Tag: literature

Review: Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they’ll find seven months after the invasion? 
Meanwhile, Kady’s cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza’s ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha’s past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. 
With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

Wow, unpopular opinion much. I know there is much love around this series and I’m sorry, but my opinion seems to be the complete opposite of what everyone else thinks. Oops.

Oh my god. I didn’t think it could get any worse, but reading my review of Gemina, I think I actually liked this one even less. The bottom line is, I was just even more confused because there are way too many characters in these books! Let’s just have a quick throwback to me a couple of years ago when Illuminae came out. I was where everyone else was, fangirling over this new book with a completely new style of reading. I honestly think it was just so refreshing to read something so different, but since then, both books that followed just seem like retellings of the same world. I can’t help but feel that success, rather than love made the authors release the other two.

“May we meet again on distant shores.”

And another thing I hate about not only having so many characters, but also the camera surveillance way this story is told? I felt so damn detached. Yeah, this book is emotional and yeah, I loved the poetic parts. But I still don’t give a damn what happened. Sorry for my cold heart and black soul.

Like 80% (at least) of this book was just boring and I couldn’t focus. Only a small number of pages actually made me feel like I was invested or involved in the book at all. But on the other hand, this really small amount of pages…were awesome. I loved them, I felt completely in the world and I felt the emotion. And I guess I do have one popular opinion, because I LOVE AIDAN. Like, I flicked through the whole book looking for those black pages. I loved his parts, and I wanted so much more. If only the book was just AIDAN…

“Some place fine and far from here.”

But that’s where the good stuff ends, and other than that, I was so disappointed. I wanted it to all end so I could read better things. I’m glad I managed to finish this series, but that’s about it.

Well don’t let the fact that I disliked this one put you off – it’s such an unpopular opinion after all!

★★
2 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Last Place on Earth by Carol Snow

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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Daisy and Henry are best friends, and they know all each other’s secrets.  Or, so Daisy thinks, until she wakes up one morning to find that Henry and his family have disappeared without a trace. Daisy suspects Henry’s disappearance is connected to their seriously awkward meeting the night before, but then she finds a note from Henry, containing just the words “SAVE ME.”  Deeply worried, Daisy convinces her unemployed brother to take her on a rescue mission into the California mountains. As they begin to home in on Henry’s exact location, they also start to find some disturbing clues… clues that call into question everything Daisy believes she knows about her friend.  Why is he so hard to find? What kind of trouble is he in, exactly? And most importantly, who is actually saving who?

To start, can we just take a look at this cover? I picked this up for myself as a little present for being accepted into university, and it was definitely a cover buy. But it actually didn’t disappoint – at least not completely!

This book is definitely a page-turner. It’s so quick and easy, I read it in a matter of hours and I never really read that quickly! It’s quite enthralling and entertaining, and I did really want to know what was going to happen in the rambling plot. Talking of the plot, it started really well. The first 50-100 pages completely captured my attention, and then things get strange. In fact, this book turns weirdddd. And I’m a little weird, but it might even be weirder than me. It just turned into something I wasn’t ready for, or expecting at all.

So this book ends up being just completely absurd. Without giving away a lot of spoilers, it felt incredibly strange and random and I was left almost laughing with the pure anti-realism of it all. It’s cool that Snow wanted to explore something unique and not really covered in YA, and in some ways I think it’s done really well, but also what what what.

Talking of weirdness, this book also includes a family called the Dunkles. This family has 7 children with names all beginning with K and they were, of course, home schooled. Can I just confirm, as someone who was home schooled for 6 years, WE ARE NOT THE DUNKLES. Some of us are actually pretty normal, and live in normal houses with normal, conventional families. And personally, I don’t want my home schooling years to be represented by the Dunkles.

After all that negativity, I still can’t say this book was bad. If you take it at face value and don’t expect a great work of literature or a masterpiece, it’s really entertaining. Sure, there are mistakes and plot holes and it’s certainly not perfect, but it’s a fun adventure all the same.

★★★★
3.5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.
Four very different lives are about to become entangled.

The last time I saw my friend and co-blogger Pete, he gave me a book! It’s also one I’ve wanted to read for a long time – especially since his great review back in September.

I adore how unique this book is, and I felt it’s honesty. I felt the genuine, heartfelt location of 1970s Alaska so insightful and interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite the same, involving such a different set of characters and locations. Much like other books with more than one POV, I did find it hard to get into each character and their individual stories, but I ended up liking the differences.

“I’ll never understand how certain things that happen to us can climb under our skin and make us someone new. Big things can do it — like Sam going missing.”

This book strikes me as important. It tackles subjects I’ve never read about before in such detail, such as the statehood and problems Alaska and it’s people faced. It talks about growing up with abusive parents and not knowing your own family. It faces teenage pregnancy and the struggles of growing up.

I love how each character meant a lot, even the families and parents. Too many YA books focus entirely on romance, but this book felt like so much more. It talked about the relationships we have with our families and friends, and how we as people help and support those we love. It wasn’t just relationships or friendships, it was about everyone.

“Small things can do it, too, like having a stranger fall to pieces in front of you. I’m beginning to think that everything changes us to some extent.”

The focus of this book is how our lives intertwine and combine, no matter what. It talks about how we all work together, even though we have different backgrounds and interests. It talks about togetherness and the respect we should have for one another. I felt this book is so important, and definitely one that will stay with me for a long time to come.

★★★★★
4.5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

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Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood… life before she became a vampire.
All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don’t draw attention to yourself and, above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn’t know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.
Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as her. As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trust. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth?

Ugh. It was difficult enough to get through the cheese fest books that are Twilight, but in the end, the hopeless romantic inside me still loved them. But this book was one constant cringe. For a start, I don’t even know who this Bree girl is. Isn’t she in like a tiny scene of the third Twilight book? And she is never introduced as a character in her own right, she’s just this random young vampire. And I know she’s young, but BFF clubs? Ninja clubs? What the hell? They’re adults and teenagers, not little kids in spy club.

“It was shockingly weird to touch another person after a whole life – because the last three months were my whole life – of avoiding any kind of contact.”

Maybe I would have enjoyed this book more if I’d read it just after Eclipse or even just after the series, but a year on, I was not in the mindset for this book. As great as parts of this book might be simply for the mind-building, it was just nothing in it’s own right. It was flat, 2nd characters and a lot of pointless stuff I really didn’t understand.

“Like touching a sparking downed power line, only to find out that it felt nice.”

I have to say though, this book wasn’t unreadable. Like, it was vaguely okay even if I didn’t really enjoy it. It had some kind of slightly interesting parts and characters, like Fred, for example. But I can’t get over the fact that I just didn’t connect with any of them, or really care. In the end, Bree didn’t seem to care much about herself either. It all just seemed really rather pointless.

★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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As he climbs into the sidecar of Hagrid’s motorbike and takes to the skies, leaving Privet Drive for the last time, Harry Potter knows that Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters are not far behind. The protective charm that has kept Harry safe until now is broken, but he cannot keep hiding. The Dark Lord is breathing fear into everything Harry loves, and to stop him Harry will have to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes. The final battle must begin – Harry must stand and face his enemy…

This book is so bittersweet. I’m really happy and so sad at the same time…because I’m no longer in Hogwarts. I’m no longer taking a magical journey with Harry and Hermione and Ron. But I DID IT. After 18 whole years on this planet, I FINISHED HARRY POTTER.

Anyway, enough about that – I have a post scheduled for Tuesday all about my overall HP journey – let’s talk about the last book.

“We’re all human, aren’t we.”

The thing I really noticed in this book is how complicated and complex the storyline is. Hallows, Horcruxes, Hogwarts, fighting. Along with all of the personal parts of the plot (their romances, friendships and families), I felt Harry mature with the story and I loved reading about his thoughts.

I have to say even though I loved this book, it could be a little too complicated for my liking. In fact, I had to read the last couple of chapters in my room, on my own, in complete silence, to be able to fully understand everything that was going on.

The only thing I have to mention I didn’t like in this book was it was very hard to adapt to not being in Hogwarts. As awesome as it was travelling the British countryside, I did want so badly to be back in the castle.

“Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.”

Honestly, my head is in such a mess right now because I’m so confused about not being in the magical world and how I’m going to adapt to not reading about Harry and his friends. I can safely say I loved this book, but it’s so hard to get the words out! So let’s finish up this review with a star rating…

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review7 Comments

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When Dumbledore arrives at Privet Drive one summer night to collect Harry Potter, his wand hand is blackened and shrivelled, but he does not reveal why. Secrets and suspicion are spreading through the wizarding world, and Hogwarts itself is not safe. Harry is convinced that Malfoy bears the Dark Mark: there is a Death Eater amongst them. Harry will need powerful magic and true friends as he explores Voldemort’s darkest secrets, and Dumbledore prepares him to face his destiny…

The crying as begun! I’ve always been told the last book is really sad, but I didn’t know it started early. So I’m leaving this book as a complete emotional wreck and I just hope I can get across in this review how the book made me feel.

I’m definitely back to loving these books again – they do improve again after the 5th book! Not back to the standard of the 3rd or 4th, but still, I really enjoyed this one. As I had already been told, they do continue to get darker, and I found the plot a lot more complex! But I really enjoyed that, as there is a lot of progression as the book goes on.

“It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high.”

As well as maturity in story, I’m enjoying seeing Harry progress too. Seeing his friendships and relationships grow is a pleasure, and I loved his lessons with Dumbledore. For such a complex story, I really applaud how Rowling still managed to include Harry’s feelings, especially as he grows and matures.

However, I have to say that even though this book does progress, I found most of it kind of…relaxed. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but the pace was definitely slower until it sped up at the end of the book. It didn’t make it boring – it just made it comfortable.

“Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew – and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents – that there was all the difference in the world.”

I’m really excited for the last book and to finish this series – but I’m going to miss the world of Hogwarts so much. It’s a story I haven’t stopped loving and I don’t think I ever will. Bring on the tears. Bring on the emotion. Bring on Deathly Hallows.

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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