Saturday 30 June 2012

The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1)The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This isn't an easy one to review. As a whole, I did really like it. I loved the Latin influence in the invented cultures, all the place names etc, that was a nice touch. As well as this, all the right components were there, brilliant and engaging plot, characters I either wanted to hug or punch, effortless writing, seemingly this book has it all. Yet there is something niggling at me.

I think the easiest way to explain it is that the book feels like a trilogy in one volume. There are three parts and each is very different, from settings and characters to tone and atmosphere. Thinking of them as separate bits of the same story helps me figure how I feel about the book. The issue really is with the first and second part as these hold the most differences.

Part 1 is my favourite. She introduces her story and characters marvellously. I started reading late at night and though trying to go to bed, I would start the next chapter without realising because I was completely drawn into the story from the very first line. It also helps that I do love bit of palace intrigue!! XD The relationships that are built up in this part are wonderfully done and just how I like them, especially the romancey bits. Slow but not painfully so, rather they tease and tantalise leaving you wanting more. I was so invested in everything about the story that when part two came along, it was a bit of a shock, like a pie to the face.

Part two involves not just a rather dramatic setting change but also an almost entirely new cast. I will admit that I was little disappointed in the direction the author took. It's not that it was bad. There were still the same high standards of writing etc as in the first part, the new characters were well developed and believable and the story still engaging and exciting. So really it's just that I wanted more of the palace stuff and maybe there might have been a possible romantic interest in the first part that I really, really, really warmed to. It was the way she was leading up to it, it was sooo gooood!!! Deepening friendship, meaningful glances, growing respect etc all things that I love as I watch a relationship unfold. But in part two, we are introduced to another romantic interest, but this time there is none of the unhurried build up and for the male at least, the attraction is instant, which is no fun at all. I think it's safe to say that I am a big fan of the chase, rather than the end result. But I need to stress again, this is just my preference and others may have no problems with the changes in the story. The book is GOOD and I can understand the need for the second part as it is conducive (if that's the right word) the the development of the main character, Elisa.

Speaking of, my what a delightfully likeable and endearing character she is. Her battles with her body image are treated with equal amounts of sensitivity and humour, with a part in particular involving a young boys honesty that made me chortle!! I can find no real fault in her at all. The author has succeeded in creating a multi-dimensional character who can convincingly portray naivety, fear, courage and love with vast amounts of realness and genuineness, making her a wonderful narrator.

Lastly, part three took us back to the palace, and though still good, just felt a smidge rushed. It was refreshing reading a book with a proper and actual honest-to-goodness ending, but which entertained the possibility of more. This is most certainly a world I am eager to return to.

Also...PRETTY COVER!!!! XD

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Tuesday 26 June 2012

Masque of the Red Death (Masque of the Red Death, #1)Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Well, I'm glad I didn't go all the way to America for this. That would have been a huge chunk of money wasted. What a load of blah. Firstly I got confused as to the setting. In most cases, when a book contains some deadly virus-plague thing that slowly wiping out all humanity, I automatically think Dystopia. But when they started going on about steam carriages and corsets, I figured I was wrong. I know Steampunk can be set in an alternate future, but most of the time they hang about the Victorian era, where they belong. Also referring to the city they lived in as 'The City', also didn't really help. Don't get me wrong I like a bit of mystery, but at least let me know if we're in an alternate reality or not. That could be one of those silly things that just bugs me. I am aware that I am fussy.

Then there was the fact that the whole thing was told not just in the first person, but also in the present tense, which meant that we were finding things out when the main character did. Unfortunately the snag there was that no-one seemed willing to tell her anything. Sometimes she'd take it upon herself to ask a question, but then for some inexplicable reason, wouldn't (that was actually used in the book). Then you'd finally think they were going to tell her something and there'd be a distraction of some ilk and they'd forget all about it. Which wasn't annoying at all (it was, I'm being sarcastic). It really stunted the pace of the book, not that there was anything going anyway, but still, nothing was happening, really slowly. What did happen was lots of cliches I can imagine the author just shoving in willy nilly because she wanted a Mask of Zorro-esque scene with all the sword fighting and dress slashing, goddammit and no-one was going to stop her. That's the only explanation for it I can think of because THERE WAS NO REASON FOR IT, IT MADE NO SENSE AND WAS STUPID!!! Not to mention being pong-wiffy with cheeseyness.

And don't even get me started on the characters. E-gads. They just got worse and worse as the book progressed. The main character was a complete contradiction to herself and couldn't decide whether she wanted to be vulnerable or strong. She ended up being neither, rather a simpering self centred attention seeker (not in a show off kind of way, more in a woe-is-me I'm so alone and misunderstood kind of way) who wanted to play the hero but when it came down to it always managed to wheedle her way out of it. Other characters (mostly male) kept telling her she was brave, but I'm sorry, I saw not one shred of evidence of her apparent heroics. They must have been saying that just to get into her pants (and by that I mean undercrackers). All she did was moan about how no-one cared about her, ramble on about how guilty she felt over her brothers death and generally wallow in self pity. It's a wonder she got up in the morning. On that topic, it was mentioned that she was suicidal but apart from a couple of mentions, to me she didn't really come across as someone wanting to off herself. She just whined. A lot. The two male leads for just funny in their stereotypical-ness (not really a word but it'll do).

I'm not even going to talk about the god awful love triangle (or not much anyway), because I'm eating dinner while writing this and I don't want to up chuck into it. Suffice it to say there was lots of to-ing and fro-ing, sappy lines, denial and 'it meant nothing's' usually in the space of a few sentences. Yay

There'd also be random bits that were quite graphic and disturbing that felt a bit out of place.

Did I mention the main character was annoying...I did? Well, she really, really was. I think it was the fact that she was so spineless that got to me. There are just too many strong, female leads in the world of literature that there's just no room for self-centred girls like Araby...I've forgotten her surname, that's how much I didn't care about her or her problems.

I usually try to find a positive, but I can't even say the writing made up for everything. It was pretty basic and kinda obvious, just a series of lists describing things or events in rather unimaginative fashion.

I was originally going to give this 2 stars, but during the course of writing this I've changed my mind. So, sorry. This one for me at least, is a dud, though after looking at the reviews, I see I may be in a minority.

Edit: Oh crumbs and I completely forgot that the main character takes drugs. Because her life is soooo terrible and she has nothing to live for...blah, blah, blah!!! Doesn't that make her seem like a wonderful and noble person. Things start getting iffy? Time to space out and go to a happy place!!!



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Tuesday 19 June 2012

EnchantedEnchanted by Alethea Kontis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Is it my fate that I must read books that get my hopes soaring only to get them dashed on the rocks of bitter disappointment?! Every part of me wanted to like this, and there were some points that I did, though mainly in the beginning. However the further I delved, the greater my confusion, frustration and befuddlement (I am aware befuddlement and confusion mean the same thing. I use both to emphasise the depths of my perplexity) over a story that wasn't really sure what it wanted to be. Was it a sweet and heart warming fairytale of love and redemption, a dark and twisted thing that the brothers Grimm themselves would be proud of, full of wicked spells and dangerous obstacles? Maybe a coming of age story shrouded in fantasy? A mystery, family saga...? In truth it was a mixture of all, yet none of the elements to me,seemed to get on very well with each other. It plot conveyed an sense of not being sure in which direction it wanted to go, or whether to go in all directions at once.

We add to this already confusing mix the storyline itself. I believed this to be a re-telling of the Frog Prince, yet what it proved to be was far more cluttered. Though the Frog Prince is at it's core, many other classic fairy tales make an appearance, burdening an already weighty plot. The end result was not quite chaos, but it was within spitting distance of becoming a broiling concoction of far too much told with far too little. By this I mean that rather than deepening the story, exploring more the relationships of her many characters, the author seemed far more concerned with squeezing in as many fairytale references as she possibly could, most of them shoved in with what felt like little thought to how they worked as a whole. What this resulted in was a hodgepodge tale which got more and more bizarre and random as the book drew to a close. It all just seemed a bit, untidy.

I wanted to explore the blooming relationship of Sunday and her froggy companion. I would have liked to uncover a little more the mystery of the Godmother Sorrow and the nameless King, the tale of the sister's who were gone and the enigmatic Jack who never actually appears. The author introduced us to so much but didn't seem overly fussed about digging deeper. It's not a particularly hefty volume. A few more chapters could have worked wonders on a plot that overall felt a little heavy and cluttered and could have done with a bit of stretching out.

The best way I can sum up 'Enachanted', is by likening it to a dream, of the kind that will one minute have you sitting on a bus playing a game of cards with Papa Smurf, the bloke who works down the local newsagents and a trilby wearing panda, then suddenly transport you to the depths of the ocean and leaves you completely unconcerned by the sudden change in scenery, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, or simply unaware of it the change altogether. There was simply too much going on, each element a part of different a puzzle that won't fit together no matter how much you try.

However, after all that, I did still give it three stars. The reason, is that you strip everything back, there are fragments of light hidden beneath to fog. At it's heart, there are characters you can like, an ambitiousness on the part of the author in her attempt to weave so many threads together, though she may have lost sight of the essence of the true plot, that I have to admire and the simple fact that I didn't dislike it. There was still something that drew me in. That could partly be the sheer unpredictability of the plot though. Looking back, it was quite mad.

It's one of those books that, where I found fault, others might find charm, inventiveness and a story that certainly leaves you guessing.

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SeraphinaSeraphina by Rachel Hartman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would consider myself a fan of dragons (well, who isn't?) and though perhaps I haven't read a great many novels containing the winged beasts, I still get excited when I find a book that's gone out on a limb, pushed the boat out, taken a chance and tried something different. As much as I love the glorious creatures in all their fearful majesty, sharp toothiness and limb rendering awesomeness, I found myself being drawn to Hartman's vision of Dragon. A proud race of mathmagicians and scholars that fought for the land they had lived in for centuries, but where steadily being pushed out of.

Skip ahead to the events of Seraphina, and we have an uneasy truce between dragons and humans built on a simple wish for peace. What makes Hartman's dragons unique for me, is that to better understand and appreciate their former enemies, they take their form and walk among them. This of course is the cause of all the troubles and tribulations that occur, much of this down to the Dragons refusal to allow themselves to become befuddled by troublesome emotions and forget what they are. What this creates however, is an intriguing tale of two peoples seemingly complete opposites of each other, yet perhaps have more in common than you think.

The storytelling is delicious, Hartman spins her tale with grace and a deft hand. She will pull you slowly at first, so you don't notice how involved you are until it is a few hours later and you are turning the last page. I found someone I could relate to it Seraphina, the focus of this tale. Her unease in her skin resonated with me as I'm sure it would with many. I empathised with her seemingly impossible situation, the dark secret she carried that few would understand and would more likely shun her for. The relationships between characters were built on solid foundations and well explored The author was able to make it so you could understand the actions taken if perhaps you don't agree with them.

The only gripe I had appeared towards the end. It involved a certain male member of the cast, a man who valued honesty above anything else, sought the truth in all, told no lies and his willingness to live one the biggest lies of all. To me, it seemed to go completely against his character. Also some of the names where a bit annoying, but it wouldn't be proper fantasy if there weren't a few tongue twisters thrown in to make sure you're awake and paying attention =D

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