Review: Angel

Title: Angel
Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Little, Brown
Pages: 272
Series: Maximum Ride #7
**WARNING: Spoilers for earlier books in the series (not for this book)**
Description from Goodreads:
In the seventh book in the bestselling series, evil scientists are still trying to convince Max that she needs to save the world, this time by providing the genetic link in speeding up the pace of evolution. Worse, they're trying to convince her that her perfect mate is Dylan, the newest addition to the flock. The problem is that, despite herself, Max is starting to believe it.

Fang travels the country collecting his own gang of evolved humans, but the two separate flocks must unite to defeat a frightening doomsday cult whose motto is Save the Planet: Kill the Humans. And this time, the true heroine, for once, might just be little Angel.

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I have mixed feelings about this one. I liked that it had some semblance of an actual plot and wasn't all just gushy-gushy. I adored the first three books in this series because there was a real story, and I feel like beginning with book four the series has slowly declined. The quality of the writing is a lot lower; the stories are less interesting; and Max, rather than being kick-butt, snarky, and totally independent, is whiny and lovestruck.

Angel basically fits into the same category because (MAJOR FANG SPOILER) Max spends almost the entire book moping about how Fang left her. I like Fang...I also like Dylan. I don't care which one she ends up with, not anymore, as long as she stops complaining about it! (END SPOILER.) And yet...

In this one, there's plot again. The scientists are back to telling Max she has to save the world... except now there's some sort of cult called the Doomsday Group that seems to be able to hypnotize people. Their motto: "Save the world. Kill the humans." In Angel, Max and the flock are investigating the DG, as are Fang and his own new group of genetically enhanced kids. The romance (which I thought was cute in Max and then blatantly overdone in Fang) is still drippy and overdone, BUT there's other stuff going on, too. Angel, who is apparently no longer interested in taking over the flock or betraying them to evil scientists, seems to know more about what is going on than anyone else because of her ability to read minds. She speaks and acts as if she were way older than seven.

I don't know. I like the snarky comments, I like the action, it was a fun read - but it's not the same quality as the first three books, and there's some stuff in here that's starting to seriously get on my nerves. I do think it's a step up from Fang and The Final Warning, and I think if you've enjoyed the others in the series you should definitely read it. I know I'll be reading Book 8 whenever it comes out, if only because despite all my frustrations, I do love these characters a lot.

If you're reading this review on the day I've posted it, take note - Angel releases in stores tomorrow!

Links:
James Patterson's website
Maximum Ride website

Review: Hunger

Title: Hunger
Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
Publisher: Graphia
Pages: 174
Series: Horsemen of the Apocalypse #1
Rating: 3/5
From the back cover:
"Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world."


Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she's been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home -- her constant battle with hunger and the struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life and to face the horrifying effects of her awesome new power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power -- and the courage to fight her own inner demons?

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This review is a hard one for me to write. I had a lot of problems with this book, but at the same time I thought it had a really interesting premise and I loved Jackie Morse Kessler's writing style. The idea behind the story is simple enough: Lisa is anorexic, depressed, and one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Three pills into her suicide attempt, Death shows up at her front door and hands her the role of Famine. Lisa doesn't know how to handle the new job, especially not with all the pressure from her family and her boyfriend and her ex-best friend, but maybe, just maybe, it will teach her some important lessons.

My main objection to Hunger was at the very beginning. When Death shows up to hand her the Scales that are the symbol of the office of Famine, Lisa is three pills into a suicide attempt. He says a couple of weird sentences, hands her some scales, and leaves. Lisa decides that she is hallucinating (and fat), but says "At least I'm not depressed anymore." Not right-this-second suicidal I can understand. To be so torn up as to be in the middle of a suicide attempt and then decide after a brief interruption that she's not at all depressed anymore? It didn't seem realistic. At all.

My other problem was the characterization of Lisa and her friends. All we really know about Lisa is that she's anorexic. Everything we see about her character is directly related to anorexia. We don't know who she is as a person, we know who she is as an anorexic girl. By the end, we do see a few of her character traits, but it's still mostly about her anorexia. Tammy is just the bulimic friend. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the way that subject was handled, but all we know about Tammy is that she's bulimic. The relationships with James and Suzanne are more interesting, but we don't know really anything about them, either.

That aside, I loved Jackie Morse Kessler's writing style, and the concept was really cool. Death was my favorite character by far, and it was interesting to see the way Lisa's role as Famine affected her personal life and vice versa. Despite my initial problems with the characters, I did enjoy the book and will most likely read the second one when it comes out. Hunger is not a book that I'm going to press into someone's hands and say "Read this!" but I do think it makes a good read.

Links:

Jackie Morse Kessler's website

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P.S. On a completely unrelated note, I'd like to take a moment today to wish my (not-so-)little brother a very happy birthday today!

Review: Numbers (or, I Clearly Excel at Avoiding the Internet)

Title: Numbers
Author: Rachel Ward
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 325
Series: Numbers #1
Rating: 4/5
From the book jacket: 
Since the day her mother died, Jem has know about the numbers.

Numbers that pop into her head when she looks into someone's eyes. They're dates, the numbers. Dates predicting with brute accuracy each person's death.

Burdened by such grim knowledge, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. Maybe they can find happiness together, if only in the brief time that remains before his expiration date.

But on a trip to London, Jem foresees a chilling chain of events: The city's a target. The clock's running out. The countdown is on to a blowup!

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The premise of this book is so cool. The idea just drew me in. It wasn't about exactly what I thought it would be about - the book jacket makes it sound like it's about the discovery of a terrorist plot or something, but that's only in the first quarter of the book. It's more about Jem and Spider on the run afterwards.

I love the Britishness of Numbers. I love the characters. I really love the story. Jem and Spider are so much fun to read about, and Jem is such a complex character - she's literally an outcast of society, and readers can relate to her. And she's got so many questions and problems, about letting people in and and trusting people and coming to terms with death. I wish Spider had been a bit more developed, and the other side characters. Britney, for example - I loved her. I wanted to know more about her.

I also loved the way Rachel Ward explored the idea of knowing when people will die. Is it better to know when you will die or to leave it a mystery? By coming into contact with someone, can you change their future? How much of life is predestined from birth and how much can be changed? So many interesting concepts. It's so cool.

I was not a fan of the ending. Because I am also not a fan of spoilers, I'm not about to tell you what that ending is, but I will say that it would have been a much better book (in my opinion) without the epilogue. If it had stopped before that, it would have been great. That aside, though, I will definitely be reading the sequel soon (I actually have an ARC in my possession, which is what prompted me to read Numbers in the first place).

Also, can I just take a moment to say that this cover is really awesome?

Oh, and one more thing before I go: this book comes with warnings. There's some pretty heavy swearing and, hopefully this isn't a spoiler, a little bit of sex. So keep that in mind before you pick it up.

Links:
Rachel Ward's website

Review: Paper Towns

Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pages: 305
Rating: 5 stars
From the book jacket:
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life -- dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge -- he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues -- and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew.

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Ever since I started this book, I have been asking myself one question: WHY did it take me so long to start reading this?! Paper Towns was fantastic. Simply fantastic.

It's written from a guy's perspective, so there is guy humor, which was a little weird for me in places because, well, I'm not a guy. But that aside -- gahh, I don't even know what to say to express my love for Paper Towns. It's funny, it's sweet, it's heartbreaking, it's beautiful. I laughed out loud several times while I was reading it (I love when books can do that), but there were parts too that were just so full of meaning, and it's just awesome. This book is made of awesome.

It is one of the most quotable books I've read in a long time (I'd share a few, but then I wouldn't ever stop and this post would go on forever, which I don't think you want). I got this one from the library, but I'm thinking I may have to go buy a copy, like, right now, because it's one that I already know I'm going to want to read again.

I'm not actually telling you a whole lot about the book, I guess, but that's because I really don't know what to say. The characters are so real, and the story is engaging, and I couldn't put it down. I laughed out loud a lot (yeah, I said that already) and it really made me think (which I love), and also, there are frequent literary references and poetry quotes (that right there is enough to win me over). If you haven't read Paper Towns, I don't know what you're still waiting for. Go get a copy right now.

Links:
John Green's website

Review: Nightshade

Title: Nightshade
Author: Andrea Cremer
Publisher: Philomel Books (Penguin)
Pages: 454
Series: Nightshade #1
Rating: 5 stars
From the book jacket:
Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything -- including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

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Nightshade is one of those books that you sit down to review and realize that you don't know how to describe the amount of awesome you want to convey, if that makes sense. I started off wanting to enjoy it, but I wasn't expecting to be completely blown away. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. It was simply fantastic.

Calla Tor is an alpha wolf, used to leading the younger members of her pack, the Nightshades. On Samhain, also her eighteenth birthday, she and Bane pack alpha Ren Laroche will go through the union, which is the Guardian wolf version of a wedding, and form a new pack, an offshoot of the Nightshades and Banes. Everything seems to be going according to plan, until Calla saves a human in the woods - and then that same human, Shay Doran, shows up at their school. Calla likes Shay, and he likes her, but Calla has been promised to Ren. That might be something Calla could accept, except for two things: one, her Keeper, Logan, wants her to protect Shay, who seems to be in danger from something she doesn't understand; and two, Shay challenges Calla to think about the world in a way she's never thought about it before - including the fact that her very existence as a Guardian may not be what she has always believed it to be.

Calla is easily one of my favorite protagonists. She's a totally kick-butt heroine, totally able and willing to defend herself, but she's not scared to let other people see her cry. Despite the fact that she's actually a wolf, she struck me as more human than almost any other female protagonist I've encountered. I really don't know how else to describe it - she could step off the page and be a living, breathing person, wolf and all. And I loved the dynamics between all the characters, too. Ansel and Bryn and Mason and Neville and Fey and Dax and Sabine and Cosette...I just love them. And Efron made me shudder. Andrea Cremer does characters incredibly well.

And then of course, there's Ren and Shay. Usually, when I read a book where the lead girl is torn between two boys, I know exactly what "team" I'm on from the start. But Ren and Shay are both so real and such compelling characters that I honestly don't know. At the moment, I'm thinking Shay, but I love Ren, too. They both have their strong points and their flaws - they, like Calla, could easily be real. I am beyond impressed with the characters I met in Nightshade.

And then there's the story. I need the sequel, like, now. I want to know the truth about the Guardians and the Keepers and Shay and the Scion, and I have to know who Bosque is, and and and.... you get the idea. Nightshade has a plot that sucked me in and kept me turning pages and left me wanting more.

Read this book. Just do it. You won't be disappointed.

Links:
Andrea Cremer's website

Review: Clockwork Angel

Title: Clockwork Angel
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 476
Series: The Infernal Devices #1
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the book jacket: 
Magic is dangerous -- but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks, and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, who are members of a secret organization called the Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by - and torn between - two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and vlatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

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I think I would have loved Clockwork Angel a lot more if I hadn't been very busy noticing all the similarities to the Mortal Instruments series (which I absolutely adored). That said, I still thought Clockwork Angel was pretty freaking awesome.

Tessa makes an excellent protagonist - her feelings about/relationship with her brother are awesome, especially later on in the novel - and I adored Charlotte, but I think my favorite characters are the boys. Henry is adorable and reminded me of a cross between Beetee from the Hunger Games series and Luna Lovegood...but Will and Jem were the best. I would love to be friends with Jem in real life, and Will... oh, Will. I can't decide whether I love him or want to strangle him - which means that I agree with just about everyone else in the novel. I kept comparing him to Jace from TMI, but fortunately it's been long enough since I read those that I was able to (mostly) come at this as an independent story, and I loved it.

I'd offer you some quotes, but a) I'd have to pick just a few favorites, and b) they'll be so much better if you find out for yourself.

The plot was awesome too. I kept wanting to find out what happens - I've gotten pretty good at figuring out endings long before I get there lately, but Clockwork Angel had some major twists that genuinely surprised me and were executed very well. I'm really not sure how much I can say without being too spoilery, but I do think the jacket description plays up romance too much. It's definitely there but it takes a backseat to the mystery and suspense, which was good. Once I started reading Clockwork Angel I did not want to put it down (I had to at times, but I'd have loved to read it straight through). It kept me turning the pages and I am so sad that I have to wait until next September for the second one!

Also I love the cover. The cover is awesome and 1800s-England-y (which is fitting) and Shadowhunter-y (also fitting) and I just think it's lovely. And the setting! England in 1878 is a delightful setting. And my friends can attest to the fact that I slipped into old-fashioned British English for a bit while I was reading it. Oops. Oh, and the literary references! *happy sigh*

Definitely, definitely read this one if you get the chance and like supernatural things. I simply loved it! I do think, though, that City of Bones and the rest of the Mortal Instruments series were better. So read those too!

Links: 
Cassandra Clare's website
And her blog
And her Facebook page

Review: Mockingjay

Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 390
Series: Hunger Games #3
Rating: 5 stars. Or, you know, a gazillion or so.
**Warning!!! This review contains spoilers for books 1-2. (I promise no spoilers for this one, though!)**
From the jacket flap:
"My name is Katniss Everdeen. Why am I not dead? I should be dead."

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay - no matter what the personal cost.

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So, it's been about twenty minutes since I finished reading Mockingjay (I was all for staying up last night to finish it, but unfortunately school stopped that). For all of that time, I have been literally lost for words.

I read the last page and then just stared at the book for a little while. It's over. This is all there will ever be of these characters who took me on this absolutely heart-wrenching journey. And what a story it was.

I'm really not sure what I can say without being mega-spoilery, so I'll just ramble for a while about how much I adore the characters and the story and everything about this book and the whole series. Katniss is seriously one of the strongest, most kick-butt heroines I have ever encountered. Her strength is more physical than a lot of heroines' anymore, but she's got this mental strength too, and Mockingjay tested her in so many ways. We got to see another side of Katniss, which was really awesome. And I think more than anything, it's Katniss's weaknesses that make her such a wonderful character. And then there's Gale and Peeta (both of whom are wonderful characters, regardless of what all the die-hard Team Gale/Team Peeta people say. Although I know whose team I'm on - and always have been - regarding Katniss), and Prim (who's finally a legit character!) and Finnick (who is wonderful) and Boggs and everyone else.

And the villains, too. President Snow, of course, is one seriously bad bad guy. Also I will say that the development of other antagonistic characters was excellent.

I'm rambling a bit. Sorry. I really just do not have the words for this book. And I REALLY don't want to spoil anything. The plot just starts going and never slows down. And like I said...it left me speechless.

So instead of rambling on until I become completely incoherent or inadvertently spoil something, I will leave you with these thoughts: The themes of this book really hit hard. Suzanne Collins can do magic with words. And I approve of the ending. And I'm very, very sad to leave these characters behind as their story ends. Mockingjay made me smile and it made me cry (yes, literally cry. I will admit to this). The Hunger Games trilogy is definitely one of my favorite series ever, and this conclusion is absolutely stunning.

Links:

Suzanne Collin's website

Official Hunger Games fansite, Mockingjay.net

Review: The Replacement

Title: The Replacement
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 352
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the book jacket: 
Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, Mackie comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement - left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Macie is slowly dying in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with an oddly intriguing girl called Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.

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I would have loved to sit down and read The Replacement in one go, but unfortunately, schoolwork prevented that. It took me ages to get through this book because I had to keep hiding it from myself until schoolwork was done. But now I've finally caught up on schoolwork, so I sat down and finished it all at once. And since it comes out exactly one month from today, I figure that's just barely close enough to the release date that I can go ahead and put the review up right now.

The Replacement was awesome. I loved it.

What I didn't like was the description on the back cover. I feel like it says too much and not the right things. It  just doesn't quite fit completely with the story. But if you ignore that and just dive into the story...wow.

Mackie is not normal. He can't go to church with his family even though his father is a minister, because the ground is consecrated. He gets physically sick when he comes into contact with iron or comes too close to blood. He can't even kiss the girl he likes, because she has a metal tongue ring. He knows why he's not normal, and so does his family: he's not really their son, Emma's not his biological sister. The real Malcolm Doyle was stolen from his crib as an infant, and Mackie was left in his place. What makes Mackie different from the other Replacements is that he survived.

And now another child has disappeared: the baby sister of a girl from school, Tate. Mackie knows Tate - she's friends with two of his best friends, and he finds her intriguing. But he can't tell her that he knows what happened to Natalie. What he can do is find out what the truth is about who he is and how to save Tate's sister.

I loved Mackie as a narrator. I just connected to him -  he felt so real. His emotions, the way he struggled with his feelings for family and friends and classmates, his desire to fit in and hide his unusualness from everyone else...it was just excellent. It's very difficult to put into words the way I related to Mackie, but it was wonderful. I also really loved a lot of the side characters. Emma, Roswell, Tate, the Morrigan...and the Lady made the perfect villain. So, so awesome. I wish we got to see more of Tate and Emma.

So yes. I love the characters, I love the story (delightfully dark, creepy, beautiful and honest), and I love Brenna Yovanoff's writing style (seriously, it's awesome). The Replacement will be in stores September 21st, and you should definitely make a point of reading it.

Links: 

Brenna Yovanoff's website

Brenna Yovanoff's blog