This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/Before I start discussing this book I must confess that I am a huge Potterhead. I might have mentioned before that I absolutely love the Harry Potter-series created by J.K. Rowling and I can’t think of a world more amazing and vividly described than the world of Hogwarts. And no matter how I’ll describe my love for these books right now, it won’t do justice to how much I am crazy about these books.
Having said that, I should also mention that I had never read fanfiction before. I’m afraid I was a bit prejudiced about the whole idea of fanfiction. I thought that writers of fanfiction were probably miserable wannabe authors whose imaginations weren’t big enough to create stories of their own. I was young and stupid. And G. Norman Lippert proved me completely wrong.
James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing is about Harry’s son James. Somehow I assumed that it was about Harry’s father which lead to quite some confusion when I started reading this. Anyway, this book is about James’ first year at Hogwarts. James reminded me of a Harry Potter who had had a fantastic childhood surrounded by loving friends and family. What left of Harry then? Well like Harry, James feels like he’s trapped in his father’s shadow. Other than that James’ past as well as this book itself weren’t as dark as Harry’s childhood or the HP-series. Other than that, James Potter #1 was immensely entertaining and most of all it was good to see how all my friends from Hogwarts were doing.
I think that is the number one reason why I enjoyed this book so much and why I would highly recommend this to anyone who misses new HP-books coming out as much as I do. I’m not saying this is as good as J.K. Rowling’s work. I think you should try as hard as you can not to compare this to the original series or you will spoil this book. But now that we’re there anyways, I do think that Lippert does not appear to be trying really hard to copy Rowling’s style of writing. His work does remind of the original style and structure used in the HP-series, but Lippert’s own way of writing is present as well. I think he created a rather neat balance between his own ideas and the expectations of hardcore Potterheads.
Also times have changed since the final Harry Potter book took place. This book is set in a time 11 years after Harry, Ron and Hermione left Hogwarts. A time where muggleborn first-years bring gameconsols to Hogwarts and where muggles have cellphones with cameras. Lippert used this freedom well.
I have so many good things to say that I’m just going to list them, otherwise this review would take on and on forever:
I did not expect Harry to participate as much in this fanfic and I was pleasantly surprised that he did.
This storyline was very well thought through and not too simple, but not too complicated either.
I enjoyed the modern twists with muggle gameconsols and such. J.K. Rowling would have never done that, with good reason of course, but I appreciate that Lippert took this risk.
All in all, Lippert’s writing is clever. As mentioned before, he took notes from Rowling and created his own style whilst hinting towards to original through the use of narratology for example.
And above all, you can download James Potter and the Hall of Elder’s Crossing as well as its two sequels for free.
Done with the class so no need to finish it anymore (for now). Really small chance I might pick it up again for fun.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.comMe and Earl and the Dying Girl is Jesse Andrews’ debut novel and I can’t wait to read more of his work in the future. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a book about a girl who has cancer that I enjoyed reading. To be honest, I am afraid of books about cancer. I’m afraid they will be too emotional and that I won’t be able to stop crying and I don’t really want to be confronted with those stories. Due to personal reasons. That’s why I haven’t read The Fault In Our Stars by John Green yet. I’m sure I’m going to read it someday, but I don’t think I’m ready yet.
But that’s not really important. What’s important is that I really enjoyed reading this book about a girl who has cancer. And that’s because of the fantastic characters who have a ridiculously great sense of humor. All of them do. But those who stand out the most are of course Greg and Earl.
Yes that’s the Earl from the title. He is by far my most favorite character from this book. But let me first tell you about what this book is about. This book is about Greg who actually wrote this book. You know what, I’m going to quote him and let him introduce himself: “My name is Greg Gaines. I am seventeen. I am the one who wrote this book. My physical appearance is unsatisfactory, and there is probably a fungus eating my brain. I’m not even sure I’m a human.” This was taken from the inside cover of this book, the story hasn’t even started yet at this point.
Greg isn’t really a writer, he is a filmmaker. And this can be seen throughout the book. Many scenes of dialogues are actually written like you are reading a script. Greg’s only friend is Earl. Well they’re not really friends according to Greg, they are more like acquaintances who make films together. And boy oh boy are their films funny. Together they end up with this girl Rachel who has been diagnosed with leukemia and the rest of the story follows.
I don’t even really care about the storyline. Don’t get me wrong, the plot is interesting and not boring at all, I liked it. But it’s not what makes this book special. What makes it special is the combination of Greg as a writer and Earl as his buddy. They are really funny on their own but put together they are able to create a tsunami of uncontrollable giggling. No matter where I was, on the train, late at night in my bed, I had to laugh out loud while reading this book.
Although I would really love if everyone would pick up this book and love it as much as I do, I know some people don’t like it because of the mature content. It’s not like things happen in this book that’s not really suitable for younger audiences, it’s more the language that people are concerned about. Or to quote Greg once more: “Earl can be sort of profane sometimes. He’s actually mellowed out a lot since his middle school days, believe it or not.” And then he gives us some examples that I won’t repeat here. But you get the drill. If you don’t like the use of an occasional curse word, I wouldn’t recommend this book to you. I’m not a great user of curse words or explicit language or anything, but I do think that the use of it in this book only added to the high level of hilarity of it.
All in all I give it four out of five stars. I really enjoyed reading this book because it was so hilarious but I wasn’t so impressed with the story itself that I would give this book a full five out of five. I would still highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a good laugh. Or anyone who wants to add another gorgeous book to their bookshelves.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/As soon as I read the blurb on the cover of Matched, I knew I had to read it.
“On her seventeenth birthday, Cassia meets her match. Society dictates he is her perfect partner for life. Except he’s not.”
Except he is.
Cassia lives in a dystopian society where everything is sorted out for you. Where you live, where you work and who you marry. Cassia has been best friends with Xander since they were little babies. And guess what – this is not a spoiler because it happens on like page 15 – Cassia is Matched to Xander. And let me tell you, Xander is quite a catch. First of all, they are best friends. They have the best relationship together, they are thick as thieves. Xander is funny, good looking and other girls seem to be into him. But Cassia isn’t of course. No, she has to fall in love with another guy (this happens on page 35, so it’s not really a spoiler either). She could live happily ever after with Prince Charming but she has to go all Katniss Everdeen on Society.
That’s the problem I have with this book. The society (aka “ the Society”) created by Ally Condie isn’t terrible enough. Sure, it is awful that people can’t choose who they want to marry, how many children they want to have and when they’ll die. But the thing is, this society takes great care in sorting everything out. They’ll Match you with literally your perfect match. All their efforts seem to be in your interest. Keeping the destroying of almost every piece of art aside, this dystopian society isn’t terrible enough to motivate Cassia’s rebellion.
I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t mind love triangles and who’s looking forward to reading a trilogy about a dystopian society. Matched is the first book in this trilogy and I feel like the Society will get more horrible throughout the series.
I don’t think that I will read the next two books in this trilogy because Cassia choosing Ky over Xander and risking so much to be with him, made me really dislike her. It’s illogical why she would chose Ky over Xander when Xander is so much more likeable than Ky. This was too much for me to be able to enjoy this book, but if you think you wouldn’t mind that so much, I would definitely give it a go.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.comI wanted to read this book for a long long time. And when I finally started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. Literally. I only stopped reading when I absolutely had to, like when I had to go to uni or to the bathroom. But other than that, I read like a crazy maniac on October 10, 2012.
Although I’m not quite the expert yet on books –I know when I’m enjoying one and when I’m not– I am able to say that this book is very special. We got a special one over here. I feel like this book is already becoming a contemporary classic. Or maybe it already is, I’m not so sure.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a collection of letters from Charlie, a 15-year old boy who’s pretty awkward around people and super sensitive. He feels all the feels all the time, basically. He sends these letters from August 1991 to August 1992 to an unnamed receiver, which is most likely you (the reader)!
This book is the ultimate coming-of-age story, if you’d ask me. There are so many issues brought up in this book. And I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it has your typical problems with drugs and alcohol and sexuality to Juno-like situations and child abuse. It has a lot. In under 250 pages. And surprisingly, it wasn’t overwhelming at all.
I gave this book four out of five stars because I really liked, but I feel like it has much more to it than I got out of it. Does that make sense? I feel like I’m going to enjoy this book even more when I’m reading it for the second time. I probably went through it too quickly, I’m afraid. I feel like I’ve seen a glimpse of the awesomeness and beauty of this book whilst racing through it. And the reason I didn’t slow down is the storyline in which so many things are going on. I just wanted to know more and more and more.
What I also really liked was the way in which this book has been written. Charlie is a very unique character and through his letters we get to know him in the best and most honest way. These letters are really written by Charlie and his character can be seen in almost every sentence.
What also made this book special were these little moment of recognition. Please don’t judge me when I say that I could totally relate to not only Charlie at some times, but also to his sister, Sam and other characters throughout this book.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a must-read for any teenager. I know I will be giving this book for Christmas to basically everyone I know. No, that’s not really true, but I would if I could. My point is, that this book is a very special book and if you haven’t read it yet I highly recommend you do.
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This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.comThis is a review of City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I tried my best to keep this review spoiler-free. I hope you’ll enjoy it!
I had seen this book pop up on my updates-feed on goodreads so many times, that when I came across it at my library, I had to take it home with me. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to reading this book, but I wanted to find out what the fuss was about. It seems that people either hate or love this book. And I ended up kind of loving it.
City of Bones is the first instalment in the Mortal Instruments series. What I really liked about this book from the start is that it is set in modern times in New York City. Of course, many books are set in New York City (the Princess Diaries for example, a series I absolutely love, by the way) but this is fantasy. I had never read fantasy before that’s set in NYC, but maybe that's just me.
Anyway, City of Bones is about a teenage girl named Clary Fray whose mother is super overprotective and whose father died before she was even born. When she goes out clubbin’ with her homie Simon - who’s like a brother to her – she sees three teenagers kill this creepy dude. These three killers turn out to be Shadowhunters. “What are Shadowhunters?” you ask? If you really want to find out, I suggest you read this book, but in short: Shadowhunters are part angel, part demon fighting warriors. They're pretty badass and they basically protect us humans – or mundanes, as they like to call us – from demons. Which is pretty nice of them, isn’t it?
Clary is pretty freaked out after witnessing a murder. Unfortunately, this isn't the last time Clary encounters Shadowhunters, because soon her mother disappears and she gets attacked by a demon herself.
This book is filled with hilarious dialogues and fast-paced action sequences. Perhaps it’s just me, but I thought the action scenes were rather bloody. I didn’t mind it, but I guess I’m not used to it. What I also really liked about this book were the characters. I must admit that not all of them were very original, but more on that later. I really liked the fact that so many characters dropped by in the storyline. You’ve got your five main characters: Clary, Simon, Jace, Isabelle and Alec. But there are also many characters that are only present for like a chapter or two, like Magnus Bane and Raphael. And I hope that, if those characters survived the first book, they’ll reappear in one of the others books in the series as well.
Those who hate on this book say, amongst many other things, that this book is very predictable. Now I did feel for the first half of the book, that I knew exactly what was going to happen. And I did predict several developments of the plot correctly. But the last 100 pages or so completely made up for that, because it contained one big plot twist and a couple of small ones. My mind was pretty blown after that plot twist. And I really enjoyed that.
Another thing the haters argue is that many elements of City of Bones were copied and slightly altered from the Harry Potter-series. I did read somewhere on the interwebs – and we all know how reliable that information is – that Clare originally started writing Harry Potter fan fiction. And that some paragraphs from those works were altered and used in City of Bones. Furthermore, I am able to recognize elements from Harry Potter in this book if I pay close attention to it. But I don’t really want to. And I recommend you to not do so either, if you just want to get a good read out of this book.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I’m definitely going to read the other ones in the series. I love reading about fantasy worlds that exist in our “real” world and the world of the Shadowhunters is a good example of that, although it might resemble the world of Harry Potter a little. Maybe that is exactly why I liked this book so much. After all I love the Harry Potter-books with all my heart and more!
I read this a couple of years ago and I remember really loving it. I'm definitely going to reread this one.
I would give this book 3,5 stars, but it isn't quite worth the full four stars, so I went ahead with three instead. I did enjoy reading it, it wasn't at all what I expected it to be. Mind you, I had no clue what this book was really going to be about though.
Absolutely loved every page of this book! I am definitely going to write a proper review, because this book deserves one. But I'm not entirely sure what I loved so much about this book. So in order to write a review about this, I have to think real hard, and that hurts. So.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.comUsually, I’m a pretty fast reader. Yet this book took me forever to finish. I liked it, but I guess my expectations were too high to fully enjoy this book.
I had very high hopes for this book, as I absolutely adore Brashares’ The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-series. Carmen, Tibby, Lena and especially Bridget have a special place in my heart. I was hoping Lucy and Daniel would become as special to me as the Septembers, but unfortunately this hasn’t happened.
Don’t get me wrong, in the end I enjoyed this book. If this had been written by someone else than Ann Brashares, I might even have given it four stars instead of three. The storyline of My Name is Memory is one of those lovey-dovey storylines perfect for those times when you can’t stop eating chocolate. Reincarnation is for real in this novel and Daniel remembers every life he has lived. Unfortunately, his one true love, Lucy, doesn’t. My Name is Memory is about Daniel trying to find Lucy (or Sophia, as he likes to call her) through his lives. This story is very nicely told by switching from Lucy’s perspective, who only knows this life and thus focuses only on this life, to Daniel’s perspective, who tells more about his past lives through flashbacks.
Although I did enjoy the way in which this novel has been written, I do think Brashares could have gotten more out of the characters and the concept of this novel. Daniel has experienced most of history since 520 A.D. , which makes his character rather unique. But other than the fact that he can speak a bunch of languages, including ancient ones, and is able to play a couple of musical instruments, Brashares doesn’t use that special element to its fullest. Hopefully Ann Brashares will try to do so in the rumoured sequel of this novel.
Furthermore, it doesn’t seem like she put a lot of effort in the flashbacks of this novel. She doesn’t write in depth about historical elements and the flashbacks hardly contain details concerning the time and place in history.
Halfway through this book, I just wanted it to be over already. I wanted Daniel to find Lucy, convince her that his story is legit and live happily ever after with her, ASAP. Unfortunately, my copy of this book holds about 400 pages, so that didn’t happen ASAP. But if you’re looking for a nicely written, somewhat original* love-story, I think this is the book for you. But if you’re looking for a hilarious, yet also tear-jerking novel about the best four fictional friends you will ever have, like the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, I’m afraid your quest isn’t over. I know mine’s not over yet. Perhaps The Last Summer will stand a chance?
*I’m calling this love-story somewhat original because it’s supposedly resembling a lot of Fallen by Lauren Kate. I haven’t read that book though, because its cover screams nothing but “YOU WILL FEEL ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE WHILE READING THIS!!” and that doesn’t really sound appealing to me.