The Girl In Between by Laekan Zea Kemp Book Review

Title: The Girl In Between
Author: Laekan Zea Kemp
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Source: Ebook
Rating: 2 out of 5 paws


All Bryn wants is a normal life, a life where she doesn't fall asleep for weeks on end.  It seems her Klein-Levin Syndrome is getting worse as her episodes are happening more frequently.  But that isn't what scares Bryn the most.  WHile she sleeps she spends her time on a beach reliving her memories, alone, that is until a boy washes up on the shore.  Even while awake she is plagued with hallucinations of shadows creeping around her, shadows that feel like they are watching, waiting to hurt her.  It seems like her only hope is Dr. Banz who has created an experimental trial, but he knows more about her situation than he lets on.  Bryn must figure out what the boy in her dreams mean, could he be real?  What are the shadows and what do they want?  Bryn must find out who the boy is before it is too late.  For both of them.

I had this book on my kindle to read list for a while now and never got around to reading it.  I fell in love with the cover and the concept of the book.  Only, I didn't fall in love with the book.  It was a struggle to even finish the book.  First of all there is a lot of fluff in the story, fluff that doesn't help push the story along and felt more life slice of life things rather than something important to the story.  I get she wanted a normal life with her friends and to go to school, but there was so much in it that didn't make me want to continue with the story, and actually bored me.  The premise has a lot of potential.  A lot that could have been done with it, but for some reason...wasn't.


The ending, was just....unsatisfying.  It just stopped as if the story was unfinished and the author decided to publish it anyway.  I  understand the novel is a part of a series, but it just leaves the reader wondering, what the heck.  We barely learn anything about Bryn other than she has KLS and has 2 friends and a boyfriend who from I gathered is borderline abusive, but she keeps going back to him.  There wasn't any depth to Bryn, we don't get her inner turmoil, her fears, worries etc aside from the general things of being a teenage girl.  The book is told from two viewpoints, Bryn and Roman, but the voices are the same.  There is nothing to indicate which one is speaking other than their names at the beginning of the chapters.  She consistently judged her cousin for her choices which made me not like her at all.  There were times when Dani needed her and she just "wasn't in the mood of Dani's drama."  How is that supposed to make me like her when Dani stood by her all the years with this disorder?  That's not how you treat friends.


The paced of the story was just dragging, but then again when you have a story revolving around teen angst, drinking, sex rather than the actual story, it will drag on.  It doesn't really get into the plot of the story until almost the end, about the last 30% of the novel.  I don't want to spend 70% of a novel with slow build up.  I want to be excited to see what happens, suspicious of Dr. Banz early on not towards the end.  There were numerous sentence fragments, run on sentences, almost like an editor didn't read through it.


I haven't decided if I will attempt the next book in the series, but I do not think I would recommend The Girl In Between.

Red Rising

Title: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Genre: Sci Fi/Fantasy
Source: Paperback
Rating:  DNF


Darrow is a member of lowest caste in society.  Even when his group makes enough to earn additional supplies it is given to someone else.  He lives his life believing he is making life suitable on Mars.  But then his kin are betrayed and his wife taken away and killed.  He discovers that humanity has reached the surface years ago and his kind have been forced to be slaves for those in the surface cities.  Darrow sacrifices everything he knows to infiltrate the system and is then forced to compete for his life against the best of the Gold society.  Can he bring down his enemies?  Will his sacrifices be in vain or will he prove successful?

I had seen those book on the shelves at stores and it kept popping up as a recommended read.  The premise sounds interesting and something I might like.  But I could not get into it.  I tried for a few chapters and felt nothing compelling me to read the book farther.  I had no emotions for the characters even when Darrow losses Eo, I felt nothing, and I should have.  People kept telling me to keep with it and it gets better...but it does not. I couldn't finish it.


The characters are completely unrealistic.  In the opening sequence we see Darrow have a complete disregard for not only himself but his team.  He is hotheaded and would not listen to his crew when they told him to wait, and surprise it works out for him and everyone is clapping him on the back.  Wait...he just endangered all their lives but yes lets celebrate his cockiness.  We are meant to feel for him as he is of the lowest castes and has not had the privileges of the Gold caste and is therefore completely uneducated and naïve in a sense.


I feel like the book was trying to make a statement, some sort of message but it got lost along the way.  It being compared to Hunger Games and other dystopian novels and I didn't get the feel of any of that other than the kid from the lower class gets pitted against peers from other societies.  The writing is difficult to follow and understand.  There were times I had to go back and re-read things to make sure I got what Brown was trying to say.  Granted there are moments when the book has some great quotes such as:


"  will dive to hell in hopes of one day rising to freedom."


but all the preceding sentences were choppy and short:


"I will rise.  I will attend the Academy.  I will learn to lead fleets.  I will win.  I will sharpen myself into a sword.  I will give my soul."


There could have been a greater effect on the reader if the sentence structure was different and appealing.  This book was not appealing.  It is tiring to read and exhausting, it makes the writing flat and hard to evoke emotions.  The novel feels like it tries to hard to be something, to be an epic political tale of triumph, but it falls short...way way short.  I do not recommend.

Ready Player One

Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Genre: Fantasy/Sci Fi
Source: Paperback
Rating: 4 out of 5


The OASIS is a virtual reality world, where you can do basically anything your heart desires.  One of the world's creators placed an Easter Egg within the realm and has clues leading players to the egg.  It has been 5 years since the first clue had been release and no one has found it yet.  Until Wade (user name being Parzival) figures out the first clue relates to a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon.  Once he figures it out and competes for the first key, he discovers he is not the first person to figure out the clue, but the first person to defeat the first boss.  From here it is race with other "gunters" and an organization named IOI, who want control of OASIS, to find the remaining keys and enter the gates to find the Easter Egg.  Along the way Wade makes some friends, as well as some enemies.  He finds the game not only challenges his nerd knowledge, but also challenges his strengths and weaknesses.

I was already interested in this novel, but was encouraged to read it quickly to see the  movie, I am glad I did.  While it was slow to start and seemed a little slow moving throughout different parts of the book, it was well written and interesting to read.  Being an 80's nerd, I loved all the references and understood every one of them.  He does describe some things a lot, but then some things he doesn't as they are typically things the general public would understand such as movie or television show references.

I have always enjoyed the idea of virtual reality (VR), and enjoy seeing how other people interpret the idea such as this novel or shows like Sword Art Online.  The idea of this book is that people basically live their lives in the alternate universe, almost like people who get pulled into the world of MMOs like Everquest and World of Warcraft, but Ready Player One takes it farther with working, shopping and going to school through this VR world.  Cline does a great job at describing the world, how it works, how people interact, as well as continues to show a class difference even inside the OASIS.  The way he presents the game, challenge, quest whatever you want to call it is rather interesting, and I almost expected it to get harder as it went on, but it didn't seem as that was the case, the clues were harder to decipher, but the gates themselves seemed rather easy.

Wade was an interesting enough character of a typically nerdy fellow down on his luck.  He does grow into himself and learns about his strengths and weaknesses as well as the importance of being able to rely on those around him.  I liked how Cline incorporated that idea into the story as well, the importance of teamwork as well as healthy competition between friends.  Art3mis was interesting as well, I kind of wanted a little more from her perspective and the competition between them and Aech rather than the romantic aspect of her and Wade.

Overall it was a good perfect for those of us who love the 80's and all things considered nerdy.  I am excited to see what the movie will be like, hopefully I can catch it in theaters.  If you are a fan of sci-fi, virtual reality, and 80's nostalgia pick up this book and dive into the OASIS.



Fearful Symmetry

Title: Fearful Symmetry
Author: Chris Pisano & Brian Koscienski
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: Paperback
Rating 4 out of 5 paws


Eighteen months ago Michael woke up with an incredible power, that he has no idea where it came from.  So he embarked on a journey to discover what happened and to see if there were others like him, there are.  Once Michael got his answers he decided to try and live life as normal as possible.  That is until a picture in a tabloid threatened to expose him and through a series of events Michael begins to think his wife may have gained some power as well.  Meanwhile; Thelma Carver wants to leave her snake of a husband, but his control over her and others is uncanny, and unbreakable.  While out running an errand for him, Thelma discovers a way to escape him.  She tries to get help from other people with special powers to eliminate Marvin, including Michael.  All he wants is a normal life, but now Michael is being drawn back into the fight and it might cause him his marriage.

It is no secret that Brian and Chris are my favorite writing duo, and they are two amazing friends of mine.  Fearful Symmetry is the sequel to their previous novel Shattered Visage Lies which I also loved.  The idea of having powers one day is an interesting one and I think this team pulls it off well.  Different chapters look at different characters until their paths begin to merge.  The way the two write is seamless you cannot tell when Brian leaves off and Chris begins which is definitely what you want from a writing team like this.  I love the diversity in super powers in the novel as well as the diversity away from powers we have already seen in other novels and comics.


In Fearful Symmetry we see some of the characters we met in Shattered Visage Lies as well as some new characters.  You are quickly brought back into the twisted world of those with powers and those without.  It easily becomes a ethical question on how should these powers be used or if they should be used.  There is a huge contrast between Michael who just wants to live a normal life with his wife Claire and Marvin who wants to rule over life and almost make people into his slaves.  It's a question of where does one cross the line into the realm of ethical ambiguity when it comes to having powers.


It is a well thought out plot and shows that the authors worked hard to provide their audience with a novel that will not disappoint.  They succeeded.  There are endless plot twists that will keep you guessing until the very end of the novel, and still leaves you wanting more from not only this series but this writing team.  They are the type of writers that no matter what book you pick up from them, you never know what you are going to get.  I love that about them.  I love the feel of the novel, that the characters are your everyday average Joe type of people who have to face the decision of what to do when they wake up with super powers. 


If you like science fiction or something that is a little bit outside the normal then this would be the book for you.  I suggest reading Shattered Visage Lies first as it explains a lot and sets the stage for what happens in Fearful Symmetry.  Get yourself a copy of both and read them back to back! 


What would you do if you woke up one day and discovered you had powers or were turned into a giant rabbit man?