Book Review: Monster by C.J. Skuse

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015 Ali@abookishlifeLeave a comment

Monster by C.J. Skuse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For me what makes a movie scary is what you don’t see rather than what you do and it’s exactly the same with books. I want mystery and suspense, strange noises in the middle of the night, a glimpse of something in the corner of your eye, unexplained disappearances and suspicion of those around you. Getting the right balance between suspense and action is difficult but I have to admit Monster by C.J. Skuse gets it almost spot on.

This story is set in a boarding school and follows a small group of girls who find themselves having to stay at the school over the Christmas holidays as their parents either can’t get to them or are too busy for them. They aren’t exactly happy about being stuck with each other but things take a turn for the creepy when a heavy snow storm arrives, matron goes missing and the phones go dead. They are left stranded and alone miles from the nearest village with no way to get help. When they start hearing strange noises during the night it seems something may be hunting them but is it the beast from local legends, something or someone in the woods or could it be someone inside the school. The girls have to put aside their differences and pull together if they want to survive.

I thought this was a really enjoyable and gripping story and it kept me guessing throughout. Was it the beast, someone more human or was the whole thing in their imagination? The pacing is very good and the tension and suspense build and build until a pretty explosive conclusion. I found myself shouting instructions at the characters, “phone the police”, “run” or “don’t go out there alone” but that is part of the fun of a good horror/mystery story. It definitely had me on the edge of my seat at times.

There is a fairly good mix of characters amongst the girls including rebel Maggie who is desperate to be expelled, Dianna the school brown nose, Clarice the mean girl and Regan the outcast. The story however is told from the point of view of Natasha (Nash) who is 16, a long term boarder and favourite to become head girl at the school. She is the do gooder, bossy, know it all who pretty much runs the school but somehow manages to be likeable. At the start of the book her brother has gone missing, Clarice has it in for her and Dianna is trying to usurp her position in the school. Safe to say she is a bit stressed so having to take charge pushes her pretty much to the edge and made me question what was real.

The one criticism I did have of this book was that I thought some of the girls backgrounds were unnecessary and unrealistic. They didn’t really add anything to the story and I would have preferred something a little simpler but that’s probably just me.

Overall it’s a great page turner that I couldn’t put down so I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a creepy story full of tension and mystery.

Big thanks to the wonderful people at NetGalley and Harlequin UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The story will be published at the end of September.

Book Review: A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

August 25, 2015August 25, 2015 Ali@abookishlife2 Comments

A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I finished this book a couple of days ago but I’ve been feeling a bit conflicted about it and have been struggling to find the right words to describe it. The ones that immediately jump to mind are unique, magical, beautiful, captivating, weird, confusing and, I’m really sorry to say this, kind of boring.

I really, really wanted to like this book. If you’re a regular follower of my reviews you will have noticed that I’m a big fan of books that re-tell the classics, particularly if they add a bit of a unique twist. I was so excited when I saw this book. The cover is stunning and it’s based on one of my favourite stories “A Thousand and One Nights”. I have to admit however I found it a bit of a disappointment. Maybe my hopes were too high but I get the feeling that this is one of those books that people will either love or hate.

This retelling starts in a similar way to the original as our main character marries a king, Lo-Melkiin, notorious for killing his wives. By the time he reaches her village in search of a wife he has killed over 300 women so she knows there is little hope of surviving but she is willing to give her life to protect her sister. When she gets to the palace no one will meet her eye or speak with her as they are all sure of her fate. While servants pamper, bathe and dress her she is left to her own thoughts and company until evening comes and the king arrives. Miraculously she survives first one night and then another and another.

Meanwhile back at her home her sister has already begun to mourn her. She sets up a shrine in her honour making her a “smallgod”. As word of her bravery and her continuing survival starts to spread from village to village across the kingdom, more and more people begin to worship her. Within the palace things also begin to change, the members of the court begin to talk with her and treat her as a queen. Our heroine also begins having visions and develops powers which allow her to manifest the objects she dreams of. As her power grows, belief starts to spread that she could be the one to defeat the monster within the king and save the kingdom.

Despite my rather low rating there were quite a few things I loved about this book. I loved it’s originality both in terms of plot and writing style. While it is based on a classic tale it takes it in a very new and different direction which I really liked. The writing itself is also very different and unique. There is a lot of flowing narrative, vivid descriptions of dreams and visions as well as a very different world and way of life. I can appreciate the beauty in the writing and I think for this reason alone a lot of people will love this story.

Personally however, I felt it was short on dialogue and emotion. There is very little action within the first three quarters of the book. A girl is wed to a king and goes to stay in a palace where she eats, bathes, dresses, spins or weaves, and dreams. Once a night she is visited by the king who asks her a couple of questions, touches her in some way (holds her hand, grips her arm) and then leaves and she sleeps. There are none of the stories from the original work like Aladdin or Alibabah, so if you are expecting them you will be very disappointed.

There are in fact very few stories at all. Those that do appear are memories from her home and stories of her ancestors and smallgods. They are not told but remembered and as a result there is no questioning or interruptions, no dialogue and mostly serve to provide more substance to her background. Generally I found them difficult to focus on and tended to skim through to try and get to some action. There are a couple of interesting stories, most notably one with a talking camel, but a lot were stories about things she did with her sister or mother such as making a dress or looking after a flock of sheep. Maybe I missed something or didn’t look deep enough to get to the meaning. Possibly others will get more from them.

The other thing I found frustrating is that there are very few characters within the story who have names. The name of the main character is never revealed. She is referred to as “daughter”, “sister” and “lady bless” but never by a name. Her family are referred to by their relationship to her for example, “sister”, “mother”, “my sister’s mother”, and even my “father’s father’s father”. I found this a little confusing at times and had to think through the relationships to work out who people were. I can understand why the author decided to do this however, I found it difficult to connect with the characters. I didn’t feel any of the emotion I should have felt and this, combined with a lack of dialogue, meant that overall the whole story left me cold.

I will recommend that this book be read rather than avoided. While I didn’t like it I have to admit it is very different and I think a lot of people will love it.

Note: I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It will be released at the start of October.

List Five : Bookish Pet Peeves

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015 Ali@abookishlife3 Comments

Another week and another list of five things. This time as I’ve had a bit of a rubbish week I thought a bit of a moan would help me get everything out of my system so I’m going for five book related pet peeves.

It’s actually quite difficult to limit myself to just the five but I’ll try.

1. The Weak Female Protagonist

The weak female protagonist is completely dependant on everyone around her. She can’t do anything for herself and spends most of the time cowering in fear or crying. Her main mission in life is to find a man who will look after her and solve all of her problems. The most important thing is what said man does, thinks or feels about her. I’m all for a romance and an alpha male but I like to see the female character as an even match with a strong personality and belief in her own abilities. It drives me nuts when she doesn’t even try to do things for herself. It’s ok to ask for help but not to expect someone else to solve all of your problems. Please just try.

2. The Never Ending Love Triangle

As a general rule I don’t have anything against love triangles in books. Even though they’ve been done a lot if they are well written they keep you hooked to the story as you try to work out which way the central character will go. Quite often it’s obvious how things will turn out and you will generally be rooting for that couple who seem to be the perfect match. What does drive me crazy though is when the person at the centre won’t make a decision and the triangle seems to drag on forever.

The Selection series was the perfect example of this. The main protagonist America wouldn’t make a decision between two guys so kept them both dangling. She would run hot and cold with both. Push them away, then get jealous if it looked like they were actually going to go. This continued for three books and frustrated the hell out of me. If I had been either of the guys I would have been long gone but they just seemed to hang in there waiting to see if she’d choose them.

3. Complaining about super powers

Come on, you have super powers, what are you moaning about? Embrace it, enjoy it, have some fun already.

Super powers equals awesome.

This one isn’t even limited to just super powers, which are pretty cool, but also those who complain about things a lot of people wish would happen to them. For example, “my boyfriend is really rich but I hate all the expensive presents he buys me”. Really? If you don’t want them I’ll take them. Going back to the love triangle, “there are two gorgeous, wonderful guys who say they love me and I’m stuck in the middle”, boo hoo there are a lot of people on their own and lonely. Stop hogging all the good ones.

It’s very possible I’m just jealous but get a grip what are you complaining about.

4. The Pointless Sequel/Prequel

The first book was great, it sold millions of copies and the critics loved it. Stop right there. Unless you can write a book that moves the story on, takes it in a unique new direction and builds on the original don’t write a sequel or prequel or even a spin off. You’re milking it and ripping off your loyal fans. What makes it worse is when it’s just a rehash of the previous book. No, just no. If your readers disappear it’s your own fault.

5. The Bad Ending that Ruins the Whole Book/Series

You’ve found that book or series that you absolutely love and you can’t wait to find out how it will all end. You’re so caught up in the story you forget to eat, you ignore everyone around you and stay up all night and then you get to the end and it’s awful. It’s so bad it ruins the whole thing for you. All that time and emotion you put in and that’s how it ends?

By a bad ending I don’t necessarily mean an unhappy one or in some cases a non ending where things are left open. They can be the right thing for the story. What I mean is the rushed ending or the cop out. It’s like the author didn’t know how to finish it so just resolved everything in the last chapter so they could all live happily ever after. I would much rather an unhappy ending that fits the story than the happy one that was probably down to pressure from fans and just doesn’t fit.

Anyway, that’s my list, what’s yours?

Book Review: Puss in Boots by K.M. Shea

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015 Ali@abookishlifeLeave a comment

Puss in Boots by K.M. Shea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s a book with a talking cat, a feisty heroine, adventure, romance, an ogre and magic. What more could you want? Did I mention the talking cat? I love a talking cat.

This is the sixth book in KM Shea’s timeless fairytales series but is actually a prequel to Wild Swans, an earlier book in the series. While there is some overlap with this book it still works really well as a standalone.

The story follows Gabrielle, the Miller’s daughter and one of the most beautiful girls in the land. Unfortunately her beauty brings her unwanted attention. She is unable to walk through town without boys propositioning her and girls hating her. When her parents decide to leave her with no inheritance but the stray cat that has been hanging around it’s the last straw. They insist she marry immediately to secure her future but she longs for freedom and the life of an adventurer.

As it turns out the cat, is a magical cat who can talk. He offers to accompany her on her quest for adventure if she will buy him a pair of boots. Together they end up travelling across the land from village to village battling magical creatures including goblins, witches, a mean old fairy and the gingerbread man. However Puss in Boots has a bit of an ulterior motive involving a quest for power and an ogre.

I thought this book was a really enjoyable read. It has a great pace that keeps you reading and weaves in threads from a number of different fairytales. Gabrielle was a likeable enough character however the highlight for me was Puss.

Puss, or Roland Archibald Whisperpaws the Fifth to give him his proper name, was a fantastic character and just how you imagine a talking magical cat would be. He likes everything his own way and will decide if you are worthy to be his owner. Should you be deemed worthy of the honour of becoming his mistress you will be required to obey his every command. He is affectionate on his terms only and does not take kindly to being loaned out to the village children for a game of dress up.

As a magical cat he is of course very intelligent and a cut above your average moggy, which you should never forget. He is perfectly comfortable chatting to the king and is supremely confident in any situation. Basically he was a cat and he was fabulous.

For me Puss made the story great but then I am a cat lover. I’m sure however that everyone will enjoy this magical tale of love and adventure.

The other great thing about this book is that it gives me an excuse to include a picture of my cat in a post so here he is looking decidedly evil.

Book Review: The Little Selkie by KM Shea

August 21, 2015August 21, 2015 Ali@abookishlifeLeave a comment

The Little Selkie by K.M. Shea
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m a big fan of KM Shea and her timeless fairytale series. Each book re tells one of the classic fairytales but has a little bit of a twist. They always have great female characters and this one is no exception.

This time the story is based on the little mermaid, however rather than a mermaid, who are apparently silly and vain, we have a selkie, Dylan. A selkie is a magical creature which has the form of a seal (or in Dylan’s case a Sea lion) in water but which can become human on land by shedding their pelt. Their role is to use water magic to protect the seas and rescue silly humans who go sailing in storms and get in trouble.

When Dylan goes chasing after the sea witch who has been terrorising their territories she gets captured and her pelt stolen meaning she is unable to return to the sea. Afraid the sea witch will force her to use her magic she asks a passing enchantress to seal her voice. When the bandits holding her take her to the palace she has to figure out what their plan is, recover her pelt and get her voice and power back to defeat the witch and return to the sea.

I did enjoy this book but I felt it was one of the weaker books in the series. The story seemed a little uneven. Parts such as the start seemed rushed whereas others were overly long. There were a few characters who seemed to pop up out of nowhere and disappear after a few pages with little explanation.

I did however really like Dylan as a character. I loved the fact that she really didn’t care about how she looked or whether people were talking about her. She let people dress her in whatever and only really reacted to comments if they hurt those she cared about. Some of her reactions to the bullying popular girls were priceless. She was a little reckless and didn’t back down from a fight. The best bits for me though were where she was obsessing about food. I think she spent most of the story thinking about, talking about or eating food.

Her interactions with the Prince made me laugh a lot and there were a lot of funny incidents however I think it was probably meant for a younger audience than me as some of it was a little silly.

Overall therefore I enjoyed it but it wasn’t as good as some of the others in the series such as Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast. Definitely a great book for young adults and I think it should be suitable for young readers.

Book Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas (Throne of Glass book 2)

August 16, 2015 Ali@abookishlife5 Comments

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One word. Wow.

This was incredible. I loved the first book in the series but this one just took it to a whole new level.

The action kicks in from the very first page with Celaena on a mission to kill someone for the king. She has signed her contract as kings champion which means she has no choice but to do or kill whatever the king commands. Failure would mean forfeiting the lives of those she cares about and losing her chance for freedom but can she really go against her conscience and kill for a man she hates.

The one perk of her job is that she gets to spend more time with the Captain of the Guard Chaol and her friend, the rebel Princess Nehemia. While she hates her work and is forced to keep secrets, Celaena finds love and starts to think she could have some chance at happiness and freedom. However, as she becomes caught between the evil king and the rebel movement the secrets everyone seems to be keeping cause everything to fall apart and we finally start getting to the truth.

I loved this book so much it is definitely moving to my favourites list. There is so much action and so many twists and turns it’s like an emotional rollercoaster. I wanted to laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. Around the halfway point I was actually scared to read any further as I just had such an awful feeling as to what was coming. I wanted to read it but wasn’t sure I was ready for what I just knew would happen.

While this is fantasy, the story and characters just feel so real and believable. We finally got to see Celaena as the incredible assassin that she is. I definitely wouldn’t mess with her when she’s in one of those moods. The author said she was inspired by the bride in Kill Bill and there were sections where you could definitely see that (think of the epic sword fight and you get the idea). We also got to see more of her softer side and found out a lot more of her background.

The relationship between her and Chaol shifted and changed throughout the story but always felt right and natural. There wasn’t the usual teenage angst or melodrama and while there is a bit of a love triangle it’s much more grown up and real and it’s not the focus of the story.

Overall, exciting, sweet, violent, sad, magical and horrific…wow.

Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (book 1)

August 12, 2015 Ali@abookishlife4 Comments

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

My rating: 4.5 stars

I knew almost from the first page that this was the start of a great series and was only about a quarter of the way through when I went hunting for the next book in the series. I just knew this was one of those series that I wasn’t going to be able to stop reading until it was finished.

The story follows Celaena, world’s greatest assassin and 18 year old girl. When the book starts she’s serving out a prison sentence doing hard labour in the salt mines where typical life expectancy is a couple of months due to the harsh treatment and lack of food. She has so far lasted a year and, while still alive, is not in the best of shape physically or mentally. When the crown Prince offers her the chance to win her freedom by competing to become the kings champion (assassin) she feels it’s her only chance to get her life back despite potentially having to work for a family she despises. If nothing else, getting out of the mines may give her a chance to escape.

From the mines Celaena travels to the glass palace where she has to work to regain her strength, compete against 23 other challengers with varying backgrounds including thieves, assassins, soldiers, mercenaries and murderers. There can however only be one winner with the losers returning to wherever they came from should they survive which for Celeana means the mines and certain death.

I thought this was a fantastic story. While there are some familiar elements such as the competition, a love triangle, a mysterious past and spirits, fae and demons they are put together in a way that feels original and really works.

It’s an easy read with a lot of action that keeps you reading when you really should be doing something else (like sleeping or eating). The characters are likeable, Celaena in particular. She is a fighter, who is determined to win but is also quite lonely and desperate for friends. She does come across a bit vain and arrogant but she’s also quite funny and more protective than you would expect an assassin to be.

My main criticism however and the reason I couldn’t give 5 stars is that I really couldn’t believe the whole world’s greatest assassin bit. There was way too much crying, fear and depending on others to make it a believable claim. Also maybe the fact she kept trying to save people rather than kill them made it difficult to accept. I’m guessing however if she did spend all of her time going round killing people she probably wouldn’t have been so likeable.

Anyway, it’s been at least 12 hours since I finished so it’s time I got started on the next in the series. Can’t wait to find out what happens next and possibly get to the bottom of some of the mysteries.

Blast from the Past

QuoteAugust 8, 2015August 8, 2015 Ali@abookishlife1 Comment

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Bedtime Stories.” “What was your favourite book as a child? Did it influence the person you are now?” This should be the perfect prompt for me, booklover that I am, but I don’t actually remember any of the stories my mum used to read to me. She […]

Keeping things simple

QuoteAugust 4, 2015August 4, 2015 Ali@abookishlife2 Comments

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Style Icon.” My first thought when I saw today’s prompt was “Style? What style?”. I’m not someone who considers themselves to have a particular style whether it’s in respect of my clothes, my food or how I communicate. However, now that I’ve started to think about it I’d have […]