Review Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I think it has been a month or so since I read this book and I remember being freaking excited about it, because I heard so many great things about it!

An insane girl with a lethal touch - HELL YEAH.

One of my very bookish and Marvel-obsessed friends was like: YOU SHOULD READ THAT BOOK. HERE - HAVE MINE. NO, WAIT. BUY YOUR OWN COPY. BUT READ IT. DO IT.

So I was like: sure, why the hell not.

Ugh, well. Uhm. 

Let's say that this book wasn't the best I spent my money on...

Summary

Juliette has a fatal touch and for that she is locked away from the society. They fear her like she's a monster. And all of that because she accidentally touched someone... Which caused the person death...

Right now she has't touched anyone for 264 days and isn't planning to touch anyone in the days that will follow. Not everybody agrees with that.

Because the world that we once knew so well is crumbling; we're running out of food, birds don't fly and the clouds are the wrong color. And The Reestablishment has to fix it all, for they are the rulers of the world. So they changed their mind about Juliette.

Perhaps she is what they need right now.

And now Juliette has a decision to make: Will she be a wapon or a warrior?

My opinion

Rate; 6.5/10

Like I said - I didn't really like this book.

It was a very nice concept - a girl who has grown insane for over the past seven years of her life and is now becoming a weapon for the world. I liked the idea of seeing her struggles, her development, her choices and their outcomes, but I felt like that didn't really happen. I didn't see it in this book.

The story had so much potential, in my opinion, and perhaps the rest of the series can make up for it, but it wasn't a great start and didn't make me really excited for the sequel (though I have read it).

The thing about the story is that it is quite fast paced. The few events follow up and you kind of rush through the book, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. How Juliette is confronted with the past and how she's being pushed into a new environment, a new life with other people in her company was something that was quite interesting to see. And the fact that all of it came over me, and overJuliette herself, leaving no time to actually process it, kind of fitted the story, simply because the protagonist didn't really know what was happenig to her either.

But still I felt like there should've been more, because not much has happened in the book. Yes, we could get to know Juliette and her insanity and we did get a bit of a view on the situation of the world she lives in, an yes, there were some pretty interesting and shocking events, but they weren't enough. I just felt something missing, and perhaps this is quite a vague explanation, but see it like this: When you listen to music on playlist, you have a few songs, new or old, that excite you a lot. And then when you actually reach the song, you start listening to it but for some reason the song ended way to soon and you didn't really get the message. It kind of left you with the feeling that you haven't listened to music at its fullest. 

Reading Shatter Me kind of felt like that.

When it comes to the relationships in the story, I feel like the author highlighted that way too much and that it was kind of forced. I get it - you are reunited with your childhood crush and it happens that the two of you really like it each other and stuff.

But I believe that the story should've way more about Juliette getting to know the world, the situation there and getting to know her powers. The relationship between her and her childhood crush should definitely be there to make stuff a bit more difficult for her or to help her get away from the danger, from the lies, from the evil, but it shouldn't be all about that and I felt that it was. It felt like reading a romantic novel than a young adult dystopian thriller (I did not look that up, by the way).

To connect still to the relationships; I found the descriptions of somes scenes (the intimate onces in particular) pretty repetitive. By that I mean like, Juliette always is like describing most of the things she's doing in her insane way, using sometimes the exact same words all over again and well... That kind of turns me off.

BUUTTTT.

There was something I did like! (Yay)

...And not really at the same time... (Nawhh...)

And that things is the writing style.

The thing I didn't like was the fact that it could get quite annoying sometimes. Like I said in the paragraph before, the repetiveness was something that could turn off very well, BUT it was that repetitiveness that actually perfectly fitted the protagonist's character.

Yeah, she is very repetitive. Very poetic. SHE IS INSANE AND WE LOVE HER FOR IT.

Well, the fans do :).

And I find that something very important - the author isn't the actual person who should be telling the story (unless it's writing in their perspective), the character should and Mafi has done that immensely well in this book.

Overall I really had turn offs for this book - I didn't really enjoy it. But it did have some good elements like the writing style was good in some way and I liked the concept of it!

The fact that a "weak" (I actually don't really like using that word), scared, "strange" (by strange I mean like, she is brought back to a world which she was locked away from) girl gets in this very important position and struggles with making the right decision. I just thought that Mafi didn't really worked out the concept that well...

Well - I guess you can't like all the books that a lot of people do like.

Sometimes you agree and sometimes you don't. That's just how it works.

Until the next blogpost, then! :)

Review The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige

At last - I've finally read the sequel to Dorothy Must Die, The Wicked Will Rise!

AND O MY GOD. 

I'm falling sooo hard for these series. I love Amy. I love the story. I love the world.

I love the title. I love the BOOK. AND I LOVE DANIELLE PAIGE.

I'm just amazed by the fact that this book does weird things to my brain. At some times I'm just reading like a normal person, other times I'm reading like I'm four years old (that's  a good thing) and other other times I'm reading like my life depends on it.

SUCH A GREAT SERIES!

Summary

The story picks up where it left off - Amy, Ozma, Ollie and Maud fly away from Emerald City, away from the ravage Amy and the Order has caused. 

After she failed killing Dorothy she pursues her mission yet again: remove the Tin Man's heart, steal the Lion's courage and take the Scarecrow's brain and then Dorothy must die.

But with the Order vanished and Ozma as her only ally, things aren't that easy. Because many truths come to life and Oz's past seems to have more to itself than she can see and also her old home, Kansas, seems to be in great trouble. What is she going to do?

And who is really Wicked?

My opinion

Rate: 9/10

THIS. WAS. AWESOME.

Though I have my tiny turn offs here and there, I found that overall, the book was just amazing. The concept is worked out so beautifully and I can just see a creepy fairytale masterpiece coming to live. One of the best retellings if read so far!

A thing that I really loved in this story was that amazing character development of our protagonist, Amy Gumm. She's such an amazing and sassy character - I just love her.

You could see that she grew pretty tough in the first book, but in the second book her character development pulled a bit more to the foreground, letting us in her fears adn struggles and the little wickedness inside of her... A thing that Paige does perfectly, andwhat makes this character very realistic, is let her human side remain. Yes, she grows much confidence and strength, but it doesn't turn her into an invincible superhero. She remains Amy, but with just a big twist, letting her better qualities grow and a bit of her fears too, actually, but I won't discuss that because then I'll spoil EVERYTHING.

But with her growth as a character also the tests she has to go through - metaphorically speaking - grow tougher and you can see she doesn't finish them off easily.

And with that tinge of sass in everything she says and does, she's just an amazing, realistic character.

I probably have said it many times before, if not I'll tell you now:

PAIGE HAS MADE SUCH AN AMAZING WORLD!

I mean, Oz was already a beautiful, awesome world in its own childlike way, but Paige has made it darker with that tinge of the old fairytale land we all know. I think it has become even more beautiful because of it, because of its imperfections, its darkness that Paige has created and accentuated in this book.

It became a really screwed up version of Oz, horrifying at times, but I guess even the most screwed up things contain some kind of beauty.

I'm gonna say this again and I will say it for the rest of my life: AMY AND NOX.

At some points I was starting to think that Amy and Pete would make a perfect couple ( I can already feel Nox's eyes burning in my back, hehe), but deep in my heart I always knew Amy and Nox would become reality. I really liked that Nox became more of this caring, protective boyfriend, or actually we got to see more of that side in this book, while he still remained his old, cocky, gruff self.

Their relationship is still very subtle and maybe a bit awkward but it just fits them and their personality.

AND THE TENSION IN THIS BOOK, THOUGH! JEEZ.

I really felt my bones shudder or my breathing stop when crazy stuff happened to Amy or in the story in general. The writing style is so engrossing, with Amy's characteristics - especially her sass - shining through every single word in the story made it  sooo goodd.

Every evil thing in the book becomes really evil and creepy in the book and the fact that all takes place in the o so sweet fairytale land just makes it even creepier and the good, heroic stuff just become really, really good and heroic and just bring back the four year old child in me, looking at the heroes in full admiration and a tiny tinge of jealousy.

Both of the things are good, by the way :D.

A thing I didn't really enjoy was the fact that it was SO. FREAKIN'. SHORT.

I felt like not much has happened in this book. Not that I could expect very much of a book with 293 pages or that it made it a very bad book - not at all - but I just felt like it wasn't enough. WHERE IS THE REST?

It does kind of fit with Amy's character development though, her turning in this very confident hero thinking she can do it and she just has to do a few things and then everything will be just fine. I don't know why, but it fits. In some undescribable way, haha.

But I still wanted more. And I still want more. AND I NEED MORE.

GOD.

I'm really looking forward to the third sequel and I'm curious where it all will end eventually. I mean, after this many failures, Amy really deserves a grand victory, right?

RIGHT?

For those of you who are also into the Dorothy Must Die series, the third book, Yellow Brick War (another awesome title, by the way) will be on sale somewhere in March 2016!

YAY :)

That's it for this blogpost!

Until the next blogpost, then! :)

Review Dreamwalker by J D Oswald

I'm going to be very honest now: I wasn't much of a reader back when I was a kid of like 7 or 8.
I wasn't even much of a writer. I liked doing it, but I always wanted to do something else, something that was far from where my heart actually lay. I wanted to be a singer - WHAT.
I mean, it's not that I can't sing - it's just the fact that I don't like doing it in front of people. With people. Without people. Meh.
Anywaayyyyss.
What I'm trying to say is that I've never actually read a children's book, other than Geronimo Stilton or a few other books, which I can't remember the name of. Of course I also didn't read in English back then - I could understand it a little bit, but reading an English book would probably have destroyed my tiny brains. 
But still, it's a shame that I never came across this one - Dreamwalker by J D Oswald, because I'm pretty sure I would've loved it and dream about it every single night and tell all my friends about it and jump around the house thinking I'm a dragon or that I can see the Grym and... Yeah, basically.

Summary

The story's about these two boys, from which one is a dragon called Benfro and the other is a human boy called Errol. We follow their lives seperately, starting with the birth of both of them, which was at the same time and place.

Many years later their lives go on without knowing that they've ever met each other, but both being very important for the future of the Twin Kingdoms.

Errol lives in a small village with his mother, who's trying to find his way in the world.

He's a bit of a strange boy to the villagers - looks different from the other children and never knew his real father nor do the villagers.

And Benfro resides deep in the forest where he and his mother mother Morgwm, a great Mage, with the other residual dragons. He begins his training in the subtle arts and is destined to be just as a great Mage his mother is.

But evil lurks in every corner and the peaceful lives of the young boys threaten to be disturbed, by the same destiny they share...

My opinion

Rate: 8.5/10

What a lovely children's book!

First of all - Oswald's writing style. His vocabulary and his descriptions really draws me into the world he has created on these pages, whilst managing to make sure that we experience everything the same way as the characters do. I loved how he used different perspectives and even though Oswald himself is the narrator in every perspective, he still made sure that we were in the minds of these characters, seeing the world through their eyes and learning how they are as persons. We don't just get to see our heroes and theur struggles and discoveries, but also the bad guys as Melyn and Beulah. And with each perspective he slightly adjusted his writing style to make it set a certain mood or feeling that fits these characters which is amazing.

I think the construction of the story was great.

I felt like I had no idea where it was going and in this case, it was definitely a good thing. We made many discoveries which made the truth about mankind and dragons clearer and clearer, we've seen our characters planning out their moves or wondering what to do, without knowing ourselves what would actually come up next. But as a reader I wanted to keep going - I wanted to find out. And I believe that if a book does that to you, it's one hell of a book.

But I do have one minus-point to the construction of the story:

The whole story is kind of a build-up of tension, which is, usually, a very good thing. We need tension. We need that plot twist somewhere in the book. We need to be shocked and we need to scream and die at the end of the book and wanting to read the sequel immediately because otherwise we're going to die and we'll never come back and we'll just be dead and yeah. 

*takes a deep breath*

*Holds her breath for five seconds*

*Lets out her breath after two*

But that didn't happen with this book. It was just a build-up and when I reached the end I was like: Wait, that's all? WHERE'S THE REST?

BUUTTT - I think the second book will make up for it. Hopefully.

(You better make up for it, sequel.)

Another thing I didn't really like was Errol.

No, wait, hold up. Sshh. 

I love Errol the way he is, but I think the writer has "painted" him as a grown up in this story. Errol's word choice, feelings and thoughts don't always really fit his age and it makes him slightly less realistic.

I get it - he's a smart kid, different from the rest, interested in books (GOOD, ERROL, VERY GOOD :D) and everything, but he's still somewhat a kid. So if he had been given some more of these childlike characteristics he would be perfect.

Benfro on the other hand is the real representation of a child. He has the curiosity, the instinct, and many other childlike characteristics that make him a child. (HE'S SO CUTE.)

But let's get back to the things I do like about this book.

Like the magic!

I loved how the magic is in this book and how it perfectly fits the story. It's kind of based on some elements of the nature, books, history and the mind and it fits this old fashioned story. Like the Grym - the basic form magic has nearly all the elements in it and it's so fascinating to see how all the characters - yes, the bad guys too - use and experience it so differently.

And the tiny pieces of books the author puts in every opening of a new chapter. They're non-existent parts of non-existent books that either has something to with dragons or with mankind or with both. I love how sometimes these parts come back in the chapter and in nearly every perspective very strongly and other times more underground and nearly unnoticable. It gives this historical effect to this story which I really like.

Another interesting thing to see, are the many perceptions the characters have on the world they live. Not only the characters, who's perspective the story is told, but also the other characters. They all have different opinions and theories on how mankind is and will be or how dragonkind is and will be and it's very interesting to see these opinions laid against it each in the story.

Overall I really liked this book. I highly recommend it if you like a bit of an old fashioned, children's fantasy story! I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, The Rose Cord!

Until the next blogpost, then! :)

The Inside Out Book Tag

O how I loved this movie! It made me smile and cry. A lot.

It just was such a beautiful and fun concept and I just felt so deeply touched by it!

So when I saw jessethereader doing this book tag and I first thought: THEY MADE A TAG OUT OF THIS? NICEEEEEEE. And then I thought: I HAVE TO DO IT TOO. I WOULD DISGRACE THE INSIDE OUT-GODS IF I DIDN'T DO THIS TAG. So here it is - the Inside Out book tag!

Joy - which book brings you the most joy?
Ooh Joy! How cute she was in the movie!
God - this is a though one! Because quite some books have brought me joy!
Uhm... Argh... Uh... I... Eh...
*A lot of uhms and arghs later*
I think I'm going for Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige for this one. But An Ember In The Ashes was fun too. And Red Queen. And Defy and Ignite. And...
ANYWAY.
Dorothy Must Die was a retelling on the renowned fairytale the Wizard of Oz. It wasn't like this story was all happy, but the fact that it had much of a fairytale touch just made me happy. Makes me feel like a four year old again. Those good ol' times. Kind of.
(I swear I'm not four year old right now. Trust me - I'm quite a few years older than that.)

Disgust - which book disgusts you the most?

Ah, our sass queen - Disgust! 
I'm going for The Incarnations by Susan Barker for this one.
It's not the book itself disgusted me, but there were just some scenes...
I'M NOT EVEN GOING TO ATTEMPT TO DESCRIBE THEM.

Fear - what book made you the most scared?

Fear was so funny with all his rattling in his movie - he made me pee my pants!
I don't think a book has ever scared me before actually. I should read more horror for that I suppose...
Eh... Nope.
I don't have a book that scared me the most.

Sadness - which book made you cry the most?

SADNESS WAS SO ADORABLE!
Honestly, I don't cry that fast when I read a book. It's not that I never engage with the story or anything like that, I just don't cry. So it's very rare when I do cry or that the tears well up in my eyes.
And a book who definitely made sure of that was The Humans by Matt Haig. O. God.
It was funny indeed, but some parts
though... *sniffle* 

Anger - what book pissed you of the most?
Oh, Anger. What a funny little guy.
Ooooooohhhh - so many books have managed to PISS ME OFF SO BADLY. I CAN'T EVEN I JUST HATE THAT O MY GOD JEZUS CHRIST GOD.
But the book who did the most amazing job at pissing me off and making want to break things was Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I love love love loved the story, but WHY DID IT END JUST LIKE THAT? I MEAN - MAVEN WHY. YOU AND MARE ARE MY OTP YOU CAN'T STOP BEING MY OTP. AND CAL AND EVERYBODY  - HOLY POOPS YOU CAN'T JUST STOP IT THERE. YOU. CAN'T. YOU CAN'T MAKE ME WAIT FOR SO LONG. WHY. WHYYYYYY.

*arhum*
*pulling herself together*
*puts on a pokerface*
That's it for this blogpost, folks!
Until the next blogpost, then! :)

Review Bound By Duty by Stormy Smith

Like you probably already know - I love love love fantasy books.

Just the fact that a story is set in a different world with magic and fictional creatures thrills me to read the book. I don't what it is about them, but they just give me a break from reality and allow me to dive into a new world, full of magic and stuff that will never exist here, sadly. So when I heard Benjaminoftomes (such a jolly youtube by the way - I love him) mention Bound by Duty I just knew I had to read it.

Summary

The story's about Amelia, who lives in the human world but isn't a human herself. She's an Immortal and a pretty special one - the last remaining Elder. But she has no clue of what being her Elder means and her father who consistently tells her to maintain control over her powers doesn't help much. Even worse, she's betrothed to the prince of the Immortals and she has no clue either of he is.

When she's eighteen she finally breaks free to live a normal life in an normal human community. She goes to college, becomes BFF's with Bethany there and she falls in love with a guy called Aidan. 

But her powers grow stronger and as she learns more about herself and the truth, she realizes that the line between duty and love is a thin one.

But which will win, her head or her heart?

My opinion

Rate: 7/10

I liked the story, but I didn't love it.
It is a real fantasy story, though and it has all the fantasy elements. It has the magic, the queen, the prince, the creatures and that's nice. The story itself had a nice and clear construction, but not much more. And that's a shame because I hoped it would rise above my expectations. Another thing I didn't really liked about the story is how the events seem to accumulate. A lot of the events in the book follow each other as soon as one event has ended, giving me as a reader not enough to process it. I don't if a story is fast-paced, and it did suit this story, but could've been just a tiny bit slower. I CAN'T HANDLE IT ALL AT ONCE - I'M NO SUPERHUMAN.

I found the cast of characters in this book flat and a bit stereotypical, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing but I feel like when the story is okay the characters could've been a bit more than okay. The thing about them is that there isn't much more to them than what you see. Everything about them was clear at the beginning and I would've liked it to come to me as a reader a bit slowly, making their role in the story a bit more vague and slowly building it up. Or it could be just me who read just way too many fantasy-story's  and now knows what to expect of all of them... Hehe.

Don't worry - I'm not going to be all mean for this story. I do have some good things to say!
I love love love loved how the author put some humor in the story every now and then.
Instead of making it all serious and depressing or painful or anything she managed to make sure that we weren't all sad and serious and that we could have a laugh or two too.
Amelia is like the average teenager dealing with in the most teenagerlike way and actually, I quite enjoyed that. The way she tries to figure out things, solve things is just like a teenager her age would do. Although I would've liked a bit more authenticity to it, I did enjoy it.

I also found that the balance between her "normal" life and her personal struggles was great and the way it slowly became unbalanced was nice too. It was interesting to see how her personal struggles became more present in her life and influenced a lot more than just herself and her brother. O - the brother sister love between Cole and Amelia though! So sweet and heartwarming to read!

The magic used in this book was sooo fun. I loved how every Immortal had this specific type of colour and that the eye colour changed with it. And the names for the different creatures in the Immortal world were fun too. I also enjoyed how Amelia had some kind of alter ego because of the powerful magic that resides inside her. SO COOL.

Overall I had my turn offs with this book and my turn ons. But I definitely enjoyed reading it! It was definitely not a bad book and if you want to read it you can get for free on iBooks, Kindle or whatever which is nice!

Until the next blogpost then! :)

Storytime: Soulless

One time when I was in class - Greek class - we were discussing Greek mythology. There was this story on these two sons of the renowned Oedipous who married his mother (those Greeks know how to spice things up) who were given their father's kingdom to rule since he discovered that he married his mother and wasn't quite happy about it. So. Yeah.
I think the oldest brother was given the kingdom, actually, which, of course, caused a fight between the brother.
And sadly both of the brothers killed each other. (Well, that helped a lot, didn't it? haha.)
And now comes the part that has really inspired me for this blogpost:
So Kreon, their uncle (at least I know one of the names, haha), said that one of the brothers was allowed to have this official funeral, or a state funeral as they called it, and that the other one was to be left there on the battlefield. But Andromeda, the brothers' little sister didn't agree on that. She got angry and secretly did bury her other brother and did all these rituals to honor him and the gods and make sure that he ends in the underworld and blablabla. Kreon found out. He sentence her to death. Yep.
Now our teacher asked us: who would you be Kreon or Andromeda?
Or in other words: Would you leave your brother to die and follow the rules or would you break them because of your emotions?
And that made me wonder: Is it always right to stand up for someone? Even when they brought this awful fate on themselves?



In a village, far away from the inhabitated world, was a girl who was called by many names. No one knew her very well nor dared to come close and talk to her, for she scared them. Even the ones with the tiniest bit of sympathy for her, thought she was sad and very strange. Well, she was raised by that woman of a witch who always was stuck in her tiny little cottage on the ugly hill, doing god knows what. 
But strangely that wasn't the thing they feared the most of her or even hated about her. It was her coldness that scared them. She always seemed to know more, or at least had different ideas on the outside world and life. She would tell you that you had too much fate in God. That you shouldn't rely so much on Him, maybe even stop believing in Him. And she didn't feel for family - it almost seemed like she didn't even care about them. Rumor has it that she even killed her own father! Who the hell would commit to such a crime! 
Though that wasn't entirely true - she did indeed help them. She cooked for her brothers from Monday till Wednesday and she'd tell them to be strong and be happy. She would walk them to school and kiss her older brothers on their cheeks when they went off to work.

But there was something about her, something wrong, but the people couldn't tell what it was. Or actually they could, but they didn't dare to say it, didn't dare to believe it. 
Perhaps the girl was just feeling out of her place in her home. Maybe she was adopted! Maybe she was just a scared little girl suffering under the hands of her brothers! No, wait, that couldn't be true.
The brothers seemed normal, kind and bright even. Their bright souls shone through everything they did and everything they said. 
Would she be a soulless monster then?
How could someone not feel for their family? How can someone not catch the bullet for them? How can someone not believe in God? How can someone think of different worlds outside this village? 
It was preposterous!
The only thing that could explain all these irrational thoughts, was the fact that she didn't have a soul. She wandered around like a ghost, quiet and emotionless - no smile on her face - and she did nothing but stare at the people passing by, observing them, taking them in. Taking bits of their soul to fill the emptiness in her body. She was a danger to them all. And everyone agreed, even her brothers.
Everyone but the son of the village elder.
The son of the village elder trusted the girl with his life. She was a mystery. A mystery he wanted to unravel.
She was so beautiful when she stared at the night sky and slowly smiled as the stars twinkled. Her auburn hair falling into her face each time she looked at her feet when he complimented her. Her big green eyes that stared into his soul each time he came close and made her hold his gaze for a while. The shy giggles when he said something funny.
 He loved her. And he was sure she loved him too. She had to, because he was the only one she had actual conversations with. He was the one who could get her out of the house for a walk through the woods. He was the one she kissed.
And though the times of actually conversing were rare and he was the one who was talking most of the time, he could see something burning in her eyes when she looked at him. It had to be love. It was love. They were in love.
Everytime they went out for a walk they would find a secret, unnoticable spot between the trees and let their bodies do the talking for them.
But the girl had a reason for saying not more than a few words. Every word that left her mouth would be twisted and turned into something bad. Only because of that on thing she had done in the past. That one thing only her family knew about.
But one night when the village elder and the girl reached their secret spot once again, the family secret went through the village like a fire, lit by her brothers.
And the people prepared themselves. They knew they had to act now, for she might gain the guts to do the same thing again. 

After a long night dawn breaks and the girl awakes in the strong arms of the son of the village elder.
She smells something funny.
She gets up and turns her head to were the smell might come from. At first she sees nothing, nothing but trees and bushes. But then, there in the light blue sky, black smoke rises. It's from the village!
She wakes up the village elder and together they hurry toward the village. But when they reach the village, nothing seems to be wrong. Questioning if she just hallucinated it, she looks around.
And then, on the top of the ugly hill a house is on fire.
Her mother's house is on fire.
She scurries to the house and there she found her brothers and the other villagers surrounding it, with torches and swords in their hands.
"What is this?" she asks, her eyes going from her brothers to the other villagers. She notices that they even managed to convince a few children to join their stupidity.
"You," one of the says, his face a mixture of fear and anger, "have been sent by the devil."
"What is happening here?" the son of the village elder shouts, but as soon as he sees the house on fire and sees the responsible onces surrounding it he turns to them angrily. "What you done?"
"My boy," an old woman says, her voice a bit unsteady. "The girl-"
"What about her?" the son of the village elder says and he puts an amr around her. 
The villagers burst out into whispering and suddenly a tall man steps out of the crowd, facing his son with his dark, intimidating eyes.
Father and son stand there for a while watching each other and silently cursing each other for what they have done. 
"You are such a disappointment," his father said after a while.
"So are you," his son said coldly. He wouldn't let his father win this time. He was stronger than his father. He was a better man and he would prove that now by protecting the woman he loved.
"How can you protect this girl?" he asked. "She wouldn't do the same for you! She'd let you die just like anyone else in this village!"
"Shut up!" his son snapped and he attacked his father. Now he'd show him what kind of strength he had. He would show his father that he would be the better village elder.
The villagers watched in fear as father and son fought, but they also dared to glance at the girl who once again stood there doing nothing. She looked away.
Why, she thought. Why did you had to be such a fool? What good will come from this?
Father and son had both cuts and bruises on their bodies and both were tired of fighting, but both were too full of pride to give up now. They would fight till the death. His son hit him in his weak spots several times forcing him to go down, but he was smarter and faster. 
"Do you know her secret?" the village elder yelled, as he avoided his son's strikes.
He growled at that, but the girl gasped and let her eyes fall on her brothers who were watching the fight intently with a wide grin on their face.
"Do you know what she has done to her family? How she killed her father? How she told her brothers that her father wasn't worth living his life if he wanted to kill the witch?"
Of course her brothers would've said that, she thought. She knew she'd made a mistake then. She shouldn't have killed her father. Her father was protecting his mother. He was just protecting her.
She didn't stop the tears as they came. She couldn't.
And now she would lose the man she loves. The foolish man who didn't want to miss his chance to beat his father. She couldn't stand watching this go on. She knew who would win.
She slipped away.
"LIES!" his son yelled and he held his fist in the air as he ran toward his father on full speed.
When his son made to give a final blow, the village elder managed to kick his sore leg and take the sword out of his hands and set it against his throat. "Now you shall see the truth."
Instead of slicing his throat, the village elder kept the sword against his throat and forced him to get up. He made him stare at a girl walking away from them.
His lover was walking away from him.
"Monster!" his father shouted, whilst grabbing his son's head tightly and letting the sword cut deeper and deeper in his throat.
The girl stopped and slowly turned around. Her face was wet, but her eyes were cold.
"May I?" he asked and his son cursed him for his strength. Why couldn't he beat him?
Once again the girl looked away and continued her walk to the village. The boy's heart broke.
"You see, boy? She killed her father mercilessly and now she'll let you die the same."
Perhaps his father had always been right. Perhaps he was indeed a fool.
All he could think of at that moment was the foolish ache in his heart and the realisation that followed.
She was indeed soulless.

As she walked away she heard the whole village gasp and saw black birds flying away. She knew the village would come after her in any minute. Let them come. She was going to die anyway.
But the boy didn't deserve what happened. The boy could've lived if he just had put his foolish pride aside.
Her heart ached for him. She missed him so much that it hurt and she had considered throwing herself at the village elder for a second, but- "There she is!"
And they came for her, just as she predicted.

Well. That was quite a sad story, now wasn't it? 
Let me know what you thought about it in the comments down below!
O, and what do you think: is the girl indeed a soulless monster? Did she have to help the son of the village elder?
Let me know!

{ Photo used in this blogpost is from shaliara.deviantart.com (WITHOUT MY EDITS) }

Until the next blogpost, then! :)

Review Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Almost everybody loves this series.
Everywhere on Goodreads, Twitter and Instagram I saw people saying: "O MY GOD I LOVEEE THIS SERIES" "IT WAS AWESOME" "GREAT SERIES"
So I thought: you know what? I'm gonna give it a shot, because yolo.
And now I regret that I haven't started it sooner, because the fourth book just came out and booktubers and bookbloggers are putting these video's and blogposts on the book on the Internet, while I'm sitting here like: WAIT. GUYS. HOLD UP. LET ME READ THE OTHER TWO FIRST. PLEASE. GUYS. WHY.
And I'm trying to resist the urge to look up the Throne of Glass hashtag on Instagram, because I get way. Too. Many. Spoilers. (Yes, I've tried once. #regrets)
I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm kind of, sort of, completely, totally falling for the series too.

Summary

After spending a year in Endovier for her crimes, Celaena Sardothien is requested by the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian is prepared to give her her freedom on one condition; she must participate as his champion in a competition to become the king's royal assassin.

When she arrives at Rifthold, the place where the competition is held, she meets her opponents. All not intimidating at all, but one of them manages to make her a bit unsure of her absolute victory - Cain.

After a while things start to get a bit more interesting for Celaena. The prince starts to have some interest in her, she finds that the gruff Captain genuinely understands her and she makes a new friend. But one day one of the contestants turns up dead and soon another follows.

Can Celaena find out who the killer is before she ends up dead? But her investigation leads to even greater things than she could've possibly imagined...

My opinion

Rate: 8.5/10

Like I said in the beginning - I'm falling for this series.

I really enjoyed reading the story from different perspectives. I felt like that it made the story more "round", by showing you nearly all the sides of the story and giving you different opinions on certain events in the story, making it more and more interesting to read. And there was this one perspective in particular that first kind of bothered me but later on in the story became fascinating to read, and that was Kaltain's perspective. I still feel like her perspective was kind of unnecessary, but I also feel like it definitely had some purpose other than the fact that it made you aware of future events. I feel like it also gave you an insight on Duke Perrington's personality and role in the story, perhaps giving us hints for the sequel. And normally I feel like being aware of future events in a story kind of sucks, but in this story it actually didn't bother me. Maas made sure that it weren't too big things so that was alright.

When it comes to the characters, I think they're vivid and cool.

Celaena is this typical, very intelligent, sarcastic and strong heroine, but gladly all these qualities aren't forced. Like her intelligence isn't shown in every single word she says or everything she does - she makes mistakes, she isn't invincible and she doesn't always know what to say. But her way of thinking, her personality proves her intelligence and other qualities, making her more real.

I think that's exactly the thing with these characters - they're real. They're complex and real.

Like Chaol, the Captain of the Guard, he's very loyal and obedient to the king and his rules. A solemn fellow, but when Celaena comes into his life his loyalty and his cold, hard side cringes a bit showing a soft side he normally hides, which is, again, very fascinating.

Love is one of the highlights in this book and in the beginning I felt like I shipped everybody with everybody. No, but for real, though - I had no idea who to ship with who, because I felt sad for the other one. The love-triangle between Celaena, Chaol and Dorian was sooooo heartbreaking! Poor Chaol, but yay Dorian and then poor Dorian.

I found it strange how the relationship (SPOILER) between Dorian and Celaena ended. It was abrupt and Celaena's reason came out of nowhere! Like I know freedom was her main goal, but using that as an excuse to break up with Dorian? GURL - NAH. 

But the other thing was that she wanted to be with him for so long and she kept saying that and being happy about that and I just. I just... BOOM! Suddenly that's all gone - it felt a bit forced, actually.

It broke my heart. AND IT PISSED ME OFF SO MUCH.

(As you can see, I am falling hard for this story. Very hard. Wow.) 

I also think Maas has worked out this story amazingly. Every tiny little detail fits the story perfectly. The way the characters speak, the way everything's described, they way the people live, the political games in the story - all woven in a beautiful web that lays over the story just perfectly. 

The way Maas has used magic in the story appealed to me in some way. It was there, but not prominently, leaving me with questions of how this will affect the rest of the series. Although I think how magic is used in this story is a bit old school, I did feel that it fit the story and I hope the next books will make the magic a bit more prominent, because I feel like that would make things far more interesting.

But overall - I thought this story was amazing. I loved our protagonist, Celaena, and all the other characters and Maas has made me fall in love with her work. I'm looking forward to read the rest this series and I will definitely check out her other work!

Until the next blogpost, then! :)

Would You Rather Book Tag!

O so accurate. The struggles of a bookworm.
So I came across this tag one day on a blog (www.sincerelyabooknerd.blogspot.com) and thought it would be fun to do it too! I really enjoy doing these booktags - they're fun and actually very creative. Hands down for those who created these!
Now let's get into the questions:

1. Rather read only a series or stand-alone books?

Definitely series, because I just feel like a story can't be finished after one book. I don't want it to be finished after one book. I NEED A SEQUEL.

2. Rather read a book whose main character is male or female?

O this is a hard one! I don't think the gender of the character is very important to me, it's their personality and ideals that count. But for as far as I know I've only read books with a female main character and a few with a male one. Male ones are always more interesting, since I'm not male and to have to have a look in one's mind is funny.
But I don't think I prefer one or the other.

3. Rather shop at Barnes & Noble (or other actual bookstores) or Amazon?

Actual bookstores! Now I don't have a Barnes & Noble around here or anywhere in the country, but I just love bookstores. I love to walk past all the shelves filled with so many beautiful books in all kinds and sizes. And I always like to skim through the first pages - I know you're able to do that on a site like Amazon to (sometimes), but with the book in your hands you can read whatever part you like. Or the last page. Hehe. (I don't do that *ahum* *ahum* I JUST READ THE LAST LINE OKAY)

4. Rather all books become movies or tv shows?

Movies. Definitely movies. 
Because that's just a one time deal. And I don't know but I feel like if a book would become a tv show everything would change. Perhaps they will add some "interesting" characters or events to spice things up and that will destroy the beauty of the story.
I don't want that to happen.

5. Rather read 5 pages per day or read five books per week?

Another difficult one.
I'm quite a slow reader and most times I do this intentionally because I feel like I can enjoy the story the best when I take time reading it. But if I would want to read all the books of the world, reading five books per week would definitely help to accomplish that.
So I'm going for the 5 books per week, assuming that I have enjoyed the story the best.

6. Rather be a professional book reviewer or an author?

An author, definitely.
I mean, I review books for fun. I just like to share my thoughts on books I liked or disliked to maybe help people out who are wondering to buy that book or just people's entertainment. But actually writing a book is so much more fun.
Creating your own world with your own characters and storylines, that's just such an awesome feeling. Their destiny lays in your hands and you can do whatever you want with them because you write their story. And in the progress of writing you get to know your characters you start to feel for them and you see the world you created by scrabbling down a few words - that's just awesome.
And you also realise that all of it is based on things you went through or things that touched you. That's just beautiful.

7. Rather read only the same 20 books over and over or get to read a new book every six months?

Read a new book every six months, obviously! 
If there's one thing that can make me hate a book, then it would be reading it over and over again. I just can't do that. I need something new. I need to be shown all the different things in the (book)world, instead of being crumpled by just one.
And besides - then I have an excuse to read slowly haha.

8. Rather be a librarian or own a bookstore?

A librarian, because then I'm sure that I will get my beautiful babies back. If I owned a bookstore I probably wouldn't allow anyone to buy a book or I'll just make sure that the bookstore will be closed as many times as possible so that I can spend some time with my books. The people will probably scared to enter the bookstore after a few times, because I'll probably try to kill them if they want to buy a book or just scare them away with my war cries and vicious glances.
Yup.

9. Rather only read your favorite genre or your favorite author?

I don't really have favorites when it comes to genres or authors. There are periods in which read on specific genre or books from one specific author and periods in which I read another genre or books by another author and other times I just mix it all up.
So I don't have an answer for this one. Hihi. :$

10. Rather only read physical books or ebooks?

Physical books. Definitely physical books.
It's not that I mind reading ebooks - they aren't that pricey and you have them always with you (if you use your phone to store your ebooks, which I do), but I just love having a physical copy in my hands.

Well that's it for this blogpost!
Until the next blogpost, then! :)

Review An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

I fell in love with this book the moment I saw it in the hands of one of my favorite booktubers, abookutopia. She talked about the book with so much excitement that she made me jump on the couch. I had to have it on my shelf - the story sounded awesome and the book looked perfect. PERFECT.

I mean, just look at it! - isn't that one gorgeous book?

But you know, since I live in a different country and in a city with one or two bookstores - which it should it be VERY ashamed of - I thought I'd never find it here and there would be no way that I could read it until everbody else had read it already. :(

BUT THANKFULLY THAT DIDN'T BECOME REALITY.

I found the book standing on a shelf somewhere in the bookstore in my city and, without even considering the price, I grabbed it from the shelf and bought it. 

And though I felt bad about spending so much on books, those 20 euros were just so worth it!

Summary

In a brutal world called the Empire, inspired by ancient Rome, people live under the regime of the Martials. Nobody thinks about defiance, because that would mean the death of themselves and everything they hold dear. Even Laia thinks of this the same way. As an Scholar - a folk that has been overthrown and suppressed by the Empire - she knows what will happen to those who resist. But when her brother is arrested for treason, Laia is left with a decision to make. Keep running or save her brother? 

Saving her brother comes with a big price, a price she's scared but still determined to pay.

She has to spy for the rebels from within the greatest military academy of the Empire.

Here she meets Elias, the academy's finest soldier, but also - secretly - it's most unwilling.

Soon they'll discover that their lives are intertwined and their choices will do more than just change their own lives.

My opinion

Rate: 9/10

This book was sooooo awesome to read, guys!

I do have to say, it doesn't have much of an original storyline. It has a nice construction and everything and looks okay, but it doesn't have something special, something like wow, cool, NO WAY. But the thing is - it isn't really about the storyline. It's mainly about the two main characters Laia and Elias and their character-development throughout the story.

And I've never seen such a thing before. 

I know it's normal for a character to develop throughout a story, but I have never seen an author actually accentuating this so much in a story, whilst keep the story going on and being to build up the tension.

Tahir has done a marvelous job on that.

Tahir took me away from the world with this story. I don't what it was about her writing style, but it was so good. I could picture all of it happening in front of my eyes, even the parts with the Commandant... *gulp* 

I loved how we got to see different sides of the world she created. I say this like a lot in my reviews, but I thinks it's quite crucial for a story to see the world an author has created than just the story we see. It of course also depends on the story, but having a good idea of where the characters are and what influences those places have on them, can also make you understand the characters  and the things they go through better. You see that Laia and Elias live in two different worlds with completely different people - or people with different ideas of the world around them and different morals - and those people influence them consiously or unconsiously. It tests their determination to things, it helps them evolve as a person and that's very fascinating to see. Tahir made look all natural by also throwing in some mysterious events or stuff like the Trials which forced the characters to change or at least adjust themselves and their plans. You can see that the main characters are quite similar in a way and kind of go through the same things only differently, because of the different environments they live in. 
And I don't how Tahir has done it, but she made it look far from cliché.

I have already mentioned before - in another blogpost - that the Commandant is probably my favorite villian of all times. Tahir has managed to make this Commandant sooooooo evil, like I genuinely feel scared when she's mentioned in the story. *shivers* 
And nearing the end Tahir kind of gives the Commandant some kind of soft side, I'd say, making her more complex and interesting. But the Commandant will always be a great example for pure evilness.
She isn't my favorite character, though, but then - I don't have a favorite. 
I. JUST. CAN'T. CHOOSE.
All these characters are written sooo well that I just feel like I can really imagine standing here in my room, having their conversations or whatever. They are just very clear to me.
My favorite cast of characters!

I don't really have a lot of critque on this book, other than the fact that the storyline is well, alright, I guess. And the fact that I'm dying of waiting on the sequel! GOD.
I'm expecting a lot of good stuff in the sequel... *creepy laugh*

That's it for this blogpost!
Until the next blogpost, then! :)