Lock In | Thoughts

Title: Lock In
Author: John Scalzi
Release Date: August 26, 2014
Rating: 
Summary: Fifteen years from now, a new virus sweeps the globe. 95% of those afflicted experience nothing worse than fever and headaches. Four percent suffer acute meningitis, creating the largest medical crisis in history. And one percent find themselves “locked in”—fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus.

One per cent doesn't seem like a lot. But in the United States, that's 1.7 million people “locked in”...including the President's wife and daughter.

Spurred by grief and the sheer magnitude of the suffering, America undertakes a massive scientific initiative. Nothing can restore the ability to control their own bodies to the locked in. But then two new technologies emerge. One is a virtual-reality environment, “The Agora,” in which the locked-in can interact with other humans, both locked-in and not.... (goodreads)

Thoughts:

Okay. This book marked my love for John Scalzi writing. I really love his style of writing and story telling. I must try to read all his books now. I want to thank Lindsey Rey for introducing me to John Scalzi. I would have never would have thought of picking up his books before.

This book was such and interesting take of people using machines and other people to control them with their minds because of a disease that attacked their bodies keeping them trap in their own minds. I liked how focus the book was on the case and didn't really dragged the story line. The information given to the reader was straight to the point.  Also liked that the setting was part of the story instead of the focus of the story. Scalzi didn't drag the storyline at all by giving us terminology and world building at all because it wasn't necessary for the story. Which I loved.  

That is what made me love this book.  It gave you what you needed to know and went straight to the point.

Really don't want to say much afraid to ruin the book to anyone. What I do want to say is that I really loved it and I highly recommend it.

Tuesday Releases (5/12/15) #1

 

End of Days by Susan Ee
Summary: End of Days is the explosive conclusion to Susan Ee’s bestselling Penryn & the End of Days trilogy. (goodreads) - (didn't add a summary in case of spoilers)

This book is the conclusion to the Penryn & the End of Days trilogy. I can't wait to see where this journey ends. It was originally going to be a six book series. I hope that she was able to wrap up the story in this one book. I had hope to have more book in this series but I am just happy that we are going to be able to have a conclusion to this awesome story.

All I say about this book.



 
The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks by Sam Maggs
Summary: Fanfic, cosplay, cons, books, memes, podcasts, vlogs, OTPs and RPGs and MMOs and more—it’s never been a better time to be a girl geek. The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy is the ultimate handbook for ladies living the nerdy life, a fun and feminist take on the often male-dominated world of geekdom. With delightful illustrations and an unabashed love for all the in(ternet)s and outs of geek culture, this book is packed with tips, playthroughs, and cheat codes for everything from starting an online fan community to planning a convention visit to supporting fellow female geeks in the wild. (goodreads)

This book is for my geeky heart. I can't wait to read this book. It seems like it has everything I ever want in a book. I have also heard so many amazing things about it. As a person that goes to a lot of conventions I haven't really seen books about them. Also, this book talks about podcast, fanfiction, memes, and just everything I am interested to see in a book. I can't wait to read this amazing book.

What books are you guys picking up today or this month?

Bout of books 13 | Read-a-thon

Hey guys,  just wanted let you know that I will be doing Bout of Books 13 Read-a-thon. I am not officially signing up but will be participating. I will also be participating in #crushyourtbr, my tbr for that Read-a-thon will be posted on Thursday. It will depend on how many of the books I finish from this tbr.

Here are the books that I will be hopefully be reading during the week.

1. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton 

(I am still not sure if I will be trying to read The Lost World. Will see it I feel up to it. But sure I want to finish up Jurassic Park.)

2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

3. Redshirts by John Scalzi

4. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

5. End of days by Susan Ee (I don't have this book at the moment. I have pre-order it and hopefully I can get it this week.) 

I will also be trying to read some comics. Still don't know which ones I will be picking up.

The Final Empire | Poster illustration #1

Here is the first of many (hopefully) illustrations I will be posting during the year. I will be posting a series of illustrations of my favorite books as the year goes on. I am hoping to have one book illustration every week. Let's see if I could accomplish that. 

For the first illustration I mad The Final Empire, the first book in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. This book was my introduction into Sanderson's world and I couldn't have picked a better book. This has to be one of my favorite books of all time. 

Summary: In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with color once more?
In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage - Allomancy, a magic of the metals. (goodreads)

Do you guys have any suggestions of what I should make next? I may be able to make it for one of the weeks. 

The Monstrumologist | Review 2015

The Monstrumologist (The Monstrumologist #5) by Rick Yancey   

Genre: Horror/YA
Release Date: July 20, 2010 
Rating: 
Summary:These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.
 So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.
 A gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does man become the very thing he hunts? (Goodreads)

I think if I would have picked up this book earlier last year I may have enjoyed it. But sadly this was not the case.

I did think the story had potential and it was and interesting idea. The idea of people study monsters was what pulled me into the book.  The thing that threw me off were the characters. The characters didn't feel right. The Monstrumologist felt to be too forceful. It felt like the author was trying to make him a sorta Sherlock character and Will Henry to be his Watson, it failed for me.

I didn't think it would be realistic that an adult would be that naive towards a young child even in the time period the book was set into. Another thing that I felt misguided was thinking that there would be more creatures in the novel and there weren't. I felt that the book needed more action.

This story wasn't for me. I will not be continuing the series.

February 2015 | Wrap up

I have completed 7 books of the of the 12 books I wanted to read during the month. I think it's a good number. Very happy with what I read during the month. 

Novels:

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson - 3.5/5

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson - 5/5

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch - 4/5 (15 books of 2015 Challenge)

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris - 4/5 (15 books of 2015 Challenge)

The Martian by Andy Weir - 5/5

On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves - 4/5

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb -4/5

Fairest by Marissa Meyer - 3/5

Comics: 

Spider-Gwen #1 by Jason Latour - 5/5

Challenges:

I tried to participate in #ProjectTBR this month but I only got to finish 2 books in my list. I am still happy with what I read. 

Let's see how the new month goes. 

Book Thoughts | The Martian

The Martian by Andy Weir
Genre: Scifi
Release Date: February 11, 2014 (self publish 2011)
Rating:
Summary: Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first man to die there.
It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he's stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to get him first.
But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him? (goodreads)

Amazon | BookDepository

This is just such a unique story line. Different than what I am use to reading. The story is a survivor story. What one must do to survive in a whole different environment and use their knowledge to do so. Being smart is not so bad when you are trap by yourself in a planet years away from Earth.

Immediately I was drawn into the story line. I loved how it just jump into the story. Not making the reader wait to know a detail account of how it all went wrong.

I really liked how the novel description explained the procedures in a simplest way. Usually when a book over describe it's surroundings it ruins the book for me and I end up loosing interest. However, this did the complete opposite. As a reader I was invested in every single step Mark Watney our main charachter took. It feels like I was watching the little engine that could and was cheering him on in the side line. 

Every page I was routing for Watney survivable and hoping all went well. When something went wrong I was on the edge of my seat reading what he will come up with to solve the problem. 

I really love Watney character  a  lot. His sense of humor in his situation was amazing. It lightens the mood of the book forgetting the horrible situation he was in. It was also amazing how we read so many people working together to get him back home. I recommend this book to everyone. I am happy that I picked it up.

Favorite quote: 
"That makes me a pirate, a space pirate." 
~ Mark Watney

This line made me laugh so much. Any time I think of space ships and space I think about Firefly.