Book Review: City of Fallen Angels

TITLE: City of Fallen Angels
Book 4 in the Mortal Instruments series
AUTHOR: Cassandra Clare
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, romance, drama
SHORT PREMISE: Clary and friends are back in further adventures.
MY REVIEW: In the next book in the MI series Clary and friends deal with unresolved issues from the third one. People are murdering those within Valentine's circle, Simon's vampire statis is exposed to his mother, Clary and Jace are wondering if their love really is true, and so on.
Okay I'm honestly split on this one. On one hand, it's MI and I'm always up for MI even if the series is rather mediocre and cliche. What saved for me it was that it was fun and entertaining. But on the other hand I didn't see the need for this or any further books for that matter. I kind of think at this point Clare is beating a dead horse. She should have stopped after book 3 which tied everything up nicely. She should focus on Infernal Devices or just come up with something new. Because while this was still entertaining it really lacked focus and again I don't see why it was necessary.
I will be reading the next books in the series. Don't get me wrong because at this point I'm too invested in it to stop now, but honestly I sort of wish Clare would move on to another project because I want to see her put her skills to something else. This one is still good but I was not nearly as into it as the previous books.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read and liked the first 3 MI books, Twilight fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five outlandishly dressed Magnus Banes

My Top Ten (8)

MY TOP TEN: Heroines That Don't Suck
Lets face it a lot of female leads in books nowadays are whiny and literally don't do much of anything. It's a very annoying trend that I wish would would stop but with the success of books like Twilight and House of Night it probably won't. But there are female leads who don't suck. Here are my top ten.

1)Hermione Granger from Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling-Without Hermione, Harry and Ron would have died a long time ago and the boys openly acknowledge this. Hermione is proactive, clever, is girly but not useless, and do not make her angry because she knows curses. Pretty much all the women in HP are great but Hermione is the ultimate.

2)Annabeth from Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan-Annabeth is another really smart girl who manages to keep Percy in check but also help him. She's the daughter of Athena and it shows in the great plans she comes up with. Also, don't mess with this girl, she has hero training.

3)Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins-Katniss is kickbutt but compasionate and so inspiring that she helped ignite a second revolution across the 12 districts and eventually led the rebels to victory over the Capitol.

4)Lyra from His Dark Materials by Phillup Pullman-Lyra is badass. She went on a journey head on, faced down an army, different dimensions and even sacrificed her first love to keep the world from falling apart.

5)Alanna/Daine/Kel/etc. from Tortall by Tamora Pierce-The girls in the Tortall series were my idols growing up. Alanna was kick butt, Daine had awesome magic and arrow skills, and Kel was smart and kick butt. Pierce writes some of the best well-rounded female characters in YA. See also Tris, Sandry, and Daja from Circle of Magic.

6)Rose from Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead-Rose takes some warming up to but you can't help but be charmed by her by the end of this series. She's kick ass but vulnerable at the same time and somehow manages to keep herself together during court plots, vampire attacks, and romantic drama.

7)Evie from Paranormalcy by Kierstan White-Evie is a charming character. She's naive but strong at the same time and just so full of life that you can't help but grow to love her and want her to be okay.

8)Sophie from Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins-Sophie is another character that's just charming. She tries her best with the hand that she's been dealt even when that hand she's been dealt sort of sucks.

9)Cam/Bex and co. from Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter-Forget princesses. These girls may go to a faux finishing school but in actuality they're training to be spies.

10)Gemma from the Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray-Gemma Doyle is one of the best examples of character growth that I can give. In the beginning Gemma isn't much but by the end she's pretty awesome. Has some of the best female characters in YA.

Adult heroines: Mercy Thompson, Alexix Tarrabotti from the Parasol Protectorate, Sookie Stackhouse, all the women from Women of the Otherworld, Eowyn from Lord of the Rings, Arya Stark and others from Games of Thrones.

Next Week: Favorite ghost books

Book Review: Wake Unto Me

TITLE: Wake Unto Me
AUTHOR: Lisa Cach
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Romance, fantasy
SHORT PREMISE: A girl time travels back and forth finding her true love.
MY REVIEW: Pretty much the summary is what this was about. Honestly this book was very dull and predictable once one got the gist of what the author wanted to do. Characters were flat, the writing was amateurish (especially when one realizes this author has written over twenty adult books apparently). In short it was uninteresting.
Granted the historical research in it was nice and I did find that interesting. But everything else? Not so much. Seriously, can we stop this time traveling to find your true love business? It didn't work in the Time Traveler's Wife, it didn't work in Timeless, and it doesn't work here. Find a new plot device authors, please.
Sorry, I'm just getting really tired of all these unimaginative plots I keep running into this year. It probably doesn't help that I read this after The Iron Thorn which was ten times more creative. Skip this one unless you really like time travel romances and even then I say just check it out from the library.
WHO SHOULD READ: romance fans, fans of the Time Traveler's Wife
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five watches

Book Review: Dreadfully Ever After

TITLE: Dreadfully Ever After
Sequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
AUTHOR: Steve Hockensmit
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: zombies, retelling
SHORT PREMISE: Elizabeth and Darcy return for more zombie killing
MY REVIEW: When Darcy gets bitten by a vampire Elizabeth goes in search of a cure for her husband. Pretty much about it.
Honestly I don't have much to say about this one that I haven't already said about the other two books. Writing is still bad, characters are still butchered, and it was still predictable as hell and slightly yawn worthy.
I really hope this is the last we see of the PPandZ because really there's no need for more. There wasn't even a need for this one but it's there. Only read if you were a big fan of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of this monster mash-up business
MY RATING: Two out of Five zombie attacks

Book Review: Abandon

TITLE: Abandon
Book 1 in the new Abandon Trilogy
AUTHOR: Meg Cabot
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: retelling, paranormal, romance
SHORT PREMISE: A modern retelling of the myth of Persephone
MY REVIEW: Pierce has died and come back and what happened in that short time she was dead still haunts her two years later. Because someone wants her back...
Abandon isn't so much a retelling of Persephone as it's a reimagining. Personally I liked it. It's not the best of Cabot's work. But it's still very intriguing and a good start to an interesting looking trilogy. I liked the different take on the underworld and the mythology. She still respected the original mythology but put her own spin on things and even more great, didn't ignore the fact that hey, not everyone believes in this particular religion so what about them? She also didn't ignore the darkness factor of the Persephone myth namely that hey he DID kidnap her you know? One thing that has always irritated me about Persephone retellings is they focus on the romance and tend to ignore the fact that he essentially kidnapped her against her will and that Hades is not an altogether decent guy (yes, Goddess Test, I'm looking pointedly at you). Cabot doesn't ignore the wrongness going on with that and I appreciate it.
Now the issue is this is very much a first book and thus it feels like we're only getting a prologue to a much larger story. But luckily that prologue is enough to really interest me so I'll definitely be reading the next books. No this is not the best of Cabot's ability but it's still a very nice start to an interesting looking trilogy that I'm keeping an eye out for.
WHO SHOULD READ: Cabot fans, fans of the myth of Persephone, mythology fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five apples

In My Mailbox (52)

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week. All the links in this post go to the book's Amazon page if you want more info.

Downloaded to Kindle:
Bonnie Pinkwater Book 1: The Witch of Agnesi by Robert Spiller-My mystery addiction strikes again...

From the library:
A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford-Angel debut book that I've heard nothing about that looks interest.
Matched Book 1: Matched by Ally Condie-Finally sitting down and reading this. I hope it's actually as good as all the hype it recieved.
The Beauchamp Family Book 1: The Witches of East End by Melissa De La Cruz-So I wasn't that crazy about Blue Bloods but I'm giving this one a chance because it looks interesting. Maybe her adult books will be better then her YA ones, who knows?
The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker-A mystery that looks really interesting that I haven't heard much about.

That's it for me. What did you get in your mailbox?

Book Review: The Iron Thorn

TITLE: The Iron Thorn
Book 1 in the new Iron Codex Trilogy
AUTHOR: Caitlin Kittridge
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: steampunk, dystopian, fantasy, faeries
SHORT PREMISE: A girl goes on a journey to find her brother.
My REVIEW: Aoife fears going mad like her mother and brother in a world that looks down on things like madness and being an outsider. But then she gets mysterious letters from her brother that actually sound like he's quite sane and goes deep into unknown magical lands that her society has always warned people to stay away from.
After the yawning cliche that was Haven this book was very refreshing. Granted one or two things made me raise my eyebrow and I sort of found being told over and over again that Aoife was clever kind of annoying. But other then a few minor qualms this book was a delight. I mean it had actual plot and good writing and it was creative! A decent female (and male) lead! Intrigue, great world building, and I was interested all the way through which in a 400+ page book is no easy feat. I seriously don't understand why this hasn't gotten more attention because as far as I'm concerned it's one of the best debuts from this year. Of course the author has written adult books before this apparently so she has a wee bit of an edge but still, it's GOOD.
If you want a plot focused on romance, this may not be your book. But if you don't mind that, I totally recomend it. I cannot wait for the next book in this trilogy and I'm definitely going to be checking out the author's other books in the adult category.
WHO SHOULD READ: steampunk fans, dystopian fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five engine rooms

Book Review: Haven

TITLE: Haven
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Kristi Cook
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy, romance
SHORT PREMISE: A girl with visions gets sent to a magic school.
MY REVIEW: That premise I gave pretty much describes the book. She gets there, discovers everyone has gifts, falls in instant love with a guy who is basically Edward Cullen with a different name and not as sexist and of course he's a vampire.
The number one problem with Haven is that it is completely unoriginal. Emphasis on completely. Literally this book brings nothing new to the table. Magic school? Been done several times over and in better ways (see Harry Potter and Hex Hall). Girl falling for guy who turns out to be a vampire? Again, done several times (Twilight? Hello? Although at least this couple is somewhat tolerable). Girl in love with vampire learns it's her destiny to kill vampires? Done (see Buffy for a much better version of this). Then it has all the current YA tropes: plain girl gets hot guy. Instant love. Instant friends. Girl turns out to be uber special in the land of special people. Blah blah blah and I'm bored now.
I'm giving it more then one because this is the author's first book and there did seem to be some sort of plot in there that might (emphasis on MIGHT) lead to something more interesting in later books. The writing was also not bad for a first book and I did find the friends somewhat enjoyable even if they were totally stereotyped and underdeveloped. So maybe in the next book the author will have something more going on. Unfortunately she failed to make me care enough about these bland cookie cutter characters and therefore I will most likely not be bothering with the next book. Only check this out from the library if you're curious about it. Otherwise don't bother.
WHO SHOULD READ: Twilight fans, those not caring about lack of originality
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five magic schools

My Top Ten Tuesdays (7)

My Top Ten Faerie books in no particular order

1) The Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr-One cannot discuss faeries without discussing this series. It has deep faerie lore in it and not sparkly happy faeries either. The dangerous seductive and destructive kind. This book series is responsible for me getting into faerie books in the first place.

2) The Tithe Trilogy by Holly Black-Not Black's best work (I still think that's White Cat) but this is a memorable series about a girl who learns that she's actually a changeling and goes to find the child she replaced.

3) The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa-An imaginative world involving a girl who learns she's the daughter of the faerie king and goes to find her missing brother. Full of cliches, yes. But highly addictive.

4) The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning-One of the best adult faerie series out there. Full of deep mythology, a hilarious hate/love relationship, and a murder mystery to boot. Just ended this year and is apparently getting a spin-off series which I can't wait for.

5) The Need series by Carrie Jones-This one is a interesting series about a girl fighting against her faerie relatives along with shifters.

6) Lament/Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater-A book about a girl falling in love with a faerie. Companion book is about the girl's best friend (who she totally doesn't deserve, just saying).

7) The Replacement by Brenna Yvonoff-A dark look at a town that's ruled by faeries and a boy realizing he's one of them.

8) Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog-A girl learns her boyfriend is actually a changeling.

9) The Spiderwick Chronicles-Faeries don't feature heavily into this series but they are present and many of the creatures in it are considered part of the fae so I'm counting this great children's series as a faerie book. In it three children discover their backyard is full of magical creatures.

10) Peter Pan/Disney Fairies books-Yes, I know, but one must discuss Tinkerbell when discussing faeries. I actually quite like the Disney faerie books for kids, they're cute, follow the Pan mythology and I adore the illustrations in them. Peter Pan is mentioned because well...that's where Tinkerbell comes from and many people's ideas of faeries come from Peter Pan.

Next Week's Top Ten: Heroine's that don't suck

Book Review: The Pale Assassin

TITLE: The Pale Assassin
Book 1 in the Pimpernelles series
AUTHOR: Patricia Elliott
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Historical fiction, drama
SHORT PREMISE: A young aristocrat deals with the horrors of the French Revolution
MY REVIEW: Young Eugenie is a well to do living in France during the brink of the French Revolution. She goes from rich to poor to persecuted and having to run for her life to England.
The Pale Assassin certainly is a well researched and well written book, sadly it's only interesting to those who actually want to know more about the French Revolution. For anyone not a historical buff...this book will probably be a tad boring. Part of the problem is the summary is very misleading. From the book's summary it sounds like Eugenie gets driven into the French Revolution fight and uses her brains in court intrigue and so on. Unfortunately that does not happen. Really Eugenie is basically a spectator to the horrible events and never really goes beyond that, except at the end when she flees to England. Thus...I was rather bored despite loving the detailed history that the author put into this novel.
So it's not a bad book persay, it just wasn't what the summary made it sound like and I kind of get annoyed when that happens. But I blame the publisher not the author for that because publishers write the summary. This book is good, but you have to have a taste for it. I'd recomend it to all history buffs for sure though.
WHO SHOULD READ: history buffs
MY RATING: Four out of Five gaudy period dresses