Book Review – Page 47 – The Constellation of Moon

Onyx & Ivory Review

Posted on August 18, 2018

Onyx & Ivory by Mindee Arnett

They call her Traitor Kate. It’s a title Kate Brighton inherited from her father after he tried to assassinate the high king years ago. Now Kate lives as an outcast, clinging to the fringes of society as a member of the Relay, the imperial courier service. Only those most skilled in riding and bow hunting ride for the Relay; and only the fastest survive, for when dark falls, the nightdrakes—deadly flightless dragons—come out to hunt. Fortunately, Kate has a secret edge: she is a wilder, born with magic that allows her to influence the minds of animals. But it’s this magic that she needs to keep hidden, as being a wilder is forbidden, punishable by death or exile. And it’s this magic that leads her to a caravan massacred by nightdrakes in broad daylight—the only survivor her childhood friend, her first love, the boy she swore to forget, the boy who broke her heart.

The high king’s second son, Corwin Tormane, never asked to lead. Even as he waits for the uror—the once-in-a-generation ritual to decide which of the king’s children will succeed him—he knows it’s always been his brother who will assume the throne. And that’s fine by him. He’d rather spend his days away from the palace, away from the sight of his father, broken with sickness from the attempt on his life. But the peacekeeping tour Corwin is on has given him too much time to reflect upon the night he saved his father’s life—the night he condemned the would-be killer to death and lost the girl he loved. Which is why he takes it on himself to investigate rumors of unrest in one of the remote city-states, only for his caravan to be attacked—and for him to be saved by Kate.

With their paths once more entangled, Kate and Corwin have to put the past behind them. The threat of drakes who attack in the daylight is only the beginning of a darker menace stirring in the kingdom—one whose origins have dire implications for Kate’s father’s attack upon the king and will thrust them into the middle of a brewing civil war in the kingdom of Rime.

Rating:

Buddy read again, and yes that is an exclusive edition from LitJoy that has extra artwork and is signed.

One of the things that puzzles me about the book is the title. Onyx & Ivory, black and white. But nothing in this book is black and/or white. I mean of course there are things that are one colour or the other, but the book is more about all the nuances of things than about it being black or white.

Nevermind, that is me musing over semantics and choice of words.

I enjoyed this book, I started feeling for Pip (which was a heartbreaking start), found Signe to be the right kind of fun friend to have (even if she is herself and well, sometimes that is a bit too much).

The way Kate (and Corwin too) grows through the story was one fo my favourite things. As she is trying to figure out what she wants out of life and trying to shake off the whole “Traitor Kate”.

Another thing I really liked was how not everything happens in one day or just in a couple of days. But rather it feels more natural to have a longer time span for events to happen which for once didn’t make me think “instantaneous” but rather go “oh yeah, makes sense”.

And of course I now need the next book because that ending left me wanting to just plunge into the next book.

Moon recommends

Reading Onyx and Ivory, and something slightly similar would be Heart of Thorns (the same feeling but not the same story and each is unique).

Book Review

Heart of Thorns Review

Posted on August 12, 2018

Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton

In the ancient river kingdom, touch is a battlefield, bodies the instruments of war. Seventeen-year-old Mia Rose has pledged her life to hunting Gwyrach: women who can manipulate flesh, bones, breath, and blood.

Not women. Demons. The same demons who killed her mother without a single scratch.

But when Mia’s father suddenly announces her marriage to the prince, she is forced to trade in her knives and trousers for a sumptuous silk gown. Only after the wedding goes disastrously wrong does she discover she has dark, forbidden magic—the very magic she has sworn to destroy.

Rating:

I buddy read this book and of course I ended up pulling a “Moon” (this means I stuck to the buddy read for a few days and then finished the book instead of stopping at the designated place). However, it has been one of our most positive buddy reads, and I was enjoying this book a lot.

One of my favourite things is that some of the cliche roles are reversed, and how Mia starts managing/understanding feelings. Her growth and her naivity were interesting.

Also, without spoiling, that ending left me wanting so much more and also there were a lot of twists that were unexpected. (How can you review this and explain how much they surprised you when you want to skip spoilers?!)

Moon recommends

Why not give this book a try? I’d also like to recommend The Last Namsara, or The Hero and The Crown, all of them with great “heroines” that learn a lot about themselves and magic through this (sadly Heart of Thorns doesn’t have dragons, which the other two do).

Book Review

A Sky Painted Gold Review

Posted on August 6, 2018

A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood

Growing up in her sleepy Cornish village dreaming of being a writer, sixteen-year-old Lou has always wondered about the grand Cardew house which has stood empty for years. And when the owners arrive for the summer – a handsome, dashing brother and sister – Lou is quite swept off her feet and into a world of moonlit cocktail parties and glamour beyond her wildest dreams.

But, as she grows closer to the Cardews, is she abandoning her own ambitions… And is there something darker lurking at the heart of the Cardew family?

A gorgeously dreamy coming-of-age romance set against a stunning Gatsby-esque backdrop, this is perfect for fans of I Capture the Castle and Eva Ibbotson.

Rating:

Reader, I have a confession to make.

I do not like The Great Gatsby.

And with that preamble, let me tell you that despite being labelled as a The Great Gatsby for teenagers/young adults, this book is not to be compared with Gatsby. Why? Because it is SO much better.

There is a lot of focus on family, familiar love, specially between siblings, and each relationship is written with care. It shows and it is part of what shines in this book. The characters are endearing even if they aren’t always good.

And as much as there is romance in the book, it isn’t the only thing. The story flows, and it makes you swing and dance with it, it takes you on a journey that you don’t want to stop. And when you reach the end you want to cry of joy.

Moon recommends

Read this book, regardless of your love/hate/neutral for The Great Gatsby. I also recommend trying some of Eva Ibbotson’s books. They’re the same kind of lovely.

Book Review

Pretty Bad Liars?

Posted on August 4, 2018

All of this is true by Lygia Day Peñaflor

Miri, Penny and Soleil have been friends since seventh grade, attending the same classes at the same private school, looking at the same boys, arranging the same hyped parties, and most important of all, sharing the love for the novel Undertow, and worshipping its author. One day the girls, together with their new friend Jonah, goes to an Undertow-signing. The author, Fatima Ro, is everything they hoped she would be, and as if that wasn’t enough, she want’s the little high school gang to become “her new people”. Hanging out at Fatima’s soon becomes the new normal, but all relationships isn’t what they first seems to be, and conflicts, lies, and hidden agendas are boiling right under the surface. It all comes down to the question: Who can you really trust to keep your secrets?

Rating 🐖🐖🐖

This is exactly the kind of page turning mystery story that I do l.o.v.e. It’s similar to Pretty Little Liars and a lot of other YA-books, with the plot building up around a well-kept secret that you spend the time reading to try to figure out. In All of this is true, this premise also shines through in how the book is disposed and written. It consists exclusively of TV-interviews with the girls, excerpts from Fatima Ro’s new book, email-conversations, and news paper articles about the unraveling scandal that’s at the center of the story.

I strongly liked this disposition, as it added to the jigsaw format of the plot itself. What I didn’t like was that the book felt a bit thin. Not in size or number of pages, but plot wise. After all, the “big secret” in this one was quite easy to figure out, and once it was exposed, there wasn’t much more to the story.

This book could easily have been a five pigs-read for me, if there had been just a liiiittle more dept; to the characters, and to the events that took place, i.e. in terms of psychological explanations or theories. ‘Cause at the end of this books, all my “how’s” were answered, but all my “why’s” where just left there hanging. And that’s really like ripping out the last chapter of a really good thriller, isn’t it?

Dr. Bea approves

If you want more mysteries, I recommend you to read One of us is lying by Karen M. McManus. (Moral wise I had some troubles with that one, to be honest, but oh was it an exciting five pig-read.)

Book Review

I Have Lost My Way Review

Posted on August 2, 2018

I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman

A powerful display of empathy and friendship from the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of If I Stay. Around the time that Freya loses her voice while recording her debut album, Harun is making plans to run away from home to find the boy that he loves, and Nathaniel is arriving in New York City after a family tragedy leaves him isolated on the outskirts of Washington state. After the three of them collide in Central Park, they slowly reveal the parts of their past that they haven’t been able to confront, and together, they find their way back to who they’re supposed to be. Told over the course of a single day from three different perspectives, Gayle Forman’s newest novel about the power of friendship and being true to who you are is filled with the elegant prose that her fans have come to know and love.

Rating:

Gayle’s books shine for a few things, and this one doesn’t loose those marvelous pros. Which ones? One, it is an easy read. The writing is easy to read, it doesn’t require you to concentrate like crazy because you may miss something, and it is just quick and easy and enjoyable.

Another one is her view of humanity and gaining introspectives on yourself through watching, interacting and being with others. This particular book shines a lot on that front. Mind you, I say yourself, but it is meant to be the fact that it happens as the characters exist and move along the story, but it affects you too as you go alongside them.

There is usually music involved in one way or another in the narrative which I kind of like because it makes it “normal”, and it makes it a part of everything.

All in all, a nice lovely book about finding your way, and remembering why you are doing things. (It is less punch-y than some of her other books but that doesn’t take away from this one).

Moon recommends

I am not big on contemporary books, but I can recommend I Have Lost My Way, or if you want to try more of her books you can start the If I Stay “series”.

Book Review

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe Review

Posted on July 31, 2018

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to – someone who is light years away?

Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth – with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.

Their only communication with each other is via email – and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.

But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?

Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone . . .

Rating:

Romy is very very lonely, and it is interesting to try to figure out exactly why she ended up being so alone (that is one part of the story in itself). Which as much as sometimes I want to be left alone I do not want it that bad.

Then she starts receiving messages from someone called J in the new ship and she starts to get slightly confused by it. But there are also some other messages coming to her and she has to figure things out.

I have to admit I quickly knew or guessed the “twist” but it was still good and very well done. Romy was awesome and it showed well her lack of company and just how lonely she was and the way hope changes her at times. The writing flows as you read so you want to keep reading, trying to find out what exactly is going to happen and when.

Moon recommends

Of course, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. If you like space themed books, then Elizabeth Moon’s are a good choice, or you can try Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers books.

Book Review

There’s something in the woods …

Posted on July 29, 2018

The River at Night by Erica Ferencik [book pictured in Swedish]

Winifred and her friends Pia, Rachel and Sandra have known each other since they were really young (and sometimes got really drunk). Now they’re all grown ups, with teenage kids, ex-husbands and full-time jobs. But every now and then, they go on vacations together, or rather on (often dangerous) adventures. This time they’re aiming at a full week of exploring the wilderness of Main. They start off with a white water rafting tour, that doesn’t end up anywhere near what the girls planned … After that, it’s all about surviving, in the deep forest. Alone. Or are they really?

Rating 🐖🐖🐖🐖

I got recommended The River at Night by a friend, and started the book without any particular expectations. Every now and then I like my average thriller, but by this book, I was pleasantly surprised. You see, this is a deeply unsettling thriller, without it being gory. I was just really scared (in an exciting and page turning way) throughout this whole read. It also totally got that Stephen King-claustrophobic thing that I love going on.

I found the book to be well written and interesting both when it came to the scary “something is watching us”-parts and concerning the “we have been friends forever and this is our life stories”-passages. And that is, in my opinion, quiet unusual when it comes to thrillers. It certainly helped to build up the story in an interesting way, since I wanted to know more both about the characters back stories, and about how everything was going to end.

The only remark I have is that I wish the author had dragged out the beginning of the story for a bit longer. ‘Cause those moments before everything escalates, is almost always the most creepy part of uncanny stories like this.

Dr. Bea approves

If you liked this book, you will probably also enjoy In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. It’s packed with intrusive forest environments, life long friendships, and conflicts boiling just under the surface.

Book Review

The Hunger Games meets Jurassic Park

Posted on July 27, 2018

The Extinction Trials by S. M. Wilson

The continent of Earthasia is overpopulated, and the cities are full to the brim. It’s gotten to the point where people work in shifts in order to be able to share beds, sleeping in assigned hours during either the day or the night. Food is lacking, health care is non-existent, and the crowded cities are plagued by a rapidly spreading disease no one knows how to cure. But there might be a solution to all this suffering.

Just across the (somewhat deadly) ocean, the untouched continent of Piloria is sprawling. There’s clean air, endless space, and a plenitude of eatable plants. The only problem is that Piloria already is populated. By people-eating dinosaurs.

Rating 🐖🐖🐖🐖🐖

The Extinction Trials has been described as a fusion of The Hunger Games and Jurassic Park, and after having read the book, that depiction feels point on. This is a dystopian adventure story, fast paced and plot-driven, but it’s also resting on a fine net of personal background stories and political conflicts.

The two main characters of the story, Stormchaser and Lincoln, both tells their life stories while competing in the insane trials to qualify for the (even more insane) Piloria-expedition. Together with the ongoing adventure, these stories, and secrets, contribute to further reflections about life and extinction, as well as that of human rights, unfair rulers, and a not too comfortable but alarmingly possible future if we keep on treating our planet this way. But unlike Jurassic Park, which I recently wrote a review about, those discussions doesn’t take over the novels story. So for those of you that are just looking for some good old velociraptor action: you won’t be left disappointed.

In my opinion, The Extinction Trials is the perfect dystopian adventure. It’s trustworthy, it’s emotional, it’s full of political tension, and it’s packed with hungry dinosaurs. There’s simply nothing more to wish for.

Dr. Bea approves

If you want more dystopia, check out The Lunar Chronicals or Outwalkers. And if you just can’t get enough of dinosaurs, this surprisingly new book may float your goat.

Book Review

It Only Happens in the Movies Review

Posted on July 25, 2018

It Only Happens In The Movies by Holly Bourne

Audrey is over romance. Since her parents’ relationship imploded her mother’s been catatonic, so she takes a cinema job to get out of the house. But there she meets wannabe film-maker Harry. Nobody expects Audrey and Harry to fall in love as hard and fast as they do. But that doesn’t mean things are easy. Because real love isn’t like the movies…

The greatest love story ever told doesn’t feature kissing in the snow or racing to airports. It features pain and confusion and hope and wonder and a ban on cheesy clichés. Oh, and zombies… YA star Holly Bourne tackles real love in this hugely funny and poignant novel.

Rating:

My absolutely favourite thing about this book was the ending. I was buddy reading with a friend and kept commenting on how I didn’t want x or y in the ending, and Holly delivered. It couldn’t be a more perfect ending to the book.

Basically this book redeemed my quickly draining love for contemporary books (as I get older and read more and more, the less I like contemporaries, they are just meh and feel like the same book over and over with minimal changes. Holly however gave me something different and wow me!)

Also, it was great to see more of the family in a way and how things weren’t great for Audrey and she couldn’t do much about it (because sometimes that’s life and it sucks).

Moon recommends

Cheek It Only Happens in the Movies, oh and get some popcorn with it, you’ll crave it!

Book Review

The Life + Death Parade Review

Posted on July 23, 2018

The Life + Death Parade by Eliza Wass

One year ago, Kitty’s boyfriend Nikki Bramley visited a psychic who told him he had no future. Now, he’s dead.

With the Bramley family grieving in separate corners of their home, Kitty sets out to find the psychic who read Nikki his fate. Instead she finds Roan, an enigmatic boy posing as a medium who belongs to the Life and Death Parade–a group of supposed charlatans that explore, and exploit, the thin veil between this world and the next. A group whose members include the psychic… and Kitty’s late mother.

Desperate to learn more about the group and their connection to Nikki, Kitty convinces Roan to return to the Bramley house with her and secures a position for him within the household. Roan quickly ingratiates himself with the Bramleys, and soon enough it seems like everyone is ready to move on. Kitty, however, increasingly suspects Roan knows more about Nikki than he’s letting on. And when they finally locate the Life and Death Parade, and the psychic who made that fateful prophecy to Nikki, Kitty uncovers a secret about Roan that changes everything.

From rising star Eliza Wass comes a sophisticated, mesmerizing meditation on the depths of grief and the magic of faith. After all, it only works if you believe it.

Rating:

This was a very weird one to read. It felt unhinged, unstable, as if it wasn’t sure of where the story wanted to go and if there was a story at all.

The characters all feel forced and too fake (it’s not even that they feel like far from reach can’t relate to them, it is more that they are just there to fulfill a role in the plot but they never really are fleshed out).

Even Nikki, who is Kitty’s love interest and basically the main topic of the whole book (there’s is SO much about him) felt vague and odd.

Won’t spoil it but I have to say I finished and felt I didn’t know what I had read and it just left me very unsatisfied, as if there shoudl’ve been a few more editing parts of it, and this was only a draft where an info/idea/plot dump had happened. (Sorry, I don’t usually write reviews like this one but I seriously tried to like this book, being Mexican, books where life & death are the topics intrigue me which is why I got this one, but it did nothing for me).

Moon Recommends

Go watch Coco or The Book of Life and have some fun if you’re into cute death. Or you can read Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and learn about what happens once someone dies and crematoriums (I thoroughly enjoyed it).