:: Literal Impressions ~ Jan - May ::

Book: "Hush Hush"
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Opinion:

This title was a surprise.
Back in ’09, when I first saw it in Borders, I was intrigued by the cover. Angels, these days, aren’t exactly a common theme. (Since then, more precisely in the last eight or so months – I’ve seen at least two other titles and one series.) However, after reading the first few pages, it didn’t inspire much interest. Later, I saw a recommendation by my Goddess, Kelley Armstrong and I decided to buy it.
In the first couple of chapters, I confess I strongly felt the similarities with “Twilight”. The North-American school environment, the strange fellow student, an inexplicable attraction, but the similarities end there.
I liked the story very much – especially in a period in time when I abhorred all of the other titles I’d been concurrently reading to that date.
The writing style’s simple and easy to get into and the characters, in my opinion, are well defined.
I thought it quite refreshing to find a book which, at first glance, appeared to be a stand-alone narrative – something which is very uncommon these days.
As of May, I’ve now come to know that there will be, at least, another book and it will indeed follow the story of Nora and Patch. I welcome it, not one to turn my nose up at a new series which I like.
It’s not exactly a riveting read, nor one which will keep you into the wee hours, glued to the pages, but I definitely enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of urban fantasy.
Be warned, however, if you are a fan of the Twilight saga, you may be put-off at first, by the similarities.
I recommend going in with no expectations and wiping your mind clean of any prejudiced thoughts linking anything to Stephenie Meyer’s series.
Four thumbs up.

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Book: "Lover Revealed" (Black Dagger Brotherhood #4)
Author: J. R. Ward
Publisher: Piatkus
Opinion:

I loved the surprises in this fourth title in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.
By employing a slightly unexpected plot twist, Ward thus permanently incorporated a character into the main cast, which wouldn’t last much longer in the series, otherwise.
I liked the amount of character development she gave other characters in this same novel.
I really do consider these books quite well written, otherwise, I’d have returned as many of the books as I could, long ago. The only fault I find is that the author found it necessary to turn this series into something of a smut-fest to rival the dirtiest of romance novels my friends and I have often picked up to mock. She describes the erotic scenes in such detail, (it goes beyond all palatable extremes), that I often find myself sickened to the point of wanting to skip whole pages. Trouble is – I’m always afraid of something important being let on in the midst of the ravenous passion in said scenes.
All in all, I do like the series, but I’m going to dedicate myself to more diverse titles.

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Book: "A Filha da Profecia" (aka “Child of the Prophecy”)
Author: Juliet Marillier
Publisher: Bertrand
Opinion:

After a year of muddling through this – I finally managed to finish this trilogy.
Right from the start, the book didn’t go down well, as I found it so different from its two predecessors. Possibly because at least until about half-way, I thought the main character had turned herself into a total martyr and was going to end up wrecking the lives of many a character thanks to her lack of willpower to fight the task which she was black-mailed into.
The other fact is that – I must be in a certain state of mind to stomach the unique rhythm of Sevenwaters. (It's not that it's boring, it's simply slower than virtually all books I read and it's quite a shock, when I pick these up after one of those.)
This March, I finally found the willpower and, with a long-brewed stubbornness, I decided to not put the book down, nor start any others, until I finished the damned thing.
A little after starting again, possibly a few nights, suddenly the story took hold of me again and I finished it. I was quite saddened by some events, but otherwise, I was quite happy with the finale that Juliet gave us.
In the end, I didn’t dislike the story, I simply let my expectations rule my judgement and when those didn’t come to fruition, I got angry at the story.
I loved the final battle and if I had to compare it to something else, though they’re completely different books/series, in regards to the balance the ending brought was better than, say, “Rainha das Trevas” (aka “Queen of the Darkness” – Anne Bishop’s “Black Jewels Trilogy”), which I felt was a bit rushed and I didn’t like it much.
“Child of the Prophecy” ends with the feeling that the story has truly ended. If one were to imagine that the reader didn’t know of the existence of a sequel, I believe that it ended perfectly.

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Book: "O Filho de Thor" (vol I & II) (“Wolfskin”, divided in two pocket-sized books)
Author: Juliet Marillier
Publisher: Bertrand
Opinion:

When I started this series, I worried that I wouldn’t like it much, given the impact that the Sevenwaters trilogy had on me. I needn’t have worried as I soon lost myself in ‘Rogaland’ and came to admire a young fellow of startling blue eyes and golden-blond curls.
The sheer sadness halfway through the book brought me close to tears, something that I haven’t experienced since “Daugther of the Forest”.
Juliet painted us an imagining of what the viking culture and their conquests might be like.
Once more, she created characters which manage to surprise us even when we think we know them well.
I found the finale simply beautiful. As usual, Juliet didn’t give us a lovey-dovey “Disney Ending”, but rather a very believable and realistic conclusion to the events that plagued our dear island princess.
There was a lot of loss, a lot of suffering and this continued right into the ending of this chapter in the Light Isles saga.
However, one feels that things will get better for those islands and their conflicting inhabitants.
I find it quite interesting that none of the ‘heroines’ I’ve yet seen in Juliet’s books are blond, blue-eyed beauties. But then, she graced us with Eyvind, this time. Lol
I can’t think of a single thing I didn’t like in this book.

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Book: "Cry Wolf" (Alpha & Omega 1)
Author: Patricia Briggs
Publisher: Orbit UK
Opinion:

Right from the start, you notice the difference between this series and the “Mercy Thompson” novels.
Firstly, it’s written in third-person, secondly, it alternates between two main characters,
Anna Latham and Charles Cornnick.
The story centres around the werewolves and this book’s plot takes place, I think, alongside the second Mercy novel.
It took me a little while to get used to the writing style, seeing as I was used to first-person, from Brigg’s other works.
I did like the fact that, as it skips between narrators, usually the story backtracks only about half or a page, so that you see the other character’s reactions and to the other character(s) and events.
I enjoyed it very much, but I must say I prefer the “Mercy Thompson” novels, if only because Mercy is possibly, my second favourite character in a supernatural novel, to date and precisely because she is not a werewolf, which I sometimes get tired of.

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Book: "The Reckoning" (#3 - Darkest Powers Trilogy)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Orbit UK
Opinion:

Thus, I came to the finale of this most excellent of first attempts at young-adult fiction, by Kelley.
The book starts off quite calm, but right in the first few chapters, the kinds find themselves once again in major trouble.
As usual, Kelley manages to turn around and surprise us with unexpected events that make her books so good.
The grand finale was excellent, but is also left quite a bit open. This is because Kelley intends to, as stated on her page, to continue the Project Genesis kids’ story a bit later on. For now, she is going to start a new trilogy, coming early next year, called “Darkness Rising” and I believe it involves another branch of the Edison Group and the “Project Phoenix”. I’m quite curious to see what characters and races Kelley brings us and I hope that she gives us more of my favourites. (Spell casters, but more experienced and less volatile ones than Tory.)
Kelley conveys perfectly, the teenage mentality, making this series so believable. I especially loved how her writting quality didn’t change, in regards to the maturity. She simply put in much less coarse language (not that her adult series had much, at all), and no romantic, tastefully passionate scenes. (Nothing like Bishop’s or even Ward’s) which leaves us with a narrative that is just as good as it’s concurrent adult predecessor.
I loved it and recommend to anyone who likes her “Women of the Otherworld” series or urban fantasy in general.

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Book: "Tales of the Otherworld"
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Orbit UK
Opinion:

I don’t have much to say about this book except that it’s another, most excellent anthology of short stories, to supplement detail in between novels, or to explain past events which weren’t completely reviewed in the “Women of the Otherworld” series.
I especially loved the story recounting Eve and Kristof’s original interludes and, sadly, their tragic parting. One simply could not hate Thomas Nast any more... The man is a total and complete bastard. I really do love how through these different ‘races’, Kelley’s characters portray real-world prejudice and racism in a metaphorical way, whether that is her intent or not.
I finally got to read about Elena’s back story, well before the events of the first novel, “Bitten”.
A necessary volume for any fan of the “Woment of the Otherworld” series.

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Book: "Chasing Harry Winston"
Author: Lauren Weisberger
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Opinion:

This book had me in stitches and goofy grins from start to finish.
It’s a mature book, filled with credible and realistic comedy.
I loved how Lauren created these three, completely different women, then brought them together as best friends.
I found the three main characters quite inspiring.
The most regal, socialyte heiress; Adriana is absolutely charming in her sometimes seemingly crazy, but completely believable antics.
At one point, not far into the book, I was laughing so hard at 9:30 that my stomach hurt and I cried twice. Needless to say, I was too wound up in hysteric giggling to sleep until almost midnight.
What I most loved about it is that the book is so well written and so completely entertaining, that it kept me completely obsessed, from start to finish. I very seldom read any titles which do not have even a small supernatural element to it – so this book was very refreshing.
I really want to own all her other books and are interested to see how good the “The Devil Wears Prada” novel is, compared to the film. I suspect I will love it even more.

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Book: "Eon"
Author: Alison Goodman
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia)
Opinion:

I was completely obsessed with this book right from the first chapter and I had to make a colossal effort to not read it in one night. (Sleep deprivation is abundant enough, without self-inflicted nights.)
A world created on the myths and the culture of ancient China with a hint of feudal Japan.
The twelve celestial dragons corresponding to each of the twelve animals in the Chinese Zodiac, are simply beautiful to imagine.
Eon is the story of a girl, Eona, who is chosen by her master to be trained as a “Dragoneye apprentice”, thanks to her rarest of talents, full Dragon Sight. (That is, being able to see all twelve animal dragons, where as the other apprentices should only be able to see their own, as well as (possibly) the respective yearly ascendant.) All this, whilst pretending to be a boy.
In her world, this lie would cost her her life, if discovered.
A beautiful story which, reminded me ever so faintly of Disney’s “Mulan”, except it’s safe to say that that poor sod didn’t have anything on Eona. This girl is tenacious, sometimes to the point of being dangerous to herself.
The book is easy to follow with simple, yet effective language.
I was ecstatic to find a new Australian author to be enthralled by as much as I’ve been for over a decade, with Victor Kelleher.
Now if this book was picked up as a film, I think I’d just ‘asm… But then I recall that those productions rarely do their fans, or, more importantly, the original stories justice.
I’m happy that the second and concluding volume, “Eona”, should come early next year – as it gives me something great to look forward to.
Fully recommended, five thumbs up!