Vesps, part reptile, part bird from the dawn of time are released when an ancient cave system is penetrated. They fly, they are blind but have heightened senses and can detect motion from the slightest noise. When they attack they are a killing machine and spawn new creatures in the bloodied bodies of the dead and butchered. The silence is about survival, about family,about the love that binds us together when all hope is lost. The first novel I have read by Tim Lebbon, an enjoyable read and I look forward to the movie tie-in.

 
The League: Nemesis Rising , Book 5.5

I Picked Up This Book Because: #Barbsbookopoly roll 2. “A book set in space”

The Characters:

Maris Sulle:
Ture Xans:

The Story:

I’m ashamed to say I didn’t retain much about this book. Ture (I think) was kidnapped with Nikerian’s mate (maybe) and Maris was involved in the rescue. They take a liking to each other. There is a lot of painful past and Maris has a current price on his head that causes a problem. This wasn’t a bad book. I just think I wasn’t in the headspace for it. I also think I should have read the book as the narrator's super soothing (and not distinct between characters) voice had me zoning out but I felt no need to go back on minutes missed.

This is a series I absolutely loved in the beginning and it pains me that I’ve grown apart from it. The library has the next book. Maybe I’ll give it a try soon to see if I’ve completely lost that loving feeling. Overall I was just kind of underwhelmed.

The Random Thoughts:



3 Stars

by Myron Uhlberg

Non-fiction

This is the story of a boy with normal hearing growing up with deaf parents and the issues that caused in a time when disability awareness was significantly less than it is now. It's a very personal story and the situation put a lot of responsibility onto a small child that was often stressful and at times heartbreaking.

Acting as an interpreter between his parents and the hearing world from the time he could talk, young Myron was sometimes put in the uncomfortable position between his father's temper flashes and people he didn't want to insult. Worse, when his younger brother developed epilepsy, he was the one who was expected to deal with seizures that his parents couldn't hear happening.

It was a lot to expect of a child and prevented him from having a normal childhood. Often the cruelty of ordinary people was such that they referred to the parents as "dummies" because they couldn't communicate in ways the general population were used to. It's an ongoing problem today with companies that only offer customer service by phone, assuming anyone deaf can afford specialist equipment for phone communication and not catering to the hard of hearing at all.

It was well written and gave insight into the life of a person born into unusual circumstances. I felt it ended at just the right point too, though I wonder how his parents got on after he grew up and moved away. I think this kind of story is useful for people to get insight into what it's like to grow up in a family where disability creates special circumstances, so those who haven't had this experience can develop empathy for the diversity of people who live among us.

english review only
audible audiobook

Summary: Frances Janvier spends most of her time studying.

Everyone knows Aled Last as that quiet boy who gets straight As.

You probably think that they are going to fall in love or something. Since he is a boy and she is a girl.

They don’t. They make a podcast.

In a world determined to shut them up, knock them down, and set them on a cookie cutter life path, Frances and Aled struggle to find their voices over the course of one life-changing year. Will they have the courage to show everyone who they really are? Or will they be met with radio silence?

My review: I'M IN LOVE!!!

Seriously, I'm in love with everything that Alise Oseman is writing. This is now my second book by her and so not my last one. I need to read everything she already has out and I need to read everything she is going to publish in the future. I NEED EVERYTHING.

She has just such a unique and special way to write her stories and her characters. I LOVE HER CHARACTERS SO DAMN MUCH. Frances and Aled, I'M IN LOVE WITH BOTH OF THEM. I LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP. I love a strong friendship in a book and this is what I got right here.

While I listened to the book and got closer and closer to the end, I already felt the need to reread or relisten to it. I LOVE THE STORY JUST SO DAMN MUCH!!!!!

I am very annoyed that I will not get to see the exhibit on Troy that is currently at the British Museum.  Words cannot express how upset I am by this.  I am beyond pissed.  You must understand, I cannot remember a time when the story of Troy has not fascinated me.  Michael Woods’ series, In Search of the Trojan War, was the first adult thing I was allowed to watch.

                So it was really only a question of when I would read this book.

                The title of the book plays on the silence that is exhibited by the women who find themselves at the heart of the action of the Iliad – Brises and Chrysies.  The two women who, in essence, Agamemnon and Achilles got to war over. The two women are given very little in the Iliad, and Barker attempts to correct this.

                In part it works, in part it doesn’t.  For a book that is supposed to the voice of women, there are too many sections where the action is solely on Achilles and Partoculus.  The book starts in Brises’ pov but switches at points to a third person pov with the focus on Achilles and Partoculus, or some other man.  This makes for strange reading because it takes over the voice of the women.  Brises herself seems aware of this as the ending paragraph indicate, but it is still very strange.

                The point of shift, a change in perspective to an established should bring some fresh perspective, despite being constrained in various ways by the original story.  While Barker focus on the toll of are on those who are not in battle, there really isn’t much new here.  There are flashes of what could have been a different novel – the bits about Achilles and Thetis are wonderful and powerful.  But there isn’t much new, and at some points, it is hard not to feel that a work such as Bailey’s Cassandra, Princess of Troy, isn’t a better novel. 

                It’s not a bad book, but it is a book you want more from.