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!

Taube unter Falken by Katherine Allfrey

Book Blurb (from a website):
Evadne, ein junges Mädchen aus dem antiken Griechenland, wird von Sklavenhändlern entführt und weit von ihrer geliebten Heimat fortgeschleppt. An der Küste eines unbekannten Landes werden sie angegriffen und nur Evadne wird verschont, denn die Angreifer sind die legendären Amazonen und Evadne scheint der verschollenen Schwester ihrer mächtigen Königin aufs Haar zu gleichen. Sie sind freundlich, machen Evadne zu einer der ihren, doch sie kann weder ihre Heimat, noch ihr eigenes, sanftes Wesen vergessen. Sie will zurückkehren.







My Review
I found this book interesting. The reason I picked up this book, was because I was in need of a book with animal characters in it, so when I scanned the book name list and saw the words "dove" and "hawk" in the title, I was already getting excited that I found just the right book. But actually, this book is less about animals and more about the Ancient Greeks belief in Amazons. Amazons are women in Ancient Greece who did everything a man was supposed to do in that time. Their motto being "We don't need men!" or something like that. Basically this book was about a girl who got kidnapped and then has to adjust to a new lifestyle. I found the plot very interesting and my favourite character was a girl called Thoösa. She was funny and always supported Evadne/Myrine. You can see a lot of character development in this book.
Even though, I still thought that the conversations between the characters were slightly silly, it keeps on repeating a bit.
Overall, I will give this book 4 out of 5 stars!

I am reading Thrown of Glass and the book shimmy awards

I have just picked up Throne of Glass yesterday and thought that I should just say how utterly brilliant it is. With every page my heart beats faster. I feel how with anticipation! I will defiantly finish it very soon and get up a review as soon as possible.

Epic Reads hosts a show called The Book Shimmy Awards every year. The nomination round has just started yesterday, if you have not nominated your favourite books yet I would get on it! Use this to get to their site.