Chuyển đến nội dung chính

review: rooftops of tehran

book info: on sale: now copy from: public library pages: 348 review written: 21.12.17 originally published: 2009 edition read: Penguin NAL 2009 title: Rooftops of Tehran author: Mahbod Seraji In a middle-class neighborhood of Iran's sprawling capital city, 17-year-old Pasha Shahed spends the summer of 1973 on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, joking around one minute and asking burning questions about life the next. He also hides a secret love for his beautiful neighbor Zari, who has been betrothed since birth to another man. But the bliss of Pasha and Zari's stolen time together is shattered when Pasha unwittingly acts as a beacon for the Shah's secret police. The violent consequences awaken him to the reality of living under a powerful despot, and lead Zari to make a shocking choice... my thoughts: This book was first published in 2009 and I remember adding it to my list around that time but never actually reading it since I preferred checking out library books to ...
Đăng nhận xét

The Secret

The Secret

Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Grisha #1
Source: Kindle Edition
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: June 5th 2012
Age Genre: Young Adult
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.
“I'm sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now.”
Look who's really really late to join the bandwagon! Me! I've been itching to read this book for a really long while, but something was holding me back. The right mood finally came upon me and I started it. 

From page one, I was in love with the writing style of this book. There is just something so... beautiful about it. I can't really put my finger on it (plus it took me so long to write this review that it's not as fresh in my head as I'd like), but I was addicted to it. 

We're already off to a good start, aren't we? Then there's Alina, the main character of the story. I loved her voice. I loved her character. I loved that she was brave yet scared. Toughed yet so weak. That she had such a good heart in a world that doesn't often appreciated it. That she was human enough to sometimes break her own heart with the actions she had to take. 

Now we have the supporting characters. All were great in my opinion, all added something--whether if to the story or the layers of the world or whatever.

But, can we just say-- I FEEL SO BETRAYED RIGHT NOW. Seriously, I did not see that twist coming. I was having fun, strolling down the plot when BAM I AM UNDER ATTACK MAYDAY MAYDAY *explosion*. 
Seriously, what? why? who thought this was okay? I don't know how to deal with this! My shipper heart is flailing around in distress. 

I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING.

Which, I guess, is what makes this book interesting. It's what makes it different than the rest of the books in the genre that work on the same vibe. It surprises you and makes you want to continue with the books so you could see where does it go--and what surprise does Bardugo has prepared for you next?

But... still. I was not prepared to hate a character that I've learned to love! 

Nitzan★

Nhận xét

Đăng nhận xét

Bài đăng phổ biến từ blog này

review: the elementary particles

book info: on sale: now copy from: public library pages: 263 review written: 23.5.16 originally published: 1998 ("Les particules élémentaires") edition read: Knopf, 2000, translation by Frank Wynne title: The Elementary Particles author: Michel Houellebecq The Elementary Particles part-story part-metaphysical-rants in an interesting narration from two characters, half-brothers borne of a hippie and absentee mother in the 60s: Michel and Bruno. Michel is an asexual scientist who "expresses his disgust with society by engineering one that frees mankind at last from its uncontrollable, destructive urges" and Bruno is a crass brute driven by sexual desires that lusts after his lost youth. This book follows their stories from childhood to their middle age, spinning around the past and present and major and minor characters in an intriguing narrative that had me reading every single word for fear of missing anything crucial. (quote from book summary) When I first began to...
Đăng nhận xét
Đọc thêm

The Woman Who Ride Like a Man by Tamora Pierce

The Woman Who Ride Like a Man by Tamora Pierce Series:   Song of the Lioness #3 Source:  Bought paperback Publisher:  Atheneum Books For Young Readers Age Genre: Young Adult Challenges: Flights of Fantasy Challenges:  Prequel-Sequel Challenges:  TBR-Cleaning my Shelves Alanna fights on... Newly knighted, Alanna of Trebond seeks adventure in the vast desert of Tortall. Captured by fierce desert dwellers, she is forced to prove herself in a dual to the death. Although she triumphs, dire challenges lie ahead. As her mysterious fate would have it, Alanna soon becomes the tribe's first female shaman, despite the desert dwellers' wariness of the foreign woman warrior. Alanna must battle to change the ancient tribal customs of the desert tribes--for their sake and for the sake of all Tortall. That's me. With everyone else clapping in the background. Once again, I find myself unimpressed with the Song of the Lioness. It's not that I dislike the books. It's just that th...
Đăng nhận xét
Đọc thêm

The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred

The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred Source:  bought Kindle copy Publisher: Ellora's Cave Publication Date:  May 12, 2005 Age Genre: adult (not graphic) Sweet tea, corn bread, and soup beans—everyday fare for eight-year-old Alix French, the precocious darling of a respected southern family. But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town. Armed with only a tin of bee balm and steely determination, Alix treats the raw evidence of a recent beating that mars his back, an act that changes both of their lives forever. Through childhood disasters and teenage woes they cling together as friendship turns to love. The future looks rosy until the fateful night when Frank Anderson, Nick's abusive father, is shot to death in his filthy trailer. Suddenly, Nick is gone—leaving Alix alone, confused and pregnant. For the next fifteen years she wrestles with the pain of Nick's abandonment, a bad marriage, her family and friend...
Đăng nhận xét
Đọc thêm

Free $100

Free $100