192 replies to this topic

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

How to Ride a Dragon's Storm by Cressida Cowell.

 

 

So...I read this way back in August but for some reason never got around to reviewing it. I don't remember too much about what I thought of it, but I only gave it 3 out of 5 stars, so I know I was a little underwhelmed by it. I know that with so many books in the series (12 and counting), not all of the How to Train Your Dragon installments are going to be gold. This was one of those that just didn't meet expectations. It was fun and quick, as always, and I really enjoyed myself while reading it. But it didn't really stick with me the same way that books 1, 3, 5, and 6 did. They remain my favorites--especially 1 and 5, and probably will for the forseeable future. So I would still recommend this book, as I'd recommend all HTTYD books, but it isn't one that I really fell in love with.

[Chompyzilla]

I also enjoy the HTTYD series, but I kept thinking it was about to be over. Halfway through the ninth book, I thought it was going to be the last, but it wasn't. That's fine, the next book must be it, right? No, I suppose not. How about the 11th book? I was so sure about that being the end because it's time for all this stuff that is being built up to resolve. Nope.
I just picked up a copy of the latest book yesterday, and while I do enjoy these books, I will be annoyed if this story doesn't reach its conclusion.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

Yeah, it is kinda frustrating. On the one hand, I want a satisfying conclusion to Hiccup's adventures. But on the other, it's a successful, fairly episodic collection of children's books. It makes sense that Cressida Cowell will write as many as she can come up with ideas for, because writing is a business and if she knows she can get money for it, and thinks the idea is worth it, she should go for it. A lot of kids series end up like that, with a seemingly never-ending amount of books because a new audience always ages up into it. And the target audience isn't as likely to care about overly long plot threads or a lack of conclusion as you or I do. The books are intended for the younger end of the middle grade market--so fourth and fifth graders, generally--and having a lot of books that don't need to be read in order is a good strategy for writing for those kids.

 

I own up through book nine. I'm not 100% sure if I'll be continuing after that point. The series overall I think is somewhere in the 4-star range as far as quality goes, because the only real complaint I have against it is that it never ends. So I think once I finish up what I own, I'll take a break and only continue once I know for certain that it's ending.

 

In other news, I only have one more book to review, and then I'll be caught up on my backlog of unreviewed reads for October. And then hopefully I'll be able to finish some stuff soon so I have fewer books on my plate when the last Lunar Chronicles book comes out on the tenth. I'm currently listening to the audiobook of the Welcome to Night Vale novel with my boyfriend, muddling through a fairy-tale-from-the-fairies'-perspective type of book, and trying to get through the third Throne of Glass book and the novella bindup, but I hit a slump after a very active month of reading. I also set aside Angelfall, which I'm really interested in, because I wanted to focus on these other books I'm currently facing a wall with. Not sure what to do about getting my momentum back.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

(Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 1)

 

Featuring the gorgeous new paperback artwork! I mostly listened to the audiobook with my boyfriend, but for a short time near the beginning I followed along in a physical copy I got from the library.

 

Right. Moving along....

 

I loved this book. Which is a complete 180 from how I felt about it during my first attempt to read it four years ago. I guess I just wasn't in Percy mood back then. I started it because one of my dorm mates handed me the book after I mentioned that I liked the movie and I felt obligated to give it a try (I had seen the movie before I even knew there was a book). But this time, I picked it up because I've seen a lot of Percy buzz on the Booktubes and the Booklrs (book communities of Youtube and Tumblr, respectively), and it just piqued my interest.

 

I am so glad I gave this another shot. Jesse Bernstein delivered Percy's sass perfectly. It was so much fun listening to this story and finding out what was different from the movie and what had been left out for time's sake. It was also fun to sometimes know more than Percy did about what might be going on, because of my (admittedly basic) knowledge of Greek mythology from my ninth grade English class. "Fun" is really the best word to describe this book, and the one I'd use if I had to recommend it to anyone who'd never heard of it. My boyfriend and I have already begun the audiobook of Sea of Monsters, and we're really looking forward to more of Percy's adventures.

 

Spoiler

Percy sassily using Hermes' mailing service to send Medusa's head to Poseidon on Mount Olympus was probably the funniest thing in the entire book.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Awkward Owl by Shawnda Blake

 

A picture book about an owl who doesn't know how to fly properly, and ends up befriending a little girl.

 

The story was cute, but the illustrations were really subpar. They looked like they were made by a five year old, which I guess would be precious to said five-year-old's parents, but ended up making the book lack a professional image. If a good, professional illustrator had been used, this book would have been much better.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Apple Pip Princess by Jane Ray

 

I read this book for story time at the library where I work. The artwork was gorgeous. The story, too, was also very good. It came with a great message about valuing hard work and the importance of taking care of the world around us.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Assassin and the Desert by Sarah J. Maas

 

Prequel novella #3 out of 5.

 

This is my favorite of the prequel novellas so far. I saw much more character development for Celaena than in the previous two stories, and the storyline was also far more engaging and entertaining.

 

I don't have much more to say about it, partially because I feel like me talking about all these Throne of Glass things is a bit of a lock-out for people wanting to see me talk about something else for a change, and partially because WINTER IS HERE. THE LAST LUNAR CHRONICLES BOOK. It showed up on my Nook this morning, so I sped-read the last 30 pages of this novella so I would feel less bad about tossing all my current reads aside in favor of Winter. Time to spend the next few days doing little else than consuming 800 pages of amazingness.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Winter by Marissa Meyer

fourth and final book in the Lunar Chronicles series (link to book one)

(probably my favorite cover of the series as a whole)

 

For those of you who are unaware, I'm majorly into the Lunar Chronicles. It's a series of loose sci-fi/fantasy blended retellings of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White (characters in order of the book that introduces them). Out of the whole series, I think my favorite is book three, Cress. It's when we finally meet the Rapunzel character and she's an awesomely talented computer hacker.

 

Anyway, in this last book we meet Princess Winter, the Snow White character and step-daughter of the Big Bad, Moon Queen Levana. She was my least favorite out of the main cast, not because she was unlikeable, but because she didn't have as much characterization. We spent so long getting to know the other three girls and their love interests, watching their friendships grow, that Winter just felt sort of tacked-on. She was the most passive, and had the least impact on the plot of the series itself. Her love interest, Jacin, we've seen since book one, even if mostly in the background, and he was an active character in at least half of the third book. So I was a bit disappointed that I didn't connect with Winter as quickly or as easily as all the others. However, that was really my only main complaint.

 

Most of the book took place on the moon, which I don't think any of the previous books did for more than maybe a scene here and there. So that was fun--getting to see the outrageous and outlandish fashions of the Lunar aristocracy, the decadance of the palace and capital city, and the oppressive, tyrannical regime that Queen Levana imposes on her poorer citizens. We got to see that the Lunars wouldn't support the main characters' revolution just because of royal inheritance rules, but because Levana is really, horrifically terrible. In addition to that, the cast spent most of the book having to split up into groups and pairs that didn't necessarily interact much previously, and seeing those situations did a lot for character growth. And I spent a good portion of the book being legitimately worried for these guys, because I knew that while Marissa Meyer's not the type of writer to kill off main characters, she's not afraid of seriously/permanantly injuring them. And that happened--quite a lot, in fact. Hence my feeling anxious so often.

 

Overall, this was a very satisfying conclusion to the series. I'm really excited for the short story collection to come out this February, and especially the story featuring Jacin and Winter that's exclusive to the printed collection. I plan on scheduling a reread of the whole series sometime next year, so I can read them all in a row and find the things I forgot or didn't pick up on the first time around.

 

(also apparently there's a Target-exclusive edition that uses a collage of fanart as the end pages! I kinda want to hop onto the website and buy it, but I really shouldn't because I need to save last month's surplus income for December's rent )

[SweeneyxxTodd]

I'm catching up to my challenge so fast!! I'm only three books behind schedule according to Goodreads! Their count is slightly higher there since there are books I marked as read this year but have no intention of reviewing here. So there will be four empty slots at the end of my list in the first post, unless I manage to exceed my goal. Which is possible but improbable.

 

Update on what's to come:

 

-my review of The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson #2). I finished this tonight.

-my review of Welcome to Night Vale: the novel. Pretty close to the end. Tim and I should finish within the week.

-quick little blurbs about the graphic novel adaptations of Percy Jackson 1 and 2. I grabbed them from the library today. I hope they're better adaptations than City of Ember. Different artists and adapters, so I can't really judge ahead of time. Percy looks way older than 12 on the front cover of The Lightning Thief, though. So I'm not sure what that foretells.

[Katia11]

 

Anyway, in this last book we meet Princess Winter, the Snow White character and step-daughter of the Big Bad, Moon Queen Levana. She was my least favorite out of the main cast, not because she was unlikeable, but because she didn't have as much characterization. We spent so long getting to know the other three girls and their love interests, watching their friendships grow, that Winter just felt sort of tacked-on. She was the most passive, and had the least impact on the plot of the series itself. Her love interest, Jacin, we've seen since book one, even if mostly in the background, and he was an active character in at least half of the third book. So I was a bit disappointed that I didn't connect with Winter as quickly or as easily as all the others. However, that was really my only main complaint.

 

Overall, this was a very satisfying conclusion to the series. I'm really excited for the short story collection to come out this February, and especially the story featuring Jacin and Winter that's exclusive to the printed collection. I plan on scheduling a reread of the whole series sometime next year, so I can read them all in a row and find the things I forgot or didn't pick up on the first time around.

 

(also apparently there's a Target-exclusive edition that uses a collage of fanart as the end pages! I kinda want to hop onto the website and buy it, but I really shouldn't because I need to save last month's surplus income for December's rent )

 

this book was so worth the wait.

 

But I did relate to Winter very strongly and quickly. I thought it was a genius way to portray the original fairy-tale and yet convey mental illness at the same time.

 

I thought her strength was different then that of the other female characters, which I sort of liked. 

 

I loved the theme of being broken that sort of echoes Cinder's past feelings about being a cyborg. I loved the gentle way Jacin comforted her, helped her through them.  I loved the banter. 

 

I just loved the entire thing. 

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

(Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2)

 

Once again, Percy does not fail to entertain. And once again, I'm completely mystified as to why I wasn't interested in this series the first time I tried. They're a gold mine.

Percy continues to plunge into death-tempting quests in all his sassy glory, this time with a new friend in tow--Tyson, the six-foot tall, super-strong baby cyclops. And I loved Tyson. He was such a big sweetie, and his adorable soft-hearted and loyal contributions to the story always made me smile. I really hope we continue to see more of him in the future books, because it seems like things are taking a turn for the dark and we could really use his cute innocence.

I did like The Lightning Thief a little bit better than this one, though I can't find a concrete reason why. Probably just the fact that I had a harder time guessing what was coming next. It was up in the air what kind of monster or trap Percy and co. would encounter on their cross-country trip, whereas the Sea of Monsters has a pretty set collection of things they'll run into. Having read The Odyssey in ninth grade, I remembered quite a bit about what's in the Sea of Monsters, so it was really only a question of how many and in what order, rather than what exactly they'd face. But I guess for the average middle grade reader, it wouldn't be as easy to guess.

I hope the series continues to live up to expectations.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Assassin and the Underworld by Sarah J. Maas

(Throne of Glass prequel novella #4)

 

4/5 stars

 

I really, really enjoyed this novella. We finally got to explore the changing relationship between Celaena and Sam, and the effects of that. I also really liked getting to see Celaena back in her element--doing actual assassin's work rather than traveling around training and doing Arobynn's random bidding.

 

Kinda saw the end reveal coming, once Celaena was actually in the middle of her mission and got a look at the papers she was supposed to retrieve. I was mildly annoyed that she didn't figure it out on her own, though, and had to have Arobynn tell her what was up. But that really does fit in with her character, from what I've seen in both the series and the prequel novellas. Celaena's not stupid, but she is very narrow-minded. She sees what she expects, and doesn't seem to be able to notice quickly enough when things aren't what they seem at first glance. It's caused most of her problems (that I've read about so far), and I really hope it's something she grows out of by the end of the series.

 

Also, I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get to venture to the actual underworld in this novella. Based solely on the title and the mention of the horse-sized spiders that spin priceless silk in the previous story, I was hoping we'd get to read about some really scary, supernatural stuff and maybe venture into the remote mountains and meet the monster spiders that trade for dreams and youth and whatnot. Oh, well. Metaphorical titles are good too, I guess.

 

 

 

 

Gonna try to wiz through the 98 pages of the last one tonight so I can bring the book back to the library tomorrow morning before I head home for Thanksgiving. And I gave up on those Percy Jackson graphic novels. I give up on graphic novel adaptations of middle grade books. They try too hard to fit everything from one book into a single graphic novel. It just doesn't work. They cut things seemingly at random to fit the overarching plot in, and start so abruptly, and the character development is non-existent. The Lightning Thief really should be multiple graphic novels, considering it's long for a middle grade novel to begin with. I don't understand why that option doesn't seem to occur to these people adaptic these things.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Assassin and the Empire by Sarah J. Maas

(Throne of Glass novella #5)

 

My name is Sam Cortland and I will not be afraid.

 

Well. Congratulations on breaking my heart there, Ms. Sarah J. Maas. I'll just sit over here, with my heart torn in innumerable pieces, and probably never have it put back together again. It's not like I need it or anything.

 

*Ahem*

 

This was definitely my favorite of the novellas. It tugged at my heartstrings the most, and moved me the most with its artful bursts of emotion. I wish we had more than just three short novellas to get to know Sam. He was a very interesting and engaging character, very easy to connect with and to care about. He wiggled into that special place in my heart for book characters almost as quickly as Chaol did in Throne of Glass. I will miss getting to know him.

 

 

Finally finished The Assassin's Blade (the printed bind-up of prequels)! This last one got me back into the swing of things with this series and I've read over 200 pages of the third book since Wednesday. I expect to finish it by tomorrow night at the latest. Then maybe I'll take a break with a different book before tackling the 600+ pages of book four. And once I finish that, I'll be all caught up, and can join the fandom's anxious anticipation for the next installment in 2016.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Welcome to Night Vale: a novel by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

 

 

This was certainly a different experience from listening to the podcast. But I really enjoyed it. We got to know some of the other people in Night Vale better than we would have in the show, as well as experience the horrors and weirdness of the town through the eyes of someone other than Cecil. And saw that that weirdness really is just an everyday occurrence for everybody.

 

And, most of all, we finally know the truth about the Man in the Tan Jacket. I have been waiting to get to the bottom of his mystery for almost two years--ever since I first started listening to Welcome to Night Vale and binge-listened to episodes. The Man in the Tan Jacket is my absolute favorite character in the show. I can't get enough of that guy. So his playing such a large and important role in the plot of the book really sealed the deal for me.

 

My main criticisms of the book are these:

 

1) it's full of in-jokes and references to episodes of the show, which might lock-out readers unfamiliar with the podcast and make the book less interesting or understandable to them.

 

2) the writing style is really weird when it's on the page. It's done similarly to the narration of the podcast, so it was great listening to the audiobook with my boyfriend, because the story came alive that way. But before we purchased the audiobook and just had the hardcover, it was a bit hard to get into, because we just didn't have the same touch as Cecil Baldwin does when he's reading. So I can understand how someone who only reads the printed book might be a bit underwhelmed, especially if they're not avid fans of the podcast ahead of time.

 

But I stand by my four-star rating. For me, as an active listener of Night Vale who has attended two live shows and plans on attending more whenever it is financially possible, this book was great.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Story of Human Language by The Learning Company, presented by John McWhorter

(part of The Great Courses series, a huge collection of lecture series on topics ranging from science to philosophy to linguistics and more)

 

 

I found this lecture series really interesting and informative. I've been interested in languages and linguistics in a vague, distant sort of way for years, so this was a really good introduction to the deep well of knowledge and possible topics to explore within the field. It covered all sorts of areas in language study--from the way we can reconstruct earlier, long-dead languages and what the first language might have sounded like to artificial languages like Esperanto, as well as basic linguistic concepts like word order and changes in pronunciation over time. The lectures were fairly easy to understand, and most were interesting and engaging. I do wish that artificial/constructed languages had been discussed in more depth, though, since that was one of the topics in this series I was most interested in.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

(Throne of Glass #3)

(also my favorite cover out of the whole series so far. So green! )

 

This took me way longer to read than it really should have, but not because I didn't like it (I gave it five stars). I had the misfortune of hitting a reading slump just as I was starting this book. I got a little over 100 pages in, and had to put it down for about a month while I read/finished other books to get excited about reading again. And finally, after too much time without touching it, I brought it with me when I went to my parents' for Thanksgiving. And it was the perfect time because finishing up The Assassin's Blade immediately beforehand put me in the perfect mindset to finally tackle this book again. I read the remaining 400 pages in three days. 

 

It was emotional. Especially the last 50 pages or so. I had a lot of feelings about Dorian and Chaol in those pages, and I am very invested in what's going to happen to them from here on out. Which is really good and fresh for me, in regards to this series. I always liked Chaol (he's my favorite), but I never really cared that much about Dorian's subplots. He was likeable enough as a character, but even throughout most of this book, I wasn't really worried about what might happen to him because he was always so well cushioned and protected. Well. Not anymore. I hope we continue to see things from his perspective, because I have a feeling that it will be really interesting given what happened to him at the end of this book.

 

As for the other new characters we meet in this installment...HOLY LORD I LOVE THEM ALL TO BITS. Manon is such an interesting perspective, given her cold, detached view on things and the brutal culture of the Ironteeth Witch Clans. Her scenes were some of my favorites to read. She flew right up to the top of my favorites list, along with her wyvern, Abraxos. I didn't expect to like Aedion and Rowan much, but of course I was wrong. They were really fascinating as well. My heart broke for Aedion basically every other page, and I liked getting to slowly learn about what kind of person he really is, and how layered and complex a character he is. Same with Rowan. He spent the entire book butting heads with Celaena and tossing some much-needed criticism her way, really kick-starting the immense growth and development she went through in this book. And along the way, he somehow managed to become BFFLS with her? I still don't understand entirely how that happened, but I loved it. Celaena could stand to have platonic relationships with men that never veer into any type of romance. It freshens things up when there's a guy other than close family who doesn't care about or get distracted by her beauty.

 

I am so ready to get my hands on Queen of Shadows so I can be caught up with this series and (im)patiently await the next installment.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Flight Explorer, Vol. One, edited by Kazu Kibuishi

 

I enjoyed the Missile Mouse story included in this collection, but really, I feel like this anthology was far below the quality of the Flight and Explorer series that Kazu Kibuishi edits and compiles. The stories weren't as coherent, and mostly seemed to rely on the assumption that readers of this anthology would already be familiar with the comic series all these stories seemed to be based on. It just failed to live up to expectations.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

(Throne of Glass #4)

 

Well, damn. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up, but this was amazing. I was a little nervous about this installment, since so much of the readership seemed to be fiercely divided over whether this was a great book or whether it completely ruined the series. Obviously, I fell on the side of "this is a great book." I thought that I'd be able to see why some people seemed to hate this book so much but...I really can't. I mean, I've read a lot of the negative reviews for this one, and most of the complaints seem to boil down to people being pissy about Celaena and Chaol not being the canon romance anymore? And apparently Celaena developing a relationship with Rowan instead is so horrendous and out of character for every character in the entire book that they felt the need to rage quit the series and claim that the author doesn't know her own characters very well? Clearly some people don't understand that an author can do whatever she wants in her story and hook up whichever characters she damn well pleases, and readers will just have to deal with it. Am I upset that Chaol and Celaena aren't the main couple anymore? Yeah, kinda. They've been my favorite since book one. But that doesn't mean that Sarah ruined her series. This isn't some kind of shitty Harlequin where the romance is the entire plot. This is an epic fantasy. The characters care about romance, but they all have way more important stuff to worry about. Like the tyrannical King of Adarlan, and bringing back magic, and defeating the Valg demons. So people need to chill out about the romance and actually learn to enjoy the story itself, and the characters themselves, independent of romantic attraction amongst them. If you can't do that...well, maybe it's better you not bother with this series. Go read a contemporary romance or something instead. Leave this series to actual fantasy fans, or people who are capable of respecting an author's choices and not insulting her because she makes a romance you disapprove of.

 

Now. On to the story itself: I. Freaking. Loved. This. Not as much as Heir of Fire, which is still my favorite, but this completely blew me away. I was not expecting Lysandra to come back, and I was certainly not expecting her to be so different and more likeable than she was in the prequel novellas. When she first showed up, I rolled my eyes and prepared for a catty rivalry between her and Celaena like they had when they were younger teens. But nope. She cannon-balled right into my top ten favorite characters instead. Definitely a big surprise. Rowan and Aedion continued to be amazing--Aedion being a huge Rowan fanboy and a Shipper on Deck for Rowan and Celaena was hilarious. It was one of the main sources of comic relief in this book, of which I felt there was a bit too little. So many huge, dramatic things happened everywhere, and at times this book felt a little too heavy because there was less humor to balance it out. One of my other favorite sources of humor was how Rowan was so exaggeratedly attractive, that even other straight men had to comment on how good-looking he was. Even Chaol had to grudgingly admit that Rowan was hot. But my favorite funny momeny of all was the note that Ren left for Celaena in the spare room:

 

"The captain said I could stay here for a while. Sorry for trying to kill you this winter. I was the one with the twin swords. Nothing personal." (page 59)

 

I laughed about that for days.

 

Now, as for the developments that happened during the climax...I am completely stumpepd as to how the plot will continue on from here. SO MUCH happened, and everyone is spread so far...how will they continue to fight against the Valg? What will Manon and her witches do now? What's Duke Perrington's next move? What is the Southern Continent like and can the healers of Torre Cesme do anything to help? So many questions. Zero answers.

 

I am very eagerly and impatiently awaiting the release of book five next year.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

 

I've been wanting to read this book for months--since I first heard about it in a book review video on Youtube at the beginning of the summer. And it exceeded all my hopes and expectations. For such a short book, and one with surprisingly little description of the characters or setting, it certainly accomplished its purpose: to tell the story of a boy who needs to learn to let go. I got teary-eyed more than once while reading this, especially during the "I No Longer See You" and "The Fourth Tale" chapters. This book is one quick, precise punch to the gut, and it is so, so worth it.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

(Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3)

 

This was a good, solid installment for the series. I liked it a lot, and I really like how each book is adding more characters to the story and widening the scope of things. This book's additions were really interesting, though I admittedly didn't like Thalia as much as I was expecting to. Not that I disliked her. She was just...okay. Not the goldmine of fascination that Zoe and Bianca were. And not as lovable as Tyson--I don't think any secondary or minor character in this series could ever take Tyson's special place in my heart. But she served her purpose, and she wasn't boring or unlikeable. Thalia just got outshone by everybody else, which is kinda ironic, considering who her divine parent is.

 

Zoe was probably my favorite of this book's new additions, and I have to say, I really wish we would be able to see more of her in the series. But alas, it is not to be.

 

Also, Bessie was hilarious and adorable, and most of the plot of the book could have been avoided if Percy had bothered to mention the cow In typical Percy Jackson fashion, the important things are staring him right in the face while he's too busy questing. I'm really excited to see where The Battle of the Labyrinth takes us.