Stars: ****
Publisher: Yale University Press
Release Date: March 31st, 2015
I received this book from Yale University Press through Netgalley.
I requested this book because I have always loved Dragonflies. Despite loving them I didn't really know much about them but after reading this book I know a great deal. As the author states in the book this is not a field guide and does not go into too much depth about the different species of Dragon and Damselflies but looks over their shared characteristics.
This is a delightful book with some truly stunning photography. I now know the difference between a Dragonfly and a Damselfly (I hadn't even previously known they where two different species) and have a good grasp as to the particulars of their life cycles.
While this book is a great introduction to Dragonflies and Damselflies I found myself wishing there was more information on the different species and even more of their history besides the brief blurb mentioned.
I recommend it or anyone who enjoys nature, bugs and photography.
Release Date: May 2nd 2015
Publisher: Dundurn Group
I recieved a copy of this book to review from NetGalley.
Stars: ***
I was so excited to read this book but felt it could have been so much more.
This book follows three characters, two natives of Loas and one Canadian. Cam is an 18 year-old with some pretty extreme anger issues who moved with his mother from Canada to the country of Laos. Nok is the masseuse he befriended and even started dating, Sheng is her brother who is a bit of a dim wit. When Nok ends up killed everyone blames Cam and it's up to everyone else to do the right thing.
This story takes place in Loas and Tailand, after reading the first few chapters, where Cam admits he has no idea how Loas is pronounced I realized, I had no idea either. So I tracked down this:
Then I realized I only knew vaguely where Laos is actually located. Asia somewhere so I looked it up:
Over all this book taught me quite a bit about Laos culture. It's not a place that you hear a lot about so it was nice to read something set there. I fell in love with the setting and looking at pictures on Google I believe it is the type of place I would like to hike around in.
Cam has a very bad relationship with his mother when they moved to Laos for her job, a common theme in Young Adult books. What was so refreshing about this particular relationship though was that they actually worked things out, which is also pretty rare in YA. So it definitely had that going for it!
At the back of the book it mentions that a breathing technique used in the book (The 1 minute breath) is a real technique and the book has been checked and approved by Kundalini Research Institute and is used in Yoga. This technique is something that I picked up and now use on a regular basis.
While there are a lot of really great things about this book there are also a lot of not so great things about this book.
This book talks about Merit and Karma and has many great philosophies mentioned but when it plays a part as important as it is in The Merit Birds you really need more depth. The information we are given is shallow and almost cosmetic in it's brevity which I found very disappointing.
The whole thing felt rushed and while it was concluded at the end it somehow felt unfinished and the end was really abrupt. One moment Seng was in Thailand and the next he was in prison, Cam finally learned to gain Merit and then that's it, the end. WTF? How does he continue? Does he continue? Did his lesson really stick or will he forget about it when he returns to Canada? I feel that Cam learned a lesson but we as readers where not given long enough to know that it is more then temporary.
Now I did want to make something clear, I did enjoy this story, but it could have been so much better.
