In the series (so far), this one is by far the scariest. It's written in such a way that kids won't be scared, but my one thought, the entire time I read this, is that the family was starving to death. Not the casual way we'll tell a friend or loved one "Man, I can't wait to eat; I'm starving" but serious, actual, real starvation. I knew the family would survive the winter, but I found myself very, very anxious and scared for them. That's excellent storytelling/writing.

That being said, the book was a little slow for me. I really, really hate winter and the cold, and the long months of winter dragged into a long book for me.

The Ingalls are more real in this book, more human. The family is thought of as a very perfect family, but in this book, Pa steals, gets involved with a mob, and other unlawful things-yes, in order to survive, but it also shows him as being very human.

(Changing the subject, but i just love the fact that all the books in this series counts for four challenges!)

My second book by this author. I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid, and this is once again a fun return to my youth and those fun books.

This book has the same characters as his other Zombie book, but you definitely don't need to read the first one to read this - and trust me, I never say that! LOL I honestly couldn't remember a thing about the first book, including character names, so you'll be fine if you just start with this one. I read this one through about five times & hubby read it once (and on it a second time) so it's definitely a good book to read multiple times, with a slightly different story each time. Though I admit, by the time I read it through a few times, I found it harder to pick different choices to get a different story and it was starting to be a bit repetitious.

The author does a fantastic job of making sure the choices actually fit with the current storyline- you remember those old Choose Your Own books? There was always, always something that didn't quite fit because it was written so generic. These are written much better.

And plus, zombies! Nothing too gross, too bloody, too gorey, I promise...

I actually have to admit, I did really like this one. With, you know, a bunch of things that pissed me off. In no particular order:

How many times do we need to hear about Jean Claude and his lacey shirts and his nipples?
How many times do we need to hear about Anita's outfits, especially her damned sneakers? I don't care! (at least the gun talk wasn't quite as bad as book #2)
Yes, we know your boss likes money. Thanks for telling us 15 times in the first chapter. Yes, we know who Edward is. Thanks for reminding us every time you mention his name.
Jean Claude wants Anita to become his human servant? Well, why didn't you say so? Oh, you did. On every. single. page.
Coincidence, much? Anita doesn't have to actually DO anything; the fight scenes follow her wherever she goes; the monsters follow her wherever she goes; the clues magically appear wherever she goes.
Let's not forget that in every book, Anita has to investigate the worst, most horrible murder ever (and let's talk about how cops have to have a warped sense of humor during every murder scene, because I forgot about that since the last time you mentioned it) and then at the end, she has to fight the scariest, biggest, baddest monster ever, and she's not afraid to die because she'd rather die fighting, and oh, yeah, we won. Without any work or effort.

First of all, this book is just such a classic, and if you have never read it, please treat yourself and do- and then watch the movie (My Name Is Charlie). They are both tear jerkers.

Second of all, when you read the book, please remember that the book IS a classic & was written in 1958. The book uses outdated terminology (some offensive), so if that will bother you, perhaps skip the book. I just mentally re-worded things as I went along, and the story is so amazing to me, it's worth it. It's no different then reading any other classic. Times have changed, luckily.

Other than that, the book unbelievably is not very dated.

The truly amazing thing about this story is Charlie himself, his journey. In the beginning you love him and cry for him, in the end you love him and cry for him, and the middle... well, I don't particularly care for him, but you can't help but love him all the same.

(I have not seen the movie yet)

So, I definitely liked this one better than the Cursed Child.

It was hard to get used to the idea that Harry Potter isn't in this one - not even a glimmer. Newt is such a great character, as are all the supporting characters. Since this book takes place in the past, it would've been nice to see some historical fiction type of elements in the book - you can't really tell that this story takes place in the past at all - the story would have fit in just fine right now, twenty years from now, twenty years ago, or the early twentieth century it actually does take place. But isn't it terrific that that's really my biggest complaint about the book? (my other complaint is the fact that really, all the Harry Potter books are a mystery at heart, with fantasy elements - and this book doesn't really have much of a mystery. Or at least to me, it didn't read as a mystery. I'm actually not a fan of mysteries AT ALL, but it just doesn't quite have the same flavor as the original 7 books).

Let's see, what else? The book could be longer. I want the adventure to last longer. I wanted this book to be as long as the last 3 original Harry Potter books. The book is a stand alone book - so in theory, this book could help introduce new readers to the fantastic world that is Harry Potter, and that's an amazing gift given to readers.

I love the fact that some of the terminology in this one is just a bit different, which is very very realistic considering this takes place 60 or so years before Harry's birthday - for example, the term "no-mag" instead of Muggle.

First read of the year, read in one sitting.

There's definitely some issues for the modern reader with this one - terms like darkie, half wit, & lunatic fringe immediately come to mind. But that's to be expected when one reads a classic book. It's not right, and not something I picked up on as a kid, but it's part of reading a classic book unfortunately.

There's also the issue of a 23 year old courting Laura, who's barely 15. He's very careful to court her properly, such as walking her home from church with her parents in sight, but still, he's a 23 year old clearly interested in a 15 year old. There's no mention really of how this comes about - he's aware of Laura in a casual sort of way, since he's friends with her father "Pa", but all of a sudden he just shows up & asks to walk her home. Laura's surprise is as evident as ours is.

That being said, it's a fascinating look into being a teenager 80 years old - it's so much fun watching Laura play with her hair and worry about her looks and try to make friends & fit in & be a role model, and try to help send her sister to college - most of these are things any teenager today are also worried about.

I'm finding myself quite sad that the series is almost over. I'm anxiously trying to figure out what classic children's series to read next - Chronicles of Narnia have been on my list for the last couple of years, but the world of Narnia doesn't have the charm that this series does, that's for sure.

Fantastic

Beautifully illustrated, classic children's tale, with a moral. One of my favorites as a child. Very short story, suitable for reading as a bedtime story.

Originally published in 1843, it's hard to imagine that such a classic children's book is still so easily readable for today's kids; it's values are timeless.

As always, I have mixed thoughts (this line should be standard on every review I write)

I was very sad reading this, as it's the last "real" book of the series. I'm also pretty sure I never read this one as a kid/teen, perhaps ever, as none of it really seemed even vaguely familiar.

I love watching Laura begin to have an adult relationship with Almanzo, (and I know times were different) but it still seemed like she agreed to marry him within even falling in love with him. They dated/courted a lot, certainly, and it's obviously from the beginning that Almanzo had feelings for Laura (even when she didn't see it, we the reading audience did). In the books, the two barely talked & half the time they seemed like that didn't even acknowledge each other's presence! (and yes, I know everyone is different; just because I love to (over) talk (and that's how I process things, is by talking aloud even if the other person isn't listening) doesn't mean every likes to talk, but they went on a bunch of sleigh/carriage rides and then "let's get married!" It certainly wasn't sudden since they had been courting for years, but compared to today's books, the lack of emotion during the courting is startling. And Almanzo is just so incredibly sweet to Laura.

The age difference between the two bothers me a bit, but Almanzo certainly acts like a proper gentleman.

It was very interesting reading the whole courtship, that's for sure; similarly, it was very interesting the way Laura's Pa basically manipulated Laura into spending her hard earned money (doing a job she mostly didn't want/hated) the way he wanted (i.e. the organ that Mary isn't even around to play and no one else knew how to play. $100 is SUCH a lot of money to spend on such a thing!) All that money could have been used when Laura got married, or held onto for a rainy day when the crops are bad one year. It's not like there's such a thing as insurance in those days, after all. So spend money on an organ??

I've read this book a few times over the years, and I'll state the same thing at the beginning of reviewing all the I of I books: this is a re-read, and the first time reviewing the books. I'm reviewing all of the books after I finished re-reading the entire series, which I don't normally do & didn't do deliberately this time, either...

(this book was actually read over the summer, 2016, but I'm counting it as a 2017 book because that's why I'm finally getting around to writing the review)

So, I still have to say, this is one of my favorite Piers Anthony books, ever, of all time - and that's saying something. It wasn't always one of my favorites, but once I hit adulthood it quickly became a favorite & it still is (though I wouldn't rate it in even a top 20 all time, overall favorite book list). It's genius to think of Satan as a human being, and it's fascinating to see how that human being changes, over the course of hundreds of years, in his role as Satan. The Incarnation of Immortality is heavily featured in all the books in this series, of course, but he's the star in this one, and he does shine. I really, really like him as a human, like him throughout most of the book, really. He does a few things here and there that I wish he hadn't done, but it makes him so, so human and really, it just adds SO much to the book to see even an Incarnation make a mistake. His story continues in the next book in the series (and as far as I'm concerned, the last book in the series because book #8 is horrible, horrible, horrible and I don't consider it part of the series & I pretend it doesn't exist)

That being said, my standard comment applies - Piers Anthony is a pig, so much so that sometimes I'm ashamed of reading his books (as a woman) and I will never, ever actually pay money on one of his books because I just can't support an author who devalues women as much as he does. (at least these books aren't quite as bad as the Xanth books are).

I've read this book a few times over the years, and I'll state the same thing at the beginning of reviewing all the I of I books: this is a re-read, and the first time reviewing the books. I'm reviewing all of the books after I finished re-reading the entire series, which I don't normally do & didn't do deliberately this time, either...
(read in 2016, but I'm counting this as a 2017 book since I'm finally reviewing it now)

This book falls a little flat for me, though it has lots of Satan bits with keeps things interesting. Orlene just isn't a very loveable character for me - but I love Jolie, and you end up really cheering for Vita (though her love affair with the Judge, who's twice her age, throws me for a loop or five). The love affair, for Piers Anthony anyway, is relatively well done, though really, why couldn't Piers have written the man to be ten years younger (so the story line still fits, but the love affair isn't quite so eww?)

The series does really wrap up in this book though, and (mostly) ties up all the loose ends, and definitely brings together all of the other books, but there's just so much more I'd really like to know, that the book doesn't answer. Mainly, what happens next to Orlene and the world at the end of book 7? I'm really always let down at the end of this book, because I want to see how the world changes and evolves. We've just read over 2000 pages talking about good and evil, Heaven and Hell, how the system is corrupt, how we need changes, and then.... nothing.



That being said, my standard comment applies - Piers Anthony is a pig, so much so that sometimes I'm ashamed of reading his books (as a woman) and I will never, ever actually pay money on one of his books because I just can't support an author who devalues women as much as he does. (at least these books aren't quite as bad as the Xanth books are).