Sunday 13 April 2014

April Wrap Up - FTM

 

The first book that I read this month was Scarlet by: Marissa Meyer. I loved this book so much, and I it was so much better than Cinder. All of the characters in this book are amazing and quirky. The story line was awesome, everything about this book was so good. I can`t wait to read Cress

You can read my Scarlet review HERE




The second Book that I picked up was The Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott and Colette Freedman. The cover is beautiful and the story line sounded great but the content was not that great. It was slow paced and there were multiple perspectives that were so short, that you couldn't keep track of what was happening. I was literally 94 pages in and nothing major happened so I did not continue reading it. Even though I didn't fully read this book, I am pretty sure my rating would be the same, which is a 2.5 out 5 stars.


 

The third book that I read this month was City of Bones by: Cassandra Clare which is the first book in The Mortal Instruments series. This was just a re-read for the second Nuts Vs. Volts just to refresh my memory of what had happened. 


  • I also read a few pages of The Phantom Of The Opera by: Gaston leroux
  • I also read a few pages of the Emerald Atlas by: John Stephens







Tuesday 8 April 2014

Scarlet by: Marissa Meyer





Scarlet is the second book in the Lunar Chronicles by: Marissa Meyer. Scarlet is eighteen years old, and works on the farm with her grandmother who was kidnapped for information that people thought she had but didn't. One day, she meets a man named Wolf. He claims to know what happens to Scarlet's grandmother but she does not know if she can trust him.
Cinder is on the run with Captain (Cadet) Thorne, together all of them will work together to be one step ahead of Queen Levana. 

DO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ CINDER AND SCARLET ! SPOILERS WILL BE MENTIONED!

The first book Cinder is a re-telling of the classic fairy-tale Cinderella, Cinder is a cyborg and works as a mechanic and she meets Prince Kai. In Cinder, we find out that Cinder is the long lost princess from the another planet Luna, she is a Lunar. Queen Levana, purposes a marriage, but Kai does not know is that Queen Levana will kill him shortly after their marriage and take his power. Cinder goes to the ball for one reason, to warn Prince Kai of Queen Levana's plans. Later on in the ball, she is accused of attacking Queen Levana and living as a Lunar and is now one of the most wanted criminals. 

I loved Scarlet much more than I loved Cinder. I loved the concept, these monster like men who were altered and turned out to be Lunars really working for Queen Levana. I just found it so interesting. One thing that I loved was Thorne, he was very quirky and so comedic and I loved the fact that Throne had a stolen ship and that's how he escaped with Cinder. In Cinder, we get Iko back and I love her, I found it funny when Iko and Throne started flirting with each other because it was one of the most cute dorky things you could ever read, because Iko is now temporarily the ship.

In this book we are introduced into a new different relationship between Wolf and Scarlet. With Wolf I was left on the edge thinking about whether or not he was the bad guy or the good guy. The way Wolf and Scarlet came together romantically in the book was fast, but in a way it wasn't. I felt like we got to build up to that point. In the book, they have only known each other for about a day or two and they are already attracted to each other. I felt like their relationship was a lot like Tris and Fours relationship. They weren't really a romantic couple but more like partners in crime. Especially the part where Wolf is literally about to tear Scarlet's face off, Scarlet reaches out to him basically through love and her words alone, and that really reminded me of Tris and Four, just like when Four was in the simulation and Tris got to him in the same way. Another thing that I loved about that scene is that Cinder completely ruined that special connecting scene by shooting a dart into his neck...

This book has so many twists and turns and I love, love, love, loved it! I love the characters in Scarlet, and this book was so exciting and I can't wait to read Cress. I just love how the characters just mesh together into one epic story, I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars just because it was so amazing! 

Check out my Instagram @bookishrandoms1405 and if you're interested in musicals (Mainly Phantom of the Opera) Check out my other Instagram: @angelofmusic1405

-                                                     


Saturday 5 April 2014

Nuts Vs. Volts #1 - Champion by: Marie Lu



Nuts:

Was all of the  extra romance necessary? 

FTM - Nuts: In Champion, I felt like there was an excessive amount of romance and problems. For at least half of the book Day and June are only thinking about each other and nothing else. At times I found it very annoying and would be tempted to turn the page. If you read this, you will see that it is slower paced, and I honestly think that Marie Lu used the romance and the cheesy lines as a filler. A filler to keep readers interested until the action came.

RQK - Volts: I feel that Nuts does make a good point, there is a larger amount of romance in this book which does seems to act as a filler. However I think that some romance was necessary as the issue was very political and the only thing keeping them fighting for the Republic was love. Day's love for his brother, their love for their home their love for each other. So in this case she had to emphasize their love to show their desperation for what they are fighting for.

Was day's attitude towards Eden appropriate?

FTM - Nuts: This was also another thing I was annoyed of. I do understand that Eden means a lot to Day but I found his behavior a little bit childish. I felt like Day treated Eden as a favourite toy, or an ice-cream cone that he never wanted to give away. I really wanted Day to know that Eden could make his own decisions, and wasn't completely useless. I found it a little bit selfish, for keeping Eden for himself. Even if it meant that the disease could infect many people without a cure. 

RQK - Volts: I think that Day definitely should have told Eden about the situation and had given him the option of what he wanted to do. I realize that Day see's Eden as his little innocent brother from his past and it is completely reasonable for him to be as protective as he is, however he isn't completely dependent of others anymore. Though it was slightly annoying how childish he treated him, his actions were understandable. It might not be interesting to read, but if anybody actually went through that I doubt that we would do anything differently.

Volts:

What do you think about June's decision to not tell Day who she is when he looses his memory?

RQK - Volts: I thought it was pretty unreasonable I mean they went through a lot together and the real danger to him was gone so there really wasn't any barrier for them to be together. Not only that she had lost everybody she loves it wasn't logical for her to give up the one person who is still left. Also she didn't tell anybody about her decision and I don't see how in ten years that whole life changing event didn't come up or was mentioned even once. I realize their could be many reasons for her not telling him, but the reason they hint at was how she prayed and said she would give anything, and she thought that was what she had to give up. I understand this is just a book, but in this community they don't have any creative freedom therefore there wouldn't be a religion. The act of praying to the sky(god) for things would not have been known to her or any of these people.

FTM - Nuts: I thought that it was reasonable and at the same time, unreasonable. June could have had hundreds of different reasons for not telling Day who she is, because if she went up to him and told him their story, and that they were in love he would probably think she was crazy and she would be rejected but at the same time, she could have at least said that she was an old friend. Also, I believe that even if she did tell Day who she was and he accepted it, things would never be the same, their relationship could be completely different from the relationship they had, the connection would be gone. Their relationship would feel forced for both of them and they would end up losing each other all over again, so maybe June thought it would be best for him to come to her and for it to be real. 

What did you think of the unique ending in which instead of moving on from where they left off they re-started their friendship and their relationship?

RQK - Volts: I personally loved this ending as it had its own uniqueness different from many books like it. I found the metaphor of taking a step forward together as in moving on and starting again was a great choice to use in this book, specifically at this point in the story. This series had much action and a lot happened in only a few months of these characters life and I think considering that starting over versus moving on from that point was a better choice of an ending as I feel their relationship would have much troubles considering their past. Besides the troubles with their relationship that having them just go forward would have had I think it would have just been to similar to many other books such as the Hunger Games which would have made the book seem like a copy and very cliche.

FTM - Nuts: I definitely loved the ending as well, I would have never expected it to end that way. There was happiness and tragedy in the ending. After reading the ending, I believe that they will mainly have a friendship later in their lives, not really a romantic one. I only believe that only because they may never be able to connect the way they did ten years ago. I really liked the fact that they were starting fresh, a clean slate. Most books don't have that anymore, they will lack originality but this book certainly didn't especially with it's ending.

Tuesday 1 April 2014

The 5th Wave: Rick Yancey - FTM


I read this book about three or four months ago. I got it as a Christmas present from RQK and I finished it in maybe a day and a half. I literally could not put this book down, I brought it everywhere with me, eating, sleeping, brushing my teeth because I found it that good. Rick Yancey seems to have a writing ability to make you feel like you are really experiencing the story. In the book it has multiple POV's, mainly Cassie. Who is the main Protagonist in the book. She tells you the back story of everything, the alien invasion, the different waves to wipe off the human race. Then Cassie meets Evan Walker, who takes care of her in her time of need, and she discovers things that makes her want to not want to trust him anymore, in the book she describes it as not wanting to trust him but she wants to, when I was reading those sections of the book, it made me want to feel that way, to hate Evan and once Cassie forgave Evan I forgave him, which i'm pretty sure in most books a lot of people experience that kind of thing but Rick Yancey's writing, I found was very unique. 




So in the beginning of this book, nothing really happens in the present. Cassie mainly explains what everything is, and what has happened in their world. You get to mainly read about the cruelty of the alien invasion, and what the aliens are willing to do to wipe off humanity. I found the history just a little bit boring, but luckily it was entertaining enough to read through. I felt like some of the history was a little unnecessary, some of it was important to know, like Sammy, he was an important part of the story. I love Sammy, he is adorable and just so innocent. 

Even in the beginning, we also get to experience the different point of views. I was a little confused, there are mainly 3 different point of views, Cassie, Evan, Zombie and sometimes Sammy. The author didn't really specify which perspective we were reading from, it would have a title but no identification, so when we went to Zombie's POV I thought they were calling Cassie a boy, so I was like "Oh okay, she disguised herself as a boy." Then it clicked that it wasn't her, it was another character being introduced to us.

Some people are saying that there is going to be a love triangle, and I don't mind love triangles but I'd rather have no love triangle. They are also saying that, Cassie became weak because of Evan. In the book, there is a little bit of romance but the thing that I like about that is that the romance doesn't take half of the book. There are real things going on besides Cassie and Evan's love life, and I can't remember but i'm pretty sure, that she is only really, really into him once and then she gets angry at him and then it's all ACTION, ACTION, GUNS, ZOMBIE,  SAMMY! There was barely any romance in the book, besides Evans perspective and a few deep conversations.

Cassie, I love Cassie. She is such a strong character in general. She is such a fighter, and I love the fact that even though they are in this apocalyptic world, she still has that young teenage mind. She talks about Ben Parish (Zombie) and how she wanted to have his babies, and her high school life, you know the messed up crazy half of your brain that we all have. Cassie was probably my favourite POV to read through out the whole book.

The other thing about this book that I love is that, all of the characters that Cassie mentions in the beginning eventually circle around and they meet again. It all just fits like a puzzle piece, there is no confusion.

Also, Rick Yancey does this thing with his words where he can make you think different things.
You will literally think you know what's going on and then Rick is like "Haha, that's cute but sorry you're so wrong." Then it will be like BOOM plot twist....

Overall this book was so good! It was action packed, it had everything, great characters, great plot, great writing style, good balance of things, humour. I would give this book a solid five out five stars just because I loved it so much. Any of you who haven't read it, you should read it. It's definitely worth picking up.

I hope you enjoyed reading this review, please feel free to follow our blog and check out my social media, such as my tumblr and my Instagram @bookishfandoms1405 which you can check out HERE

                                                                                                        - FTM