Monday 27 May 2013

Book Review: My Soul To Take by Rachel Vincent

The Soul Screamers series is one I haven't heard much about, but I managed to get 6 of the 7 books for cheap from The Works so it seemed like a pretty good idea at the time!

  • Title: My Soul To Take (Soul Screamers #1)
  • Author: Rachel Vincent
  • Page Count & Publisher: 345 | Mira Ink (Harlequin)
  • Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
  • Format: Paperback
  • Links: Amazon UK | Goodreads
Summary:
Kaylee Cavanaugh is just trying to be a normal teenager. Well, as normal as she can be when she has the overwhelming urge to scream when someone around her is about to die. She's just caught the attention of Nash, the hottest guy in school, when girls around her start dying. Strangely, Nash seems to know more about what's going on than Kaylee does. And just what is her family not telling her?

My Thoughts:
As I said at the start, this was a pretty random purchase for me and I ended up with the whole series of 7 books before reading any! I got the first 6 for £10 from The Works and thought I may as well get the last one from Amazon.

I thought this was a really, really good start to a series. There's not a huge amount of world building going on but we discover the world of Banshees and everything else that goes with it along with Kaylee. The focus is most definitely on characters here, but there is enough information given to us about the world to make it feel almost "real".

Speaking of information, Kaylee is actually given answers to the questions she has. So often in YA, the girl discovers she's not what she thought and everyone around her prevents her from getting answers for "her on good". Kaylee's family has kept plenty of very important things from her "for her own good" but once she starts questioning it, they answer.

I found I liked Kaylee more and more through the book, she seemed well thought and avoided falling into some of the more popular tropes! When the hottest guy in school is suddenly aware of her, she doesn't react with the whole "my life suddenly has meaning!" I've seen before but instead reacts with suspicion. Why is he suddenly paying so much attention to her? What's he getting out of it? I also loved the way their relationship began to play out. It felt like a naturally progressing relationship, none of that insta-love here.

Perhaps though Kaylee is a little to ready to accept the changes in her life. She had no idea that this world existed and had actually suffered in the past because of her urge to scream.

I didn't see the twist at the end coming. Though upon skimming through again to see what I missed, perhaps there were more clues than I thought!

My rating:  photo 1369523037_001_15.png photo 1369523037_001_15.png photo 1369523037_001_15.png photo 1369523037_001_15.png photo 1369523023_001_17.png

Saturday 25 May 2013

Book Review: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Well, since I started a book blog to go with my YouTube Channel I thought I should actually post something! I'm going to try and review most of what I read on here with a few each month recorded as usual for uploading!

  • Title: Uglies (Uglies #1)
  • Author: Scott Westerfeld
  • Page Count & Publisher: 425 | Simon & Schuster
  • Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia
  • Format: Paperback
  • Links: Amazon UK | Goodreads
Summary:
Tally Youngblood is about to turn 16. She'll get her operation to turn her from an "Ugly" into a "Pretty". She'll get to party all night and sleep all day with the other Pretties. Her oldest friend, Peris, is already a Pretty and Tally can't wait to join him. Not long before her birthday she meets Shay, another Ugly not far from her 16th birthday. However, Shay would rather stay Ugly and look for "The Smoke" than turn pretty. Shay vanishes not long before she's due to have her operation and Tally is given a choice by Dr Cable from the almost mythical Special Circumstances: bring Shay back or stay Ugly forever. The choices she makes have far reaching consequences.

My Thoughts:
Uglies was actually recommended to me by a coworker, we've swapped book recommendations and always see if the other is reading something interesting! This was a pretty easy read and I got through the first three of this series in just over a week! I really enjoyed this one, it was definitely a good introduction to the world.

I didn't find Tally the most engaging of characters in Uglies, I was far more interested in Shay's story. At times it felt as though Tally was being swept along with everyone else, it wasn't until nearer the end that she took more control of her own path. She had a lot of lessons to learn and she definitely got there. There were some hard things to discover about herself and the world of the Pretties but she was a better person at the end because of it.

I did have a few questions about how sustainable this environment is, especially once you learned more about what is going on with the Pretties. An answer was given for the "important" people such as Doctors, but what about the dirty jobs that no one wants to think about? Where do all the resources come from? The relationships between the characters were a bit more developed than the world, though this may just be because Tally hasn't has cause to question the world around her.

On the whole I was pretty well absorbed by the story! I was certainly pleased that I had the next on hand to dive straight into!

My Rating:  photo 1369523037_001_15.png photo 1369523037_001_15.png photo 1369523037_001_15.png photo 1369523037_001_15.png photo 1369523023_001_17.png