Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh was an interesting novel. I was not sure what to expect going into it, but am happy I did decide to read it. I normally am a huge fan of post-apocolyptic novels, but this one was different. It didn't focus as much on society as it does the characters of the novel. Spademan, a garbageman, is the protagonist of Shovel Ready, and it is easy to understand his rational and thinking. He has a past and personality that keeps him interesting and morals in a society that most have given up on.

The structure of Shovel Ready is pretty standard: a common man must fight an evil man that has taken control of the land to save the princess. I was hoping for some plot twists, but there was not many, making the novel somewhat boring at parts. It could have been better with surprises or being a little more unpredictable. One of my favorite things of Shovel Ready is how well Sternbergh describes plot and helps the ready to understand the society and what the characters are dealing with.

One of the biggest problems with the novel is the formatting. The story is told in thoughts that each come as separate paragraphs, making it a quick read; however, this formatting get repetitive and can be confusing at times when switching between thoughts and dialogues. Also, I'm not sure if it was the font or spacing between lines, I could not speed read as quickly as normal because I lost focus on words due to formatting.

Overall, I would recommend Shovel Ready to anyone that likes a quick read about a post-apocolyptic novel that is action packed and has many Christian motifs.

The Ballad of a Small Player review

"Lord" Doyle was man who had to flee England with money he was hoping to gamble away. This novel is a story of the abusive relationship a man has with gambling and a relationship the reader will root on with a woman Lord Doyle meets through his adventure through Macau. Baccarat is the game of choice because it is fast paced and based on luck, meaning you can win or lose everything in minutes making it difficult to walk away from the table, and this is what fuels Lord Doyle's gambling addiction.

Lord Doyle is a protagonist that the reader will root on and sympathize with during his hard-falls. Learning his story and the story of his friends will make it easy to connect with him and the character development throughout the novel helps the reader to understand his thinking even when it is difficult to agree with. Finishing the novel, I wanted to know what happens next to the protagonist and how his life will work once the story is over.

Overall, the mood of the novel moves up and down and as a reader, I found it hard to put the book down during both moods. I have always had a fascination with gambling and card games, and would recommend this novel to anyone else with similar interests. It shows the depression and ecstasy that can come with a gambling addiction. There is also culture and superstitions from Macao that I learned from this novel, giving me insight into a new culture.