The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel/Prince Booktalk

Synopsis:

Clockwork Angel: 16-year-old Tessa Grey finds herself far from home in a world she never imagined existed, while she learns more about the circumstances which brought her to a Shadowhunter's Institute in London, England, she also learns to love the people who have adopted her into their family, some more than others. While in pursuit of the mysterious villain who seems determined to get his hands on her, she finds herself surprised at how strong she is as a person and how she can utilise her new-found powers.

Clockwork Prince: After her brother's betrayal of her, Tessa sets her sights on protecting her new family and her new home in the Institute. The search for Mortmain continues and reaches new levels as it is slowly revealed how deep his poison has spread. Tessa finds herself drawn to two best friends, Will and Jem. Whilst Jem offers security, Will exposes passion and electricity in Tessa she cannot help. Will proves just how far he will go to make Tessa love him whilst coming to terms with his own inner torment which is heightened after a surprise encounter with a few old flames...

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So I have recently extended my love for The Mortal Instruments series and bought the first two books in the Infernal Devices Trilogy and I definitely do not regret it!

Dare I say I find this trilogy better than its sequel? (There will be a separate Booktalk on this once I have read the final book!)

I seriously love this trilogy so far, my only disposition being that it is a love triangle and I just find these slightly predictable, but in this case, the two boys are parabatai which means they love each other possibly more than either of them loves Tessa.

Clockwork Angel started out pretty abruptly, I was confused for like the first 2 chapters but I think this was the intended effect... we found out what was going on slowly, to mirror Tessa's understanding? Or maybe just to get the reader engaged in the book just so they could find out what all the madness was about!

Okay so Tessa has some sort of shape changing ability? To be honest, when reading about this book in reviews and such forth, I was given no inclination to this so was completely surprised! Quite frankly I find it interesting, it's a power no one possessed in the sequel and it means Tessa can take part in all sorts of secret missions, which she does!

The heroine, Will Herondale, who of course, I imagine to be beautiful, is introduced briskly as well, saving Tessa from the Dark Sister's home. At first I thought I would hate him because of his arrogant demeanour but then I kind of learned to love him, just as Tessa did I suppose.

Jem never really appealed to me in this book, fair enough he was lovely and kind and whatnot but he was the safe option, there's got to be a 'safe option' and a 'risk option' wherever a love triangle is concerned and usually the female will choose the riskier one because otherwise there would not be an as compelling story to build upon.

The storyline in this prequel is much simpler. We have a villain who is actually a mundane, with no real aspirations other than to rid the world of all Shadowhunters but that's what I quite like, how the storyline is simple and easy to follow. It means that we get to know each of the characters in much greater depth because there isn't as much going on as in the Mortal Instruments.

I loved how all the families remain the same, I recognise all the surnames and scandals which are mentioned in the sequel and so I feel prequels like these, such as The Hobbit, are valuable in furthering the creation of a magical world.

The Clockwork Prince was much better I feel, much more happened and I found myself shocked and surprised and generally just glued to this book.

When Jessamine betrayed the Institute I literally could not believe it, I thought she was sneaking out at night to undergo secret Shadowhunter training or something I had no idea she was still in touch with Nate!

I like how we haven't heard anything from Mortmain this book; it increases the mystery behind his character and the suspense for what he is planning in the background while his lessers do his dirty work.

Will is by far one of my favourite literary characters ever (next to Simon Lewis), the whole business with his curse and not being able to love anyone was such a unique plot twist and added more depth to his character than going down the road of a 'tormented soul' or 'low self esteem' would have achieved. I was literally heartbroken on his behalf when Tessa said she was engaged to Jem, a part of me hoped they would still have some sort of a steamy moment to show her she feels more passion for Will. Personally, I don't think she will end up marrying Jem. As harsh as it sounds, either he will die first in the next book or she will come to her senses.

I love the storyline between Sophie and Gideon and I reckon Sophie will try to become a Shadowhunters in the next book, which will be an interesting sub-plot for her!

Not going to lie, these automatons freak the hell out of me and recently I've been watching loads of films about robots and robots on YouTube and argh it's all just a bit close to home because we probably will see robots on the future so it's a scary scenario which could actually come true!

Most of all, I love that this book is set in the 1800s. It is far more interesting reading about a time so different to ours in the present day and gives the illusion of being a different world when in reality this is not the case! It is also set in London, where I live, so all the places Cassie describes ring a bell in my mind and I've more than likely been to most of them. This series makes me want to be a Shadowhunter so much!

A few things die annoy me about these two books. Firstly, how Tessa can be so naive about understanding Will's feelings towards her after he kisses her and embraces her bewilders me. Also, the fact that she doesn't use her powers more to access other people's thoughts confuse me! Surely she could access the thoughts of Will and understand why he is the way he is? Or access Jessamine's thoughts sooner to know why she was sneaking out? (At this point Tessa was unaware that Jessie had a block on her mind). Overall however, this series is DEFINITELY worth a read, even more so if you're already a fan of the Shadowhunter world. If you've never read any of Cassie's books before however, it may be fun to start by reading this trilogy, then move on to the sequel? Just an idea.

If you've got this far, thanks for reading!

Allegiant Booktalk

Synopsis: The third instalment in Veronica Roth's 'Divergent' trilogy. Told in dual perspective from the two protagonists, it follows the journey of our much loved characters to a place outside of the City they didn't know existed until the shocking conclusion of the last book. After learning that their beloved City was not all they thought it was and after finding that everywhere they go seems to be ruled by corruption, Tris decides that steps have to be taken to save her City and her relationship. A truly brilliant conclusion, if you haven't read the first two books, STOP READING THIS AND GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. 

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This book has broken me. Like seriously, I stopped reading it last night and was too much of an emotional mess to formulate a sentence let alone write the booktalk straight away like I usually do. 

I haven't read anything for a while because I've been at uni and have had A LOT of work so I found it hard to fit in time to read anything but when Allegiant came out I knew that everything else would have to be put aside for a few days. It may be because my mind was preoccupied or because I could only sit down for an hour at a time before I had something else to do, but I didn't find it as easy to get into this book as I did for the other two. When it got to 2/3rds in, I couldn't put it down, but up to this point I feel nothing really happened. Tobias' involvement in the mini-rebellion was the only bit of action that got the pages turning however this scene was over way too quickly. The other parts of the book up to this point were mainly explanatory, describing what the world outside the City was really about which took a lot of explaining. It was just a bit less exciting than the first book which had a cliffhanger at the end of EVERY BLOODY CHAPTER.

The concept was really confusing, I got really confused about who was Divergent and who wasn't and what the difference was between GD and GP and the Allegiant and WAHH MINDFUCK. 

This was the first book that we saw a dual perspective between Tris and Tobias. I loved this because Tobias is one of my favourite characters but in a way I feel it was unnecessary to a certain extent, Tobias' perspective didn't really tell us anything that Tris' perspective couldn't have and Tris' chapters were always more exciting. After reading the end though I know that Tobias' perspective was needed :'(

There was a lot of death in this book, I didn't really care about Edward but I don't think Tori needed to die, and her death was so quick and sudden, it was almost like everything she had done for Tris in the previous books didn't matter because Tris seemed so unfased by her death. THEN THERE WAS URIAH's DEATH:'( He was by far my favourite character so as soon as the explosion went off, I knew this book would send me into emotional turmoil. His death was really prolonged for some reason, I know it was probably to build suspense but what with everything else going on, I kind of just assumed he was already dead. 

And then,

There was Tris' death.

OMG. Why the actual fuck would she let Caleb live after what he did. I understand that it was a selfless act that she had been preparing herself for in all three of the books, as in she had never really understood what proper sacrifice meant but why did she have to die :( When she survived the death serum I was like 'YESSS SHE HAS SURVIVED' but the sacrifice still held the same weight because Caleb surely would have died. BUT THEN DAVID HAD TO COME AND FUCK SHIT UP. I was literally in bits when her Mum came to take her away, like I couldn't even see the page through my tears anymore and I just had to take like half an hour to compose myself. Then Tobias found out and it set me off again, I always saw Tris and Tobias as a pair, like they couldn't survive without each other so in a way I could see how devastated Tobias must have been. 

I genuinely thought that the scene where Tobias spread Tris' ashes was the most beautiful scene in this whole trilogy, possibly in any dystopian book I have ever read. It was perfect and I feel that is exactly what Tris would have wanted. I was glad as well that there was the 'two-and-a-half-years-later' epilogue because I would have been so sad ending the book knowing Tobias was still devastated, it was nice to see that he had found at least some peace with her death but that her memory was still not forgotton. 

I am actually talking about them like they're real people LOL.

What I liked about this book is that we were able to see outside the City, outside the story we were already familiar with. I feel like there's still so more than could be explored, another 10 books could be made out of this concept easily but now we only have the films to look forward to :'(

If you want me to review anything or have anything to say about this post that you agree or disagee with, comment below or send me a message on my Tumblr account http://www.tumblr.com/blog/readwithsophie

I'll try to review more regularly, and I will DEFINITELY write a review of Catching Fire as I am seeing it THE DAY BEFORE THE RELEASE DATE BITCHESSSSS. NOT LONG NOW!

Switched by Amanda Hocking - Booktalk

Synopsis: The story is told from the perspective of a 17 year old girl called Wendy who suffered a brutal childhood after her mother tried to kill her as she believed her daughter had been switched at birth. After the mysterious Finn turns up at her window and tells her she belongs to a Troll community called Forening, she discovers stolen truths about her childhood as well as duties she couldn't possibly be ready for. All this is sprinkled with a little bit of mind control and a serious case of mixed signals.

SPOILERS

Okay so I'd probably give this book like 3 and a half stars. 

It started out pretty abruptly with the details of Wendy's mothers murder attempt and to be honest I did think to myself 'what have I got myself in for starting this' but I'd paid for the book so I WAS going to finish it.

I didn't actually think the book was all that well written, it was a pretty basic narrative and I just didn't relate to the protagonist, Wendy all that much BUT I did really like the storyline. I thought it was really clever how this small 'Tyrlle' community existed within modern day America undetected from humans, maybe there's a little troll community down by the River Thames which a hot brunette will take me to one day;)

The story was very very similar to The Selection series in my opinion in how Wendy has to learn to be like a Princess and stuff but she doesn't actually want royalty and she thinks she's not cut out for it and blah blah it just rang a few bells in my head! 

Finn wasn't the most desirable love interest I have ever read about to be honest, I still don't really understand why he had to be so mean to Wendy at the school dance, if he wanted to push her away there are other ways to do it! Also he didn't really have very interesting dialogue, his whole 'it's my job' refrain got kinda boring and he just seemed really overly professional all the time never really showing a fun or interesting side... obviously Wendy was only interested because of those eyes she kept going on about.

TEAM RHYS even though that's slightly though not biologically incestuous. He was one of the few characters who seemed to have a personality and actually showed his feelings towards Wendy openly.

I did feel really sorry for Wendy when he real mother, Elora, turned out to be such a b**** I mean she can't really catch a break can she! I was hoping Elora would loosen up but she was still nagging Wendy about everything even when we find out how much the regime relies on Wendy to succeed, just being nice might have made her daughter want to try harder!

My favourite scene was probably the christening-vittra-invasion-dance bit because I was waiting in eager anticipation for Elora's painting to come true and I knew from mid way through the book that it would happen on this night.

The ending was a little disappointing... basically the story just went in a full circle and Wendy ended up exactly where she started just with an extra guest... It's obvious she'll get kidnapped by the Vittra now that she isn't protected so she's basically ensuring her own death sentence PLUS wasn't the reason she left in the first place to protect Matt from the Vittra but now that she's in even more demand she thinks it would be a good idea to put her family in the limelight? Good going Wendy. Oh and also, so Finn basically sacrificed his job, his home and his friends all for nothing then because the only reason he left is so Wendy could become Princess. It was a weird and stupid ending not going to lie but up until the last few pages it was actually really good!

Admittedly I probably won't read the other two books because I read the blurb and know that there's an emerging love triangle in the next couple of books and I hate how some authors assume that all Young Adult's want to read about is bleeding love triangles. I can pretty much predict the ending of this trilogy and so it doesn't overly appeal to me but they are cheap to buy on the Kindle so I'll wait and see!

Sorry if this booktalk has been slightly short and critical, I did actually enjoy this book as a whole so it's worth a read if you're looking for something light to read :)

Shades of Earth (Third Instalment in the Across the Universe Trilogy) by Beth Revis - Book Review

Synopsis

This is the third instalment in the Across the Universe trilogy, which explores the same themes as the other two books; the narrative is similarly split between Amy and Elder and it still follows their lives aboard the space ship Godspeed which embarked on a 300 year mission to the planet Centauri Earth. In this instalment however, Elder has decided that leaving the ship Godspeed for the new planet which actually exists on Godspeed's doorstep is worth the risks that Orion has warned about. Upon arrival, Amy and Elder as well as the Earthborns which have now been unfrozen, including Amy's mother and her father who takes position as leader, find that the monsters Orion feared are very real indeed, they come across strange dinosaur like birds, strange reptilian footprints and flowers which make you pass out amongst other interesting discoveries about their new home. They soon find that they may not be the first humans to step foot on this supposedly undiscovered planet, it soon becomes a race for survival to uncover hidden secrets and fight against an enemy who the members of Earth and Godspeed were very much unprepared for. 

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Review: Okay this book was by far the best in the trilogy, it could have had its own trilogy leading on from this book alone because there was is so much that can still be explored within the Shades of Earth main plot. The 5 stars admittedly are given mainly because the ending of the book was just OMGDFSDFLNRK<GNRELNLARNELFN AMAZINGLY FANTASTICALLY EMOTIONALLY SATISFYING. Basically we are led to believe that Elder has died saving Amy by blowing up the space station which housed the biological bomb which would have killed the rogue hybrids who were keeping Amy hostage and actually converted her into one of them! Revis does this thing with the chapters when instead of having the narrative alternating between Amy and Elder, IT'S JUST AMY AND ELDER HAS NOTHING BUT A BLANK PAGE BUT IT'S NOT BLANK NOW BECAUSE OF MY TEARS. Like seriously I was BAWLING like a baby when Elder had 'died', I was just waiting for Amy to commit because lets be honest she'd lost her home, her parents who she waited 3 months to unfreeze and now the love of her life, how she was less of an emotional wreck than me I have no idea. Then just when you think the trilogy will end and you're getting ready to throw the book across the room, AMY FINDS ELDER IN THE FOREST WITH HIS CRASHED ESCAPE SHUTTLE OMGAAAAAAD! You'd think the tears would stop at this point but no, it was such a beautiful reunion where he was all like "I don't care if you're a hybrid" and she's all like "you came back to me" and he was like "always" and GOD BETH REVIS WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME. This was possibly the best ending of any trilogy (apart from The Hunger Games) that I have ever read and it makes up all the nitty gritty bits that annoyed me about this trilogy.

Basically this book brought up SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS in every single Chapter like how has Phydus got onto the planet? What's Orion's last clue? Who are the aliens? I raced to the end of this book just to get some answers! Everything was revealed all at once in just a few chapters which I found a lot to take in and it all became very confusing at points that I think I missed some bits. Firstly, what actually happened to the first colony? So they weren't killed off they were injected with Phydus and the gen mods right? Or were they killed off by the FRX?! Also, how did Dr. Gupta and Emma etc get Phydus into their system? Is that how the rogue hybrids killed them off? I'm still a bit confused here but the rest all clicks into place nicely.

There were so many surprises in this book, I was NOT expecting Chris to be a rogue hybrid at all, I was so shocked and actually refused to believe it for a while hoping he was being blackmailed by them or something! To be honest though, I find it a bit odd that Colonel Martin just welcomed him into the colony like surely if he was from the first colony, Amy's Dad could hold him hostage and get information out of him or something?! But instead he trusted this COMPLETE STRANGER from ANOTHER PLANET who he's known for FIVE MINUTES to look after his wife and daughter, rookie mistake Colonel. 

I also think Amy was waaaaay too forgiving with the rogue hybrids, they had killed a third of her colony and both of her parents but she didn't have any real desire for revenge or justice which I thought was slightly unrealistic. 

Beth Revis deserves a round of applause for the setting development in this book though, she created a whole new world from her imagination and managed to squeeze enough detail about this new world as well as an actual substantial story all in one book which takes some trilogy's a couple of books to do. The story was so original, from the pteros to the solar energy cubes. What I really like about this whole trilogy is that it's very dystopian but still very relatable, developments such as the grav tubes and the cubes are things which our current generation may not be too far away from, I know this story is set centuries in the future but still, hopefully when I'm an old lady I'll be able to press a button and get my dinner delivered to me through a hole in my wall.

Also, the development of Amy and Elder's relationship was so perfect. I'm actually glad that Chris was in the picture to mix things up between the couple and actually make Amy realise how much she loves Elder. Whats more, their sex scene was approached so well, the way that Elder didn't want to pressure Amy into anything and they were both so honest with each other about what they wanted. They didn't actually say 'I love you' to each other which would have been nice, but it was implied that they both loved each other though so I'm still happy! Their relationship seemed so difficult, they both had different responsibilities but they still made every effort to stay in each others lives and in the end Elder puts Amy's life before any of his other responsibilities.

Ahhhhh well done Beth Revis, you have absolutely outdone yourself with this last instalment! 

A Million Suns by Beth Revis - Book Review

So I promised I'd blog my book reviews as soon as possible and I finally put this book down about 10 seconds ago so there's no denying my efficiency!

Synopsis: This is the second instalment in the Across the Universe trilogy. This book will throw plot twists and cliffhangers at you, it will make you fall in love and may even make you want to become an astronaut, I know I'm reconsidering my future job now! This book continues from the first instalment in following the narrative of the two protagonists. Whilst Elder struggles to lead in the face of a population who are seeing things for how they really are now that they're off Phydus, Amy pieces together the clues Orion has left her which will eventually lead her to make a decision which will change the fate of the whole ship. This book has everything; romance, action, rebellion, suspense and a flexing load of stars;)

SPOILERS

Review:  I must say, I gave this book the same number of stars as it's predecessor (see Across the Universe review below) but I do think this second book was better than the first though it takes a lot for me to give a book 5 stars so 4 was what it's got I'm afraid. 

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK. Damn you Beth Revis for writing a book which literally took up 99.9% of my thoughts whilst I was at work, I haven't had much of a social life in the past few days because all I want to do is come home, lay in the sunshine with a glass of Pimms (very British) and read this book! It is such a page turner, the tension was insane... every single chapter revealed a little bit more about Orion's big secret and I found myself trying to decode his clues and getting nowhere, I would suck as a detective.

I am so glad that Elder and Amy's relationship deepened in this instalment, their affection for one another was so much clearer and there were more kissing scenes, an almost sex scene (I proper sound like a creep now) but Revis made explicit that the romance between the two wasn't the whole focus of the trilogy and so much else happened in this book which the romance could just develop alongside and it didn't overshadow this. Elder and Amy did argue, what couple doesn't? But it wasn't repetitive and the repercussions of these disagreements weren't dragged out like some writers tend to do, they were resolved and the plot could move on!

I was so happy when Luthor was killed, although we didn't exactly find out who killed him, I guessed it was Doc with his med patches. He could have gone on to become a villain type character in the last book but as the plot went on I realised that there will probably be enough villains in the next book anyway especially now that Orion is becoming unfrozen and Doc is on the loose still. I'm glad that Revis didn't try to make Luthor's character seek redemption or something like that because some writers tend to turn their villains into heroes but there was no way I would ever warm to Luthor!

We got to learn a lot more about the other inhabitants of the ship seeing as everyone is now off Phydus, such as Bartie and Victria which I liked because it meant we saw outside the bubble of the main characters. 

If I had one little criticism it would be that Revis sacrificed logic in her plot development in exchange for the creation of tension and suspense... Orion was leaving Amy clues and some sort of puzzle which would eventually lead her to his secret but at the same time he kept stressing how 'time is running out'... he could have just told her all at once! Why make her find out bit by bit when the clock is ticking and food is running out? It made me race to the end of the book and I love it when I get this endorsed in a book but in retrospect it was all a bit contradictory.