Reviews " Monthly Reading Challenge"

1.Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham (a library eBook from Overdrive)

I have to call this mystery since you never are sure the outcome of the action. “The road to justice is filled with barriers and land mines.............” This is one of the many highlighted places within the book. The story moves forward with a lawyer, Sebastian Rudd. Who describes himself as a street lawyer. He works out of a black Ford cargo van.

Partner is his body guard, driver, paralegal and friend. He plays a large role in the story.

Rudd will defend anyone but, he seeks high profile cases. Because of the type of cases the ideas of justice may not fit the normal.

This is a rough, tough story with emotional levels that vary resting on the actions described. It’s a picture of innocent until proven guilty in the mind of some and guilty until innocent in the mind of others.

Question 7, under Questions For Discussion at the end of the novel is; “How are power and publicity linked throughout the novel?”
There are 12 of these questions that define the actions of justice and injustice that are described in the story.

It’s a story that holds the readers attention right up to the end and leaves you wondering what happened next in Sebastian Rudd's life.(219 words from the Journal Seven word count)

2. The Cloud by Ray Hammond (an ebook from Amazon)Science Fiction

Truly this is an interesting story. Ray Hammond takes a different view of aliens coming to earth in this story. As a species, in the last 50 years we have often been described as a violent group. Hammond’s view is Homo Sapiens are kind of needy and hungry for companionship. Even if it is alien companionship.

Because it is Scifi you have to expect lots of technology speeches and talk. The story begins with a group of government protesters, who make a mistake and wind up in trouble. “PUT THE BABIES DOWN - NOW.” They shout as they enter the adoption nursery. This beginning raises more questions than it gives answers.

The beginning scenes do lay a trail of information about alien beings. However, it is so far from what you find out at the end of the story that you have to keep reading to relate. The information covers lots of subjects. Alien transmissions, government violence, MIT professors, and lots of related ideas, but you have to read the whole story to get the gist of how they hang together.

“A call to space has been answered” then, “ ET Hangs Up” Initially we are all interested in the people and subject of radio messages being sent into space hoping someone will answer. The story will give you a new view of those transmissions and other types of alien contact. What happens if a meteor strikes the earth? This is another subject brought up in the story. Aliens, clouds of gas, fear, robots, governments that can’t get along, the UN, technology, its all here in this story not necessarily in that order. (282 words counted on the Journal 7)

3.The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge (a library eBook by Overdrive)

Did you know that many of the first scientists were Christians? “The Bible did not lie. Every good god-fearing scientist knew that. But, rocks and fossils and bones did not lie either, and it was starting to look as...” The story delves into the actions of Christians as they discover fossils.

There are a lot of social aspects to this story that reveal society as it relates to male and female roles.”Listen Faith, a girl cannot be brave, or clever, or skilled as a boy can.” The story according to the information in the front of the book is fiction set in Great Britain historical time of 1837-1901. It is a mystery story and a detective story. First published in 2015 in Great Britain.

The detective in the story is a female in the Victorian age. Faith is no longer a child, and is trying to struggle with her role as a young women who is coming into adulthood. She has a lot to deal with because she is being raised by a father who is both a minister of the gospel and a naturalist. As an influence, her mother has tried to impress her with the ways a women keeps herself safe from all kinds of situations.

But, the social problems that come into Faith’s realm do not have the ties on her actions, that they should. The result is an entertaining and riotous story that has lots of twists and turns you won’t expect. (257 words counted on the Journal 7)

4. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (a library eBook from Overdrive)

This is a space story. It was copyrighted in 2015. It is also a love story. Found in the first pages of the book is this statement, “Summary: the planet Kerenza is attacked, and Kady and Ezra find themselves on a space fleet fleeing the enemy,.........”

The two main characters are teenagers who live on a planet other than earth. Much of their life stories are contained in the files. The story is told by reading a series of files from computers about the attack on the planet and the subsequent actions that happen to everyone who is living on that planet. The files are sent to many different people. Some are the attackers and some are people who were attacked and are trying to survive in the circumstances they find themselves living through.

The story touches the emotions people experience when they find themselves in a war they were not expecting. All actions and files are regarding a time of about one year in human life. Concerning the story you will find, “All visual and audio data are included in original form, along with written transcripts.” This quote was sent to executive director Forbisher who initiated the attack. Interesting data will show as you read the files that even illegal mining cannot condone the destruction of hundreds of people for greed.

It is a rather fast paced story with lots of action and lots of sorrow. An artificial intelligence is also involved which keeps you wondering, what next? So, if you like space stories you may enjoy this one. (271 words counted on the Journal 7)

5. The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani (a library book from the Overdrive App)

This is a fairy tale. I’m not sure what age would read this story. “The last sight wasn’t unusual, for children in Gavaldon did little besides read their fairy tales.” It wouldn’t be a good bedtime story if you did not want the children reading it to have nightmares. The epigraph on the first page is a poem that describes the school. There is a map at the beginning to help orient the reader.

There are two heroines and a lot of princes. Sophie and Agatha are entered in the school in the usual way for children of Gavaldon. They are best friends. Agatha's speech, “Your not my best friend.”

You’ll meet witches, princesses, princes, wolves, fairies, teachers with special talents, animals with special talents, and freaky things you expect to find in a really excellent fairy tale. There is a good description in the story about what a fairy tale is suppose to have in it. And, you will find all these actions and more.

The ending will be a grand climax with a special ending. Did you wonder how fairy tales are written? Well this story will tell you all about it. The story itself is the writing of a new fairy tale and the actions it takes to accomplish the job of writing a new fairy tale. there is an entry form at the end of the last chapter for the school. Happy Reading.
(238 words on the Journal 7.)