Part of my “Huge Review Binge 2k15” (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven’t done in the past two years)
Date read: 6/24/14
Date reviewed: 8/6/15
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Goodreads Summary:
Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…
That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.
Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.
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My Review:
This book made me really, really angry. I’ve tried to see the good in it, but I just can’t. I’m sorry. I don’t get why this book has a 4.40 average rating on Goodreads and why so many people are swooning over how “romantic” it apparently is. This book is not romantic. It glorifies stalking and abuse.
It tries to deal with the subject of sexual trauma, which is commendable, but it does a poor job. And it’s totally hypocritical considering the love interest (who of course “saves” the protagonist from her horrible traumatic past) is abusive and a stalker.
I try to be respectful in my reviews, but in this case it’s hard for me not to lose my temper. I’ll try to be civil, but … really, I don’t have much sympathy for books that try to convince me that stalkerish, abusive assholes make good significant others.
I don’t really know how to go about reviewing this another way, so here is a walkthrough of this book and what bothered me about it. Warning: there will be many spoilers.
• So, our main character is 17-year-old Sky––and from the get-go, she is a sexist, slut-shaming jerk. She starts out by explaining that she lets lots of boys crawl through her window at night and make out with her. By page 10 she is already slut-shaming:
“Despite what this may look like, I am not a slut. Unless, of course, the definition of slut is based on the fact that I make out with lots of people, regardless of my lack of attraction for them. In that case, one might have grounds for debate.”
Umm no, I believe the definition of “slut” is “misogynistic bullshit used to shame women for engaging in sexual acts, while men are not held to the same bullshit standards.”
• Sky continues with this dumb sexism just a few pages later:
“… Contrary to popular belief, I am not a slut. I’ve never had sex with any of the boys I’ve made out with …”
*headsmack* Well okay, then.
• This sexism and girl-on-girl hate skyrockets when Sky (who was previously homeschooled) starts going to public school. She describes other girls at school as “giggling girls … that are scanitly, yet expensively clad” and goes to great lengths to tell the reader she is ~not like the other gurlz~ because … wait for it … she reads!
• She also, of course, describes herself as having “flat brown hair” and being plainer than the other girls. She describes one girl as being a “tall, voluptuous and sun-kissed blonde” who is “everything I wish I were” … but then instantly goes on to insult the girl’s intelligence and make cheap dumb blonde jokes about her. ‘Kay.
• She hates all the other girls at school (because other girls are so dumb and petty all the frickin’ time, am I right?!) and makes friends with a ~sassy gay boy~ named Breckin (idk what’s with the names in this book, man) because … wait for it … she sees him reading a book!
“… Not a textbook,” she narrates. “It’s an actual book-book. Something I thought was lost on this generation of internet fiends.” Ah yes. Sky is literally the only goddam person in the whole world who reads. Everyone else just uses the INTERNET (eewww technology is bad!!!¡¡!)
• Even though Sky was homeschooled until this point, everyone at her new public school apparently knows who she is and she already has a reputation of being a “slut"––because the whole world and everyone’s lives revolve around her, apparently. On the first day of school, everyone is already whispering "slut” and “whore” in her presence.
And also … people freaking fill her locker with money with a note that says “Sorry your locker didn’t come with a pole, slut.” …… First of all, WHAT? Who would do that????? Secondly, damn … I should’ve convinced everyone in my high school I was a stripper because apparently it gets you literal piles of money in your locker!
• Sky soon meets this scary guy named Holder in a grocery store parking lot. By “meets” I mean he comes marching up to her and demands to know what her name is and keeps insisting he knows her. When she gets creeped out and tries to escape into her car, heholds onto the door so she can’t close it. He won’t leave her alone until she shows him an ID, and then he finally apologizes and walks away. As he walks away he“smashes his fist into the hood of a car.”
Alright, so this guy is the villain or something, right? … NOPE. This here is the love interest.
• If you think that’s bad, it only gets worse. Holder is just another Edward Cullen. Another Christian Grey. He shows so many glaring warning signs of stalking and abuse that it makes my stomach hurt. Just a few examples:
1. Sky describes him as “scary, but beautiful.” Um, yeah I think the “scary” part should probably take priority.
2. Sky runs every day, and Holder starts stalking her on her running route.
3. “He reaches out and I flinch before I realize he’s just handing me his bottle of water.”
Hey, here’s a bit of advice: if a boy makes you flinch for ANY reason (particularly if you know he is violent and you’re afraid of what he might do to you), stay away from him! He is literal garbage!
4. After seeing her ID (which she only showed to him because he wouldn’t leave her the hell alone), he memorized her name, address, birthday, and height. He then confesses that after their first (creepy as hell) encounter, he went home and immediately tried to stalk her on Facebook (he even uses the word “stalk”). Sky says this is “flattering.” … oy vey.
5. Someone tells Sky that Holder went to juvie because he beat the shit out of a gay kid in a hate crime. Apparently this does not stop her from being attracted to him. When she asks him about it, he says, “I beat his ass to within an inch of his life, and if the bastard was standing in front of me right now, I’d do it again.” … And guess what? She is still attracted to him.
6. After they haven’t known each other for that long, he picks up her phone when she gets a text message and starts reading all her texts. They’re all from her best friend (named Six … but don’t worry, her real name is Seven), who’s halfway around the world and sends Sky nice texts every day to make her feel happy. Holder is worried these texts will “inflate Sky’s ego” so he sends her a text saying she’s not pretty so that she won’t get too full of herself … WHATTA NICE GUY, right?!
7. He demands where Sky got a bracelet from: “He leans forward a few inches and lowers his voice when he speaks. 'Who gave you the damn bracelet, Sky?’ … The same warning signs that flashed in my head when I first met him are flashing again.”
8. She knows Holder for two days, and he already angrily confronts her about another boy she’s been making out with.
“Holder works his jaw back and forth and stares down at me, arms tightly folded against his chest. He takes a challenging step toward me. His eyes are so hard and cold, I’m beginning to think this is a sixth side of him that I’m seeing. An even angrier, more possessive side.”
9. Alright so big spoilers: Towards the end, it turns out Sky was sexually abused by her father as a child. She and Holder go to confront him, and he shoots himself in front of them (but calls the police first, which conveniently saves Holder and Sky for being accountable for any reason). They go to a hotel, wash all the blood off their bodies, and then … have sex. Uh, o … kay.
Shortly after this whole disturbing incident, Holder demands that Sky goes on birth control. (*Christian Grey flashbacks*) Seriously: “'I want you on it,’ he says decisively. 'Make an appointment this week.’”
When Sky (rightfully) tells him that’s invasive and rude, he responds with, “… I plan on making love to you, Sky. A lot. … In order for me to continue to make love to you, I would very much appreciate it if you would make alternative contraceptive arrangements so that we don’t find ourselves in a pregnancy-induced marriage with an expiration date on it.”
…. WHAT. First of all, that’s a shitty thing to say to your girlfriend under any circumstances––but especially to your girlfriend who has very recently recalled a repressed memory of sexual trauma and confronted her abuser (who blew his brains out in front of her, I might add). But heaven forbid Holder gets blue balls!
• Sky is also abusive towards Holder. Don’t get me wrong, Holder is a huge asshole. He’s emotionally abusive, controlling, and manipulative, plus he clearly has issues controlling his anger. But Sky also physically abuses him at least one time that I made note of:
“I want to hurt him like I’m hurting. I want him to feel what his words just did to me. I slap him again and he allows it. When he still doesn’t react, I push against his chest. I push him and shove him over and over––trying to give him back every ounce of pain he’s just immersed into my soul. I ball my fists up and hit him in the chest and when that doesn’t work, I start screaming and hitting him and trying to get out of his arms because they’re wrapped around me now.”
*Very long silence* So uh … please someone explain to me how this book is a romance? Because all I’m seeing is a very clear depiction of a toxic, abusive relationship. And they are both responsible.
A couple more very minor things:
• Sky’s mother is weird about her using technology and the Internet, but it’s like Sky lives under a rock or something. She doesn’t know what “lol” means, what an e-reader is, what Netflix is, or how to send an email. … Yet at one point she describes a situation as “like a scene from a dramatic Lifetime movie.” Huh. Not much consistency there.
• Sky always says she wants to “lick Holder’s dimples.” … Hmm. I didn’t know that was … a thing??
The final word:
If you didn’t want to read my whole long rant, well, here’s the summary: This book is essentially Fifty Shades of Grey all over again (without all the whips and chains, and the characters are younger).
The love interest is a stalker, he’s terrifying, and he abuses the protagonist.
The protagonist constantly slut-shames and insults other girls. She abuses her love interest.
In the end, the book promotes the toxic message that if you are a survivor of sexual abuse, apparently you just need some hot guy to “fix” you (by having sex with you).
Part of my “Huge Review Binge 2k15” (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven’t done in the past two years)
Date read: December 19th, 2013 Date reviewed: July 18th, 2015
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Goodreads Summary:
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.
Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.
Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils … Pagford is not what it first seems.
And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
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My Review:
“What’ll happen?” Maureen asked Howard greedily.
“Ah,” said Howard. “Well, now. That’s the question, isn’t it? We’ve got ourselves a casual vacancy, Mo, and it could make all the difference.”
Honestly, it’s been a while since I read this and I hardly remember what it was about. Looking over the summary and some other reviews, I can kind of remember––but it just didn’t stick well in my mind.
I was nervous about this book, going into it. I knew that of course it would be different from Harry Potter and that it was aimed at adults, but I tried to approach it with an open mind.
However, even not considering who the author is … this just wasn’t a great book, in my opinion. If it had been published by someone else, I imagine it probably wouldn’t have gotten the same level of attention. There was not much to separate it from other adult contemporaries I’ve read.
I felt like I was forcing myself through a lot of this book. I tried to give it a fair chance and I kept going even through the boring patches, but I just found myself waiting and waiting for it to end. There were a few characters and plotlines that interested me, but over all there were too many characters and I didn’t connect with a majority of them.
The final word:
Sorry this review is so short, but I just don’t have very much to say about this book. It’s not terrible, I just didn’t find it particularly memorable. I think it has some important messages and some interesting characters, but for the most part I found it forgettable.
Review: ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD (Anna, #1) by Kendare Blake
Friday, July 17, 2015
Title: Anna Dressed in Blood Series: Anna (Book 1) Author: Kendare Blake
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5 STARS)
Part of my “Huge Review Binge 2k15” (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven’t done in the past two years)
Date read: December 17th, 2013
Date reviewed: July 17th, 2015
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Goodreads Summary:
Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
Yet she spares Cas’s life.
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My Review:
“Anna was on her way to a school dance when she was killed. Someone cut her throat … They say she was wearing a white party dress, and when they found her, the whole thing was stained red. That’s why they call her Anna Dressed in Blood.”
My thoughts:
There was so much buzz about this book when it first came out, and it quickly went on my to-read list. It sounded really cool to me, and I love a good scary ghost story! Well … this book was not terrible, but it wasn’t great either. While I don’t recall being too annoyed or outraged at it, I wasn’t wowed by it, either.
At least it was scary. Not the scariest thing I’ve ever read, but it was definitely creepy. There’s lots of blood. People getting cut in half. You know. Fun stuff.
But there were a bunch of things that just didn’t work for me.
• The biggest problem I had was with the romance. Honestly I did not really understand the attraction between Cas and Anna at all. I guess … they’re both good-looking? But otherwise it was typical insta-love. They go from being enemies to being ~madly in love~ with each other without much development. I guess Cas feels bad for Anna or whatever but like … she literally cuts people in half and I guess he’s okay with that ??? Also he always calls her “my Anna” which is weird and creepy and possessive.
• Cas is really conceited. Conceited characters can be fun and amusing so it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but mostly I just found Cas annoying. He won’t shut up about how attractive he is. He literally describes himself as “damn easy on the eyes.” All right, kid. Calm down.
• Everyone in this book was weirdly chill about everything … ? At the beginning a bunch of the characters see another character get ripped in half. Ripped in half! You know, guts spilling everywhere, fountains of blood. Pretty traumatizing, right? Yet, they all talk about this dude getting cut in half like it’s just some mildly unpleasant thing that happened. There’s not much of a reaction––you know, shock, grieving, PTSD … nope. There’s a part where they’re casually talking about it and the victim’s ex-girlfriend just “cringes through the gory bits,” and that’s the strongest reaction we get. Huh.
The final word:
I was hoping to really like this book, but I found it disappointing. While it was at least pretty scary and violent, I didn’t connect with the characters and the romance weirded me out. It just wasn’t my cup o’ tea.
Review: THE HOUSE OF HADES (The Heroes of Olympus, #4) by Rick Riordan
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Title: The House of Hades Series: The Heroes of Olympus (Book 4) Author: Rick Riordan
My Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 STARS)
Part of my “Huge Review Binge 2k15” (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven’t done in the past two years)
Date read: December 16th, 2013 Date reviewed: July 16th, 2015
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Goodreads Summary:
At the conclusion of The Mark of Athena, Annabeth and Percy tumble into a pit leading straight to the Underworld. The other five demigods have to put aside their grief and follow Percy’s instructions to find the mortal side of the Doors of Death. If they can fight their way through the Gaea’s forces, and Percy and Annabeth can survive the House of Hades, then the Seven will be able to seal the Doors both sides and prevent the giants from raising Gaea. But, Leo wonders, if the Doors are sealed, how will Percy and Annabeth be able to escape?
They have no choice. If the demigods don’t succeed, Gaea’s armies will never die. They have no time. In about a month, the Romans will march on Camp Half-Blood. The stakes are higher than ever in this adventure that dives into the depths of Tartarus.
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My Review:
*WARNING* Probably contains spoilers for the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and the other Heroes of Olympus books. And for this book. Sorry, not sorry.
(So it’s been a super long time since I read this. Additionally, since then I’ve also read the 5th book in the series, and the two kind of get mixed up in my head. But I will try not to get them confused.)
Ah yes, don’t you love it when your author literally ends a book by dumping your favorite characters straight into hell? Well, that’s exactly what Rick Riordan did in Mark of Athena, the precedent to The House of Hades.
This fourth installment in the series finds Annabeth and Percy trapped in Tartarus and trying to escape. Meanwhile, the other demigods are trying to fight through Gaea’s forces and seal the doors of death.
Well, having now finished this whole series I can say this is one of the strongest of them. I think part of my enjoyment is that it focuses more on characters from the original Percy Jackson series––mainly Percy, Annabeth, and Nico. My sweet babies. <3
There are a lot of Percabeth feels in this book. Goodness gracious, so many. I know I’ve gushed about this in reviews of the previous books but, they’re just such a great couple. I love that they need each other without being completely dependent on one another. They have their own distinct personalities and histories, they’re both kickass in their unique ways … and they’re just perfect. I love them. And in this book, we really get to see how strong their bond is and how much they’ve grown.
And Nico––Nicoooo! *Mild spoilers* So, I’m sure pretty much everyone knows what the big bombshell about Nico is in this book (and if I recall correctly, the information was leaked before the book even came out) but … yeah, so. Nico is gay! And that’s so awesome! Not only because there was finally some LBGT representation in this series, but also, I felt like it made a lot of sense. I don’t know if Riordan knew this from the beginning, but regardless, it really works. And I love it. And I love Nico.
As for the other characters/demigods, I like them too––well, for the most part. I looove Leo. A lot. Hazel and Frank are both cool, too. I have to say I’m not a huge fan of Piper or Jason and they’re both kinda Mary-Sue-ish, but … you know, they’re fine. Still, I felt like there was good character development in this book and we get to know all the characters more.
I liked Riordan’s portrayal of Tartarus and all the obstacles Percy and Annabeth have to face. It’s definitely intense and scary, but still with that whacky Riordan flair.
And over all, it’s a very exciting story. Like all of Riordan’s other books, there’s a lot going on and it never slows down. For a book that was a huge brick, it didn’t feel very long because it all went by so quickly.
The Final Word:
Love this series, love the book, love the author. Good stuff.
Title: Winger Series: Winger (Book 1) Author: Andrew Smith
My Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 STARS)
Part of my “Huge Review Binge 2k15” (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven’t done in the past two years)
Date read: December 1st, 2013
Date reviewed: July 11th, 2015
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Goodreads Summary:
Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids in the Pacific Northwest. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.
With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.
Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.
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My Review:
One of the things about rugby that’s an inescapable tradition is that everyone on the team has to sing, and everyone also gets a nickname. It’s not conscious or thought out, it just happens. … And, when someone finally settles on calling you by a nickname you’re stuck.
Forever.
So no matter what happened to me in my life, as far as the guys on the team were concerned, my name was always going to be Winger.
This book is like a punch in the face. In a good way.
It’s bold, it’s brave, it’s hilarious, and then it crushes your soul into a million pieces. I still remember the feeling of finishing this book and how shell-shocked I felt. At first I wasn’t sure how to feel about it (especially how it ended) but after a few days, I realized what an impact it had on me.
Before this book, I’d also read two of Smith’s other books: The Marbury Lens and Stick (after reading this, I’ve also readGrasshopper Jungle and The Alex Crow). I’ve enjoyed all of his books that I’ve read, but I think this one is definitely one of my favorites. He tends to write really “WTF” bizarre/surreal books, so I liked to see how Winger did something different by tackling the everyday. (But of course, don’t get me wrong, I love his weird-as-hell books, also.)
What I liked:
• The protagonist, Ryan Dean, is super great. I loved him. He’s hilarious, he’s believable, and his narration is fantastic.
• The other characters are also wonderful. Especially Joey. <3
• The humor. Andrew Smith has both the power to scare the absolute shit out of me and to make me laugh out loud. This book does more of the latter. There are so many hilarious situations in this book, as well as really funny narration as mentioned above.
Related: I also loved all the little comic strips! They were very cute and added another fun element to the story.
What I didn’t like:
• Look, I swear like a sailor but I thought the language in this book was a little overdone. According to my Kindle, there are precisely 100 F-bombs in this book. So … a bit much. But I’m really nit-picking here.
What I’m unsure about:
• Ah, that ending. The huge bombshell that seems to kind of “make or break” the book for a lot of people. Yeah … it’s been a long time since I read this and I’m still torn on how to feel about how it ends. It’s definitely shocking and powerful, but there seems to be a lot of disagreement over whether it’s “necessary” since … well, it just happens out of nowhere and then the book ends abruptly. I guess I understand that in real life, tragedies happen out of the blue and you don’t see them coming. Although in the case of this book, it felt a little disconnected from the rest of the story to me. But knowing there’s a sequel, I’m hoping to see more of the aftermath and how the characters are affected.
The final word:
I really loved this book. Believable and lovable characters, great humor, and over all a fun story (but with a very shocking ending). Although I’d enjoyed the other two Andrew Smith books I’d read prior to this one, I feel like Winger really solidified him as one of my favorite authors.
Review: THE BOY A THOUSAND YEARS WIDE by David Spon-Smith
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Title: The Boy a Thousand Years Wide Author: David Spon-Smith
My Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5 STARS)
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Goodreads Summary:
The Boy a Thousand Years Wide is an adventure story, a quest in every sense of the word. It’s got battles, journeys and some very colourful characters held within its pages. It is at heart a tale of love and betrayal, of loyalty and friendship, of loss and freedom. It charts the awakenings of humanity in its seventeen year old protagonist; Baxter Wright.
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My Review:
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!
It’s cold, so cold I can’t feel my face anymore. The sort of morning when murmuring snowdrifts fall out of the blackness, drowning out everything except the crackling of the powergrids. Behind me stands the City, its chrome Scrapers pierce the dusty sky like needles in my skin. In front lays the Borough, its grey ruins broken by time and neglect. The Wall surrounds us both. Everywhere else, snow white wastelands as far as the eye can see.
I got this book from NetGalley a while ago––and while the description was super vague, I was intrigued by the unique title and creepy cover art.
I typically don’t read reviews of a book before I finish reading it. But for some reason, I made the mistake of doing that with this book … and what I saw wasn’t exactly promising: only 19 ratings (9 of which are 1-star) and a lot of people saying they couldn’t finish it.
Despite these warning signs, however, I continued reading. I really considered giving up halfway through, but I pushed forward.
In the end, I found this book … okay. I’m really not sure what to make of it. It’s not so much that I disliked it––more that it disappointed me. I feel like if it had gone through several more drafts, it could have been awesome. There is something interesting in the story and its world that could have been explored a lot more. Unfortunately, while the ideas had potential, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Some Notes:
• The world in this book is not very fleshed out. It’s futuristic, I guess (what with the “powergrids” and chrome skyscrapers)––but most of the story involves the characters wandering around in the wilderness, so the setting doesn’t feel very consistent.
• The main plot involves all this stuff with angels and demons, which is not explained clearly and I gave up trying to understand it after a while. I do like the idea of crossing angel mythology and dystopia, but it’s been done better before (for example, Angelfall by Susan Ee).
• At times the setting/characters felt a little similar to The Hunger Games. For the most part this wasn’t a problem, but there were some moments that I couldn’t help but notice parallels. For example: “She’s dressed City with heavy, bright make-up and purple hair heaped on top of her head.” Hmmmm. The evil guy, Lazarus, also seems a bit like Caesar from The Hunger Games.
• Also, Lazarus has a “pet” woman whom he literally keeps on a leash, which is … nauseating. I mean, I get that he’s evil. But still. Gross.
• This book is written in dialect/slang, which I know drives a lot of readers crazy. Personally, I don’t mind it that much. One of my favorite series in the world (Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness) is written in a similar style. But the dialect in this book is inconsistent and not very logical or inventive. The only main consistencies were writing “I says” instead of “I say” and constantly saying “ain’t.”
• All the characters in this book sound the same. They all speak in the same dialect and there is no variation at all. It doesn’t help that they all seem to share the same bad-tempered personality, also. I had a lot of difficulty trying to tell the characters apart. By the end of the book, I still couldn’t really tell the difference between Trent and Milton especially. I could keep track of who Baxter was because he was the main character, and I could keep track of who Lilly was because she was the only girl (for most of the book, anyway) but all the other characters blurred together.
• Building off of that, the characters don’t have much depth or development. Of all of them, Lilly is the only one who is given some semblance of a compelling backstory––but even that isn’t explored to its full potential.
• The romance in this book is … strange. Basically, Baxter spends the entire book looking for his girlfriend, Mary. (And we don’t get much information about her besides that she’s Baxter’s girlfriend.) About halfway through the book, out of nowhere, Lilly starts acting all weird and jealous whenever Baxter mentions Mary. And then there’s some implication that Baxter also likes Lilly but he’s like “oh no I can’t cheat on Mary!” Buuuut then he and Lilly kiss twice. (I think … ? It was kind of unclear.) This all seems to come out of nowhere. And the weird part is that they don’t really talk about it, and just kind of act like it never happened. One of the times they kiss is in front of their other friends (once again––at least I think that’s what happened but it was weirdly described so I can’t be sure) and like … nobody reacts or says anything? And then no one ever brings it up again? Uhh … ?
• The writing is extremely repetitive. Many words/phrases/descriptions are repeated excessively. The word “says” is used 1,413 times (usually in the context of “I says”). In a similar vein, the word “shouts” is used 307 times.
Baxter repeatedly refers to his “twin” which is this weird other personality he has or … something. It’s kind of explained but I guess I won’t spoil it.
Also––as I mentioned, Baxter is searching for his girlfriend, Mary. And … he never shuts up about her. It feels like every other sentence is something along the lines of, “I have to find Mary. I have to save Mary. Mary is in danger. Mary could be dead by now.” Goodness gracious, we get it. Mary only appears very briefly in the book, but she is mentioned by name 263 times. For a character who hardly has any physical presence in the story, I find that quite excessive.
• There are a ton of typos, grammar mistakes, and formatting errors. I realize this was an ARC and that some of these mistakes will be fixed in the final copy. But even for an ARC, this was bad. There are missing spaces between words, and other places where there are huge gaps between words. There are glaring spelling errors such as “forhead” (instead of “forehead”), Bortherhood (instead of “Brotherhood”), “baldes” (instead of “blades), "he'e” (instead of “he’s”), and instances of “to” and “too” getting mixed up.
Also, all of the dialogue is punctuated incorrectly. Since the book is written in dialect, it could be that this is some kind of stylistic choice––but I found it distracting and difficult to read.
I understand if there are a couple of mistakes here and there, but there were far more mistakes in this book than I’ve found in the majority of ARCs I’ve read.
• All of that said, I did find this book strangely addicting. About halfway through I found myself actually wanting to keep reading and find out what happened. There are exciting parts, and some glimmers of interesting ideas. It just didn’t feel fully developed or realized to me.
The Final Word:
In the end, this book left me scratching my head. I did find it relatively exciting, and it had some interesting ideas in it, but ultimately it fell short in execution of those ideas.
Review: WORLD AFTER (Penryn & the End of Days, #2) by Susan Ee
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Title: World After Series: Penryn & the End of Days (Book 2) Author: Susan Ee
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 STARS)
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Goodreads Summary:
In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what’s left of the modern world. When a group of people capture Penryn’s sister Paige, thinking she’s a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken. Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels’ secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go. Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can’t rejoin the angels, can’t take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?
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My Review:
“It’s amazing how many times we need to go against our survival instincts to survive.”
WARNING: There will probably be spoilers for the first book (Angelfall) in this review.
I read the first book of this series about three years ago. I had my doubts about it, since it looked like some typical dystopian/paranormal romance, but a lot of reviewers were saying it had far exceeded their expectations, so I gave it a try.
And I was pleasantly surprised! Angelfall turned out to be a dark and atmospheric book, full of intriguing world-building, disturbing and vivid imagery, a lot of action and excitement, a likable and fairly well-developed romance, and a cool heroine.
I waited eagerly for the sequel to come out, especially since the first book ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. I pre-ordered the e-book and attacked it the moment it magically appeared on my Kindle.
And, well … I liked it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good book. It just didn’t pack the same punch as the first book, in my opinion. In the end, I had very mixed feelings about it. It’s now been more than a year since I read it (I’m sorry, this review is EXTREMELY delayed due to me being busy with college and also being a lazy shit), so my memory is a little cloudy. But from what I remember, here are my thoughts.
What I liked:
• Action! Excitement! –– If anything, this book is a page-turner. Like the first book, it has a lot of violence and action. There were definitely a lot of sequences that had me on the edge of my seat.
• Family dynamics –– Penryn’s mother and her sister, Paige, were mostly absent throughout Angelfall, so I liked that they played more of a role in the sequel. We get to experience more of their relationships with each other (which is all very complicated, what with the mother suffering from some kind of mental illness and Paige being a … cannibalistic demon thing … ?)
• The humor –– Something I appreciated about the first book was the dark humor, which is still present in this one. (For example, Penryn carries around a sword hidden in a giant teddy bear named Pooky Bear––maybe a little a bit ridiculous and unreasonable, but the idea is still amusing.)
• The romance doesn’t overwhelm the story –– Well, I have mixed feelings about this. I think there could have been a bit more romance, but I’m also glad it didn’t take over the story. It could’ve gone down the route that a lot of YA series take––where the protagonist gets together with the love interest and then it’s just a ton of making out and drama and love triangles and whatnot. Fortunately that’s not the case here. There’s still that hint of romance, but without distracting too much from the actual conflict.
What didn’t work for me:
• The pacing –– This book is 320 pages which is not that short, but when I remember it I feel like it was much shorter. I think it’s just that it took a while to really get into the heart of the story. As I said, it had exciting parts, but it didn’t feel as fast-paced as the first book was. It just felt like a lot of build-up rather than having its own strong, central plot. The end seemed to be moving towards a more significant conflict, but then it was cut off abruptly.
• WHERE THE HELL WAS RAFFE? –– Raffe was one of my favorite parts of the first book, so I was pretty disappointed that he didn’t show up until more than halfway through this one. And when he did show up, the reunion between him and Penryn was … anti-climatic. I mean, he thought she was dead and then when they met up again it was just kind of like:
Penryn: hi I’m not dead
Raffe: coolbeans
Like seriously, that’s it???? The scene where he thought she was dying/dead in the first book was so heart-wrenching, and then the whole thing where he returned her (supposedly dead) body to her mother even though it could’ve gotten him killed … it was just AGGGH MY HEART. ALL THE FEELINGS.
So … I expected something a little more emotional, I guess.
Additionally, I feel like one of the strongest things about Angelfall was the dynamic between Raffe and Penryn––their “witty banter,” the development of their relationship, etc. And since they were separated for most of the sequel, that aspect was mostly absent. But now that they’ve been reunited, maybe the third book will be better.
The final word:
I had super high expectations for this book, and I have to say they weren’t quite met. But that said, it was still enjoyable and exciting, and I still have hope for the third one.
She dreamed of being an author, and had written a manuscript that she thought was really great. Unfortunately no publisher would print it, so she had it printed at her own expense (under the pen name Amanda McKittrick Ros).
This book was called Irene Iddesleigh. It is not very well-known, but some critics consider it one of the worst books ever written. Allegedly, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would have contests where they would read it out loud to each other and see who could go the longest without laughing.
Because I love to torture myself, I thought I would give this book a try. The ebook is free on Amazon, so I figured, “Why not? May as well just read it for the lulz.”
And well … what can I say? Yes, this book is terrible. But after a few pages, it’s not even amusingly terrible. It’s just flat-out bad.
I would attempt to explain what this book is about, but honestly I have no idea. If you manage to slog through the horrendous writing and actually find a story hiding in it, I am very impressed. For me, it was completely impenetrable. Just to give you an idea of what I mean:
On being introduced to all those outside his present circle of acquaintance on this evening, and viewing the dazzling glow of slender which shone, through spectacles of wonder, in all its glory, Sir John felt his past life but a dismal dream, brightened here and there with a crystal speck of sunshine that had partly hidden its gladdening rays of bright futurity until compelled to glitter with the daring effect they soon should produce.
Pretty much every other sentence is like this (yes, that is all one sentence).
Then there is the dialogue:
“Speak! Irene! Wife! Woman! Do not sit in silence and allow the blood that now boils in my veins to ooze through cavities of unrestrained passion and trickle down to drench me with its crimson hue!”
Essentially this book is just a pile of word vomit. If there is a plot, it is impossible to follow. None of the characters have any depth or personality. And as evidenced above, the writing is just painful. Mostly I found this book extremely boring and not all that amusing. There were some moments that were slightly funny, but it was not “The Room” of books as I had hoped it might be. It’s just … not good, and I would not recommend wasting your time on it.
I just realized I’d been posting totally non-book related things on this blog for like three days because I was using xkit and I thought I was posting to my main blog. *headdesk* That was really dumb of me. But I have deleted all the irrelevant posts. Sorry about that.
Also, I’m sorry I’ve been so bad at posting reviews lately. I was caught up in school work (and was also just being lazy) so I hadn’t written any reviews in a super long time. But I’ve written a couple more which I will post on here––and in the next few weeks, I plan to post a lot more. :)
Thursday, August 6, 2015 
