Tag: bookwrapup

The Final Empire Review

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  • Author: Brandon Sanderson
  • Series: Mistborn #1
  • Genre: High Fantasy
  • No of pages: 647
  • Year Published: 2006
  • Dates read: 19.07.19 – 30.07.19
  • Rating: 5 stars (Favourite)

I cannot put into words how incredibly amazing this book is.

Going into this book I was worried that it may be over-hyped and that I might not enjoy it as much as everyone else did but that was NOT the case, AT ALL!!

Plot: In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with colour once more?

First of all, all the characters you meet are just written so incredibly well. I loved every single one of them both good and evil! They were also so varied all the character felt a bit grey and even if they were more on the good side, they had their doubts, worries and moments of anger. They felt like real people, not just classic stereotypes.

Vin, especially, was amazing. I really enjoyed her character arc within the story. Watching her grow was so fun and you couldn’t help but root for her and want to see her succeed. It was so good to see a strong female character kick ass in a more male-dominated world.

I loved the world-building. Sanderson just created such a rich world that is so layered, that I know all the detailed info we received about the world is just the tip of the iceberg to how intricate the Final Empire is. The Government and the Nobility were such interesting factors in the story. I loved learning about how the higher classes worked and how the Empire functioned alongside the Nobles. The political intrigue, which was a massive theme in this book, was so good. I loved all the secrets, backstabbing, false loyalties everything. This is something that I am slowly becoming more interested in and this book fuelled my passion to read more books with political intrigue in.

The magic system was so much fun. I loved learning all about Allomancy and what it can and can’t do. At first, I found it a bit difficult to grasp, I still don’t totally know how SteelPushing and IronPuling work in regards to moving around a city quickly, but it was so much fun to learn. I really liked how we learned about the metals over the course of a couple of hundred pages and how we learnt different facets of the system alongside different characters. It gives us more of an insight into the characters and allowed for better development and also it was a fun way to not shove all info down our throats at the very beginning.

The writing as a whole is really accessible. I found myself reading with ease and the first 100 pages were probably the most drawn into a story I have ever been. The combat was done really well, most of the time I find combat scenes hard to read and just skim over them but because Sanderson’s writing is accessible and easy to follow. I found the scenes so enjoyable after one particular scene my heart was beating so fast!

One of my biggest disappointments in this story is the lack of female characters. Thankfully, Vin is a brilliantly written character but we literally only had a choice of 4 female characters and one of them is dead and only mentioned in the past tense! While the characters were interesting, they were not as varied as the numerous male characters we meet along the way. I hope in the sequel we will see more varied female characters. Thankfully, the characters we were given were written well and shown as capable women in this tough world. I just wanted to see more.

Overall, I get the hype. It is well and truly deserved. I cannot wait to read the sequel and read more of Sanderson’s work as a whole!

The next book I will be reviewing will be another Agatha Christie novel, The Big Four. I felt that I should have a break from the fantasy genre as my TBR consists of mostly fantasy at the moment and it might just be too much to read one after the other so I decided to break it up with a small cosy murder mystery.

The Secret of Chimneys Review

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  • Author: Agatha Christie
  • Series: Standalone
  • Genre: Murder Mystery/Political
  • No. of pages: 336
  • Dates read: 09.07.19 – 12.07.19
  • Rating: 5 stars

It felt so good to get back into another Christie novel. Like I said in my previous post, I love reading a murder mystery while soaking up the sun and that’s what I did. Yesterday, I came back from a great trip with my boyfriend and it felt good to kick back and relax a bit.

Plot: Little did Anthony Cade suspect that an errand for a friend would place him at the center of a deadly conspiracy. Drawn into a web of intrigue, he begins to realize that the simple favor has placed him in serious danger. As events unfold, the combined forces of Scotland Yard and the French Sûreté gradually converge on Chimneys, the great country estate that hides an amazing secret. . . .

This was my first political based novel and I thought I was going to find that side of the novel boring and just waiting for it to get back to the mystery but I found myself very early on thoroughly enjoying the more political side to the story. It felt like the stakes were higher when you added all the politics. It becomes so much more than the normal family matter or village matter. Like I’m used to.

Anthony was an amazing, charismatic main protagonist and I loved reading the story from his point of view. He just had a way with people that was so fun to watch, he commanded every scene he was in, regardless of how powerful the other individuals were. I also loved how care-free he was which allowed us to experience some incredibly exciting scenes play out due to his lack of worries.

I enjoyed all the twists and turns that came with this novel. But, the ending was a bit OTT, you have to slightly suspend your disbelief with this ending. I personally thought it was a lot of fun but I feel some readers might find it a bit too much and not as well thought through. To me, it was just really fun.

Obviously, this book was published in the very early 1920s, so there were a few xenophobic and racist undertones, and at times, blatant racist remarks. This was uncomfortable to read. This is a reflection, sadly, of the prejudices against people of colour at the time and it is hard to read.

I can’t say too much about this novel due to spoilers so this review is a quick one.

The next post will be about The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie. I also read this book while I was away and thoroughly enjoyed it. The post will be up very soon.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire review

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  • Author: J.K Rowling
  • Series: Harry Potter #4
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • No. of pages: 636
  • Dates read: 01.06.19 – 23.06.19
  • Rating: 5 stars (Favourite)
  • Challenge: 2019 sequels and ONTD Challenge June Theme, “A book about friendship or where friendship is the main theme.”

I love the Harry Potter series! It is one of my favourite series of all time. I love the movies, the theme parks, everything. I listen to all the podcasts about it and last year I decided I was going to re-read my favourite series as I couldn’t remember much of Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, so I wanted to remind myself.

When I knew I was going to re-read this book I decided I wanted to approach the re-read with a different focus in mind. I had recently been listening to a podcast called Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. This podcast would take a deep dive into each chapter of the books and focus on a specific theme. They would analyse the chapter and have in-depth and insightful discussions on the events in that chapter. I binged this podcast and I thought to myself. I would love to adopt this idea of reading each chapter with a theme in mind, I would like to see if it shaped my way of thinking.

I also decided to annotate favorutie quotes and passages I found in the book. So I grabbed two highlighters, a pen and a ruler and got to work!

My takeaway from this experience was, that while I enjoyed looking for where the theme was in each book this needs to be a practice that you do over a long period of time. You can’t condense this into a short period of time. I tried to fit Goblet of Fire into one month and it was tricky at times as I felt I was putting a timetable in place to make sure I got it done. It felt more like homework than the joy of reading. That’s on me.

Some chapters were easier than others to annotate and some themes were easier to find corresponding quotes or passages. I did find though that I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I could of if I was just highlighting quote that I like and just reading the books as normal. But it was a vital practice for me to take a longer and more intricate look at the story. I felt that I learned more about the motivations of characters; I learned the catalyst for poignant moments in the novel that I may not have picked up on if I had just read it normally and I appreciated Rowling’s plot a lot more than I initially did as I was looking at it through a magnifying glass.

That being said, I will not be adopting this practice for Order of the Phoenix for two reasons.

  1. The book is incredibly long with some mundane chapters so I don’t want to be spending two months annotating, getting bored of the practice and then ruining my re-read experience. Also, making me want to step from the practice all together for future novels.
  2. I feel like I grasped the meaning of the practice and I am ready to move on and try something new.

I may come back and annotate the book for the theme’s in a future re-read but for now I will take a step back.

This review was more focused on my experience annotating a novel more so than the content of the book. The book was just as extravagant, heart-breaking and fun as I had thought so when I previously read it about 5 years ago. One thing that did change for this re-read was that I got very emotional over Cedric’s death and the following scenes after that. I feel like this was because I knew what was going to follow Harry after this moment and it broke my heart. Cedric’s death is such a cataclysmic moment for the series as a whole and it really got me.

I hope to read Order of Phoenix later on this year but I have some many books on my physical tbr we shall see what happens.

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!

February Wrap Up 2018

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Bit late this time round but I couldn’t find the time to take a photo of the books I read in February.

Below is a list of the four books I reviewed in February.

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (4 stars)

A great final instalment to one of my favourite sci-fi series. I loved the diverse cast and the dossier style format it follows but critiqued the sometimes cringe dialogue.

The Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft (4 stars)

Another book into my 2019 sequels. I read the 1st book, Senlin Ascends, last year and it was my favourite book of 2018. I was quite nervous going into this one but I ended up throughly enjoying it!

The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah (3.5 stars)

A fresh new take on Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian detective, Hannah takes over the mantle from Christie and produces a book which has classic Christie tropes. I enjoyed this story a lot.

The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (4 stars)

A heart-warming story about life and death. I get emotional every time I think about this story. A quick, inspirational read that will have you thinking about life just a little bit differently.