Don't Make the Obvious Joke, Part II

I just finished books two and three of the Magic 2.0 series by Scott Meyer.  An Unwelcome Quest and Spell or High Water were the follow up novels to Off to Be the Wizard.

Spell or High Water was.... well, I guess it was necessary to the third book, but I'm going to be completely honest, I HATED this book.  It was so annoying, and the whole premise of the book was that you can't change the future, which, for me, completely made the rest of the book so pointless.  The heroes of the first book Martin and Phillip are invited to visit Atlantis, where they uncover a murder plot to kill one of the leaders of Atlantis.  I won't tell you any more, but I will say that if you are planning on reading the series, you'll need this one to understand what's going on in the third one.

An Unwelcome Quest was waaaayyyyyy better than the previous one!  This book didn't have as much of the humor as the first book, but was still very enjoyable.  If you've ever played a video game, this book is for you.  Most of the wizards of medieval England get pulled into a video game world by their arch nemesis and stripped of their powers.  The jokes and jibes about video games and how silly they can be made this book very enjoyable, and the wizards attitudes made it hilarious and relate-able.  Meyer definitely left it open for a fourth book in the series.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there is one.  This book definitely redeemed the second one!

Again, this series is recommended for any and all geeks, dorks, and nerds.  Go forth and read!

See the review for Off to Be the Wizard here!

Reconstructing Amelia

I just finished Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight.  This was a book billed as an "if you liked Gone Girl..." sort of book.  While I can't say I liked Gone Girl, it was definitely a book I couldn't put down, so I thought I'd try this one.

Whew.  Let me tell you, there is not an ounce of fun in this book.  I couldn't even think of anything related to this book for a catchy title of the review, because there are very very few "light" moments.  

Having said that, I devoured this book.  Read it in less than 24 hours.  I just had to know what happened.  The premise of the book is Kate's overachieving daughter Amelia is caught cheating at her premier private school.  Kate is told she needs to come pick Amelia up because she's been suspended, but by the time Kate arrives, the school is a crime scene.  Kate is told that Amelia killed herself.  Weeks later, Kate receives a text that tells her Amelia didn't kill herself.  The rest of the book is Kate trying to figure out what really happened.

This book was good.  Not great, but good.  It's definitely a heart-string puller.  There were multiple times when I teared up.  I think the best parts of this book were the moments when Kate was grieving.  They were the few "real" moments in a book full of the superficial.

There were a lot of loose ends that I wish had been tied up, and one of the big twists felt forced to me, but overall I enjoyed the book.  I would definitely recommend that you read it, but I would also recommend that you don't open it with your expectations too high.