Tag: young adult fiction

Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Published on by Heart Full Of Books2 Comments

16143347-e1397585781962We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published By: Hot Key Books
Pages: 227
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I feel like this is going to be a hard book to explain and review without giving away intense spoilers. If you haven’t heard of We Were Liars, then I would like to ask you where’ve you been? Because this book is possibly one of the most hyped young adult books since The Fault in Our Stars. First of all, I’d like to point out, that although I do love how excited the audiences of these novels have greatly improved the promotion of both the authors and the books, hype can lead to disappointment.

We Were Liars is a book that you have to read to understand the hype, and even then, because you’ve been expecting the thrills and mysteries of this heavily hyped book, you can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed when you actually finish the book. Or, at least, that’s what happened to me.

We Were Liars centers on the Sinclair family, who are heavily explained in an almost confusing way at the very beginning of the book. I think I would have preferred to be introduced to the characters slowly rather than all at once, but for the purpose of the retelling, and the fact that it felt almost like a diary, it worked pretty well. I don’t think we’re supposed to like the main character, Cady, particularly. All of the characters, on a certain level, are very hard to connect to because they are so isolated from any other characters I’ve read. This is a problem, because I couldn’t feel sympathy for Cady when it came to the big reveal, all I could do was nod my head and think, “okay, then. Well…what did I expect?”

I did love the slow reveal, and how everything was tantalizingly brought out. The way in which the variations of different fairytales were woven into the story was also very rewarding for the reader. They could piece together what was going to happen, thanks to the foreshadowing, before they got to that part in the plot. Cady had selective amnesia, so as we learn about her past – even before she does in some cases – she also remembers.

I think I’m going to have to read this book again at a later date after knowing what happens in the ending, just to make sure that everything pieces together how I wanted it to. The relevance of the beginning isn’t really something you can understand or appreciate until the end. At first I was quite bored with the story, because I didn’t get the relevance of the past summers or Cady’s feelings and withdrawal, but by the very end, well, I’ll let you read it for yourself.

Another thing I am very thankful for is the short chapters. It made it such a deliciously quick read, and really added to the pacing of the story. In the slower parts it gave the illusion of a fast read and in the fast parts I was practically tearing through the pages. I’m surprised that such a layered mystery was executed in less than three hundred pages. It certainly wasn’t a mystery where the reader was left pondering for weeks after reading the book, but for such a short book, my my my was is good.

I would like to give We Were Liars, three stars, because although I did enjoy it, I think I probably should have read it when it was first released. The hype sort of spoiled the story. Not the plot, because I hadn’t seen any spoilers, but it definitely left me wanting more and thinking that it wasn’t what I expected.

(Mild Spoiler) Review: Rebel and Reboot by Amy Tintera

Published on by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

RebootReboot by Amy Tintera
Genre: Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi, Romance, Action
Published by: HarperTeen
Pages: 365
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I’d wanted to read Reboot for a while, but was unsure on the premise, because it seemed like something I perhaps wouldn’t enjoy, however I was pleasantly surprised.

I thoroughly enjoyed Wren’s character development. She was dead for 178 minutes before she rebooted, which meant she was the ‘least human’, however I felt this was sort of forgotten. In the very beginning she seemed to have a wide scope of emotions, perhaps this was because she’d been conditioned by her roommate to be a little friendlier, but it would have made more sense for her to take on a more robotic personality. Wren is supposed to be one of the toughest Reboots, because of her number, but when it comes to training a new Reboot, she picks Callum, the 22, when she normally goes from the highest number available. Without reading the blurb you knew this was where the romance was going to start, and it made for a very interesting dynamic as the pair are pretty much opposites…or so we think.

The majority of Reboot focuses on Wren training Callum to be more resilient, so that he’ll take orders, and therefore not get shot. It’s a brutal life, but then another layer is added to the story in the form of Reboot testing, and one of the characters to receive these injections is Ever, Wren’s best friend. In my opinion this is where the story really picks up, because Wren starts to realize that her life in the containment facility isn’t that great, and so the logical next step is, of course, escape.

Wren and Callum overcome a lot of difficulties in their escape, namely having to trust humans, planning how to get out in the first place, mourning the loss of friends and just generally trying to survive. Reboot ends on a cliffhanger so I made sure to pick up Rebel straight away. Other than learning about the world and the two main characters not a lot happens in Reboot apart from the testing conspiracy and their escape, so I set my expectations higher for the sequel.

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Rebel by Amy Tintera
Pages: 340
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Rebel is written in a dual perspective, and I have to admit that I didn’t really care for Callum’s point of view, because Wren seemed to have the more action packed sequences.

One thing that did surprise me is how they stick together through thick and thin, and they’re always working to get back to one another. There’s no ‘save yourself, because I love you’ it’s ‘we need to get out together, because I love you.’ They managed to escape to a compound build by Reboots who then help them, but they have their own agenda. Micah, 163, understands Wren’s potential so some panic and Rebellion ensues.

What more could we expect from the title of this book. It was fast paced and answered the majority of the questions that I still had left over from Reboot. More importantly, things were rounded off nicely, and Wren finally came to the conclusion that she wasn’t a monster, and justice was served. On the other hand I do feel that this book was almost like a waiting game. Again, there was a lot of preparation for the next step and then the step after that. More new characters are introduced, such as Isaac, and I’d be really interested to have had chapter or excerpts from his perspective.

As much as I did like this duology, I was expecting more because of the fantastic premise. I didn’t find myself becoming attached to any of the characters in particular, and although I did feel sympathetic towards their situation so me things felt more forced than others, and with a bit of communication a lot of their problems could have been solved. These books dealt with issues like prejudice extremely well, but even so I wanted a clearer, stronger ending. We’re left without any real indication of whether or not the world continues to work after the rebellion. As often is with these sorts of plot lines, it’s the next five chapters after the ending that I’m really interested in reading. Overall, I thought it was a fun, interesting, and definitely different, read that I would recommend to those of you that like more serious characters and situations.

Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Published on by Heart Full Of Books7 Comments

SShadow and Bonehadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Published by: Indigo
Pages: 308
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★.5
Series: Siege and Storm (#1) 
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I didn’t think I was a massive fan of fantasy, until I realized that the majority of my favourites were, indeed, fantasy. Which is why I am so glad that I picked up Shadow and Bone (although I may have been persuaded to do so because COVER LOVE.)

You’re chucked head first into the world, which even after finishing the book I’m not sure I completely understand. I guess I will just have to fill in any gaps by just rereading, and rereading, and rereading. But, on the other hand, in a fantasy novel that’s almost exactly what you want. You don’t want fifty pages of explanation, and I think Shadow and Bone almost had the ratio of plotline of to backstory completely perfect.

I really liked the main character, Alina, I thought she was head strong and she dealt with her new surroundings and situation extremely well, even though she’d just been horribly separated from her soul mate – we will talk about the ultimate cuteness of Mal later, don’t you worry. I loved being in the Little Palace, despite the Dark undertones (intentional pun.) Genya was also a wonderful addition, because when you lose one best friend then someone has to be there to fill in the slot.

The Grisha powers, although slightly hard to keep track of, were interesting and unique, and the concept of amplifiers kept the story going. I love it when protagonists are actually willing to learn new things, so Alina ticked that box for me. It was very reminiscent of Poison Study by Maria. V. Snyder, especially with the fight training and the alluring but dangerous love interest. I imagine Alina and Yelena being close friends, the similarities between these girls do not stop at the ‘lee-na’ suffix. I’m interested to see where the King ends up at the end of this series because treasonous talk was everywhere. I love some good forSHADOWing. (That one was unintentional.) I’m looking forward to the sequel immensely, and hope that it isn’t just going to be an ‘on-the-run’ sequel, as that could be mildly disappointing, but if necessary then so be it.

Mal. Where to begin? He was wonderful, and I’m so sad that he only had a cameo role in the first half, but was relieved when he was there full force in the final third. I’m quiet partial to a love triangle that is executed well, and liked this one even more because it wasn’t bittersweet as I do not like the Darkling. Well…maybe a little bit. I’ve prepared myself for the likely probability that Alina ends up with my less preferred candidate, but I still hold out hope for Mal. Maybe if he can’t be will Alina then a lovely secondary character will be introduced to pose as his new love interest. Or he dies. But I’d rather not think about that unfortunate scenario.

With such a raving review it might come as bit of a surprise when I say that my star rating is only 3.5 out of five. This is because there were moments were the plot got a tiny bit dry and I had to encourage myself to continue, this was made up by some plot twists and some plot gems that I was not expecting. Overall, I love the characters and am invested enough in their story to continue. Also, the 3.5 was a tactical decision as I have a feeling that the series is only going to get better so rather than saying the series plateaued at 4 stars I can say it was a beautiful journey of a rising incline in the star spangled rating system.