Review: Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

"Maybe there isn't such a thing as fate. Maybe it's just the opportunities we're given, and what we do with them. I'm beginning to think that maybe great, epic romances don't just happen. We have to make them ourselves."

Where to start with this book? Well, to kick things off, let me just say that Marissa Meyer is a literary genius whose novels are filled with the perfect blend of action scenes, swoon-worthy romances and witty dialogue that will leave you laughing out loud. Cress was no exception to the matter, in fact, it serves as an embodiment of all of those elements combined. This novel was perfect, and I found myself flipping the pages of this one pretty much anywhere I could. I read 50 pages on the train, and believe me, it's not the easiest feat for me to read in moving vehicles, but this book was just that fantastic. I couldn't put it down, and when I did, I kept picturing the last scenes I had read.

Let's take a closer look at characters. Marissa Meyer's novels usually are based around a few central characters, this is seen especially as new characters are added such as Scarlet, Wolf and Carswell Thorne in Scarlet and Cress and Jacin in Cress. The writing is still very much revolved around these characters and the situations they find themselves in, what I loved about this though, was the fact that Marissa Meyer continues to focus on Cinder, Kai and even Dr. Erland, two novels later. She sticks with these characters in her writing, making readers like us grow more and more attached to them. I can safely say that halfway through Cress, Carswell Thorne became my definite favourite. People who enjoyed Cinder and Thorne's witty banter will not be disappointed as Thorne takes the spotlight for a good portion of this novel, and trust me, there are no complaints.

The dialogue in this novel was so well-written and had me giggling to myself more often than not; something that tends to come to people's attention in a silent room. You could flip to almost any page and find a good slice of dialogue that left you feeling some kind of emotion towards these characters, very much true to the style of Marissa Meyer. I found that reading the interactions between these characters and the way they reacted to certain situations was what drove my fondness for these novels, and for a novel written in third person retrospective narrative stance, this is an accomplishment worth congratulating. The snappy back-and-forth conversations kept the pace of the novel fast and fresh, making this novel an absolute page-turner.

As a reader, when you are thrown into the desert, then into a ballroom, and then onto the moon and are still able to keep up with the story and love it, then you know that the author has done something right. Marissa Meyer switches from one character's point of view to another in quick succession, often from chapter to chapter, and the best part is, it won't leave you feeling confused. Each of these characters is a part of something bigger which the novel leads up to, as they meet, their lives intertwine and you are able to come along for the ride. Why did I love this book? That's simple, it is because I got to experience this book. I was so invested in this story line that it didn't matter where I was when I was reading it, I wasn't sitting at a bus stop, I was in the Sahara Desert with Cress and Thorne.  I wasn't reading in my living room, I was infiltrating New Beijing Palace with Cinder and Iko.

This novel is such a worthwhile read and I could not recommend it more. The series overall is slow at the start, but picks up quickly and is definitely worth reading the first two novels along with this one. I will give any people who want to read this novel an advance warning, though. 

When you read this book, you will become anti-social and often be spotted in public experiencing bouts of laughter as you either read or remember certain parts of this book, it will all be worth it and you will become one of the hundreds of thousands of people who are waiting and waiting and waiting, praying that the next novel in the series, Winter, lives up to its predecessors. 

From what I can tell, Marissa Meyer's novels have been riding an uphill slope since the release of Cinder, and I don't think they're going to slide back down.

Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Review: P.A.W.S by Debbie Manber Kupfer

"Pride, love and... fear. There was an undercurrent of deep, deep fear."

The thing that managed to grasp my attention about this book was in the very beginning within the first few words of the prologue. The story begins with Miri's grandmother hiding out in Vienna during the 1940s whilst the Nazis raided the house, looking to capture them. This high tension and historical setting set the scene for a truly spectacular narrative and left me eager for the rest of the book. As I paged through the first couple of chapters though, I found that the repetition of words that worked so well in the prologue began to lose some of their effect. It was unfortunate, as this was a technique that complimented the beginning of the story perfectly and became worn out soon afterward. However, this did not stop me from enjoying this novel.

The prose used for this novel is written in a traditional storytelling style of which I am quite fond of, whilst this simplistic style of writing did seem a bit started towards the beginning of the novel, I found that soon enough I was enveloped in the story line to the point where the narrative was able to flow seamlessly later on. Although this may seem like an issue for readers who have just started the novel, I can assure you that this will pose no problems as you continue reading. It is a minor issue that I can look past in the scheme of things. In fact, as the story progresses, you find that this particular writing prose works perfectly for this kind of novel in which world building is prominent and rules and lore need to be established and instilled rather effectively.

Often in this novel you will come across chapters that refer back to individual characters' pasts, it is these flashbacks that were able to envelop me into the story and the world of this particular book so much. I loved these chapters and found myself delving into them wanting to know more and more about these characters, even the simple side characters of whom I didn't garner much attention to in the beginning can quickly become a couple of my favourites thanks to these chapters. The flashbacks fleshed out the pacing in this novel; something of which I found very unique in this novel. Truly something that Debbie Manber Kupfer should be commended on, especially considering this was both her debut novel and written during NaNoWriMo.

Bringing us back again to the world building in this novel, there is no doubt that the concept of shape shifters and werewolves certainly isn't something new, however, this does not mean that these concepts cannot be revamped. This is exactly what Debbie Manber Kupfer does as she sheds a new light on myths such as vampires and the concept of immortality, instead linking immortality with werewolves and the way in which they gain strength and power over their pack. I feel that this fresh take on old themes brings a new depth to this novel and makes room for some elaborate world building of which is executed well here.

As I was reading this novel, I consistently found that not only Miri's, but other characters such as Mandy, Cynthia and David's thoughts were communicated very clearly throughout this book. This is not so easily accomplished using third person retrospective narrative stance and was used sparingly enough for the reader not to be bombarded with several of the characters' inner thoughts. The romance in this novel was confusing at times, our protagonist not meeting her main love interest until half way through the novel. Once we are introduced to Danny, he is shown as a distant character of which Miri is barely able to approach and is often spoken of as someone of whom Miri wishes to know or is going to become friends with later on. It is for these reasons that Miri's abrupt attraction to Danny bothered me a little for a good portion of this book. I only wish that their relationship could have been developed for a little bit longer, or Danny was introduced to our protagonist earlier, so we are able to clearly see a definitively fleshed out development of this relationship. Otherwise, I found the initial attraction to Danny to be entirely superficial and possibly linked to the fact that they were both feline shape shifters. Nonetheless, their relationship was a bit of a sore spot for me in this novel.

The elaboration of alchemy and ancient magic, whilst seeming to have been written too late in the novel, serves for a fantastic battle near the end of the novel which establishes a good set up for the second novel in the series, Argentum. This epic battle was captivating, and was part of the reason why I found the ending somewhat lacklustre compared to how I initially thought the novel would end. 

Despite this, I would have to say that this novel is definitely worth the read, especially if you are an animal lover.

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Review: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

"In stories you simply said, 'They lived happily ever after,' and that was it. But in real life people had to keep on living, day after day, year after year."

Having heard so much about this novel, as soon as I opened up the first page, I began devouring it to no end. The two stories of Darcy Patel and Lizzie that spanned over the course of about 600 pages took me less than a day to read, and then it was up to me todecide how I felt about this book exactly. Let me begin by saying this: Scott Westerfeld is a literary mastermind. The book, whilst being rather large and if you choose to read the page count, intimidating, was a book that I was able to breeze through despite its thickness. It was only afterwards that I began to wonder why I was so engrossed in this novel. The answer to that became very clear very quickly. It was informative.

Now, this may seem like a sort of gray area when it comes to novels. Often, you are supposed to be driven to finish the book because of either characters, setting, narrative or a combination of the three, however, upon reading this book, I felt that those three elements took backstage to the insight into the life of a young adult novelist. In fact, Lizzie's section of the novel barely held my attention, and I often found myself anxiously waiting for the next installment of Darcy's story. This novel read more like a documentary to me; Darcy's chapters were more educational than anything, and although I enjoyed them thoroughly, it did bother me a bit that the narrative aspect of the story wasn't encouraging me to finish this book. 

Despite this, Scott Westerfeld manages to capture his audience's attention with this captivating writing style that effectively envelops the reader into the protagonist's thoughts. During each and every scene in this novel, there was no question as to how either Darcy or Lizzie felt about a situation and often readers are given enough information as to understand the reasons behind the characters' actions and reactions. It is an extremely involved experience and a difficult technique that Scott Westerfeld executes masterfully. Truly something to be commended and respected in one of the New York Times #1 best-selling authors. 

The romances in this novel were a contrast for me. Whilst Lizzie's love interest was apparent from the very first chapter, Darcy's love interest took me by surprise. I have to say that Darcy's romance definitely read as something more realistic and heartfelt than Lizzie's; however, as Lizzie's story is subject to several of the young adult fiction tropes, I cannot blame Scott Westerfeld for writing it as such. Darcy's life overall in this novel is realism accelerated. Her novel is published much faster than the average rate at publishing houses and she is able to become comfortable in the world of a debut author quite quickly. Despite this though, readers are able to gain a deep enough understanding of the publishing business to realise that no aspect of publishing a book is easy. Drafts and rewrites will consume a lot of your time and often, you will be criticised on the smallest of things in your novel. This book is essentially a wake-up call for aspiring authors and debut novelists who are struggling to comprehend their new lifestyle. This is particularly true of larger publishing companies that choose to undertake new and upcoming authors for publication.

There is no doubt that this novel certainly served its purpose well. It read well and captivated its readers all the way through, however, there were a few aspects of fiction writing (ironically, mentioned in the book) that this novel fell shy of, which left me slightly disappointed as I see Scott Westerfeld as a wonderful fiction writer. However, if I were to be asked whether or not this book is worth the read, I would definitely say that it is. Especially for any of those who wish to become published one day, or even anyone who is remotely interested in this field of work. For those people, this novel will become an invaluable source of knowledge and inspiration. One thing left to consider, though. 

Is it necessarily a good thing if I am able to compare a young adult fiction novel to a book on writing craft?

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Review: The Other Inheritance by Rebecca Jaycox

"I pretend things are normal and hide the truth from everyone. But they know."

There are many things that I could say about this novel, but there is something I would like to establish straight away: This novel surprised me. All through out the year of 2014, I unfortunately hadn't had the chance to read very many debut novels. The very few that I had read were lacking and had failed to fully capture my attention. When I began reading this novel though, I was pleasantly surprised by the pacing.

Rebecca Jaycox's writing style reminds me greatly of Cassandra Clare; a critically acclaimed and world-renowned storyteller. Her seamless narration was what urged me to continue flipping the pages of this book. As I read through this novel, I often found myself noting that not a single moment felt wasted. Each and every sentence pushed the story forward and the novel was all the more engaging for it. This was a light, enjoyable read with a surprising story line and well structured world building that does not leave readers confused. Mythology and lore is incorporated skillfully, as you read on, you begin to piece together the 3 intriguing realities that Rebecca Jaycox has set this novel in: The Dream, the Real and the Other. Often with fantasy novels, there will always be lulls in which I feel as if there has been too much information thrown at me at once, or that I have grown exhausted of certain aspects of the fantasy world. However, in this novel, I was able to stay completely engrossed for the entirety of the 309 pages. For me, The Other Inheritance was the definition of 'short and sweet.'

As this was a shorter novel, the romance did develop quickly. This, however, was not an issue for me as Rebecca Jaycox's writing style was able to draw me in; making the romance seem naturally developed, although the entirety of the interactions between Asher and Reggie before they became romantically involved spanned over only 150 pages. Still, this small amount of lead up was enough to make me believe that a relationship between the two of them was plausible. Truly a mark of a writer's craft if they are able to make their readers believe the next to impossible.

If I were to commend Rebecca Jaycox on nothing else, I would certainly have to congratulate the author on her respect for her world building. In the Other, issues such as slavery and cruel and unusual punishment are very prominent and are not sugar-coated. Rebecca Jaycox writes these heavier issues in, making them known instead of trying to cover them up to make for a more child-friendly story. It is this lack of euphemistic language that allowed me to become so engrossed in this world. These were real issues, they were affecting the lives of the main characters deeply and they could not be ignored. In fact, if not for this harsh realism, characters such as Asher would have been severely lacking in terms of a proper back story and emotional baggage. The truth of Asher's struggles were what made him such an interesting character, instead of a mere one-dimensional love interest of which seemed to be manufactured by the thousands in young adult novels today.

Characters such as Asher and Reggie; who are entertaining and lovable in their own right; are accompanied by a cast of entertaining side characters. Brwyn being my overall favourite of the bunch. Near the end of the novel, we are able to gain a more in-depth analysis of this character and if this book is turned into a series, I hope to see more of him. Brwyn really brought light to some of the darker and more serious scenes in this novel. The dialogue and interactions between these characters, making witty observations of their world left me grinning like an idiot at my book. Something I had so wished I was alone for. The only real fault I could find with this novel was that I felt, at the end, that I did not get a sufficient amount of time to spend in this world. 

A brilliant debut novel that left me aching for a sequel. However, if Rocking Horse Publishing can deliver narratives of this calibre, then I certainly wouldn't put it past them to deliver.

Overall Rating: 5/5 stars