Poison Study

A sexy title for a sexy book. No, seriously. It’s sexy.

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia. 

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison. 

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear…

*

To put it simple, this book was delicious. A well thought of universe than hints at a dystopian society, is filled with a creative cast of characters and contains a May-December romance. There’s also plenty of 

magic. (Magic makes the world go round! n_n)

The summary itself is powerful enough to make you want to pick the book up, though it does reveal crucial plot points like Yelena’s magical powers. Though, to be honest, those are obvious for the non-naive reader.

Anyway, I very much enjoyed the book. Yelena was a strong and smart character who makes you support her instead of wanting to face-palm yourself into oblivion with her actions. The romance was not obvious from the start -- okay, wait, it was obvious because as a reader you knew it would eventually happen (if not in this book somewhere down the trilogy), but it progressed slowly – we got to see Valek and Yelena trusting each other before they became friendly, become friends before they started wondering about other stuff and wondering about other stuff before the other stuff happened. Oooh, I’m so coherent, aren’t I?

The supporting characters were also lovely. The cook equals a pot of love in my book, the mean girl (whose name I forgot) and the guards who teach Yelena how to fight (so much win!) too.

I also loved Ambrose. I won’t say more because I do not want to spoil the story for you readers.

What stood out more about this book, however, was how the author portrays what could possibly be a dystopian society – no magic allowed, everyone wears a specific uniform according to his duty, if you kill you must be killed (no exception) – yet almost justifies it. We almost have to agree that the world is better than what it was when the king reigned and we learn to accept the reality of that world. We can see that the rules are far from perfect and the attempt at standardization crushes freedom of expression, but at the same time, in the story, it works. The people are happy. 

Nowadays where dystopian-lit is the new book seller/page turner it is a breath of fresh air to find a society that while attempting to be a utopia and having many things that may make you cringe is not full blown and obviously wrong and evil (at least from the start). The book makes you think.

To finish, the sub-plot (well, it wasn't much of sub-plot, more like part of the main-plot) around coffee made me smile.

I fully recommended this book. It is a page turner, has a well developed (even if at times obvious) plot and portrays an intelligent heroine. I loved it.

It is truly a shame that the sequels don’t live up to the first book and are rather bland, boring and repetitive. Yelena becomes stupid, is always hurt and Valek only serves as her sex slave. While I understand why many may want to know the rest of Yelena’s story and I won’t deny that the last two books in the trilogy are readable and interesting enough, this books stands much better on its own. The sequels aren’t really needed. In my opinion, you should just imagine what happens after Poison Study.

That is all. u_u

My rating: 4/5

Have you read Poison Study? Opinions? I’d love to hear more.

END NOTE:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, I come to you today after months have passed *gasp* to offer you the power of SPAM *bows down*. No, but seriously, to compensate the lack of posts over the past months (due to studying, exams and stress – and then the wonderful, wonderful summer) I shall try to post with more frequency now.

New posts shall vary between reviews of Poison Study, The Duff and Buffy Season 8 (the comic). Hurray!

Those posts must however wait a bit, since I’ve just felt a sudden inspiration to re-read the Hunger Games. ^___^

Love,

Karla

Hey hey!

It's been a loooong time, but we haven’t had the time. Sorry! We’ve been really busy with school crap, but don’t worry: we’re back! In a couple of weeks we’ll disappear again because of school (I know, lame!) but we’ll back again so calm down a bit :)

Today it is Rute writing! So bear with it…

There’s been a lot of commotion around supernatural these days and a topic that I was really curious to read about was Fairies. Yes fairies! Those little twinkling, magical creatures! And one interesting fact that I found out is that fairy related books have their clichés too! Fairies are not those cute, tiny and sparkling little beings that laugh all the time and like to sleep in the flowers like Disney told us! They are actually cold, mischievous and tremendously beautiful! If you go to FAIRYLAND and accept something that they give to you, you’re in a seriously lot of trouble. How convenient…

So today I’m going to present to you two books about fairies that I read recently and I’m going to counterweight them:

Ladies and gentleman we have:

THE IRON KING, from Julie Kagawa         VS          WINGS, from Aprilynne Pike

I mean, the books have totally different stories and I’m sorry if I have offended anyone by comparing those two. But I’m going to compare them anyway since they are both about fairies (the topic of this review :)) and  they’re the only ones only about fairies that I read (up 'till now). One of the books will receive a happy smiley face :) and the other will receive a sad face  :( .

First of all, what’s similar?

There’s a love triangle in both: one of the guys is the main “Love” and the other is the cute one or the funny one or the lovable and sweet one (NOTE FROM KARLA: AKA, the poor, normal guy who will end alone. Again) . In both the main characters are full or half fairy: in “The iron king” she’s only half and in “Wings” she’s a full fairy (ok it’s weird to say full fairy but it’s so that you guys understand it :) Ain’t I sweet?). In both they are blondes. Oh, and  both books use known characters from literature.

What’s different?

In “The iron king” the guys are fairies, both of them! And they have… hundreds of years? I’m not sure. In the beginning the main character is a normal teenage girl going to high school.

TIK Love triangle (ignore the faces and the weird ears)

In “Wings” one of them is a fairy and the other one is a human.

W Love triangle

The story

Basically, both stories talk about the main characters discovering that they are, in fact, Magical!

In “Wings” the story starts with the moving of the main character, Laurel, to a new city where she meets one of the love triangle guys, Daniel (he’s the human). Then, some petals/wings start growing from her back and she doesn’t know what’s going on. Later on, she asks Daniel to check what those petals/wings are and she finds out that she’s not human: she’s actually a plant. She goes search for answers in the house she lived in (before moving) and there she meets Tamani (the second guy and also a fairy). He tells her that she’s a fairy send to human world to keep save her property because her house (not the house but more like her backyard) hides the passage to Avalon (the name of FAIRYLAND) and the ogres are trying to buy the property to attack Avalon.

In “The iron king” the story starts with the main characters’ brother being kidnapped and replaced by a changeling. Meghan (the main character) then finds out that her only friend, Robbie, is actually Puck, a fairy, from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. She parts to Nevernever (in FAIRYLAND) where she is attacked a lot of times (SPOILER ALERT: she’s also attacked by the second love triangle guy, the cold badass Ash from the Wintercourt) and she somehow manages to get to the Summer Court with the help of a cat, Grimalkin (since Robbie/Puck, in the middle of a dogs attack, disappears). There, she meets Oberon, the king (also from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”) and asks his help to find her brother. Surprise surprise, she discovers that she’s Oberon’s daughter, and so, a half fairy. The book has a lot of action and lot of things that happen (like a LOT!) and so, to not ruin the story, I’m only going to do a really brief summary (Beware: who doesn’t want to know the story, don’t read the spoilers!):

-She meets Ash in a party of “reconciliation” between the Summer and the Winter courts. The summer court gets attacked in that party. The courts start to hate each other again. Meghan is able to escape. She parts to find her brother. A lot of adventurous things happen and they find out the existence of an Iron court (iron is fatal to fairies and Fairyland is dying because of the technology advance). Her brother is in the Iron court. The journey goes on with Meghan, Ash and Puck (Puck somewhere in the middle gets hurt and isn’t able to go to the iron court).- End of spoiler

The relationships

In “Wings” I didn’t like the love/attraction at first sight (ok not for his part) between Tamani and Laurel since it was not realistic. Laurel and Daniel relationship was that normal teenage bond typical of high school (at least it reminded me of that :) ).

In “The iron king” Meghan and Ash’s attraction was kind of at first sight too and I think that it could have developed in a different way: it gave me the impression that at the end of the book they were already madly in love).

Puck and Meghan, well, their lovey dovey releashionship was not very developed and I thought he was so cool! Oh well, what are you gonna do right?!

Final thoughts

So, I didn’t like “Wings”. I didn’t. I tried to read it faster but it was a bit boring and the action and adventure to protect the portal, in my opinion, were kind of forced. King Arthur was transformed  in fairy (ok, he was not literally transfomed, he was just a non-human fairy in the fairy history :)) in this book, but there wasn’t an explanation for it and this wasn’t very well availed. There were just a bunch of famous characters’ names. So, with my sincere apologies to all who liked the book, I will give a sad face to this one. I don’t know if I’ll read the continuation “Spells”… Only time will tell :)

“The iron king” will receive a happy face since I like books with a lot of adventure and in this one there’s a lot of stuff happening! There were some predictable outcomes but they were well developed. There was only the fact that her family and school were left behind just like that... but I understand that that would take a lot of space and time explaining… And it’s boring anyway :D

I recommend “The iron king” and i'll definitly read the continuation: "The iron daughter" and the following one "The iron queen"! Here we have a happy face!

Bye, see ya soon! (Sorry the sudden goodbye but I’m sick of writing :) )

Rute, Golden Flamingos

Soulless by Christopher Golden

“Times Square, New York City: The first ever mass séance is broadcasting live on the Sunrise morning show. If it works, the spirits of the departed on the other side will have a brief window — just a few minutes — to send a final message to their grieving loved ones.


Clasping hands in an impenetrable grip, three mediums call to their spirit guides as the audience looks on in breathless anticipation. The mediums slump over, slackjawed — catatonic. And in cemeteries surrounding Manhattan, fragments of old corpses dig themselves out of the ground....


The spirits have returned. The dead are walking. They will seek out those who loved them in life, those they left behind...but they are savage and they are hungry. They are no longer your mother or father, your brother or sister, your best friend or lover.


The horror spreads quickly, droves of the ravenous dead seeking out the living — shredding flesh from bone, feeding. But a disparate group of unlikely heroes — two headstrong college rivals, a troubled gang member, a teenage pop star and her bodyguard — is making its way to the centre of the nightmare, fighting to protect their loved ones, fighting for their lives, and fighting to end the madness.”

I was wary when I started to read this book. I had high expectations and didn’t want to be disappointed, but this book delivered exactly what it promised in the summary. I loved it!

It wasn’t the perfect book, nor was it insanely brilliant, but it had just want I wanted in a zombie novel: chaos, destruction, walking dead, bullets to the brain and people scared off their wits trying to survive . . . Doing whatever it took to survive.

The book’s pace was perfect, fast, and while reading I could imagine the scenes vividly, as if I was watching an epic-action movie. Throughout the book I kept wondering how well this book could transcend into the big screen, some readers may find that a fault, but I don’t.

The characters were also very real and reacted to the situation - people scratching to get out of their deep graves to open you up and eat you -, with realism. They were incredulous, sceptic, but at the same they couldn’t deny what they saw, and, when they finally realised that, YES, it was happening, they panicked. They cried, they gave up, they fought, they killed, they were selfish, and they wanted to survive. Some did . . . Others weren’t so lucky.

There is quite some blood shedding in this book, the author isn’t afraid to kill, maim, or dismember the characters – which would make sense since it’s a horror thriller with mean, soulless, zombies.

I quite enjoyed the group of "heroes" the author put together. They all had issues, and they were all different, but they came together to help each other survive a little longer. Some annoyed the hell out of me, not because they were one-dimensional, but because they did what I, the reader, thought was stupid.

At times, I felt like I was watching a movie, screaming mentally for the poor blonde cheerleader (oh, the stereotype!), not to go forward. Not that there was any blonde cheerleader in this book. BUT, the point is, while at times I was annoyed at some of the character’s actions, I couldn’t help but think that I may have done the same thing. (I am so not ready for a zombie apocalypse).

Of course other characters were quite smart and sensible. Everyone at some point did something intelligent or helpful, so any frustrating moments provoked by them were kindly forgiven by my part.

Nonetheless, the central character – who I assume is the girl on the cover –, Phoenix, was who annoyed me the most. However, in the end of the book, when I contemplated her actions, I knew I would’ve been just as hysterically unreasonable as she was. I did make my peace with her at the end and stopped wishing her dad magically turned into a zombie and ate her head.

Overall the book was a delicious read. If you’re in the mood for a nice, fulfilling read, for a couple of hours, with the story of what would happen if the undead ruled the world (for a day, at least), filled with gore, panic and evil children (Oh, yes, there were evil children!) this is a great read. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

. . .

(And, now, a small ramble).

. . .

One of the issues I had with this book, as I have with (some) apocalyptic American fiction, was “What the hell is the rest of the world doing?!”.

In the book we are told that the problem was only taking place in a part of America (it hasn’t even spread throughout the entire country), and major networking services (e.g. CNN) were covering the happenings. . . So, why didn't anybody DO something?!

I mean if the entire world was in chaos I could let it slip. Though, seriously, someone could’ve still done something. But it was only a part of America. What was the other part (not to mention, I don’t know, Europe, Asia, etc.) doing? Watching Manhattan being devoured by sluggish creatures while munching on popcorn in front of the TV?

Someone, some place else, could’ve done something, reached up to the conclusions the young adult protagonist got to, and resolved the problem easily while dropping a bomb in a certain place (Oh, poor Phoenix, is she there? I guess she’s going to blow up. Whoopsie! *giggles*) and solving the problem. Hurray!

Of course such thing would be ludicrous, I mean, obviously the president and the rest of the White House had it under control . . . While running off to Hawaii to catch some sun. Okay, to an uncharted, secret place. Whatever. *rolls-eyes*

But, anyway, I did love the book as it was. AND, well, I guess a simple bomb would have taken away from the drama and human conflict in the book.

Besides, the fact evil, creepy children were out eating brains, being deviously cunning, and causing terror made me forget any faults this book may have. Everyone knows evil children are IT, in horror. I was quite happy to read them causing havoc. ^__~

My Rating: 4/5

Have you read Soulless by Christopher Golden? What did you think? Comments are welcome.

More later,

Karla

P.S. How adorable is our new rating system? Princess Peach, FTW!

In the mood for the undead . . .

Throughout the months, as a reader, I pass different phases where I prefer to read a certain genre. 

Romance, action, mystery, horror, dystopian novels, chick-lit . . . When I'm in the mood for any of them, I'm unstoppable in my search for more reading material.

I kicked off the new year with a mean Contemporary YA obsession. Mainly because I was getting a little tired of the Paranormal plots and there's nothing quite as charming as the excessive amounts of angst that some Contemporary YA novels can support. I'm a sap for angst. It puts my life in perspective and makes me feel better for myself. Yes, yes, I'm a bad person. ^__~

Of course some authors exaggerate . . . but that's a topic for another day.

The point of this post is that now my obsession has turned, and I'm in the mood to read about undead creatures roaming the earth. By this, I mean Zombies. “Braaaaains” Oh, the thrill!

I can say that, up till now, I'd never had the desire to read anything Zombie related. Besides the (humorous, instead of creepy) horror movie, I never gave them much thought.

(When playing TheSims2, I'd always be good and pay Death enough money to avoid getting the sluggish creatures).

 But, this week, while searching for books, I came across Bad Taste in Boys , by Carrie Harris. The cover is amazing and made me look into it . I'm a sucker for pretty covers, though most of my favourite books don't make that list regarding their exterior appearance . . . which should tell me something.

While the summary for “Bad Taste in Boys” didn't quite convince me (though I'll still probably check it out when it comes out) it made my brain start to turn. Zombies could make for great stories AND, well, I wanted to read those stories.

I started to research! . . . And was quite disappointed.

Now, I did not do an extensive research. I just looked for the most popular YA Zombie lit. I'm sure there is more stuff out there, but I wish that there were more YA books on the genre that didn't take a comedic approach. While a comic tone with Zombies might work out and be – in fact – hilarious, I would've liked to have found stories about worlds consumed with mean, bitter, flesh eating creatures (À la 28 weeks later) . 

No such luck. *pouts*  However some books did catch my attention.

It was the case of :

• Generation Dead by Daniel Waters 
  
  
  
    "Something is causing teenagers to return from the dead as zombies, or “living impaired.” Unlike traditional zombies, though, Daniel Waters’ “living impaired” creations are simply teens reanimated with varying levels of functionality and ability to communicate. The “living impaired” are not accepted by society at large. They have few rights and can even be killed without penalty."

The universe created sounds really interesting, and it caught my eye. I was going to put it in my to-read list, until, after further research, I found out the author had the tendency to “tell” rather than show how cool her Goth female lead was. I'll still look into the series, but trough reviews, I don't think the main couple would appeal to me. However I'm not bashing, since I haven't read it yet.

Another book that sparked my interest, was :

• Soulless, by Christopher Golden. 
  
  
  
  “Times Square, New York City: The first ever mass séance is broadcasting live on the Sunrise morning show. If it works, the spirits of the departed on the other side will have a brief window — just a few minutes — to send a final message to their grieving loved ones.
  
  
  Clasping hands in an impenetrable grip, three mediums call to their spirit guides as the audience looks on in breathless anticipation. The mediums slump over, slackjawed — catatonic. And in cemeteries surrounding Manhattan, fragments of old corpses dig themselves out of the ground....
  
  
  The spirits have returned. The dead are walking. They will seek out those who loved them in life, those they left behind...but they are savage and they are hungry. They are no longer your mother or father, your brother or sister, your best friend or lover.
  
  
  The horror spreads quickly, droves of the ravenous dead seeking out the living — shredding flesh from bone, feeding. But a disparate group of unlikely heroes — two headstrong college rivals, a troubled gang member, a teenage pop star and her bodyguard — is making its way to the centre of the nightmare, fighting to protect their loved ones, fighting for their lives, and fighting to end the madness.”

That's the kind of book I've been looking for! In my opinion, Zombies = DOOM, not potential misunderstood boyfriends. Of course the later could have some weird appeal in literature.

I have good expectations for it and I hope it doesn't disappoint. When I get it (and read it!) I'll post a review.

Have you guys read the books (any of the boos from Generation Dead and/or Soulless)? Did you like them? Any YA Zombie book recommendations? What's your opinion on these creatures? Share your opinion on the comments bellow! ^__~

More later,

Karla

The Seven Realms Series

Hi everyone! It’s me, Rute, writing. Today I present to you The Seven Realms Series, by Cinda Williams Chima!

Actually, I only read the first two by now, but it’s not my fault as the other two (they’re four books) haven’t come out yet.

I’ll try to be objective and fast. So the first one is called The Demon King and the second one The Exiled queen.

Before I start, I would like to mention that I liked these books. They were not OMG AWESOME but they were okay!

The story takes place on a parallel universe, or so do I think, similar to our medieval era (since they dress like it, at least!), besides the fact that there exists magic and other odd and weird stuff. For those who don’t like spoilers, be cautious!

In resume, both of the books talk about two main characters and their lives in one of the seven realms - Fellsmarch. The girl – Raisa, is the princess heir of the place where they both live and the guy – Han, is a common person. He’s actually poor and has to work hard to sustain the surviving of his mother and his little sister (he was a thief to sustain his family but he gave up because of his sister). He is known in the streets as Cuffs ‘cause he has two ‘bracelets’, each in one of his wrists, that are magical and no one can take them off (you only discover their purpose in the end of the first book!)

One of the first things I really enjoyed about the books was that it was written in the perspective of both main characters! Actually they barely meet in the first book, so it’s interesting to see the contrasts between them, since they are so different and come from so different worlds.

I also liked the variety of descriptions. And these books had a lot of different appearances, which I thought was very interesting! And one fact I noticed is that most of them don’t have brown eyes. I must have realized two or three characters in the immense plot that actually had brown eyes! And I sort of deduced that in that world it was common to have light colored eyes (don’t bother, I just live in a country where most of us have brown eyes and hair and so I found it odd in the beginning).

The first book is set on Fellsmarch and talks about the crescent and growing influence of wizards in this Realm, specially the High Wizard’s (it’s kind of a prime minister of magic because he is very important in the queendom)influence over the queen.

About the magic, there are two distinct kinds: the wizardry, with spells and witchcraft, and you use an amulet (it’s like a wand); and the spiritual part, where the magic is more like healing.

The two sides of the magic world are against each other: wizards or jinxflingers (as the other part calls them) and the clans.

The wizards have a lot of influence in the queendom (it is a queendom where the queens rule, not the kings). Though the clans also have control over them, especially because they make the amulets. This happens because of a terrible thing that had occurred a thousand years before: a queen named Hanalea married a wizard that is called the Demon king and he sort of went mad and almost destroyed the world (at least it’s what everybody thinks… so, read the book). Therefore queens can’t marry wizards, and clans control the supply and the production of the amulets.

While Raisa lives at court and has to maintain the party climate and the constant pressure for being the heir, she doesn’t know anything that goes on the outside. Han, on the other hand knows too much since he has to survive on a starving society and do what he can to keep being alive! He has a close relationship with the clans, partly because he has a clan friend (partly! the other motive you find in the end).

Raisa is the daughter of the queen and a royalty clan member. So she’s called half blood. The queen has a really weak personality, but she really likes her daughter although you can’t see it in the beginning.

In my opinion, this Series has realistic characters that are not perfect and they learn from their mistakes. They actually are selfish enough to try to get what they want; but they also think about the responsibilities they have and people involved in their decisions.

Raisa has three love interests (at least in the beginning): Han, the other main character, of course (though they hardly meet); Micah, the son of the High Wizard; and Amon Byrne, son of the Captain of protection of the queen (I don’t remember really well, but it was something related to military stuff). They’re both handsome, and, although I really like and prefer Han, because he’s sort of that bad sexy boy, I actually prefer the relationship she has with Micah.

Micah is, supposedly, a bad character, but he is handsome, has that evil native and royal personality and their relationship is the most natural. They’re not madly in love with each other, they just want to flirt, have fun and enjoy their forbidden passion (since he is a wizard and she is a queen-to be). Her relationship with Amon starts when they were children, because he was/is the only friend she really had/has. But their “romance” is that awkward, too sweet, friendly and lame kind of relationship. So I don’t like it very much. Han; well, they’re sweet together and they definitely have chemistry, but it had an unnatural beginning (it gave the impression it was “love” at first sight or at least they were interest in each other at first sight), and since they both are main characters, there are, obviously, the lame romantic parts. Fortunately they are not too many (I like romance in the books but I don’t like lame stuff and too many lovey dovey scenes).

You notice that Raisa has a passion for forbidden loves, and she actually reflects and worries about that.

The second book is mostly set in Oden’s Ford – that it’s like a campus of three universities – the magical school, the military school and the “artistic” temple school.

Raisa goes with Amon to the military one, because she’s in exile (SPOILER: she escapes from a forced marriage with Micah, which was forbidden, that supposedly would “benefit” the realm). Han goes to … SPOILER ALERT (if you don’t want to read the spoiler, continue to the next paragraph): […Goes the magical one. Yes he’s a wizard, obviously! But not just a simple wizard, he is the descendent of the Demon King!]

The books are kind of obvious and predictable. You realize what it’s going to happen in the future (I realized what Han was in the beginning!). But they’re entertaining and books don’t have to be filled with mysterious and unexpected events all the time!

My goodness my review is gigantic! Well, never mind. I suggest this Series to everyone who likes historical (parallel universe that resembles medieval), romantically (but realistic) and fantasy/supernatural (a tiny bit ‘cause of the magic) stories.

As soon as we know the date release of the next book we put it here!

See you soon (I hope with Daniela writing)!

Golden Flamingos