The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…





Rating: 2/5 stars

This is a SPOILER FREE review. If you wish to read a more complete one, you can check out my Goodreads review.

                    

Alright, first I would like to clarify something. I loved the Raven Boys. I gave them four stars, put them in my favorites shelf, I even bought the entire series because I was so sure I was going to love it!... I'm really hoping it was just this book I didn't enjoy, otherwise a very painful read awaits me.

My issue with this book was something that I talked about in my review of TRB, in it I said how the book felt both magical and cliché, unique and repeated. But while TRB was able to win my over with its magical writing and fascinating chaarcters, The Dream Thieves felt more like a poorly thought-out story whose author tried desperately to make it look cool by making it confusing and repetitive. Sadly, it did not work on me and I found myself bored and annoyed during the entire read.

Ronan:
Ronan was the indisputable character of focus in this book. I had found him interesting in the first one, and I was looking forward to seeing how his story would develop. You see, Ronan has a unique especialty, he can take things from his dreams. Did you just read that? Yep, it sounded AWESOME. Imagine being able to bring to life your wildest dreams, from translating boxes, to birds and other living creatures, the possibilities were endless.
Unfortunately, I don't think it was explored to its fullest and I was soon bored with it, even though I didn't think it was possible to get bored with making your dreams come alive.
There was something in the narration regarding Ronan that, although I'm happy to see in a Young Adult novel, I don't think it should have been given the focus it was because there was much more to the character. I wish we had seen more of Ronan and his family, especially his brothers. Not just mentions of his life before.

Blue:
I'm just going to say it because after two books I still don't understand. Why the hell is Blue with the guys?! The book is based between the friendships of the five teens, but I honestly don't see why they are together. Blue and the guys have simply no friend-chemistry.
Back in book one, there was something about Blue that bothered me and it has to do with authors creating quirky female characters who only befriend guys.

"The fact was, by the time she got to high school, being weird and proud of it was an asset. Suddenly cool, Blue could’ve happily had any number of friends. And she had tried. But the problem with being weird was that everyone else was normal."

This feeling was accentuated in book two, with Blue' behaviour towards her cousin Orla. Truth is, Blue is the different girl who thinks she's "not like other girls" and that makes her better. Blue's interactions with Orla consisted of Blue being offended that her cousin was wearing a bikini on a boat during summer and scuffing everytime she said something flirty. I was honestly incredibly annoyed with her, and I hated the comparisons that made Orla look like a "temptress" or whatever for being confident and therefore baaaad, and Blue being good in comparison because she covered her body up during summer.

Besides this, it made little sense that Blue, who ahs thought of every possible escenario regarding her prophecy, would not consider the difference between "if you kiss him" and "when you kiss him". If means she has a chance not to make it happen (which baffles me why she keeps drooling over Gansey) and When means it's going to happen and there's no stopping it.

Adam:
His character was hard to settle on. At first, i really liked him just as in the first book. Even here when he was more and more angry and distrustful to the point of it being annoying, it made sense.
Ada has been through a lot of abuse due to his father. He has never had people who actually loved him unconditionally, and so when someone offers him that he believes there's something else involved. When Gansey helps him, Adam believes he wants to own him because that's the only world he ahs ever known.
However, there were times when his character could go over the top and be selfish and self-centered, I loved how Blue pointed out that he sees her more as something to gain than as an actual friend.

Gansey:
He was... kind of there in the story. I really don't even know what to say about him because his character was not very present in The Dream Thieves nor was he relevant to the story.
I did like his relationship with Ronan and how from his point of view we could see how Ronan saw him as more of a brother than Declan.
Gansey's moments with Blue were cute, but after sometime they ended up annoying me. It became too melodramatic and angsty when it could have eben dealt with more intelligently by backing the f*ck away!

The grey man:
He was an odd one. There were times when I thought his character and his plot were very clever, and others when I wanted to cry because everything was so dumb.

As fot the story itself... nothing really happened and my God was it boring! Apparently something goes missing, inconsequential drama, it gets fixed. The end.

The Dream Thieves introduces new characters and more dimentions to its old ones, but it is plagued by a meaningless plot and drama. However, I was one of the few who didn't like this book so if you liked the Raven Boys, give it a try!!!

Children of Icarus by Caighlan Smith

It s Clara who s desperate to enter the labyrinth and it s Clara who s bright, strong, and fearless enough to take on any challenge. It s no surprise when she s chosen. But so is the girl who has always lived in her shadow. Together they enter. Within minutes, they are torn apart forever. Now the girl who has never left the city walls must fight to survive in a living nightmare, where one false turn with who to trust means a certain dead end."







Rating: 3/5 Stars

I was kindly provided with a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

“If Mother and Father were here, they’d make sure I didn’t get in trouble for what happened with Ryan. They’d want him in trouble. Father would bring him to the priest, and Mother would speak to his parents, and one or both of them would tell Auntie, and she would spread nasty rumors about Ryan and his whole family. They would each protect me in their own way, even if I asked them to let it lie. Even if all I wanted from them was a hug.

But Mother and Father aren’t here.”

I have mixed feelings about this book.

Children of Icarus is an entertaining mix of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner combined with a bit of Greek mythology. The idea was interesting, and the writing is compelling enough to make you want to flip through the pages constantly until you get answers.

The reason why I didn’t give this book a higher ranting was because of the lack of world-building, lack of answers, and the very frustrating main character.

The story begins at a fast note and continues like that up until the middle of the book, where things get a bit stalled. Our main character (who for the intents of the novel her name is not mentioned) is chosen to be an Icarii, a child between the ages of ten and sixteen who has the chance to enter the labyrinth running underneath their city, and luckily become an angel. Our MC has never been very much interested in being an Icarii, but it’s her best friend Clara who is desperate to go, and when the two of them are chosen they’ll face the labyrinth together, for very different reasons.

Now, I was a little disappointed on how fast the labyrinth scenes began, because we saw nothing of the world the characters live in. All we know is that their society lives in different buildings and that they all have similar dispositions, but the people living there have never left them besides the children who enter the maze. That, combined with how little we know of the relationship between the MC and Clara before they are chosen as Icarii, made those points shallow, and they are never brought up again in the novel.

The MC is very particular, I can’t say that I hated her exactly, but my God was she frustrating! And I know she will annoy a lot of readers. The thing is, the girl has very crippling social anxiety, and so my mind was constantly in battle; I have social anxiety too, I know what it’s like to stay frozen in a social situation or to stay quiet and hope nobody notices too, so I feel like I should have sympathized with her more. But at the same time I wanted to slap her and get some sense into her. The girl doesn’t do anything, ANYTHING. All she can do is stay frozen, stay quiet. Even when she is being attacked she can’t do anything. She survives in the maze because other people save her and take care of her. I was constantly battling with seeing her as a person who was in a situation she never wanted to be in, and who was overcome by all of it, to agreeing with the other people who thought she should have died already. Because let’s face it, that girl alone in a place full of killers wouldn’t have survived a day.

The MC can’t talk, can’t do anything but stay frozen and nod. I tried to understand her, but sometimes her reactions didn’t make sense, she’s so passive it hurts, and she ends up doing really stupid and hurtful things because of it.

“I can’t get up. I can’t even move. I’m frozen […]”

“When we turn a corner Ryan glances back at me. Seeing my tears he mutters ‘Pathetic.’

That makes me want to cry even more […]”

“’You haven’t said anything to me,’ Collin says. ‘Is it the shock? Is that why you’re so quiet?’

Again, I nod.”

“’What are you doing?’ as I ask it my voice gets quieter and quieter, but at least I get the question out before going silent entirely.”

Imagine this, but multiplied by a hundred. This is the inside of her mind, and I won’t lie and say that I didn’t want to pull my hairs out every now at then because of what she did, or more accurately, what she didn’t do.

What I liked about Children of Icarus was that the secondary characters were well thought out, they weren’t cookie cutter ones or clichés, they each had their own personalities and motives, and it was nice to see that the author put effort into them. I also enjoyed how none of them simply fell at the MC’s feet and worshipped her, like in so many YA novels where the secondary characters are simply there to say how amazing the main ones are. There were people who were sympathetic to her, and others who simply wished her gone because she was nothing but a burden.

Also, and this will please a lot of people. NO ROMANCE or hints of it. There was zip, zero, nada, not even a glance or moon eyes or whatever. There is nothing of that sort here, just a girl trying to survive.

The pace of the story is a bit strange. The action starts right away, and then suddenly stops, then it picks back again at full speed near the end of the novel. That could be confusing, but it was an indication at the author’s skill how, even though there was not much going on, I still wanted to keep reading.

I can’t say I’m exactly happy with the ending, the MC did grow a little but it happened too fast and the narration didn’t pay much attention to it. Something that happened in this book was that important events or even deaths happened but super-fast and with not a lot of indication that it had happened. When I read it I just scratched my head and thought “Wait, did this happen or not?” because it wasn’t clarified and then a few pages later when it wasn’t brought up again or discussed I just went “Oh so… I guess it did happen?”

The end raises a few more questions, but the problem is that instead of answering some and then raising new ones, the book doesn’t answer any question and adds more mysteries, so in the end, not much is resolved.

To sum up, Children of Icarus is a good debut by author Caighlan Smith. It has entertaining writing, although not enough world building and a frustrating MC that will be up to each reader to decide what they make of her.

Champion by Marie Lu

He is a Legend.

She is a Prodigy.

Who will be Champion? 

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position. 

But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything. 

With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.


Rating: 3 Stars

I just realized that the Legend trilogy is the first one I started and finished this 2016!!

                                                

I’m trying to read more than last year and enjoy the reading experience to its fullest (or at least don’t get too pissed off, even if that’s kind of impossible for me), and Legend was a good choice perfect for a fast reading, yet not devoid of any meaning or depth (although yes, the clichés and a few problems prevail throughout the three books).

I found the first book, Legend, to be an entertaining and fast-paced book, Prodigy surprised me with the depth of some of its characters and the political schemes. Champion was pretty decent, but it lacked something that a series finale should have and I actually preferred the second one, Prodigy, to this one.

                               

The book starts eight months after the end of Prodigy, with Day hiding his illness from June in order to protect her, and June studying to become the next Princeps.

Now, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Day in the last two books, not that I hated him but the way he treated June always rubbed me in the wrong way. For me the romance always felt very one-sided, Day had friends and a family (ok, now his brother Eden) he had an entire country loving him and it was clear from their interactions that, although he liked June, she wasn’t exactly his top priority.

But the thing is, June has no one left. Her only family is gone, she has no friends and the only person she has now is Day. From the last book and to Champion, June’s life was devoted to Day’s, everything she did was related to him somehow; her main plot at the beginning of this book is to convince Day to let the Republic test Eden so they can find a cure to a new illness. Then she has to deal with learning that Day has a brain tumor and is dying. All of her plot points and goals are directly related to him, she has nothing that it’s hers and hers alone like Day does.

Her support from the people comes because she’s Day’s girlfriend, her position in the senate is such because she has influence on Day, when she later becomes sort of friends with Tess it’s because they have Day in common and talk mostly about him. Everything in her life revolves around him, and I was saddened to see such a promising character being reduced to this sort of prop to lift Day up and make him one of the most especial people on the planet for no reason at all. It didn’t help with my dislike for the guy, either.

I think that, when it comes to series enders there are different kinds of people.

1.You’ve got the ones who want a happily ever after to every single character and are disappointed otherwise.

2.You’ve got people who want happy endings to some, and not so much to others.

3.Then there are the rare assholes such as myself who want the series to go with a BANG, quite literally actually, and want to see pain and suffering. We want to have our hearts ripped. This doesn’t happen here.

Something I found very disappointed (and that I’m sure most people won’t agree with) was that Day didn’t die. I mean, yeah it would have sucked if he did, but we ended last book with the promise of his imminent death. I was expecting something. It’s the series’ ending, we are bound to have a death or two, right?

Nope.

Not only does Day survive an impossible to operate brain tumor, two shots to the effing torso and massive blood loss, but he also gets to live happily ever after with fame, fortune and tons of chicks throwing themselves at his feet. While June gets just a really, really crappy life because she gets, of course, hung up on the first boyfriend she had when she was fifteen and who was with for less than a month or so. How is that freaking fair?!

I hated how June was treated here, I know that some people will see this storyline and be happy that she waited, that she never settled down and kept hoping for her true love to finally come back to her.

I’m not one of those people.

I wanted death, heartbreak and sorrow. I could imagine Day dying (because let’s face it, in real life he would have died real fast) and June grieving him but eventually moving on from that loss, because whether we want to or not, life goes on.

She could carry out her duties as a soldier and keep her nation safe, just as she has always wanted. She could have gotten married, or not but it could have been her choice. Her relationship with Anden showed a lot of promise, he wasn’t just someone who loved June, he also wanted what was best for her even if that meant sacrificing something himself. I was rooting for them to get together and then for June and Day to meet again those ten years later, each having moved on with their lives and being happy (I gotta tell you, I was sure June was going to be all hopeful to meet him and she’d find him with a wife and kids or something, now that would have sucked).

None of that ever happened. It hurt me to see June sacrificing her own happiness for Day, because she knew that he was still hurt due to the death of his family and she respected him not to pursue a relationship with him, but then Day leads her on and tells her that he loves her, only to ditch her after sex because he just “can’t forgive her for what happened to his family”. Day can only think about his feelings and how bad he has gotten things in life, but he doesn’t care whether he hurts June. What kind of relationship is that?

The action scenes were good, as they always are in Marie Lu’s books, but the plot fell a little flat. The first two had much more intrigue and several plots happening at once, this one was the illness and colonies attacking but not much else. I felt underwhelmed with it.

To sum up, Champion was not a terrible book or a crappy ending to the Legend Series, but it was disappointing in the treatment of June’s character and the resolution to the overall story.

Prodigy by Marie Lu

Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic's most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots - a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games?








Rating: 4/5 Stars

Holy shit.

This book was pretty damn good!

After finishing the fast-paced yet unoriginal, Legend, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to keep reading the series. I would like to finish it yes, but not because the last book left me wanting to know more, in fact the first book ended on a “meh” note for me since I couldn’t care less about what happened to Day’s brother (Ok I know I sound like an asshole, and I am one, but the author spent more time developing the insta-love romance between Day and June than focusing on the characters other relationships.)

However, I was pleasantly surprised by Prodigy. It still had its clichés, and the story tried to push the Hunger Games vibes a little too hard sometimes, but in the end it stood as a book unique in its concept; instead of trying to take down the evil government, why not try to fix it?

In dystopias, all we ever see are teenagers trying to take down the oppressing government that doesn’t let them do stuff like love or shit like that (why is it always love??), but they never really consider what it means to take down a government. What about the people who will die in that war? What kind of new government do you implement, how do you even know what to do (hey they are teenagers after all)? How can you be sure that you are doing something good by destroying the existing regimen? How do you know you are not making it worse? But in Young Adult, that’s hardly ever considered. The authors just think “guns!” “kisses!” “boom! Boom! Boom!” and that’s about it.

In Prodigy we get to see two sides from June and Day’s perspectives and for once I was grateful for the dual POV. Day belongs to the working class, he’s been oppressed, used and abused; he wants to end the government because of how much him and his people have suffered. But June, she was a prodigy! She had a good life, a great education, and she was a pride to her nation: she wants for the Republic to survive, but she also wants to make it better for everybody.

Both sides presented great arguments for wanting the things that they did, but I again found myself inclining towards June’s point of view; the republic needs to change, not to be destroyed. I think Day was just so caught up with his hate toward what they had done to his family that he was forgetting how many people would die and suffer if the Republic actually did go down. June knew this, and she wanted to make sure everybody was safe, she wanted to change the republic so that everybody would have equal opportunities, AND EVEN THOUGH the Republic had killed her ENTIRE FAMILY (unlike Day who still had his brother and Tess), she still wasn’t after revenge, but after a better country for everybody.

However, there were still some issues with the book, like how much it wanted to resemble the Hunger Games. First when the rebels wanted to make Day the symbol of their rebellion, I had to roll my eyes a little, especially with his whole “I never wanted this or cared to change things, I’m just doing it for my little brother.” Are you shitting me?? The Trials, although it didn’t feature kids killing each other, it was still a copycat of the Arena and the games, how it was used to keep the population under control and all.

Now, there’s a twist at the end that I did not expect, but that it makes me want to read the final book and see how it goes!

I recommend this for people who are fans of dystopias and don’t mind a few hints to THG here and there, but also to the people who tried the first book and weren’t sure whether they’d like the series or not!

Jackaby by William Ritter

“Miss Rook, I am not an occultist,” Jackaby said. “I have a gift that allows me to see truth where others see the illusion--and there are many illusions. All the world’s a stage, as they say, and I seem to have the only seat in the house with a view behind the curtain.”

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny.

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre.


Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

“When Chief Inspector Marlowe arrives, tell him he’s late. Damned unprofessional.”

 A young officer with a uniform that looked as though it had once belonged to a much larger man stepped forward timidly. “But Marlowe’s been inside nearly half an hour, sir.”

“Well, then . . . tell him he’s early,” countered Jackaby, “even worse.”

I really didn’t want to give this book two stars. I had already given Asylum two, so I didn’t want to go down on a two star granting-spree. However the more I read, the more Jackaby felt deserving of that rating. Don’t misunderstand me, the book was not bad, but nothing really happened, I got very bored, the killer was predictable, and although it was a fairly short book it took me a good while to finish it.

Perhaps the most interesting premise of this book is a mix of Sherlock with supernatural elements. We’ve got Jackaby, a strange, thin man with the ability to see behind the glamour of everyday life. He’s a Seer, as he calls himself, someone who sees supernatural creatures and investigates crimes related to them. Abigail is a young woman in search for adventure. After running away from home with her tuition money to go off to an expedition, she sails on a boat to America where she’ll meet the strange Jackaby and find a job as his assistant.

Jackaby was a welcome surprise, he was a strange character much like the original Sherlock himself, but he could be funny when it came to social situations. The character adds dimension to the story, but although I was excited for the supernatural element of these cases, the fantasy world was never quite explained; Jackaby would just give Abigail a weird look whenever she asked something and he would respond with “Of course not! That’s not how it really works” and then just walk away leaving Abigail like,

Instead of adding something to the plot, the supernatural made things confusing and slow.

As for Abigail, I liked her adventurous spirit, and the fact that she didn’t just want to settle into the time’s idea of a “proper young lady” was a nice addition; she wanted something else for herself but without sending her femininity to hell, like so many other heroines do. However, I never felt her being part of this story. It was as if Abigail was kind of… there, narrating what Jackaby did and being a “regular person” for the reader to see Jackaby’s strangeness, but she hardly ever participated in the plot. The only thing she had that didn’t exactly involve Jackaby was a light romance with a young detective, Charlie, but there was no chemistry between them and the second she met him she started blushing for no reason or get all flustered, it was quite insta-love. I wanted to like it, but there was no reason for me to do so.

The ending and resolution of the mystery was a huge letdown. Right at the beginning of the story we get a clue on the killer that immediately makes you think of a certain character, but it’s completely forgotten until the very end when the very obvious connection happens and it becomes a moment of “I can’t believe I didn’t realize this sooner” that left me banging my head against the wall.

As I said before, this is not a bad book! It has some very interesting moments and a few comic ones too, but I found it to be lacking in suspense, mystery and character development. I’ll try the next book and see how it goes!

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.


Rating: 1.5/5 Stars

                                          

Well, emm… I’m not quite sure what to make of this book. On the one hand, it showed great promise with the concept of an abandoned asylum being turned into a college and “scary” and mysterious things happening to its students, on the other it completely failed at delivering a compelling plot, fleshed or even likeable characters, create suspense, mystery and was pretty much a forgettable mess.

What happened here?

I’d wanted to read a mystery/scary book for a while now, and Asylum looked like a good choice. I get scared pretty easily so I thought there wouldn’t be problems in getting that spooky quality I was looking for here. Clearly, it failed, but it surprises me because there is hardly anything positive I can say about this book while at the same time, I didn’t hate it.

If anything I’d have to say that this book lacks passion. Everything, from the writing style (nothing memorable there), to the characters (all easily forgettable, interchangeable and sometimes annoying) where missing a spark. Asylum failed at leaving an impression, it didn’t engage me in the story or the characters driving it.

Asylum has three main characters, Dan the shy loner who struggles to make friends, Abby the cute artist who… is cute and that’s all that seemed to care to make this character since she doesn’t have another quality (who needs something else for boring insta-love, after all?) and Jordan the gay math student who is never given a plot of his own and is hardly seen in the novel at all. The three of them become friends for reasons that are beyond me, since they seem to fight more and be apart than actually getting along, and they’ll get caught up in a mystery of strange letters that… I guess are scary? Kinda? Oh and some murders who start happening at the 70% mark, instead of right at the beginning to make things interesting.

I feel frustrated with this Asylum because, if well I imagined the plot and ending could be predictable, the characters had the potential to be relatable and they all had things in common that could create a good friendship, but instead they are shallow and start being friends on the first day for no reason at all.

Dan was the one I could have connected with the most; he is shy and used to be alone, but he wished he could be more outgoing, to share more and have friends. I struggle with that too, I marvel at how some people can make friends wherever they go, how they actually like meeting strangers and the possibility of new friends instead of being terrified by it.

Yet the more I read, the more I understood why the guy had no friends; Dan was a snob. He looked down on everybody who didn’t think as he did, who didn’t enjoy studying as much as he did (even though the guy hardly picked a book during the entire thing!) or who didn’t know of “obscure” topics such as psychology and history.

Basically, he was that person who hates on things because they are popular and claims to have a better taste.

“He dared to be different, to challenge the status quo. Even if he was rejected for it. Wasn’t that a little of what Dan was like- scorning the popular opinion, the popular crowd, and aspiring to something more?”

He put his friends in danger of being expelled even though he knew how much the two of them wanted to be at that college, not to mention Jordan’s situation, and then he complained that they got mad at him! It was no surprise to see that Dan didn’t have any friends, it wasn’t just that he was shy, it was that he was selfish. In his mind, his friends were all about satisfying his needs, but offering nothing in return.

His relationship with Abby was more of the same. Dan becomes instantly possessive of her because she “makes his world brighter whenever she’s there” (even though we don’t really see that) but it never goes both ways; what does Dan offer to Abby? What does he do for her? Absolutely nothing. Dan always thinks of Abby as means to an end; she keeps him calm and loneliness at bay, but never once does he ever do something for her. He only backs her up on a theory because he doesn’t want her to be mad at him and leave him, but he always thinks that she’s wrong and is very condescending towards her.

Abby was the beautiful and artistic girl that seems to accompany every stuck up dude in YA books. She didn’t have much of a plot besides being there so Dan could complain on how gorgeous she was and how she had other friends besides him, not to mention to give the chance for some very weird stereotypes on artists that just make no sense.

“I actually hate the taste of coffee, but the sugar helps cover it up,” she admitted. “And you can’t be an artist and not drink coffee. It’s just… not done. Every installation I’ve ever gone to has either coffee or wine, so you’ve got to suck it up and deal.”

Jordan was a character that could have been interesting; he had become obsessed with math problems and something strange seemed to happen with him during the entire novel. Unfortunately, this is never explored since Jordan has only a few scenes in the book and they add very little to the flimsy plot. Perhaps in the next book?

The pace is quite awkward, and it doesn’t help that the characters make very dumb decisions. One moment Dan would find evidence that there was someone stalking him and his friends and instead of doing something about it, he brushes it off and decides not to tell anybody (including the very friends who are in danger) because… it might make him look crazy? How could that even work? It makes no sense and it drags the story. But when he has a theory out of nowhere, he’ll go down to the creepy basement where a killer probably lurks with no backup, no telling anybody where he’s going or what he’s doing.

“Dan knew it was not his best idea, sneaking into the basement by himself. To start with, the door would be locked. One of the hall monitors might be standing guard. But he wasn’t going to overthink this.”

He wasn’t going to overthink going to an abandoned place where his creepy stalker could possibly be at! Well, that shows a lot of brain dude.

The pictures where something I was really excited about, it’s not common for me to read narratives with them, especially horror, so I was curious to see what they were like. To be honest, most of them just felt out of place. At the beginning Dan says how the sight of the college freaks him out because it looks taken down from a horror film, but in the picture it looked like a regular building, quite pretty even. Then, there were mentions of patients, treatments and all kinds of things that could have made up for some interesting visual aid, and we got a random picture of keys or letters on some vintage patter. It wasn’t well put together.

The ending was super disappointing. I was hoping a few mysteries would be solved, but actually none of them where except who the killer was, and even that wasn’t explained at its fullest not to mention how predictable it was.

Overall, I’m surprised at how disappointed I am. I honestly expected so much more of this book but it failed in every aspect. I’m not sure whether I’ll continue with the series.

Waiting on Wednesday: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly even hosted by Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.

This week's book is:

A Court of Mist and Fury
By Sarah J. Maas

Publication date: May 3rd

Summary:

 Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court--but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms--and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future--and the future of a world cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

Why am I anticipating this book?

The first book in this series, A Court of Thorns and Roses was the first book I ever read by Sarah J. Maas and I really enjoy it. Fae stories are some of my favorites, and the writing in it was beautiful. After reading the Throne of Glass Series I'm not sure what to think of this second book (am I looking forward to it as much as I was before?... Maybe?) but I'm still curious to know more about a few characters!

What books are you anticipating?

The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

It's the accident season, the same time every year. Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom.

The accident season has been part of seventeen-year-old Cara's life for as long as she can remember. Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them, Cara's family becomes inexplicably accident-prone. They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items - but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-growing obsession and fear.

But why are they so cursed? And how can they break free?






Rating: 4/5 Stars

“[Alice] She doesn’t need the accident season, I guess. My mother does. She needs it to explain all the bad things that have happened to her.”

 

If you have read my reviews you’ll know I’m not one to regularly give out four or five stars. I do it with books I really love, or at least very much enjoying; those books that stick with me for some reason. The thing is, The Accident Season is a book that is open to interpretation. I see it a lot on my friend’s review, who’s rating vary from five stars to one; some people will love it, others will be horribly confused, others will be horrified, period. It depends on the reader what they see on the story.

For me this book began as a strange read; the writing was weirdly poetic, and the relationships between the characters were odd (yes, I’m talking about the stepbrother/stepsister thing), yet the more I read, the more the story unraveled into something else. It wasn’t the fantasy and mysterious book I had been promised… but in a way it still was. You see what I mean when I say it’s contradictory?

During the month of October Cara’s family becomes strangely susceptible to accidents, falls down the stairs, sprained ankles, broken bones and scratches. They don’t really know why, but they do know that this year could be the worst.

I loved how the book started with one thing, and slowly started to show its true colors. This book is about demons, about the people who have being hurt and the ones who hurt themselves. All characters had their own problems, but for me it was Alice, Cara’s older sister, who was the most interesting of them all, in her you could see the effects of an abusive relationships and what the person goes through. It was very real and the book didn’t shy away from anything.

“’I wanted to come home after the hospital, he wanted me to stay with him-he blocked the door, so I hit him. I started it.’

Now I can’t stay silent. “Because he wouldn’t let you leave. And whatever about hitting him first, he clearly hits you harder.”

Her relationship with Bea, Cara’s best friend, was beautiful and heart-breaking, probably my favorite of the book.

I wasn’t fond of the romance elements between Cara and Sam, Cara’s stepbrother. I’m just not a fan, but as we see their relationship develop I started to feel bad for them. They clearly didn’t want to feel that way and were ashamed, disgusted even, with themselves. What happens in the end is for the reader to ponder on.

The Accident Season is a book that deals with a lot of heavy themes for Young Adult, and I can’t say that everybody will like it, or even tolerate it, but I think it’s worth a shot.

Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes

In GATHERING DARKNESS, book three of the New York Times bestselling Falling Kingdoms series, the stakes have never been higher as three teams push forward on a race to find the Kindred, the four elemental crystals possessing ancient all-powerful magic, first:

Prince Magnus has just witnessed torture, death, and miracles during the bloody confrontation that decimated the rebel forces. Now he must choose between family and justice as his father, the cruel King Gaius, sets out to conquer all of Mytica. All Gaius needs now are the Kindred - the four elemental crystals that give godlike powers to their owner. But the King of Blood is not the only one hunting for this ancient, storied magic...

• THE KRAESHIANS join the hunt. Ashur and Amara, the royal siblings from the wealthy kingdom across the Silver Sea, charm and manipulate their way to the Kindred, proving to be more ruthless than perhaps even the King of Blood himself.

• THE REBELS forge ahead. Princess Cleo and vengeful Jonas lead them, slaying with sweetness, skill, and a secret that can control Lucia's overpowering magic - all so they can use the Kindred to win back their fallen kingdoms.

• THE WATCHERS follow Melenia out of the Sanctuary. They ally in the flesh with King Gaius, who vows to use Lucia's powers to unveil the Kindred.

The only certainty in the dark times is that whoever finds the magic first will control the fate of Mytica... but fate can be fickle when magic is involved.


Rating: 2/5 angry stars.

This book was very stupid and frustrating.

 

 Frustratingly stupid you could say, and it’s a shock and a disappointment to me because Falling Kingdoms was one of my favorite books! I loved the action, the intrigue and the twists.

What happened here? I feel like since book two things started to go downhill for me, or maybe it’s not a matter of the book themselves, but the fact that I expected too much from them? This series has a lot of potential and great ideas, but unfortunately the writing is too rushed to pay any attention to all of that; the plots are too predictable to enjoy, the characters too annoying, and the romance is suffocating. Even the romance I did like, like what I had seen between Magnus and Cleo in the last book, was ruined for me.

I was going to do a huge rant, complaining and fangirl about everything, but I’m honestly not in the mood. It’s sad that things have gotten this way.

You know what it is like to read a book and know ten chapters in advanced how things are going to end? Because I certainly don’t, especially when it’s supposed to keep me wanting to know more. The entire book could be summed up by saying that the characters did very stupid things, for reasons that are even dumber, to accomplish things that were unclear. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

Jonas:

OH MY GOD, ARE YOU SHITTING ME??! I could not believe the level of stupidity Jonas mustered in Gathering Darkness. Does a total stranger saves you and offers you pretty much everything you always wanted for no reason at all? Oh, he must be trustworthy FOR SURE! I mean seriously dude! You are really telling me you didn’t see Felix’s betrayal coming? And that whole speech about him wanting friends but being disappointed at Jonas… DUDE, this guy was manipulating you the entire time but the moment he apologizes and makes you feel guilty you all but feel bad for him?

And don’t even get me started on the stupid Lysandra romance going on there. There is absolutely no chemistry there, and I couldn’t care less about what happens to them. When the hell did they suddenly start to be in love and shit? THERE WAS NO BUILD UP. They were just kissing all of the sudden and that was it. Also, I hate it when the guy says that a girl looks cute/pretty when she’s mad, way to dismiss her VERY REAL concerns, asshole. You don’t deserve her.

Lysandra:

Same with Lysandra, though not so mad because I actually feel sorry for the complete annihilation her character went through. Lysandra went from being a (kinda racist and judgemental) Katniss to a shivering mess who bit her lip and was suddenly in love with Jonas. I actually laughed out loud when she said that the way Jonas looked at Cleo had made her mad with jealousy, because we never even saw it. Last book Lysandra thought Jonas was an idiot (and boyyyyy was she right?!) but there was no hint of romance, something I was very much grateful for. There were never moments like “She hated him, but wanted to kiss him.” Or stuff like that, now I’m supposed to believe she was in love with him all this time? Yeah, sure.

Cleo:

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE. MY ONLY SUNSHINE AND REASON TO CONTINUE THIS SERIES. What would this book have been without Cleo? I don’t want to know, honestly. With her Kingdom taken away from her, her only girlfriend a crazed sorcerer who tries to kill her, and her husband the very STUPID Magnus, Cleo has been the only character that I’ve liked; she’s determined, but not cruel, kind but not stupid. She is the only one who has gone through shit, and instead of feel sorry for herself and hate on everybody like Magnus, Lucia, Jonas and Lysandra, Cleo has actually a goal in mind and knows that feeling bad for herself is not going to do shit. She’s been the only one so far sensible enough to make a plan for herself and her Kingdom, and who actually cares about people besides herself.

However, and despite all of these amazing qualities, what plot does the author creates for her? Oh that’s right, a ROMANTIC ONE.

Because why waste time with great story telling when you can just spread that romantic shit all over the book?

Jonas I don’t even care anymore, but Magnus actually had potential. Jaz and I would gush about him and Cleo, and they were pretty much the MAIN reason why we wanted to pick up this book. In that aspect, I was left thoroughly disappointed. Their relationships suffers a lot from the same rush that the rest of the book has; not only do they go from zero to a hundred in a second, but it’s clear that the author cares more about the fate of her male characters rather than the girls and Cleo ended up being a prop for Magnus and his pain. It was his fault she was “defiant” (bitch killed her boyfriend, took her kingdom, and he’s complaining???!) and him being attracted to her? Her fault too! So, of course he had to humiliate her!

 

I want Cleo to be happy alone, or with someone who really loves her and cares for her, is that too much to ask?

 

Magnus:

Ugh, this fucker. Funny thing is, I actually liked the guy until this book but the way he treated Cleo was unacceptable. From the beginning he was an ass, we all know that he killed Theon and took her Kingdom, he has also threatened her, terrified her and told her she deserved to die (why dude? Why??). Now, apparently he has feelings for her, and what does he do? He sleeps with her “friend” and doesn’t even bother hiding it, he goes out of her way to make her feel miserable. It doesn’t even matter whether Cleo has feelings for him or not, she had her kingdom and family taken from her, she was forced to marry him (and he knew he wasn’t his favorite person in the entire world) and all this time, instead of trying to kill him or hurt him the way most people would, Cleo wanted to become his ally, and he repays that kindness by disgracing her in the palace and her entire kingdom. Not only is she married with the guy who took everything away from her, but he also ashamed her by cheating on her. Fuck you Magnus, sincerely fuck you.

Lucia:

Ehh… what can I say? You guys know I’m not super fond of the girl, and she wasn’t much better in this book. She was mostly around to be an asshole to Cleo, and be in love with Alexius, the very creepy ancient being who watched her grow up.

 

Overall, saying I was disappointed in this book would be an understatement. I had high hopes for this series, but they were just that, hopes that never settled into something concrete. What a pity.