Book Review: The Pledge

Title: The Pledge 
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: Alison & Busby
Series: The Pledge #1
Release Date: 26/03/2012
Pages: 380 
Format: Paperback 
Buy: Book Depository 
Author Twitter: @kimberlyderting

'In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she's spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can be free is the drug-fuelled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It's there she that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy names Max who speaks a language she's never heard before... and her secret is almost exposed. 

Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can't be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something bigger: her country's only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime.'

This book really surprised me, I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did! 

The prologue of the book immediately drew me in. There were so many questions in my head about what was going on. It did confuse me slightly but it pushed me to read on and find out what was happening. I did think the beginning part of the book could be a little more gripping though. The first few chapters did drag a little bit for me but it didn't take long before the pace started to pick up. 

Charlie is a character that I really do love; it didn't take long at all for me to become attached to her. I just felt that there was a huge insight to what her character was like and what she was feeling.  Sometimes, when a book is in first person, I find there's no balance in what the character is seeing, thinking and feeling. I think Derting had the perfect balance with Charlie. I loved the relationship that she had with her sister and how protective she was over her and the way she took care of her. It was just really sweet to read and made me love Charlie's character a lot more. 

Max was a confusing character in terms that I had no idea what was going with him or his friends. But it was an aspect of the book that I really did like. It was nice not being able to guess who he was or what was really going on. As a character, I have to admit, there wasn't a point where he really grew on me but it wasn't a huge problem.

The surprises in the book really did shock me and I didn't expect any of them. This book was so beautifully written, I cannot get over the fact of how amazing the quality of the writing was. The description was amazing and though there were so points where I thought there was too much information given in one go, it did help me understand a lot of what was going on. There were a lot of other characters that I wished that we got to read more of but I'm hoping that I'll see more of them in the rest of the series. 

The ending of the book wasn't something that really surprised me or was that overwhelming to be honest. There wasn't really much of a cliffhanger but I know that I will be picking up the next book in the series. 

Favourite Quote: 

Rating: ★★★★1/2

Book Review: Delirium

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Series: Delirium #1
Release Date: 07/02/2012
Pages: 441
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository
Author Twitter: @OliverBooks

'Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.' 

I'm going to start this off and say that this book was a DNF for me. I didn't get too far in the book before I had to stop reading it. I don't really have many DNF's but I really struggled to get through this book. 

For me, I didn't really like the writing style, the beginning of the book just didn't interest me. I know that you do have to wait for the action in a book to happen but normally I really enjoy the build up. With Delirium, it felt like I was enjoying every other chapter and it just felt like I could really get into any of them. 

I felt no connection with Lena, I'm not sure that because I was meant to or not but there was nothing that made me feel like I could really gage what her character was like. That's partially the reason why I really struggled to be interested into the book. I don't really know what it was about her character, I just felt like there was nothing there for me to connect with or become attached to. 

All in all, I just had to put it down. I wasn't enjoying the book and there was nothing that was making me want to read it. 

Rating: DNF 

Book Review: Shovel Ready

Title: Shovel Ready
Author: Adam Sternbergh
Publisher: Hachette
Release Date: 14/01/2014
Pages: 256
Service: Bookbridgr
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository
Author Twitter: @Sternbergh

‘Spademan used to be a garbage man. That was before the dirty bomb hit Times Square, before his wife was killed, before New York became a burnt-out shell. Now the wealthy escape the grim reality by spending their days tapped into a virtual world; the rest of the population have to fend for itself on the streets. Now there’s nothing but garbage.

So, Spademan has become a hit man. He doesn’t ask questions, he works quickly, and he’s very hand with a box-cutter.

When he’s hired to kill the daughter of a high-profile evangelist, Spademan’s life upended. To survive, he will have to navigate two worlds – the slick fantasy world of the elite and the waste land reality of the rest of the city’s inhabitants – to finish his job, clear his conscience, and make sure he’s not the one who winds up in the ground.’

So, I ended up requesting this book on BookBridgr because it looked pretty interesting and I hadn’t read a book like this in a while. Once I got I started to read it an immediately found that I was hooked, however, this did end up becoming a DNF for me.

This was not because of the writing though. I absolutely loved the plotline, it was fast paced and such a page turner. I was hooked as soon as the book started. Sternbergh wasted no time in making sure that his reader would be captivated. The very first page left you feeling extremely curious an wanting to find out more.

From what I had read of the book, the plot was really well thought out and I loved the way it was all being played out. Spademan was a character you seemed to learn more and more about as the book went on and it was just fascinating to see the way everything in his past ended up effecting him. Even though he is a hit man, I really struggled to dislike him and just wanted to give him a hug a lot of the time because you could see why he was doing these things.

You’re constantly sitting there trying to fit pieces together and wonder what will happen next. You’re trying to understand Spademan and understand everything else that’s going on in the plot and there are some things that you don’t really realise until the part is over.

One thing I did find extremely confusing throughout the book was the way the speech was laid out. I found it hard to keep track of who was talking and when people stopped talking since there were no speech marks in use.

I honestly did love reading this book up until the point I read some slightly explicit material in there. It was extremely explicit but I didn’t feel comfortable reading it so I did end up putting the book down. That kind of stuff really isn’t for me.

I don’t really have a huge amount to say on the book since I didn’t finish it. All I can say is if you don’t mind reading that kind of material and want a bit of a mystery book then I would definitely pick it up. I don’t want to give this book a rating as it did become a DNF for me and I don’t think that would be fair.

Rating: DNF 

Thank you to Hachette publishing and Bookbridgr for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Book Review: Larby Lodge

Title: Larby Lodge

Author: Gail and Paul Gallacher

Series: The Eve Summer Sequence #1

Release Date: 31/12/13

Pages: 324

Service: Giveaway

Format: Ebook

Download: Kindle

‘2057 AD. It is 39 years since the change.  A time of great chaos and upheaval, when millions of children across the globe developed magical powers. Still, no one knows why it happened. For years a fragile place has existed. But now a divide is forming…And a 15 year old Eve Rivers is about to find herself caught up in the middle of the battle. A battle fought between those who embrace the change, and those who will do anything to stop it. A battle that will forever alter the lives of everyone Eve holds dear.’

I just want to start off with the fact that I cannot get over how much I love this book. It was amazing! I’m a huge fan of anything that includes magic and it was thrown in there with dystopia and I loved it!

Eve is a 15 year old girl who is struggling with the events that are going on in her life and you see the ways that she is trying to deal with them and how she’s just trying to find who she is whilst there are people who are basically threatening her life.

The plot to this book was amazing, though in some part it was slightly predictable. Still, I kept on reading to find out why certain things were happening and there were some things that I really didn’t have a clue about that ended up surprising me big time.

Eve’s character was someone that I really loved reading about. You could see how she was just struggling to cope with some things and how she was just trying to make the best of situations that you would hate to be in. She doesn’t always end up being able to cope though and sometimes does lash out which makes her seem that little bit more realistic because she was a character who didn’t seem like everything was okay after she’s had been shaken up quite badly. You could see these things just build up inside of her and then she ends up having to just release all of these feelings.

Larby Lodge was a place in my head that was slightly creepy but I had such a good picture of it and I loved the things that ended up happening there and the friends that Eve made there. I hated Pollyanna a.k.a. Bitch. Her character was so harsh and there were so many times she just ended up filling me with anger.

Towards the end though, things did get slightly confusing for me. I felt that there were too any things that happened a short amount of time and it was hard to keep track of it all. There were some events that really stood out and then some that seemed to confuse me and I didn’t really know what was linked to what. But that was my only real problem with the book.

On the whole Larby Lodge was a book that I loved and I cannot wait to read the second one in the series. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a dystopian book with a twist of magic in It!

Rating: ★★★ 1/2

Movie Review: Divergent

Title: Divergent
Based on: Veronica Roth’s ‘Divergent’ 
Running Time: 139 minutes
Director: Neil Burger 
Writers: Evan Daugherty & Vanessa Taylor
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet 

‘In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she’s Divergent and won’t fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it’s too late.’

I don’t tend to post on weekend unless there’s a post I really want to publish or it’s my music challenge but I just went to see Divergent with my sister and I needed to write a review on it for so many reasons! 

I was really looking forward to watching this film, I loved the books and after seeing book bloggers come back from the première and rave about it I couldn’t wait to see it. So, I went. And did I regret it? Not one bit! 

I get slightly worried about book to movie adaptations because I never know what they’re going to end up doing and what they’ll cut out. This was one thing that I was slightly worried about with Divergent but about a third into the movie I could see that they were trying to stick with the book as much as possible. All the big scenes that I was anticipating and hoping wouldn’t be left out were in the movie. They did real justice to the book which just made the movie ten times better. 

The acting was absolutely amazing! A huge well done to Kate Winslet who was pregnant with the whole time while filming was happening. She did an amazing job with Janine’s part and I hated her the whole time! I think Shailene Woodley and Theo James both did an amazing part with their roles. There’s a certain scene towards the end of the film that I don’t want to spoil for anyone who hasn’t read the books, where Woodley’s acting was just amazing and made me feel for Tris so much. If possible I fell in love with Fourtris even more after seeing them on screen together and it makes me want to just keep them together forever (or fourever…) 

The whole cinematography was amazing. The scenery looked gorgeous and I loved seeing the Dauntless faction. It was exactly how I was picturing it in my head. The stunts that were in the movie were amazing and just made me want to get up and do something like that! I loved the way each faction was portrayed and they was they were dressed seemed to match up with what I was thinking they would wear. The editing of the movie was stunning, I really could not fault it. 

I am a huge fan of movie soundtrack and I absolutely loved all the music that was in this movie. It’s a soundtrack that I am definitely going to end up picking up. I loved the music when they were showing the Dauntless and everything just seemed to fit together so well. The music was really well thought out and you could tell by watching. The picked the perfect parts of songs to go with the perfect parts of scenes. 

There are two scene in the movie that I loved watching. The first had to be when they’re all playing Capture the Flag. I was looking forward to this scene so much and it was just brilliant to watch and ended up being filmed so well. The second scene was when we got to see Four’s fears, yet another scene that I was looking forward to and where I just felt almost part of the scene. 

This is a movie I am more than sure I am going to watch again and buy when it comes out on DVD. It’s one of those movies that has left me completely content and I have anything negative to say about it really. I hope they make the next two movies because I don’t think I’ve had enough. Whether you’ve read the book or not, if you are a fan of dystopian get yourself to the nearest cinema because you really won’t regret watching this movie! 

Rating: ★★★★★

Book Review: The Glimpse

Title: The Glimpse 
Author: Claire Merle 
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Series: The Glimpse #1
Release Date: 07/06/2013
Pages: 411
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository 
Author Twitter: @clairemerle

‘In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illnesses. 17 year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell. 

Jasper is from a rich and influential family, and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday looms closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a “normal” life. But then Jasper disappears. 

Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not deal with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society, and she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper’s abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that will destroy everything she has grown up to believe.’ 

The Glimpse is the first out of two books in The Glimpse series by Claire Merle.

There were a lot of aspects to this book that I really enjoyed reading. I loved the fact that Merle had set this dystopian fiction not so far into the future. She linked things in her books with things that are going on around us at the moment and things that had happened in the past. It felt realistic in those terms when she was explaining what things had happened. This book was a huge wake up call for stigma around mental health and illnesses. I think it really showed where things could go if we let things carry on the way they are. Towards the beginning of the book I thought that Merle was only really focusing towards the extremes on mental illnesses but as the book went on you could see where she was trying to go with it and why she had put things into that life. 

What I did find with this book, is that it never really gave you time to sit to question and guess what was going to happen next. Personally, I like to be able to try and guess what’s going to happen next but I really didn’t get the chance to here. At points it felt so jam packed with information that it was hard to process everything and then other parts just seemed quite empty. 

I’m, personally, not really huge fan on Ana. I felt throughout the book she was still quite ignorant about what life in the City was like and the people in there. It felt as though it wasn’t until towards the end that you saw the character development in her within a few chapters, when you had been waiting throughout the book for it. 

There were some parts in the book where I felt the plot took a little while to move on but it’s still worth a read and there were quite a few parts that I found enjoyable. 

Rating: ★★★