New Challenge

Happy July! Since this month will be a pretty chill and awesome one since my birthday is soon, I thought I would try something new. There are challenges that go around the internet that often revolve around literature: reading challenges, writing challenges, one word challenges, ect. The one that caught my eye, however, involved both literature and visual art. The popular book blog, Books & Cupcakes, hosts a Book Photo Challenge every month. Every day has a prompt for a photo to take, and I find that very fun and artistic. So, I decided to join! To try and not clog up the page too much, I'm going to post my photos every five days. My first set will be posted soon, and I hope it can serve as a kind of mini recommendation/about me thing since it will feature books old and new from my collection. Here's to new challenges!

Nikki

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas | Spoiler free review

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world. 

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it...or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Rating: 5/5
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance, New Adult

As I've said again and again, I love fairy tales, and I love the new twists that writers can pull out of them. So, that's what I mostly look for in novels inspired by fairy tales: originality and voice. Luckily, A Court of Thorns and Roses excelled at that.

The world building was spectacular and elaborate, and it left the readers with just enough to know the basics, but there's obviously a lot more to learn in the rest of the series. And while some of plot was already set up thanks to the Beauty and the Beast influence, there was so much more to it. At some point in the novel I realized the original fairy tale plot had just about expired, but there was still a good amount of the book left. Don't worry, though, Maas does just as well on her own.

The pacing was particularly nice. I'm a somewhat patient person when it comes to pacing, and I don't mind things slowing down when it feels natural. Relationships need time to develop, characters need to explore, and tragic events need healing, so I get it. This book was fairly long at 416 pages, and I felt like it really was a complete journey—there was only one large part of relaxation, and the rest was pretty even on adventure and normality.  In some stories you just feel the smallness of it all, the lack of a full adventure, but this novel closed everything splendidly.

Overall, the thing I'll remember and appreciate most about this novel is Feyre. She is so many things at once: vulnerable and strong, fearful and courageous, intelligent and ignorant. But overall, she is selfless and determined, and it all makes her so real. The other characters were also well-written, but Feyre always shone the brightest. She recognizes and embraces her humanity in a world of immortality, and it doesn't make her weak for doing it.

Oh, and an extra plus: this novel pushed a little on the New Adult side, and it was delightful. For those who are unaware of what New Adult is, it's basically a new genre created for those who want all amazing-ness of YA along with sexy times. Yes, you heard me right. So if you're uncomfortable at all with sexual themes, I would be wary if you want to read this! Nothing too explicit, but it is definitely there.

A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first in a series (unsure how long), and the second should hopefully be out sometime next year. One last note: I wish there were more women present—when I see an author can write strong female characters, I always want more.  Love is great and all, but frienship is just as important, and especially female friendship. I want Feyre to have a kickass female friend she can go to, and I really hope it happens in the sequel.

P.S. Look at that gorgeous cover!

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater | Spoiler free review

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.” 

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive. 

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. 

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. 

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. 

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Rating: 3/5
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance

I enjoyed the characters and the overall idea of The Raven Boys a lot, and I think a good amount happened for the first in a series, but for some reason I never truly got excited about this book. There was something about it that didn't hook me, and I think it mostly centered around the pacing, narration, and point of view.

Firstly, I began to lose a bit of interest thanks to the slow pacing towards the first half; things were slowed down in order to introduce all the characters and their goals, which took a good amount of time. Also, the first meeting scene, in my opinion, could have been taken out and replaced by an event that was already being set-up. It did add a bit more to a later scene because characters were somewhat-kinda acquainted, but not enough that I think it was truly needed. The pacing was better throughout the rest of the book, but it still seemed a bit disjointed overall.

Moving on to the characters and narration, I think this was what bothered me the most. There were multiple narrators in this book, and sometimes it wasn't obvious at first who was telling a chapter. I'm not a fan of more than two narrators in books anyway because even though we do gain more information from different characters that way, I also think we lost a bit of the authenticity. Even if I know that the narrator is biased, and shouldn't be trusted, I could at least trust that their voice is true. That trust gets harder once you throw in four different eyes to see through.

Similarly, I know characters are layered, and that makes them interesting and real, but I struggled to find the true character beneath these ones. They all were well-developed in a checklist sort of way, but I wasn't 100% sure of their true personality. I questioned the actions and thoughts of them too much to be comfortable, and thus began to lose interest.

Overall, the creative setting and theme of the novel may be enough to continue the series, but I'm sadly not too impressed with The Raven Boys. The series is a quartet known as The Raven Cycle, and the third book came out last year. If you're interested in paranormal YA, I would still recommend this to those who want to try it out.

Youtube Web Series Adaptations

Hey, guys! Fun update for today because I just recently re-watched the amazing web series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. If you can guess from the name, yes, it is a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and it is amazing. So amazing it actually won an Emmy award. AN EMMY. It's a new frontier for literature, and it's extremely entertaining.

So, if you haven't heard about this phenomenon, let me introduce you:

In an age of rapidly evolving technology and rapidly consuming viewers, it's no surprise that adaptations have taken on a new form in web videos. People like to say that our generation has no attention span, yada yada, but I'm thoroughly convinced it's because we have higher expectations. Sure, I can't stand Mark Twain's long-winded writing, but that's because authors now-a-days can write a perfectly solid novel with less boring, droning details. It's efficient and we still achieve the same stories that make authors like that famous. Example #1: Jo Rowling. Anyway, keeping up with that evolution, classical adaptations were brought to the computer screen these past few years, and it's amazing.

Here's some web series that I thoroughly enjoy, and I hope you will too:

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (Pride and Prejudice adaptation)
Emma Approved (Emma adaptation)
The March Family Letters (Little Women adaptation)
The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy (Peter Pan adaptation)
Nothing Much To Do (Much Ado About Nothing adaptation)

If I'm not mistaken, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Nothing Much To Do are finished, Emma Approved and The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy have wrapped one season, awaiting a next, and The March Family Letters are ongoing. But don't let that stop you from getting started on them now!

And remember, at the end of the day we're still experiencing the same story and characters. The medium you choose to appreciate it with doesn't make you any better or worse of a person.

Happy watching! And sorry for the new addictions. Sorta.

Nikki

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black | Spoiler free review

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for. 

Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once. 

At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking. 

Until one day, he does… 

As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

Rating: 4.5/5
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Romance, Fairy Tale

If anyone ever asked me to recommend them some modern fairy tales, this novel would be at the top of my list. The writing was such a perfect blend of classic and modern that I had no trouble being completely fluent with the language (since sometimes the classics have phrases or dialects that disconnect our flow because we have to pause and translate). There's a lot of telling rather than showing like with the usual fairy tale formula, but while that would typically be a sign of the writer giving away too much, I was constantly surprised with the twists and turns.

Sometimes I figured out a twist before the reveal, sometimes I didn't, but every time I just thought to myself: Son a bitch she got me again. There were so many layers to this plot that I would have absolutely hated writing it, which basically means I was thoroughly impressed.

The relationship between Hazel and Ben, as a key component of the novel, spectacularly showed Black's handle of her characters. While I think there was some development missing from some characters, or I just wished for a bit more, those two siblings made up for it.

Overall, this novel was quite simply right up my alley. The dark theme of magic is something I've always loved in fairy tales. When you strip away the Disney filter we've all gotten so used to (bless your heart Disney but I like some creepy, sinister stories sometimes), fairy tales are pretty messed up. But we still love them, and keep re-writing them, which I imagine as the perfect metaphor for the town of Fairfold; there's always a threat of dark magic, yet people still continue to live there.

If you're a fan of fairy tales in any way, then this book is for you. Prepare to feel like reality has suddenly evolved, because magic and modern have mixed seamlessly in this novel and it's a wild trip.

Quick Tip: Twitter

I've been in a bit of a reading slump, so I thought I would just share a quick tip!

Kind of going off of a small comment I made in one of my reviews, I think Twitter has become an amazing platform for authors and readers. If you haven't already, follow the authors of some of your favorite books. You get to see small tidbits of their lives, be updated on their book things (like tours and the like), and interact with them sometimes as well.

There's also a lot of giveaways that authors/publishers/bloggers do, and Twitter is one of the main platforms that they share them on. There's always lots of love for the book community! So go follow authors, publishers, agents, literary magazines, independent bookstores, and twitters dedicated to books!

And to finish up, here's some general, bookish Twitters I would recommend:

We Heart YA
Buzzfeed Books
Pub(lishing) Crawl
Waterstones Oxford Street (their tweets are hilarious!)
Goodreads

Nikki

Joining a Book Club

Hey, guys! Just wanted to post an update that could be beneficial to some people if they're interested in joining a book club.

If you didn't know already, Tumblr has a large book community (which they call booklr), and they host lots of readings and clubs. The one that attracted my interest is Summer Reading Book Club. It's hosted by four people, and they each pick a book to read for an allotted time. You can read just one of the books from their picks or maybe all four--it's up to you! They're currently reading The Girl on the Train, Obsidian, Snow Like Ashes, and Gone. I'm a bit late to join the party since this set is done June 14th, but I think I'll use it as a way to finally get my hands on Snow Like Ashes. Since I'm already behind, and I've already read Gone a couple years ago, I'm going to just stick to reading that one.

So, to anyone looking for something to inspire them to start reading, here's an idea! They have voting open right now for what books will be in the next set, so you can always vote now and wait for what's next.

Check it out if you have time and/or are interested! Hopefully I'll have a review for Snow Like Ashes out in the next week.

Nikki