Ink Scratchers

Review: The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Tuesday, 4 September 2012

The Assassin's Curse (The Assassin's Curse, #1)

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her.

And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.

So female assassins seem to be ruling the YA market but after this book it seems that they might have some competition with the pirates, female pirates are apparently pretty kick-ass too, if Ananna of Tanarau is anything to go by. Yes, Ananna now joins the pretty line of female characters that I have labelled imperfect, kick-ass, stubborn and delinquent with a secret heart of gold, she is alongside characters like Celaena (Throne of Glass), Katsa (Graceling) and Yelena (Study Series). If you hadn't already guessed, I love Ananna, she was stubborn and bratty and yet I loved it, I loved how she isn't the cookie-cutter good girl I hate to read! My only problem with Ananna is that I kept reading her name as banana... yeah.

I also LOVED Naji, despite the fact that he started out as aloof and cold I also really liked to watch him warm to and begin to genuinely care for Ananna. There is a slight hinto of romance in this book but their relationship only develops to a bond of friendship in this book and for that I'm happy. I loved the hints of a developing fondness but the pace it developed was just perfect.

Listen, I'm not saying that this book is without it's faults. This book tends to cross into 'corny' at times (I think the last line of this book seriously made me cringe), the ending is open ended and doesn't even end on a cliffhanger, it just... ends which may annoy some people (there is a sequel). Some things weren't explained, like the mists. However whilst I recognise these things as faults, none of them really bothered me.

This book was just too epic for me to care.

Cassandra Rose Clarke has written a fantastic debut. The writing was amazing, the pacing was fantastic and the plot wa sunpredictable. The characters were just awesome and this book was just epic. Clarke has exceeded my expectations with this amazing debut.

Overall Rating: A

Book released October 4th 2012 by Strange Chemistry
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

Monday, 3 September 2012

Darkness Becomes Her (Gods & Monsters #1)

Ari can't help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can't be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.Her search for answers uncovers a message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it's impossible to protect herself when she doesn't know what she's running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of "her."

Ari won't stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

I wasn't blown away by this book like many people that I know were. This book was... bleh, since there are a great deal of flaws that stop it from being great or even good, for me this was an okay read that I got through quickly due to the length and whilst I read it in one sitting I didn't feel particularly absorbed by.

Keaton is a great writer, I will admit that. She definitely has a knack for putting words together. The problem was that this book felt completely rushed... the start was rushed, it wasn't really developed and felt very unpolished, the characters were rushed; where was Ari's development? I felt as though the character was there for the story but had like no life before. The romance was VERY rushed... I mean this is insta-love at it's worst; Ari and Sebastian meet and then five minutes later they're making out in a random chair in a random bar... I felt as though I had missed a hundred pages! They COULD have worked as a couple with some more development but this romance developed WAAYYYY too quickly for my liking.

There is one thing that I enjoyed; the world that Keaton develops. New 2 is New Orleans that has been rebuilt after two hurricanes tear the city apart. The city is now carnival central, with all sorts of dodgy dealings going on in the background. I did like this setting very much, adding the strict city rulers gave off a kind of dystopia vibe.

Overall, this book COULD have been great, but I felt as though the whole book was rushed and nothing seemed to be developed at all. I did like the setting though, that was okay.

Overall Rating: D-

Released June 9th 2011 by Simon and Schuster (UK)
Book bought by myself

Review: The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Long

Sunday, 2 September 2012

A darkly compelling mix of romance, fairy tale, and suspense from a new voice in teen fiction

The trees swallowed her brother whole, and Jenny was there to see it. Now seventeen, she revisits the woods where Tom was taken, resolving to say good-bye at last. Instead, she's lured into the trees, where she finds strange and dangerous creatures who seem to consider her the threat. Among them is Jack, mercurial and magnetic, with secrets of his own. Determined to find her brother, with or without Jack's help, Jenny struggles to navigate a faerie world where stunning beauty masks some of the most treacherous evils, and she's faced with a choice between salvation or sacrifice--and not just her own.

How do I feel about The Treachery of Beautiful Things. I enjoyed it, that's for sure, but it didn't completely hit the mark for me/ I feel as though this book felt twice as long as it's 384 pages and I had to read it in spurts with more gripping books in the middle to keep me reading. It was an okay read but it isn't particularly memorable or exciting.

The beginning of this book really excited me. I was gripped by the start, by Tom getting taken away and Jenny's fear of the trees and of what she saw. When Jenny enters the otherworld things are still good, the pace kept up extremely well until about half-way through the book when suddenly it dropped and I became extremely bored. The rest of the book has it's good points (the fight with Titania/Mab and the ending) but I wasn't as gripped in the second half as I was in the beginning.

Despite the bad pace, I really did enjoy the storyline. Whilst the world and the characters are similar to other fae characters I loved the addition of the May Queen and the kobolds. Long also has a very beautiful narrative, this story was told so beautifully and enchantingly and I was extremely blown away for the tone and vibe of this book.

I had some problems with the characters; Jenny annoyed me since she does stupid things which are supposed to show how 'gentle' she is but really just put her in distress in order to paint Jack as her saviour and hero. Jack was underdeveloped, though I did like him and I did eventually root for the relationship I didn't feel like the two of them really worked that well, since there is a little bit of insta-luv. I liked Puck, but compared to the Puck we see in other fairy books he lacked charisma and development.

Overall, The Treachery of Beautiful things was an alright read, but I didn't feel gripped since the pace was very slow in the second half of the book. I liked the storyline and I loved Long's beautiful narrative voice. The characters needed more development in order to stand up against other YA fae titles (The Iron King/Tithe/Wicked Lovely).

Overall Rating: C

Book released August 16th 2012 by Dial
Book received as an eBook for review (via NetGalley)

Review: The Forsaken by Lisa M Stasse

Saturday, 1 September 2012

Alenna Shawcross is a sixteen-year-old orphan growing up in a police state formed from the ashes of Canada, the US and Mexico after a global economic meltdown.
But when she unexpectedly fails ‘the test’ - a government initiative which supposedly identifies teens destined to be criminals - she wakes up alone on a remote island reserved for the criminally insane.

Terrified and confused, she soon encounters a group of other teen survivors battling to stay alive, including Liam, a boy who will become her love... and her lifeline.

Soon Alenna makes the terrifying discovery that there’s more to the island (and her past) than she could ever have guessed... But who can she trust? And can she ever escape?

The Forsaken is a book that I really enjoyed when I first read it, but the more I come to think about it it the more flaws appear to me, I would definitely recommend it to a fan of survival fiction but there were a few flaws to me. To start with, I'd like to mention that aside from the political dystopian America setting there aren't that many similarities to The Hunger Games in this book, which is how this book is being marketed, so if that's what you're looking for then this book may be a shock to you.

The characters in this book were strong, but not kick-ass. Alenna came across as weak at times and though her determination shines through it did seem like she spent a lot of the book following the crowd rather than taking the lead as I so like to see a main character do. She was strong when she needed to be, but I would have liked to see more of that. I really liked Liam, he was sweet and caring but I disliked Gayda as a character, she was hot and cold; at one point shes all friendly and sweet and then she's being an uber biatch.

Alenna and Liam's romance is sweet, especially nearer the end after they know each other a little more, but at the beginning it seemed like they got together and didn't really know each other, which annoyed me because I was rooting for them by the end but it could have been so much better written at the beginning.

I was expecting a lot of action in this book, especially considering the cover,with the glare and the arrows and what not, so I was a little let down by the lack of action, which came in spurts. The action that there was was well written and the pace was fantastic at all times. There were some non-actiony scenes which had me on the edge of my seat, like being in the Monk's camp, which was a horrific setting.

If there is one thing that I like in my dystopian reads it is good world building which The Forsaken lacks. That has to be my biggest complaint in this book - the world could have been gripping but instead it wasn't developed enough. Rather than seeming realistic it seemed like an excuse to get the characters to where Stasse wanted them.

Overall, The Forsaken was a well balanced book. The pacing was great and the characters were good but not amazing. The romance was insta-love but I enjoyed it whilst it developed. I disliked the world building.
I will be reading the sequel and I would recommend this to fans of survival fiction.

Overall Rating: C

Book released August 2nd by Orchard
Book bought by myself

Letterbox Love and The Week in Review (1/9/2012)

Letterbox Love is a UK based alternative to the popular US In My Mailbox meme and a fun way for British (and non-British) bloggers to share the fab books we may have got this week.

Check Out: GIVEAWAY - Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (INTL!)

This week was fantastically awesomes! I went to London and met Kai Meyer, author of the Arcadia series, and got a hardback copy of the first in the series and a SIGNED ARC of the second, Arcadia Burns! (YAY!). I also got to go to Foyles on Charing Cross and my dad gave me £20 to spend on books, so much fun! :D I could have got lost in that place, then when I got back there were loads of awesome books on NetGalley, YAY!

For Review:

Signed ARC: Arcadia Burns by Kai Meyer (Templar, February 2013)

NetGalley: Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell (St Martins Press, October 30th)

NetGalley: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Mira Ink, October 5th)

NetGalley: Broken by AE Rought (Strange Chemistry, January 3rd)

NetGalley: Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones (St martins Press, October 2nd)

I cannot wait to read Midnight City - ALIENS! Broken looks amazing and I have loved all of the Strange Chemistry releases that I've read so far. Already read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, it was good. Arcadia Burns looks amazing, I enjoyed Arcadia Awakens. Death and The Girl Next Door sounds awesome too!

Bought:

The Crimson Thread by Suzanne Weyn

The Rogue's Princess by Eve Edwards

Brave New Love by Various

I've read The Crimson Thread and The Rogue's Princess already. The Crimson Thread was simplistic but enjoyable and I thoroughly enjoyed The Rogue's Princess. So excited to read Brave New LOve - anthology of dystopian love stories, including one by Maria V. Snyder (all time fave author!)

Last Week in Review:

Sunday

Review: Touched by Cyn Balog

Monday

Review: The Dragon's Eye by Corey Guerra

Tuesday

Review: Foretold by Jana Oliver

Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday

Review: The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors

Thursday

Authors Are Rockstars Tour: Sarah J. Maas onn Ten Books for Fans of Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass Giveaway)