Karen S. Wiesner: Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

by Karen S. Wiesner

Quite a few years ago, a trend started going around writing circles that was in direct opposition of everything I'd ever taught about going deep with characters. In this trend, writers were advised not to include more than basic information about main characters, allowing readers to fill in the blanks and make the characters whatever they want them to be. Can character development can be fluid enough to allow something like that without compromising everything vital in a story? In a word, no. Individual character choices directly influence outcomes. If a character isn't well defined, motives and purposes are constantly in question as well as in flux. Readers are more likely to say "Sucks for you" to characters they can't invest in, let alone care about enough to root for. Ultimately, characters that have little or no impact on readers make for a quickly forgotten story.

Personally, I want a good balance of character and plot development in any story I invest myself in. With most of the new stuff coming out, I'm not getting that. So I've been re-reading the books that have made it onto my keeper shelves in the past. To that end, here's another "oldies but goodies" review.

Most people know about this book under its other title in a very different format: In 1999, a highly recommended horror film directed and produced by Roman Polanski was released titled The Ninth Gate, starring Johnny Depp and Lena Olin, who both give brilliant performances. The 1993 novel was beautifully written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, set in the world of antiquarian booksellers--a topic the author apparently hadn't gotten enough of in his 1990 work The Flanders Panel.

Hired to authenticate a rare manuscript Lucas Corso, a book dealer, soon finds himself led on a harrowing investigation in search of copies of a fictional rare book known (in English) as Of the Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows. The author was burned at the stake, given that the book is said to contain instructions for summoning the devil. Corso is thwarted in his journey, as you might expect, by devil worshippers, obsessed bibliophiles, a horny femme fatale with an ulterior motive, and an obscure woman who actually seems to be helping him but may have an agenda of her own if she is what she suggests--a fallen angel who'd wandered for millennia looking for him. Corso finds multiple copies of the book, none of them exact matches. Some of the plates bear the initials "L.F." and those form a complete set of nine without duplications. Corso realizes that, together, the nine illustrations are the summoning ritual--however, one is a forgery. But which one?

From start to finish, this one is a thrill-ride of suspense and fascination, from the details included for forging a 17-century text, to the unfathomable obsessions of book collectors and the lengths they're willing to go to to obtain their crown jewel, all the way to the unexpected life of a book dealer willing to go to hell (maybe literally) and back all on the quest of extraordinary literary discovery. You can't go wrong with this book or the movie. It might be a good time to give either a replay.

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner: Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson

by Karen S. Wiesner

Quite a few years ago, a trend started going around writing circles that was in direct opposition of everything I'd ever taught about going deep with characters. In this trend, writers were advised not to include more than basic information about main characters, allowing readers to fill in the blanks and make the characters whatever they want them to be. Can character development can be fluid enough to allow something like that without compromising everything vital in a story? In a word, no. Individual character choices directly influence outcomes. If a character isn't well defined, motives and purposes are constantly in question as well as in flux. Readers are more likely to say "Sucks for you" to characters they can't invest in, let alone care about enough to root for. Ultimately, characters that have no impact on readers make for a quickly forgotten story.

Personally, I want a good balance of character and plot development the any story I invest myself in. With most of the new stuff coming out, I'm not getting that. So I've been re-reading the books that have made it onto my keeper shelves in the past. To that end, here's another "oldies but goodies" review.

A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson was published in 1958. It's hard to imagine this amazing supernatural horror is actually that old. Matheson probably needs no introduction to most readers. He's a legendary author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, best known for I Am Legend, a personal favorite of mine.

In A Stir of Echoes, Tom Wallace's life is about as ordinary as it gets. I vividly remember reading it the first time and marveling at 1950s blasé parenting when Tom and his wife leave their new baby alone in the house and go across the street to party with the neighbors. Back then, baby monitors weren't really a thing. I suppose it wasn't a big deal back then. Everyone felt so safe. Not a world I can really imagine.

In any case, Tom is an ordinary man with an ordinary life until something weird happens to him and latent physic abilities are awakened inside him. Suddenly he's hearing what's going on in the minds of everyone, living and dead, around him. He finds himself the unwilling recipient of a message from beyond the grave.

I love one of the reviews of Matheson himself as the author (San Jose Mercury News): "Matheson is the master of paranoia--pitting a single man against unknown horrors, and examining his every slow twist in the wind." So accurate when it comes to the brilliance of this author.

The 1999 film adaptation with the name "Stir of Echoes" was fantastic, starring Kevin Bacon and providing the jump-out-at-you visuals that best serve this better-than-average ghost story. One of the other nice things I like so much about this story is that it's short. These days, everything you read is either really short or really long, almost no in-between. Sometimes you just want a streamlined, yet fully fleshed out story with vibrant characters that gives the reader no more and no less what's actually needed to tell a gripping tale. I highly recommend this classic, and the good news is you can probably immerse yourself in it and be out within a couple days.

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner: Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

by Karen S. Wiesner

After I finished my last writing reference, I'd started to hear about a trend going around writing circles. In direct opposition of everything I'd ever taught about going deep with characters, writers were told not to include more than basic information about main characters, allowing readers to fill in the blanks with their own details and thereby making the characters whatever they want them to be.

I don't believe character development can be fluid enough to allow something like that without compromising everything vital in a story. Individual character choices directly influence outcomes. If a character isn't well defined, motives and purposes are constantly in question as well as in flux. Ultimately, characters that have no impact on readers make for a quickly forgotten story.

Personally, I want a good balance of character and plot development the stories I'm willing to invest myself in, and I'm not getting it with most of the new stuff coming out. So I've been re-reading the books that have made it onto my keeper shelves in the past. To that end, here's another "oldies but goodies" review.

Before I Go To Sleep, published in 2011, was written by a then brand new author, S. J. (Steven Johnson) Watson, an audiologist for National Health Service, where he wrote the novel between shifts. The psychological thriller shot to the top of the bestseller lists and was made into a film in 2014 by Ridley Scott.

Of a technicality, there's nothing supernatural about this book enough to warrant it being reviewed on the Alien Romances Blog where the focus is "science fiction romance, futuristic, or paranormal romances in which at least one protagonist is an alien or of alien ancestry". However, there's something distinctly eerie about this tale--namely, the condition the main character Christine Lucas's is suffering from. Anterograde amnesia is absolutely chilling to me. It's very much as if an alien comes each night while the victim goes to sleep and steals everything he or she knows, feels, has experienced, and lived. I can't imagine anything else that could be worse. Good and bad memories, the myriad emotions associated with them, our areas of individual expertise and passions, and the experiences that make up the tapestry of our lives are vital to who and what we are. Without them, we're little more than lost--to everyone and everything. Imagine not knowing who you are, who you love, who loves you, what you've done, whether you're a good person, a bad, or something in-between. That, to me, is the very definition of horror.

In this novel, Christine wakes up every day of her life a blank slate and has to reconstruct her own identity--either through the one who tells her he's her husband, her son, her journal, or the doctor who's secretly helping her recover her memory. What makes this story so tense and alarming is that, in a situation like this, a person is forced to trust evidence that can so easily be manufactured as well as relying on the ones around them--despite the uncertainty that's constantly in the back of the mind. Do these individuals really know me, care about me, have my best interests at heart? Should I trust anything they say or do?

The first time I read this book long years ago, I gulped it like I was so hungry, I couldn't get enough. I'd never encountered anything like this before, didn't know the first thing about anterograde amnesia, and it was hard to imagine that it was something that could actually happen to someone. Frankly, it blew my mind. I also watched the movie, which was a close rendition of the story in the book, but I actually enjoyed it more, I think, because Nicole Kidman put in such a good performance as a frail but determined woman who's walking a short tightrope from one day to the next.

The second read recently wasn't quite as positively radical. This time around, I noticed that I found the writing style annoying and, cruel as it seems, it was very hard to actually like the heroine. Compassion, given her situation, was a given, but she acted in a way that set me on edge. The best way to say this is, I just would not have acted the way she did, if I was in that situation. Or at least I don't think I would. I hope to never know for sure. In any case, this story is a nail-biter and a page-turner that's very unique even in a sea of other psychologic thrillers. It's definitely worth a read, or a re-read.

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner: Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Ghost Prison by Joseph Delaney

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Ghost Prison by Joseph Delaney

by Karen S. Wiesner

After I finished my last writing reference, I'd started to hear about a trend going around writing circles. In direct opposition of everything I'd ever taught in my writing series about the crucial need to go deep with characters, writers were being told that it's best not to include more than basic information about main characters, not even providing last names for them--this supposedly allows readers to fill in the blanks with their own details, making the characters whatever they want them to be.

In my mind, this is a big mistake. How can character development be fluid enough to allow something like that without compromising everything vital in a story? Individual character choices directly influence outcomes. If a character isn't well defined, motives and purposes are constantly in question as well as in flux. Ultimately, characters that have no impact on readers make for a quickly forgotten story.

I want a good balance of character and plot development in the stories I'm willing to invest myself in, and I'm not getting it with most of the new stuff coming out. So I've been re-reading the books that have made it onto my keeper shelves in the past. To that end, here's another "oldies but goodies" review.

The Ghost Prison by Joseph Delaney is said to be a tangential installment of his wonderful The Last Apprentice Series (reviewed here: 

https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Last+Apprentice), and it's clear by the language that it's set in the same world. Billy Calder may well have become an apprentice of the Spook John Gregory in another life, but in this story he's simply a 15-year old orphan boy who seizes the opportunity to gain independence from the Home for Unfortunate Boys by taking a job as a castle prison guard. He's given almost no training. After waking up late for his first shift, he rushes to the prison from the orphanage. His supervisor isn't pleased. Beyond that, night in the prison is anything but boring, given the number of supernatural prisoners that have to be tended to. An illness removes his boss and leaves Billy in charge, forced to take over horrifying duties he doesn't have the experience or skills to handle.

This short tale published just before Halloween in 2013 is intended for 4-7th graders, but don't let that stop you. Why should they have all the fun? This story is one that anyone who loves a good chiller will enjoy just as much as I did. Billy is a plucky Pip-like kid who doesn't give up or give in easily, even when it might be wise to just run for his life and not look back. Scott M. Fischer's black and white sketches all through the book are perfect accompaniments to the fun, suspenseful text. This is a story filled with a well-developed, brilliant personality that allows you to share directly in Billy's conflicts and root for him to triumph.

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner: Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

by Karen S. Wiesner

After I finished my last writing reference, I'd started to hear about what I thought was a "flavor of the day" trend going around writing circles. In direct opposition of everything I'd ever taught about the crucial need to go deep with characters, writers were being told that it's best not to include more than basic information about main characters, not even providing last names for them--this supposedly allows readers to fill in the blanks with their own details, making the characters whatever they wanted them to be.

I can't impart to you just how much I disliked that idea then, and how much I hate it now. First, my characters don't belong to readers. They belong to me. And, since they're mine, I choose who they are and what they stand for, what choices they make. It's inconceivable to me that any writer would surrender proprietary rights of character development to readers, that author's don't care enough about every aspect of their stories and craft to protect them from poking and prodding, breaches and violations. Beyond that, how can character development be fluid enough to allow something like that without compromising everything vital in a story? There can be no solid ground in that situation.

Individual character choices directly influence outcomes. That's a no brainer. Logically, if a character isn't well defined, motives and purposes are constantly in question as well as in flux. Additionally, if readers can't understand where the characters are coming from, then how can the story make any kind of sense? 

Ultimately, how can readers root for characters and want them to succeed? They can't. Readers not emotionally invested enough to, frankly my dear, give a damn what happens move on, unimpressed. Don't kid yourself: A story without impact is quickly forgotten.

Unfortunately, what I thought was a trend that would come and go quickly ended up becoming the norm in the last few years. So many of the books I read these days, the films and TV shows I watch have characters that just make no impact on me whatsoever. Even if I'm captured by a plot, the imbalance of bad things happening to unformed lumps of clay that haven't bothered trying to convince me to care…well, what can I say? I'm not moved. There's more of an eh, so what? response while I move on and I don't look back.

This really came home to me recently. I watched the science fiction suspense movie called I.S.S. and, later, someone asked me how it was. My response? "It was good with a compelling plot, but I never learned much of anything about the characters involved in the conflict. Bits here and there." At the end of the movie, the survivors had a short conversation, to the effect of:

#1: "Where are we going?"

#2: "I don't know."

My brain reacted to this with a sum up with, Who cares?

I was barely curious about what might happen next, though normally I hate stories that end on a cliffhanger.

I can't help feeling about this and other stories like it, what a waste. This film could have been so much better, so much more memorable if only the writers cared enough to make us care. Another forgettable installment that'll fall by the wayside instead of resonating with people for longer than the one hour and thirty-five minutes it took to watch it.

For at least the past year, I've found myself much less interested than usual in reading anything new because it's such a rare thing now to find something with a good balance of character and plot development. In my mind, both are required if I'm going to invest myself emotionally, physically, and financially. So I've been re-reading books from my huge personal library that I liked enough to put on my keeper shelves in the past. Over the next month or two, I thought I'd revisit a few of these oldies but goodies with reviews.

The Host was the first new work by Stephenie Meyer after the Twilight Saga reached its pinnacle. Published in 2008, the romantic science fiction tells the tale of Earth being invaded by an enemy species in a post-apocalyptic time. A "Soul" from this parasitic alien race is implanted into a human host body. In the process, the original owner loses all memories, knowledge, even the awareness that any other consciousness ever existed. However, one Soul, called Wanderer (or Wanda), quickly realizes its original host won't be so easily subdued. Melanie Stryder is alive and well and begins communicating with Wanda. Like it or not, Wanda begins to sympathize and realize the violation her species has visited upon humans. The movie adaptation in 2013 was faithful to the story told in the book.

It's never easy for an author that reached the heights of fame Stephenie Meyer did when Twilight fever swept the world to move past such an epoch. The Guardian reviewer Keith Brooke, unfairly I think, said of The Host, "The novel works well, and will appeal to fans of…Twilight…but it is little more than a half-decent doorstep-sized chunk of light entertainment." The Host was well-written and interesting, a solid balance between fully fleshed out characters and conflicts. I enjoyed it. Its only real flaw was falling in the shadow of its dazzlingly bright predecessor.

The author has said she'd like to make this book into a trilogy, and in February 2011, she reported she'd completed outlines for them, even done some writing. Thirteen years later, the only non-Twilight related work from the author has been The Chemist, released in late 2016, a suspense story with no connection to her previous books. Sometimes it's hard to return to things you've been away from for so long, they no longer feel like your own. Maybe that's the case here, and if it is, luckily the story contained in The Host is satisfying without requiring anything more to tie up loose threads.

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner: The Hit List: Young Adult Series Favorites {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner

The Hit List: Young Adult Series Favorites

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner

by Karen S. Wiesner

In the first half of the 2000s, Young Adult series were all the rage, dominating the attention of teenagers and adults alike. Several that became household topics at the height of their popularity, enjoying fame as both book and movie series, seem to have fallen by the wayside since. Even still, I find many of those unique tales are well worth returning to for a fresh perspective. Over the next month or two, I thought I'd revisit a few series that would make any hit list of past favorites.

Although this series has been around a long time and, if people wanted to read it, they probably already have, in fairness, I'm including this disclaimer because some of the newer entries in the series might be unfamiliar to readers who may want to read them first: Warning! Spoilers!

I'm not actually sure I remember what made me pick up this series in the first place, but the situation in the first story is very compelling. A group of teenage boys find themselves in a place they call the Glade. None of them can remember how they got there or who they are. Together, they work to make a life for themselves while trapped within four large doors--the Maze. The doors open every morning and close at sundown. These walls they live within change constantly, but there's a pattern to them that the "maze runners" have discovered. Those designated runners venture into the maze every day in order to map it, find a pattern to its workings, and ultimately to find a way to escape. Life in the Glade would otherwise be peaceful and quiet, other than the biomechanical creatures that come out of the maze and kill some of them. Each of these beetles has the word "WICKED" stamped on it. None of them know what it means. Newt is one of the most beloved leaders of the group.

One day, a teenage boy arrives in the Glade, and he's not alone. A girl--the first--emerges with him. The boy is dubbed Thomas, and his curiosity and need to understand what's happening is without limit. When he's the first to survive a night in the maze, several of them agree to support his quest to find a way out, including Newt.

The second book continues where the first left off. Having escaped the maze was only the beginning of understanding. WICKED is a militant organization, and the survivors are forced to undergo "the Scorch Trials"--crossing a barren wasteland populated with humans being consumed by an infection (the Flare) that pretty much makes them zombies. In this series, zombies are called cranks.

The third book sees the group become prisoners of WICKED. They learn that WICKED's goal has been to find a cure for the Flare--to that end, using those with natural resistance to it, namely children, as test subjects. The friends have heard of a resistance movement fighting WICKED, and it may be their only hope for survival.

All three of these initial books were made into faithful movie adaptations that were as enjoyable as the books themselves were. Despite finding myself embarrassed by some of the silly language the boys came up with while living in the Glade, I can find no fault with any of these stories. Standout characters were Newt, Thomas, and Chuck in the first book, Newt and Thomas in the second, and Brenda in the third.

The trilogy was followed with a book called The Kill Order, which was a prequel story, showing what happened in the world leading up to the Flare and how WICKED conceived its diabolical plans to discover a cure using their youth, morality be damned.

A fifth book was released later, and it was another prequel, set between the events of The Kill Order and The Maze Runner. The primary focus of the book is on the relations between the Gladers before Thomas was sent to them. I kind of got out of the series after the third book and so never read the two prequels, though I do plan to seek them out and read them sooner or later. However, when the novella "Crank Palace" was released, I did get back into it because Newt was a favorite character of mine, and this is his story, taking place during the events of The Death Cure. Within that story, Newt had contracted the Flare and had to leave his friends because it was the only way to protect them from himself. What happened to him after that as he tried to make amends for what he considered his sins is contained in this little book. I'd like to tell you I loved it, but honestly it just didn't quite have the same intrigue as the previous three books, not even with Newt as the lead character. It was good, just not great, and I'm not sure the story really needed to be told. Even without the novella, I'd already assumed everything he did with these pages was what he intended to do when he left the group.

In the process of researching for this review, I found out that the author wrote what might be deemed a spin-off series called Maze Cutter. The first book with the same name is set 73 years after the events of The Death Cure. Thomas and the others immune to the Flare are sent to an island, where they and their descendants find a new life. Then one day a woman shows up in a boat and tells them the rest of civilization hasn't fared so well. The opposite, in fact. Another corporation with crazy scientists and hidden agendas has risen and threatens the future. The islanders feel compelled to help. There are two books available with a third (and final) on the way soon. I intend to pick them up at the first available opportunity and see what's happening in this intriguing world.

  

Ultimately, I recommend this series as some of the best young adult dystopian fiction available, especially when it comes to zombie and apocalypse stories. The twists and turns are constant, and you never know what the next surprise might be from one page to the next. Each story is filled with characters worth rooting for--and worth allowing them the chance to explain the decisions they've made. Given that I had such trouble putting the first three books down, I think it's time to get back into the series and catch up with the new offerings.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner: The Hit List: Young Adult Series Favorites {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

The Hit List: Young Adult Series Favorites

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

by Karen S. Wiesner

In the first half of the 2000s, Young Adult series were all the rage, dominating the attention of teenagers and adults alike. Several that became household topics at the height of their popularity, enjoying fame as both book and movie series, seem to have fallen by the wayside since. Even still, I find many of those unique tales are well worth returning to for a fresh perspective. Over the next month or two, I thought I'd revisit a few series that would make any hit list of past favorites.

Although this series has been around a long time and, if people wanted to read it, they probably already have, in fairness, I'm including this disclaimer because some of the entries in the series that follow the first four might be unfamiliar to readers who may want to read them first: Warning! Spoilers ahead!

I resisted this paranormal series much longer than everyone else. I'm not sure why. I do remember for most of the years I'd lived in a town where almost no one reads. I was one of the very few. I wondered how the library survived. Given that, unfathomably I began seeing people reading these massive books in public around town, as if they simply couldn't be parted from them while devouring the stories. So I gave in. I quickly realized I was indeed missing something, and I spend mere days finishing all four books, though I can't say I loved the series from start to finish. The first one was the jewel in the crown and for the first half of Book 4, I thought the magic might return, but it never actually did.

By all rights, I think I should have liked teenage Bella. She's clumsy, a loner, drawn to odd things, never quite fits in anywhere, and she's the responsible, mature one especially compared to her mother. That she was a caretaker was right up my alley. Yet I never could quite get myself to like her, in large part because she starts out as an intriguing, unique character and turns into someone who seems to disintegrate rather pathetically whenever disaster struck. And it often did in this series.

I could completely understand why Bella felt drawn to Edward, a vampire. I even liked Jacob, who becomes a werewolf. It was a very cool concept. But when the author decided to make Bella fall in love with Edward and Jacob (though Bella ultimately--like me--came down on Team Edward), I found myself repelled. Edward wanted to love Bella for her lifetime. Though he would grieve when she died and he'd have to go on without her, he absolutely did not want to make her into a vampire. In the end, he agreed to it, but never willingly and he didn't actually go through with until there was no choice--Bella would have died otherwise. Jacob went all rage-wolf about the thought of Bella becoming a vampire because she would change. Not once was I convinced he cared what her opinion was about the whole thing. I found Jacob selfish and controlling. It was hard for me to like him when he decided he was in the best position to decide what Bella should do with her own life. But he ended up coming over to their side when he bonded with Bella and Edward's very strange, powerful child in a definitive way that meant he became her life-long protector, to the death.

The threat in the series was the Volturi, who made the laws for all vampires. This was an interesting, tense conflict, especially after Bella became a vampire. Ultimately, the four-book saga ended on a satisfying note. The movie adaptations were faithful. Kristen Stewart was about the only real problem I had with any of the installments. Something about the actress in all her films is off-putting to me. I wasn't crazy about Bella in the books and having Stewart playing her only compounded my issues. 

Also included in the series (though maybe it shouldn't be) is a novella, detailing basically little more than the title: a short second life of Bree Tanner, a newborn vampire who came and went, disturbing tragedy, 'nuff said. No, literally, the title was all we really needed. I'm sorry to say that I found this novella nothing short of painful to read. 

Unfortunately, tragedy didn't end there. To coincide with the tenth anniversary of the series, the publisher released a staggering, 400-page reimagining of the initial story with Edward and Bella's genders swapped as Edythe and Beau. I tried, I really tried, to read this but I died a little with each subsequent page. I never finished it. There are simply some things that should never be done, kind of like the whole Frankenstein debacle, and this is certainly one of them.

I remember when the Twilight Saga was at its pinnacle of popularity, someone illegally released a version of the first book written by the author in the perspective of Edward Cullen instead of Bella. I never felt right about reading it when it was available that way--in a forbidden way. So I never read it, but when Midnight Sun was officially released as a legit book in its own right, I tried to read it. I thought I'd love it because I loved him in Bella's point of view. Instead, Edward came off as the most frightening kind of psycho--and a vampire to boot. I never finished it because the Edward I'd come to love in the original books would have been ashamed for anyone to see him in this disgraceful way. I couldn't do that to him. I slammed shut the book, and it's stayed sealed ever since.

After Midnight Sun came out in 2022, the author announced she'd outlined two new Twilight novels. She planned on working on them after she'd completed an original book first (presumably The Chemist, released in November 2016). As of this review, nothing Twilight Saga related has appeared on the horizon.

Ultimately, I recommend this series, mainly for the first book and the first half of Breaking Dawn. Would I read anything new in the series? Probably, especially if it is actually something new, not shocking character swaps or alternate viewpoints, or not-short-enough tragedies that simply shouldn't be told. I give the author kudos most of all for a really cool concept that, though many tried, no one else managed to duplicate in terms of execution and success.

Next week, I'll review another favorite YA series published in the early 2000s.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner: The Hit List: Young Adult Series Favorites {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

The Hit List: Young Adult Series Favorites

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

by Karen S. Wiesner

In the first half of the 2000s, Young Adult series were all the rage, dominating the attention of teenagers and adults alike. Several that became household topics at the height of their popularity, enjoying fame as both book and movie series, seem to have fallen by the wayside since. Even still, I find many of those unique tales are well worth returning to for a fresh perspective. Over the next month or two, I thought I'd revisit a few series that would make any hit list of past favorites.

Divergent captured me the very moment Four (Tobias) made an appearance. Before that point, only the very unique, unexpected plot kept me turning the pages. The basic story here is set in a dystopian future where society is divided into each faction, each dedicated to a particular virtue in order to remove any one person exercising independence and freewill, which is seen as a threat. Those who don't fit nicely into any of the factions, or refuse to, are factionless and live on the fringes of society, poor and shunned. Those who are divergent are required to hide within their chosen factions because such a thing is illegal and feared. As one might expect, in this series, one of the factions wants to dominate all the others and set up their own leader.

Although this series has been around a long time and, if people wanted to read it, they probably already have, in fairness, I'm including this disclaimer: Warning! Spoilers ahead!

I didn't find the initial chapters particularly well written, though I didn't notice that as much as my first taste was of the audiobook of the first book in the series, listened to nearly from start to finish on a trip across the country. After that, I knew I had to read the rest of the series, but I started by reading Book 1 myself. The beginning was underwhelming, but I kept reading more out of intrigue of the faction concept until Four became the highlight of the book and, in my opinion, the series. The main character, Beatrice (who becomes Tris after she makes the choice to join Dauntless instead of remaining in Amity), never won me over. There was almost nothing likeable about Tris after, in the first few chapters of the first book, she stood up bravely and changed her whole life to join the faction that best fit her, even when it meant leaving her family. In fact, the major issue I had with the series was that this weak-playacting-strong heroine who turns into (sorry for the bluntness but it's the most accurate description) a total bitch and basically disintegrates her way through the series until she just gives up at the end and sacrifices herself needlessly, making everything they'd fought for worthless. Tris and Four's romance in Divergent, Book 1, is beautiful, passionate, worth every effort they made to be together when it was forbidden. It was simply breathtaking. But that fragile miracle was destroyed by the author's mistreatment after the initial series offering, and the relationship was hard to even look at in what followed.

Four was the whole reason for following the story to its bitter, disappointing conclusion. His character was complex, admirable, strong and yet vulnerable. If this series had been written from his point of view instead of Tris's, it could have been all it was meant to be. I think the author must have agreed with that because she followed up the trilogy a year later with a collection of short pieces (a prequel and disjointed other not-quite-a-story offerings, retelling parts of the first book) from Four's viewpoint. Unfortunately, this set of contributions felt too little, too late for me, after the crushing letdown of the last two Divergent books, which, albeit exciting, suspenseful, and very readable, did little but show us Tris shattering beyond repair when Four's love and their efforts leading the rebellion should have been able to heal her. Always, she was stuck in Book 1--in all she'd lost instead of finding any new motivation and purpose in her life. How unfair to Four and all who followed her lead.

A movie adaptation was made with the intention of it being four movies--the final book Allegiant was split into two (just like for Hunger Games' Mockingjay). However, the second part of the film was never completed, for which I've always been grateful. The Allegiant movie ended on such a high note. For the first time, we see Tris in a good place, finding strength and healing with Four, proud of their accomplishments and ready to begin a new life, rebuilding their world, for all. Why would fans have wanted to see the outcome of the second part of the book, where Tris sacrifices herself for absolutely no reason and leaves Four grieving? The end of the book relegates the reader to a sense of such devastation that there seems no reason to go on. I prefer to accept the movie's conclusion as the proper ending that should have been provided by the author.

While researching this review, I found that yet another story was added to the series four years after the last. We Can Be Mended was a short-story epilogue taking place 5 years after the final book in the trilogy. It's Tobias's redemption story--along with another character from the original trilogy, in a romance that I'm not sure I could feel right about accepting. As much as I disliked Tris, the thought of her best friend taking her place in Four's life just seems like a tragedy pile-on. I do intend to read it, but I don't have high hopes for being satisfied by this ending any more than I was with the previous.

Ultimately, I recommend this series, mainly for the first book, for the strong, admirable hero, for Four and Tris's early romance, and for the unique story introduced here.

Next week, I'll review another favorite YA series published in the early 2000s.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner: The Hit List: Young Adult Series Favorites {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hit List: Young Adult Series Favorites

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

by Karen S. Wiesner

In the first half of the 2000s, Young Adult series were all the rage, dominating the attention of teenagers and adults alike. Several that became household topics at the height of their popularity, enjoying fame as both book and movie series, seem to have fallen by the wayside since. Even still, I find many of those unique tales are well worth returning to for a fresh perspective. Over the next month or two, I thought I'd revisit a few series that would make any hit list of past favorites.

What an odd idea for a series! As a very basic summary, kids from each district are forced to compete in violent, brutal "games" to the death as punishment for the past sin of rebelling against the controlling state--all for the entertainment of Capitol citizens. When I first heard about this series--the first three books published between 2008 and 2010--I just could not buy the premise. The concept was beyond ridiculous to me. Parents would never allow it, and who the heck did the Capitol think it was to punish anyone for anything? They participated in the same wars in the past. Active and ongoing retribution following a war is just not done after a succession of fighting and a peace treaty is agreed to by both sides, is it? I admit to being the opposite of a war buff. Also, that people in the future could be as barbaric as in the times of the Roman gladiators didn't sit well with me either. I read the trilogy the first time, never buying the premise for an instant. I had a visceral reaction, especially, to how the author treated Peeta. I wasn't a fan of Katniss. Only one decision she made was one I could agree with--and that was how she handled the poor, pathetic rulers in Panem after the war. I remember writing  a violent review that I've since lost.

A decade passed and a new book was released--a prequel to the series. Though I had very bad memories of the original trilogy, I thought I'd give it another shot. My perceptions about everything changed. Buying the premise still wasn't easy, but I managed this time, and I found Katniss a much more sympathetic protagonist this time around. Here was a mere girl with so few choices in her life. Everything she did was so that those she loved could survive. I still didn't like what was done to Peeta, but I was grateful, as before, that he at least had something of a happily ever after here. I even enjoyed all four of the movies, which closely followed the books, at this point.

Although this series has been around a long time and, if people wanted to read it, they probably already have, in fairness, I'm including this disclaimer because The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is fairly new: Warning! Spoilers ahead!

I went into Ballad… eager to figure out what the heck was wrong with President Snow, how he could possibly justify all the horrible, selfish things he did, what explained his madness. I didn't get anything I was looking for, other than more questions, more shock at just how abysmally the author failed at trying to explain Snow's behavior. The book is, wrongly in my opinion, written from Snow's point of view. While I believe that antagonists should be well-rounded, with strong justifications for any evil they've perpetrated, as well as good traits, the author immersed us too far into Snow's character to ever see him as a villain. He wasn't at all … until he was. And then we were left wondering, what the hell? What changed that this young, seemingly virtuous person who seemed on the edge of starting a revolution in the Capitol that he suddenly turned his back on worthy ideals? Everything he did for most of the book seemed to be pointing us toward him finding a way to change the constant penance visited unfairly upon those who lived in the districts and were barely getting by, treated like animals and mere entertainment. Now this person we thought we knew as good abruptly became such a heartless monster. How was it that Lucy Gray's plight hadn't made any impact on Snow if he could leave behind anything resembling a conscience in order to do what he ultimately did, turning against everything he'd seemed to stand for in the first three-fourths of the book?

Instead of answering the questions the Hunger Games Trilogy left us with, we were overloaded with even more. I can't understand the motivation of the author to write a story about Snow that doesn't really explain what motivated his lifelong cruelty after he betrayed everything he was moving toward in redeeming the districts. Could it really be that everything he did all along was simply because he couldn't bear to be hungry, couldn't stand the thought of allying with those he considered beneath him? When the truth about his two-faced betrayal became clear to me, reading the book, I felt sure I must have missed something. I went back and restarted the chapter only to come to the same end. My niece had the exact same reaction, went back and re-read…nope, Snow is proving he's a traitor to the districts, has been all along. What?!?

I didn't want to watch the movie when it came out in November 2023, but I couldn't resist. The movie was a very faithful adaptation, with some of the most beautiful music imaginable. Even though I remained confused about why the author bothered writing a book that didn't answer any of the questions that needed logical reasoning, I admit I enjoyed the movie. Despite my reservations, I also enjoyed the first three-fourths of the book. I just don't understand. It's all senseless to me. But I easily recalled my deeply disturbed reaction the first time I read the trilogy. When I came back to it a decade later, my perceptions were radically changed. Maybe the same will happen if I come back to Ballads years from now.

In any case, I'm left with recommending this series for the reason that anything that inspires such a passionate response in me is worth my time, even if I'm not fully satisfied by it and I wish the author had done many things differently. Even long years after the first publication of these stories, their impact is undeniably powerful.

Next week, I'll review another favorite YA series published in the early 2000s.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/