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399 reviews
The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick
4.0
“It is their soul, crying for peace. It appears in their eyes, like a ghost resurfacing, crying for help. And then, when I stop reading, the mad waters rush in, and wash it away once more.”- The Ghost Of Heaven (Quarter 3), Marcus Sedgwick.
Writing
The writing style was crisp, epigrammatic and very well-seasoned. Marcus described the things around the characters in the book perfectly. Even though the first story in the book is not my favourite, the others definitely made up to it!
The plot for this book was very well thought out. All four stories in the book are linked in a very interesting way. For example, Past-Past-Present-Future. You guys probably don’t understand what I’m trying to say but it’s better to go into the book without knowing anything.
The pacing for this book was fast. It will keep you up all night because when you put the book down, your brain will wonder, “What is going to happen to the character?”
Characters
*I am not going to talk about the villians in the book because… They’re unexpected.*
Anna: She’s the main character in second story. She’s kind and she will do anything for her brother. Her story almost made me cry because she doesn’t deserve to be treated the way people treated her to be.
Doctor James: OH MY GOSH! I loved this character in the book! He’s the main character in the third story and he’s super cool and kind. He treated his patients like gold and that’s what I liked about him.
Bowman: He’s the main character in the fourth story and um.. Unlike the other two characters I have talked about previously, he’s not so kind and he’s actually a [Spoiler].
In conclusion, Marcus created wonderful and unique characters.
Overall
I give this book a 89.5%. It’s a beautifully written book and I think that everyone should get their hands on it!
Writing
The writing style was crisp, epigrammatic and very well-seasoned. Marcus described the things around the characters in the book perfectly. Even though the first story in the book is not my favourite, the others definitely made up to it!
The plot for this book was very well thought out. All four stories in the book are linked in a very interesting way. For example, Past-Past-Present-Future. You guys probably don’t understand what I’m trying to say but it’s better to go into the book without knowing anything.
The pacing for this book was fast. It will keep you up all night because when you put the book down, your brain will wonder, “What is going to happen to the character?”
Characters
*I am not going to talk about the villians in the book because… They’re unexpected.*
Anna: She’s the main character in second story. She’s kind and she will do anything for her brother. Her story almost made me cry because she doesn’t deserve to be treated the way people treated her to be.
Doctor James: OH MY GOSH! I loved this character in the book! He’s the main character in the third story and he’s super cool and kind. He treated his patients like gold and that’s what I liked about him.
Bowman: He’s the main character in the fourth story and um.. Unlike the other two characters I have talked about previously, he’s not so kind and he’s actually a [Spoiler].
In conclusion, Marcus created wonderful and unique characters.
Overall
I give this book a 89.5%. It’s a beautifully written book and I think that everyone should get their hands on it!
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
My thoughts: Introduction
Let us start off with how unique the idea for this book was. The book mentioned lots of different witches and how those ‘witcheries’ might break- also known as Cleaved in the book if they use their witchery too hard or rather- to the extreme. The idea was fresh and highly original that I have a fun time reading something different for the first time in months. I have to admit that I was not into witches when I first started reading this book, but I was hooked to the story when I started reading it from page one to the end. It was fantastic and I loved it!
However, the pacing for this book, in my personal opinion, was not at all that fast-paced like everyone else said it would be. It took me two weeks to finish it mainly because I have assignments that needed to be completed for school. Aside from that, the book was pretty quick in the beginning with all those extremely creative action scenes and when it came to the center part of the book, the action scenes started to lessen and the pacing started to slow as well but the last 100 pages of the book were covered and blanketed with action scenes and plot twists that you will not see them coming.
Coming to the point where we talk about the plot twists in this book, I am telling you all this: “Those plot twists were… Mind-blowing and it ‘wow-ed’ me for 2 hours. Maybe not two hours because I am still in the Mind-blowing mood for Truthwitch.” Yeah… I think that is about it!
Moving on, there were some major plot holes in this book that I wish will be uncovered in the next book called Windwitch. Those plot holes left me gasping for more of the story and more of… Everything. Basically, my feelings for the plot holes right now are something like a vampire hungry for more of human’s blood except you cancel out the blood and put stories and books into the sentence. Yes, that’s my feeling for Truthwitch right now.
Furthermore, the atmosphere and world-building for this book were fantastically written and everything felt like fantasy and real life all at once and you will be like, “W-what j-just happen-e-ed?” Yeah, that happened to me and I was awed by how perfectly well the world and the atmosphere were constructed. The world of Truthwitch was something like ours.. but not. Something similar yet different which is now very hard to describe so… I will just summarize that the atmosphere and the world-building were constructed beautifully.
In addition of Truthwitch, the relationship between Safiya and her Threadsister, Iseult was outstanding! For once, we did not get a girl-hate-on-girl relationship but a sisterhood relationship which was a great addition to the story! I will give you an example of their relationship, Safiya will die for her Threadsister and Iseult will do the same for Safiya as well! Thus, I enjoyed the relationship in this book!
Also, this quote from Iseult point of view hurt me to bits: [Not a spoiler! I promise!]
Finally, for the end of the introduction part of this review, I have a problem with the point of view that switches between Safiya, Iseult and Merik. I mean, I do not have a problem with the point of view that switches between Safiya and Iseult but I have trouble understanding Merik’s point of view. Not that Merik was a bad character.. His point of view was just.. uh.. Hard to understand. If you get what I mean..
Now, let us move on to the writing section for Truthwitch!
Writing Style:
The writing style for this book was very beautiful! It was emphatic, epigrammatic in some way and sometimes, the book felt a little prolix. It was a little prolix mainly because there were too many words in the sentence when the book was going in a very slow pace. But, either way, the writing style was beautiful.
I loved how Susan described the places around the protagonist while we, as readers, slowly visualized the world of Truthwitch. She built the world around the protagonist with the atmosphere of suspense, action and more. It gave me the feels when I was reading the book!
Finally, those flashbacks that Susan had added to each of the characters were great! I loved how she had written the flashbacks and I loved how much the characters growth from those flashbacks! Just, the flashback technique used in this book was beautifully written!
Now, let us move on to the characters section!
Characters:
Safiya: She had a kickbutt and smart yet hot-headed character. She was hot-headed because she made decisions that were unnecessary and sometimes, stupid. But, fortunately, she worked on making things right and she did not make the same mistakes twice! I have to admit that she was a pretty kickbutt and a little weak character in the beginning, but she became a tough character after that and therefore, she had a great character growth!
Iseult: Another kickbutt and smart heroine yet this time, her character was a little different from Safiya! She was cool and all compared to Safiya’s Hot-Headedness! She was extremely tough in the beginning until the end but the one thing that made me laugh while reading was how she was so cool when [spoiler]! Her character was, also, fantastic and I hope to read more from her point of view in the future!
Merik: To be honest, I did not like him in the beginning until the middle of the book because of how unkind he was and how he scolded his crew. But, as I read more and more from his point of view and when I dived deeper into the book, I came to a point of liking him but not loving his character until the end of the book, when something happened and he was… [Spoiler]. So, his character had a huge improvement and thus, I loved his character!
Evrane: I loved her character! She was badass as well but kind and loving at the same time. I loved how her character evolved overtime and how her character slowly grow and grow! I cannot wait to see her in the next book called Windwitch! I bet she is going to be even more badass in the next installment!
Overall:
I am giving this book a 86.75% rating. I did enjoy almost everything that was presented in this book but there were some things that I disliked as well.
This review is also posted at Maxxesbooktopia
4.0
“Allow me to serve you, Safiya. We have spent too many years apart.” “And I have spent too many hours between meals.” A glare. “Give it to me now, Polly, or I shall castrate you with a fork.”- Truthwitch, Susan Dennard.
My thoughts: Introduction
Let us start off with how unique the idea for this book was. The book mentioned lots of different witches and how those ‘witcheries’ might break- also known as Cleaved in the book if they use their witchery too hard or rather- to the extreme. The idea was fresh and highly original that I have a fun time reading something different for the first time in months. I have to admit that I was not into witches when I first started reading this book, but I was hooked to the story when I started reading it from page one to the end. It was fantastic and I loved it!
However, the pacing for this book, in my personal opinion, was not at all that fast-paced like everyone else said it would be. It took me two weeks to finish it mainly because I have assignments that needed to be completed for school. Aside from that, the book was pretty quick in the beginning with all those extremely creative action scenes and when it came to the center part of the book, the action scenes started to lessen and the pacing started to slow as well but the last 100 pages of the book were covered and blanketed with action scenes and plot twists that you will not see them coming.
Coming to the point where we talk about the plot twists in this book, I am telling you all this: “Those plot twists were… Mind-blowing and it ‘wow-ed’ me for 2 hours. Maybe not two hours because I am still in the Mind-blowing mood for Truthwitch.” Yeah… I think that is about it!
Moving on, there were some major plot holes in this book that I wish will be uncovered in the next book called Windwitch. Those plot holes left me gasping for more of the story and more of… Everything. Basically, my feelings for the plot holes right now are something like a vampire hungry for more of human’s blood except you cancel out the blood and put stories and books into the sentence. Yes, that’s my feeling for Truthwitch right now.
Furthermore, the atmosphere and world-building for this book were fantastically written and everything felt like fantasy and real life all at once and you will be like, “W-what j-just happen-e-ed?” Yeah, that happened to me and I was awed by how perfectly well the world and the atmosphere were constructed. The world of Truthwitch was something like ours.. but not. Something similar yet different which is now very hard to describe so… I will just summarize that the atmosphere and the world-building were constructed beautifully.
In addition of Truthwitch, the relationship between Safiya and her Threadsister, Iseult was outstanding! For once, we did not get a girl-hate-on-girl relationship but a sisterhood relationship which was a great addition to the story! I will give you an example of their relationship, Safiya will die for her Threadsister and Iseult will do the same for Safiya as well! Thus, I enjoyed the relationship in this book!
Also, this quote from Iseult point of view hurt me to bits: [Not a spoiler! I promise!]
“She wasn’t taking the gift lightly- yet nor would she feel gratitude towards Alma. Ever. Alma had made this out of guilt. She was, after all, the reason Iseult had been denied a place as a Threadwitch apprentice- and also rejected as Gretchya’s heir.”- Truthwitch, Susan Dennard.
Finally, for the end of the introduction part of this review, I have a problem with the point of view that switches between Safiya, Iseult and Merik. I mean, I do not have a problem with the point of view that switches between Safiya and Iseult but I have trouble understanding Merik’s point of view. Not that Merik was a bad character.. His point of view was just.. uh.. Hard to understand. If you get what I mean..
Now, let us move on to the writing section for Truthwitch!
Writing Style:
“Merik turned away, pretending not to hear. Not to care. But the truth was, he did hear and he did care.”- Truthwitch, Susan Dennard.
The writing style for this book was very beautiful! It was emphatic, epigrammatic in some way and sometimes, the book felt a little prolix. It was a little prolix mainly because there were too many words in the sentence when the book was going in a very slow pace. But, either way, the writing style was beautiful.
I loved how Susan described the places around the protagonist while we, as readers, slowly visualized the world of Truthwitch. She built the world around the protagonist with the atmosphere of suspense, action and more. It gave me the feels when I was reading the book!
Finally, those flashbacks that Susan had added to each of the characters were great! I loved how she had written the flashbacks and I loved how much the characters growth from those flashbacks! Just, the flashback technique used in this book was beautifully written!
Now, let us move on to the characters section!
Characters:
“Sorry to make you wait!” Safi roared over the rapid four-beat race. Her legs were bared, her silk gown shredded, and she clutched a pitchfork to her stomach. “And sorry for the trouble on my ass!”- Truthwitch, Susan Dennard.
Safiya: She had a kickbutt and smart yet hot-headed character. She was hot-headed because she made decisions that were unnecessary and sometimes, stupid. But, fortunately, she worked on making things right and she did not make the same mistakes twice! I have to admit that she was a pretty kickbutt and a little weak character in the beginning, but she became a tough character after that and therefore, she had a great character growth!
Iseult: Another kickbutt and smart heroine yet this time, her character was a little different from Safiya! She was cool and all compared to Safiya’s Hot-Headedness! She was extremely tough in the beginning until the end but the one thing that made me laugh while reading was how she was so cool when [spoiler]! Her character was, also, fantastic and I hope to read more from her point of view in the future!
Merik: To be honest, I did not like him in the beginning until the middle of the book because of how unkind he was and how he scolded his crew. But, as I read more and more from his point of view and when I dived deeper into the book, I came to a point of liking him but not loving his character until the end of the book, when something happened and he was… [Spoiler]. So, his character had a huge improvement and thus, I loved his character!
Evrane: I loved her character! She was badass as well but kind and loving at the same time. I loved how her character evolved overtime and how her character slowly grow and grow! I cannot wait to see her in the next book called Windwitch! I bet she is going to be even more badass in the next installment!
Overall:
I am giving this book a 86.75% rating. I did enjoy almost everything that was presented in this book but there were some things that I disliked as well.
This review is also posted at Maxxesbooktopia
The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent
4.0
3.5 stars.
This novel was marketed as a Young Adult, Paranormal Romance and those elements were definitely ensconced in this novel but the genre that had a blind drawn to it was the dystopia ambience. Let us take a look at the society that the characters were existing in:
In what world would you allow a child to freeze to his death in the rain? I can comprehend that it is not right to sacrilege but to punish a child this way is basically child-abuse. Moreover, this is a society controlled by the church itself because the world was overrun by demons and only the church could produce exorcists by training people to fight against them and send them back to Hell. Either way, it is still child-abuse to say the least.
In this book, we follow two sisters as they struggled to survive from the society and their mother who neglected them. Due to the lack of dime, they journeyed around their neighbourhood and the stores around that perimeter to steal items in which they found useful for the either school or living purposes.
School, which was again, jurisdiction by the Church determined whether or not a boy or a girl gets to keep their sexual organs and they will inspect in detail on a boy’s sperm count or a girl’s ability to bear children or their genetic features, if they failed to receive the appropriate measurements, their sexual organs will ultimately, undergo the final process: sterilization.
And, unfortunately, it was the year where Nina’s (protagonist) sister- Millie will be going through the test and that’s where the story starts because Nina’s sister was pregnant and Millie ran away from her designed position as fornication was a sin and thus, resulting in a thousand thoughts through Nina’s mind.
Now, I would like to talk about the pacing of the novel. I read this novel in the course of two days due to the jam-packed action sequences, the suspense and ultimately, the atmosphere of the novel. Moreover, the information that was given throughout the novel did not fall into the prey of ‘dump-n-go’ instead, it came by smoothly and allowed us to understand what’s actually going on before leaving for its goal. So, if you are a fast reader, this book will most likely take a day for you to finish. If you are a slow reader, at most 4 days.
The world-building and the writing style were what I liked most about this novel. The style of writing was lyrical and it ran as lustrous as a silk word after word and because of its sleek state, it had contributed a huge factor to the world building of this book due to the descriptions that were punctured around the protagonist’s line of vision and the explanation adjoined to the system of its world and what had made it the way it was since a century or more ago. From the useful information to the tectonic writing style, it is hard to dislike this novel.
The complex family dynamics in this story were portrayed realistically and it offered a glimpse at what it was like before and what it was like now, how drastically different can a relationship be from a young age to an older age:
The function of a demon was being explained in length and unlike other novels which usually just brush off the abilities of a demon or what will happen if a demon overtakes your body, this novel explains it in detail:
I know I had already said my ‘favorite’ part of the novel but I have one more to share with you guys before we move into the dislikes that I had with this book. And that is: The characters! All of them are so likable and I had such a great time reading about how they team up to kick some demon ass. Take Nina as an example: She is a strong female lead with much independence and had a headstrong personality that dared people to contradict her beliefs.
The team consists of: Finn, Maddock, Reese, Grayson and Devi. All of them had vastly different personalities and I would note on Devi, most of all. She was the most stubborn girl in the group and she, kind of or may, enjoy contradicting Nina which most of the time exploded in up rage.
Well, on to my dislikes:
The freaking insta-love. I cherished the characters and how they handled the situations that they were positioned in but with the two of them that had barely known each other, was together for less than 24 hours and the mutual attraction mostly comes from Finn’s eye colour and Nina’s looks, it was pretty quixotic. If only they had known each other before all of these were pushed forward… If only the romance comes a little later in the novel, the story would get 95% from me.
Another one of my dislikes was the fact that towards the end of the novel, the plot points started running thin and it was easy to discern as the author started stretching out certain scenes and it resulted in a slope on the hill for me. In other words, it fell flat. If only the ending was a little more epic, the story will be extremely fantastic.
And those are my only complaints.
In conclusion, I shall award this novel a 70%. I enjoyed almost everything that was presented in this novel and it is confirmed that I will be reading the next book in this duology because I need to know how it ends. So, I highly encourage you to give this wondrous novel a try!
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This novel was marketed as a Young Adult, Paranormal Romance and those elements were definitely ensconced in this novel but the genre that had a blind drawn to it was the dystopia ambience. Let us take a look at the society that the characters were existing in:
Of course blasphemy is a sin. A lesser infraction than fornication and heresy, but grievous offense a strict matron like Sister Camilla would never let slide. Even in a five-year-old.
Especially a five-year-old who’d already demonstrated a precocious gift for profanity.
Sister Camilla dragged Matthew onto the stone dais in the center of the courtyard, then forced him to kneel. She was still scolding him while she flipped a curved piece of metal over each of his legs, just above his calves, then snapped the locks in place, confining the five-year-old to his knees in the freezing rain.
In what world would you allow a child to freeze to his death in the rain? I can comprehend that it is not right to sacrilege but to punish a child this way is basically child-abuse. Moreover, this is a society controlled by the church itself because the world was overrun by demons and only the church could produce exorcists by training people to fight against them and send them back to Hell. Either way, it is still child-abuse to say the least.
In this book, we follow two sisters as they struggled to survive from the society and their mother who neglected them. Due to the lack of dime, they journeyed around their neighbourhood and the stores around that perimeter to steal items in which they found useful for the either school or living purposes.
School, which was again, jurisdiction by the Church determined whether or not a boy or a girl gets to keep their sexual organs and they will inspect in detail on a boy’s sperm count or a girl’s ability to bear children or their genetic features, if they failed to receive the appropriate measurements, their sexual organs will ultimately, undergo the final process: sterilization.
Those declared fit would be given a second assessment before marriage, and a third when they applied for a parenting license.
Those declared unfit would be scheduled for sterilization. Immediately.
And, unfortunately, it was the year where Nina’s (protagonist) sister- Millie will be going through the test and that’s where the story starts because Nina’s sister was pregnant and Millie ran away from her designed position as fornication was a sin and thus, resulting in a thousand thoughts through Nina’s mind.
One day, the year I was nine, Clare had refused to kneel for worship. They gave her three chances. Brother Philip said refusing to recognize the Church’s authority was the first sign of possession. He called in an exorcist, and two hours later, Clare was sentenced. The exorcist said that since her possession was recent, her souls could be returned to the well of souls- if it were purified by fire.
They forced her to her knees on the dais, closed the steel cuffs above her calves, then burned her alive in front of the entire school.
She was seventeen years old.
What if they thought Melanie was possessed?
Now, I would like to talk about the pacing of the novel. I read this novel in the course of two days due to the jam-packed action sequences, the suspense and ultimately, the atmosphere of the novel. Moreover, the information that was given throughout the novel did not fall into the prey of ‘dump-n-go’ instead, it came by smoothly and allowed us to understand what’s actually going on before leaving for its goal. So, if you are a fast reader, this book will most likely take a day for you to finish. If you are a slow reader, at most 4 days.
The world-building and the writing style were what I liked most about this novel. The style of writing was lyrical and it ran as lustrous as a silk word after word and because of its sleek state, it had contributed a huge factor to the world building of this book due to the descriptions that were punctured around the protagonist’s line of vision and the explanation adjoined to the system of its world and what had made it the way it was since a century or more ago. From the useful information to the tectonic writing style, it is hard to dislike this novel.
The complex family dynamics in this story were portrayed realistically and it offered a glimpse at what it was like before and what it was like now, how drastically different can a relationship be from a young age to an older age:
Since she’d stopped eating, talking, and coming out of her room even to yell at us. Over the past year, her angry, resentful tirades had faded into listless neglect as my mother retreated into her own head, into her room, and into nights spent out and days spent sleeping. Or unconscious. Or both.
The function of a demon was being explained in length and unlike other novels which usually just brush off the abilities of a demon or what will happen if a demon overtakes your body, this novel explains it in detail:
Disembodied demons have to find someone who’s sick or hurt or under some sort of chemical influence. Or even just someone sleeping. If the demon finds a body before he’s sucked back into hell… ta da! You have a newly possessed citizen, which means the ‘exorcists’ have failed.
I know I had already said my ‘favorite’ part of the novel but I have one more to share with you guys before we move into the dislikes that I had with this book. And that is: The characters! All of them are so likable and I had such a great time reading about how they team up to kick some demon ass. Take Nina as an example: She is a strong female lead with much independence and had a headstrong personality that dared people to contradict her beliefs.
I wanted to be as straightforward and bold as he was, because he deserved that, but I had no experience with being straight forward and bold. I had experienced lying, and clothing myself in the darkness if in nothing else, and stealing, and paying high price for the things Mellie and I couldn’t survive without.
The team consists of: Finn, Maddock, Reese, Grayson and Devi. All of them had vastly different personalities and I would note on Devi, most of all. She was the most stubborn girl in the group and she, kind of or may, enjoy contradicting Nina which most of the time exploded in up rage.
Well, on to my dislikes:
The freaking insta-love. I cherished the characters and how they handled the situations that they were positioned in but with the two of them that had barely known each other, was together for less than 24 hours and the mutual attraction mostly comes from Finn’s eye colour and Nina’s looks, it was pretty quixotic. If only they had known each other before all of these were pushed forward… If only the romance comes a little later in the novel, the story would get 95% from me.
Another one of my dislikes was the fact that towards the end of the novel, the plot points started running thin and it was easy to discern as the author started stretching out certain scenes and it resulted in a slope on the hill for me. In other words, it fell flat. If only the ending was a little more epic, the story will be extremely fantastic.
And those are my only complaints.
In conclusion, I shall award this novel a 70%. I enjoyed almost everything that was presented in this novel and it is confirmed that I will be reading the next book in this duology because I need to know how it ends. So, I highly encourage you to give this wondrous novel a try!
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