So.... I'm back to thinking that I should keep this blogging thing up and that I shouldn't leave it alone for so long next time. Here's to me getting back to blogging!
Firstly, in the style of some other bloggers I admire, I'm going to start posting pics of books that I get for review. Then I may actually going about reviewing them, if you're lucky... So here's the first couple of pics from my 'In My Mailbox' album:
We have here: Nothing by Janne Teller, Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor and Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone comes out in September, and annoyingly, will be sectioned off in the 'sci-fi and fantasy' departments of bookshops rather than the teen department (which is sooo annoying!!!). It tells the story of the mysterious Kazou, and her connections to the strange place of Elsewhere, and geez louise it's one heck of a story! Fans of Cassandra Clare will absolutely love it - it's full of mystical creatures, features an age-old battle between angels and demons, plus there's a kickass heroine with blue hair to fawn over. If it were to be made into a film then Guillermo del Toro would have to direct it. It had a slightly more 'adult' feel to it than other teen books I've read (the early scene featuring Kazou's ex-boyfriend posing for a life drawing class was... erm... *blushes* interesting...) but once the story got going it was a great romantic adventure. Laini Taylor has an incredible talent for visual description - just wait until you meet the creepy character of Razgut, who is decidedly disgusting - however there are sections in the novel where she indulges the strangeness a bit too much; sometimes I wanted more of Kazou, who you grow to really love and admire, in the real world, especially towards the end. Annoyingly it ends on a killer cliff-hanger (noooooo!!!!) but the pictures Taylor paints will stay in your mind for a long time after you've finished reading it. It's a big and beefy book, but I promise it won't disappoint.
The second book I'll review in this post is Nothing by Janne Teller. If you like dark, twisted and disturbing, then please read this one. If it leaves you feeling shaken and horrified at the end, don't blame me - Teller has one twisted imagination. It reads like an old fairytale; I was reminded particularly of the rare (and often omitted from texts, for good reason) tale by the Brothers Grimm 'How Some Children Played at Slaughtering' (read it here!). In Nothing, which was originally published in Denmark in 2000, a schoolboy realises that there is no meaning in the world, and goes and sits in a plum tree and taunts his school friends. The school friends, tired and annoyed by the rants, decide to gather together a collection of objects to prove that there is indeed meaning in the world. What then follows is shocking and macabre. As I said, it's dark and twisted, but utterly brilliant. It will leave you questioning the meaning of everything around you, and perhaps even deliberating what you would likely add to the collection.
Not sure when I'm going to get around to reading the other two books - but will let you know! Here is a list of the last few things I've read:
- Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr
- Abandon by Meg Cabot
- Beastly by Alex Flinn
- Uglies and Pretties by Scott Westerfield
I don't want to be the kind of blogger who reviews absolutely everything I read - especially if it's just 'meh' - but will keep you posted on all the important ones. Plus I will also let you know what I've been reading anyway, so you can just ask me for opinions if you can see I've read something that you want to know more about.
Will leave this post there for now - let's hope I can keep up this blogging lark for a bit longer than last time!
Big hugs and china mugs,
Nicole
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