City of Bones

Oh my goodness this book is strange.
The basic idea is that it's about these people (Shadowhunters) who hunt demons. And there's also werewolves and vampires - but they are more like Dracula than Edward Cullen.

I'll start with what I like. The characters are interesting and the backstories are well thought out. The whole Shadowhunter world is very detailed and specific. The plot is overall grabbing, so you'd like to know what happens next whether you're actually enjoying the book or not. It's very popular (or so I've heard). It's a definite read if you are a fantasy fan.

Now for what bugs me. Throughout the entire book, the only characters who I could really picture in my head were Clary's mom, Magnus Bane, Isabelle and Alec. The rest just seemed difficult to imagine. Also there were just some plot elements that were just weird - like that whole thing with Jace (that I can't say anything about without completely spoiling it). It's so cliche it's not even cliche anymore. Also, I feel so bad for poor Simon! The author just loves to torture him!

So I can't decide whether to be disgusted or in love with this book. Whichever one - it's got me intriuged. It's part of a series - I'm on the third.

Um yeah. I think it's worth a try for people who are okay with the whole "fantasy in the real world" genre.*

Peace, Love, and SIMON WINS AT LIFE.


* Which reminds me, I've been meaning to write a little thing about my opinions on genre... Hm. Maybe you'll see that soon.


(And also, don't let the fact that the three quotes on the book jacket are either the Stephanie Meyer quote or have the word 'sexy' in them scare you.)

Matched

SORRY SORRY SORRY. I took a month off to deal with school and other such business.

Yeah. But I'm back for another review!

-----------

Quick Summary -
"Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black."
Source: www.goodreads.com




I had heard good things about this book. It won some sort of award, and I knew the sequel had sold very well, so I had high hopes when I checked this out of the library.


The plot is pretty interesting, but Cassia (the main character).

Oh, Cassia.

I found her quite bothersome. She had the thought process of a toddler.

Now, I understand that since this book is Dystopian, then she is allowed to be sort of ignorant.
That's not what bothers me.

What bothers me is that Cassia is matched with her freaking BEST FRIEND, but when a "computer glitch" gives her a different face for a second - she decides to suddenly lose half of her ignorance and decide to listen to everything the government tells her EXCEPT the part about the computer glitch. I understand the natural curiosity, but really?


Cassia is sort of slow and difficult to connect with. It bothered me a lot.


Now, don't get me wrong. I know lots of people really enjoy this book. I'm just not one of them.


But if you want the same sort of plot idea, just better written, I'd go check out Delirium by Lauren Oliver.

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green has been on the New York bestseller lists pretty much since it came out.

And wow, does it deserve it.

I started and finished it in one day, barely stopping to do anything.
Well, except for school.
But you know what I mean.

It's wonderfully written, every sentence just exploding with a voice that makes you laugh and cry and yell alongside Hazel (the main character).

From John Green's website -

"The Fault in Our Stars is the story of Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters, two Indianapolis teenagers who meet at a Cancer Kid Support Group."

Except it's so much more than that.

John Green can take a normal action or sentence and breathe life and power into it. The characters are as far from 'fairy tale' as you can get, with real life problems and emotions and personalities.

And I admit, I cried at the end. 

In conclusion, this book is revolutionary. It's stunning. I think it'll become a classic.

So listen up, all of you. Go read it. I don't even mind if you don't like it, but go read it.

Unless you're ten or eleven years old, because it's sort of mature-ish. Then you might want to wait a year. And I know, I remember being eleven and reading that a book is 'mature' and being like, "HAH! You can't tell me what to do!" and then going and reading it anyways. But I do suggest not reading it yet. ***

Peace, Love, and The Power of Words.

*** Actually, if you're ten or eleven, you should click here and read my review of Wonderstruck. It's by the guy who wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which they made a movie of called "Hugo" which dominated the Oscars earlier this month.

And on another note, the Hunger Games movie just came out!

AAH!!!! SO EXCITING!!!

Unfortunately, I haven't seen it yet, even though pretty much all of my friends got to go to the midnight premiere and are all talking about it. When I see it, I'll write a review :)




"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once."
- John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

5000!

YAY!

<3

Ender's Game

Ender's Game. I read it last year, and I haven't reviewed it yet. Except now I will.

It is the Sci-Fi book.

It's well written and very interesting and amazing and you kind of have to read it.
So, I'm not saying you should read it. I'm saying you have to read it.

It's about Ender, who is at a battle school on a spaceship. Except there's a lot more to it than that. There's plot twists and interesting characters and setting and mind games.

Everyone go read it.

Peace, Love, and Sci-Fi

P.S. Also, someone is making a movie of it! With Asa Butterfield as Ender!

P.P.S. If you've read this already, there's also Ender's Shadow, which is also a must read :)


And we're really close to 5,000 views! Thanks so much you guys!

Harry Potter

Harry Potter.
It just makes me want to quit reading.
And writing.
And books in general.

Because I just sort of know that I will never find a book that makes me as happy as Harry Potter does. It's a true fact. And I will never write a book as good as Harry Potter. And I will definitely never find a book that's as good. But oh well.

I love the Harry Potter series.

I love the characters. I love Luna and Neville and Hermione and Ron. But not really Harry because he can be whiny. But that's part of his charm.

J.K. Rowling has it all down. She created a universe that is so exciting and characters so interesting and magical that virtually everyone will love it. I really wish I was a Hogwarts student.

I am Hufflepuff. And Hufflepuffs are good finders!

Oh my. Don't even get me started on A Very Potter Musical. It makes me love Voldemort. And Harry is played by Darren Criss, who is totally supermegafoxyawesomehot. And it's a MUSICAL!

Have any of you readers heard of Pottermore? It's a website, and it's still in beta. I did not get into the beta group. It was supposed to be available to everyone in October. It's February. I'm getting impatient!


Why am I randomly writing about Harry Potter. Well, it's partly because I just read the nominations for the Oscars, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt. 2 didn't win anything. Also, in English class we're writing an essay on a person whom we admire and I'm writing mine on Luna Lovegood.

Is this a book review? I don't know. More like a rant. Well, you decide.

Peace, Love, and OMG 4,000 VEIWS!!!

The Son of Neptune

Here it is! The promised Son of Neptune review that I forgot to post!
Thanks Jem for reminding me :)

**Note: This is clearly heavily edited and is probably very robotic seeming because of this, sorry. It was written for English class, so yeah. Sorry about that, but hopefully it's not really horrible. This is sort of maybe the way that real reviewer people write. I think.**

What if the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds of gods, monsters, and heroes was real and affected our everyday life? And what if you happened to be a child of one of the gods?

            If you were, then you would fit right in with the characters in this book.

            Yes, you read right. The main characters of Rick Riordan’s newest novel, The Son of Neptune are all demigods.

            The Son of Neptune is the second installment in the Heroes of Olympus Series (sequel series to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series). The book is about a group of demigods (half-gods, for those of you not in the know.) named Percy, Hazel, and Frank. Their mission is to find the god Thanatos, who watches the doors of death. The revenge-seeking earth goddess Gaea has captured him, and without him no one can die. It is set in many real-life cities around the U.S., including San Francisco, Seattle, and multiple towns in Alaska and Canada. The book has variety of hilarious and interesting characters, witty dialogue, real Greek and Roman myths, and grabbing twists in plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next,

            Let’s start with the characters. From Percy’s hilarious sarcasm, to Frank’s adorable clumsiness, to Hazel’s intriguing back-story, the characters are, to sum it up, awesome. You can tell that Rick Riordan really thinks out his characters to the smallest detail. For example, he wrote a character named Dakota, who’s tall, burly, and addicted to red Kool-Aid. Who else would think of that?

            Rick Riordan has clearly done his research on Greek and Roman myths. There are many connections to Greek and Roman myths throughout the book and series. With the facts Rick Riordan gives, it’s believable that the whole story could be true.  Some of the connections are obvious or explained, like Percy’s ability with horses when Poseidon (his dad) created them, or thunder booming whenever they say something to offend Zeus, though others can be hidden and less explained

            And though the book is pretty amazing, I have to admit that the overall conflict with Gaea is a bit of a repeat of the conflict with Kronos in the first series. In both cases, the villain is gathering minor gods and forgotten monsters to join their armies to defeat the gods. And both are pretty much aiming for revenge and world domination.

I’m think I can honestly say that everyone will love The Son of Neptune. It’s got action, adventure, romance, historical myths, and it’s well written. It’s the complete package.

The Death Cure

This was not exactly a fabulous book. The ending may have been fabulous, but the rest of the book was a bit of a letdown.

First off, in pretty much the first chapter, the whole reason behind the trials is revealed. And James Dashner thinks he can still finish up the book when the main question is answered in the first twenty pages? Honestly.

The rest of the book was pretty much just Thomas knowing what was going on, then being confused, then knowing, etc. It really confused me.

And then there was this whole other thing with kidnapping that never made sense to me. Why did the author stick that in there?

It had also been a while since I had read the previous book so I pretty much forgot everything which is really bad because they made a lot of references to it.

Well, I really apologize for not posting for like ever but I took a break from reading actual books, I just sort of reread the Hunger Games again and then read comic books for the rest of December.

But now I'm back!

Posts to come soon (hopefully):

   -Ender's Game
   -Miss Pengrine's Home for Peculiar Children
    and more!

Peace, Love, and You Should Read it if You Read the First One

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012! This year's gonna be good. I can feel it :D

Out of my Mind

Terrible ending.

I guess I liked the book, but there wasn't much plot. Or plot resolution, for that matter.

Which is kind of why the ending was terrible.

Also, you never really find out about Penny....

The end is really dramatic and overdone.

Blech.

I won't say don't read this, but don't read this.

EDIT: The only reason I really liked it was because it was interesting to see the world from the main character, Melody, who has cerebral palsy.

Peace, Love, and Happy Holidays!

Divergent

I liked this one. A lot more than I thought I would.

  Here's Goodreads Summary:
   http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8306857-divergent
             Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place her in mortal danger.


There's also a romance, which I didn't like. It doesn't fit into the story properly. Like when you try to jam a puzzle piece into the wrong spot.


The rest of it I liked. It's pretty fast paced and exciting, suspenseful. You just want to keep reading. Tris is a quirky character.


It shows that good characteristics (honesty, selflessness, bravery) can be bad if taken to an extreme.


Oh wait. I forgot about the ending.
It cuts off really quickly, with one short paragraph that doesn't even really make much sense. It's not even that meaningful. I actually turned the page, to find the Acknowledgments instead of the next chapter I was expecting.


Peace, Love, and 3.5 Stars


Candor - Honesty
Abnegation - Selflessness
Dauntless - Bravery
Amity - Peace
Erudite - Knowledge


Oh, and for those of you who've read it, my question is:
Who runs the trains?

The Running Dream

This book proves that you don't really need action scenes or true love to make a story interesting.

The Running Dream is inspirational. It reminds you to appreciate what you have and what you love. That people who are different should be celebrated.

I admit, I cried at the end. (happy crying☺)

This book is about a girl named Jessica who's lost part of her right leg in a bus accident, which means she'll probably never be able to run again. It shows how she over comes obstacles, from little things like  walking a few feet on crutches, to navigating through high school.

There's nothing over-dramatic. Jessica's doesn't suddenly just start walking. It's a steady climb up. It's very true to what I think it would actually be like to lose a leg.

Fans of Jerry Spinelli and realistic fiction will enjoy this book!

Peace, Love, and I Give This Five Stars!

Delirium

Amazing.
Utterly, fantastically amazing.


The characters, the descriptions, the plot, everything.


Amazing.


Delirium is set in a dystopian earth, where love is believed to be a disease and you are cured of it when you turn eighteen. Lena can't wait, she's been told that everything will be better, safer, once she's cured.  But then, about three months before her procedure, it happens.
Lena falls in love.



Lauren Oliver has flawless descriptions of everything. Some pieces are so poetic I almost gasped out loud. How she writing about love, and life itself, is stunning.


“Now I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.” 
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium


It will inspire you, and leave you thinking. When it finished, I wanted to reread it, just to soak up every word completely. 


I love the character Alex. He's cute, charming, caring, sweet, and I wish I knew him. *Sigh*


A must read for fans of The Hunger Games.
And fans of Twilight, too, I guess.


Peace, Love, and Amor-Deliria-Nevrvosa

Speak

I dont usually do negative posts, so I decided to spice things up a bit.

This book was not my favorite.
In fact, I ditched it about two-thirds of the way through.

At first, I could kind of relate with Melinda.
Then I pitied her.

And then I realized that the reason she has no friends isn't because she's misunderstood, it's because she's depressed and sad and rude.

The book is also kind of... mature. If you know what I mean.

So, this is a do-not-read in my mind.


Peace, Love, and I Can be Negative. Sometimes.

Twilight

What I liked -

Witty dialogue. Somewhat interesting characters. Funny. Cool cover. Sweet (-ish) love story.


What I didn't like -

Cliche. Bella is pretty much helpless. Sparkly vampires? (Really?) Plot leaves lot to be desired.


Peace, Love, and I know I already reviewed this.

Happy Thanksgiving

My thanks go out to all fans of 'Peace Love Read'!

Hunger Games Official Trailer

OMG.
It's the official trailer.
I. Am. Thrilled.

Who else is as excited as I am?

Comment below!!!

Peace, Love, and Children Gladiator Fighting to the Death in a Post-Apocalyptic Future

My To-Read List

Hello!
Here's a quick update on what's on my "To-Read List."

1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

2. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

3. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

4. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

5. Feed by M.T. Anderson

Peace, Love, and I REALLY need to go to the Library....

Wonderstruck

     I don't know whether it was the beautiful city skyline, the stunning blue of the sky, the mystery of the lightning bolt, the majestic font of the title, or just that it was written by Brian Selznick, but something about the book grabbed me from the second I saw it.
     Or maybe I'm psychic and I could just tell the book would be really good.
     Okay, or maybe it was because I've read The Invention of Hugo Cabret (also by Brian Selznick), and I figured that this book would be just as awesome.
     Wonderstruck is two stories, one told in pictures and one told in words. Ben's story is told in words. He lives in 1977 Minnesota and his mom has just died. He never met his dad, so he's living with his Aunt and Uncle. Rose's story is told in pictures. She lives in 1927 New Jersey and is an artist. She is faithfully keeping a scrapbook of all of the newspaper/magazine articles about the actress Lillian Mayhew. I won't say any more because I don't want to spoil anything.
     Brian Selznick did an amazing job with this book. The detail in each and every picture was absolutely stunning. The drawings are in black and white and are done by Selznick himself. The New York Times put it best, "it's like a silent film on paper." (in a review of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which is written in the same words-pictures style). Here's just a taste of Selzick's style:

     Awesome, right?
     Not only are the drawings detailed, so is the writing. Brian Selznick is quite a descriptive writer, so everything he doesn't provide a drawing for, he describes beautifully.
   
      Wonderstruck is a good book for anyone ages 2 to 92, for fans of any genre, for devoted readers and people who rarely pick up a book, for artists and writers, etc. It's a extraordinary book that has a very good chance of winning a Newberry Medal this year, and will be a great read for anybody and everybody.

     Peace, Love, and Beautiful Drawings

Son of Neptune Review

Yes, yes, I know.
I haven't reviewed Son of Neptune yet.
I finished it last night, and just let me tell you...
It's amazing.


In my English class, we are writing book reviews. I am reviewing Son of Neptune. I haven't finished the review yet, but when I do, I will post it.

So, you readers will have a little time to actually read it (Or the Lost Hero if you haven't read that yet.)

Peace, Love, and YAY! YAY! YAY!