First Impression Friday

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First Impression Friday – Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

 

A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world’s last hope.

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them–and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them–the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart–or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

Let’s talk about Wanderers by Chuck Wendig.

So, I’ve got the audiobook version for this one. I already knew it was a big book, but I was still pretty surprised the first time I opened it up and saw it was 32+ hours! That’s easily double and triple of “normal” audiobooks. But don’t let that scare you away.

The first few chapters have been dynamite. Not a ton of action, but intrigue is everywhere. Each paragraph fills my mind with more questions that I can’t wait to get the answers to. My inner monologue on this one has basically been:

“What? Why is… ohhhhh. Awesome. Hey, wait. Who’s that? Why are they…? AWESOME!”

Definitely looking forward to more and more and more.

 

My Prediction: 4+ stars

Fun fact about this post: Chuck has been one of all-time favourite bloggers (terribleminds.com). In fact, I was reading his blog posts way before I read any of his books!
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First Impression Friday – Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

 

What if you knew how and when you will die?

Csorwe does — she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice.

But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin—the wizard’s loyal sword. Topple an empire, and help him reclaim his seat of power.

But Csorwe will soon learn – gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due.

Let’s talk about The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood.

This is a big, beefy book that I received as a digital ARC. It’s certainly not the biggest book I’ve ever read, and probably not the biggest I’ll even read this year, but it’s still intimidating. Especially because every single character has a name that I’m too dumb to be able to pronounce without the help of the pronunciation guide (which is about 15 digital pages long!)

But beyond all my crybaby nonsense, this book is gripping. The chapters are long and the description is thick, two things that usually drive me away, but in the case of this book I just want more and more and more.

An odd concern that’s never come up before, and probably won’t apply to most readers, is that I can see where it might be heading and it’s in a very similar direction to a book idea that’s been dominating my free thoughts for the past month. For someone trying to bust into the writing world, that’s very concerning. What if my ‘original’ idea is just like this book?!

I’m just hoping that it steers away from that direction and that I’m only seeing it as a possibility because of my own story. I’m also hoping that if it does prove to be just like my idea that the temper tantrum that will follow won’t affect my rating of The Unspoken Name.

My Prediction: 4 stars

Fun fact about this post: And before you ask, YES, I had this idea BEFORE I started reading this book. Sheesh. Give me a little credit.
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First Impression Friday – The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

 

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

Let’s talk about The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.

The start is… confusing. We start right in the middle of events and are expected to catch up, which I like, but it’s taking a lot longer to catch up than normal. I’m hoping that leads to some real a ha moments down the road, but right now I’m just scratching my head a lot and picking up little things here and there.

In this beginning phase, the world is being laid out for me, and it’s all very interesting, but I’m anxious to get to the crux of this story.

My Prediction: An optimistic 4 stars

Fun fact about this post: I’ll be taking part in a blog tour for this book on October 9!
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First Impression Friday – The Warehouse by Rob Hart

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

Paxton never thought he’d be working for Cloud, the giant tech company that’s eaten much of the American economy. Much less that he’d be moving into one of the company’s sprawling live-work facilities.

But compared to what’s left outside, Cloud’s bland chainstore life of gleaming entertainment halls, open-plan offices, and vast warehouses…well, it doesn’t seem so bad. It’s more than anyone else is offering.

Zinnia never thought she’d be infiltrating Cloud. But now she’s undercover, inside the walls, risking it all to ferret out the company’s darkest secrets. And Paxton, with his ordinary little hopes and fears? He just might make the perfect pawn. If she can bear to sacrifice him.

As the truth about Cloud unfolds, Zinnia must gamble everything on a desperate scheme—one that risks both their lives, even as it forces Paxton to question everything about the world he’s so carefully assembled here.

Together, they’ll learn just how far the company will go…to make the world a better place.

Let’s talk about The Warehouse by Rob Hart.

I have a digital ARC through NetGalley, but I didn’t find it. It found me. I don’t search for a lot of NetGalley titles, because that got me buried in ARCs for most of 2018 and I didn’t enjoy it. But then I received an email from a Marketing Manager at Crown books. She mentioned since I enjoyed Foundryside (which I did, very much) I should check out the Warehouse. And I’m so glad she did.

I LOVE this book. So unique. So intriguing. Funny in all the right ways, yet still mysterious.

My Prediction: 4.5 stars

Fun fact about this post: The Warehouse is also a very possible future for the world we’re living in.
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First Impression Friday – Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

 

The extraordinary true story of the black detective who goes undercover to investigate the KKK, the basis for the forthcoming major motion picture written and directed by Spike Lee and produced by Jordan Peele.

When detective Ron Stallworth, the first black detective in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department, comes across a classified ad in the local paper asking for all those interested in joining the Ku Klux Klan to contact a PO box, Detective Stallworth does his job and responds with interest, using his real name while posing as a white man. He figures he’ll receive a few brochures in the mail, maybe even a magazine, and learn more about a growing terrorist threat in his community.
A few weeks later the office phone rings, and the caller asks Ron a question he thought he’d never have to answer: “Would you like to join our cause?” This is 1978, and the KKK is on the rise in the United States. Its Grand Wizard, David Duke, has made a name for himself, appearing on talk shows and in major magazine interviews preaching a “kinder” Klan that wants nothing more than to preserve a heritage and to restore a nation to its former glory.

Ron answers the caller’s question that night with a yes, launching what is surely one of the most audacious and incredible undercover investigations in history. Ron recruits his partner, Chuck, to play the “white” Ron Stallworth while Stallworth himself conducts all subsequent phone conversations. During the months-long investigation, Stallworth sabotages cross burnings, exposes white supremacists in the military, and even befriends David Duke himself.

Black Klansman is an amazing true story that unfolds like a crime thriller and a searing portrait of a divided America and the extraordinary heroes who dare to fight back.

Let’s talk about Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth.

These kinds of stories are fascinating to me. I think because I have trouble understanding that level of racism. Hate does not come easily to me, even when we’re talking about things that don’t matter: Reactions to movies, food, music, etc. So when we start talking about something extremely important, like racial equality, I just can’t believe there are people would devote their energy and passion toward being hateful.

Also, knowing that there really are those kinds of people out there, I like reading about times when they get what’s coming to them.

So far, in the very beginning of the book, I’ve learned about the very opening of this particular case, and a bit about Ron’s career, coming up through the ranks, and having to deal with racism even internally. It’s all been pretty interesting, though I’m looking forward to when he starts getting into the real meat and potatoes of it all.

My Prediction: 3.5 to 4 stars

Fun fact about this post: It’s been almost 3 months since I did FIF post. Insane!
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First Impression Friday – Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

Assassin Mia Corvere has found her place among the Blades of Our Lady of Blessed Murder, but many in the Red Church ministry think she’s far from earned it. Plying her bloody trade in a backwater of the Republic, she’s no closer to ending Consul Scaeva and Cardinal Duomo, or avenging her familia. And after a deadly confrontation with an old enemy, Mia begins to suspect the motives of the Red Church itself.

When it’s announced that Scaeva and Duomo will be making a rare public appearance at the conclusion of the grand games in Godsgrave, Mia defies the Church and sells herself to a gladiatorial collegium for a chance to finally end them. Upon the sands of the arena, Mia finds new allies, bitter rivals, and more questions about her strange affinity for the shadows. But as conspiracies unfold within the collegium walls, and the body count rises, Mia will be forced to choose between loyalty and revenge, and uncover a secret that could change the very face of her world.

Let’s talk about Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff.

Confession time. I’m over halfway done. So this is way past what I would normally consider to be a “first impression.” BUT I DON’T CARE! I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK!!

It’s SO good. I’ve said that about a lot of books, but based on how I feel this time, I’m not sure I ever meant it before. I was a big fan of the first book, but even that doesn’t seem to compare. There’s so much of what made the first one amazing and still so much to make it original. The action is intense, emotions are high and so are the stakes. I’m even enjoying the footnotes this time around, which were a point of contention for me in the first book.

Time to go stab read more. Bye!

My Prediction: 5 MILLION stars

Fun fact about this post: Buddy reading this with Taylor from Nerd Narration, who buddy read Nevernight with me as well.
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First Impression Friday – The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

When the world ends and you find yourself forsaken, every second counts. No one knows this more than Edgar Hill. Stranded on the other side of the country from his wife and children, Ed must push himself across a devastated wasteland to get back to them. With the clock ticking and hundreds of miles between them, his best hope is to run — or risk losing what he loves forever.

Let’s talk about The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker.

I can’t remember who recommended this one to me, but someone, somewhere said that it seemed like the kind of book I would love. So far, in the early runnings, it’s proving to be a book I don’t hate. There’s still a lot of book left, and a few things that I do find really interesting.

I don’t read too many books these days where I can see myself—as a middle-age father of young children—represented on the page, but this is one of them. This mirror-like MC even voices a handful of opinions that her and I share. So that aspect has been really enjoyable and interesting. Then the world starts to end. And this dude starts to act like the complete opposite of me (I hope!)

I’m looking forward to finishing, but I’m not clearing my schedule or anything.

My Prediction: 3 to 3.5 stars

Fun fact about this post: Does anyone else see the irony of a book with RUNNING in the title that was written by a dude with the name WALKER?!
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First Impression Friday | Armada by Ernest Cline

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

Let’s talk about Armada by Ernest Cline.

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.

And then he sees the flying saucer.

Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.

No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar?

We keep things one-hundred here, and I’m a little worried. Ready Player One is probably my favourite book of all time, what could possibly live up to it? Nothing, right? That’s why I don’t hold books up to it. Except for when I’m reading the only other book by that very author.

Maybe I wouldn’t be so concerned about my bias sneaking in if it wasn’t for the already constant pop culture referencing happening in the opening chapters. You could literally call this kid Wade and nothing would change. However, there’s lots of time for that to change.

“But, Joe,” you say. “Wouldn’t you love to read another RPO?” And I don’t quite know how to answer that. I suppose I do, but like any good sequel, there needs to be a mix of old and new. Right now it’s feeling like a lot of old, and it’s not even a sequel!

My Prediction: I can’t talk about this right now!

Fun fact about this post: The front cover on this one is beginning to……. open itself?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJwlzIll2p/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

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First Impression Friday | The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

Let’s talk about The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden.

“At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.”

This is one of those books that I knew nothing about going into it except that a lot of people seem to really love it.

That alone wasn’t enough to put in on my TBR. But a reading prompt of “read a book during the season it’s set in” had me looking for books set in winter. This one popped up.

Knowing nothing about it and unsure that it’s something I would normally be into, I started with reckless abandon. That’s how I do.

So far, I find it very difficult to keep the characters straight. Most of the names are VERY Russian, which usually makes me pause to figure out if I’m pronouncing it right, and also trying to remember if it’s a boy’s name, girl’s name and which boy or girl the name belongs to. However, I find myself charmed by many of the characters, as well as the setting, and I’m excited to hear more stories from Russian lore.

My Prediction: 3.5 to 4 stars

Fun fact about this post: Can’t. Think. Of. Joke. For. Fun. Fact…
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First Impression Friday | Horns by Joe Hill

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

 

Let’s talk about Horns by Joe Hill.

“Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a thunderous hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples.”

My first introduction to Joe Hill was The Fireman. Even though I really like it I wasn’t exactly running to the bookstore to get his entire catalog, but a reading challenge had me looking at this one… AND I LOVE IT!

If this one continues as strong as it started, I just might run to the bookstore to get him entire catalog!

Warning: This book is awesome, but messed up. It starts out with most people revealing the worst, most evil parts of themselves, ramped up to 11.

My Prediction: At least 4 stars

Fun fact about this post: When I’m done reading this one (and before I run to the bookstore for Joe Hill’s catalog) I’ll almost definitely be watching the movie, starring Daniel Radcliffe.