Friday, 29 January 2016

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers Review

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers

“I am beginning to think that love itself is never wrong. It is what love can drive people to do that is the problem.”

Annith has spent all her life training to be a assassin and serve Death however after sitting back and seeing girls with less trained than her going out on missions, she finally finds out her true fate. The Abbess of the Convent wants her to become a Seeress and stay locked away from the outside world but Annith has spent her entire life waiting and she’s finally decided to break free of her constraints.

I loved the books before this especially Dark Triumph so I was wary to read the book as I didn’t want it to ruin the series for me but thankfully it was so good. The first two books are distinctly different but have a similar plot of the girls being sent on a mission and along the way they find adventure and love however from the previous books I knew that Annith’s book was going to be different.

The book is big it’s around 550 pages and so naturally there’s a lot of different plots. Similar to the previous novels this book is slow paced but the writing style stops it from being boring and the pace and length suit the book. The story to me is split into different parts regarding the setting and current plotline, all of them link together and make Annith’s story. Annith chooses her own journey so all the steps building up lead to her mission which is different to the other books.

As the book progresses we see Annith go onto different things which show her character development especially from what I’ve gathered from the previous books. I really liked her as the main character so much so that she’s probably my favourite now. Her story concludes the trilogy and includes Ismae and Sybella in it to show everybody’s role in the protection of the Breton Court and the duchess, which I think went well with it being the final book.

The romance was shown earlier on and could be considered very fast however I think it was just so sweet and cute. It seemed to follow a similar pattern to the other books however there’s a massive difference which when revealed it’s awkward but then they just seem to suit each other and have this playful thing.

There’s a better insight into the convent and what happens especially when Annith’s past is brought up which like the other girls she has a horrible childhood. More information on ‘The Nine’ are given – on what each group believes and how they work compared to Annith’s convent. This is interesting to read about as it’s loosely based on real beliefs. There are some obvious clues given to certain twists however some of them are surprising like why Annith wasn’t sent on any missions.

Lastly although it’s the final book I hope there’s a book on the Duchess.

★★★★★

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is Top Ten Books I’m Grateful I Read When I Was Younger

These are books that have either been really mind opening, influential, relatable or just so well written and good that they’ve had some sort of impact on me.

Monday, 25 January 2016

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken Review

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

“But inside or out, I was alone, and I was beginning to wonder if I always had been, if I always would be.”

Ruby wakes up on her 10^th birthday and something has changed within her, something so big that her parents don’t recognise who she is and enough to get her thrown out and into a camp for kids just like her. After living as a Green for 6 years – she’s been saved after being identified as an Orange one of the only kind left. However after finding some of the intentions of those who broke her out – the Children’s League – Ruby decides it’s better to leave and finds herself with a trio of misfit kids trying to find a safe haven.

The first half of the book was the best half - Although it was slow paced it was full of a lot of action and events. The plot was very typical of a dystopian novel with the MC being special and hiding who she is however the other aspects of the book made it worthwhile to read. I loved the plot and how it felt dystopian adventure road trip style book as it showed their journey and built up towards them finding the safe haven. The information surrounding the context and history of the characters were scattered throughout the novel so it wasn’t just an overload of information. The characters were individually really unique and their different personalities when together were good and added to their close bond. The relationships between Ruby and the other characters were all different which was nice so the reader knew more about the minor characters.

I haven’t read a dystopian novel like this in ages as they were all the hype 3 years ago and whilst reading this I wondered why I had stopped and then came the second half and I remembered just why. The book changed settings towards the safe haven and the plot was so stereotypical with her growing close with the main leader and it all ending badly. Ruby losing touch with the other characters and having a fall out with them, dealing with her powers and knowing she’s extra special and betrayal occurring. The entire set up was repetitive of other books and it just didn’t suit the first half. Also the second half was way too fast compared to the other half; the emphasis on the panic button thingy throughout the novel made it so obvious what was going to occur and the world building needed to be built up better as it was confusing sometimes how America had changed outside of what happened to the kids.

I knew that Ruby would do something for Liam but I didn’t expect what she did to him.

★★★☆☆

Friday, 22 January 2016

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly Review

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

“If you’re going to bury the past, bury it deep, girl. Shallow graves always give up the dead.”

After the death of her father Jo finds herself in a different world as she tries to solve the mystery surrounding his death. The book deals with the treatment of girls in the 1890s both rich and poor, the slave trade and an ongoing murder mystery.

“The moment a girl learned to talk, she was told not to.”

The story follows Jo as she enlists the help of a reporter called Eddie to find information surrounding her father’s death. It does follow some typical conventions of the entire mystery adventure genre with her looking for clues in different seedy places, meeting different good & bad characters and the red herring however what makes the book interesting is as although it focuses on the action there’s this incorporation of the theme with girls and how they’re treated. Every step that Jo makes is so carefully measured out so at the end of the day her reputation will be intact and she’ll get a good decent husband. The pressure that society puts on her hinders what she’s allowed to do to such an extent that it’s not normal for a girl of her class to even be doing anything other than fawning over clothes and marriage proposals.

Jo is a determined character who fights for what she wants and thinks is morally right and just overall she’s really brave to go forward with her plans even though they’ll hinder her future. She is quite naïve on certain matters but it’s realistic due to her background. I just found her really likable because she just forged on no matter what happened and didn’t do annoying stuff. But I do think there were too many additional characters in the book and it was confusing at the time on who was who.

“They hoped to save her reputation, to protect her; instead they destroyed her”

The book had a cute romance which dealt with the issues with a higher class and lower class relationship, dealt with how people blamed mental illness on anything to get the person locked up, the treatment of orphans, how men treat women of both classes, an awesome female friendship and family.

The only thing I didn’t like was how predictable who the main person behind the crimes was there were so many big hints right near the start.

The ending was perfect as it didn’t wrap up entirely but left hope for something to happen.

★★★★☆

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Dark Heart of Magic by Jennifer Estep Review

Dark Heart of Magic by Jennifer Estep

“Sometimes, humans were more monstrous than anything else.”

The story picks up a couple of weeks after the events of the first book and focuses on Tournament of Blades – a competition involving every family competing in one and one matches to find a winner. On top of dealing with that Lila has to find out what Victor is up to and find out who’s leaving a trail of slashed monsters and humans in the forest. One thing I really liked that the author does is she leaves clues to what happened in the previous book so if you like I did had difficulty knowing what happened in the previous book it made it way easier to read.

I really liked the main character of Lila – just as a general she wasn’t annoying and she’s just your typical likable underdog but she doesn’t have all these stereotypes attached to her character. One think I didn’t like is the emphasis on food the author does a lot – it clearly indicates that Lila is different to ‘typical girls’ which is annoying because her character doesn’t seem like the one to hate or compare herself to other girls in that way.

“Because there’s nothing more vicious than a girl who’s just had her heart broken.”

To add to that point, at the beginning of the novel I felt as if the female characters aside from Lila weren’t given a good introduction and instead focused on how each girl related to one of the guys – though it’s irritating to learn about females through their relationship with the male though its relevance is given later on at the end of the book. However I think the author could have made the female characters not just focus on their relationships with males and gain a separate character before they have that.

Furthermore it was frustrating that Lila picking up on all the clues she did didn’t guess who the villain was. It was so glaringly obvious there was no surprise attached to it. I did think that Lila could have guessed it if she looked at the possibility that it wasn’t just a male who could fit the role. Though I wasn’t surprised by the reveal there was a twist near the end relating two characters together which is going to lead onto the plot for the final book. I really liked the twist and felt it was important to relate these certain characters as they both have key roles in their families.

Lastly everything else I liked; the writing style and development of the story were really built up well and the plot and action lead to interesting other plotlines. I cannot wait for the last book in the series. Plus the romance was cute!

★★★★☆

Wednesday, 20 January 2016

Waiting on Wednesday: Bound by Blood and Sand

Waiting on Wednesday

A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that people are eagerly anticipating.

My choice for Waiting on Wednesday this week is:

Bound by Blood and Sand by Becky Allen

Publication: September 2016 by Delacorte Press, 304 pages

A new YA fantasy series in the vein of Tamora Pierce, exploring class and power. The novel follows a slave girl in a desert world where the magical Well is running dry; when she discovers a source of magic, she may have the power to save the water and her world, but returning the water means saving her slavers.