Book review: Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) by Marissa Meyer (audiobook)

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I started “Scarlet” audiobook immediately after finishing “Cinder”. Just like “Cinder”, it is a retelling of yet another children’s favourite story. This time of “Little Red Riding Hood”. I definitely like this fairytale better than Cinderella, but I was wary of how they would portray the big bad wolf.

 

Okay, I loved what they did with Scarlet and Wolf. I liked how the story developed and that we got glimpses into other parts of this world. What I was honestly surprised by is how seamlessly “Cinder” and “Scarlet” were connected. I expected to get a whole new set of characters and only episodic references to Cinder and what was happening to her, but on the contrary, two plot lines run in parallel and intertwine at the end. That pleasantly surprised me.

 

I felt that “Scarlet” was overall a better thought through book than “Cinder”, although not without its faults and number of cliched twists. My favourite part was, actually, Cinder’s escape and her meeting with Carswell Thorne and how self-absorbed and oblivious he was. Scarlet rocked the novel though. I liked the depiction of her home and all of those little references to her life and memories of the past. Scarlet’s father turned out to be an annoyingly predictable character. As well as Ran (whom I actually liked - no idea why). I liked the character of Wolf too, although at times it seemed as the author was trying too hard to make him into a typical “bad boy with a heart of gold” character.

 

The plotline with Princess Selene became even more obvious to the point that I wondered how I can sustain the interest in it till the end of the series. Thankfully, there were other things happening in this book.

 

All plot holes aside, “Scarlet” was a bit more engaging than “Cinder” and some of the fighting scenes were pretty cool. Also, it seems like Prince Kai has finally grown some backbone, which made him a bit more interesting in this book.

 

My biggest pet peeve with “Scarlet” was that the narrator Rebecca Soler gave Scarlet the most infuriating little French accent. Same as with British accents in “Heartless”, Rebecca couldn’t sustain it at 100% at all times and sometimes it just felt redundant and annoying. Not sure, if it is only me who thinks this or not.

 

I think, I can tell that Marissa is getting better, as “Scarlet” is more fast paced, in my opinion, but I am still annoyed with her overly romanticizing everything in her novels. I am quite okay with not listening for the millionth time about how fit Wolf is or how hard his muscles are. It gets tiresome after time.

 

I find “The Lunar Chronicles” series interesting but not wowing, which is disappointing.

 

Plot: 3.5 stars

Performance: 3 stars

Overall: 3.5 stars

Happy Canada Day: Book Recommendations

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Happy 150th Birthday, Canada! Have a wonderful maple-syrup-sweet and fun weekend. I put together a list of some of books by Canadian authors that I don't see recommended a lot. Or not at all. So, if you would like to see what I have read by Canadian writers and enjoyed - read on!

This blog post (sadly) does not contain any affiliated links, but I will link to my reviews and GoodReads pages for you to learn more about those books.

 

"Milk and Honey" by Rupi Kaur

If you are from Canada and haven't seen (or read) this collection of poetry and prose by a Toronto author, Rupi Kaur, you must be living under a rock (or in an igloo). It is a collection about love, abuse, pain and betrayal. So, consider yourself warned.

Personal rating: 4 stars

 

 

Long Story Short: An Anthology of (mostly) Ten-Minute Plays, edited by Rebecca Burton

This is one of my favourite anthologies to date and includes scripts and plays by Canadian playwrights from coast to coast. I have read and reviewed this collection on my blog.

Personal rating: 4.5

 

"Jane, The Fox and Me" by Fanny Britt

It is a cute middle grade picture book/graphic novel. I adored it. (And not only because it has a fox on the cover and in the title.)

Personal rating: 4.5 stars

 

 

"Hark! A Vagrant" by Kate Beaton

You probably have seen Kate's cartoons all over tumblr even if you don't recognize the book title or her name. Go check it out through - it is hilarious and has the best Canadian memes ever.

Personal rating: 4 stars

 

 

 

"The Lady Paranorma" by Vincent Marcone

A creepy and unique graphic novel from a visual artist. Plus, you get a challenge throw in - you need to find cardinal birds throughout the book. I loved it.

Personal rating: 4 stars

 

 

"Through the Woods" by Emily Carroll

Five creepy stories with gorgeous illustrations. If you like Brothers Grimm's like fairytales and graphic novels - it is a must have. I loved it so much, that I gave it to my friend as a gift. (But I still don't own a copy myself, why....) If you are at it - check out another book by Emily Carroll co-authored with Marika McCoola - "Baba Yaga's Assistant" - I liked it slightly less but the art is great!

Personal rating: 4.5 stars

 

"The Liszts" by Kyo Maclear, Julia Sarda (illustrated)

Another graphic novel with gorgeous art (I know, I have a trend here). It is super short but I want my own copy. Because a) the art, and b) I love making lists.

Personal rating: 4.5 stars

 

 

 

And here are 3 books that I haven't read yet but would like still recommend.

 

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls by Hope Nicholson (edited)

I was lucky to be at the panel with some of those lovely lady authors. This is a collection of stories and graphics and illustrations all about geek girls, and insecurities, and loves, etc. One of the stories was even written by Margarett Atwood (I couldn't NOT mention the dame of Canadian literature, eh). I am yet to read it myself but I heard only great things.

 

 

"The World Needs More Canada" by Indigo

It is a coffee table type of picture book that celebrates Canada and the country's 150th anniversary. It definitely looks pretty on my shelf :)

 

 

 

"Now You Know Canada: 150 Years of Fascinating Facts" by Doug Lennox

I picked it up at the library because I want to know more about Canada. Although I have a feeling the book might be 2/3 hockey facts :D

 

 

I hope you enjoyed my list, and Happy Canada Day, eh!

Book review: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) by Marissa Meyer (audiobook)

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Here is to another book series that I am reading far behind everybody else. But in my defence, I started reading young adult novels less than 2 years ago. I have a lot of catching up to do.

“Cinder” is a debut novel by Marissa Meyer, and having read (or rather listened to) “Heartless”, which was the author’s fifth full novel and being slightly disappointed, I was not too hot on reading “Cinder”. However, I decided to go the same route as I did with “Heartless” and picked an audiobook version, in spite of owning the whole series in physical copies. I had my problems with some of the voices that Rebecca Soler did in “Heartless”, but her rendition of “Cinder” turned out to be quite good.

 

The Lunar Chronicles is a series of  fairytale retellings set in a sci-fi world, a sort of dystopian version of Earth, split into various alliances and empires. “Cinder” retells the story of Cinderella, who in this story, is named Linh Cinder, and is a cyborg and a mechanic. The is also an adorable android sidekick Iko, a handsome and slightly naive Prince Kai, his overbearing counsellor, a bit too vicious Queen Levana, and a vindictive stepmother and two very different stepsisters.

 

I had the same problem with “Cinder” that I had with “Heartless” - I liked the world well enough, but the relationships seemed shallow at times, the emotions too exaggerated (and why is everyone so hung up on Prince Kai?), and nothing really happened for some portion of the book, which undoubtedly would have made me DNF if I had been reading it in physical form.

 

As an audiobook, though, “Cinder” is pleasant enough to serve as a background for doodling, cleaning or cooking. It has an interesting enough world to keep me listening, but I admit that since Cinderella is my least favourite fairytale, I couldn’t wait to be done with this part.

 

I liked it enough to continue with the series, thanks to the coolness factor of fairytales in sci-fi setting, but “Cinder” failed to ‘wow’ me. In some way, I might have done a disservice to myself as I read a rather overhyped “Heartless” before “Cinder”, but nothing can be done about it now. I sincerely hope that the series will get only better with each book.

 

 

Plot: 3 stars

Performance: 3.5 stars

Overall: 3 stars

Book Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber (audiobook)

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Warning: might contain very minor spoilers

 

“Caraval” is a young adult fantasy novel about two sisters who live on a remote island with a tyrannous father. Scarlett, the elder sister, is willing to do anything to save both herself and her younger sister Donatella, including accepting the arranged marriage. She has a dream, though, of seeing a mysterious performance, Caraval, and one day she gets the invitation from the master Legend himself. When Scarlett is brought to the island to partake in the game, almost against her will, she is faced with the fact that Donatella is missing, and now Scarlett has to win the game to save her sister.

I was very excited to get my hands on Caraval, but since I had never heard about this author (and only later found out that it is a debut novel), I got it from the library. Unfortunately, I failed to read the book and had to return it. So, when I found out that Caraval was narrated by Rebecca Soler, I immediately went to Audible and got my copy of this audiobook.

 

I finished the book surprisingly quickly. I felt, however, very much let down by it. Very similar to my experience with “Heartless” by Marissa Meyer (but only worse in this case), the book left me feeling as the author had poured all efforts into creating visually appealing world and characters, but the plot was crafted from cliches and tropes. It was getting so ridiculously predictable at times, that I could even guess the lines in dialogues. Because I have already read all of those before, in multiple books.

 

Caraval, which is positioned as a fantasy novel, is surprisingly romance heavy. It has too many elements of romantic settings and all of those descriptions of ‘smooth, muscled backs’ and ‘chiseled features’ only made me roll my eyes repeatedly. It would have been okay if this book was meant to be a romance novel. In a fantasy setting, it seemed just a bit too much of sugar at inappropriate places.

 

The world of Caraval is crafted well enough, however, the ideas behind it are not new. A deadly game to save the loved one? We have all read a book or two about that. Falling for a bad boy? Yup. Dying but not actually dying? Err, what?

 

I had a big problem with the plot, which had more holes than a plot is allowed to have, but the biggest issue for me was with the ending. The dead should stay the dead unless their death wasn’t such a big deal. Because if it is, if it is supposed to be a hoax, do not let either readers or characters believe in it for so long. And especially, if it all turns out to be a trick - do not treat it so lightly. I personally found annoyed and cheated at the end.

 

I liked Scarlett fair enough, although I didn’t always agree with her actions. I liked Dante, probably, the best from all secondary characters. I liked both his and Julian’s backstories, however, everyone else verged at the edge of annoying. Especially, Tella. I am ready to say that she was the most annoying and least enjoyable character for me.

 

There is so much hype surrounding this book, which I don’t understand at all. The plot is weak, the romance is predictable, the characters are cliched. The idea was great, but it should have been executed and wrapped up in one book. But we, it seems, are getting a sequel.

 

Rebecca Soler does a good job with this book. I had some trouble distancing myself from my experience of “Heartless” at the very beginning, but overall I think “Caravel” characters sound more believable and alive. I am not sure if it was due to the fact that I started listening to “Caravel” right after “Heartless” or perhaps because both books are narrated by Rebecca, but I kept thinking that these two novels have a lot in common in the way certain things are romanticized and exaggerated. Of course, these two books are different, but I kept wondering if Stephanie Garber was somehow inspired by Marissa Meyer’s writing.

 

At the end of the audiobook, there was an interview with Stephanie Garber. Listening to her talk only solidified my opinion that this author is just not for me. Since we are getting the sequel that will focus on Tella, I am still on the fence with whether I would like to continue with duology (and I hope it is only going to be a duology), but I might give it a go if I have time and if I get it as an audiobook (preferably, from OverDrive). Because I am not spending a penny on the book that could have been so good, but turned out to be a hoax.

 

Plot: 2 stars

Performance: 4 stars

Overall rating: 3 stars

 

Affiliated links:

 

Caraval

My #LGBTQIAREAD TBR

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Okay, I am not very good with TBRs or read-a-thons or read-a-longs as I am a moody reader and prefer to read what I want to read in a particular moment. But when I watched George’s video on YouTube announcing Queer Read-A-Thon, I just had to sign up! I mean, I read queer lit anyway, and it is Pride Month, so I am going to do it!

I put together a list of books and graphic novels that I would like to read in that week. It is, undoubtedly, a pretty big list, but like I mentioned before - I am a moody reader and I need to have options. I also need to tackle some of my eBooks, as I keep shopping on Kindle and not reading them (does anyone else have the same problem?).

 

My TBR:

 

 

The read-a-thon takes place during one week, June 25 - July 1. #LGBTQIARead is going to be the official hashtag on Twitter, if you would like to join in.

 

I can’t wait to start as I have been meaning to read some of those books for awhile!

 

Sign up here: http://daydreamersthoughts.co.uk/lgbtqiaread-is-back/

George’s video: https://youtu.be/xJBK3pQmo4A