The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman by Robin Gregory

The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman

Robin Gregory

Genre: Teenage/Young Adult, Magical Realism & Coming of age

Publisher: Mad Mystical Journey Press

Source: Digital ARC via instaFreebiedotcom

Pages: 310 (Paperback)

Unfinished - DNF at 38%

Synopsis:
Moojie Littleman has never been much good at controlling his spiritual healing powers. Abandoned at birth to a convent in 1892, he amuses himself by magically snuffing out candles with the blink of an eye, or by sending objects into flight with the power of his mind. When he doesn't get his way, he causes the wind to rip off the nuns' veils and flash their knickers. He is not much good at being part of a family either.

Adopted before his first birthday, his parents soon realize that he cannot walk or talk or learn like most children, and he has a whopping temper. When Moojie is eight years old, he performs a healing miracle, and also loses his mother to a freak accident. His disapproving father sends him to live at St. Isidore's Fainting Goat Dairy with his grandfather, and then disappears.

Moojie's outcome lies in the balance as he strikes up a forbidden friendship with an otherworldly clan of outcasts who call themselves the Light-Eaters. When a natural disaster strikes, Moojie must decide whether to escape through a portal into another universe with the clan and the girl he loves or save the only family he has, therefore fulfilling a surprising destiny.

What I thought:
I loved the eye catching beautiful cover for this one and thoroughly enjoyed the first few chapters. The characters were well penned and an intreaguing plot-line looked promising. I prepared myself for full immersion into Moojie's magical realm.

Moojie's character developed from being a disabled and weak child into a more mature, much stronger individual drawing strength from his weaknesses. At about the 100 page mark the narrative seemed to lose its way becoming disjointed and began to drag. Conversations between the Light-Eaters and Moojie I found perplexing and rather irritating. I didn't 'get' the Light-Eaters...either what they were or what their purpose was, and quite frankly I felt alienated to such an extent that I lost interest in reading any further.

It maybe that had I persevered with the story I would have been rewarded with a truly magical fantastical adventure just as the majority of readers say they had. However due to my lack of involvement with certain characters and the puzzling elements of the storyline I aborted my reading of it around 38%.

Disclaimer: I'd like to thank the author for providing me with a complementary digital copy for my honest thoughts on this book. Although not entirely to my liking I believe it will be a real treat for other readers.

The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman is Robin Gregory's debut offering and although I didn't finish reading it, I did think it shows huge potential and would certainly like to see what she writes next.

MONSTERS : The ASHES Trilogy - Book 3

AMAZON com Link:

Monsters: The Ashes Trilogy

Ilsa J. Bick

Pages: 688

Publisher: Egmont USA

Publish Date USA: September 10, 2013

Source: (digital ARC) Publisher via NetGalley

Genre: YA / Teens/ Dystopic / Zombie / Horror

ISBN: 9781606841778

Rating: DNF / Unrated

Amazon Synopsis: 
"The Changed are on the move. The Spared are out of time. The End...is now.

When her parents died, Alex thought things couldn't get much worse--until the doctors found the monster in her head.

She headed into the wilderness as a good-bye, to leave everything behind. But then the end of the world happened, and Alex took the first step down a treacherous road of betrayal and terror and death.

Now, with no hope of rescue--on the brink of starvation in a winter that just won't quit--she discovers a new and horrifying truth.

The Change isn't over.
The Changed are still evolving.
And...they've had help.

With this final volume of The Ashes Trilogy, Ilsa J. Bick delivers a riveting, blockbuster finish, returning readers to a brutal, post-apocalyptic world where no one is safe and hope is in short supply.

A world where, from these ashes, the monsters may rise."

My Thoughts:
My 13yr old daughter and I absolutely loved Ashes, and Shadows and eagerly awaited the final instalment of the trilogy. However, I was rather disappointed. I found the writing style to be jumpy, leaping from one scene and character to another, sometimes it seemed mid sentence. This was far too disorienting for me to want to continue and I regretfully did not finish this one.

Ashes in my opinion was by far the best and told the story focusing on, Ellie, Alex and Tom's points of view. Shadows, not packing as much punch as Ashes, but still a great read, concentrated on a greater cast of characters perspectives. Monsters has too many voices, with the main cast and secondary characters jostling for attention. It also became tedious at times with so many long drawn-out action scenes that I began to skim read, and ultimately abandoned it.

Maybe it's been too long between reads, about a year since Shadows but I just found it hard work to keep up and just wasn't enjoying having to put such effort into a YA/Teen book. There is a section at the back summarising some events and characters from the previous books which I feel would have been better placed at the front, but even this wasn't enough for me to want to persevere.

Don't get me wrong Monsters is very well written and I would still recommend it to anybody who has already invested in this trilogy, but just not to expect any wrapping up of the series as it certainly didn't answer any of the questions raised in Ashes, like who or what was behind the EMP for starters.

My daughter is still reading it and thoroughly enjoying the story line, all be it very gory. She does say that it's very confusing with all the different characters but she is determined to finish it. I will include her final verdict in due course.

I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley and would like to thank them for the opportunity to review this title.

GIVEAWAY 3. Paperback ARC of EARTH STAR by Janet Edwards

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Viral Nation by Shaunta Grimes

Amazon UK Link

Viral Nation was very promising from the few pages I managed to get through but the format from my ARC e-copy download was so bad that I was unable to continue reading it.

On my 'To Buy' List.