9th Annual Canadian Book Challenge

It's time for the 9th Annual Canadian Book Challenge! I participated in the 6th and 7th challenges (not successfully) and missed the 8th. In that time, reading Canadian books has become a more important priority for me. The main obstacle is the huge number of American books I already have on my shelves, waiting to be read, but in the last year or so I've collected a fair few Canadian ones as well, so this challenge is doable without even doing any book shopping.

The challenge is to read 13 Canadian books between Canada Day this year (July 1) and Canada Day next year. I'll list the books below as I read them, and link to the reviews as I write them. I'm looking forward to reading some great Canadian books, and sharing them with you!

1. From Anna by Jean Little
2. A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett
3. Secrets Found in Gimli by Diane Alexander
4. Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
5. Winds of L'Acadie by Lois Donovan
6. Stealing Nasreen by Farzana Doctor
7. Room by Emma Donoghue
8. No Humans Allowed (Women of the Otherworld #7) by Kelley Armstrong
9. Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story by David Alexander Robertson
10. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel
11. Fairest of All (Whatever After #1) by Sarah Mlynowski
12. Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen
13. The Prairie Dog Conspiracy by Eric Wilson

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Title: This is Not a Test
Author: Courtney Summers
Publication Date: June 19, 2012
Length: 322 pages

The zombie apocalypse comes on quickly in this story. Sloane is at the breakfast table with her abusive father, contemplating suicide after her sister ran away without her, when a screaming woman bangs on their front door. Suddenly, there's chaos everywhere, with people eating each other in the streets. Sloane, along with five other teenagers, eventually manages to make it to the high school, where they hole up and hope that help will come.

This book, despite the premise, isn't really a zombie story. Zombies aren't what I would consider a primary part of the plot. It's all about the kids in the school. It's about what happens when you take six teenagers, who are very different, and lock them in a building together with death literally banging on the doors. And it's about the one who actually wants death to get in.

Obviously, character development is a big thing in this novel. Especially Sloane's development, but also the other characters, and the relationships between them. The author does a great job with that, and I really felt attached to some of them.

4 stars.

Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong

Title: Industrial Magic
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publication Date: 2004
Length: 493 pages

Warning: This is a review of the fourth book in the series, and will therefore contain spoilers from earlier books in the series.

Industrial Magic picks up where Dime Store Magic left off, continuing to follow Paige Winterbourne, Savannah Levine, and Lucas Cortez. In the aftermath of Paige's struggles with the Coven, she has struck out on her own, trying to form a new Coven of younger witches.

Paige and Lucas can't help but get involved when the children of Cabal members start turning up dead. What follows is a great mystery, plus a lot of character development and new information about the various characters and species in the series so far.

Lucas' father, Benicio, the leader of the Cortez Cabal, has started really growing on me, as he keeps attempting to have a relationship with Lucas and Paige. A new character, Jaime Vegas, a necromancer, is introduced, and is a lot of fun. We get to see more of the werewolves again (which is great because when Elena, Clay, and Jeremy aren't around I really miss them), as well as Cassandra (and we learn more about the vampires). It's fun to see all these very different characters working together and using their varied skills to solve the mystery and stop the serial killer.

Also: I might possibly be falling in love with Lucas Cortez. Shh, don't tell Clay!

5 stars.

Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong

Title: Dime Store Magic (Women of the Otherworld #3)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publication Date: February 2004
Length: 394 pages

Warning: This is a review of the third book in the series, and will therefore contain spoilers from the first two books.

Unlike the first two books in this series, Dime Store Magic isn't narrated by Elena, but by Paige Winterbourne, a witch who was introduced in Stolen. She's now the guardian of Savannah, a teenage witch, and is rightfully the leader of the American Coven, though they don't recognise her as such.

Paige's life is thrown into chaos when half-demon Leah returns, fighting for custody of Savannah, and soon Paige is being accused of witchcraft and Satanism by her neighbours. With the Coven distancing itself from her to avoid scandal, the only one offering to help is an attractive sorceror named Lucas Cortez, and Paige isn't eager to trust a sorceror.

The Women of the Otherworld series continues to keep me reading late into the night because I just can't put these books down. Every new development had me on the edge of my seat, and there's great character development in this book. I didn't like Paige very much in Stolen, but she really wins me over in this book. And Savannah, a typical teenager in so many ways despite her atypical upbringing, is really fleshed out. And of course, because it's a Kelley Armstrong novel, sexy, sexy romance.

This book also introduces the Cabals, powerful demon families that achieve their goals through running huge corporations and having tonnes of money. I love how the otherworldly and the mundane mix together in this series. To me, that's what makes great urban fantasy.

5 stars.

The 7th Canadian Book Challenge

Happy Canada Day!! Which means it's time to start the next Canadian Book Challenge! I epically failed at this challenge last year, reading only 5 Canadian books between last Canada Day and today. I'm pretty embarrassed about that. But if at first you don't succeed, try, try again! And I really do want to read more Canadian authors.

I'll track my progress below. Let me know if you're joining in the fun, eh?

1. This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
2. Haunted (Women of the Otherworld #5) by Kelley Armstrong
3. The Troop by Nick Cutter
4. Canadian Organizational Behaviour by Steven L. McShane and Sandra L. Steen
5. Canadian Government in Transition by Robert J. Jackson and Doreen Jackson
6. Namesake by Sue MacLeod
7. Summer of My Amazing Luck by Miriam Toews
8. The Confabulist by Steven Galloway

The ABACUS Protocol: Sanity Vacuum by T. Gregory

Title: The ABACUS Protocol: Sanity Vacuum
Author: Thea Isis Gregory
Publication Date: December 6, 2012
Length: about 226 pages (ebook)

Vivian Skye, right out of university, lands her dream job on the Extra-Galactic Observatory, a distant and isolated space station where she hopes to make a name for herself working on their advance quantum computer, quIRK. But it's not all she was hoping for, with a crew that maintains a distance from her, and a horrible, bigot of a boss that clearly has a grudge against Vivian. And soon, Vivian starts to realise that quIRK may be showing signs of sentience, which is strictly forbidden by the ABACUS Protocol.

I don't read a lot of sci fi (which is strange considering that's most of what I watch), and this book made me really wonder why. Even aside from the human interactions in this book, which were interesting, the story of a quantum computer developing a personality, and finally sentience, is a fascinating one. quIRK was a great character.

The story also explores other themes, like the effects of extreme isolation on people, which I find to be a really interesting subject. Different types of people are affected in different ways, and some of them are quite disturbing.

5 stars. Recommended for any and all sci fi lovers.

Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.

7 Generations by David Alexander Robertson

Title: 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga
Author: David Alexander Robertson
Illustrator: Scott B. Henderson
Publication Date: September 26, 2012
Length: 128 pages

This graphic novel includes several stories, following one Cree family through the generations. The framing story is a mother telling the stories to her son, who just tried to commit suicide. He gains strength through learning about his family's past.

This was a really beautiful story. There are really painful parts in it, from the Europeans bringing smallpox, to the horrors of the residential schools, yet throughout there is still a sense of hope and strength, often coming from the characters' connection with their past.

The art, by Scott B. Henderson, is also lovely. From the simple facial expressions to the intense vision quests, it really brings the story to life.

5 stars.

The Living Room by Bill Rolfe

Title: The Living Room
Author: Bill Rolfe
Publication Date: June 2012
Length: about 155 pages (ebook)

Daniel Clay is a successful businessman, who has everything in life, except family. His boss tells him he needs to make time to meet someone, so when he finds out he's inherited a house in England, it's the perfect chance for him to take a long-overdue vacation. Once there, he meets a pediatric nurse who cares for dying children, and she arranges for children who are close to death to stay in a beautiful room in his house, which she says will make the children feel alive. When Daniel has trouble dealing with the children dying, he prays for a miracle. He gets it, but at a price.

When I heard that this book came to the author in a dream, it made me nervous. And when I realised the book was about miracles, I was even more apprehensive. But this book won me over with the pure emotion of it. It made me cry, and that wins a book points from me.

The Living Room is not really an easy story to read. Children die in it, which is always tough to read about. But I think it was handled really well in this case. You really get to see the pain experienced by those who grow close to the child near the end, but without feeling totally depressed. Because ultimately, this story is filled with hope. When some of the children miraculously get better, and even when the children are sick but get to experience some moments of true happiness, this story is anything but a downer.

5 stars.

Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the author.

The 6th Canadian Book Challenge

It's just about time for the 6th Canadian Book Challenge to begin! The Canadian Book Challenge, run by The Book Mine Set, starts each year on Canada Day (July 1, in case you didn't know), and runs until the next Canada Day. This will be my first time participating, because I hadn't started this blog yet last Canada Day, and I don't like to jump into these things in the middle.

The goal is to read at least 13 Canadian books. Lots of people give themselves more specific challenges than that, like reading a book from each province and territory. My personal mini-challenge is to read as many as possible non-fiction books about Canadian issues, for example books about Canadian politics, Aboriginal issues, the environment, etc. (Note: I will still be counting all Canadian books I read for the challenge.) I was inspired to do this when I realised that I had a few such books piling up on my to read shelf.

I'm really excited about this challenge, because I've been wanting to feature more Canadian books on this blog, but I feel like I'm limited by what I already have in my TBR pile, to an extent. So this challenge will at least give me a way of highlighting Canadian content.

Let me know if you're also participating, eh?

1. The Living Room by Bill Rolfe
2. 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga by David Alexander Robertson
3. The ABACUS Protocol: Sanity Vacuum by Thea Isis Gregory
4. Dime Store Magic (Women of the Otherworld #3) by Kelley Armstrong
5. Industrial Magic (Women of the Otherworld #4) by Kelley Armstrong