Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth sees Tris leaving the factions and discovering the truth about her world.

I like Divergent fine. Insurgent was a mess. Allegiant was slightly better, but easily forgettable. If it wasn’t for all the talk about this series and the ending, I wouldn’t have bothered reading this last one at all.

The POV switches between Tris and Four this time around (for no apparent reason save for making the end work) but it was impossible to tell the difference. All the characters spoke in the same way, and I didn’t hate them this time around, mostly because I had no feelings toward them whatsoever.
As for the plot, its been about a week and I’m having trouble remembering it.

Generally, it wasn’t bad just not very interesting either. So what started as an interesting premise and action-packed story in Divergent quickly fell away to a very nothing-y ending.

Hiatus

I know I don’t post very regularly anyway, but I’m going to be on haitus for a while. I love writing reviews as it makes me think more about the book I’ve just read and lets me get my thoughts about books out there, but right now all its doing is making me feel bad that I haven’t written reviews for the past three books I’ve read. With this blog on a break I can stop feeling guilty and hopefully get around to more of my own writing. If I love a book I’ll likely write a review, but others I read in between will go without a word on here. So yeah, ciao for now.

Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas sees Caelena Sardothien working for the evil King as his assassin.

This sequel fixes all the flaws of the first. It was everything I wanted in a book – adventure, mystery, romance, action – rolled up in a thoroughly enjoyable story I didn’t want to stop reading. Caelena went on assassin missions and showed herself to be a rather dark character. Dorian had his own story (though I still found whenever it was one of the guys’ perspectives they often thought solely of Caelena) and the castle held even more mysteries.

The ending felt almost a little unoriginal (and I had an inkling it might happen while reading) but things are being set up for more exploration in the world which I’d love to see, and a very big over-arching story.

This is the best book I’ve read this year! It was so well written, delving into their characters and creating a vivid world. I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel out next year.

Review: Eve by Anna Carey

Eve (Eve #1) by Anna Carey sees a girl escaping the confines of her school when she finds out the horrible truth about it, and learns to live on the outside.

Okay, at first it might sound typical with the whole sheltered girl, evil organisation, gets help out in the wild by a handsome boy. But though I wasn’t expecting much, it pleasantly surprised me. It was well-written, had characters I didn’t hate, and the plot kept moving swiftly from place to place.

There were some things I usually dislike in books, but in Eve they managed to be well done. For example – instalove, which didn’t feel too quick and felt more like a partnership. And how the protagonist sat at home teaching the children (albeit in a dystopian cave environment) while the ‘men’ went out hunting. It fit. How would this girl know how to catch animals and fight when she’s lived forever in polite girls school? She had a strong character instead.

Eve wasn’t anything overly special, but it was more than I was expecting and was a solid read. I ordered both the sequels (Once and Rise) from the library soon after.

Review: The Pirate’s Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke

The Pirate’s Wish (The Assassin’s Curse #2) by Cassandra Rose Clarke is the last in the duology and, unfortunately, is nowhere near as good as the first though there was nothing really wrong with it.

Ananna and Naji are bound together by a curse which they set out to break by completing three ‘impossible’ tasks. Originally this series was one book and it got cut in half, so everything fitted nicely together and old characters returned. But it all felt way too easy for the main characters – they didn’t find the aspects of the tasks themselves but stumbled across them.

While the first book stuck with kind of ‘realistic’ magic, this second book incorporated manticores (which I didn’t see the point of at all) and talking sharks and octopusses. And I don’t like that sort of thing in books, which therefore ruined the series for me.

Overall this was a very disappointing read after how much I liked The Assassins’s Curse. It was written perfectly well, there was no dips, the characters perhaps weren’t as likeable as the first but were still fine, and there was adventure (though not as fun as the first). But the fantasy creatures felt more middle-grade and were a large part of the story. If you like that kind of thing, I’m sure you’ll like this, but sadly I didn’t.

Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Published: 10 December 2013

When a luxury spaceliner crashes on a strange planet the lone survivors – Lilac LaRoux, richest girl in the galaxy, and Tarver Merendsen, a war hero far beneath her notice – must put aside their differences to find a way off, in These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner.

This book was so much better than I expected, and I really really enjoyed it. At the beginning of each chapter there was a clip of an interrogation which I looked forward to as it was fun, and it was well done, linking everything up at the end. The story alternates between his and her perspectives and it works well, especially because I loved both the characters and really got into their heads and emotions. They are practically the only two people in the whole book, which is more a character based story.

That doesn’t mean there is no plot, because that was full of mystery and suspence and sometimes creepiness. There’s darker aspects and definite surprises. There’s a survival journey across the planet and although there were a few of the cliches, I honestly didn’t care.

The story felt like a standalone, but there are two more in the series, the next coming out in 2014. On Goodreads it says ‘Three worlds, three love stories, one enemy’ so I’m guessing we’ll meet new characters in the upcoming books. I can’t wait!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read early!

Review: Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

In Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2) by Robin LaFevers, amongst a brewing war in Brittany, Sybella, an assassin, and Beast, a fearsome soldier, go up against the evil D’Albret. I really enjoyed Grave Mercy, the first in the series, but I felt this sequel was not as good.

The beginning felt very repetitive; the same tiny things kept happening. But then events left the castle and it got far better, though some of the action felt very ‘put-in’ for the sake of added conflict. I did think it a very good book though, just I love Grave Mercy and the characters of Ismae and Duval together and this didn’t live up to it.

Forgetting the first book for a moment, Dark Triumph was full of mystery, action, and romance which didn’t overshadow the story. I still did enjoy it and am looking forward to the last in the trilogy – Mortal Heart – out next year.

Review: Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

In Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan Stephen is invisible, no has ever been able to see him until Elizabeth moves into the apartment nearby. And so follows a story of cursecasters, spellcasters, and other magic-y things.

I love that the setting is New York City. But that’s about all I liked about this book. I found it boring and didn’t care for the characters – in actual fact it felt more like Elizabeth was the main character, not Stephen who seemed to disappear (no pun intended) toward the middle-end of the book. And if this is a standalone… I don’t see the point in the story with that ending, which seemed to resolve nothing.

Review: Awaken by Meg Cabot

Awaken by Meg Cabot is the last in the Abandon trilogy, and sees Pierce trying to save both the Underworld where she now resides with her boyfriend – the Death Deity John – and Isla Huesos where her family live, from ‘pestilence’.

This was the best in the series, by far. I loved the ensemble cast and their distinct way of talking to each other. I loved the chaotic scenes which managed to be really easy to read, and really fun. And, although I’ve never really liked John, Meg Cabot found a way to make me smile when he appeared later on. She always writes such great characters, and is able to mix action and serious scenes with fun lines and humour.

Overall, this series is probably my least favourite of Meg Cabot’s series’ but this last in the trilogy found a way to raise its standings.

(I bought the US version because it doesn’t come out here in the UK until June next year!!!)

Review: Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

 

The first in The Lotus Wars trilogy, Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff is the Japanese steampunk story of Yukiko who is tasked with finding a thought-to-be-extinct griffin in a deteriorating world run by the evil Shogun.

The concept and the world are completely different to anything I’ve read before, but the story itself felt very similar. I did enjoy it, I simply felt like I’d seen it all before. Also, the relationships didn’t feel real – you were told Kin was her good friend, and that she liked Hiro without really being shown it was true.

The sequel Kinslayer is out in September, and I’ll be happy with waiting for it to appear in the library.