Kyle
Maybe it's just me, but I have a serious issue with books about faeries. I loathed the Iron King very deeply, and this was almost just as horrendous, except in the end, I don't think it got quite to the level of annoyance that The Iron King brought me to. I bought this very early on into the year, and I found myself bored after the first five pages, so I just let it sit on my Kindle for another eight months, until I tried reading it during my birthday/vacation the same day I couldn't get into Maggie Stiefvater's “Lament” (SURPRISE! ANOTHER FAERIE BOOK!) after 15% of annoyance, so I read the first 15% of this.
However, back in the beginning of this month, I sat down, and said, “Kyle, just get it over with and you never even have to think about it again.” So, I sat down and basically devoured the entire thing in a few hours. An extremely unpleasant experience, one that I would not want to re-live, nor do I plan on it.
So, for a basic synopsis of this book, it follows a boy named Malcolm “Mackie” Doyle, who lives in the small, depressing town of Gentry. He's a “normal” kid who has three good friends, and a crush on a popular girl, who is starting to notice him. Soon, the reader finds out that Mackie isn't exactly . . . human. The real Mackie was switched before he was a year old, and was then replaced by a changeling, who is our main character. So, it turns out Mackie (our narrator Mackie) is a faerie.
Now, very rarely do I have problems with the setting of a novel. Normally, it's just not something I care for, unless it's something like Prague and the Otherworld from Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone or Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, because those settings are interesting and unique. The small town of Gentry was neither interesting nor unique, but was dreary and boring. In fact, it reminds me a lot of my negative feelings towards Gatlin, South Carolina from Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (my current read at the moment). The reason these stand out so much is because the author, Brenna Yovanoff, seem to put an emphasis on the boringness of it all. Well, if the setting of a novel can make me bored, that's typically not a good sign for me.
The characters themselves were just as boring and flat as the town they live in. Mackie is boring, and has to be coaxed into doing anything interesting or exciting. Tate was all headstrong, but really doesn't do anything until the end (well, she did more than Mackie). The Cutter – a wimpy excuse for a villain, seeing that he did nothing and subsequently got beat up by a sixteen year old and then gave up. Everybody else was just boring, and not even worth being mentioned in this review.
The writing itself I have no comment on, since while I'm an aspiring writer, I'm not necessarily any good. However, something about the writing kind of bored me to. Not to say that it was bad, but nothing to add a little spice to it, you know? In the book I'm writing, my main female protagonist, Carly, is a fourteen year old girl who was raped and now has a six-month old child, and starts out really depressed, then the whole supernatural part comes in, and slowly she opens up more and gets this really sassy, funny (to me anyway) voice. Mackie is just really boring and monotone. Anybody else feel that way?
Overall, just so I don't become too repetitive, this book just bored me and made me want to take a long nap. Plus, that ending (as in, the last page ending) was so happily ever after, that it made me want to throw up – don't get me wrong, I don't mind endings with happiness in them, but for the kind of atmosphere Brenna Yovanoff set up in the novel, you'd expect a much darker tone to it.
Anyway, 2/5 stars for The Replacement. Nothing special, and I wouldn't recommend it . . . to anyone really. However, I do want to check out her new novel, because . . . well it has demons (I think), and I'm kind of partial to angel/fallen angel/demon novels.
4.5/5 Stars - This book was freakin' hilarious! This is by far the funniest book I've ever read! Just a truly fantastic novel! Fastest book I've ever read, mainly because of the illustrations (which were also fantastically funny if I may add), with great characters, a really quick plot, and also some pretty dark and serious moments. Quite ironic though, because on the back, Neil Gaiman said that this book would be winning awards and be getting banned within a year, and all of those things happened! This is a book I think that everybody should definitely read, but it does have swearing, suggestive content, racist jokes, but it's still a really great read!
*3.5/5 Stars
I had a lot of issues with the world-building, pacing, and our main protagonist Lena. Overall though, it was an addictive read, with a poetic writing style, a romantic love story that felt plausible (for me at least), and it was just a book I could truly like, and for me, it was one of the better YA books published last year.
3/5 Stars - I just thought it was okay. I expected more cutting from the story - I mean, it's a terrible thing, but this book was more of Guy helping Willow get better, and we only saw three instances of Willow's cutting problem. I think that the romance between Guy and Willow was nicely paced, and I think the novel had a satisfying ending, but the ending also dragged on, and I really just found myself being bored through most of the book. I think that if you highly enjoy realistic fiction, then you'll probably enjoy this book, but I don't know, since I enjoy realistic fiction about darker topics, and this book just didn't do it for me.
EDIT: I normally don't do this, but I'm going to be as specific as just giving this book a 3.75/5 stars.
This book is really between a 3.5/5 and 4/5 Stars - Good, not too great, but not that bad. It's probably going to drop to a 3.5/5 stars though, which is an “Average” rating from me. I really liked the characters of Eve and Shane, the idea is really unique and cool, and it's definitely a good start for a series, with an amazing cliffhanger ending (thank God I bought he bind-up and can start The Dead Girls' Dance whenever I please!) However, I didn't care too much for our main protagonist, sixteen year old college student Claire Danvers, because she needed to be saved too often, and was either crying or on the verge of tears too much. Also, for Michael Glass, I feel like we didn't get to know much about him as a person, just that he liked to play piano and the guitar, and his big secret. Plus, some moments were I was just bored, and put it down for a little bit. However, this is definitely an interesting book, and definitely shows that maybe it just has that “Filler” kind of feel to it because it needs to set up this new setting with different politics and whatnot.
Favorite Line: “Hey! That's MY room bitch!” - Eve, Page 202
4.5/5 Stars - This book was surprisingly “Very Good”! I really didn't expect to like this very much at all, but it was quite interesting! None of the characters except for Alex got on my nerves, I really liked the plot, and the idea, and the pacing, and all of the flashbacks pretaining to the Underworld, and the pervert Fury who hurt Hannah, and all of the information concerning the Persephone Diamond. The only problems were that the ending was anticlimatic, but otherwise it wasn't that bad. Also, the romance wasn't even really a factor of the book, which was surprising considering the genre.
Can't wait for the second book in the trilogy, “Underworld” which I think comes out in April or May!
EDIT (7/7/12): I find it to be less than “okay” now that times has passed, but everything else started below is still pretty much exactly how I feel.
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It was just okay to be completely honest. While some of the enormous amount of questions were answers, I don't believe the novel fully answers itself, as to what it was. I feel like Erin Morgenstern had the bigger question in mind (what was the game?) but she never answered it for herself, and so when it came time to explain everything, it felt jumbled and weak. Also, Celia and Marco's relationship and “love” feels completely out of the blue, and they don't appear to have any real connection. Plus, the competition wasn't much of one it seems, and I don't fully understand how they played it. However, Erin Morgenstern has a wonderful writing style, and I think the idea of it was quite clever, and the novel had some great plot twists, and at times truly held my attention. At the okay of the day however, I found myself quite uninterested, and bored. However, I do think Erin Moregenstern has potential, considering this is simply a debut novel.
2.5/5 Stars - Eh, in between bad and okay. It started out too fast, then it was too slow, the main character Wendy was a whiny brat, Finn was a creepy stalker, the ending was extremely anti-climatic, and really, nothing happened. However, I will give it this: trolls are definitely different in the YA genre. On the side (I didn't take a star off for this) Switched (and My Blood Approves) has a lot of editing mistakes, and I'm a terrible self-editor and have hard time finding editing mistakes, but these are so glaringly obvious that it's like Amanda Hocking didn't even go over it. However, I didn't take any stars off for editing.
This book made me feel stupid.I hated the first book in this trilogy, [b:The Maze Runner 6186357 The Maze Runner (Maze Runner, #1) James Dashner http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320500235s/6186357.jpg 6366642], but I found the second book, [b:The Scorch Trials 7631105 The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner, #2) James Dashner http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320515213s/7631105.jpg 6574198] to be rather decent, and it made me excited for this. What I ultimately found was a giant mindfuck of an ending, and the comparisons to [b:Mockingjay 7260188 Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) Suzanne Collins http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1294615552s/7260188.jpg 8812783](in terms of dissapointment amongst fans), is disgusting. Mockingjay is a beautiful, heartbreaking novel, while The Death Cure is nonsense sold at $17.99. I'm not going to summarize this book.Now, I hate every single character in this series except for Brenda. I hate the backlash she's gotten, and how she's been reduced to the girl Thomas loves, and Team Brenda vs. Team Teresa. I loved her attitude and the kick-assery she brought into the series.Um, I am the only person who hates Minho and Newt. Obnoxious, flat, 1-demensinal characters. So glad that Newt got what he got. Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. Douchebag extraordinaire. He seriouslu makes the dumbest choices imaginable in this book. When in the beginning of the book Rat Man offers to GIVE HIM HIS MEMORY BACK, just because Newt and Minho are too paranoid he decides not to do it, but Teresa, Frypan, and everybody else does. Once again, Newt and Minho? Idiots. SPOILERS FOR THE REST OF THIS REVIEW. IF YOU HAVE NO INTENTION OF READING THIS SERIES (a wise choice) THEN YOU CAN READ IT. IF YOU PLAN ON READING IT, DON'T READ AHEAD.The plot was nonsense. The second half made no sense for me, and I was just shaking my head, rolling my eyes, and resisting the urge to throw this book across the room. That fuckin ending!!!! Thomas: Teresa is dead. I am sad.Brenda: Hi! Sorry about your dead “best friend”.Thomas: Who? I forget, let's go re-build our little Immune Society while the rest of the world dies out!Brenda: OKAY! Seriously? Thomas, you mourned Teresa, the girl you were apparently best friends with, for six pages. I counted. Even then, it didn't feel real, just the superficial “Oh crap! She's dead. I'm sad.” Then he decides that so Minho won't hate him, he'll never tell him he shot Newt and killed him. Selfish, arrogant bastard! Then, he decides that the rest of the innocent men, women, and children that will die from the Flare and the Cranks don't matter, as long as he's fine.Oh, and yes, Aris and Group B as a whole share about five lines the whole freakin' book. Why they were introduced in the first place makes no sense, as well as the “reistance” organization in this one.
3/5 stars, because I really have no interest in the characters besides Brenda, the love triangle was annoying, the ending was anti-climatic, way too much sleeping, and the writing is bland and has no personality. However, I did feel more engaged in the plot and the story, and there was definitely more action.
I want you to ask yourself this: what would you give up to be perfect?
Okay, you've thought about it. Now, think about what four out of control teenagers would do.
Now, as well all should know by now, Ellen Hopkins is the best author in the world. This is the second book in the Impulse series, but this isn't a direct sequel. In fact, besides maybe the last 40-45 pages of this book, you can read this FIRST! However, the ending of this book, spoils the end of Impulse. `
This isn't the darkest book by Ellen Hopkins, by any means. In fact, next to Fallout, this is probably her least darkest book, which I was kind of dissapointed about, but besides that, and I didn't care at ALL for Sean, and not even Andre really.
Cara and Kendra were my favorite characters/storylines in the book, and also tackled some new issues that Ellen hasn't covered yet, such as anorexia, and the topic of cyberbullying. The drug addiction (Sean) has been done by her too much, and it really wasn't even a part of his plot, and Andre's story was too wrapped around Jenna. In fact, Jenna's alcohol addiction would've been a better plot than having Andre be a narrator.
The message of perfection was strong in many points, but kind of lacking. It was definitely heavy in the beginning, and a good amount in the end, but the middle was just mainly story. The story itself was mainly about Cara and Dani, but it was a pretty decent lesbian romance, and Kendra's anorexia could've been a heavier topic, but all in all, the message of perfection was definitely strong for Kendra.
The ending of this book definitely got darker, so I did like that, and the story moved along at a very fast pace. The writing was beautiful, and meaningful, and AH! I cannot wait for her first adult novel, TRIANGLES, which is the first book in that series, and then COLLATERAL, and then TILT which is the second book in that series, and then the best sequel EVER, SMOKE!!!!!!!!!!
Overall, I know I spent a lot of time with negative attention, but this is definitely a well-written novel, with two VERY good storylines, an amazing message, and I really good cliffhanger for me personally, and I wouldn't MIND a third book, except with completely different characters in a much more difficult situation than Cara, Kendra, Sean, and Andre (which was also kind of eh. . .) and this is definitely my second favorite book EVER, tied with the amazing TRICKS, and behind BURNED and IDENTICAL!
EDIT (11/4/11): This is also the most REALISTIC chance of an apocalypse I've come across in fiction, which also made it that much more frightening!
Really interesting read, and one that really makes you think! 4/5 stars - my first APOCALYPTIC novel I've ever read too, which is more interesting than post-apocalyptic fiction. Definitely a reccomended read!
1) I actually didn't find Melinda all that annoying, although she had her moments.
2) I really liked Matt, Jonny, Mrs. Nesbitt, and the Mom (although I found the mom a little selfish, even though it was for the right reasons)
3) Although it drags a little, there's still enough plot to keep the reader engaged for most of the book
4) An interesting take on an apocalypse, and how the world (or a family) would react
5) This could, in some cases, even be read as a survival guide in some ways, so it's educational and a fun read
6) A satisfying ending, so I'm glad that I get to see the companion novel in the setting of one of the more devastated areas in the next book!
I was thinking 4.5/5, but it was just so much better than that.
1) Fast-paced
2) Action all the time!
3) I liked how Aaron got the spotlight for the most part of the first 100 pages
4) Seeing all the different fearscapes, and how much power the Vours really can have was interesting to see
5) Wasn't crazy about who the romantic partner ended up being (was rooting for the other guy) but it's fine
6) I don't know how, but Simon Holt really did know how to end this series phenominally!
I don't know right now. It was better than Ask and Answer, but I don't know if it beats The Knife of Never Letting Go. I still did cry during one scene in the last 30 or so pages. All in all, an amazing conclusion to a beloved series!
1) The writing, of course, is amazing as usual
2) I felt like I wanted Viola to do a little bit more, but she was still okay
3) Todd was, of course, amazing - who wouldn't love a guy who can beat people up with his mind?!
4) Fast-paced, action gore - epic!
5) I sort of felt bad for the Mayor - just a little
6) Patrick Ness really does know how to put so much emotion, so much chaos in one book!
7) A feel like the book was just too ambigious in the end, and I feel like I needed more confirmation
Whoa - really, really bad.
1) Meghan Chase is one of the worst female protagonist I've ever read in YA literature
2) The romance between Meghan and Ash doesn't even make sense since they know NOTHING about each other, and have had a minimum of maybe two intimate private conversations
3) This book was REALLY slow in a lot of parts, and I wanted to put it down a lot (even if I did almost read the whole book in under two days)
4) I enjoyed learning about the world of the fey, and I like the idea of the iron fey, and how our advancement in technology is destroying fantasy in a sense
5) I enjoyed the characters of Puck, Grimalkin, and the packrats
6) Julie Kagawa has a pretty good writing style, but I felt that she glosses over on stuff during her action scenes
