reviews

Darwinism and Danger: The Edgy Classic That Just Didn’t Capture Me Author: Jack London Buck, a majestic dog with a cushy life, is kidnapped by his rich master’s desperate gardener and sold as a sled dog to participate in the brutal Klondike Gold Rush. Transitioning from pampered beast to something more primordial, Call of the Wild follows Buck’s short adventure examining survival of the fittest in a literal dog-eat-dog world. Long a favorite, the tale brings adventure and strife alive, pitting readers against harrowing sledding journeys in sub-zero temperatures, contemplating the greed of man and the passionate desire for blood inherent in [...]

Game of Thrones Like Intrigue Blending with Dark Fantasy and Magic Author: Dana Chamblee Carpenter Dana Chamblee Carpenter’s eerie debut novel, Bohemian Gospel, inspires readers with a mix of historical fiction, fantasy, thwarted romance, and spiritual horror. Set in 13th century Bohemia, an orphan girl raised in a monastery exhibits inexplicable powers and is feared by all the nuns, yet loved by the devoted Father Lucas. Cast aside by family and church, the nameless girl blends into the background, earning the nickname Mouse. Soulless, hopelessly contaminated by inexplicable evil, Mouse maintains a bleak and hopeless life plagued with mystery and the desire to do [...]

Crichton Drops an Egg Author: Michael Crichton Following on the phenomenal (and multi-billion dollar) Jurassic Park novel and accompanying blockbuster movie, Michael Crichton, forced by publishers and the pressure of an adoring audience, regurgitated pedagogy and plot in The Lost World. I venerated all things Jurassic Park as a child, later discovering the visceral edge-of-the-seat novel that inspired the film franchise. The latest edition to the movie series inspired another visit to one of my favorite novels and after re-reading Jurassic Park the reminiscence felt incomplete without hashing my way through the sequel yet again. Maybe, just maybe, my first reading of Lost World (during my teen [...]