The Study Series

by Mariah V. Snyder
Even though this book wasn't a galley, I decided to review it because it struck me as one that would be fun to review. It had great plot and great characters. The conflict felt by the main character was believable (in a way). This is where is stopped being a good book.
Locked up for her murder of a General's son, Yelena festers away in the dungeons of the Commander while she awaits execution. Suddenly, in a twist of fate that could only be described as miraculous, she is promoted to the Commander's food taster and brought up into the world of might and conflict above. She enjoys the best food of the castle and the freedom to go where she will- that is, as long as she stays in her position as a food taster. If she doesn't, she'll die a horrible death poisoned by the Commander's assassin.
Sounds good, right? And the story was, for the first book. Then it quickly degenerated into a series that dragged and caught on minor details. Couple of pointers:

1.  Don't refer to something as skirts/pants. Make up your mind. Don't let your readers be forced to imagine something that only you yourself can see. It came across as (at least to me) incredibly irritating to be in the middle of an action scene and have Yelena fretting over a hole in her "skirts/pants".
2.  When someone makes a plan, don't hide it from us, or at least do it more subtly. A lot of times in the book, plans are referenced, executed, and succeed/fail without the reader even knowing the basics. For example, it happens once that Yelena's talking to her mum and tells her her plan. Without delay, her mum bustles off and finds her a bunch of potions that will "help her plan". A full 30 pages later, I realized that the plan had already been executed. Darn!

I'd give this book a 2.5, also due to the lack of emotions in the book. I'm serious. The only emotions in the book are  Yelena's lust, fear of being a soulfinder, and everyone else's hatred of her.
So, 2.5. A runny and burnt egg, I guess.

Revolution

Revolution, By Jennifer Donnelly

I recently read Revolution, and loved it. It is the story of two girls, one in New York and Paris in this time, Andi, and one who lived in paris during the revolution. Andi is struggling with depression, and her love of music. She is supposed to be working on the outline for her senior thesis, instead she finds herself reading the diary of Alexandrine. This book was so wonderful, it is a must read.

I would describe this as Thanksgiving. It isn't something you get everyday, but it is well worth the wait. It has the warm turkey, the filling stuffing, sweet cranberry sauce, creamy mashed potatoes, tasty pumpkin bread, warm apple pie and cold ice cream, chocolate silk pie, and cookies. It fills your mind with the delicious scent, so any moment away makes you hurry bake for more. It doesn't have just one flavor, but many. So it must be a full meal, and I think only thanksgiving can do this book justice.

If you are in-the-box this is a 5.

Havoc by Chris Wooding

Havoc is great in terms of sequels. It, unlike other books, does not ruin the first, nor does it go completely downhill. It continues the story of Seth, Kady, and that strange world of Malice. In this one, they decide set out to destroy the man Tall Jake, who controls the world. However, the book was a bit rushed. Seth and Kady are just discovering how to defeat Tall Jake, then, very quickly, at least it seemed like that to me, they were on the battlefield and ready to fight. I think the book should have been split into two; one could be about them finding what they need to win, the other about them fighting. There was one battle, then Tall Jake was defeated. There was no lead up or anything; one minute they were lost and looking for that oh-so-important weapon thing, the next they were blowing up Tall Jake's castle place. But I liked it; it was fun to read.

I would rate it a 3.5.

Book Review - Chibi Vampire

Chibi Vampire was a hot dog. I learned in school that there is all sorts of nasty stuff in them: pig hooves, peanut fat, rubber, the like. Chibi Vampire is a vampire romance -- stress on the romance. The vampire girl Manika falls in love with a human usiv but because he is a human and she is a vampire Maika isn't allowed to see him. There are some supernatural moments like a doll, a kidnapping, and a ghost, but most of Chibi Vampire is high school drama. I don't normally do romance and/or high school drama; if I wanted to deal with high school drama, I would live my own life instead of reading. So coming into this book -- and looking at the hot dog on my plate, I knew they were disgusting and gross but I ate the whole thing anyways. Guess what, it didn't kill me.

- Review by Sarah Packard

If Only It Were True by Marc Levy

A strange love story. Basically, this woman, Lauren, gets in a car crash and ends up in a coma. She learns that her soul can move around, but no one can see her. She visits her old apartment, that now belongs to someone else, and is hiding in the closet when he opens the closet door and sees her. Arthur is the only one who can see her, so, of course, they fall in love. The book, though it had an interesting concept, was a little inconsistent. She was not solid enough to move anything, but she was solid to Arthur and has some effects on papers that she reads and she can open a door when she really wants to, but the book makes a kind of lame excuse for that. And she explained that she moved by concentrating on a certain spot, then disappearing and reappearing there. The book makes kind of a big deal about how her aim gets better and how she improves at it. But she can go for a walk with Arthur, so why can't she just walk to the car instead of complaining about missing the front seat?

Overall, I think it's a 2.5. Like a lollipop - kind of fun to eat, and tastes good, but the stick gets in the way. And some flavor that isn't your favorite.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

It's been a long time since I've read a work of fiction.Most of the books nowadays are about "love" and chicks and....I don't like them.That's why I like Used Bookstore,instead of Barns&Nobles.But,one day,in Costco,I found this book,lying open with 2 rotisserie chickens (eww)
I read a sentence of it,and then I thought: This is not bad at all. Normally I don't buy new books,so I forced my brother to buy it. Then I read it in the car along the way home.In my opinion,it is a very good book that keeps even the anti-fiction reader interested.It is constant action!Constant war!Constant violence!It's such a good book,I recommend everyone to read it.

However,there are some things about the Hunger Games Trilogy that needs some work.The plot is constantly changing,and that confuses me.As I read the next 2 books,it didn't have the same "consistency" as the first book.It changes too fast for me.It also needs more detail.The plot changing too fast and the not enough detail part makes it really confusing.

Overall,this is a very good book.I would give this 4 stars.Also,I would give this the food of white chocolate.It's deliciously good,but if you eat (read) too much of it,it gives you a headache,especially if you try to read this in a long car ride.

Malice by Chris Wooding

Malice is a book about a comic book. With the right objects burned in the correct order and the right chant, it is possible to enter the world of the comic. The world is full of malice, hence the title, and once entered, it is almost impossible to leave before getting killed in some not-so-pleasant way. The story is about a boy and a girl who enter and their adventures and whatnot. Chris Wooding skillfully created a bizarre world into which I was absorbed. Included within the book were little bits of comic, so a couple chapters were told as a graphic novel would be. While this was an interesting concept, and a good ida for this book because it was about a comic book, I found it slightly confusing, probably because I am bad at reading graphic novel type books.

Overall, I would rate this book as a 4.