Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Eragon By Christopher Paolini 

10/10 

Suitable for 10+

This is the first book I chose to review, and this is because not only is it my favourite book, but I noticed there were LOW RATINGS ON GOODREADS! 

This is the sort of book that takes you through human growth, perseverance, and what it means to be good in this world. It is so inter-dimensional because you are literally walking into a new world, and you actually feel it and understand what’s going on. You form a connection, and personally, I felt like I truly was pulled along this mystic and super cool adventure that was also scary, because it felt so real. 

However, let me get into the main part. Ergaon is about a boy who finds a dragon egg whilst hunting in the Spine, a mysterious forest, near the village where he lives. 

He tries to sell it, not realizing it is in fact an egg, and instead is hunted down by evil creatures sent by Galbatorix, an evil dictator who has ruled for far too long. Eragon sets out to seek safe haven and figure out a way to fight Galbatorix.

This is obviously a majorly abridged synopsis, however I didn’t want to include any spoilers. 

Book series in order

Eragon 

Eldest 

Brisngr 

Inheritance 

If you want detailed opinions and reviews of each of the books, let me know in the comments below!

Tamar by Mal Preet

Tamar by Mal Preet 

Age Rating: 14+

Rating: 10/10 

            There are some books that draw you into a world that feels so real that you can’t question anything, because you’re being pulled so relentlessly into it. That’s exactly how I felt about Tamar, which takes creative license in describing the Nazi occupation of Holland and the allied effort. 

            This story centers around British spies who are helping the resistance and are supposed to relay information back to London about Nazi happenings. Moreso they are supposed to integrate themselves into the scene so they can also help when Holland is finally won over by the Allied war effort. 

            However, it is wrong to say that this centers around the time, because it actually created this beautiful backdrop for the characters to develop and describes what the British spies really went through, addiction, paranoia, and being bored (!) I finished this book in one go, I couldn’t sleep because I just had to finish it. It feels so real, and the author doesn’t hold back on the horrible things the Nazis did, the simple brutalities of every day life, and what’s even better, is that all these mad things that happen just become part of the story, and they don’t feel created because they just fit so seamlessly. Like the marionette shop that also serves as a base for transmissions. It’s beautiful, how Mal Preet manages to create a whole world, genuinely impressing. 

            The ending is so jarring, but it almost makes sense, because its so real. I feel like I’m trying to say the word real in different ways,  because there’s no better way to describe this story. Maybe because it centers around a time that includes something as tragic as the holocaust and the German occupation of Holland, but also the way that each character is multidimensional, though the main characters still remain Tamar and Dart, the English spies who are sent to Holland. 

            Though this does in a way, center around the romance between Tamar and Maarjke, who also hosts the spy, it’s definitely not a romance novel. It is and it isn’t. And when you get to the end, you finally realize everything and understand why each character acted the way they did. It doesn’t have a happy ending depending on what you think. This book makes you rethink the ideals of romance and instead opens you up to the possibility of just life being so real and unrelenting, but also the neutrality of life and its struggles. 

            I think if you enjoy historical fiction, it is very accurate especially in the procedures and the coding of transmissions the author references. I do not recommend this awesome book for people who don’t enjoy possibly sad books. 

LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW WHETHER OR NOT YOU AGREE WITH WHAT I SAID, AND IF YOU ENJOY THIS BOOK AS WELL. 

**PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THERE ARE SPECIFIC BOOKS YOU’D LIKE ME TO REVIEW 

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Now this book is described as written by a New York Times Bestselling Author, but this book is such a let down. There is little to none character development, so many stereotypical and shallowly written characters. The world is interesting, but once again, the layout and geography of the surroundings is poorly described and misleading at times. 

Let me get into the book, the plot surmises of a three sisters (a pair of twins) who are captured by their mother’s ex-husband, who’s a faerie, after he murders their parents. Only the first daughter is his real daughter and half faerie by blood, but they are treated like they are his daughters as well. They are very lucky because the guy is a general and they grow up surrounded by the high courts and royalty. They are awarded the same opportunities as their eldest sister, and they learn swordplay and other academic lessons alongside royalty. However, they are hated because faeries consider humans less than them, and suffer from prejudicial hatred. 

They are toyed with, but out of the twins, Jude (the protagonist) is stronger it seems, and fights against what is expected of her and refuses to remain docile towards powerful faerie. Honestly, its so cliché the way she’s so inexplicably better at swordplay and is sought after by this high prince. I don’t want to include spoilers, that’s not my style but the characters are two dimensional, and there’s no real character development, except for a revelation that I assume the author believes is character development.

I was overall disappointed but still gave this author the 6 because I do believe that if people are looking for a stereotypical ‘strong woman’ character that does badass things, then this is the book for you. I devoured this book within like 2 hours, hoping I’d get to the point of why so many people adore this book and why she’s regarded as such an amazing author. 

In terms of plot, another thing that bothered me was the shallow grasp on elements of the story such as time and place, both ridiculously written. 

If you think differently please let me know, I’d love to discuss it. 

I’m not even going to list the books in order or series, don’t waste your money on this. I paid 12 CAD on this book and read it on the Kindle. 

*IF YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO REVIEW ANY BOOKS, I GLADLY WILL, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Rating: 10/10 

Age: 13+ 

Before I get into the review, I gotta admit that I’m somewhat a fan of steampunk. I love the ingenuity that authors take to create this modern world that works on all these cool machines. Even more, they make you wish we lived in a steampunk world (is it just me XD)! 

One of my favourite books is Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, not only is every single book he has ever written amazing, but the entire world he creates is fantastic in this series! 

In this book, the primary mode of flying IS BY AIRSHIPS! 

I wish I could convey the excitement Oppel (gosh, I’m a nerd) invokes through his writing. The way that Matt Cruise (the protagonist) describes the joys of flying is exhilirating. Then he gets caught up with pirates (ON AIRSHIPS, HOW COOL IS THAT), in this whole adventure on a quest for hydrium, the gas that powers airships and most things (Oppel likens this whole industry to petroleum in our world). 

So Matt Cruise is a cabin boy aboard this luxury airship that travels to exotic destinations, and one-day dreams of piloting his own airship but is poor and has no connections to an air academy. So he just dreams. 😦

 He only feels truly alive whilst flying, and part of his motivation is his Dad’s legacy aboard airships. So he leaves his mother and two sisters in Canada and just like that, he is on his way to Australia. 

On this trip, he befriends Kate de Vries, an upper class young woman who’s intent on finding proof of flying panther like creatures, and plans to go to school for zoology after. 

Vibrant and stubborn, Kate manages to pull Matt into this adventure that includes pirates AND panthers. 

I truly feel like I don’t do this book justice, the first book is amazing, and the next two only get better. Each book chronicles unique and fantastical creatures that Oppel manages to make sense! Each adventure takes place in a different setting, each with evil villains and even terrorist plots (the third and final book), but what’s more amazing, are the issues with politics and power structures that Oppel raises seamlessly through these scanarios. 

I actually get this sense of breathlessness whenever I delve into this series, which sounds dramatic I know, but the adventure and new technological and biological discoveries are thrilling and truly make you want to take a dimension gun (I know they don’t exist, but a girl’s gotta dream) (on that note, which world would you want to live in and why?) and shoot yourself. 

Series order: 

Airborn 

Skybreaker 

Starclimber 

**PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ENJOY THIS BOOK, AND IF YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THIS REVIEW OR RATING

**I ALSO TAKE REVIEW REQUESTS, SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ BAD BOOKS 🙂

Piratica by Tanith Lee

Rating: 7/10 

Age: 12+

Artemesia Fitz-Willoghby Weatherhouse (Art), yes that’s her name, is the brilliant and defiant protagonist in this crazy pirate adventure. Now, I revisited this book after probably (maybe?), 7 years. The very idea of this book is hilarious and charming.

Art loses her Mother (and her memory) at a young age and is sent to live with her rich father, who sends her to finishing school in hopes of putting her straight. However, after 6 years at the academy, she hits her head and regains her memory. This story takes place in the year Seventeen-Twelvety (early 1800’s in our world), so if you’re not into historical fiction, then this book is not for you. But if you are into badass teenage heroines who charm the pants off of everybody (then steals them), this book is.  😉

In these memories, she catches glimpses of her mother’s daring adventures at sea, the most feared pirate in England. She immediately leaves, and in a strange series of events (declaring herself to be Art Blastside), steals from an aspiring singer, makes him a highwayman, and manages to band together her Mother’s old crew and convince them all to steal the ship they are currently ‘working’ on. 

Now, there’s a catch to all this: those memories are true, however they didn’t take place on the high seas but ON A STAGE, and her mother wasn’t a pirate, in fact, neither of them are. They are all ACTORS! 

Still, Art isn’t swayed, and continues down the path with her misfit bunch of actors who have suddenly become the most ‘fearsome’ and ‘troublesome’ pirates on the high seas! *They also have a mysterious map which may or may not yield true treasure!

Go hunting for gold, with Art, and discover a new world, that is slightly distorted from ours, and laugh out loud at the pure Ludacrisy in so many scenes! 

This book is a trilogy, and the first one does start out a bit dry almost, but if you can read the first book, make sure to get through the second and third, which are even more detailed and fantastical! 

I did give it a 7, which is still a high score respectively, however it is a bit dry and shallow, and there is this strange tone the Author takes on whilst writing. However, it could just be that it doesn’t suit my style. 

Series Order

Piratica 

Piratica II Return to Parrot Island 

Piratica III The Family Sea 

Let me know below what you think of this book, if you’ve read it, and if you agree with my rating!

*IF YOU WANT ME TO REVIEW PARTICULAR BOOKS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I CAN SAVE YOU THE TROUBLE OF CRYING OVER MONEY OR TIME SPENT OVER A SHITTY BOOK

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A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 10/10 

Age: 16+

This book was the most riveting, brutal, and real YA I’ve come across in a while. I am actually shocked it’s not more popular! 

What makes a good YA are adult themes that truly express what teenagers are capable of feeling. And I’m not just talking about sexuality, but emotional depth.

This book tells the sordid tale of a young girl in another world where faeries exist. Feyre Archeron is forced to hunt because her family has no money or food, and her dad is disabled and desolate. Her sisters don’t help either. Unfortunately, she kills a grey wolf that turns out to be a faerie and as a result, this faerie High Lord demands Feyre as retribution as demanded by a treaty regarding human-faerie interaction. 

This is a very loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and by loose, I mean extremely loose. She obviously falls in love with him, but what she doesn’t know, is that everybody’s powers have been stripped in the faerie realm. The remaining faeries maintain a very loose hold on magic, whilst nightmares roam the forests, sent by the evil faerie intent on torturing everyone.

KINDA SPOILER ALERT* Read past the first book to find out why it’s not a Beauty and the Beast retelling. 😉

What makes this book jarring is the explicit brutality and real life parallelism drawn. That’s why the age is pretty high. I don’t want to go into details, because I HATE BOOK SPOILERS! But the journey this girl goes on IS INTENSE! The world created by this author is STUNNING! Not similar to anything I’ve encountered, and it was definitely a fresh take on the binary concept of good and evil, and it circumvented the concept by managing to create truly multi-dimensional characters. 

I recommend this book for both genders, there is a strong theme of romance, but a mature one that isn’t about appealing to teenage girls, even though it may seem like that at first. 

Without a doubt, if you read the first book, you’re going to read the second book!

I finished this series in 2 days because it was so amazing, I borrowed it from my library but it is also available on Amazon Kindle! 

***KINDLE HACK, YOU CAN RETURN BOOKS WITHIN 7 DAYS FOR A REFUND 

Book Series Order 

A Court of Thorns and Roses 

A Court of Mist and Fury 

A Court of Wings and Ruin 

A Court of Frost and Starlight 

Step Into the Infinite

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin

Reading was always and not an escape. It was a teacher and a friend, harsh and unrelenting in forcing me to think and accept. Reading taught me how many different worlds existed, and how many worlds could exist. It was the backbone to my loneliness, however I never felt alone. I visited many worlds, talked to so many people, and had the privilege of growing up surrounded by what made humans so beautiful and unique. Culture and History, Adventure and Bravery, Love and Connection, and more importantly, our innate ability to create. 

This blog will include reviews of books, bad and good, but it’ll act as a place where you can come find a book to read and escape with me. 🙂