Fiction | Book Chatter

The Twelve
By Justin Cronin
(Ballantine Books, Hardcover, 9780345504982, October 2012, 592pp.)

The Short of It:

Open the book, read the first few pages and fall into a world quite unlike your own.

The Rest of It:

I’ve been talking about this book for months and could not wait for it to finally hit the shelves. The anticipation of it coming and the feeling I had when it finally appeared on my e-reader made me feel like a kid in a candy store. The only negative was that I was in the middle of a huge project at work so I could not take the day off like I wanted to. In fact, because I am so particular about how I read highly anticipated books, I ended up putting it off until I had some time to really sit down with it.

I finally read it and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. The Twelve is book #2 of The Passage trilogy. What impressed me about The Passage, is that it was a combination of many different genres. Part thriller, part fantasy with vampire-like creatures and an experiment gone wrong. It was the end of the world, and the beginning of another. Well, in The Twelve, the story focuses on what the world has become.

There are some new characters, but lots of familiar ones as well. As good attempts to overcome evil, there is a lot of getting from point A to point B but what I especially enjoyed, what I really savored was the decimated world that Cronin created. I love stories that center around the Apocalypse and as dark as most of these books are, The Twelve was not that. Cronin focuses on the survivors and they are a resilient bunch. Quirky, strong and level-headed. There are no idiots here.

As you can imagine from the title of this trilogy, Cronin takes us on a journey and as we go along for the ride, we get to spend time with these characters, we get to know them and we get to know their weaknesses. This installment was more personal, or it seemed to be as I was reading it.

Now for those of you who are wondering about these “Virals” and their vamp-like tendencies, let me just say that this is not a book about vampires. These creatures are altered but they are thinking beings and their calculated means of attack makes for some entertaining reading. The battle scenes put you right in the action, but they aren’t overly graphic. A lot is left to your imagination which is how I like it.

The Twelve is a solid follow-up to book one. The pacing was just right so the length of the book was not an issue. I can’t wait to see what Cronin dreams up for book three.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Round House
By Louise Erdrich
(Harper, Hardcover, 9780062065247, October 2012, 321pp.)

The Short of It:

The tension in this tightly written novel is subtle yet continues to build, leaving you exhausted in its wake.

The Rest of It:

Joe, a thirteen-year-old Ojibwe boy living on a reservation in North Dakota is forced to a grow-up quickly when his mother Geraldine is raped and nearly murdered. As the wife of a tribal judge, Geraldine realizes just how important jurisdiction is, but is unable to say exactly where the act took place. Was it on the reservation? Or not? She’s not sure, and as she slowly retreats into a world of her own, retreating not just from herself but from both her husband and son, no one is sure if they’ll ever find the answer. Frustrated by the pace of the investigation, Joe, along with the help of his friends slowly piece together the events of that day and what he finds puts him in a precarious position.

Although the pace of the story is a little slow, I was completely absorbed by the characters and never once doubted the realness of the story itself. It’s fiction, through and through but it felt genuine and plausible and I was touched many times by the love Joe felt for his mother. It’s not common for a teenage boy to show love for his mother so openly but her near death experience wakes something up within him that refuses to let him rest and it’s exhausting to go through it with him. The tension, the secretive nature of the case and the fact that Joe’s parents are trying to spare him the gritty details makes it all the more poignant.

I’ve heard that Erdrich is known for her poetic prose but I didn’t notice it so much here. Instead, I noticed the slow, skillful build of the story, her talent for character development and her ability to nail time and place. It’s set in the late 80’s on the reservation and every time I opened the book I felt as if I was there too.

In the end, a satisfying read with some very memorable characters.

I have one copy to give away to one of my readers. To enter, check out the giveaway details below.

Louise’s TLC tour stops.

Source: Review and giveaway copy provided by the publisher via TLC Book Tours.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway is for one copy of The Round House and is open to the US and Canada. A winner will be chosen randomly by me. The book will come directly from the publisher. Only one entry per person. Giveaway closes on December 21, 2012 (pacific). I will contact the winner for his/her mailing address.

To enter the giveaway, please click here.

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