Waiting on Wednesday (10)

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Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. It's been awhile since the last time we're participating but I just spot on several titles that interest me and I just need to spread the words about it!

Lynossa WoWs:

1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Expected published date: 27th September 2011

Blurb (Goodreads):

 Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

I've read many good review about this book and I almost pre-order it but then I decided I'll be patient and wait to see whether this is too heavy on romance or not.

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Expected published date: January 2012.

I've read in goodreads someone posted this about the book: "You know you're a bestselling author when the font size used on the book cover for your name is larger than that used for the actual title." LOL that's so funny even though it's not the final cover. Anyway, I'm so excited about this I decided to pre-order it! Yep, this is actually the first pre-order I made, I never bought any book before it's published, especially without knowing what the story will be! I guess most of the time I wanted to see other people's opinion first before I spend my money. Well, I hope it's worth every penny of it!
ps: I heard John Green will sign all pre-order book. I hope his hand will be okay after that!

Waiting on Wednesday (10)

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

Title: The Unwanteds

Author: Lisa McMann

Publisher: Aladdin (Simon & Schuster Imprint)

Rating: Two and a half stars

In the land of Quill, once in a year, thirteen years old kids must face Purge, to decide whether they're Wanted, Necessary, or Unwanted. Alex Stowe is Unwanted while his twin brother Aaron is wanted. That meant Aaron will stay in the society and Alex will be sentenced to death. Or so he thought, until he and other Unwanted kids arrived in Artime where he was allowed to draw, spoke what was on his mind, and snacked in the middle of the night. But Alex missed his twin brother and wanted to contact him. Would he do it even though it might jeopardize Artime?

In the beginning, I was a bit annoyed because there's no explanation why the world turned out like that. For me good dystopian has to have a logical reason why the world became that way. But I decided to keep reading in case the explanation is located in the end of the story. It did have explanation, but it made me think this isn't supposed to be called as dystopian...

Anyway the plot was interesting and idea was great. basically the stoy is good enough to keep me reading until the end; the kids with creative traits were banished from tight and strick society? twins separated and must fight against one another? I'm on it. Plus the strange creatures are amazing as well, I like Simber a lot.

The characters, however aren't so interesting for me. Alex is okay, Lani is a bit bratty, Megan and Samheed a bit typical. Mr. Today also just okay, remind me a bit about Dumbledore but definitely not as awesome as him.The romance part was weird and it just didn't click at all; it felt a bit forced for me.

Then in some parts of the story there are several sub chapters where the narration voice shifted uncomfortably, at least for me. For example there's one that shifted from Alex to Samheed even to Mr. Today while it was supposed to be from Alex POV or another sub-chapter where the narration shifted from Alex to Samheed to Lani. Seriously, it's annoying and confusing. How Alex could possibly know what's Samheed or Mr Today's thought?

So overall the story is good and worthy to read although a bit predictable but the characters were just okay and narration was a bit annoying.

Lynossa

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower


Author: Stephen Chbosky

Publisher: Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster Imprint)

Rating: Four and a half stars

When we get out of the tunnels, Sam screamed this really fun scream, and there it was. Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing.
And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

Charlie is a sensitive and smart boy. He also a different from anyone in his age; a bit awkward in social and often thinks too much, he can suddenly cry or laugh because of simple things. This book is about his journey on his first year of high school; how he met his best friends: Patrick and Sam, about his first sexual experience, about the first time he was stoned, and about his interaction with his family. Told in simple words, Charlie took us on a roller coaster ride of being an ordinary yet special kid.


You know some books that plunged you into endless action? With dead bodies and mysteries along the plot, and sometimes it makes you afraid to turn off the light? Well, this is not one of those books. This is a book for those who like to think about life, for those who enjoy seeing life from different eyes and - just like Charlie - like to wonder how people got into their places, for people who like to read about people with disorder, because I think that's Charlie, the main character of this story.

I instantly fell in love with Charlie after reading few pages. For me he's so likeable; it wasn't hard to portray him at all. You can see the dynamic and development in Charlie not only from the way he told his stories but also from the way those were written. The same also applied to Patrick and Sam, and even Charlie's family such as his sister, his mother, his father, and his brother. The connection between them felt real and natural. I think Stephen Chbosky did a great job at creating such believable characters.

There were times when the plot went too slow, but this isn't an action story so I'm cool with that. The messages in this story were powerful, I remember reading one sentence and literary stopped because I need to digest it and savor it. But at the same time those weren't too heavy or preachy, not at all - because I hate preachy -it's just perfect for me.

I'm happy that in the end, I could find out what exactly that trigger the Charlie's problem, despite it was sad and shocking, but it made me understand Charlie even more. I wish it was longer, I haven't satisfied savoring Charlie's words! All I can say, if you have the same taste like me, you'll love this!

Lynossa

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier

Title: The Floating Islands

Author: Rachel Neumeier

Publisher: Random House

Rating: three and a half stars

They flew as geese fly in the fall, in a formation like a spear point. At first the shape the winged men made was stark as a rune against the empty sky, but as they approached the ship, they broke their formation, wheeled, and circled low. The morning light caught in the feathers of their glorious wings, crimson as blood, except for one man whose wings were black as grief.

Trei had just lost his family in a terrible disaster and had to seek for a new place in The Floating Islands when he saw the Kajurai, the flying men swam at the air. Trei knew that's the one thing he ever wanted to be. The only person who understood his feeling is Arenai, his newly-found cousin. Being a woman in The Floating Islands meant you have to prepare to be a good wife and that's it. But that's not what Araene wanted. Both of them tried hard to be what they wanted but danger lurked in when Trei's old country decided to attack The Floating Islands. Will they able to be what they wanted to be? And where would Trei's loyalty lies?

The Floating Islands is a very interesting story; I enjoy reading it. Not only that but I also like Trei and Araene for being bold and fearless in pursuing what they wanted. However the other characters aren't so interesting. I guess on of my problems with this book is the conflicts aren't deep enough. Most of the characters are very good and helpful. Trei managed to fit in with the other kajurai apprentices without much problem (I would love to see a bit of clash in there), and the same thing also happened to Araene. Most of the characters are good and they rarely showed their bad side, which I would prefer to see more instead of the good-goody two shoes kind of characters. So for me it's lack of deep conflicts, either between characters or in plot, but overall it's pretty good.

I would recommend it for fantasy and middle-grade lovers.

Lynossa

The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier

The Ask and The Answer (Chaos Walking #2) by Patrick Ness

Title: The Ask and The Answer (Chaos Walking #2)

Author: Patrick Ness

Publisher: Walker Books

Rating: 4 stars

This is the second book of Chaos Walking trilogy. If you haven't read the first book I suggest you to not continue reading this. You can read my review on The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) instead.

My hearing's still gone so I feel it more than hear it, feel the rumble thru the dirt, feel the air pulse with three hard vibrashuns, one right after the other, and I see the Mayor turn his head suddenly back toward the town, see Davy and all the Spackle do the same.
More bombs.
In the distance, toward the city, the biggest bomb that've ever exploded in the history of this world.

Trapped in Haven, Todd would do anything to keep Viola alive, including followed everything Mayor Prentiss asked him to do. Meanwhile, separated from Todd, Viola was under the care of Mistress Cole. When Mistress Cole decided to stand up against Mayor Prentiss and re-created The Answer, Mayor Prentiss replied back with The Ask. Todd and Viola wedged between the feud and had to decide which side they were on. Until they realized no one on their side, and they had to stand up from themselves.

After reading the first book, the weird misspelling no longer bother me. I'd also made several mental preparation of what I might encounter in this book. I must say the preparation worked because the book is bleak and depressing. It wasn't bad or anything, it just very depressing because everytime there was a hope, it was crushed over and over again. Most of the time I felt annoyed with Todd; he seemed couldn't decide what he should do and he couldn't control his temper all the time. However it was quite understandable as Viola is his anchor and when she's not there with him, he was lost. It was sad how he insecure he was; how he constantly worried that Viola left him . But I get it that underneath all that, he was a sweet boy and he was hurt as much as he hurt others.

I wish the last book will be brighter and give me some happy ending because it was just depressing despite still being awesome. For those who have read the first book and wonder whether you should read the second or not, I think you should but prepare yourself for the emotion ride that Mr. Ness seems to be good at creating it.

Lynossa

The Ask and The Answer (Chaos Walking #2) by Patrick Ness