bones

The Bone Labyrinth: A Sigma Force Novel – James Rollin

Excavations, archeology, scientific world, voyages to the other world, special operations, military science, action, suspense, fiction.

Rating 8/10

Lena goes to Croatia, to an archeological site where she found the bones of a Neanderthal woman in a closed off chapel. Inside that site, there are artworks as well that depict society and the evolving brain that was humankind. The site is attacked and ransacked, leaving her and a few survivors straggling to get out of the cavern and questioning why the bones of a Neanderthal woman and to destroy the cavern. Commander Grey Peirce is on the case to go rescue and help. Whereas Monk and Kowalski are to talk with Lena’s twin, Maria, about their work. Maria explains that they wanted to know the mystery jump that happened that caused homo sapiens to be very smart and changed their ways of life. She and her sister think it’s a union between homo sapiens and Neanderthals. There’s so much danger that comes with this research because there are others hunting the same answers as Lena and Maria as well as wants them dead. This will take Sigma into the history and evidence of bones of human ancestors.

This was really intriguing and very adventurous. I enjoyed it so much, but it was a bit of a slow read for me personally. At the time of reading this novel I didn’t know that this was a series and I had read another book before this one and not know it was a part of a series. I plan to find out the first book of the Sigma Force series to read in order hopefully in the future. Overall, loved this indepth slow burn of a novel that kept me on my toes as well as kept me leaning towards reading rather than doing anything else. The author really panned out everything in the novel and made it very easy to read to understand the plot narrative.

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returning to land

Part of Your World – Liz Braswell

Disney, The Little Mermaid, witches, mermaids, retelling, mystery, young adult, fiction.

Rating 9.5/10

Five years gone since Ariel lost against Ursula. Both her voice and her father, King Triton, are in possession of Ursula due to the contact that Ariel had signed that allowed her three days to be on land but the catch was for that Prince Eric would have to kiss her before the sun sets on the third day and the payment for Ursula’s service was Ariel’s voice. When Ariel returned to the Sea, expecting to be punished, her sisters allowed her to be Queen of the Ocean. Her trusty sidekicks and confidants, Sebastian and Flounder, help Ariel speak to the people of Atlantica. When Ariel receives some news of a bird wanting to speak to Ariel, she investigates this. She finds out that after all this time, her father is in fact alive after all. Ariel must use whatever materials she has to try to save him and get her voice back.

I had put a hold on this book as well as the few others of these twisted tales because I wanted to see how this author really can use these Disney stories and add the twists to them. My thoughts on this book is that I felt that the author did a good job with this one as well as the other two I’ve read so far. I can’t wait to possible find more by this author or just the twisted tale series. I loved this book and this one is my second favorite. The first being Straight On Till Morning. The Little Mermaid was one of my favorite Disney stories and reading this twisted tale was enlightening and gave me thoughts about how if it went that way, would there be more movies, or a television stemmed from this concept? Either way I appreciate and love this novel a lot.

Learned Something New Here

The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World – Sarah Weinman

Sally Horner, kidnapping, United States, Case Studies, Child Abuse, captivity, Nonfiction.

Rating 10/10

In this examination case study of Sally Horner, this is a timeline of her life from beginning to her untimely end. Sally Horner was a young schoolgirl trying to impress her friends and was caught by a person. That person told her she should meet his requests, so she doesn’t end up in jail. Horner was given instructions and asked her mother for permission to leave to do some business in another neighboring city. The man had kidnapped Sally Horner and took her far away from home. From eyewitness accounts, one had said that the little girl claimed the man to be her father. This man went by the name of Mr. Warner, but he was Frank La Salle by the FBI. Frank Le Salle is a child molester and he was sent to prison for a while but was released. During the time of Sally Horner’s disappearance, her mother didn’t expect nothing much of the disappearance at all and was merely indifferent about it. Eventually it was six weeks before any serious actions were taken place and even then, Sally Horner was long gone from that city. During this time, Sally Horner’s family was devastated, and investigators were doing research as well as using whatever they had to try to find Sally Horner. Frank Le Salle had made lies, acclaiming that Sally Horner was his daughter but the truth was kept from the light for so long. It wasn’t until a woman by the name of Ruth to help Sally Horner in the dire time. Frank Le Salle was imprisoned, and Sally Horner was saved. After all the trauma, it is seen that Sally Horner had a passion to live and thrive. Not long after, Sally Horner was killed in a car accident. This is not a fiction story. This was a story of a girl who faced horrors beyond the imagination. When Vladimir Nabokov learned about this case, he was already currently writing the novel Lolita which is eerily like this case. When he published Lolita, the case of Sally Horner was pushed from the minds lest was forgotten.

I typically do not read nonfiction literature, but I had to make an exception with this one because of how the title captured my attention. I had vaguely known about Lolita, but I had no clue that there was an actual case study that did happen at the same time. My heart broke when I read the synopsis and the introduction. As I had continued to read this case study, I had found myself wanting to know more about what happened to Sally Horner and I wished that she didn’t die prematurely the way she did. The details that the author goes in depth left me astonished and amazed. The way Weinman constructed and wrote this felt like a fictional novel, except it really wasn’t all fiction. This was all facts with evidence and eyewitnesses. I hate pedophiles and honestly the way this guy was sent to prison for a long time satisfied that part of the case. However, the lesson remains is that always be safe and stay safe. I enjoyed learning about this case and made me want to read more nonfictional literature.

No Princes? Sign Me UP!

The School for Good and Evil: A World Without Princes – Soman Chainani

Children fiction, young adult fiction, adventure, fairy tales

Rating 9/10

In the second installment of School for Good and Evil, finally the two girls Agatha and Sophie are home. Famous for their fight in the last book, fame got to their heads. Suddenly things have changed, princes don’t exist anymore. Neither are princesses. It’s an all-out war between boys and girls. Everything is now a mess and must be rectified before more terrible things happen.

I really thought this book is interesting and it was a pleasure to read. Simply an incredible page turner It made me laugh, cry, and cringe I am a huge fan of this book series and I highly recommend for everyone to try this out. Despite the novel being a children’s book, it is something everyone can read. It is well written, and I simply had fallen in love with the first book, now having to hunt down more novels in this series. I honestly would reread this one maybe a few more times.

Zombie Cliche

World War Z – Max Brooks

Zombies, war, oral history, apocalypse, fiction, survival

Rating 3/10

World War Z starts off with an epidemic of this disease that no one is sure of the origin of the disease, only that it made people who contract through a singular bite, become zombielike and very violent. Only that it had to come from a small village who thought the ones who got sick, demonic or possessed. Told as interviews through various perspectives of this war against the zombies. It is history from patient zero until after the war was done.

Not much to say other than not a fan of zombie stuff but wanted to give this novel a fair chance to prove a point that zombies may not just be boring supernatural creatures. This entire novel is cliché of all types of zombies and survival stories. It wasn’t thrilling as it is told from a historical point of view. Maybe if it wasn’t so cliché that I would have finished reading it but I can only handle so much zombie survival clichés in one sitting. Not sorry to give it a low rating.