Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

Trapped, by her own people, struggling to survive and keep her own sanity: this is what Sydney's life has become. Re-education isn't really as bad as everyone said it would be. It's worse. The only thing she can do is keep fighting and repeat to herself that the center will hold and that Adrian will come for her. But even here, in a place fraught with danger and enemies, Sydney can't help but push the lines in a quest to do what's right.

Outside, Adrian is doing everything he can think of to find and save Sydney, but with no results. How can the center hold when he is helpless? Spirit is rising within him and it feels good, but Aunt Tatiana is growing louder. Not even partying himself senseless can get rid of her, or fill the hole Sydney left behind.

As Adrian teeters closer to the edge than ever before, it's clear that both of them are reaching their darkest hour. Their love is strong, but can it bring them back together and into the light?

This novel is the fifth installment of the action packed Bloodlines series, add on to the already established world created for Mead's Vampire Academy. For those who haven't read these series, go do now! If you want to hear what I had to say about the previous two books in the series, click the titles to find my reviews of The Indigo Spell and The Fiery Heart. Yes, yes I can already hear you Pleeeeeeeaase not another teenage vampire book. However, I can assure this one is worth your time. Witty and fast paced, Mead's writing has the reader holding on from page one, on point from beginning to end.

To say I am a fan of Richelle Mead's writing is, at best, an understatement. I don't think there is a thing I've read by her that I haven't loved. There is just something about her style that just gets me as a reader. She develops characters that are beautifully mutli-faceted and real. Her plot is a roller-coaster half part mystery and full part intense. Best of all, the cadence of her narration, no matter who it is, is unique and interesting. Silver Shadows is no exception. In fact I'd say Mead's writing and story telling only get better with each new book. Sydney has become one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. Strong, intelligent, and kick ass and that's only scraping the surface. I've become so invested in her character that reading each new book in this series is a heart-in-the-mouth experience as I fly through the pages praying everything turns out alright.

I don't want to give too much away about the plot, so I'm just going to say that I was very VERY pleased with how things turned out. I suppose some might not be as enraptured by it all, but that opinion is not mine. I will definitely warn it is emotionally trying. There were tears of pain and joy shed throughout. Yeah, that's a thing I forgot to mention. Read her books, get attached, then prepare to cry. Mead is a great writer. She's also great at torturing her own creations and the readers as a result. It's still worth it, because as Ron Weasley once said, "You're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it.'

Prepare to go from this:

to this:

and back again.

A note on the end [don't proceed if you don't want to know]

The fact that they made it through what they did could be accused of being convenient at the very least. However, I maintain, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. ANJSKABFDJASHJ. That is all.

Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody

Elspeth Gordie wishes nothing more than to fit in. But that is hard to do when she harbors a secret that would surely mean her death. She is a Misfit, born with special mental abilities. To be found so is to be hated and feared by the Herders and Councilmen who rule. She has already lived through the burning of her parents, the only thing she can do is hide the best she can. But in one careless moment all of her carefulness is dashed to nothing. She is spotted for what she is and exiled to the dreaded Obernewtyn, a mountain manor where Misfits are brought to and never seen again. Even with her abilities Elspeth finds herself out of her depth. All is not as it seems on Obernewtyn. Someone is keeping secrets and it suddenly seems like it may be her destiny to find out what they are.

Taking place in a post-apocalyptic world, Obernewtyn illustrates humanity on the edge of survival after the unspeakable has happened. It is the first book in The Obernewtyn Chronicles. Carmody does a pretty decent job of world-building for this novel, and I have to say it was honestly what kept me reading and interested. I am not a fan overall of her style. It is way too much telling and not enough showing. This made places of action seem more boring. I found the history at the beginning interesting, but I feel like it would have been better suited sprinkled about throughout the story rather than info dumped on us in the beginning. By the time I finished, I look back and feel confident that as a reader, I could have figured everything out just by reading the story. I didn't need to have it spoon fed to me in the beginning to make sure I kept up. 

I think going with more showing rather than telling could have helped my feelings on the budding romance in the story. I didn't feel like the characters involved had interacted enough to really begin feeling anything for each other. I did enjoy the added intrigue, but it could have been set up a bit more. 

This being said I genuinely liked the story line and the characters. The world is a very interesting one and I continue to want to follow the story and know more about it. I don't know that I would recommend it to other readers, but I am going to keep reading the series myself.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Park likes to blend in. He's weird enough without anything else adding to it. So of course it couldn't get any worse when the weird new girl sits next to him on the bus. She's loud, in appearance if not in words. Between her bright red impossibly curly hair, her eclectic clothing, and abundant curves, it's hard not to notice her. Park doesn't want any of this. Not the notice he gets from her sitting next to him, or the feelings he gets when he can't stop thinking about her.

Eleanor only wants to lay low, to make it through the hell they call high school and the even worse hell she calls home. She didn't think that the weird angry Asian kid she sat next to on the bus would become the one thing that would get her through each day.

Can something hold together that seemed impossible from the start? Neither of them know, but they have to try.

Eleanor & Park is the third novel I have read by Rowell, the independent stories of Fangirl and Attachments preceding it. As with my other experiences reading Rowell, I was blown away by this novel. I almost feel like the experience was even more profound because for whatever reason I didn't want to give this novel credit. From the outside it looked like just your typical love story, but of course it was so much more than that. It only took the first few pages to know that there was no way I could put this novel down. If it weren't for “responsibilities” (I mean who really needs to work right?), I would have read it in one sitting. There is something about Rowell's storytelling that speaks volumes about humanity, life, and the human heart. She takes stories and characters that could be utterly mundane and makes them so real and interesting that the reader can't help but be swept away. As I've so poetically put it before, she could write about dirt and I'd be hanging onto every word while proclaiming it art.

This novel firmly falls under the genre of Literary YA and it lives up to the name. It is the beauty of first love mixed with the gritty heartbreaking circumstances surrounding a life of neglect and abuse. Of all the books Rowell has done, this so far has been the darkest in theme and content. It really makes the reader think. The story is rife with stereotypes that Rowell then turns on their head. The characters are not all good or all bad. The main protagonists are clearly flawed, many faceted. It makes all of it so much more real and beautiful. It makes it all that much more sad. It very much brought to mind the style of John Hughes films such as The Breakfast Club, especially considering that this story is set in the 80s.

Along the same lines, Park and Eleanore are perfectly imperfect as main characters. They are young and flawed. They do stupid things and make bad decisions. They are also beautifully kind and wonderfully loving. This exists in both of them, not at odds, but harmoniously. They are as atypical as characters get, right down to their physical descriptions. Everyone in the book, including Park, considers Eleanor at least chubby, if not downright fat. Yet from his eyes she is beautiful, the only girl ever to make him feel anything. Eleanor can't begin to see herself they way he sees her. And it goes the same for him. Too effeminate, too Korean, Park never feels like he is enough. But he is more than enough for Eleanor, even if she is afraid to say it out loud. I cannot say how refreshing it was to read a book where the main characters are in turn overweight and of ethnicity. This is so important in giving voice to a minority, for making guys who are slight and sensitive get the girl of their dreams, for showing girls who aren't a size 0-2 that they are capable of being the main protagonist of a story. In today's society this message is one that can't be said enough. The fact that when you look for fan art for this book most of it downplays if not completely negates Eleanor's weight is direct proof of how bad it actually is. We need more characters like Eleanor and Park.

Another part of this book that was done brilliantly was the fashion of narration. Rowell has the point of view bounce back and forth between Park and Eleanor, sometimes every other paragraph or line. In doing so it is almost like reading two stories at once. Every scene is doubled. The reader gets to see and feel every side. Narration like that would have to be very delicately put together, but Rowell does it beautifully, each part flowing effortlessly back and forth but still remaining distinctive to the individual characterization.

*SPOILERS*

One of the only things from this book I wasn't wholly impressed with was the ending. It was too open ended for my tastes. I know some people like that, but not me. I'm a lazy reader and mostly I like having the ending given to me. I'm too much of a cynic to let myself wholly imagine that it all worked out, even if that is the insinuation. This however wasn't enough for me to change my mind about how awesome this book was so only .1 off for the dreaded “open end”. I recommend it to any and all, as well as anything else Rowell writes. I myself am particularly looking forward to reading her newest novel Landline that was published earlier this month.

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

If there is one thing the Shadowhunters have always depended on, it was knowing who was the enemy. But as Sebastian Morgenstern wields the infernal cup, swelling his ranks with Endarkened warriors, the Nephilim must face their own in a war that is threatening to drag them under. Darkness is falling and Clary and her friends might have to go to hell and back to make things right. 

City of Heavenly Fire is the sixth and final book in the Mortal Instruments series and the ninth book that takes place in the Shadow world. 

This book was something of a roller-coaster, wrapped in evil, twirled in darkness. I don't think it can be said of any of these books that they were exceptionally light in theme and tone, but I would venture that this is the darkest and possibly the most mature of the books Clare has produced thus far. It can also be agreed that Clare has never been afraid to push the boundaries of the socially acceptable, especially concerning that wonderfully controversial topic of incest. This book takes that idea to a whole new level of creepy. 

I will say that there was still the trademark wit and humor that is usual and expected in Clare's writing. However, there really wasn't a lot to laugh about in this novel. This is a story of a people at war. Not about to go to war, not on the cusp of war, or at the beginning of it. At war. I wouldn't say this is Game of Thrones, with every character in the book being slaughtered left and right, but it was realistic to war. It is a Shadowhunter's life, and if we've gone this far in the series without seeing THAT much death, it's made up for in this last book. 

I gave it as high a rating as I did because I love Clare's writing and I love this series. I read it fast despite it being a honking big book and I liked the way it ended. I really did like this book a lot.

I did not give it a 5/5 because there were a few things that bothered me. 

*SPOILERS AHEAD* *DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVE NOT READ COHF*

The first, and lesser, of these issues was plain and simple "the love scene". I'm sorry, but when I'm quite literally in hell and about to die a probably horribly death at the hands of a psychopathic incest loving demon boy, sex is not the first thing on my mind. However, I can understand the approach. After all it is the age old cry of "we must experience this before we die!". I also get that Jace and Clary couldn't touch for most of this novel because of the heavenly fire, and that when this obstacle was removed there was obviously going to be some hanky panky between the unsupervised teenagers who are on a suicide mission. What I couldn't get over was that damn condom.

There are a few reasons why a detail as harmless and insignificant as a condom has got my panties in a twist, reasons I will probably elaborate far too much on, but here they are nonetheless.

1.     I don't believe that Shadowhunters would be in the know about them enough to have one on them during such a dire circumstance. As has been elaborated throughout this series, Shadowhunters are a rather old race with many archaic politics and practices. They don't have computers, they don't use modern electricity (using witchlight instead), none of them know anything about popular culture, and when we visit Alicante we "go back in time". If Jace doesn't know what facebook is, I have my doubts that he would be totally on board with safe sex practices. However, if it were the case that the Shadowhunters had caught up with the times in this one department, then I bring forward my next point.

2.     How was it that a condom made it onto the list of necessary items to go to the demon realm? I mean how did that go? Gear? Check. Stele? Check. Witchlight? Check. Food? Check. Weapons? Check. Condoms? Check??? NO. Just No. When traveling to dimensions of hell, condoms just aren't going to make the list.(Where would he even put it? Does the gear have pockets? Was it in the packs next to the food?) My fiancé has informed me it's an unwritten guy code to always have some on you. However, other than referring to #1, this brings me to my final point.

3.     When they entered the demon realm, Jace was under the impression he might never be able to fully touch Clary again. Sure, they had the occasional holding of hands or gentle kiss. But much more than that and they would be facing some holy incineration. Jace says straight out that Clary had changed him for the better. She is the girl for him. He isn't looking elsewhere. So reason stands, that if he couldn't have it with Clary, he wouldn't really be preparing for it in any way. It would be a pretty callous thought process anyway, "Hmm, so we're going to hell to save my girlfriend's parents and my parabatai's  love, who have all been kidnapped and might be dead. And in the meantime our world is facing Armageddon. Sounds like a great time to make some moves and do the do with my girl!'......Again, may I say....no...

Now, don't get me wrong. I very much was interested in seeing Jace and Clary complete their love. At this point I had become almost annoyed at Cassy Clare for cockblocking one too many times. I could get where she was coming from. She didn't want to promote teenage sex. But let's be real. Teenagers have sex. Especially if they are head over heels in love. So the fact that the plot literally barred this from happening over and over seemed very much by design. However, it was the setting and timing that just rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know if I just dislike Clare's approach to romantic scenes in general, or if it was just in the few books where she has one that bother me. I didn't like how it happened in Clockwork Princess, and I didn't like how it happened in this one. They always seem awkward and ill set, rushed in during times of high danger.

I don't know why something so menial as one sentence mentioning a condom has my panties in a twist, but there it is. 

The one other part of the book that made me subtract another .1 from my rating was the end of Sebastian. It was just so...happily ever after everyone is good after all!.....I really appreciated the villainy of Sebastian. He was a mentally and emotionally unstable young man who killed without thought or remorse and harbored incestuous fantasies about his sister. He was one sick puppy and he needed to be stopped. To go and make him good, after all that....it didn't make much sense to me and I felt like it cheated his character. I know in real life you have to acknowledge that nothing is black and white. No one is all good or all bad. This is very much addressed in the comments made of Shadowhunter politics. However Sebastian is not fully human. He is demon spawn, literally. I think some things in this world are supposed to represent pure evil and he was one of them. I always admired Cassy Clare with his characterization. She made him unstable, creepy, and downright scary without becoming unrealistic. Possibly I could understand seeing a flash of humanness in his eyes near the end, similar to what we saw from Amatis. But for that whole drawn out episode with him becoming “Jonathan” and apologizing and etc....it just felt empty and weird after everything. I didn’t buy it It really didn't even make sense after everything that was gone over about what demon blood and demonizing does to a person. He was literally infused with demon blood before birth. How could there be any remnant of what should have been, left inside him? If that was the case, why was it that there was no helping the Endarkened? I mean, I guess it could be explained away as another miracle of the heavenly fire, but it didn't really seem right to me. 

And that about sums that up for me. Overall I really liked how the series ended and I would recommend the series to any and everyone. I also very much look forward to reading more about the Shadowhunter world in future books. 

Control by Lydia Kang

All her life Zel has let her father make decisions for her. It's been easy that way and anyway, he's always known her better than she knew herself. But when a horrible accident rips her life apart and throws her into a world she doesn't know or understand, Zel comes to see how much her father wasn't telling and that she must either take the reigns on her own life or lose what she most holds dear. Suddenly she is living in a world where her sister is illegal, Zel herself is stuck in a house/ freak-show, and there's absolutely no one she can trust. Zel must choose between love and sacrifice, all the while hoping that it's worth it in the end.  

Taking place in the intense futuristic world of 2150, Control is the first book in what looks to be a YA series by Kang, the second book due out winter 2015. This is a fast paced thrilling science fiction adventure that will keep the reader on their toes. It also doesn't hurt that it's got just enough romantic intrigue to flavor the story without over sweetening. I was completely taken with this novel. The characters were interesting and many faceted, the setting was richly described and almost entrancing without becoming over-complicated, and the plot has a way of taking hold of your eyes and dragging them along for the ride. In a word, the book was a great balance of all things that make a great story and I loved it.

Another part of the story that I got the biggest kick out of was the numerous nods to Pride and Prejudice (as well as a few other Austen and other classic novels, in my opinion). It was lovely and refreshing to wade through the story picking out the little references. And the best part about it was that Control was running it's own show completely separate from the classic novel. Don't get me wrong, I love a good P&P reinterpretation or re-vamp story. They are great fun and have their own place in Austen's world. Control however wasn't really that. It was it's own animal with a little bit of a P&P treasure hunt tossed in. I'm not going to give away any more clues about what the references were, but for any P&P or Austen fan, it should be obvious right away. 

All in all this was a really great story and I recommend this to any and all readers. I don't think someone has to just like sci-fi to read this book. 

*WARNING* *SPOILERS AHEAD* *PROCEED WITH CAUTION*

A note on the ending

I was very tempted to give the book a 4/5 because of the ending. I love love loved the book, but I wasn't a huge fan of how it came to a finish. Initially I wanted to be annoyed that our love birds were torn apart. However, from a storytelling point of view, there would have to be a remaining conflict if the series was to progress, otherwise there wouldn't be any more story. Happily ever after is nice, but it is also synonymous with 'the end'. So yeah, I get that they had to be torn asunder to feed the flames for more story to come. However, I didn't like how easy it was for Zel to come to peace with Cy's sacrifice. I really loved Zel's character. She was a lot of fun to read and even though she was super into science (a subject I have little interest in unless I'm dealing with fictional stories), Kang did an amazing job making her identifiable. As readers we get to watch Zel grow into a new person. I love watching character development in stories because it makes the characters so much more real. In life people change. When crazy/ amazing/ horrific/ heartbreaking things happen to people, they can't stay the same as they were before it happened. So Zel forming into the badass rebellion lover that she becomes is really fun to watch. This new self she finds to be lying dormant inside her all along is forced out when she must save her sister. This is what builds the story, Zel's commitment and love for her sister Dyl. The whole book she agonizes about all the horrible things that are happening to her sister, unsure of the exact truth of the matter but terrified all the more because of this. I know that the bond between siblings can be a strong one, but romantic love can be just as strong if not more at times, especially in it's first bloom. I guess for me it was hard to understand how Zel could just let him go with so little fight. I know it was his choice to make the sacrifice, and that he is a strong man who can take care of himself in comparison to the delicate Dyl. But Zel cuts her losses so easily and just let's him go. I think it had to end the way it did, but I think she could have at least tried a little harder near the end. It all made things feel a bit rushed. Also, in the epilogue, everyone seems to forget about Cy too and just bask in general happiness. Eventually it's hinted at through her conversation with Marka that things are bothering both of them. This is followed by Zel professing that she will never give up and she will find Cy. However it is all done with this general air of calm. I guess I just expected a lot more feeling to be running through her, a lot more angst. It was still a good book, and still a good ending, but I wish there had been more pain to the separation. Otherwise it just makes it seem like she doesn't really care as much, slightly cheapening the effect of their love presented earlier in the story. It isn't a big bone, but I guess in the face of how good everything else was it just bothered me a bit.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Tris and Tobias stopped the simulation. But in the aftermath of it's destruction it becomes very clear that it was only the tip of the iceberg. Dauntless is split down the middle, Abnegation is almost gone, the Euridite are far from finished with their experiments, and it's only getting worse. In a society tearing at the seams Tris struggles to find the truth when she can hardly face the facts herself. She doesn't know who to trust, and now Tobias isn't trusting her instincts either. Will they be able to save themselves before it's too late, or will the truth behind everything destroy them all?

Insurgent is book two in the Divergent trilogy by Roth that revolves around a futuristic society set in Chicago. 

I'm just going to jump right in today and say that there was a lot I didn't like about this book. I can say I got a better grasp of the characters in this one than the previous book (I almost had a semi emotional moment at one point, almost). However I still never quite understood what it was that kept Tris and Tobias together. The love they talk about having between them in the first book doesn't seem strong enough to fit the descriptions in this novel, and to make matters worse both of them travel through the story in a permanent state of non-communication. There is a lot of emphasis on Tris and Tobias not really knowing each other. To which I'm thinking, 'No you don't! There was no real mental development in your relationship to begin with!". I'm not going to say that having flawed characters is bad. Quite the contrary, it's good for the characters to be many faceted and realistic. Though I'm not going to say that it is a horrible flaw to have two of the main characters be annoying as heck, I wouldn't say it is the greatest asset either. I had a hard time getting into the book and getting through it because of this.

I would say the same thing I said about the first one. I really liked the setting, the tone, the world that was created. That was all done very well. Plot was interesting and kept me pulled in once it got going, however I feel like the big reveal at the end was puffed up more than was actually warranted. From a storytelling point of view, it might have been wiser to spend less time building it up and rather just take us by surprise at the end. Leaving clues is good. It's never wise to trick a reader. But it isn't good to get expectations high only to disappoint. 

Perhaps I'm being too harsh on it because there has been so much hype about the stories that I just expected more from it. I do intend to finish the series, but I feel I will remain one of the few with the unpopular opinion that the series wasn't the most amazing thing I've ever read, though neither was it the worst.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Cath is a fan. More importantly she is a Simon Snow fan. But who isn't in love with that magical world? However Cath is more than just the passing fanatic. Simon Snow is her life. She reads and re-reads the books. She has loads of internet friends met at Simon Snow forums and chat sites. She herself is a fanfiction writer of Simon and Baz fics, and her writing is so good she is known the world over among fic readers. However things are changing. She and her twin sister Wren are off to college and unlike Cath, Wren is no longer interested in the enclosed fan life she used to lead or the sister she once was so close to. Wren wants space. So while Cath struggles to adjust, dealing with a scary roommate and said roommates always there, always happy boyfriend, Wren is out getting drunk. Worst yet, the Simon Snow series is coming to an end, the last book due out at the end of the year. Can Cath survive college until then? And if she does, what about life after Simon Snow?

In this poignant and wittily told novel, Rowell builds the perfect modern day coming of age story. Because though there has been every type of reclusive geek meets world version of this scenario since it became a popular story trope, the online world and it's prevalence in today's culture is one that is largely ignored. After all, what could be interesting about the reclusive and anxiety ridden night blogger/ fanfiction writer. What's more, fanfiction is such a touchy subject in the writing world. In most cases many literaries have problems accepting genre fiction, let alone unpublished fan work posted on the internet. The fact that fanfiction also has a bad rap because of numerous badly written renditions of stories overly loaded with sex doesn't help the case either. And that's where this novel comes in and creates a beautiful thing. Rowell writes a story in which you get to see that world, the online one, how enticing and magical it can be, as well as how easy it is to lose touch with reality when given the chance to chose. Another wonderful thing this story does is highlight how amazing fanfiction can be. It is not a useless past time or a place to vent out horribly written smut. It is story telling. It is, yes taking, an already established idea or world or set of characters, and building it into something new and unique. It is not a waste or wrong. It is creative expression and that is how Rowell shows it through Cath.

Now as I think you can surmise, I already have a lot of opinions on this subject and I have written about it before. So if you want to hear more about what I have to say on this subject, you can find those writings here and here.

Now, interpretation of the fanfiction world aside, I loved this book. It had great character and plot. I never got bored even when the characters were doing mundane things, which is a lot of the time considering how long the book is. I got very emotionally involved. Here again is yet another example of writing that does it right. You aren't just reading it, you're feeling it. It is a very identifiable story for anyone who has gone away to college and had a hard time fitting in, who has felt what it's like to grow apart from friends and family and not know how to fix it. It is a book that any type of fan can catch onto, especially the generation who grew up loving Harry Potter. I don't think I'd be too far from the truth if I surmised that the Simon Snow books elaborated on in this novel was a mimicry of the Harry Potter sensation that swept the world. Another subject that is addressed is anxiety. The novel is an amazing characterization of Cath and the anxiety that she deals with. It isn't overdone, it's real. I live with anxiety and I also have a best friend who struggles with it even more than I can ever fathom, so I can say that this is a very realistic painting of what it is like to live with it.

There are a lot of  hard subjects tackled in this book and they are all approached with grace and executed fantastically. This is a novel well worth reading. I plan to look into other books the author has written simply because I was so blown away with this one.

So all in all I give it a high recommend. It was a fun read and a touching story that staid fresh from beginning to end. And don't let the length scare you. It is a big hunk of book, but I zoomed through it in a day or two.

Inexcusable by Chris Lynch

Keir Sarafian is a good guy. At least that's what he believes of himself. But as the reader follows his first person narration leading up to a life altering event, it becomes clear that everything is not as he would like it to seem. He describes over and over again the things he finds 'inexcusable', but can never see that what he does is the most inexcusable thing of all.

Reading this YA book was like putting on a pair of drunk goggles and then trying to ride a unicycle in a straight line. Not to say it was badly written or that I couldn't get through the book. Quite the contrary I finished it in a day or two, partly due to shortness. However, reading this story through the delusional and under the influence haze that the main character lives in is exceedingly difficult. I felt like I was trying to get a handle on characters and plot with a layer of thick fog over my eyes and three layers of cotton balls in my ears. I kept getting a headache from reading it simply because of how purposely thick this person was. By the end of this book I felt like I'd glimpsed into the mind of a psychopath. For someone to really not understand that they have done a truly heinous thing was pretty disturbing and sickening. On the other hand it was also kind of eye opening in seeing how warped society can be in excusing people for their wrongdoings and letting them go on believing that what they do is okay.

I think the topic was relevant and carries a good cautionary message. However I didn't really like the book itself. Keir drove me up the wall, the choppy back and forth between flashback and present action was disorienting and distracting, the ending was kind of anti-climatic, and to be honest I have never been a fan of stream of consciousness narration, which this pretty much is. As a novel it has a decent amount of acclaim and authors I really like have recommended it, but I can't really say the same. I was hoping this would be a really great novel that I could get into but I'm left feeling disappointed and unsettled.

The Shade of the Moon by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Jon is a claver, one of the elite few granted permission to live ensconced in the protected world of the Sexton enclave. Using the passes Alex gave to Jon's family, Jon, his step-mother Lisa, and Lisa's young son Gabe slipped into this community. It is a place where people have homes, education, purified air and, always enough to eat. It is a humanity moving on pass the catastrophe that changed all their lives as they knew it. But beneath the careful safety of his world lays a poison and everything is shifting. The community of Sexton is supported on the degradation and near slave labor of those unlucky enough not to have admittance to enclave life. The enclave feeds on the 'grubs' as they are called; taking advantage of their hard work, hard lives, and especially their pain. As the enclave pushes the grubs further into the mud, they near a line they might not want to cross. Jon is stuck in the middle. Should he support his grubber family, or his claver one? In a world gone so terribly awry where is the line between good and bad, and which side will Jon take? As a Slip, his future is far from safe. The wrong words or actions could get himself and his loved ones killed, but how far can he go before there is no turning back?

The Shade of the Moon is the fourth book in this YA best-seller series that started with Life As We Knew It which documented the story of a world thrown into catastrophe when the moon is hit by an asteroid and pushed closer to the earth. This newest edition continues the story of Miranda and Alex's lives from the past three stories, this time from the point of view of Miranda's younger brother. He lives the privileged life in a world come to its end. The rest of Jon's family have not been this lucky. The reader sees the character's they came to love living in the city slums outside of Sexton, doomed to being grubs.

Reading this story I was reminded of the atrocities you read about in history: America's slave history, the discrimination of Jewish people and other minorities during the Holocaust, etc. The things described in this book are both disturbing and eye-opening, though not unbelievable. People could, would, and have done things as horrible as what is described in this book, and probably much worse. Books like this can really open the reader's eyes to the dark side of the world and it makes me feel like the book was very aptly named. This is a world thrown back into darkness.

As was the case with the preceding three books, this wasn't just a story of survival. This was a narrative that explores humanity in all its spectrum: the good, the evil, and the many shades in between. I was gripped by the story and it only took me a very few days to read it. I did not care much for Jon as a narrator. He was a selfish and often deeply misguided boy. However, the story is playing on these flaws of his, not excusing them. As I mentioned in previous reviews that can be found here and here, I can't stand it when an author excuses bad behavior on a characters part and just lets the plot give the impression that the bad behavior exhibited is okay. In Pfeffer's story however, the reader is acutely aware of how wrong Jon often is. The tone of the story coupled with other characters input makes sure the reader knows Jon's bad actions are not condoned. It was an interesting move on her part, giving us such a distinctly flawed protagonist, but it definitely made the story more interesting. So often we see the story through the eyes of the oppressed, but in this case it is the oppressor who tells all.

Pfeffer's writing style is fair to middling in this novel. I remember having the same issues with her other three books. She gives far too little detail for my tastes and skips over things I would have liked to know more about. Dialogue has also never been a strong point for her. It always ends up coming out stiff and bland, making the emotions the lines are supposed to convey awkward and without chemistry. However, the story overall is attractive enough that these problems didn't deter me from the book. I highly recommend that fans of the series finish this end cap. As far as post-apocalyptic stories go, it's a pretty good one and worth looking into.

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

I rate this YA novel 5 out of 5

            Within The City there is the Carnival of Souls. It is a place where pleasure, pain, and money, are     bought and sold and the rule of the daimon Marchosias extends over all it's inhabitants. In this order of cast and protocol Kaleb and Aya, two daimons from very different casts, fight for a chance to change their destinies. However their fights and lives are more entangled than they ever could imagine. And then there is Mallory, a girl who has grown up in the human world, taught by her father that witches like him are to be trusted, while daimons from The City are the sworn enemy. It is all she has known in her life filled with training and running from the daimons that seek what her father stole from them long ago. If only she could find what had been stolen and return it, then maybe their lives could settle down. Maybe they could be a normal family. But the mystery of the stolen object is one with the power to change her whole existence and everything she has come to know. 
            Carnival of Souls is dark, bewitching, and utterly entrancing. In the same way Marr developed an entire world and hierarchy for the fey in her Wicked Lovely series, she does it again with the same fantastic results in this newest series beginning. 
            Told from multiple points of view, the reader watches the story unfold from all sides, no part of the story neglected or left half told. It is a rich and refreshing narration that a reader looks forward to in this novel, the action violence and romantic intrigue balanced perfectly.
I highly recommend this new series, and any of Marr's other books to readers. Though working, participating in NaNoWriMo, and keeping up with a decently active social life, I still managed to finish this book in a matter days. 

by Alissa Tsaparikos

Smoke by Ellen Hopkins

I give this YA novel 5 out of 5 

Pattyn Von Stratten is still breathing, even though her heart is still with the love of her life and their unborn child, ripped from life by a car crash. Living a life far from home under an assumed name Pattyn tries to move on, but remains weighed down by the guilt of what she now considers ill sought revenge. Back in their Mormon home, Pattyn’s sister Jackie reveals the struggle of a family trying to knit itself back together, but can something that was never really whole be fixed? Can either of these sisters ever find peace and move forward?

Raw and arresting, Smoke is the Burned sequel every Ellen Hopkins fan has been waiting for. Hopkins picks right up from where the story last ended in its devastation and weaves a tale of hope and renewal. Still filled with twists and unexpected turns, Smoke is not short on excitement or drama. It is a careful line to be drawn, but somehow Hopkins always manages to hit it just right, delivering narration and story that seems so real and human that a reader can’t help but connect to it.

Though her eleventh book written and a sequel to boot, this poem novel is equal to her best writing. It seems with Hopkins’ writing it only gets better. And in the case of Burned, Smoke gives Pattyn and her family the resolution they always deserved.

A forever fan of Hopkins’ books and style of writing, I’ve always recommended Burned as a great read, only warning that its end is harsh and can really take it out of a reader emotionally. However, with an end-cap like Smoke to depend on, the story is even more worth the read.

By Alissa Tsaparikos

Etiquette and Espionage: Finishing School Book 1 by Gail Carriger

I rate this book a 4 out of 5

Equipped with the most atrocious curtsy and a propensity for breaking all the rules, Sophronia Temminnick is the exact opposite of the proper lady her frazzled mother wishes her to be. At wits end, her mother does what any troubled mother of a wayward daughter must, send her to finishing school.  But what first seems to Sophronia as the worst fate of all, soon reveals itself as a blessing in disguise, because Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is not at all what it seems. With instruction on the proper way to flutter one’s eyes and curtsey followed by knife throwing and the correct way to poison, Sophronia learns quickly there might be many other ways to “finish” than she first thought.

Taking place in the same Victorian Steampunk alternate universe as Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate adult novel series, Etiquette and Espionage is the young adult precursor to those novels events.

Written with the same wit and dashing adventure as her previous books, Sophronia’s shenanigans are quite a bit of fun to read. Though the character names are a bit of a mouthful, the Victorian semantics laid on a little thick, and the plot somewhat predictable, the novel is overall very well done and well worth the read. Not done with as much diligence to the time as her previous series, Carriger still brings out a great amount of historical reference, making the novel educational and fun, much like the finishing school within the story.

As I read there was a distinct feeling of YA about the narration, one that almost seemed over emphasized at times. However it wasn’t too distracting from the story, and though the Parasol Protectorate remains my favorite of her writing, I still very much recommend this book and look forward to reading the next ones in the series.  

By Alissa Tsaparikos

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

I rate this YA novel 3.5 out of 5

This is a semi-spoiler review. Nothing hugely important is given away, but proceed with caution.

            I approached this novel with a sense of intrigue. Like most book lovers, I enjoy watching (and judging) adaptations of books when they are set to film. However, I also love watching a film and then pursuing it further to the book it is based off. To me it is an excellent way to further delve into a world I am already interested in due to the films presentation. This is how I found myself in the case of this novel. I had heard much upset from fans of the book when it came to the movie, so I was not in the least surprised when I found the book to be vastly different to that of its film counterpart. If this is one of those books you wish to hurriedly read so you can watch the movie, stop now. Watch the movie, enjoy it (or not) for what it is and then read the book and enjoy it (or not) for what it is. They are definitely two different entities. The stories, though similar, hardly coincide.

This is a book review however, and so on to the review! I did enjoy this book. It was well written and very interesting. The story is intriguing and the narrative choice of Ethan really made a difference in the normal supernatural teen romance adventure types. The advantage of this, the main character and reader being out of the loop and questing for information, makes for great reading incentive. However there were some parts of the story that just didn’t seem fully explained. I wanted more and even at the end of the book there were important pieces of the plot that I didn’t understand. These included things such as: why Macon was what he was and not a Castor like everyone else, why exactly Lena was so special when she turned sixteen unlike all the other Castor’s, and what the heck was up with her connection with Ethan in the first place. I understand that Lena being a Natural made a big difference with the whole claiming herself part of the plot, but if that was the long and the short of things being so different I wish that there could have been more questioning about their extreme measures over her in comparison to say Ridley, who just ran off into the night and that was the end of that. I know that all these questions and maybe more might be discussed in future books, therefore I am willing to let them go, for now.

All in all it was a pretty good book. It wasn’t the most amazing thing I have ever come across, but it had good plot and great characters. I fully plan to read on through the rest of the series. 

By Alissa Tsaparikos

The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

 

I would like to start this review by saying that I am a huge fan of Richelle Mead’s writing, reading both the entirety of her Vampire Academy series, its spin off the Bloodlines series, as well as her adult fiction with the Succubus series. Unsurprisingly, my expectation for this third Bloodlines book was rather high.

Happily, with a rating of 5 out of 5, I can affirm it stood that test. True to Mead’s usual narration style, the story was gripping and easy to get into, every chapter leading into the next with a cliffhanger-esque feel at each stop. With three active plots intertwining, The Indigo Spell was possibly one of the more complex of her novels, the plots interweaving well and with precision. At no time was my belief at a circumstance suspended or was I wearied by the story.

I also applaud Mead at her ability to continue to introduce complicated ‘forbidden love’ stories that are still fresh and convincing, using the hierarchy she has constructed in this version of the vampire and human world to work against the characters. It’s something that is hard to do in modern fictional stories today without sounding archaic or unrealistic. However, with the strict rules and social customs of each of the three groups introduced in this world (vampire, alchemist, and standard human) she still has a lot to work with.

Of her novels, possibly the only critique was that it took a little longer to hit the point of no stopping. Usually with her books this catch is delivered within the first few chapters of the novel, if not the first few pages. I am reduced to carry the book around wherever and whatever I am doing, unable to tear myself away. However, though still engrossing, this time around it took a few days of reading to get there. Of course once I did hit that catch I was up until 3 am finishing it in one sit in.

Overall my faith in Mead hasn’t waivered, especially in her continued ability to get the reader to love very flawed characters. I really wasn’t sure this time around when starting Bloodlines that Sydney as a narrator would do it for me but it only took a few hours of reading that first book to know I was hooked just as fast as I was with Rose’s narration.

Of the ending I will only say that it was A+ and gives the next book a great start off to pick up on. 

-Alissa Tsaparikos 

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

5/5 stars

Tessa Gray and her Shadowhunter friends are back fighting for humanity once again in this third and final installment of The Infernal Devices series. However, things are more complicated than ever with threats rising up darker and more dangerous than ever as the inhabitants of the London Institute find themselves without aid in the face of the greatest evil they have yet faced. As they fight for the world and their lives Tessa finds herself torn between love and honor, and yet driven forward by the very love that has caused her so much confusion and pain.

As the last book in this steampunk rendition of the shadowhunter world, Clockwork Princess had a lot to live up to. And it did so nicely and with flare. As usual with Clare’s work there was nary a dull moment and every page has you begging to go on and every chapter ending just when things are starting to get good. Clare’s fast wit and easy narration carries you through as effortlessly as it does in her previous novels, living up to her excellent characterizations and delivering noteworthy plot.

This novel was most assuredly a good read, and well worthy as an end cap to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

*SPOILER WARNING*

The ending however, in my opinion, left something to be desired, and in the opposite way than one would think. It felt almost too happy, too perfect. As a reader I am often fond of happy, well wrapped up endings, but this one had the distinct taste of almost unrealistic and convenient. It was a little bit of having one’s cake and eating it too that has been often criticized in such end cap novels as the Harry Potter books. That being said, I still very much enjoyed the story and the writing on the whole.   

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I'm a little late on the uptake, but this is my review and thoughts of the book that took my life by storm a few days ago.

5/5 stars

When approaching John Green’s novel, The Fault in Our Stars it was less with a sense of what I had heard of it rather than what hadn’t I heard. There have been so many reactions to this book, from absolute enthusiasm to descriptions of how the story destroyed them, and every emotion in-between. Not a complete novice on Green’s work, having previously read the excellent novel, Looking for Alaska, I came prepared to the pages of TFIOS, ready for whatever the work could throw at me, or so I thought.

Meant as merely a book to pass the time whilst waiting for an afternoon train, one I could easily put down and then find my way again to later, became an eight hour reading storm. The expression, ‘I just couldn’t put it down,’ can be accused of over-exaggeration, but in this case, that’s just what happened. No matter my original intention the witty, sarcastic and painfully truthful voice of Hazel Grace wouldn’t let me go. She hooks the reader in on page one and there is no turning back. This book is about her life, and it demands to be read, to be heard, felt, and lived.

I had expected to cry, to feel the pain of a young character faced with death and the devastation that accompanies a family going through this pain. I did not expect to be laughing out loud far past the half way point of the book, raising the eyebrows of my fellow passengers the whole long train ride home. I learned fast that this book was not about the dramatization of disease and pain, but the reality of life. It is a near perfect characterization of the human heart in its imperfect and raw beauty.

Hazel Grace is a master piece teenager, the dying child in all of us, reminding what it is to breathe, love, and live through pain. Because as much as Hazel is obsessed with death, it isn’t just about how painful death is but how hard it is to live, taking into account all we take for granted. Her story is tears and laughter, life changing, and completely truthful.

Written within the genre of Young Adult, this book should be lauded as a classic, one that young people and adults can share alike. No question, TFIOS is a hard book to read, but worth every moment. I highly recommend this book to anyone who will take half a moment to listen and I look forward to the upcoming movie adaption that has come into production. Hopefully it will do this wonderful novel justice. 

- By Alissa Writing