Book Review: LUCRETIA AND THE KROONS by Victor LaValle

Title: Lucretia and the Kroons

Author: Victor LaValle

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group (July 23, 2012)

Format: eARC Novella

Source: NetGalley

Genre: Horror

Goodreads 

Lucretia’s best friend and upstairs neighbor Sunny—a sweet pitbull of a kid, even as she struggles with a mysterious illness—has gone missing. The only way to get her back is for Lucretia to climb the rickety fire escape of their Queens tenement and crawl through the window of apartment 6D, portal to a vast shadowland of missing kids ruled by a nightmarish family of mutants whose designs on the children are unknown. Her search for Sunny takes Lucretia through a dark fantasyland where she finds lush forests growing from concrete, pigeon-winged rodents, and haunted playgrounds. Her quest ultimately forces her to confront the most frightening specter of all: losing, forever, the thing you love the most.

Lucretia and the Kroons is a dazzlingly imaginative adventure story and a moving exploration of the power of friendship and the terror of loss. This all-new novella serves as the perfect companion piece to The Devil in Silver, a thrillingly suspenseful work of literary horror that continues the story of Lucretia.

Review: A strange tale of friendship and loss, Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle is a trippy novella at times reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland.

Lucretia just wants her best friend Sunny at her birthday party, but Sunny has cancer and is receiving treatments too far away. A day comes when Sunny can finally come to play, but she’s disappeared, and it’s up to Lucretia, also known as Loochie, to find her. She is certain the Kroons in 6D have taken her friend, and she climbs up the fire escape to find a nightmarish world where children are lost forever. But will she be too late to save her friend and herself?

Lucretia and the Kroons is odd, quirky, and at times very touching. Lucretia is at that awkward stage between childhood and being a teenager. Her old friends seem to be growing up without her. Her actions were believable. The dialogue stands out in this novella. The relationships between the characters were a highlight of this novella. Then we came to the Kroons’ apartment, and at times, I was wondering what was in those Chinese cigarettes Loochie smoked. That section had a very Alice in Wonderland feel but not nearly as magical as what Carroll created. I found the horror lacking and forced with too many descriptions of the Kroons’ world. I have to admit I found myself skimming too much in a sagging middle. I wanted to learn more about Sunny and Loochie’s friendship, but it never really happened.

In the end, I was a bit disappointed with Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle, although I did really enjoy the beginning and end. I wished it focused more on the touching relationship and loss of friendship between Loochie and Sunny.

Three Bookworms = I liked it!

Book Review: THE DEPARTMENT OF MAGIC by Rod Kierkegaard Jr.

Title: The Department of Magic

Author: Rod Kierkegaard Jr.

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press (December 12, 2011)

Format: eBook Novel

Source: NetGalley

Genre: Fantasy

Goodreads

Description: It’s hate at first sight.

Jasmine Farah and Rocco di Angelo are competing for the same job in a dusty office in a secret Federal agency run by the mysterious, menacing Jefferson Davis Crawley – “Creepy” Crawley, as he’s known.

When Crawley is murdered in front of them after their first day on the job, Jasmine and Rocco are left to figure out who killed their new boss, and exactly what a job in the so-called Department of Magic entails. And magic, it seems, is nothing like it seems in children’s books; it’s dark and bloody and sexual.

What follows is a nightmare gallop through a world of ghosts, spooks, vampires, demons, and the minions of South American and Voodoo gods hell-bent on destroying the world and subjugating all America in the year 2012.

Only Rock and Jazz, in the company of a ragtag team of urhobos – homeless guardians of the District of Columbia– can prevent it by resurrecting “Goddess America” in a mystical ceremony on the Fourth of July, as the story reaches its bittersweet and unforeseen climax.

Review: The Department of Magic by Rod Kierkegaard Jr. oozes wit amongst a magical backdrop of secret government agents trying to save America.

When Jasmine Farah and Rocco di Angelo take a job with the Department of Magic, their lives are forever changed. They not only learn that magic is real, as well as many terrifying mythical creatures, but the fate of America rests in their hands. They follow their boss’s orders to steal George Washington’s artifacts while being chased by vampires, demons, and more. If they fail, nothing will be the same.

The Department of Magic excelled in wit and sarcasm. The characters are unique and are brought to life—even though a few were technically dead—by their dialogue. The Federal Bestiary at the beginning of each chapter amused me and was a brilliant addition to the novel. The historical and mythological references were intriguing and fantastical. This novel reminded me of a magical Da Vinci Code, except the execution of the plot was at times clunky. The pacing was off, and the descriptions sometimes bogged down the storyline.

Overall, Rod Kierkegaard Jr.’s The Department of Magic intrigues the reader into this magical and dangerous world, yet it could’ve been better.

Three Bookworms = I liked it!

Book Review: WANT by Stephanie Lawton

Title: Want

Author: Stephanie Lawton

Publisher: InkSpell Publishing (June 7, 2012)

Format: eBook Novel

Source: Publisher

Genre: Young Adult

Goodreads

Description: Julianne counts the days until she can pack her bags and leave her old-money, tradition-bound Southern town where appearance is everything and secrecy is a way of life. A piano virtuoso, she dreams of attending a prestigious music school in Boston. Failure is not an option, so she enlists the help of New England Conservatory graduate Isaac Laroche.

Julianne can’t understand why Isaac suddenly gave up Boston’s music scene to return to the South. He doesn’t know her life depends on escaping it before she inherits her mother’s madness. Isaac knows he must resist his attraction to a student ten years his junior, but loneliness and jealousy threaten his resolve.

Their indiscretion at a Mardi Gras ball—the pinnacle event for Mobile’s elite—forces their present wants and needs to collide with sins of the past.

Will Julianne accept the help she’s offered and get everything she ever wanted, or will she self-destruct and take Isaac down with her?

Review: Stephanie Lawton’s Want is a touching and dramatic story.

A young piano virtuoso, Julianne has her sights on the New England Conservatory. She wants nothing else than to attend school there and get away from her abusive home in Mobile, Alabama. But when her piano instructor suffers a stroke months before her big audition, she doesn’t know what she’ll do. Then, her instructor’s nephew starts teaching her. Isaac is mysterious, broody, and represents everything she wants. But her needs may cause her self-destruction, and she might take Isaac with her, if she can’t pull herself together before it is too late.

Want has many elements I enjoyed about it. The characters are dynamic, and their interactions are believable. The interaction between Julianne and her brother and Julianne and Dave are fantastic. The dialogue is perfectly young adult and delightful. The descriptions are beautiful and lyrical. Some of my favorite scenes were the music ones when Julianne is discovering how to play with passion beyond precision. This novel should come with a soundtrack. Although the plot was dramatic, something felt off to me while reading it. Perhaps it was a lack of tension. Maybe it was a pacing issue. This novel needed more oomph.

Even though I enjoyed reading this novel, I just wanted to love Want by Stephanie Lawton more.

Three Bookworms = I liked it!

Book Review: THE PECULIARS by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Title: The Peculiars

Author: Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Publisher: Amulet Books (May 1, 2012)

Format: eARC

Source: NetGalley

Genre:YA Steampunk Romance

Goodreads 

Decription: This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance.

On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.

Review: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry is a peculiar read.

Lena Mattacascar travels to the outskirts of the wild land of Scree in search of her father and the secret who or what she really is. When she comes across a young librarian, she befriends him and soon takes up residence in the home of inventor Mr. Beasley. Strange things happen in his home, and the town’s marshal persuades Lena to investigate. She’s soon in over her head and must discover who to trust or it might mean her own life and others on the line.

The Peculiars started out very slow, and the pace didn’t pick up much until the last third of the novel. The characters intrigued me and were mysterious. Information about them trickled at a steady pace and kept me guessing. The setting and creatures intrigued me. The elements of steampunk were light and sprinkled throughout as well as the romance was more hinted out than actually realized. In the end, the mysterious nature of the plot and characters kept me reading, but I just wanted more from the plot and characters with less description of the scenery.

Maureen Doyle McQuerry’s The Peculiars intrigues the reader with its enigmatic characters and is a good read for those who want an introduction to steampunk story elements.

Three Bookworms = I liked it.

Book Review: MOONER by Selah Janel

Title: Mooner

Author: Selah Janel

Publisher: No Boundaries Press (January 23, 2012)

Format: PDF Short Story

Source: Author

Genre: Historical Horror

Goodreads 

Description: Like many young men at the end of the 1800s Bill has signed on to work in a logging camp to earn a fast paycheck to start his life. Unfortunately his role model is Big John, the camp’s golden boy known for blowing his pay as fast as he makes it. On a cold Saturday night they enter Red’s Saloon to forget the work that takes the sweat and the lives of so many. Red may have plans for their whiskey money, but something else lurks in the shadows, something that badly wants a drink that has nothing to do with alcohol. Can Bill make it back out the shabby door or does someone have their own plans for his future?

Review: Selah Janel’s Mooner drops the reader into a historical saloon where the whiskey isn’t the only drink in town.

Bill has his life planned out: earn a fast paycheck in logging, get out of town, and settle down with a new wife. Big John, however, has other plans for his friend. When the two enter Red’s Saloon, everything changes. A mysterious recluse has a proposition for the two men. Bill must figure out how to satiate the recluse’s strong thirst, or he might lose everything he’s worked for.

Mooner builds the tension to a surprise ending. Janel does a brilliant job making readers feel like they’re in this late 19^th century saloon in a cold logging town. The dialogue felt realistic. A few of the characters were a bit clichéd, such as Big John, but I enjoyed how the story progressed. The creepiness seeps into the pages. The mention of the Mooners is brilliantly placed, and the creation of this vampire-like creature is fascinating. For me, some of the details slowed the pace at the beginning, but it picked right up to the very end.

Mooner by Selah Janel creates a tense horror leaning toward the psychological and building up to a gory ending. It’s a quick and fun read.

Three Bookworms = I liked it!