THE KILL ORDER

I finished Kill Order last night over dinner. Whoa. 

Ok, some thing I feel still aren't clear. Maybe I'm expecting too much from the series. Maybe it's been too long since I read the first three for everything to make sense. Maybe he has more in the works. I don't know. 

Final word? I wasn't disappointed. 

Before the Maze, before Thomas, before the elevator from nowhere, the world was plunged into a chaos when solar flares sent scorching heat around the world, melted the ice caps and released radiation that killed millions. Settlements were set up in an attempt to live -- or at least simply survive -- in this new world. Those barely-surving settlements along with what little peace they are able to find are destroyed when Bergs come into the area and begin shooting people with no warning and no explanation. There is something odd about their method though. The darts sometimes kill instantly. And that is a mercy. But sometimes it takes days...

I couldn't have predicted the ending. Well, maybe if I had tried I could have done. But I wanted to see where Dashner would take me and not try to figure out on my own. His trilogy was really great at surprising me as a I read and I wanted to give Kill Order the same respect. 

Like I said, I almost feel that I have more questions now than I did before I read Kill Order. But that's not a bad thing, is it? Because a day later, I am still thinking about it, mulling it over, thinking of "what if's" and trying to make things connect in my head. And isn't that the whole point of stories? Yes to help you escape, introduce you to a new world. But when that new world can keep you past the story, isn't that the mark of a good story teller? 

Do you think about books and characters after you've finished reading a story? What do you think makes -- or breaks -- a story? 

Check In

Sometime after my last trip to the library I remembered that I had a pretty hefty reading list at the beginning of January. I wanted to check in with that to see how many books off the list I read. 

I checked this morning. 

I read two off that list. 

Two. 

What in the world? 

Anyway, I finished Everyone Worth Knowing and was not too pleased with the "climax" and resolution of the story. Honestly, it felt far too rushed and cliched. You find out toward the end that Bette actually loves to write (even though there had been no indication of that ANYWHERE up until the last part of the book...) and eventually takes up writing. Of course, she gets the handsome hunk, even though it looks like she won't. In my opinion, it ended with far too many neatly tied bows around half-problems. She's rather selfish too and if my friends ever let me get away with half of that crap, I need new friends. 

Moving on...I am borrowing the NEW JAMES DASHNER BOOK!!!!

But because I went to the library, I feel I need to finish those books first...so Kill Order has been languishing on my desk for the last week while I work on What the Dickens and The Amber Wizard. I better get a move on because according to Goodreads, I am 2 books behind and I seem to be reading slower with every new book I read. 

I am sure my new found obsession with Mad Men hasn't helped my reading. It has been on my list for at least a year and last week on a whim I started season one. Wow! I was totally blown away! The costumes, the sets, the content, the smoking, the drinking, the business end of things...just everything! Look for more thoughts on the show in the future. Right now I am still just loving the look of the show and how everything in the character's lives is connected --even when it doesn't look like it. Fascinating stuff. 

Do you watch Mad Men? What do you love best about it? Or, if you hate it, what is it that makes you not love it? 

If you don't watch Mad Men, what is your show of choice? That one thing that keeps you from reading or doing whatever it is you really want to be doing?