Claire Stevens's Blog, page 35

The Hawkweed Prophecy by Irena Brignull

Poppy Hooper has always been an outcast.  Unpopular and spooky, cats follow her wherever she goes and spiders weave beautiful webs in her honour.

Ember Hawkweed, too, doesn’t fit in.  She’s a pitiful excuse for a witch and the secluded group of women and girls she lives with tolerate her at best.
    
Throw in a hotly-contested prophesy and a throne up for grabs and there’s the making of a dark, twisty fairy tale.

I quite enjoyed this story about two babies, switched at birth, growing into young women who are at odds in the societies they live in.  Poppy was a very strong character - intelligent and capable, but vulnerable, too.  Ember was okay, too, but possibly a bit too drifty and away with the fairies for me.  There were parts where I kind of wanted to give her a good shake.  However, I liked how they interacted with each other and I thought they both got a good ending.

This book also had some really interesting ideas about what about us is nature and what is nurture.  Both girls tried desperately to fit into the families they had been born into and their desire to find a place where they would be accepted for who they were is a theme we see a lot in contemporary YA, so it was interesting to see it being given a magic realism twist.

The plot meandered around a bit as Poppy and Ember worked out who their true families were and both got involved with Leo.  I really liked the back story of the witches’ coven - how they’d managed to stay hidden for centuries.  Their history and practises were quite dark and creepy, as was the jostling for power around the prophesy and the throne.

I didn’t really get on board with the romance side of things.  I thought Poppy was far too strong a character to get so moony over a boy (although I could totally see Ember drifting off into Instalove-Land).  Also, Sorrel.  She fell for him, too.  What was it about this boy that he had three girls dying of love for him?  He must have been one attractive homeless guy.

So, yeah.  I think this book might have actually worked better without a romance element.  The idea of a story where a bunch of fiercely strong women literally beating the shit out of each other with magic is fairly compelling.

All in all, a pretty good read.  

I received a copy of The Hawkweed Prophecy in exchange for  an honest review.  Many thanks to Hachette and Netgalley.

3.5 stars

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

Oh my god.  What the -  I just -
 
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?
 
I picked up this book thinking it would be interesting to see what the author did with the characters after A Court of Thorns and Roses (which I enjoyed and gave 4.5 stars to) and to see how the plot developed, but I have to say it wasn’t top of my TBR list or anything.
 
But ... oh my god.
 
I’m actually incoherent with how much I loved this book.  Easily the best book I’ve read so far this year, knocks the first book into a cocked hat.  Just ... Perfection.  Actual perfection.
 
So.  The story opens not long after the Under the Mountain extravaganza.  With the trials and the dungeon and the bargain with Rhysand and the death and the resurrection.  Feyre and Tamlin are living kinda-happily in the Spring Court.  They’re super in love and even if Tamlin won’t let Feyre train to protect herself (because it’s his job to protect her) and even if he won’t let her out of his sight for like a millisecond, it’s all good because they’ve got a big fancy wedding to look forward to.
 
And then Rhysand decides to collect on the bargain he made with Feyre. Yeah ... the bargain where she agreed to spend a week every month with him at the Night Court.
 
And that’s where things get awesome.
 
At 640 pages, this is a long old book, but it never ever slowed in pace, but equally it manages to cram an awful lot of stuff in without seeming rushed.  It was like a roller coaster - constant ups and downs.  The constant threat from the King of Hybern was sufficiently terrifying  and it balanced really well against how strong Feyre became over the course of the book, both in terms of her physical powers and her mental strength.
 
The characters were outstanding.  Just outstanding.  None of the Inner Circle felt at all skimmed-over; they all had their own back stories and passions and their strength and loyalty towards each other was just beautiful.
 
Feyre develops a lot over the course of the story.  She was a strong character in ACOTAR, but by the end of this book she’s a ninja!  Like an actual fey, supernatural ninja.  She completely blew me away and even right at the end of the book where she makes a decision that almost had me throwing the book across the room, screaming, ‘WRONG DECISION!  WRONG DECISION!’, there’s a huge twist in the last few pages that left me completely mindblown.
 
Which brings me to Rhysand.  Ah, Rhysand.  I kind of shipped him and Feyre in ACOTAR - I got that she really hated him and his behaviour Under the Mountain was pretty awful, but he was really sharp and dry and witty and conniving and I thought he’d be a much better match for a strong girl like Feyre than old Tamlin.  And I was right!  The romance between Feyre and Rhysand was one of the best-paced romances I’ve ever read.  Think Rhett and Scarlett levels of epic romance. 
 
And the boy himself is so adorable.  You actually get to know the real Rhysand in this book and not just the arrogant persona he put up in the last book (although I liked it when he was being a cocky bastard).  You get to see the reasons behind all the decisions he made and the stuff he did in the first book.  My heart is beating a little faster tonight at how loyal and loving he was towards Feyre.  There’s something inherently sexy about a guy who loves strong women and I loved the way he embraced Feyre’s strength and didn’t try to stifle her or hold her back.
 
 Poor old Lucas Maxwell, current reigning champion in the Claire’s Ultimate Book Boyfriend stakes, is in serious danger of being toppled. 
 
One thing I should point out is that this book has quite a lot of sex in it and it’s really very graphic (although well-written, passionate and emotional).  I wouldn’t ever say that it shouldn’t be read by anyone under such and such an age, because if this book had come out when I was fourteen, I would totally have been reading it under the covers and dog-earing the mucky pages.  But yeah.  Very graphic, but very beautiful, because it’s between two people who are utterly in love.
 
I need to go to the beginning of the book and read it all again.
 
Perfection.

 5 stars

Waiting On Wednesday - The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine and it’s a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting On Wednesday pick is The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles.
 
Here’s the blurb:
 
 Still reeling from her dad’s shocking death, seventeen year old Zoe races to save her little brother from a blizzard—only to meet a handsome, mysterious stranger they call X who suddenly shows up at a cabin in the woods.

​X is a bounty hunter from Hell, here to claim his next victim. Hopelessness, punishment, and pain are all he’s ever known…until Zoe shows him what his heart is really for. But escaping his duty and the ties that bind him might mean the ultimate sacrifice for both of them in this star-crossed fantasy romance.
 
What about you?  What are you waiting for this week?

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

So when I started Shadow and Bone, I totally thought I could predict what was going to happen. Alina would turn out to be a Grisha. She'd get stuck in a love triangle. There'll be some kind of makeover scene, where Alina gets to tell us how not into looks she is. A betrayal. Because sometimes I genuinely think that YA trilogy authors get handed a tick sheet of stuff to include by their publishers. Like YA paint-by-numbers.  What made me laugh was the author quote on the front cover: "Unlike anything I've ever read" - Veronica Roth.  Really, love?  Because it bears more than a passing resemblance to your own trilogy).

Okay, these things do happen in Shadow and Bone (and that's not a spoiler - there are neon lights all over it, it's so obvious that's what's going to happen), but a whole lot of other stuff happens too and that's what dragged this book up from being a meh-three-stars to a hey-not-bad-four-stars.

Alina was okay as a character. She had a bit of get-up-and-go about her and her loyalty to Mal was very touching. I could see how she fell for the Darkling, even though he reminded me totally of Emo Kylo Ren (Twitter @KyloR3n). But yeah. Love triangles. I'm over them. Especially when the MC has spent pages and pages telling us how plain-looking she is. Yeah, because human beings are well known for their desire to look beyond the surface and discover someone's hidden inner beauty. The hard work makes you feel like you've *earned* it.

The setting seems to be dividing other readers and I'm not sure where I stand. I think it would have worked better if it hadn't incorporated so many Russian elements and words. I can see why the author did it - Russia has an incredible history and so much fascinating mythology - but doing that kind of thing sets you up for all sorts of complaints about how you're not being authentic enough. I think the setting would have been better as Generic Cold Fantasy Setting. I did enjoy the worldbuilding though, and it made a very visual setting.

I did spend the first 60% of this book thinking, 'I know what's going to happen. I can totally see where this is going.' But then there's a plot twist that honestly caught me off guard (and I have Plot Twist Radar. It's a thing.) And that's what made the book for me. It went from being a bit of a plod, to a genuine page turner in the space of a few pages.

Maybe I'll carry on with the trilogy. Maybe not. The other two books are 99p on Kindle at the moment and I've just been given a gift of £50 of Amazon vouchers, so chances are I probably will.

4 stars (eh, maybe 3.5)

Jinx by Meg Cabot

Bad luck follows Jean Honeychurch everywhere she goes. On the night she was born, a huge thunderstorm struck the hospital, and the bad luck hasn't stopped since, earning her the nickname of Jinx. When she moves to New York and moves in with her aunt and uncle to escape the unwanted attentions of a stalker, her bad luck follows her.

This was an okay book and I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't hugely thrilling and the romance at the end descended into an utter, utter cheese-fest, but apart from that it was a sweet read.

The plot is all about Jinx's bad luck and where it stemmed from. I won't give it all away, but there was a theme of magic and witchcraft in the plot which was fun, although I didn't feel like the whole magic theme was properly explored. Mixed in with that is a romance, literally with the boy next door, that was a kind of will-they-won't-they thing (except you know they totally will).

The story was kind of light and fluffy and although it was labelled as YA, it definitely felt like the younger end of the YA spectrum. Compared to other YA books it lacked a lot of tension and didn't really deal with any issues as such.

Jinx was an okay MC. She was very sweet and forgiving and dealt with her huge bad luck with good grace. There were times when she was literally the most naive character I've ever read about (seriously, how did she not get that Zach had a crush on her?) other than that I quite liked her. I think if I'd have been her, I'd have slapped Tori down to Chinatown on that first afternoon, but that's probably because I'm quite a horrible person. Jinx was a lot more tolerant.

Zach was a worthy romantic interest. There were times when I wanted to bang my head on the table and shout, 'God ALMIGHTY! Just ask the girl OUT!' but other than that he was very sweet. There was no excuse for the cheese-fest at the end, though.

All in all this was an okay story and because whoever buys ebooks at my local library has an absolute boner for Meg Cabot, I have a few more of her novels lined up.

3 stars

Waiting On Wednesday - The Hawkweed Prophecy

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine and it’s a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting On Wednesday pick is The Hawkweed Prophecy by Irena Brignull.
 
Here’s the blurb:

The babies were born as the clock struck twelve. A bat fell from the air mid-flight. A silver salmon floated dead to the surface of the river. Snails withered in their shells, moths turned to dust on the night breeze and an owl ate its young. The spell had been cast.

Poppy Hooper has managed to deceive her father into believing that there is nothing mysterious or unnatural about her. He ignores the cats that find her wherever she goes, the spiders that weave beautiful lacy patterns for her, even her eyes - one blue, one green with an extra black dot orbiting the pupil.

Ember Hawkweed is a pitiful excuse for a witch. When the other girls in her coven brew vile potions, Ember makes soap and perfume. Fair and pretty, Ember is more like a chaff than a witch. One of the Hawkweeds will be queen of the witches - but everyone knows it won't be Ember.

When the two girls meet, Poppy discovers her powers, and finds out the truth. Bound by their unlikely friendship and the boy they both love, the girls try and find their place in the world. But the time of the prophecy draws nearer - and the witches won't give up the throne without a fight. 
 
What about you?  What are you waiting for this week?

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

​Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List is the story of two best friends who are in constant danger of going after the same guys, so they set up an agreement between themselves that anyone on the No Kiss List is out of bounds.  And it works fine ... until Bruce comes along.  Suddenly, everything is in turmoil and it could mean the end of Naomi and Ely's lifelong friendship.

This book dealt with some really interesting issues, like the difference between loving someone and being in love with them.  It also looks at how we put people into boxes depending on their gender and automatically rule people out as romantic possibilities just because of what they've got in their pants.  So in this respect it was a really good book that gives you a lot to think about.

Also: I cannot get enough of David Levithan.  He's one of my auto-buy authors and has written or collaborated with on some of my favourite books of all time.

The main problem I had was with Naomi and Ely themselves.  They were deeply unsympathtic characters and they brought what could have been a four star book right down to three.

They were cynical and world-weary and jaded, but at the same time managed to be incredibly childish.  The whole No Kiss List thing seemed pretty dumb for two nineteen year olds - more like the kind of thing you do when you're twelve and can't decide which of you is going to marry Harry Styles (or whoever).

I found it hard to buy into their friendship, too.  It seemed pretty co-dependent and fairly toxic.  They were very controlling of each other and, I don't know, it just seemed like they didn't really like each other very much.  Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend and - and I really shouldn't have to point this out - THAT'S NOT WHAT FRIENDS DO.  They don't act in a friendly way to each other.  And when things go sour (sourer) between them, it descends into utter childishness, like they tell each other which Starbucks they're allowed to go to.

I guess in some respects their flaws make them a lot more real and I think other readers might like them for this.  And the rest of the characters (it's written from multiple POV, which doesn't always work well, but here it worked really well) were super, so it's not like this author duo can't write good characters (this is the team that brought us Dash and Lily and Tiny Cooper, after all).

This isn't going to put me off reading anything from David Levithan or Rachel Cohn again - absolutely not - but this book didn't work that well for me.

3 stars

Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris

And Then We Came To The End was kind of a strange book and even now I’m not really sure how I felt about it. I kind of feel like I’m missing something. It’s had a lot of good reviews, but I’m not really sure I can see what the fuss was about. 

The premise of the book is that a bunch of co-workers in an ad agency are facing a round of redundancies due to a downturn in the economy. They're worried about being led into the boss's office and being given their marching orders, but they don't let impending financial ruin get in the way of squabbles and office politics.

All in all, this was an okay book. It did have some very funny bits in it, and the author obviously has a keen eye for observing minutae of life (there’s this bit where the office bore is getting all out of his tree because he switched his office chair with that of a colleague who had just been fired and the office manager tries to make him give it back – it was very amusing), but I don’t think it was supposed to be a comedy as such. It felt like the author was trying to be super clever for the sake of it (i.e. in order to win awards), when it would have made a much more engaging read for the reader if he’d just concentrated on writing a really good story. 

It’s like, some authors’ work is just super clever and highbrow and you couldn’t imagine them doing anything else. Kazuro Ishiguro is one such author. Salman Rushdie, Hilary Mantel. Very clever books. Personally, not my kind of thing, but there’s no denying that they are clever.

This book just felt like it would have been a better read if it had just gone down the populist route, and if it had given the impression that the author actually liked his characters. Not to sound dumb, but there’s a reason John Grisham is like a billionaire.

And Then We Came To The End wasn’t a particularly challenging read and the narrative had a very conversational feel to it. I found the use of the collective viewpoint (We did this…. We thought that…..) a bit jarring, but I could see why the author had done it. What also jarred a little was the switch in viewpoints part of the way in. The narrative goes from the collective viewpoint of the office workers worrying about their jobs, to the close third person viewpoint of their boss as she struggles with her cancer diagnosis. It then goes back to the collective viewpoint. I’m sure there was a reason behind this, but I can’t figure out what that reason would be and for me it didn’t really work.

3 stars

Waiting On Wednesday - Something In Between by Melissa de la Cruz

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine and it’s a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting On Wednesday pick is Something In Between by Melissa de la Cruz.
 
Here’s the blurb:
 
 Jasmine de los Santos has been pushed by her Filipino immigrant parents to over-achieve, be the best she can be, work as hard as she can at school and reach for the American Dream. She's thrilled to be named a finalist for the National Scholarship Award and prepares to go to Washington, D. C. to receive it. But when she brings home the paperwork, she learns that she and all her family are in the country illegally.

As Jasmine's world shatters around her, she rebels, trying to make sense of herself - who is she? Is she American? Illegal? Something in between? Jasmine decides to accept the award anyway and goes to D.C., where she meets Royce Blakely, the handsome son of a Republican congressman. As she fights for her very identity, will Jasmine find help in unexpected places, and will she ever figure out where she belongs?
 
What about you?  What are you waiting for this week?

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus is the story of a circus full of beautiful, unique attractions and the varied people who live and work within it.  The black and white tents house ice gardens, a maze of clouds, a contortionist and so much else, but behind the scenes a competition is taking place.  Celia and Marco have been trained since childhood to compete in a game they have been bound to and the circus is their arena.
 
This was a beautiful book.  I mean, look at that cover.  Just gorgeous.  And the story inside is even more beautiful.  The descriptions (and there’s masses of description) are so lyrical, so vivid that the circus and its inhabitants just jump off the page.  It’s just so stylish.  You get a real feel for what everything looks like.  (Bedecked in ribbons.  There are a lot of ribbons.  They use them for everything, not just for decorating stuff.  And ribbon’s not cheap.  I know I’m putting a fairly mundane slant on this, but it was something that really stood out.  So.  Much.  Ribbon.)
 
The romance was sweet and had some really touching moments.  I didn’t really understand what the attraction was between Celia and Marco, like what common ground they had beyond the competition - they just seemed to suddenly be in love out of nowhere - but they were very sweet together once they’d found each other.
 
So, why only three stars?  Firstly, let me point out that three stars means I enjoyed it.  It’s a book that’s perfectly readable but that ultimately didn’t blow me away and it took me until about three quarters of the way through to realise why it wasn’t blowing me away.  The Night Circus is, like I said, a beautiful book, whimsical and lyrical, but ultimately not much happens.  There’s the competition between Celia and Marcus, but the rules of the competition aren’t divulged until right near the end and by then it’s a bit of a anti-climax.  Hell, even the two competitors don’t know what the rules of the competition are.  Up to this point there’s a whole bunch of gently-flowing scenes, a sweet romance, but that’s about it. 
 
Other than description.  There was description coming out of my ears.  I knew exactly what every character and every aspect of the circus looked like.  I didn’t necessarily get to know a lot about the characters’ personalities (they felt slightly cardboard), but I could definitely envisage everything perfectly.
 
The huge amounts of description were fine but it left me feeling like this story was the literary equivalent of candy floss: pretty, tasty but ultimately unfulfilling.  It slowed the pace down, too, which made the book seem longer than it really is.
 
Another thing that I found tricky was the non-linear plot.  It dotted backwards and forwards (which is fine) but because there wasn’t a whole lot going on with the plot, there were very few anchors or hooks to orient myself with in terms of the time line.  It was mostly a series of beautifully described scenes with very little in them that enabled me to think, ‘Ah yes.  This scene comes before such-and-such but after such-and-such.’  I had to keep skipping back to the beginning of the chapter to see what year we were in.
 
If you’re anything like me and usually go for plot-driven books, I would still recommend this book, but I’d say this: detach every curious, questioning part of your mind before reading this book.  Enjoy it for its descriptions and uniqueness, because if go into this wanting a rattling plot then you’ll probably be disappointed.  
 
3 stars