Review: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas // David Mitchell
2004 // Hodder
Paperback
5/5 stars!

A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation—the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

In English Class, we got the assingment to read a book. You were allowed to choose what book you wanted to read yourself, as long as it was literature.
It was a difficult choice for me, because there are so many books I want to read, but in the end I chose Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, because I knew deep inside that I'd not simply pick it up. You all should know that this is a very thick book, with 529 pages.
The thing that attracted me most about Cloud Atlas was that there were 6 stories, and all of them were intertwined and told in the book. First time you meet them, and the second time, further in the book, you are reunited with the stories, that were simply ended earlier, sometimes mid-sentence.
Also, I heard that it was made into a movie. The movie trailer looked amazing, and I always want to read the book prior to watching the movie, so that's exactly what I did. And I loved it!
In the beginning, I was scared by it, to be honest. The first part was written 1850s style, and to me that was incredibly hard. I am not a native, and English is not my mother tongue, so I have some minor problems with some parts of the English language, one of them being that it takes me long to understand some terms that I am not familiar with.
So the first thirty-something pages scared me off, yet I kept on reading, fascinating by the story. Then quickly I was thrown into the next part, letters this time, and 100 years later, so much easier for me to understand. and it just went on and on and I fell in love with the novel more and more!
Historic, Contemporary and Futuristic stories, all included in one thick and magnificently written novel. All genres mixed and matched. Never thought I'd like a mystery novel, combined with political drama, as much as I did. David Mitchell; you are one of the finest writers around!

A half-read book is a half-finished love affair

Lots of books,
Mar

Review: The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

title: The Ask and the Answer

written by: Patrick Ness

series: Chaos Walking #2

genres: Young Adult, Dystopian

page count: 519

publication date: May 4th, 2009

rating: 5/5 stars

We were in the square, in the square where I'd run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her - But there weren't no safety, no safety at all, there was just him and his men...

Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor's new order. But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer? And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode...

I already reviewed part 1 of Chaos Walking last year. A link to the review [HERE]. Don't read this review if you haven't read the first book in the series, or it will all be spoiled!

 The Ask and the Answer was in one word: SURPRISE! Seriously, so many plot turns in one novel is epic! (Although it also was quite confusing at some points...) The story continues with Todd and Viola, seperated, in New Prentisstown. It is like hell there, or at least it is like that for Todd, who is locked up inside a church tower.  He has got to work together with his biggest enemy and has to let the 'spackle' do horrible things. Numb by his inside emotional pain he abides.

First of all I must say I really missed Manchee. I really came to love that dog, and when he died in part one my heart was broken! The other characters changed so much between book 1 and 2 I was unable to believe it at the first. Viola has become all Katniss-like kick-ass, while Todd has become an emotional wreck, numb from the inside. Some parts from Todd's point of View literally broke my heart, just because they were so depressing. Paper towels are needed while reading this! Also, Davy really impressed me while reading this book. I was really confused when I was halfway through the book. I had come to like him, even though he was kind of evil... Why do I always like the evil guys?!

The plot of this novel was full of suspense. I can describe it as The Hunger Games' Mockingjay from both Katniss' and Peeta's point of view. It pretty much describes the first part. Only I liked this book better than Mockingjay! Some parts of it just blew my mind, and I had to read them multiple times just to believe them.

I adore the way Ness describes everything that happens around his characters, I am in love with the way the parts from Todd's Point of View are written, with grammar errors that were meant to be there (infection-infectshun etc.), and I really like it how of  the 519 pages of this novel 0 bored me!

An amazing sequel full of suspense for anyone who likes dystopia and doesn't mind a big book, whatever age or gender you are! Please keep in mind that there are extremely touching moments, paper towels needed!

Love and books,

Mar

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

title: Forgotten
written by: Cat Patrick
genre: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
page count: 304
publication date: June 1st, 2011
rating: 5/5

Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.


When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting—before it destroys her future.

Forgotten starts with London Lane, just a normal girl. Well, only from the outside. She can remember the future, but she has forgotten about the past. The only way she 'remembers' what has happened to her is by reading her notes. She can forget whatever she wants, but she can also see danger coming. Is this a good thing, or a burden?

London is a very relateable character. She is just a normal teenage school girl. She does normal things, has normal friends and has only one thing that makes her differ from other people. But she lives her normal life, just like any other. She lives as she wants. And that's what I like about her. Then she meets Luke, a very cute boy who appears to like her, too. In the beginning she forces herself to forget about him, because she can't remember him from the future. But she starts seeing the importance of that. If he isn't anywhere in her future, is her memory playing tricks on her? Then there is the returning memory of a funeral. There are lots of people she doesn't recognise. She is there too. But who is the one that is buried? She needs to know. This memory is destroying her from the insides.

The plot really got me thinking, and it tricked me more than once into thinking the wrong thing. I love it when a novel is unpredictable, it keeps the whole thing interesting and enjoyable to read. I had never read a novel quite like this one. The story was unique. Forget the past but remember the future. Amazing! Also the romance was great. I swear, if I were standing next to the couple I would be able to see sparks fly!

I can't really comment on Patrick's writing style, since I read this book in Dutch. However, in Dutch it was not very special, but really nice to read. It might have been translated a little bit different, but it must be kind of the same, right? 

Forgotten is a book I will never forget. The whole concept was amazing. The characters were very well developed and the whole story made sense. I could relate to all characters and it was easy to read. I was astonished by the fact that this was a debut. Cat Patrick really wrote a very promising first novel and I am already looking forward to reading more of her works. I give this book 5 stars!

Love,

Mar

Fear by Michael Grant

book: fear
written by: Michael Grant
series: Gone #5
genres: young adult, horror, sci-fi
pages: 509 (hardcover)
publication date: April 3rd, 2012
publisher: Katherine Tegen Press


first thoughts:
Holy crap I love this series, even though it horrifies me. I reviewed part 4 of the series. you can view it HERE. This series definitely isn't for the ones that throw up often, and if you do you might want to keep a bucket to puke in close to you... *no, just exaggerating a lot, if you survived part 4 in the series you will be OK with this part*

the book: 
It's been one year since all the adults disappeared. Gone. (#1)


Despite the hunger (#2) and the lies (#3), even despite the plague (#4), the kids of Perdido Beach are determined to survive. Creeping into the tenuous new world they've built, though, is perhaps the worst incarnation yet of the enemy known as the Darkness: fear.


Within the FAYZ, life breaks down while the Darkness takes over, literally—turning the dome-world of the FAYZ entirely black. In darkness, the worst fears of all emerge, and the cruelest of intentions are carried out. But even in their darkest moments, the inhabitants of the FAYZ maintain a will to survive and a desire to take care of the others in their ravaged band that endures, no matter what the cost. 

my review:

zillions of spoilers if you haven't read #1-4 in this series. Impossible to review without any spoilers for those books. SORRY

Well, immidiately after starting reading this book, one of my main questions about this series was answered. There was still life outside the FAYZ. But also, that answer made me have tons of more questions that are in despate need of an answer.

The characters in this series improve again. I have no idea how Michael Grant keeps his characters so realistic :o It feels as if you're with the characters in the FAYZ. and that's a terrifying feeling. Really, I'd rather live on the North Pole for the rest of my life, or anywhere, than live in the FAYZ for one week, or even one day. In this book there were some new characters introduced, and other ones disappeared and / or died. And of course it hurt me when anyone died, no matter how they died. I just don't like to see characters I have read about and loved from the first part of the series die... Also, all of the characters *and by that I mean ALL of them* changed so much between #4 and #5 in the series, it was almost impossible to 'recognise' them. So this was not character development, but complete transformation of the characters. It annoyed me in the first chapters, but fell in love / hated *in a good way* the new characters quickly.

The plot of this book contains an abundance of unpredictable twists, too keep it more interesting than it already was, which made the book even more perfect. The story was, again, told with the times underneath the chapters. *chapter 1, 65 hours, 11 minutes* and there were some 'Outside' chapters, in which you find out a little more of the horrible thruth of the FAYZ.

Then there was the Gaiaphage, which was still trying to take over the world with a terrifying huge amount of power. and oh my god, what the hell is he doing?!

The writing style of Michael Grant is one of the things that makes this book unique. He writes from multiple points of views *and with multiple I mean that there were over 10* without making it hard to understand the book. It's just a book you're flowing through. The pace of this story was above average, but again, that's one of the things that belongs with this series. A lot of things should happen in a little amount of pages.

I compare this book to the Hunger Games very often. Maybe because I bought the hunger games at the same time I bought Gone #1, or maybe just because I think they're both great series, but I think that every hunger games fan will love the gone series! So if you need to read a hunger games-like book I think this one would be a great choice. *this isn't dystopia*

final thoughts

A great story, with so many plot twists that kept on surprising me. A definite must for every Hunger Games fan. Even if you don't like Sci-fi, you'll love the gone series, mark my words!

(and OMG the ending, Light (#6) is one of my most anticipated books of 2013! Can't waiit)

rating: 5 stars

xo Mar

Plague by Michael Grant

Yo peeps, whats up?
First book I re-read in 2012 FTW

book:  Plague
written by:  Michael Grant
genres: Sci-Fi, Horror, Young Adult, fantasy
pages: 497
own / library / borrowed
release date: April 5th, 2011
series?: yes, Gone #4
publisher: Katherine Tegen Books


note:  I actually re-read this book pretty soon after reading it. I read this book in august 2011, and loved it. Now I re-read it in Dutch, and I figured out that I had forgotten lots of things that happened. Definitely not a bad choice to re-read this book!


the book: The life in the FAYZ continues. But there are new obstacles to overcome. There is a kind of flu pandemic that kills people by letting them cough up their organes, there are some strange green bugs that eat their way through you. More of the horror. And that's not all; there also is the Drake/Brittany creature that tries to fight its way to the Gaiaphage, the creator of the FAYZ and the murderer of many innocent kids. Will the kids of the FAYZ survive, or will life in the FAYZ end...?


my review:
I love the series. It is kind of horror-like, so slightly out of my comfort zone, but still I will call this book epic awesomeness. (okay, I call almost everything Epic Awesomeness, but this time I mean it!) What makes this series so special to me? I think it is that the characters are sometimes hardly human (like; when they burn things or run too quick or remove gravity...) but they keep on thinking as if they are as human as possible. This book kind of got the same old, in the beginning. But then people started to die and stuff and it got awesome. (no, I'm not someone who loves people dying, I just like to read stories about dying people ;) ) Then there is this Drake/Brittany thing that totally got my attention. I mean, 2 zombies in 1. best invention ever?! Also the way they behave is so totally different I would almost say that it's impossible.
Then there are the many POV's. You can read from Sam's, Astrid's, Orc's, Albert's, Drake/Brittany's Pete's and Sanjit's POV, and I think there are even more I have forgotten. It is extraordinairy for a book to have so many POVs! But it is great to keep the book changing all the time.
I still do not like Astrid, and still have lots of respect for Sam. I still don't like that every child is dying, but still love to read about it. I still want to know all FAYZs secrets, and I still want to read the next part. I still won't give up on these series, and I still want Orc to go to rehab :$
But I have to admit that the series would have been better if it had been written in 3 parts max. 6 is a little bit overdone... 


total:
4.5 stars :D


xo Mar