Look What Just Arrived! (#13)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAYes, it’s that time again: book buying time.  I’m not even going to try to justify my addiction at this point.  Basically I have lots of reading to get done over the holidays and I can’t wait!

Here are my new books:

  • The Stone of Light: Nefer the Silent by Christian Jacq
  • The Stone of Light: The Wise Woman by Christian Jacq
  • The Stone of Light: The Place of Truth by Christian Jacq
  • Accursed Women by Luciana Cavallaro
  • A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
  • The Sorcerer: The Fort at River’s Bend by Jack Whyte
  • Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser

The reason why I have so many books this time around is that the owners of the local bookstore I frequent sometimes set books aside for me.  When I saw they had set aside 3/5 books of The Stone of Light series (gently used) I couldn’t help but buy them.  They look like excellent novels and I’ve actually heard of Christian Jacq before, so for $4 each I figured why not give them a try?

Accursed Women is a collection of 5 short stories by Luciana Cavallaro.  She sent it to me partly so I could review her latest short story about Medusa, but also as a way of saying thank you for your reviews.  (After all, I did review 4 ebook copies of her first four short stories.)  I really appreciate when authors do that so I was quite happy to receive this book in the mail.

As you guys know I’m a fan of Game of Thrones, both the books and the television show.  Yet I was too cheap to buy A Dance with Dragons when it was still in hardcover, so on the day the paperback edition was released I bought myself one.  Yes, I know I’m a horrible cheapskate.  The same goes for when I was browsing the used section of the bookstore and saw one of the books in Jack Whyte’s amazing A Dream of Eagles series.  Who could resist?

Marie Antoinette: The Journey was meant as a gift for someone until I realized that it was nonfiction.  From the blurb it had sounded like fiction, but that just goes to show that one should always read carefully when they’re unsure of a book’s genre.  So I decided to read the book myself and so far, so good.  Antonia Fraser has a decent writing style for a nonfiction writer.

These are what I’m reading/will be reading soon.  What are you reading now?  See anything you like here?

Discussion: Are You an Introvert?

Most of the people reading my blog are pretty well-read, be it fiction or nonfiction.  What I’ve noticed over the years is that most people who are big readers are introverts.  This could be for a number of reasons I don’t feel qualified to talk about, so I’m going to talk about my own introvert experiences.

I’m not the necessarily shy and socially awkward type of introvert that movies and television seem to portray.  I’ve learned to fake it because it’s not possible to behave like an introvert in my line of work.  I do enjoy the occasional night out, but stuff like that exhausts me.  Four or five hours out is pretty much my limit and that’s on a good day.  On an average day I can’t tolerate much more than two hours.  (This is on top of a full day’s work, mind you.)

So most Friday nights you’ll find me sitting at home watching TV or reading.  It’s not because I don’t have friends/a social life but rather because for the most part I prefer my own company.  Social stuff drains me and frankly I find most people to be boring and/or annoying.  (This is likely the side effect of living in a tiny community where I’ve known everywhere for my whole life.  Outside of my own community I do love talking to people and hearing their stories.)

Because I don’t really like to go out, I read a lot.  At the same time, I make time for reading because I really do enjoy it.  Is there a correlation between being bookish and introverted?  My anecdata says yes, but I’d like an admittedly slightly biased survey here on my blog.

What I want to know is this: Are you an introvert?  Can you describe your experience(s) as an introvert for any readers here who are extroverts?  If you are an introvert, do you find that you read more than your extroverted friends/colleagues/family?

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray(Cover picture courtesy of The Young Folks.)

A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy–jumble them all together and you have this complicated and unusual first novel.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother’s death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls’ academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions “for a bit of fun” and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left with the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the “others” and rebuild the Order. A Great and Terrible Beauty is an impressive first book in what should prove to be a fascinating trilogy.

Just like the title may suggest to you, there are some great things in this book and some terrible things.  Let’s start with the great ones, shall we?

I loved the Victorian feel of this novel.  Libba Bray’s talent here is that she never loses the dark Victorian atmosphere while still exploring things like women’s issues and teenage love.  Some of the things the main characters learn in A Great and Terrible Beauty can certainly apply to teens today, so I think this book is still very easy to relate to.  At the same time, there’s still that exotic feel that comes with a completely different time period.

Another good thing was the main character, Gemma.  Gemma is not your typical kick-butt girl empowerment type of character.  She’s a little bit shy, impulsive and struggles to fight against a society where women aren’t supposed to have their own opinions.  Does that mean she’s constantly fighting with her teachers at Spence over women’s issues and boldly doing things like wearing pants?  Of course not.  This goes back to the whole authentic Victorian feel of the novel: Gemma rebels in a realistic way, not necessarily in a modern way that YA readers have come to expect.

Now for the terrible: Gemma’s friends.  I know that they certainly had their flaws, but they were still not given much depth.  Pippa only acquired some depth in the end, but Felicity was just your typical It-Girl through-and-through.  Yes, teenagers do stupid things, but the idiotic thing they do at the end of the novel at the behest of a malevolent spirit just made me face-palm.  I mean, really?  Hardly any girl would do that today, let alone girls raised to believe that showing your ankles and wrists meant you were a loose woman.

As for the mysterious Order I was generally happy about what information Libba Bray chose to reveal as the book went along.  She reveals enough for us to understand what the heck is going on, but not so much that I could end the trilogy here.  For now I’m going to reserve judgment on the other realms and the magic but I’ll say that I’m satisfied with the explanations thus far.

Overall, A Great and Terrible Beauty was a pretty good novel.  Was it the best I’ve ever read?  No, I wouldn’t put it up there on my top 10 or even 20 list.  But it was a mostly enjoyable read and I’d definitely recommend giving it a try.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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Sins of the Son by Linda Poitevin

Sins of the Son by Linda Poitevin(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

When homicide detective Alexandra Jarvis sees a photo of Seth Benjamin on a police bulletin, she knows that Heaven’s plan to halt Armageddon has gone terribly wrong. As the only mortal who knows of Seth’s true nature, only she can save him. Aramael was a hunter of Fallen Angels until a traitor forced him into earthly exile. Now, with no powers and only a faint memory of Alex, his mortal soulmate, he will stop at nothing to redeem himself-even if it means destroying Seth in the name of the Creator…

[Full disclosure: I was originally supposed to review this for the Sins of the Lost blog tour, but my books got lost in the postal system.  So now I’m reviewing it after the tour and, as always, my review is honest.]

After that massive cliffhanger at the end of Sins of the Angels I was very, very eager to get my hands on the second book.  I had to know what happened to Alex and Aramael.  Would they get back together and if they did, could it ever be the same for the two?  Seeing as I’m actually emotionally invested in this novel, particularly the relationship between the two, I just had to know.

I wasn’t disappointed in Linda Poitevin either.  She manages to juggle a couple of different viewpoints while at the same time writing a complicated story, plot-wise and character-wise.  Seeing as I’m a huge fan of characters with depth, I’ll start with the latter.

Alex is a very different person from the one we met at the beginning of Sins of the Angels.  Her love for Aramael changed her and honestly, it’s for the better.  Despite the fact that he’s been banished and she may never see him again, she’s a much more accepting and tolerant person.  The patience she showed with Seth later on would never have occurred at the beginning of Sins of the Angels.  I was just astonished by how much she really does change throughout the novel because she goes through some pretty awful things.  Still, Alex stays true to herself and I love her for that.

Aramael is changed as well.  He’s immortal but without his powers and so he ends up on the receiving end of quite a few of the Fallen’s wrath.  He gets kicked around and killed frequently in the beginning, until the enigmatic archangel Michael is introduced.  From there on, Aramael’s character is so changed it’s almost like he’s a different person, more devoted to his mission to find Alex.  I can’t say much more without giving things away, but Aramael is not perfect and sometimes his emotions get in the way of doing what’s best in a given situation.

I’m the sort of person that tries to predict the ending of books about halfway through.  Usually I’m right, but in Sins of the Son I had no idea what was going to happen.  Linda Poitevin had so many twists and turns in the plot that I was left reeling from the emotional shock by the end.  She spares her characters no pain and has obviously planned the trilogy out well because all of the plot twists make sense.

If you read the first book and loved it, I’d highly recommend Sins of the Son.  If you haven’t read the first book yet, go out and buy it now!  If you love romance, awesome characters, great world-building and unpredictable plots you can’t go wrong with this trilogy.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz(Cover picture courtesy of Confessions of a Book Addict.)

“When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires. The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society.  The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries. But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates, and she lives with her reclusive grandmother in a dilapated mansion. Schuyler is a loner…and happy that way. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a popular girl from her school is found dead… drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn’t know what to think, but she wants to find out the secrets the Blue Bloods are keeping. But is she herself in danger?  Could those vampire legends really be true?“

Where do I start with a book like this?

Since I usually gush about characters, let’s start with them, shall we?  I hated the characters in this book.  I didn’t just passively not care about them, I actively wished for their doom.  Schuyler is such a stereotypical Mary Sue that I almost stopped reading.  She’s the drop-dead gorgeous outcast who looks good in clothing that could be generously described as garbage.  She does everything perfectly, is never wrong and Melissa de la Cruz always harps on how good she looks in her awful clothes.  Bliss, the girl from Texas, is no less of a Mary Sue.  She’s the typical bouncy, happy-go-lucky southern girl who is transformed into a posh New York upperclass girl by the resident It-Girl, Mimi.  Don’t get me started on how awful Mimi is.  She’s just the typical mean girl with no depth and not even a single trait added to make her even mildly different from the stereotypical It Girl.

The plot is non-existent.  I felt like all of the characters were just wandering around aimlessly in their designer clothing (which is described in excruciating detail) waiting for something to happen in their vapid, meaningless lives.  When we finally get introduced to the vampire aspect the premise could have been good, but it got lost in the tedium of the first part of the book.  By the time Melissa de la Cruz actually got around to explaining anything I was already past caring.  Oh, and of course the main character is special.  She’s not only a vampire, but a special one at that.

It’s only due to my stubbornness that I finished this book at all.  The writing seemed to be that of a wish-fulfilling teenage girl, the characters were just stock characters with no depth and the plot didn’t exist until the book was almost over.  It sort of got interesting at the end of the novel, but not nearly enough to even make me consider picking up the next book.  If you’re looking to read this series my advice for you is don’t.  It’s a waste of paper and a waste of your time.

I give this book 0.5/5 stars.

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