Shadow and Bone | Siege and Storm | Ruin and Rising
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publication(dd/mm/yyyy): 07/06/2012
Publisher: Indigo (Hachette UK)
Pages: 305
Source: For review
Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity
My Rating:
An irresistibly thrilling read!
My thoughts
In 2012, the YA book blogosphere was booming with hype and excitement around Shadow and Bone by debut author Leigh Bardugo. I had it set in my mind that I would wait for a bit before I joined the frenzy. Thankfully, Alice at Hachette had other plans for me and sent me a double ARC containing book 1 (Shadow and Bone) and book 2 (Siege and Storm, which will be released later this year). I jumped right in and was not even a little disappointed by the experience. In fact, I was mystified all the way through; I took this thing everywhere I went and sneaked in a page or two during every spare second.
Jane is running away from everything. From the facility she’s been living in, from her pain, from her guilt, from life. She boards a plane to Montclair, New Jersey, though her destination isn’t important – she doesn’t plan to be alive when the plane lands.
Jane has devised the perfect suicide. She’ll fall asleep on the plane and never wake up. But as she’s reaching for her pills in the tiny bathroom, the plane hits turbulence and everything goes black.
Jane wakes amid the charred wreckage of a plane crash on a snowy mountaintop, and discovers just one other survivor – a boy named Paul. Lost in a perilous, icy landscape, with little food and water, their chance of survival seems small. But as the pair unite against the vast wilderness, Jane discovers a reason to fight for her life.
My thoughts:
US HC cover
This book is a celebration. Of life, of love, of luck and hope and fortune and courage and determination. It embraces the very essence of the human experience; the animalistic instinct for survival and just how far dire circumstances can turn around a person's perspective on the world.
Source: For review Precautions:Violence|Sexual Content| ?Profanity
Pages: 262
My Rating:
Amazing read
Summary:
Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?
For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.
My thoughts:
~ Final thoughts ~
Megan Miranda's debut novel amplifies the significance of knowing what it means to be not only alive, but human. This emotional and daring psychological thriller is one that will not let you go, right up until the last page. Tautly written and full of gripping tension, Fracture failed to disappoint!
* check out the "extras" section for giveaways! * Title: Cinder {goodreads}
Authors: Marissa Meyer
Publication(dd/mm/yyyy): 29/12/2011
Publisher: Penguin UK: Puffin RRP: $16.95
Source: Publisher sent for review Precautions:11+ - Mild violence/death Series: #1 in the Lunar Chronicles
Pages: 370
My Rating:
Good read
Summary:
(From AU/UK pb)
A forbidden romance.
A deadly plague.
Earth's fate hinges on one girl . . .
CINDER, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.
Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth's future. Is she brave enough, and strong enough, to help save everything?
My thoughts:
~ Final thoughts ~
Cinder is a grippngly intense sci-fi/dystopian reimagining of the well-known Cinderella fairytale. It's got the basics that make the ever-popular fairytale, but Meyer has cleverly turned it on its head.
Cinderella-'Cinder'-is a cyborg and a talented mechanic, whose prince charming is charming indeed; whose community is riddled with a deadly plague, as well as ongoing threats of war against the Lunars; whose identity is a complete mystery. And it is her true identity that may just be the savior of New Beijing and the world as they all know it.
All in all, CINDER is not to be missed! The first book in the Lunar Chronicles isaction-packed and full of interesting ideas with an ending that will leave you wanting more.
~ MY THOUGHTS (in full)~
If I do have children (if the Big Guy doth let it be so), and more specifically a daughter, this would be the type of book I'd love for her to indulge in. It's got so much appeal to girls, but Meyer's 'version' is much grittier and fantastical, with a heroine that kicks butt!
Cinder has great talent and inner-strength that shines through and through. Not even that--she's different in a way that makes her instantly exiled and unpopular, and while she never completely embraces these differences, readers will be able to sympathise with her insecurities.
Prince Kai is kind of your average pretty-boy Prince Charming. He's got the easygoing attitude and he and Cinder share similar ideals about the world. Even in the face of adversity, he tries his best to stand his ground. Readers will be sure to fall for Iko, Cinder's android buddy, and Peony, Cinder's (nice) stepsister--but you'll wish you hadn't after the events that unfold.
What also sprung out at me was the whole backstory with the Lunars and the New Beijing Commonwealth society. If you thought that cyborgs and androids in a Cinderella re-imagining was far-fetched, you'll be even more blown away when you are introduced to the Lunars. They're, quite literally, out of this world and insane!
Of course there is a romance between Prince Kai and Cinder, but there are barriers that disable them to be together. I'm totally rooting for them though! Even from chapter one I wanted them to end up together because they're just so cute, and two is better than one. :P
What didn't agree with me was the fact that I was able to guess a lot of the [ZING!] moments due to its predictability leading up to a moment. Also, the ending just left me with a strange feeling ... like it's unfinished and there's meant to be a special chapter latched on at the end. There is a sense of oncoming action and struggle, but we only get to see the lead-up to it, which is frustrating since we have to wait another year to find out what happens next!
The third person narrative worked fine enough, and I was able to feel Cinder's thoughts and feelings with ease. It took a couple of chapters to get the hang of the writing style.
Quotes:
* from the UK ARC and may differ to the final version
First lines
"The screw through Cinder's ankle had rusted, the engraved cross marks worn to a mangled circle. Her knuckles ached from forcing the screwdriver into the joint as she struggled to loosen the screw one gritting twist after another. By the time it was extracted far enough for her to wrench free with her prosthetic steel hand, the hairline threads had been stripped clean.
Favourites
(Peony will be joining Cinder and Iko as they go to the junkyard looking for machine parts)
"Reaching out, Cinder pulled her [Peony] back. "Careful, your dress." Peony surveyed her skirt, then the grime-covered shelves, then waved Cinder's concerns away. "Really, can I [come]? Sounds exciting."
"It sounds dirty and stinky," said Iko.
"How would you know?" said Cinder. "You don't have scent receptors."
"I have a fantastic imagination."
Alpha Reader: 4/5 stars {
