Sunday 31 May 2015

REVIEW | Shadows of the Master by Emily Rodda

Title: Shadows of the Master
Author: Emily Rodda
Series or standalone: Star of Deltora #1
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publication Date: 1st August 2015
Format: Paperback ARC
Source: Publisher (Omnibus Books)

Goodreads

Britta has always wanted to be a trader like her father, sailing the nine seas and bringing precious cargo home to Del harbour. Her dreams seemed safe until her fathers quest to find the fabled Staff of Tier ended in blood and horror. Now his shamed family is in hiding, and his ship, the Star of Deltora, belongs to the powerful Rosalyn fleet. But Brittas ambition burns as fiercely as ever.When she suddenly gets the chance to win back her future she knows she has to take it whatever the cost. She has no idea that shadows from a distant, haunted isle are watching her every move.


If you watch my videos, or know me at all, you would know that the Deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda is the series that got me into reading when I was 10 years old, so when I heard that Emily Rodda was coming out with a new book set in the same world, I was beyond excited! 
This is the first book in a new series that takes place a few decades after the events in the first Deltora Quest series and follows a female protagonist called Britta, who has a passion for trading and wants to be everything her father used to be before he betrayed everyone and left Britta and her family in forced hiding. She now has a chance to redeem herself and become an apprentice who would eventually take control of the Rosalyn fleet and the famous ship, the Star of Deltora. But first, she has to become one of three finalists in a competition set by the old commander, and then, if she can do that, set sail and undergo various tests and challenges!
I may be biased, but this definitely isn't as epic as Deltora Quest. The scale of the protagonists adventure just doesn't compare to Lief's in DQ, as he had the entire world of Deltora's fate resting on him succeeding in his quest, whereas this book focuses on a small scale competition that purely benefits Britta and not the whole world. I understand that as the series goes on, this may change and the scale of her adventures may increase, but it just didn't seem as huge and epic as DQ. 
It was a strong start though and I can see that this book was merely a build up which will undoubtedly be something great because Emily Rodda is a fantastic storyteller. I think younger readers will thoroughly enjoy how action-packed the story is and how adventurous Britta is as a main character. 
I definitely think that the story shows promise and I would highly recommend reading all three of the Deltora Quest series' and then picking up this one! It's definitely a new middle grade series to look out for! It hits stores on the 1st of August in Australia!

Friday 22 May 2015

BOOK REVIEW | THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE by Patrick Ness

Title: The Rest of Us Just Live Here
Author: Patrick Ness
Series or standalone: Standalone
Genre: Mature Young Adult Fantasy/Contemporary/It's impossible to describe haha
Publication Date: 27th August 2015
Format: Paperback ARC
Source: Publisher (Walker Books)


What if you weren’t the Chosen One?
What if you’re not the one who’s so often the hero in YA fiction; who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you were like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend might just be the God of mountain lions...

Firstly I just want to say thank you to Walker Books for providing me with this ARC to read and review!
I think it's fair to say that Patrick Ness is a literary genius. I've read almost all of his published works and have loved every single one of them! The Rest of Us Just Live Here, however, is very different from not only his other books, but also anything I've ever read before! 
It's an extremely unique book that follows characters that aren't the 'chosen ones'. Each chapter starts off with a quick summary of what would have happened in the chapter if it was from the perspective of the chosen one of the story. However, this book follows a teenage boy and his friends who have absolutely nothing to do with the exciting paranormal freaky stuff that's happening. They just happen to live in this town where weird things happen to a certain group of kids and it follows them and how that affects their lives. So basically, it's like if Harry Potter was told from that random Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott. 
What I loved, not only about this book, but also Patrick Ness' other books, is his characters. They are always so expertly developed and realistic, no matter what the genre of the book is. I especially appreciated the incorporation of various mental illnesses that were portrayed and also the LGBTQ aspects! I think it's so important for characters to be shown with mental illnesses because it's just way too common for their not to be at least one character with a mental illness! The same goes for characters who are LGBTQ! I loved how Patrick Ness has characters like this, but it's NORMAL. Because it is normal in our society and that's how modern literature should portray characters! 
The storyline itself was really weird at first because it's so different and so it took me a little while to get into it and understand what the heck was going on, but the characters made the confusing period totally worth it because they were so rich, relatable and wonderfully written. 
Patrick Ness always has a way with words in all of his books and it just flows so effortlessly that the book just flew by for me! As I got more and more into the story, the more exciting it became and the more attached I was to these characters and their lives! It wasn't about the fantasy/paranormal stuff that was happening in the background. It was such a character driven novel, about them finding themselves and dealing with certain mental illnesses and family issues and their friendships and relationships. I loved how it almost read like a contemporary! 
That's all I'm going to say for now, as it hasn't been released yet, but I plan on filming a discussion video later on where I'll discuss spoilery things from the book! Make sure you go and pre-order this one because we all know Patrick Ness never disappoints!

I ended up giving this one 3 stars because it didn't have as big of an impact on me as the Chaos Walking trilogy but I still really liked it!

Monday 18 May 2015

BOUT OF BOOKS 13.0 WRAP UP!



So it was my first time participating in Bout of Books and I had so much fun! I ended up completing 3 books and 2 volumes of manga throughout the week! Not as much as I had hoped, but I was busy helping my sister move and working and such! 
Here's a rundown of everything I read!

DAY ONE




I read from pages 120 - 201 of Hunger by Michael Grant. This is the second book in the Gone series, which I am absolutely LOVING. So I read 81 pages of this on day one!









Then I listened to an hour and thirty-three minutes of Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby, which is an ADORABLE contemporary YA book! I listened to some of this because I was driving around quite a lot that day and didn't want to waste that time not reading! I have no idea how many pages an hour and thirty-three minutes equates to but I added it in here anyway even though I didn't listen to any more of it throughout the week. 





DAY TWO





Then on day two I spent all of the reading time I had completing this beast of a book! I read from pages 201 - 586 which was a total of 385 pages. I didn't enjoy Hunger as much as the first book in the series (Gone) but I still really liked it and I ended up giving it 4 stars!




DAY THREE



On the third day of the readathon, I completed volume 5 of Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba. Death Note is a manga series which I first watched the anime of a few years ago and adored it so much that I vowed to myself that I would read the manga one day, and so here I am! I felt like this volume was very much a build up for the next one and not a lot happened, so I gave it 4 stars.

Then I read roughly half of volume 6 of Death Note (100 pages) before I fell asleep!




DAY FOUR




Day four was a busy day for me, so I only ended up finishing the 6th volume of Death Note which was the last 111 pages. This volume was EPIC and I absolutely loved it so I gave it 5 stars! What a cliffhanger though! I need the next one!






DAY FIVE





On day five I decided to start Angelfall by Susan Ee which is the first book in a fantasy/post-apocolyptic trilogy. I managed to read the first 214 pages of this one before the day was over!





DAY SIX




On day six, I finished Angelfall by reading the last 112 pages! I felt like it took a little while for me to get into this one, but the last 100 pages or so were EXCELLENT and I ended up giving this one a 4.5 stars! 









I also started an ARC of Patrick Ness' upcoming August release, The Rest of Us Just Live Here. I received this from Walker Books Australia so thank you so much Walker! I only managed to read the first 18 pages of this on day six, but I really enjoyed what I read so far!





DAY SEVEN



Day seven was another busy day for me, but I ended up going to a book fair with my mum and sister and I found this beauty for $2! So I bought it and when I got home that night, I devoured this in one sitting! (All 240 pages) It's the Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot, the first in the Princess Diaries series and I absolutely adored it! Obviously this wasn't on my original TBR, but I couldn't resist and I couldn't have asked for a better book to end the readathon with! 5 stars!



So all up I read 3 novels and 2 mangas and a little bit of two other books. How did you guys do in the Bout of Books 13.0 readathon? 

:D