Throne of Glass (08/08/18)

This book in many ways is a standard love triangle young adult novel. If you found twilight, hunger games or house of night style books tedious. Then don’t bother here. If, however, you are like me, then open up this book for a whole new world of blooming brilliance.
Simple, if interesting concept of a young assassin roped into a be all competition to become the tyrannical kings personal Champion assassin.

I found all the main characters interesting and well rounded. I want to know more about them. Luckily there are more books in this series and I can already tell there are going to be some interesting developments with some characters. The main character Celaena, I liked, a small criticism being we maybe didn’t need telling how beautiful she was every other page. This did become less apparent as the book neared its end. Love interest wise, I surprisingly liked both possibilities. Both Chaol and Dorian were likeable and swoon worthy. Without giving away anything, I have surprised myself at which one I am routing for. I would be lying however if I didn’t admit this changes every now and again.

The character of Nehemia added some depth to Celaena that I feel helped both characters become more interesting and added some nice non love interest drama to the story. Nehemia seems fierce to me and I could see her being such a strong female force in this fantasy world.

There was plenty about this book that should have made it just a YA guilty pleasure. But I feel there are some foundations for this being a blindingly fabulous series and I am just so happy to have started it. I get very into these types of books, I love a good series, but I always worry starting one. Whether it will hold up against all the other books I have read before. And luckily for me this one did. I can already feel myself getting all fan-girly about it. I could also see this being a fabulously epic tv series.

The main criticisms about this book are that the beginning does seem very predictable and a bit slow on any action happening. This young girl is meant to be this fierce, sly and amazing assassin that needs guards at all time. Yet it takes time ¾ of the way through the book for her to have a real fight scene. Plenty of people would have lost interest before that point. Luckily, I didn’t. by the end I had a good feel for what the next books will become. I could feel the writing evolving as it went on. So if your giving this book ago and feel like it’s a bit, meh, please give it till the end to judge it. It may surprise you.

Graceling (25/10/14)

Finally got round to reviewing my most recent read. Graceling is the first book in the Graceling Realm Trilogy, it is also my first experience of Kristin Cashore. I must say that when I started this book I definitely felt like the author had very little imagination, at least in regards to the naming of the Kingdoms (Nander, Estill, Sunder, Wester and Middluns). I literally rolled my eyes at this poor attempt to rename north, south, east, etc. Personally I found it hard to take seriously and nearly made me put the book down. Luckily this is one of the only things that bothered me. The rest of the book, the concept, characters and plot were all really good and I easily found myself routing for the characters.

This is a fantasy world were Gracelings are known by their differently coloured eyes. Their Graces can show themselves in any number of ways some could be graced with cooking skills, numeracy whilst others have graces for fighting. Enter the main character Katsa, who is being used by her Uncle Randa the King of the Middluns. All Gracelings are owned by their kings and are used by them unless their graces are not that important or useful. Katsa is unfortunate that her Grace is exceptional. She is almost unbeatable in a fight, is skilled at archery and sword fighting and can kill a man before he realises what is happening. But Katsa is unwilling to be just a hired hand, used to deal out Randa’s often unfair idea of justice. So she has formed a secret council, a network of people who aim to help those who cannot help themselves and deal out a better form of justice where they can. All under the noses of the kings from all the kingdoms. It is on one of these very missions that Katsa rescues a Lienid, Prince Tealiff, and runs into another Graceling with exceptional skills. After knocking him out, and leaving him at the castle she has rescued Prince Tealiff from Katsa is surprised when he turns up at her home and turns out to be Prince Tealiffs grandson, known to everyone as Po. After the Po tree of lienid whose leaves grown silver and gold to match Prince Po’s eyes. Together to two embark on a mission which changes who Katsa believes she can be.

I completely loved the character of Po. Personally, I wish the author didn’t have so much against marriage, because I just feel like their love story was lacking something. Some sort of final closure, especially since I have found out these characters are not even to be used in the other books. I loved the way Po was able to bring out the best in Katsa and but I would have liked to have seen more of Po developing from Katsa influence. Because she most definitely had an influence on him. This is a very fine YA fantasy with the only negative being some odd and awkward naming of places and characters was a very enjoyable read. The views of the author on marriage and women’s independence does come through pretty strongly, with no wavering of the opinion. This for me was too strong for the story, I am not saying it needed to turn into an all mighty lovey dovey fest, but, there may have been some value in creating a symbiotic relationship were they are both equal in the relationship and committed without getting married. It sort of felt, if not said, that one day she would just pack up and move on and he needed to be ready to except that. Taken at face value I did enjoy this book just felt some of the themes came on a little strong for my liking.

After Before (20/10/14)

I received After Before, a while ago as a first reads book. I started it a while ago, but have recently repacked it up and became completely engrossed by it. The pause in reading this book was not based on how engaging I found this book. But rather I was focused on other books I was reading. Once I dedicated my time to this book however, I couldn’t stop. When I wasn’t reading it I was thinking out it, and actually about a point of history I didn’t know about, or at least didn’t know a lot about.

The book focuses on three women, who through chance are pulled into each others lives. There is Vera, newly engaged and newly discovering her faith in god. Her fiancé Luke, a devote Christian is helping her to change her life for the better, to move forward and overcome her past. But there is so much more to her past than she has told Luke and she finds it impossible to move on and become better while she still hold onto these secrets.  Luke is Vera’s link to Lynn, his mother, who has found out she has terminal cancer and has to relinquish her control on the life. As she comes to terms with her illness and what will be her untimely death she relives elements of her life that she resents and was unable to achieve because of the choices she made. Vera tries to help care for Lynn, but the two cannot come to terms with each other and so Emily, originally from Rwanda, is brought in to care for Lynn. Emily is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, and has not come to terms with all that she has seen, or what was done to her. She drifts through her life never wanting to remember her past but forever at its whim. The story flits back and forth through the present and the past for each of the three women. All with different stories but all in pain and unable to let go.

I found Emily’s story the most interesting, I could have read a book just about her and how she learns to deal with the horrible event that has overtaken her life. Her flash backs are so well written, graphic in places, but dignified to the history that these people have to live with. We hear a lot about the injustice and the horror of the holocaust, which happened in the Second World War. But learning about the Rwandan Genocide through Emily’s 12 year old eyes really touched me. I could feel the fear building, know what was to happen but having to control over it. Knowing that the people who were yesterday your friends are no longer that.

This is a brilliantly written book about forgiveness. That without forgiveness, whether that is for yourself, through god, or for other people, that you will not be able to move on and truly live. Would highly recommend it is however not a light-hearted or emotionally easy read.

The Woodcutter (25/09/14)

What would happen if you tried to put as many fairy-tale characters and plots into one book? Wouldn’t everything get a bit confusing? Wouldn’t you only be able to take snippets of these fairy-tale to try and work them into a bigger plot line? Well that’s pretty much what happens in The Woodcutter.

The Woodcutter, is a retelling of a number of fairy-tale through a many story line revealing around ’The Woodcutter’. A man, one with the trees and the wood in which he lives, setting off on a journey to protect and serve his forest. Along the way he discovers the fae are being captured, princesses are being murdered and generally happy ever afters are being ruined. He must use his wits and his Axes to fight off the evils and right the wrongs he comes across.

When I read the blurb for this book, it seemed like my cup of tea completely. I love retellings of fairy tales such as Fables and the TV series Once upon a time. So I go into these types of things knowing things are not going to be exactly like the fairy tales I knew as a child. That’s what I love about them. But with this book, well, I can’t say that I wasn’t disappoints to begin with. I felt like so much more could have been done with it. 

It does pick up and the last 40% of the book was really quite good and really came together and gave me some ‘wow’ type moments. But even then I felt I could put it down at any point to make a cup of tea, and in reality when I get to the last half of a book I should be glued to it, as if I can’t honestly wait a couple of minutes to make my tea and not be reading the book. Overall, a pretty average read, but mostly I felt it could have been given more depth and back story. There were so many times something was brought up and I would think, ‘wow that would be a brilliant place for a flash back’. Due to the lack of back story and depth it was difficult to really warm to the main character until pretty late in the book.

The Lovely Bones (23/08/14)

This is another book I have felt the urge to read after watching the film. I probably would never have picked this book up if I hadn’t seen the film previously. The Lovely Bones is not the easiest story to read, as it is the story of a 14 year old girl, Susie Salmon, being raped and murdered. Told from the perspective of Susie in her heaven watching over her family, friends and murderer as they carry on with their life in the years after her death. The story develops from the initial stages of grief and devastation felt by her family and friends to how the move on and, not forget her, but learn to live again.

This story could be hard work to read due to the subject matter, but in fact it is beautiful in all the right places. It is raw in detailing human emotions, and how people can feel guilty for feeling normal after the death of a loved one occurs. It is a lovely thought, of people moving onto a place where the heaven is what they make of it, that it is different for each person and that they can build upon it and still have the ability to watch over the family they left behind. 

My one bug bear with the book was the character of Susie’s mother, Abigail. I understand that grief affects everyone differently but I couldn’t warm to her due to the actions she took in the subsequent years after her eldest daughter was killed. But I found all the other characters interesting and well developed including in particular Susie’s sister Lindsey, who had to grow up to quickly and Susie’s could have been boyfriend Ray, who didn’t let being accused of her murder destroy him. Even the killers’ character was interesting to read about and whilst I never sympathised with his past history as it is told, it felt important to include more about him than just having him defined by the murder he committed. Probably the most developed and grief stricken character was Susie’s father Jack, the way he dealt with his emotions is more how I imagined a parent would act after losing a child this way. It really pulled at your heart when he had to push down his grief to still try to be a father to his two remaining children, but the whole time feeling guilty that Susie wasn’t there which obviously made it harder for his to let go. I would recommend this book but due to the subject matter, no matter how delicately it is written and dealt with, still may not be for everyone.

12 Years a Slave (13/07/14)

I am not normally a big fan of memoirs or autobiographies, but after watching 12 Years a Slave and upon finding out that Solomon Northup had written about his experience I thought I would give it ago. Now bearing in mind that I had seen the film, so knew the gist of his tale and the major plot elements, I still enjoyed this book. Now, enjoyed may be the wrong term, I definitely feel enlightened and am now more aware of history of slavery in the deep south. Especially with the cases of ‘white slaves’ or mulattoes which had been previously overlooked throughout the brief education on the subject given at school. I had to look up the term as Solomon kept mentioning it, and I had never before come across the term. Coming from the UK, our education is very sparse on this matter and only covers the basics of; slavery happened, this is how they were expected to live and work, then it was abolished.

Now back to the book, it wasn’t the easiest of read, having been written in the 1840’s after Solomon’s release from bondage. Some of the sentences were pretty heavy going mainly because of words or phrases being present no longer in use. I persevered through, as once I started I felt I had to finish it. In my opinion the only way of getting a real account of conditions and the practices during this portion of history is from the people who experienced it. However, due to the way the slaves were treated, many did not know how to read or write so I don’t know how abundant this information is.

Solomon’s narrative is concise, when considering he was a slave for 12 years and he goes into great detail about how cotton and sugar cane is planted and grown so that the reader better understands the constant work load the slaves were expected to work under. His is a happier tale than most although still bittersweet. This isn’t a spoiler, as he would not have been able to write his account had he not escaped captivity. It is also a thought provoking book, when he speaks of kinder plantation owners, that whilst are still keeping other humans as slaves are not considered by him to be bad people, just that they are the products of the education and environment they live in. I would recommend, but it is not light reading.