Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was, all in all, a really great finale to the series. It was highly readable, had enough enough action, excitement and general plot stuff mixed in the with the romance to keep me interested without rolling my eyes. There is a simple elegance to Clare's writing that I find ridiculously enjoyable. It is easy to overlook, but I find myself thoroughly impressed, which perhaps isn't the greatest praise coming from me, but I find that a lot of YA authors tend to sacrifice their prose in favour of bland writing so they can concentrate on the story (and by that of course I mean the romance as that usually IS the story).

The reason then, that this didn't get four stars, was that there was something about the ending that just didn't sit well with me. It was all a bit too 'they all lived happily ever after'. Ok, I'll admit that without giving anything away, some characters take a bit longer than others to get their Happyily Ever After (from here on referred to HEA's), but that they all do, somehow seems to be a bit of a cop-out, a bit of a cheat. Almost like the author couldn't bring herself to choose between any of her characters, so she just didn't. I don't know, maybe it's just me. In these kind of stories there has to be a bit of suffering and sacrifice, it's what makes the HEA's more meaningful. Don't get me wrong, there was both of these things present, but they never stuck, as if the author just couldn't do it to her characters.

But on the other hand, a part of me is really happy that most of the characters got their HEA. Because some of them really did go through a lot of shit, and they did deserve it.

Ahhhh, the ending has me really torn. I really can't put my finger on how I feel about it. I am completely divided!!! Overall, I did really like the book, but that ending!! I am not a fan of time-spans being recounted in a few pages, or time jumps, so that was always going to taint my opinion slightly, but I really don't want to say any more because I would have to give away major spoilers and 1) I hate doing that and 2) it would make this review hideously long. So I will leave it here I think.

I still much prefer this series to the Mortal Instruments, which started well but should have ended three books ago...just saying. Oh and I liked the characters in this series LOADS more!!!

View all my reviews

Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess by Phil Foglio
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my. I was not expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did, but it was truly such an original and brilliant novel, that I couldn't help but be swept along with.

We enter right where the first one left off, but where as Agatha H and the Airship took half the book to really get going, this one steamed ahead from the first page. I feared for maybe a slight dip in the narrative, as it is about twice the size of it's predecessor, but it didn't. It kept up it's relentlessly enjoyable pace through-out, throwing so many surprises our way that it was impossible (for me at least) to know where the story was going.

I mentioned in my review of the first book how impressive the scope of the imagination that went into creating Agatha's world. I want to reiterate that point again, and again, and again, because this to me, is what Steampunk should be and what all authors should aspire to. Ok, the idea of airships, automatons, bizarre weaponry and even the fashion aren't really anything new, after all, there are hundreds of books claiming to be Steampunk, but somehow this one to me should be allowed to lay to the right to calling itself Steampunk more so than the others. Every aspect of the story bares reference to it. Every aspect of the world and the people in it, their lives are surrounded by clockwork and mad-boys tinkering with nature, science, and that to me is true Steampunk. Not an odd invention here and there, a bustle and corset teamed with a pair of goggles, but some reference to something fantastical and mad on EVERYPAGE.

Then there's the story. Oh boy, I don't even know where to begin with the story. It's just one brilliant twist after another, like I said, there's no way of telling where the plot will take us next. Agatha is such a wonderfully well rounded lead, the circus folk a motley, but delightful crew of diversity. There is fun and mystery, shocks and revelations to be had on every page. Seriously I wouldn't know where to start with describing the plot, only that it is utterly original and utterly, utterly brilliant, fantastic, stupendous, marvellous, intelligent and, and...I have run out of words, but it is sooooo worth reading!!! I have even come to love the Jagermonsters, who I moaned about in the first review. They really come in their own in this one and I actually love how they speak. It still takes a fuckin' to work out what they are saying, but it wouldn't be right now if they spoke any other way.

To sum, up I loved it, and you will too. If you decide to give the series ago, prepare yourself for a most rip-roaring adventure. Goggles on!!! (^_^)

View all my reviews

Agatha H. and the Airship City by Phil Foglio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bit worried about this one at first as I had absolutely no fucking idea what was going on or what anything was...there were a staggering amount of new concepts introduced and it felt like, as a reader, I was supposed to know what they were with little or no explanation whatsoever. I always find that kind of start to a book not only a little daunting but off putting. I'm sorry author people but I can't see inside your head and therefore if you are creating a new reality filled with odd inventions and ideas I am not familiar with, I'm gonna need a little more information. My own imagination can only do so much.

Luckily, as the story wore on things did become a bit clearer, though not necessarily because of specific descriptions, rather hints were given as to the nature of some of the things the authors were introducing us to, and bit by bit I was able to fit the pieces together to form a more accurate picture, or at least one clear enough to satisfy me. They are probably completely wrong, but oh well, give a shit!!!

Once I had a better grasp on things, the story did become much better. A lot of books will say they are steampunk, but in reailty that will turn out to be a slight exaggeration, with maybe a brief mention of a wacky device or a pair of goggles, which I'm sorry is not steampunnk, but someones poor attempt to try and and make their book more appealing to certain audiences. This book however is truly filled with all things steampunkery, and once the story really began, about a third of the way in, it became really rather enjoyable. Floating airship castles, clanks of every shape, size and purpose, constructs...so many imaginative ideas all woven together into what became a fun romp. Slightly disappointed as to the humour side of things, or lack thereof, but there were a few funny moments, the rest of the time it just felt like the authors were trying to hard.

Also, continuing on the humour side of things, as I understand it we are supposed to view the character of the Baron as a sort of ruthless overlord who will do whatever it takes to maintain the rule of his Empire. So naturally people should be afraid of him yes? But here's the thing, there was a scene early on, a confrontation between aforementioned leader and a group of his subjects. Rather than trembling in fear, what transpired was a rather odd comedy scene, with a bit of banter, a little slapstick and in general no sign of any fear from any of the characters whatsoever. The narrative felt a smidge confused. If the characters were supposed to fear him, why were they behaving like buffoons and circus clowns? But hey, that could just be me...

A few things still remain unclear, or shall we say a tad fuzzy for me. The nature of the Jagermonsters for one, are they men, beasts, machines or a mixture of all three? And the Lackya too, not 100% sure what they are. I also found the way the Jagers spoke slightly irritating. I have been taught to read words a certain way from childhood, so when you start fucking about with the spelling trying to making them sound German, it kinda stagnates the flow of the story some what as I am having to read the sentence stupidly slowly to try and figure out what, in the name of arse, they are on about. Yet I won't say it was a completely wasted effort, as this did lend a certain charm to the creatures, machines, whatever they were.

But on the whole, an enjoyable adventure> The fact that I have picked up the sequel before I had even finished and have already started should give you an idea of how much I liked this, considering the fact I am willing to dedicate more reading time to the series.

I will ask you though to excuse the slightly poor review as I have a rather nasty cold and this is about all I can manage at the moment. Thank you.

View all my reviews

Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

*headdesk* Why oh why do I do this to myself? I knew about halfway through that this was going to be one of those books that I was going to regret reading, but did I stop reading? Nope! That's because I still have this ridiculous need to reach the end of a book in the vain hopes that the story will get better, the characters will be less annoying, that it will stop being so gosh darned feeble and tedious. BUT THEY NEVER DO!!!

To be fair this book started out ok. It was never going to be amazing, or knock my socks off, but it held a certain amount of promise. I was intrigued by the Steampunk/faerie mix, two genres I enjoy and hoped would work well together. And they did for a while. Then all the other stuff started getting in the way.

The plot was nothing special. Headstrong girl unwilling to conform to social standards gets in trouble. She gets sent to an institution full of stereotypes, from the mean girls out to get anyone they see as a threat to the evil teachers deluded into thinking their way is what's best for everyone when in fact they're just plain psychotic. There was even a pervy doctor for crying out loud. This cast of completely unoriginal characters then do their up most to quash all of the things that make the girl 'special'.

Then we have the faery element. A sacrifice of a girl possessing a 'special' quality so that they can lavish her with wonders and trinkets, make her feel like a princess then kill her to restore the balance of the world. Guess who the lucky girl is. The rest of the book is spent twatting about not actually telling a story. Rather it turns into the Kevighn-Noli-Steven show, the plot taking the back seat to the inevitable love-triangle. Oh goody.

That being said, the plot might not have been too bad, if it hadn't kept being so over the top and forced. The author just seemed to be trying too hard to shock, rather than taking the time to build an atmosphere or explore a situation.

And the characters!!! Utterly generic. The main character had promise, but by the end she had turned into one of the simpering ninnies she was trying so desperately to avoid. The last third of the book she spends hurt, upset or crying. Most of the time all three. What happened to the strong girl who liked to fix machines and didn't want to end up a mindless drone? Enter the love interests. As soon as the males vying for her affections had been identified, it all went tits up. There was endless prattling on about out which one was better, which one should she choose, which one was the least dickish. Even when she made her choice, 100% and completely decided which one she wanted, she still faffed about, even though she declared that she had made up her mind. A. Nnoy. ING. I don't give a rats ass who, just PICK ONE GODDAMMIT!!!! The worst part is it's a split narrative, meaning we have to hear from the boys point of view, which included hearing about how amazing she is, how much they want her, how much they want to protect her, blah, blah, blah.

By the end of the book the girl has absolutely no spine left whatsoever and is more than happy to let one of her boys shower her with affection one moment, then push her away to next (most of the time literally). Then she lets him do it, all over again. Now, she says she will ignore him, that after trying to tell him how she felt and getting it thrown back in her face, she won't let him toy with her emotions anymore. Literally two sentences later she's letting him pull her into his lap for a hug. But it's ok, she doesn't help him pull her into his lap, she makes him do all the work. Thatta girl. You stand firm!!! Oh yeah and then she starts crying. What a shock.

Her characters are also all stupid. For the sake of the story, there are things they don't think of or miss, so it can be revealed as a big plot twist later on, but they are so glaringly obvious they just come across as feckless idiots. How many times did they repeat, 'be careful when making deals with the fae'? but they missed out one of the most important terms of their bargain, even though they apparently went over all the points in theirs heads over and over. They still missed it. How stupid can you get? There was also a lot of fobbing off in the narrative. A lot of cliches thrown in, a botch job at covering up the holes in the plot, so the author didn't have to try to explain inconsistencies. Some examples were lines like, 'I was trying to protect you' and, dammit I can't remember any more. That's how quickly my brain wants to be rid of this book.

There is also the fact that the ending just kind of fizzles out. A solution is reached in rather lack lustre fashion, again with more stupidity on the part of the characters, the lead in particular, but it just carries on...and gets really stupid. Plus, for some reason, the author refused to stop writing about a character when his part in the plot was over long before the ending. The only reason he remained was most likely to retain the 'excitement and drama' of the love triangle. As it had already failed to begin with, there was absolutely no need to follow the continued escapades of the man who lost. Especially when he just ended up in a brothel.

Then it turned into a seedy porn fest. Nothing up to 'Fifty Shades' standards, but it was just unnecessary and cringe-worthy. Not all females want or need soft porn in their books to enjoy them. I did NOT need an chapterly update of the goings on in the main characters nether regions.

The overuse of the word 'dollymop' made me want to hit things.

Oh heck, there's more, but that goes against my non spoiler giving principles. Heaven forbid I ruin it for you just in case you still decide to pick this up.

Suffice it to say I shall not be reading the further adventures of Noli the insipid.

Wow, that was harsh.


View all my reviews

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Well, I'm glad I didn't go all the way to America for this. That would have been a huge chunk of money wasted. What a load of blah. Firstly I got confused as to the setting. In most cases, when a book contains some deadly virus-plague thing that slowly wiping out all humanity, I automatically think Dystopia. But when they started going on about steam carriages and corsets, I figured I was wrong. I know Steampunk can be set in an alternate future, but most of the time they hang about the Victorian era, where they belong. Also referring to the city they lived in as 'The City', also didn't really help. Don't get me wrong I like a bit of mystery, but at least let me know if we're in an alternate reality or not. That could be one of those silly things that just bugs me. I am aware that I am fussy.

Then there was the fact that the whole thing was told not just in the first person, but also in the present tense, which meant that we were finding things out when the main character did. Unfortunately the snag there was that no-one seemed willing to tell her anything. Sometimes she'd take it upon herself to ask a question, but then for some inexplicable reason, wouldn't (that was actually used in the book). Then you'd finally think they were going to tell her something and there'd be a distraction of some ilk and they'd forget all about it. Which wasn't annoying at all (it was, I'm being sarcastic). It really stunted the pace of the book, not that there was anything going anyway, but still, nothing was happening, really slowly. What did happen was lots of cliches I can imagine the author just shoving in willy nilly because she wanted a Mask of Zorro-esque scene with all the sword fighting and dress slashing, goddammit and no-one was going to stop her. That's the only explanation for it I can think of because THERE WAS NO REASON FOR IT, IT MADE NO SENSE AND WAS STUPID!!! Not to mention being pong-wiffy with cheeseyness.

And don't even get me started on the characters. E-gads. They just got worse and worse as the book progressed. The main character was a complete contradiction to herself and couldn't decide whether she wanted to be vulnerable or strong. She ended up being neither, rather a simpering self centred attention seeker (not in a show off kind of way, more in a woe-is-me I'm so alone and misunderstood kind of way) who wanted to play the hero but when it came down to it always managed to wheedle her way out of it. Other characters (mostly male) kept telling her she was brave, but I'm sorry, I saw not one shred of evidence of her apparent heroics. They must have been saying that just to get into her pants (and by that I mean undercrackers). All she did was moan about how no-one cared about her, ramble on about how guilty she felt over her brothers death and generally wallow in self pity. It's a wonder she got up in the morning. On that topic, it was mentioned that she was suicidal but apart from a couple of mentions, to me she didn't really come across as someone wanting to off herself. She just whined. A lot. The two male leads for just funny in their stereotypical-ness (not really a word but it'll do).

I'm not even going to talk about the god awful love triangle (or not much anyway), because I'm eating dinner while writing this and I don't want to up chuck into it. Suffice it to say there was lots of to-ing and fro-ing, sappy lines, denial and 'it meant nothing's' usually in the space of a few sentences. Yay

There'd also be random bits that were quite graphic and disturbing that felt a bit out of place.

Did I mention the main character was annoying...I did? Well, she really, really was. I think it was the fact that she was so spineless that got to me. There are just too many strong, female leads in the world of literature that there's just no room for self-centred girls like Araby...I've forgotten her surname, that's how much I didn't care about her or her problems.

I usually try to find a positive, but I can't even say the writing made up for everything. It was pretty basic and kinda obvious, just a series of lists describing things or events in rather unimaginative fashion.

I was originally going to give this 2 stars, but during the course of writing this I've changed my mind. So, sorry. This one for me at least, is a dud, though after looking at the reviews, I see I may be in a minority.

Edit: Oh crumbs and I completely forgot that the main character takes drugs. Because her life is soooo terrible and she has nothing to live for...blah, blah, blah!!! Doesn't that make her seem like a wonderful and noble person. Things start getting iffy? Time to space out and go to a happy place!!!



View all my reviews

Soulless by Gail Carriger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh I so needed this. It was fun, silly, a bit daft, but in a way that was utterly fabulous. I was reading this at work, and I don't mean on my lunch break. I mean while I should have been working. I would walk passed it, read a couple of pages, do a lap of the shop and come back again. I got to chapter 5 and thought bugger it, this is just too good, I must devour within two days, AND I DID!!!!

I generally avoid books that deal with vampires and werewolves. Because they are boring. And unoriginal. And generally just suck ginormous balls. But not this one. Everything is done very tongue and cheek, the outrageously gay and flamboyant vampire with interesting tastes in attire springs to mind. I had a particular fondness for a certain gruff and oh-so-manly werewolf (the fact that he was Scottish helped >.<) and the female lead Alexia, who was a scandal just waiting to happen but glorious in her feistiness and unwillingness to back down. Their relationship had me laughing and smiling so much my face ached. I do love a good bit of old fashioned bickering and those two squabbled like the best of them.

I really can't stress enough how much I enjoyed this. Carriger has the rapier wit and writing style of a master. Every sentence was an absolute joy to read and perfectly crafted with charm and flair. If I wasn't tripping over my own fingers in my haste to write this review, there's a slim chance I'd actually be able to do this justice, but alas I can't because I loved this book so much my brain is having trouble forming sentences due to the fact that it has melted into a gooey puddle of happiness!!! YAY

View all my reviews