Skip to main content

Circle Nine- A very confused review

Circle 9 by Anne Heltzel
Published by Candlewick
September 13, 2011
Source: NG
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Challenge: Netgalley July

Have you ever found yourself reading a book and you wish you could find someone else, right now, who is reading the same book? This was like that for me. Stuff happened in this book and I looked up and went "What?!?" This is a book that requires a reading buddy.

I was kind of mesmorized by this novel. I just could not put it down. But, I am left kind of empty. Is this the story of Abby and Sam (an unhealthy relationship)? Or is this the story of Addison, and the effects of trauma on us? I am a bit confused. Heltzel has this talent for making the pages turn fast, fast, fast. I was glued to the story, especially when Abby sees her world one way, then blinks and catches a glimpse of "reality". I finished the story more than a little confused, was this a re-telling of a fairy tale? Which one? And how did Abby's mind trick her for so long? I need to find a shrink and get more information. And Amanda (all of these "A" names!)-what was the point? To cause a rift? A reading buddy and I could have bounced ideas between us until this made sense.
It was a good pool read, and I was glad to spend time with this story. I will remember Heltzel's name, because this woman can write. I can't wait to see what she does next.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nebula Award Nominees 2017- Short Stories

This post is my progress report on my self-challenge to read all of the 2017  Nebula nominees! So far, I have completed the short story category and most of the the novelettes. I have 3 novellas and 3 novels to go.

Nebula Award Nominees 2017- Short Stories

What fun! I would never have read any of these stories on my own, although I expect some of these will show up in some future anthologies.
I have one personal gripe, and this will come up again in another category, and that is the death of the horror genre. Because they have just killed "horror" and lumped scary stories in with science fiction and fantasy, we get stories like SabbathWine trying to compete with Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies and it's not fair. It really is apples and oranges. Don't believe me about horror? Go find the horror section in the Barnes and Noble. Go ahead, I'll wait. 

     Griping over, this selection of stories was AWESOME and heavy on the fantasy stories. Seasons and Wardrobe are fan…
Post a Comment
Read more

Reading Challenge: Read all of the Nebula Nominees

I am on a mission to read all of the Nebula Award Nominees before the awards are presented on May 20th. This was prompted by the fact that I see these awards all of the time and I have only recently gotten hooked on science fiction so I think it is important to understand what the community thinks is the best of the best. I plan to do the exact same thing for the Hugos, but I have time.
Unlike childrens' book awards, in which awards do not in any way equal popularity, readers seem to like to award favorites.

It's no secret I am just crazy about N.K. Jemisin and her writing. Honestly it is because of she and Kameron Hurley and Becky Chambers and Jacqueline Koyanagi and Charlie Jane Anders and John Scalzi and James S.A. Corey (both of them) that I find myself absolutely loving this genre. I have NO desire to go back and read early science fiction with dorky cartoon covers featuring sexy aliens and white dudes holding Jetson-esque blasters. I want to read forward. I like where …
Post a Comment
Read more

Seize The City

I'm about to hit you with a group game that 1. costs very little money to make 2. sounds a lot harder than it actually is. Ready? Okay!

This summer we will be playing Seize the City. It's modeled after my game Seize the Castle. The only thing changing here are the trivia questions will now be super hero themed and instead of a castle in the center, there will be a "city". Something akin to this:
Image borrowed from Etsy for visual aid purpose only. My teen volunteers will actually be making the city from scratch and it will look however they want it to :) 

Because this game already exists in castle form, you will just have to use your imagination.
And because NO Thing is really original here is what started me on the path to Seize the Castle greatness: http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/homeschool-freedownloads/math-games/stormthecastle.php

The Game:

You will need:

Up to 20 players
2 mats with grids taped out on them
1 cardboard/foam core castle (or city, for summer)
Thre…
1 comment
Read more