Tag: exciting

Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo

July 12, 2016

I always love it when I’m buying a book and cashier sings its praises, it always makes me want to read the book even more. So this book started off well right from the beginning in Waterstones!

I’m just going to jump right into this, this book is set in the same world as the ‘Shadow and Bone‘ series but is in a different time period, has different characters and is a completely different story. This book is based in the country of Kerch instead of Ravka and follows the rag tag gangs within Kerch but mainly the Crow Club (gang) and it’s most prominent members. This gang gets contacted for a massive mission which is to break into the most well guarded and notorious prison in the Kingdom, The Ice Court and rescue a prisoner. It is clear this is a suicide mission, but with the prize of 30 million Kerch, Kaz and his team cannot resist.

Whilst browsing the shelves, this book intrigued me, mainly because I’d read the Shadow and Bone series, which was good but it wasn’t my favourite. Because of this I really wanted to know what it was like because I did like the world and was interested in learning more about it and exploring new areas and new characters. This book did not disappoint, it was so exciting and intense. The characters were strong with intimate and complex backstories which beautifully intertwined with the story line. I actually preferred this greatly to the Shadow and Bone story, I feel as though the story was a lot stronger and the characters were much more complex and likable.

What I really loved about this book was that it was so gripping! Right from the start it was interesting and I kept wanting to know more, there was no faffing they got straight into what the story was about and the main premise of the story. I just wanted to keep reading, but the best thing was that you never really know what was going on, you never knew if the gang are genuinely in trouble of if Kaz Brekker or the gang had something else up their sleeve! Because of this it was literally impossible to predict and I never knew what was happening and the ending was always so up in the air, even two pages from the end!

I don’t want to say too much about the characters because there is a lot you learn about each character and I want to keep that as a surprise. But I will say a tiny bit about the 6 main characters… Firstly there is Kaz Brekker (Dirtyhands) he is very high up in the gang and will do anything for money. Secondly there is Inej, known as The Wraith, she has silent feet and can climb anything. There is also Nina a Corporalki Grisha from Ravka and Matthias from Fierda who was trained to kill Grisha. Finally there is Jesper a good friend of Kaz Brekker but also has a slight glambling problem and Wylan who is always made fun of for being young and inexperienced. The characters were each so unique and different from each other, also each chapter was from a different perspectives so you got to know all of them really well!

I really did love this book, I would recommend it to anyone who loves a bit of excitement in a book. There are so many twists and turns I promise you that you won’t get bored! I’m going to give this book a 5 out of 5 stars, I really did love this book and it lined up perfectly for a sequel so I seriously cannot wait for the second book!!

Dorothy Must Die – Danielle Paige

August 29, 2015

As soon as I read the blurb of this book in Waterstones I was instantly intrigued, how was it possible to completely flip an original story on its head and create something so versatile and different? I had to find out.

As you can possibly figure out from the title, the story is a continuation from the Wizard of Oz but things are very different from where the film/book left. It’s quite some time in the future and we’re introduced to Amy, a young girl in a bit of a situation at home and at school. One night when she’s left home alone a tornado hits, and guess what, her home flies up in the tornado and lands in the magical Oz. However it’s not quite how the book or the film depicted it, everyone is miserable, grey and depressed, the munchkins are slaves and flying monkeys are wingless. So what happened to the Oz Amy grew up loving? Dorothy happened.

I just thought this was such an inventive idea, although I have to admit, it did kind of ruin the original story of The Wizard of Oz, because as you can probably tell from the synopsis, things weren’t exactly happily ever after for the people of Oz after Dorothy decided to stay… So if you’re particularly fond of the original story I would suggest leaving things to the imagination… Although saying this there were a few nods towards the original story which I really enjoyed such as sayings like “How about a little fire Scarecrow?” I just thought it was a nice touch and good of Paige to appreciate the original story which was obviously a big part of her inspiration.

I did like the characters of this book though! Amy was just so strong and independently thinking that I really grew to love her as a narrator! There are also some nice guys involved, although I have to admit, I wasn’t initially fond of either but they really did grow on me… it was nice, however, to have a little trickle of romance thrown in there… I say that especially as it was quite graphic and gory, I mean it wasn’t all the way through but in some elements it was very graphic, descriptive and had me going “ooommmff too much information”. However it wasn’t Game of Thrones bad, but it was getting there.

A lot of this book did keep you in the dark from things which was really frustrating! I just wanted to know what was going on! Especially towards the end, but the answers only came in the last 50 pages…I knew there must be sequel because it ended far too abruptly, which kind of annoyed me but hey ho, I’ll have to read the sequel eventually, but I’m not desperate to read it straight away, if ya get me. Also I did find the end a little anti-climactic, I mean it was good but I was expecting more, also the main climax wasn’t very descriptive, which really surprised me coming from all the descriptiveness from earlier elements of the book. It made me feel as though the ending was a little rushed, but that might just be me…

I did enjoy this book though and it managed to get me out of my reading slump coming home from holiday. I’m going to give this book a 4 out of 5 stars, a good read with an inventive concept.

The Scorch Trials – Trailer Reaction

May 20, 2015

HOLY SHIT!

I was so excited to watch this trailer! I purposefully scheduled a break into my revision so that I could watch it straight away! I was extremely interested in how they would create the world of the scorch on the screen.

For those who don’t know The Scorch Trials is the second installment of The Maze Runner which came out in September last year. This is a series of books so certainly read the books first (they’re bloody brilliant). Also if you haven’t seen the film or don’t know the story then perhaps don’t watch the trailer as it will spoil the first film (they don’t hold back in that respect…)

Now… what did I think of the trailer? WOW! The whole world of the Scorch that they have created looks visually stunning and basically exactly the same as how I imagined it in my head! The acting, once again, looks smashing (gotta love a bit of Dylan O’Brien!) The only thing that I’m not too sure about is that they seemed to have changed quite a bit about the actual storyline, I guess they did it in the story’s best interest, and perhaps it will be nice that it’s a stand-alone piece of art… Either way I am VERY excited to see this film!

Well they were my reactions, what were yours? Are you happy? Are you excited to see the film? Leave all opinions in the comments!

I will leave the link to the trailer HERE

And another little gem which is Dylan O’Brien and Ki Hong Lee, who play Thomas and Minho in the film, reacting to the trailer for the first time! That will be linked HERE

I happened to also write a book review for The Scorch Trials so I shall leave that HERE

The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

November 2, 2014

I have to be honest I only read this because my co-blogger and I are studying it for our AS level English and we had to finish it before the end of half term. I had heard of this book before I was assigned it and I had seen the trailer for the film, but I had never got around to reading the book off my own bat, although in time I’m sure I would have. I really liked the concept and the idea surrounding this story, it was really interesting and I felt it could change course at any moment which did make me concentrate whilst reading (a tough thing to do if you ask me)

This is quite a famous book so I’m sure most of you have heard of it or seen the film, but for those who have no idea, the book is based around a young girl named Susie Salmon who is murdered at the age of fourteen. Being brutally forced from this world, Susie watches her family from her position in heaven, being ripped apart as they discover her disappearance and piecing together the little clues they have of her murder. You as the reader are Susie and so know her killer, which is honestly is the most frustrating thing ever, as you watch her killer roam free unable to be prosecuted. But it also has the potential to be seriously tense at times.

I did like this book, it was interesting and at times had me on the edge of my seat. However, being rather simple minded, I got confused on quite a few occasions. Now this does happen from time to time when reading books, but I have to admit this book broke the record for the amount of times I was baffled, and that kind of annoyed me, quite a bit actually. I liked the ending to this book, I felt as though it summed up the story and everything that had happened during its course nicely and I closed the book smiling.

I’m sure lots of you know by now that I slightly judge the book on how quickly I finish it, however my finishing of this book was corrupted by sixth form and the sheer amount of work I have. As a consequence it took me quite a while to finish this book, although given the time I’m sure I would have finished it in a flash. Overall I really did like this book but I was confused a lot and it was a little dull at points, although the tense parts certainly made up for that! For the star rating I’m going to give is a 4 out of 5 stars * * * * I enjoyed it and I would recommend it for readers over the age of 15 (WARNING: there is explicit content)

Salvage – Keren David

September 16, 2014

This was one of those books where you’re in somewhat of a rush in the book store so you hurriedly grab a book at random… or that might be just me.

Before I cracked this book open (not that I would actually crack the spine…That’s almost a crime) I didn’t really have any idea what it was about, I hadn’t seen it anywhere on tumblr or booktube as I believe it’s a relatively new release (don’t hold me to that I might be wrong). But the story line is one that I haven’t really seen before. It has the potential to be quite a controversial and touchy subject but I didn’t find that anything was insensitive or disrespectful. Anyway enough of my woffeling (don’t think that’s quite the right spelling but hey-ho) the book is about two very extremes of British living, however these two extremes are seen through the eyes of a brother and sister who were separated when they were very young. Cass, the younger sister, gets adopted at age 4 by some very wealthy and politically powerful parents where as Aiden, the older brother, is left to fend for himself in the “not as wealthy care system”. A sires of unfortunate events leads to their meeting twelve years after they were separated.

I actually really enjoyed this book. It was thrilling, but not in your typical way you might see the word ‘thrilling’ used in a YA book review. It’s hard to describe but it was the ‘realness’ that made the term ‘thrilling’ relevant as you knew this is a certain scenario that could happen and quite possibly has.

I have to admit the ending to this was fantastic. It was such a climax to the book and summed it up in a little nutshell so much so that I don’t feel as though I need to read a sequel, which for me is very rare! Although it doesn’t really shine a brilliant light on our country’s care system but I suppose everything has flaws.

Overall I really did like this book, my only criticism would be that at some points it can get a bit slow and if you don’t live in the UK there might be some parts that may be a bit alien (but i’m sure you can figure it out, you’re clever) I’m going to award this book a 3.8 out of 5 stars * * *.8 . A good read.