Book and Audiobook Review: Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1)

Title: Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1)
Author: Faith Hunter
Genre: urban fantasy
Rating: 5/5 stars
Page Count: 340
Publication Date: May 22nd, 2009

Plot (from goodreads):
Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind-a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. But now she's been hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katie's Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who's killing other vamps...





Review:
First we're going to talk about how I found this book and then the book and audiobook. I read probably 80-85% of this book through the audiobook, and I couldn't put it down (I ended up cleaning a shit ton purely because I wanted to keep listening to this but that's for later). It was recommended on audible and I was looking for something new to listen to - even though I should of been listening to the way too many audiobooks I own and haven't listened to.

And this had an interesting title - I knew what a skinwalker was, but not in this sense - and then I saw the main character was native american. And, this is a gap in my reading, I'm not sure I've ever read a book with a native american as the main character? I own a few but most of those heavily focus on that. With this book it's part of the story, and I suspect will with be a much bigger part in future books, but mostly it's just about her being kick ass and amazing. (Okay, there's more to it then that, but she is also kickass and amazing).

The main character, Jane Yellowrock, I'm not sure if I would love her so much if it wasn't for the audiobook narrator. Sometimes there are just audiobooks I click with and love, and I think this was one of them. She's got a great voice, and a great handle on the attitude in it that Jane has as a character. And she's definitely got attitude, and it's amazing.

I don't want to go too into the plot because it rolls slow at first - but it doesn't feel slow because new world and learning everything, and the characters are awesome - but when the plot hits, it hits. I'm trying really hard to make this a spew of love. I will say that towards the end I got a little confused with the fight scene, but that might be my normal trouble with concentrating on audiobooks. Which is why I don't do them as much as physical/ebooks, or maybe it was just a little confusing. Either way, only a little and am really damn excited to keep reading, or listening - I may of bought both physical and audio.

I've never heard a thing about this series but the first book has 22,000+ ratings on Goodreads, so I don't know if it's just me or not. (If you have/n't let me know). I highly recommend it, though - audio, if you're into that, but the words are still the same if you just read the old fashioned way.

If you've already read this book, let me know! (Especially if you've read on, I'd love to hear if you love the series). Or if you're thinking of picking it up.

Book Recommendations: Scary Books for Beginners

Book recommendations! I've never done a post like this before, but I'm planning quite a few at the moment, we'll see how many work out. This is, obviously, because it's officially October (though, I start thinking about Halloween in, like, the last week of August). Soon bad horror movies will be on TV (maybe I'll do a post recommending those, I've got some favorites).

To explain the title - these are scary/horror/such books for people who don't normally read in the horror genre but are looking to maybe give it a try. Or if you scare easily, these are also good books for you. I'm going to do another post, that when it goes up will be linked here, about more serious horror books, that maybe you don't want to start with, but you should work your way up to. I also might do a post recommending plain paranormal book, those always scream fall to me, lurking down dark alleys and around graveyards and such.

Personally, it's rare a book honestly scares me. I started reading King young, probably too young, so keep that in mind for these books - but, overall, I think others would agrees these are a good kickoff into horror/scary stuff.

The Merciless by Danielle Vega
I've read a fair number of horror books and so I wasn't expecting anything from this. So was surprised that I actually kind of enjoyed it. It's a bit gore-y at points, but it's fun (at least I thought it was a lot of fun), and the ending surprised me. Definitely a good way to get a taste of horror, if you've never ready it before, at least I think so. (Full review going up on the 7th, but this is all you need to know).

Say Her Name by James Dawson
I only gave this book a 3/5, but I think because I was just expecting so much from it. Don't get me wrong, though, I did really enjoy it. It's a little cliche for most of it, but when it starts to pick up it definitely veers off that set path. And I really enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for anything Bloody Mary, and this was a lot of fun. (Maybe read it with the lights off and a flashlight, maybe a candle or two around).

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
This is, technically, a middle grade book - but it's very, very creepy. Gaiman is always good at creating a certain atmosphere in books and this is no different. It's creepy and strange and has scattered illustrations that are mildly terrifying, in all honestly. Fantastic, highly recommended book. It's scary, but I still think it's a good jumping off point, more creepy then anything.

Coffin Hill, Vol 1: Forest of the Night by Caitlin Kittredge
This is very, very good. It's a bit more gore-y then anything else here, bloody, and a graphic novel. It's set in New England, in my home state, and it's - eerie and mysterious and I really, really loved it. The art is really good, too.

The Breathing Method by Stephen King
This is only a short story, but it definitely gives you a taste of what King is like. The writing, the building tension, the horrifying ending. It was fantastic - personally, when I read this, I listened to the audiobook, but you can find it in print. (I believe it's in Different Seasons, a short story collection).

Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Comic book series. I've only really read the first volume, about half of the second, but I really loved what I read. Now - I've heard the second volume is really bad and they're pretty creepy, scary, so these aren't the best place to start, in my opinion, but if you're looking for something in the middle - start with first volume and move forward with caution.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I wasn't going to include this one because I forgot it's horror. I'm not sure how I feel about that label, because it's definitely weird and strange at parts, but no part really scared me, or even creeped me out. I really loved this book, though and it is odd, but I know it's not for everyone.

Book Review: The Martian

Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Humor
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 369 (Hardcover)
Publication Date: February 11th, 2014

Plot: (from Goodreads)
Apollo 13 meets Cast Away in this grippingly detailed, brilliantly ingenious man-vs-nature survival thriller, set on the surface of Mars.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first man to die there.

It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he's stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to get him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Review:
This book was a fantastic read. This book has some really interesting science in it, that's all rooted in fact and I found fun to try and mentally work out if it could (theoretically, at least) work. Is that too nerdy? Well - physics has become kind of my guilty pleasure. What I'm trying to say, talking about the science, is that it made it feel very real and down to Earth (well, down to Mars, anyway).

The beginning was a bit of a trek, I was still enjoying it, it was just taking me forever. And then as soon as it picked up, it didn't really slow down to take a breathe. I don't want to give too much, if anything, away, because I feel like going in only knowing the premise or general idea and just being swept up by it, was the perfect way to read this book.

I'm going to back up here, the first time I saw this book was, actually, someone complaining about it. However, they said that was too much like MacGyver in space for them. And I just stopped and my thought process was basically: MacGyver. In Space. Yes, I need that.

And I'm still convinced it's a pretty good comparison, though a tad more modern. And in space. I think what sold this book the most, when I was reading it, was the main narrators voice. He felt very real and very down to earth and he was hilarious, I loved how he phrased things or talked about them.

To wrap up this review before I ramble more, I'd highly recommend this book. It's fantastic, my only problem was it was a  very slight one (was how the beginning was a tad slow). Either way - highly recommended.

Added thing, and tell me if you like this idea/feature or not. These are some of my favorite quotes from The Martian:

"Yes, of course duct tape works in near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped.""As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved with a box of pure radiation."

"If ruining the only religious icon I have leaves me open to Martian vampires, I'll have to risk it." 

“As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved by a box of pure radiation.” 

“Once I got home, I sulked for a while. All my brilliant plans foiled by thermodynamics. Damn you, Entropy!”