Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1) by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1)
Author: Laini Taylor
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Pages: 418 pages

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out. (More from Goodreads)

First Impression

It's easy to get lost in this book. I have heard so many good things about it, and I was afraid I would be disappointed with the first few chapters. Everything overwhelmed me, but not necessarily in a bad way; no, I was assaulted by the visions of a setting entirely new to me because I wasn't brought up in art school in the middle of one of the most historical cities in Europe. 

But more than that, the characters that opened the books did so with gusto. 

They weren't slowly introduced to the reader by means of tedious monologues; rather, witty banter and daily happenings abound, and just like that you are easily introduced to Karou and her seemingly odd world, with its quirky occupants and musings.

Hiatus #1 Has Ended!

And...

I passed! \o/

The update took so long because I was so busy paying back my lost hours of sleep for almost the entire duration of the past two days. Nothing quite like a great spell of hibernation~

Now that that is done, a huge sigh of relief, followed by more reading and reviewing to come soon.

Currently reading: Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) by Laini Taylor.

ONE MORE DAY

TO FREEDOM.
Hopefully. Let's pray I pass.

All I have to do is make the last mad 3.5-hour dash and read as much as I could.

Oh lord.

Can't wait to read more books and write out my thoughts on them- and the ones I've read since the end of my last review. Also, to share my most recent book hauls- my first adventure into ordering books online. Which is funny, because I only started ordering books for my self after I got my boyfriend, a not-quite-reader, to order some for me on my birthday.

Soon, very soon...

26th Orbit Around the Sun

Hello!

It's my birthday. Many things occurred on this day.

I know I don't sound too enthused. Please come back in a week an indeterminate period of time when this post has been updated well, with pictures.

Okay. :)

Fulfilling Friday: Reads, Presents and Revision

Fulfilling Friday is a feature where I talk about the happenings of the week, focusing on the positives, and plan for the upcoming days- on a Friday, of course!

The past two weeks of February have been rather exciting.

Bookish

First of all: Big Bad Wolf Fire Sale! I went on 3rd February, reaching the doors before they opened with my friend on our Thaipusam holiday. I bought 15 books on that trip. The second time around was on the final day of the sale, 9 February- on which I bought another 17 books.

Sorry for the blurry photo, but nevertheless you could see a queue at the entrance.

It's nuts. More on that in the previous post!

Reb and the Big Bad Wolf Book Sales

It would be unfair of me to leave this blog empty for so long this month, even with major exams coming up. It is, after all, my birthday month. Cue non-review posts!

This post will be about The Big Bad Wolf Book Sales, which are humongous bargain book sales that take place in Malaysia. It is run by Mr Big Bad Wolf, affectionately called the Wolf for short. Okay, it is actually run by his minions (or more accurately the owners of the wonderful BookXcess and their minions) but psh. Technicalities.

Meet my main dealer- of books, that is.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is my favourite sale.
Of all time.

No competition.

If you're currently residing in Malaysia (or even Singapore) and haven't been living too far from civilization, you have most probably heard of the sales. If you're also a bibliophile who lives rather close by, chances are this is also your favourite sale of all time. If not, it's fine- you still have time to discover them at the end of this year, and hopefully many years to come!

The main sale happens for around a week or two annually since 2009. It is a smorgasbord of books, in a venue large enough to house up to millions of tomes, hungry crowds of bibliophiles who are attracted to them like moths to a candle on a dark night, and other buyers not quite so obsessed. There is space even for food and beverage stalls, charming knick-knacks and merchandise, the odd vehicle or two (or five)- plus countless other things. Of course, it didn't start with millions of books in 2009 but that is not relevant now.

Hiatus Announcement #1

With the exams in two weeks and my scheduled contents out of their run, I would now formally announce a hiatus on reviews until probably the end of February.

This does not mean I won't occasionally pop in to write things, especially on my birthday...
Or maybe it should mean exactly that, because my exams are very VERY important.

After that, I would have a three-week long holiday which I will spend reading and reviewing books I've already read. This might mean a lot more content in March to make up for February.

See you real soon! :)

Review: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Title: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Abacus
Pages: 243

A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over -- and see everything anew. (More from Goodreads)

I may have been spoiled by my short and limited life span within Contemporary territory, because I seem to think that the lot I've met are all dapper creatures. More likely, this is the result of some very heavy nit-picking and more than the usual amount of cajoling required for me to even consider purchasing a contemporary novel. This book came highly recommended by a booktuber (apparently that's what you call youtubers who mainly do videos and the usual assortment of youtube stuff on books) with whom I share the most similar selections of books in, and I was not wrong to trust her judgment. 

Review: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Title: The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil #1)

Author: Soman Chainani

Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Children, Young Adult, Fairy Tale, Adventure

Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books

Pages: 488

“The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.”

 This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.

But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…? (More from Goodreads)

This book is an unexpectedly enjoyable read- and I don't say that a lot about middle grade books which are so blatantly, well, middle-grade. The cover alone is very childish- or well out of my age range, at least- and I can't help but love it.