Showing posts with label alexandra bracken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alexandra bracken. Show all posts

14 January 2017

Review: Wayfarer

Passenger: Wayfarer | Alexandra Bracken
Published by: Quercus Children's BooksJanuary 12th 2017
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Historical
Pages: 507
Format: Ebook
Source: Quercus, via Netgalley

All Etta Spencer wanted was to make her violin debut when she was thrust into a treacherous world where the struggle for power could alter history. After losing the one thing that would have allowed her to protect the Timeline, and the one person worth fighting for, Etta awakens alone in an unknown place and time, exposed to the threat of the two groups who would rather see her dead than succeed. When help arrives, it comes from the last person Etta ever expected - Julian Ironwood, the Grand Master's heir who has long been presumed dead, and whose dangerous alliance with a man from Etta's past could put them both at risk.

Meanwhile, Nicholas and Sophia are racing through time in order to locate Etta and the missing astrolabe with Ironwood travelers hot on their trail. They cross paths with a mercenary-for-hire, a cheeky girl named Li Min who quickly develops a flirtation with Sophia. But as the three of them attempt to evade their pursuers, Nicholas soon realises that one of his companions may have ulterior motives.

As Etta and Nicholas fight to make their way back to one another, from Imperial Russia to the Vatican catacombs, time is rapidly shifting and changing into something unrecognisable ... and might just run out on both of them.
Every bit as amazing and emotional as Passenger.

This series got even more complicated and epic and dangerous with this book, and even though it wrapped up (PERFECTLY), I really want more books just to see where it would GO. With the addition of more cities and times, and Li Min (thank you, Alexandra Bracken, for the lesbians), and the mysterious Shadows, this book reached new heights of awesome. It killed me to have Etta and Nicholas apart for so long, but every second was worth it. My favourite part of this book is Henry. He's just so sweet and a really good dad and I want to keep him. But honestly, I adored every single thing and this book made me so happy.

If you're worried this won't live up to Passenger, you really don't need to be. It's even better.

Characters 

Setting/world 
Writing 

10 September 2016

ARC Review: Passenger

Passenger: Passenger | Alexandra Bracken
Published by: Quercus Children's BooksApril 7th 2016
Genre: YA, Historical, Science Fiction
Pages: 496
Format: Ebook
Source: Quercus, via Netgalley

In one devastating night, Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has travelled not just miles but years from home.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods - a powerful family in the Colonies - and the servitude he's known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can't escape and the family that won't let him go. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, his passenger, can find.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveller who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods' grasp. But as they get closer to their target, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home forever.
 
When I had a stalling first start with this after a bare 2 percent, I expected to not like it very much. Oh, how wrong I was. Because of my false start, it took me way longer to get around to reading this than it should have. And to think, I could have been falling in love with Etta and Nicholas months ago!

My issue with time travel is it doesn't feel natural in a lot of the books I've read, but that wasn't the case with this book. It was subtle and essential to the plot without overwhelming Etta's story and the emotional arc that flows through this whole book. Instead of getting hung up on specifics and practicality and science, I was able to root for Etta and admire her determination and love for her family, and fully appreciate her gradual feelings for Nicholas.

The world building in this is perfect, too. There's some magic in Alexandra Bracken's writing that made me feel as if I was in each of those setting and watching it happen myself, not just reading it. I loved the varied settings, how detailed they were, and how they were linked. I also loved the ship (obviously; this is me after all) and Nicholas's role on it. Nicholas's place in each era was carefully and honestly treated, with regards to his race, how people treated him, and how all that made him feel. I especially loved Etta punching a guy because of it. Exactly what I wanted to do.

To sum: emotional, driven, and packed with lush detail in every era and setting. I fell in love with everything (except the end.)

Characters 

Setting/world 
Writing 

7 January 2015

The Darkest Minds (Review)

The Darkest Minds: The Darkest Minds | Alexandra Bracken
Published by: Disney Hyperion, December 18th 2012
Genre: YA, Dystopia, Post-Apocalyptic
Pages: 488
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.





You know those books that everyone loves and you really want to love too but don't expect to? Yeah, that's me and The Darkest Minds. But wait! *angels appear in the sky and begin their chorus* I FREAKING LOVED IT!!

The Darkest Minds is proper old school dystopia. There are work camps, segregation, prejudices against a minority group by society on the whole, and a faceless organisation as the villain. If you're anything like me, you LOVE dystopias like this. It just feels more genuine, more grounded in real history, and more likely to actually happen. Dystopias like this are harrowing and terrifying and ruthless - and The Darkest Minds is one of the best I've read in years.

The story revolves around Ruby, a girl kept apart from society in a labor camp like all the other kids her age - the ones that survived a deadly disease and were left with abilities like mind control, electrokinesis, telekinesis. When Ruby is broken out of her camp, she ends up joining a trio of kids that are on the run from their own camp and in search of a utopian haven, and a whole heck of dangerous shenanigans ensue.

It's your standard dystopia, but there's so much about it that stands out. The characters are awesome, for one. Ruby is shy and quiet and small, in and of herself. I like her evolution throughout the story, and can't actually wait to see how she'll progress. She's pretty tough, but completely ordinary despite her power. She could easily be your best friend or your neighbour or cousin. She doesn't feel fictional at all. The other characters as much the same, and I loved all of them. Minus Clancy, who I will violently beat to death with a rusted pole :)! Not to mention the relationships are just so heartwarming (thus, with the potential to be heartbreaking) to read and experience. Throw away your emotions, basically.


In short: an outstanding dystopia with hyper-real characters who will tear our your heart.

Characters ★
Setting/world building ★
Writing ★★



5 January 2015

Reading round up (59)


Reading round up is a weekly journal where I record my daily reading progress, my thoughts on each book as I read it, and any books I've acquired during the week.


29th December


I finished The Wizard's Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke (138 pages) and it was pretty cute. A nice book, even if I didn't love it as much as I'd expected to. I NEED the next book, though, because I know I'm gonna love it so much more - but since Strange Chemistry went down, are we even getting a sequel? 

I also started my reread of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. I was meant to just read the first chapter to get started, but I read sixteen chapters. Oops. I'm on page 105 and it was a literal chore to put it down and sleep.

30th December
Current page/percent: page 267
Read today: 162 pages
Thoughts: Ughhhhhhhhh I love this asshole so fucking much. Fuck you, Noah. Fuck me, Noah.

31st December

Finished The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (read 189 pages) and *melts into a puddle of mushy love for this series*. I also started The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (82 pages) because I was in the mood for dystopia. Bonus: I get a great start on my tbr pile challenge of 2015!!

1st January
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!


Current page/percent: page 185
Read today: 103 pages
Thoughts: Liking this so much more than I was at the beginning.

2nd January


Current page/percent: page 307
Read today: 122 pages
Thoughts: Aw crap, I love this book. And I JUST spent all my christmas money of books, none of which were Never Fade or a preorder of In The Afterlight. DAMMIT.

3rd January


Current page/percent: page 488
Read today: 171 pages
Thoughts: So. Fucking. Good.

4th January


Started In The After by Demitria Lunetta (12%) because I was meant to read this like last May. Oops. Hoping this is good but not 100% sold so far. Which is bad, since I have the sequel.

Books finished this week: 3


The Darkest Minds (review scheduled for Wednesday!)