I’ve been meaning to read this forever, but never got around to it. I’m glad that I finally did, however, because this book is amazing, romantic and e...moreI’ve been meaning to read this forever, but never got around to it. I’m glad that I finally did, however, because this book is amazing, romantic and enchanting; I regret it took me this long to discover this gem.
The story is about the relationship between a woman named Clare Abshire and a man named Henry DeTamble. Henry meets Clare when he is 28 and she is 20, but Clare has known Henry all her life. She met him when she was 6 and Henry was in his thirties or forties. How can this be? Henry has a rare genetic disease that causes him to become displaced in time involuntarily. He is a time traveler, and the Henry that Clare met was a future version of him.
The concept sounded fascinating to me. Personally, I find this to be a very unique and interesting take on time travel. Henry can’t help when he time travels, and he can’t help where he ends up or in what period. When he time travels, only he is transported, so any clothes or items on him are left behind; thus he always shows up naked. He teaches himself how to steal, pick locks and other survival skills in order to remain inconspicuous in whatever time period he ends up.
The story is primarily told from Clare’s present time, with past, present and future Henry’s walking in and out of her life. Before she met the “real” Henry in present time, she was always waiting and wondering when a future version of Henry would appear. After she met the “real” Henry, she was always worrying when he disappeared and waiting for him to return to present time. Indeed, the flow of time in this book can be confusing at first but after a few chapters in, I understood Henry’s time traveling and how he was affecting his past and future selves by doing so.
I found this book really refreshing, from the time travel concept to this relationship style Clare and Henry have. It’s something I never seen or read about before and I was constantly intrigued by it. I think many women can relate to Clare, myself included: the idea of waiting and not knowing what your significant other is doing. (Maybe males too, but from my own personal experiences, it’s a female thing, hahaha). The characters are fantastic. I could tell there is something really, truly special between Clare and Henry; their relationship was sweet and bitter at the same time, and affected me so much I could not stop turning the pages of the book.
Things I noticed were that Niffenegger’s writing is very point-blank and simple. She writes very matter-of-factly, like “She opened the fridge then poured herself some orange juice. She sat down and thought about Henry.” (I made that one up). Very simple sentences, yet when they are all strung together to create this story, they have a powerful impact. A second thing about the story is that, while the romance is very touching, it is rather cliche and overly dramatic at times. While Henry and Clare’s particular situation may be new and exciting, their romance in general is classic and not that new. The idea of a woman waiting faithfully, patiently for her lover to return to her — and the lover yearning for his wife back home — has been around for eons. The thing with this book is that it takes this age old concept of romantic love and makes us look at it from a different angle, a very refreshing and different angle, and that is what makes this book so wonderful to read. I definitely recommend this novel to everyone to read.
A lot of people are raving about this book and giving it great reviews. On the flip side, a lot of people are also giving it bad reviews and calling i...moreA lot of people are raving about this book and giving it great reviews. On the flip side, a lot of people are also giving it bad reviews and calling it a total Twilight rip-off. I was curious as to which camp I would fall into, and how big of a rip-off this book could be, so I picked it up when I saw it available at the library. Now that I’ve finished reading it, I can conclude that 1) I side with the readers who feel this book is a big disappointment and 2) it is so, so incredibly obvious that it’s a Twilight rip-off, or at least trying to ride on Twilight’s high. The list of similarities is uncannily long, but I won’t list them all here in this post.
Basically, if you know anything about Twilight, you already know the story behind Hush Hush, just replace vampires with fallen angels. Nora Grey meets mysterious new student Patch in her biology class and is forcefully assigned to be his partner for a biology project. Patch is ridiculously good looking, but has a hard, icy personality. They don’t get along very well and Nora decides she doesn’t like Patch, yet mysteriously feels attracted to him anyway. The more Nora tries to stay away from Patch, the more intrigued she is by him. Meanwhile, at the same time, Nora feels she is being stalked by a man in a black ski mask and believing it may be Patch, she starts trying to dig into his past, but comes up empty handed each time. Only when she sees the scars on Patch’s back, she Googles ‘fallen angels’ and realizes that Patch must be one, and possibly trying to use Nora as a sacrifice so that he may obtain a human body.
What irked me was Patch and Nora’s relationship. Even if I forget the whole idea of it being the same situation as Bella and Edward (Edward wants to kill and drink Bella’s blood for his own benefit; Patch wants to kill and sacrifice Nora for his own benefit), it’s just a really shallow and nonsensical relationship built on intimidation. I did not understand how or why Nora would start falling in love with Patch and vice versa. She is frightened of him and seems to dislike him and after standing a little too close to Patch, she suddenly decides she secretly is lusting after him. It’s so incredibly hyporcritical; there’s several points in the story where Nora believes Patch is a real danger to her life, and at the exact same time, she also believes Patch would never harm her. I don’t understand this at all. She switches back and forth on her stance on Patch every other page, it would seem. Not to mention that it’s so disturbing that her supposed love for him is based on fear; she finds him dangerous and that is attractive to her so she continues to hang around him despite believing he has the power to kill her. So unsettling. Nora is an incredibly weak minded and shallow girl.
Patch is worse, he gives no hints that he likes Nora at all, and suddenly it is revealed near the end that he is in love with her; no explanation why he would choose her. I mean, Nora doesn’t exactly have a stellar personality or drop dead gorgeous looks from what I can tell. I can see no reason why a fallen angel would find her irresistibly alluring. I don’t find him to be a likable character at all. Also, the author’s repeated use of the word ‘smiling’ when describing Patch got on my nerves. He was smiling like he knew a secret. His eyes smiled. I could feel him smiling. You get the idea.
While eerily similar to Twilight’s, I didn’t think the plot was unbearable. The overall plot actually is okay (hence my pity half star below …). What I found silly was the author’s portrayal of teenagers and high school. It’s just so out of touch with what real teenagers or real teachers would behave like. Anyway, it’s pretty obvious that I didn’t really like this book, but I admit I’m kind of curious about the sequel because I want to see if it’s going to continue shadowing Twilight’s plot (and like I said, plot-wise, it isn’t that terrible, it’s really the characters that drag this book down). As far as recommendations go, I don’t recommend reading Hush Hush.
The story is about a man who can remember every past life through reincarnation. In every life, he keeps loving the same...more4.5 really, but I rounded up.
The story is about a man who can remember every past life through reincarnation. In every life, he keeps loving the same girl, who he manages to meet from time to time in his various lives. Every time he meets her, he loves her even more. The catch? She doesn't remember HER past lives. This obviously makes things rather difficult ...
This is a really sweet book for those who like romance stories that go beyond the ordinary. I liked how there were two storylines in a sense: one that went through time explaining how the two kept meeting (or missing) one another in their lives; the other taking place only in the present time, with the girl doing a little sleuthing 'cause she suspects something's up with that weird kid she had a crush on in high school and STILL can't get out of her head, years later.
The villain was a bit of a dud to me, he kind of just wants to mess things up for the couple and seems to have no other motivation other than "I am evil". I would have been happy if the villain was just time itself, alone, but all in all, a solid book to me :)(less)
It's probably not the best thing in the world to open up a book expecting to be disappointed by it. Which is how I tackled Elixir, but actually I'm su...moreIt's probably not the best thing in the world to open up a book expecting to be disappointed by it. Which is how I tackled Elixir, but actually I'm surprised it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. It's definitely no amazing book, but it's not that horrible either.
The story is about 17 year old girl named Clea who is also a professional photojournalist, something that I found rather hard to believe ... I mean, she's 17 and her job is to travel around the world snapping photos professionally. True, she is quite wealthy and can afford to do it, since her dad was a famous surgeon and owner of humanitarian organization GloboReach, and her mom is an influential politician. But right from the get-go, Clea seems a bit unrealistic and hard to relate to, for me. I mean, she has paparazzi on her heels. I didn't know politicians' daughters can get that famous (well, one springs to mind) but yeah ... she's something of a celebrity.
Anyway, the story is about how Clea's father disappeared while searching for the existence of the elixir of life, and Clea decides to search for him, a year later, when she gets a photojournalist job in Rio, where her Dad was last seen. There, she meets Sage, who she recognizes as the strange man that's been showing up in her photos lately. Spooky. Clea's father's disappearance, the elixir and Sage are all linked together, and Clea is determined to unravel this mystery ...
The plot isn't that bad, from my point of view. I've heard it's similar to the Evermore series, but I've never read Evermore, so I can't comment on that. It's a bit choppy though, yes, and could have benefited from being thought out better.
Clea falls in love with Sage, which is the one part of the story I hated. It was very forced, very rushed and very unconvincing. She goes through several stages with Sage, and the transition from one to the other is mind boggling, to say the least.
1. "Spooky, weird guy popping up in all my photos ..." 2. "He has something to do with my Dad! He's possibly a kidnapper! Grr!" 3. "Oh fack, I think this guy's immortal. And I think he may be chasing me through my reincarnated lives killing me over and over and over ..." 4. "I want to kiss him. We shall have sex in my best friend's car. She won't mind." 5. "I LOVE YOU SAGE, I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"
That's kind of messed up.
The ending was awful as well. Nothing was wrapped up, because they wanted to leave the story open for some sequels, but you can't just leave things unexplained to do that. A book has to have some sort of immediate closure or finale to it, even if you plan on continuing it in a series. Elixir just abruptly cuts the story off at a chosen point, which irked me senseless.(less)
Life Eternal is the second book in the Undead paranormal romance series, Dead Beautiful (the first book goes by the series title), which I r...more3.5 stars.
Life Eternal is the second book in the Undead paranormal romance series, Dead Beautiful (the first book goes by the series title), which I received from NetGalley. It kind of goes without being said that there are going to be Dead Beautiful spoilers in this review of Life Eternal (no Life Eternal spoilers though). As a recap of what I thought of book one, I thought it was very similar to Twilight in the general plotline, however, it was still a rather interesting read and I liked it. Because of how Dead Beautiful ended, I was extremely curious as to how everything would pan out in the sequel.
Last we left off in the romance between Renee and Dante, Renee had given up her soul to Dante, who gave it back to Renee. Thus, Renee had technically died at one point, and now Dante is on the run because everyone thinks he played a part in the murder of the Gottfried Academy headmistress. In Life Eternal, Gottfried has shut down because everyone thinks the school curse has come back, so Renee’s grandfather ships her off to Montreal, Quebec, to study at a Monitor training school.
At her new school, Renee finds herself the subject of a rumor — because she died last year, but “magically” came back to life (she never told anyone she gave her soul to Dante but he gave it back), everyone thinks she’s gained some sort of immortality. Somehow, this has enhanced her abilities as a Monitor and she finds herself ranked top of the class, which causes some jealous classmates to start bullying her. But Renee has bigger worries — her boyfriend Dante, is still hiding from those who think he killed someone, and his time as an Undead is running out. When Renee hears about the legend of the Nine Sisters, Monitors who may or may not have discovered the secret to Immortality, Renee decides to seek the truth to see if she can possibly buy Dante more time.
I found this to be a very solid sequel to Dead Beautiful. The beginning was a bit disappointing because it was kind of a repeat of the first book — Renee goes to a new school and has to learn to adapt all over again, she learns secrets about the Undead and Monitoring like before, she needs to hide her relationship with Dante — but it was also different enough that I was interested and want to know what happens.
The beginning was a tad flat because Renee spends a considerable amount of time being mopey and, of course, pining for Dante. I think it was when the story begins to unfold in a mystery novel-like manner that the book really got my attention. Like the first book, it’s not a super complicated mystery (Renee receives all her clues via “visions”, which was a bit lame) but I loved finding out more about the Undead world and the Monitor culture. I admit, sometimes I found the story kind of bizarre. I mean, we’re talking zombies here. Why even bother trying to get along with the Undead when most have this instinct to suck your soul out? Plus, despite the explanation provided which I didn’t really buy, I think if there were really Undead things walking around, everyone ought to know for their own safety. That’s just me though. If you suspend your reality high enough, the book is actually quite enjoyable, and if anything, Woon has quite the imagination.
I am mostly indifferent to Renee — she’s the narrator to me, nothing more — but one thing that happened in the book that truly had me admiring her was when she thought that Dante might be a real danger to her. Like, maybe he could kill her. I was SO glad that she didn’t go the desperate/crazy-person route and thought, “Well, it’s Dante! He can’t possibly hurt me!” Instead, she thought like a rational person and thought, “Oh god, I need to get away from this guy.” When you’ve read a LOT of YA with obsessive girls ready to lay themselves down like doormats for Their Man, it’s extremely refreshing to have a female lead who has the brains to realize she might actually be in danger and need to get away from the situation. It wasn’t enough for Renee just to have Dante say, “I’ll never hurt you.” You know what she did? She didn’t believe him. (Well, until she could prove he wasn’t dangerous). Honestly, I was really impressed with that aspect of Renee. Props to the author for writing a character that knows how to think for herself.
I am not a fan of the ending though. It was extremely abrupt. The story was just getting exciting, and then in MID-SCENE, the story ends. How can you end a book in mid-scene?! That’s not even a proper cliff-hanger! And it was the most exciting part of the book too … I mean, I was really getting into it and then it just ends! I’m not disappointed with the direction it was heading in, just the timing of the ending. I really don’t think that ending can be considered a proper ending at all. Mid-scene! Really!
Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait till book three now to find out the other half of that scene.
I got this book off of NetGalley. At the time, I wasn’t aware that this was written by then-14 year old Mi...moreThis review is cross-posted from SkyInk.net.
I got this book off of NetGalley. At the time, I wasn’t aware that this was written by then-14 year old Miss Kluver. I’ve only read one other book by a teenager, and had a less-than-pleasant experience doing so. So understandably, I was a bit wary diving into Legacy. While I think Legacy also suffers from certain teenage writing patterns, this book is actually quite readable. I think it could have been better, for sure, but overall, it is quite okay.
The story opens with a prologue explaining the two kingdoms that are prominently featured in the story, Cokyri and Hytanica. Sixteen years ago, they were at war, and Cokyri ended up kidnapping forty-nine babies. The Cokyri then returned forty-eight baby corpses. One was missing.
The story then dives into the first person perspective of our main female character, Princess Alera of Hytanica. She’s turning eighteen soon, and her father says she must marry by her birthday. To be precise, there is a very specific person he wants her to marry — Lord Steldor, an arrogant young man. Naturally, Alera is trying to do all she can to get out of this arrangement.
In the meantime, Hytanica captures who they believe to be a Cokyri spy, sixteen year old Narian. However, it is soon revealed that Narian is actually the missing boy from the war years ago. His family takes him back, but Narian seems too Cokyri to live amongst the Hytanican people, a possible security threat to the entire kingdom. Alera, on the other hand, finds Narian’s Cokyri ways interesting and mysterious, and falls in love with him — but there’s no way her father will let her marry a man whose loyalties are so questionable.
So there we have it. It’s a pretty solid plot: nothing terribly original (the scene where Narian takes Alera on a moonlight horseback riding adventure through the silent city totally caused Disney’s Aladdin‘s ‘A Whole New World’ to play in my head) but it’s decent. The ending was interesting because it isn’t a happy ending, which I was surprised about; usually the heroine always gets what they want in the end in YA books. But I was surprised in a good way, not a bad way! However, on that note, the ending didn’t feel very conclusive. A lot of the conflicts in the book are left unresolved or just hanging. I always say this, but I’ll say it again: even if it’s a series, each independent book has to have some sort of resolution!
While I found the plot more or less okay, my biggest problem was the narration. It’s in a first person perspective, and the writing style just didn’t seem to fit with it. Don’t get me wrong, the writing was mostly fine despite being a little too ‘flowery’ at times, and overly descriptive. My issue is that this is supposed to be a first person perspective, yet the writing felt like it was more suited for third person. Alera, our narrator, ended up sounding quite stiff, in my opinion, and as a result, she came off as having no personality of her own. She sounds like a third person narrator. And not just the narration, but the dialogue as well. It didn’t feel natural. You know, I kind of suspect this story might have originally been written in third person. There’s a couple scenes that threw me off as I was reading; for example, there is a scene where it is cold outside and Alera talks about her ears turning pink. As a reader, I was thrusted from watching the story unfold inside Alera’s point of view to suddenly being outside of Alera, in order to see her ears turning pink. There’s some more scenes, but you get the idea. (Though I could be wrong about the third person narration thing, in which case this example would be a blooper, I suppose).
Because everything in the story is written with such formality, including all kinds of dialogue, the characters came off feeling kind of artificial. None of the characters felt particularly ‘real’ to me, although I inexplicably became quite fond of Steldor, for some odd reason. I know it’s weird because you’re not supposed to like him, but I think it’s just because he’s the only character that felt like he had any real sort of personality, even if it’s the cocky arrogant kind. I even started rooting for Steldor and Alera to get together (and (view spoiler)[ was pretty punch pleased with the ending (hide spoiler)]).
With all that said and done though, I do think, for the author’s age at the time she was writing this book, that this is a remarkable feat and I see huge potential. I think with some more practice in writing stories, Miss Kluver will become an amazing story teller. Though I’m feeling kind of lukewarm towards Legacy, I’m still eager to read the next book in the series.(less)
Admittedly, I do not have very high standards for YA paranormal romances. It’s pretty low, actually. I keep reading YA paranormal romances t...more2.5 stars.
Admittedly, I do not have very high standards for YA paranormal romances. It’s pretty low, actually. I keep reading YA paranormal romances though because they’re sort of a guilty pleasure (which is pretty much the same reason why I keep watching Jersey Shore-why-can’t-I-stop-the-madness?!) Hereafter has an intriguing synopsis and comes with many rave reviews, plus a beautiful cover. So I bought myself a copy and eagerly started reading it, hoping that this one will turn out to be a rare gem in the flood of paranormal romances in the YA market.
It’s not.
Hereafter isn’t bad, but it’s not very good either. It starts off interestingly enough. Amelia is a ghost, who’s been dead for several years now, and wanders around aimlessly in the living world, without much memory of her living life. One day, she rescues a boy, Joshua, from drowning in the same river she died years ago. After the rescue, Joshua can see Amelia and … you guessed it — they fall in love. Yes, it happens that quickly. Amelia can’t get over how gorgeous Joshua is (naturally) and Joshua is unfazed by the fact that Amelia is, well, dead.
Since being dead isn’t going to be an issue in their relationship, neither should the evil ghost stalking Amelia to make her his servant … or Joshua’s grandmother who specializes in exorcising ghosts, right?
The majority of the story is quite boring, and the pacing quite slow. There seems to be an attempt at making a mystery out of Amelia’s unknown living life, but the author decided to only flirt with the idea instead of going all the way with it. A good chunk of it is just a lot of Amelia and Joshua moments, which wasn’t interesting to read because Hereafter is another case of YA insta-love.
Amelia must be bi-polar or something. She started off as a rather gloomy character, brooding about her death and her nightmares, but after meeting Joshua, she’d frequently burst into giggles and I can just see the heart-shapes dancing in her eyes whenever she looks at the guy. Joshua was a pretty cookie-cutter male love interest (meaning: perfect with gorgeous abs … why do all high school boys have abs in YA books?!) What’s most bizarre about him is how accepting he is that Amelia is a ghost. And then he invites her to come to school with him. And go home and spend the night with him. All in the span of a couple days.
Then there is their weird connection with one another. He’s the only thing Amelia can touch (probably because he can see her), and when they do, they get these sensations that are perfect descriptions of orgasms. There is a scene where Joshua even moans when they touch. I found that quite … odd, especially considering how when Amelia touches Eli (granted, he is a ghost) she doesn’t feel this way. Neither when she touches Jillian. Just Joshua. How weird. Guess it’s more evidence for their soulmates status.
The story redeemed itself a bit in the last quarter of the book or so — the pace picked up considerably and the story actually got a lot more interesting, though it was still riddled with strange coincidences. For example, that at the most climactic moment, Amelia discovers she actually has super ghost powers and can glow like the sun. W-What?! Where did that come from?
I feel like Hereafter could have been really good if only the kinks were ironed out better. It definitely had potential, but unfortunately fell victim to a whole slew of tired-out YA paranormal romance cliches. As of right now, I am unsure if I will continue to read the rest of the series … but we’ll see what happens …
I saw this available on NetGalley and I decided I want to read it — not so much based on the beautiful cover, but because of its incredibly low rating...moreI saw this available on NetGalley and I decided I want to read it — not so much based on the beautiful cover, but because of its incredibly low rating on Goodreads. I was fairly warned that I most likely will not like this book by a number of good friends of mine, but I was 1) curious and 2) believed it couldn’t really be that bad.
Well, I believed wrong.
Tris & Izzie is a modern re-telling of the legend Tristan and Iseult/Isolde/Yseult. I don’t actually know much about the legend; I watched the 2006 movie ages ago and don’t really remember much about it, just a general idea that it is a medieval romance. So I don’t really have the original story in my head to compare this novel to. (I did look up the legend after I finished this book though).
In this book, Izzie is dating the most popular boy in school, Mark. Lately, she doesn’t know why her best friend Branna is acting so weird around her and Mark, so she gets the brilliant idea to feed Branna and some guy (yes, literally, some guy — she doesn’t have anyone in mind yet) a love potion, courtesy of Izzie’s mom, who is a witch. When she tries to feed Branna the love potion, she gives some to Mark’s new friend Tristan. However, when Mark wants to drink some too, Izzie panics and drinks the rest herself, falling desperately in love with Tristan.
Izzie loves Tristan but is conflicted by her relationship with Mark, unsure of what to do. In the meantime, Izzie’s mom reveals that their family is from a place called Curvenal, where her mom did her witchcraft and her father (who is deceased) was a sorcerer. Izzie finds out that she is a sorceress herself, and that there is a great serpent who has been hunting her for the past 11 years. Tristan has been sent to protect Izzie.
There are a number of things that rubbed me the wrong way with this book, but the two biggest things was the execution and Izzie.
The execution — Well, this is supposed to be a modern retelling but it really, really does not feel like one. When I think of a modern retelling of an old story or legend, I imagine that there is no magic. You don’t modernize the story of Sleeping Beauty, but keep the fact that she fell asleep for a 100 years, that there were fairies, that there was a magic spinning wheel, etc. You reinvent all that to fit into the present day. You don’t simply throw the exact same story into a different time period. So, I don’t think this novel was a particularly creative reimagining of Tristan & Iseult (except the latter half of the novel, but by then, I don’t think it was retelling anything anymore).
I was actually very surprised when all the witchcraft and potions was brought up. It was not a smooth introduction at all. I thought I was reading a contemporary, non-fantasy novel and all of a sudden, Izzie and Branna are talking about potions and magic in a high school hallway like it’s completely normal. That wouldn’t have been too bad, but the magic system or world building in this book was poor as well, as if it was not thoroughly thought out. At first you think the magic in this world is witchcraft and potions. Okay. Suddenly we find out Izzie is a sorceress who can wield elemental magic. And then suddenly we find out Tristan is an alchemist. And then we find out about a whole bunch of strange mythical beasts that exist. More and more magical elements were just being thrown together. That was why I was not surprised when Tristan announced he had a flying sword.
The latter half of the novel seemed kind of ridiculous, with the giant and Izzie learning to wield fireballs out of the blue. For someone who only found out she has magic in her blood a few hours ago, she’s skilled enough to duel Albus Dumbledore and possibly win. It just didn’t really fit. I suppose you could say that’s just how the magic works in this world — if you have magic in your blood, you can do anything! But that goes back to my earlier statement that the magic in this novel is not properly thought out.
Izzie — I have never despised a character so much. She is the most selfish, immature, self-centered, idiotic and shallow character I have ever met. For one, she doesn’t realize Branna is in love with her boyfriend Mark when it is blatantly obvious. Then she takes it upon herself to force Branna to fall in love with someone of Izzie’s own choosing, with a love potion, without her consent, because she believes she knows what’s good for her best friend. When Izzie was in the hospital, she bossed Mark around, demanding him to get her a wheelchair and throwing a hissy fit when he didn’t leap to his feet to obey. When Branna was seriously injured, Izzie spent a considerable amount of time admiring Tristan’s athletic form instead of worrying about her friend.
I was so happy with the scene where Mark punched Izzie in the face. She deserved it. It’s unfortunate that she’s apparently made of steel or something because it didn’t seem to have much of an effect on her, not even a bruise.
The other characters weren’t much better. Tristan spoke super formally, which made him sound rather monotone. I thought this was supposed to be a romance, but there is surprisingly very little Tristan in this book. Or maybe it’s just because he doesn’t talk too much. Branna and Mark had one personality trait apiece. Speaking of which, Mark was quite odd because as soon as he found out Izzie didn’t love him anymore, but that Branna has a huge crush on him, he changed his tune quite quickly. Suddenly, instead of proclaiming his love for Izzie, he was swearing his eternal undying love to Branna. No magic (or reasonable transition of feelings) involved.
The biggest dealbreaker was that the writing wasn’t very good. The dialogue especially, felt quite unnatural (and I’m not just talking about Tristan’s robot voice). Some of the things that came out of the characters’ mouths just didn’t feel like something someone would say if they were in that situation.
This book wasn’t boring though, I’ll give you that. It was … interesting. I kept reading mainly because I kept being shocked and/or appalled by the things Izzie does or says (or busy being angry at Izzie), and the way the story developed was just so utterly bizarre that I kept reading.
I have a weakness for books with beautiful covers, and Fallen has a very beautiful cover indeed. Except I don’t think the story inside the book lives...moreI have a weakness for books with beautiful covers, and Fallen has a very beautiful cover indeed. Except I don’t think the story inside the book lives up to the packaging. I am not even completely sure what I just read. After finishing the book, I am left with way too many questions, and I don’t feel like anything was really resolved … was there even anything to resolve? I got this book because the majority of my Goodreads friends gave it a high rating, but maybe I should have heeded the ratings of my non-friends more seriously. (Sorry, friends …)
If you’ve read Twilight, Hush Hush, Evermore, Elixir, Dead Beautiful, The Mephisto Covenant, (insert another YA paranormal romance here), you’ve read half this book already. Luce has been troubled by the black shadows she sees for years. She has been pretending she’s completely normal for years, until recently at a high school party, she may or may not have accidentally killed her crush in a fire. And we never find out more about that event because the point of all that is to give a reason for Luce to enter Sword & Cross, a reform school.
Right away, Luce spots Daniel Grigori, who is, of course, drop dead gorgeous, has a “muscled torso” (naturally; he wouldn’t be a very good YA paranormal romance male lead without one), and seems a bit tortured. Their relationship feels a lot like Bella and Edward — Luce performs some Insta-Love™. Daniel tries to stay away from Luce at first, and isn’t very nice to her. Daniel saves Luce from a falling statue, like Edward saved Bella from an incoming car. Luce is still attracted to Daniel despite his efforts to tell her to stay away for her own good. Luce decides to go all stalker-like and literally research Daniel by digging through his school files, using the Internet and looking up his ancestors.
Oh, and the entire time, Luce is pursued by another guy, who is equally good looking, called Cam. Cam actually shows interest in Luce, and expresses how fond of her he is and even buys her a necklace. But no, Luce wants the guy who is trying his best to ignore her. Seriously boggles my mind. (And yes, Cam turns out to be the antagonist. Why??)
At no point in the story did I understand why Luce and Daniel love one another. They just do. They’re soulmates. Daniel may have a supernatural, albeit extremely flimsy, reason for loving Luce, but why does Luce love Daniel? He has shown zero interest in her. Oh wait. I remember. He’s gorgeous.
Not only that, but they’re not very interesting characters either. Luce and Daniel both have no personality, really. Daniel spends all his time feeling tortured and thinking, “Oh, Luce!” and Luce spends all her time being obsessive and thinking, “Oh Daniel!” These characters are like straight from the cheesiest romantic soap operas ever.
The plot … what plot? It was quite boring and slow. For 400 pages, I read about Luce admiring Daniel and how gorgeous he looks. I read about her stalking him. She’s annoyingly persistent. And then, finally, near the end, we have the scene that’s supposed to be the climax of the story — Daniel reveals his paranormal side (hint: the title of this book) — and we find out why he has been avoiding her the whole time. This climax was awful because any reader with half a brain could have pieced together the mystery of Daniel ages ago — not only does the title of this book provide a large clue, but the prologue and Daniel’s full name, Daniel Grigori does as well. It was like walking into a surprise party that you already knew about two weeks earlier.
The end of the book also kind of sets up the next book, but nothing is explained. For example, why is Luce so important that people want to kill her? Why is Cam evil? Why are Cam and Daniel fighting over Luce? Why are there so many of these paranormal creatures (I don’t want to spoil it even though it’s ridiculously easy to guess) gathered at Sword & Cross reform school? I know, I know — “It’ll be answered in the next book!” But to me, that is shoddy storytelling. Even if you are writing a series, each individual book must have a sense of resolution. As it is right now, Fallen feels like half a story. I know and understand nothing about its story world.
So, as you might gather by now, I didn’t like this book. It didn’t have much of a story, and mainly consisted of two overly dramatic, lovesick teenagers being obsessed with one another. And not in an entertaining Ron-and-Sammi-trainwreck kind of way.
I’ve been meaning to read this book for a while. When it was first released and the reviews started pouring out on blogs and Goodreads, the overwhelmi...moreI’ve been meaning to read this book for a while. When it was first released and the reviews started pouring out on blogs and Goodreads, the overwhelming majority that I read were very positive reviews. Needless to say, this book piqued my interest but I didn’t get around to reading it until now (an excuse I use for almost every book I read — “I didn’t get around to reading it …” Hah). I tried not to have my opinion of the book subconsciously swayed by the hype, though when it feels like EVERYONE loves this book, I feel pressure to love it too. Anyway, I definitely think this book is amazing, fun and creative, and I enjoyed it very much. I can totally understand why everyone loves it. I don’t think I love it quite as much as some other readers too, but I do think it is a very good book.
The story is about a young girl named Karou (pronounced ka-roo), who lives in Prague, alone in her own apartment, and attends an art school. She loves to draw and her friends love seeing the monsters she creates in her sketchbook. Little do her friends know, these monsters aren’t figments of Karou’s imagination; they are real. They are the monsters who raised Karou and Karou loves them as her own family.
Her “father figure” is Brimstone, who appears to be the leader of the four monsters. His life’s work is to collect teeth. All kinds of teeth, from humans to animals and even other fantastical creatures. Karou has no idea what Brimstone does with these bags and bags of teeth, she’s not allowed to ask. However, she runs errands for Brimstone and in return, he gives him small beads that allow her to make minor wishes, such as changing her hair colour to a natural blue, or giving her enemy caterpillar-bushy eyebrows.
When black handprints start appearing on doorways all over the world — the doorways to the world where the monsters reside — Karou’s world starts to change drastically. Suddenly, she loses all contact with Brimstone and the others and worse, she is being hunted by a beautiful but dangerous male angel named Akiva. However, little does Karou know, Akiva knows all about Karou’s true identity and how she is connected to him. Before she knows it, she and Akiva are embroiled in a forbidden love.
Before I say anything else, I want to make it clear that I did, indeed, fall in love with this book. I haven’t read a book this creative or imaginative since … well, it feels like a very long time. The best part of the creativity, for me, was the use of the teeth and wishes. I’m not going to spoil what Brimstone was using the teeth for, for those of you who don’t know, but I really liked that twist. Teeth! So simple, but so genius at the same time.
At its core, it’s still a pretty ‘common’ story. I would say the core of this novel is similar to the basic plot of Romeo & Juliet: two starcrossed lovers who cannot be together due to their affiliations. But in Daughter of Smoke & Bone, I feel Laini Taylor took that common story and re-imagined it on an epic grand scale, with angels and demons and an eternal war. The chronology of the story is also a bit different as well, telling the end first (although as the reader, you do not know it is the end) and then explaining the beginning, with how Karou and Akiva originally met and so on.
I really enjoyed the beginning of the book (or the ‘end’ of the story). I was totally loving being in Karou’s world, her art classes, her secret visits to Brimstone and her monster family, her annoying ex-boyfriend doing stupid stunts to try to win her back and all the little, and sometimes petty, wishes she made. Where the book began to falter, for me, was when the story shifted and began to tell the tale of how Karou and Akiva originally met. It was very removed from the setting I was already used to, and I was really not expecting that at all. I went from being on a slightly magical/paranormal Earth to a completely different world altogether, one where angels and monsters fought a war on a daily basis. New city names, new geography, new culture to know. The problem wasn’t the newness, it was just such a sudden shift for me that it almost felt like a disconnect between the first half of the book to the second half. The more I read, the more far away I felt from everything I read prior. It almost felt like a completely different story I was reading.
I wasn’t too crazy about was Karou and Akiva’s relationship either. It’s very sweet, but as I mentioned earlier, it is at its core, a Romeo & Juliet kind of story. Even though I praise the author for being so imaginative with it, the relationship is still as simplistic as what you think a Romeo & Juliet story would have. Their relationship is powerful, deep and passionate — and also quite instant. Even though Karou and Akiva started off as enemies, they very, very quickly put that all aside and, well, fell in love. I know, I know — you are thinking, “Uh, did you not READ the book? There is a reason!” I’m perfectly aware but I think even when Karou and Akiva met originally in Karou’s past life, it was still a lot of, “Wow, he’s so beautiful” and “Wow, she’s so beautiful”, with some “I saved your life” mixed in. I’m afraid I just didn’t feel the same fiery passion that these two character felt whenever they were with one another.
Now, with all that said, I did love reading this book a lot though. It was very fun and I became victim to the “just one more chapter” syndrome that all good books seem to be able to inflict on its readers. I liked Karou’s character a lot — not so much her “alter ego” (or rather, her original form) because that personality seemed way too Mary Sue for my liking. But I liked Karou and how she interacted with her human friends and her monster family. I loved the idea of a monster hidden in a little shop collecting teeth — don’t ask my why, but I’m very attached to that idea and this book did a very good job driving me crazy with wanting to know what the heck Brimstone was using the teeth for! You do get to find out in the end, no worries. The book also did a good job driving me crazy with who Karou was in her other life, but that one became somewhat predictable and therefore, less mysterious once Akiva entered the story and you see how they’re interacting.
I certainly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA novels, I do think this is one of the better YA novels I’ve read in the last little while. I eagerly look forward to book two: Days Of Blood & Starlight!(less)
I was so eager to read the second book in this series, but — if I may be perfectly honest — I feel really disappointed. I guess I shouldn’t have been...moreI was so eager to read the second book in this series, but — if I may be perfectly honest — I feel really disappointed. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised since the second book in a trilogy is usually lackluster compared to the first or the final book. Setting up for the grand finale and all. Still, I didn’t think I would have been this … bored.
After Karou finds out that Akiva was responsible for the genocide of her chimera people, she breaks off all contact with him and finds the remaining surviving chimera. She is their only hope now, their only resurrectionist, who can continue pumping out soldiers for the war against the angels. Despite her true intentions to help her own people, the chimera don’t trust her. They still see her as a traitor, and Karou can’t ever be sure that she is safe with them. Meanwhile, Akiva mourns the loss of Karou and deeply regrets what he has done. He is more determined than ever to end the brutal conflicts between chimeras and angels once and for all, but he is not sure how to begin such a venture, especially when he is hailed as the Beast’s Bane, a hero amongst his own angelic race.
I think my biggest problem with this book was that it simply felt like nothing much was happening. By the end of the novel, it’s clear that much of what happened in the story (which, to me, was not much) was a set-up for book three. Days of Blood & Starlight just doesn’t feel like much of a story on its own. While I can remember several memorable and series-defining events from the first book, there was only one or two significant events that occurred in this book. To put it plainly, I was simply bored by this book. When I was reading book one, I found it hard to put the book down (or rather, my tablet, heh). I had no troubles putting book two down at all.
There were also some chapters from the point-of-view of really random characters. For example, the Dama centaur chimera sisters Sveva and Sarazal and their escape story. There were a handful of chapters from them and then you didn’t hear anything from them again for the rest of the book. I found that quite odd …
A love triangle begins to emerge in this book, which I would not have minded so much if there was a hint of it in the first book. Karou and Akiva are more or less separated (for the time being, anyway), and we are introduced to Ziri, a chimera of the same race that Madrigal/Karou was. Cue intimate moments scenes. Insert a vague history between the two of them. See, all this was brand new information in book two, Ziri was never mentioned in book one, and it made it feel like this love triangle thing was an afterthought or something.
I also have to agree with my friend Paola that Zuzana had become super annoying in this book and I really hope she would be turned down a notch or two. I don’t know if she and Mik were supposed to be comic relief in an otherwise bleak and depressing environment, but they were not funny. They were irritating. Especially Zuzana, who came off as self-centered to me. A clashing of worlds is about to occur, your best friend’s life is going to be in danger, the entire WORLD is going to be in danger, and the only thing she seemed to care about was that she was in a dinky hotel room, away from all the action. Sigh.
I was happy with the direction of character development though. I feel Karou has grown up and matured a lot, enduring her trials and tribulations (unlike her best friend who seemed to have done the reverse of maturing), and Akiva also has gone through some serious self reflection. I like how they are not like two lovesick teenagers hell-bent on being together no matter the costs. They are level headed and realize there are greater stakes — worlds to save — and if they cannot be together because of this, then so be it, because it will be for the greater good. I do hope Karou and Akiva will resolve their issues with one another, but I feel it would be appropriate if they didn’t either. I guess either way, I will be content with their relationship.
Here’s hoping book three will be much better!(less)
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