Reviews

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Review | "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell

I finally read this book! I mean, I know I read and reviewed "Fangirl" already (and while these reviews are all behind, I read that book a few months before I did "Eleanor & Park) but this book is what first had me intrigued by Rainbow Rowell's writing. A novel that is recommend by John Green and Stephanie Perkins? How could I not want to read it?
It took me a while to actually order and get into the book, though because I knew vaguely how the story went and I know some people had some emotional moments towards the end that I wasn't sure I wanted to read about at the time, but I finally did it! I finished the book in under two days and couldn't put the book down, but before I get into the few little things I noticed about the book, here is it's Goodreads description:

Eleanor & ParkTwo misfits.
One extraordinary love.
Eleanor
... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.
Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.
Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. 


So, like I said, I put off reading this book for a while because I wasn't sure if I was ready to read a book that that might make me tear up and have me falling in love with and rooting for such misfit characters, but I did, and I adored it. I still enjoyed "Fangirl" more, that was more relatable after all, but this book was so beautiful and heart-wrenching and I loved every page of it. My only real problems are that the characters have a co-dependency that, as we know, is unhealthy. That's not something that could be changed though. The characters are outsiders, they're damaged in their own ways, of course they cling to each other the way they do. There were also parts that were so uncomfortable to read, especially when they come after scenes that are light and cute and everything a contemporary YA book usually is. The balance was done well, but the disparity between the two sides of the story would make me feel the tension and squirm in my seat to have to read it.
I think this is a great book. All teenagers should read it because it handles all the various topics involved from love to damaged households in an elegant and realistic sort of way that doesn't belittle the problems or romanticize them. The perspectives change often and the chapters are short so the plot moves along quickly. Before you know it you're finished with the story and drying your eyes because while things may not always be written the way you'd want them to, they fit the story and you can't help but accept and appreciate it.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Review | "The Unbound Man" by Matt Karlov

I won this week's book in a Goodreads giveaway a few months ago, and by just looking at the book's star rating, it didn't make me too excited to read it- but I actually really enjoyed it!
Here's the book's description:

The Unbound ManIn a land of merchant companies, printing presses, gunpowder and sorcery, Arandras Kanthesi once worked alongside the gifted and powerful, hunting down artefacts of the glorious past and teasing out their secrets. Then an unknown assailant murdered his wife, and his world fell apart.
Now, at last, he has a lead.
But pursuing his quarry means joining forces with the Quill, the order of sorcerers and scholars Arandras abandoned after his wife's death. And the Quill's help never comes without a price.
In his hunt for the killer, Arandras stumbles across a relic of a long-dead empire, one that could lead to a weapon of enormous power. Caught between his former colleagues and his wife's murderer in a race for the lost weapon, Arandras must decide what he values most: revenge, the lives of those he once called friends, or the fate of a world he no longer cares for.
By turns gritty, reflective, and intense, THE UNBOUND MAN is a powerful debut from a compelling new voice in fantasy. 


This is a medieval fantasy novel that can be read as a stand alone (and was originally intended as such) however a sequel is in the works.  
I liked the book. I think the first half was especially gripping and while it slowed down some at the midway point, the story never really dragged on to the point that I just wanted it to be over. However, with only a 3.5 rating average on Goodreads, there are some things I noticed could have been improved (though I gave the book 4 stars myself).
There was some redundance, though. Not in the sense of word repetition, more that there were different phrases and statements that would be made that meant the same thing, so all of them being in the book was unnecessary. 
The exposition was a little rushed, so details could be forgotten or missed entirely, and the dialogue was at times over simplified while the story itself was very heavy with its metaphor use.
There is a scene where Arandras is confronted by two of the three other members of his group. That in itself isn't an issue, what I had a problem with was the logic. Arandras and Mara were clearly the intelligent, important members of the team, how do the other two get the nerve to think they can get along without one or both of them?
Some of the perspectives were much less captivating than others. That's a natural occurrence when there are multiple points of view in a story, but the less attention grabbing characters should have had the most intriguing parts. In theory, they had the most crucial roles of the story as far as giving the reader information about the world  and mythology is concerned. Also, at times it seemed as if the author was struggling to make the different plots actually mesh together.
Since we don't get to see relationships form much, the end results of such developments and their intensity seems forced and out of place.
Now comes the part where I say whether I would recommend this book or not. Here's the thing, for storyline, I say yes. It's not perfect, but it's a good novel that I enjoyed. There are familiar elements mixed with original ideas that don't make the story seem like one that's been done a thousand times, but it depends on how you want to read the book. The physical copies range from around 18-35 euros depending on whether you choose paperback or hardcover and what site you use to order the book. Is this a 20 euro book? Sadly, no. 
The ebook can be downloaded from amazon at a more reasonable price (though still more than other independently published books) and is even free for kindle unlimited users. So ultimately, it's up to you. If you have an ereader and you are willing to risk 5 euros or so, then go for it. If you can't justify it on a "maybe" sort of interest, considering the numerous other titles that can be downloaded for 2,99 or less, then don't feel like you're missing the next big thing. It's a good book, but it's not a must read.


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Review | "Of Love and Evil" by Anne Rice

This week's review is over my second Anne Rice novel. I read "Interview With the Vampire" a few years ago, and while I enjoyed it, it was a slightly strange sort of reading experience for me. In fact, I haven't continued with the rest of the books in that series. However, I saw a pretty and inexpensive hardcover edition of "Of Love and Evil" in October while I was out of town and couldn't resist giving Anne Rice another try. It was different genre, focusing on angels rather than vampires which I've enjoyed reading in the past.
Sadly, I didn't realize until afterwards that this book was the second in a series (The Songs of the Seraphim) until I had already returned home, but after doing some research, I decided I would be able to read it without missing much as it seemed like there wasn't too much of a story arch between book 1 and 2.
I didn't particularly love the story, but before I get into my thoughts, here is the Goodreads description:

Of Love and Evil (Songs of the Seraphim, #2)Anne Rice's extraordinary new novel summons up for us the world of fifteenth-century Rome: of Michelangelo and Raphael, of the Holy Inquisition and of Leo X, second son of a Medici, holding forth on the papal throne . . . a city of domes and rooftop gardens and rising towers. And into this time, into this century, Toby O'Dare, former government assassin is summoned, by the angel Malchiah, to solve a terrible crime of poisoning and to search out the truth about a haunting by an earthbound restless spirit -- a diabolical dybbuk. In the fullness of the high Italian Renaissance, Toby is plunged into this rich age as a lutenist sent to charm and calm this troublesome spiri... He soon discovers himself in the midst of dark plots and counter-plots surrounded by a darker and more dangerous threat as the veil of ecclesiastical terror closes in around him.
As Toby once again embarks on a powerful journey of atonement, he is reconnected with his own past, with matters light and dark, fierce and tender, with the promise of salvation and with a deeper and richer vision of love. 


My first real issue came up when Toby's ex comes into the picture. After finding out that he had fathered a child it is arranged for him to see the woman he had to run away from and is still in love with after ten years....that's fine, but she claims to have no ill will towards him. She is completely fine with the fact that he had disappeared for a decade, leaving her alone to be a teen mother? I don't think so. Forgiveness is a big thing in this book and series, from what I can tell, but I find it almost impossible to believe that she wouldn't have any hard feelings. Even if it was just being hurt that he left her. 
All the realistic events in the book are written in a surreal way that makes them painful to read. 
The actual main plot of the book takes half the novel to actually start up and it resolves far too quickly and in an unsatisfying way.
In all, I think if you want Anne Rice, read her vampire novels. This book doesn't have too many raving reviews on Goodreads and I think there are definitely better stories in this sort of genre out there.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Review | "Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic" by Meghan Ciana Doidge

The first review of 2015 (is anyone else having a hard time believing it's already the new year?) is over an ebook that, as part of a promotion to push the rest of the series, can be available for free download on Amazon (and who doesn't love free books?).
Anyway, I'll get right into my thoughts, but first, here's the book's Goodreads description:

Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (The Dowser, #1)
If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, that dancing in a crowd of magic wielders — the Adept — was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I liked it. That’s what twenty-three years in the magical backwater of Vancouver will get you — a completely skewed sense of reality. Because when the dead werewolves started showing up, it all unraveled … except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth. 

I know, that's not much of a synopsis, and it isn't. It's an excerpt of the very first thing you'll read in the book, but let's be honest, with the title and the cover it's pretty easy to figure out the type of story. There isn't a lack of cute, chick lit, magic books out there. What makes this one worth reading is mostly the fact that it's available for free, if you like it, you can read the others, if not, then all you've wasted was your time.
I liked this book well enough, it wasn't anything too special, but it was entertaining and has me interested enough to not completely write off the idea of continuing the series. Before you get into it though, here are a few of the issues that I had.
Some of the magic (and the magical world elements) are explained in a way that's confusing and clunky. Hopefully it makes more sense as the series goes along, and the story flows nicely so it doesn't hinder the reading too much.
That being said, the storyline itself was slow to start. There was a lot of exposition so the plot didn't pick up really until a little way through the book. 
There was some plot point/history redundance and proof reading/line edit issues.
The further into the story I got, the less polished the writing seemed. Like the author got so caught up in getting the story down that she didn't pay as much attention to her technique. 
The sexual tension in the book was just sort of awkwardly thrown in and thus not really necessary. 
I didn't get to know the characters as much as I would have liked to, even the narrator isn't really open to the readers aside from pointing out some of her quirks here and there.
There are a lot of questions left unanswered for future books to get into, but that goes against other parts of the writing that tried to make the book come across as a tied up ending. Like a story that could be read as a standalone and not necessarily requiring sequels.
Over all, I liked the story. It was cute and quick, definitely a nice, light read. However, if it weren't for the fact that this book is so easily available, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it- purely for the fact that there are so many books out there like this one.