Tag: recommend

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Fire: Kristin Cashore

So I started Fire after reading Graceling (which I loved).
When I read the quick excerpt (have I mentioned how I HATE to read excerpts or reviews of books? I just like to see customer ratings), I saw that it was a contination of Graceling, so I was all like, “woohoo”.

But then the book started and there were these “monsters” and strange flying raptor/dinosaur type creatures and I was all like, “huh?”

Reading about Fire (the lead character), it took me a bit to come to grasp with who she was.

But there is something about Kristin Cashore. Her books tend to develop kind of slowly, but in that slow development something magical happens. You connect with the characters. It happened in Graceling and before I was half way done with Fire, it happened with this book too.

I was confused at how it was a sequal to Graceling, until the very end as things started to come into alignment and I realized how intertwined the two stories were.

REALLY liked this book!

This fantasy, shot through with romance and suspense, is set in the same world as Graceling (Dial, 2008), but on the far side of the mountain barrier in the kingdom of the Dells. Here there are monsters, enhanced and exceptionally beautiful versions of various animal species. Fire is a human monster, so beautiful that she has to hide her hair for fear of attack by both raptor monsters and human men. She is able to enter other people’s minds and exert power over them. It is a tumultuous time in the kingdom, as various lords are preparing to overthrow the king, and Fire is drawn into the fray. With a larger cast and a more complex canvas than Graceling, the story begins slowly and takes its time establishing itself. Fire’s path is not immediately clear, and although full of action, her quest is largely internal. While the plotting is well done, there are a few quibbles about Cashore’s world-building and about the role of a major character from Graceling, Leck. But, this is Fire’s story, and readers will fall in love with her as she struggles with her pivotal role in the war effort as well as her complex relationships with her oldest friend and lover, Archer; with Prince Brigan, whose mind is closed to her and who becomes central to her life; and with her monster father’s fearsome legacy. More adult in tone than Graceling, this marvelous prequel will appeal to older teens, who will not only devour it, but will also love talking about it.

So go out and get Graceling and Fire. You won’t be disappointed. Or at least I wasn’t disappointed.

5 stars, recommend.

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Lightening: Dean Koontz

This was a very good read.
It’s one of those books that the twists all kinds of genres. Love, suspense, sci-fi, fantasy, drama, etc.

When I picked this book, I was mainly just wanting a good read. Something fun to pass the time and something on the cheaper side.

Dean Koontz rarely disappoints me, as I enjoy his quirky sense of reality in his fictional world.

Overall, TOTALLY enjoyed this book.

Amazon Description:

On the night of Laura Shane’s birth, a stranger appears from the lightning to prevent her delivery’s being botched by an alcoholic physician. Throughout Laura’s childhood the stranger reappears at times of danger. He protects rather than threatens, yet menace seems to follow him. Thirty years later another storm flashes and the stranger collapses, shot, at Laura’s door. Now Laura protects her erstwhile guardian from mysterious hunters. He reveals that he and the hunters are time travelers. Laura, quick-witted and brave, leads the way to a bloody showdown. The paradox in time travel’s tampering with history provides an interesting twist in this gripping thriller by a popular writer.

I’m going to give this 4 stars and recommend it!

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Graceling: Kristin Cashore

I decided upon this book because Amazon told me I would like it. Seriously. How lame is that, yet how much more lame is it that I didn’t have anything else interesting to read so I bought it?!

The beginning of the book started out a bit strange. It’s a fantasy novel based on a 17 year old (you know I love my 17 year olds) who has been graced with a special talent. Her talent just so happens to be killing people.

So begins an interesting coming of age, finding herself story that I found myself completely engrossed in. It started out a bit slow, but that’s because Kristin Cashore is really defining her characters and making you know them and love them. I love it when authors do this, but then I hate it at the same time. Especially if this is a stand alone novel without a sequal or series to follow along with. (although I think she is going to keep going with this, but none are out now)
Here is the Amazon description:

If you had the power to kill with your bare hands, what would you do with it?
Graceling takes readers inside the world of Katsa, a warrior-girl in her late teens with one blue eye and one green eye. This gives her haunting beauty, but also marks her as a Graceling. Gracelings are beings with special talents—swimming, storytelling, dancing. Katsa’s Grace is considered more useful: her ability to fight (and kill, if she wanted to) is unequaled in the seven kingdoms. Forced to act as a henchman for a manipulative king, Katsa channels her guilt by forming a secret council of like-minded citizens who carry out secret missions to promote justice over cruelty and abuses of power.
Combining elements of fantasy and romance, Cashore skillfully portrays the confusion, discovery, and angst that smart, strong-willed girls experience as they creep toward adulthood. Katsa wrestles with questions of freedom, truth, and knowing when to rely on a friend for help. This is no small task for an angry girl who had eschewed friendships (with the exception of one cousin that she trusts) for her more ready skills of self-reliance, hunting, and fighting. Katsa also comes to know the real power of her Grace and the nature of Graces in general: they are not always what they appear to be.

So it’s an interesting story. An interesting world. Loved it!

5 out of 5 stars and totally recommend it.

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Percy Jackson- The Last Olympian: Rick Riordan

This is the final chapter (or so far at least) of the Percy Jackson series.

This has the most battles. The most love. The most monsters. The most everything. Rick decided to throw it all in and give us a good read. I was not disappointed.

Definitely not a stand alone book as you want to read books 1-4 first, but definitely a great read and definitely recommend it.
4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon Summary:
All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of victory are grim. Kronos’s army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan’s power only grows. While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it’s up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.
In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy’s sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.

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Percy Jackson- Battle of the Labryrinth: Rick Riordan

I think this was my favorite book of the series.
I liked how the Labrynth was written and I like the adventure of this one.

I give it 4 out 5 stars for the series and definitely recommend it.

Amazon summary:
The battle starts, literally, with an explosion and doesn’t let up. After Percy destroys the high school band room battling monsters called empousai who have taken on the form of cheerleaders, he has to hide out at Camp Half-Blood. There, Grover’s searcher’s license is going to be revoked unless he can find the god Pan in seven days. An entrance to the Labyrinth has been discovered, which means that Luke, the half-blood turned bad, can bypass the magical protections and invade the camp. Annabeth insists that she must follow a quest to locate Daedalus’s workshop before Luke does. Percy is disturbed by visions of Nico, the son of Hades, who is summoning forth the spirits of the dead with McDonalds Happy Meals. Percy, Grover, and Percy’s Cyclops half-brother follow Annabeth into the maze not knowing if they will ever find their way out. Riordan cleverly personifies the Labyrinth as a sort of living organism that changes at will, and that traverses the whole of the United States. Kids will devour Riordan’s subtle satire of their world, such as a Sphinx in the Labyrinth whose questions hilariously parody standardized testing. The secret of Pan is revealed with a bittersweet outcome that also sends an eco-friendly message. Like many series, the “Percy Jackson” books are beginning to show the strain of familiarity and repetition. However, the overarching story line remains compelling, and the cliff-hanger ending will leave readers breathless in anticipation of the fifth and final volume.