192 replies to this topic

[SweeneyxxTodd]

In the middle of a lot of things.

 

Cruel Crown, the bindup of Red Queen prequel stories. So far, they fall way short of what I was expecting, quality-wise. The ideas are good, and the seeds of a great story are there, but they're rushed. I know that the author had very little control over when these got published and then bound up together, so I'm attributing their lacklusterness to the fact that she didn't have enough time to make them as good and she could have. I'll probably finish this sometime tomorrow and write a combo review of the two stories.

 

The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2). Currently ignoring this to finish Cruel Crown, which is shorter and on hold for someone else after me. I'll hopefully get out of my reading slump and whiz through this once that's done, and then I can head right into Blue Lily, Lily Blue. That's the plan, anyway.

 

A Court of Thorns and Roses (by Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass author) will be next. And then I'll try to stop getting stuff from the library and try to read down stuff I own/got for Christmas. Except for The Kane Chronicles, the trilogy by Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan featuring Egyptian mythology, which I'm listening to with Tim. So far it's less gripping than Percy, but we're only like 1/12 of the way in so maybe I wasn't in the right mood. idk.

[Mara=^.^=]

Go go Mary go

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard

(Red Queen prequels)

 

Queen Song:

2.5 stars.

 

I feel like this story could have been really great, but it fell short of its potential. Coriane was a likeable character, but she wasn't fleshed out as well as she could have been. It seems like telling five years worth of this girl's life in 55 pages was the goal, rather than telling five years of her life well. We didn't clearly see Tibe's apparent change in personality; we were just told that it happened. We didn't get to read very much of her diary, just were told that she kept a secret one. We saw very little of her "heady" romance with Tibe. The seeds of a great story were all present, just not allowed to germinate properly.

 

Steel Scars:

2 stars.

 

I really enjoyed learning about the origins of the Scarlet Guard, and how they made their way into Norta to be involved in the events of Red Queen, but other than that, this was fairly bland. I found it even harder to get into than Queen Song. Farley's sass was funny, but that really was her only likeable trait. She was blander in this than she was in Red Queen, and less enjoyable to read about. She's just one of those characters you really can't relate to, and don't want to. Again, like Queen Song, this had good bits, but it fell short of its potential.

 

All in all, I don't really think these novellas are at all necessary to the series. You can skip them and you're really not missing anything. I did enjoy the preview of Glass Sword a lot, though. It looks really promising and I'm excited to see where it takes us.

[Mara=^.^=]

This is why I usually skip novellas. I tried to pick up the "extras" for the Girl of Fire and Thorns series I loved so much, but I couldn't get into them. There's just not enough material.

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[SweeneyxxTodd]

All the others I've read have been good, though. I loved the Throne of Glass ones; the lowest rating I gave for any of those was 3 stars. Same with The Lunar Chronicles. I gave the prequel novella 3 stars and all the short stories 4 or more. They're good pieces. Because they weren't rushed out before the second book was even released. They came out as the writer had time to flesh out the ideas well.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

(The Raven Cycle book two)

This series has such pretty covers! They're kinda like a luster/sparkle finish. Super beautiful IRL.

 

5 stars

 

This was a little hard to get into at first, compared to the first book, but once it got rolling it got rolling hard. I ended up reading the majority of the book in about three sittings after that point.

 

The main reason why I found it slower and harder to get invested in at the beginning was because of the introduction of Ronan as a POV character. He's not the easiest to relate to, though he did grow on me as the book went on. I still wouldn't classify him as a particularly likeable character, but I definitely did like him a lot more in this installment than I did in The Raven Boys. I'm not sure if that's because I got to see inside his head or if it's because of his character growth. Maybe a little bit of both.

 

In the end, though, this book was fantastic. Just as good as the first, if not better. I liked the addition of The Gray Man to the cast. It carried on the tradition of having an antagonist for a POV character, while also being more interesting and enjoyable to read about than Whelk. I also liked Blue's psychic family playing a larger role in the overall plot than they did in the first book, where they were almost entirely in the background. I hope they continue to increase in prominence, because I really like them. Especially Calla. She's great.

 

I can't wait to pick up book three.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

I decided to pick up Stars Above (the collection of Lunar Chronicles extras) and read the five new stories exclusive to the bindup before picking up A Court of Thorns and Roses (the first in Sarah J. Maas' new series), which is due back at the library next Thursday. I've already maxed out my renews on that one, so I need to read it swiftly.

 

Anyway. I've read two of the five new stories so far. I'm putting the book down for the night, but since they're not that long and I don't work tomorrow, I'm expecting to finish them before this time tomorrow night. I'll review them all together in one entry.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

Collection of Lunar Chronicles short stories, and an epilogue to the last book, Winter.

 

Appreciate that beautiful cover, guys. Appreciate it!

 

Ahem. Let's get started.

 

4.5/5 total--averaging out the ratings I gave to all the stories individually.

 

So, I only read the five stories in here that are exclusive to this bindup, because I've read all the others online or on my nook over the past three years.

 

Oh my gooodddd. It was beautiful. I finally got to hold a physical Lunar Chronicles book in my hands. All of the other books are on my Nook, so just being able to feel the pages between my fingers and play with the dust jacket was amazing. God I love this series.

 

As for the actual stories inside, here are my quick thoughts on each of them.

 

The Keeper:

I really liked this one! It was interesting to get the viewpoint of Scarlet's grandmother Michelle, who has maybe two scenes in the entire series, despite being Scarlet's entire motivation for her actions in the second book. She is such an important character to the history of the book's world--literally changed the course of history--but we don't see much of her. Until now! I've been itching to get this story into my hands since it was announced, and even more so once I got to read an excerpt back in November. I loved it--getting to see Michelle's character be developed further, as well as seeing her anxiety and all the fear she dealt with for years just to do something she knew was right. Also, little kid/tween Scarlet was funny.

4/5 stars

 

After Sunshine Passes By:

One of the shorter stories, but probably my favorite one (excluding that epilogue, of course). In this one, we get to see adorable little kid Cress as she's given her assignment to spy on Earth and placed in her satellite. Her naivety was both heartwarming and heartbreaking, since those who've read the series will alraedy know exactly what's coming for her all the while she's humming to herself and staring excitedly at Earth in the window of the spaceship. I sort of wish we'd gotten more of this, but I understand why it was so short. It was about that moment when Cress realized the truth about her mission, and nothing more. Making it longer would have dragged it out, ruining the impact.

4/5 stars

 

The Princess and the Guard:

I wasn't expecting to like this one as much, since Winter and Jacin are my least favorites out of the cast of main characters. But this story was really impactful in how it showed Winter's character development, from well-intentioned but single-minded young child into the almost unbelievably sweet basket case she is in Winter. I actually liked her a lot better in this story than in the fourth book, because I got to see how she came to be who she is now. She had to deal with quite a bit of tragedy and cold wakeup calls in that Lunar Palace, moreso than any child should ever be expected to.

4/5 stars

 

The Mechanic:

This is literally just the first scene of Cinder from Kai's perspective. I was a little wary of it, because usually retelling all or part of a book from the love interest's perspective comes out terribly but I should not have doubted. This is Marissa Meyer we're talking about, afterall, and Kai is definitely no "just a love interest." He's a main character in his own right and contributed quite a bit to overthrowing Levana over the course of the series. This story just gave us Kai's inner monologue from his first meeting with Cinder. And wow. I don't remember him being that much of an adorable dork in the first book. Probably because the majority of it--including this scene--was from Cinder's perspective and she's a bit rougher around the edges than he is. This story was short, sweet, and cute. I'm glad it came out so well. Will never doubt Marissa Meyer ever again.

4/5 stars

 

Something Old, Something New:

The promised epilogue!! I had a lot of feelings while reading this one, especially whenever Carswell Thorne was on screen. Or mentioned. Or implied in the sligtest way. He is my all-time favorite character in this series. I laugh or smile every single time that wonderful man opens his mouth. He really steals scenes, and he deserves it because he's precious and hilarious and usually completely ridiculous.

 

The wedding featured wasn't the one I was expecting it to be. Which is good, because I got a surprise. Also because it seemed more fitting, somehow, than the couple I was expecting it to be. This made me excited to reread the series this year, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. There are so many unopened TBRs I should probably at least attempt to read first.

5/5 stars.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Dipper's (& Mabel's) Guide to Mystery (& Non-Stop Fun!) by Rob Renzetti, Shane Houghton, Alex Hirsch, and Stephanie Ramirez

 

5 stars

 

This was a great little book that any fan of the show will love. It's short and captures the voices of the characters perfectly, so it's easy to squeeze in between other things you have to do. You can just read a couple of pages at a time, since it's not a continuous narrative. I'm glad I read this after watching the series finale. It gave me something new to look forward to about Gravity Falls, and has made me even more excited for Journal 3 to be released this summer.

 

I really enjoyed getting to crack the codes that pop up throughout the book, though I'm going to have to go online to learn how to crack Bill's symbol substitution cipher, since there wasn't a decoder anywhere in the book. I also liked the little activities included in here, like how to make a solar eclipse viewer, as well as the commentary that Soos provided alongside it. If I ever make an eclipse viewer, I will have to make sure I don't use it for a lunar eclipse. Don't wanna turn into a werewolf afterall

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Firelight (Amulet vol. 7) by Kazu Kibuishi

 

4/5 stars

 

This installment had a great ending. I remember last summer when I read the bulk of the series, I was disappointed with the ending of Escape From Lucien, feeling that it didn't quite pack as much of an emotional punch as it could because there was little suspense about whether the characters would be alright--we were shown a few pages after the main action of the story to show us that Navin and the others were okay. But this book learned from that mistake. The ending here is tense and suspenseful and tight. All great things.

 

The artwork in this was also stunning, even more so than the others. There were a lot of full-page shots, and even quite a few two-page shots that really captured the atmosphere of the story and the world we've been thrown into in this series. I frequently paused while reading just to stare at the artwork.

 

Overall, very solid installment. I'm really interested to see where Kazu Kibuishi is taking this story, since this book completely twisted the direction into all new territory. I wasn't expecting anything that happened in this book.

 

This has been out less than a month and I already wish it was time for volume 8 to be released.

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

I remember the same anxious feeling when I was waiting for Volume 16, the final one, of Dengeki Daisy to come out, cuz it had ended on a HUGE cliffhanger, and I just HAD to know if the main 3 characters were gonna be okay due to a major catastrophe that had happened and they were smack dab in the middle of it!!

What rating would you give this most recent one you've read??

[SweeneyxxTodd]

5 stars to the Gravity Falls one, 4 stars to Amulet.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:
 

 

Explorer: The Hidden Doors, edited and compiled by Kazu Kibuishi

 

4 stars

 

A lot of great artwork in this one. The stories were all fun or interesting, but I still think that the first volume (The Mystery Boxes) has the highest quality stories overall. I really enjoyed Kazu Kibuishi's story, which opened up the collection. It was the most thought-provoking and had gorgeous colorwork as always. I also really enjoyed The Giants Kitchen and Two Person Door by Jason Caffoe and Faith Erin Hicks, respectively. Both had fantastic artwork and compelling characters.

I hope this anthology continues to come out with installments. They're always good, quick reads and provide a nice introduction to different artists.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Cycle #3

Definitely my favorite cover from the series. Second favorite is for the fourth book, which is coming out in April.

 

5 stars

 

This series just keeps getting better and better! I loved this book. It was so much fun to immerse myself in for a few days.

 

One of my favorite things about this series is that, despite one of the main points being that Blue is cursed to kill her true love if she kisses him, romance really isn't all that important to the plot. It's there, certainly, and it's important to the characters, but the focus really is on what they're all striving for: finding Owen Glendower, waking him up, and cashing in on their favor. Along with all the other random paranormal weirdness that crops up around them, like the dream creatures, and the other sleepers, and mirrors. Cool, vaguely creepy, and very atmospheric stuff.

 

Adam's big discovery at the general store around 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the book was almost as heart-pounding and surprising as Blue and Gansey's finding in the churchyard back in book one. It took me a while to make sense of it--I kept wondering if I was supposed to have caught on during the earlier parts of the scene instead of being caught off guard like I was. Top-notch storytelling, here.

 

On that note, I really like Adam's character arc. He's gone through a lot of changes over the course of the series, possibly more than anybody else. He's becoming so much more layered than he was when we first met him and it's really great. I don't think I like him much as a character, overall, as some of the others, but I really appreciate how much he's grown and developed. Same with Ronan--I certainly wouldn't like him much if he was a real person, he's so damn funny on the page. And it's great to see that he does put in an effort to be a good person, even if he doesn't really know how and hurts some feelings along the way. He's got quite the baggage load for someone his age and could really benefit from some therapy.

 

Malory wasn't quite what I was expecting, and I feel like he wasn't really all that necessary to the plot. He could have stayed in England and had the same impact. I'm not really sure what the point of bringing him to visit for a while was. I did really like that the adult characters continue to grow in influence and significance. They're clearly very important to Blue and the Raven Boys, and it's clear that they really respect them and feel comfortable seeking help and advice. That isn't always done in YA and it's nice to see.

 

I can't wait for The Raven King to come out next month.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Tale of Azula (Earth Kingdom Chronicles, #2), by Michael Teitelbaum

 

Short, sweet, and just like the other books in this series: a children's novelization of important plot points in the second season. I didn't like this as much as the others I've read (all but The Tale of Aang). Azula's tale just seemed a bit more rushed, I think. I remember Toph, Sokka, Katara, and Zuko's tales including some extra scenes or characterization that this one just didn't have. I don't know if that's because they were later in the series and the writer had hit his groove, or if I just don't remember because I haven't read them in five or six years.

 

I am disappointed that this book didn't include the tear-out 3D comic and 3D glasses like the four later ones do. I got this book used from PaperBackSwap, but even so, I didn't see any sign of a previously removed bonus comic. That were probably my favorite feature of the later books.

 

Anyway. This was a fun litle distraction from my other reading, which I've been having trouble concentrating on due to the onset of a slump. Great for Avatar fans, especially young ones.

 

3 stars.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:
 

 
East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales From the North, by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, and Kay Nielsen
 
An interesting collection of old Scandinavian fairy tales. My favorite was definitely East of the Sun, West of the Moon. It was one of the more original of the tales in this book--many of them were so similar to each other they might was well have been the same story. But my second favorite was "The Cat of Dovrefell," about a man who caught a polar bear and stayed overnight in a cottage in the woods, which was overrun with trolls every Christmas Eve, who thought the bear was a cat and were so afraid of it they never came back to the cottage again. It was really short and bizarre, and I've never read a story quite like it before.

 

4 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Monstress #1 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

 

The first single-issue comic book I've ever read!

 

3.5 stars

 

Basically, this follows a young woman named Maika who is an Arcanic (some sort of humanoid race with magic powers), but she looks human. And she's recently been sold into slavery to  a convent of witch nuns, all in order to find some woman who betrayed her mother and possibly caused her murder five years ago. She also might have some sort of monster in her mind that tries to force her to be a cannibal?

 

The artwork in this is absolutely stunning. The colors are rich and the blocking is done very well. I am, however, somewhat confused by what's happening in this story. Maybe it will all make more sense once I've read more issues, but this first one had quite a lot of flashbacks that didn't really add much to the story and probably caused most of my confusion. I just found this to be a bit hard to follow at times. Maybe once I orient myself into this world, I'll be less confused.

 

That two-tailed cat looks like quite the promising character, though. "To quote the poets...we're fucked." 

 

[Katia11]

you guys (you and mara) got me to do this too. :-) I don't dare write reviews, but I want you guys to know I'm participating too.  

[Mara=^.^=]

You should at least give a star rating for each book you read! Plus maybe a one word reaction. "Exciting", "sobering", "sad", "romantic!" etc.

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[SweeneyxxTodd]

you guys (you and mara) got me to do this too. :-) I don't dare write reviews, but I want you guys to know I'm participating too.

 

Join us, Katie! Joiiiiinnn ussssss....