Shatter Me

Title: Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)
Author: Tahereh Mafi 
Genre: YA Dystopian
Pages: 338
Rating: 3.5 Stars
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Juliette's touch is poisoned with death. Every human she touches dies within minutes.  Why? Nobody knows for sure, but the one thing that everyone knows is that Juliette is powerful.  The Reestablishment seeks to use her curse power to take over the world. Juliette seeks to hide her power from the world. After being imprisoned for the past year because of her curse power, Juliette is wary of anyone who sees good in an ability so evil.  

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I liked this book more than I thought I would, even if it's not the best book ever.  The action is exciting, and the overall idea is very unique. 

Maybe you picked this up from my synopsis, but the book is filled with crossed out words.  I really liked this aspect of the novel, because it helped you better understand Juliette, the main character.  However, I can see why this would bother some people, as it does break the flow of the writing a bit.  If this is something that would ruin the reading experience for you, I would steer clear of this novel.  

My biggest problem with the book was probably the love interest.  Adam is a rather bland character.  He doesn't really have a personality, and he lacks flaws. What little personality he does have is conflicting.  

My other problem with this book was how much romance there was.  I'm fine with some here and there, but it felt like every other scene was a romance scene. 

However, I did enjoy this book.  It had a very interesting plot.  Juliette literally has the touch of death, and it was interesting to read from the point of view of a person who is pretty much isolated from society in a mental and physical way.  

I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a unique dystopian action novel, and doesn't mind a lot of romance.  I'm rating it three and a half stars merely because it wasn't terrible, it wasn't spectacular, but I did enjoy it.  

Crown of Midnight

Warning: This review contains spoilers for Throne of Glass, the first book in the Throne of Glass series
Title: Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 418
Rating: 4.5 Stars
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In this second installment in the Throne of Glass series, Celaena Sardothien begins her work as the King's Champion.  She's earning loads of money, she's finally got her love life untangled, and she's very content.  Of course something has to go wrong.

When Celaena discovers there is more to the labyrinth  beneath her rooms, an even more shocking discovery is made, and Celaena begins to realize that not everyone is as they seem.

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Oh my gosh this book was good!  If you read the first one, and you haven't gotten around to picking up the next book, you NEED to.  Like, now.  It's even better than the first book, if you ask me.  With the first book's plot, you sort of expect a lot of murders, twists, and cliff hangers.  With Crown of Midnight, you don't ever really know what's going to happen next.  The plot is so much more intricate and layered- it's phenomenal! 

One thing I couldn't get over is how emotionally gripping this book was.  I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn't prepared for a book that would leave me crying out loud, jumping up from my chair in disbelief, and tossing my book angrily to the side.  I was up until midnight last night, just physically incapable of putting it down.  

But why was it so good? Well, first there's the plot twists.  The book would draw you into this false sense of security and then- BOOM- plot twist!  That plot twist would lead you racing down another path when all of a sudden- ARGH- cliff hanger! And then, you're there, wobbling at the edge of this cliff, so desperate and excited that you slip and go crashing down, down, down until you've landed in a swiftly flowing river, and you're being carried down it, trying to stay afloat, and it's all you can do from being dragged beneath the crashing rapids.   You're being thrown around, side from side, your thrashing just making everything worse, and everythingishappeningsofastandyoudon'tunderstandwhat'sgoingonand then suddenly, the river slows down, and you stop thrashing.  You feel your tense, sore muscles loosen, your breathing slows to long, even inhales and exhales, your heart rate decreases to a steady drumming- you relax.  You are floating merrily down the river when, just out of nowhere, a waterfall appears and you tumble over it's edge.  You never do hit the bottom.  

That's it.  That's the plot.  It's just one crazy ride that never really leaves you feeling safe.  And even though it's wild and unpredictable, each plot twists hits you hard.  

So there's one reason why the book's so good.  Another great thing about this novel would be the characters.  No body's boring, everyone has a purpose, and there are no Mary Sues or Gary Stus.  For example, there's our main character Celaena.  She's the definition of power, strength, and skill.  But despite being so refined, she has a beautiful, soft side- a more feminine side filled with the love of books, pets, and chocolate cake.  I think that everyone can relate to her on some degree.  Chaol is another great character.  He's loyal, hardworking, and naive.  He's a character impossible to dislike.  And then there's our villain- the king.  Personally, I think he's an awesome villain.  He's someone you love to hate.  But not everything is out there about him.  You don't quite know how far he's willing to go to gain total power.  You remain in the dark with this villain, leaving an element of shock and surprise in the hands of the author.  The characters are just amazing. 

So if you haven't gone ahead and continued this series, I really suggest you do so.  If you have read this book, what did you think?  Were you as captivated by this novel as I was? 

The Wicked Will Rise

Title: The Wicked Will Rise
Author: Danielle Paige
Genre: Fantasy, Action, YA
Pages: 293
Stars: 3/5
Series: Dorothy Must Die
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In this sequel to Dorothy Must Die, Amy Gumm has a task.  That task is easier said than done, though; she must steal the lion's courage, the tin man's heart, and the scarecrow's brains, and then she must kill Dorothy Gale herself.  But will Amy Gumm be able to bring herself down to the level of the evil Dorothy to save the world of Oz?

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In this book, Amy is supposed to fulfill this task set ahead of her by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.  The entire time, though, Amy feels this dark cloud of evil swallow her further and further. Honestly, I found the whole story rather bland compared to Dorothy Must Die.  Overall, I was rather disappointed.  There were hardly any plot twists, and the story was extremely predictable.  

The tone of the voice was something else I was bothered by.  It was extremely informal- annoyingly informal.  It reminded me of Maximum Ride. And I strongly dislike Maximum Ride.  (If you're interested in seeing what I think about Maximum Ride, check out this link.) Back to the point here, Amy's narration includes a lot of "look, ...." and "anyway...." Look here", "So....", "Anyway, look...". 

It's very, very annoying! It would be at least bearable if she wasn't using terms like these so frequently, but it's practically every other page.  So I'm sure you can see why I found this annoying.

Another thing I found disappointing was that the minor characters were more interesting and developed than the major characters.  I just.... I really found the entire book to be bland.  For some reason I can't give this book 2 stars.  I didn't really like it, but Dorothy Must Die was so great that I feel like the sequel should deserve a good rating as well.  So I'm rather upset that the Wicked Will Rise didn't live up to my high expectations. I found myself slowing down in my reading, and I wasn't as excited about reading the book as I was when I read Dorothy Must Die.  

So would I recommend it?  No, not really.  However, Dorothy Must Die was really great, and perhaps Yellow Brick War  (the third book) will be better.  I guess we'll have to wait and see after it's released! 

Red Queen

Title: Red Queen
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Genre: dystopia, action, YA
Pages: 388
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Mare Barrow lives in a world divided by two blood types: red and silver.  The reds are the laborers- the workers.  They slave away in their grimy villages, supplying the silvers with every leisurely need.  The silvers are the nobles.  They sit in their mansions, or their expensive flats in the capital of the country, laughing at the insignificance of the reds.  There is one special thing about the silvers, though: they have a special ability, each of them.  Some have the strength of a giant, some can bend the rays of the sun at their will, some can leek into the minds of their neighbors.  It is these abilities that create a rift between society.  The kingdom is so cleanly divided that nobody quite knows what to do when one day, Mare Barrow, common red, quite obtrusively shoots lightning out of the palm of her hand directly at the new queen-to-be- by accident. 

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This book was fantastic! It was choke full of action, and there was a twist around every corner. This was definitely worth my time, and I can't wait for the next one to come out. 

As you can see from the summary, this book is a dystopian book.  I for one, love dystopia, and if you do to, you should definitely pick this book up. What drove me to read this was probably just how popular it was, so, I figured, I might as well see what all the hype was about.  It definitely has a Throne of Glass feel to it, along with a Hunger Games sort of social system.  That being said, this is a book entirely of its own sort, so don't be afraid of picking up some repeat dystopia book. 

The actual story telling of this book was down right phenomenal. When you start reading a dystopian book, or at least a book that takes place in its own world with its own ways of society, you usually get some amount of information dump.  The author explains all the rules and ways of society all at once, or as needed. That never actually happens in Red Queen.  This is how you can see just how great of a writer Victoria Aveyard is. She doesn't tell you all the background information, she shows you it. If you're a writer, you've probably heard that term before: Show, don't tell; and that's exactly what Aveyard does.  She doesn't tell you that Silvers are viewed as superior to Reds, she shows you through the two interacting in society.  She doesn't tell you that only Silvers have abilities, she shows you when everyone is shocked at Mare possessing a power. Having a good story is only half of the equation, you also need to be a good storyteller. 

So.... moving on to the characters. There are a lot of characters in this book, and sometimes it can be a little hard to keep track of them all, especially since a lot of them have odd names.  However, the major characters are very complex, and their personalities are strongly developed.  There is no bad guy and good guy.  Every character has a little bit of each in them. 

The action and suspense in this book is great, and you should definitely give it a shot!  It also has a great lesson in treating all people as your equal.  So go read this book, and remember, "power is a dangerous game".