Quicksilver by R.J. Anderson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I don't even know where to start with how utterly consumed with bitter disappointment I am about this book.

It just took all the bad bits from the first book, but amplified them, with no amazing ending to cover them up.

So, let's begin. I don't like Tori, the MC of this novel. I found her cold, distant, hard to relate to and generally unlikeable. She just had this brash, rough manner about her that grated me up the wrong way. I'm guessing that was perhaps what the author intended, for her to be a hard, untrusting, serial liar that is at times, more than a little bland. You can get away with those kinds of characters when they're not carrying the story, but Tori's the Main Character. How are we supposed to engage with someone who just makes it so damned easy to not like them? Then, towards the end, just when I think she can't get any worse, she goes and does something so ridiculously annoying, I very nearly stopped reading right there. It's just a desperate attempt to get attention. The boy she likes found out her entire life is a live, he leaves, and Tori just so happens to pick a spot right near where this boy runs, at exactly the time he runs, to end it all. Then admits she did it a little bit on purpose, with absolutely no regard to how it's going to affect the other person, just guilt tripping him into liking her again, at least that's what it seemed like to me. Considering her personality up till that point, it was totally out of character.
And like Alison from Ultraviolet (I'll get to her in a second), Tori spends an unbelievable amount of time talking about herself (which would be ok if she had anything interesting to say) or trying to hype up a threat that has no real presence, nor any real hint of danger, over and over again. Just a vague threat in the background, the only purpose it's serving is to give the illusion that there is some kind of plot going on here. Of which there isn't. The reason why she has to keep reminding us is the story is so blah, with nothing exciting going on, that it's easy to forget that there is any kind of threat.

Anyhoo I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the characters. Ok, so Tori's an irritating robot with barely any personality. Now on to the others. I'm not even going to bother with the equally bland, plus stupidly stereotypical Asian boy, whose strict parents want him to be a doctor when all he wants to do is teach kids PE. Did I mention he wears glasses?...


SPOILER ALERT!!!






So, shockingly enough, Sebastian returns. Big surprise, yet in transit he seems to have gone through a personality transplant, as the person who appears is nothing like a Sebastian from Ultraviolet. The author has quite successfully rearranged him into weak, suspicious and cowardly husk, in no way resembling the charming, slightly awkward, but generally agreeable guy we got to know in the first book.

And then there's Alison. Oh. My. God. PEOPLE THAT ANNOYINGLY PATHETIC SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO EXIST. Even when she's not directly involved, when it's other characters talking about her, they make her sound so spineless, and just...WEAK!!! Not only that, but they ladle on the pity with a bucket. It's all 'oh, poor Alison', 'she's so brave', 'she's been through so much, more than any of us could ever imagine, yet she'd such a trooper,'. Look, I get she's been through stuff, and it's going to have an effect, but there are ways of getting people to sympathise with a character without making them so fragile that it's like they're made of glass and if someone so much as looks at them, they'd shatter.
Then we hear from the girl herself, though it's through an email, or 'letter' as they insist on calling it. Jeez, the girl is 17 yet she sounds like an old person from some bygone era. Then she's digging for sympathy too, going on about how delicate she's feeling, how paranoid, how much pain she's in, but the way she says it makes me want to throw things at her. SPEAK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON FOR FUCKS SAKE. What teenager sends an email, sorry 'letter!!!!' to her friend saying, 'He held my gaze steadily as he said those words, and his voice didn't waver'. Who would say that?!! She just comes across as so pathetically tragic. Good grief, it's I wonder the girl can stand up, what with having no fucking spine!!!! I just couldn't sympathise because I was busy trying to control my rage.










SPOILERS OVER

So now on to the plot. I've already mentioned the author was trying to make something out of nothing. I felt no real threat of danger from either of the bad guys, no sense of urgency with what they were doing, because most of the time I didn't know, as the plot peppered with technical junk that I couldn't give two shits about. Basically there was no need to write a sequel, yet I imagine the publishers pushed her to do it so she had to come up with something, but ultimately missed the mark by miles. She basically seemed to have no idea where to go.
It was quite messy in places too, jumping about all over the place, some parts poorly explained, at least to me. A lot of the time the characters appeared to be talking about stuff that they didn't feel inclined to fill me in on. There was also a lot of having to explain actions and motives, which were overly complicated, but without them, quite honestly, I wouldn't have got them otherwise, they were so tenuous and round-about.

Then we have the ending. Bare in mind, that I've been waiting for the same kind of gob-smacking, crazy, brilliant twist that there was at the end of Ultraviolet. So it's get towards the final chapters. Everyone's running around doing stuff. I'm not really sure what, or why because it's all jargon and words that may as well be written in a foreign language for all the sense they made, but they seem pretty panicked and nervous about the whole thing. Then lots of stupid things happen in rapid succession, one after another, each more outrageous and dumb than the last. But no matter how hyped the characters are, when you get down to it, it's an uninspiring and anti-climactic ending. A wet fart of an ending, if you like. Then it gets all cliched and B-movie-esque and I started skipping bits. Apparently though, all of the characters are able to forgive each other, even when they've been lied to, betrayed, used, ignored and been unbearably stupid/irritating. Woop-di-do what a nice neat little ribbon everything has been tied up with.

Oh, hell, I really wanted this to be good. But it's just not.

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Angelfall by Susan Ee
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Didn't finish this, which is a shame as I've been waiting for this to be released in actual book form for ages. Yes, I was mostly drawn in by the cover (as I think a lot of people probably are) but the story sounded pretty interesting too.

It's not.

The writing was pretty average and in some places quite amateurish, which I would expect from a self published ebook, but not from a book picked up by a big publisher, but I guess they just wanted a piece of the action and by action I mean money.

There was just no excitement. The plot just plodded along, dragging it's knuckles and grunting every now and then. I very rarely not finish a book, but I don't read that much any more, so my patience runs out so much faster when my attention isn't grabbed within the first few chapters. In fact I didn't just not finish, but I gave up halfway through a chapter, halfway through a page!!! That's just crazy!!!

Plus, I can't say I was overly fond of the characters. They were dull and blah really. The love interest was glaringly obvious. The author wasn't very good at subtlety. Gah!!!! I'm having real trouble with trying to get out what I mean, but the main character just came across as stupid because she kept questioning her motives, when it was obvious that at some point the revelation would come that actually, he's an enemy, but 'oh, how I love him so!!', blah, blah, blah...After they had teamed up, the first night they spent together, the angel dude actually gets up in the middle of the night and cuddles up next to her, which made no sense because they're ENEMIES!!!! No effort was put into building the relationship, it's like the author wanted to get to the lovey dovey stuff as quickly as possible.

And the mother?!!! WTF?!!! How was she not committed?!!

Yeah, so, not good I'm afraid. Which is a shame because the cover is very pretty. This then, is a lesson in that we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover!!! Or by it's Goodreads rating. I honestly don't understand why so many people love this.

Ok, my review is crap, but that's because it's poo and I just can't be arsed to write any more. However there are a truck load of 1 star reviews that explain PERFECTLY ALL THE THINGS THAT ARE WRONG WITH THIS BOOK!!! So go read them!!!

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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!!!

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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!!! (^_^)

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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.

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The Demon Child Trilogy
Jennifer Fallon

Ok, so my last review was not a great one. I think it is safe to say that I didn't like it very much, at all. Even a little. But what makes me so sad about that is Jennifer Fallon is the author of the Demon Child Trilogy, which is, in my opinion, one of the greatest fantasy epics ever written. I want to share my review from Goodreads, simply because I don't want people to be put off reading it and miss something amazing.

Medalon by Jennifer Fallon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book couldn't be any more marvelous if it tried. If you are a fan of the sweeping fantasy epic, then this really is a must read. I would try to sum up the plot but there is simply too much going on, too many realistically and brilliantly imagined characters, that there is just time in the day to express my love from them all, well, except for the ones you are supposed to hate, and my God there are some utter bastards. All I can say is that it's got lashings of humour, some wonderfully witty banter, prose that just flows of the page and enough political intrigue and betrayal to keep you shocked and gasping from start to finish. This is a book I have read many times, and will continue to read it many, many times more, the wonder of them never fading, only growing. I really can't stress enough how thoroughly fantastic this book is, and the best part is that it is but a part of an even more breath-taking series, of which there are three parts. Huzzah! And they just get better and better and better!!!

Edit: 26/1/13

Ok, I have just read this for like, the fifth time, and it never ceases to amaze me just how stunning this series truly is. It holds such a staggering wealth of detail and vision that no matter how many times you read it, it always feels like that first time, that first magical, wonderful time when every sentence holds a surprise, every character is new and fascinating and just waiting for you to get to know them, whether you will grow to love them or hate them. The overwhelming depth of the plot means that there is always something you've forgotten, some tiny detail which takes you completely by surprise and that is what helps make this series such a joy to read. Then there are the bits you do remember, and as they draw nearer you can feel your pulse racing that tiny bit faster. I don't just dip my toe into these books, I wade into them, submerge and then sink into them and become hopelessly and completely lost in their splendour. So much so, that when I return to the world, I can't help but feel a little pang of loss, that I have to re-enter this dull place, where there are no Harshini, no Demon Childs', no interfering Gods. Where the countries of Medalon, Hythria and Fardohnya and all their peoples, do not exist. It actually makes me feel a little sad, but then, I've always been a bit of a dreamer.

So it seems that I can finally say, without any doubt whatsoever, that the Demon Child series, holds my three absolute favourite books of all time. There I said it. I can't pick a favourite song or movie, animal or food, but I can say with a certainty that I have never felt before, that I love these books more than any other. For me there will probably be no better, though I will continue searching for one that may take their crown. An endeavour I can't help but feel, will be more than a little pointless.

I just hope that everyone can find that special book, the one that no matter how many times they pick it up off the shelf, they still feel the tinglings of excitment and awe at knowing that no matter how you feel or what mood you're in, you will find that perfect escape and everything you are looking inside. A book that you simply can't believe or understand how anyone could think they are anything but amazing.

To me, these books are flawless, and be damned anyone who thinks otherwise.


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The Chaos Crystal by Jennifer Fallon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The most infuriating ending to a series EVER!!! My God I don't think I've ever been so disappointed, mainly because I know the author is capable of amazing things a but also because this was just ridiculously sub par!! It's shocking to think that the author of this is the same woman who gave us the staggeringly brilliant and epic Demon Child Trilogy. I feel like crying. Never did I think I would be giving this kind of review to a book by Jennifer Fallon. But I cannot lie, as much as the truth pains me. Here we go.

So, the specifics. Firstly, for a properly published novel, there were a ridiculous amount of errors. Not so much the grammatical, though there were a few extra words here and there. No, this book had the sort of mistakes that really shouldn't have made it to final print. Full stops and commas in the wrong places, words given capital letters after commas...it gave off the impression that the book was still in the drafting stage. Not what I would expect from a novel printed and published by a quite well known publishing house.

Then there was the writing. Now I'm going to be mentioning a bit, but one of my favourite series EVER, is the Demon Child trilogy by the same author. It is quite simply spectacular. So I know what this author is capable of. Her prose might not be elegant or lyrical but it is extremely gripping and ridiculously readable. But in this series, it's like she's lost her touch. Nothing really flowed. I got the overwhelming impression that perhaps the authors heart wasn't really in it. Maybe she had her mind on other things and wasn't solely focused, but again, it felt like the story was still in it's early stages of development. The author had got as far as laying down the basic story, but was waiting to go back through it with a fine tooth comb to add the wit and sparkle that I know she can produce when it accidently got printed before it was finished.

And my God, did she repeat herself a lot. I wish I had counted the amount of times we were reminded that Immortals don't feel the cold. Every flippin' paragraph there would be a mention of the weather and without fail she'd pop in a little reminder, just in case we'd forgotten. We are not morons!! There were other occasions as well too numerous for me to go through them all, but in some cases the repetition would come in the same goddamn sentence. That's the only reason why this book's as long as it is, because it's just the same points made over and over again.

The characters weren't up to her usual standard either and I can't help but feel that the author thinks that the only way a female character can be strong is if they had some sort of shady past that either involves being raped or selling themselves. Which is so completely and utterly WRONG!!!

And the problem with Arkady, the female lead, is that despite the fact that we were supposed to see her as a strong, independent, intelligent woman, she was actually anything but. I can only speculate, but if a woman sold herself to men the way Arkady did, rather than go on and on about it whenever we were reading from her perspective, she'd be so ashamed of herself that she'd want to push the memories from her mind and never think about them again. She's supposed to proud, unwilling to submit to the men that would govern and rule her, a scientist full of curiosity and brimming with her own ideas and opinions, but the amount of times she seems to think the only way to get herself out of trouble is to offer up her body, is just ridiculous. If she's supposed to be so smart, surely she could have figured out other ways to outsmart these stupid men that all seem to lust after her. To me she came across as weak willed and a bit of an attention seeker. 'Oh poor me, look at all the bad things that have happened to me, feel sorry for me and love me and think I'm wonderful because I've managed to persevere,' blah, blah, blah. It got seriously boring, ridiculously quickly. In the end I just wanted to smack her for being so pathetic and spineless.

WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS ALERT DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK YET AS I GIVE AWAY QUITE A LOT OF THE ENDING!!!!

(view spoiler)[Then there's the ending. Oh boy, what an ending, and not in a good way. We've spent four books in the world Amyrantha, getting to know the cultures of all the different nations. Then there's the sheer number of characters, all whose stories we've followed and personalities we've got to know. Despite the many flaws of the female lead, there were a few that had really grown on me.

So when she killed them off all bar a handful, it came as quite a shock. And I'm not just talking about the characters she killed off. The author destroyed the entire planet. THE ENTIRE. PLANET!!! What was the point of me reading all of those frickin' books when you're just going to blow them up? When I think of all the hours I spent it makes me want to rip my hair out, then cry, then throw things.

And that's not the worst part. All through the series, we've had the ongoing saga of who Arkady was going to choose, her childhood friend or the charming if suicidal Immortal Prince? I spent four books reading as Arkady kept bouncing from one to other. At one point I thought maybe she was going to stick two fingers up the pair of them and tell them were to shove it, which whilst being slightly irritating, would have made a refreshing change. But oh no, the author had something really special in store. There was no final showdown, no final choice and happy ending. In fact we get diddly-fucking-squat. Nothing. By the end of the book, to two blokes haven't seen Arkady in a while, shall we say. I'm still waiting for the fateful meeting between the three, but it never comes. At the end of the book, they still haven't spoken to her, she still hasn't made her choice. In fact, and this is a ridiculously major plot spoiler, Arkady has spent the last few million years stuck in a magical spell induced paralysis trapped in a meteor that was once a part of Amyranthia IN SPACE. IN FUCKING SPACE!!!!! In the last few chapters we find out the Immortals are now inhabiting Earth and apparently have them to thank for wiping out the dinosaurs and quite possible for the climate being well and truly buggered! WHATTHEFUCK?!!!!!! (hide spoiler)]

The ending was just beyond ridiculous. It was frustrating, unsatisfying and quite honestly, just plain crap. Ahhhhh, it still makes me angry. The main problem? The author leaves it completely open, as if she's going to back to it and continue the story. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? I'VE JUST HAD TO READ FOUR BOOKS WORTH OF POOR WRITING, TYPOS AND IRRITATING CHARACTERS, FOR AN ENDING THAT'S A COMPLETE AND UTTER LET DOWN AND YOU'RE EXPECTING ME TO READ MORE?...NOT A FUCKING CHANCE.

In conclusion if you are thinking of starting this series DON'T. Read the Demon Child Trilogy instead, it's miles better than this!!!!








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