Book Nerds Across America: cinder

Showing posts with label cinder. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Book review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Got it and so excited!! ALA Midwinter Conference 2016

Book Summary
Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…beware of getting swept too far away.

Flo's Review
This book was quite the game. Seriously. My journey reading this book had just about as many twists and turns as Scarlett's adventures at Caraval.

I struggled for the first half to 2/3rds of the book. I just could not with Scarlett. I don't know if I have ever read someone so inside his or her own head. I am sure there are people like that in the world, but it's really a little bit painful reading that character. At times it felt like I was just reading so much of Scarlett's broken record thoughts and not enough of the magic.

Because the magic is where this book excels! Stephanie Garber's writing is absolutely beautiful. She doesn't just describe things with words -- she sings them, she creates them, she encapsulates them with all 5 senses and then some.

Another thing I struggled with was Scarlett's and Julian's banter. I think it was supposed to be cute and coy and show the tension between them. But it just seemed to me like they were snipping at each other in many exchanges that went on for far too long. Their bickering exhausted me.

But now let's bounce back to something else I liked about this book. The plot twists! There were several, and I didn't see any of them coming. I definitely knew that things would not be as they seemed, but it is just so incredibly creative, this story.

Finally, a note about the audiobook. I think one reason I vacillated with my opinions about this book is because I was so ready to love it. This book was definitely one of the more popular and most anticipated 2017 titles, and that definitely raised the bar. One reason I was so excited for it was because I found out that the audiobook was narrated by Rebecca Soler. She is absolutely one of my favorite audiobook readers! She read the Cinder series, and I listened to all of those with her. So when I heard that she was doing Caraval, I was ready for another journey. Rebecca did not disappoint, and though I have finished listening to the story, the audiobook contains a bonus interview with author Stephanie Garber. I am looking forward to listening to it tomorrow as I drive around!

So now that I am off of the ride that is Caraval, I will give it a 3 out of 5 stars and add book #2 to my TBR.

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Book Summary
Long before she was the terror of Wonderland — the infamous Queen of Hearts — she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the yet-unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend and supply the Kingdom of Hearts with delectable pastries and confections. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next Queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the king's marriage proposal, she meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship.

Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

Countdown to Heartless
13 DAYS TILL HEARTLESS!
I am super excited to be part of the Countdown to Heartless blog tour! Check out our Twitter and Instagram page for today's fun challenge!

Flo's Review
Wow. I was late to get on board the Cinder series train, but I was definitely glad when I finally hopped on. Like many others, I was so incredibly impressed by Marissa's way to take elements of stories familiar to us and add them to a larger narrative all her own. So when I first heard about Heartless, I knew that I would love seeing Marissa's conception of Wonderland.

I was not wrong. This book pulled me in right away and did not let me go. It hurt so good, you know? It hurt to read because I ultimately knew how things were going to end up for Catherine, and that the ending was not going to be wanted. I grew to really enjoy the bubbly, creative, fun Catherine of this story and it was so hard knowing what she would turn into. And Marissa did the turn really well. I was afraid at one point in the story that it would be a light switch -- she's nice and lovable and suddenly she's awful. But it's not at all. I was able to see how and why her heart was hardening, and with a very clever final twist, how she became truly heartless.

The characters that we know and love from Lewis Carroll's story are given such depth. I was especially impressed with the Mad Hatter. Wow. His character is so, so well done. His story is clever and emotional, and the last scene where we see him was so emotional. I enjoyed seeing Cheshire popping up to gossip and the awkward, bubbling King. I laughed to myself every time I read about the Hare, because his name is Haigha, pronounced "hare" and I think that's awesome.

Jest is going to get his own paragraph, because Jest. He's the king's joker, but he is actually very clever, whilst the King is a fool. He's dark and mysterious and totally hot. His relationship with Catherine was realistic, and did I mention he's hot?! I'll take this joker any day!!

Heartless comes out November 8th, and I really think you will enjoy it! Imaginative, clever, emotional, fun -- it is all of this and more.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Book Summary
Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Flo's Review
Posting this now, because for some reason I reviewing it on Goodreads, but not here:

One word for this book: intense. Whoa, kids! I had to let myself decompress before writing this review. Following the theme of the series, Marissa Meyer takes a fairy tale and makes it part of this story she is telling. Scarlet is the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Scarlet is a feisty redhead who usually sports a red hoodie. When her grandmother goes missing, she will do anything to find her -- and her one lead is a guy named Wolf. Again, the way Marissa translates the fairy tale into this story is just so creative. The Wolves, you guys! Daaang. (I was trying to find another way of saying "intense"!)

Meanwhile, we are still following Cinder and Kai. We have the introduction of a new character -- Thorne. He is amazing. Thorne is so completely ridiculous that he is just a lot of fun to read. Marissa was still able to throw surprises my way, as I can think of at least one BIG thing that happened which I wasn't at all anticipating. The end of the story was quite -- wait for it -- intense, but it ended with an a definite action statement on Cinder's part. So this is what we are going to do. Onward to Cress!

Cress by Marissa Meyer

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

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had 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 of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

Flo's Review
So, I enjoyed Cinder. I liked Scarlet, too, though I thought it was a little intense. But, you guys, I LOVED CRESS. I loved it! Starting with Cress herself: I love that she is so smart and so creative. At the beginning of the novel she sees herself as a damsel in distress who believes in fairy tale (ha! ha! There's some irony, for ya ;-) romance and happily ever. But when she is thrust -- literally -- in a new world she is strong and resolved. She stubbornly sees the good in people. I love that she tells herself stories, like, "I am an adventurer!" to give herself courage. This leads me to Thorne.

Thorne! I can't with this guy! He is literally a "character." He always made me laugh and shake my head and, legit, I describe him to others by saying, " I can't with him!" It was nice to get into his head a bit in this book and I really liked the hints of what we saw toward the end. I am looking forward to seeing how his and Cress' story develops in Winter.

Those two were the stand out characters for me. As for plot, I love how Marissa links the story so well across the four books. Things that were just little nuggets dropped into the previous books get fleshed out in later books in the series and the connectivity blows me away every time. Finally, I have to give props to the audiobook narrator Rebecca Soler. She is so good that at times it is quite hard to believe that it is the same person voicing all the parts.

So now I'm up to Winter. I'm a bit intimidated by the whole over 800 pages and approximately 22 hours of audio thing. But of course I'm going to dive in! Thanks to The Book Addict's Guide for hosting the #TLCReadAlong and getting me into this series!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Jacque's Review

With the upcoming release of the final book in this series, Winter, Flo and I decided to join the Lunar Chronicles Read Along hosted by The Book Addict's Guide.

Cinder is a unique twist on the traditional Cinderella story. Cinder is a cyborg, which is someone who is part human and part machine. Her step-father died from an illness shortly after her arrival and her step-mother blames her for no apparent reason. There are of course two step-sisters to keep with the original story.

Rather than having to scrub the floors and clean the house, Cinder is one of the best mechanics in the area. She can repair just about any mechanical device, but all of the money she earns goes to her step-mother. As a cyborg, she is technically the property of her step-mother and is not considered a free citizen.

The story is set well into the future in New Beijing, which is one of the rebuilt cities after the fourth world war. Earth has been trying to establish a treaty with the Lunar people for over a decade, but the Lunar Queen's demands have been unreasonable. The Lunar Queen hopes that the newly crowned Emperor of New Beijing will finally be her chance to control Earth as well as the moon. With a plague spreading across Earth, the Queen may have something to offer that the Emperor will not be able to refuse.

Overall, I found this book to be very entertaining. I loved "prince charming" (Emperor Kai) and can't wait to see how things unfold her him and his people in the next book in the series. He is in a very difficult spot with the manipulative queen, but I feel like he will have some leverage as this series progresses. There is also hope for Cinder. She is more valuable than she ever imagined and may finally be able to gain her independence and more. I wish there had been a little more to this love story, but hopefully that will escalate throughout the series.

Flo's Review
Cinder, Cinder, Cinder...I'm glad to have finally read this and know what all the talk is about! And especially as we come closer to Winter! This story is so unique. One of my best said to me, "I love how she takes this story and makes it her own." And it's so true! Prince Kai is so swoonworthy and Levana is so evil and Iko is so cute and fun! I listened to the audiobook, which has a great narrator, but found myself so invested in the story that I finally had to read the last part in my book because I couldn't wait to be driving around to see what happens! With a re-imaging of an established story, it's always fun to see how memorable plot points and elements translate, and I enjoyed that aspect of Cinder, too.

Onward to Scarlet!

Monday, July 27, 2015

The Lunar Chronicles Read Along

The Book Nerds decided that our August Book of the Month is going to be Cinder by Marissa Meyer. None of us has ever read it, and it's been on all our TBRs. We were finally spurred to action by the fact that Flo found the audiobook at the library and started listening.

Fast forward to a few days later when we stumble upon this post on The Book Addict's Guide about a Lunar Chronicles Read Along! It's going August through December and reading all the books...which means that they are also reading Cinder in August! Coincidence, much?! It only makes sense for us to join in and read them all! Here's how's we start:

CINDER | August 1st – August 31st

8/1 – 8/7: Chapters 1-9
8/8 – 8/14: Chapters 10-21
8/15 – 8/21: Chapters 22-30
8/22 – 8/28: Chapters 31-38
Week of 8/30/15: Post review and/or recap

We'll also be tweeting from @booknerdsblog with the #TLCReadAlong hashtag.

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