ARC Review of Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

by: Sarah
Author Website/Goodreads/Amazon
Release Date: September 11th, 2012
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 370 pages
Series: The Lynburn Legacy #1
Rating: ★★★★★/ 5 out of 5

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.
But all that changes when the Lynburns return.
The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

Well well well. Where do I even begin? For a long time now I've been saying to myself that I wouldn't hand out a 5 star rating until a book really wowed me. I've been very picky, probably a little too picky, but here we are you're hearing straight from the horse's mouth this book is indeed a 5 star chick. Why? I thought you'd never ask!

Unspoken was quite a slap in the mouth as I went into it not really knowing what it was about. I saw ooh pretty cover and something about a girl loving a boy who exists in her head and  I was sold. Vital information: mind relationships really do it for me. Anyway, so the book starts out with a very quirky, funny and likeable heroine, Kami, and her persistently pessismistic best friend, Angela. You know how books and movies do that thing where they make the best friend character an insufferable asshole to make the main character seem all that much better in comparison? Yeah, Angela does not fall into that category. She is a fierce warrior princess and currently at the top of my list of favorite characters. And just when I thought she couldn't get any better SPOILER(highlight to read):it turns out she's a LESBIAN ....or at least is attracted to girls:SPOILER oh my GOD Sarah Rees Brennan I REQUEST THE HIGHEST OF FIVES! I literally had an out of body experience when that happened I rolled off my bed and collapsed in a heap on the floor. But I digress, back to the plot of the story. Kami Glass is just your average teenage girl trying to make it in this crazy world, aside from the fact that ever since she was a child she's heard a boy named Jared's voice in her head. She assumes Jared is a figment of her imagination until surprise! Turns out he's real and he happens to be related to the cute guy at school, Ash, who's been given Kami some unprecented attention. Both of which are members of the mysterious Lynburn family! The espionage! I can't!

Now at this point I was like euuuuuuuuhhm get outta here love triangle I'm not here for this. But it wasn't really so much as a love triangle but rather a love fucked-up-a-gon. There are several boys in Kami's life that care for her and instead of Kami being like oh woe is me which one do I pick she was more like I'm just gonna do me and see what happens. YES KAMI. KAMI YOU ARE GIVING ME SO MUCH LIFE RIGHT NOW. So Kami and our rag-tag group of supporting characters live in a lovely English town called Sorry-in-the-Vale, but creeeeeeepy stuff happens in Sorry-in-the-Vale. Animals are being sacrificed, Kami is being mysteriously targeted, somebody might get dead, and  it's up to Kami and her friends to solve the mysteries surrounding the town and their own family's secrets. But as Kami soon comes to realize, she doesn't know who she can really trust. Not even the people she thinks she knows the most.

You: Okay Sarah we get it, it was a good book I'll look into it okay

Me: 

This book is written superbly. I haven't been sucked into a story the way I was with this one in quite some time. The storytelling is lush and exciting. The characters are well developed and interesting, even the minor ones, and that is something that always gets a book on my good side. There's nothing I hate more in a story than throwaway characters. There are none in this book. Even the characters that were only there for a few pages brought something funny or a little bit interesting to the table. And can I just say how amazing it is to have a ~bad boy~ type male lead that's actually interesting, complex, and a little messed up but not a romanticized abusive or manipulative asshole? *Commence Slow Clap*

If I had to pinpoint one downfall of this book, it is that it does suffer from what I like to call Everyone Is Witty Syndrome. In this book, pretty much every character has the perfect quip or joke ready on hand 24/7, and usually that makes me so irritated I want to cry, but in this book the dialogue was just so on point and consistently funny that I didn't even care. And when I thought about it, me and my circle of friends are pretty hilarious all the time, so it's not completely unrealistic....right?

Another thing that bothered me was Jared's behavior toward climax of the book, but for the most part, I understood it was part of his character's journey, and I must say I am steadily aboard the good ship Kami/Jared. (Kared? Jami? Let's settle this now..I think I like Jami... Kared sounds like Carrot) Though sometimes their relationship did feel a little insta-lovey and inappropriately dramatic, the reader must remember that they've technically known each other their entire lives. They've formed an impossibly close bond. I'd probably be a little crazy over the thought of losing that person too. SPOILER(highlight to read): The end broke my heart! I was rooting for you Jared we were all rooting for you!!!! But whatever, be a sad bad boy. You'll get over it in the sequel.:SPOILER

Tl;dr: This book is a wonderfully refreshing and entertaining young adult fantasy/paranormal novel (not to mention the delightful elements of romance and mystery) with a cheeky contemporary feel. So much of my favorite things ever going on here. I already want to go back and read the beginning and giggle to myself because I know what's going to happen. I'm having a hard time expressing all my feels. Maybe I should just revert to primitive language at this point. Book. Good. Go. Buy. Now.

________________________________________________________________________________

Review also on goodreads

Review of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Info:
Release Date: September 27th 2011

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Pages: 417 pages (hardcover)

Series: Yes, this is #1

My Format: Library (audiobook)

Time it Took me to Read: audio is 14 hours

Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

I believe it’s an age thing.

I’ve often been told that teenagers are just as viable as adults- that our opinions matter, too. That we count as people as much as the next forty year old. And yes, I agree with that to a certain degree.

But as a young person, I can tell you that there’s a lot that I don’t understand. That I’ve never experienced- that I can’t imagine until I’ve seen it, felt it, heard its harrowing cries.

One of these things is love.

That’s where Daughter of Smoke and Bone has its biggest fault. The first line of the book is “Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.” This is referring to the two main characters of the story, Karou and Akiva. The only problem is that I didn’t get their love. I didn’t feel a connection. It was, to put it simply, insta love.

Maybe that’s not the author’s fault at all. Everyone over the age of twenty who has read this book has given it such high praise- anybody under that age had less than good things to say. I read and watched a lot of reviews on this book before writing my own, and while reading many teenagers’, I began to realize that their main complaint was the so-called insta-love.

[Here’s where I add that I say that I mean majority, meaning… my Goodreads friends. If you’re 85 and you hated this book, good for you! Comment and we can talk, because I like you.]

One of the goals of writing is to make a reader understand and sympathize. Laini Taylor did this nicely with Karou, as I thought she was a great heroine. However, the romance- MY biggest gripe as well- left me wondering if I was missing something. I wanted to rate this five stars so badly. The world building was stunning, and it had a rich cast of characters, and it was so beautifully imagined. But the romance between Akiva and Karou was just depressing and made me not want to read.

The romance was comparable to the one in City of Bones. Utterly ridiculous, and full of yawn, yawn whatever. Karou and Clary both drew their perfect love interests in sketchbooks, half of the book was filled with descriptions of Jace’s and Akiva’s perfectness, blah blah twinkies are dry. The difference between the two books is that the last half of City of Bones didn’t completely revolve around the romance. Being such a large book as well, that’s a lot of pages! It boggled my mind how Daughter of Smoke and Bone would spend 200 pages on a romance, yet let the actual falling in love last about 10 pages, sans 50 pages of Akiva stalking Karou.

I kept reading anyway because everything outside of that was great. But whenever Akiva showed up, he brought everything crashing down. For one, he had this “pity me” vibe going on. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to sympathize with him because of that, but it just sort of made me angry, like the people with problems who go on reality shows just to get attention. (I’m not talking about actual people with actual problems. I’m talking about those chicks that appear on Dr. Phil, or My Strange Addiction.)

Secondly, he was described as beautiful repeatedly. I get that beautiful people make the world go round, but that should not be the only prerequisite for a relationship.

But wait. This wasn’t a relationship. It was full on, desperate, desperate love- the kind that is told so gorgeously, that I really wanted to love it myself. But I couldn’t really bring myself to, because I just didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand the romance.

Considering the romance takes up half of the book, this is a problem. I felt like it was used to move along some plot points that could have been resolved with more action, because, believe, me, Laini Taylor can write good action scenes.

But I think Laini Taylor can write, period. (Although I should add that this is the type of writing with an adjective before each word. Not for the people who think beauty is in simple things.) Maybe later in life, I can appreciate the beauty of this book. For now, I will say that Daughter of Smoke and Bone was humorous with riveting creativity, but I could easily put it down.

Review of Eon by Alison Goodman

 ★★★★

Eon
By: Alison Goodman
Review by: Kaede

Publisher: Firebird
Pages: 531
Star Rating:  ★★★★/ Exceeded Expectations.

Sixteen-year-old Eon has a dream, and a mission. For years, he's been studying sword-work and magic, toward one end. He and his master hope that he will be chosen as a Dragoneye-an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune.

But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been masquerading as a twelve-year-old boy. Females are forbidden to use Dragon Magic; if anyone discovers she has been hiding in plain sight, her death is assured.

When Eon's secret threatens to come to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a deadly struggle for the Imperial throne. Eon must find the strength and inner power to battle those who want to take her magic...and her life.       

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 He released me, his face tight with disgust. "Always half the story. Never the whole."

Living a life constructed only of lies, 16-year-old Eona, disguised as 12-year-old Eon, has been training for years to be chosen as a Dragoneye apprentice. However the secret of her gender is said not only to bring misfortune, but will, if discovered, be the very cause of her death. Eona must hold the cold, hard fact that if the secret she and her master took every length to conceal should ever come to light, danger would not only be inflicted on to her, but to everyone she holds dear.

Faced with impossible odds, the gap between Eona and the other candidates seem to grow by every passing day. And if only to make meeting impossible ends more impossible, Eona is crippled. But we soon learn that Eona possesses not one secret, but many. One being that she can link herself to all the living energy dragons of good fortune, a feat unheard of. But will that advantage serve to be enough?

The world of Eon is a splendid blend of the Japanese and Chinese cultures, but still manages to hold a place of it's own. Eon is as entralling as it is imaginative and unique, but it is not without flaws. But it is those very flaws that enable to readers to connect to Eona, to her world of the dragons in the state of a battle for the Imperial throne.

There was one other course I could take, but Ido had seen my true nature; it was not in me to chose suicide. Perhaps it was cowardice, but I was not ready to die. Not for my emperor, not for the prince, not even for my friends. And for this shameful lack of courage, I was now slave to Ido's desires.

Eona, or if you prefer, Eon, is nothing like the typical damsel in distress. It's true that she is far from perfection, but who isn't? Eona is not invulnerable, but at least she knows where her loyalties lie, even if she is not able to act on them. If forced to draw a sword to save her friend's life, it would not be in Eona to drop her weapons and flee alone. I grew to admire her, slow and selfish as she may be, Eona was the kind of person who'd try and try again, and if she failed, she'd try again. With a man's appearance but a woman's heart at core, Eona is able to live the best of both worlds.

I found power in accepting the truth of who I am. It may not be a truth that others can accept, but I cannot live any other way.

Encountering and eventually befriending Lady Dela and Ryko, even if Eona did not know it then, would serve to be a great assist if she still wished to live after everything she'll go through. Being a strong believer myself that without well-developed and strong side characters, a book would not be even close to the level it could be, I must admit that I expected to prefer Lady Dela and Ryko over Eona and Ido the moment we were introduced to all of them. However, much to my shock but satisfaction, I found that I adored all of them. Down to the very last of the characters, even the very evil High Lord that sought to control by force. I was able to see a light to those who seemed to fall on dark side. Ido, Ido, Ido. That man sure is, if anything, something.

"He grunted. 'You have the courage of a warrior."
I watched him turn away and gather the clothes from the ground. He thought me courageous? But I was terrified - always terrified.
"No," I said flatly. "I don't."
He paused from stuffing the invaluable robe between two bales. "Are you frightened now?"
I nodded, shame flushing my skin.
"Is it going to stop you?"
"No."
"That is the courage of a warrior."

Indeed it is, my friend. Indeed it is.

Eon has pulled of quite the feat here. Not only has it managed blown away any disregard I had towards it, Eon left me wanting more. Now there's something that hasn't happened in months. Eona, the sequel, seems so near, yet so far. The size of the two books are really something, eh? And that's just about the only thing that's stopping me from tearing through Eon's successor. That and a ridiculous pile of to-be-reads.

And oh, so you say you've yet to read Eon? Well, darling:

Just what in the dragon's name are you waiting for?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And yes, this was the slump-breaker book.  Don't know what that means? Refer back to this article.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review also found at: Goodreads.

Contact me: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com