Book Review - The Militia House: A Novel by John Milas

 

The Militia House: A Novel by John Milas is about Corporal Loyette and his squad finding a haunted house. In 2010, Alex Loyette was promoted to Corporal and team lead of his squad. He and his unit are working at a new base in Kajaki, Afghanistan and working to finish up their deployment to go to the next location.

Their duties are straightforward but essential to the new base. They unload and load cargo in and out of helicopters.  When there are no deliveries to be made, the unit finds themselves bored and with limited things to do, they are looking for any opportunity to occupy themselves. 

Before their allied British soldiers leave the base for their next assignment, they tell Loyette and his men about a rumor that is circulating the base. Not too far off from base is an old Soviet-era militia house that they claim is haunted. After spending their days being bored, Loyette and his unit don't need much convincing to make the trip outside of the base to explore the haunted barrack.

They decide to take a short excursion during the day when they are not assigned any duties. They thought it was all a joke about the place being haunted, until they enter the militia house and realize that something doesn’t feel right. In the days that follow, they try to forget the house but they have strange and unsettling dreams. Then weird things start to happen around their own base. They thought it was the stress from being in war but, maybe it’s something else that won’t let them go.

The book was an okay read and moved very slowly. It did have some spooky elements but nothing that might cause nightmares. The book was a bit hard to get into in the beginning as the author used a lot of military terminology and didn't really explain what they meant until much later. The pace also didn’t pick up towards the last quarter of the story.  There were quite a few pages where nothing really happened other than reading about their day to day. It was an interesting glimpse into military processes and procedures. The novel was a quick read but I found the ending disappointing. I wish the author told us why the militia house seemed to target Loyette and his men and what was haunting them. Along with the importance of the stick figures and porcupine needles. It was an okay read and I might be open to reading another book by the author if it's not very military focused.

Book Review - In the Tunnel by Julie Lee

 

In the Tunnel by Julie Lee is about a family’s journey to escape North Korea. Myungi-gi knows that war between North and South Korea is inevitable. Life in North Korea has become unbearable where most people live in fear that they might disappear if they do not follow their regime’s rules.

Myungi-gi’s family decide to make plans to escape as life is becoming unbearable and harder to survive. However, things take a turn for the worse when his father is abducted by the secret police when they were about to leave. Their plans to escape hinged on their father coming with them.  Myungi-gi feels shattered because he knows that his family needs to escape to survive but he is unable to leave his father behind. He feels guilty because deep down he believes his father’s abduction was his fault.

I have read the author’s previous book, Brother’s Keeper, and enjoyed it. This book can be read as a standalone but readers of the previous book would notice some recurring characters. The book is split between the past and the present, with both being narrated by Myungi-gi. 

In the past, he talks about his family’s journey to South Korea and the struggles and dangers they faced. In the current timeline, we find that Myungi-gi joined the war efforts and is stuck in an enemy tunnel.  It was interesting trying to figure out how the shy, gentle bookish Myungi-gi ends up fighting in the war when it seemed like that was the farthest thing from his mind.

I liked the previous novel but I didn’t really like this one. I had a hard time connecting with Myungi-gi, his younger sister, Yooemi, and his parents. I felt like there wasn’t much time spent on character development. I felt that this book was missing something that prevented me from liking it as much as the previous book. In the Tunnel is an emotional read about loss and survival but there is hope for the characters that they would be able to overcome the obstacles in their lives. I was surprised that the book is targeted for middle school readers as I felt that it was too graphic and despairing at times. Overall, I did enjoy the book and learned a lot about North Korea and the struggles that refugees face when trying to escape.

Book Review - The Christmas Blessing by Melody Carlson

Photo Credit - Amazon

In the year of 1944, a young woman is clutching her young infant while weighing her impossible situation.  The father of Amelia's child was shot down in the South Pacific during the war. She loses hope as she lost her job and has no money. She decides to reach out to her infant's paternal grandparents as her beau always spoke highly of his childhood and upbringing.  Amelia and Jimmy take the train to meet Jimmy's grandparents and Amelia hopes they would take her and her son in. When she arrives an unfortunate accident causes her situation to become more dire, but when she finds out that his family is rich, would Amelia still be able to go through her plan?

This was the second novel I read by Melody Carlson. Both novels had central themes of Christmas and losing someone, but also redemption. The novella was a quick and lighthearted read with a "Christmas Miracle" sprinkled in.

**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion**