Weekly Round Up #5

Kind of The Story Siren's In My Mailbox, but with some other bits thrown in too.

I think we can say, in terms of blogging, this has been slow, but in terms of getting stuff...well, I got a lot this week.  Let's see....

Well, there's what can only be described as pure awesomeness from Stephanie at Stepping Out of the Page.  Bookmarks, Potter postcards, and a pretty bracelet? THANK YOU STEPHANIE.

Then there's the stuff from authors and publishers and so on.  Big thanks to Andrew Carlson, who sent me a copy of Sue's Vision (the sequel to Sue's Fingerprints, which earnt strength 5 tea-review here!), to Spinebreakers who sent me a copy of The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg, and to Faber and Faber who sent me a copy of The Fury by Alexander Gordon Smith.

And finally, there's my library stash. Which was originally just Ashes, by Isla J Bick. And then I went to Winchester Discovery Centre. And I just had to pick up Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday,  Intertwined by Gena Showalter, and Crossing Overr by Anna Kendall. Well, I didn't have to. I did.

I think we can safely say, I won't be bored this half term.


And in news....

The blog tour for Witchblood by Emma Mills is coming by on Tuesday (aka Valentines Day. But we don't celebrate that here), so expect a review and a giveaway!

Strange Chemistry have signed Jonathan L Howard! Katya's World looks really interesting....

I got my book club hooked on Goodreads! Well, just the librarian and The Squeaky One, but still....now they know! And my librarian is campaigning to get Goodreads accessible from school.... I can see that working. Not.

I have a poll up in the top left hand corner. It's about what I should be posting, because I sometimes get totally stuck for ideas. So, if you could please just tell me what you want to be seeing here, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

WE'VE BEEN BLOGGING FOR NEARLY A YEAR. I can't believe it either....  Well, on the blogoversary, there'll be a big, international giveaway. Or maybe more. But, please spread the word that Death Books and Tea's blogoversary will (hopefully) be awesome.

That's all. Enjoy life xxx.

Book Review- 0.4 by Mike Lancaster

Title: 0.4

 Author: Mike Lancaster

Series:  None, but there is a book coming up called 1.4 which I think may be related.

Published:  3 January 2011 by Egmont

Length: 272 pages

Warnings: Clean, 11 +

Source: School library

Other info: This is also known as Human.4. according to Goodreads, Mike is writing another book called 1.4, which I am assuming runs on from this, or is at least in the same universe. But I’m not sure.

Summary : Kyle Straker volunteered to be hypnotized at the annual community talent show, expecting the same old lame amateur acts. But when he wakes up, his world will never be the same. Televisions and computers no longer work, but a strange language streams across their screens. Everyone’s behaving oddly. It’s as if Kyle doesn’t exit. Is this nightmare a result of the hypnosis? Will Kyle wake up with a snap of fingers to roars of laughter? Or is this something much more sinister? Narrated on a set of found cassette tapes at an unspecified point in the future, Human.4 is an absolutely chilling look at technology gone too far.

Review: Kyle Straker is being hypnotised by his best friend when something happens. Exactly what, we don't know. But everyone bar him and three others is acting weirdly-totally ignoring them, and seeming just a little bit different. He doesn't know how, or why, this has happened. All he knows is... well, nothing. And it's up to him, Lilly, and two other adults to find out what has happened, and if anything can be done about the whole situation.

Intriguing premises, definitely. Even more intriguing when you see the blurb to the UK edition, which mentions almost nothing of this, and simply gives us a few things to think about.

From the start, I was hooked, to see what was going to happen, and to find out what the reason for it was.

The suspense, the mystery and  the ever-wanting-to-know-more meant this was a quick read. Very quick. I just couldn't stop reading it, it was that interesting.

Shame about the fact that not much happens. Well, quite a major thing has happened, obviously. But when we finally learn, it seems a little anti-climatic. And the conclusion wasn't epic. It was good, but not to the height it could have been.

I was also disappointed with the character depth. This is (nearly) three hundred pages long, and there are (essentially) only four characters. But we get so wrapped up in seeing what it's about, that we don't get close to any of them. And therefore I didn't care at all for them when they were running away from x (I won't tell you because that would spoil it. I don't think the runny away bit is a spoiler because it happens quite a lot in YA in general).

The narration was good. It wasn't the most natural of narrations considering this is meant to be a transcript of audio tapes, but it kept the story going. The notes that come in boxes are really sweet and very funny -explanations of things we take for granted, but from an outsider's POV.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a real page turner that makes you think, but falls short in other areas.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website | 

Waiting on Wednesday #34- Soulless, the Manga

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where we show off books that we want to read but have not been published yet. 

Title:  Soulless: The Manga vol 1
Author: Gail Carriger & Rem
Release Date: 1 March 2011
Link to / Summary from Goodreads: Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Or will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
Why I want it: I love the novels (vampires and werewolves prettily wrapped up in Victorian England), so when I heard that there would be a manga adaptation, I knew I had to read it. But, being me, I couldn’t buy the Yen Press magazine when it came out...so this will have to do. I’m also interested to see what Rem will do to the story, and what parts will be adapted.
PS. The final book in the Parasol Protectorate series, Timeless, will also release on this day.


What are YOU waiting on this week?

Cover to Cover- Happy Birthday Charles Dickens

So, today (would be) Charles Dickens' 200th Birthday! Well, if he wasn't dead... Anyway, in appreciation of this, I'm taking some of his greatest books, finding three covers for them from, well, anywhere, and choosing my favourite.  Do the same in comments?

Onwards...




A Tale of Two Cities

Illustrated classic, English, Sterling ; Indonesian, Elex Media ; English, Wordsworth Classics
I've never actually read this, so I can't comment on the suitability of these, but I have to say the Indonesian is my favourite. Guillotine covered in roses? Pretty....

A Christmas Carol
    
English, Stephen Skelton ; Italian, Mondadori; German, Hayne
None of these are particularly great... but I think the German has the cutest depiction of Scrooge. I think it would be nice to have one with the ghosts on the front.


Oliver Twist
 
Spanish, Transalantic Press; English, Modern Library; French, Dodo Press
I like the simplicity of the English edition, but the French cover is nicely done too.

Great Expectations

Japanese, Shinchosha; Russian, Detstvo. Otrochestvo. Yunost; English, Penguin Classics
I like the illustrations that come on the front of the English, and I get the idea that it's carried on inside. But the Russian is so pretty, and you just wonder about what Estella is doing... I like the Russian cover best.

I know I could go on and on...but I won't. What do you think of these covers? And are there any covers for his other books that should have been mentioned here, but weren't? And is anyone doing anything special for  Dickens' 200th?

Weekly Round-up #4

Sorry for disappearing! Long chats to a certain internet provider *cough* Talk Talk *cough* about how terrible our service is really puts me off blogging, or anything to do with the internet that involves actual work. So, here’s what I got this week...

  --The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. I finished reading it, and am now very glad my parents are English.
--Psyren vol 1 by Toshiaki Iwashiro. It looked interesting when I read about it in Neo (a magazine), and then I found it in the library, and so I picked it up! Not started it, but.... oh well.

And news...

-        --There’s a Zombies vs Unicorn month going on! Head over to Haley or Giselle for more info, and here’s my opinions on the book written from the original debate.

 
--Emma Mills has a trailer for Witchblood! I’m taking part in the tour (a giveaway and review will come, and for more general details, see here), but here’s something that should get you interested.

Book Review: Zombie Powder by Tite Kubo

Title: Zombie Powder: The Man With the Black Hand volume 1

Author: Tite Kubo

Source: Wherever Nina got it from

Length: 208 pages

Published: September 5th 2006

Publisher: Viz Media LLC

Warnings: Violence

Other notes: You may (or may not) know Tite Kubo as the man who wrote (then RUINED!!!!) Bleach. It seems to me that several characters from Zombie Powder have been recycled into Bleach like Gamma into Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez.

Spoiler Is Needed To Explain Plot.

Summary from Goodreads: They say that if you find all twelve rings of the dead, you can obtain the power of immortality for the living, or bring back someone from the dead. People who search for the rings are called Powder Hunters, and Gamma is one of them, searching for the power of immortality.

Review: S-0 criminal Gamma is a powder hunter, one who seeks the rings of the dead to obtain zombie powder which will grant him immortality or the power to bring back someone from the dead. So, it had a good start. Gamma arrives by train in wild west looking town in a rather spectacular fashion (the kind of "woah, look at that weird guy with his badass clothes and massive weapon" kind of spectacular), and the gets his clothes stuck in the train. And the hilarity continues. The mighty Gamma gets stabbed with a fork while eating some food, and then gets his wallet stolen by Elwood, a teenager who has joined a local gang to earn money to help is sickly older sister. Then Elwood gets caught and takes Gamma to eat at his house because he ruined his meal and then other gang members see Elwood taking Gamma to his house and they think that Elwood is trying to keep the bounty on Gamma's head all to himself. This leads to the whole gang bursting into Elwood's house and a bunch of crazy stuff happening which results in *SPOILER* Elwood's sister dying. (Sorry! It's a major part of the plot, it can't really be avoided) *SPOILER* . So Elwood decides to join Gamma on his quest to find the zombie rings so he can bring back his sister.

I quite like the characters. They're rather simplistic, and are drawn in a quite "roughish" style. Ranewater Calder and C. T. Smith who show up quite late in the volume. They're enigmatic characters and are very different to the rest of the characters who are mainly wild west styled. First of all, let's start with C. T. Smith. He looks like a London banker, he sings (or hums or something like that) while he kills, he's apparently ambidextrous and he pretended to work for the antagonists and the got Gamma and Elwood out of the gang jail. Yay! He makes a good contrast to Gamma who is too badass to do anything interesting other than show off his strength. Ranewater is the leader of the Ash Daughter bandits and looks like a little girl but is actually an old man. I thought it was a typo when they referred to him as male until Smith actually called him an old man. Calder takes some sort of drug to keep him young. With his hair down, he looks quite a bit older.

It's quite easy to see why, in terms of plot, this series got cancelled. It's rather repetitive as people want to to attack Gamma, but they attack Elwood because they think Elwood is his

weakness and then Gamma completely annihilates them. You never really get enough time to hate (or like) gang members because they die too quickly. Perhaps it's too early to really say that the plot is bad when the volume was only a few chapters long.

Rating: 2 I'm hoping that things will be better next volume.

Book Review- Legend by Marie Lu

Title: Legend

 Author: Marie Lu

Series:  Legend #1

Published:  2 February 2012

Length: 301 pages

Warnings: violence, romance 12+

Source: Publishers via Spinebreakers

Other info: This is Marie Lu’s debut novel. The first in a trilogy, and film rights have already been bought.

Summary : What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias' death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Review: Day is the most wanted criminal in America. June is a young commander who should end up in the highest ranks after being marked as a prodigy. Normally, they’d never meet. But after June’s brother is killed and she vows to hunt down his killer, and Day is put in the spotlight for the crime, they do. And then they discover some more things about their country, ie the secrets they try so hard to keep.

Legend is loosely based on Les Miserables. Apparently. I’ve never read it, or seen the musical, or (I’m guessing) any film, so I can’t comment on it being updated. Sorry about that.

First impressions, there wasn’t anything that really made it a stand-out when looking at concept. But, being a new dystopian trilogy that may be amazing, of course I had to read it. And so they bring it up at a spinebreakers meeting, and I get it.

The tale is told from both Day’s and June’s perspective, which would be very interesting if it weren’t for the fact they’re quite similar. Not too similar, but there wasn’t much of their own voice. Both are intelligent, sporty (not the right word, but neither is active, or any other word to that effect), and do something that you can’t really expect from the average fifteen year old- a life of crime or a life in the military. Fun.

The world building is terrible. Due to my terrible  (read-almost non existent) knowledge of American history, Republicans and Colonies and all that was only very slightly understood. I just had to guess the whole political set up. Luckily, that wasn’t the focus of the book, so I  got by. It would be nice to see what it really was like to get a better understanding of the world.

I also found it quite predictable. The romance, I didn’t like. June was a perfectly good heroine, strong, wilful and intelligent...and then she falls in love. With the guy she is meant to be hunting. Well done. And the ending...the foreshadowing and my mind could already see it happening the way it did. Slightly ruined it, but still enjoyable.

Aside from that, I loved this book. From the start I was interested, a little more in Day than in June. The opening sentence is just...what an amazing hook. And the way it plays out from there is very good too.

The alternate narrative, aside from being similar, was very effective. The double perspective worked in building the story and moving it along, even if it did mean that Day would probably be out of the scene while June narrated, and vice versa.

I think my favourite character was John, even though we don’t get to see that much of him until the end. It’s amazing how much a character can stick in your mind even though he’s minor for most of the book.

The pacing and action scenes were amazing. A pivotal event where you think “it’s all over” happens around halfway through the book, which was quite interesting. And then I spent the rest of it thinking “how is it going to fill out?” But it did, and it wasn’t with pointless things. lots of things happen in the second half. Lots of things happen in the entire thing, if we’re being specific.

Overall: Strength 4 tea to the start of a trilogy with a LOT packed into it-here’s hoping the next two will be just as good.  

Links: | Goodreads | Author website | 

Waiting on Wednesday #33 The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where we show off books that we want to read but have not been published yet. 

Title:  The Sweetest Spell
Author: Suzanne Selfors
Release Date: 21 August 2012
Link to / Summary from Goodreads: Emmeline Thistle has always had a mysterious bond with cows, beginning on the night of her birth, when the local bovines saved the infant cast aside to die in the forest. But Emmeline was unaware that this bond has also given her a magical ability to transform milk into chocolate, a very valuable gift in a kingdom where chocolate is more rare and more precious than gold or jewels. Then one day Owen Oak, a dairyman’s son, teaches Emmeline to churn milk into butter – and instead she creates a delicious chocolate confection that immediately makes her a target for every greedy, power-hungry person in the kingdom of Anglund. Only Owen loves Emmeline for who she truly is, not her magical skill. But is his love enough to save her from the danger all around her?
Why I want it: The Ugly Duckling? You (should, if you read this) know that I love re-tellings of almost any kind. And I loved one of Suzanne’s other books, Mad Love. So, looks like something I’ll love.

What are YOU waiting on this week?