Books and Sensibility

We're an Open Book

Book Reviews

Book Review : The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

     2 Comments

  • Release Date: March 4th 2014
  • Genre: Historical/ AU
  • Pages: 355
  • Publisher: Farrar Strauss & Giroux

Synopsis : As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

 For 10 years the Valorians  have ruled the Herrani, a race of people enslaved in their own land. At a slave auction Kestrel, a member of the  Valorian upper class, wins the Herrani of her choice and in that moment of winning she will also lose everything and she doesn’t even know it.



The story follows Krestel as she makes her way through high society and  how it often clashes with her candor and affinity for music and art.  She is also at war with her growing feelings for Arin the Herrani slave and the truth he is making her see.



Honestly, I think Krestel had a bit too much going on conflict wise. She’s at a crossroads she can either get married or become a solider but  wants to do neither, she likes music but that is not thought highly of by her people. She struggles with what how to treat Arin in addition to feuds with fellow Valorians. I  think I would have preferred to focus on one of these conflicts. 



The big winner in this book has to be the forbidden romance that forms between Kestrel and Arin , overall that was what kept me reading during the somewhat slow build in the novel. I don’t want to give to much away about Arin, but his character development in the book was one I enjoyed reading. I wish that the novel focused more on him.…

Read this Post

A Matter of Fate: If I Stay by Gayle Foreman & Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

     7 Comments

At first these two books seem worlds away, one a much-praised modern literary classic the other a backlist YA contemporary climbing its way up the NYT bestsellers list with a film release weeks away.  

I found myself reading both books at around the same time and the more I thought about writing the individual reviews, the more I realized these books have a lot in common. Both main characters, Kathy  H. in Never Let Me Go and Mia in If I Stay, are young women trying to figure out their future. While Kathy’s path has been laid out  since  birth Mia gets the opportunity to decide hers.

…

Read this Post

At first these two books seem worlds away, one a much-praised modern literary classic the other a backlist YA contemporary climbing its way up the NYT bestsellers list with a film release weeks away.  

I found myself reading both books at around the same time and the more I thought about writing the individual reviews, the more I realized these books have a lot in common. Both main characters, Kathy  H. in Never Let Me Go and Mia in If I Stay, are young women trying to figure out their future. While Kathy’s path has been laid out  since  birth Mia gets the opportunity to decide hers.

…

Read this Post

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

     1 Comment

  • Release Date: March 1, 2013
  • Pages: 289
  • Genre: Science Fiction
  • Publisher: Arthur A. Levine (Scholastic)

June Costa is the best artist in Palmares Três, the lush futuristic pyramid city built a midst a post post-apocalyptic South America. June’s art has always been about expressing herself and the things she loves, but her street art takes on new heights when she teams up with Enki, the 17-year-old reigning summer king of Palarmes Três who, as dictated by tradition, will be sacrificed at the end of the year. 

The Summer Prince is a fairly complex novel, there is just so much going on in this world and society I don’t even know where to begin. The world building can be a bit tough to get into, especially for someone like me coming from a Western world. Johnson’s  world  is so far from anything analogous to American society. The driving force of this novel is the tradition of the summer king; Palmares Três matriarchal society elects one boy to serve as the summer king alongside the Queen and he is sacrificed at the end of the year. The reasoning behind this tradition is a little fuzzy in the book, but this is based on some ancient South American traditions.

…

Read this Post

The Last Policeman and Countdown City by Ben H. Winters

     Leave a Comment

 

Release Date: January 1, 2012

Pages: 316

Genre:  Adult Mystery

Publisher: Quirk Books

 

 

The story of the first big case for rookie detective Henry Palace could easily be a run of the mill mystery novel. Except in The Last Policeman universe an asteroid, known as Maia, is coming and in six months the planet Earth won’t  exist. They are suddenly  “in a world where the idea of long term consequences had magically disappeared” which also means it’s not the best time to be in law enforcement. But when Palace  suspects foul play during a suicide he strikes out  on his own to solve the murder before time ticks away.

…

Read this Post

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

     1 Comment

  • Release Date: September 10th, 2013
  • Pages: 445
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin (MacMillan)

I can’t believe how long it took me to get to this book. Last Fall Fangirl seemed to be the buzz of the bookternet. Ever since I stumbled onto LiveJournal 8 years ago, I’ve been  just fascinated by fanfiction and fandom culture. I’ve observed my fair share of fanaticism and I couldn’t wait to see how Rowell tackled it.

Fangirl tells the story of Cath, the titular unapologetic  fangirl of the Simon Snow books, a pretty clearly Harry Potter Expy. Cath, or rather her username, Magicath is a BNF (big name fan)  because her Simon Snow fanfiction, Carry On,Simon gets 20,000 views a day. The novel  follows Cath through her freshman year of college as she struggles through family issues, school problems and severe social anxiety. Along for the ride is Cath’s belligerent roommate Reagan and Reagan’s friend Levi to help her navigate the journey.

I really enjoyed this book, it took me a week to knock it out which is a record for me for a book this length. One of the things I like about Rowell is her writing style, she writes in a close third person that reads like a first person because we see everything from Cath’s perspective. Something about Rowell’s use of this style makes me breeze through her novels.

Despite the bright, cutesy cover, this book delves into  darker issues than I was expecting. While I can’t speak to how honestly these issues were portrayed, I found the situations to be believable and well represented.

Going into this novel I was concerned I wouldn’t by the Simon Snow / Book Within a Book idea. However, because Rowell included snippets from the Simon Snow series I felt like I got to know the books too, which helped me relate to Cath. However, It was a little confusing to separate out the actual book snippets and the fanfiction snippets. I’d get confused about what happened in the actual series and what just happened in her fanfictions.

Overall, I think Rowell does well by fanfiction and fandom.  Cath writes slash fiction, which for the uninitiated is when you pair two characters of the same sex romantically. Slash fiction has it’s dark corners, but I liked how Rowell showcased that slash fiction isn’t all about titillation and can also be about relationships.  Cath’s personal struggles are clearly connected to her writing, she clings to the characters for her own sanity.

This book was apart of the inaugural Tumblr Book Club and I went into this book knowing a lot about the love interest Levi. I liked that Levi existed in Cath’s world, but also had his own life and wasn’t there to solve all of  Cath’s problems. He’s allowed to have flaws that are more than a crooked smile (seriously, what is with YA and crooked smiles ?) Cath also has a twin sister and I think Rowell’s portrayal of twins is pretty spot on. She really captures how hard it can be to have your identity when people associate you with your twin all the time.

I devoured this book, it was funny, heartfelt and represents a type of YA I’ve never seen….I would really like to see more books that tackle first years college experiences and fandom.

 

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

     Leave a Comment

  • Release Date  :  May 13th 2014
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Pages : 240 
  • Publisher : Delacorte

Okay This is going to be
a hard review to write. One of the reasons I had to read We Were Liars was
because I  kept hearing that this was the
book to read, but you can’t know what it is about. . . you just have to read it.

Honestly, if you
don’t see it coming (which I did but the book made me doubt myself)  I think this book will shock you and have you flipping back and re-reading over and over again.

We Were Liars
centers around   Cadence Sinclair and
the extended Sinclair family. Each summer  he family summers on their private island. Blonde, pretty and
privileged on the outside the Sinclairs seems to have everything, but on the inside  greed,
jealousy and denial threaten to take over.

Something happens on  Cady’s  15th summer at the island that she has no memory of, now two years later she’s going to find out how far the lies go.

This was exactly the type of contemporary novel that works for me because it takes on so many topics. Lockhart explores  race, class, romance and family in a way
that makes you doubt what you know and what you think you know about the characters. 

…

Read this Post