by Jason Joyner | Jun 14, 2008 | Blog, fiction, reading, young adult
I have been in the habit of reading to my boys when they go to bed since they were little. We don’t do it every night, but most evenings we gather on the couch for our latest adventure. For the last year and a half or so we’ve been into chapter books. We’re reading through the Chronicles of Narnia and other books as well.
In March, the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy tour highlighted Andrew Peterson’s book On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. I thought my boys (8 and 6) would enjoy this book, and I was definitely right.
The first few chapters deftly use humor to build interest even as the conflict is slowly unfolding. The boys laughed at Janner Igiby’s trouble with the dog Nugget’s nuggest, and couldn’t understand why Gnag the Nameless (a nameless evil) had a name.
The humor continues in the book, but the adventure grows as the Igiby children run into trouble with the Fangs of Dang, and the mysteries of the Jewels of Anniera are eventually revealed. My boys started hanging on every chapter, threatening to pound me in the nose if I didn’t keep reading. Dark Sea does a great job of leaving each chapter hanging a little, making the boys very interested to see what happened the next night.
We finished the book this week, and the boys are already very excited that there promises to be two more books in this series. My oldest (who has only just finished 2nd grade) has, since Wednesday, read halfway through a book that is meant for a young adult audience.
I just wanted to follow up on this book to explain how much my boys liked it, and to encourage parents out there to let their kids experience this take of adventure, peril, lost jewels, and the toothy cows of Skree.
by Jason Joyner | Jun 14, 2008 | Blog, fiction, reading, young adult
I have been in the habit of reading to my boys when they go to bed since they were little. We don’t do it every night, but most evenings we gather on the couch for our latest adventure. For the last year and a half or so we’ve been into chapter books. We’re reading through the Chronicles of Narnia and other books as well.
In March, the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy tour highlighted Andrew Peterson’s book On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. I thought my boys (8 and 6) would enjoy this book, and I was definitely right.
The first few chapters deftly use humor to build interest even as the conflict is slowly unfolding. The boys laughed at Janner Igiby’s trouble with the dog Nugget’s nuggest, and couldn’t understand why Gnag the Nameless (a nameless evil) had a name.
The humor continues in the book, but the adventure grows as the Igiby children run into trouble with the Fangs of Dang, and the mysteries of the Jewels of Anniera are eventually revealed. My boys started hanging on every chapter, threatening to pound me in the nose if I didn’t keep reading. Dark Sea does a great job of leaving each chapter hanging a little, making the boys very interested to see what happened the next night.
We finished the book this week, and the boys are already very excited that there promises to be two more books in this series. My oldest (who has only just finished 2nd grade) has, since Wednesday, read halfway through a book that is meant for a young adult audience.
I just wanted to follow up on this book to explain how much my boys liked it, and to encourage parents out there to let their kids experience this take of adventure, peril, lost jewels, and the toothy cows of Skree.
by Jason Joyner | Jun 5, 2008 | Blog, fiction, reading, reviews
When I pick books, I tend toward the action, suspense, sci-fi, or fantasy genres. Typical guy stuff, I suppose. However, I can be swayed by a clever, inviting back-copy, and that’s what happened when I first heard about Rene Gutteridge. While looking at book options for the CFBA tour, I read the synopsis for Scoop, the first book in her Occupational Hazards series. It was funny and quite intriguing, so I asked for the book. Scoop turned into my favorite book of 2006.
Rene is back with the latest book in the series: Skid. As with the first and second book, (Snitch), she nails the landing with this new tale.
The Occupational Hazards series focuses on the Hazards, a family of homeschooled kids who are strong in their faith. Their parents also owned a clown company that the whole family helped staff – until the parents’ untimely hot tub accident. After the funeral the kids sell the business and it funds their attempts to go into the world and find an occupation.
Hank Hazard, who we saw introduced in Snitch, fell in love with flying and applies for a special job at struggling airline Atlantica: being a spy on their planes evaluating customer service by haranguing the flight attendants with incessant requests. Hank is such a nice guy though, he can’t help but be the most polite yet irritating customer.
Gutteridge here applies her trademark twists and laugh-out-loud turns as Hank’s flight includes a mysterious pilot who has survived the Bermuda triangle, a pig, a Dutch convict, a diamond smuggler, and a jilted young woman in polka dots. The plot moves along with continuous hijinks that kept me chuckling throughout the book. Just as one situation seems to be boiling over, another pot bubbles up as well. Gutteridge is able to make all of her humorous characters believable, and keeps the reader hooked for the whole crazy flight.
Publisher’s Weekly said that, “No Christian fiction novelist can tickle a funny bone like Gutteridge“, and I agree. Skid continues her impressive and greatly enjoyable run through various Occupational Hazards. I highly recommend this whole series for anyone who likes very readable books with a planeload of humor. You won’t be disappointed.
by Jason Joyner | Jun 5, 2008 | Blog, fiction, reading, reviews
When I pick books, I tend toward the action, suspense, sci-fi, or fantasy genres. Typical guy stuff, I suppose. However, I can be swayed by a clever, inviting back-copy, and that’s what happened when I first heard about Rene Gutteridge. While looking at book options for the CFBA tour, I read the synopsis for Scoop, the first book in her Occupational Hazards series. It was funny and quite intriguing, so I asked for the book. Scoop turned into my favorite book of 2006.
Rene is back with the latest book in the series: Skid. As with the first and second book, (Snitch), she nails the landing with this new tale.
The Occupational Hazards series focuses on the Hazards, a family of homeschooled kids who are strong in their faith. Their parents also owned a clown company that the whole family helped staff – until the parents’ untimely hot tub accident. After the funeral the kids sell the business and it funds their attempts to go into the world and find an occupation.
Hank Hazard, who we saw introduced in Snitch, fell in love with flying and applies for a special job at struggling airline Atlantica: being a spy on their planes evaluating customer service by haranguing the flight attendants with incessant requests. Hank is such a nice guy though, he can’t help but be the most polite yet irritating customer.
Gutteridge here applies her trademark twists and laugh-out-loud turns as Hank’s flight includes a mysterious pilot who has survived the Bermuda triangle, a pig, a Dutch convict, a diamond smuggler, and a jilted young woman in polka dots. The plot moves along with continuous hijinks that kept me chuckling throughout the book. Just as one situation seems to be boiling over, another pot bubbles up as well. Gutteridge is able to make all of her humorous characters believable, and keeps the reader hooked for the whole crazy flight.
Publisher’s Weekly said that, “No Christian fiction novelist can tickle a funny bone like Gutteridge“, and I agree. Skid continues her impressive and greatly enjoyable run through various Occupational Hazards. I highly recommend this whole series for anyone who likes very readable books with a planeload of humor. You won’t be disappointed.
by Jason Joyner | May 29, 2008 | Blog, Mass Effect, reading, reviews, sci-fi
After finishing two books last week required for blog tours, I chilled this weekend with a book of my own choosing (well, I also choose the ones I review, but yanno, I mean no deadline here).
One of my hobbies is playing video games. I got an Xbox 360 last year for my birthday, mainly so I could play Mass Effect, the latest role-playing game from powerhouse developer Bioware when it released last November. I got the game the day it came out (I know, sad), and played through it over the holidays. I wasn’t disappointed. The gameplay was unique, the story and characters were engrossing, and it was one of the best video game experiences I’ve had. The game earns its “M” for Mature rating, and a little of the content is disappointing, but overall I really got into the original sci-fi universe that Bioware created.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Mass Effect: Revelation. The book is written by Drew Karpyshyn, lead writer for the game and also for my favorite all-time game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (lets hear it for KotOR!). He has also written other sci-fi novels, including Star Wars spin-offs, so he has novel writing experience. I mentioned above that the writing for the game Mass Effect was excellent.
I found out that getting a novel based off a video game is…what it is. The book starts 20 years prior to the game. Humanity is a new race to the galactic population. An ancient race called the Protheans have left technology scattered across the galaxy, allowing interstellar transport. Humans find buried ruins on Mars, then realize that the Plutonian moon Charon is actually a dormant mass effect relay, allowing us to join the star-faring races.
This isn’t Star Trek however, where Earthlings are the main force. Humanity is a new player, catching up with other established races like the turians and asaris, and sometimes acting like the little kid at the table scrambling to be heard. It makes for an interesting take on a sci-fi setting.
The book covers a mission from Lt. David Anderson, a secondary character in the game. He is charged with finding a missing scientist who suspiciously went missing prior to her whole research unit being wiped out. Anderson must contend with Saren, a turian Spectre (elite agent of the galactic Council) who is hostile toward humanity and concerned with his own agenda, and the krogran mercenary Skaar. When Anderson gets a chance to show humanity’s potential by being considered for the Spectres, will he succeed in proving humanity’s ability, or will he fall against his alien contenders?
The book will appeal to fans of the game only. The author does a fine job explaining the universe, but I don’t know that it could stand on its own. I enjoyed as far as it re-immersed me into the Mass Effect universe, but overall it is only a mediocre read. The characterization is flat throughout, and the writing comes across as fairly stock, cliche sci-fi. The pacing is good, and it is a quick, easy read. If someone really wants to dive more into the ME universe, it is not an expensive purchase. However, I think the big climax was more succinctly explained with more tension in 5 minutes of game conversation rather than in the book. It also seems to set up the story of the game too perfectly – I would’ve preferred to see less of a blatant set-up for the game.
That’s my out of left field review for the week. If you have a 360, don’t miss out on Mass Effect. The novel, on the other hand, is optional.
