Book Review | "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer

Review | "Lies: Ann Putnam Jr.'s Recounting of the Salem Witch Trials" by Oliver Dahl

If you've seen my last Youtube video, you know that I have already done a review over "Lies", however, I wrote out my thoughts in a little more detail on amazon, and decided to share that review here as well.

I received a copy of "Lies" from the author in exchange for a review.
This is the first book (as far as I can remember) that I've read that takes place during the Salem witch trials, and it is most definitely the first book I've encountered that handles the subject from a strictly non-paranormal perspective.
It follows Ann, a young girl who pretends to be tormented by witches in order to, hopefully, save her friends and her town.
It's a short book, more of a novella or short story, but it's definitely worth reading. The author did a very good job of sounding like a young girl. The voice of the narrator was completely believable and didn't sound in any way forced the way some perspectives tend to be when they differ from the author's life.
I liked that the book didn't focus on the magic and witch lore as much as it did on the psychological state of the characters. It got into the head of Ann to give one possible explanation as to why she acts the way she does in the book. Now, it being historical fiction, there are facts mixed in with some elements the author added in himself, which he goes into in his notes. I think the story manages to make its point in being an insightful and thought provoking read.
The two biggest "problems" for lack of a better word I had were:
1)The story's length- I would have loved for it to have been a little longer so the collective mental breakdown of the town and the conditions the afflicted girls were living in could have been more detailed.
2)Some cases of words or phrases being used too closely together in the same paragraph. This is a relatively minor issue and it's not a problem through most of the book.

In the end, I think if you're interested in the Salem with trials and its part in American history, or even just to read a different sort of story about that time, this is a good choice.

Mash Up Ebook Review | "Lies" by Oliver Dahl and "Finding Cinderella" by...

Review! | "The Betrayed" by Igor Ljubuncic

As is a usual occurrence lately, it's late and I've just realized I haven't posted my review for this week yet. So I'll try to be brief in my introduction. This week I'm reviewing the high/medieval fantasy "The Betrayed", the first book in the self published "Lost Words" series which I won in a Goodreads giveaway a few months ago.
The book's Goodreads description:
In the ancient land of the Realms, where armies clash and heroes arise, only the most cunning and courageous can redeem a war torn land from certain annihilation. The Betrayed, Igor Ljubuncic's epic, gritty fantasy novel, spins a searing tale of a world in the throes of war. With furious, fast-paced action and fascinating characters, this wildly inventive saga will thrill anyone who demands fantasy at the top of its game.

A war is brewing in the Realms. When the new religious sect of Feor from Caytor invades the Safe Territories, the home of the old gods, Commander Mali of Eracia scrambles to counter its advance. To that end, Adam, an Eracian prostitute who awaits hanging, is spared to join the army. In the Territories, a former criminal Ayrton and his young protégée Ewan face the threat of the invaders. Can the ruthless followers of Feor be stopped, and the old faith be saved?

As nations clash, old rivalries are set aflame and nothing seems sacred, sinister and ancient secrets are revealed. With wit and adrenalin, The Betrayed weaves a taut and textured landscape of warring factions, foes and allies, to deliver a full-on fantasy tale for the ages.

I was a little conflicted after finishing this book, and here's why- I loved the idea: high fantasy, epic Game of Thrones/alternate medieval world settings- it sounded like such a fun read, and I look back on my reading fondly, however I also found myself skimming this book quite a bit. I don't know what happened, one moment I was reading, and while I was finding some things here and there that slowed the story for me- which I'll get into in a moment- I didn't feel the need to speed read through any of it. The next thing I know, I feel like it's taking ages for the paragraphs to go by. I don't know if it was the writing or me personally, but something wasn't meshing after a little while. Now, some of the things I noted, as always, go into a little too many details or are really nit-picking, so I'll stick to my main issues. 
The narration jumped a bit too much for my liking, some chapters were elaborated on different points of view which made the story stumble slightly, and there were so many perspectives in the whole story. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when there are so many main characters and so many story lines, it becomes tricky to make everyone seem important, to make the reader care about everyone and want to keep track of it all, and I found myself not caring at all about some people, and caring less about others halfway through the book.On top of that, a lot of the character drama didn't really make me care about them any more and didn't make them seem more realistic to me.
I wish the world and its topography would have been explained a little more. Yes those details can be tedious and slow, but it really does help to picture what the universe of the characters is like and I found myself struggling a bit to come up with an idea that went along with the small map in the beginning of the book. 
There were some line edit issues, like the order in which details were arranged, some word and thought redundance, and some minor grammar details that you'll find in quite a few books. I found some phrases were repeated so many times throughout the story- meaning for them to be cemented themes, but coming across more as mildly annoying. 
The last thing- which ties into my issue with the world description- I would have loved for the fantastical elements of the book to have been more elaborate and a bigger presence in the story, rather than just being the idea that drives things. Having Gods as characters is brilliant, and I would have loved to see more from them. I have a feeling they're more present in the other books of the series, which is good news, but more from them sooner would have brought the story up so much, in my opinion. 

Again, it may seem like I am being harsh or that I didn't like the book. That's not at all true- I had far fewer notes for this book than I did for many others. I liked the book. It wasn't my favorite fantasy read, but I enjoyed it. I think if you like high fantasy, medieval-middle earth type stories, you'll find this entertaining. It's not the next big thing for the genre, but it's definitely a fun read if you're looking for a fantasy fix.

Book Review | "The Gargoyle" by Andrew Davidson

Book Review | "Divergent" by Veronica Roth

Since the movie has come out, I think it's official that I'm one of the last people to read "Divergent". I was always worried it would be too similar to "The Hunger Games" and, frankly it was really hyped up and I didn't want to be let down like I was with the Suzanne Collins series. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed those books, they just weren't quite as amazing as I had hoped they would be.
After "Allegiant" was released spoilers started popping up everywhere and I found out the ending. Now, I'm not someone who will refuse to read a book because I know how it ends, but the spoilers I learned, the time I would invest into the series, and people's thoughts on the last book (saying it was written in a lackluster way, there were a lot of plot holes, forced plot points, and not much happening overall) it all had me thinking I would just skip the trilogy all together.
Fast forward a few months to all the Divergent movie clips and news and my best friend starting the book- I was sucked in- and when I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook, I did. So here are my thoughts.

The description from Goodreads:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

I wrote down a lot of notes in regards to this book, so I'll try to make this as concise as possible.
I felt right away that some phrases and words were being re-used too many times, too closely together, making things seem a little redundant. Coupled with the fact that there were some scenes that you find in so many young adult books that it could make a reader roll their eyes and really wonder if there's a concrete formula that is required during the writing process of these stories. 
Divergents are an anomaly, and no one seems to know why kids coming out of abnegation could ever be divergent, but it's not that difficult to see why. Those kids are grown in such a restricted world that, of course those ideas are still lodged into their beings, but at the same time, it will force rebellion out of some of them. Those teens will begin to look at the other ideas from the other factions and embrace them until they don't really know which one they think is the most important. 
The society was interesting, but I don't see how it could ever work for more than a few decades at most. It's so segregated, and all the factions have a sort of resentment towards each other, at least that's how they began. The world would crumble so quickly, or divided into different countries. Each faction having their own culture and maybe creating a sort of diplomatic headquarters for inter-faction affairs. 
I loved Tris, I think she was one of the rare female characters who is strong, but doesn't start out on top. Her growth seemed a little too rushed, though. I would have liked to see the in between period a little more.  
(Spoiler: When Tris is attacked and almost killed by her fellow initiates, Al- a friend who wanted to be more than just friends, and  then decided to join the initiate bullies when she rejected him- steps in when it's alluded to that, before they throw Tris into the rapids, they'll rape her. This bothered me because he was in on the plan to kill her! He doesn't get to be a hero because he stops them from groping her before they do it. )

There were other inconsistencies, Tris didn't know people well enough to back up some of the things she said, the serum injection switched a few times, some of the dialogue is overdone and not terribly natural. The iniation stages aren't terribly different from one another, in my opinion. Everyone is freaking out about a two year age difference- which I found funny over anything else. (That would be a spoiler, if it weren't obvious there would be romance in this book the moment we are introduced to Four.) The family issues get a little convuluted.
The story felt like it was a little too long. The plot points worked, but there were so many of them. It was like the whole thing was a bind-up and not just one singular book.

All that being said...I enjoyed the book. I nit-picked a lot while reading, and that is almost entirely because I was trying to get myself to a place where I would be okay with not reading the rest of the trilogy. I have heard the second book is still good, but then I would almost have to read the third, and I'm not sure I want to do that.
It's a fun story, not amazing, and I feel like the author tried really hard to make the book meaningful, but it came across more as just a fun dystopian. I liked it more than "The Hunger Games" surprisingly, and I might eventually continue with the trilogy, if I can get over what I know about "Allegiant".

Book Review | "A Storm Of Swords" by George R. R. Martin