Say hello to one of my favorite trilogy of all times!
Shadow and Bone I have to say that I was a little scared going into this because of all the mixed reviews, and I am so happy to say that this book worked out very well for me. Since I read Six of Crows first, I spoiled the whole thing for myself, for now I know how the whole thing ends. But I'm not even mad about that. It was nice to see familiar names that were mentioned in Crows (Genya and Zoya). I didn't expect it to be a single first person narrative, but I found myself enjoying that it was. Alina's point of view was perfect for telling the story. An orphan who never felt as she belonged anywhere was basically thrown into a whole new world. The way she was trying to navigate that new world, grudgingly, was quite hilarious to read at times. I also thought that she had the perfect amount of a whiny teenager in her - she wasn't good at anything, but she tried; she whined and cried and complained, but in the end she always sucked it up and did what was asked of her. And she was blunt and sassy! So what if she acted vain when she got to enjoy a hot bath by herself, or when a beautiful silk dress was made for her. For an orphan and an army girl that can be completely pardoned. I found the Grisha world to be absolutely fascinating, and I did feel that the book needed more explaining on how Grisha work their magic! But since this is a trilogy I am giving it a benefit of a doubt and hoping for more information from the next 2 books. All of the Slavic cultural references warmed my soul. However I found it funny at times how some words (mostly Russian) were taken and turned into a different word for a ravkan language. I heard some people say that the pace was slow, and the events were dull, but I didn't feel that way at all, so I guess it's all the matter of a perspective and preference. For a moment there I was afraid that it was turning into an insta-love story, but no, thank goodness it didn't take that route. The Darkling turned out to be a very fascinating character, his persona and his power were mystique and bad-ass. But as of this point I don't like him much - to me he seems like an ancient evil creature who likes to seduce young girls to get what he wants. BUT, I can tell that there is more to him, and that the human in him is still there (deep,deep,deep down) so I foresee some kind of redemption for him in my eyes. Also that twist - pretty darn good, I was just as surprised as Alina herself. If there were problems with this book, I didn't notice, for I was so entranced with the beautiful and witty writing. And I am also afraid at this point that Bardugo can do no wrong in my eyes, so my points of view on her books are becoming quite biased. Siege and Storm As much as I wanted to savor this one I flew through it in a day. I can see this book being slow for readers who yearn non-stop action, as there is a lot of diplomatic dinners, meetings and riding from town to town. I have also imagined Alina to be more powerful (like way more powerful) at this point, but oh well. While Alina is still not as likable as you wish her to be, one quality of hers shines brighter than the sun (see what I did there?). Selflessness. Alina's patriotism might be hidden deep within her, but in the moments that count, it pours out of her like an unstoppable ocean. She would rather die than see other people suffer. She would rather suffer alone than bind anybody to her side. I also really enjoyed the internal struggle that Alina is going through. Mal, on the other hand, is a complete dingus! Rarely I see a character go downhill so fast. Mal has become childish and jealous to the point that it makes him insufferable. And just as Alina is completely selfless, Mal has become as selfish as it can be. However, I see his points of view, and understand his hurting. But it's not nearly enough for him to be even a little redeemed in my eyes. I spent half a book wishing somebody would just punch him in the face. There is not a lot of Darkling in this book, but when he is present he is badass, he is scary, and he is as perfect of a villain as it gets. Nikolai. Who needs Mal when you have Nikolai? I know there are a lot of people who are team-Darkling, and people who are team-Mal. While I find Darkling to be absolutely fascinating, and a fantastic villain I never felt that strong Darkling pull. And Mal, well you know how I feel about Mal. But Nikolai? Yes, please! Probably the greatest character in the whole series, so far. Yes, I am just going to leave it at that. I really wish there was more of Genya in this book, I missed her. Ruin and Rising What a relief it is when a trilogy stays amazing till the very end (way too often the third book of trilogies just sucks). Not this one! I have to be honest though, I was ready to love it no matter what. Did I expected it to end this way? Absolutely not! Remember in the Shadow and Bone I said that I spoiled Grisha ending for myself by reading Six of Crows first? Well I was wrong. I was so totally surprised. Bravo Bardugo, bravo! I really enjoyed having more of Genya and Zoya, and the whole gang together. The way they worked together reminded me of Six of Crows. I adored Genya from the start, and Zoya's complains and grumbling made it fun. "Not at all" said Genya soothingly."You're the prettiest walrus I know. I'm just amazed you haven't sawed through your lower lip." "Keep your hands off me, Tailor, "Zoya grumbled, "or I'll poke your other eye out." The scene where Genya stood up to the king, and Nikola's justice at that situation was amazing! David's perfectly placed response of (I know I am taking it out of contest, but that scene was amazing!) "I love metal" Nikolai. All of him. Probably one of the most perfect male characters ever written. Verdict? I would highly recommend this to a lover of fantasies, especially ones that have slavic references in them. And if you don't like fantasy, try it anyway, maybe you will after this.
Spoilers ahead, proceed only if you read the books already.
I was not a big fan of Mal in the first book, in the second book I really, really disliked him (that is expressing it mildly) and in the third book he wasn't so insufferable after all. I mean he was for about half a book, but then he changed. What was selfishness in the second book came out as desperation in the third one. Arrogance turned into helplessness, and then his helplessness turned into his sacrifice. Why did I think that Alina and Mal ending up together was a perfect ending? Because Alina loved Mal ever since they were small children. Because they were best of friends. Because Alina never wanted to be a Saint, or the most powerful grisha. She just wanted things to be normal. Because both of them only had each other. I believe that was the reason why Mal was so horrid in book 2. His only anchor in life was ripped away from him (even if he totally took Alina for granted when they were younger). Nikolai was her friend. I was so extremely happy that he didn't become another one of her love interests. That would have just been too mainstream. I enjoyed their friendship so much. He didn't love her romantically nor did she love him, although as Nikolai said they might have grown to with time, if given a chance. Nikolai's true love was Ravka, and he would probably marry a horse, or a toad, if it meant giving Ravka and his people, peace. Darkling didn't love Alina and Alina didn't love Darkling. It was so plain to see when Alina lost her power and he was devastated and angry at her, because she became just normal, completely useless to him. Yes they were darkness and light, and yes they would have been perfect in the sense of completing each other, but it wouldn't have made sense. He seduced and used her. He hurt her. He killed people she loved. He used her power and her mind to his schemes. If they were to end up together, I would have thrown the book against the wall because that would have been abuse, not love. And I resent that in books.
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April reads have been treating me well for I have recently finished this gem of a book.
The back cover claims that From Sand and Ash is a sweeping, epic story of love, war and the resilience of the human spirit, and man it DELIVERS! If I am to be honest, I already want to re-read it. “Life is like a long note; it persists without variance, without wavering. There is no cessation in sound or pause in tempo. It continues on, and we must master it or it will master us.” From Sand and Ash has recently won the adult novel of the year award from The Whitney Awards. This is my third book by Amy Harmon, and while I already knew that she has a way with words, now I have also realized that she knows and understands human emotions on a whole new level. Her books are always enchanting and raw, be it a fantasy or a historical fiction. From Sand and Ash is a historical fiction romance, set in World War II, Italy. We follow two main characters, Eva and Angelo, from their childhood years through the adulthood. Eva and Angelo are as different as two people can be. For starters, Angelo is a catholic, with a life-long dream of becoming a priest, and Eva is a jew. In nazi Italy of 1943 a match, a friendship or even a glance between those two is forbidden. Being born a jew is forbidden. Now, before I go gushing about this book, you have to know that historical fiction set in World War II is my absolute favorite topic to read about. I was a weird 12 year old who wanted read ALL of the books on WWII in local library. And read them all I did. I couldn't get enough of rebellion and of bravery that came with fighting and surviving a war. The people at the front lines, the medics, the "underground" rebels, the scared and helpless ones at the outskirts of a fighting zone. I wanted to know all of their stories. “Our immortality comes through our children and their children. Through our roots and branches. The family is immortality. And Hitler has destroyed not just branches and roots, but entire family trees, forests. All of them, gone.” From Sand and Ash broke my heart, and then stabbed me with the sharp pieces of it. This book made me hate humanity with black rage and then very slowly made me believe in it again. The novel is a fiction, but all of the horrors that nazis did to jewish people were taken from true events. At times I thought that my eyes would bleed from the terrors that I read. I was constantly asking myself 'how could humans be capable of such things?' Chapter 21 just killed me. I adored Eva and Angelo's relationship when they were children. 'I would have to take off my trousers, he challenged, trying to shock her.' 'So?, she said saucily, shrugging her shoulders. I don't care about your smelly underwear.' Years had gone by, but Eva stayed the same little taunting daredevil, and Angelo was always good at finding excuses. Until he couldn't find any, anymore. I read the Author's Note provided at the end of the book, and was not surprised to see that Amy Harmon has done an extensive research before writing this book, not only on the WWII in Italy, but also on the catholic and jewish religious practices. Because of it this novel feels so completely authentic. As you can expect, from Angelo being a catholic priest and all, the book is heavy on religion. It explores the differences between the two religions and shows that in the end differences fade, but people, in their most raw form, remain. “It was love that made each touch feel like redemption and each kiss feel like rebirth. Not lust. Not pleasure. It was love that created joy.” If you love and appreciate a good historical fiction, I cannot recommend this book enough. For me it was a magnificent, although heartbreaking, 5 star read. If you are not big on romance, don't worry, I am not either, but From Sand and Ash has so much more to offer. I also feel that after this book, my super-human thirst for WWII novels has been reopened, so if you know any good ones, please recommend. If you want to learn more about Amy Harmon and her books, I have provided her official website down below. 
Sometimes it's not the kid you expect who falls through to magic land, sometimes it's . . . Elliott. He's grumpy, nerdy, and appalled by both the dearth of technology and the levels of fitness involved in swinging swords around. He's a little enchanted by the elves and mermaids. Despite his aversion to war, work, and most people (human or otherwise) he finds that two unlikely ideas, friendship and world peace, may actually be possible.
That is the blurb of this book, and I must say that it's very misleading. I was expecting a fantasy book – full of adventures, mermaids, elves, dwarves, maybe even some dragons – you know, the usual stuff. That was not what I got. Granted there were elves and mermaids, and some other mythical creatures – it just wasn’t fantasy. It had fantasy elements, but that’s it. Also the praise for this book keeps calling it gothic, I didn't see or feel anything gothic about it at all (just fyi). 5 shining stars for concept and ideas. 2 very bleak stars for the execution of those ideas. The topics and issues this book was exploring were fantastic! Racial, cultural, sexual, political – you name it – this book has it! But the way the book was going about them – desired better. To be honest, I felt like this book didn’t quite know what it wanted to be. It started out as a middle grade fantasy, then it became young adult fiction, then it turned contemporary, then lgbt, then finally I realized that this was more of a coming-of-age novel than anything else. ‘In Other Lands’ has absolutely no plot. This book is 433 pages and is full of so many different things, yet somehow – nothing really happens. Nothing too important, nothing too shocking, nothing too big and life changing. Example: Elliot’s friends go to war. They fight. He sits at camp and worries. They come back unhurt and all is good. Later on only one of his friends goes to fight again. Two others sit and worry. Friend comes back unhurt and all is good. Where is the tragedy? Where is purpose? Where is the plot? Mind me, some important things do happen, is just the main character is so indifferent to most of them that it made me indifferent too (there are reasons for his indifference, but they were presented quite late in the book). Things would happen and he would have the most mild reaction, so instead of gasping and being shocked I would think ‘Well if HE doesn’t care, why should I?’ Protagonist of this story is Elliot (as we learned from the blurb), and he acquires two friend-sidekicks (so to say), Luke and Serene (why does it always have to be two sidekicks? Why is it always a trio?). Anyway, Elliot and Luke are human, and Serene is an elf. Elliot is the most annoying, bratty and insufferable main character ever. For the first 100 or so pages, all he does is complain, says how he is better than everybody else and calls people ‘loser’. He must have said ‘loser’ more than 50 times through the whole book. All I wanted to do was grab Elliot by his little fictional throat and squeeze..! Yes, the premise warns us that Elliot is grumpy, and not hero-like, but at times he was so spiteful for no good reason, that it just felt overdone. Because of this, I never grew to feel any strong compassion towards Elliot, no matter how sad the events that happened to him were. He was ruined to the point of no return for me, and when the time came to feel for him – I just didn’t care that much (I did still care a little though). Elliot is as pacifist as you can get. He feels very strongly about war and fighting. He HATES it, he DESPISES it. He finds it completely useless (which I agree with and applaud him for it). But, in my opinion, he goes on about being pacifist very wrong. He constantly tells other people how stupid war is, how stupid they all are for fighting (although his friends risk their lives protecting him, because he refuses to learn even the basic defenses and prefers to hide behind their strong warrior backs. Later on he even asks his friends to protect and fight for him, so that, in my opinion, negated the whole pacifism thing a little). At first I thought that a pacifist-character was new and different from all other fantasy-adventure novels out there (a main character who doesn’t fight to survive, doesn’t kill, doesn’t have tons of weapons on him at all times – what??!). But there were so many snide remarks and little comments that it actually got me thinking – maybe instead of just being different this book makes fun of all dystopian, fantasy young adult books out there? Makes fun of the idea of children and teenagers having to fight, and survive, while adults stand by? Or it is just making a point?
Luke was very bland for the most part of the book. However, I liked his character a lot! He was reserved, old-fashioned and a prude (which was funny and refreshing at the same time, for you don’t often get to see a prude male character).
Serene was a girl of the trio, and an elf. Oh, how I enjoyed Serene in the beginning. Her thoughts and humor were so stoic, it was delightful. Also Serene is a feminist! Or so I thought. To understand why I went from liking Serene to basically despising her, you have to know that the elf community in the book was basically a backwards-human-community, in terms of how their sexes worked. For elves, the woman was a warrior, a provider and a ‘macho’. Which at first I thought was incredibly cool and feminist – to portray women so incredibly equal to men. But then it was shown how elven women treat their men (as feeble, helpless, gentler-sex made only to care for children and cook, and do needle-work while women were on the battlefield) and I thought ‘wait a minute, all this does is just flips stereotypes without changing a thing’. I was really looking for equality all around, and it just wasn’t there. If you expect 'In Other Lands' to be a fantasy-adventure book - you will be very disappointed. This is a coming-of-age story, with a character who just wants to feel loved, but doesn't know how. It is Elliot's journey of finding himself (even if his journey takes him on a kissing and sleeping with every girl, boy and other species spree). This book talks about so many important issues - bullying, abandonment, fitting in, sexuality, racial and sexual stereotypes, pains of growing up and politics - it is truly a gem. But it is a well hidden gem. I am afraid that many readers will feel that the way this book is presented is not engaging enough to actually get to those hidden gems. I would like to thank LibraryThing and Big Mouse House publishing, as well as the author, for providing me with an arc of this book. I always feel honored to be able to read novels before they hit the market. 
First, I want to talk about this gorgeous Penguin Classics cover - I adore it! I chose to read Sense and Sensibility first, mainly because of the cover, well it serves me right. Don't judge the book by its cover!
I have read somewhere, although I am not sure how reliable the source was, that Sense and Sensibility is considered to be the weakest novel of Austen. Now I am kicking myself, for it was my very first novel by her. I really wish I have chosen something else to be introduced to the author, because this book did not work out for me at all. Let's start with some of the characters: Edward Ferrars is the dullest secondary character ever written. He is devoid of any emotion until maybe the last 20 pages of the book, and even then it is very mild. I also found him quite lazy and spineless, for he seemed almost content with having everything decided for him by women in his life. He does take a stand and stands up for himself very late in the book, but by that time I was so done with him. Elinor Dashwood is a step behind Edward in her dullness. She is the composed sister. She is a sensible one. She is so good at hiding her feelings that she doesn't even know she has any feelings, despite all that time that she devotes to sitting around and sorting through her emotions. Marianne Dashwood is the irrational sister. The unstable one, if you might say. She loves and hates equally passionately and is often found falling into hysterics because of her personality. If not for Marianne, I would have probably stopped reading. She brought some liveliness into all of the grayness of other characters. I enjoyed Marianne's main storyline the most. Margaret Dashwood is the third sister. She has about 10 sentences devoted to her in the whole 350 pages of the book. Mrs. Dashwood is the mother of the 3 sisters. She has no opinion of her own and relies on her two older daughters to stir her in a correct direction. When she does make assumptions on her own they are always completely wrong. John and Fanny Dashwood. John is a half brother of the sisters and Fanny is his wife. Fanny is manipulative and John is spineless. The dynamic of their relationship can be seen at the very beginning of the book and that chapter is gold! Mrs. Jennings is mother of Dashwood's neighbor's wife. She always puts her nose in other people's business. Follow the gossip and you will find Mrs. Jennings. Sense and Sensibility is a world in which only your money and birth status matter. Where people judge you by your manners, your money and your estate. For most of the book characters indulge in gossip and judging others behind their backs. Nobody looks at the person's heart - they all look at your etiquette and your ability to hold a conversation in their snobby society. Also I got an impression that living in that time period required a lot of sitting around in your own house doing nothing, or visiting others - to sit around in their houses. Now to the part that bugged me the most: Spoilers ahead Edward is engaged to Lucy. Lucy enters into a relationship with his brother, marries his brother and then sends Edward a letter saying that they are done. Edward then runs to Elinor (not even 24 hours has passed after his engagement was over) and asks her to marry him, even though in the whole book they were not romantic whatsoever, for he was engaged to Lucy in secret, and Elinor says yes! (in the beginning of the book they had a relationship, but he was engaged at that time and Elinor was the one who thought that it was leading somewhere, while it was not). What?? Now, I understand that the times were different, but even so, this seems completely ridiculous. If this book was written in modern times people would be throwing fits for Edward's ridiculous affairs! Yes, it turned out that Elinor did love him all this time (she has feelings!!) and yes he did love her too even while he was with Lucy, but it seems to me that she just picked up a reject after Lucy was done with him. Marianne, while believing in strong love and passion her whole life (well 17 years is not a whole life, but still) succumbs to reality and ends up married to an older Colonel Brandon, who was swooning after her from the first moment he saw her, and who she had no interest in till, again, last 10 pages of the book. I guess what antagonized me the most was how the sisters sat around waiting for their perfect man to arrive. They endured pain and loneliness, but never did much to change it. They just took what life handed them and made their best with it. I like female characters who are rebels, who are headstrong and take their fate in their own hands. That is why it was very hard for me to resonate with sisters, especially with Elinor. Marianne, thankfully, had some fire in her. The ending also seemed very forced to me - like two sisters just had to be married in the end of the book. There was a point when I though that Marianne was going to die, and I thought, yes finally some drama. But no, she pulled through, which is good for her, but that was the only moment in the book when I was really invested in the story. Now onto some things that I did enjoy. I really liked Marianne's love for reading (hello fellow book worm!). Her resolution to read for 6 hours a day really resonated with me. Also her need for solitude with herself and nature, and her ability to walk out of the room any time she didn't feel like interacting with other people made her my absolute favorite. I also think that I grasped the general message of the book. In the society where money and status ruled all - Elinor finally gave into her feelings and ended up marrying to a poor reject, because she loved him. And all of their financial struggles they handled together. Marianne grew out of her temperamental feelings and got married to the person who truly loved her, not the one who was just a fleeting romance. She grew to love her husband with all of her heart, like she did with everything. So in the end, sisters grew even closer together for they then understood how each of them felt. There were a lot of brilliant quotes through the book. Here are some of my favorites: “The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!” “I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way.” “To wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect” “I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter in all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both.” Even though this book was less than mediocre for me, I am not giving up on Austen and will read another novel of hers, before I decide that maybe this is just not my style. But I honestly hope that the next novel of hers that I read I end up liking. 
March was full of very mediocre reads for me. If not for the two books of Grisha Trilogy that I read this month, I would have been in a very deep reading slump right now.
Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I am a little bit at crossroads about this one . On one hand I really enjoyed reading about how the Queen of Hearts came to be a psychotic, mad and heartless thing she is. But on the other hand - this book felt like a dupe. I just wasn't a big fan of all this character borrowing. Taking characters out of a beloved book and putting them into another one – to me it seems like cheating. And not only the Wonderland was borrowed, but also the Raven's talk was all Allan Poe, and the most famous lullaby "twinkle, twinkle..." was borrowed too. The original content was amazing, there was just very, very little of it. All the borrowing aside, I did enjoy this book. It was a very pleasant, prettily written, quick read. I fell in love with Meyer's style of writing - it was fluid and quite beautiful. Not to mention all of the yummy treats and deserts described in this book! I was hungry the whole time I was reading it. The other reason why I enjoyed the book so much, was because I really felt for Cath - her fate was such a horrible one. And I am not only talking about her love interest, but her dreams, her friends and most of all her horrible, horrible parents. I actually blame them for most of the things that happened to her. Also I enjoyed the romance - the subtlety of it was a refreshing breather after "Hey-I-just-met-you-let's-make-out" romance that is so often found in ya books. I am number four by Pittacus Lore. This was just an alright read for me. I took it with me on vacation because I wanted something quick, mindless and entertaining. And it was just that. I enjoyed reading it, but I also felt like I didn't get anything new out of it. The plot and the characters felt very recycled to me: - The main character is a supernatural with extraordinary powers, who is on the run and cannot tell anybody about his powers, or himself in general. Then a life threatening event happens and the main character has no other choice but to use his powers and risk revealing himself while being a hero and saving lives. - A love interest of his is a typical look-at-me-i-am-so-cute-and-perfect-girl. - Main character is not a human and the way his race loves differs from the love that human race feels. It's pure and it's forever. This straight up reminded me of Mortal Instruments (which was written 3 years before this book, so the concept is far from new). - A jealous ex who gives the main character trouble. - A nerdy side kick. - An animal companion. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I will write a full review of this one shortly, so I will just say that reading this felt like a school assignment, for I constantly had to push myself and try to read some more. I read somewhere (I am not sure how reliable the source was though) that Sense and Sensibility is considered to be the weakest novel of Austen (I found that out after I got done reading it). Now I am kicking myself, for it was my very first novel by her. I really wish I have chosen something else to be introduced to the author, because this book did not work out for me at all. However, I have decided not to give up just yet and read other works of Austen.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo.
I was so scared going into this because of all the mixed reviews, and I am so happy to say that this book worked out very well for me. In fact, it worked out so well that it is now going on my "favorites" shelf. Since I read Six of Crows first, I spoiled the whole thing for myself, for now I know how the whole thing ends. But I'm not even mad about that. It was nice to see familiar names that were mentioned in Crows (Genya and Zoya). The main character, Alina, is no tender flower. She is sassy and blunt at the most inappropriate of times. She navigates her new world grudgingly, which is very funny at times. The main anti-hero (so to say) of the story is brilliant! He is mysterious, dark, and you can never tell what his next move might be. That is the allure of the Darkling! The plot twist at the end? Yes please! I found the Grisha world to be absolutely fascinating, but I did feel that the book needed more explaining on how Grisha work their magic! But since this is a trilogy I am giving it a benefit of a doubt and hoping for more information from the next 2 books. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo. Leigh Bardugo has my heart. I have read four books of hers up to date, and they all have been fantastic reads that I haven't been able to put down. As much as I wanted to savor this one I flew through it in a day. I can see this book being slow for readers who yearn non-stop action, as there is a lot of diplomatic dinners, meetings and riding from town to town. I have also imagined Alina to be more powerful at this point, but oh well. While Alina is still not as likable as you wish her to be, one quality of hers shines brighter than the sun (see what I did there?). Selflessness. Alina's patriotism might be hidden deep within her, but in the moments that count, it pours out of her like an unstoppable ocean. She would rather die than see other people suffer. She would rather suffer alone than bind anybody to her side. Mal, on the other hand, is a complete dingus! Rarely I see a character go downhill so fast. Mal has become childish and jealous to the point that it makes him insufferable. And just as Alina is completely selfless, Mal has become as selfish as it can be. However, I see his points of view, and understand his hurting. But it's not nearly enough for him to be even a little redeemed in my eyes. I spent half a book wishing somebody would punch him in the face. Nikolai. Who needs Mal when you have Nikolai? Probably the greatest character in the whole series, so far. Yes, I am just going to leave it at that. There is not a lot of Darkling in this book, but when he is present he is badass, he is scary, and he is as perfect of a villain as it gets. |
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