Throne of Glass

Book Title: Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #1

Date Started: July 15th 2013

Date Completed: July 17th 2013

Genres: Mystery, Action, Adventure, Romance, Fantasy, Thriller

Rating: Five stars

Review:

Oh the epicness of Sarah J. Maas. I was worried, after reading the prequel novellas, that the hype I had created in my own mind was be just too hard to achieve, but, once again, I was staggered by the awesomeness that is the Throne of Glass novels.


Throne of Glass is set in the fantasy world of Erilea, and begins in the death camp of The Salt Mines of Endovier. Celaena Sardothien has been imprisoned for a year after getting caught on one of her missions as Adarlan's Assassin. But when the Crown Prince turns up offering her freedom after four years in service to his father, Celaena finds it hard to turn him down - even the challenge of competing for the position doesn't put her off. Until she arrives in Rifthold, and realises that it is not only the training sessions, heart-melting allies and violent kingdom battles raging for the power of the Glass Throne.

Sarah J. Maas is one of the best Young Adult writers out there, not just for her stories, but also her writing. It flows perfectly and everything connects to each other:
The description is lovely, but not too overpowering.
Emotions are really well presented, so that we can tell what the characters are thinking and sympathise - even empathise - with them without the author having to tell us exactly what's going through their minds.
The action is flawless; I can picture everything that's happening and I'm amazed by it without even having to see it in real life. It's so detailed, yet really easy to understand.
Maas really knows how to think like an assassin too (which may or may not be worrying) so that her characters are incredibly real to me and I feel like I really grew attached to them whilst reading the novel.

Oh my god, the story. I never thought a plot could have so many twists and turns and different genres and everything else.
The start of the story seems pretty simple: the protagonist has to complete a quest-type challenge in order to win her freedom and get the love interest. But then you start to see the opposing sides of the boys that surround her. And then there's the subplot of the courting lady wanting to marry the prince, who's caught up in someone else. And then there's the story about trying to get rid of Celaena so she can have the prince. And then Maas blows everything out of the water by adding the magical inclusion of a ghost queen and her quest for Celaena to save the world from a terrible darkness.
There's so much mystery in it too: what's going on with the murdered Champions? What happened in Celaena's past? Who can we trust? Do these characters really like each other? Is Celaena going to win? Is the bad guy going to turn out to be good or is he going to kill someone? My mind would not shut up with these questions throughout the whole thing. They're not even stopping now.
Thank god for writers who can include romance a lot and still not let it interfere with the main plot too much. There's just the right amount to make it one of the main themes, but still different enough to let other genres have their own spotlight too.
Mystery. Action. Thriller. Romance. Fantasy. There's everything, written wonderfully, with the most intriguing characters. What more could you possibly want?

Some of the best characters ever - and although at first glance it may be your typical set-up of a story, each person has their own individual twist that sets them out from the others and their origins.
Celaena Sardothien is my favourite female protagonist of all time. She's sarky, arrogant and frankly rude - and not in the nice, joking way. Looking over it, she's actually not a very nice person at all. Yet that's exactly what her characters need to be. And it just goes to show that even though some people may seem horrible and tough on the outside, the inside holds a lot more secrets than you might think. Plus, she's a very interesting person: amazingly talented, but with a shadowed background. And we STILL know hardly anything about her and her past. That's the exciting bit.
I've never been really drawn in by love triangles before - but this isn't really the typical fighting over a girl that I'm frankly just bored of. This is proper not wanting to hurt other people's feelings, but not being able to stop that selfish desire that you just can't help:
I love Dorian. He's a very good prince. The right sort of character that you'd expect: elevated language, pride, but also a softer side that does feel a lot. The thing I liked was that he wasn't made out to be one thing and then shown as another. He was always mentioned as quite a mellow person. He also worked well with Celeana since they were able to bounce off what each other was saying in such a way that it was really engaging for the reader to experience - which I think is sometimes lost. I thought it was going to be really hard for me to like any other male characters after falling in love with Sam from Maas' novellas, but actually I still love these male interests (but Sam will always be mine and he will never be replaced - never).
But I also really love Chaol. His and Dorian's relationship was a great idea - because it made their emotions real and different to what you'd usually see in a love triangle. The other thing I really like about Chaol was that we were told he wanted to hide his feelings, and he did that for the entire book (e.g. we weren't told he was one way, and then he acted another - which always pisses me off in novels). This also worked very well since it allowed most of the drama to be focused around Celaena's quest etc, rather than the 'Twilight' affect of the plot being lost within a frankly monotonous cycle of stereotypical romances.
Nehemia grew on me. At first I really didn't like her and, honestly, found her very annoying and irrelevant to the story. But actually, I started liking her character by the end and I understand her role was actually vitally important to the plot. I take my first judgements back.
Kaltain was the typical 'popular' girl that just makes trouble because of her jealously. Usually I would object to an appearance of such a character in this type of story, since it generally isn't need. But I admit that her part was quite important to the story, and also she wasn't completely and utterly unbearable, although I do understand why everyone hates her.
If I ever get another dog I'm calling it Fleetfoot.
The mentions of Sam killed me. Literally broke my heart and threw it into the wind.

We're thrown right into the story from the start, and it never stops. There's plenty of tension from the very first sentence, and the audience is left puzzling over what's happened, and what's going to happen.
Even throughout the journey and when they reach Rifthold, there's tension everywhere, and drama is around every corner. But the best thing is it doesn't get boring - and nothing is light and, frankly, stupid. Everything has a point and refined quality that makes it believable and truly adds to the story.
It's clear what parts are the climaxes, and they're definitely different from the other parts, whilst still letting everything have it's own worth and effect. I honestly felt my heart leap into my throat for the first time in a long time in the final climax of the book - which is very impressive since action/fight scenes rarely get that sort of reaction from me.
Admittedly, the last few chapters slowed the whole thing down, but that's only to be expected. I would have liked a little more of a cliffhanger, although there's still plenty for me to worry about for what's going to happen in the sequel.
The one downside I have about the entire book - and literally the only reason this is not now my favourite book - if that generally the basic story was fairly old. However the countless new twists on it made it amazing still.

Sarah J. Maas has said in plenty of interviews how Throne of Glass is inspired from Cinderella. 'I ended up thinking that the music [of Cinderella] would be better suited to the plot if Cinerella had done something truly bad [...] what id she tried to kill the Prince?'
You can definitely see elements of Cinderella in Maas' story - particularly in the masked ball scenes.
Yet what's so different about this 'alternative' fairytale is that the story is completely new and original and unique. I feel that a lot of authors try to retell classic stories because they don't have to put much effort into the stories, since they're only there, so they can focus more on background etc. But Maas has really taken time to look at all aspects of her world and make sure everything fits and works and is both beautiful and magical, yet believable and realistic - which is something that will always impress me about authors that bother to do this.

I would recommend this book to everyone, since it is definitely one of my favourite books of all time. It has action, romance, mystery, thrills, fantasy - literally everything. The writing is fabulous, and the story is unique and always engaging and interesting.
You can read the novellas first if you like - I did - but it might make you suffer emotionally at certain parts of the book.
I need the next one. Now.

Image Source: http://www.sassisamblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Throne_of_Glass.jpg

The Maze Runner

Book Title: The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner #1

Date Started: July 13th 2013

Date Completed: July 15th 2013

Genres: Mystery, Action, Adventure, Dystopian, Thriller, Romance

Rating: Four stars

Review:

Despite having given up on this book a while ago after getting through the first seventy or so pages, it turned out to be a surprisingly good read. I understand why I didn't like it to start with, since the beginning is fairly repetitive, but actually, after taking the time to really get into it, I really enjoyed the whole thing.


Thomas wakes up in the darkness without a single memory of who he is, where he comes from and what is happening. When the doors of the Box creak open, and numerous curious faces peer down at him, Thomas thinks he might be losing his mind. He's soon engulfed in life in the Glade, the centre of an endless maze that traps a group of teenage boys inside. But when an unconscious girl turns up in the same week, and supplies start to dwindle, it seems the boys might need to escape their prison sooner than they had thought.

I don't have a lot to say about the writing. It was okay, but not amazing.
It didn't exactly flow like most books I read, but it wasn't hard to read because of this either. It wasn't hard reading, but it wasn't dead easy either. It was a little bit in the middle, on all levels.

The reason I gave up on this book the first time is because it just didn't interest me and nothing really happened. Having read it again, I stick by that decision, but am glad I had a little more patience this time.
For the first hundred pages, the same thing happens pretty much again and again and again: Thomas gets taken somewhere to be shown the ropes; asks some typical questions; gets ignored; gets annoyed. It's just very repetitive, even though I accept that it might have been needed to show the Glader's reluctance to answer him.
Also, a lot of the seeds for the main plot are introduced in the first part of the book, yet nothing seems to happen to any of them. I think this was the main thing that drove me away last time: it seemed like loads of good things got introduced, were there for a couple of pages, and then just disappeared and sat in the corner for ages. It's easy to let yourself think nothing's going to happen to them.
Fortunately, this isn't the case. Once the plot actually kicks off, it's incredibly engaging and interesting. There's a real mystery, that we fully empathise with, since we know just as much as Thomas does as he goes through these experiences. It's based strongly on how the boys react to their situations, and the reactions are very realistic, which also credits the story.
The ending was very, very good. I did get spoiled, so the affect wasn't quite as much as it would have been, but it was still very thrilling and intense; I found it hard to put my book down.
And there's now another author I have reason to hate. Although, I felt a lot more detached from the story that I usually would in such a situation, considering how much I loved the character (spoilers).
Good cliffhanger too. It leaves a lot open for the next books, but also kind of closes off as well, so I wouldn't have to read the other books if I really didn't want to (I do though).

Considering this is a book about boys being boys, I thought all the characters were very individual and interesting for their own qualities and traits.
Thomas was alright as the main character, I just didn't see anything particularly special about him. I think he really is very brave, intelligent and a good person etc, but I think the reactions from the other boys were a little over exaggerated (it almost seems like certain parts of his personality have been edited out, and we're then only left with a half-Thomas).
Teresa annoyed me a little if I'm honest. There's nothing specifically bad about her; it just annoys me when female characters are all bold and strong in tongue and reputation, but then become really flimsy in actual situations. I've got nothing against a girl who isn't kick-ass; it just annoys me when we're told that a character is so strong and brave and against the stereotypical image of women, and then they turn out not to be.
Every story has to have a loveable character that's just innocent and cute. And The Maze Runner's is Chuck. I absolutely love him, and wished we could have learnt more about him, and got to see more of his and Thomas' relationship. It was also very good how Chuck was mentioned as annoying several times, since it got rid of the 'perfect' illusion that might have otherwise been present.
I found Gally the most interesting character, which is why I was really disappointed when he disappeared halfway through the book and had very little time for the reader to get to know him. I thought the tension and aggression he provided was exactly what was needed to create another plot, apart from the Maze hysteria, yet it wasn't used.
Newt, Minho and Alby were all good additions to the story, because they were needed. I really like Minho, as I think we're meant to, but his story was a bit all over the place: I thought he was a leader at one point; then Tom's best friend; then I thought he might be dead; and there were parts when I thought he was a complete coward etc etc. Maybe that was intended, but there you go. Alby confused me, and Newt was a good leader because he made mistakes a lot.

The pace was very inconsistent. The main problem is that something is always happening - but most of the time it told us very little about the characters or plot, so was pretty meaningless.
Like I've said, the beginning just repeats itself over and over, but things do start to pick up a bit after the first hundred pages or so. After that, a lot does happen, so the reader is very engaged with the story and what's happening.
In the last fifty pages, all hell broke loose and I could not stop reading. So much happened I hardly had time to fully realise and understand what was going on until afterwards. In a way, this could be seen as a bad thing after the extremely slow start to the novel: if the action had been spread out throughout the whole book, it's likely Dashner's creation would have really impressed me.

Despite what I may have inferred, I did actually really enjoy this book. It definitely has its flaws and continuity errors, but that doesn't stop it from having a really good plot and great characters. I just wish a little more detail had gone into a lot of things.
I would recommend The Maze Runner to anyone who likes action, adventure, a little bit of romance, dystopians, mystery and definitely thriller (bordering on horror; very Lord of the Flies).
Bear with it: if it feels like the story is just going around in circles at the start, don't worry, things do start to be revealed and the plot progresses massively further on.

Image Source: http://www.robisonwells.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/uk_maze_runner.jpg

Blackbringer

Book Title: Blackbringer

Author: Laini Taylor
Series: Dreamdark #1

Date Started: July 10th 2013

Date Completed: July 13th 2013

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Romance, Mystery

Rating: Four stars

Review:

Blackbringer is your typical epic fairytale: female protagonist that hunts devils finds her biggest mission yet, but discovers she has extraordinary abilities in the process and eventually has to unite forces and challenge herself in order to succeed - but the new ideas and concepts presented in this novel changed my perception of fantasy, and raised it to a new level.


Blackbringer is set in the faerie land of Dreamdark, where Magpie, a young faerie who hunts devils with her clan of crows, finds a puzzling scene left she tracks clues back to a boat in the middle of the ocean. When she realises that this is no ordinary demon she is after, the faerie returns home in order to source evidence of what this new danger might be. But darkness is falling over Dreamdark, and with the Djinn's Champions died out, who is going to save the mystical land?

Since this is Taylor's first published novel, it was inevitably less sophisticated than her bestselling Daughter of Smoke and Bone series (which, if you know me reasonably well, you'll know is my favourite book of all time).
I found the writing, not bad, but slightly less smooth and slick than what I'd usually read. This wasn't that important, but I found it took a while for me to get into the book just because I had to get used to the language: a lot of slang for faerie's dialect was peculiar with the almost formal style of the main text. It just took a little bit of getting used to, but once I had, it worked very well, and actually enforced the fantasy idea, since it was very different from much I've read in the past.
Sometimes I did find it a little hard to keep up with what was happening; sometimes I'd be reading a scene and suddenly a new character I wasn't aware was present would say something and I'd have to glance back to see if I'd missed their entrance. Again, that might have been me getting tired and finding it hard to focus, but the amount of times it happened, I think some of it might have been the actual writing.
The action and events were written very well; I could picture most of what was happening. For example, in the ending battle scenes, I could imagine Magpie and Talon and the Blackbringer and everything else fairly vividly. This added to the story a lot, because obviously I felt more involved with the story and closer to the characters.

Although it seems like your bog-standard, run-of-the-mill story when you're reading it, looking back, a lot actually happened that I've never really seen before. I didn't really predict what was happening, or what was going to - so it wasn't that typical of its genre. On the contrary, a lot of the twists were very different from a lot of things I'd experienced in the past. However, I suspect this is more to do with the fact that the ideas and concepts created by Taylor are so original and fascinating that that allowed her to create a reasonably normal story, and still interest a the reader.
The end was very good; you don't get a lot of writers that are able to completely lure the reader into a false sense of security and then take it away so swiftly. I liked that a lot.

Magpie was good as the main character. I liked the way she was very strong and fierce, but didn't act like she was putting it on to appear that way - she obviously just had that personality very naturally. She was also very loving, in the way that was gentle and innocent - but not to the degree where you're just reading it and roll your eyes because you're bored of how perfect she is. Magpie's definitely a flawed character, but she's a lot more normal than most. (I suppose that could be a negative too - I didn't really see anything particularly weird about her that might appeal more to a teenage audience, but it didn't make that much of an impact on the story in the end.) I would have liked to discover a little bit more about why she was so special etc, etc, but that might come more in the sequel.
Talon. I can't even. He's amazing. I'm so happy that the male stereotype wasn't used here - and especially since Magpie isn't particularly fitted for that stereotype either. Talon is a hunter, and a warrior, and strong, and good-looking, and frankly very alluring - but he's talented in creative ways and he's passionate about creating things - not banging in the heads of every bad guy on the planet. (The man knits for heaven's sake! I mean, what better destruction of the stereotype can you have?) But I was waiting for the whole book and then...(spoilers). I need sequel - I need to know if...(spoilers).
Honestly, I cannot tell the difference between all the crows (I know there's Calypso, Maniac, Mingus...well my memory failed there). I can't even remember how many of them there are, so I'm going to describe them in one. I really liked them. I think the idea of Magpie being basically raised by this loveable creatures was brilliant, and it definitely emphasised her wild character. They're all very likeable, and clearly feel strongly for their 'lass'. I also liked the way they interacted with the other characters: they were always wise and somehow superior, yet they were also humble.
Poppy was okay - I didn't particularly like her, but there was nothing to make me dislike her either. I suppose she was needed, but her character I feel was either not involved enough if her character was really key in the story - or included too much if she was just really there to show that Magpie had friends.
Snoosti is the best name in the world, first of all. And secondly, she was a very loveable character that you can clearly picture bringing Magpie up.
The Magruwen was very good: godlike, but also bad-tempered to the degree where you consider him being the bad guy. I'm glad he wasn't.
I wish the Blackbringer actually had more of a character. He was referred to as a person, and then he did have a bit of speech at the end, but I felt like it should have been more goading and threatening, rather than literally just a shadow that laughs and eats things...

Like I've already mentioned, I did find it quite slow to start with, but that was more because of the style of writing, rather than the story. The plot actually starts very quickly, and we're more or less enveloped in it straight away.
When I was reading it, it felt like everything that was written was needed in order to make the story work really well and allow everything to make sense, but I actually can't remember what the second third of the book really includes. I'm sure there is a lot of important stuff in there, it just feels a little bit like it may have been important, but it wasn't exciting enough to make me remember that (although that might just be me being very tired).
I was impressed at the end, however, when the pace picked up dramatically and then dropped, and picked up again - there was so much tension that at the very end I wasn't quite sure whether I should expect something else to happen.

Laini Taylor has such an imaginative mind. I love the concepts in her other books, and she doesn't disappoint in her earlier works either. The ideas she comes up with are so original, even if I didn't like her characters and stories (which I do), I'd read all her books just to learn about this wonderful creatures and their magic, and cultures etc.
The Moonlight Gardens were a lovely idea of heaven for the faeries; the god-figures of the Djinns; Bellatrix the dead Champion; the pomegranate seed; the tapestry that creates all magic and devils and everything in the fairy world; the spiders; even the Blackbringer himself, a shadow that leaves no trace of anything ever being created where he attacks. I particularly liked the idea of the skins that faeries could put on to turn into animals - especially since it meant Talon could actually fly.
The best part about all these new ideas and concepts, is that it made the story so new and unpredictable, even though - when broken down - it's a fairly typical fairytale. It just brought everything to life.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, first of all. It's a very fantasy-driven book, but it's new and different from anything I've read in the Young Adult genre. It's also very good for action, and story, and characters. There's a little bit of romance, but I have a feeling that will come more in the second book. It really is a good book - despite my criticism; it's hard to write a review about the early works of an author who wrote your favourite book ever.
It may be a bit slow to start off, but it definitely does pick up - especially at the end where you're treated to a very epic conclusion of the book.

Image Source: http://thebooksmugglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Blackbringer.jpg

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Book Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Author: Mark Haddon

Date Started: July 7th 2013

Date Completed: July 9th 2013

Genres: Mystery, Adventure

Rating: Five stars

Review:

I've been hearing recommendations of this book for literally years, but I've never got around to reading it until now. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it was infinitely better than I could have imagined.


The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is about fifteen-year-old Christopher. Christopher is autistic, and detests the colours yellow and brown, but likes dogs and the colour red. One night, Christopher finds his neighbour's dog killed with a garden fork and decides to investigate the crime. But his investigation spirals a little further than just the mystery of the dead dog, and soon Christopher's whole world is thrown into a turbulent and confusing muddle of stressful events.

The accuracy with which Haddon writes from Christopher's perspective is staggering. I haven't done as much background research on the author as I usually do, so I don't know what kind of research he did to get to the stage of actually writing his book, but the way with which he portrayed the boy's feelings and thoughts was so clear that it made the character so real to me.
I was extremely moved by the way he wrote Christopher's situation, especially at the parts where the character was in a place he didn't know or understand and the way his thoughts spiralled completely out of control. It was written on a level with which I was able to empathise, and I understood Christopher to the point where I actually cried because I knew how terrible and confusing and absolutely terrifying it must be for him.
Yes. This book is officially the fourth book to ever make me cry.
On top of that, just generally the writing flowed very well and even the intellectual excerpts and in-depth descriptions of maths problems and scientific theories were told in such a way that I actually kind of understood them - or at least appreciated them enough to understand why Christopher used them in the way he did.

The story was ingenious. It grew throughout the whole book, and it's quite a short novel. What begins as a murder mystery, turns into almost a coming-of-age story, and then to an adventure, and back to a mystery, and then a drama and it changes so much, so well that I couldn't class it under any one genre.
You could tell the plot had been carefully deliberated before it was written, since everything made sense when added together, and it all slipped into place so that when certain things were revealed, you took a moment to just marvel at the orchestration of the whole thing.
I didn't see a lot of the plot coming, as well. Some of it was a predictable, but nothing was obvious as you went through. You came to the point where you were so engrossed in the story and the feelings of the characters that you didn't even have time to think about what might be happening behind the words that Christopher is saying to us.

Christopher is one of my favourite protagonists. This is because he is so completely and utterly real to me. It helped having the story told through his eyes, so I knew what he went through - but just the completely naive innocence that he has all the time; and yet the absolute genius of his mind. I don't know much about autism, but I understand it a whole lot more now. (I honestly think that everyone should have to read this just to understand what some people have to go through as part of their everyday life, and how astonishingly exceptional they are because they manage to do it). He jumped off the page and moved me to tears when he was in harder times. I haven't connected with a character so much in a long, long time.
Christopher's dad is a brilliant character. I get the feeling that we're influenced to dislike him, after his sins have been revealed (spoilers), but I don't. I don't agree with what he did at all, but I understand why he did it, and I take that into consideration when judging his character overall. I think he was a brilliant part of the plot and it really outlined how these things can affect family life.
Siobhan I love. We never really properly meet her, but I love her, and I admire her, and I'm proud of a character that doesn't even exist because I know there are people like that in real life, and Siobhan is a perfect representative.
The other main female character (of which I will not name because spoilers) was also very good. I found myself disliking her more than Christopher's father, which I don't think was the intention, but I did. Again, I understand why she did certain things, but I feel she had more choice in the matter.

The pace was complete throughout. There may not have been action scenes to create climaxes like most of the books I read, but there were still very clear climaxes that really caught the reader's attention. I also think that even the down-time parts of the book were interesting and didn't discourage me from reading.
I found I read this book mainly in one day, in one chunk of around two hundred pages, with a little bit on either end. It's quite easy reading, but even so, I wouldn't have been able to do that if the pace had been too slow, or if the plot was a bit lacking or anything like that.

I would recommend this book to everyone. I honestly believe everyone should read it, because it opened my eyes - and I like to think of myself as a fairly aware person. It's also a brilliant piece of writing, with mystery, drama, facts and everything in there. I can't really describe how amazed I am at this book. But it made me cry. And considering only four books have ever made me do that, that counts for a lot.

Image Source: http://media.onsugar.com/files/ons1/303/3032039/16_2009/75/0099450259.jpg

Bright Young Things

Book Title: Bright Young Things

Author: Anna Godbersen
Series: Bright Young Things #1

Date Started: July 2nd 2013

Date Completed: July 7th 2013

Genres: Romance, Adventure, Historical

Rating: Four stars

Review:

I was taking a risk when I read this book, because the genre is so different to what I usually read, it's likely that if I'd hated it, I'd be discouraged from trying anything like it ever again. But actually, I really did enjoy it much more than I expected to.


Bright Young Things is set in the raging 1920s, where ambition and money is what drives America. Cordelia and Letty are desperate to escape their dreary lives in Ohio, so run away to New York, and overnight find themselves lost and unaware in this strange new city. After a childish argument, the two find themselves separated; one to go to a vastly rich estate of her mysterious newfound father's; and the other to carry on and follow her dreams of being on the stage. But how far do dreams and money get you in this evolving world?

I liked Godbersen's writing. I haven't really read anything like it before, since it has the narration from the 3rd person that fits the contemporary language perfectly - yet it still has the simplistic and humours nature found in most Young Adult books. It did throw me a little, when I began reading this story like it was written in such a time - but I liked it overall and it did help with the story.
I think it was a good call to write the book through 3rd person, since we're able to get a lot more important details, and the emotions of the characters are very obvious. I admit, this did annoy me a little, since I like to reading books where you have to work to get the full effect of the story. However, it did reflect the almost 'innocent' attitude most people showed in their behaviour and actions of the time, so it did actually contribute to the story.

I'm not sure if there's a fixed story I can evaluate. There wasn't really a plot, which I have to say was a draw-back. Not because I got bored - I didn't - but just because it's one of those things that a novel really needs to be absolutely amazing. Aside from the fact that these girls come to New York looking for a new life and identity, and go about finding it in different ways, there isn't a main plot that occurs during the story. A lot of events happen, but they don't link together consequently to create a purposeful story. It's much like you would expect someone's life to happen - although a lot more dramatic. This took a bit of getting used to for me, but I still found it enjoyable to read, nonetheless.
I wish it had had more thrills. It was all very nice learning about these girls and their new lives, but there were so many opportunities for drama that were just missed. Maybe I'm expecting something that doesn't happen in this genre, but I'm so used to reading action/adventure thrillers I just couldn't adapt to a simpler story.
The progression of the story to do with each character was very good, since all three stories linked together strongly, yet it didn't feel like any one was more important than another.

This book is very strongly character based. And luckily, there are some very good characters.
Cordelia, I feel, is probably the main character, since the biggest events, and first accounts, are told through her chapters. She wasn't the best protagonist I've ever read, but I've read very few books with protagonists just as Cordelia. I liked her little story, and I think she fitted into it very well. She's clearly a very ambitious, adaptable person, and I think that was really needed in the story to give it that little bit of attitude.
Letty was lovely, although she did get on my nerves a few times: I just felt like yelling at her to pull herself together or grow up, but at the end of the day, you couldn't really blame her for reacting the way she did. I just feel that her story is such a key part of the book, it would have been more interesting to read if there was a very strong character there instead.
Astrid is my favourite character. At first glance, she seems like a bit of a bitch, to be honest. But actually, I think she's very interesting and genuine in her reactions, because of the way she was brought up etc. I particularly liked her because of her wildness and carelessness which was just perfect for the 20s. The strange thing is, her story would have really annoyed me if it had been in another novel, since it mainly consists of romantic frustration, but actually I found it one of the most interesting of all the stories. I don't know why, maybe because it was the most dramatic thing happening in the whole book.
I love Charlie. I know he's supposed to be a jerk and an idiot and a horrible person but I really love him. I love the two sides of him he has around his sister, and then Astrid. His and Astrid's relationship was brilliant, in my opinion, and I loved the way neither ever seemed to trust the other one. He was just a really engaging character in the story that I felt was just perfect for the pace and plot line.
Darius I'm still undecided about.
Thom I'm confused about.
Grady I liked until the end.

You very rarely get a book that starts to decrease in pace. I'm sad to say that at the beginning of this book, I was literally hanging on every word because I loved it so much. But then it started to slow down, and did so so much that I was just left only reading small amounts at a time because it couldn't hold my attention longer.
Don't get me wrong, I definitely did enjoy it and I'll be recommending it a lot, I just felt that not a lot happened after the first 200 or so pages.

It was all very depressing at the end, I felt. Although there were quite a few silver linings, I felt the abundance of distress and betrayal and all that was a little overwhelming for what had been, up to then, a reasonably 'feel-good' book. It did pick up in the last chapter, which was good, and I really want to know what happens to them all next (especially Charlie and Astrid), so I probably will read the next book.

I would recommend Bright Young Things to anyone who likes historical fiction and romance primarily. Having said that, even though I'm not a huge enthusiast of romance, I still liked this book quite a lot. It's quite an easy read, although sometimes you may find it a little too easy. Overall, it's just a really nice read - perfect for something light for the summer.

Image Source: http://www.karenkincy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/brightyoungthings1.jpg

Stardust

Book Title: Stardust

Author: Neil Gaiman

Date Started: June 29th 2013

Date Completed: July 2nd 2013

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Rating: Five stars

Review:

This is a really beautiful book. The story is so vivid, and somehow so innocent; it was just wonderful to read and I could picture everything happening with that magical glow that's only really generated in your mind when there's proper fantasy. It reminds me of the classic fairytales I used to read when I was a kid. It made me a bit nostalgic, to be honest.


Stardust begins in the old country village of Wall. Wall is named as such, after the wall cutting through the field on one side of the town - and the special thing about this wall is that the crack in the very middle of the brickwork, leads to another world if you step through it. We first follow Dunstan Thorn, a young, adventurous boy. When he returns across the wall late at night to revisit a beautiful women he met at the market that occurs once a year between the earthly folk of England, and the people on the other side of the wall, he's left with a surprise nine months later on his doorstep. Years later, his son, Tristan, decides to follow in his father's footsteps and cross the wall in order to find a falling star and win the hand of a very beautiful lady. But the star might not be everything he was expecting...

Neil Gaiman's writing is just wonderful. His fantasy is so vivid and engaging to read. Like other brilliant Faerie authors like Cornelia Funke and Holly Black, he's able to make the reader feel like they're in the places they're reading about.
The even better thing is that he isn't confined to one genre, like so many other authors. Although this is not particularly relevant to this novel, Gaiman is able to switch from fantasy, to paranormal, to mystery, to everyday troubling subjects, to murder mysteries, to science-fiction, to romance and back again. Although this is definitely a fantasy book, with a little bit of romance, I did pick up on the various influences he has in his writing.
I would guess that Stardust is one of Gaiman's older works, but his writing is so consistent, I honestly wouldn't be able to say for definite without looking it up. I'm always thrilled by everything he writes, no matter what genre, which is pretty impressive considering how picky I am about what I read and whether I think it's good or not.

The story was wonderful. The thing I really loved about it, was that it's potentially taking a risk. I think if I hadn't been so engaged by the writing or had loved the characters so much, I might have been put-off by the story. But the fact that everything worked together so well kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole thing.
It's the traditional sort of thing you read in fantasy: someone sets off on a quest for whatever reason and has many adventures on the way, before finally finding their way back to the start for a rather satisfying end. It could have been that the little adventures in the middle might have got boring, but actually the way they were told was so brilliant that I was always interested in what would happen next.
Stardust is a very short book, with less than 200 pages, and in a way I wish that more detail could have gone into the protagonist's adventures on their way back to Wall. Not because I think it was neglected, just because I wish there was more to read so that it went on for longer and we might have learnt a little bit more about them and Gaiman's world.
A little warning, it is quite slow to start off, but that's only if you're already aware of the story (which I assume most people are since the film came out a while ago. Something I will comment on later.)

The characters were amazing. I'm always quite confused in old-fashoined fairytales, because the story is usually quite detached from the protagonist so it's under to understand what they're feeling. It's very different from the majority of writing we have these days - but that's why I love Gaiman so much. I like, as a reader, being challenged to work out what's happening to the plot and people in the story, rather than being fed all the information in a really easy way. If the author is just going to tell us what's going on, I don't see much point in reading the book; I might as well see the film or listen to the audiobook. But by reading, I get my own experience from the book. So I want to work for it for it to be worth something.
Tristan was a very good protagonist because we really see him change. At the start, I think it's fair to say, he's a complete idiot. We all know the story of a boy who's falling for a girl and wants to do everything in his power to get her devotion - but Tristan takes this to a new level. (I mean, come on, he's willing to cross a wall into another world to get a star for her and bring it all the way back. Who does that?) Luckily, this changes pretty quickly and we see him progress through understanding his mistakes and righting them in his journey back to wall. We're almost unaware of it until very near the end. I was quite impressed by how slow this progression was, considering how quickly the story moves.
Yvaine was also wonderful. I love her stubbornness and short temper. The best thing is there's always a reason for her outbursts - which I always look forward to since they're very funny and brilliant to read - rather than just being there in order to try and get the reader to like the character.
The Stormhold brothers (I'm not listing them. I'm pretty sure I can only remember about three of them anyway...Primus, Sexus, Septimus...what did I tell you?) were a nice addition to the collection of characters. I think their involvement in the story was useful to let the reader understand what's happening on the political side of things. It was also just quite clever to have them there since we know a little bit more about this new fantasy world because of them.
Victoria Forester was much more different than I imagined her to be. When you hear about Tristan fawning over her and making a fool of himself in the process of getting her attention, we're led to believe that she's a bit of a bitch. But actually, she's a rather ordinary girl that made a bit of a mistake when she was flirting with him. And she very honourably knows that she must right it, despite the fact that it may cause her discomfort. I admire Victoria quite a lot, to be honest, and I think Gaiman did a very good job of including that other side of her.

The pace was mad. Just mad. The adventures of about half a year crammed into 194 pages. Madness. By then again, it is Neil Gaiman.
It was a little slow to start, since the whole first chapter is about Tristan's father - but it's just setting the story up, and is still very interesting to read.
After that, however, events take place so quickly that I had trouble keeping up some of the time. First Tristan was in one place and on the next page, he was halfway across the world somewhere else. So much happened in such little text, yet the reader still learns a great deal about what happens in each place they visit.
I can't think of any other way to describe it than completely mad. Just mad.

Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton need to do a film together. (Just a random thought there.)

I loved all the different points of view that the story was told from. Although the main protagonist is Tristan, and all the other stories also gravitate around him and the star, the other sub-plots were so brilliantly timed and included that I'd think of several of the characters as the main roles. It was also quite useful in keeping up with what was actually going on, since the people have very little, if any, contact with each other.

I don't usually like to link books with the film adaptations, since I stick with the saying 'the book is always better', but actually I do want to mention a few points.
The first of which is: Stardust the movie is in no way, shape or form an adaptation of this book. They're so different if I hadn't known of the connection, I would never have made it. The stories travel such different paths that I don't even think I can compare the two by saying which is best.
I absolutely love the film of Stardust; I think it's funny, engaging, thrilling, interesting; it's a wonderful love story and the world is breathtaking. The characters are original and perfect (especially the captain and Tristan.) It's one of my favourite films.
But the book is also wonderful and beautiful and magical and awe-inspiring. But for completely different reasons.
It's one of those cases (such as The Hunger Games, City of Ember etc etc) that's a very good film - but a completely terrible adaptation of the book.
After both seeing the film and reading the book, I wouldn't associate the two when recommending this title or the movie.

The ending was beautiful and, like the happy half (okay, maybe third...quarter....fifth?) of classic fairytales, ended on a twist that it very rarely anticipated. Again, it was the complete innocence of it that won me over. I just love the way that forgiveness is shown in some books, since I think it would be hard even for the reader to forgive and forget half the things the characters have done in the story.
I won't say it in case whoever's reading this has yet to read this book, but it's one of those endings that may be cheesy and cliche, but is actually a perfect display of mercy in human (well, not exactly human) nature.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, adventure, romance etc. It's beautiful to read and the writing is of such a high quality, it's hard to compare to anyone else.
Any fan of Neil Gaiman's will also love it. His writing and stories just get better and better. This is the first adult novel of Gaiman's I've read, and it's still as enchanting as his younger writing.
If you're reading this because you liked the film, don't be disappointed when it's not what you were expecting. I'm sure you'll still love it, since the genre is still the same, and there definitely are similarities and links between the two - but the stories differ greatly from one another. But I like that: you're getting another story rather than just reliving one you already know in a different body.

Image Source: http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/host.madison.com/
content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/1d/f1d7173a-e7
fb-11e1-8b8c-0019bb2963f4/502d853be2738.preview-620.jpg

The Witch of Duva

Book Title: The Witch of Duva

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Grisha #0.5

Date Started: June 29th 2013

Date Completed: July 1st 2013

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Rating: Four stars

Review:

I have to say I really liked this book - it went back to good old-fashioned fantasy stories about betrayal, tragedy etc. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on the whole time, but admittedly that was because when I read novellas they're more of a time-filler between the times I can't read the full novel I happen to be reading.


The Witch of Duva is about Nadya - a girl without a mother who lives with her father and brother. When Havel, her brother, decides he must leave in order to make a living for himself, Karina descends to take Nadya's dead mother's place in her father's heart. But Karina threatens Nadya to leave with her brother. When Nadya does not such thing, she's forced into a laborious life checking traps in the dead of night. Until she gets lost in the forest's shadows and finds herself at a little cottage in the middle of a clearing where an old woman lives...

I liked the writing. I don't really have much to say about it. It was really good, there were no problems with the flow of the text or anything like that. It was more that the places, feelings and characters didn't come alive to me. Luckily, since the story doesn't depend too much on the reader's reaction, it didn't matter that much.
I just found it a little unremarkable for a fantasy novel. Perhaps more detail in the locations would have helped this - in which case it may have been left out since this is a novella and not a full-blown novel.

I loved the story. Back to classic fairytales. Girl's mother dies and she's left with her father and evil stepmother. She gets lost in the wood whilst doing work to stumble upon a witch who looks after her. Despite the fact that this is your typical fairytale, I didn't get bored. I didn't predict what was going to happen, and I liked the way the audience don't quite know who to trust or what's right to do or wrong.
I have to admit, the end is depressing - like many traditional fairytales and I wonder if Nadya was really aware of what she was doing. I also liked the way we're left actually feeling sorry for the bad characters, but it's too late to do anything about it. I think that's a very clever fact about stories; sometimes the 'bad' character isn't bad, yet still gets the blame.

There aren't that many characters in this story. I think that's quite good considering the plot line; there aren't too many distractions and everything has a purpose.
Nadya wasn't a typical protagonist, because I didn't really felt I knew her. This didn't really affect the story, and I have a feeling it presents a worse picture than it actually is, but I need to say it anyway. I didn't really understood why she did all these things. Since this story is written in the 3rd person, I understand that it might be harder to incorporate a person's feelings - especially since she doesn't talk much. But other authors seem to manage it. (It might be that this was deliberately used in order to make us watch the events from our own point of view - I just don't really think it worked that well.)
I liked the witch. Again, we know basically nothing about her, and we learn very little. But I liked the way she wasn't really the stereotypical witch you find it in fairytales. Indeed, we don't know whether to trust her or not, but she was still a lot gentler than the typical witch. I thought this worked really well when the story comes to its climax; and leaves the reader wondering whether she was actually good after all, or not.
The father confused me. I think there was a reason why he started to neglect Nadya - one the reader is probably supposed to figure out themselves - but I didn't work it out. That might just be me being dim, but I couldn't think of why he would be acting exactly how he was.
I don't really have any comments on Karina.
I wish Nadya and Havel's relationship was shown to us a little more before he left - I think I might have sympathised with the characters a little more that way.

The pace was quite slow throughout the whole thing, even at the climax. Again, this didn't really affect the story that much, but it certainly stopped it from becoming a really good novella.

I just didn't feel as engaged with this book as much as with other books - and I think that's a really important thing. Even though everything's there in theory, it doesn't tie up too well when everything put together.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes original traditional fairy tales. The writing is a lot more modern than the typical fairytale, so some might find it easier to read.
It really is a good story, I just didn't feel involved in the story - but at the end of the day, that is the style of fairytales, and so makes a lot of sense actually.

Image Source: http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336644891l/13643163.jpg