Book Review: Mameshiba on the Loose!

My rating: 3.5/5

From Amazon: "Meet Mameshiba, the cute little bean dogs with bite! Starring in their first ever adventures, they rescue friends, explore outer space, and offer interesting bits of trivia when you least expect it. Hold on tight--Mameshiba are on the loose!"

This is the second book I've read of the adorable, funny, little Mameshiba, the first being Meet Mameshiba! The diminutive bean dogs are this time on a few adventures, and while both they and the stories are very cute, they just aren't as funny in comic form as they are in the original Japanese commercials.  Part of the problem may be that I've never been that in to comics, but I think the stories here could have been more bizarre and random, like the commercials, and I would've been much more entertained. It's still cute and worth the read, but my hopes were too high.

I'd say this book is probably more appropriate for a younger audience, maybe middle school or junior high (though it wouldn't be inappropriate for an even younger audience), which may also be why it didn't have me, as an adult, quite in stitches.

At some point I'll read the third English book, Mameshiba Love Winter, but I've set the bar of expectation a bit lower now. Ah well.

Book Review: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

My rating: 3.5/5

From Amazon: "Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement--left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

"Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.

"Edward Scissorhands meets The Catcher in the Rye in this wildly imaginative and frighteningly beautiful horror novel about an unusual boy and his search for a place to belong."

Comparing this book to Edward Scissorhands makes it sound like the story might be somewhat humorous, and it's not; and comparing it to Catcher in the Rye is giving it way too much credit.  I enjoyed the general story of this book a lot, with the delicate balance between the underworld-ish-ness and the normal world and a protagonist figuring out which one he belongs to.  And it started out great with such an unassuming main character, already in a position where he's dying and only just now realizing it, as any child with a long-term illness would be: not noticing how bad it is until it gets even a little bit better. And it does get better, and Mackie joins a band, and the descriptions of the feeling he gets on stage, and of the atmosphere in Mayhem, are great. But the characters, even Mackie, never quite felt real; nothing ever felt urgent, even when it certainly should have (and though I'm not opposed to swearing when it fits, the book tries often to make the reader feel urgency by overusing the f-word); and the author seems to sometimes forget about her own characters, which may just be because there were too many. Several times I found myself wondering "where's so-and-so?" because Mackie suddenly wasn't thinking about or noticing them. For example, at one point his family is in danger, and he finds his sister and father but makes no mention of his mother. Mackie very well knows she's at work (as we find out later), but the reader doesn't know this, and it feels weird. He also doesn't ask obvious questions, or explain things to people when he should, which doesn't feel like character quirks so much as plot devices. Mackie's unassuming nature turns into martyrdom a few times too, which didn't seem to fit him, and the ending didn't entirely make sense. (No one's worried about the Cutter anymore...?)

Typos were a small problem too. I could put up with them, and they weren't overwhelming; but there were enough that I definitely noticed, which is disappointing. Sexual moments and swearing also make this a not-appropriate-for-under-high-school book.

Book review: Meet Mameshiba!

My rating: 4.5/5

"Mameshiba" is Japanese for "bean dog," which is what these adorable little characters are.  Each mameshiba is a different type of bean, and each has its own personality.  Their whole reason for being is to show up in people's food and relay obscure trivia. And they are hilarious.

The mameshiba appeared in a series of short commercials in Japan, which is where I first discovered them.  You can see all of them (with English subtitles) commercials here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjsZbnTNB8c. 

This little book is a great introduction to all of the mameshiba, and it is entertaining. I wish it were a little longer, and maybe even a little funnier, which is why I didn't rate this a straight five.  But I still very much recommend this book, and to pretty much anyone; it would be appropriate for even a young audience.

Book Review: Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

My rating: 3/5

From Amazon: "In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human."

This book suffers from a good idea with not-so-good execution.  The only way I was able to finish it was to imagine famous actors playing the parts and hear the dialogue in their voices, even if those actors didn't make any sense for the parts I gave them. For example, Jensen Ackles is not Japanese, but Dean Winchester works very well as Tom; and Christopher Walken is not a big muscly dude, but he is hilarious as Charlie Pink-Eye, and I highly recommend reading his lines in Walken's voice.

The biggest problem was the main character.  Benny is annoying. He's lazy and childish in the beginning, and he has spurts of maturing throughout the book, but sometimes he backslides (and it's not always clear why), and you roll your eyes.  How he could grow up in a tiny town and not know what his brother, whom he lives with, does for a living is far-fetched, as is the characterization of the town itself being so awkwardly fearful.  Tom explains these things to Benny; Benny says these things are dumb; and the reader agrees. 

But again, I like the idea. I like having to wrap my mind around zombies still being people, at least in the memories of those who loved them. I like the Wild West feel of the all-but-vanquished world.  It just gets a little too dramatic and a little too unrealistic.

For a zombie book though, there isn't a terrible amount of gore, and there is only a little swearing (I think one of the big bad guys even says "friggin'" at one point), so it seems to be aimed at a younger, junior-high-ish audience.  But it doesn't quite fit that crossover young-adult-to-adult audience, so I probably wouldn't recommend it for anyone older than high school.

Book Review: The Colour of Magic (A Discworld Novel) by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 3.75/5

From Goodreads.com: "On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out.

"There's an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet..."

As the series title states, this fancifully absurd world exists as a flat disc, which rests on top of four elephants who are in turn on top of a turtle, while the gods play dice to decide the occupants' fates. Scientists and philosophers strive to figure out the hows and whys of the world (for example, the all-important question of the sex of the giant turtle), and Rincewind the wizard and Twoflower the world's-very-first tourist are repeatedly caught in the middle.  They survive bar fights, dragon flights, magic spells, fires, and shipwrecks, and the action really never stops.  And the sapient luggage is their friend, is full of gold, and eats bad guys, so, there's that.


I really enjoyed this book.  The writing was very clever and made me giggle several times; but it was a little too far on the absurd side for me to love it.  I will say that the style grew on me though as the book progressed.  I have not read the rest of the series, but if I find out that it does not turn into the silliness that Hitchhiker's Guide (which this writing style very much reminds me of) turned into as its series progressed, I probably will. Another small complaint is the ever-present misogyny that the male, British, 20th-century authors whom I've read all seem to have, presented as a severe lack of female characters other than mainly as sex objects.  I believe that, among all of the multitude of characters the heroes encounter, there were three women in this book. One is a dangerous, unpredictable goddess ("Luck") who's rarely present but admittedly powerful; one a naked dryad; and the last a dragon-warrior princess who wears very little and whose sole goal is to find a husband.  However, it really only grated on me when these characters were present, and since they weren't present for very much of the book, I could ignore it and enjoy the rest of the story.


All in all, a good book and a talented author.


I also recommend the movie of the same name with Sean Astin and Tim Curry, which I believe combines this book and the next in the series (since the story goes a little bit beyond what I read in Color of Magic).  The movie captures the feel of the book very well.  It's a little long (something like 3 hours 20 minutes), but it's worth it. 


Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nedwZwOvdVs

Book Review: The Burned Tower by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko

My rating: 4/5

From Amazon: "A truck driver on a lonely stretch of road, a hitchhiker, and an ancient curse— a brilliant and moving tale, steeped in folklore, by the masters of modern Fantasy."

I'm loving the folk tales lately, and I haven't even been seeking them out.  This short story is currently a free download for Kindle through Amazon; which is why I thought, even though I'd never heard of the authors or the story before, why not download it. 

Because it's a translation from Russian (and well done, but still pretty obviously a translation), I do feel that I maybe missed some of what the story was trying to say.  Despite this though, I enjoyed it. The Piper was unearthly and creepy (and exactly how I imagine someone of his supernatural persuasion would act), and poor Guy's story weaves from being about an average schmo driving a delivery van to a series of questions about heaven and hell, life and the afterlife, reality and monsters, and even time. 

I will definitely be keeping these authors in mind for future reading.

Book Review: The Woodcutter by Kate Danley

My rating: 4/5

From Amazon: “Cinderella is dead and one of Odin's hellhounds has gone rogue. The Woodcutter, protector of peace between Man and Fae, is charged with finding the beast and returning him to the Wild Hunt. 

“Unfortunately, the forces of evil have other plans. 

“Leaving the comforts of his quiet home, he finds a pixie dust trade raging out of control and a power hungry Queen who will stop at nothing to take over the world.   The lives of Snow White, Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood are at stake in this dark fairytale.  It is a race against time as the Woodcutter travels east of the sun and west of the moon, up beanstalks and down to the bowels of the earth to unravel a mystery that can only be described as Grimm.Show MoreShow Less”

I’m not into stories about fairies, but this was actually a really good read and one of the most unique books I’ve read.  The story is written as if it were a fable passed down through the centuries, and the style is pulled off very well.  Nothing is overdramatic and some things just “are,” without need of explanation, the way a fairy tale is told to a child. And in spite of not being written in an overly dramatic fashion, the reader becomes very attached to the Woodcutter, and the author includes some beautiful imagery.  I was honestly in tears near the end, and that does not happen to me often with books.   I also enjoyed how almost every fairy tale I remember was woven into this story. Though this seems to be a trend lately (a la Once Upon a Time), The Woodcutter stands apart, and I would recommend it to almost anyone.

The only reason I didn’t rate it higher than a 4 is that the last half seemed to drag a bit for me.  Personal opinion, but I think the book could have been a little shorter and still been just as good.

I purchased the Kindle version and plan to buy a paperback just to have for my collection.