Zeroes

Title: Zeroes

Series: Zeroes - book 1

Author: Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti

Rating: 4.5 stars

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Number of Pages: 496

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication Date: 2015

Summary: Don't call them heroes. But these six Californian teens have powers that 

set them apart.

Ethan aka Scam has a voice inside him that'll say whatever people want to hear, whether it's true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn't - like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren't exactly best friends these days.

Enter Nate, aka Bellwether, the group's 'glorious leader.' After Scam's SOS, he pulls the scattered Zeroes back together. But when the rescue blows up in their faces, the Zeroes find themselves propelled into whirlwind encounters with ever more dangerous criminals. At the heart of the chaos they find Kelsie, who can take a crowd in the palm of her hand and tame it or let it loose as she pleases.

Not many author's can make a book about a group of dysfunctional characters and make a story that you will actually enjoy, but this trio have somehow succeeded. With an almost casual efficiency, this trio of authors managed to turn the world upside down, shake it and walk off with a shrug as if to say 'well what did you expect from us, you didn't think we would make it easy for these guys'. These six characters are all connected to each other through the fact that they are all different and have unusual powers. But these powers don't only bring them together but also push them apart. 

Zeroes is told in multiple perspectives which helped to build on the extensive array of characters. Through each perspective you begin to see how difficult the lives of our characters are because of their abilities; these guys are Zeroes, not Heroes for a reason. Scam has the abilities to talk his way out of anything, but that sometimes means he pushes someone else in his path. Anonymous get forgotten by everyone, including his family and Crash, well she can crash any electronic system, so it's best that she stays away from hospitals and airplanes, just in case. 

Based on the other books I have read by Scott Westerfeld I knew to expect an unconventional story and I wasn't disappointed. Ever book I have read by Scott Westerfeld has had a clear and distinctive mark that is clearly his own and despite the fact that this book was co-authored his presence was still there. With two other author's co-writing this book I was worried that there would be a bit of disjointedness to this book, but at no point did I ever feel like there were multiple author's writing styles, I feel like I read a book by Scott Westerfeld alone. 

The Night Circus

Title: The Night Circus

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Historical, Fantasy

Number of Pages: 490

Publisher: Vintage Books

Publication Date: 2011

Summary: The Circus arrives without warning

No announcement proceeds it...

It is simply there, when 

yesterday it was not

Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements, and it's only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

In part one of The Night Circus we meet the main characters of the story over the expanse of several years. We get brief glances of our main characters from the age of 5 in 1873 till their late teens 1886. The story starts off with introducing lots of intriguing ideas and establishes much of the story. Usually these long wind up stories will bore me and I give up but this book has such an enchanting feel to it, that even if there was no plot line for the entire book I probably would have kept reading. Never have I read a book that the writing and story dazzle in perfect synchronicity.

In is in part two that we are introduced to the Circus...and what a Circus it is. The entire circus is a work or art and incredible imagination. Le Cirque des Reves, the Circus of Dreams,  is only open at night and is entirely decked out in black and white and the best performers. But this is no ordinary circus, hiding in plain site , the circus is the platform of extraordinary magic not the illusions that the audience believes it is seeing. Marco and Celia are pitted in a game where they don't know the rules or how to win, all they know is that they must out do each other in feats of breathtaking imagination.

But as the years go by Celia and Marco find that they no longer compete against each other but instead build their magical creations for each other. But the competition must come to an end and Celia and Marco must find a way to end the competition without the drastic consequences that threaten the circus and their love.

But Celia and Marco aren't the only characters to tell a story, born under the strange and unique circumstances of the circus' magical opening night, the Murray twins, Poppet and Widget are two key players in the survival of the circus with their unique abilities and the help of a farm boy, Bailey with big dreams.

In short, I loved this book! It was magical and enchanting and was a world that I would love to see come to life. The book doesn't have the most compelling story line but it is written beautifully and I couldn't put it down.

Black-Eyed Susans

Title:Black-Eyed Susans

Author: Julia Heaberlin

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Thriller/ Mystery

Number of Pages: 349

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: 2015

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Tessa, dubbed a 'Black-Eyed Susan' by the media, became famous for being the only victim to survive the vicious attack of a serial killer. Her testimony helped put a dangerous criminal behind bars - or so she thought.

Now decades later, the case has been reopened and the black-eyed Susans planted outside Tessa's bedroom window seem to be a message from a killer who should be safely in prison.

Tessa agrees to help with the investigation, but she is haunted by fragmented memories of the night she was attacked and terrified for her own teenage daughter's safety, Can she unlock the truth about the killer before it is too late?

I really struggled to get into this book. The main reason for this was that I found that rather than saying what was happening, it just seemed to dance around events and teased you with information to the point where you wanted to pick the book up and throw it across the room. If you picked this book up without reading the summary first, I really think you would spend the first 70 or so pages of this book wondering what was going on. For people who love suspense and being kept guessing this is the book for you. Me, would have liked a bit more information to understand what was happening.

However, once I got through the first part of this book I really, really enjoyed it. The mystery begins to unfold in a way that allows you to follow and make your own assumptions, pushing and pulling you on the right track and sometimes leading you down dead ends. This book was filled with an amazing amount of little details, and the past and present are highly intertwined in a way that shows the amount of thought and detail that Heaberlin has put into this book,

This book alternates in perspective between Tessa or present day and a younger Tessie following the events of her attack. By telling the story in this perspective, Heaberlin doesn't really have Tessa talk about the events of her past so much as she focuses on the present and the results of what happened all those years ago. The story told from Tessa's point of view was definitely more enjoyable as this was what told the bulk of the story and was were ultimately the mystery and thriller aspect of the book were present. This meant that sometimes the other chapters told from a different perspective sometimes felt a little irrelevant to the overall story and were almost acting as a filler or breaker.

The Lux Series

 I first picked up the Lux Series about two years ago, I flew through the first three books and for what ever reason I just decided to stop. So I figured it was about time I went back and finished what I had started.

The first three books for me, I would probably describe as a contemporary/ science-fiction cross over. Rather than focusing so much on the fact that there are aliens present in this book, this almost takes a back seat to everyday teenage problems, such as friendships and relationships. 

The first three books Obsidian, Onyx, and Opal are told through the perspective of Katy, a book vlogger/ blogger who has just moved with her mother to a small town where she quickly gets to know her new neighbours Dee and Daemon. I found that these books seemed to changed from everything happening at one time to nothing happening at all, there wasn't much of an inbetween. But for whatever reason though, this worked for the series and I didn't really dwell on it.

The final two books in the series are, however, when everything changes. Origin and Opposition are told from dual perspectives. With both Katy and Daemon narrating these final two books the world of the Lux expands exponentially. These books have probably got the best dual perspective I have ever read. No other book has created such clear distinctions between the two characters, showed different sides of both the main and minor characters and shaken the whole plot line up quite so dramatically. By doing this, Armentrout created a huge and complex amount of depth to all of her characters and I really wish that she had done this through the first three books as well.

Alongside this series is the book Shadows a prequel to the events of first book and told through a different POV again, Dee and Daemon's brother Dawson. While this book is not necessary for the series it does help to once again build on the complexity of the characters in this series.

And finally to top of this series is the book Oblivion the first three books condensed down to tell Daemon's POV. I was worried when I picked this up that it would be like every other book that I have read like this and simply tell the same story but from a different perspective, totally a waste of time. I couldn't have been more wrong. Reading the dual perspectives has nothing on this book. Reading Daemon's POV of events was enlightening to say the least, all of sudden you see more character flaws in character's that Katy didn't and in Katy herself. Character's that hadn't made much sense before suddenly did. This book really drove home the point of 'you can't understand a person until you walk in their shoes'.

While I don't consider these books to be great master pieces, I gave each of them 4 stars because I did ultimately really enjoy them. I did find that Armentrout is clearly an author more suited for New Adult books than YA as I did find that this reflects through her work and I found it quite obvious in some places of her writing. I'm really interested now to actually read a book of hers that is New Adult.

March Wrap Up

For the month of March I didn't get as many books read as I would have liked due to the fact that I was moving house and many of my books ended up in boxes, boxes which I was only just about to unpack last weekend. And because I was moving I had no internet for two weeks, so rather than going back and trying to write full in detail reviews of the books I have read I will instead wrap them all up in one post.

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare and others.

In the beginning of march I finished reading the last five books from the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. I didn't enjoy these short stories as much as I do enjoy her novels. I did, however, find that they gave a really interesting insight in the inner working of the Shadowhunter world as it was set in Idris as opposed to an Institute. I also loved that we got to learn so much about Simon, because who doesn't love Simon in all his dorkiness.

5/5 Stars

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

March was very much a Cassandra Clare month. I continued with my Shadowhunter fix by re-reading Clockwork Prince, the second book in the Infernal Devices Series. As this is a re-read it not really surprising that I give this book a 5/5 stars. My favourite thing about this particular book in the series is how much we learn about Jem as he quite often gets overshadowed by Will as a character.

5/5 Stars

The Aeneid by Virgil

My TBR Challenge for February was to read a poem but in February I was in a reading slump so it just didn't happen. Granted the Aeneid isn't a poem in the traditional sense that most people would call a poem, especially once it has been translated from Latin to English. But an epic poem is still a poem.

This book is a well loved classic for a reason as it tells the story of Aeneas fleeing Troy after it has been destroyed by the Greeks and follows his journey to establish a new kingdom and race that would go on to become the Roman Empire. This book is filled with propaganda for Augustus and the greatness of Rome,

5/5 Stars

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I have been wanting to read this book for a really long time but after watching the movie and becoming a sobbing mess I have also been putting it off. This book is very unique in how it is told as first of all, death narrates the story which gives a very airy feeling of how true some of the events in this book are. Secondly the book is broken up into multiple parts and within each of these parts there are a number of short stories which all amalgamate into the over all plot of the book. I loved this book as it made me laugh, smile and cry and cry some more. If you do plan to read this book, have a box of tissues ready, especially at the end

5/5 Stars - easily

I did read a few other books in March but I was able to write reviews for those so feel free to check them out.