Far From Reality

Thanks YA Highway for doing this, now lets see if i remember the books i read.. gonna need to get one of those Goodreads accounts this year!


BOOKS


•Most imaginative: The Blue Girl by Charles De Lint
•Funniest: Tithe by Holly Black

•Scariest: (i dont read scary books, not yet)
•Edgiest contemporary: (dont know XD)
•Creepiest SF/dystopia: (dont know )
•Most evocative historical: i dont read historical yet
•Best love story: Shadarii and Kohaku from A Whisper Of Wings, tradjic!


SCENES
•Most hilarious: had to be in Tempted but i cant remember..
•Scariest: ??
•Most disturbing: The gutsucker demon description in Dreakdark Blackbringer
•Steamiest: *blushes* oh my! you caught me, i read an ero this year.. "My Wolf" the whole thing is steamy
•Most exciting: the fight scenes in The Ghost King by R.A Salvatore
•Biggest tear-jerker: The end of Tempted..
•Best plot twist/revelation (no spoilers!!) : again the end of Tempted
CHARACTERS
•Best couple: Corny and Luis in Ironside
•Who you'd want as your best friend: Rose Hathaway
•Who you fell in love with: Shadarii
•Worst (best?) villain: the DracoLich in The Ghost King
•Best character twist (who you loved, then hated, or vice versa): Tally in the Uglies series, loved her... then hated her!
•Best character names: Shadarii, Larka, Tupan, Surolf, Zukhora.. i could go on
•Worst character names: Lolli
•Favorite all-around kickass female: Zoey Redbird!
•Favorite all-around kickass male: Drizzt Do'Urden!

MISCELLANEOUS

•Best book cover: ohh hard one.. The Sights
•Best title: ???
•Most memorable voice Hannah from 13 reasons why.

•Most memorable first line: ???
•Best setting: the demonweb pits in the War Of The SpiderQueen series.

•Most beautiful writing: hmm. couldnt tell yah, i find all writing beautful

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

•Will any of the books you've read in 2009 make your life list of Favorite Books?
A Whisper Of Wings by Paul Kidd DEFINATLY!

Title - The Uglies Series: Uglies, Pretties, Specials
Author - Scott Westerfeld
Genre - Young Adult
Grade - B-

Thoughts:
The series is set in the future, 300 years after the 'rusties' (humans that live like us) nearly destroyed the world through a virus that effected oil and burst into flames, the virus could be spread by wind, it was airborne and destroyed whole cities. The current population exists all around the world but in specialy moniterd cities where a million people can live, they are closely moniterd by the pretty commitee and a secret orginization called Special circumstances (but most thinkt hey are a myth).
The story stars a 15 (progreses to 16) year old girl named Tally Youngblood. In uglies Tally is an ugly, a person who has not turned 16 and had the operation to turn you pretty.Uglies look like you and I, Pretties look liek the supermodels (though not as skinny) of today. Uglies live in uglyville, going to school and learning about the rusties and other things. when you turned pretty you go and live in New Pretty Town where the only thing you need to to is party.
Uglies follows Tallys journey to become pretty. Through circumstances she is forced to leave her home city in pursuit of her friend Shay and the elusive (and possibly non-existing city of The Smoke) I wont give much away so on to Pretties. without going deep into it, i will say i liked this book less then Uglies. The superfical pretty world was annoying and you'll see phrases like 'brain-missing', 'pretty-making' and 'bubbly' ALOT.
The third book i liked even less, not becuase of the action or anything, but by this time Tally has gotten really annoying, she goes from being nervouse ugly to annoying, and superior mided. The Uglies series though, has some pretty cool gadjects i wouldnt mind getting my hands on, who wouldnt want calorie purgers? little pills you take after a meal to kill the calories (and these actually work!). Toothbrush pills, hoverboards and wallscreens are some of the more fun items in Westerfelds world. Its not the best series out there, but its worth a read.

Whether you say Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas or Happy Yule i hope you all have a wonderful time this season!

on a side note, please always check your friends home-made egg nog BEFORE you accept the glass..

Title - Dreamdark: Blackbringer
Author - Laini Taylor
Genre - Fantasy
Page Count - 437
Rating - A

From the back of the book:
Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While most of her kind live in tranquil seclusion deep on their forests, escaped devils are creeping back into the world after millennia of imprisonment, and Magpie is all that stands in thier way. With her faithful clan of crows, she travels the world hunting down the bloodthirsty snags, just as her hero, Bellatrix did 25,000 years ago.
This hunt will take her back to the great forest of Dreamdark, a place of legents and Djinn, cunning imps and tattooed warriors, where she must unravel the mystery of the greatest enemy her folk have ever known. Will the determination of one small faerie be enough to defeat the impenetrable darkness that threatens to unmake the world?

Review:
Magpie is no ordinary faerie she wanders the world searching for snaggs (lesser demons) to vanquish, that the mannies (humans) have unleashed from thier captivity (but the mannies don't know they have done it). Magpie travels with her crow friends, who have taken care of her since she was little. But after learning that a great demon has excaped she must travel back to her old home of dreamdark in the forests to figure out what is going on, the story really picks up from this point on. The first few chapters were a little iffy for me, and i found it hard to get into at first though the idea of a tiny dragonfly winged faerie was intrigueing! When she returns to Dreamdark she meets up with her old friend Poppy, an unusual faerie with butterfly wings (all the faeries in dreamdark have dragonfly wings) who can talk to trees. Magpie also meets the supposed descendant of her hero Bellatrix, Vesper. Vesper has made herself queen of Dreamdark and Magpie first discovers she is not like other faeries when she accidently turns Vespers hair into worms! Don't be fooled by the supposed 'sillyness' of the book, talking crows, little faeries and all that, it is actually much darker then it lets on at first. An evil like no other has escaped, named Blackbringer, a horrible being that sucks anything it touches into its dark depths (think of a black hole but as a tangable moving blob) Blackbringer is destroying the outer forests and has its sights on Dreamdark, Magpie goes off in hopes of defeating this creature, so she must go find the creator of everything, The Magruwen. It is here in his well that she learns more about herself, and the story continues to get even more exiting! Magpie will meet and re-meet a slew of magical creatures such as imps, a fae warrior prince, dragons, and a really nasty demon named Gutsuck. I will take the time to tell you about Gutsuck, he dosnt have a really big part in the book but what it does say about him gives you a nasty visual, a demon that has a scar for a mouth most of the time, but when its time for him to feed (in this case on Magpie) he sucks in his scarred closed mouth and the teeth inside chew through the scar tissue and he eats it, revealing a now open mouth full of sharp pointed teeth, my stomach turned when i envision that. Dreakdark : Blackbringer is a rich fantasy that will leave you wanting more, luckily the second book : Dreamdark Silksinger is out! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys faeries, or a book that dosnt take itself too seriously, I only hope Silksinger comes out as an ereader option soon!

Oh yes, i should also mention that during the book there are a few images that are beautiful, showing you what each major charactor looks like. these are scattered throughout the book and there are only about 4 or 5 but they are a very nice touch.

I finally got the blog to look the way i want it to! I will be getting a Kindle in a few weeks so I can finally get down to reading my wishlist =) So there will be alot more going on when I finally get that (maby even contests!)

the preorder button on Deadtown is WRONG.. but it goes to a interesting sounding book too..

Title - A Whisper Of Wings
Author - Paul Kidd
Genre - Anthro/Fantasy
Review Grade - A
Description From the back of the book
Love. Hatred. War. Fury. Power. Majesty. An epic, shattering story of betrayal and vision of terror, pain and glory. It is a story that will stay with you forever.
Review
The back of the book did not lie, I STILL think of this book even after its been months since I have read it. This book made me cry, laugh, and had me gritting my teeth in anger, agony and anticipation.
I will begin with the genre, it is an anthro fantasy book meaning all of the characters are animals, in this book they are bipedal foxes with butterfly wings who wear clothing, talk and walk on two legs using thier hands much like humans. In Paul Kidds world there is an energy called Isha which is taken from Ka or spirits as the super handy footnotes at the bottom of the pages will tell you as you read. One downside to the footnotes though is that the text starts higher up on the page then a normal book. The text however is very dark and easy to read. The story is mainly told from three diffrent views, The sisters Shadarii and Zhukora and the poor soilder Kotaru. Shadarii is whom i really loved, unlike all the other foxes she cannot talk, she must communicate through dance and movements. It is her who has the most connection with the Ka and isha fields. Zhukora her sister (and Zhukoras best friend Daimiru) offer up the 'evil' of the book, but, it was not until certain events happend that Zhukora turned from the peaceful life and strived for freedom from the branches.
Kotaru gets more solo time later in the book, he is also Shadariis love interest, he meets her out of a trap set by his king, he wanted Kotaru to play against Zhukoras Jiteng team and hopefully lose to them. Jiteng, for the most part is like Lacrosse but played in the air and MUCH more brutal, wings get snaped as well as spines and necks. There is plenty of blood shed and magic in this book, mystery, mayhem love and tradjedy abound! Oh and did i forget to mention the WONDERFUL art in the book? I did? Well, during your reading journey you will be provided visual images on certain pages depicting certain scenes in the book, all art is done by anthro artist Terrie Smith.
All in all this is one of my favorite books of all time, i really could not find much fault with it except for the wierd text placement. I doubt your local store would have this book so you would only be able to get it from online stores or Ebay, but it is worth it! It is also quite a long book so youll have plenty to read. Even if you are not a fan of or have ever heard of the genre Anthro, i couldnt think of a better book to start you off!

PREORDER FOR DECEMBER 29th (KINDLE 28th) 2009

Title - Deadtown
Author - Nancy Holzner
Description (from Amazon)
First in a brand new urban fantasy series that's "fresh and funny, with a great new take on zombies" (Karen Chance) and "full of dangerous magic and populated with characters so realistic, they almost jump off the page" (Ilona Andrews).

If you were undead, you'd be home by now...

They call it Deadtown: the city's quarantined section for its inhuman and undead residents. Most humans stay far from its borders- but Victory Vaughn, Boston's only professional demon slayer, isn't exactly human.

My Thoughts -
I don't really get into zombie stories (ok so I have never read one) but this one sounds interesting.

I'll put my frist review up at work friday night =)

Welcome! this will be the start of my blog, i will review books, rant on stuff that irks me and generally just talk about everything and nothing. so sit back, pick up a book and enjoy the ramblings of a semi-sane floridian!