All posts tagged: 5 stars

Book Review: You by Caroline Kepnes

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So many people have recommended this to me, and it took me a long time to get around to reading it. But once I picked it up I just couldn’t put it down. What’s it about: Narcissistic (yet hilarious and clever) boy stalks narcissistic (awful) girl. What I thought: Unlike most thrillers, this doesn’t revolve around a mystery, but is more of a character-driven story, and it’s all narrated by the stalker, Joe. And he is a great protagonist. I was sceptical when I had read other reviews of this book where people said that it’s difficult to not like Joe. I was like “how could you ever sympathise with the stalker? just no.” but despite the fact that he does awful, awful things, he’s also really funny with an excellent sense of humor and the social commentary is excellent. It also doesn’t hurt that the people he’s doing those awful things to are HORRIBLE. Beck, the stalkee, is just the worst, and it’s really difficult to feel sorry for her. There are so many awful characters in …

Book Review: Railsea by China Mieville

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 “People have wanted to narrate since first we banged rocks together & wondered about fire. There’ll be tellings as long as there are any of us here, until the stars disappear one by one like turned-out lights.” What’s it about? Basically, it’s a retelling of Moby Dick, but instead of a whale, we have a giant carnivorous mole rat, and instead of a ship, we have a train. Sounds awesome? That’s because it is. This is one of China Mieville’s works that is more suited to a younger audience, but this guy can really write for any age. “As long as humanity has rolled on the railsea, the rigours & vigours & bloody triggers of the underground have been legendary.” What did I think? It’s completely brilliant. Go read it now. I’ve never read a more cleverly written book in my life. This was just brilliant. It has a non-traditional sentence structure that reads a bit like poetry. I actually found myself only reading this book home alone because the writing was just so wonderful …

Book Review: Only Ever Yours by Louise O’neill

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This book is like a massive middle finger to gender inequality and the objectification of women in contemporary society. It is extremely harrowing and it literally gave me nightmares, but I think it’s so important for young women to read it. What it’s about: I think the author herself best described this book as a cross between The Handmaid’s Tale and Mean Girls. Set in a truly horrific dystopian society, where females are raised in ‘schools’ designed to prepare girls to be basically subservient wives or concubines (or the most horrible of all – Chastities – which are basically the teachers of the next generation). being pretty is of the utmost importance and slogans like ‘fat girls must be made obsolete’ following them everywhere. What I thought: This book is incredibly difficult to read, but I believe it’s incredibly important that people do read this book. It is extremely reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale, but I feel it’s a bit more relevant to modern society and the pressures young girls are put under today. I …

Book Review – The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

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Oh my goodness! What a unique read. How am I ever going to review this little oddity? I shall try my hardest! What it’s about: Okay, so there is  library that holds all the secrets of the universe, run by a god. This god, known as Father has twelve apprentices (librarians), who each study a particular catalog (War, Death, Language, Medicine, etc.) and must master it. Their studies aren’t easy, and Father is, for lack of a better term, an absolute sadistic asshole. When he goes missing and the librarians  are locked out of the library, they must all try to solve the mystery of their missing god before his enemies decided to move in and take over. “For all intents and purposes, the power of the Library is infinite. Tonight we’re going to settle who inherits control of reality.” What I thought: Honestly, it’s pretty damn brilliant. It is extremely dark and absolutely one of the oddest books I’ve ever read, but it is just damn good. It kept me up past 2 am several nights this …

Book Review: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

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I was sent this book by Bloombury Australia for review… but at the time I hadn’t actually read books two or three in the series. So I have been marathoning this series over the past couple of weeks and I have enjoyed it so so so much! You can see my reviews for Crown of Midnight here, and Heir of Fire here, and my Recom-Monday-Tions post about Throne of Glass here. This is now one of my absolute favourite series! It will be difficult to review this without spoiling anything in the series, but I will try. This series gets better with each consecutive book you read, and Queen of Shadows is by far my favourite. I absolutely couldn’t put it down. There was not a single moment where I felt bored or where my mind wandered to other things. It is just completely all-consuming. There are some new characters in this book who are absolutely delightful, and we finally meet Arrobyn, the King of Assassins that Celaena used to work for, for the first …

Book Review: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

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Well, well, well. Sarah J. Maas is quickly making it onto my list of favourite authors, because Heir of Fire was absolutely awesome. “And then I am going to rattle the stars.” As always, as this is a sequel this review will be quite short, and wont contain any spoilers of the series. So it will basically be me ranting about how amazing it was for a while. This is the third book in the Throne of Glass series, which is about the assassin, Celaena Sardothian and her wild exploits. These books really do keep getting more and more amazing as they go along so I am eagerly anticipating Queen of Shadows (which is sitting right next to me just begging to be opened. *purrs* Soon, my pet. Soon). In this installment of the series, we delve farther into Celaena’s past, and learn just how much she had endured during her rather short life, and grows hugely as a character. If you loved Celaena before, you will love her even more now. I promise. For …

Book Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

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So, I received an  ARC of Queen of Shadows, the fourth book of the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. The only problem, I hadn’t read the previous two books in the series. Well now I get to marathon them, and that’s pretty awesome. As with most of my reviews of sequels this will be fairly short as I don’t like to give spoilers of any books in the series. Crown of Midnight is the second book in the Throne of Glass series, a series about Celaena, a bad ass assassin who works for the evil king who rules over a fantasy kingdom caled Adarlan. Sarah J. Maas is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. I did enjoy Throne of Glass, the first book in the series, but I thought Crown of Midnight was even better. This series is the perfect blend of plot- and character-driven story. Face-paced action mixed with perfectly constructed characters? Yes please! Celaena is just so likeable. She’s a ferociously deadly assassin who loves swords and daggers, as …

Book Review: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

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“It’s a small kind of weapon, this story. I stab someone with and they hurt, every time.” I picked this one up after watching one of Tilly and Her Books videos on Booktube. And I am so glad I did. There really is something special about this book. What it’s about: Minnow Bly was raised in a cult, ruled over by a prophet named Kevin. When Minnow disobeys the prophet, he cuts of her hands as punishment. This act of brutality finally gives her the push she needs to escape and live a life of freedom… but then things don’t exactly go as planned and she ends up serving time in a juvenile prison. “I figure out they’re not making me new hands. They can’t do that, the doctor says like I’m slow, and I turn away to glare at the wall, eyes burning. Growing up, I believed in miracles. I guess I don’t anymore.” What I thought: Firstly, this book is dark. It’s horrific and violent, but also beautiful. I can imagine this book …

Book Review: The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman

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Where to start with The Lesser Dead, or as I like to call it The Babysitters Club: Hellish Vampire Edition.  “He gets away with it because he’s strong.’ ‘This is the story of mankind.’ What’s it about? Imagine being a 13 year old forever. That’s reality for Joey Peacock. Joey and his little family of vampires live in the underground tunnels of the New York subway, where they mostly keep to themselves, feeding without killing. His ‘life’ is pretty carefree, going to clubs, watching soap operas, but he finds himself struck with a whole lot of responsibility when he finds a group of murderous vampire children, and a parrot. What I thought? So in a nutshell. It’s fantastic. The back of the book says “As much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz.”  Well, I’ve never read Dean Koontz, but I reckon this is probably right. But there’s also something a bit Salinger-ish about it too. “Happiness is the province of those who ask few questions. I remember, even before this was visited upon me, how I …

Book Review: Bird Box by Josh Malerman

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Imagine you’re in a post-apocalyptic world where if you open your eyes and see some…thing… you will die horribly. How are you going to survive? How are you going to get food and water and protect yourself with your freaking eyes closed? Sounds fucking terrifying huh? Welcome to Bird Box. “It’s better to face madness with a plan than to sit still and let it take you in pieces.” What’s it about? Mallory finds out she’s pregnant the day the world ends. Something is making people go crazy and murdery when they see ‘something’ and the only chance for survival is to never open your eyes outside. Unless you want to die and awful bloody death. For five years Mallory has trained her children to be like baby versions of Daredevil with super developed senses so that when they eventually have to leave their home, they just might have a chance of making it to safety. What I thought: I really liked this book. It was bloody creepy. I have never read a book that …