Tuesday, 7 January 2014

Hunted by Kevin Hearne Book Review



New year, new system. So I literally haven't updated here since shifting all my previous reviews from Tumblr to here and there's a host of books I've read that I haven't mentioned. I'll do my best to rectify that some but life is hectic so I'll do what I can.

From now on I'll be starting reviews with a brief mention of how I got into or found out about the series so if you want to refer books to me this is a prime opportunity to get yourself some free taffic; she says with zero hits.

I have an account with audible.co.uk where in exchange for a reasonable £7.99 a month I get a credit to spend on whatever audio book takes my fancy. If one doesn't by the time we get to next month the credits roll over so some times I'll have a handful to spend. As such I was browsing the fantasy section for some recommended listens and this cropped up. The cover was an instant grab (even if our red headed potagonist Atticus O'Sullivan looks dubiously blonde on all 6 covers) and is it just me or do the rest of the series covers remind you of anything?

Just a little?
Mean nothing by it but it's something about the lighting effects, the blonde, the red head, sword, poses and the muted colours. So basically everything.

But what really sold this series for me was having a brief peak at the ebook preview. I was laughing in seconds, within pages I was entirely entertained. And with that I spent all my book token points on purchasing all 6 books.

Usually I wait till I've finished a series to do a review or at least get half way through but I've decided to just review book 1 for now and do a brief look at the series when I'm done, which could take some time.

So the story follows Atticus O'Sullivan, 2000+ and last of the druids, forever 21 and still getting carded with his never ending wise cracks in his feud with Aenghus Og. Actually it's less of a feud more like Aenghus wants him dead and Atticus doesn't really feel like playing ball. In the middle of this power play is the sword Fragarach; The Answerer, the Morrigan, Oberon the Wolf Hound and a deep distrust of Witches. Also a 24 hour lawyer service provided by a werewolf and a vampire.

One of the aspects I really loved about this book was the presence of mortal, unaware, law enforcement. Human, fallable and constantly getting in the way. Rather than have the hero almost removed from the constrains of regular day to day life to indulge in whatever epic quest is sweeping them along, Atticus has regular run ins with the police. People get killed in broad day light, people notice, men turn into wolves in broad day light, people notice. There are reactions and consequence and it grounds the story in a way that makes it more accessible I think.

There's a flipside to that coin however. Now Atticus is 2000+ and he's had several attempts on his life in that time. So naturally he's equipped himself well with pen and sword, fortified his magical defences, aquired a large wolf hound with whom he can mentally communicate and kept himself in shape. So barring all that in mind don't expect leaps and bounds of vulnerable protagnist learning the way of the world and undergoing masses of character development. This book is the epitomy of 'boys and their toys'. Keeping all that in mind I still felt some of the humor and smattering of swear words were unwarranted at times. The seriousness of some of the fight scenes was lost I felt because of Atticus' near unswayable levity. But then there will be readers who find this endearing so don't take my word as law.

Romance wise Atticus certainly gets some action. Some times from more than one source within near as many pages. Something I wasn't initially prepared for. Been reading too many books about awkward teenagers. Still it had it's appeal and why not? If you were 21 forever and you had hot (predominantly read haired) deities walking right out of legend and practically falling all over you would you say no? No I suppose your right, meaningful relationship it is then. There may be potential for that with certainly-G-something from the bar but I'm hoping Atticus doesn't settle down too quickly.

So would I recommend it? Sure. Yes.

Will I be continuing with the series? Most definitely. For all the unstable ground with regards to Atticus' temperament I still want to know what happens next and he's still a really fun character to be following.

Monday, 4 February 2013

Raised by Wolves Book Series Review


This second series in my little werewolf related reading drive came recommended by Sarah Rees Brennan. If you don’t know who she is, shame on you, go here and learn. Shameless promoting aside I’m thinking this will be the last review on Tumblr because I’m not sure that Tumblr is really the best outlet for such things and instead I’ll be starting a blog. Not the first in my life time and I make no promises that I’ll be able to maintain it but I’ll be moving all text heavy posts to there and I’ll link once it’s up. That way, if you are interested in what I’m reading and do, by any chance, go out and buy said books so you’ll know what on Earth I’m wittering on about so much, then you can still do so. If not and you’re sat there looking at your dash going ‘another review? are you ever going to draw again? geesh’ then you’ll be happy as a clam too.

TheRaised by Wolvesseries is written byJennifer Lynn Barnesand is written from the perspective of Bryn. The theme appears to be about defying authority and finding yourself but it’s also about relying on others and having to make difficult choices.

Bryn is human and at the age of four was attacked by a wild rabid werewolf. Though her parents were killed she was recused by Callum, the alpha of the Stone River pack. Marked and adopted by the pack she was put in the care of Ali, also human for female weres are rare, who was mated to another member of the pack. Being the kind of girl she is, who when told to do something does the exact opposite, Bryn soon finds herself up to her neck in hot water when she stumbled on freshly minted teen werewolf Chase. But turned weres are also rare and when Bryn discovers that the rabid who attacked her, who killed her parents, who she tought was dead turned Chase from human to werewolf she doesn’t know who to trust.

For her own safety Ali takes Bryn and her newly born twins to The Wayfarer, at the very edge of Callum’s territory, where Lake and her father live. Lake and Bryn have been friends since they were kids but Lake had been coming back to the pack less and less and only now does Brynn start to realise why. Together they, along with some help from Chase and Bryn’s other bestie purebred werewolf Devon, Bryn tracks down the rabid were who she discovers has been killing other kids.

The first book was, to me, very very clever because Barnes managed to tie in the weaknesses of her werewolves with a very human problem or one that a human reader could easily connect and empathize with. You really can’t go wrong with this book, the characters are wonderfully diverse in their opinions, their backgrounds and their behaviour. Barnes encapsulates all the weaknesses and strengths of her creations without it feeling forced or contrived and no one seems to have been put there just to fill a gap. What I said the Nightshade trilogy lacked in pack behaviourRaised by Wolvesmakes up for in abundance.

Book two I felt dropped the ball and can be summed up with three things.

1. Shane is a horrible horrible were that deserves far stronger profanities than horrible.
2. There’s a bunch of psychic people with powers that give Ali a tragic back story and make trouble.
3. Lucas.

You’re basically looking at around 300 hundred pages of set up for book three. So when I got to book three I was ready to write it off and when ghosts started coming into the equation I was ready to put the book down. I find the whole ‘you can’t find it but it can do damage to you’ concept irritating. Like I find zombies irritating. However, once you get to the latter half of the book it all kicks in.

There was this part with Sora, Devon’s mom, and you’ll know the part I mean, where I just burst into tears. Literally the second the implications of what was happening dawned on me there were tears streaming down my face. For Sora, for Bryn, for Devon, for Bryn. And I didn’t even like Sora. In fact, the events of book 1 kind of make it a point that you shouldn’t like Sora. Then there was this wonderful twist with Shane and the finale where Bryn is like ‘oh hi sweetie, home so soon?’. At this point you think it’s all over, Bryn’s won, everyone can go home but it just doesn’t quit.

And all the time Brynn is human. She doesn’t get changed into a werewolf. She does all these amazing things as a human and I felt that was just so great because if she had become a werewolf it might have become a crutch for her. That her strength didn’t come from herself but from the raw power that being a werewolf would give her. The other thing that amazed me was that there was no love triangle. DevonBrynChase was such an obvious route to go down and Barnes didn’t go there at all and I loved it. There wasn’t a lot of romance at all actually the majority of the focus was on pack and action which was a wonderful change of pace.

It’s kind of got an open ending and I don’t think it’s an ending you’ll necessarily be expecting or maybe you’ll even hate the ending. But I don’t think there could have been a better one. It’s very powerful in it’s own ride. Bittersweet.

I’d definitely recommend this book if you’re a fan of werewolves, and even if you’re not this might be the book that makes you one.

Fifty Shades of Grey: A review of mis-conceptions


Before anyone panics this will be a PG-13 review (however the word sex is mentioned a lot, you’ve been warned. I take no responsibility for you’re further reading of this article as you read beyond this point of your own free will), I’m well aware I have younger viewers on my Tumblr but I’m sure even they have heard the whispers of this series, especially since it’s become synonymous with Twilight. Now I’ll admit I didn’t read these properly, I skim read, skipped a fair bit at the beginning of Grey and flipped through chunks of Freed. Out of all of them I read the most of Darker. This isn’t so much a review for the books but more an examination of the things I’ve heard about these books and how they measure up.

Now the big things I’d heard when these books hit the shelves, and very soon the best seller list, were Twilight, sex, bondage, fanfiction, abusive relationship.

I realise that by writing these book reviews I’m putting my opinion out there, but it’s a critical opinion and you are welcome to disagree with it. What I am about to say is more of a philosophy of mine that if you disagree with, which you are entitled to do, I won’t think better of you.

If you hate or otherwise have an opinion on a book you haven’t read then your opinion is invalid.
I read these books so that I could at least have an informed opinion. However I can’t really compare these books to Twilight because…I haven’t read Twilight. I’ve seen the films, and although that might give me a brief incite into the basic plot for Twilight it by no means conveys the writing style. However I can address the point of:
It’s stupid because it was once Twilight fanfiction
I’ve read and written a lot of fanfiction. Pages and pages of the stuff. I think my big phases were Yu-Gi-Oh and Harry Potter. I’ve read canon stories, I’ve read spin-offs and I’ve even read AUs. Alternate Universes. Some well written and some terribly written. A cursory glance of those and other categories that I’ve have read and written in wouldn’t suggest that any particularly fandom has more better writers than any other. Therefore to refuse to acknowledge Fifty Shades on the basis that the author had some affiliation with the Twilight fandom would be like condemning The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare because you didn’t like Harry Potter (as Clare wrote The Draco Trilogy and re-adapted scenes she’s used for that in TMI). Or to say ‘I won’t read it because it was fanfiction’ is to say ‘I won’t read a book cause it was written’. Everyone starts somewhere right?
It’s full of sex and filthy sinful things like handcuffs ohmagurd
Well yes. It is most definitely full of sex. However in it’s defense it was always safe sex. I am of the opinion if there is going to be sex in a book that promoting safe sex and not overly romanticizing impulsive not-safe-sex is much better for the younger readers that everyone is so terrified for that they need to make a new category, New Adult, in which to stash the sex.

However a lot of people seem to be acting like these books are some sort of revolution. Like they’re a sexathon in paperback form. They’re not the first. They won’t be the last. If you’re me you’ll remember Belle de Jour: The Diary of a London Call Girl which was made into a rather hilarious tv series starring former Dc Who companion Billie Piper. Just in case you’re wondering where you saw her fully clothed.



If a little older still you’ll remember ‘Girl with a One Track Mind’ which my boyfriend at the time lent me. There was a scandal when her true identity was revealed and she lost her job in the film industry for writing a book about her sex life. A book that was actually the publication of her successful blog.

And if we’re going to talk about women who’ve made a blog into a book and even onto the big screen why not look at Julie Powell who cooked her way through Julia Child’s cook book. Wrote a blog about it. And voila. Her publishing dreams came true.



So if we’re going to hold it against El James that she wrote fanfiction or that she writes about sex. Let’s hold writing about cooking against Julie. And writing about sex against Abby Lee (or Zoe something irl) and against Belle de Jour. Just so we can keep our moral stand point right?
Bondage is about abuse of women. This book is about abuse of women. This book encourages women to go along with abusive relationships
As part of the anime fandom you meet a huge range of people. A huge range of sexualities, comfort zones and life styles. Yes, I know people that practice BDSM. Both lightly and heavily. Without going into it I will say this.It is based on trust. Just like all relationships. It is not an exclusively male-dominance practice. And it is not unwilling. The negative view this lifestyle gets comes from, I believe, fear of the unknown. Humanity hates what it doesn’t or can’t understand. This is a sad fact of life.

But this book doesn’t promote an abusive relationship. Anastasia Steele is fully aware of every choice she makes. She is presented with a contract and a check list so she, and Christian Grey, can define their limits. Which is actually a lot more than regular couples do. When was the last time you talked about any kind of limits with your partner? Sexual or otherwise.

Nothing heavily BDSM appears in any of the books. In fact there’s remarkably little in Darker, more worried about dealing with a psycho ex with a gun. Most of it happens in Grey and there’s brief mentions in Freed. In fact, Anastasia walks out on Christian Grey when he goes too far. She. leaves. him.

If this isn’t a sign of an independent of sound mind and body woman acting in her own best interests despite the sexual and emotional attachment to the man, I don’t know what is. Just because the woman decides to get with the guy you don’t like in a book is not a reason to condemn her. She doesn’t go along with it. In fact she spends most of Darker, where Christian has said he’ll change, he’ll give it all up just to have a shot with her, worrying that she’s not enough for him because she’s just not into it the way he is.

Last I checked partners who abused their significant other did not go around saying they were in BDSM relationships. And those who were in BDSM relationships didn’t go around saying they were abused. They consented to have their limited tested and entrusted their welfare to their partner. (Isn’t that scarily close to marriage? In sickness and in health, through trial and tribulation, for better or for worse I’m yours and all that?)

This isn’t me lecturing, this is me passing on what understanding I have from knowing real life people who practice this kind of thing. I’m not saying you have to like it, I’m not saying you have to understand, I’m certainly not saying ‘go look for answers whip in hand’. But what I’m trying to say is, please keep an open mind and don’t judge what you haven’t experienced and therefore cannot claim any understanding of.
This book is mommy porn for desperate housewives
Pornography: Printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity.

Yes. These books fulfill that description. What I disagree with is the generalization of those that enjoy Fifty Shades. Fundamentally what those statements are doing are putting fans of these books in a box. It is discouraging others from reading it because they do not want to be labelled. Why do we apply labels? So that we can feel better about ourselves. It’s disgusting.

This also brings to mind the point of labeling a fandom because you didn’t like the book. I did not enjoy the Twilight films. I felt underwhelmed. But I have friends who loved the series and even loved the films. I do not go up to them and tell them they are stupid or childish, just because they like those books. And neither would you, surely. If you’re friend liked something you didn’t you wouldn’t call them an idiot and never be friends with them again for it surely? So why would you do it to people you don’t know? By labelled people for liking something it discourages people from saying what they like. And if we do not communicate what we like then where does that leave us?

Sorry if you feel this is getting too deep but these are real and true issues that don’t just affect people that read Fifty Shades of Grey but those that read YA fantasy. Just in slightly different ways.
In conclusion
If you’re looking to read a book that explores BDSM relationships…this is not for you. It may throw names and equipment at you that may be new but the psychological aspect of truly being in a BDSM relationship is not explored.

If you’re looking for a book with lots of sex. There’s lots of sex. In different positions, in different places. Money is no object to Christian Grey so all sorts of opportunities arise. Go mad. Enjoy.

If you’re looking for a story about an innocent girl who falls in love with a man she’s only just met without even realising it. A man with scars and problems. And a road that isn’t easy, that bends and bumps. Well then you might as well read this and every other romance novel.

I would say that these books aren’t what they’ve been hyped up to be. The negative hype that is. As for whether or not they deserve success. Well, there are authors I’d wish success on. There are those that I don’t see why they’re successful. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say
this person does not deserve to be successful because I don’t like their books
because this is the opinion of the ignorant.
Did you enjoy Fifty Shades of Grey?
Well if there were sub-plots I didn’t see them. And I recognized familiar back up plots and situations from my fan-fiction days, but they do occur in published fiction too though perhaps not quote so bluntly.
Anastasia’s POV didn’t entirely agree with me, I found some of the descriptions and wording cringe worthy and the inner-goddess had me thinking of inner-Sakura the whole time.



I’d say it was alright but I’d also say I’ve read better love stories and better action.. I wouldn’t read it again.

The Snow Child Book Review

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Look. Fiction. NON -YA-FICTION. What is this madness?

Well a friend of mine is a big big big Sarah Rees Brennan fan (and was actually going to play Holly in our fan-trailer for Unspoken but she got called in for a last minute rehearsal ; ;) and I lent her Team Human. When she’d finished she asked if I wanted to read anything of hers and I said I didn’t know what she had but maybe it’d be fun to send a mystery book back and forth. So she sent me The Snow Child, which was interesting as I’d just bought it the day before. Thus is how I came to read The Snow Child.

Now I wasn’t actually going to write this review, not because the book was bad, but because I didn’t think it would be of interest as the following I have is mostly YA readers right? But recently I’ve been seeing rants and posts that have generalised YA literature, it’s readers and it’s writers in an often disparaging light. As a result I’m left wondering if there’s something juvenile about my mind that I don’t seem to enjoy anything outside of YA and I’m twenty two. Maybe it is so, or maybe I’ve just been reading YA too long that reading normal fiction where far less happens is just…dull.

So The Snow Child is based around a fairy tale of the same name where and old couple build a child out of the snow and she comes to life. But as she learns to love and becomes human she melts. Or something. I forget the particulars. Now what is interesting is that the fairy tale is featured in the book, in the form of a Russian picture book that lead character Mabel’s father showed her when she was young.

The story centers around Mabel and Jack. Having not really got over the death of their first child, and I think Mabel couldn’t have more, Mabel had suggested they move to Alaska. So they moved out to Alaska and built themselves a struggling homestead in the middle of nowhere. They’ve fallen out of love with each other as they both try to deal with their grief and time is marching on despite them. One day, something changes and as Jack is coming back from a hard day of working the land under the snow to prepare for planting Mabel attacks him with a snow ball. The two play in the snow ‘like when they were young’ and build a small snow man (snow girl) where Jack details the face and Mabel adds a red scarf and mittens.

The next day the snow man is gone, but no signs of the mittens or scarf and only one set of tracks, and not animal tracks, leading away from where the snow girl stood. Following the tracks Jack sees her flitting through the trees with pale pale blonde hair and wearing the red scarf and mittens but she doesn’t come to him. Eventually he coaxes her out with a doll and eventually she comes to the house. She brings wild presents but never stays.

The Snow Child, Fiana as she calls herself, acts as a catalyst for Mabel and Jack to re-discover each other and re-discover love. But she must leave with the Snow. While she was with them she took Jack high into the moutains and showed him the frozen body of her father and the small cave in which she lived. He slaved for days to dig a grave in the frozen earth and when Fiana left with the Snow he went again to that cave to find her. Jack despaired but Mabel, comforted by The Snow Maiden fairy tale, patiently waited. Making a coat for the child and decorating it with embroidered snowflakes from sketches Mabel had made with Fiana. Jack thought she’d gone mad.

Jack and Mabel aren’t alone though, as Jack is struggling to ready the land on his own they get help from the family from another homestead. A husband and wife, Esther, and three sons. Esther decides she and Mabel will be friends and that’s that. Slowly the closed off Mabel opens up, not just to Fiana, but to Esther also and finds herself in the snow and the dirt when Jack is laid up ill and Mabel works the land in his stead with Esther and Esther’s youngest son and trapper Garret.

Esther goes home but Garret stays on to help. There’s a six year time skip in which Mabel and Jack have truly established themselves at the homestead but time is taking it’s toll. In all this time no one but they have seen Fiana. In the story of the Snow Maiden she is described as having a fox familiar; Fiana too had a fox and Jack had forbidden Garret from trapping red foxes in response to Mabel’s fear that should Fiana’s fox be killed she’d leave like the Snow Maiden. However, in it’s age, the fox’s fur had faded and Garret shot it.
His guilt silenced him until one day, while hunting wolverine, he came across Fiana killing a swan. From then he was obsessed with her though he didn’t know it and two fall in love and kiss and make love in the snow. Jack discovers them one day and storms back to the homestead. When Garret returns Jack punches him in the face. But Mabel discovers Fiana is pregnant. Garret asks Jack’s permission to marry Fiana and, not all together willingly at first, Jack grants it. Jack and Mabel also bequeath the homestead and the farm to Garret because they have no children of their own, save Fiana as Jack describes it ‘fatherhood had crept up on him’, and for all the help he’s given them over the years.

Jack and Garret build a new log cabin to be Garret and Fiana’s family home but it’s not finished in time for the wedding. It had no roof. Fiana marries Garret in a dress made for her by Mabel and, as a surprise to all, decorated with swan feathers from, as Garret remarks, the swan she killed that day they met. Fiana delivers the baby but dies from a blood infection. She lay in bed getting hotter and hotter until eventually they took her outside and Mabel fell asleep watching her. When Mabel woke up the covers and Fiana’s bed clothes were in the snow and Mabel herself was partially burried.

While everyone else, especially Garret, spread out calling Fiana’s name, Mabel knew that she was gone. There is an epilogue set a few years later with Mabel and Jack realising their age, Garret still not entirely happy and the baby boy running around.

If you were going to study this book you could get really in depth about the how the language was used as a powerful tool to not only depict the landscape but made you feel like you were there.  You could take about how Mabel and Jack were so completely inept, they dove in at the deep end but never gave up. That they went into the wilderness broken and somehow in the harsh and rough cut edge of nowhere found something warm and loving that brought them back together and that gave them back themselves.

But for me, who is used to a lot more action and side plots and secondary characters. To have such a bluntly single tracked heap of 300 odd pages where nothing really happened wasn’t exactly gripping reading. It’s Mabel and Jack being miserable. Jack killing things and planting things. Mabel cooking dinner, sewing and planting things. Then suddenly you view point shifts from Mabel for the last quarter of the book to barrel towards a hurried ending.

By mentioning the fairy tale on which this story is based within the book and having a character be aware of it, I thought there was going to be some twist to it. But Fiana, though she shows Jack her dead father, is implied to have come from the snow girl that Jack and Mabel build. When you’re used to YA fantasy novels that build up whole magical worlds and explain things like that, to have a work of fiction come from two sides and explain neither was confusing and fulfilling.

I wouldn’t even call it light reading because it’s neither funny nor gripping, you can’t jump in at any page and just go and enjoy it and find yourself amidst the action. If you’re lucky you’ll be in time for dinner.

If you just focus on Mabel and her growth as a character you could call this book a great study of an older woman whose gone through the hell of losing a child and come out fighting with some persuasion. But I wouldn’t say this book is promoting the idea that women can only be happy if they have a child as I’ve seen some reviews imply. We’re not looking at a woman who’s married, settled and looking to start a family and dragging petulant feet because she doesn’t have one. We’re looking at a berrieved young twenty-something that has carried and lost. Who has fled the pressure of surrounding family and society to the brink and there in found an answer.

You could take from this story that it doesn’t matter how bad the world outside looks, or how bad things get, or how low you find yourself. Somewhere, somehow, there will be a way out. It may happen in an instant, it make take forever. You might see it at once or you may not even realise until you’re out of danger and look back to see how far you’ve come. But it will happen.

Nightshade Trilogy Book Series Review

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Long time no review I know but I’ve been super busy and it is taking forever to get through one book but recently I’ve had a craving for werewolf stories and since re-reading The Wolves of Mercy Falls just won’t cut it I turned to you guys for suggestions. The Nightshade trilogy by Andrea Cremer was the first suggestion and, co-incidentally, the only full series the book shop had in stock so while I await the delivery of my mini-werewolf-library I have read this trilogy.

The Nightshade trilogy opens in the first person with Calla and very quickly there is terminology being thrown about. Guardians, Master, Mistress, Keeper, and no, before you ask, this is not 50-shades-of-werewolf. In fact you’re not supposed to call them werewolves, they are Guardians.

So Calla, alpha-to-be, is running around the woods in wolf form, on patrol, with her beta Bryn and ends up bringing down a grizzly bear in order to save Shay, although at the time he’s more like ‘the guy who smells like meadows who I’d like to do in a meadow’. Already we’re knee deep in action with a bloody kill, a fierce rescue and Calla’s teenage mind overcome with thoughts of making out with meadow-man. We’re also shown a glimpse of some Guardian powers as Shay has been mortally slashed open so Calla transforms back into a human before his eyes and makes him drink her blood in an entirely non-vampiric way. The gift of blood conveys healing and thus Shay’s life is saved and she hopes he’ll wake up thinking it was all a bad dream.

When not running around in the forest Calla goes to school with her pack where she gets hit on by her intended Ren. Now there are two packs in this back end of no where, the Nightshades and the Banes. Calla is daughter of the Nightshade alpha and Ren is the son of the Bane alpha. Then you have the Keepers who, among other things, are basically dog breeders. Each pack has a ‘Keeper’ and they have to do what they say or terrible things will happen to them. And the Keepers have said Ren and Calla, along with the sum total of 8 other ‘pups’, are going to get together a form a new pack. This is big news because this hasn’t happened in ages apparently. That said, don’t think that this is Calla trapped in a loveless marriage-to-be, there is definitely Ralla chemistry, in fact, I quite liked the Ralla chemistry.

Then Shay turns up during chemistry, the class, not a make out session, as the new kid in school. Upon seeing Calla he realises he didn’t have a furry dream and is then very keen and very outspoken. Calla is charged with being friendly by her pack’s Keeper-to-be Logan (sadly not the beefy one from the X-Men) and her and Shay can’t keep themselves off each other.

However Calla is conflicted. On the one hand, we have I-smell-like-meadows-Shay and on the other we have I-want-you-right-now-Ren. Shay’s opinion of Ren is that no one can force Calla to marry him, yadda yadda modern woman yadda yadda. Which is of course very true, arranged marriages aren’t exactly pro-choice, but Shay is a bit like a dog with a bone (all of the puns) and won’t shut up about it. Even though Calla is like…well I do actually kinda like Ren when I’m not making out with you and he has me pinned up against the lockers. What’s a girl to do?

Apparently sneak into what the Guardians are supposed to be guarding but never look at with Shay, steal the contents with Shay, nearly get herself killed, nearly get Shay killed and then turn Shay into a Guardian to save his life.

In the mean time, of the 8 remaining pack-to-be (I forget who was from what pack in some cases) we have two betas, two bitches, one sheep, one brother and two gay guys, who are together. Those last two being Mason and Neville who I loved because they were just there, and in a relationship and just doing it. It didn’t come across as a novelty or that they’d just been put in there to tick ‘my-book-contains-homosexuals’ off the list. Which I have felt some books do, no offense.

So while the humans of the school are having a halloween party, Calla is bedecked in ivory frills and finery and whisked off to marry Ren. However, while waiting for her entrance to the ceremony she catches the sent of meadows and finds Shay tied up and ready to be sacrificed, by her, as part of her wedding ceremony, and guarded by a succubus. Free-ing Shay the pair make a run for it to Shay’s home, or rather his uncle Bosque Mar’s home, to retrieve some books and things. There they are attacked by zombies and succubi and chased by other wolves and then ‘rescued’ by Searchers. Aka. the sworn enemies of Guardians.
Thus ends book one.
Then I forget where book 2 ends because I read Wolfsbane and Bloodrose back to back but basically the Searches are the good guys, the Guardians are being lied to and manipulated, Shay jumps through portals around the world to retrieve the other 3 parts of The Cross (aka two elemental swords) to ultimately lead a revolution against the Keepers and drive Bosque Mar back into some equivalent of hell. A bunch of people die and then there’s a little twist at the end which I actually kind of liked.

Spoiler for the end.
Shay, Calla and the rest of the Guardians (bar one because reasons) become wolves permanently. And there’s a nice little epilogue of them being observed running around in the snow and being happy…as wolves.
Spoiler end.

There are things I liked about this series and there were a couple of moments I really liked but overall I felt there was too much going on, too many characters and the one thing that really, really annoyed me was SPOILER that Ren died. And it wasn’t even that that I had the problem with. Calla spends all three books um-ing and ah-ing, she has sex with Shay but then goes to Ren and says ‘come fight with me and we may yet end up together’ and gives him the come on and clearly does have feelings for him. But instead of actually choosing, instead of making a conscious choice, the choice is made for her by killing one off.

I went looking for books about werewolves, I would not say this is a book about werewolves, it is a book with wolf-changing people in it. It’s more about teenage-hormone-drama and higher magic problems. With some family issues on the side just to make sure everyone is miserable at least once.

But there is lots of action and lots of wolf based action that’s described really well and you really get a sense for the wolves. But I wouldn’t say there’s much pack behaviour. And no I don’t count sitting together at lunch and walking through hallways together like your Ezio from Assassin’s Creed ‘pack behaviour’. But then this might be because the Guardians weren’t independent, their every move, including who they married and how many kids they had and when they had them, was watched and controlled by the Keepers. So they were behaving more like trained hunting dogs than a pack of wolves.

The only other problem I had was the problem I always have with first person. I end up more interested in what everyone else is doing off camera and unless Calla was spying on them or kidnapped you didn’t see it. Not that this happened a lot but there were times when I’d have preferred to be following another character. The other problem was I felt Calla, until the last half of the third book, was being pushed around a bit and having the men-folk make the decisions and the moves for her.

All in all, an alright set of books but I won’t be re-reading them. I did, however, love the cover set.

October Exploits

I know I’ve been really inactive this month but it’s because I’ve been surprisingly busy and normally I don’t really do ‘post-convention write ups’ as it were because I don’t feel it would be of interest but there have been many goings on so I shall share this once ;)

So I start off the month with my feature in Neo Magazine [link]

The blurb really isn’t that interesting as it’s me talking about me but what was exciting was to find myself on the cosplay page as well with my Tales of Graces group which we did back in February. We now have a Richard and are hoping to go off and take pretty photos as soon as I get round to making the costume for him XD Somuchtodo. Click through the picture below for more of my Cheria costume and you’ll be able to find photos of the others too. Double score <3



Next off this month I had EMS, Entertainment Media Show, which I went to with Bexi.

On Saturday I did a photo shoot with her as Special Weapons Dalek Princess with my new Nikon Coolpix camera (who has been lovingly named Tony after someone remarked that his lush red colour reminded them of Iron Man) and here is my favourite shot



Then we changed into Alice and Will of the Abyss from Pandora Hearts for the masquerade and you can see a little of our performance here 12:06 - 12:40 [link]. Both dresses were made by me and we also took some photos on the Iron Throne replica which is from the Game of Thrones series.

  


And on Sunday we reprised Anneliese and Erika from Barbie Princess and the Pauper which you’ve seen me in here:



But with a whole new performance which we reprsied (and managed to record) at London MCM Expo on the Saturday in the mini-masquerade which you can watch here [link] . Sadly Anneliese and Erika did not win a prize either time but people seemed to enjoy our skit all the same even if there were sound issues both times. At EMS no one could hear the audio and at MCM they faded it in before we were even on stage. We basically took the advert audio from the 2004 release of the singing dolls, changed the solo songs a bit and then performed a modified version of our original finale chorus choreography to end with the punch line ‘dolls and toys each sold separately. That said Alice and Will got first prize on the Saturday of EMS so it wasn’t all for naught but it was all fun and that was the main thing! If exhausting!

The weekend after we had Play Expo as ~NavigatorxNami had invited me to reprise an old Blazblue cosplay with her that we originally did way back in 2009 I think. There’s actually a picture of my Litchi cosplay here:



So I dug it out but it looked terrible. I thought it was quite good at the time. Just goes to show I guess. That and I’d lost one of the boot covers so I was kind of stuck. I had gold bias left over from another project and I’d seen so many other amazing renditions of Litchi since I’d done mine that I thought, why not remake it? So I bought some red fabric and set to work. Last one took me 2 days, this one took me 8 hours. I also had a mostly finished Noel costume, when I say mostly finished, I mean I’d done everything but the dress. I started the dress twice and twice made a complete mess but I asked Bexi if she’d be able to make herself a dress and if she’d like to come to Manchester with me and see Jen and be part of the group. She agreed and knocked a dress up in a couple of hours cause gurl got skills. I had actually made the Rachel for Jen at the same time as I made my old Litchi so it was great to see it again and snap a couple of pictures. Sadly my battery died by we have a shoot planned for January where we’ll have a few more Blazblue Cosplayers and more photos to share!



11:18 shows us on stage [link] and later we were ‘interviewed’ by some lovely guys from We Are Super Massive who’d done a really awesome wrestling/play fight routine [link] Then we found out we’d actually won best group!! We were judged by some really amazing cosplayers, including this years ECG UK representatives ~yuka-rin, Dahlia, Nomes and *Sephirayne. Which was both nerve wracking and exciting!

We didn’t go back to Play Expo on Sunday, instead we chilled out around Manchester where *Darkie-kun picked up the Noel accessories for her cosplay partner Tanya to borrow and *CheetosFtw picked up the Generation of Miracles and Seirin uniforms that Sam, Bexi, Kyle and I had bought her as an early Christmas present so our Kuroko no Basuke group could go ahead <3 It amuses me now that two people have worn my Noel gear and I haven’t XD I think Jen is wearing it before me for the January shoot but we’ll all four be there in Noel dresses and socks, it will be so funny XD

  


Then came London Expo, sadly I arrived later than intended (2 hours later!!) due to major traffic accidents :/ But these things cannot be helped so as soon as the hotel was sorted I changed in my Riko Aido Cosplay from Kuroko no Basuke and we had ourselves a little shoot that ended up being mostly derp. I put together a little video after which might give you a laugh: [link]

Best. Photo.



Sadly I don’t have a shot of us all together ; ; I forgot to take any and none have turned up on Facebook yet. Funny story, our Kise was wondering around as Kise again for the Saturday and a couple of times he was asked if he heard about the big group from the Friday. He was like…I was in it B) So then we rolled into Saturday, I ended up feeling very ill all day, I had just enough energy to do the stage performance with Bexi before collapsing back in the room for a nap. I suspect the air mattress I slept on gave me sea sickness. Note to self, never sleep on an air mattress ever again. I did however wake up with enough energy to do our traditional K-On shoot. We’ve done one every Expo (and they’re twice a year every year) since May ‘11 and this time we did the No Thank You outfits. Bexi stood in for ~WingedWalrus because sadly she could not be with us. A fair few of the photos are blurry because we had to take all the group shots on timer and tripod with Tony. Still it was fun and next up we’ll be doing the Fuwa Fuwa Time kimonos with ~BernieBear will be our acting Azu-nyan. Really only made the badges for these costumes, everything is else is just bought.



Then came Sunday which was the most anticipated day of the whole year for me because it was the culmination of months worth of work. The Designer Disney Princess Group. We were determined from the start to have a full group, we’d only ever seen a maximum of 6 in one place and none in the UK so it was very very exciting! We had our own little secret group on Facebook where we’d post progress and ideas and everyone chipped in with fabric and pattern suggestions. It really was a fantastic group to be part of and each and every one of those girls is a dear friend <3 We even put together a skit, which was really difficult because we wanted to keep it Disney themed and funny but so that even those who hadn’t seen all the Princess films would get it and also be able to move in our dresses! Then we had the idea to parody I Just Can’t Wait to be King with I Just Can’t Wait to be Queen. Tonyo Times managed to capture it here from 42:40 onwards [link] . Our poor Snow was arrested by back pain in the middle of the day so we had to get her a wheel chair. She tried to stand shortly before we were due on stage to no avail so we did a quick bit of reconfiguring to incorporate the chair and I think it came off really well. The crowd seemed to enjoy it at least a little. Hopefully you will too.



Thus ends the tale of my October. If you’re interested in hearing more in the future of my crazy cosplay con plans or seeing pictures let me know in a comment and I’ll see about posting a few more every now and then if they’re particularly good. In total I made 6 new costumes (of vary-ing complexities), 3 commissions and touched up 3 costumes this month. Went on stage 5 times with some of the most amazing people I know and generally had the best time of my life. So now you know why I’ve been so inactive but I promise you have my attention for the next couple of month ;) Then it’ll be exam season and I’ll fly into a panic again I have no doubt.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this entry~

Faerie Wars Series Review


The Faerie Wars series by Herbie Brennan features Faerie Wars, The Purple Emperor, Ruler of the Realm, Faerie Lord and most recently The Faeman Quest. This review is only going to cover the first four, partly because that’s all I could take and because book 5 centers on a new character after a substantial time skip and for me enough was already enough. Don’t get me wrong though and think that the entire series is a write off, I actually really liked the first book, very promising.

Faerie Wars opens with Henry Atherton who’s just been told his mum is having an affair with his dad’s secretary and that they’re getting a divorce. A pretty bold start. Henry also works as cleaner and cat-feeder to old Mr Fogarty and Hodge who Henry believes was once an engineer of some sort. Then one day Hodge catches a butterfly, only it’s not a butterfly, it’s a faerie.

Very quickly you’re introduced to Brennan’s habit of using chapters to change point of view as well as go back in time. Admittedly it can be very difficult to imply events are happening at the same time with different sets of characters and Brennan does it with relative ease. It doesn’t seem out of place and it’s not hard to follow or, for the most part, detract from the pacing of the story. I say this because the chapter then breaks and we’re introduced to Pyrgus Malvae (whom we later learn is a Faerie Prince) and two villains; Brimstone and Chalkhill.

I’m not going to go into great depth about the plot of each book but I’ll say this, with each book it’s like Brennan has cast a die for each character and after one book is finished he scoops them up into a cup, shakes, rolls and wherever those die land is where those characters start. This approach was bearable for the first two books but after that you were kind of hoping that someone would have been properly defeated and someone else would be making out. Especially given the copious mentions of bottoms.

What I loved about this series was the element of a world within a world, or really it’s two worlds side by side. The Analogue world which is our reality and the Faerie Realm. Technologically advanced Faeries living in a Victorian era-esque period where magic comes in cones. It was a wonderful mix of all my favourite things.

Book 1: Henry’s parents are divorcing and he ends up having to save Prince Pyrgus and all the Faerie Realm from a demon invasion/domination/generally cause havoc plot. On the way he sees Princess Holly Blue about to take bath and has to rescue Mr Fogarty from prison.

Book 2: After the death of their father Pyrgus assumed the Purple Throne but their step-uncle Lord Hairstreak intervenes to put their half brother and Hairstreak’s nephew on the throne instead. Apparently with the permission of the not-dead ex-Purple Emperor and Pyrgus’ father Aperture Iris. Henry must help save the realm again but this time they have the help of the Forest Fae and Pyrgus eyes up their Princess Nymph.

Problems: Henry is burnt in this book and patched up with skin grafts made of giant spider silk that turns his hands and chest multicoloured. Not only is this never mentioned (despite numerous future injuries) in later books but how he deals with this when translated back to the Analogue world is never covered. Nor his loss of his portal device supposedly stolen by his sister. In fact there’s very little coverage of what’s going on in the Analogue world with regards to Henry’s family other than ‘it’s bad’. Which is a great set up for him eventually breaking off with the Analogue world without familial ties but it kind of seems like a waste. Or lazy. Or both.

Book 3: With Princess Holly Blue on the throne she’s got some pretty black and white ideas about what’s best for the realm. War between the Light and Night faeries threatens and Henry has been taken over by demons and kidnapped Blue. In the mean time there are some time stopped crystal flowers, a fake army and a lot of confusing plot points.

Problems: Well again nothing about the Analogue world reactions which really detracts from the story. Also the entry of Henry being abducted by world saving aliens which is apparently a demon hallucination is kinda confusing. I was very confused for most of this book.

Book 4: In which Holly and Henry go on a quest and get married. Really the only thing worth reading is the last few pages where they get married.

Problems: Henry and Blue took forever, they were cute but despite having them so obviously liking each other from book 1 and Player!Pyrgus on the loose the romance was lacking. Especially with the book 1 comradery between Pyrgus and Henry I was hoping for some bromance at least. On top of the complete sweeping aside of Henry’s Analogue family and friends. And then there was the fact that none of 4 available villains didn’t really start getting defeated until the end of book 3 and then some rather lame endings in book 4. Not to mention an introduction of three new characters who apparently had very temporary agendas, a cameo of a suicide and a lot of fuss about nothing. Any more plot holes and you could strain tea with these books.

In conclusion, read books 1 and 2 and be reassured that Pyrgus marries Nymph and Holly marries Henry (and that according to the blurb for book 5 they have a daughter) isn’t that wonderful?

And don’t get me wrong, I find it was a terrible shame that I grew so tired of this series by the end because I really really liked how it set out. It had interesting creatures and characters and characters of all ages. I loved the character of Mr Fogarty, the ex-bank robbing portal making Gatekeeper of awesome.

Over and out.