I didn't do much reading. I was a bit preoccupied by drawing but mostly, I just didn't feel like reading much. I've managed to finish reading a few books so here they are. You can just read the summary if you don't want to read my babbling.
There is a ghost but it wasn't that present and there is a mystery but I sort of guessed almost immediately and there is a villain but he seemed like, 'oh yes, I'm a bad guy and I have dogs that I use to attack people' but he doesn't seem to have much personality other than being the bad guy. I kind of pictured him with large eyes and a manic grin, like those cartoon villains that acts a little crazy because they are villains and they know it and they like it. It would be nice if the ghost had appeared more often and maybe actually talk to the main character. I didn't like this was told in first person present tense - it just seemed off somehow.
Summary: The mystery was a little bland for me even though I did find the beginning kind of fun.
I really couldn't stand the relationship between Hazel Wong (the narrator) and Daisy Wells. The first thing Daisy did when Hazel arrived at the school is to talk Hazel into getting into a trunk and then locked her there - is this what you would call friendship? Hazel and Daisy are supposed to be best friends but Daisy is a bully and is often regard as the one who is smarter and better (mostly by Hazel) and she is worshipped by the younger students (and Hazel) while Hazel is basically a slave to Daisy. The fact that Daisy can lie so easily makes me wonder about her character and the constant mention of criminal knowledges in reference to finding them out from her uncle - what is that supposed to be mean, has Daisy got an uncle who is a criminal? I do think Daisy is bit Sherlock Holmes-like which I kind of like but I guess one has to question her behavior especially being 12 years old (I don't remember how old she is supposed to be exactly). As Hazel lets us know, "Guilt slides straight off Daisy like butter." So Daisy pretty much do whatever she wants and Hazel just follows her commands. (Even with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson never seemed like he was put down by Holmes, at least, I've never had that impression.) I guess what I don't like is that Hazel herself kind of put herself down for being Asian, for being not skinny enough or pretty enough or English enough. Why does an Asian Sherlock not a realistic goal for Hazel? Hazel has some issues with herself and perhaps staying away from Daisy might be better for her.
And the way the girls pretend to be dumb in their classes so the other children can like them? I don't get that. So maybe you don't want to be seen as too smart but to pretend that you're dumb is just odd and kind of dishonest. And how does the teacher grade students like them? Or how did Hazel and Daisy ever pass any class behaving this way?
Summary: I simply just couldn't stand the relationship between Hazel and Daisy and how condescending Daisy is to Hazel and how Hazel seems to accept that she will always be second to Daisy. The murder mystery was a bit intriguing but it was also kind of lame how it ended. I doubt I'll read the other books in the series.
Note: I like to refer to this book as Murder Most Unladylike because it's the original title. This series is known as A Murder Most Unladylike in the UK and as A Wells & Wong Mystery in the US. For some reason, some covers had A Wells & Wong Mystery above the titles and some do not. The title of this book 1 is also published as Murder is Bad Manners in the US. I think the confusion will continue just because some publisher thought it was a good idea to retitle a series for the US audience and let's not discuss how they Americanized the text.
The third book in this series ended well but it reminded me of Ritter's other series (Jackaby) and how it kind of ended almost the same way but at least, this ended slightly better, I think. Although the multiple view points seems far too many and kind of distracting. My favorite character is still Fable but she seems like a side character here. So the main, main characters are the brothers Cole and Tinn but to make the other characters seems like side character seems a bit strange since we get their point of view but maybe it would have been nice just having Cole and Tinn's viewpoint instead of scattering around other people's heads but I suppose you would not get the whole story that way.
Summary: I enjoyed this series and I really like how Ritter built the world but I doubt I would read a fourth book unless it's about Fable.
This started out fun but then it sort of meanders and the bits with the guide text (with info that sort of give you some details/back stories that sort of relates to what is happening) seems almost useless. Some of the technical or science explanations for this or that sounds like nonsense to me but maybe I'm not intelligent enough to understand them but whenever some strange name for a species or a place is used, it just sounds so absurd and meaningless like the words were just put together for no reason other than to sound foolish or maybe to mock someone or some place or thing. Sometimes the text seems to repeat, not sure it was intentional but there were few instances in the beginning where I felt like I was re-reading something I had read in the previous paragraph - an error or intentional, I don't know. I guess I shouldn't have read this edition because I really didn't like the illustrations, they looked kind of weird and gross, though I saw them on my small kindle screen.
Summary: It was a short book, a little over 200 pages but I took three weeks to read it (not the actual reading time) but I kept putting off finishing it somehow. I did enjoyed the first half of the book but then somehow, it just became dull to me. This really is like part one of a story as it seemed to end abruptly, there is an end but it didn't go anywhere but I don't know if I'll read the other books, I can't keep my attention on reading this first book.
Someone wrote a review titled with the spoiler which I thought is kind of stupid because if you're telling people you're going to include a spoiler, should you really put it in your title? I'm pretty sure most people read the title of reviews (which are usually bolded text) because I certainly do. So I started reading the book knowing a character is a ghost. Somehow, there are no clear indications other than one instant which when you think about it, it's not really much an indiction at all unless you know beforehand that the character is a ghost. But it doesn't seem to make much difference whether you know or not before reading because the ghost is kind of a surprise that no one can see it coming. Was it a good surprise? Not to me.
I actually find it refreshing that Milo is adopted but I didn't need more on that. In the beginning, they make it seems like it's not a big deal to be adopted but then they make it seem like it's the most important thing to Milo. But honestly, this isn't an adoption story so I prefer not to have this little bit in the story. I don't know how to explain it but it just seems like they put this bit in to make Milo interesting when he's really just kind of plain without it. I guess this isn't the kind of book for this kind of story, that's what I think I'm saying.
I also like the stories from The Raconteur's Commonplace Book which Milo was reading which included a few tidbits that are quite amusing and fun. (The fifth book in this series is titled The Raconteur's Commonplace Book which has the full stories as far as I know and which I might read.)
I really, really don't like the role playing game the main characters, Milo and Meddy, are doing. Milo and Meddy plays Negret and Sirin and their names keep getting switched. Like Milo is suddenly Negret just like that. The role playing is sort of related to the mystery but to have these two characters kept switching names, drove me nuts. Plus, I don't think it was necessary.
With 13 characters, stories told by said characters and a mystery that is full of mini mysteries, it seems like it's going somewhere but in an extremely slow crawl. Either is the writing or just me, I find this book to be quite slow. I can't quite believe that Milo can solve a mystery in a few days while adults wasted years and didn't even get close but it's a kid's mystery book so I guess it's only fair the children solves the mystery.
Summary: I did really enjoyed the beginning when the guests arrive at the inn but then it sort of became a very slow move toward toward the end even at 389 pages. I guess if you enjoy slow mysteries and don't mind having your characters role play other people, then you'll like this book.
How was your October? Read any good books?
I love those covers on your #2 pick. And I'll be honest, I never finished Hitchhiker. I love the concept, SF and humor mixed, and I want to try again, but yeah I struggled.
ReplyDeleteGreg: I like the covers for #2 as well. Hitchhicker is a bit hard to read for no reason even though it's a short book. I'm thinking, I was just not in the right mood for the book.
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Greg: I don't know what happened. I didn't meant to type Hitchhicker but I did.
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