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| Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1 |
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
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| Fallen #1 |
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.
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