2 stars. Not that it was bad, or horrible, or anything remotely annoying, but it was just ... boring. RtC.
5 stars. After deciding to read The Immortal Rules a second time around - which I totally don't regret, seeing as I loved it even more after I read it again - I want to clap myself on the back. As a person who tends to make crappy mistakes all the time, rereading TIR was not one of them.First of all, can I just say how badass Allison Sekemoto is? Like, I have a total girl crush on her. And the fact that she's Asian - Japanese, I'm assuming, from the last name - is another added plus. BECAUSE OH MY GOD THIS GIRL IS FANTABULOUS. I will never doubt Julie Kagawa's abilities ever again. (I really shouldn't have, in the first place, anyway.)
Another one of my favorite characters was Kanin. Oh, Kanin, Kanin, you sexy, ruthless, centuries-old vampire with a weakening heart. YOU ARE SO AMAZING. I am so excited to see where we go with him in the sequel.
Sadly, another feeling that remains the same are my feelings for Zeke and Allison. I feel more of them ... but there isn't the connection I'm hoping for, to be swept away. I love both Zeke and Allison as characters, just not sure if I want them together, as I said before in my earlier review.
On that note, is it just me or is bloodsucking just extremely sexy and intimate? Like when Allison sucked Zeke's blood at the end ... That was very sensual. And I liked it. A lot.
Another fact: action-packed, amazing writing, lovely world building. I couldn't expect any less from the legendary Julie Kagawa.
Anyway, I loved how the book ended. Literally. The last paragraph blew my breath away. Allison, in the moonlight, surrounded by barren landscape and mushy trash and hungry, fiesty rabids with a gleam in her eyes as she slipped her katana from her scabbard, and smiled as she dove at them?
SO
FREAKIN
BADASS.
With that said, I loved this book and all I can say for the sequel is: BRING IT ON, BABY!
___________
The first coherent thought when I finished this book was probably Damn, Julie Kagawa can write.
I've just not-so-recently read her first book, The Iron King, a few months back, and between then and now, I've noticed some remarkable differences. The first thing, definitely, is that her writing's improved. It's much more fluid, and just ... I don't know ... better. I enjoyed reading her book; and she creates a much more suspenseful or dramatic tone with her words in this novel. In the first hundred pages, I felt myself literally shiver at her choice of diction. Either my imagination gone's haywire or her writing is really better, but since this has never happened to me before, I give full credit to Kagawa's writing. The Human part of the novel was just ... plain out creepy. Really suspenseful, really dramatic, all leading up to this breathtaking mini climax, and I thoroughly devoured it. Absolutely loved it.
The next thing I noticed was her characterization. I was thoroughly amazed at how stoic, tough, and fearless Allison was. And honestly, when she was human I didn't really think she held much "humanity" in her; it was after she spent time with Zeke and the group as a vampire did I realize she gained some really great values: self-sacrifice, commiseration, and the whole feeling of family. Kagawa's done a brilliant job, and I was astounded by the growth that occurred in Allison by the end of the novel. And I especially love the way it ended.
Zeke was another guy I absolutely adored. He was so caring, so willing, and definitely self-sacrificing. He's the sobbing kinda guy, which I've come to love, but it's nice to see men sob their heart out when they're sad. It shows emotion and a definite insight into their feelings, their heart. Zeke has been raised by his father to hate vampires, to kill them on sight. He's been taught beliefs that they're inhuman, are soulless, and hold no humanity in them. This is definitely not the case in Allison -- actually, I believe it to be the quite opposite: she gained much more values that she had ever known. And this is why I loved the idea why Kagawa kept Allison as a vampire as a secret: Because it can show growth between relationships, and when the truth is finally out, the person finally starts opening up, doubting himself of the morals he was taught. It shows a whole new perspective of a person, and it's amazing.
Though I adored Zeke and Allison both as characters, I did not like them together. I have no idea why. Usually I'm totally for the cannon pairings in novels, but their relationship just didn't click for me. Some might think it's because it isn't the stereotypical vampire-boy/human-girl kind of relationship. I honestly don't think that's why. I absolutely love the twist that Kagawa used. I just don't think they're right for each other. Though their differences are large, and they're almost complete polar opposites, I still think they'd find a way to work out. I know I may be the minority in this topic, but I found myself supporting Kanin and Allison. I was absolutely devastated when I found out he was gone.
The timing of the romance was good. Despite the fact that I don't find myself rooting for them, I think that if I were cheering for them, I would find the pacing to be good. It's just ... there was this one scene, when Zeke and Allison teamed up to rescue the others that they had an intimate moment. They kissed, okay? And in the whole situation, with Zeke's family almost eaten by rabids and his father locked up in a tower with a vampire, I was just absolutely shocked that they kissed right in that moment. I just really ended up being bothered by that. Again, I have no idea why. Maybe because they were lost in their attraction for each other in the dark, completing forgetting that they're wasting time and anyone of their family members could die? Yeah, I think that was it.
A lot of people died in this book. And the ending definitely wasn't necessarily happy, but I'm really looking forward to the next book! (Because it has something to do with Kanin! /squeal) And maybe, just maybe, I'll end up supporting Zeke and Allison, too, if their relationship strengthens in the next novel.
4/5
2.5 stars. A relatively short read, but a lot of the book was just ... boring. No main events, and the ending seemed very anticlimactic. RtC.
5 stars. Even though a lot of us were expecting the delicious scene from Vampire Academy (*wink wink*), this one sure didn't lose its hype either! LOVE LOVE LOVED being in Dimitri's head, and I hope we have more opportunities to do so. :)
OHHH MYYYYY GOOOOOOOOODDDDDJuliette may be a wimpy bad-nothing, BUT YOU CANNOT DENY THE DELICIOUSNESS OF THE COVER.
AND THAT SUMMARY!!!
Um, very Team Warner-ish, don't you think? ;)
2 stars. I probably should've listened to everybody that warned me about Alice in Zombieland because this book made me annoyed in so many ways. SO.
MANY.
So here were the problems I had:
◦ This book isn't remotely like Alice in Wonderland. Someone please explain to me why this doesn't annoy you? Because it annoys me. A large part of me picked up this book because I thought this was a grotesque, dark version of AiW like [b:Splintered|12558285|Splintered (Splintered, #1)|A.G. Howard|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1340134213s/12558285.jpg|17562095], with a hot sexy love interest and some awesome zombie elements.
But aside from the stupid wannabe title, this book is NOT. LIKE. ALICE.
◦ Alice was a fine heroine ... before she met Cole. Turns out, all those threats and advice from her father about strangers and zombies and monsters just flew out of her head. She meets him, and they share a mutual vision of feeling each other up and rather than being disgusted and intimidated and affronted by it like a normal human being who seems a gangster squad with beat up faces and stupid bruises, the idiot starts to fantasize about him.
◦ Cole, aside from being your stereotypical bad-boy blue-eyed sexy hot guy with a cluuuuub and his homies, was really no better. Actually, he was a lot of the epitome of my problems. Just — just feed him to the wolves and strip him of his weapons. I used to like these cocky, arrogant fools, maybe because I always knew they had a soft side to them that was irresistible, but Cole was just — ugh. Always sending mixed signals. He was not adorable.
◦ A lot of the plot was pretty stupid, consisting of fight scene after fight scene with no obvious conclusions as to what was going on. Not like VA, which is badassness all rolled into one. Nope. This doesn't even reach the scale. I thought the whole idea of these zombie things and fighting was pretty ridiculous. But, whatever.
Honestly, it seems a lot of people have liked this book, but there are those that have hated it as well. I won't say it's a "preference" type of book, because it's not — but maybe you're more tolerant of stupid, idiotic cheesiness. Or maybe you just really enjoyed it. Good for you. As for me ... I didn't.
2 stars. I thought I knew what disappointment was.Boy, was I wrong.
Every other disappointment I've ever had probably pales in comparison to my feelings of Ink. I was looking forward to this book for a long, long time — the cover was brilliant, the art was brilliant, and the premise sounded enticing. Taking place in Japan? Kami gods? Something revolving around drawings coming to life and destroying the world?
But mostly, TAKING PLACE IN JAPAN??
Here's where I will give pointers toward: Awesome use of Japanese dialect. It was used very well!
But anything else? CHEESINESS. PARMESAN. BLUE CHEESE. CHEDDAR.
So much cheese you'll get tired of it.
Let's think of it this way: If any of you have read a shoujo manga series or one-shot, you'd completely understand. This is how this book was like. Katie practically completely disregards what Tomo might be up to — she should at least have some reservations about who this mysterious guy is and just what the hell is wrong with him — and instead focuses on her feelings him.
Well said, Weasly. Well said.
See, here's another thing I was expecting: I was expecting something more ... fantasy-ish. Certainly not something about the Yankees or Japanese mafia wanting to use Tomo's skill for some evil purpose. Nah. Nothing like that. I just wanted maybe a battle of the paper gods vs. the drawings themselves. Or something. Just you know — fantasy.
In the end, Ink was more of a disappointment than I'd like to admit. But hopefully you, reader, have been warned enough times and you decide to dive in with much lower expectations than before. So be warned.
_________
I need this shit now. NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOWWWWWWWW
update: Wow. Totally yummy, even the second time around.update: I really, really want to re-read this soon.
first read: June 18, 2012 / second read: August 1, 2013
When I picked up this book, I'm not sure what I expected--a crazed emo stalker maybe, a very intelligent, blond-haired, glasses-wearing tutor, & the girl to be ... well, a regular girl. But what I didn't expect was to start off the book with a rape scene.
The scene happens and then a guy saves her. She then has a flashback about maybe one or two pages of two weeks before, when her "depression" over her ex-boyfriend happens. This type of scene change/going in retrospect happens a lot in the novel, and sometimes I have to pay close attention to the verb shifts. I'm not sure why the author decided to frame her story this way, especially since I think it would've worked out from starting the book at the two weeks ago mark. But perhaps she wanted readers engaged? I would say I definitely was.
There are a lot of sexual situations, so I would say that this book should be for later teens and older.
Despite all the heartpumping, steaming romance, the thing that really got me to like this book was how the main problems were about countering an assault and protecting yourself from rape. I especially loved this quote:
"You know what looks bad?" Katie cut off her VP. "A bunch of women who don't support each other when a guy pulls some shit like this. I'm sick of it. Less than an hour ago, I told D.J. where he could stick his goddamned fraternal reputation." She stood up and leaned forward, her hands on the table. "Let me tell you girls a story, short and sweet. In high school, I was a junior varsity cheerleader dating a senior who was up for football scholarships. I'd slept with him several times, willingly. One night I wasn't in the mood, but he was. So he held me down and forced me. The few people I told about it--including my best friend--pointed out what would happen to him if I told. They stressed the fact that I hadn't been a virgin, that we were dating, that we'd had sex before. So I kept quiet. I never even told my mother. That boy put bruises on my body. I was crying and begging him to stop but he didn't. That's called rape, ladies."
Most girls find that if they'd had sex before with their boyfriends, willingly, that the one time he forces you while you keep saying no doesn't count as rape. It does.
rape n. - The crime, committed by a man another, of forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with him, especially by the threat or use of violence.
When reading a book, most of the time the author incorporates his/her ideas within the novel. Webber told her views strongly about any sort of emotional trauma. There many things I could find within the novel; one that I found was implied strongly: "Not. Your. Fault."
When a person is faced with a calamity that he or she couldn't prevent, they have a tendency to take the blame upon oneself wrongly, instead of applying it to who did the crime. I think there were a lot of meaningful messages like this throughout this novel, messages that showed that the victim is never at fault, or that you shouldn't feel pressured to testify your case, no matter what anyone says.
3.5 stars. I'm not sure how to feel about this book. On one hand, it was enjoyable. On the other, I think I have issues with it. So, I'm at an impasse as of now.
2 stars. After Beautiful Creatures, I thought I'd give Margaret Stohl's new series a try, but turns out Icons seemed even more so boring and uninteresting.
Oh Lordy. Thank goodness this wasn't the ending. Though Georgia killing herself did seem way out of character.
