CET Writes

Having graduated from high school, Owen and Sadie - dragon slayers in training - enlist in the Oil Watch to serve their requisite four years and learn to work with their support teams. As per, the plan Siobhan - Owen’s bard and best friend, also joins up so that she might usher in a new era as she regales the world with his tale. Being freshly maimed and the first bard to enter the Oil Watch in a very long time, she struggles to hear the music that comprises this new world and fails to understand the part that she will play in it. This sequel to  The Story of Owen  surpases the original! Just as Owen concludes on a sharp inhale, leaving the audience ill at ease, its successor begins with the next breath - a similarly uncomfortable exhale. Since the plot begins where its predecessor ends, this tale is incapable of standing alone. In fact, Johnston masterfully shuns the temptation to recap the backstory (as some of the current top-selling series are want to do) while far exce...

Out of the Easy  is set in 1950s French Quarter, New Orleans.  The protagonist, like the city she inhabits, has her own dark specters whose source and spring is her prostitute mother.  Wanting to flee this mire and the stigma it carries, Josie devises a plan to get out.  Unfortunately, the sins of the mother are visited upon the daughter in the form a mob entanglement that threatens all that Josie values.  Yet, with the help of her friends, Josie emerges triumphant and acts upon the wisdom and courage that she’s gleaned from literary classics, taking this new understanding with her as she heads East.  Sepetys’ sophomore novel has not only a compelling plot, but also a narrative voice that rings true as the protagonist is forced to exist in a world that repulses her – code-switching between the seediness of a clandestine economy of favors and a burgeoning self-refinement.  In coming of age, Josie matures morally, psychologically, and socially matures...

Presented as a self-help guide, this comprehensive work features a step-by-step explanation of how to become a comic book artist, insights from world-famous artists, tips from veteran artists, and inspirational anecdotes from young artists - discussing tools, drawing, character and plot creation, layout, self-promotion, and more. Amara’s text is best suited for younger readers, those who are novices to this vein of thought, or older less reflective readers. Consequently, it would make a nice entrée to  Scott McCloud ’s trilogy:  Understanding Comics ,  Reinventing Comics , and  Making Comics . It’s clarity and pedantic approach to incorporating industry terminology also recommend it as an introductory read for librarians or others interested in building a sequential art collection but know very little beyond manga and capes. So, You Want To Be A COMIC BOOK ARTIST?: The ULTIMATE GUIDE on How To Break Into COMICS! by   Philip Amara Middle Grade Aladdin, B...

Jay’s Journal  is one of several heavy-handed adolescent cautionary tales by the questionably "Dr." Beatrice Sparks who purports to have encountered this factual information as part of her field work and to have edited and assembled it in order to benefit the reader.  According to his supposed diary, Jay is a naturally-gifted, well-intentioned high school student who is led astray after “falling in with the wrong crowd.” Fascinated, Jay finds himself spiraling deeper and deeper into a world of darkness and can see no way out short of taking his own life.  The narrative’s single-minded focus on the occult’s seduction of the innocent and the glossing over of details that might titillate rather than revolt the audience causes Sparks to inadvertently reveal her sermonizing intentions and tends to leave the reader feeling dirty and manipulated as if she’s just watched one of those overly dramatic after-school specials from the 1980’s.  Although this text reeks of ...

At sixteen years of age, Peggy–née Margaret Preston Fitzroy–finds herself to be the well-bred, yet orphaned cousin who must remain in her kin’s good graces in order to keep a roof over her head. Unfortunately, being a contrarian, she is quickly turned out when she refuses to abide by her uncle’s will and falls prey to those who would have her impersonate a lady-in-waiting at a court that harbors spies, murderers, and intrigue. In order to save herself as well as queen and country, she must learn the art of duplicity and know when to trust her heart.  Even though this book became exponentially more interesting in the last eighty pages, the prior nigh three hundred pages that the reader must wade through are unmerited. Nonetheless, readers who enjoyed Anna Godbersen’s  Luxe  series are likely to find a new heroine in Margaret Preston Fitzroy–“counterfeit lady, accused thief, and confidential agent at the court of His Majesty, King George I.” Palace of Spies  [P...

Being the daughter of “the most beautiful woman in the world” is not all goodness and light. Not only is Hermione constantly comparing herself and being compared to her mother Helen of Troy, but - unfortunately - she is also universally found wanting. Although Helen’s impulsivity and egocentricism is rarely acknowledged by the general public, Hermione has the dubious honor of witnessing it firsthand as the queen forsakes her marriage and flees Sparta with the charming Prince Paris, leaving behind her distraught daughter, a trail of destruction, and chaos. This retelling of the myth of Hermione – Princess of Sparta, daughter of the “Face that Launched a Thousand Ships” and King Menelaus – is largely comprised of the Trojan War (from a backstage perspective) and its aftermath as it pertains to the protagonist. Hermione’s tale of woe is recounted in a plain-spoken, gritty, non-romanticized first-person point of view. Although it has a bittersweet ending, those in search of being regale...

Image from Goodreads A prequel to the Syfy web series, this novel serves as an origin story for Riese, an orphaned princess wandering her former kingdom, which has been overthrown by religious radicals who venerate machine technology. Cox writes for the newcomer to this multi-media narrative universe, but it is clear that in many places the story would be more meaningful for someone already acquainted with later events. The action occurs both in a frame story set in the present-day of the Reise universe, as well as in extended flashbacks to the protagonist’s youth at the time of the upheavals which lead to her change of fortune. Given the author’s background in television, it’s not surprising that the story reads like a long, possibly two-part, TV episode, with fairly predictable outcomes consistent with genre tropes. The world of the novel is liberally peppered with tellingly broad and sometimes oddly inconsistent references to familiar Earth culture, although Cox takes care not...

Image from  Goodreads I was gifted a free electronic copy of this book to review. While not an all-consuming read that compels the audience to come back when called away, this is an enjoyable fantasy escape. It is comprised of interesting characters who exist in a well developed realm of thesis and antithesis where every living being has a translucent doppelganger whose fate is intimately tied to his own. The magical realism of this mirror image world is breathtaking and awe inspiring as it deftly toggles between playful irreverence and shocking horror. Although middle-aged readers of high fantasy will likely be amused by the word play and whimsy, contrary to all of its efforts this novel lacks the ineffable quality that would grant it the power to make a significant impact. Bearing this in mind, the $2.99 digital list price for the Kindle edition seems infinitely more reasonable than the $19.58 print list price for a paperback. The Sound & The Echoes by   Dew Pe...