Month: December 2017

Review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review6 Comments

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Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

As you may or may not know, I’m not a massive John Green fan. It’s not like I hate him or anything, I just have really mixed opinions about his books. For me, The Fault in Our Stars is overhyped, Will Grayson, Will Grayson and An Abundance of Katherine’s are not worth the read, Looking for Alaska is pretty good and Paper Towns is my favourite.

But nevertheless, Turtles All the Way Down got me intruiged. And the more of my friends that were reading (and loving) it, the more I wanted to find out what was so good. Before I continue, thank you to my lovely friend Pete for gifting me this book for my birthday!

I have to say, Turtles was a really pleasant surprise for me. Especially after struggling with Gemina, I really needed a good contemporary. And Green, for a change, didn’t let me down!

I’m not going to say this book isn’t niggle-free. It still niggled me in the classic way Green manages to get on my nerves. For a start, you can tell that these are his characters. The way he writes is still pretty pretensious, and the characters still talk like no person I have ever met – only seeming to have these big, important discussions about the sky.

But once I got past that this book is just unbelievably cheesy in some ways, I managed to accept it and enjoy it. And I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I expected to.

“We never really talked much or even looked at each other, but it didn’t matter because we were looking at the same sky together, which is maybe even more intimate than eye contact anyway.”

I have to appreciate the way Green wrote about mental health. Although it’s an extremely subjective topic, I really felt for Aza and her situation. I felt an emotional connection to her and I understood her invasive thoughts in the best way. I also love how Green included the very real and difficult parts of mental illness – personal struggles, mental battles and therapy sessions that were portrayed as a postive and helpful part of Aza’s life. We need more of that in YA!

I loved the plot and I felt the mixture of romance, contemporary and even hints of mystery were done really well. Green did a great job of (thank you), keeping the romance underlying and not letting it take over the book. Friendship and family realationships were also explored deeply and I really appreciate the balance he managed to find. I love how the romance didn’t ‘fix’ Aza’s mental illness – that can happen too much in YA and make it completely unrealistic and unrelatable.

“I mean, anybody can look at you. It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.”

This may seem like a random point and isn’t something I’d usually mention, but I saw a review which mentioned the technology in this book and I completely agreed with them. The characters use technology as teenagers actually do, and I have to agree that Green got it spot on.

I also have to mention the ending before I go. I found it perfect for the book. Even though it’s not definite, it included a lot of hope and I really like that from an ending. It left things open but not too open. It had perfect balance.

So overall this book is a really easy but enjoyable read. I think it represents YA really well and it has a lot of really good points. And even though I might not be the biggest Green fan…I don’t think I can complain. This book just has to be awarded a solid 4.5 stars from me.

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Secret Heir (Dynasty #1) by M.J. Prince

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

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I have been provided with an Advanced Reader Copy by the author in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book a really pleasant surprise. It’s not something I’d dive for but I was quickly absorbed by the beautiful and twisted world Prince has created.

The plot drew me in straight away. Jazmine is a girl from Earth who is a member of a royal family from a planet she knows nothing about. The grandfather she has never met takes her back to this planet, where she’s shipped off to boarding school with royal teenagers from the other 5 dynasties. It quickly becomes apparent that the other teens have been spreading rumors about her and her life on Earth and make her life a living hell. But are all of these people really her enemies, and is there more going on behind the scenes?

I found the world of Eden very cleverly done as it mirrors life on Earth, but differs with Elements and the powers each person has. I understood Eden easily but found it’s differences enthralling.

Let’s talk about the characters! I adored Jazime and I felt a really close connection to her. She’s a badass and she fights for what she believes in, and I really admired her throughout the book. The pranks she pulls towards the start of the novel made me laugh out loud in parts!

Unfortunately, this book isn’t without a few faults. It could do with a little touching up on the spelling and grammar side and I did find a lot of sentences repeated themselves throughout the novel. I felt the book dragged a little in the middle but loved the beginning and especially the end! Oh my, that ending. It left me desparate for the next book and I definitely want to continue with this series.

Even though I had my suspicions about the twist at the end, I was still completely shocked and torn. It just proves how persuasive and enthralling Prince’s writing really is, and I really admire how tricked I was by the writing.

I think partly due to the romance in this book, I felt like this was a real guilty pleasure, but I loved it all the same. It may have not been perfect, but I really enjoyed it and it actually reminded me of A Court of Thorns and Roses in many respects. In fact I have to admit, I liked it more.

So overall, Secret Heir is a really good romance/fantasy which took me out of my comfort zone. A solid 4 stars from me and one I’d definitely recommend!

★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Spellsinger. Book Review #33

On By paperbackpeteIn Book Review, PeteLeave a comment

Hey guys!

First I would like to apologise for my lack of blog post last week! It snowed heavily where I live and it kind of messed with all the plans I made for the day (in a good way) which ultimately meant I didn’t have time to write a review.

I am back this week though and I want to talk about a book that has been on my radar for a while but has only recently become apart of my own collection.

Spellsinger is a Young Adult Fantasy book by Sebastien de Castell. The story follows Kellen, a young apprentice training to become a mage in a world where magic is held supreme. There is just one problem. He doesn’t have any himself. This book is a whimsical and enchanting adventure that follows card-wielding cow boy women, talking squirrel cats and an old, dark secret.

This novel was excitedly recommended to me by a fellow book worm who is always well informed on the good stuff and the positively bad stuff that is being released in the young adult world. As such, I trusted her opinion, and jumped at the chance to read Spellsinger. And I was not disappointed.

Right from the beginning this book possesses a steady kind of lighthearted banter and whimsy that holds true across the whole narrative. The writing style felt young and casual which, to me, was the correct choice coming from a narrator who was experiencing youth himself. Moreover, I felt that the pace and the style linked quite nicely to the subject matter of much of the plot itself: magic. The fact that almost all of the story was bordered with laid-back hilarity was important when exploring a force that innately does not take itself too seriously.

The characters were all generally very interesting. There were some questionable choices regarding the plausibility of Kellen’s parents and the situation he finds himself in at the end of the story (I will say no more). These must, to some degree, be overlooked when considering the context of the world that the events of the book existed in. My personal favourite was Ferius Parfax, for two reasons: her name is Ferius Parfax and that to me is delightfully intriguing. The second and more important reason being the fact that she was a total bad ass throughout the whole story and became a feminist icon to me by the end. As a main character Kellen possessed everything he needed not to be lost amongst the massive cast such as an interesting motive and an anti-power  but at times I felt he was just making random choices that did not feel natural in line with the plot that I was learning about.

The plot itself wouldn’t stop moving and undulating and pulsing. It felt sad and happy and rocky, just like real life is. It was this and the core focus on magic (which is always a big sell for me) that allowed me to genuinely enjoy Spellsinger immensely.

I would certainly recommend this book!

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars

Keep on reading!

And thanks again Beth.

Review: Gemina by Various Authors

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.
The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.
Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.
When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.
But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.

I don’t know how to write this review. I’m so conflicted and confused right now. I loved it. I was bored. I was, overall, disappointed.

I know, I know. I adored Illuminae, and I’ve been singing it’s praises ever since. I found it broke the YA rule book and I loved the authors for it. And I did go into Gemina with very high expectations – so many people said it’s even better and Illuminae is so hard to beat!

“This tiny moment. In between the time you decide to pull a trigger and the time death arrives.”

So, I did like a lot about this book. For one, the suspense. I would be on the edge of my seat, to find out that the character I thought would die actually lives. I also liked the whole concept of multiverses and wormholes and I thought that was done really well. This book made me smile, and made me chuckle.

Also, Ella. Ella is the ultimate feminist and all around badass and I loved her for it. And as with Illuminae, there are some utterly beautiful poetic parts of this book that I can’t wait to share with you.

Anddd it’s time for the bad. Let’s start with Hanna, the typical spoilt-rich-girl-who-actually-is-pretty-badass. It was just so cheesy and predictable. I did like Nik, but I also found him a pretty typical bad boy. What happened to throwing out the rule book?

“There’s just you and it and everything you’re about to take away. It’s too big. It goes forever.”

I was constantly confused. For this entire book. And I distinctly remember not feeling like this for Illuminae. I mean, maybe this is because I read Illuminae so long ago. But I still think I should have understood even a little bit more than I did in Gemina. In some ways, this book was kind of too much. There was too many plot twists. Too many people to kill. Too many files, and way too many pages. I kind of felt like I was reading this book and only understanding about 10% of whatever-the-f*ck was going on.

So it turns out I loved and really didn’t like this book, all rolled into a massive mix of emotions. I could rate this book from one to five stars for a variety of reasons (I was bored, I was amused, I was utterly overwhelmed by an incredibly random part of beautiful poetry), so I guess I’m going to be settling in the middle.

★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Touch. Book Review #32

On By paperbackpeteIn Book Review, PeteLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

Finally I was able to finish a book that I have been dying to talk about for some time.

Touch by the wonderful Claire North is an adult sci-fi mystery novel that follows Kepler, the being without a face or a body of their own. Kepler is not a male or a female, Kepler does not die and Kepler’s name is not Kepler. In this novel North imagines a world where a separate species of life is able to jump between human hosts by nothing more than a touch of skin. This book is a whirlwind race across the world through different lives, different loves and different faces.

If you know anything about me as a book worm you will also know that Claire North is one of my all time favourite authors without any shadow of a doubt. Seemingly effortlessly, she weaves fine tapestries of weird and whimsical tales into stories that feel bold and true. Touch did not fall short of my expectations.

Kepler, like all of North’s anti heroes, was both extremely intelligent and extremely interesting. The writer creates a wealth of nooks and crannies and corners of detail within the houses of her cast that stitch together and intermingle into words that become real people. From the multiple languages Kepler spoke to the past lives in past bodies she recalled it was fascinating to get inside the head of a character who is eternal and eternally lonely in their most unique set of circumstances.

I have always said that North has an enormous grasp on the world despite realistically never being able to have visited all of the places that we visit inside of her books. She is a purveyor of the small details. Like the smell of a train station in a French city or the colour of the trees in a German city. All of these rivulets of information, big and small, bind together into a more full and vivid image that feels nostalgic despite being the first time read.

Lastly, I’d like to comment on the plot. Obviously everything I have said so far has been positive and I would like to finish with a positive ending too which thankfully due to the stunning plot of this book I am able to do. I won’t give spoilers but North’s grasp on mystery and thrill is bespoke. She understands how to play with narratives and dance with time all within the confines of a couple hundred pages and for that I commend her greatly.

I largely enjoy the books I review because I always vet them out before starting but for this book I can’t say I enjoyed it. I can only say I loved it.

I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

Keep on reading!

And thanks again Beth.