Mini Reviews: Free Four, My Soul to Lose, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Hello all! I'm incredibly behind on reviews and these are three short stories that were on my to-review list. Since they are short stories I decided to write reviews for them and put them all in one post!




Free Four by Veronica Roth

1.5 in the Divergent trilogy

4 stars

In Free Four, Roth accounts chapter 13 from Tobias’s point of view. If you don’t know what chapter 13 is because it’s been a while since you read Divergent or haven’t read Divergent, it’s the knife throwing scene.


I personally think that Four is an interesting character and I loved him in Divergent. He was swoon worthy and his relationship with Tris was built up in a beautiful way. I actually really like reading Tobias’s POV. I think his character has a lot of depth and could’ve uncovered a lot of secrets behind Dauntless. I wouldn’t have minded for the trilogy to be in alternating POVs between Tris and Four, but Allegiant will hopefully prove to be all that is promised.


Cover Thoughts: Big Dauntless symbol. Eh. It doesn’t spark anything in me. The contents are better than the cover.


 


 My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent, narrated by Amanda Ronconi

Prequel to the Soul Screamers series

3.5 stars

Kaylee Cavanaugh was supposed to just have a normal day shopping at the mall, but a panic attack took over and she couldn’t stop screaming. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a psych hospital. As she tries to convince everyone she is fine, another patient seems to be curious about who she is. My first audiobook! I would say it was a success. I didn’t love My Soul to Lose but I really enjoyed it. The narrator could be annoying at times, but she could make the story interesting when it came down to whether I was able to concentrate on the story. I did have a few problems with the narrator’s voice and how she portrayed the characters. Sometimes I liked the voices she made, but her Kaylee voice annoyed me greatly at times. Which is obviously not a good thing considering the fact that Kaylee is the MC. I did enjoy the storyline and I was a fan of the first Soul Screamers book. I really liked seeing how Vincent portrayed Kaylee’s first experience as a banshiede.


Another qualm I had was with the other patient who was revealed to have an ability at the end. I liked this ability quite a bit and she proved to be an interesting character that showed potential to be in the series in the future or even have her own. I was sad that her reveal was so rushed and it left me feeling confused and I had to rewind the audiobook a bit. I’m quite pleased with my first delve into the audiobook world and I’m happy it wasn’t terrible like I was afraid it would be.


Cover Thoughts: It’s simple, but I don’t like that snot color green at all. 


 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, Narrated by Ben Stiller
3 stars

Walter Mitty always has his head in the clouds. Sometimes as a Navy pilot other times a surgeon, and my personal favorite a man accused of a crime. I really liked the portrayal of daydreaming and how everyone wants to escape from reality. Ben Stiller did an excellent job of narration. I’ll be honest I probably would’ve never read this short story or would’ve seen the movie, but after listening to the audiobook I’m quite curious about the movie. I don’t really have a lot to say about Walter Mitty because the story is very short, but it’s free and it’s definitely an audiobook worth listening to.


Cover Thoughts: It’s such an awkward cover, but I see what the movie covers were trying to capture. 

Have you read any of these short stories? What did you think about them? Are you excited for the Divergent movie, which is only a month from release!? Are you planning or have seen The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? Thoughts on the movie?