Book Review: Blood Noir by Laurell K Hamilton

Anita Blake #16

Published by: Headline
Rating: 3/5

When Anita Blake takes a trip with Jason, a young werewolf who is her friend and sometimes lover, there are consequences both in Jason's small hometown and in Anita's life with Jean-Claude. As master vampire of the city, Jean-Claude has appearances to maintain, and if his lover has gone off with someone else, the other vampires are led to certain conclusions: maybe Jean-Claude is getting soft. And if Jean-Claude is vulnerable, maybe Anita - who seems to amplify the powers of any man she stays with - might be stolen away from him, by force if necessary.

This series has been a bit up and down for me lately. The first books in the series were great, paranormal crime fighting at its best but then the relationship aspect of the series took over and while that's not necessary a bad thing ,it is when the pages are filled with sex rather than actual plot. Thankfully, Blood Noir was able to pull away from this a bit. Yes it focused on thr relationship and yes there was sex but the latter didn't over power the rest of the book as it did in Incubus Dreams. I really like how this book explored a diffenrent relationship than the rest; that between Anita and Jason. Jason is one of my favourite characters and it was great to see him given a bigger role. But on the other hand the actual plot did have a lot of potential and it was a shame that it was crammed into the last few chapters of the book.

While a lot of the olf favourites turned up there were also a few new ones that I kinda liked. Both Crispin and Alex were interesting and I would like to see how the events of this book impact on the next one. Marmee Noir also made a comeback and her part just keeps getting more and more interesting. I can't wait to find out what her end goal is and why Anita is so important. Richard was Richard. If you've read the books there's really nothing more to say there. He's developing and progressing but at a frustratingly slow pace and I can't help but think that now it will be even slower.

Overall, it was a good read and I was interested enough throughout it to keep my attention glued to the pages rather than doing assignments as I really should have been (procrastination at its best). I will continue to read this sereis as I've invested way too much time in it to give up now but I do hope we see more of a return to oringinal Anita.

Book Review: Passion by Lauren Kate

Fallen #3

Published by: Delacorte Press
Rating: 2/5

Every single lifetime, I'll choose you. Just as you have always chosen me. Forever. Before Luce and Daniel met at Sword & Cross, before they fought the Immortals, they had already lived many lives. And so Luce, desperate to unlock the curse that condemns their love, must revisit her past incarnations in order to understand her fate. Each century, each life, holds a different clue. But Daniel is chasing her throughout the centuries before she has a chance to rewrite history. How many deaths can one true love endure? And can Luce and Daniel unlock their past in order to change their future?

I've given Passion a whole extra star becuase it seems Ms Kate finally went out and got writing lessons, Yay! This writing in this book was huge step above Fallen but with a lead who is still TSTL and plot holes the size of Australia it still has a ways to go.

There was actually a plot to this book, stuff actually happened and Ms Kate even did a decent job building up tenison and revealing a few things. I did actually enjoy the idea of Luce jumping through time to find the answers to her questions. There were even a few scenes that I particularly loved including the meeting of the angels in Greenland and finding out why Cam is the way he is. Unfortunately, it was brought down with constant reminders of the gaping plot holes. Firstly, when Luce enters a new time period she can miraculously speak the language Italian, French, Chinese, Mayan. WTF? Please explain. At some point in the first jump it seemed like she was trying to explain, something about her soul still being the same as the Luce in that time,  but it fell short of being clear and making sense. Then there is the issue of Daniel. How did he change his appearance, it's not like Luce who dies and is reincarnated because he's immortal. Do angels have some special metamorphing ability? Nowhere in the book is this explained and moreover Luce doesn't even question it. The closest she came to it was 'why if Daniel looks different can I still recognise him?' which Bill replies 'you can tell from his soul'. O.....K. Right. But how does he look different! Then there was the whole Luce interfereing with the past. What I didn't get was why none of the angels that encountered present Luce didn't remember seeing her. I don't buy into the past is a blur shtick becuase surely the fact that everyone makes a big deal out of it would warrent being able to remember it. Or do they not remember because she had yet to go to the past at that point and her encounters with them never happened the first time round? This really needed more explanation, but I could just be nit-picking because Kim Falconer did an amazing job of this in Arrows of Time.

While it seemed that Ms Kate did a better job of doing her history homework (admitantly I do not know much about some of the specific events she talked about) she still couldn't get the angel mythology right. Let's break this down into a quick religion lesson. In the bible there are only three archangels: Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer. Lucifer was created first and was God's most trusted messenger, but he eventualled rebelled against God believing he would make a better king and for this he was forever cast out of Heaven into Hell. Now, other apocryphal books and historical documents make reference to seven angels. Seven angels - who may be the ones refered to in the other works - were also mentioned in Revelations, they were placed over the seven churches (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) and carry out the seven judgments of earth. The Book of Enoch names these seven archangels as: Michael, Raphael, Zerachiel, Gabriel, Uriel, Remiel and Raguel (note some these names are different depending on the translation of the scripture). So while Ms Kate got the number of archangels right, eight seats with one left empty after Lucifer was banished, there is no mention of a Daniel.

While the plot got better the characters really didn't. Luce had her moments when I though she had finally gotten a brain but then she would do something stupid again, like keep trusting Bill even though from the start it was obvious he had nefarious intentions. She is still annoying as hell. Daniel didn't change either, in fact he kinda regressed. When he was following Luce there were times he was getting caught up in the past and forgetting about the present and the mission. At these times I wanted to slap him because it was all just so stupid and rediculous.

It didn't help that there was barely a mention of the other characters that I actually liked. Cam was a highlight whenever he turned up, but there was barely enough Miles to make it worth it. Bill was a bit of a svaing grace. At least he was interesting even if it was quite obvious from the start who he was. Sadly there were times I was rooting for him because Luce was acting TSTL.

Strangely enough I am actually looking forward to the final book in the series as Ms Kate ended it on a note that left me interested to see what happens. Hopefully it will be of an even better standard than this book.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

Rating: 4.5/5

Let me start by saying I am a big fan of these books, and I hate nothing more than Hollywood butchering books that I have read. Thankfully, this was not the case for The Hunger Games and for me to find so little fault with a book-movie adaption is a pretty good accomplishment because I pick these things to pieces.

The casting director did a really good job picking actors to play our favourite characters. Jennifer Lawrence was amazing as Katniss and it was obvious she knew exactly who Katniss was. I loved how she captured her firey temper, her protectiveness and, her nervesness at entering the arena and parading for the people of the Capitol. Jennifer also had some good chemistry with the other main character Peeta. Now Josh Hutcherson would not be my first choice for Peeta looks wise. However, despite this he played Peeta very well and I think he was a good choice for the part. He was charming and boy-next-door nice, everything Peeta was in the books. I also loved Elizabeth Banks as Effie and Stanley Tucci as Caesar, they were just so over the top and spot-on their characters, as a fan what else can you ask for? I would've loved to have seen more of Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, he was one of my favourite characters in the books and I think the friendship that forms between him and Katniss is just beautiful. Unfortunately due to time constraints we didn't see this develop as much as I would've liked. Overall, I was quite happy with the casting, Amandla Stenberg was darling as Rue and Donald Sutherland was cruel as President Snow.

One one the biggest gripes fans have with book-movie adaptions is all the parts that they believe should have been in the film. I admit I have been one of those people in the past, but it didn't worry me  during The Hunger Games becuase despite missing come scenes and some characters it wasn't a bit deal. The movie pretty much follows the book to the 't' and the missing scenes didn't affect the story at all, and really they weren't groundbreaking scenes in the book either. I must be getting soft at my old age of 22 becuase I've come to realise that it just isn't possible to have everything in the movie, there is only so much you can fit into a film (therefore, we have this damn trend of splitting fims into two parts now, thank you Harry Potter). That being said I really wanted some parts to be longer just so that relationships could be fleshed out a bit more. As I said earlier I wanted to see more of Cinna and the friendship he builds with Katniss, I would've also have liked the scenes following Katniss finding Peeta to be longer just so their connection could grow a bit more.

The movie was actually very cleverly put together. much of what we see and find out about Panem and the Games is through Katniss and her progression through the book. Obviously, you can't do that in the film as it would interrupt the flow and would just sound silly, so I really liked the cut scenes to Ceasar and Claudius commentating, and to game central where you saw Seneca dictating what happens in the arena.  It really added another layer to the film, and gave Stanley Tucci more screen time which is always a good thing in my book.

The studio was very careful in trying to keep this film in the (in American terms) PG-13 age range, a tough feat considering how gruesome some of the scenes in the book are. For the most part I had no problem with this but I did often find in some of the fight scenes that there were so many close ups, cuts and moving shots that I was loosing track who was who is fights and who was dying. Particularly, in the final fight scene where we see Cato, Katniss and Peeta fighting while trying to keep away from the dogs, it is really hard to tell what is happening as the above conventions was coupled with dark lighting, making it a bit difficult.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and I love nothing more than when studios do justice to the book. However, for me the book remains better than the movie based on the sheer fact that it goes a little more in depth. It does give me hope for Cityof Bones especially as I'm not a big Jamie Campbell Bower fan and am not sure if he'll make a good Jace yet or not.

I now eagerly await Catching Fire and being able to see one of my favourite characters of the series Finnick.

Happy Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favour.

Book Reviews: Ally Carter and Lauren Kate

Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter


Gallagher Girls #5

Published By: Lothian Children's Books
Rating: 4.5/5

The last thing Cammie Morgan remembers is leaving the Gallagher Academy to protect her friends and family from the Circle of Cavan - an ancient terrorist organisation that has been hunting her for over a year. Then Cammie wakes up in an Alpine convent and discovers that months have passed. Her memory is a black hole, and the only traces of Cammie s summer holiday are the bruises on her body and dirt under her nails. All she wants is to go home, but once she returns to school, Cammie realises that even the Gallagher Academy holds more questions than answers. Now, Cammie, her friends, and mysterious spy-guy Zach will face their most difficult challenge yet. With only their training to guide them, the group must travel to the other side of the world, hoping to piece together the clues that Cammie left behind. But the Circle is hot on their trail and will stop at nothing to prevent Cammie from remembering what she did last summer.

I have been waiting for a long time for this book to be released, so when I got my hands on it I just had to devour it in one day.  While I hated the wait, the book was definitely worth it. Ally just has this way of writing that makes you want to read more, she is a master of revealing information at just the right time and in the right amounts that keep you wanting more. Some authors need to take a note out of Ally's book in revealing secrets becuase this is how it should be done.

As always I love the characters in this book, they are all so well thought out and each play their own unique role. I love how this book challenges some of the relationships we've come to know and love, and how despite the challenges Cammie's disappearance and reappearance creates everyone comes out at the end stronger. Ally has really pushed her characters and I love them even more for it. Cammie has become a stronger, more complex character and I'm excited to see where Ally takes her and her new skills in the next book. Bex is just awesome as usual but we see a side to her that really deepens her personality. Liz and Macey have also developed becoming more sure of themselves and pushing themselves to the limits. And Zach, I'm pretty sure he just got hotter. Him and Cammie are just perfect for each other, so I would have like to have seen more lovey dovey moments in the book but saying that less didn;t detract from it at all. Ally also chucked in some nice surprises as well, bringing back some old characters who I didn't think I'd see again, and giving them starring roles in this book and by the looks of it the next as well. Let's just say I never thought I would see Preston as hot but he is now definitely up there in this series.

Ally did a wonderful job with book, answering a lot of questions but leaving many more open. I look forward to the next book, and hopefully we get it much soon than this one.


Torment by Lauren Kate

Fallen #2

Published By: Delacorte Press
Rating: 1/5

Hell on earth. That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts--immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans. At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something--something dangerous.What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else? The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.

I am getting the feeling that I won't be able to get through this series without sounding like nothing Ms Kate does is good enough. Once again she has produced a book that I just want to throw at the wall.

Ok, so let's start off with the good news, and what pushed this book up to 1 star,some of the secondary characters. I actually really found myself liking Miles, he was sweet and charming, and I really wanted Luce to ditched Daniel for him (alas it was not to be). While he was still very one dimensional, he was a likable character, just one of those genuinely good guys that you would like to have as a friend or as a boyfriend. I was glad he was a part of the book as he kinda saved it from a premature death, and he made up for the lack of Cam who I am really growing to like. Cam was a highlight of the last book, and he was the high point of this one as well when he turned up, but at the moment I'm really not understanding his motivations, hopefully this will be remidied in the next book. Oh, and she got the concept of Nephalim, kudos to her!

Unfortunately, this is where the good news ends and the bad news begins. Luce is so damn annoying, please can Daniel's kiss kill her already! She's whiny and just a lot stupid. How many times does she need to be told not to leave the school, only to leave and have someone try to kill her? Really, get a clue girl, nobody might not be telling you the why behind the instructions, but surely after everything that happens everytime you leave, you would get a clue and figure it out for yourself. I really don't think a main character has ever annoyed me as much as she does. Then there's the issue that all of a sudden the Announcers aren't showing up to her en-masse anymore, and she can apparently manipulate them into showing her the past. All this and no explanation....And Daniel is no better, for someone whose meant to me a ex-hot shot in heaven you would think he had more brains than to keep breaking his own rules and going to see Luce. I just can't believe someone as immature as he is could ever have been so high up and important. Then there's their relationship, last time I checked while couples do have fights, they don't fight every single time they see each other. Is it just me or is something wrong with this picture? All the other characters are still rather unremarkable and are still randomly changing personalities without explanation.

The plot, quite frankly, was barely existant. Sure things seemed to happening behind the scenes without Luce knowing but we didn't exactly find anything out and that is a major problem because two books and only one major (albeit obvious) reveal does not keep a reader hooked. At this stage I really couldn;t care less about what secrets are still hidden becuase there hasn;t been anything to grab my attention and go wow, if this is only one of the answers than what could the rest be. Please, Ms Kate learn how to create suspense properly becuase I really don't like being bored to death. Then there's this whole big battle and people choosing sides thing. I kinda get where Ms Kate was going with the who Angels and Demons idea, where sometimes good and evil aren't too different, but there was a lack of explanation. We have the Outcasts who sided with Lucifer until the Fall when they were banished to Earth with the others. So, where do the Angels and Demons come into all of this as why does one opinion affect their inherent being so much? The wings of Demons look different and apparently their inherent character is more "evil" but why then do they work together with the Angels and why then can they change sides (for that matter do they randomly turn all angelic again if they do change sides?). There's just something missing here and I don't think the term Demons was appropriate to use for this book's mythology.

So, now that I've got that off my chest onward to the third book in the series which according to other reviews is better. I hope so because surely it can't get worse.

Ciao

Book Reviews: Laini Taylor and Lauren Kate

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1

Published by: Little Brown Books
Rating: 4.5/5

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages - not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. When one of the strangers - beautiful, haunted Akiva - fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

There was a lot of hype about this book when it was released, so I went in with high expectations and it met all of them. This would have to be one of the best written YA novels I've read in a while. From the beginning it was well written and just so matter-of-fact that you believed this world existed without question.

So let's start with the plot. I never got bored or frustrated with it, and even though at times I felt like it was going a bit slow, I didn't care because I was enjoying every minute that I spent with these characters. Laini also did a marvelous job taking the quite-frankly overused and abused angel element. Her angels weren't the cutesy lovey-dovey we-are-made-of-goodness that drown out the pages of many other novels currently on the market, they were kick-ass and I'm not even quite sure angels are exactly what they are, I mean they have wings and fight for the "good" but they're not a product of God as such. But one of the things she did best was the big reveal. Her pacing was great, you discovered things in an order and place that made sense and it didn't feel like she was purposfully hiding or holding back information becuase it might creare greater anticipation. I also like how I couldn't really guess what was going on. I got the gist of who Karou is but the how and the why was something that I didn't see coming until it was explained.

Laini did a wonderful job of her characters, I loved every single one of them. Karou is everything you want in a good strong female lead. She could kick butt, she was snarky, but best of all she let noone step on her, she didn't pine and whine after she caught her ex cheating on her, she got him back and in a totally fitting way. And best of all Laini moves away from the love-sick i-will-die-without-you female troupe, where everything will be happily ever after and nothing-my-love-can-do-or-say-will-ever-stop-me-from-loving-him. Yes, Karou has he I wasn to be with Akiva (her love interest) forever moment but the relationship is not without hardship and she is not blind enough to know that when he drops the bomb she needs to get away and sort everything out. Thank you for female leads with brains!

Now onto the love interest Akiva. He is everything a tortured charcater should be, Lauren Kate and Stephanie Meyer should take a page out of Laini's book because she knows what she's doing. He carries a very painful past and no I'm not taking about i've-killed-people-even-if-i-was-unable-to-stop-myself-at-the-time-coz-i'm-a-vampire kind. His haunted past is intircate and begins from when he was a very young age, as the books moves along you can see how his past has made hime into who he is today.

And if those two charcaters weren't enough for you, Laini manages to make all her secondary charcaters stand out and develop. My heart went out to Brimstone and I totally want Zuzana as a friend.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a nice breath of fresh air and a must read for anyone who enjoys fantasy. I eagerly await the next installment of the series later this year.

I have to add this as one of my favourite quotes from the book:

Brimstone to Karou: "I don't know many rules to live by. But here's one. It's simple. Don't put anything unnecessary into yourself. No poisons or chemicals, no fumes or smoke or alcohol, no sharp objects, no inessential needles - drugs or tattoo - and...no inessential pensies, either."

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen #1

Published by: Doubleday Children's Books
Rating: 0.5/5

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori. Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He;s the bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other studenta are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move. Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce -and goes out of his way oto make that very clear - she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret...even if it kills her.

I'm a sucker for a pretty book cover, a cover will often determine if I pick up a book and check out the blurb. But we all know the saying, never judge a book by it cover, and this is one of those books that doesn't deserve such a pretty one. Because in all seriousness, it's worse then Twilight, and that is not something I thought I would ever say. At least Twilight showed some redeeming qualities, I liked the secondary characters and, the love triangle was done okay. Now think Twilight with Angels instead of Vampires and you get Fallen, bad prose, a glowing purple love intrest and all.

Where to start this rant...This book was so frustrating, it seriously had no plot until the last two chapters and even then I had it worked out by a quarter of the way through including how all the charcaters fit into it. Seriously, Ms Kate, your readers are not stupid and we do not appreciate feelign like we are because you think not revelaing the big secret until the end of the book creates anticipation. It doesn't unless you're Sara Shepard revelaing who A is after 8 books, at least I couldn't guess who it really was, that is how you create anticipation, not giving the reader all the pieces and not saying anything until they've sat through most of the book! Even Stephanie Meyer knew that, and while we knew Edward was a vampire farily early on at least we got it confirmed and the story progressed quickly. Fallen did not. It moved at a sluggish pace with absolutley nothing happening except insta-love rearing its ugly head once again. Furthermore, do your homework properly when you write something like this. I have no idea what a reform school is like but I'm pretty sure it's not anything like you wrote one to be, and even I worked out that if Luce was a real person (God forbid if she was) she wouldn't have been put there. She screams jail bait not bad ass. Then there's the issue about her version of Angels and the Fall. Do not mess with established mythology. Stephanie Meyer had leeway because there is nothing to say that vampires can't sparkle. But the Bible tells us about the Fall, and as it can almost be classed as a historial text you cannot in anyway mess with it. The Angels who were cast out of heaven were sent to Hell to become Demons, they were not sent to Earth were they live forever looking youthful, and gorgeous. And if they are going to be on Earth do you really believe God would have let them keep their wings and model good looks? No. As said earlier take a page out of Laini Tayor's book and think about the world you are building becuase Fallen is like a bad patch up job, where no thought has been put into the final product.

Okay so now I have that off my shoulders let's move to the next point, the characters. Please. Shoot, Me. Now. They were poorly constructed and completely unrememeral. Luce, the female lead, is so very unremarkable. So she might be pretty, at least I think Kate was trying to get that across, but she is boring and annoying as hell, and apparently very contradictory. She hates sports and exercising but is apparently as good as a competition swimmer, there's no way you someone can pull of Butterfly that well without having training, take it from me who was a state competition swimmer. She is also apparently very smart but actions speak louder than words Ms Kate, and Luce's do not match her claims to intellegence. Then there's the propblem of when she is arround Daniel. I'm sorry, but life does not just revolve around boys and the person who you believe is the love of your life. Yes, they are a part but that is no reason to act like she does stalking him, and acting like the world is about to end living without him. Luce does not act like a real person, and if these types of books are the ones telling tweens how love should be, then we are doomed. Because noone should have to deal with the crap that Daniel puts Luce through. I'm going along with a lot of other reviewers out there and saying Luce is a character that resembles anti-feminist thought. There was only one scene where I kinda liked Luce but it was so quickly snatched away from me I nearly threw the book in frustration.

And then there's Daniel. There is abosultely nothing that distinguishes him from the ground of other pretty boy love interests, except maybe that he's a complete dick to Luce. Seriously dude why kiss the girl if you know the chance is she'll die? Why when you realsied who she was did you not fly away as fast as your purple glowing wings would take you? I'm pretty shure beyond him acting like an ass to keep Luce away from him, and him being all protective because he loves her, Daniel has no personality whatsoeva, oh except he likes to draw and has a torured past but that failed with a big fat F.

The supporting charcaters were meh, at least they had more personality than the main ones, but were still unable to stand out and be more than 2 dimensional. I have to say I liked Cam best, at least he was interesting. Gabbe changed personalities half way through with no explanation and Arrianne I have no clue about.

This book was such a disappointment after reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone, especially isnce they dealt with similar concepts. I also must say I am over the angel crazy thing, and will probably keep hating it until May 8 when City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare comes out and puts my faith back into the genre again.

Despite all this I have started the second book in the series. I still have hope that the series might get better, although I highly doubt it. Unfortunately I am one of those people who have to read a series through to the end, if for nothing other than curiosity. I'm just happy libraries exist and I didn't have to waste my money on it.

Book Review: The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner

Maze Runner #1

Maze Runner #2

Maze Runner #3

Published by: Image Books
Rating: 2.75/5 stars

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he's not alone. When the lift's doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade---a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they've closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift. Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up---the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.


The Maze Runner trilogy is a part of the recent YA dystopian literature craze. I will say straight out that for the time being I am not a huge fan of the craze, at heart I am a sci-fy/fantasy chick. That being said I recently read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and loved it, maybe with time and enough decent reads I might find dystopian novels more enticing.

I was really torn throughout the series, there were moments I loved it and I couldn't put it down, but there were also times I almost gave up on it. It took me nearly half of The Maze Runner to begin getting into the story, in fact I was about to give up and move on just before it peaked my interest. And therin lies the series biggest strength, the suspence and mystery. Dashner did a wonderful job in keeping the tension up, and making you want to stay to find out the truth, to find out what the Gladers, particularly Thomas had forgotten. He also did a wonderful job creating his version of a dystopian world, and making it believable.

Unfortunately for me that is were the positives stop. Thomas annoyed me for most of the series, he was so Gary Stu at times it was frustrating. Especially towards the end of the first book, where he has all the answers suddenly, I wanted to bang my head against the wall. Then there's Teresa. I didn't get her, I didn't like her. If Thomas was the Gary Stu of the story, she was the Mary Sue. Pretty, smart, has all the answers, will do anything she has to to save Thomas. However, I must say there were some redemable charcaters like Brenda, Jorge, and Newt. On the bad side, I didn't feel for any of them. I liked characters, I dislikeed characters, but in the end I didn't care what happened to them. Someone was found, someone died, someone was betrayed, meh. Nothing, I felt nothing, and I really did want to feel on the verge of tears or angry or joyous but I just couldn't.

Finally, the ending. It felt incomplete, like there was something missing. There were still huge gaps of the mystery missing by the end of The Death Cure and it left me frustrated. I understood why it was missing but it just left me feeling like I had been cheated. Dashner had held out carrots throughout the series and in the end he snatched it away leaving the readers hungry.

Overall, I really wanted to enjoy the books more than I did. There was a lot of potential to make things greater but it fell short. The series was only saved by the tension and intrigue that Dashner was able to create, pulling it up from a score of 2 stars.

Introducing me

Hi all,

This is my blog Biele, which is frulan for beautiful. I will be doing a variety of posts on here from book and movie reviews, to a travel log of mhy trip overseas, and you might even see some of the stories that I write.

A bit about me:
I'm Australian but my nonni moved here from Itay. My family hail from Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a gorgeous region in the North bordered by Austria and Slovenia. Currently I am living away from home to study a Bachelor of Journalism/Bachelor of International Relations at university, and I'm in my final year, Yay. Ultimately I would love to be able to travel as part of my job, with National Geographic and BBC History my big dreams. I love reading and writing, but wish I had more time to do both.

Breakdown of my likes:
Books - The Tide Lords series by Jennifer Fallon, The Old Kingdom Chronicles by Garth Nix, Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead, Harry Potter by J K Rowling, Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong, Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Colllins
TV - Buff, Angel, Smallville, Psych, Chuck, One Tree Hill, Scrubs, Charmed
Movies - Sorority Boys, John Tucker Must Die, Pirates of the Carribean Curse of the Black Pearl, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings
And lots more that I've missed :)

Catch ya in my next post, where I'm looking at reviewing James Dashner's Maze Runner Trilogy