Sorry!

I am so sorry that there haven't been any posts lately! I have  been busy with papers, midterms, and projects and haven't had time to read anything. When I get through all this work I will post a ton of books, I have a lot I need to review! Thanks for understanding!

Abarat by Clive Barker

        I am in a fiction writing class, and like all the past writing classes I have ever taken we are asked to bring in first lines from books that we really love. I always pick a line from this book because for some reason the teachers love the image of a storm crawling on lightening legs. They don't really like the rest of the books I read... oh well. But as I was reading the opening line to this book in class I realized that I keep using this book over and over but it has been at least 7 years since I have read it, and that didn't seem very fair to the story. So I decided to dust it off and take a shot. I felt that I passed through the YA reading phase of my life very quickly, but this book always seems so cool to me, it is so crazy!

         Candy Quackenbush is a troubled yet good-natured Minnesotan girl, but when she ventures into an empty field one day and meets John Mischief, a creature with seven extra talking heads on his antlers, she's rendered awestruck and knows she's bound for a heap of adventure.

         Soon the two are narrowly escaping a dark hunter sent by the evil Lord Carrion and diving into the Sea of Izabella, a vast ocean containing 25 islands that stand for each hour of the day, plus a mystical Twenty-Fifth Hour.

         As Candy embarks on her adventure throughout this mind-bending archipelago, she visits the average citizens of Yebba Dim Day, joins a clan of tarrie-cats and slothlike Malingo to battle the dastardly Kaspar Wolfswinkel, and even gets a horrific taste of the Twenty-Fifth Hour itself.

Click to view the book on Amazon: Abarat

          Before we start I just want to state that any pictures I put in this post belong to Clive Barker. Ok, I don't even know how to start with this one. I knew I had a reason to love this book so much. It. Is. Amazing.

          I've always loved fantasy, but this book takes fantasy to a whole new level. And I think out of all the adventures I have read over the years, if I got to live one, this is the one I would pick. Half of the stuff is totally absurd. I am not sure how is does it but Clive Barker must go to strange beautiful places when he write because the things he comes up with blows my mind. Like, just the idea of The Abarat itself: An archipelago of islands where each island represents an hour of the day, except for the 25th hour which is like a mystery hour. And when I say that the islands represent their hours, they really do! They have the lighting and the weather of that island.

          Another cool thing is that the books are illustrated by Clive barker with these amazing paintings. Ok, but basically in this book Candy Quackenbush lives a boring tedious life in Chickentown, and she can't stand it. Then one day a doodle gets stuck in her head and leads her into the fields on the outskirts of town where she notices that there are sea shells and the remains of fish and drift wood laying in the grass. Upon realizing this she sees the Johns, who are 8 brothers that share one body, the main brother John Mischief has antlers on his head that his other brothers live on. Well, he talks Candy into helping him escape an assassin, and in doing so she calls in the Sea of Izabella, which is this mysterious (possibly sentient?) ocean that is the mother of the Abarat. Well Candy dives into the sea and is swept off into this brand new world where there are creatures that people only dream of. There she is pursued by Lord Carrion, the prince of midnight, who rules over Gorgossium: the hour of midnight. She makes friends with a geshrat and starts to learn magic. And she feels as if she belongs in the Abarat.

    Carrion       (left)

Malingo the Geshrat  (Right)

         This book and its characters have a sneaky way of popping up in my head throughout the day. I can't stop thinking about them. When I first started the book I was kinda like, what is going on. I read some of it out loud to my boyfriend and he told me it didn't make sense. And I think that is one of the things I like most about Abarat. They do have rules, but to me it seems The Abarat thrive on chaos and things that don't make sense. 

        I love the characters too. I like Candy and how nothing really phases her and while the John brothers kind of freak me out I think they are extremely entertaining. Malingo is the sweetest being. Now as far as bad guys go it is set up for Carrion to be the bad guy, but as the story goes on and you see more of his life it is hard to see him as truly a bad guy, there are bigger powers at play and he has been a victim of them as well. (As the books go on I find I like him more and more). The absurdity of the story is what keeps you going, obviously the writing is amazing, otherwise this one be an extremely hard book to read, but I couldn't put it down and I feel like you guys will feel the same.

         Go read the book, then come back and read this! May contain spoilers!

         The 25th hour totally freaks me out. If women there are so important why are they being held like prisoners and what is up with those freaky clown brothers? That freaked me out more than anything Carrion did.  Though Carrion's nightmares are scary. People die from them, it gives me chills but i love it so much. This first book is more of an introduction into this world and the story really picks up in the next two books. This book lays a lot of the ground work.

        There was also some beautiful "Abaratian" poetry in the book that I just loved reading. I am not a big poetry person, I like it and I can write it, but I usually pick to read other things, but I stopped to read the poetry in this book and I loved it. Gosh, I really wish there was a portal or something that could take me into this world. I give this book a 5 out of 5. I will definitely be reading it again. I love it!

I selected this post to be featured on my blog’s page at Book Review Blogs.

Other Systems by Elizabeth Guizzetti

     
          I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I love Scifi and I love adventure and sometimes I get pissed that I can't just go off and train to fly away in a space ship to different planets and meet all kinds of different people. This book made me long for that.

         Ten large ships race toward Earth, broadcasting in every language: "Brothers and sisters, we come in peace and in need. We have found our way home." The fear of a coming invasion begins the worldwide riots of 3062.

         Yet, not all Earthlings fear attack. The newcomers, long lost descendants of Earth, speak of a paradise ninety-four light years away. Kipos is a land of plenty where there has never been hunger, murder, or war. However, they need more healthy young immigrants for the colony to thrive.

         Many accept their offer to be tested. After assessment, Abby Boyd Lei is among the chosen. She leaves the protection of her family with dreams of higher education, a good job, and a kind-hearted spouse.

         Will Kipos be everything she imagined? Abby is about to discover the cost of utopia.

Click to view the book on Amazon:  Other Systems

         Now, I was really excited for this book because something about Scifi makes me itch with impatience (Why haven't we achieved any of this stuff yet??). For the most part it was a fulfilling adventure about a girl who grows as she is thrust is circumstances beyond her control. She has to deal with leaving her planet and knowing that everyone she knew and loved on earth would die before she ever reached the new planet. Then once at the new planet she had to deal with being separated from her only family and basically made a slave. When she finds her way to freedom with a flight crew of hybrid humans she has to deal with the time space continuum and how she will stay the same while everyone she knows planet side could age decades while she is gone.

         While there was romance in to book, it wasn't what I craved from the book, from the way it was set up I was expecting something different than what ended up happening. But thinking back on it and looking at it from a mature angle instead of a sex crazed one, I realize that the way things are is probably how they should be, Abby needs time to recover and grow into who she truly is.

         The book was well written, though at times I felt myself drifting because sometimes it just seemed dense with the description of the space things. Or I would want to see the relationships develop between characters and instead I would end up with Abby on a new planet describing plant life. So I hope there is a second one because I want to see where these characters end up. I think that I would give this book a 3 out of 5 stars, because sometimes I just couldn't focus on it, it would lose me.

        Read the book, then come back and read this part! Spoilers Ahead!

         With all the focus on Mark and Abby it seemed like the author was setting them up to be together. I understand why they didn't get together... She was traumatized from her rape and he was getting over his relationship with Pat. But that was one of the things that pissed me off. This whole weird love triangle thing. They were so good together, but then Pat shows up and Mark takes him back after Pat had ditched him for a woman. I mean if he wanted to be a dad they could have adopted, there were so many humans that needed homes. But I mean thinking like a mature adult, I get it, though I wish that they were together I get it.

         Then for a crazy moment I was thinking that she was going to get with Harden, but then he took the role of her dad, which I really liked. But ho emotionally unstable is Harden, I mean Abby cries and he thinks she is going to go commit suicide, I know that happened to his wife but how fragile is his mind that he thinks everyone is going to do that. I also was a bit confused about the breeding laws and why so many pregnancies were terminated. If the planet was having a population problem (and they were, they were going to die out) then why were they terminating so many pregnancies and sterilizing people? I mean that is just dumb.

       Then finally there is the whole individual time line thing. Like, in space time passes differently so when you return planet side everyone you have known is either super old or dead. That is just hard to think about. Not because it is hard to grasp, but because that is such a painful thing to have to face. Like, when she contacts the planet to talk to her sister and Orchid is in her 30s and has kids and has grown up and has her own life, and Abby is still a teenager.

         It was a very cool story, and I will definitely keep looking for new books by Elizabeth Guizzetti.

Some Changes

         After by boyfriend read my blog he pointed something out to me and I decided to listen to him. I realized that in my reviews a give a ton of details about the book away that people might not want to hear until after they read the book. So I decided to split my posts up into two parts. Part 1: where I give you the synopsis and I give my over all (vague) impression of the book as well as a star rating.

         Then Part 2: This will be a section that is geared towards after you have read the book, because one of the main reasons I got involved in blogging about books was because I wanted get out what I thought about everything and I wanted to hear and see what other people thought about the same things. So the second parts is when I will go into more details that might be spoilers and I am going to change my description so that people know that there might be spoilers in this blog :)

Bleeding Hearts by Ash Krafton

        I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. (Is that what I'm supposed to say?)

         Sophie Galen is an advice columnist who is saving the world - one damned person at a time. Shy and sensitive Sophie has all but given up on love until she meets Marek, a mysterious stranger who seduces her with his striking good looks and his take-charge attitude. Yet the darkness she senses within him may be more than she is prepared to handle when Marek draws her into a world of vampires, werewolves, and treachery. Forced to leave behind the comfortable routines and certainties of her past, Sophie makes unbearable sacrifices and uncovers hidden truths about herself and the world around her.

Click to view the book on Amazon: Bleeding Hearts

         This book ended up being a lot different than I thought it would be. I read the synopsis and was like, hmm vampires, hmm dark side, cool. But I thought it would be just cool. I thought it would be just another vampire book in a long line of vampire books (not that I have anything against them, because I actually truly love vampire books.) But this book was nothing like that.

         First off, when Ash Krafton first described the vampire that Marek and Sophie saw on the roof I was totally grossed out, Ick. Usually vampires are sexy, right? Well here is the thing with Bleeding Hearts. It is the Demi Vamps that are sexy, because the full bloodlust Vampires are creepy monsters with teeth like Jaws (at least that is how I pictured them, especially when Sophie gets bitten).

         Something else that surprised me about this book was the emotional levels it made me reach, I kinda figured I would skim the surface of emotions in this book, but by the end I was crying. Like when Sophie went to see Marek after he attacked her. He basically told her that he was done with her, I cried. They had developed this beautiful relationship where they could depend on each others strengths, and it was ripped apart by some douche who smelled like rabbits and wore white leather pants... just to be clear I did say white leather pants (black leather = hot! take me now... white leather = where is the disco.) Now, I read some of the other reviews on this book and people were saying how it bothered them how quickly Sophie and Marek fell in love. I didn't have a problem with that at all, I fell in love with my boyfriend so quickly it left my head spinning. I actually thought it was cute how quickly it happened.

         That being said, when he told her what he was and she thought he had been stalking her like prey, my heart dropped. I was on a roller coaster. I am kind of a sucker for (temporary) unrequited love and for a second I thought this might be that, but it wasn't. And then throughout the whole book Marek never drinks from her, so I thought, who is he drinking from? All he would ever say about it was that he has "handled" it. Does that mean that he had been tempting other women to give him blood? I know that any woman he drank from wouldn't mean anything but, I don't know. It seems like that would be an intimate act. I know it is just Marek eating, but in order to get a woman to comply he would have to compel her somehow and the easiest way would be through desire, and that just made my skin crawl. And then when he drank from Sophie at the end and she said it was so painful, then I was thinking, is that because he is crazy with blood lust? Or because it just hurts a lot anyway? THEN! There was the part where Donna was always pale and sickly at work and for a while I was like, HELL NO. I was getting really pissed, because I thought that maybe Marek was using her as a blood donor.

         Something that bothered me about Sophie was her need to always be nice. We get to hear her thoughts, so we know that she can't stand certain things, but she was (almost) always nice. That drove me crazy, why couldn't she just tell people no? I understand that could be because she was the Sophia, but still. Speaking of Sophia, at the beginning Marek told her (in her head) that he wasn't going to let go of her now that he found her, and so that made me a little leery later in the book because I felt that he was only with her because she was the Sophia.

         I really did like this book though and Ash Krafton left off at a point where I really want to know more. Sophie was about to reach out to Marek even in the tiniest way, but they are still apart even though he follows and watches her. And she was thinking about moving, what would Marek do if she moved away??? So many things to look forward to! Because I am trying to start a rating system I would give this book a 4 out of 5 because I wanted them to stay together forever.

Ecstasy (Shadow Dwellers) by Jacquelyn Frank

         I have this problem where I always have to have at least 3 books waiting for me to read next when I start a book. This book was on that list. I was reading a book that I couldn't really get into and I was like "Fuck it!" and started reading this instead.

         Among the Shadowdwellers, Trace holds power that some are willing to kill for. Without a stranger's aid, one rival would surely have succeeded, but Trace's brush with death is less surprising to him than his reaction to the beautiful, fragile human who heals him. By rights, Trace should hardly even register Ashla's existence within the realms of Shadowscape, but instead he is drawn to everything about her—her innocence, her courage, and her lush, sensual heat.

         After a terrifying car crash, Ashla Townsend wakes up to find that the bustling New York she knew is now eerie and desolate. Just when she's convinced she's alone, Ashla is confronted by a dark warrior who draws her deeper into a world she never knew existed. The bond between Ashla and Trace is a mystery to both, but searching for answers will mean confronting long-hidden secrets, and uncovering a threat that could destroy everything Trace holds precious.

Click to view the book on Amazon: Ecstasy: The Shadowdwellers

         I think that the concept for this book was really good. It was a good idea, but I think it fell kinda flat. And it went at a crazy fast pace. I found myself skimming a lot of it, especially when it switched to follow characters other than Ashla and Trace.

         It was really cool how Jacquelyn Frank made the different dimensions and how it was bad to stay faded for too long, but I thought it was a little weird how quickly the euphoria hit Trace. It was just weird. I mean she never mentioned anything about soul mates or anything like that, so it's not like he was fated to need her. It just seemed a little out of the ordinary. And all of the other characters thought so too, they even told Trace that, but Frank never cleared up why Trace was acting that way.

        As for the characters there were a lot of things that I liked and disliked about them. Firstly I liked Ashla a lot, she was really strong and sweet at the same time. I also liked Trace most of the time, but sometimes he acted kind of dumb when he blamed himself for things. I didn't really like Magnus, I mean, I know that he cares for Trace and what not, but at the same time he was kind of a dick. And I didn't like Karra, and not because of the obvious reasons (You will have to read to see) but I hated her the most for implying that she had had some sort of relationship with Trace when Ashla was feeling insecure about not having sex training.

         That was another thing that I kinda got stuck on. I understand having an openly sexual culture, I even understand being trained for sex. But in the book it seemed more slutty than cultural. Like, how everyone is going to want to sleep with Ashla because she slept with Trace and vice versa. And I understand that even in real life sex is a competition, we all have to prove that we are the ideal mate for the one we love blah blah blah... But this just seemed different to me, and it kinda pissed me off. Ashla had gone through so much to be with Trace and now they were telling her she would have to start competing for him, and that it would be perfectly acceptable for someone to try and take him away. You guys know that I hate man stealers more than anything.

         But Ashla got pregnant and I love when the main characters have babies. And Frank left off with a cliff hanger so now, despite my mild dislike of the book, I feel compelled to read the next one just so I can figure out what was going on.

         My thing with this book was that because of the POV switches to characters I didn't care about I ended up skimming a lot of the book. I would say a 2 out of 5 on this. Maybe the next one will be better. I'll let y'all know.

Pharaoh's Son by Diana Wilder

         I really love history, not just historical romance, but I love historical fiction and even history books. and no period of time has ever interested me more than ancient Egypt. Sure I should have been born into Victorian England, but man, sometimes I can't stop thinking about what it would have been like to live back in the time of the pharaohs.

          The crash of Pharaoh's colossal statue into a throng of worshippers brings the festival of the good god Ptah of Memphis to a sudden, bloody end. Prince Khay, the High Priest, barely escaped being killed, himself. He finds clues in the wreckage that show that the collapse was deliberately set. Now he is confronted with questions that grow more alarming with every answer he finds as the great temple of Ptah is rocked by a chilling series of murders. Increasingly entangled in clues that lead to even more mysteries, convinced that the gods themselves are taking a hand in the disaster, he appeals to Pharaoh for help and is sent a powerful ally in his older brother Hori, Egypt's Crown Prince, whose courage and resourcefulness are surpassed only by his bluntness.
         The brothers fight against time as they try to unravel the mystery, knowing that there is more at stake than treasure, and the forfeit is greater than a man's life. Something great and terrible is stirring, something they must find, hidden deep within the temple, something they must bring into the light before those who walk in darkness take it and turn it to evil.
         PHARAOH'S SON is a historical novel set during the golden years of Ramesses the Great. It is a tale of murder, intrigue and hidden treasure that reaches back into Egypt's heresy-shrouded past.

Click to view on Amazon: Pharaoh's Son

         This book was hard for me to get into at first. Maybe I was having a hard time concentrating, but I don't know, it just took me a while to get there. But when I did I really liked it.

         One of the confusing things for me in the beginning was the names. So many of the names sound the same, but as I got further into the book it became easier to tell the characters apart.

         You know in history class you always hear that Ramses II had tons and tons of kids, but it really hit me in this book. When Hori is in the palace talking to his sibling, Oh my goodness, he has so so many! That pharaoh was busy.

         I'm not entirely sure why but I liked Hori from the start, something about his attitude I really enjoyed, and I think I remember reading somewhere that he died before his father did so he wasn't the son that eventually got to be pharaoh, and I know that this is probably not what he was like in real life, but if he was like this character in real life that makes me really sad, because he would be an amazing ruler, especially if he has his brother Khay by his side.

         I also likes how she showed the pharaoh. She showed him as a person, sure he has some moments where he was truly "other" because he was in fact perceived as a living god, but at the same time she showed him as an extremely loving father who wanted to keep his children close to him. I liked that image of him because we often see portrayals of royalty and cold and uncaring especially towards family members, like that they just need an heir and a spare, you know?

         Now the mystery was hard for me to grasp at first, and when they eventually found the "treasure" I was a bit confused. That was what all the fuss was about? That was the reason Rahotep was willing to kill his brothers? I didn't get it, but I also don't have any deep ambition like he did, nor do I think that I can truly relate to the Egyptian mysticism. I think it is beyond fascinating and I also think that if I could choose a religion it would be one of the top contenders.

         This was a pretty serious book, but I did like the highlights of humor that the author threw in. Like when Hori starts giving away all of his jewelry to the poor (which I thought was so charming and sweet) and his man servant starts freaking out about it. So cute. I also thought it was funny how the Pharaoh was arrested because of Hori's orders. So while this book was originally hard for me to get into, I did eventually start loving it, and would definitely recommend it.

         I also would recommend reading the Afterward. Now I am sure all you good readers always read the forwards and afterwards, but I am ashamed to admit that I do not. But (!) I did for this book and it is truly interesting, because Diana Wilder gives us historical background on all the characters in the book.