Reading The Riot Act

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Percy Jackson and The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

Warning: Spoilers (duh.)

MOST PEOPLE GET PRESENTS ON THEIR SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY, I GET A PROPHECY THAT COULD SAVE OR DESTROY THE WORLD.

It happens when you're the son of Poseidon, God of the Sea. According to an ancient prophecy, I turn sixteen and the fate of the entire world is on me. But no pressure. Now Kronos, Lord of the Titans, is beginning his attack on New York City. And the dreaded monster Typhon is also heading our way. So it's me and forty of my demigod friends versus untold evil.

I couldn't stop myself from cracking on with the last book...and my Gods, was it a worthy ending. First off the entire book was basically one big battle. I find with series like this that the end battle is never as good as we hope it is. But this is the exception to the rule. The battle just got better and better. We started off with destroying the Princess Andromeda and the death of one of the campers and this really sets the tone of the book.

This book got steadily darker throughout, we start with tragedy at the death of a camper and we see the camp still not back to normal after the previous battle. We see the struggled relationship between Annabeth and Percy which just broke my heart and yet things with Rachel appear to be...err going places. Though I never actually thought him and Rachel would end up together. But when Percy sees Annabeth there was just this lovely moment.

Percy basically bathes in the River Styx, and has to think about something to hold onto his mortal soul. When he thought about Annabeth I was just all gooey on the inside. It was major cute-town.
But yeah away from the romance, the battle itself did feel a little long winded. The Titans did scare the be-jesus out of me. I don't know why but just the idea of them terrified me. We see many of them in the final battle and one of them even becomes like a giant tree which was totally awesome. Percy really takes a lot of responsibility during the battle. He has this "Achilles heel"part on his back which is the point of his mortality therefore not allowing his new powers to take over him. Percy literally destroys so many people, he was so cool just destroying people left right and center.

But the battle isn't really what sticks in my head about this book. What sticks is seeing how the characters I have known have developed throughout the series. Tyson became a warrior, Grover became the new Pan and Annabeth and Percy finally got together. Not to mention Rachel literally becoming The Oracle. So much had happened and changed and at the time I hadn't even noticed.

I don't think there is much I can say to turn you to this series or to even sum up what is it and what happened. But it's a classic that is no doubt. I think you should read it. There is this indescribable pull that lures you in and makes you adore these characters. It is something else entirely that you want to be a part of.

Read it.
Enjoy.
Get back to me!

God what a journey this series has been.

Thursday, 24 July 2014

Word Nerding

Guest blogger time! Meet Fee!

Louise Wilkes 11:33:00 0

GUEST BLOG ALERT!

So Fee of http://caterfeereviews.blogspot.co.uk/ aka caterfeereviews is sleeping at mine so i have unwillingly handed my laptop and blog over to her. She had me at gunpoint I swear!

Hi guys! So as Lou is a dear friend of mine, I just want to type how nice it is to meet you (can I write that? Is that not too weird?) but I guess today I'm just blogging about your local bookstores/sellers but ones that aren't your local ones. A contradiction or what hey? But yeah I generally just mean about other branches of that store.

So today I find myself in Barrow-In-Furness where I was brought to Waterstones and The Works! Hurray for great bookstores! But yeah Waterstones is completely different to the three branches I normally browse and it was far more interesting... Okay so Louise bigged it up to me many many many times and showed me her numberous signed copies of much loved YA!

She also took me to The Works which is a great store for snapping up 3 books for five poounds or as I like to say, buy UNPUBLISHED AMERICAN books for a bargain (Instead of paying a motherload of money for shipping and converstion rates on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Ebay)....

Sadly I didn't snap up a bargain but who knows, maybe next time?

Ciao for now!

Fee

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

Word Nerding

Book Annoyance.

Louise Wilkes 04:52:00 0

Allow me to show you this picture.

Do you see it?

Do you?

You must.

Okay well, I suppose I'll just tell you then.

I have a real issue with the way publishers format series'. Bloomsbury USA posted this update yesterday that got me thinking about it.

I had been wanting to buy Hardback editions of this series but the cover did originally look like this:

and then when Crown of Midnight was released the designed changed completely so that only the Paperbacks matched. This post however showed me that publishers are aware that things like this annoy us. Heir of Fire is also going to be released in Paperback in the UK because the rest o the series is also in Paperback.

But not all publisher do that. Series tend to start of in Paperback format, then as they get more and more popular they upgrade to Hardback. And I hate it. I then have to choose between having them mismatched or waiting months for the other edition to come out.

Take the Divergent series for instance. I bought the first one in Hardback, with the silver cover. Then Insurgent came out in England, only in Paperback with a new purple design. I bought that and the first one in the new edition, assuming it would stay that way. Then Allegiant comes out with that design but in GODDAMN HARDBACK! And the only way I can buy Allegiant in Paperback is in a full bind up of the series, but I already own the first two in that edition. Not to mention that Four came out in a tiny, odd sized hardback.

And that's another thing, sizing...

This has to be a joke right?

Why is Lola bigger than Anna? It's the same matching cover design. What made the publisher think that I wouldn't notice this inch difference (it might as well be the size of everest).

Okay fine, this shouldn't bother me as much as it does. And it didn't really, but with Bloomsbury reissuing hardback Throne of Glass' because they know fans want the matching set, I realised that publishers know this bothers us. I don't understadn why within publishing continuity isn't seen as important when it honestly drives me round the bend.

There is little that annoys me about books, but this is definitely one.

What about you? Does it annoy you? Am I crazy? Let me know!

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

rick riordan

Percy Jackson and The Battle of The Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Louise Wilkes 08:41:00 0

Warning: Spoilers (duh.)

Percy Jackson isn't expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to worse. In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth - a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.

You guys have followed me as I started and am ultimately going to finish this series. I left Percy a few weeks ago and have basically planned to read a book per month, but I fear I shall have to destroy the next one a lot sooner than that as this was UH-MAY-ZING! This book didn't follow the typical Percy Jackson Format, I mean it did with the myths coming to life and all that excellent stuff. But in general they got straight into the quest, the whole keeping the prophecy a secret bit was so fresh and exactly what I needed from this series.

I'm gonna jump straight into what I wanted in this book. I wanted me some series Percy/Annabeth shipping...and did it deliver? I'm not sure. I thought at first with the "date" and the jealousy about Rachel. Then as we got on about the prophecy I figured that had something to do with Percy and then when she revealed she would lose someone she loved and she didn't know if it was Luke or Percy...I literally squealed. And then Hera showed up and ruined the whole thing. Then there was the kiss before he went off and her misery at the thought of him dead. I feel like it delivered on those terms but the ending. It just depressed me. I mean I understand Annabeth has all these feelings for Luke and so she is upset about Kronos ermmmm taking over his body #AWKIES. But you could feel the distance between her and Percy, you could feel all the bonding that had happened in the book drift away and that was somewhat heartbreaking.

Although I can't help but ship a little Jackson/Dare love either. Rachel is awesome she can see through the mist and she goes into battle without all the Half Blood Magic. I just thought she was a really great character and I am so glad she came back. Will she be in the next one? I gods damn hope so! (If you'll excuse the pun).

I felt the book got a lot older and darker than it's predecessor, some of the death scenes were a lot more violent, the battle, the rise of Kronos and even Kronos in general, having him there and the way he was described and talked and with Nico's powers. It was all a little scarier than the other books had been. I am incredibly scared of Kronos and the other Titans, like just hearing about them terrifies me and having the constant threat of them amped up in this book was great. Things are really starting to happen. I mean the Kronos' Army v.s Camp Half Blood battle was incredible.

I loved Quinto, his entire story Arc was really nice, I didn't figure out the twist and the whole demonisation and then redemption of him was really lovely to read, it was a nice little bit to take away from all the suffering that had been seen in this book. Speaking of suffering, Nico is slowly becoming one of my favourite characters. His struggle with Bianca's death really takes it toll and also the segregation from the rest of Camp Half Blood really broke my heart. The fact there is no Hades cabin actually made me mad. The way he had to sit alone in a dark corner, not welcome anywhere because of who his father is. I really felt for the kid and I was so glad when he showed up at Percy's house at the end. Plus how awesome are his powers, like seriously, so cool.

The thing about these books is that there are these dark moments followed by a part that's almost mocking itself. The sacrifice of Happy Meals to raise the dead and such and yet there are also the most beautiful quotes and observations you wouldn't expect from a "childrens" book. I'm already grieving the loss of this series and I haven't even finished it yet.

Sunday, 20 July 2014

veronica roth

Four by Veronica Roth

Louise Wilkes 15:29:00 0

Warning: Spoilers (duh.)

Praise the lord, my readers block is gone.

After the aching void left in my heart after Allegiant. I was ecstatic to find Four being released. This book contains several short novellas from Tobias' point of view that all intertwine to create a new dimension on Divergent, the first book in the series.

The Transfer

The Transfer is the first short story in the bind up and I thought it was was absolutely delightful, sure in Divergent we heard about what living with Marcus was like for Four but to see him pre-Dauntless was very odd and I think it really gave a new understanding to the character. I couldn't help myself comparing this novella with the first chapters of Divergent when Tris was making her choice. So many parallels and yet it felt different. Both Abnegation switching to Dauntless, both completely unprepared for whatever is ahead, They are in such similar positions and yet you can feel the difference in there motivations, its really a testament to sublime writing skill.

The Initiate

The Initate once again had me drawing up comparisons between Four and Tris' experience. I mean it was a terrible habit but can you blame me. I also got jealous on Tris' behalf when he thought he like Shauna, or started considering dating and he seemed so open. I was surprised Four wasn't the first jumper and I feel almost like his transformation into Dauntless was actually more dramatic than Tris'. We feel immediately in Divergent that Tris is different and hard as nails to use a Dauntless term, if not suppressed where as Four came across more as he had to learn those attributes rather than learn how to express them.

The Son

This was definitely my least favourite within the bind up but in no way does that mean it was bad. I think its because Four's mum just reminds me of Allegiant and its like I have P.T.S..."POST TRIS STRESS!"

The Traitor

This was my favourite novella. I adored seeing the romance between Four and Tris from his point of view. It was so different from what I imagined in Divergent. The tenderness and the way he looked at her made my heart melt. In Divergent she seemed weak but you can feel how strong he thinks she is and we saw all the big moments from his P.O.V and it was literally just magical.

I adore the three scenes that were included within the bind up as well. I actually read them first and one was actually of my favourite scene 'You look good Tris' I could never quite understand why that moment, what about that moment made him say that, it was the first moment I realised he was the love interest. The first moment I saw something in him that was endearing and not the harsh instructor we'd grown accustom to. The same goes for the 'Careful Tris' scene, I always felt I was missing something with that. Like it was maybe him just being a d**k or was it more? but what? and I loved finally knowing that.

The only problem is seeing them so lovely and wonderful and strong and courageous together makes me sad for the future that never was. But books aren't there to make me happy, they are there to make you feel something. And I feel something. Man do I feel it.

R.I.P Tris.

Thursday, 17 July 2014

Word Nerding

Do "Classics" still matter?

Louise Wilkes 00:59:00 3

I read a quote from Mark Twain about a year ago as I drifted through Goodreads.

“Classic' - a book which people praise and don't read.”

At the time this really stood out to me at the time, as even though I confessed to adoring books. I hadn't read any "classics." I pondered the relevance of them, how could they relate to a contemporary audience? Why are they "classics" in the first place? But all in all I made a promise that I would make an effort to read classics...but what is a classic?

Naturally being one of today's lazy youth. I used Wikipedia to find out. 'A classic book is a book accepted to be particularly significant or noteworthy within a society.' That seems like a pretty solid, if not boring, description, so I delved deeper. They are the books we are forced to study and naturally hate because of them. They are the books we hear adults brag about reading and using in pretentious arguments. They are the books that people quote on Facebook to seem smart.

At this point I realised classics seemed to be related to how people are viewed. Then I met my best friend. Fee is obsessed with Jane Austen, an author I had always disliked (nothing personal I just figure she is kind of a hypocrite and her writing is a bit...dry). Fee talked about Austen in a way that really made me think about when I read her in school. I figured I may be wrong about disliking the book so I gave it another try.

I still hated it. Although the second time I did feel myself relating more the Elizabeth. She is sharp and observant: No one crosses her field of vision without being assessed, and judged. I've always been one to make snap decisions and the book warned against that.

I decoded to read some more "classics" to see what the hype was about. I'd heard pretentious people raving about 'The Catcher in the Rye' plenty of times so I figured it could be fun to tear that apart.

THIS WAS THE MOMENT IT ALL FELL INTO PLACE!

I finished this book a mere hour later and wished I had read it when I was sixteen. I was so angry at the world, at myself. I hated everyone around me but I also loved them and never wanted them to leave. I looked at the world and called out its bullshit and felt so unbearably alone and yet I hated being around people. If I had read this book when I was sixteen. I would not have felt so alone. Holden is the embodiment of every angsty teenager, and not in a patronizing way. Salinger seems to remember exactly how it feels to be a teenager even though he wasn't a one when he wrote this decades ago.

I read more classics and the lessons followed. I quickly came to the conclusion that "classics" CAN and DO matter. We call them "classics" because they know something. Something about our society (Fahrenheit 451) or ourselves nature (Lord of the Flies). They give us insight into ourselves personally (The Great Gatsby) and to show, from one human being to another, that many of these isolating feelings are infact universally shared.

Afterall...we read to know we are not alone.