TO READ: Throne Of Glass

I was drawn to this fantasy novel by American writer Sarah J. Maas because of its promise of an intriguing and different story and a strong female lead character, but I soon found another reason to read it. Throne Of Glass began on writing website FictionPress.Net when Ms. Maas was sixteen. This got my attention because I joined FictionPress when I was thirteen, so I was really excited to find a brilliant, published book which started with a teen author on FictionPress. And a brilliant book it is, too, with elements of a romance and a murder mystery as well as fantasy.

This is the story of 18-year-old Celaena Sardothien, an infamous assassin serving a life sentence in a gruelling work prison which should already have killed her. Celaena dreams of freedom, and it is a chance at freedom she is offered when she is asked to represent the prince in a competition to become the King's Assassin, but will mean either death or a return to prison if she loses.

As I said, I picked up this book because of its promise of something different to the usual teen fantasy fare of vampires and werewolves, so I was disappointed when I found the first signs of a love triangle developing. I have grown sick of love triangles; I hate the things. But Sarah J. Maas actually pulls it off very well, and if you want to know how, or what I mean by that - well, you'll just have to read the book, won't you?

It isn't what I expected from reading the blurb, and there were bits I wasn't satisfied with, but overall the positives outweigh the negatives, and Throne of Glass is definitely worth reading.

TO READ: Mockingbird

Not to be confused with Harper Lee's bestseller, Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine is the story of a young girl named Caitlin who is struggling not only with her brother's death but also with Asperger's, a form of autism. It's well-written and thought-provoking, giving the reader an insight into how someone who lives with Asperger's might think, which was interesting for me as I know someone with a form of autism similar to Asperger's. I know that they read the book too, with somebody else, and apparently they really opened up to discuss the problems that they themselves have in dealing with autism while they were reading the book. It kind of helped me to understand things from the point of view of someone with autism; it's not that they're being stupid or awkward deliberately, it's because they are genuinely struggling with certain things, and this book helped me to see that.

The back of my copy of this book describes it as "bittersweet" and "unforgettable" and I would certainly agree with this. Even if the topic of autism has no relevance to you, I would still recommend you read it.

NOT TO READ: Flying Blind

Again I'd like to point out that I feel bad for criticising other writers' hard work but this is just my opinion, I'm sure there are many people who like this book. It's Flying Blind, book one of a series called The Dragon Diaries by Deborah Cooke. It took me a while to get into this book mostly because I didn't like Ms Cooke's style of writing. I thought the protagonist seemed childish (at least , at the start), a bit too full of herself and dramatic for me; it felt like she was trying too hard to get the reader's sympathy. As a writer I have been told over again that it is best to show the reader what you mean rather than tell them straight out, and I just thought that we were told too much rather than shown it. I must say that I did get into it eventually, the storyline did get better - but I do think it was slightly overdramatic at parts. I did just feel like it was trying too hard to be good, it wasn't natural. However, as I said, it improved as it went on, I thought.

If anyone's read it, then I'd like to know your thoughts, I know a good few people will disagree with me (I just read an online review that absolutely sings its praises, but I do agree with it when it says it's probably aimed at the younger end of the YA spectrum, which may be why I didn't enjoy as much as others did). I personally won't be reading the sequel, though, and you may well find my copy in a charity shop at some point in the future.

TO READ: ACID

Is it Sunday? I think it's Sunday. (This is what study leave does to brains who have trouble remembering the day of the week in normal circumstances...) Well I'm posting this whether it's Sunday or not, so deal with it. :)

ACID is the newly released debut novel of English author Emma Pass, who I have actually met. It is a dystopian thriller aimed at teenagers - and not just girls, as one might assume by the fact that the main character is female. ACID tells the story of 17-year-old Jenna Strong, who, in a future Britain controlled by strict dictatorship police force ACID, is trying to survive the high security prison she expects to spend the rest of her life in, until a mysterious rebel group break her out. Full of twists and turns you wouldn't expect, ACID could well be the next big thing in teen fiction.

Of course, it isn't perfect - I know some of my friends at creative writing club who read it had a note-passing conversation picking holes in the plot and confusing themselves with what happened there and why did this happen? However I myself didn't notice these things, and thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is fast-paced, well-written and intriguing; overall, difficult to put down. The ending perhaps fizzled out a bit, but other than that, it is a brilliant book that I completely recommend to girls and boys, teens and adults alike.

My Song Of The Day: To Take You Home

To Take You Home by British musician Frank Turner is taken from his second solo album Love, Ire & Song which was released in 2007 (he recently released his fifth album, Tape Deck Heart). At the point of the album's release I hadn't heard of Frank Turner and it's only in the past week or so I've started listening to it. I personally prefer his third album Poetry Of The Deed and to that I prefer his fourth, England Keep My Bones. Anybody seeing a pattern and willing to bet Tape Deck Heart will end up being my favourite once I've listened to it?

Well, that went off topic quickly.

To Take You Home is a quirky, heart-warming song about love which is refreshing when much of the rest of the album seems to be more anguished, even the more upbeat ones. It has something of his later song Rivers from the album England Keep My Bones but with something more epic in the drum beats and something more personal and hopeful in the lyrics. It's so cheery. :)

Frank Turner – To Take You Home

NOT TO READ: The Catcher In The Rye

First off, I would like to clarify that I am not saying this is not a good book. As a writer myself, I do not feel particularly comfortable in criticising other people's works since I know it's not nice to have people say your work is rubbish. This is not rubbish. On the contrary, The Catcher In The Rye is certainly a well-written book; the main character has a distinct and interesting voice and he is very well developed.

My main complaint with this book is its point. Or, more accurately, its lack of one. So the guy wanders round the city thinking about things. Tell me this: why do I care? If something of true consequence happened, then I might care. But nothing like this does happen. There is no true antagonist to go against the protagonist; there is no main problem to be overcome, therefore there is no building tension, no climax, no resolution. I admit that I had high hopes when I started the book; I thought, what's going to happen to this character? He implies something terrible happened to him, it must be interesting, what is it? But in the end it's... nothing. I think strange is the word I would use to describe it. Strange. Yes, I can see how these experiences might perhaps lead to the character feeling the way he does, but is it interesting enough to the reader? No, I do not think it is - I only really finished the book so that I could say I had read it from cover to cover, and in the hopes that something might actually happen.

If you look at it from an English Literature point of view, you might perhaps find something of interest than if you read it for pleasure. The Catcher In The Rye is certainly a literary venture; I wonder if it might be considered a modernist novel - a work in which the author experiments with a new way of writing narrative. In the light of this information, the book appears better, because a modernist book would tend to drop some aspect of the traditionally accepted form of a novel. Therefore, I would say that if you are planning to study it and look at it in depth, then go ahead, but if you are planning to read it for pleasure, depending on your taste, then this is not the book for you.

TO READ: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

This is a really enjoyable read, and as far as I can remember it is suitable for anyone with an attention span long enough to read it all. It's talented 'authoress' Kate Morton’s debut novel* a romantic mystery set mostly in 1913, 1975 and 2005, in England and in Australia. It’s hard to explain much of what it’s about without giving too much away, but I’ll give it a go:

It’s the story of a young girl found alone on a ship to Australia in 1913 who cannot remember who she is or how she got there, other than something about a woman named the Authoress. It is also the story of Nell, the woman the little girl grows up to be, who in 1975 goes back to England to trace her heritage and find out what happened to her. And finally it is the story of Cassandra, Nell’s granddaughter, who follows Nell’s footsteps because of a house she didn’t know existed and the forgotten garden attached to it in Cornwall which she inherits from Nell after the latter’s death in 2005.

For me The Forgotten Garden is a captivating page turner; a very impressive debut novel which I very much recommend to anyone and everyone. Never mind werewolves, vampires and high school love triangles, I really believe young people should read more books like Kate Morton’s, and they should begin with this one.

If anyone was wondering, the name of this blog is partly inspired by this book, which is why I thought it fitting to write about it first. And next week I WILL post on a Sunday, rather than forgetting and putting it off till next Sunday. :)

*She’s written three novels since, and I can verify that all three are indeed as good as the first; they are The House At Riverton, The Distant Hours and The Secret Keeper.