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Dana (24 KP) rated Shatter Me in Books

Mar 23, 2018  
Shatter Me
Shatter Me
Tahereh Mafi | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.4 (23 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is my second time reading this book. I have been wanting to do a re-read of this series for a long while, so when I got the audiobooks, I started reading almost immediately. There will most definitely be spoilers for this book and the rest of the series in this review, so if you have not read (or listened to) it, stop reading this review now and come back after. I promise, it is worth it!!

This book is so much more heartbreaking than I originally remembered. Seeing the depths of Juliette's pain whenever she is about to break apart is just so beautifully written. It makes the character sympathetic, but also gives her a hidden amount of strength that she doesn't even see in herself. Being able to look for beauty in the world is something not all people can do, especially people who have been left and hurt so much in their lives as Juliette has been.

Since Juliette has lived only through stories, that is how she knows how to describe the world. It's all so romantic and new to her in every action and experience. I love seeing how she creates relationships and her desperation to find connections. After being alone for so long (long before her stay in the asylum) she latches onto any kind of love she can get.

It is definitely interesting to see the relationships in their baby forms, especially since I know how the series sends. Knowing this, it's really cool to look at the little hints to the characters' true personalities. Hints at Adam's overbearing entitlement he feels over Juliette, Juliette's hidden strength (as I said before), Kenji's awesomeness (just because I freaking love him).

There are also hints about the white bird with the golden crown that are hidden throughout the series and is not what one would think it would be.

I love seeing Warner in these early parts of the story because he is such an arrogant ass. He hasn't shown anyone his humanity, so there is no way for any of the characters (especially Juliette) to know who and what he really is. Ugh. Why couldn't he be the cool version of his self throughout? Oh and when Warner finds out he can touch Juliette, holy hell! When I first read that, my heart was skyrocketing! I was so scared for her and Adam, but also for Warner because what did that mean for him? When he first touches her, he is writhing on the floor, in a moment of pure terror and pain because he cannot have the one thing he wants more than everything. While that's a very entitled thing to think, to want to have another person, it must have been a terrifying moment for the both of them. By the way, I am in no way condoning his actions throughout the series. He did horrible things that cannot be forgiven so easily, but I do find him a fascinating character.

Kenji is still my favorite side character and will always be. He is an idiotic, crass, sarcastic ass hat, but I wouldn't have him any other way.

I love the writing style in this book. I love how it is written like it is Juliette's journal she keeps throughout this book. I am remembering why I loved this series so much when I first read it.

It did move a bit too quickly for me toward the end, but I understand the necessity to do it that way. Because in war, it is fast paced and difficult to drink in the descriptions of the world around you. It's hard to focus on a singular thing, which is how the last section of this book was written. It is just freaking brilliant.
  
A Court of Thorns and Roses
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. Maas | 2015 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.7 (107 Ratings)
Book Rating
After reading the Throne of Glass series, I didn't think that I could love SJM's next series as much. How could it compare? It doesn't, but not in a bad way. While it's also a book about the Fae, a Court of Thorns and Roses is set in an entirely different world with its own set of unique characters. It is also vaguely a retelling, or reimagining, of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale, which I loved. The human and Fae worlds are separated by an invisible wall and a Treaty that was crafted after a brutal war which took place 500 years earlier.

We are first introduced to Feyre, a girl who tries to take care of her family as best she can despite being the youngest. It is on one of her trip into the forest to feed her family when she stumbles across the path of a wolf whilst hunting a deer. After shooting and killing both animals, she skins the wolf and carries the deer home for food. Unfortunately for her, the wolf was actually a Fae male and her actions force her to make a choice. Either be killed or live forevermore in the Fae realm.

It is not much of a choice and Feyre chooses to go with Tamlin to his estate in Prythian, the land of the Fae. Tamlin, she later discovers is not only a High Fae, but the Lord of the Spring Court and much more powerful than she realized. He is joined by Lucien, another High Fae who is originally from the Autumn Court and not much else besides a few workers. The large estate seems empty and a little bit sad.

As one can expect from a Beauty and the Beast retelling, the girl must fall in love with the shapeshifting Fae beast to break a curse. the curse is not known to the reader or Feyre until the end of the book. She must fight to prove her love under the most harrowing of situations and trials.

A must read, especially if you wish to find out what happens. Highly recommended for teen/young adult readers who like fantasy, supernatural creatures and magic. The world building is amazing, the magic is awe inspiring and the lands are populated by a variety of characters from the heroes to the villains, the cowards, the friends and the just plain misunderstood.

Reread Feelings:
Slight spoiler warning for ACOTAR and ACOWAR.

A second read-through of a Court of Thornes and Roses let me to notice a lot more details that I had missed during my first introduction to the world. The inspiration that the novel drew from Beauty and the Beast was also more prevalent than I had realized. Her family life and desire to protect those she loves is directly pulled and inspired by the original novel. Tamlin’s beast form and temper are also reminiscent of the Beast in the story.

Knowing how the book ends and what happens in ACOMAF, you can more clearly see the actions and personality of Tamlin. He is very protective of Feyre and a little bit controlling, but without any direct threat to her life it is not as apparent. The events that occurred Under the Mountain pushed him over the edge and turned that protectiveness dark. It became corrupted and too strong to be overlooked. He also has an explosive temper and anger, but you see it less frequently as the book goes on. That doesn’t mean it goes away, so his personality in the second book is not as surprising as I thought it was my first time reading the series. It still like him in this series, but I don’t love him as much as I did during the first read through.

The incredible world of Prythian is just so packed with different faeries, Courts, and intense story that you can’t focus on everything the first time you read it. You discover more magic the second, or third, time you read through the book because you know the story and can now also focus on the read of the world building and character development. To me, that is fantastic writing when you can always discover something new hidden in a book you love.

I fell in love with the series even more on the second read-through, especially Rhysand. You truly appreciate just how much he did for Feyre, not just healing her arm when she was on death’s door but mentally and emotionally supporting her when she was ready to give up. He puts on a dark front, but his every action belies his true feelings. Rhys lies to Amarantha about the identity of Tamlin’s human love, even though it could mean his end and his people’s if she discovers the truth. On multiple occasions, he plays the bad guy to maintain a façade but secretly does good. I appreciated and recognized his acts a lot more the second time reading, and it made me fall in love with his character even more.

Even though I know what happens in the book, the emotions are still so prevalent. You ride the story’s highs and lows, feel yourself filling with light when there is goodness, and fear for the dark. I can’t even describe my feelings. I was walking around my room reading the final pages as Feyre is being hurt – and someone calls out her name. I just sort of collapsed to the ground, with my hand on my heart and my feelings bursting from my chest about that particular Fae male. You could almost hear the pain and horror in his voice as he cried out for her, and it destroyed me. The final moments of the book were so beautiful and made me a little teary.
  
Captain Marvel (2019)
Captain Marvel (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
First female lead for Marvel (2 more)
Unexpected twists
Kept with MCU continuity
Kree make up lacked a little (2 more)
Good Marvel knowledge required to make full sense of movie
Possibly released too close to Endgame to get the recognition it deserves
Brie Larson rocks Captain Marvel with almost perfect performance
Brie Larson kicks butt in this action packed adventure that takes Carol Danvers on a trip down (a very long) memory lane.

The overall plot of the movie works brilliantly and does well to give fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe a glimpse of the raw power that Captain Marvel posseses. The story (with good reason obviously) focused a lot on Captain Marvels journey to learn who she is and where she comes from. In doing that however I feel like Marvel left us with little back story behind the Kree-Skrull war. This could be paid off in later films but I do feel as though this was the perfect opportunity.

The 90's feel was executed to perfection, from the costumes to the sets, the soundtrack to the technology, there was a perfect amount of nostalgia without it getting close to cheesy. This allowed the film to focus on it's 'Top Gun' style and makes it stand out and stand strong amongst any other Marvel film to date.

Whilst I feel there was a small amount of detail missing, overall I thought the film was an action packed rollercoaster of fun which made great use of the opportunity to set up everything that was to come in the MCU timeline.

Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson were terrific and I hope they can collaborate further in any planned sequel.

On a final note, now that Captain Marvel is out there for the world to see, bring on Avengers: Endgame!

Higher Futher Faster.
  
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Lindsay (1760 KP) rated The High Court in Books

Mar 14, 2019  
The High Court
The High Court
Chris Ledbetter | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
World Building (0 more)
We are welcome back to MO Prep and it students right before the start of a new term. Zeus and his siblings and friend Metis are all visiting Crete. They are there to visit and get introduced to his adoptive family. I loved this book and story behind it.

Things get tense when they run into his former professors. There seem to be heated conversation with Zeus and Metis. We also find out who Metis parents are? Chris Ledbetter doe a wonderful job with his characters.

We seem to see the confrontation once again with Zeus and Titans students or at least some of them. What will happen at Othrys Hall? They seem to start their new term and find new member to join MO Prep. Once they do, they go about their day. Once in the afternoon they seem to get attacked by something of a Giants Creatures on their war game practice. What are they? Who sent them?

If you want to know how it starts, I would suggest reading “The Sky Throne” by Chris Ledbetter. This one continues it. If you want to know how Zeus ends up with his struggles with toxin that Zenus has and is deal with during this book. Read the first book which I mentioned above.

I also really think there something going on with how the professors of the lower and upper academy are treating the MO Prep students. I can not wait for the next installment of this story. I am left wondering what Kronos means and why he got sentence he got? There are surprises and secrets spilled. What happens to Hyperion? There are two trials that goes on.
  
Justice League (2017)
Justice League (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
A rushed DC version of Infinity Wars
This film just missed the mark on so many different aspects. It had high ambitions but just let itself down pretty much everywhere. It felt like a panicked, rushed answer to Infinity Wars, but without taking the time to embed the characters and storyline first. I thought with hits like The Flash and Arrow TV series the DC world may have been fighting back against Marvel's dominance, but I guess for every "Arrow" there is a "Legends of Tomorrow" cheese-fest.
The CGI is truly awful. Massive, expensive battle scenes looked clunky and dated. Steppenwolf is so badly animated as to be ludicrous, especially noticeable as he looks like one of Thanos' minions (I genuinely think you'd see better animated facial movements in mid-noughties PS games). And lets not overlook the dodgy attempt at using CGI to remove Henry Cavill's moustache (some scenes had to be re-shot after he had already started filming Mission Impossible and his moustache had to be removed by CGI!).
I had no feelings towards any of the characters. Whereas the new Spiderman was an immediate hit in Civil War, here The Flash is just annoying and his chirpy geekiness does not contrast well with Batfleck's grumpiness. Cyborg was totally redundant except to solve a plot point. And Aquaman did nothing of note and was not likeable at all.
This should have been a big-hitting blockbuster with edge-of-the-seat tension, laugh-out-loud banter and head-scratching plot twists (and any more hyphenated adjectives I can think of), instead it was a mediocre action film with none of the character of the DC universe on show.
  
The Waking Land (The Waking Land, #1)
The Waking Land (The Waking Land, #1)
Callie Bates | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
**3.75 stars rounded up**
I really wish we had half stars to use at least. This one was difficult for me to nail down for a rating. I don't think it's really a solid 4 stars but not 3 either so somewhere in between.

That said, I did enjoy the book. I thought the plot was unique and the world building was decent. The characters were my main issue. There is a bit of a lack of depth in some of the supporting characters that I feel could have used a little more development. However, my main problem was with Elanna. She seemed a bit... well, flaky at times. She clearly had Stockholm's in the beginning but she changed her beliefs every time someone told her something. She went from hating her father to loving him as soon as she saw him to almost indifference when he died as well as from hiding and fearing her magic to loving it with no real in between. There was also A LOT of repetition, especially in her inner monologues. She didn't want to fight in a war for her dad, she wanted to run away, then it was steward of the land and born for this over and over. This book does have its redeeming qualities tho. Despite my irritation with the characters at times, the action kept me invested in the story. I needed to know what was going to happen, will their small band of revolutionaries win or lose and at what cost? I also liked the mythology woven into the story, especially about the ancestors.

Overall, I think it's a promising start for a first novel and am looking forward to the sequel and to seeing what Ms. Bates comes up with next.

**Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!**
  
You'd Be Mine
You'd Be Mine
Erin Hahn | 2019 | Romance, Young Adult (YA)
7
7.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Clay Coolidge and Annie Mathers are country singers. Clay is kind of a bad boy and the only way his record label has agreed to keep him on, is if Annie agrees to go on tour with him for the summer. Annie is a great singer, but her parents were in the business and she's not sure if she wants to follow in their footsteps. But when Clay shows up on her doorstep, she feels like she has no choice but to join him. Being on tour the two learn things about each other, they don't like to share with the world. Will this tour help them to find the healing they are both needing, or will it just make things worse.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

You'd Be Mine is a cute love story about two very young country singers. Annie is the daughter of a famous country couple who died. She doesn't want to be compared to her mother at all, which is why she has chosen to stay out of the spotlight for so long. Clay has his own demons in his closet and is a bad boy in the business. The fans swoon over his songs and his gorgeousness, but they don't know the person behind the music. Annie sees Clay and that scares him.

This is the first book I've read by Erin Hahn, and I look forward to reading more of her books. This one was cute. Since most of the characters in this book were under 21, I don't know if I would categorize this as a YA book. The underlying subject matter deals with drug overdose, suicide, and death through war.
  
Godblind (The Godblind Trilogy #1)
Godblind (The Godblind Trilogy #1)
Anna Stephens | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Stick with it!! It gets good!
Contains spoilers, click to show
The Mireces worship the bloodthirsty Red Gods. Exiled from Rilpor a thousand years ago, and left to suffer a harsh life in the cold mountains, a new Mireces king now plots an invasion of Rilpor’s thriving cities and fertile earth.

Dom Templeson is a Watcher, a civilian warrior guarding Rilpor’s border. He is also the most powerful seer in generations, plagued with visions and prophecies. His people are devoted followers of the god of light and life, but Dom harbours deep secrets, which threaten to be exposed when Rillirin, an escaped Mireces slave, stumbles broken and bleeding into his village.

Meanwhile, more and more of Rilpor’s most powerful figures are turning to the dark rituals and bloody sacrifices of the Red Gods, including the prince, who plots to wrest the throne from his dying father in the heart of the kingdom. Can Rillirin, with her inside knowledge of the Red Gods and her shocking ties to the Mireces King, help Rilpor win the coming war?

I seriously struggled with this for the first quarter of the book. It was almost expecting you to automatically know what these god's were and who these characters were. Im so glad I stuck with it. The world building got easier to recognise and you become invested in the characters. I actually shouted out a few times in anger at Galtas and the treacherous prince Rivil. A brutal battle of good Vs evil

 The last sentence in the book really says it all, Blood streaked Dom's chin as he ate himself. And he laughed and laughed at the pretty pictures.
Yea looking forward to book 2!


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