Desolation

Book Title: Desolation

Author: Derek Landy
Series: Demon Road #2

Date Started: March 23rd 2016

Date Completed: March 28th 2016

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Action, Thriller
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

Desolation felt like it dipped a lot further into the horror genre than its predecessor, and though I'm not the biggest fan of horror I trust Derek pretty much unconditionally and it paid off because I enjoyed this book. It wasn't my favourite of what he's written, but I really respect the steps he's taken away from Skulduggery, especially after the response of Demon Road being very reminiscent of his other series. This feels like a different story now, and I'm slowly getting over the fact that Skulduggery is actually over.

Derek's a really skilled writer, though I have to admit I didn't really get the feeling of his trademark humour this time; it mostly works on lightheartedly joking about darker subjects - but when it gets this dark it's hard to joke around it. (Having said that, I liked that there are some very dark and twisted parts to these books, it's just not what I immediately expect from Derek.)

Something I noticed particularly in Desolation was how well Derek writes age diversity, and when I think about it he's always done it incredibly well. There's such a range of generations when it comes to characters, even within the 'main' cast of people, and we get to jump around in all their stories, and each is told just as convincingly as another. We can shift from a fourteen-year-old kid being immature but kind, to an elderly man tired with the modern world, to a seventeen-year-old girl going through your average teenage crisis while also running for their lives across America - okay maybe not that average.

I kind of miss the slow discovery of all these supernatural parts of the world that we had in the first book; everything felt a little static in Desolation after the whirlwind of last time. It was good in the end, but it did take a while to pick up after establishing that Desolation town was weird. I wanted to get past the 'weird' bit and onto the chaos and action and, well, desolation that Amber and Milo tend to leave in their wake. But I wasn't disappointed by those standards in the end.

You've also got to love these books for their geeky little references that sneak their way in (I can definitely see where Game of Thrones and maybe X-Men have had their influences - and of course every horror film ever). I'm generally not a huge fan of spending all your time making little in jokes for your own characters that don't mean a whole lot to your reader, but Derek's subtle and clever enough to make them very relatable without being directly real.

Desolation had a good ending, and I like where it leaves us for the finale, but I have to say it felt a bit rushed right at the very end when everything else before has taken so long. Arguably this whole trilogy follows directly on from one another but I was left feeling a little bit like we had cut off before the proper climax - which understandably will probably be the entire last book knowing Derek - but it just felt a bit off for me.

Character-wise I'm so, so, so happy with what he's done. When it comes to diversity, sexuality, human nature and relationships, hero tropes and character roles, Derek just has this way of making you think it's a good quality norm, and then turning things on their heads so you're left wondering why you would ever make assumptions about someones identity. And at the same time, he can joke around with it honestly and fairly, but keep up that humour and satirical atmosphere. Characters are a lot more interesting when you're invited to appreciate what they're going through, but also to not take them entirely seriously all the time.

Amber herself is a great protagonist. There's almost a trend in Young Adult fiction at the moment around trying to ignore the 'chosen one' trope by making the protagonist an antihero - what I've found is that mostly antihero has been condensed down to not being a nice person all of the time, but still ultimately saving the day and having people treat you like a saviour anyway. In a lot of ways you could see Amber as this too, but in a lot of ways she's not that: she's not a good person. I'm not rooting for her anymore, but hell it's so interesting to read about, because I don't see her as the good guy anymore, and that's not her fault, but that's the way it is. And she isn't going to waste time crying over how unfair it is. She owns it and she goes out and kicks ass instead.

My one criticism when it comes to characters in Desolation was that there was no way near enough Milo. I said last year that Milo basically had my reaction to everything going on, and I needed more of that this time around. Because Milo is great and Amber values his friendship even if she's got slightly bigger problems that keeping up conversation with him.

Derek took his sweet time in this book. I was starting to get a little worried near the beginning because I just could not get into it, but then when he actually started his story things went pretty smoothly from there. Derek writes chaos (both its loud and quiet moments) very well, but it means that the set up can sometimes be a bit awkward if it takes some time to establish - after going from such a huge climax at the end of the last book I can understand why suddenly there had to be a bit of a lull in activity before things started up again.

Looking at the release times for this trilogy I'm very impressed that they're coming out so close together (the last book is supposed to be with us in August of this year), and to a high quality. There's no shame in taking time with redrafting but it's quite a skill to be able to churn them out to such a tight deadline as well. And I think we can expect to go even deeper into the horror genre for the conclusion of the series, though I have to say I still haven't exactly been scared by Derek's books yet - they're creepy and weird (and very gory), but not scary. Not yet. Don't hold me to that for the future.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26791238-desolation

Lady Midnight

Book Title: Lady Midnight

Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Dark Artifices #1

Date Started: March 16th 2016

Date Completed: March 23rd 2016

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Action, Mystery
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

In a nutshell: a strong middle, weak beginning and end. I enjoyed Lady Midnight, but it could have been better if the Blackthorns and Co. were given their own story. I was so sick of the name dropping and cameos (if they even qualify as cameos at this point) by the end that I didn't bother reading the extra story at the back - I'd had more than enough of Clary and the others. I get that all of Clare's books link and it's clever but can't you please let these characters have their own story alongside it?

To kick off what I think about the writing, I need to say a huge warning to anyone who hasn't read all of Clare's previously published books: DON'T READ THIS YET. Something I really, really hate about Clare's various series and the obsession of them all being intrinsically tied together is that you have to literally read them in publishing order to avoid being spoiled. I remember thinking this reading City of Heavenly Fire; it's a good job I read The Infernal Devices to use time while I was waiting for that book to come out, or I would have been completely spoiled at the ending. And now, with Lady Midnight, not only does it spoil The Infernal Devices if you haven't read them, but also City of Heavenly Fire (and the various novellas if you care). I understand Clare's intentions with this but it makes the whole collection of books actually quite inaccessible and infuriating if you're first going into them - it's also not like you can go straight into her later series and be able to understand what's going on because of how much she depends on characters and storylines from her previous books. So I guess, if you've been with her from the start or are willing to begin reading right at the very beginning, you're fine - otherwise there isn't much point starting.

Also as a side note, the references to classical civilisations didn't work for me. As a bit of a classics geek I just tried to ignore it as best I could, and couldn't help feeling it was a bit of tokenism to make the Blackthorns quirky.

There's the same pattern in pretty much all of Clare's books: the forbidden love (and the obsession with finding loopholes in it) and the idea of family and friends being the strength against law. Now disclaimer, I read Clare's novels because they're entertaining and enjoyable above all else, but I was starting to fall into expectations that actually there was more beneath the romance and the teenage conventions. But just when I was expecting things to explode when it comes to the politics, the supernatural species exploration, even the way we're allowed to discover supernatural parts of famous cities, it all disappears. I mean, one of the main conflicts in Lady Midnight is the politics between faeries and Shadowhunters - yet barely any politics is actually shown! It feels a bit like we've stepped forward in terms of writing quality, but backwards when it comes to constructing stories.

In theory the climax was reasonably well put together: the main plot line of the story itself is resolved, which is something I think is really important, especially when it comes to these long stories, so that individual books don't blur into one another. But then afterwards a dozen new mysteries are introduced for the next book. Again I was disappointed in Clare at this point because she had pulled off a resolution really nicely, but then just had to push some 'cliffhangers' on the end for the sake of it (and it's not like she needs to persuade people to come back again, is it?).

The characters are often Clare's strong point, and while yes, the people are the driving force of this book, they didn't seem as solid to me as I remember other feeling before.

Emma I found to be the least irritating of Clare's protagonists (I don't have a great track record of liking her primary heroines - or heroes for that matter), but even so I still wasn't a huge fan of her. She was spiteful at times near the beginning, and towards the end seemed to lose particularly distinguishable features of her personality. I also didn't really feel her connection with Julian either - I could predict how they would be around each other, but more from convention than sensing what their individual relationship was.

I loved the Blackthorns as a whole, but it did come across a little bit like the Julian show. I felt across the whole board in Lady Midnight that the side characters weren't really as developed as in Clare's other series. I also really liked Cristina, and thought she had potential, but we're never really given proper episodes in their personal stories like in The Mortal Instruments or The Infernal Devices. I think it's a real shame since I know a lot of people (including myself) much prefer the side characters to the main protagonists.

Clare's books are often addictive, and I definitely found this when I got into the middle of the story. I do think Lady Midnight was unnecessarily long; there didn't really need to be such a slow build up and such a long come down - especially near the end. I guess I understand establishing the setting at the beginning of the book, but there really wasn't the need for such a drawn out ending just so all these characters from the other books could be thrown in.

Most of my disappointment for this book came from my frustration of knowing that Clare can do much better. Everything's become a little bit preoccupied at tying the web closer together as opposed to making stories that hold up by themselves and fit it naturally. And I did enjoy it, but I was just expecting better, especially with all the hyped reviews recently.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24851136-lady-midnight

Salt to the Sea

Book Title: Salt to the Sea

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Date Started: March 14th 2016

Date Completed: March 16th 2016

Genres: Historical, Mystery, Romance
Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I was really surprised at how engaged I was with Salt to the Sea throughout the entire book. In fact even when I put it down and went to do other things I could not stop thinking about it. I'm not really a fan of WW2 fiction but the exploration of people who are often ignored, especially in Western literature around WW2, was really interesting and eye-opening. But even beyond that, it was really enjoyable just as a reading experience, and very well written for the age range considering a lot of the subject matter.

Sepetys has a really nice writing style that's very nice at giving subtle differences in voices. I especially liked the way you could distinguish each perspective and the sorts of ages the characters were before we were really told anything about them. But the real praise needs to go to how well she's integrated actual historical information. Although I knew this was loosely based on real experiences refugees had during, but I didn't know until I'd finished reading and was looking at the brief afterword that I realised it was actually impressively accurate when it comes to historical events. It's shocking that such a huge event (that I don't want to go into too much, despite it being a real life disaster, because I think reading it yourself will explain it better) isn't even known in common knowledge, but this is a brilliant way to raise awareness.

Salt to the Sea is a difficult and at times harrowing story, but in a way that you can still read it and understand from a reader's perspective. I've read a lot of war stories that just focus on the suffering and hardship of its victims, and while that's a huge part of the genre, it sometimes feels so detached and unrealistic because of how one-sided it is. I enjoyed Salt to the Sea so much because it showed different sides to these experiences, where the characters can go from terrified to laughing to crying to loving. To portray a story like this you need to be able to capture humans as they are, and humans are volatile in how their act in situations. Yes, there's suffering. But actually there's more than that, and the mere fact that there's more is what makes going through these things meaningful in the end.

I thought the progression of the story was also really well done, with everything leading up to the climax but you don't realise it until it's too late. And of course, the ending itself was perfect. So fitting for the story Sepetys was telling, and bittersweet but satisfying from a reader's perspective.

This book had good and varied characters; all interesting, all believable and developed. I also really appreciated the diversity obviously in nationality, but also age, gender, ideologies, intelligence etc. A big part of this book is showing that people might be different but it's not defined by where you're from or what race it looks like you're from, and even with those differences between you, everyone deserves to be treated human. I've seen a lot of books that present this idea but don't carry it through when it comes to characters - but Sepetys did it perfectly.

Joana was my favourite, perhaps because I related to her quite quickly, but also because I really liked her depth of character. You have the maternal healer trope around her, and she's definitely the heart and soul of the group, but even though she didn't feel like she deserved that place she still kept to it. All these characters have tortured pasts, but they don't use them as excuses to feel sorry for themselves in a time of need for everyone. Joana is very vulnerable at times, but she knows what she does have the power to do, and so she works from there.

I also really loved Florian. Again, he has the big mysterious past that we slowly discover, but doesn't really matter in the end because it's how they act in the story itself that defines them. And when it came to that, I really liked how Florian's motivation meant the world to him, but suddenly it didn't matter and he found a way to be at peace with that (and not in the way you might be thinking).

I knew what was going on with Emilia the moment we got our first clue, but I liked the gradual reveal, and I liked how incredibly well it was dealt with. Considering the circumstances, the way Sepetys was able to be honest with being utterly brutal was amazing, and I think put a really positive twist not on the situation necessarily (how could you possibly do that?) but on the perseverance and importance of kindness and care from the characters.

Strangely enough, I also really liked Alfred. Well, as a person, I hated him. But that's the point. From a story-perspective, however, I thought it was really good to have someone who bought the whole Nazi propaganda because you do get the feeling that he means well. But the damage he causes from not being able to see through the lies and tyranny goes to show just how disastrous these dictators can be when put in charge of a nation that they can control so easily through fear and rumour.

The pacing of this book was well handled, giving the reader enough time to familiarise themselves with the characters and learn enough to understand their situation, but moving on before we have time to get too comfortable or bored. It's also structured in the way that each chapter flows nicely into each other so you can very easily end up reading them solidly for ages - which I definitely did. I think I read Salt to the Sea in four or five sittings overall because I didn't want to put it down.

Salt to the Sea is the perfect way to raise awareness of not just the specific events explored in the story, but also the general experiences of these people that are never talked about because they might not be at the center of all the drama of war. I'm so impressed with what Sepetys was able to do and I can't wait to read her other books because I should have read them sooner.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28930418-salt-to-the-sea

The Winner's Kiss

Book Title: The Winner's Kiss

Author: Marie Rutkoski
Series: The Winner's Trilogy #3

Date Started: March 11th 2016

Date Completed: March 14th 2016

Genres: Romance, Fantasy
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

The Winner's Trilogy is one of my favourite Young Adult series, and while I wasn't too impressed by the second book, The Winner's Kiss made up for it a million times over. This is one of those series that takes what its built up over all the books and create a complex and amazing conclusion. By the time we get to this war that's been brewing since the beginning, we've built up an understanding of why each side is fighting, why neither side is good or bad, and why the protagonists are fighting for it regardless. Everything works so well because it's been thought through so well, and when you add a realistic and addictive romance as one of the main features on top I can confidently say that this is one of the best Young Adult romance series out there.

I really like Rutkoski's writing style; there's a nice balance between description and dialogue, but she also has a way to just soften the edges to what she's saying so that you can fall really effortlessly into the prose and just let it move you along. It's quite clever when you then realise that actually she's not going to tell you everything that the characters are planning, so if you want to know you have to do some work yourself, or get caught out. You can tell she puts quite a lot of herself in Kestrel.

I especially noticed the portrayal of war in this book. It's not particularly brutal, but at the same time she doesn't simplify it or make the teenage protagonist untouchable and (in some unexplained way) better than the trained soldiers. They aren't always the most skilled, but at the same time because of the foundations she's built over the previous books, we know that actually the protagonists are justifiably in charge of some parts of the military. And there is a feeling of danger when they're involved in these battles - Rutkoski will kill someone off if that's what she feels the situation would lead to.

I found the story of The Winner's Kiss very enjoyable actually. It's a bit different from what we've seen before, but the same went for the first book going into the second. Of course we still have all the great twists and those little moments where you notice that actually the characters have been one step ahead of you. It was also really nice not to be bombarded with all the cliche romance that I felt took over the second book a little. We're at a point where Kestrel and Arin are at a reasonably solid point in their relationship and they carry on from there; the story isn't just them fighting/getting together etc, we get to see a lot more aspects to a narrative. I also realised how much more invested I am in a romance when it's realistic and just as important as everything else they're having to deal with.

The Winner's Kiss had a really fitting ending (though I wasn't really a fan of how unnecessarily long it took after the climax to get to the point of the ending, especially when she didn't really pull out another trick on us). I think endings are one of the hardest parts of a story to write because it depends so much on the atmosphere of the whole series, and where we've ended up. But Rutkoski did it perfectly and I'm really satisfied to be honest. Though a part of me is sad it's over, I'm not really upset because it was done really well.

The Winner's Kiss has a nice diversity of characters over ages, race, gender etc. Perhaps not as diverse as the pervious books, but for most of the story we are within this one group of people, unlike the rest of the trilogy. But you do get the feeling that Rutkoski has thought about all her named characters, and has a solid image of them when she's writing so they come across well in the final thing.

I adore Kestrel just as much as I did at the beginning. There's been a lot of debate recently over the new cover changes, and how she's been made to look more like a warrior princess popular in YA fantasy at the moment, and I think The Winner's Kiss just goes to show that that is not who she is at all. I adore Kestrel so much because she's just as powerful and trusted and respected as the others around her - but not for her military skill (it fact her poor ability to fight is mocked a couple of times). Kestrel's strength and ability is in strategy and intelligence and intuition, which is proven to be just as valuable and important. I don't think she needs to be rebranded as this 'physical' warrior girl, because she's a warrior girl in a different way and that's part of what makes her so amazing.

I also really love Arin as a character. He somehow fills a strong male position without the irritating and sexist 'I have to be moody'/'I have to have a six pack'/'I have to be this conventional male interest'. Admittedly, he might fall into those things every now and then, but it's not what defines his character (which is, in my opinion, a step forward for the portrayal male characters considering they're often overly stereotypical in romances).

There also has to be a special mention to Roshar who is hilarious and a wonderful person. And while I want to say I wish he was my friend, I don't think I could handle the teasing.

This book was so addictive. I read it in a couple of sittings because I just didn't want to put it down, and then I had to force myself to so I didn't miss college. The writing flows really nicely, each chapter leads on from one another well, and the writing is easy to get lost in. Had I not had to go out and do things I would've read it in one go. Easily.

I feel genuinely happy about everything that happened here: I rooted for the characters the whole way and I was content with how it ended. I'm not devastated that it's over because it's drawn together so well. It's so nice not to be taken on this silly 'will they/won't they' trope, and having the author constantly trying to second guess us. Rutkoski knows what she wants and she's confident that it works, so she doesn't waste time trying to second guess what her reader is thinking. She has a story to tell so she tells it with beauty and grace.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28587801-the-winner-s-kiss

All the Birds in the Sky

Book Title: All the Birds in the Sky

Author: Charlie Jane Anders

Date Started: March 6th 2016

Date Completed: March 11th 2016

Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Contemporary
Quality Rating: Two Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Two stars

Review:

Unfortunately I didn't finish All the Birds in the Sky because life is frankly too short to keep reading books that you're really not enjoying. For me, it was dull, slow, at times annoying, and I couldn't see any original direction in the story, and I definitely wasn't happy with how some subjects were dealt with. To sum it up I feel like this book was trying too hard to be quirky in a reasonably predictable story.

All the Birds in the Sky didn't really read like an adult book. Aside from the fact it felt a lot simpler than some other older books I've read, I also got really lost on what I was supposed to take seriously and what I was supposed to take... sarcastically? I don't understand how I could have seen the book as anything but childish if I was supposed to take it all half-heartedly, but then I don't think I want to have taken the whole thing seriously either; some of the representations made me really uncomfortable, and if those are supposed to be serious representations I'm in an even worse place with this book.

On top of that I felt like the whole thing was trying too hard to be quirky. There are little on-liners everywhere (I mean everywhere - I could probably point out one a page if I had to), and they stick out so much I can't help but see them as forced. I can't decide whether it was supposed to be a little comedic twist (that I didn't really find funny), or if it was supposed to add to characterisations or what, but it definitely didn't fit.

The storyline was quite predictable and very focused on talking. For me, when I could tell what was going to happen, all these insignificant conversations became dull - especially when they're only really in place to draw attention to the protagonists. You don't really get the sense that anything else is really solid here away from the two main characters and antagonist: other characters are there just to add a characterisation to the protagonists, or to move their story on, or to present some sort of conflict to their story. They don't stand on their own as separate characters, or events, or even as systems in society really. Maybe this improved later in the book, but I got to a point where I really wasn't enjoying it enough to spend any more time on it (and it's not often that I give up on a book).

I found the characters of this book to be quite unlikeable, and not particularly interesting besides. If I look past the casually abusive parents, siblings, school children, teachers etc for a moment, the protagonists themselves aren't very nice either. (A little note: I really wasn't happy with how much emotional and verbal abuse was in this book and how dismissively it was dealt with. One of the reasons I stopped reading was that various issues like this were just being used too flippantly for me to be comfortable or focused on the story.) It's off-putting when you're reading a book about two people getting treated really appallingly but have trouble rooting for them because they're unlikeable or undeveloped themselves.

Anders takes her sweet time to get to the point. It doesn't help that the first hundred pages is children being teased and emotionally abused by their parents; then the next hundred is them as 'teenagers' (children still in my opinion) getting bullied and turned against by everyone. Unfortunately I had given up a few chapters into them being adults where apparently things start to happen, because absolutely nothing had happened yet, but they probably get ridiculed some more and then end up making everyone hate them but it's fine because they're together or something.

Overall All the Birds in the Sky feels kind of half-thought-through: there's some interesting ideas but they don't quite fit; a nice world but half developed; characters with potential but they're only there for the protagonists. It's such a shame because the synopsis was so interesting and the cover is to die for, but they just don't match up with the story inside.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27313170-all-the-birds-in-the-sky

A Monster Calls

Book Title: A Monster Calls

Author: Patrick Ness (original idea by Siobhan Dowd)

Date Started: March 5th 2016

Date Completed: March 6th 2016

Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy
Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

A Monster Calls wasn't what I expected, and it made me feel safe and comforted in a story I would never normally be. To put it simply, it's a beautiful book that's tough because you're so close to the characters, whether you can directly empathise with their situation or not.

The writing is very well done. Simple and honest, partly because of the younger target audience, but also because Ness uses the reader to add the real emotion and relatability themselves. The Monster doesn't teach us 'moral lessons,' but it asks us to question ourselves along with Conor, and in the end its not just our young protagonist who he's tried to help. It takes a really talented author to be able to encourage the reader to do the hard work without them realising it.

I absolutely adored the fairytale element in this book (I know, of course I did); it was exactly the kind of magical realism I love. I have to say, I was thrown back into reading Skellig by David Almond when I was about thirteen, and it's actually made me want to go back and read it again - I think a lot of things went over my head. But Ness' use of it is really why I love the genre so much: you can tell so much about a person and a story that the reader can just instinctively pick up without being literal. It gives stories a poetic effect, but it also makes dealing with some tougher subjects a lot easier over various age brackets, and without it consuming every element of the story.

And this story is tough - but it's bearable. I think that's really important for younger audiences to be able to be aware of illnesses like cancer, but also to understand a little clearer how people react to these things and how it doesn't make you a bad person. The whole point of this book is that nothing is ever black and white: it's our automatic reaction to blame someone, or find a clear-cut answer to why things are happening (so we can blame someone else, really), but that's not how it works and that's okay. The ending is really key to this, and I think it's the perfect way to conclude the story.

There's a nice host of characters that you'd expect in a young contemporary about illness and letting go: the fragmented family unit, additional conflict around school, maybe with a few other people dotted here and there - oh yeah, and a Monster.

Conor was a really good protagonist, and a sweet kid. The story is kind of told from his perspective, so the way he deals with things definitely echoes in the writing, but it just exaggerates how brave he is. However, it was also a really good opportunity to show that actually a lot of people in his situation don't want to be told they're brave, and don't want to get special treatment - they want people to act like normal around them, because then everything's a little less strange. Telling this partially from a young perspective really helped get this across in my opinion, and even though I do feel like sometimes giving people help when they don't necessarily want it is a good, I completely understand where Conor's coming from and the people around him weren't always the most helpful (though they did try).

I'm also going to mention The Monster, because he was definitely his own character. I suppose you could read him to be a part of Conor, or maybe Death, or whatever you want. But for me, he was The Monster, and he didn't need to be anything else. (He felt a lot like the voice inside my head if I'm honest.) And by the end I just wanted to give him a big hug. He was never evil, just scary. Because he was honest.

I read through this book in nearly one sitting (I only decided not to since I was halfway through another review, and wanted to give it this a proper one), but even in the short amount of time it took me to read this, an awful lot happens. But Ness structures it nicely: there are good lengths of chapters and each break is placed nicely so that you're able to pause the story easily, but also really want to read on.

A Monster Calls is a beautiful, heartfelt story, masterfully told - Dowd would be proud. I imagine the illustrated edition is absolutely stunning, but I think I'm happy I read the story itself first. This way I can appreciate both the writing and the images as pieces of work on their own as well as when they're complimenting each other, because I will definitely be looking at that illustrated version now that I've fallen in love with this one.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17262384-a-monster-calls

Illuminae

Book Title: Illuminae

Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Series: The Illuminae Files #1

Date Started: February 26th 2016

Date Completed: March 5th 2016

Genres: Sci-Fi, Romance, Thriller
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Star

Final Rating: Two stars

Review:

I may be in a minority here, but I really didn't like this book. First on a personal level, but actually also on a quality level: Illuminae suffers from a bad case of style over substance. I appreciate the work that went into the design of this book (ignoring that the 'futuristic' graphics looked ten years old), but unfortunately there weren't strong enough foundations to hold it up as a story.

My biggest issue with this book is that it focused far too much on its formatting and graphics, and didn't compensate when it came to the writing. First of all, while it might look more immediately interesting than your typical book, the format of messaging, and reports, and internal AI monologues doesn't fit with the story Kaufman and Kristoff want to tell. They want to get across this teenage romance without it feeling cliche (which is 100% does) by putting in sarcastic little jokes about how silly their priorities of relationship over safety is - this is difficult in a normal prose novel, but when all you have are text conversations it becomes even harder to take seriously. And there are these awkward little action scenes that are told through CCTV reports, but are too caught up in trying to seem formal but also exciting to actually get anything across. Then there's also the fact that everyone has the same voice (girl/boy, young/old, nice person/mean person - everyone sounds the same), which you just can't get away with when we're told the story entirely through digital dialogue. The novelty of these innovative graphics wears off eventually, and then there's nothing to hide the fact that actually it's poorly chosen for the story trying to be told.

Illuminae had loads of potential, and I know loads of people think it used all of it. But I didn't, and I'd be lying if I said I was just underwhelmed as opposed to disappointed. What I got from this book was essentially a couple running around an spaceship infected (effectively) with zombies texting each other. When I read I want to picture what's happening in my head, but all I could picture was these people hunched over phones laughing at their own sarcastic comments. Maybe I could have taken it seriously without the little romantic intermissions that made me feel a bit nauseous and weren't necessary, but I can't really see me liking this book whatever little alterations were added.

Another big reason why I just didn't click with this book was the lack of creativity. Everything was just...everything you'd expect. The infected people were just as you imagine zombies, you had the typical reaction to being separated from parents, this universal romance trope, the boring conflict between caring about someone who's been infected and is about to kill you. I couldn't see much new past the fancy design.

If I'm honest I didn't finish Illuminae. I read about 500 pages, and even though if I have around 100 pages of a book left I'll finish it, I just couldn't anymore. I skim read the end, and I can't say I was surprised by what happened. I can't say I was particularly sad I didn't get to read it either.

I also didn't like the characters. I feel like I'm moaning a bit by now, but in my opinion the Artificial Intelligence had more personality than the rest of the characters put together. I felt like they were all just sarcasm and nothing else - I definitely didn't get the feeling that these were people supposedly suffering from PTSD and anxiety. I understand some people joke as a way to ignore their desperate situation, but they don't act like stropy teenagers and put their ended relationship above everyones safety all of the time. Kaufman and Kristoff wanted their protagonists (and the AI) to go through certain things and so just didn't characterise much else around them - I mean you're supposed to be on board a military spaceship and I don't feel like there was a single responsible, experienced officer anywhere.

The pacing in this book is alright, thanks to the variety of graphics. I can see how in some respects playing around with the formatting helped the story along; considering actually not that much happens in terms of plot twists the various layouts for different conversations or monologues gives a little bit of plot diversity to stop things becoming boring. I mean, I got bored anyway but that wasn't down to the structuring of the story.

I personally wouldn't recommend Illuminae as a story, but it's a nice look into the potential there is to tell stories in more ways than just traditional prose. Having said that I know lots of people that really loved this book - unfortunately I just wasn't one of them.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25877135-illuminae