I have kidnapped your review. Your review is not harmed and shall be released as soon as you meet my demands.
In exchange for giving you back your review, which I am prepared to do, you will first need to provide for me:
1 copy of The 5th Wave #2 – undamaged, complete, unmarked (except for your signature or a stylized message to me).
This copy of The 5th Wave #2 must also contain certain characters unharmed and ready for me to snuggle them in my imagination.
Characters include:
Cassie – Because she’s badass
Zombie – Because he’s adorable.
Nugget – Don’t ever even think about hurting him.
Ringer – She is my hero.
The Silencer (I won’t mention its real name here so as not to spoil) – This character is essential. Failure to provide this character will result in immediate disposal of your review. I’m not even kidding.
Please leave my requested item in my PO Box. Do not call the police – they can’t help you for I am no longer human at this point but a starved, ghost-like creature dependent on my next hit of The 5th Wave lest I waste away. If I see that you have called the police (or the next best thing, your publisher) then you will leave me with no choice but to kill the review.
I’m sorry it had to come to this, Mister Yancey. I had hoped that we could come to some kind of reasonable arrangement. But you had to go and write a wonderful book and the next one is not due for publication until August 2014. August 2014? Now do you see how you have pushed me into a corner here? I’m an every day hero, doing what I must to survive.
Once my demands are met, I will upload the review as promised. Think about this, Yancey. Nobody needs to get hurt here. We can all win.
Sincerely,
Kat Kennedy
An ARC was supplied to me by the publisher for the purpose of greater understanding American line dancing. Alas, all I used it for were review purposes that I was in no way paid for. Bummer.
Usually V and I go on random adventures together. Like that time she was a Steampunk airship captain and I was helping her storm a flying fortress to...moreUsually V and I go on random adventures together. Like that time she was a Steampunk airship captain and I was helping her storm a flying fortress to steal back some booty. Or like when we went trekking through an alien jungle to rescue a space whale from some poachers. Ya know, we hang out. Have fun. Repress our strong feelings for each other in lieu of maintaining a platonic friendship. The usual.
So I’m pretty used to her taking me on wild adventures. I just don’t think I’m ever going to get used to reading her wild imagination! Through the Ever Night was, if possible, even better than Under the Never Sky. Rossi’s skill as a story teller has only grown and improved, so too has her characters. I don’t usually like to reference character hotness as a selling point in a book – but these two don’t even need to touch to be steaming up the pages which (now that I think about it, is probably a fire hazard). As always, some of the best parts about Rossi’s writing is the litany of secondary characters – Roar being one serious MVP.
Once again his wit and personality bring a much needed buoyancy and humour to an otherwise action-packed, edge of your seat, angst fest that left me clutching the book yelling, “What?! WHAT!?!” and “NOOOOOO!!!! NOOOO!! Oh my god howwillieversurvive!?!” You know it’s been a good book when you’re left thinking, “Oh yeah! It is ON, baby!”
I read a lot of good books these days, having become exceptionally good at weeding out stuff I’m pretty sure I’ll like – so it takes a special kind of series/book to make my top five of all time. Under The Never Sky certainly does and not just because V would falcon punch me if I didn’t say that.
It’s hard not to respect a book that kicks ass from start to finish. Especially the writing which has become smoother. Particularly in regards to the well-conceptualized action scenes which seems to be something that Rossi does particularly well, and everything is really easy to visualize. The Aether, an aspect of this book that exceedingly confused people the last time round, will probably still confuse you. She explains it more in this book but still, what is an Aether? Buggered if I know. And you know what? Two books in and I still don’t CARE. It’s there, it’s awesome. It’s rocking the Casbah. What’s a Casbah? I don’t know either, but it rocks. (Okay, lies. I totally know what the Casbah is. So sue me.)
Seriously, I have a very small list of books that I love more than life itself but THIS ONE IS ON IT. Go read now!
Because you can’t come with V and I to save the Prince from the Alturi Prison on the third moon of the Kayman system until you do!(less)
Steph, baby, honey-munchkin. You are going to love this one. I usually don’t do Dystopians much anymore. Steph still loves them though, so I’m kind of...moreSteph, baby, honey-munchkin. You are going to love this one. I usually don’t do Dystopians much anymore. Steph still loves them though, so I’m kind of excited to see how she’ll feel about it. I didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t loved Bracken’s previous work, Brightly Woven. Yet this book was getting rave reviews. All I can say is, my god that writer’s done her work. This was a massive improvement on both a technical level and story-telling level.
Ruby lives in a world where an entire generation of children spontaneously sprout super-human powers. This results in her being towed off to a concentration camp where she is raised under constant threat of death and inhumane conditions. But when Ruby breaks out of Thurmond, the Dystopian equivalent of an Auschwitz, she finds that life on the outside isn’t much better. She meets up with a group of kids and the adventure goes from there with a lovable cast of characters. The back drop of this hauntingly close dystopian world begins to unfold.
As I said, Bracken’s writing has improved dramatically. Her only real issue involves vague writing in connection to action scenes and I would have ideally preferred a smoother, tighter plot. The scene where a van is attacked is a good example. It’s a confusing hot mess to figure out what exactly happened. The writing, uncharacteristic considering the rest of the novel, was not smooth at all and there was a strange disjointed feeling – the same one that had plagued Beautifully Woven. This is a pretty significant development. Almost as good as getting out a near perfect debut novel, is learning and developing and improving so much on the next, which Bracken has clearly done. Especially when I read it thinking, “Is this even the same author?” For this, Bracken, I salute you!
But this is a very character driven novel and as such, the characters are a big part of what makes it a great read. Liam, Chubs, Suz, Clancy – these are the big characters that keep you reading alongside Ruby. If you don’t connect to Ruby or these other characters, then you will struggle to enjoy it at all. The novel races almost from start to finish – though readers will have to excuse a little bit of a bumpy beginning. Darkest Minds seems to have something to say about true freedom, but I can’t actually decide what main theme it’s working on. It’s not a perfect novel, there’s still plenty of improvement to be had in tightening the plot, technicalities and smoothing out some of the narration. The romance between the two leads wasn’t as convincing as I would have liked. It’s never ideal when a reader wonders what even connects them, let alone binds them in love, but I felt it was an enjoyable book.
In fact, this would be the one aspect of Bracken’s writing that I feel has been neglected. North and Sydelle had a much more believable connection with a more developed romance than Ruby and Liam got. However, the story manages to move along at a brisk pace without ever really falling into being stagnant or boring. Darkest Minds mostly hits all the high notes and, in my opinion, it’s well worth checking out. People keep saying that Dystopia is a dead genre, but I think Steph and I are very happy to see it fighting the odds!
The ARC was provided to me for review purposes. I did not receive any money, gifts, favours or dragons for reviewing it. Though I'd have liked the dragons./>
It’s been so long since I actively disliked a book that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. The more I tried to separate my dislike for the ch...moreIt’s been so long since I actively disliked a book that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. The more I tried to separate my dislike for the characters and storytelling and try to analyze it impartially, the more I found myself saying, “Bugger this! Drink anyone?” to the empty air around me.
Crewel is a post-apocalyptic dystopian world in which women are oppressed and tightly controlled. It is a world where matter and people can be weaved and stitched through special looms that Spinsters use. This should have been right up my alley. It was definitely right up something, but it wasn’t my alley.
Unfortunately, Crewel is a heavily character-based novel. I say unfortunately because there isn’t a single character with more complexity or depth than a kiddie pool and certainly none of them are even a fraction of the fun. Even the main character, whose head we live in, is so vague and two dimensional that any actions and emotions she displays felt disconnected from the reality of the novel. This story, even in its most intense moments, was emotionless and the opposite of affecting. It was like watching a play only the stage is at the bottom of the cliff and you’re at the top. So far removed that you can see what the actors are doing but engaging in them or the story is impossible.
There are a number of characters the narrator expects us to care about: Elanor, Valery, Amie, Jost, Erik, Pryana. However, most of these characters barely even have a role. Most of Valery’s speaking lines come after the Great Tragedy that befalls her – and they’re still only a few lines. Elanor as well, while having a slightly bigger role, is little more than a convenient plot device and represents one of the only semi-positively written female characters. Her role is so tightly packed into being a convenient tell-machine for the narrator to pass information, and to resolve a later plot point that there is nothing else to her.
The plot itself is a hot mess with no direction or focus. It flits around distractedly, trying to accomplish everything and achieving nothing. Don’t even get me started on the ending! The main selling point of this novel is the weaving – which Adelice does almost none of since she spends more time making goo goo eyes are boys than she ever does interacting with women or doing the damn thing this book was named after.
This is made even worse when you consider the face that the romance in this book is justifiably scoff-worthy. There isn’t even enough material between them for one convincing romance. Since Adelice is about as interesting as wet cardboard, it’s hard to imagine anyone falling for her. Each boy barely fares better. Their personalities combined still wouldn’t save them from being inhumanely dull. They are just two more wooden puppets in a whole cast of wooden puppets.
For a novel that is supposed to be about the struggles of women in a highly patriarchal world, this novel was dreadfully sexist. When I spoke to a friend about this issue, they said, “I tend to disagree with a lot of the criticism re: the book being sexist, but think you could probably make a more compelling case.”
Well, buckle up your seatbelt, sunshine*! Here’s my case!
*Seatbelt not actually required.
Readers can and should make a deal about the slut-shaming and complete lack of positive female characters. That’s an issue all in itself. But then, I guess, one could also sweep that aside with justifications. Because there are unpleasant and horrible women out there – because women are people, and people come in a mixed bag. And a society so entirely preoccupied with purity would result in citizens slut-shaming girls for acting outside of those bounds. So there’s obviously an important discussion to be had on those topics, even though they are not definitely sexist on their own, only kind of sexist.
For me, the true test came when I considered what my Southern and Imaginary mother always told me and that is, “Honey cupcake, y’all should know that actions speak louder than words.” So true, Southern and Imaginary mother. So true. So whilst this book may have given lipservice to how unfair life was for women and how that TOTALLY wasn’t right or good, what service did the narration and plot actually have to say about women? Put it this way: When comparing the relevance and representation given to male and female characters in relation to their contribution to the novel, what does it say about women?
Almost every single male character we meet is important. Cormac, Jost, Erik are the three big ones. There are only a handful of other males with speaking roles in this book and they’re fairly neutral in their representation. People just doing their job. Only one male with a speaking role is depicted badly, which is a drunk, handsy official at a party – and he is still not portrayed worse than the woman trying to vie for his attention. At least, the characters narrating the situation focus on how disgusting she is, while he only gets a passing mention. I think there may be a waiter who has a speaking role for the purpose of showing how segregated and unfair they world is, but that’s it.
Compare that to the novel’s complete and utter lack of focus on women – which is pretty disgraceful for a novel that’s supposed to be about women’s struggles in a patriotic society. The only important women in this book are Adelice and the women who torment her. We are introduced to whole batches of women, who are immediately dismissed by the character and text as meaningless and valueless. The girls from Adelice’s hometown? Just simpering morons waiting to get mated. Even her own younger sister cares for little else. It seems no one is as deep and thoughtful as Adelice. Then when she enters Coventry with a large group of her peers, they are immediately shown to be jealous and power-hungry, but ultimately completely inconsequential. We don’t meet any of them ever again whilst Jost, Erik and Cormac receive the large bulk of Adelice’s, and the narrative’s attention. Because they’re what really matters, ya know? What the menfolk are doing. The only exception to this rule, because it is a pattern repeated yet again when Adelice joins the Spinsters who are also cliquey and immediately dismissed from the narrative as pointless and worthless like the literally dozens of other women we meet, is Maela and Pryana. Maela is a power-hungry psychopath and Pryana is a power-hungry, vicious, idiot. Both are stupid and extremely ineffective at what they do. Female solidarity doesn’t exist in this novel. Unless you’re referring to the convenient plot-device that is Elanor. She is the sole exception.
Add to this the fact that the women in this novel all act inexplicably irrational. There is evil Cormac, and evil Maela and evil Pryana. Only one of them acts intelligently and with rationale – I’ll let you pick which one. You can depend on the evil women to be emotional, lashing out and sometimes hysterical. Behaviour that is never depicted in the men. For example, Maela asks Adelice to remove a strand from the weave. The strand is a person who doesn’t need to be removed and doing so could harm the weave, so she refuses. Maele takes her scalpel and tears into the weave out of anger. It turns out this was a school where Pryana’s sister lived. So Pryana… blames Adelice?! Because that totally makes sense. And she spends the rest of the novel irrationally tormenting Adelice. Valery, similarly blames Adelice for things that are entirely out of her control. It is so manufactured and senseless that it made the novel ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as the fact that Adelice spent the novel entirely focused on boys. The plot went something like this:
Adelice’s family dies
Cormac
meets horrible girls
boy
boy
Cormac
stuff about weaving
boy
boy
boy
boy
Cormac
More horrible girls
boy
boy
boy
Cormac
Cormac
Even Loricel, supposedly the one, decent woman in power in this book is little more than a caricature. You can’t claim a feminist text when the narration itself, despite constantly being surrounded by women, decides that all the male characters are so much more interesting and worth focusing on. When the few male characters are afforded exponentially more important roles than any of the many, many female characters – many of whom don’t even get the honour of a name or mention outside of just Horrible Female #35 who says horrible thing to Adelice. When the rate of decent male character so far outstrips the demonstration of decent female characters that there isn’t even room for comparison, you have a problem. You have a book that wants to say something about women, but ignores them in favor of focusing on men.
That is really fucking sexist. So… Bugger this! Drink, anyone?(less)
West has a brilliant imagination and she’s jammed packed it into this book like it’s got an expiry date and needs to be used up. What she’s done here...moreWest has a brilliant imagination and she’s jammed packed it into this book like it’s got an expiry date and needs to be used up. What she’s done here is weave a lovely narrative of two different realities into one coherent story and I think she’s done that very well. Let’s face it. It’s not easy to mix two completely different but chronologically equal events into one cohesive product. I have to admit to wondering, before I picked it up, if West had bitten off more than she could chew. And to be honest, if a lesser author had taken it on, it’s very likely their head would have exploded. In fact, sometimes I’d be like, “Dude! She just intergrated that plotline from the other story and we’re seeing phases of it here! Awesome!”
Addie was a fantastic character – full of personality, charm and wit. She almost completely won me over and I think her struggles and achievements in this book were well telegraphed. Because she felt so deeply, it helped connect to the story and give it a great emotional investment.
Feelcopter – it’s coming for you.
The book explorers to alternate lives for Addie and she has to decide which of two realities she has to chose to go through with. It’s actually really great to watch how she grows in each life – because she grows in two different ways and becomes two kind of different people who just happen to look alike. Mixed in with this coming of age story is a mystery and the overall plot which kind of rocks.
Both alternate realities have different boys in them: Trevor and Shitforbrains. Her relationship with Trevor is insanely sweet and refreshingly lovely. They have a complex and understandable friendship and chemistry. As for Shitforbrains, well, the best thing I can say about him is:
All up this is a very proficient book by an insanely lovely author, which you’d know if you saw our interview with her. This was a pretty high concept novel which meant that West didn’t really get the opportunity to fully embrace and lovemonkeyschnuggle with it all as much as it’s obvious she wanted to. What I generally found with West’s writing was that it was a very pragmatic, spartan kind of writing. Almost the opposite to Spooner’s writing in Skylark. There wasn’t anything wrong with West’s writing, but I didn’t necessarily feel inspired by it or in awe of it either. For some people, that’s going to be something they need to consider – for others it’s a freakin’ relief.
In the end, if you want to sit down and look into two alternate futures – one where you read this book and one where you don’t, you’re probably going to be favourable to the one where you do. It’s a refreshing, enjoyable change of pace to the usual suspects of Paranormal romances and dystopian Sci-fi.
*An ARC of this book was provided to me by the author. No goods or services were exchanged for this review. Not that I didn’t want them too. I have the biggest girl crush on Kasie West. But, you know, she’s married and I’m married and we could never find the right time or place to meet up…
Whilst I was aware of this novel before Stephanie read and reviewed it, it didn’t strike me as something that I needed to read until that point. There...moreWhilst I was aware of this novel before Stephanie read and reviewed it, it didn’t strike me as something that I needed to read until that point. There are many unfavourable comparisons to Twilight floating around. This is not an invalid point.
-6 inhuman teenagers who pretend to be siblings – 1) the love interest (Edward/Daemon) 2) the delicate best friend of the protagonist (Alice/Dee) 3) The bitch sister who doesn’t approve (Rosalie/Ash) 4+5) Background dudes who we don’t see a lot of – one of which is partnered with Alice/Dee.
-New girl MC goes to school and meets asshole who is only behaving that way to protect his family.
-New girl is with sole parent who provides highly dubious supervision and new girl acts like the parent – cooking, cleaning, shopping etc.
-Love interest is devastatingly, unbelievably, inhumanly hot.
Blah, blah, blah – we all know the deal. And I knew this going in – but was willing to go with it anyway because, as Steph repeatedly told me, “It’s like she wrote what Twilight SHOULD have been.”
To that I say: maybe, yes, kind of, no, a little – but mostly… I guess?
So let’s get this out of the way quickly:
If you enjoyed Twilight but found the relationship dynamics, i.e. Bella Swan’s permissiveness and stalkish tendencies to be aggravating, then this is your perfect novel. Go forth and multiply, my friend. You will be in heaven.
And I can certainly see how this novel could be as addictive as many of my friends say it is. Katy and Daemon scenes, when he’s not being a complete and utter dick, were exceptionally hot. But, to be clear, by scenes I mean “scene” (because there was only one of them – and he went right back to being a dick afterwards) and that wasn’t enough for me.
But I could have put that aside, technically, and given this book a higher rating if I hadn’t found myself, for a not insignificant amount of time, bored with the story. Don’t be fooled by the fact that I breezed through it in a few hours. I was trapped in bed all day with sickness. There were a couple of times where the slightest distraction, had one existed, would have fairly swept me off my feet and away from the narrative.
Then I started imagining a drinking game for every time I could have come up with a better comeback than Katy. Not an alcoholic one, because I’m sick, but with actual water in the hopes that I wouldn’t dehydrate – which I didn’t. Some of my favourites included: “Glow-stick-for-a-dick”, “Over-grown Fairylight”, “Skinny, limp Twat-bedazzler” and “You have all the charm of a facehugger and only the half the technique, you extraterritorial welfare-mooch!” (this one, clearly, happened after a certain scene that readers will all know and understand my reaction to.)
But, and it must be said, having such a strong reaction to the love lives of the characters was a huge indication that I was at least invested, and after reading hundreds and hundreds of books, the ability to still get invested can sometimes be something of a gift. Ultimately I did like Katy even if, as far as I was concerned, she was far too permissive of Daemon’s behaviour. Sticking around and giving him a break when my personal sense of vengeance would have seen a different, more violent and less polite response. And I did, in true guilty-pleasure style, enjoy enough of the book to at least read the free chapters of its sequel, posted at the back.
I decided that I will very likely read the next book, because it seemed much more my thing – and I think that interest in reading the subsequent novel is the highest praise I can give.
Extra points* to whoever comes up with the best curses to throw at Daemon in the comments!
*Points are completely meaningless, have no value, and result in nothing other than my esteem.
The Iron Seas series is exactly my kind of shizzam. It's a buttload of plot, a healthy dose of characterizationion and then just the most delicious hi...moreThe Iron Seas series is exactly my kind of shizzam. It's a buttload of plot, a healthy dose of characterizationion and then just the most delicious hint of sexy times - all grilled in some really fantastic world-building. It's almost like Brook is writing these books just for me! The reason is that I struggle with normal romance novels - I need romance novels that don't feel like romance novels because they're too busy being awesome sci-fi or fantasy etc with some sex in it. This is exactly what Brook does. Sure there's sex, and Iron Seas, the first book in this series is far more romance-y than the next two - but, more than that, they're just plain great Steampunk. It's almost enough to make me bow down and her feet and beg her to never stop.
To begin with, this book takes places in a different part of the same Steampunk driven world from The Iron Duke and Heart of Steel. But the great thing about this series is that Brook just keep shaking it up! She takes you everywhere and with so many great new characters. For me, Captain Corsair is my true literary love, so Annika had big ass-kicking boots to fill. She took a little while to warm on me, and whilst she can never replace Captain Corsair in my heart, she held her own. Her relationship with David was lovely, sweet and beautiful.
Riveted is a bit of a divergence from Brook's other novels. It takes the plot a long time to kick into gear. The first half is solidly centered on Annika and David developing a mutual relationship and trust. There's very little action or plot in that regard. Then the tension and action is ramped up a notch in the second half, and it's back to dodging bullets and mechanical monstrosities. AKA business as usual in Iron Seas world.
The writing was, as usual with Brook, solid and well-constructed. The plot progressed well with some interesting twists that I didn't see coming. But as usual, it was the characters, relationships and world that really makes this novel. While reading the Iron Seas series, Brook will take you to every corner of it and introduce so many wonderful marvels. The world, politics, locations and peoples are so fabulously complex and intriguing that it keeps you wrapped up in the continuing story.
Annika's home town was one of the things that truly made me fall in love with this novel. The normality of their circumstances, the brilliant and respectful way Brook represented it and wove it into the novel, it was all brilliant. I love this series and I can't wait to see what Brook does next!
*A Copy of Riveted was provided for me by the author. No favours, money or gifts were exchanged though I readily offered them for a chance to read this early. My review and opinion remains unaffected.(less)
Skylark is the most technically proficient and well-written novel that I've ever struggled to finish. No doubt Spooner is an author to watch.
The world...moreSkylark is the most technically proficient and well-written novel that I've ever struggled to finish. No doubt Spooner is an author to watch.
The world building of Skylark is both imaginative and rich. It has a fascinating backstory set in a dangerous and vivid world. By the end of the novel I was rather attached to the characters and invested in Lark's and Oren's struggles. I cheered them on and felt a little heart palpitation at the impossibility of their circumstances.
Your enjoyment of this novel will hinge on what kind of reader you are. Do you like writing so animated and dynamic that it leaves you feeling as if you've reached through the pages and felt everything the author intended you to feel? Do you like a slow and sensual walk through a character's journey as if you are taking it yourself? Then, by all means, go get this book. Read it. You will love it.
I was simply the wrong reader. I don't typically like journey stories with lots of walking from A to B where every ache along the way is explored. I like fights. I like blood. I like sex. I like action. I like suspense. This novel has a lot of that (Well not the sex) but I wasn't feeling it due to the plot which simply wasn't gripping enough to keep me coming back. I enjoyed the book while I read it, but struggled to muster the enthusiasm once it was put down.
But I really have to hand it to Spooner. It's just been so long since I've seen writing like this that I almost wish I'd loved it more.
"Then I looked up.
And saw the sky.
The wind had blown the day's thick cloud cover away, and a bottomless blackness yawned above, pockmarked with stars. A sliver of moon cast the sickly, color-leaching hint of light across the ruined city. There was no end to the sky, nothing holding me down on the ground. I felt it reach down to me, threaten to swallow me. I seemed to fall upward, and threw myself down to stop it, knocking the breath out of my lungs."
I could literarywank to that for hours. I feel the vertigo hit me every time I read this passage. There's like three passages including this one about the sky and I read them while feeling my lungs constrict in sympathy. I felt her terror like I've rarely felt physically for a book character before. I could see that exact sky above me, waiting to drag me up into the nothingness.
While reading this book, I often just went back a reread passages of some of the most superb writing I've seen in a long time. It was enough to make me shake my head, stare glumly at my own manuscript and start pressing 'delete'. Truly, I just wish that the story had focused more on the necessary story telling elements instead of covering every missed meal and blistered foot. But that's a personal thing and it's going to be different for every reader.
I will be desperately looking our for Spooner's next novel in the hopes that the plot and pacing is more to my speed, but that her wonderful quality of prose hasn't diminished.
*An ARC of Skylark was provided to me by the publisher. No money or favours were exchanged for this review.(less)
I can't review this yet. I quite liked it, yet don't know how to describe it.
I know I read it instead of doing Buzz Worthy News, which is a big no-no...moreI can't review this yet. I quite liked it, yet don't know how to describe it.
I know I read it instead of doing Buzz Worthy News, which is a big no-no for me. But I just couldn't help myself. And whilst I won't give anything away, I finished it like I had a spell over me.
Requiem. When all good things must come to an end. A horrible, horrible end that didn’t do any justice to the series. But an end nonetheless. Requiem...moreRequiem. When all good things must come to an end. A horrible, horrible end that didn’t do any justice to the series. But an end nonetheless. Requiem is like sitting down to a well-deserved, hot pie and relishing every bite until you get to the last one and die of poisoning without ever knowing why or how. There was literally a moment when I got to the last few pages, realized there wasn’t any more and freaked out. From enjoyment for insurmountable anger.
I am a solid believer that Lauren Oliver is a capable, talented author. I also think she’s brave. Not all authors risk venturing into unfamiliar territory. Think how common it is for an author to be writing their fourth or fifth book in a series and starting spinoffs in the same world when even that gets old. It’s clear from Delirium that Oliver was trying on something new. Uncomfortable at first, but I’d felt that in Pandemonium, she had hit her stride. Requiem, the last part of Lena’s journey, seems to have been a new challenge all in its own. One that I didn’t feel Oliver managed to surmount.
The novel is divvied up into Lena’s POV and Hannah’s POV – sometimes done with more success than other times. Overall, it wasn’t a bad series and Requiem wasn’t necessarily a bad book. It simply could never escape from the premise holding so much more promise than the story could deliver. Compared to other series in this genre, it struggled to hold its own candle. I feel bereft and let down after the promise and goodness that was Pandemonium.
There are concepts and ideas there. A tale Oliver wants to tell about love – its strengths and pitfalls. The good and the bad. You can see the reaching for it in Requiem. Then a point comes when it seems the tale is abandoned in favour of wrapping it up as soon as possible. Some might call it an open ending. To me an open ending leaves you with thoughtful questions, not a whole lot of blank spaces. To me, Requiem doesn’t have an open ending. It just stops, with little rhyme or reason.
I’m not even going to talk about anything else that happens or the characters or themes or writing or anything. I refuse. Debate or not, an ending is an ending is an ending. Just because something ended doesn’t mean you gave it an actual ending. Need further proof? Allow me to illuminate on th-
I put off reading this book for a long time and I’m not sure why. I asked Matt if there was any sexy times in it, and he said not really. That may hav...moreI put off reading this book for a long time and I’m not sure why. I asked Matt if there was any sexy times in it, and he said not really. That may have had something to do with it. But if he’d told me that there was so much chemistry between Chase and Rayna, I might have checked it out faster. Because it kind of had the potential to stroll into bow chica wow wow territory, and probably would have more if they hadn’t all been so busy fighting to survive. Also, Merrick, what are you doing wasting all that potential sexual chemistry?! And have you ever considered writing romances?
Exiled is like a diamond in the rough. I see so much of Merrick’s potential as an author. I think given time, attention, and hardwork – his books are going to be pretty damn great. Exiled itself was a difficult book to me to rate. The raw material, itself, was pretty excellent. There was certainly plenty to appreciate about the novel and I had a great deal of enjoyment while reading it. This was Merrick’s first novel, though, so there are always going to be things that an author can learn and improve on. When I said diamond in the rough, I meant it. I got the sense throughout reading it, that it really needed an experienced editor to cut and polish it to help Merrick bring out the best parts, and chip off the parts that were cumbersome or unnecessary.
In case you can’t tell – that’s Aladdin and that’s someone explaining the process of how they perfected his look. Isn’t this, like, the most appropriate GIF for a review ever?!
The intro needed to be a little smoother, and the back end of the story contained some unnecessary story telling that I could see was probably setting up for the next novel, but that really punched the pacing in the gut and detracted from the overall plot.
The characters were a big positive for this book. Chase was endearing in that way that little brothers are. Overly-confident and just adorable enough to pull it off. Rayna was a great counter-balance, providing maturity and a gravity that Chase could aspire to. Marcus played the ever-patient and ever-ignored father figure while Chase’s mum gave the novel a sweet, grounding, human touch. Then, of course, there’s Vincent if you want a mature romantic lead.
And whilst I am eager to follow up on the lives and adventures of Chase and crew, I can’t help but want to take a red pen to this book. I enjoyed it so much but feel like its potential was cut short, like a world-class athlete with no one to train it. Merrick made a couple of astounding female characters, which I’d like to see him do more of. The novel does feel a little unbalanced and overpopulated with powerful men in leadership/destiny roles. I feel like they’re especially necessary to balance out the damsel in distress-heavy plot toward the second half of the book.
You’re probably going to like this book if you’re into a younger version of The Dresden Files with a main protagonist who is almost as exasperating. It’s certainly not a perfect novel, but also not without merit.
Ultimately, I want to see more from Merrick. This was a really hard book to rate. I feel like it deserved more stars based on my enjoyment, but the issues with the plotting and pacing tripped me up. I think he has the signs of an excellent story teller, though, and I’m eager to read the next in the series, Shift.
So I really wanted to like this one, but I just didn’t and the more I think about it, the less I like it. For me, the biggest problem was Gray, whose...moreSo I really wanted to like this one, but I just didn’t and the more I think about it, the less I like it. For me, the biggest problem was Gray, whose head we experience the world in. If you don’t like a protagonist in a novel that is narrated in the first person then that’s an immediate problem – one that is probably highly dependent on the individual reading. Gray just didn’t feel like a real character to me. It was hard to explain exactly what it was I didn’t like about his personality, but when I made a list of Gray’s characteristics: Angry, impulsive, curious – and realized that was all I could say about him, I figured that was a pretty good indication.
Actually, the focus on the novel really is largely on the characters, which was unfortunate for me because I simply couldn’t connect to them. I couldn’t really name my favourite other than a slightly more preferential nod toward Bree. But the others tended to fall under a giant banner of Meh from which none of the actions of plot developments could rescue them.
The world building was interesting, and is at least certainly different, though a little M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village for my taste. FULL OF TWISTS MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But, having said that, at least the world building was interesting. What I did find intriguing is the number of typos. And, yes, it is an ARC so I expect they’ll all be fixed up by the time Taken goes to print. I’m just still not used to seeing that many typos in an ARC. My only real issue with the writing was how often it turned from an engaged narration to a reflective one.
And not that that’s bad because different tones represent different kinds of story telling, but it would spend a lot of time in reflective mode which involved a lot of summarizing and musing which kind of stalled it up a bit. When I would have liked to have seen these things, even briefly rather than just hear about them. Particularly at the end where it felt like the reflective tone started just a little too early and spent an inordinately long time wrapping up events that would probably have been better off not being consigned to a summary of their happenings.
Also, and this is really weird to complain about but… but… GRAY HITS A GIRL! Like just punches her in the face. Now can I mention that she was being a horrible, nasty person. And my feminist instincts would say that if you’re an equal opportunity douche, then you maybe can get an equal opportunity punch in the face. But… But… DUDE!
She does slog him a good one back, but the thing is, most women can’t hit anywhere near as hard as a man can. So hitting kind of takes it into unfair territory. I know Gray is impulsive and angry and that takes up 2 out of 3 of his personality traits – but wasn’t there a better way to show this than beating up on some girl and putting her in the medical bay?(less)
This review may contain spoilers. And by may, I mean most certainly will.
False Memory by fellow Horde player, Dan Krokos, caught my attention. Mainly...moreThis review may contain spoilers. And by may, I mean most certainly will.
False Memory by fellow Horde player, Dan Krokos, caught my attention. Mainly because, well, FOR THE HORDE! But also, because it looked badass. The basic idea is that Miranda wakes up with no memories and no real clue who she is. She soon discovers that she’s a superhero and part of a team of four Roses with the ability to cause fear and panic to normal people.
I mean, it’s an alright ability. Not as good as the ability to burn people with your eyes or use an alien ring to wish anything into existence. But you take what you can get!
So what I might have expected was good writing and interesting, action-packed pages. But that author, he has a soft spot the size of the Mariana Trench. This book was a little more saucy than I expected and I liked it! Probably one of the few love-triangles that I’ve truly liked. Miranda gets more action in a few days than I did throughout all of 8th grade!
Miranda was a bit like a rogue sneaking up behind you to stab you in the back. She was fun to read. Then, out of nowhere, BAM! She just kicked the shit out of me and I was left going, “Woah! Woah! Woah!” That sneaky woman just emulsified my cold, withered heart until I was truly rooting for her. Which was a weird experience. I’m not sure how to describe it. There I was thinking I generally liked the book and didn’t mind Miranda, only to suddenly realize that there was no way in hell I was putting the book down and Miranda better live, goddammit! As for the other characters, Peter, Noah and Olive, I was hot and cold on them. Peter was definitely my favourite. I loved the tension between Noah and Miranda. Drama! Beautiful, beautiful drama!
So here’s my problem with it, and this part gets spoilery so only proceed if you’ve read the book.
(view spoiler)[So I was all cool with Miranda et al being weapons to be sold off to the highest bidder. OF COURSE. That is just the kind of sense-making that I like to see. But then things get a little more complicated. Not just weapons but also clones. And not just one set of clones but another and another. Okay. FINE. Everyone’s a clone. And a clone of a clone. And nobody’s memories are real and everyone’s memories can be replaced and nobody is just a weapon and FINE. Fine, okay? I can deal with that, I guess. I can deal with two Miranda’s and the real Miranda being dead and the real Miranda being only a clone of Mrs. North and Mrs. North being HERSELF a clone. I can deal with ALL of it. Okay?! I’m fine. I’m just absolutely fine. I can handle it, okay?
There are too many truths. So many truths that, whilst I can keep them straight, I’m not sure that I want to. I threw my hands up in the air and yelled for Miranda to go join the fucking peace corps and travel to south east Asia or something. Just get out, Miranda! If you’re reading this, just go. The truth isn’t worth it, sweetie. You know what’s worth it? Spending the rest of your life bumping uglies with Peter. And I guess that destroyed some of my enjoyment of the book. Because them being developed as a weapon was really the only reasonable truth I could imagine for their cultivated existence. And whilst I am practically POSITIVE that Krokos is going to come up with something brilliant, I’m simply too emotionally exhausted after False Memory to summon the will to read anymore. I refuse. In my mind, Peter and Miranda ran off to a tropical island and lived happily ever after. The end. (hide spoiler)]
Over all, I really liked this book. I just feel so exhausted by it. Incredibly, incredibly exhausted. I want to pick up the next one because I want to see how Miranda and the others deal with the situation they’re in. But part of me is afraid to. I don’t know if I’m ready for it. With False Memory, I wanted to feel THIS much. But I wasn’t ready to feel THHHHIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS much. And with all those truths revealed in the first book? Well, how else is Krokos going to break my heart in the next one? HOW, HUH?!
Days of Blood and Starlight was always going to be a hard sell after the stark and hauntingly beautiful Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I want to address...moreDays of Blood and Starlight was always going to be a hard sell after the stark and hauntingly beautiful Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I want to address the all-important question of whether Taylor has an obsession with the letters DBS or not.
Okay, fine. Not relevant. Really….party poopers.
Most of us had to prepare ourselves for the fact that DoBaS, like most middle child books, was probably not going to be quite as good as it’s older siblings. Personally, I always hold out hope for middle child books, wanting to be pleasantly surprised!
Well, the pessimistic, miserly old grinches win out this time because DoBaS isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, but it’s certainly nothing to turn your nose up at. But, you know, if you were to turn your nose up at any Laini Taylor book then, my god, have you no soul?!
Taylor’s books have intense and varied themes. DoSaB’s themes revolved around perception, love and loss, the pain of emptiness and coming of age issues. DoBaS deals a lot with losing/regaining hope, faith in oneself, forgiveness of oneself and others.
In a lot of ways DoBaS is a different creature to DoSaB. DoSaB had limited PoV changes that largely existed between Akiva and Karou (I think – my memory is really dodgy) and DoSaB was really more Romantic up until the very end. And by Romantic I don’t necessarily mean the relationship between Akiva and Karou because I ultimately think DoBaS was more romantic than its predecessor though it may not seem intuitively so. It was more Romantic in the sense that the characters and the story are so much bigger and more mature. There’s these two amazing, independent forces of fate building up behind Karou and Akiva. The more they come into themselves and become wiser, the more they’re drawn together.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a naive, sweet innocent first love. Appealing to many, but I liked the relationship dynamics even more in Days of Blood and Starlight. They’ve both lost that naivette, grown as people. They have more baggage to deal with and the relationship they’re building feels stronger – erected on foundations off a deeper understanding of themselves and the world – and they still can’t help but love each other. After all they’ve seen, all they’ve done, all that’s been done to them – they’re still drawn to each other like moth’s to flame.
Laini’s writing is beautiful. If anything she has improved and the inherent poetry to the writing has become sharper and more poignant. Where a lot of people, including myself will get tripped up at is that pacing and structure of the novel. It is very meandering with an excessive number of POV changes. There’s a lot to follow, a lot happening all at once and the cast of characters has expanded exponentially.
But, over all, I loved it. I’m so enthusiastic for the next book. I absolutely have to know where this series is going, what’s going to happen to them and whether I’m just as naive and foolish as Akiva and Karou for hoping and thinking that they will eventually have some form of happy relationship at the end of this series.
This ARC was provided to me by Candlewick Press for the express purpose of reviewing. I wasn't paid for this review.
Although, you know... if you WANT...moreThis ARC was provided to me by Candlewick Press for the express purpose of reviewing. I wasn't paid for this review.
Although, you know... if you WANT To pay me, guys, I wouldn't complain or anything...
Cause if someone doesn't start, I'm going to have to look at moving to California...
Anyway, my GR Super Friend Against Evil, Tatiana, reviewed this book and gave it two stars. Usually, Tatiana and I tend to agree on books so I wasn't expecting much.
And to be honest, if you're anticipating an action-packed sci-fi with a million cool gadgets, cyborg antagonists and laserbeams attached the heads of sharks, then you're going to be seriously disappointed.
Sheehan's novel isn't about the Scifi so much as scifi is the platform she uses to address a far more SERIOUS issue than how many Starfleet officers it takes to change a lightbulb. Instead, her novel is about child abuse and in this regard she has done a brilliant job.
And not the child abuse to common to public awareness either, like the kind of child abuse that has children removed from their parent's care. This is emotional child abuse. It is insidious, difficult to prove and invisible to most of society. Most children hide their abuse from others in order to protect their parents and usually only come to accept that they're abused much later when it is far too late to help them do anything but pick up the pieces.
So the world building of the novel is not well-visioned or executed but I consider this to be periphery to the actual point of the novel which is how changing technologies are exposing children to different and new forms of dangers.
Like Cyborg babysitters... Though that would open new movie options for remakes like, "Don't Tell Mum The Cyborg's Gone Berserk On A Killing Spree!
Rose, initially, infuriated me as a character. Weak, with no self-esteem and discernible personality, I soon softened as I witnessed her journey. It was a journey that I felt was strongly reminiscent of a victim recognizing their abuse, placing the proper blame on their abusers and restarting their lives. A process that is much more difficult than most people would realize and I felt that Sheehan's portrayal of these steps, and Rose's struggle with them was both touching and realistic.
Most of the secondary characters were well-built, though not entirely perfect. I understood Sheehan's reasons for romanticizing certain characters but felt it was superfluous to the friendships and personal-growth that Rose was already struggling with.
There is some action in this novel and I felt the ending was extremely satisfying, keeping intone with the spirit and themes of the story.
Over all, I really enjoyed this book. It almost brought me to tears twice. Which, you know, is a shame I didn't actually cry since my tears are more valuable and magical than unicorn tears.
I watched Starship Troopers first. I found it amusing, gory, action based and fluffy. When I read the book I wondered if the directer/script writer ha...moreI watched Starship Troopers first. I found it amusing, gory, action based and fluffy. When I read the book I wondered if the directer/script writer had read the same one I had. Turns out that he never finished this book and made the story up as he saw fit. Suddenly everything made sense to me.
As far as pacing and plot go, you won't find any of that here. There isn't much of a plot to this book and the story arc, so to speak, is more like a low lying limbo poll. Straight and short.
What I absolutely loved about this book, though, is the characters and message to this book. Of course, Heinlein's theories about citizenship and government are seriously flawed. But they're fascinating (if you like that sort of thing) and the description of military life is both rich and well depicted. Of course, you have to have a passion for both the military AND theory of government to enjoy this book.
I personally found that I enjoyed Ender's Shadow more than Ender's Game.
Perhaps because I found Bean, as a character, more relatable in how he analyz...moreI personally found that I enjoyed Ender's Shadow more than Ender's Game.
Perhaps because I found Bean, as a character, more relatable in how he analyzes and views people and the world in general. He also felt more real as a character in that he is awkward and clueless and greatly flawed.
The pacing for this book is a little less smooth in comparison to Ender's Game. The plot, on the other hand, is a little better as you have a greater insight into the background workings of Ender's success. Graff and other characters come to life in a greater degree and have more personality and "air time". So too does Petra.
Ender's Game is a Difficult book to review. It has no romantic plot and the book is based primarily on prepubescent and barely pubescent children. Thi...moreEnder's Game is a Difficult book to review. It has no romantic plot and the book is based primarily on prepubescent and barely pubescent children. This makes it and odd read for people over the age of fifteen.
Yet I found the characters to have great depth and likability. I found that the book paced well and the plot was interesting. The military focus of the book was engaging and fascinating.
I've read this book many times and each time I take away something new but older readers may find themselves unable to relate to the main characters and their situation.(less)
Kat Kennedy
>
Books:
sci-fi-alicious
(25)
×
Loading...
