Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi

Tahereh Mafi's first novella, DESTROY ME, wowed me beyond belief. Getting into Warner's mind was absolutely stupendous and that novella is singlehandedly responsible for making me love him. Naturally, I was nothing short of excited for Mafi's second novella. However, I'm sad to say that despite the fact that the novella was satisfactory, it did not wow me at all.

This was pretty much a re-telling of one of the last scenes in book two, UNRAVEL ME, told in Adam's perspective. Naturally, if you read book two, you know what happens so this does provide a very interesting comparison to what some characters believe happens and what actually happened. This certainly explains the mindset of most of the Omega Point members that we are going to encounter at the beginning of book three, which does just enough to saturate my hunger while I wait for book three.

However, with all that in mind, I have to say that I did not enjoy being in Adam's mind at all. While Warner's mind is very twisted because of his desperation to please his father and his intense fascination with Juliette, Adam's mind is very condescending. Sure, he admits he loves Juliette countless times, but I just don't feel it. I did not connect with his emotions or his feelings the way that I have Mafi's others characters. It makes me question where the connection I made with Adam in book one went. Now, it seems he's only condescending towards Juliette, the girl he loves. He treats his ten year old brother like more of an adult and literally compares Juliette to a child at one point.

In the end, this novella served to frustrate me more than anything else. While it makes me curious for book three, it made me lose faith in a character that I initially didn't mind. Again, it made me curious for aspects of book three, so I suppose it served its purpose. But, if anything, it solidified my placement on Team Warner.

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Posted by Tynga at 01:00

 Borrowed, dystopia, Dystopian, Harper Collins, Paranormal, Review, Science Fiction, Shatter Me, Taherah Mafi, Tahereh Mafi, young adult  Leave your mark

Shadowlands by Kate Brian

I've had my eye on this book for a while. The great majority of reviews I have seen for it have been overwhelmingly positive and many friends have promised me that this is a unique tale that'll easily grab my attention. Unfortunately, I can't say I fully understand why this book is so greatly adored. While admittedly a quick read that I got through in a single day, the characters were flat, the plot was predictable, and the overall story reminded me more of a bad teen horror story than a novel by a hugely adored author.

Initially, I thought that was going to be an amazing book. The very first chapter is the attempted killing of Rory Miller by the famous serial killer Steven Nell. To make matters even more interesting the chapter is told from his perspective. It was so chilling that I can only describe it as creepily cool. It kept me excited and on my toes. But, shortly after, all of my hopes were dashed because most of the story is told from Rory's perspective. Her bland, slow, uneventful and normally frustrating perspective. It's like I lived for those random chapters told by Nell's perspective that were scattered throughout the book, even though all of them were shorter than two pages. His creepiness resonated with me so greatly, and it's sad to think that Rory's plight had such a small emotional impact on me in comparison.

However, the overall creepiness of the book just didn't have an impact on me either. I'm normally one that can easily be scared to the point of not sleeping for the night, but I barely batted an eye with this one. It almost felt like some of the scenes were taken right out of a bad horror movie. To make matters worse, some aspects of the story and the investigation were just hard to believe. For example, Steven Nell is supposed to be this genius that has eluded the FBI for over a decade, but wouldn't the FBI be able to detect someone right under their nose? Shouldn't they prove to be somewhat of an obstacle if the killer wanted to contact his mark? If turning to the witness protection program, wouldn't they want to protect their victims more? Oh, and the most obvious thing ever...wouldn't a brilliant serial killer know never to act around a large group of people because it will always backfire? Cases like this are constantly occurring in the book. It frustrated me because I wanted to shake the characters and ask why they aren't acting nearly as smart as they claim to be. It seemed like common sense rarely made an appearance in this novel.

Rory's family is similar to the cliche broken young adult family that is often found in novels these days. Her father is still suffering five years after the loss of his wife to cancer. This loss tore the family apart. Darcy, Rory's older sister, is incredibly materialistic and shallow, which also made her frustrating. While they're sisters and they can't help but love each other, I felt no inclination to like Darcy at all. She's not painted in a decent light therefore she isn't that likable. However, Rory's father goes through some great character growth throughout the book that I really enjoyed. My one other issue with characterization is that everyone was so flat I tended to have trouble keeping everything straight. And, to make matters worse, this book pretty much felt like a parade of hot guys. It was hot guy after hot guy after hot guy that were all hot in different ways. Relationships felt more shallow and physical than emotional. I can see a budding romance, but I don't think it shows any true promise since the male Rory is interested in likes to keep secrets and is rather sketchy. But, hey, he's hot!

In the end, I know a lot of people enjoyed this one. Heck, I can't even count the people who I know disliked this one on one hand. I'm simply the black sheep in this case because this book just wasn't for me. While the big twist at the end leaves me curious about book two, I'm not in any hurry to continue this series for myself. However, I recommend this to mystery thriller fans who like a hint of paranormalcy that makes an appearance at the end of the book. Its presence is heavily promised in the rest of the trilogy, too.

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Posted by Tynga at 01:13

 Borrowed, Disney Hyperion, Fantasy, Kate Brian, Mystery, Review, Shadowlands, Thriller, young adult  3 People left their mark

When We Wake by Karen Healey

There was a real missed opportunity for some imaginative world-building in When We Wake. Though Tegan wakes up just over 100 years into the future, we don't find out very much about the world and how it now works. We get thrown little bits of slang, and little anecdotes from Tegan herself as she tries to navigate this world, but we really get let down as far as being able to see the world from a bird's eye view.

For a novel that barely gave much information about the future world that I'd actually be interested in, there were definitely quite a few political and social agendas thrown in rather heavy-handedly. Without the rounding out of an entire world building experience, these points seemed clunky at times. Overall, I agree with the message of social change that the characters advocated for. But in order to truly get a message as important as social change across, it really should be weaved into the story in such a way that the reader isn't constantly aware of it. The social, religious, and political agendas within When We Wake were awkward and forceful where they should have been insightful and inspiring.

At first, Tegan believes that they have started this revival program as a way for the government to revive soldiers. And since Tegan's father was a fallen soldier, she immediately jumps on board whole-heartedly. I understand how her father's death might make her more willing to cooperate, but I was still surprised at just how quickly she seemed to jump head first into the whole charade.

The writing style in When We Wake is risky - as it breaks the fourth wall. Meaning the narrator speaks directly to the reader - there are times when Tegen addresses the reader as she retells her story. I've read novels where this sort of writing style was incredible and literally dragged the reader into the story directly. Unfortunately, Tegan's direct conversations with the reader were more irritating than anything. They didn't actually serve much purpose at all to the story itself, and seemed almost to have been taken as a shortcut for not having to really introduce the reader to Tegan herself.

For a book with such a promising and original concept, I felt extremely let down. Maybe my expectations were set too high for this one, but I don't think I'll be continuing on with this series.

Read an excerpt

 

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Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Borrowed, Brown Books, Karen Healey, little brown and co, Review, Science Fiction, Science-Fiction, When We Wake, young adult  3 People left their mark

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

I’ve had my eye on this book for a while because of my love of fairy tales. And, in the end, it did not disappoint. While I enjoyed it, the book fell just short of great in my eyes. I think that this was in part due to the length. I enjoyed the book a lot, but it felt long to me. I would laugh hysterically only to realize that I progressed a mere five pages in the book. I think that such feelings can be attributed to pacing issues that were resolved in the second half of the book. Granted, most of the action and scheming took place in the second half and it was much easier to fly through the book then. Overall, this is a very satisfying two day read.

Agatha and Sophie are best friends for life, despite their being the tender age of twelve. They live in a town that fears and loves fairy-tales. Every four year, the mysterious School Master comes in the dead of night to steal away two children: one who is inherently evil and one who is inherently good. These kids are taken to the School for Good and Evil to train as villains or heroes for their own future fairy-tales. Sophie has dreamed of being taken away by the School Master so that she could attend the School for Good ever since her mother’s death and her lack of a proper relationship with her Father. Agatha, on the other hand, fears the idea of the school because she’s a bit of a loner and unpleasant to eye. She feared that her baggy black clothing and her living in a cemetery will immediately place her in the School for Evil. When Agatha sees the School Master come to take Sophie away, she races after him to rescue her friend, only to realize that she is the second child to be kidnapped in that year’s duo. And, even worse, she was dropped into the School for Good while Sophie suffered in the School for Evil.

As a reader, I found that twist to be great because it’s not the least bit surprising. Agatha has the heart of gold. All she does is worry about Sophie and, in truth, she risked her life to try to save her best friend. She has the biggest heart and her story slowly proves that beauty is on the inside, not the outside. Sophie, on the other hand, totally deserved to be dropped in the School of Evil. Despite looking like a miniature Sleeping Beauty, she doesn’t act like one. She is perhaps the most vain character I’ve ever come across and ninety percent of the time the obnoxious tones that spewed from her mouth often had me rolling my eyes. But, bravo for that Chainani, because that’s just excellent characterization. I found the switch of schools to be great because of the wide difference in personality and such a thing led the way for a lot of shenanigans and fun comparison ranging from prizes, clothing, ideals, classes, and authority figures. I mean, fairies versus werewolves. Of course there’s going to be some interesting twists with that!

My one issue with this novel was the romance. The overall lover boy is Tedros, son of King Arthur, whose awesome sword fighting skills, leadership qualities, and good looks landed him in the School for Good. Granted, he tends to fall for stereotypes a lot. Tedros is the most desirable boy of all so all of the Princesses are swooning over him. Well, them plus Sophie who is convinced that Tedros is the love of her life. Seriously, several times she literally claimed him by saying, ”He’s mine.” It was a little much. What creeped me out was the fact that the girls were twelve and Tedros was old enough to be dealing with a little bit of stubble. And he found them attractive! I understand this is a fairy-tale world, but some inner part of me thinks we have a mini-babyeater on our hands. Then again, the romance really is only as innocent as that of young children anyway.

With an explosive ending that makes you beg for more, Chainani’s captured my heart with his unique world that turns fairytales upside down in the most delicious of ways. I will certainly be keeping my eye out for book two, hoping that the pacing picks up exactly where this one left off.

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Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Borrowed, Fairies, Fantasy, Harper Collins, High Fantasy, Magic, Review, School for Good and Evil, soman chainani, young adult  2 People left their mark

The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

I have a confession. While, I was greatly looking forward to reading this book I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. My problems with book one stemmed from the fact that our main character, Elisa, relied heavily on God for her power despite the fact that she discovered the power to lead within herself. I didn’t like the religious reliance even though it wasn’t shoved down my throat. While book two pulls back on it, it’s still there. But it wholly disappears in the second half of the book to give way to a story that had me freaking out and proclaiming my love in the middle of a Starbucks.

There was a lot of political maneuvering in the beginning and that is, perhaps, what made it so slow for me. The second half of the book began with that epic adventure that we expected Carson to deliver after reading book one and that’s what made this book nearly unputdownable. It just took a while to get to that point. We picked up shortly after book two where Elisa’s own political allies are turning against her and her people are rioting. There have been several attempts on her life and just as many people want her dead as those who want her to live. Characters from the past blast back into her life and her most trustworthy friends seem to be doing nothing but hurting her. And worst of all, she is being forced to search for a proper suitor and husband to ally her war-riddled country with someone else. It’s all rather great, and it holds your attention, but it just can’t keep you glued to the page until over two hundred pages into the book. That’s what makes the beginning feel so long and the amazingness that is the epic adventure pass by all too quickly.

But what I really loved about this book were two story arcs in particular: Elisa’s journey to being a proper queen and Hector. Elisa acknowledges that she’s been a weak ruler and she truly wants to be better. Hints of a powerful woman shine through at certain parts of the book and you can’t help but think, “I’d want this girl to be my queen if I was forced to subject to one.” It’s a huge emotional and psychological step up from book two.

And Hector. Oh, how I love you so. You and your newly lacking mustache are absolutely amazing and I love you. A lot. With all of my heart. Seriously. These two had a romance that began in book one with cute side-long glances and such. Now, their interactions are all the more frustrating because they remain cute. Yet these two are entirely devoted to each other and supremely passionate. I love every minute of this romance--the way one should progress.

This high fantasy is epic. It really is. It left me reeling and highly anticipating book three, though I don’t want to say goodbye to this series or this amazing world or even these amazingly well written characters just yet. Full of many surprises I couldn’t even hint at because of major spoilers, this book is one that you should definitely read. This series is worth continuing because the surprises are limitless and this book promises you the most epic epic of all time to take place in book three. Simply put, Rae Carson is a genius.

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Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Borrowed, Fantasy, Fire and Thorns, Harper Collins, High Fantasy, Magic, Rae Carson, Review, young adult  3 People left their mark