Waiting on Wednesday [32]

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking The Spine allows bloggers to share which books we are most anticipating

This week I am waiting on Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima (April 19, 2016)

Summary From GoodReads

The first in a thrilling new four-book fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima, set in the same world as her beloved Seven Realms series, a generation later
Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now Ash is closer than he’s ever been to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. As a healer, can Ash use his powers not to save a life but to take it?

Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told that the mysterious magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught.

Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

Set in the world of the acclaimed Seven Realms series a generation later, this is a thrilling story of dark magic, chilling threats, and two unforgettable characters walking a knife-sharp line between life and death.

Why I'm Waiting

This story sounds so cool.  I love prophecies and magic and uprising against evil kings.  I've never read the Seven Realms series, but this sounds like a pretty solid story that doesn't need the previous series to appreciate.  

Waiting on Wednesday [30]

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking The Spine allows bloggers to share which books we are most anticipating

This week I am waiting on The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury (February 23, 2016)

Summary from GoodReads

She is the most powerful Jinni of all. He is a boy from the streets. Their love will shake the world... 

When Aladdin discovers Zahra's jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn't seen in hundreds of years -- a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra's very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes. 

But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of Aladdin from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.

Why I'm Waiting

I love that djinns/jinns/genies are the new supernatural being trend.  I've always loved them (my all-time favorite show is I Dream of Jeannie).  So, needless to say I'm excited to read different takes on them.  And this one even has a bit of I Dream of Jeannie to it (Jeannie and Tony fall in love, Zahra falls for Aladdin).  Plus I love Aladdin, so a retelling is fantastic!  

The Immortal Heights

by Sherry Thomas

Summary from GoodReads

In a pursuit that has spanned continents, Iolanthe, Titus, and their friends have always managed to remain one step ahead of the forces of Atlantis. But now the Bane, the monstrous tyrant who bestrides the entire mage world, has issued his ultimatum: Titus must hand over Iolanthe, or watch as his entire realm is destroyed in a deadly rampage. Running out of time and options, Iolanthe and Titus must act decisively to deliver a final blow to the Bane, ending his reign of terror for good.

However, getting to the Bane means accomplishing the impossible—finding a way to infiltrate his crypt in the deepest recesses of the most ferociously guarded fortress in Atlantis. And everything is only made more difficult when new prophecies come to light, foretelling a doomed effort....

Iolanthe and Titus will put their love and their lives on the line. But will it be enough?

With The Immortal Heights, Sherry Thomas brings the acclaimed Elemental Trilogy to its breathtaking conclusion.

Thoughts on the Book

Pretty much my only thoughts on the book were "omg, it's here, it's out, omg".  Needless to say I've been anxiously awaiting this book since I finished The Perilous Sea.

My Review

This is the conclusion to The Burning Sky and The Perilous Sea.  It followed Iolanthe and Titus into an epic battle.

Shortly into the book I realized that no one was safe.  I still had hope though, I hoped desperately that Titus' mother's interpretation was totally wrong, but then the second prophecy...I almost thought it was George R.R. Martin-esque.  Oh, you have a favorite character? DEAD! Oh, you have a new favorite character? DEAD!  But no worries, Thomas isn't nearly as bad as him (seriously, is anyone going to still be alive in A Dream of Spring?).

Like with the first two books this was full of action and adventure.  Even though you kind of knew what was coming with the prophecies, you had no idea how they would come to be.  Pretty much everything about this book took me by surprise, an impressive feat especially when you're told essentially what will happen.  A few times I had to stop reading, out of fear of what would happen to the characters, not being able to handle what they were going through, a brief respite of sheer relief, a brief respite to process what had just happened to a beloved character.  These breaks didn't last long because the "how? when? why?"s running through my head due to the prophecies.

The characters in this series are so great, they're solidly written characters who stay true to their nature and really shine through.  It's one of the reasons why I needed to process, I usually don't get so completely attached to characters, but these guys, man, you really just feel for them and all the shit they have to deal with.  I also absolutely love that while there is a romance, well, two...sort of three romances going on they're not all encompassing.  They're there, they're in love, they need to go on fighting.  It's refreshing to read a series like that.  The drama that happens isn't petty, the tender moments are like a deep breath before all hell breaks loose again, and while hell is loose just the little bits of comfort they give each other, both as friends and romantically, is so well done.  Just a quick glance at each other before entering battle, a nod to a friend to show solidarity.  Fantastic, all of it.

Even after everything was all over and done with it wasn't a "and they lived happily ever after" end to the story.  The epilogue was great.  Eton was a little silly, but it was really nice and gave good closure.  The first part of the epilogue though, I was kind of flipping out with even more "where? why? WHAT???" before it was explained. 

I absolutely love this trilogy, it was completely epic and awesome, and why isn't there a huge fandom for this?  Seriously, such a phenomenal story!  

I give this an 11/10. The conclusion to the series was utterly fantastic, I seldom read such a great ending (the only other one that comes to mind is His Dark Materials).  There's absolutely nothing more satisfying than finishing a story going what a perfect ending, there is no other way that could possibly have gone that would have made it any better.  If you haven't already - GO READ THIS SERIES!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously.  Do it.  Now.

Carry On

by Rainbow Rowell

Summary from GoodReads

Rainbow Rowell continues to break boundaries with Carry On, an epic fantasy following the triumphs and heartaches of Simon and Baz from her beloved bestseller Fangirl.

Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters.

Thoughts on the Book

I loved FanGirl, so when I heard Rowell was actually going to write Carry On I couldn't wait for it.  I was so intrigued by Simon Snow within FanGirl, as well as Baz.  Only getting glimpses into that world was such a tease.

My Review

This book is about Simon Snow entering his final year at Watford.  After being apart from everyone for an entire summer Simon didn't quite know what to expect coming back to Watford.  The past year ended on shaky ground with his girlfriend, his best friend had been abducted along with him and he didn't know how she was before her parents whisked her away and he was put into Normal seclusion.  Then there was his roommate, Baz, who constantly plots to kill him and who is missing.

Can Rowell write the full Simon Snow series?  Pleeeeeeease.  Or Simon Snow series from Baz's point of view, I'd love to see how fifth year was for him, so much angst and torn feelings, it would be amazing! 

When I started reading this book I was kind of hoping for a satire of Harry Potter, since in FanGirl Simon Snow was the Harry Potter equivalent.  I wasn't expecting (stupidly - how many Rowell books have I read now? Sheesh.) such an amazing completely unique story.  The only Harry Potter similarities were that at the age of 11 Harry/Simon was informed they had magic(k)al abilities and were sent to a boarding school where they befriended the smartest girl in school and the animal caretaker and became enemies with a powerful dark boy from a long line of powerful and dark magic(k)al family.  They also were prophesied to bring about the downfall of a major threat to the magickal/wizarding world.  Other than that totally different.

For my character assessment:  Simon was pretty great.  He was smart and honest and when he set out to solve something he followed through, doing his due diligence in research and planning.  Simon was a little to Mage obsessed at first (that mustache?  Just picturing it - gross! Why would Simon ever want it? Thank Crowley he can't grow facial hair!) but fortunately he got over it, or at least toned it down a lot.  Simon was also a little too obsessed with Baz and what he was doing, in a paranoid sense.  According to Simon everything Baz did had the ulterior motive of killing him.

Penny I found to be a little annoying, she just decides who she wants to be friends with (she could have no more than 5 people that she cared about, and that was encroaching on too many) and she was obsessed with lists.  I loved when she got so excited about finding information for Simon and Baz, only to find out they had solved the larger part of the puzzle and were about ten steps farther than her.  I also really enjoyed that it wasn't her that solved the Humdrum mystery. 

Agatha was very blah.  She hated herself, she wanted nothing to do with the Magickal world and just wanted to be Normal.  I don't get it.  I get not liking being looked down on for wanting Normal friends and not being allowed to marry a Normal, but to turn against everything you are?  Then all she wanted to do was run away since that will solve all of life's problems.  I did like how Agatha really tried to shut Penny out, but unfortunately she was one of Penny's 5 people and therefore Penny pestered her to the point of it was easier to just put up with her than to try to cut her out.

Then there was Baz.  Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch.  I freaking loved him.  The second he showed up he became my favorite character.  Then there were the chapters from his point of view, and I loved him even more.  And like I said, I just want Simon Snow and the Five Blades from Baz's point of view.  Baz was such a deep complex character, and once you found out his biggest secret it just all made sense.  I love at the end, if I remember correctly it was the last line of Penny's last chapter, when Penny was, essentially, like "Ooooooooooooooooooh, that explains so much." As a bad guy Baz was awesome, he looked and acted the part perfectly.  As a good guy, Baz was awesome, so smart and strong and helpful.

As for the story, it was great!  The world was a little silly, or at least the spells were silly.  Clever, but silly.  You can't touch this only works if the person the barrier is against knows the song, that totally made me laugh out loud (luckily I was just home with the animals and I'm used to them giving me weird looks).  But the Insidious Humdrum, clever name for what it was, and I loved the resolution of it.  It made perfect sense, and fit perfectly into when the dead spots formed and why Simon is only ever attacked at school.  I also loved how Baz's story fit into the main story line with the Humdrum and Simon's past.  I love how the prophecies fit into everything too. 

The Lucy chapters were a little bit odd, they were like an aside to the reader and it didn't affect the characters or the story at all.  It almost would have been better as a post series prequel.  It actually would have been much better as that because we still don't know what happened to her how is she what she is?  Her story arc left a lot of unanswered questions.

The other part of the book that didn't sit quite right with me was after Simon and Baz's trip to London.  Explaining this without being spoiler-y gets a bit difficult...but, I'll say it would make more sense if it had been Baz.  Simon was just out of the blue with no explanation.  Even afterwards when Baz was trying to get an explanation Simon didn't have one.  But despite that I was still fangirling (pun intended ;-) ) pretty hard at that point.

I give this a 10/10.  I loved every bit of it!  I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good YA fantasy read, or who likes Harry Potter regardless of if you've read Fangirl or not.  And, of course, I recommend it to everyone who has read FanGirl, but honestly, if you've read FanGirl and you haven't read this or even have it on your TBR what's wrong with you?  GET IT! READ IT!

Leopard Lord

by Alanna Morland

Summary from GoodReads

Romantic fantasy at its best--from an exciting new voice in the genre! The successor to the barony of Leopard's Gard has made a wicked deal with the dark god, and now he must choose between the lives of his countrymen--and the woman he loves.

Thoughts on the Book

This book is a re-read for me.  It's been sitting on my bookshelf begging for me to pick it up again.  It's one of my favorite books, and Varian was featured in one of my Top Ten Tuesdays not that long ago.

My Review

This book is about Varian, who is a baron, a were-leopard (snow leopard to be exact), and bound to the dark god.  He makes a deal with the god to give him his wife - as a virgin - so he can free his people from the god's cruelty.

I think Varian is the reason why I love this book so much.  He's such a great person.  His father is completely awful, but Varian inherited his mother's kindness.  He really cares about his people and does all he can to make them better.  He despises slavery and keeps his word to his best friend, his body slave Corven, about freeing him within an hour of becoming baron.  Varian does the best he can for his people to make the barony prosperous, to fairly judge crimes, to make his people as safe as possible.  After an incident caused by the dark lord which killed his friend's new husband Varian snaps and makes the deal to give his future wife to the dark lord to free his people.  But true to form, Varian begins to care too deeply for his wife, Cathlin, and struggles to come to terms with sacrificing her for the good of his people.  The book ends when Varian finally comes to terms with everything he's done and decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to save his people and Cathlin both.

The one part of the book that didn't sit quite right with me was the missing girls from the village.  When they came back into the story the seemed totally unaffected by what had happened to them.  Which was completely traumatizing, there should have been PTSD like whoa.  Either the women of Leopard Gard are made of some serious stuff, or what happened to them is pretty common in the barony.  Which we were led to believe Varian has zero tolerance for...Although I suppose they all grew up with Varian's father as baron, so it was pretty standard for him.  Sorry about the vague I'm trying to not give spoilers and their fate was pretty shocking.

I give this a 9/10.  It really stands up to rereading years later.  

The Hero and the Crown

by Robin McKinley

Summary from GoodReads

Aerin could not remember a time when she had not known the story; she had grown up knowing it.
It was the story of her mother, the witchwoman who enspelled the king into marrying her, to get an heir that would rule Damar; and it was told that she turned her face to the wall and died of despair when she found she had borne a daughter instead of a son.
Aerin was that daughter.
But there was more of the story yet to be told; Aerin's destiny was greater than even she had dreamed--for she was to be the true hero who would wield the power of the Blue Sword...

Thoughts on the Book

I keep thinking of this book doing the Top Ten Tuesdays, it's one of my favorite books ever.  It might actually beat out Watership Down as my all time favorite book, it's that good.  I was sitting at my end of summer party staring at the bonfire and all I could think about was what it would be like to put the kenet on my finger and stick it into the flame.  Weird thought, right?  At that point I said alright, I'm re-reading The Hero and the Crown,  it's been too long since I last read it.

My Review

This book is about Aerin finding herself.  Aerin is the king's daughter but she is not your typical princess (or Sola as they're called in Damar), she wants nothing to do with court life and typical woman's activities.  Naturally this leads to dragons and epic battles.

The first time I read this book I was probably around 10, then I read it when I was 11, then 12, then 13, then 15, then 18, and then college and life happened so I hadn't picked it up since then.  But I'm happy to say it really really stands up.  It was my favorite book as a kid, and it's still definitely right up there.  

Aerin is probably my all time favorite female protagonist.  She's so realistic, she's this sad lonely girl who's picked on and disliked by 90% of the population.  In response she hides herself away.  She then becomes obsessed with mixing a potion which leads to her doing stupid reckless things which in the end help save the kingdom.  She's not quite the reluctant hero, but she's the hapless naive one that ends up kicking so much ass.  It isn't until the end that she really becomes comfortable in her own skin and finds her place in the world.

Tor is another great character, he's one of the few people that likes Aerin.  He is the first Sol, meaning the heir to the throne, and also Aerin's first cousin who is about 10 years older than her.  Whenever anything happens to Aerin Tor is right there to help her or comfort her.  Even if all that means is he's there to talk to her.  He cares for Aerin deeply, first as a cousin, then a friend, then more than a friend.  Everyone in the kingdom notices this and some, like the King, are happy about it, others, like practically everyone else, isn't.  The only one that doesn't have an opinion on the matter, or even notices it is Aerin.  Even so Tor remains devoted to her and always there for her.

Talat is also one of my favorite characters.  Yes, Talat, her horse.  He's so loyal and he really has a great personality.  Aerin had to earn his trust and encourage him when she was a young girl and in return Talat saved her life many times.  He's also pretty funny, in his horsey way.

Luthe was an interesting character.  He kind of comes out of nowhere and in his half-assed way saves Aerin's life.  He trains her and sends her off to fulfill a prophecy, which only he and his peers knew about, then rescues her again at the end.  I wish we could see more of her time in Luthe's hall, really see how they began to fall for one another.

As for the story itself, it spans Aerin's life from her early teens through to her mid/late twenties.  It's set up into 3 basic parts, growing up, fighting dragons, and fulfilling the prophecy.  I loved the first two parts, but I wish there was more to the last part.  More of Luthe, more of the God Who Climbs then Falls.  I felt like they spent more time with Maur's head than with the tower.  But that could have just been the speed in which I read, and how much I got interrupted while reading.

Overall I give this book a 11/10.  I love this book so much, especially since it really stands up to time and rereads.

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Summary From GoodReads

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family . . . 

Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, The Graveyard Book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.

Thoughts on the Book

I consider myself a fan of Gaiman, even though I had only ever read one book by him.  I'm not sure why, it could be because he always is categorized with other authors I'm fans of, or I like him from interviews.  When I saw this available as an audio book I jumped at listening to it, because who doesn't want to listen to Gaiman narrating his own book?

My Review

This book follows Nobody Owens in his journey to adulthood.  He grows up in a graveyard, raised by ghosts, after the man Jack killed his family.

I loved this story, right from the beginning.  Who doesn't love a story that starts with Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns?  It's one of my favorite classical pieces, and so much freaking fun to play!  But besides the amazing music at the beginning and in between each chapter the story itself was great.  Bod was such a sweet kid.  The story really focused on him growing up.  It was very character driven with not too much action until the very end.  But the world was enough to hold interest, and the characters were engaging enough to move the story along.  

I like the mystery of why Jack killed Bod's family, he didn't find out until the very end.  I love also that the prophecy was self fulfilling.  Those are my favorite kind.  I also really enjoyed Liza, the witch, she was my favorite character.  It was cool how the rules of consecrated ground differ from unconsecrated ground, so she could essentially be a second guardian to Bod.

Overall I give this a 10/10. I highly recommend this story.  Gaiman is a fantastic story teller.  Now I want to read this story just to see the illustrations!

The Dinosaur Lords

by Victor Milán

Summary from GoodReads

A world made by the Eight Creators on which to play out their games of passion and power, Paradise is a sprawling, diverse, often brutal place. Men and women live on Paradise as do dogs, cats, ferrets, goats, and horses. But dinosaurs predominate: wildlife, monsters, beasts of burden – and of war. Colossal planteaters like Brachiosaurus; terrifying meateaters like Allosaurus and the most feared of all, Tyrannosaurus rex. Giant lizards swim warm seas. Birds (some with teeth) share the sky with flying reptiles that range in size from batsized insectivores to majestic and deadly Dragons.

Thus we are plunged into Victor Milán's splendidly weird world of The Dinosaur Lords, a place that for all purposes mirrors 14th century Europe with its dynastic rivalries, religious wars, and byzantine politics…and the weapons of choice are dinosaurs. Where we have vast armies of dinosaur-mounted knights engaged in battle. And during the course of one of these epic battles, the enigmatic mercenary Dinosaur Lord Karyl Bogomirsky is defeated through betrayal and left for dead. He wakes, naked, wounded, partially amnesiac – and hunted. And embarks upon a journey that will shake his world.

Thoughts on the Book

I've been looking forward to this book from the second I found out about it.  Medieval knights riding dinosaurs, what could be better?  Plus the blurb from George R.R. Martin - "It's like a cross between Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones" seriously, what could be better?  I love both of those series (yes the books, no not the movies/tv show).  I had pre-ordered this book and got it the day it came out.

My Review

This book follows three characters, Karyl, Jaume, and Melodía.  Karyl, right at the beginning, dies during a battle due to a head wound.  He wakes and is chased, his left (dominate) hand is cut off and he flings himself to death off of a cliff.  We finally see him later suffering from headaches, night terrors, and crippled, when he finally starts his journey with Rob, a dinosaur trainer.  Jaume and Melodía are "betrothed", it's not official, but everyone knows that they will marry.  Melodía's father just needs to stop sending Jaume away to battle.  

I really enjoyed this book.  The world was awesome, I'm intrigued as to how people got to Paradise - can I just comment on the world's name, Paradise?  How awesome is that?  You're living with dinosaurs and magic, so of course it's paradise.  But it's also so ironic with the wars and everything going on.  I digress, I also loved how he gave us tidbits about the history of Paradise in the blurbs in the chapter titles.  He also did lessons on dinosaurs (which I, of course, looked up and every single one of them had existed on Earth at some point) as well as deities.  It was such a cool way to world build that didn't bog the story down with information.  Speaking of the chapter titles and the blurbs, those drawings are so cool.  The artist that designed the cover and those doodles, amazing.

As for the characters, Karyl is awesome, I love him.  He's such a cool character, so stoic.  I especially love the change of character for him that happened between when we first saw him on the battlefield and the Karyl that we meet juggling on the street.  Through Karyl's own admission we learn that the man he was before wasn't as good as the man he is now. 

I also loved Jaume, he has great philosophies that we learn about later in the novel, and he's an all around good person.  He feels bound by duty and will never betray those he serves, which isn't such a great trait since it puts him in a bad place to keep warring when he doesn't want to.

Melodía I'm not so fond of, at least until the end of the story.  She so entitled and thinks she's so much better and smarter than everyone else because she's the princess.  What happens to her in the end is absolutely horrible, but the resolution of that made her realize how stuck up she'd been, and the book ends with her starting to turn a new leaf.

For the two main secondary characters, Falk and Rob, I like them both - as characters.  Falk is intriguing, I can't wait to find out more about him in the next book.  Then there's Rob, I have mixed feelings about him, I partially like him a lot, but then I get annoyed by him too, some of the prose about him seems forced, like Milán had an idea for the character and as Rob grew he kept trying to force him into this other character.  The parts where the real Rob shone through I liked a lot, but the other parts not so much.

One more thing that I absolutely loved about the book was the dinosaurs.  Milán did his research on them, he even kept up with the current theories.  These aren't the dinosaurs a la Jurassic Park, they're closer to the dinosaurs that did exist.  They are more like birds, they have feathers. I also loved that the dinosaur knights did not ride the raptor dinosaurs except for very few, they mostly rode duckbills.  Those that did ride raptors found them as they hatched and were impressed on by the dinosaur.  I love the two sections from Shiraa's point of view that she thinks of Karyl as mother.

I did have a couple problems with the book.  The main one being what the hell is that map in the beginning?  Seriously, I don't give a damn about what the capitol looks like, they're only ever in the Firefly Palace, and it's only Melodía who is there, though Jaume shows up briefly.  Everything else takes place well away from there, and there's absolutely no context where they are in relation to each other.  

My other issue was the pacing.  It was difficult to get engrossed in the story, it kept flipping between 3 stories that didn't really relate to each other (I'm assuming that's a 'yet', I'm sure they'll all tie in together in future books).  The most annoying part of this was that it didn't switch per chapter like most other stories, but within the same chapter it would flip flop between characters in completely different areas.  It was so difficult to follow, especially Jaume's storyline since there were so many supporting characters for him I had such a hard time figuring out who was who, and when the perspective switched to Jaume's story and it didn't mention him right away I had no idea what story was being told, I thought it was a new one.

Overall I give this book an 8.5/10.  The story itself was great, I loved the characters and I loved the world.  The map really bothered me and the pacing made it extremely difficult to get fully engrossed in the story.  If the pacing/perspectives had been done better this definitely would've gotten a 10/10.

The Name of the Star

by Maureen Johnson
narrated by Nicola Barber

Summary from GoodReads

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. 

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Thoughts on the Book

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time (like years).  I love love love Jack the Ripper.  I find him completely fascinating, the mystery of it, the brutality of it - how could someone do that to another person????, the media frenzy around it.  What's not to love?  I'm also a big fan of Maureen Johnson.  So why did it take me so long to read?  I met Maureen and she signed my copy.  With my love of Jack and my love of her I really really didn't want to damage my copy.  My boyfriend and I went to the library before our big road trip and I saw this sitting nicely on the audio-book shelf and I super excitedly grabbed it, while he groaned and commented that we had more than enough books to get us to Canada and back.  I don't think he regretted me grabbing this one though :)

My Review

This book is about Rory, a southern belle from Louisiana who goes to boarding school in London's East End to spend some time away from Louisiana to be more cultured.  She becomes great friends with her roommate and her roommate's friends and struggles with the culture shock of British school versus American school.  The day Rory arrives in London the first of "Jack's" victim's was found, August 31st.  The murders are more of a background thing at first, but after the double murder on September 30th the murders and the search for the culprit come more to the forefront of the story.

I loved this book.  I loved every second of this book.  I'll start with Nicola Barber.  Best voice actress ever!  Her accents were unbelievable - so damn good, no one can be that awesome.  I love how no one sounded the same, even the regular narration voice was totally different from the characters.  Rory's slight southern accent, Jazza's posh English accent,  Boo's more urban London accent, Callum's Irish accent.  Everything was so good!  I don't think I can read the rest of this series, I just have to listen to Nicola read it to me.

Now for the nitty gritty of the book.  I loved how Jerome was so into the murders, I would have acted the exact same way (did I mention that I absolutely love Jack the Ripper?).  He was the most relatable character to me.  The other character besides Jerome I could identify the most with was Jazza.  She's so serious and down to earth about stuff.  

Rory was a great protagonist, while not the best I've ever read, she was definitely up there close to the best.  She was very realistic, she had a good balance of things that needed to be done and enjoying herself.  I especially enjoyed how her romantic relationship was told.  It just happened in the background, it wasn't all encompassing, and it wasn't over the top like so many other YA romances are.

As for the Shades, Stephen was interesting.  I like him, and I can't wait to learn more about it, his past was tragic and he's very closed off to everyone, but I have a feeling he's going to start opening up a bit more, at least to Rory.  Callum I loved, he's such a fun character.  There's so much going on with him, his past was awful as well, but it made him angry where it made Stephen withdrawn.  Boo was also a great character, but she was probably my least favorite, at least of the main characters.  She actually reminded me a lot of Jess's older sister Pinky from Bend it Like Beckham.

Pinky from Bend it Like Beckham

The pacing of the book was great too.  It didn't jump over things, time marched on at a steady pace throughout.  Things didn't happen super fast (I'm getting sick of characters falling madly in love in 3 days, or becoming the best of friends in a day. Really people?  This doesn't happen.) and when they did happen it felt like the natural progression of things.  I also loved that Rory still kept in touch with her friends back home.  While her, Jazza, Jerome, and later Boo became close friends she still didn't ditch her friends.  Sure she didn't talk about them much, but she'd drop hints that she still kept in touch with them.  

I also loved the end of the story. It was so unpredictable, even thinking back over the events there was no foreshadowing of the conclusion, but it didn't feel like it came out of left field.  I completely agreed with Rory for why she was so creeped out everything that was going on.  The very end was awesome as well, I can't wait to read the next in the series!

Overall I give this a 10/10.  Great characters, great story, great pacing, and the best narration I've heard.

Book Rating: 10/10

Narration Rating: 11/10

Short Story Sunday [10]

The Ascent of Unreason
by Marie Brennan

Review

This story is about a dancer who gives up dancing to become a work of art until war changes everything.

I found the story to be pretty unremarkable, it was neither good nor bad, it just was.  I didn't really understand the protagonist.  She didn't like to conform to the rules of dancing so instead of quitting she made sure she was kicked out?  I did like the ending though, her final confrontation with the artist.  It was just getting there that took to long, too much exposition, a little more character development for the main character and less describing dancing and the works of art she became would have been better.

I give this story a 5/10, it was solidly in the middle for me the bad equaled the good and the narration was good.

I listened to this story on Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Go have a listen.

The Golden Compass vol. 1

by Philip Pullman (adapted by Stéphane Melchior and Clément Ouberie) 

Summary From GoodReads

The world of Philip Pullman’s internationally bestselling His Dark Materials saga is brought to visual life in book 1 of a three-volume graphic adaptation of The Golden Compass.

Lyra Belacqua is content to run wild among the scholars of Jordan College, with her dæmon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle—a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, and a mysterious substance known as Dust. As she hurtles toward danger in the cold far North, Lyra never suspects the shocking truth: she alone is destined to win—or to lose—this more-than-mortal battle.

The stunning full-color art offers both new and returning readers a chance to experience the story of Lyra, an ordinary girl with an extraordinary role to play in the fates of multiple worlds, in an entirely new way.

Thoughts on the Book

This was one of the books I was the most excited about from BEA.  His Dark Materials is my absolute favorite series ever written.  

My Review

Volume 1 of The Golden Compass goes right up until the mechanic bugs see Lyra on the ship. 

Pretty much the only thing I liked about this adaptation was the underlying story.  The part that they took from Philip Pullman.  The artwork wasn't very good.  Fadar Coram was downright creepy looking.  As were almost all of the characters.  The pictures didn't really enhance the story at all, and the parts from the book that were taken were only dialogue.  So much was missing, it made the story so dull and rushed.  Even major plot devices were left out.  For example, the caught one of the mechanical beetles, but that was that, they didn't put it in the round tin and weld the sides.  Um, that's kind of really important even though it seems like an insignificant event.

In reading the original novel I absolutely loved Lyra, she's such an interesting character, and my favorite female protagonist ever written.  Pan was also a great character, the one that hung back when Lyra didn't care about the consequences, the one that voiced intelligent concerns before rash decisions.  In the graphic novel Pan was there to be different animals randomly, and add a bit of dialogue.  On top of that Lyra wasn't developed at all.  It was more like the adapters were like "oh! this dialogue is important, let's just throw it in here with a creepy drawing" and didn't care one iota about character development.  Even Mrs. Coulter didn't seem that evil.  Her true evil comes from the fact that she acts so nice and sweet all the time.  And the monkey?  Not even a little scary in this.  The creepiness of the normal characters made the drawing of the monkey almost cute.

Another thing that really bothered me is Pan, he appears mostly as a pine martin, which he hardly ever was during the book.  That was just lazy and unnecessary.  Bravo illustrators/adapters you read the Amber Spyglass!  The adapters don't even bother to try to explain dæmons, there are just a bunch of random animals with everyone, and Lyra's looks different every couple of pages. It's like everyone has an insignificant pet with them, but Lyra's is slightly different because it talks and can shape-shift.

If you've read The Golden Compass, you may as well skip this adaptation, it will probably just annoy you and make you want to reread the book to get the awfulness out of your head.  If you haven't read it yet DO NOT read this version, the story is so much better than what they threw together.

Overall I give this a 4/10.  If it were any other story it would be less, but the four points it gets are strictly because the story itself is amazing, despite what they did to ruin the telling of it.

Reawakened

by Colleen Houck

Summary from GoodReads

When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification.

And she really can't imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe to find his brothers and complete a grand ceremony that will save mankind.

But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world.

From New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck comes an epic adventure about two star-crossed teens who must battle mythical forces and ancient curses on a journey with more twists and turns than the Nile itself.

Thoughts on the Book

I've been making some good progress going through my BEA books.  This was the next on my pile to read.  It got bumped up in the list because some fellow bloggers gave it awesome reviews, so I couldn't wait to read it myself.  And then there's the cover: sooooo pretty!

My Review

This book is about a mummy, Amun, who awakens.  He's not an evil mummy, but a demi-god blessed by Amon-Ra and Horus to return every millenia to thwart Seth (or Set) with his two brothers.  When Amun wakes up he is in the Met in NYC and the only one around is a perfect rich girl, Lilliana, who is discontent with her "perfect" life.

The characters in this are amazing.  Lilliana, or as Amun calls her, Lily, is wonderful.  I absolutely loved her.  Her parents are sort of there.  They try to be there for Lily, but she finds them to be mostly absent.  They're both very power driven and want Lily to be perfect and influential, not to mention do absolutely nothing to tarnish their reputation.  But the do really care for Lily, and she knows it.  That's the struggle for her.  She wants to go to college, but not an Ivy League one just for the prestige, she loves observing people, but doesn't want to disappoint her parents by going for a not-so-fabulous degree.  Meeting her at the beginning when she was contemplating college while hanging out at the Met I thought she'd love Anthropology, it's all about people watching and understanding them.  After finished the book I'd be shocked if she didn't go that route, maybe not Cultural Anthropology anymore but Archaeology.  

Amun is another fantastic character.  He's so sweet, and very smart.  Not to mention eloquent.  Good lord some of the stuff that guy said.  Even Lily thought he was being overly cheesy, but she quickly realized he was just speaking from the heart.  Those ancient Egyptian princes, they were real poets.  I also absolutely loved his second nickname for Lily (Lily, or Young Lily, being the first), Nehebet.  It means water lily, specifically a rare water lily that only grows in oases.  

Reawakened was action-packed throughout.  From the very beginning when Amun awakens then gets hit by a car then run over by a few more.  The journey to Egypt, the epic battles throughout that lead up to the even more epic battle at the end.  There wasn't a dull moment.  Even the slower parts of the book were laced with humor.  Amun would call taxis yellow chariots and airplanes white flying chariots.  When he first met Lily he told her he was accustomed to waking to a feast and singing, but she could sing to him later.  Silly things like that kept happening, and even after Amun became more accustomed to our time Asten showed up and started making silly comments along with his over the top personality.

I absolutely loved this book.  It wasn't written like your typical YA book, it felt more like an adult novel.  The romance wasn't all consuming, it was more of an annoyance to Lily for most of the book.  It also read like a stand alone book.  I actually thought that it was until I looked at GoodReads and it said "the Reawakened #1", sigh, why can't there be awesome stand alones?  Why do they always have to be part of a series?  I just hope the later ones in the series read the same way this one did.  

I give this a 10/10.  My only complaints are a smidgen more foreshadowing when they met Osahar would have been nice, and more Asten and Ahemet.  Seriously, the little taste of them we got just left me wanting to know them more!  Asten's so great, and his bantering with Ahemet was so entertaining.  So for book two, more of the brothers please!!