Illuminae Review

Illuminae
by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Oct 20^th 2015
Hardcover
599 pages
my rating: 4.5 out 5 stars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis via Goodreads:

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

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My thoughts:

O.M.G this book was so cool. I loved just about everything about it. I liked the storyline, the way it was written, the characters, all the twists and turns. I did not want this book to end. I already want the next one!

Illuminae is the first book in what is bound to a kickass trilogy, seriously this book was so cool! I ended up docking a half of a star for all the terms used, at points I found myself a little confused about what was going on and when I tried to describe it I found myself at a loss trying to describe what was happening.

I really enjoyed how the book was written, it was told through emails, reports, poems. It was seriously really cool.

Pages like that made this book a very fast read, unfortunately, I had to go back and forth quite a few times to keep track of the plot and characters.

One thing I really liked was even though there was a romance to the story it didn’t overshadow it, it was the icing on the cake and that’s how I prefer my romances in fantasy stories so that made me really happy.

Aiden was a super interesting character, I don’t want to spoil anything, but he had, what I’m calling, an Ultron Complex and I really enjoyed that twist.

Random point: This book has me wanting to rewatch Battlestar Galactica, I’m not sure why there’s not a whole lot of similarities, to be honest, but it kept reminding me of it for whatever reasons. Actually Kady kind of reminded me of Starbuck a little bit, mostly with the attitude and the defiance.

12 Books of Christmas

Hello everyone!

So this morning I was browsing through my Reader enjoying a cup of coffee when I stumbled along Maren at the Worn Bookmark, and her post was about signing up for the 12 Book of Christmas challenge hosted by Shaina Shainareads, as I was reading this I thought to myself, this sounds like fun and I am a still a little behind my Goodreads challenge so this is a perfect opportunity to help me work on that.

Super last minute and spontaneous decision but that’s what I do best.

As of this blog post, there’s still about 10 hours left to sign up for this challenge, and there is only one rule.

In Shaina’s words:
If you plan to enter the drawing, all of your challenge books must be at least 100 pages long.

The challenge will run from Tuesday, December 1 through Thursday, December 31, 2015. And if you complete the challenge, she will enter your name in a random drawing for book worth up to $20 from The Book Depository.

I’m not quite sure what I plan on reading for this challenge, I do have a few ideas, but I will post a follow up along with my December TBR.

 

That’s all for now, let me now if you plan on entering this challenge as well!

November Loot Crate unboxing

Loot Crate is a monthly subscription box centered around geek and gaming gear, the theme for this months Loot Crate box was combat. Now I wasn’t to impressed with this month’s selection which is a bummer but oh well sometimes it can be a hit or miss to be honest. I’ve had this subscription for almost a year now and I can only think of 3 or 4 boxes that I’ve really liked.

First think I saw when I opened up the box were this awesome and ridiculous Shredder sunglasses. OMG. Just look at these.

Wow.

Next up was this little Cute but Deadly vinyl figure, I’m not to sure what Cute but Deadly is, I tried to do a quick google search, but I think it’s a game, totally not sure though.

After that came this little guy

Vault Boy from Fall Out, I need to play that game, I haven’t been able to yet.

THEY GAVE ME A MOCKINGJAY PIN! I REPEAT THEY GAVE ME A MOCKINGJAY PIN

 Oh yeah!
I still haven’t seen part 2 yet. I’m not emotionally ready to say good-bye!

Some Cute but Deadly magnets, they are cute!

There were some other things that I didn’t take pictures of like gift tags and the Loot Crate magazine where they tell you what’s in the box, what’s online. Things like that.

Finally, the last thing in the box was this Street Fighter Comic book

So that was this month’s LootCrate box, it was fun but like I said I wasn’t impressed and I just don’t think that this subscription box is really for me anymore. I’m probably going to cancel it and sign up for a more book related one.

 

 

WWW Wednesday 11/25

Good Morning! I’m back with another WWW Wednesday as you can tell. I really like posting these, they provide such a nice opportunity to communicate with other bloggers and I really like that.

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words. Simply answer the following questions:

What have you recently finished reading?

What are you currently reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

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What have you recently finished reading?

So I just finished Winter by Marissa Meyer and I’m feeling a little slumpy now 😦 but it was amazing and I loved every single minute spent reading this book.

 

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Illuminae by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff and its been helping me with feeling a little slumpy since this book is very fast paced and so good!

 

What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m probably going to read A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab, this has been on my TBR for so long and I went to four different bookstores looking for this book (none of them had it and I had to cave and buy it on Amazon) and in doing so, going to 4 different bookstores ended up with me doing a pretty big haul this month that I will talk about later.

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So thats my current reading plan, what are you reading? What are you looking forward to reading? If you did one of these leave a link down below so I can go check it out 🙂

Winter Review

Winter
Marissa Meyer
Nov 10^th 2015
Hardcover
823 pages
my rating 5 out 5 stars
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis via Goodreads
Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

 

My Thoughts:
I love this series with all of my heart. It’s right up there with Throne of Glass and Harry Potter for me. This was an amazing wrap up to an amazing series. I love the blend of Fairy Tales and Sci-fi and the sassy and sarcastic characters. Summing up this book is hard since it is the last book in a series and any sum up will involve spoilers of some sort. I love how these books are technically fairy tale retellings but they have a life of their own and I love the little fairy tale touches that the stories have, like how the suspension tank was decorated to look like a glass coffin, just like in Snow White.

 

Favorite Parts:

“She shot me in the arm once.” This confession was said with as much tenderness as if Scarlet had given him a bouquet of wildflowers rather than a bullet wound.

Oh my god I burst out laughing at that point (as anyone else seen Vikings? This part reminded me of that moment when Lagertha hit Ragnar with her shield and he just looks up at her and goes “My love!”) The forlorn nostalgic way Wolf said that made me think of that exact moment in Vikings.

“Um, hi I’m Carswell Thorne, a convicted criminal in your country. Have we met?”

“I’ve been waiting for you to admit you wanted my body,” said Thorne.

“Don’t faint,”
“What?”
“You look stressed out,”
“Oh sweetheart, we are so far ahead of you.”
Thorne is one of my favorite characters for the little quips that he says, he has such a big personality that it practically leaps from the pages and he brings a lightness to the story. Plus his character development was top notch, it was such a gradual change from scoundrel to hero that I didn’t catch it until it happened.

But I think the best character development goes to Emperor Kai, in the first book I really didn’t know how I felt about him, to me he felt just as bland as Prince Charming did in Cinderella, I was thrilled to see his character progress as the series went on and by this book he felt like a real person to me. Plus I enjoyed seeing how the characters were constantly comforted by his presence. He had some great lines throughout the story as well, this one was my favorite:  “You mean she doesn’t intend to blow me up before the ceremony? How disappointing,”

I am always impressed on how Scarlet is able to handle the wolves, that takes one hell of a strong woman and she has her massive alpha presence going on and I think it’s great that she’s the one to have it. I would definitely want her on my team.

Cinders speech to the citizens of Luna was FIERCE. My jaw dropped and I was just fangirling so hard. I still can’t quite gather my thoughts on it so I’m not going to try too when my only thought is basically bow down to Selene.
My favorite quote of the book:
Broken isn’t the same as unfixable

 

I loved these books and I thought the wrap up was amazing, I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go, and don’t get me wrong I want more, but I do like how it ended. I’m happy with it.

Top 10 Authors I am thankful for

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Broke and Bookish

This week’s theme was Thanksgiving themed Freebie — ten books I’m thankful for, authors I’m thankful for, Ten fictional families I’d like to celebrate Thanksgiving with, a personal non-bookish thankful list, etc. etc.

These are the authors that I am most thankful for, their books have not only provided comfort in times when I felt lonely but they also helped turn me into the person I am today, and I will always be thankful for the lessons and fictional friends these books brought me.

 

JK Rowling- She had to be number 1 on the list, Harry Potter, I don’t even know what I can say about Harry Potter that hasn’t already been said. These books are like home for me.

George RR Martin- George is a huge writing influence for me and I am continuously fascinated by his world building, character developments, complex plots. You name an aspect of his writing and I am fascinated by it.

Sarah J Maas- Throne of Glass really got me into reading, while I loved reading before, ToG fueled my passion and took it soaring to new heights and I will never look back.

Frances Hodgson Burnett- When I was a kid I used to read A Little Princess and A Secret Garden over and over, I borrowed them from the library so many times and also rented the movies from Hollywood Video more times than I can count. These books are a big part of what got me into reading at a young age.

Ken Follet- Follet is another huge writing influence for me, I love seeing how he creates multiple POVs in his books and has them all weave together.

For the next few authors its hard to describe why I am thankful beyond that each of these authors kept my love of reading going, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on anything that any of these authors wrote.
Rainbow Rowell
John Green
Philippa Gregory
James Patterson

Laurie Halse Anderson- I’m very thankful for Laurie Halse Anderson, for writing about topics that for a long time were swept under the rug. Wintergirls helped me so much in school with my own eating disorder. Knowing that I could open this book at any time and be with a character going through something similar with me was always comforting. I never got a point where I was sick and I think reading this and seeing how Lia’s eating disorder affected her and her life really helped me with that. Wintergirls is a book I read years ago and still think about to this day.

 

So those are the authors I am most thankful for, who are yours? Did you do a post like this? If you did post a link and I’ll go check it out.

Queen of Shadows Review

Queen of Shadows
Sarah J Maas
Sep 1^st 2015
Hardcover
648 pages
my rating: 5 out of 5 stars
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis via Goodreads:

The queen has returned.

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

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Well hello there!

How are you today? I would like to introduce you to one of my new favorites.

Queen of Shadows!

Queen of Shadows was almost everything that I wanted and more! It was my highest anticipated book of the year! And now book 5 is already my highest anticipated book for 2016.
The only thing I wished would have happened is that my ship happened. It didn’t. 😥 😥 😥

Sad face 😦  I loved seeing Celaena and Chaol together. But since she’s shed the Celaena identity and is truly Aelin now it makes sense, still it makes me sad, because he’s one of my biggest book crushes.

Still loved it though!

So Queen of Shadows is the 4^th book in the Throne of Glass series and I loved it so much Throne of Glass is one of my favorite series of all time. The beginning was a little slow, but I found that momentum built up fast and for the last 200 or 300 pages I just flew right through them. This book brought out all of my feels, I was happy, I cried, I squealed in joy, I felt moments of rage. God it was awesome!

Characters I loved
Aelin
Manon
Lysandra
Nesryn
Aestrin
I loved those five so much. I really want to see them like get together for a really sassy tea party and then just go out and kick a bunch of ass.
Aelin/Celaena I just love her, if I could bring any book character to life for a day, I would so choose her we could spend an awesome day shopping and reading, it’d be a blast.

I was almost surprised by how much I loved Lysandra, I didn’t like her in the Assassins Blade prequels, but I loved her right off the bat, she had amazing character development and I admire her discipline when it came to restraint and hiding her emotions. That can’t be easy to especially given the circumstances.

Nesryn was awesome, she was a great addition to the group and from the moment where she was first introduced I loved her, I knew she was going to be a great character with her calm and steady personality. She had such a grounding effect on everyone and she saved everyone’s asses a couple times.

Manon and Aestrin, Manon was my favorite point of view to read in Heir of Fire, I’m always anxious to get back to her storyline. Aestrin shocked me a lot with her rebellion in this book you really got to know her better in this book. And I want more. Actually if Sarah woke up tomorrow and wanted to write more prequels or a spinoff of Manon and/or Lysandra I would support that 110%.

There were a lot of twists and turns that happened that I really did not see coming. At all. I don’t want to spoil anything, but seriously this story did not go in the way I expected it too, granted I didn’t give it too much thought since I like being surprised with storylines. I haven’t theorized how the series is going to end and I’m not going to. I am so excited for the next installment and kind of devastated that I have to wait a whole year!

Favorite Quotes:

“Let’s go rattle the stars”

“She was the heir of fire. She was fire, and light, and ash, and embers. She was Aelin Fireheart, and she bowed for no one and nothing, save the crown that was hers by blood and survival and triumph.”

“She was a whirling cloud if death, a queen of shadows, and these men were already carrion.”