The 100 (2013)

The 100. Kass Morgan. 2013. Little, Brown. 277 pages. [Source: Library]

I read The 100 when I was in a happy and generous mood. I was enjoying the book, for the most part. I was actually liking the multiple points of view. I liked how readers were able to follow the story down on earth AND yet remain to see what happened up on the colony ship as well. I liked how the stories were unfolding. A few plot details I was able to predict. That is not a bad thing, by the way. It can be good OR bad. It can feel satisfying now and then to guess right. It is only when a reader guesses all the plot ahead of time that it becomes too much. Another thing I was mostly enjoying is how flawed all the characters were. Seriously flawed. Big mistakes. Big issues. It was interesting to see the characters relate to one another. To see them come together...or not.

My only hesitation with recommending this one is the ending. The problem I had with this book is that I was enjoying it (perhaps not ABSOLUTELY LOVING it, but still, a good solid enjoy) until I started picking up on Wells mysterious act of "devotion." The ending. Perhaps it fit with the book perfectly. Perhaps there were hundreds of clues indicating the truth. It isn't that I was surprised that Wells did something stupid, it is just that I didn't guess it would be so completely over-the-top ridiculously stupid.

© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Living (2013)

The Living. Matt de la Pena. 2013. Random House. 320 pages. [Source: Review copy]

The Living is a fast read. It's an interesting blend of genres: survival fiction (natural disaster), romance, mystery, horror, AND medical thriller (conspiracies, evil corporations, oh my!).

Shy, the book's hero, is working a summer job on a cruise ship. He's gotten close to a couple of guys and one girl in particular, Carmen. He's fallen hard for her. She's engaged to another guy, a law student. Shy is a mostly good guy who is not out to steal someone else's girlfriend. He's not out to get her to cheat on this guy. He just likes talking to her about anything and everything, no topics are off limits, really. She just really understands him in a way like no one else. On his latest trip, he has the feeling that someone is watching him, in a creepy not-normal way. He's right: someone wants to know EVERYTHING about a certain suicide that Shy witnessed on the last voyage.

Survival on the open sea. Something BIG and catastrophic happens. (A chain of somethings.) Shy is on board a small boat (life boat? raft? one of the two.) with only a very injured business man and a very young, very attractive young woman. Their days on the sea, their fight for survival, creates a bond, despite the fact that these two have zero in common with each other--and outside of this specific situation they'd never speak to one another. Will they survive? Will they reach land? Is help on the way? When does life return to normal again?

The Living is bleak, in a way. The novel is very up front about death. The first death (by suicide) opening in the prologue. The body count just increases from there. It's also extremely action-packed with just a few meaning-of-life conversations thrown in.

It is the first book in a series. I would say it doesn't have a proper end, and that it might best be saved for late summer (or early fall) 2014 so that you only have a few weeks to wait for the next book.

© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Heaven is Paved With Oreos (2013)

Heaven is Paved With Oreos. Catherine Gilbert Murdock. 2013. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 208 pages. [Source: Review Copy]

I wanted to love Heaven is Paved With Oreos. I really did love Catherine Gilbert Murdock's Dairy Queen trilogy. And Heaven is Paved With Oreos features D.J.'s younger brother, Curtis, as the love interest. So my expectations were high.

Sarah Zorn, our heroine, has a best friend, Curtis. The two are "going out." It was part of her clever plan. The two would pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend so the teasing would stop. The two share a deep interest in dead things. Yes, you read that right, the two love studying how dead bodies (a calf in this case) decompose. These two do seem made for each other. But Curtis is tired of lying. What he is not saying is significant. It takes "losing" Curtis for her to realize that she's been unhappy with the arrangement as well.

The most unsatisfying aspect of this one--in my opinion--was Sarah's trip with her Grandma Z to Rome. Sarah's parents are initially hesitant to let their daughter go on a trip with Z. But Z has concocted a persuasive story, and pleads I've already bought her plane ticket. The middle section of the novel is their vacation together in Rome.

The novel has a theme of lying: of examining why people lie, why it may be justifiable or understandable, why people may choose to lie to the people closest to them, etc. There is something human about this one, and I suppose that is always a good thing. Sarah has to decide if she will stay angry at a person who lied to her and used her.

I did not enjoy reading Heaven is Paved With Oreos. Sarah and Curtis may be made for each other, but, reading about a decomposing calf and all the talk about reconstructing the bones for a science fair was unpleasant. I am glad that Sarah and Curtis eventually communicated with one another. The ending with these two was super-sweet. Sarah's trip to Rome with Z left me unsatisfied.

S
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A
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I really hated Z's lies. I thought she used her granddaughter horribly. She was selfish and untrustworthy. She lied to Sarah's parents; she lied to Sarah. She had ulterior motives for wanting to go to Rome. And when her fantasy collapsed, she had a breakdown leaving Sarah to care for them both in a foreign country. And her excuses for the trip in the first place were WEIRD. Part of me was glad that they fell away as lies. She had Sarah convinced that visiting seven churches in Rome would assure her [Z] a place in heaven. "But thousands of pilgrims over hundreds of years have visited this church because they hoped it would help them with heaven, and Z needs to go!" (101) and "instead we did something that was a lot more fun, even if it won't get us into heaven..." (106)

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Allegiant (2013)

Allegiant. Veronica Roth. (Divergent Series #3) HarperCollins. 544 pages. [Source: Library]

Have you read Allegiant? What did you think? I read the book having read spoilers online about this final book in the series. While every reader is different, I liked knowing from the start what was ahead. I think I approached the book differently having read so many reviews. Did I like it? Did I love it? I don't know. The only thing I can say for certain is that I did not hate it.

This review has vague spoilers about the middle but nothing specific especially in terms of the ending.

Allegiant has two narrators: Tris and Tobias (Four). As much as I love the idea of having Four's perspective, the truth is, that most dual narrative books just don't work well for me. Both narratives are told in the first person. While the chapters clearly state at the beginning if it is "Tris" or "Tobias," it was hard as a reader to discern mid-chapter. They just didn't feel separate and distinct enough.

I did enjoy where the story went. Readers follow Tris and Tobias and other select friends (including Caleb and Peter) OUTSIDE into the 'real world.' Tris and Tobias meet scientists and government officials who have been monitoring the whole experiment. While Tris thought she was digging towards the truth in the last book, it turns out that truth is more slippery that she ever thought possible. What this book has in large doses are lies, truths, and half-truths. These are supposed to serve as answers, I suppose; they are supposed to satisfy readers and characters alike. (But do they?)
Every character reacts differently as these "truths" are unveiled. Because Tris and Tobias react differently, there is drama and conflict, of course.

The ending. I thought the ending was completely in character. I couldn't imagine Tris being in that situation and making any other choice. 

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Rereading Divergent (Again)

Divergent. Veronica Roth. 2011. May 2011. HarperCollins. 496 pages. [Source: Library]

There is one mirror in my house. Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair. It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs. 

If you noticed that this is my third time to review this book, you might guess how much I love, love, love this one. (My second review; my first review).

Factions are everything in Divergent; and there are five factions that make up the community: Abnegation values selflessness above all else; Amity values peace above all else; Candor values honesty above all else; the Erudite values knowledge above all else; Dauntless values courage above all else. Beatrice (Tris), our heroine, was born Abnegation, but she doesn't feel good enough for the faction. For, the truth is that she has selfish thoughts and desires. She's not exactly sure she could spend her whole life wearing gray, serving others, and blending into the background. Her test reveals something shocking--perhaps not shocking to readers, but certainly to her community IF it were to become known--she has aptitude for not one faction, but THREE. The simulation tests are supposed to show THE ONE place a person belongs. Beatrice's results make her Divergent. So when it comes time for Beatrice to choose--along with all the other of age teens--she has quite a decision to make. Should she remain in her own faction, keep her old friends, live the life that is perhaps expected of her? Any other choice essentially would divide her from her parents and keep them separated the rest of her life. Should she choose Erudite? No, that's not even a temptation. She knows that would be a mistake. Should she choose Dauntless? Part of her wants to risk it all and go with the unknown. Life with the Dauntless would be a complete change, offer a life of surprises, risks and dangers too.

Most of Divergent focuses on the initiation process, Tris' training as Dauntless. Readers get a chance to meet other transfers and other Dauntless-born initiates. It is a fierce competition. It is during this intense time that Tris meets Four. And meeting Four, well, it seems almost as life-changing as finding out her brain is different from everyone else's...

I absolutely love Four and Tris! I love them individually and as a couple. I love the characterization. I love the action, the drama, the suspense.

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Elite (2013)

The Elite. Kiera Cass. 2013. HarperCollins. 323 pages. [Source: Library]

I enjoyed reading The Selection. I enjoyed it for its lightness, its ease. While it is a dystopian novel, it isn't dark or bleak. The world Cass has created is socially unfair perhaps, but it isn't dark and dangerous. If you're looking for an intense action-packed thriller, The Selection and The Elite will probably disappoint. In some ways, The Elite is all about relationships. America Singer's relationship with Prince Maxon, America's relationship with Aspen (the ex who is now a palace guard), America's relationship with the other ladies (Marlee, Kriss, Elise, Natalie, Celeste). I could see why America's indecisiveness might annoy other readers. Her not being able to make up her mind if she wants to remain in the game. America can't separate her feelings for Maxon (she's falling in love with him; she knows she cares for him oh-so-much) from her feelings of doubt about the crown (she spends three hundred pages doubting that she'd be a good princess).

Readers get a chance to know both America and Maxon better in this second novel; both are shown to have strengths and weaknesses. (I didn't feel we got to know Aspen). The game definitely is getting to America in this one. She hates the fact that she doesn't know what Maxon is doing on his dates with the other girls. She hates the idea that he could be kissing other girls. That he could be getting close to other girls. The more she thinks about Maxon's time with the others, the more stand-offish she becomes with him--which doesn't make her time with Maxon go pleasantly. But when these two do manage to communicate, some of the old magic is there.

I enjoyed this one. I enjoyed spending time with America and Maxon. Her parents came to visit for a weekend, and it was lovely getting a chance to know America's father! If you enjoy romance novels, this one should entertain.


© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

No Shame, No Fear

No Shame, No Fear. Ann Turnbull. 2003. Candlewick. 304 pages. [Source: Library]

No Shame, No Fear is set in England in 1662 during the reign of Charles II. Susanna, our heroine, is a Quaker. William, our hero, is not. The two meet briefly on the street. She notices him; he notices her. He decides to do something he knows his father would disapprove of: visit a Quaker gathering. Will may have been interested, at first, because of Susanna, but he's soon persuaded that the Quaker way is the right way.

Susanna is working at a bookshop/printshop; she is working for a Quaker woman that prints pamphlets and posters. William pursues her, and soon the two are courting honorably. There are a few obstacles preventing the two from sharing a happily ever after. They are a bit too young to marry. Quakers are facing widespread persecution: being a Quaker and trying to attend an illegal worship service will land you in jail where you'll stay until you face trial and are fined; if you're unwilling or unable to pay your fine, you could spend months in prison, if you last that long. William's father does not have any sympathy at all for Quakers. He thinks his son has betrayed him and he's very angry, very bitter. William is in need of a job, a good job, and now that everyone knows he's a Quaker, well, that may be difficult...

I really enjoyed No Shame, No Fear. It may not be exciting or dramatic, but, it is rich in historical detail.

Charles II King of Bling
Charles II Meets A Thief
Charles II Dinnertime Performance
Charles II and John Flamsteed
Charles II Christmas Message

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Solstice (2013)

Solstice by P.J. Hoover. 2013. Tor. 384 pages. [Source: Review Copy]

Solstice hints at being a dystopian novel, but, in truth it is a retelling of a Greek myth. It is set in the future in a devastated world, a world with endless summer and no changing seasons. For eighteen years, the world has suffered tremendously, Piper, our heroine, has never known the world to be any different.

Solstice won't please every reader. Some readers find romance-driven dystopias to be sickening--especially when there are two men madly in love with the same young woman, when it appears that she cannot make up her mind. I can see why Piper might annoy some readers. The author offers readers an excuse, some might see it as completely valid, others might dismiss it.

The two men in Piper's life are Reese and Shayne. Reese is the son of a councilmen. He encourages Piper to break the rules set by her mother, and the two share a memorable first date. Piper has a busy night, however, for that is also her first date with Shayne, a classmate. She finds both men completely irresistible. Though she never really has a second date with Reese, he's never out of influence.

Shayne fascinates Piper, and she loves seeing where he lives...how he lives...though some of what she learns she finds unsettling at times.

Greek mythology is at the heart of this YA romance. It worked for me at times, though not ever  perfectly.   

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Boy on the Bridge (2013)

The Boy on the Bridge. Natalie Standiford. 2013. Scholastic. 256 pages. [Source: Review copy]

The Boy on the Bridge is set in Russia in 1982. Our heroine, Laura Reid, is an American college student studying abroad for one semester in Russia. The book covers that semester January through June.

So early in the novel, Laura meets Alexei (Alyosha). Yes, they meet on a bridge. He "rescues" her from some gypsies demanding money. They talk a few minutes; he tells her he would love to get to know her better, hands her his phone number, tells her how to get in touch. She's not to use any phone near the University. It would be dangerous for them both if their friendship were to be discovered. He wants to practice his English, so he says. And she wants to practice her Russian. And that is how this romance starts.

The Boy on The Bridge is very much a romance novel, one set in a unique place and time in history. It is very feelings-oriented. Laura is swept up in all these emotions as she falls hard for Alyosha. He becomes her entire world; she becomes his everything. It is pure agony to be away from each other even ten or twelve hours.

Is the relationship healthy? Is the relationship genuine? Is Alyosha wanting to marry her so he can get a green card and come to the United States? Is he using her to get out of Russia? Has he attempted this before? Those are the questions that haunt the pages of this romance novel. Laura has been warned by her friends, roommates, classmates, advisers, etc. that she is being too trusting, that she isn't using common sense.

The romance seems sweet in a few ways. But there are a few places where it grows darker. Readers will have to judge for themselves if the relationship is genuine and healthy.

I thought this one was very realistic in its ending.

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Unthinkable (2013)

Unthinkable. Nancy Werlin. 2013. Penguin. 400 pages. [Source: Review Copy]

Fenella Scarborough is consumed with one desire: she wants to die. She has been trapped--tormented--for hundreds of years in the faerie realm. And now after Lucy has finally overcome the Scarborough curse, Fenella wants nothing more to die. She had been unaware that she'd been placed under a second curse by Padraig, one of immortality. Now the Queen--the new queen--has told her there is hope. If Fenella is up to the challenge that is. She'll be sent to the human realm, given three tasks of destruction, the destruction must be against her very own family. If she fails, she'll be Padraig's forever. Fenella is so desperate that she's eager to consent, not counting the cost. She's not on her own in her quest, Ryland, the queen's own brother, will go with her--as a cat.

Unthinkable is the sequel to Nancy Werlin's Impossible. (My review of Impossible.) Readers get to spend time with Lucy, Zach, their daughter, Dawn, Miranda, Soledad and Leo. Readers also get to meet a young man, Walker. Fenella has not been of the world for hundreds of years, she finds everything so strange; she has a lot of adapting to do!

I enjoyed Unthinkable. I liked how it is both a prequel and a sequel to Impossible. I enjoyed learning about how the first curse came about. 

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Language Inside (2013)

The Language Inside. Holly Thompson. 2013. Random House. 528 pages.

Emma Karas may not be the first heroine in a YA novel to ask the ever-important question: where do I belong? but her story--told in verse--is powerful and compelling. Emma may have been born in America, but she's spent practically all of her almost-sixteen years living in Japan. Now that her parents have returned to the U.S.--to Lowell, Massachusetts--because of her mom's recent breast cancer diagnosis, Emma is understandably upset. It's not like her life was completely problem free in Japan, the recent tsunami is proof of that. But it was without a doubt, her HOME. Emma was a part of everything, she belonged. But struggling with her doubts and fears about her mom's cancer in addition to her anxieties about starting a new school, starting a new life, is so overwhelming. And the stress certainly isn't helping her migraines. But some of the changes are interesting if not AMAZING. And in part this is because of her grandmother's insistence that she volunteer at a care center. A couple of times a week, Emma goes and works with Zena, a paralyzed woman unable to even speak. She communicates with a letter board and the rolling of her eyes. Together Emma and Zena write poetry and discuss life--the past, the present, the future. I loved these sections with Zena. Part of her volunteer life includes seeing Samnang on a regular basis. And these two become quite close!

The Language Inside is a verse novel.

lonely is when the language outside
isn't the language inside
and words are made of just 26 letters (130)

letter by letter
word by word
Zena spells
like this poem was just
sitting in her head:

my stroke beached me like a whale on hot sand
come home! my daughter called and called
but I couldn't answer and finally she swam away

by the time I could look up to talk
and tell her to lean over my face
so I could feel the tickle of her hair
she no longer felt like my daughter

come back! I called and called
but she swam away
with my sister (336)

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Moon and More (2013)

The Moon and More. Sarah Dessen. Penguin. 384 pages. 

While The Moon and More isn't my new favorite Dessen novel of all time, it was WONDERFUL to spend time with new characters in the beach town of Colby. What I love about Dessen's YA novels is the fact that relationships--ALL relationships matter. Family relationships and friendships are typically very important in her works. This one was no exception.


Emaline, our heroine, has a steady job, a steady boyfriend, Luke, and a steady (blended) family. Her stepfather has raised her since she was two, and he is her DAD. She can't imagine not having two stepsisters, Margo and Amber. Though each sister can drive her crazy! And her mom, well, her mom is her mom. There's some awkwardness now and then as her mom's good intentions are not quite appreciated as intended. But Emaline knows her family is good and strong. Her relationship with Luke seems steady enough as well, at the beginning. They've been together since ninth grade! But there has been increasing awkwardness between them as well, ever since her mother caught them together in a compromising situation. Morris and Daisy are Emaline's BEST FRIENDS. And I love that these best friends play such a huge role in this novel! Emaline's job isn't horribly fun or exciting, but, it's a job--a job that brings her into contact with some cranky people. Then again, it also brings Theo into her life.

Theo and Ivy are SOMETHING. Ivy films documentaries, and she's in Colby to get the story behind local artist, Clyde Conaway. Theo is her assistant. He's only a few years older than Emaline, and he's so very, very different from all the guys Emaline has ever known. When Theo isn't being abused or pushed around by Ivy, he's making much of Emaline. He's determined that she is key to his "BEST SUMMER EVER."

For those wanting a magical romance, I'm not sure this one will fully satisfy. But that is what makes The Moon and More so great. It is a novel about growing up in a messy world and accepting life as it is. For Emaline that means feeling CONFUSED and uncertain about her biological father. One thing is certain: she loves her half-brother, Benji. But her father, well, he said he would pay her college tuition, he encouraged her--almost pressured her--to apply to BIG schools. When she let him know the good news that she was accepted at Columbia, he promptly disappointed her.  So her "big dream" won't be coming true at summer's end.

I loved this one for the characterization. I loved it because it was complex with no easy answers.

Quotes:

There's a difference between the words father and dad. And it's more than three letters.  (25)

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Testing (2013)

The Testing. Joelle Charbonneau. 2013. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 344 pages.

I definitely enjoyed this YA dystopia. The novel opens with a big celebration, a day the whole community comes together to celebrate their survival and continued hope for the future. Each member of the graduating class will need to contribute their all in order to help the community thrive. The world has been devastated, and things that were once easy are now a struggle, an achievement. The community has to have a pioneering spirit. Cia, our heroine, has always been proud of her parents and her brothers. Has always enjoyed working with them, learning with them, she values their knowledge and hopes to continue on--in one way or another--with making the Five Lakes Colony something great.

When the novel opens, Cia and her classmates are nervous. Will anyone in the community be chosen for further education? Will any be chosen for the testing? Will any get a chance to go to university and be assigned essentially a new life--if their studies are successful. Being chosen may mean settling down in another colony, another city far, far away and never seeing your family again. But it also may mean that you are a part of a greater community, a community that values restoring life and balance to the planet. Does Cia want to be chosen? Perhaps she wants to be considered smart enough to be chosen.

After a disappointing graduation day--no one was chosen--life settles down into a routine, but not for long! A few days later, visitors to the colony reveal that FOUR graduates have been selected. This news is quite a surprise! But Cia's father does NOT seem pleased with the news. And he will dare to tell her the truth--what he knows of it anyway, for he too was once chosen. Will this information be enough to help Cia in her darkest moments?

I found this one compelling from the start. I definitely found all stages of the testing fascinating. 

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Catherine (2013)

Catherine. April Lindner. 2013. Little, Brown. 320 pages.

I enjoyed April Lindner's retelling of Jane Eyre entitled Jane. But I really, really LOVED her retelling of Wuthering Heights. I was surprised because I really do not like Wuthering Heights. I just do not see it as romantic or giddy-making. I don't see the appeal. But Catherine worked for me. I loved reading the dual narratives. Readers meet Chelsea, the daughter of Catherine, who has run away from her father to go in search of her mother who was listed as a missing person so many years before. She heads to New York City, to The Underground. She finds her mom's ex-boyfriend, Hence, the current owner of The Underground. He allows her to stay and he gives her bits and pieces of information. She also meets Cooper who takes an interest in helping her get the information she needs on her mom. Readers also get Catherine's story as it unfolds in her diary. Chelsea gets to know exactly what her mom was like when she was her age. Chelsea's search isn't easy, and it will be trying in many ways. Catherine's story is intense and passionate and it fits perfectly. Hence is a talented, misunderstood punk rocker who comes to work at the Underground. Catherine's father, the original owner, even lets Hence stay in his basement. Hence and Catherine just belong together, but, both are spirited. Catherine wants to go to college. She cannot content herself to watching Hence perform and following him around making much of him. She loves him, but she needs her dreams too. Hence, well, he's selfish and his ego is getting bigger and as he's getting more successful...

I really LOVED this one. It has mystery, drama, and romance. The storytelling was great!


© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

This is What Happy Looks Like (2013)

This is What Happy Looks Like. Jennifer E. Smith. 2013. Little, Brown. 404 pages.

This is the third novel I've read by Jennifer E. Smith. I've also reviewed The Comeback Season and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. I loved them both in very different ways. She is definitely an author I'd recommend to fans of Elizabeth Scott, Sarah Dessen, and Deb Caletti.

It starts when Ellie receives an email from a stranger. It's obviously a case of mistaken identity--this G is asking her to take Wilbur for a walk. Not wanting Wilbur to suffer, she replies back and discovers...that he's a PIG and G is a kindred spirit. A true friendship grows between E and G. They both have secrets they're keeping from one another: Ellie's secret isn't hers exclusively, so it makes sense that she wouldn't share it with just anyone. G's secret is that he is Graham Larkin, movie star. He purposefully suggests Ellie's hometown in Maine as a shooting location for his new movie, he's truly hoping to have a magical summer with the woman he can't stop thinking about. But Ellie has reasons--good reasons--not to want attention from the media.

I LOVED the beginning of this one. The email exchanges were great. I enjoyed the rest of the novel as well. It wasn't quite love, love, love for me. I did enjoy both characters, and I thought there were a few scenes in this one that worked really well. But for me, it didn't have as many magical moments as The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight. It's a good romance. I'm definitely glad I read it!

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Stardust (1998)

Stardust. Neil Gaiman. 1998. 368 pages.

There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire. And while that is, as beginnings go, not entirely novel (for every tale about every young man there ever was or will be could start in a similar manner) there was much about this young man and what happened to him that was unusual, although even he never knew the whole of it. 

Stardust is probably my favorite Neil Gaiman novel. It's set during the Victorian time period, and it has a classic fantasy-adventure feel to it. There is definitely some romance to it--it isn't a children's book, there's some adult content after all. All the elements work together for an enjoyable read!

In Victorian novels, it isn't unusual for an author to begin his or her story with extensive background, providing readers with information that sooner or later may prove important. Details on where the story is set, what life is like in that community, the families that live there, the story--romantic or practical--of the main character's parents, perhaps even going into great detail on the successes and failures, hopes and disappointments. Wilkie Collins, for example, can spend fifty pages or so just setting up the background for his novel. Gaiman spends the first chapter of Stardust doing just that, he sets up the family history so he can move the story forward sixteen or seventeen years and get off to a proper start in chapter two with the actual hero of the story, Tristran. Is this necessary?! Yes, in Tristran's case for his parentage makes him very unique. Still, it was a little unsettling to me--the first time at least. But I think it works.

There is a loveliness to the writing, the storytelling. It is rich in detail, in places, and at times very creative. I definitely enjoyed following Tristran Thorn on his quest. I liked seeing him transform into someone a bit wiser and kinder. I thought we met plenty of interesting characters along the way. Some of these characters I liked more than others! But overall, I definitely liked it. I think I loved it more the first time I read it, however.

When I first read Stardust in 2008, I wasn't as familiar with the time period as I am now, so paragraphs like this one meant little to me:

The events that follow transpired many years ago. Queen Victoria was on the throne of England, but she was not yet the black-clad widow of Windsor: she had apples in her cheeks and a spring in her step, and Lord Melbourne often had cause to upbraid, gently, the young queen for her flightiness. She was, as yet, unmarried, although she was very much in love. Mr. Charles Dickens was serializing his novel Oliver Twist; Mr. Draper had just taken the first photograph of the moon, freezing her pale face on cold paper; Mr. Morse had recently announced a way of transmitting messages down metal wires. (5)

Update: I've now seen the movie! It is quite different from the book! I enjoyed some of the changes, but not quite all of them. I think I definitely prefer the book to the movie. I thought the book was more clever, perhaps. I think one of my favorite things about the movie was the soundtrack! It was quite lovely!

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Grimm Legacy (2010)

The Grimm Legacy. Polly Shulman. 2010. Penguin. 325 pages.

 The Grimm Legacy has an intriguing premise. Wouldn't it be fun if fairy tales were true and there were magical artifacts gathered together in a library collection in New York? Wouldn't it be fun to work in such a library, such a collection? To be able to 'try' some of these artifacts yourself. But it isn't all fun as our heroine, Elizabeth Rew, and her fellow pages (Marc Merrit, Anjali Rao, Aaron Rosendom) learn. For someone is attempting to steal the real magical objects and replace them with fakes. And the attempt is succeeding. These four teens (Elizabeth, Marc, Anjali, and Aaron) must learn to work together--despite great personality conflict--to solve the mystery of WHO is stealing from the Grimm Collection. This fantasy novel has mystery and drama for it's a dangerous task before them.

While I liked the book well enough to keep reading, I didn't love it. I just didn't make a good connection with the characters. Some of the characters were interesting; for example, Anjali has a very spirited sister that plays an important role in the novel. But I wasn't satisfied with their development; the characters just didn't feel believable enough.

Read The Grimm Legacy

• If you enjoy YA fantasy
• If you enjoy fantasy 
• If you are interested in the second novel in the series which involves time travel! It's called The Wells Bequest!

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Sever (2013)

Sever. Lauren DeStefano. 2013. Simon & Schuster. 371 pages.

Sever was certainly an intense read. If I had to describe it in just one word, I'd say it was bittersweet. This is the final book in the trilogy which perhaps explains why to a certain degree.

The novel opens with Rhine recovering, Linden and Cecily are determined to care for her. Linden may not believe the "outrageous" claims about his own father that Rhine is sharing with him and his oh-so-young wife. But. He still cares what happens to her. And since Rhine is so unwilling to go back to the mansion, and since she isn't strong enough to leave on her own, he comes up with an alternative arrangement. He has a mysterious uncle, an uncle that his first love, Rose, adored; Rhine can go to stay with him until she's ready to leave. Rhine is still determined to find her twin brother.

This allows Rhine time to contemplate how she feels about Linden, to decide if she really wants to annul her marriage with him, to make plans on how to find her brother and possibly stop him from traveling down a dark and dangerous path. While there she begins to learn more about who she is, who her brother is, who her parents were. Her parents apparently have a reputation in the scientific world--a legacy. And some of what she learns changes her...

The world Rhine has lived in has always been ugly...and Sever is a balance between hope and despair.

Read Sever

• If you have read the first two in the series (Wither; Fever)
• If you enjoy dystopian thrillers
• If romance isn't the most important element in your science fiction!

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Rogue's Princess (2013)

The Rogue's Princess. (Lacey Chronicles #3). Eve Edwards. 2013. Random House. 272 pages.

When I first started The Rogue's Princess, I was hesitant. I was not liking the "historical" presentation of Puritans. All the details felt too on-the-surface and not quite genuine. I wasn't sure I was going to like Mercy Hart or her family. But. Once Mercy goes to her friend Ann's house for supper and meets Kit Turner (Christopher Turner), a player (actor) we first met in The Queen's Lady, I stopped caring. What Edwards does really well is right distracting--absorbing--love stories. If you believe the love story between the hero and heroine, everything else ceases to matter almost. I do think her characters are at times a little too modern, but, as I'm reading the story I don't care.

Kit Turner was an interesting hero. I definitely enjoyed getting to know him better and seeing things through his perspective. I did enjoy spending time with the youngest Lacey brother, Tobias. Though he isn't my favorite or best Lacey brother!

I have enjoyed all three books, but I haven't exactly LOVED any of them. They are purely fun, quick and enjoyable reads.

Read The Rogue's Princess

• If you enjoyed the first two books in the series
• If you enjoy historical romance

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Dark Triumph (2013)

Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2) Robin LaFevers. 2013. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 387 pages.

 At first, I didn't know what to think of Dark Triumph. The opening chapters were so dark and creepy. What Sybella, our heroine, has had to live with her whole life is almost too horrible to describe. But her story, though dark, is necessary for the reader to know, to understand. Both Sybella and "the Beast" were characters first introduced in Robin LaFevers Grave Mercy. I thought they were interesting in the first novel, but after reading the second novel they were so much more than that. I LOVED them. I think I loved them even more than I loved Ismae and Duval.

Secrets. Lies. Betrayals. Murders. Sybella has seen and heard too much; she was born into one of the cruelest, darkest families in Brittany. Her escape to the convent to be trained as Death's handmaiden--an assassin--was too brief. For better or worse, Sybella's "purpose" is a dark one. She wants justice, justice for all the lives lost at her father's hand, all the lives lost because of her father's orders, all the lives lost on the battlefield because her father is a traitor to the duchess. She's a killer. She feels she kills justly, men who deserve to die, but she's a killer whether or not she's following her Lord's orders or not.

One of the orders she receives early in the novel is to rescue one of the men captured by her father. A man readers came to know as "the Beast." She knows it won't be easy, but, she knows it's right. For she knows that in saving his life, in giving him his freedom, she'll be doing good for the Duchess. The news he carries back to her may help her cause. But what Sybella never expected was to be "rescued" by the prisoner AS he makes his escape. The Beast and Sybella traveling together...as a team...to the Duchess...it's something!

And that's just the start, of course!

Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph might not be for every reader. There is so much darkness in the second book, mainly involving Sybella's past and present. While at first I was hesitant to visit those dark places and learn Sybella's truths, I soon cared too much to stop reading. If the first book focused on politics with the threat of war, the second novel focuses on politics and inevitable WAR.

I would definitely recommend reading the two books in order. And if you've got the time, it might be a good idea to reread the first novel. Dark Triumph and Grave Mercy overlap by a little bit. And the politics and war might make more sense if you've recently read Grave Mercy. 

Read Dark Triumph

• If you enjoyed Grave Mercy
• If you're a fan of Robin LaFevers
• If you enjoy dark historical novels focused on war and politics

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews