In My Mailbox (1)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren and was created to share new books we receive. 

Won:
Torment by Lauren Kate (Fallen, Book 2) from Kara @ Reading Cause I'm Addicted

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Caster Chronicles, Book 2) from Jenny @ Wondrous Reads (I think I was meant to get The Eternal Ones but I received this instead!) Woohoo!!!

Buffy The Vampire Slayer 1 + 2 (First one not pictured) by Christopher Golden, Nancy Holder, Diana G. Gallagher and Pierce Askegren from Jo @ Once Upon a Bookcase

Thank you!:)

What did you get?

Review: Mockingjay (Contains Spoilers)

Summary from Goodreads:

"My name is Katniss Everdeen. Why am I not dead? I should be dead."

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost.



Review:

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

OVERVIEW:

Mockingjay, the final part of the Hunger Games trilogy did live up to most of my expectations. I was very keen to read the final instalment after I finished the previous two books, however I did not want to raise my expectations and then be disappointed when I finished the book. Luckily, for the most part, Mockingjay was a satisfying end to the trilogy.

CHARACTERS:

KATNISS:

Katniss remained a strong, unique and memorable character. I loved being able to see things from her point of view. Mockingjay had time for Katniss to reflect on and absorb everything that had happened to her and those surrounding her in the past two books. Once again, Katniss is used as a pawn in other people’s power games.

Katniss is perhaps one of the strongest heroines I’ve had the pleasure to read about. I really appreciated the fact that the love triangle was somewhat low key and that she had time to reflect on all that had happened. I really would like to read more about characters like this one. Recommendations?

There were times that I was annoyed with Katniss’s perspective. She didn’t get to witness some major events that were catalysts for the plot and we as readers missed out on a lot because of that. Katniss was told about certain events after they’d happened and this disappointed me because she was usually in the centre of action in previous books.

PEETA:

Peeta was the character who shocked me the most. I was not expecting the dramatic change in his character and I was very surprised in the twist of events that Collins inflicted upon us. I felt so sorry for Peeta and I really sympathised with him. He had been used just as much as Katniss. The trauma he went through sounded appalling-however, this was mostly told about and not shown. However, that was gruesome enough.

I did like the fact that there was a change in Peeta’s character. For the past two books, he was always there for Katniss and was strong. However, now we got to see the effects that the Hunger Games had on him and see him reacting to Katniss in a totally different way. It was shocking, scary and horrifying. I would have liked to have seen more on how he got better but for a long time Katniss stayed away from him so we didn’t see him as much as we could have.

GALE:

Gale was okay. I can’t say I cared much about Gale throughout the trilogy, I’d say I’m indifferent. However, the ending left me miffed. Was he the one that caused Prim’s death or not? I know you can’t have all the answers, but this is one that I think Katniss should have tried to find the answer to. Katniss and Gale talk very briefly at the end of the book and I didn’t think it was enough for two people who had been lifelong friends and looked after each other’s family.

PRIM:

Prim had a bigger role in Mockingjay. I didn't really care that much about her in the Hunger Games or Catching Fire, but in Mockingjay I finally got to see more of her- which is because Katniss didn’t have to go into the arena again. Prim was a good character. She was nice, nursing and wise. She offered Katniss words of wisdom. I was surprised that Prim died.

DEATHS:

There were a lot of deaths in Mockingjay. This was a given I suppose as a war was taking place. I was expecting one of the three main characters to die: Katniss (it could’ve happened as the book was in the present tense and she could’ve died at the end), Peeta or Gale.

PRIM: I really wasn’t expecting Prim’s death. However, it really did show how cold-blooded both District 13 and the Capitol were. Coin probably ordered Prim to go and Prim, being so good-natured did and of course she was also just a pawn in the game.

SNOW: I really wished that Katniss had killed President Snow herself. This was a letdown. He either choked on his own blood or was crushed by the crowd. We’ll never know. Katniss should have had two arrows-instead of one- and done the job properly for reader satisfaction! Nothing by halves, please.

COIN: Katniss did kill Coin who was just another power-hungry villain! This was good!

BOGGS: He was a really nice character and of course it was sad that he died but it just shows the brutality and uncertainty of war.

FINNICK: I didn’t know Finnick was going to die when he did. I mean, I knew he might, this was a war after all, but he died earlier than I expected to and by the end I realised it was because there wasn’t a huge battle at the end where there would be a storming of the President’s mansion. Finnick had such a sad life and it had only just got a bit better as he married Annie-but alas, it was not to be.

CINNA: In Catching Fire, I was quite sad that Cinna was beaten up and, in all probability, dead. However, I was never certain that he really HAD died and wasn’t just locked up somewhere and being tortured. I guess he did get killed as he didn’t appear in Mockingjay, but I would have liked this to have been confirmed through the characters’ dialogue.

DARIUS AND THE AVOX GIRL- LAVINIA: Horrific. Even hearing it second hand, the description of what happened to them was enough to disgust me. Perhaps this was a reason that Collins didn’t show it through Katniss’ own eyes. The brutality and reality of it was really shocking. I don’t think they’ll show it in the movie either if they want it to be certified 12.

LOADS MORE: There were so many more deaths. The list includes but is not limited to the patients and the medics at the hospitals, the children at the end, the citizens of the Capitol, most of District 12, the others that were in Katniss’ team.

PACE:

The beginning and the middle were quite slow and the ending was where things really speeded up; this was both good and bad. It was good because there was a lot of action and because of the rapidity of events. But it was bad because this should have happened sooner. I really wanted more to have happened at the beginning.

The ending felt rather abrupt, abstract and open-ended. Many questions that I really wanted answers to were not answered. Katniss also missed out on a lot of the action so I felt like I missed out on some of the book.

There were a few times when I got annoyed that Katniss didn’t know about something until after it had happened. Scenes such as when they rescued Peeta- although in retrospect, I can understand why this had to be this way.

While I was pleased by the final instalment, it could have been better. I wanted more HOPE for the future at the end of Mockingjay and while I did get a little bit, the uncertainty was the overriding factor.

DISAPPOINTMENTS:

The biggest disappointment was the epilogue. It just felt too general and sketchy. Perhaps Collins wanted to leave it up to us to decide what happens next, but the information was not enough to satisfy me and I wanted answers. Come on, I got answers in Lord of the Rings!

The questions that I wanted answers to were:

1. Why did Katniss say ‘yes’ to there being another Hunger Games after all she’d been through?

I really thought she would say no so I was shocked. I can understand why she said yes, because it really is human nature to want the people that inflicted you with so much pain to go through what you went through- losing a loved one and participating in the Hunger Games-but I wanted Katniss to tell me this herself and not assume it.

2. What does Katniss DO for the rest of her life?

I know she has two children-the boy and the girl- but as stated in the epilogue, this wasn’t until a long time later. I really thought it would have been great if Katniss and Peeta ended up being advisors to the government or something of that sort.

3. Also, what were her children’s names?

This is a small qualm but when Katniss talks about ‘the boy’ and ‘the girl’ it sounded really awkward. Why wouldn’t you call your children by their names? Strange.

4. Paylor was the new President. What do we know about her?

She could be just another Snow, just another Coin. There was no character development of this character that holds the most important office- so readers are left ignorant of what will happen in the future. Will the future be full of hope or bloodshed? We’ll never know. I need answers.

5. What happened to Gale?

Seeing as he was a main character, I wanted more details as to what happened to him after the ending. Does he ever see Katniss again? What does he do with the rest of his life?

6. Does Peeta recover fully or does he have trouble with his condition?

7. Was there another Hunger Games for the Capitol's children?

8.I'm sure there are more. I'll add them here when they come to mind.

WRITING STYLE:

Collins wrote beautifully in Mockingjay, as she did in the Hunger Games and Catching Fire. There were times I was really sad and because I was reading aloud, my voice shook. I’m really impressed with the way that Collins has managed to stay in character and not go off course.

Previous to reading the book, this had been a big fear of mine. I put off reading it due to the fact that I don’t like to finish off series' that I really enjoy because then it WILL DEFINITELY be over and also, because I don’t want to be disappointed. It even happened with Harry Potter- but that’s a whole other story.

CONCLUSION:

I enjoyed Mockingjay a lot and would recommend this trilogy to anyone. It really is the cream of the crop of both dystopian fiction and YA fiction. Though there were some qualms (which are stated above) that I had with the book, I liked it very much overall and was sad to have finished. I hope to read more from Suzanne Collins soon!

Book Rating: 4.5/5

Cover: 4/5

Concept: 5/5

Author: Suzanne Collins

Review: Clockwork Angel

Summary from Goodreads:

Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: Jem, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa.

As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.



Review:

Clockwork Angel was an exciting and well-written story. Clare had researched her facts very carefully and I appreciated the effort she put into Clockwork Angel. The novel was mysterious and kept me on my toes for the most part. The characters were mostly well-developed and interesting.

I haven’t read Clare’s other series, The Mortal Instruments, so I did not know what to expect from this author. I had heard a lot of praise for her books though, so my expectations were high. I was not disappointed. Clare’s writing is solid, active and descriptive. She writes with flair and passion. I could visualise the streets of London that were sculpted with her artful words.

I liked Tessa Gray. She was a strong, somewhat fierce heroine. I don’t think Tessa was as great as she could have been though and this is chiefly for the reason that there was a big gap in the middle of the book where she did not use her powers. Because of this, I did not feel that Tessa was used successfully in the novel and it was down to other characters to move the story along. Therefore, Tessa’s character let the story down. She had such a unique and interesting power but I just did not see enough of it in use to understand the extent of her powers.

The two love interests-Will and Jem- were both very fun characters. Will was more of a dark, rogue-like character whereas Jem was more patient and kind-however he does have a secret. They felt like two sides of the same coin.

Furthermore, I do not feel like Jem had a real chance in this book for Tessa's affections as Tessa was very much focussed on Will. However, after Will’s gross misconduct at the end of the book towards Tessa, I feel like Jem will have a stronger chance in the next book. Will surprised me at the end of the book because of the way he treated Tessa.

Also, I didn’t feel that the clockwork angel was important enough in the story for the book to be titled that. However, that is a very minor complaint. The plot of the story was very interesting and Clare managed to keep me on my toes and keep me guessing which I enjoyed very much. I particularly liked her take on vampires.

The other characters, such as Jessamine, Charlotte and Henry, were good. I can’t say I loved them, I can’t say I hated them. I felt indifferent to them as they weren't that well-developed. I was surprised at the twists and turns in the novel, mostly that of Tessa’s brother, Nate. For a long time, Nate was a character who was spoken about but does not appear in the book. I found Tessa’s constant worry and devotion to him expected but I didn't feel the same way because I didn’t ever see Nate first hand until the end.

At the end of the book there was an epilogue. The epilogue wasn’t what I expect of epilogues because it ended halfway through a scene-which is never a good thing in my opinion. I’m jaded as to what could be the matter with Will because Jem’s secret did not feel so taboo to me. Perhaps, this will be a repeat performance.

I would have liked to see more Shadowhunters and more of the Downworlders. I heard more about it than I saw of it. However, what I did see, I liked very much!

Overall, I very much look forward to reading more by Cassandra Clare because she is a great author and Clockwork Angel was fantastic. I would recommend this novel to everyone.

Book Rating: 4.5/5

Cover: 4/5

Concept: 5/5

Author: Cassandra Clare

Here's the cover that won me an ARC of Clockwork Angel from Tales of a Ravenous Reader (whose blog is awesome!):

Recreate a Cover Contest @ Love Reading X

Go to Love Reading X to enter a re-create a cover contest. You can re-create one out of three book covers; Thirteen Reasons Why, The Thirteenth Chime and 13 to Life.



Here's my cover for Thirteen Reasons Why:



Ends: Sep 20.

Review: Poison Study by Maria V Snyder

Summary from Goodreads:

Choose: A quick death and hell or slow poison and hell.

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear.



Review:

The synopsis of Poison Study intrigued me and it was this that made me want to read the book. Poison Study started off really well. The characters were interesting and seemed to have a lot of history that I wanted to know more about. Unfortunately, this didn't happen.

As the title of the book was 'Poison Study' I would have liked a deeper focus on poison and the study of poison. I enjoyed the moments when it was discussed, unfortunately, there weren't that many moments. I wouldn't have carried on reading the book if I hadn't enjoyed it. At first Yelena was a character I wanted to know about.

However, Poison Study was more than 400 pages long and I believe some of the scenes could have been cut out as they added nothing to the story. The plot became unfocussed in the middle and this was a continuing theme.

Also, a criticism of Poison Study is that the characters never seemed to sleep. This may seem like a small thing but it made the story very unrealistic. How was I meant to believe that Yelena couldn't sleep most nights due to bad dreams and could still function very well in the day? Actually, this is true of Valek too.

Valek, Yelena's mentor and later, lover, was a good character. However, I didn't know why he suddenly fell in love with Yelena. It all seemed pretty cliche by the end. I didn't like the fact that they made love in a prison cell either and it was just after Yelena had vomitted too (even if she did wash her mouth once).

Their declaration of love to each other was so quick and for me, unexpected and unrealistic. I don't think they could have realistically fallen in love that quickly. Especially as both Yelena and Valek (especially Valek) were closed off characters.

The secondary characters were very flat. The villains were 2 dimensional. They were all quite easy to work out. The only character that gave me pause for thought was the Commander-who was in actual fact a woman pretending to be a man? And Yelena found out about this and kept it to herself? And Valek, the Commander's bodyguard/foodtaster/adviser doesn't know...? This was all very hard to believe. I wondered what purpose this storyline added to the plot but I really couldn't find any answers in Poison Study as the author remained very vague about this.

Overall, the opening held a lot of potential, however the plot wasn't gripping enough to maintain my attention. I would have liked to learn more about poisons and magic. Synder did not focus on it enough in my opinion. The pace of the story was okay, not too bad. The ending was somewhat average and set itself up for the next in the trilogy. However, there were plot holes and some questions were not answered in Poison Study. I am expecting more of the next books and hopefully they will meet my expectations.

Book Rating: 3/5
Concept: 3/5

Author: Maria V Snyder

Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Summary from Goodreads:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human ... until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Review:

I really wanted to like Shiver. I came across so many great reviews for it so when I began reading it, I went in with high expectations. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to start reading a book with high expectations, whether or not the author can deliver it is the question. In short, I did not like Shiver at all. I found it dull, waffling and monotonous.

Grace, the heroine, is obsessed with a wolf she first saw when she was being attacked when she was eleven. Before Grace realises that her wolf is actually a human being- I couldn’t understand why she would have so much love for a wolf. Grace’s emotions upon finding out that Sam was in actual fact a human didn’t feel very realistic to me- she would have been much more shocked/scared/angry/confused than she was.

Shiver made me very frustrated. One of the major reasons was that Grace’s parents were very unrealistic in my opinion. I know there must be parents out there who don’t take interest in their children’s lives, but come on- not noticing a strange boy sleeping in the same bed as their daughter (in their house) for weeks on end? That takes a lot of ignorance and stupidity.

Furthermore, when her parents do find out that she has a boyfriend; they didn’t even ask anything about him as normal parents would. For example, they didn’t ask what school he goes, how old he is, where he works, anything. That was totally ridiculous.

Also, one of the worst things was how disrespectful Grace was to her parents. The author went a long way to present Grace’s parents as dumb (not knowing about Sam) and forgetful (leaving Grace locked in a car when she was really young). The second one cannot be excused.

The way Grace was so condescending to her parents really annoyed me. She ranted on and on about how she did all the cooking, how her parents wouldn’t be able to function without her, how they were so stupid. Actually, it was very reminiscent of Bella from Twilight. But what about Grace? I think Grace needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror. All she ever cared about in the book was Sam.

I’m seeing a trend in YA books where the parents are shown as ignorant/stupid. As I mentioned previously, I noticed it in Twilight. I have no idea why this is happening. Is it a reflection of society?

I didn’t feel any emotional attachment to Grace. I found her cold, hard and unemotional. I didn’t get any real clue as to why Sam was so enraptured with her and I didn’t know why Grace was so obsessed with someone who was very opposite to her.

Grace was very stoic, closed off and robotic whereas Sam was somewhat more open about his feelings and was very emotional. Sam kept remembering things that happened in the past, whereas I wanted to know what was going to happen now-in the story. When I was reading it, I kept imagining that Sam was a girl. His narrating voice sounded exactly like Grace’s which put me off.

The constant swapping of POVs annoyed me. I think only a few authors can do it very well. Instead of speeding along the plot, it slowed it down. Not much happened in Shiver. There was a lack of plot. 400 pages were filled with waffle, repetition and changes in narrator.

In most of the book what happened was: Grace mooned over Sam, Sam mooned over Grace, Grace and Sam slept in Grace’s bed, Grace was angry at her parents for an unknown reason, Grace and Sam slept, Grace smelt Sam’s armpit and proclaimed it smelt very Sam-like in there!, Grace and Sam read, Sam drove Grace to school Grace and Sam slept. Her parents didn’t know.

I wanted to know more about wolves.

I didn’t find it sweet that Sam drove Grace through freezing temperatures to go to a sweet shop for their date. I was expecting something amazing, not a sweet shop. I didn’t find Grace and Sam at all interesting. I willed myself to finish off the book. Most of the interesting action happened to secondary characters like Jack and Grace’s friend. I would have been more interested in reading about them as some action would have happened.

At the end, Jack died very abruptly and I didn’t even get a reason why he died and Sam didn’t. The ending was a bit of a cheat in that respect and I won’t be reading the next book to find out if there was an explanation for it because I don’t want to wade through 400 more pages of sleeping, eating and driving to get what will most likely be a half-explanation. There were just too many unanswered questions in Shiver. Why hasn't Grace changed? Why did Jack die? Why didn't Sam?

Overall, I did not like Shiver at all and will not be reading the sequel, Linger, which is already out.

Book Rating: 1/5

Cover: 4/5

Concept: 1/5

This review is part of September Spectacular Reading Challenge at The Thoughts of a Book Junky.