The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater



 #1 in The Raven Cycle
Published September 18, 2012 by Scholastic Press
4 Stars

Goodreads Review
There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

Review:  I absolutely loved the premise of The Raven Boys, but I had a hard time getting started with this novel.  The beginning felt very slow, largely due to the story being told from two separate perspectives (Blue and Gansey have alternating point of view chapters for a while).  However once Blue and Gansey meet and join forces the story takes a major turn.  I flew through the second half of this book and became completely immersed in the story and characters.

The Raven Boys is a bit of a slow burn to start off.  I think this is due to the fact that the marketing materials presented the book like it was going to be all about Blue and her family, but in reality Gansey is the main character for much of the novel.  I went into The Raven Boys expecting a story about a girl living with her psychic family, but instead I got a story about a group of boys trying to find a magical energy line.  This isn't bad necessarily, but it wasn't what I was expecting so I was put off at first. 

The biggest strength of The Raven Boys is the characters.  Each character feels supported and full. Everyone has a unique backstory that shapes their world view.  I really enjoyed reading how each character grows during the course of the book, in particular Blue, Gansey, and Ronan.  I also really enjoyed Blue's family and I really hope that we'll learn more about them in future books.

I'd say the pacing of the book is the biggest weakness.  It was slow and confusing at the beginning, and fast and confusing at the end.  I feel like this is a book I needed to re-read immediately after finishing because I felt like I missed something.  The world building in The Raven Boys sometimes felt too big for the book and that the ideas of the magic and mythology were difficult to get on paper. 

Overall the Raven Boys is an interesting, if sometimes confusing, start to a series.  While the world building and pacing were shaky at times the fantastically developed characters will definitely bring me back for book two.

Friday Face Off Cover Reveal: Cress

Friday Face Off is a meme hosted by one of my favorite book bloggers Misty over at The Book Rat. Usually this meme focuses on different cover designs for the same book and decides which is better for the story. I wanted to take this meme and add a little twist to it today by discussing a cover reveal!

Today I have great news, we got the cover for Cress, the third book in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer!  I absolutely adored Cinder and Scarlet and Cress is definitely one of my most anticipated books of 2014.  I love the cover and I think it fits so well with the rest of the series.  The title font is to die for!  Do you like it?  Post in the comments below!

August 2013 New Reads

I have to admit, there aren't too many books coming out in August that I'm really excited for.  There's a bunch coming in September and October, but August is usually a slow month.  However there are a few, so let's discuss!

August 15

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
#1 in the Between Series

Why I'm Excited:  This book has been getting a lot of hype about being something new and fresh in YA.  A lot of my friends who have gotten their paws on ARCs are raving about it, so I can't wait to read it for myself!











August 27

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Why I'm Excited:  I'm excited for Two Boys Kissing largely due to the title and cover.  We get a TON of straight couples kissing covers (ie every Nicolas Sparks book EVER) but not many gay couples.  I love how this cover is designed exactly like so many hetero romances out there, but with two boys.  I am also really interested in the story and I hope that this book will provide the same outlet for GLBT teens as the characters in the novel.










Other Notable Releases

August 1 - Canary by Rachel Alpine

August 6 - Biting Bad by Chloe Neill
                   Infinity Glass by Myra McEntire
                   Elegy by Amanda Hocking

August 8 -  Charmed Vengeance by Suzanne Lazear

August 13 - False Sight by Dan Krokos

August 27 - Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
                     Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

August 29 - Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Fever by Lauren DeStefeno

#2 in The Cemical Garden Series
Published February 21, 2012 by Simon & Schuster
1 Star

 Goodreads Review
Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

Review:  I didn't really like Wither, but I didn't hate it either.  I was put off by the lack of scientific support for the world building but I was interested in the characters and the drama that unfolded.  I thought Wither presented some interesting topics on forced marriages and human trafficking as well as the ethics of genetic manipulation and that in Fever we were going to explore these themes in greater depths.  Unfortunately these topics were barely touched on in this weak follow up.

Fever really suffers from middle book syndrome.  It's almost like the wordiness and overly poetic writing is trying to make up for the lack of character development, world building, or any real plot.    I feel like everything in this book, from the main character to the writing to the world building to even the book itself, is very surface level. Everything is pretty and shiny, but there's no substance, no meat, to anything.  It's like this book is saying "Look at how beautifully I described these girl's dresses and hair! Ignore the fact that they are child prostitutes, let me wax poetic about the fabric of their sex tent!"  The writing is very wishy washy, to the point where I wasn't sure what was happening (specifically with Gabriel and the cage and with Vaughn and his testing).  We're never told clearly what is happening, and instead of creating tension, it only creates confusion.

It's all very disappointing because I really liked the idea of the sex carnival and I thought it was an interesting setting to talk about tough issues like child prostitution.  But it's almost like the author presents these terrible situations but doesn't fully commit her writing or her main character to those situations.  Rhine gets exempt from abusive situations again and again (not having to consummate her marriage to Lindon, not having to prostitute with strangers).  Instead Rhine watches other children be victimized and doesn't do anything to help them other than feel kind of bad.  I feel like there is some indirect victim blaming going on here, that the child prostitutes are dirty and bad for having sex and that Rhine must stay pure and good because she is the main character.  I do not know if that was the intention, but that is the road Fever heads down and it is a very damaging and dangerous path.

Fever is a truly disappointing novel not just as a sequel, but as a missed opportunity to actually say something of value.  It just flits from topic to topic without fully committing to anything.

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

#3 in The Mortal Instrument series
Published in 2009 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
2 Stars

Goodreads Review
To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City - whatever the cost?

Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the final installment of the New York Times bestselling trilogy The Mortal Instruments.

Review:  City of Glass my be the most frustrating book of the entire series.  There are so many cool ideas in this novel, but it's like the interesting aspects of the world building and plot were rushed or pushed to the side so we could get to the stupid angst and drama going on with Clary and Jace.  And there is a lot of drama, but sadly not much else.

My biggest complaint with City of Glass is the writing style and choices.  A lot of the plot developments (what happened to the wizard Ragnor Fell, what happened with Clary's mother, what happened with Isabel and Max, ect.) happened "off screen".  Clary wouldn't be present for the actual event, she would just be told about it later.  There is a lot of truth to the "show don't tell" style of writing and we do not get shown much.  I also have to point out the horrific overuse of similes in this novel (and in Clare's writing in general).  Now, I'm not inherently against similes, when they make sense.  But when you start comparing every single characteristic a person or building or event has to something else seems just lazy to me.  My personal favorite, "There was a crash—the sound of shattering—and a sudden spray of broken glass like a shower of jagged stars."  What does that even mean? 

I found the plot to be very predictable (in fact I was predicting the events of this book at the end of City of Bones) and the amout of drama and angst surrounding this very obvious plot made me roll my eyes and shake my head a lot.  And it's just so disappointing because there really are a lot of cool ideas in this novel that I don't really want to to mention specifically because I don't want to spoil, but they are all so clouded by Clary's inner monologue stuck on her Jace obsession that it's just painful. 

Let's talk really quickly about the ending (no spoilers, promise!)  The final battle is just a huge disappointment.  After being stuck for over five chapters waiting around for the battle to begin, it barely lasts 5 pages!  I want some bloody action!  And the resolution with Valentine was a huge let down.  The whole ending was so anti-climactic and then everything is wrapped up in one convenient little bow.  I hate endings like that, I like it when character are actually affected by the events of the novel and they don't come out perfectly squeaky clean (ie Mockingjay). 

I honestly just don't get what people see in this series.  I think The Moral Instruments is a weak collection of fantasy tropes that are done much better in other series such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Published in 2007 by HarperTeen
2 Stars

Goodreads Review
I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright--a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever--ruined--unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

Review:  I picked up a copy of Beastly because I surprisingly enjoyed the movie (starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer) and I wanted to see what the novel was all about.  I thought Beastly was ok, and was actually enjoying it despite the incredibly cheesy writing and the fact that Beastly sticks closely to the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast and not the classic fairytale.    However, it all went downhill when I got to the ending.

The writing in Beastly is just very safe.  While this is set in "modern day" New York (I use the term modern lightly because the pop culture and technology in Beastly is already vastly dated) Beastly doesn't do much else to deviate from the original fairy tale.  There are no risks or interesting interpretations of the moral of the story, it's the Disney movie in New York.  No more no less.

What really bothered me was how Beastly seemed to miss the whole message of the original fairytale.  The whole point of Beauty and the Beast is to show that inner beauty is more important than outer, but at the end of the book Lindy and Kyle/Adrian are still worrying about each others looks. It's like they learned nothing from Kendra's spell.

Overall Beastly is a very simplified re-telling that doesn't go too deep and keeps the writing and themes very surface level, almost to a fault.  This would be a good book for young readers, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone looking for a challenge or an exploration into the true meaning of beauty.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

#2 in The Mortal Instrument series
Published in 2008 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
2 Stars

Goodreads Review
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

Review:  Ugh this book.  It's really bad you guys.  The characters are boring or stupid, the plot is a scattered mess, and the writing is full of really bad descriptions and terribly lame jokes.  It's just not good.  The only reason I didn't give this a 1 star is because the ending was moderately interesting and City of Ashes didn't fill me with blinding rage like my other 1 star reviews.  I think the best way to review City of Ashes is to talk about the characters, because there really isn't much plot to speak of.

Let's start with Clary and Jace.  They sends shivers of disgust down my spine.  Seriously, every time I read anything with Clary and Jace together I felt like I needed to take a shower.  With a Brillo pad. and some bleach.  I don't get squicked out by many things, but incest is one of them.  I honestly feel like this whole brother/sister thing isn't true and is just added in for some tension that will be revealed later to not be true when it's inconvenient. 

Simon.  He pissed me off so bad at the beginning of this book.  Look, just because you're a "nice guy" doesn't mean your girl "friend" has to like you back or should consent to your advances!  Like seriously, if the only reason you're being nice to a girl is because you think she'll one day wake up and realize she's been in love with you the whole time, you're not a very nice guy! 

***spoilers but I have to rant*** 

When Simon all of a sudden was a vampire I was seriously just like whaaa??  That came out of left field!  They like leave the Seelie court and Simon storms off then it literally cuts to him being almost dead and changing.  We don't get any kind of transition, it was just like Simon's a vampire now ok?

The Inquisitor is totally the Dolores Umbridge of The Mortal Instruments.  She basically exists to get in the way and to be as antagonistic as possible without any reason (ok we kind of get a reason at the end of the book, but in my opinion it's not justified.  How did this person get elected to such an important position if they're unable to be rational or objective?  SMH)

Other random thoughts:

• The faeries in this are rather weak.  Seriously, the biggest mischief you can get up to is forcing a brother and sister to kiss?  Boring!
• The snark that I enjoyed in City of Bones is completely gone.  These characters do not sound like teenagers, they just sound lame.
• Magnus has that creepy I'm-a-900-year-old-supernatural-being-who-creeps-on-18-year-old-mortals vibe going on *cough*Edward Cullen stalker*cough*  (Seriously though, I feel like Clare put Alec and Magnus together because she can't bare to have one of her characters be single.  They so do not work together, they are awkward and in my opinion it really drags down Magnus's character, who could be really awesome if Clare let him).
• Clary is such a special snowflake.  I really hate how her special rune power seems to have no limitations. 
• I had to get through 75% of this book (roughly 340 pages) for anything interesting to happen and to really see any development in the main story arc.  That is not good friends.  Not good.

So yeah.  To say I was not impressed was an understatement.  At this point I'm only reading this series so I can know what other people are talking about and because I own most of these so I might as well read them before I get rid of them.