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scriptedsolstice's Reviews (170)
I am in awe. This book was the most incredible journey, filled with deep feelings of love and hate, and what it means to truly be ‘wild’.
Where the World Turns Wild is a beautifully imagined tale of an awfully close to reality situation. It imagines a future where humans have destroyed the earth, and so to save it, a select few people known as the ReWilders created a disease that is spread by ticks. Humans that are bitten by the ticks suffer a slow, painful death, giving the Wild a weapon of its own to fight back with. Some humans are immune to the disease; however, the majority are forced to seclude themselves within tight-knit cities filled with strict regimes and a corrupted government. Juniper and her brother bear were born in the Wild but were sent to the city by their parents to live with their grandmother, Annie Rose.
When life inside the city threatens Juniper and Bear’s own lives, they must take action, and venture into the Wild to find their parents and their home.
Firstly, I adored the characters in this book, and I wish I could have had longer with them! Juniper surprised me the most, as she was so brave and level-headed, especially with her younger brother being too young to understand things. She was different to other teenage narrators that I have previously found to be rather irritating, and instead she is very mature, understanding what must be done in order for her and her brother to survive. Bear was the sweetest, and Penfold did an amazing job at capturing the spirit of a six-year-old. He was equal parts charming, annoying and heart-warming, and you couldn’t help but love him.
"
Where the World Turns Wild is a beautifully imagined tale of an awfully close to reality situation. It imagines a future where humans have destroyed the earth, and so to save it, a select few people known as the ReWilders created a disease that is spread by ticks. Humans that are bitten by the ticks suffer a slow, painful death, giving the Wild a weapon of its own to fight back with. Some humans are immune to the disease; however, the majority are forced to seclude themselves within tight-knit cities filled with strict regimes and a corrupted government. Juniper and her brother bear were born in the Wild but were sent to the city by their parents to live with their grandmother, Annie Rose.
When life inside the city threatens Juniper and Bear’s own lives, they must take action, and venture into the Wild to find their parents and their home.
Firstly, I adored the characters in this book, and I wish I could have had longer with them! Juniper surprised me the most, as she was so brave and level-headed, especially with her younger brother being too young to understand things. She was different to other teenage narrators that I have previously found to be rather irritating, and instead she is very mature, understanding what must be done in order for her and her brother to survive. Bear was the sweetest, and Penfold did an amazing job at capturing the spirit of a six-year-old. He was equal parts charming, annoying and heart-warming, and you couldn’t help but love him.
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I wish I could give this book more stars! It is so beautifully written, with words that are so carefully strung together they sound lyrical. I adored Circe’s character, and enjoyed living her life with her! The story is filled with motherhood, love, relationships, friendships, magic and loneliness. It’s great if you’re into Greek mythology too!
The Shadow of the Wind was incredibly beautiful. It tells the story of Daniel, who chooses a book from an underground library, but he finds he cannot find out any information about the author; Julian Carax.
We follow Daniel as he uncovers the life of Julián little by little, however Daniel finds that this quest is much more dangerous than he originally anticipated.
This book made me laugh and cry out loud. It was so emotional, full of incredible friendships, relationships and a heart-wrenching storyline. It shows what it’s like to be a young boy, experiencing your first love, your first heartbreak, your first fight. It’s about both love and loss, and how hatred and regret eventually eat away at you.
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We follow Daniel as he uncovers the life of Julián little by little, however Daniel finds that this quest is much more dangerous than he originally anticipated.
This book made me laugh and cry out loud. It was so emotional, full of incredible friendships, relationships and a heart-wrenching storyline. It shows what it’s like to be a young boy, experiencing your first love, your first heartbreak, your first fight. It’s about both love and loss, and how hatred and regret eventually eat away at you.
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This story is so unique, with the most incredible cast of characters.
The Raven Boys begins the story of Blue Sergeant, who forms an unlikely friendship with four boys. One day, she finds a journal that one of the boys left behind in the restaurant she works in, and discovers that it belongs to Gansey. Gansey has a lifelong dream of waking a Welsh sleeping king, Glendower, and so we follow the group as they find more and more clues.
The characters in this book are so well developed, I loved every single one and I feel like I’ve actually met them! The book is character driven, and so you really get an insight into their thoughts and feelings.
Blue is one of my favourite female characters of all time. She is quirky, noble with a beautiful soul (she’s also a feminist and is not afraid to show it!!). She belongs to a family of clairvoyants, and though she isn’t one herself, she doesn’t let it get to her. Blue’s family add some real comic relief to this book, they’re all so weird and wonderful.
Maggie Stiefvater uses some beautiful literary devices, which she strings together as if by magic!
“
The Raven Boys begins the story of Blue Sergeant, who forms an unlikely friendship with four boys. One day, she finds a journal that one of the boys left behind in the restaurant she works in, and discovers that it belongs to Gansey. Gansey has a lifelong dream of waking a Welsh sleeping king, Glendower, and so we follow the group as they find more and more clues.
The characters in this book are so well developed, I loved every single one and I feel like I’ve actually met them! The book is character driven, and so you really get an insight into their thoughts and feelings.
Blue is one of my favourite female characters of all time. She is quirky, noble with a beautiful soul (she’s also a feminist and is not afraid to show it!!). She belongs to a family of clairvoyants, and though she isn’t one herself, she doesn’t let it get to her. Blue’s family add some real comic relief to this book, they’re all so weird and wonderful.
Maggie Stiefvater uses some beautiful literary devices, which she strings together as if by magic!
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This is one of my favourite books ever. The fairy-tale elements were beautiful, the magic system was so well done and whimsical, and the story held such deep meanings of hate, revenge and forgiveness.
Uprooted tells the story of a village who is protected from the wood by a wizard known as “The Dragon”. The Dragon takes a girl from the village every ten years as ‘payment’ for his services, however when the entire village think he will take a girl named Cassia, he takes her friend; Agnieszka. Agnieszka hates The Dragon and spends every second of her life wishing she could just go home. However, she discovers there are many things she can learn in the Dragon’s tower that will help her and her village.
The imagery of the wood was amazing, and I could really picture its eery nature and the creatures within. The way Novik describes things CREEPS ME OUT and I had to read the book in small sections! I was completely chilled to the bone when she describes how the wood was looking with eyes that were no longer human (nope).
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Uprooted tells the story of a village who is protected from the wood by a wizard known as “The Dragon”. The Dragon takes a girl from the village every ten years as ‘payment’ for his services, however when the entire village think he will take a girl named Cassia, he takes her friend; Agnieszka. Agnieszka hates The Dragon and spends every second of her life wishing she could just go home. However, she discovers there are many things she can learn in the Dragon’s tower that will help her and her village.
The imagery of the wood was amazing, and I could really picture its eery nature and the creatures within. The way Novik describes things CREEPS ME OUT and I had to read the book in small sections! I was completely chilled to the bone when she describes how the wood was looking with eyes that were no longer human (nope).
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*4.5*
Northern Wrath tells the story of a small Viking village that is attacked by warriors of the south. Alongside this, there are so many other narrative interwoven! You have a dead man walking between worlds, a survivor who releases the fire demons of Muspelheim and must find a way to contain them again, beserkers, giants, gods, dwarves. This book expertly weaves all of this with aspects of Norse mythology. To say there’s a lot going on is an understatement, but wow, it was incredibly written!
If you enjoy multiple perspectives, you will love this. There’s pretty much a POV from every single character. The women in the book were my absolute favourites. Strong, filled with emotion and passion, and just overall intriguing characters. I had to knock off half a star just because some POV’s got a little boring for me, and I just wanted to get back to the parts I was invested in, but that’s just me! The battle scenes and descriptions were brutal, and it felt like you were there watching it unfold. I also loved that the characters weren’t given anything for free, and they were out through a tremendous amount of suffering to gain something (not that I like seeing ppl suffer
Northern Wrath tells the story of a small Viking village that is attacked by warriors of the south. Alongside this, there are so many other narrative interwoven! You have a dead man walking between worlds, a survivor who releases the fire demons of Muspelheim and must find a way to contain them again, beserkers, giants, gods, dwarves. This book expertly weaves all of this with aspects of Norse mythology. To say there’s a lot going on is an understatement, but wow, it was incredibly written!
If you enjoy multiple perspectives, you will love this. There’s pretty much a POV from every single character. The women in the book were my absolute favourites. Strong, filled with emotion and passion, and just overall intriguing characters. I had to knock off half a star just because some POV’s got a little boring for me, and I just wanted to get back to the parts I was invested in, but that’s just me! The battle scenes and descriptions were brutal, and it felt like you were there watching it unfold. I also loved that the characters weren’t given anything for free, and they were out through a tremendous amount of suffering to gain something (not that I like seeing ppl suffer
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
“𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌’”
I honestly wasn’t a huge fan of this book, but I definitely think it just didn’t match with my taste. To start with what I did like, the writing itself is beautiful, the circus was magical and mesmerising with incredible descriptions that really portrayed the whimsy. I adored some of the characters individually, especially Poppet and Widget. Their personalities were adorable, and I loved seeing the magic from their perspectives.
I think the reason I didn’t love this was the lack of action. The pacing was extremely slow, and i really struggled to carry on reading. I eventually switched to the audiobook just to get though it quickly. There were some beautifully strung sentences, the prose was intoxicating, but I just needed more excitement I guess! I did really like the way it ended ✨
Deffo recommend this for people who love a slower read, something you can take your time with.
(My experience with this makes me want to reread Circe, I feel like my taste might have changed 😅)
I honestly wasn’t a huge fan of this book, but I definitely think it just didn’t match with my taste. To start with what I did like, the writing itself is beautiful, the circus was magical and mesmerising with incredible descriptions that really portrayed the whimsy. I adored some of the characters individually, especially Poppet and Widget. Their personalities were adorable, and I loved seeing the magic from their perspectives.
I think the reason I didn’t love this was the lack of action. The pacing was extremely slow, and i really struggled to carry on reading. I eventually switched to the audiobook just to get though it quickly. There were some beautifully strung sentences, the prose was intoxicating, but I just needed more excitement I guess! I did really like the way it ended ✨
Deffo recommend this for people who love a slower read, something you can take your time with.
(My experience with this makes me want to reread Circe, I feel like my taste might have changed 😅)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Blood
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts