jbronderbookreviews

Resolution: Huck Finn’s Greatest Adventure by Andrew Joyce

It is 1896 in the Yukon Territory, Canada. The largest gold strike in the annals of human history has just been made; however, word of the discovery will not reach the outside world for another year. By happenstance, a fifty-nine-year-old Huck Finn and his lady friend, Molly Lee, are on hand, but they are not interested in gold. They have come to that neck of the woods seeking adventure. Someone should have warned them, “Be careful what you wish for.” When disaster strikes, they volunteer to save the day by making an arduous six hundred mile journey by dog sled in the depths of a Yukon winter. They race against time, nature, and man. With the temperature hovering around seventy degrees below zero, they must fight every day if they are to live to see the next. On the frozen trail, they are put upon by murderers, hungry wolves, and hostile Indians, but those adversaries have nothing over the weather. At seventy below, your spit freezes a foot from your face. Your cheeks burn-your skin turns purple and black as it dies from the cold. You are in constant danger of losing fingers and toes to frostbite. It is into this world that Huck and Molly race. They cannot stop. They cannot turn back. They can only go on. Lives hang in the balance-including theirs.

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Author’s Bio

 Andrew Joyce left high school at seventeen to hitchhike throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. He wouldn’t return from his journey until decades later when he decided to become a writer. Joyce has written five books, including a two-volume collection of one hundred and fifty short stories comprised of his hitching adventures called BEDTIME STORIES FOR GROWN-UPS (as yet unpublished), and his latest novel, YELLOW HAIR. He now lives aboard a boat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his dog, Danny, where he is busy working on his next book, tentatively entitled,
MICK REILLY.

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My Review

5 stars

We start this story with Huck Finn and Molly Lee visiting their friend Tom Sawyer. There is a murder and chase and Tom deputizes Huck and asks for his help hunting down the killer and getting the real story of what happened. This little adventure has rouses Huck’s nature and he asks Molly to follow him to Alaska. Together Huck and Molly find lots of adventure with a gold rush, gunfights, dog sleds, murderers, and so much more.

This story is filled with lots of action and adventure as you follow Huck and Molly into untamed wilderness. Huck is still the little boy we meet years ago. Molly is a head strong woman and bound to keep up with Huck where ever he goes. But she will not follow after him like a lost puppy. I loved the settings with the wilderness of Alaska and everything they faced. Everything is very realistic and I could feel myself with the two of them as they almost freeze.

I have not read the other two books in this series. This did not cause any problems since Resolution could be a stand-alone book. But after reading Resolution I will be definitely be reading both Redemption and Molly Lee.

I received Resolution: Huck Finn’s Greatest Adventure from the author for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.

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New Sight by Jo Schneider

After succumbing to the sudden and terrifying urge to rip people’s eyes out of their sockets, 16-year-old Lysandra Blake finds herself tied down in a psych ward, convinced she’s crazy. The doctors have no answers, and Lys is ready to give up when the mysterious Jeremiah Mason appears, telling Lys that she’s not insane—she’s addicted to a rare and deadly drug that she has no recollection of using. Mr. Mason offers to take her to his facility where he can treat her. Desperate yet suspicious, Lys agrees to go with Mr. Mason to his facility where she meets with a fellow addict, the tall and handsome Kamau. Together they discover that Mr. Mason may not have told them the truth about their condition—they’re thrown headfirst into a world of daunting powers that are not only unbelievable, they are dangerous.

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My Review

4 stars

Lysandra is 16 years old and has developed the desire to takes people’s eyes out. No one can figure out what is wrong with Lys and so she is locked in an asylum. In walks Dr. Mason and says that Lys has been exposed to a drug that she has no knowledge of taking. She takes her away to his private facility to others that are in the same boat as her. Lys is not crazy, she has magical abilities that at awakening but cause the destructive behaviors.

It seems a long time ago people had magic abilities relating to the five senses. Those that didn’t created technology to make up for it. That technology eventually overtook the world and those with magical abilities started to find those abilities repressed. But that doesn’t mean that Lys and the others are safe. Dr. Mason is not telling the whole truth so they escape and find themselves being hunted down by those that want to stop magic users.

I liked how this is a fresh take on magic and how it has a set of rules that you don’t normally see. Initially I really liked the story as it was developing. The problem I had was that after that it started to fall a little flat. There was not a lot of character development which left me not really caring about the different characters.

The pacing of the book seemed off toe which started to be a bit distracting. This book feels like it could be the first in a series but I’m not seeing a sequel. It’s not a bad story but I think that it could have been revised a little to make it pop better.

I received New Sight a long time ago free of charge. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.

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