Okay, this is book 2 of the Nameless City Series. I didn’t know that when I started. It does take some catching up if you have not read book one, but not so bad you are completely lost. I like the story of a city on the verge of war, and two kids who want peace, but want to be helpful as well. Overall I like the story in general, but I am not a fan of the pointillism graphics. I would have preferred solid lines.

This is the first time, in a long time that I can remember being disappointed by a Sandra Brown novel. Those of you who join me on Litsy saw my pain, as I was posting it frequently. What makes this painful is the lack of a powerful female presence. Ms. Brown is great at writing women who you want to be, or be best friends with. Not so much in this case. Our week willed female wannabe warrior is kidnapped by a killer. But she has passionate feelings for him, and can not even run away when he tells her to, repeatedly. This character is like the dumb girls in horror movies who keep running upstairs in an empty house when being chased by a killer, instead of running outside for help. This type of character annoys me. Plus, our leading man, not so leading man. You hate him so much in the beginning, that there is no real time to redeem him.

Add to that, the typical and very predictable nature of the rest of the story. I love Sandra Brown because she began as a romance writer so all her books, while now not really romance anymore, have a romance element, therefore usually have a happy ending. Yes the happy ending existed, but what a waste of time to get there. Please be better than Nora Roberts. Do not resort to taking other books of this genera (or your own), throwing them in a blender, and then regurgitating them. You are better than that, and so are your readers.

A book this size can be daunting, just looking at it. But you should give it a try. I won't lie, it is a slow starter, but this is because Bray has to take you back in time, but also build an augmented world. Evie is a wannabe flapper girl with a special gift that gets her banished from Ohio. She is sent to New York City in the roaring 20’s to live with her weird Uncle Will and help work at his Creepy Crawly museum. But Will doesn’t just run the museum, he teaches about all things spiritual, demonic etc. That means he is the go to person when dead bodies with strange brands start showing up.

I mention world building because their are a lot of characters, and while some may have small parts now, like Theta and Memphis, over the course of the series I see their parts growing. Yes, this is a series. Book 2: Lair of Dreams is currently available, and recently Bray has said there will be two more. Which makes me happy as this is a world I would like to step into again. Many who read it kept telling me how spooky and scary the book is, but I don’t think so. Yes there are grotesque dead bodies, but The Hunger Games is much worse.

I liked this book and do plan on reading the sequels, and so should you.

So this book was not what I was expecting. Months ago I read something that lead me to believe it was going to be a futuristic Murder on the Orient Express type of book. I was excited. I bought the book the minute it came out without reading the dust jacket. And I was surprised. Instead of Murder, this book is Gossip Girl.

It’s 100 years in our future (2118). Most of Manhattan lives in the “Tower”. A thousand floor monstrosity that stands 2.5 miles high. At the top of the tower lives a biologically perfect girl. Who is in love with her adopted brother. No that is not a spoiler, you know it in the first 20 pages. And you know someone falls/is pushed/etc off the edge of the top of this tower. Then you have the rest of the characters: Leda, the recently back from rehab, Eris, the beautiful who is a snob but experiences downturns in her life. Rylin, the maid, Watt the computer geek, and Atlas, Cord, Brice, et al. It’s a look at the elites or highliers of the tower and how they spend their days, while not paying attention to the downtowers. The writing was excellent, but the ending was smooshed together. Almost like the author wanted to get book one over with so she could start book two. You are lead through over 400 pages of building up to someone falling off the roof, and then in two pages, it’s done and on to the funeral.

The story isn’t bad, and I know a ton of girls who will eat it up. However, for me, it was just so so. The idea of this tower is so crazy beautiful, I wanted it explored more. I wanted more action, and less of the glitzy people have problems stuff. Plus..I’m annoyed. We are told from the beginning that someone fell from the top of the tower and landed on the street. But even the book’s own graphics and descriptions this CAN NOT happen. Yes, someone can fall, but not to the street. They would fall a few or a few hundred stories at the most. The bottom of the tower spreads from 42nd to 142nd street. So someone didn’t fall straight down, they flew like superman, or a plane with a trajectory almost as if they were shot from the roof, instead of fell. So that inaccuracy bugs me. BTW, none of that is a spoiler.

I am always a fan of Bad Kitty, except when he is picking on Poor Puppy. But now that it is Halloween there are plenty of things for Kitty to be scared of, until she remembers, she’s not scared, she’s BAD. Fun, but longer than most Bad Kitty picture books. They run through the alphabet three different times.

A beautiful and wonderful wordless picture book. It tells the story of a little girl with her trusty red crayon. With it she can go on a wonderful adventure and see things not seen in our world, such as flying steam ships. Excellently planned and illustrated.

Quest is a continuation of Journey. It is just as well planned and illustrated as it’s predecessor. This time the kids are on a hunt to find all the color crayons and save the king. Excellent as always.

This book was so fun. This is one of those picture books that “interacts” with the reader. I could have so much fun with this book at story time. Just remember, do not read more than one page or you will get CHOMPED!

For anyone who follows me regularly you know I love David Catrow. His illustrations make any book better. I also love this series. The story is told as letters between a father and his son arguing about why the eldest needs his own room. Love it, Love it, Love it.