The Stray by Amanda Geisler
A young adult novella in the same stream as Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf and New Moon, The Stray follows the perspective of a number of supernatural teens living in small-town New Jersey. Rya Garcia, a werewolf and the heir to position of alpha to her pack, makes a bold move when she insists on breaking a stray werewolf out of captivity in order to help preserve the secrecy of their existence. She uses her influence with Zac, the son of the town's resident werewolf researcher, to gain entry onto the compound where the stray is kept, but quickly discovers that interest in her kind is much more prolific and advanced than any of them had known.
Geisler begins her story with impact, straight into the action of a wolfpack meeting out in the forest at night. Rya attends with her trusty sidekick Toby, and puts forward her suggestion about the stray to Erik, the bitter, angry black wolf who has forced his way into power over the rest of the werewolves in the absence of Rya's parents. The lore of werewolves is clearly significant to the author, and is woven throughout the story.
From here, some of the pacing was a little off, meaning that significant characters weren't consistently present throughout the story or were introduced quite late in the piece, undermining some of their impact, leading to some confusion and sometimes lacking in adequate consequences for total satisfaction of storytelling. Though not my favourite of the wide cast of characters, I appreciate what Geisler was aiming for in her creation of Rya, an independent, strong young female lead. Her aggression got the better of her several times throughout the story, and I hope this will backfire on her in future stories to create more drama and conflict as she attempts to assert her dominance. I connected more with Toby, who I thought was fun and loyal, very much depicted as the friendly puppy at Rya's side, and Colby, though I wish he was in the story sooner. His mildness and togetherness gave some balance to the rash cast of younger characters whose recklessness gets the story started. There were also some questions left unanswered about how the human population had become aware of the wolves in the first place, and Erik's human backstory. With two more books in the series yet to be released, and with Geisler just starting out in her authorial career, it can be hoped that these characters and subplots are more fully developed in coming stories.
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Sunday 17 December 2017
Tuesday 12 December 2017
Book Review: The 100, by Kass Morgan
The 100 by Kass Morgan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I'm a big fan of the show and I understand that it's unfair to compare the two due to the differing strengths and opportunities of each medium, but I don't think this novel lived up to its potential. Such a shame! I wanted to like this, and I wanted it to delve more into the relationships and the true depths of the characters in the way only a novel can. But alas. This novel is more teen than young adult, with a lot of focus on best friends and boyfriends and feeling betrayed and left out, though with a couple of YA elements thrown in to age it that could have been utilised more powerfully.
Introducing the same premise from which the show was spawned, young space-dwelling characters Clarke, Wells and Bellamy find themselves stranded on an unfriendly post-apocalyptic Earth, fighting for survival. They set up camp and instinctively follow the lead of Wells, the son of the Chancellor who damned them all by sending them down to a possibly radioactive world, because he's the only person who seems to have his act together. A ragtag group of 100 juvenile delinquents, there's a bit of infighting and power struggle, as one would expect between such extreme characters in such an extreme circumstance. Only, sadly, it doesn't feel all that believable. The characters are underdeveloped and flat. Their reactions to events are let down by the lack of description, feeling or build-up, resulting in character deaths that could go unnoticed, their impact minimal. It's a pity, because this book reads like a first draft script for the pilot episode of the show, following the same events for the most part, and there was so much more that could have been done with these diverse characters in this extreme setting. As the show proved.
Probably the highlight of the book for me was Glass, a character left out in the show, or rather, amalgamated with Clarke to give her some substance. Glass escaped the dropship just as Bellamy boarded, and tells the story of events that transpire on the arks in the days and weeks following. Her main focus is on her boyfriend, which didn't entertain me all that much, but I was interested by her day-to-day life, showing how people truly live on board the life-saving arks, such as exchanging and recycling materials at a market because there's nothing new, ever, to work with when you're an isolated space community. I liked that concept, and how it (and other technologies we don't have today but which could conceivably exist by that time in the future) was normalised into her society.
Unsure if I'll read the rest of the series. I don't think I'm the right audience. This book would suit a younger reader looking for angst and romance over science fiction.
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My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I'm a big fan of the show and I understand that it's unfair to compare the two due to the differing strengths and opportunities of each medium, but I don't think this novel lived up to its potential. Such a shame! I wanted to like this, and I wanted it to delve more into the relationships and the true depths of the characters in the way only a novel can. But alas. This novel is more teen than young adult, with a lot of focus on best friends and boyfriends and feeling betrayed and left out, though with a couple of YA elements thrown in to age it that could have been utilised more powerfully.
Introducing the same premise from which the show was spawned, young space-dwelling characters Clarke, Wells and Bellamy find themselves stranded on an unfriendly post-apocalyptic Earth, fighting for survival. They set up camp and instinctively follow the lead of Wells, the son of the Chancellor who damned them all by sending them down to a possibly radioactive world, because he's the only person who seems to have his act together. A ragtag group of 100 juvenile delinquents, there's a bit of infighting and power struggle, as one would expect between such extreme characters in such an extreme circumstance. Only, sadly, it doesn't feel all that believable. The characters are underdeveloped and flat. Their reactions to events are let down by the lack of description, feeling or build-up, resulting in character deaths that could go unnoticed, their impact minimal. It's a pity, because this book reads like a first draft script for the pilot episode of the show, following the same events for the most part, and there was so much more that could have been done with these diverse characters in this extreme setting. As the show proved.
Probably the highlight of the book for me was Glass, a character left out in the show, or rather, amalgamated with Clarke to give her some substance. Glass escaped the dropship just as Bellamy boarded, and tells the story of events that transpire on the arks in the days and weeks following. Her main focus is on her boyfriend, which didn't entertain me all that much, but I was interested by her day-to-day life, showing how people truly live on board the life-saving arks, such as exchanging and recycling materials at a market because there's nothing new, ever, to work with when you're an isolated space community. I liked that concept, and how it (and other technologies we don't have today but which could conceivably exist by that time in the future) was normalised into her society.
Unsure if I'll read the rest of the series. I don't think I'm the right audience. This book would suit a younger reader looking for angst and romance over science fiction.
View all my reviews
Friday 15 September 2017
Six Things I’ll Do In Six Weeks When My Thesis Is Submitted
If we wait until
we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.
-Lemony
Snicket
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
With the
final FINAL deadline for my Masters thesis now six weeks away, to the day, I’m
obviously feeling the crunch (hello and goodbye, September break – you are
spoken for!) but also really starting to miss some of the leisure activities
that have been shelved as the year has progressed. Below is a non-comprehensive
list of the things I plan to do when the thesis is done.
Read books
Oh god,
YES, BOOKS!!! Having no time hasn’t stopped me from accumulating and desiring
books, and my bookshelf is currently home to exactly 83 unread books (yes, I
did just hop up and count them) along with many, many more read ones that I’d
LOVE to have time to reread. I actively avoid libraries and bookstores because
they just add more to my to-be-read list and it feels like a painfully long
time since I could just stumble across a new book and sit and indulge in it
right then and there.
Watch movies
So, I heard
Wonder Woman is coming out – oh, missed another one. There’s still a
Blockbuster Video hire store proximal to me and my membership card is going to
get a workout these Christmas holidays as I binge my way into the modern
cinematic era.
See my friends
Supposing
any of them even remember me, I am really looking forward to having the time to
actually see my friends. Not just
liking their posts on FB; not just giving them an apologetic wave on my way
past their classroom to do my photocopying; not just indefinitely rescheduling
lunch with them. I miss having the time to go for our weekly walks and play in
the park with my nephewling and wander around Southbank browsing the markets
chatting even though it’s always the same stuff for sale. I miss having the
time somewhere in my foreseeable
future in which I could fly to Rockhampton or Gladstone for a weekend to spend
time with my more distant friends. Studying and teaching full-time has been
impossible to balance with sustaining non-daily relationships and I am so
grateful to have the amazing (and understanding) friends I’ve got. I’m excited
to see more of all of you.
See my family
As above.
While I’m quite sure my parents haven’t forgotten they have a daughter, it would
be prudent to remind them more frequently to ensure this never happens. Also I
miss them. I would like to find more time to visit with my cousins and grandma,
who are relatively local, and to get to New Zealand more to see my family over
there. Everyone is very supportive of me and my study, of course, and I’m
grateful for that encouragement and belief in me, but it sucks how much time
it’s sapping from me at this crunch-time point.
Watch TV
People are
always like, “Are you up to date with Supernatural?” “Have you watched
Battlestar Galactica?” “Did you ever end up finishing Hannibal?” I have SO MUCH
television to catch up on, and also have other great shows coming out later
this year that I’m invested in: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, for
one, and Stranger Things, which are both releasing their second season right
after my thesis is submitted. How fateful is that??!
WRITE!!
The one
you’re all waiting to hear. Yes! The weekly ritual of devoting two hours on a
Wednesday night to creative writing has been cute, but is hardly a replacement
for good, wholesome writing time. I’m looking forward to whole weekends where I
get lost in a scene and have to be reminded to eat. When half my brain is stuck
in a guilt cycle of “You should really be
working on something else right now, shouldn’t you…?” it’s been impossible
to make any real progress on my actual books this year. I’m eager to shrug
something off and replace it with book writing.
Now all I
need to do is maintain the illusion that finishing the thesis will clear out my
schedule completely, and to forget that the thesis deadline falls at the start
of reporting season at school, and to forget that report cards are followed by
Year 2 swimming week, and to forget that swimming week is followed by classroom
clean-up… I need a holiday from my life.
Thursday 14 September 2017
Book Review: Devil's Advocate, by Jonathan Maberry
Devil's Advocate by Jonathan Maberry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved so much about this book. I didn't know what to expect as I hadn't read the author before, but that left only room to be impressed. Set around what those of us in the know can recognise immediately as an X-File (of the paranormal experiment conspiracy type), teenage Dana Scully explores an early interest in the occult and paranormal before this faith is burnt, revealing the inner sceptic we know and love from the series later in her life. The depiction of little Scully is very satisfying - she's the classic good-girl, of course, smart and sensible, but she sticks up for herself and the voice Maberry delivers her in is entirely believable as a young version of the Scully we meet in the pilot. As the story follows a fifteen-year-old Dana, we get an insight into her childhood and family life that before we could only infer, and it too is gratifying, in particular the relationship between Dana and Melissa. Scully's sister is only a relatively small recurring role, for a short time, in the series, but is expanded here to depict a truly loving and close sisterhood between the girls, with Dana as the little sister always looking up to the elder but simultaneously growing into her own person. The dynamic is warm and fun, and I took great pleasure from the many passages of prose where the girls shared a scene. The other highlight for me were the words themselves. I wish I could remember every playful or meaningful line, but there were too many; the characterisation surprisingly consistent for an adult male writing a teen girl (extra kudos) and so there are many great and quotable Scully-esque lines from her inner monologue. There were many places where I stopped to reread a line or paragraph because I love a beautiful arrangement of words, but I suppose nothing compares with little Dana admitting she has visions, or naively uttering the famous lines 'The truth is out there' and 'I want to believe' years before she would ever meet Mulder. Really, really happy with this book, and only wish I'd had the time to read it more solidly, because X-Files is made for bingeing. Recommended for Scully fans.
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My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved so much about this book. I didn't know what to expect as I hadn't read the author before, but that left only room to be impressed. Set around what those of us in the know can recognise immediately as an X-File (of the paranormal experiment conspiracy type), teenage Dana Scully explores an early interest in the occult and paranormal before this faith is burnt, revealing the inner sceptic we know and love from the series later in her life. The depiction of little Scully is very satisfying - she's the classic good-girl, of course, smart and sensible, but she sticks up for herself and the voice Maberry delivers her in is entirely believable as a young version of the Scully we meet in the pilot. As the story follows a fifteen-year-old Dana, we get an insight into her childhood and family life that before we could only infer, and it too is gratifying, in particular the relationship between Dana and Melissa. Scully's sister is only a relatively small recurring role, for a short time, in the series, but is expanded here to depict a truly loving and close sisterhood between the girls, with Dana as the little sister always looking up to the elder but simultaneously growing into her own person. The dynamic is warm and fun, and I took great pleasure from the many passages of prose where the girls shared a scene. The other highlight for me were the words themselves. I wish I could remember every playful or meaningful line, but there were too many; the characterisation surprisingly consistent for an adult male writing a teen girl (extra kudos) and so there are many great and quotable Scully-esque lines from her inner monologue. There were many places where I stopped to reread a line or paragraph because I love a beautiful arrangement of words, but I suppose nothing compares with little Dana admitting she has visions, or naively uttering the famous lines 'The truth is out there' and 'I want to believe' years before she would ever meet Mulder. Really, really happy with this book, and only wish I'd had the time to read it more solidly, because X-Files is made for bingeing. Recommended for Scully fans.
View all my reviews
Thursday 13 July 2017
Six Cities I Still Desperately Want to Visit
Only those who risk going too far find out how far they can
go.
-Walter Bishop, Fringe
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A moderately well-travelled individual, I have been lucky
enough to visit some beautiful cities around our wonderful world, gathering
memories, ideas, inspiration and keyrings along the way. While I have some
definite favourites I have crossed off my list – and which I frequently
daydream about revisiting – there are six cities I am yet to see which remain
desperately high on my travel agenda.
A post shared by Shayla Morgansen (@shayla.morgansen) on
Athens
The Parthenon. The Acropolis. The Erechtheion. Thousands of
years of western history on everyday display for the general public in the form
of temples, monuments, ruins, not to mention everything in all the museums. My
lifelong fascination with Greek mythology and the history of culture and
language is all satisfied, in my pipedream, in one good long holiday in Athens.
Belfast
There are a number of factors calling me to Northern Ireland’s
capital city. Probably the most obvious is The Elm Stone Saga, which is set not
too far from there. I had planned to go (planned, booked, paid for, all but
packed for) many years ago but the tour I organised was cancelled at the last
possible minute and I ended up in London instead, and somehow, I have not
managed to find the time or the right prompt to try and visit again. So, to
this day, I have never been to Northern Ireland. But Belfast attracts me
especially, more so than Coleraine, where Aristea is first found in Chosen. Have you watched The Fall? Belfast is the setting of this
police drama/thriller, and it’s depicted so beautifully, highlighting the
stunning architecture and night-time lights of this unsung city. It’s on my
list!
Berlin
In none of my three visits to Germany have I been to the
capital, one of the most liveable (and presumably visitable) cities in the
world. This must be amended! Friends of mine who have been rave about its
beauty and the safe, easy feeling of being there. I want to see the remains of
the Wall, visit the Holocaust memorials and look at the Brandenburg Gate. More
than all that, I just really want to see more of Germany – my very favourite
country so far.
Canberra
I’ve seen Sydney and Melbourne, lived most my life in
Brisbane, and have played with the idea of flying to Adelaide to see pandas,
but the Australian city I most want to see after watching Secret City is the capital. It’s not one you hear about often –
exciting holiday stories are usually about trendy windswept adventures through
Melbourne or upbeat fun in Sydney – and in primary school SOSE it always felt
like that dot you draw on the map last, like, oh yeah, we’ve got that capital somewhere around here… I had never
been intrigued by it until Secret City
was shot there. TV shows do such a great job of selling locations to me, have
you noticed? They use wonderful sweeping camera shots of all the beautiful
government buildings and the geometric patterns made by their careful urban
planning. It looks pretty.
Christchurch
I’ve stopped over here for an hour or so on a flight back
from Wellington, but it doesn’t count because I never left the airport. I’d
like to see this great southern city while it still (kind of) stands. The
destruction wrought on it has done heartbreaking damage to what looks like a
gorgeous, charming old place. The cathedral comes to mind as something I truly
want to see, but I’m sure in a city of this age, second-hand bookshops, antique
stores and quirky side street finds would still be aplenty, and these are my
favourite things to do in a new place.
Vancouver
I have always wanted to visit the Canadian capital. Maybe it’s
the name; I like the name. Vancouver. I like saying it, the way it feels to
produce the sounds in my mouth, and I like writing it. I like the ou. The things that catch your fancy
when you’re a wordsmith. In pictures it looks delightfully pretty and clean,
and friends of mine who have lived or visited Vancouver sell a story of a
cultured, pleasant place. This is where they film Supernatural and The X-Files,
which helps keep it at the forefront of my mind throughout the television
season. People always have the nicest things to say about trips to Canada, and
I like the idea of a northern-hemisphere, semi-frozen version of Australia with
bears that don’t drop.
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