Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Being very truthful, even though I have given this book five stars, I would actually say that it is more at a four and a half level, though I like it too much to put it down to four stars. This book was enthralling and brilliant and I wish I had discovered it earlier.

When this book started, I was confused as to exactly what was going on, but as the book went on I learnt that that was entirely the right way to introduce this book as that is how I imagine Nikki felt after having spent the equivalent of one hundred years in a cavern with only one person for company. That confusion meant that I could better place myself in Nikki's shoes as it were and I think it was an extremely good way of starting a novel in which you feel like you are constantly being left with questions.

As well as that, the parallel storylines in the book worked really well. Each one was slotted in in a place that would link to what was going on at that moment, or at a point where it would help me as the reader understand part of the plot which we had just reached. It was also interesting to be able to contrast the Nikki that we knew in the present day with the girl that she had become after her time in the Everneath. I often prefer chronologically linear narratives, but in this book the structure worked perfectly.

I liked Nikki as a character and I think that is very important when reading a novel. Having connecting points with a character is also a nice bonus and I felt that I could connect with Nikki. She was a strong individual who wanted to come back to see her family and Jack again and she tried her best to ignore the people who were talking behind her back and so on. To me, she represents what a female protagonist should be. Yes, there is the whole love story aspect, but I think that her wanting to be a better sister and daughter was also important. It's a well-rounded character like that who won't give in that is what I like to find.

If we are going to talk about preferences romantically then I have to admit that I personally favour Cole. He's not a particularly nice character, but then sometimes you need a bit of bad to spice up the action. Throughout the course of the book I could see that Nikki had changed him personality wise and that influence I feel will be his redemption. Another reason for me rooting for Nikki and Cole is that I personally feel that the high school romance that Nikki and Jack have will never truly work out. High school crushes are for high school, but I feel that what Nikki and Cole have is much more than that.

This book obviously isn't just about romance. The mythology in this book captured my imagination greatly. I personally love mythology of any sort and to see Ashton explore this deeper was just amazing. I was left wanting to learn more, though I understand that for the purposes of this novel that that would not be the best move; it is important that Nikki doesn't know everything. In the next books I hope that we get an expansion on what we have already learnt.

The other characters also played an important part in this novel. Will and Mary/Meredith were an integral part of this novel and they really added to the storyline. Mrs Stone was another character who you knew would have some role to play in the latter parts of the novel, but you didn't know how fully they would fit in. Even though they had lesser roles, they were still really important in the construction of the novel and I didn't feel like they were left of the sidelines too much for them not to be necessary.

I guess the reason for me not thinking that this is a full five star book is just because it didn't have that little bit extra to push me further to it. It is hard to explain feelings as words, but I personally feel that this book needed something more to make it five stars, something that I hope I can find in the next book.

Overall this book is amazing and I can't wait to get my hands on the second book in this series. I really want to know what's going to happen!

(Goodreads parallel) 

Review: Switched by Amanda Hocking

I picked up this book at the library because I saw that a lot of people thought highly of it and I can see why many people would thoroughly enjoy it, but I am not part of that group. Don't get me wrong, I don't completely dislike this book, I just don't overly like it.

The idea of trolls is something completely new to me as a young adult novel reader. When we normally think of trolls it's all about their green skin, ugly warts and affinity with little goats trying to cross bridges. These trolls were completely different and I loved how Hocking turned the fairytale so it would suit the angle that she wanted to approach it at. If anything, they reminded me of witches, but the hierarchy within their own group seemed to be a lot more complicated. It was so interesting and intriguing to read about this new form of creatures.

I have to admit that I didn't like Wendy at the start of the novel. To me she seemed to be arrogant and bossy and they are not qualities that I would look for in the main character role. However, over the course of the novel she progressed and I understand that it must have been hard to introduce troll qualities at the start of the novel without giving away what she was or making her act like a b*tch. Maybe it was just the fact that when she was with the Trylle, they were even worse so made her seem better by comparison.

The powers that the Trylle have is another thing that I really liked about this novel and the driving idea that if the royalty could be bothered to use what they had been given then the whole community would be better off, I feel was a great thing to introduce in this novel as I imagine it will play an important role in the books to come in the series after this one. Even if I were a royal, I would be using my powers just to show off to everyone else that I had them.

I do have quite a few reasons for only giving this book three stars though. Firstly, I didn't really like the description of the other Trylle. 'Beautiful' is a word that gets very old very fast and as everyone's idea of beauty is different it meant that I was left feeling a bit unclear about what some of the characters actually looked like. I would have liked it if Hocking had gone into more detail with her descriptions instead of leaving me not really knowing the characters that I was spending the book with. I know that the Trylle are supposed to be very good looking and that that is part of their charm, but it is not enough to say that about every Trylle that Wendy meets.

Secondly, I think that the romance between Finn and Wendy was slightly unrealistic (and yes I know that is an odd thing to say when writing a review on a fantasy novel). In some books the romance is not introduced slowly enough, meaning that the reader is confused as to whether the characters actually like each other, but in this book it was the opposite problem. The feelings that Wendy felt towards Finn were a bit too strong considering that they had only recently met and even though they weren't supposed to be together romantically, they went out of their way to try to be. I know from personal experience that when you fancy someone the feelings you have for them can be strong, but I would have liked it more if Wendy had spent less of the novel pining for Finn.

Finally, I was waiting for the exciting, edge-of-your-seat, climax of this book, but I feel like it never really came. Yes, the scene in the ballroom was dramatic and everyone was in relative danger, but it wasn't enough danger for me to worry for the main characters and it was so painstakingly obvious that Finn wasn't going to die that I personally felt I could have skipped a few pages and still know exactly what was going on. With this book, I was waiting for a climax that never came so I was left feeling a bit disappointed after so much of a build up.

Overall, this novel was definitely not bad, it just wasn't particularly good either. From the raving reviews I expected more and maybe that was part of the problem. If I see the sequel in the library I might take it out, but if I am being honest, I do not care about the characters enough to actively seek the book out.

(Goodreads parallel)

Perfection

Perfection is impossible to find in any aspect of life. Some people like to strive for perfection, but I instead like to strive for what I know I can do best. This afternoon I went to see my sister perform in her first dance show and though all the acts were amazing, none of them were exactly perfect and that's okay.

I feel the same way about books. No book is perfect, no matter whether we give it five out of five stars or if we say that a book is 'perfection'. It is just not possible.

I'm not here to criticise books not being perfect, however. In fact, I like it when books are not perfect because the flaws in them make them more relatable. If a book is perfect then I think it would become a bore because you could not make yourself feel more clever when realising that there is a grammar mistake or you couldn't re-imagine how you would have wanted a particular chapter or ending of a book to go.

The whole point of me writing this was to get across the point that being perfect should not be the aim, enjoying things for what they are should be.

-E

Review: Love Reborn by Yvonne Woon

I have to admit that I was not anticipating this book. I had bought the first one a few years ago when the cover caught my eye and read the second one after I saw it in the library, as I did with this book. However, having said that, I really liked this book! I would have to re-read the previous two, but if they are to the same standards as this one, then I'm left questioning why I didn't anticipate this one because with each new word I was more and more eager to find out what the ending would be for my beloved characters.

This book started at a high pace and continued that way. We were thrown straight into the action with Renée and Dante being on the run and that meant that from the first page I was chest deep in the action and ready to not put the book down to leave it for fear that if I left them, something terrible would happen to them.

I have to admit that I was surprised that Woon introduced such an influential main character in the final book of the trilogy, but I'm sure glad she did. Theo was instantly painted as this bad boy character with a hidden past and I am a total sucker for characters like that. Also, even though some of his traits were less favourable, they did come in handy at key points in the novel and hinting at factors within a character that will later become useful is a really good thing to have in a book for me.

Characters reappearing from previous novels really helps to draw me deeper into a book because they are a point that I can focus on and they bring things into perspective from the story outside the novel. Anya is someone that I found to be weird, yet quirky in 'Life Eternal', but I really liked having her back in this book and it was so nice to see Eleanor again because it reminded me of how far Renée had come. (Also, how can I not love a character that I share a name with?)

The storyline itself was intriguing. Having the novel written from Renée's perspective meant that we only saw things as she saw them, but this book was part of something much bigger than the ones prior to it. I have a soft spot for crime thrillers and I liked how this book drew on that when they had to figure out different clues and follow them until they reached their end goal. As well as that, losing the senses was something that I found scary in a way. We go by day by day only knowing how everything looks, hears, feels, tastes and smells to us and the idea of all of those being stripped back is odd to think about. Having us travelling through Renée's memories as each one was taken away was another thing that I liked. It meant  that I could look back over the previous books in the series without getting so in depth that it was drawing away from the book I was reading at that moment.

I feel like I cannot talk about this book without talking about couples. Personally, I am more a fan of Noah than of Dante. I find Dante to be overwhelming and overpowering, whereas Noah, at least when he was alive, was like a cool breeze on a summer's day. I think that in order to get the pairing of Renée and Dante at the end of the book, Woon had to try and bring down Noah's character, which I was not for. I just completely want to write out the scenes in the church because to me, they do not fit with the character of Noah and who he is. Anyway, as Renée has not chosen him, it leaves me free to pick up the pieces of his broken heart ... oh wait. This is why I don't like that some characters are fictional.

My other reason for not giving this book a five star rating is because I feel that Anya's heart disease was not  introduced right. I believe that it would have been more realistic to have more hints in the previous book, so that it built up more steadily, rather than making it blatantly obvious to me as the reader that something was wrong with her and she was on the trip to save her own life in this book. Having said that, I think that Theo's reasons were revealed in a way that pulled at my heartstrings and really made me feel pity for him; that is how it should be done.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and I will definitely be looking out for more books by Yvonne Woon in the future.  

(Goodreads parallel) 

Review: The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore

Before reading this book, I read the summary of 'I Am Number Four' online so I could remember where the storyline had got to and I'm really glad I did because this book seemed to flow seamlessly from the first book in the series. It picked up with John/Four not long after we had left him in the first book, which was really good in terms of the consistency of the storyline - I felt like I didn't miss out on anything as the reader.

I really liked having this book from the perspective of Marina/Seven as well as John/Four because with the first book being only from John/Four's perspective, it limited my knowledge as the reader to what was happening. However, learning about Marina/Seven's life and her past through having her story told by her was a real bonus to this book because, to me, Marina/Seven's life in Spain was more interesting than John/Four's life when he was living in Paradise. It interested me to hear about the people she knew at the orphanage and how her Cêpan had given up on them ever finding their way back to Lorien and how much danger that put them both in. Even though it was less action packed than the other perspective in this book, it had me just as gripped.

If I am being totally honest, I did not like Four/John much in this book. In the previous one, I found his romance with Sarah unrealistic because of who they both were and their shared interests (to me it seemed that he only liked her for her looks by how he described her) and in this one when he turned and contradicted what he had said about Sarah being his 'only love' made me think of him as a bit of a d*ck. Not only that, but him liking Six and trying to move things forward in their relationship when firstly, he was still with Sarah and secondly, Sam had said that he liked Six added to my distaste. It made me dislike him as a character because of his romantic actions and if I were Six, Sarah or Sam, I would throw him in the dust for that.

The storyline in this book was good, there is no doubting that. There was the constant threat of attack, making the book have high tension levels, but then contrasting that the friendship between Marina/Seven and Ella/Ten was a nice relief and something good that stemmed from the bad. Also, learning about Six's back-story was heart wrenching, though I was fully interested in it as well. It really made me feel for Six and all that she had had to go through, not just her losing her Cêpan, but the fact that she then had to face the harshness of the world alone at such a young age with so little guidance.

Something that really caught me with this book was the development of the different Legacies. In the first book we only saw Four/John's trouble with developing them and a brief glimpse of what Six was capable of, but in this book we got to see many different ones in the form of Marina/Seven's abilities, the breathing underwater one I found to be especially cool, and more about Six's powers that we didn't get to see before. Then, we also got a taste of what Ella/Ten would be able to do in terms of how much because of the power she already possessed to change her age. (I'm sure a lot of people I know would love to have that ability.)

In this book we were able to find out a bit more about the main villain and more about the history of the Lorien, for example the why they ended up on Earth and how they had been going there for much longer than that. I found that bit most interesting because I am a real fan of finding out more about the history and story before the story starts in a series like this where there is so much potential to learn and discover more things out.

The reason I did not rate this book higher was because of Four/John's romantic actions as I found them to be tedious and also because I felt like, if anything, there was too much action in this book and the constant battles seemed to be never ending.

Overall though, this was a great sequel and I can't wait to find out more about Nine, Ella/Ten and Setrákus Ra in the next book!

(Goodreads parallel) 

The Magic of Bookstores

I step over the threshold, letting the heavy door swing shut behind me. In front of me are a selection of small tables, each one piled high with books of every colour, genre and size. Lining the walls are shelves that touch the ceilings, painted midnight with more books on them than I could ever possible hope to have.

There is a quiet mummer of voices; a child asks his mother if he could have just one more book, a man holds a book out to his friend and I stand there, face slightly red from the cold, but warming to the sight of the books that wait for me.

I start to move in between the tables, being careful to avoid hitting both books and people. A quick glance at the bestsellers chart tells me that nothing much has changed in the past week, but then it so rarely does. Books move up and down steadily for months until they are finally past the bookshelf's capacity or until a well-known author makes their claim all over the chart when a new novel of theirs is released.

I step onto the escalator, the gentle whirring preparing me as I get closer and closer to my favourite section. The metal ends abruptly and I am thrown off into a midst of people looking at various biographies and sporting annuals. I meander around yet more tables, these only one book high to make the pieces of wood seem less crowded.

Then I turn a corner and I am on another escalator, this one travelling slightly faster than the other. I'm not sure if it actually is or if it is just the rise in my levels of excitement.

As I near the top I see the stripe of green paint that signifies how close I am. On reaching the top I take a sharp right and float between various cookery books. Slipping between a mural of cartoon children lounging in a tree while reading, careless, and an array of local history books, I find what I have been looking for.

My eyes are instantly drawn to the half price table; I can never resist a bargain. I start to search for various authors and titles, books that I have been after for a while, but have never had enough money on me when they are in stock.

Once I have worked my way around the table, I make a mental note of any books that have grasped my attention and move onto the next. As I travel round, I gently pry a few from their resting place to read a blurb or to submerge myself in the first few pages. Every time I put them back, I feel my heart clench in sorrow, but I remind myself that now I know about their existence I can always come back for them all when I have just that little bit more with me.

After reaching Z on the alphabetical shelves, I take a step back and remember the books that I made a mental note to go back to earlier. I work my way back round, but before I am even a quarter of the way round my circuit, I realise that I already have a lot of books resting on my forearms and if I haven't already passed my budget, then I will be doing so soon.

I sigh reluctantly and head over to the counter. Luckily there is only one person in the queue ahead of me and it isn't long before I'm resting the books on the smooth counter and reaching for my purse. The man serving me tells me that I have made a good selection and after I hand over my money in exchange for my purchases he says that he hopes I will enjoy them. I smile and give him my thanks before turning away from the counter; my purse considerably lighter, but a satisfying weight on my fingertips.

I opt for the stairs, hearing each beat of my shoes against the wood until I reach the ground floor once again. I pass the same tables and shelves, but a new selection of people. I push open the door and smile as the bitter winter air greets me.

-E

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Of the many things I had heard about this book before reading it, most were raving reviews encouraging others to pick up this book and after reading it, I can not only say that I can see why, but I can also say that I am now part of that group. Cinder was such an amazing book to read and if you take anything from this review, it should be that.

Si-fi is one of the genres that I get on least well with and from the blurb of this book I worried that this book would be completely taken up with those aspects and that I would be overwhelmed by it all, but that was not the case. This book also had elements of romance, fantasy and a dystopian universe in which everything was different, yet it was the same as well. I was immediately taken in by the new world and characters.

This is the first book I have read where one of the protagonists is a cyborg and I personally think that it added so much to the book. It reflected today's society in the fact that Cinder was an absolutely brilliant person with a huge skill set, but none of that mattered to other people when they knew what she was; a cyborg. It is the same today in aspects of our lives and it's a real shame. By having Cinder's viewpoints on this at the forefront of our minds throughout the whole book it gave a different, yet still valuable, look at what she was experiencing.

Prince Kai was a character who I had to grow to like. At first I found him arrogant and the way it was described as 'all the girls in New Beijing liking him' put me off him quite a bit. Even though this is a completely different concept, I first imagined him as the guy in school that we all know who is more full of himself than a can of baked beans (obviously before they have been opened). Over the course of the book though, he proved himself to me through his actions and how he didn't always like being too serious; I think that more world leaders could do with adding sarcasm to their vocabulary. Then he had to ruin it by acting the way he did when he found out that Cinder was a cyborg. I seriously hope that was all an act or else I won't be able to forgive him.

Maybe the thing that I liked most about this book was how it played on the fairytale of Cinderella. From the evil step-mother to the looming ball to losing her foot on the staircase, it all just added something extra to a fairytale that I already loved. Incorporating it into the modern world was also something that I think was carried out flawlessly. Obviously more had to be added to the story to embellish it and there were some things that had to be changed to make the story work, but overall it was sublime.

The Lunar's are a race that intrigue me greatly. I really want to find out more about their back-story and their involvement with the people of Earth more than I want to find out about World War IV or anything like that. The little we got told in this book was a large enough taste for the moment, but in the next books in the series, I really want to learn more about them because they seem to be a very interesting, and deadly, group of people.

The only thing that I could nitpick about this book was the fact that as soon as I knew Cinder was a Lunar, I also knew that she would be the missing princess, even though that wasn't specifically written down. It was just a bit too obvious for my liking, but apart from that, I have no complaints.

I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book now, though I might rust from anticipation before then. (I'm so proud that I got that pun in there, you have no idea.)

(Goodreads parallel)

Review: The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead

I have spent a long time waiting for this book. A few years ago I got the first four books in the Vampire Academy series for Christmas and ever since I have always been wanting more, which has thankfully been delivered in the Bloodlines series. However, I have to say that I feel like I have fallen out of love with this series. Personally, I think that books can be ruined by there being too much sex and that, to me, was what happened in The Fiery Heart. It overwhelms the book and detracts from the storyline. That put me off the series in a way, but it did not in any way mean that I wasn't excited for this book - I still care about and love the characters.

Having this book from both Adrian's and Sydney's perspective meant that I felt a lot more involved in the storyline. I could know what was going on at two locations and be able to link things together when the characters may not have done. Sydney has been an inspiration to me since her first appearance in the Vampire Academy novels. She is smart and not afraid to show it, which is something that I admire because I always tend to hide my intelligence rather than flaunt it. Adrian has grown so much emotionally over the course of this series and it was particularly insightful to be able to have parts from his perspective when he was hearing his dead great-aunt talking to him and pushing him to do things that he probably shouldn't have been doing.

It was great to see the return of Alicia in this novel. She was a great villain in the earlier books, so it was a good surprise to see her return because of the power she wields and she has a real motive to get back at everyone. Thinking about the mischief she had caused brought some wonderful nostalgic memories back from the start of the series and meant that I knew, or had some sort of idea, what levels of danger everyone would be in. It brought tension and excitement in the race to save Jill.

Speaking of Jill, I feel like the characters had seemingly given up on her at the very start of this novel. There was not much detail given apart from 'we looked', which although was a good reminder that they hadn't sat around doing nothing, it was very vague and not fulfilling enough for me as a reader. Soon after the novel started though, the race to get to Jill was back on and I found it interesting to follow the clues which would eventually give some answers. I especially like how Sydney was smuggled out of Court, very clever and inventive.

I thought that having that storyline going parallel with the storyline about Olive might be a bit too much for one novel, but it provided an elegant distraction while things with Jill seemed to come to more dead ends. It also led to more discoveries about Adrian and Dimitri's families, which was an unexpected nicety. I will talk about Olive and Neil's relationship later, but I think that the possibility of couples such as Rose and Dimitri having children is something that I as a reader have always wanted, as I'm sure many other readers have, though I do have other opinions as well.

My main criticism of this book is that everything seemed to come together too well. I understand that Mead would want to tie the series off nicely, but it seemed to tie off too nicely. Almost everyone ended up as part of a couple and wanting to be married. It was bittersweet. Of course I was happy that my beloved characters had found someone and were moving ahead in their relationships, though I was left feeling that it was all too forced. A happy ending is lovely, but sometimes it's not fulfilling to a reader to have that sort of ending, especially after everything the characters have been though, the writer just finishing it off in a way that is more dreamlike than reality driven just wasn't what I personally wanted.

As well as that, I feel that I cannot not mention how unrealistic Olive giving birth alone in the woods was. Who cut the umbilical cord? How come Declan wasn't in the state that babies usually are in in such a short period after their birth? It was all just a bit too unrealistic for my liking and I know that some people aren't after that in a fantasy book, but to me it was off-putting from the storyline.

Finally, the flow of this book was not there. There were long paragraphs about travelling in the middle of chapters where it would have been better to break away from the characters, yet it just continued on, creating chapters that I felt like I was plodding through. If they had been broken up better then the flow would have improved.

Overall, I still loved this book and I am truly sad that our exploration into the Vampire Academy world is over, though I do feel like I have had a large enough taste.

(Goodreads parallel)

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

On reading the blurb of this book, I imagined that Mia and Adam would meet in New York, have sex and then they would go their separate ways, leaving Adam to stew over everything that had happened for the rest of the book. However, this book was not that and I am so pleased with what it turned out to be.

I read 'If I Stay' while on a school trip to another country; the sad tones helping to distract me from the fears I was facing. 'If I Stay' was the sort of tragic high school romance book that could do that, but 'Where She Went' seemed to be something much more adult, something that you really had to plunge yourself into. Mia and Adam were no longer kids in high school facing the loss of their loved ones. Over the time that had elapsed between the two novels, they had grown, not past what had happened, but far enough away from it that they were starting to make sense of the situations they were in.

When the past and present overlap in a novel, it can sometimes be confusing. Yet, here each anecdote of a past event fitted in so precisely with what was happening in the present that it actually made the story fit together better. Having the past three years of Adam's life, as well as a few bits from before then, told while the story was still going on, I feel, was the best way to tell this tale because it gave a subtle understanding through the whole book, so you are left with the full picture at the end.

Having this book from Adam's perspective was one of the most interesting things with this novel, to me. He's older than Mia, has different likes, dislikes and interests and views the world differently to how she does. The phrase 'you never really know someone until you take a walk in their shoes' springs to mind and that is something that I absolutely loved in this novel. Adam is certainly not the perfect person, but by seeing what he sees and experiencing what he experiences, you can start to understand his imperfections.

With the majority of the book being set over two days, I would have thought that it would hold the novel back, yet here it was executed well. By the end of the night that Mia and Adam spent together, I felt that I understood the characters more than I would have been able to if it was set over a longer time period. It meant that I could perfectly justify their actions when they decided to drop everything, at least for a little while, for each other.

Overall, I adored this book, hence how I read it with such speed, but I could not give it five stars because I do not feel that it was a five star book. To be that, it has to have something extra that this book just did not give to me However, it has given me the best possible closure from the ending of the first book in this duology.

Though, I am left with one burning question; did Adam ever give that guy his iPod back?

(Goodreads parallel)

Review: Half Bad by Sally Green

This book is another that I bought quite a while ago, never got round to reading and I'm now regretting the time I spent not reading this book. It has everything that I would want in a book about witches and more.

This book starts off in the second person and I was so surprised by that that I had to put it down for a few seconds to process that. I am not saying that having something written in the second person is bad, I actually loved that part of this book was, but it is such a rare thing to see. I think this may be the first book that I have read that is partly in the second person, or that has the second person in it at all in fact. Having the start of the book written in this way was very important though because it signified part of Nathan's life and how he had to hold himself back, so when it switched to first person I could really notice the difference in his character.

When I started this book, I had almost no clue what was going on, but having a whole section of the book dedicated to Nathan's life before was a superb way of telling the story. It meant that I found out things as Nathan did and that I was able to relate to him much more as a character when the book came back to the present. I don't agree with some of the things he and others did while he was younger, but it was good to have some aspects of the characters that I didn't like because it meant that they seemed more real.

The world of witches that Half Bad makes itself a part of intrigues me greatly. In previous books that I have read about witches there has always been the idea of good versus evil, but with this book you are condemned to whether you will be good or bad from birth, which, although I find a little mean on both the Black and White witches, although mainly the Black, sets such clear boundaries that once you are over, you are well and truly over. The distinction is so clear that in a way it reminds me of the unfortunate views some people have about an entire race, age group or gender based on their experience with one person.

So much happened in this book that I was almost overwhelmed. I feel like I went on an incredibly long journey with Nathan and grew to know him as well as I know myself. As a result of its length, this book had many characters, but I feel that they were explored in enough depth as was appropriate. If you know everything about every character then a book can become boring and in a world such as this one, having secrets is important.

Even though I have rated this book as five stars, I would probably say that it is more accurately four and a half. There was nothing in particular that I can pick out as wrong with this book, just that it didn't totally do it for me. Sometimes you have to make a final judgement on a book based on feeling and although this book was absolutely amazing, I don't feel that it can be a full five out of five stars.

I am really looking forward to getting to read the second book in this series as I cannot wait to find out more about Nathan's life and journey through that.

(Goodreads parallel) 

Libraries

With very little money left after my present buying escapade last December and a dwindling pile of books in my 'to be read' pile, earlier this week I decided to take a trip to the library. The one closest to me has a teen section the extent of one shelf, most of the books having been already read by me because I have taken almost all of them out before. I didn't mind having to travel a bit further afield to go to a library that could satisfy my needs and actually quite enjoyed the trip, but some things about libraries do bug me.

I got four books and one manga out from the library, three of the books being sequels to books that I have previously read. Although I am very happy that these sequels were there so I could finish these series without spending too much money, only the bus fare there and back, on them, I was also disappointed that most of the books there were sequels.

Finding a book that you would quite like to read and then noticing that it is a sequel is always a bit annoying. If the first book is there then I will get both out so I can read them in succession, but there only ever seems to be the second or third book in a series there, never the first. On the rare occasions that there is I will grab the book with both hands before anyone else can get to it. I understand that other people will have taken them out to read them and I'm happy that they're having the experience of reading that book, but when I go over to the manga section and see that there are three copies of volume five of Death Note, but no others present, I start to question what the library is doing with the books.

Secondly, I cannot stand how many people treat library books. My grandparents use their local library to get books as after so many years of reading they have run out of space and we will often chat about what strange crumbs we find between the pages and how disgusted we are with the small rips and tears that we discover.

Personally, I treat books better than I do quite a few people. There are no dents in the spine, you will not find any of the pages curved or torn and you most definitely will not find me turning down pages to mark where I have got to! I know that we all treat books differently and that I can't expect everyone to be as careful as I am, but I would at least expect to be able to get books out that don't look as if they have been trampled on by somebody's dog.

Finally, people. I love finding people who share an interest in books with me. To be able to find someone with which I can connect over books is a sadly odd occurrence and libraries are often the place to find people with that common interest, but it is also the place to find people that you would rather avoid.

We all know of the librarian that will judge you from the moment you walk in the door, the mother or father who will let their child run rampage and the people who shout across the library like they're at a concert. Of course most librarians are lovely and helpful, most parents just want their children to find an interest in books and most people are happy to look at the books quietly, but there are always a few that choose to spoil that. It's a shame that they choose to do so, yet it seems that we are incapable of stopping them. While I find this a lesser problem than the other two, it can leave a sour overcoat on a particular library.

Even though this post has been about the things that I dislike about libraries, I would never want anyone to get the idea that I do not like them. I think it is wonderful that we are that trusting with books and that it means that they are available to more people, so I wouldn't want that to change for anything! Though, there is nothing quite as good as finishing a book you have really enjoyed and being able to put it on your own bookshelf and knowing it will always be there for you to go back to at a second's notice.
-E

Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

This book has been sitting on my shelves for months, just waiting for me to pick it up and read it and I have to say that I regret leaving so much time in between when I bought this book and actually reading it.

From the very beginning, I was transfixed. A prologue that leaves you with questions about what happened to the main characters when they were younger really set me off on a course to read this book well because from those first few pages I was already invested in the character's lives.

On the cover of the copy I own there is a quote from Veronica Roth that says "Unlike anything I've ever read." and to me that describes this book perfectly. I have never before read about concepts like these and from the Shadow Fold to the Grisha themselves, I was taken in by all of them because they were like nothing I had read before.

Firstly, the Shadow Fold. We are introduced to it right at the start of the book so we know immediately the threat it poses to the characters and how it is a work of pure evil. The volcra being a work of the Shadow Fold added to the tension because of what they could do. Not only are the characters having to try and navigate in complete darkness, but there is also the threat of being killed by huge winged creatures that live there. Even though for most of the book we were far away from the Shadow Fold, the threat of it still loomed because of our powerful glimpse of it at the start of the book. That threat and danger would always be present, not matter what distance there was between you and it.

The Grisha were another aspect of this book that really intrigued me. Whether their powers were possible through the Small Science or magic, the only thing that makes the difference to me it how they were able to use their powers. Although, the hierarchy within their own separate class to normal humans was also interesting to me, especially as the seating arrangements at meal times slightly reminded me of my own school lunches. This book made me want to be a Grisha in a way, though some of them seem to be far from nice because of their power.

Russia is a country that has always interested me. As in the country that Shadow and Bone is set in does, it has a history of corruption, beauty and an obsession with being in control. The ideas from Russia were clearly visible, but they fitted in this world perfectly and added something extra to the book rather than having it be something that I as this reader could not relate to.

Alina is a main character who I couldn't help but love. She went from nobody to somebody in a matter of days, but tried to stop it from getting to her. She was afraid of not fitting in because she was scared that she wouldn't be beautiful enough, but really she was more frightened of the unknown that awaited her. Although she let herself be misled romantically, she managed to go back to herself and gain something from the experience. Everybody makes mistakes and even though hers would cost a lot more than just herself something, she still tried to do what was best and that was what was most important to me about her.

When you are introduced to a male best friend you automatically know in books these days that he is going to be some sort of romantic interest, which is a shame, but I have to say that in this book, I was not disappointed with Mal. He was brave and fought for Alina when she needed him to most and that's why I think that he is better than a lot of other male protagonists. You could tell when Mal and Alina came together once again that something had changed between them and that Mal had developed as a character much more than I expected him to when I started reading this book.

I could talk in depth about the other characters, especially the Darkling and Genya because even though I loved the latter dearly, she should have taught Alina that the former was not someone to be trusted because I believe that it would have been quite clear to see Alina's feelings toward him. My personal advice would be to never trust someone who doesn't tell you their actual name. I digress. Overall I think that each character was explored in enough depth so I could decide whether  I liked or trusted them, but not so much that I was overwhelmed and it detracted from the storyline.

I'm sure there are a few faults with this book as there are with every book, but I personally could not spot them because I was so drawn into the story and characters. This is the best book that I have read in a long, long time and I now can't wait to get the second book!