Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles, #3)

Title: Cress                                   
Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles
Published: 4th February 2014
Source: Gifted
Goodreads   

 Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.                                         

I can say it now without a shadow of a doubt; I love the Lunar Chronicles. Yep, this book really confirmed my love for Marissa Meyer's fantastic series. This book is, by far, the best one so far. It has action, romance, heartbreak and moments where you are just like oh no, you did not just do that to me. Marissa Meyer was not scared to go the extra mile in this book, which I really appreciate.

We first see Cress in Cinder but really meeting her in this book was just refreshing in a way. While Cinder is strong and Scarlet is butt-kicking, Cress is a shy, sweet, naive girl that is the exaact opposite of Cinder and Scarlet but she still has that element that makes her heroic. I love how Marissa Meyer makes each character unique! You'd never expect an extremely shy and naive person to be an excellent hacker would you? I see myself in Cress the most; it's the way how she deals with situations and how she thinks upon them.

“Maybe there isn’t such a thing as fate. Maybe it’s just the opportunities we’re given, and what we do with them. I’m beginning to think that maybe great, epic romances don’t just happen. We have to make them ourselves.”

Ahh ... Thorne. How much I love Thorne and ship Thress. He really became his own in this book. If you thought you liked Thorne in Scarlet, wait until you read Cress because you will fall in love. His character development throughout this series is flawless and his interactions with Cress are just hilarious and sweet and adorable.

“If you honestly believe that," said Thorne, stowing the gun again, "then you really don't recognize true value when you see it.”

We were also introduced to Winter, the main narrarator of the next book and I thought her introduction was hilarious (in a good way)! She's a Lunar princess who hasn't used her gift since twelve, which results in her being slightly ... insane. I can't wait for Winter to come out so we can really get to know her (among other things as well, don't worry).

So much stuff went down in this book. The action was non-stop but what I really adored about the action/plot was that it was realistic. Even though it is a sci-fi and a fairytale retelling, it doesn't shy away the fact that things that happen is realistic if you know what I mean. Ms Meyer's writing left me thinking what on Luna (hah, see what I did there?) is going to happen next? 

I'm both anticipating and sort of terrified for Winter. I really don't want this fantastic series to end but I really want to know what will happen, am I the only one feeling this way? I loved Cress and, as it is a new favourite, stars cannot portray my love for this book.

Hagar Manssour

P.S -- I think the series would make a really great TV show, if done right!

Book Review: Half Bad by Sally Green (Half Life #1)

Title: Half Bad
Author: Sally Green                                         
Series: Half Life (#1)
Published: 1st March 2014
Source: Bought from Waterstones
Goodreads             

 Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.

You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.

You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.

You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.

You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.

All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.

Easy.                          

I finished this book about an hour ago and I still cannot fully process my thoughts on this book. This book has a lot of hype so, unsurprisingly, I picked it up in Waterstones. I'm not as amazed as everyone else was but it was overall a good book.

Half Bad is set in modern day where witches live among fains (muggles basically). There are White witches; the "good witches" and the Blacks; the "bad". The witch society is ruled by a council of White witches and White hunters who hunt down and kill the Blacks. Our main character, Nathan, is a Half Code - half White and half Black, which isn't supposed to happen. His mother, now deceased, was a highly respected White witch but his father is the most evil Black. If the Council decide that Nathan is more Black than White, he will be killed instantly. There is more to this witch world but it is a lot more fun to figure it out while reading.

 The book starts off with a second person narration - talking to you; the reader and you find out that Nathan (you) are in a cage being tortured. It then goes back to when he was a child which then leads up to the point where the book started and carries on from there. I found this quite an interesting technique to be using but it fit the story.

This book is heavily based on Nathan's character development from when he was 5 to his current age; 17. It can be quite slow at points and I found myself just reading the words while day-dreaming so then I'd have to read the same paragraph over again. Half Bad might not be for you if you are looking for a fast-paced, plot-driven story. This book is more of a lead-up to the rest of the trilogy and will probably depend on the sequels for an overall good series mark from me.

The world did intrigue me though. The way that the Whites look at themselves as the "good" and "superior" ones while they may be just as "bad" as Blacks or even worse just made me wonder how this society came to be. Whites hunt Blacks but the Blacks are only trying to defend themselves. It's almost racist.

I found the relationships that Nathan had with others weren't strong or well-developed, especially with Annalise - the supposed "love interest". Ms Green focused to much on Nathan's development and no-one else's.
 

If you are squeamish, I suggest you take note that some scenes may be gruesome before picking this up.

Overall, I enjoyed how unique this book was and I hope to enjoy the sequels even more. 3.75/5

Hagar Manssour

Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #1)

Title: Cinder             
Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles
Published: 3rd January 2012
Source: Library
Goodreads

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the centre of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. 

Cinder is one of those books that is all hyped up by the book-lover community so you pick it up and you love it more than you thought you would. We all know the story of Cinderella (you know slave, lovely prince, ball, perfect fit of a shoe even though it falls off etc), well, Marissa Meyer puts an effortless twist to the story and you're left thinking this is a fairytale retelling?

The character of Cinder is such an interesting one. She is treated as if she were a disease, and is blamed as if she caused her sister's. She is a compassionate person but finds very few to show that love and compassion for. There are only a handful of people she loves and cares for deeply, like her sister, and is shocked when someone else feels that way for her, after all, she is a cyborg. 
 
Everyone seems to adore Kai and I'm just here like really? this guy?. I care for him and all but I didn't really fall head-over-heels in love like everyone else. I cannot fathom how he can keep his head held high because of the things that happen to him. I'm quite surprised that he didn't break down.

Even though I did see the plot twist coming, I still really enjoyed reading the plot. It was action-packed yet heartbreaking, adoreable yet grim. Ms Meyer really does a great job to set up this book for the rest of the series.

Overall, I really loved this book - 5/5 stars!

Hagar Manssour

Book Review: Undone by Cat Clarke

                       

Title:Undone

Author: Cat Clarke

Series: N/A

Published: 31st January 2013
Source: Borrowed from friend (hey Cody)

Goodreads 

Jem Halliday is in love with her gay best friend. Not exactly ideal, but she's learning to live with it.

Then the unspeakable happens. Kai is outed online ... and he kills himself.

Jem knows nothing she can say or do will bring him back. But she wants to know who was responsible. And she wants to take them down.

A searing story of love, revenge and betrayal from a bestselling author.

My friend (hey Cody) had let me borrow her copy of this book because she wouldn't stop talking about it. The synopsis really intrigued me and apparently, Cat Clarke is awesome so, naturally, I had to read it! I'd say I finished this book quite quickly even though I had mixed feelings.

I loved Kai's character! He treated Jem so sweetly and his letters are one of the highlights of this book. When Jem only hung out with Kai (when he was alive), Kai was more social and I think Jem could've maybe took Kai as an example but not with the suicide thing because that's just wrong.

I also really loved the dialogue of this book! Jem's voice was so witty and sarcastic which are two things I love to see characters have! This book made me laugh out loud a lot even though it deals with darker issues.

Despite all the good things I mentioned above, I did find one thing annoying: Jem. She dies her hair blonde because Kai had asked her, then she says she hates it and calls it stupid. She then goes out with Lucas and continuously has sex with him eventhough she says she doesn't like him; her only reason was "I was just so f****** horny". She doesn't question herself if the populars actually outed Kai online or if that was actually a diversion. I just think Jem wasn't a character you could sympathise with or even connect with on some degree.

I did not agree with the ending. It was just an annoying way to put an end to this novel. It really did dissapoint.

All in all, I give this 3/5 stars and I probably wouldn't re-read it. I will, hopefully, read some of Cat Clarke's other books because, as I said, she is quite a popular UK author.

Hagar Manssour