Vampirates | Justin Somper

Summary:

The Tempest twins, Connor and Grace, have lost everything. After their father's death, all his debts were called in and cost the twins their home. Their only options are to move into the orphanage whose headmistress already has plans to work them, or be adopted by a couple more interested in pets than kids. They take the third option and steal their father's boat and run away. Unfortunately a storm separates the twins. Connor gets picked up by a pirate ship and Grace gets picked up by the Vampirate ship of legend. The book follows their attempts at to stay alive long enough to reunite. 

Review:

Yes, this is a middle-grade book. Yes, I picked it up because the title made my inner child go "woah!" No, I have no regrets.

This book was an easy and enjoyable read. The main characters are generally smart, if a bit too curious sometimes. I greatly appreciated that Connor was as empathetic as he was towards Cheng Li and her situation. Captain Wrathe was a lot of fun and really embodied a lot of what people consider a pirate to be while also being a good captain to his crew.

I also really appreciated the sword/weapons based exposition Connor received from his lessons with Cutlass Cate. The talk about the different weapons and their respective fighting styles was a delight to read. So many people think broadswords are easy to handle and effective at killing, but they're a lot better for show and can be unwieldy. The precision weapons are the ones that are effective in slaying an enemy.

This world was a little difficult to get into. So much of the book makes it sound like a historical fiction but, in fact, the book takes place about 500 years in the future. While this fact is presented up front, it was still sometimes jarring to read about Grace having a diver's watch that could survive 500 feet under water. If I really wanted to get into this world, perhaps the graphic novels would help me with these things.

In all, if I were younger I know I'd be devouring this series. As it is, I still found this to be a fun read, but probably won't be picking up any more books in the series. I do recommend this book if you have younger readers or enjoy middle-grade books in general. 3.5 hoots!

                    Hoot!

                Hoot!Hoot!

                     Hoo

Kerrytown Book Fest

So, part of being a bibliophile/book blogger is attending book based events. I've never done this before, but once I found out about the Kerrytown Book Fest in downtown Ann Arbor, I figured I'd give it a go. I'll admit, I'm not a social person by nature and tend to avoid events that require interacting with others, but I figured I'd give it a try. At the very least I'd be able to learn some tricks and must-haves for next year's festival. I didn't spend nearly as much time as I thought I would, but considering I've never done this before, I feel I stayed long enough. I'm still not entirely sure on how to talk to publishers/authors and would welcome any advice on the topic.

As it is, I have received a lot of information on independent book publishers and book stores around Ann Arbor and will be taking advantage of this information almost every payday. I especially wish to thank World Weaver Press, Grey Wolf Publishing and Shelby Patrick for their patience with me while I was still trying to figure out what to talk about. I also appreciated World Weaver Press' advertising technique of having a cute puppy with them to attract visitors. Also, many thanks to Book Bound, Dan Waltz, Vault of Midnight, and the Children's Literacy Network for willing to let me talk to them and look at their books without making feel guilty about not being able to buy them.

Information Freebies

Ultimately I did leave the Book Fest with 4 new books and an information pamphlet with information on all the publishers and book sellers there. Two of the free books by Shelby Patrick are samples of a couple of her short story collections. The books only provide snippets of the stories, but I am liking what I'm reading and after each long snippet she provides information on how to get the full version. The other free book I received was Cloudy With  A Chance of Meatballs. I couldn't remember if my nephew had it or not, so when proffered a free book, I chose it. The last book I got at the festival is a discounted book from World Weaver Press called Far Orbit, a collection of Sci-Fi short stories. I was torn between that one and Fae, a collection of Fantasy short stories.

Naturally there were also books that I saw that I could not purchase at this time. I asked if I could take pictures of the books I wanted but was unable to get and was almost uniformly told "yes".

From the Vault of Midnight booth.

A picture book from my childhood!

Out of my price range!

From the Book Bound booth.

Overall, I found this to be an incredibly informative outing and am already working on creating a "Better Prepared This Year" list for the next Kerrytown Book Fest. The biggest thing will be saving up money so I can buy more books! I'm also hoping to improve on my social/networking skills before the next book fest so that I feel less awkward during my visit. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have reading to do.

Tales of the Hidden World by Simon R. Green

I have to say, I have never read any of Green's books but if they are as interesting and diverse in topic as this collection of his short stories, I will have to start going through his archive. This collection covered so many fantasy/sci-fi sub-genres that you are almost guaranteed to find at least one story in here that you will enjoy.

There are stories in here about using science to fight magic, self-sacrifice, pirates, death, witches, demons, Satan, zombies, souls, war, cannibalism, and more. It makes it difficult to write a sufficient review of the book as a whole. I will say, however, that when you are able to enjoy reading so many different types of stories, it speaks very well of the author's abilities. Regardless of whether or not you have read Green's previous books, I do recommend this one as well. This is a great way to introduce yourself to Green's style of writing. His shorts at the end of each story also help to give you a sense of how the story came about.

Of course, there is a lot of blood and fighting in this book, but it's nothing too much and fits the needs of the stories. Many of the stories can be on the scary side, but it is no more difficult to handle than Lovecraft.

Overall, I am very happy to have this book in my collection and I give it 4 hoots.

Hoot!Hoot!

Hoot!Hoot!