Stranger Things

I have to say I loved this book. Unlike Cinder, most of the plot twists actually took me by surprise.
The lead up to the climax was so great, I just couldn't put the book down! I can't say I loved the new characters introduced in this installment (except for Captain Thorne omg I love) they seemed so typical YA.
Really looking forward to reading Cress now.
On that cliffhanger ending - frankly I don't really care much. I never liked Kai. If he ends up dead (which, come on, he won't) I won't be upset about it.

This book was hilariously stupid. It had me laughing out loud many times from it's ridiculousness and I have to say I quite enjoyed it beacause of that. But it was one of the worst books I've ever read. :)

All I could think of while reading Ink:

Mehoy Menoy.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I listened to an audio-book of it and it had awesome background music and sound effects. The story itself was good, but I often found myself bored of it.
Darth Bane was pretty cool. Don't have much to say about him. His development was fantastic, and where he ended off makes me really want to read the next book.

SO good.
With some books, especially historical, you can just tell when the author has done a lot of research and put a time and effort into getting facts right. This is one of them. Anne Blankman has done a stunning job with this novel!

I really can't decide what to make of this book. On one hand, I really enjoyed it, especially listening to the audio book. The last time I did that was 2012. On the other, there were a lot of aspects I didn't like at all. I hated the insta-love and both main characters were rather annoying.
Basically, this is your average YA dystopian. It was fast paced and action packed. And I don't think it was badly written, but yeah I'm kinda over dystopian.

I just. Ugh, I don't know what it is about this series exactly, but I do not like it.
This book wasn't actually to bad. The plot was mildly interesting, if predictable.
Jace was, once again, horrible and completely unlikeable. Clary was a bit less dumb, however everyone else was dumb too so I guess she just blended in more. Except for Magnus Bane. He's fabulous.

Sorry for this horrible review, but my favourite thing do while reading this was to make fun of it. :) It's probably not as bad as I make it sound. Or maybe it is? I can't tell anymore.

There was something wonderful about this story, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
I have to say, the book started out very strong but got progressively worse. What began as an epic tale of survival, became a cheesy romance and super weird alien....portal..mystery.....thing.
Both main characters were interesting enough, but they weren't very original. I didn't get attached to either of them, and right now I can't even remember their names. Wow.
What I was attached to was the intensity of the plot. The suspense was always killer, even though half the time NOTHING was happening. They could just be arguing about who had worse problems, and I'd still be on the edge of my seat. (Okay probably not.) Seriously though, It was strangely cool. Even when things got really weird and left me like whaaaaaaaa?, the intensity still pulled me in.
What I don't get, is why there is a sequel. WHhhYyY? I loved following there struggle to survive. But all that weird alien portal stuff JUST NO. NO OKAY. IT DOESN'T FIT AT ALL. I WANTED A NICE SPACEY SURVIVAL STORY NOT......WHATEVER IT WAS
Since this review has lost all sanity I'm going to finish up with my favourite aspect of the story. The idea of a spoiled rich girl tromping through the forest in an extravagant green dress and heels. It looks so great in my head.

This was a huge disappointment for me, because I was very intrigued with the idea of the two stories running parallel and weaving together. Plus, I was a fan of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series.
It really fell flat. Both Darcy and Lizzie were lame protags, and their stories became more and more boring as the novel went on. At 599 pages, this book was way to long.
I did like some of the writing stuff, the quirks and the lingo of the different novelists. However Darcy hardly had any struggles when it came to her career which just seemed very unrealistic. She didn't face any rejection, or disapproval. Everyone LOVED her novel. Which I thought was strange since it wasn't actually that good.
I didn't care about Lizzie at all. Her story just felt so flat and unreal. All the characters were boring. The plot and setting had some potential, but nothing came of it.
In the end I was so relieved to finish this book.

Spoiler free. Sort of. Well, I don't know. Be careful.

This book finally grasped the potential I saw in the previous installments, and wow, it was incredible.
I'm usually not to keen on YA fantasy, especially as a fan of Middle-Earth. Whenever I read one it's just meh, or I can't even finish it. But this is just so good.

Let's start with the few things I didn't enjoy.
Okay, I lied, I kinda loved these aspects too.
It took me a long time to read. But I almost enjoyed that, because it was the slowly building plot, the intricate and wonderful world building, and the painstakingly beautiful piece by piece character development. I'm not actually a very fast reader, and I love being sucked into a world where you want to soak in each and every word. Heir of Fire did that for me.
The different point of view chapters really worked here, giving you a much wider scope. However, I can't say I liked reading from the new addition, Manon. Her story was interesting, with the different clans and all. I'm very intrigued to see where it goes, and how Manon develops. Every time I would get to one of her chapters I would sigh and force myself through so I could get back to the characters I love. That being said, I wouldn't change anything.

Let's talk about Celaena. Wheeeew.
Sass? ON POINT. Seriously. How does she even
Character development? ON POINT. Diving into her past was AMAZING, and I feel like I can finally understand her fully. Throughout the book she's slowly, and I mean slowly, piecing herself back together after the events of Crown of Midnight. What she becomes in this book, while still holding onto everything she was...it's just awesome.
Also her training was a lot of fun. There's not much I can say without spoiling, but that ending?! Guuuuuuurl. I cannot wait to see her reach her full potential.
Then of course there's Rowan. I'll be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of him. He was a good introduction to all the new things happening in Celaena's life and his character was somewhat intriguing. Unfortunately to me he seemed robot like and I hated the way it was mentioned over and over that his relationship with Celaena was not romantic. Like, yes, I can see that from the way they interact you don't have to tell us every other page! Gah. I don't really care for him but I am glad Celaena has someone like that in her life now.

Lastly, let's talk about everyone in Adarlan. These were my favourite chapters, which surprised me. Previously, Dorian was my least favourite character. But now that he's seemingly moved on from things, and has much much bigger worries, I did really like him. He's really grown, and continues to. I felt he was rather childish in the first two books but here he really is growing up and coming into his own.
Reading and watching other reviews, I feel like I must be the only one who loved the new character Sorscha. However the reveal that she was a rebel made me very upset. I was so excited to have a new character who was totally in the dark about all the crazy background things happening. And then she died anyway. IT ACTUALLY MADE ME CRY. THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN OFTEN OKAY SO YEAH BUT IT WAS SO DRAMATIC I DID NOT SEE IT COMING AND THEN DORIAN ASJDVJSJSVAJKDF. Yes, I did love their relationship, because Dorian really needed someone like her. I loved how sweet and caring she is. Even though she isn't a fighter, and not trained with a sword, she's just as strong as everyone else.
Okay so next of course would be Chaol. Wow, what a mess. He doesn't know who he really is anymore, or where his loyalties lie. Everything he's ever known is falling to pieces. He really was quite horrible in this book, especially to Dorian. Their friendship was already hanging by a thread but Chaol only seems to destroy things now. I hope he gets his head screwed back on in the next book. His character is so complex and what he brings to the story is fantastic.
Another new character, Aedion. He is so freaking awesome. Not much I can say without spoilers, but I think my most anticipated part of the next book is that reunion. It better happen. I need it.

Where this book ended leaves a lot of unanswered questions and so many directions for the series to go in. I cannot wait. This just became my new favourite ongoing series, and that's kinda a big deal.
I think that's it for this rant!

For the most part, this book kept me intrigued and wanting to know what happened next.
But I never had any idea what was going on. Right till the end of the book, I was still trying to figure out what genre it fits in. I still don't know.
I suppose it helps you to connect with the characters, since you're on the same level of confusion as they are. But seriously. Are they ghosts? Are they just crazy? Are they some sort of supernatural creatures? I swear at one point I thought they were werewolves. (Spoiler, they're not.)
Lets address the one thing I understood: The Romance. Egh. It was annoying, really really annoying. I kept expecting Noah to be some evil scientist or something. (I don't know man)
Not a clue where the series is headed and I'm not sure I want to put my brain through the struggle of trying to understand book 2. However if I am in the mood for it, I'll give it a go.

Unfortunately my love of Since You've Been Gone, one of Morgan Matson's other books, did not carry over to this one. It was alright. Just alright.
I thought the idea of a road trip across the states was fun, but I think I would have appreciated this more if I actually lived in the US. I love road trips, but I wasn't feeling it.
Both Amy and Roger weren't very interesting characters. In fact, there was no one they met along the way who intrigued me at all. They were all bland and blended together, with nothing strikingly different about each of them.
It was still an enjoyable read, but I am seriously disappointed.

Wow. Seriously, just wow.
Everything I wanted but didn't get in Throne of Glass was here.
And everything I didn't like was gone. It's like the author took in my personal opinion and used it as a guideline while writing this book.
Celaena was infinitely better. I could not STAND her in Throne of Glass. Here I just instantly loved her. I don't know what the difference was, but reading the prequel, The Assassin's Blade, and learning her past and what she'd been through definitely upped my opinion of her. Man, when she's on full assassin mode, completely driven by her anger and revenge...Whoa. Definitely one of the things missing in the first book.
Prince Dorian was also more likable, but I think that's mostly because of the romantic situation here. SO much more bearable.
Chaol, though. Whew. I like him...a lot. His character development was just wonderful.

Without comparing it to Throne of Glass, this is still a fantastic book. However I don't feel it's made a lasting impact on me. There were plenty of feels, but I don't feel like I really connected with the book. It sure is worthy of 5 stars, but it hasn't quite made it there or me. I now have high hopes for this series, and can't wait to pick up Heir of Fire.

This just didn't meet any of my expectations.
Most of the book was Alina admiring clothes, fretting over her horrible, horrible life or blissfully embracing her wonderful, wonderful life. Do you see my problem?
Sure it had some good, even some great moments, but it wasn't enough to make me overlook the pain-inducing love triangle or completely dull beauty sessions.

"I've seen Steelheart bleed."

If that opening sentence doesn't want to make you read this book, nothing I can say will either.