Review Rack and Ruin by Chele Cooke

Wooooooowwwwww!
It's been so looonnngggg since I've posted something here, jeez!
But my busy life has finally calmed down a bit (and will hopefully stay that way) and now I can get back into blogging-bussiness - yaayy!
For today's blog post I wanted to review to third book of the Out of Orbit series, Rack and Ruin - enjoyyy :)

Summary

“You ready to break out of the cage, little bird?”

Georgianna Lennox has been released by her keeper Edtroka, who has sided with the Cahlven, a technologically advanced race exiled from her home planet hundreds of years earlier.

When Edtroka disappears, Georgianna and a group of rebel friends are forced to embark on a dangerous scouting mission behind enemy lines.

As the Cahlven’s true intentions become clear, Georgianna and the rebels hatch an audacious plan to turn the Adveni’s most powerful weapon against them — at a terrible cost.

My Opinion

Rating: 8.5/10

Sooo - the third installment of the Out of Orbit series...

ACTION-PACKED!

I think I liked this one better than the ones before, because now we finally - FINALLY - see our Georgianna in action.

Instead of playing it safe and being this scared little girl who needs to be saved by all the guys around her, Georgianna finally stands up for herself and tries to take on the might of the Adveni with her friends.

What I liked was that she didn't turn into this strong girl immediately - you saw that she struggled a lot, physically mainly. She didn't have that superhuman quality from the beginning and it didn't appear now out of nowhere, which made it realistic. 

I kind of had the feeling that she matured a lot in this book. I know, she is already 26 years old, but she has grown a lot mentally in this book. You see that the past events have really influenced her and gave her a strong will to do something too, instead of just watching.

What I disliked a bit about this book was the constant drama between all the guys of the cast and Georgianna, especially the drama between Keirran and Georgianna tend to get quite annoying and depressing. Throughout the whole series it almost seemed to be about the guys and Georgianna and them needing to protect her, them needing to save her, them telling her what to do etc. In the first two books it wasn't that annoying but in the third installment it just felt like blegh.

But I had a feeling that Georgianna felt the same about it - this drama was just blegh.

I think that drama between her and the guys was kind of freaking her out too, which made her do some quite not-Georgianna and reckless things. It made her more persistent, like how she, even though the relationship between her and Keirran was going downhill, she convinced him to help her to kick Cahlven-ass (hehe that sounds funny hehe). Instead of giving up and try someone else or not trying i the first place because she was scared of his reaction, she just did it and she nailed it!

Perhaps that drama was needed... Even though I didn't really like it...

I had a feeling that the whole plot of the story became less and less important to me - it was all about Georgianna and her kind of evolution. The plot felt more like a background or a way to help her evolve more. I had the same feeling with the characters - they all have quite different personalities, which affected her way of dealing with her while becoming stronger too. For example Dhiren, who always helped her out when she was attacked by one of the prisoners once again, who also very agressive and painfully honest, helps her a lot with her development. He teaches her how to fight, he tells her honestly how she appears to be for everyone (which can be pretty rude to Georgianna - I don't think a 26-year old would like to be called a child, or do they?), makes her a bit reckless, too. But in turn she, when they are trying to kick some Adveni-ass on their own. stops him from doing something too reckless. Here, I see how her relationship with Dhiren has helped her become a better version of herself. She still plays it safe, even when she is being reckless. It sounds a bit weird, maybe, but it's just that she takes on qualities of other people, which change her, help her develop, but meanwhile her old self stays there and becomes stronger too - it's not like she is another person all together, or that the characters have turned them into them.

I really liked seeing that.

So the thing I liked the most about this book was basically seeing Georgianna kick some ass. The whole plot and the characters felt like triggers for her development, helped her turn into the better version of herself.

I'm really curious for what the fourth and final installment will bring for us - how will the new Georgianna act in this war? What will happen? Who will die (because some pretty awesome have died in this book already :( R.I.P. ;()? 

Who will win the war?

What will happen to Os-Veruh?

That's it for this blog post!

Until the next one, then! :)

Storytime: Another cold night

It had to be the coldest night of the decade, so cold that even my thick coat and stupid hat couldn't keep me warm.
I continued to walk, while the snow was grating softly under my boots and the dark was surrounding me more and more.
Just a few streets, I thought, and this time I would make it there.
I pushed my hands in my pockets.
I was so close.
It was the umpteenth time I tried, that I went against faith, but this time would be the last. The very last.
I looked around me carefully. The entire city was covered with a thick coat of snow, caused by the snowstorm from a few days ago. It made it almost unrecognisable.
The once o so busy streets with tons of cars and bikers crossing it came to the same height as sidewalk, the first o so happy and cosy café at the corner looked like an abandoned haunted house. Maybe it was abandoned. Maybe they were gone, too. And still, I would give it a shot.
Just one street left.
I started to walk more hurriedly. I went around the corner, into a narrow street, along the shitty flats with the strange inhabitants and again into another alley. I wasn't stopped anywhere. Would I really make it this time?
I started to run, excited and confident.
I was really close now! So close!
Despite the snow I could see the old crates with rotten food, which always stood there, the big trash cans from which the homeless ate and there, at the end of the alley, was a street - my street!
I could already see what would happen.
In the street I would find the house, I would knock on the door en they would open it. They would be surprised and schocked, they would cry and embrace me, they drag me inside immediately, while they kissed and asked me where the hell-
BAM! The fist struck my face, at full power. And then the other came. And another. And another.
Till I fell on the ground. Then the kicks came again.
In my stomach-
In my side-
Against my shins-
Against my head-
Everywhere-
And I tried to get my knife, 'cause I had to make it, I had to win and run, run, run, run.
But the pain-
And I couldn't breathe-
Boom.
I fell in a couple of moving boxes.
Again I lay in that moving truck and again I stood up with a painful expression on my face and an arm wrapped over my stomach. Again I opened the back of the truck and I jumped on the road, in the thick pack of snow. 
Again I was overwhelmed by the cold and I looked around at my beloved city, like it was the first time.
And it had to be the coldest night of the decade, so cold that even my thick coat and stupid hat couldn't keep me warm.
I would continue to walk, while to snow would be grating softly under my boots and the dark would be surrounding me more and more.
Just a few streets, I would think, but I knew better.
Perhaps death would've been the better option.

Annnddd??? Did you like the story?
I wrote for a homework assignment for Dutch-class, which means, yes, I've translated it from Dutch to English and yes, it could contain grammatical errors. I sure hope not too many, but sorry anyway, hihi :$
I sure do love writing short stories! I should do this way more often, but well, time doesn't always agree! And besides when I start writing stories, I'll most likely try to turn them into a book, because they become sooo looonngg or I freak out because I don't find it good enough - jeez, I'm a pain in the ass!
Hehe... 
ANYWAY - I'm getting off track.
So that's it for today's blog post!
Until the next blog post, then! :)