TheDaisyDeer's Best Books of 2015

I've read a lot less than I had wanted this year,
but I've definitely found some of my favourite books of all time.
It's also the end of my first year reviewing for NetGalley as well as Harper Collins
and I've found some really great books thanks to the generous publishers
that have been kind enough to approve my work.
Without further ado, here are my best books I've read in 2015.

Best Overall Novel read in 2015:

The Secret History

Donna Tartt

Read my summary of The Secret History here!

Novel with the Best Story read in 2015:

Queen of Shadows

Sarah J. Maas

Read my review of Queen of Shadows here!

Novel with the Best Writing read in 2015:

Eon

Alison Goodman

Read my review of Eon here!

Novel with the Best Entertainment read in 2015:

A Thousand Nights

E. K. Johnston

Read my review of A Thousand Nights here!

Best New Discovery read in 2015:

The Walled City

Ryan Graudin

Read my review of The Walled City here!

Best Fantasy Novel read in 2015:

A Darker Shade of Magic

V. E. Schwab

Read my review of A Darker Shade of Magic here!

Best Supernatural Novel read in 2015:

Demon Road

Derek Landy

Read my review of Demon Road here!

Best Dystopian Novel read in 2015:

Station Eleven

Emily St John Mandel

Read my review of Station Eleven here!

Best Historical Novel read in 2015:

Cassandra

Christa Wolf
Read my summary of Cassandra here!

Best Contemporary Novel read in 2015:

I Am the Messenger

Markus Zusak

Read my review of I Am the Messenger here!

Best Romantic Novel read in 2015:

The Rest of Us Just Live Here

Patrick Ness

Read my review of The Rest of Us Just Live Here here!

Best Classic Novel read in 2015:

The Aeneid

Virgil

Read my summary of The Aeneid here!

Best Mystery/Thriller Novel read in 2015:

Six of Crows

Leigh Bardugo

Read my review of Six of Crows here!

Best Graphic Novel read in 2015:

Nimona

Noelle Stevenson

Read my summary of Nimona here!

Best Review Copy read in 2015:

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
provided by NetGalley & Bloomsbury

Natasha Pulley

Read my review of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street here!

Image Sources:
The Secret History - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70897.The_Secret_History
Queen of Shadows - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23848145-queen-of-shadows
Eon - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7261699-eon
A Thousand Nights - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25337864-a-thousand-nights
The Walled City - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24070160-the-walled-city
A Darker Shade of Magic - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23403402-a-darker-shade-of-magic
Demon Road - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25600032-demon-road
Station Eleven - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23306186-station-eleven
Cassandra - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17329126-cassandra
I Am the Messenger - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19057.I_Am_the_Messenger
The Rest of Us Just Live Here - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22910900-the-rest-of-us-just-live-here
The Aeneid - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12916.The_Aeneid
Six of Crows - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23006119-six-of-crows
Nimona - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23131087-nimona
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25511627-the-watchmaker-of-filigree-street

Frozen Tides

Book Title: Frozen Tides

Author: Morgan Rhodes
Series: Falling Kingdoms #4

Date Started: December 24th 2015

Date Completed: December 27th 2015

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Mystery
Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

I really love this series, and part of why is that it's very good at what it is. The Falling Kingdoms series doesn't try to be overly sophisticated in its politics, or extremely brutal in its violence, it takes characters and it throws them around in a high fantasy adventure - and it's so nice to just read something that's happy pulling off what it is well, instead of trying to something it isn't and tearing the story to shreds.

Rhodes doesn't have the most complex and beautiful writing I've ever read, but it's solid and it's adaptable. She knows the right elements to focus on in certain situations or locations, and she can explain a situation or feeling appropriately to get the atmosphere she needs. However, it is the structuring of her stories that are what stands her further out from the crowd. Things nearly got too complicated with perspectives this time, with at least two characters per side-story (and about three or four of those going on at the same time) having their own chapters, but Rhodes is always focused on the main plot line. People's stories are actually starting to cross over more now, even as the world itself expands, and it really feels like we're approaching the end (even with two more books to go - and a lot can happen in these books).

Like I've said, the Falling Kingdoms series is always so much fun to read. I admit, that the story has start to become a little formulaic: if a girl and boy are in the same side-story they're probably going to fall in love (though there are hints of this changing); pretty much all the royals have evil, prejudice fathers; the 'evil' people aren't actually evil but instead are incredibly vulnerable (fine, but it's starting to feel like the same explanation every single time and I feel like there's a better way this could be pulled off). Having said that, there are always new little twists throughout the every book, and Rhodes is very fluid with the way she can move characters around and separate them from others quickly. It gives little bits of surprise in a world that could potentially become quite predictable.

And then there are always awesome endings. Rhodes knows how to pull of a simultaneous climax over an entire continent (and further this time). While loose ends are tied up and we definitely have some sort of resolution, there are plenty of new questions to be answered, and a gaping hole for the characters to somehow get through next.

There are definitely two people in this series that I will always look forward to reading above anyone else, but while the others are at times annoying they still have valuable places in the story and it wouldn't be the same without them (and that is a very important thing when it comes to writing these stories told from so many different perspectives).

Cleo and Magnus will forever be my favourite characters and however much they beat around the bush about their feelings and manipulate each other and sacrifice things for their countries that put them in big trouble, I will always look forward to their stories. Every time they reach what seems like a climax, there's another problem just behind it, and something even bigger for them to figure out - but every time they do it and every time they meet it with determination. Put aside how fun they are to read about, they, as characters, are really well crafted for the world they live in. I often think that Rhodes favours these two the most since they're definitely the most sensible and developed people in Mytica.

I've grown to like Jonas a lot more than I have in previous books. He is still an idiot in my eyes, and has a talent for choosing the worst times to be stupid, but he's definitely the center of adding danger and more knots to the situation; if he wasn't there things would be a lot more dull.

However, I still dislike Lucia as much as I did at the start of these books. Past the fact she's ridiculously easy to manipulate, even the decisions she herself makes are not good ones. I'm still never bored when I read her chapters, but I have to say she as a character - and a person - can be quite irritating.

I absolutely blaze through these books; they're so much fun to read and I never want to put them down. Sometimes this is because I would much rather get to a certain character's story rather than who I'm currently reading, admittedly, but even so there's no point where I get bored. I'm sure I could have read Frozen Tides in a day if it hadn't been Christmas.

As I always say with this series, Game of Thrones or high fantasy lovers will enjoy these books massively, and if you're daunted by either this is the perfect place to start: there's a lot of familiar territory for YA readers, but Rhodes definitely takes the steps towards a more traditional epic. I think it's the perfect transition between the two, and hugely entertaining for anyone already comfortable with both.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17342701-frozen-tides

Most Anticipated Books 2016

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to anyone who doesn't celebrate it!

I've got my annual Best Books of the Year coming on New Year's Eve,

but I thought I'd do another little blog post about the top ten books

I'm most excited for in the coming year.

I don't really look ahead to what books are coming out,

so the majority of these are sequels to existing series that I'm aware of.

A Gathering of Shadows

Victoria Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic #2

Untitled

Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass #5

Crooked Kingdom

Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows #2

Strange the Dreamer

Laini Taylor

Strange the Dreamer #1

The Song Rising

Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season #3

Untitled

Morgan Rhodes

Falling Kingdoms #5

The Fever Code

James Dashner

The Maze Runner #0.6

This Savage Song

Victoria Schwab

Monsters of Verity #1

Lady Midnight

Cassandra Clare

The Dark Artifices #1

The Raven King

Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Cycle #4

Image Sources - 

A Darker Shade of Magic - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23403402-a-darker-shade-of-magic

A Gathering of Shadows - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25400972-a-gathering-of-shadows

Throne of Glass - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13519397-throne-of-glass

Crown of Midnight - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17670709-crown-of-midnight

Heir of Fire - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20617636-heir-of-fire

Queen of Shadows - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23848145-queen-of-shadows

Six of Crows - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23006119-six-of-crows

Strange the Dreamer - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28145767-strange-the-dreamer?from_search=true&search_version=service

The Bone Season - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17199504-the-bone-season?from_search=true&search_version=service

The Mime Order - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17901125-the-mime-order

Falling Kingdoms - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12954620-falling-kingdoms?from_search=true&search_version=service

Rebel Spring - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16000044-rebel-spring

Gathering Darkness - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17342700-gathering-darkness

Frozen Tides - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17342701-frozen-tides

The Kill Order - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22449478-the-kill-order

The Fever Code - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23267628-the-fever-code

The Maze Runner - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22041528-the-maze-runner

The Scorch Trials - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10193699-the-scorch-trials

The Death Cure - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25026162-the-death-cure

This Savage Song - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23299512-this-savage-song?from_search=true&search_version=service

Lady Midnight - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25494343-lady-midnight?from_search=true&search_version=service

The Raven Boys - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17675462-the-raven-boys?from_search=true&search_version=service

The Dream Thieves - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17347389-the-dream-thieves

Blue Lily, Lily Blue - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17378508-blue-lily-lily-blue

The Raven King - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17378527-the-raven-king

The Golden Yarn

Book Title: The Golden Yarn

Author: Cornelia Funke
Series: The Mirrorworld Series #3

Date Started: December 13th 2015

Date Completed: December 15th 2015

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

I've waited what feels like years for this book to be released and then translated, and as much as it pains me to say it, it really wasn’t what I was hoping for. Now it’s still a good book, but every time I picked it up there was a sinking feeling in my stomach because the magic had gone for me. It’s taken me quite a few days to come around to writing this review because I wanted to see if I’d get a stronger feeling of disappointment or contentment after a little distance, but actually I haven’t really felt anything at all about it. And I think that might be worse.

To my knowledge this is the first of her own books that Funke has translated herself. And I applaud her for that, writing and translating something is difficult and a lot of work, and going over your own writing as many times as it takes to rewrite it in another language takes courage. But I have to be brutally honest and say that she isn’t as good a translator as she is a writer. I can see that beautiful flare that’s in every other book of hers I’ve read, but it feels like there was an invisible wall just between us this time, and there isn’t the rhythm and rhyme I’m so used to (you can literally see little riddles that are clearly supposed to thyme and undoubtedly do in German, but just haven’t quite been replicated in English).

Don’t get me wrong, I still adore the world building and there’s plenty of the beautiful Mirrorworld still there; we even get some really nice introductions into some modern links without feeling completely alienated from the fairytale world we love so much. It’s just a shame we didn’t quite reach it feeling like a fairytale in itself.

The Golden Yarn had a few too many stories going on for me. I appreciate they all kind of link but very loosely, and it’s quite inconsistent. It became confusing a times, but mainly it was just irritating because it cuts up the main storyline and quite frankly I didn’t really understand the benefit. I know I should be interested in more than just Jacob and Fox (and I normally am) but it feels like just as their story picks up pace we’re ambushed by all these other ones that are just scattered without much logic to it.

I also feel like the Young Adult archetypes are starting to set in too. Maybe I’m just very aware of the tropes these days, but the romance felt very dominating while I was reading. I had really enjoyed it when it was clear that Jacob and Fox loved each other, but mainly left it unsaid because it was clear enough as it was - but because of this they really kept going on as individuals (they really do ‘belong only to [themselves]’). Unfortunately their story was very focused on a romance both of them refused to admit, which was not only infuriating, but also not really justified enough for me (I understand the threats, but come on, this is a fairytale world play around with it, convince me properly).

However the most disappointing aspect for me was the fact that the story doesn’t wrap up at the end. This is the first book I’ve ever really read of Funke’s that relies on future sequels for anything to be resolved, and that makes me very, very sad. I loved the episodic but gradually expanding way the Mirrorworld was developing, but now it feels like it’s trying to fit into the YA market a little more comfortably.

There were a few characters I felt were cheated in how they were presented and were given no chance for redemption for the things they’d done, but for the most part I still enjoyed reading about all the characters. It may not have been what I was hoping for, but Funke still knows how to twist traditional fairytales around her finger without losing what they are.

Jacob is again a good protagonist, though at times he was a little bit defeatist. Of course that’s why he has the wonderful Fox to even him out. Those two really do work wonderfully as a partnership, even more so because their imbalances when they’re separated are all the more obvious: Fox is anxious, reckless and sharp; Jacob dismissive, hopeless and harsh. As much as I love them together, they’re the kind of characters that you could honestly see just being the closest friends forever - and I think that’s why their pairing works even better: it is genuinely built on trust and loyalty, regardless of honesty and danger, and we really get to see that.

I got through The Golden Yarn really fast, regardless for how it made me feel when I picked it up, though admittedly this was mainly because I just wanted to get back to Jacob and Fox. I really like how the world is expanding and we’re seeing loads of different characters and landscapes, but it was quite infuriating that it felt like the protagonists were in less than half of the book. It at times felt like the plot wasn’t even moving in any of the side stories, so we were almost wasting time hearing about them when the main storyline was put on hold.

I honestly can’t say that I loved this book, as much as I want to, and I’m so conflicted about my love of the characters and the world. Having said that, I enjoyed it enough to read it quickly and I’ll undoubtedly read the next instalment (part of why it annoyed me was the fact that it depends on another instalment, but I’ll eat my words if it gives me back the Mirrorworld), and I’m so happy that The Golden Yarn got picked up by another publisher. Again, I have only love and respect for Cornelia, but I do hope she goes back to her old style next time.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28042859-the-golden-yarn

Our Endless Numbered Days

Book Title: Our Endless Numbered Days

Author: Claire Fuller

Date Started: December 4th 2015

Date Completed: December 13th 2015

Genres: Contemporary, Mystery
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

Upon hearing a few good things about this story where a girl lives in the middle of a wood and believes the whole world is dead because her father told her, I just immediately thought of fairytales and of some sort of modern twist on traditional tales of abduction. However, I didn't expect it to be quite as harrowing and personal - and that's kind of the point with these stories. People only think of them as stories until they're pushed to realise their weight.

Fuller's writing really surprised me as I was reading this book. She has a way of gently tricking you into feeling like a child again - a memory, a sensation, an innocent thought - so you really go through these things with Peggy at the age she is. There's this weird juxtaposition where half of you feels almost comforted at times, but then your detached self realises almost guiltily that these aren't things you should be comforted by. But because of where we're positioned we genuinely do get that sense of wrongness we're led into, and I guess we get even closer to understanding Peggy's ambivalence because of it.

Our Endless Numbered Days deals with some really, really difficult subjects, and it does make you uncomfortable. But rightly so. I feel like a lot of people shy away from reading books with darker subjects because it isn't something we feel pleasant learning about (understandably), but I think it's still important that there are stories showing them. I felt Fuller dealt with abduction, abuse, PTSD and some of the other issues in this book really well and in a way that people could get through even if they were hesitant about the subject matter. We're spared what could have been disturbing graphic recounts and instead are allowed to piece together things ourselves (which, admittedly, at times is equally if not more disturbing). I also think the strong fairytale and childlike atmosphere softens some of the darker points: Fuller had the opportunity to present everything as an absolute bleak wasteland similar to that of a dystopian, but she chose a gentler approach to leave room for people to realise things are rarely as easy as crime and punishment.

I think thought the book was really well structured to make the audience feel like we're aware of what's going on, and to encourage us to ignore the voice at the back of our heads saying otherwise. Of course there was always more to things that what we're immediately told, but it's human nature to take what you have and run with it, perhaps mistakenly leaving some details behind. While I did work out the ending before it happened, I think the way Fuller left it literally until the last page to make sense of everything for us was extremely effective - all the more so because we're left with the revelation right before the book ends, and the abrupt end finalises how this is what happened, and now Peggy has to live with it forever.

While it's indisputable that this is Peggy's story (and perhaps her father's) Fuller still put thought and development into the other characters, and it really pays off. They may be sympathetic, but they still react in the very human way of treating something they don't understand with ignorance and alienation under the pretence of understanding.

I don't have much to say about Peggy since we're encouraged so heavily to project ourselves onto her; she still has her own personality and value as a character of course, but looking back I realise how early we're made to relate to her in various situations, and therefore how deeply we're lost in everything when it comes to the climax of the book. Having said that, seeing her grow from an eight-year-old into a seventeen-year-old you can definitely see the development of her person, but also the influence her father has had. She still seems reasonably childish, even when her actions mature, and her thoughts are so heavily monitored that it really reinforces the effects of her situation - but reminds us of her humanity as an individual as well.

Due to Fuller's structuring, Our Endless Numbered Days is actually quite quick to get through; the writing is told in a similar style to a child's thoughts, even when Peggy grows, and the pacing of action was well distributed throughout the whole novel. It was at time hard to read in big chunks, but this was more from the fact that I had worked out what was going on in Peggy's situation and honestly felt a little bit sick. But again, this wasn't the brutality (or at times gentleness) of what we're directly told, but more from the implications it had that Peggy couldn't see herself.

Our Endless Numbered Days takes a subject few people like to talk about in real circumstances, and moulds it into a book where you're taken in to sit by the fire as a small child - and little but little Fuller reveals the reality of what's happened. Not only is it a brilliant crafted novel, but it gives the reader a platform to learn and understand more about abduction and abuse in a way where we are both literally in the middle of it, and also detached by time and place: we're confronted with the ambivalence Peggy feels and the confusion of those around her. This is an important book, and an important story.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26230625-our-endless-numbered-days

The Marvels

Book Title: The Marvels

Author: Brian Selznick

Date Started: November 27th 2015

Date Completed: December 4th 2015

Genres: Adventure, Historical, Mystery
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

I always eagerly await Selznick's novels and I certainly wasn't disappointed. After Wonderstuck - which I still liked don't get me wrong - I did have a suspicion that nothing he wrote again would reach the heights of The Invention of Hugo Cabret. However, while it still wasn't the author's magical debut, I fell in love with this traditional adventure story told in a new and beautiful way.

Selznick is a phenomenal storyteller: both in his writing and his illustration. And to see him create such vivid narratives through both is refreshing and unique. I was really happy to see him trying a slightly different structure with his work this time (the first section of the book is told entirely through drawings, then entirely through prose, and then another little closing image sequence) and while I generally prefer his previous consistent breaks in the writing with images, I still enjoyed these two stories being told separately and then gradually weaving together.

The wonderful thing about Selznick's writing is he can put so many of his passions into one story without overloading the reader. Even without knowing anything about the author (which, admittedly, I do) you can see his fascination with theatres, museums, curiosities, old photographs and records, classic cinemas - he is truly a man after my own heart. And even past this, he has such a natural and gentle way of showing 'issues' without making them into issues: neglect, HIV, pyromania, death, homosexuality (which should be shown in normality more often for younger readers), the affect of modern economics unpeople and cultures etc. We're often not shown in the story how these things came about, which is something I really admired; it's not about whose fault it was or where it came from or why it is that way, it's about how to accept and embrace it and live happily regardless. It's so important in children's fiction, but it's often forgotten in adult's fiction, which is why I think Selznick's stories are perfect for any reader.

I felt The Marvels lost itself a little bit at times and the pacing was strangely ordered, which was fine until we got to the break between two big reveals This just didn't fit for me and made me a little bit lost for the rest of the story. Having said that, the narrative itself was lovely and the echoes of Selznick's recurring themes made me smile. There's always a troubled creator in his books, and I think that's something for the adults reading them. But if you want your child to be creative, give them these books; they show they magical side of creativity, but also the (sometimes) sad and lonely side too. If you can teach children that creation isn't always going to be perfect, but that you can still create beautiful things and find happiness in them, I think a lot more people will be unafraid to do what they love.

I did call the twist towards the end, but I still praise it for its cleverness. Again, Selznick knows exactly what to give children, because it's more than just a twist in a story. It has a truly emotional affect without having to understand the complexities of the people experiencing it because the reader has grown just as emotionally attached as they have - and all under the pretence that they're supposed to. It was very clever, and it was also heartbreaking. Until I remembered that it doesn't matter if they're just characters in a story: they can mean just as much to you.

I didn't engage much with individual characters in this book; it felt like the story was really the 'main character' and the other people were ways to illustrate this. At the end of the day I don't feel like this had a negative impact on the book, and I feel like younger readers would invest more in the characters.

Joseph was quite a neutral protagonist, and that worked well for the story. It's very much about letting the narrative of these people's lives play out without pushing them in a certain direction to create drama or suspense. I actually really enjoyed this and I think it would be good for children to see a story that isn't really saved deliberately by a main character they can relate to - Joseph actually saves the day by being kind and patient.

It wasn't so much the pacing that I had issues with, but more the ordering. For a children's book focusing on a place and people and history you expect to get the sometimes long descriptions (never once did I find these boring I might add), but the placement of these passages sometimes felt strange to me. Particularly around the end: we get a twist and then we have this wind down of normality - it felt quite strange to me. I was expecting Joseph to start looking at things differently, and perhaps the point is that it didn't really matter in the end, but I wasn't quite sure whether I was supposed to get used to this new equilibrium or if I was still supposed to be amazed and mystified.

Part of me is still quite conflicted about the rating for this book but, as much as I loved it, the 'pre-ending' just coming down from the climax but before the end brought everything lower in expectations for me. Regardless, Selznick has once again made me feel like a little kid that just wants to hide in books and theatres and museums and old houses forever. If you want to give a child a sense of wonderment in reality then give them Selznick's books - and the afterword is definitely worth a read to show you that these things can be real.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23566909-the-marvels

The Martian

Book Title: The Martian

Author: Andy Weir

Date Started: November 2nd 2015

Date Completed: November 15th 2015

Genres: Sci-Fi
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three stars

Review:

I'm sad to say that The Martian disappointed me, but through no fault of it's quality. I can see why so many people love it, but unfortunately I always seem to have a hard time getting into sci-fi and it usually means I don't really enjoy the genre in its book form. Weir's novel wasn't an exception to that and so I have to say I enjoyed the film more this time.

The writing depends a lot on dialogue and first-person narration, so when I didn't really get Watney's humour it made the book difficult to engage with. The strange thing is that when I watched the film I actually noticed how well written the speech was, and how it really brought the characters to life with the actors verbally enhancing it. But then when I picked up the book it just didn't work on page for me, even though a lot of the dialogue is lifted straight from the novel.

I also think the amount of science info-dumping was crazy. Admittedly, the book wouldn't have worked whatsoever without it, but it's pretty hard to follow if you haven't got a degree in a science. I didn't mind this that much, excluding all the times when Weir had clearly tried to simplify the science but then made it so vague you couldn't even try to work out what he was talking about. Another controversial point I've heard is that people disagree at how believable all this is - personally I gave up trying to judge if it was realistic very early on.

At times being stuck with huge portions with Watney trying to figure out science was like actually felt like being stranded alone on Mars trying not to die. Take that whatever way you will, but it's not a particularly positive comment in my mind. While the feeling of utter solitude added to the atmosphere, that atmosphere wasn't really a place I enjoyed being in when I was struggling to stay engaged in the first place. A lot of people say that the opening of this book is quite slow since it is literally Watney as the only inhabitant of a planet trying not to die, but once other things kick in it gets better. I agree with this to a point, however I still wasn't really that engaged when other people did turn up since we keep flicking back and forth so much. The parts that did include the rest of the crew and the people on earth were definitely more interesting for me since Weir creates such compelling characters, but I really do feel they're best when interacting with each other. And unfortunately this book is about someone who is alone for the whole book.

The climax was done really well; it fitted with the rest of the book when it came to rather confusing explanations of the science behind the reality, but it wasn't overdramatised to the point where this feeling of believability was completely thrown to the wind. Just a simple, well thought-out and delivered resolution that satisfying tied together the story.

Like I've mentioned, Weir definitely creates compelling characters who show depth even in their short appearances, though the sheer amount of them does become slightly hard to keep up with when you're trying to digest all the science as well.

Wantey was a brilliant protagonist, even if I didn't find his humour particularly amusing (don't get me wrong, he had a couple of good one-liners, but I kind of felt like Commander Lewis when my reaction was just to nod and go with it). The real strength with Mark was his personality: he was a really likeable person. Weir could've done a thousand things with him, whether it would be really dark or moany, but he chose to create a person that the audience really wants to root for. While I think the best characters are usually ones that aren't necessarily good people, you forget how rare it is to actually find a character you genuinely like as a person.

For a 300 page book this took me forever, and I read the biggest chunk of it in one go. As part of the story the pace is really slow to begin with because it's just Watney on his own, but when things start to happen it fluctuates for the rest of the book. There isn't really a consistent balance between Watney's logs and then the perspectives looking at everyone else (as well as other formats dotted through), so depending on how well you translate from each point of view it might take you longer.

The Martian is definitely a book for science-geeks or anyone interested in other planets and space. If you click with the characters you'll have a great time and find yourself rooting for a fictional astronaut like he was real. Personally I just didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping, though I can't criticise Weir too harshly for his work.

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Six of Crows

Book Title: Six of Crows

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: Six of Crows #1

Date Started: October 21st 2015

Date Completed: October 30th 2015

Genres: Fantasy, Thriller, Romance, Action, Adventure
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

Six of Crows had a really solid story and delivery; it wasn't as dark and dangerous as the blurb claims, but it was loads of fun and really it's the characters that make this great. You can pick and choose your favourite to root for (Nina. Definitely Nina), but by the end you'll have fallen in love with them all regardless.

Something a lot of people have been saying about this book is that you don't really need to have read The Grisha Trilogy beforehand - most people are saying this is a better series (and I probably agree, even though I loved Shadow and Bone). But I'm not sure how far I agree that you can go straight into this book: while you don't need to know the story of Bardugo's other trilogy, you definitely need to have background knowledge on the Grisha and how the society of the world works, and I don't think we really get this world building well enough to make that clear in Six of Crows. And even past the point of understanding, Bardugo's universe is amazingly vibrant and detailed, and I think it'd be a shame to miss out on the magic of it because you were trying to work out the lore and politics.

However, the little references to The Grisha Trilogy itself were done well: I'm not a huge fan of intertextuality because it sometimes just feels like pushed advertisement (characters talk about people from other books that they have no reason to know of; a highly convenient link between people or events appear etc). But the little nods to the trilogy were subtle and a lot of the time the culture itself was used instead of direct examples of characters etc. Having said that, there is definitely enough variation from Shadow and Bone and its sequels for it to be worth reading both (the main thing I liked was exploring a poorer and arguably less influential part of the world).

The plot line of Six of Crows primarily focuses on one thing: the heist. The obviously dangerous thing about this is that it could get boring; it could get unnecessarily dragged out; we could focus too much on one character and not enough on everyone else - these were all things I was quietly concerned about, but I was pleasantly surprised when they didn't happen. The structure was thought-through enough so that we got a really good diversity of plot throughout the whole book, and enough variation on the narration characters to make sure we could go back and forth between stories we may have been more interested in.

I was really happy with where the story left off. Six of Crows is its own story with a resolution, but there's room for things to carry on in the sequels. I personally want to know what happens to the characters, and I think Bardugo knew to have faith in her characters so didn't force a cliffhanger or loads of loose ends at the end of the book to make people come back for more next time.

I was impressed that every character had their own personality, since usually there's somewhat of a blur between characters when there's several protagonists. But everyone had their own distinguishable qualities, and everyone had their own time in the narration too.

Kaz was the closest to being the dark, ruthless antihero we're sold and he was brutal at times, admittedly, but there was still a sort of familiarity between everyone else around him - and an unspoken trust. You got the feeling that though they all might be a little wary of him, they trusted him to know what he was doing, and had almost familial ties with him.

I wasn't sure about Inej when she first turned up, but actually she grew on me quite a bit. I think Bardugo had a soft spot for her too, since she seems to be at the center of most big events, but even so her character was interesting. I would've liked it to rely a little less on her backstory, but even so she was a good protagonist to be pushing the plot forward a lot of the time.

Nina was my favourite character, and she definitely felt like the big sister of the group, as well as perhaps the moral compass even when she was conflicted on what was right herself. She was also one of the characters that didn't rely so much on her past to push her present goals: she had history, especially with Matthias, but she was acting in the story because of her beliefs and who she was as a person.

Matthias, Jesper and Wylan were also all interesting characters, but they didn't jump out to me as the most important - nevertheless I still really like their personalities and enjoyed they contribution to the story (I just don't have anything extensive to say about them right now).

Six of Crows takes its sweet time getting started. I have to say I really was getting quite bored for the first hundred odd pages, regardless of how interesting the characters was; there was just a really strong feeling that we were waiting for something to actually happen and start the plot. I would then argue that approaching the climax there was too much exposition 'flashbacks' that could have been put in the early stages to get it moving a little quicker. However, once the story actually started I was really happy with the pacing throughout. It was really nice to have a book focusing really on only one event, but it being naturally long and complex enough to take three hundred pages.

I really enjoyed Six of Crows, and I feel like anyone who enjoyed The Grisha Trilogy but wanted it to step up a little towards the end would love this. Perhaps it isn't the dark heist its marketed as, but it has a diverse range of characters whose objectives all conflict each other and create a genuine uncertainty on whether they will achieve their goal. Great world building, fantasy elements, exciting action, and interesting characters.

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The Cassquette Girls

Book Title: The Cassquette Girls

Author: Alys Arden

Date Started: October 16th 2015

Date Completed: October 18th 2015

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Contemporary
Quality Rating: Two Stars
Enjoyment Rating: One Star

Final Rating: Two stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

There are very few books that I give up on, but The Cassquette Girls has become one of them. I put it down at several points and just had to take a step away because it irritated me so much, and then even after deciding to try it again, every single time within three sentences I was seething. Slow pace; irritating writing style; dislikable, paper characters; cheesy horror conventions; I enjoyed it so little that it wasn't worth my continuing.

One of my biggest problems with books set in the modern world is the desire to constantly paint teenagers as materialistic and with difficulty to speak without slang. Yes, there are people out there who are incredibly materialistic, and there are people out there that constantly use slang. But not everyone. You would expect after a traumatic experience for someone to use a word other than 'ugh' to communicate their distress. You would also think that maybe adults would speak differently - even more so if they've been living in a different country to the other person for a while. This wasn't my only issue with Arden's writing style, but even that was enough to distract me from enjoying what I was reading.

I think writing about the storyline of The Cassquette Girls would be a little unfair since I didn't make it that far through, however from what I did read I can honestly say it irritated me. Most horror genre stereotypes (especially film ones) were shoved into just the first 15% of the story - and still barely anything happened! There's such a slow pace filled only with the most predictable conventions imaginable that there was nothing at all engaging or anything that I wanted to read more about.

Quite frankly I didn't get past proper introductions to anyone but Adele and her dad. Having said that, I think there were about six or seven other characters we met that were clearly going to have a part in the rest of the book - most of which Adele already knew apparently. Another thing I noticed from reading the part of this book was the Arden continually provides 'convenient' pieces of information whenever it suits her - its not even a subtle use of deus ex machina and created a huge information dump.

I really disliked Adele, though to be honest she wasn't realistic enough for a character to her hate personally. She didn't seem to react to anything around her: upon returning to her hurricane-ravaged city, she perkily speaks to her dad about sleeping on the top floor of their house (which is apparently stable enough for that despite having been hit by so big a storm "it wasn't even given a name." Even beyond that, she conformed to the snobby but lonely stereotype, yet everyone seemed to be in love with her.

Like I said I didn't get very far through this book, but nothing happened in what I did read apart from a few 'eerie' happenings. I felt like screaming 'get to the point' about eight times: it's all very well and good trying to build up an atmosphere but if everyone's laughing in something that's supposed to resemble a dystopian city for the first hundred pages of the book, you're not going to build up a tense atmosphere.

If you don't get quite so irritated by stereotypical contemporary teenage writing, you might be able to enjoy this a lot more than I did. Looking at the other reviews it seems to be that a lot of people do like this story, so maybe if you want a supernatural fun read then have a look at some of those. But this was absolutely not for me whatsoever, and quite frankly it madam very frustrated.

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The Rest of Us Just Live Here

Book Title: The Rest of Us Just Live Here

Author: Patrick Ness

Date Started: October 7th 2015

Date Completed: October 15th 2015

Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy
Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

It's been a while since I've felt so comforted by a book, and I think that's a sentiment for this book that quite a few people could relate to. Alan Bennett's quote fits perfectly for me here: "It is as if a hand has come out and taken yours." While it's mostly known as a book about side characters rather than heroes (something that doesn't exactly explain the story), to me it's more the message that you don't have to be the chosen one to really be worth something, and you don't have to be up against the supernatural to struggle with your situation.

It doesn't matter what landscape Ness' stories take place in because there's always something about them that just enhances whatever you're reading about so that it can become so personal, sometimes even when you can't quite relate to exactly what's happening. I've thought a lot about this and I don't know what specific element it is, but I think the honesty in the stories has to be a part of it. There's such a natural honesty in his writing that it just makes you feel safe, because it's been proven to you that it's not just you that's felt this way. And even if it isn't a particular mutual experience, the fact that there's this person on the other side of a word, or a page, or a character that is so genuine that they want to just put into words a human existence so that it help someone is hard not to appreciate.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here deliberately juxtaposes the typical fantasy adventure common in (let's be honest here) Young Adult fiction. Something I really loved was the fact that it didn't outright criticise the genre; you do get the feeling Ness respects his fellow authors that have work in this genre. Instead he parallels the formula itself between what would be the regular 'entertaining' read, and then to what the reality would actually be. (If you've read any of my other reviews of Young Adult fantasy adventures, you'll probably have noticed that this was going to go in my good books straight away.) As well as the shockwaves within the story itself, the pre-chapter summaries of what was happening to the "indie kids" (your average Clary and Jace; Tris and Four; Percy and Annabeth) were hilarious. I think most of us are well aware of the near identical patterns of these plots by now, but watching them reduced to small paragraphs with exaggeration on the comedic awareness made it seem so insignificant compared to what was happening to our protagonists.

When I try and look back to comment on events in the story I keep coming back to the same thing: there isn't so much a traditional story throughout this book, there's development of the characters over time, and there's a brilliant idea well carried out. And that's enough. Sure, events happen, and I guess you could pick out a climax and a disturbance if you want, but for me the process of reading about these characters captured my attention and quite frankly my heart strings pretty well on their own. The message of the book is essentially to call out that in the 'real world' that we're given in some books (primarily in urban fantasy I would guess) isn't real at all: issues and suffering aren't solved as easily by defeating the bad guy and getting the girl. Sometimes it isn't about getting a happy ending, it's about being happy with where you are and dealing with the bad stuff while you're there.

I became genuinely attached to everyone in this book (except perhaps Nathan, but that's more to do with the position we're placed in by the narrator). I'll keep going on about the fact that Ness actually takes reality and does it justice, but it's just because it makes me so happy to see people who have issues not be portrayed as completely vulnerable and broken. There was a part near the end of the book where I was terrified Ness was going to romanticise the mental illnesses, or trivialise the familial and political issues - but then again I really should have more faith in Patrick Ness. He is Patrick Ness after all.

Mikey was a great protagonist. Mikey was the perfect protagonist, especially to communicate the message of the book. I would also say that he was a really good way to show mental illness in a slightly less scary way: for people that haven't necessarily experienced it themselves, or aren't close to anyone who has I do sometimes think that it can be easy to feel alienated from the issue because you don't have that personal awareness of it, and when people star talking about the darker sides of it it either pushes them away or throws up defences in someone's brain to avoid it altogether. Ness normalises it to the point where you can understand how 'normal' people struggle with these things - but it doesn't make them completely different to everyone else. And it also doesn't make them special or 'the chosen one.'

I could spend pages and pages (metaphorically since electronic reviews don't have pages) talking about each member of the group individually, but quite honestly you'd get bored - and my job is to tell you about the book, not to make you bored. So to summarise the other characters I'd say that they are a brilliantly diverse group all showing a different aspect of a 'normal' life that presents tough issues, but they all prove that it doesn't have to be solved by becoming incredibly talented and special and saving the world (bit of an exaggeration, but essentially what happens in the book). I adored Mel, and related to her a lot. Her sibling relationship with Mikey really helped me invest in them early on. Henna I loved because she didn't have to have this terrible past that allowed her to now be strong. Jared was genuinely lovely and again didn't have to be all torn up over his issues for him to want to help the others.

Admittedly the beginning of this book was a bit slow for me, especially since it was more in the contemporary genre than I had first expected. But at the end of the day it does establish the 'normality' - or rather lack of it - the characters have in their lives next to these crazy but repetitive narratives about the 'special' kids that wreck the town every couple of decades.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here was exactly what I needed when I read it, but even without that perfect timing I think it can still mean so much to a lot of people. The anti-hero/ant-stereotypical adventure idea is definitely included, but to me the contemporary genre show through a lot more than the fantasy, so I wouldn't recommend going into it when you're in the mood for an entertaining adventure. In fact the whole point of the book is to look at those books and say 'yeah, they're fun. But what the end of the day they avoid the harsher realities of life.'

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The Undays of Aralias Lyons

Book Title: The Undays of Aralias Lyons

Author: K. L. Horvath

Date Started: October 2nd 2015

Date Completed: October 6th 2015

Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Historical
Quality Rating: Two Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Three stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

Going into this knowing pretty much nothing other than it involved time travel, The Undays of Aralias Lyons ended up being an entertaining read - but not necessarily one I would pick up if I could go back in time myself.

The biggest thing that stuck out about the writing in this book was the fact it felt like I'd been thrown into the middle of the story. Knowing not a lot about this to start with, I genuinely thought I had missed a book in the series - so I accepted that there were things I wasn't going to understand at first. But then I found out this is Horvath's debut as a published author. And that was a problem. I'm happy to not be spoon fed information, but with so many bizarre variations on the world (talking animals, a huge variety of ages that are never stated, strange rules about time travel) we need a little explanation as to what's happening so it doesn't distract us from the story itself. I found this with the exposition too: while I enjoyed picking up parts of Aralias' past as we went along, I didn't really feel the gravity of danger because we're never really told what Bliss has done to be so evil. Overall, I think Horvath ran ahead of herself in excitement but just needed to slow down and think.

Horvath has definitely created an imaginative story. Although I haven't read a vast selection of books looking at time travel, I think the locations chosen as well as the times worked nicely as a backdrop for the story. I probably would've liked these places to have a little more importance to the story, but they were nice to see things play out in nonetheless.

There isn't that much I can really say about the story other than it was entertaining enough to take up my time, but quite frankly by the end I was a bit bored. I think there's loads of continuity errors in the time-travelling parts but I couldn't keep track of the confusion enough to be sure. And that's fine - for a while. But as it dragged further and on I found it harder and harder to stay engaged, and the fact the book goes on for an unnecessarily long amount of time after the resolution didn't really help.

Aside from the two protagonists I didn't find many of the characters particularly distinguishable. The way you could tell them apart was how bluntly rude or polite Aralias was to them, and I feel like if a little more development had gone into these people there would've been a stronger foundation for the rest of the story to lie on.

While I really enjoyed the father/son relationship Aralias had with Jack (not least because it's something we rarely see these days, especially in fantasy adventures like this) and thought it worked really well to add some depth to his character, he was still incredibly irritating and arrogant. I understand that the questionable attitude was in place partially to get some interesting banter between the characters but he came off as a mean person some of the time, and I'm pretty sure we're supposed to think of him as a real hero. He definitely was not in my eyes.

Clara has me in two minds: on the one hand she played her part in the story well enough. But I can't stop thinking about how paper-thin her personality actually was: she mainly argued with the characters, had a very speedy romance with Aralias and shot a pistol every now and then (though to say this was apparent only with Clara would be a lie). To be perfectly honest, I never thought I'd read a book where the woman doesn't even get to the climax location because she's crying on the floor.

The pacing was dealt with well - whenever I got bored or lost track of what was going on it was definitely due to the explanations of the story as opposed to the pacing not being established. Though you might expect something a little more creative than just following the main protagonists going back and forth from he present for a book where time travel is a main theme, it was probably wiser in hindsight for Horvath to reign in her excitement for the story in this area. Though I still don't feel it excelled in many areas, by making sure big events were nicely spaced throughout the whole book we avoided any complete train wrecks.

If you like the 18th century and a little bit of steampunk time travel with a flamboyant protagonist then perhaps you'll enjoy Horvath's creation more than me. Don't go expecting sophistication (regardless of what the posh mannerisms of the characters might suggest), but I can see people having some fun with it if you don't take it too seriously.

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Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Book Title: Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #3

Date Started: September 13th 2015

Date Completed: October 1st 2015

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Contemporary, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Stars

Final Rating: Three stars

Review:

Blue Lily, Lily Blue ended up just being a load of smoke and mirrors - it looks pretty on the surface and has a couple of cool moments, but there's no real substance to any of it. Compared to the first book it felt so unnecessary, and I seemed to lose sight of the characters I'd fallen in love with.

Steifvater's writing can be very beautiful sometimes: she has the ability to create such amazingly vivid pictures with actually very little information. The only problem is there need to be pretty locations for her to describe in the first place. Though we still have Cabeswater, the majority of the book is set elsewhere in the almost dreary normal world. What I've liked about this series is its ability to turn the normal into something exciting and new without going over-the-top with its supernatural elements. The Dream Thieves pushed at the boundaries a little bit, but this time it feels like we've stepped back completely out of the danger zone - but now there's nothing really left to be beautiful. Similarly with the characters, Steifvater's been pushing at how far she can go without it being unrealistic but has taken a few too many steps back into safety for the penultimate novel.

Something I loved about the previous books in this series is that they each had their own stories, but it definitely felt like you were progressing towards something much bigger that spanned over everything. I didn't feel that with this novel, and that was probably what disappointed me most. There was no direction to the plot, and by the end I don't even think we've progressed in either story or characters from the last book - a filler-book without even any reason to add stuff in the middle.

There were times when I thought we were heading towards a serious, mature subject while Stiefvater needed time to pass in the story for some reason, and so the slow pace was going to focus on darker things. But as soon as we got near it had to go and be silly: Adam gets in serious financial trouble and the others joke about it and ultimately leave it, another character talks about anxiety but it takes two sentences for it to become some supernatural super power and is never mentioned again. There's just so much wasted potential and it's so frustrating to read it there and watch it just get pushed away. It's not just mature subjects, it feels like interesting characters get ignored, and the beautiful imagery isn't given enough time to shine.

The conclusion was also underwhelming for me; we've had two different kinds of climaxes to these books so far, and I was okay to go with a slower resolution for now, especially since the final book better be exciting enough to make up for it. But since there didn't feel like there was any end goal for the story there wasn't really any resolution to achieve. We're definitely not given any answers to anything and are just led on further into complications (again, it was alright earlier in the series because we weren't even sure there WERE any answers, but now that we do it just feel like we're being manipulated just so one more book can be added to the conventional trilogy).

I really wish we could see more interesting pairings with the characters more often. The chapters with Ronan and Adam, and Persephone and Adam were definitely the most interesting for me here because they weren't completely predictable. I think there's a lot of wasted potential with actually quite a diverse set of characters.

I'm still pretty indifferent to Blue. She still doesn't feel like a protagonist, and for all of her quirkiness ends up quite bland when put next to the boys who have been developed quite a bit more. This is probably more to do with the fact we see the boys with different people in depth a lot more than we do with Blue; she tends to jump around but never really settle, and so it's harder to develop a sort of 'fictional-friendship' when she doesn't so much (or realistically at least).

Gainsay still edges a little closer to the stereotypical arrogant male interest that actually has deep care for his friends for me. It's not the worst trope, and I do like Gansey as a character, but I keeping hoping for it to turn in a slightly different direction. Likewise with Ronan and Noah, I'd like to be a bit surprised by them every now and then. Adam's slightly different in the way that he does have these very developed plot lines, but there's still that tinge of silliness and trivialness that shouldn't be there.

I found the pacing difficult here because it didn't feel like anything was happening. I struggled to keep my attention on the prose, and even the descriptive landscapes that had captivated me previously weren't there to keep my focus. I'm sure that not having complete attention on the story really affected my enjoyment, but at the end of the day, if it doesn't hold my attention that's a big issue.

My disappointment might be a little exaggerated from the reading slump I'm in, but regardless I had issues with The Dream Thieves and those same problems have just grown more into this book. I'm really hoping since The Raven King is the conclusion it'll finally get us to a point in the story where relevant things happen, but until then I can't say I'm happy with how the series has developed since the brilliant start with The Raven Boys.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22978079-blue-lily-lily-blue