The Ripper by Amy Carol Reeves

The Ripper
by Amy Carol Reeves

The Ripper is a different take on the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888. It is the story of a young lady, Arabella (Abbie), who has a mental connection to The Ripper. Abbie is a very strong heroine who is new to London. She lives with her Grandmother in a large estate. Her mother and father are dead and Abbie has only recently moved in with Granny. Abbie is impulsive, stubborn, and not the cultured young woman her grandmother wants her to be. Instead, she is what her mother raised her to be; strong, smart, and tough. After a late night romp through the east end in pursuit of a pickpocket, Abbie’s grandmother is furious. Grandmother decides to punish Abbie in order to make Abbie realize how wonderful her life of ease is. A friend of Grandmother’s, Dr. Bartlett, has asked that Abbie assist him at Whitechapel Hospital. Whitechapel is a hospital for prostitutes and other women who are poor and have no where else to go for medical care. Grandmother expects Abbie to come running back after a week of hard work, but instead Abbie is immediately hooked on the job. She has a passion for caring for others and for helping the underdog. She meets two young doctors who become very important to her: one is a possible love interest and one is more of a friend and brother figure. The first murder occurs after Abbie has worked in Whitechapel for a few weeks. The victim is a prostitute who has recently been discharged from the hospital. Abbie sees the murder happen in her dreams, but thinks it’s a nightmare. The next day she finds out it was real.

The Ripper is a great read. It grabs you almost immediately and is very hard to put down. I was very surprised by the ending. The Ripper is not easy to predict, at least not for most of the book. There are always a few things that are easy to predict in most books, but this one kept me guessing. The only predictable part was which guy she would ultimately end up with, and who her real father was. The ending was a little unrealistic, but great for showing what an underestimated tough girl can do when she puts her mind to it. I do wish that Grandmother was a little more developed. It was easy to tell that she cared a lot for Abbie and didn’t want to lose her the way she had lost her daughter, Abbie’s mother. I also would have liked to know more about the butler, Richard. There was enough of a cliff-hanger ending that there could possibly be a sequel, but it was also wrapped up well enough that there doesn’t have to be one. This is a great book for opening discussions on several social problems in the past that are still going strong today, such as medical care for the poor and inequality among different classes of people. The Ripper would be a good choice for any public library.

Coming back to blogging...

It's been a while since I added a review on here but thanks to a new to me website I'm going to start again. I've joined a site called netgalley.com that will let me download free prepublished ebooks (Being a librarian has some cool perks!). I finished one recently so look for the review soon!

The Peculiars by Maureen doyle McQuerry

The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

The Peculiars is a story that is mostly historical fiction, with a bit of steampunk, fantasy and sci-fi mixed in for good measure. It is the story of Lena, who has a birth defect. Her hands and feet are much longer than normal and because of this her grandmother says she is a goblin. Lena isn't sure, but after hearing her grandmother tell her this throughout her entire life, Lena wonders herself if it's true. Goblins are one of the 'peculiar' races, which are seen as inferior and have no rights. Lena's father, also a goblin according to her grandmother, deserted his family when she was five years old. Lena is afraid that the bad traits goblins have will cause her problems, and she sees some of these traits in herself. These traits and a hidden letter from her father, encourages Lena, on her 18th birthday to look for her missing father. Her mother assures her that he wasn't a goblin, but that he was just not made to be a family man. She leaves the comfort of her city and travels by train to a border-town called Knob Knoster.

After making a friend and having a bit of an adventure on the train to Knob Knoster, Lena arrives mostly safe and sound. Once she gets to town things really get interesting. She is hired to spy on a doctor who may or may not be breaking the law, and ends up learning a lot more than she bargained. I really liked Lena because she is a strong character who doesn’t want to conform in the way that society expects her to conform. Lena is adventurous, smart, and naive. She makes mistakes and learns from them, and she cares about her friends. Most of the 'goblin' traits are the traits of a smart, motivated young woman who wants more from her life than sitting in a parlor sewing and waiting suitors to come visit her. Most of the main characters were pretty well developed, but there were a few things that I would have liked to have cleared up; perhaps that will happen in a sequel. Although parts of the plot were predictable, there were quite a few things I didn't see coming. I will be purchasing this one for my library when it comes out. Ms. McQuerry did a very good job of describing what it feels like to be different and to want to hide the parts of our bodies that we don't see as 'beautiful'.

Thank You to Netgalley.com and Abrams for letting me read this one!

The Thin Executioner by Darren Shan

The Thin Executioner is the story of 12 year old Jebel’s journey from spoiled, arrogant, closed minded child to someone much different. We meet Jebel at a public execution which is normal for his town. The executioner is revered above all others, and Jebel happens to be the executioner’s son. Jebel has two brothers who are much larger, and older than Jebel, and his father shows obvious favor to the older boys. Jebel’s society is a very harsh society with slaves and harsh punishments (execution) for even the slightest offense. At one of these executions, Jebel’s father stands up in front of the crowd and publicly humiliates Jebel without even realizing it.

Jebel vows to go on a quest to the great fire god so that he can be made invincible by him. To accomplish this he travels hundreds of miles on foot with no one but a slave taken to sacrifice to the god once he reaches his mountain. Shan got his motivation from Huckleberry Finn and as you read The Thin Executioner the similarities are easy to see. While the idea is not new, the book is excellent. Shan builds complete societies from scratch, including languages, customs, and religions. The people that Jebel meets along the way teach him much about both himself and the world he inhabits.

When I first began reading The Thin Executioner, I wasn’t sure I would be able to finish it; Jebel’s society is extremely violent, and Jebel himself is a product of that society so he also is violent. Even with the violence and Jebel going back to his roots over and over, it was hard to put this one down once I got into the book. His thoughts and actions at the beginning of the book made me want to execute him myself. As he makes his journey, he grows, and the ending of the book was one of the best I’ve ever read. This book has a very solid 5 stars from me. The writing is excellent, and the story is better than excellent.

Teen Summer Reading, another year!

Today was the finale for the teen summer reading party. It's always exhausting but worth the work. It went really well, I think everyone had a good time. We had about 100 people there. I'm lucky to have great people to work with, without them I couldn't do half as much as I do, so thanks to all of you, you know who you are. Goodbye summer reading, see you next year. BTW, if anyone has any ideas let me know!

Sea by Hiedi R. Kling

Sea is a novel of loss, recovery, and healing. Sienna is fifteen and recovering from the death of her mother three years before. She has recurring nightmares about the accident in which her mother died. Her mother’s plane went down during a storm over the Indian Ocean. Before the accident, Sienna loved the ocean; after, she’s terrified of it. Her father decides to help Sienna get over her mother’s death, her fear of the ocean, and her nightmares by inviting her to accompany him and his staff to Indonesia. It is 2004 and her father and his team are psychologists going to help the children deal with the Tsunami disaster. Sienna is adamantly opposed to going, but eventually she decides to face her fears after watching a short video about the survivors of the Tsunami.

After a long and harrowing flight, she and the team arrive in Yogikarta. Sienna finds many surprises, including romance, religious and cultural shock, and closure. She has fun, but at the same time, helps others. I enjoyed reading Sea; It’s a great book. Ms. Kling does a good job of describing what it must have been like for those who were the survivors of the Tsunami. The ending was somewhat sad and a bit surprising, but it leaves you with hope. There were a few discrepancies, but on the whole, it was great. The imagery was wonderful; you really felt like you were there with Sienna. I’ll give this one a 4.

Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines

Girl in the Arena is an interesting take on where today’s violence-ridden society could lead. It is about a young lady, Lyn, 16, who is the daughter of a “neo-gladiator.” In this society fighting to the death in arenas is a common sport; in fact it’s a way of life for a lot of people. There are specific rules for the competitions, their competitors, and the families of the competitors. One of the rules forces Lyn to grow up very quickly when she ends up engaged to be married to her father’s killer.

There is plenty of fighting and blood in the book, but the plot is more than just that. Ms. Haines doesn’t focus too much on the fighting, but instead focuses on how that fighting affects the different characters of the book. There are places that the reader is left open mouthed at the gall of the GSA (Gladiator Sports Association). They run the lives of all those involved in the Gladiator lifestyle. They make promises they don’t keep and enjoy the pain of their gladiators. For example, in one fight, the gladiator’s parents come out into the arena armed to fight their own son, all set up by the GSA.

I really liked Lyn, because she’s extremely strong. I also liked that by the end of the book you are rooting for both Lyn, and Uber (the gladiator who killed Lyn’s father). Ms. Haines doesn’t make him out to be a bad guy, but more a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s very sweet and understanding to Lyn and quite a gentleman. The ending turns out semi-well, but I won’t tell you more than that. This one is worth the read, I’ll give it 3.5 stars, because it made me cry in places, and it was a little hard to get into the story.