Category: Book Review
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Image Courtesy Of Goodreads
Synopsis: Beyond the Village of Wall lies the enchanting and mystical land of Faerie, where all beings live and breathe magic. Tristran Thorn, a young boy from the village is hopelessly in love with the beautiful Victoria Forester and would do anything for her; including crossing the wall to fetch the fallen star she so desires. As Tristran ventures into the land of Faerie, he will encounter strange and beautiful creatures. Will he find the fallen star and bring it back to the village? Will he be able to make it out of Faerie in one piece?
Cover Gushing Worthiness: The cover of Stardust is beautiful with a doubt. The colours used in the cover of the edition I read (pictured in this review), along with the ivy like designs gives it a magical and whimsical feel.
May Contain Minor Spoilers
Blackout by Mira Grant
(Cover picture courtesy of A Dribble of Ink.)
The conspiracy that rules post-zombie America is alive and well. The same can’t be said of the bloggers who dared to tell the truth as they found it.
Now, with too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, Shaun Mason and his team must face mad scientists, zombie bears, and rogue government agencies—and if there’s one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it’s this:
Things can always get worse.
Being the snarky, rather opinionated person I am, I am rarely lost for words. But after reading Blackout,the last book in the Newsflesh trilogy, there’s only one thing to say.
Wow.
After that enormous cliffhanger at the end of Deadline, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Blackout and when I did, I wasn’t disappointed. Funny, dark, suspenseful and full of plot twists, Blackout was no disappointment. And it even had a satisfying, if not entirely happy, ending. What else could I really ask for?
In Deadline, Mira Grant explains the Kellis-Amberlee virus itself so we can understand things like reservoir conditions and spontaneous remissions. But in this last book, we find out pretty much everything about the virus, including why mosquitoes have suddenly become a vector. As you have probably guessed, this new vector is manmade and Dr. Abbey has her hands full figuring out the structure of this new threat before time runs out.
One of the recurring themes throughout the trilogy is the importance of the truth, but this features even more prominently in Blackout. Shaun, Becks, Alaric, Mahir and a character I won’t mention because it’s a spoiler have some very tough choices about whether the truth is really the best thing. I had serious doubts about their resolve, especially near the end, but the team stays true to themselves. Sadly, one of my favourite characters dies, but at least they go out in a blaze of glory protecting those they love.
And now, to lighten things up, here’s one of my favourite parts of the whole novel (Warning: language not suitable for younger readers):
“I, Shaun Phillip Mason, being of sound mind and body, do hereby swear to poke dead things with sticks, do stupid shit for your amusement and put it all on the internet where you can watch it over and over again.” (Pg 4)
That pretty much sums up Mira Grant’s sense of humour, doesn’t it?
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Deadline by Mira Grant
(Cover picture courtesy of Orbit Books.)
Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn’t seem as fun when you’ve lost as much as he has.
But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news—he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.
Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.
After Feed cured me of my irrational zombie fear, I decided to read the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy: Deadline. I’m really glad I did because it builds on things hinted at in the first book very well. If you don’t want to read any spoilers, I suggest you stop reading right now.
It’s been a year since Georgia died, but since Shaun talks to her in his head constantly, it feels like she’s a major character. Shaun talks to her aloud and accepts that he is mentally ill because he doesn’t want to let go of his adoptive sister. His point of view is very different from George’s because he’s more reckless and unsure of himself and what he’s doing. I guess that’s a natural response to shooting your sister in the spinal column after she’s been injected with live Kellis-Amberlee. Deadline follows Shaun’s quest for the truth and throughout the journey he has a lot of character development as each new, horrible revelation comes to light.
The focus of Deadline isn’t politics like it was in Feed. Instead, it focuses a lot more on the Kellis-Amberlee virus itself. The level of detail Mira Grant has put into her world-building is fantastic and, unlike a lot of zombie novels, she explains what causes people to turn into zombies. Truly, this is science fiction at its finest because it has a fast-paced plot while paying attention to character development and world-building.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
(Cover picture courtesy of Never Too Fond of Books.)
Finn cannot remember his childhood. He cannot remember his life before Incarceron—a prison that has been sealed for centuries, where inmates live in cells, dilapidated cities, and unbounded wilderness. No one has ever escaped. But then he finds a crystal key and a girl named Claudia.
Claudia’s father is the Warden of Incarceron. And Claudia is about to become a kind of prisoner herself, doomed to an arranged marriage. If she helps Finn in his escape, she will need his help in return.
But they don’t realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye. Escape will take their greatest courage and far more than they know…because Incarceron is alive.
There is only one word to describe Catherine Fisher’s Incarceron:
Weird.
There is no other world to describe this futuristic science fiction-fantasy hybrid but weird. Truly, even as widely read as I am, I have never read a book like this. It’s unique in a good way, with excellent world-building and interesting themes. I’m not even going to hazard a guess as to where the inspiration for the world of Incarceron came from. It probably wouldn’t make sense to most people anyway.
The fantastic and bizarre world of Incarceron sort of makes up for the characters, which were somewhat lacking. For whatever reason, I just really couldn’t connect with either Claudia or Finn. Claudia is like me in some ways, so I should have been able to connect with her, but I just couldn’t. Finn…I really didn’t like him from the start, so there was no hope there. In my eyes, Catherine Fisher just couldn’t breathe life into her characters.
The plot is fast-paced and switches points of view in all the right places to keep people reading. There are a few predictable plot points, but I certainly couldn’t predict every plot twist. So if you like fast-paced novels with great world-building but don’t mind poorly developed characters, you’ll love Incarceron.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
(Cover picture courtesy of Mundie Source.)
In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the friendly devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.
After reading Clockwork Prince, I’m starting to like The Infernal Devices even more. Finally characters like Will and Jessamine acquire depth and I can actually sympathize with them. Whereas Clockwork Angel focused mainly on Tessa’s entrance into the world of the supernatural, Clockwork Prince focuses more on the characters and setting up the final book, Clockwork Princess. We also get a lot more information about the world of the Shadowhunters, which builds on both the first book and the parallel series, The Mortal Instruments.
Tessa is still a strong character in this book and readers will feel her love for Jem, but also her growing attraction to will, despite his horrible behavior toward her at the end of the first book. She hates her brother Nathan for betraying her and the Shadowhunters, yet she still has a bit of sisterly affection for him, even if she doesn’t want to admit it. Her choices in this novel have direct consequences for the people she loves, so Tessa is even more conflicted about her decisions than before. Will also acquires a lot more depth and I actually feel sorry for him as he uncovers an ironic tragedy worthy of Sophocles himself.
The plot of Clockwork Prince is moderately fast and almost every scene advances the action. What I admire most about Cassandra Clare is that she perfectly intertwines her two series together so that if you read them in order of release, you will have a much richer experience. From a marketing perspective, the way she releases these books is brilliant because fans of the first three books will want to keep reading The Mortal Instruments to see what happens to Clary and the others. They’re also more likely to read The Infernal Devices because it gives them some backstory on some of their favourite characters. It’s hard to read one series without reading the other. Brilliant.
I give this book 4/5 stars.