The Counterfeit by Robison Wells

The Counterfeit
Robison Wells

LDS Romantic Suspense
314 pages, softcover
Target Reader: LDS Adult

Covenant
978-1598111163
Release Date: January 2006



From the publisher:

Conspiracy rumor holds that the world economy is tightly controlled by a group of economic terrorists. Eric Hopkins is about to find out just how true that myth is--and how close it stands to him.

Eric and his girlfriend Rebekah believe they are safely hiding under the witness protection program. But when a bomb explodes, nearly killing them, they must rely on themselves to find out who has infiltrated the FBI. Their shocking conclusion leads them on a dangerous chase. Eric and Rebekah are battling the powers behind a financial conspiracy that has lasted hundreds of years--and may only end with the destruction of mankind. Nearly out of time, their pursuit of the truth sweeps them to a centuries-old English estate, and then plummets them into the dark catacombs of Paris. It's now up to the unprepared duo to unravel the clues that could save the world from a catastrophic war. However, as they take action, they must ask themselves if the end can ever justify the devastating means they are considering.

Series Book: Wake Me When It's Over

The Counterfeit by Robison Wells (formerly known as Robison E. Wells) is the sequel to Wake Me When It's Over.

I enjoyed the first book. I liked this one better. Although this book still has more technical errors than I like to see, Wells' writing is getting better and the story is more solid. Still hilariously funny and clueless, Eric's thoughts and behaviors had me laughing in many places.

I recommend both these books as light suspense (although there is some guts and blood and an "on-screen" death in this one) with some romance thrown in just for fun.

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Content Ratings

Language:

Violence: Some blood and guts; murder.

Drugs/Alcohol:

Immorality:

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Age Appropriate:

Writing Mechanics: Not bad, but needed some tighter editing.


© 2010 It's a Book Affair

Wake Me When It's Over by Robison Wells

Wake Me When It's Over
Robison E. Wells

LDS Romantic Suspense
255 pages, softcover
Target Reader: LDS Adult

Covenant
978-1591567219
Release Date: 2005



From the publisher:

While on his mission, Elder Eric Hopkins finds an attache case containing a necklace and a ring. Finders, keepers, he brings them home with him.

While attending BYU, Eric meets Rebekah Hughes, gifted violinist, and it's a crush at first sight—for him, anyway. He asks her out on a bet and they become friends. When she tells him she has a Christmas gift for him, he scrambles to find one for her and gives her the necklace he found on his mission.

She's wearing this necklace during a nationally televised Christmas concert. At the end of the concert, Rebekah is kidnapped. Eric is seriously hurt trying to rescue her. Over the next few days, Eric and Rebekah escape, are re-kidnapped, and escape again as they try to figure out why the thugs want them, what it has to do with her necklace, and how her father is involved.

This book has a few technical errors in grammar and structure, but I liked it.

It's hilariously funny in places and I loved reading a "romance" from the guys point of view. Eric is so hopelessly clueless when it comes to girls that I laughed out loud in a few places.

This book may be out of print. I found it in a discount bin.


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Cover: This cover has nothing to do with the story.



Content Ratings

Language:

Violence: Eric and Rebecca are being chased by thugs and kidnappers, but the violence is really minimal.

Drugs/Alcohol:

Immorality:

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Age Appropriate:

Writing Mechanics: Not bad, but I felt it needed some tighter editing.

© 2010 It's a Book Affair

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
by J. K. Rowling

Middle Grade/YA Fantasy
784 pages, hardcover
Target Reader: Ages 9+

Arthur A. Levine Books
978-0545010221
Release Date: July 21, 2007




Like it or hate it, Harry Potter is part of our cultural identity. I would guess that J.K. Rowling has added more new words to our collective lexicon than any other single individual. She is certainly the only author I know of who has created a 7 book series that has continued to grow in popularity and gain readership with each new installment like this one has. The Star Wars franchise is the only other thing I can think of that comes close, and personally, my interest in that series decreased with each installment, while my eagerness for the next HP book increased with each one.

I've never seen a more anticipated book than this one in my entire life, and I doubt I'll ever see it again. The entire phenomenon has been amazing to watch, from both the standpoint of a fan and that of an author/publisher. Even with her literary faults (yes, from a technical point of view, she has them), this woman has accomplished what authors everywhere dream of. It is truly amazing.

When you have a book that has been anticipated for this long, it's hard not to be disappointed by something. We all have our favorite characters that we don't want to see die. We have strong opinions on who is really evil and who isn't. We have ideas perhaps of how it should wrap up. With so much at stake in this story line, I'm sure every reader will find a place to complain about. But I'm not going to complain—at least, not very much—because I was satisfied with the story. I loved this book. I love this series. Now that it is complete, I can safely say that this series is currently my all-time favorite.

Spoiler Alert: From here out, there will be hints and clues. I do not name any of the people who died, but you might be able to figure it out. I do however name some (but not all) of the people who survived. Read at your own discretion.





I think the biggest question in everyone's mind is who is going to die and who is going to live. Some of the deaths were expected, some of them not. While many of them were sad, there were only two that were absolutely shocking to me. I'm not going to include the deaths of people we don't really know, but of the major characters—those who have been with us through several books—I do have a few comments. But I don't want to give anything away to those who are still reading, so...

Death #1—The first member of the Order of the Phoenix to die. I was okay with this one. Sad, but he died fighting the Death Eaters.

Death #2—The unexpected stabbing. Totally shocked! Did not in my wildest imagining see this one coming. Very sad. I couldn't believe it. I'm still reeling.

Death #3—I sort of figured this one would have to happen. His real nature was as I suspected it would be and I'm glad to be right about it. To have it otherwise would have made other characters suspect.

Death #4—One of the D.A. The other complete shocker! Very sad about this one. I'm curious to see if Rowling explains why she chose this one to die.

Deaths #5 & #6—More of the Order. I knew some from this group would die. I was sorry about these two. I was attached to them but at least they went together. And I could see the circular storyline immediately.

Death #7—Another D.A. At first this one didn't register with me, then I remembered him from earlier books and what a sweet child he was.

Death #8—Had me worried for awhile until I realized he wasn't really dead. (Not Harry.) I was going to be really mad if he died, but he didn't. Rowling mentions in an interview that he was never even considered for death because she wanted him at the beginning and the end. Very good.

Death #9—Or is it? This is THE ONE everyone wants to know. I think she did a great job with this. I liked how Harry's loved ones went into the forest with him. I thought that was cool, kind of wrapping it all up.

Death #10—Well, duh. I liked the way this was resolved. It worked for me.

Now for the critical evaluation...

A good portion of the story's timeline seemed to be spent waiting for something to happen. I would have preferred to have the finding and destruction of the various horcruxes spread a little more evenly throughout the book. I would have liked a final summary of the horcruxes and their disposition because sometimes it was hard to remember without referring to notes. I very much liked that it wasn't just Harry who saved the day, and the others got their turns at being the hero. I did think it was a little lame when Ron and Hermione so easily resolved the one, when the others were a huge ordeal.

There were so many characters in this book that it was challenging to keep them all apart. There were places where we were obviously supposed to recognize who someone was, but it took me a bit to figure it out.

There were a few long info dumps to bring us up to speed with Dumbledore and Snape. They were a little slow, but I really don't know how she could have done otherwise without doubling the size of the book. And we needed that information.

I really liked what she did with Kreature. It had always bothered me a bit the way everyone treated him. And I cracked up when Ron finally "got SPEW."

The last chapter (epilog) was my least favorite—not because of who survived or what had become of them, but because it didn't follow up with everyone as fully as I would have liked. There are characters that I care about and I had no clue what happened to them after the final battle. We're even left hanging about a few of the major characters. I mean, we know who survived and who married who, but what are they doing? What were their career choices? This was not as satisfying as I'd hoped it would be. Fortunately, Rowling has done a couple of interviews and answered many of those questions. If you'd like to read them, they are here and here.

My daughter and I read this as part of the Read Together program. We had a great time talking about it. In fact, we've talked about it almost every day since we finished the book.


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Content Ratings

Language: I don't remember any swearing, but there might have been a few mild words.

Violence: There is very little blood and gore, but a lot of characters die—some shockingly.

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Values/Themes: Good wins. Courage and integrity are valuable traits. When fighting evil, some things are worth dying for.

Age Appropriate: A middle grade reader might be a tad too young for this book, but 12 and up should be fine.

Writing Mechanics: Too much time spent wandering in the wilderness; too much happening "off screen."



© 2010 It's a Book Affair

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1)
Philip Pullman

Middle Grade Fantasy
416 pages, softcover
Target Reader: Ages 12+

Knopf
978-0375823459
Release Date: 1996



(see review below)

From the publisher:

Lyra is content to run wild among the scholars of Jordan College, with her daemon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle—a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, witch clans and armored bears. And as she hurtles toward danger in the cold, far North, young Lyra never suspects the shocking truth: she is destined to win, or to lose, this more-than-mortal battle.

Read an excerpt.

That doesn't tell you a lot, so here's a bit more. First, the setting is a parallel universe to ours so while places and customs feel familiar, you can't assume that they are the same. Children are disappearing, being taken North by the Gobblers. The rumor is that they're killed. When one of Lyra's friends disappears, she decides to go after him but she is temporarily distracted by Mrs. Coulter, who at first seems sweet and nice, but she hides some really dark secrets.

Escaping from the Gobblers herself, Lyra travels North with the Gyptians and others, looking for the missing children. She has a compass called an aletheiometer, which lets her see the truth of things and predict what will happen. Through the use of this compass and her own courage and determination, Lyra eventually discovers the secret of the Gobblers and what they're doing with the children, but not why (at least, not in this book).

The Golden Compass is book #1 in the His Dark Materials series. It will be released as a movie in December 2007. It's got a few big stars in it, like Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Kevin Bacon, and it's being advertised as a children's movie. This concerns me, but I'll get to those concerns later.

I would rate this book as PG-14, meaning absolutely not for children under 14. I would also suggest that parents read this book before giving it to their children or letting them see the movie. The book is very dark and brutal. There is some mild swearing. There is violence against children—kidnapping, torture, and one more thing that I won't tell you because it's integral to the secret of the book. It wouldn't, as in couldn't, happen in our universe because we don't have daemon familiars, but the terror of the children and the shock of this abuse is vividly described. There is a war going on, attempted killings, and a blow-by-blow, descriptive fight to the death between bears that seem more human than not.

The book is written in a very slow and "vintage" style, not the fast-paced, high action style we expect in today's fantasy novels. It takes a while to get into it, but once you recognize the pace and adjust your expectations the story moves quite well. The characters are interesting. I love Lyra. She reminds me of a mix between my daughters, when they were younger. I love the dialogue, the word choices, the sentence structure. Setting aside the darkness of the storyline, the writing itself is intriguing and fun.

The plot moves along in a believable way, until the very end (chapter 21), when the main character starts quoting parallel universe scripture and goes off on an "original sin" tangent that turns out to be a major motivator for the story.

What?!

This was, perhaps, the most disturbing part for me. I don't want my theology messed with. But aside from that, it's such a radical departure from the rest of the book that I just didn't buy it. There was no hint that this was coming. I felt like either the author wasn't quite sure where he was going and how to explain the mysterious Dust so he threw in religion; or that he purposely manipulated us through an otherwise good story just so he could preach nonsense at the end. Pullman is clearly preaching anti-Christian philosophy.

Up until chapter 21, I would have given this book 4 stars, recommending it to adults who like fantasy, with the strong disclaimer that it needs parental approval before allowing teens (16+) to read it. But after chapter 21, where I felt the plot fell to pieces, I'm giving it a 2.0. If you really, really want to read it, check it out from the library—but expect to be disappointed in the ending.

Will I read the remainder of the series? Probably not.


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Content Ratings

Language: Mild swearing.

Violence: Very brutally violent in places; not appropriate for children and younger teens. While this is technically not a horror story, many of the scenes are truly horrifying.

Drugs/Alcohol: Some drinking by adults.

Immorality: No sexual situations, but the immorality of killing children for gain...

Values/Themes: Disturbing ending, with anti-Christian messages.

Age Appropriate: Absolutely NOT for children, nor for sensitive readers. Very mature teens and adults, only.

Writing Mechanics: Good until the very end.


© 2010 It's a Book Affair