Book Reviews

Inferno by Dan Brown

 in Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers by

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Inferno by Dan Brown

From my Instagram

 

Summary

“Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon awakens in an Italian hospital, disoriented and with no recollection of the past thirty-six hours, including the origin of the macabre object hidden in his belongings. With a relentless female assassin trailing them through Florence, he and his resourceful doctor, Sienna Brooks, are forced to flee. Embarking on a harrowing journey, they must unravel a series of codes, which are the work of a brilliant scientist whose obsession with the end of the world is matched only by his passion for one of the most influential masterpieces ever written, Dante Alighieri’s The Inferno.

Dan Brown has raised the bar yet again, combining classical Italian art, history, and literature with cutting-edge science in this sumptuously entertaining thriller.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This book was amazingly well done and SO scary. Not terror scary but because all the facts and scientific pieces of information are true, so that makes it way scarier to think about.

I just wanted to start off with the quote from the beginning of the book.

“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.”

Now, I am not 100% sure who said this comment but it seems like it was Dante Alighieri, but don’t quote me on that because it seems like there is a lot of discrepancies about who said it. But I really like this quote but I agree with it. Now there are many sides to every issue and to state that those who don’t pick a side or don’t have a say, essentially not caring, have a special place in hell.

Now, this book obviously has a lot of backlash online when you google it because it is a historic book, taking real things, places, and people, and using them in a novel so people like to rip these books apart and say how horrible it was and inaccurate it was. First off, this is a novel! You can’t quote it in a thesis or a research paper as even though it has facts, it is still a fictional piece and can’t be counted as a credible source. People seem to like to ignore this fact and say how inaccurate it was, and it partially annoys me, but you will always have those trolls whose main purpose is to rip others apart.

But with that aside, I honestly loved this book. It did take me much longer to read than a regular Dan Brown, just because I found the topic at hand quite stressful and also because I’ve been very busy so didn’t get to sit down and read as much. But I finally finished it in a 7 hour-long car drive, and am so glad that I read it. It was exciting, presented interesting ideas, and scared the living crap out of me because of some of the ideas presented.

For characters, each character changed throughout the novel. Some you thought were good and turned out to be bad but then were good-ish, then there were bad guys who were actually good….I mean serious confusion going on but it all was straightened out in the end, per usual.

The main character, Robert Langdon has been in some of his other novels so seeing him work on this type of case is nice because you get to see character development over longer periods of time which is a nice change.

Overall I do recommend this book. It’s a classical Dan Brown and if you like his other novels, then you are sure to like this one as well.

Happy reading and let me know what you think!

Dangerous Territory: An Alpha Ops novella by Emmy Curtis

 in Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers by

Summary

“A SEXY STRANGER
Flirting with danger is reporter Grace Grainger’s modus operandi. But she’s learned the hard way not to grow attached to the soldiers she’s embedded with in Afghanistan. To escape from her pain and loneliness, she fantasizes about the hot night she spent with a gorgeous stranger three years before in D.C. Grace never thought she’d see him again-let alone need him to rescue her . . .
AN EXPLOSIVE NIGHT
Air Force Master Sergeant Josh Travers knows journalists are nothing but trouble. So when he has to risk the lives of his team to save some reporter who’s been separated from her patrol, he’s not happy-until he recognizes her stunning eyes and delicious curves. Josh has never wanted a woman like he wants Grace. Even in an Afghan cave with a sandstorm and enemy troops closing in, he can’t deny the desire. This might be the end for both of them-or one hell of a beginning.”

-B&N.com

Review

This book was honestly adorable. It was a short story, only about 115 pages on my iPad and $0.99 from the iBook store. It was about 30,000 words which is below the aim for NaNoWriMo so it was a really fast read. It had a cute relationship, adding the explosive location of Afghanistan and in the middle of a war.

Like hot damn. Who gets it on in the middle of a battle field in a cave at night with Taliban just outside the mouth of your cave. These two characters; JT and Grace.

There was some nice character development and yes I would have loved more, but you have to remember that this was a novella, not a novel. Novella’s of series, in case people don’t know (as I didn’t used to), usually take minor characters and use them in a side story, or use the same ideas as the main series but take it on a different track. Also novellas are usually much, much shorter.

But overall, this was a cute and sweet story. The sex wasn’t graphic and there really wasn’t any crude language used. A few f-bombs and regular cursing but no seriously vulgar language which is a nice change.

I will definitely be checking out more of Emmy Curstis’ books as I ‘d love to see what she can do. I recommend this book for ages 17 and up as it is a mature theme but it’s an easy read as I said. Do check it out though!

So until next time my lovelies. Happy reading!

Favorite Quotes

“Good. My name is T.S, and I will be your rescuer today.”

“Well, soldier, is that a night-vision scope in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?”

 

The Light Between Oceans (A Novel) by M.L. Stedmad

 in Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers by

Summary

“After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock. To this isolated island, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up carrying a dead man and a living baby. In. M.L. Stedman’s mesmerizing novel we, we are seduced into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God,” and we are swept into their story.”

-From the back cover

Review

I shall start off by saying that this was a book I would have never read but it was the required book for my school so I didn’t really have a choice. And honestly, I really disliked this book.

It was so damn depressing and on such a sad topic.

I mean come on, you can tell in the summary that it’s going to be sad – miscarriages and a stillbirth.

My school couldn’t have chosen a happier book? -.-

Anyway. The story was pretty good but it was really convoluted. Chapters were broken up into sections and some sections would be in different people points of view and it going confusing fast as to who was speaking and when that actually happened because it would jump between times and such. That annoys me when it does that without telling you when it actually is happening clearly because then you get confused and such.

As I said the story line was quite depressing and with a child being taken from someone (can’t say what exactly as it’s in the story later on) you get extremely stressed over what is occurring and I really dislike that in books. If its sci-fi or action its fine, but not in  a book like this that is based in reality.

There really isn’t a lot to say in this book as there was no character development that I was able to see, and overall I just really didn’t like the book.

I know that many people would be interested in something like this, but personally I wouldn’t recommend it.

But if you have read it and have a different view on it, let me know what you think about it.

Until then, happy reading.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

 in Book Reviews / Books by

Summary

“Listed in the Marine Corps Professional Reading Program, The Art of War has influenced military tactics since the being written around the 6th century B.C. by Sun Tzu. The book has been credits to tactics used by General Normal Schwarzkoph and General Colin Powell in the Persian Gulf War. The Art of War has also been linked to other military leaders such as Napoleon, Vo Nguyen Giap, ho Chin Minh, and Mao Zedong.

Although written by Sun Tzu as a military reference, The Art of War is full of advice that has helped people of all backgrounds to prepare for many of life’s battles. The teachings of Sun Tzu go beyond the traditional battlefields and have been used in the boardroom, in sports, and anywhere challenges need to be faced and overcome.”

-From the back flap of the 2010 edition by P.L Publications, translated from Chinese by Lionel Giles, M.A.

Review

This book…..I’m honestly still working on processing it.

The book, my version (there are TONS of translations) was only 73 pages, but in that small amount of time, a lot of information was thrown at you and it was REALLY deep stuff.

When I started reading this book, I kind of sat there like, “Why can’t the US Military follow these rules?” But then as you progress and you see the word “chariot” and words such like that. This book really doesn’t apply to modern warfare anymore as land battles can be won from the air with planes and drones now. But its the thought process that still can be applied. As it said on the back cover, it’s good to apply to life and you most definitely can do that.

This is an older read, just because younger people won’t understand it at all. I had a hard enough time with it. You were constantly re-reading points to make sure that you actually understood what was written.

I do recommend reading this book just because of some of the points in it. None of this I would ever use because I am not a soldier, but still, the though process which is suggested in some of the points in the book are interesting and can be applied to life’s challenges.

There isn’t much else to say about it. It’s a classic, and an ‘easy’ read so if you have some spare time, go and check it out.

Let me know what you think while you’re at it ^.^

Happy reading!

P.S. Unfortunately I can’t find the cover of MY version of the book, but I love it. It’s a guy holding a Katana with a sunset behind him. All you see are his arms grasping the weapon. And with my personal love of Katanas…I just had to xD.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

 in Book Reviews / Books / Books-to-Movie by

Summary

“In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn’t make the cut–young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender’s skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender’s two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If the world survives, that is.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This book was, just wow. Nothing like I thought it was going to be. I had had this book sitting on my shelf for quite some time now but when I got it, the reading level was way beyond me and I didn’t understand the book. It starts as if it is part of a series and that is what threw me off to start with. But now that I found out that there was a movie being made of it, I decided to do a little looking around and found out that it indeed was the first one of the series (only just found out that there is more than 1 book in the series.) So I started reading it.

This book is definitely off the wall. The writing style is very strange and sometimes quite confusing but you just have to push through it because eventually it all starts to make sense. This is not a book that you can just sit down and read. You really have to give yourself a little time to actually sit and think about it. Some books you can just pick up and read about 3 pages of and then come back some time later and continue reading. This you cannot. You have to really read a good bunch of pages or finish a chapter before you can put it down because otherwise when you come back it will not make any sense at all. But I have to say that it was extremely well written. It kept you thinking, wondering what would happen, and it kept surprising you with different things that happened. The characters were developed quite well as you got to understand Ender and how he acted and how he felt in different situations. You really got close to him and felt bad for him during many situations.

Honestly, there is not a whole lot you can say about this book without giving anything away as there were many details that can ruin the book for you.

I am also going to tell you that nothing it what it seems and that the end is going to be shocking and leave you sitting there with your mouth open (metaphorically – except in my case where it actually was).

But I am going to tell you this…please read this book before you see the movie because I have a feeling that the movie is going to be different. I am also going to say that you have to get into the book before it starts the flow. The beginning feels a little rough, but it will all start to make sense later on. Just dive in and get going.

Good luck, enjoy the book, and let me know what you think.

Update: There is a movie for this book out and I saw it and thought it was fabulous. It wasn’t exactly like the book…but I still defiantly recommend that you watch it. But read the book first, because after the movie, reading the book will be really difficult.