Tag: Lock In series

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Playing Catch Up!

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Playing Catch Up!

Posted on by Jaymie

When I got to the end of 2018 and started looking ahead to the books I had read but hadn’t reviewed as well as the new books I wanted to read, I felt overwhelmed. I realized I have some reviews prepared that I am never going to get to. So, today I’m going to do a quick review of some of these books so I can feel caught up once again. So, here are some of the books I read in 2018 (and one from this January), but didn’t get to review until now.

Crunch the Shy Dinosaur – An adorable picture book where the dinosaur “reacts” to the reader. Simple text and a lot of fun. Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

 

 

 

The Dinosaur Expert – I love this whole series of books about a teacher, Mr. Tiffin, and his class. In this book, one of the girls is a dinosaur expert, but one of the boys laughs and questions if girls can even be paleontologists. Kimmy’s reaction to the comment is immediate withdrawal, but Mr. Tiffin, in his firm but quiet way, saves the day. Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

 

 

Princess Pulverizer: Grilled Cheese and Dragons – Princess Serena is nothing like her name, and she’d rather be training with the knights than the princesses. The King assigns her eight acts of service to complete before she can go to knight school. I didn’t find this one as funny as the author’s Magic Bone series, and Serena was a little abrasive for me in this first book, but I’m eager to see how she develops as she completes her Quest for Kindness. Rating: ♥♥♥

 

 

Monsters Beware! – The third graphic novel in the Chronicles of Claudette series about Claudette as she seeks out adventure and monsters and her friends just try to survive their encounters. I got a kick out of all of the books in this series. Rating: ♥♥♥♥

 

 

 

Mr. Gedrick and Me – A family suffering through grief is in desperate need of some intervention. Stanley fills out a web ad for a nanny, and his family gets more than they bargained for – and exactly what they need.  This was absolutely delightful! I adored Stanley. This Mary Poppins-esque story is just light enough for a middle grade audience (3rd to 5th grade) while still introducing the topic of grief. Rating: ♥♥♥♥

 

 

Crime Rib – Book 2 in the Food Lovers’ Village mystery series. A TV show is in town for the Annual Summer Food and Art Fair including the main event, a Grill Off. But the festivities take a dark turn after a hit-and-run and then a murder. I love the setting for this series and the characters. It’s been awhile since I read the first one, but I fell right back into things easily.  This is a series I want to stick with in 2019. Rating: ♥♥♥♥

 

 

Elementary, She Read – Book one in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series. Gemma runs the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium in West London Cape Cod, and her best friend runs Mrs. Hudson’s Team Room next door. When a woman stashes something in the bookshop during a busy day and then dies, Gemma is on the case. I really enjoyed this one – Gemma is like Sherlock with a eidetic memory, which is handy for a sleuth but can be annoying in other settings. After reading two of these in a row, I did need a Gemma break. She can be a little abrasive, not unlike Sherlock. But the mysteries have been great fun, and I know I will get back to this series. Rating: ♥♥♥♥

 

Snowspelled – I requested this book from the library as the author is a “friend” of mine on Goodreads, and we enjoy similar books. I loved this alternate fantasy world full of magic, but even more I loved the political shifts. In this world, the women are the politicians and decision makers and the men have magic. Add to that a strong main character who once had magic (a shake up in her culture) and then lost it, and an elf looking for trouble, and I was hooked. Frankly, the mystery/elf portion of the story was the weakest part for me, but the characters and the world and the relationships sucked me in completely. Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 

 

Spellswept – After Snowspelled, I read the prequel, Spellswept, and it was even better! This story focuses on the sister-in-law from the first book who is dealing with the fall out of her attachment to this “unnatural” family. This book tells that story, and it was excellent! Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

 

 

Split Second – Book 1 in the King and Maxwell series. My husband and I watched – and enjoyed – the short-lived TV show based on this book series, so when he challenged me to read the first book, I was looking forward to it.  This is longer than a lot of the books I read, but that just meant there was time for a TON of twists and turns in this mystery. I really enjoyed the characters, so I will be coming back to this series, too. Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

 

 

Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome – This reads like a non-fiction book – and it is stellar. I had to keep reminding myself that this is “nonfiction” backstory on a FICTIONAL series. I have already enjoyed the two books in the series – Lock In and Head On (4.5 stars – so good!); I didn’t need this backstory to understand and enjoy the world Scalzi developed for the series. But I’m so glad I have that backstory. It really added some things to the experience. And it made me want to re-read the books again. Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: Lock In by John Scalzi

REVIEW: Lock In by John Scalzi

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

When a flu-like pandemic swept the world, a lot of people got sick. One percent of those who contracted it found themselves “locked” inside their immobile bodies. Their bodies continue to live, but their consciousnesses are trapped inside. The condition is called Haden’s syndrome. Those with Haden’s cannot interact with the physical world any more without the assistance of a mechanical suit that serves as a personal transportation device. The other option for those with Haden’s is to work with an “Integrator,” others who had the illness but did not get locked in. Instead, their brains developed the ability to work with hardware installed in their skulls to allow a locked in person to push their consciousness into the Integrator’s brain in order to take over the body for a time.

On Chris Shane’s first day with the FBI, Chris is partnered with a former Integrator named Vann. They stumble into a weird case involving an Integrator and a dead man. While the Integrator seems guilty, if he was hosting someone with Haden’s at the time of the murder, there’s another culprit to find. Things get even weirder with an explosion at a Haden’s research lab and also an assassination attempt. Recent legislation is changing the world for the locked in. There’s been a walk out and a march, and the march organizer seems to be tied into everything that’s happening in Chris’ case. Since Chris is locked in (Chris uses a mechanical suit to get around)and Vann is a former Integrator, they are perfectly positioned to understand some of the intricacies of this case and figure out what is really going on!

Review

This was amazing! The world building with the disease and the technology pieces is exceptional. And behind all of the tech is a fantastic mystery. I loved every bit of this. There’s some terrific humor through the story that I enjoyed, too. It’s hard to give a good summary and explain the differences in the world that are central to the mystery without giving anything important away. Just trust me – this was excellent.

If you love an intricate science fiction world and a just-as-intricate mystery, run right out and pick this up! The sequel, Head On, is just as fantastic – with a football-ish spin to the Haden’s story. There’s also a prequel about Haden’s that I am eager to read. If audiobooks are your style, this one is read by Wil Wheaton, who does a terrific job with audiobooks. Don’t miss this one! I had my husband read it last summer for our family reading challenge, and he loved it, too! (Language, some violence)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Summer Reading Wrap Up

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Summer Reading Wrap Up

Posted on by Jaymie

Back in June I posted my Summer Reading plan for 2018. Today I want to give a brief update.

Family Reading Challenge

By the end of July, my husband was the only one of the three of us to finish the six assigned books. I am so proud of him! My son has almost finished three and I have finished two. We plan to keep pushing forward to get those done by Fall Break (October).

#BookaDay

This is the only challenge I completed this summer. My goal was to read 61 books in 61 days. I finished 69. This includes 20 picture books which really help on days when I don’t have a lot of time to read a longer book.

Some of my favorites from this summer are:

  • Head On by John Scalzi (adult science fiction – sequel to Lock In which is also awesome)
  • We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins  (picture book)
  • A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman   (adult historic mystery)
  • Annie’s Life in Lists by  Kristin Mahoney (middle grade contemporary with a fantastic format!)
  • The Pros of Cons by Alison Cherry and Lindsay Ribar and Michelle Shusterman  (YA contemporary)
  • Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson (YA contemporary – this was literally stunning)
  • Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart (YA dystopian)

Hopefully I’ll be able to post reviews of a lot of these soon!

TBR Shelf

Instead of cleaning off the TBR shelf, I ADDED more to it! So obviously a big fail here, too!

 

While I only achieved one of my three reading goals for the summer break, I did a lot of great reading and really enjoyed myself. I had a ton of reviews I committed to do this summer which drove a lot of my reading decisions. Interestingly enough, only one of the summer favorites I listed above was a book I read for a publisher (Grace and Fury). I think that says a lot about the power of reading choice, even for adults.

Did you read anything amazing this summer?

 

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: My Summer Reading Plan 2018

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: My Summer Reading Plan 2018

Posted on by Jaymie

Last summer I posted a pretty extensive Summer Reading Plan. This year I’m keeping it simple (for me). I’m continuing our Family Reading Challenge, I’m doing #Bookaday, and I have a Summer TBR collection.

Family Reading Challenge

This will be the third year of the Reading Challenge for my teen and I. Last summer we drew my husband in for the festivities.  This started as a way to convince my teen to read some books I thought he would enjoy but couldn’t get him to try. This year we have only assigned three books to each person, instead of the five we did last year.

These are the six I will be reading; the first three were assigned by my teen. Renegades is the third book in the Randoms series. My son has assigned me each of the books in this series, and I have liked them more than I expected. Both my husband and son have read Ready Player One, and they have been talking about assigning this to me for months. I might also try listening to the audio book since it is read by Wil Wheaton. Neither of us have read the Marissa Meyer Renegades, but it’s been on my list. My husband is a huge Baldacci fan, but I have only read the ones he assigned me last summer so he’s assigned me two new ones. And while I love Jen Hatmaker, I haven’t read anything by her husband, so I am looking forward to reading one of his books.

These six are for my teen; the first three were assigned by me. I am two books into the Darkest Minds series and I have loved them. I think my son will love the first book. You can read my review of Moxie here. Both my teen and my husband will be reading this one so we can talk about the themes. And while my son has been raised to know that the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42, he is not yet familiar with the source material. This summer, he will be. My son has enjoyed some adult books in the mystery and adventure genres, so this summer he is going to try some Baldacci, Clancy and a science fiction book about Artificial Intelligence.

These are my husband’s challenge books, the first three chosen by me. If it takes me 20 years, one book at a time, I am determined to show my husband the gloriousness that is the Kitty Katt-Martini series. So this year he gets to read book 3. I adored Scalzi’s Lock In, and I think the premise is just the sort of book my husband will enjoy. I am currently waiting for a library hold to come through for the sequel. And he will also be reading Moxie. My son assigned him book two of the Randoms series and both book one and two of the Scythe series. We both have loved this unusual series, and I’m eager to hear what my husband thinks of it.

#Bookaday

Teachers, Librarians and other book fanatics all over social media (Instagram, Twitter) choose to read a book each day of summer vacation. My #bookaday will run from June 1 to July 31, so 61 books in 61 days. And to help with that I have a Kindle full of Advance Reader Copies and my personal TBR pile for the summer

TBR Shelf

These are the books that I have prioritized for the summer in addition to my ARCs I need to read. There’s a mix of non-fiction and fiction, books for kids, teens and adults, as well as new books and books I have been meaning to get to for ages. Two were gifts – one from a former student – and one is a new edition of a book I read years ago.  It’s going to be a great summer of reading!