Crystal Singer - Anne McCaffrey

Ah Anne McCaffrey.  One of her side series, non-PERN related.

Killashandra Ree spent 10 grueling years training for a musical career until the fateful day in her senior year when her final test they told her her voice had a unpleasant burr in higher registers that would prevent her from being a soloist.  Unpleasant burr?!??!  After all the encouragement she received.  If she couldn't bea top soloist she would walk away from it all.  At the space port she runs into a crystal singer on leave.  Pulled into his wonderful world she forgets about her unpleasantness for awhile and starts to think maybe crystal singing might be her calling.  Or is it?  Why is it that Ballybran, the only world with crystals on it, is rated a class 5 and extreme caution is needed.  Why is it that only crystal singers leave the planet and no one else?  Is she brave enough to change her destiny despite everyone urging her not to?

This is another favorite series of mine that Anne wrote.  Only 3 novels (really, really wish there was more!) it's one of those series that you can't put down.  I have read this series so many times I've had to replace the books multiple times.  And yet no matter how many times I read it, Killashandra is still a new but old favorite character.  Her journey is amazing especially as once again Anne creates this whole not just world of Ballybran but also universe where the crystals being cut on Ballybran make communications, interstellar travel and other things just as amazing.

So, so worth it to pick these up.

After You - Jojo Moyes

Second book that occurs after Me Before You (same author).

After Will is gone, Louisa is meant to break out of her tiny little world and truly live.  Can she do as Will wished?  Will she be able to make it?  Will she be able to move on?

After reading Me Before You and the emotional coaster that book put me on I was a bit trepidatious about this one.  I said before that between the book and the movie it was a great story but Louisa drove me nuts in the book.  Well the Louisa in After You...honestly this one was not nearly as emotionally charged as the first book.  I appreciate that moving on from the death of a loved one is difficult and that trying to find your way is even harder and Louisa was no exception to this.  She joins an emotional support group because her parents forced her to.  She has an accident which brought her back to her parents house.  New characters walk into her life some of which she has no control over.  I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much as the first one however I needed to know what happened to Louisa after Will.  This book still left me on a cliff, however the ending of this book, just like Me Before You left me with open possibilities.  I feel like this was more of an extra chapter than Louisa's ending.  You see her emotional struggles, Will's parents struggles and the trickle down affect his death left on everyone around him.  Louisa is the type of character that I don't think will ever get it together (like of all of us in a small way tho) but it's about family, support and coping with things.

If you're really curious about how she is after Will, then pick this up.  If you want the reader's digest version - give me a call and I'll spill.

Catacombs - Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Anne Scarborough (Book Two)

A continuation on where Catalyst left off.

Chester and Jubal arrive on Mau, Pshaw-Ra's home planet where cats are worshipped as gods.  But the welcome Pshaw-Ra was expecting does not appear and not is all as it seems for his latest scheme.  How will Chester, Jubal, the crew of Ranzo and the rescued Barque cats fit in on Mau?  Out of the frying pan and into the fire?

Once again this one fell short for me.  I just cannot put my finger on it.  What I didn't enjoy or where it was lacking - story was there, characters were good and it had good exciting things happening.  But it was just...flat.  It got to the point that will a few chapters to go I just didn't feel the need to read to the end.  I skipped to the last page with the happily ever afters and it was as I suspected.  This has only happened to me with one other book.  And I got through The Simarillion!!

Anyways I don't think either of these two books are worth picking up and reading.  

A Court of Mist & Fury - Sarah J. Maas (Book Two)

Second book in the Court of Thorn & Roses series.  Seriously Sarah is KILLING ME!!  I loved the first book, had a tough time waiting for this book and I think I will die in agony for books 3 thru 6 (not currently out).  I would recommend NOT picking this series up until um about 2020 I believe that is when book 6 is due out.  But then again you would be missing out on the continuation of what I recommended you to read in A Court of Thorns & Roses.  Mwahahahahahaha yes I am evil.

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches and returns to the Spring Court and to Tamlin.  But at what cost?  What of the bargain she struck with Rhysand?  What cost will it be in becoming a High Fae?  Will she lose herself in the twisted courts of the fae?

Alright so just like the first one I enjoyed this one.  It went in directions I never dreamed possible and ended with well you'll just have to read it to find out how this one ends.  But the more I read of this series the more addicted I am to.

Catalyst - Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough have co-written a quite a few books together.  This one is an expansion tale of the Barque Cats.  Telepathic cats that service space ships essentially.

This particular tale is told about Chessie - valuable crew member aboard the Dolly Maise, Chessie is a rare cat.  Fine breeding, close bond with her Cat Person and a fine queen breeder, she is valued for more than this.  But Chessie is catnapped before her latest litter is born.  To make matters worse there is something going through the animal community that while it doesn't make them sick, it is showing signs of an odd side effect.  What  happen to Chessie and her kittens?

This is a short read and a bit of an interesting read but for a co-write between these two, it fell short for me.  Which surprised me.  I adore cats (having 2 myself) and I adore the 2 authors.  I liked reading about Chessie's spunky kitten, Chester.  But the rest of it just I dunno what it was, but it just wasn't as enjoyable.

There is a second book - Catacombs - that picks up where this book leaves off and I will pick that up as well.  Here's hoping it's a little better...

Freedom's Landing - Anne McCaffrey (Catteni Series Book 1)

Do I love Anne McCaffrey?  Yes.  She is one of my favorite authors.  Like one of my first favorites so she holds a special place for me.  And Freedom's Landing series and Crystal Singer series just keep me coming back again and again and again.

Forgive me but I have to quote the back of the book:

"Kristin Bjornsen lived a normal life, right up until the day the spaceships floated into view above Denver. As human slaves were herded into the maw of a massive vessel, Kristin realized her normal life was over and her fight for freedom was just beginning…

The alien Catteni value strength and intelligence in their slaves—and Kristin has managed to survive her enslavement while hundreds of other humans have not. But her trial has just begun, for now she finds herself part of a massive experiment. The aliens have discovered a new world, and they have a simple way of finding out if it’s habitable: drop hundreds of slaves on the surface and see what happens.

If they survive, colonization can begin. If not, there are always more slaves"

This series has four books in it and I'm not going to review all four but I will say that it is so worth it to read them.  Kris is spunky, lively and a fighter.  And once again Anne McCaffrey creates a world that you can envision easily and it's gorgeous.

The Darkest Minds - Alexandra Bracken

"When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that had killed most of America’s children, but she and the others emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they could not control.

 Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones. When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. She is on the run, desperate to find the only safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who have escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents. When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at having a life worth living."

 Well this was a bust. Seriously I couldn't even finish it. I couldn't even get half way through it!  The main character is weak.  No personality, no drive, no passion and no will. The write up on the back of the book (above) sounds interesting and intriguing right? FALSE ADVERTISING!! Seriously, Ruby is a frightened child in the beginning of the book - she's 10, I get it. But she doesn't move beyond that - even though the book picks up after the first chapter 6 years later. And while I'll allow that she "grew up" in a camp and didn't have much stimulation to promote growth, when she is busted out she's still just this flat character. Put aside that fact that Ruby is dull, the premise is...well it's not described very well in the book. Kids come down with something, the government locks up the survivors.  You find out because of this the US plummets into social, monetary and political disaster. They do a few "experiments" on a the first ones through the camp but mostly just house them. They don't give them anything to do there - it's like the author just wrote about prison and these kids are just victims.  HOWEVER I will say that the kids that turned out with the top tier symptoms are - psycho. Like bat crap crazy psycho.

 All in all I'm not going into further detail about why you shouldn't read this book , just take my word for it.

 I still don't understand how this book is rated up there with the Hunger Games...