Title: The Amber Spyglass - His Dark Materials - Book III

Author: Philip Pullman

Pages: 465

Genre: Fantasy

Grade: A-

Synopsis: This is the third and final book in the His Dark Materials series.  Lyra and Will are continuing on their journey to the land of the dead, where no living soul has ever ventured.  Dr. Mary Malone is in another world with creatures that rely on the trees near their villages, but they have been dying for the last 300 years or so.  Finally, Lord Asriel continues to fight against the Almighty with his armies from many worlds, including battalions of angels.

My Review: Once again I really enjoyed the book.  The story with Will and Lyra is very easy to follow.  I wish that I was better able to understand the allegory and symbolism in the book and I am certain that I failed to understand the adult level themes in the book, so I would like to read them again in the future with a more open mind. 

Geek Love

Title: Geek Love

Author: Katherine Dunn

Pages: 12 discs

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: This book is about the Binewski's traveling carnival.  The business goes through some rough times and Al Binewski and his wife Crystal Lil begin to experiment with a way to breed their own carnival freak show by having Lil ingest drugs and radioactive elements while she is pregnant.  The results are Arturo (the waterboy), a boy with flippers for hands and feet; Electra and Iphigenia, Siamese twins; Olympia, a hunchbacked albino dwarf and the storyteller; and Fortunato a normal looking baby/child with telekinetic powers. This is the story of their life in the carnival and Olympia's life as a radio-host after the carnival has been disbanded.

My Review: This was a bizarre, fascinating and surprising book.  There were plenty of instances where you question the judgement of the author and characters in the book because the Binewski's get into some pretty weird stuff.  I enjoyed the book because it humanized so many people with disfigurements and it always left me thinking about the situations in the book.

Title: Hot Lights, Cold Steel

Author: D.P. Lyle

Pages: 325

Genre: Thriller

Grade: B

Synopsis: This books is a fast-paced and captivating thriller about the forensic criminologist Dub Walker. An old friend enlists his help in finding her missing 19-year-old daughter.  When her daughter's body and other bodies begin turning up in shallow graves, Dub Walker begins investigating the causes of their deaths.  Each of the deceased had gone through numerous highly technical surgeries prior to death, but the surgeries themselves were never the cause of death.

My Review: I have had the book "Hot Lights, Cold Steel" on my to-read list for years, so I was excited when I found this brand-new copy at the local library.  I enjoyed the book, but I couldn't figure out why it was on my to-read list.  It turns out, there are two books with the same title and I had picked up the wrong book.  It turned out to not be a big deal as I enjoyed the unexpected thriller of this book.  It was a little gruesome, but an easy read.