Fiction

Thoughts on THE STATES

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? It’s already May. How? I have no idea where the rest of this year went, but whatever. I’m starting off this month with an extra book review! I was contacted by Simone Jung from Books Forward again and she suggested I check out The States by Norah Woodsey on NetGalley. A little slice of life with a dash of speculative/sci-fi sounded fun, so I went ahead and read it. It’s self-published and was released yesterday (April 30th). I must thank Simone and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it.

The States follows Tildy as she struggles to free herself from an overbearing and demanding family. The problem? She doesn’t know if she wants to keep up with her current life or revisit a past she has already run away from once. An old friend approaches her about a new study in lucid dreaming aimed at helping people make difficult choices. Tildy signs right up, but can she keep the dreams and reality separate?

This book is supposedly a reimagining of Austen’s Persuasion. I’ve never read that one, so I can’t tell you how well this book does on that front, but I can tell you how it is as just a book. Short version: not good. And that’s sad, because I really liked the premise and wanted to like the book. I tried to enjoy it. I read the whole thing. And while it has potential, it falls on the amateurish side of everything (plotting, pacing, character development, the writing in general, etc.). That’s not to say it’s bad and couldn’t be made better. With some rewriting, it could be a solid book. It’s just not there yet.

Plot and pacing. There’s a super slow build for the first half to two-thirds of the book and we get a lot of information, but what we get is filler while the actual story gets glanced over. Her past in Ireland plays a big part of Tildy’s dilemma, but instead of showing us what happened, we get blurry little snippets that never really come together to give us the information the reader needs. The present storyline is the same way. Lots of information, but the story itself is only viewed in the periphery. The last third of the book is beyond rushed. The stuff with Jude and the lawyer’s daughter comes out of left field like it was tacked on as an afterthought. The whole relationship with Aidan is just barebones plot points that haven’t been fleshed out and connected yet. It needs a ton of work.

Characters. First off, there are way too many to keep track of and most of them can be cut or meshed into other characters without losing anything. Secondly, none of the important characters are remotely likeable. I have zero sympathy for Tildy. She’s an heiress (granted, her family is hemorrhaging all their money away) who was smart enough to get her own job and be able to support herself, but she lets her father and sisters treat her like shit? Go no contact and get on with your life. She’s whiny and weak and just a super annoying protagonist. Jude’s a douche and not even a charming one. Aidan is supposed to be the main dude, but he isn’t even a character at this point. He’s just a placeholder for a character. I think the characters could be much better if the plot and pacing were ironed out and they were given room to grow in the actual story, but it’s not there yet.

It’s Aidan.

The writing. It’s not great either. In my earlier writing classes, I was told that my writing was stepping on itself and I needed to stop that. Basically, I would write a scene depicting a certain emotion and at the end, I would have a sentence or two telling what the emotion I just showed was. It was me not trusting myself to convey things clearly. I learned quickly to recognize it. This book is full of stuff like that. There’s also a ton of repetitive and mundane description that could be trimmed, especially early on. And a lot of the dialogue is stilted and/or used to give the reader information the characters would already know. People don’t talk like that.

Ultimately, The States felt unpolished and disappointing. It sounds like a great premise, but the execution was poor.

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Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. One and a half, actually. One for writing it and half of one for self-publishing it. But I don’t really recommend it. There have to be better reimaginings of Persuasion out there.

Thoughts on THE WISHING GAME

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this last Wednesday of May? Actually, it’s the last day of May in general. Time flies, I suppose. Things here are fine, so let’s get to what this post is about. It’s book review time! I was looking for something in the fantasy vein, but the genres listed on NetGalley lied to me. It happens sometimes. The book is fantastical in the sense that these things don’t happen, but that’s about it. Mostly it’s regular old fiction with a little zest. Anyway, The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer was released yesterday (May 30th) from Ballantine Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing!

The Wishing Game follows Lucy Hart as she struggles to make her dreams come true, the biggest of which is adopting Christopher. When everything seems impossible, she receives an invitation to her favorite childhood author’s private island to participate in a potentially life changing contest. Can she win against the other contestants? Can she face her fears? Can she resist the brooding artist who lives on the island with the author? Will all her wishes come true?

There’s definitely a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory vibe, but without the fantasy elements. More of a made-for-adults version (not the smutty kind of adult, just the kind of book kids wouldn’t appreciate as much). The golden ticket is a blue envelope and the factory is an island off the coast of Maine with a sad little amusement park that was never finished for reasons you’ll find out if you read it. Honestly, it’s pretty neat because it’s tied in with a (fictional) series of children’s books. The books have fantasy elements, but the novel itself reminds me more of a slightly dark Hallmark movie. Everything could potentially happen in the real world.

As far as the plot goes, it’s predictable, but that makes it comforting. You have to have a couple of miserable losses to make the wins seem earned. There’s a bit of romance just to spice things up. And the author dude is super rich and benevolent, so you know everyone is going to win in the end somehow, even though it might not be what they thought they wanted. There are plenty of trials along the way and everyone has their own fears to face. It’s well paced and despite the predictability, it’s intriguing.

The characters are mostly well rounded. Lucy is likeable and relatable for the most part. Her relationship with her sister felt really cringe-y until it’s finally revealed what her sister did. I feel like that reveal could’ve been made earlier and it would’ve helped a lot. Up until it comes out, Lucy comes off as selfish and ableist in a way and I didn’t want to feel that way about her. Especially when it was the fact that her sister was a dick rather than the fact that she was sick that caused everything. Anyway… Christopher’s age is difficult to pinpoint in the beginning. It seems like he’s 12 or 13 at first, but then he’s 7, which is a little jarring, but he finally settles into his age. Hugo is my favorite, of course. And Jack is interesting. I did wish that the other contestants were fleshed out better. They felt like they could’ve been anyone really, like they were just cardboard placeholders basically. And the potential bad guy just disappears, so that was awkward. But mostly the people were cool.

And the writing was nice. It made for a quick read. I actually finished it like two weeks early, so it went surprisingly fast. And I kept thinking about it for a couple of days afterward, but I haven’t thought about it much since. I guess that means it’s one of those books I enjoyed in the moment, but won’t remember much of a few months from now, which isn’t a bad thing.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed The Wishing Game despite the fact that it wasn’t what I was expecting. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for more books by Meg Shaffer.

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Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. It was fun and if you enjoyed stuff like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a kid, you’ll probably like this book.

Thoughts on THE GIFTS

~ shawnaborman ~ 1 Comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are quiet. That’s about it. Luckily, it’s the last Wednesday of the month, so I do have something to ramble about! It’s book review time. This month, I decided a little fantasy might be nice, mixed with a bit of historical fiction which is outside my wheelhouse. The Gifts by Liz Hyder was released yesterday (the 25th) from Sourcebooks Landmark. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it.

The Gifts follows a number of different characters on their journeys until it becomes clear how they all fit together. A woman who doesn’t really know what kind of man her husband is. The husband who doesn’t realize how far he has fallen in his path for righteousness and riches. Two women who lose everything before they can find themselves. And another young woman who follows her heart in an attempt to find her calling. It’s a story of fates intermingling and the strength it takes to look at the world even when you don’t like what you see.

So, I went into this book knowing that it was told from five different perspectives. That’s a lot, but manageable. What I didn’t know was that it’s written in third person omniscient, which means that we get thoughts and feelings from pretty much every character mentioned in this story. I hate this POV because it causes unnecessary confusion and is almost always a cluttered mess. This particular book has a few confusing moments, but it’s fairly good about separating people and their thoughts/feelings. It still seems cluttered, though. If you are wary about this POV, I admit this is one of the better examples of it that I’ve read, but I’m still bitter that I chose something with it. This is definitely a me thing.

For me, the pacing was slow and things were super repetitive. This seems to be a trend in most of the historical fiction I’ve read, so I don’t really know if it’s a pro or a con. I don’t care for it. I wanted to skip a lot of it. Is this something people enjoy? Being told basically the same stuff over and over? And then the ending feels rushed, even though it’s actually nicely paced, because everything else was so slow.

The characters were an interesting mix. I would’ve liked to learn more about Natalya. Her and Mary were my favorites. Annie and Etta came across as too perfect and didn’t really have any room to grow. I was a little annoyed that all the men were douches. Even Richard, though I don’t think he was supposed to be. The only male character with any hope of being a decent human being is Charlie and he’s just a kid. It was weird. I get the book is about tearing down the patriarchy and all that, but there should be at least one likeable dude.

The writing was nice. There were some lovely images and a few lyrical places. And there were grotesque places at times. Even though the book was long and slow, the writing made it a smooth read.

Ultimately, The Gifts wasn’t my cup of tea. Most of my issues with it were me problems, but I liked the writing, so I wouldn’t turn away from another book by Hyder.

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Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Maybe 2 and a half. If you’re into historical fiction with a little fantasy splashed in, check it out. Otherwise, you’re not missing much.

Thoughts on CHLORINE

~ shawnaborman ~ 1 Comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? It’s (finally) the last Wednesday of March, so you know what that means. Book review time! This month, I decided to request something a little different. More traditional fiction with horror and magical realism elements sprinkled in. At least that’s what the description suggests. Sounded interesting, so I gave it a shot. Chlorine by Jade Song was released yesterday (the 28th) from William Morrow (an imprint of HarperCollins). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for granting me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it.

Chlorine follows Ren Yu as she navigates high school, cultural differences, falling for a girl, and growing up in general. Combine all of that with an obsessive love of mermaids and being the top female swimmer on the swim team, and things get weird. She starts out looking for her place in the world and when she finally finds it, she’ll stop at nothing to achieve her goal. No matter the pain she causes herself or others.

I actually want to start with the characters this time. None of them are remotely likeable, which is interesting. Ren, who is extremely unhappy and manipulative, is telling us her story, so we’re seeing everyone through her eyes. The only character who comes close to being redeemable is Cathy, but even she is portrayed as weak and untrustworthy unless she’s doing exactly what Ren wants. Coach is either one step away from being a child molester or he’s a father figure depending on her mood. Her mother is a saint unless she’s interfering in Ren’s life. And Ren herself is above all the human drama despite being the cause of most of it. I actually enjoyed the self-centered nature of the character development. It felt honest, especially as Ren sank further away from reality.

Ren is definitely a drama llama.

The plot was cluttered. A lot happens in this short book, so there isn’t much room for most of it to be explored. There’s a sexual assault and it ends up being nothing more than a passing mention in order to explain the summer Ren blew off swimming. As if burnout isn’t excuse enough to take a break and waver from the perfect child routine. There were a few places where major incidents were glanced over in favor of smaller things. Yes, it’s probably just how Ren prioritizes things, but if you’re going to cover heavy topics, the whole “oh, that’s just the character’s way” shtick feels like a cheap trick for not dealing with things.

As far as the genres go, this book isn’t really what it’s marketed as. The description gives off horror mixed with magical realism vibes. The horror is there in the sense that body horror is a thing and a slow descent into mental illness can be horrific. But the magical realism doesn’t come into play until the last chapter and then it’s too little too late. This book is straight up fiction about mental illness and how Ren’s delusions led to a romanticized ending. I’m okay with that. I still would have read it if the description had been more accurate and I probably would’ve enjoyed it a lot more if I weren’t looking for the genre elements that barely existed. It feels like the marketers are trying to force the book to be something it isn’t instead of letting it be what it is.

The writing was raw and open, but nothing special. There were moments where it was amazing, but mostly it was mediocre and occasionally could have used some trimming. I didn’t feel compelled to keep reading when I had reached my quota for the day, but I didn’t dread picking it back up the next day either.

Ultimately, I liked Chlorine for what it was, but not for what they claimed it to be. I don’t regret reading it. I don’t want my time back. But I don’t want other people going into it with the hope that it’s something magical when it isn’t.

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Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Despite my issues with it, I do feel like it’s a worthwhile read and a good look into the selfish side of growing up and how seemingly innocent obsessions can spiral out of control. Just be aware that it’s probably not what you’re expecting.

The Pale Freak of the Moon

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! Today hasn’t been a very pleasant day and I have no idea what to write about, so I decided to have some fun with this post. Earlier, I ran across one of those things where you use your initials to make a random phrase from their options (this one was “your nerd identity”). I really liked mine for once, so I decided to use it as a prompt for a quick flash piece specially written for my blog. It’s a first draft, so sorry if I ramble. As always, feedback and thoughts are welcome!

The initial thing in case you’re interested.

The Pale Freak of the Moon

The dust cascades ahead of me as I slide down the side of the crater, no doubt signaling my arrival like ripples on a pond. At least, that’s what I imagine when the Freak tells me about the motion of the water on Earth.  Nothing like it exists up here, so it’s hard to follow her stories sometimes.

I slip through the shadows, avoiding prying eyes, as I make my way to her cave.  No one else dares to follow me down here for fear of her, but they have no qualms about throwing rocks from above when they see me out in the open.  According to the Freak, bullies are the same whether they’re here or on Earth.  Difference makes you an easy target until you prove yourself otherwise.  But no matter what I do, they still come after me.

“You’re late, child.”  Her voice, strong and deep, rings out from the depths of her home before I even cross the threshold.  “Did you bring it?”

I skitter into the belly of the cave without answering.  A soft glow tells me she’s by the shrine in a corridor off to the left.  She sits by the altar with her legs crossed and her arms stretched out to welcome me.  Her features are that of an Earthling, but her skin is so pale it emits a gentle white light.  Taking me in her arms, she performs the welcoming ritual of a hug.  I struggle with the gesture every time, my tentacles tangling around themselves as I attempt to reciprocate.

“Well?” she asks.

Pulling a vial from my pouch, I hold it out to her.  Inside, a single seed floats in a viscous purple fluid.  Blood.  Namely, the blood of my mother.  The seed, a pulsing green orb, is her life force.  She left it to me when she passed into the nether realm less than a week ago.  Normally, I would be expected to plant it in the ground and raise the resulting child with my life partner in order to keep my mother’s bloodline flowing, but I have no partner.  No one here wants to spend their life with someone whose eyes are as bright as the stars.  Not in a place where darkness reigns supreme.

That’s why I have to do this.

Mother understood my decision to interrupt her eternal cycle, even condoned it.  She knew how miserable I was here.  Still, guilt pulls at my hearts when the Freak takes the vial from me.

“It’s beautiful,” she says.  “Are you sure you want to do this?  You can’t come back if you’re unhappy there.”

My tentacles raise in an involuntary shrug.  “I know I’ll never be happy here, so what’s the point in staying?”

The Freak nods and turns to the altar.  It’s covered in things from Earth: leaves, stones, flowers.  I wonder, not for the first time, how she keeps these items alive, but don’t voice the question.  She chants in a language I have never heard.  It sounds older than time itself and lulls me into that place between waking and sleep.

When I’m finally pulled back into consciousness, I can’t tell how much time has passed.  I wipe the sleep from my eyes, but instead of the usual tentacle, I have a hand.  The flesh is a rich tawny beige that I always imagine when the Freak speaks of sandy beaches.  My entire body now appears to be that of an Earthling.  I rush to the reflective glass she has hanging on the wall in the main room as fast as I can on legs I’m unaccustomed to, falling countless times before I get the hang of it.  My eyes are still the pale blue, almost white,  I’ve always been scorned for, but they somehow seem natural in my new face.

“Amazing,” I say.  “You’re a miracle worker.”

“It was all you.”  She touches my shoulder and turns me toward her.  “I only allowed your human form to come out.  Everything else was already a part of you.  I told you you were beautiful inside.  We’re not done yet, though.  Are you ready to make the journey?”

I swallow hard and nod.  Words refuse to form on my tongue.

The Freak opens the vial I had given her.  My mother’s scent fills the room and tears prickle at the corners of my eyes.  Pouring the seed into her palm, the Freak makes a fist.  She chants more unknown words until the fabric of space and time rips open.  Past the ragged hole is a beach unfolding into the ocean.  It’s just as I always imagined.

“It’s now or never,” the Freak says.

The seed in her now open palm is withering.  The opening to Earth begins to shrink.  Hesitating, I take a shaky breath.  The scent of saltwater hits me for the first time and a calm comes over me.  Yes, I can be happy as long as I have this view and this aroma to get lost in.  I step through the portal and into a place where no one knows me, where I’m not yet hated.  I start my life anew.

The End