City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

As far as books which have been turned into movies go, I will almost always prefer the book. This isn't some weird snobbish thing-I believe a movie is worth just as much as a book in terms of merit, and (depending on the movie and the book) sometimes more. It just so happens that usually I like the book better.

City of Bones is no exception.

I was on chapter ten of this book when I went to see the movie. After enduring what was possibly the most boring 2 hours of my life, I really had very little desire to finish it but I'm glad I did. This book is a hundred times better than the movie. For one thing it's actually pretty funny, a quality I find rare in books. For another, Clary actually does stuff in the book which doesn't involve screaming and falling over all the time.

But anyway, this isn't about my issues with the movie. Taken on its own, City of Bones is a pretty decent book. As I said, the dialogue manages to be pretty funny at times and the secondary characters are all likeable and interesting. My main issue comes from the main characters. That is to say, I don't actually particularly like either of them.

You might question how I can enjoy a book when I don't like the main characters and to be honest, I don't really have an answer for you. Clary is a little bland and suffers from the whole 'hostile and snarky for no real reason' problem which plagues 'feisty' female characters. Jace is just an asshole, plain and simple. But the rest of the characters I liked on the whole and for whatever reason, I was able to look past my disinterest in the two main ones.

The twist at the end I actually really liked, weird though it was. If I hadn't seen the movie first then it would have been genuinely surprising and it's definitely something which hasn't been done before. It's also very brave in YA fiction so Clare deserves some bonus points for that. Which she prompty loses for naming her heroine 'Clary'.

Overall, City of Bones is a moderately enjoyable book. It doesn't make my top ten list perhaps but I will be checking out the rest of the series and it's certainly an improvement from the snorefest of a movie. It's probably worth reading and you could certainly do a lot worse.

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Candy and the Broken Biscuits by Lauren Laverne

Okay, confession time. I never actually finished this book. Actually, I never even made it past chapter five. So why am I reviewing it you ask? Well, because this book made me so damn angry, that's why.

It's not often I don't finish a book. It's only happened twice before and never out of anger, only boredom. But Candy has the dubious honour of being the first book to break my grand tradition of perseverance and for that reason, I hate it all the more.

It all started off so well too. Admittedly it was never going to be a great piece of literature, but it was a fun, fluffy chick-lit teen book, similar to Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and other books of that ilk.

And then the Fairy Godbrother showed up.

Never have I been more shocked in my life by a sudden change in genre. Wait, this isn't a realistic (well, as realistic as the genre gets) teen novel? This is a magical realism type book instead?

Oh.

It was at this point I put the book down in disgust, annoyed by the change coming out of nowhere. I tried to continue on three more times before finally dismissing it as too ridiculous and banishing it to the pile of books never to be read (presently consisting of this book and Eragon) Don't get me wrong, I don't mind tales with a fantastical twist. In fact, I welcome them. But you have to foreshadow it accurately or at least mention in the blurb what it's about otherwise you're just going to end up pissing off your readers. Admittedly a 'Fairy Godbrother' is mentioned in the blurb but in such a way that it could easily be construed as a metaphor.

Perhaps someday I'll finish Candy and give it a proper review. Or perhaps it will rot for all eternity in my pile of unreadable books, never to be touched again. I know which is more likely.

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Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson

Once upon a time there was a girl who was special.
This is not her story.
Unless you count the part where I killed her.

This book has one of the best blurbs I've ever read which is suitable since it's also one of the best books I've ever read. It was also nothing like I expected.

Ultraviolet is an exquisite book about Alison, a girl with Synesthesia who is sent to a mental asylum for killing the most popular girl in her school. While technically this is an accurate description of the plot, it doesn't really convey what you're letting yourself in for. The start of this book is so good, an intriguing idea fuelled by stunning description and amazingly-detailed characters. It's quite slow-paced I guess but it works best that way. Alison is a very compelling character, the whole world of the asylum is built up beautifully and in general I loved the story. And then...

Aliens.

No seriously. There are aliens in this book.

It was like Candy and the Broken Biscuits all over again. Why? Why do books do this? Why suddenly slip into the world of fantasy when the story has essentially been nothing but realism so far? Even worse to do it so late into the book, when the world is so completely and lovingly crafted. 

And yet, I don't hate this book. I should by all rights because it does something I really hate, but it doesn't spoil the story. I can't bring myself to hate this book because it is so beautiful, and even after everything gets turned upside down I still found myself reading and enjoying it. In a weird way, it works. I still would have preferred to have things rooted in realism throughout and I am a little sad about the ending I feel I've lost by the story switching so suddenly, but overall I still like Ultraviolet. I still love it.

This is by all accounts an amazing book, and I would definitely recommend reading it. It's a fascinating story written beautifully and it sucks you in completely. It's also one of the few books which manages to be truly surprising and, miraculously, pulls it off. It's a book I couldn't help but love and one which shall forever hold a special place on my bookshelf for that reason.

 Overall Score:

.5

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

One thing I've noticed about sci-fi books is that they have a tendency to get analysed a lot more than the average bestseller. People seem to love to analyse the crap out of sci-fi in a way that simply doesn't happen with other genres, with everything being an allegory for something else. Ender's Game has suffered from this somewhat, particularly when considering the questionable views of its author. I however believe that you should judge a book solely on its own merits so I shall avoid discussing any potential 'hidden messages' and instead focus on reviewing the book simply as a book.

In a nutshell, this is a book about children being trained for war using advance computer simulations. Really though it's a story about Ender and the way he is broken down and manipulated to become the perfect soldier.

It's hard to describe how I feel about this book. Most of my problems with it come from general problems I have with this particular genre rather than problems specific to the book itself. There's a lot of politics in this as well as a lot of description about the futuristic setting. Some of it is interesting, a lot of it isn't, but it's well-written and not as bad as in some other cases. The general tale is very compelling and the clinical style in which it's written fits the character of Ender perfectly. I had mixed feelings about the subplot with Ender's siblings but ultimately I think I enjoyed it due to how interesting I found their characters.

Before I started reading this book, I'd heard a lot of fuss about the ending. I'm ashamed to say I didn't see the twist coming (although it was fairly obvious in hindsight) but it also wasn't as big a twist as I was expecting based on the hype. I felt that the book maybe carried on too long after its climax but at the same time, I did enjoy reading about the stuff that happened afterwards so I can't really fault it for that.

I'm aware I'm being a bit vague in this review but as I said, I can't quite sort out my feelings about it. Strengths-it's a solid sci-fi book with strong themes, reasonably strong characters and it will definitely provoke thoughts/feelings in its readers. Weaknesses-some parts are just so weird that they seem disjointed and other parts tend to be dull. Overall, I did enjoy Ender's Game and I'm glad I read it. Would I read it again? Probably not for a very long time. Should you read it? If you enjoy sci-fi, then yes. Definitely.

Overall Score:

.5

Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

I'm just going to come out and say it right now. I am a huge Courtney Summers fan. I discovered her books last summer and after reading almost all of them, I fell 100% in love with her style. Cracked Up to Be is her first book and the first one I read. But it's not the one which made me fall in love with her.

Don't get me wrong, Cracked Up to Be is a solid book. It tells the story of Parker Fadley, a girl who used to be Little Miss Perfect but has fallen from grace. I know, I know-standard YA fare right? You'd expect this book to be utterly tedious, full of first-world problems and an ex-cheerleader's whiny ranting. You'd expect it to be predictable with your standard high school stereotypes who all act like complete idiots just to prolong the inevitable conclusion. You'd expect it to not be worth reading.

Trust me when I say this novel lives up to its name. Parker is definitely a disturbed girl and better still, she's written accurately as one. This is no toned-down, light and fluffy story. It might not be as brutal as some of her other works but the characters have real problems and they act like it too. True, the side characters are sometimes a bit flat and not really developed enough to seem truly realistic. But what is realistic is the way Parker is shown to deal with things and really, it's almost disturbing to read at times. Kudos to Summers too for not going with the expected 'horrible incident' either. I definitely did not guess how this book was going to turn out and that's refreshing considering how the concept of popular girls with dark secrets is hardly a new one.

So why does this book not get 5 stars? Well as I mentioned, the characters fall a little short sometimes. The ending itself is also a little unsatisfying as it doesn't really come to a solid conclusion (which I don't always need but it would have been nice in this case) On the whole though, Cracked Up to Be is definitely worth checking out. It might not be Summers' best but as far as books go, it's still pretty damn good

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Enduring Love by Ian McEwan

Dear god man, get to the point!

That's basically what I was thinking the whole time I was reading this. Well, that and various, barely funny variations of the title which fully expressed my rage. Enduring Yawn? Boring Love? Who dies in a hot-air balloon-related accident anyway?

There's no question about it, this is a bad book. Unfortunately it's based around a good premise which only makes it all the worse. The main problem of this book is that it takes forever to go anywhere. Just as the plot is about to kick off and things are starting to get interesting, the author will interrupt the story for a five-page lecture on science. Don't get me wrong, I love science. But this isn't supposed to be a book about science, it's supposed to be a book about a crazed stalker. You can analyse until the cows come home about what the science lectures are supposed to represent but screw that, I want story damn it.

Okay, so let's put my issues with pacing aside for now...and move onto my issues with characters! Firstly, the narrator. As mentioned, he's pretty boring due to said lectures. But hey, he doesn't have to be interesting. The main star is surely the stalker right? Except...well, Jed is sort of flat. He has a motive I guess (yay for more negative portrayals of religious people being fanatics -_-) but no real depth to him. My most-hated character however was, without a doubt, Joe's 'loving' wife. Seriously, what kind of woman would respond in the way she did when she found out her husband had a stalker? Worst still, she never gets called out on it, leaving me with the uneasy impression that we're supposed to agree with her actions.

I'm not saying I hated this book completely. Like I said at the start, it is based around a good premise. The whole hot-air balloon thing is ridiculous but everything else has promise. Sadly anything good just gets drowned in a sea of endless rambling and never-ending tangents.

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Brother/Sister by Sean Olin

Argh, I enjoyed reading this book so much I don't even know where to start.

Brother/Sister is a tale about one messed-up sibling relationship. It's told in dual narrative with Will and Asheley taking it in turns to narrate a chapter each. The whole thing is told as if the reader is a police officer the characters are directly speaking to, a style which compliments the whole 'unreliable narrator' vibe of the book perfectly. Short chapters give the story a sense of urgency and this is one of the reasons I got so sucked into the book that I read it all in one sitting. It builds slowly at first but things switch suddenly, and after that I was compelled to keep reading to find out what happened next.

I already liked the book a lot before I was even halfway through, mainly due to how down-to-earth and realistic the characters seemed. Then the plot got good and I liked it even more, and then I reached the last line.

I genuinely thought about two-thirds of the way through that I knew how it was going to end. Nope. Not even close. Never have I experienced such a chill when reading the end of a book before. I had to read the last line twice before I actually processed it and then my instant thought was 'Wow'. Trust me when I say the ending changes everything and in the most brilliant way possible. Everything you thought you knew about the characters is instantly tinged with doubt. I normally don't worry about spoilers in these reviews but really, this is something you have to experience yourself first-hand. But kudos to the writer for pulling it off so brilliantly.

One thing I do think it's important to address is the whole 'incest' thing. Let me be clear-there's no graphic portrayal of incest in this book. For the large majority of it, Will and Ash's relationship is unhealthy but basically innocent, with only vague hints to suggest there might be something untoward about it. Towards the end however, it does skew towards the more uncomfortable end of the spectrum and there is a lot of creepy emotions going on. If incest bothers you then I would probably suggest not reading this book but it is definitely not a book about incest in itself.

Ultimately, I adored this book. It has a compelling yet fairly straightforward plot, a narrative style which keeps to the point yet still manages to build atmosphere and characters whose POV is fascinating to read from. The ending, like I said, is truly haunting and I can guarantee that you will be thinking about this book for a while after you've finished it.

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Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Paranormal romance is always sort of a sore subject isn't it? Like it or not, the genre has become synonymous with Twilight and all the sparkly terribleness that implies. I'm not generally a fan of straight romance books anyway (especially those aimed specifically at teenagers) but since wolves are my favourite animal and since I was able to buy the whole series on offer, I decided to take a chance with Shiver.

Am I glad I took that chance? Well, it's sort of hard to say.

First off, Shiver is by no means a bad book. It has an intriguing and refreshing take on werewolves (something which should be saluted) and a narrative style which, while it might not be everyone's cup of tea, flows well and is dreamy to read. Unfortunately, what lets it down is its characters.

Let's start with the main characters, Sam and Grace. Sam is certainly likeable enough-he's a typical indie dream boy perhaps but he gets decent development and is easy to empathise with. Grace on the other hand...she's presented as the sort of girl who is reserved and private with her emotions, which is certainly a nice change from the usual whiny female protagonists that seem to plague these types of books. However, this does mean that you reach the end of the book without really getting the sense that you know her-not great considering she's one of the narrators. She's not a terrible character but she's not terribly compelling either. She's just sort of...there.

The side characters in Shiver are also ridiculously flat. Apart from Sam's 'family', every other character basically amounts to little more than a plot device. They have the shadows of a personality but nothing that really brings them to life.

As I said earlier, I bought the whole Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy at once, and after reading this book I was surprised by the fact there were two more. The book seems to come to a natural conclusion and one which works well. Does this bode well for the sequels? Probably not. Further books have the potential to seem like padding if there's no substantial plot to carry them. However, I have optimism for this series and as far as paranormal romances go, you could do a lot worse.

Overall Score:

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Wow. Just...wow.

Okay, now I've read my fair share of 'bad boy' books. You know the kind. 'Oh, this guy is such a creepy jerk and he's stalking me but he's hot so it's okay'. Well let me tell you now, Travis Maddox is the worst of them. Yes, the impossible has been achieved and we finally have a romantic fantasy figure creepier than Edward Cullen.

Travis Maddox is not someone people should dream about being with. He's possessive, he's emotionally unstable, he flies into fits of rage and he punches every other guy who so much as looks at Abby. And guess what? He never gets called out on his behaviour! In the end him and Abby end up happily married and with matching, possessive tattoos. No, seriously. Abby literally ends up branded with his name like a prize cow.

 

So yes, Beautiful Disaster is one of 'those' books. In fact, laughably so. In the first scene Abby is wearing pearls and a cardigan just to emphasise how sweet and innocent she is, while Travis is introduced with a lengthy description of his tattoos and a scene which involves him bare-knuckle boxing. Only wait, there's a twist! See, Abby isn't the good girl everyone thinks she is. No, it turns out she has a secret...

Her father gambles. That's literally it.

Oh come on. That's not even an issue, especially since Abby's dad is naturally one of Travis's heroes so he just finds it cool. You know what would have been refreshing? If Abby's secret was she used to be a slut. Seriously, now that would have been worth reading. Travis would have to cope with his insane jealousy and confront the fact that he wasn't the only person she'd slept with. That would have involved working through his issues and you know, some actual conflict. Instead we get this half-baked subplot of her dad owing money to some mobsters in Vegas and god, who cares really?

Travis and Abby are without a doubt, the King and Queen of Dysfunctional Relationships. There is not one ounce of drama in this book which doesn't stem from one or both of them acting completely crazy. Side characters are hardly any better, with Abby's friend constantly urging her on to get with the crazy psychopath who completely trashed his apartment when he found out she left him and who chases away other guys when they're not even together. There is one reason and one reason alone to read this book-comedy value. The one upside is it isn't terribly written and I doubt anyone is actually stupid enough to believe this is what a relationship should be like.

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Rage by Stephen King

Okay, well I wanted to find a good book to start this blog off with and by that, I mean an interesting one. And what could be more interesting than a banned book by one of my favourite authors? Rage by Stephen King is all about a school shooting and it was withdrawn from publication after copies of the book were found in the possession of several real school shooters. Having read it now though, I can't help but wonder if it's withdrawal had more to do with how it ends...

 Rage tells the story of Charlie Decker, a teenage with (you guessed it) a lot of rage. After one too many clashes with the establishment and his father, he brings a gun into school, shoots two of his teachers and then holds his class hostage. The rest of the book is basically like a therapy session for them all, with each student confessing/sharing a story from their past while Charlie explains what led him to do this.

 

This carries on for about 160 pages or so before finally Charlie lets everyone go, promptly gets shot and surprisingly, actually survives. This leads us to my big problem with the novel-in the end, the shooting is sort of portrayed as being a good thing. None of the students themselves get shot and apart from poor Ted, they're all happier and a lot more emotionally-balanced after the shooting takes place. This, while certainly being an interesting ending, is more than a little uncomfortable to read given the vast amount of real-life shootings which have taken place. Ultimately it spoiled my enjoyment of the book too because of how uneasy it made me feel. I'm not one of those people who believes fiction should shy away from difficult topics but there's a difference between telling a story about a school shooting and telling a story which paints a school shooting in positive light.

Was it enough to ruin the book entirely for me? Of course not. This is still a fascinating read and as always, King manages to create a compelling cast of characters. They are perhaps a little less defined than in some of his later work but given its short length, I would still say Rage is definitely worth checking out. Not King's best but certainly not his worst either.

Overall Score: