Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora

I actually finished this one back in early October, but forgot to post the review, I guess.

A Book Written by Someone Under Thirty: The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) by Scott Lynch

An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.

It's not often the story of a crook, thief and murderer is as riveting as that of Locke Lamora. The world shown was complex and fantastical. The political depths and twists kept me guessing. And above all, the love between the main characters, the thieves, was epic. I am really looking forward to the next tale of this character and world. I can't wait to see how he starts a new life. The time jumps every chapter were hard to follow at first, it kept pulling me out of story, but I grew to enjoy it.

Rating: A+

2014 Reading Bingo

A book with more than 500 Pages Storm of Swords	A Forgotten Classic Dragonflight	A Book that Became a Movie The Maze Runner	A Book Published this Year Battle of Will	A Book with a Number in the Title Thirteen
A Book Written by Someone Under Thirty The Lies of Locke Lamora	A Book with Non-Human Characters Shards of Time	A Funny Book Let's Pretend This Never Happened	A Book by a Female Author Highfell Grimoires	A Book with a Mystery Carnal Sacraments
A Book with a One-Word Title Coraline	A Book of Short Stories Carniepunk	Free Square The Wise Man's Fear	A Book Set on a Different Continent Shattered	A Book of Non Fiction The Definitive Guide to Order Fulfillment and Customer Service
The First Book by a Favorite Author If We Shadows	A book you Heard About Online Meeting on Mars	A Best-Selling Book A Feast for Crows	A Book Based on a True Story	A Book at the Bottom of your To Be Read Pile A Light In The Dark
A Book Your Friend Loves The Graveyard Book	A Book that Scares You	A Book that is More Than 10 Years Old Ender's Game	The Second Book in a Series Ghost Train to New Orleans	A Book with a Blue Cover The Name of the Wind

Links in the table go to the reviews for that book. The cover links to the Amazon page. Link to the original post for the challenge is here.

Review: IT

A Book that Scares You: It by Stephen King

Welcome to Derry, Maine...

It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real….

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name.

I have actually never read anything by King, so this is also sort of a bucket list thing. I've seen a few movies, but never got around to his books. Generally I'm not a horror fan, so that is probably why. I didn't know there would be any anti-gay attitudes in it, but parts of it take place during that back lash. Not that King is anti-gay, just that some of the characters are. The build up of all the early deaths was creepy for sure. It did seem like these people were haunted by their home town a lot more than most people are. Their feelings seem a bit extreme. The slow reveal of the summer it all happened was very intriguing. The way that one story would lead to another event at a different time was a bit hard to follow, sometimes. There was a very clear feeling, half way through, of hopelessness for the protagonists. I very much felt like quitting the book, unsure if I will like the ending at all. I think part of the problem is I really don't like any of the characters. Finding out the origin of It was a bit of a let down. I realize that wasn't the purpose of the tale, but I think a better reason could have been found. Having the climatic ending from both times of the story overlap in the end was a fun way to discover the ending. The wrap up seemed to take longer than necessary. All in all, a good story. Not sure I'm going to read a ton more of King, but I'm happy I read this. Not sure it actually frightened me, but there were some gross out moments.

Rating: B-

2014 Reading Bingo

A book with more than 500 Pages Storm of Swords	A Forgotten Classic Dragonflight	A Book that Became a Movie The Maze Runner	A Book Published this Year Battle of Will	A Book with a Number in the Title Thirteen
A Book Written by Someone Under Thirty The Lies of Locke Lamora	A Book with Non-Human Characters Shards of Time	A Funny Book Let's Pretend This Never Happened	A Book by a Female Author Highfell Grimoires	A Book with a Mystery Carnal Sacraments
A Book with a One-Word Title Coraline	A Book of Short Stories Carniepunk	Free Square The Wise Man's Fear	A Book Set on a Different Continent Shattered	A Book of Non Fiction The Definitive Guide to Order Fulfillment and Customer Service
The First Book by a Favorite Author If We Shadows	A book you Heard About Online Meeting on Mars	A Best-Selling Book A Feast for Crows	A Book Based on a True Story	A Book at the Bottom of your To Be Read Pile A Light In The Dark
A Book Your Friend Loves The Graveyard Book	A Book that Scares You IT	A Book that is More Than 10 Years Old Ender's Game	The Second Book in a Series Ghost Train to New Orleans	A Book with a Blue Cover The Name of the Wind

Links in the table go to the reviews for that book. The cover links to the Amazon page. Link to the original post for the challenge is here.

Review: And Then I Thought I was a Fish

And that's it! I'm impressed I actually finished before the end of the year, with how November and December went, life wise. I'm happy I accomplished this, I really feel it made me search out and read books I never normally would, and it helped me prioritize my TBR list. Doing it again in 2015, as soon as they post a new list.

A Book Based on a True Story: And Then I Thought I was a Fish by Peter Welch

IDENTIFYING INFORMATION: Peter Hunt Welch is a 20-year-old single Caucasian male who was residing in Bar Harbor, Maine this summer. He is a University of Maine at Orono student with no prior psychiatric history, who was admitted to the Acadia Hospital on an involuntary basis due to an acute level of confusion and disorganization, both behaviorally and cognitively. He was evaluated at MDI and was transferred from that facility due to psychosis, impulse thoughts, delusions, and disorientation. He was felt to be a risk to himself and others due to his high level of disorganization and disorientation and impulsivity. He did not know where he was. He believed that he had murdered his friend by sucking out his soul. The patient was also reporting, upon admission, that he could see, smell, hear and touch God. She as an acid smoky smell. Patient is an unreliable historian. He initially denied any alcohol or drug use, but later on admitted to having had LSD on several occasions. He also acknowledged the use of heroin, crack, cocaine, mushrooms, ecstasy, speed, etc. Just prior to his admission to Acadia Hospital, he had been displaying markedly abnormal behavior with confusion, illogical statements, and appearing disoriented, and as if walking in a daze.

This is the story of why someone wrote that.

I'm not sure what I expected, but an explanation on what being on hard drugs was like isn't it. Many, many tangents along the way, and it took the author a while to get to any sort of point, but that is a lot like talking to someone who is high, so it set the right mood. I got lost/bored with some of the explanation on the more advanced research and theories about drug use. I was very interested in the narrator's decent in madness. There were interesting and humorous footnotes, but the eBook I read didn't have back links, so it was hard to read them. Which is a shame, I'm pretty sure I missed a good portion of the story. Seeing how the drug use and break down moved into full out madness was really interesting, not a topic I've ever looked into. The narrator's father was hilarious, I enjoyed his parts--which is another interesting thing the author did, had various people give their thoughts and memories of certain events. The conclusion got both a bit abstract and preachy, not that I didn't agree with most of his conclusions, I just don't like being told how to think or how to experience the world.

Rating: B

2014 Reading Bingo

A book with more than 500 Pages Storm of Swords	A Forgotten Classic Dragonflight	A Book that Became a Movie The Maze Runner	A Book Published this Year Battle of Will	A Book with a Number in the Title Thirteen
A Book Written by Someone Under Thirty The Lies of Locke Lamora	A Book with Non-Human Characters Shards of Time	A Funny Book Let's Pretend This Never Happened	A Book by a Female Author Highfell Grimoires	A Book with a Mystery Carnal Sacraments
A Book with a One-Word Title Coraline	A Book of Short Stories Carniepunk	Free Square The Wise Man's Fear	A Book Set on a Different Continent Shattered	A Book of Non Fiction The Definitive Guide to Order Fulfillment and Customer Service
The First Book by a Favorite Author If We Shadows	A book you Heard About Online Meeting on Mars	A Best-Selling Book A Feast for Crows	A Book Based on a True Story And Then I Thought I was a Fish	A Book at the Bottom of your To Be Read Pile A Light In The Dark
A Book Your Friend Loves The Graveyard Book	A Book that Scares You IT	A Book that is More Than 10 Years Old Ender's Game	The Second Book in a Series Ghost Train to New Orleans	A Book with a Blue Cover The Name of the Wind

Links in the table go to the reviews for that book. The cover links to the Amazon page. Link to the original post for the challenge is here.