Review: Wondrous Strange

Book: Wondrous Strange
Author: Lesley Livingston
Pages: 336
Published: December 23rd, 2008
Source: Bought

17 year-old Kelly Winslow doesn’t believe in Faeries. Not unless they’re the kind that you find in a theatre, spouting Shakespeare—the kind that Kelley so desperately wishes she could be: onstage, under lights, with a pair of sparkly wings strapped to her shoulders. But as the understudy in a two-bit, hopelessly off-off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, wishing is probably the closest she’s going to get to becoming a Faerie Queen. At least, that’s what she thinks... In this fun, urban fantasy, Kelly's off-stage life suddenly becomes as complicated as one of Shakespeare’s plot twists when a nighttime trip to Central Park holds more than meets the mortal eye.

General Overview: I was amazed by this book. I am a huge fan of faerie lore and Shakespeare too, and Midsummer's is one of my favorite plays. So, a mixing of these two things? No duh I was going to read this book. And I ended up loving it more than I thought I would.

Characters: Kelley is the type of girl most anyone can identify with. She was defiant, and unafraid to speak her mind and stand up for herself. She was strong and brave, and that's a good trait in any heroine. Sonny was chivalrous, maybe a little too much so for his own good, but I loved that about him. I found it so sweet how willing he was to protect Kelley even though he didn't really know her. And Tyff, of course, made me crack up cos she reminds me so much of one of my friends! She was so much fun to read about.

Plot: Some crazy stuff goes down in Wondrous Strange. The events and the creatures might not be things that came straight out of Lesley Livingston's mind, but she puts her own twist on these things and tells her own version of the stories. The plot kept me guessing and even though some things were kinda easy to predict, the rest was so unexpected that it totally made up for it (not that there was anything to make up for, anyway).

Writing: Okay, so Lesley Livingston is a fantastic writer! This book was so well written it was hard to believe it was her debut book (yeah, I read a lot of debuts, get over it) but it was! Her writing is impeccable and has such a musical, ethereal quality to it. She knew all the right words to use and the right time to use them.

Cover: This cover is beautiful! I love the girl on the cover, she looks really close to how I imagined Kelley! Her dress is gorgeous too, and I love the font used.

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

Review: Beautiful Creatures

Book: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia + Margaret Stohl
Pages: 563
Published: December 1st 2009 by Little, Brown

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

I thought there was no way this book could live up to my expectations. Every review I've read about BC was rule of raving comments and adoration, and so I set immeasurably high standards for this book. I was completely shocked when BC surpassed all of them.

I loved how easily I could connect with every single one of BC's characters. I didn't even have to try, and how often does that happen, right? Ethan and Lena's relationship was beautiful and sad, wonderful and turbulent, all at the same time. They both seemed like such genuine and seriously cool characters, and I kind of wished they were real. It was effortless for me to feel everything they felt and imagine everything they saw and did, and I loved that element of the story.

I read all 562 pages of this book in a day. I devoured it, I seriously just couldn't turn the pages fast enough! I wanted moremoremore and I even read at the dinner table (which is something I never do, so a book is freaking amazing if it's invited to dinner)! Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl detailed everything, and by that I do mean everything. They don't leave anything out. I will admit, at the beginning, adding in all that background and introductory stuff, I was starting to doubt the book a little, but later on the details provided in the beginning are so helpful and I wouldn't have understood a lot of things if those hadn't been there.

So…umm. If you haven't picked up/read/bought/borrowed from your library/borrowed from your friends/done everything you could to get your hands on this book, you're kinda dumb. Cos I loved. Loved. LOVED. This book. (Yeah, yeah, my grammar there is terrible, WHATEVER.)

Needless to say, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have made a crazy swimfan out of me and I can't wait for Beautiful Darkness, the sequel!

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

Cover: I have loved this cover insanely much since it was revealed. It is so gorgeous, and you don't even know how amazing it is until you see it in person. I love the lettering used and the trees in the background…absolutely gorgeous.

Review: White Cat

Book: White Cat
Author: Holly Black
Pages: 310
Published: May 4th, 2010 by Margaret K McElderry
Source: Pulse It

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.
Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

General Overview: I was really impressed by the originality of White Cat. I had set a lot of really high expectations for it, and even though the book didn't meet all of them, it met most. I loved the concept of the entire book and I had a lot of fun reading it.

Characters: I identified with Cassel really easily. Everyone knows what it feels like to be an outsider and I think that's what makes him very easy to connect with. I hated some of the things he was forced to do and I was as eager to find out the mystery of his life as he was. I loved his big mouth and sarcasm; the way he spoke and acted completely fit the Cassel I'd created in my mind before reading the book. Most of the characters in this book are antagonists and Holly Black succeeded in making me hate their guts.

Plot: There are a lot of unbelievable things that happen to Cassel, but they seem realistic in a way because of who he is (well, more who his family is). The beginning starts off a bit slow but the story quickly picks up and captures its reader. I really liked the world that Black created, one where everyone knows about workers and how to defend themselves from bad workers. I thought the whole idea of workers was extremely unique and I can't think of another book I could compare to it.

Writing: Most YA books are written from third person or from the point of view of a girl. White Cat is narrated by Cassel Sharpe, and it was a refreshing change, reading from a guy's perspective instead. I think Holly Black definitely knows how to write from the guy's POV as well as she can write from a girl's, which is a huge shift but which Black does with certainty.

Cover: I like how this cover is one that will appeal to both boys and girls. I love the black, white and red color scheme of the novel, I love how the red is used to catch someone's eye -- it really works! The model doesn't really look like how I imagined Cassel, but he looks dangerous and intelligent and con-ny (yeah, yeah, not a word. Whatever) and overall it fits the mood and the story.

Overall: Erm…I'm struggling with this. It's either a 4.5 or a 4, but I don't like to give half-star ratings…Okay, I'm going to go with 4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Another Faust

Book: Another Faust
Author: Daniel & Dina Nayeri
Pages: 400
Published: August 25th, 2010

One night, in cities all across Europe, five children vanish - only to appear, years later, at an exclusive New York party with a strange and
elegant governess. Rumor and mystery follow the Faust teenagers to the city’s most prestigious high school, where they soar to suspicious heights with the help of their benefactor’s extraordinary “gifts.”
But as the students claw their way up - reading minds, erasing scenes, stopping time, stealing power, seducing with artificial beauty - the side-effects of their own addictions. And as they make further deals with the devil, they uncover secrets more shocking than their most unforgivable sins.

General Overview: I was so excited to get this book! Have you seen the summary? It sounds so amazing, doesn't it? I had such high expectations for this story, but sadly Another Faust did not live up to them.

Characters: The characterization just fell flat for me. I didn't connect with any of the characters or get a true sense of who they were and what they were like. I just…I didn't understand them, nor did I understand their Governess. You know when you meet a person, and they always seem to change their personalities and opinions so you never really get a good reading on them? The characters in this book were just like that for me.

Plot: The plot was not organized at all. I did really like the premise, and I felt that this book could've been great -- it just wasn't executed all that well. I did like a few of the things that the authors threw in: their changing house, their powers. However, I felt that most of the events in the book felt out of place, and occurred in a rather untimely fashion. The ending of the book felt entire too rushed! It was so anticlimactic. I was flipping through the pages, looking for the build-up to something exciting, but it seemed like I turned the page, and bam! There it was. The climax. And I was left wondering where that came from.

Writing: I found nothing wrong with the writing. The Nayeris write in a very organized manner, they stated everything, but everything was just jumbled up. I couldn't make sense of the events in the book, or the characters as I mentioned above.

Cover: I could identify every model on the cover. They look very intense and I think their expressions fit the gothic mood of the book, and I liked the moths on the sides, as they are quite significant in the story.

Overall: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Review: The Demon King

Book: The Demon King
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Pages: 512
Published: October 13th, 2009

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for himself, his mother, and his sister Mari. Ironically, the only thing of value he has is something he can't sell. For as long as Han can remember, he's worn thick silver cuffs engraved with runes. They're clearly magicked-as he grows, they grow, and he's never been able to get them off.
While out hunting one day, Han and his Clan friend, Dancer catch three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. After a confrontation, Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won't use it against them. Han soon learns that the amulet has an evil history-it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.
Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Marianna, Princess Heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. She's just returned to court after three years of relative freedom with her father's family at Demonai camp - riding, hunting, and working the famous Clan markets. Although Raisa will become eligible for marriage after her sixteenth name-day, she isn't looking forward to trading in her common sense and new skills for etiquette tutors and stuffy parties.
Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea-the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems like her mother has other plans for her--plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the Queendom stands for.

General Overview: I had high expectations for this book. I'd heard great things about it, and The Demon King has a high overall rating on Goodreads. Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to those expectations.

Characters: I didn't connect to any of the characters. I admired Han's courage and consideration for others, particularly his younger sister Mari, and I liked the idea of a sympathetic tough guy. He was my favorite character by far, and yet I didn't feel any sympathy for him, nor did I want to be there in the story with him. Raisa, while a commendable character, seemed childish to me at times, despite her supposed maturity and responsibility. I wanted more from her, from all of them, and that isn't what I got.

Plot: I loved the premise of this book, but the book itself I didn't love so much. The plot moved far too slowly for me, and I thought that the book could easily have been cut down a hundred pages or so. Some of the things that happened seemed pointless and didn't add to the story at all. That being said, I thought this book was very original and I thought Chima developed the world in The Demon King very well.

Writing: Cinda Williams Chima is an amazing writer. I loved her style and the words she used, which gave the book a very fantastical element. I really enjoyed her writing -- just not the story it told.

Cover: This cover fits in very easily with the covers of the Heir Chronicles, and the picture on it helped me visualize the amulet in my mind. The cover is really what appealed to me at first.

Overall: 2.5 out of 5 stars