The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh - spoiler-free review.

Hi booklovers

Today I want to review The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. This is a very hard book to review. Up until page 342 this was a mèh - okayish book and I could understand the mixed reviews it was getting. The last 40 pages however turned this from a 2.75 stars read into a 3.75 stars read and all it took was a little confession. I read this for the #OWBookclub for March - the theme was Fairytale Retellings - but I didn’t finish it before the end of March.

Title: The Wrath and the Dawn

Author: Renee Ahdieh

Genre: YA, fantasy, retellings

Format: paperback

*Story:
Every night the Caliph of Khorasan – Khalid – takes a new bride and every morning the girl is found dead. Shahrzad’s best friend is one of the victims and she seeks revenge. She volunteers to be Khalid’s next bride so she can end his reign of terror. Through her storytelling she manages to stay alive, but she soon finds out there is more to Khalids actions than meets the eye.

*Characters: 

-Shahrzad: This is a hard character to ‘rate’: on the one hand she is strong and determined to go through with her plan but on the other hand she is also very fickle and indecisive. Sometimes she was quirky and smart-tongued but at other times she was just downright childish.
SPOILER:
I also found it very unconvincing that she changed her mind about Khalid almost overnight.

 
-Khalid: He is a very ‘hard to read’ character. The moment he finally opened up to Shazi and told her why he has to kill these young women was the moment the story finally grabbed me. Unfortunately, there were only about 40 pages of the book left by that time :-s
 

-Jalal: He is both arrogant and very honest – well, most of the time anyway.
 

-Tariq: I didn’t like him at all.
SPOILER:
Shazi specifically said she’s nobody’s possession, but I found Tariq to be very possessive – even more so than Khalid - and I didn't like that!
 

-Despira: A quirky character who wears her heart on her sleeve.
 

*Plot/worldbuilding/overall rating:
Like I said it took the story 342 out of the 388 pages to fully grab my attention, which is a pretty long time. I am, however, glad I didn’t DNF the book because the cliffhanger ending made me curious enough to want to pick up the sequel. I do sincerely hope that story grabs me from the start.

3.75 stars

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Winter by Marissa Meyer - (mostly) non-spoiler review.

Hi booklovers

Today I'm going to review a book I've actually only recently finished :-) *pats herself on the back*: Winter by Marissa Meyer. I read this for the March theme of the #OWBookclub on Goodreads: retellings.

Winter is the conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles - I know, there's also Stars Above, but that's a collection of short stories. Beware this will contain spoilers for Cinder, Scarlet and Cress (click on the names to read my non-spoiler reviews.)
 

Title: Winter

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genre: YA, sci-fi, fairy-tale retelling

Format: paperback

*Story:
At the beginning of the story we find ourselves aboard the Rampion where Emporer Kai is still being 'kidnapped'. We folow the gang trying to stop Levana from becoming Empress of Earth and even stop her reign altogether so Cinder - Princess Selene - can take her rightful place on the throne. They also try to rescue Scarlet and save Winter from the clutches of her evil stepmother.
 

*Characters:
-Cinder: She really comes into her own in this story. She has grown so much mentally and she is really ready to take her place on the throne. Although I do have to admit that at times I thought her 'rallying of the troops' went a bit too easily. I really liked how her struggle not to become like her aunt was portrayed.
 

-Kai: Again he finds himself torn between his love for Cinder and his need to obtain the Letumoses antidote. I loved how he stood up to Levana and didn't even hide how proud he was of Cinder.

-Scarlet: I loved how resilliant and strong she was throughout this story despite everything that happened to her.
SPOILER:
I also loved how she wasn't scared of the changes Wolf had been put through by Levana. She just continued to see the man he used to be, not his current exterior.
 

-Wolf: He is still one of my favourite characters. I liked how we got to know more about his past and his family. I found him to be incredibly strong, especially mentally.
SPOILER:
He doesn't succumb to the physical and mental changes that were done to him. I love how he still remains so shy, careful and even a little clumsy around Scarlet.
 

-Cress: I remember thinking in the previous book that she was a bit naive and whiny, but she really comes into her own in this story. She really goes from this shy, insecure girl from the sattelite to playing an important part in the revolution.

-Thorne: There were times I wanted to strangle him SPOILER: I know he was being glamoured when he kissed that Lunar, but still!!, but I liked how we get to see his softer side and his feelings for Cress.

-Winter: She is such an whimsical girl, although she has a great sense of humour as well. I loved her teasing Jacin and the way she cared for her wolf and Scarlet.

-Jacin: He is such a sweet guy whilst always remaining the loyal guard.
 

*Plot/worldbuilding/overall rating:
I found this to be a very good conclusion to the series even though I wanted there to be more emphasis on Winter and Jacin. I know there has to be a lot of emphasis on the revolution and Cinder overthrowing Levana, but some more of Winter's story would have been nice.
SPOILER:
Theirs was the relationship I found the least satisfying, because you don't really know where they will go from here.
I really enjoyed that we got to see more of Luna; the working sectors and the outside of the domes. I also liked that we got see how the Lunars percieved Earth.
 

*Physical book / audiobook:
At first I only read the physical book but I didn't have that much time to read for longer periods on end. So I decided to get the audiobook from audible and I really enjoyed it. The narrator did all the voices really well. Listening to the audiobook also helped speed up my reading.
 

Even though it's bittersweet because it concludes a great series, I'm still very happy that I finally tackled this monster of a book.

4.75 stars

I'm not going to read Stars Above right away, I think I'm going to spread it out and read one story at a time.

Have you read this book or the series? Let me know in the comments what you think of it.

Bye for now

Annelies

Fairest by Marissa Meyer - non-spoiler review.

Hi booklovers

Continuing with my reviews of the Lunar Chronicles, today I'll be reviewing Fairest, book 3.5 in the series. Because this is a novella, this review will be rather short.
 

Title: Fairest

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genre: YA, sci-fi, fairy-tale retelling

Format: paperback

*Story:
This is the story of how queen Levana came to be the evil person that we know from the other books in the series. We get to see Levana from her childhood through her teenage years and early adulthood.

*Plot/overall rating:
I went into this book not expecting to like Levana better/more afterwards and I didn't by the end of the book. I did, however, understand better why she is such a bitch, but that didn't make me sympathise with her. On the contrary, I disliked her even more. Granted, she hasn't had an easy childhood and her sister Channery is so cruel to her, but that doesn't justify the things Levana has done.
SPOILERS:
I can't believe how she manipulated her husband into loving her and then in the end killing him because of her plans to rule Earth. The way she held him prisoner for ten years, not even giving him time to mourn the loss of his wife is just so cruel.
The way she planned to kill princess Selene so she could be the true queen of Luna and she thinks she's being merciful by letting Selene die - something Channery didn't do for her - is so twisted.
 

Is this a necessary read: not really, but it does give you a great insight into Levana's character. It didn't make me sympathize with her, on the contrary, it made me hate her even more. This, to me is testament of the great and wonderful writing style of Marissa Meyer.

3.75 stars to be precise

Have you read this novella? What did you think of it?
 

Bye for now
 

Annelies

Cress by Marissa Meyer - non-spoiler review.

Hi booklovers

I'm continuing to play catch-up with my bookreviews of the Lunar Chronicles. This time I'll be reviewing Cress.

Beware, this may contain spoilers for both Cinder and Scarlet. (Click on the names of the books to read my non-spoiler reviews.)

Title: Cress

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genre: YA, sci-fi, fairy-tale retelling

Format: paperback

*Story:

In this book we are introduced to the character of Cress. This is a Rapunzel retelling. Cress - a shell - is thaumaturge Sybil's 'protégé' and personal hacker who lives in her own satellite. Contrary to her 'assignment', she actually helps Cinder to stay off the radar. We got a 'glimpse' of her in the first book, when she warned Cinder about Levana's plans to assassinate Kai once she becomes empress. With the introduction of Cress' character we get a whole new storyline that intertwines perfectly with the excisting storylines.

The plot remains fast-paced and action-packed.

*Characters:

-Cress: At first I thought she was a bit of a naïve girl, but once you get to know her, you realise her behaviour is actually quite normal. Imagine being locked up and isolated from the rest of your planet for so many years. That also explains her infatuation with Thorne. It turns out that even though she is a bit socially impaired, she still has a very important role to play in the story.

-Dr. Erland: In this story we get to know a lot more about him and his backstory.

SPOILER:

Maybe it was a bit predictable that Cress is Dr. Erland's daughter, but this is also a nice example of how well Meyer can weave storylines together.

Also, the way she potrayed how Wolf felt after Scarlet was taken by Sybil was very well excecuted.

*Overall rating:

I like how we get to see earth from Cress' POV. Just like we look at the moon and are mesmerized by it, Cress is fascinated by earth.

We also get to meet Winter, a very intriguing character and the protagonist of the final book. We only catch a glimpse of her, but from her interactions with Scarlet we find out there's more to her than meets the eye.

Have you read Cress? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer - non-spoiler review.

Hi booklovers

This is my review of book two of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: Scarlet. (Again, I've read this book in 2015, but never got around to posting my review :-$)

Beware this may contain spoilers for Cinder. I also have a review for Cinder here.

Title: Scarlet

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genre: YA, sci-fi, fairy-tale retelling

Format: paperback

*Story:

Scarlet is a red riding hood retelling. Scarlet is a French girl looking for her grandmother who went missing. Scarlet, however, is convinced her grandmother was kidnapped. On her search she crosses paths with Wolf, a 'professional fighter' with wolflike features, incredibly strong and fast. In this story we also meet Carswell Thorne, a 'captain' who was imprisoned for stealing a ship. He escapes jail together with Cinder.

*Characters:

-Scarlet: She is a sassy, readhaired girl who is used to being independent while still very much caring for her grandmother. I like how she doesn't believe her grandmother went missing. She instinctively knows something is wrong.

-Wolf: He's a very silent, brooding character. We as readers only get to know him gradually, which makes him all the more intriguing. At first he's not the most likeable character, but he grows on you, just because he is so mysterious.

-Thorne: He is such a cocky, arrogant, funny and charming character. At times you want to smack him on the head because he is so infuriating and at times he is the sweetest.

*Plot/Worldbuilding/Overall rating:

This story is very fast-paced and action packed. At first, you don't really know why Scarlet and Wolf are introduced to the story, but it was really nice to see the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

We get to know more about New Bejing, but also about other places in this 'new' world. We also find out more about Lunar and Cinder's backstory.

SPOILER:

I like how the romance between Scarlet and Wolf is sort of slow burning. I know some of the events take place over the course of a day and that there is a sort of instant attraction, but still...

I like how we get to know what Michelle Benoit had to do with Princess Selene and what Levana is trying to do with her canine army.

I also like how we still get glimpses of Kai and how he still thinks about Cinder a lot while struggling to 'stand up' to Levana.

Have you read Scarlet? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies