The Murder Complex (The Murder Complex #1) by Lindsay Cummings

Book Blurb (From Goodreads) 
Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

My review: 

This book has been on my goodreads to-read list for such a long time that I just had to read it. It took me 3 days to finish it, and to be honest I didn't even realize how far I was into the book until I finished it. It was a really quick and exciting read. 

The plot was fast paced from start to finish. It was a tiny bit confusing at the beginning because it was hard to see what everyone's true intentions were. Nobody was who they seemed in this book, not even Meadow or Zephyr. The action in this book was well spread out, meaning that we never got a boring chapter. When there was not action we were getting important information to move the plot along. There was a great plot twist at the end which I love and that ending just kills you in a good but also really bad way. Cliffhanger. I cried so many times in this book. I can't explain how fast a read this book is, you really just have to experience it yourself to understand. 

The characters in this book felt so realistic. Meadow, to me, was easy to relate to. She was always trying to act so strong that I think that she sometimes forgot that he was human too. The parts of the book where she broke down were both touching and heartbreaking. Throughout the book you could see how dedicated to her family she is. She would die for them and almost does on countless occasions. At the beginning of the book she was so desperate to impress her Farther, although as the book progressed you could see her becoming even more independent and moving away from that need to impress him. Zephyr was a completely different story to Meadow. I don't think that he knew how to hide his feelings. You could see that he was so broken inside because of the people that he was forced to murder. He tried to be strong around other people but he was not fooling anyone. He was a strong, almost fatherly, role-model for Talan. Although I do think that sometimes he needed Talan more than anything to hold himself together. If it were not for Talan I think that he probably would of died years ago. It is, in my opinion, thanks to her that we got to see him throughout the book in one piece. The relationship between Meadow and Zephyr sometimes did feel a little rushed and at times forced. It took them 5 pages after they met to fall in love, two pages after that to hate each other but after that it felt well paced. 

Finally is seriously enjoyed this book and I give it 5 out of 5 stars: 

Awesome Book Prices!

It is the winter holidays right now and I hope that we are all having an amazing time where ever you are right now (even at home it is great to celebrate Christmas!). So anyway, I was strolling around when I was on holiday and went into this small convenience store. There wasn't anything special until I stopped in my tracks: there was a huge carton full of YA books in perfect condition. But that's not the only thing. One book, costs ONE euro each. ONE EURO FOR ONE BOOK EACH!!!!! And they were proper YA books! That is such an awesome deal. I'm finished ranting now, I just needed to get that out to the book world out here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Depending on where you are from, you may have already celebrated it, or you may be part of a different religion. But for those of you who like me celebrate it today, MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope that you all have a great day!

If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman

Book Blurb (from Goodreads)
On a day that started like any other, Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

My Review: 

 I was looking forward to finally picking this book up. I had heard a lot of praise for this book and I had pretty high expectations for it and it did not live up to them at all. I don't know  if this was because I was expecting too much (probably) but I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. 

The plot of this book was extremely creative and fresh. I have never seen another book with a plot line even similar to this, or that plays with the ideas of the book quite the same as Gayle Forman did. There were memories spread throughout the book, along with the chapters of Mia contemplating if she should stay. These memories were interesting at the beginning but towards the end started to feel repetitive. It always came back to her problems with Adam or her problems with deciding if she should go to Julliard or stay in her hometown. There was another problem that I had which was that the moments in the plot which were suppose to be sad (and they were), did not manage to make me cry. I was annoyed by this because I felt like I was missing out on something that everybody had experienced whilst reading this book. I never understood how the 'ghost thing' worked.I think that it may be her subconscious wandering, but I am actually glad that we never got an explanation, it kept that small sense of mystery in the book. 

  Mia was interesting at times, but I also found that at the beginning she was a bit bland. Her personality was a bit of, but towards the end her personality had developed more and I could understand her train of thoughts better. I did find that she did sulk around a lot during the book, but that is something that I can not really complain about because she just lost her family, anyone would sulk around if that had happened to them. Kim was the cool best friend of Mia's. I wish that we saw more of her (actually I wish that we saw more of every character apart from Mia). She was funny throughout Mia's memories and I feel like she was the glue between them, and was Mia's other half. I found Adam okay. I liked the idea of a classical musician and an emo-core band member (as Kim put it) dating. It made it interesting and complicated and they were both good for each other and shared the same love for music. 

Looking at my review I think that I should be giving the book 3 stars but for some reason 3 stars does not fully fit with my opinion on the book. I do not think that I enjoyed it enough to give it those 3 stars so without really knowing the reason why, I am going to give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas

Book Blurb (From Goodreads)
Consumed by guilt and rage, Celaena can't bring herself to spill blood for the King of Adarlan. She must fight back...

The Immortal Queen will help her destroy the king - for a price. But as Celaena battles with her darkest memories and her heart breaks for a love that could never last, can she fulfil the bargain and head the almighty court of Terrasen? And who will stand with her?










My Review: 
I was looking forward to reading this book the moment that I has bought it. After the ending of Crown of Midnight  the wait was torture.  
The book moved slowly at the beggining and I have to admit I did not really enjoy the wait until the action started. The action started around the last 200 pages. There were also some new characters introduced.  The main new ones were Rowan and Manon. Manon did not have anything to do with what had happened in the other books. Her story was not as interesting as I had hoped it would turn out to be and I found that it was a little bit difficult to read the chapters about her without drifting off. Although I do think that her story would be better as a novela to go along with the series. I do not see how her story helped move the plot along. That is my only complaint about this book.
Celaena at the beginning of this book was annoying in her grief. She was not herself and was often not thinking straight. The further through the book we got, we could see her develop into an even stronger character then she was at the beginning of the series. It was nice to see her not holding back for once. She was finally embracing who she was. She also developed aspects of herself which made her more relatable. We got to see a lot of Chaol in this book. He developed a strong rebellious side which was good to finally see in him. I was annoyed with him however, because he did not know what side he wanted to be on. Throughout the book he was on the fence between the two sides and loyal to two different people with different intentions and at the end he finally tipped. We did not get to see a lot of Dorian in this book. Although we did see enough of him to realize that he was developing into someone who would make a strong king for the land. He managed to get control of his magic with little explanation which I still find confusing and do not know how he managed it. He found a new romantic interest in this book, which was good for him. I think that it defiantly helped him through these tough times and to forget about his relationship with Celaena. Rowan is a new character that has come into the plot. I never knew what to think of him. Since he was Fae, he was unpredictable. One minute you hated him the next you liked him. He was hard on Celaena, but he always had good intentions. He is still a mystery, there were some precious moments when we saw from his perspective. Even then we didn't fully understand his actions (most of the time), but we did see what was going on in that head of his. Manon is an Ironteeth Witch, in the Blackbeak clan. She was suppose to be heartless and cold but as the book progresses you can see her soften and become more calm. She has anger built up inside her which she needs to let out, in order to fully embrace her less 'cold' characteristics. You could see that she cares deeply for those around her which is evident in her last chapters. Even though she is sometime interesting to read about, I am not sure if i would be happy to read about her in the next book though, because of her irrelevance to the progression of the plot, although this may change in the next book.  
All in all I give this book 4 out of 5 stars: 

The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus #2) by Rick Riordan

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
ONE CURSED DEMIGOD. 
TWO NEW HEROES.A QUEST TO UNLEASH THE GOD OF DEATH..... 
Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, God of the Sea, has woken from a very deep sleep and come face to face with two snake-haired ladies who refuse to die.
But they're the least of his problems. Because Percy finds himself at a camp for half-bloods, which doesn't ring any bells for him. There's just one name he remembers from his past. Annabeth.
Only one thing is certain--Percy's questing days aren't over. He and fellow demigods Frank and Hazel must face the most important quest of all: The Prophecy of Seven. If they fail, it's not just their camp at risk. Percy's old life, the gods and the entire world might be destroyed.....


My Review
As soon as I finished the previous book, I hurried to get started on this book because finally, we get to meet our all-time favourite hero again, Percy Jackson!
In this book we get to join Percy on an adventure to save the Roman camp called Camp Jupiter and his new friends while battling memory loss. Percy doesn't remember anything except the name Annabeth. How sweet is that? Of course Percy also found some new friends called Hazel and Frank and the story is told out of all three perspectives.
The characters were very interesting and all of them had some sense of humour (some more than others) and most importantly, Hazel and Frank had some secrets that took some time to find out. Percy was as awesome as always and managed to deal with the memory loss pretty well. His perspective is always told in a snarky, sarcastic kind of way (just the way we like it). We also get to meet some important gods and in this book you can really sense the difference between the Roman and the Greek gods. My favourite  god was definitely Terminus, Roman god of boundaries. He is hilarious because he always gets so mad when demigods break the rules and he wants everything to be perfect.
This time I didn't feel like the story progressed without me knowing, like in the first book. Instead I already got used to the idea of Roman gods and just rolled with it. I must admit that I was pretty confused with the Roman Camp layout and the rules. I didn't understand stuff Like the Fifth Cohort or the daily routine of Camp Jupiter but I did get used to it after the book started explaining it in some more detail.
Overall, I was really happy that Percy was back and I don't have any real complaints about this book so I am giving it 5 out of 5 stars!

Jaleigh Johnson - "The Mark of the Dragonfly"

Jaleigh Johnson

This time I am introducing, Jaleigh Johnson, author of "The Mark of the Dragonfly"! I wrote a review on it as well, so check it out too HERE!

1)      What inspired you to write your book "The Mark of the Dragonfly"?
Much of the credit belongs to the 401 steam train, which is loosely based on the real-life 401 Southern, a restored steam locomotive on display at the Monticello Railway Museum in Monticello, Illinois.  I have always been fascinated by trains, and when I first encountered the 401 at the museum, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.  I knew I had to write about this train, that it belonged in a story.  Even the steampunk/fantasy world of Solace grew from my fascination with the 401.

2) What books influenced your life the most?
One of my favorite books growing up was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.  Reading that book, I felt like I could step into that world.  I wanted to be friends with Meg Murry and Charles Wallace, to go on adventures with them.  I’ve always loved fantasy and science fiction and the idea of disappearing into fictional worlds.

3) What is your working (writing) schedule?
When I’m on a deadline, I try to get in at least 1000 words a day.  Writing is something that I’ve always had to ‘fit in’ around my day job, housework, time with family, and the general demands of life, but if I can stick to that 1000 words a day, I can finish a draft of a novel in a few months.

4) What would your reaction be if you were also "magically" good with machines?
*grin*  Complete shock.  Unlike Piper, I’m not at all mechanically gifted, so I’d be very surprised if I woke up one day with that kind of talent.  It was a lot of fun writing about someone who does have the power to be able to see a broken machine and know what needs to be done to fix it.  She has a bond with machines that makes her unique, and I loved exploring that.

5) What are you working on now? What is your next project?
At the moment I’m working on a companion novel for The Mark of the Dragonfly.  It’s set in the same world of Solace, but it follows a new set of characters in a different part of the world.  I’m really excited about it!

Don't forget to read her book "The Mark of the Dragonfly"

We're on the roll!!

I am happy to announce that I have successfully interviewed another author. This is like our second  interview this month already (keeping in mind that it isn't easy to get interviews)! I introduce, (drumroll) Jaleigh Johnson, author of "The Mark of the Dragonfly"! I will post the interview soon, but meanwhile, check out my review on her book HERE.

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper. His best friend is a kid named Leo, and they’re all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids”, as Leo puts it. What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea — except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret. Her father, a famous actor, has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he’s in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn’t recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?

Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What’s troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all—including Leo—related to a god.

My Review
 I was actually putting off reading this book because I think I got a little to attached to Percy Jackson and didn't want to move on to new heroes, even though Percy will be here in the series. But I must admit that the new heroes were pretty cool. The plot was pretty good but ll the while when the basic world of gods and myth was being reintroduced to the heroes, I felt that too many things were suddenly added because this book is taking place just one, two months after the previous book. I mean, that suddenly you find out that Camp Half-Blood always had a mental, bronze dragon? When did that happen? My point is that a lot has changed and it took me some time to get used to that. This also influenced my final rating.
This book was written in third person, out of the perspective of our three new heroes: Jason (the odd one out), Piper (secretive girlfriend) and Leo (the joker and weird fire dude). I didn't really like Leo's perspective that much even though he was constantly making bad jokes and had a funny description, but his story wasn't really as interesting as Jason's and Piper's because they are keeping secrets. And (YAY!) the old characters we know and love like Annabeth are also mentioned. Besides that, a lot of other new gods were introduced, new friends and everything.
It also happened, that you get a bit too attached to creatures and when they die... yeah...
Overall though, I made some points above about the book that I didn't really like but I still loved it and give it 4 out of 5 stars!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Book Blurb (From Goodreads) 
'Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them'

This is Christopher's murder mystery story. There are also no lies in this story because Christopher can't tell lies. Christopher does not like strangers or the colours yellow or brown or being touched. On the other hand, he knows all the countries in the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7507. When Christopher decides to find out who killed the neighbour's dog, his mystery story becomes more complicated than he could have ever predicted.

My Review:

 My dad was with me in the book store and he took this book out of the shelf and told me that if I agree to read it he will buy it for me, because he wanted me to read a YA 'classic'. So obviously I agreed to read it next and review it so here is my review. I am also going to do this review a little differently. In this book Christopher made a lot of lists about things so that is how  I am going to present my review. In a list about things I did and didn't like about the plot, characters and writing style. 

The plot:

  likes: 

1. The mystery was different from anything else that I read because it was about a dog
2. About 150 pages in there were multiple mysteries
3. I liked the idea of some one writing a murder mystery book about someone writing a book about a murder mystery which had happened to them and were also giving us updates about the progress in the book in the final copy, confusing isn't it? You would get it if you have read the book

  Dislikes: 

1. I can not really find one to be honest.... 

The Characters: 

  Likes: 

1. Christopher was an interesting character to read about, especially with his disability. He had such an interesting perspective on the world
2. Christopher's dad always had good intentions for him, and I think that he would of made a good dad if the circumstances were flipped. 

  Dislikes: 

1. I had a hard time imagining Christopher as a 15 year old. I know that this is what was suppose to happen because that is what part of his disability causes but it didn't make it any less annoying to be imagining a 15 year old as a 10 year old.
2. Even though I said that Christopher's dad had good intentions for him, they were seriously flawed. He ended up being my least favoutrite character. 
3. I can't talk about anyone else because that would bring up spoilers about the second mystery 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars, because:

1. Even though there were no flaws in the plot does not mean that I did fully enjoy it, it still took me a long time to read
2. the writing style did annoy me, even though that was how it was suppose to be.

Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1) by Melissa Marr

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.
Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty - especially if they learn of her Sight - and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.
Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.
But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King, who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost — regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything.

My Review: 
I am not sure why, but I put of writing my review for this book. I think that this is because I did not know if I liked/loved/disliked/hated the book. I know that I did not like the beginning but I liked the middle and the end. I also felt strongly for some characters but others I just did not care for about. 
The plot in this book was quick paced. However because of this I felt like a lot of information was being dumped on me all at once. We were being introduced to the world of Fae. I did not know anything about this world (because I assume that Melissa Marr made it up) and would of preferred getting information slowly instead of all at once. I think that important information, which could of caused suspense and suspicion, could of been held back until a bit later was given to me too soon. On the other hand, I did get that feeling of adrenaline in the last couple scenes which was exciting for me. Through out the book though, I did have to re-read multiple pages to understand what was going on. This was for two reasons. 1. The book was not grabbing my attention at that point of time. 2. I was just not paying attention to what I was reading and was missing out whole paragraphs (this of course, was my own fault.)
I am not sure if I liked Aislinn or not. There was something missing from her character. She was there but she was not there, if you know what I mean. When she was feeling something, I did not feel it with her which is what should happen if a character is written well. However she did have her moments where I found her entertaining and exciting to watch. Seth was my least favourite character. Again there was something missing. I found that he was a little bit too accepting of all of the crazy information he was giving throughout the story. I think that he accepted the world of Fae straight away which annoyed me. It was kind of like: Aislinn: Hey Seth fairies are real and I can see them. You okay with that? Seth: Yep awesome, looks like fairies are real!  -Obviously not a direct quote but that is how it looked like in my head. Again, however I did like how he treated Aislinn and their romance together. That was cute. Keenan was the character which in my opinion showed the most emotion, he showed his vulnerable side, caring side and strong sides throughout the books which made him feel like on of the most real characters in the book but he was not my favourite. My favourtite character is Donia purely because she was the most relatable out of all of the characters. She stayed strong throughout the book and I think that she forged a strong friendship with Aislinn at the end. I am happy with where she ended up at the end of the book.
All in all I think that I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Author Interview coming up!

Hey guys! Awesome news, I managed to interview another author! This time it is the author of "Incarante", Jodi Meadows. I will post the interview on the blog soon!

The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
Piper has never seen the Mark of the Dragonfly until she finds the girl amid the wreckage of a caravan in the Meteor Fields. The girl doesn't remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she's from the Dragonfly Territories and that she's protected by the king. Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home. The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect--everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible. Life for Piper just turned dangerous. A little bit magical. And very exciting, if she can manage to survive the journey.
 



My Review 
I saw this book in the library and when I saw the cover I was thinking "Woah, I think I'm going to love this book!" Well, I wasn't tat far off. I found that this book was an enjoyable read with lovable characters and amusing conversations.

I found though that the book, at the beginning, was written slightly childish and less mature than what I would normally read. Then my friend found the problem: it is actually supposed to be for 11-12 year olds. When I heard, I was like "OK, that explains some things."
As I mentioned, the book was written slightly childish, because there was a lot of joking around but sometime the conversations were pretty amusing.
Anna was an interesting character. All the time she spew scientific knowledge and if you didn't know what she talked about, then you would be really confused. But for some reason she was a really likable character and you can really feel the connection between Piper and Anna as "sisters". Gee was a different case. It was a bit strange, because his moods kept on changing but in the end you do end up liking him.
The plot itself was a bit predictable and the ending was a bit too good to be true but since this is a standalone, I am not complaining.
I think that this book was pretty good and I literally tore through it in a couple of days and that's why I can give it 4 out of 5 stars!

Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2) by Rick Riordan

book blurb (from Goodreads)
YOU CAN'T TELL BY LOOKING AT ME THAT MY DAD IS POSEIDON, GOD OF THE SEA.

It's not easy being a half-blood these days. Even a simple game of dodgeball becomes a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants - and that was only the beginning.

Now Camp Half-Blood is under attack and, unless I can get my hands of the Golden Fleece, the whole camp will be invaded by monsters. Big ones...







My review: 
I did not enjoy this book as much as the first book to be honest but it was still good, because like everyone says: It's Percy Jackson! 
The plot in this book was equally as interesting and intriguing as the first book, but in my opinion, not as well carried out. I enjoyed the sense of rebellion that went was there throughout the book, like, You told me not to do it, so I am going to do it anyway...  The ending really sped by and it was a challenge to put down, however the beginning was a bit slow (even though we did get a good brief fight seen). There is a large difference between the sizes of the two books, (The first is thicker then the second). Whilst I do not mind this I still found the second book a little too short. I would of liked some explaining chapters to make it a bit longer, but that might just be me being a bit greedy since I don't have the third book yet and I want more. 
The characters were still awesome. Percy was still funny and had a sharp tongue however I found that I didn't have as many laugh out loud moments as the first book, but that might just be my strange sense of humor. I liked Annabeth a lot more in this book. I found that she was more easygoing and not a tense around Percy so we got some good conversations out of them. We did not see so much of Grover in this book which was a little bit disappointing, however when we did see him it was good funny action scenes at the end so I am not complaining (that much). Tyson was a nice new edition to the characters in this book, whilst he didn't have any appealing characteristics (well to me) I found that he was good for Percy and I liked having him around. 
I give this book 3 out of 5 stars:

Death Cure (The Maze Runner #3) by James Dashner

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test.

What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says.

The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine.
Will anyone survive the Death Cure?

My Review 
This book was an amazing finish to the trilogy. It was full of action, right from the beginning. New characters were introduced, old ones brought back and the main characters were as awesome as always. There were some major sad parts in the book, when people died, not necessarily important characters, but the way James Dashner wrote sad parts in the book made me cry, especially in one bit when Minho was saying "When did the world become so shucked?" That made me cry, because Minho was always the funny one and now he was so depressed and sad. Also this book became a guessing game. You didn't know who to trust and nothing is as it seems.
The characters were interesting. Thomas was fainting a lot in the second book, but in this book Thomas became so bad-ass, when  he did awesome ninja fighting moves. This started at the very beginning of the book. Teresa was a different case. I was annoyed at her and really didn't like her, mostly because of Thomas. But near the end of the book I just started feeling sorry for her because Thomas just ignored her. Minho was as awesome as always. He had amazing comebacks and was as snarky as always. Newt was my favourite character still even though he was a little grumpier and impulsive in this book.
Overall I liked this book and my advice is to watch out for the sad parts. But because this was such an emotional read and the plot was amazing, I give it 5 out of 5 stars!

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas

Book Blurb (from goodreads) 
From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie...and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

My review: 
This book was full of twists and turns and full of exhilarating scenes. I would not say that it was better than Throne of Glass but it was defiantly not bad. 
The plot of this book was interesting. It was going one way and just when we were accepting the information that we were given the book took a violent turn in a different direction. Their were plot twists at the end of the book which I will talk about at the end in a spoiler part of this review. This book defiantly had some brilliant fight scenes which got your heart speeding. It was a page turner from start to finish. If I were to pick one place that annoyed, me it would be how Celaena had reacted to a specific event and would not leave her room. I did not enjoy the time where she was just sat and felt sorry for her. You're Adarlan's Assassin! Pull yourself together! Okay, maybe that is a bit harsh. However, it did not have to go on for as long as it did. Even here I am being a bit picky to find something to try  and complain about. I don't really think that I am doing very well at it though because I understand how Celaena reacted and I respect that. 
There was defiantly some developments in the characters throughout the book which were interesting to watch. I will start of with Dorian since I think that he probably developed the most. I loved how Dorian has stuck with his humor and is still a bit rebellious towards the king/his dad. I wish that we could of seen more of him like we did in throne of glass. He defiantly managed to get his head together and become wiser and focus on the things that are important. Celaena, to be honest, scared me in this book. The fighting scenes where she got the killing calm were eery but also extremely bad ass. I found that, we found a lot more interesting things about her past and origin. I also found that, she seemed a bit confused in this book, as in, what she actually wanted. We got to see a lot more of Chaol in this book as well. I found his past interesting (since it was mentioned multiple times in the book) and liked the scenes with his farther. I preferred how he acted when he was around Celaena and vice versa. I wish that he were a bit more like Dorian, humor wise, but it didn't matter because I felt like Dorian was Chaol's missing half and I like to see them talk together. I just wish that they were not arguing half the time. Nehemia was again one of my favourites. I liked how she was so into the rebellion and she really showed more passion for it in this book. She kept a sense of mystery throughout the book which kept you guessing about her. Mort, the skull, was hilarious. He was by far the funniest character in this book. He had snide remarks at the most inappropriate times which made the book have huge laugh out loud moments. I think that every book needs a character like Mort. He was my other favourite, next to Nehemia 
SPOILER CAREFUL DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!
So this plot twist at the end. I was not expecting Celaena to be Fae and the heir to the Terrasen throne. At first I was angry about this because I felt like I had been cheated. It was so big that it should of been hinted at least once in the book. Then I sat back I looked back at my memories of text from both of the the books, and realized that there were actually so many subtle clues. The way how Nehemia had said to Celaena at the end of the first book, magic calls to magic. Celaena also had such a talent with the Wyrd marks and never talked about her past. I also never really thought about it but when it was mentioned that the rightful queen of Terrasen was working with the rebel group, Celaena was so certain that, that person was a fraud. And it makes sense because she is the heir. The clues all fit and now I am just astounded at how blind I was to not fit all of the clues together. The plot twists were defiantly well placed and done.
SPOILERS ARE OVER YOU CAN CONTINUE READING NOW!!!!!!!! 
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars: 

Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis

Book Blurb (from Goodreads)
A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

My review:
 If you have seen Alecto's 5th wave review you will know about the reading arrangement the we made. If you haven't here is a brief explanation: We saw that we did not have many books in common that we both loved so we each chose three books from our favourites and the other had to pick one book out of the three to read. Alecto chose the 5th wave and I chose Across the Universe by Beth Revis, purely because it sounded like something that I would like. Do I regret my decision? Unfortunately yes...
I love dystopians, I love Sci-fi put them together and you have made the perfect book for me right? Wrong. The plot for me in this book, was to stretched out and boring. I could identify parts of the book which were suppose to be exciting but unfortunately were not. There was two chapters in this book (one after the other were something unnerving happened to Amy) which were exciting and got my adrenaline pumping. I finally thought that the book was going to get better but alas, it did not. It only lasted for two chapters and then everything calmed down again. I wish that Beth Revis had pulled out that section of the book a little bit more because it was the only part of the book which I generally liked. 
This next paragraph will contains a large spoiler! Please do not read this if you have not read the book!
Beth Revise had a attempt at a plot twist which is great, good for her, but I do not think that it worked out quite in her favor. At the end, we found out that it was in fact Elder who had taken Amy out of the chamber. This is all good and that, but my problem with it is that a secret was not hinted in the book. The was no guilt in Elder no should I tell her should I not. Not even a hint of remorse until the end of the book! That is not right. You can not just suddenly give the character a huge secret that has been there from the beginning. This probably frustrated me more than it should and I don't know why. Another thing that bothered me about this is when he does tell Amy about this 'secret' she is okay with it so fast. That would of been the perfect time for some good old conflict between characters but no. Unfortunately not. 
Okay spoiler bit is over you can read from here on!
I am going to talk about Amy and Elder at the same time. They are both so similar it was annoying. If you are going to make a book a duel perspective you have to do it right and give the two completely different  personalities and characteristics. I should be able to open the book to a random page and be able to go ah that its Amy's perspective or ah that is Elder's perspective. I was not able to do that. I sometimes had to go back to the beginning of the chapter to check whose perspective I was reading from. I found Elders character bland and although Amy had her brief sassy moments she was a bit bland and boring as well. 
Overall I would say that I would say that I am just one of those people that end up not liking a popular book. I am sure that it is a great book to some people and I would recommend that if the book blurb does sound interesting to you go give it a shot. Do not let my review put you of, it is just my personal opinion. 
I give this book 1 out of 5 stars.

The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave #1) by Rick Yancey

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
The 1st Wave took out half a million people.

The 2nd Wave put that number to shame.

The 3rd Wave lasted a little longer, twelve weeks... four billion dead.

In the 4th Wave, you can't trust that people are still people.

And the 5th Wave? No one knows. But it's coming.

On a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs. Runs from the beings that only look human, who have scattered Earth's last survivors.

To stay alone is to stay alive, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan may be her only hope.

Now Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death.

My Review
Let's start by explaining what Jessie and I agreed on, one day. We noticed that we don't have a lot of books in common. So we recommended books to each other and then we had to choose on of the recommendations and we had to read that chosen book. So, I chose "The 5th Wave".
Basically, this book is about aliens invading and destroying the Earth and killing the humans. Their attacks were called "waves". The book is told out of many different perspectives, like Cassie's, Zombie's, Sammy's and the Silencer's.
I love Cassie's perspective. She is so sassy and her commentary is hilarious. One of her funny lines in the book was Oh there's an alien apocalypse, quick grab the beer! That was really funny.
Evan Walker was a slightly irritating character. He was so timid it was so frustrating and weird and then he started going all killer-style and then he becomes a really cool character.
The plot of the book was generally really good. On my newly invented machine, the Excite-ometre, out of a scale 1 out of 10, 10 being "Omg, I can't take it anymore!" I would give this book 5 or 6 because there was action but not necessary a lot. But I liked the idea of aliens taking over and the book was pretty original.
Overall, with the hilarious commentary and the plot, I can give this book 4 out of 5 stars!

GESS Grade 10 Book Donation

Hi! I want to talk about some event that is happening in school right now.
The grade 10s are going to India for project week and the school is coming up with different ways to raise money. Examples of that are the Christmas Bazaar and many others. In this Christmas Bazaar though, the school is coming up with more creative ways to raise money. So they were thinking that we could donate books to sell on the Christmas Bazaar. These books can be:

• for any gender
• for any age
• any genre
• must apply with the Singaporean Convention Law

Ok, that's all. Have fun at the Christmas Bazaar!

A message for students of GESS

Hi,
If you are looking at this blog and are from GESS, I would like to remind you of the grade ten India project and their idea to sell second hand books to collect the money needed. If you happen to have any books which you do not want anymore please give them to your homeroom teacher so they can go towards a good cause.

The Wizard Heir (The Heir chronicels #2) by Cinda Willamas Chirma

Book Blurb (from goodreads)
Sixteen-year-old Seph McCauley has spent the past three years getting kicked out of one exclusive private school after another. And it's not his attitude that's the problem: it's the trail of magical accidents - lately, disasters - that follow in his wake. Seph is a wizard, orphaned and untrained, and his powers are escalating out of control.

After causing a tragic fire at an after-hours party, Seph is sent to the Havens, a secluded boys' school on the coast of Maine. Gregory Leicester, the headmaster, promises to train Seph in magic and initiate him into his mysterious order of wizards. But Seph's enthusiasm dampens when he learns that training comes at a steep cost, and that Leicester plans to use his students' powers to serve his own mysterious agenda. 



My review: 
This book is too long! Cinda Willamas Chirma could have easily cut of 150 pages of this. It started of good and exciting and ended with long conversations about wizard politics...
The original plot of the book was good and could of been stretched out over a longer period of time. The beginning felt a bit rushed which was a pain because it was the only part of the book where adrenaline was really pumping through my body which is a feeling which I really like whilst reading and I feel like I have been robbed of it in a book which had the potential to give the reader that feeling 24/7. The ending on the other hand just seemed to go on forever. It was all about wizard politics and what was going on. Which was great for history and would be good in small doses, but do not revolve the whole second half of the book about it. Yes you still had action but not as much as I was hoping for. 
Seph was my least favourite character. Which sucks because he was the main character and I had to see the most of him. His character felt a little bland and like there was something missing. I could not relate to him in any circumstances which is a trait which most main characters should have to help make the book appealing to readers. I was glad to see Jack and Ellen come back into the story. It felt like old friends were coming back from the dead. I love their characters and my only complaint for them would be that we didn't get to see enough of them. I would of liked to have some clearer updates on their life together. 
The descriptions in this book were very clear and easy to imagine. Although it was hard to keep up with who was talking because the point of views were switching back and forth without warning. At the end we even got the point of view from someone who we barely know anything about! I had to retrace y 'steps' and figure out just who exactly was talking. 
I give this book 2 stars. I defiantly suffered the-curse-of-the-second-book-in-a-series-of-5-books-which-could-really-just-be-one-book. 

Abhorsen (Old Kingdom #3) by Garth Nix

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
When the ninth gate calls, who can resist its summons?

An old evil has arisen - freed from its subterranean prison and seeking to escape the binding silver hemispheres which prevent it from finally unleashing its terrible powers.

Lirael, newly come into her inheritance as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, knows that the fate of the world is in her hands. With only a vision from the Clayr to guide her, and the uncertain help of her companions — Sam, the Disreputable Dog, and Mogget — Lirael sets out on her perilous mission.

Then answer must be found somewhere in Life or Death - but can a former Second Assistant Librarian possibly discover the means to defeat the Destroyer...before it is too late?

My Review
This time I wasn't that reluctant to start reading this book, because Lirael, Sameth, Mogget and the Disreputable Dog are all still in this book. This time, in the prologue, there is a major shock and the book jumps immediately into the action. Since the last book, Lirael, there has been a lot of character development taking place. Prince Sameth isn't the coward he once was, he is braver, fights more in battles and he even wielded the panpipes and bells when needed even though he was absolutely terrified of them ever since his incident with Hedge.
In this book, I also noticed that a lot of secret names were revealed and when I was sitting there, thinking about names in the book and I noticed that a lot of names ended in -ael or-el. Like Sabriel, Lirael, Astarael and many others.
The ending of the book was very, very sad! You can't end a book like that! It just breaks one's heart!
This book had a lot of action in it and I am giving this book 5 out of 5 stars!

Lirael (Old Kingdom #2) by Garth Nix

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Now, two years past the time when she should have received the Sight that is the Clayr's birthright, she feels alone, abandoned, unsure of who she is. Nevertheless, the fate of the Old Kingdom lies in her hands. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, Lirael must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil.

In this sequel to Sabriel, winner of the Aurealis Award for Excellence in Australian Science Fiction, New York Times best-selling author Garth Nix weaves a spellbinding tale of discovery, destiny, and danger.



 

My Review 
I was slightly reluctant to start reading this book, because I really liked Sabriel and her personality, so I didn't really want to meet a new hero just yet. But I did end up liking Lirael. There are two completely different sites of her: first, she is timid, shy and quiet with other people like the Clayr. But with her friend the Disreputable Dog, she is brave, talkative and has some sense of humour. I am still very happy, that Sabriel and Touchstone are still in this book.
And of course, our favourite star, Mogget, is back with all his talk, comments and sneers, just a bit (a lot) more sleepier, because he is under the influence of Ranna. Now I also liked the Disreputable Dog because she is almost as indirect and painfully truthful as Mogget. She also stays cheerful, even in very grim situations. Prince Sameth was a bit annoying though, because he was always so meek and timid and so very weak. Now, I understand that part of his spirit was ripped away and he is scared, but I was just really annoyed when he acted like that.
The adventure started a bit late in the book, but it made up for it with all the magic, danger and numerous near-death-experiences.
Overall, I think that I can give this book 4 out of 5 stars!

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas

Book Blurb (from Goodreads) 
In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. 

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world. 






My review: 
Best high fantasy book out there? Most likely. Why do I always put of reading the best books?! That is a serious habit that I need to break really soon, like yesterday soon. 
The plot in this book was so existing that I was shaking from adrenaline about 200 pages in. I would close the book and 'try' to sleep but I was still so hyped up from the book that I felt like it was nearly impossible. It took its time to develop and never got boring. We went from one problem to the next with ease, even when things sped up and you could still see two clear paths and that allows you to pray with all you have that I does not go down the second. On a scale from 1-10 for creativity I give it an 11.
The characters were awesome. We had a nice cosy little group of 3 main characters and many sub characters. Celaena was an awesome kick-ass character with an interesting mind in terms of how she regarded people and different situations. She was fairly relatable in the terms of her hobbies (reading) but not much else. She went through different situations and came out almost laughing and I respect her for that. I wasn't sure what to think about Chaol. His intentions were sometimes unclear but by the end you could clearly see that he actually did have feelings for Celaena but never fully acted on them which made things interesting and sent mixed signals to her which is why she probably hated him for the first quarter of the book. Dorians intentions however were clear. He was not my favourite character but he did treat Celaena well (at the end). I liked how we continuously got a peak at his life a court which was always interesting and allowed us to get a better perspective on what was really going on inside the castle. I wish that Chaol and Dorian's friendship was better shown and we had a scene were that just talked together without it being about Celaena. It probable would have done them both good. Nehemia was defiantly 100% my favourite character. She was a mystery up to the very end and a great friend to Celaena. I honestly hope that we get to see so much more of her and learn more about her origin. 
I you want a seriously action packed book to read but have not read this one yet, get on it.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, it was amazing!