Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ah Cleopatra, the world’s most famous harlot. I’ve always wanted to know more about her and so when this book recommendation came from a literary podcast I listen to, I snapped it up. One of the biggest issues surrounding Cleopatra is that her history was rewritten by men to reflect a how they felt she should be portrayed.

The author lets you know as much in the forward. She lays out a quick history of how it happened and explains that much of what we ought to know about the monarch is lost. She then takes an exceptionally long time to tell you what we do know. To her credit, the author lays out the lifetime of Cleopatra in intricate detail. She traces her lineage and discusses the politics of the time. She covers Cesar and Antony, Octavian and Herod. Cleopatra’s life spanned continents and regime changes. Throughout everything you get the impression that Cleopatra was a woman in control up until the end. The majority of the book is spent digging into the politics of ancient Rome where Cleopatra ends up being an ancillary character.

It’s hard to review a book like this. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I did not find this book to be passionate or sizzling with energy. It took me a lot longer to read than most because I kept finding other things I wanted to read more. There are nearly one hundred pages of sources listed in the back and you can definitely tell due to the level of detail in the narrative.

As a history book this is magnificent. As a brain candy/beach book? You’re out of luck. Unless history books are your beach books that is. The way it was originally described was in a way that made me think it would be an easy and quick read. It’s density and details make it a labor of love. Not just for the author but for you as well.

Put another way, anyone looking for an Erik Larsson type narrative will be a bit disappointed.


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American Gods by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I realize that I am a little late to the part with American Gods. The book has been out for forever now and it wasn't until the show was created for Starz that I even took an interest in it. I wouldn't call myself a Neil Gaiman fan. In fact, I've never read any of his books but I figured that this was as good a place as any to start.

There are a few things to consider before you chose the audiobook version (as I did) over the print version:
1. Do you want this to be the last book you ever hear while dodging crazed motorists while driving home from work
2. How do you feel about tangential side stories that appear to have no purpose other than world building.
a. Ex: One "God" is mentioned right off the bat in a very graphic sex scene. She is mentioned once later about 3/4 of the way through the book. The point, it seems, is to be able to remark on the health of another god whom she cursed.
3. Do you like detail? Take Dean Koontz's level of detail and double it (triple it?).
4. Do you like reading about nothing? At several points throughout the book the main character of Shadow is stuck in Midwest America living a normal life. You're taken through his daily life in excruciating detail.
5. Do you like characters with no motivation for their actions? You do? You'll love Shadow.
6. Audiobook complaint: Do you want the word "puppy" ruined for you by hearing a grown man say it in a woman's voice?

This is a huge world that Gaiman has created and on the audiobook his says as much. During his writing process he discusses how he basically wrote a bunch of short stories and then kept thinking about how he could potentially tie everything together. He thinks everything came together beautifully. Maybe it's just me. I thought it was just too much. Towards the end, with the "big reveal" as to why Shadow is important to the whole thing; I ended up even more disappointed than I already was.

The writing is of course masterful and I could absolutely see everything as described. The characters are vibrant and layered. Maybe my mistake was trying to do this one as an audiobook. Because hearing things like "he entered the water and was shocked by the wetness" definitely bugged me (seriously though, if you step into water how are you shocked by wetness?).

The one part that I found a lot of joy with was their trip through the House on the Rock in Wisconsin. That was mostly because I've been there myself and it was cool to hear descriptions of the carousel and the music rooms that I loved as a kid.

This one is getting three stars because I loved parts of it and I hated parts of it. It's a long one so unless you really like Gaiman or you really like long books, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

Right before I posted my review, I realize that I didn't even get to the point where I wanted to give you a brief description of the plot. That should tell you something right there.

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Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When this book popped up as an add-on for my Book of the Month subscription, I was pretty excited. Paula Hawkins was back with a new novel! And for such a discounted price? I’m totally in. The premise seemed promising, a small town with multiple deaths in the same river. Some by murder, some by suicide, some by accident. It touted a twisted family and small town drama.

It delivered. Ish. The book was good, don’t get me wrong. I just had a lot of trouble with it. The main thing that you need to know is that there are a ton of narrators. I’d have to go back and actually count to be accurate but off the top of my head I think there’s ten or eleven different perspectives with at least two interludes about previous deaths surrounding other characters. I don’t generally mind multiple narrators in a book, but with this one considering how interwoven everything became? I felt like having so many narrators was a detriment. There were simply too many. On the bright side the author manages to give each character a unique enough voice to be able to discern who was speaking. There were also time jumps amongst these narrators which made things a little extra confusing.

The main death being investigated during this book is the death of Nel, who was actually named Danielle (keep that as a note). She either jumped off the cliff into the river or was pushed. Her estranged sister comes back to town to assist with the organizing of the affairs and to try and connect with Nel’s daughter Lena. Throughout the story you discover old and buried family secrets and affairs of the heart. What this story boils down to is a tale of revenge on multiple levels. I can tell you that the killer isn’t who you think it is. And if it was? Well then you probably didn’t get bogged down by the tone shift.

Overall it was a decent story, but I felt as though any one single thread of the book could have made an even better story. By the end, you’ve solved multiple mysteries that were all somehow interconnected but you’re left with a feeling of exhaustion. At least I was. Maybe I just read it too fast.

I gave it three stars. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.

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Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

These two novellas under the titles of Cruel Crown are decent short world building stories. One follows Cal's mother and the other follows the leader of the resistance. I would say that I enjoyed Queen Song more than I enjoyed Steel Scars, but this was mostly due to the way it was presented.

Queen Song is a typical plot and dialogue story. Steel Scars has this, but it also contains communications between Farley and her superiors officers. Unfortunately with Steel Scars there is so little depth that it left me wondering what the heck the point was to the novella in the first place.

Since this seems to be a trend these days, with authors giving us short novellas in order to tide us over until the next novel; one would hope that they would at least be substantive enough to make it worth your while. A great example of this would be Sarah J Maas's Assassin's Blade novellas. Those gave you insight and history into the character you had already fallen in love with.

Queen Song and Steel Scars collectively only give you world building. The characters are not ones we wish to latch on to as the were cursory to the original story. I write this having only read Red Queen and not the rest of the series yet. Perhaps I'll appreciate these more when that occurs. Right now? Even though it took practically no time at all, I feel like I have wasted my time reading these books.

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Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Red Queen is yet another one of those books that continually appears in the suggestions section of Amazon for me. I've been avoiding it and I'm not sure why. I keep thinking that I couldn't possibly want to read another dystopian teen drama where the girl is in love with the guy she can't have. I can't possibly want to get involved with yet another magic related trilogy.

I was of course, wrong. I don't know what it is about these books that makes me want to inhale them. They aren't terribly amazing but they aren't terribly awful. In this variation, we have the elite Silvers and the laborer Reds. The color in the titles indicate the color of the blood that they bleed.

The main character Mare is a petty thief just trying to help support her family. One night she happens to run into Cal to whom she tells she life story in all its painful detail. The next day she is collected by the Silver Guards and taken to the palace where she is given a job as a servant. Mare feels conflicted because the Silvers are everything she hates. Oh, and by the way, Cal is the prince. I know you're totally shocked.

Not satisfied with making this a war torn dystopia, the author throws some magical elements into the plot as well. Silvers are the only people who have specialty powers. Except Mare, of course. She accidentally discovers that she has special abilities in the middle of a ceremony. Strangeness then ensues. The King and Queen decide to make her part of the family and betroth her to their second son Maven. As Mare begins to learn more about the world she's living in thing go terribly awry.

This is not the most original concept in the world, however, it does keep the reader engaged in the story. It pulls a bit of a Hunger Games ending and it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

If this is your genre, you won't be disappointed. If you are sick of this genre, go ahead and steer clear.

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Die Again by Tess Gerritsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the things that I love most about a Rizzoli and Isles book from Tess Gerritsen is that I know if I somehow kipped from book two to book ten, I wouldn't know it. Gerristen ensures that you only get enough exposition to be a reminder of previous stories but not so much that you feel as though you've missed so much that you can't possibly continue.

The other really great part about these characters being back is that they aren't constantly meeting men who drive them crazy and ultimately fall in love with them. There's an established cannon in which Rizzoli is married and Isles is coming off a pseduo-relationship with someone but isn't really looking for something new.

This story spans continents and isn't relegated to just Boston. A taxidermist is murdered in his home and disemboweled in the process. Interwoven with this, are chapters with a group a tourists who are killed while on Safari in Africa.

What I loved about this book was that I knew for certain that the suspect in the murders was not the murderer, but not only did I guess wrong, there was yet another twist on top of my original theory that was a pleasant surprise.

Other fans of Gerritsen and murder mysteries in general won't be disappointed in this one. If you've never read a Rizzoli and Isles novel before, I recommend those as well.

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