fluctuate on a word market. Parents can't even tell their kids 'I love you' because it's too expensive. Trying to circumvent the system will result in a fine that may lead to legal enslavement to pay off the debt.
When Speth turns 15, she is expected to read a contract binding her to a sponsor before she is allowed to say anything else, but when she refuses, her society simply can't accept her flouting her 'civic duty'. Rich people try to force her to speak, lawyers come after her and her family for daring to 'challenge' the tightly controlled and regulated system, and her silence becomes a protest and a movement that other people join. Also, Speth is of Latinx heritage, in case anyone's interested in that.
This book was just so overwhelmingly enjoyable that I loved it from page one and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I loved every part, from the insanely detailed and awesome worldbuilding to the gentleness and depth of the character building for both major to minor characters. Everyone felt three dimensional with real motivations. You'd think a novel where the main character cannot, will not, and does not speak might not be that interesting, but Speth encountered a lot of conflict in her journey, from her inability to communicate and offer support to her sister, to trying to communicate through 'public domain' movements such as micro-shrugs and zipped lips.
I went into this novel only having read the blurb, so I don't want to spoil anything beyond the worldbuilding examples I've already mentioned, but I hope it entices you enough to give this book a go. I get the feeling this book would make a really awesome novel for an English class to study, with its commentary on how capitalism, greed, and affluence ruins the lives of everyone not fortunate enough to be in the one percent. It is also a great introduction to copyright (even if in this world it's gone too far), which, with the rise of social media, should be something school age kids are learning about so someone doesn't sue them for posting a photo they found on Google on a website.
It's been a long time since I enjoyed a book this much from the very first page.
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
I really knew nothing about this book before getting into it. I'd only read the blurb, which although it had interested me because HELLO NECROMANCY (I hate zombies though, I know right?) and I hadn't read any reviews, so I didn't know:
That it was framed from a bard's point of view.
That it was sold as magical Memoirs of a Geisha meets The Name of the Wind.
That the author was from the Philippines.
That this was not the author's debut novel.
Anything about the author's previous work.
Some people claimed there was a cliffhanger, but I would argue it's not a cliffhanger. Cliffhangers are literally named after the device used in old TV serials where the episode would end with the hero hanging off the edge of a cliff, and 'tune in next week!' slapped across it. It was designed to 'force'/'emotionally blackmail'/ 'fear of missing out' people into watching the next episode. Lots of soap operas also use cliffhangers. I absolutely hate when first books in a series end on cliffhangers, or chop off the end of their resolution to stick it into the next book. I think it's a horrible, cheap way to try to force the sale of the next book when the first story could have easily been wrapped up all on its own. Although this story was unfinished in the greater thread of the narrative, this book did not have a cliffhanger. It did not have an 'edge of the seat what happens next' dangling enticement tacked on to the end. The Bone Witch was a complete story with all of its ends wrapped up, but with a promise and a threat that could be addressed in second novel. So I didn't hate the ending, and it actually made me interested in reading the second book, rather than putting me off it.
I did have issues with the Bard's part of the story. I didn't think it actually worked and I think it would have been better if the whole narrative wasn't framed as Tea retelling her story to the Bard. Mostly because he kept referring to her as 'the girl'. But also because Tea kept dropping hints that her retelling would get bigger and better and more interesting if only we'd keep 'listening', but in the end the things she was promising us didn't even happen in this book, and it kind of felt like a big set up for Book 2. (And in this way, I think listening to the audiobook was a really good method, because the whole story was framed as Tea verbally retelling her story to the Bard, and it just worked really well listening to it.)
Memoirs of a Geisha is one of my favourite books and I was pleased to see the influence of geisha custom had on the story (I know MOAG is fiction, but it is still largely historically accurate in the portrayal of geisha custom). I'm still a little confused as to why these women warriors were trained in the fine arts to please men when the male warriors of the same skill, called Deathseekers, were not. I mean, historically geisha were first men, then a mix of men and women, and then only women. The asha and the Deathseekers were both skilled the same magically, and women asha were required to train in combat, but it seemed like they mostly hung around the Willows entertaining people while the men went off to battle. I understand that it's really sexist but it just seems a lot to heap on asha: they must learn music and dance, singing, the art of politics, just like geisha, but they must also train as warriors (just in case, maybe?). I'm not saying this should have been more faithful to geisha culture, I'm just saying it wasn't really addressed. If the women were required to stay in the Willows and entertain people and only occasionally some of them ventured forth to battle, why were they also required to train in combat? And if the Deathseekers were warriors, why couldn't they also stay in the Willows and entertain people?
I was also really confused about the concept of the heart's glass. It just wasn't very clear what it actually was: both an emotional mood stone and something precious you give to a romantic partner, and some of them can be remade and some of them can't, and you need some kind of ceremony to receive one that everyone has to go through, and some people can make them and some people can't. And does it sit on a chain around someone's neck like a necklace? And how big is it? I was pretty confused. Nice concept, not very well executed.
I did like however that there didn't seem, to me, to be much infodumping. I think this is because Tea was 'retelling' her tale to someone who already knew a lot about what she was talking about, but not everything. I liked how in the asha culture, dressmakers and magical hairdressers were really important and I loved the descriptions of all of the clothing and jewels, and it was nice seeing that these things were important in this culture and not at all frivolous. It was also nice seeing a young boy destined to become a Deathseeker choose a different path: which ties back in to my criticism on the sexism between the asha and the Deathseekers.
While I'm often reluctant to continue with book series, I'm actually enchanted enough by this world and characters that I'm happy to read book 2 and I can even imagine myself following this series long-term, which is rare for me.
Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart
I love YA fantasies about young girls finding their power, but I'm a bit overwhelmed specifically by the 'women are super oppressed because men find them dangerous' trope that keeps popping up.
Grace and Fury was absolutely fine as a YA fantasy (no magic!) and OK kind of novel really. The best thing about it was that because it followed two sisters, it could intertwine two completely different stories: one the rags to riches tale of the oppressed girl thrown into a life of glittering privilege, and one about the privileged girl losing everything she'd worked for and forced to survive on an brutal island prison. This worked really well because, coupled with cliffhanger chapter endings, there was almost never a dull moment and it made it easy to flip the pages and consume.
However, there was something about the characterisation that seemed really… I don't know… shallow? I couldn't tell you anything about the characters except that one was sad and guilty about her circumstances and the other was angry and guilty. I have no idea how they really felt about anything. The romances for both of them were really sudden, and I hate to say it, instalove: but not in the usual way! The girls didn't lay eyes on their beaus and instantly fall in love, no; it was more like 'no mention of developing feelings whatsoever, then suddenly making out.' Like… we didn't really get to see into their heads beyond the first layer of their emotional state of being sad or angry (or scared). Nothing developed, it just happened, like flipping a switch.
My biggest problem though, was the actual inciting incident that split the sisters apart.
If all women are deliberately forbidden to learn to read, why did ANYONE assume Serina was reading, even if she was holding the book? And even if they did suspect she could read, why was no one else punished? Why did they not try to find the person who 'taught' her? And finally, if they REALLY thought she could read, why didn't anyone TEST HER?
Once I got over my major issue with the plot, I actually enjoyed it in places! The description of the food and clothes were nice. There were a couple of interesting twists that you'll probably be able to guess but it's nice to have them confirmed. It was really great to see Serina's characterisation grow from this plus-size pretty pampered thing to a scrappy survivor forced to kill, although Nomi was much more annoying if only because she was so freaking mouthy all the time and no one really seemed to care. It's not brave or spunky to be rude to royalty, it's stupid, and it annoyed me.
Overall, if you skip this one I don't think you're missing much, because it's nothing we've not seen before. However, if you've not read much YA fantasy, you might really enjoy this and the story it is setting up for Book #2.
Icefall audiobook - written by Matthew J Kirby, Narrated by Jenna Lamia
What a beautiful coming of age novel.
When a Viking king faces war, he packs his three children and a small household off to safety in a hidden hall in a glacier. There's Asa, the beautiful eldest daughter whose father refuses the bride price offered for her by an older rival king; Harald, the only son and youngest of the three siblings, destined to be king after his father; and Solveig, the plain, spare middle child. But he also sends a horde of berserkers to keep the family safe, and Solveig believes there is a traitor in their midst.
Don't expect grand fight scenes or lots of action in this book. Most of it revolves around Solveig slowly uncovering who the betrayer is, if there even is one. She is also led down a merry path of discovering her own identity in that of a skald, a kind of Viking poet and storyteller (and such, also a kind of historian, since Viking history was largely verbal), and the power and confidence she gains in that role.
There's no 'magic' as such in this – it's much more historical than fantasy, set in the real world hundreds of years ago, though Solveig is convinced her recurring dream is a terrible prophecy. The pace is kind of slow but consistent, quietly catching you off guard as months pass in the story, giving Solveig time to grow and develop among the icy realm. There are a lot of beautiful stories within this story, as she discovers the power of the skald to comfort, or intimidate, or educate. It's written well enough that you can guess the twists before they occur, although I was a little disappointed that it turns out to be a male character on the cover of this book.
I think that is why I took so long to finally read it: the cover looks strikingly (lol) Middle Grade – an illustration with a man/boy on the cover instead of the female protagonist we actually get. It's also a Young Adult novel, and although we do get to explore the concept of love in this novel, we don't get to experience romantic love with Solveig. I found it conspicuously absent, especially since one of the other characters, a childhood friend around the same age, seemed to be the prime candidate for a love interest. Instead, Solveig guides us through the love she feels for her family and the platonic love she feels for the other members of her household, including her beloved pets.
I listened to the audiobook, and while this didn't deliver extreme emotional punches, the narrator was fine, doing a variety of accents and tones to indicate different characters. At first I thought her voice was a bit 'young' to be Solveig, but this book turned out to be kind of a crossover to Middle Grade anyway so it worked just fine. Her delivery and pronunciation of foreign terms and names was impressive.
Icefall caught me off guard and I fell a little bit in love. It reminded me a lot of A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C Bunce. If you're looking for something similar in tone, character, and quiet strength, you might enjoy this one. Solveig's strength is not the kick-butt action heroine we've come to expect from YA in recent years. Maybe that's a good thing, because this was published in 2011, and as such it has been a nice little palette cleanser for me.
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw: A Wicked Debut
Hocus Pocus meets Practical Magic.
THIS COVERS LOOKS SUPER SHINY AND PRETTY but I didn't even know because I borrowed an ebook from my library!
CONSENT IS AN ICKY ISSUE
So this is kind of a novel about consent without it ever really being addressed.
There are so many consent issues to think about: consent about whether the sisters really did 'bewitch' men against their will, on the consent of boys lured to their deaths, on the consent of the sisters inhabiting innocent teen girls to wreak their revenge and whether the sisters have been invited by sheer teenage stupidity or bravado or peer pressure (and even if they have, they can't consent to individual acts the sisters choose to commit), and how the sisters use the innocent girls' bodies while they're possessing them. But this is all kind of glossed over because it's revenge.
YA… BUT MAYBE IN DISGUISE?
I feel like this novel didn't really have to be a Young Adult novel. It could have been an adult one, and may even make more sense as an adult novel.
Penny had no parental guidance and was basically emancipated, caring for herself because her mother was unable to and her dad wasn't around.
It was set in the summer holidays so there was no school influence (although there was a lot of very cold ocean and rain and not much mention of hot weather – does it even get hot in Oregon? idk). Since it was a small town the relationships between the youth population could have easily been because of that and not that she'd gone to school with them.
She didn't particularly want to party.
Everyone casually drank underage, which I guess isn't as big a deal in the US as I thought it was.
Penny took it upon herself to hire help for the island.
She didn't even have a cell phone, with the argument that it had no signal on her island.
She didn't have any modern technology that teens are obsessed with. She didn't have email or social media – no one did, it seemed. Some of the other characters had cell phones, but they might as well have never existed.
There wasn't any teenage angst. I like to read YA because the protagonists haven't found their feet in the world yet, don't know what they're doing when it comes to love and relationships and sex, but Penny was remarkably self-assured and mature without being overconfident or jaded.
Maybe it was an attempt to make this book seem more timeless, like it was set in the 80s or 90s when technology wasn't so deeply engrained in everyday life, something that The Scorpio Races, a strikingly similar book, pulled off with its earlier time setting. But the result made Penny seem like she was a middle-aged adult in a young person's body, much the same way Bella Swan seemed strikingly middle-aged for a teenager. Maybe it's a Pacific North West thing, I don't know. But this book could have been rewritten as a book for adults with very little effort, or maybe it originally was and was easily switched to YA to find a more lucrative market.
SIMILAR TO THE SCORPIO RACES?
I didn't find this particularly atmospheric or spooky, maybe because I think it pales in comparison to both Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic, which is has been compared to. I also think it pales in comparison to The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater which, like I mentioned earlier, it bears striking similarities to: a small town set in a stormy place has a supernatural 'season' that involves the ocean and locals doing daring things that might get them killed, and which attracts tourists to the town. Like Puck, Penny is also a local who is an outsider. I also didn't think it was particularly romantic, mostly because I really have no idea what either person in this supposed romance felt. It was really lukewarm and uninspiring. It also didn't make any sense that at the end of the novel, Penny and her love interest continued their relationship as if nothing had happened.
Penny is not the one falling in love/being fallen in love with, and that's why it's icky consent and no feels romance and generally kind of a plot hole.
BUT I DID LIKE IT!
What I thought was really great was the use of first and third person point of view, and past and present tense. There was no hard and fast rule: it wasn't that everything set 200 years ago was in third person and everything set in the modern world was first person. There was a fluidity there that I think could have been a risk in lesser hands, but Ernshaw had good instincts and it all flowed really well.
It was fun and easy to read and guess the twists before they happened. The narrative was woven together very nicely, utilising a variety of points of view and tenses, and using Chekov's Gun surprisingly well. One thing that kept me going was that I couldn't see how this could possibly be resolved.
While I wasn't an enamoured of this book as I wanted to be, I think it was a better debut than most contemporary YA paranormal writers. If Ernshaw's writing improves with time and experience I expect her next novel to be even better, and I look forward to reading it. I also think this would make a really good TV miniseries and I hope it's fully developed.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Illustrated by Jim Kay
Yes, I am actually going to review Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
(While quietly lamenting that Bloomsbury thought Americans wouldn't be smart enough to recognise what a philosopher is.)
I've only read the series once, and it was after each book had been released, so it's been a long time since I read Philosopher's Stone. As in 20 years.
I've seen the film numerous times, so that helps keep things pretty fresh.
But Rowling's quote, about how "Hogwarts will always be there to welcome [us] home" has stayed with me for a long time.
Would a reread of Harry Potter at age *cough* thirtysomething *cough* still stand up? Could I still find a home at Hogwarts?
I borrowed all of the books the first times I read them. Including the time my best friend bought Order of the Phoenix and gave it to me to read first because I was a faster reader than her. Then I purchased the 'adult' cover box set, and because it's paperback, I've never actually read them because I don't want to spines on the bigger books to crack. Then my husband bought the Pottermore ebooks, so I knew I'd always have Harry Potter within reach if I needed it. Then Bloomsbury released the amazing Jim Kay illustrated editions (they have only released up to Prisoner of Azkaban at time of writing), and I purchased them for the purposes of reading them to my future children.
I was armed and ready with my three different versions of Harry Potter.
Then one day my husband was sick in bed, asleep, and I was lonely.
Despite being an introvert, I feel loneliness very keenly. I prefer to be around only one other person, or a small group, but being by myself? No thanks. I hate having to take a day off work and spend it by myself. I need human company, even if they're awake and doing something themselves in their own space.
I tried turning on the TV to a reality-style documentary just for the comfort of human voices, but it only helped a little bit.
Then I picked up my Jim Kay illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone…
And suddenly I wasn't lonely anymore.
There was something so gratifying and comforting about opening up book 20 years after I first read it, and finding it just as enjoyable as the first time.
I really appreciated rereading this because the film version of Hermione really coloured my recollection of her. Film Hermione has more emotional intelligence that Book Hermione, and is often an emotional crutch for Harry and Ron. Her hair isn't that bushy (not in later films), she doesn't have large front teeth (which I don't remember at all being mentioned in Philosopher's Stone), and she's beautiful and elegant because she's played by Emma Watson. Book Hermione really is insufferable, bossy, and annoying, until she becomes friends with Harry and Ron, at which point she is awfully helpful with her organisation and desire to be the best. Book Hermione also seems more keen to break the rules than Film Hermione, at least this early on. As much as Hermione is really touted as one of YA's most amazingballs incredible book heroines, and I agree that she probably is, maybe I thought too much of her, at least this early on, because of the film interpretation.
Sure, it's not perfect (perfection is subjective, anyway), but it's engaging and easy to devour. The characters are all easily defined with motivations of their own, and they're not perfect either. Not even Harry, who is clearly much better off in the magical world than in the Muggle world. Rowling is not an unskilled writer, and Harry himself is there to be a vehicle to kids' own imagining of finding out they are secretly special and attending a magical boarding school. That's why we are always encouraged to figure out which House we belong to (Hufflepuffs represent!) .Remember, the original target audience was young boys, which is why Rowling, who has no middle name, used her initial and her mother's initial to create the JK part. They somehow thought that young boys wouldn't want to read a book written by a woman, even if it did have a train or a boy on a flying broomstick on the cover.
Zenith (The Androma Saga #1) doesn't live up to its name
2.5 stars but leaning more towards 2.
I don't know how to spell anyone's name because I listened to the audiobook.
the time at which something is most powerful or successful.
in astronomy, the point in the sky or celestial sphere directly above an observer.
OK honestly??
I can understand why a lot of people would DNF this. The writing… not competent. I've certainly read worse, but if all the repetition were cut out this could have been reduced by about a third. We are constantly reminded that Andi has white and purple hair. We are constantly reminded how sad/ruthless/awesome she is. We are constantly reminded of Lira's Otherness with her blue skin and flashing scales. We even had two almost identical scenes of Andi waking up in the cargo bay of a spaceship, and I actually had to go into a bookshop and check in a paperback copy to make sure that it actually happened, that the recording wasn't a mistake or that I hadn't accidentally skipped backwards on my audiobook. Nope, it was there. So weird.
By the way, what kind of competent captain would hire a pilot who passes out under pressure? Don't you think a life of supposedly successful pirating, allegedly spreading terror through the galaxy, would make piloting this spacecraft just the TINIEST bit stressful? No? Lira only passes out when it's convenient to plot? YOU DON'T SAY.
Speaking of Lira, her POV and the POV of the other characters just seemed so redundant. First of all the series is called the Androma Saga, so you'd think it was about Androma. But we get SIX POV in this book. SIX. From the supposedly 'evil' queen (who never actually did anything evil?) to her own mother, to Andi's ex-lover Dex and the boy they're sent to save, Vallen. But when the story would have been best told from someone else's POV, we miss out. We get utterly pointless chapters told from Nor's POV, basically only to show that she enjoys intimacy with her lover (which could be a form of slut shaming?), then she disappears for about half the novel, only reappearing again right near the end. Vallen's POV is redundant, Lira's is equally as useless, and Dex's is only there to reinforce how awesome and desirable Andi is. The only other vaguely interesting one is from Nor's mother Claren, and that takes place in the past. To top it all off, everyone's POV is all in third person, so we don't even get any kind of intimacy or real connection and understanding with the characters.
Basic concepts seem to be wilfully misunderstood, like murder and galaxies. The book's inciting incident is a crash several years ago that Andi was allegedly responsible for (though that's not confirmed) that killed the General's heir Kaylee. Since it happened on a military planet and the General is the leader of the planet, the death of his heir is seen as treason, therefore making it murder, and sentencing Andi to death. Everyone keeps referring to Kaylee's death as murder, even though by definition murder has to be premeditated, and Andi did not plan Kaylee's death at all. At most it would be manslaughter. You can argue that Earth laws don't apply in sci-fi and whatnot but the reality is that everyone calling a clear accident murder makes everyone look like a dumbass. Andi also keeps calling the incident 'a mistake' instead of 'an accident' which really annoyed me. Like she chose to crash the ship from bad judgement rather than whatever it was that caused the crash (which I'm still not clear on, despite getting several flashbacks from Andi's POV about the incident). It's all about choice: Did Andi choose the crash the ship? No. It was an accident, not a mistake. Did she choose to kill Kaylee? Not, it was an accident, not murder. I mean, we learn this basic concept in The Lion King:
SCAR: It's your fault he's dead. Do you deny it?
SIMBA: No.
SCAR: Then you're guilty.
SIMBA: No, I am not a murderer!
And look, yes, obviously the General is in charge and he wanted Andi dead for Kaylee's death and they're going to do it because of who he is, but this obstruction of justice was never addressed. I can even easily imagine some non-Constitutional monarchies in this world pulling the same shit and not letting justice get in the way of revenge, but like I said, this is never addressed. Andi's just a murderer and the crash was a mistake, not an accident.
Not only is this basic concept completely reinterpreted, but the characters in this book also get the basic concept of a galaxy wrong. Multiple times it is inferred that a planetary system is a galaxy, that that by making the planetary system safe they are making the galaxy safe. They refer to interstellar or interplanetary meetings as intergalactic.
Intergalactic means between galaxies. This basic misunderstanding really annoyed me I mean jeez, this is a sci-fi, at least get the scientific terminology correct.
This book also contradicts itself. The supposedly impenetrable 'glass' spaceship has metal shields to protect it from space fights and becomes junk once it crash lands on a planet, and people easily gain entrance. Not so impenetrable hey? If you want to show me a POV that actually matters, how about one that shows how anyone gets past a military planet's supposedly impenetrable security? Like…. Nor's? She was a useless POV earlier, could have utilised her now. No? Would it give too much away? Or would it explain it and make it easier to suspend my disbelief, and build dread and anticipation while the other main characters have no idea?
Another point where the book contradicted itself was Andi. She was supposed to be this ruthless badass killer, notching tallies on her swords and slicing off limbs with no regards or feelings… but in the privacy of her own space she threw herself massive pity parties, the guilt from killing people dragging me doooooown… and OH MY GOD IT NEVER FUCKING ENDED. It was like the authors wanted a badass ruthless mercenary with feelings because OH NO what if some people didn't like Andi? And yes, I acknowledge that characters can be three dimensional, and a badass with feelings is not new territory, but it was her constant guilt and feeling so sorry for herself and being Kaylee's MURDERER like she wrapped her hands around Kaylee's neck and squeezed just didn't work. It didn't work. Because it was repetitive. It just didn't work, because it was repetitive. (lol)
And on top of that, the whole thing stinks of Throne of Glass. Like the Zenith took a roll in the pages of Throne of Glass and shook. Now, I did not really enjoy Throne of Glass, because it was about an allegedly badass assassin who was actually a really crap non-assassin. I do think Zenith was better written than Throne of Glass, but the similarities between Andi and Celeana were striking. They both had white blonde hair. They were both tragically beautiful. They were both ridiculously tragic figures mentally (and in Andi's case physically) scarred by their pasts. They were both forced into doing a thing they didn't want to do to gain their freedom from the political leader of their respective novel. They were 'allegedly' badass warriors. But out of the two of them, only Andi carried this guilt around with her because she had feelings and didn't let boys get in the way of her mission, and had actual friendships with other more than one other girl. I like Andi better than Celeana and I think she's a better written and better developed character, but as I was reading I kept thinking of Throne of Glass.
But I kind of liked the ending.
THE BLURB
Oh, so one of the authors is a YouTuber? I could not care less. I'm barely on social media and I've never heard of either of these authors. I borrowed the audiobook based on the blurb. I also have some things to say about that:
Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she's just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.
Uh yeah, except she's not a powerful mercenary, she's running low on fuel and money and can't afford a cook, and you can tell me she has a reign of terror but I really don't see anything vaguely regarding that?
But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder's all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi's past.
It's not a routine mission.
The mission is successful.
No one was really tested, as they easily overcame any obstacles.
The situation is far from treacherous, they're going to a freaking ball.
The bounty hunter is not sadistic, he's basically a lovesick puppy. Come on, who wrote this blurb?
This is only a two book duology, yet it's called The Androma Saga.
a long story of heroic achievement
a long, involved story, account, o series of incidents
This is only a two book series! And it has SIX points of view in the very first book, how can it be named after only one character?!


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Despite all of the other crazy news that is happening all around the world, the top headlines on Drudge on Monday evening were all about the record heatwave that is currently pummeling the Southwest. Of course it is always hot during the summer, but the strange weather that we have been witnessing in recent months is unlike anything that we have seen since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. At this moment, almost the entire Southwest is in some stage of drought. Agricultural production has been absolutely devastated, major lakes, rivers and streams are rapidly becoming bone dry, and wild horses are dropping dead because they don't have any water to drink. In addition, we are starting to see enormous dust storms strike major cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix, and the extremely dry conditions have already made this one of the worst years for wildfires in U.S. history. What we are facing is not "apocalyptic" quite yet, but it will be soon if the rain doesn't start falling.
'We've never seen it like this,' said Simone Netherlands, president of the Arizona-based Salt River Wild Horse Management Group. In May, dozens of horses were found dead on the edge of a dried-up watering hole in northeastern Arizona.
Monday was the hottest day on record for Waco as temperatures climbed to 114 degrees just after 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
"Officially and by two degrees, this is the hottest it has ever been in Waco," National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Cain said.
Please keep in mind that a record was not just set for that particular date.
114 degrees was the hottest that it has been in the city of Waco ever.
Temperatures approached 120 degrees in parts of the U.S. Southwest on Monday, and forecasters said this week could bring the region's hottest weather of the year.
Phoenix reached a sweltering 115 degrees (46 Celsius), which broke the previous daily record, according to the National Weather Service.
From Monday, July 23 to Wednesday, July 25, Phoenix will be under an Excessive Heat Warning. During this time, residents are recommended to stay indoors.
With the temperatures rising and ACs on, APS expects record numbers for energy usage.
Over in California, the big concern is whether the power grid will hold up or not.
California's power grid operator on Monday issued an alert to homes and businesses to conserve electricity on Tuesday and Wednesday when a heat wave is expected to blanket the state.
The California Independent System Operator (ISO), the grid operator, said it issued the so-called "Flex Alert" due to high temperatures across the western United States, reduced electricity imports into the state, tight natural gas supplies in Southern California and high wildfire risk.
And that followed a similar alert that was put out by Southern California Gas. It will be very interesting to see if California can get through this current heatwave without any substantial disruptions.
The USA is sweltering through what will likely be its hottest May on record, according to a preliminary analysis of weather data.
National Weather Service meteorologist Victor Murphy said May 2018 should break the record set in May 1934 during the Dust Bowl.
Of course it isn't just the U.S. that is being affected. Over the past 12 months, we have seen an endless string of record high temperatures being set all over the world.
But what should deeply alarm those of us living in the United States in particular is the return of Dust Bowl conditions to the Southwest. Just within the past couple of days, we have seen massive dust storms hit Phoenix and Las Vegas. Very few of us were alive back in the 1930s, but we have heard about the immense devastation that occurred as much of the Southwest was literally transformed into a desert.
Well, now it is happening again.
Scientists tell us that the Southwest has been unusually wet for the past several decades. For most of human history, the Southwest United States was a bleak, barren desert, and it appears that those conditions may be attempting to return.
If Dust Bowl conditions continue to intensify, it won't just be Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah that are affected. Agricultural production will be devastated in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and other Midwest states as well, and that would have profound implications for the U.S. economy and for the future of our society.


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Biography – HARVARD, WILLIAM MARTIN – Volume VIII (1851-1860) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography
HARVARD, WILLIAM MARTIN, Methodist minister; b. c. 1790 in England, probably in the London area; m. 23 Nov. 1813 Elizabeth Parks in London, and they had five sons, two of whom died in infancy; d. 15 Dec. 1857 in Richmond (London).
William Martin Harvard was evidently trained as a printer. In 1810 he became a probationer for the ministry in the Wesleyan Methodist Conference and in 1813 volunteered to join the Reverend Thomas Coke and others in establishing Methodist missions in India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). As a prospective foreign missionary Harvard was ordained in 1813 in London. Subsequently, Coke performed Harvard's marriage ceremony. In December Coke and his companions sailed from Portsmouth on the long voyage to India, but Coke's contributions to the missionary enterprise of the conference ended when he died at sea. Harvard conducted the funeral service, and the party proceeded to its destination. He remained in the India–Ceylon mission until 1819 when ill health forced his return to England. His well-written but discursive account of the inception and growth of the mission to India was published in 1823, the year his wife died.
Harvard regained his health at home, and between 1819 and 1835 he was stationed on several circuits in southern England. In 1836 he was appointed president of the Canadian conference, an office he held until 1838, and chairman of the Lower Canada District. He arrived in Montreal on 16 October and immediately assumed his duties there. A year later he moved to Toronto. John Saltkill Carroll* described him as "commanding in person, almost the fac simile of General Washington; dignified in his carriage; polite in his manners; pre-eminently Christian in his spirit; and unusually faithful as a minister." At first he impressed the Canadian ministers much more favourably than had his predecessor, the Reverend William Lord.
Harvard's appointment as president came at an unpropitious juncture in the relationship between the English and Canadian conferences. The two had united in 1833 to form the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. In the mean time, in England, the Wesleyan Methodist Conference had come to be defined as a church, with a ministry ordained by the imposition of hands, whose authority could not be shared with local preachers or class leaders, and in which the conference was sovereign. The church's leaders accepted the established church and were intensely hostile to those – usually the same persons – who promoted disestablishment and radical politics. Harvard evidently shared these views and was slow to learn that the conference in Upper Canada was not wholly of the same mind.
By 1836 some members of the latter conference were becoming disillusioned with the union. Two years earlier the union had precipitated a secession led by disgruntled local preachers who established a new organization, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada. Within the conference, the Wesleyan sympathizers urged that the Christian Guardian become a solely religious journal, supportive if necessary of the political status quo, and that the conference accept a share of the clergy reserves income, were a division of the reserves to occur. The Canadian leaders, and probably the majority of their followers, were dubious at best, or outright opposed to the Wesleyans' position. As for Harvard, in a letter to the Reverend Robert Alder* in January 1837, he commented that the Methodists could use a share of the clergy reserves for chapels, schools, and parsonages. "The Scotch people," he wrote to the Reverend Egerton Ryerson* in May, "are making a grand effort for the clergy reserves. We might find a slice of the loaf highly helpful for our Parsonage houses, Supernumerary Preachers, and students for the ministry at Cobourg. . . . I should be unutterably vexed to be disinherited of our just ground of expectation." Harvard doubtless had some part in framing the equivocal resolutions adopted by the conference in 1837, in which the exclusive claims of Anglicans and Presbyterians were condemned and the conference's willingness to accept a share of the reserves "for the religious and educational improvement of the Province" was indicated. Not surprisingly, he continued to press for the payment of the government grant to the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society.
Given his conservative proclivities, Harvard was intensely agitated by the disturbances in the colony in December 1837. He believed that if the rebels had succeeded, all pro-British citizens would have been massacred, and he was cheered by the support for the government in Toronto and elsewhere. This support, he concluded, "would tend greatly to tranquillise the public mind and thus to forward the cause of godliness in this Province." In contrast, in March 1838, the Reverend John Ryerson* exclaimed: "Never were the prospects of the friends of Civil & Religious liberty so gloomy & desperate as they now are; & Harvard & [Ephraim Evans*] love to have it so. Mr. H is a weak high-church despot & Evans is his intire tool."
Harvard would provide confirmation of this assessment with the publication the next month in the Guardian of a pastoral letter to the ministers in Upper Canada of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Having learned that there were Methodists who had "not done honour to their Christian profession, during the late unnatural rebellion," he thought it imperative to state that "some opinions . . . so involve the very vitals of morality as that they are never found associated in the same bosom with fervent piety and deep devotedness to God." In "a question of loyalty to the Sovereign of an Empire, the Government may well say, in the words of our adorable Saviour, 'He that is not with me is against me.'" Thus he instructed the district chairmen to require every minister to scrutinize the loyalty of all members. "Should there be a single individual, for whose Christian loyalty the Preacher cannot conscientiously answer to his brethren, . . . such individual should be dealt with, kindly and compassionately, but firmly, according to the provisions of the Book of Discipline." He reminded his brethren that in Britain the Methodists were known for their "faithful attachment" to the crown.
Perhaps to Harvard's surprise, his statement stirred up sharp controversy among the Methodists. "Last night," he reported to Alder, "I was rather rudely arrested by one of our Leaders and a local preacher who termed my letter a bull – that I was acting like a Pope." In a later issue of the Guardian he insisted that he did not intend to take away church membership from anyone "merely on account of party politics." Doubtless he was distressed to learn from Egerton Ryerson that he had read the letter "with great pain and regret." Ryerson stressed that disaster would result "if the undoubted constitutional right of individual judgment and discussion on political matters is not fully understood and mutually acknowledged by all." Ryerson's private letter was accompanied by the publication in the Guardian of a lengthy statement entitled "What is Christian Loyalty?" in which he recalled that John Wesley "gives the right hand of fellowship to those who differ from him in opinion on many points . . . , nor can we with any reason or propriety, allow less latitude and liberty of sentiment on doctrines and measures of government."
Undaunted, Harvard asked Ryerson, "How can we keep our Methodist stage from going deeply again into Radical mud . . . but to keep well off from the ditch while we turn this corner?" Harvard wished "to see Canadian Wesleyan Methodism become more and more Wesleyan, and this will make it the glory of the land. It appears to me that to Americanize it will be to neutralize it." He presided with equanimity at the conference in June 1838. Many there, however, must have shared John Ryerson's opinion that "Mr. Harvard [is] a very dangerous man. . . . You would be surprised to see how he has been runing about [Toronto], fawning, bowing, smiling, eulogizing, flattering, etc. . . . to make proselites to himself & Mr. Evans." No doubt they were relieved to learn that the missionary society had decided already to station him in Quebec.
Harvard remained in the Lower Canada District until 1845, acting as chairman throughout that period. In the latter year he returned to Toronto as chairman of the Canada Western District which had been created after the dissolution of the union between the Wesleyan and Canadian conferences in 1840. During his tenure in Toronto as chairman, an appointment proposed by the Reverend Matthew Richey*, his role became that of helping persuade his recalcitrant brethren to accept the reunion of the two conferences in 1847. This must have been a difficult task, for he was not alone in considering the disruption of 1840 "a providential opening" for the establishment of a truly Wesleyan connection in Upper Canada. Throughout the pre-union negotiation, he urged that the Wesleyans and the Canadian Methodists should go their separate ways and "agree to differ." Reunion should be effected only on condition that the British conference secured supreme control over the Canadian conference. In the end the Wesleyans settled for less than Harvard thought wise, but he worked loyally with Alder to bring the Canada Western District into line. Clearly, however, his usefulness was at an end and in 1847 he was assigned to the Maidstone circuit in England.
At home, Harvard was appointed in succession to the Maidstone, Portsmouth, and Norwich circuits, and finally in 1855 he became house governor of the southern branch of the Wesleyan Theological Institution, in Richmond. He died in office in 1857, after experiencing a time of turmoil in the English conference over the status to be assigned to ordained ministers.
Harvard's brethren recorded that "his character was distinguished by lowliness and sanctity . . . . He was faithful in the exercise of his ministry; 'gentle' among the churches . . . esteemed and beloved by a multitude on both sides of the Atlantic." He epitomized much of the Wesleyan Methodism of his generation in his conviction that its polity, missionary zeal, loyalty to British institutions, and conservatism made it a form of Methodism superior to all others. His kindly temper and courtesy enabled him to persuade many that the unadventurous Methodism he proclaimed was the one most likely to succeed in his time.
G. S. French
William Martin Harvard's writings include The Gospel warning: a sermon occasioned by the death of Private J. Jenny . . . (London, 1818); The faith of departed saints: an unperishable monument of instruction and admonition to survivors; a funeral sermon, occasioned by the lamented death of his late most gracious majesty, George III, of religious and blessed memory, preached at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Duke Street, Deal, on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 1820, being the day appointed for the interment of his late majesty (Deal, Eng., 1820); A narrative of the establishment and progress of the mission to Ceylon and India, founded by the late Rev. Thomas Coke, L.L.D., under the direction of the Wesleyan-Methodist Conference . . . (London, 1823); The substance of a funeral sermon, delivered in the Wesleyan Chapel, St. James Street, Montreal, on Sunday, August 13, 1837, on occasion of the lamented demise of his most gracious majesty, William the Fourth (Montreal, 1837); Remarks and suggestions, respectfully offered, on that portion of the clergy reserve property, (landed and funded,) of Upper Canada, "not specifically appropriated to any particular church"; in a letter addressed to His Excellency Sir George Arthur, K. C.B ., governor, and commander-in-chief . . . (Quebec, 1838; 2nd ed., 1839); Defence of protracted meetings: special efforts for the souls of men justified, and observers of such efforts admonished, in a discourse delivered in St. Ann Street Chapel, Quebec, a second edition of which, published at London and Quebec during the 1840s, is available at the UCA; No honesty separate from veracity; the unrighteous monopoly, (by an intolerant party in the Church of England,) of "whatever Christian knowledge Canada possesses," examined, exposed, and rebuked; to which is added: a defence of the Wesleyan Methodists, and other orthodox churches in Canada, against the "unchristian bitterness," "violent dealing," and misrepresentation, of the theological professor of M'Gill College, Montreal (Montreal, 1845); Facts against falsehood: the false allegations . . . made by the "Christian Guardian," (the official organ of the Upper Canada Conference,) against the missionaries of the British Wesleyan Conference, in Western Canada . . . fully and forcibly disproved . . . (Toronto, 1846; copy at UCA); and Five defensive letters in behalf of the British Wesleyan Conference and their missionary society . . . against the attacks of the Canada Conference Journal (Toronto, 1846). He is also the author of Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Harvard, late of the Wesleyan mission to Ceylon and India; with extracts from her diary and correspondence, a biography of his wife prepared following her death in 1823; a copy of the 3rd edition (London, 1833) is at the UCA.
SOAS, Methodist Missionary Soc. Arch., Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Soc., corr.., North America, 1837–47 (mfm. at UCA). Jabez Bunting, Early Victorian Methodism: the correspondence of Jabez Bunting, 1830–1858, ed. W. R. Ward (Oxford and New York, 1976). Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of the conferences (London), 5 (1819–24): 102; 8 (1836–39): 47; 10 (1844–47): 198, 466; 13 (1855–57): 26; 14 (1858–62): 8–9. Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada, The minutes of the annual conferences . . . from 1824 to 1845 . . . (Toronto, 1846), 168. Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine (London), 42 (1819): 714; 60 (1837): 72. Christian Guardian, 30 Nov. 1836; 15 Nov. 1837; 18, 25 April, 9 May 1838. Cornish, Cyclopædia of Methodism. Carroll, Case and his cotemporaries, 4: 131. French, Parsons & politics. J. E. Sanderson, The first century of Methodism in Canada (2v., Toronto, 1908–10), 1: 390–91, 393, 398, 404, 413, 420. C. B. Sissons, Egerton Ryerson: his life and letters (2v., Toronto, 1937–47), 1: 379, 433, 471, 473.
Religion – Methodists
Region of Birth
Europe – United Kingdom – England
North America – Canada – Ontario – Centre
North America – Canada – Quebec – Québec
ALDER, ROBERT (Vol. 10)CARROLL, JOHN SALTKILL (Vol. 11)EVANS, EPHRAIM (Vol. 12)RICHEY, MATTHEW (Vol. 11)RYERSON, EGERTON (Vol. 11)RYERSON, JOHN (Vol. 10)
EVANS, EPHRAIM
G. S. French, "HARVARD, WILLIAM MARTIN," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed July 16, 2019, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/harvard_william_martin_8E.html.
Permalink: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/harvard_william_martin_8E.html
Author of Article: G. S. French
Title of Article: HARVARD, WILLIAM MARTIN

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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On the Road with Rick Holmes: Show the national parks some love
Rick Holmes GateHouse Media
Rick Holmes, an award-winning journalist and longtime GateHouse Media columnist, is on the road in search of the ties that bind Americans — and the forces that pull them apart. With all eyes on Washington, Rick reports from real places too often reduced to primary colors on an election map.
WHITE CITY, N.M. – Visiting one of America's natural wonders sounded pretty easy. You take an elevator down into Carlsbad Caverns, get out and explore. The Big Room Route, the most popular path, is described in the brochure as an easy "stroll" through dimly-lit chambers decorated with stalagmites, stalactites and all shapes of geological features.
There are restrooms and even a snack bar at the bottom of the elevator. We could get a light lunch before jumping on the elevator for the ride back to the surface.
Getting to Carlsbad Caverns National Park is the hard part. It's in the southeastern corner of New Mexico, a long drive from anywhere. The cave walk itself sounded like a breeze.
We didn't find out until we walked through the front door that the elevator was broken.
The National Parks Service ranger explained that the elevator had broken down the week before, stranding three tourists who had to be hoisted out in harnesses. The only other way in is down the Natural Entrance Route, a steep, winding trail featuring switchbacks and narrow passages that takes you down 750 feet to the rest rooms, snack bar and the dead elevator. No wheelchairs, walkers or strollers allowed. We decided to give it a try.
This wasn't the first time an elevator broke, and it came as no surprise to the park staff. The elevator system – two elevators in two shafts, one to be used as a backup – was installed in 1955 and the cables are known to be worn. The park had been in this situation before, with no working elevators from November 2015 to May 2016.
Carlsbad Caverns' broken elevator is a symptom of a larger problem. America's National Parks have a backlog of $11.9 billion in overdue maintenance. The elevator has been on that list for awhile, needing $41 million in repairs, but there's just not enough money to cover it.
Last year, The NPS got rid of one of the world's greatest travel bargains, raising the price of its lifetime senior citizen pass from $10 to $80. Then the Trump Administration proposed more than doubling the fees at the most popular National Parks, raising the cost of a day pass to parks like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon to $70.
The fee hikes sparked loud opposition, and the Interior Department retreated. This month they announced entrance fees will be increased, but by just $5. The fee hike should bring in $60 million, which will barely put a dent in the backlog.
The administration's latest proposal is to funnel new revenue from oil and gas leases on public lands and offshore drilling directly into the NPS maintenance backlog. There's something cynical about pairing an environmental good – stewardship of National Parks – with the threats to the environment posed by expanded fossil fuel development. That's one reason the plan is unlikely to get through Congress in an election year.
In the past year, I've been lucky to visit many National Parks, from Acadia in Maine to Big Bend in Texas; Glacier National Park in Montana to Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina; presidential birthplaces, nature preserves, national seashores and national monuments and more battlefields than I can list. They are wonderful places staffed by dedicated professionals and volunteers.
There's not one of them I wouldn't gladly visit again, including Carlsbad Caverns – if they fix the elevator, that is.
The downhill climb was hard on my middle-aged knees, and the trip back up had even young people huffing and puffing. We rested at the bottom, but the snack bar had nothing but water and energy drinks, and it was closing just as we arrived. The trip back was the equivalent of summiting a 75-story building.
But you just can't beat the scenery along the way. We were a little sore the next morning, but the trip was worth it.
That doesn't excuse the broken elevator, though. Without it, the cavern is effectively out of reach for thousands of visitors.
We are a wealthy country. There's no excuse for letting our national treasures fall apart or pricing them out of reach. These are not for-profit theme parks that can charge as much as the market can bear. They are our birthright, bestowed on us by our forefathers. It is our obligation to preserve and maintain them for generations to come.
The National Parks are more popular than ever, with more than 330 million visits a year. They are celebrating National Parks Week, starting April 21, with free admissions and special programs, and summer vacation season is coming. Americans ought to show their amazing National Parks some love, and tell Congress to show them the money they need to keep the elevators running.
— Rick Holmes can be reached at rick@rickholmes.net. You can follow his journey at www.rickholmes.net. Like him on Facebook at Holmes & Co, on follow him on Twitter @HolmesAndCo.


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ERG, Inc WINS INAVERO'S 2017 BEST OF STAFFING® CLIENT AWARD
ERG received satisfaction scores 20% higher than the staffing industry average
Campbell, CA – February 16, 2017– ERG, Inc, a leading consulting firm in the engineering and technology industry announced today they have won Inavero's Best of Staffing® Client Award for providing superior service to their clients. Presented in partnership with CareerBuilder, Inavero's Best of Staffing Client winners have proven to be industry leaders in service quality based completely on the ratings given to them by their clients. On average, clients of winning agencies are 2.5 times more likely to be completely satisfied with services provided compared to those working with non-winning agencies.
Focused on helping Silicon Valley companies find hardware and software engineers for their urgent projects and long term roles, ERG, Inc received satisfaction scores of 9 or 10 out of 10 from 50% of their clients, significantly higher than the industry's average of 29%. Award winners make up less than 2% of all staffing agencies in the U.S. and Canada who earned the Best of Staffing Award for service excellence.
"Our team at ERG is proud to be awarded the Best of Staffing Client Award for 2017," said CEO and founder Tim Penick. "We continually strive to ensure we are providing the best service possible for both clients and consultants. It's an honor to be recognized for our dedication to building strong relationships that withstand the ever-changing Silicon Valley market."
"Staffing firms are giving top companies a competitive advantage as they search for talent in North America," said Inavero's CEO Eric Gregg. "The 2017 Best of Staffing winners have achieved exceptionally high levels of satisfaction and I'm proud to feature them on BestofStaffing.com."
ERG, Inc was established in 2004 with a strong emphasis on engineering consulting and permanent hire positions. By maintaining a Silicon Valley focus, their team is able adapt quickly to meet the needs of hiring managers and consultants in the area. ERG specializes in roles ranging from software development and testing, to hardware design and verification. ERG was also awarded the 2015 and 2016 Best of Staffing Talent Award, the 2015 Inc. 5000 list honoring the fastest growing private companies in America, and was also recently named a Great Place to Work®.
About Inavero
Inavero administers more staffing agency client and talent satisfaction surveys than any other firm in the world. Inavero's team reports on over 1.2 million satisfaction surveys from staffing agency clients and talent each year, and the company serves as the American Staffing Association's exclusive service quality partner.
About Inavero's Best of Staffing
Inavero's Best of Staffing® Award is the only award in the U.S. and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service quality based completely on the ratings given to them by their clients and job candidates. Award winners are showcased by city and area of expertise on BestofStaffing.com – an online resource for hiring professionals and job seekers to find the best staffing agencies to call when they are in need.
Tyler Martin, VP, Operations
tyler@erginc.com


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The Horn of Africa's smallest country
Overlooking the Gulf of Aden, Djibouti's landscape is divided by mountain ranges to the north, volcanic plateaus and coastal plains of the central and southern regions blending around vast regions of uninhabited non-arable land. Uniquely the country also is home to Lake Assal, Africa's lowest point at 157m below sea level, and also the second most saline lake in the world – the first one being in Antarctica.
LAKE ASSAL & ABHE BAD
The saline crater lake of Assal marks the lowest point on the African continent and the second-lowest land depression in the world after the Dead Sea. Uniquely the lake is also the most saline lake outside of Antarctica, the first one being Don Juan Pond in Antarctica. Given this record, it's no surprise that Assal also holds the world's largest reserve of salt. Equally as interesting in Lake Abhe Bad near the Ethiopian border where one can experience the Afar culture, witness the smoking limestone chimney vents and spot flamingos.
DJIBOUTI CITY
Containing 70% of the country's population, Djibouti is the city which gives its name to the country. Things to do here include a visit to the fishing ports around the Gulf of Tadjoura, the People's Palace on Boulevard Bounhour, Siesta Beach and Al Sada Mosque.
E-visa for most nationalities. No visa necessary for Chinese and Singaporean citizens.
Equatorial – more or less same all year round. Subtropical climate
Two prong European style system (type C and E).
Internet is not very good in Djibouti. Most accommodation will offer wifi, but it will not be of a good speed
Strong middle eastern combined with Indian influence in the cuisine. Staple dishes such as injera similar to Ethiopia.
French and Arabic
State religion is Islam. Majority Sunni Muslim, small minority of Christians.
Conservative. Recommended to wear loose fitting clothing and refrain from showing too much flesh
The FCO considers most of Djibouti to be a low risk region to travel. The exception is the Eritrean border due to political tensions between the countries. Contact us for information on how we work to minimise risk for our guests and staff.
Welcome to Djibouti by Rachel Pieh Jones
Trips in Horn of Africa
Mogadishu Half-Marathon
This package offers travel and entrance to the Mogadishu marathon. Please note the 2020 event will be a half marathon distance (13 miles / 21km). Please contact us for further details. To see other marathon packages Untamed Borders arranges, please…
2 Countries 1 Activity
Explore the wilder parts of Ethiopia plus Somaliland. You will visit the hottest inhabited place on earth, climb up to remote rock churches, and feed the wild hyenas of Harar.
Mogadishu Add On
This trip is an "add-on" and therefore only available to guests who book the Horn of Africa trip. However, we can arrange the same itinerary at any time of year on a private basis. Contact us for further details.
Interested in a trip to Djibouti?
Get in touch to find out more.


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