In Love of the Written Word

Through The Ever Night: Veronica Rossi

ALEX NO LIKE!!! *I say as I aggressively throw the book across the room.* Ugh, I just don’t know with this one. I LOVED Under The Never Sky. I loved the way she developed Aria and brought her into Perry’s world and how great of his character was. But this book just fell apart for me. Starting off with my dislike list is the fact that Veronica Rossi still has the book switching between Aria and Perry’s points of view, the problem with this is that their stories overlap each other a lot. It will explain something that Perry was doing, then in the next chapter it’s what Aria was doing while Perry was doing that other thing. It slowed the story down incredibly for me. And my next dislike was how Perry and Aria hardly spent ANY time together in this book. They kind of just meet up at times then it’s like ‘ok gotta go do stuff!’ And my third dislike was WHAT THE FUCCKING CHRISTT PERYY WHATAAT AER YOU DOING TO ME I HATE YOU WHATS WRONG WITH YOU WHYYYYYYY. I will not go further than that, but when you read it, you will know. YOU WILL KNOW. Now that I’m past that, Through The Ever Night picks up a few months after the first book. Aria has spent a lot of time with Roar, while Perry has been home, learning how to be Blood Lord. The Aether storms are getting worse, driving more and more tribes from their homes because the storms are destroying the land. Perry is facing many difficulties, learning how to keep the Tides safe, while also starting to understand more of the pressures his father and brother were under while they were Blood Lords. And blah,blah,blah…. stuff goes on, and we continue our search for the Still Blue. I don’t even know what else to add. Ok so I guess it’s like a 4 out of 7. or a 3. Next book better be awesome Rossi.

Wuthering Heights: Emily Bronte

Whaaaatttt. This books. Honestly. I don’t even know. So, Heathcliffe is in love with Catherine, and she’s like, no he’s adopted and poor, and he goes away for three years and she marries someone else and he comes back and proceeds to fuck things up for everybody. This books was read with a constant expression of disbelief on my face. A man shows up at the house because he is renting the property from Heathcliffe, who owns it. And what he sees is a family or resentment and hatred. When he returns back to his rented home, he asks the housekeeper if she knows what has made them like that. And Ellen Dean recounts her story of growing up with them. I don;t understand how this story is seen as an epic romance, seeing as how they were together like, 3 times saying they couldn’t live without each other. Ugh, it was just a,  long journey of weirdness for me. It’s not that I didn’t like the book, it’s just that I would have taken a shotgun and killed Heathcliffe a long time ago. Ellen in the ONLY voice of reason in this story. I almost felt like she was just thrown into a mental institute and left to fend for herself. It’s kind of like, ” hey let’s set ourselves on fire!” And Ellen is like “no I really think that would be improper you saucy people.” Well, review is 3 out of 6. or 2.5 out of 5. It was written beautifully, but the story just scared me too much.

“I felt that God had forsaken the stray sheep there to its own wicked wanderings, and an evil beast prowled between it and the fold, waiting his time to spring and destroy.”

Heights- Pg. 122

“But I begin to fancy you don’t like me. How strange! I thought, though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me, and they have all turned to enemies in a few hours.”

Heights- Pg. 139

“And believe that your kindness has made me love you deeper than if I deserved your love, and though I couldn’t, and cannot help showing my nature to you, I regret it, and repent it, and shall regret, and repent it, till I die!” 

Heights- Pg. 290

My interpretation of the novel. Everybody is a mess.

Perks Of Being A Wallflower: Stephen Chbosky

Finally decided I should read this after its has gotten such great hipster reviews. First off, all those fucking quotes you keep seeing like the infinity one and the love you deserve one, to me, have almost nothing to do with the book and what it is about. And again everyone saying ‘oh I cried so much I never cry but I cried now and I’m infinite and junk.’ I did not cry, this book is depressing as fuck. It is a good book, a different writing style as it is written as diary entries/ letters, and the narrator is a 15 year old boy entering high school. And can I say that our   experiences were noTHING ALIKE. Then again I try to make everyone happy and I’ve never felt like doing drugs, drinking and such, and there is a lot of that in this book. Charlie, the main character, is a boy with a simplistic mind set, who just wants to be what people are happy having him be. If it makes sense. It’s an interesting view point because Charlie himself doesn’t have much emotion that shows through, so he is typically a bystander looking into this messed up world. I don’t relate much to the character, and halfway through the book I had to put it down and go to bed because it was making me depressed, buttttttt apparently everyone loves it!My favourite part of this book is how because of his detachment from his own life, Charlie seems to be the only person to really see people as they are, good and bad together, without any personal judgment. I would say a 3.5 or 4 out of five. Worth reading. And I am putting up quotes from the book that I thought best carried through who Charlie was and what this book meant to me. And don’t worry no big spoilers or anything.

“I thought about him going into my mom’s room when she was little and hitting my mom and holding up her report card and saying that her bad grades would never happen again. And I think now that maybe he meant my older brother. Or my sister. Or me. That he would make sure that he was the last one to work in a mill.”

Perks- Pg. 59

“And he hung it on the bathroom door

          Because this time he didn’t think

          he could reach the kitchen.”

Perks-Pg. 73

“So, I looked up, and we were in this giant dome like a glass snowball, and Mark said that the amazing white stars were really only holes in the black glass of the dome, and when you weant to heaven, the glass broke away, and there was nothing but a whole sheet of star white, which is brighter than anything but doesn’t hurt your eyes. It was vast and open and thinley quiet, and I felt so small.”

Perks-Pg. 95

“I would die for you. But I won’t live for you.”

Perks/ The Fountainhead- Pg. 169

AWESOME BOOKS

LEVIATHAN: SCOTT WESTERFELD

On the brink of war, the world is divided between Darwinists and Clankers. Through selective breeding and highly developed gene manipulation, the Darwinists have created fantastic new creatures to help them in everyday life as replacment for the heavily automated world of the Clankers, who through science and mechanics made huge machines far beyond what we have today. This world is simply amazing, and the main characters have such heart and bravery they are instantly likeable. Whether posing as a boy to join the Darwin military, or the prince of a country on the edge of war, each character shows great strength, and this series is awesome. ‘Nuff said.

Tiger’s Destiny: Colleen Houck

This book is kind of like the Need series for me. Not that great of writing, kind of shitty main character but awesome story line and side characters. Beginning with Tiger’s Curse, this series is about Kelsey, a pretty boring girl with an innability to say anything of any real interest, who meets two brothers from India cursed to take the form of tigers. I won’t say a whole lot of the key points of the story line in case you haven’t read the series, and I know I seem to be bashing it but I do want you to read it. So, Kelsey travels to India with Mr. Kidam and Ren as they try to figure out how to break the curse. They pick up Ren’s sexy brother Kishan along the way, and start their quest of finding 4 magical items. With each item found, the brothers earn more time as human, and less time as tigers. First of, why anyone would want to be fully human and give up being part tiger, super strong and able to heal quickly, I have no clue. Being part tiger sounds awesome, and in the book it actually is, so I don’t know why they want to break this “curse”. Anyway, Kelsey and the brothers have to go to several of the godess Durga’s temples to bring her to life so that she can show them the way to the next magical item. Of course, there is a love triangle between the two brothers and Mr. Kadam. Just kidding. It’s between Kelsey and the brothers and the typical ‘which one should I choose?’ kind of deal. But, this author spices it up a little bit so it isn’t incredibly boring. In Tiger’s Destiny, Kelsey, Ren and Kishan are off to find the 4th and final magical item. Not a big spoiler, there are 4 books, so they obviously didn’t just die in the first book or say fuck it and joined some sort of gang or something. As the end of their adventure is nearing, Kelsey is feeling the pressure more than ever to choose between the brothers, and even after all of my creys, apparently there is going to be ANOTHER book. No idea what it might be about, but I will be there. Waiting. A dark knight. And so this book, even with the weak main character, gets like a 3.5 or 4 out of 5. I should probably just make a rating system. I’ll look into it. Toby out. Oh wait shit, that’s not my line.

Dreamless: Josephine Angelini

I may not have been too big of a fan of Starcrossed, but I loved Dreamless. Helen is alone. Her mother won’t talk to her, her boyfriend is actually her cousin and her friends are all starting to distance themselves as Helen dives deeper into Hades. Night after night she arrives in another landscape in hell as she tries to figure out how to stop the Furies that have plagued the Scions for years. Now that she knows Lucas is her cousin, both of them try their best to put some distance  between themselves, while everyone watches Helen sink into insanity. Her only fresh breath of air is the lovely Orion, an outcast Scion sent by her mother to help her in Hades. What I instantly liked better in this book was the fact that she has her powers as a Scion and she’s developing them. Not just having random magic shit pop out of thin air like in Starcrossed. And you really get to bond better with Helen, as you see her struggling through her life on Earth and in Hades. And you just get angry at the other characters for not trusting or understanding Helen because you were there, you know what she’s going through and everyone treats her like a pariah. Her struggle with Lucas is good; you can’t just forget what they have been through, how he tries to help her and how she tries to carry on without him. But her new relationship with Orion is better. He’s the super hot, powerful funny guy who actually understands what she’s going through. This book was pretty awesome and almost impossible to put down. I can’t wait for the next one. this is like an 8 or 9 out of 10, or however I’ve been rating these books, I don’t even know. Just read it.

Endlessly: Kiersten White

The final book to the Paranormalcy trilogy, Evie is forced to make one of the hardest decisions of her life. As an Empty One, she is the key to the survival of the paranormals, which also includes her boyfriend Lend and persistent ex, Reth, a faerie. I really loved this series because, as always I really hate a girl that can’t defend herself. And there is no give with Evie. Whether she’s tasing you or punching you in the face, you always know she means business. I loved a lot of the dialogue in the book, especially between Evie and Lend, but at some parts I did find it a little stale. As much as I do like this book there just seems to be something off about it. Maybe the fact that they can just appear wherever they want using faerie paths. Takes the fun out of adventure or something, I don’t know. Reminded me of Skyrim actually, joining the Dark Brotherhood and going back and forth between assassinations and the Brotherhood. But these two things don’t really relate so I’ll go back to the book. Annnnnnddddd I’m pretty sure that I am in love with Reth now, stupid faeries. Great book, good series, a little hazy and thrown together in some parts but thoroughly entertaining. I’m giving it a 3.5-4.

Born Wicked is set in a time where the Brotherhood has risen and destroyed the witch covens that used to rule. They oppress women and charge any women having different thought or action as a witch. I’m mixed on whether I liked this book or not because while it was well written, it has a very plodding plot line and it eats away at me to have such meek female characters, even if that is how they are supposed to act. The main character Cate is alone with her 2 younger sisters and a father that is never at home, and must also hide the fact that the three of them are witches. The plot thickens, a love triangle begins to form and it just kind of falls into an ending. Not the greatest of books, but I plan on continuing the series. 2.5 to 3.

FINALLY FINISHED. I can’t even recall how long it took me to finally read this book, but it is done. Classic story of Dracula, the one that started it all actually, told through the written diaries of several main characters. I did like this book, but halfway through I grew bored of reading and I didn’t want to force myself back into the Victorian, old writing style. Not sure if it is actually Victorian but that’s what I’m calling it for now. Same as Jane Eyre. For me, this was one of those books that was creepy and scary in the good way,  not the ‘oh I’m trying to create suspense and arn’t you terrifed by what you are reading’ kind of way. You can really picture yourself there sometimes and Dracula makes a hell of a scary character. I am glad that I finished this book and can add it to my hopefully growing collection of classic novels. 3.5-4 rating by me.

Invitation To The Game: Monica Hughes

One of my favorite books. I stole it from a friend of mine and she now has no hopes of getting it back. It’s a shorter book, about a futuristic world where robots are taking all jobs and there is nothing left for the next generation of workers. So they are sent away, forced to fend for themselves. It’s a great story, and a very quick read.