Review: Cress - Marissa Meyer

The third book in the Lunar Chronicles was so, so good. I got so into this again, even though I hadn't read Scarlet in a really long time and could barely remember Thorne and Wolf. I am now completely desperate for Winter, which is going to be amazing, I can tell.

As always, Meyer has created a sophisticated plot brought beautifully to life with her easy to read writing style and impeccable description. If you thought Cinder and Scarlet, were well done, just wait til you read Cress.

Firstly, Cress is a wonderful character. She is totally cut off from the world and not quite normal, but she is a sweet and very clever girl. She does need to learn a few things, but as we go through the book you can see that she is learning. The character development with Cress and Thorne was lovely and I liked the way that they weaved into being the characters in the fairytales. I finally understood why Thorne is called Thorne, and I loved that Cress isn't actually her name, but it goes so well for the Rapunzel story (those of you who don't know, Rapunzel is named after the Rampion plant, and it's leaves and root are both edible). I thought that some of the development of other character was slightly lacking in terms of Cinder, Scarlet and Wolf. I still adore Iko, who doesn't?

The one thing that really struck me after reading this book was the example that these main characters set. These strong, clever and emotional female characters are amazing role models and the book delivers some great messages in always telling the truth, to fight for yourself and to have some self-belief.

It's nice to see some original Grimm fairytale elements coming through in this book. I won't ruin it for you, but the turn of events is brilliant and the link to the original story has been done flawlessly inside the context, giving magical elements a much more scientific and futuristic base. I mean, even the settings are pretty perfect.

I thought that the space/ desert setting was really cool and quite unexpected. I loved seeing how everything comes together towards the finale. Everything and everyone are so much more interlinked than I realised. This sets up for one heck of a finale, with a full-on war, and we get to see what happens with Winter. Has her fairytale come to pass yet I wonder? I personally think it has but it ended rather differently. Might she want the crown? I can see a way out, but it's going to be a rocky ride.

Wow is all in can say.

Kyra_x

Mini Review: Deathless - Catherynne M. Valente

Deathless is based on Russian folklore detailing the life of Marya Morevna, the wife of the Tsar of Life, Koschei. The story follows Marya as the protagonist, where as a child she waits for a bird to marry her, and through her challenges as she is abducted and taken to the Tsar's kingdom, where she is given difficult tasks by Baba Yaga, all the way through to the end of the war between life and death.

The Good:

• The russian folklore ties in beautifully with the events preceeding the first world war, and if you know your history, you may find a few familiar faces there.
• Strange magic and very dark, reminiscent of Grimm's tales rather than the cutesy things we see today.
• A fairytale for adults which has a rather bittersweet ending, makes you want to read the original stories.
• Stunning descriptions
• Excellent characterisation of Marya, Koshei, Baba Yaga and a couple of Marya's demonic friends.

The Bad: 

• I didn't invest in too many of the characters and did not like hte inclusion of Ivan, even if he was integral to the story
• Confusing at times as the timeline jumps around during the beginning and end, not telling you where you are sometimes.
• The end did get a little bit boring and nonsensical.

Overall:

This is a nice book and a very interesting one, however, it was a little bit long and did drag slightly in places where there was next to no action. The whole story, while I liked the magical elements and the adult aspect of it, was dark and didn't capture me the way other dark fairytales have.

Kyra_x

Review: A Beauty So Beastly - RaShelle Workman

Beatrice is American royalty, and she certainly acts it. She doesn't appreciate her friends, her relatives or her servants. She is crue lto everyone around her, selfish and vain. But this isn't the real Beatrice, and once a counter-curse is laid on her, she soon begins to feel a flood of new emotions: pain, joy, guilt... love. But her feeling are only part of the problem, and Bea soon discovers a whole new side to herself.

This modern paranormal take on Beauty and the Beast is pretty good. I loved the way it was gender-swapped and twisted in a way where the story is nearly unrecognisable. There are a couple of Disney references in Mrs Dotts (aka, Mrs Potts, the teapot) and the name Adam, who Disney fans will know is Beast's real name, but really apart from that the book is startlingly different to the original and the Disney version of the story.

Bea's character arc was brilliant in the way that she was learning the entire time. Yes, the arc was pretty steep to begin with, but it soon smoothed out. Bea came from being an unfeeling snob to being completely changed into a caring, loving girl, willing to put others before herself. She definitely came to terms with all her new-found feelings and abilities rather faster than expected and with a lot less freaking out than usual. This was actually kind of nice because the freaking out can get annoying.

Anyway, I also loved the way that her relationship with Adam grew quite steadily. There was an initial attraction for her, however, they never manifested themselves fully until very late in the book. Instead we see a great deal of uncertainty. Adam as a character was very nice but didn't quite have the prescence that Bea did. He seems like a good guy, but this proves uncertain as Bea learns more about her past. This is great to keep you interested.

This short book is great for teens with virtually no attention span and it is easy to remember where you left off. The pace is fast, the read is exciting and compulsive as the full situation finally gets revealed as to who Beatrice is. This is made really quite obvious, but it was good reading anyway. There is lots happening in this book and I really liked the world building that went on as it progressed. Things got even more interesting when other paranormal entities came in to play: Dragons, Vampires, Werewolves, Gargoyles... and I bet there are loads more where they came from.

While, as I mentioned before, some parts were obvious some almost unnecessary, I didn't really mind as the book was so fast I would forget it soon after. It was a good overall read and a nice fairy tale with a paranormal makeover. I am interested to read Rashelle's other works now to get more of a feel for the world, and there MUST be a sequel some time soon, too.

A Beauty So Beastly on Goodreads

Kyra_x

Top Ten Tuesday #16 - Fairytale Retellings

1. Enchanted - Alethea Kontis
I can't profess to have read Hero or Dearest, the second and third books in this series, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they're on my wishlist. Enchanted successfully blends elements of several fairytales and even a couple of rhymes into a cohesive and... enchanting plot. This one is particularly centered around The Princess and the Frog, a story that doesn't get retold all that often. I can't wait to read more.

The Woodcutter Sisters Series on Goodreads

2. Mirror, Mirror - Gregory Maguire
The author who brought us Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West also does his share of classic fairytale retellings. This one is a strangely realistic version of Snow White, and it doesn't skimp on all the gory details, either.

Mirror, Mirror on Goodreads

3. The Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
A complex futuristic retelling featuring all your favourite fairy-tales; Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White as you have never seen them before. This is a riveting series and such a good take on these classic stories.


The Lunar Chronicles on Goodreads

4. The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
A young boy is thrust into a world where fairytales live, but not always happily ever after. This book is enthralling and very easy to get in to.

The Book of Lost Things on Goodreads

5. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
My personal favourite of Maguire's books, this takes a journey into seventeenth-century Holland and is told from the the step-sister's point of view. Iris is a wonderful character, and the way that Maguire paints the scene is magical. I also love the references to art in this book, however others don't get to grips with it the way I did, hence why this book is not higher up the top ten.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister on Goodreads

6. A Long, Long Sleep - Anna Sheehan
A Sci-fi version of Sleeping Beauty, perfect for those of us who like a bit of a mix-up in their genres. Honestly, this book is really enjoyable and check out the cover! Stunning.

A Long, Long Sleep on Goodreads

7. The Grimm Diaries Series - Cameron Jace
If you are up for reading this monster of a series, it features fairytales characters as you've never seen them before. It all starts off with a devastatingly beautiful monster; Snow White. If the main series isn't enough for you, and trust me, there will be more coming out soon, then try all 18 prequels.

The Grimm Diaries on Goodreads
The Grimm Diaries Prequels on Goodreads

8. Sweetly - Jackson Pearce
A deceptive version of Hansel and Gretel. I loved this retelling because it wasn't overly magical for the most part. It was grounded in reality and only got magical once you went behind the scenes. I really loved this retelling, and it is an unusual tale to take on.

Sweetly on Goodreads



9. Bitter Greens - Kate Forsyth
A story similar to the way the Gregory Maguire develops his. This is firmly grounded in reality and history including Charlotte Rose de la Force, a famous female writer with a lot of stories to her name... and not just ones she made up, either. This tale beautifully weaves magic (and not much of it) in with reality so you can't really tell who is embellishing and who is not. I love the nature of the story, the way something can change through the telling, and that is exactly what we have here. Someone may be described as a witch one day and the next day people are convinced they have cast spells on them.

Bitter Greens on Goodreads

10. Snow White and the Seven Samurai - Tom Holt
A couple of teens manage to hack into the evil queens magic mirror and inadvertently break the whole thing. Now all the fairytales are tipped on their heads: Snow White is running the show, the Big Bad Wolf is suddenly Prince Charming. The three little pigs pretty much steal the show in my opinion though.

Snow White and the Seven Samurai on Goodreads

Kyra and Stacey _xx

Top Ten Tuesday #11 - Topics I Love Reading About

Top Ten Tuesday is a Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where I will be picking from their top tens and attempting to reveal what my thinking is behind these choices.

Topics I Love Reading About:

1. Time Travel
Time Travel has so much potential. You can add to events that have already happened or invent a futuristic world, you can change events and affect timelines, you can give accounts of prehistory and you can make it completely silly if you want to. Characters have so many fascinating moral questions to ask themselves when it comes to this topic, and there can be so many loyalties and ties. A huge topic that never gets old.

2. Hidden Worlds
There are so many books out there with hidden worlds in, and yes, mostly they're supernatural or paranormal in origin, and I love that. Neverwhere, The City's Son, Mortal Instruments, Rivers of London, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Ingo.. the list never ends. There are so many ideas and so much inspiration, I don't think I'll run out of reading for this topic, either.

3. Supernatural Powers
Throw me a book with someone who has weird powers, or with someone who discovers a paranormal creature and I will guzzle it down. Every Other Day, Runemarks, The Body Finder, Impostor, Some Quiet Place, Between the Lives; these are all examples of this idea being worked to very different effects. Some of these I haven't read yet. and I really can't wait!

4. A Spin on a Classic
Recently I've fallen out of love with Fairytale spins and now I want something a bit different; I want classic tale spins. I've seen a few about Peter Pan, such as Alias Hook and Tiger Lily, and a couple of Oliver Twist; Dodger, The Artful and Olivia Twisted being a couple of examples. Broom with a View caught me by surprise, being a witchy retelling of Room With a View. I can't wait to get started on Splintered by A.G Howard for her take on Alice in Wonderland. I wonder how many more takes on a classic I can find!

5. Strong Female Characters
Simply the idea of a kick-ass heroine is my cup of tea. Think Lyra from His Dark Materials, Celaena from Throne of Glass, Vin from the Mistborn series or Arya from Game of Thrones; these are the kind of girls I like to see.

6. Assassins and Murders
Speaking of Throne of Glass, and Game of Thrones, I love a bit of action and violence. I even like a bit of blood, as long as it doesn't make me gag while I'm reading it. I find it really easy to write as well, but enough of that. Assassins and Murder make for a really interesting book, full of important moral questions and difficult decisions for characters. It's tough for me not to like a book that runs deeper through the human nature. Another good series to read would be His Fair Assassin as well, that also has a bit of religion thrown in for good measure.

7. Steampunk
Every steampunk-style book I've read so far has been great! I love the Victorian era and the addition of creepy cogs and steam power. But I love it even more when someone takes the genre and twists it further to combine with another one. Take The Infernal Devices, for example. This is primarily a sort of supernatural style book, but add in a few creepy machines and a Victorian setting, and you get something quite different to Cassandra Clare's other series, The Mortal Instruments. Or The Silver Sickle, where the steampunk leanings really add something special to the sci-fi setting.

8. Dystopian Settings
I'm a sucker for dystopia. I love the classics like 1984 and Brave New World, but some of the YA dystopian fiction is pure genius. Among my favourites are The Hunger Games, The Selection, Maze Runner, Wither and The Handmaid's Tale. I find it so interesting that so many people have ideas about who the world could be. So many thought What If..? and came up with answers that many people couldn't dream of. I love the fact that the dystopian genre is a way of getting concerns out in the open. Take Breathe, for example, the question asked is: What if we got rid of all the trees? Lo and behold, the world left behind is imperfect and imbalanced, with a minuscule population forced to live in huge bubbles because without them they would die in the earth's atmosphere. It really makes you stop and think about the big issues.

9. Fantasy Creatures
So Vampires and Zombies are off the cards for now, but I'm not bored of witches yet, or trolls, or goblins, or banshees, or fairies (yet, my limit is coming up soon), or even ghosts. I'd just like to see something original and a bit strange, which is why I find The Soul Screamers series, the Trylle Series and  Stolen Songbird so intriguing. There's something great about the lesser known paranormal entities coming to the fore.

10. Fairytale Elements
I may have lied slightly about being sick of fairy tales. I am not completely, but now I find myself being pickier. I prefer having elements rather than a whole retelling, I prefer mixed genres like in The Lunar Chronicles, sometimes I like it to be firmly grounded in reality like Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and I prefer something stupendously unexpected happening.

Bonus!
11. Hyped to Must-Read Status
If a book has been hyped at me so much every single person seems to have read it but me, the chances are, I will give it a go out of pure curiosity. I love to try out new things, so even if it's not within my usual boundaries, I decide it might be worth the risk. Recommendations made to me nearly always get a chance. For example; I had no intention to read Anna and the French Kiss, but since a Goodreads friend recommended it to me, I've decided to give it a go.

Which kind of books do you love to read about?

Kyra_x

Maleficent - Film Review

On seeing the trailer, and being a massive fan of Disney, I quickly decided I wanted to see this film. After the success of Frozen Disney have been doing well. You can't really ignore that the recasting the original villain into a sympathetic character worked well for Frozen, so why would it not work for Maleficent? Well, you're about to find out.

Maleficent is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty from the point of view of the villain, Maleficent, played by a horn-wearing, winged, not-quite-English accented Angelina Jolie (saying that, the accent wasn't too far off, and it wasn't as posh as the Lara Croft one).

I love a fairy tale retelling. I love the way stories can be made into whatever you want them to be. Gregory Maguire showed this incredibly well with Wicked, a novel based on 'The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'. Which I have read and loved, and has become a stage musical and possibly even a film (yes, I will be seeing that too if or when it comes out). Maleficent, however, is often deemed one of the cruelest Disney villains. She curses a baby for not being invited to a party? Really? Then she decides that because some fairy put a condition on her curse she's just going to lock up and probably torture a Prince Phillip just because he might just hope to break the curse. That's pretty low.
Nobody had any sympathy for someone like that.

Now Disney are shining a new light on the character, saying that she was a free spirit until a young Stefan broke her heart. So she cursed his daughter out of a need for revenge, and spends the rest of the film regrowing her heart. At the beginning she is a naive and carefree child meeting a human for the first time, gliding over 'The Moors', which are covered in CGI effects and filled with creatures of all varieties, but by the end she is a woman who has learnt a lesson and learns to love again. I did find the beginning a brutal reminder that this film isn't meant for adults. I just found it too sappy and childish. It did get better though.

I think the things that made it good for me was the addition of warring species, the story of how Maleficent the fairy lost her wings, and Sam Riley. For me he made this film. Sam Riley plays the raven Diaval in it's human form. He provides a voice of reason to Maleficent and a person who can share her burden. He is a loyal friend and I love what Disney has done for this character. Is the original he was Diablo, an annoying, screechy evil pet, and now they have given him a real character. He also looks pretty awesome. I also thought Sharlto Copley, who plays King Stefan, was very good.

I was a little annoyed about Prince Phillip. He is my favourite Disney Prince hands down. He's kind, charming, brave, strong, funny and saves the day in stupendous heroic fashion, with his horse pal along for the ride. In this film I felt nothing for the character and he was demoted somewhat, getting next to no screen time and barely a happy ending.


I should probably mention Elle Fanning here too. She plays the good natured, sweet, innocent Aurora in her most sickly form. All I can really say about her is that she seemed sweet. That's it. I don't get how everyone seemed to love her when she had no personality, apart from the fact that she was just plain nice and innocent.

I was also annoyed by the pixies (the three fairies that look after Aurora). I hated them. They were silly and insubstantial, and only there to give children laughs.

Overall though, I did enjoy it, but could clearly see that it was meant for a younger generation. I'm giving it 6 out of 10. I admired the storyline and how it diverged from the original, but there weren't that many features that I thought would make it a better film than the original.

Stacey_x

Blog Reveal: Tales From Far Far Away

This post is for something a little bit different, instead of a book or a film, I'm helping to reveal a blog where the author will publish his works in a serial form, as a procession of letters. Now, I've had a look through some of this stuff, and it's hilarious. If you're a fan of comedy and fairytale retellings, this is the blog for you.

The Blog:

Tales from Far Far Away is a parody of popular fairy tales written from 
the perspective of the main characters and taking the form of many 
letters all written in some truly dreadful handwriting. Your fond 
childhood memories of popular folklore will be erased when you enter a 
world of poisoned apples, hapless heroes and drunken horses, with the 
occasional nod towards pop culture. The first letter is due for release 
on 2 June, 2014 and a new letter will be released every Monday and 
Friday thereafter.

Now for the exciting bit! Here is an especially crafted letter to you from the author, telling you everything you need to know about how to get in on the act.

To read the introduction, please click right here.

Greetings,

Let me start by offering my apologies for interrupting on Wednesday Wishlist. My name is Far Far Away and I write to you today from Kyra's tavern. I like what she's done with the wallpaper since I was last here... it looks just like a black and white drawing of the trees here in my world.

Before I get onto the point of my visit, please allow me to explain a little bit about myself. A few months ago I was involved in a conversation with two gentlemen who claimed they had visited a circular world. They alleged they were able to travel all the way around in a matter of hours... by flying of all methods! I heartily laughed along with them before slowly inching my way to the safety of the door.

Regardless, their imaginations made me realise that there is plenty of entertainment to be gained from real life. From that moment, I vowed to see what stories could be published by simply retelling the lives of those in my world.

I wrote literally thousands of letters, asking my countryfolk to send me stories of their daily lives and destroying my tongue to stamp-licking in the process. Many of them wrote back and, after many months of compiling the letters into chronological order, I have finally been able to form several short stories.

I will be releasing these letters every Monday and Friday over at my newly-built tavern, starting on 2 June, 2014. I would be eternally grateful if you could join me on release day to celebrate the release of these stories, the first of which I recently announced was entitled The Apple Princess and the Septet of Tiny People.

I hope to see you there and, once again, my utmost respects to Kyra for being such a gracious landlady.

Yours,

Far Far Away.

Wednesday Wishlist #7

This week is another post on fairytales and this time there's quite a mixture!

Stolen Songbird - Danielle Jensen

A whole new take on trolls, featuring a girl who sings beautifully, an 'enigmatic troll prince', rebellion and a curse. Question: Are trolls ugly or is that all part of the myth? My bet is that this troll prince is drop-dead gorgeous. However, I can see hidden layers to this book; slavery of half human races is dealt with, as are politics of the troll court and it is all wrapped up in layers of magic, both our protagonists magic and that of the trolls. It sounds good, and with a 4.05 rating on Goodreads, I'll probably be getting my hands on it soon.

Stolen Songbird on Goodreads

Entwined - Heather Dixon

This book has been on the wishlist for ages, but I've never got around to buying it... yet. In this retelling of The Twelve Dancing princesses, just as before the princesses step into a hidden world inside their palace, where they can dance to their hearts content inside a silver forest. but one day they find themselves trapped inside this world by the Keeper. Azalea is the eldest sister, and she must fight against the Keeper to bring freedom for herself and her sisters. This appears to be a love it or hate it kind of book, so I really hope I love it.

Entwined on Goodreads

Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson

A retelling of Peter Pan entirely from the perspectives of the Neverland inhabitants, namely Tinkerbell. I've seen wonderful things about this book and I've heard that it is really deeply emotional. It follows the story of how Tiger Lily was in love with Peter Pan before Wendy Darling comes along, and the measures she went through to try and be with him. It is meant to be a very powerful and gripping novel, and I only hope that it does the same for me as it has done for many other people. I am not a cryer and I don't often get affected in that sort of way by books, but you never know, this might be a first.

Tiger Lily on Goodreads

Wednesday Wishlist #6

This week's wishlist is based on fairytale retellings, mostly to do with Alice in Wonderland.

Splintered, Unhinged, Ensnared - A.G. Howard
Firstly, check out the absolutely beautiful covers, and then the story. Alyssa Gardner hears voices in her head, but not any old voices, they're the bugs and the flowers all around her. It was a curse that stretches back to her ancestor, Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. So, far she's managed to keep it together, but then her mother's metal state take a dramatic turn and Alyssa has to travel to Wonderland to fix the damage Alice Liddell did. One word: Awesome.

Splintered on Goodreads, Unhinged on Goodreads.

Insanity - Cameron Jace
Another Alice story, only this time Alice has killed a lot of people and been sent to a lunatic asylum. But it seems that there is something deeper at work, and that Wonderland is, in fact, real and that the monsters of wonderland are running rampant in our own lands, reincarnated into modern day criminals. Sounds good, and with yet another stunning cover, it is certainly on the TBR pile.

Insanity on Goodreads


Pentimento - Cameron Jace
A New America, a world wrought in two, where the rulers known as Beasts take 17 year-old girls into slavery every week in return for the normal people's continued survival. Iris is due to be taken soon, but she had never played by the Beasts' rules, and has no intention of being a Bride. Then she meets a boy, and although she is hugely attracted to him, there's a rumour going around that he is a beast. This futuristic retelling of beauty and the beast sounds very intriguing, and I'd love to read more about it.

Pentimento on Goodreads

Sisters Red - Jackson Pearce

The fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood gets an urban twist. Scarlett and Rosie were very young when they first encountered a Fenris but they have never forgotten it, not least due to the horrific scars that now cover Scarlett, along with her missing eye. They now hunt the Fenris, using themselves as bait, but when their friend Silas returns from his adventures elsewhere, everything changes.

This book took me a long time to get into, not because the story was actually boring, but because not a lot happened in that first third that warranted too many questions. What I like best is some mystery or something very specific to care about, but I didn't care enough about either of the characters in the beginning.

However, after that first third, the pace changes as our three heroes find themselves with multiple murders, huge numbers of Fenris and a time limit; they have to find a potential Fenris, someone who hasn't been changed yet, and save him from being bitten before the moon phase is over. The story gets fairly complex at this point, with a romance developing that shakes the bond between the sisters, the Fenris behaving differently and a shocking discovery. Well, it would have been shocking if I hadn't figured it out about half way through the book. I then felt that all I was doing was reading to find out when the characters would catch up with me. This book is meant for teenagers, really, so as an adult I probably got to that conclusion long before they would, but I think for many of them, they also would have figured it out before the book revealed it. I think if there had been less glaring clues and if we had been given more characters to choose from, this could have been avoided.

There were quite a few unanswered questions; probably enough for another book entirely. What exactly was Silas doing when he was away? How did the Fenris not find the potential before now (this will make sense when you read it)? Was there anything specific that they did to keep him hidden? What does a huntsman actually do in this book?  All it seems to infer is that they can track a tiny bit and carve things out of wood, but it seems to infer that being a huntsman is something a bit special.

As for the characters, there wasn't a great range, but we got to know the sisters and Silas quite well. I felt a great connection with Rosie, but really didn't understand Scarlett sometimes. Scarletts temper flares at the tiniest things, and it really is things that she shouldn't be getting angry at. It actually got quite annoying. Silas was very nice, but his character needed fleshing out a little bit more, as he almost fades into the background.

Although this was an engrossing read at times, and it was fairly enjoyable, it pales in comparison to its companion book, Sweetly (reviewed here), which is also a fairytale retelling. I therefore have to give it a 5 out of 10.