Sunday, May 13, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Review | Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
Jennifer Bosworth
Struck #1
Published May 8, 2012 by FSG BYR (Macmillan)
YA apocalyptic
3 stars
Bite-Sized Review
Struck is a good story about the end of the world, though with mediocre characters. It's still worth a read: well-paced and exciting, with a decent sense of mystery.
King-Sized Reivew
Struck takes place not after the apocalypse but right in the middle of it. Mia, who has been struck by lighting countless times, now lives in LA, a place where it almost never storms. Unfortunately, when it rains in LA, it pours, as the recent massive storm and subsequent devastating earthquake proved. In the wake of the disasters, two groups, the religious cult of the Followers of Rance Ridley Prophet and their opponents, the Seekers (who were basically also a cult, just not religious), want Mia on their side, because the worst is yet to come, and whatever it is, Mia will be in the middle of the lightning.
Struck was a good if fairly standard example of YA paranormal(ish) literature. There's some originality here – people gain their power by being struck by lightning rather than the many other means used in other sources – but for the most part Struck similar to the rest of its kind: fate of the world rests in the hands of one person who has no idea of her destiny, love interest with secrets, powerful, unscrupulous people in need of some serious thwarting, et cetera. The lightning feature was definitely interesting and gave the book a little extra spark. (Not even going to bother pretending – that pun was totally intentional.) But it's a popular story because it works, and Jennifer Bosworth does a good job with it here. The pace of the story is good, without any dragging or confusion.
The characters weren't bad, but I didn't love them. They were just sort of there, without much personality or depth. They didn't really make me feel anything for them, which was a little disappointing. There were aspects that I liked, such as the fact that I only figured out Jeremy's big secret in a flash of intuition about 70 percent in, which is pretty much the ideal way to figure things out in books, but that's not so much a character quality as a storytelling quality. They mostly didn't really seem like real people. My indifference towards the characters was the main reason I didn't love the book, because I enjoyed the storyline and the world quite a bit.
I know some people have said they're uncomfortable with the prominence of religion in this book, but if anything, the book comes across as anti-religious; the Followers are definitely not the good guys, and, at least in my reading, were pretty clearly portrayed as worse than the more mystical, secret-society-esque Seekers. So don't let that stop you from reading the book, if you're worried about it. The story does focus a lot on apocalyptic events, but each group has different opinions of the origin of these calamities.
The apocalyptic climax does make me wonder a little about where the second book is supposed to go from here. It's the same issue I had with season 6 of Supernatural: how do you find something with more tension than the apocalypse? It's pretty tough to find a tougher time than the end of the world. But I'm sure I'll pick it up anyway, because I did enjoy Struck and I'm curious.
Quality: Acceptable
Enjoyability: Good
In the same aisle
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Friday, May 11, 2012
Review | Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Veronica Rossi
Under the Never Sky #1
Published January 3, 2012 by Harper Collins
YA science fiction/post-apocalyptic
3 stars
Bite-Sized Review
Under the Never Sky is an exciting post-apocalyptic story that fans of the genre will certainly enjoy. It's definitely worth reading if you're interested.
King-Sized Review
You're thrown into the middle of this book with little introduction. Aria gets thrown out of her enclosed home with startling rapidity and no time for a sense of what goes on in the pod-thingy or why it exists. However, things do eventually become a little clearer as the book goes on, and it's worth working your way through the first few chapters to read the rest of the tale.
Essentially, something went wrong in the atmosphere. It gave rise to dangerous storms known as Aether storms and caused a large portion of humanity to move to domed cities, kept sane by a virtual reality interface called the Realms. Aria was content where she was until her mother went missing. That's the reason she was in the agriculture dome when the fire started, and the reason she was exile. She expected to die right away, killed by cannibals or Outsiders or the air itself. When she ran into an Outsider, she had no choice but to stay with him and hope he could help her find her mother.
The story alternates between Aria's and Perry's perspectives, which gives a good view of both Outsider and Dweller cultures. It's a creative world that could be either Earth in a vastly altered future or another world – which one it is isn't really important. Though not new, the scifi elements were interesting and well done. It's a little confusing at first, but it works itself out so that you know what you need to without info-dumping, which is pleasant.
The characters ended up being good despite a shaky start. Aria managed to be shockingly stupid sometimes, but she grew on me throughout the book. And while Perry started out as kind of selfish and annoying, I got to like him too. The minor characters (read: Roar) were probably my favorite.
Overall, Under the Never Sky is a good read, especially if you like dystopian/post-apocalyptic books. I'll definitely be reading the next book.
Quality: Good
Enjoyability: Good
In the same aisle
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Partials by Dan Wells
Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Discussion | Time After Time
Do you re-read books? I have been on a re-reading bent recently and gone through half a dozen of my favorites: the Fever series, Fate's Edge, The Last Light of the Sun, Sunshine. I am perfectly happy re-reading any book I don't dislike, so if I gave it 3 stars, I'm probably willing to read it again.
However, I realize that's not the case for everyone. I have some friends who will read a book once and then never pick it up again, no matter how much they liked it. That makes me sort of sad. I see something new every time I read a book, whether it's the second time or the twenty-second. Plus, I still enjoy it.
It's not always good to re-read books. The first time I read Twilight, I enjoyed it, but when I went back to re-read it, I felt like Cookie Monster being offered vegetables.
Except that they were vegetables disguised as cookies. And I liked the first one. Um. I think I may have stretched this metaphor a little too far, but you get the idea. The fluffier the book, the fewer times I can generally re-read it.
Before I joined Goodreads, discovered the book blogging world, and started a blog of my own, the vast majority of my pleasure reading was devoted to the same fifty or so books, just because I didn't know what else was out there. I don't think I could go back to that. Re-reading is great, but I've gotten to used to lots of new books in my life, and since they're usually from the library or NetGalley, my wallet is even okay with that. But every once in a while, I need a break from the read/review/read/review cycle, and that's when I pick up an old favorite.
When do you re-read books? Do you re-read a lot of books or just a select few? What are your favorite re-reads?
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Review | Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Juliet Marillier
Sevenwaters #1
Published
Mythological fantasy/fairy tale
4 stars
Bite-Sized Review
Daughter of the Forest was an excellent fairy tale retelling that mixed fantasy, mythological, and romance elements. Recommended!
King-Sized Review
Daughter of the Forest is based on the fairy tale The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen. Sorcha, youngest and only girl of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters' seven children, has an idyllic childhood, surrounded by brothers who adore her and given little adult supervision. Her life changes, however, when her father marries and Sorcha's new stepmother – a wicked stepmother, naturally – binds her brothers in an enchantment. Only Sorcha can break the spell, but she must remain silent while she works to do so, without exception. Sorcha must make difficult choices and
If you've ever read any of Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tales (rather than the Disney versions), you'll know that he is all about the suffering. Don't get me wrong, you should absolutely read this book, but suffering is definitely present, and most of Sorcha's journey and tasks are downright unpleasant. I loved the book, but fair warning before you pick it up.
Despite that, I breezed through this one. I read it around hours 18-23 of the 24 hour read-a-thon, which, as anyone who does the read-a-thon knows, are normally the most difficult hours to get through. Reading this book, I didn't feel tired at all and had no desire to stop for sleep until I finished. Hopefully that gives you an idea of just how enthralling it was. Daughter of the Forest is the sort of book you just can't seem to stop reading and don't want to.
My only real complaint (the bit about the suffering was a warning, not a complaint) was that the characters were a bit flat. Most of the good guys were paragons of virtue, while most of the bad guys were unequivocally selfish bastards. The exceptions almost seemed as if they existed to provide exceptions rather than naturally arising from the characters' natures. However, it's a fairy tale, so I probably should have expected that simplicity.
Overall, Daughter of the Forest was a great start to this series. It was a complete story in itself, so if you wanted to read it as a standalone you certainly could, but the hints of a larger narrative were definitely there. Basically it had an excellent balance between story and series.
Quality: Excellent
Enjoyability: Excellent
In the same aisle
Deerskin by Robin McKinley
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Top Ten Tuesday | Favorite Quotes
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted weekly by the lovely ladies at The Broke and The Bookish.
Unfortunately, many of my most favoritest quotes are extraordinarily spoiler-ific and can't really be posted here (which is probably a good thing, because if you put them all in one place it would most likely make everyone's brains explode from extreme awesomeness). But these are definitely some quality quotes from some of my favorite books, spoiler-free because I want more people to read them!
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
As the hours crept by, the afternoon sunlight bleached all the books on the shelves to pale, gilded versions of themselves and warmed the paper and ink inside the covers so that the smell of unread words hung in the air.
Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews
"How much are you lifting?"
"Seven hundred."
Alrighty then. I will just stand over here, out of your way, and hope you don't remember to kick my ass.
He grinned. "Wanna spot me?"
"No thanks. How about I just scream verbal encouragements at you?" I took a deep breath and barked, "No pain, no gain! That pain is just weakness leaving your body! Come on! Push! Push! Make that weight your bitch!"
“You can divide infinity an infinite number of times, and the resulting pieces will still be infinitely large,” Uresh said in his odd Lenatti accent. “But if you divide a non-infinite number an infinite number of times the resulting pieces are non-infinitely small. Since they are non-infinitely small, but there are an infinite number of them, if you add them back together, their sum is infinite. This implies any number is, in fact, infinite.”
“Wow,” Elodin said after a long pause. He leveled a serious finger at the Lenatti man. “Uresh. Your next assignment is to have sex. If you do not know how to do this, see me after class.”
The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay
There are times when all you can do to survive is one single thing, however unlikely it may be, and so you act as if it can be done.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch"It's perfect! Locke would appreciate it."
"Bug," Calo said, "Locke is our brother and our love for him knows no bounds. But the four most fatal words in the Therin language are 'Locke would appreciate it.'"
"Rivalled only by 'Locke taught me a new trick,'" added Galo.
"The only person who gets away with Locke Lamora games ..."
"... is Locke ..."
"... because we think the gods are saving him up for a really big death. Something with knives and hot irons ..."
"... and fifty thousand cheering spectators."
The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
"There!" Mars finished writing and threw the scroll at Octavian. "A prophecy. You can add it to your books, engrave it on the floor, whatever."
Octavian read the scroll. "This says, 'Go to Alaska. Find Thanatos and free him. Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die'."
"Yes," Mars said. "Is that not clear?"
"Well, my lord...usually prophecies are unclear. They're wrapped in riddles. They rhyme, and..."
Mars casually popped another grenade off his belt. "Yes?"
"The prophecy is clear!" Octavian announced. "A quest!"
Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese
A bullet traveled from the barrel of the rifle toard the area that Karl's head had occupied roughly four tenths of a second earlier. The bullet punched a finger-sized hole through the front of the helmet.
The same bullet then punched a similar hole through the back of the helmet.
The bullet, having thoroughly enjoyed this hole-punching business, proceeded to punch holes in the windows of four nearby cars, finally coming to rest on page 328 of a dog-eared copy of Gravity's Rainbow, which is 186 pages further than anyone else had ever gotten.
Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
I turned in his arms, and whispered, "Joscelin Verreuil, I would die without you."
"Probably." He smiled again. "Of melodrama, if naught else."
Turn Coat by Jim Butcher"This is not how diplomacy is done," Anastasia said as we approached the Château Raith.
"You're in America now," I said. "Our idea of diplomacy is showing up with a gun in one hand and a sandwich in the other and asking which you'd prefer."
Anastasia's mouth curved up at one corner. "You brought a sandwich?"
"Who do I look like, Kissinger?"
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
“We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.”
Monday, May 7, 2012
Coming Soon! Bookish Bucket List Blog Hop
BOOKISH BUCKET LIST BLOG HOP
A week filled with bookish bucket lists and tons of great giveaways!
Urban Dictionary defines a Bucket List as a list of things you want to see or do before you "kick the bucket" (die). What is a bookish bucket list? A list of things derived from fiction books that you would like to see or do (if anything were possible!) before you die.
That's what my blogging friends and I have decided to do next week! I'm kicking it off on Monday, and there will be one or two of us posting every day next week, with lots of giveaways as well! Be sure to stop by, say hello, and make your own suggestions for bookish bucket lists!
May 14
Kate @ Epic (Chocolate) Fantasy
*Giveaway*
May 15
Tiffany @ A Purrfect Read
*Giveaway*
May 16
Alison & Daphne @ Winged Reviews
*Giveaway*
May 17
Kayleigh @ K-Books
*Giveaway*
Guest Post by Renée on A Purrfect Read
May 18
Sonnie @ Lit Girl
*Giveaway*
Guest Post by Lindsey on Epic (Chocolate) Fantasy
May 19
Chris @ Reading is FUNdamental
Guest Post by Wendy on Winged Reviews
May 20
Jen @ At Random
*Giveaway*
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