Lee Hunts

I just finished reading My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. This book is about a fifteen year old girl who goes to a boarding school and is groomed into a relationship with a teacher. The story follows two timelines, one in the past, where you see her as a kid being drawn in slowly by the actions of her teacher, and then the present day, where you see her as a thirty-two year-old woman being forced to come to grips with her past. Was the relationship as she had made it out to be, or was there something else buried underneath that she needs to grapple with? This is a highly psychological novel, and it explores the mentality of victims of SA, especially ones who were groomed from a young age. I think I can provide a different perspective from some of the reviews that I have seen, because I have not read the book that this one is consistently compared to: Lolita by Vladimir Nabikov. I will eventually, after having read this, but as of writing this review, I have no knowledge of tha...

I just finished reading The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson. This is the first entry in The Gap Cycle, which is a five book science fiction series that apparently expands massively in the next volume. As I implied, this story is smaller and rather simple. It involves three main characters: Angus Thermopyle, Morn Hyland, and Nick Succorso. Most of the focus is on Angus, however, as this nasty and even monstrous man shows up at a bar with Morn at his side. This draws attention from almost everyone, but especially Nick Succorso. And theories naturally come along, with events seeming to unfold in a particular way. But that is apparently not the real story. What follows is quite literally the real story, outlining the events as they actually occurred. No Spoilers The Prose The first thing that stood out to me in this story was the prose. In particular, the perspective that Donaldson used was fascinating and worth mentioning. The beginning of the book opens with what I ended up calling ...

I just finished reading The White-Luck Warrior, which is the fifth book in The Second Apocalypse series, and the second book in The Aspect-Emperor series. I definitely took my time with this one, and I don't think this trend is going to change any time soon. This book picks up right where the last one left off, continuing all of the storylines that were started in the last one: The march of the Great Ordeal north toward Golgotterath, the slog of slogs led by Achamian as he tries to discover the secrets of Kellhus and the Dûnyain, Esmenet and her trials as the remaining head of the Empire, and the other more peripheral storylines involving Psatma Nannaferi and the titular White-Luck Warrior. And every one of these storylines ends in a cliffhanger to be continued in the next story. This book is a major step up from the last one, with so much of the payoff from the last story coming on hard in this story. There are major battle sequences with the Great Ordeal throughout this entire st...

I just finished reading Beartown, by Fredrik Backman. This story is a about a small town in decline that is obsessed with Hockey. This sport is not only engrained within the culture of this town, but the town's economic future largely depends on it. For the first time in what seems like forever, the town has a chance to win, which will bring new opportunities to the town including people, schools, stores, and attention for their hockey team. This all rides on Kevin Erdhal, the star player who is carrying the team into the semi-finals and then the finals. But when a serious offense happens off the rink, the town is thrown into turmoil, forced to deal with the consequences in the variety of ways that they do. Overall, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the book, though I think I am more positive than I am negative on it. Overall (No Spoilers) What I liked most about this story was the overall execution. In this case, what I am referring to is the portrayal of the town's r...