Review: Animorphs #41 - The Familiar

Title: Animorphs #41 - The Familiar
Author: K.A. Applegate
Source: Ebook
Synopsis: Jake seems to have grown up overnight - literally. He goes to bed as his usual kid-self and wakes up ten years older to find the world completely taken over by Yeerks. All the other Animorphs are either dead or Yeerk-infested, and Jake alone is left to fight. Is it all just a horrific dream, or has the Yeerk invasion truly succeeded?

 Review: ⋆⋆⋆

 "Victory without self-sacrifice? You know better than that."

 I'm really on the fence about this one. On one hand, it's fascinating to read about this post-apocalyptic world. I loved the exploration of what one night of indifference might snowball into. The future versions of the Animorphs were quite shockingly different from the people we know, but their changes also made sense in the context of this universe.

On the other hand, I feel like the idea of time-travel has been exploited to death in this series. Haven't one of the Animorphs paid a visit to an alternate future universe before? I'm fairly sure Rachel did... Anyway, I'm not sure if this installment adds anything to the overarching plot either, apart from Jake learning a lesson about the choices he makes. I'm also still confused about that ending, though I'm interested to see if it would be explained somewhere down the line.

All in all, it was an enjoyable read but not particularly impressive for me.

Review: Animorphs #40 - The Other

Title: Animorphs #40 - The Other
Author: K.A. Applegate
Source: eBook
Synopsis: Ax and the Animorphs are not the only survivors, and they and the other Andalites are on Earth trying to defeat Visser Three and trying to stay alive until help comes.

 Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆

 When an Andalite is caught on tape, the Animorphs go to investigate. By now, it is no surprise that these Andalites are not the warriors our heroes are waiting for. Instead, it is a vecol - a disabled Andalite with only half a tail - and his friend/guardian. The Animorphs must now decide if these strangers can be trusted.

It's also no surprise that Andalites apparently aren't kind to those with disabilities, though it's rather disconcerting to read how Ax dismiss the vecol. I mean, in general Ax is pretty loveable, and then you remember that he still has some of Andalite's trademark arrogance. Overall the plot brought out an interesting discussion about ableism, and I feel that it was even better because it told through Marco's point view. He's critical and has a sharp tongue to match, so it was great to have his observations.

I absolutely love the title of this book. I think The Other refers to Mertil - the Andalite with the half tail in the most literal sense - in that he is the other Andalite, but it makes me think of how Ax views him as an Other because of his disability.

I'd be interested to see if we'll ever see these new Andalites again, but what I'm taking away from this book is summed up best by Tobias here:

"Okay, I'm getting a complex over here. I'm a nothlit. A freak. Whatever. My best friend is an alien with blue fur. My girlfriend is human--when she isn't in morph. How about we don't talk about 'normal' anymore. Or 'average' or 'natural.' Please."

Review: Sing You Home

Title: Sing You Home
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Atria International
Source: Kinokuniya Singapore
Synopsis:
"One miscarriage too many spelled the end of Max and Zoe Baxter's marriage. Though the former couple went quite separate ways, their fates remained entangled: After veering into alcoholism, Max is saved in multiple senses by his fundamentalist conversion; Zoe, for her part, finds healing relief in music therapy and the friendship, then romantic love with Vanessa, her counselor. After Zoe and Vanessa, now married, decide to have a baby, they realize that they must join battle with Max, who objects on both religious and financial grounds."


 Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆

“There are so many things I can't believe. That people deserve what they get, both bad and good. That one day I'll live in a world where people are judged by what they do instead of who they are. That happy endings don't have contingencies and conditions.” 

In Sing You Home, Picoult tackles several heavy issues: faith, miscarriage, and gay rights - and I don't think I've named them all. Above all, however, this is a book about the definition of family.

Because of the subject matter, it's almost impossible to approach this book as an unbiased reader. You're either predisposed to root for Zoe and Vanessa, or against them. Picoult presents their point of views as well as Max's, so you get a chance to understand their choices and their emotions. I think she tries to be objective, but her bias came through. While the narration is kind to Max's discovery of faith, it is not to the evangelical Christians. Apart from Liddy, the others appear unkind to say the least, only a couple of steps above Westboro Baptist Church.

The story - as is with most Picoult's novels - is riddled with tragedies. It is emotionally exhausting, but she writes it so you can't help but feel connected to the characters and want to see the it through to the end. I loved the ending. Not only because it blew my mind, but also because at the end of the day this is a story about people, not institutions. At the end of the day, the perfect family doesn't always fit the mold. You may have a mother and father, two dads, two moms, or just one parent. Your parents don't even have to be biologically related to you. The perfect family is the people who love you unconditionally. If that is what Picoult was trying to convey, she did a good job at it.

“Beliefs are the roads we take to our dreams. Believe you can do something-or believe you can't-and you'll be right everytime.”

Review: Beautiful Creatures

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Source: Periplus Online
Synopsis:

 Is falling in love the beginning . . . or the end?

 In Ethan Wate's hometown there lies the darkest of secrets . . .

There is a girl. Slowly, she pulled the hood from her head . . . Green eyes, black hair. Lena Duchannes.

There is a curse. On the Sixteenth Moon, the Sixteenth Year, the Book will take what it's been promised. And no one can stop it.

 In the end, there is a grave.

Lena and Ethan become bound together by a deep, powerful love. But Lena is cursed and on her sixteenth birthday, her fate will be decided. Ethan never even saw it coming.

 Review: ⋆⋆⋆

"Sixteen Moons, Sixteen Years 
Sixteen of your deepest fears 
Sixteen times you dreamed my tears 
Falling, Falling through the years..."

 Let's kick this off with a confession: I saw the movie before I read the book, and I liked the movie. I don't remember what it was about it, but I enjoyed it enough that I resolved to check out the book. The book is always better than the movie, right?

In this case, I'm not so sure.

I was really intrigued by the world we were introduced to here. The contrast between sleepy Gatlin and the supernatural world of Ravenwood is fabulous; there's so much potential for the Casters' world to be absolutely fascinating. I loved the different powers, and I especially love the library - that was a brilliant idea. The Southern setting also sets it apart for me; at times the depiction of Gatlin's society with their pride of its history and their treatment of strangers, but I appreciated the realness of it. My only issue with the world-building was that there were heaps of exposition whenever we learned about Casters. I remember what each of the Caster character can do, but there's no way I can remember what their powers are called.

As for the characters, it took me a while to figure out why I never connected with them, but I finally did. It's just like Twilight. Ethan was an interesting character at first - he's stuck somewhere he doesn't belong, and he's yearning to leave. Lena also started out quite intriguing - she's rather unfriendly at first, and she too doesn't fit in. Then they got together, and became EthanandLena - practically nonfunctional as separate individuals. They're quite literally in each others' heads all the time. Ethan ceased to care about anything but being with Lena - just like Bella did when she fell in love with Edward. I'm not saying it's not realistic, but it irritated me.

In the end, the good and the bad balanced each other up for me. So I may give the second book a shot eventually!

"Mortals. I envy you. You think you can change things. Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures." 

The Emoji Book Tag

Thank you to Jane @ Greenish Bookshelf for the tag. Go check out her blog for some thoughtful reviews and awesome recommendations for Classics!

The seven booktubers who created this tag:

Liz from lizlovesliterature
Jenny from Jellafy
Sanaa from InkBonesBooks
Dylan from dylanbooks 
Max from WellDoneBooks
Vilde from vforvilde 
Scott from Scott Place

It took me a ridiculous amount of time to get the emojis to show up as I want them, but here we are at last:

 1. Cry-laughing emoji – A book/character that makes you cry of laughter. The first character that comes to mind is Thorne Carswell from The Lunar Chronicles. He constantly makes me laugh with his confidence/arrogance and his wit. I particularly love his banters with Cinder and his teasing of Cress.

2. Heart-shaped eyes emoji - my favourite character. Aah it's so hard to choose from all of the characters I love. I'm going to go with Ron Weasley from Harry Potter this time. He might not be book-smart, but he's clever, a loyal friend and a generous person even when he has so little to give. I understand his insecurities and love how he has to deal with them.

3. Crazy-tongue-out emoji - a kind of crazy and sassy character. I'm thinking Lilly Moscovitz from Princess Diaries for this one. She always seems to have some pretty crazy ideas and isn't hesitant about executing them. Also, her intelligence means she always has some witty comeback to fling at her opponent.

< 4. Little pink hearts - favourite romance. My OTP has been and always will be Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. I love how organic their love story came to be, and that it's not a fairytale. Ron's intelligence is of a different kind from Hermione's, so they complement each other.

 5. Smiley face emoji - a book/series that makes you happy. No surprise here - Harry Potter makes me happy. I'll never get tired of sinking back into its world. Nancy Drew also makes me happy; it's always fun when I get to tag along on her adventures!
I nominate:

 Cam @ Cammminbookland
Erika @ Books, Stars, Writing. And Everything in Between
Alyson @ Harry, Jane, and John
 and you, if you want to do this!

Ten Finished Series I Have YET to Finish

Top Ten Tuesday is an original meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Click here for information.

1. Animorphs by K.A. Applegate - I was given the first two books - the translated version - by a cousin when I was about 10 or 11. The obsession was instant, and I bought the rest up until #22 when the publisher stopped. I was heartbroken, and could not find the other books #23 and above anywhere. Thankfully, online shopping was invented! I fully intend to finish reading this series before I turn 25.

2. The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini - I attempted a re-read of Eragon recently and failed rather miserably. I just couldn't maintain an interest in the story, which is odd 'cause I remember enjoying it the first time around. I probably wouldn't attempt to finish this anytime soon, but maybe one day.

3. The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo - Now this one I'm really keen on finishing. It's still on my TBR!

4. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare - I only have Clockwork Princess left to read, and I haven't quite worked up the motivation to get around to it. I sort of figured out part of the ending when I read the City of Heavenly Fire, and am still not sure I like it.

5. Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot - So I thought I finished this one years ago. Then Meg Cabot came out with Royal Wedding. I'm still in the middle of a re-read of the series, so hopefully I'll get to attend Mia's wedding soon!

6. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket - All I need is the last two books, but it's somehow fallen off my TBR. Hoping to fix that soon!

7. Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - I'm about 80% through Beautiful Creatures, aaaand I'm still deciding how I feel about it. I might not love it enough to go through with the rest of the series, but there's still about 100 pages to go for it to change my mind.

8. Uglies Series by Scott Westerfield - Another one of those series that I intend to finish one day - I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 9. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - Oops? I've actually read the first two books, but I read them while I was sick. So I barely remember anything from them apart from the general storyline. My recent attempt at re-reading this also failed, so I'm not sure when I'll go back to it.

10. Tomorrow Series by James Marsden - I love Tomorrow When The War Began, both the book and the movie. It's fallen off my TBR as well though recently, but I am keen to finish it one day!

Book Talk: Bookish Bonding


This month, one of the discussion prompts from the 2015 Discussion Challenge is about bookish friendships. The first thing that came to my mind was all the friends I've made through my love of books.

I actually love that I could think of people and not just one person. When I was growing up, it was lonely being a bookworm. Sure, I had friends who enjoyed Harry Potter; one of my best friends (brought up in a previous post) read; and my parents are big readers. However, none of my friends was as avid a fan as I was; T has always been more passionate about music than books; and my parents largely thought I should read less fiction and more 'serious' books. It really wasn't until I was eighteen that I met some bookish kindred spirits.

Photo from melbourne.vic.gov.au
Jacqueline and I and libraries 

I met Jacqueline in uni, and one of the first conversations we had was about the library. We were both new in the city, but she found the City Library first. She took me to the building and even helped me sign up for it. We got to talking some more and found out we both love Jodi Picoult. The rest, then, is history. These days we talk about more than books and spend as much time having brunch as browsing through bookshops and libraries, but if it wasn't for a shared love for the stories, we might not have become so close.

Cor and I and Harry Potter

 Eight years apart in age, living in two separate continents - Cor and I would never have met if we weren't parts of the same Harry Potter RPG website. Ever since we started talking online, we've plotted, wrote together, and shared book recommendations. When I was in Australia, I was at her wedding and baby shower, and she's currently taking care of my beloved books now that I've left the country. She's one of my best friends. It's a fairy tale of online friendship, one that would never have happened if we hadn't both loved a book.

Cam and I and reviews

 It'll be wrong to write about bookish bonding without mentioning the lady who inspired me to start writing book reviews in the first place. Cam (whose blog can be found here) and I met on the same Harry Potter website mentioned earlier, then later on we started being friends on Goodreads. I love reading her thoughts on the books she read, and these days I take her opinions into consideration when I'm considering getting a book.

So reading is no longer a lonely activity for me, and I'm so grateful that it has brought these ladies into my life. I hope I'll continue to make friends through books, and maybe this blog will help me with that!

Tell me about your bookish friendships!
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