Claire Stevens's Blog, page 65

Half Wild by Sally Green

I received a copy of Half Wild in exchange for an honest review, courtesy of Penguin Random House UK and Netgalley.

I finished the first book in this trilogy a couple of days ago.  It’s a wild, gruesome ride and I loved every minute of it.

This book, not so much.

I want to start by highlighting the good parts.  Some scenes were great.  There are a couple of scenes with Gabriel and Nathan that almost had me in tears, they were so beautifully written.  The parts with Marcus in were very good, too.

Also, I genuinely think Sally Green is a great writer.  With a trilogy about witches, magic and superpowers, it would have been easy to have gone completely purple-prose and hammed it up.  She does none of that.  Her writing is very gritty and very real.

There were some characters that I loved.  Nathan is one of the most interesting protagonists I’ve read about for a long time and it was fascinating to watch him embrace his Black Witch side.  Marcus, his father, I found very compelling also and I think it takes a very skilled writer to make a mass murderer a sympathetic character.  And Gabriel.  Aaah...Gabriel.  Fit, gorgeous, witty, able to handle a gun and utterly devoted to Nathan. 

Unfortunately, I had a bit of a problem with some of the other characters.  Annalise was one, and a lot of the plot revolved around her.  I thought she was a complete drip and I couldn’t for the life of me see why Nathan was so obsessed with her.  She had no spark.  She wasn’t witty, she wasn’t useful in a fight, she didn’t really know whether she wanted to join the Alliance, she didn’t even know what her Gift was, for crying out loud.  She was just a pretty face.  Blah.

I get that seventeen year old boys often think with their junk instead of their heads when it comes to girls, but Nathan is such a complex character that I felt his obsession with this one-dimensional  Disney-Princess girl was wrong.  Just...wrong.

Also, it didn’t help the Annalise-Is-Great cause when she explained that the reason she left Nathan to be carved to bits by her psychotic brother (back in Half Bad) was because her parents locked her in her room.  Huh?  That’s not good.  You shimmy out the window, or you break the lock, or you punch your dad in the face.  You don’t just sit there and wait for the boy you love to be butchered.

I had problems with the plot as well and the biggest problem was that there just didn’t seem to be one.  The first half of the book revolves around finding Annalise.  Nathan, Gabriel and two new characters  (whose names I’ve already forgotten) just seem to zoom about all over Europe, without anything much actually happening.  There are a couple of good bits, but they are few and far between and after the all-thriller-no-filler excitement of Half Bad it just fell a little flat.  It felt like the author put all of her awesomest ideas into Half Bad, but couldn’t quite seem to think of anything to happen in this book.

I know Sophomore Slump is a thing, where the eager-beaver author proudly delivers the final, final draft of the first instalment of their trilogy and the publisher goes, ‘Thanks very much.  You now have exactly-’ Looks at watch ‘-three months to produce the first draft of the next instalment.  GO!  GO!  GO!’

Let me reiterate: I enjoy Sally Green’s writing and I would happily read a different series of hers, if she writes one, or a standalone and I kind of want to know what happens to Nathan and Gabriel, but I just don’t think I have the energy to read the third instalment.

4/10

Half Bad by Sally Green

I think I read somewhere (and I can’t remember where, so if this is a load of nonsense I’m happy for the author to tell me to shut up) that Sally Green’s first manuscript was rejected for not being edgy enough.

I think it’s fairly safe to say that this isn’t a problem Half Bad has.  And I loved it!

Half Bad is set in our world, but a version where Black Witches and White Witches have their own society and live (kind of) alongside fains (non-magical people).  On their seventeenth birthday they receive three gifts (normal presents) and drink the blood of one of their relations (mmm...yum) and then they receive their Gift (psychic power).  This could be anything from telekinesis to the ability to control the weather.  White Witches use their Gift for good (and their version of good involves torturing Black Witches to death) whereas Black Witches...  Well, it just sounds like Black Witches take their Gift, give the Council of White Witches the finger and spend the rest of their lives being persecuted by the Council’s Hunters.

I’ve read reviews that have compared Half Bad to Harry Potter.  Well, I guess if you’re talking about a version of Harry Potter where Harry is kept in a cage in the garden instead of the cupboard under the stairs, and he regularly gets the crap beaten and stabbed out of him instead of being educated at Hogwarts, and where people try to force him to murder, and instead of having loads of really nice mates he has no one at all and instead of his dad being a hero he was basically Voldemort, then yes, in that case I’d say Half Bad is exactly like Harry Potter.

*Rolls eyes*

So yes, I’d say that Sally Green took away her (possibly imagined by me) feedback and definitely came up with something edgy.  And well written.  And fun.  And heart-rending.

Can’t wait to read the next one.                                                                                                  

9/10

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Wow.  This book, guys.  This book.

The Sky is Everywhere tells the story of Lennie and her family who have been ripped apart by grief at the death of Lennie’s vibrant older sister, Bailey.  Bailey died of sudden heart failure before the opening of the book and the story deals with how Lennie deals with the huge hole left by her loss.

The book started kind of slowly with Lennie in a nasty juxtaposition where she refused to move on or change anything, but also refused to acknowledge her loss.  The pace picked up with Joe’s (aah...Joe) introduction and then it started to rocket along.

The characters were so well-drawn, I was totally sucked into their lives.  Lennie, her grandma, Big, Joe and even Bailey, who really only exists as people’s memories, it was almost like they were walking off the page.

And there’s the love story.  Aah, the lovely, lovely love story between Lennie and Joe.  He literally exists as a series of binary code on my Kindle, but I’m totally crushing on him.

*Spoiler Alert* Okay, so part of the tension in the story is caused by a love triangle.  Cue me going all squinty-eyed because generally speaking, I’m no fan of love triangles.  Lennie and Toby (Bailey’s boyfriend), in their grief, can’t help but keep snogging the faces off each other.  Obviously, when the kissing is all done, they feel horror-struck and remorse-ridden, but it doesn’t stop them from keeping on doing it.  And Lennie’s all, ‘Oh no, I keep accidentally sucking face with Bailey’s boyfriend.  I’m so bad.’  And then the next day she just does it all over again.

And I’m reading this, going, ‘Dude, if you want to stop kissing your dead sister’s boyfriend, then STOP KISSING YOUR DEAD SISTER’S BOYFRIEND.’

I did forgive her, though, because grief does weird things to people.

Okay, so a rating.  Arrggh!  A ten.  When you keep turning round to the person next to you and saying, ‘This book!’, it’s got to be a ten.

10/10

The Bane Chronicles 11: The Voicemail of Magnus Bane by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson

Firstly, let me start off by saying that I was a big fan of the TMI books and I’ve also really enjoyed the other Magnus Bane chronicles.

I wasn’t really a fan of this one, though.

The first problem I had was that this instalment literally took me ten minutes to read.  I get that it’s a novella, but the other Magnus Bane Chronicles seemed a lot longer than this.

There was no story to speak of - it was just a series of voicemail messages left on Magnus’s phone by assorted Shadowhunters, all of whom were trying to get Magnus to get back together with Alec.  Plus, quite a lot of the messages were from Isabelle, who is my least-favourite Shadowhunter.

None of them seem to be saying the obvious, which to my mind was, ‘Yeah, Alec did a really screwed-up thing by attempting to take away your immortality without your knowledge or consent.’  Don’t get me wrong - the whole Magnus-Alec-immortality thing was one of my favourite storylines in TMI, but all of Alec’s friends turning round afterwards and trying to guilt Magnus into getting back with Alec just didn’t sit right with me.

Despite this being part of the Bane Chronicles, Magnus doesn’t actually feature in this instalment at all.  This gave me the squint because Magnus is my favourite TMI character.

So that’s it really.  I really enjoyed all the other Bane Chronicles and would recommend them to TMI fans, but this one left me feeling a bit ripped-off.

Check it out.  I think maybe my review has ended up  being longer than the book I was reviewing.

3/10

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle

I received a copy of The Accident Season in exchange for an honest review.  Many thanks to Random House and Netgalley!

A copy of this review is featured on my blog: www.bookblogbird.weebly.com

It's the accident season, the same time every year. Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom.

The accident season has been a part of life for Cara and her family for as long as anyone can remember.  Every October, they unplug the gas main, hide sharp objects and bubble-wrap the furniture.  And yet still the accidents happen, until one October when Cara notices something very odd about a friend from school, Elsie, and decides to investigate.

Part mystery, part ghost story, part romance, this book has elements that will appeal to a lot of people and there are aspects of this book that I absolutely loved.  I thought the romantic parts were written beautifully and the concept of the accident season itself is really unique and interesting.  When the final denouement comes, it was a surprise that left me reading until two in the morning but even when the explanations were finished some threads were left dangling (what was the deal with the costume shop?  And Elsie’s school file?) which have kept me thinking about the book the next day.

It took me a couple of chapters or so to properly get into The Accident Season; the prose is very lyrical, and dreamy, floaty prose usually isn’t my thing.  Some parts left me feeling a bit like Jennifer Connolly in Labyrinth: constantly searching, but unable to get a simple, straight answer.  However, I’m glad I pushed through because the plot and characterisation are superb and The Accident Season ended up being a real find.

8.5/10

The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey

I received a copy of The Girl at Midnight in exchange for an honest review.  Many thanks to Little Brown and Netgalley.

Deep below New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of bird people with magic running through them.  They don’t mix with humans (they have feathers for hair) - all except for Echo, that is.  Echo was raised by the Avicen and has spent her life trying to gain acceptance in their society so when the Avicen’s enemy, the Dhakarin bring an age-old war to her doorstep then she decides to act.  With the help of her foster mother, she sets out on a quest to find the firebird, an entity that legend has it will bring about the end of the war with the Dhakarin.

This was an absolute whirlwind of a book.  It grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go until the explosive end.  Echo was a fun protagonist; she’s not one of your ‘Oh, I’m so shy and introverted and not very attractive really’ heroes (you know the books I’m talking about).  She’s not afraid to grab life by the balls and she just.  Doesn’t.  Let.  Go.  Seriously, I think she slept like once in the entire book.

Some elements of this book could have gone so wrong (*coughs* bird people), but Melissa Grey’s awesome writing and worldbuilding skills were just spot on.

BTW, there’s totally a love triangle forming.  I don’t usually go for love triangle storylines, but I’m totally Team Caius.

I found The Girl at Midnight very reminiscent of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (urban fantasy; two ancient races locked in a bitter war that no one wants; mortal girl who hangs out with them gets caught up in the crossfire and finds her Epic Destiny; themes of rebirth).  Also, Melissa Grey’s style of writing is very cinematic and very descriptive with sassy dialogue and reminded me of Cassandra Clare’s books.  Don’t get me wrong; Ms Grey definitely has her own style, but these are two authors who are similar.  This was fine by me, as I really enjoyed Cassandra Clare and Laini Taylor’s books, but if you weren’t keen  then you may want to download the first couple of chapters of The Girl at Midnight before buying.

The Girl at Midnight doesn’t end on a cliffhanger; this is a good thing, because damn if the sequel doesn’t come out until June 2016.  Can’t wait.

9.5/10

Tape by Steven Camden

I received a copy of Tape in exchange for an honest review.  Many thanks to HarperCollins and Netgally.

In 1993, 13-year-old Ryan is struggling with his grief over the death of his mother and is trying to deal with his father’s new marriage and his new stepmother and stepbrother.  In 2003, Ameliah has just moved in with her grandmother after the death of her parents.  One day when she’s clearing out the spare room, she comes across a tape and starts to listen.  To her surprise, a boy starts speaking...

I thought Tape was a sweet book but without being saccharine or smarmy.  I kind of went into it thinking it was going to be a bit like Landline by Rainbow Rowell, but apart from one small exchange at the beginning of the book and a bit at the end, Ryan and Ameliah don’t actually communicate with each other, it’s more about the way going through the spare room junk and listening to the tapes she finds helps Ameliah to come to terms with her loss and the things going on in Ryan’s life help him with his own grief.

If you’re looking for a book that has you on the edge of your seat, this probably isn’t the one for you.  The love story in it is quiet and a little bit awkward (they’re only thirteen).  It reminded me a little bit of the love story in The Time Traveller’s Wife: no stomach-churning love triangles or cliff-hangers, just two people who are destined to be together.  The plot flows very smoothly although fairly slowly; it deals mostly with Ameliah and Ryan’s separate but intertwined stories and how they deal with their losses.  There were a couple of twists, both of which I guessed from the blurb, but actually that didn’t matter because I think the rest of the plot made up for it.

7.5/10

Pluto: A Wonder Story by RJ Palacio

I received a copy of Pluto in exchange for an honest review.  Thanks to Random House and Netgalley.

About a year ago, I helped out at a book club in my local primary school.  The class teacher, a half dozen ten-year-olds and I sat around a classroom during lunch break, all of us fighting back tears, because the book we were discussing was Wonder. 

Pluto didn’t have me in tears like Wonder did (thankfully, because I don’t think I could have stood it) but it still had plenty of emotional resonance.  It tells the story of Wonder through Chris’s eyes, August’s oldest friend.  Over the course of one nightmarish day, we’re given an insight into not only Chris’s life but also his friendship with August and other kids at his school.

I just loved Pluto.  Chris’s perspective was so interesting and like the rest of the cast of Wonder he is flawed and heroic in equal, and totally believable, measure.  August and his family feature in Pluto but they don’t take starring roles.  Instead, the novella concentrates on themes of friendship and relationships in general.

RJ Palacio doesn’t sugar-coat things, and I think that’s a big part of her appeal.  She states quite categorically that sometimes friendships can be hard, especially with someone like August, and even though we’re told not to judge people, we still do it: it’s human nature and it’s what you do with your judgement that matters.

Wonder was one of the best books I read last year and Pluto was a wonderful way to catch up with the characters I loved so much.

9/10

Mind Games by Teri Terry

I was given a ARC of Mind Games in exchange for an honest review.  Many thanks to Hachette and Netgalley.

A copy of this review is also on my blog: www.bookblogbird.weebly.com

Mind Games is set in the near future and tells the story of Luna, one of the few people who are unable to access the virtual world offered by PareCo (Woop! Woop! Evil Corporation Alert!) that the rest of the population spend their education and leisure time in.

Thinking that her future will be limited to the dead-end jobs offered to those who refuse virtual life, everyone is astonished when Luna is offered a space in the PareCo tests which will give her the opportunity of an amazing future at university or even at PareCo’s Think Tanks, developing new virtual worlds.  When she arrives it’s the start of a huge voyage of self-discovery.

I thought Mind Games was an all-round good book, with some aspects that were just excellent.  The baddies have their evil lair in a hollowed-out volcano and I don’t care which way you turn it: baddies in hollowed-out volcanoes are awesome.  The characters are ace and you really end up caring about them.  Luna was a super protagonist and it’s really interesting to read all the different ways her friends and family use virtual worlds.

The world has been built with a lot of thought to detail.  It’s very recognisable and scarily believable as a future London where people just spend all their time in virtual reality.  Teri Terry hasn’t made PareCo too crazy-evil and that just makes them all the more creepy and sinister.

I felt the pace of the story slowed down a bit in the middle after a nice, action-y start and the end felt a tiny bit rushed, but this wasn’t enough to put me off and I was glad it didn’t because the finale is electric with a couple of truly ‘No-o-o-o-o-o!’ moments.

I was really looking forward to Mind Games, and I have to say it didn’t disappoint.

Recommended for: anyone who likes techno-future dystopias and The Matrix.

8/10

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

I received a copy of We All Looked Up in exchange for an honest review.  Many thanks to Simon and Schuster UK and Netgalley.

We All Looked Up  is the debut novel by Tommy Wallach.  It tells the story of an asteroid on a potential collision course with Earth as told from the alternating viewpoints of four high school students.  The four form a karass (no, I hadn’t heard of it either): a group of people linked in a cosmically significant manner.

Peter is the well-rounded jock, Mr Popularity, who is starting to have an existential crisis as the book opens.  Eliza has a sad home life and covers up her misery with a succession of one night stands.  Andy is the skateboarding stoner with neglectful parents, coasting along his school career until the education system spits him out.  Anita is the uptight overachiever with pushy parents.  They’re archetypes that crop up in every high school book, and in real life too, and in some respects it kind of felt like The Breakfast Club meets The Stand.  Which is obviously awesome.

The four protagonists are really likeable despite their many flaws and you really end up caring about them.  There are also some proper-rotten baddies for you to get your teeth into.

I really liked the fact that the trajectory of Ardor is never completely certain.  When it’s first spotted in the sky, it is thought that it will bypass Earth completely, but it changes course and when the big announcement comes astrologers believe there is a 66% chance of a collision and a 33% chance it will bypass completely.  The Internet, electricity and phone lines all go down before the exact path of the asteroid can be communicated to the world.

It was such an interesting plot point.  The fact that there is a 66% chance of collision still allows people to hope - and it’s not just a fleeting hope - but people are still forced to live with total  annihilation being a distinct possibility.

Tommy Wallach doesn’t delve into worldwide reactions to the coming apocalypse, other than fleeting mentions of riots in various cities.  He keeps the plot very local and concentrates on the reactions of the four protagonists thoroughly, as well as the reactions of a few other minor characters and concludes that people do get way existential when they’re faced with a six week wait for very-likely death, but that actually, yes, people do still think about sex and love and petty squabbles when the destruction of the human race is literally staring them in the face.  He looks at the ways the members of the karass impact on each other and the way they face their destinies.

I really enjoyed We All Looked Up.  It didn’t leave me with that breathless got-to-skip-back-to-the-beginning-so-I-can-read-it-all-again feeling, but it definitely gave me a lot to think about.  And be thankful for.

8.5/10