Monday, April 21, 2014

Fragile Line: Review

18516005It can happen in a flash. One minute she’s kissing her boyfriend, the next she’s lost in the woods. Sixteen-year-old Ellie Cox is losing time. It started out small…forgetting a drive home or a conversation with a friend. But her blackouts are getting worse, more difficult to disguise as forgetfulness. When Ellie goes missing for three days, waking up in the apartment of a mysterious guy—a guy who is definitely not her boyfriend, her life starts to spiral out of control.

Perched on the edge of insanity, with horrific memories of her childhood leaking in, Ellie struggles to put together the pieces of what she’s lost—starting with the name haunting her, Gwen. Heartbreakingly beautiful, this poignant story follows one girl’s harrowing journey to finding out who she really is.






This book surprised me in an entirely good way. Between the two perspectives of Gwen and Ellie(Ellie being the main character),this book was a chaotic emotional ride with an atmosphere of mystery.

Ellie and Gwen share the memories of the horrifying abuse of their childhood. The catch: Ellie and Gwen are the same person; Gwen was created by Ellie to protect her from the pain. This is known as dissociative personality disease. Ellie starts experiencing blackouts and realizing she did things she never thought she had done. Her memories from her first 6 years of her life slowly become unveiled through the duration of the book, and they paint a picture of why she has scars. Because Gwen is an alter of Ellie, you'd think you would imagine her as not real. However, her character felt the most real for me. My sympathy grew more towards Gwen than Ellie, even.

My favorite part of this book was Style's storytelling; I was pleasantly surprised by how rich the details were. I can't give too much away, so I won't say anything other than that the plot starts off intriguing, but continues to grab my attention more and more throughout.

While this book may be pushing the boundaries of contemporary, it's definitely not in a disagreeable way. The book does have its fair amount of drama, but it's not the usual high school drama( well, let me correct this by saying that the high school drama is a bit heavier due to the heavy subject Fragile Line takes on, which makes it more interesting.)This book showcases serious issues, and let's us see behind what a personality disorder is really like.

Edgy, gripping, and haunting, Fragile Line will definitely satisfy if you're looking for a dark contemporary.

Friday, April 11, 2014

We Were Liars: Review

16143347A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
 
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. 
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.






The first thing you need to know about this book is that it's sad, and Lockhart's stark writing style only makes it sadder. By sad, I mean crying/sobbing during the last pages. The ending was so unexpected in the worst and the best possible way. I very much applaud Lockhart for her set up.


This review is going to be short and sweet, because to get the full ride of this book, you have to go in there blind.

The characters in this book is the most, MOST important part of this book. If you have no connection with these characters, you will not have any connection with the book. However, I don't think it will be at all hard for you to connect with the characters. Each of them are different and unique. There's Johnny, who's at ease always and humorous, and then there's Mirren...sweet, sophisticated, and then there's Gat...perfect in all his faults.

Another important part is to just invest yourself in the book. But, if you enjoy the characters, again, it won't be hard to invest in the story along with the characters. Since the whole beginning and middle is a build-up for the ending, it's going to be slow-going at first, but trust me it's worth it.

Lastly, I'm going to admit that Lockhart's writing style is very stark and simple(I also know some of you probably won't like it at all). And at first, I was taken aback by some of the muddled words and sentences. But through the book, I learned that the writing style was a perfect fit for this book.

Overall, this is a MUST read. Please, do not pass up the chance to read this. That is all I need to say.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Mistborn: Review

243272Once, a hero arose to save the world. A young man with a mysterious heritage courageously challenged the darkness that strangled the land.

He failed.

For a thousand years since, the world has been a wasteland of ash and mist ruled by the immortal emperor known as the Lord Ruler. Every revolt has failed miserably.

Yet somehow, hope survives. Hope that dares to dream of ending the empire and even the Lord Ruler himself. A new kind of uprising is being planned, one built around the ultimate caper, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the determination of an unlikely heroine, a street urchin who must learn to master Allomancy, the power of a Mistborn.





This book is the definition of high fantasy. Complex characters and plot....rich details, evil lords and thieves. Basically, it is every fantasy lover's dream.

I'll first start off by saying that Sanderson has such beautiful, brilliant writing. As aforementioned, rich descriptions is a must for (most)fantasy books. Fantasy books are one of the hardest books to write, because it's almost always an entirely different world than we live in today, and Sanderson was able to compel me into this world within only a couple sentences. Sanderson lived up to more than my expectations to say the least. Though some of the terms in Mistborn confused me at first, I loved his writing style as well.

The plot in this book is probably what sold me in Mistborn. It had it's fair turns of surprises. While it isn't one of my "favorite" plots, it still was exceptional. The plot was slow for me at points in the story, but whenever it became almost dull, it picked up it's pace. Also, there isn't ever any time when nothing is happened. Every scene and conversation between characters happens for a reason. You could definitely tell Sanderson did his homework.

Vin is one of my favorite characters I've ever read. I adored her individuality, how she changed throughout the book from a meek thief to a strong and independent women, and especially her bad-ass-ness. I loved how Sanderson was so good at writing a realistic character. Of course her character growth wasn't fast; it went at an easy pace. It wouldn't have been realistic otherwise. Vin is too stubborn to believe things easily and have her mind changed. Vin's character was a breath of fresh air, ideally.

Kelsier is the most complex character I've read...ever. He's a schemer and thief for sure. But he's also a gentleman and a good friend. Every scene with Kelsier made you uncover a new thing about his past and the man he is today. I wouldn't say there was any major change in Kelsier's character...it's more like his character just became more rich and complex throughout Mistborn.

The ending of the book is my favorite part of the book. While it's sad, it's also fulfilling and realistic. It also has tons of action scenes in it, which makes everything better.


Overall, this book was perfect. I loved every aspect about it: characters, plot, and the writing. I highly recommend for fantasy lovers.