Tag: bookreview

May Wrap Up 2019

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Here are the books I read in the month of May.

Resort to Murder by TP Fielden (4 stars)

This was another good instalment to the new murder mystery series by TP Fielden. I found the case to be far more engaging than the previous book, the addition of the character Valentine to be a brilliant choice and the ending to be a lot more satisfying than the original novel. That being said I did find some problems with the characterisation of one of the female characters in this book. She could have been written a lot better.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1.5 stars)

This was boring! I DNFed this book at 25% and because I only read 58 pages of the 230-page book, I didn’t feel like I had enough reasons or have read enough of the book to review it. This is my first 1 star of the year! To me, since it’s a character-driven novel, I had no idea where the plot was going, nor did I care! I also found the main character to be annoying and whiny. His stream of consciousness kind of monologue was dull and painful to read.

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden (5 stars)

Another book which avoided 2nd Book Syndrome! I read the first novel and felt underwhelmed. But I decided to pick up the second book as I quite liked the direction it was going and it blew my mind! I loved how it kept to what made the first book so great, most importantly the folklore creatures but it also expanded on where it initally faultered. Vasya’ character development was done very well in this book.

The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel (2 stars)

This was a disappointing one for me. Mainly it felt like a middle grade trying to be YA. Also the book was full of a variety of genres that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, one minute it’s historical fiction and then it’s fantasy. The writing was lacking for me as well and I was just completely underwhelmed with it all.

Viper by Bex Hogan (3 stars)

This one I enjoyed. One of the last books I read from my Fairyloot subscription boxes and I loved it. I had never read a pirate story before so I was excited going into it. My favourite thing was the father/daughter dynamic between our main charcter and her father the infamous Viper! This story is incredibly action-packed and heart-breaking. I recommend everyone should give this a read!

To Best The Boys by Mary Weber (4 stars)

My last book for May and I have left the month very happy. This was one of my highly anticipated reads of 2019 and I loved it!! A book that every young girl should read. It’s incredibly empowering with an amazing message with two strong female characters at the forefront of the story. This story is like Viper, full of twists and turns and you root for girls the entire way through the novel. It also has a deadly labyrinth and who doesn’t love Labyrinths!

To Best The Boys Review

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  • Author: Mary Weber
  • Series: Standalone
  • Genre: Magic Realism/Action Adventure
  • No. of pages: 314
  • Dates read: 21.05.19 – 29.05.19
  • Star Rating: 4 stars

WOW!!!!!!

This is the kind of book I need more of in my life! This book is incredibly empowering and is something that all young girls should read.

Plot: Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of Pinsbury Port have received a mysterious letter inviting all eligible-aged boys to compete for an esteemed scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. In the province of Caldon, where women train in wifely duties and men pursue collegiate education, sixteen-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her mum succumbs to it as well, Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands—through the annual all-male scholarship competition. With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm’s labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize. Except not everyone is ready for a girl who doesn’t know her place. And not everyone survives the deadly maze.

First of all, you have a female protagonist who aspires to be the first female scientist while also dealing with dyslexia, I love it. While dyslexia only plays a small part in her character it really shows her determination to want to learn and succeed. I thought she was an amazing protagonist and I found myself relating to her a lot!

One of the main themes of this book is about a women’s place. Who she should be in accordance to the male characters, you see Rhen try to break free from the societal constraints placed on her and she says numerous times that she is not owned by any man and that she is her own person to make her own decisions. Then you have Seleni who enjoys the more stereotypical roles of a housewife and mother and I loved that both women were empowered to lead their very different lives and the Seleni wasn’t ridiculed for her choices by Rhen and vice versa.

Seleni and Rhen’s relationship was one of my favourite parts of this book. I love their support for each other, their love for each other and how Seleni didn’t bat an eyelid in taking part in the contest to support Rhen. They were never really pitted against each other and even if they were they had each other’s back which I loved to see.

Many men in this book were awful! Point blank awful. I have never wanted to launch a book across the room as much as I have with this book, as some of the boys (the privileged, rich kids) were so rude and horrible. We had attempted assault, gaslighting, classism etc. Weber did a great job of making you hate these characters. I also felt that Weber did a great job though in separating the bad men from the good men who were allies to Rhen and Seleni. Like Lute, Beryll, Sam etc. These boys were a ray of light, especially Lute, who didn’t feel emasculated next to the girls and didn’t feel the need to bring them down but actually lifted them up and gave them opportunities to succeed.

What I liked about Beryll, especially, was he was raised exactly like the horrible boys were. Rich, privileged lives but he didn’t look down upon others and he took his experiences and the people he met and ultimately learned from it and tries to be the best ally he can me and I loved that about his character!

The setting for this book is really interesting. It’s sort of light fantasy/magic realism and I really enjoyed the setting. I loved that it was the norm to avoid going out at a specific time or specific areas because of ghouls and monsters and how some people didn’t bat an eyelid about it. The labyrinth was my favourite part of the plot, I do think we could have spent more time and I was disappointed that it was over so quickly. I felt it was incredibly imaginative and that not all was as it seemed, I love seeing the character dynamics play out with each obstacle. But I felt more time should have been spent in there.

The next book I will be reviewing is Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve. I have heard some amazing things about this novel so I’m excited to give this a go. I will also be re-reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the same time. I will go into a bit more detail about my re-read and why I am re-reading the series in a future post.

Viper Review

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  • Author: Bex Hogan
  • Series: Isles of Storm and Sorrow #1
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • No. of pages: 400
  • Dates read: 16.05.19 – 21.05.19
  • Star rating: 3.75 stars

I got this from a book subscription box and I had bought other ones for the same company and had not enjoyed the books selected that much or at all! So going into this I was quite worried I would have the same experience but I was happy to be proven wrong!

Plot: Seventeen-year-old Marianne is fated to one day become the Viper, defender of the Twelve Isles. But the reigning Viper stands in her way. Corrupt and merciless, he prowls the seas in his warship, killing with impunity, leaving only pain and suffering in his wake. He’s the most dangerous man on the ocean . . . and he is Marianne’s father. She was born to protect the islands. But can she fight for them if it means losing her family, her home, the boy she loves – and perhaps even her life?

For starters, the world of the Eastern Isles is really imaginative and I loved being in that world. I felt the introduction to the world and its history was done really well and was a very interesting part of the story. I really enjoyed hearing about the past between the Eastern and Western Isles. It was all thought out very well. Hogan’s descriptive writing of the different islands was really fun to read about. You could picture yourself there.

I have never read a pirate story before and I feel this is a really good introduction into these kinds of novels. I felt that Hogan’s writing when it came to explaining the ways of the Viper’s ship and all the sailing jargon was done really well to show the intricacies and knowledge Hogan had but also simpler enough that if you had never heard of this stuff before you weren’t incredibly lost. Also, the description of fighting was amazing, since these characters are such skilled fighters you have to have writing that matches that.

The female characters were stand out in this novel and I felt Marianne was a great protagonist. I especially loved her internal struggle of trying to figure out where she stands in the world and who she truly is. Her strength was something I truly loved about her, despite everything, she stands tall and continues to fight. It’s a very admiral trait to have in a female character.

Her relationship with her father was the most interesting part of the whole book. It’s a very traumatic and heart-breaking dynamic that could be hard for certain readers to read. You spend the whole book rooting for her, as you truly see a monster more than a man with Captain Alder. I think it’s an interesting pairing to have with a book as I am used to female characters standing up against evil mothers, not fathers.

I really enjoyed the exploration of what it means to be a woman in the world and especially what sacrifices the female characters have had to make in order to survive whether it’s on an island or on the Viper’s ship.

I thought the arranged marriage between Torin and Marianne was done really well. I think most arranged marriages are written to be evil things that act as prisons for the main character and while this can be the case, it was nice to see a more positive spin on a trope which is normally used more negatively.

My only qualms with this novel are:

I felt the magic and all the stuff surrounding the magic could have been introduced or hinted at earlier on. There were signs here and there but they were too subtle and I felt when they did the big reveal that it came out of no-where and I would have been happy if she just a normal teenager trying to survive.

I really didn’t like the whole “I’m scared of the darkness within me” trope that happens a lot in books like this. I found that it was used to much and it got quite tiresome by the end of it as personally, I would love to see her embrace all sides of herself.

Finally, the romance took some time to really work for me. I am not the biggest fan of romance in stories, as I have seen it be done horribly so I am always cautious but I ended up enjoying it, it just took some time.

The Boundless Review

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  • Author: Kenneth Oppel
  • Series: Standalone
  • Genre: Historical/Magic Realism
  • No. of page: 332
  • Dates read: 12.05.19 – 15.05.19
  • Rating: 2 stars
  • Challenge: ONTD Challenge May Theme “A book set in a country you’ve never been to”. (Canada)

I had a lot of hope for this book. I had only recently added it onto my TBR list and happened upon it while in the library. This book, to me, had so much going for it but it just lacked in execution.

Plot: When Will Everett boards The Boundless he expects the ride of his life – not a fast route to death. But when the key to the train’s secret cargo falls into his possession he finds himself hunted by ruthless killers. As the great train hurtles across the country he will need all his wits to elude his pursuers – and keep himself alive. (Goodreads)

The overall writing was quite boring, I understand it needs to be easy as this is aimed at a more younger audience but the writing could have been more exciting! This book to me felt like it was a middle grade novel trying to be a YA novel. One thing I did enjoy with the writing was that it covered a lot of deep-rooted issues like racism, colonisation and sexism which I felt was handled well but then on the flip side the character does black face and is trying to pass off as Indian in order to not be recognised by the villain and that made me feel uncomfortable.

The book tackled with a lot of genres; historical fiction, fantasy and magic realism. While I normally enjoy a mismatch of genres this felt all over the place for me. I guess it was meant to play with the question of “what is magic?” and “is it magic or just an illusion?” but I don’t think it was executed that well.

I love stories set on trains. I think it’s a really interesting setting for a novel and the description of the different carriages was fun and varied, what I expect from a middle grade novel. I loved the imagination!

The characters were fun and slightly layered which was enjoyable and I loved going on the journey with them. Will, as a main character was fine, but you stay for the secondary characters as they bought more personality to the table. My favourite character would have to be Maren, a self-assured female character that had many different sides to her. I would have preferred if she was the protagonist of the story. She was the more interesting of the two.

The next book I will be reviewing is Viper by Bex Hogan. A book I obtained from the Fairyloot March Box. I have not had great luck with the books from the Fairyloot packages so I am hoping to enjoy this book but I am a bit worried.

The Girl in the Tower Review

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  • Author: Katherine Arden
  • Series: Winternight Trilogy #2
  • Genre: Historical Fantasy
  • No. of pages: 346 pages
  • Dates read: 07.05.19 – 10.05.19
  • Rating: 5 stars
  • Challenge: 2019 Sequels and ONTD Challenge May Theme “A book set in a country you’ve never been to. (Russia)”

I mean what can I say!

When I read The Bear and the Nightingale last year, I felt underwhelmed and I didn’t really have the desire to pick up the next book BUT I am so happy that I did!

This book was, by far, better than the first novel and it expanded on what I liked from the first novel but elevated it and made it better.

Firstly, I was so much more invested in Vasya’s story this time around. I found her a bit annoying in the first book but this time I fully understand who she is and what she stands for. I related to her on such a deep level and I really wanted to see her succeed and live the life she wants to lead. Her character development was amazing!

I loved how action-packed this story was. The scenes which involved fighting were so exhilarating to read about and I found myself on the edge of my seat. I felt the stakes were a lot higher this time around and it made the plot incredibly engaging. You didn’t know what was going to happen or where the plot was going to twist and turn next and it was incredibly satisfying. 

Arden’s prose was so beautifully written and she really encompassed what it would feel like to live in medieval Russia. The way she writes about winter is amazing! I also really enjoyed the more formal kind of dialogue that the characters use between one another.

I was relieved to read that the little folklore creatures still had a prominent role within the story. My worry was that she would favour a more political story and give less screen time, if you will, to the chyteri. They still featured greatly and helped in advancing the plot which made me very happy.

My favourite part of the book was definitely the discussion of what a woman’s role is supposed to be at the time and how Vasya is trying to break away from that. It was heart-breaking to read how the women suffered and were treated as objects to the male characters. And how the women are raised to expect this boring life without fun and adventure. I really enjoyed reading Vasya’s inner monologue of her wanting more from life, it was so uplifting to read about a female character wanting to explore the world around her!

Final note: I love Solovey and Vasya’s friendship. What a duo!

The next book I will be reviewing will be The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel. This is a random read that I just decided to pick up at the library. Fingers crossed it’s good!

Resort to Murder Review

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  • Author: TP Fielden
  • Series: A Miss Dimont Mystery #2
  • Genre: Historical/Murder Mystery
  • No. of pages: 300
  • Dates read: 26.04.19 – 03.05.19
  • Ratings: 4 stars
  • Challenge: 2019 Sequels

Plot (as seen on Goodreads): With its pale, aquamarine waters and golden sands, the shoreline at Temple Regis was a sight to behold. But when an unidentifiable body is found there one morning, the most beautiful beach in Devon is turned into a crime scene. For Miss Dimont – ferocious defender of free speech, champion of the truth and ace newspaperwoman for The Riviera Express – this is a case of paramount interest, and the perfect introduction for her young new recruit Valentine Waterford. Even if their meddling is to the immense irritation of local copper Inspector Topham… Soon Miss Dimont and Valentine are deep in investigation – why can nobody identify the body, and why does Topham suspect murder? And when a second death occurs, can the two possibly be connected?

Another solid sequel that I have read this week. TP Fielden has been a pleasant surprise and I was not disappointed by his 2nd instalment.

First of all, my main positive about this book would be the introduction of a new main character, Valentine Waterford. He was a brilliant addition to the story and it felt good to have another set of eyes to view the story from.

I really enjoyed the structure of this story where we see the reporters cover 3 big stories. The stories were incredibly interesting and varied. I sadly can’t say much about the cases without spoiling the plot but it just worked so well and I preferred the structure of the investigation into both murders compared to how it was done in the first book.

As per usual, Fielden did a great job at describing the town of Temple Regis, giving life to the town and making it feel as if Temple Regis itself was a character within the story. An omnipotent being watching the drama unfold before it. 

Two of my main stumbling blocks with this book is that first of all it took some time for the narrative to really get going. The first 100 pages while easy to read were not that exciting, once you get past the 100 pages mark the story really starts to kick and that’s when you get invested. It was a bit disappointing that you had to wait for 100 pages to get there.

My other bugbear was the characterisation of Ursula, the leader of the Sisters of Reason feminist group. I felt she was only included to play the angry, ugly feminist and she was a one-dimensional character. I understand the point that was meant to be made about the fringe feminist group and the fight for gender equality at that time. Some great points were raised, I just feel that making the leader a more masculine woman and subsequently writing her as an unlikable individual who everyone dislikes or is intimidated with no redeeming qualities was not subtle and could have been written better.

April Wrap Up 2019

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Below is the list of the four books I read in April. The photo includes all the books I own. I had a pretty good April with most books being 4 stars or more!

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (4.5 stars)

This book to me was 4 stars until the very ending. I couldn’t give it 5 stars due to the fact I felt that Christie relied on the ending for her book entirely. While I felt that the ending was masterful, I felt the book as a whole was 4 stars.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (4 stars)

This book had been on my TBR list for ages and I thought I was never going to pick this us. This was until the ONTD Reading Challenge came along and set the theme of “Time Travel” for the month of April and I knew this was the book I was going to read. This book was an incredible slow-burner and I loved reading about this immaculate life/lives that Harry lives.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (5 stars)

This book was recommended to me by a friend from work, I don’t own this book so it’s not included in the photo. It was a book I had seen all over Booktube and Goodreads but never felt the urge to pick it up and did I feel like an idiot when I sat on the train back home from work and fell in love with these crazy characters! This is more of a character-driven novel and it was so, so good. Everyone should read it!

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer (2 stars)

So this book… I have not done a review for this book since I DNFed it at 40% so I couldn’t give a review on a book I didn’t even read half of. But I did read that 40% in April so I think it should be noted. To be honest, the reason I put it down was due to the desire to pick it back up was minimal and while I did want to know how it ended, I didn’t want to read the extra 300 pages to get there! I just decided to put it down and move away.

A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet Review

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  • Author: Becky Chambers
  • Series: Wayfarers #1
  • Genre: Sci-fi
  • No of pages: 404
  • Dates read: 12.04.19 – 16.04.19
  • Ratings: 5 stars (Favourite)

WOW! I am doing well in April, I have loved every book I have read so far but this book might be my new favourite!

There are so many things about this book that I love!

Overall, the ensemble cast was the best thing about this story. These are a group of individuals that you just so badly want to be friends with. They are all so unique not just in their biology but their personality, their morals, their beliefs. They are incredibly layered characters that are so likeable and well thought out. I tended to prefer the chapters that were just about the crew and their time on the ship to the actual over-arching plot. I loved the developing friendships, relationships and even the moments of anguish. It was such a refreshing story to read.

The main themes of this book include family, friendship but mainly acceptance. I found the theme of acceptance in this book weaved through each chapter. Whether it was about interspecies relationships, LGBT characters, religion etc. All the characters strived for respect and acceptance, not judging a book by its cover. It just put a smile of my face to see LGBT characters accepted whole-heartedly and the characters just moving on but so what, it’s not a big deal. 

War is another huge theme in this book and it is done really well! Probably the best way I have seen war written! Everyone is the victim of war as war leaves no stone unturned and no one person unaffected. Some more than others. CHaracters in this book accept the mistakes and horrors committed by people they know or members of their planet and the focus was on how can we better ourselves and make sure this doesn’t happen again. 

I loved the variety of species and planets. The description of each character and the world building was amazingly detailed. You could truly picture each individual and each location perfectly.

My only criticism is that with their being so many species and planets not enough explanation was given to their history or culture so I got a bit confused on who they were and what they are about which was a bit frustrating but it was only a personal preference that I found at the beginning of the novel. Maybe I was being a bit too impatient.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August Review

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  • Author: Claire North
  • Series: Standalone
  • Genre: Sci-fi/Historical
  • No of pages: 405
  • Date read: 05.04.19 – 11.04.19
  • Rating: 4 stars
  • Challenge: ONTD April Theme “Time Travel”

I have been needing a book like this for so long!

This is my current favourite of 2019!

I read this book for the ONTD book of the month of April. The theme for April was time-travel and I was curious about what I was going to read and saw this book which had been sitting on my TBR for so long and thought, this is the moment!

Overall, Harry is a really intriguing character! We see him over 15 lifetimes and we learn more and more about him as each life passes. We know what makes him tick, what makes him laugh, what makes him cry and he feels like someone you know and understands like a friend as we watch him go on this journey. I really enjoyed his POV.

One of my favourites thing about the plot was the flipping between the current over-arching narrative working alongside the little peeks into important moments in Harry’s other lives. We will have a major plot point occur and followed up by an insight into his childhood from his 4th life and we learn about his relationship with his father. I think the pacing works well, switching between moments of high adrenaline and then moments of calm. I think this kind of narrative is also important to Harry’s character development.

I loved the Cronus Club and all the characters you meet because of the Cronus Club. Especially, all the jokes that members and other Kalacharka make regarding their immortality and constantly going through new cycles of life. I loved the jokes of not wanting to go through puberty again. The Cronus Club as a franchise was really intriguing, I loved learning how they worked and how they communicated with the future and the past.

North’s writing to me was really enjoyable. Her writing sucked me into the point where I couldn’t put the book down. I just wanted to keep on reading!

One thing I would say is there is a lot of science jargon and philosophical debate that is held between two characters of very high intelligence and those scenes would just go way over my head and came across quite dull as I couldn’t understand half of what they said. Chapters would be dedicated to these scientific debates and I got bored of those chapters quite quickly.

To me this was a slow burn of a book, I was always really enjoying it but I never had a moment of a sucker-punch WOW moment. It just grew on me slowly and when I finished it I just sat there and thought that was such a good book! This book was consistent, apart from the science debates, I loved every moment of this book and enjoyed picking back up everytime!

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Review

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  • Author: Agatha Christie
  • Series: Hercule Poirot #4
  • Genre: Murder Mystery
  • No of pages: 304
  • Dates read: 01.04.19 – 04.04.19
  • Rating: 4.5 stars
  • Challenge: 2019 Sequels

There is not much I can say about this book without giving away Christie’s pure genius. So this won’t be that indepth of a review.

The first thing I would say after reading Sophie Hannah’s interpretation of Poirot, in The Monogram Murders, it makes you understand what it was about Christie’s Poirot that is unmatched and can’t be replicated no matter how hard we try. He is a great balance of knowing he is smarter than everyone else but also being humble about it. Being stern but compassionate. This balance is what makes Poirot great! It was great to dive back into the original Poirot.

I loved how everyone was framed as a suspect leaving the reader rather confused and no closer to who the actual murderer is. This also gets dragged out through a lot of the book so as you see the pages get smaller and smaller and you are reaching the end of the novel you are still wondering who it could be.

I really enjoyed the character Caroline Sheppard. I loved her ability to just gossip and not care about the consequences. While this isn’t a trait I would promote, it was very intriguing to read especially her nonchalance over causing trouble in her village. She is the person we would all be when something shocking happens, trying to know every little detail and discussing it with our friends.

One of the things I would say is that the writing is pretty basic, it was not the most exciting writing I have ever read. Thankfully, the plot makes up for the writing as the plot is incredibly masterful, so Christie can get away with the average writing style.

The next book I will be reviewing will be The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. This book has been on my TBR list for so long and I am so happy I can finally get to this book.