Book Review of "Clockwork Prince" by Cassandra Clare

Title: Clockwork Prince (Infernal Devices #2)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Classification: YA Fiction, Historical Fiction, Paranormal
Source: Bought from Amazon

Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

!!!! fdsfsafhuihjjajefnc,xku=gn !!! 

This is what your brain looks like after reading this book!!

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Summary (from Goodreads): 

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends. 

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them. 

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do? 

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

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My Thoughts:


Holy holy holy crap. This book.

If you read this book and do not think that it is FULL OF AWESOME, you are probably an automaton and have been programmed to be immune to the lure of romance and intrigue and kissing and secrets and JEM and Victorian England and FREAKING WILL HERONDALE and general awesomeness and Clary will probably create a rune that kills you soon, so say your last goodbyes.

I'm not going to gloss over the fact that the last two Cassandra Clare books I read (Clockwork Angel, City of Fallen Angels) did not live up to my utter adoration of the first three books in the Mortal Instruments series. I read those three books in as many days, ignoring responsibilities left and right, breathing Jace and Clary and Simon every waking moment.

What I loved about those books came back to me in Clockwork Prince.

Tessa is a fantastic heroine. Her attitude, past experiences, and stoicism remind me of Jane Eyre, one of my all-time favorite characters.

Jem's character is given new dimension in Clockwork Prince. In the first book, we see Jem as merely the foil to Will--the damaged boy with silver hair and eyes who is the only known person on the planet who could be parabatai to Will Herondale. (OH MY GOSH JUST TYPING HIS NAME MADE ME SMILE WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!)

However, in Clockwork Prince, certain events force Jem to show more emotion than he's used to. We see him angry and frustrated. Finally this boy is given a few flaws! It was terribly refreshing.

But most of all, we see Jem being romantic and sexy. Seriously sexy.

Each of the minor characters is also given new depth: Jessamine, Charlotte, Henry, Nathaniel, the Lightwoods, and Sophie. Magnus Bane is awesome as ever, but also fills a role in this book that made me love him even more.

Then there is Will Herondale.

This is Cassandra Clare at her absolute best. (Yes, I know she has a bajillion more books coming out... but I'm going out on a limb here).

Where Jem is developed into a more functional love interest that readers will certainly root for, William Herondale becomes something else entirely: a tragic hero. An obsession of girls everywhere. Jace squared, cubed, quadrupled.

By the end of Clockwork Prince, we see a new side to Will. We finally get something true about the boy that Tessa is trying desperately to get over. Something that changes your mind about him.

But does it change Tessa's mind...?

That's the question to be answered in December's Clockwork Princess, as well as our remaining questions about the state of the London Institute and the elusive Magister.

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Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

!!!! fdsfsafhuihjjajefnc,xku=gn !!! 

This is what your brain looks like after reading this book!!

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(Full Disclosure: Any books purchased from Amazon through the links on this page will result in a small commission to me.)

Book Review of "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1)
Author: Laini Taylor
Classification: YA Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal
Source: Bought from Amazon

Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

This is what great writing looks like.

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Summary (from Goodreads): 

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 grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly 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?

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My Thoughts:


Magic. Hope. The endless battle of good versus evil. A star-crossed love. A devastating secret.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is an incredible novel. It manages to attack so many classic tropes with ingenuity. Powerful writing (in a 3rd person narrative that is so refreshing) brings its own magic to a story filled with ancient lore, hidden worlds, and creatures that challenge traditional notions of what it means to be human.

Karou is a girl with aquamarine hair whose only known family is a group of grotesque demons who trade human teeth for wishes. She is independent, smart, creative. But she is missing something. She aches for something unknowable, unidentified.

She is lonely.

Karou's journey to rid herself of acute loneliness is intense and the tension is palpable. In many YA novels, the author's desire to withhold a secret from the reader until a pivotal moment in the story is usually annoying and almost never done correctly.

However, Daughter of Smoke and Bone shows that to a talented author like Taylor, no trope or cliché is off-limits. In many ways, reading this novel is to experience the magic of magic and the thrill of other worlds and the truth of a great protagonist for the first time. In this way, Daughter of Smoke and Bone is not only an advocate of societal equality, strength of character, and inner beauty (among other things), but also of the magic and power of storytelling.

Readers with a critical eye and a low-tolerance for poor or lazy writing will be thrilled to find a smart, atmospheric YA series in Daughter of Smoke and Bone! However, readers who are more interested in a palpable, emotional romance and a thrilling story will also be satisfied with Karou's tale!

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Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

This is what great writing looks like.

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(Full Disclosure: Any books purchased from Amazon through the links on this page will result in a small commission to me.)

Book Review of "The Space Between" by Brenna Yovanoff

Title: The Space Between
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Classification: YA Fiction, Paranormal
Source: Bought

Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

A lyrical, character-driven, thrilling paranormal with a slight creep-factor!


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Summary (from Goodreads): 

Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped - and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie's whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

This second novel by rising star Brenna Yovanoff is a story of identity, discovery, and a troubled love between two people struggling to find their place both in our world and theirs.

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My Thoughts:

WARNING: Reading this book may slice and dice your heart and put it back together again several thousand times. I am of the opinion that books which do not do this are not worth reading. If you feel the same way, carry on.

This deeply lyrical novel was such an emotional rollercoaster! I love when a book is able to deliver a full range of emotions throughout the story, while also keeping you incredibly entertained. Yovanoff was also able to do this in her debut, The Replacement, but I feel that The Space Between is the stronger of the two.

The connection that you feel as a reader to Daphne and Truman, as well as a host of minor characters, is nearly instant. The characterization is very skilled in this book, with both Daphne and Truman's current situation, past experiences, and relationships with those closest to them being illustrated with ease.

When we are first introduced to Daphne, the strangeness of her world is almost a little unsettling. Pandemonium, a version of Hell, is in itself a little difficult to understand, as is her relationship with her mother, Lilith.

However, the novel moves fairly quickly, which allows you to get over the slightly confusing descriptions of Pandemonium and the relationships between the characters who live there.

By the time that Truman is introduced and Daphne heads to Earth for the first time to rescue her brother Obie, the characters carry the narrative along. Yovanoff gets her hooks in deep with characters like Truman, impossibly tortured, bordering on mentally destitute, breaking my heart with every page.

Daphne is such an interesting narrator, because growing up in Pandemonium makes her a veritable fish-out-of-water on Earth. This results in several non-sequiturs between her and other characters that really help to lighten the mood!

Pairing Daphne's other-worldliness with the fragility of Truman's situation creates a relationship that only these two characters could have. Daphne is honest and already understands Truman's hardship going into their first meeting, making it impossible for him to hide behind whatever walls he usually puts up to cope.

The mystery side of this novel, who kidnapped Obie and why?, is very fast-paced, leading Truman and Daphne on a strange journey where they meet even stranger characters along the way.

At the end of the novel, the changes that you see in Truman and Daphne are exquisite, with enough character growth and development of their relationship to make their journey of strange incidents and suffering and mystery seem all too worth it.

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Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

A lyrical, character-driven, thrilling paranormal
with a slight creep-factor!



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(Full Disclosure: Any books purchased from Amazon through the links on this page will result in a small commission to me.)  

Book Review of "Unearthly" by Cynthia Hand

Title: Unearthly (Unearthly #1)
Author: Cynthia Hand
Classification: YA Fiction, Paranormal
Source: Bought from Amazon

Overall Grade:

B+

I thought...

An addicting and un-typical story coupled with very typical characters, love triangle, and romance.


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Summary (from Goodreads):

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil.

When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

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My Thoughts:


I had been hearing many, many good things about this paranormal series before I picked it up, and the novel definitely didn't disappoint. It was exciting, addicting, funny and romantic!

However, while Unearthly was well-written and had only a few clichéd moments, which many young adult paranormals seem full of these days, it still felt lack-luster.

Yes, it had an interesting story, where the girl protagonist is the paranormal creature, rather than the male lead. It was addicting, fast-paced, unique, and romantic, everything that you could ask for in a paranormal novel.

However, these different plot elements, as well as the construction of the characters themselves, were rather unbalanced and bland. Case and point, the love triangle. While I don't want to go into too much detail to ruin the story for those of you who haven't read this book yet, I have to say that Clara's attraction to both Tucker and Christian was oddly sporadic.

In the beginning of the book, Clara is all "Oh my, well isn't that ________ just the cutest, sweetest, most interesting boy you ever did see?!". Then, the plot all but stops about halfway through the book, when Clara starts hanging over the other guy, all "I had no idea that I even wanted _______, but I don't dress up for him, cause I'm naturally bee-u-tiful, and I totally forgot about that other guy!"

Granted, the love triangle is definitely not as flawed as that seen in Nightshade, but it feels as if the author skewed the plot and slowed down the story simply for the purpose of adding in more romance and kissing. It felt off-balanced and contrived, especially since Clara put her "purpose" on hold for almost no reason at all during this period of time.

While I definitely had issues with the pacing and love triangle in Unearthly, this story is seriously addicting! It was able to hold my attention for long periods of time with a story of fate, suspense, secrets, and romance. Plus, that ending. Like... wow. It should have felt cheesy, but it didn't!

It was surprising and made me want to buy the sequel, Hallowed, immediately!! Even though it won't be released until January 3rd, 2012.

Overall, Unearthly is a very readable and addicting start to a solid paranormal series... perfect for those that don't mind a little rough pacing or love triangle qualms.

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Overall Grade:

B+

I thought...

An addicting and un-typical story coupled with very typical characters, love triangle, and romance.


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(Full Disclosure: Any books purchased from Amazon through the links on this page will result in a small commission to me.) 

Book Review of "Personal Demons" by Lisa Desrochers

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Title: Personal Demons (Personal Demons #1)
Author: Lisa Desrochers
Classification: YA Fiction, Paranormal 
Source: Library

Overall Grade: 
D
Would I recommend it? 
Nope.

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Summary (from Goodreads): 

Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She has spent years keeping everyone at a distance---even her closest friends---and it seems as if her senior year is going to be more of the same . . . until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can’t seem to stay away from him. 

What she doesn’t know is that Luc is on a mission. He’s been sent from Hell itself to claim Frannie’s soul. It should be easy---all he has to do is get her to sin, and Luc is as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn’t stand a chance. But he has to work fast, because if the infernals are after her, the celestials can’t be far behind. And sure enough, it’s not long before the angel Gabriel shows up, willing to do anything to keep Luc from getting what he came for. It isn’t long before they find themselves fighting for more than just Frannie’s soul. 

But if Luc fails, there will be Hell to pay . . . for all of them.

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My Thoughts:

I have to admit, Personal Demons had me hooked in the beginning of the novel. The concept that was invented, with demons and angels regularly vying to "tag" different mortal souls for either heaven or hell before they die, is rather inventive. However, it was not long before Personal Demons gave way to seriously overused, redundant plot elements that made me beat myself senseless for even wasting my time finishing this book.  

Yeah, parts of it were that bad.  

The writing itself was nothing special, told from Luc and Frannie's points of view in an alternating first person narrative. However, as the plot thickened and grew more confusing, more contrived, and less entertaining, the writing itself also gave way to triteness and cliche (see my rant on cliches in YA lit) that nearly made me beg for death... or at least a satisfying ending, rather than the drawn-out conclusion that I suffered through.  

Apart from the overall unpleasantness of this highly unremarkable read, I found the idea that not only was the main character, Frannie, able to somehow attract the interest of two incredibly gorgeous guys that are literally as old as the earth, but she also had the amazing ability to both possess a black belt in Judo and transform into a helpless shell of a person whenever either Gabe or Luc were in the room.  

I wanted to like Luc, and I mostly succeeded, but I was completely baffled by his relationship with Frannie. Gabe on the other hand, I had no idea why Frannie liked him, apart from his (literally) angelic looks.  

All in all, a very disappointing and thoroughly forgettable paranormal romance.

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Overall Grade: 
D
Would I recommend it? 
Nope.

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Waiting on Wednesday... Hush, Hush #3!

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This is my first ever Waiting on Wednesday post... a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets you gush about what upcoming books you're dying to read!

This week was my sister's birthday and I gave her copies of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater.  She picked up Hush, Hush first and read it in one sitting and immediately moved on to the sequel Crescendo and blazed through that one too. (I guess it runs in the family...)

I loved hearing her experience of first reading this awesome series and it really got me excited again about the release of the final book in the series Silence, which is due out October 18th, 2011! The title was recently changed from Tempest to Silence, but I'm not sure why...

Here are the summaries for all three books... enjoy! And let me know what you're "waiting on" in the comments! :)

In the interest of time and clarity, all summaries are taken from the Goodreads pages.

#1: Hush, Hush

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her...until Patch comes along.
With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment, but after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is far more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

#2: Crescendo

Nora Grey's life is still far from perfect. Surviving an attempt on her life wasn't pleasant, but atleast she got a guardian angel out of it: a mysterious, magnetic, gorgeous guardian angel. But, despite his role in her life, Patch has been acting anything but angelic. He's more elusive than ever and even worse, he's started spending time with Nora's arch-enemy, Marcie Millar.
Nora would have hardly noticed Scott Parnell, an old family friend who has moved back to town, if Path hadnt been acting so distant. Even with Scott's totally infuriating attitude Nora finds herself drawn to him - despite her lingering feeling that he's hiding something.
Haunted by images of her murdered father, and questioning whether her nephilim bloodline has anything to do with his death, Nora puts herself increasingly in dangerous situations as she desperatly searches for answers. But maybe some things are better left buried, because the truth could destroy everything - and everyone - she trusts.

#3: Silence

The Hush, Hush series has captivated readers with the story of Nora Grey, her friend Vee, and a mysterious fallen archangel named Patch. In the gripping conclusion of the trilogy, Nora finds that as things start to unravel around her, she is more drawn to the enigmatic Patch. She soon discovers that the answers lie closer to home than she realized, and it is time for her to take control of her destiny once and for all.

So, that's what I'm waiting on! What are you dying to read this week??

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Falling Short - Book Review of "Fallen" by Lauren Kate

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

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Title: Fallen

Author: Lauren Kate

Classification: YA Fiction, Teen Fiction, Fantasy

Source: Public Library 

Overall Grade: 

D+

Would I read it again? 

No.

Would I recommend it? 

No.

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Mysterious male love interest?

   Check.

   Cool premise for the plot?

   Check.

   Amazing, intriguing cover?

   Check.

   So how, exactly, did this book totally disappoint me?!

I did not like this book.  But, before everyone who loves the book goes berserk on me, let me explain.

Lucille Robinson, or Luce, has had a rough year.  After witnessing the mysterious death of a friend / boyfriend, everyone thinks she had something to do with it.  And, on top of this stress, she's also having strange visions.  When she tells her parents about it, she can tell right away that she scares them, so she learns to hide her abnormalities.  That is, until it gets too much and her parents decide to enroll her in a reform school called Sword & Cross, located not more than an hour from her home in muggy Georgia.    

Then, on the first day of classes, she notices an incredibly hot guy across the quad and simply can't stop looking at him.  She insists that there is something so desperately familiar about him.  When he notices her staring, a brief moment of recognition flashes across his face. Then, he promptly decides to flip her off.  After that moment, Luce is all but obsessed with Daniel Grigori and she constantly does all she can to learn more about him, getting in lots of trouble along the way.  But, things are also complicated by another super-hot guy that's actually interested in her, so unlike Daniel's hot-and-cold treatment of her: Cam.  With her new-found friends Penn and Arriane, not to mention her almost-boyfriend Cam, Luce starts to get used to life at her new school.

 Not to go into too much detail about the rest of the book, let's just say that lots of weird stuff keeps happening to Luce, Daniel always plays hard-to-get and Cam is as endearing as ever.  That's when the book takes a ridiculous turn.  From the prologue of the novel, it's pretty evident that Luce and Daniel are basically star-crossed lovers who keep appearing in each other's lives, over and over again, (as in reincarnation).  This is affirmed when Luce discovers a book in the library written by a Daniel Grigory (who she assumes is her Daniel's ancestor), but has an old photograph of Luce and Daniel hiding in the cover.  Ok, so all is still good at this point.  I'm following the story, I'm mildly entertained and I'm interested in the characters.  Then, all hell breaks loose and the characters take part in a weirdly occult battle in the school's cemetery.  It appears that Arriane, Daniel and others are fighting against Cam, the sullen Molly and others.  Then, Luce is weirdly kidnapped by the little-old-lady librarian (of all people) who wants to murder her and does succeed in murdering Luce's best friend Penn.

But never fear! Daniel flies in on giant angel's wings to save the day!  In fact, everyone else enrolled at Sword & Cross, other than Luce and Penn, is an angel in disguise.  Isn't that delightful?!  Also, it turns out that Luce is reincarnated in her same form and always finds her way to Daniel, but then is always tragically killed before they can really be together.  

So let me tell you where Lauren Kate went wrong.  The pacing of the book is dreadfully slow, but fast enough to keep a quick reader interested.  The portrayal of Cam makes him far more likeable than the sullen Daniel, and Luce's obsession with the latter is hard to swallow, especially since she's toying with Cam on the side.  Then there's the weird Arriane, who starts off as Luce's best friend and then mysteriously disappears for most of the novel.  And lastly, the worst part, the angels.  The way Kate writes the angels into the story made me feel how most guys feel when they read Twilight, particularly the part where Edward glitters for the first time. Sure, if you love the book enough, if the rest of the story is amazing enough, you'll look past the little imperfections that may make you want to vomit.  But in Fallen's case, the rest of the book is simply not good enough for the reader's to stomach the weirdly cheesy, fairy-tale like angels that come at the end of the book.  Even the promising love story between Luce and Daniel is ruined by this turn in the story.  

And no, this is not my opinion because I think angels are stupid.  It is because it is not well done!  I think Lauren Kate should take a few pointers from Becca Fitzpatrick and her Hush, Hush series, which deals with much of the same premise, but executes it in a way that leaves you breathless.

Overall Grade: D+

Would I read it again? No.

Would I recommend it to others? No.

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