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Showing posts with label 3.5 stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3.5 stars. Show all posts

Monday, July 21, 2014

Cinder

Cinder
Lunar Chronicles 1
Marissa Meyer

My copy is a... Paperback
Published: January 2012
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Summary: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. (via Goodreads)

After hearing TONS about how amazing this book is I picked it up while I was killing time in a bookstore. I didn’t end up buying the book because I didn’t have any money on me but I ordered it from the library and ended up being fairly impressed by it, although there were parts that bugged me.

To start with the things that bugged was there was very little world building. The concept of “New Beijing” is very interesting but very little of the history of New Beijing and the culture, other than class/race differences was explained. The cast system was never fully explained either. In Cinder's case she became a cyborg in order to save her life and she was considered a lower class. If somebody had a cyborg eye installed because they wanted it would they then be considered a lower class? or if a solider/amputee got a cyborg limb?
 Another problem I had with this book was the cover. While the cover was beautiful it did not represent Cinder at all. First of all, Cinder doesn’t have skin graphs, skin covering her robot arm and leg. Therefore the leg on the cover should be a robot not human/robot leg. Also, Cinder would never wear the red kitten heels featured on the cover. I understand that they are used to help relate the story to Cinderella but they don’t fit the story at all, In my opinion it should have been a boot. Lastly, the story was predictable. The big cliff hanger/end that makes you scream give me the next book now!, (if you need farther examples look at The Mark Of Athena by Rick Riordan, If I Stay by Gayle Foreman, 13 gifts by Wendy Mass, or Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins) I predicted in the first 50 pages. I’m not saying what the event is but the clues were laid out in such a way that your groaning at Cinder to figure it out already!

Despite all that there were many parts of the book that I enjoyed. I have not been able to find a dystopian novel with a strong plot in a long time, making this book a very nice break from the contemporary fiction I’ve been reading. Another part of the book I liked was the fact that while there was a love interest the story focused more on species/racial problems instead of the love interest. In my opinion this story read more like a prequel then the first installment in a trilogy.

Rating:

3.5 stars

This was a great dystopian book to read, the writing was much better than the other dystopians I have read recently. However, some elements(world building, characters, etc.) missed the mark for me. 

Monday, May 5, 2014

Lola And The Boy Next Door



Lola And The Boy Next Door
Stephanie Perkins

Published: 2011
Publisher: Dutton Books
My copy is a….. Library book

Summary: 
Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion...she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit--more sparkly, more fun, more wild--the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket--a gifted inventor--steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

    

Im trying to get better at writing reviews even if I have no idea where to start. This was one of those books I had no idea how to start the review of. So while my computer was updating I made a list on my raw feelings about the book. So starting from the top!

1)    Long: I feel like this book was to long. I loved the story line and the writing was soooo cute! But in the middle I was dragging my feet waiting for the story to pick up again.

2)    Cute: This book was so cute! Cricket and Lola’s history and their relationship was so adorable! (not to mention Anna and St. Clair’s relationship…)

3)    Overly Emotional: Lola was portrayed as way to emotional in my opinion. I get that she was stuck between two guys but the number of times she began crying for no reason and just getting to emotional over the smallest things was ridiculous!

4)    Writing: The writing in this books is so cute and adorable and I love it its amazing. Its not metaphor this/ amazing quote to quote for all time that but just sweet and adorable.

5)    Lola: Form Lola’s funky outfits to the fact she makes it all herself I really liked her. Lola was original, very stubborn, and super creative, which reminded her of myself… and while I think I’m not overly emotional my dad would probably disagree.

6)    Characters: All the characters were very well developed and interesting. I personally really liked Norah. I found her character while not to be a good parent a good figure to have in Lola’s life.


Well that’s the quickest review I’ve ever written!

Verdict:

3.5 stars

A good read if you liked Anna and The French Kiss or The Geography of You and Me

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Noggin

Noggin
John Corey Whaley

Published: April 8, 2014
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
My copy is a..... Hardback I bought

Summary: Listen — Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t. Now he’s alive again. Simple as that. The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he’s still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she’s not his girlfriend anymore? That’s a bit fuzzy too. Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars. Oh well, you only live twice.

I would have never read this book if I hadn’t seen a panel with John Corey Whaley on it. I am so happy I did see him because this book is amazing. Noggin was amazingly funny. The way Travis dealt with all the changes that happned while he was dead was so pure with no ulterior motive. He just wanted his life to be how it was before he got sick.

In a lot of books similar to this I saw that I wish there had been more of a background. With Noggin I didn’t think this once. The story starts with him waking up, no longer dead. If there had been chapters from before he died it would have felt out of placed. There were flashbacks throughout the book of before he died and it was enough that we got a sense of his life pre-death.

Characters:
Travis: When Travis woke up he expected for everyone to have not moved on, to have waited and stopped his or her lives while he was away. Yet when he slowly realized that hadn’t happened and his best fried, Kyle, wouldn’t be in his math class and his girlfriend was engaged, to a man other than him. He dealt with the majority of the changes as well as he could. In some ways people expected him to act the age he would be if he didn’t die.

Verdict:


3.5 stars

This book is hilarious and defiantly worth a read.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June
Robin Benway
Published: August 3rd 2010 by Razorbill
Date finished: April 14, 2014
Source: I bought it
Genre: Fantasy/fiction/super powers

Summary: I hugged my sisters and they fit against my sides like two jigsaw pieces that would never fit anywhere else. I couldn't imagine ever letting them go again, like releasing them would be to surrender the best parts of myself.
Three sisters share a magical, unshakeable bond in this witty high-concept novel from the critically acclaimed author of Audrey, Wait! Around the time of their parents' divorce, sisters April, May, and June recover special powers from childhood--powers that come in handy navigating the hell that is high school. Powers that help them cope with the hardest year of their lives. But could they have a greater purpose?
April, the oldest and a bit of a worrier, can see the future. Middle-child May can literally disappear. And baby June reads minds--everyone's but her own. When April gets a vision of disaster, the girls come together to save the day and reconcile their strained family. They realize that no matter what happens, powers or no powers, they'll always have each other.
Because there's one thing stronger than magic: sisterhood.

I picked this book from the LA times Book Festival last weekend, got it signed, then proceeded to read it in order to avoid packing (FYI not the smartest idea). I read the majority of the book avoiding packing but finished the rest on a plane.

Quick Question: Am I the only person that loves being on a plane? Your surrounded by a bunch of people all going to the same place and after you get off the plane you’ll probably never see the majority of them again. Your almost in limbo you could be flying over cities, peoples, something could be happening that affects the whole world and while your on the plane your oblivious, none of it can affect you.

The actual book was really good. I love Robin Benway’s writing to be very unique and funny and this book was no exception. I did not fins this book to be as laugh out loud funny as Also Known As but that could be there was no Roux. This book read similar to a journal/diary to me. You read three very different point of views and each one was unique and had it’s own take on what was going on. I wish there was a chapter or two before they discovered their powers so that we saw more of what they were like. A small sense of it was shown throughout the story but a lot of it was told, instead of shown. For example, April was constantly being mocked by her sisters for being the “smart” one but we never saw her studying or doing anything “smart” sister-ish.

April: April was the oldest sister and I feel like she had to deal with the most. With there mom and dad getting divorced responsibility was thrust upon her and then when she began to see the future that responsibility was amplified.

May: May was the middle sister and often felt invisible, when she discovered her power it was invisibility. May had to deal with a lot and didn’t know how to deal with what was going on. When her parents announced they were getting divorced, she dealt with it by getting drunk. She reacted the same way later in the book also. I really enjoyed May’s POV I wish there was more from it.

June: June was the youngest and couldn’t wait to grow up and experience the things she had seen in movies.  I found June’s POV to be very winey. She was constantly complaining about her sisters and thinking she should have been in charge. I understand she didn’t want to be treated like a baby but the way she decided to accomplish that was very immature.


Verdict:
3.5 stars

 
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