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anovelstart's reviews
683 reviews
White Cat by Holly Black
4.0
I found this book quite unusual, unique. I am quite fond of supernatural mystery books so I thought I'd give this one a go after Amazon recommended it to me for something ridiculous like 80p.
Anybody in this world who can work magic is called a worker (short for curse worker). It's set in a world just like our own, except there's magic and it's banned. Magic is dealt through touch so everybody has to wear gloves. If you remove a glove, people pale and think they're under attack. I thought this was quite a unique concept, something so innocent as a hand that can be used as a weapon. Furthermore, Cassel's mother had a trick of cutting a small hole in the tip of her glove so she could use her magic on the person who shook her hand (finger to wrist connection). It's very well thought out by the author on how these people, so suppressed, have adapted to cope.
I like Cassel as a character, it's 17 years old and always on the outside of the circle of friends. He's always wanted to be a worker because he came from a family who are all workers. Workers keep their knowledge amongst themselves so he's frequently left out of family meetings. He's always been an outsider. I think quite a lot of people can relate to a person like this at some point in their lives.
I nearly gave this book five stars, except sometimes the mystery part of the plot was quite obvious. Most of it wasn't (which is good) so I still gave it four stars.
I really liked the mystery part of this book because it was quite unusual. How do you unravel a mystery when your memories of the event have been taken away? The book was quite short (320 pages) so I finished it in a day and a half, but it was well worth the read. The world Black creates is totally unique to any supernatural mystery series I've read before and due to the authors 3D characters and life-like world I couldn't wait to read the rest of the series (I'm hoping it's a long one!).
If you like supernatural mysteries you should definitely give this book a try. It even has the Mafia! They're curse workers and are pretty bad-ass.
Enjoy!
If you would like to read more of my reviews please visit my blog at: http://a-novel-start.blogspot.co.uk/
Anybody in this world who can work magic is called a worker (short for curse worker). It's set in a world just like our own, except there's magic and it's banned. Magic is dealt through touch so everybody has to wear gloves. If you remove a glove, people pale and think they're under attack. I thought this was quite a unique concept, something so innocent as a hand that can be used as a weapon. Furthermore, Cassel's mother had a trick of cutting a small hole in the tip of her glove so she could use her magic on the person who shook her hand (finger to wrist connection). It's very well thought out by the author on how these people, so suppressed, have adapted to cope.
I like Cassel as a character, it's 17 years old and always on the outside of the circle of friends. He's always wanted to be a worker because he came from a family who are all workers. Workers keep their knowledge amongst themselves so he's frequently left out of family meetings. He's always been an outsider. I think quite a lot of people can relate to a person like this at some point in their lives.
I nearly gave this book five stars, except sometimes the mystery part of the plot was quite obvious. Most of it wasn't (which is good) so I still gave it four stars.
I really liked the mystery part of this book because it was quite unusual. How do you unravel a mystery when your memories of the event have been taken away? The book was quite short (320 pages) so I finished it in a day and a half, but it was well worth the read. The world Black creates is totally unique to any supernatural mystery series I've read before and due to the authors 3D characters and life-like world I couldn't wait to read the rest of the series (I'm hoping it's a long one!).
If you like supernatural mysteries you should definitely give this book a try. It even has the Mafia! They're curse workers and are pretty bad-ass.
Enjoy!
If you would like to read more of my reviews please visit my blog at: http://a-novel-start.blogspot.co.uk/
NetGalley's Book Advocate Toolkit by We Are Bookish
5.0
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.
I absolutely loved this book!
The format of the information is short and sweet but very informative. The pages have such a good visual layout. They mostly look like post-it notes or notepad paper on pale backgrounds. This was very refreshing and made a great change to the usual black text on white paper. I have a condition called visual stress, it makes it harder to read on high-contrast backgrounds, so the change in tones was highly appreciated.
The book contains basic tips across a variety of topics. I've read a lot of the book blogging help articles on the NetGalley blog, so I was concerned that this book might just repeat that information, but it didn't. There were links to useful NetGalley articles with further information at the end of the pages. I really liked this because it gave me a resource to follow for areas I wanted to learn more about.
The actual writing was very easy to follow. Everything was explained nicely and I honestly think anyone would be able to follow their tips. For example, I think even someone who is not very good at social media would be able to follow their social media guides.
I'd highly recommend this to anyone who wants to write book reviews, regardless of the platform you're on. Even if you don't use NetGalley, there are still a lot of great tips and tricks. I found the social media section particularly useful because that's the area I'm the least confident in.
I absolutely loved this book!
The format of the information is short and sweet but very informative. The pages have such a good visual layout. They mostly look like post-it notes or notepad paper on pale backgrounds. This was very refreshing and made a great change to the usual black text on white paper. I have a condition called visual stress, it makes it harder to read on high-contrast backgrounds, so the change in tones was highly appreciated.
The book contains basic tips across a variety of topics. I've read a lot of the book blogging help articles on the NetGalley blog, so I was concerned that this book might just repeat that information, but it didn't. There were links to useful NetGalley articles with further information at the end of the pages. I really liked this because it gave me a resource to follow for areas I wanted to learn more about.
The actual writing was very easy to follow. Everything was explained nicely and I honestly think anyone would be able to follow their tips. For example, I think even someone who is not very good at social media would be able to follow their social media guides.
I'd highly recommend this to anyone who wants to write book reviews, regardless of the platform you're on. Even if you don't use NetGalley, there are still a lot of great tips and tricks. I found the social media section particularly useful because that's the area I'm the least confident in.
By the Book by Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
4.0
This has to be my favourite Star Trek book so far. I feel like it opened up to many new ideas.
Enterprise enters its very own first contact situation. Unfortunately, not all goes to plan. Archer learns to appreciate the value of patience as he begins to do things 'by the book' in hope of forming a new friend with the new species.
The three key characters in this book were Hoshi, T'Pol and Captain Archer. Hoshi experiences some character development in this novel by learning not to worry too much about what's going to happen - if it's going to happen then it will do. Her frustration at learning the Fazi's language really shows through, and even makes you want to give her a wide birth. T'Pol seems to get more annoying in this novel, but thankfully her advice is finally sinking in with her colleagues.
The way they interact with eachother is interesting in this novel. At the beginning of the Enterprise novels, everyone disliked T'Pol, but in this book people are backing her decisions up - Hoshi in particular. I think the two characters worked really well together. T'Pol gets her confidence from her logic, were as Hoshi is still quite warey of making her opinions known. Since the two have came to the same conclusion in this novel, it gives Hoshi a chance to add her findings to T'Pols logic to make a solid foundation for Archers decisions.
The Fazi are a race who appear to be even more strict than the Vulcans, even their cities are built by certain standards, each house facing the same way, to the same degree, each chimney is on the exact same spot on every household, etc. etc. So, as you can guess, T'Pol's Vulcan experience comes in handy, it also lets Captain Archer ease up a little on the Vulcans because it shows him how easy they had their first contact! I did find this slightly amusing, because no matter what Archer does at the beginning of the book, it's all wrong. From the very beginning he should have just listened to T'Pol. This situation lets the authors display a wide range of emotions in Archer, truly showing his inner conflict.
One part of the story I really could relate to was the subplot. Cutler trying to introduce a few members of the crew to a RPG; using bolts for dice and a towel as a map. I found it very amusing that they were battling against a race of bright green martians with sharp teeth and claws... their first instinct - fight! Typical human nature. Each decision had it's concequences, which I enjoyed watching. One member of the team had a particuarly bad time trying to stay alive, and was continuously ridiculed by the others. The extent of this humour almost seemed real to me, like I could hear them. In truth, the only reason this review doesn't have five stars is because I wanted more of this subplot. I wanted to join in and tell them what decision to make.
My second favourite part of the novel was the shock that the second race on the planet are telepathic - and potentially leathal to humans and Fazi alike! I also liked the concept of some of the new technologies in this novel.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes Star Trek. I found the book more amusing that I expected to be, which was of course a delight! I adored the description of the new alien species, the technologies, and the new cultures - I found them fascinating. Yet another example of Voyager fighting seemingly undefeatable odds.
Enterprise enters its very own first contact situation. Unfortunately, not all goes to plan. Archer learns to appreciate the value of patience as he begins to do things 'by the book' in hope of forming a new friend with the new species.
The three key characters in this book were Hoshi, T'Pol and Captain Archer. Hoshi experiences some character development in this novel by learning not to worry too much about what's going to happen - if it's going to happen then it will do. Her frustration at learning the Fazi's language really shows through, and even makes you want to give her a wide birth. T'Pol seems to get more annoying in this novel, but thankfully her advice is finally sinking in with her colleagues.
The way they interact with eachother is interesting in this novel. At the beginning of the Enterprise novels, everyone disliked T'Pol, but in this book people are backing her decisions up - Hoshi in particular. I think the two characters worked really well together. T'Pol gets her confidence from her logic, were as Hoshi is still quite warey of making her opinions known. Since the two have came to the same conclusion in this novel, it gives Hoshi a chance to add her findings to T'Pols logic to make a solid foundation for Archers decisions.
The Fazi are a race who appear to be even more strict than the Vulcans, even their cities are built by certain standards, each house facing the same way, to the same degree, each chimney is on the exact same spot on every household, etc. etc. So, as you can guess, T'Pol's Vulcan experience comes in handy, it also lets Captain Archer ease up a little on the Vulcans because it shows him how easy they had their first contact! I did find this slightly amusing, because no matter what Archer does at the beginning of the book, it's all wrong. From the very beginning he should have just listened to T'Pol. This situation lets the authors display a wide range of emotions in Archer, truly showing his inner conflict.
One part of the story I really could relate to was the subplot. Cutler trying to introduce a few members of the crew to a RPG; using bolts for dice and a towel as a map. I found it very amusing that they were battling against a race of bright green martians with sharp teeth and claws... their first instinct - fight! Typical human nature. Each decision had it's concequences, which I enjoyed watching. One member of the team had a particuarly bad time trying to stay alive, and was continuously ridiculed by the others. The extent of this humour almost seemed real to me, like I could hear them. In truth, the only reason this review doesn't have five stars is because I wanted more of this subplot. I wanted to join in and tell them what decision to make.
My second favourite part of the novel was the shock that the second race on the planet are telepathic - and potentially leathal to humans and Fazi alike! I also liked the concept of some of the new technologies in this novel.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes Star Trek. I found the book more amusing that I expected to be, which was of course a delight! I adored the description of the new alien species, the technologies, and the new cultures - I found them fascinating. Yet another example of Voyager fighting seemingly undefeatable odds.