Happy New Year!
I started writing book reviews at the beginning of 2013. I have enjoyed making my love of books a part of my blog and I only see that continuing to grow. My book reviews have consistently been some of my most read posts. I think I'm going to change things up a little bit for my reviews this year.
With the new year, it's always a good time to reflect on changes you want to make. So that's what I'm planning to do for my blog. This month I plan on sharing my word for 2014, my goals for 2014, a new monthly feature (possibly link up), and hopefully a new design.
Until then, here is my last book review from 2013. These are the books I read in December.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Book Description:
Greece in the age of
Heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the
kingdom of Phthia. Here he is nobody, just another unwanted boy living
in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. Achilles,
'best of all the Greeks', is everything Patroclus is not — strong,
beautiful, the child of a goddess — and by all rights their paths should
never cross. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his
wing and soon their tentative companionship gives way to a steadfast
friendship. As they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and
medicine, their bond blossoms into something far deeper — despite the
displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel and deathly pale sea
goddess with a hatred of mortals. Fate is never far from the
heels of Achilles. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been
kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her
name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins
their cause. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus
follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow
will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And
that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to
the hands of Fate.
My Review:
As I've mentioned on here before, historical fiction is one of my favorite things to read and I've always been fascinated with this time period of Ancient Greece. However, this story wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I have to admit I've never read the Iliad (except maybe an excerpt during college-not sure). So my familiarity with this story comes mostly from pop culture references and the movie,
Troy. Let's just say I had a hard time reading the book because I kept imagining Brad Pitt as Achilles and in Miller's version of this story, Achilles and Patroclus are lovers. Which my quick internet research showed me that is the way some scholars interpret their relationship. Anyway, by the end of the story I had a connection to Patroclus and even though I knew what was going to happen, I was hoping it wouldn't. I think if you enjoy this time period or Greek mythology, you'll enjoy this book.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
Inferno by Dan Brown
Book Description:
In the heart of Italy,
Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing
world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary
masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno. Against this
backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an
ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret
passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic
poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . .
before the world is irrevocably altered.
My Review:
If you've read one book about Robert Langdon, you pretty much know what to expect. A lot of people give these books negative reviews because they all follow
the same basic formula, however I'm pretty sure that's true of most series that use the same character in different situations for different books. I said all that to say, that I always enjoy Dan Brown's books. They're fast paced and fun. Plus I always feel smarter after reading one of these books. This one had a twist I wasn't expecting and I liked the element of Robert having lost his memory. One thing I didn't like was this book didn't really have a neat and tidy ending. I don't want to say much more about it so that I don't give anything away.
I give it 4 out 5 stars.
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Book Description:
When fifteen-year-old
Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she
hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by
three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre
weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the
police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there
is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was
he a boy? This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters,
warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first
encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and
acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into
Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary
herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in
ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly
get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...
My Review:
I've had this book on my "to read" list for a while now, but just never got around to reading it. While I was
tracked out, I watched a lot of movies. One of the movies I rented was
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. Overall, I enjoyed the movie and thought I'd give the book series a chance. It was a little weird reading a book when I'd already seen the movie, but once I got into it I saw that there were a lot of differences. I've read a lot of reviews on the book and A LOT of them are negative and there's apparently some big plagiarism/fanfiction controversy. I don't really care about all that and I'm not someone who analyzes literary elements and techniques. I read mostly for entertainment and I found this book entertaining. It has some of your very typical elements of a YA fantasy novel, but I found the dialogue to be pretty funny. I even laughed out loud a few times and that doesn't happen too often. I was thoroughly grossed out by the revelation in the ending (both of the movie and the book) and I'll get more into that in my review of the 2nd book.
I give it 4 out 5 stars.
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Book Description:
After four harrowing
years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and
takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s
journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat
comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at
best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later,
after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a
baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead
man and a living baby. Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper
are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific
war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has
taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim
her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel
return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in
the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.
My Review:
I really enjoyed this book until the end. I wasn't satisfied with the ending. I feel like things could have been handled differently. It was definitely a book that made you think. It brought to mind the question- would you do something that you know is wrong if no one would find out and it would give you something you've always wanted? I can't sit here and say I probably would have done the same thing that Isabel did under the same circumstances.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
City of Ashes by Casandra Clare
Book Description:
Clary Fray just wishes
that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a
demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma,
and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and
faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would
mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a
friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go —
especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And
Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue
Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and
also her father. To complicate matters, someone in New York City
is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings —
and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal
Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor
arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop
Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help
their father?
My Review:
This is the second book in The Mortal Instruments series. **If you don't want any of the plot spoiled, you might want to stop reading this review.** I mentioned in my review of City of Bones that something from the story grossed me out. Well at the end of that book, the villain claims that both Clary and Jace are his children. Well, the problem is that they like each other and kissed once. Okay, well we can get over that fact. The problem comes in for me in this book when they continue to like each other, flirt, and KISS AGAIN. I have a feeling they're going to turn out to not be brother and sister (I could be wrong), but still....if you thought someone was your brother...you don't continue to have a crush on them. Other than that...I also enjoyed this book.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
Book Description:
A stunning debut novel
in which a single mother reconstructs her teenaged daughter's life,
sifting through her emails, texts, and social media to piece together
the shocking truth about the last days of her life.Litigation
lawyer and harried single mother Kate Baron is stunned when her
daughter's exclusive private school in Park Slope, Brooklyn, calls with
disturbing news: her intelligent, high-achieving fifteen-year-old
daughter, Amelia, has been caught cheating. Kate can't believe
that Amelia, an ambitious, levelheaded girl who's never been in trouble
would do something like that. But by the time she arrives at Grace
Hall, Kate's faced with far more devastating news. Amelia is dead. Seemingly
unable to cope with what she'd done, a despondent Amelia has jumped
from the school's roof in an act of "spontaneous" suicide. At least
that's the story Grace Hall and the police tell Kate. And overwhelmed as
she is by her own guilt and shattered by grief, it is the story that
Kate believes until she gets the anonymous text: She didn't jump.Sifting
through Amelia's emails, text messages, social media postings, and cell
phone logs, Kate is determined to learn the heartbreaking truth about
why Amelia was on Grace Hall's roof that day-and why she died.Told
in alternating voices, Reconstructing Amelia is a story of secrets and
lies, of love and betrayal, of trusted friends and vicious bullies.
It's about how well a parent ever really knows a child and how far one
mother will go to vindicate the memory of a daughter whose life she
could not save.
My Review:
I really enjoy books like this. Books that alternate between past and present telling you a story little piece at a time. It's like putting together a puzzle without knowing what it's going to look like in the end. The picture comes together slowly. It makes it hard to put down. I'm always trying to rack my brain to figure it out for myself. I'm usually not very good at it, but this story does have some good foreshadowing that I was able to figure out at least part of it. I liked everything except for the very end. It seemed too convenient and kind of a let down after everything else that had happened. Also, I feel like I say this very often when I read a book about teenagers, but do teenagers really talk like this? I don't remember people talking like this when I was a teenager. These novel teenagers have really dirty mouths and really dirty minds.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
Book Description:
To save her mother's
life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the
Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is
against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things
worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been
thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a
vampire who can withstand sunlight. As Clary uncovers more about
her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter
Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to
destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to
fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and
Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace
realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she
harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City - whatever the
cost?
My Review:
When I first started reading this book, I'm not sure what happened. I started to nitpick at the writing like many of the reviews I've read. I found certain things cheesy and familiar sounding-like I'd heard these lines before. I don't know what was wrong...maybe I was just in a bad mood. Then, the further I got into the book-the more I went back to being entertained and enjoying it. Originally the Mortal Instruments series was a trilogy, so this was the last book until the author decided to write 3 more books. Therefore, this one answered all the big questions and wrapped most things up. I enjoyed the way things turned out and I think I would have been fine if this indeed had been the last book. It's not, though, so I look forward to reading the next 3 books and seeing what happens.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Have you read any of these books? What have you read lately?
Also, make sure you didn't miss
my top 5 books read in 2013. I look forward to seeing what great books will make the list for this year!
