Tuesday 25 August 2015

A Thousand Nights

25337864

Book Title: A Thousand Nights
Author: E.K. Johnston
Date Started: August 21st 2015
Date Completed: August 25th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Historical
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars
Final Rating: Five stars
Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by A Thousand Nights. After reading The Wrath and the Dawn not that long ago and being really disappointed, I was ready to get find a typical Young Adult twist a traditional story. But instead I got a fairytale-esque tale and a genuinely brave female protagonist.

The fact that A Thousand Nights doesn't include names apart from Lo-Melkhiin actually worked in its favourite for me. I know other readers have found it confusing to keep up with and seemingly pointless, but for a reader who grew up reading fairytales where there were almost never any named characters it just enhanced the distant magical nature of the world. Having said that, it does become harder to empathise with some of the people a little later on, though I have to say personally that the atmosphere it created was enough to override that drawback.
I do feel that the writing style could have been a little more captivating to really exaggerate the beautiful Arabian setting and the very traditional kind of magic, but the dialogue does make up for a lot of this. Again, I did felt like I was reading something from my childhood when the Skeptics began their talk of albeit simplified philosophy to somehow make sense of the magic surrounding them - but like any good fairytale, their reasoning isn't enough to explain the wondrous fantasy that is actually present.

I loved the traditional style of magic in this book. The way Johnston gradually introduces us the possibility that not everything is how it seems was very well done in my opinion; it gave us time to appreciate the situation the protagonist was in as a person at first, and then brought in the idea that maybe the stakes were higher than we first thought. I have to commend Johnston on her ability to do it naturally and without entirely dominating everything else she had built up to that point - sometimes the problem with fantasy is it gives you too much room for imagination, and can cheat things like danger. But it was a genuine part of the story that eventually ended up slowly building up our heroine as well as the circumstances she was in.
The ending was very good, and I was so happy with it because it was left entirely for our protagonist to be the heroine of her own story. Though I would point out Scheherazade doesn't really gain any proper friends throughout the entire book, and perhaps this could make her story seem slightly less accessible and realistic, it does mean that she is truly the heroine. Sometimes having other characters around - especially with female protagonists - does mean the 'heroes' can end up being sidelined for an unexpected twist at the end.
You also forget how satisfying it actually is to read a stand-alone and get the whole story. Even if we get an ending that isn't perfect for everyone and leaves the characters full of possibilities, we sometimes don't notice how little things get tied up these days. It doesn't matter if someone of the characters lost friends or family, and we don't have to know what they go on to do after that last pages, because we can appreciate what they went through with us there reading - and we can look back on their development in such a short space of time and still have that feeling of achievement.

Though I can't say I connected to any of the characters, I have a feeling this was done quite deliberately. By not providing names or really that much overall aid or significance to the story (bar Scheherazade - who's name is never actually mentioned), we're drawn to her a lot more as a protagonist. The first person helps this, and so it ends up being her own story, and her's alone.
I really liked Scheherazade actually. I wasn't entirely sure at the beginning if it was because she wasn't being overly emotional and the fact she wasn't having a power struggle with all the men around her, as we often find in these Young Adult heroines. But even by the end I loved the fact that she was looking out for herself in a sensible way, but without being selfish. Though this may not have made for the most dramatic personal relationships, it was so nice to have a heroine that cared about herself enough to protect and fight for herself - as well as being able to care about her family.

A good pace is kept up in A Thousand Nights: it may not be the most action-packed novel out there, but the tension is well regulated so that threat is always at the back of the protagonist's mind and is evidently an actual possibility. I also found that the chronology was interesting; it was written in the way to give some dramatic irony to the audience. It's not often you see this and it was very interesting to see how the audience being aware of things the characters weren't changed the way we looked at the story.

Though some people may disagree with me, I felt A Thousand Nights was infinitely better than some of its other Young Adult counterparts available right now. It was actually a story as opposed to a Young Adult romance dominating any chance of magic or wonder. Of course it has its pit falls, and it definitely isn't the most sophisticated thing on the market, but it's a very enjoyable read and just the sort of thing I'm looking for when it comes to retellings of traditional stories: taking the original idea and expanding and fleshing it out with tangible characters that the audience can relate to, without destroying the initial ideas around the tale.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25337864-a-thousand-nights

Friday 21 August 2015

The Harvest

24644729

Book Title: The Harvest
Author: Chuck Wendig
Series: The Heartland Trilogy #3
Date Started: August 18th 2015
Date Completed: August 21st 2015
Genres: Dystopian, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Action
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

The Harvest wasn't nearly as enjoyable for me as the rest of the series and I don't feel was particularly effective in concluding the story. I'm all for things getting serious in the last book and stepping up to some of the harder realities or conflict, but The Heartland Trilogy is built on rapport and agendas - and there didn't seem to be any of either this time.

I've really enjoyed Wendig's ability to make entertain me in quite frankly some very bizarre situations (living corn; people made out of vines and leaves as tongues; genetically engineered pegasus' to name a few), but somehow it didn't quite work in this book. I have a feeling it's partly to do with the fact things got a bit more serious, but for a series that for me has honestly only really been about the sarcasm and ceaseless determination of the characters, it made the writing sort of bland.
There is also the issue that far too much was going on: the multiple storylines has worked brilliantly in past books, but this time there were too many new characters and plot lines introduced right at the beginning on top of everyone else that it was hard to keep up. I was already trying to muster some attention for a few of the current characters and having even more thrown on that didn't have that much relevance didn't help.

The main storyline for The Harvest was the relationships - and most of them romantic. It shouldn't have been. It should have been about the group finally having a victory against the Empyrean, or something other than the love triangle. This is the big problem with love triangles: they completely overwhelm everything else. And they turn the person at the center of it into a very unrealistic and unappealing character; it was okay for Cael to be conflicted at first. But it got to the point where he was playing them off of each other and just going for whoever he was more attracted to a certain point in time. It wasn't only out of character for him, but it was so unfair because he had other things going on in his plot line, but the girls didn't. Cael had other things to distract him and think about and decide, whereas Gwennie and Wanda weren't characterised to have any other priorities.
This leads me on to the female portrayals in The Harvest. Now I've always mentioned that Im not happy with how women are presented in these books, but I was aware it wasn't exactly deliberate and there were efforts to make them more fair and realistic. I can see that happening again this time, and in theory they've come a ridiculously long way. But I feel like 'actions speak louder than words' is a very appropriate phrase for this writing: though the girls are, in the grand scheme of things, stronger and more independent and more powerful and sure of themselves and complex. But when you really look at it they're still mainly concerned about their possible romances, and they're still told what to do by the boys, and are usually saved by them too.
Towards the end, The Harvest became a little melodramatic and I didn't like the twists it took. It was heading in the wrong direction for me quite early on, but I think the choices made weren't particularly practical or realistic for the situation they were in. The conclusion itself felt cut short in some places and dragged out in others (of course Cael and Wanda got three times the amount all the others got put together) - and not even with much result. Even the epilogue didn't make much sense, and there are more loose ends now than at the start of the book. [SPOILER FOR REST OF PARAGRAPH.] I mean they didn't even take the Empyrean down; there's still those genetically engineered ants that could destroy every food source available to them; Wanda's still crazy with the Blight; there still dangerous people after them that will almost certainly be determined to kill them now that they broke a whole flotilla. But then in the epilogue it's years later and all the other problems have magically disappeared and everyone lives happy ever after - oh but of course Gwennie's still jealous that she didn't get Cael. [END OF SPOILERS.]

I like the diversity of characters in The Heartland Trilogy, but without the rapport some of them feel kind of unnecessary.
Cael has been heading towards darker places since we started and he's finally got to the point where he's not so sure what right and wrong is. Now don't get me wrong, I love characters and stories that involve these moral decisions or whatever you want to call it, but Cael to me as been heading in more selfish directions. And I just don't really like it. And while I appreciate that where his characters has gone it made it much less enjoyable for me to read his parts.
Similarly, I really don't like Wanda. I've never really liked Wanda, and the ways she's gradually changed have in fact made me dislike her even more. So naturally reading her parts was also incredibly tedious.
Now Gwennie I've been growing to like more and more; in the last book she was completely awesome. She took the situation into her own hands, she wouldn't let anyone push her around, but she still had that understandable indecision in what she had to do. She really came into her own person - and really into her own story. But then suddenly all the boys are back again and all she's really given the opportunity to do is deal with her relationships with them. That would be fine - if she had other things to do as well.
We then get to the collection of characters that all started off with promise but ended up getting left behind when it came to significance in favour of the horrific love triangle. A lot of the time I've been a lot more interested in Balastair or Lane over the the protagonists, but they're only there to give the odd important bit of information or a touching monologue. Then characters like Boyland are demonised to make us like one of the protagonists, but are then written like we're supposed to feel sympathetic for them later. They were plot devices rather than characters and I think it's a real shame.

There was a problem with the pacing for me because I never felt like anything was happening. The Harvest is definitely the most 'typical' of Young Adult storylines in the series, and so I expected the common 'we're going to overthrow the government' conclusion, but there's no point where they're actually heading for that. Admittedly I was to blame for assuming that's where the story was going, but looking back I can't actually see what it was progressing towards, or any point where they seemed to have something to work for. In a book like this, where there's so many characters all the time, there needs to be something driving forward to regulate some sort of pacing.

I was really disappointed by The Harvest and it didn't tie anything up particularly satisfyingly for me, though it does compliment the rest of the series because I wanted it to be good so badly. I just feel like too much was taken on in this last instalment and wasn't able to be maintained whilst still having that trademark wit and entertainment - and as soon as that enjoyment was taken out for me it crumbled a little bit. I would completely recommend the first book books in the series, and depending on the stretch of you own imagination you could skip this last book to be perfectly honest.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24644729-the-harvest

Monday 17 August 2015

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

25607199

Book Title: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Author: Becky Chambers
Date Started: August 9th 2015
Date Completed: August 17th 2015
Genres: Sci-Fi, Adventure
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

This book was completely different from what I expected, and while that made it harder for me to get comfortable it was really nice to read a diverse sci-fi that wasn't bleak. Though it sometimes felt a little too focused on showing off the world building as opposed to creating a driven story, the characters and their various side plots are what really pulled it through.

Chambers' writing itself was the first thing that struck me as odd when starting this novel: instead of the typical action-and-technology-heavy prose you would expect from a sci-fi adventure, we're instead given what feels like a contemporary-style text focused a lot more on dialogue. The fact that the characters speak in a reasonably modern way definitely exaggerated the feeling of a television drama for me, and made it quite hard for me to get into the zone. Admittedly, this is no fault of Chambers herself, she makes a very lovely atmosphere on the ship - but when you're expecting tense species politics and exciting spaceship battles it catches you off guard a bit.
Having said that, there's an impressive amount of world building throughout the whole book: from various species and cultures to their languages and politics, to the places the crew visit and the backstories they have, Chambers did a very good job at keeping her universe growing in an understandable way consistently. So much thought was put into world - and so much care as to how it's communicated to the reader - that I was actually able to keep up with the explanations and was genuinely interested in the galaxies being built up with each new development.

Sometimes when you expect to be getting one sort of story, and you end up with something completely different it can be quite hard to adjust your expectations and enjoy the new story. Luckily, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet somehow overcomes this issue, and once I'd accepted the most contemporary everyday life story as opposed to the sci-fi adventure I really enjoyed reading about these characters. I have a feeling that if you didn't like a particular character it could get quite tedious since we're exposed to pretty much all of the people all of the time, but there's always the world building to distract you.
The big problem for me was that it didn't really feel like an fully-developed story: much more little lots of little ones shoved together. While it's really nice to read, there isn't any tension built up from it, and the fact that the atmosphere on the ship is a friendly, relaxed one anyway means that even serious events do happen they're a lot less dramatic. Overall it was a really nice exploration of the world to show off the many species and political relationships of the universe, but without too much of a plot line itself. The same goes for the ending: a nice farewell to the characters, but each couple of chapters seemed to have its own resolution, so a final climax for the whole book felt almost redundant.

Each character in this book is given their own side plots that ultimately combine to make the overall storyline. The good thing about this is that we're constantly moving between different stories, but are still being exposed to the others characters. (This is the element that made me feel like I was reading a television show.)
Rosemary is sold as the protagonist, but I wouldn't say the book has a main character as such. I really like the way there's a focus on everyone (even if there are some featured more than others) and it means you don't get bored. The fact that Rosemary was I suppose the catalyst for the story but didn't become the main focus of everyone (whether it be romantically, antagonistically or through friendship) really impressed me. We're allowed to like her as a person, rather than having her forced on us as a protagonist.
My favourite character may have been Ashby for two reasons: one, he's a really lovely person, and not and he fitted some of the common qualities seen in sci-fi captains, but didn't have the typical storyline. Yes, he was assertive and cared a lot about his crew, but he wasn't reckless and stupid to try and please them or gain authority. He genuinely seemed to have the respect of the crew and the skill to be leading them which, quite frankly, you don't actually see in a lot of characters in his position. And secondly, his side story was the most engaging for me. I admit that a star-crossed romance wasn't exactly the most out-there of plot lines, but I was expecting Rosemary to fall in love with him and create a horrific love triangle. Oh top of that though the politics involved in his relationship, and the restraint and genuine care he showed throughout won me over - it was nice to see a conflicted person in power using that power sensibly.
Sissix was intended to be the main focus for species exploration. I have to say I didn't feel like she had such a clear personal story in the book herself, but she was very important when it came to assisting other people in theirs. Or you could look at it like we never see Sissix's story from her chapters, but we see her development as she weaved into everyone else's story.

It feels like The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet takes a while to kick off (nearly as long as it takes to the say the title) and does feel like it isn't going anywhere at the start. To be honest, that's kind of just the feel of the entire book, which is why I wasn't able to fully immerse myself in its story. Like I've said, it's much more about the characters and their growing relationships with the rest of the crew as opposed to having a traditional storyline, so pacing is a bit of a tricky thing to pin down. There is what could be seen as an episodic structure so you can really see the road-trip influence.

While I wasn't expecting what I got from this book, I think it's definitely a nice read. Admittedly it didn't amaze me but I still had fun reading it, and it was good enough for my previous expectations in genre not to matter. I think contemporary lovers that especially enjoy reading the development of people and families should pick this up, and there's the added bonus of a new kind of landscape to go along with it. Fantasy readers might also enjoy the thought put into the world building here, though if you're looking for an epic adventure maybe not.

Image Sourcehttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25607199-the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet

Tuesday 11 August 2015

Chasing Odysseus

13546886

Book Title: Chasing Odysseus
Author: S.D. Gentill
Series: The Hero Trilogy #1
Date Started: August 8th 2015
Date Completed: August 9th 2015
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Historical
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

I can see Chasing Odysseus as being a nice introduction for children to get them interested in classical mythology, but disappointing for anyone who loves the original epic. Though it captures some of the exciting qualities of The Odyssey, I did feel the retelling of the story could have been a lot more creative and unique.

Though the writing was sometimes reminiscent of the original, the prose and imagination just wasn't quite there for me. While there's still perfectly good description and dialogue to interest younger readers, it was just missing the wonder and beauty of classical mythology that would've helped me get along with the book more.

For me, Chasing Odysseus was a bit like watching a sidekick that just follows the protagonist. But a sidekick that doesn't really have a place in the actual story. I personally think that Gentill could've been a lot more creative with how she incorporated these new characters. The thing with classics is you can't really rewrite them, but you can interpret the world and smaller parts of the story: Chasing Odysseus tries so hard to keep close to the original story that it loses so much potential for its own story. I would've loved to see the protagonists get sidetracked while following Odysseus and maybe discover some new lands and gods that help them back on their quest - just something new that could have been accredited to Gentill.
Following on from that, I'm not sure how much you'd understand without reading the original. While there is a bit of explanation for immortals and cultures, there are still quite a few things that I noticed I had to think back to reading The Odyssey to remember. But at the same time, there were so many little inaccuracies to the original that I couldn't stop getting to me. Some alterations are understandable to help the story on or perhaps because it would just be too hard to explain briefly, but some portrayals just infuriated me (Calypso was just downright wrong whatever why you look or reinterpret it).
The ending was also off: where was the climax? The story just ends after the protagonists find the answer they're looking for. Though the basic goal of their quest is achieved, there isn't actually any attempt at a realisation to the wider story. It just made me wonder what was the point of their entire journey if it just ends like that? I don't care if it's a series, it literally feels like the novel was cut in half between chapters, and any book should be able to stand on its own two feet without needing the audience to go and read something else.

I have nothing against adding new characters to a classic story, but you need to try and make them go together. An issue in Chasing Odysseus was the fact the new protagonists spoke in a more modern way compared to everyone else, and when they had conversations with an original character they stuck out as not quite right.
Hero is introduced like she's going to be the main protagonist of the story - she isn't. Throughout the whole book I was hoping she'd grow from the terrified little girl at the start and match her brothers in courage, skill etc. But just giving her a few opportunities to follow them in the nick of time to save their lives wasn't enough for me: she was still always portrayed as terrified and crying while her brothers were tough and brave. It was a negative portrayal of not being physically strong, and even when Hero decides to put her bravery in her praying and quieter acts she's still made to be irritating and her efforts essentially useless. (I had a couple of different issues with how women were portrayed in this book, but Hero was the biggest problem.)
Her brothers themselves also came across as a little two dimensional: while each had their token characteristic (Mac the protective and responsible older brother, Cadmus the reckless and playful middle child, and Lycon the youngest still trying to live up to his siblings) they didn't have much beyond that. The fact that there were three of them also meant that at least one of them was neglected at each island (mostly Lycon to be honest).

This book had a really strong start both with the exposition side and the introduction of the characters themselves, and things go pretty well for a while - but it soon becomes quite repetitive. Admittedly, since I knew where the characters were headed all the time it was quite easy for me to become slightly bored, but even so it did feel like wherever they went the same things happened: they'd follow Odysseus to an island, interfere a little bit and get into trouble, but then make it out alive and follow him off again. I've already talked about how I feel Gentill could've been a little more creative with the adaptation, especially to help the pacing.

Chasing Odysseus is an entertaining story for younger readers interested in greek mythology and the classical world, but it didn't quite work for me and I have a feeling the little inaccuracies would also irritate fans of the original epic.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13546886-chasing-odysseus

Monday 10 August 2015

Demon Road

25600032

Book Title: Demon Road
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Demon Road #1
Date Started: August 5th 2015
Date Completed: August 8th 2015
Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Thriller
Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars
Final Rating: Five stars
Review:

◆ Thank you so so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this eBook copy for review ◆

Coming out of Skulduggery Pleasant, I was terrified that Demon Road just wouldn't be the same; of course I wanted something new and different but Skulduggery meant so much to me that how could anything ever compare to it? And no, Demon Road wasn't Skulduggery. It was it's own wonderful, explosive, hilarious, thrilling and bloody terrifying story. It was utterly fantastic, I enjoyed every minute of it and oh wow. I'm a little lost for words.

I've always said that Derek has too much fun writing - and Demon Road just proved that. You can literally feel his glee through the words and the hilariously over-exaggerated gore. And the typical Derek jokes. And the incredibly sarcastic characters. (I've missed Derek's writing.)
The dialogue is priceless as always. I don't know how he does it but Derek manages to create conversations that can be arrogantly clever one minute, dangerously tense and violent, and then so heartwarming even the characters make fun of it. Whatever atmosphere, I can always actually hear people saying it: it's never so outrageously witty or sarcastic to the point of be unbelievable.

Let's get the negatives out of the way first, shall we? Well, one negative. I couldn't help but see the quite bold parallels to Skulduggery: you've got a younger girl being taken under the wing of an adult with far more experience in a new world hidden within our own. Add in an endearing idiot, a few awesome action scenes and subtle twists on traditional monsters and it's hard to avoid the pattern. However (and that's a big however), I do appreciate that the differences outweigh the similarities. While it's hard not to notice the protagonists falling back into the same circumstances and relationships, as the story goes on you do definitely see them develop into their own characters with their own storyline. That's pretty much my only criticism - and you will not hear me say that often.
Demon Road is definitely more heavy on the supernatural and horror genres than what I'm used to, and though I'm not the biggest fan of either of them Derek manages to make the far-fetched seem real and the terrifying actually come across as creepy. I have to admit I'm not particularly fazed by gore or violence but I'd be lying if I said eerie little dollhouses, moving trees and things that go bump in the night weren't creepy - and they're definitely so when Derek's writing them.
But genre aside, the thing that made me happiest about this book was the female characters. I honestly don't realise how much it means to me until I read a book with diverse portrayals of women; diverse meaning so much variation. Throughout the entire book there are female protagonists and side characters matching the quantities or men, there are female heroes and villains, there are courageous women and cowardly ones, clever and stupid, nice and mean - but there's just so much individuality for every one that it just sticks out compared to a lot of fiction. Not to mention things like gender roles and cat-calling etc actually included in the book: Derek just notices things other people don't and confronts it. That's what fiction's for, isn't it?
The climax of Demon Road was just as good as I expected: we get a solid resolution with quite a bit of excitement on the way, but there are still things left open for the next book. To be honest, though I entirely trust Derek and am sure he's building something up to be completely epic, I'm not really sure it needed to be a trilogy.

Derek's characters are always entertaining, and Demon Road was no exception. Though I have to say I didn't fall in love with them as fast as others, they were still more than I could've asked for to make the story engaging, and their development throughout the five-hundred odd pages was fantastic as always.
I really liked Amber because she wasn't perfect. You often get characters who are odd but naturally talented, or romanticised for their flaws but are ultimately very skilful people. Amber wasn't that: she wasn't the most clever person I've ever read about, and she wasn't fearless or particularly good at handling situations, but that was the point. If Amber was powerful at the start there wouldn't have been anything to compare her development to, and there wouldn't have been a reason for her perilous circumstances.
Milo was also fantastic, and was basically the embodiment of me in the story. Everything I was thinking, he said and the dry humour was familiar from how Skulduggery has influenced my personality (not sure if that's a good thing or not). He was so interesting to read about and just generally a brilliant character.
Glen is a tough one. While I ended up really liking him, and his personality was ultimately endearing, he was exceedingly annoying too. Though, knowing Derek, that's exactly what he wanted.

The conventional episodic structure of the road-trip genre could either make it easier or harder on the reader pacing-wise depending on preferences. I've personally always preferred to get really deep into one setting or character and so found that Demon Road took a little longer than I'd have expected just because I couldn't find my own flow (I have a habit of reading in quite long sittings, but the 'episodes' always felt like a good place to have a break). However if you prefer reading in shorter bursts I can see Demon Road being quicker since the action really keeps you wanting to read, and the down-time between each location is a good place to stop.

I'm so relieved after reading Demon Road, because Derek hasn't changed a bit despite moving away from his last series. I will miss Skulduggery forever, but I'm so excited at the road this trilogy is on (pun not intended). Though it might be a bit more gorey than usual, this book is full to bursting with danger, horror, wit and those heartwarming moments that make you stop and wonder how these characters can be so sweet but violent at the same time.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25600032-demon-road

Sunday 9 August 2015

BookTubeAThon Wrap Up

So I did it! I got through my first BookTubeAThon, and even though I didn't get anywhere near what I aimed for I still think I did pretty good. I got through four books (only two of which were on my original TBR), one of which was over 500 pages long - and I generally enjoyed all of them.

Books Read in the BookTubeAThon:

22311017 578618 25600032 13546886

The Death Cure, James Dashner [327 pages]
The Little Prince, Antione de Saint-Expery [89 pages]
Demon Road, Derek Landy [512 pages]
Chasing Odysseus, S.D. Gentill [370 pages]

*page numbers above may be slightly inaccurate due to book editions and reading on kindle

Challenges Completed:

Read a book with blue on the cover - COMPLETED with The Death Cure
Read a book by an author who shares the same letter of your last name - COMPLETED with Demon Road
Read the last book you acquired - COMPLETED with Chasing Odysseus
Read a book you really want to read - COMPLETED with Demon Road
Read someone else's favourite book - COMPLETED? One of them has got to be someone's favourite book, right?
Finish a book without letting go of it - COMPLETED with The Little Prince
Read seven books - NOT COMPLETED because I only got through four

Daily Updates:

Day 1
Books Read:
The Death Cure, James Dashner
Pages Read:
123 [The Death Cure]
Total Pages Read: 123

Day 2
Books Read:
The Death Cure, James Dashner
Pages Read:
204 [The Death Cure]
Total Pages Read: 327

Day 3 Progress
Books Read:
The Little Prince, Antione de Saint-Expury
Demon Road, Derek Landy
Pages Read:
89 [The Little Prince], 128 [Demon Road]
Total Pages Read: 539

Day 4 Progress
Books Read:
Demon Road, Derek Landy
Pages Read:
200 [Demon Road]
Total Pages Read: 739

Day 5 Progress
Books Read:
Demon Road, Derek Landy
Pages Read:
177 [Demon Road]
Total Pages Read: 916

Day 6 Progress
Books Read:
Demon Road, Derek Landy
Chasing Odysseus, S.D. Gentill
Pages Read:
107 [Demon Road], 107 [Chasing Odysseus]
Total Pages Read: 1,130

Day 7 Progress
Books Read:
Chasing Odysseus, S.D. Gentill
Pages Read:
263 [Chasing Odysseus]
Total Pages Read: 1,393

Image Sources -
The Death Cure - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22311017-the-death-cure
The Little Prince - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/578618.The_Little_Prince
Demon Road - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25600032-demon-road
Chasing Odysseus - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13546886-chasing-odysseus

The Death Cure



Book Title: The Death Cure
Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner #3
Date Started: August 3rd 2015
Date Completed: August 4th 2015
Genres: Dystopian, Action, Thriller, Adventure
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

I've enjoyed The Maze Runner trilogy, but Dashner really upped his game for this last book, both writing and story. Though the conclusion to the series may be slightly over-convenient and frankly a little simple, I was satisfied by the outcome and had a lot of fun reading it.

The issue I've had with this series has been the writing style: I love skilled writing, and up to now Dashner just hasn't cut it for me to really enjoy and get into the story because I've been so distracted by the prose. I don't know what happened between the penultimate and final instalment in this series, but the writing was so much better this time. The slang didn't distract me as it has before - in fact it actually blended so well into the Gladers' language, despite the fact they were surrounded by people that didn't use their vocabulary - the action was pulled off so that I could actually picture a lot of it; the general structuring of the book itself was also better.
Of course there will always be little things that get to me: the inability to sustain chapters for more than a few pages makes everything feel quite disjointed; the fact the adults talk exactly the same as the teenagers, just without the slang; the persistent tendency to tell the reader what's happening as opposed to implying it.

The Death Cure had a really nice cause-and-effect plot line: everything really did feel like a chain-reaction that got out of control and just pulled the characters along with it. While a part of me feels like Dashner was making it up as he went along and get caught in storm because he was a little careless, the resulting effect does contribute a lot of atmosphere to the story and it's a bit harsh to criticise the means if the ends works well.
The inclusion of the Flare was really nicely done as well. If you've managed to avoid the biggest spoiler of the series (first of all, congratulations - and if you're really sensitive about it, maybe skip this part) I'll try to be vague, but Dashner explored the virus in a very personal way for the audience when he inflicted it on some of the Gladers. In this way, it's the first time we really appreciate the impact it's had on people and how dangerous it really is. The progressive deterioration of the characters infected was also very well done in my opinion.
I like to look at the whole novel being the climax to the trilogy, since the book's own climax is a bit strange. I absolutely love it when series' reference back to previous books at the end but still have their own story, and Dashner really pulled elements from all three books together right at the end. However, the conclusion itself doesn't seem to fit in my mind: I can't decide whether it was satisfying or not. it was definitely a good conclusion, but was it too good? Did the characters end in such a happy position that it doesn't fit with the bleak danger of the series? While everything has been tied together, it still feels like there's a lot unsaid where we left off.

The characters are the things that hold up these books, and Dashner was tough in The Death Cure over who he included, but ultimately he made good choices. Though I'm disappointed the girls from Group B weren't really involved, I appreciate the focus we got to have on the mighty Gladers and a few others.
As much as I love the Gladers as a whole, watching Thomas go it alone for parts of this book was awesome. It really highlighted how far he's come from the first book and how much he cares about his friends. The relationships between the Gladers are often overlooked for the individuals, but Thomas was so invested in helping the people he cared about, and it really got to him when he made mistakes and wasn't able to do things.
I like Brenda a lot more than in the last book, and was happy that she continued to have her independence from the others but still be friends. I especially like the subtlety of her romance (especially when compared to what Teresa was like). On the subject of Teresa, I still don't really care about her.
Newt and Minho were the characters that shone out for me. In the first book, Chuck was my favourite. In The Scorch Trials, Newt (though Minho was pretty damn close). But in this final book they both had special places in my heart. I often found it unfair how fast their parts were - they're key characters and included a lot, but they're never constantly around - because I just wanted to keep reading about them. They were best when with Thomas, but honestly I could read a whole book solely about either of them. Minho I would happily have as my best friend, and Newt I've been falling in love with since The Maze Runner.

While reading this book in the BookTubeAThon 2015 helped keep up the pace of my reading, I did feel that the storyline moved a lot faster than in the previous books. A lot of the time in The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials there were lengthy sections of downtime where it felt like the characters talked in circles; once past the opening expositions, The Death Cure throws you into a sequence of events that don't really stop until the last few pages.

If you've been disheartened by some of the earlier instalments of this series I think The Death Cure will overcome any worries about how the series might end. Of course there's quite a few little things that stop this book from being brilliant, but to draw Thomas' adventures to a close it does a good job. Packed with action, danger and the unavoidable sarcasm of the Gladers, each character's story ends in a way that doesn't leave too many loose ends.

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