THE BONE SEASON - SAMANTHA SHANNON - REVIEW

Book: The Bone Season
Author: Samantha Shannon
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 9781408836422
Rating: A

The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people's minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing. It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford - a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die. The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine and also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a bold new reality in this riveting debut.

Phenomenal.

I got the email about this book and even though it was New Adult I knew I had to read it. The story idea itself had me gripped and just reading some of the glowing praises left me hungry for this. I admit when It popped though the letterbox I was a teeny bit daunted by the size of it but I do not regret reading it. It's such a quick, amazing novel you'll barely notice time fly by as you're sucked into Shannon's stunning world.

The plot of this is so unique and such a killer story that not once will you be bored. We follow Paige Mahoney, through a dystopian world in which Clairvoyants exist in society and are shunned. She find out she is a Clairvoyant, but unlike typical YA she's known for a while. anyway she get's taken to a place called Sheol - not going to talk about this part because there are too many spoilers - and she falls in love {though romance plays a pretty low key in this) and they uprise and leave you on a cliffhanger, thirsty for book 2. What I loved about this is whilst maintaining the main theme of Fantasy, the novel wove in some many other genre's like Romance, Dystopia and even a little Sci-fi.
The plot really was unique. The whole story covered everything you want to know and although it's a series It hast left me with any major unexplained questions apart from what happens next. The whole story flowed extremely nicely and all made sense, and like I said it contained all the memories and thoughts you needed for all the answers to explained, whilst still keeping you interested. The separate parts of the story were seamlessly interwoven and every chapter has so much actions and mystery there wasn't a day that went by when I wouldn't stay up to read this.

The setting of this was quite unusual. The inner cities I've found fairly normal as far as future Dystopian cities go but Sheol, the main fantasy location - and where the majority of the novel was based - was built up on an already existing places so it was interesting to see how Oxford was transformed into this new eccentric and fantastical setting. even iconic location like Port Meadow were completely redesigned and I think the use of current locations with twists really helps to build up he we see the settings because we already have a basic idea of what the lace should look like.
Beyond that though I think it's fait to Say Shannon has mastered the art of World Building. This way she creates the new world, the way the whole style of the Sheol builds up is perfection. I liked how instead of taking key design features from time periods Shannon created her own and her new world was truly her own. Every idea and concept was perfectly drawn from Shannon's imagination and pushed into ours and it just worked perfectly.

The writing of this was on a whole other level. I'm not sure I can even quite describe it. Whilst keeping very neutral and very balanced it still had that certain type of personality that marked it as Shannon's. Shannon s definitely a very skilled writer and looking at her background - she studied English Language at Oxford - I wouldn't expect any less. The writing was a pleasure to read. The words were well crafted and the story flowed, one chapter leading on from another. She used the perfect words in both description and dialogue and the way the images and scenes built in my mind were just glorious. This whole novel is just dripping with talent.

The Characters. Well what makes this interesting in it's own way is that within the set of characters there were different species, and yet again Shannon has managed another amazing feat in this novel. She has successfully and believably created her special (Rephaim) and created them in such a way there is nothing to question. One things I loved about this book is that although there was a lot of supernatural elements these elements were all explained and had reason which made them more real to me. More real than a book where the author says there is no explanation, it's magic because it is. Another interesting aspect of this was that although there were only a small set of main characters is that the set of main characters changed as the novel progressed, always with Paige at the front though.
The characters were all explained, history and all revealed, though I still feel like Shannon will hit us with more surprises and new secrets in book 2. The characters were formed well in our minds and the emotional connection were there but like with any book 2 I think we'll see everyone's true colours in the sequel which is something I'm raring for.

So this is one of those book that there are so many words to describe it with but even then they're not enough. Because quite honestly The Bone Season left me speechless.

Phenomenal.

GODDESS - JOSEPHINE ANGELINI - REVIEW + GIVEAWAY

Book: Goddess
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: PanMacmillan
ISBN: 9780330529761
Rating: A

She must rise, or they will fall ...Helen's powers are increasing--and so is the distance between her and her mortal friends. To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a dangerous traitor is lurking among them, and all fingers point to Orion. Still unsure whether she loves him or Lucas, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, or risk all-out war. The final book in this heart-stopping trilogy.

Angelini you genius. You are the master of all things amazing. You know what, you should be the Goddess of writing because this was truly magical. Every single book in this series has been better than it's baby sister and this one topped the lot. By miles the best finale of a series I've read for a long. Absolutely perfect in every mannerism or characteristic. Listen up authors, because this is how you end a saga.

So in the we follow Helen on her quest [kind of] to stop the war and trust me, Angelini is queen of surprises, twists and turns. She has mastered the art of it and I have come to the conclusion that Authors sit there in general and basically do this. Author: Okay, I need to kill someone off. Who do the fans love the most. So I guess spoiler alert but there is so much shock in this plot. In fact it's one of the most intricate, perfect,  jam packed and well crafted plots I have had the pleasure to read for a long time. I mean this was perfect. The story was just everything you'd want from this book. The magic, the gods, the romance. It's a package deal and you're getting the best part of it.

The setting varied. We had Nantucket Island, Underworld and Everyland (Which I can't tell you about). All of these we masterfully created and Angelini's beautiful use of description helped this magical places to blossom in our minds. Everyworld in itself is pure perfection and the way it's portrayed is beautiful. In fact we view all the setting in a new light within this book. Nantucket becomes a battleground and The underworld becomes and escapism or a safe place almost.

The characters... well this is possibly going to be a massive paragraph. I'm not sure if what Angelini did with the characters was Genius or pure evil. There was so much suspense and shock with each and every characters. So many personality changes, emotional changes, physical changes at Matt changes. As well as some new characters and people becoming completely new characters, they generally stayed the the same, and because it's the final book we discover the true origins of all the scions and who all their real god-parents are. In fact they way Angelini has created the characters is one of the cleverest things in the book, completely throwing of trail of what you'd expect.
My favourite character in this novel is Helen hands down. Andi was a close runner but Helen is just full thrust awesomeness. The power, the magic, and just everything we learn about her makes her the most perfect character in every way and the best heroine a novel can have!

The writing is something Angelini always impresses with. I love her use of description to build up vivid images in you mind. I love descriptive book so this was perfect for me. It doesn't drag on but finds the equilibrium between description and dialogue to make the story so crisp in you mind. Her writing also has they beautiful whimsical tone to it whilst still be strong and hard hitting.
Another thing I've loved about her writing, since book 1, is that Aneglini writes in such a way it's one of those book you can pick up anywhere, anytime, even for 5 minutes and completely slip into and indulge in the story, and trust me, there's a lot to indulge in.

{SPOILER} The scenes in this story are sublime, but my favourite has to be when Helen saves dying lucas and makes her own atlantis, every land. The way she builds up the world, makes herself immortal and captures Zeus in it, is just so masterfully crafted. And another favourite scene is when Helen and Lucas find out they're not cousin! YAY! {SPOILER OVER}

So yes, there's a lot to love about this book and saying goodbye is going to be hard. It was a stunning masterpiece that had me from page 1. Theres death, romance, mythology and the finest ingredients for the epic finale. But I guess it's farewell to this series. The most magical story of the year. Hands down.

GIVEAWAY!
Now you can enter a UK ONLY giveaway to win Goddess by Josephine Angelini! Either go to the giveaway page here on enter the form below!

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GODDESS - JOSEPHINE ANGELINI - GIVEAWAY - UK ONLY

Hi Guys! So to celebrate the release of Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed Finale: Goddess, we will be running a giveaway! Simply enter below! The competition will run from today (07/05/2013) and ends on 23/05/2013 - the release date! All you have to do is enter below and may the gods be ever in your favour! UK entrants only please!

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LIFE AFTER THEFT - APRILYNNE PIKE - REVIEW

Book: Life After Theft
Author: Aprilynne Pike
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780007515554
Rating: A

Kimberlee's dead. Has been for a while, actually. Stuck haunting the halls of her high school, she's doomed to an afterlife of boredom. That is until the new kid shows up. The first thing Jeff spots is Kimberlee lying on the floor as other students walk right through her. Pretty soon she's harangued him into helping her escape to the afterlife. Kimberlee guesses that once Jeff rights her mean girl wrongs she'll be able to move on. But nothing is simple in life after death...Clash meets sass in this uproarious modern-day retelling of Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, by #1 New York Times bestselling author.

Well where do I start with this. This left me speechless. I loved Pike's Wings series so when I saw this I was excited. Not only because it sounded amazing but also because it was rather different from here previous series, as all to often authors stick to the same sort of thing! This book however is absolutely perfect and I couldn't fault it.

The story follows Jeff, a boy who has moved to a new place and has started seeing a ghost. She is Kimberly the ex, queen bee of the school, hated by most, loved by some and she has a problem. She stole too much and Jeff has to return it all. Now this book had the romance factor in it too but it wasn't just thrown in there for the sake of it. It was actually very clever and worked with the overall plot really well, adding an extra charm to it. In fact the plot was fantastic! It was nicely fast paced, making it a wonderful read, whilst being very real and grounded but still exhilarating me completely. I feel like when authors go down the route of ghosts there's a couple of ways to go but this ghost story was crafted perfectly, and don't let 'ghost story' put you off because it's a completely new addition to the sub-genre.

The writing is so beautiful and I think because Pike previously wrote such a stunning series her writing really hone through in this. The way she manipulated words makes for a very whimsical and beautiful read whilst still having punch and and good hit! The way the world and characters materialise in you mind is absolutely perfect. When I was reading i didn't feel like I was reading anything at all. I felt as if it was all natural and as if I was in the book watching the story unfold. This honestly is one of the most perfectly balanced books when talking about the balance between description and dialogue, that I have read in a long time and provided a truly magical prose.

I liked the characters in this because they were all so unique and independent. All of them, say for Kim, were strong alone but stronger in Unity. Another things that struck me as good, was the fact that we got a lot of back story to all the characters. Of course the characters were well formed anyway but backstories and true colours of characters aren't usually revealed till a sequel but in this we got too see everyones history which was a really nice addition. There were a small circle of characters in it but the main were 4 characters, with semi mains characters appearing every now and then. 

Honestly the works that strikes me about this book is: Perfect. I couldn't fault, not at all. Reading this book, it was nice to see a whole new side to Pike and I think she has proved herself as an incredibly worthy author. I will most definitely be reading anything she writes and I look forward to seeing whatever she brings along next. This book was bliss to read and I would do so a thousand times.

ICONS - MARGARET STOHL - REVIEW

Book: Icons
Author: Margaret Stohl
Publisher: HarperVoyager
ISBN: 9780007520831
Rating: A

The first book in a breathtaking new series from Beautiful Creatures co-author Margaret Stohl Your heart beats only with their permission. Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting. Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside - safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid. She's different. She survived. Why? When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy. Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions - which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses - may actually be their greatest strengths. Bestselling author Margaret Stohl delivers the first book in a heart-pounding series set in a haunting new world where four teens must piece together the mysteries of their pasts - in order to save the future.

Where do I begin with this. I was anticipating this for a long time and the moment it arrived I read it in a night. This book is crammed full with every single thing you could want. Action, romance, sic-fi, dystopian. Just everything.

The plot was really interesting, because although it was dystopian it had a sic-fi crossover which was really nice. In fact sci-fi is starting to make a break in the YA market and surprisingly I'm loving it! The  story is really unique and is set in a sort of post apocalyptic world, in which aliens have taken over and there are four children with marking that save them. To sum it up it's I am number four meets the host meets divergent. Three of my favourite book so naturally I loved it.
We followed a girl named Dol [oria] and how she is ripped from the safety of the hideouts and plunged into a the governments hands. We follow her as she makes allies and enemies and learns to use her powers.
The plot is so fun. Fun is because i mean it has absolutely everything. It's such a unique idea and so perfect in every way. It satisfied all my needs, with action, tech, dystopia, romance and powers. I couldn't stop reading. Every way through the book i was intrigued and every chapter had me reading the next. Impossible to put down. Every last drop of it. It thrilled me, it made me sad, it evoked everything a book should and at the end I was lost, because an amazing book had ended I had nothing left to do.

I knew that the writing would be different, because this time it was all Stohl and no Garcia. I was not disappointed. The writing held a certain charm about it, whimsical yet hard hitting and fast. It build vivd and crisp images in your mind and scenes which played out easily. The description was so beautiful and because of the focus of the book being on emotions, the emotional description made you so connected. The dialogue was perfect and each characters really shone through.
Stohl handled action scenes really well, because sometimes authors an pace them too fast, but not once did i find me self wanting to go back or pace down. Every single page of this book had me going and drinking the novel up. 

Setting. As for setting the world is overrun and destroyed and thirteen main cities remain, governed my ambassador chosen by the aliens. The book is predominantly set in LA, or what's left of it, but in the government building, not the ram shackled down under city called the 'hole'. Though in the beginning we find ourselves in a rebellion hideout, so the speak. The locations were so perfect In every aspect, that you wanted to be there every part of the way. Just the way Stohl created this world had me intrigued and captivated.

All the characters in this book were created to perfection. I really think the focus of emotion helped us to connect to the characters and become them and although Dol was written in first person, i felt he unique power helped us to slip into the shoes of any of the characters. The charatcers were all built up extremely well, and as the book progressed we knew them better, as they came out of their shells. That's something I loved the Stohl did. She kept the characters reserved and hostile and opened them up as the book opened up. all the characters became my friends and I loved being beside them all the way till the end.

Over all this is a stunning book and a terrific addition to the YA genre.  It was the most amazing exhilarating thrilling unique book I've read for a long time! I Loved it to smithereens and I am raring for number 2.