09/15/17
Strange the Dreamer is one of those books that I still think about pretty much everyday, even though I finished it a couple months ago. I both loved and hated this book. I want to say that I loved it more than hated it but honestly I'm not really sure

What I loved the most about this book was Lazlo. Lazlo Strange is easily one of my all time favourite book characters. I fell in love with him instantly, he's the Gansey that I've been searching for ever since the Raven Cycle left a hole in my heart that will never truly be filled. Lazlo got as close as I can ever hope to loving a character as much as I love TRC characters. Same with Eril Fane, I loved him so so much, I really hope the next book will have more of his story in it.

The first half of this book was everything that I wanted. The pure magic and wonder that Lazlo made me feel while he talked about Weep made me feel like I was with him in the story. I felt so much pride when he left on his journey, and every friend he made along the way made me so happy. If Lazlo was happy, then so was I

I wish Strange the Dreamer had stayed like that. I wish it had been a book about Lazlo going to Weep, fulfilling his lifelong dream of seeing the city, helping defeat whatever was going on, and then spending the rest of his days travelling the rest of the world but always going back to Weep. (I also wish I hadn't been queerbaited like that, because I 100% thought that Lazlo was gay in the beginning, but that a whole other topic that I'm not going to get into)

Unfortunately, Strange the Dreamer did not remain the wonderful magical book that made me fall in love with it. And the thing that ruined it, without a doubt, was the moment Sarai saw Lazlo. The insta-love ruined everything, to the point where I actually considered DNFing it. One part that really pissed me off was when Lazlo said the best day of his life was meeting Sarai. Not the day where he left the library on a magical horse while all those who mocked him watched with their jaws on the floor. Not the day where he finally, after 15 years of waiting, looked at the lost city of Weep for the very first time and all his dreams came true. Nope. It was when he met a girl in a dream. I'm still so mad about that. The romance absolutely killed this book. If it weren't for Eril Fane, I most likely would have DNF'd it, to be honest.

I still gave it four stars because of how much I loved it in the beginning, and for all of the side characters that I fell in love with. Those are the only things that redeemed it. I'm still going to read the second book, but I'll pretty much just be reading it for Eril Fane at this point

06/07/17
WAT. WHAT. WHAAAAAAT.

COHERENT REVIEW WILL BE WRITTEN LATER I CAN'T RIGHT NOW

I have conflicting emotions about this book to be honest. I saw the movie when it first came out and really didn't like it because of the acting and writing, but thought the concept was really interesting and therefor came to the conclusion that the book would probably be a lot better. It was at first. For a while I was really enjoying the book. But after a while it started going downhill for me. The characters who I thought had potential in the beginning fell short, the writing seemed lazy and annoyingly repetitive, the plot was at the same time too slow and too fast and also didn't have enough substance. I didn't have a favourite character, none of them stood out enough for me to really care about any of them, but my least favourite was definitely Cassie. I found her to be bratty and annoying and her temper tantrums drove me nuts.

Spoiler

Her relationship with Evan was way too cliche in the beginning, it made me physically cringe. I did end up liking them as a couple by the end of it though.

If I had to choose a favourite it would probably be Evan. He's the only who's back story was actually kind of interesting.

Spoiler

One thing in the movie that I really liked was the big reveal of who the bad guys really were, which we didn't find out until the end. I though that was a great plot twist. In the book, however, we find out that Vosch and the army dudes are the Others very early on and it kind of ruined the rest of the book for me. We knew what the characters didn't, and in some cases that can work really well but with The 5th Wave I don't think that was a good idea. It made the rest of the book boring because I was just waiting for everyone to finally figure it out, and because of that this book lacked the excitement I was hoping for.

On the other hand, there were some things that I enjoyed, mostly the ending. The last quarter of the book I thought was really exciting and action packed, which almost (but not quite) made up for the snooze-fest that was the rest of the book.
Overall, I can't say that this is a book I would recommend to others. I didn't hate The 5th Wave, but I doubt I'll be reading the other books in the series.

2016 Reading Challenge: A book that's becoming a movie this year

The TV show is, in my opinion, a hell of a lot better than the books, and honestly I didn't even like the books that much before. But Homecoming made me fall in love with these characters! The character development was really amazing, and I really liked the new people that were introduced (Max for example). One of my favourite things about this series is the sense of community and belonging that the hundred built for themselves; I've always been a sucker for a band of misfits finding their way through each other and I think Morgan did a great job of writing that, especially in this last book.

2015 Reading Challenge: A Trilogy

2015 Reading Challenge: A book published this year

2015 Reading Challenge: A book by an author you've never read before

3.5/5 stars

The Beginning
I like the beginning a lot! The adventure is fun and shows the characters of Q and Margo really well. It's interesting and fun and unexpected and I really like it!

The Middle
Can I just pretend the middle never happened? Honestly, the entire time I was reading the middle of this book, I wanted to scream. I think it's awful. It's so repetitive and boring and Q just needs to get the f*** over the girl, seriously. Ben is being an ass hat a lot of the time and even though it's annoying, it's ok because I like Ben a lot. And his best friend is being a girl-crazy weirdo obsessed with the idea he has of a person, instead the actual person.

The End
Oh my god. Oh. My. God. I can't even express how much I love the end! From the day of graduation all the way to that final kiss, just so in love! It's perfect! It really is! I literally laughed out loud quite frequently. Ben and Radar are the perfect characters. I just love them. Yes

Spoiler

Margo is a total bitch to everyone when they find her,

but afterwards everything is fantastic again!

So if I can just ignore the entire middle, from the day after the adventure to the day before graduation, I would give Paper Towns 5/5. But because the middle exists ((and I know it'ss obviously necessary for the book to continue, but it annoys and bores me to death)) I give it 3.5

4.5 stars

The second John Green book that I've read, and I'm still so completely in love with his writing style! The characters are great, I love the relationship between the two main characters, and their friendship with Isaac. The last time I cried this hard over a book was Clockwork Princess.

But to be honest, I was a little unsatisfied with the ending. I want to know what happens to Hazel? Will she and Isaac remain friends? How much longer will she live, and will her parents stay together after they die? What about Van Houton, what'll happen to him? I could go on, I have many ore questions

Even though I have a lot of questions, it was still a wonderful book and I'll definitely read it again!

Ok so the beginning (as in approximately the first 40 pages) I sort of liked; it was a little boring, not much happening, but then BAM!

Spoiler

Klea attacked and I thought "yay exciting!" Then they got to Avalon and "Yay more exciting battling!" But it went on. And on. And on and on and on. Probably over 200 pages of battling. The physical, blood-shedding battling got quite boring very quickly. But then during the battle against time I couldn't put the book down, and then the battle of rights against Queen Marion was awesome and had me grinning ear to ear to whole time.

And then the end, with what happened with the love triangle, I was so incredibly pleased with! It made to some-what boring in the middle a little better. And then came the letter. Any time that I got bored throughout the book, it was all made worth it just for that letter at the very end. It made everything very realistic, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I sobbed, both with sadness and joy. The ending was absolutely flawless!
This series is one that I would recommend to anyone with even the slightest taste for fantasy, and maybe even those who don't! It would be a good introduction to the world of YA fantasy, I think

Anyways, the perfect end to a wonderful series! Job well done, Pike!