Book Review: Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

First published: 25th October 2011
By: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Tuesdays at Castle Glower are Princess Celia's favorite days. That's because on Tuesdays the castle adds a new room, a turret, or sometimes even an entire wing to itself. No one ever knows what the castle will do next, and no one - other than Celia, that is - takes time to map out the new additions. But when King and Queen Glower are ambushed and reportedly killed, it's up to Celia with her secret knowledge of the Castle's many twists and turns, to protect their home and save their kingdom.


My review:

Note to self: If you are ever in a reading slump and feeling unenthusiastic about your TBR list, pick up a cute, cheery children's novel. Tuesdays at the Castle was just the tonic I needed right now; an adorable adventure that spread a huge smile on my face and filled me with the desire to put a copy into the hands of every little girl I meet.

Jessica Day George's middle-grade fantasy just hits the mark and succeeds at being everything it needs to be. Its writing is simple, yet in its simplicity, it still manages to give us clearly defined and likeable characters; a clever, fast-paced plot; a real threat of danger from the villains; and most importantly, that thrill of magic, action and fun that exists in all the best children's books.

Hard to believe one of the most kick-ass protagonist I've come across this year is an eleven-year-old girl, but Celie is awesome: smart, selfless and brave. I defy anyone not to cheer her on during the climax, where she starts fighting back against the antagonists hard. 

Tuesdays at the Castle has a strong emphasis on family, with Celie and her siblings all working together and saving each other, but Celie's strongest relationship is with the castle. I just love the idea of a castle that's always changing and Tuesdays at the Castle really delivers on all the cool possibilities of this.

It's not perfect, no. The ending is a bit rushed and wrapped up too quickly. And yes, this book is aimed at a younger audience than YA and that's obvious with some of the more childish humour and the pranks the characters pull. However, I know I would've greatly enjoyed these jokes as a kid. And for its 256 pages, Tuesdays at the Castle did make me feel like a kid again: A kid who dreamed about being a princess and having great adventures. If you know one, or you were one, then buy this book.


Rating: 4.5 stars

Book Review: In Honor by Jessi Kirby

First published: 8th May 2012
By: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Three days after learning of her brother Finn's death, Honor receives his last letter from Iraq. Devastated, she interprets his note as a final request and spontaneously sets off to California to fulfill it. At the last minute she's joined by Rusty, Finn's former best friend.

Rusty is the last person Honor wants to be with - he's cocky and obnoxious, just like Honor remembers, and she hasn't forgiven him for turning his back on Finn when Finn enlisted. But their road trip ends up revealing more than the desert landscape. While they cover the dusty miles in Finn's beloved 1967 Chevy Impala, long-held resentments begin to fade, and Honor and Rusty struggle to come to terms with the loss they share.

As the memories of Finn merge to create a new portrait, Honor's eyes are opened to a side of her brother she never knew - a side that shows her the true meaning of love and sacrifice.


My review:

Because the premise of In Honor was so similar to Saving June, I initially wanted to read them really far apart so as not to get them confused, but that didn't really work with my reading schedule, so my new idea was to read them close together and compare. Honestly, though, while they are both about a teenage girl taking a roadtrip to do something for her dead sibling, in execution the two books are nothing alike. The emotions in Saving June were real, ugly and raw; in In Honor they are prettied up and Disney-fied and the whole novel is a more saccharine affair.

Honor is 18 and newly graduated from high school. She read as younger than that to me, probably because she's so firmly entrenched in her 'little sister' role: Honor idolises her brother, Finn, in this starry-eyed, childlike way; worshipping him as if he hung the moon. In Honor opens with Finn's funeral and after that, no matter what happens in the story, rarely does a page go by without Honor saying something about how great Finn was, how Finn always knew what to do, everybody liked Finn, Finn was perfect, etcetera. I thought for a bit that some dark secret of Finn's would be revealed to change Honor's idealistic view of him, but In Honor is not really that kind of book. When Finn's secret does come out, it proves that he's even more noble and good than Honor's been saying.

The other person Honor talks about as much as she does Finn, is Kyra Kelley, the Taylor Swift-esque singer whose concert Honor is roadtripping to. Finn bought Honor tickets to Kyra Kelley's last ever show and Honor plans to find a way to meet Kyra Kelley and tell her all about Finn. And by a series of happy coincidences, it all manages to work out. This is the kind of thing I mean when I say In Honor is Disney movie-like; everything is cleaned up and presented as much nicer than it'd be in real life.

Honor is sweet and while I typically prefer my heroines to have more of an edge to them, there's nothing to dislike about her. But I purchased this book for one reason: Tim Riggins. Rusty, Finn's lifelong best friend and Honor's roadtrip partner, is inspired by the Friday Night Lights character and he is the only thing giving In Honor some grit. Rusty's angry at Finn's death and drinks to forget and he actually challenges Honor sometimes and shakes her goody-two-shoes self up a bit. And if you imagine him looking like Tim Riggins while doing it, and speaking in that Tim Riggins drawl, then In Honor becomes exponentially better for it. His burgeoning romance with Honor is the only thing not given the Disney treatment, too - how that develops and turns out is actually pretty realistic.

Something I liked and makes In Honor different from other roadtrip novels I've read, is its focus on natural beauty. The stops that Honor and Rusty make are to see amazing things nature has created: an underground cave, vortexes, a star show. They sound really beautiful and have the effect of making the US South sound really beautiful, too. 

In Honor was a bit too pleasant and uncomplicated to really grab me - I need my contemporary novels to be layered and complex to really love them. However, it's an easy read and sometimes there's a place in your life for a sweet, simple tale like this.


Rating: 3 stars

Book Review: Troy High by Shana Norris

First published: 1st August 2009
By: Harry N. Abrams

Homer’s Iliad, the classic tale of love and revenge, is shrewdly retold for teens in Troy High.

Narrated by Cassie, a shy outsider who fears that an epic high school rivalry is about to go up in flames, the story follows the Trojans and Spartans as they declare war on the football field. After the beautiful Elena - who used to be the captain of the Spartan cheerleaders - transfers to Troy High and falls madly in love with Cassie’s brother Perry, the Spartans vow that the annual homecoming game will never be forgotten.

The Trojans and Spartans pull wicked pranks on each other as homecoming approaches. And the Spartans’ wildcard football star, Ackley, promises to take down the Trojans’ offensive line. But the stakes are raised when Cassie is forced to choose between the boy she loves (a Spartan) and loyalty to her family and school. Troy High will seduce readers with its incendiary cast of mythic proportions.


My review:

I've got a pretty good idea of what I like, so, barring a few disappointments, I don't usually read books I hate. The only thing that trips me up is that I am irresistibly attracted to books that sound silly and cheesy - like about cheerleaders who also spy for the government or something - in the secret hope that they will be an awesome guilty pleasure. Unfortunately, Troy High was not a pleasure, but a chore and there was nothing that made it worth reading to me.

The writing is basic and flat. Sure, it's aimed at the younger end of the YA crowd, but middle grade books can have delightful prose. The paragraphs in Troy High are each about 2 sentences long - zero description, nothing to add depth to the characters. As a result, the characters are paper thin; the reader doesn't learn much more about them than their names, which school they belong to and some basic personality type that can be summed up in one word: Cassie - shy. Elena - ditz. Perry - jerk. You can't care about characters when there's nothing to them.

A high school version of The Iliad sounded fun, but this is such a dull and uninspired way of doing it. The actual war of The Iliad becomes a prank war between rival high schools - there's potential in that idea, but the pranks are just...lame. Like stuff you'd see on Saved by the Bell - and not even Saved by the Bell with Zack and Slater, but Saved by the Bell: The New Class with Scott and Weasel. To pull this kind of story off, I really feel like you have to go big or go home, you know? Make it crazy, spirited, funny fun. I think there was one prank in Troy High that maybe raised a half smile out of me, but that was it.

There was one thing I liked: how the author translated the original Homeric names to modern day ones. Agamemnon becomes Greg Memnon, Hector becomes Hunter, Menelaus becomes Lucas, etc. I thought that was cute. But it was hardly enough to save the book and I admit, I started skimming towards the end; I was so eager to be done with Troy High.

I was hoping for some nice brain candy, but alas, Troy High was a fail for me; boring and pointless and a waste of my precious reading time.


Rating: 1 star

Audiobook Review: Teen Idol by Meg Cabot

First released: 21st July 2004
By: Listening Library

Length: 6 hr and 1 min
Narrator: Elisabeth Moss

Ask Jenny your most complex interpersonal relationship questions. Go on, we dare you!

High school junior Jenny Greenley is good at solving other people's problems, so good that she's the school newspapers' anonymous advice columnist. But when 19-year-old screen sensation Luke Striker comes to Jen's small town to research a role, he creates havoc that even levelheaded Jenny isn't sure she can repair...especially when he asks her, and not Jenny's Luke Striker-groupie best friend, to the Clayton High Spring Fling.

Can Jen, who always manages to be there for everybody else, learn to take her own advice, and find true love at last?

My review:

Teen Idol is typical Meg Cabot and sometimes in life, what you need is Meg Cabot - that mix of teen romance, comedy and a healthy dose of wish fulfillment. Cabot's heroines are usually girls who get to live something you've only dreamt about, and after a girl who discovers she's a princess (Mia in The Princess Diaries) and another who saves the life of the president (Sam in All-American Girl), we have Jenny, a girl who gets to show America's hottest movie star around town.

Surprisingly, Luke Striker, the actor pretending to be a high school student, turns out to be only a subplot of Teen Idol. The main story is that of Jenny's character development. Jenny is the resident nice girl of Clayton High; everyone's friend, helper and shoulder to cry on. Only Jenny's so concerned with being nice to other people, that she never does what she wants. She does things to please others and never makes waves - even when it comes to the guy she likes.

Another surprise - Luke Striker is not Jenny's love interest! His role in Jenny's life is that of a fairy godmother - he shakes her up, sprinkles some fairy dust and encourages her to go for what she wants. I really enjoyed this twist and Jen and Luke's friendship is awfully sweet. The real love interest, Scott, is another of Meg Cabot's cute, geeky boys. He and Jenny talk about fantasy books and sci-fi movies and why was there never a boy like that in my school? Scott doesn't beat out Michael Moscovitz as the perfect teen boyfriend, but he comes very close.

The reason I chose Teen Idol as an audiobook is because I saw it was narrated by Elisabeth Moss, aka Peggy Olson, and I was missing my Mad Men fix. It's funny, but in many ways, Moss is technically a bad narrator. Her voice is high-pitched and often veers into squeaky, she doesn't do different voices for the other characters and sometimes she doesn't enunciate clearly. What she does do, however, and does brilliantly, is have a completely authentic teen voice for Jenny. She mumbles when she's talking about something embarrassing, because that's what teens do, she giggles her lines when they're jokes and when Jenny's upset, you can hear Moss's voice waver as if on the edge of tears. Most narrators of YA audiobooks are and sound much older than the characters they're portraying, but Moss really sounds like a teen girl is in your ear, telling you her story.

If you know Meg Cabot, you already know what Teen Idol will be like - like a romantic comedy for teenagers, but a good romantic comedy like My Best Friend's Wedding, not like something Katherine Heigl would be in. Teen Idol is good, frothy fun and the growth that Jen goes through is actually pretty interesting and has a nice message behind it. An easy read for when you want to remember your teen years as much sweeter, prettier and happier than they actually were.


Rating: 4 stars

Book Review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

First published in Great Britain: 29th September 2011
By: Quercus

'No, she thought. No, please, God, I'm not seeing this'

Seventeen-year-old Alex is hiking through the wilderness when it happens: an earth-shattering electromagnetic pulse that destroys almost everything.

Survivors are divided between those who have developed a superhuman sense and those who have acquired a taste for human flesh. These flesh-hunters stalk the land: hungry, ruthless and increasingly clever...

Alex meets Tom, a young army veteran, and Ellie, a lost girl. They will fight together and be torn apart, but Alex must face the most difficult question of all: 
In such a vastly changed world, who can you trust?

A story of high-wire tension, gut-wrenching twist, and burgeoning love, Ashes will leave you breathless.


My review:

The first book in a post-apocalyptic trilogy, Ashes wreaked havoc on my delicate sensibilities. Ilsa J. Bick's depiction of what happens when an electronic magnetic bomb detonates in North America, is graphically gross. Most of the population gush fountains of blood from their orifices and drop dead on the spot, some survive, and some become crazed cannibals, picking off what's left of the human race. Boy, does Bick's writing really make all that flesh and organ-eating come alive for the reader: Every squelch, every pop, every crunch. Lovers of guts and gore, step right up; this is the book you've been waiting for. Me? Being the wimp that I am, I was cringing. During some moments in Ashes - when dogs are ripped apart limb from limb to be feasted on, a human eye is popped into a mouth like a grape and a bite wound festers with pus and maggots - I wondered how Bick had managed to gain such intimate access to my worst nightmares.

Also not for the faint-hearted, are the non-stop action and the cliffhangers in the first half of the book. Our heroine, Alex, is one of the few survivors; alone in the woods but for 8 year-old, Ellie, and Tom, a soldier. Alex is exactly the person you want around when the apocalypse hits. She's an orphan, with an incurable brain tumour, so she already has experience in dealing with things that would make most of us curl into the fetal position and sob. She's strong and capable and never whines (that would be Ellie's job). She's a lifelong camper who knows a lot about basic survival and she and Tom, with his army background, make a great team. However, in Ashes, the characters can't catch a freaking break at all and at any given moment, they're either being attacked by cannibals, or wild dogs, or shot at, or robbed of all their food and weapons. The action never lets up, so as the reader you'd better get comfortable having your heart in your mouth. The chapters are super-short, too, keeping you reading just one more to find out what happens and then oh! Something else happens and you have to read the next chapter and then the next. Bick is also fond of ending the chapters with very ominous-sounding lines like "That was the last good time" or "They never saw each other again". This is an author who has perfected the art of making a book impossible to put down.

The second half of the novel is a big switch from this, though. Alex loses Tom and Ellie and  ends up in Rule, a town where a group of survivors have set up their own community and government. Everything in this part of Ashes is different from the first - the pace slows down, the characters we've gotten used to have gone and even Alex seems different. Alex's growing relationship with Tom was so well-done and the two were so well-matched, that it feels really out-of-character how quickly Alex starts to have feelings for a new boy. The stuff in Rule is also less absorbing because it's pretty obvious that Rule will have a secret sinister side and Alex will have to leave, whereas in the first half of Ashes, I couldn't have guessed what would happen. Rule does let us see how other people who are not Alex, Tom and Ellie have been handling the crisis and gives lots of hints about what could be going on in the wider world, but it's left unresolved in this book. I'm hoping Rule turns out to be a vital part of the bigger picture, to justify Alex spending so much time there.

Ashes ends on a huge, gruesome cliffhanger but this didn't bother me as it was a nice return to the style of its first half and the second book, Shadows, is out next week, so I don't have a long wait to find out what happens. (If I had read this in 2011, though and known I was in for a wait a year long? I might have thrown it against the wall.) I have two big demands: Shadows has to give me the same thrill ride as Ashes did in its first half and it has to start answering some of the questions Ashes put out there. If it doesn't, I'm gonna be frustrated and mad but if it does, I will happily proclaim this one of the best post-apocalyptic/dystopian YA series around.


Rating: 4 stars

Audiobook Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

First released: 1st November 2011
By: Random House Audio

Audiobook length: 4 hr and 37 min
Narrator: Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck-impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence "Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I'll shut up about it?"

Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you've come to the right book, mostly!

In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door - not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.


My review:

Mindy Kaling sure knows her audience. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (yeah, I'm gonna have to abbreviate that title) starts with a FAQ where one of the questions is "Why isn't this book more like Bossypants?". I, and I'm sure many others, gave Kaling's book a try primarily because I enjoyed Bossypants so much and wanted to hear from another funny female. Kaling says upfront that her book isn't and can't be Bossypants.

And it isn't, but Is Everyone...? is still quite enjoyable in its own right. It's a short listen, and is an entertaining and diverting way to lighten up an afternoon. The best part is the first half, where Kaling talks us through her childhood and teen years, in which she was chubby, dateless and lame. It's a familiar refrain from comedians that they were geeky outsiders in high school, but that doesn't make Kaling's stories any less amusing and I chuckled many times.

It's also very interesting to hear about her road to becoming a TV writer. The behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into making a show is fascinating to me and Kaling's story about her first failed sitcom, Mindy and Brenda, really exposes a lot of the frustrating and downright offensive stuff that goes down (Kaling was essentially told she was too fat and dark-skinned to play herself).

However, once Kaling gets to the part where she's firmly ensconced in her role as a writer and recurring character on The Office, Is Everyone...? runs out of steam. Kaling's only thirty and even with keeping the book as short as it is, she doesn't have enough of her life and career behind her to fill the whole thing. The last third of Is Everyone...? is a hodgepodge of essays, in subjects as disparate as her ten favourite comedic moments in film, and her bizarre revenge fantasies for hypothetical slights. There are funny moments, but you do feel like Kaling is throwing in everything but the kitchen sink to stretch things out.

I enjoyed Kaling's narration. Comedians are the best people to read their own writing - they know what timing and emphasis they want on the jokes. Kaling's voice is famously that of a very nasally Valley Girl, which is annoying to some ears, but it fits her personality and I can't imagine her words said any other way.

Overall this audiobook is fun, but not a must-listen. It'd be a good listen while you do some necessary chores and Kaling is likeable enough that you won't mind hanging out with her.


Rating: 3 stars

Book Review: Saving June by Hannah Harrington

First published in Great Britain: 1st June 2012
By: MIRA Ink

'If she'd waited less than two weeks, she'd have been June who died in June. But I guess my sister didn't consider that.'

When sixteen-year-old Harper's sister June, the perfect, popular, pretty one to Harper's also-ran, commits suicide just before her high-school graduation, nothing in Harper's world makes sense anymore.

With her family falling apart, Harper has a plan - steal June's ashes and take her sister to the one place she always wanted to go: California.

Embarking on a wild road trip of impromptu gigs and stolen kisses with mysterious musician Jake, the one person who could hold answers about June, Harper's determined to find peace for her sister.

But will she find peace for herself along the way?


My review:

Grief is a common theme in contemporary YA and, while not necessarily breaking any new ground in the genre, Saving June is a solid and worthwhile addition. The book it most reminds me of is Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer, probably because of the friendship between Harper and her best friend Laney.

I struggled to comprehend the character of Harper at first, although in fairness, it's less that she was inconsistently written and more that she was different from what I assumed the character would be. I thought Harper's caustic attitude in the first few pages was a reaction to her sister's funeral, but it turns out that is her personality, dead sister or no. 

She's a lot more aggressively snarky than I expected, but I did warm up to Harper, as being a little sister myself, a lot of her thoughts and feelings struck me as realistic. On the whole, I think the strength of Saving June is that the characters feel very real and their dialogue and behaviour seems true to teens. They smoke, they swear, they drink and they're sarcastic to hide their real feelings. Even characters who annoyed me (like the student protestors) reminded me of people I've known.

Another strong point is the palpable sexual tension between Harper and Jake. The heat is coming off the page in some scenes and it would take a very steely reader not to swoon when Jake, say, sways Harper around the floor in a jazz club or sings softly into her ear as she falls asleep. I felt exactly the same way about Jake as Harper did - his deliberate evasiveness about June and his pretension about music bugged me, but I still wanted to jump his pretentious hipster bones. Ahem. Plus, I've gotta love a boy who's an ABBA fan (though, why be embarrassed about it, Jake? If loving ABBA is wrong, then I don't want to be right.).

I did have a problem with the premise of Saving June, though and I think this is where being an adult reader of YA affects my perception. I think scattering somebody's ashes, against their parents' wishes and without allowing the parents to even be there, is a really awful thing to do and it bothered me that none of the teens, or the people who they shared their plan with, seemed to see this. I was hoping the whole time that Harper would have an eleventh hour change of heart and include her parents, but at the end I just had to let it go.

Being a realistic YA novel, which deals with grief and loss, features a roadtrip and places a heavy emphasis on music, means that Saving June should appeal to readers who want more of all these things. For me it was a good read; for someone who's looking for a book which ticks all those boxes, it will be even better.


Rating: 4 stars


This book was provided to me by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

Book Review: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Note: I really haven't felt like reviewing for a long time, but I have some NetGalley titles I must review and am hoping to get back into the swing of things.

First published: 11th September 2012
By: Random House Children's Books

Kami Glass is in love with someone she's never met—a boy she's talked to in her head since she was born. This has made her an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, but she has learned ways to turn that to her advantage. Her life seems to be in order, until disturbing events begin to occur. There has been screaming in the woods and the manor overlooking the town has lit up for the first time in 10 years. . . . The Lynburn family, who ruled the town a generation ago and who all left without warning, have returned. Now Kami can see that the town she has known and loved all her life is hiding a multitude of secrets—and a murderer. The key to it all just might be the boy in her head. The boy she thought was imaginary is real, and definitely and deliciously dangerous. 


My review:

I wasn't in the mood for 'quirky', but Unspoken did end up winning me over. The style and the tone of the writing is very different from what you'd normally find in paranormal YA: Most of the characters speak in the kind of "I sound super-serious and formal, but really I'm being funny" banter you'd find in a 1950's flick. Example:

She found Rusty stretched out on the hearthrug with his arms behind his head.
"You disgraceful object," said Kami. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm buying a shotgun," Dad announced. "I live in the country. A shotgun is a reasonable thing to own."

It took me a while to get into, but the humorous dialogue comes so thick and fast that even if only about half of it lands, it still adds up to a very funny read. It wasn't long before I was sufficiently charmed.

I liked all the characters. They're all given some idiosyncrasy to their personalities to make them amusing, like Kami's dad calling his children by the wrong name or Kami's friends and their epic laziness. Kami herself follows in the grand tradition of plucky girl reporters, throwing herself into sticky situations in her eagerness for a story.

What stands out in Unspoken - other than the quirky dialogue - is the unique premise of Kami and Jared's relationship. Kami's spent her whole life talking to a voice in her head that she thought was imaginary, only to discover it belongs to a real person. Despite its whimsical nature, Unspoken treats the implications of this bond very seriously and the novel is at its most interesting when it's examining what it's like to share a mind with another person; to know someone completely but to also never have anything you can truly keep to yourself. Added to that is the fact that Jared is a pretty damaged individual, who grew up in an abusive home and I really felt for Kami with the pressure she was under, to not think anything that would upset him.

This balance of lightness and seriousness also comes with a dash of creepiness. I love the idea of a town full of secrets and the more tidbits Kami discovers about Sorry-in-the-Vale and its history with the Lynburn family, the more I was dying to know what the secrets were. You know when worried townspeople warn you off asking questions and say "You don't want to know!" and it just makes you want to know even more? Happens all the time in this book and really builds an atmosphere of eerie mystery.

I appreciate that, despite being the first in the series, Unspoken didn't leave me hanging when it comes to revealing the truth about the Lynburns. However, I did find the reveal somewhat anti-climatic after a 300 page build-up (it's not really anything new or different) and I felt the ending in general felt messy and unfinished (I can't say more without giving away spoilers). Still, there was a lot to enjoy here and a slightly disappointing ending can't make me forget how much of this novel did make me smile.


Rating: 3.5 stars

This book was provided to me by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

First published in Great Britain: 2nd August 2012
By: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

My review:

I enjoyed this very much. Like Grave Mercy, Throne of Glass has all the fictional elements that make a book awesome to me - arse-kicking heroines, castles, fighting, magic - it'd be difficult for me to say which is my favourite of the two books.

Is Celaena the next great YA heroine? She is smart, capable and brave. She's got a way with snarky quips and can beat up men twice her size. She can hit a bullseye from across the room and look drop-dead gorgeous in a ballgown. Yes, she's unrealistically incredible but she's certainly fun to read about. And Throne of Glass makes the effort to show her working hard and needing help from others every once in a while. The only problem I had with Celaena is that I felt that the more frivolous side of her personality didn't jive with her backstory. Her love of pretty frocks and pretty boys made me like her more (because she's a girl after my own heart there) but I think an orphan, who's been an assassin since childhood, and has just spent a year doing back-breaking slave labour, would be a little less starry-eyed. On the other hand, it's cool that Celaena is both stereotypically feminine and strong.

The other characters are strong, too. Sometimes novels like this allow only one powerful female character, but Throne of Glass lets Nehemia be a warrior, too. I was in awe of Nehemia at the end, because she is just so fierce. I liked both the men in the love triangle with Celaena but being in a love triangle did hamper their characters somewhat. I didn't hate the triangle because all the characters are likeable and I wouldn't mind Celaena choosing either guy, but it still means that neither man has much to do in the story other than fall for her.

The tournament Celaena is involved in to become the King's Champion is set out by regular competitions in strength and skill. After each competition, a champion is eliminated until the final duel. This makes the plot quite predictable (can there even be any doubt that Celaena will make it to the final?) but there's a reason authors use these familiar story points - they're great for creating action and keeping the story moving. And hats off to Sarah J. Maas, because the final duel really is incredible, edge-of-your-seat stuff.

This is the first in a series I definitely want to keep reading. Maas has created an intriguing-sounding world in Erilea and so far, we've only been shown a little bit of it. The hints of what's to come sound promising indeed. Throne of Glass itself is like a day at a theme park: The action set pieces are fast, fun rides, with the romantic scenes and the castle balls providing plenty of candy floss to appeal to a sweet tooth. 

  

Rating: 4.5 stars

This book was provided to me by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Book Review: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

First published in Great Britain: 1st May 2012
By: Gollancz

Eight years have passed since the young Princess Bitterblue, and her country, were saved from the vicious King Leck. Now Bitterblue is the queen of Monsea, and her land is at peace. 

But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck's death, believe in a forward-thinking plan: to pardon all of those who committed terrible acts during Leck's reign; and to forget every dark event that ever happened. Monsea's past has become shrouded in mystery, and it's only when Bitterblue begins sneaking out of her castle - curious, disguised and alone - to walk the streets of her own city, that she begins to realise the truth. Her kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year long spell of a madman, and now their only chance to move forward is to revisit the past. Whatever that past holds.

Two thieves, who have sworn only to steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, who possesses an unidentified Grace, may also hold a key to her heart . . .

My review:

I could have given Bitterblue anything from 3 to 5 stars. I didn't know quite what to say about it until I ran across something online, said about a television show, that I'm paraphrasing because I can't find the original source. But it went something like this: Do you enjoy this cast and these characters enough that you'd happily watch them sitting around and doing nothing but talking? If so, then the show is doing something wrong, because it means the plot is not hooking you enough.

That's similar to how I feel about Bitterblue. I enjoyed it because I love the world and the characters Kristin Cashore has created and I would have no problem reading 500 pages of Bitterblue alternating between walking around her castle and her city, and discussing life and love with Po, Katsa, Giddon and others. And after reading Bitterblue, it feels like that's exactly what I did do. The plot moves glacially, but the characters and the setting are amazing. Enjoyment of the book depends on how much you value the former over the latter.

I loved Bitterblue the person so much. I also loved Po, but then I loved him already in Graceling and was just glad he was around so much for Bitterblue. The big surprise for me was Giddon, who I didn't like at all in Graceling, but is developed into an excellent character here, once seen through a new perspective. Giddon was something of a bad guy in Graceling, because Katsa doesn't like him, but Bitterblue sees another side to him. Wonderful new characters are introduced, too. The prize for best goes to Death - Bitterblue's surly librarian - but Madlen, Hava, Teddy and Saf are all cool and interesting, too. I liked the way things went with Bitterblue and Saf's romance; I appreciated that the novel shows that not every romance is going to be the One.

Another great thing was the vivid description of artwork and architecture. Bitterblue has never seen much of her castle and city before now and as she explores them for the first time, the reader explores them with her. The bridges, the sculptures...everything sounds beautiful. I also can't say enough about the beauty of this book as a physical thing. Other blogs have some great photos of Ian Schoenherr's illustrations so you can see for yourself; I spent ages just staring at the pretty pages. That's the way to get readers to purchase a physical copy over an ebook.

We also finally get the story of how the world of Fire connects with the Seven Kingdoms and all three of Kristin Cashore's heroines meet at last. I really liked the talk between Fire and Bitterblue, with all its allusions to things from the other novels. (And I think I actually squeed when Fire said she'd been married for forty-seven years). 

All this accounts for why I got a 5 star feeling for Bitterblue. The 3 star feeling is for the plot and the pacing. Bitterblue is trying to piece together what happened when her father was king and the best way to describe the pacing is that it feels like everything happens in real time. Usually in a book or a film, we might jump ahead to the really important discoveries or maybe just have a 'research' montage. In Bitterblue it feels like we follow the queen every day and in every little thing, no matter how small. 

I'm a patient reader, so I could handle it. I honestly enjoyed Bitterblue and the others so much that I could have spent 500 more pages with them. Fans of this series are going to want to read this final (or is it? There are rumours) installment no matter what, so I hope I've just given an idea of what to expect when you do.

Rating: 4 stars

Audiobook Review: The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

First released: 25th January 2011

By: Listening Library

Audiobook length: 10 hr and 52 min

Narrator: Mandy Williams

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia has led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when she learns, just after her 16th birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city, her best friend, Kiernan, and the only life she's ever known.

Sent to live with her only surviving relative, Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. Then she discovers that long-suppressed, dangerous magic runs through her veins, and she realizes that she will never learn to be just a simple village girl. Sinda returns to the city to seek answers. Instead, she rediscovers the boy who refused to forsake her, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history forever.

An intricately plotted and completely satisfying adventure, The False Princess is both an engaging tale in the tradition of great fantasy novels and a story never told before that will enchant - and surprise - its listeners.

My review:

I love it when a plan comes together. The False Princess contains many of my favourite things - princesses, castles, magic, secrets - but what tips it over from the like boat into the love boat for me, is that it's an extremely well plotted novel. Like a jigsaw puzzle, every little piece - even those that initially seem insignificant and throwaway - is fit together into a smart and satisfying conclusion.

The revelation about Sinda happens in the first chapter and the false princess is quickly on her way to her new life. Sinda is a quiet character and doesn't jump off the page, but she's very well drawn and sympathetic. I thought it was a nice touch to show that even in the drabbest part of Sinda's life (living a meagre life with her aunt in a small village), she's shown to work hard and do her best. I didn't read the synopsis for this audiobook, so I was actually surprised when Sinda discovered her own powers and was genuinely thrilled for her, because she really deserves it.

There's a wonderful cast of supporting characters, too. There's Kiernan, Sinda's childhood best friend who's eternally loyal to her; Philantha, her eccentric magic tutor and a special mention goes to the other princess, Orianne. I really liked that instead of resenting each other, the princesses were bonded by their unusual circumstances.

I also want to give a shout-out to the gorgeous names in this book! They really give The False Princess  the full 'magical fantasy' feel. People names like Nalia, Philantha and Orianne and place names like Vivaskari and Thorvaldor are brilliantly evocative. I'm glad I listened to the audio so I could get the right pronunciations (I'm sure I would have butchered them terribly if left to decide them myself).

I didn't fall in love with Mandy Williams's voice, but I mostly enjoyed listening to her narration. She does very well with a variety of female voices, injecting them with personality, but she's not as good at male voices and tends to put on the stereotypical deep-throaty voice thing. I think I'll swoon for Kiernan more when I read this again in hardback and can make up any voice I want for him.

Yes, I'm planning to read this again. I just really enjoyed it; there's something so pleasing about a novel where everything wraps up the way it should. If you're looking for a smartly-written fantasy with a great plot and charming characters, then I strongly recommend you try The False Princess.


Rating: 4.5 stars

Book Review: When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle

First published in Great Britain: 26th April 2012
By: Simon and Schuster UK

What if your love story didn't have a happy ending? What if you were the girl Romeo loved – before he met Juliet? 

Meet Rosaline. She’s in love with her best friend Rob and, when they finally kiss, she knows it’s meant to be. 

But then her cousin Juliet moves back to town. Beautiful, intriguing, and a little bit crazy Juliet – all the boys love her, and Rob doesn’t stand a chance. 

Like her namesake, Rose is about to find out that while being written out of your own story might feel like the biggest tragedy of all, being alone isn't the worst fate in the world.

Because the greatest love story ever told might not be the right one, but we all know how it ends.

My review:

This is Romeo and Juliet, 90210. And by that, of course I mean the peerless original series, and not the remake. Brenda, Kelly and Donna - sorry, Rosaline, Charlie and Olivia are the Queen Bees at their high school. Charlie's the beautiful and bitchy one, Olivia's the sweet but ditzy one and Rose is the normal, down-to-earth one:  
Olivia said, "It's the theory of collective hotness. One pretty girl alone is okay-looking, but, like, five pretty girls together, even if one of them is not that pretty, look way hotter."

I swear she looked right at me when she said "one of them."

The three girls drive around Southern California in a red Jeep, drinking sparkling water, dating surfer boys and generally having the kind of life 16-year-old me would kill for. To make things even more perfect, Rose's lifelong best friend, Rob, looks like he's finally reciprocating the crush she has on him. But then cousin Juliet comes back to town...

Juliet is introduced like a classic high school villainess; you know the one, who was head cheerleader and homecoming queen at her old school and has totally come to take the crown away from our main characters. If Juliet's plan was to take down Charlie, I would have been cheering her on, but alas, she's got a vendetta against Rose, who really doesn't deserve to be ditched for another girl. 

When You Were Mine walks the line between being fun summer fluff and having a more serious side. These are the boyfriend dramas of pretty rich people, but Rose's voice is well done and I found her to be likeable and sympathetic. I think it was a smart move on the author's part to make Rob and Rose childhood friends, so Rose is not just pining after some guy; she's hurt and humiliated that her best friend has treated her this way. Teenage humiliation - I remember it well and could relate.

As this is Rose's story, not Rob and Juliet's, after the latter two get together they drop to the periphery of the story and When You Were Mine focuses on Rose's tentative new relationship with school slacker Len. In truth, this book has been inaccurately sold as a Romeo and Juliet retelling. Apart from similar names and a feuding families plot point, When You Were Mine is really just a romance, with more in common with Jennifer Echols and Stephanie Perkins than Shakespeare.  

Luckily those are my favourite kind of books to devour in summer, so I wasn't disappointed. This is an easy-breezy read that I finished in a couple of sittings. It makes use of a fair few clichés and archetypes (of course Len is really a genius in slacker clothing! Of course Juliet is secretly hurting and vulnerable!) but it has a relateable main character, some funny lines, a few swoony kisses and even some moments of real depth at the end. What more do you want to bring to the beach?

Rating: 3.5 stars

Book Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

First published in Great Britain: 7th June 2012
By: HarperCollins Children's Books

In a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels THE SELECTION is the chance of a lifetime: to compete for gorgeous Prince Maxon's heart. But for America Singer it means turning her back on her secret love, and leaving home for a prize she doesn't want.

Then America meets Maxon and all her plans start to crumble. Can the life she's always dreamed of compare to a future she never imagined?


My review:

In the acknowledgements for The Selection, author Kiera Cass thanks the reader in a way that is so happy and sweet it instantly brought a smile to my face. The exuberance she feels about another person reading her novel is palpable through her words.

Which is why I can't put my finger on the reason why The Selection itself seems to be missing that sense of thrill and excitement. In the future, the US has become Illéa and its people are ruled by a monarchy and separated into castes. Once a generation, the girls of Illéa compete in front of the entire nation to marry the prince of the royal family and become its future Queen. Anyone who's seen The Bachelor, America's Next Top Model or Toddlers and Tiaras knows how much crazy, addictive drama you can get from the mix of reality TV and female competition. In comparison, the shenanigans in The Selection are really mild and it never feels like it's all that important or the girls are really desperate to win. The worst thing anybody does to get ahead is tear someone else's dress sleeve. Everything's so...nice.

Nice isn't bad, of course. Nice is, well, nice. Main character America is like something out of a 1950's Girls' Romances - when she's in love with Aspen, her face just glows and she feels like singing, but when he breaks her heart, oh, she'll never love again. The novel pays lip service to America having some sort of inner fire or spirit, but the ways she asserts herself are fairly tame. While not typically the kind of character I love, I did find America, together with Prince Maxon, so anodyne as to be quasi-endearing and impossible to hate. If Illéa were Hogwarts, they'd both be in Hufflepuff. I also liked that time was spent showing the two of them becoming friends, before the romance.

The Selection is really about America, rather than the competition it's titled after. There doesn't seem to be much to it; there are no challenges or heats and girls are eliminated with little fanfare and we barely know their names, anyway. America has friendships with a couple of other girls and with her maids and these friendships are also...yep, I'm going to use the word nice again.

Look, this is not the most exciting novel. But it is readable and pleasant and I really didn't mind reading it at all. It reminded me of some of the paperback teen romances I read twenty years ago and I can easily imagine another young girl greatly enjoying this now, as I would've back then.


Rating: 3 stars

This book was provided to me by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Book Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

First published in Great Britain: 24th April 2012
By: Mira Ink/Harlequin UK

My vampire creator told me this: 

'Sometime in your life, Allison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being. The question is not if it will happen, but when. Do you understand?' 

I didn't then, not really. I do now. 

In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity. She must decide what - and who - are worth dying for.


My review:

I had a very mixed reaction to The Immortal Rules. Reading it, there were times when I was very gripped and just whipped through it, and times when I didn't care much at all and had to force myself to keep reading. 

I can't think of a supernatural creature that's harder to come up with a new premise for than the vampire. The Immortal Rules gets around this by meshing together parts of lots of other vampire tales. It's not new, but it is kinda interesting. I really liked the world the story is set in, because it reminded me of the Buffy episode 'The Wish'. After a virus wiped out most of the world, vampires have taken over; humans eke out their existence in vampire cities, where they either willingly offer up their blood in exchange for food and supplies, or they are 'Unregistered' and live on the fringes, scavenging for food and always in danger of starvation. Allie is one of these Unregistered; she hates vampires and would never willingly give to their blood bank. Instead, she's part of a gang with other kids her age and together they hunt for food where they can. Making this harder is that as well as having vamps to contend with, there is also the danger of 'rabids', zombie-like creatures who roam outside the city.

As a main character, Allie walks that line between being tough and being harsh and mean, but I liked her. I think it's pretty clear from her actions that she's a very good person even if she doesn't bother with niceties; right from the start, she looks after others and puts their well-being ahead of her own. It's when she's protecting a friend that Allie's life takes its first major turn in The Immortal Rules and she becomes a vampire.

The next part was my favourite bit of the story - Allie learning how to be a vamp. These were also my favourite storylines in The Vampire Diaries and True Blood, with Caroline and Jessica respectively. Allie is turned and taught by the vampire Kanin, and, despite the cliché of the dark, handsome, mysterious vampire, with the tortured past - well, there's a reason this cliché endures. It's freaking cool.

Unfortunately, Kanin's past rears its ugly head and he and Allie have to part. Allie falls in with a group of travelling humans and must hide from them her vampire nature. Thus began my least favourite part of the story; it really dragged for me. I didn't really care about the human characters - they were either nice in a really dull way, or nasty in a really dull way. Because I didn't give two hoots about them, it was hard for me to buy that Allie really cared about them and I wasn't particularly interested in Allie's struggle to save them from her bloodlust. I was like, "Yeah, whatever. Feed on Ruth, what do I care? When's Kanin coming back?"

The last part of the story does pick up again and amps up the gruesome violence in a gee-that's-really-horrifying-but-I-can't-look-away way. I also liked that there's a link that ties the traveling humans part of the story and the Kanin part of the story together.

Despite that drag in the middle and a lack of great supporting characters, I think there is a lot of good in The Immortal Rules, so I do still recommend it to those who like vampire books - and scary vampires, not sparkly ones. This is a book with a lot of blood, a lot of fights and a lot of action: I can see someone who really wants those things forgiving its other flaws. But the two I mentioned stopped it from being a favourite for me.


Rating: 3 stars

 
This book was provided to me by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.