Feature and Follow

Here's my second blog hop. 

Q: Best Cover? What is the best cover of a book that you’ve read and didn’t like?

I know a lot of people really fell for this cover.  It's got great style, a unifying color theme, and a girl in a pretty dress.  (Ok, actually, why was I attracted to this cover anyway?) 

Not to offend anyone who enjoyed the book, because I know there are plenty of you, it just wasn't my cup of cappuccino.  I felt like there was not enough happening in this book.  Too many chapters went by where I felt like nothing was progressing.  I also didn't feel like the main character was very well developed.  And it was a blatant rip off of Twilight.  Ok, other than that, it wasn't too bad.  But not as good as its cover suggested.

Goodreads Review - Ender's Game

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fascinating book. I was going to give it four stars during the middle part of the book then it pulled itself back into five-star territory with a wonderful ending. This is one of those books that gets stronger in the last quarter which can be so important. I was able to overlook some of my gripes with it when it gave me a surprising twist and then a thought-provoking ending. This book is a little preachy, pretty political, and definitely a morality play. There are times when you want the scenery to change or the characters to do something unexpected. The biggest headscratcher for me is the author’s complete disregard for age appropriate voice. It’s like he said, I want the characters in this to be kids, but I want to be able to tell this story through the eyes and voice of adults. How can I do both? Oh, I know, I just will. In my mind, the protagonist could have started out his training at about age eleven and the climax could have come with him at age seventeen or eighteen and the voice could have been more believable. So basically, that’s just how I imagined the characters as I was reading. But it was always clear that there was a point and a purpose to the use of voice, and, as I said, a meaningful ending allows me to forgive some of the heavy-handedness of the way the story was presented. I understand why this is a classic. I was left thinking about the story after it was over, and that’s kind of the whole point.

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Ensconced in YA: Curmudgeon's Corner: Friendships/Partnerships

Ensconced in YA: Curmudgeon's Corner: Friendships/Partnerships: Check out this interesting post about terrific friendships in books.