Paranormalcy by Kiersten white
The wit and the humor of Kiesten White, really keeps this afloat. Even though the story is relatively predictable, there are two large twists that happen mid-way along the in the story. What I really enjoyed about this story was the humor, as I said it kept it afloat but it is a very specific type of humor, and if you don't share that humor, very dry and sarcastic the book would become less enjoyable. One thing that was glaringly frustrating to me, was Evie's obsession with Pink, and being overly girl. To me it came across that Evie couldn't possibly be a strong female character without enjoying pink, it made her overly girly and it was completely unnecessary, it didn't add to the characterisation of Evie I'd even go so far to say that it was actually detrimental to her characterisation. But there are many saving graces to this story. The lore behind each of the supernatural characters was very well researched, which is always appreciated because nothing will stand out more to supernatural readers, than incompletely formed lore, or characters that follow the existing lore incorrectly, it really is one or the other with us, and I was honestly impressed with the imagination and use of lore by White. What I would liken this too is the SyFy TV show, Sanctuary with an evil twist, the only thing it is really lacking is Samantha Carter (with an English accent).
Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
Think Mortal Instruments, but less Harry Potter esqu. When reading the Mortal Instruments series, because of the authors history writing Harry Potter Fanfiction the way it is written reminds me constantly of Harry Potter, but to be honest I loved Harry Potter, so I always enjoyed that from Cassandra Clare. And Back to the topic, Embrace is great. Lots of action and mythology, and the eternal struggle of Good and Evil, with the popular theme of a young girl trying to decide whose side she is really on. What I really enjoyed was Violet, I find that when I read a book it is really the character that makes or breaks it for me, (even just last week I gave up on a book because I hated the main character) and Violet who is a non-bella, (major plus) but also questions everyone around her and everything. Sure there were moments where I thought the character was being daft, BUT I made my normal mistake of reading the ending before I finished the book, so I kind of knew the ending whilst reading it. For Shirvington the best decision she could have made was to keep Violet indignant, angry and upset, which leads her to make some not so great decisions, but the trade off is that she is a very real character which girls will connect with.
So I liked Embrace and connected with the characters and REALLY like the twist at the end, (there may have been a vocal expression at the reveal). Embrace is Definitely worth a read.
So to wrap it up! If you want humor read Paranormalacy, if you want realism tempered with the supernatural than read Embrace.
Bonjour I am writing from my brand new kindle! its kind of fantastic. Although I cant seem to sort out the zoom and the keypad is too wide and its vhard to type. In any case the first book Im reading on my fablous kindle is Royal Assasin by Robin Hobb. I am very much enjoying the characters espically Fitzchivarly and Verity. Ill update later with full reports of my reading over the last few months once exams are over look forward to full reviews and updates.
The dreaded time of year has come again, EXAM TIME. Oh dear I'm not looking forward to being me for the next few weeks. On top of this I have hit a rut, not a life rut (I'm working to hard to have a rut there) a Book rut, I have spent hours in the last few weeks wandering around the store at work desperately looking for something to read, and I just couldn't find anything that interested me. I mean sure I walked past books like Torment by Lauren Kate, or MockingJay by Suzanne Collins, Troilka Dolls by Miranda Darling, Lights out in Wonderland by DBC Pierre and hundreds of others all of which I COULD read, but I just cannot. I'm in a rut, eventually I'll find inspirtation, but not yet.
So in lue of telling you what I will read. Here's a uber quick wrap up of the books I have finished in the last month:
Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller
I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Once Bitten Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin
Another one bites the Bullet by Jennifer Rardin
Haunting of James Hastings by Christopher Ransom
Mortal Coil by Derek Landy (Skullduggery Pleasant Series)
Clockwork Angels by Cassandra Clare
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff (due out November 2010)
Unholy Ghosts, Magic, and City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane (Downside Ghosts Series)
So sooner or later, I'll get around to reviewing some or all of these ones, in particular I loved the Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller, I am Number Four by Lore, and the upcoming The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. Each one is very different but all three are from the YA genre and are particularly good reads that have stood out for me last month.
So Adios for now, its exam time so ill appear back here a little bit later.
Adios Amigos
A few weeks ago I wrote a post on the importance of book covers, which draw the readers in and get us past the bad blurb on the back; the covers are also used by the publishers to package a weak book into a pretty looking package to convince the reader to try it, whilst attempting to cover the myriad of failures within the book. Unfortunately Halo is one of these books.
My Co-worker and I were dying to read Halo, we’d both had it on our lists for months waiting for it to come out because honestly we were enchanted by the cover of this gorgeous book. Sadly once we’d opened our copies we soon realised that it left a lot to be desired from an author with multiple titles already on the market. Alexandra Adornetto is only 18 years old, she wrote her first book at the age of 13, unfortunately her age does nothing for her here, and contained within the most gorgeous book cover of the year is the musing of a teenager. Admittedly this is a YA novel, it is written for teenagers but nothing annoys me more than reading passage after passage of internal musings while the main characters personality is being leeched away by the author using her or him as a device to allow them to question the world around them. If I wanted to read this type of novel, there is a whole section of them called Literature novels, and invariably they are done better. Another perpetrator of this crime is Christopher Paolini, and I’m sure he isn’t the only one, but he is also a young author who is still growing up in the world and maybe this inexperience is what has lead to playing out their issues with the world in print.
Hello Twilight fans! I’m sure there are some of you out there, isn’t there? And let me guess you LUVED HALO. It doesn’t surprise me is the slightest, Halo out twilights twilight. Not only is the main female character a vessel of nothingness without a personality, it is a void which lets the reader fill herself into Bethany’s shoes. Beth is an Angel, so naturally she had just fallen to earth to begin her mission in making the humans in Venus Cove better people (I’m intentionally ignoring the Pink Elephant in the room with this one, yeah its religious, yes that is something I cannot stand in a book, but it was to be expected with this one, only deserves a mention there are bigger issues with it) which makes her an empty vessel, who has to learn about the human race from scratch, something she apparently didn’t study for (that should teach the kids not to cram before an exam). This leads to Beth musing constantly about the human race, boring us with her opinions of how humans behave.
Enter Xavier, school captain, with a dark past. Of course he is also Beth’s love interest, and that dark past, psh Beth is an angel that dark past isn’t worth mentioning. Completely glossing over the potential for a story out of his past, Adornetto speeds into creating an Edward and Bella dynamic. Portraying Beth as falling madly in love with Xavier, (for no discernable reason, she just saw him and loved him, after only saying 2 words to him) forsaking any type of sense in her pursuit of Xavier, after the token struggle they’re in love. Yay love! How nice except it is the only story line for well over 200 pages, on how much Beth loves Xavier and he her, completely with the puke inducing lines and sickly comments. A curious aside to this, which adds lovely to the dynamic of Edward and Bella, Xavier becomes Beth’s protector, because inexplicably she cannot look out for herself at all, not even able to make sure she eats enough. This here was enough to almost make me put it down, Beth isn’t just a vessel she is a weak supernatural figure, an angel who is suppose to be strong or at least capable, but no she is weak female more suited to looking more beautiful than any of the other girls and possibly cooking, but Adornetto didn’t even give her that, she can’t cook- at least Bella could cook.
Sadly Halo cannot match its cover; it cannot even come close to matching any of the recent realises in this genre. Reminiscent of Evernight, Fallen and Twilight, this is a weak read with no real storyline or thought behind it, not only is every possible opportunity to create a riveting story line passed by, it is done in favour of insipid lines and pathetically weak female characters. I wouldn’t recommend this to any young females, with Bella running around we only really need one horrible example of femineity in popular literature, and authors shouldn’t be adding to this, we want strong capable females in the future, inspired by the books they read, inspired by Elizabeth Bennett’s, Valkeryie Cains, April Dunnes, Alannas, Katniss Everdeens. NOT inspired by the females who are only completed by the males who are they’re protectors and ultimately their controllers.
Here is just a quick link to the competition that is currently running for the New book by Alexandra Adornetto called 'Halo', and this one has an amazing cover.
So heres the link to haper collin's writing competition: http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/44069
Its Coming... 25th of August 2010
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not ...more Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.
Books and the Bees
