Review: Siege and Storm

Title: Siege and Storm (The Grisha: Book 2)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Indigo
Source: Periplus Bookstore
Synopsis: 

 Darkness never dies.

 Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

 Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆

 “The ox feels the yoke, but does the bird feel the weight of its wings?”

I was so excited to finally get my hands on this book, as I thoroughly enjoyed Shadow and Bone. Thankfully, it didn't disappoint. Leigh Bardugo has built an intricate world and painted it in vivid details. I loved wandering through Ravka along with Alina, even if not all parts of the country was pretty. As Alina ended her run and journeyed back to Os Alta, we are reminded of the destruction The Darkling had created through the names written in blood on a church wall, and offered a closer look to how the people of Ravka has gathered around faith, particularly that in Saint Alina. I admired the view, but never forgot that this is a war-torn world, with poverty and desperation in every turn.

For me, the politics is the most fascinating aspect of this series. The alliances, the backstabbing, and the competition for power. The way Alina is caught up in the show for the people and the backstage manouvering required to run a country. The way religion can rise up and unite people to fight and appear to its devotees as hope, yet we are never sure if the leader of the cult isn't just vying for power. It's tricky and slippery, and like it did to Alina, it kept me constantly questioning the characters' motivations.

That's where my feelings about this book gets a little complicated. I love Sturmhond, the privateer with an answer for everything and his own agenda. Dashing, witty, and charming - he was the comic relief for this installment, and the only one whose motivation becomes clear. I never questioned why he did the things he did, only what he was willing to do to get there. I couldn't say the same for most of the other characters. We know nothing further of The Darkling, very few of The Grisha seems trustworthy, and even Alina can't seem to decide what she really wants throughout the book. The constant questioning is fun for the mystery of plot, but not so much when you're trying to sympathise with someone.

However, I do love Alina's character growth and the way she takes up the mantle of leadership. I've always loved the fact that it is not using her power that weakens her, so her struggle with the lure of even more power is fascinating. I also love the struggles that Mal goes through in this installment. In Shadow and Bone, he was the popular one with a clear purpose and destination. That has changed, and coupled with the changes Alina goes through, it makes sense that it is causing a rift between the two of them. There's a whiff of a love triangle here (or even a square now) but I'm glad that is not quite what tears them apart.

I loved how the climax unfolded, and the ending sets up a very different challenge and setting for Alina to deal with. Overall, this was a thrilling read, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Ruin and Rising will deliver the conclusion.

“You know the problem with heroes and saints, Nikolai?" I asked as I closed the book's cover and headed for the door. "They always end up dead.” 

10 Wishes I'd Ask The Book Genie To Grant Me

Top Ten Tuesday is an original meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Click here for information.
1. I wish for the resources to have every book I like. Books are expensive and, since I'm still partial to physical copies, require a lot of space. It would be brilliant to have both money and space in abundance.

2. I wish for everyone to have an access to a library. I'd like it if every city in every nation has the resource and ability to invest in libraries, because that would mean everyone's fed and safe and able to enjoy being lost in their imagination.

3. I wish for a career where I'd get paid to read. Pleaseeeee? Teaching has its rewards, but my dream job is still one where I can read all day and discuss bookish things with bookish people.

4. I wish for unlimited time to write my own book. I have had an idea for a novel for two years, and I've written some of it for NaNo. I never got to 20k, let alone 50k, but it was more of a start than I'd ever had. However, since I've started a full-time job, I haven't been able to focus on writing. It would be awesome to be able to dedicate even a couple of days to just delve back into it.

5. I wish for my books to be forever protected from termites and other book-ruining creatures/incidents. My family and I have suffered two termite infestations in two different houses, and I'm still traumatised. So not okay with the fact that there are holes in my copy of The Cuckoo's Calling. Please, Genie, help me keep my books in tact for years to come.

6. I wish to be less shy. I have a bad habit of lurking in the blogosphere. I'd follow blogs that are so interesting but be too shy to leave a comment and say hello. This needs to change.

7. I wish for Remus Lupin. If the Book Genie can make him real, be around my age, and in love with me, that's totally cool with me.

8. I wish for Belle's library from Beauty and the Beast. When I was a little girl, this library was all I wanted in life. Now that I'm a young woman, this library is still a dream of mine. But I'd also want the army of dancing brooms and dusters to keep it clean, because I would hate having to look after this all by myself!


9. I wish to have coffee with my favourite author. Please let me have a chat with JK Rowling over a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate in my case) once before I die.

10. I wish for the ability to absorb the extraordinary powers of my favourite characters. Like Peter Petrelli from Heroes, I'd be able to channel the powers of the characters around me temporarily. So, I can do magic when reading Harry Potter, be a Sun Summoner a la Alina Starkov, or morph into an animal when I'm in Animorphs' universe. All while avoiding their wars. Wouldn't that be fun?

What would you ask the genie for?

Book Talk: Bookshelf Organisation System or Lack Thereof


Let me take you on a tour of my bookshelves! At the moment, they are a bit of a construction site, so brace yourself for a bit of chaos.

First, a little background story. We had a termite infestation last year (the horror!) and had to evacuate all of our books. When we finally managed to clear off the termites and I could put the books back in, I tried to follow the system I'd had before. It has always been more of an ad hoc system - it only started existing once the shelves were full and I had to figure out where to put my new books. The result can be seen below:


So many books, so little space
Let's make some stops and take a closer look at the method to this madness:

  • Top left shelf is for mangas, particularly the ones that come in series. 
  • Second left is for adventures/fantasy/science fiction books. If you squint, you can see my copies of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Inheritance Cycle, Harry Potter, and the Mediator series.
  • Third left is my mystery books. That includes Enid Blyton books, Nancy Drews, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I also have Maximum Ride there, though really they belong to the shelf above it. 
  • The bottom left is my YA and chicklit shelf, particularly the translated version of YAs. My English YAs sit somewhere else, purely for the lack of space in this one (as you can see by the fact that it's not only two deep but also in piles).
  • Top right is where the system sort of unravels. That is where I keep my Little House series along with Lemony Snicket's The Series of Unfortunate Events. Why are they together? I don't know - probably because they're the same size.
  • Second right - so the books at the back of this shelf are basically put together because they were from the same publisher. The books at the front are some of my English books, including YAs and some classics like What Katy Did and The Swiss Family Robinson.
  • The third right shelf is dedicated to miscellaneous books from my childhood. There's no other way to put it. I've got a copy of Aesop's Fables in there as well as a series of comics about famous historical figures. I also have a series of Barbie books in there, actually.
  • Bottom right is also for books of my childhood, particularly the big books, such as kids encyclopedias and hard-cover books of bedtime stories.

Looking at this, we could also say that I should stop buying/hoarding books, really, because I have even more books back in Melbourne. They are being well looked after by a dear friend, who claims to have as organised a bookshelf as I am.

Our detour: Cor's shelves.
The books on the front of second shelf are mine.
But this isn't about my hoarding tendency! It's about my organisation system. Now that we've walked through all of that, I would argue that there is a method to the madness that is my bookshelves. Similar books are grouped together, even if the basis for their categorisation isn't always consistent and sometimes there's an outlier or two. Still, I know that I can do better. Maybe I will figure out a technique to better organise my collection. If you have any suggestion, feel free to share!

What's your bookshelf like? Do you have an organisation system for it?

Current Book Affairs [October 14]

My reading slowed right down toward the end of September, but now that life has eased up again, I'm diving right back into my TBR. 3 months left in 2015 and I've barely made a dent on it; in fact, I think I've added to the pile. The life of a bookworm, hey? Anyway, my goal for October is to finish the Animorphs series (only 11 left to go!), which seems ambitious but not really since I can finish one book in one sitting.

At the moment, I'm reading:






1. The Princess Diaries Volume IV: Princess in Waiting by Meg Cabot. We're finally in Genovia! Mia is actually dating Michael! I'm only about twenty pages in, but I'm keen to read about how both things add to Mia's character development.

2. Animorphs #43: The Test by K.A. Applegate. I swear Animorphs has some of the creepiest covers. You'd never guess from looking at that one that the story deals with PTSD. In this one, we spend some time with Tobias and see how he is still dealing with the aftermath of the torture he endured at the hand of Sub-Visser Fifty-One, a.k.a ex-prom queen Taylor. I really like it so far. It seems that we're going back to the main plot, and Taylor is about as frightening a villain as Visser Three so it's exciting to read her again.

3. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo. I finally got my hands on a copy and have basically dropped those two above in order to read this. I'm 54 pages in so far and I can't seem to put it down!

Book Talk: Five Books I'd Like to Pass Down to My Future Children

I have talked a lot on this blog about how my parents passed their love of reading down to me and that I've read books based on their recommendations. On my shelf, there are copies of Famous Five, Secret Seven, and Little House that belonged to my mother and aunt when they were children. I've always loved those old books, even if they smell of dust and the pages are yellowish, because there's something rather special about books that someone has loved enough to preserve for so long.

I was looking at my shelf as I was trying to come up with a topic for this post, and it occurred to me that I never thought about which books I'd love to pass down to my future children. So I am now thinking about it! Here are the books I want to keep for my kids:



1. The Harry Potter series. Shocking, I know. I want my children to read this series not only because I love it so much, but also because I feel there's so much wisdom in it. You could discuss a plot point without realising that it's about a bigger topic, whether it is PTSD, discrimination, genocide, or slavery. I don't want to use it as a teaching tool - I've always rather resented it when my parents recommend something to me because they want me to learn some sort of moral lesson - but I do want my kids to open their minds.

I'd wait until they're old enough - nine or ten years old maybe? - before I get them started, because while Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets may be for kids, I hardly think the rest of the series is.



2. Famous Five. Given my mother loved these books and I loved them too, it only makes sense for me to pass them down to my kids. Enid Blyton's language may feel archaic by the time I have kids old enough to read this, but I'm sure the characters and the adventures will still be able to strike a chord with kids decades from now. (Side note: I saw that one of my eight year old students had a copy of Famous Five in her bag and I was so excited.)


3. Anne of Green Gables series. As with Famous Five, my motivation for wanting to share this particular series with my hypothetical children is because my mother and I shared a love for Anne. We actually discovered the first book together when I was about 12, so it was a rather different experience from the other books she'd given to me before, because we were going through the story together and we could discuss the plots in details. If I could have that much in common with my own kids, I think we'd be alright. Anyway, even without that sentimental value attached though, a little bit of Anne Shirley in your life is never a bad thing.




4. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I didn't start reading Nancy Drew and then the Hardy Boys until the 2000s, but I was quickly hooked. I want my kids to read them too because I think stories like these can encourage curiousity, independence, and resilience. After all, how many times did Nancy or the Hardy Boys nearly die in the book? Yet they went back and did it all over again. (It can also be argued that that would also encourage recklessness and stubbornness, but I'll be there to make sure my kids don't go too far in that direction.)


It is entirely possible too that my future children won't love the same books that I do, but if they grow up to be readers, I'd still be pretty happy.

What books would you like your kids to inherit from you?

Review: Animorphs #42 - The Journey

Title: Animorphs #42 - The Journey
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Ebook
Synopsis: The Helmacrons need more power to escape the earth's atmosphere, so they have returned to demand the morphing cube. When Rachel tries to destroy their ship, the tiny egomaniacs bail - right into Marco's left nostril. And the other Animorphs have to get them out before the little aliens do some real damage.

 Review: ⋆⋆⋆

"Excuse me," Marco cried, "are you planning to have a BATTLE in my NOSE?!"

That quote sums up perfectly the tone of this book. The Journey is light-hearted, suffused with a kind of humour that has been missing from the last few installments. It's a filler book whose plot seems to have little consequence on the main arc; while I enjoyed the read, I still wish we'd gone back to the main plot.

I enjoyed the change of setting. Instead of visiting yet another planet, dimension, or reality, this time the Animorphs take their fight somewhere much closer to home - the human body. The story line is a bit heavy-handed with the biology lessons, but I found it rather fascinating. I'm not very good with biology so it took a bit of an effort for me to figure out and keep track of where the characters were! I also like the POV switches between Rachel and Marco, and how we could see the way the battles actually affect him. I didn't find Marco's side mission and how it unfolded particularly believable, however.

Overall, this was a fun read, but I'm really missing those missions where the Animorphs actually make an impact against the Yeerk invasion.

The Princess Diaries Book Club #3: Princess In Love

The Princess Diaries Book Club is an ongoing collaboration with my friend Cam and her blog, Cammminbookland. We decided that we would reread this series, at our own pace, and always come back to our blogs and each other to discuss the story and how we feel about it now. If you are interested in joining us, please do!


Title: Princess In Love
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: HarperTrophy // Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Source: Gramedia bookstore
Synopsis: 

Princess Mia may seem like the luckiest girl ever.

But the truth is, Mia spends all her time doing one of three things: preparing for her nerve-wracking entrée into Genovian society, slogging through the congestion unique to Manhattan in December, and avoiding further smooches from her hapless boyfriend, Kenny.

For Mia, being a princess and in love is not the fairy tale it's supposed to be... or is it?

Review: ⋆⋆⋆

Spoilers ahead!!

  • One of the things I like about the series that wasn't captured by the movie is the presence of Mia's father, Phillipe Reynaldi. He's not a present father and seems to be quite a pushover most of the time (understandable, given what Grandmere is like I wouldn't argue with her much either). However, when he takes charge, he really does take charge. I love the way he stood up for Mia here. I also love the fact that they actually have a genuine conversation this time, rather than just a negotiation with Mia complaining about her princess duties and Phillipe resignedly conceding to a compromise. 
  • I forgot how much I enjoyed Mia's lists. 
  • I feel that Kenny was fairly nice, though not very interesting. I'm guessing that's deliberate, since he's never meant as a real competition for Michael. He's perhaps a little insistent, but as Ted Mosby would posit - how a grand romantic gesture is received depends on how the intended target feels about it. Mia is embarrassed by his romantic declarations because she doesn't like him; had they come from Michael, she'd love them. In any case, I like the advice Mia receives from both his father and grandmother on the topic. 
  • Speaking of grandmother, I actually understand Grandmere's motivation behind the big scandal she created. She went about it absolutely the wrong way, but she actually meant well. It's quite different from Princess in the Spotlight, where she absolutely insists on the wedding party for her own purposes, not Mia's mother's. I love her interactions with Mia in this book; I feel they are understanding each other more with each book, even if they continue to take different positions in different issues. 
  • Michael Moscovitz is a nerd. I love it.
  • I have many feelings about the climax of this book. I was fully aware that Mia has a drama-queen streak and tends to have a big, occasionally strange, reaction to things, but this re-confirms that for me. Surely she knows Michael better than to think he'd humiliate her?? That said, I couldn't help but swoon a little at the way they got together. Michael showing up disheveled and out of breath at the dance, hoping to explain things to Mia, is really cute.
  • Tina Hakim Baba is still a better best friend than Lily Moscovitz. I can understand letting her brother and best friend realise their feelings for each other on their own, but not if it was the motivation was for a social experiment.
I look forward to re-reading how Mia and Michael works out their dynamic as a couple, and hopefully seeing more personal growth in Mia.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)