'The Human Division' 1 & 2 by John Scalzi

This review poses an interesting conundrum. How does a reviewer complete a review based solely on the first two segments of a book being released as an episodic narrative?

To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure and I'm willing to give it my best shot, but I warn you now... this will be the last time I volunteer for this kind of review. Trying to formulate an opinion on the first two chapters of a scifi epic is just too much and I'm not sure a whole lot can be gained from a review of this nature.

Now that I've pretty much discounted my opinion to the lowest level possible what did I think? In a nutshell Chapter One 'The B Team' was awesome! I couldn't read it fast enough. In fact, when I finished I felt like I'd experianced some of the best scifi I'd gotten my hands on in a long, long time.

Chapter Two 'Walk the Plank'...? Not awesome but definitely solid. My main complaint was actually my own fault in that I'd let too much time lapse between reading the first and second parts so while I remember what had happened in the previous piece, I felt a massive disconnect in the story. Were these entirely different groups of people being introduced? Was there a tie in? I still haven't gone back and compared the two pieces to see if maybe I'm missing something pretty big.

This, at the basest level, is why I feel so conflicted about this review. Since I haven't taken the time to read on in the series (but know that on the whole I'm usually impressed with John Scalzi's work) it's tough to make a call. Even so, I'm near positive that if I had a minute to get moving on the third installment - and actually catch up through number seven released Tuesday - I'd be in love, because the third installment will most likely do it's job helping me reconcile the previous two.

But I guess that's both the pro and the con to this kind of release. On one hand the audience is captivated by the idea of getting a brand new chapter a week. On the other, the reader needs to really feel engaged in the story being told or can lose interest quickly when one installment ends up not reading as well as the others - or when they're a space case like me and forget parts that are, more than likely, insanely important, and end up getting frustrated.  

The Bottom Line: I'm going to keep reading because the first installment was truly impressive, but if you aren't keen on picking up a chapter a week wait until May when the whole thing comes out in its entirety under one cover. 

Waiting List - February Edition

February. Cold and bitter February. Besides the Hallmark holiday of Valentine's and the occasional leap year "bonus day" its just the span of time spent in the pit of winter before the warm air of spring returns to my little corner of New England. As an aside, did you know that January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period*?

But cold and miserable outside is a good thing around these parts anyway - while the family goes stir-crazy I get more time to pull out the throw blankets, cozy up on the sofa with a corgi shaped foot warmer and read without feeling the pressing guilt of taking in the sun outside. Overall, its a pretty good deal.

However, before delving forward let me say one thing about January's entry. If you've got keen eyes you've probably already realized that I didn't cover 'Dead Beat' by Jim Butcher as promised. This has nothing to do with the novel itself - it was excellent per usual - but I realized something when I went to write the review. I've covered a handful of the series already and my opinion hasn't changed or wavered in the least. In fact, I've only grown more attached to the series as I get deeper into the story arch.  As such I'm going to continue reading through the remaining books but save you all from my inevitably gushing reviews. Unless something changes - I still love you Dresden but from this point on I'm going to hold off on the reviews... well... until I catch up. Then maybe I'll do a series retrospective review. That might be fun.
  
So here we go. If you're reading along with me here's my line-up for the next four weeks. As a word of warning, its a much beefier commitment than usual:

• 'Whispers in Autumn' by Trisha Leigh - this was another series I'm trying out per an Amazon suggestion. Has anyone out there read anything by this author or in this series? Love to know what you think before I delve in.
• 'Mariana' by Susanna Kearsley
• 'Child 44' by Tom Rob Smith
• 'The Human Division' both #1 & #2 by John Scalzi - these ones are short but look awesome!
• 'The Witch's Daughter' by Paula Brackston
• 'Reckless Magic' by Rachel Higginson - should have gotten to this one last month (per the book club) but... well... no real excuses I guess. Better late than never right?
• 'Domestic Violets' by Matthew Norman
• 'Wraith' by Angel Lawson - not sure about this one either but it's this month's book club entry so it makes the list in a defacto kinda way.  

Oh - and we can't be forgetting about the Bridal Title for the month of February. For all those interested I've got 'Wedding Planning Like A Pro: Confession of an Ex-wedding Planning' by Tammy J Beatty all lined up.       

That's it from me today. Keep warm, enjoy your heart shaped box of cheapo chocolates and have fun reading until the sun comes back!
 
*Lifted that sentence directly out of the February Wikipedia page - but it makes a lot of sense. Winter is cruel and cold and miserable... the only reason to track the time is to know how close you are nearing to the end.