Friday 17 October 2014

The Scorch Trials

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Book Title: The Scorch Trials
Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner #2
Date Started: October 11th 2014
Date Completed: October 17th 2014
Genres: Dystopian, Thriller, Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Mystery
Rating: Three stars
Review:

I did enjoy The Scorch Trials, but after being told the series definitely picked up after the first book, I was quite disappointed in the end. I expected something that would explain the previous book, as well as introducing new conflicts and mysteries to conclude the series, but it seemed less eventful that The Maze Runner. I preferred the previous book, personally, but even so I'm looking forward to the last instalment in the series.

After surviving the Maze Trials, Thomas and the Gladers think they're finally found safety, but when they wake up from their haven to an empty building and a new addition to their group, it seems that perhaps their fight for their freedom isn't quite over. Now they must face the Scorch and its monsters if they want to finally be out of the clutches of WICKED.

Dashner has never been my favourite writer, and the style isn't really overwhelming improved for the second book. The main problem I had was both the overuse of slang that made the narration just seem childish, and the rushed plot. It seemed like everything is made up as it goes along and so there's a lot of little bits that don't get cleared up and it's very disjointing as a reader. (Admittedly this does compliment atmosphere of the book obviously, but it becomes very frustrating after a bit.)

I really enjoyed the start and end of the book, but the middle was quite hard for me to go along with. I really like having either drastic mystery or quite plausible events, and for me The Scorch Trials just didn't have enough sense made from what happened, and not enough unknown for it to be exciting. (I also found the set-up of the 'experiment' quite questionable and not really developed enough to end up getting results anyway.) The continuous problem from this was really that none of what happened was really significant to the overall story, and we ended up in a very similar place at the end as we were at the beginning.
In addition, I forgot that there was a threat for most of the story, as everything was quite conveniently worked out. The boys either got something wrong and gave up to move onto something else, or solved problems very quickly and events moved on too quickly. The Scorch didn't have any lasting affects on the Gladers; the Cranks weren't really that much of an issue, and WICKED itself seemed very detached from the overall story. I think a lot of this happened because things weren't explained or featured enough for me to understand the impact they could possibly have on the characters.
climax was good, but the ending annoyed me

For me, the best parts - and the main thing that keeps bringing me back to the stories - are the characters. Though of course they kill have their flaws, their personalities are interesting, and their development arcs are what really drive the book.
Thomas, though a good protagonist, can sometimes be an idiot. On the other hand, I do actually enjoy a hero that doesn't ever really know what he's doing, and genuinely acts on his instincts and often gets things wrong. It's become quite common to have heroes that are unsure and mess up, but Dashner makes Thomas really seem he's only going on what he guess.
Newt is definitely my favourite character of the book. Though he isn't in it much, I think he's made to stand out from the rest of the characters and his attitude to the others is a nice relief from the typical doomed conversations. Minho's definitely another of my favourites, but I did feel he was a bit neglected and dismissed as the leader.
I was also a bit underwhelmed with Teresa's inclusion, as I didn't really see the point of it. This went for the new inclusions of Brenda and Jorge: I think they'll become more key to the story in the future, but at the moment we aren't given enough information or time around them to know what they're like.

I was able to get through this book very quickly, mainly due to the writing, but the fast-paced story definitely helped. On the other hand, I didn't really think anything was focused on for long enough to really get into the moment and appreciate the events, so by the end it didn't feel like a whole lot had happened.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of Dashner's writing or the plot lines of this series, the characters really draw the interest back in for me. Even so, there's a nice different kind of concept for dystopians and adventure than to what I think we're used to these days. This isn't the kind of series you can read in any order, and it's the kind of thing where, even if you don't particularly enjoy the main duration, you still really want to know what happens next.

Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/
show/10911181-the-scorch-trials

Saturday 11 October 2014

Heir of Fire

20617636

Book Title: Heir of Fire
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #3
Date Started: September 11th 2014
Date Completed: October 10th 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Romance
Rating: Five stars
Review:

Heir of Fire hasn't been my favourite instalment in the Throne of Glass series so far, but I still loved it. For me, it was a filler book, which is something I am not a fan of, but Maas managed to create enough plot to get the characters where they needed to be so it was still entertaining to read.

Celaena Sardothien has to finally stop running from her past, and face the responsibility resting on her shoulders as her birthright. As instability ravages the world and the assassin hides across the sea it becomes clear that Celaena must fight for her life and her people to prevent the King from overtaking everything. While Chaol and Dorian struggle with the balance of power in Adarlan, Celaena must learn to control her powers to unveil the secrets hidden around her.

I still love Maas' writing, and there isn't much I can say that I haven't praised before. There's a brilliant perception of characters and human nature in these books which allows Celaena's character to become even more realistic and dark, setting it apart from the majority of Young Adult novels on offer in my opinion. But there's always something more going on than just the main story for the characters; politics is a driving influence, and smaller issues play on their minds and change the way they think. The world just comes to life when Maas describes or orchestrates anything.

Heir of Fire was not my favourite book in the series because it was a filler book. If you read my reviews you know that I hate the idea of books being there mainly for the purpose of putting characters into places for future events - any reader should be able to pick up any novel and entertained at least without knowing all the little details around it. However, though I was conflicted on the rating for this book, I believe that Maas did honestly create an engaging story in the process of getting the story where she wanted it to be. I will also forgive it because you can tell the next book is going to be groundbreaking for Young Adult.
One of the things that didn't really work for me was the fact that there were various little stories running through the novel to show where each character was, but sometimes they just weren't necessary. Others also felt neglected and underdeveloped to focus on the main plot lines. It also because a predictable at times.
On the other hand, once I made it through the first part of the novel, things really kicked off and I started reading very quickly just to know what happened next. This was what I was used to from the Throne of Glass story, and it was just a shame I hadn't still been as excited as I was when I first picked the book up.
Finally, the ending of the book was far more dramatic than I could have imagined, even though I saw some of it coming. Though the climaxes were weirdly structured (with one story's climax finished, then another one, followed by the last one when more tension could have been made by having them simultaneously) it definitely left an impact on me and completely changed the direction of the books.

The characters were the one thing that really secured the five star rating for me. I was disappointed in most other areas, and though there were still a few little holes for me in this department, the people of this book are still the shining element to the series.
If it's possible, I think I grew to love Celaena even more in this book. Her character arc becomes so complex and dark, and for some reason that let me connect with her even more. How she develops with her experiences, how she acts with new characters, how she struggles with her past and future - it's all just so interesting to me and it's so nice for there to be a female character that has so many sides and such depth and isn't actually a 'good' person.
Rowan is definitely one of my new favourite characters. Right from the beginning I knew he was going to be fascinating and have a huge impact on the plot. But my absolute highlight for him would have to be his relationship with Celaena. Again, I adore there being such a close, intimate relationship between the two without it having to be romantic, or have the awkward 'do you like me?' moment.
I was a little disappointed about how Chaol's story slowed way down compared to most of the others, but I still was interested in how he progressed and affected the story.
Aedion is the character that I'm most looking forward to in the future. When he was first introduced I wasn't sure whether to trust him, and there's still that danger around him now. But I think he's going to be a big part in future story lines and I'm very curious as to how he changes the other characters.
My least favourite characters this time had to be Dorian and Sorscha. I wasn't really a fan of Sorscha when she was first introduced, but I appreciated the diversity of characters. But when Dorian's story started to become only about their relationship I got more annoyed and I was disappointed that Maas didn't twist my predictions and catch me by surprise like she usually does.

This book took me forever to read, mainly because of the fact I started college and the workload is quite frankly terrifying. However, I do think that because of the very slow start at the beginning of the book until around halfway through, I wasn't unable to put it down. While the whole book was a filler, the first part was even more of a filler for the second part - so all in all it became a lot of information you needed to remember given in not the most interesting way.

However, Throne of Glass remains one of my favourite book series' of all times. It combines all my favourite genres (fantasy, action, adventure, mystery) with amazing characters that go through some really impressive story arcs. I can tell the next book is going to be absolutely amazing now that everyone's in their carefully placed positions. If you haven't started this series yet, do, because it's only going to get better.

Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20617636-heir-of-fire