Showing posts with label 5 stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5 stars. Show all posts

Monday, 19 February 2018

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

03:04:00 0
I was sent this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

'They think I hurt someone. 
But I didn't. You hear?
Coz people are gonna be telling you
all kinds of lies.
I need you to know the truth.'
From one-time winner and two-time Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this poignant, stirring, huge-hearted novel asks big questions. What value do you place on life? What can you forgive? And just how do you say goodbye?. 

Image Courtesy of Readaraptor
Moonrise by Sarah Crossan
September 7th 2017 by Bloomsbury Childrens
400 Pages

 Sarah Crossan is a professional on the quick read. The lyrical poetry of her fiction is unlike any other author I have read, and these books are perfect for getting out a book hangover. Unlike her usual novels, which are centrally focused in her home country of England, Crossan takes us over to the colonies this time - to take on the American Justice System.

 As an English-woman, I have very little knowledge of the American Justice System other than what I've read on Buzzfeed or Sky News stories on Donald Trump. Crossan takes me into the world of the American small town - an idea romanticised in film and television. In Moonrise, it's a much more depressing place, in fact, everywhere is because Joseph Moon is preparing to watch his brother die.

 Edward Moon was coerced into signing a confession of homicide of a police officer at the age of seventeen.  Our story follows years after, when the legally bound Edward is to be executed in Kirkland, Texas. Joseph Moon, his younger brother has taken the long journey across the Atlantic to be at his brother's side, and to make one final push for his brother's life.

 Joseph is a talented young man, with a future ahead of him, yet he finds himself lingering in Kirkland - unable to face visiting his brother and fixing cars for food. Despite the distance that grew between the brother's after his conviction, they share (with their sister Angela) a shared traumatic childhood. Their mother was an abusive alcoholic, and once she disappeared when Edward was convicted, and abusive aunt took her place.

The death penalty has been a hot topic for years. In Britain, we do not have it. As far as we are concerned as a society - the death penalty appears like an eye for an eye sort of deal. I struggle to understand what it must be like on death row, deserved or not. Edward's hope that something will save him is tragic, whether he is guilty or not. 

Joseph is so young too. He's barely out of school and having to take on such a huge responsibility. He fills out the narrative with memories and flashback that give such a sense of all the characters it is hard to imagine that they aren't all living, breathing people. The entire book is exquisite, poignant and it reads like breathing. 

Crossan has hit it out of the park again, I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. 



You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads and Facebook. Until then...Happy Reading.
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Saturday, 17 February 2018

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher

15:47:00 0
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

The Princess Diarist is Carrie Fisher’s intimate, hilarious and revealing recollection of what happened behind the scenes on one of the most famous film sets of all time, the first Star Warsmovie. 

When Carrie Fisher recently discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, she was astonished to see what they had preserved—plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognized. Today, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon is indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a (sort-of) regular teenager. 
Image Courtesy of The Fiction Feline

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
257 Pages

Guess who discovered Audible?
Guess who very much enjoys Audible?

I swear I'm not trying to sell you Amazon. I am just sort of in shock that listening to a book can be even more evocative than reading at times. Not with fantasy, not for a moment can I enjoy a fictitious story voiced by anyone other than my own consciousness. Non-fiction, however, that I love to have read to me.

In the times of Jane Austen people would read aloud to each other all the time. I think audiobooks are trying to do the same thing and having the author reading their work - emphasis where intended and stories known like the scars on the back of your hand. It's pretty amazing really, I found myself totally absorbed by Fisher - and only now have I discovered what an amazing person we lost last year.

I will make this very plain. I have never felt as though I am "like everyone else." I'm too vulgar and harsh for the girly girls and too girly for the tomboys. So where the hell we're my people? The people who had to say what was on their mind because if not, that thought will rot and burn inside me until I falter like a lunatic. I've really never felt so understood than I did listening to Fisher's words.

She had brilliant comic timing, an exciting life that I can only dream of and was truly, truly honest about things I don't think many people are. She remembers what she thought as a teenager, the way her young mind logically led her places. It is so detailed I almost begin to wonder if anything she says is real, but that's half the fun.

 I think I might be mourning. I was never a huge Star Wars fan and even now I cannot fully enjoy the films without scoffing and laughing at its expense...but something happened with this book. I think became a Carrie Fisher fan. A woman who was sexual and vulgar and eloquent and educated (even though she refused to accept that.) A woman who was funny, and knew that was her weapon.

It is a brutally revealing story - brutal to herself and to people around her. (Sorry Harrison!) But it's also beautiful and it feels fitting that this, the ultimate telling of her life. A book so concerned with its author I can almost feel her breath on the pages. It's fitting that this was her last book and terribly tragic at the same time.

If only I had got on the Leia Bandwagon all those years ago when my father tried to drag me onto it.
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Monday, 14 August 2017

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

11:49:00 0
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:

Break into the notorious Ice Court
(a military stronghold that has never been breached)

Retrieve a hostage
(who could unleash magical havoc on the world)

Survive long enough to collect his reward
(and spend it)

Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don't kill each other first.

Reading the Riot Act Blog
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Published June 2nd 2016 by Orion's Children's Books
Paperback 491 Pages

Behold! A book I read months ago and then proceeded to forget to review. I know, that might suggest I didn't like this book - well, you are hella wrong. Is this thing a beast? YES! Did it take me almost a month to read? SUPER YES! Will I read the next one? Eventually...

Seriously, this thing was good but it was a slow read - I wouldn't dare try and smash through this bad boy for a read-a-thon.

Six of Crows follow a rag-tag group of brutal criminals, trying to make it large in Ravka. (You know, the Russian-esque country from Bardugo's Grisha series?) There really is nothing like old friends,  but unfortunately they are all dead. Set many years after Ruin and Rising, Alina and Mal and the Darkling are history. Sorry Ladies. Instead, we get a whole new crew to obsess over- and personally. I like them better. (Tell no one.)

Being Grisha is now taboo, far more than some of the segregation we'd come to recognise in Ravka. Some of them have been captured, and a drug produced that gives them unholy powerful gifts but then drains the life out of them. The man who invented it, is locked away inside an ice fortress. Guess who is hired to break him out? and/or assassinate him? Why! It's our rag-tag group of brutal criminals! Can they do it? PROBABLY NOT! Will I have fun watching it all go tits up? HELL YEAH!

The cast of this book is phenomenal. Each of them is vivid with rich backgrounds and startlingly diverse personalities. It can be hard to write a group dynamic, but damn has Bardugo got it down. The only issue is, with so many interweaving stories -the thing can drag a little. Every detail is painstakingly recalled, each different from another characters eyes and they feel so important and tense and crucial, that you find yourself spending 10 minutes on one page. Yeah, I'm not exaggerating. The writing is so beautiful and enthralling that is almost impossible to get sucked in because you'd hate to miss a second of the syntax. That, honestly, is my only complaint. It was so well-written, I couldn't ignore the words and just imagine. #firstworldproblems

Kaz is the leader of The Dregs, and in his criminal gang is Inej -his right hand ninja lady. Jesper, the gun slinger, Wylan - a politician's son who's out for a little rebellion and Nina, a Grisha who kind of fucked over her ex-lover. And...of course they are gonna need to bust him out of prison for the job. Enter Matthias, the Grisha hater - and then our group is complete. All of them have these intensely complicated relationships with each other. They are all burdened by their singular baggage and the baggage of the group. Yet, somehow, they all come together and what at first glance seems like a business arrangement, is engraved with golden lines of love and affection and loyalty. The Dregs make this book, it would be entirely different without them and it would be far, far worse.

I'll say it now and forever hold my peace. Inej is my favourite. It's like having a boy band full of hunks and everyone in your friend group gets to choose one. Inej is mine. She is this perfect mix of totally badass. I mean, she's so effing cool! But also has this beautiful vulnerability that she fights with. She worries about the way the world sees her and simultaneously wants to be feared. I love it - I don't know why I just do.

Six of Crows totally lived up to it's hype. I will eventually get around to Crooked Kingdom when I have a spare month burning a whole in my life - but until then, I'm pretty satisfied. There were twist's at every turn, obstacles, complications and mess ups. This, in essence, is a heist book - and we sure as hell heisted! This book get's a solid 5 STARS!

You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads and Facebook. Until then...Happy Reading.



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Sunday, 7 August 2016

One by Sarah Crossan

04:04:00 0
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

Grace and Tippi. Tippi and Grace. Two sisters. Two hearts. Two dreams. Two lives. But one body.

Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, joined at the waist, defying the odds of survival for sixteen years. They share everything, and they are everything to each other. They would never imagine being apart. For them, that would be the real tragedy.

But something is happening to them. Something they hoped would never happen. And Grace doesn’t want to admit it. Not even to Tippi.

How long can they hide from the truth—how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives.

Image from Girl Reading
Sarah Crossan outdoes herself with yet another book written in verse. Through the eclectic use of poetry we follow the inner working of Grace, one half of a conjoined twin. Grace and Tippi have been connected since birth and now, for the first time ever - have to go to a real school. This is shudder-inducing even without being a conjoined twin.

Tippi is louder, she is often the conversation starter and she is also the rock that Grace leans on. It becomes hard to imagine Grace without Tippi. There is this really striking moment when a classmate says that being a conjoined twin has to be the worst thing ever! and then we have this stunning poem about all the things that are worse, that having someone with you all the time, who knows you better than anyone else is not the worst thing ever and that really struck me. This book becomes more focused on the fact that these girls are people, just girls. They discuss other famous conjoined twins and note how after a lifetime of doing things, on their gravestone it still read conjoined twins - as if this is all they could ever be.

This story is full of these beautiful observations, I think because the form allows it. Grace's words flow in a way that resonates solely with her emotions, that partly the action doesn't even matter because between the lines she is saying something far better. Some of these poems you could frame they are so beautiful, just as a freestanding work.

Soon due to health complications with Grace's heart, being surgically separated is no longer just an option for an easier life. Now it is life or death. The lovely thing about this book, is that the separation is a small part of the story - the little 50 pages at the end, because it isn't what this book is about. The book is about Grace becoming more than just Tippi's sidekick. She becomes louder, braver even daring to fall in love when Tippi tells her outright this isn't something they can have. She stops worrying about the idea that when one of them dies they both die and starts enjoying her life, making friends, going away on trips and finding a way to provide for their crumbling family. She really is this thoughtful, quiet heroine who's battle against evil is fought within herself.

Grace and Tippi are surrounded by a broken supporting cast, each of them as tragically flawed as the next. Their sister has an eating disorder, their father is an alcoholic and there best friend has HIV. Everyone has there damage, every character has there issues but they are fortunate enough to not show it physically. There are points when you forget all the broken cast, when you forget Grace and Tippi are conjoined, when you forget Dragon is starving herself in the name of ballet beauty - you forget that these people are broken and then it hits you, hard - because not one of these characters gets away without any baggage, and that's kind of beautiful.

If you want something unputdownable, or want a book that will give you something thoughtful and lovely to think about and make you grateful that you live in a world where books like this exist - then this is the book for you. You'll forget it's written in verse and the words will just flow. It really is as good as that. I'm always giving Crossan 5 Stars, and today is no different!

Happy Reading.


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Saturday, 18 June 2016

A Court of Mist and Fury By Sarah J Maas

13:27:00 0

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

Feyre is immortal.

After rescuing her lover Tamlin from a wicked Faerie Queen, she returns to the Spring Court possessing the powers of the High Fae. But Feyre cannot forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people - nor the bargain she made with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court.

As Feyre is drawn ever deeper into Rhysand's dark web of politics and passion, war is looming and an evil far greater than any queen threatens to destroy everything Feyre has fought for. She must confront her past, embrace her gifts and decide her fate.

She must surrender her heart to heal a world torn in two.
Image from staybookish
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas
Published May 3rd 2016 by Bloomsbury Childrens Books
Paperback 624 pages

We join our heroine Feyre (Fay-RUH) once again in Prythian, where we left off in the first book A Court of Thorns and Roses. I gave the first book in the series a pitiful 3.5 stars. This doesn't seem too pitiful but I hold Maas to a much higher standard. When I read the first book I couldn't connect with  the characters or the plot.

However, A Court of Mist and Fury is a gamechanger!

I have always loved Throne of Glass, it has been my ultimate pick whenever people ask me for book reccomendations. Maas has just beat herself to my favourite book series, she now holds the top two spots, which is pretty impressive.

Feyre defeated Amarantha in the last book, died and was brought back to life as a Fae. A Court of Mist and Fury shows the fallout from this beautifully. Feyre is not only emotionally changed, she is more fearful at first, suffering nightmares and just a downright wreck. She loses a lot of weight and under the pressure of Tamlin's overprotective gaze she is in a very, very bad place. She has these growing powers, accidentally passed on through the high Fae who brought her back to life and within the first 100 pages, all of this comes to a fantastic climax. The bond with Rhysand is immediately a key factor, she calls to him on her wedding day and flees, leaving Tamlin in the lurch.

 Fans of the first book will be upset if they started with a Tamlin/Feyre ship, though I don't know many who did. Honestly Tamlin turning into a controlling and arguably abusive boyfriend was the best thing that could have happened to Feyre. I didn't find him particularly endearing in the first book and I'm glad to be rid of him. Rhysand shows up and frees our heroine from Tamlin's clutches, for a time. As the deal permits, he begins taking her for a week every month and honestly, I see the appeal of Rhysand. He reminds me of Tom Hiddleston's Loki, only fitter, way fitter.

 Eventually life with Tamlin gets too much and Feyre ends up at Rhysand's side. We've been waiting for it and we love. Here we begin a labyrinth of beautifully entwined stories, a love story that feels worthy of a Sarah J Maas novel and a supporting cast that is mind blowing. We see the world from the night court, learn about the intricities of actually running a court and of Rhysand himself. This is not some measly romantic story. This a grand love story with a background in supernatural political warzone. It's stunning just stunning.

 There are these moments, when Feyre is alone and the way it is written is stunning. She looks at the stars and they start falling to the earth and I fall in love with Feyre, I fall in love with all of them in the way she does and I fall in with Rhysand. This love story is so beautiful because you fall in love with these characters, it takes the story to a new level.

We have this looming threat of war in the background. Hybern is readying for war and the night court are the doing the same in secret, they need to destroy the cauldron and defeat Hybern before they break the barrier to the human world and massacre everyone. This is the largest part of the plot and it takes most of the time. Our love story moves with it, almost until they inseperable and it comes to a fantastic climax when Tamlin is working with Hybern to kidnap Feyre or reclaim him property as he sees it.

 I know rught, what a fucking ARSEHOLE! I HATE TAMLIN, I HATE HIM. I hope he dies next book I am so ready for it. It causes so much pain. I knew when he showed up there wasn't enough pages left for good things to happen. Feyre pretends not to love Rhysand, demands the King severe the mating bond between them (yeah that happened) and her sisters become Fae and one of them mates with Lucien! AHHHH! It ends with Feyre in the midst of spring court again, pretending to love Tamlin, pretending she was a prisoner with Rhysand. Even though they already got married and YOU CAN'T BREAK A MATING BOND BRO!

FEYRE + RHYSAND 4 LYF!XO

 It was all very exciting and I can't believe I have to wait a year for the concluding novel.

It is worth mentionging that though ACOTAR is a YA book, ACOMAF is not. A Court of Mist and Fury is a new adult because there are a lot of sex scenes. Normally I have a lot of distaste for scenes like this, they can be crude and not sexy at all. Just see Fifty Shades of Grey is you don't believe me. They were hot, that's all I'm going to say. Hot.

It was great, it really was great and I would highly recommend it. I haven't been excited about a series properly in a while and this book cured my reading block. Love it. LOVE IT! Get it read.

 If you do please do let me know what you thought.
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Whatever's convenient.

Thank you for your time and
Happy Reading!
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Sunday, 8 May 2016

Rebel of The Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

03:20:00 2
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

 She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from.

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is. 

Image from booknerd
Rebel of The Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Published February 4th 2016 by Faber & Faber
Paperback 358 Pages

How can I describe this book. Some books are given this hype that they don't deserve (in my opinion, I am only one person) - this is not one of them books. I bought this simply because the cover was beautiful, you can't blame me because DAMN! How pretty is that!?  The girl behind the counter told me 'This is great, it's like a spaghetti western mixed with Arabian nights.' I shrugged her off and plopped this beauty on my TBR shelf. Well, aren't I the idiot?!

 I'm maybe a few weeks late to the party, but was this book good? YES! It literally was Aladdin mixed with Clint Eastwood mixed with awesome powers and the journey was amazing. Hamilton, Girl you can write!

 I'm going to start with the ending, because I'm weird like that. Hamilton knows she can write because she ended this badboy at the perfect moment. Big battle won, look off into distance thinking about the uncertain future aaaand curtain fall. She knows the reader has enough closure not to throw the book across the room, she knows your buying the next one, her mama didn't raise no fool.

There is only really one relationship that follows us through the entire book, Amani (our protagonist) and Jin. Of course there is this underlying romance just bubbly beneath the surface, but it takes a step back. It is important so it isn't fully developed, yet. Amani and Jin meet in the first chapter and they end up rather inseparable, first by circumstance and then just by want. I adore when a first book isn't rushing itself to get into the main plot, this book develops that relationship so we don't suffer from an instant connection - meets him one night, bares her soul to him the next, married by the weekend - No thanks! Instead we follow Amani, I learn her voice, the way she thinks, every ounce of her character until anyone could write about her because she is well written. It is so important for writers to know their characters inside and out and Hamilton has hers locked in.

There is also a vibrant supporting cast of characters who flitter in and out and some will stay for sequels but some maybe won't. She manages to create a large cast of supporting characters, of people who interact with Amani and Jin and share parts of their journey and making them connectable, whilst also being able to ditch them on the next page. That is hard, usually books just make these carbon copies for supporting cast and add distinctions to the ones they are going to keep around, but all the supporting characters are distinct and different and we are not pandered to think we can't keep up because we can. We just can't tell who's important enough to keep around. That is why Hamilton can write the dramatic parts of this book, because I don't know who or what is next. This is the first book in a long time that has not followed some pre-set YA formula and that is really refreshing.

There are also these feminist undertones. Amani lives in a world where all the feminist issues of our world are heightened. She is dressed like a boy for the majority of the novel (which is just delicious and hilarious for Amani and Jin's relationship). It is always important, especially in YA fantasy for me, that a book is saying something, like it has a foundation of what it is wanting to say, otherwise, why tell the story?

This book was everything I wished The Assassin's Curse had been. It had drama and these beautiful quiet moments that made me feel like I too was sat in the desert and looking up at the stars. It was stunning, just stunning. Best book I have read in a really long time.

Happy Reading.
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Thursday, 18 February 2016

Winter by Marissa Meyer

05:37:00 1
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breath taking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

 Winter by Marissa Meyer
Published November 12th 2015 by Puffin
Paperback 823 pages

Winter is the final book in bestselling The Lunar Chronicles series. This 800 page beast took me two weeks to read just from it's sheer mass but it is so worth it. Winter is the book you always wish would be the final in a series. It is so long and has so much content every question you had was answered and none of it felt rushed.

 We have a lot of near misses in Winter. Our friends get to Lunar within the first 100 pages but it takes so long for us to finally defeat Levana. The length isn't an issue, in fact the pacing is bang on. Every time I start a final book in a series I always panic. It inevitably feels rushed and always feel like there needed to be another book. This was not the case with Winter. It was actually wonderful the amount of detail and the build up to the final fantastic battle for Lunar.

 We join the team on the Rampion after they kidnapped Kai. They return him soon but not after making a master plan to get onto Lunar. Only 100 pages in I start to panic, oh god what is the rest of the book if she becomes queen so quickly. Luckily that didn't happen. A whopping 700 pages later she becomes queen and quickly decides to abolish the monarchy, but we will get to that. The journey there is this up and down roller coaster of fighting and rallying and sickness and poison apples. We have fake murders, real murders, several propaganda videos and finally get to see what is behind that veil.


As the team gets to Lunar they are immediately found. Obviously because Meyer has no interest in making this science fiction space opera more realistic. They flee the capital, this part steam punk, part sci-fi world of Lunar has been a long time coming and it didn't disappoint. Cinder gets caught and breaks free and gets caught and breaks free so many times. She is in so many sticky situations that my fists were clenched and my breath was short with each paragraph. My favourite escape has to be the balcony leap. Cinder is finally caught by Levana, who starts sending cyborg pieces of her to Kai, then at the wedding reception. Guess who's the entertainment? Levana begins this trial of Cinder and then BOOM! Cinder is manipulating guards, wolves are fighting and she rips herself from Levana's grip and leaps from a balcony. It was heart thumping goodness and there are so many other moments like this that I really don't want to spoil. Then with the final battle, it was tense, I felt like I knew that Cinder was going to win but with each passing moment and page I was less and less sure and then as the final fight between her and Levana begins and Thorne is stabbing her and slicing and apologising it was just AHHHHHH!

 There is also this really lovely romantic underlying feel. Even with Cress/Thorne, Scarlet/Wolf and Cinder/Kai we have a new ship that I can so get behind . WINTER + JACE! They are so perfect together and I just adored them even with only one book to really see them, the relationship dynamics were immediately clear and Winter herself was this wonderful, a little nuts princess who was kind of rocking. Towards the end after everything with her manipulating Scarlet I was worried.

 I really don't want to spoil any books here. I really don't, I put the spoiler warning just in case but I really want you to know this book is amazing. The perfect ending to a consistently wonderful series. There is no weak link in this series all the books are amazing. Anyway pick it up, the series or just the book. You won't regret it. There is a reason these books are bestsellers.

 Happy Reading.
P.S - Winter doesn't have to be the end.

STARS ABOVE

A LUNAR CHRONICLES COLLECTION


The enchantment continues. . . .
The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?
With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an exclusive never-before-seen excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s upcoming novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.
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Friday, 3 October 2014

The Witch of Duva & The Too-Clever Fox by Leigh Bardugo.

01:10:00 0
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)
There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls...or so the story goes. But it’s just possible that the danger may be a little bit closer to home. This story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo’s debut novel, Shadow and Bone.

 I had no idea what to expect from this short story. I have to admit I am glad that it is merely based in the world of Grisha rather than following the characters in there. This story started off as a very fairytale like in a village in which girls are being eaten by a mysterious force in the woods. It is basically a re-imagined version of Hansel and Gretel. I was not expecting that ending though, its incredible though because there were so many clues and I didn't even catch on, such wonderful writing.

 The story follows Nadya (In 3rd person), after her mothers death, girls begin to get eaten in her village, soon her father remarries, to a woman she is convinced is evil and behind the attacks. A series of unfortunate events (ha) lead her straight to the door of the Witch of Duva. There is an incredible twist on who is killing the girls and I won't spoil it for you because that is the best part of this story. The thing about this is that it just shows that Leigh Bardugo can write, no matter what the length and even with new characters, she can still create exciting, touching stories that lead you somewhere then throw you on your ass halfway through. Just genius. 
In Ravka, just because you avoid one trap, it doesn't mean you'll escape the next. This story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo’s upcoming novel, Siege and Storm, the second book in the Grisha Trilogy.

 The Two-Clever Fox is another rewritten fairy tale  short story from Bardugo, only this time is loosely based around Little Red Riding Hood. Bardugo is really good at plot twists, I cannot describe enough how I can never tell where the story is going and yet she drops clues and lays it out so it all makes sense. This time we find a hunter who is believed to have the power of a witch, in order to let him be silent through the trees and leave no tracks. The Too-Clever  Fox befriends the Hunters sister who is forced to wear a grotesque, patchwork, cloak of furs, and they plot to take him down. Once again I will not reveal the ending because as always that is part of the fun. I could read these forever. They are so ingeniously written and such an original take on the fairy tales that it just blows my mind.

 I was however expecting a little bit of information on Nikolai as Alina does describe him as a Too-Clever Fox when she first meets him, but maybe there was something underlying I just didn't get. Anyway I highly recommend and on with more books.

 Happy Reading
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Thursday, 2 October 2014

Seige and Storm by Leigh Bardugo.

00:29:00 0
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

 Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.
Every well read Word Nerd knows how a series goes. We  read second books with trepidation, not getting our hopes up due to the dreaded 'Second Book Syndrome.' 

 With every second book we can make some assumptions. A love connection made in the previous book will fall to tatters. The protagonist will doubt his/her power and one character will have a complete and incredibly sudden personality overhaul. Admittedly all of these happen in Siege and Storm but then again, it works.

 I feel like all these 'Second Book Syndrome' constructions authors use over and over until readers are so tired of them, we beat ourselves in the face with the book (hopefully it's a paperback.) are all used because this is what they hope to achieve. They want to clinging to the edge of my seat, is everything going to come together? jump up and down with excitement feeling that we get when this structure works and goddamn does it work!

 Naturally Mal and Alina struggle to make there relationship work but to be fair even in the first book I didn't feel like their relationship would be easy. She starts off too insecure, too grateful that he would want to be with her and he enjoys being the powerful and attractive one. No relationship can work without both people having the opportunity to grow and change. So of course once Alina becomes incredibly powerful and sought after and busy, Mal stamps his feet about it. There's this beautiful scene where they argue and he asks her to go back to who she was before everything happened she says she can't and he says if she could,would she give it up?...and she refuses. This doesn't seem like a beautiful scene but there is a certain elegance for standing up for yourself and this really marked a crucial moment for them I thought. After that and the kiss with Zoya, their relationship will never be the same, who knows for better or worse?

 Speaking of Zoya, personality overhaul anyone? She very much the Celeste (The Selection by Kiera Cass) of this series. She stunningly gorgeous and of course all the men want her but she also a raging anti-other women bitch...apparently. I feel that woman have a tendency to be demonised by other women in fiction and it annoys the crap out of me. And then suddenly that character has to have some "development" and stops being a total A-Hole. The girl who always followed the Darkling wasn't even invited to join him and so he just murdered her family by expanding The Fold? It all just seemed a little unbelievable for me but then again it was also nice to have someone to fight against Alina in this book. Not in the same way the Darkling does but someone on her side who won't put up with her crap and Zoya definitely fit the bill.

 Then we have the visions Alina keeps having of the Darkling that make her doubt her power. She takes a second amplifier,  from an awesome Water Dragon might I add, and starts seeing him everywhere and feeling him and basically begins to doubt her own abilities to own all the amplifiers and still, control her powers without losing her mind. You wanna know why this worked? because it wasn't the main plot, this was no Spiderman 2, all based around doubt. This was Alina getting ready to go to war and feeling scared, worrying about letting people down and failing. It was a small narrative within the larger narrative and it really, really worked. 

This second book also came with what might be some of my favourite new characters. We have awesome fighting, sun saint warriors Tolya and Tamar. I've always been a sucker for a really badass girl who just shows up to beat the crud out of people, but pair her with a smart Hodor-esque twin and I'm in. You had me at Hodor. Then we have Nikolai who is just utterly the most charming character I have ever read. I adore him and ship him and Alina so hard I may burst a blood vessel. The only problem is I don't trust him, with the whole Darkling switch up in the first book I'm now looking at everything about new characters and seeing them as signs they are evil. This book has given me serious trust issues. 

 Now, because this plot was so good I am not going to tell you what happens, I know without a doubt that people read these reviews even when they haven't read the book and I so don't want to spoil you on how it all turns out, just dear god read them, they are really incredible pieces of literature and my heart was pumping so hard all the way through. This is a very exciting series and it takes you in so many directions and just throws emotion and world building and beautiful, real characters at you in one 300 paged shot to the brain. Read it.

 Happy Reading.
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