Six of Crows

The Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is a fantastic read and I can't wait for the next one to come out. But the sad part is, right now, it's fairly fresh off the press.

Right now I love most everything about this book. The world is new and so inventive--though I have found out that there is another series that takes place in this world that Ms. Bardugo has written. This world is about to be thrown into more chaos that it already is because a new wave of super drug is about to be unleashed. It heightens the powers of the Grisha to be able to do the impossible. But it also sucks the Grisha in with a crazy craving that practically consumes life, either driving them crazy if they don't get it or whittling them down to a zombie if they until they die.

The heroes of this story are a bunch of thieves in it for the money. They are contracted to perform a jailbreak to get the maker of this new drug out of possibly deadly hands. Easy enough right? Wrong. The prison they have this scientist in is the most guarded complex in the world. It's easy enough to get in; getting out is the impossible part.

Bardugo takes us through this story in all six characters points of view, though it's nicely in third person. While it can be hard keeping track of all six of these thieves, it is cleanly done. I found a deep love for the characters especially because Bardugo takes the time to explain back stories. While some might find the time jumping disconcerting, I found that it gave so much more to the characters and their roles in the story. We understand where they are coming from even though some of them aren't very likable characters at the beginning. I found a love for all the characters in this book and my heart wrenched when I thought they would die--and it happened on more than a few occasions.

All of the characters seemed real, too. I mean to say that none of the main six were flat through I would like more from the "bad guys." We got a little at the end of a potential bad guy, at least someone who will have to be dealt with, but I would have liked a little more from the other antagonists.

I guess my only other thing that I didn't care too much for, though at the end of the book I didn't mind, was that we simply get thrown into this novel. There are lots of places and sayings and meanings that were completely foreign to me and it felt like I was drowning in this world for the first while. But as you keep reading (or if you've read the previous series--the Grisha series: Shadow of Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising) you might fare better. But so long as you're a good reader and pay attention, you'll get it.

Again, I can't wait for the next book. Kaz, Inej, and Jesper, you've all stolen my heart.

"No mourners."
"No funerals."

Please don't die.

Winter

Winter is the last book in Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles. I think one of the best parts of this book is the depiction of how Winter is crazy. Because Winter has chosen not to use her Lunar Gift she legitimately is going insane. She sees blood dripping down walls, thinks she's a wolf, becomes ice and is about to shatter... Her episodes may have to grow on you, but Winter is amazing.

For the climax of the series, Cinder and the crew must sneak onto Luna (the moon), find Scarlet who is somewhere held captive inside the palace, raise an army, and take the crown from Levana.

But of course nothing can be so simple as their plan was. The moment they step foot onto Luna the chase begins and they are separated. Cinder's group heads to the mines where friends may be found, others are hidden inside the palace do to Jacin and Winter's help. Scarlet is being held in the menagerie as Winter's pet, so then she wouldn't be executed.

Constantly when things start going right, everything gets flipped on it's head. Jacin is ordered by Levana to kill Winter because Levana knows he loves her. Cinder and Wolf are captured. Wolf gets changed into more of a brute and begins to forget Scarlet. Cinder is brought before Levana and Kai who just got married and is to be executed. Iko constantly is getting shot at, which is kind of funny. Everything constantly goes awry and the we, as the reader, have to constantly remind ourselves that this has a Happily Ever After, right? Meyer isn't going to wrench in our Happily Ever After is she? She's messed with all of these stories soooo much, she wouldn't take the Happy Ending away! Right?

Oh, it's such a good book. Although there are 830 or so pages in the book, it reads fast and like all the rest of the series (Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress) such a joy to read. This series, next to some of my Brandon Sanderson Favorites, these are my favorite books. I work at a library and constantly tell the patrons who are looking for a good book to read these. They aren't your normal fairy tale, but I love them just as much.

Read and Enjoy!

Cress

Probably my favorite book in Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, Cress is the third book in the series. Following Cinder and  Scarlet, Cress follows the Fairy Tale story of Rapunzel. And the relationship she has with her Prince Charming gives me butterflies.

Cress is a shell, a Lunar who has no Gift that can manipulate the brainwaves of those around them and cannot be manipulated either. Which means that Levana, who is constantly has her glamor on, can't hide from Cress. Levana has taken all the shell babies and done who knows what to them. Cress, being taken away from her family when she was very little, doesn't remember them and only knows to do what Mistress Sybil says. She is stuck in a satellite orbiting around Earth, instead of a tower. All alone except when her Mistress comes to visit and give new instructions, Cress finds games to play when she's not spying on everyone on Earth. She watches all the news feeds, listens in on political private conversations, and is a wiz at games online.

Our heroine is first debuted in Cinder at the end when she informs Cinder of something terrible that is about to happen at the ball. But when Mistress Sybil boards her satellite when Cinder and the rest of the crew are there, the satellite breaks orbit and crashes into the Sahara. Thorne, now blind, and Cress, with no shoes and very little survival experience, have to trek across the desert to find friends.

But then back in China Kai is marrying Levana?!  They must stop this or Levana will kill him after she becomes Empress. But how? In an awesome way, that's how.

There is so much going on in this book! Cress is such a sweetheart and this quirky girl captures so many hearts. My friends who have read this series have loved Cress more than most of the other characters. The relationship that develops is too cute. I get twitterpated for them. Their comebacks and dialogs are hysterical and...ugh, I love them so much. This is a must must must read.

Scarlet

UPDATE: In honor of finishing the book Winter, by Marissa Meyer, I am posting up my reviews of two of the previous novels that I'd read a while ago. The first book in the Lunar Chronicles is Cinder, which I've reviewed previously and is a great read. If follows Cinder in a futuristic Cinderella story. However at the end of the book, she finds herself in prison instead of with her prince charming, a drastic change of events, right?

In the sequel, Scarlet, we follow Little Red Riding Hood in her attempt to find her grandmother who has disappeared. Scarlet lives on her farm in France and meets up with this burly, odd man who has never eaten a tomato in his life.  Wolf *hint hint* insists on joining her while she goes to Paris to find her grandma. They end up hitting it off and she starts falling for him until things turn for the worst. Wolf ends up belonging to a Pack of Lunar Special Agents who are sent to massacre millions as well as get information about Cinder from Scarlet's grandmother.

Cinder, having just found out she's the Lunar Princess Selene, needs to find out more. With the help of a thief, pilot, extraordinaire, Carswell Thorne, who helped her escape from prison in New Beijing, they fly in his stolen spaceship to France to investigate Cinder's past that she can't remember. Scarlet's grandmother is the best one to ask as she was a military pilot who has something to do with her escape, however, she's missing.

I think this was better the second time through. The relationship between Wolf and Scarlet was originally obnoxious and weird with him being Alpha of his pack and she has an Alpha personality... However, this I like the way the wolf is side of things is presented, "she snarled" and other such things slid into her personality descriptions that mimic him and help them come together as a couple.

Scarlet is a strong, and resourceful woman who doesn't take nonsense from anyone. She has her vulnerable moments where she can get beat around by real bad guys and where she gets taken in by mind manipulations. But she is a very determined and willing to stand up for the people whom she loves. Wolf, I know, can have a personality that can be domineering and can be manipulative. Reasons are given as to why he is still a good guy and not just one of the Big Bad Wolves. He's different than the rest of the canine toothed, rip-your-throats-out-as-soon-as-sniff-you kind of guys. He's different because he loves her. Somewhat cliche and originally why I listed this as my least favorite of the Lunar Chronicles. But I'm mostly able to look past it. Mostly.

I also really enjoy Cinder's side of things and the development she went through. Still very much moving and progressing individually while having her own challenges of finding out who she really is.

But much like Cinder, Scarlet is well written and captivating. Her descriptions are well done and it flowed really well even when jumping from different characters points of view. This is a book you can easily get sucked in and not want to come out.

Well of Ascension

This is the second time finishing the Well of Ascension and, boy, was it worth it. There is so much I had forgotten but was very valuable to the story.

I remember reading this the first time around and thinking it being a very politically driven book. One that I could just skip through in order to get to the fighting or more interesting dialog--that was also a few years ago before I became a better reader. Now, my opinion has grown.

This story does have a lot of politics in it as Elend and the members of the crew, now that the Lord Ruler is dead, have to keep the city functioning and to keep the people from starving. But there is much more to this story. Vin has to find her place inside herself. Is she a girl who likes pretty dresses, a Mistborn who is a knife for Elend's Empire, a Mistborn like Kelsier? How is she supposed to compile all of these different parts of her into whoever she is? And it's not just Vin who gets a dose of growth, Elend has become King, but doesn't ask like it and must learn what makes a leader.

There is also a new metal found that helps Vin in many tight spaces. But does that mean there are more out there?

New characters make their debut. A friend for Sazed. A Mistborn who could be more dangerous than simply trying to kill her. A lady that is more aware of emotions than Breeze is. So many fun characters that throw some of our favorites for a loop at times.

As not one or two but three armies attack the new kingdom, they have to find a way to defend themselves. There are over 40,000 invaders, half of which are nearly impossible to kill large blue giants called the Koloss. Alongside an imposter in their ranks, but who is it?

Though the most troubling of all could be the mists. They are acting strangely. Staying longer in the day. Are they the cause of why people are being killed for no reason? Vin starts seeing things in the mists. Is she going crazy like the logbook writer?

This book was written in the fantastic way Brandon Sanderson does. He wrote the inner turmoil that Vin has accurately to someone who is trying to find themselves. It did take me a little longer to read than the other books I've gotten through, but that was not the books fault (ending school and the Christmas holidays got me sidetracked from reading). But I do love these books.

Mistborn: The Final Empire

Another book by Brandon Sanderson that is amazing. Mistborn is the first book that I read of his and I enjoyed it so so much. If you wanted to get into Sanderson's books this is one of the ones that I would suggest first. Like many of Sanderson's novels the ideas behind/concepts of his stories are fresh and new. Who else would think of "burning metals" as a way to have "magical" abilities. For a full description of the novel go to Mistborn on Brandon Sanderson's Website.

There are many things in this book that touch a lot of different hot topics that Sanderson isn't afraid to address. In Mistborn there is a discussion of Religion, Politics, Pain, Betrayal, Trust, and the importance of Hope. While these can be sticky questions, he explores and doesn't exclude ideas about how to cope with these topics.

There are moments that made me realize just how much of a hopeless romantic I can be sometimes. Vin, one of our main characters, was a street urchin who was able to survive so much in her thieving crew because of her Luck. She joins Kelsier's thieving crew, because she was almost found out by the Ministry, and their job to overthrow the Final Empire and the Lord Ruler, who has lived for centuries and is believed to be immortal. She dresses up as a noblewoman to infiltrate the Noble Houses, to gain their confidence,, learn information, and spread rumors among them. But while impersonating a noblewoman she runs into Elend Venture whom she starts falling for. Their conversations made me smile because it had just the right amount of cheesiness that it was cute without being too sappy. I loved it so much.

I also love how Kelsier is still in love with his wife, Mare, though she died. It is because of her that he starts this crew and the job. While he does this for revenge for his wife, even though it is believed that she betrayed him. He still loves her. It goes to show that you "can't help who you love" in that it can very hard to persuade your heart to hate someone who you love.

The idea of trust is a big component in the story as well. Vin, being around these other thieving crews, has learned to not trust anyone. Her brother's voice constantly reminds her that everyone will betray her. Vin slowly learns to trust her new crew. Kelsier's crew  works through trust, not fear like she has known.

I was asked a little bit ago when someone saw me reading this before a class started, if "you have to be a Mormon to understand" where Brandon Sanderson (who is LDS) is coming from. I would disagree. There are many people who enjoy it who aren't part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This book has been read all around the world and has been loved by millions of people. It has been loved so much that they have made a D&D type game based off this world and the concepts there. It is not only for Mormons. Everyone can enjoy this series.

I'll be reading Brandon Sanderson's Well of Ascension next--the next in the series. Read it with me and enjoy.

Reserevation Blues

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie is a book that I had to read for my Native American Literature class at my University. While I can understand that Sherman Alexie is a well known and much enjoyed author and presenter, I have some qualms with his story.

While it didn't jump around back and forth between past and present time like other Native American Literature I've read, this book still jumps a lot between abstract ideas and concrete ones. There is the constant question of: What is going on here? Characters, who were real people in history, appear and are part of the story, but then at the same time it is a blatant critique on the situation that many of the Native American's are in on reservations.

I know this post was short, but over all I didn't much care for the book. It was more of a political statement than good storytelling. I won't be reading it again (most likely ever).

If someone were interested in learning more about the Native American people and their situation, I'd point them in another dirction, away from this book.