Sotto Voce's Blog, page 12

REVIEW: The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

Humans are social creatures. Regardless of how we manage, control or even deny, we do need some relationships. And relationships come with baggage; they make us stronger, weaker, more vulnerable, exposed, safe. Until now, I think those baggage are paradoxes Well, maybe it's not the right word, but happiness in a relationship comes together with heartbreak and sorrow, especially when the loved ones are taken away from us.

So, from this book, I have many unanswered questions, and I assume it's the ...

REVIEW: Paws for Thoughts (Lois Strachan)

I have a soft spot for dogs' stories. However, I stay away from them now since I read books like The Art of Racing in the Rain, Marley and Me, and movies like Togo, Quill and Hachiko. (Spoiler: Nope, can't take it. I am not setting myself to be reminded again that our best friends are not immortal).

I chose Paw for Thoughts because I was sure it is safe from the blurb, and I am really curious about guide dogs. It has a cover of a dog, it's about dogs, and tells me something I don't know. I was so...

REVIEW: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Suzanne Collins)

Because I enjoyed the original trilogy, I was excited to see this one out.

Spoiler review.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the prequel to the Hunger Game trilogy, set around sixty-four years before the first book. It tells stories from President Snow's point of view, back when he was a teenager, before the upcoming 10th Hunger Game.

Suzanne Collins has built an intriguing dystopian world. In the trilogy, we only read snippets of history and make our own conclusions from bits and pieces of inf...

A Flood of Reviews

Since my attempt in writing, I have rekindled my love for reading as well, and it has been enjoyable so far. 

I try to crawl out of my comfort zone and be more active in writing communities. It hasn't been easy. Most of the time, I'm not even sure what I am doing. My attempt on Twitter and Facebook are also pitiful. I have detached myself from social media for a number of years simply because I didn't have time, and they are getting really weird. But now, I'm trying to jump back as a faceless asp...

REVIEW: A Soldier's Quartet (Colin Baldwin)

Added: possible spoiler

A good book doesn't need extravaganza twists, elaborate imaginations, dragons, or bombastic characters.

I read Soldier's Quartet without knowing what to expect. This is not my usual genre, but I also don't shy away from it, many of my top-rated movies belong to the same genre.

I didn't expect to be moved by it, a classic simple story told in a beautiful and engaging way, but I found myself captured and eagerly flipping pages.

The storytelling. Colin presents the story from di...

REVIEW: The Arden (L.S. Popovich)

Popovich brings us to the alternate future that looks back to our past and is full of mystery at the same time. A trio pushed by circumstances decides to rent a place together and find themselves sucked into a vortex of the future.

*This is a spoiler review* I won't spoil the plot, but I will mention some contents about the book, some readers don't consider them spoilers, but I do. 

Overall, I enjoy the book, the idea, the creativity, the potential thought-provoking world; there are parts that I s...

REVIEW: Flower for Algernon (Daniel Keyes)

I originally read the translated version of Flower of Algernon. At that time, I wasn't really familiar with books written in English. The translated version had a very different cover and title, and I remember it is called Charlie The Dumb Genius (translated). It still resides in one of the corners of the bookshelf in my family's house. 

Nevertheless, it was still a journey. There are not many things that beat the feeling of picking up a couple of random books, bringing them home and hoping that ...

REVIEW: Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins)

Mockingjay is the conclusion of The Hunger Games series.

The review contains spoilers.

This time we are introduced to District 13, a district that was only known as history, flattened and non-existent since the last rebellion. The truth is, it is surviving underground and has a treaty with President Snow from the Capitol to leave each other alone.

Mockingjay has different settings and feelings from the first two books. We are introduced to bleak and bare underground settings; even the residents of ...

REVIEW: Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)

This is my favorite book of the series, together with the movie adaptation.

While the first book centers around the game and the main characters' hometown, this one explores the expansion of the world. It slowly reveals other districts, and I like the journey out of the Capitol. While it's probably not easy to box areas into their specialties in the real world, it's not a far fetch too, especially in the Capitol's congregation system. For example, we have District 4 with their fishing industry, D...

REVIEW: The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

My pet peeve about this series is that it's often lumped with other young adult series that were adapted into movies around the same time, cough, Twilight and Harry Potter. It doesn't help that the last book is split into two films, just like them.

To me, THG is different, it is much more mature and has much more thought-provoking factors. It is speculative fiction, a dystopian world, which is one of my favorite genres. As a plus point, it manages to tell stories from a teenager's point of view w...