Weekly update #2

First things first, I’m sorry about the completely unplanned hiatus! A mix of Sherlock, school-work, and laziness meant I didn’t post anything all week. But I did do some reading! And I got a lot of good books...and I had a good trip in London!

So... what I got this week...

• Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin, for review. Thank you,  Anne Walls and G.P. Putnam’s and Sons. It’s not what I normally read, but still. I am trying to expand my  reading tastes (emphasis on the trying) and so... Let’s see if I like this!
• Professor Moriarty: Hound of the D'Urbervilles by Kim Newman. Forbidden Planet is a very bad place for me. As well as being the only place I have seen Anna Dressed in Blood, Dragonswood  and many other books actually in print in England, whenever I go, I come out with a small bag of books, less money and a much bigger to-read list. Well, when I saw this I thought "literary mash up? Awesome. Must read". And so I got it.
• Switched by Amanda Hocking. I didn't actually know she was signing, but I went in and there was a customer announcement "Amanda Hocking is signing at 1 o clock!". Cue my frantically searching for my dad and feeding the parking machine (those things are ridiculously expensive) so I could be there. Oh, and I found Ana from The Book Smugglers there too.

       

• A hug from Amanda Hocking. I love hugs. What can I say?

I think I did well.

And in news....

• YA imprint of Angry Robot (my favourite publishers who I swear only publish stuff I enjoy) Strange Chemistry have their first two authors! Kim Curran and Shift and Sean Cummings and Poltergeeks have been signed. Both books look great. More info here.
• We blacked out in a Sopa protest. Sopa could be a big deal if it passes, and we should do what we can to stop it. I understand that people have lost a lot of money from illegal downloads, but censoring the web is not the answer. 
• Scott Westerfeld's The Manual of Aeronautics has a cover!  Pretty? I think so.  

Book Review- Goliath by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Goliath

 Author: Scott Westerfeld (Illustrated by Keith Thompson)

Series:  Leviathan #3

Published:  29 September 2011 by Simon and Schuster 

Length: 543 pages

Warnings: light kissing, violence. 12+

Source: Library

Other info: Scott Westerfeld has written a lot more, such as the Uglies and Midnighters series, as well as the first two in this series called Leviathan and Behemoth.  

Summary : Alek and Deryn are on the last leg of their round-the-world quest to end World War I, reclaim Alek’s throne as prince of Austria, and finally fall in love. The first two objectives are complicated by the fact that their ship, the Leviathan, continues to detour farther away from the heart of the war (and crown). And the love thing would be a lot easier if Alek knew Deryn was a girl. (She has to pose as a boy in order to serve in the British Air Service.) And if they weren’t technically enemies. 

The tension thickens as the Leviathan steams toward New York City with a homicidal lunatic on board: secrets suddenly unravel, characters reappear, and nothing is at it seems in this thunderous conclusion to Scott Westerfeld’s brilliant trilogy

Review: SLIGHTLY SPOILERY.

So, it’s the last in the Leviathan series. I loved the other two in the series, Leviathan and Behemoth. I reviewed Leviathan here before, but haven;t written a review of Behemoth yet. Maybe some day. Anyway, I was waiting for this book for ages, even though I knew it would be the end of the series and I’d be sad to see it go. So I was expecting a lot,

We got a lot too. The Leviathan heads to Siberia, where they pick up Tesla, an inventor who says he can end the war. But no one knows whose side he’s on. so no-one knows what to do with him. Then they head on to Japan and America, meaning throughout the series, we’ve gone on a tour of half the countries somehow involved in WWI. In other news, Alek knows that Deryn is female and in love with him. All kinds of things could happen. And so the war and the crown of Austria and his heart all rest on Alek and his actions.

Keith Thompson, as always, has blown me away with his drawings. My favourite one is the double page spread of Steampunk!Japan. it is recognisably Japan, but also recognisably different, if you get my drift. The other ones throughout the book are also amazing...I wonder if you can get prints...

The action comes thick and fast. Something is always happening connected to some element of the main plot or other, and things that you instantly recognise from history/general knowledge that have been given their own steampunk twist just add a little extra something.

I’m still in love with the characters. Deryn has always been the one I preferred between our two main characters, because I love the way she perserveres with everything, is awkward around Alek, and her own brand of profanity is so funny. the Russian guards also made me laugh a lot for some reason...

The romance in this really suits it. It’s not often that I enjoy romance in a book that is clearly action orientated, but in this, I love it. I’d just like to say that I support Dr Barlow x Count Volger so much. I have done since book one, and I am so glad that it is implied heavily (at least I read it that way!) at the end. Alek and Deryn is the main couple for this series, which finally gets closure and completion in the most adorable way possible at the very end.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to an amazing conclusion to the best steampunk YA series there is. Can’t wait for the Manual of Aeronautics, an art book released next year!

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Independence Day and My Favourite Authors.

***DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE 100 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!***

So to all Americans, Happy Independence Day. Have fun partying or whatever it is you do. The reason I'm here today, on this day which is actually very ordinary for people like me, ie those in the UK, to talk about the people for whom it is not an ordinary day, ie those in the USA. And seeing as this is a blog about books, I'm going to talk about the authors who live in the USA. And before we go any further, that failed picture at the top is America from Hetalia Axis Powers. Reading books by American authors. I thought a flag would be boring, I currently have an  obsession with Hetalia, and I was bored, and I couldn’t be bothered to find a picture for it and…anyway, various things lead to that picture. And on to the main bit.


There have been some  good authors from USA (thinks of ravens).There have been some very good authors from USA (thinks of barbecue sauce loving demons). And there have been some very bad authors from the USA(thinks of sparkly vampires). For the purposes of today's blog though, I'm going to focus on the good ones, because heres a list of my personal favourites.

Book Review- Zombies Vs Unicorns, anthology

 Title: Zombies vs Unicorns

 Author: Lots of them. Edited by Justine Larbalestier (Team Zombie, hereafter known as JL) and Holly Black (Team Unicorn, hereafter known as HB)

 Series: N/A 

 Published: 21 September 2010 by Margaret K. McElderry Books 

 Length: 432 pages

 Warnings: references to sex, b*st**l*ty, homosexuality, profanity, gore, magic, violence, 14+ recommendation in the cover

 Other info:  The whole debate started on a blog. Click for HB's blog and JL's blog.  Links to authors individual websites included in review. 

 Summary  from blurb: Which is better: the zombie or the unicorn? Justine Larbalestier says that zombies are our own walking deaths. Funny, grim and terrifying, they cannot be escaped. Unicorns are sparkly and pastel and fart rainbows. Holly Black says that unicorns are healers, arbiters of justice and occasionally majestic man-killers, zombies drool and shed and probably carry diseases. Some of today’s finest writers have chosen their side, creating dazzling stories about both creatures. So read on and decide for yourself. Are you Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

 Review: The concept: love it. A straight out war between zombies and unicorns, fought by some familiar faces and other...I’ve never heard of.  This is an interesting, refreshing and funny break from the more popular Vampires vs Werewolves debate. And conveniently, it is set out in a unicorn story, zombie story, unicorn, zombie format. Let the battle commence.

Round 1:
Team Unicorn- The Highest Justice by Garth Nix. Its a unicorn who ends up killing a zombie and set in a medieval world of kings. I didn’t think that much really happened, it was just a this happened, that happened thing. I liked the detailed descriptions, but they slowed down the story a bit too much.
Team Zombie- Love Will Tear us Apart by Alaya Dawn Johnson. I think the whole idea was a zombie boy in love with a guy who’s father seriously hates zombies (Side note: yes, that is a homosexual relationship. If you have a problem with it, get rid of it, or at least keep it to yourself. Gay/bi/asexual/transgender etc people are just as awesome as straight people, if not more. Still not happy? Go away or be eaten by insane cannibals.). At times however, I couldn’t make out much of a plot. But it was funny, enjoyable, with a  little bit of brain eating thrown in.
Team Unicorn:0   Team Zombie:1

Round 2:
Team Unicorn- Purity Test by Naomi Novik. This one was interesting. It shoved a unicorn into New York, which is trying to find an entrance to somewhere that ends up being called Fairyland. This was funny, but there just wasn’t a plot at all.  However, I liked how it changed our perceptions of a unicorn and its virgin, into...something completely different. And don’t get me started on the baby unicorns and chocolate milk.
Team Zombie-Bougainvillea by Carrie Ryan.  As the person who brought zombies to a young adult audience, I expected good things. And got them. While at times it was a little slow, I don’t think anyone else would ever put pirates into a zombie story.  Fun fun fun indeed. And the methods of destroying a zombie demonstrated in Bougainvillea are awesome.
Team Unicorn:0   Team Zombie:2

Round 3
Team Unicorn- A Thousand Flowers by Margo Lanagan. I must confess, I never got through this. Its the one with the b*st**l*ty. Avoid at all costs is what I say. Team unicorn loses a point for this generally disturbing story.
Team Zombie-Children of the Revolution by Maureen Johnson. This highlights the dangers of horror movies’ suicide-at-five-pounds-an-hour (as termed by Grahme. This being a zombie story, our protagonist gets to babysit zombie babies! This was a fun story, with not too much happening, but still being entertaining.
Team Unicorn:-1 Team Zombie:3

Round 4
Team Unicorn-The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund. It’s a completely new take on the unicorn. It’s the closest we get to zombiefied unicorns. Nothing much happened, but the zombie unicorns mean I love it.
Team Zombie-Innoculata by Scott Westerfeld. Kids and adults living on a pot farm while everyone else on earth is a zombie. And then a few kids make plans to escape. This was extremely boring and whilst he is brilliant at writing Steampunk,  Westerfeld is no good at writing romance.
Team Unicorn: 0 Team Zombie:3

Round 5
Team Unicorn-Princess Prettypants by Meg Cabot. This was immense fun. I never thought I’d enjoy Meg Cabot, but it was so funny and our protagonist ends up using her unicorn to  deal with her bullying problem. This is the girliest story in the book with some actual plot-rare for a zombie story.
Team Zombie- Cold Hands by Cassandra Clare. This is the one where a people simply don’t stay dead. It’s a full love story and the heir to dukedom or something like that (I’ve completely forgotten)dies and comes back. I liked this because normally, zombie romance does not work (main reason being the zombie should want to eat the brains of their partner. More on that another day), but Clare made it work. Tough deciding which one wins,.
Team Unicorn: 1  Team Zombie 3

Round 6
Team Unicorn-The Third Virgin by Kathleen Duey. This was edging into the zombiefied unicorn team as well. Most unicorn stories involve the unicorn saving the life of the human.  In this story, this is very true. As long as the unicorn has taken a life as well. This was an interesting spin on unicorns, but there wasn’t a plot at all.
Team Zombie- Prom Night by Libba Bray. This didn’t have a plot either… I’m not entirely sure of the point, and I didn’t really like the characters and I didn’t understand the situation.
Team Unicorn:2   Team Zombie:3

Round 7
There actually wasn’t a seventh story for each side, this is more a bonus round for the banter at the start of each story. It’s JL and HB discussing various things, putting down the story if the  story is for the opposite side, and defending it if its theirs. HB’s fights go something like “unicorns are like this. Its good” and repeated “zombies shamble and bits fall off and that’s disgusting”. JL’s fights go “yes, but zombies are better because of this” and “unicorns are rubbish because *insert new reason* ”. I love this banter. JL wins.
Team Unicorn:2   Team Zombie:4

Total: Zombies win in terms of rounds. Of course, these are my own opinions and you probably won’t agree. Not my problem!
Just to let you know, I’ve always preferred zombies to unicorns. This doesn’t change my opinion. So, I say, Team Zombie wins. Add your opinions below.
Me and my book club WILL have this as one of our “open for discussion” debates. Enjoy when it comes.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea because its funny, and with some great stories, but at times very disturbing.

Book Review-Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Series: Leviathan #1
Published by: Simon & Schuster 2010
Length: 448 pages
Warnings: None
Other factsWesterfeld has also written the Peeps and Uglies series, the Midnighters and a short story in Zombies vs Unicorns.
Summary from Goodreads: Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.
Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.
With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.
Review: The first thing that attracted me to this was the beautiful steam-punk cover to the second book, Behemoth. The blurb gave me high hopes, and I really wasn't disappointed. I didnt like  Westerfeld's Uglies series, but this is something completely different, and it fits steampunk perfectly.The idea of warships made of machinery and animals, cross dressing, lady boffins and world war 1 thrown together with humour was pulled off perfectly. I liked the strong personalities of all of the characters, from the main ones Alek and Devyn, to the extremely irritating  midshipman who is featured in a total of about two pages. Every single one is well fleshed out, believable and easy to connect with. So much happens in this book, that you would not believe that the second half of this happens over a time period of four days. Four days. You can fit a lot into four days in real life, but its unbelievable that that much could happen in said time period. That fact is a reminder of exactly  how fast paced and thrilling the whole thing is, ie very. To top it off, Keith Thompson's illustrations are extremely beautiful, breaking up the lines of text and adding that little finishing touch to the book.

Overall: This book gets strength 5 tea because it was so good, that I literally stayed up until midnight to finish this, and I'm sure you'll want to as well.

Nina xxx