House of Hades is the fourth, and presumably, the penultimate in Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series. It continues the story of the seven demigods who are prophesied to work together to prevent the earth goddess Gaea from rising and populating the earth with her giants, presumably a VERY BAD THING. The overall impression I had was that House of Hades was Mark of Athena part II. It follows on directly from and continues the plot points from the previous book. In it the demigods continue to work on the task assigned to them in MoA – to close the Doors of Death. Books one and two form a pair – Jason and Percy’s swap – and so books three and four as well. Riordan has cleared the decks so to speak for the final push in book five, Blood of Olympus. I also had the strong feeling that this is Riordan preparing to say goodbye to the world of Percy Jackson. As far as I understand, his next project is a new series based on Norse mythology (Yeah! Loki! Odin! Thor! Sign me up for that!). Annabeth and Percy’s trip through Tartarus is pretty much a Percy and Annabeth’s Greatest…
The Elite by Keira Cass continues the story of America Singer and her participation in the Selection to win the heart and hand of Prince Maxon. In this book America must deal with the consequences of her being torn between two men, she learns more of the political reality of Illea and makes a dangerous new enemy. My reading of The Elite only served to consolidate my thoughts on the series as a whole. What I liked The concept. I continued to enjoy the Batchelor/Hunger Games idea behind the story. In the Elite, the number of contestants has been reduced considerably, so we really get to know the main candidates. I found it interesting that Cass gives the impression that America might not necessarily be the best candidate for the role, at least in terms of maintaining the status quo. Clearly though the caste system is being portrayed as inherently flawed, and America is likely the best candidate to change this. The world. I enjoyed what more we learned about the world. As part of their Elite status, the remaining candidates are introduced more and more into the politics of Illea. This necessarily involves a widening view of the world…
The Elite by Keira Cass continues the story of America Singer and her participation in the Selection to win the heart and hand of Prince Maxon. In this book America must deal with the consequences of her being torn between two men, she learns more of the political reality of Illea and makes a dangerous new enemy. My reading of The Elite only served to consolidate my thoughts on the series as a whole. What I liked The concept. I continued to enjoy the Batchelor/Hunger Games idea behind the story. In the Elite, the number of contestants has been reduced considerably, so we really get to know the main candidates. I found it interesting that Cass gives the impression that America might not necessarily be the best candidate for the role, at least in terms of maintaining the status quo. Clearly though the caste system is being portrayed as inherently flawed, and America is likely the best candidate to change this. The world. I enjoyed what more we learned about the world. As part of their Elite status, the remaining candidates are introduced more and more into the politics of Illea. This necessarily involves a widening view of the world…
The Selection by Kiera Cass is about a young woman named America who ends up involved in a sort of Bachelor competition to win the heart and hand of the crown prince. I hadn’t actually intended to read it. I had tried the sample and didn’t get into it enough to want to buy it. Then I watched PolandBananasBooks’ YouTube review and when I saw that the audiobook was available at my local library I decided to give it another shot. After I got through the first few chapters I found the story sucked me in and I finished it in almost the one sitting. What I liked The concept. I hadn’t expected to enjoy a teen princess version of The Bachelor but the main character was so engaging I found I really enjoyed it. It helped that America’s motives for entering the competition were laid out pretty clearly – she has no illusions about marrying the prince and living a life of luxury. She knows that the longer she stays in the Selection the longer her struggling family receives financial support from the state, and that is one of her main motivations. The America/Maxon relationship. I really liked that their relationship…
The Selection by Kiera Cass is about a young woman named America who ends up involved in a sort of Bachelor competition to win the heart and hand of the crown prince. I hadn’t actually intended to read it. I had tried the sample and didn’t get into it enough to want to buy it. Then I watched PolandBananasBooks’ YouTube review and when I saw that the audiobook was available at my local library I decided to give it another shot. After I got through the first few chapters I found the story sucked me in and I finished it in almost the one sitting. What I liked The concept. I hadn’t expected to enjoy a teen princess version of The Bachelor but the main character was so engaging I found I really enjoyed it. It helped that America’s motives for entering the competition were laid out pretty clearly – she has no illusions about marrying the prince and living a life of luxury. She knows that the longer she stays in the Selection the longer her struggling family receives financial support from the state, and that is one of her main motivations. The America/Maxon relationship. I really liked that their relationship…
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor tells the story of Karou, a young woman with a double life. By day she is a student in modern day Prague, but at night she runs errands for her chimaera foster father, usually involving collecting teeth. It also tells of her love for an angel, Akiva, and of the war between angels and chimaera. What I liked Romeo and Juliet. Daughter of Smoke and Bone borrows a lot from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We have the star-crossed lovers on either side of opposing factions, betrayal, discovery, faked death and its fallout. Hey, I don’t mind – there’s a reason why Shakespeare and his themes have lasted so long – the idea of star-crossed lovers torn apart by war and death still resonates. Multiple threads woven together. We see the story from multiple points of view. At first, I found this confusing – who is Madrigal and why am I hearing from her when I want to hear from Karou? However as the book went on, these multiple points of view came together beautifully to create a wonderful story. The humour. Karou and her friend Zuzanna are just so funny together…
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor tells the story of Karou, a young woman with a double life. By day she is a student in modern day Prague, but at night she runs errands for her chimaera foster father, usually involving collecting teeth. It also tells of her love for an angel, Akiva, and of the war between angels and chimaera. What I liked Romeo and Juliet. Daughter of Smoke and Bone borrows a lot from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We have the star-crossed lovers on either side of opposing factions, betrayal, discovery, faked death and its fallout. Hey, I don’t mind – there’s a reason why Shakespeare and his themes have lasted so long – the idea of star-crossed lovers torn apart by war and death still resonates. Multiple threads woven together. We see the story from multiple points of view. At first, I found this confusing – who is Madrigal and why am I hearing from her when I want to hear from Karou? However as the book went on, these multiple points of view came together beautifully to create a wonderful story. The humour. Karou and her friend Zuzanna are just so funny together…
The Bone Season is Samantha Shannon’s debut dystopian novel and tells the story of clairvoyant Paige and her experiences as a prisoner of the alien Rephaim. I actually found this review quite difficult to write. It has been rescheduled time and time again. This is because, although I have read The Bone Season I’m still not entirely certain how I feel about it. It probably didn’t help that the hype machine was in full flow for this novel claiming that Shannon was the next J.K. Rowling. That set an impossibly high bar for the novel. What I liked The unique world building. The world of The Bone Season feels fresh and unique. There are layers within layers. The novel starts in a dystopian future version of London in which clairvoyance is illegal. This society is nicely described, but then we get another layer of the world of the Rephaim and Emim. The relationship between Paige and Warden. It was pretty clear that Shannon was setting up a romantic relationship between Paige and her keeper, Warden. Initially I was very resistant to that; it seemed such an imbalanced relationship with Warden’s having the power of life and death over Paige. Shannon…
The Bone Season is Samantha Shannon’s debut dystopian novel and tells the story of clairvoyant Paige and her experiences as a prisoner of the alien Rephaim. I actually found this review quite difficult to write. It has been rescheduled time and time again. This is because, although I have read The Bone Season I’m still not entirely certain how I feel about it. It probably didn’t help that the hype machine was in full flow for this novel claiming that Shannon was the next J.K. Rowling. That set an impossibly high bar for the novel. What I liked The unique world building. The world of The Bone Season feels fresh and unique. There are layers within layers. The novel starts in a dystopian future version of London in which clairvoyance is illegal. This society is nicely described, but then we get another layer of the world of the Rephaim and Emim. The relationship between Paige and Warden. It was pretty clear that Shannon was setting up a romantic relationship between Paige and her keeper, Warden. Initially I was very resistant to that; it seemed such an imbalanced relationship with Warden’s having the power of life and death over Paige. Shannon…
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker is the story of, well, a golem and a jinni who find themselves in turn of the century New York. Recently awoken/liberated respectively they must find their feet in and adapt to the New World while avoiding threats which could destroy them. First of all, I would like to say just how much I loved this story. I loved the characters, the narrative, the setting. What I found rather interesting was the fact that, had the golem and the jinni been just ordinary immigrants instead of supernatural creatures, 80% of the story could have remained unchanged. It is much more a story of new immigrants to the States adapting to their new lives and country and friendships formed than a fantastical tale of the supernatural. That is not to say that the element of the fantastical did not add an extra layer of depth to the tale, but it is well grounded in reality. What I liked The characters. All the characters were beautifully written, from our two protagonists down to “Ice Cream Salah.” Due to circumstances beyond their control, the golem and the jinni find themselves alone in turn of the…