Review: Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer

Book Details

Title: Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer (Twisted Tales)

Author: Maureen McGowan

Genre: Ya Fantasy

Page Count: 320

Publishing Info: April 1, 2011

My Review

Why I read it: netgalley review copy

The Plot: In this thrilling story full of adventure and romance, Sleeping Beauty is more than just a lonely princess waiting for her prince—she's a brave, tenacious girl who never backs down from a challenge. With vampire-slaying talents that she practices in secret, Sleeping Beauty puts her courage to the test in the dark of night, fighting evil as she searches for a way to break the spell that has cut her off from her family. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Sleeping Beauty and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!

The Characters: In a way, Lucette was the kind of kick-butt, strong heroine that I really like in YA books.  But in a different way, I found her pretty stupid and kind of annoying.  She just wasn't very likable, for me.  The only aspect to her parents that we are treated to is that they fight all the time.  That's almost all we really know about them.

The Setting: The set-up is a pretty typical fairy tale except for with a separate kingdom of vampires, which adds an interesting twist.

Who Should Read This? YA Fantasy fans

Final Thoughts: While I thought there were some fun and interesting aspects to this story, it failed to grab me.  Ultimately, it fell flat, and I thought the "choose your path" aspect was more annoying than fun. By the time I got to the last choice I really didn't care what she did, I just wanted to finish the story. It wasn't good enough that I'd go back and re-read to try different choices and paths.  The romance also seemed very abrupt, and I didn't buy it in the least. 

Grade: C

Cover Thoughts: The cover is pretty and eye-catching.  I like it.

 

Review: Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?

Book Details

Title: Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?

Author: Max Braillier

Genre: horror

Page Count: 288

Publishing Info: February 8, 2011 by Gallery

My Review

Why I read it: Received review copy

The Plot: Inside these pages lies unspeakable horror. Bloodsplattering, brain-impaling, flesh-devouring horror. You’ve probably read your fair share of zombie stories. But this time it’s different. No longer can you sit idle as a bunch of fools make all the wrong moves. All hell is about to break loose—and YOU have a say in humanity’s survival.  (This book is in the classic "Choose your own adventure" style, which was very fun!)

The Characters: There really are no characters here.  You are the main character, except that you're a young man.  So, if you're a woman like me, it can be a little harder to put yourself in the slot of the main character and play along.

The Setting: I think most of the story takes place in New York, but that doesn't really matter so much.  All you need to know is that there are zombies!

Who Should Read This? Fans of the old Choose Your Own Adventure books, fans of zombie books.

Final Thoughts: I had a lot of fun with this one, but the one thing I realized is that you can't read it for any long periods of time.  Even though you can pick different paths and read a different scenario, after awhile I forgot what had happened in my current path and what was from a different one, and it all just blended together.  Not to mention that you kind of get sick of it after too long.  This is a fun one to pick up here and there when you don't have much time to read.

Grade: B

Cover Thoughts: I like the cover.  It's definitely not boring, although one could argue that there's too much there.