Jennifer Bosworth
5 / 10
From the blurb: My name is Mia Price and I am a lightning addict. I want the lightning to find me. I crave it like lungs crave oxygen. Nothing makes you feel more alive than being struck.
I didn't know what to expect when I started this book. I knew it would contain a post-earthquake LA, a girl addicted to being stuck by lightning, and a choice that would decide the earth's fate... or something. (I'm still a little foggy about her big choice and its direct impact.)
But if I'm being honest, I was a little disappointed. There were two different cults trying desperately to recruit Mia and a strange boy begging her to stay out of the conflict altogether. She struggles when it comes to deciding who to trust - and yet I couldn't bring myself to care. There was no real sense of tension or fear. Maybe it's because I didn't find Mia an interesting character. She starts out as an unwilling heroine until her family are threatened (her younger, innocent brother who gets dragged into the fight and her mother who mentally "checked out" after losing someone she loves in a mine building collapse) but has none of the likeability of Katniss.
Katrina, on the other hand, I found curious and compelling. She's a child warrior of sorts, dark and sophisticated, fiery and cool, but actually vulnerable under the dark hair and striking clothes. But she wasn't really in the book enough to salvage it. That's something I found a lot in this book, actually - I'd be fascinated by a character, like Militiaman Brent, but they'd barely show up.
And what of Jeremy, the gorgeous but sweet love interest with "boxy, Clark Kent glasses"? Well... he was kind of dull. He kept so many secrets from Mia and after a few of the things he does to her, I couldn't bring myself to love him the way Mia inexplicably and practically unquestionably does. He's not the only character with strange methods, either. Kale claims to want to recruit Mia, but instead of treating her with respect he just aims for force. She agrees to help and in return he... attacks her? Really?
Having said that, I did read the book til the very end. The climax was good, if not amazing, and there were a few laughs to be had. There was nothing hugely exciting about Bosworth's post-apocalyptic vision except the Rove, though I did really like that idea (not telling what it is, though!) and the poetry that links to it.
I did enjoy reading this book. But I probably won't read it again anytime soon.
Teaser quote: People probably wondered if I had scales under my clothes. Nope, just Lichtenberg figures.
Try this if you liked 'Blood Red Road' by Moira Young or 'Maze Runner' by James Dashner.
This is where I'll show books I read over and over again, because I just love them!
Smoulder
(Also known as 'The Space Between' outside the UK)
Brenna Yovanoff
10 / 10
From the blurb: Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time - until her brother Obie is kidnapped, and Daphne realises she may be partly responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying.
With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie's whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.
The mythology in this book is so in-depth and fascinating - there's a whole host of demons and angels and somewhere in between lies Daphne. Lilith is given a new lease of life; she's a real person under all the evil and though she is often cruel and careless, she truly cares for both Daphne and Obie. It's also interesting to see Brenna Yovanoff's museum of human artifacts, which mundane items are held up to show human life, and her terminal - it's the only way to travel from Pandemonium to Earth, and is laid out much like the London Underground.
Once Daphne's on Earth, she's hilariously clueless. Instead of being slapstick, though, it's curious and terrifying. Despite being so dangerous, she is utterly naive and I felt a need to take her hand and lead her through our world. It's great to see the world through her eyes, the eyes of someone who can see all the beauty and horror and hope we've grown accustomed to.
But what really steals the show in this book is the relationship between Daphne and Truman. It's breathtakingly fragile and they're both such destructive people. I found myself rooting for them from the beginning, wanting them to join in a crash of light and fireworks and excitement. They start in a spiralling descent, though, each unwilling to rely on the other, instead preferring to fall apart. There are so many beautiful moments between them, and each one feels breakable and brief.
Teaser quote: I pull back the shower curtain and take Truman's hand. When I close the curtain around us, he raises his eyebrows but doesn't say anything. Behind the curtain, everything feels safer, like the world is very small.
We stand facing each other in the bathtub and he watches me intently. Moves his lips but no sound comes out. He raises his hands and mine rise to meet them, fingers tangling. Here is the best - the realest thing of my life and I don't know how to let him touch me. It scares me, how much I want things.
Julie Kagawa
6 / 10
From the blurb: In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity. She must decide what - and who - are worth dying for.
My vampire creator told me this: 'Sometime in your life, Allison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being. The question is not if it will happen, but when. Do you understand?' I didn't then, not really. I do now.
I wanted so much to love this book. I've heard nothing but rave reviews about this book. It has a feisty heroine, an adorable love interest, and severe violence. What's not to love?
But it was so slow to warm up. It took 194 pages for what I felt was the set-up to end, and the really meaty middle section to begin. Those first 194 pages were filled with boring routines, chunks of information about a world Allison was about to leave behind, and characters who were well-rounded, but needlessly active.
However, once I got past that section, I really began to enjoy this book. As I said, Allison is a strong protagonist; she's angry and handy with a katana, and has a sense of honour and loyalty. Also, she's a survivalist. Once she accepts that becoming a vampire, the very thing she hates the most, was the only way to survive, there's no angsty self-loathing. The relationship between her and Zeke, a human boy, is beautifully self destructive and I loved watching it unfold (That sounds awful when I read it back, but you know what I mean!). Zeke is the highlight of this book, for me. He's smart enough to look assured on the outside, but behind all that are the introspective questions you'd expect from a young adult. He's stoic and brave, loyal to a fault, and generally a good guy.
The action is fantastic, once it finally gets going. It's fast paced and tense, and kept me up well past my bedtime! Plus it didn't fall into the trap of playing safe. I never knew what would happen next, who would die. Nobody was to be taken for granted, not even the lovely little Caleb. And Jebbediah, the leader of their ragtag family, was impossible to read. Could we trust him, and did we want to? (Well, I didn't want to. I didn't like him. But I enjoyed not liking him!)
Overall, not a bad book. I did enjoy reading it - I just hope that the sequel won't have the same long-winded build up!
Teaser quote: 'Be warned,' he said in a low voice, 'even if I turn you now, there is still a chance for you to rise as a rabid. But I will not leave you,' he promised in an even softer voice. 'I will stay with you until the transformation, whatever it may be, is complete.'
Try this if you liked Julie Kagawa's 'Iron Fey' series, or Andrew Fukuda's 'The Hunt'.
I try to read manga when I can because usually the artwork is beautiful. One fantastic feature of manga are the sidebars written by the authors - they're like a mini-blog, so you get snippets of information about the books and the writers themselves. In this section, I'm going to show some of my favourites when I can.
Ouran High School Host Club
Bisco Hatori
From the blurb: In this screwball romantic comedy, a poor girl at a rich school ends up working for the school's swankiest club - and gets mistaken for a boy!
One day, Haruhi, a scholarship student at exclusive Ouran High School, breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to the "Host Club", a mysterious campus group consisting of six super-rich (and gorgeous) guys. To pay back the damages, she is forced to work for the club, and it's there she discovers just how wealthy the members are and how different the rich are from everyone else.
This is a cute, funny manga aimed mostly at girls - a self-proclaimed 'rom-com'. It's hilarious, and regularly finds me laughing out loud. It's fanciful and often ridiculous, and never takes itself too seriously. More recently though (17 of the 18 volumes have been published) it's been getting deeper. There's been a lot of character development and it's probed issues of identity, family and duty. The biggest theme is familial bonds; which is more important, family or friends, and how far should you go to please your relatives?
Rarely does a book make me cry, but Host Club has managed it. Haruhi is such an independent, fascinating heroine. She barely notices the difference between genders and doesn't enforce stereotypes, and barely acknowledges her emotions. So when she discovers she's fallen slowly in love with one of the boys in the host club (no spoilers!) and can't be with him, it breaks my heart to see her eventually fall apart - she's so strong for so long that seeing her upset is horrible.
The other characters are fantastic, too. There's charismatic Tamaki who is positive to the point of annoying. Threatening Kyoya is dark and a genius, with unreadable motives. Hikaru and Kaoru are twins with a desperate need to be seen as one entity but two identities, on an endless quest for fun. Hunny is almost painfully adorable, a boy who loves anything cute but is surprisingly mature. And then there's Mori, who's so quiet you can almost forget he's in a scene, but he's chivalrous and kind, with amazing insight into other people.
Overall, this series is beautiful. I can hardly wait for the next book - but I don't want to read it, because it's the last one!
Ouran High School Host Club volume 18 comes out at the end of June 2012.
This is where I'll show books I read over and over again, because I just love them!
Divergent
Veronica Roth
10 / 10
From the blurb: When sixteen year old Tris makes her choice, she cannot forsee how drastically her life will change. Or that the perfect society in which she lives is about to unfold into a dystopian world of electrifying decisions, stunning consequences, heartbreaking betrayals and unexpected romance.
Tris is the epitome of strong heroines: plucky, independent, brave, selfless, loyal. She's determined and I just adore her. Four is a stoic young man, always looking out for others. So any book where two characters like this fall for each other is already onto a winner.
But this book is so much more than that. Tris lives in a world where at sixteen, everyone must choose a faction based on which personality trait they value most: selflessness, bravery, honesty, intelligence or kindness. When she discovers their supposedly utopian society is actually hiding dark secrets, she's horrified. She never falters though, despite knowing that her chosen path will not be an easy one. She has her friends to lean on, at least - but some prove themselves unworthy of her trust. The book reaches a heartbreaking climax where nobody is safe and nothing can be predicted.
This is a real pulse-pounding read that will leave you gasping for breath and, at points, trying not to cry.
Teaser Quote: Somewhere inside me is a merciful, forgiving person. Somewhere there is a girl who tries to understand what people are going through, who accepts that people do evil things and that desperation leads them to darker places than they ever imagined. I swear she exists, and she hurts for the repentant boy I see in front of me.
But if I saw her, I wouldn't recognise her.
'Stay away from me,' I say quietly. My body feels rigid and cold, and I am not angry, I am not hurt, I am nothing.
'Insurgent', the next book in the series, was released in May 2012. It was fantastic, though I still prefer 'Divergent'.
So what books do you read over and over again? Let me know!
I've just realised that commenting was restricted - whoops! So now anyone can comment, please do. Get involved, I'd love to hear from you!
Julie Kagawa
8 / 10
This review may contain spoilers if you haven't read the first two books in the series. A review of The Iron King can be found here, and The Iron Daughter here.
From the blurb: My name is Meghan Chase. I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.
This time, there will be no turning back.
Let me say this first of all: the packrats are back! Yay! It's a slightly disappointing appearance, but at least they're here. More importantly, the whole gang's back. Grimalkin proves over and over again why he's my favourite character, with his barrage of sarcastic quips and mysterious air, turning up just in time to (disdainfully) save the others. Puck's trying hard to deal with his heartbreak so he's a little mopey and a little angry, but mostly just as funny as always. Ash is stoic and protective and... a little dull. His relationship with Meghan continues to baffle and disappoint me - oh, he's so handsome, I love him. Now they've decided to spend their whole lives together and get married. WHAT? Where has all this come from? I want so desperately to enjoy them being together, but something stops me. And he's pretty overprotective in this book.
Having said that, I still can't like Meghan. She's stopped crying so much, thankfully, and is getting stronger. She learns to fight and insists on using her lessons, which I'm glad about. But she still grates on me. She's very overdramatic, and really dense when it comes to people.
Thankfully, there are more new characters to make me forget about Meghan. There's Razor, a cute little gremlin, (sounds kind of contradictory...) Diode the anxious hacker elf, and Glitch, Machina's former first lieutenant. Rowan's back in all his gory cruelty. Unfortunately when Tertius comes back, he's pretty useless. He does absolutely nothing before disappearing again.
The storyline in this book is fantastic, though. It's a real them-against-the-world adventure quest. The outcome is bleak but they have no choice but to soldier on... so they do, with aplomb. However, it seems like a very safe book. It's another story where you're reading it, knowing that nobody you care about will die. I like to be worrying about the characters, panicking that they'll die. It's also very predictable in places; you'll see the ending coming a mile off.
I liked this book, though I'm hoping the next will be better. It'll be curious to read from Ash's point of view - hopefully it will help to unravel his secrets a little more.
Teaser quote: 'Good idea,' Puck echoed from the back of the cave. 'Why don't you take first watch, prince? You could actually be doing something that doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out with a spork.'
Try this book if you liked 'The Host' by Stephenie Meyer or 'My Soul to Take' by Rachel Vincent.
The Iron Knight was released in January 2012.
