Fire

Kristin Cashore

Fire has an irresistible power against men. And some women. Her beauty attracts them, even as she controls their minds. Despite this power having been used negatively in the past, Fire is determined not to use it for evil – except that she needs to, to protect a royal family she is gradually getting attached to.

I felt like there could have been more ‘meat’ in this novel. Yes, it’s only a teenage fiction read, but still, it felt like there were superfluous things that could have been better filled with more of an epilogue and detailing other things (such as what Fire actually did in regards to pregnancy).

The end for Archer was too simple. I thought Fire’s reaction was completely overstated, and also inappropriate. She didn’t finish the job she had started! Not to mention she continued to act stupidly after escaping.

Fire’s philosophy of not wanting to hurt people is admirable. In fact, for me, I find it hard that she made the turning point so quickly and was able to use it to indirectly harm others. It’s strange thinking of her power as a muscle. It gets stronger as she practices with it, and she becomes more adept at carefully holding things.

There are some things that don’t become clear until later in the novel, although the truth of them are hinted during the novel. For me, this could have had more in it. Each thing wasn’t totally hinted at, and I felt some frustration that it took the characters so long to get to the point. I’m not sure whether I enjoyed the flash-back type text or not. It was important for Fire’s progression as a character, but its inclusion was not entirely seamless.

I didn’t make the connection between the ‘Leck’ in this book to the ‘Leck’ in Graceling. It makes sense, but I only got it because I had a quick look at other reviews to remind myself of character names.

I have read Graceling, and I believe I considered it a light read, and although I was enthused about it, obviously I wasn’t that entraced. I picked up Fire at the same time, but just never got around to reading it. At the time that I bought them, Bitterblue had just come out, and it was all the rage with other YA bloggers.

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Legion

Brandon Sanderson

My name is Stephen Leeds, and I’m perfectly sane. My hallucinations, however, are all quite mad. Steven ‘suffers’ from having multiple, well-informed hallucinations. Using those hallucinations, he is a quite sort after man for scientists and engineers alike.

If I had to put this book in a genre, I’d say Mystery! And I’ve just enjoyed a mystery novel… It’s a fantasy that could logically take place in the real world, and that to me, could even not be a fantasy in the future. I guess that makes it Urban Fiction, with a hint of Mystery…

It’s really fascinating how initially, I accept the hallucinations as normal, and unspectacular, until suddenly, you realize  the advantages of having specialists in each area. Not only can they advise him, they are able to take over his body to protect him.

What I find interesting is the way that the hallucinations interact. That they are all aware of each other, and that they are able to grow and change. I only wish I knew more about all of them. I am sure that each has a backstory that Sanderson has come up with.

As this is a novella, I struggle to say too much about it, just that it was awesome, and amazing, and please go and pick yourself up a copy today. This novella feels like it’s worth reading more than once, just to pick out all the nuances in it. I wish it was full-length book.

My awesome partner bought me this novel for Christmas. She entirely got this choice right! I could not put this novella down, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second in the series.

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Bad Romeo

Leisa Rayven

Cassie Taylor and Ethan Holt met in acting school. Hit by blinding chemistry from the moment go, their romance is set to spark up!

I think I rooted for Ethan more than I did for Cassie. Cassie seemed like a total idiot. Ok, so I understand chemistry ok, but being a doormat? Just letting him up and away when he felt like it? And then at the end, letting him in?

The perspective flicks back and forth from the present to the past, which gives you a bit more insight into the characters. For me, I would have been happier with either the colledge part or the real life part in two chunks. It didn’t seem like every memory was relevant at the specific moment it was presented.

I think this is sort of piggybacking off the fame of Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey still. Dark menacing, mysterious guy ready to get a mess happening in the romantic, beautiful naive girl. Nothing new to see here folks, just move right along.

There were some sex scenes in this, and while some of them were laugh out loud stupid, others were more smokin’. For this, I’ll put it in the adult category, although the rest of the drama could happen anywhere. Oh! With that in mind, Cassie writes the weirdest diary entries. Going on and on about Ethan’s ‘manhood’, the orgasms she has with him? Come on man! Give me some proper action!

Finally, I felt so frustrated at the ending. I didn’t learn anything new, all I did was put up with the characters’ angst, which got old a long time back in reading it. At the end of the novel, there is an advertisement for ‘Broken Juliet’, which even the completionist in me doesn’t want to read.

Apparently this novel is fan fiction. I’m not sure what of? Of Shakespeare’s original works? It’s pretty hard not to plagiarise a romance like that in any novel! I received this novel as a surprise from a publisher in the mail! I sat down to read it almost immediately, but didn’t review it, as I was still recovering from the shock of disappointment. Unless you’re really really desperate to read something in this area, I’d tell you to keep looking until you find something more satisfying.

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The Queen of Sparta

T.S. Chaudhry

This semi-historical novel attempts to capture the last times of the Spartans, and their Queen, Gorgo. The title is active in suggesting that Queen Gorgo is the guiding force and whispering spirit that causes all events to play out.

Was I enthralled and enraptured by this novel? No, I couldn’t say so. Did I enjoy it? To an extent yes. Anyone interested in history and the politics of ancient time would benefit from reading this novel. I think this novel failed in a way for me because I am only familiar in a roundabout manner of the roles of Romans, Spartans, Persians and Greeks in that time period.

Something that constantly bugged me about this novel was that I couldn’t keep the names straight. As my memory is pretty faulty when it comes to names in the first case, giving two characters a long name beginning with ‘P’ isn’t great. That being said, I happily read along, not really knowing which character was which, and just absorbing what was happening,

I would have liked some of the characters to be more fully realised. If I don’t have a clear image of someone in my head, I have difficulty emoting with them. That being said, I’m not sure that this novel was asking for a highly emotive response. Mostly it felt like a recantation of facts, partially obscured by the inclusion of a narrative guide.

What I enjoyed the most was the descriptions of how wars took place. The different approaches of each side, the particular weapons and the active trading of times were great.

3 stars from me. I don’t think I was enough of a target audience, as I feel that more preexisting knowledge would have helped in understanding the implications of each battle and interaction.

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I Can’t Think Straight

Shamim Sarif

Layla and Tala have nothing in common, except that neither woman knows what to do with her sexuality. In exploring each other, they find themselves alienating everyone else, especially their families.

This is a culture that I am not familiar with. There are certain communities and religions that do not accept homosexual behaviour, and an insight into it like this novel is valuable under any circumstances.

I can’t say that this was my most favourite book to read. I felt even like I was rereading a story I had seen before, and that I wasn’t getting much new out of it. I didn’t empathise with the protagonists, so that was where I was let down.

As it’s a queer novel, I can’t completely discount that it might be useful to someone else. I would suggest that people in a similar situation would benefit from the hindsight and limited retrospection of this novel to be able to take a step back.

Did I enjoy the novel? Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. The text itself wasn’t bad, it was all me – I couldn’t ‘get’ the characters in an intimate enough way to connect with this novel.

One final note, I find it hard to believe that they are soul mates. How do people know that? If you’re able to move on, talk to other lesbians, then maybe you weren’t meant to be in such a volatile environment when friends have to set you up!

This is a movie – which I haven’t seen, and I’m not sure I will aim to, unless it accidentally crosses my path.

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Akin

Robin Murarka

Aydan has dreams that are proscribed by his tribe. He is sentenced to torture for this, but is set to witnessing his ‘brother’ suffer instead, and so he is filled with conviction that he must escape. What follows is a long distance trip that witnesses the fall of an empire.

This novel is aimed at exploring the extremities of the human condition. While Ayden is living these things, the reader struggles to understand what is going on, and that is part of the appeal for some.

This is totally literary fiction. I think perhaps I had forgotten exactly what that meant. It means high flaunting ideas in a not that logical order, for this novel at least. The text is not accessible in my opinion, and I had difficulty getting through it.

However, this novel did awaken questions in me. Those kind of deep questions that only bother you at night after you’ve finished reading. And that haunt you for days afterwards. In that respect it could potentially be very valuable.

Can I recommend this novel? I don’t think I can, to people who like similar things to me. But if you want a piece of fiction that is going to take you WAY out of your comfort zone, then this could be a novel for you.If you’ve enjoyed the reviews of novels I have studied during my university career, I have no hesitation in recommending it for you.

I received this novel free in time for a review before the Book Expo Australia event, but didn’t get around to reviewing it until very recently. Although I am somewhat excited that this event is happening (happened), their website is really poorly laid out and appears devoid of content.

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Gabriel’s City

Laylah Hunter

Colin is a upper class boy with a gambling problem so bad that he can’t go home, and is hunted through the streets. Gabriel is a touched boy who takes a shine to Colin. As Colin’s old life slips away, it’s Gabriel who will take that empty position.

The beginning was a bit of an annoyance for me. I didn’t like the tense it was told in, and I felt like the background information could have been incorporated better. It’s separated into three parts, across the seasons. Although this sounds like a logical order, it’s not actually really related to the seasons. There are several main events.

Gabriel and Drake’s tentative love for each other is both touching and realistic. You don’t realize that Drake has any experience in this area until later in the novel. And Gabriel seems like he might have been abused, but he warms to Drake’s tentative touch. This thread of romance isn’t overdone, it’s just the right amount.

Something that might make some people uncomfortable are the descriptions of sex in the novel, and the straightforward facts of whoring in the slums. I found them well written, without any cloying descriptions, and they actually add something to the characters.

As Colin (Drake) took on the persona more, the character naming was reflected to show that. The entirity of the text is written from Drake’s perspective after all. This was a clever device used by the autho, and I really appreciated it. The transition was so smooth, that I had to double check the ending and beginning to make sure I hadn’t gotten confused!

I sat still for several hours to read this. Once I got in, I couldn’t get back out again. Amazing how a good author can produce such in-depth characters with a sense of pace that won’t let you go.

It’s amazing how much trouble two young men can get into when they set their minds to it. But they’re both really good at their job, as bloody and messy as it is. I can’t even blame Gabriel for being a bit… well, creepily interested in collecting body parts. Most of the targets they are set on deserved their treatment as far as I am concerned.

I was requested to read this novel, and was provided with an ARC. This was in electronic format, but I had such faith in the publishers that I opted to read it.

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Afterworlds

Scott Westerfeld

Darcy has written a novel, a first novel, which took her a single month. She’s been taken on by a publishing company, and now she needs to do the re-writes on the book, and face writer’s block. At the same time, the reader has the story that Darcy is rewriting to read, and be fascinated by.

Afterworlds was a dream to read. I felt equally compelled to read by both stories, and I couldn’t put it down after the first quarter. Although I’ve just said I enjoyed both stories, it was Lizzie’s that counted for me. While Darcy lives it up, Lizzie is really living. Which perhaps is the way this was meant to go and be interpreted.Darcy shows the real story of young authors trying to get a break. Her new friends are doing the same thing. I wish Westerfeld would write Gen’s novel as well. He certainly has the knack for writing a brilliant beginning.

I’ve read other novels by this author, but none recently. I first picked up ‘Uglies’ and it was as good as an intro gets. This novel is more obviously gripping and based in reality. I’d like to say Scott is a pioneer of the dystopian/paranormal, or at least real teen books of interest.

For an author who splits time between Australia and the USA, I’d love to know why he set it in the States. I guess because more people would find Manhattan accessible. I feel like I’ve written a lot about my perspectives on the author, and little about what I felt about the book.

I did love the writing though. Everything! Please go and read it. Something I really enjoyed was how romance seemed to creep up on Darcy inexplicably, when she wasn’t writing. Or perhaps because she was writing.Something that goes with me was what Darcy says about writing. Sit down, and write a couple of pages every day, and at the end of it you’ll have a novel. Isn’t it every writers nightmare to stare at a blank screen?

I received this novel in return for a honest review. All opinions and ideas are my own.

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