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Rereading Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Book Cover
Out of all of the books in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is one of my favorites.

As an avid reader, there are times where I don’t always feel like reading a book I haven’t read before. When that happens, I typically end up rereading some of my favorite books.

Lately, the book series I’m currently rereading right now is Harry Potter. For those unfamiliar with this series, it centers on a young boy named Harry Potter who at the age of eleven finds out that he is a wizard. Being raised by his muggle aunt, uncle and cousin (muggle is a term used throughout the series to refer to people who are not magical) who are strictly cruel to him, he is sent away to Hogwarts a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he learns how to use his magical powers and finds out how his parents really died.

The reason I’m currently rereading the Harry Potter series is because it’s one of my favorite series to read. It’s also one of the longest series I can enjoy reading with a total of seven books.

Harry Potter is one of my favorite series to read because it’s one of the other series that got me interested in wanting to become a writer.

When the first couple books in the series came out and the movies were being made, I was in elementary school. However, I wasn’t as big of a fan of them as I am now. Whenever I was in daycare, they had us watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets over and over again, almost every day. So for the longest time, I wasn’t a big Harry Potter fan because of how often I was stuck watching the films at daycare.

It wasn’t until I was in seventh grade that I really began to enjoy and appreciate the Harry Potter series. I started reading the books, finding myself entranced by the story I saw within the pages. The magical world that Harry lived in is one of the most wonderful worlds of magic I have ever read about and is a place I myself would love to go.

The story blew my mind and imagination in ways I didn’t expect and I quickly fell in love with the series as a whole.

I love the series so much that I try and read the books and watch the movies whenever I can, even if it drives the rest of my family crazy.

As I write this now, I’m currently rereading the third book in the series Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and continue to find myself still in love with the series the more I read it.

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Book Review: Daring Greatly

Daring Greatly Book Cover

Rating: 4 stars

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable, or to dare greatly. Whether the arena is a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation, we must find the courage to walk into vulnerability and engage with our whole hearts.

In Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on twelve years of research, she argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection. The book that Dr. Brown’s many fans have been waiting for, Daring Greatly will spark a new spirit of truth—and trust—in our organizations, families, schools, and communities.

Daring Greatly gave me strength. It is a book that helped me sort through my thoughts and feelings with regards to some of the recent changes going on in my life. It helped me understand that being vulnerable is okay, acceptable even. That being vulnerable isn’t a weakness, but a person’s greatest strength in order to be open and loving towards other people.

This book was the book I needed to read after everything that happened. It not only allowed me to sort through some of my emotional feelings but opened up understanding within me.

Daring Greatly allowed me to understand many things. That being vulnerable is okay and that while being open and loving with people is hard, doing so leads you down the path of wholeheartedness. That I am brave, courageous, and all of the other things I struggle to believe I am. That I’m not alone because other people have the same doubts and fears I do.

What I loved about it is that Brown supports her hypothesis with twelve years of research on the topic. But at the same time, she uses some of her own personal experiences with shame, vulnerability and parenting to back up her years of research. She also writes in a way that makes sense to the reader so that they can understand the topic at hand.

She also writes on a variety of topics with regards to talking about vulnerability. She defines vulnerability but also talks about how both men and women experience it and the myths that surround our culture about being vulnerable. She talks about the walls we put up in order to keep vulnerability at bay and how we shrink at using that word to describe ourselves whenever we feel at our lowest.

Daring Greatly is a novel that talks about issues we as a society have a hard time being open about not only with ourselves but with the people we care about. It is a novel that challenges what we think and the way we express our emotions and feelings with the people closest to us. But it does so in a constructive way so that we can understand the way society has perceived us to feel about our emotions.

Daring Greatly is an enjoyable read that I recommend to anyone interested in opening up and interested in daring greatly.

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How I Became a Reader and Writer

I haven’t always been a reader and writer. As a child, I hated reading literature and my Mom had a hard time getting me to read books for school. I was more of a tomboy and preferred spending all of my time playing video games.

It wasn’t until middle school that my love of reading began to flourish. And it took one book to change that. This book not only brought my passion for reading to light, but also motivated me to become a writer too.

Inkheart was the book that changed everything for me. When I was in sixth grade, my English teacher mentioned Inkheart in class. At this point in the school year, we were near the end of school and summer was almost here. She mentioned this book as a viable option for summer reading for students.

As someone who wasn’t a reader, I was intrigued by her summary of Inkheart that I went to Barnes & Noble and bought a copy to read for the summer.

Inkheart is about a 12 year-old girl named Meggie. When she was three years old, her father Mo read three characters out of a book using his voice. Taking place nine years later, Meggie learns about what happened after her father gets kidnapped by the villain Capricorn, one of the characters who was read out of the book. Meggie not only discovers her father’s gift, but finds out she can do it too and must use the power of her voice to save everyone from Capricorn as he plans on bringing an evil monster from his world to life.

Inkheart is the first book I’d ever read that truly captivated me.
Inkheart is the first book I’d ever read that truly captivated me.

Inkheart changed my life in so many ways. Not only did I enjoy reading Meggie’s story but it brought to life inside of me the passion of reading and writing. It motivated me to become a more avid reader but also made me interested in wanting to write too. Inkheart was the right book for me to read to become the reader I am today. But it also brought me into wanting to become a writer too because I was able to see the power of words through the ability to read them aloud and bring characters from books to life. I saw myself in Meggie’s character and felt such a strong connection with the story that I wanted to become a writer myself.

It sparked within me an interest to write because I wanted to write characters that I could relate to. I wanted to create a story like Funke’s Inkheart that would motivate others to want to read and write.

But that’s not all Inkheart did. This story not only motivated me to write, but also opened doors for me to explore more books to read. Months after reading Inkheart, I found myself reading more fantasy books and writing my own stories.

I started to become extremely passionate about reading, and started giving books an actual chance. I found myself spending more and more time in my room with either a book in my hand or writing words on a page.

And for the first time in my life, I knew what I wanted to do. I just needed to pick up the right book to walk on the path I am on now. If I ever face a moment of doubt or am filled with fear that things won’t work out, all I have to do is read Inkheart again to be reminded of why I love reading and writing.

All it takes is one book to change your life.

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Book Review: Schizo

Schizo Book Cover

Rating: 3 stars

Miles is the ultimate unreliable narrator—a teen recovering from a schizophrenic breakdown who believes he is getting better . . . when in reality he is growing worse.

Driven to the point of obsession to find his missing younger brother, Teddy, and wrapped up in a romance that may or may not be the real thing, Miles is forever chasing shadows. As Miles feels his world closing around him, he struggles to keep it open, but what you think you know about his world is actually a blur of gray, and the sharp focus of reality proves startling.

Written by the New York Times bestselling author of  Tweak, Schizo is the fascinating, and ultimately quite hopeful, story of one teen’s downward spiral into mental illness as he chases the clues to a missing brother. 

I really enjoyed reading Schizo. It talked about issues with mental health people aren’t comfortable talking about. But did it in a way that made the reader interested in continuing to read Miles’s story.

As someone who knows very little about schizophrenia, I found this book a joy to read because it gave me a better understanding of what schizophrenia is and allowed me to look into the mind of a teenager struggling through it. There are very few mental illness novels out there that I’ve heard about so finding a novel like this that not only talks about controversial issues but also relates to the reader is something I enjoy reading.

I also enjoyed reading Schizo because I learned more about Miles’s family and the plot to find his missing brother intrigued me. From what the reader sees of his family, Miles grew up in a very loving home with a family that is always willing to support him. But I like that even though he has that structural support, he’s still shown to struggle with his schizophrenia and not try to seek help from those who love him until the very end. Mental illness isn’t easily treatable and people who have it struggle with opening up to people who can help them. And I love that even though Miles has family support and friends who care about him, the author shows readers that even someone whose life seems almost perfect doesn’t have it easy and struggles just like everyone else. The plot of finding Miles’s missing brother Teddy adds to the story too. Schizo is a novel about schizophrenia and I enjoyed reading how the search for his missing brother connects to his illness. It adds a layer to the story and allows the reader to get a better understanding of schizophrenia.

However, there are some aspects of Schizo I didn’t enjoy. Miles’s relationship with Eliza throughout the book bothered me. Even though the reader understands why Miles deeply cares about her, I felt as if Eliza latched onto him because he was the only guy when she returned who liked her. I believe her feelings for him weren’t genuine and that she just wanted to be with him until someone better came along.

Another aspect of this book I didn’t enjoy was how much it focused just on his mental illness but didn’t give the reader any aspect of his personality. It seems this novel is trying to define Miles as his illness by connecting everything in the story to schizophrenia. But Miles in Schizo has nothing else added to his personality that distinguishes him from it. He is a flat character throughout the story struggling to deal with schizophrenia and every aspect of the novel focuses on that. And I don’t like it. It bothers me because people with a mental illness are more than just their mental illness. But with the way the author has written Schizo, it’s as if his mental illness is the only aspect of his character that is important for the reader to know and the one trait that defines his entire life. It sends the reader the wrong message about mental illness and disconnects them from enjoying the story.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Schizo because it was a quick read that made me more aware of schizophrenia and brought up the importance of discussing mental illness. I look forward to reading more novels like this.

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Book Review: Hunting Shadows

Hunting Shadows Charles Todd Book Cover

Rating: 3 stars

A dangerous case with ties leading back to the battlefields of World War I dredges up dark memories for Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge in Hunting Shadows, a gripping and atmospheric historical mystery set in 1920s England, from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd.

A society wedding at Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire becomes a crime scene when a man is murdered. After another body is found, the baffled local constabulary turns to Scotland Yard. Though the second crime had a witness, her description of the killer is so strange it’s unbelievable.

Despite his experience, Inspector Ian Rutledge has few answers of his own. The victims are so different that there is no rhyme or reason to their deaths. Nothing logically seems to connect them—except the killer. As the investigation widens, a clear suspect emerges. But for Rutledge, the facts still don’t add up, leaving him to question his own judgment.

In going over the details of the case, Rutledge is reminded of a dark episode he witnessed in the war. While the memory could lead him to the truth, it also raises a prickly dilemma. To stop a murderer, will the ethical detective choose to follow the letter—or the spirit—of the law?

When I first started reading this book, I was really excited because the premise sounded very promising. And for the first couple chapters, Hunting Shadows had me hooked. However, this book overall was a big disappointment for me.

Normally, I really enjoy reading books like this. I love murder mystery novels. I love these reads because they take a look into the justice system and how the law works. And while these books aren’t an accurate representation of what our system is like, they do paint an interesting picture and give the reader a better understanding of the process investigators have to go through in order to catch the bad guy. They move quickly, leaving no question unasked.

But this book just didn’t sit right with me. Having not read the first fifteen books in the series might have something to do with it. However, I think the pace of the novel was another problem I had with it. I just couldn’t get into reading this book because it was too slow. It started off climatic and then dropped the reader down to a slower pace. The reader briefly gets an insight into the killer’s head only to be dropped into the story where they don’t get to see the killer until the last few pages of the novel. And when the killer is introduced, the reader becomes disappointed because he isn’t what the reader expects.

Another problem I had with Hunting Shadows was the time period. I know the novel was supposed to take place in the 1920’s, but I really didn’t like the time period in this story or the setting overall. It was just okay. Didn’t add anything to make this book any more interesting for me and want to continue reading.

I also didn’t like the main character Rutledge. Not having read the rest of the books in this series might have something to do with it, but I also think part of it is because I just couldn’t connect to his character. For a Scotland Yard inspector, he wasn’t too bright. Some of his actions throughout the novel didn’t make sense to me. For example, the man he suspects to be the killer he takes him along with him while he continues his investigation into these murders only to discover that he actually isn’t the killer. And even after the guy is obviously in the clear, he still suspects him until he is able to find the murder weapon. Rutledge isn’t the inspector I was expecting to be the main character in Hunting Shadows and that really disappointed me and made it harder for me to continue reading this book.

However, there are some aspects of Hunting Shadows I did enjoy. The beginning of the story really got me interested in continuing to read this novel, despite how it all turned out. The reader gets to see into the killer’s head as he spots his first victim and sees how he reacts to seeing that character.

Another aspect of this book I enjoyed was how descriptive Todd is of the setting. While I didn’t enjoy the time period in this story, Todd definitely knows how to create atmosphere in a novel. The reader sees this throughout the book starting with when Rutledge gets lost to when Rutledge goes to find the murder weapon.

Even though I was overall disappointed in how Hunting Shadows turned out, I still give it three stars because Todd knows how to get the reader hooked at the beginning of a story and can create atmosphere that can mess with the reader’s emotions. This book was an okay read, but not one I’ll be reading again anytime soon.

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Book Review: If I Stay

If I Stay Book Cover

Rating: 4 stars

Warning: This book review contains spoilers of some of the events that unfold in this book. Viewer discretion is advised for those interested in reading If I Stay.

Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.

I open my eyes wide now.
I sit up as much as I can.
And I listen.

Stay, he says.

Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love—music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?

Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it’s the only one that matters.

If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.

If I Stay was a wonderful read that kept me going until I finished. It was a read that took me only one day to complete because I wanted to know what happened next.

There are many reasons why I enjoyed reading If I Stay. One of the reasons I enjoyed this book is because I loved the portrayal of Mia and Adam’s relationship. Throughout the book, the reader sees Mia’s relationship with her family is perfect. She gets along well with her parents, who seem like the kind and understanding parents every teenager wishes for during their youth. And her younger brother Teddy idolizes her. She lives a charmed life where she goes to school and is extremely talented at playing the cello. She has only a few friends, but yet is extremely loved by those closest to her. Her relationship with everyone around her is perfect and this is one of the many flaws this book had to me.

However, her relationship with her boyfriend Adam is different from the rest of her perfect life. In If I Stay, Adam and Mia’s relationship is far from perfect. The reader can see that both Adam and Mia love each other. But they aren’t perfect for each other. In If I Stay, the reader sees the problems with their relationship through the rocky start their relationship took and the fights Mia and Adam got in during the time they’ve been together. But despite these two aspects of their relationship, the reader can see that Mia and Adam love each other. So while they might not be perfect together, the love they have for each other is enough for them to get through their troubles.

If I Stay is also an enjoyable read because of the background information about Mia the reader is given. Throughout the book, Mia gives the reader intricate details about her life and reminisces on her memories as she tries to decide whether to live or die. These memories are each a piece of the puzzle that allow the reader to get a better understanding of Mia as a character and allow the reader to get a glimpse of what her family is like before the accident.

Mia’s character development throughout If I Stay also contributes this book to being a worthwhile read for me. In the beginning of the book, Forman hints to the reader that Mia has already made her choice. However, as Mia reflects on her life and what she has to gain and lose, she chooses a completely different path than what the reader expects from her. She chooses the hard path, knowing that she will face uncertainty and loss by continuing to live her life. She will experience pain that she has never before faced in her perfectly charmed life. She knows that both her parents and brother are dead, but still chooses to live, knowing she will have to come to terms with losing them and living the rest of her life without them. But she chooses that path anyway because there are people still alive that love her and want her to live.

Another aspect of If I Stay I really enjoyed was all of the music references. Forman really did her research on music and I love seeing books that find some way of incorporating music into the story. I also loved the music references because music was a big part of Mia’s life and it’s one of the things that bring Mia and Adam together.

What I didn’t enjoy while reading If I Stay was how perfect Mia’s life was before the accident. Mia had two supportive parents who both loved her and supported every decision she made and a younger brother who deeply worshipped the ground she walked on. Her relationships with peers at school were perfect and she was an extremely talented musician. To me, her life was just too perfect. There was never one moment before the accident where Mia’s life took a drastic turn and that bothered me. If I Stay is a young adult novel, but the young adult in the novel never seems like an angsty teenager to me. Everyone goes through things in life, but Mia’s life doesn’t at all describe any of the struggles most teenagers go through during this phase in their life. And this bothers me because nobody has that perfect of a life.

Another aspect of If I Stay I didn’t enjoy was the ending. Throughout the book, Mia had already made up her mind that she wasn’t going to stay and that she was going to die like her parents and brother. But I feel as if Forman doesn’t really allow Mia to make her choice. While Mia is watching these events unfold in the hospital, she tries to avoid seeing Adam because she’s scared she’s going to change her mind about leaving. But whenever Adam comes to see her in the hospital, she’s in the room watching as he tells her to stay. And in that moment, she goes from watching him talk to her to being back in her body. I don’t feel like she gets a choice in the matter because I feel as if Adam made her choice for her. It is when she watches him agonize over the thought of losing her that she says she can’t take any of this anymore and goes back into her body, knowing that living is going to be harder than it was before. I feel like she makes this choice because she saw Adam there and was able to picture her future if she decided to stay. And that frustrates me not because I didn’t want her to live but because I felt as if her choice was taken away from her because of how quickly she changed her mind.

However, I really enjoyed reading If I Stay. As a young adult reader, it was the type of book I was itching to read and can’t wait to read more of Forman’s novels and the next book in this series Where She Went.

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Book Review: The Girl in the Spider’s Web

The-Girl-in-the-Spiders-Web

Rating: 4 stars

This fall, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return in the highly anticipated follow-up to Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

In this adrenaline-charged thriller, genius-hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist face a dangerous new threat and must again join forces.

Late one night, Blomkvist receives a phone call from a trusted source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female super hacker—a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering.

Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Lisbeth for help. She, as usual, has her own agenda. In The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the duo who thrilled 80 million readers in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest meet again in an extraordinary and uniquely of-the-moment thriller.

When I first saw that there was going to be another book in the Millennium Series, I jumped for joy. Having read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, I was very excited to see what was going to happen next for Lisbeth and Blomkvist.  However, I was also very surprised. I didn’t expect there to be another book in the series because the author of the original three books Stieg Larsson died in 2004. So when I found out about The Girl in the Spider’s Web, I was very excited to see how David Lagercrantz would continue Larsson’s story.

And what a story it was. Lagercrantz did an excellent job in writing this book with the same style and feel as the rest of the series.

What I love about the series the most is Lisbeth and Blomkvist’s relationship throughout the series and The Girl in the Spider’s Web doesn’t disappoint in continuing to grow that relationship. What I love about their relationship is how both characters come from different walks of life. But yet, they are able to form a connection with each other out of the oddest of circumstances and still able to live their own separate lives.

I also love Lisbeth as a character. I love her character because she just doesn’t give a shit. She has her own personal views and she sticks by them until the end. Lisbeth has a way of handling things and disregards what others tell her to do and I love that about her character.

Another aspect of The Girl in the Spider’s Web I enjoyed was all of the action that took place in the story. Like the rest of the series, this book has a lot of action that keeps the reader on their toes and makes them want to continue reading to find out what happens next. It is a thrilling read that any crime loving book nerd would be interested in checking out.

I also love how The Girl in the Spider’s Web switches perspective. Not only do we get Lisbeth and Blomkvist’s perspective but we also get to see the story from the villain’s point of view as well. I love reading books like this where you have those changing perspectives because it gives the reader access to what the main antagonist is thinking. Having these different perspectives allows the reader to get a better understanding of the antagonist’s actions and see them as more human capable of making bad decisions.

The one thing with The Girl in the Spider’s Web that I didn’t enjoy was the ending. I didn’t like the ending because I want to know what’s going to happen next. Yes, they caught most of the bad guys, but I still have questions about what’s going to happen. I also didn’t like it because it sounded final as if this book is going to be the last book in the series. While there is the possibility of there being another book after this one, Lagercrantz leaves us hanging with no details or hint of there being another book after The Girl in the Spider’s Web.

However, I overall enjoyed reading this book just as much as the rest of the books in the series. Seeing Blomkvist and Lisbeth’s characters once again was really nice and I really enjoyed reading a book in this series again. David Lagercrantz did a wonderful job with this book and I can’t wait to see what else he’s written. I highly recommend reading The Girl in the Spider’s Web to anyone interested in reading a book with a set of diverse characters and an action packed story that will keep you wanting more.

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Book Review: Sweetwater Blues

Sweetwater Blues Book Cover

Rating: 4 stars

Rodney Earwood and Palmer Cray had been best friends for as long as either could remember. They were brothers in all but the genetic sense, each born late in the lives of good women who had given up on the dream of motherhood by the time their respective miracles occurred.

They wandered the hills of North Georgia, hunted the pine woods, fished the cool, green streams, and camped under the stars. They shared each other’s clothing, each other’s families, and each other’s homes. They grew into tall young men, and on a hot May afternoon right after they turned eighteen, they both graduated from Sweetwater High School, numbers seven and eight in the crooked, sweaty line that held a class of thirty of Sweetwater’s finest. Shortly thereafter, Rodney and Palmer flew a Camaro into a tree, Palmer flew into a haystack, Rodney flew into the great beyond, and nothing in Sweetwater was ever the same again.

I really enjoyed this book. The story was interesting, wanting me to continue reading to find out what happened next to Palmer Cray. It was written at just the right pace to where I could continue reading the book from where I stopped.

I really liked the characters because they kept the story going. I really liked reading about Palmer’s relationship with his cousin Cheddar as he continued to live out his life in jail. Especially because Palmer didn’t expect to room with him and it really surprised me as a reader.

I also enjoyed reading Sweetwater Blues because there was a lot of character development for Palmer and Cheddar. Before the accident, Palmer was a carefree high school student who did what he wanted with his best friend Rodney. However, after what happened and spending time in jail, Palmer grew as a person. Even though he was guilty of the crime he committed, Palmer didn’t let the system get to him and became a better person as he continued his sentence. Cheddar also underwent character development throughout Sweetwater Blues. The reader can see this through his relationship with Palmer and through the way he acts as the story continues. The reader can see that Cheddar is a changed man and that he wants to do better for himself once he’s released. I love seeing these developments in Sweetwater Blues because the reader is able to better understand these characters and their predicament.

The only aspect of Sweetwater Blues that bothered me was the portrayal of jail life Atkins gives to the reader. I felt at times as if it wasn’t realistic and wished he included more detail about jail and how inmates have to cope so they can get out. I know part of that is because Palmer had good connections so he was very fortunate, but I wanted to see more of jail life for Palmer and see how he copes with being messed around by other inmates. While the reader does see some of that in Sweetwater Blues, I don’t think Atkins included enough to where I could get a good sense of what jail is really like for those placed in it.

Overall though, Sweetwater Blues was a wonderful read for me. I enjoyed every moment I spent reading this book and recommend it to anyone interested.

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Book Review: Hades

Hades Candice Fox Book Cover

Rating: 3 stars

Twenty years ago, two children were kidnapped and left for dead.
Raised by a master criminal, they grew up to become cops. Very unusual cops . . .

Homicide detective Frank Bennett has an intriguing new partner. Dark, beautiful, coldly efficient, Eden Archer is one of the most enigmatic colleagues Frank has ever worked with—that includes her brother Eric, who’s also on the Sydney Metro police force. All of them are tested to the core when a local man discovers a graveyard of large steel toolboxes lying at the bottom of the harbor. Each box contains a grisly trove of human body parts.

For Frank, the madman’s clues are a tantalizing puzzle. For Eden and Eric, the case holds chilling links to a scarred childhood—and a murderous mentor named Hades. But the true evil goes beyond the bloody handiwork of a serial killer…

Hades was a page-turner of a read. I was immediately hooked into the story about Frank’s new mysterious partner Eden. As a fan of crime novels, this book really intrigued me. I really liked reading Hades for a number of reasons. For one, I enjoyed seeing the novel switch back and forth from Frank’s perspective to learning more about Eden and Eric’s upbringing. I loved finding out more about why Eden and Eric acted the way they did so as to better understand their characters.

While I felt as if Frank and Eden should’ve had more of a connection throughout the novel, I was able to easily understand why that wasn’t the case. Eden is a very elusive woman and doesn’t want anyone knowing what she and Eric have been through. However, I felt as if Frank should’ve at least been clued into what was going on so as to better understand her character and her actions throughout. Another reason this book was an okay read for me was because I felt as if all of the characters in this book were extremely flat. I felt no reason to connect with any of the characters and that bothered me. While Hades is a crime novel that focuses more on the crime and catching the bad guy, I felt as if there should’ve been some characters aspects mentioned. We get that Eden and Eric are both cold blooded people because this book drives that point home enough. But I felt as if the rest of the characters didn’t have any real character flaws mentioned and if they did, they weren’t really explained.

I also was bothered that the novel didn’t delve deeply into Frank’s own past. The reader knows that Frank’s past isn’t perfect, but the reader never finds out more about Frank other than a couple of details in his life. He’s never fully explained and the novel focuses more on Eden and Eric than on him, even though the whole story is told from his perspective. Throughout Hades, he takes the role of being the backseat driver in the story, yet is seen as a main character since the novel is from his perspective. That bothered me because his own life and the choices he made are never explained quite as in depth as Eden and Eric’s life growing up with Hades.

So while Hades was a page-turner read for me, I found some details in the novel lacking that would’ve made the story more enjoyable to me. What made Hades worth the read was learning more about Eden and Eric’s past and the crime that took place that connected with their lives. I can’t wait to see what Eden has in store for me.

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