Artemis by Andy Weir {DNF Review}

Title: Artemis
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Science Fiction
source: NetGalley

Jazz Bashara is a criminal.
Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.
Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first. 

So I have never read The Martian, but I've heard so many good things about it that when I heard Andy Weir was coming out with a new book, I was very excited. I love all things space and so was very intrigued by the idea of a colony on the moon.

Unfortunately, I could not get into this one at all. I did not even make it to the customary 25% that I try to give a book before marking it a DNF. While I did enjoy the moon colony and the background of it, the writing was stilted. Our main character Jazz, despite being a grown woman, was written like a 15-year-old dude. Frankly, I am sick and tired of men acting like they are unable to write a decent female character without making them overly sexual, or weird, or fetishized in some way.

While I love the concept of Weir's books, I am not sure that I really care to read them.

Andy Weir

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The Tiger's Daughter {DNF Review}

Title: The Tiger's Daughter
Author: K. Arsenault Rivera
Series: Their Bright Ascendency #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
source: NetGalley

The Hokkaran empire has conquered every land within their bold reach―but failed to notice a lurking darkness festering within the people. Now, their border walls begin to crumble, and villages fall to demons swarming out of the forests.
Away on the silver steppes, the remaining tribes of nomadic Qorin retreat and protect their own, having bartered a treaty with the empire, exchanging inheritance through the dynasties. It is up to two young warriors, raised together across borders since their prophesied birth, to save the world from the encroaching demons.
This is the story of an infamous Qorin warrior, Barsalayaa Shefali, a spoiled divine warrior empress, O-Shizuka, and a power that can reach through time and space to save a land from a truly insidious evil.

I wanted to love this book so, so bad. It was loved by all the people I trust, it was blurbed by my favorite author. But I just couldn't. I DNF'd around 30% and let me tell you, it took WAY too long to even get that far. I like to give books a good chance before setting them down, but that 30% took me almost a month to read.

First, it was just...boring? I had heard all of this talk of warriors and empresses and saving the world, but apparently I just couldn't wait long enough to get there. The story is told mostly in letter form from one of the girls to the other. While the letter is in interesting aspect, I think it ultimately detracted from its intended purpose. (Also, it didn't really make sense? It seems odd to go into this much detail in a letter to someone who was also there.)

Also, the world-building was mostly built through dumps of information throughout the letter. It was obviously based on Asian cultures, but very badly done. While I can't speak to the racism and appropriation of Japanese and Chinese culture in this novel, this review can. I encourage you to read it.

All in all, just highly disappointed.

K. Arsenault Rivera

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Nerd Talks: To DNF or Not To DNF...

So, the other day, I posted some DNF mini reviews. I mentioned that I hardly ever DNF books. And it's true. I often will force myself through a book because I feel the need to finish it. But that got me thinking...if I force myself to finish a review book, does that make my rating "unfair" to the book? Or would it just be better if I DNF-ed it, and stated why I didn't want to continue reading?

I actually have not come upon that many books that I feel the need to DNF. I usually reserve those for the ones that I absolutely cannot stand what even is this (like Halo) and on occasion, books that ended up being nothing like the description said/what I thought it was going to be (like Distant Waves). But maybe I need to be more picky about the books I DNF. If I don't feel like reading something, I shouldn't read it. (Although, I definitely think there is a difference between putting something down because I'm not in the mood for it, and actually DNF-ing it, like I'm never going to pick this back up ever. Because I am a definite mood reader.)

Which brings me to the real question: How do you decide with review books? I have review books that I have had for months that I started and never picked up again. Because it's a review book, I think I have to finish it and then it sits there forever, when I really just need to realize that I'm never going to finish it. Which is why I tried out the mini DNF review format last week, and I think it's something I'm going to keep.

Because life is too short to read books you don't want to.

So tell me: do you DNF books? How do you decide what to DNF?

Mini {DNF} Reviews: Fifteen Minutes, Airel

Because life's too short and there are way too many books to force yourself through books you don't want to read. While I don't usually review DNF's, these are just a couple of the review books that I've ended up putting down. These won't be actual review, per se, but just my initial thoughts and the reasons I put them down.

Title: Fifteen Minutes

Author: Karen Kingsbury

Rating: DNF at 50 pages

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Received via NetGalley, but also purchased it myself

Overnight, Zack is the nation’s most popular contestant, a country singer with the looks and voice of a young Elvis. As his star rises, Zack is asked to compromise and quiet his beliefs, and also something more. Just as America is falling in love with Zack, just as he’s on the verge of winning it all, his choices lead him to the brink of personal disaster.At the same time, Reese Weatherly, a therapeutic horse instructor, is no longer sure about her relationship with Zack, or the wedding they had dreamed about. While Zack advances from one round of the competition to the next, an offer comes to Reese--one that will take her to a home halfway around the world.
Then Chandra Olson--reigning diva pop star and one of the Fifteen Minutes judges--intervenes. Chandra has suffered so much public pain and private agony since her days as a Fifteen Minutes contestant. Now she wants just one thing: meaning.
Can Chandra's private losses help Zack find his way, or will his fifteen minutes of fame cause him to lose the life he once loved? Fifteen Minutes is a story of character, compromise, and the cost of having it all. A story that raises the question: Who are the real winners?

Last year, I was on a huge Karen Kingsbury kick. I read so many of her books. In fact, this was one of my very first NG requests. And I actually bought the book, that's how much I love Karen Kingsbury. This DNF may be in part because I was just burned out on her books by this point, although I did try picking it up again recently and couldn't get into it. Some might say 50 pages may not be enough of a chance, but it was all I could struggle through.

Honestly, this book was not the same quality that I have come to expect from Karen Kingsbury. I loved the concept of this, as it is something that we can relate to in these days, but it just didn't work. I know that Kingsbury's books are filled with a lot of instances that just happen to work out perfectly, but there was something about this one that just worked out too perfect. I realize that I hadn't yet gotten to when things start to fall apart, but that's how I felt.

Basically, this just couldn't hold my attention. I felt the writing quality was not up to par with her other works (and I've read a lot of Karen Kingsbury). I hope to someday revisit this one and actually finish it, but maybe not anytime soon.

Karen Kingsbury:

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Title: Airel

Author: Aaron Patterson with Chris White

Rating: DNF at 30%
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Received via NetGalley

All Airel ever wanted was to be normal, to disappear into the crowd. But bloodlines can produce surprises, like an incredible ability to heal. Then there’s Michael Alexander, the new guy in school, who is impossibly gorgeous…and captivated by her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she can hear the sound of pages turning, and another, older story being written. It is the story of an ancient family, of great warriors, of the Sword of Light, and the struggle against an evil so terrible, so far-reaching, that it threatens everything. Airel knew change would be an inevitable part of life. But can she hold on when murder and darkness begin to close in and take away everything she loves? Will she have what it takes when the truth is finally revealed?

I've been wanting to read this one for years, since it was first released in 2011. So when I saw that they were re-releasing it and that it was on NG, I snatched it up (er, clicked the Request button really quickly and went pleasepleaseplease). But alas, it was just not for me.

I wanted to give it more than just 30%, but I just could not do it. First, the writing. It was over simplified. I couldn't stand the main character. I just couldn't stand reading it in general because of the writing style. It was hard for me to get through. 

I couldn't connect with any of the main characters, especially our MC. She spends about half the time talking about how she isn't one of those girls that gets all boy crazy. But like, from the first chapter, that's exactly what she is. 

And, like, the insta-love. Ohmygosh, the insta-love. This was one of the worst cases I've ever read. I mean, she has barely yet to meet him, but it must be fate because it's like he can see into her soul. What?

I hate to say it, but this just wasn't the book for me. It might be for you, but I just could not do it.

Aaron Patterson:

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Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic {by Suzanne Weyn}

Title: Distant Waves

Author: Suzanne Weyn

Rating: DNF

Chased by their pasts and drawn to a more hopeful future, four sisters embark on the journey of their lives…aboard the Titanic. One is going to have her wedding during the voyage. Another has become involved in a feat of scientific intrigue that has the potential to alter the course of history. All of them feel out of place, and at least one of them will soon find herself out of time. 

This is the synopsis on the back of the book. I've owned this book for years, picked up for a couple dollars at a used book store, but haven't actually picked it up to read until now…

The book is absolutely nothing like the description. Nothing. And although the Goodreads description is a little more accurate, it's not by much. I mean, it even says it is "a novel of the Titanic". But it wasn't. Also, there are five sisters. The description says four. (Okay, unless one just didn't embark on the "journey of her life". I didn't finish, so I wouldn't know.)

The book is told from the point-of-view of the second daughter, Jane. It starts with some back story, when she a young child, and watching her mother contact a spirit for the first time. Recently widowed and pregnant, the mother moves her four daughters to a place called Spirit Vale, full of spirit mediums, where she can practice her "gift" without being judged. On the way there, they meet the famous Nikola Tesla, when they get caught in an earthquake he created with some machine he built. They continue on their way, but this creates in Jane what is an almost unhealthy obsession with Tesla. For the next ten years, she continues to collect every article, newspaper clipping, and story she can find about Tesla.

Her older sister, Mimi, is skeptical of their mother's "abilities". As the story goes on, more and more proof appears that their mother is faking more than is real. Mimi wants to get out of Spirit Vale. Eventually, something happens that triggers the last straw. Jane, wanting to enter a journalist contest, wants to interview Tesla, and they two girls head to New York.

This is about where I stopped reading. Now, let's get this straight: the story isn't bad. But it wasn't what I was expecting, and so I got bored. The characters aren't really developed. I have a pretty good sense of Jane and Mimi, but I don't really know the younger three sisters. Historical names-such as Nikola Tesla, W. T. Stead, and John Jacob Astor-are thrown in to make this historical fiction, but it was slightly unorganized. I wasn't ever really sure of the plot, or what was going on, although most of that came from expecting something completely different.

The biggest part about this though was the spirit world. Now, I have read my fair share of paranormal. But, somewhere along the way, it just became not my thing. I don't have an issue with it, but I prefer to choose it when I do read it. Ghosts and the like have never been my favorite. So, I was expecting something light and innocent, and it did not turn out that way at all. I felt slightly "tricked" into reading this, as I would not have read it had I known what it was about.

I didn't want to give this book an actual rating, because I did not finish. I have read other books by Suzanne Weyn, and enjoyed them. (In fact, I loved Reincarnation so much I read it like four or five times when I was in middle school/beginning of high school.) It wasn't because of the writing, but instead because of content. And it wasn't bad, by any means. It was just misleading, and because it wasn't about what I wanted to read about, I became bored. If the supernatural and spirit world is your thing, then you may love this book.

Halo {by Alexandra Adornetto}

Title: Halo

Author: Alexandra Adornetto

Series: Halo #1

Rating: DNF

Three angels – Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human – are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong.The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her? 

Ugh. This book. This book. I'm not sure I can even express how much I disliked this book, but I'll try without coming across as hateful. Because I don't hate the book, or the author. Not really.

I will give props to the author because she was only 18 when this was published. However, there's a reason (with a few exceptions) teenagers don't get published.

The premise of the book sounded like it would be a good read. I liked the fact the girl was the angel this time, and not the damsel in distress. The cover is really pretty, which is why I picked the book up.

Bad decision.

Overall, the book was very childish. The main character, Bethany, was naive and just plain dumb. She's an angel sent down from heaven with her siblings, Gabriel and Ivy to a town to fight evil. Except, they don't ever do anything. Bethany goes to high school and falls in love with Xavier. Ivy knits. A lot of evil-fighting going on here, I see. The entire book is just about Bethany and Xavier's love. 

As a nerd, I can understand the stereotyping of the preps. However, this book took it way out of proportion. I have never met girls that dumb, and I've met a lot of dumb girls in my short life. As a female, I cannot fathom why the author would present her characters in such a sexist way. They were beyond shallow and ignorant, and it hurt my brain just to read about them. Bethany herself was whiny, naive, and immature. And she's supposed to be a freaking angel????

Then there's Xavier. Really, he's the damsel in distress here. Adornetto gave him some "baggage", but it was briefly mentioned, then forgotten, then brought back up every now and then so as to make him seem not perfect. Not that he was perfect to begin with.

Oh. Evil. Right. About halfway through the book, Adornetto remembers that her angels are supposed to be doing stuff, and brings in the "evil" character, Jake. Except, he's just your average teenage boy. Now, I know I didn't finish the book, so I don't know what he does to be so "evil" but really. You could definitely tell he was an afterthought.

The book was also very preachy. The author definitely had some religious bias, and made sure that everything Bethany said came across as such. I mean, I'm religious too, but this was crazy over-the-top.

Nothing about this book made sense. Nor can I figure out why someone actually published it. Oh, and get this... it's a trilogy. As in, she was published again. And again. 

Ugh.