The Avid Reader

Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Published: August 2012

Source: I purchased this book on Amazon ages ago, and waited WAY too long to get around to reading it.

GoodReads Summary:

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. 

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

My Thoughts:

Oh my god, this book. Why on earth did I wait so long to read this?! This was a strong 5 stars for me, and I have seriously high hopes for the rest of the series. 

First I just want to say that I am so, so happy with the new cover design this book received. Normally new covers drive me insane (because inevitably I'm halfway through purchasing a series when the new covers are released, and it makes me crazy to have a mismatched set!) but in this case I will happily re-buy an updated version of Throne of Glass at some point. The new covers are much more fitting to Celaena and her story. Massive improvement. Much love to the new covers.

I've seen a lot of reviews that slam Celaena as a ridiculous main character, but I really like her. She loves books, candy, clothes and parties, and she's a loyal friend and a badass assassin. I really don't understand what's not to like? And after serving a year in the salt mines of Endovier, I think she's more than entitled to a little frivolity now and then.

I loved the idea of a female assassin as a heroine, and I was delighted to see that so well-executed here. I enjoyed reading about the competition to find a new King's Champion, and I was glad to see some of the challenges described in detail, but I also liked that it didn't take over the whole book.  

Even the love triangle worked for me. I liked both Chaol and Dorian, though I'm definitely Team Chaol all the way when it comes to a match for Celaena. Personally, I kind of like Princess Nehemia for Dorian. To me, Celaena and Dorian make much better friends than lovers, and I think Chaol understands Celaena in ways that Dorian just doesn't. 

Favorite Quotes:

“Libraries were full of ideas–perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.” 

“How long was I asleep?" she whispered. He didn't respond. 
"How long was I asleep?" she asked again, and noticed a hint of red in his cheeks. 
"You were asleep, too?" 
"Until you began drooling on my shoulder.” 

“His breath was warm on her neck as he bent his head, resting his cheek against her hair. Her heart beat so quickly, and yet she felt utterly calm—as if she could have stayed there forever and not minded, stayed there forever and let the world fall apart around them. She pictured his fingers, pushing against that line of chalk, reaching for her despite the barrier between them.” 

“With each day he felt the barriers melting. He let them melt. Because of her genuine laugh, because he caught her one afternoon sleeping with her face in the middle of a book, because he knew that she would win.” 

Visit Sarah J. Maas' website and follow her on twitter so you can stay up to date on all things Throne of Glass.

Have you read this one yet? Do you love it as much as I do?

Book Review: A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

Published: January 2012

Source: I was approved for this book on NetGalley, but unfortunately the title was archived before I had a chance to download it. So I purchased a copy for myself. I'm still tagging this as a NetGalley review though, since I was approved and will be submitting my feedback.

GoodReads Summary: 

A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY is a powerful saga of three generations of women, plagued by hardships and torn by a devastating secret, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of family. Fifteen-year-old Mosey Slocumb-spirited, sassy, and on the cusp of womanhood-is shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard, and determined to figure out why it's there. Liza, her stroke-ravaged mother, is haunted by choices she made as a teenager. But it is Jenny, Mosey's strong and big-hearted grandmother, whose maternal love braids together the strands of the women's shared past--and who will stop at nothing to defend their future.

My Thoughts:

Although I read mostly YA titles these days, Joshilyn Jackson is and always has been one of my favorite adult authors. I think you basically can't go wrong with any of her books, honestly. I love the southern influence and the flawed characters and the twists and turns her stories always take. She's not afraid to tackle uncomfortable subjects, which is something I appreciate. 

One thing Jackson does extremely well is complicated family relationships - one of the strengths of this particular book. Big, Liza, and Mosey don't have easy relationships, but they're certainly interesting, and Jackson portrays the complex and unbreakable bonds between mothers and their daughters beautifully.

Also, this is kind of ridiculous, but is Mosey Slocumb not the perfect Southern name?!

Do yourself a favor if you plan to read this, and just read it (no searching out reviews first!). Jackson does her revelations extremely well, and having any of them spoiled would be a shame. 

Have you read anything by Joshilyn Jackson? 

Book Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

I purchased this book on Amazon because the storyline immediately hooked me.

Publication Date: March 22, 2011

GoodReads

 

GoodReads Summary: 

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

My Thoughts:

I really can't say enough about how wonderful this book is. Every time I try to write this paragraph I fangirl out and end up sounding like a rabid stalker. (Oops.) This book, and the two that follow it, are the best kind of books there are: the ones you hate to put down for even a moment. Lauren DeStefano does a fantastic job of creating a frightening dystopian world that feels like something that could actually happen, and Wither is all the more terrifying because of that realism.

The story starts out with a frightening scene that immediately makes the reader worry for Rhine, and that tension is well maintained throughout the book. Rhine's father-in-law Vaughn is one of the coldest villains I've read recently and I found myself feeling a sense of dread every time he appeared on the scene. The girls are so isolated in the mansion, and Linden so naive and sheltered, that you are really left feeling as though Vaughn could do almost anything to Rhine and get away with it.

Wither does deal with some "tough topics" and I can see why it has received some mixed reviews because of that, but I personally love that DeStefano didn't shy away from dealing with a difficult subject. I also liked that Rhine, Jenna and Cecily all handle their forced marriage in very different ways, and their individual backgrounds clearly influence their perspectives. 

Wither easily earns 5 stars from me. I know this is a series that I will reread in the future when I want to visit Rhine and Cecily again.

If you've read Wither, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. If you haven't, read it and come back! :)

Now go check out Lauren DeStefano's author website, follow her on Twitter, and like her facebook page, because she is talented and hilarious and you definitely want to read whatever she is currently writing, even if that's a tweet about her cat.

Book Review: Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

I purchased this book on Amazon. It was actually something I had to read for one of my Education courses, but I ended up loving it so I've decided to review it here!

Publication Date: April 10, 2007

Goodreads Summary:

In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters to discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart - to take pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is deeply moved by the brilliant characterization in George Eliot's Middlemarch. She looks to John Le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue and to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail. And, most important, Prose cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which all literature is crafted.

My Thoughts:

In Reading Like a Writer Francine Prose suggests that all great writers are readers of great literature. She contends that one need not pursue an advanced degree or attend writer's workshops in order to improve their writing - rather, all they need to do is become avid readers. This is a book that teaches readers how to be good readers. It also serves as a great writer's manual because it offers both inspiration and concrete, practical ways to improve one's writing. This is definitely a book that aspiring writers will read again and again.

Early on in the book, Prose shares her dismay that so few people today seem to read great literature. She talks about her frustration teaching literature to graduate students who have never read Pride and Prejudice or A Good Man is Hard to Find.  

Prose seems determined to tackle this problem with Reading Like a Writer. The book is peppered with citations from various great works of literature, used to show examples of truly skillful writing. Prose talks about how to write good dialogue, and then shows an example of it. She expounds on the importance of efficient but beautiful sentences, and then shares several examples. The result is that this book is, in part, a collection of some of the juiciest, most compelling snippets of some wonderful works of literature. At the back of the book, Prose includes a list of recommended reading that includes these texts. The inevitable result is that the reader will find himself eager to discover these stories for themselves. I know that I added several books to my "to read" list over the course of reading this book!

From a writer's perspective, one of the things I loved best about this book was that Prose repeatedly reinforced the idea that “literature not only breaks the rules, but makes us realize that there are none”. For every suggestion she makes, she offers examples of great works of literature that did just the opposite with great success. This is one reason she does not place too much stock in writer’s workshops, which might encourage a writer to change some aspect of his work to follow an utterly arbitrary rule of writing, when in fact his work correctly ignored said rule in the first place. As Prose points out, the beauty of literature is that it is all so different.

Reading this book and reflecting on Prose’s advice to aspiring writers has affected me in a profound way. After reading this book I feel more inspired than ever to make a serious attempt at writing a novel of my own. Prose has encouraged me to worry less about what others write, and instead to forge ahead with my own writing secure in the knowledge that of course my work will be different than that of the authors I so admire, and that is in fact a good thing. The irony is that Prose has made me feel this way while at the same time filling me with the irrepressible desire to read as many of these great books as I possibly can, in hopes of improving my own writing. 

In short: if you love books - reading them, or writing them - this needs to be on your bookshelf!

Have you read Reading Like a Writer? What did you think of it? What other writer's manuals do you recommend?

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

I purchased this book from Amazon, and I can't believe it took me so long to do so. Much like I was with The Hunger Games, I am way behind the curve on this one.

Goodreads Summary:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series--dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

You guys. I loved this book so hard. I flew through it in two days and the first thing I did when I finished was to jump on Amazon and see when the next book was due out. (Answer: May. Too far!) I've been thinking about it since I finished reading it. This is a book that grabs you at the start, draws you in deep and keeps you there. I wanted to be Tris. I swooned over Four. I cheered at the victories and wept at the betrayals. I was completely in the story from beginning to end. 

The pacing is fast and tense, the characters are layered and the story is rich and detailed. I was fascinated by the world that Roth created, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the next book in the series!

Veronica Roth is a powerful new voice in fiction. I was shocked to realize that this was a debut novel. I can't wait to see what else she has to offer us in the future.

Run, don't walk to buy this book! (And then pre-order the next one in the series, Insurgent.)

Book Review: Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan

I bought this book at my local Borders just before it closed its doors forever. The book was on my radar because Jen Lancaster recommended it on one of her lists of suggested reading. I've rreally enjoyed a lot of her selections, so I decided to give it a shot. Nonetheless, I went into it with low expectations because for whatever reason, the back of the book didn't really grab me. Luckily I was very pleasantly surprised and I really enjoyed the book!

 

Goodreads Summary:

A sparkling debut novel: a tender story of friendship, a witty take on liberal arts colleges, and a fascinating portrait of the first generation of women who have all the opportunities in the world, but no clear idea about what to choose.

Assigned to the same dorm their first year at Smith College, Celia, Bree, Sally, and April couldn’t have less in common. Celia, a lapsed Catholic, arrives with her grandmother’s rosary beads in hand and a bottle of vodka in her suitcase; beautiful Bree pines for the fiancé she left behind in Savannah; Sally, pristinely dressed in Lilly Pulitzer, is reeling from the loss of her mother; and April, a radical, redheaded feminist wearing a “Riot: Don’t Diet” T-shirt, wants a room transfer immediately.

Together they experience the ecstatic highs and painful lows of early adulthood: Celia’s trust in men is demolished in one terrible evening, Bree falls in love with someone she could never bring home to her traditional family, Sally seeks solace in her English professor, and April realizes that, for the first time in her life, she has friends she can actually confide in.

When they reunite for Sally’s wedding four years after graduation, their friendships have changed, but they remain fiercely devoted to one another. Schooled in the ideals of feminism, they have to figure out how it applies to their real lives in matters of love, work, family, and sex. For Celia, Bree, and Sally, this means grappling with one-night stands, maiden names, and parental disapproval—along with occasional loneliness and heartbreak. But for April, whose activism has become her life’s work, it means something far more dangerous.

Written with radiant style and a wicked sense of humor, Commencement not only captures the intensity of college friendships and first loves, but also explores with great candor the complicated and contradictory landscape facing young women today.

I fell in love with this book right from the beginning. I felt like I could really identify with all of the girls, in spite of each of them being so different. I was particularly in love with Sally's character. I had a lot of sympathy for her difficult background, and throughout the book I was really crossing my fingers for a happy ending for her. I felt like Sally, and really all of the girls, showed a lot of growth throughout their respective journeys. I loved watching them change and grow.

I also loved the idea of lasting friendships, the thought of making friends in college that last well into adulthood. The changes in these friendships were accurately portrayed, in that Sullivan didn't try to keep the dynamics of their friendships static. As the girls got older they stayed friends, but the exact nature of the friendships was constantly evolving.

Another thing I really enjoyed about the book is that there was a lot going on at all times. The story covered a lot of ground, so it was a constant page-turner. I literally couldn't put it down, and I was sad to see it end. I give this book an enthusiastic 5/5.

Book Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I ordered this book from Amazon after seeing some great reviews about it on Goodreads.

Goodreads Summary:

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces - to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

I really enjoyed this book. It was engrossing and well-paced, and I really liked Mia as a character. I was impressed that she truly seemed to grow over the course of the story, even though it takes place over just a few days. I empathized with her struggle in making a very difficult decision in the face of so much tragedy. Forman did a wonderful job handling Mia's emotions - there was never a point where things felt corny or

I thought the supporting characters were well-developed and likeable. I wanted to know more about Mia's friend Kim, and I found myself hoping for her to have more of a voice in the next book. I found myself getting invested in the characters and I liked them so much that it made me root for a positive outcome for Mia even more. 

All in all, I thought this was a great story and thoroughly readable. I've already ordered the next book and I can't wait to read it. I'd give If I Stay an enthusiastic 5/5.