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Action February 3, 2012

My Reading List of the Month- JANUARY

So, I am taking the goodreads challenge and I am aiming to read 40 books this year. That probably doesn’t seem very impressive, maybe 50 would have been better rounded but 40 just seemed more realistic to me. So I have read 6 books so far. Goodreads has calculated that this accounts for 15% of my goal, and that I am apparantly 3 books ahead.

So here are the books I read this month. You may notice that I have reviewed most of them already.

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet of her kind, she nearly pays with her life, only to be spared by a beautiful stranger sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki–a descendant of dragons whose ability to shift into human form is her best defense.

Forced to flee into the mortal world, Jacinda struggles to adapt. The one bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irrestibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will’s dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away – if it dies she will be left a human forever. She’ll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

This was a very interesting novel, all in all. I enjoyed it and I would recommend it to my friends. It was captivating and kept me wondering. The plot line was somewhat familiar, however. I am not a big fan of the main character falling head over heels with the love interest so quickly. It just gave me a case of dejavu. It reminded me of Twilight, but perhaps it was closer to Evermore. It had a great ending that ended rather quickly for my liking but leaves me wanting more.

FIND MY FULL REVIEW HERE

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

When Meghan Chase finds her life turned upside down, she learns a deep secret that has been hidden from her for all her life. With her brother missing, she finds herself travelling through Faerie in search for him. But not all is lost, for she has help from her best friend, who so happens to be Puck himself. But she is infatuated with the brooding Winter Prince. Armed with inhuman beauty and a deadly sword, he could easily be a foe even more dangerous than she could imagine.

Iron. Ice. A Love Doomed from the Start.

I enjoyed this book greatly. Having read Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series, I needed a fantasy book to fill the void in my heart. The Iron King did that and more. Meghan is a great character. She is loyal, brave, and funny. Whilst characters like Bella Swan would wallow away in their own misery, Meg moves forward and kicks ass!

Pick up a copy!

FIND MY FULL REVIEW HERE

Lost in Time by Melissa de la Cruz

The SIXTH instalment in the Blue Bloods series unfolds.

After their brief bonding ceremony in Italy, Jack Force and Schuyler Van Alen depart for Egypt in search for the Gate of Promise. Mimi Force seeks to find a way to bring her beloved, Marin Kingsley, and revenge from her former bond mate. When the twins of the Apocalypse finally face each other for the blood trial, who will be left standing? Confronted by danger, betrayal, and loss at every turn, the Blue Bloods must find the will to fight- and love- another day.

A superb novel, although I still desperately miss Bliss and Dylan. The characters are seductive and their never ending relationship problems are captivating. Yet Cruz uses the right balance between romance, mystery, and action. This is one to stay on my bookshelf for years to come. Be prepared for Mimi to have a heart!

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She’s about to find out she’s also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. When a mysterious boy enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of nowhere, Deirdre finds herself infatuated. Trouble is, the enigmatic and conflicted Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin—and Deirdre is meant to be his next mark. Deirdre has to decide if Luke’s feelings towards her are real, or only a way to lure her deeper into the world of Faerie.

Stiefvater successfully captured the essence of faeries. Some were rather playful, such as the delightful Una, whereas others were simply deadly. They often showed up when you least expected and caused a lot of mischief and trouble in their wake. Dee handled most of these situations quite well and she still managed to some realistic. Every hero and heroine needs help from time to time and her close friend, James was just that. There were many twists and turns along the way and the novel was certainly not predictable. My only criticism was its strong resemblance to Julie Kagawa’s The Iron King.

FIND MY FULL REVIEW HERE

Gladiator: Fight for Freedom by Simon Scarrow

It’s Rome, 61 BC. Recruited as a gladiator, young Marcus Cornelius Primus faces a new life of brutal training, governed by strict rules, as he learns the skills of an elite warrior. But Marcus cannot simply forget his past. His father lies murdered by soldiers and his mother has been kidnapped and forced into slavery. Marcus is determined to find his father’s old commander, Pompeius the Great, to seek justice for his family and set his mother free. Yet, unbeknown to him, Marcus is hiding a life-threatening secret. And if the Romans discover it, there will be no escape…

I found this book very enjoyable but rather predictable at times. It is rather like the movie Gladiator with Russel Crowe, but with a child instead. Still, I would not shrug it off so easily. It is a well written book and I enjoyed the twist towards the end.

FIND MY FULL REVIEW HERE

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron Fey, iron-bound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her. Worse, Meghan’s own fey powers have been cut off. She’s alone in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can’t help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

Now, I have heard comments on Goodreads about readers who thought that Meghan came across as a desperate love crazed teenager who simply needed to get over her infatuation- yes, I will use this word again- for the Winter Prince. Personally, I thought that she took it better than a certain depressing character- BELLA SWAN- and DID do her best to get over him. She built a back bone of iron and unlike the vampire crazed, depressed girl, actually did all she could to keep those around her safe. Meg is kick ass, and don’t you forget it.

Action January 30, 2012

Gladiator: Fight for Freedom by Simon Scarrow

“We who are about to die, salute you!”

It’s Rome, 61 BC. Recruited as a gladiator, young Marcus Cornelius Primus faces a new life of brutal training, governed by strict rules, as he learns the skills of an elite warrior. But Marcus cannot simply forget his past. His father lies murdered by soldiers and his mother has been kidnapped and forced into slavery. Marcus is determined to find his father’s old commander, Pompeius the Great, to seek justice for his family and set his mother free. Yet, unbeknown to him, Marcus is hiding a life-threatening secret. And if the Romans discover it, there will be no escape…

I found this book very enjoyable but rather predictable at times. It is rather like the movie Gladiator with Russel Crowe, but with a child instead. Still, I would not shrug it off so easily. It is a well written book and I enjoyed the twist towards the end.

Having been sheltered from the world, Marcus is unaware of the cruelites of the real world. And I’m not talking about our world as we know it, but rather Ancient Rome, in the time of Julius Caesur. A time when slavery was very prominent and the favoured sport was not football or tennis, but rather watching armed gladiators fight to the death. It is a cruel blow when he realises that his case in not uncommon. He is not the only one to face such an injustice. To survive, he must remain determined, head strong, and of course, brave.

The majority of the first part of the book was about Marcus’ life before he was sold into slavery. This of course had me ultimatley questioning how he would become a gladiator. It took longer than I thought to reach this point but I am glad it did. We got to understand Marcus and see how his home life had shaped him before he was forced to become the hard, brave gladiator. As a character, I respected him. He reminded me quite a bit of Percy Jackson, whose mother was also taken in The Lightning Thief. Both were determined to find their mothers and were seemingly blind to their own stupidity in order to do so.

Marcus makes a deadly enemy whilst training as a gladiator with a Celt boy named Ferax. Things could have ended up a lot worse between the two. I do wish that some characters could have been more developed. The seemingly hard, brooding Spartan intrigued me a great deal, for instance. With no romance in this novel mostly aimed at teenage boys, it is pure action and adventure. Yet being a girl I still think it has a place in my heart somewhere near Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl. Please do get a copy. You won’t be dissapointed.

Adventure January 7, 2012

The Kane Chronicles series

2012 sees the end of Rick Riordan’s best seller series. I imagine that it will surely end with a bang. For those of you who do not know, The KC series set to be a trilogy, and is about Carter and Sadie Kane, two seperated teenage siblings who discover that they are the descendants of pharoahs, with awesome magician powers to match.

When Set, the evil god of chaose is let loose on the world, Carter and Sadie must join forces to stop him from letting chaos reign forever.

The novel is pretty close to home, in comparison to The Percy Jackson series. Riordan sticks to what he knows, mythology. But don’t think that he has just copied his usual formula. The Kane Chronicles brings something new and fresh to children’s books, and once again, it is even suitable to adults!

I do love these front covers and I am jealous of the Americans. The British covers are not nearly as impressive, apologies to the cover artist.

Here’s a video in case my explanation is not clear.

The series has not one, but TWO wise-cracking narrators. Who said brothers and sister can’t share? I love both books in the series so far equally. Riordan is definitley good at building suspense and keeping his readers wanting more. The novels are somewhat educational, with great insight into Egyptian mythology. Once again, Riordan makes the ancient myths relevant to modern day society.

The Throne of Fire: I was incredibly excited for this sequel and it did not to dissapoint. It was thrilling and exciting. The Kanes did more travelling and met more friends along the way. There was one particularly outstanding new god who I simply have to raise my glass to for his awesomeness. The Kanes are joined by two new magicians, who happen to be their apprentices. The world is once again in peril and only Ra, the ultimate, super ancient sun god can save the world. But how are they going to find a god who has been missing for thousands of years, yet alone awaken the dozing god?