Category: Z-Old Users (Page 8 of 50)

BOOK REVIEW – Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar

October 14, 2016 / Anna

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly cafe. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing... and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago at schoolies week.

And then Carly meets Ryan, a local at the break, fresh out of jail. When Ryan learns the truth, Carly has to decide. Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy?

I came to realize that there’s something quite magical in reading books that I can label without any doubt as realistic fiction : trapped in that state of harsh honesty, when they’re the most vulnerable to any objective analysis, the characters never annoy me. Give me a special snowflake and my mind will rip any flaw to shreds – not because I’m mean, simply because I cannot help. No matter how much I’ll want to enjoy the ride, I won’t be able to get past all the little details that bug me.

[That moment, there, when he said that and acted out of character. That dialogue, then, when she told him that and what the hell, really]

It makes sense, actually : serve me archetypes and I will expect them to follow the implied guidelines. Yet if the characters don’t shy away from complexity but on the contrary, if I end considering them as human beings, their flaws won’t have the same impact : instead of infuriating me, they’ll make them dear to me.

Carly, Ryan – Danny, even – are dear to me.

I won’t lie, when I saw many reviews stating that Melina Marchetta fans would love this book, I stayed wary. I mean – Just how many times did I read that catchy line only to be disappointed? But for the first time ever, I stopped while reading and thought yes, this is it. There’s no magic trick, though. Indeed that feeling doesn’t come from the settings or even the issues dealt with, but with a simple while multifaceted truth, named Jonah, Taylor, Thomas, Ryan, Carly, Francesca….

These raw, multi-layered and messed-up characters grab you, remind you of random anecdotes from your past (also that cupboard there? Don’t open it), drive you to call your mum because really, it’s been a while, tear up but NO YOU DON’T FREAKING KNOW WHY SO WHO CARES THAT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SURF, you’re having a moment there and –

“Shame isn’t a quiet grey cloud, shame is a drowning man who claws his way on top of you, scratching and tearing your skin, pushing you under the surface.”

ARGGGGG. I’ll come back to review this book later. I sure cannot now. In the meantime, please give Raw Blue a chance, because its beautiful writing and its real emotions won’t disappoint you. I’m sure many reviewers explained why way better than me, so go read their reviews, okay? At this point, I’m not sure I can talk about it more without shattering into pieces. Sorry about that.

TRIGGER WARNING : View Spoiler »rape « Hide Spoiler[rape (hide spoiler)]

BOOK REVIEW – Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo

October 3, 2016 / Anna

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2)
by Leigh Bardugo
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of magic in the Grisha world.

One day later, I still can’t believe that I didn’t love this. I still can’t believe that I’ve waited a year, seen all my friends adoring it, and ended disappointed and alone in my shameful corner. I still can’t believe that I almost wish I didn’t read it, because I can’t forget that while I did like it, Crooked Kingdom :

Yep, that’s Kaz. Hear me out : it’s no secret that I have a soft spot for cunning and ruthless thieves who may or may not be hiding their vulnerabilities. As much as I do realize that it’s a complete cliché, I strive for it, okay?! Hence my intense fangirling about Kaz in the first book. I LOVED HIM. In the first part here? He was GLORIOUS. Sadly, I fell out of love as I grew fed up of his ability to outsmart ANYONE. The guy’s a Gary Stu, okay? A ruthless, cunning, unapologetic one, but a Gary Stu all the same. When does he freaking FAIL? Why is he the only one who doesn’t have to fight against his demons? More than 3 pages, I MEAN? Nope. I don’t believe for one second that the “growth” he showed in Crooked Kingdom was handled smoothly. It wasn’t. Perhaps I felt that way because he was BARELY THERE? Or because most of his interactions consisted of orders like the commander in chief he is? I won’t lie, some of his repartee made me really happy (because I’m a psycho), but I can’t brush away the feeling that he was the shell of himself. As far as I’m concerned, Kaz was present, but not alive. Hate me now.

I know that many readers loved her, and I’m glad for you, I really am, but for me she was transparent. That’s why I didn’t care for her relationship with Kaz either. Boo.

– Can we have such things as too fast-paced novels?
– Yes, I think we can.

(don’t mind me, I answer my own questions – sorry it’s a teacher thing, oops)

You’re free to disagree with me. Take Fitz for example : a non negligible number of readers would find his stories boring and I can definitely see why. Yet I’m never bored because the slow pacing contributes to multiply my feelings exponentially when something shocking happens. Crooked Kingdom, in another hand, flourishes in never-ending action and for most readers, it means the destruction of all boredom – I can also see why. Yet for me, a story that is too fast-paced, where action never stops, fails to reach that upper level when it comes to my FEELINGS. Perhaps I don’t like heists as much as I thought I did. Perhaps it was the multiplication of cons that did it. Perhaps the novelty ran out, in that aspect. Perhaps I didn’t care about Van Eck’s fate as much as I should have. I do think that my reaction (*cough* underwhelmed *cough*) had something to do with the way the villains were handled : I’m sorry, but I don’t know them. For me to feel engrossed, I needed something more than a one-dimensional, twisting moustache villain I barely interacted with. Sue me.

THIS IS A REAL SPOILER. DON’T READ BEFORE FINISHING. OBVIOUSLY.
View Spoiler »

YET. I wouldn’t have rated Crooked Kingdom a three if there weren’t slices of AWESOMENESS to balance what I didn’t like :

His chapters were, shockingly, part of my favorites. There’s just something so interesting in following the sidekick, okay? Also, he’s adorable and a red-head. It counts. As for Jesper, he was more fleshed-out and the added complexity made for one of the best character development, as far as I’m concerned. His flaws and fears felt so real to me. THEIR RELATIONSHIP BROUGHT ME LIFE.

I loved her spirit, her wit, her strength, her doubts, her fight against withdrawal – everything. AND SHE RAISED THE DEAD. HOW AWESOME IS THAT.

“Matthias smiled broadly and boomed in a singsong voice, “Hello, little friend!”
The woman went from wary to baffled. Nina decided to call it an improvement.”

HOW CAN I NOT LOVE THEM??

Now, I wouldn’t take my word on it if I were you, given that everyone on earth loved it. I can’t even say that I’m in the minority, because for that a minority would have to EXIST? I don’t know? AM I ALONE? And it didn’t influence my rating, but I will never understand why this book is YA. In which world are these characters teenagers?! (in the Grisha’s world, I know, smartass) Trying to picture Kaz or Nina or MATTHIAS as 17s years old makes my head ache.

BOOK REVIEW – The Killer in Me by Margot Harrison

October 1, 2016 / Anna

The Killer in Me by Margot Harrison
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Nina Barrows knows all about the Thief. She’s intimately familiar with his hunting methods: how he stalks and kills at random, how he disposes of his victims’ bodies in an abandoned mine in the deepest, most desolate part of a desert.

Now, for the first time, Nina has the chance to do something about the serial killer that no one else knows exists. With the help of her former best friend, Warren, she tracks the Thief two thousand miles, to his home turf—the deserts of New Mexico.

But the man she meets there seems nothing like the brutal sociopath with whom she’s had a disturbing connection her whole life. To anyone else, Dylan Shadwell is exactly what he appears to be: a young veteran committed to his girlfriend and her young daughter. As Nina spends more time with him, she begins to doubt the truth she once held as certain: Dylan Shadwell is the Thief. She even starts to wonder . . . what if there is no Thief?

► Let’s have a minute of silence dedicated to everything that was missing in The Killer in Me, okay?

✘RIP, suspense. You almost tricked me in the beginning, but soon it became clear that I’d entered a magical place where somehow, I am Sherlock (I am not). Not to be mean or anything, but I feel a little baffled by the fact that I’m supposed to acknowledge the existence of twists in there. Twists there aren’t, but rather long, laborious passages in which I know what’s happening and the MC just can’t FIGURE IT OUT. Did I mention that I was no Sherlock? Me guessing almost everything at 25% shouldn’t happen in a Thriller. Ever.

✘ RIP, suspension of disbelief (SoD). Again, buddy left too soon. Look, I am not one of these readers who ask for scientific accuracies in Science-Fiction, but even me have a hard time accepting fantastical explanations in contemporaries. I mean, where do we draw the line, then? If everything is possible, why bother finding believable plots? The Killer in Me abandoned any pretense of caring about logical reasoning early on, and in my opinion it weakened grandly the book – I call bullshit on this.

✘ RIP, coherence. Hey, look at SoD’s buddy trying to survive its friend! Of course it’s a fail! You cannot give up everything that makes a contemporary and hope that somehow it will keep working. It doesn’t. Each and every one of Nina’s doubts just does not make any sense, because she keeps forgetting facts that would destroy them :

View Spoiler »

✘ RIP, showing. This one speaks for itself, or, rather, TELLS for itself.

✘ RIP, climax. I was expecting a thrilling descent into hell – what I got is a little hike in the mountains. Don’t be fooled, the atmosphere is dark, but my feelings stayed muffled and when the ending came, I just didn’t care anymore. There was no dilemma as far as I’m concerned, no nuances.

► Although I did like Warren and his loyalty to Nina, and that the writing, if unpretentious, was pretty compelling, with vivid descriptions sometimes, unfortunately The Killer in Me wasn’t the great book I’d been waiting for my come-back into reading. Disappointing.

PS. It feels so GOOD to write a review again. I’M BACK! WOOT! EVEN IF I’M IN THE MINORITY ON THIS ONE! I DON’T CARE! ~~sorry, got a little excited here~~

*arc kindly provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

BOOK REVIEW – The Demon in the Wood (The Grisha #0.1) by Leigh Bardugo

September 24, 2016 / Anna

The Demon in the Wood (The Grisha #0.1)
by Leigh Bardugo
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Limited collector’s edition of the final book features an exclusive Darkling prequel story!

Before he became the Darkling, he was just a lonely boy of extraordinary power. Get a look into the past that forged a brutal and brilliant leader.

{spoilers for Ruin and Rising, I guess, if there are still people who do not know}

This novella was torture for my heart. I REGRET NOTHING.

1) Here’s something I can say for sure : I will always be divided over The Grisha Trilogy.

2) Here’s something I read a lot and that tends to awake my annoyance pretty fast (= that pisses me off, alright) : “people gave the last book a bad rating because they couldn’t cope with the ending, how ridiculous, haha”

You know what? Perhaps some readers did – and that’s their absolute right – but let’s not forget all of those who only wanted for the story to reach a better development and were disappointed. I was definitely one of those.

Indeed I gave both Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm a 3 : a rather good story unfortunately spoiled by a Mary Sue and her knight in (not so) shining armor (let’s not talk about Mal, okay?), an uneven pacing but pretty good writing and dialogues.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t be back on my ranting about Ruin and Rising, so I’ll just say this : the problem isn’t the ending per se, even if, MY HEART. The problem is a story that didn’t live up to its expectations, as far as I’m concerned. The problem is THIS BIG FAIL on character’s development, with MCs who run round and round on circles (the point?!). The problem is, also, and that’s still a sensitive issue for me, the misleading marketing that surrounded its release – to this day, I’m not over the fact that the character who was showcased the most in teasers was MIA for most of the book.

I call this slighly dishonest. But moving on. I’m not one for holding grudges.

Today, I’m giving my highest rating in this series to a 30 PAGES NOVELLA (the kindle version stops at 40%, just so you know), but really, who’s surprised? Certainly not me.

Two Words : THE. DARKLING.

The Darkling was the SOLE reason for my decision to continue this series, and not only because he’s charming and tortured and deliciously evil and fascinating and GAH MY HEART. Above that, FOR ME, he is the only complex and multi-layered character in the entire series. Even here, in a 30 pages novella, he manages to interest me one million times more than Mal & Alina ever did, the little peasants (sorry, I couldn’t help).

I mean, HOW COULD I RESIST? The Demon in the Wood pictures him as a child, back when his power wasn’t his best advantage yet…. but was his downfall already. The suffering. The loneliness.

The yearning for a place to finally, finally be safe.

Evocative and beautiful writing, captivating premise, and of course that’s way too short, and of course I’m partial and absolutely not objective, but EXCUSE ME WHILE I’M CRYING.

STRAIGHT TO MY DYING HEART.
_______________________________

Leigh Bardugo & The Darkling –

BOOK REVIEW – Unnatural Deeds by Cyn Balog

September 19, 2016 / Anna

Unnatural Deeds by Cyn Balog
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Secrets. Obsession. Murder. Victoria is about to discover just how dangerous it can be to lose yourself.

Victoria Zell doesn’t fit in, but she’s okay with that. All she needs is the company of her equally oddball boyfriend, Andrew. She doesn’t care what anyone else thinks…until magnetic, charming, mysterious Z comes into her life, and she starts lying to everyone she knows in an effort to unravel his secrets.

And then something terrible happens. Someone is dead and it’s time for Victoria to come clean. Interspersed with news clippings and police interviews, Victoria tells her story to Andrew, revealing her dark, horrible secrets…secrets that have finally come back to haunt her.

Psst! Guys! You really have to meet …

… Because in case you didn’t know, Z is your sun, your light, your LIFE.

“By the end of that first day without Z, the whole school fell into a general malaise. Students moved through the halls slower and didn’t smile as much. Everyone looked doubly hard at Z’s desk, as if staring could will him back. He was the sun, and his disappearance had sent us all out of orbit. And so, as the planet closest to him, I felt even more purposeless.“

Who is Z, you’re asking? Their guru? Their METH DEALER? What – naaaah, he’s just that intriguing and oh so mysterious new guy *cough* every YA ever *cough* whom everyone loves because of REASONS.

I kid, I kid. There’re reasons.

① He’s got such an awesome sense of humor :

“Torture animals?”
I should have known he’d joke around.”

O_o

“Friday, as he set up the Bunsen burner, he said, “I wish I had a can of hair spray. I should have warned you that I’m kind of a pyromaniac. (…)
He continued, “Tip : When you’re with me, always scope out the nearest fire exit.” (…)
“You know that song? ‘The Roof Is on Fire’? That’s my favorite song. For obvious -“

Oh my God, I’m laughing so hard there. He’s just so funny!

② He’s just so intense, ya know?

“Oh, there is nothing as intense as the way he looks at you. When he does, it’s like you’ve been touched, maybe not by the hand of God, but by one of God’s fingers.“

Blah, if that’s the fingers then. Small player.

“I looked into his eyes as he repeated, again and again, that it was under control. You know I don’t believe in witchcraft or hocus-pocus or junk like that [Twilight, though?] But in that moment, I knew that magic existed. Those eyes could make me believe anything. Anything. The world is flat? OK. Have a bridge for sale? Sign me up.“

You, girl, have a problem.

③ He’s so respectful of other human beings and, you know, like, so fun to have around because he really cares, see what I mean?

“Instead, Z said, “I’m hungry. Let’s get food.” I didn’t have to agree. It wasn’t a question. He was just going to do it, and I suppose if I was against it, I’d have to jump out at a spotlight.”

I know what you think – he didn’t ask her but SEE! That’s where you’re wrong about him! He obviously did know before even asking her! How freaking AWESOME is that?!

④ He’s so interesting, people can’t help but be affected. Because of course.

“Brainy Gerri never wore anything other than the school’s regulation pink blouse, buttoned to the very top. Today though, her two top buttons were undone.“

TODAY THOUGH.

“Some of the guys had taken to chewing gum.”

That is MIND-BLOWING stuff there. I am in AWE of that guy, really.

Honestly? There’s just something so appalling in seeing the main character fall head over heels for this imposture. Sure, from the *not so discreet* insinuations we understand that something bad is going to happen (sorry, this is YA thriller : something really really really bad is gonna happen – the badder kind of bad, like, so bad) but what baffles me is the fact that she fell (and the whole school with her) in the FIRST PLACE?! Like HOW? Alright, it tries to do something interesting by twisting the trope of the hot new guy (who is – shocking – actually a creepy dude, BOO!) but how can I feel invested if that’s obvious from the start? I mean, Victoria’s just so naive? O_o Also, she doesn’t like other girls, so, you know, I don’t like her. BIM!

► UNBELIEVABLE. BORING. RIDICULOUS.