Five Stars for The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

 

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers is the best book I've read this year, and war books are not my cup of tea. The Yellow Birds follows a soldier named Bartle and his experiences of terror in the Gulf War while trying to protect a younger soldier named Murph, while both men are under Sgt. Sterling, a man made for war. Kevin Powers's writing style is powerful. I loved his writing! He made me feel every bit of the terror and dissociation from a broken war. It reminded me a lot of Tim O'Brien in The Things They Carried and also in Crane's Red Badge of Courage. But, unlike O'Brien and Crane, the lyrical quality of Power's words mesmerized me, and near the end of this novel, they devastated me. I found myself crying at the end of this book in a Walgreens parking lot. This book had a profound effect on me, and I encourage others to read it.

3 Stars for Terry Pratchett's Thud!

Terry Pratchett's Thud is a clever mystery; however, despite its knighthood charm, I couldn't get past the odd names and the unnecessary references to Sam's reading to his son, which were jarring and made it hard to follow the mystery plot. Below is an example of what I mean. Pratchett is clever, but maybe too smart, leaving me with a more Don Quixote logic than King Arthur. I think I was looking for more Good Omens and was left with more Alice in Wonderland, minus the White Rabbit. 

"You did, Insert Name Here!" said the imp proudly. "But they were leaving every gate, you see, and probably no guard ever spotted more than one or two extra carts."

Overall, the writing is solid, and Pratchett does spin a plot of sorts. It's a good book, but not one to my taste.