Review: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron Knight
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: The Iron Fey #4
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release Date: October 26, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: Paperback
Pages: 394
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from November 5 to 11, 2012
My rating: 

Summary: Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing. Unless he can earn a soul.
To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought. Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive. With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side. To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale. And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

I will be with her again, or I will die. There aren't any other options. 

I finished the previous book, The Iron Queen, with so great a satisfaction that I expected nothing less from this follow-up, but after pages and pages of adventure and mysteries and secrets, I ended up disappointed. This is not to say that The Iron Knight is a bad book, only it just didn't live up to its three predecessors, and is in my opinion the most mediocre one out of the four.

In this book, Ash sets out on a dangerous journey to the End of the World in order to earn a human soul, as it is the only way he can be with Meghan in the Iron realm without eventually dying from Iron. Ash isn't alone in this quest; there are the usuals—Puck and Grimalkin—and other two surprising characters accompanying him and seeing him through to the end. They follow a very dangerous path into the strangest and darkest parts of the Nevernever where it is said those who have gone in there have never come back.

As much as I love Ash, I didn't find the narration via his POV to be very satisfying. There were more than a dozen times when I felt like this book was written in the third person POV rather than Ash's, because if he's voicing the story, I didn't hear it. Only in some chapters did I really get into his head. Any other times it just felt like I'm reading dialogues. And I would doze off and then not pick up the book until another day came. In all honesty, I would say that I enjoyed Meghan's storytelling far more than Ash's.

When I neared the end of the book, I was praying so hard that Ash would change his mind. I was never one to compromise my identity, who I am, for someone else, so that's why I didn't completely agree with the journey he takes on. I didn't find his quest romantic, instead I found it stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid Ash. But what can I say? Love makes you blind, right? His undying love for Meghan didn't touch me quite as deeply as the sacrifices made for him, and the friendship offered to him by other characters. When Ash lives the future in his head, I felt his sadness and I hoped he would turn his back. A Winter Prince—invincible, immortal—wants to become a weak mortal for his love? I just couldn't grasp it. Why not wish for an immunity against iron instead? That would make much more sense.

The part that I hate the most is when it's one of those weird moments again when I don't like a book as much as everybody else. Every one of my GR friends who have read this all gave it 5 stars. Let me repeat, all of them gave The Iron Knight five stars. And when I finished the book, I was sitting there and all, "Really? Is that it?" and feeling very very very underwhelmed. My feeling and enjoyment while reading this have been sadly rather static in a pretty mediocre level. It felt almost as tedious as household chores. And I hate that because I feel like I missed out on something that nobody missed that could have added two more stars to this rating, or could have made me love this book with all I had. Which obviously didn't happen. 

On the whole, I'm happy with the way things turn out. Meghan and Ash get what they deserve in the end. In the past month I've been reading the whole Iron Fey series, and it has given me so much joy. Naturally, I felt sad that I had to let these characters go. I've grown to love them a lot. And I will terribly miss them.

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

Review: The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron Queen
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: The Iron Fey #3
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release Date: January 25, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: Paperback
Pages: 358
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from October 30 to November 3, 2012
My rating:

Summary: My name is Meghan Chase. I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it. This time, there will be no turning back.

You've become a major player in this war. You're balanced on the edge of everything—faery and mortal, Summer and Iron, the old ways and the march of progress. Which way will you fall? Which side will you choose? 

When I read The Iron King and The Iron Daughter, I felt they had a great potential but weren't quite there yet, so they both got four stars from me. I didn't expect the third installment, The Iron Queen, to surpass the previous two, and that's why I was so blown away by how truly amazing this one is, which I didn't see coming at all. This book is much better than the first two and that made me believe that this is Julie Kagawa at her best.

The story picks up instantly where book two leaves off: Meghan and Ash's exile from the Nevernever. Meghan thinks that she won't be bothered by the fairies anymore, but she's dead wrong. Iron fairies are still roaming the mortal world looking for her, because the false king believes that by killing Meghan, he'll get King Machina's power. At the same time, the false king's army has been getting stronger and attacking Summer and Winter. And Meghan might just be Nevernever's only hope to defeat the false king and restore peace.

The first half starts off pretty slowly and maintains its pace throughout, which made me a little impatient. But when the second half starts, things pick up fast and remain fast until the end, which I loved. I read the second half all in one sitting, and I really couldn't tear my eyes away. Julie Kagawa gives me excitements after excitements after romances after heartaches after sadness after excitements. I said in my reviews of the previous two books that the fight scenes for me felt somehow lacking. However, in this book, Julie Kagawa gave me everything and then more. It was breathtakingly fun! Fun fun fun! Best fight scenes in the series are in The Iron Queen. Epic battles. I loved it. With everything thrown my way, it was indeed difficult to stop. I swallowed it whole, I took everything in all at once. It was delightful.

The characters are more developed in this book, fully formed. I liked Meghan more now, seeing her grow from a feeble helpless half-breed to a strong warrior deserving to be Queen. And although I couldn't make up my mind earlier, I'm now Team Ash. That boy does crazy things to my stomach, let me tell you. He's so cute, like, he makes me bury my head in my pillow and squee endlessly, come up for air and then bookmark those lovely scenes. And hot scenes, because, well, they're so hot. But my being on Team Ash doesn't mean that I don't like Puck now. I still do, but less than Ash. Poor Puck, getting his heart ripped out and stomped on. He'll continue to make my heart ache, I'm sure. Grimalkin still amuses me endlessly with his wits and sarcasm. Bad kitty, as Razor says. Razor is so cute.

And if anything is to be said about Julie Kagawa's writing, I'd repeat it: this is Julie Kagawa at her best. I don't know how she does it, but she pulls it off beautifully. Her words make the story flow very smoothly and reinforces the story very well, making us see things more clearly and feel things more intimately. So charming.

Apart from all the fun it gave me, this book made me shed a lot of tears (oh, Ash). And I loved every minute of the journey I traveled with Meghan. I hope it's only getting better from here, as I am now ready to take on the next books.

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 This review is also posted on Goodreads.

Review: Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

 

Title: Summer of the Mariposas
Author: Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Release Date: October 1, 2012
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Format: eARC
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from October 12 to 17, 2012
My rating:

Summary: When Odilia and her four sisters find a dead body in the swimming hole, they embark on a hero's journey to return the dead man to his family in Mexico. But returning home to Texas turns into an odyssey that would rival Homer's original tale. With the supernatural aid of ghostly La Llorona via a magical earring, Odilia and her little sisters travel a road of tribulation to their long-lost grandmother's house. Along the way, they must outsmart a witch and her Evil Trinity: a wily warlock, a coven of vicious half-human barn owls, and a bloodthirsty livestock-hunting chupacabras. Can these fantastic trials prepare Odilia and her sisters for what happens when they face their final test, returning home to the real world, where goddesses and ghosts can no longer help them? Summer of the Mariposas is not just a magical Mexican American retelling of The Odyssey, it is a celebration of sisterhood and maternal love.

We hiked through the sparse woods, making our way carefully down the beaten path we had created that summer, the summer of the mariposas. 

I gave this book two stars because I neither hated it enough to give it less, nor liked it enough to give it more. So what happened here? Oh, I merely tolerated it. Being given two stars is just as bad as one in terms of mental health if you use my rating system. It's not bad, but it doesn't stir anything within me except for never-ending, terminal, utter boredom. The kind that can drive me crazy, kill me, make me fall asleep within 3 minutes, and make me so bored that I want to cry because there's nothing else to do, and because I blame my chronic cannot-not-finish-books disease that's slowly killing me and damaging my happiness. With that said, I assume you now understand the way I feel about this book. 

I don't want to say anything much, simply because I don't really care enough about this book to want to talk about it. As a student of literature, I am fascinated by the idea of reading Homer's the Iliad and the Odessey one day. So when I saw that this book claims to be a retelling of the latter, I was deceived into wanting to read it. But honestly, it did not feel like it, it was not a retelling if you ask me. It annoyed me and bored me and annoyed me and bored me endlessly. The five girls took turns irritating me rather than made me like them. The journey wasn't fun. It dragged on and on and on and on. It could've ended much earlier than when it does. All I wanted to say is that if Homer's the Odessey were remotely anything like this, I'd stay far far away and never look back. 

The moment I finished this book I let out a big heavy sigh and almost cried. It would be tears of happiness. Not because the book made me happy, but because I was happy I got it over and done with. It's still a wonder to me, 2 days later, how I brought myself to finish it. I was tolerating it for so long, putting it down and not wanting to pick it up. It asked so much from me and I didn't even want to spend any more time reading it. It's true that I didn't hate it, but it bored me so much that I wanted to die. And that's worse. Now I can move on with my life. Finishing it felt like an accomplishment in its own right, and that's about the only good thing that came out of reading this book. It's just not for me.

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.
I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass
Series: #1 in Throne of Glass Trilogy
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release Date: August 2, 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 404
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from July 26 to 28, 2012 

My rating: 

Summary: Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness. In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught. Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted? 

You must listen to what I tell you. Nothing is a coincidence. Everything has a purpose. You were meant to come to this castle, just as you were meant to be an assassin, to learn the skills necessary for survival. 

While Throne of Glass didn't manage to get me hooked right from the beginning, it sure did capture my heart by the end of the book, leaving me craving for more. I wasn't really surprised at my blankness, as I normally don't expect myself to hit it off with fantasy books right away. There's this part of my brain that keeps doubting the credibility of things presented, that continually asks me if I really believe what I'm reading, or if the story is good enough to keep me going and suspend my disbelief. As Throne of Glass progressed, it proved itself worthy along the way, and at one point I couldn't stop reading even though I could barely keep myself awake. I just had to finish it! And then I did, but I had to take a nap in my German class the next day and had my teacher woken me up three times. 

Needless to say, this book is fantastic. 

Throne of Glass follows Celaena Sardothien, a deadly 18-year-old assassin with a pretty face. Celaena is renowned as "Adarlan's Assassin," which is why the Prince of Adarlan, Dorian Havilliard, has to track her down to find her as a slave in Endovier, and offer her an opportunity that might be what she needs most: freedom. But of course, freedom isn't given for free. The Prince, in return, asks that she agrees to be his "champion," to compete with other champions in a fight-to-the-death tournament organized by the King, and she'll be given freedom only after winning the tournament and serving the King as his royal assassin for 4 years. If she doesn't win it, she'll either die or go back to serve a life sentence in Endovier just as she is now. Celaena takes the opportunity, moves to the King's castle, and this is where the fun begins. 

One does not simply mess with "Adarlan's Assassin" Celaena Sardothien, but entering the competition as  jewel thief Lady Lillian Gordaina, she's often overlooked and underestimated. As strategies, she has to play down the smarts and try not to outperform anyone in training, fooling everyone that she's nothing special. Although she doesn't like the strategies, she has to do as the Prince and his Captain of the Guard, Chaol Westfall, say. 

Now, I have to say love triangle was the least of my expectations, which is why I was surprised when the Prince shows interest in Celaena. I didn't like him much at first, but Dorian Havilliard has his ways to win you over. I couldn't help but have a soft spot for him. There were times when I liked Dorian for his charms (he's such a flirt!) more than Chaol, who's always so silent and distant, but sweet and caring nevertheless. Both are awesome characters. Most of the time I was just glad that I didn't have to be the one choosing. I love that Celaena doesn't spend much time pining for anyone. I love that she can make a decision for herself, and that she's not afraid to end things that might get in the way of her getting what she wants most. A determined, hard-headed, kickass heroine. That's Celaena Sardothien for you. 

I love Celaena. She isn't what I expected a female assassin to be like. She's funny and loves to tease people, especially the girls in the castle trying to win Dorian's heart. I found myself tremendously enjoying her character. I love that she's smart and seems to know a lot about things she does (killing, for example). And my, she loves reading and clothes! Haha. Hard to believe at first but it makes her character more interesting. She's so seriously kickass and I love it. 

Apart from the characters, I also enjoyed the story very much. You can't tell from looking at the cover or reading the blurb that there's magic in the story! The mentions of magic in the beginning of the book didn't strike me as anything until "Wyrdmarks" and Nehemia, Princess of Eyllwe, start becoming involved in the story. And then, wow, bam! Blood, murders, secret passageway, ancient tomb, spirits, more secrets, mysteries, weird creatures, Wyrdmarks, more Wyrdmarks, ancient sword, whoosh, bam, bam! Haha. It's so much fun. Hardly anything can be said without the possibility of ruining your pleasure in discovering it yourselves, so I'll leave it at that. 

Full of mysteries and actions and just enough romance, Throne of Glass has exceeded my expectations in many ways. The ride was more than enjoyable; it was thrilling most of the time and also sweet at times. There are still things that are left unexplained in this book (mostly about Celaena's destiny) which I can't wait to find out in book two and three. The world-building is very well-done; I totally believed it. The narration in 3rd person (which I normally don't like) works very nicely with the story as the view isn't limited to any character's limited knowledge. Sarah J. Maas's writing is wonderful and although I'm not really a huge fan of fantasy books, I'm already impressed and looking forward to the next book in the trilogy. For some reasons, I know she won't disappoint. This is a great read. I'd recommend Throne of Glass to anyone!

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.
I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: Talisman of El by Alecia Stone

Title: Talisman of El 
Author: Alecia Stone 
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release date: May 20, 2012
Publisher: Centrinian Publishing
Format: eBook
Pages: 364
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon (Hardcover) | Bookdepository
Read from May 18 - 23, 2012
My rating: 

Summary: When 14-year-old Char­lie Blake wakes up sweat­ing and gasp­ing for air in the mid­dle of the night, he knows it is hap­pen­ing again. This time he wit­nesses a bru­tal mur­der. He's afraid to tell any­one. No one would believe him ... because it was a dream. Just like the one he had four years ago - the day before his dad died. Char­lie doesn't know why this is hap­pen­ing. He would give any­thing to have an ordi­nary life. The prob­lem: he doesn't belong in the world he knows as home. He belongs with the others.

What if your whole life was a lie? One Planet. Two Worlds. Population: Human ... 7 billion. Others ... unknown. 

Talisman of El is a debut book from Alecia Stone. It's a fantasy fiction for the children to young adult age groups, but really, anyone can read it. This is one of the most gripping novels I've read this year and I very much enjoyed it.

Charlie Blake, aged 14, is an orphan. When he gets adopted by Jacob, who's being real nice to him, he thinks maybe he's finally found the place he belongs. Charlie's always been hearing weird noises that seem to come out of nowhere and having weird visions and nightmares, but what he doesn't know is that it's not because he's a freak, but because he's different. There are things he doesn't know about his past and the world, and he doesn't realize that until one day he runs into a man he's been having nightmares about, who has the Talisman of El. The man, Derkein, is in search of open gateways to Arcadia, the world beneath the surface of Earth. Derkein takes Charlie, Alex and Richmond with him on an exciting and unpredictable adventure to find and enter Arcadia. There they meet the Arcadians, and Charlie gets to learn about his past and who he really is, and then comes the time when he realizes that the future of mankind lies in his hands.

It seems like that's all much I can say in this review without including spoilers. Talisman of El had me hooked since page one. It's a mysterious and adventurous and kept me wanting to know more. This action-packed fantasy is very well written. I love how one thing just leads to another and another and how the story seems to endlessly progress, always surprises and twists and turns. The characters are very well portrayed and I love the connection between them. I was quite surprise to see mythology in this book as well, but it only adds to the awesomeness of the book.

Although there were times when I felt like this book was longer than it really needed to be, it wasn't a big deal and didn't really bother me. I recommend this book to those of you who love fantasy and adventure, as this book is full of them!

Talisman of El is the first book in a planned trilogy. The second book, currently untitled, is expected to come out in 2013. 

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

A digital copy of this book was provided by the publisher and NetGalley for review.


Guest Post: The Language of Arcadia by Alecia Stone.

Review: Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Title: Kill Me Softly
Author: Sarah Cross
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Fairy Tales
Release Date: April 10, 2012
Publisher: Egmont USA
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from April 8 - 9, 2012

My rating:  + 

Summary: True love’s kiss just may prove deadly…. Mirabelle’s past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents’ tragic deaths to her guardians’ half-truths about why she can’t return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined. In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who’s a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again. But fairy tales aren’t pretty things, and they don’t always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy-tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy-tale curses of their own … brothers who share a dark secret. And she’ll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

Grimm fairytales come to life, curses and gifts are awakened, and Mira is destined to meet her fate...

Kill Me Softly is the first fairy tale retelling that I've ever read. To me, it's really unique and intriguing and extremely amazing. It falls into the category of books whose synopsis you shouldn't read first, but should just dive right in for full effect. That's what I did, and I was glad that I entered the world of Kill Me Softly without a clue about what it is about and what's possibly going to happen. When things do happen, it totally blew my mind! But if you've already made the mistake of reading the summary, it's still totally fine. Now you know what this book is about, but you're still going to be knocked off your feet anyway.

Girls became victims and heroines. 
Boys became lovers and murderers. 
And sometimes... they became both.



We're first introduced to Mirabelle Lively, or Mira for short, just a week before her sixteenth birthday. She lives with two godmothers, Elsa and Bliss. Mira's godmothers are very protective of her, and insanely strict. They don't allow her to ride in a car unless an adult is driving; shave her legs; date; and most importantly, they refuse to let her visit the city where she was born. This she can't accept. While they are excited and planning the party for her, Mira is distracted. She can only think about leaving them and running away to Beau Rivage to find her parents' graves.

Of course, she doesn't know what she's walking into. In Beau Rivage she encounters a lot of strange things like places named after those in fairy tales, and meets strange people who will become her friends. Mira's always been aware and self-conscious about the mark that looks like a wheel at her back, and she is shocked to see that these people she now hangs out with have marks too, only different ones. She asks around and finds out what the marks are for, and what they represent, and then she knows everyone's destiny, including her own. And then she also realizes the reason why her godmothers don't allow her to touch anything sharp.

Sarah Cross' Kill Me Softly is absolutely breathtaking. I don't normally enjoy dark novels, but this one's an exception. It's just amazing. This book wastes no space in giving you what you're looking for in a good book: well-developed story, appropriately-paced story telling, awesome characters, and beautiful writing. Moreover, this book is packed with mystery and suspense and secrets and surprises that keep you on the edge of your seat (and keep me up until 4 am in my case)! How can you not love it? How? How?

This novel has a very well-developed story. Every information given is relevant at some points. No nonsense. I love how Sarah Cross drops hints and clues while building up the story but you don't know what they mean until they come together with something else later in the book! And you can't help but be like, I should've seen that coming! This book also has a good pace. It's not too long, and it's not too short; it's not too fast, and not to slow; it's just right. Just exactly how it needs to be. Not many books are like that, you know. This is brilliant.

I also love that Sarah Cross takes the Brother Grimms' originally and exceptionally dark fairy tales and blend them together to create such a wonderful book. Unlike Disney that softens everything, the author remains true to the original tales and makes them work. Bravo!

The characters in this novel are all great. None of them feels flat. Normally I'm not a fan of books with too many characters, but again, this is an exception. Every one of them adds up to the book very well, spicing it up and all that. Mira has a strong voice. She's different when she's with different people. I especially love when Mira and Blue are together. Either they're always bickering, saying sarcastic remarks, fighting, or they're being all sweet and honest and sweet and did I say that already? Well, yeah. If you read this book, you'll know what I mean. Blue's constantly warning Mira to stay away from Felix, acting like a jerk to keep her from liking him (for a reason), and all the while he's falling in love with her. Ah, the tension between these two! Love, love, love it! I'm pretty sure you'll like other characters as well. Someday-my-princess-will-come Freddie, Layla the Beauty, white-as-snow Viv, etc.

Other than a fantastic story and incredible characters, this book is also beautifully written. It can't get any better than this. Sarah Cross' writing had me going wow a lot of times. See this and you'll know what I mean:

It was hard to be honest, to open up, and reveal something that sounded crazy. Because once you told someone the truth, that person had a piece of you--and they could belittle it, destroy it. The could turn your confession into a would that never healed. 

That's my favorite quote from the book.

Also Mira and Felix' love scene (about 43% far into the book) had me melt into a puddle of goo. Seriously.

And now, we've come to the end of this review. I don't think I can say anything more about this book without praising it. Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross deserves 5 shiny stars for its brilliance (there I said it again). Read this book. You won't be disappointed. You have my word. :)


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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

I received the ARC of this title from Egmont USA for review.

Review: The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

 

Title: The Brief History of the Dead
Author: Kevin Brockmeier
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy
Release Date: January 25th 2007
Publisher: John Murray Publishers
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Literary award: Borders Original Voices Award for Fiction (2006)
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from December 30, 2011 - January 11, 2012

My rating: 

Summary: From Kevin Brockmeier, one of this generation's most inventive young writers, comes a striking new novel about death, life, and the mysterious place in between. The City is inhabited by those who have departed Earth but are still remembered by the living. They will reside in this afterlife until they are completely forgotten. But the City is shrinking, and the residents clearing out. Some of the holdouts, like Luka Sims, who produces the City’s only newspaper, are wondering what exactly is going on. Others, like Coleman Kinzler, believe it is the beginning of the end. Meanwhile, Laura Byrd is trapped in an Antarctic research station, her supplies are running low, her radio finds only static, and the power is failing. With little choice, Laura sets out across the ice to look for help, but time is running out. Kevin Brockmeier alternates these two storylines to create a lyrical and haunting story about love, loss and the power of memory.

I have to say that The Brief History of the Dead is one of those books that sound promising but let me down because it doesn't live up to my expectation, and it's also boring. Actually I don't really want to review this, but since I haven't reviewed anything in a while, I think it's time I should do something about this laziness.

My brief summary of The Brief History of the Dead, which is a contemporary novel with some fantasy twist that tells a story of two worlds: the world of the living, and the word of the dead, aka "The City", goes like this: ..........................................................................................................

I'm not joking. I really cannot summarize it. There's pretty much nothing in the story. It's just pages and pages of nothingness. It goes nowhere. My feeling about the story in three words: WASTE OF TIME.


First of all, the narrative in the book bored the hell out of me. It's not engaging. The narrative is always switching between the life stories of the dead in The City, the happenings in The City, and the journey of Laura, who is the only person left in the world after the pandemic kills everyone. At first I thought the book was only going to tell me about each and everyone of the people in The City, because for quite some time, that's all it talks about! It goes on and on about how they die, or their memories of the world of the living, and the thumping sound that they hear after they die, and whatnot. And then it says that the city is shrinking. The people in the city begin to disappear for no apparent reason, blah blah blah. And then we're introduced to Laura Byrd the survivor, who is sent by Coca-Cola, the company that she works for, to Antarctica to conduct some research, and therefore trapped in the research station there. She had two colleagues with her, Puckett and Joyce, who, after realizing that their supplies were running low and that they lost contact with the outside world, set out to try to contact Coca-Cola because they felt like they were neglected by the company. Laura waits, but they never return. And then she decides that she has to find them and contact the company.

Her journey in Antarctica is long, I'm sure, but really, does the narrative have to tell us about her every footstep? All I've ever known about her journey is that she's always thinking about someone (it's trying to say that ALL the people who remain in the city are there because they are remembered by Laura, therefore they're not gone), and that she feels cold, and that she sets up her tent to sleep in it but can't sleep because she's too tired, and that she can feel her sweat freeze on her skin, blah blah boring blah. These things recur all the time. Honestly, I don't really want to know, thank you very much.

Now secondly, let's move on to a more interesting topic: the world-building. When I first read the back cover of this book, I was very interested indeed. "Imagine a place between heaven and earth. A city where everyone ends up after they die. This city looks like any other, with trees and houses and newspapers, where people work, drink coffee and fall in love. And here they remain, kept alive by the memories of those left behind on earth." I've always been interested in theories of afterlife, and this book promises one. The Brief History of the Dead has a really unique way of looking at it (or at least for me, as I have never come across anything like this before). In the book, when people die, they go to "the city". The City is neither heaven nor hell, it's just a place for those who are dead but are still remembered by the living. Basically, they will remain there until they are completely forgotten, or in other words, until all the people who know or remember them are dead. Some Christians who are there start losing their faith, when they don't get the heaven that their religion promises. Some keep holding on to it, for they don't know what might happen, where they might go next. Nobody knows since when The City has existed. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

But I'm not impressed. This world is very sloppily built. In the book, the people in The City do things that they shouldn't have to do, since, you know, they're dead. Some have to go to work, while others have to beg for money on the streets. They are hungry, and they need sleep. They are in relationships with new people they meet there, and they build families consisting of people who are not blood-related. All this doesn't make one bit of sense to me. There are refrigerators and sofas and books and stuff that the living world has, but where do all those stuff come from? Who created them? It just sounds ridiculous and out of nowhere. The world-building isn't believable at all. And since it's a city, and it's also HUGE, since no one has ever been to the end of the road whatsoever, shouldn't there be a government or something? Since people in this afterlife have jobs, having a ruling government sounds reasonable, don't you think? How do all these people manage to live together without some sort of authorities? Doesn't make sense to me.

And lastly, the characters? I don't care about any of them. I think it's all this switching scenes that makes it hard to really feel connected to anyone in particular. Personally I find the characters quite flat. We don't know anything much about them. And there are just too many characters that it's hard to keep track of who's who.

I could have hated this book. So many things I don't like about it, you see. But if there's anything I like at all, it's the writing. I don't know how to explain it exactly, all I can say is that I think it's quite beautiful. The words sound confident and enchanting, but sadly, the writing alone couldn't save the book when the story isn't well-developed enough.


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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Title: Incarnate
Author: Jodi Meadows
Series: Newsoul #1
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release Date: January 31, 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Format: eBook
Pages: 234
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from December 5 to 6, 2011
My rating: 

Summary: Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why. Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame? Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Can I just say that Incarnate totally blew me away? This doesn't happen very often, so it's a big deal here. Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins for sending me a galley to read and review! I'm so glad to have read this awesomeness!

Love, love, love it. I don't really read much fantasy other than the Harry Potter series but I have to say that this one is REALLY GOOD. I didn't know what to expect when I dove into it, and I found myself attached to my chair and unable to take my eyes off the screen! I usually don't have much patience with ebooks, but I finished Incarnate in two sittings, so that says a lot. It's so addictive!


Incarnate is the first book in the Newsoul trilogy. The books are expected to be published in 2012, 2013, and 2014 consecutively. In the first book, the story revolves around an 18-year-old girl named Ana, who was born in the 330th Year of Songs, in a world where there is exactly one million human beings, plus other creatures like sylphs and dragons. In this very world, the one million souls reincarnate over and over again when their bodies die, and grow up remembering all their past lives. But the problem is this: Ciana, a soul who died and was supposed to come back, didn't reincarnate after all. Five years after Ciana's death, Ana was born. She is the only one newsoul in the world where other 999,999 souls have already known each other since their thousands of years of living. No one knows why Ana is born, and why she replaced Ciana. Ana grew up with her mother, Li, hating her for a being a 'nosoul', not acknowledging the world outside the wall of her house. Her father, Menehem, is believed to have abandoned them since her birth because he was ashamed. She comes to believe that she's a nosoul, and nosouls aren't capable of feeling things like love, or don't deserve things like honey and coffee. She feels incredibly alone. On her 18th birthday, she decides to leave home to go to the city of Heart to find some answers for all her why's. Li gives her a bad compass, sending her far in Range, where she is attacked by sylphs (invisible shadowy creatures that burn when touched), jumps off the cliff to face a more pleasant death, and is rescued by Sam.

The world building, in my opinion, is great. I mean, I could see what the author wrote in my head. Still, I wish there were more fantasy/mythological creatures in this book other than sylphs and dragons all the time. At first I didn't quite grasp the reincarnation idea and all, but as I read on, it made more sense. It's a bit weird, but interesting nevertheless. Someone could be a male in the last life and be born a female in this life, and your best friend two lives ago could be your mother in the current one. Awkward, but fascinating. I haven't quite seen anything like it before. As someone in a Buddhist country, I am very well familiar with the concept of reincarnation. People with sins have to reincarnate to suffer the consequences of the sinful deeds in their past life which I personally find quite unfair. Buddhists believes that there is a way out of reincarnation, a way to eternal peace, which is Nirvana. A lot of Buddhists become ordained as monks to train themselves, become enlightened, and go to nirvana and eternal peace for good when they die, while in Incarnate, sins have nothing to do with it, and it never occurs (as I know of) to people that maybe they don't want to be reborn. In fact, they're quite afraid to stop existing. Lord Buddha's teaching and doctrines are to help Buddhist souls stop reincarnating, while Janan, the God in Incarnate, is the one who keeps reincarnation going. So while the concept of reincarnation isn't something new for me, the way Incarnate deals with it actually is.

The romance between Sam and Ana made me continually grin like mad. I'm a sucker for cute romance, okay? The thing about her liking him and his being her hero even before they met was like FKGJADOJFEPCFKAOAE. Nicely done there, Jodi Meadows. While it's clear why Ana falls in love with Sam, I couldn't really figure out why he likes her. Maybe because of the extreme closeness? Or by getting to know her intimately? By being together 24/7? By constantly saving each others' lives? He never really says anything much more about that than that he wanted to kiss her since the first day they met (why?). But the romance is good. The tension was great. Especially at the masquerade. Whee!

I really enjoy Meadows' writing. It's simple and it flows. It keeps you going on and on without pause!  However, should  any changes be made in the final draft before the official publication, here are my ideas there are some minor things that bugged me about this book.

Firstly, I have to admit I found it a little bit difficult to follow the conversation. At first I thought it was just me, but I've read some reviews and it seems like other readers felt the same way. I had to reread the dialogue a few times to figure out who said what. So adding dialogue tags would be good idea.

Secondly, there are still some questions left unanswered. I don't know whether Jodi Meadows planned to answer them in the second or third book or just ignore them. Some of the questions are asked since early on in the novel, some later, and I don't think they should be left like this. LOOK AWAY IF YOU MUST, THEY'RE SPOILERS. Here are some of mine: 1) Why did Sam lie about his birthday? When is his birthday actually? 2) Is Janan real? What's his purpose of reincarnation? 3) Why do dragons keep attacking the temple? Any significance or purpose? To stop reincarnation? But why? I mean, they're dragons, they don't reincarnate, do they? 4) Why does the door to the temple suddenly appear out of the blue to Ana? 5) So she's a "mistake"? THAT'S IT? Does this mean her search for the meaning of her birth is over? 6) How does Menehem poison Janan? Why does he want to stop reincarnation? 7) Is it Li who tried to kill Ana? Why? I really want these questions answered in the book.

Lastly, I think some of the things in the book are not given much importance or just ignored. Things like progress reports are like empty threats. Ana doesn't even talk about the results or anything, or her progress, for that matter, other than piano and dance. And according to the book, she spends a lot of time going to the library, but she rarely talks about what she's found. Isn't that a bit pointless?

There are just so many things I love about Incarnate, but I'm also aware that it is not perfect. The thing is these things can be overlooked because the thrilling experience Incarnate gave me during reading was all it took for me to give it big fat 5 stars!

My favorite quote: “There's always the option of deciding for yourself who you are and what you'll become.” - Sam

I can't wait for book two and three! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

I received a digital ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for review.