BOOK REVIEW - I Am Right Behind You

Title: I Am Right Behind you
Author: John Ajvide Lindqvist
Published by: Riverrun
Publication date: September 7th 2017
Format: Kindle
Source: ARC (Netgalley)

I have no idea what happened here.
I spent the entire book either confused, disgusted, disturbed or anxious.
And I enjoyed it.
I think I really enjoyed it actually.
But I'm not sure.

It confused me utterly, but I don't think I mind.
You'd have to read it to understand this.

The story follows four very different families as they wake up in their caravans one morning and are not where they should be.
In fact, they're not even sure they're still in the same world.
This new world is a strange one.
Where the grass goes on forever, worryingly familiar figures can be seen in the distance, and a dark ominous cloud lurks on the horizon. 
Each person has been brought here for a reason.
And the journey to understand why is a disturbing one.

I loved learning about all the characters and how vastly different all of their lives and experiences were.
They were all so interesting, with wildly different and fascinating personalities. They were loveable, hateable, brave, weak, innocent, and evil.
It was a wonderful and intriguing mix of people.

The story itself was incredibly interesting, as well as disturbing and very odd.
I'm not too sure what happened in the end or what it was actually all about, but I really enjoyed the journey through this strange world, and how the story was written.
It kept me gripped right until the very end.

This is a story about human nature and how we act when everything we know is taken away.
And it is truly terrifying.

BOOK REVIEW: More of Me

Title: More of Me
Author: Kathryn Evans
Published by: Amulet Books
Publication date: 13th June 2017
Format: Kindle
Source: Netgalley ARC

"I have grown in strength inside her. Filled her cells with mine until we must split apart. It's not my choice - that's how it's always been for us."

This is the tale of Teva. 
A girl who splits into two versions of herself every year. 
A girl who lives in a house with all of her previous selves who are never able to age. 
A girl who has chosen to fight to try to keep her life as her own. 

This book was quite an unexpected gem for me. 
I loved the idea of it but had no idea that I would enjoy it quite as much as I did. 

The story is written so well that I struggled to put it down. 
It kept me hooked the whole way through. 
I NEEDED to know what was happening!

The author keeps us guessing about the nature of Teva's condition. 
Is it real?
Why does it happen?
Is she crazy?
Can it be stopped?
Who can she trust?
I had so many different theories about what was going on while I read this book. It kept throwing new things at me and making me reevaluate my ideas constantly. 

It was tense and mysterious and confusing and I loved it!

The characters were great and well written. 
All of the different Tevas were distinctly different and interesting. I really enjoyed reading about how their relationships worked and how they all interacted with each other. 
The current Teva was easy to like and sympathise with. 
I loved the fierce friendship between Teva and Maddy. 
Though I do wish there was less emphasis on boys/relationships being the thing that was holding Teva together and getting her through. 

I also enjoyed the interesting moral dilemmas that the current Teva faced once she had split away from 'Fifteen'. 
Was she stealing Fifteens life?
Was it her own life anyway?
Was Ollie Teva's boyfriend or Fifteen's?
Was she the same person?
Was it right that her mum locked all the previous Teva's away and didn't let them live their lives?
Should she bother working towards a future she would never be able to experience? 

I found this to be a really original and gripping story. 
Definitely worth a read!

My top 5 dystopian novels.

I love a good bit of dystopia!

Who doesn't?

(Well, probably loads of people don't, but shhh!)

Here are my top 5 picks!

Have you read any of these? 

If so, what did you think? 

If not, then WHY NOT??? Go read them right now!!! RUN!

...and then let me know what you think of them :)

What's your favourite dystopian novel?

BOOK REVIEW: Strange The Dreamer

Title: Strange The Dreamer
Author: Laini Taylor
Published by: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date: 28th March 2017
Format: Kindle
Source: ARC

Oh my gosh.
This book!

I don't even know what to say.

It was everything I was hoping for and so much more!

It has everything:
Orphans, libraries, magical cities, grand adventures, mysteries, danger, dreams, impossible feats, alchemy, vengeance, love, Gods and monsters.

And the characters!
THE CHARACTERS!!!

They were all so perfect and flawed and even more perfect because of those flaws!
Sometimes I hated the heroes
At other times I felt sympathy for the nasty ones.

No one was evil without cause and reason.
No one was a hero without suffering.

Some characters were both hero and villain.
It was perfect.

And can we take a second to talk about Lazlo.
Lazlo is a DREAM.
He is perfect and I want to hug him forever and listen to him tell me magical stories from far off lands.
I'll bake him cakes and we can be BFF's.

And Sarai was so heatbreakingly lovely.
And damaged.
And kind.
And confused.
And brave.

Even the romance was perfect.
And coming from me that's a pretty big deal because I normally hate pretty much all romance in books.
(I'm a heartless reader apparently)
But not with this book!
Oh no!
This was beautiful, moving, achingly lovely.

I actually had no idea this was part of a series until I reached the end.
I thought it was a stand-alone novel.
When I realised that there will be more I screamed.

More of Weep and magic and Gods and dreams and mystery and hope and fear and adventure.

I can't wait!

 

BOOK REVIEW: Annihilation

Title: Annihilation
Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Published by: Fourth Estate
Publication date: 30th July 2015
Format: Paperback
Source: Library

This was a hard one to rate for me.

It would have been a solid 4 stars if the ending had of been better.
Different.
With more explanation and finality.

I understand that there are more books in this series and the author may not want to explain things in more detail until later, but I was just left wanting so much more.
I needed to know more!

The first 3/4 of the book was so strong.
It was mysterious, dark, scary, confusing (in a good way) and all terribly interesting!
Yet it all seemed to just fizzle out towards the end with a lot of waffle and not much actual explaination.
Lots of big words strung together in a beautiful way masquerading as plot.

I am not fooled you tricksy book! 

And the sections that focused on our main characters marriage were just dull.
Less of that please!

I am as yet unsure about whether or not to carry on with this series...
I desperately want to know the secrets of Area X, but I don't think I can cope if book two has the same amount of explanation as this first instalment. 

Watch this space I guess?

BOOK REVIEW - Nevernight

Title: Nevernight
Author: Jay Kristoff
Published by: Harper Collins
Publication date: 11th August 2016
Format: Hardback
Source: Illumicrate subscription box.

“The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You're a daughter of the words. A girl with a story to tell.”

I wish I hadn't read any reviews before I'd read this book.
Not because of spoilers and hints at plot, but because they completely put me off reading it for weeks.
I was so hesitant and sure that I wouldn't like it that I put it on a shelf and politely ignored it for a while.

How wrong I was!

“You've got the look of a girl who's no stranger to the page. I can tell. You've got words in your soul.”

Firstly.
The book itself is absolutely gorgeous.
I was lucky enough to receive a signed hardback copy in my recent Illumicrate subscription box, and it is a thing to behold!
The dust jacket has a beautiful and detailed crow illustration and hidden underneath is another crow, this time embossed in black on the actual hard cover. The end pages are made to look like a black sky filled with stars, and there are three amazingly stunning maps that I could stare at for ages.
Its a truly lovely book.



Now onto the story itself.
A lot of reviewers on here disliked it because of the style of writing, and this is initially what put me off too. From peoples reviews of it I was sure that I wouldn't like the writing style either.
People claimed it was overly descriptive. Using weird and strange metaphor after metaphor.
And this is true to some extent.
I spent a good couple of chapters being annoyed, confused and baffled by some of the descriptions used. They just didn't made sense and were often laughable or just plain frustrating.
Here is one of my favourites:

"But if the inn were a man and you stumbled on him in a bar, you'd be forgiven for assuming he had - after agreeing enthusiastically to his wife's request to bring another woman into their marriage bed - discovered his bride making up a pallet for him in the guest room."

??!!?!?!
If the inn were a man?!
What the what?

I think this part was trying to describe a particularly awful building? But who knows!

However, with that said, this style of writing does seem to calm down after a few chapters (the very first one probably being the worst). Almost as if even the author became bored of wading through all the confusing and pointless waffle!

And then it gets really good.

The story really gets a flow to it and I found myself happily carried along, unwilling to put it down even for a second.
Desperate to find out what was going to happen next!

The setting of a school for assassins was just amazing.
It was like a deadly and dangerous Hogwarts where the students learn about poisons, weapons, stealth and seduction instead of spells.
I felt like there was danger and death lurking at every [page] turn.
And I loved it!!

The twists and turns were hidden so well I never saw them coming! So much shock and suspense.
This really was a hard book to put down.

The characters were also wonderful.
I wasn't sure if I was going to warm to Mia at the start. 'Angsty' characters aren't usually my favourite as a rule. But she became so much more than just angst as the story went along and I ended up really liking her and caring about what was going to happen to her. 
Though I wasn't the biggest fan of the romance.
It wasn't awful, but nothing would really be lost from the story if it wasn't there.

I loved all of the teachers at the school.
(and was terrified of them in equal measure)
They were all wonderfully fleshed out with completely different personalities to match the lessons that they each taught.

Overall, I was really surprised by this book and wish I had of given it a chance as soon as i got it instead of letting myself be put off it.

So yes, while some of the writing is over-the-top and a bit annoying at the start, if you can get past that you will find a truly amazing story.

One you really should try for yourselves!

“Too many books. Too few centuries.”

BOOK REVIEW - The Bone Witch

Title: The Bone Witch
Author: Rin Chupeco
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication date: 7th March 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Teens, YA
Format: Kindle
Source: Advanced reading copy from the publisher.
Amazon UK ** Amzon US ** Goodreads

Oh my gosh, this book!
This book!

With a description that contains the phrase "Memoirs of a Geisha meets The Name of the Wind" I went into this book with such high expectations, but fully expecting it to be nothing close to either of them. 
When a book is compared to two of my all time favourites I'm going to be on my guard.

"Sometimes it is good to remind ourselves how bitterness tastes."- Tea

How wrong I was.

Rin Chupeco takes the best bits from each and combines them into something new and magically thrilling to form The Bone Witch.
I was honestly sighing in contentment the whole way through this!

This book tells the tale of Tea; a newly discovered Bone Witch (or Dark asha to be more polite). Her powers are realised by all, including herself, when she accidentally raises her dead brother back to life in the middle of his funeral.
Ooops!
Tea is then swept off far from home by a fellow Dark asha to The Willows, where all asha live, are trained and entertain with their vast range of skills (dancing, singing, music playing). Asha are much like traditional Geisha, except that they are gifted with magic, allowing them to use runes in order to access elemental magic. 
Asha are respected and admired by all, except if you're a Dark asha that is.
Dark asha are tasked with fighting the monstrous Daeva, which no one else are able to kill. But despite this they are generally hated and reviled by all. 

The world building in this book was truly excellent, with descriptions that managed to paint fully formed images in my mind. I could almost believe that the Willows were a real place and am now desperate to visit and witness the beautiful asha dances for myself!

The characters were equally as brilliant.
Despite Tea suffering from "special snowflake" syndrome, I really warmed to her as a character. I loved the way the story was told by her looking back on her life and the chapters alternated between present day where she's telling her story to a bard (and she seems like a total badass by the way!), and looking back at her past and how she got to where she is now.
I loved the relationship between Tea and her brother, and am really looking forward to reading more about it after the hints that were given towards the end of the book.

Other favourite characters include, the wise Mykaela:

"There is no greater strength then the ability to understand and accept your flaws".

And another standout for me was the loud, boisterous, larger-than-life character of Rahim the hua maker (traditional asha clothes). He was just so much fun!

"...In Tresea, the men wear fur, but not in the fashionable ways. We kill the bears, the possums, the beavers, and then we stick them on the head, like so." He gestured. "Boring and unappealing. So I move here to Kion, where the clothes have shape and the hats do not stare back."

More Rahim please!

From going into this book with such high expectations, I was not let down in the slightest and enjoyed every last page!

I don't know how I'm going to cope waiting so long for the next instalment! 

BOOK REVIEW - Summerlong

Title: Summerlong
Author: Peter S. Beagle
Published by: Tachyon Publications
Publication date: 30th September 2016
Genres: Literary Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Format: Kindle
Source: Advanced reading copy from the publisher.

Summerlong is the story of Abe and Joanna; a middle aged couple living near Seattle between their two homes. The story starts when they meet the mysterious and beautiful (seriously, she's likened to Botticelli's Primavera on multiple occasions) Lioness Lazos, who is the newest waitress at their favourite restaurant. The couple feel instantly and helplessly drawn to Lioness and end up leaving the restaurant having invited her to live in their garage rent free. This is mainly due to Lioness getting all sad eyed about being cold and needing to live someplace warm as she just.can't.stand.the.cold.
As time passes the couple start to realise that Lioness is hiding something (they suspect that she's running away from someone) and that she's also not quite "normal".
The story follows the bumps and troubles of Abe and Joanna's relationship and how things change between them after they let Lioness into their lives. This normal, everyday story is seamlessly blended with Greek mythology to form and interesting (if somewhat dull) mix of the two.

Pros 

This is a well written story which flows well between real-life happenings and interesting mythology. Its a very subtle fantasy book which would work well for people who may not necessarily be fans of the fantasy genre normally.
It holds onto its secrets, keeping you guessing for quite a while as to who Lioness really is and where she came from.

Cons 

There is just not enough fantasy or magic in this story.
At least not for me.

The whole thing seemed rather mundane and boring, which is surprising when it includes some really interesting characters! 
I just don't understand how you can write a book about characters from Greek mythology and think, "Hey, you know whats interesting? Harmonicas!" what?!
There was too much focus on the relationship between Abe and Joanna. Sure, reading about a middle aged couple is kind of refreshing for me, but Lioness was so much more fascinating and yet her character seemed like it was hardly explored.

Also, nothing happens to the two main characters.
Nothing.
By the end of the book they both seem to think that their lives have changed dramatically and that nothing will be the same because of meeting Lioness, but seriously? 
The changes in their lives (Abe joining a Blues band and Joanna taking up Kayaking) would have happened anyway, even without Lioness factoring in. 
The other things that happen while Lioness is around are so laughably minor and insignificant that I can't see why they make any difference at all?
Abe does make a huge mistake towards the end of the book (which obviously does come with consequences) but other than this one thing, nothing of any real interest actually happens. 

So, to sum up...

Pick this one up if you fancy an easy, well written, sometimes dull story about the relationship between two middled aged people who meet a pretty girl one day. 
And nothing happens.