City of Shadows

City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin

This is a historical novel that begins in 1920 Berlin. It tells the story of a Russian Jewess who immigrated after being attacked in the Pogroms in Russia. It also tells the tale of last Czar and his family and their fate. It tells about the rise of a young politician in Germany named Hitler and how he helped to save the Germans from the poverty and starvation that followed World War I. It tells the story of an ordinary German who turned out to be an extraordinary man.

I really enjoyed this book. Ariana Franklin does a great job weaving a fictional story with factual people. She has done a great job of it with her Mistress of the Art of Death series and continues with this book.

If you are interested in reading more about that time in history, I recommend this book. It gives a good and grim account of life in Germany during that era and the hope that was brought with the rise of the Nazi party, for some. It also makes it easy to see how taking the easy road with one's government can be turning your back on what is right and true.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

This is another selection of young adult fiction. It's possible that there will be a second book but, unlike most young adult fiction these days, it's not obviously set up to be a whole series.

This was about a 16 year old princess who was fat and considered herself to be pretty useless (and she was at first). On her 16th birthday, she is married to the King of the country next to hers and she has no idea why and didn't see him until he lifter her veil after the "I do's" of the wedding ceremony were over.

Elisa is one of those teenage girls in books that drive me crazy. She is clueless about what is going on around her and she doesn't really care at first. Admittedly some of her ignorance is purposeful because of her countries religious beliefs. But she really doesn't start pressing for more information and asserting herself until it is almost too late.

Elisa is a bearer. This means, on her naming day, a beam of sunlight shone on her and a blue jewel was embeded, by God, in her navel. The jewel is alive and warm and pulsing. It pulses more and heats up when she prays. Elisa is supposed to do something great but she has no clue as to what it will be or when the opportunity will arise.

Elisa figures it all out just in the nick of time, of course and disaster is averted. I felt like the author could have done just a little bit more in developing the background of the religion in the book. Everyone seems to be driven by their religious beliefs but I really didn't feel like there was enough depth in the explanations.

This book was okay but even if there is a sequel, I don't think I'll be reading it.

Blood on the Tracks

Blood on the Tracks by Cecilia Holland

This was a Kindle single so I have no idea if it is available in publication anywhere else.

This was a short novella about the Great Uprising that took place in 1877. This was a protest of the railroad workers and the general public against the owners of the railroad and, most specifically, their reduction of wages by 10% as well as increasing the workload of the brakemen by making most freight lines double headers (twice the cars as normal with no extra staff).

There were quite a few parallels with regards to the state of the economy in 1877 and the current economy in 2011. Also, the seeming disregard for the rights and well-being of the workers by the corporate heads seems about the same.

This was a quick and interesting read about a situation in our history that I had never heard of before.