The Review: Phoenix by Daccari Buchelli

   This novel takes place in Peradon, a land that consists of four realms. The Frost, Air, Earth, and Flame. Violetta lost her mother and brother in a tragic accident, leaving her and her father, the King, in despair. Her 15^th birthday seems to sneak up on the young princess and before she knows it, her father announces she is to seek out a potential husband. Her father expects her to pick any young suitor other than the son of the cruel, deceased Frost Emperor, Ryore. The young emperor has however set his sights on the Princess. When a party invitation arrives for Violetta, the King’s expectations and reputation is put at risk. The realms carry many secrets but dark accusations arise. Could it be possible that Violetta’s mother and brother didn’t just die in a freak accident but were targeted? 

   Phoenix is the kind of novel that by the end of it, you’re wishing for a second installment. Character depth and a great plot is something Buchelli did a fantastic job at. In the first chapter or so I found it hard to follow because I wasn’t sure what the setting was but by the end of the second chapter I was hooked. This is a ride you definitely want to get in on and experience for yourself. 

   Until Next Time...
   -Fiction Book Reviewer

Update

I hope ya'll are enjoying your Friday thus far! Next up for review is K.E Ganshert's novel, The Gifting, taking place in a world where, presumably, anything supernatural simply doesn't exist. Seems to me this book may be my cup of coffee. The review will be up on November 4th at 11am, CDT.

 Until Next Time....
-Fiction Book Reviewer

Update

Next up for review will be The Eagle Tree by Ned Hayes and will be up on September 2nd.

Until Next Time...
-Fiction Book Reviewer

Review: The Happening by Harvey Yoder

   The Happening retells the unbelievable tragedy that struck an Amish community on the morning of October 2^nd, 2006 and the overwhelming forgiveness from the victim’s families as well as the outpouring of love from around the world. That morning was just another ordinary, beautiful morning in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania as families were readying themselves for the day. The main character, Rebecca Sue is an embodiment of the group of young girls that had survived the Happening as well as changing the names used in the book is a way of preserving the privacy the Amish community wanted. That morning at 10:25 Mr. Roberts rode in a borrowed truck to the small white school house where class was in session. The children ranged from first grade to eighth, twenty-six in total. Mr. Roberts came into the school house with one thing on his mind, to get revenge on God for taking his daughter away from him. An hour later, eleven young girls where shot. Only five survived. Soon an out pour of love and support came rushing to the families of the victims. What was even more astonishing was the forgiveness of the Amish community. Mrs. Roberts and her children reached out to each of the victims’ families, visiting their homes, being greeted with open arms. This tragic event was handled with so much grace and understanding from the community. The people of Nickel Mines had forgiven Roberts but the absence of their loved ones cannot be replaced.

   The author of this novel, Harvey Yoder, did an amazing job of retelling not only of that fateful morning but the love and forgiveness in the aftermath. I’ve read books that share a version of terrible events and the authors would focus the majority of the story about every detail of what had happened. This was a different perspective and included different focal points that I enjoyed. Not only was the event described through a young girl’s eyes but shows an example of tremendous strength within a community. Their faith was unshakable though this time and in doing so, inspiring millions.

   Until Next Time…

~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

Update #40

For the next review I will be reading The Happening: Nickel Mines School Tragedy, written by Harvey Yoder. This book is based on a true even that struck the heart of the community in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. Mr. Yoder tells a story of an Amish school shooting on the morning of October 2nd, 2006. The review will be posted on the 25th of this month.

Until Next Time...

~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

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Review: Phantoms by Dean Koontz

Phantoms take place in a small off season ski resort village in Snowfield, California. On her way back to her home after picking up her newly orphaned sixteen younger sister, Jenny drives through the oddly deserted town. They arrive at Jenny’s home which doubles as her doctor’s office. In the
kitchen they find her secretary dead on the floor, spotted with bruises that seemed to have been inflicted all at one time. The death must’ve happened quick and caught the woman of guard since her eyes were open; her face frozen as if she died in the middle of a scream. Requesting the help from the military’s Biological Investigations Unit the following morning and having them flown in,
another gruesome discovery is made. One of the victims had written a name on a bathroom mirror, “Timothy Flyte”. In Phantoms, Flyte is famously known for his book, “The Ancient Enemy” in which he shares these mass disappearances and says that the cause of these events was done by an ancient predator.  Some of the mass disappearances he mentions are that of the Mayan population as well as the dinosaur extinction. As the story progresses, Timothy Flyte, Jenny, Lisa, the police and the biologists find that the cause is a creature who is able to mimic anything it consumes, growing in
mass as it does. It resembles a jellified, black mass which has been hibernating under the entire town until recently. It is never revealed how big exactly the mass is but it’s made clear it was big enough to fill caverns under the town as well as fill the entirety of under the town itself. The creature commands other parts of itself to detach in to phantom like creatures, into anything it has
consumed.  Their only hope of getting out of Snowfield alive is to put together a biological weapon to attack the creature’s nucleus, obliterating it’s’ existence.

Phantoms was a book I easily got lost in. There were two different stories going on which had me wondering how these two were going to meet. The main story is about what was going on in Snowfield. The side story was about a man who had killed his wife and son. The side story was a nice
break every now and then when the main story was just starting to drag. At the end of the book, the side story met the main portion seamlessly and found myself not wanting the story to end. The ending tied all the loose ends in a nice little bow and I was happy to not to be let down at the outcome. The creature’s outcome was at first a little lack luster but then again Koontz tried to make this story as realistic as possible. I was impressed when Koontz’s “a note to the reader” reveled that the mass disappearances motioned in the book (The Roanoke Island colony, the deserted Eskimo village of Anjikuni, the vanished Mayan populations, the loss of thousands of Spanish soldiers in 1711, etc.) were true events and that he had really researched the back stories of these events  for his book. One of the chemicals that were used in attempts to kill the phantom creature was called Biosan-4 which was a supposed more stable strain of the first patented microorganism which was to fragile to survive outside of the lab. Although Biosan-4 is fictional, the fragile version is in fact real and scientists have not found a way to make a hardier version like the characters used in this book. I would recommend this book to someone who likes facts integrated into fiction novels as well as a scientific twist on a suspense novel. There are some graphic as well as disturbing scenes. This is a book that is undoubtedly different from most.


Until Next Time…
  ~Fiction-Book-Reviewer

The Secret Holocaust Diaries

The Secret Holocaust Diaries

The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister

“For Half a Century, a terrible secret lay hidden, locked in a trunk in an attic…”

   The Novel starts off with an introduction that Nonna written herself, “I have now decided that the time has come when I must share my life story…the events described in the following pages were written from my diaries and notes that were transcribed from the four to six languages in which I had written them-starting when I was nine years old. I have translated the poems and thoughts and scripts into English…”

   The first chapter is Nonna writing in her diary about being boarded on to a train to a labor camp for Russian and Polish Women on August 7^th, 1942 in Konstantinovka, Ukraine.  The trains hold many events but the most appalling one happened when a Jewish woman runs along the train, pleading with the women to take her baby and give her a Russian name. She then tosses the baby towards the train and Nonna’s mother, Anna catches her. The women agreed to give her the same, Sarah. One young woman was terrified and threatened to tell the SS soldiers about the baby Jewish girl. Soon the train stopped, the baby was crying and the woman yelled at the German soldiers, telling then about the baby. One of the soldiers snatched the baby from Anna by the feet and smashed it against his knee. The crying had stopped. After this chapter, Nonna shares her family background for three chapters. She then shares her childhood all through her teenage years and finally her adult memories.

   One by one, her family members disappear from her life. By the time she was 16 in 1943; her mother had to go to a “meeting” at the Gestapo and never came back. Anna still sent letters to Nonna, but never once said how she was tortured and forced to play piano and violin with broken fingers and arms. Nonna continued to study diligently to become a nurse with the help from the nurses, sisters, and priests who were like her second family.  Months later, Anna had died in an incinerator after she had become of no more use to the Nazis just days before that very camp was liberated in May of 1945.  Nonna, although heartbroken after receiving a letter from her mother along with another note from a friend of Anna, letting Nonna know what had happened to her mother,  Nonna still studied hard to finish her education. When she had gotten a position at a hospital in Germany that filled with holocaust survivors, Nonna began to search for her mother. She still hoped that her mother was still alive but her search was fruitless. Slowly, with the help of her new friends who were also the last surviving member of their families accepted that mother was really gone.

   She decided to carry out her father’s dream and moved to America. Arriving in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on June 6^th, 1950 and married Henry Bannister on June 23^rd, 1951. Nonna had not told Henry or any of their three children about her experience in the holocaust until one day, after 53 years of marriage, Nonna had revealed what she has been doing in the attic every day for so many years. “Henry, it’s time.” She said and led Henry up to the attic where, she took a key and unlocked her trunk, sharing with him, photographs. Finally, she handed him a thick stack of paper….her whole dairy….her life story…all translated into English. She climbed down the attic stairs as he began to read. After Nonna has died, her children and husband went up to the attic to the old trunk and began the journey to share Nonna Bannister’s story with the world.

My Opinions…

The Secret Holocaust Diaries had truly touched my heart.  Compared to other holocaust stories like “Night”, I can tell Nonna tries not to make this book all about death and sadness. She shares what she remembers of her family and ties in happy memories as to balance out the horrible events that took place.  It amazes me how she was able to live with no bitterness or anger even though she is the lone survivor in her family. I admire her strength, devotion and faith that is obvious to me in her writing.  I can also say that this story is inspiring and gives hope to some who cannot find a silver lining in the darkness.

   Until Next Time...

     ~Fiction-Book-Reviewer