Oresteia

Oresteia by Aeschylus, translated by Richard Lattimore, 171 pages

The Oresteia is a cycle of three plays relating the tragedy of the royal house of Mycenae in the aftermath of the Trojan War.  Agamemnon tells the story of the return of the king, accompanied by the captive Cassandra, and his murder by his wife Clytemnestra, who had taken his cousin Aegisthus as a lover during his decade-long absence.  The Libation Bearers continues the story as the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra avenges his father by slaying his mother.  Finally, in The Eumenides, the goddess Athena stands as judge between the titular Furies and Orestes, in the process establishing Athenian jurisprudence and domesticating the goddesses of vengeance.

Robert Lowell once admitted that it is impossible to recover the power of Aeschylus' drama, "something no doubt grander than any play we can see."  Perhaps some intimation of that power is available to us in these post-Enlightenment times, for meeting it outside the cramped blood-soaked ground of the grand narrative of progressive history, what the reader is immediately struck by is its earnest religiosity.  It is certainly possible for a crippled soul to dismiss Apollo, Athena, and even the Furies themselves as dramatic contrivances and ignore the atmosphere that surrounds them in favor of shallow psychologizing.  It is likewise trivial to invert the tale, to turn Clytemnestra into the righteous avenger of her sacrificed daughter, inevitably ending with her liberation of Cassandra into an unconvincing sisterhood.  If Aeschylus does not have true religion, it is certainly more true than any of the modern simulacra.  Aeschylus' cycle is a real myth, his tragedy rooted in a legacy of crime and guilt inherited both by the sons of Atreus and the daughters of Leda, a shared fault that stretches back into remotest antiquity, where it assumes unknowable cosmic proportions, and which can only be expiated by cult and sacrifice.

The Harpy

The Harpy by Megan Hunter 300 pages (e-galley)


Nothing whets the appetite for revenge once you get started. Lucy and Jake seem happy enough, but when Lucy discovers Jake has been having an affair, she cannot forgive him. When Jake puts forth the idea that Lucy may hurt him three times, Lucy agrees. However, how much hurt is enough? As Lucy descends into her anger and grief, she discovers a capability within herself she had not expected. She also delves into her past research and fascination with the harpy, a being which exacts revenge.

Dark, disturbing, and memorable, this is a story with an almost fairy tale feel, as Lucy returns again and again to the harpy, a being of revenge. Good for readers who enjoy some unraveling of characters and a pace which steadily intensifies.

Rapunzel’s Revenge

Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale, 144 pages

This graphic retelling of Rapunzel is pretty awesome.  In this one, Rapunzel isn’t locked in the tower until she realizes how evil her “mother” is.  She finally manages to escape on her own, meets up with Jack, of beanstalk fame, and enlists his help in fixing the witch and helping her real mother and all of the people in the area that the witch has terrorized for so long.  It’s a marvelous adventure and teens who like graphic fairy tales will love it.

And The Ocean Was Our Sky

AndThe Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness, 160 pages

What if whales only hunted men because we hunted them?  What if they killed people and used all of our parts, wasting nothing?  What if they only wanted to protect themselves?  And what if there were a man who had killed so many whales that his name, Toby Wick, became a legend and that there was a whale obsessed with catching and killing Toby Wick?  Bathsheba’s captain, Alexandra, is that whale.  Bathsheba, whose mother was killed by humans, is happy to follow Alexandra in the hunt to kill more people but doesn’t believe in Toby Wick.  Although Bathsheba hates all humans she becomes fascinate das gets to know a human prisoner who has been giving them information about where to find Toby Wick.  He makes her question what she knows about humans and what humans know about whales.  This retelling of Moby Dick from a whale perspective is fascinating.  I loved it and hope to put it in the hands of lots of teens.

Pantheon

Pantheon by Hamish Steele     179 pages

From Goodreads:

The most important myth in Ancient Egypt is faithfully retold in glorious black and white! Horus, son of Isis, vows bloody revenge on his Uncle Set.

Review:

A comic of Egyptian mythology told with dirty humor and violent imagery. This is a fun, quick read and you don't have to know anything about Egyptian mythology to enjoy it.

The Last Time I Lied

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager     384 pages

From Goodreads:

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their tiny cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. The games ended when Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin in the dead of night. The last she--or anyone--saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings--massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. The paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the socialite and wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale. When Francesca implores her to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor, Emma sees an opportunity to try to find out what really happened to her friends.

Yet it's immediately clear that all is not right at Camp Nightingale. Already haunted by memories from fifteen years ago, Emma discovers a security camera pointed directly at her cabin, mounting mistrust from Francesca and, most disturbing of all, cryptic clues Vivian left behind about the camp's twisted origins. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing threats from both man and nature in the present.

And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale, the more she realizes it may come at a deadly price.

I tried so hard to figure out “who did it.” Sadly, I was not successful, but I guess that just means that Sager made a compelling story that was unpredictable and new. This felt like a real story, it was so thrilling, page by page. Once the story returns Camp Nightingale, Sager really hits her stride and the story picks up and it’s difficult to put down.

Overall, it’s a solid mystery – I really enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed the suspense, and I really liked the writing. Sager is really talented and I’m interested in reading anything else he has written. I’d definitely recommend this to mystery buffs and anybody who is in for a thriller story.

The Boleyn Reckoning

The Boleyn Reckoning by Laura Andersen     416 pages

Perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir, The Boleyn Reckoning heralds the triumphant conclusion of Laura Andersen's enthralling trilogy about the Tudor king who never was: the son of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn--Henry IX--who, along with his sisters and those he holds most dear, approaches a dangerous crossroads. 

Meh. The ending of this series was overly dramatic and ultimately blah. It just solidified my dislike of love-triangles. Not only was a love-triangle the sole plot of this book, but it ends up taking over every character's actions and what you get is a sopping mess of drama, rage, revenge, grief, despair, and on and on. It gets a little tedious.

I absolutely love Tudor history, but this story makes it less interesting when it focuses on indirect Tudor characters - Minuette and Dominic are nice and all, but their love is not as interesting as the rest of this alternative history unfurling. And the ending - I don't know what to make of <spoiler> Elizabeth threatening Minuette about her child's probable lineage (as William's) to get her to do what she wants. That seems oddly out of character for this series so I don't know what Andersen was trying to do there. And she couldn't have just left it a mystery as to who the father is? I'm just dissatisfied with it ultimately being Williams.</spoiler>.

Dissatisfied and not likely to pick up Andersen's follow-up series about Elizabeth I.

Once Broken

Once Broken by D. M. Hamblin   350 pages

First published, according to Amazon, in 2016, author D.M. Hamblin contacted me in 2018 to review her debut novel, “Once Broken.” I don’t remember what drew me to this story. Perhaps it was the revenge element; perhaps it was the forgiveness element.  It doesn’t really matter at this point.

When Jackie Martin was ten years old, her father died suddenly and her once sturdy family life fell apart. For whatever reason that I couldn’t understand, Jackie was not allowed to go to the funeral home nor attend the funeral. This is the root of her abandonment issues, which she suffers from until she is approximately in her forties.

In high school, she falls for Tony Salvucci. Her clinginess results in their breakup, but Jackie has fallen in love…for life. The two come together and breakup almost as often as the seasons change. Jackie is always plotting on how to get revenge with Tony; most of the time she wants him to feel the same pain as she has. Finally, she sees Tony for the man he truly is and learns to move on with her life.

I love the bones of this story. They are great. But one Hamlin employs more tell rather than show, which gets in the way of the plot. I can’t help but feel that this story is more autobiographical than fiction, but writers must write what they know.  This would have been a much different book had Hamblin shown the action instead of describing it, “Once Broken,” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Red Rising

Red Rising by Pierce Brown     382 pages

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

This book took some time getting into it. The setting up of this futuristic world was tricky to take on and anyone who is not very fond of sci-fi might have difficulty getting past it to the more interesting bits of the dystopia/character building/plot.

There are things I enjoyed very much reading this book and things that made me feel less interested in it. The things I didn't care for are that it trods in the path of many previous sci-fi books with a male lead who must save the world. That wouldn't be so bad because, after all, one of my favorite books is Ender's Game, buuuut, the fact that this book has that and that the catalyst that starts the whole thing is the death of his wife. A woman has to die to give Darrow the rage and drive he needs to take down the system. I feel like this is such an overused trope that it makes me depressed when I read it these days. Of course a woman has to die to give the main character the start he needs. Of course, of course, of course.

Aside from that, once the story really gets going there is a lot of violence, rape, and anger that is not my cup of tea. So many people are brutally maimed or killed, the mention of "pissing" on people happens at least a dozen times. I don't really care for that aggressive, animalistic stuff. It's not interesting to read and it's also gross.

Things I did like were the characters. I think Mustang, Pax, Roque, Sevro, and many others are really what makes this book strong. The building of a team, an army, what makes them all work together and trust their leader, Darrow, unconditionally is what really gets you interested in where the story will go. It reminded me a lot of Ender's Game. And the name "Wiggin" is even used, as if that story were an actual part of history. It made me smile.

The plot is strong, once you get past the first twenty or so chapters. That's where the book really hits its stride. If you can wade through the beginning to get this far, it is worth the time. It's action packed, the characters are finally becoming whole people, building off each other, and the plot is full of neat surprises and twists. It is enough of crest to ride till the end. I will definitely finish reading this series. The story captured me enough for that.

I would recommend this book to those who are fond of sci-fi, in addition to liking dystopias. There's also a lot of Greek/Roman mythology mixed in there, so if that's something you're into, it's a neat little feature in this book. Cheers.

Vicious

Vicious by V.E. Schwab, 364 pages

“Victor and Eli started out as college roommates--brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find--aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge--but who will be left alive at the end?” This book was chilling.  I would give it to anyone who likes thrillers, especially fantastical thrillers.

113 Minutes

113 Minutes by James Patterson, 139 pages

“I know who killed my son.  Molly Rourke's son has been murdered...And she knows who's responsible. Now she's taking the law into her own hands. Never underestimate a mother's love.” There was a lot of story packed into these few pages.  I have to admit, I was a little surprised by the ending as well.  This has been the best of the short “Bookshots” that I have read so far.  These are definitely for people who like a shorter, quicker read, especially people who enjoy action packed mysteries.

Crooked Kingdom

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo     536 pages

The Six of Crows team is back, this time, double-crossed and fighting for their lives, they attempt to pull off one last heist to gain back what they were promised. The crew faces steep odds and must rely on their varied strengths as the fight, not only for themselves but also the world, to destroy the secret to making jurda parem and maybe gain the lives they've always wanted.

This was a disappointing end to a very cool duology. I don't even know why I thought I could trust Bardugo after the way her last series ended. I am 100% done with her. If you can't come up with a plausible reason why my favorite character has to die, then you can't be trusted.

This story was interesting - not as well crafted as the first installment - but then she had to go and ruin it. I was right in my assumption - she loves neat, put together relationships. Each of the six paired up nicely. In this way, the characters are laughably basic YA stock characters, which is a shame, because, really, in all other respects, (with the exception of Wylan, and sometimes Jesper, who truly bored me), they were complex, well thought out characters. 

And, ultimately, I can't forgive Bardugo, EVER, for killing my favorite character (and needlessly, at that). I'm sorry. I just can't. And I vow to never let Bardugo to do this to me again. This is the end.

Bet Your Life

Bet Your Life by Jane Casey, 324 pages

“Jess Tennant has now been living in a tiny town on the English seaside for three months, and is just beginning to relax and think of it as home after the traumatic events of last summer. But in the small hours of Halloween night, a teenage boy is left for dead by the side of the road. Seb Dawson has a serious head injury and may not survive. Jess might not have liked Seb much, but surely he didn't deserve this. The police don't seem to be taking the attack very seriously, but Jess can't just let it go, and she takes matters into her own hands. As she investigates, Jess discovers that Seb was involved in some very dangerous games. A secret predator around girls, he would do whatever it took to abuse them, from lying and blackmail to spiking drinks. Could a group of vengeful victims be behind his attack? Or is there someone else with a grudge against Seb, who will stop at nothing to silence him?” This is an enjoyable series.  I’m not sure that the second book was quite as good as the first since there was less unexpected pieces, but it was still good.  This will appeal to teens who like mystery thrillers.

Long Way Down

Long WayDown by Jason Reynolds, 304 pages

“An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestseller Jason Reynolds's fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds--the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he's going to murder the guy who killed his brother.

A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That's what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge . That's where Will's now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother's gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he's after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that's when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn's gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn't know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck's in the elevator? Just as Will's trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck's cigarette. Will doesn't know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES. And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END...if WILL gets off that elevator. Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.” Hard hitting and timely, this would be a great choice for reluctant readers.

Shadowcaster

Shadowcaster by Cinda Williams Chima, 551 pages

“Fells Princess Alyssa Lyss Gray, aka The Gray Wolf, much prefers the battlefield to the throne room, but her sister's assassination by King Gerard of neighboring Arden means she's now heir to the throne. The war with Arden is dragging on, and finally she convinces her mother to stage a preemptive strike, capturing an attractive Ardenine lordling in the process. Meanwhile, Breon a fugitive, magically talented musician who has no idea of his heritage is trying to avoid both Lyss' men and a mysterious, ruthless empress bent on taking his magic for herself.”  Excellent sequel to Flamecaster.  I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.  I would give this to anyone, especially teens, who likes fantasy.

Flamecaster

Flamecaster by Chinda Williams Chima, 535 pages

“Adrian sul'Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic--and a thirst for revenge. Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now he's closer than ever to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. With time running out, Ash faces an excruciating choice: Can he use his powers not to save a life but to take it? Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told that the magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King's Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn't know why she's being hunted, she knows that she can't get caught. Eventually, Ash's and Jenna's paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the ruthless king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.” I really liked this new series, maybe better than Chima’s other series.  I really liked the characters in this book and would probably recommend this as a starting point for her books.  This is a great choice for teens who like fantasy.

The Rose Society

The Rose Society by Marie Lu, 395 pages

“Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all. Adelina Amouteru's heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she and her sister flee Kenettra to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her. But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good, when her very existence depends on darkness?”  This was a good sequel and a pretty good series.  I think I liked the second book better than the first.  I would give this to teens who like science fiction and fantasy.

The Jury

The Jury by Fern Michaels eBook 428 - read 382 (the rest is an excerpt from another book)

The Jury is Book 4 of the Sisterhood Series by Fern Michaels. The series is about a group of women that get revenge on those who have wronged them. It started because the legal system failed them, so they took the law into their own hands.

The thing about this book and the series is the writing isn't very good, but the stories themselves pull you in. I got invested in each character and cared what happened to them despite the terrible dialog. Michaels wrote boldly in this series, which dates back to the early 2000s, so boldly that it looks amateurish. It's like it's what people are thinking but don't want to say it because it might sound foolish, but it's true nonetheless. So my review of this book is, it was exciting but badly executed. If writing style is more important to you than plot this is not the book or series for you.

Friend or Foe

Friend or Foe by Patrick Jones, 112 pages

This is definitely a teen book for reluctant readers.  This book has a lot of action packed into a short book and tends to keep the vocabulary fairly simple.  Ian is bitter that his best friend, Orlando, seems to prefer a new friend, Chase, to him.  When the group ends up in a scuffle that ends with the police being called, Orlando is held longer than anyone because he is African American.  Ian sees his chance to get even with Orlando and Chase. He sets up situations to make several people believe that Chase is making bad decisions and to make Orlando think that Chase is spending time with Orlando's girlfriend, Destiny.  I was surprised that everything ended the way that it did.  I'm not sure I would want to read many more books from the Unbarred series, but I will definitely remember them for reluctant readers.

The Bodies We Wear

The Bodies We Wear by Jeyn Roberts, 353 pages

Faye was only eleven years old when some dealers forced her to take Heam, a drug that most people say allows them to see Heaven.  Faye nearly overdosed but survived, and she didn’t see Heaven, but Hell.  However, people like her are outcasts.  She is forced to hide her secret every day and has had to fight the craving for more for six years.  Her one plan is to kill the people who did this to her, for revenge, both for her, and for her friend, Christian, who died that night.  Recently, Faye has met a boy who seems to like her.  He looks a lot like Christian would have, if he had lived, and he knows things about Faye that he shouldn’t, including her plan for revenge.  This was a really good book.  It was pretty strange, but I think a lot of teens that like magical reality will want to read it.