Traveling Through Books

Title: The Hanged Man (Her Majesty's Psychic Service #1) Author: P.N. Elrod Genre: Paranormal, Historical, Slightly Steampunk Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates Read In:  Nook ePub The Hanged Man is set in the late Victorian England. It is an alternate history where the paranormal exist and are integrated into society. The main character is a Reader. In other words, she reads the emotions of places, people, and things; much like psychic (though not the fortune telling kind). In England, Readers are used to help Scotland Yard in the investigation of crimes. Basically they read the emotions of the crime scene and provide clues from those emotions. Their sector is called her Majesty's Psychic Service and is considered a separate piece of the government. Like most books in this vein, there is a mystery and a secret society that are at play. I had high hopes for this book. It was recommended by Gail Carriger, author of the Parasol Protectorate Series, on her blog. Unfor...

  Book 11: "Leviathan" by Scott Westerfeld Verdict: Interesting read, I'm curious to see where the rest of the series goes. Having only read the "Uglies" series by Scott Westerfeld, I didn't go in with high expectations for the start of his new series, "Leviathan". But Westerfeld surprised me. In this new young adult novel, Westerfeld creates an interesting world that mixes fantasy/sci-fi with actual historical events*. On the brink of World War I, the story follows two characters, a boy and a girl. The boy, Aleksander is the Austrian Prince, now fleeing for his life after the assassination of his parents. The girl, Deryn Sharp is English and posing as a boy so that she can join the air service. Similar to actual history, Europe has been split into two factions. However, the sides have new names. Instead of the Allies, you have the Darwinists. The Darwinists of this story have taken Darwin's theory of evolution and used it to th...

  Book 10: "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick Verdict: Meh. A shallow, not great book even for a YA book. This book has received a lot of attention for, honestly, reasons I can't comprehend. I give Fitzpatrick credit for having a pretty cool idea. If you don't know what this novel is about, here's a short explanation: a fallen Angel falls in love with a human teenager. The reasons and how this happens are a little more involved, but basically that's the whole point of the book. The conflict was okay, keeps the reader in slight suspense for a very short period of time. Overall this is an okay novel; I just have two major issues with it. Issue number one: the characters are flat: a.k.a. the characters don't develop or change, they are one-dimensional. Growth periods are spoken of but all of the main characters did all of their growing before the book starts. I have an issue with this because it's bo...

  Books 8 & 9: "Soulless" and "Changeless" by Gail Carriger "Souless" and "Changeless" by Gail Carriger Verdict: If you like urban fantasy* READ THESE! Okay, these two books are parts one and two of a trilogy* (Part three, "Blameless" to release this September) and I LOVE them. The entire series works off of the balance principal; if an extreme exists there, must be an opposite, and applies this theory to the supernatural. In these books, the supernatural are creatures with an excess of soul. So to become werewolf, vampire, or ghost the person that is being turned must have too much soul as a human or they will not survive the transformation. Since these creatures of too much soul exist, by theory, there must be a creature with no soul, or a preternatural. Thus bringing us to the main character of our story, Alexia Tarabotti. Alexia Tarabotti is soulless. As such, when she makes physical contact with any supernatural she act...

    Book 7: "The Year of the Flood" by Margaret Atwood Verdict: Read      If you like books that make you think about the society you live in by giving you an alternate version, a.k.a dystopias, this is a must-read. Margaret Atwood, well known for her novel "The Handmaid's Tale", is a master at making the reader reevaluate the society they live in, by taking a look into what could happen in the future. "The Year of the Flood" is a companion/sequel to "Oryx and Crake". Now, that being said, I loved this book and understood it; I have not read "Oryx and Crake" so I can't attest to how much I missed or didn't for this reason. But when I picked up the book and started reading, I had no idea it was a sequel, so I kept reading. There you have it.      "The Year of the Flood" is set in the future of the United States, presumably, though no specific dates are given. The years in the novel are based on the life...