Book Review: The Iron Trial - H. Black & C. Clare

Title: The Iron Trial
Author: Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Publication Date: September 9th 2014
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 299
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of Magisterium

Plot: Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.

Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.

All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.

So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing.

Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.

The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . .

Reading Period: September 03, 2015 - September 04, 2015

Review:  

I must say that I hadn't heard of this series until it appeared as book of the month in two book clubs in Goodreads. 

The Iron Trial is the first book of the Magisterium series. It is classed as middle grade book. In fact the language and story are easy. 

I read different conflicting reviews about it. A lot of people didn't like it because they said it was too similar to Harry Potter.   I can see the similarities with Harry Potter, but the story is unique in its own way. Yes, there are three main characters (two males and a female), an enemy similar to the Dark Lord, a school of magic, but the end will surprise you and you will find out the main character, Callum, isn't exactly the Chosen One.

Personally, I really enjoyed. I read in a couple of days and it was a quick easy going read. 

I know the second book just came out, I hope I'll be able to read it soon.  I also hope it will become a movie. A must read for fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson

RATING

Book Review: Numbers Game - Rebecca Rode

Title: Numbers Game
Author: Rebecca Rode
Publication Date: March 10th 2015
Publisher: Diamond Patch Press
Pages: 417
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of Numbers Game

Plot: Treena is nervous for Rating Day. A single number will brand her forever—a valuable citizen, or a pathetic waste of space. Her top-Rated boyfriend is confident their scores will coincide so they can attend the academy together. But when the big day arrives, her true number shocks everyone. 

To get her life and boyfriend back, she must go undercover and expose a military spy. Doesn’t sound too hard, except that someone wants her dead. And then there’s Vance, the mysterious soldier with a haunted past and beautiful brown eyes. Together, they discover a dark numbers conspiracy, one that shatters the nation’s future. Treena must join up with Vance if she is to survive the dangerous game of numbers—and the terrible war that rages within her heart.

Reading Period: July 29, 2015 - August 02, 2015

Review

This book came to my attention because I needed the letter N for the ice-cream challenge in a reading group. I'm so glad it did!!! This  book is amazing!

If you have read The Testing Series by Joelle Charbonneau  (if you haven't, you really should because it's a great not well known dystopian trilogy) you will love this one!

So, at Rating Day everyone who has reached the age, is rated and assigned a number which will establish where they fit in society. The higher the number the better is your life. High numbers are green and the lowest numbers are red. Treena and her friends have prepared for this day. Treena has done everything right, so even if she's nervous, she shouldn't have any problems. 

Imagine the shock when she receives a low rating, one of the worst in history!

Treena does everything in her power to find out what happened, why did she receive a low score? She will even go undercover as a spy and meet Vance, a mysterious soldier, who will help her in her task and they will discover a dark secret. 

Like I said, if you love dystopian novels, like DIVERGENT or THE GIVER, you will enjoy this one. I really hope more people would read it and it says it's the first one in a series but there's still no news for the second book. 

I know that dystopian novels all seem a bit the same: female heroine, love triangle, nemesis in power, different class in society and so on... but you should really give it a shot!

 RATING 

Book Review: Alive - Scott Sigler

Title: Alive
Author: Scott Sigler
Publication Date: July 14th 201
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 368
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of  The Generations Trilogy

Plot: From New York Times bestselling author Scott Sigler comes something utterly new: a gripping sci-fi adventure trilogy in the vein of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner. A group of young adults awake in a mysterious enclosed space with no knowledge of who they are or how they got there…and an indomitable young woman must lead them not only to answers but to survival.

A young woman awakes trapped in an enclosed space. She has no idea who she is or how she got there. With only her instincts to guide her, she escapes her own confinement—and finds she’s not alone. She frees the others in the room and leads them into a corridor filled with the remains of a war long past. The farther these survivors travel, the worse are the horrors they confront. And as they slowly come to understand what this prison is, they realize that the worst and strangest possibilities they could have imagined don’t even come close to the truth.

Reading Period: September 06, 2015 - September 11, 2015

Review

This one was not on my books of the month list, but at a Goodreads group they had a buddy read planned and since it was on my TBR list, I decided to join in.

I don't really know what to say about this book, it wasn't what I expected. Since it said that it was for the fans of HUNGER GAMES, DIVERGENT and THE MAZE RUNNER I thought for certain that I was going to love it, instead it left me empty.

The author specifically asks not to reveal too much of the book in the reviews since it might spoil the plot and the different twists in the story. So I'll try to keep it vague.

The beginning is similar to the Maze Runner: a young woman wakes up inside an enclosed space, similar to a coffin, with no memories on who she is or where she comes from. She's not alone. Some coffins have alive people and they have no memories as well, and other have bodies. 

The group has to try to understand who they are and where they are while the battle for survivor and fight among them to decide who's the leader.

There are a couple of surprising twist during the story, even if some were not really believable, but I never connected with any of the character, not even the with the main character M. 

Some images of death were really disgusting so if you are very sensible I wouldn't recommend it.  

If others books left me wanting more, this one didn't really satisfy me. It is classes as the first one in a series, but I really think it could end like it did. 

I'll have to think about continuing the series. 

RATING

  

Book Review: An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir

Title: An Ember in the Ashes
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Publication Date: April 28th 2015
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 446
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 1 of An Ember in the Ashes

Plot: 

Laia is a slave. 

Elias is a soldier. 

Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself. 

Reading Period: May 06, 2015 - May 12, 2015

Review

This one was a book of the month for a Reading group. 

After reading the first part of the book I didn't know what to make of it. If I was going to like or not. The setting was great. It reminded me of the Ancient Roman society and I liked the details.  In the second part of the book I was finally enjoying it more. But as I was going through the pages I kept wondering how it was going to end all, and when I arrived at the last page I found out... it wasn't. there's not a real ending. When I read this it was classed as a stand alone novel. fortunately it got picked up as a series.

The main characters are Laia and Elias and we alternate their POV.  Laia is a scholar who is in search of her brother ans she ends up as a slave in the Academy. Elias is a Mask, the academy commander's son. They are both trapped in a life they don't want. They will help each other to get free.

What I had trouble picturing are the masks. The students at the Academy have to wear these masks that in time will become one thing with the face. It's a strange concept.

There is strong violence too. Maybe the same level of Red Rising and Golden Son.  There is some romance, in right amount.

Overall is a good YA fantasy novel, although some parts seemed incomplete. I guess since the author didn't know if she was going to continue the series, she might have rushed some parts.

The second book is scheduled to come out in April 2016.

If you have liked Pierce Brown's series. You might like this one too. For now I'm keeping my initial rating. I'll wait for the second book to make a more concrete opinion.

RATING

Book Review: Departure - A. G. Riddle

Title: Departure
Author: A.G. Riddle
Publication Date: December 4th 2014
Publisher: Riddle Inc.
Pages: 318
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: No

Plot: Harper Lane has problems. In a few hours, she'll have to make a decision that will change her life forever. But when her flight from New York to London crash-lands in the English countryside, she discovers that she's made of tougher stuff than she ever imagined.

As Harper and the survivors of Flight 305 struggle to stay alive in the aftermath of the crash, they soon realize that this world is very different from the one they left. Their lives are connected, and some believe they've been brought here for a reason.

In addition to Harper, several other passengers seem to hold clues about why Flight 305 crashed. There's:

Nick Stone, an American on his way to a meeting with The Gibraltar Project, an international group dedicated to building a dam across the Strait of Gibraltar and draining the Mediterranean.

Sabrina Schröder, a German scientist who has unknowingly sealed the fate of half the flight's passengers.

Yul Tan, a Chinese-American computer scientist who has just made the breakthrough of a lifetime: a quantum internet capable of transmitting more data, farther, faster than ever thought possible. His invention, however, does much more than he ever dreamed possible.

With time running out to save the survivors of Flight 305, Harper and Nick race to unravel the conspiracy that crashed their plane. As they put the pieces together, they discover that their decisions have already doomed one world and will soon determine the future of ours.

Reading Period: June 23, 2015 - July 06, 2015

Review

Okay, I have to admit that I picked up this book because in one of my Goodreads Groups there was a challenge where you had to choose an ice-cream flavour and spell the flavour with the titles of books. I need the letter D and I found this book.

It helped that 20th Century Fox acquired the rights of the book and Departure will become a movie. 

This book was a lovely surprise to say that it wasn't on my list. Original story and original characters.

I don't want to say too much about the plot because I don't want to spoil it for you. The twists and turns of the plot it's something you have discovered page by page.

I can tell you that there are two timelines and that they are beautifully intersected. It is not your typical airplane disaster!!!

The narration is alternated between different characters and all of them will have to reflect on those choices they made or have to make and the repercussion they will have in the future. 

I really recommend it as a great read. Maybe not before taking a plane! :P 

RATING

  

Book Review: Golden Son - Pierce Brown

Title: Golden Son
Author: Pierce Brown
Publication Date: January 6th 2015

Publisher: Del Rey

Pages: 464
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 2 of  Red Rising Trilogy

Plot: With shades of The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Game of Thrones, debut author Pierce Brown’s genre-defying epic Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation.

Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom from the overlords of a brutal elitist future built on lies. Now fully embedded among the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his work to bring down Society from within.

A life-or-death tale of vengeance with an unforgettable hero at its heart, Golden Son guarantees Pierce Brown’s continuing status as one of fiction’s most exciting new voices. 

Reading Period: August 12, 2015 - August 16, 2015

Review:

By reading the first book this year, I only had to wait a couple of months before reading the second book. Boy, I wish I didn't have to wait until next year for the third book, because if the first one didn't have a big cliffhanger this one does. So If you're interested in reading it, I suggest you wait to a closer date to the publication date of the third book. 

The book is still divided into 4 parts. We learn that there's a 2 years time jump from the end of the first book. 

Darrow has bee accepted in the ArchGovenor Augustus's family. He is training in the art of War at the Academy and he is seen as hero. That is until he loses the last battle, the ArchGovenor wants to excommunicate him from his family and the rivals Bellona want his head.  

Darrow doesn't know who to trust. He hasn't heard from the Sons of Ares and he is losing everything he has fought for. I love the complexity of the character. He isn't good, but he isn't evil. He just takes the decisions that will help his cause. 

The manipulation, the dramatic turn of events, conspiracies that would put the GAME OF THRONES to shame. You won't be able to put the book down!

And like I said before: THAT CLIFFHANGER!!!

RATING

Book Review: Red Rising - Pierce Brown

Title: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Publication Date: January 28th 2014
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 382
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series:  Book 1 of Red Rising Trilogy

Plot: The Earth is dying. Darrow is a Red, a miner in the interior of Mars. His mission is to extract enough precious elements to one day tame the surface of the planet and allow humans to live on it. The Reds are humanity's last hope.

Or so it appears, until the day Darrow discovers it's all a lie. That Mars has been habitable - and inhabited - for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down on Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.

Until the day that Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside. But the command school is a battlefield - and Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda.

Reading Period: January 29, 2015 - February 10. 2015

Review

Red Rising is a little bit darker than the books I'm used to read. There's a lot of violence and it can be gory in some points, but the story is very compelling and you will want to continue.

It is divided into 4 parts.

In the first part we meet Darrow. He is a red, the lower class in Mars. He and his people are slaves without knowing it. They believe that the work the are doing in the mines, living underground, is for the future of humanity. That their work will make Mars habitable for future generations. They are guarded by the Greys and their leaders are the Golds who have names and aspect of Roman Emperors and Empresses.

In the second part Darrow discovers that the world is a lot different. Mars is habitable, it has been for a long time. The Reds are just slave labours while on the surface there are Greys, Browns, Greens, Pinks, Blues... each class with a different job in society.

With the help of a group of rebels, Darrow goes through a painful and long procedure that changes him into a Gold. He infiltrates the command school in other to gain position among the Golds.

That's when the part three starts and it as similarities to Hunger Games. The school becomes a battlefield. Sons and Daughters of Gold families must fight to the death against each other to conqueror and graduate. 

This book is for young adults, but it can be read by adults but I wouldn't let a kid under fifteen years old read it. There are some trigger warnings; bullying, sexual assault and rape, violence.

It's a must read for fans of HUNGER GAMES, ENDER'S GAME and DIVERGENT.  It is a great mixture of dystopia, sci-fi, a bit of romance and thriller.

RATING

September is here!

Hi everyone!

September is here again and the holidays are over. At 30 years old I'm still waiting for the letter from Hogwarts... it never arrived! :( 

Maybe next year!

I hope you had a great holiday and if you didn''t go away that at least you had time to rest. 

As for my holidays I went to the UK for two weeks. I visit my grandmother in York and then I visited Bristol, Bath and Cardiff! All beautiful places!

I managed to read a lot of books this summer. Reviews will be here soon. 

At the cinema I went to see Ant-man. I'm a big Marvel Films fan and I never miss one. After the great movie of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Ant-Man was a little different, but it was good. Especially in 3D.

The other movie I watched at the cinema was Jurassic World. 20 years since I was the first Jurassic Park. Better technology, better dinosaurs, but the story line is similar. All together it was okay.

So, I'm member of a few Young Adult groups on goodreads.  A few challenges along the way.
Here's the list of books I'm planning to read this month:

The Iron Trail by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black
This is the first book of the Magisterium series. It's on as the book of the month for a couple of my reading groups.

A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J Mass
This one seemed to be the book of the summer.I'm currently reading the second of Sarah J Mass's other series Crown of Midnight  of the Throne glass series.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
This is the first one of the Lunar Chronicles. Everyone I've heard loved this series and I'm curious to see how it is. Let's see if I'm late for the party.

Three for now, I can't decide what to add next. I've got the third one of the Throne of glass Series. This summer I read The Eye of Minds by James Dashner. I  really enjoyed and I would like to read the second one before the third one comes out in November.

Have you read any of these books? Did you like them?
Let me know your thoughts and if you have any suggestions!

Happy reading everyone!