Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas - spoiler free review.

Hi booklovers

Last year during the summer I participated in the Fantasy Favourites Read-A-Thon and I was supposed to read Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas, but it had been so long since I had read Heir of Fire that I couldn't remember enough of the story, so I stopped reading it and never picked it up again. The theme for February for the #OWBookclub was 'Badass females' and I thought Celaena Sardothien was pretty badass from what I could remember of the first three books. Also, I want to be all caught up with the series by the time the last book in the series comes out. But like everyone else I found out that the book about Chaol will be published in September and the final book in the series has been pushed back to 2018. At least now I don't have to rush to get through the other books and get myself into a reading slump. Binge-reading books in a series and I usually don't get along, unless they are very good books that aren't too long (i.e. less than 400 pages). Anyway, long intro, let's get into the actual review.

Title: Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: YA, fantasy

Format:paperback

*Story:
After spending a year in the salt mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien is given a chance to win back her freedom by becoming the king of Adarlan's champion. To become the champion, however, she has to defeat a number of other assassins and thieves. Throughout the story she regains her strength, both mentally and physically and she grows into her role as future champion.

*Characters:
-Celaena: oh my,  I had totally forgotten how arrogant and shallow she is at the beginning of the book. At times she cares more about how she looks than anything else. True, she’s a good assassin and she regains her strength throughout the book, but she was still so unbelievably shallow at times.
 

-Dorian: he is the Crown Prince of Adarlan. He has chosen Celaena to be his father’s champion. He’s at a marriageable age and his mother keeps pressuring him to choose a bride. Dorian, on the other hand doesn’t want to think about that just yet. Of course, he is immediately intrigued by Celaena and of course, he falls in love with her. Some might think this is a spoiler, but you can actually see that plotline developping a mile off. I did enjoy the way Dorian and Celaena interacted and bantered.

-Chaol: captain Westfall is to be Calaena’s personal trainer to help her get ready for the competition. At first he only sees her as an assassin, but as time goes by he starts to see her as a young and vulnerable girl. Of course, it doesn’t take him long either to develop feelings for her. Again, no spoiler, it’s an obvious plot development. With these two, I also liked how they interacted and bantered. Chaol is the complete opposite of Dorian, always serious and taking his duties very much to heart.

-Nehemia: she is a foreign princess who has come to the Adarlan court. She quickly befriends Celaena since Celaena both speaks and understands Eyllwe. Nehemia is a very strong person who is not always who she appears to be, but she proves herself to be a true friend.

-Elena: The spirit of the long dead queen of Adarlan. She gives Celaena the task of vanquishing the evil roaming the castle’s hallways.
 

*Plot/worldbuilding/overall rating:
There were some things I really liked about this book: it was fast-paced and action-packed at times. I really liked the characters of Nehemia and Elena. The story was good, however, it does have its flaws. There was too much emphasis on Celaena’s beauty. After reading about it five times, we get it already, you don’t have to repeat it a gazillion more times. Like I said, I found Celaena to be very arrogant and shallow. Granted, her name still bestows fear in the hearts of a lot of people, but, she did get caught and she did end up in Endovier. I also disliked the obvious YA trope of the love triangle. Like I said before, this is no spoiler, it is blatantly obvious the story is going to develop like that. I found the world building to be a bit lacking since we get to see little of the country.

*Audiobook experience:
While I was looking for a book to use my audible credit on, I stumbled upon this one and I decided to listen to a sample of it. I immediately recognized the voice-actress as the one who also read the part of Nina in Six of Crows. I really enjoyed her voice-acting and since I wanted to do a reread of the series, I thought I’d give it a go. It was a really good experience, although I do have to admit that I sometimes found it hard to know when the story switched POV’s.

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

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

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson - spoiler free review.

Hi booklovers

After rereading Amy & Roger's Epic Detour (I have a review for this book here) I felt like going on a Morgan Matson binge read. So, I decided to pick up 'Second Change Summer' and reread that one before moving on to 'Since You've Been Gone', which has been on my shelf for over a year now.

Title: Second Chance Summer
Author: Morgan Matson
Genre: YA, contemporary
Format: paperback

*Story:
Taylor Edwards has a habit of running away when things get tough. This summer however, something happens to her dad that she can't escape. Her family is going to spend the summer at their lake house. There, Taylor will be confronted with all the things she ran away from five years earlier. Will she run away again or will she stay and her second chance?

*Characters:
-Taylor Edwards: A 17-year old girl who has a habit of not dealing with situations when they get tough, but instead she runs away from them. In the story, Taylor goes through a lot and she has to deal with a lot of emotions. Does she always react correctly to some of the things that happen? No, but that's just what makes her humane. I really liked Taylor as a character, she grows a lot throughout the story.

-Henry Crosby: He and Taylor had a crush when they were 12. They haven't seen each other for five years after Taylor ran off in a hurry. At first, he tries very hard to keep his distance from Taylor, he even acts a bit cold towards her. But then again, you can't really blame him for it, not after the way Taylor treated him. But Henry is such a sweet guy, who still cares about Emily very much. Plus, he works at a bakery ;-)

-Lucy Marino: She's Taylor's former best friend, but because Taylor ran away they haven't seen or spoken to each other for five years. Needless to say, Lucy isn't very happy to see Taylor again, especially when it turns out they will be working together during the summer. A lot of things have happened during the previous years and it takes a long time for Lucy to come to terms with Taylor being back in her life. Lucy is one of those characters you immediately like, even though she gives Taylor the cold shoulder at first. But then again, can you blame her? She's sassy and even though she sometimes does stupid things, she's someone you can count on.

-Robin Edwards: He's Taylor's dad. The things that are happening to him are the reasons Taylor has to go back to the lake house. He goes through a lot and even though he is very scared, he still keeps on going and I admire him for that.
 
!!SPOILER!!
The way he deals with the cancer progressing is in my opinion very humane: he's scared but he still tries to make the best of the time he has left. I was also very touched by all the letters he left behind for everyone to be read at certain moments in their future lives.
 
There are more characters in this book, but these were the ones I wanted to talk about.

*Plot:
I love how Morgan Matson turned this into a very believable story. You could feel - and believe - all the emotions each character goes through. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions, but somehow the characters and me as a reader got through it more or less okay. The details of the setting also made you feel like you were there with the characters. I also like that you get to know the things that happened five years earlier through flashbacks.

*Overall rating:
I loved this book just as much as I did the first time I read it and yes, I cried my eyes out again. This is still a solid 5 star read.
Because I read this back to back with Amy & Roger, I found the reference to that book, which I didn't the first time around :-)

Have you read this or any other Morgan Matson books? Which ones and which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies