Roger Hyttinen

Review of Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

September 1, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

This was a book I’ve been meaning to read for quite some time now — it’s been actually on my shelf for a while now, so I finally managed to pick it up. The story was fascinating!

The story revolves around Elantris the capital of a country named Arleon. I know — the names in high fantasy novels can be somewhat challenging. So The inhabitants of Elantris — they were all transformed by magic, which turned them into what can best be classified as demigods. In fact, many of the people in the country revered the Elantrians them as gods. They could perform all kinds of magic including teleportation and healing the residents of Arlean.

But then one day it all went to hell — it all turned sour. With no warning, the magic dried up — it simply disappeared one day. But that’s not all — all the inhabitants of Elantris — the people who had magic — were now turned into pitiful creatures that were more dead than alive. Though they still retained their personality, they have no heartbeat. Nor can their bodies heal. It’s also worth mentioning that when the Elantrian affliction fell upon the city, the King closed their gates, trapping the afflicted inside.

Now even ten years later, people in Arelon continue to get struck down by this strange illness and those that do are tossed into Elantis forever to live the life of one of the living dead.

Now the story continues in the new capital, where one day Sarene, a princess from a neighboring country arrives to marry Prince Raoden, the crown prince. This was to be a political marriage whose purpose was to unite the two nations against the religious imperialists of a neighboring hostile country. But when she arrives in Arelon, she is informed that Prince Raoden, her husband to be, is dead.

Of course, we learn in the opening pages that the crown prince Raoden is struck down with the Elantrian affliction days before his wedding, and is now banished to the city of Elantris — the city of the dead. But the king made sure that nobody discovered what really happened to his son and as far as anyone else knows, he died. But his story doesn’t end, and we are privy to what life is like in Elantris, through his eyes.

Princess Sarene stays in the court, determined to carry on the fight against the religious and very dangerous zealots who have conquered nearby countries. In so doing, she clashes with and makes an enemy of Hrathen, a scheming high priest of the repressive religions who recently arrived in the city.

What follows is political and social intrigue as there are plots and schemes to undermine the king, there are Hrathen’s plans to take over the capital and Raoden’s day-to-day trials as he adjusts to everyday life in Elantris as one who is dead yet not dead.

But as we learn, the walking dead in Elantris may still have a significant role to play in the new world because as it turns out, perhaps magic didn’t completely die after all and Prince Raoden may still have an important part to play in the kingdom.

So I found this story utterly gripping and enthralling and completely original. I can’t begin to express how much I adored this book. We have several main characters with strong moral principles and unwavering personal integrity who are willing to sacrifice and face insurmountable odds and do what it right. Even one of the villains ended up being someone that the reader could sympathize with, which I did not see coming at all and whom I found utterly fascinating.

And the plot — it was so original, so entertaining and so captivating that this story kept me turning the pages hours past my bedtime! So in this way, Elantris was, at least for me, unputdownable. The world that Sanderson gives to us in Elantris is unique, sophisticated and captivating with an imaginative magic system and I’m so glad I went on this journey.

The story was nicely wrapped up at the end with a satisfying conclusion and even though it was a rather lengthy novel, I was disappointed to see it end. I wanted more!

In summary, I loved the plot, loved the characters, loved the book — and I ended up giving this gem of a novel 5 stars. This book also turned me into an instant Brandon Sanderson fan, and I can’t wait to read the rest of his back catalog.

Click HERE to check out or to purchase Elantris

Review of Scat by Carl Hiaasen

September 1, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Scat ended up being hilarious and I’m glad I read it. It also takes place in Florida, a state where I used to live and spend a good deal of time so that attracted me as well.

So Scat follows a Florida kid named Nick, whom I guessed to be around 14 or so and whose father is on reserve in Iraq and his friend Marta. So one day Nick and his class are on a field trip when the swamp that they’re visiting catches fire. Mrs. Starch — the feared and unliked biology teacher, vanishes into the fire to retrieve an inhaler that a student had dropped. The bus leaves without Mrs. Starch as she came in her own car.

The next school day, the principal tells the students that Mrs. Starch has been called away on a “family emergency,” but Nick and Marta aren’t buying it — especially once that discover that Mrs. Starch has no family so they feel that there’s something very fishy about Bunny Starch’s disappearance.

They figure the scary, pencil-eating class delinquent, Smoke, who has a history of starting fires, has something to do with her disappearance, especially once authorities state that the fire was due to arson. But they’re not the only ones who suspect that Smoke started the fire. But there’s more to Smoke than meets the eye.

But there’s also a lot more that goes on in the book: there’s the dodgy oil exploration company run by a shady, nefarious fellow who is scamming the state by installing illegal pipelines in the Everglades, which is a nature preserve, there’s an endangered panther that’s being hunted, the strange eco-avenging wilderness man who seems to be sabotaging the oil company’s efforts, and of course, the mystery of what in the hell happened to Bunny Stark.

This madcap book was quite a wild romp – an edge-of-your-seat gripping thrill ride that had me interested — and laughing until the end, as it was hysterically funny in many places with a great cast of characters. I thought the premise of this book was fascinating, and Carl Hiaasen turns this premise into an exciting, fast-paced eco-thriller that I had a hard time putting down.

Though this was a light-hearted enjoyable romp, the book does touch on some serious issues as well such as war, crime, environment preservation, amputation and neglectful parents but does so in a smooth way so as not to make the novel unnecessarily grim or frightening, as this is a middle-grade book, after all. And as many of us like to see in our Middle-grade reads, the bad guys get it good in the end.

I do believe that is is part of a four-book middle-grade series that I definitely will be checking out. I also want to check out some of his adult fiction as well.

You can purchase Scat here at Amazon or at The Book Depository

Review of Spokes by P.D. Singer

August 30, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Spokes by P.D. Singer cover image Spokes follows Christopher Nye, a part-time writer for Cyclo World who works in a bike shop and in his spare time loves to ride his bike throughout the hills of Colorado with his best friend, Stu.

His pro cycling idol is Luca Biondi who has, along with his team, recently started training in Colorado. Meeting briefly at the bike shop and later riding out on the road, Luca and Chris form a friendship that quickly grows into a relationship but one that must be kept secret. Luca can’t afford for anyone either on his team or in the cycling world to know he is gay, mainly due to concerns about negative reactions from the cycling world as well as his sponsors. He is also still in the closet from his parents. I liked the fact that Christopher knew all of this going into the relationship and never made demands. I also found it interested how Christopher’s writing became one of the major plot points throughout the novel.

This was quite an emotionally hard-hitting book as, given that cycling is a dangerous sport, there are a couple of tragedies in the story that wrench at your heart.

I was definitely on the edge of my seat during several scenes, especially when watching the two of them navigate some challenging and intense events without being able to be emotionally open with each other in public.

Now given that this is a gay romance book, there was this aspect to it as well, which I felt was really well done. Luca and Chris were sweet together, and the romance between them developed at a nice pace and in an entirely plausible way. And though there were a couple of rather steamy scenes, they did not overpower the plot or distract from the story.

There are a lot of biking details throughout the book that I appreciated as I used to be quite an avid cyclist in my younger days and used to follow the Tour de France quite closely.

Now, this wasn’t a story about two fellows who happened to be cyclists; rather, they both lived and breathed cycling, and the story was as much about cycling as it was about the love life of these two individuals.

I swear every scene in the book had something to do with cycling. That being said, I found the well-researched depth of details in regards to the cycling world details refreshing and people who aren’t familiar with the sport will no doubt learn quite a bit from this story.

All in all, a compelling story from the world of professional cycling with compelling, complicated characters, vivid scenes of Colorado and Italy all peppered with a super sweet romance. It was quite a journey that Chris and Luca took, and I’m glad I went on it with them. I give this book 4 stars.

Click here to check out Spokes at Amazon.

Review of The Wake Up by Catherine Ryan Hyde

August 30, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

This is the second book I’ve read recently about people who empathize with animals on a telepathic level. And it wasn’t at all planned that way – it just happened.

So The Wake Up follows forty-year-old ranger Aiden Delacorte, who runs the ranch he from his deceased stepfather. Aiden’s life takes a complete 180 degree turn when one day while out hunting. He shoots a buck, and almost instantaneously, he falls to the ground, in agonizing pain and ends up blacking out. It turns out that when the bullet hit the buck, Aiden was able to feel the animal’s pain.

From that event forward, he figures out that he has some sort of “empathy” for animals and feels what they are feeling: their fear, their anxiety, their joy, their anger as well as their physical pain. Now, this is not a good thing for a cattle rancher who’s job it is to round up cattle, castrate the heifers and subsequently slaughter them. Because of this, he has no choice but to give up his career and sell off his animals. And he loses not only his farm in the process but also his girlfriend as well as the respect and friendship of his ranch-hands.

But Aiden’s life changes once again when he meets Gwen, a single mother with two children: Elizabeth and Milo.

Milo is an extremely troubled child — sensitive, shut off from everyone and can’t even bear the touch of others. We learn that Milo was abused in many ways by his father and Gwen really has her hands full with the boy. Gwen and Aiden begin dating, and even though the boy acts out in disturbing and almost unforgivable ways, Aiden vows to help the boy. As their relationship painfully progresses forward, Aiden learns that this boy may not be so different than himself.

What’s interesting about this story is that as Aiden revisits his past and his demons with a psychiatrist, he discovers hidden truths of his own life and his own childhood, which also provide answers to his own problems with Milo.

I listened to the audiobook version of this and thoroughly enjoyed it. I appreciate how the author brought up some very tough and important issues during the story: emotional abuse, physical abuse, but also the importance of family, self-acceptance, self-worth, encouragement, and hope. All in all, a beautiful, heartfelt story about emotional discoveries that I really ended up loving. I gave this book 5 stars.

Click here to check out this book on Amazon.

Review of A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay

August 29, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

This novel follows Paul Davis, a college professor who, one evening while driving home and notices a car swerving all over the road. Moreover, he recognizes the car as belonging to a coworker and friend, Kenneth Hoffman. Paul, worried about Kenneth and fearing that he may need help, follows him, hoping that he’ll pull over. So Kenneth finally pulls over in a deserted area, and Paul does likewise.

But as it turns out, Paul is the one who ends up needing help because to Paul’s horror, he quickly learns that the reason Kenneth pulled over was to dispose of the bodies of two young women that were wrapped in plastic in the back of his car. Kenneth apologizes the Paul right before he hits him across the head with a shovel.

So fast forward several months later. As it turned out, a policeman arrived that night just before Kenneth was about to deliver a fatal shovel blow and was arrested for the murder of the women. Thus, Kenneth is in jail, and Paul did survive the head wound–but with some serious consequences: His mind is forgetful and frightening nightmares plague him as he tries to understand how his friend could be capable of such a brutal act.

Apparently suffering from PTSD, he’s currently being treated by a psychologist and together, they’re working on getting Paul’s life back on track so he can move forward. In fact, Paul decides to confront his demons head on, but we can’t help but wonder whether in doing so, he’s making the situation worse. I found it interesting that a good part of the action in the novel alternates between the interconnecting stories of Paul and those of his psychologist which helped coalesce the various plot threads at the end.

However, things turn worse for Paul when his wife Charlotte comes home one day with a vintage typewriter for Paul – so he could record all the traumatic events in a cathartic way, to help heal, an and maybe even turn it into a book. He wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of the typewriter’s keys tapping away, as though someone is typing on it – but when he goes downstairs to investigate, there was no one there. This happens again and again, but Charlotte doesn’t hear a thing. The situation becomes even more dire when the phantom typewriter begins to produce messages reminiscent of those that the murderer forced the two victims to type before killing them.

As the story moves forward, Paul appears to be losing ground, and he hangs on the very edge of his sanity.

So several questions remain: Has someone been breaking into his house at night? Are the typewriter noises a product of Paul’s damaged mind or is there something else going on here? Something perhaps even supernatural?

What I liked

I loved how creepy this story was. For many of us, the strange sounds that we hear once the lights are turned off are a source of consternation. I’ve gotten the willies more than once as I lay in bed after hearing what I’m positive was someone walking through the living room of my supposedly empty house. So Paul’s experience with the mysterious typing really hit a nerve.

That being said, it was such a fun story to read, as we wondered whether Paul was imagining things or whether there actually was an intruder coming in at night to torture Paul. And if so, why?

Towards the middle of the book, I thought I had it figured out and was a tad disappointed by that. But I was wrong in that assumption. The author threw out some clever red herrings and amazing twists and turns that threw me off the scent of what really is going on. When I was sure I knew what was going on, the author plopped down a twist that thrust me in a completely different direction. In fact, this book contains several mysteries which all come together in an explosive and surprising conclusion that had me on the edge of my seat. I especially enjoyed the fact that nothing is as it seems in this story, including the characters.

And I also really loved all the characters — very complicated characters, I might add — whose true motivations don’t become clear until later on in the book. I felt the author did an exquisite job with the characterization in this story and gave us an interconnected cast of believable, multi-layered and complex character characters many of whom were more than a tad dodgy in my opinion, which deepened the mystery even further.

What I didn’t Like

I didn’t have any significant niggles with the story except for perhaps the ending. It was kind of fantastical and maybe just a tad over the top, much like the ending of an Italian opera. After I closed the last page, I said to myself, “huh,” not quite sure how I felt about it. But upon reflection, it was mostly satisfying and masterfully plotted.

Verdict

A Noise Downstairs is a well-written domestic psychological thriller featuring an enthralling though bizarre plot with riveting characters. From start to finish the story held me in rapt attention until the jaw-dropping conclusion, and I’m so glad I picked up this novel.

All in all, the story was brilliantly paced, well-constructed, and cleverly executed, and I ended up loving it – although now I have to sleep with the light on. Recommended! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

You can check out the book here at Amazon or at The Book Depository

Review of A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

August 26, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

This is my first Fredrik Backman novel, and all I can say is: why did I wait so long?

THE STORY

This book follows a Man named Ove who is the cantankerous, curmudgeonly, grumpy and unfriendly neighbor that many of us have. He complains about everything, and he’s the kind of angry man who puts up signs around is neighborhood warning other about what they can and can’t do. He loathes technology and misses the days gone by when people could fix their own cars and knew how to repair things around their house.

For him, everything is black and white, and there’s a proper place for everything. If you don’t follow Ove’s rules, you’re an idiot — and he won’t hesitate to tell you so.

Ove’s tale unfolds when a new family moves into his neighborhood: Parvaneh, a very pregnant Iranian woman, her inept and lanky husband Patrick, and their two little girls. On the day they moved in, not only did they drive in an area where the sign clearly states that parking in residential areas is prohibited, but they also flattened Ove’s mailbox. We can certainly imagine how this unfolds.

But there’s a lot more to Ove than meets the eye. You see, his wife — the love of his life and the only person who really understood him — passed away recently and it’s quite apparent that Ove his still quite stricken by grief.

Lonely and depressed, he has no friends and he we get the impression that feels as though he’s outlived his usefulness. In fact, all he wants is to be left alone so he can put his plan together about how to join his wife in the coming days.

But the neighbors aren’t going to make it easy for him. Despite Ove’s repeated attempts at pushing everyone away, Parvaneh ends us striking up an odd friendship with Ove, and a good part of this book focuses on that friendship. She is determined to pull Ove from his self-imposed isolation often with quite hilarious results. Hell, she even manages to talk Ove into giving her driving lessons which had me laughing out loud.

There are also numerous other neighbors who come to him for assistance, interrupting his quiet, lonely life. But he always helps them because he can’t stand to watch them making a mess of things. There’s even a mangy alley cat who decides to adopt Ove, which led to some very touching and amusing scenes.

WHAT I LIKED

First off, this book had me laughing hysterically one moment, and dabbing at tears the next. So in this way, it was a heart-warming, funny and touching story. The excellent characterization drew me right in, and it was only with the greatest of reluctance that I let go at the end.

All of the characters were wonderful. They were well-fleshed out and utterly relatable. These are unique, multi-faceted characters who all have very human faces – ordinary people we could see in any neighborhood of any town or city, and the way they related to one another was delightful.

It was also fun to watch Ove rage against the machine as it were — specifically against bureaucracy and “men in white shirts.” I mean who of us hasn’t been there? This made me think of Doctor Who and his dislike of “men with clipboards.”

Now you may think: why would I want to read a book about a crabby old man? The thing about this story is that as it progresses, Ove becomes more ingrained into the lives of others and them into his, and in that process, he becomes more human, a delightful process that we get to watch unfold. The story weaves back and forth between Ove’s past and present, and we learn, in quite an eye-opening way, what brought him to this point in his life and we discover why he is the way he is, leading to an understanding and empathy with this angry man who we may have disliked at the beginning of the book. This is a perfect example about how we can’t “judge a book by its cover” and how we can’t really know a person until we discover their past and the events they’ve gone through in their lives.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

There were no niggles nor anything else that I disliked about this book. The only thing I didn’t care for was the exhaustive list of every car that Ove and his neighbor owned throughout the years. I found this kind of unnecessary but then again, I’m not a car person so this part I found a tad boring.

MY VERDICT

A Man Called Ove was an inspirational laugh out loud masterpiece that touched my soul with a beautiful, satisfying ending. This story is as thought-provoking and hopeful as it is emotional and sobering and I enjoyed every single moment of it. This is such a smart story, an eye-opening account of letting go of prejudices, of seeing beyond what we think we know. I believe that Backman exhibits an uncanny insight into the human condition and in so doing, causes us to care deeply about this grumpy old curmudgeon who does everything in his power to render himself unlikeable.

This was a touching and somewhat bittersweet tale of a lonely man trying to live in a world that is a little bit beyond his understanding and definitely outside of his comfort zone. But this wasn’t merely a story about a crabby old man, but instead, it is about love, kindness, and most importantly friendship. Though Ove may not seem to be a likable and relatable character initially, if you give him a chance, this old grump will steal your heart. He did mine.

This may end up being one of my favorite reads of 2018, and now I want to read everything I can by this author. Needless to say, this is a 5 star read for me.

You can check out A Man Called Ove here at Amazon or at The Book Depository.