Every Other Day

Publisher: Egmont
Pages: 329
Publication Date: December 27, 2011
Type: Paperback, won

Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human.

And then every day in between . . .She's something else entirely.

Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.

When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she'll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive. . .and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process.

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I didn't expect to like this so much.

See, paranormals and I, we have a pretty shaky relationship.  Sometimes, there's this absolutely fantastic idea, and the book . . . is just as fantastic as the concept.  And sometimes, there's an equally fantastic idea, but then I start reading, and my mood sinks further with every page.  It's the same as all the rest.  Weak protagonist.  Frightful love interest.  Insta-love that dominates any hints of an actual plot.

I hadn't the faintest which one EVERY OTHER DAY would end up being.  Happily, it was the former.

I think the idea is brilliant.  I think it was executed brilliantly.  This world where paranormal creatures have been known to exist since Darwin--where he, in fact, was the first to discover them--was completely enchanting.  Barnes gave us enough detail to get a good idea of this dark, magical, but strangely familiar world without dumping pages worth of flat world-building on the reader's head.  I was fascinated by this setting, by the mix of the bizarre and what we accept as normal--this place where hellhounds were on the endangered species list and kids fretted about the mean girls at high school.

I also think the plotting was done wonderfully.  There wasn't one dull moment; I was fully engrossed in this novel from the beginning to the end.  Also, Barnes pulled off something many authors struggle with: completing a full story arc within one novel while still leaving it open to the possibility of more.  This could operate as a stand-alone, but it could also lead into a series.  I really, really love that; cliff-hangers may provide a motivation to read the next novel, but they lack that sense of closure that many readers--myself included--seek.

But far and away, the best aspect of this novel was the characters.  Barnes handled a large, varied cast and managed to give each character their own unique personality, their own way of speaking, thinking, and doing. I loved that she tackled two major stereotypes, the "slut" and the "cheerleader," and made them into something much, much more.  The characters all had a wonderful dynamic--they played off of one another in the best of ways.

And there's our protagonist.  Our awesome, awesome protagonist.  Kali was fantastic, and I absolutely adored her.  She was reserved at times, snarky at others, and always, always strong.  I don't just mean strong in a physical way.  Sure, she was a fearsome demon-slayer every other day.  Sure, she kicked some major ass.  But she also had that mental fortitude that I think typifies a truly "strong" protagonist.  One doesn't have to be physically capable to be strong; there's a very large mental and emotional aspect to that quality.  Kali happened to have all three.

“Sometimes, there aren't any good choices. Sometimes, making the right one is hard... It's funny, but when you think about it, we're all broken. That's what life does. It knocks you down and breaks you and you either get back up again, or you don't. You either do things on your terms, or you don't. You let the bad things win, or you don't."

"You either let it break you, or you don't.” 

However, there was one thing I wasn't too fond of: the stereotypical high school.  Barnes did some wondrous character development with Skylar and Bethany, the "slut" and the "cheerleader," as I mentioned before, but the rest of their high school . . . was not so fortunate.  There were still the awkward nerds, the bitchy cheerleaders, the segregated lunch room.  Perhaps it's really like this at some schools, but I've yet to find one.  It just added a cheesy, well-worn atmosphere to an otherwise fresh, exciting novel.

Also . . . the romance.  Otherwise known as "the insta-love."  It wasn't nearly so bad as it could've been.  This could've been one of those novels where the protagonist meets the love interest, gets googly-eyes, and refuses to see or care about anything else for the rest of the novel.  That was not the case.  The romance is essentially nonexistent for the first few hundred pages; the plot always takes precedence.  But Kali's ~connection~ with this creature she'd known for only a few days was simply not believable, supernatural or no.

Overall, though, this was a very enjoyable book.  I'd highly recommend it to any fans of the paranormal, and if it's the beginning of a series, I will certainly be reading the next installments.

4 stars.

Mastiff

Publisher: Random House
Pages: 592
Publication Date: October 25, 2011
Type: Hardback, bought

The Legend of Beka Cooper gives Tamora Pierce's fans exactly what they want—a smart and savvy heroine making a name for herself on the mean streets of Tortall's Lower City—while offering plenty of appeal for new readers as well. 

Beka and her friends will face their greatest and most important challenge ever when the young heir to the kingdom vanishes. They will be sent out of Corus on a trail that appears and disappears, following a twisting road throughout Tortall. It will be her greatest Hunt—if she can survive the very powerful people who do not want her to succeed in her goal. 



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Once again, I am too confused to rate a book.  There are so, so many things I think about this book, so many things that conflict with one another, and I simply don't know what the end result is.


I know that the first 150 pages or so were very slow; those 150 pages are the ones I read over a span of about two weeks.


But I also know that the rest of it was insanely fast, and I read the next 400+ pages in less than two days.

I know that Tamora Pierce's characters were as real and complex and fantastic as ever.

Yet she completely slaughtered one character that had always been one of those real, complex, fantastic people within her pages.  And by slaughtered, I am not referring to them dying.

I know she dealt with the loss of one whom you loathe but know you should mourn exceptionally well.  Beka's sadness, and guilt over her lack of sadness, were done beautifully.

I know I sobbed when I thought my favorite character was about to die, too distraught to read on and see that they did not, in fact, pass away.

I know the romance was a good deal faster than I prefer (once it came into being), but I felt as though they had a genuine relationship, it was slower than a good deal of YA romances today, and I was quite fond of the love interest, so it can't have been all that terrible.

I know that last plot twist was shit. Scummer.  Piddle.  And it would've been no matter whom the traitor happened to be.  Not a one of them had any motive, nor had any given a single hint that they might do such a thing.  No matter who the traitor had been, she'd have been slaughtering a character.  And she did.

I know our little constellation cat changes, from his time as Pounce to his time as Faithful.  It was fascinating, really.  It intrigued me to no end, seeing how very different yet similar the black cat with violet eyes was almost 200 years ago.  With Beka, one can certainly tell that he cares for her if they read, but he doesn't make a great display of it.  He pushes her to be as independent of him as possible, purposely refuses to aid in certain situations so she realizes she cannot always rely on him.  But despite that, he is quite obvious in his magic.  It is made clear what he is, and he has no qualms about showing Beka and her friends at least a fair amount of the things he can do.  With Alanna, he is different.  He is more openly affectionate, though he does not stop with his scolding or his sarcastic comments.  But he is also more withdrawn; Alanna and those who encounter him certainly recognize that he's something supernatural, but he doesn't make as great a show of it. I don't believe they ever find out for certain that he's a constellation.  I don't believe they ever see the majority of things he can do.  It's as if 100 years in the stars, and perhaps another companion or two, have changed him.  That, I loved that.

I know I'm glad that Beka really did something great, something that changed history.  We know from the beginning of the series that she must've done something grand, to be so highly esteemed by her ancestors nearly 200 years later.  Throughout the series, I have been waiting for that something.  She has accomplished great deeds, yes, but not ones so epic that they'd keep her memory alive for centuries.  This, this is something people would remember.

I know the epilogue  seemed a bit contrived at times, and a bit unsatisfying, as if the memory we'd relived throughout this entire series was being dishonored.  But also incredible, to see this story lead neatly into Pierce's very first in the world of Tortall.

I know that this is most likely the last book of the Tortallan saga, and I know that makes me impossibly sad.  Five series, seventeen books, a whole world, and a million stories.  Wars and rebellions and magical creatures.  Characters I've loved, and characters I've hated.  I may well be wrong, but I doubt it.  She tied this ending to Alanna's beginning, the dawn of her Tortallan tales.  It's as if her world has come full circle.  And I doubt she'll return to it again.

I can't give this one a rating.  There are far too many of my feelings wrapped about this book to make a clear decision.  I can't express to you what I thought in the form of a few stars.  But I can tell you to read it.  Read this book, this series, all of her series in this world.  I promise that you won't regret it.

Terrier: Review and Giveaway

Publisher: Random House
Pages: 592
Publication Date: October 24, 2006
Type: Paperback, gift

Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy introducing Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character. For the first time, Pierce employs first-person narration in a novel, bringing readers even closer to a character that they will love for her unusual talents and tough personality.

Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat that's about to get tougher, as Beka's limited ability to communicate with the dead clues her in to an underworld conspiracy. Someone close to Beka is using dark magic to profit from the Lower City's criminal enterprises--and the result is a crime wave the likes of which the Provost's Guard has never seen before.


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This is my third time rereading Terrier.  Some books, after a read or two, grow old.  You enjoyed them the first time, but they're not ones you could pick up again with the same expectations.  Terrier is not one of those books.  Tamora Pierce's novels, period, are not those books.  No matter how many times I reread them, I'm still stunned by the sheer flawlessness of her writing, her characters, and her world.


Tamora Pierce's books are, for lack of a better word, very . . . mature.  By that, I do not mean they stray into the realm of Adult Fiction; they are still very firmly grounded in YA.  In fact, I first read her books when I was nine and enjoyed them.  But it's almost as if she is above the common tropes and pitfalls of YA; even when she uses something that might, in another book, seem cliche, she manages to make it into something so natural and perfect that you wonder why you ever questioned it in the first place.  This isn't a book written for hormone-fueled teenagers to angst over; it's a book written from a teenage character's point of view, but it is rich and complex and not dumbed down in the slightest.  It's the kind of YA book that people of any age can fall in love with.


One of the things that really sets Tamora Pierce apart from other fantasy authors, and other authors in general, is just how well she knows her world.  She has written five series in this world, and she could write more, because it is so vast and detailed that the story possibilities are endless.  When you read Tamora Pierce's books,  you get the sense that this woman knows every last detail of every last country and city and neighborhood in this magical realm she's created.  But the best part of this is that she doesn't burden you with the knowledge.  She doesn't dump it all over your head.  She simply slips you into her world and lets you discover for yourself.  This is one of the many reasons that I've always loved Tamora Pierce's books, despite not being the greatest fan of high fantasy.  Oftentimes, something that put me off other books of the same genre was the amount of world-building they attempted to do through telling.  Perhaps they knew their world well, but they tried to show their reader just how much they knew this world within the span of a few pages.  Tamora Pierce never does that.  She gives brief histories when necessary, but for the most part, she lets you explore the world on your own.

This was Tamora Pierce's first foray into first person aside from a few short stories, and I have to say, it worked brilliantly.  I love all of her books, so clearly she also excels at third person, but I think the first person, journal format was absolutely perfect for this book.  It gave it both that detail and that sense of immediacy that a story like this really needed. And there's even a reasonable explanation for why Beka would be keeping such a detailed journal in the first place; she is practicing for when she must make full reports as a Dog.  Like any realistic journal-keeper, she is not consistent in her length and detail; some days she is too tired or too frustrated to write, some days she simply glosses over because nothing important happened, and some days . . . well, one day she gets drunk and writes accordingly.  I really appreciated these little touches.

I also appreciate that she gave them dialogue as would be fitting for those living in the scummy part of town in something akin to Medieval times.  They had their own little vocabulary which is all perfectly understandable in context, but really helps to add that sense of realism.  A huge pitfall for many authors setting their books in historical times, or historical times within a fantasy world, is accurate dialogue, but Tamora Pierce pulls it off wonderfully.

Despite the impeccable writing and world-building, however, where this book--and Tamora Pierce herself--truly shines is the characters.  The characters are the best because they are so, so real.  Every last one of them.  She handles such a wide, lively cast of characters and manages to make each one unique, each one a real person with real hobbies and thoughts and opinions and flaws.   I cannot think of a single side character in here that is not completely three-dimensional.  I fell in love with those I was meant to fall in love with and hated those I was meant to hate, and then there were some who did terrible things but whom I couldn't quite hate because it was so easy to see why they would do what they'd done.

And Beka. Oh, Beka.  I love her to death.  I love every part of her.  There are such a rare few main characters who never once get on my nerve throughout an entire book (much less a 590-page one), but Beka makes the cut.  She is yet another of Pierce's "strong female heroines," but as with all the others, she does not fit the modern YA concept of a "strong female heroine."  She is kickass at times, but she is not infallible; she is not flawless in her fighting, nor in her problem-solving.  She is painfully shy, but not, as one often sees today, in a way that is meant to be endearing.  She is not the awkward, quiet girl who meets a bold man that finds her shyness so damn adorable and sweet, etc. etc.   She considers it a cripple, something that interferes with her ability to arrest Rats and report at the Magistrate's Court.  However, despite her shyness, she doesn't simply let others walk all over her.  When Rosto, the charming Rat who is constantly flirting with her and whom she's made very clear she will not get involved with, makes too bold of an advance, she doesn't fall into his arms or simply let it slide;  she threatens to punch him (or mocks him for being "old," knowing it will sting his pride and turn him away).

I know many people may steer clear of this book because it is a high fantasy, or a mystery, or a "cop" book, or all of the above. If you are one of those people, I'd advise you to give it another look.  Because I am not a fan of high fantasy or cop books, and I am not always crazy about mysteries, yet this book is among my favorites.  Perhaps you'd enjoy it as much as I have.

In case I haven't already made it clear, this book gets a solid five stars.

Buuut wait! There's more! (totally did not just say that in a commercial voice . . . )  I love this book so much that I want to give others the chance to read it.  Now, if I had only one copy, I'd be pretty tight-fisted, because I'm leery about giving away my favorites.  However, I somehow ended up with not one, but two paperback copies of Terrier by Tamora Pierce.  So I am giving away one of them to you, my lovely followers!

Simply enter the Rafflecopter form below.

(giveaway is for US only--I'm really sorry to all of you international followers, but I just don't have the money to ship anywhere else)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nevermore

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Atheneum Books)

Pages: 543

Publication Date: August 31, 2010

Type: Paperback, bought

Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear that he'd rather not have anything to do with her, either. But soon Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her freinds and possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying shories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. 

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagned and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Can she save Varen from the madness taking hold of him? Or will they both be consumed by the shadows of his nightmares?

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*Disclaimer* I am writing this semi-blind, so if there are an abundance of typos, please inform me, and I shall go over this as soon as I receive glasses.  Also, it will be rather short.  My apologies.

I so wanted this one to be good.  It seemed to have gotten a much more positive response than the majority of YA PNRs in the market today, and it was based off of Poe. I absolutely adore Poe, so that immediately sold it for me.

I was a bit confused when I originally looked at the rating on Goodreads.  It was not a bad rating, certainly, but not nearly as high a rating as I'd expected, considering all the top reviews were four or five stars.  And then when I finished, I couldn't fathom how people might give this less than a four.  But then I realized.  While I certainly do not have proof of this, I'd wager a guess that the one or two stars came from those who read the first 100 pages or so and then just gave up. DNF. One or two stars.

I will admit that the first 100 pages or so are a bit of a slog.  It would seem that stereotypes and melodrama abound, and there is little-to-no supernatural to be seen.  I was a bit put off, but I reminded myself of the glowing reviews and the fact that this book had 443 pages left, and I pushed on.

I am so glad I did.

This book is everything I wish paranormals of today would be.  It is dark and haunting and ridiculously creative.  It is a book with real characters and real relationships and real emotion.  It doesn't just have a plot  -- it has a crazy, beautiful, ridiculously complex story spanning over 500 pages without dragging.  It is centered largely around the works of a literary god and does him justice.  It has a female main character that thinks for herself and doesn't need a guy to prove her self-worth. It is fantastic.

I could ramble to you for pages about the gorgeous descriptions and incredible characters and mind-blowing world, but I'd rather not, because I think you might get a little tired, and my eyes hurt.  Suffice it to say this book rocked my (nonexistent) socks.  It was not flawless--there were a couple characters, like Alyssa and Mark and Lacy, who did stray into the realm of flat stereotypes, and some aspects of the plot could've picked up a bit sooner.  But honestly, that didn't really affect the sheer awesomeness of this book.  While this is technically a 4.5, I have no regrets in rounding it to a 5.  August had better come soon (or an Enshadowed ARC had better come sooner).

P.S. My friend and I spent about half an hour trying to decipher the words on the cover, despite my sister insisting that the cover maker did not intend them to be deciphered.  We were only able to make out a few small words and phrases.  If anyone else managed to make out more, I would love to hear about it . . . *hint hint*

Warm Bodies

R is a young man with an existential crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. His ability to connect with the outside world is limited to a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and stragely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His choice to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies explores what happens when the cold heart of a zombie is tempted by the warmth of human love.

First, I want to say that I absolutely loved this.

Second, I want to say that if you do not like flowery writing and a lot of philosophical pondering in your zombie novels, you will not love this.

Fortunately for me, I love both of those.  I love beautiful writing more than I can possibly express, and I love books that can make me think, genuinely think.  I love that Marion was able to turn a zombie novel into something haunting and introspective and beautiful.

When I first read the summary, I had two problems with it.  One, that the main character's name was R.  I mean, I've stumbled upon some pretty bizarre names in my reading experience (dystopias, i c u) but this kinda took the cake.  However, once you start reading, the reason for this "name" is revealed. Quite simply?  He does not remember his name.  He knows it began with an R, and since one letter is better than being a nameless entity, that is what he calls himself.

The second problem was that I simply could not fathom the idea of a zombie main character, and more importantly, a zombie romance.  In my head, zombies were brainless, revolting creatures, creatures never seen as anything but monsters to run from.  The idea of being inside a zombie's head, and of this zombie having some sort of relationship with a human girl, was unfathomable.

Until I started reading.

The romance . . . was beautiful.  It was different and it was real and it was beautiful.  It was a girl with ideas and a zombie who wanted them to come true.  It was a girl fighting against her world and a boy fighting against his own nature.  It was two people with thoughts and flaws and emotions, with a relationship as complex as it was unbelievable, who genuinely cared about one another. Two people trying to change the world as much as they were trying to change themselves.

Don't go into this expecting a fast-paced, zombie thriller.  This book is small, yes, but leisurely in that way thoughtful books often are.  It's one of those books that'll keep you thinking for days after you turn the final page.

“There's no benchmark for how life's 'supposed' to happen. There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, it's up to you how you respond to it.” 


5 stars.

Timeless

When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.
 
Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.

This book had the misfortune of being my first book after The Fault in Our Stars.

I don't believe my overall opinion of this book would've been any different than it is now had I not read The Fault in Our Stars prior to reading this.  I still would've loved and been bothered by the same things.  But there wouldn't have been such a level of disappointment, because all I could think when I started was This is not The Fault in Our Stars. 


I got over this eventually.  Focused on this book and just this book.

It's not a bad book, really.  The time travel concept is very interesting (although, since I am a huge huge fan of time travel, I am a bit biased).  Michele did not follow the common trend of bitchy female MCs who constantly take out their angst on others.  Family played a huge role in this.  The song lyrics were lovely, but the songs themselves were even lovelier--I got the CD along with the book, and both Bring the Color Back and Chasing Time are absolutely gorgeous.  And, most importantly: the setting was freaking awesome.  The descriptions of New York City in the early 1900s made me ridiculously happy.  I loved seeing it in all the different eras, and as far as I know, Monir did a very good job of being historically accurate.

I saw all it had going for it, and despite the iffy start (which was also tainted by the aforementioned disappointment) I was starting to really like Timeless.

And then the insta-love.

Now, hear me out.  Michele and Phillip are not the worst star-crossed lovers you will find in YA fiction, not by a long shot.  They are both decent people, for one; their relationship does not involve stalking/abuse, for another; and I think the whole song-writer/composer combination works well.  But despite that, there was very little chemistry. Certainly not enough chemistry to justify them falling desperately in love with each other after talking to each other for less than a few hours.  Certainly not enough to make Michele swear she'll never fall for another boy for the rest of her life if she can't have Phillip after knowing him for days.  I'm sorry, but that's just not how it works.  They may be infatuated with one another. They may have even begun to really like each other. But love is not something that can just appear, something that can just magically form between two people who scarcely know each other.  Love is when you know another person as well as yourself, not when you've seen a beautiful boy in your dreams for years so the instant you meet him you decide it is true love.

Also, the characters didn't do anything for me.  I think a big part of this was the dialogue; it was cheesy, shallow, and unrealistic.  None of the characters came off the pages.  They were all very flat and distant.  Despite a very sad event that happens early on in the book and causes much grieving for the rest of it, I never once felt the slightest bit upset.  There was simply no connection.

The plot was pretty simplistic; there was no real climax or sense of urgency because there was no villain or anything of the sort.  It was simply Michele trying to rescue her "beloved."  Still a quick read, though--it's only 280-something pages.

I'm giving this three stars because of the things I liked, mentioned above (primarily the NYC settings).  However, I would only recommend this to someone who can stomach the insta-love and just try and appreciate the awesomeness of New York City's golden age.

Oh, and buy the CD.  You won't regret it.

3 stars.