Review: Talon

Title: Talon
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Talon
Volume: 1
Release Date: Oct. 28, 2014
Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: Dragons live in hiding among the humans. Ember Hill is learning is out in the world for the first time, learning to blend in with humanity, in her human form. Ember is thrilled to, for the first time, be free. This may be her only taste of freedom, before she is inducted into the dragon organisation Talon. Unfortunately, she's got dragon hunters on her tail-dragon hunting has changed over the years, trading  swords for guns and armour for carbon-fibre, evolving with the changes in the dragon world. Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has been raised to kill dragons nearly his entire life, but he isn't prepared for how human Ember seems, and the growing suspicion that his superiors haven't told him everything.

Out of Ten: 5/10

Review at a Glance: This book is a simple and somewhat predictable series opening, with characters that were somewhat difficult to invest in.

Review: This book was alright, but it just didn't wholly pull me in. The character of Ember wasn't one I found easy to connect- not because she's a dragon, but because she didn't feel like a complete character. All the framework was there, but her thought processes just didn't line up, and her emotions were something that I couldn't follow. It wasn't that I disliked her, it was just that I couldn't connect with her, or Garret really. They both frustrated me sometimes. All this said, they worked alright together- Ember challenged him, and they both grew through the story.

The plot itself  was fairly straightforward, and simple. It was, of course, somewhat predictable and it was also a little slow in places, where if felt like there was nothing happening that contributed to the development of the plot.  Much of the novel was simply build-up, as this is to the first in a series.

The writing was simple, overall. Something that did bother me about it was that the descriptions and method of referring to characters were both rather repetitive (which is likely linked to the simplicity of the writing style), it just made things feel somewhat unnatural.

Overall, this book just didn't quite work for me. There were parts of the execution that could have been improved and I had a hard time connecting to and investing in the characters sometimes. Though it didn't work for me, I think fans of Julie Kagawa's other work, or people who are interested in the premise might still want to pick it up. I'm still not sure if I plan on continuing the series, I might pick up the next book when it comes out, but we'll see.

Top Ten Books/Series I Want To Reread

Hah. Top ten. I an obsessive rereader, but here we go. (Also, I know I haven't been doing Top Ten Tuesdays for... a month. I'm awful.)

1. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. It's one of my go-to reread books. It hits so many personal notes for me as a reader, and it's just such a beautiful book. I adore it as an audiobook as well. (I feel like it ends up on a lot of my TTT lists... oops?)

2. Cinder, Scarlet or Cress by Marissa Meyer. These are books that I often turn to when I've got reader's block (which is a relatively new phenomenon for me). The downside is they make me very impatient for Winter, which doesn't come out for just over another year. I think I reread Cress the most, and Scarlet the least.

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I haven't read it in three years, and I feel like I should probably read it a second time at some point.

4. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater. I read it when it came out as an ebook, but now I have the physical copy and I want to read it more thoroughly (I kind of sped through the first time). I reread the other two books in The Raven Cycle a lot too.

5. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. I reread them a lot... I have a weird relationship with these books.  I think I'll leave it at that for now.

6. The Matt Cruse trilogy by Kenneth Oppel. This is another go-to reread. And I want to reread it with it's new covers at some time in my life because they are lovely.

7. Dark Life and Riptide by Kat Falls. Fun, light, quick read, and I really like the world.

8. East by Edith Pattou. I read it a while ago and really enjoyed it, and I think that I would enjoy reading it again.

9. As You Wish by Jackson Pearce. I've read it a couple of times. I borrowed if from the library several times and it's been a while.

10. The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan. I just did a group reread of these books on Twitter. They're really enjoyable.

Man. One day I'll make a list of all my go-to rereads, because this doesn't even cover it.

Top Ten Tuesdays are a weekly feature at The Broke and The Bookish.

October DNF

The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Barnes
This one just didn't do it for me. I started off interested, and the point of view of the ghost was interesting, the plot didn't really progress toward... anything... for me. I think this was a mostly an "It's not you it's me" sort of situation here, I just wasn't in the proper mood for it, or I was just kind of lukewarm toward it. This is one that I may give another go at some other time. Maybe.

Buzz Kill by Beth Fantaskey
Oct 3, 2014-Oct 7, 2014
Well, I knew this one would be a long shot, but I still grabbed it when I saw it on the shelf at the library. I got about 100 pages in before I threw in the towel. I just couldn't stand the main character, and I'm beginning to see that I'm someone who needs to at very least not hate the narrator. But Millie was pretty awful, and, honestly, not at all cut out for detective work or anything else requiring an sort of intellect. The plot... was there a plot? Maybe I didn't get that far? Essentially, I didn't like any of the characters, got a general not great feeling from the book and didn't find myself enjoying the plot. I remember Nancy Drew very differently from who it's described in this book (though far from perfect, those books were at very least interesting). Everything felt sort of flat.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Sept. 26- Oct. 7
I hereby dub this "Infodumping, an novel". That was the main flaw with  The Bone Season. The world itself is incredibly complex- unnecessarily so- and the writing style does not carry it. I think I am more toward the "Show don't tell" end of the scale as fantasy writing philosophies go, and this book just doesn't deliver. 

Feel free to tell me what you thought of these. Are they worth me giving them another try?

Review: The Body Electric

Title: The Body Electric
Author: Beth Revis
Genre: YA, science fiction, post-apocalyptic, dystopia
Release Date: October 6, 2014
Goodreads
eARC received through NetGalley

A Quick Introduction: Something strange is happening to Ella Shepard. She's been having vivid nightmares about her dead father, and she's plagued by imagined bees. She thinks she's losing her mind, though she's trying not to let on that anything is wrong, especially because everything else seems to be falling apart- her mother's illness grows worse by the day, there's unrest in the city, and she's been given a cryptic warning by a boy she's sure she's never met before.

Out of Ten: 5/10

Review at a Glance: Though plot and characters didn't engage me, fans of the Across the Universe trilogy might want to check it out.

Review: I do like the cover of this one. I just like the layout a lot... and green is a wonderful colour. I read the first two books in the Across the Universe trilogy, but I never finished Shades of Earth. As this book is just a spin-off, and contains only passing references to the trilogy, it wasn't really a problem.

Unfortunately, this wasn't really for me. I had the same problem with is as I did the Across the Universe series- I just wasn't pulled in, and I think that there were a couple things that contributed to this.

I found that I didn't feel anything for the characters- it was like they were placeholders. I just didn't find myself buying their feelings or following their thought processes. It wasn't that they were unlikable, it was just that they weren't really anything one way or the other, and they just didn't feel complete. They didn't compel me. This meant not only that the characters were difficult to invest in, but that the relationships felt contrived sometimes, just because there was no connection there.

Second for me was the world-building and plot, which I felt went hand in hand for this novel, the world was revealed as the story went on, as Ella lived in a very limited sphere when the story started. The world-building often occurred as the plot was rapidly moving forward, and both things were not done at once, leading to gaps in action to describe the setting, which impaired the flow of the novel. The plot felt, overall, sort of loosely created, jumping from event to event, and somewhat predictable, though there were aspects that I felt had potential. I liked the idea of the bees, and I enjoyed aspects of the futuristic world, like the androids and the computer-cuffs, though I struggled somewhat with some of the finer points of the nanobots (some of their behaviours in the book didn't mesh with my knowledge of nanotechnology, though I am, admittedly, no expert) and the reverie technology (I found myself curious about how it worked, but it wasn't ever explained to my satisfaction).

Finally, the writing. For me, it just didn't carry the plot. The writing can be a clincher for a story with a somewhat flawed plot, but, unfortunately, it just didn't pull me in enough to make up for the fact that the plot and characters didn't engage me. It felt somewhat inconsistent.

While this book wasn't really for me, I think this book is something that people who loved the Across the Universe trilogy will probably like, though it doesn't revisit the characters or places they'll be familiar with from the trilogy.

A Peek Into My Non-Book Life

Because I feel like I have been on an impromptu hiatus. It wasn't the intention, I promise, school has just been very hectic. Here's how:

1. I'm currently in a co-op option for my course, which means I'm applying to something very like internships while I'm doing my courses. This means resumes and cover letter, as well as occasionally interviews. It's been draining, because the application process is kind of stressful, and then there's the lingering anxiousness of the fact that even if I do get a job, it will be a very steep learning curve.
2. I've been trying to figure out the release date of Blue Lily, Lily Blue in Canada, since there has been some sort of communication breakdown between Scholastic Publishing and Canadian bookstores. Basically Scholastic says the week of Oct. 20th, and the bookstores say Nov. 1... I don't know how these things happen, but it happened.
3. I've been DNFing everything. It's been incredibly frustrating for me, to be honest. I just want a book to really pull me in and not let me go until it's over (or possibly not even then), and this really hasn't happened at all in October. Not even for Blood of Olympus, which I was looking forward to. It's just been aggravating.I'm hoping I'll get through Heir of Fire... though I've struggled with finishing any of the Throne of Glass books the first time I try. 
4. I've been obsessively rereading books. They're the only thing that I can actually get through. (In other news, my Goodreads challenge is likely to be doomed). I'm in several read-alongs this month, and those are always fun.

So that's what has been happening. I'm hoping to pull out of my reading slump as soon as possible...

Review: The Boundless

Title: The Boundless
Author: Kenneth Oppel
Genre: Fantasy, Alternative History
Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: The Boundless  is the greatest train in the world- hundreds of two-story cars bound for Victoria, British Columbia, from Halifax. When Will, first-class passenger and son of a railroad executive, gains possession of a key to a car containing priceless treasures, he finds himself target of a ruthless man from his past. To stay alive, Will joins a traveling circus, and attempts, with the help of the ringmaster and escape artist, to reach his father and warn him before it is too late. But, as they hurtle through the unknown, Will finds that even those helping him have  ulterior motives, and that not only those on the train pose a threat.

Out of Ten: 6/10

Review at a Glance: An alright read, but it's characters, plot and world didn't meet my expectations.

Review: This book was alright, it just wasn't quite at the standard that I expected. It was fine, but it didn't capture me as some of Kenneth Oppel's other works did. I've read both The Silverwing trilogy, which I enjoyed and The Matt Cruse trilogy (Airborn, Skybreaker and Starclimber), which is one of my favourites, and this book just didn't work as well for me as either of them.

The world building was something of a weakness in this book, it was just somewhat unclear what exactly did and didn't happen in the world. The lack of structure made it somewhat difficult to fully invest in the story. The Sasquatches worked for me but everything else didn't seem to fit with the world up until then.

Another thing that made it challenging to cultivate any interest in the story was the characters. They just didn't make me feel anything- not even a vague sense of interest. There just wasn't anything about them that I liked about them. Nothing about them felt very real to me, not their interests, or, really, any of their choices.

This book is told from third person, in present tense, which is a perspective that I don't read much of (I'm not a huge fan of present tense narration). The perspective is generally limited to Will, the main character, and Brogan, his main adversary. They style of the storytelling distanced me from the characters.

All this said, I loved the idea of the Boundless itself. A giant train? Yes please. This is the tale of the Boundless's maiden voyage, so it was interesting to see the cracks that were already showing in the social structure on the train, and how the train was designed. It also acknowledged the darker sides of the building of the railroad- the treatment of the rail layers, especially immigrant workers, as well as the treatment of Native peoples in Canada's history. Seriously, anyone who thinks Canada has this super-nice history where people didn't get hurt should have a look at a residential school for starters. This country definitely has some dark blots in our history... but I digress.

Overall, I felt parts of the story had potential, but it didn't really bear fruit for me. In the end, it wasn't really for me, I don't think- it just didn't hit enough notes for me, personally, as a reader.

Trees of Reverie Read-a-thon: Wrap Up

I said I would post this yesterday. But yesterday rapidly turned into today as I was working on a lab for Uni, so you’re getting it after I’m (slightly) more rested than I was.

Final Page Count: 2008

Books Finished

• The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke
• The Pirate’s Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke
• Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
• Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan

Daily Posts

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Reading Challenges:

• Read a book by an author you haven’t read before
• Read a book in the fantasy genre
• Read a book with an LGBTQ+ character
• Finish a book in a series you’ve not yet completed
• Write a book review for one of the books you read (here)
• Take part in The Raven Cycle Read-A-Thon hosted by Readers in Wonderland and Books of Amber
• Finish an entire book in ONE day
• Read outside

Anyway, this was super fun. I think I’m (maybe a little?) getting the hang of read-a-thons. The last week was a bit… unproductive, because school crushed my reading time slightly, but the first week was good. I would love to do this read-a-thon again sometime, I liked the two week layout and the challenges were super fun. I’m still working through a couple of books that I started during the read-a-thon, hopefully I’ll have time to finish them soon. School has been incredibly hectic these past few weeks, so my page count wasn't quite what I would have liked it to be, but these things happen.

Mini-Reviews

Things have been beyond hectic the past few school weeks, so I'm some of the books I've read won't be getting full reviews, or, at least, won't be getting them right now. So here are a couple of informal, miniature ones that may be expanded later.

The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke

6/10

I felt much the same about this one as I did about The Assassin's Curse. (Full review of The Assassin's Curse here). It didn't really captivate me. Some books just don't, I guess. I still had the feeling that the parameters of the world hadn't been set, which weakened it as world-building went. I was still pretty "meh" about the romance, and still found some of the characters remained pretty static.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

6/10

I still don't know how I feel about this series. It seems that I can't get through a book in the series on the first try (Throne of Glass took me three, this took me two). It seems kind of like "high fantasy-lite", if you will. I found myself somewhat frustrated with how long it took for characters to come to conclusions that I had reached in the first quarter of the book (the riddle was pretty obvious and such). Celaena still doesn't really feel like an assassin to me (most of the time), and certain other characters bothered me. That said, I did still enjoy reading it, despite my occasional frustration, and I am interested in what is coming next. I'll read Heir of Fire when it becomes available at my public library.

Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan

8/10

This was one that I was eagerly anticipating. I found both Unspoken and Untold to be fun and entertaining reads, and this one mostly lived up to what I was expecting. I almost always end up feeling like endings in trilogies like this were rushed (or even a little deus ex machina), and this wasn't really an exception. The climax felt like it was over too fast. This book was more emotional for me than the other two. There was still a lot of humour in the is one, but much of it would fall into the category of "gallows humour,"because there was a lot of dark stuff going on. My favourite parts often included Lillian and Jon (they have a fun dynamic), and I generally really liked most of the characters, though I do still question some storytelling decisions. Overall I enjoyed it, though there were still some things that I wasn't a huge fan of. I will probably do an informal "Book Talk" for this at some point, if not a review.