Wednesday 26 March 2014

Review No. 7: John Dreamer by Elise Celine

  

Description: Our main character, Andy, awakens in a great white room. In this strange place there are seven chairs. Each chair is different in style and size and has a name-plate at the back. Soon, people start popping into the room with the personalities to match the chairs. These seven characters are stuck in this room with nothing to do but enjoy the clashing of their personalities. The only way of escape is by fulfilling their dreams. What will happen in this Great White Room? I have no intention of telling you, read it to find out.

What I think about it: Firstly, this cover is gorgeous! I would seriously consider picking this up just because of the cover. Secondly, this book is a contemporary hidden in a fantasy's clothing. What more could I want? It was a quick, light read (with only 203 pages it had to be!) and I enjoyed most of it. Towards the end, however, it turned a bit cheesy and......wait for it.......unrealistic! Now, going into it, I knew it would be unrealistic because the thing is fantasy! If it's not a little 'out there', it's probably not in the right category....so I expected it to be unreal but come on! My dear novel, if you claim to be unrealistic, at least be unpredictable. Too much cheese makes things unhealthy and I do not want you to become ill.
  There were many gems of wisdom hidden in this novel, I'd recommend it to anyone in need of motivation. It was very inspirational.
                                 
Character Analysis:

Andy- We're seeing from her point of view. Therefore, we are her. I had no problems aligning my thoughts with hers. She was very likable, in my opinion.

John- He's such a sweet character that at times I thought he was an angel. Or something. He's the kind of guy that most girls dream about marrying. 

Roy- He's a bully. He picks on some of the characters and he never has anything good to say. He's instantly unlikeable.

Linda- She's shy and really quiet. She stands to the side and observes most of the time. I liked her silence.

Matt- In a few words; he's the target of the bully. He's innocent and somewhat sensitive.

Marcus- 'The Geek' of the group. He's really smart but a little too lost in space.

Olivia- She's the rich, spoilt, self-absorbed brat. Or at least, on the outside she appears this way.

The Guardian- He's very theatrical and kind of crazy. He reminded me a lot of Dumbledore from Harry Potter. He was also always speaking in riddles.

Conclusion: 3/5 stars. I liked it but I didn't love it. If you're looking for a quick read that dips into fantasy then please, do not hesitate to pick this one up. Give it a chance, maybe you'll like it.

Before I forget, I'd like to mention that I got this free copy in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley. Thank you guys so much :)

Buy this book:

My Video Review of John Dreamer:



Thank you for your time and patience.

Saturday 15 March 2014

Review No.6: Incarceron by Catherine Fisher



  Description:
                        Finn has never known anywhere but Incarceron. He's been imprisoned ever since he can remember........Claudia is the daughter of The Warden of Incarceron. She's about to be imprisoned in an arranged marriage........Finn and Claudia's worlds collide! Finn will need Claudia's help to escape from the Prison and Claudia needs his help to escape from her arranged marriage. This will not be an easy task because Incarceron is alive!

What I think about it: 
                                   Okay, let's get one thing straight: I don't love this book to pieces. I thought I would fall madly in love with it.....I was wrong. Now, don't get the wrong impression, there are some aspects that I enjoyed while reading this novel. For instance, the world building was absolutely amazing. That is, I didn't get a bunch of information dumped on me, at any given time, that I didn't understand. It was a suspenseful ride around every corner, and that made it all the more enjoyable. There was , however, one instance where I saw the outcome way before it was even properly hinted at.......that was satisfaction and disappointment in the same breath.
                                  The story was interesting and I was enjoying it. Until a certain point in the story where the characters started to annoy me! I'm not someone to back down from a challenging read so I stuck to it, in the vain hope that I'd start liking it again. Alas! It was not meant to be. Once the characters started to irritate me, that was the point of no return, I couldn't like the novel any more. I must point out, however, that most of the male characters were in my good graces. It was the female characters that got on my nerves.

Character Analysis: 

Finn- The hero of this tale. He's a typical hero; kind, brave, sometimes foolish with neverending loyalty. I thought I was going to hate him from the beginning. Turns out, I actually like him.

Keiro- He is Finn's oath brother. He's arrogant and self-centered at first glance. Please look deeper into him, if you're going to read this book. Everyone loves to hate him! Everyone but Finn, that is. I adored Keiro, I must admit that my determination to like this novel had everything to do with him. Doesn't everyone love a bad boy?

Claudia- Selfish, spoilt BRAT. Can you tell how much I dislike her? It wasn't always like that. At the beginning , I liked her spirit but as the story drew on I hated her.

Jared- He is Claudia's Tutor. I loved him! He's gentle, wise and kind. He also has some kind of sickness that's slowly killing him. Why must it always be the ones who are nice?

The Warden- This guy seems evil and cold to the core. Does he have a heart?


Conclusion: 2.5/5 stars. I did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would. Unfortunately, I will not be continuing with the sequel and it is unlikely that I will ever pick this one up again.

My Video Review of Incarceron:


Thank you for your patience and time.

Sunday 9 March 2014

I write like.........

 Paige from enchantology introduced me to a website called I Write Like. This website takes a sample of something you've written, analyzes it and tells you which famous author you write like. I found this concept really cool and decided to try it out. I was really flattered with this result. Here's my result:

Your Badge
I write like
J. K. Rowling

Saturday 8 March 2014

Review No. 5: Matched by Ally Condie



Description:   The Society controls everything; the school you attend, the food you eat, the exercises you do, the person you marry, the age you must have children even when you die. They control everything.
                       Cassia has just been to her Match Banquet, she is matched to her best friend. Xander, and she believes that the society is absolutely right in the choice of her life partner. Until she catches a glimpse of another boy on the Microcard that was supposed to hold the information about her match. She sees the possibility of another match and it sets her heart on fire. She begins to doubt the Society and their Methods of keeping everyone safe.

What I think about it: This novel was breathtaking! The book was glued to my hands from beginning to end. I went into it looking for a good dystopian romance story and that's exactly what I got! The synopsis on the back of it was somewhat misleading but, instead of feeling let down, I was anxious to see where the story would go. It was slow at times but I prefer this to the insta-love that's running rampant in YA. It made the story a little more believable.
                                      I could not help but compare Matched with Delirium by Lauren Oliver. For those of you who have read Delirium and Matched, you know how the worlds seem similar at some points. There is one major difference; the writing styles were completely different. Delirium was beautifully written, there is no doubt about that, but I craved more for Matched. They are both very different and ,as a result, are both amazing stories in their own right. We're not here to talk about Delirium, if you want to know more of my thoughts on that you can scroll down to my review of Delirium.

Character Analysis: As always, some of the characters will not appear on this list. They are all important but if I were to talk about every character we'd be here until night fall. I'm only going to describe the main characters.

Cassia- A law-abiding citizen who is satisfied with the life that the Society gives her. There is no reason to fight the Society, they give her family everything they need to survive. This is the kind of person Cassia is; she doesn't question the society. After meeting and getting to know Ky, she starts to change.

Xander- He's Cassia's best friend; the perfect person ever. Complete with blue eyes and blonde hair. He's in love with Cassia and wants her to be happy. He's kind and loving and he knows her better than everyone else. Or so he thought.

Ky- The guy who's surrounded by mystery. He likes to hide in the shadows (figuratively). Is he a good guy? Is he a bad guy? Does he like Cassia? Does he hate Cassia? No one knows, you'll have to read it to find out more about this wildcard character.

Conclusion: 5/5 stars. Absolutely stunning and addictive. I need to read the sequel as soon as possible!

Contact info:
silverbookworm@outlook.com