Empire State by Adam Christopher

3

Empire State

(Read 2013)

This book was semi-steampunk, somewhat of a hero novel, a little bit of mystery and whole lot of crazy. I felt like I was reading in a stupor the entire time and I don’t think the entirety of the novel was even consistently interesting...but it was a unique read.

The beginning threw me through a loop because it is highly disjointed and where as multiple viewpoints can work when they exist in the same literary universe, here I felt like I was little lost because things didn’t seem to fit with what was said and I only really started to get used to it when I semi-convinced myself I was reading two books instead of one. It was definitely weird.

Moving onto the book itself...it wasn’t bad really. It isn’t the most amazing book I’ve read in my entire life or even in that year, but it was little astonishing. The story came together towards the end, and it reminds of those films that you just sort of suspend disbelief of and keep watching in hope that the end explains it all. In fairness, it did, but I guess I wasn’t wholly satisfied with the ending I got.

It is also fair to comment that this is the first book I’ve read which could be aptly described as being a mystery novel because it quite successfully left me lost and confused without being completely out of the loop. But I think the combination of everything made me a little bit overwhelmed at a time when I didn’t have the liberty of frequent or even intense reading so I’d often forget bits here and there.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad book. I bought it on a whim in waterstones, and I don’t regret that purchase because it was definitely different to anything I’ve read before...for better and for worse. I think I ever try another mystery novel I’ll try something more mystery based. I’d say this book was sold as a modern-day hero book (in NYC) but that wasn’t really what I got.

In a word, my sentiment is "confused". Even now, a good few months on, I’m not 100% sure what I think of it.

Top Ten Books on my TBR List for Winter

I think I should say that would not expect to finish 10 books this winter, so take this list with a pinch of salt...as in I can't possibly do it and that I'll be easily distracted by the shiny new books I'll get at Christmas (as well as a truckload of revision)!

1. Another Jane Austen book. It's been too long since I read her and I'd like to do it again soon. The only un-read one I own is Northanger Abbey, so I guess I'll say that.
2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I know the story (who doesn't?!) but I've never actually read the book. I'll try and read this before Christmas preferably.
3. The Blood King by Gail Z. Martin. I started this series over a year ago. It's not the best, but it is good. The next three in this list are the next three of the series I haven't read.
4. Dark Haven by Gail Z. Martin. As I said, this is a series I really want to finish. The books aren't huge but they're quite chunky. Thankfully the text isn't tiny though
5. Dark Lady's Chosen by Gail Z. Martin. If I get this far, I'll actually be able to buy the sequel series too! I kind of think I might not like the next series of books, but I have to at least try, don't I?
6. The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima. Another fantasy book, I know. But it's Christmas! Kind of the season for the fantastical, don't you think? (Well I do regardless of what you think! I shan't let any of you ruin my Christmas *glares*.)
7. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I've basically been in love (and desperation) since I heard about this book. I have voucher for this (not this in particular, but I've decided that that is what it is for) and at the time of writing I haven't used this voucher. Hopefully I'll have this and read this because I really want to fall in love with it!
8. Paradise Lost by John Milton. I have this on my iPod (iBooks) and I flick through it every now and then. I'm about 3% of the way in (actual figure) and even if I don't understand it entirely, it reads beautifully. I'd like to read a huge chunk of this (75%) if I can't actually read it all by winter. 
9. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I've never read Vonnegut and he's one of those everyone should read once (or so I'm told). Slaughterhouse  in the name puts me off a bit (I've a HUGE aversion to blood and gore) but I will move past it.
10. Temeraire by Naomi Novik. I actually got this book for free when I bought Inheritance, but I expect it will be the kind of book I like so I intend to give it ago. This is teh book I'm least worried about reading.

I just want to say here, before I go, how proud I am of this list. That sounds weird, except I pride myself on being eclectic and even though there is no proper YA (I've read through my store! But is Night Circus one?) I've got a mix of modern classic, Literary classic, Fantasy, Steampunk (Temeraire) and even seasonal. 

Happy reading!

Dearly Departed by Lia Habel

Before starting I must thank Hannah at Once Upon a Time for the book. I won it, but I still owe her a nod. And we had both thought the cover wasn’t great. But owning it and looking at it, I think it’s really quite nice. It’d stylised and in a weird way suits the story. I said it: I like the Orange Cover.

4

Dearly Departed is book, impossible to categorise, about a steampunk, dystopian world where there are zombies who are also civilised. And, to top it all, it’s a romance story.

The first issue I had to (mentally) tackle with this book was the romance between a zombie and living girl. I know the saying “Love conquers all” but never had I considered a human/zombie pairing. Frankly, the idea freaked me out and got me curious; would it work? I’m going to say yes. For the first three hundred pages or so, I kept changing my mind but then I just suddenly got over it. I think what I figured out was that it wasn’t something completely strange and the zombie-ism was just an element of Bram’s personality. I cottoned on that this was just another obstacle in romance, as a protective father or social climbing mother might be. At the end of the day, it didn’t really matter. I think that if you read the description of a human’s love for a zombie and recoiled, or had the curiosity I did, you have to read this. More than any romance I’ve read, this has changed my perspective on any and all love. It’s something we can’t explain away, and we have to accept that it’s about feeling and not all that nonsense with ‘hotness’ or other physical things.

After that, I enjoyed the book much more. The zombie-ism itself was well explained. I accept that it’s an unrealistic thing to ever happen in our world, but the idea that it is a prion in the body constantly trying to multiply and survive fits in with the biological idea of the world. The survival element of the gene is what embodies the uncivilised zombies, since that is all they care about. The civilised ones are those concerned with the survival of others above themselves. Everything made sense, which I like in any dystopia/post-apocalyptia/zombie novel.

The story itself is fine, but mostly unremarkable. It’s quite surprising sometimes, but there is so much going on that you forget to be surprised. It follows three sets of characters, one set made up of two viewpoints. So in way there were four linear storylines to follow as they ran alongside one another and crossed occasionally. It wasn’t confusing, but when you came back to a viewpoint you had to play mental catch-up before continuing.

Perhaps the only smidge of an issue I had was that it felt as though the book was trying to be funny too much. Occasionally this was one joke too many, but other times it was a complete change in tone. It was minor thing though so I shan’t dwell.

There nothing else to say except I loved all the little twists in the story and I couldn’t help but be drawn into this amazingly written story. It doesn’t feel like romance book (I think) and neither does it feel like a zombie or dystopia book. By combining everything as it did, it somehow managed to establish its own platform. It’s kind of wonderful.