50/50 Friday - Character You'd Want / Not Want to Meet

This is a meme hosted at The Butterfly Reader and Blue Eye Books

This week's topic is character you'd want / not want to meet

Would not want to meet

 

I do not want to meet Vaughn, or anybody like him. Rhine's father-in-law from Wither is very creepy and just all around one of the least likeable characters, especially as you read book two (at the moment I am reading book three and I still hate him).

Want to meet

 

I'd want to meet several characters. These include Skulduggery Pleasant, Varen / Pinfeathers, and Sam / Grace. Yeah I know, I was only supposed to choose one. If I had to choose only one it'd be Skulduggery but I can dream of meeting many more, can't I?

Would you want to meet any of these characters? Who would you dread meeting? Also, who else struggles with choosing just one or two books when participating in these kinds of memes? :P

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

 Series: Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Page Count: 404
Published: May 7th, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
  4 Stars ★★★★

Celaena is an assassin, living in a nation where a king has taken over, banned magic, and enslaved criminals like herself. One day, she is summoned from her work in the salt mines of Endovier and brought to Dorian, Prince of Adarlan, where he asks her to be his Champion in a competition for the King. Thinking of escape and a life beyond the salt mines, and eventually the castle, she accepts. 

She is brought to the castle, where she trains and takes part in tests against other Champions, leading up to a final duel to determine the winner. Much is at stake, if she loses, she may be sent back to Endovier. But her opponents are turning up dead, horribly mutilated in the hallways of the castle. Chaol, the Captain of the Guard, trains and spends time with her, and along with Prince Dorian, he thinks he might be dealing with feelings for the assassin. But romance will only make things more complicated for Celaena, as she realizes that more is going on in this castle than it seems. 

So originally when I saw this book, I didn't have much interest. I'm more into urban fantasy, vampires, werewolves, all that good stuff. After constantly seeing praise for this series, I finally gave in and decided I'd give it a try. 

I actually really, really liked this! I'm so happy that I ended up buying a copy, because if I had borrowed this from the library, I'd just end up getting myself the book anyways because it's the kind of book that you have to own, you have to see it on your shelves, you have to buy the next in the series, not just borrow it. What I mean is, it's the kind of book that even if it's not perfect, I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably end up re-reading it at some point. 

So I absolutely loved the world of Adarlan. I hated what the king had done, but the descriptions of the setting, and the history, seemed so real and well thought out. I was captivated by the people of Adarlan, and the royals, and the castle! Everything just seemed to make perfect sense in context, I never had to re-read passages to understand why something was going on, or even what was happening in the first place, as I often do with fantasy stories. Overall the setting was just amazing. 

And then there are the characters. Celaena, the main character, Adarlan's Assassin, was interesting, and likeable, and while I didn't like everything that she did, I always liked her. She was extremely determined and strong. I also have to mention that she was fairly feminine, which I appreciated because I've noticed that a lot of the more bad-ass characters, even female ones, are portrayed as masculine, therefore frequently equating masculinity with true bad-ass-ery. Of course, there's nothing wrong with being masculine, but to have a character be a nice mix of masculine AND feminine, with the feminine side portrayed as just as important as the other sides of her.... it was a nice change. 

The love interests, Chaol and Dorian, were both likeable as well, just as they were different. I thought they both had their qualities and I could see why they liked Celaena, and why she might like them both in return. I also like that they weren't just "ornaments" on the sidelines....the narration gave the reader a look into their thoughts every now and then which helped me to understand them better! I really appreciated this as well.

The other Champions, and the mysterious deaths, brought some suspense and tension to the book. Cain, a particularly unlikeable Champion, really stood out from the others (for obvious reasons), however this wasn't always a good thing, in my opinion. I won't say much because I don't want to give it away, but the way that the author focused on Cain....I knew what was going on with him chapters before the truth was revealed. 

Nehemia, the princess of Eyllwe, happens to be visiting the castle when Celaena is taking part in the competition, and they develop a friendship. This friendship brought out the softer side of Celaena, in my opinion, because she had empathy for what Nehemia and her people were dealing with concerning the King and his army, and this connection brought them together in ways that I thought made the book even better. The mix of romance and the love triangle with this friendship made for a great balance between the two forces, so the level of romance wasn't overpowering, but it remained significant enough for me, as a romance lover. 

I had a bit of an issue with the pacing at times. Some of the scenes seemed a bit drawn out, which annoyed me, and dropped this book from a five star read to a four star rating. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this fantasy novel. I loved that the main character was bad-ass and feminine at the same time, I think that the love interests were well written, and I loved the friendship between Celaena and Nehemia. While the pacing was a bit too slow at times, the mystery behind the Champions' deaths kept me reading. I am excited to read the next book!

I recommend this to those looking for great young adult fantasy reads. Even if you're not a big fan of fantasy, you might change your mind after reading this book!

Find Throne of Glass on Goodreads

2017 YA Releases that I am Excited to Read!

Hey everyone! I've noticed many intriguing 2017 YA releases discussed lately, and all of the hype has made me add a bunch to my to-read list! I thought I'd share a few that I am especially excited to read (when I finally get the money and time....).

So, in no particular order....

Caraval. The name rolls off the tongue nicely, don't you think? There was so much hype over this book, that I had to add it to my to-read list. The cover is lovely as well! 

The Beast is an Animal. This book sounds deliciously dark and unique. I also really like the title and the cover. It might seem from all my ranting and raving about beautiful covers that I judge books based on their covers...I promise I don't! I just can't resist a cover like this. Or an intriguing title. I just can't!

RoseBlood. So this is a retelling of the Phantom of the Opera so of course I am going to want to read this. I love the Phantom of the Opera! I've also read some spoiler-type comments that make this book seem like something I would really enjoy.

Royal Bastards. I've recently gotten into fantasy books with royals and drama. This one sounds interesting because it includes crime and going on the run! 

Mask of Shadows. A genderfluid protagonist? Check! Fantasy world? Check! Lovely cover? Double check! Yeah, I'm reading this book. Not to mention that I was just approved to read it from NetGalley so....

What 2017 releases are you excited to read? Have you read any 2017 releases so far this year? What did you think?

Still Waters by Emma Carlson Berne

Series: N/A
Author: Emma Carlson Berne
Page Count: 212
Published: December 20th, 2011
Publisher: Simon Pulse
  3.5 Stars ★★★

Hannah has planned a secret trip to her boyfriend's family's lake house. She's hoping that having time alone with him will give her the courage to say that she loves him, and that they can spend some romantic time together before he leaves for college. But her boyfriend, Colin's, reaction to her surprise is less than enthusiastic. He starts to act uncomfortable and unsure, and Hannah becomes more and more worried as they drive to the mysterious lake house. 

When they arrive, it doesn't take long for Colin to start acting like another person entirely. Surrounded by eerie wilderness, with the nearest town almost a ghost town, Hannah wonders if she should fear for her safety. One thing's for certain... this trip is not turning out as she had planned. 

I love creepy books! The synopsis of this story made it seem similar to some kind of horror movie, with the haunted cabin in the woods, or the crazy murderer hiding in an abandoned building, waiting for naive teens to come along and act as prey. I made little theories on what would happen before I even opened the book. My theories didn't really come close to the actual conclusion of the book, which to be perfectly honest, I found a little bit disappointing. 

So first, a few good things about this book. I liked the characters. I liked Hannah, and while she wasn't the smartest at times, I thought she made the book seem a bit more realistic. In such a scary situation, nobody is going to be absolutely at their best, their minds are going to be running wild, they're going to be panicking. So, when she screwed up or made a less-than-stellar choice, I actually liked it because it made her seem more real, more like a person I could meet walking down the street than a super-intelligent, always prepared, basically fantasy-based person, that I read about in a lot of other books. 

I also think that the author did an amazing job with the descriptions. Descriptions of the settings, in particular, were very well done. The creepy atmosphere was conveyed effectively and added to the mysterious and sinister feel of the book, including descriptions of the almost ghost town near the lake house, the forest, and the lake house itself. 

I did have some problems with the book. First of all, the whole ghost town thing? While I thought it was interesting, it didn't really serve much of a purpose in the book other than to provide a creepy atmosphere. I kept waiting to find out how the town would connect to the story overall, but there didn't seem to be a truly important connection. This was kind of disappointing. 

I also had issues with the explanation behind Colin's behavior. I can't say much without spoiling it, but I will say that the way that past events had been covered up seemed a bit convenient, almost too easy. Colin's condition was explained way too easily in the end, and the idea that things could go back to normal, or what seemed like normal, so quickly just didn't make sense to me. 

Altogether, this was a story with a creepy atmosphere and an interesting mystery. While I had some issues with the ending and the importance of some of the settings, I liked that the main character seemed realistic and I enjoyed the descriptions of the settings. 

I recommend this to those looking for young adult thrillers. If you're interested in a short book with a creepy atmosphere, this book is for you.

Find Still Waters on Goodreads

50/50 Friday - World You'd Like/Not Like to Live in

This is a meme hosted by The Butterfly Reader and Blue Eye Books!

This week's topic is world you'd like to live in / world you'd not like to live in

World I'd like to live in 

 

I'd like to live in Night World! I mean, I might be a vampire! That'd be amazing.

World I would not like to live in

 

Living in space? Nope nope nope nope nope. I could not live in the world of Glow.....the idea of living in a spaceship far from my home planet sounds terrifying.

If you could be any paranormal creature, what would you be? Do you find the idea of living in a spaceship as unnerving as I do?