The Wood Queen — by Karen Mahoney

For this blog posting I was excited to read the second book in the Iron Witch series, The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney.

In this book, Donna Underwood (dubbed the Iron Witch, due to her iron-tattooed forearms) must figure out how to free her mother from a spell and work with the Wood Queen. Although still facing a trial from her actions in the first book, she must find a way to get the other alchemists to trust her and determine what is really going on with the alchemical order of the Dragon.

While I generally like the book, I did find that the 'The Wood Queen' did not refer back to the happenings in the first book enough for my liking. I frequently found myself trying to remember what had happened before, and why that would have impacted the main character in a certain way. As with any good 'heroes journey' style book, Donna picked up a few friends along the way, strengthened relationships with some previous friends, and stumbled a little with other friends. While I was hoping that The Wood Queen would be a solid 5 stars, I grudgingly give it only 4 stars.

The Woman in Black — by Susan Hill

Rarely does a person ever say that the movie adaptation is better than the original book. And while I haven't actually seen the movie yet, the trailers for the latest Daniel Radcliffe flick "The Woman In Black" (an original book circa 1983 "The Woman in Black" by Susan Hill) looks SOOOOOOOO creepy good.


I first saw the trailer while on the Goodreads website immediately requested a copy from the library, which of course took months to get to me. Compared to other books currently on the market, the 164 pages was less-than-intimidating, and I looked forward to a quick, creepy read with a good plot. Instead, the book was a huge disappointment.

For example, the main character Mr. Kipps (played by Daniel Radcliffe in the movie) hears an unusual sound coming from a room, which the author describes as "bump bump, pause, bump bump, pause, bump bump..." (p. 116). I'm not sure if it was from the trailer (which I had seen months previously) or just my supreme intellect, but I immediately knew the sound was a rocking chair.

Now don't those trailers look great??!

In my opinion, the author took too much time setting up the story line in the beginning of the book, which is actually more of a flashback to something that occurred 20 or so years previously to the beginning of the book. In the introduction the main character is so deeply disturbed by what has happened, and has not ever told anyone about it, that he decides to write out what happened in an attempt to rid himself of the alleged daily remembrance of what happened.  Throughout the book the writer brings the reader back into the "present" by referring to how the main character is recounting the events and that it wasn't actually occurring at this point in time — pointless in my opinion. The author also uses odd word choices too, writing things such as that the character "decided" to do something, and then telling us that he did it. On first reading the passages I thought the character was completing the action twice. For these reasons, I sadly rate this book 1 star out of 5.

After viewing the trailers again for this post, I still want to see the movie. Especially since so much has been changed about the story (for example, in the book Mr. Kipps is single, but engaged) and apparently in the movie he is married with a child that I can't help but think that idea would have made a greater impact on the book itself. I also get the impression that in the movie we see more of "The Woman In Black" and her effects on the town and house inhabitants. This time it looks like "Hollywood" got it right, if not better, than the original!

The Last Song — by Nicholas Sparks

The other day at work I was looking for a good book to read and someone recommended that I read anything by Nicholas Sparks. I admit that while I haven't read anything by Sparks, I was of course familiar with the movies based on the books.

One of the interesting things about Sparks' book "The Last Song" was that the screenplay was written well before the book was finished. From the author's notes at the end of the book, he indicated that the Miley Cyrus camp (Cyrus starred in the movie) contact Sparks about a new project. Likely the differences between the book and the movie are because Sparks had more time to flush out storyline for the book.

While the book was good, it certainly wasn't great. I wish that I would have seen more of a relationship between Ronnie (the daughter) and her dad. And I certainly wish that the writer would have allowed Steve to hear the completed song he'd started composing.  For this reason, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

The Lightning Thief {Percy Jackson & the Olympians} - Rick Riordan

In an attempt to read something lighter (and cleaner) I turned to the YA book Percy Jackson & the Olympians "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan. While I was initially introduced to the book through the major motion picture, the book was quite different than the movie (of course).

Although the book was a bit slow at first — it really picked up after a few chapters. I was initially drawn to the book due to my interest in Greek mythology as an elementary and high school student, but I must admit that I did have some difficulty remembering which god which which and remember the significance of each god and goddess. While the book did include some background info, I would have maybe liked to see a chart of the relationship for the gods in the front or back of the book. This would have made reading easier.

Riordan creates great characters, writes with a unique voice, and weaves a great tale. For this reason I rate the book 5 stars.  For more information on the movie— which is quite family-friendly— click on the video link below.