Analyzing Books

Tag: war

  • Loss of Reason

    Loss of Reason

    I cherish books and getting books from an author or a company is really energizing. A few months ago, I received Loss of Reason by Miles A. Maxwell and to make things even better, it even had the author’s signature. It is about how a bomb goes off in New York and all the difficulties that the characters go through. A very interesting part of the book is that it’s also very technical.

    I grabbed Loss of Reason while I was on a train which I generally do since I appreciate reading while in transit to work or elsewhere. So with a receptive outlook, I began to read. I had to re-read the initial two pages and I could not get into the book. I do not know whether it was just me or plenty of readers could not get into the book. It was not that the book was boring or horribly written, I just do not know why I could not get into the book. Maybe it was because I have been in a reading slump? Perhaps I was just truly drained? I don’t recognize what it was.

    I was not going to surrender so rapidly, so I set away Loss of Reason and attempted some other time. I was so determined to finish the book that I picked it up again and began to read. At that point it hit me… once more! I just could not get into the book. I trust that it was an excessive amount going on at once and too many characters all at once in the beginning. I thought the characters were not introduced properly and I got confounded frequently. The book was interesting, well at least the plot was. Yet, Loss of Reason was poorly written.

    When I write reviews, I loathe when it’s a negative review. On top of writing negative reviews, I loathe not completing books I began. This was very disappointing for me. I feel bad terrible for simply writing this now. In any case, I’m going to be honest and give my opinion of the book. I would not recommend Loss of Reason to my family or dear companions however I would recommend it to my friend at work since he enjoys science fiction. I gave it two chances and I could not get into it and I am sorry about that. For the rating, I’d have to give Loss of Reason two out of five stars. From what I read I believe that this deserves the rating I gave it.

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  • Jubilee Year

    Jubilee Year

    “What if the world were about to end, but they weren’t going to tell you? Eighteen-year-old Storm lives in a small country town in Australia, next to one of the most famous telescopes in the world. When he falls for Penny, the daughter of the chief scientist at the observatory, he discovers a global conspiracy of silence. He learns a mini-star system approaches Earth, and the penalty for any scientist who talks about it is death. – Jubilee Year”

    If Storm and his companions are to survive they must stay out of the way of the government’s security forces, assassination squads working for powerful hidden entities, and the internment camps for dissenters. Even his special ability is not going to be enough. He must accept help when it’s offered. But others are not who they seem to be and neither is the reality of a world Storm thought he knew”

    Upon going into this book, I had checked out a few reviews to see if I would end up liking this book. Most of the reviews were very positive, so I was excited to get into it. I love space; I love any kind of book or and story relating to astronomy and that kind of science. I was however disappointed a bit in this book and this plot.

    To start, I’m not sure very much editing went into this novel. On nearly every page I found an editing mistake. Whether it was the wrong use of a word (like their, there, they’re), or an incomplete sentence, they were everywhere. Sometimes a word would be there when it clearly was meant to have been deleted. Poor editing, at least for me, really takes away from the enjoyment of a novel. If it’s not in proper English, how am I supposed to read it?

    Secondly, there was far, far too much dialogue. I felt like the plot was thrown at me in series of constant conversations. Sometimes, this can be worked incorrectly for the story, but not with Jubilee Year. I don’t like when the plot line is handed to me. I like finding out things in creative ways other than just through dialogue. This book was like the script to a movie, not a novel.

    The last thing I didn’t like about this novel was that it was taking too long to get into the plot. My kindle won’t tell me how far I was into the book, but  I believe it was at least 30% before I put it down and did not finish. Nothing intriguing was happening. However, I might not have given it enough time for the novel to really settle in. Other reviews of the book mentioned the long, dragged out beginning was worth it in the end.

    In my opinion, if the book starts off slow and doesn’t really catch my interest, there’s no point in continuing. Maybe one of these days I’ll sit down and finish the novel but, I lost interest a while back. On a positive note, I definitely did enjoy the astronomy & science mentioned in the beginning of the book. It was fairly accurate and well researched.

    I’d say if you like slow, poorly edited novels with a space theme to it, then Jubilee Year is the book for you. I personally just did not have the patience for it. From what I’d read so far, I’d give Jubilee Year two and a half out of five stars, tops.

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  • The Winner’s Kiss

    The Winner’s Kiss

     

    The Winner’s Kiss – Marie Rutkoski
    Publish Date: 24th March 2016
    Publisher: Bloomsbury
    Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, New Adult
    Pages: 318
    Format: E-ARC (from Netgalley)
    SYNOPSIS:
    War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.
    At least, that’s what he thinks.
    In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.
    But no one gets what they want just by wishing.
    As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?

    ~

    The Winner’s Kiss was one of my most anticipated reads of 2016, having read and fallen in love with everything from the first two instalments of the series, and I was not disappointed. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book from NetGalley (you are literal gods, I cannot thank you enough!) and it took everything I had not to devour The Winner’s Kiss in a day.
    This story was so encapsulating, rich and vivid in language and threw you into the thick of things from the first page. But somehow, I paced myself, not wanting it to be over too quickly, I wish I had savoured it even more. It was one of those books that grasp you from the first word and doesn’t let go even after its last.

    I absolutely adore Rutkoski’s writing style, it’s intensely descriptive, fast-paced and flows like poetry, quite frankly I envy it. Her world building is strong and fantastically demonstrated throughout the series’ entirety, the plot is dense, full of twists and turns, and the characters are well-rounded, relatable and incredibly human.

    The story continues to follow the two protagonists, Kestrel and Arin. One of the things I loved about Kestrel’s character was the fact that she was trained and expected to be a warrior like her father but falls short at the ability. In modern YA literature, a strong female character is most often physically strong, in that they must be able to slice people’s throats and show little emotion, to live up to the stereotype, but in The Winner’s Trilogy, Kestrel defies this ideal and I think it is one of the reasons why she has become one of my favourite protagonists. She is strong, without being physically so, using manipulation and strategy as a pose to combat. “You don’t need to be gifted with a blade. You are your own best weapon.” She shows a range of emotions, not just the stark ‘happy’ and ‘sad’, questions the morality of her actions and what it means to forgive, live with her scars and to love. The messages conveyed throughout this novel and the series are confronting, fresh, and underrated in YA-Lit – dealing with revenge, betrayal, rights, and politics. As well as love – not only romantic love but platonic and unconditional love as well, which is not often explored thoroughly in YA/NA Lit. (which mostly focuses on the romantic/lust.)

    The thing I love about the characters in The Winner’s Kiss is that none of them are perfect, they’re all flawed, scarred and true to themselves, richly developed and portrayed by Rutkoski’s talented art, and strongly human. Arin, the male protagonist, continues to show his strength, ambition, delicacy, and kindness throughout the story. His backstory is further explored and drives his actions and desires – and something that wasn’t present in the last books but I felt was a really intriguing, cool addition, was the God of Death and his connection to Arin and involvement of the story. “Open your eyes, Death said. Look, my love, and see.” 

    One of the other things I was pleased with was how dark The Winner’s Kiss was. It has grown so much from the first book, where the relationship between Kestrel and Arin was a mere attraction and lust, the plot twisting from a drive for the freedom to a war and a revolution, and themes of strategy and gambling becoming more than just metaphors, integral to the storyline. It was full of gore, the brutality of war and focused a great deal on choices and how they affect not only a single character but an entire body and event outcome. It kept you on the edge of your seat, skillfully swapping POV between Kestrel and Arin right at the edge of a cliffhanger, leaving you no choice but to continue reading, plunging you further into the depths of the story. It was dark, there were no lies, if a character did something stupid they paid for their actions, it was very real, intense, and at times horrific and I adored it.

    Fans of the series will be happy to know that beloved characters, such as Roshar, Sarsine, Verex, Risha and Arin (the lion) all make appearances in TWK, some of which becoming integral to the ever-thickening plot and all of which growing in character development and demonstrating larger character depth. Everything wraps up nicely, yet the ending remains open in a way that is still satisfying whilst provoking wonder. I keep you thinking about the story long after it’s completed and I have a feeling its one of those series’ that never truly leave you, remaining in a special place in your heart.

    I can’t wait for what Rutkoski brings next, she has become one of my favourite authors because of this series and I strongly recommend The Winner’s Trilogy to everyone. It’s such a vivid tale full of strong characters, rich settings and dense plotlines, destroying ideals of characters and what is expected of their emotions, morals and beliefs, whilst simultaneously remaining true to themselves, man, and the human condition.

    ★★★★★ – 5 stars.

     

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