Tag Archives: bethylou reads

Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

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uprooted I can sum up how I felt about this book with one word. Meh.  Is that a word?  It started off slow but eventually picked up and I became interested but well meh.  It wasn’t that it was bad. I just thought it would be better.  Maybe that’s because both Maggie Stiefvater and Rick Riordan, two authors who I love gave it such high praise on Goodreads that I had higher expectations for it.  So what’s it about? Every 10 years the Dragon comes down from his tower and takes one girl back with him.  The Dragon is the Lord of the Valley and a wizard, not an actual dragon as some stories say he is.  The girls he takes always come back changed but never say what they did while they lived in the tower.  The people continue to  do this because the Dragon helps defend them from the mysterious Wood that lies just beyond the Valley.  The Wood has a very mysterious evil about it that corrupts all that come in contact with it.  Agnieszka knows that her best friend Kasia is going to be the next one to be picked.  It’s common thinking that the Dragon always picks the most special girl out of her generation and it’s widely agreed upon that Kasia is that girl.  So it’s surprise Agnieszka who is not a great beauty or has any special talent beyond getting dirty is picked instead.

Setting this story up took  a lot of time and that’s what slowed down the pace of the story in the beginning but once it was able to get over establishing who everyone was, what the Wood was and why the Dragon does what he did, the story was able to move forward at a faster pace.  Agnieszka is a likable character.  She’s the typical heroine as she isn’t special on the outside but is on the inside.  Her relationship with the Dragon starts off antagonistic.  At first he really wants nothing to do with her and the same for her too.  We eventually learn that he picked her because he saw that she too had powers and it was his duty to teach her.  She isn’t really into the lessons until her village is under attack from the Wood and the Dragon is not around to help.  This is when things after speed up.  The plot starts to fill out.  We meet Prince Marek, who comes to the Dragon for help of saving his Mother who ran into the Wood 20 years ago and never heard from again.  The Wood ups it’s attack but and like most things the politics get in the way.  The Wood is crafty and is plays everyone perfectly and Agnieszka is always a step behind but still a step ahead from everyone else.  The battle at the end is a little bit anti-climatic after the previous battle but it’s a good ending.  So maybe I’m missing something but I thought it was good but not great.

Review: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

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court mist fury**Spoilers**

I think I know what I really didn’t like about the last half of A Court of Thorns and Roses. The first half I liked but I felt that that second half was like a whole other book that just dragged. After reading A Court of Mist and Fury I think what I really bothered me was that deep down, I knew Tamlin wasn’t worth Feyre going through all the trials and tortures.  He may have loved her but not truly and that was only more evident as he allowed her to fade away while he tried to rebuild his court.  I get wanting to let things settle but she was clearly unhappy.  Unable to sleep through the night and he did nothing but promise once things settle down things will be better.  And worst of all trapped her in his home after she was trapped Under the Mountain.  When you compare Tamlin to Rhys, you can see how truly unworthy Tamlin is.  Rhys is not just in love with Feyre.  He understands her.  He is her equal. Rhys would have been a worthy person for Feyre to go through the trials and torture.

I’ve talked about how YA novels have treats PTSD or getting over traumatic experiences.   It’s infuriating how often they ignore it or have or other characters don’t acknowledge that the hero or heroine is suffering by making them feel worst for not getting over it fast enough.  Here we have two different reactions to Feyre’s ordeal Under the Mountain.  Tamlin seems so consumed with his own pain of what happened to him that he doesn’t see Feyre is wasting away right in front of him.  He’s too afraid of losing her again that he keeps her locked up and it’s stifling her to a point that she can’t recover.from her own trauma.  Rhys gives Feyre time to heal.  He gives her space and pushes her only when he needs too.  He encourages her to learn to read and to test out her new powers.  He does have the benefit of being connected to her through their bargain but he also has the power to read people’s minds.  He introduces her to his friends and lets her in on his plans and decision making. It’s exactly what Feyre needs.  It gives her not only time to recover from what happened to her but understand that the relationship with Tamlin was flawed and in the end unhealthy.  Of course, it also gives her time to realize that she is not only well suited for Rhys but is in love with him.  So to go back to my original point.  Tamlin wasn’t worth the torture that Feyre went through but it was for her to get to know Rhys though.  I’m glad I decided to read this book after only being so-so with the last one.

 

Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Reading Challenge Update Part 2

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bookchallenge2016image

Since Kate posted her update, I figured I should do mine.  I’m doing much better on the Meduim/Genre/Industry Sub-Challenge then the other 2.  So far I have read Captain Marvel for my Graphic Novel with a superhero, Nimona for Graphic Novel without a superhero.  The Hidden Oracle for a book meant for Children and Cravings a cookbook by Chrissy Teigen for a book from a genre I’ve never read.  Half Lost, a book with a Queer Character. To All The Boys I’ve Loved, a book with an Asian American Character. And finally Endure by Sara b Larson for a book by a  Woman author. To be honest, I could have picked almost any book I’ve read this year for that last one because so far I have only read 3 books written by a man.

So that brings my total up to 7 out of 30. Yikes, that’s not great but it’s 1 better then Kate. ;-).

Quick Review: Invision by Sherrilyn Kenyon

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invisionThis is book 7 in a wildly entertaining series.  Nick is fantastic as always with his wit and charm (he thinks he’s charming).  He can annoy even the most demonic of demons.  I love him. If you haven’t read any of these books, check out my Series You Should Read from last year because you really should read!  It’s one of those books that I can’t help but laugh out loud while reading. It’s funny.  It’s insane.  The situations that Nick and his friends get into are pretty insane.  And as sassy as Nick is he’s not alone in his sassiness.  Caleb, Kody, Acheron, Kyrian can give it right back to him and it’s awesome but no one can compare to my favorite barbecue-toting demon eater Simi.  No one tops Simi in hilarity.

Anyway, Nick has got a glimpse of his possible futures and no matter what he tries to do to stop himself from the fulfilling his destiny of destroying the world,it happens anyways.  So he chooses to drown his sorrows in beignets.  It sounds like a good idea to me too.  When word gets out that his once thought dead friend Zavid might not be dead, it breaks Nick out of his funk.  Nick has many virtues and one is how loyal he is to his friends but of course going after Zavid is not the best plan since he is being held by Noir, one of his many enemies.  Plans to rescue Zavid on hold, when Nick starts to lose his powers. The only way that Malachai can lose his powers is when his sons starts to gain his. Nick doesn’t have a son.  He hasn’t even had sex!  How can he losing his powers!  As the team try to figure out what’s going on.  Battle more demons. Do a little time traveling.  They make it through the day but not without sacrifices.  All of the books are fast paced and action packed.  It literally goes from one crisis to another.  It makes it very hard to stop reading because you are at your train stop and you have to go to work.  Work.  It just gets in the way.  You would think after seven books that it would start to get stale or repetitive but no.  Maybe that’s because they are not particularly long books so there isn’t a lot of filler.  Yet each character has a backstory.  They all have a role to play in the story. Nothing is wasted.  It’s just plain fun. Seriously, you all should read them.

Quick Review: The Crown by Kiera Cass

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the crown So this is the final book in the series.  I think. I thought the same thing about the The One but I think this is really it.  I am grateful that this was only a duology and not a trilogy because while it was entertaining I feel it also ran it’s course.  I liked that it flipped the original plot on it’s head by having the Princess being the one to choose instead of being one of the choices.  Eadlyn, the Princess of Iliea is faced with many challenges for one being unliked by her people.  She is thought of as being cold and standoffish and inexperienced and she is a little bit of all of that but what stuck me is that this is the same criticism that many women in power have faced.  What I didn’t like about this book is that despite all of the self affirming moments in this book.  She finds that she is stronger then she thought.  She gains new perspective on not just her life but that of her peoples but in the end, it’s about who she is going to marry.  That is the whole point of the Selection.  To find the Princess a husband. In the first book, the selection was supposed to be a distraction and by the King more time to figure out how to handle the unrest but as the selection went on, it became more about making her more likable and then how to secure her crown when an outside threat emerges.  Sort of Spoilerish but not really, I think we all knew she was going to find her true love but  I really wished that by end she would realize that she didn’t have to actually get engaged.  That she could find her soul mate and say this is man I am going to marry some day but right now, I’m still a teenager and I want to live a little before I settle down.  That would have been a kick ass ending but this is a sort of fairy tale so you know.  I don’t want you all to think I didn’t enjoy this book or the series as a whole because I did but I think it could have been so much more.  And for what’s it’s worth, the guy she picked was my pick too so there is that.  I’ll be interested to read what Kiera Cass does to follow this one up.

Review: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

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hidden oracle***SPOILERS***

If you haven’t read The Blood of Olympus, the last book of the Heroes of Olympus series, then stop reading now!

 

 

Now that we got that out of the way.  Rick Riordan’s new series, The Trials of Apollo we follow the God Apollo who is being punished for his role in the rise of the Giants in the last series.  What’s his punishment?  Zeus has made him mortal.  This is something that Zeus has done to Apollo before so once again, Riordan has taken directly from the myths and created his own world.  We first meet the mortal Apollo in an alley in New York in January, a couple months after the end of the The Blood of Olympus. (For those who’ve read, Riordan’s Norse series with Magnus Chase, the first book in that series also took placed in January. So both of his current series are happening at the same time which may mean there may be some crossover coming) Apollo is as you expect him to be.  He’s vain, arrogant and totally can’t believe that Zeus would turn into a human.  Again.  He is quickly introduced to a new demigod, named Meg who he is now pledge to serve until he completes his trials and Zeus says he can be called a God again.  Things are rough for Apollo. 1. His mortal name is Lester.  2. He has none of his godly powers.  In archery he only hit the dead center.  He only made one person cry when he played the guitar. 3. He has acne.  4. He has no idea of why he’s being punished for one of his son’s role in the rising of the Giants and Gaea.  That’s totally not fair but then again when has Zeus ever been fair.  With the help of some familiar faces, *cough* Percy Jackson *cough* Apollo is taken to Camp Half Blood where he finds that the sins of his past are coming back to haunt him and also it turns out that not everyone loved him before.  With the help of the demigods, Apollo must face the trials to prove his worth and take down probably the biggest threat to humanity so far.  No big deal. For those who miss characters from previous books, some show up here and we get updates on a few others and hints that others will be making appearances in later books.  But what I like the most about Riordan’s writing is how he incorporates tough subjects into his stories without be heavy handed.  Like how he handled Nico’s coming to terms with his sexuality.  Here, we have one character deal with emotional abuse.  It was heartbreaking to read and I feel it will only get worse before it gets better but no less important to talk about.  I also love his sense of humor.  Apollo isn’t as sarcastic as Percy or as sassy as Magnus but he is not without a sense of humor.  Even when he isn’t in on the joke.  All in all, this was a very promising start to the series and I can’t wait to see what happens next when Apollo aka Lester takes the show on the road.