'Throne of Glass' by Sarah J. Maas

Date finished: 27 January 2015

Series: Throne of Glass, no. 1

Rating: 5/5 stars

View on Goodreads.

This book is perfection. I wish I could start off with a wittier and more entertaining analogy of how the scale of 1-to-awesome should be changed to a scale of 1-to-Sarah J. Maas, but I think that makes ‘Throne of Glass’ sound a little tacky and overrated.

And it is so not either of those things.

Let’s face it, ‘Throne of Glass’ has everything I’ve ever desired – and more – in a YA fantasy book. Magic? Duh. Swords. Check. Badass heroine? Check. Who also happens to be trained as an assassin? Check. And has a possible personality disorder? Check. Not to mention the two arrogant “heroes” that she manages to absolutely humiliate within the first chapter, and continues to surprise throughout the book.

Celeana Sardothien is far from perfect. She’s arrogant and rude and pretty much blind when it comes to noticing people’s attraction to her, but she’s also compassionate and perplexing beneath her oh-so-tough infamous assassin status. Moreover, she manages to prove that just because she’s a beautiful woman with flowing hair and puffy skirts doesn’t mean she still won’t be able to absolutely destroy every single male assumption about her sex that’s presented to her. In most cases, she actually beats the unassuming male to a pulp just for underestimating her.

With regards to the storyline – I have no appropriate words. I think I was speechless for most of the book, and probably sounded a lot like a babbling idiot when I tried to explain to my friends and family exactly why they could not possibly disturb me under any circumstances because I was too engrossed by the cannonball climaxes that Maas kept throwing at my already aching head.

And then to top it off, there is now a single author on planet Earth who has finally written a credible love triangle. Right from the start, I thought I’d guessed who Celeana would fall for, but then it turned out I was wrong and I didn’t know how I felt about that… I couldn’t even decide whether I preferred Prince Dorian or Captain Westfall, and I’ll usually make up my mind about that within the first half of the book. It was emotionally draining, as love triangles should be. Love triangles are the furthest thing from romance – they aren’t supposed to create excitement; they’re supposed to make you feel sick to your stomach because of the tension and confusion and what if she ends up with the wrong one?

But in the end I actually set down the book and had a moment of silence followed by a moment of applause for Celeana’s intelligence. Finally, a character makes a decision with minimal consequences and minimal complications. Not that my heart didn’t break just a little on that final page…

To sum it up: incredible storyline, stunning characters and the ability to incite way too many emotions. Highly recommended.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Date finished: 7 January 2015

Series: The Lunar Chronicles, Book 1

Rating: 5/5 stars

View on Goodreads.

Time to be brutally honest: Of all the classic fairytales I’ve grown up with, Cinderella is without a doubt the most overdone, and therefore has possibly become the most overrated. I didn’t think any more could be done to the original story after Disney edited out the gruesome parts and added in about three million singing creatures in peculiar clothing, then Hollywood decided to modernize it as a semi-musical starring Hilary Duff (A Cinderella Story) and later Selena Gomez (Another Cinderella Story), as well as “take it back to its roots” with Ever After: A Cinderella Story. Oh, and of course there’s the millions of novels out there that rip off Cinderella in one way or another: fairy godmother, ugly stepsisters, evil stepmother, pretty prince…

So it’s not that difficult to imagine the sheer amount of cringing that took place when I stumbled across yet another modernization of Cinderella on the internet.

But Cinder is most definitely not “yet another modernization” of the Cinderella story. Not only does the story take place in New Beijing after world peace has finally been established, and a new plague has emerged, but the protagonist, Cinder, is a mechanic. Oh, and she’s also a cyborg. And thus, Marissa Meyer effectively throws every single Cinderella stereotype out of the proverbial window, and continues to ruin your life in a single novel.

Everything about Cinder is perfect. At least, everything seems perfect now that I’ve just finished it and it’s about two in the morning because I couldn’t stop myself from reading it in one sitting. It’s that good. Storyline – almost flawless. Cinder – role-model-worthy. Writing – made me cry. And Prince Kai…

The sheer amount and range of emotions this book put me through is enough to award it five stars. It’s not often that a book can make me go from squealing out loud and doing a happy dance (because of Kai and Cinder) to wanting to punch a wall (Kai and Cinder) to crying hysterically (Kai and Cinder) to jumping up and down in anticipation and then finally resigning to doing that thing with my face and my hands because the feelings are just too much and my emotions are short-circuiting.

That thing. All because of stupid Kai and Cinder.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a YA novel as good as Cinder. Highly recommended to fans of Beastly.

Oh, and also Cinder doesn’t need a fairy godmother. She makes her own miracles. Consequently, she’s amazing and the reason I’m currently locking away my Kindle so that I don’t buy the sequel before the sun rises.

The Ultimate Nerd List 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, almost. But I did promise that at least one blog this year would be done both properly and on time. And look at that: This one’s a whole day early!

And that kind of defeats the point of it being a blog to ultimately end off the year, but whatever. Let’s just get on with it.

Hallelujah. 2014 has finally ended. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I would make it through a year of minimal reading, maximum stress, and then a struggle to pull together the mess of my life right at the end. Thank goodness I at least made it to my 50-book goal (barely – I just finished book number 50 about twenty minutes ago) so I can pretend I have a shred of dignity left after 2014 stripped me of… well… everything.

Despite its horrific cruelty, 2014 was without a doubt an eventful year and that made my latest list of ‘Best Things Of The Year That Managed Not To Kill Me (Yet)’ very very very difficult to compile. Nevertheless, I hope it’s enjoyable, and here’s to another year of frantic blogging and reading while I try to keep up a vague interest in my last year of schooling.

Books

Books I’ve finished this year: 50 (view my 2014 shelf)

Best Books of the Year:

Book of the year: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (Goodreads | my review)

In a word: Phenomenal. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is a book that absolutely everybody needs to read, regardless of your taste in books, regardless of your taste in authors, regardless of whether you are even a reader. It’s not even that long. You have no excuses.

Fiction: Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres (Goodreads | my review)

YA Fiction: Don’t Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Goodreads | my review)

Series: The White Rabbit Chronicles by Gena Showalter 

Sci-Fi: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, no. 3) by George R. R. Martin (Goodreads)

(I FINALLY FINISHED IT. TWO YEARS. I DID IT. CELEBRATIONS ARE IN ORDER.)

Worst Book of the year: The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messaud (Goodreads)

(I couldn’t even finish it. I don’t not finish books. It was that bad.)

Other notable reads:

The Cider House Rules by John Irving (Goodreads)

Swimming Through Clouds by Rajdeep Paulus (Goodreads | my review)

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres (Goodreads)

The Three by Sarah Lotz (Goodreads)

Moments:

Fangirl Moment of the Year:

This year I was incredibly privileged to be able to travel overseas not once but twice – firstly on my school’s Cultural Tour in April, and then on the Global Young Leaders Coneference in June/July. Both were life-changing experiences, and included several bouts of laughter, tears and squealing, so I think they both count as ‘fangirl’ moments.

Also: Mockingjay: Part One, The Queen of Zombie Hearts, Opposition, and I got to see The Fray live. (I believe these stunted freak-out sessions of note that were largely less-glamorous than my excursions overseas.)

Facepalm Moment of the Year:

You remember those overseas excursions I just mentioned? Well, let’s just say that they provided me with many, many more surfaces to trip over, and a wider, more varied audience to shame myself in front of. But I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I was able to trip in the Colosseum and amuse a bunch of British and American tourists (I’ll do anything for my fans).

Also: The Kim Kardashian Hollywood game, the rise of Iggy Azalia (‘Igloo Azahaha’ as my six-year-old cousin calls her), and new twelve-year-old clothing styles. Mega-Facepalm.

Movies and Music:

Song of the Year: Out of the Woods by Taylor Swift.

Not really my favourite song, but I think it’s really very representative of the feeling of getting through yet another tough year. You know - if you look at it all metaphorically with the woods being 2014. No? Never mind.

Album of the Year: 1989 by Taylor Swift

Life's too short to pretend to hate Taylor Swift.

Lyric of the Year:

“Take off your makeup and put down the camera. Choke on the drama that makes me want to tear up the pictures, the pages you’ve saved creating a life of friends and make-believe.”

- All Time Low, The Girl’s A Straight-Up Hustler

A Note: Ironically, the two most-played songs on my iPod are A Little Party Never Killed Nobody by Fergie, Q-tip and Goonrock, and Happy Endings Are Stories That Haven’t Ended Yet by Mayday Parade. I think that accurately describes the year as a whole and its major bipolarity.

Movie of the Year: Divergent

The Divergent film was as good as the book. Perhaps even slightly better (PERHAPS). I loved it, and I loved the way the director got everything as close to the book as possible, but also made the story watchable, not just readable. It was amazing. 

Movie Scene of the Year:

I can’t think ‘epic’ without thinking ‘Dianna Agron in The Family’. If you haven’t seen the scene where she beats up a bunch of pervy teenage boys with a tennis racquet, I suggest you do so now. It is 50% hilarious, 50% totally disturbing, and 100% inspirational. (YouTube link)

HAPPY NEW YEAR – again. I hope 2015 is entertaining (if not entirely relaxing) and overall enjoyable (if not filled to the brim with stress). Thanks for sticking with this blog for another year!

Merry Christmas and All That Jazz

This is just a mega-quick post to say:

I hope you've all had (and still are having) a very festive season, and thanks to all of you who are still reading my blogs and reviews while you’re on holiday and have nothing to procrastinate for. It warms my heart, really.

This post is also functioning as yet another “Update from Amy”, as I’m driving down to the coast tomorrow and will regrettably be unable to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot while lying in bed. So what that means is this: I will be doing a truckload of reading (and hopefully reach my 50 book goal for the end of the year – fingers crossed) and a lot of writing due to being unable to spend several hours a day scrolling through Tumblr or other useless social media sites. But, due to the fact that I will have to move (i.e. drive to a Wi-Fi hotspot) to be able to post blogs and reviews, I might not be posting reviews and/or blogs very often.

BUT my Ultimate Nerd List is still due on the 31^st of December, and no I have not forgotten (again), so maybe it will actually be up on time – or even a little early (who are we kidding? It’ll never be up early. This is me we’re referring to).

Also, seeing as I haven’t done another special Happy Holidays blog, if you’re bored right now you can reread my How To Christmas Socialization from last year. I believe it’s still very relevant…

P.S. If you’re super, ultra bored this Christmas because the family’s left and all you have is soppy Christmas movies and leftover turkey, I recommend reading ‘Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald’ by Therese Anne Fowler. I just finished it yesterday, and it’s a phenomenal (largely fictional) account of Zelda Fitzgerald and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life, narrated from Zelda’s perspective. It gives great insight into the genius and madness behind The Great Gatsby, if you enjoyed that.

P.P.S. If you don’t do the historical novel thing, ‘The Cider House Rules’ by John Irving is one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read, and I believe that no matter what kind of books you’re interested in, it’s essential to read.