May Book Battle wrap-up

I read seven books in May for the Across the Cosmos Book Battle. I didn't complete all eleven criteria prompts, but I'm pretty happy with seven. I struggled with both of the club read selections (The 100 and Caraval were the only choices available at my library). Eventually, I abandoned the Caraval audiobook because I wasn't making progress with it and life is too short to waste on books that I'm not into.

But all in all, I think it was a successful reading month as I finally read The Shining which was on my TBR list for years and years. I'll probably skip June's battle since it's a hard month and I'm planning on reading true crime next month.

Here's a link to what I finished and my reviews are below

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry

"They weren’t forever young, unless dying when you were young kept you that way for always.”

 Dude, Peter Pan is cut-throat! There might be no monsters more scary than boys who just want to have fun.
Lost Boy is like Lord of the Flies set in Neverland and Peter Pan is an adolescent Jim Jones. Being trapped on this island paradise sounds like a complete nightmare. A dark and suspenseful read.

Riot Days by Maria Alyokhina   Part memoir, part poetry, part…something else? It’s difficult to categorize this book so it’s probably best not to try. Just read it with an open mind and without expectations. The raw and unpretentious short diary style entries and drawings create connection while the random alternating between personal events and political observations evokes a sense of immediacy. The unstructured format of the book seems like it shouldn’t work but it fits perfectly with the political content and message. A quick and engaging read. Thanks, NetGalley and Penguin Books for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Phantom Forest by Liz Kerin The Phantom Forest is an interesting fantasy story with mythological elements. If demons are able to transform the Underworld with love and peace, then maybe there's hope for humans. The Underworld and its characters especially Haben/The Savage, Irem, and Norryn were my favorite parts of the book. The Underworld sections are well-developed and immersive. Khronasa and its inhabitants are less interesting and engaging. Dohv, General Simeon, and Emperor Caius had the potential to be great villains but somehow felt flat for me. There were only a few typos and some formatting issues in this electronic version. Thank you, NetGalley and InkShares for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. The Shining by Stephen King  "Dying was a part of living. You had to keep tuning in to that if you expected to be a whole person". It was hard for me to go into this book without expectations because The Shining is one of my all-time favorite movies. Though I tried, it was impossible to not compare the book to the movie while I read. There are definitely differences between the two but I won’t go into the specifics in case there is anyone out there who still has not seen the movie (go see it right now!) Kubrick obviously took some artistic liberties but in his defense, he did an amazing job considering the constraints (time, budget, technology) involved in adapting such a lengthy and visually ambitious book. Through abstraction and visual effects the main premise of the book is ultimately conveyed in the film which is: this hotel is ****ed up. I know King wasn’t happy about the lack of backstory and character development in the film, but if Kubrick had chosen to include all of that then the movie would have been 6 hours long and would never have been made. Personally, I prefer the movie but the book and the film both solidly stand as horror classics and each is unforgettably terrifying in its own right. The 100 by Kass Morgan This book was not for me. The only thing more boring to me than a romantic storyline is multiple romantic storylines. I didn’t connect to or care about any of the characters. Nothing really happens (action-wise) until the very last chapters. Would have DNFed this, but needed to complete it for a club read. Alien: The Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster   Forty years later, Alien is still one of the scariest films ever made. It's hard to replicate that level of horror in a novelization especially without the benefit of HR Giger's art and special effects. Still, this is a scary book. The plot draws from an early draft of the Alien script and spends more time on the landing site and with periphery characters than the movie does. I really enjoyed the intro bit where ADF goes into the concept of professional dreaming, the prose here is beautiful. In the opening chapters, some of the crew's dialogue seems too sophisticated for a ragtag crew of space truckers. But eventually the prose and dialogue simplifies and is action-driven. Sigourney Weaver's Ripley is much more likable and heroic than the Ripley of this book. The film is better but the novelization is still worth a read. Aliens: The Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster   "Aye-firmative" Follows the film pretty closely however, there is no cursing in the book which feels inauthentic. Reading this made me a little sad because I kept picturing Bill Paxton as Hudson. He played that character so well.