Book Review- Sue's Vision by Andrew D Carlson

Title: Sue’s Vision

 Author: Andrew D Carlson

Series:  Sue #2

Warnings: clean 10+

Source: Author

Other info: Andrew’s first book, Sue’s Fingerprint, was published last year and reviewed here. Andrew is working on a third book, that is not related to Sue.

Summary : Sue and the other clones have set­tled into their new lives after being released from the mil­i­tary base in Cal­i­for­nia. They make new friends in their new home cities, excel in their new jobs, and even start new families. Mean­while, Ted Stevens must still report back to the spe­cial DHS com­mit­tee and make sure the clones do not cause prob­lems in soci­ety. He trav­els around the coun­try vis­it­ing them to mon­i­tor how they adjust. And he con­tin­ues to enlist his sci­en­tist friends to try to pre­dict the behav­ior of the new people. When friends and fam­ily gather together for a reunion, the clones receive another mes­sage and decide to act upon it. Everyone helps to put their plans in action. Unfortunately, they attract the atten­tion of the FBI. Ted must again step in and resolve the sit­u­a­tion. He makes another bold deci­sion. He informs the clones that they, along with their friends, will be picked up and escorted back to Cal­i­for­nia. They’re shocked at what hap­pens when they get there.

Review:  You might remember I reviewed the first in the series some time ago (Sue’s Fingerprint, strength 5) and really enjoyed it. So I was definitely up for reading this one, even though the blurb was a little vaguer and possibly a little less interesting.

The idea of it’s quite nice. All the clones from last time have settled down into family life and are doing quite well. But then they all receive a message from out of space, telling them to save the earth, and to spread the word to humans that they need to save the environment too. And so they do-sending messages to very important people in an attempt to get the message round. Unfortunately, they don’t really think it through. They’re writing in a language only they can understand, and include a key at the end. Please note, if you send strange letters to American officials, you’re likely to be marked a security threat. And Sue and co are. They attract the attention of the FBI, and not in a good way.

It’s a good premise. Not quite as interesting as the original, but could still go well. I love the fact that everyone’s gone off and done their own thing. It’s nice seeing things like that happen. it’s also really cute seeing everyone get together and meet up every now and again (My old school doesn’t.  I think we’ve all totally forgotten/stopped caring about each other-but then, these guys are all clones together).

I like the idea of the clones having their own language. Their own writing system, which I assume is what’s on the cover. Very interesting, and love the description of it- swirls and polygons. I guess that’s what other people see our alphabet as if they don’t know it. I know I think of hiragana and cryllic as swirls/lines. This is something similar. I also like the developments that the researchers at the lab have made. It could go any way, so...

The characters are still the same-lovable, different and fun. Sue is again, down to earth about everything, maybe a little  too simplistic this time, but still a good character. You just feel like this is a set of characters that are generally happy with their lives. They could be a little deeper, which is quite hard considering they originated in book one, but maybe with some more hidden secrets or something. 

The whole thing could have been a little bit more generally epic.  Book one, cloning mice from goo-then humans? Heck yes. This time, an attempt to save the planet. Not quite there. It was interesting methodology, but it could have just had a little more excitement to it. Also, the ending was really quite anticlimactic. Not much really happens there. It’s nice to know that stuff turned out generally ok. But it just didn’t have  the excitement that it started off with.

Overall: Strength 3 tea to an interesting continuation, but could have been better. I hope book 3 has a lot more tension, excitement and such in it. Which shouldn’t be too difficult.

Links: Goodreads | Authorwebsite | 

Weekly Round Up #5

Kind of The Story Siren's In My Mailbox, but with some other bits thrown in too.

I think we can say, in terms of blogging, this has been slow, but in terms of getting stuff...well, I got a lot this week.  Let's see....

Well, there's what can only be described as pure awesomeness from Stephanie at Stepping Out of the Page.  Bookmarks, Potter postcards, and a pretty bracelet? THANK YOU STEPHANIE.

Then there's the stuff from authors and publishers and so on.  Big thanks to Andrew Carlson, who sent me a copy of Sue's Vision (the sequel to Sue's Fingerprints, which earnt strength 5 tea-review here!), to Spinebreakers who sent me a copy of The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg, and to Faber and Faber who sent me a copy of The Fury by Alexander Gordon Smith.

And finally, there's my library stash. Which was originally just Ashes, by Isla J Bick. And then I went to Winchester Discovery Centre. And I just had to pick up Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday,  Intertwined by Gena Showalter, and Crossing Overr by Anna Kendall. Well, I didn't have to. I did.

I think we can safely say, I won't be bored this half term.


And in news....

The blog tour for Witchblood by Emma Mills is coming by on Tuesday (aka Valentines Day. But we don't celebrate that here), so expect a review and a giveaway!

Strange Chemistry have signed Jonathan L Howard! Katya's World looks really interesting....

I got my book club hooked on Goodreads! Well, just the librarian and The Squeaky One, but still....now they know! And my librarian is campaigning to get Goodreads accessible from school.... I can see that working. Not.

I have a poll up in the top left hand corner. It's about what I should be posting, because I sometimes get totally stuck for ideas. So, if you could please just tell me what you want to be seeing here, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

WE'VE BEEN BLOGGING FOR NEARLY A YEAR. I can't believe it either....  Well, on the blogoversary, there'll be a big, international giveaway. Or maybe more. But, please spread the word that Death Books and Tea's blogoversary will (hopefully) be awesome.

That's all. Enjoy life xxx.

Book Review- Sue's Fingerprint by Andrew D Carlson

Title: Sue’s Fingerprint

 Author: Andrew D Carlson

Series:  N/A

Published:  23^rd April 2011 via Smashwords

Warnings: none

Source: Author

Summary : A gel-like substance is suddenly discovered across the country. Ted Stevens, a Director in the Department of Homeland Security, is assigned to investigate. He enlists the help of scientists at a government laboratory to analyze the ‘goo’. They discover the substance was sent to Earth and has unique properties; it can clone animals. Ted soon learns the substance can also clone humans.
Sue is the first of eleven new people cloned from the alien substance. She and the others are contained by Ted on an abandoned military base. While there, the clones receive a message. Sue decides she must deliver it, and one morning they find she’s gone.
During the recovery of Sue, Ted learns of the clones’ message and begins to understand their true intentions. He needs to know more about the clones, so he collects samples for DNA fingerprint testing. The fate of the new people will be decided by the results from Ted’s friends at the laboratory

Review: One day, a gel-ly thing is found everywhere. After observing it, they realise that it clones any living thing it comes into contact with. This includes humans. Eleven humans are made from this, along with mice and squirrels. Believe it or not, we care mainly about the “humans”.  Titular Sue is one of these, and they are all taken to a military base to live, overseen by Ted Stevens and some more staff. Then Sue realises she has a message to deliver and therefore she leaves. Ted and the others need to get her back, and also know what she wants to say. On the way, Ted realises he needs a bit more information about these things, and so tries his luck with DNA. The whole mission really depends on the test results. All these things add up to a kind of sci-fi adventurey book.

The whole going missing thing only happens about halfway through the book. That’s not to say that the first half is a waste of time reading. It was great to read. It starts with a little kid seeing a clone, and then somewhere else they find the gel, and so on. We meet the scientists ,and the human clones. We get a lot of detail of the military base. We get a  lot of detail as to their lives, and a lot more detail in general.

These people became very real. Its interesting how they had to be taught everything, such as how to make coffee and little things like that we do everyday. (well not me.  I make tea. But you get my drift). I found watching them learning cooking skills and surfing the internet very sweet, and it gave me an interesting look on how our lives work. Seeing everyday processes broken down like that actually gives a completely different perspective to life. Thanks for that, Andrew.

The characters were all well developed. All the clones were obviously very similar as they all had zero knowledge of earth before, but they all seemed too get a bit more depth to them, and individuality, such as Sue being an excellent cook, and someone else being a great coffee maker.  The normal people, aside from Ted, all seemed to merge into one. Probably because they all seemed to do the same things.

The writing was easy to get through, written in a style that flows and easy to understand what’s going on. This is an easy read for bedtimes and times when you just want to settle down with a good book.

The ending seemed a little too happy ending and neat to wield a sequel, even though I would like to see more of Sue, and how they get on in their new lives.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a little known book that is better than the summary(at least the summary that came on the back of my copy) lets on.

 Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |