Sunday 31 May 2015

The Body Finder

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Book Title: The Body Finder
Author: Kimberley Derting
Series: The Body Finder #1
Date Started: May 28th 2015
Date Completed: May 31st 2015
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Stars
Final Rating: Two stars
Review:

What drew me to this book was the supernatural premise: an ability to sense the dead pulled into a murder mystery. But the perspective of the story ended up being so closed-minded that Violet's 'echoes' didn't add up to anything and the high school love was self-indulgent to the point of destroying the plot. I definitely think the wrong things were focused on in this novel.

I'm not annoyed by this book than disappointed because it really did have the potential to be good - and Derting had the talent to make it so. The prologue was hauntingly beautiful and engagingly written. You can tell that there's skill in the author's ability, and you can tell that there's the chance for the supernatural aspects to be made incredibly important and tense. But instead we get monopolised attention on a relationship that's theoretically 'perfect' but not really healthy.
And from this we're directed towards typical high school atmospheres with bland conversation and quite often cliche descriptions. Even the killer's perspective was conventional and could've easily been made more threatening by just adding some personality to the voice.

While the story itself was ruined from the focus on the romance, the lack of a mystery or supernatural or even tense atmosphere didn't help. It definitely didn't seem like Violet had been able to sense the dead since before she could remember: she had the perfect life, and everyone adored her - maybe I'm wrong but I would imagine being drawn to death would take its toll on a person. But instead she has a close best friends, loads of other friends beyond that (despite the fact she seems to spend every waking minute with Jay), a perfect loving family, no emotional or money troubles, is good at school, and has boys falling all over her. There was no sense that she was at all disadvantaged, and the fact that her 'echoes' weren't even included that much in the story exaggerated how little I was able to feel for her.
In fact the 'echoes' themselves don't really add anything to the story - she might as well have stumbled upon those corpses by accident and came up with the same result. Beyond that she only really kicks the cat out of the house, is wary of policeman and gets to be 'the chosen one'. (The ability to sense the dead is so convenient it almost brings up more problems than it solves - has she never been the a cemetery, where surely it would've been overwhelming? And if she can't it from her own cat she's had for years, then what about the scenes in the forest or the lake where she'd be surrounded by dead animals and live one that had killed to eat? Even a small mention of an everlasting presence of death would've made this more believable.)
The plot line itself was painfully predictable, and the melodramatic (and actually quite selfish) relationship just got on my nerves. There was no sense of danger because the romance just dominated everything. There wasn't even a mysterious element thrown in because everything Violet discovered was by coincidence, and the reader is prevented from trying to have any part in solving the crime because nothing's connected. The whole point of engagement in mysteries is that the audience can feel some sort of involvement in what's going on. So, unavoidably, the ending was extremely disappointing: it didn't feel like Derting was trying to be clever and surprise her readers, or even make logical sense.

It's pretty hard to get on with a book when you don't like the only two characters that consistently show up in the whole thing.
Violet annoyed me mostly because of her basic uselessness in the story: I don't think she was bad as a person, but her supernatural ability didn't change anything and it seemed like the only other thing she did was pine after Jay. And again, though I'm really a not a fan of romance-orientated books, if this had been an important sideline to what the book is sold as (a supernatural murder mystery) I could've gone along with it - but her impact on the book was very little considering everyone viewed her as the most amazing, talented person in the world.
I'm all up for self-indulgent protective boys every and now and then to add a little drama into a story, but Jay took this to frankly a stupid level. Not only did their back and forth predictable conflict take away from what should have been the main plot, but it forced Violet into a position where she couldn't have been clever or independent if she'd tried. Everyone wants a partner who will protect them, but nobody should want someone who stops them from showing they can stand on their own two feet.

The Body Finder's prologue was brilliant; it clearly establishes the supernatural side of the story in a really interesting way, and definitely makes me think that it was intended to be a lot more important than it ended up being. And things fell apart pretty quickly from there onwards.
It's not many books that I seriously consider giving up on, but even around a quarter of the way through this I just couldn't find anything that didn't infuriate me, let alone interest me. But, because of the simple writing and the short length of the book I ended up skimming through the majority pretty speedily. What's pretty worrying is even barely paying attention, I still absorbed the story and what was going on - at least if I'd been a bit lost while skim-reading it would imply there wasn't something there that I had to think about to process.

I don't think The Body Finder should really be sold as a supernatural mystery, because it's basically just a contemporary which happens to have murders and an ability to sense the dead - those aspects as in the end so irrelevant that most of the time I forgot they were even there. But if you like reading contemporary romances then this is probably much better suited to you.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8548708-the-body-finder

Thursday 28 May 2015

Terminal

24679886

Book Title: Terminal
Author: Kathy Reichs & Brendan Reichs
Series: Virals #5
Date Started: May 26th 2015
Date Completed: May 28th 2015
Genres: Adventure, Thriller, Romance, Sci-Fi
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

For the finale of a mystery series, there was a surprising lack of mysterious happenings and puzzles for the characters to solve. While I still liked the book, I felt the story itself had lost its direction: the last instalment of the Virals series should've been the biggest mind twister to the point where forgot that I wouldn't get to read about these characters again. Instead we still got an entertaining book, but not quite what I would've liked as an end to Tory's adventures.

I like Reichs' writing for its simplistic nature, but ability to include and expand on quite complicated scientific explanations and logical reasoning. Maybe I'm not selling it as the most exciting, but (when it's there) her action is still exciting to read and easy to follow. It's just that her ability to sustain dialogue for quite long periods of time isn't as easy to come by as you might expect. Having said that, the use of slang is sometimes unnecessary and feels a bit forced to try and make the characters seem younger.
As a reader who's followed this series pretty much since it first came out, the information dumping about Tory and the Virals' previous adventures at the start was tedious - not least because it didn't actually remind me of the things that would've helped the story (for example her relationships with her new-found friends - sorry Ella, but I couldn't remember who you were). It puzzles me a little why it's there in the first place anyway, since the series is definitely one of those you need to read in order to understand what's going on.

The biggest issue in this book will be repeated loads of times in this review, and that is that Terminal wasn't really a mystery novel. I thought it was great that we were featuring other aspects of the story more heavily than usual, but the main storyline fell flat because it just didn't fit with the series, the characters or even the predicament they were in at times. The biggest disappointment from this was that I didn't feel as much anticipation or tension because there wasn't the awareness that something unknown was at stake. You don't get many proper YA mysteries - especially ones featuring so much accurate science - that have all-round strengths in characters and writing as well as story, and by losing this in the last book it just fell short of what I was expecting. I also found that it was a lot less inclusive for the reader; the wonderful thing about these books is that you can work out the puzzles along with the protagonists - this time it was more like a contemporary thriller that's just for the characters.
One of the reasons for this was the romance: it took over most of the story. Though the romantic subtext has been around for a few books, up to this point there's been a good balance of that and the actual story. But this time the romance was clearly intended to be one of the biggest veins of the story, and it ended up dominating everything else. At times the girly teenage angst did feel like it was included for the hell of it, and could perhaps have been subtler for a more meaningful impact. On the other hand, there was a good conflict of feelings, and I'm proud of Tory for sticking up for herself within the love triangle - it just didn't fit with my love of the Virals series.
As well as romance, we dived a little further into the sci-fi realm. Now I admit I'm being a bit picky here, but the dangers of their powers and how they could overcome them became a bit stupid. The solution became very convenient, and I again felt like what was their biggest problem wasn't treated as the main danger for them. (Spoiler) I understand that the Virals loved their powers and wanted to be unique, but let's be sensible: if the condition is going to eventually kill you, you take the curse - regardless if there's military officers out to experiment on you on top of it all.
But the biggest let down was the climax: or shall I say what felt like a lack of one. There was a point where things looked bad for the characters, sure. But where was the tension? Where was the actual, immediate, tangible danger? Even Code two books back had bigger ending drama: at both points that could be considered the climax, none of the Virals seemed to be in too much serious danger (maybe we're supposed to imagine what could happen if they don't work something out, but after some of Reichs' other endings, it wasn't what I was after). It really did feel like saying goodbye, with all the references to the other stories, and the characters finally getting into the positions they'd been after the whole time, but it wasn't quite what I wanted. And I'm not sure it was quite what the Virals would've wanted either.

My sentimentality towards these characters sometimes overrides their stupidity, but overall I was happy to see the Morris Island pack together again. The sheer amount of minor characters featured at various points in this book overwhelmed me, but I appreciate the effort to link all their previous adventures together in their goodbye.
Although Tory's expansive knowledge still comes across as a bit too convenient and mature of her fifteen-years, I still loved every minute of her. She makes some pretty stupid decisions in this book, particularly on the romance front, but her moments of practicality and quite honestly her actions throughout the whole series were more important to me. (This will be one of the only times I don't rant about an unnecessary love triangle.)
I still don't like Chance, and, like Ben, still don't understand why they'd trust him with a crayon, let alone their secrets. I understand that Tory owes him, but the amount of times he goes back on his word and withholds information from them is clear evidence that he is not the best person to involve in your group that's already threatened.
Ben, however, I do like. Though not as much as I think I'm supposed to. Honestly, he hasn't really changed that much in the series - apart from those anger issues - but he's become more and more important to the storylines. This was quite important to me, since at first glance he seems to be the typical male interest that doesn't really have anything else to bring to the table. But Ben's character and decision-making has developed gradually overtime, and now I get his genuine benefit to the group.
Hi and Shelton felt sidelined in this book. Partly because they weren't involved in the love triangle, but also from the lack of mystery genre where they were usually given the opportunity to shine. All they were really given the chance to do this time was make sarcastic and freaked comments whenever they found themselves in inevitable trouble.

I can tell Reichs wanted to do a lot with this last book: there's links to the previous books, and new ideas spanning into different genres. And for once, I don't think the idea itself was a bad one - I love that Tory's faced with more adult decisions, and their abilities are now having consequences. But because of the length of the book everything just became rushed, and most of the little storylines were never developed. (Things like Kit and Whitney's relationship took a really interesting turn, and I would've loved to see how Tory dealt with her dad's decision beyond her initial reaction.) The easy solution to this was basically to have made the book longer.

I still liked Terminal (admittedly mostly from sentimentality) and I think any fans of the series would enjoy it. We steer away from the mystery adventure style the books had been taking, and delve further into the realms of something between contemporary and sci-fi. I like where the characters are now - and do really hope to see them in a future seres (please Kathy, please) - but the way we got to the end of the road wasn't what I expected.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24679886-terminal

Friday 22 May 2015

A Court of Thorns and Roses

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Book Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Date Started: May 9th 2015
Date Completed: May 22nd 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

I don't want to say this - but I'm really disappointed. I've been conflicted over whether its exam stress, or hype, or expectation from previous books; and while they might be contributing factors, the issues I had with A Court of Thorns and Roses are actually problems in my eyes, regardless of the circumstances. I'm really disappointed.

The use of first person as the initial thing that struck me as strange in the writing. It did seem quite out of place and a strange choice for a fairytale story - the wonderful, haunting thing about traditional fairytales is they're very detached and so the eeriness and twisted culture is so cold. But the really big problem for me was that I was immediately forced into a very narrow and quite frankly irritating view of the world. I wanted to see so much more than what Feyre perceived. I don't like first person at the best of times, but having Feyre as the narrator nearly killed me. There were constant contradictions about literally everything to try and make her seem clever and stubborn, but it pushed it far too hard to the point where I just really disliked her.

The story seemed a bit too typical for the wonderful world of Sarah J Maas. There were quite a few cliches, particularly around the romance and the final tasks. It was a shame, since I could see a really nice basis for a wonderful fairytale world - and perhaps that might be developed in the rest of the trilogy, but for the time being it was a very YA depiction of traditional fantasy. This was to do with the narrowed narration - but to be honest, even the faerie riddle I solved within thirty seconds of reading it.
My biggest issue was around the sexual harassment addressed in the book. I really respect Maas for extending the maturity of her books by including sex and harassment more heavily in her stories, but the way the latter was dealt with in this book wasn't right to me - especially not when it seemed to be justified by an unnecessary love triangle for the rest of the series. It seemed to be used just as a way of making the characters feel distressed, and ultimately to introduce drama for the following books - it was treated like an unnecessary plot device and that bothered me.
However, something good I do have to say about the book (I'm still sad that that's the case) was the ability for the book to be a story in its own right, as well as establishing things for the rest of the trilogy. Things definitely aren't finished, but it stood on its own two feet well enough to be entertaining story-wise.

I think it was partly the YA feeling around the characters that interfered with the fairytale atmosphere. They definitely aren't the worst characters, but part of me felt they belonged in a brighter world because of the way they reacted to things and lived their everyday lives - the potential darkness of the story didn't quite match up in my opinion (but I could again blame this on the first person narration).
I didn't like Feyre. At all. She was so unbelievably stupid, even after spending months and months in this new world around faeries. It gets pointed out so often and is so obvious, but time and time again she's just an idiot, and it doesnt even always advance the plot or do anything at all - I did become quite bored eventually.
Tamlin I didn't mind, but his sulking at Feyre's treatment really got on the wrong side of me, and I didn't really understand the chemistry between them. They were too quickly trusting of each other, but of course the narration had to claim that they were suspicious of each other.
Lucien was the only character who I really enjoyed reading about: he seemed to have more than one dimension and an interesting backstory.

The pacing of this novel jumps around quite a bit, but there weren't any points where I struggled to put it down. In fact I found it quite hard to read in bigger chunks (though admittedly that was probably the exam stress heaped on top of it). Even so, for such a long time span, the pacing was never particularly fast or energetic. For the story this was good, because the world needed its development - but listening to Feyre ramble got on my nerves very quickly.

It's not what I expected from Maas, and it's not the kind of fairytales I grew up with and was excited to read in a newer form - but it is something slightly different in the YA universe. There's still the romantic conventions that should appease readers not so into their fantasy, and traces of traditional fairytales for the opposite audience. But overall I was disappointed - I hope (and know) others aren't as crestfallen as myself, so if it sounds interesting, I would encourage you to try it.

Image Sourcehttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22839894-a-court-of-thorns-and-roses

Saturday 9 May 2015

The Black Reckoning

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Book Title: The Black Reckoning
Author: John Stephens
Series: The Books of Beginning #3
Date Started: May 7th 2015
Date Completed: May 8th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

After waiting something like two years (if not more) for this last instalment of The Books of Beginning, and having grown quite a bit in my reading tastes, I was scared that the series wouldn't end up being as great as I remembered. But The Black Reckoning exceeded my expectations and I'm both crestfallen and proud of how the series ended.

I quite like Stephens' writing: it's not the most beautiful thing I've ever read in a children's book, but it definitely has a kind of flair to it. The biggest issue I have with writing aimed at younger readers is it's sometimes oversimplified or just silly, when it doesn't need to be. And though there are times when it does feel a little stupid, and a couple of instances where information is given in short but lengthy chunks, overall there's a good balance between entertainment and serious scenes.
I would've liked perhaps some kick ass moves from the girls, or some quieter moments from the boys - I really appreciate the subtle strengths and weaknesses the protagonists have (they're in no way the stereotypical portrayals of gender abilities), but a part of me feels that it's important to make these things a bit more obvious for younger readers.

This book throws you straight into the middle of the action, picking up pretty much right where the last book ended. This was fortunate considering it had been such a long time since the second novel; I managed to fall into the cacophony of magical creatures and talented children again pretty quickly. In fact the world is so reminiscent of the folklore/fairytale character and creatures from my childhood that it was only a few pages before I fell in love with the series again. I also thought that this book, perhaps more than it's prequels, had a brilliant diversity and balance of action: there were parts where we followed the siblings as a group, and then an equal balance of them individually once they were split up. But we also got to follow some others character at times to reveal something new for the plot. Because this was sustained throughout the book it worked really well - I've often read books that try to do this but then end up with one chapter in the middle told from another perspective that just sticks out as strange from everything else.
The non-typical storyline was really entertaining. There are good twists and turns, and the characters go through an awful lot before the end, which in itself was quite a feat.
The ending itself was quite fantastic. Stephens is talented in making his climaxes drawn out just as long as they need to be to have the best tension, at times the best cliffhangers, and definitely the best resolutions. But The Black Reckoning's ending was better than that of the previous books: there was a climax, but then there was the resolution. The latter of these was more than I could have hoped for from the series. Avoiding spoilers, I can only really say that it took the difficult, unavoidable reality and solved it in a sensitive and sincere way. Not everyone could be saved, and Stephens didn't try to wriggle out of the prophecy he had set up, but instead tentatively took it and played it out in a way that was just right for the audience. And even after this, the aftermath didn't let everything fall into place straight away: it was difficult for the protagonists, as it should be.
Overall, I loved the message of the book: love is important. And not just romantic love (or if it is, then it doesn't always work out, and that's okay), but also brotherly/sisterly love. Parental and friend relationships. It wasn't a conventional happy ending, but you know that the characters are moving towards better things despite having lost so much. That, in my opinion, is exactly what a children's book should aim to convey.

The development of these characters since the first book still amazes me, and the effect it has on the story is very well written: the children have grown so much and Stephens uses that to highlight how they can now do things they never would've thought about two books ago.
Kate's storyline remains to interest me the most. I think from an older perspective, watching her as the elder sister come to terms with not having to look after her siblings anymore, but also work out how to deal with her own issues around her power and the relationships with others, just stuck out to me. I also really loved her romantic plot, and think it was very well written: you could tell Kate and Rafe cared about each other, but he really was a threat but Kate still reacted sensibly. Sure she was conflicted and upset about it, but at the end of the day, even when she did give in to him, her brother and sister were still important to her and not just thrown to the side because now she had a boy she loved.
I feel like Michael's changed the least since the start of the books, and so his storyline didn't strike me as the most amazing - however I still really love his character and he played just as important a part as his sisters.
Emma, on the other hand, has grown so much, and there's a part of me that's really proud of her for it (I've built up sentimental bonds with these kids, and I think that's part of why I love this series so much). In The Emerald Atlas, Emma mainly just annoyed me: I liked that she was headstrong and reckless, but she was headstrong and reckless to the point where she just interfered with the plans and the safety of her siblings rather selfishly. But then you read this book, and she's headstrong and reckless still, but it drives her to protect her siblings, and she realises that it isn't always a good thing.

The Black Reckoning is really quick to read: I did it in less than 24 hours with revision and college on the side. Though the writing is easy to get through, I literally couldn't put the book down: I have so much love for the characters and the story, and the sheer entertainment it provides. Even with the fast paced writing, this book goes through a staggering amount of events, and none of them feel rushed or unnecessary.

The Books of Beginning series is absolutely brilliant for any younger readers that love fantasy or want to find an easy way to get into it. At times it does feel a little silly, but I think that's why it's so perfect as an introduction into the genre. The whole trilogy just reminds me of the classic fantasy adventure books I read as a kid, and seeing the characters grow up throughout the series made me really sentimental. I also think that, if like me, you grew up around stories of orphans running around magical worlds filled with elves and dwarfs and giants and wizards and ultimately having to put their family first, then you'll enjoy reliving aspects of it through this book.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23346768-the-black-reckoning

Thursday 7 May 2015

The Dream Thieves




Book Title: The Dream Thieves
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Quartet #2
Date Started: April 29th 2015
Date Completed: May 7th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

I'm actually quite upset by how this book turned out: I'm really really disappointed. There's quite a few things I had problems with, the biggest being the fact that part of the brilliance of the first book was that it was a story in its own right, but it was clearly a part of a much larger story. But where was any sort of sustained story in The Dream Thieves? At the moment, my disappoint isn't willing to let it go as 'second book syndrome'.

Like I said in my review of The Raven Boys, there isn't that much that jumps out at me as wonderful from Stiefvater's writing (barring imagery, but I'll get to why that doesn't apply so much here in a moment). While she has a nice flow and perfectly adequate writing ability, the dialogue doesn't grab me within seconds of reading and I do find some parts unnecessary.
I also still don't quite understand the mechanics of the magic: while I can see that this was quite a nice technique in the first book for drawing us in, as more and more of it is being included I feel like I should be able to realise how it works - but I'm not. Whether that's me not picking up well enough or whether it's not explained, it's something I found quite irritating as I was reading this book.
But it's the imagery that's sticking out. Stiefvater's descriptions of scenery in particular have this beautiful way of appearing in your head in the most vibrant and vivid ways. But for some reason, there were very few interesting locations involved in this story - quite strange considering one of the character's spends most of their time in dreams.

I wouldn't call The Dream Thieves a filler book, but it doesn't carry on the story from the second book's story and it doesn't seem to develop much to get the characters to a point where something new can happen. I'm just not sure what happened to the plot of this novel: it didn't add to the series' quest and it didn't seem to have its own individual story.
What it did have was a ton of side stories. Now don't get me wrong, I love reading little smaller plots that weave in or add something to the overall story - but I don't get what the main story of The Dream Thieves was supposed to be. It felt like a string of minor chapters with an event popping up every now and then that didn't really connect together, and it ended up having too much going on to work out what the main point was.
Neglecting the group as a whole was a big mistake in my opinion. There are very few scenes where the bunch of them are together and those are, personally, the best scenes by far. So much of the appeal of these books for me come from the way they bounce off and interact with each other. They haven't fallen out or anything, so why aren't they being used together and being awesome?
The ending scenes were good. Again, I wasn't blown away but I wasn't given reason to rant at all. However, the cliffhanger we're left with in the epilogue literally came out of nowhere. No hints suggesting something was off, no signs of danger in that context at earlier points. And because it came so out of the blue I can't say that I really care about it.

I adored (most of) these characters going into the book, and it started off great with things just like usual. Then, for no reason that I picked up on (admittedly I have been preoccupied), things started to fall apart.
Blue, apparently the main character, wasn't really...there. Yes, that's an exaggeration. But Blue was seemingly hovering around without actually impacting much. To be honest I much prefer reading about the boys anyway, but since the main storyline is supposed to revolve around her, it was puzzling to find that her only real involvement in the plot was to go out a few times and make some sarky comments.
Gansey is clearly more favoured by the writer - that's not necessarily a criticism, but he definitely has more of a presence in the overall plot lines and the side stories. Having said that, I'm still trying to work out what his own narrative is. For me, Gansey was Gansey from the first book: I liked him, but I wasn't overwhelmed.
Now Ronan was my favourite character from The Raven Boys, and when the story started to follow him more closely I was really excited. But unfortunately he just seemed to lose a lot of his attitude and drive: I can understand it from the events, but Ronan was in the same position in the first book, and just because we're only now being shown it doesn't mean he'd suddenly change his tune about it. I also think Ronan is a character that works a lot better around others, rather than by themselves.
Again I got a bit tired of Adam, and his involvement didn't really stand out to me. Of course, the large revelation towards the end of the book is quite impactful, but I don't understand where it came from - I have the feeling it was put in just to give him some sort of significance to the story.

Like The Raven Boys, I found this book hard to read continuously or in little chunks and keep up the pace and flow of the story. Last time I seem to remember reading in chunks of about fifty-sixty pages, but I could barely get past ten pages here. While I have nothing against slower plot lines, I felt a lot of chapters dragged; especially when you have a three page chapter followed by a ten page one.

I'm just really disappointed honestly. While I don't want to make it seem like this book was terrible - it wasn't - it was far from what my hopes had been raised to after the first book. Though I can see some people perhaps liking it more; we definitely go more into the realms of YA contemporary with some crazy urban fantasy thrown in. I'm aware that I'm feeling slightly biased after finishing the book less than half an hour ago, but nevertheless, the disappointment definitely crushed my enjoyment of The Dream Thieves.

Image Source - http://images.scholastic.co.uk/assets/a/74/81/149030-ml-1070783.jpg