Fierce Kingdom

by Gin Phillips
July 4-7, 2018

A super quick read, not necessarily because of the intended suspense. I am not really a fan of thrillers or this genre in general, but was intrigued by the short length and light investment while on vacation.

A woman and her 5-year old son are at the zoo near closing time. They know all the ins and outs of the place. As they make their way to the exit they hear gun shots and find a place to hide. OK, sounds good, right? My first issue is that terror is not an enjoyable feeling for me when I'm reading. Especially when it involves children. The second issue, and this is a big one, is how Joan decides to handle the situation. Now I understand that no one could predict how she would react in a terrifying life or death situation, but I gotta believe it wouldn't be anything like this. In the beginning, Joan communicates with her husband via cell phone as she shares news of their hiding and tries to learn more of the situation. But suddenly she thinks the light on the phone will get them caught, so she throws her phone away. WHAT?! I get that it makes for a more dramatic story, but it's just not plausible. It's her only connection to the outside.

Finally, while I'm the first to criticize a plot for wrapping up neatly in a bow, this one just stops at the most uninformative moment. What the hell happened to the baby in the garbage can? What happened to the woman with the bad knee?? I can probably assume that everyone made it out safely, but aren't books like this supposed to not have happy endings? Overall, an extremely flawed delivery on a decent premise.

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The Immortalists

by Chloe Benjamin
June 10-July 1, 2018

I'm quite behind on my reviews, so we'll keep this one short but sweet! I loved this book. Such a unique premise.

This was so much more than a story about "how would you live/change your life if you knew the date of your death." At first I feared that The Immortalists was going to lean too far toward hocus-pocus. But it became so much more than that. It was about the choices we make and the risks we take. Each of the four siblings had their own distinctive tale, and each one was interesting in its own way.

I liked the first two stories the best – Simon's and Klara's – because they were the most relatable. Daniel's story was a bit "of course" and I didn't enjoy the in-depth science explanations in Varya's chapters. But I found Varya's ending fairly unexpected and was glad that I didn't correctly predict it.

“She knows that stories have the power to change things: the past and the future, even the present.”

 Overall, extremely thought-provoking and poetic. 4 stars.

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