Sunday, June 14, 2015

Review: “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini

~o~Rating~o~
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I am a big Kite Runner fan so naturally I picked up A Thousand Splendid Suns. I was not disappointed. I loved this book! I love how Hosseini’s descriptions actually take you to the streets of Kabul. Afghanistan has been under A LOT of turmoil over the past few years, decades to be more precise, and this book shows just how much hardship the citizens of this country have to go through on a daily basis (the women especially).

I thought it was a beautifully crafted story of brutality and suffering as well as strength and hope. This book kept reminding me of one of my favorite Mahatma Gandhi quotes: “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body but you will never imprison my mind.” Both Mariam and Laila are two women living under a fiercely male dominant society in which they have little to no power but they never lost their spirit.

I’m giving it 4.5 stars because there were a few parts I had to trudge through because it was boring me. Completely worth it though.


~o~Spoiler Alert~o~
 
Many parts of the book were truly painful for me to read. When it comes to violence in Fantasy or Sci-Fi books, I enjoy it immensely, but it just feels so real when it comes to realistic fiction. I absolutely hated Rasheed and felt immense joy at his death; he had it coming. And I thought it was even more justified that he would die at the hand of Mariam who sacrificed so much for that undeserving bastard. I was cheering her on the whole time.

I have to say, I liked the ending a lot. Laila deserved a real and happy family.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Review: “Fairest” by Marissa Meyer

~o~Rating~o~
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Being inside the mind of Queen Levana, easily one of my most hated YA villains, was definitely intriguing. I couldn’t help but sympathize with her a little. It was nice seeing her background. Don’t get me wrong though, I would still rejoice if anyone from the Lunar Chronicles gang kills her.

Levana grew up as a lonely princess. Without any friends, neglected by her parents and constantly threatened by her older sister, the future queen. She also felt the need to constantly hide herself with her glamour because of her “ugly” face. It’s easy to see why she would be so bitter.

And it was also interesting to learn more about Levana’s step-daughter princess Winter. I’m very excited for Winter the fourth book of the Lunar Chronicles.

Review: “Captive” by Aimee Carter

Captive by Aimee Carter~o~Rating~o~
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I tried to like this book, I really did. Did I like it though? No. The first book in the series, Pawn, was much better in my opinion. Captive started off really slow and the main character Kitty was acting like a brat during most of the book. It took a long time for me to actually get into the story and even when I did, I was not as invested as I wanted to be.

~o~Spoiler Alert~o~
 
I would say though Carter’s description of Elsewhere was interesting. In the last book, it seemed like Elsewhere was this giant forest where the rich went to “hunt” down the poor who were accused of crimes. Witnessing that it was almost like a town was unexpected.

The big reveal about Kitty’s background was also unexpected. I don’t know what I think of that just yet. I kind of liked knowing that the only reason Kitty was chosen was because of her eye color and not because of her heritage. I am excited to see where this leads though.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Review: “What’s Left of Me” by Kat Zhang

What's Left of Me~o~Rating~o~
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This was one of those books I just randomly picked up from the public library not expecting much from it. I was very pleasantly surprised. What's Left of Me was very impressive for a book I hadn’t previously heard about.

This story takes place in a world where every person is born with two souls. One of these souls usually “faded” away by the person was around six years old. The people whose souls did not fade were known as hybrids. The main character was a hybrid; both her souls remained in her body though Addie was more dominant than Eva. It was a different experience reading from the point of view of one character who was really two people. I thought Kat Zhang did a wonderful job portraying the two souls.

I’m really looking forward to the next two books in the trilogy. I think these books just might make their way to my favorite shelf.

~o~SPOILER ALERT~o~
 
I’m giving it four stars because of the lack of explanation when it came to the hybrids. Why were people hybrids? Or is this just an alternative universe? Hopefully the sequels will explain better. I’m excited to see where this goes.

Disney Book Tag

Disney Book Tag

This is my first tag! This is exciting stuff! I believe the tag was created by Kat from Katytastic. Being an avid Disney fan, this tag just had to be done.


The Little Mermaid

For this I picked Cinder from Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Cinder is a fairy tale retelling of Cinderella that takes place in a future world. For one, Cinder is the outsider in her family living with her stepmother and two stepsisters. And then she's an outsider to her world because she's a cyborg.


Cinderella

For this I picked Tris from Divergent by Veronica Roth. Divergent, as I'm sure most people know, takes place in a future dystopian world where everyone is divided into five different factions. Tris goes through a major transformation. Beatrice Prior went from the simple, self-less Abnegation to Tris a brave and fearless Dauntless fighter.


Snow White

I just had to pick two casts because I couldn't choose one. First the Ender's Game cast from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I have loved the Ender's Game characters for years now and every time I re-read the book, I fall in love with them again. The characters are written with beautiful depth. And second the characters of Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. All the characters in these books are very believable and the amount of personality Martin put in them is extremely impressing.


Sleeping Beauty

There are quite a few books that put me to sleep, school textbooks making the very top of the list. :D On literary terms though, I would have to pick either Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe or The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien. I tried to get through these, I really did; not a success.


The Lion King

Many of the YA characters had something traumatic happen to them as children. I picked Ruby Daly from the The Darkest Mindsseries by Alexandra Bracken.For those who don't know, the Darkest Minds series takes place in an alternative U.S.A where the nation was devastated by a plague that killed most of the children and those who didn't die developed superpowers. Ruvy goes through a LOT in this book and I think she is one of the strongest female heroines in YA so far.


Beauty and the Beast

The original question for Beauty and the Beast was: "a beast of a book that you were intimidated by but found the story to be beautiful". But I don't usually get intimidated by long books, I tend to love reading longer books. So I changed the question to: "A book that you hesitated to pick up because of the cover but ended up loving". I know people are always saying "don't judge a book by its cover", but we all do it anyway. I picked City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I first picked it up when I was in 6th grade and the cover just did not appeal to me but I'm glad I read it.


Aladdin

This one took me a while for some reason. I am going to pick The Boy Who Lived (Harry Potter for those of you who don't know). Growing up in an abusive home, Harry probably wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. He gets that wish granted. He finds two very loyal friends, he finds a place he could call home and he finds his true family. Granted his life isn't the best even in the Wizarding World, but I guess you can't have everything.


Mulan

A character who pretends to be someone else. I picked June Iparis from the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu. She goes under cover to follow the criminal/legend Day. I love these books wholeheartedly and June is probably the most intelligent YA heroine out there.


Toy Story

No way could I pick just one book. I want them ALL! Only the good ones though, the bad ones are free to stay trapped in their respective stories.


Disney Descendants

I would say the villain I most love to hate would be Umbridge from the Harry Potter series. I'm pretty sure everyone hates her. President Snow from the Hunger Games series is another one I would love to see the dead body of.

I hope you liked it!