Fallen Kingdoms

Fallen Kingdoms let me down. I had been waiting eagerly to read this book for months now and by the time I got half way done with it, I was dreading reading it. And what is really sad is that this isn't just a debut novel. Morgan Rhodes is a pen name for Michelle Rowen and she has lots of different books (paranormal romance stuff that I'm not touching). I was extremely disappointed.

The idea behind it was a good one, but it was executed extremely poorly in my opinion. The cover art is pretty and is what has drawn me into these books. But who is this guy in the white cloak? There is no reference or anything about him.

The characters I believe were developed poorly. Many of them died throughout the course of the book and I didn't care. The major love interest in the book was weak (which is sad from the paranormal romance novelist). It happened so quickly and, as I said, weakly. There was no twitterpated feeling in my chest for the characters. I didn't care for the guy at all, he was actually kind of annoying. It feels like there was no reason why they were in love to begin with except for the guy to kill him and maybe feel bad about it later (which I don't actually think he does.) Then there is the whole brother loves sister (who isn't really his sister) thing which I was done with when I read City of Bones. The idea that I love her but can't have her but love her.... Ugh... I even was able to call who the next love interests will be (taking a sneak peak at the coming books on their blurbs on the back of the books).

The dialogue between characters was childish. They may be sixteen to eighteen years old, but they are royalty where they are taught, supposedly, how how to act nobly, it is not shown here. Not in the least bit. I think their bantering is supposed to be witty and... something, but it's just not. It's juvenile, even for YA. There is no change of voice between characters. It's all the same, flat, monotone "witty" bantering from one character to the next. And what's worse is that everyone of the characters has the same dry wit. It got boring really fast, but just kept going.

There was also a lot of bedroom talk. Not steamy stuff, but "come into my bedroom," or "his lover," "her lover," "let me give you more experience." Again, childish dialogue.

The setting was faulty and was lacking.

The book was very predictable and not in a good foreshadow kind of way. We knew what was going to happen long before any of the characters did. It took adults forever to realize they were being had and were about to be betrayed. Like knife had already cut into his throat before he realized.

And don't get me started on the throats/necks that were cut. If Rhodes described anyone getting killed it was always gorey, in-your-face---er---neck. Knives, daggers, and swords constantly in their neck with blood spraying on your face or the characters decapitating the enemies. There are other ways to kill people you know, even if they have armor on. I think this could be a close rivalry between J.R.R.Martins books for who's going to die next--except I've heard that his you can't predict nearly so often.

I don't think I'm going to read any more. If I do, it will be a long time from now when I have nothing better to read. (I have lots of better stuff to read.)

Heist Society

The Heist Society by Ally Carter is a suspenseful YA novel thievery, art, history, and awesome characters. I greatly enjoyed this book is all of it's awesome-ness.

I began to read this book a few years ago, but the audio CD I was listening to it on was skipping and I had to return it to my library (Support your local library! Free books, I mean, come on. Best thing ever.). And all of the copies they had were out. So I had to wait and I was finally able to get back to it. I'm so glad I did.

Heist Society is about Kat, on the fence of whether she should remain a thief like she's been since she was three or go to high school and find a very different life that could lead to more places. But when she is abruptly expelled from the Ivy League school and told her father is in trouble, she has to get back in the game.

I really enjoyed the characters, all of them. They were all different and made for a great team. I can't wait to see how they develop in the next few books.

Ally Carter made good suspense throughout the story. Stopping at just the right moment for us to say "OH NO, what is going to happen next." She gave us just enough information to have our suspicions but there were surprises that I didn't see.

I also really enjoyed the cliffhanger at the end when this mystery man, the true man (or women, we don't really know) behind these crimes, leaves his calling card. It leaves it open for a great series that I am very interested in continuing.

Persepolis

Persepolis is a biography in epic graphic novel form. Persepolis is about a girl, our author Marjane Satrapi, and her early years living as a girl in Iran in the 1980's and '90s. She was around before it was mandatory for women to wear the now stereotypical "Islamic garb" like the head scarves and covering every part of their body but their faces.

Marjane shows us the fears that she had as empires fell, Iraqis invade Iran, and war tromped through her peaceful life. She was part of this time in history that I knew nothing about and tore down a lot of the stereotypes that have resided in my mind because I didn't know better. Everyone sees these women covered from head to toe and we instantly "know" who they are, but we don't. Marjame makes it very clear that many people (men and women) rebel against what their government has forced upon them. She mentions Nazi's and control, and I found a lot of similarities between her descriptions of the Iran government in the '80s and '90s and what I know of Nazism.

In her story, Marjane, due to her boisterous and "I'm going to tell you how I feel weather you like it or not" kind of attitude, is sadly told to move to Austria for a time so then her words/attitude won't get her killed. We see her loving and very political family. We see how sad it is for them to let their daughter flee to another country. In here we get her experiences, love, drugs, friends/lack thereof, as she grows from being a 14 (?) year old to 18 when she decides to come back home to her family whom she misses dearly. She would rather be annoyed by the demands of her government than be completely alone in a country that doesn't care for her.

I found it eye opening (I thought I was open minded, but gladly things have really opened my mind more than I thought I needed to--which is probably the case for most people), just how rebellious so many of these women are. I, unknowingly, thought they stayed in their scarves and full length clothes all the time, in or outside, but every time Marjane stepped into the privacy of her home/not in public they were wearing tube tops/mini skirts or regular/"western" clothes. They threw parties and dumped their alcohol down the toilet when the cops showed up. She smoked. All things "normal" people do, because they are normal people.

This book greatly tumbles down the stereotypes that haunt that area and somewhat-forced culture. There are many things that are beautiful that come out of such a war torn country, this book and Marjane's family as a few.

I greatly recommend this book to everyone over the age of 15. There are a few swear words and suggestive scenes that may, hopefully, go over the heads of younger kids. But this is a story that needs to be seen, not just read. I thank Marjane Satrapi so much for creating us a beautiful piece of art and being willing to share her story. She does a beautiful job breaking down barriers and stereotypes and enlightening me to an era that doesn't get talked about in schools here in the U.S. (Check out my other blog on what I think about our education system.).

I really liked this book. There are so many things in it that people should have questions about. They should search and find the answers that this book brings up. This story has so much that it explains meaningful and helpful for those who may not understand much, which in most cases is all of us.

Please, read, understand, and enjoy. (Also comment please. I would love to hear your thoughts. :D )

Lock and Mori

Lock and Mori is a modern-day retelling of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyal. However there are many twists, the biggest one being that it is told first person through the eyes of James Moriarty. Oh, and James Moriarty is a girl. WHAT!? Yeah, weird right.

In modern London, Mori runs into Sherlock Holmes in all his analogical personality. Mori, much like Prof Moriarty in the original stories is a mastermind as well. She has all of her assignments done months in advance and corrects her teachers. She runs into Sherlock (Lock as a nickname later) and finds him very much annoying. After she goes home and stops her abusive father from hitting her brothers again, she runs out to the park to get some air. Here she meets Lock and their game begins. A murder has happened and they can easily see how the police are messing it up. The game is afoot.

But soon this murder, and others they find are connected,  hit to close to home. Mori must figure it out.

Then, as any good young adult novel would, love is in the air. This was really odd for me. Moriarty and Holmes kissing and whatnot? WHAT?! yeah, weird right? But the way Heather W. Petty has created the characters works well and is believable enough for a YA book.

I spotted whodunnit fairly straight off, but it's not so much finding out whodunnit but how she deals with it. The bigger mystery for me was her mother. There were so many illusions to who she was but not enough to have a conviction. That is what kept me reading for the last half of this small, 200 page book. The surprise was an interesting one. There are also a few ways that you can take some of the happenings in the story, how a certain piece of evidence presents itself in the story for example, in which Mori asks herself--therefore us, the reader--questions that she doesn't give us clear answers too. So we, as good readers, can make our own conclusions.

There were a few things I need to warn younger readers/parents of young readers. There is a scene with F bombs dropped and other scenes (not graphic in the least bit) where it is implied they slept together, more than just falling asleep which happens too.

The only other complaints I have are the lack of Watson (though he makes a few brief appearances) and Sherlock only appears to be in there to kiss and be annoying. There is also an Alice that comes into the picture, but she doesn't stay long. There is build up for her, but I feel the climax for this character was lacking.

Oh, I also don't really care for the front cover. Not to be rude to the guy who is supposed to be Sherlock, but he doesn't look like a young Sherlock too me. Too much Benedict Cumberbatch, I guess. :D

But there is another book out called Mind Games, and I am interested in reading it to find out what happens next. Don't read the back/jacket cover of Mind Games before you read Lock and Mori, because it has spoilers for this book.