Review: Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Lament

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Series: Books of Faerie #1

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication date: October 8th 2008

Format: Paperback | 356 pages

Genre: YA | Fantasy

Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Dee is a cloverhand - someone who can see faeries.

When she finds herself irresistibly drawn to beautiful, mysterious Luke, Dee senses that he wants something more dangerous than a summer romance.

But Dee doesn't realise that Luke is an assassin from the faerie world.

And she is his next target.

My thoughts:

 

I'm a big fan of Stiefvater and one of the things I love about her most is the way she writes. She has the ability to completely draw me into the story from the very first page as if I was always a part of the world she's created. This book was no exception.

 

I fell in love with the characters of Lament straight away. Dee was so relatable and vulnerable at times that I couldn't help but hope she got a happy ending. Luke was the perfect enigma for a story like this - I loved his mystery and the way Dee had to figure him out. 

 

The plot revealed no secrets until the very end - the ending of this book was a complete surprise to me which was brilliant since I hate being able to predict what will happen. Lament was packed full of suspense even when there wasn't much action involved. I couldn't help but wait for the moment that everything would go wrong for the characters.

 

Overall I really liked this read, despite my usual aversion for books involving faeries. I would definitely recommend it for both fans of this author and of this genre.

 

My rating: 8/10

 

Maggie Stiefvater:

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Review: Maximum Security by Robert Muchamore

Title: Maximum Security

Author: Robert Muchamore

Series: Cherub #3

Publisher: Hodder

Publication date: April 14th 2006

Format: Paperback | 277 pages

Genre: YA 

Goodreads

Over the years, CHERUB has put plenty of criminals behind bars. Now, for the first time ever, they've got to break one out…

Under American law, kids convicted of serious crimes can be sentenced as adults. Two hundred and eighty of these child criminals live in the sunbaked desert prison of Arizona Max.

In one of the most daring CHERUB missions ever, James Adams has to go undercover inside Arizona Max, befriend an inmate and then bust him out.

My thoughts:

I'm starting to really love how in your face these books really are. This book was pretty much nonstop action - it was incredibly exciting, intense and engaging. For a book that is mostly plot driven, I seriously couldn't put it down.

What I love about this author is that he makes his writing somewhat realistic. I know there are no kid spies, but in this story, the CHERUB kids still behave like children. It puts it all back into perspective when they mess up purely because of their age and I like that. 

The only problem I had was that I have a feeling James is going to become a character that's really hard to like. So far I love his character, but there are hints of him becoming a little too arrogant. As for the rest of the characters I love them. There wasn't a lot of mention of all of them which was a little disappointing, but there was a lot of focus on Lauren this time. Lauren is on her way to become my favourite character in the CHERUB series.

Overall I really loved this book and this series is becoming a must read for me. I can't get through them fast enough - for all the right reasons of course.

My rating: 8/10

 

Robert Muchamore:

 

Goodreads | Website | Twitter | Facebook

 

 

Cherub:

 

1. The Recruit
2. Class A
3. Maximum Security
4. The Killing
5. Divine Madness
6. Man vs. Beast
7. The Fall
8. Mad Dogs
9. The Sleepwalker
10. Dark Sun
11. The General
12. Brigands M.C
13. Shadow Wave

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Review: Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind

Title: Stone of Tears

Author: Terry Goodkind

Series: Sword of Truth #2

Publisher: Gollancz

Publication date: 10 Jul 2008

Format: Paperback | 1040 pages

Genre: Epic Fantasy 

Goodreads

The veil of the underworld has been torn.

And Darken Rahl, from beyond the veil, has begun to summon a sinister power worse than any he has wielded before.

Armed with the Sword of Truth, Richard Cypher, now become Richard Rahl, must learn to control his own new-found power; or the world will spin into darkness unending.

The Sisters of Light promise help. While Richard journeys to their forbidden city, his beloved Kahlan sets out for Ayindril, citadel of the old wizards, in search of Zedd and the help only he can lend. War, suffering, torture, and deceit lie on their paths. So, also, does their destiny...

 

My thoughts:

Wow this was one monster of a book!

So far in the series, I'm really enjoying the writing style of the author. There's just enough description for me to believe I'm really there whilst not being so detailed to bore me to tears.  I love getting to know the world the characters live in and appreciate the imagination that's gone into it.

I also really loved the new characters introduced, especially Gratch. They interacted really well with each other and every character had their part to play in the story. I hope I see more of some of them in the books to come.

The plot was a little all over the place at times since there was a lot of focus on subplots. The author switches the point of view of the characters almost constantly so the story doesn't really come together until the very end - with a book this size, it seems like a very long wait.

Overall I enjoyed this read. It was exciting and full of suspense - I can't wait to see what's in store for all of the characters.

My rating: 8/10

Terry Goodkind:

Goodreads | Website | Twitter | Facebook

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Review: Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

Title: Magic Burns

Author: Ilona Andrews

Series: Kate Daniels #2

Publisher: Penguin

Publication date: April 2008

Format: Paperback | 260 pages

Genre: Adult | Urban Fantasy 

Goodreads

Down in Atlanta, tempers – and temperatures – are about to flare…

As a mercenary who cleans up after magic gone wrong, Kate Daniels has seen her share of occupational hazards. Normally, waves of paranormal energy ebb and flow across Atlanta like a tide. But once every seven years, a flare comes, a time when magic runs rampant. Now Kate’s going to have to deal with problems on a much bigger scale: a divine one.

When Kate sets out to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta’s paramilitary clan of shapeshifters, she quickly realizes much more at stake. During a flare, gods and goddesses can manifest – and battle for power. The stolen maps are only the opening gambit in an epic tug-of-war between two gods hoping for rebirth. And if Kate can’t stop the cataclysmic showdown, the city may not survive…

My thoughts:

If this series carries on the way it has so far, I'm going to love every book more than the last. 

Somehow, I've managed to fall in love with Kate Daniels even more as well as all the supporting characters. I don't even know what to say about them without fangirling all over the place.

 

I pretty much loved everything about this book and that's all there is to it. I loved the writing, I loved that it made me laugh and smile and get tears in my eyes. I loved the crazy plot with all of the hints of things to come. I just seriously can't wait to get my hands on the next book.

 

My rating: 10/10

 

Ilona Andrews:

Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Twitter

 

Kate Daniels:

1. Magic Bites
2. Magic Burns
3. Magic Strikes
4. Magic Bleeds
5. Magic Slays
6. Magic Rises

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Review: Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Title: Magic Bites

Author: Ilona Andrews

Series: Kate Daniels #1

Publisher: Orion

Publication date: April 1st 2007

Format: Paperback | 288 pages

Genre: Adult | Urban Fantasy

Goodreads

Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren't for the magic…

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate's guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta's magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate's guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she's way out of her league—but she wouldn't have it any other way…

My thoughts:

I'm a big fan of this genre so of course that would mean I read a lot of it. It's started to take a lot more for me to fall in love with a series like this one, but I found myself impressed very quickly.

I felt a little out of my depth when I first started reading - the author didn't waste any time with introducing a load of characters and information about the world this book is set in. It didn't take long to get used to though and I steadily grew to love being able to figure out the ins and outs of this 'version' of Atlanta by myself. It made things a little more interesting.

What I loved most of all was the characters. Kate has a load of flaws - more than most protagonists - and she knows it, she doesn't cover them up. She also has her moments where her strength shines and that's where the read gets very exciting. I don't really know what to say about Curran. I actually didn't like him at first, I found him to be really brash and slightly too arrogant but he's really, really grown on me. I really enjoyed the way he and Kate interacted - it made me laugh at times, and at others I got incredibly excited to find out what was going to happen between them. Kate brought him back down to earth with how much she challenged him, so their relationship really worked. 

Overall I loved this book - it was full of action and suspense, but most of all, the romance was put aside for the most part so it wasn't the main focus of the story which was great. 

My rating: 8/10

Ilona Andrews:

Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Twitter

 

Kate Daniels:

1. Magic Bites
2. Magic Burns
3. Magic Strikes
4. Magic Bleeds
5. Magic Slays
6. Magic Rises

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Review: Class A by Robert Muchamore

Title: Class A

Author: Robert Muchamore

Series: Cherub #2

Publisher: Hodder

Publication date: 15 April 2004

Format: Paperback | 352 pages

Genre: YA

Goodreads

CHERUB agents are trained, talented, under 17, and do not exist. James' second mission is to smack down the world's most powerful drug lord. He hits the streets, where the dealers work. It's a vicious business. But James is going to take it down ... from the top.

My thoughts:

I am really enjoying this series so far.

What I love most of all is how exciting the books are. There's no end to the action and the suspense. What's more is that they're really quick reads too so I end up reading them entirely in one sitting. This book was especially thrilling since it dealt with the characters trying to take down a drug lord. As you can imagine, there was a lot of fighting throughout the book.

A lot more of the characters that I grew to love in the first book, The Recruit, took part in James' mission this time round. It was brilliant to read about them all together with the way they interacted and worked in each others best interests. There were a couple of new characters introduced too who I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know.

There isn't much I can say about this one without giving anything away. Since I hate spoilers, let me just say so far, I really recommend this series if not for the characters or wit, then for how gripping the story really is in itself.

My rating: 9/10

 

Robert Muchamore:

 

Goodreads | Website | Twitter | Facebook

 

 

Cherub:

 

1. The Recruit
2. Class A
3. Maximum Security
4. The Killing
5. Divine Madness
6. Man vs. Beast
7. The Fall
8. Mad Dogs
9. The Sleepwalker
10. Dark Sun
11. The General
12. Brigands M.C
13. Shadow Wave

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Review: The Recruit by Robert Muchamore

Title: The Recruit

Author: Robert Muchamore

Series: Cherub #1

Publisher: Hodder

Publication date: April 15th 2004

Format: Paperback | 329 pages

Genre: YA 

Goodreads

A terrorist doesn't let strangers into her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligence agents, but her children bring their mates home and they run all over the place.

The terrorist doesn't know that one of these kids has bugged every room in her house, made copies of all her computer files and stolen her address book. The kid works for CHERUB.

CHERUB agents are aged between ten and seventeen. They live in the real world, slipping under adult radar and getting information that sends criminals and terrorists to jail.

For official purposes, these children do not exist.

 

My thoughts:

This read was definitely not what I was expecting. I've been planning to read this series for a while and I found myself having no problem getting stuck in!

There is no end to the action in this book. It's just constant excitement from beginning until the very end to the extent that I didn't put the book down - I read it entirely in one sitting. There are so many fight scenes, intense 'boot camp like' moments and an insane amount of violence for the age of the characters.

At times, it felt a little weird when the ages of the characters were mentioned since they seem so much older than they are. You'll see what I mean if you read the book. I have to admit it made me a little uncomfortable, but I digress.

The plot was a little here and there. A lot of events seemed to be packed into this book - in one book James gets put in a children's home, introduced to CHERUB, trained to become a CHERUB agent and partakes a small mission. Don't get me wrong, it was all amazing to read about, but it didn't flow very well as a story.

The characters are brilliant. What I loved most about this book actually. They all had their strengths and weaknesses, their own distinct characteristics and they were, above all, realistic. Apart from the whole spy business, they acted like kids - they made fun of each other, messed up, got punished and then moved on from it…they developed really well.

Overall I love this book. It's most definitely one I'll be coming back to over and over - I can't wait to see where the series goes from here.

My rating: 8/10

Robert Muchamore:

Goodreads | Website | Twitter | Facebook

Cherub:

1. The Recruit
2. Class A
3. Maximum Security
4. The Killing
5. Divine Madness
6. Man vs. Beast
7. The Fall
8. Mad Dogs
9. The Sleepwalker
10. Dark Sun
11. The General
12. Brigands M.C
13. Shadow Wave

Read More