Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Name: Passenger
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Publisher: Quercus Children's Books
Date published: 2016
Rating: 5/5

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she's inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she's never heard of. Until now.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods - a powerful family in the colonies - and the servitude he's known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes an insistent pull of the past that he can't escape and the family that won't let go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas' passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them - whether she wants to or not.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods' grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home... forever.

- From Goodreads.

I love learning about history so I found it really interesting that Passenger took place in different eras, and it all seemed really well researched too, so the story, although it had its fantasy elements, still felt real. I would definitely recommend this for reading while on holiday, there was just so much passion for travelling and learning about different cultures and countries and the language was so wonderfully crafted that I felt like I was travelling along with Nicholas and Etta.
The language was also beautiful when describing the feelings between the two of them, it made my heart wrench with how bittersweet it was. I loved the relationship between Etta and Nicholas and the fact that they slowly became closer over time, and I think this was portrayed well because of how both of their perspectives were shown throughout the narrative. Both characters really worked their way into my heart and now I do not want to let them go.
The story was so exciting and the ending was so absorbing that I cannot believe I have to wait until next year to find out what happens in the next book! I thought this book ended at the right point of the story though because while it does leave you in suspense it also gives you enough information to have a vague idea of what might be happening next. This book has latched its way onto my heart in a way that had me caring about what happened with every character, so that I was even invested in the lives of the minor characters. I just cannot stop thinking about how much I love this story and how wonderful it is.

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My copy of this book was received from Maximum Pop Books as a prize from a giveaway.

Review: The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan

Name: The Magicians' Guild
Author: Trudi Canavan
Publisher: Atom
Date published: 2005
Rating: 5/5

This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work - until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders... and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield.

What the Magicians' Guild has long dreaded has finally come to pass. There is someone outside their ranks who possesses a raw power beyond imagining, an untrained mage who must be found and schooled before she destroys herself and her city with a force she cannot yet control.

- From Goodreads.

The Magicians' Guild was definitely an exciting adventure that had me gripped! Whenever I had to stop reading I really had to force myself to put it down. Towards the end it was so exciting I could feel my heart beating! I was so taken in by this book that I read it all - all 469 pages - in only two days.
I really liked the characters, especially Sonea, I thought she made a great main character. If anything, I wanted to know more about some of the characters, but since it is quite a long book already, and there are books that come after it, I felt that this book probably had the right amount of focus on the characters. It was just enough to keep you intrigued to know more.
I liked the third person perspective which focalised on different people at different times, and I especially liked it when it came to Rothen and Sonea, because it was interesting to see their different perspectives on their experiences with each other.
I love reading fantasy because I love learning about the new worlds that the writers create, and Trudi Canavan definitely created a fascinating world for her story that I was eager to learn about. One of my friends has said she might get the other two books in the series for me for my birthday or Christmas, and I am very much looking forward to reading them in the future to continue to follow the adventures that take place in Canavan's world!

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Review: Gone by Michael Grant

Name: Gone
Author: Michael Grant
Publisher: Electric Monkey
Date published: 2015
Rating: 5/5
Spoiler warning: Minor

In the blink of an eye, everyone in Perdido Beach, California, over the age of fourteen disappears. Gone too are phones, television, and the internet. As the kids struggle to survive in this new world, the world itself continues to evolve. A sinister creature lurks in a mine in the desert; animals are mutating; and some of the kids are developing dangerous supernatural powers that grow stronger by the day. A battle between good and evil is imminent, and for some of the kids, time is running out. On their fifteenth birthday, they disappear like everyone else. 

- From Goodreads.

Gone is definitely not the type of book to read just before you go to bed! It was not scary in the sense that it was too scary for someone like me (who does not go anywhere near anything closely resembling a horror movie), but there were a lot of suspenseful and gruesome moments that were all executed very well. It was more gory than the kind of book that I usually read, but I still found that I could enjoy reading it and I did not feel that it was too over the top or unnecessary.
The characters were all well developed, none of them two-dimensional, even the background characters. Caine was not just the villain and Sam was not just the hero, they all had their complexities. Speaking of characters, I just have to mention that I loved how Albert ran the McDonald's, that was brilliant. There was a sense of humour amongst the more serious tone of this novel that I quite liked.
Once again, as with This Savage Song, I was scared to start reading this book because I was worried that I would not like it, especially since my friend Siril, who is the one that gave me this book, does like it. But, once again, I was pleasantly surprised! This was a thrilling, quite scary (I must admit), and gripping book, and I am excited to read the next one when I get the chance!

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EVENTS | YALC 2016

A week ago on Sunday, I attended the Young Adult Literature Convention at the London Film and Comic Convention for the first time and I had the most brilliant time! I went with my friend Emma, who I know from university, and whose idea it was to go, and of course we had to go on the day that they were celebrating Harry Potter's birthday and the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (which I have now read and will be posting a review of in the future)!

The first thing we did when we arrived was attend the New Voices in YA panel, which I thought was so interesting to listen to, with the authors (Natalie Flynn, Harriet Reuter Hapgood, Julia Gray, Claire Hennessy, Rhian Ivory, Pete Kalu, Martin Stewart and Chris Vick) talking about publishing their first young adult novels and giving some great writing advice.

After that, Emma and I wondered around looking at the stalls, got ourselves some freebies, and bought ourselves some books (more on that in a bit), and found this amazing cake of Harry's cupboard under the stairs! I didn't quite believe it was a cake at first, it was that impressive.

The next panel we attended was the Morally Complicated YA panel, with Melvin Burgess, Louise O'Neill, Manuela Salvi and Emerald Fennell. I thought it was a great discussion that covered some of the really significant issues that come up in YA, and showed that it was good that these topics are covered in YA because an open discussion of controversial topics helps young adults deal with them when they come across them in their own lives.

Once that panel was over, we had another little wander and found this brilliant book wall, which I was happy to see included Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, which I really enjoyed reading.

The final panel we went to was Maggie Stiefvater in Conversation, which I thought was brilliant, as Maggie was very funny and intelligent, and told some great stories! Emma and I went to her signing afterwards, and managed to get copies of The Raven Boys signed, which I have yet to read but am very excited to! It was lovely to meet Maggie, and she told us that, when she was deciding what name to change hers to before she chose Maggie, Emma was one of the contenders!

Then, of course, the Potter Party started, and there was an amazing costume contest, which the brilliant Gilderoy Lockhart won, and deservedly so. We were very surprised and excited to see Natalie Tenna (also known as Tonks!) present the prize for the contest!

We had a fun time playing some games in our houses, overseen by some brilliant authors as our heads of houses, which were Non Pratt and Lisa Williamson for Gryffindor, Alwyn Hamilton and Lucy Ivison for Hufflepuff (which is the best house, not that I'm biased or anything), Catherine Doyle and Samantha Shannon for Ravenclaw, and V.E. Schwab and Melinda Salisbury for Slytherin! Emma and I were very happy that Hufflepuff tied with Ravenclaw for the house cup.

So that was the end of our wonderful day at YALC! We had a fantastic day, and I was very happy with the purchases I made, How Not To Disappear by Clare Furniss, Love Song by Sophia Bennett (a signed edition), The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness (a signed edition), A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab, and The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (which, as I said, I got signed in person)!
The day was a wonderful experience, especially wonderful as the first time that we had gone to the convention, and I am definitely going to go again next year if I can!

Review: This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab

Name: This Savage Song
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Titan Books
Date published: June 2016
Rating: 5/5

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city - a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent - but he's one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who's just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August's secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

- From Goodreads.

This Savage Song has a very unique world with an intriguing plot and backstory. I have found that a lot of the distopians that I have read (and I suppose that you could call this book a distopian?) are sort of realistic, or more science-fiction (which is not a bad thing, because that is an interesting way to do it), but this story had more of a fantasy element, with the creatures and monsters, and it felt quite new and unique and I found it really exciting.
I also liked how information was revealed slowly over time, because obviously Kate and August knew about their own backstories, but they do not reveal everything they know at once, which I think helped with the suspense and stopped me from feeling like I was having a load of information just dumped on me and helped me to slowly come to understand what was happening.
I was scared to start reading This Savage Song because I was worried I would not like it, and I really wanted to, but then I did and I sped through it a lot more quickly than I thought I would, I was so absorbed in the story. There was so much imagination involved, so many interesting ideas, and I loved the descriptions and the way words were used in this book. Language was really used to its full effect. The plot was so clever and mystifying, and now I am very excited to read what happens in the next book!

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My copy of this book was received from Maximum Pop Books as a prize from a giveaway.

Review: The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Name: The Princess Bride
Author: William Goldman
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Date published: 1999
Rating: 5/5

Beautiful, flaxen-haired Buttercup has fallen for Westley, the farm boy, and when he departs to make his fortune, she vows never to love another. So when she hears that his ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts - who never leaves survivors - her heart is broken.

- From Goodreads.

The Princess Bride was funny, witty, satirical genius. I was first introduced to this story when my friend brought the movie with her to a sleepover at mine and we watched it and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Then, I cannot remember how much time it was later, but I was in an independent bookshop with the same friend that I had watched the movie with, and I saw the book and I decided I had to buy it. I did and I am very glad I did because this book is now definitely one of my favourites and its characters  are definitely some of my favourite fictional characters (if they are, indeed, fictional...).
It was a story that I kept reading because I always wanted to read what came next but I also did not want to finish it just yet because I was enjoying reading it so much. I really like it when the narrator of a book has personality and interrupts the narrative and makes an impact, and this book does that fantastically. It flows easily because of its humour and conversational tone, which meant it did not drag, and instead of forcing myself to pick it up (which I admit I had to do for some of the books that I read for university this year) I had to force myself to put it down when I needed sleep.

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Rambles (#4): On Reading Anne Frank's Diary

I read Anne Frank's diary recently, and I wanted to write about it but I thought it would be, I suppose, disrespectful to write a review. After all, this isn't a fictional novel, this is Anne's very thoughts, ideas and beliefs, this is how she recorded her life. Consequently, I thought it would be better to simply write down all the thoughts I had about it, in one of my Rambles, which I feel would be a better way of honouring Anne, as it is similar to the way she wrote down her thoughts in her diary.
I found every page of her diary emotional, insightful and beautiful to read, but especially so in light of recent events. Anne lived in a time of horror and violence, violence which was directed towards her and those like her because of their religion. Now, in June alone, 49 people were killed and more were injured at a club in Orlando because of their sexuality, and British member of parliament Jo Cox died after being shot and stabbed in West Yorkshire because of her political beliefs. 52% of Britain then voted to leave the European Union, which feels like a move against peace and unity, and has pretty much driven the UK into chaos. And that's not even everything that seems to be wrong in the world at the moment. The present almost seems to be reminiscent of the time that Anne Frank was writing in, and one of the most upsetting things is that we don't seem, in this climate of hate and war, to learn from the past that the way forward is not through intolerance and violence.
However, reading Anne's diary showed me that despair is not the answer, and that perhaps, like her, I should keep hope in the face of all these horrible events happening. Anne may not have survived the war, but she lives on through the legacy that her diary left. I could never truly understand how it is to be in Anne's position, I know that I could never truly comprehend the pain of how she and her family were treated, but the wonderful words that she left behind show that she was far better than any of the intolerant people who lived then and who live now, and than any of the people who caused her death.