Sunday 31 March 2013

Delirium


Book Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Series: Delirium #1
Date Started: March 25th 2013
Date Completed: March 31st 2013
Genres: Dystopian, Romance, Mystery
Rating: Four stars
Review:

I really liked that book. I have to say, I wasn't as thrilled by it as I expected to be: a lot of people had said this book was absolutely amazing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and I'll probably read the others since it was left on such a huge cliffhanger, but I didn't get really into until the last third, which was a shame.

The story is very much centered around romance - fairly obviously given the description - so I wouldn't read it if you aren't into that sort of thing. For example if I had read this six months ago I would have given up after the second chapter. But, as you get into it, and definitely towards the end, the story becomes a lot faster paced and more engrossing. I stayed up quite late last night reading until almost the end. I just wish the action and danger had been there throughout the entire duration of the book - instead I feel like Delirium itself isn't the story, but merely setting the scene for one. Which is why I'm going to read the following sequels.

However, after complaining about the slowness and lack of events in the book, I really enjoyed it because it was real. I've decided I really like Lauren Oliver because she proves that she understands what it feels like to be young and in love and uncaring of anything else (unlike the general majority of Young Adult fiction).
I'm not a huge fan of deep-thinking books and inner-monologue; I like action and adventure and danger with the feelings on the side (but still believable - I'm picky okay). But this book surprised me in actually not boring me to death, as the majority of the book is Lena thinking in her mind about what's going on and slowing changing as she falls more under the spell of deliria. But actually, a lot of the things she says are intelligent and therefore make the reader want to read further.

(I admit this wasn't one of my most detailed reviews but it's hard to say anything without giving away spoilers, which I absolutely refuse to do.)

In conclusion, if you're a fan of thoughtful books and romance - but with a dystopian/dangerous sort of twist - then you should read this book. I think you'll enjoy it.



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2013/02/delirium-bookcover-2013.jpg

Monday 25 March 2013

The Fault in Our Stars



Book Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Date Started: March 24th 2013
Date Completed: March 25th 2013
Genres: Romance, Coming-of-Age
Rating: Five stars
Review:

Okay. First thing's first. I didn't like Looking for Alaska. But my god has John Green redeemed himself. When my friends said it would rip my heart out I thought it would be like some of the other sad books I'd read. Oh, how wrong I was.
I read this book in just over a day. I started it late last night. And I finished it at around quarter to seven this evening. It's that good. There have been very few books I actually haven't been able to stop reading. That's one achievement to add to the long list for this book.

Where I was frustrated about the ignorance of Looking for Alaska's characters, Augustus and Hazel are painfully honest with each other and their predicament. And I loved the fact that they were real to me, and real things happened. And they acted like someone would if it had really happened to them. I've always loved believable books.
I love the way John Green created Van Houten. Completely unlike how you would expect. And completely unlike the typical Young Adult fiction you get these days. I'm glad there are authors out there that are willing to take risks and step away from the passionate, fleeting, dangerous romances. And yet, looking back on that sentence, it is everything Gus and Hazel's relationship is. But so much more. And so much better.
It helped that I recently visited Amsterdam. I could picture everything they were talking about. And that made it all the more magical. Not that it needed to be more magical. It's perfect on it's own.

I didn't cry, exactly. I cried fairly early on, when they're in the car and Gus is sick. That made me cry because I felt so sorry for them and what was happening. Because I've been in similar situations and it's horrible and no one should go through it.
But later, when it happened, I didn't cry. But, my god, was my heart breaking.
I said this with my last review (Article 5): I related to the characters so much that it hurt ten times more when they hurt. And the same here. I have my own Augustus Waters and bloody hell, did this book make me appreciate him.
Anyway, moving on from the sappiness. I couldn't help myself. Sorry.

I have a friend who says she doesn't want to read this because of what it's about. I understand that. But, as Hazel as rightly argues, cancer books are usually about making people feel sorry for the victims. But this book isn't. This book is wonderful. It has cancer in it, but it is not a cancer book. It is a beautiful book about two wonderful people, caught up in the wrong kind of starcrossed situation.
Laugh. Cry. And think.

(Note: I can't really do justice to the book in a review if I'm honest. I can't describe the perfection of every word; the millions of quotes I just wanted to jot down and gaze at for hours; the subtly of emotions running through the entire story; my desperation for everyone to read and treasure this beautiful story - but the selfish reluctance to share it. I'm already starting to sound like Hazel.)



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Sunday 24 March 2013

Article 5


Book Title: Article 5
Author: Kristen Simmons
Series: Article 5 #1
Date Started: March 20th 2013
Date Completed: March 24th 2013
Genres: Dystopian, Thriller, Romance
Rating: Four stars
Review:

I really liked this book. I admit, the beginning gave me my doubts, and I was avoiding reading it first of all. But then, in about the third, fourth chapter in, I actually physically could not put the book down.
I was really surprised actually. To be honest, the majority of this book isn't crammed with dialogue and thinking about it, not a whole lot happens action-wise. Usually, this sort of thing would really annoy me. But actually, I was completely and utterly gripped.

The book is brilliantly written, and the characters were really believable. Usually when I say certain characters are believable I mean that I could see them possibly living in this world of the book. But Chase and Ember in this book, I could actually pick out parts of their personalities and compare them to my friends. Especially Chase. It was slightly unsettling how much he reminded me of someone, especially when his guard starts to go down in the later parts of the book.

I think something that was really unique for this book, and made the story interesting and different was the fact that the two main characters already knew each other, and had been in a relationship. Therefore, when we meet them again in different circumstances, we start to learn about them through a slower process. I found that, even though the story is told through Ember Miller's point of view, I could actually see how maybe Ember was conflicted and therefore some of her feelings were maybe unjust.
I did not see the plot twist coming. At all. Like I've said in previous reviews, I can usually tell when a climax is approaching etc. But I did not see this coming in the story, and I definitely didn't suspect what the plot twist actually was.

Final thing. I don't think I've mentioned this in any other reviews yet, so I'll mention it now. It takes a lot to make me cry. A lot. I have to really feel close to the characters to be effected by their emotions and what happens to them. And this book made me cry. Only a little bit, near the end. But it did actually make me cry.
I think it's because I could see so many elements of these characters in some of the people that mean the most to me in this world. And so it really got to me. But yes. This book made me cry. Which is an achievement, believe me.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes dystopian, romance, action, adventure books. Especially for fans of Marie Lu, Suzanne Collins and Moira Young.
But please don't get put off by the slow start. I had quite a few doubts when I started reading this book, and I was actually quite disappointed given all the praise it had been getting. But once you actually get to the third or fourth chapter, it picks up really quickly and I couldn't put the book down.



Image Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Book_Cover_of_Article_5.jpg

Monday 18 March 2013

City of Bones

Book Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments #1
Date Started: March 12th 2013
Date Completed: March 18th 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Thriller, Romance, Action
Rating: Four stars
Review:

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Again, I expected it to be a typically teenage vampire romance that I wouldn't enjoy. And to some extent that's true.

But I did actually enjoy it. It was a breath of fresh air to finally read a 3rd person book and the writing style was very good, which meant I was able to focus on the plotline of the story rather than stress about how badly written it was. (Although the long chapters did make it a little hard to read around school, but that's more of a technicality.)

The story was good. Not amazing, but not bad. It was a typical teenage story, but thankfully without all the unbearable romance. There was romance, but a good amount. The thing I liked was that there were a lot of other aspects to the books too: action, adventure, thrill, horror, fantasy and humour. There was a lot of other genres mixed in with the romance, some of which were as strong, which I found really helpful to get me into the story. My favourite part was that I didn't see the plot twists coming. At all. I have a reputation for predicting future events in books, but I couldn't even tell there was something big coming.

The characters were good. I certainly feel in love with Simon, he's adorable. I mean seriously. And I thought Jace and Clary made a good pair. I wasn't expecting it to work quite like that, but the relationship Clare produced was actually very believable and took advantage of the story, rather than overpowering it.

Overall, yes I enjoyed it, and I will be reading the other books in the series. I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy, thrillers and romance. I have a feeling the more typical-teenage-fiction lovers would be able to get more engrossed in it than I did for the pure example that they prefer the romance. But I definitely found enough else in this book to let me enjoy it.


Image Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLr9qsGrKS0WQJKINfj1zqT40gVey60AM2IFMv8aPf-r3WmX5XyoDuDtcKWzjZeb4R1oU8kXt1Erjr8cCK-YgY-2B1Qwr6oCXDshuPpULXeJ-nbDgjW7SkyASEsW6CRfPS_DsjZC6qwc0/s1600/city_of_bones.jpg

Tuesday 12 March 2013

The Lover's Dictionary


Book Title: The Lover's Dictionary
Author: David Levithan
Date Started: March 10th 2013
Date Completed: March 12th 2013
Genres: Romance
Rating: Three stars
Review:

This was a very strange book.
I got through it very quickly since the majority of the pages only have a few lines on them, but I enjoyed it. It's hard to get your head around quite what's happening, and I still don't completely understand it myself.
But the short little snippets of these unnamed people's lives under a different word in the dictionary, it gives you a realistic, believable  idea of their relationship. At some points I was genuinely heartbroken or smiling at how sweet it was.

I would recommend it to anyone who wants a bit of a break from hard reading, and there isn't really a story you can follow in this haphazard jumble of events and conversations. But it's definitely a nice, simple, quick read that will make you smile.

See particular: Guise.



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Sunday 10 March 2013

Warm Bodies


Book Title: Warm Bodies
Author: Isaac Marion
Series: Warm Bodies #1
Date Started: March 3rd 2013
Date Completed: March 10th 2013
Genres: Dystopian, Thriller, Romance
Rating: Four stars
Review:


This book is very strange. That's the first and main thing I can say about it.
But I liked it. It's one of those books that you aren't sure you're going to like, and you aren't sure are really going to go anywhere, but then you find yourself quite involved in the plot and feeling for the characters.
It's not one of my favourites, for the sole purpose that it's generally not the kind of thing I read, therefore it hasn't amazed me. However, it is very good, and I would recommend it to anyone.
There are two main reasons why I really liked it:
1. It's not all romance and revolving around stupid brainless lusting. Which is what I was worried about. It's realistic, but it still has that lovely aspect of love to it, without letting it take over the entire plot line.
2. R is a genius. And so is Isaac Marion. You gather near the beginning that the zombie is going to change, and become human or whatever. However, when you actually read it, he starts changing through the narration. So by the time you actually realised that he has changed, it comes as a bit of a shock, because as you've gone through the story, you're so engrossed in the plot, you don't process Marion's ingenious hints of R's evolution until near the end.

Okay, this was a really bad review XD I've never done anything like this before, so yeah. I hope it possibly helped some people.



Image Source: http://littlebitmag.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Warm+Bodies1.jpg

Sunday 3 March 2013

Fearless


Book Title: Fearless
Author: Cornelia Funke
Series: Mirrorworld #2
Date Started: Unknown*
Date Completed: Unknown*
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Thriller, Mystery
Rating: Five stars
Review:

asdfghjkl I can't.
Oh my god. I love the first one of the Mirrorworld series, and it became my favourite book. But after this latest instalment...

When I say it's perfect beyond belief I'm not exaggerating. This book should be far more well-known.
Reckless [book:Reckless|7823592] was brilliant, with crime, action, romance, adventure, fantasy and all that. But Fearless, has all this, but takes everything to a completely new level.
We get to know Jacob and Fox's relationship better and I was almost in tears at several points.
I would recommend it to anyone and everyone, no matter what their age, or taste in books. It's just too perfect to describe.


*Sorry, I can't remember when I read this


Image Source: http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346927033l/9477896.jpg