Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Title: The Magicians (The Magicians #1)
Author: Lev Grossman
Genre: Fantasy, Adult
Publisher: Plume
Pages: 516

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery... But his childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price. (More from Goodreads)

Warning: Unless the summary isn't clear, this is NOT children's book. I repeat, this is NOT A CHILDREN'S BOOK. It has been marketed as 'Harry Potter for grown-ups', 'Harry Potter goes to Narnia', and other things along those lines; and perhaps some elements are so reminiscent of these books that they may seem plagiarised (gasp) but no. Comparing The Magicians to Harry Potter is like comparing tomatoes to carrots. They both belong in a salad, but that's about as much as they have in common.

If I had to summarize the book in one sentence, it would be thus: an R-rated parody of Harry Potter and Narnia with 30 times the angst and misery.

Which doesn't necessarily mean it's not a good book.

Mini Review: Sever (The Chemical Garden #3) by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Sever (The Chemical Garden #3)
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 371

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered. (More from Goodreads)

The Chemical Garden trilogy ends its run with this book.

I tried so hard to like the trilogy. But like the previous books, Rhine's character irritated me, and the people around her are still mere stepping stones to advance her story. The 'science' elements nonsense behind the age cap and subsequent experiments to attempt to cure it still frustrated me. And the 'lyrical prose' everyone so loved still eluded me, and led to my eventual discovery of the term 'purple prose'. 

Yay for teaching me something new!

It deserves a mini-review because I am at a loss on what to say. The points that made me dislike the book can probably be found in my reviews of the first and second books; suffice to say there is not much I will say about this book that has not been said before, since I don't go through the story progression much more than what the summary has given. I just feel the characters haven't progressed all that much

And I ended up liking this book less than its predecessors.

Again, I tried, but not everybody can heap praise on any author's writing. :(

~My Rating~

2 out of 5 Stars

★★☆☆☆

Review: The Cry of the Icemark (The Icemark Chronicles #1) by Stuart Hill

Title: The Cry of the Icemark (The Icemark Chronicles #1)
Author: Stuart Hill
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, War
Publisher: Chicken House
Pages: 494

When her father dies in battle, 14-year-old Thirrin becomes Queen of the Icemark. Not only must she win the respect of her people, but also raise an army to protect them from the most formidable threat of invasion her nation has ever known - and do so before the end of the winter snows. (More from Goodreads)

The Cry of the Icemark is perhaps one of the most unknown books in my bookshelves. It is also one of the books that took me the longest time to finish (apart from OSC's Pathfinder probably, which is still in the pipes) and while that speaks volumes, it is a surprisingly good book- if you can get through certain elements. The Icemark Chronicles is a completed trilogy.

Review: This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl

Title: This Star Won't Go Out

Author: Esther Earl

Genre: Non Fiction, Memoir

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 431

This is a collection of the journals, fiction, letters, and sketches of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Photographs and essays by family and friends help to tell Esther's story, along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his number 1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her. (More from Goodreads)

Perhaps known best as the inspiration behind the famous TFIOS, Esther Earl has become a common name among teen readers everywhere. This is a memoir, and I, for one, am not a huge fan of those. Knowing that, you probably expect me to have a lot of difficulty with the book. And to that I say:

Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Title: Seraphina

Author: Rachel Hartman

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, DRAGONS!

Publisher: Random House Books

Pages: 499

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life. (More from Goodreads)

I have wanted to read this book since I was a little child.

Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. But I have wanted to read it since 2012 and only got around to it this year- which is fine and dandy, because back in 2012 it didn't have a purple cover. For those uninitiated (perhaps all of you), purple is my favourite colour- the colour that held my favourite colour title for the longest time yet, and possibly will remain my favourite for a good long while.

Now that I have done yakking away, here we go to my humble series of opinions and final rating of the book that we all call a review ;)

Fulfilling Friday: Semester Break!

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!

And this has been quite a week.

The Passing

It is the first week of a three-week semester break, in which I faced the death of a relative, which, although expected- due to her advanced stage of cancer- was still quite a blow to the family. It doesn't help that she's barely 50 years old, which is... really young. Almost my mother's age.

Death drives home the ephemeral state of life, and the permanence of non-existence. It grounds the fact that we will all cease to exist one day- if you still believe in the Big Bang theory, and the theory of Creationism. It drove me to a mini-crisis of existentialism for a day or two, which I fended off with some more reading and reviewing and good ol' sleeping.

We will always miss her and continue to remember her in our fondest memories.

The TBR Pile(s)

I am rather excited for this month's TBR- or was, before the above-mentioned event came to pass. Nevertheless, I will post my TBR pile for this month of March and strike through those I have already read by the time this post is finished. Bear in mind I will probably read more, if things go my way.

1. The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill - IN PROGRESS
2. This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl - IN PROGRESS
3. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
4. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman - IN PROGRESS
6. Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #3) by Laini Taylor - IN PROGRESS
7. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
8. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - IN PROGRESS
9. The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5) by Rick Riordan
10. Red Seas Under Red Skies - Scott Lynch
11. Apprentice (The Black Mage #2) by Rachel E. Carter
12. DIAgnosis2 [Bahasa Melayu book] by various authors

Yes, I have the tendency to read multiple books at once. I have no idea why this works for me and why it does not get confusing, because it really doesn't. In this case it really is necessary, because two of the books in progress are really very slow reads for me and I need to punctuate the rather humdrum pace by interspersing it with more face-paced reads. They are my rewards for finishing a certain chapter of a slower book.

Of course, my other TBR pile- the TO BE REVIEWED pile- is stacking up like nobody's business. 

Nobody's business but mine.

I would be more sad about it, if I'm not so excited. It's rather unbelievable how excited one can be about things that are not supposed to be exciting when one has nothing else to worry about.

Plans

This weekend will be filled with reading and reviewing, of course. I am also finishing up an actual letter to send to my high school friend (currently in Canada) and will be sending that next week- whenever I will be headed back a bit in the southerly direction.

There is a Sushi King bonanza next week (all sushi plates at RM 3 each!) which I will definitely splurge on. And I plan to watch at least two movies in the cinema, since I haven't watched a movie in the cinema since the last installment of The Hobbit.

I think I better start planning on some revision and cleaning up too, for the rest of the break.

Last but not least, try to restrict the impulse to keep ordering books online- for which a post is due within the next two weeks.

What have you fulfilled this week? :)

Review: DIAgnosis2 by Dr. Anwar Fazal & Others [Malay]

Title: DIAgnosis2

Authors: Dr. Anwar Fazal, Dr Aizzat, Dr. Azah, Dr. Mafeitz, Dr. Mahyuddin, Dr. Fatin Liyana & Dr. Beni Rusani

Genre: Malay, Short Stories, Medical

Publisher: White Coat Enterprise

Pages: 356

Kerjaya ini memaksa kamu untuk melihat nilai nyawa dari pelbagai dimensi. Ia menjadikan kamu penonton setia drama tragis dan gembira yang berselang seli saban hari.Kamu menjadi watak transisi hidup mati.Protagonis atau antagonis,bergantung pada mata penilai manusiatetapi hakikatnya hanya Penilai Mutlak lebih tahu semua yang bersarang di hati.Kerjaya ini, jika benar untuk Illahi, pasti akan menundukkan hati dan buat rasa rendah diri.

Ada tikanya bila kamu berjaya menyelamatkan nyawa dengan izinNya,bila pesakit mula membuka mata dan melakarkan senyuman manisnya, bila ahli keluarganya merangkul atau menjabat erat tangan kamu dengan mata berkaca, saat itu kamu tahu inilah kerjaya yang paling 'kaya' dan kamu rela bersengkang mata, mengerah tenaga hingga ke sisa-sisa akhir yang ada kerana kamu tahu 'rasa itu' rasa yang tak mampu dibeli biar dengan segunung harta materi di dunia. Ya, ini kerjaya kami selamanya. (More from Goodreads)

Inspiring, entertaining stuff!

Sadly it's mostly in Bahasa, so I can't really recommend it to everyone.

Review: Apprentice (The Black Mage #2) by Rachel E. Carter

Title: Apprentice (The Black Mage #2)
Author: Rachel E. Carter
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Astraea Press
Pages: 316

She survived a trial year at the Academy, but that was just the easy part…

Now sixteen-year-old Ryiah is an apprentice in Combat, her school’s most notorious faction of magic. When she finishes she will be a mage, but in order to do so she has to survive four years with a training master she hates and her old nemesis, Priscilla. To make matters worse the unwanted attraction Ry feels for her sometimes-friend-sometimes-rival Prince Darren is at an all time high –even though he is betrothed to the very girl she can’t stand.

Really, the only bright spot to Ryiah’s new life is the time she spends with her friends, including an older apprentice named Ian, who she finds herself thinking about quite often.

Just when things start to get comfortable they take a turn for the worse. An apprentice is killed in a rebel attack and several mages end up dead. Unwittingly, the apprentices find themselves in the midst of a budding unrest between Jerar and its northern neighbor, Caltoth. For Ryiah the impending conflict means many things, but as her apprenticeship draws to a close she finds her biggest problem at home.

Unfortunately for her, Darren’s not going anywhere. (More from Goodreads).

Here's my review the instant I finished this book on Goodreads.

Apprentice by Rachel E. Carter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh this book is positively evil.

I'm still palpitating and my adrenaline rush is nowhere near over, but let me just say this: This book has improved on every aspect from the first book, and is more. Way more.

I didn't expect this, but I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with this book.

Ugh.

SO EVIL.

View all my reviews

Now for a proper, more (ahem) professional review.

Review: Fever (The Chemical Garden #2) by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Fever (The Chemical Garden #2)

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult

Publisher: HarperVoyager

Pages: 320

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago―surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous―and in a world where young woman only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion… by any means necessary.

In this sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price―now that she has more to lose than ever. (More from Goodreads)

RE-SUMMARIZE

So this book continues where the last left off. 

In a world where crazy science somehow capped the age for females at twenty and males at twenty-five, Rhine finally escaped from her crazy father-in-law's estate with her butler to pursue their freedom outside, leaving behind her husband and remaining sister-wife as well as the comfortable, sheltered life within their beautiful prison. Not long after tasting their breath of fresh air, however, Rhine and Butler Boy somehow wound up in a Red District of sorts, featuring a still-working ferris wheel, which is run by an equally-crazy lady with a penchant for fake, dead accents.

And so begins their life in imprisonment again, and their struggle to escape it.

Yes, that would be the best blurb ever.

Review: First Year (The Black Mage #1) by Rachel E. Carter

Title: First Year (The Black Mage #1)

Author: Rachel E. Carter

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic

Publisher: Astraea Press

Pages: 276

Before the age of seventeen the young men and women of Jerar are given a choice -follow tradition, or pursue a trial year in one of the realm's three war schools to study as a soldier, knight or mage...

For 15-year-old Ryiah the choice has always been easy. Become a warrior and leave the boring confines of her lowborn life behind. Set to enroll in the School of Knighthood on the eve of her next birthday, plans suddenly shift when her twin brother discovers powers. Hoping that hers will soon follow, she enrolls with Alex at the Academy instead -the realm's most notorious war school for those with magic.

Yet when she arrives Ry finds herself competing against friend and foe for one of the exalted apprenticeships. Every "first-year" is given a trial year to prove their worth -and no amount of hard work and drive will guarantee them a spot. It seems like everyone is rooting for her to fail -and first and foremost among them Prince Darren, the school prodigy who has done nothing but make life miserable since she arrived.

When an accidental encounter leads Ryiah and Darren to an unlikely friendship she is convinced nothing good will come of it. But the lines become blurred when she begins to improve -and soon she is a key competitor for the faction of Combat... Still, nothing is ever as it seems -and when the world comes crashing down around her, Ry is forced to place faith in the one thing she can believe in -herself. Will it be enough? (More from Goodreads)

[This is my first encounter with new authors. Although the author added me as a friend on Goodreads, my review is not influenced in any way by that fact. Well, maybe a little- I wouldn't have bought the book if I wasn't aware of the author, and if it wasn't on sale for 99 cents in digital format to promote the second book in the series, Apprentice- which was released on my birthday, which I took as a sign. Phew. I wouldn't be reviewing this book if things didn't happen in that order so there is that!]

First of all, and I really have to get this off my chest first because it's a huge deal to me, is that this book is not perfectly edited. Or at least, the version I got wasn't. There were quite a few spelling errors and weird sentences that made me flinch a little. These little things are my book kryptonite. So... There is that: This book is in need of further editing. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, let's go to all the other nice stuff!