The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

She is the most powerful Jinni of all. He is a boy from the streets. Their love will shake the world... 

When Aladdin discovers Zahra's jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn't seen in hundreds of years—a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra's very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes. 

But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of Aladdin from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.


Rating: 2,5/5 Stars


This was a story that started with a lot of potential; beautiful writing, vibrant setting, funny and compelling characters... but soon, it got boring.



The Forbidden Wish is an Aladdin retelling with the Jinn’s point of view. After being kept prisoner in her lamp for hundreds of years, Zahra is finally set free by the thief Aladdin, who is set on revenge for the death of his parents at the hands of a tyrannical ruler.

Like I said, the beginning of the story was wonderful! The characters were amazing, both well-rounded and their interactions could be super funny.

I liked how, even though there were some hints of romance here and there, it wasn’t overpowering or heavy handed; Aladdin was a womanizer and yet Zahra wasn’t jealous or anything, their interactions were mostly friendly at first.

But then, the romance began and it came OUT OF NOWHERE.

I tend to cringe whenever there’s a character who is hundreds even THOUSANDS years old and yet acts like a silly teenager because… well it doesn’t seem realistic. After that much time you’re bound to change and have a different perspective. That doesn’t happen here, Zahra is (three thousand? Four thousand?) years old and yet suddenly she was blushing and stammering and feeling rejected for silly little things. It became annoying! We had a Jinn thousands of years old and yet she behaved like a sixteen year old.

The romance between her and Aladdin wasn’t believable to me because, even though they had decent chemistry, it suddenly became undying love in FIVE SECONDS. Not to mention how Aladdin had always been a womanizer, believing himself in love only to discover he really wasn’t and move on to the next girl. I don’t see why his relationship with Zahra would be any different, and yet it was deemed as “true love” and what not.



I don’t mind romance, I really don’t. But you need to show me why those two characters belong together or else I won’t buy it.

The plot was ok at first, but the author started focusing more on the relationship between the main characters and less in the main conflict, that left the narration feeling clunky and rushed. Nothing would happen for three chapters and suddenly BOOM! Everything unfolds in one, and then it went back to the romance.

There were also a few things I didn’t understand. Zahra claimed that after thousands of years granting wishes, she was very imaginative. Yet, when she had to fight instead of turning herself into a beast or something powerful and monstrous like she had done so many times before, she just changes her clothes to leather and makes a sword? How is that helpful???????

After the fifty percent mark the story got so boring to me, I had simply no desire to keep reading. The book is not too long and yet it took me forever to get to the end simply because I didn’t want to pick up the book, I was happy to let it sit on my table.

I didn’t like the ending or how things were resolved, as Katerina said, it was very HEA. And when I say very I mean TOO FUCKING MUCH. Things were solved way too easily and with little effort, it made it look anticlimactic.

Overall, The Forbidden Wish was a book with a wonderful premise and good characters, only the romance was insta-love and the resolution disappointing.

Blue Lily Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

The third installment in the mesmerizing series from the irrepressible, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.

There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.


Rating: 4/5 Stars


“What an impossible and miraculous and hideous thing this was. An ugly plan hatched by an ugly boy now dreamt into ugly life. From dream to reality. How appropiate it was that Ronan, left to his own devices, manifested beautiful cars and beautiful birds and tenderhearted brothers, while Adam, when given the power, manifested a filthy string of perverse murders.”

It’s good to find a series you can fall in love with, and I think this is what’s finally happened for me here.

However, as you very well know, in any relationship there are always bumps in the road. The first book I loved; it wasn’t perfect (nothing ever is) but I liked it enough to buy the entire series ahead, something I’ve NEVER done before. When The Raven King finally arrived (it had been a pre-order about thirty days before its release) I decided it was time to continue with the series and read the popular Dream Thieves, which was, as fate would have it, pretty much everybody’s favorite book of the three.

I took it with grabby hands anxious to see more on FUCKING RONAN LYNCH, FUCK YEAH!...

And I was… really disappointed by it. I mean, the author had an amazing premise, someone who could take anything he wanted from dreams, including nightmares, and for me the end result came out as a clusterfuck of boringness and annoyance. How can you turn dream-stealing stuff into that?? The plot was slow, the character development hectic, and the overuse of purple prose (which I had been fine with in the first book) became mind-numbing and infuriating.

Needless to say, I felt like crap. Here I was reading everybody’s favorite book, and I was once again the black sheep amongst the herd. The very lonely and sad black sheep.

I was scared to find out whether I’d like the third book or not, because if I didn’t then it would mean I had bought the entire series for nothing, and boy would that suck.

But then Blue Lily Lily Blue was so freaking amazing, I fell in love with the series all over again.
Of course, it wasn’t perfect. The plot is still going nowhere and even though the author likes to draw out long and overly complicated metaphors for her characters and the relationships between them, there’s still very little we know about them (something hard considering this is mostly a character-driven story). But I love it nonetheless!

Part of it was probably because this book was SO DAMN SASSYYYYYYYYYY!

There were a few new characters (and not so much) in BLLB and they gave the story some much needed humour and intrigue.


Ronan:

“Behind him, he heard Ronan say, "I like the way you losers thought Instagram before first aid. Fuck off.”

He was fantastic here, I still feel like the author is not quite sure what to do with him besides some family history and a little romance (but not enough, in my opinion) but I still really liked him; he was funny, loyal and overall wonderful. My only complaint (and this is something I have with all characters in this series) is that we don’t get to see enough of him.


Blue:

“Blue,” he warned, but his voice was chaotic. This close, his throat was scented with mint and wool sweater and vinyl car seat, and Gansey, just Gansey.

She said, “I just want to pretend. I want to pretend that I could.”

She was a tough one to judge, because as Jaz said; it looks like the author is still unsure on what to do with her and where she stands in the story.

On the one hand, this makes sense considering her characterization. Blue is a non-psychic in a psychic family. She’s surrounded by the magical while being normal herself, and the only “distinctive” feature she has is not even something that works in her favour, but in others by enhancing their abilities. When she is with the boys she has friends, but now school is coming to an end and she is beginning to realize that they will all go different ways and she’ll stay in Henrietta with little to no chances of ever leaving it or doing something “meaningful” with her life. So even with her friends, she’s bound to be the normal surrounded by the extraordinary. Blue herself is not sure where she stands in this world, which translates to her characterization; she can be flimsy and indecisive.

However, I also struggled a lot with her simply because I do not understand what the heck she’s doing with the Raven Boys. Her friendship with them doesn’t seem as natural as the narration makes you want to believe it is. She’s been warned her entire life about her curse, but the second she finds Gansey and his friends, instead of doing the logical thing and stepping the fuck away, she seeks them out and joins their group for no reason at all!

I thought this was going to be explained by book three, but since it hasn’t I realized that there’s really no reason; the author wanted this story to start so she just shoved Blue into the group and tried to make it work… somehow. But I don’t see it, so I’m always wondering what the hell is she doing there? What??

Not to mention that, as a person who was born in a family of psychics, Blue can be very naïve and stubborn when it comes to the supernatural. Traits that would be better suited for someone like Adam, who lived his life not being touched by magic. But with Blue, it makes her a tad frustrating because, C’mon! You should have known better!



Adam:

“Adam was beginning to realize that he hadn't known Ronan at all. Or rather, he had known part of him and assumed it was all of him.”

He was alright, I liked seeing how his character developed from book one in relation to his friends, as well as his idea of money and a better life. But ever since that deal with Cabeswater, it seems as if something is missing from him. Like, his personality or relevance to the plot besides serving that place. Whenever the author introduces something new and exciting and related to Adam and only him (like the thing with his father) she quickly dismisses it to deal with something else entirely. It didn’t help in showing more of the character.



Gansey:

“What do we do now?" Gansey asked.
From the other room, Calla bellowed, "GO BUY US PIZZA. WITH EXTRA CHEESE, RICHIE RICH."
Blue said, "I think she's starting to like you.”

Even though he’s one of the main characters and pretty much the leader in the search for Glendower (plus the whole thing about him dying soon) Gansey is the character I know the least of. Who is this kid besides his aversion to hornets, obsession with Glendower (which I still don’t totally get besides the explanation of the almost death on the ley line) and his crush on Blue (how did that came to be??).
I love him, but I want to know more about him. About all of them.

Overall, this was a great book, funny and with some cool twists and mysteries! I still wished the characters and plot was more developed, but a great book nonetheless.

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor's secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.


Rating: 2,5/5 Stars

“We looked at each other, and he sent me a message with his eyes. It only lasted a brief second, but it was a full, knowing look that said everything I had felt and imagined about us was true.”

EYES CAN’T SEND THINGS, THEY’RE NOT FUCKING WHATSAPP. 

Truth is I tried reading this book a while ago, but DNFed it at around 30%. Recently I read the author’s other book “The Adoration of Jenna Fox” and really liked it, so I decided to give this one a second chance. The first time I tried this I had several issues with The Kiss Of Deception:

1.The main character was dumb and gullible and starry-eyed.

2.Her best friend was dumb, and gullible, and starry eyed.

3.The two love interests were dumb, and gullible, and starry-eyed.

4.Basically, everyone was dumb.

5.Everybody loved Lia for no reason (see point above).

6.The romance came out of nowhere (see point above).


Now, after I’ve read it a second time I can tell you that all of those previous assessments I’d made before are still valid, but the writing style is beautiful and I enjoyed the few fantasy elements, so I‘m curious to read how the story will continue.

Lately I’ve had a lot of problems writing reviews. I want them to be elaborate and coherent while presenting good arguments for my opinions. However, whenever I try to do that they always come out forced and awkward, and it’s hard for me to write them so I’ve decided I’m just gonna quit and write whatever the hell I want, however I want it.


(Ahhh, the simpler times in The 100… does anybody else miss this?)

I think the key with this book is simply give up on the idea that this is a fantasy (it’s a romance set in a fantasy), that the romance will make sense or be well developed, that the characters will be well rounded and not dumbasses who follow their hearts and not common sense, and that you won’t want to strangle them (you will, trust me, you will).

Because if there’s something that The Kiss of Deception excels as, is at clichés and you need to get over them in order to enjoy the story. For me this was particularly hard since clichés are usually like kryptonite to me; they weaken my spirits and my will to go on reading.




-The Special Girl Who Just Wants To Be Normal:




This is probably one of my most hated tropes, simply because it makes no sense. I’m not expert, but I’m sure that like 99.9999% of the people reading this are not lost princesses or carriers of amazing magical powers. So I can’t understand, for the life of me, why we would all like to watch a character complain about something we’d kill for and give up everything cool in order to be A FUCKING WAITRESS.

READING IS ESCAPISM! You can’t give me a fantasy world where anything could happen, and have the main character be a dumbass willing to sacrifice everything to become a waitress and master the art of bed making.

Truth was, I didn’t even understand what Lia wanted to get from this. Yes, she wanted to escape the arranged marriage and the stifling life at court… which for Lia it meant grownups grounding her for acting like a spoiled child… which she was. But of course we’ll be subjected to her whining on how she’s so much better and capable than all the grownups there and that’s why no one can stand her!

I’m serious here, this is not a joke she actually told several stories in which she declared she’d corrected her own teachers while they were in class, and OF COURSE they couldn’t have that so they got mad at her and poor, poor Lia led the horrible life of being smarter, prettier and more powerful than anyone else in the castle *wipes away single tear*

But as soon as she escapes we see that she actually has no plan. It’s not as if she ran away in search of her dream or whatever. Pauline, her best friend and maid, takes her to her aunt’s? Grandma’s? tavern, and Lia decides she’s going to be a waitress and live her life being super normal! Like, it comes out of the blue and for some reason Lia is like “OMG waitressing is like #lifegoals !!!111!!!!!” but I didn’t understand why pouring cider or making her own bed made her believe she was leading a “normal life” or why that would be exciting?


-The She’s Not Like Other Girls stuff:

Do you feel that? Creeping on your skin and curdling your blood? That’s the feeling I get everytime this plot device is used and BOY was it strong in this one. Not only do I dislike it because it’s terribly offensive to all women (every woman is shit compared to the MC) but because it’s terribly lazy.

Look, I get it. Authors want readers to sympathize with their main characters, otherwise the story would have no future! When narrating, they want us to feel what the MC feels, to grieve when she’s in pain, to swoon when she’s in love, and for all of that to happen we need to make a connection with them. When it comes to main characters, the author needs to make them stand out, show the reader why this is THEIR story and no one else’s.

This is why this plot device is so fucking lazy.

Instead of creating a well-developed character (with this I don’t mean perfect, I mean someone who is flawed but compelling to read. Perfect characters are boring because such thing does not exist in real life) they make all other females look like shit so that, in comparison, the main character is not so bad.

Because when you think about it, Lia was spoiled, selfish, dumb, reckless, and even mean. BUT the characters kept comparing Lia to other court women and saying how they were all privileged, sensitive and shallow. They liked wearing pretty dresses and gossip, but because Lia wore pants, worked as a waitress and made some idle treats, she was fucking AMAZING.

“She’s nothing like the ladies of court,” I said. “She doesn’t fuss about clothing. Most of the time, if she wasn’t working in the tavern, she wore trousers. Ones with holes in them.”
“Trousers?” Jeb said in disbelief.

“The whole camp fell silent watching her. Unlike me, none of them had ever seen nobility before, much less a princess. She wasn’t the delicate fleshy royal of their imagination.”

The entire book made a fuss about how especial Lia was because she wasn’t like other royal girls who liked clothing or “feminine” stuff, especially Lia herself. She tried so hard to prove to everybody (including herself) that she wasn’t the spoiled brat everybody said she was, that she ended up proving the exact opposite.

She was a spoiled, selfish royal.

You can say all you want about those “other royal girls” but in the face of war, you can bet your ass they would all follow duty and marry to secure an alliance, even if there wasn’t love. Lia? She’s so selfish she runs away, breaks what little peace was between the Kingdoms and starts a MOTHERFUCKING WAR. And worst part is, she doesn’t even care.

Despite her claims at being smarter and more capable than anybody at the castle, Lia never bothered to learn about her Kingdom, the alliances they were trying to gain or the troubles outside their borders. Hell, she thinks the “barbarians” who have been attacking both Kingdoms for hundreds of years are nothing but a handful of smelly men running around in drags and that present no threat whatsoever, when in fact they’re a motherfucking force of nature.

The book tries to make it look like Lia is special because she defies the norms! She wants to be free! She doesn’t want to be a pawn! But the way the story is carried through, we see a quite selfish character who stomps and cries every time she doesn’t get her way. She doesn’t sound like a feminist icon or an admirable character, she reminds the reader of Paris Hilton. Or Ricardo Fort for those readers who are from Argentina *winks*

-The Insta Love That Will Make You Want to Stab Stab Stab

Yes, it’s no secret that this series carries some heavy insta-love. And it’s also no secret that I’m not a fan of that.

Long story short, the Prince goes in search of Lia because… ehhh… he… I guess he wanted to see the girl who ran away from the arranged marriage because he “wasn’t brave enough to do the same”? Because he really didn’t want to get married, so I’m still trying to wrap my head around why the heck he went after Lia… besides for the love story to begin, of course. 

Or maybe he was just crazy?





Then comes the assassin, who was sent to slice Lia’s throat so she couldn’t carry the alliance through and the “barbarians” would have a chance to win this war. But instead of, you know, KILLING HER the moment he saw her. He thought it was “interesting” that she was working as a bartender since no other royal would do the same (it’s not that fucking special dudes, chill) and so he decided he wouldn’t kill her right away! He would just wait until… emmm… ehhh…. Ahhh… he was in love with her and would be unable to kill her, prompting the love triangle and angst.

Because he’s that much of a fucking moron.

Both guys see Lia and are instantly smitten with her, they help her carry bags, talk about the weather and do all sort of shits they shouldn’t do when there’s a FRICKEN WAR GOING ON AND MORE IMPORTANT SHIT SHOULD BE DISCUSSED!

Plus, I still don’t understand why both fell for her other than she was a waitress and “Oh so special”. I mean, what about the rest of us who have been/are waitresses? *bangs fist against table* Where are our Princes and Assassins with their undying love????????

Also, it’s clear from the beginning that Lia likes one guy over the other. And when I say clear I mean not at all, but after a random talk about the wheatear, her best friend goes “Oh so you like the other guy” with no fucking indication of how she came to that conclusion or why it was relevant to just pop up with that topic after a regular conversation with a guest of the inn… but good for me, because otherwise I’d have had no idea of which guy Lia liked the most, even though I read from her POV.

“He bid his good-byes, and I watched him ride away on a horse as black as night, a strong wildish beast, even its breaths fearsome, as though a dragon lurked in its lineage. It was a beast that could splinter a stall and would never be mistaken for a broodmare. I smiled at the thought, wondering at the way Rafe had goaded him. They were an odd pair of friends.

When he was well out of sight, Pauline said, “So it’s Rafe.”

-The Incorrect Use of Body Part To Convey Convoluted Messages as Proof of True Love:




That was a long-ass title, but it was totally worth it. It was, don’t fight me. There’s no better proof of this than the sentence at the beginning of this review, I’m going to bring it back for you:

“We looked at each other, and he sent me a message with his eyes. It only lasted a brief second, but it was a full, knowing look that said everything I had felt and imagined about us was true.”

Just-look at this for a second. Not only is this a guy that Lia’s only spoken with in a handful of occasion over the course of… what, two weeks? And not only were most of those conversations about niceties and small talk, but in justone small look she’s absolutely sure that the guy is in love with her… at least that’s what I think, since I have no idea of what she felt and imagined was going on between them since SHE SAYS NOTHING EVEN THOUGH IT’S HER POV.

I don’t think I really need to explain more about this, right? It pretty much explains itself.

I know you guys must be wondering why, if I ranted so much do I plan to continue with the story? Well because fantasy guys! The story has a lot of promise, it just needs to let go of the tropes and lay down the romance a bit, and it could be AMAZING.

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova

Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.

I fall to my knees. Shattered glass, melted candles and the outline of scorched feathers are all that surround me. Every single person who was in my house – my entire family — is gone.

Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange markings on his skin.

The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…

Beautiful Creatures meets Daughter of Smoke and Bone with an infusion of Latin American tradition in this highly original fantasy adventure.


Rating: 3/5 stars

“Something in the pit of my stomach falls, and when she smiles at me, it just keeps on falling.”

I feel so thorn with Labyrinth Lost! On the one hand, it was perfect; the characters, the plot development, even the romance. The story had things that felt designed for me to love it, and I did! But at the same time, there were so many plot-holes and incongruences that made me roll my eyes and get angry that I struggled a lot with a rating.

This book has one of the most imaginative and rich worlds in YA literature, it’s fun, it’s creative and it draws from Latin-American culture with Brujas, Brujos and magical creatures based in folklore. It was brilliant, but I also think that in this first book it was crammed all together and thrown at the reader at random times, making it confusing and hasty.

I loved how diverse the characters were! It’s not often that we see so much of it, and so well represented! No stereotypes or archetypes, I loved how well-played this was. We no only get them an entire POC cast, but a bisexual main character?? FUCK YEAH
Definitely one of my favorite aspects.

The book does have a few tropes common in YA such as the all-powerful girl afraid of her powers, the magical discovery of said powers at convenient times to save the characters, even a love triangle. However, during the first half of the book, that didn’t bother me at all.

The author does a great job of showing Alex and her struggle with her powers and her family; how everybody sees it as a blessing, but she’s the only one who seems to know that her powers are a curse. While her family’s powers heal, hers hurts. It’s not a case of “I JUST WANT TO BE NORMAL!!!” but her fears are grounded in reality, she gets to see the ugly of what being a Bruja means. Same with the love triangle, it didn’t feel exactly like such and it wasn’t dramatic or angsty at all.

However, once they go to Los Lagos to rescue her family after a spell to get rid of her powers goes horribly wrong, everything started to go downhill.

I still don’t know what happened, but everything changed since then. The characters make dumb mistakes like going down a path they were warned not to go, doing things they knew they shouldn’t do, and trusting people they shouldn’t. I was sitting there yelling DON’T DO IT YOU IDIOTS!!!!! But, of course, they couldn’t hear me and kept on doing it.

Alex’s powers, although interesting at the beginning, became as an easy way to scape hard moments in Los Lagos without a scratch (kind of). It robbed the reader from the sense of urgency. What’s the fun in putting them in dangerous situations if we know Alex is going to come in contact with another part of her powers she didn’t know until then, and same them all? Why should we care if they are in danger when we know they’ll live?


However and despite my few issues, Labyrinth Lost is still a wonderful read, and I think the second book is going to be much better! Absolutely recommend it.

I was provided with an ARC of this book thanks to the publisher SOURCEBOOKS Fire and through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It Ends With US by Colleen Hoover

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

“People spend so much time wondering why the women don’t leave. Where are all the people who wonder why the men are even abusive? Isn’t that where the only blame should be placed?”

This book was nothing like what I expected.

I’m not a fan of Colleen Hoover’s books, except for her novellas with Tarryn Fisher. I’ve tried Confess and Ugly Love (DNFed it, though) and neither of them left a lasting impression on me. Add that to the fact that I’ve had terrible experiences with the NA genre, I wasn’t sure whether I should give this book a chance or not but in the end I got curious about all the glowing five stars reviews.

I should probably warn you that It Ends With Us has a very deceiving summary. Just by reading it I thought it was going to be about romance and a love triangle, but then you get to the 50% mark and HOLY FUCK it’s so much more than that!

There’s not much about the plot that I can say without giving away spoilers, all I can tell you is that it was heartbreaking, infuriating and beautiful.

This was by no means a perfect book, but it’s definitely worth a try!

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

Rating: 3/5 stars


How do I even start this review?

I mean, really, after reading dozens of wonderful reviews, way more articulate and heartfelt than I could ever manage, trying to get my thoughts out there sems kind of pointless.

But hey, I like sharing what I think of books, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is no exception, particularly since I had many conflicting opinions on it.

To be fair, when news came out of the eight book in the HP universe, I was unsure of how to feel. Let's face it, this book can be either REALLY good, or REALLY bad as it always happens with new stories being added to an already finished saga.
 At least, that's what I felt before reading it, and now that I'm done I can say that for me (and this is my opinion and nothing else) the book was decent, but it wasn't innovative or necessary. Many fans, myself included, have always wondered how the Wizzarding world carried on after the final battle. We got to see a glimpse of it in the last book with the gang all grown up and taking their kids to the train station, but nothing else.

I personally wanted to see more, but that didn't happen here. The story is written in play format which, even though it didn't bother me, it wasn't helpful in showing a meaningful story.
Several events were glossed over, there were huge time jumps that, although understandble since it was a play, it showed that we were missing a great deal of important information. The family dramas, the friendships, the problems... they were all set aside once introduced and discarted to pursue other topics. It left the story looking awkward and sloppy.

The characters were also quite OCC, particularly Harry. Hermione we didn't see much of and Ron seemed to have been relegated to a comic relief-sort of character with no other layer.

However, if there was something I absolutely loved, and I mean LOVED was Scorpius. My precious cinammon roll, he was everything and I love him. His relationship with Albus Potter was quite interesting too, and another aspect of the story that should have been explored more.

The build-up and revelation of the bad guy was, surprisingly, my least favorite thing in the play. It was so predictable!! Aaaand dumb, I swear I laughed when the revelation came.

In the end, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was not rage-inducing, but it wasn't a good continuation for the series either IN MY OPINION. The plot was messy, the characters odd and... honestly? I have read hundreds of fanfictions that have done a much better work with this world and the characters than this play.

A Thousand Pieces Of You by Claudia Gray

Cloud Atlas meets Orphan Black in this epic dimension-bending trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray about a girl who must chase her father's killer through multiple dimensions.

Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer—her parent's handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul's guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is far more sinister than she expected.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores an amazingly intricate multi-universe where fate is unavoidable, the truth elusive, and love the greatest mystery of all.


Rating: 1,5/5 Stars

"How could I have been such a fool? How could I have questioned for one second that Paul was dangerous? He killed my father and I still wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm never going to let a guy make me this stupid ever again."

I swear, this could have been the funniest thing I read if it weren't so fucking sad.

I feel the need to clarify, I was actually having a lot of fun with this until Russia happened, at which point I lost all respect and joy I had for this book. However, I’ve read several reviews and so far, nobody’s pointed out my big issue as their problem, soit might be just me. If you were planning on reading this book, by all means don’t let this rabid rant stop you.

Because MY GOD will I fucking rant.

Now, I know that a lot of people had problems with the romance in the story. I mean, after all the synopsis promises us “Orphan Black meets Cloud Atlas” as a girl travels through dimensions to avenge her father’s death (I’m still waiting for my Orphan Black, BTW). But do we get awesome dimensions? Do we get action and revenge???! Nope, but we do get a lot bunch of romantic angst, and I mean A GOOD FUCKING BUNCH of romantic angst in the form of a love pentagon and annoying characters making dumb decisions.
However, I had read reviews complaining about that so I was prepared for it, knowing this beforehand really helped me because I wasn’t disappointed or anything.

The story was kind of silly, but it was right around what I was expecting.

The basic premise is this; Marguerite’s parents are geniuses who invented the Firebird, a device that allows for a person (just their conscious) to travel in between dimensions. But just when they had finally succeeded one of her parents assistants, Paul, steals the Firebird, deletes all the data and kills Marguerite’s dad. So now Marguerite and her parent’s other student, Theo, will use the remaining prototypes to follow Paul and… well, get plain old revenge.

The concept was VERY promising, but like I said you’ll be happier if you expect less revenge and more “dumb-ass heroine who confuses her hormones with actual facts”.

As a main character, Marguerite left a lot to be desired. That being said, God, I really fucking hated her. There’s no other way to say it, really. I can’t think of one nice thing to say about her, but I CAN think of a thousand shits to complain about, so let’s start with that.

Marguerite was dumb, mind-numbing, makes-you-want-to-bash-your-head-against-a-wall-until-you-die, dumb. Even during the first chapters when I liked where the story was heading, I had trouble connecting with her. She’s rash, she’s dumb (I’m never going to stop saying that, so you better get used to it), she’s whinny.
She’s your typical YA heroine who is praised as “different” and “especial” when in reality she’s just your average selfish asshole who can’t stop going “Boohooo me!”.



You see, Marguerite is not like her parents, she is not a scientist, she’s an artist. So of course that just makes her absolutely stupid and ugly (don’t ask me how). Hardly a chapter went by without Marguerite comparing herself to her family both in intellect and in appearance (having curly hair instantly makes you hideous, FYI).

It was annoying, her constantly putting herself down so readers would feel sympathy for her while having all the characters (especially the guys, the only other females in the story were related to Marguerite) shower praises all over her.


And then, there's her being dumb (just like she wouldn't shut up about her being ugly or artsy, I won't shut up about her being a FREAKING IDIOT!!!).
Look, right from the beginning we knew that Paul wasn't really guilty; it was obvious. If you present a plot like that and then say in the very summarythat Marguerite starts doubing his guilt... you know for sure something else was up. The fun thing would be to find out what. Was he being framed? Was it an accident and things got out of hands? Was it foulplay??

Dunno! But it was something else to look forward to. However, we knew it was going to be difficult (whatever it was) because all evidence pointed towards Paul, so it's not like Marguerite would believe him out of the blue, RIGHT?!

"Tha astonishment and pain I see are very real. Some people are good enough actors to feign shoc, but shy, uncertain Paul Markov has never had that kind of game.There's no way he could fake this kind of horror, or the tears I can see welling in his eyes."

Paul:

 

I mean, SERIOUSLY??! And then,

"It hits me then, a blow more stupefying than sharp: Paul didn't kill my father."

Let's clarify something, when they discovered that her father had died and all evidences pointed towards Paul nobody cool believe it because he was the sweetest guy ever. But the evidence was irrefutable (even though we never saw it but whatever), so Marguerite was CONVINCED that Paul was some kind of evil mastermind, a psychopath and a monster that played them all for fools, that gained their trust and love in a whole year, all the while he was planning to doing something so awful. In her mind, Paul was a master manipulator and liar... BUT he seems kind of surprised when she sees him, so he OBVIOUSLY couldn't be the bad guy?!



IT WAS MORONIC and a cheap way to solve the main conflict way too easily. How to make Paul and Marguerite team up? Make Marguerite a BLOODY IDIOT who can think only with her hormones, and have her believe evil masterminds because they look/sound kind of honest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111!!!!!


The world building was, honestly, a bit disappointing. You have the chance to create infinite parallel worlds and all you come up are like, four? And none of them is very much explained since the action is always focused on the romance.

Speaking off, the romance was unbearable. Again, what happened in Russia was related to that and it was TERRIBLE, so bad it ruined the book for me. But the rest before hadn’t been much better, Marguerite’s dad just died and all she can think about is Theo being hot, or Paul who betrayed them all (but it’s still hot).


To sum up, A Thousand Pieces Of You was a romance with a love triangle (quasi pentagon), an insufferable heroine who was dumb as f*ck… and some dimensions here and there