The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a great book recommend to those who love Roald Dahl. It has the unique child with the amazing gift but is stuck with despicable parents (and I mean it. I was appalled at how awful the mother and father were in this book. They should not have been allowed to have children and wanting to be THAT normal, is itself not normal at all!!!!) a la Matilda, with the kind of fantastical adventure (visits to a whole host of foreign countries, not to mention Outer space, or I should say Middle space) as seen in James and the Giant Peach (though with slightly less insects). Charming, fun but carrying the important message to those impressionable kids, that it's ok to be different, this is a great little read for youngsters.

It took me a while to get into as it's been a long time since I've read a book aimed at younger kids, but after I realigned my inner child, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Barnaby is a wonderful character and someone young people can really relate to (well, except for the floating).

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Tempestuous by Lesley Livingston


This was a book that I wasn't in a huge rush to get to. I read the last two a while ago, and this one's been sitting on my TBR pile for a loooong time. I read it mainly because it was bugging me and it was preferable to the alternative. In the end, I liked it. It was ok. It didn't blow me away and the writing could be a little clinical and simple at times. Don't get me wrong, I can't stand overly poetic and flowery prose that spends three pages describing a door handle, but I need something more than a list of stuff that is happening. The author also had a habit of repeating herself, but I do that too, so I am willing to overlook it. Don't want to be a hypocrite now, do I? XD

Still, there was always a lot going on, it was relatively engaging and wraps up the series nicely. I started to get a little bored of the whole 'will they, won't they', Ross 'n' Rachel-esque relationship between Kelley and Sonny, which, by the way, remains one the the worst character names I have ever come across in literature. I mean come on, I can't take someone seriously if they're called Sonny!!!! It's a name right up there with Patch from the Hush, Hush series, which I think we will all agree takes the trophy for THE WORST name in the world books. Anyhoo, characters. It just didn't have me feeling all squiggly with glee as other book relationships have in the past. Plus there was a slightly pointless attempt at a love triangle which didn't really need to exist but still, as everyone else is doing it... There would be moments as well when the characters would feel a little flat to me, but then other times when they were actually quite funny and charming, so...

It's one of those books that I can easily see people loving. I have to say that I didn't LOVE it personally, but I did like it. It certainly didn't bore me, the finale in particular was pretty fun!! So you should probably give the first one (Wondrous Strange) a go, if you haven't already.

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The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This isn't an easy one to review. As a whole, I did really like it. I loved the Latin influence in the invented cultures, all the place names etc, that was a nice touch. As well as this, all the right components were there, brilliant and engaging plot, characters I either wanted to hug or punch, effortless writing, seemingly this book has it all. Yet there is something niggling at me.

I think the easiest way to explain it is that the book feels like a trilogy in one volume. There are three parts and each is very different, from settings and characters to tone and atmosphere. Thinking of them as separate bits of the same story helps me figure how I feel about the book. The issue really is with the first and second part as these hold the most differences.

Part 1 is my favourite. She introduces her story and characters marvellously. I started reading late at night and though trying to go to bed, I would start the next chapter without realising because I was completely drawn into the story from the very first line. It also helps that I do love bit of palace intrigue!! XD The relationships that are built up in this part are wonderfully done and just how I like them, especially the romancey bits. Slow but not painfully so, rather they tease and tantalise leaving you wanting more. I was so invested in everything about the story that when part two came along, it was a bit of a shock, like a pie to the face.

Part two involves not just a rather dramatic setting change but also an almost entirely new cast. I will admit that I was little disappointed in the direction the author took. It's not that it was bad. There were still the same high standards of writing etc as in the first part, the new characters were well developed and believable and the story still engaging and exciting. So really it's just that I wanted more of the palace stuff and maybe there might have been a possible romantic interest in the first part that I really, really, really warmed to. It was the way she was leading up to it, it was sooo gooood!!! Deepening friendship, meaningful glances, growing respect etc all things that I love as I watch a relationship unfold. But in part two, we are introduced to another romantic interest, but this time there is none of the unhurried build up and for the male at least, the attraction is instant, which is no fun at all. I think it's safe to say that I am a big fan of the chase, rather than the end result. But I need to stress again, this is just my preference and others may have no problems with the changes in the story. The book is GOOD and I can understand the need for the second part as it is conducive (if that's the right word) the the development of the main character, Elisa.

Speaking of, my what a delightfully likeable and endearing character she is. Her battles with her body image are treated with equal amounts of sensitivity and humour, with a part in particular involving a young boys honesty that made me chortle!! I can find no real fault in her at all. The author has succeeded in creating a multi-dimensional character who can convincingly portray naivety, fear, courage and love with vast amounts of realness and genuineness, making her a wonderful narrator.

Lastly, part three took us back to the palace, and though still good, just felt a smidge rushed. It was refreshing reading a book with a proper and actual honest-to-goodness ending, but which entertained the possibility of more. This is most certainly a world I am eager to return to.

Also...PRETTY COVER!!!! XD

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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!!!



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Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Is it my fate that I must read books that get my hopes soaring only to get them dashed on the rocks of bitter disappointment?! Every part of me wanted to like this, and there were some points that I did, though mainly in the beginning. However the further I delved, the greater my confusion, frustration and befuddlement (I am aware befuddlement and confusion mean the same thing. I use both to emphasise the depths of my perplexity) over a story that wasn't really sure what it wanted to be. Was it a sweet and heart warming fairytale of love and redemption, a dark and twisted thing that the brothers Grimm themselves would be proud of, full of wicked spells and dangerous obstacles? Maybe a coming of age story shrouded in fantasy? A mystery, family saga...? In truth it was a mixture of all, yet none of the elements to me,seemed to get on very well with each other. It plot conveyed an sense of not being sure in which direction it wanted to go, or whether to go in all directions at once.

We add to this already confusing mix the storyline itself. I believed this to be a re-telling of the Frog Prince, yet what it proved to be was far more cluttered. Though the Frog Prince is at it's core, many other classic fairy tales make an appearance, burdening an already weighty plot. The end result was not quite chaos, but it was within spitting distance of becoming a broiling concoction of far too much told with far too little. By this I mean that rather than deepening the story, exploring more the relationships of her many characters, the author seemed far more concerned with squeezing in as many fairytale references as she possibly could, most of them shoved in with what felt like little thought to how they worked as a whole. What this resulted in was a hodgepodge tale which got more and more bizarre and random as the book drew to a close. It all just seemed a bit, untidy.

I wanted to explore the blooming relationship of Sunday and her froggy companion. I would have liked to uncover a little more the mystery of the Godmother Sorrow and the nameless King, the tale of the sister's who were gone and the enigmatic Jack who never actually appears. The author introduced us to so much but didn't seem overly fussed about digging deeper. It's not a particularly hefty volume. A few more chapters could have worked wonders on a plot that overall felt a little heavy and cluttered and could have done with a bit of stretching out.

The best way I can sum up 'Enachanted', is by likening it to a dream, of the kind that will one minute have you sitting on a bus playing a game of cards with Papa Smurf, the bloke who works down the local newsagents and a trilby wearing panda, then suddenly transport you to the depths of the ocean and leaves you completely unconcerned by the sudden change in scenery, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, or simply unaware of it the change altogether. There was simply too much going on, each element a part of different a puzzle that won't fit together no matter how much you try.

However, after all that, I did still give it three stars. The reason, is that you strip everything back, there are fragments of light hidden beneath to fog. At it's heart, there are characters you can like, an ambitiousness on the part of the author in her attempt to weave so many threads together, though she may have lost sight of the essence of the true plot, that I have to admire and the simple fact that I didn't dislike it. There was still something that drew me in. That could partly be the sheer unpredictability of the plot though. Looking back, it was quite mad.

It's one of those books that, where I found fault, others might find charm, inventiveness and a story that certainly leaves you guessing.

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Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would consider myself a fan of dragons (well, who isn't?) and though perhaps I haven't read a great many novels containing the winged beasts, I still get excited when I find a book that's gone out on a limb, pushed the boat out, taken a chance and tried something different. As much as I love the glorious creatures in all their fearful majesty, sharp toothiness and limb rendering awesomeness, I found myself being drawn to Hartman's vision of Dragon. A proud race of mathmagicians and scholars that fought for the land they had lived in for centuries, but where steadily being pushed out of.

Skip ahead to the events of Seraphina, and we have an uneasy truce between dragons and humans built on a simple wish for peace. What makes Hartman's dragons unique for me, is that to better understand and appreciate their former enemies, they take their form and walk among them. This of course is the cause of all the troubles and tribulations that occur, much of this down to the Dragons refusal to allow themselves to become befuddled by troublesome emotions and forget what they are. What this creates however, is an intriguing tale of two peoples seemingly complete opposites of each other, yet perhaps have more in common than you think.

The storytelling is delicious, Hartman spins her tale with grace and a deft hand. She will pull you slowly at first, so you don't notice how involved you are until it is a few hours later and you are turning the last page. I found someone I could relate to it Seraphina, the focus of this tale. Her unease in her skin resonated with me as I'm sure it would with many. I empathised with her seemingly impossible situation, the dark secret she carried that few would understand and would more likely shun her for. The relationships between characters were built on solid foundations and well explored The author was able to make it so you could understand the actions taken if perhaps you don't agree with them.

The only gripe I had appeared towards the end. It involved a certain male member of the cast, a man who valued honesty above anything else, sought the truth in all, told no lies and his willingness to live one the biggest lies of all. To me, it seemed to go completely against his character. Also some of the names where a bit annoying, but it wouldn't be proper fantasy if there weren't a few tongue twisters thrown in to make sure you're awake and paying attention =D

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It's the April Wrap Up and May Haul/TBR

 A Book Review - Fairytale Retellings/Original Fairytales


Inspired my Misty from The Book Rat, this is a review of some of my favourite fairytale/original fairytale books.

A Book Review - Fantasy Series

March Wrap Up/April TBE

I knew I would be crap at blogging.  These videos have been up on Youtube for a while and I have only just remembered to shove them here. I thought I was a bad Tweete but jeez, that's got nothing on my appallingly sucky Blog skills.  So here they are, a little later than they should be.

March Wrap Up

April Book Haul/TBR

Book Cover Reviews Part 1/ Always Judge A Book by It's Cover #2


So this is me pulling practically every book off my shelf and saying 'ooh look, isn't it pretty.'  Seriously I think I say pretty a gazillion times!!! Which isn't irriating at all and doesn't make me sound like a moron with the vocabulary of a squirrel...



Part 2 in my Book Cover Adenture (me trying to make it sound more interesting...and failing!!) will be up shortly!!

S'laters

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those unassuming books that sneaks up on you and without realising it you've got only 4 chapters left.

After reading the premise I wasn't sure what to expect. My first thought was 'disaster movie'. The big action, bigger explosions race against time to save the world type bonanza. What I got however, was something rather different. The focus of the story it not the disaster itself. It's about the people that are living through it, one family in particular.

What really struck me was that, once the 'invisible catastrophe' had stuck, people just carried on. People went to work, kids went to school. The world didn't descend into chaos. I am an avid reader of dystopian fiction where, after some sort of devastating event, the world collapses, democracy fails, people panic, viruses spread. Yet here, there's an almost calm. Yes there's panic with each new and disturbing effect of 'the slowing', but there is still a sense of normalcy. As if, if we stopped doing all the things we usually do, that's when the world falls apart. And this is what is so brilliant about this book, what the author has done so well. Regardless of your opinions of human beings as a species, and though there is nothing out there really to compare us to, you cannot deny we have an amazing ability to adapt and to develop and to survive. That's what the author captures so well in her book. That no matter how many minutes the days are growing by, no matter how 'the slowing' is dividing a population, killing crops etc, people keep going.

In Julia, we have woman retelling her story of what it was like in those first few months when the world was beginning to change. She is going through 'the age of miracles', that time in a kids life when they start changing, start noticing things and thinking differently. So not only is she in a tumultuous time in her young life, worrying about the weird things happening to her body, her friends, boys, she has do it all with the uncertainty of whether or not she, or the rest of humanity, is going to get a future. There are a lot of dramas that unfold. Occurrences that happen in normal every day life, yet throughout Julia keeps asking herself, 'would these things be happening if the world were not changing'. How different would her life be if there wasn't this huge, looming shadow hanging over them all? You find yourself being drawn into Julia's life, captivating in it's seeming mundanity, yet as always the threat of the unknown hovering like a bad smell. The mixture of the ordinary and the extraordinary makes for an intriguing and compelling mix. It lulls you to the extent that if it wasn't for the reminders of how the world was changing, you would forget that anything momentous and potentially disastrous was happening. And that's what was so good. The author didn't make the disaster the star of the show, rather it took on a more supporting role. Though that being said, at the same time during the narrative, we would be following Julia as she drifted through another day of school, an awkward girl shy and unsure, when we would get a sudden and shocking reminder of the state of the planet. Yet it never felt messy, two different styles at war with each other. The author pulled them together beautifully, the stark reality all the more powerful when settled amongst the living of every days lives.

This truly is a marvel of a novel. It's not brash or loud. It doesn't try to shock you in ways that are over the top and flashy. What it does is show you a normal family living through unimaginable circumstances, and that all the preparation in the world can't prepare you for everything.

What is really the most remarkable thing of all though is that not only did I read it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as usually I avoid disaster stories like the plague, as in the majority of cases they scare me shitless, because these things could actually frickin' happen people!!!!

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A Bookcase Tour - After/Updated


So here it be, the final instalment of my bookshelf tour trilogy. This one is a look at my bookcase as it is now.




If you are interested in any of the books shown in the above video, then please feel free to ask me by leaving a comment here on the blog, or on youtube!! I will be delighted to answer, I can assure you!! >.<

A Bookcase Tour - Before

So I decided it was high time that a rearranged my bookcase, as it was looking a bit tired and I had lots of spangly new titles to add.

I also thought it would be jolly spiffing if I should record the whole endeavour...and I have.  There are to be three videos, the Before, where I go through the old books that have been on the bookscase for ages. The During, a silly video where I strip everything off, get in a fight with my tripod and re-jiggle all my books.  Lastly there's the After, and that one is a tour of the new, improved bookcase.

So here's the first one...

I Just Read...The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is probably going to be one of the hardest reviews I am ever going to write. I will likely spend hours trying to do the book even one iota of justice, but I will inevitably fail. It's not necessarily to do with my ineptitude with the English language (although it is shoddy at best), it's more that my skills at turning feelings into words suck the proverbial balls!! A book can make me feel something so profoundly and yet when I try to explain to someone how I felt, I end up regurgitating the classic response, 'it's hard to explain', whilst my head explodes with frustration. In fact someone asked me today if the book was sad. After a few moments of pondering, I came up with the immortal line, 'it's devastating, but not sad'...WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!!
And therein lies the problem. So I will do the best I can.

The strength of any contemporary novel lies in the believability of it's characters. With fantasy, you can cover up a flimsy cast with an epic and all engrossing story of dragons and quests etc. With a crime novel there's always a murder to solve. But there are stories like this one, that are just about the people, and the stuff that effects people. Real people. But if the people in these stories aren't true representations, then the whole thing falls to pieces. It's easier to empathise with extraordinary situations because they've never happened before and they are never going to happen, but when there are people out there who can tell you what these things really feel like, then it becomes harder to imagine them yourself. Luckily, John Green seems to have an uncanny ability to make observations about people, that seem so obvious when you see them written down, but are things you've never noticed before. Then there's the way he writes them. It's effortless, as this stuff just pours out of his every orifice and he just puts a piece of paper underneath to catch it all, and it becomes a story. It's kind of unfair really, the way he can make you understand something with just a few words.

I'm not going into detail about plot and whatever, I leave that for you to discover. What I will say is that it's one of those books that changes your outlook on life. Probably not forever, maybe not even for a month or a week, but I guarantee that for a least a couple of days, you look at the world a little differently.

So, yeah. I guess it's fair to say I loved it.

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I Just Read...Supernaturally by Keirsten White






Supernaturally by Kiersten White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So yeah. I'm probably the only person on the planet that thinks this but...I was a smidge disppointed. But I think it's only down to how much I LOOOOVED Paranormalcy. This one just seemed to have lost all that made the first one so brilliant.

I would list Evie as one of my favourite characters of all time. She was fun, quirky, silly, daft, basically everything all those other sappy, love-sick, moronic girls from other paranormal romance books aren't. You may have noted however, I said she 'was'. Unfortunately it seems like she's been hanging around with them too much, as in Supernaturally, she pretty much becomes one of them. She now spends a lot of her time mooning about how unfair everything is, moaning about all the things she doesn't think she can have, fawning over her man etc. Her intelligence has also taken a bit of a bashing. In fact she is quite stupid. She's too busy whining to realise what's right in front her. She's just not fun any more. I used to think that if I ever met she would be an awesome person to hang out with, but now she's kind of person I would do all in my power to avoid. The worst thing is, is that there were the odd flashes of the old Evie, but they never lasted long.

All this wouldn't be too bad if there was a really gripping plot to focus on. Again, unfortunately this was sadly lacking in comparison to the first. In fact, I'm trying to recall what the book was actually about and I'm struggling. I finished it an hour ago.

All this sounds ridiculously negative. I think a lot of it stems from just a general disappointedness. Once I started realising that this wasn't going to be the same kind of book as Paranormalcy, I couldn't adapt. I couldn't shake the feeling of sadness that Supernaturally had become like one of those thousands other other dark romance books.

And I really, really wanted to love this. But I can't. I like it, it was ok, but no-where near the same level of sheer fun and brilliance of Paranormalcy. If I'm ridiculously honest, the reason it got 3 stars and not 2 was because of my love for the first book. Dammit, why?!!!!

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So I'm still very much in the testing stages of this blog. This is me seeing if I can embed a video...here we go




Ahhhh, it worked. This is my latest book review on Youtube >.<

Now, let's see if I can add a review from Goodreads...

Fever by Dee Shulman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Hmmm, where to start? What I will say is that if you are Dee Shulman, look away now. I am doing this for your own good. And apologies, this is going to be a long. I will do my best to avoid spoilers (though it be difficult as there are a lot of specific bits that I really want to moan about!!!)


I really did try to find some positives, as I don't like giving a completely negative review It's not really fair or constructive, but it was difficult. The only thing I could find, was that the author can put a sentence together well, and technically speaking, her writing is pretty, well, readable. The problem that I had then, was with what the words were saying.


So lets start with her characters. I don't think I have ever instantly disliked a character as much as I did Eva. She's just too perfect. It's never really spelt out for us, as Eva's storyline is written in first person perspective, and being so humble and self-deprecating (which gets really annoying!!!) she never says 'I'm stupidly intelligent', but when we discover she can hack into computers at the age of 8, it's kind of implied.


Then once she hits her teens, she suddenly becomes some kind of radiant goddess that boys can't seem to resist, which girls hate her for.


So far she has brains and beauty. What are we missing?...oh yes, talent. She can play guitar and sing!! There we go, the perfect package. To be fair to the author, she did try to balance Eva out by giving her family/friend issues, but by that point my dislike was so firmly cemented, I just couldn't bring myself to sympathise or care and I just wished she'd stop whining and get over it. You can't have everything.


Her family doesn't understand her, which she often reminds us of, and she has no friends because she can't let anyone know her secret super-duper brain powers. All the boys want to date her because she is so beautiful and all the girls loath her because they are riddled with jealousy!!


Later on though, she meets Ruby who becomes her first friend. But when they fall big style (not Eva's fault of course, and yes, that was sarcasm) she becomes a stereotypical jealous, teenage villain, calling Eva lots of nasty names very publically. But don't worry, Eva's not alone, and the friends she doesn't even realise she has come to her rescue in the most cheesy fashion you could imagine. Yay.


A lot of my criticisms are probably just me being a bitch though, as I find people like Eva extremely hard to relate to and empathize with. It didn't help much that was particularly believable either. It soon becomes obvious to all that she's a brain-box, gorgeous and a mean musician, but it's the fact that she's so modest about it to the point of denial, that irritates me so much! How can she not know that she's stupidly attractive, when every guy who takes one look at her instantly seems to throw themselves at her feet, or how intelligent she is by the fact she gets accepted into the Boffin Institute (actual name St. Magdalene's)? It all comes across, to me, as a bit false. Just a little self acknowledgement of her many gifts, and some simple honesty would have made me like her more.


Then there's Seth, the male lead. A gladiator. He's strong, agile, quick and has this uncanny ability to pre-empt an opponent's next move before even they do (facts that we are reminded of constantly). Basically the perfect fighter. Then there's the fact that the poor dear, has to be beautiful and ooze charm that seems to draw in the opposite sex like a magnet. It's a hard life. But like with Eva, the author has tried to balance him out with being a slave and lacking in the freedom department. I actually found that I liked him to start with, but then his love interest, Livia, appears and he becomes a bit of a simpering romantic obsessed with love and the need to be with this girl he barely knows. I'm afraid I lost all respect for him. Again, this is probably just be my own personal failings when it comes to matters of the heart, but it started to get a little cheesy.


So within a few chapters, I was already finding this book a bit of a struggle, as I wasn't really invested in the characters. But I will say, which can be viewed as the second positive, is that though I personally didn't get on with her characters, the author has admirable character building skills, as through the course of the book, you really get to know them inside and out.


You may at this point, be wondering why I continued reading. The answer is the plot, as I was interested in finding out how she was going combine the two very different story lines together. The book makes it clear that time travel is involved, but it takes a while for that particular plot point to develop as there is a lot of initial back-story to wade through. Unfortunately, I was to be disappointed as the whole thing becomes a little silly.


We are introduced to the concept of Parallon, an alternate dimension (I think) that exists outside of time...and that's about all we get. There is very little explanation as to what it is, why it's there or even where it got it's name and although there's a character in Parallon who seems like he might have the answers, he is too irritatingly evasive and vague to be of any use.


It is from this point Eva and Seth finally meet, and it all seems a bit patched together, erring on the side of random. A series of events that don't really fit together or flow, leaving the whole thing disjointed. Towards the end of the book, I waited for a climax to the plot and maybe a few answers to some of the many mysteries hinted at, as, though this seems to be the start of a series, usually there is some sort of sense closure and of wrapping up. However, as there was no real focus to the story, this was absent. Instead we got some technical jargon about the fever for which the book is named, and although high-lights the research the author must have done, was detailed to the point of being boring and I'm afraid I began to skip chunks.


Then we finish on a scene that was missing from the earlier narrative, and should have been the grand finale, in which we discover the key details of a pinnacle event that occurred previously and that links, Seth, Eva and Livia together (badly and tenuously). Yet alas, by this point, I had lost all interest and just wanted to finish the book.


So, in conclusion, not good. Characters that are hard to like and unrealistic. A plot with too many holes and (deep breath) missing explanations that leaves the whole thing feeling like lots of random ideas just thrown at each with no real effort to linking them together, and too many mysteries that are left unresolved and therefore make no sense.


A lot of this (as I always say in my reviews) is of course personal preference so I won't tell you not to read it, as you may miss out on a book that you may in fact, like.


My goodness, that's the longest review EVER. If you made it this far, I commend, congratulate and thank you. You are super.


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