How to train your dragon - Cressida Cowell

This book was so much fun. I wanted to read it after I discovered that the movie was based on a book, and I sure am glad I did. While the storyline of the book is vastly different to the movie, they both have the feel about them. 

Hiccup is just as loveable as the narrator, after all this is his book on How to Train your Dragon, to replace the exceedingly lacking previous book by the same title. His group of training buddies have the same contempt and disdained for the 'useless' Hiccup as they do in the movie, however I was a little disappointed that they were all male. That was a nice touch in the movie to have two girls in the group. However the dragons were a bit of a surprise. I was expecting them to be the huge dragon like creatures that initially come to mind when you think of dragons, so it was a shock when I read that they were quite small creatures more akin to Fire Lizards in Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. 

Being a children's book it made it fun to see drawings of the characters and events that occurred in the book throughout. There was even a basic replica of the original How to Train your Dragon book inserted so that the reader can "share the experience with Hiccup of opening that book for the first time". This sort of inclusion is what makes this book fantastic and would keep young readers involved and turning the pages.

Reading this book only took me a few hours, but it made me feel like I had just watched a half hour cartoon on a Saturday morning like I did when I was a kid. It was simple yet portrayed the story clearly and easily so that kids (and heck, even adults like me) would be hooked and want to read more tales of Hiccup, Toothless and their Viking friends, which is great as there are a further 11 books in the series.

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Very underwhelmed by this book. I'm not sure if it was because of all the hype around it, but then I think that I add this book to my 'to be read' pile years ago before there was even talk of a movie being made, from recommendations and reviews on the podcast 'Books on the Nightstand'.

While it was interesting and I did want to find out what was going on, I thought it was a huge let down. Already knowing that there was a huge twist in the book, I found it totally underwhelming when I realised that I had read that part and completely missed that it was the twist. To me that part was just what would logically follow from where the book had gone.

Amy's little adventure (I'll call it that for lack of a better word) was boring and had me thinking of better ways the story could have gone. There were characters and storylines that seemed to be in there to pad the book up. And things were not tied up all nicely like the character seems to think there were. I can think of half a dozen questions that arise without even going in to detail.

Then ending was completely bland. Just like every other marriage, with compromise and both people not getting to do what they want to do. True that the compromises are on a huge scale and not what you would expect from even a million marriages but that is how it read to me. The book finished and I was trying to find the next chapter to see what actually happened to these two sickening people.

Oh and the writing in the book is so mundane that I thought it should have been a YA novel with graphic context. Sure there were a few (maybe half a dozen) words that I had to look up in the dictionary, but a good sophisticated adult book it does not make.

I just hope the movie I'm about to watch is better and has made this whole adventure worth my time.

3 stars, a thorough let down.

Revenge Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger

Over 10 years after the original Devil wears Prada a sequel has been released. The main characters are all now in their early to mid 30's with more advanced careers and have moved on from Runway. It was great to revisit the lives of Andy and Emily again and hear what they have been up to in the last decade, sort of like catching up with an old friend you haven’t seen since Uni.

However the first half of the book felt very different than “Devil”. It was a lot slower paced and the characters seem to have out grown their swearing that as very prevalent from what I remember. It seemed more of rehashing the interim from “Devil” than actually having a new story. The original was marked with a go-go-go style with no time for breaks, never ending descriptions of people’s outfits and fashion items all interspersed with chipped, snarky comments from numerous characters. So far everyone is civil to each other, there is little to no swearing, the pace is chilled out and the fashion descriptions are so minimal that you actually pay attention to them when you come across them when reading.

The second half of the book gets more into a storyline but it jumps all over the place and is disjointed. You get into a scene and want to know what happens and how things go and then Bam! you are a few months in the future with little to no reference about it at all. Disappointing.

While yes there is more of the storyline it is a boring storyline. No one wants to read a book about a person coming to terms with being married and having a kid, especially when it’s a sequel to such a fast paced, in demand, exhausting book 1.

Emily has lost all her pizazz and edge and is just another run of the mill character from any book, while Andy is a very watered down version of her 'pushed over' self. And still even then you only see that happen infrequently.

It seems as though this book was toned down to be the sequel of the movie version of “Devil wears Prada”, not a continuation of the book version. I was very disappointed and the ending made me gag. Can you get any more American Hollywood feel good ending. Not a story I would choose to read. Ever!

City of Lost Souls - Cassandra Clare

This book was much better than the Mortal Instruments Book 4 City of Fallen Angels. Where that book bored my to tears following characters that were so boring and predictable with their choices, Lost Souls actually had a storyline and made me want to continue. After the last book I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue with the series, but I'm happy I did.

Lost Souls had a lot of teen angst mixed in with the action as well as the story line. I will say however, what does Cassandra Clare have with incest. It seems to be a common thing in the Mortal Instruments series. First Jace was Clary's brother and they were torn about the feelings they had for each other. Now in the latest instalment Clary's real brother 'Sebastian' wants to be with Clary citing the great Egyptian royal families as examples of how it makes it okay. It is not okay folks! So wrong in so many ways.

There were a few parts of the story that I was not expecting to happen and was happily surprised that there were twists and turns and not just the blah story from book 4. Leaving the ending as a big cliffhanger.

Waiting for the next book to be available on audiobook so I can listen to it. In the meantime I will read the Infernal Devices trilogy.

The Assassin's Blade - Sarah J. Maas

Awesome. These five novellas give you all the stories that occurred before Throne of Glass that you hear about throughout the book. It was great to have a little more explained about Celaena's past and what lead up to her being captured and sent to Endovier in the first place. I would still love to read a story about how Arobynn found Celaena as a child and then began to train her to become the worlds most famous assassin.

Here while Celaena is a little younger her arrogance is startling and almost her "fatal flaw" as most characters need. I found myself wanting to slap her every now and then due to her unwavering arrogance in the face of every situation. Interesting how Sarah J Maas could make you really annoyed at a character you love but without turning on them completely, it's more realistic that way as everyone has annoying traits.

A must for anyone who love the Throne of Glass series, especially while waiting for the third book to come out.

The Assassin and the Princess - Sarah J. Maas

What a beautiful insight into the relationship between two such amazing friends. Just a girls day out in the city. I loved the true friendship that is depicted in this short little story that made it miss my best friend.

The Assassin and the Captain - Sarah J. Maas

A little fun exchange between two of the main characters when their relationship was still forming. A love the banter back and forth between Celaena and Choal.

Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas

I loved this book. The story had just enough intrigue, action, and even romance. Celaena the main character is great. She is strong willed, opinionated and cunning. However she is only 17 and she acts just like a 17 year old, which is not a problem except that she is supposed to be the worlds most feared assassin and apart from the fighting, she is a gushing young kid. Putting that aside though, she was a fun character that I enjoyed following. 

I have discovered that I definitely have a "type" of book that I love reading. They don't have to be in the same genre but there are similar themes that run through them all. This book seemed to be all of them combined. All the way through the book I had déjà vu moments and memories of previous books flooded back.

Even though reading this book remind me of all the others before it, I still loved every part of it. 

We were liars - E. Lockhart

This story is brilliant. It is written in a very distinctive style that I have never experienced before, but I really liked it. The story is told from the point of view of Cadence, and is exactly how I remember a teenage girls mind working. The narrative flits all over the place in short spurts. A little information here, a little there, then back to the original information that was being told. I can see how that would be super annoying to many people, as I have seen in many reviews, however I liked it.

This book as just a normal story of a girl trying to remember her past, that is until she does start to remember and then it changed to an entirely different book. It was one of the most emotional books I have ever read. I was crying uncontrollably as I read each page but I had to continue. I had to know more, I had to finish.

Amazing, truly amazing. 

Double Black - Wendy Clinch

I really enjoyed this book. The subject matter (the ski life, not the murder) really appealed to me being an ex ski bum myself. The snow town lifestyle was very accurately described down to the nicknames for equipment, and groups of people. 

The characters seemed very real with faults and all. Even the form of speach in the book was as it is between people in real life, not long monologues that are never interrupted by others. Some people may have found that frustrating but I found it refreshing as I have not seen it in a book before. It made the whole experience more true to life for me and left me day dreaming of my own time on the hill.

The story itself was good and moved at a nice pace with just enough description of everyday life that happened to have a mystery going on around it, rather than a mystery story with only a little peripheral storyline. But that was exactly what I was looking for after all the books I have been reading lately. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. I'm just a little bummed that I can't get it from Amazon on Kindle as I'm travelling and that is all I have access to at the moment. At least there is something to look forward to when I get home instead of falling into the post travel depressive state.

The Kill Order - James Dashner

As this book is a prequel, of course there are all new characters. I must say I'm found it hard to feel any attachment to them. I didn't feel that they were written in a way that the reader was suppose to feel any form of attachment to them. 

This book is just loosely based on the Maze Runner trilogy. The story itself is not something I would have read normally. In fact it isn't even that interesting. I hoped it would be a lot more interesting than was. Bummed I've wasted my time and money on it really as I'm not finding it fun. Valuable reading time has been stolen from me on a story that isn't that good.

However it is an easy read, as the original trilogy was. While I was still not super interested in the story I am one of those people who has to finish a book. It's not bad enough to make me put it down and give up on it, but it still erks me that I don't like the storyline especially after The Maze runner was so great. 

Thomas' first memory of the flare - James Dashner

What was the point of this? It had no bearing on the story (again as did all of the other flash backs). I can see why it was edited out of the book.

The Death Trials - James Dashner

There was to much in this book. It was over the top with action and death and didn't have any of the originality that the first book had. I compare this book to a Michael Bay movie, where you just want to turn the noise level down to protect your sanity and not try to focus on the screen as everything moves too fat to be seen. 

The ending was predictable and not fulfilling at all. Although I could see that the story was going in that direction from the start of book two. There was so much potential for what could of become if this story, that it was sad to see it wasted in the way that it was. 

The most annoying thing to be throughout the whole trilogy was that Thomas was getting flash backs and learning things but never seemed to piece things together on this own. Most people were always one step ahead of him, even those without any memories of what was going on. Why show the reader pieces of a past that you are never going to explain or use in the story, it just frustrated the hell out if me.
Not all that happy I continued to read this series and it had just put a dampener on the greatness that was the first book.

The Scorch Trials - James Dashner

The sequel to The Maze Runner was almost as good as it's predecessor but to me it lacked a certain amount of suspense and action that the first book captured perfectly. Perhaps it was because after the Maze Runner the reader expected that anything that could go wrong probably would go wrong. However even though the Cranks were slightly frightening and the scene at the very start of the book in the common room illicit some pretty disturbing images, the rest of the book was just missing a certain off key element that was in the original.

The book is divided into three parts of the adventure, 1 the common room and tunnel, 2 the scorch and the town, and 3 the mountains and safe zone. While the first two parts were described in detail and had most of the action occur there, to me it felt like the end was rushed. I remember thinking as I was reading it that there were not many pages left and according to what the characters said in the book there was still a long distance to go. It felt rushed and condensed so that the book would not be too long or so that a big portion of the book didn't need to be described. That let it down for me.

It had been a while since I read the original book so some of the characters were a little unfamiliar at first to me, but after a small chunk of the book all was good again and the new characters introduced in this book are interesting and I look forward to reading more about them I the future books. Now on to The Death Cure and then Kill Zone. The Maze Runner has been made into a movie and will be out later this year. I'll definitely be in line for that one.

When you reach me - Rebecca Stead

This book was for an audience a lot younger than I was expecting. Many times during the book I paused to wonder why I was reading such a simple story. However the story was an interesting one. The concept is great but I had a very hard time believing that a bunch of twelve year olds would be discussing such high level concepts. I wish that this story was re written as an adult novel as it has so much more potential that was is in this book. 

However it was a quick read and a nice easy story. I read it in just under six hours with no trouble in taking breaks breaks between reading sessions. 

Desires of the Dead - Kimberly Derting

I found this book better than the first in the series, The Body Finder, as it didn't get caught up continually having to explain Violet's gift of hearing the dead's echoes. I found that this book flowed a lot more and was a better read. The first book took many reading sessions to get through whereas this one flowed more, enough that it only took a few reading sessions. 

The story was engaging and while it did have the element of the supernatural and the far fetched to it, it was an 'every girl' story that any reader could relate to; the fight of a young girl to find her way through all the complications of a new relationship as well as life as a teenager. 

I really enjoyed this book and will continue to read the series, which is a shock even to myself, as I nearly wrote the series off after book one.