Review: One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus

I should actually have reviewed One of Us is Lying ages ago, ideally some point after I read it way back in August. I wasn't going to bother because I had ridiculously conflicting opinions about this book, but then I've seen just one two many glowing review to not stick my oar in.

Plot summary: On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

I suppose the most important thing is that I enjoyed reading this book. It's written reasonably well, the dialogue isn't stilted and weird, and the narrative isn't clunky. It flows great and I kept turning the pages. My problem was that I didn't think certain... issues are dealt with in a respectful fashion.

The narrative follows four characters, each with their own chapters told in the first person. Perhaps surpringly for a YA contemporary novel, I actually quite liked them. Each character fits neatly into one of the teenage stereotypes - the vapid popular girl, the sports star, the tortured soul and the nerd. I think this is done intentionally so it's not as cloying as it sounds.

They're actually pretty great. Each character has a distinctive voice to separate them from the others and their personalities have a surprising depth. My favourite was Addy, the popular clique girl who is slowly starting to break free of her pre-determined role and consider whether this is really who she wants to be after all. 

Each of these characters has a secret, hence their potential motive for murdering the person about to reveal it. Some of these 'secrets' are infinitely more interesting than others - Bronwyn's, for example, is most definitely not a big deal and Nate's is practically plastered on his forehead. That said, I really liked Cooper's grand reveal, which I didn't see coming at all. It's a mix, in short. 

So who killed Simon? ARGH, I really need to talk about this but it's obviously ridiculously spoilery. I'm just going to have to say that I was really disappointed with the ending. I guessed the ending almost immediately but decided I was wrong because it was too obviously and there must be a twist. There wasn't.

But that's fine, I can deal with a predictable ending because I really enjoyed the characters. I have massive issues with another area of the book though, but it's an issue that would be spoilery if I even told you what the issue was.

Essentially, a certain character's actions are promoted and almost encouraged in a very damaging way. There's no discussion as to the reason behind their actions and it results in only benefits to that person, which is horrific. Nobody gets any comeuppance for their actions, neither for the issue that I'm dancing around or for the 'secrets' that made the characters suspects in the first place.

So yes, while I enjoyed the act of reading One of Us is Lying due to the great character development, the ending was predictable and certain serious issues are dealt with in a very cavalier light.  

If you've read this, please talk to me about it. Am I the only one who had similar issues? 

Review: Winter (Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer

I've been reading Winter for a while, alongside The Crimson Petal and the White as part of the read-a-long at Lit Addicted Brit. That's partly why it's taken me such a damn long time to get through a YA fantasy novel, but it's also due to its 750 page length. As one of the YA series that I've actually manage to complete (and fairly speedily too), I have to admit that Winter is a fitting conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles series.

Plot summary: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

First off, just let me say that this book is unnecessarily long. The other books are two thirds of the size and work perfectly well. I don't mind long books if it's for a reason, but in Winter the tension keeps sort of ebbing and flowing. The revolution finally happens, and it's all exciting and you reach the final boss battle... but then it all goes away again, only to start again in 100 pages. I wish that the author had just chosen a path and stuck to it.

Because of that, I never really felt any particular desperation to get back to reading this book when I'd put it down and when I did read it, I found myself getting distracted and faffing on my phone instead. That's not to say it's not good, but I feel that it could do with being a little faster-paced.

Despite my fears about not liking where I thought the story might go (it didn't, I'm fine), I thought it was actually a pretty fitting conclusion. Not as simple as it could have been, which I give Marissa Meyer full credit for. I've said it in my previous of reviews of this series - it's a good plot. There's a convulted political history and intricate delicacies that stop juuuuuuust short of being too much. You can keep everything straight in your head without feeling like you're being spoon fed. It's unique and interesting and I really like it.

I'm less impressed with her desire to have everybody neatly coupled off at the end, rambling about their love. They're sixteen to eighteen, Good Lord. I like Cinder and Winter's respective relationships, everybody else needs to read some Jezebel and get a grip. 

Oh, Winter! I love everything about Winter. She's my favourite character, aside from maybe Cinder. Her purpose and her little quirks are so well-thought out and her background is perfect. And That Thing She Does Near The End just fits in with the plot so wonderfully neatly. Honestly, she might be one of the best, most unique things about the Lunar Chronicles series.

On that note, what's the purpose of Scarlet, exactly? I mean, she's fine, but Cinder, Cress and Winter all have purposes and unique personalities. Scarlet not so much. If anything, the second book should probably have been called Wolf, considering he contributes more to the story than she does, but I guess that would detract from the strong female role model-y thing we've got going on.  

THE FAIRYTALE THING. I can't believe it's taken me this many paragraphs to start my fairytale rant. I've said it already in every other review, but I've reached new levels of irritation. IT IS NOT NECESSARY. Winter's fairytale link was so forced that I actually had to skip two whole pages just so I didn't have to see it happen. It reads like Ms Meyer had a vague idea of fairytale-dom in the first book and decided that she was going to carry it through, and just became stuck with the concept in later books.

I feel like I'm nit-picking here, but I think it's probably because I like this series so much. I know that sounds silly, but sometimes when something you love is so close to being perfect, it makes all the little niggles stand out more. This is a really good series with a fitting conclusion. It's maybe a little drawn-out and the coupled-up-ness is slightly irritating, but it's nowhere near enough to put a damper on my affection for these books. 

 Read my reviews of Cinder, Scarlet and Cress. And then go read the books.

Review: Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

After I finished Scarlet, the previous book in the Lunar Chronicles series, I immediately ran out and bought Cress. It's not that it ended on a cliffhanger particularly, but I like this series a surprising amount and I just needed to see how it continued. It's unusual for me to read right through a series with no intervening other books, but that's what I very nearly did. I really do recommend these books.

This review has spoilers for Scarlet. And probably Cinder too.

Plot summary: In the third installment of the Lunar chronicles, Cress, having risked everything to warn Cinder of Queen Levana's evil plan, has a slight problem. She's been imprisoned on a satellite since childhood and has only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress a great hacker. Unfortunately, she's just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress involving Cinder, Captain Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes as a high price. Meanwhile, Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

WHY IS THERE A FAIRYTALE LINK WITH THESE BOOKS!? It sort of made sense in Cinder, although like I said at the time, it wasn't actually necessary. But there was a link, of sorts - she had a wicked stepmother, she went to the ball, she left her 'shoe' behind... fine. It was less linked in Scarlet, and it felt more forced. Alright, so she wore a red hoodie and her Grandmother was killed by a gang called The Wolves. Definitely less required, but... sort of fine. Cress, though? There is barely a link to Rapunzel, and the one link gets... removed, near the beginning of the book. What's the point!? 

The reason for this rant is because I feel the storyline, world-building and characters in this series are strong enough to carry these books, without needing to resort to cheap fairytale links. They're good. Over the last three, Marissa Meyer has established a unique concept in a very real-feeling new world. It's actually quite impressive. Therefore it irritates me when it's cheapened slightly by a forced fairytale link.

Anyway, let's move on from that. Cress feels more like a second book than Scarlet did. There's a lot of walking around, and trying to find each other, and just missing each other. And too much desert. Waaaaay too much desert. That's not to say it's a bad book. A new character, Cress, is introduced and I guess we had to spend some time with her to get to know her properly. 

In my last review, I whined a little bit about how Scarlet and Cinder were almost indistinguishable from each other. Cress is different, thankfully. She's an innocent, having been isolated on a space station for the last seven of her sixteen years. Because of this, she seems very young and very naive, and that's possibly why it jars a little when a love interest develops. I mean, it's carried out in an okay-ish manner, but it seems just a smidge innappropriate, call me prudish.

I think I'm only picking this book apart because I liked it so much, which makes sense in a weird kind of way. Sometimes when a book is really good, you notice the faults more because you're very aware that, without them, the book would be perfect. As I've said before, I love the over-arching storyline. It's interesting and unique, and the world-building is perfect. It would probably make a good TV show, now that I think about it.

I did enjoy this book (although maybe not quuuuuiite as much as the others) and I'm really looking forward to reading Winter, when I eventually cave in and buy it. I have a slightly niggle that the story isn't going to go in the direction I want it to, but I daren't google the spoilers just in case. In short, I want somebody to talk about these books with, so go read them!

Visit Marissa Meyer's website here, or find her on Twitter.

Review: The Jewel by Amy Ewing

I bought this on a whim as part of a Waterstones deal but put off reading it as it seems sort-of generic-y dystopian-y YA type stuff. However, I read it in pretty much one sitting while I was ill at home last week, and whilst I wasn't wrong, it's at least one of the better examples of generic-y, dystopian-y YA.

Plot summary: Sold for six million diamantes, Violet is now Surrogate of the House of the Lake in the centre of the Lone City, the Jewel. Her sole purpose is to produce a healthy heir for the Duchess – a woman Violet fears and despises.

Violet is trapped in a living death, her name and body no longer her own. She fights to hold on to her own identity and sanity, uncertain of the fate of her friends, isolated and at the mercy of the Duchess.

The Handmaid's Tale meets The Other Boleyn Girl in a world where beauty and brutality collide.

I completely fail to see any resemblance with The Other Boleyn Girl, but never mind.

Sorry for the slightly pompous introductory paragraph, but it's true. This is good YA, but YA it remains. I don't mean that to be as insulting as I'm aware it sounds - I did read this in one sitting, after all, and I've already added the sequel to my wishlist. It's just that there doesn't seem to be anything particularly unique about The Jewel, both in its strengths and its flaws.   

It's almost like a more domestic and lighter version of The Handmaid's Tale (somebody remind me that I want to read that later, please?). Essentially, the upper classes can't bear children, so certain members of the lower classes are forced into slavery and then sold to the highest, infertile bidder. Enter Violet. She's bought by a very high ranking family with plans to use her special skills to ensure their offspring become the next ruler of the Kingdom. And there's a boy. There's always a boy. And a rebellion. Ditto the rebellion.

I know, I'm being snitty again. Sorry. Repeat: I did like this book.

I liked that there were quite a lot of interesting subplots. There's a lot going on, just enough to keep you interested in the threads without losing track of what's going on. It's very well balanced in that respect. The characters do seem quite filled out, which is remarkable as there's quite a lot of them. I don't think there was a single one that irritated me in a way that they weren't meant to.

Violet is probably the one most lacking in depth, which sounds odd as she's the protagonist. However, when you think about it, it's probably easier to flesh out secondary characters because you can always discuss the main character's view of them, whereas you're stuck with trying to demonstrate your protagonist's personality without specifically stating it. Violet is... fine. Unexceptional, really, until the end where she makes some spectacularly  and petty decisions in line with YA characters everywhere.

The thing is, she's apparently been raised to expect this life for a very long time and has been surrounded by other people, who also expect this life. So how come she's the only magical, special one who doesn't want to go through with it? Aside from anything else... well, honestly, at first glance (and second and third!) it doesn't seem like such a bad life!

The romance is... sudden, instant and forced, but we've all ranted about these things before and we know what I'd say here if I could be bothered to say it.

I think I wanted more details, somewhere along the way. For one thing, for a book about pregnancy and surrogacy, sex isn't even mentioned once. I mean, I wasn't expecting 50 Shades or anything, but in a book about this topic, the absence is noteable. It seems like the book could have been a little darker and more thorough, but instead a choice was made to keep it a bit fluffy.

The Jewel was saved, for me, by writing that is actually quite good. I never once thought that the dialogue was stilted or felt miffed by a silly metaphor. It's the kind of writing that isn't exactly amazing, but at the same time does make you forget that you're just skimming text on a page, if that makes any sense.

When it gets right down to it, I would recommend this book. It has its flaws, but it's worth reading. Maybe get it from the library though.

Read a less snitty and more positive review of The Jewel at Laura's Little Book Blog.

Review: Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer

One of my favourite things about book blogging is how the reviews of other people prompt you to finally pick up a book that's been languishing on your shelves for a while. When I read Bex's 2015 Book Survey, I remembered about Scarlet. I bought it immediately (literally, within the space of ten minutes) after finishing Cinder last year... and then, as always, did not read it. This is where I give a nod to Bex for prompting me to get my act together!

Plot summary: Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

I didn't actually get round to reviewing Cinder, as I read it during the dearth-of-reviews phase that I'm going to regret even more as the year goes on. Oh wait. Apparently I reviewed this, which is weird as I have zero recollection of doing so. Worrying. Anyway, here's my review! It took me a few chapters to get into it, but I ended up really liking it and buying Scarlet immediately, as I said. I actually think this book is better, which is rare for the second book in a YA series. Usually it just acts as filler, usually with the characters doing an awful lot of walking, until we can finally read the end in a third installment.

However, because Scarlet follows a new set of characters (for a while, anyway) it almost starts afresh and you're left with the usual drudgery. After the story gets going, the narrative flits between Cinder and Scarlet but even Cinder's story is active and reasonably fast-paced.

I really like the over-arching storyline with these books. A potential war between Earth and the Lunars, in a world where androids and spaceships are almost common place. I'm not entirely sure this series really needs the fairytale aspects as I think the plot would be strong enough to stand alone, and sometimes the Red Riding Hood and Cinderella links are a bit forced. It seems like Marissa Meyer struggled a lot to get the wolves into the story, and the method used 'clunks' a little. I almost mean this in a positive light, as it's a strong story, but it tries just a tad too hard in that respect.

There are parts of this story that are surprisingly brutal for a YA novel. I was genuinely almost shocked by some of the goings-on in this book and I'm not ashamed to admit that I teared up at one particular part. I don't think it was there as a cheap trick to purposefully shock the reader either. It's not pleasant, but it forms a necessary part of the story and it's written really well. 

My only criticism is that it's very difficult to differentiate Cinder and Scarlet. If they were engaging in dialogue and their names were scrubbed out, I'm not sure I could tell which was which. Maybe it's because they don't have much contact with each other and therefore there wasn't much need for character development, but their personalities are very, very similar. They're almost interchangeable. Now that I think about it, so are Wolf and Captain Thorne, two of the male leads. It didn't ruin the book for me, but it was definitely noticeable.

I'm already eyeing up Cress on Amazon, which appears to have a Rapunzel theme, judging from the cover. This series has its faults, but they're very minor and they're outweight by the general goodness that is the Lunar Chronicles series. It has a unique storyline and it's fast-paced with the odd smidge of heart-break. Highly recommended.

  Read my review of Cinder (which apparently I did write) here.

Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

I don't read contemporary YA. To put this in context, in the last nine years, I have read 963 books for pleasure. Of these, nine were contemporary YA and of those, I actually finished five of them. I even finished The Fault in Our Stars and An Abundance of Katherines, so I'm hardly picky! It's just not my thing. I didn't like teenagers when I was one, so they're hardly likely to have grown on me now that I'm a decade more irritable. The point is, a book of this genre has to be pretty special to make me want to read it, finish it and then actually want to talk about it in a review. I give you - We Were Liars.

A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

  

Bex made me read this. Well, no, she didn't. But she wrote a post about it when I was bored, and lonely, and near a bookshop, so really she might as well have held a gun to my head, right? 

I actually really liked this book when I started it, even though there's not much (at first) to set it aside from lots of other YA novels out there. Cadence Sinclair and her family visit their private island every Summer. We jump into the story at about Summer Fourteen and everything is pretty much normal. You meet the characters, get a little background and slope around the beach with them for a while. It's still an interesting story and I got quite into it. More to the point, this book has a teenage relationship and I did not hate it.

But then we jump into Summer Fifteen and it all starts to go a bit wrong. With the plot, I mean. The book is still great. Cadence has had an accident... only she doesn't quite remember what that was. She knows that she has horrendous migraines and is now living the life of an invalid, but everything else about that summer is just gone from her memory.

The rest of the book features Cady during Summer Seventeen as she tries to unravel the mystery of what exactly happened to her and I promise you that it's not what you think. I'm struggling here because a lot of what I want to talk about is very spoilery. There's a twist and I have very mixed feelings about it, but this is definitely a book where the less you know going in, the better the book will be.

Let's see if I can dance on the line of vague yet explanatory. When the twist first begins to unravel, it's great. I texted Bex in capital letters just because I had to talk to someone about what had just been revealed. I loved where it was going as I completely hadn't seen it coming and it was perfect. But then I think it almost went a little too far? It seemed to twist one time too many and then it just seemed a little silly. To give credit to Ms Lockhart, it took me completely by surprise (*cough* although that might be because it makes absolutely zero sense *coughs*) and it would be interesting to reread the book knowing what I do now.

It wasn't enough to ruin the book for me, but the point of this book is the GASP!ending. I know it sounds like I didn't like We Were Liars, when I actually really did, but you're kept in suspense for an entire book and then it doesn't quite pay off. I got on board with a slightly preachy protagonist because she accepts her own flaws. The secondary characters aren't very fleshed out, but she only sees them once a year - maybe they're written that way on purpose. It tries too hard to be arty, but hey, that's fine. Arty is nice. SEE!? I GOT ON BOARD WITH THIS BOOK. And then I was ever-so-slightly let down.

Bex is going to murder me.

Read her review at An Armchair by the Sea here.

Review: Armada by Ernest Cline

I've been waiting for Armada to be released ever since I fell in love with Ready Player One in January. I was so excited that I didn't have long to wait until Ernest Cline's next book came out and it was actually the second book in my entire life that I pre-ordered (the first was Heir of Fire). You could argue that the weight of my expectations damaged my opinion of this book, and I might concede if I were only mildly disappointed. The fact is, though, that I actually disliked this book and therefore the shoddy novel itself has to take the blame for at least some of that.

Plot summary: It’s just another day of high school for Zack Lightman. He's daydreaming through another boring math class, with just one more month to go until graduation and freedom―if he can make it that long without getting suspended again. 

Then he glances out his classroom window and spots the flying saucer.

At first, Zack thinks he’s going crazy. A minute later, he’s sure of it. Because the UFO he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada―in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders. 

But what Zack’s seeing is all too real. And his skills―as well as those of millions of gamers across the world―are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it. Yet even as he and his new comrades scramble to prepare for the alien onslaught, Zack can’t help thinking of all the science-fiction books, TV shows, and movies he grew up reading and watching, and wonder: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little too… familiar? 

I'm perfectly aware that it's not really fair to judge a book by its predecessor, but as I imagine a lot of people will be reading this off the back of Ready Player One, I'm going to do it anyway. This book is not like that one. There are no geeky references (aside from references to one 80s music playlist), little in-jokes or nods to pop culture - instead it's pretty much just a straight sci-fi novel. 

I don't actually object to this in principle as I quite like sci-fi. It's just that the plot... well, it's not good. The basic gist is that films like Star Wars, Star Trek, Independence Day, etc, are all propaganda funded by the government to familiarise us with aliens so we don't panic when contact is eventually made. Similarly, there are two games (one of them the titular Armada, and the other is... something else. I want to say Titan Fall, but that's an actual game) promoted by the government to secretly train gamers into being able to control military drones when the invasion occurs.

It's silly. The thing is, for sci-fi and fantasy plotlines, for them to be believable, the only thing that can be unrealistic is the existence of aliens (or whatever the theme happens to be). Our willingness to accept the fictional only goes so far. Asking readers to believe in an alien invasion is fair enough, but suggesting that we'd be totally calm about it because we've seen fricking Star Wars is pushing it and makes zero sense.

Within minutes, it seemed like the same newscasters who had delivered the news were now reporting with total confidence that most of the world's civilian population was already responding to the EDA's call to arms, and that hundreds of millions of people all over the world were already mobilising themselves by logging on to the EDA's online operations servers to enlist and then receive their combat drone assignments and take up arms and defend their planet. Several networks were showing clips of people abandoning their cars in traffic to run into electronics stores and libraries and coffee shops and Internet cafes and office buildings, thousands upon thousands of people, all in a mad dash to get somewhere with Broadband Internet access.

Okay, no. First off, you're just not going to convince 'hundreds of millions of people' to play the same game, whatever that game happens to be. Secondly, and most importantly, you can't really be saying that if an alien invasion happened, we'd all be totally cool with it because of the sci-fi movies we've seen? This is set in our own world, after all. There would be riots and looting and general panic, not instant, staid determination to calmly traipse to the nearest computer.

Unfortunately that kind of lazy writing is prevalent throughout. Characters don't react naturally, in the way that normal people would - they overreact or underreact, whenever the plot needs to be forced in a certain way. The ending also feels like an incredible cop-out as it seems very anti-climactic and a super easy way out.

Even if you could get on board with the plotline and weren't ridiculously annoyed with the ending, as a standard sci-fi novel, there's still nothing special about Armada. There are thousands of other books exactly like it, and therefore the only aspects that stand out are the negative ones. It reminds me a lot of Ender's Game... which I didn't even finish.

I feel slightly traitorous writing this review but this book took me two whole weeks to plough through and I almost gave up on it multiple times. I wasn't just disappointed, I actually disliked this book, especially the ending. I'll still read anything Ernest Cline writes, but my expectations will be infinitely lower next time. 

Read a more balanced review of Armada over at Cuddlebuggery. 

Review: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

This book has been on my TBR shelves for as long as I can remember. I vaguely remember receiving it as part of a ReaditSwapit swap, but not when or why or from whom. It then, naturally, languished on the shelf along with the other 279 books that I probably mean to read at some point (probably). However, last month there seemed to be an abundance of people mentioning Cinder on my newly-acquired Instagram, and therefore I was inspired to give it a go. 

Plot summary: Cinder, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation. 

Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth's future.

As soon as I began reading, I knew that Cinder wasn't what I was expecting, but I'd struggle to tell you why. Perhaps I was expecting that there would be a closer resemblance to the Cinder story, I don't know. There's a complete and well thought-out backstory to the first installment of this series - new races, cultures, cities and subplots, but there's no getting around that the only resemblance to Cinderella is the presence of a snooty Stepmother!

Don't get me wrong, that's hardly an issue for me. But it did add to the slight disconnect I felt from my assumption of the book to what I was actually experiencing. It was also a lot younger than I was expecting. I'd say it falls at the lower end of YA, whereas I was expecting smaller font and slightly more complex language.

Because of this, it did take me a while to get into. By about the 30% line though, I was looking forward to picking it back up again every time.

Just to snick back to the world-building for a second, it actually is quite impressive. It's a simple concept (Humans GOOD, Cyborgs BAD - in a sort of futuristic China with a monarchy) but it's explained and developed well, right from the beginning. It's interesting and not something I've seen done overmuch before. I think I would have liked a slightly more scientific-y explanation of the Plague (coming from the girl who's just used 'scientific-y' as a real word), but there's a chance that we'll get more information in the second book, Scarlet. I hope so anyway. I love me a good plague!

There is a romantic sub-plot and it is rather sledgehammery. On the bright side, it's very much a sub-plot that doesn't take over the central theme and Prince Whatsit doesn't seem to be a gigantic ArseHat, which always helps.

There's a twist towards the end that was rather obvious... so obvious that I thought the real twist might be that that wasn't the twist! Except it was. It's hardly the end of the world as it was actually pulled off quite well and it was still entertaining reading, but the rest of the book had been quite inventive, so I think I was looking for something more.

The ending... isn't great. I mean, I'm reading this in 2015 and the next two books in the series are already released, with the fourth book coming out in November. I can just pick up the next book and it's fine. But if I'd read this when it was first released in 2012, I'd be a little irritated that the story just... stops. I get that Marissa Meyer probably knew perfectly well where she wanted the story to go next, but I'd have preferred a more self-contained novel.

I did end up liking this a reasonable amount. It didn't make my Top Ten Books So Far list, but it was a close thing and I will be reading Scarlet. I've actually already bought it... admittedly it does help that it was £2 on Amazon.

Read Ellie's review of Cinder at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm.

Review: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

I know, right? Who knew I was actually able to write posts about books that aren't War & Peace? I do feel like I'm being unfaithful to it slightly, but on the bright side at least it means I can catch up on my backlog of reviews. Even though I should be reading epic Russian literature right now... *hides from this week's unread page count*

Plot summary: Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people's minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.

I'd heard amazing things about The Bone Season and the recently released sequel, The Mime Order. It's supposed to be 'the next Harry Potter' (along with every other fantasy book series ever) due to it's uniqueness and general awesomeness. I'm sure these things would be true if I understood a damn thing it was talking about.

At the beginning it was almost like reading a textbook - there was a huuuuge infodump about people, acronyms, types of powers, etc. and it really wasn't subtle at all. The explanations (such as there were) weren't woven into the story, we were just treated to rather large essays of text that didn't really make it any clearer anyway.

I barely understood the world that Paige lives in, so when the action started almost immediately, I didn't really care because I didn't understand the meaning or the implications. Far, far too much happens in the first few chapters - I was texting Charlotte almost incessantly whining (in capital letters, naturally) that I didn't understand. 

When I went online to check that this is the first book in the series (yes, it is that confusing) I found out that there's actually a glossary of terms at the back. It's not that useful as the words I wanted to look-up weren't even there, but it also makes no sense no have it at the back. I'd never have known it existed if a fellow reader hadn't mentioned it in passing. It seems rather lazy to bung a glossary in, instead of actually explaining what the feck you're talking about.

But then, this book is rather lazy. The prose is actually quite well-written, but every so often something 'clunks' in your head that makes you wonder how well this has actually been checked over. It's only the small things (like characters miraculously being aware of something they have no way of knowing, or a character standing in a corner and then somebody sitting at the table next to them), but it is irritatingly frequent.

Paige herself is also rather annoying, in the usual theoretically strong female character way. You know, where the author tries to make her a role model and she's actually just really mean? She shouts at everybody, is generally ungrateful for any help she receives and pretty much refuses to listen to anything/anyone that isn't her own ego. 

Lastly, the passage of time is explained very badly and this is quite the pet hate of mine. It seems as though they've only been around for a week or so, but then the prose suddenly announces (as subtly as always) that nine months have passed and it's incredibly disorientating.

I just don't understand how this series can possibly be dragged out into seven books - three seems like it would be more than enough. Obviously I have no idea where the author intends the story to go, but that's hardly surprising considering I barely understood where this story went.  

It's probably fairly obvious by this point, but I did not like The Bone Season. It was written well and probably had some interesting ideas, but it didn't take the time to explain them. There's absolutely nothing subtle about this book - not the plot, the info dump, the characters or the relationships - and I'd have infinitely preferred a slower pace and less action with more world-building.

Read Charlotte's more positive (and more eloquent) review of The Bone Season here.

Review: The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I'm simply horrendous at reading books when they're actually relevant - either when they're first released, when the movie version comes out or when my friends are reading and loving it. It usually takes a random flash of inspiration to remind me that a book exists and then maybe I'll finally, finally read it. Or more often, not.

Plot summary:  Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

As it turns out, I had absolutely no idea what this book was actually about. I think I had a vague idea about a coming-of-age novel, something to do with a quiet teenager who finds new friends? While I wasn't strictly wrong (not that I'd ever admit to it if I was), there's a lot more to The Perks of Being A Wallflower than I expected.

Charlie is a slightly odd, quiet teenager who writes long letters detailing his life to the friend of a schoolmate, who he once heard was a decent person. He uses this as a sort-of journal and so we get to hear about the minor dramas that make up Charlie's life. I would have loved to learn more about the recipient of these letters - it's hardly the point of the story, but I do think that perhaps one letter in response would have tied the whole book up nicely.

It actually works really well. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's 'moving,' but there's a certain twist to Charlie's tone that lets you know that there's something undernearth the surface. I think I twigged fairly early on that he has some sort of mental illness, but then I do have a penchant for this kind of book. I loved that it never really felt the need to tell the reader exactly what Charlie has, thus avoiding the labels of 'mental health book.' This way Perks gets to remain a simple coming-of-age novel that's read and loved almost universally.

Charlie is perfect. Slightly naive to the point where you just can't help but want to help him out. I also think he represents a lot of our own teenage anxieties - not necessarily the drama present in his life, but the usual concerns about whether your friends actually like having you around and your parents discovering exactly how much you drank last weekend.

I had a harder time relating to some of the other characters, who don't really seem to be believable teenagers. I accept that they're two years older than Charlie, but they're so... liberal (diplomacy at its best) that it seems like they're already at college. No live-at-home teenager has that much freedom or quite as philosophical a world view.

Sam occasionally irritated me as I think she may be the least developed character, which is odd considering she's probably the second-most important. She reads more like a caricature of a person than any believable approximation, having very lofty ideals towards the end and it did feel like she took advantage of Charlie somewhat, which doesn't fit with everything else we'd been told about her values.

I did not see that ending coming and hadn't even been a little bit spoilered. While I didn't hate it and I don't object to it, I'm still not sure that it was strictly necessary especially as the narrative goes out of its way to state that It wasn't responsible for Charlie's difficulties. It does seem as if the purpose was primarily shock value and that does tend to irritate me.

Spoilery about the ending: 

I do feel that it may trivialise and over-simplify sexual abuse a little. 'Oh, I was sexually abused and so now I sexually abuse other people.'
Well, no. It doesn't always work like that, but it was presented as if this was a perfectly natural and understandable development.

Aaaaaaaaand I'm done.

I do think there's something here for everyone - every teenager who feels a little isolated from their peers, but also every adult who feels grateful that they never have to go through that awkward stage again! The Perks of Being A Wallflower deals with mental illness, sexual awakenings, anxiety, homosexuality, teenage relationships and probably a lot more. There's an awful lot packed into this seemingly simple book and, while it has its faults, I recommend it very highly.

Read Ellie's review of the book and movie here.   

Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I think I'm going to have to accept that there are certain authors that I. Just. Don't. Like. Charles Dickens is one of them, as I've admitted to myself this week, but unfortunately John Green seems to be another. While there's a great deal of difference between the two (which I know a lot of pre-teen girls will disagree with), they have in common my disinclination to ever read anything else by either of them ever again.

Plot summary:  When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight Judge Judy - loving best friend riding shotgun - but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

In defence of An Abundance of Katherines, this book isn't awful. Not like The Fault in Our Stars which led to me actually injuring my knee from slamming the book down too hard. But no, this book is... fine. There's nothing that irritates me or annoys me particularly, but there's also nothing that I liked about it. It has to be one of the most forgettable books I've read all year. Which I suppose is a distinction in itself, so never mind.

I think the problem is that I just don't 'get' John Green. I know I only have a sample size of two, but considering I hated one of the books and it took me more than a week to read the other, I'm unlikely to obtain more for the sake of accuracy. I don't understand though. What makes him so popular!?

I know his characters are meant to be really relatable for people growing up and his writing style is all fun and casual... but... no. In An Abundance of Katherines, there's a child prodigy, a typical 'cool best friend' and a swanky country girl. None of those things are relatable! They also come out with the kind of clever one-liners that nobody on the spur of the moment could ever come up with, leaving the reader with a sense of inferiority at both the protagonist's intelligence and the other character's wit.

The writing style is also merely acceptable. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually kind of preferred it in The Fault in Our Stars... *cringes* I liked the tone of that book - it was casual and chatty, yet somehow descriptive. It just worked. Here though, it seems oddly forced, like it's trying too hard to be casual and witty. I just couldn't get into it at all because I had to force myself to accept the style.

The concept itself is a fairly interesting one, which is why I chose this as the book to give John Green a second chance. Colin has dated nineteen girls called Katherine who all dumped him, so now he's gone on a Cheer-Up road trip and is trying to put together a theorum to predict how long a relationship will last. Except, much like, The Fault in Our Stars, the original plot point is completely forgotten about in the wake of the newer one and there's no actual ending. Awesome.

I don't think I'm going to read any more of John Green's books. They're clearly not for me. An Abundance of Katherine took me more than a week to read, when it should easily have been finished in two days at most. I just can't get on board with the tweeness, the unlikeable characters, the forced tone or the emotional manipulativeness. 

Read a more positive review of An Abundance of Katherines at B's Book Blog.

Review: A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass

A Mango-Shaped Space was the first of four full books I read over the Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon period. I almost always try and use events like these to get through some of the older books on my TBR pile and this was no exception. In fact, the receipt tucked inside my copy tells me that I've owned this book since March 2012... well, I won't be owning it for much longer, that's safe to say.

Plot summary: Mia Winchell has synesthesia, the mingling of perceptions whereby a person can see sounds, smell colors, and taste shapes. Forced to reveal her condition, she must look to herself to develop an understanding and appreciation of her gift in this coming-of-age novel.

Good thing that's not a vague blurb or anything... But yes, basically, Mia has synesthesia, a condition thought to include Van Vogh and David Hockney as sufferors (and also allegedly Kanye West, but never mind that). I can sort of understand this as, while I don't see colours, I do associate them with certain things/people and can get quite stressed out when real life doesn't always conform. But I'll leave this train of thought here before I get angry comments telling me that OCD isn't the same as synesthesia (a fact of which I am very aware). 

I do have a soft spot for novels about mental health. The Shock of the Fall was one of the best books I've read all year and I completely fell in love with The Silver Linings Playbook. However, you'll note that both those books are aimed at adult readers and A Mango-Shaped Space most definitely is not. The language is very simple, but that's fine as it's aimed at younger readers and I got used to that after a few pages anyway.

The problem is how easy the whole thing is. Mia decides for no apparent reason to mention her difficulties to her parents after thirteen years of not doing so and then has a diagnosis within three days? Yeeeeeah, I don't think so. I understand that middle-grade books are always going to have simpler plots than adult novels and that it's trying to reinforce talking to your parents about your struggles... but I feel it's setting children up to believe that mental health diagnoses are instant. I just don't want children to feel that its all in their heads etc. when they're told that there's nothing wrong with them (which they invariably will be). 

*breathes* Issues? Who, me? 

The other slightly role-modely issue with A Mango-Shaped Space is that I'm preeeeeeeetty (read: absolutely and completely) sure that synesthesia doesn't allow sufferors to guess people's moods or tell whether people are lying. Wow, that's insulting. I was flabberghasted and I don't even have it. I mean, what is this book aiming for? 'Oh, I thought I had this because I can see music and taste sounds... but oh no, I can't have. I'm not additionally and randomly psychic, so there goes that idea.'

I can't wait to tell them about the acupuncture, which, cool as it was, did get to be pretty distracting. But if my abilities had been stronger tonight, I would have been able to see exactly what Adam was feeling when he kissed me. That could have been useful.

ARGH. Even if I agree to let the use of the word 'abilities' go, you would not have been able to see how he felt, regardless of how strong your symptoms are. You have an illness; you are not one of the X-Men.

Mia's also kind of a cowbag. While I did want her to get better, I liked her in absolutely no way at all. She's a horrible little primadonna. At one point she goes all mental about the fact that she boiled some pasta to go with some salad her mother made, and nobody thanked her for the salad. Really!? Did you thank your Mum for making the salad? Did you thank her the 56,000 times she's made you pasta!? And just like that I've realised why I rarely read contemporary YA- because I almost always side with the parents.

I appreciate what this book is trying to do, kind of. Synesthesia is rarely heard of and it must be comforting for children to have a novel they can read for reassurance that they're not crazy. The problem is a) it's more about a girl who happens to have synesthesia while she grieves over her deceased grandfather, and b) I really feel like it might give them the wrong end of the stick. Synesthesia makes you a mind-reader, remember?

Read a more positive review of A Mango-Shaped Space at Hearts At Play - this review also explains how synesthesia works much better than I did!

Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I'm glad I've finally read The Maze Runner - not because it's particularly, you know, good or anything (it's not), but mainly because it's reminded me not to use abbreviations in my review notebook... If someone figures out what 'reminiscent of LotF (even a pg) and HHG' means, I swear I'll dedicate my next review in your honour.

Plot summary: When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he's not alone. He's surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade - a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they came to be there - or what's happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything - even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrol its corridors, to try and find out.

I didn't hate The Maze Runner. In fact, I'm not sure I even disliked it... I just didn't care enough about it enough to have strong feelings. Usually when you read something, you forget that you're just holding some text on a piece of paper and you start seeing the images in your head. That's pretty standard for everyone, I think - otherwise reading novels wouldn't have half the appeal that it does. Unfortunately, that never actually happened for me with this book - I never reached the point where the text stopped being just text, which is obviously a fairly large hindrance to enjoyment. 

It wasn't particularly that it was written badly - I've read prose of much lesser quality than this, but it just seemed quite... flat. I also felt alienated by the slangwords used by the inhabitants of the Glade. I understand that the author probably wanted to give the impression that the teenagers were swearing without actually having them swear (and thereby having having potential buyers refuse to let their children read this) but it's absolutely infuriating. It stops the prose from scanning properly as it 'clunks' (which is ironic as 'clunk' is one of the words) in my head every time.

My main issue, however, was the content. Everything was just too easy. Whenever an obstacle gets thrown in their way, it's overcome by a lucky coincidence or miracle that means they can suddenly perform tasks or jump to conclusions that they couldn't before. You know the type.

Easy, but also lazy. Nothing irritates me more than authors who tell you things instead of showing you. You're informed that the other inhabitants think Thomas is amazingly special... but not given a reason. He hasn't done anything to indicate that he's in any way different and yet you're supposed to magically believe that they think so, just because you're told to. Yeah, I've never been great at following orders. It's not the only example of this, but it's the only one I've written down. Or the only one that I've written down and can understand, anyway. 

Alright, let's talk about Thomas. He has every failing usually attributed to YA protagonists, but it jars even more because both Thomas and James Dashner are male. It's quite pleasing to read a male main character for a change, but I'd hoped it would mean avoiding the usual whining, sulking and refusing to tell people critical information they 100% definitely need to know. Apparently not. My absolute favourite part was:

"Hey Thomas, don't go outside the walls. You'll die."

"You'll die if you go outside the walls."

"Don't go outside the walls, Thomas."

*Thomas goes outside the walls*

"...What do you mean I'm going to die!? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?"

I did get more into it towards the end, but I was still looking forward to finishing the book and moving on to something (anything) else. It's just incredibly generic. Even the faults I've mentioned above are representative of an awful lot of other YA literature - if you scrubbed out the character names above, you probably wouldn't even be able to tell that this is a review for The Maze Runner. The concept is reasonably unique but unfortunately the laziness of the prose just eroded any interest I may have otherwise had.

Read Kayleigh's review of The Maze Runner at Nylon Admiral.