Wednesday 14 January 2015

Review: Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover

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Title: Unclean Spirits

Author: M. L. N Hanover

Series: The Black Sun's Daughter #1

Publisher: Orbit

Publication date: 05 Jan 2012

Format: Paperback | 400 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Goodreads




When college student Jayné Heller's uncle is murdered, she goes to Denver to settle his estate and mourn the loss of the only member of her family who has always been on her side.


She discovers that her uncle has left her quite a legacy: a string of property across the world, several very full bank accounts - and an extremely unconventional business. It turns out Uncle Eric has been secretly fighting to rid the world of supernatural 'riders' - demons, vampires, werewolves and all sorts of other nasty parasites - since before Jayné was born.


Now it's up to Jayné to avenge her uncle's death and continue his work - if she can survive her first week on the job.



My thoughts:


After receiving a huge fortune from her uncle Eric after he died, Jayné finds more than she bargained for when she heads over to deal with Eric's estate. Jayné's uncle lived in a world filled with spirits of werewolves, vampires and all the things that go bump in the night. These spirits, known as 'riders', wait for the right moment to take over and infect a human body to do with what it wills. Jayné has to decide between carrying on her uncle's legacy or packing up and taking the money.


I liked this read. There were some really great characters that I enjoyed reading about and getting to know. Especially Ex - to be fair, he wasn't featured as much as the others throughout the book, but he was one of the more mysterious characters and I just can't help but want to know more about him. He had moments that gave a little insight to his intentions or motives in the next few books I think, at least I hope so, and they were such sweet awww moments. I love Ex. Jayné was also a great character but she has a lot of growing to do over the rest of the series. I took Jayné with a pinch of salt just because it's usually the case in the first book of a series that the heroine doesn't reach her potential as a character and I really saw that here. She starts to realise what she's got herself into by the end of the book but at the beginning she was a whole different person. 


Aubrey on the other hand, I didn't get on with so much. It's not that I didn't like his character, I just found him a bit lacking in the personality department. He didn't really do anything for me or stand out enough that I cared about what happened to him. So far, unless it changes over the next books of course, I wouldn't care if he was pushed aside in the story and just disappeared. He didn't make a huge difference to the book in my opinion. 


As for the plot of the book, I thought it took a while to get going action wise but once it did I was completely captivated. I did think, at times, that some of the action scenes, especially towards the end, were too simplistic for what was supposed to happen. I don't want to give anything away but if someone's so powerful he shouldn't be too easy to get rid of. Aside from that, I liked the originality to the idea of 'riders' and I enjoyed reading another book where werewolves and the like are genuinely the bad guys no questions asked. There aren't too many of those nowadays. 


Overall I enjoyed this book and I will be sure to pick up the next in the series when I can, if only to get some more of Ex. I really do hope what I want to happen does in fact happen!


My rating: 7/10



M.L.N Hanover:

Goodreads | Website 

Sunday 11 January 2015

Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

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Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Author: Carrie Ryan

Series: The Forest of Hands and Teeth #1

Publisher: Orion

Publication date: 01 Mar 2010

Format: Paperback | 336 pages

Genre: YA | Horror | Zombies

Goodreads


In Mary's world there are simple truths.

The sisterhood always knows best.

The Guardians will protect and serve.

The Unconsecrated will never relent.


And you must mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from  the Forest of Hands and Teeth.


But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future - between the one she loves and the one who loves her.


And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands of Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?



My thoughts:


The Forest of Hands and Teeth follows Mary as she dreams a way to escape living like cattle in a fenced in village to avoid being eaten alive by the 'Unconsecrated'. Mary is one of the only residents who dares to dream about whether or not there's a life outside the fences and if it could possibly be any worse than the way she's living trapped on the inside.


I might as well come out with it straight off and say I really didn't get on with this read. Actually, I regret finishing it. The biggest problem I had was the characters. All of them. I hated every single one. I thought Mary was a brat that couldn't focus on anything but herself and that the rest of the characters were completely spineless. It made it so hard to carry on reading even just a couple of chapters in, there wasn't much action in the beginning which didn't help, but my hate for the characters was always at the forefront of my mind which made the read a chore. 


The one aspect of this book that kept me going was the action. When it got going, this read has tons of suspense. It really was its saving grace - after the halfway point of the read I actually couldn't put it down just to find out what direction the author was going to take things.


Aside from that, everything seemed to frustrate me. Not just the characters, but the plot seemed incredibly all over the place and the love interest completely over dramatic and unrealistic. I thought there were a lot of loose ends that weren't cleared up, especially from the beginning of the book, I carried on thinking eventually it would be brought back up and explained but it never was. 


Overall I wouldn't recommend this book. There wasn't enough action or suspense that could make up for all of the characters I didn't like and all of the inconsistencies in the plot. 


My rating: 3/10



Carrie Ryan:

Goodreads | Website | Twitter


The Forest of Hands and Teeth:


  1. The Forest of Hands and Teeth
  2. The Dead-Tossed Waves
  3. The Dark and Hollow Places

Sunday 4 January 2015

Review: Shadow Wave by Robert Muchamore

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Title: Shadow Wave

Author: Robert Muchamore

Series: Cherub #12

Publisher: Hodder

Publication date: August 26th 2010

Format: Hardback | 352 pages

Genre: YA

Goodreads




After a tsunami causes massive devastation to a tropical island, its governor sends in the bulldozers to knock down villages, replacing them with luxury hotels.


Guarding the governor's family isn't james Adams' idea of the perfect mission - and then retired agent Kyle Blueman comes up with an unofficial and highly dangerous plan of his own.


James must choose between loyalty to Cherub, and loyalty to his oldest friend. 


My thoughts:


Shadow Wave is the last book in the Cherub series *sob*. It follows James' last mission as a Cherub agent as he finally ends his part in the operation to infiltrate the Brigands M.C. Satisfied that his Cherub career ended on a high note, James isn't too happy with the thought of babysitting a couple of spoilt rich children of a Malaysian government official. 


Honestly, I'm a little upset right now. I started this series in the middle of high school and to think that it's over now is really depressing. This was the last time I've read one of the Cherub books for the first time - rereading them won't be the same. Booknerds understand this problem so at least I'm not alone! I still can't believe I waited until I'm almost 21 to actually finish the series.


I really love how much James has grown up throughout the series. This book wasn't so much about the Cherub missions and all the action they entail, it was focused on how far all of the characters have come. They've all grown up! All my complaints about James being a right idiot with some of his decisions have just flew out the window with this read. He's matured to a huge extent with his talk of future plans and his attitude towards people in general. It makes me sad.


This read was perfect for what it was supposed to be. A lot of people would be disappointed with how different or even how much more dreary this book is compared to the rest of the books in the Cherub series. I liked it for what it was. It was a final goodbye to all of the characters I've grown to love and know so well. While it had enough action in it to satisfy me, I needed the full on tying up of loose ends to satisfy the ending of a whole series, not just the one book and that was provided.


Overall I loved this whole series. I would strongly recommend it to anybody who's a fan of YA books in general.


My rating: 10/10 


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


New Year Update

The Most Beautiful Pictures Of Libya  3

 
 
Blogging
 
 
 
If you haven't noticed, my blog posts have been pretty sporadic in the past year, especially towards the end with less posts than usual. I can pretty much say that can be blamed entirely on not only moving houses, but out of the country entirely. 
 
 
It's been an extremely hectic year to say the least, I've been struggling to find time to myself with all the packing over the course of the year and getting used to a brand new house, language and new people. 
 
 
Don't get me wrong, I've read plenty and I definitely have a load of reviews already done to post this year. Blogging just takes more time than most people realise, so I've been putting it on the back burner.
 
 
I'm also hoping to start putting a little more personal posts into the blog too, similar to this post, with updates and more of a look into my life in general. I think it would add a nice little touch to the blog and it gives me a chance to get my thoughts down on random things, not just books.
 
 
So that's about it for now. Look forward to more content from me because I don't plan on going anywhere -  I love doing this too much.
 
 
Happy new year everyone. 
 
 
Yes, I know it's the 4th already, give me a break.