Reading Reflection: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1)
by Laini Taylor
Published 27th 2011
P. 432
Rating: 5/5

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

I have to admit, after a few pages in this book I was utterly confused.  Karou, the female lead, was baffling.  The book starts off with her natural bright blue hair, her mastery of languages, a charismatic ex-boyfriend who broke her heart, the beautiful city of Prague -- not so confusing, but then...

Karou is an artist and the first few pages refers to her skill, specifically her notebooks filled with pictures of creatures with names, personas, and little anecdotes.  Kishmish, Issa, Twiga, Yasri, and Brimstone -- made up of different animal and human parts -- all creations of her mind.  Or so I thought, even when she says she spends time with them I thought it meant like the time I spent with characters in a book.  No not so much, they really existed.

That's when I was confused, but intrigued with the storyline.  I already liked Karou and her attitude, but things just kept getting more and more bizarre without warning.  She has a necklace that grants small wishes, her drawings are not imaginary, and then a bizarre bird/messenger Kishmish sends her a message while she's in the middle of dinner with her best friend Zuzanna.

And it gets even stranger...

Brimstone is a real creature, who works in a magically hidden workshop and sends Karou on various missions to collect... teeth.  Yes, teeth.  Brimstone and these other creatures have raised Karou her entire life and she knows next to nothing about them.  She loves them, they really are her family, but their entire existence is shrouded in such mystery that it's impossible to fully understand what is going on.  It also adds to the mystery of Karou, she barely knows anything about them, but she also knows less about herself.  She doesn't know where she came from, or how she came to belong to this group.

Now enter Akiva, an unemotional, but of course gorgeous angel-type.  He and his kind have been marking all the doors leading to Brimstones lair.  Why?  Who knows?  Karou doesn't, but she faces him during one of her teeth finding missions.  Apparently, they are not on the same side.  Karou doesn't know why, she's clueless to all this alternate life that goes on around her, but the mysterious tattoos on her palms save her from this battle... another mystery.  Akiva seems confused by her tattoos as well, but he knows their meaning.  From that point on Akiva is drawn to her, but can't explain why.

Now the entire book seems very unclear and confusing.  It's filled with this partially explained otherness surrounding Karou, but without clear definitive answers.  That's the magic of the book.  She knows nothing about her life, nothing, and all these events leave the reader fully aware of this fact.  Then bam... it's a story inside a story.  All of a sudden all these secrets are revealed.  That's when I fell in love with the book.  Everything made sense.  All the confusion turned into an unexpected fairy tale. 

This was a great book, magically written and I cannot wait for the next one to come out. 

Reading Reflection: Angelfall

Angelfall (Penryn and the End of Days #1)
by Susan Ee
Published May 21st 2011
P. 255
Rating: 5/5

It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Alright, I originally gave this book a 4 rating, but bumped it up to a 5 rating.  There were just so many things that set this apart from my other reads that I had to rate it accordingly.

Penryn is a 17 year-old who is trying to survive after angels descend and destroy humans in the apocalypse.  Her sister is wheel-chair bound and her mother is a paranoid schizophrenic off her meds -- that leaves Pen to handle their survival.  On their plan to move, Penryn witnesses something and is forced to intervene.  She witnessed one of the angels being assaulted by his own... by assault I mean beatings and wing ripping.  By saving this one angel, Raffe, she opened the opppertunity for the other aavenging angels to capture her disabled sister, Paige.  

Pen will do anything to save her sister, even if it means teaming up with the enemy.  Together, Pen and Raffe travel  through California, trying to reach the same place, but with different goals.

Alright, that's the general storyline.  Now the reasons I love this book.  One, I grew up in a very religious home... angels were kinda scary in the stories I was told.  I love how this book turns these beings into the avenging angels found in a lot of the biblical texts: scary, ruthless, and on a mission that often meant annihilating whole areas while only warning a selected few.  Not dreamy-eyed love interests.  This twist on angels was sooo very interesting and familiar.  

Two: I grew up with a family memeber who was a paranoid schizophrenic... that was a wild time.  How the author portrays Pen's mother -- especially during an apocalypse and off her medication -- is very realistic.  I remember the lucidness leaving my gentle aunt's features before a paranoid bout of insanity drove her into wild frenzies.  So I related to this aspect of the book.  I kept imagining her in some of these scenes, and from my experience, it didn't seem too far off.   

Now my favorite part.  Pen and Raffe.  Pen is strong, determined, loyal, and compassionate.  She is a wonderful protagonist with the right level of hardness to help her survive.  It's not overbearing though, not like she's lost all hope and is just making it day to day -- their's still life and compassion in her.  That's what sets her apart in my mind, she hasn't turned ruthless and lost her sense of emotions.  Raffe, of course, is beautiful, arrogant, and tough as nails. However, there are scenes that you can really see how emotionally torn he is by every thing he's faced.  The thing I love about this story is that it's not centered around a growing love... it's a growing comraderie and friendship.  Though these two are on opposing teams, they develop a loyal dedication to one another -- helping and supporting one another in their mission.  Of course, something brews from this, but its not the focus of the story. 

That's what set this novel apart for me so much, it wasn't a love at first sight -- forbidden love -- I'd die for you story.  It was a development of mutual trust and genuine regard, with slight hints of infatuation.  Very well written. 

Reading Reflection: Hex Hall

Hex Hall (Hex Hall #1)
by Rachel Hawkins
Published March 2nd 2010
P. 336
Rating: 5/5

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

What a fantastic and fun book.  I have to admit, after looking at the cover I thought maybe this is a little too YA for me.   But it wasn't.  It was funny, witty, interesting, and very well written.  A great quick read.

Sophie is a witch -- not a good one.  As in lots of "oops" moments.  After a malfunctioned love spell performed to help a fellow student at prom, she is sent to reform school.  There her classmates include white and dark witches, fairies, werewolves, and her roommate the only vampire.  From the moment she walks onto campus everything seems to go wrong: an almost werewolf attack, rooming with the most hated person on campus, a gorgeous but snarky warlock, the mean girls targeting her, and a typically aggressive and miserable PE teacher.  In other words, typical teenage drama with a magical twist.

Sophie gets into lots of trouble, heaps, but most is inadvertently.  First of all, her mother and father withheld alot of information about herself, witchcraft in general, and where her power originates.  It doesn't help that her father, the one who passed over the magic gene, has been absent for her entire life.  She honestly was unaware of so much, I felt bad for her naivety while the other students knew so much more.  It definitely didn't help her fit into the new school.

However, another major problem is her mouth.  I loved her witty, sarcastic, and funny remarks at every situation.  Fantastic, but looking for trouble.  I related to her inappropriate jokes, at the most inappropriate times.

Now their are a lot of other characters that should be mentioned, but Sophie is by far the best.  Elodie, Anna, and Chasten are the beautiful mean girls.  They want Sophie to join their coven, but she refuses and they react accordingly -- by being mean girls.  Jenna is the only vampire, Sophie's new roommate, possible BFF, and hated by everyone at the school.  Vandy, the sadistic PE instructor who hates Sophie from the beginning.  Mrs Casnoff is the headmistress of the school who kinda grows on me by the end, but there's still something about her.  There's also Cal, the sexy young grounds keeper with the special ability to heal.  There isn't a large mention of him in this novel, but I have a feeling something more is going on with him.

Then there's Asher -- the resident hottie.  He is dating Elodie, but even I wished he didn't.  There are definite sparks between him and Sophie, he comes to her rescue on more than one occasion.  Not only that, I absolutely love their witty banter and general ease with one another.  Their building relationship was fantastic.

Overall this was a great book.  It was a very easy read.  The author did an amazing job with the overall writing of the book, the dialogue being one of my favorite aspects.  Not many people can pull off that amount of sarcasm in one novel.  Loved it.

Reading Reflection: Divergent

Divergent
by Veronica Roth
Published May 3rd 2011
p. 487
Rating: 5/5

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

Alright, I thought I was opposed to dystopian novels because of the first series I read in this genre, Hunger Games, but apparently I just wasn't very fond of those three books.  It made me hesitate to check out Divergent, but I'm glad I did... I liked this book sooo much better. 

The concept behind Divergent is that at the age of 16 everyone must decide what faction they will devote the rest of their lives to: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite.  They can decide to go along with their families, or choose something entirely different.  However, once the decision is made the person is expected to live accordingly for the rest of their lives.

Beattrice, later taking on the name Tris, is from a family originally Abnegation - the selfless group.  Everyone in this faction places others' needs and wants above their own.  They live life plainly with very strict rules always placing others first.  Tris decides after 16 years of being associated with the  Abnegation, she wanted to  join the Dauntless faction -- the brave.

Um, the Dauntless are crazy.  They jump on and off moving trians, off roofs, learn hand to hand combat, shoot guns, throw knives, and are expected to face their own fears.  I thought it was very interesting that a girl who was not allowed to look in the mirror (because it promotes vanity) or speak at the dinner table would choose this type of faction.  But she did, was awesome at it, and has a secret.

Tris is a unique character.  There is something almost cold and rigid about her, but I found her fascinating.  I expected someone from the Abnegation group to be almost timid and mild, but she wasn't.  She excelled in the Dauntless faction.  I enjoyed reading about her bravery and how she simply just seemed to fit in so seamlessly into the group.  The good thing about her was that she wasn't hostile, or brutal, like some of the other characters who joined the faction.  She really encompassed the meaning of bravery.

Of course there is a love interest, Four, who turns out to be Tobias.  He is one of Tris' trainers and always seems to be providing support, however she may need it.  I'm glad they get together because they remind me of one another.  They're are both strong, but compassionate at the same time. 

Along with training to ensure she stays in a faction and dealing with a relationship, Tris has to deal with her secret: she is a Divergent.  I'm still not entirely sure what it means, but if certain people find out she won't survive.  Also, this trait of hers comes in handy at the end of the story, when things go awry and a war begins. 

I really enjoyed this book.  I loved the characters and the plot, they were really interesting and the story was very well put together.  I cannot wait for the next book in the series. 

Reading Reflection: Pandemonium

Pandemonium
by Lauren Oliver
Publushed February 28th 2012
P. 375
Rating: 5/5

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Holy extremely awkward ending Batman!
I've been waiting for this book forever.. okay not forever.  I only read Delirium last month, but 30 days felt like a long time. 

Okay, I'm not sure if I love this book for the sole purpose of loving the book or because it left me super amped for the next one.  I haven't yet decided, but there is minimal or possibly nothing I found really wrong with the plot line. 

In the previous book, Lena and Alex tried to escape into the wilds, but Alex didn't make it which literally broke my heart.  I loved Alex and Lena together, after reading the first book I had to submerge myself in hours of Family Guy to get over my depression.  This book picks up right after that horrible instance.  However, the author flips back and forth between different time periods of Lena's life.  One chapter in the Wilds, the next chapter present day, one chapter in the Wilds, the next chapter present day, and so forth.  I have to admit, a ridiculously embarrassing dumb moment kept me from understanding the first few chapters, then I remembered that I had critical thinking skills and used them. 

Then... I loved the concept.  Every other chapter you saw Lena's struggle through heart break, loss, and unfamiliarity in the Wilds.  You learned about the characters that created this new home, their struggle, and the process of Lena acclimating to the new environment.  Then, the other chapters you get to see Lena and her new role, taking on responsibilites and missions for the resistance... it was like two stories in one and I liked the style. 

Now, in Lena's new role, or her mission, she is told to follow Julian: a young man whose family is a major part of the cure.  They both get kidnapped and held hostage together.  Needless to say they grow a bond.  Do I like Julian, not at first because I love Alex, but I see how the relationship can build.  I also felt that Lena had changed roles with Alex.  He was the one who introduced her to new ideas, sensations, and love.  Now Lena is playing that role with Julian.  He might be slightly brainwashed, but theirs hope, curiosity, and strength in him - which is why I can't hate him.  He reminds me of clueless Lena.

Now... the last page of this book... HOLY HORIFFICALLY AWKWARD MOMENT BATMAN!
That's all I have to say.  I don't know if I should wish bad things on Lauren Oliver or applaud her for ingeniousness, because the next book I'll be purchasing the day it is released.