I read them back-to-back. In one and a half sittings. At 2 am. I decided to start some ‘light’ reading at 2 am. When will I ever learn? Anyway, long story short I was reading for about 4 hours and just started on the sequel. I finally let my worn-out eyes rest when I noticed actual daylight and the clock which said 6:53 am. That’s a new record for me, staying up just to read. I can’t believe myself.
A Court of Thorns and Roses is very loosely based off Beauty and the Beast. It starts out with that kind of theme-ish, just like how the Throne of Glass series is VERY loosely based on Cinderella. You have the main character, 19-year-old Feyre (fay-ruh) who hunts to provide for her starving once rich family. She kills a wolf who was faerie and now must pay a life debt. Die by their hands, or live with them. Forever. She chose to live. What will she do now?
A Court of Mist and Fury is the sequel to a fantastic book, and I love it so much it really took me by surprise. I don’t want to explain anything but basically its her life after that.
ACOTAR gets 4/5 for being awesome.
ACOMAF gets 5/5 for being exponentially more awesome. I can’t wait for the next book which isn’t getting published until 2017 I can’t wait a whole year pls save me
Spoilers down ahead because I need to let this out and I cannot even.
Winter, by Marissa Meyer. Book four of the Lunar Chronicles. I can’t even. I’m still reeling from the feels.
Sidenote: I feel like lately when I read, I just internalize the feels and curl into a ball feelings the emotions instead of expressing them and screaming and crying. Mostly because there’s no one here to feel it out with me, but it still gets me every time I read a good book with good feels and just a good story. helpme.
Okay, so the main character (and I’m saying this really REALLY loosely because we kind of have a cast a main characters) is Winter. Princess Winter of Luna (aka the moon. Literally) is the beloved princess of the Lunars. This story is loosely based on the age-old fairy tale Snow White. Hence, the name Winter. I’ll try to keep this as spoiler free as possible, but since this is the finale of the series I can’t tell you much of anything. Basically, read the first three books first, based on chronological order. That’s 1. Cinder, 2. Scarlet, and 3. Cress. And now 4. Winter.
I absolutely loved this book, and would have finished this in one sitting if I could. I finished it in two, so close enough. This was honestly one hell of a ride and one of my favourite series of all time. Honestly, I read the first three books in one go and it was a while ago so I only recall bits and pieces but it’s still good. I still remember the general plot and the characters never left me and the cute banter and dialogues UGH. It’s such a different take on story-telling it sometimes feels like its own genre because it’s a loose retelling of fairy tales but it’s set in the future and has a dystopian sci-fi twist in it. And the titles make it seem like companion novels but they’re not. It’s more like a buildup of stories as they go, with the introduction of the new characters as the plot line of each book kinda. It still follows a main story line of the first book Cinder. What can I say? Just read it.
I rate this a 5 out of 5 stars.
Give it a 98%. I will admit there were a few things that needed to be addressed but overall it still smoothed over pretty well and … I can’t give an ending because then spoilers.
I read this within about a week, so it’s still pretty fresh in my mind and I want to ‘review’ it as soon as possible because I didn’t make notes of it.
Technically, it’s a trilogy, but there’s a prequel out and there’s a sequel to that one coming up real soon also? I’m not going into that, so for convenience I’ll just call it a trilogy. It’s written by James Dashner, and it’s from the Maze Runner, then the Scorch Trials, and finally the Death Cure.
Okay, so the books are like a big build-up for the ending, which is book 3. Book 1, the Maze Runner is intense, since this is a YA-dystopian-scifi kind of book. It starts off with this boy Thomas who was transported into a Maze where he and a bunch of other boys sent there before him have to figure their way out of the maze. That’s pretty much all I can tell you without spoilers, because I’m going to talk about all three at the same time. This is how I do. Do not read on if you didn’t read all three books at least.
I do recommend it, it’s pretty intense and a good read, but you’ll have to be patient with the Scorch. Overall I give the series 4 out of 5 stars. Also I think only the Maze has a pretty faithful adaptation as a movie. They kind of mixed a bit of the Cure’s plots into the Scorch movie, which as a movie is really exciting and cool and I get that they did the best with what they had but as an adaptation, just no. :c
Since I do not own the books and I am too lazy to take a picture of the only one I have, which is the Bane Chronicles, we’re not going with a picture.
Alright. I read the first book: City of Bones shortly after I watched the movie. I hadn’t heard of it before and the movie piqued my interest, so I thought I’d give it a go. [Side note: I did enjoy the movie although after reading it I was pretty unsatisfied with it as an adaptation.] It was okay, it had witty dialogue and the characters were pretty well-rounded. Overall, I was sucked into the story. I finished that in one school day, thanks to a few absent teachers.
It was over a year later that I finally read the rest of the series, which I read consecutively. I read the Infernal Devices and (before that) the Bane Chronicles before I started the rest of the Mortal Instruments though, so I’m going to just give this series(es) a one-shot review.
Okay, so I liked the Bane Chronicles because it was about my favourite character in the Shadowhunter World, Magnus Bane. I love everything about him. His fashion sense, his eccentric personality, the way he deals with the Clave and how he loves people (and his cat(s?)). I enjoyed all the stories, even the ‘boring’ ones in the beginning because it gave us a glimpse into his warlock life, and a smidgen of his past. It also featured a few of his ex-lovers, which was nice because I enjoyed reading how he dealt with all of it. Anyway, the last few stories piqued my curiosity about the Mortal Instruments and the Infernal Devices. So if it weren’t for Magnus Bane, I wouldn’t even have read them. Shadowhunters (and fandom), you may thank him.
Then came the Infernal Devices. I read them impartially despite the good reviews from friends who finished reading it and loved it (and Christine from polandbananabooks) and I enjoyed them. I hated the love triangle though. So much angst. I rolled my eyes every time the love triangle came up. But it was a good story and I loved the female characters more than the males except of course, my beloved warlock Magnus. Fair warning for whoever is interested in reading it. The best reading arrangement(?) is to read the final one, the Clockwork Princess after you finish City of Heavenly Fire because there is a small spoiler at the end. It didn’t affect me as much because I felt like Dionysus from my bae’s PJO world.
I have mixed feelings about the Mortal Instruments. I’d forgotten most of the details from City of Bones and just delved right into it. It was very much like Dionysus looking after the campers as I read it. I was annoyed at most of the characters most of the time, and for some reason I just couldn’t stand the whole Jace/Clary-Jary-Clace relationship. I could swallow it down, and I guess I had to give them some credit because they just found out they were siblings and they were facing a war bla bla blah, but I groaned every time it was a Jace or Clary or Clace chapter. I was reading it for the sake of reading it. Don’t get me wrong, there were funny parts and the story is actually interesting and fun to read. I just love the side characters a lot more than I love the mains.
My favourite was probably City of Glass, which is book 3? Yeah. Mostly because it was really fast paced and everything was finally resolved and finally, we were done with the story. So it really confused me to see three more books. I thought we were done. Anyway, so I continued reading although I was kind of annoyed that there was more content. And then that character showed up. I was honestly quite disturbed, even though I knew he was fiction and the monsters in real life were not just under your bed.
My reading pace was like an on-off thing, which was flying through at some parts and reading disinterestedly in other parts. Anyway, everything was ended and there were more things to wrap up which I guess was good. I thought it was an okay series overall. I only really read it for my ship and the side characters.
Which I thought was pretty good in the story, until I read a few posts on tumblr pointing out some facts that were hard to ignore. They were really good points.
Overall, it was okay. It was pretty good. I can’t delve deeper into it or point out any specific moments that I liked because of spoilers.
Okay then, this was … 6 + 3 + 1 = 10 books in total. I’m so good at shortcuts. I’ll try to mix in other stuff as I try to catch up on my book reviews although I don’t know whether or not it’s an actual review since ‘no spoilers’ and how this affects anyone.
This has been long overdue. Notice how I covered up Book 2 because goddamit I hate that cover. It really pisses me off how it doesn’t fit the other two, but even more infuriating is the fact that the cover looks like that. I want more bad ass awesome dragons in the cover and it looks like some kind of middle school girl’s diary, not that I have a problem with stories like that but goddamit it is so misleading. I wouldn’t even have known it was what I was looking for if I hadn’t checked the author’s name (several times) and read the blurb and checked out the first few pages.
The Dragon Slippers Trilogy by Jessica Day George.
I give this series as a whole a 4.85/5.
I enjoyed the series very very much and ordinarily I would’ve given it a higher rating but after reading some reviews I realized and accepted that it did have a few things that I was a little unsatisfied about, but I really do love how everything plays out in the end.
It starts with Book 1, which is Dragon Slippers.
The story is set in sort of fantasy/medieval times, maybe the Victorian era? Our main character is a teenage girl, Creelisel or Creel as she prefers who apparently is sent to a dragon’s cave (I don’t think I have to mention that this is a world where dragons exist) to be rescued by a prince so that she can be married off. Certain events occur and she leaves with a pair of slippers given by the dragon and heads off to the King’s Seat (which is a city) to find work and all that. Upon arriving she gets into some trouble with a foreign princess and befriends a prince before being saved by said prince to have a place to stay and find some work. She makes some more friends and gets a job in embroidery work (skills clearly her own but taught by her mother who was a very talented embroiderer).
What I love about this story is the fact that Creel has a mouth and a temper. I don’t know why but this makes me love her so much. Especially how she reacts to everything in the story because not only does she stay firm to her beliefs but she does not back down to anyone about it. I really love how despite the fact that even though Creel has a love interest, it’s not the prince who saves the day but in fact, herself (she doesn’t think this way, though). Also I have to mention that Creel is not one of those super tomboy fighting dragons and wars kind of girl. She’s an ordinary girl who has some serious talent in embroidery and just wants to open her very own dress shop someday.
The plot is nicely paced and the characters are all very interesting because you get to see different sides to the story in many points of views. What really piqued my interest on this was the fact that there is no supposedly ‘useless’ characters, as in everyone had a role which contributed to the plot and not just ‘there’ to stand and look pretty.
I don’t want to go too much into the other books because that might be a spoiler. But basically, book 2 and 3 is also really, really interesting and I loved it very much.
Surprisingly, what really kept me going in book 3 was off-putting for some readers because it focused more on the world-building and things that were going on as they happened instead of focusing on the main cast which undoubtedly I really wanted but I really liked book 3 because it showed a different side to the story and of how the dragons came to be which was friggin awesome, I tell you. Honestly I really wouldn’t have had it different other than the fact that maybe the author could’ve added a few chapters more at the end or even just an epilogue showing me the life after the whole story was over, with little cutesy moments that I would’ve just adored and give me the feels.
I read book 1 when I bought it, which was quite a few years ago and I saved up Book 3 (because I found that first) so that I could read that with the final books together so I wouldn’t have had to wait. I reread the whole thing in one go so that I could remember how the first book went and let me tell you, that was the best decision I ever made. People should stop selling books one at a time and just sell them off in one go (or at least read like that and save yourself the agony of waiting and wondering what could’ve happened next). So this only counts as 2 books in my reading challenge. I just updated it on Goodreads and apparently I am now 1 book behind schedule. Oops.
I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a good female lead and there may or may not be some silent judging if you don’t like dragons.
This book by Evan Roskos was pretty enjoyable for me. It’s definitely Young Adult. I picked it up at the bookfair (as you can see I got it for only 10 money, what a bargain!!) because I was charmed by the title.
The story starts with this quiet and weird person James Whitman whose sister Jorie was recently kicked out of the house after being expelled. Long story short, it’s about him trying to make peace between his sister and his family and school. It has a bit of sort-of-but-not-really kind of romance with his crush (whose name I’ve forgotten, sorry) and his interactions with his best friend Jake (I think) is definitely amusing, it definitely made me giggle a few times. Anyway, for John Green fans, this book feels a lot like Paper Towns, so if you’re into that kind of thing, you should definitely check this out.
This book is smoothly written with a fun pace, as in it actually keeps me going just when I think ‘hmm…’ It’s like one of those things that are bigger on the inside but looks unassuming on the outside. Honestly when I started I thought it was going to be another typical YA book but there was more to the story than I thought so I was pleasantly surprised at how the story went. The yawping bits were fun, too. (I didn’t know it was a word either, you should definitely google this word)
I give this book a 4.1 out of 5. That extra .1 is for the funny bits. You should definitely check this book out if you’re feeling down in the dumps because not only did this cheer me up, it made me realize a few things as well like “wow. that’s definitely something to think about.”
I’ll be back with more book reviews, hopefully before the weekend is over.
So the book is about Karou (ka-roo), a blue-haired girl (yes blue. Like, how cool is that?!) in Prague and has a chimerae (-rae?-rea?) foster family. It gets weirder and cooler as I am a fantasy reader through and through (it’s safe to say about 50% of all the fiction books I have are fantasy) and I love how she writes everything. It starts with her POV but it cuts to several different points and there are cuts on her childhood. Laini Taylor has wrote this so amazingly that everything just feels right and it doesn’t feel like it’s too ‘jumpcut-y’? and I love her way with words, it really does throw me into a different world, her world.
So you’re sitting there reading and thinking, so that’s pretty cool, she does errands and things for her kind of foster father figure Brimstone and you’re like, okay, wow, that’s so awesome. You’re thinking all is cool and all, and all of a sudden BAM! You get angels thrown into the mix. Angels? How? What even?
That’s how fantastically cool, dark and mysterious it becomes. Unfortunately I only have the first book in this trilogy but rest assured, I will try to get them all and definitely read it.
I’d just watched this video on a so-called guide to reading fantasy books and well, if you like, you can give it a try?
So she did this thing where she kind of gives a mini review thing on the books she recommends so I thought, maybe I should do this thing too.
DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE. (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1)
Difficulty (of how easily you get into it): Medium to almost High (for me I was into it immediately because I just love this kind of books)
Epicness: WHAT EVEN LEVELS OF EPICNESS
Romance: There are some romancey bits but not until the middle-ish and it continues (as it does) into the next books (hopefully?)
Funny: Chuckling here and there (which of course is highly appreciated)
Boring bits: For me, there were almost none, because I am one, easily entertained and two, like to give books a lot of chances so I took everything in pretty well, but eh.
Writing: Fan-bloody-tastic. I love it so much it really gives you the amazing thrown into a different world feel and it’s just so good. like I can’t even.
Rating: 4.8/5
I gave it a 4.8 personally because it’s part of a trilogy and it actually pumps me up for the next books but also because it’s just brilliant on its own and I really, really liked it. I literally spent this entire day reading the book. I didn’t even touch my laptop until after my dinner today. I just forreal sat down and read. And read to the very end.
I should remind you now that I generally tend to be very lenient with books so you shouldn’t expect anything below a 3.5 for any books I read. Like all books are good, just some better than others. It’s really frustrating for me sometimes because you just want to give them all the chance but sometimes you just feel like reading different kinds of stories and sometimes you’re just not feeling the book and you put them down or something so yeah.
What Christine said: GIVE IT A SECOND. You have to give commitment. You throw yourself into a new world. THAT MAKES YOU LESS THAN AN INFANT IN THAT WORLD. YOU CAN’T JUST JUMP RIGHT IN AND BECOME THE JEDI.
That is pretty much the best advice for any new readers who think ‘oh, they don’t have any oomph in it’ or ‘i bore so easily like how can you even like this book’ NO. OKAY.
It’s a thriller. Very awesome. 7.5 out of 10 (0.5 was taken out because I couldn’t really handle much of the details.)
Um, I just looked at some of the reviews. I didn’t realize it was a book 2. o-o Cool. I might want to read book 1 now.
Anyway, it’s pretty awesome. It’s about John Wayne Cleaver, who had recently killed an actual demon, and also he’s a sociopath. So the things have finally cooled over, then suddenly more dead bodies show up.
It was really an eye-opening experience to be in a sociopath’s shoes. I really enjoyed reading it.
I’ve decided (spontaneously) to list out all the books I have/have read here soon. Probably after the exams. Although I would jump on the chance to get away from studying. Studying is still important.
Also, I would probably make myself review these books, just for the sake of it. 🙂 Books are one the most amazing things in the world [created by mankind] after all.
Well, I hope to update soon. Excited about the books I have to upload on. I bought 17 books in the Big Bad Wolf sale and 14 in the aftersale. -happy dance- So, a total of … 31 books to devour (although I have already read about 2 and a half [which is on hold anyway]). Soon, my darlings. Soon. A look of hunger crosses her eyes, as her lips curl into a crooked smile, staring at the pile of unsuspecting books.
I can’t stop thinking about that book. I want to have it. I must have it. I need to have it. I just- the feels are killing me here. ajfklsjdlakjdfkdfjgsdfg -rolls on the floor-
that is all.
well there is more but I can’t quite describe what it is, I’m just in this … comatose state emotion-wise….? I’m not sure.
Things & Chiz 