596 replies to this topic

[Katia11]

Just finished Allegiant last night. Excuse me while I go hide in a corner forever. 

[Mara=^.^=]

Just finished Allegiant last night. Excuse me while I go hide in a corner forever. 

 

What was it about?

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

It was the last of the Divergent trilogy. Pretty good, but I thought it was a lot like the other two plot wise.. and then she ripped my heart out at the end and stomped on it. 

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

Ouch...

[Katia11]

yeah. pretty much. 

[Mara=^.^=]

I just finished I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga. The book stars Jazz Dent, the son of America's most famous serial killer, "Billy Dent". Jazz has witnessed unimaginable horrors thanks to years of his father's twisted "lessons", but he also came away from the experience with a keen insight into what makes a psycho tick. After a series of murders in his hometown, Jazz must go on a desperate quest to prove to the cops (and himself) that murder doesn't run in the family. All in all, I found it to be an A+ psychological thriller, with a chillingly manipulative and yet very human protagonist who constantly doubts his own humanity.

 

UGH I want the sequel so baaaaad, but the library is closed today. SO. LITTLE. PATIENCE

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

LOOK OUT!!! SHE'S ABOUT TO BLOW!!!!

[Mara=^.^=]

Catching Fire, in preparation to see the movie tomorrow. HHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG the capitol captured my Peeta bread D: D: D: D:

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

Catching Fire was my favorite out of the series. :-) And the movie is so close to the book. I was fangirling  A LOT. 

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

Looks WAY too violent to me... No offense, though!

[Katia11]

uh, don't see it then?  

[Mara=^.^=]

Finished The Glass Swallow by Julia Golding (the sequel to Dragonfly, which I read and posted about a few weeks ago). Although a few of the characters from Dragonfly made cameos in The Glass Swallow, the story centered on a different cast of characters...with mixed results.    I loved the female protagonist, Rain, but the book suffered from a terribly written male lead and a romantic plot tumor that dragged the entire narrative down. The story would've been way stronger if Rain's love interest Peri had been cut out entirely and all of his screentime (pagetime?) allotted to other, much more interesting side characters. Seriously, Peri had next to no consistent personality, other than being a controlling douchenozzle. He never trusted Rain to protect herself or make her own decisions, even though she repeatedly showed herself to be both insightful and capable - he tried to "rescue" her after she voluntarily left to enlist the help of some bandits, and he ended up shooting her by accident in the scuffle that followed. Like...what? And I'm supposed to be rooting for this dumbass to end up with Rain? No thanks. She'd be better off marrying Peri's pet falcon, for crying out loud. At any rate I was much more interested in her sisterly relationship with the country's boy-king-in-hiding and her daughterly relationship with Mikel, the gruff old groundskeeper...both of which remained sadly underdeveloped.

 

Basically, this book should have focused solely on Rain. I mean, this is a girl who survives after her companions are murdered in a foreign land, is forced to work as a near slave, has enough wits to secure food and an ally during intense civil unrest, and eventually goes on to be part of a team that dismantles a repressive caste system. Oh, yeah, and she makes awesome stained glass. Isn't that alone more than enough for a great story? Why did it have to be overshadowed by an unnecessary romance? I mean, don't get me wrong - I enjoy a good love story as much as the next person (I shipped me some serious RamilxTaoshira in the last book) - but this one was just so poorly crafted. What a disappointing read

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

What an interesting name for a protagonist! =) I have books I need to read, I've fallen so behind with the play. UH. 

[Mara=^.^=]

I've got like 10 books piled on my bed. Help yourself

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

I have three I bought about a month ago I need to read first.  

[Mara=^.^=]

-The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman.

 

The book stars a high school girl named Elizabeth who gets a job at The New York Circulating Material Repository - which is like a private library, except that it lends out rare historical objects and magical relics instead of books (ha! what I wouldn't give to work there!). In order to check out a magic item, you have to leave behind some part of yourself as a deposit, like your sense of direction or your future firstborn child. Despite these precautions, priceless and powerful objects have been going missing, and the problem worsens after Elizabeth joins the staff. As accusations pile up, Elizabeth and her coworkers must prove their own innocence by catching the real culprit.

Right, so...review: this is the sort of book that I would've ADORED in middle school. It had that lovely sense of magical realism, the kind that makes the reader think (if only for a split second), "what if magical places like this really DO exist in the world, hidden from ordinary people?". The first 3/4 of the story was the most exciting part, largely because you couldn't tell who was friend and who was foe...after the mystery was solved, it wasn't quite so fun anymore. My absolute FAVORITE part of the book was the portrayal of the magic mirror from Snow White - it would answer any question asked of it, so long as the question was posed in rhyme. And, while it technically had to give a truthful response, it always did so in the most annoying and insulting way possible. It hijacked the reflections of all those who stood before it, and made them do embarrassing, scary, or obnoxious things, just to get them riled up. In one particularly hilarious scene, Elizabeth and her love/hate pseudo-romantic-interest Aaron were interrogating the mirror, and their reflections kept hanging all over each other and grossly making out, much to the humiliation of their real life counterparts.

If I had to find fault with the book, I'd say that the protagonist never came alive for me. Even though narration occurred in the first person, Elizabeth didn't have much of a distinct personality. By the end, my only real insight into her character was "eh, she's nice I guess". The ending also left me wanting a better explanation; overall it felt rushed and unpolished. As a whole, I think this is one of those books that's better in concept than in execution. Would I want to have my own adventure within the world of the story? Heck yes. Would I want to read the book again? ...Probably not.

 

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

Just finished
"Across the Universe" by Beth Ravis. (:

 
How did I not see this? I read the whole trilogy. I thought Across the Universe was a stand-alone book, until my brother pointed out the sequel in the "new arrivals" section of the library (yay! Gio did something right for once!). I bought the third one the week it came out, since my library is generally a year behind with everything. On the whole, a compelling series, though the ending was a little cheesy.
 
~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[J/C AVA]

I feel like such a wuss cause I haven't read a proper BOOK in ages, plus it would take me quite a while to read just one. Meantime it looks like you guys read a few in just a few hours.

 

Of course, I'm over exaggerating so... *zips my mouth* 

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

I'll read a good science book a few hundred pages long in just a few hours!

[Mara=^.^=]

I feel like such a wuss cause I haven't read a proper BOOK in ages, plus it would take me quite a while to read just one. Meantime it looks like you guys read a few in just a few hours.

 

You get good at what you practice. Every. Single. Day.

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =