Blood Magic - Tessa Gratton - Review

Book: Blood Magic

Author: Tessa Gratton

Publisher: Doubleday

ISBN: 9780857530202

Rating: A+

The murder of her parents has left Silla damaged and lost, and Silla's insistence that her father is not to blame only alienates her further from her friends and family. When a mysterious spell book arrives, Silla hopes it will lead to some answers about her parents' killer. In her first attempt at magic, in an old graveyard near her home, Nick, the new boy in town spies on her; he recognizes the magic that Silla is performing as the same magic his mother performed with him, before she went mad. Before long, Silla and Nick connect, though Nick is unwilling to share his history with blood magic with Silla. When Silla's friends start showing signs of possession, Silla, Nick and Silla's brother, Reese, must contend with a deadly, immortal woman who will stop at nothing to take the book of spells from them.

To start off with can I just say this was amazing! It’s such a magical, intense story and it just blew off my feet from the avid description to the magic.

I have to say one of my favourite sections of the book was the diary of Josephine Darley. That part was very interesting to read and it didn’t let on who Josephine was because at the beginning I thought it was Nick’s mum. Another Favourite part, though, was the big fight between Silla and The Forest (Josephine). I loved the action packed scene. It was full of magic, love, hate, beauty and blood. It just blew me away.

Basically the Story follows Nick and Silla, a couple, who have magical blood and can perform magic. The story basically follows how they come to terms with it and then fight evil magician Josephine Darley.

The book is extremely well written. I don’t think there was a single point that left me nodding off, or skipping pages. It was all good and kept me thrilled, but a lot confused, but in a good way. This is one of those books I like to refer to as a ‘Puzzle Book’ because as you read on all the story slots together and makes a lot more sense.

Speaking of how it was written, I loved it. It was very blunt with everything but still had so much detail, but not too much, which sometimes happens with authors. The description is amazing. I could imagine everything perfectly and it was fantastic.

My favourite character would have to be Josephine for this book with Silla in second place. Mainly because, I always seem to like the bad guys and she was absolutely drunk on magic (and me likes magic!). She was just a really crazed maniacal magician who really needed rehab and had this really feral personality.

The book is exploding with magic and suspense. Full of everything I love, this book kept me bound by blood. So in other words, I truly loved it!

The Kane Chronicles: The Throne Of Fire - Rick Riordan - Review

Book: The Kane Chronicles: The Throne Of Fire

Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Puffin

ISBN: 9780141335650

Rating: A+ (how on earth could you put anything else)

Ever since the gods of Ancient Egypt were unleashed on the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister, Sadie, have been in big trouble. As descendants of the magical House of Life, they command certain powers. But now a terrifying enemy - Apophis, the giant snake of chaos - is rising. If Carter and Sadie don't destroy him, the world will end in five days' time. And in order to battle the forces of chaos, they must revive the sun god Ra - a feat no magician has ever achieved. Because first they must search the world for the three sections of the Book of Ra, then they have to learn how to chant its spells ...Can the Kanes destroy Apophis before he swallows the sun and plunges the earth into darkness ...forever?

Rick Riordan hasn’t failed to impress me with the Second of the Kane Chronicles ‘The Throne of Fire’. If anything it’s wowed me more and proved to be better than the first in the series. I suppose in this Novel Carter and Sadie have come to terms with their magic only making it more action packed, magic packed and a totally awesome thriller.

So like I said this book focuses in on the fact that Sadie and Carter have come to terms with: their powers, the fact that Apophis is rising, that yet again they have to save the world and Yet again they have many enemies including the house of life.

A major twist that surprised me was that Set was almost portrayed as a goody! Anyway, the book has turned very darker in the second novel. It’s actually a very fun, quick read, but then that depends if you class 450 paged big hardback pages as a quick read. The story is well written and the plot well thought out. To be honest I don’t think there was a chapter that went by that didn’t:

-        Leave me wanting more

-        Satisfy me

-        Thrill me

-        Get me into trouble for staying up late reading

The book is a unique and since the first book in the series was released many other Egyptian mythological books have hit the shelves but none of them live up to Riordan: Myth Master.

There weren’t any negatives about this book. I had been waiting for this book since reading book one and meeting Riordan last year, and book 2 didn’t let me down. I got it about two days before release and whizzed through it. The reason it’s taken this long to write a review, and the reason the review is so short is because it has truly left me speechless. I just can’t put into words how much I love it. I mean I’m a sucker for fantasy but this takes it to a whole new level. I haven’t read anything like it before or experienced any of the creatures.

In this book we are introduced to many new characters such as the Brooklyn house crew and Jazz, who was one of my favourite minor characters. She is the so to speak ‘Queen Bee’ but she isn’t mean of vain but really nice. I thought my favourite character was Sadie, and in the first book it was, but in this book I kept on being really drawn to Carter and I don’t know why!

               Another new character was Bes, the dwarf god, who I really loved. He was witty, funny (can’t emphasize on that enough), ugly (especially in Speedos), in a love triangle, and most definitely short! But he was funny, so I was like... Ok it’s decided, I like him.

This is a fun, exiting, new, action packed novel full to the brim with magic, adventure, and three, two and one headed snakes (along with an awfully large one trying to eat the sun) What more can I say? Oh yeah... AMAZING!

Starcrossed - Josephine Angelini - Review

Book: Starcrossed

Author: Josephine Angelini

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

ISBN: 9780330529730

Rating: A+

When shy, awkward Helen Hamilton sees Lucas Delos for the first time she thinks two things: the first, that he is the most ridiculously beautiful boy she has seen in her life; the second, that she wants to kill him with her bare hands. With an ancient curse making them loathe one another, Lucas and Helen have to keep their distance. But sometimes love is stronger than hate, and not even the gods themselves can prevent what will happen ...

Okay, let’s start off with the major points. 1. It was amazing. 2. It was not what I was expecting, but better. 3. It was boy readable as well! Allow me to elaborate. It was not what I expected, because I’d gathered the whole book was about Helen and Lucas fighting for their love, but it was a nice surprise to have that sorted out early on and have the rest of the book with a lot of Greek myth and Romance which leads me onto the last major point. Most romances are for girls only, and considered girly if a boy reads it but I have to say I truly enjoyed this. I didn’t feel like I was reading a girls book. I felt like I was reading an immense book. That last major point, I’m going to add in is that Josephine Angelini has managed to use the most commonly used children’s book concept of Greek Mythology (Percy Jackson, Halo etc) and weave into a teen fiction, which I found amazing but it added that extra something to the novel, and seeing as the teen Greek twist hasn’t been done yet, well anyone’s gonna have a hard time doing what Angelini has. Looking on those past comments; it’s safe to say Angelini is and will be one of the most brilliant authors of the decade.

Let’s talk about the writing. This writing is something I haven’t experienced before. It is very descriptive but not overly, and has a slight charm so to say it puts the reader in lock, unable to take their face away from the pages of the book. It gave you a sense being there, more literally than hypothetically, so I like the way Angelini writes.

The book follows a slightly twisted plot along the lines of Romeo and Juliet. Obviously there’s Helen, the girl who has the most gorgeous looks and doesn’t realise she is a demigod, and Lucas and his family, the hot new kids who moves into Nantucket. Naturally the fall in love, but also want to kill each because of an Ancient Greek curse, so naturally they can’t be together, and then... something happens which means they can be together and then... a big fighty thingy happens with lots of cool magic. {Sorry, not giving spoilers away}

The characters were all very well built on good foundation. Everything you want to know is explained. Past, present and future (sort of). Their personalities are all very well created and you get the sense of seeing them right in front of you, or being close friends with them. My personal favourite was Helen and Lucas but I think Helen has that bit more, because of the awesome lightning powers! Helen is a very strong character, but she holds back. She doesn’t let her full self show. She hides part of it. And then of course she is a Demigod, with amazingly good looks, (so the school jocks call her heavenly Helen) and can shoot crazy lightning bolts from her hands, electrocute people and just control lightning in general. Oh, did I mention she’s indestructible?

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the epic novel, filled with love, hate, passion, lies and a whole lot of Awesome magic. (I had to do that, couldn’t help it) The novel is so beautifully rolled out into just under 500 pages which make you love, scared, happy, sad, and exited the whole way through. This books is going a long way, count on that, and it’s going on my BEST BOOKS EVER list. So like I just said... BEST BOOK EVER.

Red Riding Hood - Sarah Blakeley-Cartwright - Review

Book: Red Riding Hood

Author: Sarah Blakeley-Cartwright

Publisher: ATOM

ISBN: 9781907410826

Rating: A

Valerie is in love with the dangerous and unlikable Peter (a woodcutter, of course) but is betrothed to the rich hot blacksmith in town, Henry. Their town has been terrorized by a wolf ? a wolf that appears only at the full moon ? and when Valerie's sister is brutally murdered the message is clear: she's next.

If I was allowed to for the review I would just type the words: I LOVE IT a hundred times but seeing as I wouldn’t get away with it I’ll do a proper review.

I’m not sure where to start but I do remember, I was already 50 pages in and all I could think was ‘I love this book’ and I did. Firstly the way it was written I loved because It was so whimsical and musical and that’s what I found amazing. Light and airy writing was used on a dark gothic tale and it worked amazingly. It also made the book a fast read, because I read it in two hours straight.

I suppose apart from the beautiful cover and the amazing trailer I would have picked up the book nevertheless as I am into this Red Riding Hood twist theme at the moment, having, only last week, read Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce, so if you loved Red Riding Hood you’ll Love Sisters Red and the same applies for the other way round.

I don’t know why but I when I think of the book the first word that comes to mind is Beautiful and it is in so many ways, the writing, the story, the imagination. The thing I love about this book is that it doesn’t start of slow, explaining the 5 W’s or the characters background, it just jumps straight in with action and it’s a thrill. The books is a wonderful and magickal fairy tale with a dark and nocturnal twist. Absolutely fantastic.

It follows the story of a town plagued by the curse of a werewolf, in which every month a sacrifice must be made to keep the Wolf at bay, but as the Blood Moon wanes the Wolf attacks, its aim to change Valarie, the main character, who is part of a love triangle and so to speak the ‘different one’.

Now in the book it doesn’t reveal who the WereWolf actually is (you’d want to know this because early in the book it’s confirmed that the wolf is one of the citizens of the town), but there is a bonus chapter online at redridinghoodbook.co.uk , and boy it’s amazing. I’m not going to say who the werewolf is, because it’s so shocking but I will tell you: {SPOILER ALERT} It’s not Peter.

My Favourite character is in Deadlock because I like both Peter and Henry, I mean they both love Valarie but they are both opposites. Peter is the dark, dangerous and has the broodingly good looks, but Henry is the baby faced rich one, who is slightly less handsome with his divine look. To be honest I hated Father Solomon from the moment he arrived and if you don’t mind the language he is a complete B*STARD. He thinks he’s all godly but he just a cannibalistic, barbaric, twonk with a cold heart. Again please mind the language...

Comparing it to the movie it is a fantastic novel and red it a million times I will, so honestly I truly adored this book.