Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer

Release Date: January 5th 2012

Publisher: Puffin

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia, Sci-fy

Series: The Luna Chronicles

Pages: 387

Format: Paperback

Source: Library 

Rating: ★★★★ 

"Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future." Source Goodreads

Cinder is Marissa Meyer's debut novel which was released early this year. I had been very curious to find out what all that early hype had been about so when I spotted it in my local library I sprinted for my chance to read it. And I've got to say that I wasn't disappointed... much. 

Now as you are already aware Cinder is a re-telling of the fairytale Cinderella so predictability is kind of a given when embarking on this read, but what I didn't expect was quite how much. Which is unfortunately the only thing that let me down about this book. The plot was very original especially when you take into account that it's a retelling. Cyborgs, a plague, Luna's and talking robots with "faulty" personality chips were just a few of the wonderful aspects that Meyer threw into her story that left me begging for more. But all those "big" plot twists were mentioned in some way or another, in extremely close proximity to Cinder that by the time they turn up I was left thinking, "yeah? and?" Saying that Meyer's writing was so utterly addictive that I didn't care I just needed to keep reading about her amazing characters. 

Those said characters were fantastic. Cinder was a perfect main character with the perfect amount of strength and stupidity to make you fall in love with her over and over again. She faced a tough life growing up with only one great friend to keep her going, who I think it's safe to say was the best character in the whole book, Iko. Now Iko's not your typical friend she is in fact a robot, but I challenge anyone to defy her charm. This character had me laughing out loud on numerous occasions! 

I wont go into too much detail about this story but what I will say is that as soon as I finished reading Cinder I was left wanting more. This book was fantastic. The writing style was just wonderful and so easy to follow and absorb entirely that it somehow brought each character to life in a way I've never read before. The plot was wonderful (though predictable) and I cannot wait for the sequel which is due for release Feb 2012. I'm already on the count down. I'm hoping that this one is a little less predictable, but as long as I get to meet Cinder, Iko and the Prince again I think I'll be ok. haha. 

A definite 4 out of 5 star rating for Cinder and a book recommendation that I'm sure readers from all ages will enjoy. Lets just say I lent this to my Mum first and she's still moaning about how long she's got to wait until the next one. haha. I should mention that I forgot to tell her that it was the first in a series. Ooops, my bad. I just assumed that she would know, it is YA after all. 

Happy reading guys, and I hope you get around to reading this one soon. 

Katie 

Book Haul # 10 | 06/05/2012

This really should have gone up yesterday, and though the video did I forgot all about the blog post. Bad blogger, bad blogger! I had a great book week this week but it has also encouraged me to place myself on a firm book buying ban. So far the rules are to read 10 books before I can buy anymore. This could increase at any point but will never decrease. Anyone care to join me? No...? I don't blame you. 

Anyway here are the books I've bought this week:

Sea Glass - Maria V Snyder 

Storm Glass - Maria V Snyder 

Prey - Rachel Vincent

Stray - Rachel Vincent

Rogue - Rachel Vincent

Shift - Rachel Vincent

Pride - Rachel Vincent

Beastly - Alex Flinn 

Supernaturally - Kiersten White 

All the Things I've Done - Gabrielle Zevin 

The Immortal Rules - Julie Kagawa 

Insurgent - Veronica Roth 

Happy Reading! 

Katie

Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium 

Author: Lauren Oliver 

Release Date: March 1st 2012

Publisher: Hodder

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia

Series: Delirium

Pages: 329

Format: Hardback

Rating: ★★★★

"I’m pushing aside 
the memory of my nightmare, 
pushing aside thoughts of Alex, 
pushing aside thoughts of Hana 
and my old school, 
push, 
push, 
push, 
like Raven taught me to do. 
The old life is dead. 
But the old Lena is dead too. 
I buried her. 
I left her beyond a fence, 
behind a wall of smoke and flame. " Source Goodreads

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Now because this book is the second in a series it means that I cannot discuss or review it without spoiling the first book, Delirium. So if you've not yet read Delirium please save this post and come back to it once you've read it, ok? Ok. Now everyone still reading this has read Delirium or doesn't really care about spoilers?

Pandemonium continues where Delirium left off with that killer cliff hanger. Yep, you know the one where we don't know if Alex has survived. Except we're still unsure as to what has happened to our beloved character. We continue to follow Lena's journey after her decision to escape to the wilds with the  wonderful writing style of alternating chapters between the past and the present, continuously keeping you on the edge of your seat with the need to keep reading just to find out what's going on. 

The story has developed in the present with Lena moving back to the city, still uncured and working undercover to discover more about the government and it's plans, but with scenes flipping back to the past as Lena learns to adapt to life in the wilds.

We meet many more characters in Pandemonium all of which quickly force their way into your heart and not always with that happy ending. We watch our main character Lena's grow from someone weak in both body and mind to someone brave and very determined. I've always personally liked Lena's character but her strength within this book takes that to a whole new level.

I have got to say that the romance within Pandemonium is extremely predictable with plot introductions that I personally hated and felt were rather unnatural, but when I think back over this book I have to subtract these to remember how truly incredible it really was. The plot development was fantastic experiencing life from a completely different angle from Delirium. This second in the series is definitely much more mature and more serious that the first with a much more addictive plot. I remember giving Delirium a 5 star rating, and though I loved Pandemonium so much more I have to begrudgingly subtract a star due to the romance.

I really loved Pandemonium and remember telling my husband numerous times whilst reading how amazing it was, much to his annoyance. haha. I would definitely recommend picking this one up as it really was great continuation of the Delirium trilogy and I cannot wait until the third is released, though I'm predicting a very long wait. 

If you've already read this one then I'd love to know what you thought, 

but until then happy reading! 

Katie

Top Ten Tuesday | to read in a day

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. If you want to see both their past and future TTT then click here. 

This week it's top ten books to read in a day. I don't normally get the chance to read a whole book in one day, but if I got the chance first time these are what I would choose:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - Stephenie Meyer
Dark Inside - Jeyn Roberts
Any Harry Potter book (in fact I remember doing that the day each one came out)
Paranormalcy - Kiersten White
Crazy in Love - Chrissie Manby
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - Jennifer E. Smith
Divergent - Veronica Roth
The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness

Enjoy the video!

That's all from me. See you next week for another top ten Tuesday, 

but for now happy reading!

Katie

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Release Date: September 14th 2008 

Publisher: Sholastic 

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian 

Series: The Hunger Games

Pages: 454

Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★★

"In a dark vision of the near future, twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live TV show called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed. 

When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature." Source Goodreads

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I re-read The Hunger Games this week in honour of the movie release, so I thought what better time to write a book review, or at least my thoughts on a incredible book because we all know that it's amazing.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with The Hunger Games (I'm not sure that there are any of you left, but just in cases) it's set in a dystopian society where North America has been split up into 12 districts. Each district selects one girl and one boy between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the hunger games, a televised battle to the death with only one winner.

When I first picked this early last year I could only compare this to Battle Royal where teenagers are forced to kill each other and I must admit I was one of those people who thought it was a bit of a copy, until I read it and realised just how completely original the story was.

I don't usually re-read books but I thought I'd make an exception for this one, firstly because of the movie release but secondly because it's such and incredible book, and I have to say it's just as good the second time round if not better than the first. The Hunger Games is extremely fast paced and completely addictive  and I guarantee that you won't ever want to put it down. The characters are beyond amazing and well planned, and though it tackles such disturbing subject matter still utterly loveable. I loved Katniss' strong, brave and intelligent character who was also so naive about her actions within the games. I loved her power over the capital even though she had little idea of how effective her decisions were. Her reactions to the developing relationship between herself and Peeta was utterly enchanting especially the second time round even when you know what to expect.

The imagination is brilliant with wonderful but deadly creations such as tracker jackers, and horrendous mutations, and the arena even it's self. I couldn't rate this book any higher than 5 stars, though it completely deserves it, and I couldn't recommend it enough.

I also think it's odd how truly difficult it is to write a book review on your favourite book series of all time. No matter what you write it never seems to convey just how incredible this book actually is  and nothing seems to do it justice.

If you've not yet read this book, you need to and if you've not yet re-read this book then you need to. haha.

Happy Reading,

Katie

IMM | In My Mailbox # 7

I honestly didn't expect to be making an IMM video / post this weeks as I really wasn't planning on buying any books, but I bought two ebooks from the Amazon Kindle Book Spring Sale. Both were only 99p so a huge bargain, and here they are:

The Goddess Test - Aimee Carter
Poison Study - Maria V Snyder

I really hope I'm not here next week. Fingers crossed. haha. 

Enjoy the video! 

Katie

Review: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Ashes

Author: Cassandra Clare

Release Date: March 24th 2009 (originally March 25th 2008)

Publisher: McElderry Books

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Series: The Mortal Instruments

Pages: 453

Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★

Spoiler free review, so no summary. Click here to view on goodreads. 

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I read City of Bones, the first in The Mortal Instruments last December and I can't quite say that I loved it. I did enjoy it but some aspects were slightly off putting and I wasn't as overwhelmed as I expected to be. Though saying that the story did have enough appeal to urge me to continue with the series, and the fact that I already owned the first three books definitely also helped.

I'd heard that though City of Ashes continues where City of Bones left off the story improves, and for people like me who didn't quite understand the appeal of the first it was definitely worth the time. I can happily admit that what I heard was correct. City of Ashes raises the bar on the series so far and I loved where Cassandra Clare took the story. I would say that this is slightly darker than the first with some unexpected twist and turns, or at least I didn't expect them, but I didn't anticipate anything bright and rosy, especially after where City of Bones left off.

I enjoyed the character development, especially Clary's. I love how her character grew into her role, and instead of being unneeded and a constantly protected bystander, we found that she could hold her own and provide an important resource to the team.

Jace is still as strong minded and wilful as ever with slight frustrating and infuriating side effects, but I guess that's what makes me love him even more. The fact that he's so misunderstood, but still full of mystery which makes you unable to want to peel away his layers. The only downside was due to his stubborn nature. I didn't get any answers to the questions I didn't even know I wanted answering. Something would be introduced to the plot and Jace would disregard the character and I would be left hanging.

I am also still struggling with the relationship between Clary and Jace, and finding it difficult to accept the nature of their affection. I guess this is where the author intended to take her characters, but I cannot read their emotions without feeling slightly ill and wrong. If you haven't read City of Bones I don't want to spoil anything by stating it here, but if you have read it then I'm 100% sure that you know what I'm talking about.

I'm hoping that in the third book we find out that their relationship is not what it seems and I can learn to love them once again. Here's hoping.

Other than that I found the plot utterly intriguing. I loved all the characters, even the bad guys, and Cassandra Clare's world building skills are incredible. I wouldn't say it was a world that I would love to live in, because if I'm honest I think I would be permanently terrified, but I've got to say bravo! The writing style is brilliant and I love how it's written from no particular perspective so we get to experience the story from so many different angles. Not a usual quality in YA, but one that is executed so perfectly.

Overall City of Ashes is a great continuation of The Mortal Instruments Series and I cannot wait to find out where the story goes from here. There are too many great moments to mention, but if like me you didn't think City of Bones was anything special, then give City of Ashes a go... I dare you!