I need more of Syeira right now.

This book took me longer to read than normal because I was dissecting and absorbing all of it. Plus I did not want it to end. It captivated my inner child and kept me captivated throughout all 400 plus pages.

This was such a good book. The Blue Roan Child is an endearing tale about an orphaned stable girl determined to help a wild horse get back to her two Colts. They travel across the kingdoms, encounter strange plants in dark forests, make allies and enemies, and gets caught up in more than she ever imagined.

This is the perfect adventure story. Syeira is brave and charismatic, I couldn't help but fall in love and root for her. Even though this book had a younger target audience, I couldn't do anything but enjoy her adventure and the curiosities of the world. From Haysele to Arva and the Dark forests and kings in between, there was always something interesting going on and new characters to meet. It kept me turning pages until the very end and even now I still want more.

While this had many similarities to other adventure novels, the premise and the magic helped it stand out. It wasn't entirely original, bit that didn't stop me from getting lost in the world and the mysteries.

I really enjoyed this book and everyone should give it a shot because you will be missing out on something great of you don't. Also it is a perfect read for young girls. I wish I'd read this at a younger age because I would have been obsessed with it in a good way.

3.5

Okay, a lot better than Sabriel. Very conflicted, as Sam was one of the most annoying, irritating an irresponsible characters I've ever had the displeasure of reading about, but I do love Lirael.

This is a very "smart" book. Well researched and well written. Once hundred percent better than the films, and much more interesting for it explored the science behind what was happening as well as many theories on animal behaviour and extinction. Nothing went too much over my head save for the seven configurations. I understood Ian's explanations and how was related tot he text, but not the diagrams that accompanied them.

This book had a lot of characters though and because I haven't read Jurassic Park, I wasn't entirely sure who was who in relation to the first film, but it did not hinder my enjoyment of this novel.

My only critique is that there was no "wow factor". There was nothing that made this book so much better than anything else I've been reading. It was different, yes, but was it better? Probably not. Just mediocre.

This book had good character development. I'll give it that. Sadly, it was not interesting. The most interesting part was Merilee's dragons and the little, paragraph-long stories about them we got every few chapters.

This book was lacking a plot. The characters did not seem their ages. I'm having trouble believing any of them are over the age of eight even though they are supposed to be thirteen. I understand that Biswick has developmental issues, but I don't the problems for Merilee and Bitsy. Merilee was way too simple for a thirteen-year-old who's supposedly advanced. Every statement she makes a simple observation of the world around her. Her "genius" was the fact that would say a long word like horrendous or marvellous sarcastically when she was annoyed (which was pretty much the whole time). It just made her sound like a broken record.

Also, Merilee's V.O.E. did not seem very important to her. She was always blaming them for breaking it when in relatively it seemed like she just got herself distracted and could not handle the blame. Thi, however, was a good point for her character development because she loses her V.O.E. as the story goes on and she starts to take some responsibly for their actions.

Also, that cheeto talked about in the beginning had little significance to anything. It doesn't even come into the play until over 100 pages have passed.

So I'm not huge on aliens and conspiracy theories and abductions, but I am a fan of Superman and Wonder Woman. The whole superhero thing is rather cool in my eyes. If I'd know how much alien there was, I might not have picked it up, but I'm glad I did.

It was a very fun, well-paced, action-packed novel. It was very similar to a lot of the Superman stuff, Lorien being destroyed is a lot like the destruction of Krypton and I kept drawing those parallels in my mind. But other than that, this is a very unique book (also I drew parallels to Four from Divergent because they literally have the same name). I love the whole concept of "they must be killed in order" and I'm wondering if the people had more time if they would have put the most capable Cepan with the first Garde so that the other eight would have been a whole lot safer. 'Cause if One never dies, Four would not be in any danger.

I'm digressing but a good book should make you think.

The romance was well done. I tend to hate romances, but this one was well paced and well executed.

It was a bit predictable I suspected

Spoiler

that the dog was more than he seemed to be from the begining

, but I didn't guess entirely what it was until it was revealed, so I was still pleased.

This is a great finale to a series. Very well done. I loved how it was practically a continuation of Lirael. There was nothing really wow about this book but it was solid overall. I want to know more about how the other sides of the Wall work and who technology and magic fail when they cross into their opposing sides.

I wish some main characters had actually died off in the final battle though.

Spoiler

I sorta wish Mr. Nix had killed Sabriel and Touchstone because not a lot of authors kill off their characters and I liked the book slightly more when I thought he was brave enough to do it. It was also one of the only moments in the series when I felt a bit of fondness for those two characters, but it was all taken away when they didn't die. I'd like to say the same for Lirael's character. I respected her resolve to sacrifice herself. I understand why the Dog did what she did, but I wish someone other more important person had passed through the gates for the final time.

I have no idea what this was. It started off okay, but then It just got real weird. Some of it conflicted with the Bible a lot and Bethany was more or a rebellious teenager than an angel. Gabriel and Ivy were too much like her parents. I feel like this might have been a teenage romance with strict parents and it would have been a whole let better because then the author could have felt with family relations and perhaps religion conflicts if they were super extreme. Also, none of the angels seemed to be doing much good work to resort man's good faith, and I guessed who the demon was way before Bethany was even suspicious. It's so sad that this book had so much potential yet it flopped out if the sky, sadly.

I read this on the train on the way back from ComicCon Montreal because my friend and I had run out of reading material and swapped. He's been telling me for a while that Amos Daragon is his favourite series ever and I can tell why. It is very good. The only thing is, I was reading the graphic novel. I could tell that many elements had been cut (and I was also informed of it) and even though the art was absolutely stunning, I wasn't as engaged in the story as I could have been if it as written out. I do plan on reading the full books one day, I hope to enjoy those more because there is so much potential in this story.

2.75

If you are looking for an Arthur Pendragon/Camelot story this is not for you.

This book took me a while to get into. I wasn't clicking with the whole journal style. It was very inconsistent. One moment it felt like a first-person omniscient narration and then other times it was first-person limited. Also, when Bobby would talk directly to Mark in the journals it really stopped the flow of the story. It got better as it progressed, but it did take me over 100 pages (1/3) of the book to sorta get into the story.

Oddly enough, it was refreshing to read a book I have no opinions on. This book was simply okay. I wasn't overjoyed by it, but I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it.

I found a lot of elements in this book I'd read before. It was easy to tell, but the author managed to avoid making her trope-filled book seem cliche, so hats off to Samantha Shannon. I found there wasn't much world building either.

There was a lot of words and abbreviations, so many that I lost count (and I can keep The Lord of the Rings characters straight). I like how she tried to introduce it all, having the characters throw the terms around naturally, but while it felt real, it was hard to follow and understand. There was a glossary in the back, but I did not know that until I finished the novel and by then I didn't really care.

This book is good for anyone who is looking for a good read with a bit of mindlessness.