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REVIEW: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Posted by Anastasia on April 30, 2012 3 Responses »

Apr 302012

061. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Publication: Scholastic Press (August 24, 2010), ebook, 404pp / ISBN 0439023513
Genre: YA Sci-fi,

Read: March 31-April 1, 2012
Source: Bought

Series: The Hunger Games | Catching Fire | Mockingjay (you’re here!)

Summary from Amazon:

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

Review

The ending of Catching Fire was so shocking and unexpected that it actually made me NOT want to read Mockingjay, just to show the series who was the boss. So when I actually DID read Mockingjay, I was prepared for basically anything. And a good thing I was prepared, too, because Mockingjay is almost a completely different book from the rest of the series. Continue reading »

REVIEW: Vodnik by Bryce Moore

Posted by Anastasia on April 27, 2012 No Responses »

Apr 272012

060. Vodnik by Bryce Moore
Publication: Tu Books (March 1, 2012), eARC, 368pp / ISBN 1600608523
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy, Action

Read: March 30-31, 2012
Source: NetGalley (thank you!)

Summary from Amazon:

When Tomas was six, someone–something–tried to drown him. And burn him to a crisp. Tomas survived, but whatever was trying to kill him freaked out his parents enough to convince them to move from Slovakia to the United States.

Now sixteen-year-old Tomas and his family are back in Slovakia, and that something still lurks somewhere. Nearby. Ready to drown him again and imprison his soul in a teacup.

Then there’s the fire víla, the water ghost, the pitchfork-happy city folk, and Death herself who are all after him.

All this sounds a bit comical, unless the one haunted by water ghosts and fire vílas or doing time in a cramped, internet-deprived teacup is you.

If Tomas wants to survive, he’ll have to embrace the meaning behind the Slovak proverb, So smrťou ešte nik zmluvu neurobil. With Death, nobody makes a pact.

Review

For some reason I had a really hard time writing this review– not because I didn’t like Vodnik, but because there’s so much stuff to talk about that I couldn’t figure out where to start! Vodnik has got almost everything I want in a YA book: it’s set in a non-US/non-England location, it stars a not-completely-white kid, it’s got exciting action stuff and fun fantasy elements and it ALSO deals with discrimination and bullying and death! And it’s not even that badly written; if I was a teenage person I’d probably love this book a lot. As an adult person, I LIKE it but I’m not overwhelmed with my love for it. Continue reading »

REVIEW: Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott

Posted by Anastasia on April 24, 2012 No Responses »

Apr 242012

046. Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott
Publication: Candlewick (April 24, 2012), eARC, 465pp / ISBN 0763653446
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy, Romance (bit of GLBTQ)

Read: March 7-8, 2012
Source: NetGalley (thank you!)

Summary from Amazon:

A powerful tale of magic, love, and revenge set in fairy-tale Japan. Trained in the magical art of shadow-weaving, sixteen-year-old Suzume is able to re-create herself in any form – a fabulous gift for a girl desperate to escape her past. But who is she really? Is she a girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother’s new husband, Lord Terayama? Or a lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama’s kitchens? Or is she Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Whatever her true identity, Suzume is destined to use her skills to steal the heart of a prince in a revenge plot to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her, not even the one true aspect of her life- her love for a fellow shadow-weaver.

Review

This is an AWESOME book. What makes it awesome? I’ll tell you what makes it awesome:
1. the characters! Specifically, Suzume and her development over the course of the book. She goes from spoiled normal kid to PTSD-ed refugee with magical powers to someone with a lot of spoilers hanging around. It’s great! Continue reading »

REVIEW: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Posted by Anastasia on April 18, 2012 12 Responses »

Apr 182012

057. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Publication: Candlewick; Reprint edition (October 18, 2010), ebook, 479pp / ISBN 0763645761
Genre: YA Sci-fi, Horror

Read: March 27, 2012
Source: Bought

Series: The Knife of Never Letting Go (you’re here!) | The Ask and the Answer | Monsters of Men

Summary from Amazon:

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn’t she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd’s gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

Review

Don’t you just love it when the stars align and you’re finally able to get a book that you’ve been wanting to read (and that other people have been telling you to read) for ages and then you read it and it’s amazing? I do! And that’s what happened with The Knife of Never Letting Go. Continue reading »

REVIEW: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Posted by Anastasia on April 9, 2012 4 Responses »

Apr 092012

058. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Publication: Scholastic Press (June 1, 2010), ebook, 404pp / ISBN 0439023491
Genre: YA Sci-fi

Read: March 28-29, 2012
Source: Bought

Series: The Hunger Games | Catching Fire (you’re here!) | Mockingjay

Summary from Amazon:

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

This review contains spoilers.

Review

I think I was pretty lucky with Catching Fire, because I liked it way more than the first book. I didn’t just like it because it fixed a lot of the problems I had with The Hunger Games– I liked it because it showed Katniss growing as a person (albeit not in the more usual positive way that character growth tends to go), it introduced the rebellion factor, and there are way more interesting characters to read about. The pacing was faster, probably because there was less backstory to get through. And, unlike THG, in this one I think Katniss was more aware of her emotions, especially in regards to other people.

However, despite the fact that I ended up rating it 4.5 birds, I REALLY INTENSELY DISLIKED how stupid Katniss was for the majority of the story. Continue reading »

REVIEW: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Posted by Anastasia on April 2, 2012 13 Responses »

Apr 022012

054. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Publication: Scholastic Paperbacks (September 1, 2009), ebook, 388pp / ISBN 0439023483
Genre: YA Sci-fi

Read: March 23, 2012
Source: Bought

Series: The Hunger Games (you’re here!) | Catching Fire | Mockingjay

Summary from Amazon:

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Review

I put off reading the Hunger Games trilogy for YEARS, mainly because I’m one of those people who want to read a book in opposite proportion to how many other people love it. Everyone went NUTS over this series from the get-go, and for some reason that meant I didn’t want to read it. It’s almost like if I didn’t discover a thing first, I didn’t want to know about it! Which is hilarious, because usually when I DO finally read the thing I didn’t want to read because it was “too popular,” I end up loving it. So. Continue reading »

REVIEW: The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood

Posted by Anastasia on March 30, 2012 No Responses »

Mar 302012

049. The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood and the duchess of Northumberland
Publication: Balzer + Bray (July 20, 2010), ebook, 309pp / ISBN 0061802387
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy, Romance

Read: March 12-13, 2012
Source: Bought

Summary from Amazon:

In the right dose, everything is a poison. Even love . . .

Jessamine Luxton has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle, with little company apart from the plants in her garden. Her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary, has taught her much about the incredible powers of plants: that even the most innocent-looking weed can cure — or kill.

When Jessamine begins to fall in love with a mysterious boy who claims to communicate with plants, she is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined . . .

Review

This was on sale a few months ago and I snagged it, since I’ve got the second book packed and waiting for me to read it and I hate reading sequels before I read the first book.¹ I couldn’t remember exactly what either books were about, but I thought it’d have magic and possibly something tragic happening, based on the cover. Continue reading »