Books Archives - Page 71 of 72

Yzabel / June 21, 2012

Review: Anna Dressed In Blood

My rating: [rating=4]

3.5 to 4 stars to this book. I decided on 4 on the end, because I really had a good time reading it, in spite of those of its aspects I found annoying.

The story kept me on the edge of my seat, and I always wanted to know more—about where it was going, what would happen to the characters—which is one of the more important things I ask from a book. I didn’t care much for Cas at first, with his too-cool-guy spiel in his new school, but after a while, his point of view grew on me, and I felt at ease with him. Carmel, too, was a nice surprise: a “queen bee” who isn’t so stupid and shallow as I feared at first, and who gives a useful hand. Finally, Anna was a very intriguing protagonist, appearing as both terrible and beautiful; more than once I felt the desire to actually draw her, something that seldom happens to me. The revelations about her story were awful because of their cruelty, and made her quite the tragis character.

However,I felt that she was weaker in the second part of the book, as the change in her kicked in, and this was too bad. Also, I felt very frustrated when the real antagonist popped in: I would have wanted to know so much more about that part, what led to it, why, how it had happened. I really hope this will be addressed in book #2, because it was intense and terrifying (what he did to Cas seriously freaked me out), and unexpected, too… but there weren’t enough details about the motives behind it.

Yzabel / June 20, 2012

Review: A Demon Made Me Do It

A Demon Made Me Do It by Penelope King

My rating: [rating=3]

(Book read and reviewed for {Read It & Reap 55} in the Shut Up And Read group.)

Told from the points of view of both Liora and Lucky, the story deals with a girl who’s human during the day, and half-demon at night. While they share the same body (and are basically the same soul, only cut in two), Liora doesn’t know what Lucky does, and conversely. Every day seems to be the same old drill for Liora: going to school to follow classes she knows by heart and isn’t interested in, while being labelled the school freak and not having any real friend to speak of. Every night also seems to be the same for Lucky: a trip to the Demon world, minor demons to hunt, humans to punish for their deeds. Until a new boy, Kieron, enrolls in Liora’s school.

I was a little afraid that the tone of the book would be too reminiscent of your typical teen angst, especially in the chapters focusing on Liora (who seemingly likes to wallow in all the bad sides of her life, without enjoying the good moments); and the constant rejecting of fault on each other got tiring after a while, even though it was also understandable, given their circumstances. At times, it deterred me from the pleasure of reading. Fortunately, the first chapters still managed to get me in fairly easily. The world inhabited by the demons is interesting, nicely described, and its layers and social links make it clear that Liora/Lucky’s situation is even trickier than the pitch promised at first.

Kieron’s first appearance didn’t do much for me. Typical good-looking boy with dazzling smile and eyes, with all the popular girls flitting around him like flies, but the only one to really catch his interest is unpopular Liora (who’s actually a hottie, but doesn’t want to believe it; thanks Satan Lucky is here to be cool, sassy, and make her wear sexy clothes and make-up). Granted, the reason why gets revealed later on; at first, it gave way to quite a little bit of eye-rolling. I enjoyed reading about Lucky more than about Liora, though the latter got better in the end; I guess Lucky is just more my type of character. As for Kieron… I still can’t decide if I disliked him or if he was at least mildly bearable. The character I liked the most, all in all, was Bones; there’s no particular reason, in fact, I just liked his way of behaving and his personality—straightforward incubus, but also very loyal to his friends.

It was an enjoyable read, but it could’ve been better, notably in terms of pacing. The way the point of view is carried between Lucky and Liora sometimes leaves certain things in the dark in an odd way, or switches at moments that seemed weird to me. The ending was a little abrupt, compared to the relative ‘speed’ of the rest of the book. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed that ending and the lesson it carried. The themes of ‘revenge’ and ‘how revenge can ruin your life’, are something I am deeply interested in. I think that Lucky made the right choice, and that it was quite a positive ending.The book ends on some kind of closure, yet some things are still not resolved, such as the other crimes of the Amazèa, some elements about Kieron’s employment, or whether Liora and Lucky can become one again, and how; and so, in spite of its flaws, I still want to read the next installment.

Yzabel / June 16, 2012

Review: Silver Knight

Silver Knight by Caron Rider

My rating: [rating=3]

[I got the ebook version to review through a We ♥ YA Books ARR.]

Silver Knight is a book I enjoyed reading, but that left me confused at times.

First, I must say that I liked the overall plot. It seemed intriguing at first—’a girl realizing that the priest in a certain YouTube video is actually a man she met in a former life—and it kept on being so. What could have been easily solved, and apparently is, also raises more questions and issues. Is the problem addressed in the video solved at the end of the book? Not so much, and it clearly points at a sequel and at a more complex story. I’m sure I’m not the only one who found some elements pretty fishy.

The characters I found appealing. Diana, among others, struck me as a strong enough persona, thanks to her decisions and actions in the present timeline, as well as to what was shown of her in her past lives, that nicely echo elements from the main plotline. Besides, I’ve always had a sweet spot for different readings of historical events (same with historical characters), and the stories the author conveyed here were interesting: the retelling of Helen’s fate, Alexander’s real identity (I didn’t need much to guess it, but it was still nice to read about), what happened in Pompeii… Although some might say those were contrived, I nevertheless thought them told originally enough.

However, those past lives and events were also what left me confused: I’d say there were just a little too many of them, all the more so that they were interspersed with other characters’ points of view. While those were interesting, they contributed to making the main plot difficult to follow at times, as well as having it appear a little weak (in that if you remove the parts about the past lives, there isn’t that much left, come to think of it). I understand that the ‘past lives aspect’ is an important part of the novel’s pitch, and that it’s important to have it in; it just seems to me that it was too much to chew on all at once, and that some of it might have been better kept off until the second installment.

That said, it was a good story, and I will probably read the sequel.

Yzabel / June 15, 2012

Review: The Feminine Mystique

As I mentioned in another post, I don’t have that much time to write these days. However, since I still want to add some content to this blog, I’m going to do it all the same, by posting a few of the book reviews I’ve written in the past weeks. Let’s start with:

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

My rating: [rating=3]

This book was quite interesting, in that it allowed me to get a closer look at feminism in a period and in a country I’m currently studying about for an exam. It helped me delve deeper into something I thought I knew, yet didn’t know that much. Now I understand much better how and why it must have had quite an impact at the time of its first publication. I have experienced myself some of the feelings the author describes—not as a mother and housewife (which I am not), but because there was a time when I was searching for something more than get-married-and-settle-in-the-suburb, too, and felt like there was much more to my life than what I had at the time. In that regard, it pretty much hit home as far as I’m concerned, regarding the memories I have of that bygone period of my life.

Somehow, I even wonder if we’re so far from the issue. Even very recently, I was told “why don’t you find yourself a man?”, as if this would be the solution to everything. Would it, really?

I didn’t like it “more than that”, though, for the reason that it was a somehow tedious read in our era. The author seems to drag a little too much on some aspects, repeating them several times—I get it that she wanted to drive her point home, and I don’t doubt that it was needed at the time, but it made it hard for me to focus at some point, feeling that this or that section wouldn’t bring me more.

Yzabel / June 11, 2012

Book reviews: ARRs and ARCs

Part of the reasons why I’m very busy this year is that I’ve been trying to read more—I’ve always been an avid reader, but having many projects and many centers of interest make it so that I only have a little time to devote to each of those. And reading is what tends to be put on the back burner, since it’s one of my least ‘productive’ activities. (By ‘productives’, I mean ‘an activity that leaves me with a finished product, such as a piece of drawing, a chapter, a short story, etc.’ Of course reading will always be more productive to me intellectually than, say, watching TV.)

Putting aside required readings, such as those that’d be useful for my job or for my studies—I’m an eternal student, really—I’ve also been taking part from time to time in what’s usually called ARRs (Author Requested Readings) and ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies). Both are in a way similar, being offered by authors and publishers. The difference, as far as I’ve understood, is that ARCs are the step right before official publishing—a sort of last proof-reading—so of course, they’re not always perfect in terms of typos. ARRs are requested by their authors, for instance, indie authors going through self-publishing (which doesn’t mean that such novels are bad just because they’re indie, of course).

So far, I’ve only done that through a couple of groups on Goodreads, but this experience was interesting, and I may do it again elsewhere if the opportunity strikes. I’ll also post here the few reviews I wrote about such books. Some were pleasant reads; others were less interesting. I tried to remain as objective as possible when writing my critiques.

Yzabel / January 9, 2010

Review: Are You Watching?

Are You Watching? by Vincent Ralph
My rating: ★★★★☆

Blurb:

Ten years ago, Jess’s mother was murdered by the Magpie Man.

She was the first of his victims, but not the last.

Now Jess is the star of a YouTube reality series and she’s using it to catch the killer once and for all.

The whole world is watching her every move.

And so is the Magpie Man.

Review:

[I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Ten years ago, Jess’s mother was the first victim of a serial killer that proceed to claim many more—one woman every nine months since then. Tired of said killer still being at large, Jess decides to apply to a YouTube reality show that will give her one day of air time every week, which she plans to use to appeal to potential witnesses, and basically keep the case hot so that her family can finally see justice being served.

All in all, this story turned out enjoyable and fairly well-constructed overall, with a nice balance of red herrings and suspense, even though the premise is slightly over the top. (The first thing anyone should think when it comes to Jessica’s means is “if that killer’s still around it will attract their attention and she’ll be their next victim for sure”, so it’s kind of baffling that the adults around her were relatively easily on board with it—especially in that time and age, when the flip side of social media is not a mystery.) It also has something very simple, but that I enjoy in this kind of novel: short chapters (sometimes 1-2 pages long, not more), which means that, since I mainly read while commuting and during breaks, I could easily stop and pick it up again pretty much at any time, even when I only had five minutes to read. And I did want to keep reading, and knowing what would happen next.

Of course, the heroine being 17, her decisions were often reckless and bordering on stupid, which is definitely not unheard of in YA stories… On the other hand, it does make up for twists and not-so-happy consequences for the characters, so that’s that. All TSTL tendencies set apart, though, I really liked the other aspects of the story. Jess’s relationship with her close firneds. How her family has been spending the past ten years mired in grief, with her father trying to function as best as he could but never becoming who he used to be again. Her meeting the families of the other victims of the “Magpie Man”. It wasn’t only about catching a killer, but also about (re)discovering how to live after such gruesome events, after a loved one is snatched away from you—and after realising that yes, one’s actions always has consequences.

Conclusion: 3.5 stars.

Yzabel / October 21, 2006

Updating The Books Page

It had been months I hadn’t kept up with my current & past readings listing, and it was high time to dust the place off. The past readings page is now up to date, at least when it comes to the present time–it was too much of a hassle to remember exactly when I had read each book during spring and the end of winter, so I just kept these out for the time being.

Also, I’m not sure I’ll put everything I read in there. Lots of these are/will be for school, and I’m not sure I want to brag much about the ‘How to write a proper text analysis’ books and the likes. I’ll see what I’ll do about these.

Yzabel / August 25, 2006

Deep Magic

I don’t know how late I am exactly on this topic, since I only noticed it today on the Niltoy forums. In any case, for those of you who knew this e-zine as well as for those who had never heard of it, Deep Magic is closing down after August 31st, and in the process, they’ve made all their previous issues free for download. It’s sad news–I didn’t knew this website, I admit it, but now that I’ve heard of it and had a peek, it seemed pretty interesting. The magazines contained articles, short stories, interviews of both famous and non-famous writers, and even an ongoing novel, from what I could see just now.

Current and previous issues are available here.

Yzabel / September 7, 2005

Who’s There: Seth Godin’s New Ebook

I’ve just finished reading Who’s There, the new ebook Seth Godin has put up on his blog, and I must say that it’s been a really interesting read, albeit too short to my liking, in a way. However, he goes to the essential, and in an understandable fashion: what more could one ask? The price? No worries, it’s even free, at least for the moment.If, like me, you’re interested about reading here and there on the subject of blogging, don’t hesitate any longer, and download it here. The book isn’t about “how to blog”, but about why to blog, as a business owner as well as an indivdual who’d like to make his or her niche in the always expanding world of blogs. It also distinguishes the three “main types” of blogs, in a way that isn’t without reminding of the classifications theorized by John and Duncan.On top of it, it’s nicely written and presented.blogging, ebook, seth+godin

Yzabel / August 24, 2005

Fredric Brown

The first time I ever read one of his works, I was in junior high and the book was called Martians, Go Home—where little green men out of the imagination of a failed author appear on Earth, driving everyone crazy by their silly attitude. Weird? Yes, weird, like many of Brown’s stories, from the knee-slapping funny ones to the disturbingly somber atmosphere instillated in the others. Weird, but so pleasant to read.At the time, I probably was a little too young to really appreciate this book. Fast-forward to high-school, when I picked one of his collections of short stories. At the very moment I was putting the book down, I realized that I liked this author, and that what I preferred above all were his endings. Each time I finished reading one of his short stories, I had one of these “I should’ve known it’d end like this!” jolts. They’re surprising, somewhat amusing, somewhat bittersweet, somewhat even more than that.It’s not only about science-fiction (he wrote in the mystery genre, too).. It’s about his writing as a whole, about his way of taking everyday people and situations, wondering “what if?…”, and firing off the pen and paper (today we’d probably say “the laptop”) to give them a much unexpected turn. Granted, not all of his works are of even quality, and the fact that he wrote in two different genres (science-fiction and mystery) may make it a little hard to fully dive into either of them, if one is a “categorizing reader”, that is.For whoever wants to search around, there are plenty of websites describing his life and works more in depth. However, I’m going to primary link to a few of his short stories. They’re indeed very short, not necessarily his most known ones, yet they’re already a good way to familiarize oneself with what is to be expected from his other works.authors, books, stories, science-fiction