Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 

by J.K Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

Released: July 31st 2016 

One of the biggest disappointments in my life this year is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. 

I cannot express just how much it hurt when I read the first few pages and immediately, my excitement, enthusiasm and eagerness to devour the book shattered.

 Cursed child was horrible.

 Absolutely, heart-shatteringly horrible.

There was no substance to the characters - I don't give a rat's ass about Albus. When I think of Albus I think of a perpetually depressed and pessimistic kid with zero personality. All he did was hate his dad, hate Hogwarts and hate the world. What else was there? The Harry Potter books were my salvation and my key to an alternate life when reality became too stressful for me to handle, or when I momentarily lost faith in myself. Harry Potter pulled me out of that state of self-doubt and taught me that no matter how much shit I go through, there would always be light at the end of the tunnel. I mean, if Harry can find happiness in a world previously ruled by dark wizards, the most powerful of which murdered his parents, or continue to walk with his head held high even when he became the most despised/talked about/unpopular/ person in the wizarding world, then I can survive.

But this book? A waste of my time and money.

Harry, Hermione and Ron were also cardboard characters. None of them were consistent with how they were portrayed in the last book. Scorpius was probably the only character with personality but even he couldn’t save the story.

I’ve been trying to wipe all traces of the Cursed Child from my memory; as far as I’m concerned, there is no 8^th book and the series ended with the Deathly Hallows.

Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (JUST IN TIME FOR HEIR OF FIRE)

Crown of Midnight 

by Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury   
Release Date: August 27th, 2013 
Format: ARC 

 "A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached. 

 It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend." 

 From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil. 

 Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

 Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie...and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

Adarlan's Assassin is back as the King's Champion, and this time she's deadlier than ever.

Throne of Glass immediately shot up to my all-time favourites list when I first read it in 2012. Between the sassy, fiery and fearless protagonist, some kick-ass action, layers of mystery and a certain handsome Captain of the Guard, I couldn’t resist the book’s charm! I'll admit that after more than a year, my memory of ToG was a little fuzzy, but luckily Crown of Midnight started off in such a way that I didn't need to skim through my review of the first book in order to understand what was happening.

Crown of Midnight admittedly started off slow; I wasn't exactly bored but my mind did occasionally sway to other things whilst I was reading it. However, the real action picked up soon and I was able to completely immerse myself in this fantastic sequel.

The highlight for me for the majority of the book was obviously Celaena and Chaol's relationship/interactions. I'm a firm Team Chaol (wait, do the 'Teams' still exist? It doesn't feel like a love triangle anymore) and I absolutely loved his banter with Celaena, his protectiveness and most of all, his love for her. All the things he did, said, thought and felt touched me, and honestly, if they don't end up together by the end of the series, I'm going to chuck the world's biggest tantrum. And no one wants to see that.

Celaena unveils another side of her a few times in this book; one that is ruthless, uncontrollable,  and the epitome of 'deadly'. It's a side that no one wants to see, and suffering her wrath is not something anyone wants to experience. Ever. Unleashing this side of her scared the crap out of me, but it did add some heart-thumpingly intense scenes, and demonstrated exactly what the world's best assassin is capable of.

There is so much I loved about this book. I loved Celaena and Nehemia's beautiful friendship. I loved Chaol's fiercely selfless actions to protect the person he loves most in the world. I loved Dorian's newfound vigour, aggression and desire to do something right for his country.I loved the new revelations, some that were slightly predictable, others completely mind-blowing. I especially loved the ending. It set the scene for the next book, which by the way I'm willing to trade my first newborn for and was a revelation I had not seen coming. Thanks to that though, I've set my expectations for Heir of Fire miles high and I'm expecting something monumental to happen, something along the lines of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Remember the war? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm anticipating in the next (few) books in this highly recommended series!

Sooooooo guys READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY! I was literally chanting “HOLY CRAP. HOLY CRAP” all throughout the last few chapters of the book – my friends can vouch for me. This is simply a sequel you cannot miss!

A massive thank you to Bloomsbury Australia for providing a copy of Crown of Midnight for review! (So sorry for the super late review!!! But at least it's just in time for Heir of Fire :D) 

Secret Blog Tour - Review & Giveaway (AU ONLY)

Hey guys! *waves* Today, I'm participating in the Australian Blog Tour for Brigid Kemmerer's newest  book in her immensely popular Elementals series, which is out in stores NOW. I'll be posting up my review and there will be a giveaway for 3 copies of Secret to be won by 3 lucky Aussie residents. Without further ado, here's my review :)

Secret (Elemental #4) 

by Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Format: Paperback, 392 pages
Purchase: (AUD $14.99) Fishpond | Bookworld

 EARTH. FIRE. AIR. WATER. 

 Nick Merrick is stretched to breaking point. He's trying to keep his grades sky-high or he won't get in to college. He's trying to keep his brother's business afloat or the Merricks will be out on the street. He's trying to keep the secret of where he's going in the evenings from his twin brother Gabriel - or he fears he'll lose his family. And he's trying to keep his mind off the hot, self-assured dancer who is his 'girlfriend's' partner.

 And then Quinn takes to hanging around his sworn enemy, and an Elemental Guide is counting the hours until he can try again to kill the Merrick brothers. Storms are brewing. On all sides. 

 SECRETS IN THE WIND. DANGER IN THE AIR.

Brigid Kemmerer never fails to disappoint with each instalment in her ‘Elemental’ series. This is probably my second favourite book in the series (after Spark – because Spark will always conquer all other books!) I’ll admit Secret could’ve benefitted from more action, more heart-pounding moments instead of focusing almost entirely on the romance between the characters. Nevertheless, Secret was gripping enough for me to finish in one sitting J

Unlike Spirit, which seemed to have a distinct plotline as well as romance, the ‘plotline’ in Secret was basically Nick/Adam’s romance, and Quinn and Tyler’s developing feelings for one another. I applaud Brigid for writing about a gay couple, but unfortunately I didn’t *love* Nick and Adam as much as I would've liked. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t feel their chemistry. ( No one beats Nolan/Patrick’s chemistry in Revenge!)

On the other hand, I very much enjoyed getting to know Quinn and Tyler better. Throughout the first three books, I developed this intense hatred towards Quinn; I found her to be a very selfish, and self-centred drama queen. As for Tyler, I never really cared about him. HOWEVER, as I made my way through the pages of Secret, I found myself becoming more and more sympathetic towards Quinn (she really does have a terrible domestic life) and once or twice I even sided with Tyler, despite his tendency to constantly find ways to ‘bully’ the Merricks. (‘Bully’ is an understatement for his actions.) I agree with this these sentences used to describe Tyler:

"…People have different capacities for failure. And even if you fail in one area doesn't mean you fail in all of them" -Adam 

"We see the dark side of Tyler because that's all he lets us see" - Michael

So Tyler might seem like an ass towards the Merricks; he might be perceived as arrogant, violent, vicious and relentlessly malicious but he could be extremely loving and considerate towards his girlfriend or anyone he loves. And honestly, Tyler was exactly like that.

I like how Secret deals with teenagers coming to terms with their sexuality. I just want to add in my 2 cents. I’m aware that many high school students are ridiculously intolerant of gay people, but from my experience there <i>are</i> high schools that are extremely accepting. I.e. My high school. To anyone out there who may be afraid to come out in fear of being bullied, I want you all to know that high school isn’t the end of the world. I can guarantee when you enter University it will be different. I have friends who hid their sexuality in high school, but are now 100% comfortable with admitting they are gay because honestly, most people in Uni are very supportive. They’ve joined clubs dedicated to gay/lesbian/bisexual students and have met many  new friends. J So basically, HIGH SCHOOL ISN’T THE END OF THE WORLD GUYS!! WAIT TILL YOU ENTER UNI. WE ARE UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTING OF EVERYONE.

What occurred in the last 50 pages was certainly my favourite part of Secret. It was infinitely more exhilarating and action-packed than the mundane lives (sorry!) and the slow relationship development of the characters. I’ve also noticed that the events in all four books combined seem to only have occurred over the span of a few weeks. I was quite astonished when I realised Chris and Becca had only been going out for one month, Layne and Gab for an even shorter amount of time. All I can say is, the characters lead fulfillingly jam-packed lives!

If you're a fan of Brigid Kemmerer's Elemental series, I can guarantee you'll love Secret! I'm eagerly anticipating Sacrifice, which will be released later this year :)

A massive thank you to Allen & Unwin for providing a copy of Secret for review and for inviting me to participate in such a fantastic tour!

 Read my reviews of:

Elemental | Storm | Spark | Spirit | Breathless 

Find Brigid:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

*GIVEAWAY*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott

The Collector (Dante Walker #1)
by Victoria Scott
Publisher: Entangled Teen

Release Date: April 2nd, 2013

Format: Paperback, 352 pages

He makes good girls...bad.

 Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag. 

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

 Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days. 

 Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

I think I should make a habit of reining in my excitement every time a new book that has been garnering exceptional reviews comes out, and perhaps try to not expect too much from those books. Why? Well,  it seems most of the books I’ve been incredibly excited for this year just happen to become the most disappointing ones. The Collector is one of them. My FB homepage and Twitter feed were spammed with how amazing Dante Walker is (and I developed a tiny crush on him before I even got my hands on a copy!) but the truth is, Dante Walker is a narcissist, and egotistical to the point I could not tolerate one more word out of his mouth.

The Collector is a story we’ve read many times; we have a bad boy, an innocent girl, a mission gone wrong and the two fall in love. But add in heaven, hell, soul-collecters, a male POV, and viola!The Collector is born. The first couple of chapters were pretty good; Dante had a strong voice, he was humorous (albeit up himself, but it was fine), the writing was decent and I was enjoying it. Then we met Charlie. And the story went downhill from there.

This is just me, but I’ve never been able to tolerate characters who are too “good”. They’re too fake, in my opinion. Too bland. Too one-dimensional. (In her defense, she did show a wild side once or twice, but I’d stopped caring by then). Dante made her seem fragile, angelic and from what I gathered, weak. The girl drove me nuts. So did Dante after 100+ pages of his arrogance and hearing him praise himself. I never cared for the other characters either. Charlie’s two best friends were sweet, loyal and protective but I just couldn’t develop a liking to them. They were just…there.

This would’ve been a DNF but since I had loads of free time everyday on the bus/train, I skimmed the last quarter or so. I won’t be coming back for the next book, but I sure hope Dante will fall for the ‘bad girl’. (Yes, I’m not being very nice but I bet the new girl will be much more interesting than Charlie. But of course, Dante will remain faithful to Charlie.) *sigh*

Review: Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

Spirit (Elemental #3)
by Brigid Kemmerer 
Publisher: Allen & Unwin 

Release Date: May 22nd 2013

Format: Paperback, 294 pages

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He has learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can't seem to afford any allies. 

 He's up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait. 

 Then there's Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She's not hostile. She's bold. Funny. Hot. But she's got an agenda, too. 

 With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down - which means he'll have to find someone he can trust. 

 POWER. ENEMIES. EVERYWHERE.

If I remember correctly I was once Hunter Garrity’s biggest anti-fan. He annoyed me in the Storm because he was the other guy in the love triangle who was competing for Becca; and he annoyed me in Spark because well…if memory serves, he was untrustworthy. So basically, I didn’t like Hunter, and I definitely didn’t care for his story.  Though I never once considered not reading Spirit, I was a little apprehensive when I started reading it and for the first few pages I treaded with caution. HOWEVER, (and a hugeeeee however here), I shouldn’t have worried because several pages in, I started LOVING Hunter. (And possibly hating all the other characters in the book…but I’ll go into that later!)

After reading Spark and Spirit, I have one question that I can never get my head around – What is it with these guys always hiding what they’re actually feeling? I mean guys aren’t as expressive as girls (I think??) but seriously, why do they always have to hide the fact that they’re actually concerned for those around them and actually give a crap about the people they love. Why purposely pretend they’re the bad guys and have everyone misunderstand them? It’s exactly because of this that I didn’t like both Gabriel and Hunter. Luckily though, through Hunter’s perspective we got to see a different side of him. I don’t care how untrustworthy he seems to everyone else, I’LL ALWAYS SUPPORT YOU HUNTER<3

I felt so sorry for Hunter throughout the whole book. I can never understand how a mum can treat her child the way Hunter’s mother treated him. I don’t care what her reasons were, her actions were unforgivable. AND HUNTER’S GRANDFATHER NEEDS TO GET BEATEN UP ONE DAY SO HE KNOWS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE. I hated how everyone just automatically assumed the worst of Hunter just because of his piercings and overall appearance. I’ll admit that had I been one of the students from his school, I probably would’ve believed the rumours too, but reading everything from his POV just made me want to scream at the entire school to shut the hell up and stop judging Hunter. At one point, I even started having negative feelings towards Chris and Gabriel since they wouldn’t leave poor Hunter alone, and as for Becca…well…I’ve never really liked her much. As for Kate, the love interest, I definitely didn’t like her. She drove me up the wall with her blatant displays of slutty actions. Yes, that’s exactly how I’d describe her behaviour. I didn’t care for her much and I’m glad I didn’t have to endure her for long.

Spirit is distinctly different from the previous too books. It’s much bolder, more intense and there’s a lot more action. What Storm lacked, Spirit compensated. A little warning though, there’s violence and shooting and there’s no holding back when it comes accomplishing one’s goals. Spirit is an impressive addition to the Elemental series, and I can’t wait for the next book <3 

A massive thank you to Kensington and Allen & Unwin for providing a copy of Spirit for review!

This post is also part of the Spirit Blog Tour hosted by The Midnight Garden. 

For the full schedule, click HERE. 

Review: The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

The Indigo Spell
by Richelle Mead
Publisher: Penguin Australia

Release Date: February 12th, 2013

Format: Paperback, 448 pages

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. 

 In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she struggles to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she finally tracks down the elusive, enigmatic Marcus Finch – a former Alchemist who the organisation denies exists, and who lives in shadows, on the run. With Marcus's help, Sydney realises that the group she's been loyal to her whole life has been hiding the truth from her. Is it possible that her golden lily tattoo might have more power over her than she thinks? 

 As she struggles to come to terms with what that might mean, Sydney is compelled to use her growing magical powers to track down an evil magic user who is targeting powerful young witches. Using magic goes against everything she always thought she believed, but she realises that her only hope is to embrace her special blood – or else she might be next. 

 Forging her own way is harder than Sydney ever dreamed. Maybe by turning off her brain – and following her heart – she'll be able to finally figure out where she belongs. 

 The hotly anticipated third installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series.

Richelle Mead never fails to impress me. There’s something so addictive about everything she writes, and I always, without fail, read every single one of her books in one sitting because…I JUST CAN’T STOP READING. I say this again and again- no series can surpass the brilliance of the Vampire Academy series- but, I’m certainly enjoying her new spin-off series a lot more as each new book becomes released J

I’ve noticed Ms Mead is a master at crafting multiple complex plotlines in her books, and somehow seamlessly makes them work. Usually more than one storyline becomes confusing for me, but in The Indigo Spell, I didn’t mind it at all! Sydney (the poor girl!) has her hands full in every book; at this particular time, she’s being coerced into performing magic by her teacher and then has to set out to investigate and stop the perpetrator behind a series of mysterious magic-related occurrences where the victims are left comatose and decades older. (Which, she does with the help of our favourite Adrian Ivashkov<3) Then, there’s also the mystery of finding out who Marcus Finch is and Sydney’s own doubts about the Alchemists. It must’ve been difficult to keep a balance between the two core storylines, but I found it was executed wonderfully!

As for my favourite part of the book? SYDRIAN<3333 I LOVE THESE TWO! Adrian continues to entertain readers with his humour, wit and sarcasm. He’s cut back on drinking and smoking (all thanks to Sydney’s influence!) and of course, he’s deliciously sexy as ever. Meanwhile Sydney continues to fight her love rapidly developing feelings for Adrian, which was both amusing and a little...tiresome. I mean they have off the charts chemistry, so just GET TOGETHER ALREADY! That aside, I did like how Sydney finally started seeing the Alchemists from an objective perspective and believe it or not, our previously uptight and rule-abiding heroine may be a little rebellious after all! Anyway, some of my favourite moments involving these two include dancing, high-calory food terms of endearment, PAINT AND T-SHIRTS (*squeals and hyperventilate*), a Callistana annddddd a certain Greek and Roman art museum! Be sure to look out for those scenes when/if you read the book J

A small issue (well, not really an issue but I wasn’t very satisfied) I had was Marcus Finch’s character. You see, Marcus Finch was this unknown and to me, a highly respected mystery-character, and I had high expectations for him. Added to this, there’s been all these “Who Is Marcus Finch” posts on blogs almost every day, so you’d probably expect some huge twist when his character is revealed. Yet when he finally made an appearance, it seemed as easy as introducing all the other secondary characters who waltzed into the story…and honestly, Marcus Finch’s character isn’t exciting or extraordinary in any way. He just strikes me as conceited and a little…cowardly. *shrugs* But that’s just me.

I said this in my The Golden Lily review as well; I don’t want Eddie and Jill to be together. I still don’t like Jill and doubt I ever will. Here’s hoping I won’t dislike her anymore than I already do in the next few books….

All in all, this is another masterpiece from our beloved Richelle Mead! The Fiery Heart needs to be released. NOW.

 A massive thank you to Penguin Australia for providing a copy of  The Indigo Spell for review!