Reading The Riot Act

Thursday, 9 July 2015

Cover Reveal: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Due to be released February 2016

The second book in the Red Queen series is due out February next year. Now as the title would suggest obviously the cover has just been revealed and I like it. I don't love it. It just seems too similar to the first cover and yet I still think it is beautiful and will look lovely on my bookshelf. "Kneel or Bleed" now that is a bit of excitement. It sounds perfect for this series and really is violent and ahhh.

If there's one thing Mare Barrow knows, it's that she's different.

Mare Barrow's blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: She is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

winter

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Louise Wilkes 04:40:00 0

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

I want to start off by addressing this cover, this series always has stunning cover art and I do judge a book by it's cover, not aggressively but there is always a small part of me affected by the cover. This cover is stunning, they all are but this is my favourite, the fire, the veil, it's haunting and dark and yet has a sadness about it. It tells me so much about the book with just images. I love it.

This is the sentiment throughout the book. I loved it, and I know I'm supposed to keep my opinion to the end, but this simply can't wait. Within Cinder, Queen Levana is simply the bad guy - the evil queen, and yet within Fairest we delve into her past. How her beginnings were full of good intentions and cruel treatment. I was surprised Cinder's mother was so vicious, it was a genius and realistic twist. Levana's struggle was so engaging to read and I didn't want it to end. I flew through the book and wished I'd read it slower.

From her hard childhood and bullying from her sister, orphaned and alone Levana falls in love with a guard. Hint: Winter's father. Being the only person in the palace who is kind to her this doesn't surprise me but the way it develops, the way her mind becomes confused and obsessed with what she thinks love is and what it should be. You see a child caught up in something, her immaturity being her greatest downfall. Her insecurities having this huge power over her and yet still trying to do better but repeatedly doing worse. Levana honestly seemed like a victim, this changes only as she becomes more twisted with power after her lover's wife dies. She becomes terrifying, eventually killing the man she loves and becoming the Levana we see within the series. We meet Winter and Cinder as children and see her "death" being plotted.

As it's in first person, we are able to see all of Levana's thinking, the way her mind works. She rationalizes all the sick things she does and you can almost understand her reasoning. Which is messed up and really is a technique so sophisticated, it perfectly shows the relevance of YA fiction. It is smart and new and fresh. It follows the same feel as the previous novels but gives a new insight into the villain, the kind of which I haven't seen since Harry Potter. This novel makes Levana a person, not simply a two dimensional, cardboard villain for our hero to fight. She now has a journey and a background and a heart. I honestly fell a little in love with her and now hope she gets some form of a happy ending in the final book. Yet before this book I couldn't have cared about her at all.

Overall this book is more than just a bridge to keep us going until Winter. This is a solid beautiful asset to the series and has made this more than you're average YA dystopian series. I love it.

Winter is out this November.

Happy Reading!

review

Only Ever Yours by Louise O'neill

Louise Wilkes 02:33:00 0

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

In a world in which baby girls are no longer born naturally, women are bred in schools, trained in the arts of pleasing men until they are ready for the outside world. At graduation, the most highly rated girls become “companions”, permitted to live with their husbands and breed sons until they are no longer useful.

For the girls left behind, the future – as a concubine or a teacher – is grim.

Best friends Freida and Isabel are sure they’ll be chosen as companions – they are among the most highly rated girls in their year.

But as the intensity of final year takes hold, Isabel does the unthinkable and starts to put on weight. ..
And then, into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.

Freida must fight for her future – even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known. . .

If you are looking for a happy ending, this isn't the book for you. I've put off this review for a while because this is not a regular book, there is a plot but there isn't a plot in the traditional sense. Instead this book is more led and directed by it's ideas. It has a heavy feminist slant with aggressive ideologies about beauty and the way society expects women to look and act. This was more what the novel was about rather than Freida and Isabel themselves. Frieda was more of a vehicle, she was used like a puppet to suggest O'Neill's thoughts.

We follow Freida in this dystopian world in which all women are genetically engineered and grow up in academies, training them to please men. They go through rigorous stages and tasks in order to decide whether they will be Companions, Concubines or Sisters. Basically Wives, Whores or Teachers. Despite being promised a story of friendship between Freida and Isabel, turns out there friendship dies out before the novel begins.

Honestly I can't decide whether I liked this book. It was tedious at times and preachy but it was excellently written and full of big ideas. It felt more like a book you would analyse for a literature class, 't you aren't going to enjoy it too much, but you can appreciate the effort and intelligence behind every word.

Happy Reading

Monday, 1 June 2015

victoria aveyard

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Louise Wilkes 11:34:00 3

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

From Screenwriter Victoria Aveyard, comes this thrilling novel about social segregation and the class system. We follow protagonist Mare as she is dragged into the upper class world of royalty and attempts to take it down from the inside. But with two princes vying for her attention, a queen who hates her and vicious to be princess in the midst, things aren't as easy as that. Plus everyone has powers, it's very Game of Thrones meets Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon NOT the movie).

“In the fairy tales, the poor girl smiles when she becomes a princess. Right now, I don't know if I'll ever smile again.”

― Victoria Aveyard, Red Queen

Mare is a typical dystopian or fantasy heroine, she's had it rough and wants to fight back. However up until her discovery of power which only silvers possess, she is in-extraordinary. She's no particularly pretty, not a skilled fighter, kind of misbehaved and really is not the member who will save her family from the world. She is in all ways an underdog given an opportunity to rise to. The casualties are great and she messes up a lot but as a reader it's wonderful to see the character development, the book ends where a series would normally start, but we get to see all the build up. The world is well built, much like Game of Thrones we just accept it, we don't ask questions just enjoy the ride.

This book is fun and it ends on a good'ol cliffhanger and yet things seem so despondent, I can't even imagine what will happen in the next book (which is apparently longer) the series just changes direction and twists the plot round and round until you can't predict the outcome. It;s one hell of a read and I highly recommend it to any fans of LOTR, Game of Thrones or Avatar.

Happy Reading

Monday, 11 May 2015

throne of glass

Cover Reveal: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Louise Wilkes 11:34:00 1

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . .

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.
Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

I mean look at it. It's beautiful. Celaena looks fierce and like a Queen. This entire book and it's cover has me so excited! I love that this series actually incorporates a face as well. Most books cut off the face but this works. The red! Oh my god the red! Like blood and destruction and ...love?

TEAM CHAOL TIL I DIE!

Celaena has stolen my heart and I don't know what I could possibly say to explain my excitement.

Do you like it?

Happy Reading.

Sunday, 10 May 2015

sarah j maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Louise Wilkes 12:06:00 2

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

In the aftermath of a Fae vs Human deathmatch war, the world has gotten heavily into segregation. With Fae on their side of the wall and humans on theirs, co-existing together is never going to happen. Living in this world is human Feyre (Fay-ruh) a young woman who hunts in order to provide for her impoverish family. After finding a doe, Feyre sees a wolf after her catch and quickly takes its life in order to claim the doe for herself. Afterwards a beast shows up and demands retribution, a life for a life and without spoiling anything good for you, what follows is an enthralling love story based on Beauty and The Beast.

Feyre is our typical Sarah J. Maas heroine, which is a compliment I promise. Selflessness and strength paired with human imperfections but a desire to do whats right, yet with many entertaining opportunities to do wrong. Much Like Celaena (Like Selena but with an A) from Throne of Glass, Feyre is a badass, although doesn't seem like it at first. For the introductory half of the book, most is world and relationship building. The audience does get a sense that their is something being unsaid - or that just doesn't add up logically, which is down to the fantastic writing skill of Maas. She is ace as preemptive writing, she can suggest something and you won't even realise it until its to late, but back to Feyre. Feyre is a delight to read, she comes into herself and stands with such courage at the end of the novel that it is hard not to love her. Much like her TOG counterpart she also has to endure the terrible and inflict the terrible upon others and not only does she do it with dignity, she does it with remorse and a heaviness that I can imagine will run throughout the trilogy.

This book was far more romance based than I originally expected. The second half was primarily what I thought the entire book would be like but then it worked. ACOTAR doesn't follow typical fantasy techniques as it takes out INSTA-LOVE which permeates through YA literature these days. The reason the first half is slower and less action packed is because it is about the journey of falling in love, we know they will and it will be crucial to the story but pulling it out slowly and gently to a natural fall is such a beautiful and realistic way to write.

Not to mention Maas' romantic Acknowledgement to her husband:

As a girl also in love with a Josh, this is giving me all sorts of swoony.

In conclusion I didn't enjoy this as much as TOG, but I didn't expect to. I mean I connected with TOG so incredibly I tattooed words on my body. But this book is good in it's own right. Even if TOG never existed, this would still be a great book and worthy of a 4.5 star recommendation.

Happy Reading