Review: Saint's Blood

Saint's Blood by Sebastien de Castell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The series continues to delight and surprise me. I love the main characters in this dark, corrupt world. Falcio, Brasti, and Kest are reminiscent of the three musketeers; with the swashbuckling, adventure, and humor. But they are beaten down for more than Dumas' heroes, but still fight for what is right; no matter what. The book is long, but it keeps you engaged and guessing. I found the details on the origins of the saints and the gods and their relationship to the humans to be really interesting.

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Review: The Running Grave

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This series continues to impress. Even after seven books, the characters continue to grow and develop. Strike and Robin make such a great team -- though I do get a bit annoyed at times with the way they misread each other's intentions/feelings of each other. Part of me wants them to just get together and be down with it already! But also, I really love how they care and respect each with out being romantically involved.

The story here gets quite intricate. Focused largely on a scientology-like cult, Strike and Robin are hired to get one of the members out. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't say details. I wouldn't say things get slow or bogged down, but they do take a long time. But there is a point where I couldn't put it down. I had to keep listening.

Robert Glenister's narration is amazing; he really ought to win many awards.

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Review: The Avengers: A Jewish War Story

The Avengers: A Jewish War Story by Rich Cohen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cohen sets out the to tell the lesser told side of WW2 and the Holocaust: the Jewish resistance and partisans who fought back against the Nazis. The focal point is on three main individuals: Abba, Vikta, and Ruzka, and mainly Vilna and the surrounding areas. The author tells us how they met, how they helped to form and lead the Jewish partisan group in Vilna. It follows these three through the war and then to Israel.

There are harrowing and fascinating aspects to this story. The details of life under the Nazis, in the ghetto, in the forests is worth the read. But the way the story is told was not as compelling as I would have liked. It is more journalistic and retrospective, and so harder to get inside the emotions of the characters. It’s not a novel, but I was expecting something more of a story. This jumped around a bunch, moved through events too quickly at times.

It is still worth reading for anything interested in this time period, the experiences of the Jews in the war, and after.


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