#one thing about cassandra clare..she is commiting to the bit !

[darcyolsson]

i wish these shadowhuntered bitches would just pick one last name. this is so complicated

[stan-rabelais-et-diderot]

I'm 32, I read all of Cassandra Clare's books, but then again I read a lot of books, so I don't engage in fandom for those books, these pieces of media much, or at all.

So I'm quite surprised & a bit alarmed to see how virulent people commenting & following her work seem to be of the person Cassandra Clare.

She hasn't done or is currently committing crimes she hasn't faced justice for.

She doesn't use the money from her books to fund hate groups.

Therefore, I don't understand why she is the target of so much speech that seem to attack her, as a person.

I think we all know we all share this Internet. Anything we write on a public space, anyone can read. People can read what we write about them. It's fair game to review books, to criticize books, but I'm a bit perplexed by how much more personal it gets for female writers.

Male writers aren't asked about this or that, they aren't being held to the standards female writers are all the time. For the same issuee, of a male writer it will be said that it's "out of their control", for a female writer "they just don't care about" it.

I understand we are passionate & female writers can be shitty, just like everyone else. But what I don't understand is why we have to shit specifically on what we love (or the people who write the things we love). I've never gushed about Cassandra Clare, but I've never said anything negative either. In fact, I don't write about her. I don't know her. I've read her work. That's it.

Authors don't owe us things. It's nice when they keep their word about dates of publication or finishing what they start, but ultimately, buying a book is a gamble. Sometimes it pays off & it's a great book, sometimes it doesn't. We are happy when it's a good book, disappointed when it's bad, but let's reclaim some agency, no one forces us to buy those books. If you don't like an author, stop buying their books, don't read them, leave a bad review explaining why you didn't like the book.

That's acceptable. What's not acceptable is writing personal attacks of writers in public online spaces that can be found so easily that you can be sure the authors sees them too. And it weighs on them.

Personally, I've invested a lot of time reading those books, so I want to stick it through the end. Only a handful to go. I will buy those books because I enjoy the world building (especially the political structures) & if the author decides to retire or not finish the books because she has had too much, received too much negativity, has lost joy in writing those books or for any reason doesn't publish them for any reason related to the people who enjoy her books being shitty to her on the Internet, I would lose something that brings me joy as well. Again, not that big a deal, it's just books. There are more important things. But it's absurd that the attacks come from inside the house. I'm inside the house too, so I thought I should say something.

People think twice about posting. Ask yourself why you are doing it & if it contributes positively to yourself & other people. Be kinder & imagine other people complexly. If you want to attack bad people on the Internet, you can & should join groups that do stuff like monitoring & reporting neonazis, fascists, incels... You can harass politicians's offices in order to pressure them into pass laws to end child mariage or stop wars, you can harass companies into paying farmers higher prices so that they don't enable slave labour or shame the UN for who they are taking money from.

Plenty of worthwhile targets of anger. If that's what you're into. Authors of books, when they don't fund hate groups on the side, are just people who write books. They don't have much power to do anything other than write books. They are people & when they get insulted, they get hurt & sad. Let's remember they are people and write about them on the Internet with the knowledge that they can read what we write & be affected by it.

[solarsavoy]

Character Tuesday, Solar's Man Harem!

Just gonna jump right into it.

Main House:

Stag is king.

Right hand man, Will Herondale from the Infernal devices series by Cassandra Clare. He is smart, he can be sweet, he pushes people away (naturally), a bookworm, and you wouldn't suspect any of these things based on his personality, an arrogant bully. I absolutely love him and he deserves all the love. Just gotta break through the surface first.

Left hand man, Percy freaking Jackson. I love him, okay? I feel him on so many levels. He loves showing off, but doesn't feel good enough. Never looks before he leaps, but man does he commit to that leap. Loyal to a fault. I fell in love with him when I read his series and I just had to have him. Part of him likes being the center of all the prophecies. The other is absolutely terrified. And I love all of it.

Syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles was the first to enter. Without spoiling too much hopefully, "Syaoran" is the one I mean, okay? If you've read the manga, you know what I'm talking about. In ways, he should be in the day care (I'll explain in a bit) but he's much more useful around the house and I'll explain that bit later too. Also, he's just so sweet. 💙

I adopted Kyo from Fruits Basket because someone should. He's fiery and funny and cute and angsty and just needs a hug. And he cooks, so I have taken him. And I would hug him all the time. 😀 Specifically because he hates it. 😆

Yato God! From Noragami. And he has his own shrine in the back yard because I want him to always have a home and to know he will never be forgotten, ever, at least by me. I just, I love him so much. I love him. Ugh, I love him. He deserves all the good things. All of them, I tell you!

Honorable Mentions/Waitlist:

The Flash/Barry Allen, Grant Gustin version. I like him more in the first few series, but he's not really just an honorable mention. He's frequently in and out of the house doing speedster things. He's quirky and funny and I'd love just talking to him all day about nerdy stuff. I mean, you've read my My World Monday posts, right? He'd totally help me science out all of my fantasy realm. But... his true love is Iris, and I'm a sucker for unrequited love. So in and out until one day he just stops coming because she finally gave him the time of day. 💔

Damon Salvatore, Vampire Diares. Um, if there was ever a Stag in human (ish) form, it was this guy, but he's straight. Still sexy as hell though, and he can visit whenever he wants. 💙 He really needs to leave the drama wherever it's at though; I feel like he has a lot. >.>

Dean Winchester, Supernatural. Another sexy sexy guy! Honestly, I like the idea that he's still a free spirit though, and there's no way I could get him to settle, so I'll be the one to visit him. Frequently. But he's always welcome. I just don't think he's quite the right fit for what I'm looking for though. Doesn't mean he isn't fun. 😉

Mushra, Shinzo. He used to be in the main house, but I'm just not really attracted to him anymore. He doesn't qualify for the day care and he's quite fiery, but he has to at least be here because I just can't let him go, especially with the tiny fandom Shinzo has. And he's got a good heart. :') So honorable mentions it is.

Karma Akabane, Assassination Classroom. Okay, he would raise hell if I let him in, so he's staying on the waitlist. Of all the people in this section, he's the only one who's "on the waitlist" because I feel like he'd be constantly trying to break in to wreak some havoc and my boys would be trying to chase him out with the broom. 😆 But part of me kinda likes this, so I think it's sort of perfect where he's at, the "waitlist".

Inuyasha is another one that I stopped really being attracted to, so he's an honorable mention. I also thought he'd hate the idea of "being owned" so it works out for the best, but he'll always have a place in my heart. Such a tsundere…

Day Care:

Gerit, OC. He's a good dog and I really just wanna take care of him and pet him on the head all the time because he likes it. 💙 Very easy to please, and so cute.

Deshi, OC. He's very upset about being in the day care, but all I gotta do is set up an awesome game room with all his favorite games and send him food stuffs and he's happy. And he's okay with this, so he "accepts" it. Begrudgingly, lol. Hates that it's called the "Day Care" though, but I find it's most apt.

Fushi, To Your Eternal. I want to teach him all the things and I can totally see him latching onto someone and following them around like a little duck and just being cute all the time and I just want him in my day care so I can teach him all the things and he can be the ultimate squish. 💙💙💙 Cuteness overload! AHHHHHHH!

Explanation:

The Main House is basically characters that I'm attracted to that if I were their age or vice versa, I'd very much want to be with them. The reason Stag is king is because I don't care if I'm with him, or if I am him. I consider him to be sort of my alter ego if I were I guy, and because of the closeness, that's why he's king, and no one can replace him. A similarity between the five in the house (we're excluding Percy in this case, he's pretty loyal either way) is that if you happen to earn your way into their heart, they are loyal to you to the end. All of them share this trait, and all of them have built up walls for one reason or another that makes them hard to reach, and I just want so much to be the one that reaches them.

The Honorable Mentions/Waitlist means that for one reason or another, they don't qualify to be in the Main House, but I still love them dearly. And then there's Karma. He's here more for fun and like I said, it just sorta works where he is, lol.

The Day Care is for characters that I have adopted and wish only to take care of them because their lives are really fucked up and/or they are just so innocent and I want so much to protect them. They are my squishes and I luff them with all my heart! They just need to be taken care of properly. 😤

And that's my man harem! Like I said, very selective. Anyone surprised by someone on the list? Surprised others aren't on the list? Have suggestions? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading. ^^

PS, I hope I didn't forget anyone. Like Mushra and Inuyasha, it took me a minute to remember them because they aren't as active in my head, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone.

[rosereview]

Top 12 Books of 2020

In this crazy year of 2020 I only read 32 books, but that doesn’t mean that I still don’t have too many good five star books that I want to share. But because I’m pretending that this is a top ten list with two honourable mentions, I had to narrow it down to only my top twelve. So let's get started.

12. Catharsis: Pain by Rowan Dugray

To start off, I wanted to mention this really amazing collection of poetry that I picked up. It’s not very well known but it is really well done. Since I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, I usually stray away or get very nervous going into a poetry novel, but this one was a nice surprise. I didn’t let myself dwell on the fact that I don’t always understand the intended meaning of the poems, and instead let myself take my own meaning from the words. In the end I felt like I really had gone through a process of catharsis and released a lot of built up tensions and emotions. A great read.

11. Vow of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson

This book is the second book in the Dance of Thieves duology and it was a treat to get back into the Remnant Chronicles world. It had been a while since I had read the first book so it took a bit for the character relationships and names to come back to me, but after they did this book was a great conclusion. I loved all of the big plot twists and the way that the story went, and couldn't have asked for a more well done novel.

10. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

This book was a surprise hit which I had been putting off for a while, so I was happy when I finally got to it. The way that the novel is written and presented intimidated me a bit, but I was surprised with how easy it was to read after I got into it. But the biggest surprise, which made for a wild experience, was that the book had a big plot line of a deadly virus. It was kind of scary cause it hit so close to home, but also made it relevant and somehow better. It was a great example of how reading a book at a perfect time in your life enhances so many things about it and that was definitely this one for me. So if you’re into sci-fi books, check this one out.

9. Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody

Next was my first experience reading a Amanda Foody novel although I’ve wanted to read her stuff for a while, and I was not disappointed. This book has some similarities with Caraval, where both have sort of game elements, although this one goes more in the direction of gangs and crime bosses which I loved. The whole book was very well done and fast paced where I just wanted to keep reading until I got to the point that I just couldn’t put it down at the end. Highly highly recommend it, and I can’t wait to get into the next one sometime this year.

8. A Crystal of Time by Soman Chainani

Again this is one that I had been putting off because I hadn’t read the other ones in the series for a while, but when I finally committed to picking this one up I was shocked with how much I enjoyed it. I thought that the book before this one in the School for Good and Evil series kind of repeated a lot of plot points from the previous three books, but this one took a whole different turn. It was nice to see the familiar characters again, but I felt that some of the newer characters were also just as intriguing and kept me wanting more. Now I’m just hoping I don’t take another crazy long time to pick up the last book, especially since it’s already out.

7. The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare & Wesley Chu

No surprise that this book is on my list since it’s a Cassandra Clare novel, and it’s also filled full of Magnus and Alec. This one was super light hearted and fun and was a nice break from the rest of the world. All of Cassandra Clare’s books are just comforting and it feels like I’m coming home every time I get into one. There’s humor, friendship, romance, demons, and shadowhunters… What else could you ask for?

6. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Finally we’re halfway and boy are we getting to the goodies! This is the second book I’ve read by Taylor Jenkins Reid and it matched and exceeded all of my expectations. I didn’t think anything of hers could top Daisy Jones and the Six, but this one did. I’m not saying that Daisy Jones isn’t amazing, but Evelyn Hugo is just a whole different type of moment. I don’t even know how to explain it. All I can say is if you love old hollywood stories with all of the drama and show biz it brings, then you will fall in love with this novel.

5. Beartown by Fredrik Backman

This book was my first Fredrik Backman read that I finished all the way back in January, so exactly a year ago, but I have to say that it is still stuck in my head. I frequently still think about this book and the story, and I badly want to read all of Fredrik Backman’s novels. His writing style is so unique and the way he fits every part of this story together is incredible. It’s actually the work of a genius! Beartown is all about a hockey town and the dark places it can go when too much pressure is put on young teenage boys. 

4. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Unlike Beartown, this is a recent read for me, and I have a feeling it will stay in my head like Beartown but in a totally different way. It is written in Fredrik Backman’s same style that Beartown was written in, although it goes back and forth between timelines, which made it to be a wild ride. There were so many plot twists in this novel that I was jumping up and down in every chapter. It was crazy! I loved how this one shows the natural ways that life can suck which made it so relatable and probably why it beat Beartown in the end, even though I didn’t think any other Fredrik Backman book could. 

3. I Would Leave Me If I Could by Halsey

Now in the top three we have my three favourite creators in the world!! First here we have Halsey, who I hadn’t expected to publish a book, but I’m more than happy that she did. Halsey, being a woman of many many many talents, did not disappoint in this beautiful poetry collection. Again, I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, but Halsey has made me rethink that. I think because I’ve been such a big fan for a while now, her poetry was that much more special for me. So many of her poems are where my favourite lyrics to her songs originated, so to see the way and form that they were first born was very personal. There’s nothing more to say than I just love it.

2. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

Well since I wrote a whole long review about how much I love this book, it’s not surprising to see that it’s almost first on the list. This book was one of the best books I’ve ever read, and it is agonizing to have to wait for the next one. If you want a more concrete reason for why I love this book so much, then you can read my review for it which is on my post list. Besides that, I guess I just have to say that I love this book so much and everyone should read it and all of Cassandra Clare’s novels.

1. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

And now we have finally come to my favourite book of 2020, House of Earth and Blood. Sarah. J Maas is my second favourite author of all time, beaten only by Cassandra Clare, but at first I have to say that I was worried about this book. It wasn’t purely about the Fae or had a connection with the Throne of Glass or ACOTOR series. For those reasons I wasn’t sure I was going to fall in love with it as much. Oh how wrong I was. This book is an absolute masterpiece. There isn’t much more to say. It is filled with grief, romance, but has a very prominent theme of friendship at its core that was what really hit me hard. Everything about this book was amazing and every character was amazingly developed and interesting. I could not put it down and even though it was supremely long, I was never bored. Not one page. It was just incredible. If you are over 18 and like fantasy novels, read this book. You will be doing yourself a favour. 

And that concludes my list of favourite books in 2020! I hope some of these spark your interest and become your favourites in the future.

Until next time!

~Rose Reviews

[janabetweenbooks]

New Moon

*contains spoilers*

I’m absolutely mad, that much I can tell you. Three days ago I read the first five chapters, the day after I went to bed early so I didn’t read, but then yesterday I read the rest of the book. 20 chapter, over 430 pages in one sitting. I think I can see a new addiction forming.

This time around I didn’t take notes, so if this post is a bit chaotic I apologize, it’s the first time I put my thoughts down and I am trying my hardest to keep order in this.

Right off the bat: I hated that the Cullen’s were gone. I know that literally is the plot of that book and I won’t complain, but I found that Carlisle and Alice are my favorite characters and it was hard for me to not read about them, I actually think that is why I read that fast, so I could read about them as soon as possible again.

I’m going to say another thing before we really begin: I watched the movie first, because I knew I would go out of my mind if I didn’t know what would happen in the book, I know that because that’s what always happens when I read Cassandra Clare’s books. When you watch a movie you don’t have that much time to be mentally or emotionally upset over certain plot twists for that long, because the movie moves on (unless you pause it of course). I watched the movie to prepare myself (here again, I absolutely missed Carlisle as I’ve had the biggest crush on him the first time I watched the movies and that definitely hasn’t gone away, whoops, same goes for Alice and Jasper by now).

Now to the actual book. There is one scene that stands out prominently in my memory. It’s the one where Carlisle stitches Bella back up when she’s hurt herself (not the scene where she hurts herself in the first place, that is the key scene to the entire book but not what stands out most prominently in my memory). I think that is due to a fact I never really know how to put into words, I’ve tried before and felt like I didn’t do it justice, so let me try again. I think it’s very, well, you could say fascinating or even attractive, when someone just knows what they’re doing, when they’re very skilled at something. Like for example when a musician plays an instrument very well (or even puts a song together in the studio), or someone who is very skilled at handiwork. Or, as in this case, a doctor who knows exactly what they’re doing, like taking glass shards out of someone’s arm and stitching them back up (not gonna lie, I still have a phobia of doctors, but the fascination is there if it’s from a distance). There, I think I might have explained that better than the last time I tried. I think the bottom line here is: smart is attractive. I’ve mentioned that I had a crush on movie Carlisle, well yeah, that also extends to the book, which is very weird as I also have a crush on Alice and Jasper. A very weird situation I’m finding myself in.

Anyhow, that scene I enjoyed a lot for exactly that reason; Carlisle is very skilled at what he’s doing and that fascinates me time after time again. Also: the conversation they had while he was working was super interesting, just to put that out there.

But enough of me gushing over fictional characters now.

Let’s get to a debateable topic: how Bella handled the loss of Edward. Edward himself says it, he was surprised at how easily Bella believed him that he doesn’t love her anymore. She just took it. On the other hand, wouldn’t we all question ourselves if we thought we were so far out of the league of the other person and thought we didn’t deserve their love in the first place? Definitely a question to keep me busy for some time.

But now to the real debate: Bella’s reaction, or well, breakdown, after Edward left. I think everyone experiences loss differently. I, for one, thought her reaction was justified. I know a lot of people are complaining that she was so lethargic, that she overreacted and put herself in danger. But have you considered that we’re talking about the supernatural here? No one can know how this could affect a person, because it has never happened and will never happen (from a scientific standpoint of course). No one will be left behind by their vampire significant other because vampires, as far as humans are concerend, don’t exist. The only thing we’ve got to work with here is what we’re being presented with in the books.

An important part here is what Charlie says to Alice when they think Bella is still asleep. He tells her that Bella didn’t react like she was left behind by someone but as though someone had died. We know that Bella has an incredibly strong bond with Edward, that was established well enough in the first book (okay, maybe well isn’t the right word here, but it was established and that‘s what we’ve got to work with) and who knows if her reaction wasn’t natural. It at least seems very probable to me.

The gaping hole in her chest that didn’t seem to heal? Sounds perfectly logical to me, conisdering her bond with Edward. To that comes that loss and grief feels different to evey person, I dare say. I myself deemed it very accurate, but that’s just personal experience.

Hadn’t I watched to movie first I would have lost my mind when Bella and Alice tried to save Edward in Italy because I could have never known if they manage to (I mean, I’ve already seen the movies once and the books have been out for a long time, but I’m seeing this from ‘fresh eyes’ sort of here). It’s written well enough to keep you on your toes and that’s a win in my book.

I’m gonna say something else: It annoyed me greatly how stubbornly Edward tries to keep Bella human. He claims he loves her, yet he is willing to go enormous lengths to keep what she wants from her at all costs. They could be together forever and yet he would rather let her die one day and then commit suicide. To me that’s illogical, but what do I know.

I myself don’t want to be immortal, but would I say no to being a vampire? Probably not. Especially as it seems so easy to just die anyway, just provoke the Volturi and let them break your neck. Imagine all the time you had on your hands to read or play an instrument ;)

Overall I would give this book a full 5/5 rating. It was better than the first book in many ways and I am more than excited to see what happens next (at this rate I’ll probably be done with the entire series by the first week of May, whoops).

That concludes my thoughts for now, I’m kind of in a hurry anyway ;) I’ll watch Eclipse tonight and then start with the book :)

Have a nice day, stay safe and stay hydrated x

[seth-the-book-dragon]

My Top Four YA Fantasy Sets

City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments)

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know.

It's been a while since I’ve read anything by Cassandra Clare but in the past I have laughed and cried and loved in her world. I got the first Mortal Instruments book some time ago as a gift and it lay unread on my shelf for some time until my family went away for a week and Mum said I could only bring books I hadn’t read before (Troy by Adèle Geras and The Girl In The Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen were the others; also excellent books). I devoured it. I sat down and absolutely lost myself in Clare’s New York and the world of the Shadowhunters. I have since collected most of her books and read the original series at least three times fully through. It’s powerful and drags you right in even if you’re a stubborn thirteen-year-old determined to hate it. I know it’s gotten a lot of hype and that often puts me off but in this case it’s because it’s magic. It does get a bit confusing in the third and fourth book, but all makes sense in the end.

Even the prequel and sequel sets are enjoyable and draw you in. I didn’t think I would like the Clockwork series because of how much I’d loved the original characters and their little nook of life but once again Cassandra Clare proved me wrong. I highly recommend these books but do expect to get your heart at least a little bit broken.

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (The Morganville Vampires)

College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life, but they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood. Will she be able to face the town's terror or will she drown like everyone else?

Probably one of the first sets on this list that I read. The Morganville Vampires is filled, once again, with a group of close friends. Claire a sixteen-year-old science student, Eve a goth coffee shop employee, Shane a chilli cooking video game lover and Michael an up and coming musician.

The complex love-hate relationship between the human and vampire inhabitants of Morganville is often a cause for conflict and suspense.

I will admit that the plot starts to get a bit far fetched nearing the end but then again, there is fifteen books so it can’t be easy coming up with storylines for all of them. The ending is a classic happy ending I am glad to say.

One thing I really love about Morganville is the number of characters with questionable morality, those who you are never quite sure whose side they’re on. There’s nothing I’m such a sucker for as eccentric characters, grey morality and platonic love so it’s no wonder that I like these as much as I do. And really, who couldn’t love a character with vampire bunny slippers and a giant pet spider called Bob?

My Soul To Take by Rachel Vincent (The Soul Screamers)

She doesn't see dead people. She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally. Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next.

I found the fifth book in the library and absolutely loved it. However, I wouldn’t recommend starting with If I Die because it’s a major turning point in the series, the first book is probably a better starting place.

Kaylee is a complex heroine who never wanted to be in the limelight, she just wanted her family and friends to be safe. She goes through so much development as a character throughout the series and emerges stronger than ever at the end. You finish the series feeling proud of what the main characters have achieved and a tinge of sadness for those that didn’t make it.

These books are a prime example of slotting fantasy elements into our world – it is bone chilling because it’s so easy to see how it could be real and how easy it would be to be one of those clueless, helpless humans. The scariest things are those which are very close to something normal but just slightly off.

The thing that really stands out about the Soul Screamers is that the supernatural beings are varied and not just your bog-standard vampires and werewolves. The diversification of urban fantasy is something I love and one of the reasons why I love it so much.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love happy endings as much as the next man – characters deserve happiness and perfection. However the bittersweet ending of this series feels right and not forced or realistic.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them. After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger . . . and the Strigoi are always close by. Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever . . .

I read the first one a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it though didn’t go looking for more. However, when I found the next three in the charity shop last year I had to read on. I devoured the and read the entire set of six in four days. I will admit that my homework suffered that week. They begin slowly, getting you used to the world of Moroi, dhampires and Strigoi – all words used to describe creatures in Romanian folklore and not words made up by Richelle Mead as I first thought. But good grief when it gets started, it really goes for it. Rose is a firecracker and incredibly loyal to her best friend. Dimitri is a rock, trustworthy and ever dependant. Just a rock with a stake. Mead writes in a way that even if you don’t like a character first off - *cough* Adrian *cough* - you end up thinking of as one of your favourite characters. They take twists and turns that you never see coming – and a couple you do, with an ominous churning in your stomach.

Even the sequel set Bloodlines is excellent. I didn’t have high hopes initially after the joy of the Vampire Academy but I was surprised. It’s not as good but still highly enjoyable.

The only negative I could highlight is that the main romance in each set follows the same ups and downs. It gets to a point where it’s almost predictable.

[brightbeautifulthings]

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

"'It means Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies Since 1234.'"

Year Read: 2013, 2019

Rating: 4/5

About: Clary Fray's world is overturned when she witnesses a murder in a packed New York club--a murder no one else can see, committed by three teenagers covered in weird tattoos on a body that vanishes into thin air. It's her first encounter with the world of the Shadowhunters, a race of angelic warriors who protect humankind from demons. When Clary's mother goes missing and a demon attack nearly kills her, Clary joins the Shadowhunters to find out who has taken her mother and what her connection is to their world--a world she never knew existed but might hold answers about her past. Trigger warnings: death, animal death, violence, body horror, poison, blood, abduction, hospitals, incest mention.

Thoughts: It's possible I wasn't fair to these books the first time around because I remember liking them a lot less a few years ago. I started the series and never finished, and it's been so long that I have to start over to remember everything that happened. They may be a little overwritten, and the characters may all be similar, but Clare creates a compelling and well-drawn fantasy world. If absolutely nothing else (and I think there's more to them than this), they're an excellent form of escapism, and sometimes that's all I want from a novel.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest appeal of this book is the world-building. Clare combines some of the typical fantasy elements such as vampires and werewolves with her own race of creatures called Shadowhunters, half-human/half-nephilim warriors who fight the demons threatening to invade this dimension. At the risk of sounding like I'm twelve years old, Shadowhunters are cool. They get to play with angelic weapons and tattoo magical runes on themselves; they have a mission to save the world from demonkind. 10/10 would be thrilled to find out this world existed alongside ours. I'm not surprised that Clare has several spinoff series in the same universe. (Also, did anyone catch that cameo of Val and Luis from Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tales? Interesting to think about how the two worlds overlap!)

The characters are less awesome, and I think my biggest problem with them (and the writing) is that they all sound the same. They're all sarcastic and use too many big words when small ones will do, and I sometimes got the feeling that Clare was setting up the dialogue just to deliver a funny punchline. However, I see the appeal of this strategy for teenagers, and I might be in the minority of readers who tire quickly of everyone being a smartass. Clary hasn't really come into her own yet in this book, and her character is pretty uncertain--which makes sense, since her entire world has changed. While Jace's general douchebagery wears a bit, he may also have the most depth of any character so far. He's cocky, reckless, and dedicated to the cause, but he also feels things more deeply than he lets on. Classic bad boy with a heart of gold. Also, Magnus Bane is a treasure, and I can see why he eventually gets his own book. His sass is better than everyone else's, and I love that his main descriptor is "shedding glitter." Yas, queen.

Given this book is more than ten years old, there are naturally some things that YA is starting to grow out of. The love triangle is silly and unnecessary, Clary is the beautiful heroine who doesn't know she's beautiful, and I think everyone in the fandom or outside of it can agree that the plot twist in City of Bones is the worst plot twist that's ever been twisted. It could also be a bit shorter, with fewer descriptions, and some mighty adjustments to the pace in the end conflicts. They're supposed to be tense and exciting, and instead they drag out into too many scenes. However, I enjoyed this quite a bit overall. I was afraid I wouldn't like it enough to continue rereading, but contrariwise, I'm looking forward to the next book.

[aresaphrodites]

Hey but sorry to bother u but could give me those book recs? Relying on u girl

of course!! sorry bout the long wait, dear x

you said you preferred trilogies or series’ (which i don’t read much of tbh) so here are a few of my favorites: (( some of these will have full on summaries and some… not so much, i got lazy lol ))

The Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout : Meet Katy and Daemon! Katy is a funny, down-to-earth book blogger who has just moved to West Virginia. And Daemon? Well, he’s her hot and arrogant next-door neighbor. He’s also an alien. This one is cheesy, yeah, but it’s so FUN! Follow along as Katy and Daemon try to figure out what they mean to each other while trying not to get killed by the Arum; the Lumen’s enemy. In this world, the DOD is well aware that aliens exist and that they live on Earth. However, they are unaware that the aliens known as Luxen actually possess powers that make them.. well… powerful beyond means. This isn’t just a romance story; it focuses on family and friendships and it has a bunch of kick ass action and the entire plot with the DOD is so interesting. 

The Pine Deep Series by Jonathan Maberry ; I’m only on the first book but this one is a bit more mature in terms of horror and things like that. If you like scary books or feel like being spooky in time for Halloween, you should definitely check this one out! 

The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare : I’m sure you know about this one, but if you don’t! Angels, demons, warlocks, vampires, faeries, werewolves? What more could you want? When Clary Fray discovers she’s actually a Shadowhunter; an appointed warrior of the Angel Raziel and has angel blood coursing through her veins, her life is about to change forever. Join her and the rest of the Shadowhunter gang (and even a few others) as they team up to rescue her mom and stop an all out war from happening. 

The Darkest Minds Series by Alexandra Bracken ; I’m only on the first book but I absolutely love it! It’s an intense read that has me on the edge of my seat constantly. I adore Ruby and she’s easily become one of my favorite female characters of all time. 

Dorothy Must Die Series by Danielle Paige ; Okay. I know, I know. Really? Dorothy Must Die? Hear me out! This book is FUN. Trashy? Perhaps, but fun! The first book is really fast paced and honestly? I am living for a world where Dorothy is evil. So basically our main character is named Amy and she is the other girl from Kansas. She’s sent to Oz to save it from Dorothy Gale who has become power hungry and is now pure evil along with the Tin-Man, the Lion, and the Scarecrow. The rest of the series doesn’t really live up to the first book, but I would say you should read the first one anyway. It’s a lot of fun. 

Did I Mention I Love You Series by Estelle Maskame: Sixteen-year-old Eden Munro decides to spend the summer with her father in Santa Monica as her parents are divorced now. Once there, she meets her father’s new family and that includes Tyler Bruce; her new asshole step brother with a short temper and a huge ego but as she gets to learn more about him, she finds herself falling for him. This trope isn’t for everyone and I know the whole step sibling thing is super taboo but this series is awesome and I read it during a huge reading slump and it really helped me get though it. 

Perfect Chemistry Series by Simone Elkeles: When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she’s worked so hard for―her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more. (Each book in this series focuses on a different Fuentes brother.)

Fighting to Be Free Series by Kirsty Moseley: Jamie Cole has just been released from juvenile detention. Determined to go straight, he tries to cut ties with crime boss Brett Reyes - but Brett has no intention of letting him go. Jamie’s life is already more complicated than it needs to be, yet it’s when he meets a beautiful stranger at a bar that Jamie knows he’s really in over his head. Ellie Pearce has just come out of a terrible relationship and isn’t looking for anything serious; until she meets Jamie. Their attraction is overwhelming and intense - she can’t seem to shake her growing feelings for him, even though she’s trying to keep it casual. But when fate goes horribly wrong and Jamie’s family is faced with ruin, he’s forced to strike a deal with Brett. Despite his struggles, he wants nothing more than a future with Ellie. That’s until Ellie finds out that he’s been hiding more from her than she could ever imagine. 

Mind if I drop in a few stand alone’s? I’m trying to read more series’ but I’ve always been more of a stand alone kind of girl, so here are some of my current favs: 

#MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil : WELCOME TO THE NEAR FUTURE, where good and honest citizens can enjoy watching the executions of society’s most infamous convicted felons, streaming live on The Postman app from the suburbanized prison island Alcatraz 2.0. When seventeen-year-old Dee Guerrera wakes up in a haze, lying on the ground of a dimly lit warehouse, she realizes she’s about to be the next victim of the app. Knowing hardened criminals are getting a taste of their own medicine in this place is one thing, but Dee refuses to roll over and die for a heinous crime she didn’t commit. Can Dee and her newly formed posse, the Death Row Breakfast Club, prove she’s innocent before she ends up wrongfully murdered for the world to see? Or will The Postman’s cast of executioners kill them off one by one?

One Small Thing by Erin Watt : Meet Beth and Chase. Beth is entering her senior year and is still trying to move on from the death of her older sister three years ago. In a small town with parents who have suddenly become her wardens; that seems nearly impossible. And then she meets the mysterious and hot Chase who immediately draws her in. Their attraction is instant and he’s the first person who makes her feel like Beth Jones and not Lizzie; the young girl who lost a sister and is somehow broken by it. But as she falls harder for Chase, she’s hit with the reality of the part he played in her sister’s death. It’s about forgiveness, love, and moving on. It’s sad and sweet and such a fun, quick read. Definitely good for trying to get out of a slump! 

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren :  Fangirl meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this funny and poignant coming-of-age novel from New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren about two boys who fall in love in a writing class—one from a progressive family and the other from a conservative religious community. If you read one book off of this list, PLEASE let it be this one. This book is so… amazing. It’s been months and I still think about it constantly. 

Fault Line by C. Desir : Trigger WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS A RAPE. It is not shown, but it’s the main conflict in the book. Over the years I have struggled with if I liked this book because it was good or if I liked it because of how much it fucked me up. I read this book in one sitting and when I finished, I sat in my bed for a good hour and just…. didn’t move or do anything. You will NOT be rooting for the main couple. The narrator is unlikable and you will HATE all the characters in this book. The ending is NOT happy and I don’t know why I’m recommending this but GOD. This book, after so many years, just stuck with me because of how fucked up it was. It deals with the whole “recovery” process in such a dark way that we normally don’t see in YA fiction and I think that’s what makes it stand out so much. If you want something darker, read this. But read it with caution. If this isn’t something you like then please, don’t bother reading it. It’s not happy and it’s sure as shit not fluffy. Summary : Ben could date anyone he wants, but he only has eyes for the new girl—sarcastic free-spirit Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him too. She’s everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want. But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone. Now Ani isn’t the girl she used to be, and Ben can’t sort out the truth from the lies. What really happened, and who is to blame? Ben wants to help her, but she refuses to be helped. The more she pushes Ben away, the more he wonders if there’s anything he can do to save the girl he loves.

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero : If you like Scooby-Doo or Archie’s Weird Mysteries this book is probably for you. 1990. The teen detectives once known as the Blyton Summer Detective Club are all grown up and haven’t seen each other since their fateful, final case in 1977. Andy, the tomboy, is twenty-five and on the run, wanted in at least two states. Kerri, one-time kid genius and budding biologist, is bartending in New York, working on a serious drinking problem. At least she’s got Tim, an excitable Weimaraner descended from the original canine member of the team. Nate, the horror nerd, has spent the last thirteen years in and out of mental health institutions, and currently resides in an asylum in Arhkam, Massachusetts. The only friend he still sees is Peter, the handsome jock turned movie star. The problem is, Peter’s been dead for years.The time has come to uncover the source of their nightmares and return to where it all began in 1977. This time, it better not be a man in a mask. The real monsters are waiting. 

Fatal Throne by Candace Fleming ; A book about Henry VIII and his six wives. If you like historical fiction then this book might be for you! It’s told through the perspective of his six wives (and even Henry himself) and it’s a really fascinating read. 

Okay, I think I’m going to stop here. Let me know if none of these speak to you and I’ll give you some more recs! I didn’t know what kind of genres you liked, so I tried to throw in a little bit of everything.

[rachelsreviews13]

Lady Midnight Review If you’d like long Rachel Review with several sassy comments, read the following: WARNING **SPOILERS** I have finally finished the first book in Cassandra Clare’s Dark Artifices series. I really liked this book, but I didn't love it. The first half was quite slow for me. I don't think the book needed to be quite as long as it was. I liked books a bit faster paced. Yet, I know a lot of it was for introducing characters and having character development. Of course, in typical Cassandra Clare fashion there were many characters. There were so many characters it was easy to have favorites and least favorites. Therefore, I’m mostly going to be talking about the characters in this review. Besides, it is well known Cassandra Clare knows how to write a well-rounded plot with wonderfully descriptive details, so I don’t need to discuss that any further. Let’s start with my least favorites, which were Mark and Kiernan. I disliked Kiernan immediately, even when I read about him in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. So, I was quite frustrated to find out he was the person Mark was in love with. It also made me mad that Mark had been blatantly flirting with Cristina (one of my loves). How dare he. She was quite disappointed when she saw them making out in the moonlight. She thought he was going to help her move on from Perfect Diego, but nope. Yet, Mark had the audacity to continue flirting with her! And we saw what happened from that; a whole chapter of fighting about who was going to get whipped for Mark’s stupidity and Kiernan’s naive jealousy. I was so glad when Mark was strong enough to say no to Kiernan and the Hunt. Goodbye, Kiernan. Thanks for the help with Malcolm. See you never again. Please. A girl can hope, right? My hope that I’ll never read about Kiernan again is most likely futile because Cassandra Clare loves to bring back characters. To be honest, I love it too, especially when she brings back characters like Magnus (always love Magnus), Jace, Clary, Jem, and Tessa. I loved every single one of those small, short scenes. Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed A Long Conversation at the very end of the book. Thank you, Cassandra Clare. Yet, Jem and Tessa probably had the most important cameo in the book. I loved how Jem’s role is to give important advice to Emma. He gets to be an uncle again, Emma has a family member, and it’s all so sweet. But Jem and Tessa weren’t just there to be cute, they had some important business to reveal, one was Kit and the other was the parabatai secret which I will get to later. As for Kit, boy oh boy, didn’t see that coming. I only started to realize he must have Shadowhunter blood when he was able to do backflips and such that he shouldn’t have been able to do. Also, I did catch the earlier parts where it was said he didn’t look like his father. Do we know for sure Johnny Rook was Kit’s biological father? If he really was then it kind of blows my mind even more that he was a Herondale too. So, now, I am really interested in learning more about Kit. Obviously, he’s going to have a bigger role in the next book and I can’t wait to read it. I think he’ll be added to my favorites list, he’s already halfway there. Speaking of my favorites, currently, my number one is Cristina. She is so feisty, fierce, and honest, yet, she also has a caring heart that’s been broken. I’m happy to see it might be starting to mend. I definitely like her more with Perfect Diego than Mark. Diego and Cristina are more alike and they have the history that connects them. I was actually kind of glad to find out Jamie was the one who betrayed her more than Diego. That meant there was hope for forgiveness, which I’d say has already started because of that kiss at the end. Two of my other favorites are Ty and Livvy. Livvy is included partially because she and Ty are a bit of a package deal, but also because a number of Livvy’s lines were funny. My favorite scene with Livvy was in the training room with Cristina and Emma. That was a fun trio. But Ty, my sweetheart who just wants to be included. Screw the Shadowhunter way that condemns differences. I loved that Cassandra Clare included a character like Ty. She’s done those of different races and sexual identity before, but no one like Ty. She continues to make realistic, diverse characters in her magical world. I love it. My last favorite is the absolute sweetest, Tavvy.  Tavvy, who helped them start to realize the truth about what was going on; who was committing the murders and why. While I loved the surprise and shock that Malcolm was the bad guy, I hated that he kidnapped Tavvy. I feared it was going to be Max all over again. After Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy I don't trust Cassandra Clare with any character. I was glad nothing happened to Tavvy, it would have devastated the Blackthorns. We did not need that despair. I can’t even imagine what Julian would have done. Now, I didn’t add Julian to my favorites, but I do like him, or at least parts of him. I really admire the way he is the adult of the family even though he’s only seventeen. It’s amazing that he’s been the adult since he was twelve; ten if you go back to the story about him taking care of Tavvy after their mother passed away. Also, after the genius way he told Robert Lightwood about why they went after Malcolm without the Clave, I know we’ve just begun to see who Julian really is. As much as I dislike Kiernan, he was right when he said Julian is ruthless. What I wasn’t loving was him and Emma as a couple. They’re another forbidden love main couple. Cassandra Clare keeps doing that with her main couples. I’ve also read it in so many other books. It gets a bit old. As for Julian and Emma, I don’t really know how I prefer them, but I know they’re end game. I mean, they deserve to be together romantically. They shouldn’t have had to be parabatai. Julian knew since they were children that he loved Emma more than just a friend, yet he needed a guaranteed way to make the Clave let them stay together. The Clave sometimes y’all. I mean they also don’t tell anybody why parabatai can’t have eros love. I was very thankful Jem told Emma so we could finally know. I knew the extra powerful runes they were giving each other had to be linked with their evolving relationship. Yet, does Emma tell Julian about this? No. I also haven’t absolutely loved Emma individually, and what she did at the end frustrated me so much. It frustrated me…hmm…who else frustrates me? Oh, yeah, Mark. So, instead of telling Julian the truth Emma is going to break his heart by dating Mark. *slow clap* Yay. And to top the ending off with a cherry, Annabel Blackthorn did wake up. Everything they did, and she still woke up. Only now, Malcolm’s dead, so let’s see what she’s going to do to rectify that. I don’t think I’ve done a review quite this long. There was a lot to talk about and I didn’t even cover everything, just my favorite and least favorite things. So much went down in this book. I could write ten more pages about it. Now to find out what goes down in Lord of Shadows. Wish me luck. Thanks for reading!

[misscrawfords]

Well, I saw The Last Jedi...

HERE BE SPOILERS

(Also - I will be tagging all posts with “spoilers” and “tlj spoilers” for you to avoid. However, from now on this blog is NOT SPOILER FREE and I can’t guarantee that something might not slip past by accident. Proceed at your own risk.

Okay, I’ve just got back and my head is whirling so don’t expect complex analysis.

However, I’ve been chatting with the lovely ladies in the spoiler zone of the Reylo discord chat and that’s helping me clarify my thoughts a lot.

So basic reactions first in no particular order:

- I am now in love with Poe Dameron. I now ship Damerey. I don’t know how this happened. 

- There’s a bit in the soundtrack that is basically the finale of Sibelius’ 2nd Symphony. No1 curr I know but I’m intrigued.

- There was way too much going on in this film. It was like a later HP book - some great things happening individually but overall I just want to kick it because there was too much and it was easy to lose sight of the heart of it and its message because there was YET ANOTHER BATTLE and yet another subplot and character development for a minor character. I’m really frustrated.

- Since when was Hux such an awesome character!? I loved how he was played for laughs but honestly this is absolutely Draco-in-leather-pants. Kylux is literally a Cassandra Clare fanfiction. What is life.

- Several deus ex machina moments that made me go “hmm”. Floaty sky princess? Um, okay. That was unnecessary and a bit weird. Felt like a cringey tribute to Carrie Fisher and then she was knocked out for most of the film. I have problems with that entire narrative arc. To be explored later. Also Force ghost Yoda. Really? 

- WTF was that child doing at the end? I’m so confused. My instant reaction is to be suspicious and annoyed. If that child grows up to have the Force and takes away from Rey then I will be so annoyed. Also, we don’t need more characters. We really, really don’t!

- I was disappointed in Rose and Finn. I just... I just didn’t care. Because, once again, there was too much going on. Their whole storyline felt tacked on. Like, there were elements I really liked. I loved the whole weapons dealing in space concept - it was blatant but really good. We were basically in space Saudi Arabia and I loved that and I loved the code breaker who betrayed them for money. It was a more interesting and morally grey update of the bounty hunter concept and I really loved it. Also it fitted very well with the overarching theme of both sides being flawed and the profit of war and it all being kind of pointless in a way. BUT there was too much of it and I feel like they could have shown that message and done Canto Bight somehow without so much subplot that really distracted from the main heart of the film. I’ll need to think about this further and how I would have preferred it to go. Also at the end, I was really annoyed at Rose for saving Finn. Like, I 100% did NOT want Finn to sacrifice himself - NO SIR - but Rose stopped him potentially saving the whole Resistance by taking out that gun. Like, strategically it was dumb since Finn had committed to doing that. (I’m sorry, I’m such a cool-headed Slytherin, but it’s true!) I don’t know where to go from here for these two characters and I didn’t really buy the romance. Perhaps I would have done if there HADN’T BEEN SO MUCH DAMN STUFF GOING ON.

- It was really funny. Like, I was not expecting the humour. Especially over the First Order. But seriously, the FO run by played-for-laughs Hux and emotionally unstable Kylo is not exactly going to be a slick administration, right? It’s a recipe for disaster! (Sorry, Hermione Granger brain taking over again.)

- SHIRTLESS KYLO FANSERVICE. what even

- Every single “inappropriate use of the Force” fic is now canon.

- I kind of need to do a separate post about my Reylo thoughts and feelings, but suffice to say I am actually very conflicted, as I am about most of the film. Everything that happened made total sense in terms of character development and as a continuation of TFA and I applaud that and yet I feel uneasy. I also felt a lack of romantic/sexual chemistry between them that the film could have built up with music and other techniques, even despite shirtless Kylo and the HANDTOUCHING SCENE OMG WHAT IS LIFE. I’m not saying that there isn’t a basis for something to develop in IX but I was left feeling... I don’t actually know. THERE WAS TOO MUCH GOING ON AROUND THEM. I need to watch it again. I may pick up on things on a second viewing I didn’t see this time.

- SAVE BEN SOLO. Honestly, I have no idea what is going on. The film is massively pushing a redemption arc in its plot and what everyone around Kylo is saying. And every time he has the opportunity to fall in with this, HE DOES THE EXACT OPPOSITE. He’s not the only one being torn apart tbh. I don’t understand what the film wants me to think about this. (This isn’t about me analysing it, it’s about an initial reaction to feeling that I don’t know what the film is doing. It seems to be saying “Redeem Ben Solo! It can happen! That’s where this is going!” at the same time as “Kylo Ren is a monster and is turning into the Big Bad of this trilogy” which I don’t really believe but also I just do not see how he can come back from where he is.) But oh my goodness, his was the performance to watch. And he is still the centre and heart of the trilogy, as he should be as the new Skywalker.

- Speaking of Skywalkers... I loved Luke. He was so incredibly “Luke” and yet different. Is it what I’d expected? From what I’d heard and the marketing, yes. From his character as I previously understood it, I’ll have to watch the OT again. I think it probably works. It’s interesting. And Mark Hamill was absolutely fantastic. I really loved the flashbacks and the explanation of the destruction of the school and how it was a horrible, horrible misunderstanding. Best way out. Really tragic. And I like how the adults are taking responsibility for what happened to Ben. But also, like, the choices he makes now are his own. And they are terrible, terrible choices??? Not just morally terrible but also just, like, terrible. Poorly thought out...

- And yet, to me, the most true thing anyone said at any point was Ben’s speech to Rey when he asked her to join him about needing the whole old order to be swept away and replaced. It just... it really does? I felt such a feeling of relief. Like, the legacy is so strong in these characters. They need to get away from their past and the mistakes of the past and the burdens of the past. And that’s shown with the Resistance story but also with the Jedi story. Kylo’s way of doing this is all wrong, of course, but his ideas and vision is right and true. And I feel like this needs to happen! I don’t know HOW Ben can be pulled back from all the awful decisions he is continually making and the fact that he is squandering every single chance he gets, but I just feel like the only ending that is truly satisfying is Rey and Kylo starting from scratch again with a clean slate.

- Which is why Rey Nobody is so important. Whether Kylo is telling the truth or not about her parentage, she’s not a Skywalker. Or a Solo. Or anyone from the OT. And that is so necessary and important.

-  I have no idea whether to talk about Kylo Ren or Ben Solo.

- Before watching it I kind of wanted Rey and Kylo to leave together on nobody’s side but their own but watching I realised that she would never leave with Kylo. She will only leave with Ben. But he is refusing to be that person so I don’t know if it can happen. But it also has to happen. Because if Kylo dies in an act of redemption (which is what I always thought would be his fate after TFA) then Rey is left alone again and there is no balance. Sure she has her Resistance friends whom she loves and who love her and that is GREAT, I’m not knocking it, but they don’t understand her. They build up the Force bond, they build up the fact that neither is alone because they have each other, they see their future with each other (and even if that is a manipulation of Snoke’s, he is showing them what they want to see so it is still true) - and then Kylo dies and Rey is all alone as the Last Jedi after being alone all her life. And like, yes, found family and all but... it’s just. Why set all of that up? I’m just incredibly conflicted.

- I’m going to spend the next two years trying to understand all of this by writing Poe/Rey/Ben love triangle fic. Because I loved that moment of chemistry between Rey and Poe and I think he is kind of like the hero she wants but she’s got this connection to Ben and she’s got to deal with that but I think a transitional period in which she awakens to romantic/sexual feelings via Poe would be very important to her. Because I think one of the issues I have with seeing Reylo in this movie is that Rey is just so forceful and determined on one thing that she is not thinking in terms of romance or anything like that at all. There’s just nothing coming off her in that sense - until she sees Poe. And I’m conflicted between what the symbolism is in the film and what the characters actually do. Symbolically and mythologically Reylo is the only answer. But the acting and the characters of them as psychologically realised individuals is problematic to me. I don’t know if any of that makes sense, it’s 1.33am now.

- So on the topic of Rey will only go with Ben and not with Kylo, Ben has to save himself. Rey MUSTN’T, for the sake of feminist narratives everywhere, this cannot become a “bad boy saved by the love of a good woman” story, and I don’t think it is because Kylo is rejected every attempt Rey is making to change him. When he does do something “good”, it is of his own volition. The throne room and killing Snoke, for instance, (also, I totally called that as something that could happen, not that I did it here so I can���t prove it - ah well!), he didn’t do because of Rey directly. So he has to work that out for himself but I have no idea how he is going to do it. I mean, sure Rey can be part of this process and even the catalyst, but she can’t do it for it.

- I’m still so confused by the ending. Were Rey and Kylo looking at each other? I’ve seen people say he was kneeling in front of her, but I’m confused because I thought he was in the main part of the base and they were in the Falcon somewhere in the salt mountains? And also I thought Leia was still on the ground and I was convinced she was going to stay behind and see Kylo but then she was on the Falcon and were Kylo and Rey just staring at each other? I’m confused. I think this may have been a meaningful moment but I was just trying to work out where they all were and what was going on.

SO over all. Overall, I enjoyed lots of it but I don’t think it was a great movie. There was simply too much of it and ultimately I think there was a really fascinating and subtle story surrounding Luke, Kylo/Ben, Leia and Rey with juicy goodies like Force Bonds and grey morality and growing up and growing old (for all that Yoda’s appearance made me roll my eyes, I loved the line about the roll of the master being to be outgrown or whatever it was because as a teacher it’s just, yeah... it meant a lot). But this great and interesting and new take on the SW universe was being lost in battle after battle and confusing Resistance politics and overlong subplots that went nowhere (Finn and Rose didn’t even succeed?! What was the POINT) and an attempt to shoehorn in this fascinating story into a generic SW movie about the plucky band of Resistance fighters and the big bad Empire that we’ve seen too many times before.

LET. THE. PAST. DIE. I’m over that plot and I’m just annoyed because it has the makings of a great movie but I’m just left feeling too much was going on and I’m confused about the bits I really wanted to focus on and linger over.

Anyway, going to see it again on Wednesday with school and I am going to really, really focus on Reylo and trying to find the possibilities for romance so that if nothing else I have fodder for fanfic!

[preserving-ferretbrain]

Actually I Quite Liked It

by Wardog

Thursday, 10 September 2009

Wardog has *also* been reading Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon...~

I guess I have some kind of semi, self-destructive obsession with books written by ex-members of the Harry Potter fandom, and I’m wondering whether I need to get treatment for it. Although I think a healthier way of looking at it may be that I’m still desperately seeking an antidote to

Cassandra Clare

. Today’s victim is The Demon’s Lexicon, written by Sarah Rees Brennan. As usual, I am vaguely aware of The Name, but from what little I have read of her on the internet, I’ve had her pegged in my head as “basically the narrator from I Capture the Castle.” The problem with extremely charming people is that they always bring out the worst in me. It’s partially jealousy, I'm sure, but it tends to result in me getting up some kind private, psychological “We Shall Not Be Charmed” protest on the sidelines of their life. I mention this in the spirit of full disclosure because I went into The Demon’s Lexicon all wrong, not wanting to like it. And I came out of it really bloody impressed.

Sarah Rees Brennan: 1

Kyra: 0

The plot of The Demon’s Lexicon is actually pretty complicated, and I shall try to shade in the important bits without giving away the cool twists of which they are, well, one but it’s a goodun. Nick and Alan have spent their life on the run because their mother was once in love with a powerful magician called Black Arthur (

hee hee

). Needless to say, powerful magicians do not take it well you leave them, taking with you a powerful magical item, so he drove his lover mad and has been in hot pursuit ever since. Their mother fled to her ex, a good, normal kind of guy who took her in and protected her … and, of course, died in the process, leaving Nick and Alan to grow up as best they could, fighting for survival and dealing with their genuinely very batshit mum. In Brennan’s setting, magicians are humans who, discovering they have some fragments of magical power, feed other humans to demons for more power. Demons hang out on the edges of the world, desperate for a human host (which is not so great actually for the human in question, since it inevitably leads to a speedy, unpleasant death).

The plot of the book kicks off when a brother and sister, Mae and Jamie, come to Nick and Alan for help because Jamie (who is a gay, because it is impossible for anybody who has ever had any connection with fandom ever not to include a gay in their books) has been marked by a demon. While they’re trying to, semi-reluctantly, deal with this, Alan is also marked by a demon and things spiral in an exciting direction from there.

The book is narrated entirely from Nick’s POV and, ye gods, what a difficult POV it is. He’s cold, ruthless, unemotional, hostile and extremely unlikeable. His dominant mood seems to be anger, and although you can understand it, given the sort of life he’s forced to lead, it’s still intensely wearing. Ultimately you have to respect Brennan’s commitment to her thoroughly grim protagonist. I’m slightly bewildered by all the fangirly reviews which comprise, in the main, breathless declarations of adoration for Nick, and endless squees about how much they’d like to give him a hug. I do wonder if we were reading the same book because I’d walk the other way, very quickly indeed, maybe even run. Of course, I’m in the wrong age and sanity bracket (although given a choice I’d be all about Mae, thanks so very much) to properly appreciate two hot sixteen year old brothers. By the end of the book, you do get more insight into Nick’s character, and why he is the way he is, which helps, but he’s never going to be a basket of kittens. (Also, seriously, if this is the kind of guy you’re into, see the school counsellor, immediately young ladies!).

Brennan handles him very well indeed, keeping him right there on the verge of being unbearable and, when he finally crosses over it, contextualising his thoughts and actions just enough that you keep reading, hoping against hope that he’ll maybe snap out of it and do the right thing. Even though we only ever gets Nick’s, very limited, often bewildered perspective on events and characters, Brennan still manages to paint detailed, convincing portraits of the supporting cast. I think it’s quite a remarkably deft technique: communicating emotions through a protagonist who does not himself understand them. The most important dynamic in the book is that between the brothers, Alan and Nick. It’s banter heavy served on a bed of freshly tossed angst, garnished by a light sprinkling of brotherly love, evoking the early day of Supernatural (before it degenerated into endless repetitions of “I love you Sammy! *manly sob*”) At first Alan seems the opposite of Nick in every respect – he is as kind as Nick is harsh, as sociable as Nick is misanthropic – but as the book unfolds the interest lies in marking their similarities rather than their differences. Although he is easily “nicer” than Nick, in his way Alan is just as cold and just as ruthless. Jamie is Harmless Homosexual #32, sensitive and anxious, hiding his pain and fear beneath a façade of humour:

“So-where’s your dad?” Nick slammed the fridge door. “He died.” “Oh.” Now Jamie had the look of a deer caught in the headlights, who for some reason was feeling really sad for the car. “Oh I’m so sorry.” “Why?” Nick snapped, opening cupboards just so he could bang them closed and express his fury at people who did not know when to shut up. “You didn’t know him. Why should you care?” “Um. Empathy? Jamie suggested.

All right, so he’s kind of adorable. I don’t know if Brennan is trying to accommodate slashers but he clearly fancies Nick in an “I will never be allowed to get any ever” kind of way. Still, at least he isn’t purple and sparkly like Mangus Bane. Thank God. Although, seriously, let the kid get out of lavender shirts. Not all gay men are fabulous, okay?

Mae, on the other hand, I really did like. As the only woman in the novel, except Batshit!Mum, she’s bearing a heavy responsibility not to be awful. She’s starts off as quite stereotypical heroine material (pink-haired and feisty) but thankfully she soon emerges as a strong, determined and capable human being in her own right. For someone cast in an alien and hostile world, she does damn well. She is neither perfect nor superspecial, she’s occasionally vulnerable, and she makes mistakes. But she’s also rock-solid. I loved the fact she's sensible and confident and as committed to Jamie, in her way, as Alan and Nick are committed to each other. As the only chance anyone has of getting laid without turning gay, she is, needless to say, the epicentre of the book’s sexual tension. On the other hand she actually manages to navigate it gracefully:

He reached out with lazy intent to touch her hair, and she grabbed his wrist an instant before he touched her. “Think a lot of yourself, don’t you?” Nick blinked. “I thought-“ “You think you can use me as a way to punish Alan,” said Mae. “I noticed.” “That wouldn’t be the only reason,” Nick told her, leaning against the willow by her side. The bark was rough against his bare skin. “Oh no?” asked Mae. “What’s the other reason?” Nick smiled a small smile that someone watching them would not have been able to see. It touched his lips and lingered for a moment, private and promising. “Might be fun.” “I don’t think so,” said Mae. She stepped away from him. Her eyes were narrowed. “I’m not stupid,” she said. “I’m attracted to you, I could be attracted to Alan but what does it matter? I’ve been attracted to people before. I’m not looking to settle down, and I’m not territory to be fought over in your little war. I won’t let myself be used and I won’t let whatever crisis you’re having hurt my brother’s chance to live.”

Go Mae! I like reading about pretty, angsty boys having angst and being pretty as much as the next girl but I’m increasingly impatient with novels with next to no female characters in them. Brennan seems at least as interested in Mae as she is in the rest of her cast. The focus on Nick and Alan’s unravelling family life means that she was slightly under-used but I am entirely hopeful more of Mae’s awesomeness in future books.

Despite trotting along at a reasonable pace, The Demon’s Lexicon not the most action-packed novel. There are some exciting moments but its main developments and revelations are firmly anchored in the characters. Basically, if you like Alan, Nick, Mae and Jamie, you’ll like The Demon’s Lexicon, otherwise there’s nothing much to draw you. I will say this though: Brennan can really write an ending. Probably because I went in with relatively low expectations, the misdirection fairy led me a merry dance and then my TINY MIND WAS BLOWN.

Brennan has quite a spare, dialogue-reliant style, but it works well for the novel, despite being occasionally a trifle cliched, especially since Nick isn’t exactly the verbose and flowery type. Also throughout the novel the juxtaposition of the banal with the weird and outlandish works very well – for example, the book opens with Nick trying to a fix a leak in the sink because he keeps his favourite sword under there. I rather appreciated Gerald the magician as well. You’d think it would be hard to be even remotely scared of a person called Gerald but he actually becomes quite threatening, almost precisely because of how ‘normal’ he seems.

The magician had a shock of sandy hair, standing up on his head and then falling into his eyes like the petals on a rather floppy daffodil, and beneath the sandy mop he had a narrow, inquisitive face…. He opened wide grey eyes, blinked and looked dismayed. “Oh Lord,” said the magician. “Now I am in the soup.”

The Demon’s Lexicon is surprisingly dark story, despite all the witty wisecracking and sexual tension. The world Nick and Alan inhabit is a genuinely nasty place. I liked the stark morality of it as well. Although demons are complex creatures with complex needs, magicians are human beings who feed other human beings to demons. They are, without a shadow of a doubt, just plain bad. I’m not sure to what extent this is meant to excuse or simplify the fact that both Alan and Nick are killers are in their own right but I think it allows Brennan to have a pair of protagonists who are willing, and forced, to do some extreme things to protect themselves, without turning them into monsters or insisting that they’re saints. (I’m vaguely reminded of that wonderful Harry Potter video which, sadly, I can’t remember anything about bar the content – it’s basically clip after clip after clip of Harry attacking people with his wand, after which Dumbledore explains very gently that his gift is “love, Harry.”)

Occasionally, however, it doesn’t quite work. We learn that the only way to remove a demon mark is to kill a magician and paint over the mark in their blood. About halfway through they do actually succeed in catching a magician. We are told that Nick and Alan have killed magicians before but nevertheless the plot seems to demand they dance around this one like a pair of utter pansies, allowing him to escape. Of course, there’s a fair degree to dither over – both Alan and Jamie have marks that need removal and there’s a general feeling that Gerald might have some information that would be useful. But, although Brennan insists that Nick has not problem with killing and/or torturing Gerald, they fail to prioritise either in a really troublesome way. I’m not saying that I wanted to watch Nick torture a magician – I’m not sure if that might not have put him morally a little too far out of the grey and into the just plain wrong – but I wish Brennan could have brought this scene to its natural conclusion in a slightly more convincing way, instead of suddenly having a group of people who are nothing if not competent turn inept for no apparent reason.

The Demon’s Lexicon is an extremely competent debut novel, that handles its complicated plot and its complex characters and it’s difficult point of view very maturely indeed. You can tell that it’s a first novel, and there is a touch of fanservice about it here and there, but I really enjoyed reading it. I could have done with a touch more action and a touch less angst, a touch more Mae and a touch less brotherly love, and just a tinsy winsy let up on the wisecracking but I’m definitely interested to see where Brennan will take it.

Themes:

Books

,

Sci-fi / Fantasy

,

Young Adult / Children

~

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~Comments (

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)

Arthur B

at 13:19 on 2009-09-10

Nick and Alan have spent their life on the run because their mother was once in love with a powerful magician called Black Arthur (hee hee).

THAT'S RACIST D:

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Sister Magpie

at 19:23 on 2009-09-10I enjoyed this very much too. And as I understand it, the second book is from Mae's pov.

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Wardog

at 20:39 on 2009-09-10Is it really? WEEEEEE!

That makes me really happy.

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http://roisindubh211.livejournal.com/

at 20:22 on 2009-09-13I liked Nick. Not in a "oh I want to hug him and then take his clothes off" kind of way, but in a "I can appreciate a ruthless bastard" kind of way. If your life depends on you killing people before they get to you and your family, angst only gets in the way and makes you stupid at plot convenient moments.

I like Nick a lot better than Alan, actually- since he doesn't really feel anything, and only cares about Alan's life, you always know exactly where he's coming from. Alan can be loving, kind, worried, etc., but he's also a ruthless bastard who can lie and manipulate for whatever ends he serves, good or bad. I can see Alan turning evil a lot sooner than Nick, mostly because he has to compartmentalize, "ok, this is bad, but it prevents this which is worse" or whatever, while Nick is all "I like killing magicians. I like killing anyone who looks at my brother funny. And anyone who suggests that's wrong is really stupid." (Maybe I see a little too much of myself in Nick; I can be plenty compassionate and empathetic, but I totally retreat into hardshelled thing in upsetting situations)

Also, I think a lot of the dithering over killing a magician was a combination of

1. they needed to kill two of them without getting caught themselves; usually they move on after one

2. I'm pretty sure the magician had to be not dead but dying for the blood to work (that's the impression I got at that scene, anyway). I'm not sure Nick is good at the "attack without obliterating" bit.

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Robinson L

at 00:02 on 2009-09-15Mae does sound pretty cool, and the attitude toward human relationships displayed in that excerpt is a lot more mature than most of the stuff I've read. Still don't know if I'm interested enough to read the book though, especially after seeing

Viorica's reaction

.

(I’m vaguely reminded of that wonderful Harry Potter video which, sadly, I can’t remember anything about bar the content – it’s basically clip after clip after clip of Harry attacking people with his wand, after which Dumbledore explains very gently that his gift is “love, Harry.”)

Would that be

this one

?

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Viorica

at 02:06 on 2009-09-15Man, I love ThatGuyWithTheGlasses. He always manages to highlight exactly what's wrong with what he's criticising.

I guess my biggest problem with the book is that it has nothing new to offer. Usually I tend to enjoy stuff that has some kind of new take on things, but this book just seemed to be a rehash of stuff I'd seen before. The close

Supernatural

parallels were just the icing on the unoriginality cake; when I realized that I could categorize each character after they'd had less than ten lines, I knew that I wasn't going to be entertained.

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Wardog

at 12:40 on 2009-09-15That's the one, I knew somebody would be able to find teh clip again for me! Ah, it's a little piece of sublime brilliance. I love it.

I like Nick a lot better than Alan, actually- since he doesn't really feel anything, and only cares about Alan's life, you always know exactly where he's coming from.

Actually that's precisely the reason I prefer Alan. I like the fact that his ruthlessness and his capacity for manipulation lie alongside gentleness and sociability and a very human need to love and be loved. I think it makes him more interesting, since we know precisely *why* Nick is as ruthless as he is.

Also, I get what you're saying about the magician-dither but I just felt that the scene was not as well handled as it could have been.

I guess my biggest problem with the book is that it has nothing new to offer.

I can see why you didn't like but truthfully I think originality is over-rated. I know that's a horribly glib thing to say (must be chanelling Dan) but actually you tend to know what you're getting with teenage urban fantasy and it's well executed that tends to be good enough for me. Also I think Brennan works well with her relatively unoriginal concepts - I mean, yes, Mae starts off like Wild-Child-By-Numbers but she very soon becomes a genuinely admirable person, I think. Also I think Brennan handles and portrays Nick extremely well - that, in itself, raises the book from the mire of mediocrity.

I'm not arguing with you, I think it's going to be one of those "agree to differ" situations, especially because I can see where all your criticisms spring from but I do think Brennan has more to offer than you give her credit for.

Also, Arkan, you should give a go - it's a fun read and genuinely well-done =P Don't like Viorica here put you off :)

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Robinson L

at 22:36 on 2009-09-16Happy to oblige.

I can see why you didn't like but truthfully I think originality is over-rated. I know that's a horribly glib thing to say (must be channeling Dan) but actually you tend to know what you're getting with teenage urban fantasy and it's well executed that tends to be good enough for me.

I agree;

the unoriginal and familiar can also be enjoyable when well-executed

.

I also know next to nothing about

Supernatural

, which probably helps. The main problem is that I'm chronically behind on my reading (slow reader endless supply of stuff to read), so I have to pick and choose the stuff which really excites me, or which I'm already into.

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http://roisindubh211.livejournal.com/

at 02:26 on 2009-09-17I think what I meant to say about Alan is that I found him *creepy* and kind of too good to be true at first. I kept getting brought up short by reminders that, despite the charisma, he is a dangerous dangerous dude. I kept thinking, "So what else are you hiding" and "why should Jamie and Mae trust you any more than your brother?"

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Robinson L

at 22:30 on 2009-11-03Thanks for pushing me to read this. I really enjoyed it. (Hate to say it, but I'm 90 pages into

Corbenic

and not enjoying it half as much.)

I would actually argue there are

two

closely related twists, the first of which Viorica spoiled, but the second of which caught me completely off-guard and blew my mind as well.

To my mind, it explains Gerald's escape as well, as killing him would've ruined the plan. Nick didn't know that, but he wasn't really in charge now, was he?

I see what roisindubh211 means about finding Alan creepy. In the first few pages, we learn that although he's extremely personable, he's also, very,

very

good at manipulating people. I doubted Rees Brennan would go that route, but it struck me as a good description of Anti-Social Personality Disorder (more common label: sociopath) ...

I didn't hate Nick, although he did get awfully irksome when he started hating on Alan, too.

Y'know, I find I have an awful lot to say about this book. Do you suppose it'd been unsporting if I submitted my own review, even though you and Viorica have already covered this territory?

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Wardog

at 10:29 on 2009-11-04I'm a bit embarrassed after my gushy reviews that you don't like Catherine Fisher - however, I'm putting it down to your lack of taste ;) To be fair, I don't think she's a very 'modern' style writer - she reminds me of Alan Garner, and Susan Cooper and other such writers who dominated my childhood reading experience (and scared me shitless).

All the same, glad you enjoyed this - and, yes, do feel free to write your own review - can't have too many opinions etc. etc.

I don't think Alan came close to a sociopathetic borderline for me but I think his skill at manipulating others is important to reminding us that the brothers are more alike than they are different ... and that humans have as much capacity to use and abuse other humans as demons do (cf the magicians).

Looking forward to MOAR! :)

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Robinson L

at 15:30 on 2009-11-04I wouldn't say I

dislike

Catherine Fisher (I've been contemplating the distinction between

not liking

and

disliking

since long before

Jamie said his piece

.)

Actually, Susan Cooper is a good example. Like Catherine Fisher, I enjoy her stories (

The Dark is Rising

series, anyway) but can never seem to get properly immersed in them. I guess come to most stories prepared to enjoy them in an abstract way on merit, but a really engaging story needs to hook me in emotionally.

The Demon's Lexicon

pulled that off pretty much from the word go, but

The Dark is Rising

and - so far -

Corbenic

never seemed to manage it.

and, yes, do feel free to write your own review - can't have too many opinions etc. etc.

Expect me to get back to you in ... oh, about three months or so.

The idea of Alan as a sociopath came to me very early, in their first meeting with Mae and Jamie. I think it came around the time I read this paragraph:

It was a testament to Alan's powers of persuasion that they did not laugh in his face. It was a testament to Alan's powers of looking nonthreatening that he could manage it with the door open on their destroyed kitchen, with a corpse on the floor. He rumpled his red hair and adjusted his glasses in an anxious sort of way, and he took a couple of steps back to the kitchen. He let them see the limp: He used that, the same way he used everything.

Okay, in the wrong hands, that kind of charisma can be

seriously

dangerous. Of course, we soon learn - just as I'd expected - that unlike persons with ASPD, Alan really does have a conscience and experiences empathy, so that's all right then, after all.

As you point out, we also learn that he's also a lot more selfish and abusive than he appears at first, which makes for a much more interesting and well-rounded character.

Looking forward to MOAR! :)

So am I, although is anyone else worried that Rees Brennan has written herself into a bit of a corner? I mean, she has to find a way to maintain story continuity without resorting to cop-outs or turning Nick into a complete Deus Ex Machina, or the whole thing will be a washout.

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http://altogetherisi.livejournal.com/

at 16:10 on 2009-12-02I'm aware that this review was written months ago and that there is very little chance anyone will read this comment, but whatever. I just really wanted to point out that the bit in the middle, when Nick and Alan have captured a magician and then seemingly become inept seems wrong because it is in fact wrong; what is actually happening is that Alan has decided to let the magician escape - the ineptitude is entirely intended on his part and manipulated into occuring in Nick by him.

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Wardog

at 18:28 on 2009-12-02No, no, I keep an eye comments - thanks for this. I guess I wasn't paying enough attention, or perhaps it was a question of clarity.

[booklr-16]

December/Christmas Book Haul

These were all the books I got for Christmas this month.

The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater - Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

The Dream Thieves, Maggie Stiefvater - Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…

Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Maggie Stiefvater - Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost.

The Raven King, Maggie Stiefvater - All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

It, Stephen King - They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name. 

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, Mackenzie Lee - Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

All Rights Reserved, Gregory Scott Katsoulis - Speth Jime is anxious to deliver her Last Day speech and celebrate her transition into adulthood. The moment she turns fifteen, Speth must pay for every word she speaks, for every nod, for every scream and even every gesture of affection. She’s been raised to know the consequences of falling into debt, and can’t begin to imagine the pain of having her eyes shocked for speaking words that she’s unable to afford. But when Speth’s friend Beecher commits suicide rather than work off his family’s crippling debt, she can’t express her shock and dismay without breaking her Last Day contract and sending her family into Collection. Rather than read her speech—rather than say anything at all—she closes her mouth and vows never to speak again, sparking a movement that threatens to destroy her, her family and the entire city around them.

My Lady Jane, Cynthia Hand, Brodie Ashton, Jodi Meadows - Edward (long live the king) is the King of England. He’s also dying, which is inconvenient, as he’s only sixteen and he’d much rather be planning for his first kiss than considering who will inherit his crown… Jane (reads too many books) is Edward’s cousin, and far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately for Jane, Edward has arranged to marry her off to secure the line of succession. And there’s something a little odd about her intended… Gifford (call him G) is a horse. That is, he’s an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated). Every day at dawn he becomes a noble chestnut steed—but then he wakes at dusk with a mouthful of hay. It’s all very undignified. The plot thickens as Edward, Jane, and G are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, our heroes will have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it’s off with their heads?

City of Lost Souls, Cassandra Clare - What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

Turtles All the Way Down, John Green - Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis. Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. 

Renegades, Marissa Meyer - The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone...except the villains they once overthrew. Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire - Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else. But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire - Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. This is the story of what happened first… Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline. Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got. They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted. They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare - The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them...

Clockwork Prince, Cassandra Clare - With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them. Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?