The Ride Home (The Vega Family Book 1)
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The Adventures of A. Soul Volume 6 Sep 24, Available for download now. Available to ship in days. Soul Volume 5 Aug 24, Her intrepid, questioning nature is a threat to the natural order, but allows her to find a number of magical elements. The first half of this page book was horrendously slow, with too much unnecessary detail, but once things got started, it became a hell of a ride. These covers look suspiciously similar Mar 20, Bill rated it really liked it.
I have read many books written by David Baldacci. But I have never read one quite like this. His usual mystery, suspense, triller was not to be seen in this young adult novel. The closest fantasy stories that I have read are the Harry Potter stories. Yet, here I have read a fantasy quite extraordinaire.
The main character Vega Jane. She lives is a simple world with simple people and leaders who want to keep things that way. Vega wants t I have read many books written by David Baldacci. Vega wants to know the truth and she wants to escape her world. Baldacci leaves the main character on the start of a quest. So chances are that this will be the first of a series. And I may end up reading the others.
I especially liked how the romance was subtly fed into the story, and wasn't made to overpower the plot. A gripping novel with an intriguing tale to tell: I know a lot of you like this and I get that. That said I just don't want to put any more time into this one. For one thing it's just so young. It strikes me a bit more as a juvenile read than a YA read.
The Ride Home (The Babysitter)
I'm laying it aside so it gets the one star I give for books I decide not to finish. Not insulting you who like it, please enjoy. View all 3 comments. Jan 26, Jon rated it liked it Shelves: This is my first experience with a David Baldacci novel and unlike most older readers who will pick up The Finisher, I was truly a tabula rasa.
My knowledge of what this book was about was limited and all I knew was that there's a major Sony movie deal, it's written by an acclaimed author, and that it's some some sort of fantasy. I think knowing as little as I did worked in my favor because I didn't come in with high expectations.
The Finisher is a fantasy-paranormal hybrid with tons of world-building and so expect a ton of info-dumping scattered throughout the book. The answers readers are seeking are few and far between in The Finisher, but when readers do receive any sort of information, it just leads to more questions. The obscene amount of info-dumping was a bit problematic and I wish Baldacci had spread it more evenly, instead of just clumping it together.
It's fine to have a bit of a mysterious aura and to keep the readers in the dark, but if after hundreds of pages, readers only have more questions, it's extremely disconcerting. Despite the unhealthy amount of info-dumping and boundless questions I had, I really enjoyed The Finisher. The beginning of The Finisher was a bit too dry, but once I passed the first pages or so, I started to really like Vega Jane and started to enjoy the story.
I'm confident that readers who can brave the problematic beginning will enjoy the rest of the novel. It's easy to see why so many readers have fallen in love with David Baldacci's novels because his ability to string readers along and have them turn page after page is impressive. David Baldacci is a superb writer, but the vernacular in The Finisher is extremely unimpressive and unimaginative. To make it seem like a strange world, Baldacci has created a language for the Wugs and it's a bit too ordinary. The constant repetition of words like Wugs and Hel is extremely irritating and at a certain point, I was getting fed up with the vernacular.
The vernacular of the Wugs wasn't extremely effective and I feel like James Dashner's The Maze Runner created a language that was better fleshed out. The plot of The Finisher is a bit difficult to describe because The Finisher is a bit too long for it's own good. The Finisher clocks in at over pages and for a story of this magnitude, it's too big of a stretch. Baldacci's world is finely crafted and his characters are wonderfully developed, but there were too many lulls in the plot where nothing happened for large stretches of time.
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As much as I enjoyed The Finisher, a decent portion of this novel could have been edited better or better yet, Baldacci could have given readers at least some answers. I definitely think that Vega Jane is one of the best heroines I've read about in so long. There isn't nearly enough strong female characters that kids can look up to in literature and Baldacci is trying to fix that with Vega Jane.
Vega is such a fierce, strong-willed character that readers will admire for her endless determination and fiery personality. Her dedication to finding out what's really going on in Wormwood is incredible and readers will form a irreversible bond with her. Readers will root for Vega Jane and yearn for her to succeed, Jane is the epitome of what a main character should be. The other characters in The Finisher are just as finely written, but I'm going to pass on discussing them in an effort to avoid spoilers. The pacing of The Finisher and the lack of questions may turn off some readers, but others will be enchanted by the extremely in-depth world-building and characterization that The Finisher has an abundance of.
The Finisher isn't the strongest opening to a series, but it does promise a ton of thrills in the upcoming installments. I'm really looking forward to the next book in The Finisher series and I really hope that some of the issues I had with this book will be circumvented by Baldacci.
Jun 17, jv poore rated it it was amazing Shelves: Admittedly, I did a double-take. My treasure chest is always loaded with Middle-Grade and YA books. The characters enchant immediately from the ferocious spit-fire Vega to her perfect complement of a best bud, the docile, dependable Delph. Baldacci magically presents a supporting cast of Wugs that, on the one hand, seem a simple-minded crew….
On the other hand, well…things are not always as they appear. Seemingly, the Wugs were content to plod through each Light and Night accepting the nebulous answers to rather pointed questions, and most certainly, never dreaming of leaving the safe haven of Wormwood, for aside from the surrounding dark and foreboding Quag, filled with monstrous creatures, there was simply a void.
Always happy to embrace the intelligent, determined female; it was with great delight, I realized our Vega was not to be so quickly satisfied. Her actions convey empathy, kindness, loyalty and selflessness; all admirable yet apparently elusive traits. The reminder is subtle, but strong. While her world, along with the creatures and customs within, is the thing of vivid imaginations and unparalleled creativity; the passion, desire, strength and remarkably hard choices are all realities that we mere humans must abide.
The cunning, enthralling tale hints at this, without boldly announcing it; which is one of the thousands of reasons that I simply adore this tome. In a few weeks, when school starts, I fully expect to see students reading The Finisher as it slyly rests on their legs underneath of their desks and cafeteria tables.
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I will share a smile and thumbs up with these brilliant blokes. This review was written for Buried Under Books Blog. Mar 16, Rick rated it it was amazing. It seems like the is no genre of writing that David Baldacci can't excel in. With his latest, The Finisher, he takes on the fantasy genre and does a great job with it. The protagonist is a young 14 year old girl who lives in a somewhat dystopian society called Wormwood.
She and her younger brother are living on their own, as their parents are in a facility awaiting their death. There are mysteries It seems like the is no genre of writing that David Baldacci can't excel in. There are mysteries that arise having to do with the area outside of Wormwood and Vega Jane soon finds herself the focus of the authorities because of her friendship with a character who Is wanted by the Council. She is forced to confront truths about her family, her friends, and herself before the book is over and call upon an inner strength she never knew she had.
The ending definitely leaves open the possibility of this becoming a series Feb 23, Kahleia Corpuz added it. It seemed like some really interesting action scenes were really not all too great. The author doesn't even TRY to explain the lingo that's passed around in the book. It seemed to drag on on some plot points which made me lose interest in this book very quickly.
View all 4 comments. Which is practically the story of my whole damn life. Mar 31, Claire rated it did not like it Shelves: I have been reading this book for a year and in that year I have done what I often do when I read a book that takes me a long time, particularly if I don't like it -- I take notes about it on my phone. Usually, I take those notes and craft them into a review to post on Goodreads, but this time I think I'm just going to type my notes verbatim and leave it.
If this book is representative of the works of David Baldacci, then I hope never to have the misfortune t I have been reading this book for a year and in that year I have done what I often do when I read a book that takes me a long time, particularly if I don't like it -- I take notes about it on my phone. If this book is representative of the works of David Baldacci, then I hope never to have the misfortune to read another.
This book is abysmal. I received a free promotional copy of The Finisher. I sincerely wish I'd left it on a bench somewhere in Florida.
Did nobody edit this book? Please never read this book. This is incomprehensible gibberish.
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I'm serious, nobody read this book before they published it. Chock full of dense, needless jargon. David Baldacci replaces common English words with other common English words for no discernible reason. His invented words are nothing more than English words with syllables or letters transposed or with a little bit of word-final elision in the hopes that you won't notice that "Wugmort" is "mugwort" subjected to a soupcon of metathesis for flair and that "Destin" is "destiny" without the y. His world features strange creatures with names that would fit nicely with the rest of the mutts in Panem, but they are never described sufficiently for the reader to actually know what they are.
Nor is there any clear reason for the world to have humans and dogs but jabbits instead of whatever the heck jabbits are replacing. With David Baldacci as your zoologist, all you need to know is that they have stupid names and can kill you! This book is a train wreck. God, I hate Vega Jane. Why is she so obnoxious? Of course nobody likes you, Vega! You're horrible to everyone! There isn't anyone that you don't think you're better than!
Except for the dude whose stuttering you magically cured, which, don't get me started. I sincerely don't understand the point of the magic in this book. Wtf flashbacks to prehistoric battles. Wtf things that look like your brother and then try to eat you. Wtf mirror thing that is apparently a plot device to keep Vega away from You-Magically-Cured-My-Stuttering dude's dad long enough for them to cut his legs off. Just wtf in general. This would be a blatant Hunger Games ripoff if it were at all comprehensible. The whole use of our timekeeping system with new names fills me with an uncontrollable rage.
That's days, minutes, birthday, years for the uninitiated. It's a world-building philosophy that pushes beyond regular lazy and closes in on inane. I have a hard time believing that there is no on at Scholastic that had enough sense to say, "Hey, David, this is kind of stupid. Why don't we just use the regular words for things? This book is really bad enough as it is. I, for one, still hate her.
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Now that I've finished this book, I am going to give it away. It's really a terrible book, though. I'm not sure David Baldacci has ever read any fantasy, or at least, any good fantasy. It's crap like this that gives fantasy a bad name. The only problem is that she's drunk and she insists that he drive Jenny, the babysitter, home. Jenny is eighteen and she just broke up with her boyfriend because she wanted to be with a real man, not a boy.
Their worlds collide and they The Babysitter Series 1 It's Steve's birthday, which means he might actually get to have sex with his wife when they get home from dinner. Their worlds collide and they both end up getting exactly what they need. If you don't enjoy these types of stories, do NOT read. Kindle Edition , 22 pages.
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Ride Home , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Jan 12, Kathleen Downey rated it liked it. Quick read This was a quick read. Hence what the story is about. W quick and to the point. Predictable but still enjoyable for. A fast bedtime read. Neth rated it liked it Jul 01, Jaikirat Singh Seth rated it it was ok Jun 27,
I will say, though, is the fact that one of the most upsetting things in the book for me was the idea of mob mentality. Character development is not especially strong, for instance. Kindle Edition , 22 pages. I sit here on a Friday night, listening to loud, theatrical soundtracks with my headphones and smoking from a hooka, all the while finishing my novel. Almost the entire book "Some people have evil inside them, but that's what God is for, to fix them when they can't fix themselves.