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Divine By Choice

Posted by cat2002116 on January 11, 2017
Posted in: Books, Reviews. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

divine-by-choice

(This review may contain spoilers).
In the first book of this series, it was well-established that Rhiannon was… not a nice person. I wouldn’t say she was a nice person in this book, but by the time I got to the end, I felt able to understand her a bit better. I didn’t feel she was protected by Epona in the way she should have been and I had quite a hard time reconciling Epona being a benevolent goddess with how Rhiannon’s Ascension Ceremony had gone. In fact, there was quite a bit I found hard to read about this book.
It was interesting to see Shannon have to get used to being back on Earth and how everything was muted… almost like a pale imitation copy of Partholon. And since I’d read the first book, I knew the mirrors of the characters in Partholon… though I still felt this book had too much in the way of information dumping.
I liked the fact there was magic when Shannon returned to Earth, even though it wasn’t quite the same as it had been in her home. And it was really good to see the way she connected to the trees and how they had their own personalities… to the point one particular ‘young’ tree came across as very childlike in its enthusiasm.
I also liked being able to see Shannon’s interactions with her father, though I would have liked to see a bit more in the way Rhiannon had affected parts of Shannon’s life. Perhaps my biggest issue with this book came with the way Shannon interacted with Clint. I felt their ‘relationship’ was glossed over and I was disappointed in how quickly Shannon seemed to forget about her husband. Mirror image or not… I was disappointed in the way she seemed to take on some of Rhiannon’s characteristics. And for that reason and others, I found this book harder to read than the previous one in this series.
I did feel Epona didn’t have the compassion in this book that she’d had in the previous one. There’s more that’s sketchy about this book and if you read the first one, I would suggest you go into this one prepared for Shannon’s speech about faithfulness to be completely disregarded in this book.

Divine By Mistake

Posted by cat2002116 on January 11, 2017
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divine-by-mistake

(This review may contain spoilers).
I’ve always loved books where characters are taken from modern-day Earth to another world… and this book was no different; though I have to say, it was a nice change to have a fully adult woman finding herself in a completely different world, rather than a teenager.
I liked Shannon. I found her easy to engage with, but I did feel there was a lack of foreshadowing. The mirrors of the people she knew (like Alanna and Rhiannon’s father) were only mentioned as they became relevant, rather than myself, as a reader, having the chance to figure out for myself how the mirrors were similar to their counterparts.
I thought it was interesting to note the contrast between how the residents of the world had viewed Rhiannon and how Shannon occasionally used that to her advantage. I did feel there was a bit too much repetition in the book, especially when it came to the amount of hot guys Shannon kept dreaming about. At first, it was amusing to see how she was. Later, it started to get a little annoying, even though I did like the little snippets of conversation between her and Epona. It was nice to see her relationship grow with the goddess; and particularly interesting to see the way the culture varied to modern Earth’s.
I would have liked to see a bit more in the way of culture shock for Shannon. While the society was highly advanced, it still came across as very medieval like and I would have found it easier to empathise with Shannon if her reactions had been a bit more realistic, after the initial shock and insistence she had to be in a dream.
I did like the relationship that formed between Shannon and ClanFintan and it was good to see the way their love for each other grew. It did feel realistic to me and I liked the uniqueness of ClanFintan being a centaur. Plus, it was nice to see Shannon interacting with the other centaurs, such as Dougal and Victoria.
While a lot of the book was devoted to the romance and on Shannon finding her place in Partholon, it was good there was a lot of action and danger. And I felt that Shannon showed herself to be a good, compassionate leader… helped obviously by her upbringing that was so different to Rhiannon’s.
I found this book engaging and easy to read. I have read other books by this author before, but I much prefer the adult to the young adult/teenage series.

 

The Diabolic

Posted by cat2002116 on January 11, 2017
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the-diabolic

(This review may contain spoilers).
When I originally read the blurb of this book, I thought it sounded like a really interesting idea. I found Nemesis to be really engaging, even though a lot of how she acted at first was very savage and wild. It was interesting to see how she viewed her relationship to Sidonia… but more than that, I liked seeing how Sidonia viewed Nemesis.
It was really intriguing to see how things went with Nemesis trying to learn how to act like Sidonia; at least as close to doing so as she could. I almost forgot that she was a more wild breed of human, until she acted with single-minded purpose to protect Sidonia.
I liked the fact that, although there was some romance towards the end of the book, I didn’t feel like it defined Nemesis. She didn’t seem to change outside of what felt like a natural evolution of her character and although she had to act the part, I liked seeing her able to take care of herself, even if she did have to hide what she was and just how capable she was.
There was a lot of action in this book, but I liked that there was a lot of intrigue, too. I really didn’t like the Emperor or his mother, even though I was able to understand her a bit better by the end of the book. And while I did see some of the things in this book coming, there were enough surprises that the plot didn’t seem boring.
I did think there were a lot of contradictions in the society and I found the Emperor’s attitude towards technology to be quite hard to understand. It was interesting to get glimpses of the other families, but I would have liked to see a bit more depth to some of the secondary characters. I felt like Nemesis should have been trying harder to make allies, at least, even though I knew she would struggle at making friends. But it was nice to see her start to form connections to characters other than Sidonia.
I found this book entertaining and easy to read. Nemesis was easy to relate to and I liked the way she evolved as a character. I probably would read the next book/s in this series in the future.

The Shadow of a King

Posted by cat2002116 on December 21, 2016
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the-shadow-of-a-king

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I was really intrigued by the plot of this book, since I’ve long been interested in mythology and Arthurian legends in particular for as long as I can remember.
It was good to see that this book centred on Uther and I did like the fact that the book showed his past with Morgana, who I did feel sympathy for, even though she wasn’t a very nice person for a lot of the book. I would have liked to see a bit more of Uther’s relationship with Arthur. I felt a lot of this book was information dumping. I didn’t get a chance to see Uther’s relationship with Arthur; all I really saw was a couple of interactions.
I liked being able to see something of the culture of the Druids, though for a lot of the book, I didn’t feel their motivations and goals were very clear. I could understand why Uther was so frustrated with them. And while I did think Merlyn was an interesting character, I found it hard to take him seriously through most of the book.
I was a bit confused as to why Uther was more or less abandoned in the monastery. By the end of the book, I was very lost about what was the past and what was the present. I would have liked to see more of the confusion earlier in the book, where it was more appropriate, rather than at the end, when Uther’s mind was more clear. And I was completely confused about why he’d been left in the monastery and pretty much abandoned by Merlyn and his knights.
I really did like the link-ins with the legends of King Arthur, such as with the Stranger. While some of the tension was lost in the fact the events weren’t taking place in real-time, I did feel like the characters were in real danger; and it was easy to see how deep the tension ran each night the Stranger put in his appearance.
I think the book would have been easier to read if it hadn’t been constantly switching between past and present. It was hard to get too involved in one storyline when the book switched to the other. This isn’t a book I intend to read again in the future.

Oliver Queen’s Dossier

Posted by cat2002116 on December 20, 2016
Posted in: Reviews, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

oliver-queens-dossier

(This review may contain spoilers).
Being interested in Arrow, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of a dossier created by the main character about his allies, enemies, etc. in the show. I thought it was a really good idea.
I especially liked the way the dossier was laid out. While I missed some of the information, due to the ‘files’ overlapping, I did think it read very well. However, some of the files were especially hard to read, such as those with the black background and only slightly lighter writing. And I noticed at least two areas when articles in newspapers were repeated, which distracted me and caused me to lose my suspension of disbelief.
I was particularly engaged by the Post-It notes with Oliver’s little asides written on. While some of those were serious in nature, a few did make me smile. However, it wasn’t very clear how the dossier was organised, as there were questions raised that Oliver would have already known the answer to; such as querying if Slade Wilson survived in Deathstroke’s section.
I did like that there was a wide variety of documents, but I felt some of the writing could have been a bigger font. It did contain a lot of information I hadn’t caught up with, as I’m still a bit behind in the series, and it was something of a surprise to learn Detective Lance had changed his views on the vigilante so drastically again.
I really liked the more artistic rendering of the characters. While it was good to see so many pictures from the show, I did question how those would have been taken. And it was especially interesting to learn about the different types of arrows Oliver used; even though I felt some of them might not have been that practical in everyday use.
While I did enjoy reading the dossier and felt it would be a good fit for anyone interested in the show, there were parts of it physically hard to read and some errors I was surprised weren’t caught before publication.

Keepers

Posted by cat2002116 on December 20, 2016
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keepers

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
Having read the previous books in this series, I was happy when the author approached me to read the final one. It didn’t take me long to be drawn into the world of the Mentalists and Gemma and Russ’ lives.
I liked being able to see something of the wider world of the mentalists and it was also good to see the Keepers. I liked seeing some of the characters from the previous books, though I didn’t have a chance to re-read those, so I wasn’t as familiar with the others as I was with Gemma and Russ.
I liked Jose quite a bit in this book. I couldn’t really say I liked Laura as much, though. I didn’t really know what to think of her for some of the book, as I couldn’t tell if she was just scatty or if she was deliberately hiding things. It was nice to see some greater depth to the characters like Alice and Erin, though.
I thought it was good that there were some things left to the imagination, such as some of the details of what Gemma saw. I thought that added really well to the tension and I was kept reading throughout, wanting to find out what would happen next.
I did think there was perhaps a little bit too much talking. While there was some action, it wasn’t until towards the end of the book I actually felt like the characters were in any real danger; and then everything seemed to happen at once. I was disappointed to see Laura had switched her affections so quickly, though.
It was interesting to see how the different factions viewed each other, though I was a bit confused about who believed what. I would have liked a bit more detail included about the background and how the Keepers related to Gemma. While there seemed to be a bit more detail about what exactly she could do, I felt she was getting somewhat overpowered by the end of the book.
While I don’t really tend to like multiple first person perspectives, I did feel it made sense in this instance, as it allowed me to view events from the POVs of two of the main characters. In the future, I would definitely be interested in reading more books by this author.

Arrow: Vengeance

Posted by cat2002116 on November 28, 2016
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vengeance

(This review may contain spoilers).
I’d ideally give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. While it worked as a good tie-in novel (and I have a slight obsession with Slade, so it was nice to get an idea of what happened to him post-island), much of the second half of the book was just a rehash of the second half of season two of Arrow. While that would have been good for character studies, it didn’t allow me to feel much, if any, sympathy for Isabel’s character.
I felt the very first scene of the book, while a retelling of the scene in the episode, did a good job of showing Slade’s perspective. The fight scene between him and Oliver was quite intense to read, especially given how drastically their relationship had changed by that point.
I liked the fact that much of the first half of the book focused on Slade. It was interesting to see the effects of the Mirakuru lessened so as to be almost non-existent… though I maintain that, if he’d truly been free of the drug, Slade would have seen the events of the island differently. Considering his continuing obsession with Oliver, though, it seemed to make it clear that the Mirakuru hadn’t released its hold entirely.
I did have a lot of sympathy for Sebastian, even though I totally didn’t agree with many of the actions he took. I felt like his past in particular was glossed over and I wasn’t given much of a chance to see how much he was shaped after the death of his father. I did feel some sympathy for Isabel at first… but by the second half of the book, I’d lost most of that sympathy.
I didn’t really feel the second half of the book added a lot to the world of Arrow, or even to Slade’s character/personality/history. Virtually every scene was a complete rehash of the events of season two and even the emotions involved were ones fairly obvious from the episodes. I would have very much preferred getting more glimpses below the surface.
I would suggest reading the first half of this book, as it details the history of both Isabel and Sebastian and allowed me to learn about what happened to Slade after he escaped the island. But the rest of the book? Wasn’t as good as it could have been, I felt.

Blog Tour: Flashfall

Posted by cat2002116 on November 14, 2016
Posted in: Blog Tour, Books, Reviews. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

flashfall-tour-bannerflashfall

Flashfall
by
Jenny Moyer
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Release Date: November 15th 2016
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian
Synopsis
Orion is a Subpar, expected to mine the tunnels of Outpost Five, near the deadly flash curtain. For generations, her people have chased cirium—the only element that can shield humanity from the curtain’s radioactive particles.
She and her caving partner, Dram work the most treacherous tunnel, fighting past flash bats and tunnel gulls, in hopes of mining enough cirium to earn their way into the protected city.
But when newcomers arrive at Outpost Five, Orion uncovers disturbing revelations that make her question everything she thought she knew about life on both sides of the cirium shield. As conditions at the outpost grow increasingly dangerous, it’s up to Orion to forge a way past the flashfall, beyond all boundaries, beyond the world as she knows it.

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My Review

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I’ve read quite a few dystopian novels by this point and although I did find it a little hard to engage with the whole world, Rye’s own small area was easy to follow and understand. It was good to see how their society worked… and it was also really good to see that she and Dram and the others had a goal to work towards, rather than just working there day in and day out.
While Rye was the stereotypical rebellious heroine, I found it harder to understand why the other characters were so eager to follow her. I didn’t get to see much of her interacting with anyone outside of those she was closest to, so I didn’t get a good idea of how big the society was in that particular area.
I liked seeing hints of the relationships between the other characters, such as Dram and Lenore and Lenore and Reeves. I would have liked to see a bit more of the latter… and also be able to understand the relationship between Rye and her father a bit more.
I liked the opportunity to learn more about the different kinds of abilities there were in the society, though I was a bit confused by the fact that the society seemed to be an obviously self-destructive one. While it was good to have the opportunity to see more of the world gradually, I felt it seemed like each area was very contained and I wasn’t sure how each separate place communicated with each other. It seemed like the society was quite obviously on the way out.
I would have liked to see some more background and a bit more information about how the society worked as a whole. There were some twists, but due to there being so many characters, I didn’t feel the revelations made a whole lot of sense. I did find Jameson an intriguing character, but I would have liked to see more about him, rather than just what was shown towards the end.
I did enjoy reading this book and I would like to read the next one/s in this series in the future… but I think I would have found it easier to read with the focus on less characters and a bit more shown about the world as a whole.

Trailer

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About The Author

jenny-moyer

Jenny is the author of YA sci-fi/fantasy FLASHFALL, coming from
Macmillan/Holt 11-15-16. She lives with her filmmaker husband and their
three boys in Des Moines.
Find out more at: http://www.jennymoyer.com and connect with Jenny on
Twitter and Facebook.
The excerpt can be found here.

Giveaway

PRIZE: Win a signed hardcover of FLASHFALL by Jenny Moyer, a Flashfall t-shirt, exclusive patches from the book trailer, a pair of “Follow your dreams” socks, a carabiner and glow wristbands (US Only)

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Blog Tour: Aftermath

Posted by cat2002116 on November 13, 2016
Posted in: Blog Tour, Books, Reviews. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

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aftermath

Aftermath

by Clara Kensie

Publisher: Merit Press

Release: November 15th 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery

Synopsis:
Charlotte survived four long years as a prisoner in the attic of her kidnapper, sustained only by dreams of her loving family. The chance to escape suddenly arrives, and Charlotte fights her way to freedom. But an answered prayer turns into heartbreak. Losing her has torn her family apart. Her parents have divorced: Dad’s a glutton for fame, Mom drinks too much, and Charlotte’s twin is a zoned-out druggie. Her father wants Charlotte write a book and go on a lecture tour, and her mom wants to keep her safe, a virtual prisoner in her own home. But Charlotte is obsessed with the other girl who was kidnapped, who never got a second chance at life–the girl who nobody but Charlotte believes really existed. Until she can get justice for that girl, even if she has to do it on her own, whatever the danger, Charlotte will never be free.

quote1

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My Review

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I thought the blurb of this book was a really intriguing one. As I read the book, it was very clear how well the title fit and I liked how it wasn’t just about the aftermath of Charlotte having been kidnapped, but also how her family was affected.
I was able to empathise with Charlotte really early on, but I felt I didn’t really get to know the other characters as well, since I was only seeing them through her eyes. I thought it was good that, although what she went through was made clear, there wasn’t any graphic detail about it… and it was more about the effects of what had happened still lingering. While it was hard to read at some points, it was good that there were things Charlotte had to do… or couldn’t do… even though I did feel that some of her growth was glossed over.
It was a bit disappointing that The One Before wasn’t shown to be as much of a mystery as the blurb had suggested. I didn’t feel like a lot of the book dwelled on that part of the plot and although it was good to see how the trauma had linked Charlotte with the other two girls, I was a little disappointed by how little I saw her interacting with the people she knew before… or anyone, really, outside of her family. The only person she seemed to have any kind of interaction with outside of her family was Bailey.
I did think it was interesting to see how Charlotte related to CiGi, but I felt that the book was a bit too short for Charlotte to get to the point she had by the end. It was intensely difficult to learn more about what she’d gone through, though, and I really wanted to be able to comfort her. The book did succeed in making me feel a whole mix of different emotions.
I thought it was good to see how other people Charlotte didn’t know were affected by what had happened to her and I really liked being able to see her relationship with Lexa.
I did like reading this book and I found it easy to engage with Charlotte and care about her. I would definitely read more books by this author in the future.
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Follow The Tour

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About The Author

aftermath-author

Winner of the 2015 RITA Award for Best First Book

Clara Kensie grew up near Chicago, reading every book she could find and using her diary to write stories about a girl with psychic powers who solved mysteries. She purposely did not hide her diary, hoping someone would read it and assume she was writing about herself. Since then, she’s swapped her diary for a computer and admits her characters are fictional, but otherwise she hasn’t changed one bit.

Today, Clara is the author of dark fiction for young adults. Her debut, the super-romantic thriller RUN TO YOU BOOK ONE: DECEPTION SO DEADLY is the winner of the prestigious RITA Award for Best First Book.

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Giveaway

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Prize: Win (1) hardcopy of AFTERMATH by Clara Kensie (INT)

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Blue Exorcist

Posted by cat2002116 on October 30, 2016
Posted in: Books, Reviews. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

blue-exorcist

(This review may contain spoilers).

I picked up this manga book because it looked like it might be a fun read. And although it was entertaining, I was somewhat disappointed by what I felt was a lack of depth.

I did start off liking Rin, but by the end of the first volume, I didn’t much like any of the other characters. I would have liked a bit more background on the demons, especially given Rin apparently had history with the bullies he got into a fight with at the beginning of the book… but it wasn’t very clear how he knew them.

I did like being able to learn a bit more about some of the types of demon, even though I wasn’t sure why Yukio was trying to summon them during the first class.

Speaking of Yukio… I really didn’t like him very much. I didn’t get the impression he liked Rin that much… and his mood seemed to keep swinging. While there’d been a kind of cute flashback to the two of them as children, I felt that Rin cared a lot more about Yukio than Yukio did him… even though it was implied Yukio originally wanted to help his twin.

I would have liked the opportunity to learn more about the world itself. Considering Rin was new to it all, I was quite disappointed that he wasn’t asking any questions. And the whole thing with his sword completely confused me.

I wasn’t really sure what to make of Mephisto. While I thought he was an intriguing character, I didn’t quite trust him… and even though he seemed to be trying to help Rin at times, I definitely felt he had his own agenda.

I liked the side plot involving Shiemi. It was nice to see her and Rin starting to bond a little, although I did think she came across as a stereotypical manga girl character. It was nice to see her relationship with her mother… and I had a lot of sympathy for her. Next to Rin, I felt she was the character with the most development.

I thought this first book was a nice introduction to Rin’s world, but I did empathise with him as it seemed like everyone who knew what he was didn’t trust him and wanted him to die. Considering there were only two characters I really liked in this first volume, I don’t think I’ll be reading the next any time soon.