Jinny has
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| # | cover | title | author | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages | avg rating | num ratings | date pub | date pub (ed.) | rating | my rating | review | notes | recommender | comments |
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read count | date started | date read | date added | date purchased | owned | purchase location | condition | format | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1442417617
| 9781442417618
| 3.61
| 4,745
| Jun 07, 2011
| Jun 07, 2011
|
Saw this on PulseIt and decided to give it a whirl. I admit, I was lured by the gorgeous cover. However, Possession is a shining example of the saying...more
Saw this on PulseIt and decided to give it a whirl. I admit, I was lured by the gorgeous cover. However, Possession is a shining example of the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." The plot is the kind where, on paper, it sounds like a great idea, but the actual result fell very flat. It felt like all the ideas were just thrown together. It felt disjointed. I didn't understand many of the terms specific to this book because nothing was explained, nor were there enough hints provided for me to understand it myself. Somehow the story went from rebellious girl being thrown in prison to running away to some "outside" land to her finding out she can mind control people and technology and that her (view spoiler)[Dad is like a Darth Vader-type character (and by that, I mean, evil and working for the bad guys). (hide spoiler)] And then it turns out a whole bunch of other people have special powers, so now they seem like a band of superheroes ... I don't know. I didn't get it. The story didn't flow properly. The relationships were horrible as well. Everyone seemed to know everyone one way or another. It was way too coincidental. And the "love" between Vi and Jag felt like it was smashed together with no rhyme or reason. Vi talks about how in love she is with Zenn in the first chapter, and two chapters later, she is head over heels in love with Jag, for no apparent reason. I mean, she got thrown into jail, into the same cell as Jag (which didn't make sense to me because I thought boys and girls have to kept separate in this world?) and within a day she's forgotten about Zenn and is all about Jag. And why? From what I can tell, because he's good looking. I think this book could have been really good, but the execution was very confusing and the funky coincidences and cheap relationships just made this a book that felt like it didn't have a lot of heart in it.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Jul 04, 2011
| Jul 05, 2011
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Jul 04, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 1606842587
| 9781606842584
| 3.35
| 298
| Sep 27, 2011
| Sep 27, 2011
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I got a copy of this book from the ever-wonderful NetGalley. I was interested in reading a book about vampires, especially after I heard that Blood de...more
I got a copy of this book from the ever-wonderful NetGalley. I was interested in reading a book about vampires, especially after I heard that Blood dealt with the more ‘traditional’ vampire. However, I didn’t really end up enjoying this particular story very much. The plot of Blood is a little too obscure for my liking, but it certainly has potential; I think it was the execution of ideas that dragged the story down a bit. It’s about William, Earl of Mercia, who “fell ill” (that’s lingo for “turned into a vampire”) in the 1200′s and was buried away in a crypt. Over the past 800 or so years, he’ll wake up every so often to feed on human blood. The story opens up with Will waking up and looks for a person to feed on, as per his usual routine, as well as feeling sorry for himself and wondering if he’ll ever find the person who turned him into a vampire so he can exact his revenge. Will finds a homeless person and kills him, drinking his blood, but when he peeks through the homeless person’s notebook and sees his name in it, he becomes intrigued and wonders if destiny brought him to this man. Flipping through it some more, he sees some sketches of this girl who, coincidentally enough, he runs into later in the story. He is sure that somehow, this girl (Eloise) is connected to him, based on the writings/prophecies/notes in the notebook, and that he is approaching his “destiny”, the reason he became a vampire. So, I think the plot is okay, and the story as whole is okay, but I felt like it was built on a lot of funky coincidences and truthfully, it wasn’t written in the most captivating manner. It’s good writing, but as I was reading, I felt disconnected from the story a lot; I couldn’t fully immerse myself into the world. I wasn’t a big fan of all the coincidences in the story — which Will handily calls destiny. Will encountered the homeless guy who coincidentally had all these notes about him, and then he coincidentally he meets Eloise, the same girl talked about in the notebook, and Eloise coincidentally knows Chris and Rachel, who have seen Will in 1989 and recognize him and actually remember him, and they coincidentally are really interested in paranormal stuff … it just felt like the story is in danger of crossing over to the deus ex machina side quite often, as it relied on the destiny card quite a bit. I understand that Will’s character has a destiny laid out for him (apparently), but it was not laid out by a god. It was laid out by the villain, who has a use for Will. So I don’t understand how destiny is causing Will to run into all these characters who are so intertwined or related to his story. The characters were rather mediocre and weren’t very likeable or memorable. Will reminded me greatly of Edward Cullen: vampire, good looks, kind of melancholic, wants to just die and be done with “living”, chivalric, etc. and that immediately made me not like him too much. Eloise struck me as an idiot. She comes from a privileged family, but decided to live on the streets because no one was paying enough attention to her. Chris and Rachel are easily forgettable, as their entire purpose seemed to boil down to being Will and Eloise’s chauffeurs.As for the villains, you don’t really meet them, nor do you get a clear picture as to their goals and motivations. Well, you do meet one villain at the end, but he’s really just the servant of the true villain. The relationships between characters weren’t logical to me. I didn’t understand why Eloise was happy to disclose her real name to Will, who she’s only known a day, but reveals that she’s been using an alias around Chris and Rachel, who she’s known for much longer and swears are perfectly good people. I also didn’t understand why nobody freaked out or disbelieved the fact that Will was a vampire; everyone seemed to more or less accept it. I understand that Eloise, Chris and Rachel, due to their personalities, want to believe in vampires and other paranormal creatures, but wanting to believe is not quite the same as actually encountering one … and knowing he’s just killed a man yesterday … I feel like these characters aren’t believable in that sense. Most people would be more wary, at the very least, instead of eagerly rolling up their sleeves and offering any help they can to find the vampire’s attacker. There isn’t very much romance in this book, which I was surprised because a lot of YA paranormal books (especially vampires!) have a romance component in them. It was definitely a welcome change, but what little romance there was in the book happened quite quickly. I am not sure at what point Will and Eloise started liking one another — one second they’re trying to unravel the mystery of Will’s ‘destiny’, the next second, they are locking lips. Nevertheless, the romance is so downplayed and minor in this story that I didn’t really mind the InstaLove. The story moves pretty slow, and when it ended, it didn’t feel like anything was resolved. As the entire story revolved around Will moping about what his destiny is and all that, it was quite disappointing when the book ended and we still don’t find out what the destiny is. Will does find his attacker, but it was quickly resolved, so fast that if you blink, you would have missed it. I feel like since trilogies and series are a trend in YA, this book decided to follow that path as well, but I honestly feel this story should be a stand-alone book. I’ve said this about a number of YA series now — when you write a series, each individual book still feel conclusive. You can’t just say, “Oh, well, you’ll find the answers in the next book!” The reader shouldn’t finish the first book having discovered nothing. Or barely anything. For example, in the Harry Potter series, each book wraps up that particular books secrets, mysteries and plots, but the overarching plot continues on in the next book (namely, fighting Voldemort). It would be extremely unsatisfying to read The Chamber of Secrets and not find out where the notebook came from, or who Tom Riddle is, until two books later. Anyway, for all my complaints, this book really was just okay. It’s not horrible, but it could have been a lot better. I think if you are not much of an inquisitive person when reading books, you might enjoy this, but if you are like me and ask a lot of questions, then this may be one better left unread. As a side note, I am also not a fan of this cover. It looks cheaply Photoshop’d, with the gradient text and the blood-splatter brushes. Also, the half-naked guy with abs on the cover is kind of cheesy and strikes me as a romance novel rather than YA. Is that supposed to be Will? I don’t think earls from the 1200s have abs because noble people don’t really do much physical labour back in those days … I don’t know. Just some of my random thoughts. (Originally posted at http://skyink.net).(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Sep 18, 2011
| Sep 19, 2011
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Aug 08, 2011
| ebook
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| 3.73
| 12,829
| Oct 04, 2011
| Oct 04, 2011
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(This review is cross posted at http://skyink.net) 2.5. Eve is an apocalyptic story taking place in the not-so-distant future. The year is 2032. Sixteen...more (This review is cross posted at http://skyink.net) 2.5. Eve is an apocalyptic story taking place in the not-so-distant future. The year is 2032. Sixteen years ago, an extremely deadly virus (or plague) along with the vaccine that was supposed to save lives wiped out 98% of the world. Society reorganized itself, the USA now called The New America and ruled by a king in the City of Sand. Eve, our protagonist, was taken into a girls-only orphange called the School at the age of five, along with many other girls. Her time there was spent given a rudimentary education, but primarily focused on the Dangers of Men and Boys. Eve is the star pupil of the school and the valedictorian of her class. She and her classmates are all graduating very soon, and excited to start their four year study of a trade in the school building across the lake. This all changes when Eve discovers the true nature of what happens in that building across the lake. What she finds is that all the Graduates who go there are not learning trades at all — they are being used to breed babies, to repopulate the country. Horrified, Eve runs away from School, and eventually comes across the first boy she has seen in a very long time. Wary of Caleb at first, Eve decides to trust him and allow him to help her escape, and along the way, their feelings bloom into a romantic relationship. I have … mixed feelings about this book. I’ll start with the story world. This is not a HUGE problem, but it was something I pondered over as I read the book. Firstly, the population of the world is roughly 6.7 billion people right now (according to Google). 2% of that is roughly 135 million people. I don’t think that’s a number low enough to start worrying about population issues. Yes, it’s a lot less than 6.7 billion, but is it enough that you need to start forcing girls to have babies, using them as breeding machines? I’ll let you decide. I also don’t understand why society (specifically, American society) would decide they don’t want to be ruled democratically anymore and follow a self-proclaimed king instead. “Why would society become like this?” is a question I have been having in a lot of YA dystopian/apocalyptic books lately (Wither, Divergent as examples). The answer Eve gives is that the virus killed everyone too quick, nearly all the politicians as well, and with all this chaos, people clung to the first signs of leadership they could find. I’m not entirely convinced by this answer. Yes, there is mass chaos and people are dropping like flies, but I don’t know if the survivors will willingly attach themselves to a self proclaimed king despite the situation. If this guy made himself the new President, even if a totalitarian President, that’s a little more believable. Perhaps this is all just a semantics issue I have. As for the ‘breeding program’, I think I have a much better idea, haha. I don’t see why they just tell the young girls at School from a very young age that they are being raised to bear children. Condition them to think that they are serving their country. That way, they will have completely have accepted it from a young age (much like how they accepted hating men) and they won’t have any resistance to being pregnant; they won’t have to deal with the shock and horror, and instead, have little obedient “sows”, as they are called in the book. I don’t know, maybe this new King isn’t very smart, but this is what I would order for in his position. I do realize this would completely change the entire story though. I did not like the main character Eve at all. I tried to be forgiving at first because she was raised from a very young age to hate men, and she is completely sheltered. I told myself, “Eve can’t help it if she’s naive, it’s the way she’s brought up”. But as the story continued, it became harder and harder to justify liking Eve. She does a lot of stupid things that gets herself and her friends in mortal peril. I also found her quite self centered. I mean, the ending is a perfect example that points to Eve caring more about herself than Caleb (or anyone else). I see absolutely no redeeming qualities as to why Caleb would decide he’s in love with her. I’m glad they didn’t fall in love at first sight, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason as to why they would fall in love. Eve is also a psychotic feminist. Well, yes, she was raised that way, but I as I read the book, I was upset that nearly every male Eve encountered reinforced her knowledge of men. Men are represented horribly in this book. First she sees guys acting crude and violent, then she finds a group of guys who only stare at her body, then she nearly gets raped and … well, you get the idea. The exception is Caleb, of course. I was actually quite surprised how quickly Eve warmed up to Caleb. I didn’t think a person who has been taught nearly all her life to beware of men would fall in love with one in a few weeks’ time. I said I have mixed feelings though, and this is why: I do like the general plot. The gist of it is that Eve is running away from School and trying to reach the safe camp of Califia, who are helping women and girls escape their predestined fate of being “sows”, as they are called in the book. Eve meets a bunch of characters along the way and encounters all sorts of life and death situations; overall, I do like the plot. The writing is great as well. I personally found it quite engaging — a bit slow at times, but nothing major — and I zipped through the book in no time flat. I don’t think there’s any hope for me to ever like Eve, but I do feel exciting things are in store for future installments. I think this book was alright, but certainly can be better. With that all said, do realize that anything can happen from now until the book is officially published though!(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Jul 15, 2011
| Jul 15, 2011
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Jul 07, 2011
| ebook
| |||||||||||||||||
| 006208562X
| 9780062085627
| 4.23
| 13,044
| May 01, 2012
| May 01, 2012
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I am kind of in a state of disbelief over this book. I mean that in a, “What did I just read?” kind of way. It started off pretty good but very, very...more
I am kind of in a state of disbelief over this book. I mean that in a, “What did I just read?” kind of way. It started off pretty good but very, very quickly went downhill for me. I just can’t believe over half the things that happened in this book. I’m surprised I actually read every word to the end. Sweet Evil is about a girl named Anna. She’s super sweet and innocent, incredibly nice, and also, she can literally see people’s emotions, in colours. She’s always known she was kind of different from other people, obviously. When she turns 16, she meets Kaidan, a deliciously handsome teen boy who’s in a famous rock band. He’s the same as her — he can see people’s emotions, but the difference is, he knows why. Anna and Kaidan are Nephilim, the offspring of demons and humans. Born to one of the Dukes of Evil, their jobs is to corrupt humankind and have them destroy one another in sin. However, Anna is even more unique than she realizes — she is not the daughter of a demon and a human, but rather, a demon and an angel. There are so many things I didn’t like about this book. I’ll start with the story and structure. I really did not like having the story world explained to me via question-answer sessions between characters. I can think of at least three long scenes where Anna is sat down with another characters (Kaidan, her foster mom Patti, or her dad) and they just explain things to her. It was like reading an interview, where Anna would ask a question and the other person would provide an answer. I find this to be a very boring and unimaginative way of revealing a story world. A lot of events happened in this book that were just super unrealistic, and I don’t mean the demons and spirits and angels. The majority of characters in this book are 15-17. Somehow, every teen is hooked onto drinking and ecstasy and having sex, or so it seems. At age FIFTEEN? Holy cow. Maybe I just wasn’t “hip” when I was 15, but that seems awfully young to be doing these things. Not only that, but it’s incredibly easy for them to enter clubs and bars. I have no idea why. I highly doubt all the bouncers do is slap a bracelet on your hand that says you’re a minor. As the kids in this book showed, even with these magical bracelets, they got their hands on booze very easily. And wow, were they ever knowledgeable about alcohol, they knew so many drinks and mixes, it was mind boggling. The characters were ridiculous. Anna is supposed to be super innocent, kind and a little naive. Well, she definitely came off naive, and very dumb, and very annoying. She’s stuck in this world where she wants everyone to hold hands and ring around the rosy. She’s also hypocritical. For example, Kaidan, being the son of the Duke of Lust, kept wanting to have sex with her. She kept refusing. Finally, one night, she randomly pounced on Kaidan, totally wanting to have sex with him because — get this — her poetry homework made her mad. Kaidan wasn’t great either. I saw no reason why the two of them fell in love after four days (Anna even admits it’s only been 4 days), but they did. Kaidan had little personality and the only thing he wanted from Anna nearly the entire time was to have sex with her, which Anna kept refusing yet she fell in love … Weird. Anna’s parents were really aggravating too, especially her mom. Anna’s foster mom, Patti, is your stereotypical helicopter mom. At the same time, she makes dumb parenting decisions. Anna needs to go to California to meet her dad — why not go on a road trip with Kaidan, the boy you met yesterday? Yes, you know he’s the son of a demon, that should be no problem because you’ll just go right up to him and tell him to leave Anna’s virtue intact. He’ll listen to you, right? And then there’s Anna’s dad. She hasn’t seen him in 16 years, yet once they were in each other’s lives, they acted like they’ve always known one another, being super close and everything. It was bizarre. Not to mention how extremely uncomfortable it was to read about her dad bringing TONS of alcohol to her and teaching her how to drink alcohol so she can lure other people to drink and become drunk. She’s SIXTEEN. I don’t care if that’s her job as a demon child, she’s SIXTEEN! It did not inspire any warm and fuzzy father-daughter moments in me at all. On a similar note, I do understand that this book centers around these demons that are each in charge of a sin, but I felt like the amount of it in the book was almost at inappropriate levels for a YA/teen novel. There’s SO much drugs and alcohol in this book which the characters drink with no consequences. Kaidan’s job is to have sex with girls, so he’s having one night stands in every other chapter. We have two twin girls whose job is to break up relationships and marriages. One of them describes being gang raped at age 13. Anna herself almost gets date raped. Who thought all this would be okay in a book with characters who are so young?! If this was an adult/general fiction book, that’s different, but this isn’t. I also disliked how this book emphasized virginity = purity. Implying that if you're not a virgin, you're a dirty, dirty whore, which is something some of the female characters who are not virgins experienced when the other kids at school found out they had sex with so and so. I can go on forever about what I didn’t like about this book, but I think you get the point. There’s so many things I dislike about it and the story seemed to make less and less sense as the book went on. It’s really strange because when I first started the book, I actually really enjoyed the first chapter and was looking forward to some YA demon-angel mythology. I am definitely not interested in reading any more from this series :|(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Aug 27, 2012
| Aug 28, 2012
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Aug 27, 2012
| ebook
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| 1606842714
| 9781606842713
| 3.87
| 1,985
| Sep 27, 2011
| Sep 27, 2011
|
Where do I even begin? I was originally super excited to read this book. There’s many positive reviews of it on Goodreads, and it had a very intriguing...more Where do I even begin? I was originally super excited to read this book. There’s many positive reviews of it on Goodreads, and it had a very intriguing synopsis — Sasha, our main character, wants to know who murdered her father and thinks joining the cult, the Ravens, will bring her answers. What she finds out instead is that she is Anabo, a descendant of Eve’s daughter (as in, Adam and Eve), and the Ravens try to kill her for it. The Ravens are working for Eryx, who is worse than Lucifer the Devil; Eryx is trying to use his recruited souls to power himself into overtaking Hell and Heaven. Sasha is saved, however, by Jax, who is a Son of Hell and is looking for his Anabo, his soulmate, who could lead him to a chance to be in Heaven. This book is probably going to be popular amongst those who enjoy romances between super hot paranormal male leads and she-doesn’t-know-she’s-beautiful-and-special female leads, who, for one reason or another, are in angst for much of the story because they cannot be together. If you like that kind of story, you’ll love this — but The Mephisto Covenant was not my cup of tea at all, was not what I expected. The story flowed awkwardly, was simply bizarre at times and the bit about finding out who murdered Sasha's father was quickly resolved and thrown out the window after the first dozen pages. A majority of the scenes and dialogue are question-answer sessions between Sasha and the other characters, who dump a ton of background information on her (and the reader). And then there’s the strangeness of this Eyrx character who is more evil than Lucifer. Seriously, Lucifer and God are actually kind of working together as partners in this book, to bring down Eyrx who is the real kingpin of evil. I found that really hard to accept. Not that I’m religious or anything. It’s just the idea that the Devil himself is less evil than Eyrx doesn’t make sense to me. On a similar note, Eryx isn’t even aware of Sasha’s existence for the vast majority of the novel, so I didn’t feel like there was much tension in the story. The stakes didn’t feel that high to me. Most of the story consisted of the characters worrying that Eyrx would discover Sasha the Anabo, and trying to keep Sasha safe from the enemy who doesn’t even know she exists yet. However, the main focus of this story is the angsty romance between Sasha and Jax, which annoyed me way more than I found romantic. In fact, I don’t think any part of their relationship was romantic at all. There was insta-love, creepy-obsessive love and it was kind of shallow that all they ever talked about was how hot each other was. And there was a lot of focus on sex. Sex, sex, sex. All the characters, not just Sasha and Jax, but especially Sasha and Jax. It was drilled into my head how dangerous it would be if they had sex, and how Jax was so obsessed with seeing her naked. There was also a cliche ‘I almost got raped but my soulmate rescued me before it happened’ scene that I’ve read in a dozen YA novels now. Then there’s the characters themselves, mainly Sasha and Jax. Jax was an overly protective, overly jealous, bordering-on-obsessive kind of boyfriend. Sasha spent most of her time crying in this novel, or feeling like she’s about to cry — sometimes over the silliest things, like getting a new laptop. I just wanted to reach into the pages, give the girl a good shake by the shoulders and exclaim, “Get a grip on yourself!” I have an entire page of notes I scribbled down while reading this book, but I won’t get into them all. I can see this book being quite popular because I know there is an audience for stories like this, but this really wasn’t for me at all. (Review originally posted at http://skyink.net).(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Aug 09, 2011
| Aug 18, 2011
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Aug 01, 2011
| ebook
| |||||||||||||||
| 1416912045
| 9781416912040
| 4.23
| 52,554
| Nov 06, 2007
| Nov 06, 2007
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Oh my gaaaawd. This book was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Shocking! Breathtaking! Moving! Touching. It’s a lot of different things. It made me want to cry. It...more
Oh my gaaaawd. This book was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Shocking! Breathtaking! Moving! Touching. It’s a lot of different things. It made me want to cry. It made me ridiculously warm and fuzzy inside. It’s a MUST READ. Unwind takes place in a dystopic future. After the Heartland War was fought in the US, the Pro-Life and Pro-Choice proponents came to a compromise: from the moment a life is conceived till the child becomes 13 years old, their life is protected by law. However, a child between the ages of 13 and 18 can be aborted, or “unwound”. 100% of their body will be systematically taken apart and used for transplants. This is also to address the issue of not enough people being organ donors. The idea is that unwinding does not technically kill the person, because all their body parts are still alive — just in a scattered state. Connor just found out his parents, who think their son is behaving out of control, have signed the papers to have him unwound. He runs away from home, causing an accident on a highway that unites him with Risa, also bound for unwinding as she is a ward of the state that the state can no longer afford to keep, especially since, in their opinion, she has no special talents worth keeping alive for, and also Lev, a tithe who, for his entire life, has been prepared for his eventual unwinding. The three of them struggle to survive, until they are 18 at least, in a world that has already labeled them as useless members of society before they’ve been given a proper chance to prove themselves. I always have trouble reviewing books I really, really like because I’m afraid it turns into more of a fangirl-y rambling mess. Honestly, I was blown away by this book’s story. At first I kind of raised my eyebrow at the synopsis because it didn’t sound believable that anyone would ever dare put forth an idea like ‘unwinding’ to become law, but a good writer can make his reader believe anything. And no, this book is not preach-y at all about pro-life or pro-choice. It doesn’t really side with either. It is strictly about unwinding. One of the things I liked about this book was the little excerpts of quotes and real news stories and articles that occasionally popped up throughout the book. I think that was one of the things that helped give the unwinding concept credibility. For example, there was a quote from Albert Einstein about how humans are in delusion about how they are their own entity separate from the universe, when really, humans should know they are a part of the universe in every way possible. Einstein is probably talking about the cycle of life, but you see how one can skew a quote like this to support unwinding? The story is so crazy, but so good, and so clever. I was completely engrossed into the story world. I was living in it, breathing in it. The characters started off as strangers to me, but by the end of the novel, I cared about them — so much that I felt their crushed spirits, I felt their sense of hopelessness, I felt their shock, and I felt their happiness. The ending was so moving and touching, I felt like I could weep tears of joy. It’s not a perfect happy ending, but it still makes you sit back and say, “Wow … that was just amazing.” It makes you wonder about what it means to be alive, the right to our own bodies and the right to live. I’m really curious about the supposed sequel that is being written. I am not against a sequel, but with how nicely the book concluded, I’m curious as to what a sequel would entail. Perhaps different characters altogether? Regardless, I will most definitely pick up the second book. I hope my enthusiasm is enough to convince you to pick up this book and read it. At least stick it in your TBR lists so you don’t forget about it. This book sticks with you after you read it, it is very capable of emotionally affecting its reader. I’m just in awe over this book. I love it! (This review was also posted at http://skyink.net).(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Aug 09, 2011
| Aug 11, 2011
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May 25, 2011
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 1442409053
| 9781442409057
| 3.88
| 40,971
| Mar 22, 2011
| Mar 22, 2011
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The plot and the characters were alright by me, but the thing that really ruined the story for me was the world it takes place in ... It doesn't make...more
The plot and the characters were alright by me, but the thing that really ruined the story for me was the world it takes place in ... It doesn't make sense to me. And because it didn't make sense to me, I was continuously distracted by the questions I had in my head: - If all diseases are eradicated, what about the natural humans who didn't have any diseases? They can just keep mating and creating more "natural" humans. Why did they all die out or something? I'm assuming you only need to kill the diseases from people who HAVE them, unless this is some sort of magic bullet inoculation they gave to every single person alive. It never really says in the book. - Is all this polygamy and kidnapping and shooting girls in vans legal? Is there no government?? How did the USA end up like this anyway? I mean sure it's far in the future, but geez, it's a bit unbelievable that society would head in THAT direction if we all discovered we can't live past age 20/25. - Why were the girls killed anyway, if procreating is so important these days? Wouldn't you need all the wombs you can get? The human race is dying and you're being picky? - How come the servants don't have to procreate? Shouldn't everyone, ah, contribute? - There's a lot of freaking orphans. What's the point of procreating if they just end up abandoned anyway? Also ... The kidnapped life doesn't seem so bad. You get servants. You marry a rich guy. You get whatever you want, massages, books, etc. It's really hard to feel sorry for Rhine, the protagonist. I mean, sure she wants freedom but her life really doesn't seem THAT bad.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Jul 03, 2011
| Jul 04, 2011
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Jun 30, 2011
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0439253853
| 9780439253857
| 3.87
| 1,378
| Apr 01, 2006
| Apr 01, 2006
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When I was a kid, around ten or twelve years old, this was one of my absolute favourite book series. I adore books about princesses, real or fictional...more
When I was a kid, around ten or twelve years old, this was one of my absolute favourite book series. I adore books about princesses, real or fictional, and love learning about them. There's twenty books in this series, I own eight of them. I recently decided to re-read some of them, partly for nostalgic reasons, and partly because I'm kind of behind in my 100 books goal and would like to shamelessly bring that number up a bit, heh. This book is about a little German princess who lived in Prussia, who was born as Sophia. Her mother is a relentless social climber, a princess herself, but such a minor one that no one really cares about them. She always dreams of being related to "real" royalty. When Empress Elisabeth of Russia sends out a request for portraits of young, eligible ladies to be sent to her so she may choose a bride for her heir, the Grand Duke Peter, Sophia and her mother are both shocked and excited that Elisabeth chooses Sophia. Thus Sophia makes the great journey from Prussia to Russia, through the snow and cold, to meet her future husband. When she meets the Empress, the Empress decides Sophia should be named Catherine instead, after her mother. Catherine would later go on to become Catherine the Great. I thought the book was pretty good. It wasn't the most exciting or engaging one (I remember the Anastasia and Cleopatra books in this series being very addicting). I think the issue is that Catherine's life is much more interested after she marries and becomes Empress, than before. I know the series focuses on the princesses in their tween/teen years, but Catherine just doesn't have that much going during that part of her life, besides the betrothal. Still, I do think the book was written pretty good and despite not too much happening in her life. The book focuses more on Catherine's relationships with her mother, Empress Elisabeth and her betrothed, Peter, which I think is great for laying down the groundwork for those interested in reading more about Catherine, because Catherine does have some tense relationships with those people. This portrayal of Catherine is very easy to like. I'm not sure how she is usually portrayed; this is my first historical fiction involving Catherine the Great. From what I know of her from history though, I imagine she would often be portrayed as very ambitious? This Catherine in this book does have hints of ambitiousness but the author, whether purposely or not, downplayed a lot of it, or made it sound more like a nice girl chasing a dream to be a good empress. My only real complaint is the ending. It was very, very abrupt. I was surprised to turn the page and realize that the story was done. If you don't mind reading juvenile books, I think this one is a pretty good one to try out, especially if you like historical fiction and/or have an interest in the Russian empress, Catherine the Great. (less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Jun 24, 2012
| Jun 24, 2012
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Jun 24, 2012
| Hardcover
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| 1442433396
| 9781442433397
| 4.04
| 20,807
| Jun 07, 2011
| Jun 07, 2011
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4.5 stars. Wasn't really sure how to categorize this book, so I looked over to the right side bar for help. The story takes place in a very distant fut...more 4.5 stars. Wasn't really sure how to categorize this book, so I looked over to the right side bar for help. The story takes place in a very distant future, so distant that the conditions of the earth (or at least, the area this novel is set in) is a dusty desert and all our present civilizations are abandoned wrecks. Technology seems to have taken a bit of a leap backwards as well, and any of our present-day technology is called 'Wrecker tech'. I really enjoyed this story! Firstly, there is the amazing protagonist Saba. She's strong-willed, very stubborn, and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Her little sister, Emmi, thinks Saba can be quite the meanie, and it's true -- she can be -- but at the same time, as a reader, I find Saba a very refreshing character. The writing of the book is something that I personally really liked, but I can definitely understand if someone doesn't feel the same way. Saba's the narrator of the book, in first person, and she (along with everyone else in the story with the exception of one character) speaks in a very particular way. As a result, all the words in the book, the entire narration, are spelled exactly the way she's pronouncing them: "hafta" "yer" "cain't" "unnerstand" "pertect" "ezzackly" to name a few. It took me a bit to get used to, but once you do, it's no biggie. The only thing that annoyed me was that dialogue was not marked with quotation marks, ever, in this book. I'm not quite sure why. The story world was interesting because even though it's very far in the future, everything's gone backwards. They call "us" the Wreckers, so I'm assuming we've somehow ruined our world for living. The inhabitants of this story world live in a dusty desert-type place for the most part, and there's a king and slavery and cage-fighting gladiator style is popular again. Sometimes I forget I'm reading a book that takes place in the future, but it's not a problem or anything, just something interesting to note. Plot-wise, like I said, I really liked it. It's exciting and fast paced. The only thing is (and the reason I didn't feel I could give it a full five stars (though I rounded up on Goodreads)) that the last half of the book isn't as strong as the first half. I was glued to the pages when I was first reading, but around the halfway point I was ... less glued? (less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Jul 05, 2011
| Jul 07, 2011
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Jul 05, 2011
| ebook
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| 1933718552
| 9781933718552
| 3.94
| 5,923
| Sep 27, 2011
| Oct 11, 2011
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3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up for Goodreads. I got a copy of this great book from NetGalley. In Ashfall, fifteen year old Alex has to learn how to sur...more 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up for Goodreads. I got a copy of this great book from NetGalley. In Ashfall, fifteen year old Alex has to learn how to survive in the aftermath of a supervolcano eruption. Alex who was left alone at home one day when the eruption happened. Alone, Alex attempts to stay with neighbours at first but later on decides to make the long journey to his uncle's house to find his parents and his sister (who had gone there to visit the uncle prior to the eruption). The story of Ashfall follows Alex's journey in the chaotic, apocalyptic world he is now thrusted into and forced to adapt to. I have never even heard of the term 'supervolcano' until I read this book so that drew me into the story very quickly. I loved how the end of the book had a little section dedicated to supervolcano facts and information. Overall, I thought this was a great book. A lot happens in the story so there is almost always something going on. I have absolutely no knowledge when it comes to volcanoes and what would happen if one should erupt, but based on my own commonsense and logic, this book seemed pretty realistic. It's the way people/society behaves in the aftermath of the volcanic eruption that intrigued me though. I liked how the book doesn't shy away from the horrors people are able to do in desperate times like this, and with that said, this book can be quite violent and graphic at times. Luckily our protagonist is a pretty decent kid who has a big heart, but isn't a complete Mary Sue (er, can I still use that term for boys?) If someone's in trouble, he's not gonna just skip on by, but at the same time, he isn't going to lay his life out on the line for someone. I like that he was realistic in this way. In a huge disaster like this, the natural human instinct to survive kicks in first for most people. There's one thing I felt could have been improved on. The plot starts off a bit slow and then seems to switch back and forth with scenes of interesting suspense and fast action; and then goes back to being a bit slow until the last half of the book where it all picks up. Granted, traveling alone in ashfall isn't the most thrilling thing to do in the world, I realize that, but I kind of wish there was a little more than reading Alex's internal monologues. Anyway, overall, this is a great book. I eagerly await its release!(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Jul 06, 2011
| Jul 09, 2011
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Jul 04, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 1421527723
| 9781421527727
| 4.22
| 16,941
| Apr 1999
| Nov 17, 2009
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I have been wanting to read this for a long time. I used to really be into anime and manga, and this title came up a lot as a bloody, graphic story of...more
I have been wanting to read this for a long time. I used to really be into anime and manga, and this title came up a lot as a bloody, graphic story of a bunch of students forced to kill one another. Then with The Hunger Games being released, I remembered this title again, mainly because I thought, “Wow, The Hunger Games sounds like it copied Battle Royale.” (To which I say, now that I have read it, it probably didn’t — the basic concept is the same, but the stories are completely different from one another. Anyway, I think Battle Royale is much better than The Hunger Games. I like THG, don’t get me wrong (I have it 5 stars and all), but I’m one of the people who really doesn’t understand the intense liking other readers have for it. I digress). I saw the movie first, but the movie isn’t exactly the most faithful rendering of the novel (great movie, just not the same as the book). Battle Royale takes place in an alternate timeline in what used to be Japan, but is now the Republic of Greater East Asia. A class of 42 students are going on what they believe is a class study trip somewhere, but during the bus ride, sleeping gas is turned on and all the students are knocked out. When they awake, they find themselves on a tiny island and are told that they are this year’s chosen class to participate in the Program. This immediately scares the daylights out of the students, and causes quite a few of them to become angry as well. The Program is, well, a program that selects, at random, one class a year to play a game where they are forced into a confined area (in this case, an island) and are forced to kill one another until one is left standing. This is the government’s way of controlling everyone — through fear and intimidation, a constant reminder that they have your lives in the palm of their hands. However, Shuya, our main character, does not want to play the game and instead, wants to strategize a way to escape. This proves to be most difficult because when the game begins, he cannot tell who is willing to play and who he can truly trust. I loved this book. It was pure addiction to read it. As a warning though, there are many violent scenes in this book that make the violence in The Hunger Games look like a joke. Actually, I never really thought THG was a very violent book in the first place — I mean, Katniss nearly always does indirect attacks, or attacks that allow her to maintain a considerable amount of distance between herself and the enemy. In Battle Royale, we have in-your-face violence. I’m talking about bodies riddled with bullet holes, heads bashed into mush, etc. So if you can’t stomach that kind of stuff, this really isn’t the book for you so I won’t even try, but if you’re okay with it all, all the violence keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s freaking scary because you don’t know who’s going to die next and you don’t know how it’s going to happen. And yes, some of the deaths made me squirm a bit. Then there are all the relationships in the novel that made the novel extrenely intriguing. Okay, so I thought it was a tad odd that in one class, there was this huge web of love relationships. Half the characters seemed to have a crush on someone in the same class, which seemed like an oddly high amount to me. But these love relationships did pull on my heartstrings a bit in some scenes … especially the Hiroki scene near the end of the book. Oh, that was just so sad, and a harsh reminder that life is short so use your opportunities while you can. There was also the trust-or-don’t-trust dynamic in the book. While I was placed in the perspective of many students in the game, a large number were shrouded in mystery. Even I did not know who to trust and who not to trust (okay, I lie — I watched the movie after all — but I know if I was completely brand new to the story, I would be very cautious of every character’s motives). You just don’t know who is pretending to be friendly, and who is playing the game for real. It’s kind of crazy how such a brutal situation reveals a person’s true nature. This was cause for some really eye-popping scenes (both literally and figuratively!) Character-wise, I thought they were really well done. With 42 students and the instructor, it’s extremely difficult to go in depth with each character and flesh them out, so Koushan Takami didn’t do it. I believe I read somewhere once that he was completely aware that his characters are pretty one-dimensional. I’d have to agree with that, but at the same time, I think he gave great back stories to his main characters that do flesh them out a bit; only their motives are a bit one-track-minded, but hey, you’re in a survival game — you don’t really have too many other priorities at the moment besides living. Even though it is quite a thick novel, the scenes go by quickly and the prose is easy to read. Now, with the prose, as an English speaker who has a basic understanding of conversational Japanese (studied it for 4 years and went on a student exchange trip thingy once to Japan — granted, my knowledge of the language is pretty rusty these days), I understand why some may not feel it is “good writing” because it does not sound 100% natural in the English language. However, when I think of how it may be said in Japanese, it makes perfect sense to me and does not feel weird in the slightest. So I think I may have a bit of an advantage in regards to the writing, but honestly, everyone should know that it is difficult to judge the quality of a book’s writing when it is a translated piece of work. You can judge the translation (which I thought was fairly good), but that’s not the same as the intentions the author had when he/she was writing the book. At least, that’s my opinion. It’s the same thing with some of the behaviours of the characters. I think some of them won’t make that much sense to a person of the Western world, but if you have some basic understanding of contemporary East Asian cultures, particularly Japan of course, it would make a lot more sense and you’d realize it’s not really out of the ordinary for someone to say or do a particular thing. Battle Royale is really a great book and makes for a thrilling read. I totally understand how it came to such popularity (and controversy!) in Japan and I am so glad that it was translated for English-speaking audiences to read and appreciate as well. If you are interested in this book at all, don’t hesitate to find a copy and read it! However, I don’t necessarily recommend reading this just because you read THG and kind of expect the same thing, because it’s VERY different and this book isn’t meant for everyone. (Originally posted at http://skyink.net).(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 25, 2011
| Oct 2011
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May 22, 2011
| Paperback
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| 0062026488
| 9780062026484
| 3.86
| 15,937
| Sep 01, 2011
| Sep 20, 2011
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The Girl of Fire and Thorns is a fantasy YA novel that centers around 16 year old Princess Elisa. Elisa appears to be not that special first because s...more
The Girl of Fire and Thorns is a fantasy YA novel that centers around 16 year old Princess Elisa. Elisa appears to be not that special first because she describes herself as a “sausage” and being unattractive. However, what does make her special is the fact that she carries the Godstone in her navel. God chooses one bearer every four generations to bear the Godstone and Elisa is the chosen one. Elisa is not 100% sure what it means to be the bearer of the Godstone though. Previous bearers have some sort of special duty to fulfill, but Elisa does not really have much confidence in herself in doing anything amazing. She gets married off to the king of an allied kingdom — for the Godstone, not for her. Her new husband is pretty nice, but is indecisive and cowardly, which really doesn’t bode well for the kingdom given the fact that another kingdom wants to start a war soon. They hope that with the Godstone on their side, God will favor them in the war. But then Elisa gets kidnapped by revolutionaries who think the Godstone can help save their people. During her kidnapping, Elisa learns much and more about what it means to be the bearer of the Godstone, and how she can help save her father and husband’s kingdoms from the invaders. I didn’t really start getting into the story until Part 2 (there are 3 parts, with Part 2 being the longest part). Part 1 was alright though a bit slow, but I think it got much more excited once Elisa got kidnapped. Even though Part 2 started off a little oddly — Elisa doesn’t seem to be frightened of her kidnappers at all, she just goes along with their plans — Part 2 was full of action and when it’s made clear just how high the stakes are, so there is more tension and excitement. It’s also when Elisa starts breaking out of her shell a bit and becoming more directive and confident, so in that sense, she also became a more admirable character during that time. She does some pretty cool things, and I loved how she took initiative despite being the kidnapee. I really enjoyed the overall story. The best thing about this book, in my opinion, is the Godstones and magic system. I personally felt it was very unique, and I appreciated it wasn’t super complicated or anything, so it was easy to understand. Honestly, it was one of the things that really hooked me into the story — the idea that God plants a blue gem in a chosen one’s belly button isn’t something I come across everyday. There are a few things I felt could have been better in the book. Elisa, for example. She’s not unlikeable by any means, but she’s not very interesting. She’s very much a Mary Sue and a very devout follower of God so she seems too perfect, almost. I did like the fact that she wasn’t a perfect, beautiful little princess though. The romance in this book was kind of awkward to me. Elisa falls in love with one of her kidnappers, which reminded me of the Stockholm syndrome. I know it’s probably real love and not crazy-reverse-psychology-love, but I couldn’t help but keep thinking of that syndrome because of the situation she was in. I didn’t feel much chemistry between Elisa and the kidnapper, but it wasn’t forced, at least. It just felt a bit hollow. There’s also something about the writing; it is in first person, but I do not feel like I am reading Elisa’s thoughts a lot of time. She gives off the impression that she’s somewhat omniscient through the writing … I don’t really know how to describe it, but it seems to me that third person may have suited the story even better. So, overall, the plot and story were my favourite parts, while Elisa remains a character I have mixed feelings towards. This isn’t a must-read, but I think if you typically enjoy YA fantasy, you will probably find this an enjoyable read. A million thanks for HarperCollins for allowing me this e-ARC.(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Jul 31, 2011
| Aug 2011
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Jul 12, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 0307361594
| 9780307361592
| 3.79
| 145
| Jul 03, 2012
| Jul 03, 2012
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This book was an impulse buy from Wal-Mart (30% off books’ cover prices, woohoo!), but I’m so glad I did it because I fell in love with it! What inter...more
This book was an impulse buy from Wal-Mart (30% off books’ cover prices, woohoo!), but I’m so glad I did it because I fell in love with it! What interested me was the fact that it took place in 1860′s Russia. I am really enjoying European historical fiction lately, particularly the 1500-1800s, so when I saw this book, I knew I wanted it right away. It was a bit risky since I didn’t know anything about the author and it is such a new book that there are hardly any reviews on it on Goodreads, but I took the chance and it turned out to be an amazing read. The story takes place in 1860s Russia, under the reign of Tsar Alexander II. Russia is experiencing a social revolution during this time period thanks to the Emancipation Reform of 1861, which meant that many serfs were allowed their freedom and granted the rights of a full citizen of Russia. The entire novel revolves around this one event: the Count and Countess of Angelkov’s son is kidnapped from them by their ex-serfs (though they don’t know who did it for a while; they thought it was the Cossacks). Even though serfdom was abolished, many were still landless, poor peasants and their situation did not improve one bit; many harbored resentment towards their former masters and now acted on their feelings. Antonina, the Countess, slowly spirals into despair, becoming an alcoholic. The Count falls ill and becomes of no use to Antonina and the entire estate slowly heads toward bankruptcy. Other characters include Lilya, Antonina’s maid who is in love with Antonina and is jealous of anyone who seems to have her mistress’ affections; Grisha, the steward of the estate who regrets being involved with the kidnapping scheme greatly; and Valentin, an attractive and talented violinist who befriends the Countess during her time of crisis. A great chunk of the book is devoted to exploring the back stories of each of the main characters. At first I felt a bit like the story was a tad disjointed because there is such a significant amount of writing devoted to explaining each character and how they came to live at Angelkov, so soon after the beginning. I suppose what I wanted was for the back stories to blend in with the story a little better: it felt like the book consisted of “kidnapping (50 pages) — backstories (200 pages) — resume kidnapping story (200 pages)”. However, each character has a very interesting story so it was a pleasant detour, if you can call it that. Actually, as I continued reading, I realized this book isn’t really about the kidnapping — it’s about the characters, and so, the so-called “detour” is actually vital to the story. Even though I wanted the book to go back to the kidnapping story, I was not unhappy with reading about the individual characters’ pasts. Each one is so fascinating and it was really great to read about how the Emancipation Reform affected everyone on all levels. Freeing the serfs sounds great on paper, but many of them don’t feel any difference in their situation since they have no land or money anyway. They’ll have to just keep working for their master anyway. For the nobles, they begin to lose so many serfs that they can’t keep all their land, especially with the high land taxes the tsar has set, so they end up having to give away pieces of land anyway, and downsizing a lot. This book was such a great way for me to learn about this time period. Even though it is all fictional, its point is the unrest that followed such a social revolution affects everyone, and nobody comes out as a clear winner or loser. The kidnapping is obviously what this whole novel revolves around, even though I didn’t feel like it was the focal point. The kidnapping felt more like the background on which all the characters are introduced to the reader. This is more of a character driven story, which I am usually not the biggest fan of (I’m very 50/50 on such stories), but this one had me sucked in and I was up reading this book until the wee hours of the morning. Of course, the kidnapping did provide a very exciting element to the story. The whole time I wondered if Antonina would get her son back or not, if she would ever be reunited with him. So even though this is a character driven story, I think it can be rather plot driven as well! I highly recommend this book, it’s a great novel and I felt it was written in a very engaging and easy-to-read manner. Such a great book!(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Jul 06, 2012
| Jul 08, 2012
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Jul 03, 2012
| Paperback
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| 1442406828
| 9781442406827
| 3.65
| 2,555
| Oct 04, 2011
| Oct 04, 2011
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4.5 star, rounded up for awesomeness. What an unexpected gem! I’m so glad I came across this book (got it from the S&S Galley Grab, thank you!) It’...more 4.5 star, rounded up for awesomeness. What an unexpected gem! I’m so glad I came across this book (got it from the S&S Galley Grab, thank you!) It’s incredibly fun to read, a great book to read if you’re not looking for anything “heavy”. The plot isn’t exactly wholly original — at first glance. It’s the story of a boy and a girl who end up falling in love with one another but cannot be together because their respective groups hate each other’s guts. This is the basic story of Romeo & Juliet, and probably a few dozen other stories that exist (if not more). So you might be thinking, “Okay, what’s the unique factor?” It’s the context. Why can’t Chelsea, our main character, be together with Dan? Because Chelsea works at the Colonial Essex Village, a living history reenactment village whose employees constantly act out of the summer of 1774, and Dan works at the Civil War living history reenactment village across the street who act out the 1860′s. The two reenactment villages have a natural rivalry with one another that the more youthful employees take to extremes, convinced that their time period is the best time period of American history. So not only are Chelsea and Dan from rival reenactment villages, but also from reenactment villages of completely different time periods. I bet you didn’t see that coming. Chelsea has been working at the Colonial Essex Village ever since she can remember, because her parents work there, though Chelsea only works during the summers. This summer, however, Chelsea feels she’s finally had enough and would really rather have a normal mall job or something, but is talked into coming back to Essex by her best friend Fiona, and the lure of her ex-boyfriend Ezra, who has also found a job at Essex. As usual, the teenage employees of Essex propose war against the teenage employees of the Civil War village across the street, to prove who’s got the better reenactment village and the better time period. Chelsea somehow finds herself elected Lieutenant of the war effort, and quickly gets “kidnapped” by some of the Civil War kids, one of whom is Dan, whom she develops a crush on pretty quickly. But the thing about Chelsea is that she’s very clingy to the past by nature, so on top of the fact that her friends would kill her if they knew she was into a Civil warrior, she’s not sure she’s able to drop Ezra completely yet. This novel is sooo much fun to read. I think the best way to describe it is chick-lit for teens. I don’t really know much about historical reenactment (that’s not really a thing up here in Canada … I don’t think we really have any history exciting enough to reenact), but after reading this novel, I really want to visit one! How cool is it to feel like you’ve stepped back in history? Not to mention, who knew how awesome reenactors are?! I mean, yes, this is a novel, but this book makes historical reenacting seem like the coolest thing since sliced bread. I loved how Essex battled with the Civil War people, trying to prove that their historical village is from the best part of American history, hahaha! Chelsea is the kind of girl I would love to be friends with. She really feels like any normal teenager you might come across in a high school. She’s a bit of a daydreamer, wants to be an ice-cream connoisseur, and has crushes on boys. The novel is in first person, so we are inside Chelsea’s head the entire time, and I love it! She’s such a funny person (without really intentionally trying to be one) and she’s got her parents who are absolutely obsessed with historical reenacting, which definitely made for more laughs. As for the male interests, there is a teensy bit of a love triangle, but it’s never really full blown since Chelsea and Ezra have already broken up. I quite liked Dan. I like how his relationship with Chelsea felt pretty natural. They did click together quickly, but I am glad Chelsea didn’t call it “true love” right away. It was a crush, and she acknowledges it as such. They did seem to move a tad fast — Dan just suddenly kisses Chelsea one day — but it was light and flirty and felt realistic for teenagers, none of that oh-so-serious eternal love stuff. The romance in this book is extremely adorable! I really loved almost every aspect of this book. I think the only thing that disappointed me slightly was the ending. The entire book felt like a day out at the amusement park, but the ending felt like the car trip home — a bit boring. That’s not to say it was horrible, I just felt it could have been better. Should you read this book? YES! I mean, how many YA books out there involve historical reenactment anyway?! You definitely don’t want to miss out on this one. I love this book! Oh, and you learn a lot of random historical facts in this book! :) (Review originally posted at http://skyink.net)(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 07, 2011
| Sep 09, 2011
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Sep 07, 2011
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0747560773
| 9780747560777
| 4.44
| 936,695
| 1999
| Jul 08, 2002
|
I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series as a part of Shannon’s Harry Potter read-along. August is the month for The Prisoner of Azkaban (hurray for bei...more
I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series as a part of Shannon’s Harry Potter read-along. August is the month for The Prisoner of Azkaban (hurray for being caught up)! In this third book, the wizarding world is thrown into a bit of a panic as news of Sirius Black’s escape from Azkaban (a wizard prison) spreads. Even the Muggles are warned about the criminal. Sirius was Voldemort’s right hand man, and everyone is sure that he has escaped to hunt down Harry and avenge the death of his old master. As you can imagine, this is not a particularly delightful thing to hear about for Harry Potter. Not only does he have that hanging over his head, but friends, teachers and even the Ministry of Magic are determined to do what they can to keep Harry as safe as possible — which ends up feeling a bit stifling for the poor boy. Even worse are the Dementors — frightening creatures that can suck the happiness right out of a person — who are stationed all around the school. Still, Harry tries to carry on his school year as normally as possible, but it is clear that he is in a very dangerous situation as Sirius Black continuously attempts to get close to Harry. As a kid, The Prisoner of Azkaban was actually my least favourite book. All my friends found it to be their favourite, except me (who favored The Chamber of Secrets). However, ever since the movie and having re-read it a few more times as a teen and as a young adult now, I’ve definitely warmed up to the book much, much more. In fact, I think it’s one of my favourites of the series now. I’m not a hundred percent sure why, but I’ve come to appreciate the complexity of this particular installment much more now. What’s different about book three compared to the first two is that the story becomes more detailed and complicated. Firstly, we have Harry, Ron and Hermione’s relationship grow. Instead of being happy-go-lucky friends, they’re experiencing many fights with one another, which is all a part of the growing-up process. The characters are developing to become more complicated, as are their relationships with one another. Secondly, there is a lot more background story introduced in Azkaban, a lot of it having to do with Harry’s father’s life as a Hogwarts student himself, and of the night Harry’s parents died. The first two Harry Potter books were quite simple in plot and characterization, but I think starting with Azkaban, the story takes on a more serious tone. Because of all the information regarding certain events that happened before Harry was even born, this makes Azkaban one of the most important installments in the series, in my opinion. So, like I said, I didn’t really like it as a kid (and I know I am the oddball in that regard), but re-reading it this time around, I was completely engrossed by the story. This book has been out for over 10 years now, surely it’s not a spoiler to say I loved the time-travel aspect of it? Well … I do! Time traveling is something I love to read about in all books, and I really like the way J. K. Rowling tackled it in this book. This book was great, amazingly written, and if you haven’t read the Harry Potter series yet, well, I’m sure you’ll find this particular installment very addicting to read. (Review originally posted at http://skyink.net)(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| not set
| Aug 14, 2011
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Aug 14, 2011
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 031612558X
| 9780316125581
| 3.54
| 97,161
| Jun 01, 2009
| Jun 05, 2010
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I read this more out of curiosity than anything else. I don't know why Stephenie Meyer chose to write a book about a character that no one particularl...more
I read this more out of curiosity than anything else. I don't know why Stephenie Meyer chose to write a book about a character that no one particularly cared about from Eclipse (was it Eclipse?) but I think that GREATLY contributed to the fact that this book is BORING. That's all I have to say, really. It was slow and dull and you pretty much know how the last half of the book ends already if you've already read Eclipse.(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| not set
| not set
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Sep 28, 2010
| Hardcover
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| 0316215406
| 9780316215404
| 4.31
| 14,320
| Nov 06, 2012
| Nov 06, 2012
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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...more
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 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) | Notes are private!
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1
| Mar 18, 2013
| Mar 25, 2013
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Mar 18, 2013
| ebook
| |||||||||||||||
| 0316192147
| 9780316192149
| 4.09
| 52,596
| Sep 27, 2011
| Sep 27, 2011
|
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...more
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 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) | Notes are private!
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1
| Mar 11, 2013
| Mar 15, 2013
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Sep 17, 2011
| ebook
| |||||||||||||||
| 0770430074
| 9780770430078
| 3.84
| 480,321
| Sep 11, 2001
| Aug 29, 2006
|
My sister nagged me to get this book. “It’s soooo good,” she gushed. But I ignored her for the most part, since we tend to read different kinds of boo...more
My sister nagged me to get this book. “It’s soooo good,” she gushed. But I ignored her for the most part, since we tend to read different kinds of books, and also the title made it sound kind of religious-y or some sort of spiritual book, which I am really not that into. Then the movie trailer came out, and again, my sister started up with her you-should-read-this-it’s-so-good thing again. She never really provided a reason why she thought it was good, I just kind of went out on a limb here and decided, fine, I will read it. Well. This turned out to be one of the most awesome books I’ve ever read. Life Of Pi is about a boy named Pi. He lives in India, is the son of a zookeeper and believes and practices three religions at once (calling himself a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim). One day, his father decides that they should sell the zoo and move to Winnipeg, Canada. They sell most of the animals to zoos in America and board a large cargo ship with their animals to North America. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the ship sinks and animals are all let loose and running around in a panic. Pi luckily escapes the ship in a lifeboat, only to find that it is also refuge for an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra and a tiger. As the lone lifeboat drifts aimlessly in the Pacific Ocean, the inhabitants of the lifeboat dwindle down to just Pi and the tiger. You might be thinking how can a story about a guy and a tiger drifting in the sea for 227 days can possibly be interesting but it was surprisingly hard to put down. I read this book originally as a commuting book — it has clear writing and is easy to read and understand, which is one of my ‘requirements’ for being a book worthy of commuting — but when I got to part two (the part where he is adrift at sea), I couldn’t wait till the next day to continue the story on the bus. I had to keep reading it now! The ending is a twist. I’m not going to reveal it (though skip this paragraph if you wanted to know nothing about the ending at all), but I really liked the ending despite the feelings of conflict it created in me. I think the ending is supposed to make you think about God (or religions) and even as a non-religious person, it made me think a little bit about God and philosophy and all that kind of stuff. The moral, to me, seemed to be saying, “If you can believe this story, you can believe in God too, no?” This is one of those books that can be deeply meaningful and thought provoking. Definitely highly recommend!(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 06, 2012
| Sep 07, 2012
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Sep 06, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0553819577
| 9780553819571
| 3.80
| 19,604
| Apr 01, 1999
| Feb 12, 2008
|
Oh god, I’m finally done this book. I’ve had this book for just over a year, I totally bought it impulsively. I had heard nothing about it before I go...more
Oh god, I’m finally done this book. I’ve had this book for just over a year, I totally bought it impulsively. I had heard nothing about it before I got it, just wanted to read a fantasy novel. Well, now I’m done this book, and it was, unfortunately, an ordeal to get through it. I cleaned out my bookshelf yesterday, and I think this book is going in my “to donate” pile of books to bring to the thrift store. I’ve got a lot of issues with this book. The biggest thing is that it’s difficult to follow. The writing isn’t the best, and there’s weird scene transitions and absolutely no explanations about anything. My copy of the book includes an introduction by the author, and he says in his introduction that he purposely didn’t want to have to explain everything because he didn’t want to dumb down his story, which in turn may be insulting to his readers’ intelligence. Okay, fair enough. However, I don’t think it was handled very well. Some explanation or hints would have been nice. I don’t know how I’m supposed to know which characters were on which side, are what ranking, etc. without a little help. A lot of terms also went right over my head; I still don’t really know what a Warden is, or what a T’lan Imass is. I have a vague idea but still not really sure. So, the book was confusing. I’m usually prepared to be a little confused at first when I start a new fantasy series. Fantasy series seem to like to drop readers into the middle of the world and have you work your way around the story-verse yourself, which is fine. I usually am able to sort everything out 50-100 pages in (which is nothing, considering how long these books usually are) and then just enjoy the story from there. With Gardens of the Moon, I was on page 600 out of 752 and still had no idea what I was reading about, just a lot of assassins, gods and running around on rooftops … I mean, I sort of got the gist of the story. The Empire, led by Empress Laseen, tried to take over the city of Pale in the beginning. Pale was helped by Moon’s Spawn (which I had to look up on the Internet — it’s a floating fortress), but eventually Pale falls. Then the rest of the book shifts to the characters wanting to take over or save, depending which side they are on, the last free city of Darujhistan. And there’s some gods who are involved with these mortals’ affairs, which is really putting a kink in Laseen’s plans. So yeah, I kind of get the story, but at the same time, I feel like I didn’t understand the story at all. The characters and dialogue were rather poor as well. The characters were on the dull side. I didn’t feel invested in any of them, it was like no big deal when any of them died. The dialogue was overly dramatic and corny, also dull. It just wasn’t very engaging. I do think the world was very intricately built and well done though, from what I can tell with my limited understanding. It’s obvious this book takes place in an immense world with a deep and rich history that spans thousands of years. I do feel a little sad that I was unable to enjoy this world; I did want to like it, but there were simply too many obstacles preventing me. I have read that the first book is considered the weakest, even amongst fans of this series. I read somewhere that new readers are advised to simply start with the second book (there are new characters and stuff, so it’s not like a direct continuation from book one). At this point in time, I’m not sure if I want to give the series a second chance. I feel quite burnt out from fantasy reading this book, so if I do try the second book, it won’t be for a long time. Perhaps after I read some reviews/opinions on the second one first, then I will decide. As for this first book, I think if you are really, really into epic fantasies, into world building and super complicated fantasy plots, you can give this a try, but for any one else who just reads fantasy from time to time, you’ll probably want to skip this one.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Jun 25, 2012
| Jul 04, 2012
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Sep 01, 2011
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0099493225
| 9780099493228
| 3.93
| 1,787
| Feb 15, 2011
| Oct 05, 2006
|
More books about the Tudors! Although to be fair, this one was written in 1949 so I wouldn’t say it’s a part of the current Tudor craze. As usual with...more
More books about the Tudors! Although to be fair, this one was written in 1949 so I wouldn’t say it’s a part of the current Tudor craze. As usual with such historical novels, though it says it is a part of a series, you can most certainly read them in any order you like. Murder Most Royal takes place during the reign of Henry VIII and it focuses on two of his wives: Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, who were cousins of one another. As per usual, if you have an understanding of history, than the plot of the story is going to be predictable and familiar for you. The story begins with Henry being dissatisfied with his current wife, Katherine of Aragon (who is, by the way, my favourite of Henry’s six queens). Anne Boleyn catches the eye of the king, but Anne is steadfast in her initial decision to not have anything to do with the king. She has seen how her sister, Mary Boleyn, is treated by others after Henry has enjoyed her and then, discarded her. Henry is absolutely smitten though. Eventually, with her own love gone and lost, Anne decides to embrace her ambitious side and be with the king. As this is happening, we also have young Catherine Howard, beautiful and passionate. She flits from lover to lover, believing herself to be truly in love each time, until someone “better” comes along. She is proud that her cousin Anne is the soon-to-be queen and never would have dreamed that one day, she will be filling in Anne’s shoes. I think this is probably the most historically accurate Tudor novel I’ve read yet. That’s not to say it’s 100% historically accurate, just that it’s the most accurate I’ve read so far. I really enjoyed it, especially being exposed to some more historical figures and learning about them. There’s a whole slew of minor ones, but also the characters of Catherine Howard and Anne of Cleves. There’s so few current novels that feature those two queens. Usually they are kind of glossed over, or just mentioned in passing. Although Anne of Cleves’ part in this novel is brief, I finally got to be “acquainted” with her and Catherine Howard. Of course, their characters’ are the author, Jean Plaidy’s interpretation of them, and it was a very likeable and enjoyable perspective of these two ladies. As for Anne Boleyn, I was pleasantly surprised that she was portrayed rather positively in this book. It’s so easy to portray Anne Boleyn in a negative light and a lot of current Tudor novels do indeed do that. In this book, Anne is not shown to be ambitious right from the start. Anne is shown to be a clever, witty, and beautiful young lady. She sees the way her sister ruined her reputation, and she has no interest in following in her footsteps. Anne is shown to be passionate and loving when she was with Henry Percy, and devastated when they could not be together. Believing that she will never have the happy love life she wanted, she decides to answer the king’s flirtations and begin scheming for power, so she may hurt those who have ruined her chances for happiness. The funny thing with this novel is that although the book is supposed to be about Anne and Catherine, I feel like it is disproportionately more about Anne Boleyn. Fair enough, she is the more “exciting” queen and all. It just felt a bit unequal while reading. 80% of the book focused on Anne, interspersed with bits and pieces about Catherine’s childhood and lovers. Then the last 20%, when Anne dies, focuses on Catherine, but she frequently thinks about her tragic cousin. Henry, too, also continuously thinks about Anne, even as he takes new wives. This book shows how deeply involved Henry was with Anne Boleyn and he could do nothing to remove her from his life, even having her killed. With all that said, I did not find this book to be a “page turner” as sometimes the passages can feel quite dry. I wouldn’t label this book as exciting, but it definitely is emotional and full of drama. Maybe it’s just because I am so accustomed to reading about Henry and his wives now … However, for the most part, it was a pleasant read and I truly enjoyed the different take on Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. I definitely want to try out more books by Jean Plaidy.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Oct 13, 2012
| Nov 09, 2012
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Oct 13, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0439023513
| 9780439023511
| 4.03
| 839,472
| Aug 24, 2010
| Aug 24, 2010
|
1.5 stars. As the final book of the series, I don’t think Mockingjay does The Hunger Games justice. I think this book bombed. If you are planning to re...more 1.5 stars. As the final book of the series, I don’t think Mockingjay does The Hunger Games justice. I think this book bombed. If you are planning to read this series, I’d suggest stopping after book two, but with that cliffhanger, I suppose you’d feel compelled to read book three anyway. I wanted to like this book, I tried to like this book, but I found it hard to pretend. In Catching Fire, we were left off with the most aggravating-in-a-good-way cliffhanger: “There is no District 12.” In this book, we find out District 12 has been destroyed by the Capitol after Katniss escaped from the Hunger Games arena, and less than 10% of District 12′s population has fled to the once thought to be non-existing District 13, who takes them in. Katniss and Peeta somehow get flung into opposite ends of the war: Katniss is wanted by the rebels to become their Mockingjay — the face of the rebellion, their symbol of hope. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol and is being used as the spokesperson for their own cause — a call for a ceasefire. I’ll try not to be a negative Nancy by talking about the few things I did like first. Though I didn’t really have any characters I particularly liked or cared about in the first two books, I did in this one: Finnick! A secondary character, I know, but his background story is expanded in this novel and … I don’t know. I think I liked him because he’s the only one who doesn’t seem so bland. I also liked the concept of President Snow’s character. The whole blood and roses thing was pretty awesome, and really gave me an idea of what kind of villain we are dealing with. Seriously, two thumbs up for a great villain concept. I can’t really think of anything more I liked … As for what I didn’t like … Well, I will start off with the general plot of the story. I didn’t find it engaging or interesting because so many of the things that should be engaging and interesting happen off camera or were seriously downplayed. (view spoiler)[Example 1 – When Gale & Co. go rescue Peeta from the Capitol, Katniss just stays behind in District 13. Next page, bam! Hey Peeta’s back! I don’t know about you, but getting Peeta back seems important enough to me to happen on stage. Example 2 – Finnick’s death was brushed off like it was nothing. I know, he’s a secondary character, but surely his relationship with Katniss warranted more than just a, “Oh no! Finnick died! … Moving on now …” Example 3 – Pretty much the entire ending of the war happened off-screen. President Snow’s capture? Off screen. Katniss’ trial after she killed Coin? Off screen. I felt seriously robbed. These feel like HUGE moments, but instead all I got was Katniss locked up somewhere, and a few pages of reading about Katniss contemplating suicide later, a messenger arrives with, “Oh hey, uh, we decided you’re free in a trial that you didn’t even have to attend.” I mean, really? Oh, and I must mention how I feel the message of the series got totally destroyed by the ending. This is what I thought the take-home message was: killing destroys people, it ruins them. It doesn’t fix anything, and you can’t rule through fear. Yet at the end, when Coin proposes a final Hunger Games for the children of Capitol citizens, Katniss agrees. Seriously?! I felt like that went against everything the books were telling me … evidently, I’ve been misinterpreting the entire series the entire time. It’s all good as long as it’s for justice? Lastly, the love triangle thing was NOT resolved, in my opinion. Katniss ends up with Peeta … because Gale gets a job working in District 2 and doesn’t see her anymore. Really? Katniss ends up with Peeta because he’s the one who is physically closest to her? And Gale doesn’t even attempt to do anything about reaching out to Katniss, he just gives up? So much for being sooo in love with her. This all happens in one sentence: “Peeta and I grow back together.” Small paragraph explaining why Peeta and not Gale. The end. The love triangle thing has never felt like it fit in this series, but I mean, since it’s in the story now, I expected a better resolution. (hide spoiler)] My final thoughts are that Mockingjay is a letdown, and a disappointing end to a good series. For a book about life and death, friendship, trust and vengeance, it was utterly void of emotions due to the monotonous voice Collins employs to write her novels, and lack of inclusion of what I believe to be key scenes. I feel that Collins had a strong idea for The Hunger Games, but no strong direction as to what should occur in the series’ subsequent novels, and it really shows in Mockingjay. This was a frustrating read for me, I’m sad to say. I considered giving just one star, but you know what? I still think overall, the series is good, and Mockingjay had its small, rare moments. (This review is also posted at http://skyink.net).(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| not set
| May 15, 2011
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May 14, 2011
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 006088732X
| 9780060887322
| 3.99
| 53,584
| Oct 01, 2006
| Aug 21, 2007
|
(This review originally posted at http://skyink.net). Pretty Little Liars is not a book I would usually read. I’ve seen it many times in stores, and —...more (This review originally posted at http://skyink.net). Pretty Little Liars is not a book I would usually read. I’ve seen it many times in stores, and — I admit — it’s the kind of book that looks like garbage. It just looks like it, I’m sorry! Even though I frequently read books that involve teenagers, I don’t normally read books that I think are just about a bunch of bickering girls in high school because it’s not my thing. Well, this book does involve a bit of that, I won’t lie, but Pretty Little Liars was surprisingly good! I ended up liking it quite a bit despite going into it thinking, “I probably won’t like this very much”. I picked it up to read (I live like, 3 minutes from the public library) after my friend Marjorie gave it a shot and ended up quite liking it. And I trust Marjorie’s opinions on books so I decided I had to read this too. I think this has become a guilty pleasure series for me. The story begins with five close friends in the 7th grade — Ali, the “ringleader” of the group, and Hanna, Emily, Spencer and Aria. They’re all great friends, but there seems to be a little fear of Ali as well, because she knows a secret about each one of her friends, a secret that they don’t want anybody else to find out. Even worse, the five of them have a group secret, a terrible one that involves a terrible prank gone wrong that they told no one. However, one day, Ali mysteriously disappears after a sleepover party. Three years later, the girls are entering the 11th grade. They more or less have stopped being friends ever since Ali became a missing persons case. They have each moved on and found new friends. But now, each one of them are receiving mysterious messages via text messaging and e-mails from someone who is haunting them with their secrets, and seems to be tracking their every move. I’m not going to pretend this is a stellar piece of literature because it’s not. It's quite the opposite of stellar literature, actually. It is, however, addictive and easy to read — perfect for those summer days where you’re just feeling too hot to move much (which is the circumstance I was in when I read this, heh). The characters are quite easy to relate to. I don’t mean directly — how many of us are (or were) rich girls from rich families attending a rich private school? — but I’m sure many of us have had to dealt with boys, self-esteem, insecurity issues, living up to your parents’ dreams, avoiding rumours from your peers, etc. While I didn’t really like any of the characters, and I can’t say I had the same high school experiences as them, the characters (like Marjorie mentions) reminded me of how idiotic one can be when they were in 7th grade, or 11th grade. 7th grade is around the time girls start taking an interest in boys (as opposed to “ew! cooties!”) and I still remember how boy-obsessed me and my own friends were during that time — embarrassing memories, to be sure. Anyway, two of the girls in this book are actually admirable in some ways — they are A students who are aiming to be the best they can be. So it’s not just silly teenagers doing silly things :P There is quite a bit of underage drinking, sexual scenes and smoking of pot in this story. While I do not condone such behaviour for middle-and-high schoolers (mostly middle-schoolers; I always figure high schoolers are old enough to make their own decisions, and drinking never seemed that bad to me but that may be because up here the legal drinking age is 19 (the characters are 17/18)), I disagree with the reviews I read that this is not a realistic portrayal of 7th/11th graders. Actually, I think it is realistic. Obviously not every kid does all this stuff, but you’d be surprised how common this kind of behaviour is in kids these days — and it’s happening at even younger ages, shockingly enough. I never did any of that kind of stuff because I hung out with a different circle of friends, but I heard of many kids from my old schools who did. Anyway, if that kind of stuff bothers you, I don’t recommend reading it. But! If you don’t mind that kind of stuff, then you are in for a suspenseful story! It’s a light hearted and fun story, the kind you don’t really want to put down because you’re just so intrigued by what’s happening between the characters. There actually isn’t really much gossiping or backstabbing or catfights between the characters at all. Instead, it is about four girls who are, in a way, trying to “discover” themselves and their true passions … while their past keeps haunting them. I can honestly say I really enjoyed this book! The ending was really great too, it was something I never predicted. The book ends in a way that it gives you a sense of closure, but also leaves enough room open for sequels. And I know this series has quite a bit of sequels — and I’m going to read them all! (Eventually).(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Aug 25, 2011
| Aug 26, 2011
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Aug 22, 2011
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 1600606628
| 9781600606625
| 3.78
| 469
| Sep 15, 2011
| Oct 01, 2011
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So, firstly, a big thank you to NetGalley and Lee & Low Books for a copy of this book. This book was ah-mazing to read, I enjoyed it so much. It w...more
So, firstly, a big thank you to NetGalley and Lee & Low Books for a copy of this book. This book was ah-mazing to read, I enjoyed it so much. It was right up my alley, with the sci-fi and the genetic engineering and people who are sort of like part-computer in a way … loved the story world, loved the story. Tankborn takes place in the distant future. Earth is ruined, and humans have been living on a different planet for possibly hundreds of years now (I didn’t quite catch how far in the future this is, my bad. But it’s far). When humans were leaving Earth, the rich who can afford passage became high-status people, the people with special skills (ex. building, programming, etc) became demi-status people and the ones who cannot afford to leave Earth gave themselves to the rich to become their servants in exchange for passage, becoming the lowborns. Thus, on this new planet, there grew a very strict and rigid caste system. Kayla is not high status, demi status or lowborn. She is a GEN — Genetically Engineered Non-Human. She is at the bottom of the pyramid, so to speak, and all trueborns treat GENs like dirt. GENs are tankborn non-humans, who are mixed with a little bit of animal DNA to give them a special skill (superhuman strength, in Kayla’s case), and are created specifically to be slaves. At fifteen, GENs are given an Assignment, the place they will work for the rest of their life. Kayla is Assigned to be a caretaker for 102 year old high status trueborn Zul Mandel. However, Zul has chosen Kayla to be near him for a greater reason than simply being his caretaker. There is a revolution happening, a conspiracy to unfold, and Kayla will be caught right in the middle of it all. The world building is very well done and definitely the highlight of this novel. It is a completely fictional, but believable, culture that is created in this book. It is interesting that even though it’s very far in the future, it isn’t the type of sci-fi where there’s robots and lasers and spaceships everywhere. In some ways, the culture felt a bit archaic, what with the strict social hierarchy and all. And I don’t know why, but I kind of imagined their clothes was kind of traditional Indian-style, but that just be because of the clear Indian inspiration for the caste system in this book. Anyway, I liked how the culture and the story world was sort of antiquated but mixed with, obviously, futuristic stuff, like shock guns, and how GENs are kind of like computers — using a Datapod, one can upload and download information from a GEN’s annexed brain (as opposed to their bare brain, which, I gather, is their normal brain, the kind you and I have). The world is quite unique due to this mixture of the old and the new. I wasn’t too crazy about the characters, but I didn’t dislike them either. I guess I kind of wanted more from them, but they never did anything that really made me love or hate them. I did enjoy their growth and development, as they (meaning everyone except Zul, haha) went from knowing not much and blindly accepting their world as is, to questioning everything down to the meaning of their existence. But anyway, the lack of characters that interested me didn’t matter too much to me because I do not feel this book was meant to be a character-driven story anyway; it’s more about the world and the plot, which more than made up for it to me. The story was really fascinating to read. It is neither a fast or slow paced book, but instead, chugs along at a pleasant speed. You aren’t overwhelmed with too much information at once, which is quite an easy trap for authors to fall into when they build huge complex worlds and feel the need to explain everything and cram the world’s history into the first chapter. Tankborn mercifully doesn’t do that. I also loved the mystery elements in the book, the unfolding of a conspiracy, and it kept me turning the pages. While some parts of the story I kind of saw coming, some parts genuinely surprised me; I love it when I can’t see the twists coming in a story. All in all, a wonderfully written story, one that I definitely you try if this sounds interesting to you. I think most people will enjoy this, and it’s honestly a bit sad to me that this book doesn’t have more hype surrounding it. I cannot wait for it to be released, personally! (This review originally posted at http://skyink.net).(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 21, 2011
| Sep 24, 2011
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Aug 21, 2011
| Hardcover
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| 1402250924
| 9781402250927
| 4.02
| 1,382
| Jan 01, 2011
| 2011
|
Lady of the English is about Empress Matilda, from the 12th century. I know the gist of her history — her father, having no male heir, wanted his daug...more
Lady of the English is about Empress Matilda, from the 12th century. I know the gist of her history — her father, having no male heir, wanted his daughter to have the English crown, but her cousin Stephen (the closest male heir) took it instead. The result was years and years of warring for the throne, ending with Matilda’s son, Henry II, as king. Even though I had a small amount of historical knowledge on Matilda already, the story still felt excitingly unpredictable. I was absorbed into the story and quite addicted. This book follows two ladies during this time period, actually. The first is Empress Matilda. She is the daughter of King Henry I of England, and had been married off to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor — this is how she became known as the Empress. Her husband, whom she loved dearly, unfortunately died and the two did not have any children. Her father summoned her back to England where he decided that she will be his heir, as his only son (and Matilda’s brother) had died years ago. All his lords and barons were made to swear fealty to Matilda three times. Matilda herself was married off to Geoffrey, the Count of Anjou, in order to strengthen England and her own power. However, Matilda and her father fought frequently. When he died, one of the witnesses to his death stated that Henry actually dissolved his lords and barons of their oaths to Matilda. Her cousin, Stephen, quickly took over the throne. No one is a hundred percent sure if Henry truly dissolved the oaths or not, as the witness is questionable, but regardless, what happens now is nearly two decades of conflict and battles for the English throne. Matilda feels robbed of her inheritance, but it is hard to find support when you are a woman in such medieval times. The other lady this book follows is Adeliza, Henry I’s second wife and Matilda’s stepmother. Adeliza is actually a year younger than Matilda. Adeliza is, in many ways, the complete opposite of Matilda. She is humble, very religious and knows her role as a woman, wife and queen. However, Adeliza can sense that Matilda is destined for the English throne and offers her all the love and support that she can. The contrast between the two women is perfect, showing that there are many ways one can be a queen, and a powerful woman, in the 12th century. There was a lot of love, lust, betrayal and a whole slew of emotions when reading this novel. One thing I gleaned from reading this book is that it was a difficult time to be a woman back then, especially if you want power. It is so easy to portray Matilda as a villain in history. True, Matilda is portrayed as stubborn with a hardened will in this novel, and I’m sure some of the characters would not hesitate to call her nasty names, but she is also a loving mother and loyal friend. She is intelligent, ambitious and knows exactly what she wants, but she is also aware of the disadvantages she has being a woman in this time period. In this novel, she is aware she may be overcompensating by being “manly” sometimes, but then she is thought of as an unnatural woman. However, if she acts womanly, people see her as weak. She just can’t ever seem to win! I think all of this brings some understanding to Matilda’s character, and why she seems angry all the time. Between Matilda and Adeliza, Matilda definitely came off as much more interesting to me, although I really liked Adeliza too. Adeliza is so kind-hearted and thoughtful that she seems almost too good to be true. It is hard to dislike Adeliza’s character. However, her part of the story seemed more like background stuff while Matilda was heavily in the forefront. I really enjoyed this story and portrayal of Matilda, and I feel like I learned a lot in the process, even though this is a fictional novel. I had no idea that when Matilda married the Geoffrey, the Count of Anjou, she was 22 and he was only 14! Wow, talk about awkward. I was really interested in how their relationship was going to pan out with such a large age difference between the two. The age difference wouldn’t matter as much if they were both adults, but at 14, Geoffrey is pretty much just a kid. Geoffrey seemed to be extremely mature, in that he understood the political significance of his marriage to Matilda, and immature in that he was a bratty wife beater. I was mildly surprised that after their rocky start, they ended up having a rather civil and successful relationship. I don’t think they are quite as different as they think they might be, and their similarities is what what makes the two of them to become a force to be reckoned with. There’s a lot of political things happening in this book, but it was easy to understand and follow along. The story is very well done and I was absolutely addicted to reading it. Even after reading this book, Matilda’s presence looms large in my mind. The ending was a bit “meh” to me, but overall, the entire book was wonderful and I heartily recommend to others, especially if you love historical royalty fiction like me. I think I have a new favourite author!(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Dec 03, 2012
| Dec 16, 2012
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Jun 02, 2012
| Paperback
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| 0439078059
| 9780439078054
| 3.62
| 2,577
| Jul 2000
| Jul 2000
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I was really interested in reading this book because I wanted to read more about royalty from Spain (or, rather, at the time, it was the kingdoms of L...more
I was really interested in reading this book because I wanted to read more about royalty from Spain (or, rather, at the time, it was the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, Aragon, and Granada. Maybe some others too, but those are the ones I remember). All I knew about Isabel is that she is particularly famous for helping Christopher Columbus’ plans on traveling to the Americas. This is a middle school book, but perfect for my purpose of wanting an introduction to Isabel. Also, I adore the Royal Diaries series, lots of good middle school memories. I never read this one when I was a kid though, this is my first read through. Isabel starts off as 13 or 14 years old in this book. Her father died a while back, and currently, the kingdom is split between her two brothers — Enrique, her older half-brother and Alfonso, her younger, full blooded brother. Isabel is caught in the middle between her warring brothers, but tries her best to stay neutral. She is currently staying with Enrique, who is keen to marry Isabel off to someone for political advantage. With some good luck, Isabel manages to avoid being wed off to some much older, ugly and cruel men. She hears about the Prince of Aragon, Fernando, the only royal who is actually around her age. She hears that he is handsome and kind. With her brother trying to push her into marriage, Isabel tries to convince him that she should marry Fernando. Her brother Enrique breaks promise after promise, however, and in the end, Isabel has to take matters into her own hands. I feel that this is definitely one of the best Royal Diaries books I’ve read. Some of the other ones have pretty skimpy and weak plots, but this one on Isabel felt interesting, consistent and well done. Isabel is not merely a passive character in this story, describing events as they unfold — which is what I felt some of the other books in this series sometimes do. She is actually a true part of the story, and initiates events on her own. I had no previous knowledge as to the politics of the Spanish peninsula during this time period, so everything that happened was fresh and new to me. I suspect if you had actual knowledge about Isabel and her time period, it might not be as surprising and it might feel kind of predictable. I had no idea what to expect though, so it was all new and wonderful knowledge to me. Isabel herself is portrayed as a religious young woman who tries to push for peace and harmony. She does not like her brothers fighting, as it splits the entire family up and means civil war in their kingdom. However, she is definitely not a passive little mouse. She wants to take her destiny into her own hands. She didn’t want to marry the old men Enrique wanted to set her up with, so she secretly pushed her own agenda (with some outside help, of course) to try to marry the Prince of Aragon. Pretty admirable in that time period, when women had to obey men, and Enrique was also king! If you enjoy the Royal Diaries series, this is definitely a must-read! Well written, well plotted, and for those like me with no historical knowledge on Isabel, very fascinating!(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Dec 12, 2012
| Dec 12, 2012
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Dec 12, 2012
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0385618026
| 9780385618021
| 3.75
| 155,270
| Dec 08, 2009
| 2009
|
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...more
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 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. (This book was from the library). (Originally posted at http://skyink.net).(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 05, 2011
| Sep 06, 2011
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Sep 05, 2011
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0439023521
| 9780439023528
| 4.44
| 1,577,177
| Sep 14, 2008
| Jul 01, 2010
|
4.5 stars. After hearing so much about this book, I decided to buy my own copy and give it a go. The story takes places in a dystopian future where eve...more 4.5 stars. After hearing so much about this book, I decided to buy my own copy and give it a go. The story takes places in a dystopian future where every year, the Capitol of the country of Panem organizes The Hunger Games – a brutal fight-to-the-death tournament for contestants between the ages of 12 and 18. One boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts that make up Panem are randomly selected at the Reaping. The Games are mandatory, a punishment for the rebellion that happened seventy four years ago, and the Capitol’s way of showing how they have everyone in the palm of their hand. Another Reaping has come. Sixteen year old Katniss, from the poorest district in Panem, has done what no one has ever done in her district — volunteer for the Games, after she found out her twelve year old sister Prim was chosen. Taking her place, Katniss is aware she will most likely never see home again, but is determined to go down with a fight. The Hunger Games definitely has a striking resemblance to Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami, where a class of students is taken to an island and as a military project of some sort, are forced to kill one another until only one is left standing. I felt The Hunger Games also was a bit reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII‘s atmosphere (what with the place divided into districts (like FFVII’s sectors) and the poor and rich’s differences in lifestyle), and a totalitarian government that’s similar to 1984‘s ‘big brother’ concept as well. I suppose that’s why I felt slightly disappointed that The Hunger Games didn’t maximize its potential because it had the perfect set up to make some sort of allegory (for example, a statement about modern day society like Battle Royale or government like 1984). This book fell a bit short in that and it was a bit frustrating because it was like watching a great opportunity pass by. There are little bits and pieces of it, but not enough to make any bold statement. Of course, it is very likely that Collins wrote this book with no greater picture in mind, and disregarding that, this book is actually quite excellent and difficult to put down once you start. It is a fast paced novel narrated by our determined protagonist, Katniss (who is named after a sort of root). Katniss is hardened by her difficult life living in District 12 and well, kind of comes across as a bit bland. That actually works out fine because most of the other characters she encounters has such vibrant and in some cases, eccentric personalities. Actually, now that I think about it, the other main character, Peeta, also has a bit of a bland personality. But like I said, it works because I think it emphasizes how the poor living in the districts have retained their humanity, so to speak, while the citizens living in the Capitol, the rich such as Effie and the makeover stylists, have gone crazy with superficiality and lost their empathy, permanently it would seem. They really have no regards for Kat or any of the other contestants’ feelings about being thrown into an arena of death. It’s all fun and games for the spectators, which is quite horrifying for me, as a reader. I guess that’s how I became attached to Katniss (and Peeta) and rooted for them, even though they are not my favourite characters or anything. I wanted the people with a heart to make it through and maybe even beat the cruel system. This novel is surprisingly not that violent, for a fight-to-the-death tournament thing. Of course there are killings and there are the occasional deaths that make you squirm a bit, but nothing horrifically graphic. Katniss’ strategy for the games is more defensive than offensive so her tactics for killing are more indirect, such as poison (of course, we don’t know how bloody and violent that other contestants are, since we only see through Katniss’ eyes. Admittedly, I was kind of looking forward to a fictional bloodbath and was slightly disappointed that I didn’t get one, hahaha). The beginning of the book was mostly filled with introductions to the world and characters, but after that, the book had me in an iron grip because it is literally a life-or-death situation for the main character and the Gamemakers are quite fond of throwing twists into the arena every so often to spice things up and force the contestants to face one another. I would wonder, “How is Katniss going to survive this?!” and eagerly continue on. Yes this is an exciting and thrilling novel! I can totally understand why people are raving about it, and from what I’ve read, it’s already in negotiations to be made into a movie (so many books becoming movies these days. I love books becoming movies, even if it turns out awful). I am very eager to dive into book two, but since I’m kind of weird about keeping a series in all paperback or all hardcover, I’m going to have to wait until books two and three are released in paperback, since that’s what I purchased The Hunger Games as. On a slightly different topic, maybe I have just bad luck with Scholastic books, but I find their paperbacks to be kind of poor quality. The cover won’t stay flat, the binding seems too tight or something because the book doesn’t open smoothly, and on some pages the ink is printed lighter and then goes back to being dark, which is kind of distracting while you’re reading. It’s not just my copy, I actually checked all of the ones in a bookstore and they are all printed like mine and binded like mine. I guess I should be aiming for the hardcover copies since they seem to be published nicely, but I already started collecting this series in paperback … I digress. Bottom line is: this book is a great read, one I highly recommend. (Although if you generally don’t like dystopian/science fiction novels of this sort, maybe you won’t (I have a friend who loathes sci-fi and tried this, and unsurprisingly, didn’t really like it). I definitely want to pursue the rest of the series because I have no idea what’s going to happen now … or rather, what CAN happen now, and curiosity always gets the better of me. In this case, I think I am in for more pleasant surprises! (This review is also posted at http://skyink.net).(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| not set
| Oct 04, 2010
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Sep 17, 2010
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 1402242816
| 9781402242816
| 3.86
| 505
| Jan 28, 2011
| Jan 28, 2011
|
A lot of his-fics on the War of Roses seem to focus primarily on the York side of the battle. This novel decides to focus on the Lancaster side of the...more
A lot of his-fics on the War of Roses seem to focus primarily on the York side of the battle. This novel decides to focus on the Lancaster side of the battle, a story that is told much less often. The title refers to Margaret of Anjou, the queen of King Henry VI (Lancaster side) during the war and this story is supposed to focus on her tale. I say “supposed to” because despite the title, I found the novel focused on the entire Lancaster story, not just Margaret. Margaret certainly got more chapters, but I never once felt that this novel is “her story”. For those of you unfamiliar with the War of Roses, it was a war between two branches of the Plantagenet family, an English ruling house, around mid-1400′s. In this novel, in the beginning, the current king is King Henry VI, of the Lancaster branch of the family tree, and his wife, Queen Margaret. Henry was a kind and forgiving man. He marries Margaret of Anjou (a place in France) and together they have one son. What makes Henry’s reign a little difficult for him is the fact that he is so kind and forgiving, people took advantage of it. Also, his father was Henry V who was known to be a fierce warrior and leader, and Henry VI was the complete opposite of him. He also took a French bride which upset some people. Lastly, he was considered “mad”; Henry VI had some lengthy episodes of what they called “madness” — basically he clammed up and couldn’t speak and barely moved, for months and months. His throne is usurped by his cousin Edward from the York side of the Plantagenet family tree. Henry VI fails to do much due to his condition, and so, his wife Margaret assumes unofficial control and fights bitterly for her husband’s throne. They encounter all sorts of heartbreaking and tragic moments, such as being separated from one another, having their most loyal subjects killed, and betrayal. Time and time again, it seems like all hope is lost for their cause and that the usurper will get to sit on Henry’s throne forever. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t get the vibe that this novel was about Margaret. Rather, it felt like it was about the entire war, from a Lancaster point of view. It was written in first-person point of views of various characters. Margaret had the most chapters, but in between her’s were various other’s. Everyone else’s chapters came and go as it fit the story; none of the other characters’ chapters were continuous like Margaret’s. I thought that was kind of silly because to me, it seemed like the novel should have been written from a third-person point of view, rather than just throw in a random character chapter because it suited the story at the time. The characters also did not feel very real or fleshed out for me. They felt very flat, which was disappointing. I don’t think I would have cared if everyone else was flat if Margaret, at least, was interesting and three dimensional, but wasn’t. She actually came off — to me, at least — as an indecisive and poor leader, and the novel made it sound like the reason the Lancasters were losing the war was because of this queen and her “womanly ways”. This novel is very rich in detail and I thought it was extremely well researched, but perhaps because of this, it did read a bit like a textbook in narrative format. I suppose the writing style just wasn’t my cup of tea. It focused a lot more on facts than character development, and as a result, I didn’t feel as engaged as I hoped to be. The Queen of Last Hopes failed to impress me much. It isn’t a bad book or anything. But it’s only just ‘okay’ for me.(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Feb 23, 2013
| Feb 27, 2013
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Jun 02, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 1416971777
| 9781416971771
| 4.29
| 10,403
| Sep 20, 2011
| Sep 20, 2011
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I feel sad that the trilogy is over now, but I can tell you, I was not disappointed at all by this final book. I loved Leviathan and Behemoth, and nat...more
I feel sad that the trilogy is over now, but I can tell you, I was not disappointed at all by this final book. I loved Leviathan and Behemoth, and naturally had high expectations for book three. Goliath not only met them, but exceeded them. It’s pretty rare for each installment in a book series to raise the bar higher and higher, but Goliath has done just that. If you love Leviathan and Behemoth, I can almost guarantee you’ll love Goliath as well. This is the final book, where all sorts of secrets start unraveling and all those events you have been hoping to read about occur (for me, that was Alek and Deryn’s relationship)! In Goliath, the Leviathan airbeast heads toward New York City, all the way in the United States. The crew has rescued a Mr. Tesla in Siberia, an inventor whose gigantic, and dangerous, weapon of mass destruction, Goliath, sits in New York. With the Goliath, Tesla hopes to scare the world into stopping the war. Loved this book. Truly an epic ending to an epic story! It was fast paced and a thrill to read. Most of my favourite scenes involved Alek and Deryn, especially the eventual revealing of Deryn’s gender (I don’t think this is a spoiler because I think it’s kind of obvious that it would happen in this book). The revealing didn’t happen the way I thought it would, but actually, I liked the way Westerfeld handled it much better. I think my vision of how it would happen (that is, that Deryn would just outright tell Alek) is kind of predictable and boring anyway. I have been waiting for Alek to find out that Deryn is actually a girl ever since Leviathan, and I’m so, so happy with the way it turned out: not a perfect happily-ever-after, but the kind of ending that opens Alek and Deryn up to a zillion possibilities in their future. Their relationship just makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. The characters are still as wonderful as ever. I still remember walking away from Leviathan liking the story but not really attached to any of the characters. Well, definitely by the end of Goliath I have become quite fond of the quirky cast! Dr. Barlow has become a favourite (memorable quote from her: “… I make it a policy never to appear surprised.”) and Eddie Malone, though an annoying creature to the characters, is funny and lovable (well, unless he was a real person, then I’d probably think he was annoying too, haha). And of course, I love Deryn and Alek (view spoiler)[(though I am a little saddened by the fact that Alek is no longer a prince at the end of the book. Part of the appeal of Alek is that he was a secret heir … but I still love him!) (hide spoiler)]. It is really amazing how Scott Westerfeld weaved his steampunk ideas into real history. Of course, the entire Leviathan trilogy is fiction, but there is an author’s note at the end of the book that points out the real historical facts that Westerfeld incorporated into Goliath and I was pleasantly surprised by how many factual elements are in the story! This book, and its predecessors, are great books, truly! If you haven’t started this series yet, I highly recommend it. It’s good timing too, since the third book is out now, so you can read them all together! (PS. Thank you Simon & Schuster Galley Grab for this galley :) (This review was originally posted at http://skyink.net).(less) | Notes are private!
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| Aug 18, 2011
| Aug 23, 2011
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Jul 06, 2011
| Hardcover
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