Loved it. Read my review here: http://sowereadthisbook.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/horns-a-review/

Loved this so much, I wrote the review the instant I finished the book.
You can read it here: http://sowereadthisbook.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/paper-towns-a-review/

WELL THAT TOOK AN UNEXPECTED TURN.
No, that plot twist genuinely messed me up.

(Also, I dare you to tell me that Magda isn't even loosely based on Baba Yaga. I. Dare. You)

4.5 stars

THIS is exactly the kind of graphic novel I've been looking for. I loved the artwork, the story, the characters... everything.

I want more. Now.

4.7 stars

My heart still weeps over this book

The Assassin’s Curse, Clarke’s first series, were two of the first reviews I did on the blog. This was almost two years ago, and while I enjoyed the duology (I really recommend you read the books together as one long book) I couldn’t also help but feel a little disappointed. Despite the fact that the second book balanced the first one well, I always sort of felt that the duology was lacking something – I just couldn’t put my finger on the what of it.

With The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, Clarke made up for the disappointment with TAC and then some. This book was absolutely breathtaking. I could think about nothing else in couple of days it took me to read this. I could think of nothing else for days after. Even as I slaved away on work and assignments for college, I couldn’t stop thinking about this fabulous, fabulous book.

Clarke’s writing in this book was simple, but atmospheric and evocative. The characters in this just come alive with her simple, faultless prose. It just fit the tone of this book so well – if anyone else had decided to tell this same story, I don’t think they could have done it as well as Clarke did, because she nailed the tone of this.

The Mad Scientist’s Daughter tells the tale of Cat Novak and an android named Finn, who was first her tutor, her friend, and then something more. It’s a beautiful tale of character growth and love, and it touched me so deeply – I don’t think I’ll ever look at another sci-fi novel the same again.

The characters, too, were brilliantly crafted. Cat was not a perfect heroine. She was flawed, reckless, incredibly selfish, and a lot of the time, pretty unlikable. But she was real. So incredibly real in her imperfections. She felt like someone you could know. She felt like she could have been you, had you been in her shoes.

And Finn. Finn, Finn, Finn. Finn is one of the best heroes I’ve seen in literature. I’m not even kidding. He’s right up there, just under Kaz Brekker, Peeta Mellark and Adam Hauptman. He’s vulnerable, and steadfast, and caring. So he’s an android. Who gives a whoop? Despite being a frigging robot, he’s still a hundred times more lovable and more human than so many human YA (and adult, tbh) literary heroes out there right now.

God.

Love, and not just romantic love, was a huge theme in this book. It dealt with love between mother and daughter. Love between father and daughter. Love between friends. Love between people who haven’t really ever grasped the concept of love in any real way, but learn together. This book will challenge your ideas of love – it will make you step back and have a good long think about what love means to you, and how you experience it.

Whether you like her or not, you will feel everything alongside Cat. You will break when she breaks, you will yearn when she yearns, and your heart will sink when her world starts crumbling and she starts undergoing her major changes. This is a book that will grab you by your emotions and force you to sit up straight and pay attention. It might also make you ugly cry.

And I urge you to read it.

This review and more here

Reread this after two years and, not only does it hold up, but this books shines brighter. I think it deserves a bump in rating.

Updated rating: 5 stars

----
Original review

4.5 stars

I'm not going to lie to you, I was very skeptical of this one, but I'm pleased to report that I ended up loving it.

A Thousand Nights is a retelling of "One Thousand and One Nights", but not in the strictest sense. I mean, sure, there are a lot of similarities, but the overall story they tell is altogether very different. Where One Thousand and One Nights can be considered a stories within a story, this one if more about the power of stories. If that makes sense.

This book is a beautiful piece of subtle feminist-writing. It talks about the power of women. It takes the stereotypically-feminine characteristics that men dismiss as frivolous and shows us their worth. It talks about sorority and solidarity among women in men-driven communities. It's about sisterly love and motherly affection. And it all comes together seamlessly and subtly, like a thousand thread-count sheet woven with feminism.

I wish I could say more about this books, but I don't think I can. Not without spoiling, anyway. All I can tell you is to read this. Even if it seems slow and dense, just read it. It's worth it.

4.5 stars

Full review here


Goddammit Stroud.


A Quick Rundown of My “The Hollow Boy” Reading Experience

Me: Ah, Lockwood & Co. Lockwood, Lucy and George.

Stroud: WRONG.

Me: But –

Stroud: *Hammers at one gigantic piece of what I thought I knew to be true*

Stroud: *Shoves Holly Munro into the mix*

Me: …Oh. Okay.

*

Me: Ah, look. Lucy, my well-rounded, reasonable heroine.

Stroud: Lucy? Reasonable? Unswayed by jealousy? Lady, please.

Me: Wait. Who said anything about jealousy?

Stroud: *Hammers away again*

Stroud: HOW D’YOU LIKE YOUR HEROINE NOW?

Me: Water you doing???? (‘O_O)

*

Me: … At least I still have my seemingly-random-case-that-turns-out-to-be-the-title-case. at least I’ve still got that.

Stroud: *maniacal laughter*

Me: Oh no.

Stroud: *continues laughing*

Me: Please no.

Stroud: YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD PREDICT ME? ME??? I LAUGH AT YOU.

Stroud: *picks up hammer. Destroys me.*

Me: (;________;)

*

Me: _{…at least the ending is ha}—

Stroud: NO.

Stroud: *hammers away gleefully*

*


The Hollow Boy saw some very serious changes for Lucy and, by extension, the readers. I think that’s the brilliance of this book. With The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull, Stroud made us comfortable. He took his time to introduce us to these characters, took his time to build solid walls of friendship and familiarity. And then he took a sledgehammer and SMASHED IT ALL TO BITS.

But I think you’ve already figured that part out by now.

As the blurb promises, Lockwood & Co. gets a new addition. Holly Munro, surprise surprise, is a girl – and to reasons obvious to everyone except the characters in the book, (Except the skull. He’s smart) Lucy doesn’t really get on with Holly all that much. In fact, she spends about 80% of the spitting snark and mentally tearing Holly apart for being “prim and proper”.

Yes. It must be said. Lucy Carlyle does not play nice with other girls.

Which is sad, really, because throughout this book you could tell that she and Holly could be great friends if only she’d given her a chance. But instead of seizing the opportunity to make a female friend, like, say, I would have, Lucy chose to be petty. She chose to be snarky. She chose to complain and gripe and make things unpleasant not just for Holly, but for Lockwood and George as well.

I hated this bitchy side of Lucy. But I also enjoyed how much more human this made her seem. Yes, she was being an unreasonable little twit, but considering that her powers have been growing so much, so fast, it was a nice touch. Gave her a little vulnerability and made her a tad more relatable.

(side note: This does not mean that I’m okay with Lucy not having any girlfriends. If she does not make a solid female friendship sometime soon, I will cut a bi–wraith.)

Anyway, I’m trying to keep a lid on the spoilers. But I will tell you that I appreciated the little change in routine Stroud gave us with this book. And not just in the case of a new member. The structure of the story changed. This book was, essentially, the beginning of the action of the entire series’ main arc – If The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull were the exposition of the central arc, The Hollow Boy was the rising action. The conflict, if you will.

The cliff-hanger ending proves my point really. Because, even though The Whispering Skull ended on a bit of a cliffy as well, you sort of knew that things weren’t going to change too much. You knew that, on the flipside, things wouldn’t be that different. Not this one. This cliffy says, “Change is coming. Be prepared.”

Personally, I’m not prepared at all. But I am really, really, really excited for the next book. Too bad I’ll have to wait a year to get my grubby paws on it. (;_;)

This book is evil and you should all read it.

Sometimes you need to know exactly what you're getting into before picking up a book. And in that vein - This book is about a little boy losing his mother to cancer.

There. You're prepared. You're welcome.

If you've read any of Patrick Ness's other books and decided that he's not your cup of tea, I'm going to have to ask forget you ever thought that. Because here's the thing about Patrick Ness - none of his books are alike. I'd heard this a lot before, back when I was still reading The Chaos Walking, but obviously I was a little bit skeptical. But now that I've read A Monster Calls, I think there's a lot of truth to what I've heard.

The writing in A Monster Calls is so different from that of The Chaos Walking, that for a moment, I actually forgot they were written by the same author. This isn't Ness' story - not all of it, at least. The original idea for A Monster Calls came from the mind of an author named Siobhan Dowd who, unfortunately, passed away in 2007. I've never read any of her books before, but I'm fairly certain Patrick Ness did her proud with what he was able to do with her story.

While I haven't experienced parental loss (thank God), this book still managed to punch me in the gut on some very personal levels. Conor's grief, his anger, his helplessness throughout the course of this novel were all so palpable and so very real - nothing about this book felt forced or cliched. Patrick Ness does great things with a reader's emotions in his hands. He creates characters you care about, and makes them feel things you can relate to, even if you can't understand the situation they're in, yourself. In the short time it took me to read this book, I was Conor. I felt everything he did, and it was oh so painfully real.

I think I've mentioned before that I love authors who don't patronize children when they right middle grade books. Patrick Ness does this by giving us truth - and that's what makes this book so appealing for older readers. It's so freaking honest. He doesn't try to soften blows for the younger audiences, he doesn't try to mask the heavy themes. It's all there, raw, laid out for all to see. I absolutely adored this.

A Monster Calls might not be everyone's cup of tea. Especially if you're not a fan of books that will make you bawl on the floor and want to hug your mother (or kid, if you are the mom). But I loved how disturbing and unpredictable this was. The story absolutely does not go the way you think it will. It's dark, chilling, and downright awful, and it was one of the most moving books I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

It broke my heart in half, and even though I don't think I have the stones to ever read it again, I'll remember A Monster Calls for a very long time. I sincerely hope Ness continues to write more gems like this one - preferably ones that don't have me sobbing in bed for half an hour.

_

See this review on So We Read This Book