Book Blog: Trickster's Choice

I was really excited to read another series by Tamora Pierce! The Alanna series had been decent, and her Beka Cooper trilogy much more enjoyable, so I was curious of how this one would turn out.

The cover is kind of weird. The covers for the Alanna series weren't the greatest, and there is minimal improvement for this one. It's dark and dreary, and the title isn't big enough. And I don't like how she seems to be watching my every move. Freaky.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Now, let me be frank; the story bored me. It lacked he drama and suspense that I love to read. I think the best part had to be the ending after the duke died, but that wasn't even the big finale I was expecting.

Pierce's writing style in the book has definitely improved since Alanna: The First Adventure. It still takes place in the Tortall world, but with Aly as the main character. My favorite character has to be Nawat. I mean, how can you not like a crow-human?

SPOILERS END!!!

So it was decent. Not something I'd read again, but not something I'd burn at the stake.

Book Blog: White Fang by Jack London

So, let me give it to you straight; I'm not a big fan of classics. At all. And Jack London? I've defiantly heard of him. I even tried reading one of his books, Call of the Wild.

Key word: tried.

In short, I wasn't very enthusiastic in reading this book. And what's up with addiction to wolves? A lot of people like them, but I would prefer the soft, furry puppies that I know and love. The cover, on the other hand, was something to be enthusiastic about. It's very artistic y'know?

The first thing I see when I open the book is an introduction from K.A. Applegate (well, actually, the first thing I saw was the title page, then a list of Scholastic classics, another title page, and the verso), who I know as the author of Eve and Adam. I found that it was one of the most enlightening introductions I have ever read (which is great, but not that big of an achievement considering the fact that it was one of the few introductions I actually read).

So then finally I get to the actual book. And even though it took me a whole week to read it, I actually enjoyed it. A lot.

SPOILERS AHEAD

So it starts out with these two dudes who have a bunch of sleigh dogs. But there's this pack of hungry wolves and a reddish color dog kept bringing the dogs to the pack and eating them. So one of the guys dies and the other guys almost dies, blah blah blah. Then you get to hear more about the reddish dog and how there are three dogs hitting on her. One of them is, like, really young, the other has one eye, and the last one is just some youngish one.

This part was really epic. One-eye and youngish one team up and kill the really young one, and then One-eye kills Youngish! And then She-wolf has the hots for One-eye and have pups together. And, of course, one of those pups is our very own White Fang!

It really surprised me that White was introduced so late into the book. But, hey, fine with me! It's kinda cool to see how everyone is connected. So, One-eye ends up dying and so do White Fang's siblings. And White Fang goes exploring and finds man, who are described as gods. His mom finds him and it is revealed that her name is Kiche. I found the way humans were described very...revealing. I never really thought about how the relationship between man and dog might feel different to the animal than to us.

Gray Beaver acts like a weirdo and gets drunk, eventually selling White Fang to stupid Beauty. And then Beauty is EXTRA mean, making White Fang fight. I was wondering when he was actually going to become a pit dog...it didn't seem like he was going to for the longest time (I read the back cover, y'know?). But he does and then FINALLY he is saved by a new owner!

I love, love, LOVE the ending! When he was learning to love and to be loved, I almost cried. It was so adorable!!!!

"White Fang had ceased eating, lost heart, and allowed every dog of the team to thrash him. In the cabin he lay on the floor near the stove, without interest in food, in Matt, nor in life...And then, one night, Matt...was startled by a low whine from White Fang...A moment later, Matt heard a footstep. The door opened, and Weedon Scott stepped in. The two men shook hands. Then Scott looked around the room.

'Where's the wolf?' he asked.

Then he discovered him, standing where he had been lying, near to the stove. He had not rushed forward after the manner of other dogs. He stood, watching and waiting.

'Holy smoke!' Matt exclaimed. 'Look at 'm was his tail!...He never looked at me that way all the time you was gone.'...What of his joy, the great love in him, ever surging and struggling to express itself succeeded in finding a new mode of expression. He suddenly thrust his head forward and nudged his way in between the master's arm and body. And here, confined, hidden from view all except his ears, no longer growling, he continued to nudge and snuggle" -White Fang, 203.

I thought that the above quote was one of the cutest things! I loved that. So much. Another thing I really loved is that the dog doesn't die at the end. Jeez, what a relief.

SPOILERS END

So, you kind of have to read the book yourself to understand why it's such a good book. The first few chapters might be hard to read, but once you get to the part that focuses more on the dogs (I think it's about Chapter 4), it gets really good! And the chapters are really short, so it won't take that long to get to that point.

Just read it.

Rating: 5 stars

Book Blog: Eve and Adam

Alright, I have to admit it; the cover is freakin' amazing. I mean, look at how awesome and science fiction-y that apple look! This is what grabbed my attention. That and the fact that Grant cow rote it. Not that I think he's a fantastic writer or anything. In fact, it took me a while to get used to his writing style in the first book I read of his, Gone. As far as the other author, I didn't recognize it. Apparently, she's married to Grant. Go figure. But, whatever, it'll probably be a pretty good book, right?

Wrong. The plot was a mess. The authors focused on all the wrong details. There wasn't enough development. And who the heck is this Solo guy, anyway? Hello, it's called EVE and ADAM, not Eve and SOLO! I just don't get why he's our leading guy. It should have been Adam. Jeez.

Speaking of leading character, I hated the POV switching between the two (Eve and Solo. And Adam, at the end. But that would make three protagonists, so let's not count him). If you've read my Legend review, you know that I REALLY hate poor executed POV switches, especially in first person. But if you've also read my Under the Never Sky review (and yes, if you've noticed, I AM promoting my other reviews. Is it that obvious?), you know that I DO like POV switches in third person. Now, that does not mean that I will like ALL third person POV switches; I'm saying that, so far, it's better to write in third person if you're going to. But, then again, if you suck at writing in third person, then write in first. Or second. I don't know; don't listen to me. I have no idea what I'm saying.

Onto my next point: the romance was cheesy. Not sure if that's the right word to use or not. But a good novel with romance in it (note the difference from a romance novel) makes you feel the chemistry between the character. I felt nothing. And what's with the whole "Adams the perfect guy" thing? The way he was described did not fit the image of MY perfect guy. I doubt that every single little person in this book would disagree with me.

I really, really hope there isn't a sequel. And hopefully I've learned my lesson; don't judge a book by its cover.

I'm adding an extra star because of the cover. Not that that's fair to the other books over reviews, but whatever. Life isn't fair.

2 stars

Book Blog: Wintergirls

Well, gosh. This book was surprisingly depressing. It shouldn't have been though, surprising. I knew what this book was before I began reading.

The cover looks mysterious and...ice-like, I guess. Seems like an appropriate cover according the the title.

The big thing that I really didn't like about this book was how the protagonist came about her solution to her problems. Not everyone is going to see ghosts of her best friend who died  (which was another thing that I didn't like. I wish the author supplied more details about the best friend before she died. Ad not in those out-of-order flashbacks either).

I'm having a really hard time writing a view about this book, though. The reason? Anorexia is a sensitive topic to, well, most people. The extent of my knowledge about it is none of your concern. But I really didn't enjoy reading this book. Some of you reading might love this book, whether you can relate to it or not. I didn't. So don't tell me that I'm wrong or I can't understand something. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

3 stars

Book Blog: Looking for Alaska by John Green

It's weird; the book is similar to TFIOSm yet it is nothing like it. I mean, not to sound vague on purpose or anything. It seemed like a nice way to start off a review at the time, but no it just sounds confusing. Forget it.

I remember when I found this book at the bookstore. I looked at the cover and thought, "What the heck is THAT?!" It seemed like steam or something completely unrelated to looking for something (I didn't read the back cover). But I get it now. It's smoke! ...right? Smoke from a cigarette.

I had very, very high expectations for this book. I mean, it's JOHN GREEN, the author of TFIOS! Bt I guess I should have lowered my expectations since this book was written BEFORE his master piece.

I'll start with the bad stuff. The role-modeling factor was bad. There's smoking, drinking, bad language, reckless driving, etc. I personally did not like the fact that Green made it seem that all teenagers did this stuff (see list in pervious sentence). I wish he tossed in more rule FOLLOWERS instead of rule BREAKERS. Just for variety.

Another thing I didn't like was the plot line. It seemed to be all over the place. Half of the time, I couldn't even figure out the point of it all. I suppose it's about Pudge finding the Great Perhaps, but I don't know. Before seemed to be a lot of development and nonsense fluffy while After was the actually meat of the story. And yet the After was smaller than the Before. Weird.

Now to the positive stuff. The constant countingdown of days because it left the reader wondering what was going to happen. And I really like how the readers can relate with the characters. Sometimes. Like the quote below:

"I hated discussion classes. I hated talking,  and I hated listening to everyone else stumble on their words and try to phrase things in the vaguest possible way so they wouldn't sound dumb, and I hated how it was all just a game of trying to figure out what the teacher wanted to hear and then saying it. I'm the teacher, so teach me." -Page 32-33

Besides the obvious fact that Pudge is complaining (which I think annoys everyone because no one wants to hear someone complain all the time), I totally get that. I also wish that all classes would be lecture classes. And that's why I love Green so much.

But, despite all that, I have to knock off a star. It just wasn't amazing like TFIOS.

Rating: 4 stars

Book Blog: Legend by Marie Lu

Oh jeez. This is going to take a while.

The cover looks fantastic. Very clean, neat, and futuristic looking. This is why I bought the book; the cover's awesome. But I should have learned my lesson from Grave Mercy, the other time I read a book based on it's cover. I should have read the back.

My rant begins with the Trials. What are these things, anyway? Lu barely explains them in the beginning, and, although she provides a little more depth later, it's still not very clear what EXACTLY they are.

And what's up with these names? Day and June? Lu must have been staring at the calendar when writing. Day and June are our two lovely protagonist. The whole book is written in first person, but switches POVs ever chapter. I don't know, some authors can pull it off. But not Lu. No way. Absolutely not. It seems to me that Lu is an amateur writer who can't tell a story without having TWO people telling the story instead of one. Do you get what I'm trying to say? It was an bad decision as an author to use two points of view.

"The minutes drag on. I tuck my slingshot away and play a few rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors with Tess. (I don't know why, but she's crazy good at this game.)" -Page 9

How old are they, five? It's sounds like they play Rock, Paper, Scissors a lot. WHY ARE THEY WASTING PRECIOUS TIME DOING THAT WHEN THEY SHOULD BE CONCENTRATION ON THEIR SURVIVAL?!

Metias, June's brother, has to be bipolar. One moment, he's got a stick up his butt and is all mad at June (because she misbehaved), but the moment someone agrees with him, he's all "Don't be so hard on her!" Can't look like the bad guy, huh, Metias?

"When I was seven years  old...I dipped a ball of crushed ice in to a can of gasoline, let the oil coat the ice in a thick layer, and lit it. Then I launched it with a slingshot through the window of our local police headquarters...They never found out who did it...I had committed my first perfect crime." -Page 22.

Wow. The security of the police headquarters must be really bad or something because I REALLY doubt that a seven year old can commit and so called "perfect" crime without get caught.

Y'know, all this complaining about the rich/poor people really gets on my nerves. Sure, you might think that the poor are filthy and the rich are snotty, but don't you have anything better to think about?

I found it surprising that no one knew the faintest detail of what Day looked like. He's committed so many crimes, you'd think they'd at least get a better guess at his skin color.

I noticed all of these points mentioned about in the first eighty pages. Now onto the rest.

I wish the characters would stop talking TO me. Just tell me your story and go away. Here's an example of when June asked me a question:

"How did he break into this bank in ten seconds, with four armed guards at the back entrance?" 

I don't know, June. How DID he do that? Why don't YOU tell ME? It's your story, isn't it? So you should tell it! This is all really, really stupid. That's the thing; Lu tries to make her characters equally smart. Which, I guess, makes sense SINCE THEY'RE BOTH EQUALLY STUPID!!!

Day is constantly meeting his brother (John) behind the house. I'm surprised that his mom doesn't question his actions. I mean, John mysterious gets some...stuff for Eden to help him recover and his mom doesn't push John to reveal where he got it from? Speaking of Eden, Day thinks that he's Eden's only chance of survival when he's not. Eden could recover on his own! Anythings possible.

I found it incredibly unrealistic that June could just spend, what, three days in a poor sector and suddenly WHAM! Your an instant beggar. This is, of course, how June meets Day. And it makes me sick, sick, sick! They have that instant attraction thing, and Day trusts her almost immediately. I knew he was a fool, but I thought he would have a little common sense. And that kissing thing...it's just not right.

So, yeah. If you couldn't tell, I didn't like this book. It might be good for, like, fourth graders, or something. But not me, no way.

Rating: 1 Star

Footnotes: Unsatisfied With My Blog(s)

Yes, the title pretty much says it all. I'm unsatisfied with this blog and Information Forest. It became something that I really wasn't hoping for. So, as a summ project for myself, I'm thinking of starting over. No, don't worry, this blog will still be here. But it will be archived. I'll begin the slow, tedious process of transferring each post over to the new blog and editing it appropriately. When this change happens, I'll let you know and post the link here. If I have the guts to make the big change.

This will also mean that Information Forest will also be archived (once again). I was thinking about started the whole book description thing, but then I realized that it didn't make any sense. Readers don't want to look at TWO pages instead of one. It's one too many tabs. So I'll be working on that tool

And I want a better blog name. I've been calling this one "Emma Reader's Blog" just because I couldn't think up a better name. I keep telling myself that I'm going to change it, but I never did. And now I'm afraid that if I change the name and the URL doesn't correspond, then readers might get confused. Which is why I want to start "fresh".

So yes, I'm considering the concept of redoing my whole blog. But it's still a concept. I'll keep you guys posted.

Book Blog: Whispers at Moonrise by C.C. Hunter

Click here for details about this book!

Oh. My. Frickin. Gosh.

I forgot how good this series was. It was probably the best book I've read in a long time.

As much as I would like to go straight to the content, I have to talk about the cover first. To tell you the truth, it's not my favorite. It has a bit of an erie feel to it; not a feeling I like very much. And the girl has a weird expression on her face.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Okay, so I haven't read the first, what, three books in a while. When I started reading, all I could remember is that there was a girl who could see ghosts, a hot boy fairy (I'm sorry Derek!), and a hot werewolf. But after I read the first, I don't know, fifty pages, I was pleasantly surprised that I could remember a lot of the characters again. So I giver Hunter props on that.

I also LOVED some of the sentences that could be mistaken as...something else. Here's some examples:

"That night, Kylie lay in her bed with her clothes on..." -Page 202

Okay, I know what she really means....but I can't help thinking "I sure hope she has clothes on!"

"Holiday tried to touch everyone." -Page 291

...it was funnier in the book. Trust me.

And the whole "she's a witch/vampire/fae/were" thing was pretty funny (at items) too. It gives you a little taste of what she would be like if she was a certain supernatural.

Honestly, after all this time, I thought I wouldn't like this book very much. I mean, c'mon, they're talking about werewolves and vampires? After Twilight, both of those topics are pretty much ruined. But I seriously was pleasantly surprised. Even with all the cliché parts (like the super hot boys that both love our protagonist) didn't bother me like they should. Kind of crazy, right?

And, just a little side note, I counted how many times Derek and Lucas made what I considered direct contact with Kylie. For Derek is was fifteen times and for Lucas it was...fifteen times! Ha! Fancy that; they both tied! But don't you think that's a little weird, considering the fact that Lucas and Kylie were an item throughout the book. I glad, however, that Hunter is giving Derek an equal shot in the love game (I am NOT saying love is just a game. It just seemed appropriate for this book). Just saying, y'know

Oh, umm, there is one thing. The whole "Collin Warren" was trying to kill Holiday was pretty predictable. Especially since they kept trying to blame it on Blake and Hayden. And they make Collin all innocently shy (which was suppose to cover up his fearfulness of being caught)  and even defend him. But, lets think this through. Hannah (who annoyed me. I mean, of course Holiday has a twin! Hunter made it impossible for the reader to guess who the ghost really was) flipped out when she saw the new teachers. So it has to be one of the three (four? I can't remember how many of them there were). And Hayden is scratched off the list because all the attention was pointed at him, and that would make the killer way too obvious. But Hunter doesn't really talk much about the other teachers throughout the book, until the very end. Hunter mentioned that Holiday was talking to Collin. Kylie detected fear of some sort. None of the other teachers were mentioned that much (for goodness sakes, I can't even remember the female teacher's name! So it was pretty obvious it was Collin.

But, like I said earlier, this was the first book I loved in a long time. It's probably one of the few that truly put a smile on my face. C.c. Hunter truly has talent.

Rating: 5 Stars

Footnotes: What's Up With My Other Blog

I've got a lot of free time, so I thought I'd look at my second blog.

Yes, that's right. I have a second blog. Well, actually, it's my first blog. It's how I got on blogger. What I had got the idea from reading (pretty much the same way I made this one ^_^). I would read a book, wait anxiously for a sequel, and when it comes out, I had forgotten the first story completely. My idea was that I write a detailed description for each book and post it on a website so that I can view it instead of having to reread the whole book. And I thought it would be nice to have it online so other people could read it too.

Up to now, I haven't been updated the blog. So it looked like this.

You can see that the last thing I posted was when I read (and completed) Switched by Amanda Hocking. Which was, like, even before I started this blog (I think). But what's really weird is that this blog is constantly being viewed! How do I know this? Because I decided to check up on it. I have decided that I was going to revive the blog so I can have book descriptions (no, not ones that I have written. That takes too much time) for the books that I review here! If you don't understand, that's okay. You'll get it later.

Anyway. Here's the new and "improved" blog look!

It's not the final product, but it's good enough for now. I'll be posting some book descriptions and posting the link to the respective book review. 

Click here to view the site!

Book Blog: The Elite by Kiera Cass

I HATE AMERICA!!!

Okay, maybe not the America your thinking of. I'm talking about America in the book pictured at left. Yes, that one.

Speaking of that book...it's kind of ugly. The girl is alright, but the dress, well, there's something terribly, terribly wrong with it. Ew.

I've got a lot to say about the content, so I'm sorry if it gets all out of order.

SPOILERS

For those of you who have read this book, do you remember the Halloween party that America and Maxon brilliantly thought up? Yeah, maybe it wasn't so brilliant. I mean, what are they thinking? "Oh, let's have a Halloween party and spend loads of money on nonsense while poor people starve!" The prince shouldn't be wasting money on that, especially if it's not a live tradition!

And why was America wearing a butterfly costume? I thought she and her maids were fond of those bird costumes. Do you know what I think? I think America didn't want to wear the same thing as Celeste. C'mon, man up America!

Speaking of America, did I mention how much I hate her? Some how, she comes up with all the "great ideas." They don't seem very great to me. And she's really funny, right?

"'It seems you've fully recovered from me nearly running you over,' he joked. 

'It's a shame you didn't do any damage,' I shot back. 'If I was in a splint, I wouldn't have to dance at least,' He laughed.

'I'm glad you're as funny as everyone says you are...'" -The Elite, page 71

Yeah, that wasn't very funny.

It also seems like America's ALWAYS PMSing or something. I mean, she tries to pick fights with other girls. Like, for example, she was talking to someone (I forgot who) about her friend's punishment, and the other girls were saying that the punishment was justified, blah, blah, blah. But then America has a stick up her butt and has to make sure everyone knows that she's a "big, tough, Five" and that no one else would choose to be canned over death because it would be "too painful". She's pressing her opinion on other people!!! Just because someone might not do well with the punishment canning, it doesn't mean that she can assume that it would be better that the person DIES.

And what IS this big deal about being a five? It's not THAT big of a deal. Let's look at a number line:

Beautiful number line, right? Anyway, here we have a number line 1 through 8. Our crybaby lovely protagonist is a five, which is circled in red on our line. You'll notice (if any of you can count) that 5 is just after 4, which is your average joe. The average joe is probably going to be pretty well off, not to rich, not too poor. So a 5 is probably going to be a little poor, but not that bad off. So America goes marching around the castle, stomping her foot and saying how she is more worldly because she was a five and all that, well that's just a bunch of poo. If she was a 7/8 or even a 6, I might believe her. But not when she close to a 4, no way.

Okay, enough about stupid  America. Let's talk realism. The magazine article doesn't read like a real magazine article AT ALL. And the fights between characters didn't have enough emotion in them. It's one of those "oh, here they go again" kind of fights. This includes ALL fights, from cat fights to the north/south raids. I think America should have gotten stuck outside more often instead of huddling in the safe room moping and kissing and stuff. Maybe she should have gotten stabbed too.

I sympathize with Celeste. I think there's actually more to her. Y'know, more background and stuff that no one actually sees.

Ugh. The ending! Why can't America go home like a normal person!!! Stupid book. And to think that I actually LIKED The Selection!

Rating: 1 Star

Book Blog: Beka Cooper: Mastiff

In honor of the last book of the Beka Cooper series, I will be posting two versions of the Mastiff cover.

OH MY GOSH IT'S OVER!!!!!!

I can't believe this. I can't. This whole week, I haven't been reading the book because I had "better things to do" and "had to finish Alanna 4" when I should really have been reading Mastiff in all it's glory.

The cover that I had (pictured at left), wasn't THAT fantastic. But I looked closer and realized that Achoo (I think) and Pounce were on it, so it made it all better.

I'm going to try to go through my rant quickly so that I can tell you why I'm giving it the ranting I am. The beginning was a bit slow because the words didn't really...flow.

...Okay, enough of that. Now to the good stuff.

BEWARE OF MAJOR SPOILERS!!!

Achoo's almost death freaked me out! I was all like "HOW CAN PIERCE DO THAT TO ME!!!!!" I started hyperventilating. I officially love Pounce/Faithful (I KNEW THEY HAD TO BE THE SAME CAT!!!!) I really want a purple eyed cat now.

Tunstall's betrayal had me in tears. I really wasn't expecting it at all until seconds before Beka found out. It reminded me a lot of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith when Anakin and Obi Wan were fighting.

(Please excuse my poor photo editing skills!!!)

And Farmer and Beka are adorable!!!! They had their little moments when they were traveling and when they were in the dungeon (but that whole I-have-magic-silk-up-my-butt thing was really gross). And I totally predicted that he would take Beka's last name, 'cause otherwise how would George have Cooper in his name?

The really awesome ending is what convinced me to give it the rating I did. This has to be one of my favorites EVER.

Rating: 5 Stars

Book Blog: Alanna: Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce

OH MY GOSH IT'S THE FINAL BOOK OF THE SONG OF THE LIONESS SERIES!!!!!!!!

...to tell you the truth, I'm a little relieved that I finished it. These covers are just so...mediocre, it's killing me. But the title is better than the one before it, The Woman Who Rides Like A Man. Lioness Rampant sound a lot more, I don't know, mysterious? Action-y?

If you haven't read this book yet, scroll down to the bottom-ish, below the words "SPOILER END".

Caution: This review contains spoilers. You have been warned! O.O

The Alanna in the cover looks better, too. More woman-like. But, isn't that the outfit she wore when she presented (King?) Jonathan with the Jewel? If it is, where are her black earrings ear bobs?

The return of Duke Roger was very, very anti-climatic. Pierce could have done so much more with his rebirth, something that would make the reader gasp. But no. She just had Alanna have these "mysterious dreams" about what was happening while she was running around with Liam to find the Jewel (who's finding was also very anti-climatic).

And since we're talking about Liam, why does Alanna keep switching men? At first she's with John, then George, and, when she's still in love with George, she goes off and sleeps with Liam! And of course, George doesn't mind, which is lucky for Alanna. This goes to show how much better George is than Alanna. Or maybe he's just stupid because he can't get it in his head that he should break up with her and find some other girl who ONLY loves him.

Near the end, everyone seems so unconcerned about Roger. C'mon you guys! He was plotting to steal the throne from John before Alanna swooped in and saved the day! WHY IN YOUR STUPID LITTLE WORLD WOULD YOU NOT KILL HIM?!?! I wanted less reunion-with-old-squire/page-friends time and more kill-all-the-bad-guys-and-become-a-hero moments!

As far as littler things, Pierce makes it so obvious when a character is defeated verbally to the point where it sounds cheesy. Does that make any sense? Here's an example:

"Surprised by the attack  from this unknown source, Alanna took a step back. She clenched her hands, her nails bitting into newly formed scars, as she controlled her temper. 'I'm told you replaced me in his affections--for a little while,' she replied sweetly. 'Why didn't he make you Prime Minister?' Josiane's beautiful face changed into an ugly mask. 'No one gets the better of me,' she hissed." 

 And I wish I could just read the story from Alanna's point of view, not Alex's, not George's, but ALANNA. It just goes to show that Pierce was an amateur when writing the books in the Song of the Lioness series.

But the ending (like, the epilogue and the bit before that with Roger and Alanna), was pretty awesome. I still think that George is too good for Alanna though.

SPOILERS END

The reason why I read this series was because I had read the first two Beka Cooper books and thought that I should read the Alanna series since it was where this whole Tortall thing started in the first place. The Beka Cooper series was very interesting (I will be writing a review on the last book, Mastiff, as soon as I finish it ^_^), which was one of the only reasons why I was able to continue reading the Song of the Lioness. To readers who have not read either series, read Beka Cooper first. Then read Song of the Lioness. Well, actually, read the first two Beka Cooper's first, then read the whole Song of Lioness series, and then read the last Beka Cooper because there's an epilogue from one of the characters in the Song of the Lioness in Mastiff. I don't know. Read them in whatever order you want to. But Beka Cooper is better!!!

Rating: Meh...2.5 Stars

Book Blog: Alanna: The Woman Who Rides Like A Man

Okay, you guys. What is up with this cover? I wanted the cover that corresponded with the other books, but this was the only one available. Alanna looks like a girl Santa Clause with all the red and green. And what's with the weird title? I get that Alanna was called that with the tribes, but its not going to bring in readers. I wouldn't even touch it if I was already reading this series.

Now let's go onto the good stuff; my rant.

What is up with the Alanna and Johnathan drama? It was a lot of kissing, fighting, making up, and all of that over. There was so much of it that there wasn't a very big climax in the story (I don't even know what the climax for this story IS).

Now, I might be biased here, but I think George is the better choice for her. But, then again, he might be too good for her.

John's and Throm's character changed so much from what I originally thought they were. They have both become less like-able. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I'll leave that up to you to decide,

Some stuff that I DID like about this book was the big, foreshadowing-ish dream that Alanna had. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but...she dreamed that Throm would bring Roger back to life. That was the only shocking, mind-blowing thing in the whole book. I also liked the stuff that is also in the Beka Cooper trilogy. For example, the light-up-the-rock-thing that Alanna did was also done by Farmer in Mastiff. I love the Beka Cooper series soooooooo much.

But this book was very bland.

Rating: 3 stars

Book Blog: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Yay! I finally got the sequel!

The cover isn't as stunning as Cinder. I wish there was just the cape/red hood on the cover and not that little hint of...person.

The content had the same wow factor as the cover. It's not awful, but its not fantastic either. I wouldn't score it higher than Cinder's rating (4 stars).

Prince, ahem, I mean Emperor Kai is as annoying as ever. It's obvious that Kai has some sort of (positive) feelings for Cinder. Wolf, a new male character in Scarlet, is a bit of an improvement. More the action-y type, y'know?

In contrast to Wolf, Thorne is so...dumb. I can't believe he couldn't put two and two together and figure out that Cinder might be, just might be, the princess. But it didn't even seem to cross his mind!

You know what I thought was really, really cheesy? The Wolf and Scarlet romance. It was near the end was Wolf is all like "Be my alpha female!" It made me sick. Even so, I wish there was a lot less of Cinder. I mean, this is Scarlet's book! Cinder needs to butt out. I get that Meyer wants to inform the reader about what Cinder is doing, but she could have done that through new feeds and what not. Just a little hint of Cinder. And then all the characters could have met up at the end.

So, like I said, Scarlet was nothing special. But I did think that the relationship in between Scarlet and the original Little Red Ridding Hood story were clever. So I'll give it...3 and 3/4 stars.

Rating: 3 3/4 Stars

Footnotes: Blogs and Stuff

I'm sick of reading for the week.

Don't look at me like that! I've finished four books this week, three of them in a row. And that's NOT including the manga. So it's a lot for me. 

See? Look what you've done; you made me get off topic. See, since I'm taking an hour break from reading (I can't resist the urge!) I decided to use my precious spare time to do something worth while. Something that will help other people and make an impact on the world.

I surfed the 'net. 

Don't worry; I didn't lie! I'm helping people by making observations of stuff I looked up and then spreading the word (like right now) of what I saw. That way, you don't have to search for it yourself (unless you don't trust me D: ). And I'm impact the world by...using valuable resources that could be used for more important things but instead was used for my brainless searches (I was too lazy to find a source or quote about how the Internet impacts the Earth)! 

Speaking of the Earth, I had been searching the Internet about, well, the Internet, and I found this:

It's a picture of the Internet! I thought it looked like Spin Art (you know, where you have a spinning platform and you squirt paint on it like a mad man. Oh, and don't forget to put paper or something onthe platform  before you start), so I thought you guys would want to see it too. Isn't it pretty?

I completely lost my train of thought. I was going to talk about blogs. Do you see that little bar on the top of my blog? It has a search bar and some buttons for stuff. Well, I was clicking the next blog button and noticed a repeating pattern. They were all about babies. 

What's with all these people blogging about their children? Sure, one or two is acceptable, but ten in a row? That just not acceptable. Where are all the book bloggers? Video game bloggers? KITTEN BLOGGERS?! Don't get me wrong; babies are cute and all. But I like looking at kittens better. The only blog that piqued my interest was one that mentioned Goodreads. Obviously, she wasn't a book blogger, but at the end of the post, she mentioned that she was on Goodreads and that we should all check her out. I was going to, but I accidentally (O.o) closed the tab. Oh well.

I guess the moral of this story is, "Create a blog and send it to me so I don't have to look at babies all the time." Please and thank you. :)

Um, I don't usually do this, but I have the urge to sign my name at the bottom of this post. So:

Emma Reader

P.S. Ryan Higa hasn't come out with a new YouTube video yet :(

Book Blog: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Let's see, there were characters smoking pot, underage drinking, abuse, and not to mention...the nasty.

Ah, the cruelties of life.

The movie cover is actually better than the original cover. I just don't get the latter one. It's butt ugly.

Sometimes I forget that this book took place in 1991. I was surprised that Charlie (our lovely narrator) wasnt as worldly as the rest of us. And then I remembered that Google wasn't invented yet.

Charlie is far from a roll model. He hangs our with seniors when he's only a freshmen  (but since he get held back a grade, he's technically a sophmore) and makes a lot of bad decisions. I was cringing throughout the book.
But I guess that just goes to show that I haven't read that many books that show the reality of high school students. It was really eye-opening to think that some people actually live like this.

I'm sorry about this really short review, but I don't really have anything to say. I'm a bit speechless, y'know? I might edit this after I've watched the movie, but for right now...

Rating: 3 3/4 Stars

Book Blog: Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson

...I think this is one of the only times I've read a 200+ page book in a day. Not that it's at all healthy; I keep seeing words all over the place. Maybe I should stop reading books for today.

Nah. I want to finish The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

So. You're probably wondering why I started reading this when I was already reading another book. Well, settle down children and I'll tell you.

I have this friend who's a really, REALLY slow reader (no offense or anything. It's just the truth). Anyway, he happened to be reading this book. And THIS book just so happens to be the sequel to Chains (if I ever reread that book, I'll post a review on it). At the time when he first started reading, I wasn't as interested as I should have. I was probably reading a really go book or something. But three weeks came and went and he was STILL reading the book. So I borrowed (*cough*stole*cough*) the book from he for a little bit and read the first thirty ages or so. But I STILL wasn't interested. It wasn't until my friend practically spoiled the whole book that I decided to check it out of the library this morning. And to force myself to get through it, I made it my personal goal to finish it before him. Which I think I did.

Onto the review.

I like the simplicity of the cover! The style is very much like Chains's cover (but I think I like that one better).  But I really wish the title was BIGGER!!!

The writing style was alright. It really brought me back to that period, y'know? I would rather read medieval stuff more, though, so you can imagine that is was my cup of tea. Speaking of tea, I love all the food they talked about. It's my favorite part of the book, as it is for most books. It kinda reminds me of the latest Black Butler I read (number five). Its main focus was curry and OH MY GOSH I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE OF HUNGER IT LOOKED SO GOOD!!! Ahem. Anyway, even that firecake sounded good. But the best part was when they ate the beans. When I read, "Instead of sleeping, we farted all night long..." I almost burst out laughing because ITS SO TRUE!!! A relatable experience, I must say.

I actually think (for the first time) that I like this book, the sequel, better than the first book. That doesn't usually happen, but I guess it just did. So, I'll go ahead and give it the highest rating I can.

Rating: 5 stars

Book Blog: The Emperor of Nihon-ja by John Flanagan

It's funny; I don't think John Flanagan was planning on writing twelve books. He wrote this one (with a little circle that says "The Final Battle" in the center, if you look on the cover. Doesn't that mean that it's suppose to be the last book?) and the Lost Stories, which is, I guess, the "eleventh" book. But it's not REALLY the eleventh book; my copy doesn't have "eleven" written anywhere on it. Then again, maybe he DID know he was going to write twelve books. After all, he didn't write much of an epilogue.

As always, I'm going to start with the cover. It's pretty awesome looking with the lighting and the detail. But that crazy guy that's about to cut someones head off is a little...scary. If you get my meaning.

I was surprise of the amount of fighting in this book (even though Flanagan made it pretty clear by the cover). He tosses you in the thick of everything, and there's all kinds of action right off the bat. If you've read any of my previous reviews, you'll know that me + detailed action scenes = madness.
And when I say detail action scenes, I mean DETAILED action scenes. No, not the graphic blood and gore type of detail, more like battle arrangement detail. The characters are traveling all over the place to the point where I can't quite keep up with the scenery. And in the big finally ending, all I can remember is that the good guys won.

This was not my favorite Ranger's Apprentice book. Actually, it's far from it. I wanted to see more of Will and Halt. I know, I know, they made A LOT of appearances in the book, but I wanted to see them fighting! Not instructing others to fight. Y'know, more bow action! And I missed Tug.

The princess (I can't even remember her name...that Cassandra person) annoys the heck out of me. I feel like I should like her more than Alyssa, but I don't. Maybe it's because she's the princess or because I keep picturing her as some squat little munchkin from the Wizard of Oz. I don't know.

Well, since I didn't love, love, love this book, I'm going to nock off a star. Four stars is pretty good, right?

Rating: Four stars

Book Blog: The Crimson Crown by Cinda William Chima

WHAAAAAAA IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe this; the Seven Relms series is complete. Finished. Done with. No more Raisa, no more Han. Not even Micah!

Okay, I'll try to talk about the cover. I haven't actually looked at it very much. But if you actually look at the details, it's pretty amazing. The little fire and magic in the background = fantastic. I love little details like that.

I actually thought this book was a little bland, but it might have been because I didn't read it right after I read The Gray Wolf Throne. The first 100 pages were kind of boring. At first I didn't like the whole dance/celebration thing they were doing, but the thought of Raisa and Han doing that Demon King/Hanalea dance started to grow on me. A lot. It's amazing how I went from Team Amon in the beginning to Team Han now.

I don't know what Chima did with her writing style, but I found that its easier to picture the characters. For example, Han was just a name to me in the first three books. But now I picture him as tall, handsome, and a whole handful of other descriptive words that I probably have got wrong. And Micah, I can faintly see him, but not his face. Everyone else is still a blurry mass of skin. It's funny, I never thought of how easily I can picture characters before. And that goes for any book.

What I really didn't like (it took a lot of sitting around and thinking before I finally found something I DIDN'T like about this book) was how Raisa was so easily deceived. When will she learn not to trust Micah? Jeez.

I expected more out of The Crimson Crown. It's suppose to be the "big ending". The finale. Te thing that leaves the reader in stunded silence, or in a puddle of tears, or a—you get my point. But, even though I didn't actually predict it this time, the ending wasnt a big surprise to me. It wasn't like Eona where I feel like I'm being slapped in the face with twist and turns (I think that's the only time when I would be okay being slapped in the face). I'm a little disappointed that my prediction for Queen Marianna's killer didn't come true. I thought I had that one in the bag. But, I guess I can't win them all!

Because the ending was very anticlimactic, I'm taking off a half of a star. Sorry Chima!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Book Blog: Alanna: In the Hand of the Goddess

I don't know why, but I don't feel anything after reading this book. It's like my feelings are in neutral; I don't hate, but I don't love it.

The cover is better than the first. She doesn't look AS scary as the Alanna in #1, which makes me happy ^_^

The content is alright. All the time jumps are really confusing, and the book is REALLY easy to predict. And who is Pierce's publisher? I'm reading and I find half a billion (alright, maybe not that many) typos and mistakes. That's just not right!

Yeah, so I guess you can say that this boo is pretty average. It almost makes a reviewer like me hate it because I don't have anything to say.

Rating: 3.75 Stars