Fourth Wing: Empyrean, Book 1

Fourth Wing: Empyrean, Book 1 by Rebecca Yarros

Sex. Violence. Dragons. Blah.

They Bloom at Night

They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran

Life among the poor in Louisiana is hard enough. After a hurricane some deadly algae makes it even worse. The book us dark and forgettable.

The Communist Manifesto [fake]

The Communist Manifesto [fake], not really by Karl Marx

I'm not sure what this was, but it wasn't the Communist Manifesto. There was some introductory material on Marx and the background of communism. The last part contained a catalog of available publications from some 100-year old British Socialist Society. This is the epitome of false advertising. Don't claim this is the "Communist Manifesto" by Marx when there is almost nothing that he wrote.

We Are Family (L.O.L. Surprise)

We Are Family (L.O.L. Surprise) by B. B. Arthur

This "book" is more of an advertisement for LOL dolls. It describes the various "families" of LOL dolls. There is no story. Even my daughters who love LOL dolls were not interested in this book.

The Corruption of Hollis Brown

The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum

Hollis Brown gets beat up all the time. He doesn't have many friends. There are only a few girls that get along with him. He lives in a small town where people have little hope. There is a nearby "haunted" area, Rosetown. The kids go there. One bully beats up Hollis. Hollis leaves with a girl. Later the bully goes alone and comes out with man injuries. Hollis and the girl bring him to the hospital. The bully initially blamed Hollis. Hollis and many of the other kids are suspended. Hollis meets a homeless boy, Walt. Then Walt jumps into Hollis's body and they bury the old body. Hollis and Walt do things together. Hollis learns more about Walt. He had lived and "died" around a century earlier. He inhabits other people's bodies. Sometimes it work. Sometimes (like the previous one), they fight it and can't be together. Hollis and Walt have many internal conversations. Walt normally has control, but lets Hollis do things at time. Once Walt comes into the picture, Hollis starts to become more popular. Walt's friends eventually decide something is up. His friend from Nigeria knows some incantations and do things. Walt and Hollis learn to love each other, and find out details about what happened to Walt's family.

The narration and storytelling is horrible in this book. It has a disjointed storytelling style that feels like it is stutters fram scene to scene. Suddenly the narrative will jump and change to a new key point. The characters are mostly caricatures. Hollis and Walt are the ones that get the most development, but even they don't feel real. This book claims to be "young adult", but author says it should be 16+. The idea could have easily been carried out without the many "triggers". The book as a whole feels more like a TikTok feed than work of literature. 

The Road of Bones: The Ashen Series, Book 1

The Road of Bones: The Ashen Series, Book 1 by Demi Winters

This is a long, forgettable fantasy romance. It is somewhat viking. They do stuff and yell at each other. I am not the target audience for this genre.

A Court of Silver Flames (Part 1 of 2)

A Court of Silver Flames (Part 1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation): A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 4 by Sarah J. Maas

A woman has sex and questions whether her partner likes it as much as she does. Then she fights and does violent things. There is also a somewhat sentient house he gives the woman romance novels to read. It is much too long and tedious. The full cast audio with sound effects is the one redeeming grace. If only it was a worthwhile story. This is part one of two, but seems to come to a conclusion.

Curious George Pat-A-Cake

Curious George Pat-A-Cake by Cynthia Platt, designed by Joyce White

There are some monkey hands that can clap. There are also a few pictures from Curious George books, but at the core, this is just a nursery rhyme book, milking a Curious George brand extension.

Curious George's Train (mini movers shaped board books)

Curious George's Train (mini movers shaped board books) by Alessandra Preziosi, illustrated by Greg Paprocki, Designed by Carol Chu, created by Margret and H.A. Rey

This is a derivative use of Curious George IP. the board book is shaped like a train, and has some spinning wheels and some things that can come out (which are now missing.) The story is a super short story of a train, with no "Curious George" content other than the monkey himself.

A Court of Mist and Fury

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

The author of this book has a command of the English language. Other than that it is almost a perfect case of how to write a bad book. First make it way too long. Add in characters that you don't care about along with others that you can't distinguish. Set it in a fantasy world with seemingly different values, but have the main characters adopt trite modern values. The novel seems to be a nonstop discussion of the protagonist's sexual desires and activities. She manages to lust after and sleep with those on both sides of a big conflict. She also is able to go into the mind of people. Some of these "people" have wings. There are also some weird rituals like mating vs. marriage vs. consort. It is just bad and confusing.

At the Beach

 I Like to: At the Beach. Come and Join in the fun by Igloo Books

This is just credited to Igloo books. The ISBN 978-1-84561-876-6 barely has a couple results (if you take out the dash.) It is not mentioned on the site. The book has a few pictures of random scenes from a beach. It is very forgettable.

Cooper's Big-Kid Day

Cooper's Big-Kid Day by Calliope Glass and Mike Wall

Cooper is excited to get a new potty and stickers as part of a party training exercise. He carefully identifies the one with the proper disney action figures to match his disney toys and his name-brand pull ups. This is primarily an advertisement disguised as a picture book.