With a variety of travels during this summer that recently concluded, I was able to read some books.
First up: The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
This book was written about 100 years ago, and it’s interesting to note how the story seems simpler. I haven’t figured out if it’s the choice of words, the storyline itself, or what, but what would have been a middle-grade book 100 years ago now seems more suited to younger elementary. I couldn’t find anything definitive about the target audience, so I don’t know specifically that it was intended for a slightly older audience, but the subject matter leads me to believe that it was.
Also of note: the main characters are driven from their land in the Ukraine by Russian forces, so it’s a timely topic for today too. The setting is the 15th century, so it, sadly, seems like a story that’s always relevant.
The book is fine, I’d recommend it for whatever the book equivalent of a PG movie rating is.
Next up: Mighty Jack and Zita by Ben Hatke
I thought I had already mentioned these books in this blog before, but it seems that I have not. This is the 3rd book in the Mighty Jack series, but it’s a crossover that brings in the Zita the Spacegirl story, so it’s also the 4th book in the Zita the Spacegirl series.
I have read some of the Zita books and all the Might Jack books, and they’re good. They are graphic novels, so they go quickly. That’s actually the main downside – I wish they lasted longer. But the story is engaging and fun.
Last up: The Tales of Alvin Maker by Orson Scott Card
There are 6 books in this series, but I’m just showing the cover for the first one.
I found this series in a roundabout manner – I read the short story The Yazoo Queen and it piqued my interest enough that I checked out Seventh Son from the library.
Note that The Yazoo Queen takes place in the middle of the series, so if you don’t like spoilers then consider it book 5 and a half and read it then.
But this series suffers from the same thing I wrote about in my last review, and it’s a flaw that OSC shares with Ryan Reynolds – things are done well but they add just enough bad/risque/offensive material so that I can’t recommend it.
In the first book, there were just a couple sentences that were a problem. But the third book (Prentice Alvin) turned up the raunchiness. Why did he feel the need to have the plantation owner do that? And tell us all about it? It doesn’t get too graphic, but you definitely understand what the bad guy is doing bad.
Overall, well-written good story but with awkward parts about how badly men can behave. Some would argue that’s what life is like. But when I’m reading I want a story that’s better than life – it’s not a very good escape otherwise. There can be bad guys in the story, doing bad things, but it doesn’t have to bring down the story – it depends on both the nature of the immorality and how it’s presented. In this case, I felt it detracted from the story. Read at your own risk.
That’s it for this review. More book reviews coming up probably next year.
All these evil things come from within and defile the person.
Mark 7:23
This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
