Review - "See You In The Cosmos"

See You in the Cosmos
by Jack Cheng
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 2nd March 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

See You in the Cosmos is written as a series of recordings, made by Alex Petroski, emulating his hero, Carl Sagan, who sent the Golden Record into space. The story follows Alex as he first treks to a rocket convention, and then home (via a circuitous route), finding new friends and family along the way.

I genuinely don't know how to describe this book. It's a wonderful read, though very emotional, and made even more so by dint of being from Alex's point of view. There were several parts which had me near tears. It may be marketed as a middle grade book, but I think that it's one everyone can read and enjoy.

The characters are also amazing, and I loved every single one of them. They're wonderfully flawed human, and best of all, they're realistic. On occasion, I feel like books aimed at younger children try to simplify things overly, but this book didn't have that problem. It has discussions about love, and family, and even touches on mental illnesses.

I really just don't know how to put into words just how much I loved this book. Everything about it was brilliant, and undoubtedly I'll be going back to it over and over to reread. It's gone straight onto my favourites list, and you can bet I'll be telling everyone to read it once it's out.

Review - "Take The Key And Lock Her Up"

Take the Key and Lock Her Up, Embassy Row #3
by Ally Carter
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 26th January 2017
spoilers? nope

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

If I'm honest, I'm a little underwhelmed by this one. I had high hopes, because it's Ally Carter and she always writes good last books, but this one just didn't quite have me as hooked as the others.

It felt like the plot was a little all over the place, much like Grace appeared to be (how she didn't get jetlagged absolutely defeats me). One moment, they're in America, then Paris, then Russia, and all of this happens in the span of a few pages each time. It exhausted me just reading about it.

Perhaps the main problem was that, in this one, unlike the previous books, I found myself having trouble suspending disbelief. I mean, after the second one, I knew Grace was a lost princess, but I didn't have to deal with that beyond the reveal at the end. This one, it got brought up every few pages, and that, combined with the fact this is all taking place in a made-up country, just got to me eventually. I know, I know, it's funny I can suspend disbelief enough for a spy school (and the various, slightly far-fetched shenanigans going on there) and a group of teens committing heists, and yet I get stuck here. Maybe it's just that there were some plot points in this one (like the whole thing with Alexei's mum in that hospital) that really needed some serious disbelief-suspending.

And the whole thing with the prince? It kind of, for a bit at least, looked like it could be heading for a love triangle, which, no thanks. But it thankfully didn't. And I guess you could argue it was necessary in a way, but it also didn't seem that necessary, especially when it came to the fact that it put pressure on Alexei and Grace's relationship. Didn't need that thanks.

I mean, I did overall like the book. I was just somewhat disappointed by it.

Review - "Done Dirt Cheap"

Done Dirt Cheap
by Sarah Nicole Lemon
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 7th March 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Where do I start with this book? I genuinely have no words for how much I loved this book. It's only January, but I'm calling it now - this is possibly one of the best books I'm going to read this year.

The writing in this is just amazing. It's so so gorgeous and lyrical and it flows so well. There was never a point where I stopped and thought hold up, that sounds forced, because it never does sound that way. It all works so perfectly and I just have no words. It is so! good!!

What's also amazing is that the whole plot centres around a friendship between two girls. And it's such a beautiful friendship. The author does such a good job of writing its development and the growing trust between them. And they never tear each other down or try to (which, I know, is a low standard to hold books to, but I'm just so happy that never happens here), although there is annoyingly some slut-shaming going on with regard to another character. That aside, this is one of the best girl friendships I've ever read.

Then there were the scenes which had me close to tears, mostly involving Jason and Virginia, though Jason and Tourmaline also had a scene which wrecked me. I loved pretty much every single dynamic in this book (besides, obviously, the ones I wasn't intended to like). It's all just so amazing and I don't! have!! the!! words!!! I loved every aspect of this book and I already know it's going to have left me with the worst book hangover, and I can't even be pissed off at that.

Review - "Black Wolves"

Black Wolves, Black Wolves #1
by Kate Elliott
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 3rd November 2015
spoilers? no

Goodreads

But whatever Jehosh might be, he did not have his grandfather's brutal possessive streak, the will to prevent anyone else from tasting a nectar he wanted to keep for himself.

Jehosh loved the pursuit.

His grandfather desired control.

Atani had carved a different path for himself, cut short far too soon.

Kate Elliott is the supreme ruler of fantasy (yes, even better than Melina Marchetta, blasphemous though that may be). George R. R. Martin has nothing on this. Nothing.

Elliott has this way of creating a complex story, but with few enough characters that you can keep track of them all, and half way through you'll think you'll know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are and then something will happen that flips everything on its head, which makes you question everything you thought up until that point.

The characters always feel so real and so human, and you want to punch the arsehole bad guys (*cough cough* Tavahosh) and cry when something bad happens to the good guys (my poor Tyras) and still you don't know whether you should in fact be supporting those people or not. Because Kate Elliott is so good at manipulating you into liking someone then they'll do something and you're left like, should I really have been supporting them?

And then you're left finishing the book at 1am and questioning your life choices.

The only problem I did have, was that this book is long. It's a commitment, frankly, even if you can read it pretty quickly once you've got into it. It's not like it's lacking plot for half of it, like some books do, but I found that, once I'd put it down, for whatever reason I was generally a bit reluctant to pick it back up (probably because the length of it was daunting).

And also, there's no news yet on book 2, which is just cruel.

Review - "Where Dead Men Meet"

Where Dead Men Meet
by Mark Mills
rating: ☆
published: 17th November 2016
spoilers? nope

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

I think the problem I have with books like this, historical thrillers, is that I'm always unintentionally comparing them to Aly Monroe's Peter Cotton series, which is incredible. Thus, whenever something of this genre isn't quite as good, it is compounded by the comparison.

That being said, I think saying this is only not quite as good does someone a disservice. Because, honestly, this is very much not as good. I had high hopes for it - the plot starts straightaway, which I appreciated, with 4 people (at least) being killed in the first 20-odd pages. And really, it's not the plot I had the problem with; it was the writing mostly.

Throughout the book, the pacing seems off. After the initial burst of action at the beginning, everything slows down. And then there's another burst of action, and then it slows down again, and this pattern repeats right until the end. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it just doesn't seem to fit with the genre. I was expecting a lot more action-packed a novel. There's also the fact that everything seems to be broken up with flashbacks or reminiscences, which further slow the pace down. Now, they would be fine in moderation, but they're used every time the author introduces a new character, whether they'll appear again or not. And that's just not necessary. I don't need a three page backstory explaining the actions and motivations of a character who won't show up again after they've done what the plot requires them to. It also meant there were a lot of POV switches too (or rather, the focus moved between a lot of characters, as it was in third person). I felt it would have been better to pick one or two and focus on them.

The writing was also not as high quality as I expected. I mean, for sure, it wasn't the worst writing I've read, but there were definitely some lines which had me rolling my eyes and cringing, like "It wasn't Luke's first ever meal in Italy - that, presumably, had been taken at his mother's breast - but it felt as though it was."

And to top it all off, there were just long durations of the book for which I was bored. Like, bored-out-of-my-mind bored. Like, almost-gave-up-on-it bored. It just wasn't for me. Hence, the 1-star.