Book review: Lex Trent Versus the Gods by Alex Bell

What's this book about?
Law student Lex Trent is a very lucky man, literary speaking, Lex uses his luck to steal(he really is 'The Shadowman') and con people. One day when it seems like Lex has run out of luck and there seems to be no no escaping jail, the goddess of Luck appears. Lex strikes a deal with the goddess and escapes the police. Lex agrees to be the goddess player in the very dangerous Games, where gods uses humans as play pieces in their own game.

Check out the synopsis on Goodreads.


My thoughts:
Alex Bell certainly has skills when it comes to writing characters that are true to their kind. Lex Trent, the main character, is one selfish boy and his actions made me nod along thinking "I know a couple of Lex Trent's in real life". It's much easier to like some of the supporting characters, for Lex is not a sympathetic person.


Lex and his twin brother lost their parents when they were young. The boys were left in the care of their grandfather, Allister Trent. After a few years of taking care of the boys Allister got the soulless wake, in this book the soulless wake is the fantasy equivalent to Alzheimer. Bell impressed me with the way she wrote about the illness and it becomes evident that she has experienced it up close and personal. I lost my grandmother last winter and she suffered from Alzheimer so I too have first hand knowledge of how the illness gradually takes away your loved one long before they pass away. Lex cannot handle the fact that his grandfather is ill and he escapes to the city. During the day he works in a law firm and in his spare time he is thief.


Lex almost ends up in jail but somehow luck(and a deal with the goddess herself) helps him get away. That's when the story begins and Lex steals an enchanters ship(that will get him into a lot of trouble in the future). 


I was super exited about the this book but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I never felt there was a climax to the story and I felt I wanted more of the world building(I felt it only scratched the surface). The scenes that were supposed to be getting me a bit closer to the edge of my seat never managed to do just that and the problems were to easily solved to my liking. I thought the characters were cleverly written but I never could connect to the story. Still things that happened in the last chapters of the book remained unsolved, but there wasn't any cliffhanger ending, so I think I need to check out the sequel, due in 2011


My rating of this book:
2,5 stars out of 5.


Want a second opinion? Check out the reviews written by some of my book blogging friends below:  
So far only one of the blogs I follow have reviewed the book about Lex Trent, but I expect there will be more reviews from my friends in the future and then I'll update the list below.

A taste from Ana's review over at The Book Smugglers(do check out the entire review): 

An excellent story, with a protagonist who is the epitome of the irreverent scoundrel set against an inventive mythological world, what is not to like?

Want to know more?
Visit Alex Bell's homepage
Read Alex's blog
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Pages(paperback):  344
Publisher: Headline
ISBN 13: 9780755355181
Full disclosure: I received this book from the publisher for a review. I want to thank Samantha at Headline for providing me with a copy of this book.

Book review: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Pages(paperback): 198
Published: 1988

Description from Goodreads:

My Heart Is Afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky."Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams."

Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho's charming fable, now available in English for the first time, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come.

The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist.

The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams.

My opinion of this book:
I'm sorry to say that The Alchemist has to be the biggest disappointment for me(when it comes to reading) in 2009. I really cannot understand what is so life changing about this story. I probably make it sound like I hated this book, that's not the case but I was just really disappointed after all the hype about this book.

My rating of this book:
2.75 out of 5 stars.
 
If you have reviewed this book let me know and I'll post a link to your review below.
Want another opinion on this book? Check out these reviews below:

Book review: Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

This is a book in the chic lit genre about a woman in her late twenties, Rebecca Bloomwood. She lives in a flat in a trendy neighborhood. She works as a journalist at Successful Savings; it doesn't pay her well enough and bores here to death. Rebecca lives a high-maintenance life, a life she cannot afford but finances with credit cards. When the credit card invoices stars showing up in Rebecca's mailbox, she just hides them away; this will eventually led her into trouble. How on earth is she going to pay her debt? She tries to cut back on her favorite hobby, shopping, and save money but that doesn't work for her. Rebecca finds consolation in shopping.. One day Rebecca stumbles upon something that might become an excellent front-page article, it changes her life and the life of the people around her.

The first two books in the Shopaholic series were adapted into a film in 2009, the Australian actress Isla Fisher is playing the main character, Rebecca.

Book details:

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages

• Publisher: Dell; Reprint edition (November 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440241413
• ISBN-13: 978-0440241416

My review:
I read this book as a part of my Chic Lit 2009 Challenge, and I had planned to read the entire Shopaholic series but now I feel that I might be in desperate need for some great suggestions on other chic lit books that I can read instead.

Sophie Kinsella paints a perfect picture of how bad we humans can be in materialist ways, that I'll give to her. BUT I didn't like the book, almost everybody thinks' it's hilarious, sure I giggled a couple of times but hilarious, spectacular? No way! I couldn't feel any sympathy for the main character. I felt the urge to tell Rebecca that she's a compulsive liar with an addiction, and that she needs to go someplace for treatment. If she'd only been created a little more humble and repentant then maybe I would have started liking her. I had high expectations to Confessions of a Shopaholic, I loved Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones diary and expected this book to be somewhat of the same character. The story however is way too exaggerated for my liking; maybe I'm just more like Bridget Jones than Rebecca Bloomwood? LOL.

I listened to the audiobook, unabridged, version of this book and I have one positive thing to say; the narrator, Emily Gray, did a great job telling the story, she was fantastic.

My verdict of this book: 2 out of 5 points.

If you've review this book then let me know and I will ad a link to your review here.

About the author Sophie Kinsella:
The authors real name is Madeleine Wickham, she was born in England in 1969. She lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and their three boys.

Under the pseudonym Sophie Kinsella Madeleine has written five books in the Shopaholic series and four standalone novels. In her own name, Madeleine Wickham, she has published seven novels.