I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THESE BOOKS. As a firm believer in anything supernatural, these books really satisfied. Suze, as a teenager, is very believable – but almost too believable to be a hard-core ghostbuster. The voice and style is highly reminiscent of…
Well, pretty much everything else that Ms. Cabot has written. I did notice that she repeats clichés and other figures of speech a few times throughout the series – never in the same book, thankfully, but in adjacent books.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read almost everything that Ms. Cabot has written (I really liked Avalon High. The Camelot fan in me had a heyday). But she does gear herself more toward tween readers in her Princess Diaries series. She hadn’t quite gotten out of that habit in this series. It appeals to the 13-18 age range, but only superficially. The storyline is a little too young yet to be characterized as a YA series. It’s still a very good story, but not as descriptive as others I’ve read. It’s very whirlwind though, and I love that. (Hence the title of the blog, Harlequin Romance book reviews.)
But hey, all that aside, it’s amazing and I loved every second. I read the sixth book four times, it really was that good. And very attractive. :)
The series inspired my love for Western books and movies, even though I only just read the series a little over three weeks ago. As soon as I checked the last book in to the library, I promptly checked out a Western novel (The Crime of Coy Bell by Sam Brown. I will probably not review it, because it went too fast and it wasn’t very detailed). But literally, all I could think of for the weekend after I read the first three books was, “What was life really like in the West in 1850?” Ms. Cabot really researched all of her information carefully, and got the 1700’s architecture and 1800’s clothing and values spot on.
And for the record, the end of the last book – I nearly cried. It was so…
Happy / almost sad / totally sweet / I’m incredibly jealous / WOW. I love it.
Favorite series.
♥
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
"Tithe" by Holly Black
I need to read this again to gather details and such.
For the most part, it is beautifully written I can picture every character, especially Roiben and Kaye. The imagery is outstanding.
But Faery seems too…
Chaotic. I know, as a fey land, it really shouldn’t be pristine; in fact, the contrary is true. But you’d think Ms. Black would set up Faery so that things didn’t seem so hard to comprehend. It almost seems like everything is next door or right on the next city block. She never says anything about how far places are from other places, only that the characters are in these places at random given times.
She also never tells how Corny met this Nephemael dude. (I think that’s his name. I may be mistaken, but honestly I don’t have the motivation to go downstairs and check.)
(SPOILER ALERT!)
I also would like to see a sequel! I wanna know how good Roiben is at being the Unseelie king. What kind of ruler is he? Is he a Caesar, a Nero, a Brutus? Maybe a King William of Orange? (It would be neat to be a king or queen of Orange. I love citrus fruits – HA! I made a terrible funny. I’m sorry.)
By the way, Roiben is THE most attractive book character I’ve read about since Xeke from City Infernal by Edward Lee. (Another book, by the way, that I will probably review in the future.) And of course Ron Weasley. He is GORGEOUS. Not Rupert Grint (ok, him too, but we’re talking about book characters here), but the actual Ron Weasley. Except… It’s gotta be in the last two or three books. The thirteen-year-old Ron does nothing for me. (Ha! Ha!)
♥
For the most part, it is beautifully written I can picture every character, especially Roiben and Kaye. The imagery is outstanding.
But Faery seems too…
Chaotic. I know, as a fey land, it really shouldn’t be pristine; in fact, the contrary is true. But you’d think Ms. Black would set up Faery so that things didn’t seem so hard to comprehend. It almost seems like everything is next door or right on the next city block. She never says anything about how far places are from other places, only that the characters are in these places at random given times.
She also never tells how Corny met this Nephemael dude. (I think that’s his name. I may be mistaken, but honestly I don’t have the motivation to go downstairs and check.)
(SPOILER ALERT!)
I also would like to see a sequel! I wanna know how good Roiben is at being the Unseelie king. What kind of ruler is he? Is he a Caesar, a Nero, a Brutus? Maybe a King William of Orange? (It would be neat to be a king or queen of Orange. I love citrus fruits – HA! I made a terrible funny. I’m sorry.)
By the way, Roiben is THE most attractive book character I’ve read about since Xeke from City Infernal by Edward Lee. (Another book, by the way, that I will probably review in the future.) And of course Ron Weasley. He is GORGEOUS. Not Rupert Grint (ok, him too, but we’re talking about book characters here), but the actual Ron Weasley. Except… It’s gotta be in the last two or three books. The thirteen-year-old Ron does nothing for me. (Ha! Ha!)
♥
"Glass" by Ellen Hopkins
I love Ellen Hopkins’ writing. I have yet to read Burned and Impulse, but I’ve read Crank multiple times. And, OHMIGOD, I love that book so much.
Glass is the sequel to Crank. Both books are written in free-verse poem form, and they’re all well thought-out and generally have hidden meanings. Some of the poems are written so they are shaped like something else (there are some shaped like letters, one shaped like a dollar sign, and a few in a rhombus shape), and there are some that are indented in certain ways so that they mean something else entirely (for instance, “Like I Care” on page 153).
I love the way she writes not as just some scholar or former cop who just knows what they have seen in the field or books, but as someone who has had a personal experience with methamphetamines. (Her daughter is a former user and the books are based loosely off of events that have happened to her.)
But these experiences, rightly so, make me never want to even consider meth. That was probably the point though.
(SPOILER!)
I did respect Kristina in the beginning though, because Crank ended with her getting pregnant and going clean – but I quickly lost that respect as soon as she picked up that lighter. Her mom was COMPLETELY in the right to file for Hunter’s custody. I’m not going to get up on a pedestal for the whole teen-pregnancy thing, because it wasn’t her fault – Hunter was the product of a rape in the first book. However, teenage drug use (or any other age group, for that matter) is nasty. It’s a personal choice, and some people start doing drugs as a release for something bad that has happened, but nothing really went wrong in Kristina’s life till she met the monster.
That’s when all the trouble started for her. She only started meth because it seemed like fun. Plus, she just wanted to get this guy who wasn’t even available anyway.
Frankly, the story is amazing, but Kristina is dumb. As a person, not a written character. As a character, she is incredibly believable. She just makes really crappy decisions.
♥
Glass is the sequel to Crank. Both books are written in free-verse poem form, and they’re all well thought-out and generally have hidden meanings. Some of the poems are written so they are shaped like something else (there are some shaped like letters, one shaped like a dollar sign, and a few in a rhombus shape), and there are some that are indented in certain ways so that they mean something else entirely (for instance, “Like I Care” on page 153).
I love the way she writes not as just some scholar or former cop who just knows what they have seen in the field or books, but as someone who has had a personal experience with methamphetamines. (Her daughter is a former user and the books are based loosely off of events that have happened to her.)
But these experiences, rightly so, make me never want to even consider meth. That was probably the point though.
(SPOILER!)
I did respect Kristina in the beginning though, because Crank ended with her getting pregnant and going clean – but I quickly lost that respect as soon as she picked up that lighter. Her mom was COMPLETELY in the right to file for Hunter’s custody. I’m not going to get up on a pedestal for the whole teen-pregnancy thing, because it wasn’t her fault – Hunter was the product of a rape in the first book. However, teenage drug use (or any other age group, for that matter) is nasty. It’s a personal choice, and some people start doing drugs as a release for something bad that has happened, but nothing really went wrong in Kristina’s life till she met the monster.
That’s when all the trouble started for her. She only started meth because it seemed like fun. Plus, she just wanted to get this guy who wasn’t even available anyway.
Frankly, the story is amazing, but Kristina is dumb. As a person, not a written character. As a character, she is incredibly believable. She just makes really crappy decisions.
♥
"My Name is Chloe" by Melody Carlson
I have no idea where this story begins. It was well-written, absolutely, but I have NO idea who these people are. I don’t know Caitlin, Chloe, Josh, any of these people. I realize that this book is part of a series, but you’d think they would go into detail a little more, just in case the person reading the book isn’t reading the series from the beginning. I have read a few books-in-the-middle-of-series before and had it click for me.
I am a converted Christian (but I’m not going to go into that, this is not “delve into Harlequin’s religious beliefs,” it’s a book review). Therefore, I know what it’s like, and I know how much it changes someone to convert.
But Allie’s sudden “conversion” is… a little hard to comprehend. It’s like Mrs. Carlson was just looking for an easy fix, so all three members of Redemption could be Christians.
I’ll figure this out more if I ever end up reading the rest of the books in the series.
And by the way, the font TOTALLY threw me off. It was entirely typewriter font (the whole book!) and it’s something that should only have been used on little blurbs like, maybe, the songs (which, by the way, are juvenile. They sound like the stuff I wrote in grade school, especially the moldy Cheerios one. Or maybe something I could write now if I was incredibly bored).
♥
I am a converted Christian (but I’m not going to go into that, this is not “delve into Harlequin’s religious beliefs,” it’s a book review). Therefore, I know what it’s like, and I know how much it changes someone to convert.
But Allie’s sudden “conversion” is… a little hard to comprehend. It’s like Mrs. Carlson was just looking for an easy fix, so all three members of Redemption could be Christians.
I’ll figure this out more if I ever end up reading the rest of the books in the series.
And by the way, the font TOTALLY threw me off. It was entirely typewriter font (the whole book!) and it’s something that should only have been used on little blurbs like, maybe, the songs (which, by the way, are juvenile. They sound like the stuff I wrote in grade school, especially the moldy Cheerios one. Or maybe something I could write now if I was incredibly bored).
♥
"Zombie Blondes" by Brian James
Compare this theme to WWII.
Cheerleading squad (but mostly Maggie): Hitler.
The rest of the town: Nazis.
Hannah: America.
Lukas: Jews.
Why? The Nazis followed Hitler ceaselessly, to the point where they were “brainwashed” – By Hitler’s stories of the Aryans being the “perfect race.” These Aryan people were blonde and blue-eyed (that probably isn’t coincidence, but it could be – some people just like blonde, blue eyed people better. Look at Heidi Klum, for example).
So the Nazis took down these Jews just because they were Jewish. They hadn’t done anything. Lukas only tried to warn Hannah, which is probably the most anyone had ever done – Jew or book character.
Then America comes in and fights to bring down the National Socialist party. Or, rather, cause a diversion elsewhere. Of course, Germany takes the bait and it all blows up (pardon the pun) in their faces. (SPOILER: things do actually explode. Like zombies, for instance... It’s kinda cool.)
Now, I’m not into conspiracy theories (ok, yes I am), but this seems like awfully more than coincidence. There is always the chance that Mr. James didn’t intend to make this an allegory to WWII, but it’s definitely a common theme. Given the subject matter, it probably is intended.
♥
Cheerleading squad (but mostly Maggie): Hitler.
The rest of the town: Nazis.
Hannah: America.
Lukas: Jews.
Why? The Nazis followed Hitler ceaselessly, to the point where they were “brainwashed” – By Hitler’s stories of the Aryans being the “perfect race.” These Aryan people were blonde and blue-eyed (that probably isn’t coincidence, but it could be – some people just like blonde, blue eyed people better. Look at Heidi Klum, for example).
So the Nazis took down these Jews just because they were Jewish. They hadn’t done anything. Lukas only tried to warn Hannah, which is probably the most anyone had ever done – Jew or book character.
Then America comes in and fights to bring down the National Socialist party. Or, rather, cause a diversion elsewhere. Of course, Germany takes the bait and it all blows up (pardon the pun) in their faces. (SPOILER: things do actually explode. Like zombies, for instance... It’s kinda cool.)
Now, I’m not into conspiracy theories (ok, yes I am), but this seems like awfully more than coincidence. There is always the chance that Mr. James didn’t intend to make this an allegory to WWII, but it’s definitely a common theme. Given the subject matter, it probably is intended.
♥
I won’t call these critiques.
Because they aren’t critiques.
These are in-depth subtext reading that focus on themes. If you read these books just for the sake of reading, this isn’t your place.
I won’t shun you; I’m just saying you won’t quite fit in.
This is the part where you tell me what books you recommend, and I will attempt to read them and write a review.
(Note: I said “attempt,” not “guarantee.”)
Three rules:
1. Don’t take my judgment as the be all and end all. This is my opinion, and to fully appreciate and understand these reviews, you need to read the books on your own. Think about it – Transformers: Rise of the Fallen got really bad reviews, but it was an amazing movie. (My opinion.)
2. Don’t ask me to review Twilight. I might have to tell you what I really think. (Someday, I may post a review of it, but don’t hold your breath unless you want to look like a Smurf.)
3. Remember that I am not a scholar or a philosopher. This is just something I do in my free time, maybe for a little extra credit (Ha! Ha! Sorry, Ms. __), but mostly just free time. I’m just a teenager who likes to read but is getting a C in English and needs the extra credit (I’m not sure if I’m kidding so much anymore, Ms. __).
Much love,
Harlequin
♥
Because they aren’t critiques.
These are in-depth subtext reading that focus on themes. If you read these books just for the sake of reading, this isn’t your place.
I won’t shun you; I’m just saying you won’t quite fit in.
This is the part where you tell me what books you recommend, and I will attempt to read them and write a review.
(Note: I said “attempt,” not “guarantee.”)
Three rules:
1. Don’t take my judgment as the be all and end all. This is my opinion, and to fully appreciate and understand these reviews, you need to read the books on your own. Think about it – Transformers: Rise of the Fallen got really bad reviews, but it was an amazing movie. (My opinion.)
2. Don’t ask me to review Twilight. I might have to tell you what I really think. (Someday, I may post a review of it, but don’t hold your breath unless you want to look like a Smurf.)
3. Remember that I am not a scholar or a philosopher. This is just something I do in my free time, maybe for a little extra credit (Ha! Ha! Sorry, Ms. __), but mostly just free time. I’m just a teenager who likes to read but is getting a C in English and needs the extra credit (I’m not sure if I’m kidding so much anymore, Ms. __).
Much love,
Harlequin
♥
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