Book Review: Clockwork Princess

The Plot: A net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. Mortmain plans to use his Infernal Devices, an army of pitiless automatons, to destroy the Shadowhunters. He needs only one last item to complete his plan: he needs Tessa Gray. 
Charlotte Branwell, head of the London Institute, is desperate to find Mortmain before he strikes. But when Mortmain abducts Tessa, the boys who lay equal claim to her heart, Jem and Will, will do anything to save her. For though Tessa and Jem are now engaged, Will is as much in love with her as ever.
As those who love Tessa rally to rescue her from Mortmain’s clutches, Tessa realizes that the only person who can save her is herself. But can a single girl, even one who can command the power of angels, face down an entire army?
Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment, and the tangled threads of love and loss intertwine as the Shadowhunters are pushed to the very brink of destruction in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

Why I read it: 3rd in a series
 
The Characters: I don't know if it's just because it's YA, and I'm tired of YA or what, but these characters seemed so, so young. I could tell it was supposed to be all romantic and stuff, but it just seemed overdone. It was like the author wanted to write a romance like the one in Pride and Prejudice or the like, but she does not have the talent for it. It made me not really care for many of the characters, even though this is the last book in a trilogy, and I feel like by now I should care more about the characters.

The Setting: The setting is basically a steampunk England. It was fine, and possibly the best part of the book for me, but still nothing to write home about.

A Sample of the Writing:  
She leaned forward and caught at his hand, pressing it between her own. The touch was like white fire through his veins. He could not feel her skin only the cloth of her gloves, and yet it did not matter. You kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire. He had wondered once why love was always phrased in terms of burning. The conflagration in his own veins, now, gave the answer.
 
Who Should Read This: Fans of Cassandra Clare, definitely. But only after reading the first two.

Final Thoughts: I think I would have liked this book better if not for the last maybe 100 pages, but even then it wasn't very well written. It just went on and on, and at the end I was bored and heavily skimming. And I guess it was supposed to be romantic, but it was all just a little bit much.

Cover Thoughts: The cover is gorgeous. Definitely in this case the cover is better than the book.

Grade: 2 stars (it was okay)


*I know I've been MIA for quite awhile. Blogging was becoming a chore for me, and I wasn't enjoying it. So I'm going to tentatively start posting again, and just see how it feels.

Unearthly Review

Book Details

Title: Unearthly
Author: Cynthia Hand
Genre: YA Paranormal
Page Count: 448
Publishing Info: HarperTeen, January 4, 2011

My Review
Why I read it: netgalley review copy
The Plot: This is a really refreshing change from other YA paranormals I've read.  There's still a girl who finds out she has paranormal powers, but as the story opens, she already knows she has them.  No mysterious hot boy has to give her the news.  Does that mean this book is without a mysterious hot boy?  Of course not--that'd be asking a little too much, I think.  Clara, our main character is an angel-blood.  She has recurring dreams about the previously mentioned boy, a forest fire, and that she needs to save him.  Her mother explains to her (her mother is also an angel) that this dream is her purpose.  So, as details of the dream reveal themselves, they figure out the boy is in Wyoming and move their little family (she also has a brother who is an angel) there.  There she begins high school life, trying to fit in, meeting the boy from her dreams, a couple of good friends, and another boy, Tucker, who shows her the beauties of Wyoming (they're in Jackson Hole).  So, yes, another thing that would be too much to ask would be no love triangle.  We can't have everything.  This one is different though, and you'll just have to take my word for it and read it to see why. 
The Characters: Clara is actually really likable.  She's not bland and boring, all the while attracting the eye of every boy in the story.  She just seems to be a fairly normal girl who happens to be an angel.  But the real draw, for me, was the love interest.  Normally when I read YA paranormals, the minute the love interest is introduced (and throughout the story) I think the guy is such a tool.  Only attractive in that the author is telling me so, and not in anything I read in the story.  But this time, what's left over of my teenager heart was really crushing on Tucker.  Oh how I would have loved an attractive cowboy to show me around beautiful country.  Cynthia Hand really does it right here.  I'm finally reading a love interest that I can root for.
The Setting: I've already mentioned that most of the story takes place in Jackson, Wyoming.  The author does a wonderful job of describing the beauty of the place and making the reader want to be there.  I've never actually been there, so I can't say how accurate it is, but if it is anything like how it is in the book, I want to live there.
Who Should Read This? Every fan of YA, especially those who are burned out on the crap (yes, I said crap) that's out there right now. 
Final Thoughts: Sometimes you want to read a book that doesn't require a lot of thought, and just sweeps you away in the adventure of the story.  This is one of those books.  I was charmed the whole way through the novel, and I absolutely adored it.  It seems like this has to have a sequel, and I really hope it does.  I want to read more by this talented author!
Grade: A
Cover Thoughts: The cover is pretty, but it's a little too pretty for the story.  Clara goes hiking, rafting, fishing, flying--she's a girl who seems to love adventure and the outdoors, not an untouchable pretty girl, which is what this picture looks like to me.  Still, it could be worse.  I can kind of see what they were trying to do here with this cover.

 

Angelfire

Book Details:
Genre: YA paranormal
Page Count: 464
Publication Date: Feb. 15, 2011
Why I read it: netgalley review copy
Grade: F

Plot:
When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

My Review: 
After reading about 200 pages of this one, I gave up on it.  Besides being incredibly slow moving, I felt like I was reading the same things over and over.  It seemed like the author had a few ideas of what she wanted her characters to do, and then just rotated through them.  

This is yet another book about a girl in high school who finds out she has some paranormal powers, and I bet you can guess how she finds out.  Yup, a mysterious, incredibly good looking boy.  So if you haven't had enough of those yet, pick this up!  I'm not sure there was any point in this story where I actually cared about the characters or the plot, and although I've read many reviews where the readers thought the battle scenes were great, I thought they were repetitive and tedious.  Maybe things got better, but after a couple hundred pages of not good, I wasn't taking any chances.  Too many other books to read.