“Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud...”
Life of Pi follows the life of Pi Patel, when his family decide to move their Zoo from India to Canada it starts Pi on a journey for his survival. Stuck on a boat with a Zebra, a Hyena, an Orang-utan and a Bengal Tiger, Pi learns that friendship and courage sometimes comes at the most unexpected of times.
I was completely sucked in by this book, the first half of the book was a little slow, I put it down so many times and something always had me coming back to it. The description of his life in India was wonderfully I loved how he talked about exploring the zoo and all the quirks of the animals living there. The writing was beautiful and flowed so easily that you could really transport yourself into Pi's world.
Pi is a wonderful young boy, he is incredibly inquisitive and his faith in God never wavers. This book has me questioning my life, what did I believe in? Would I have the courage and faith not in a higher power like Pi but in myself to survive and do everything Pi did to make this happen. Isn't that what a good book should do, make you question the life you live?
I don't want to mention much about the ending but there is a twist that will leave you questioning everything you've just read.
Life of Pi, is a beautiful book about one young boys fight for his survival. Even though slow to start it gets progressively better so don't give up.
“ I'm glad you think so. I've always considered my sense of humour to be largely under-appreciated, so it’s nice to finally meet a fan.”
Stray is the story of Faythe Sanders daughter of the Alpha of the werecat territories. When we first meet her Faythe is away at college trying to live a normal life, with a normal human boyfriend away from her family. That is until her cousin is kidnapped and she is attacked on campus and her father orders her to return home
I'm undecided how I feel about this book, there where times I liked Faythe, she was feisty sexy, knew how to run with the boys and always stood up for what she wanted. Yet there were also times when she was just plain annoying, she wanted to try and escape her oppressive family, who aren't really that oppressive just looking out for her best interests and then its her own stupidity that land her in the dire situation she finds herself in. Yes she wants to be independent but it just comes across bratty and spoiled at times.
Faythe definitely has a lot of love interests and I know which one I prefer, Marc came across as another version of her dad, moody and over-bearing whereas Jace was dirty, funny and saw her as her own person.
This book is a great mix of action and romance and even though slightly annoying Faythe is a strong female protagonist who doesn't the men in her life rule. This book has me intrigued and I definitely want to read more about these werecat.
“Got it. Look for a room with a sign with a big arrow that says, ‘Kidnapped Mancies Here,’ ” he said.”
Half vampire and half mage, Sabina works for the vampire high council as an assassin. Raised by her grandmother she has always been told to repress her mage side that is until she meets someone who turns her world upside down and makes her question everything she thought was real.
A wonderfully exciting and engaging urban fantasy novel. Sabina is a bad ass heroine she is a cold hearted killer (within the first chapter she has killed someone who she thinks of as a friend) who loyally follows whatever her grandmother tells her. The characters are wacky and charming, Giguhl was a great addition and bought plenty of humorous moments, a fearless demon turned into an ugly hairless cat, what more could you want? An Adam the mysterious stranger,he finally opens Sabina's eyes to her grandmothers evil ways, he plays such an important role and yet we barely see much of him, hopefully this will change in the next book.
Sabina grows so much within this book at first she blindly follows whatever he grandmother says but eventually she learns to think for herself and starts to question everything she has every known.
One of my favourite aspects of this book was the mythology of Cain and Lilth and that vampires have red hair due to the mark of Cain. As the vampires age their hair colour gets darker. It was a cool and interesting take that gives it something different to the vampire books out there already.
A wonderful novel, with an excellent story line, there is still a lot of world building to be done and a lot more character development but I'm excited to continue on with this series and find out more about the world of Sabina Kane.
“You know what's wrong with scientific power? It's a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are.
If you don't know the plot to Jurassic park, then where have you been for the last 20 years. Scientists decide its a great idea to bring back Dinosaurs and so they do, with no thought to any consequences these actions might bring and low and behold it turns out to be a bad idea.
Jurassic Park is a mix of scientific nonsense with a little bit of fantasy. It a book with bite, yes its not a literary masterpiece but its a real page turner with an exciting adventure story that has kept me reaching for it time and time again. The plot is fantastic, full of exhilaration and great visual imagery. Crichton does not spare on the details of a dinosaur munching away on a human. The characters are fun and charming and the science is explained in an easy to understand way.Its a suspense thriller with dinosaurs what more could you want.
“We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.”
Divergent is set in a dyspotain future where everyone must choose which fraction they belong too; Candor (the honest), Amity (the peaceful , Erudite (the intelligent) , Dauntless (the brave) and Abnegation (the selfless). Our heroine Tris starts the story off in Abnegation with her family but on her sixteenth birthday she must choose whether to stay with them or move to a different fraction.
This story wasn't without its flaws, the lack of world building was a real problem for me. There was no talk of how the world came to be this way, you just had to learn to accept it and there was no real character development, apart from Tris and Four, I felt no real connection to anyone else and at times I felt myself not even liking Tris, her mindless violence and lack of empathy for anyone else really bothered me.
However saying that I actually really enjoyed reading this book, I found myself constantly turning the page wondering what would happen next. It was engaging and full of action.The plot was well paced and the story moved quickly and the somewhat harshness of the writing really worked well. The romance between Tris and Four was sweet and endearing and I loved the idea of overcoming fears. Tris, what can I say about her, I found myself loving and hating her all at the same time, even though I couldn't connect with her I found it refreshing to read about a female protagonist that had flaws and made the wrong decisions sometimes.
I'm definitely going to pick up the sequel insurgent and hopefully some of my questions will be answered.
“You are a monster.” Kanin’s deep voice droned in my head again, as I forced myself to move, to walk away. “You will always be a monster, there is no turning back from it. But what type of monster you become is entirely up to you.”
Allie is an orphaned teenager, living in a world where vampires rule and the human race is enslaved, forced to give blood to their masters in order to survive. She lives on the fringes of her society as an unregistered, scavenging food to stay alive, until one day when she is attacked by rabids and turned into a vampire. Thrown into this new life, Allie struggles to hold on to her humanity and deal with the monster inside.
This is a unique take on the vampire genre, I've never read anything quite like it. Once again I was sucked into the world Julie created, she has an amazing talent of transporting you to new places. I felt I really knew what it was like to face down a group of rabid vampires.
This is a dark and disturbing world, where vampires rule and humans are just walking blood bags. At the begging Allie is a loner, unable to trust anyone, fighting to survive each day, that is until she is turned into a vampire, she struggles to come to terms with being the monster she hates, and has to fight to save her humanity. I loved Allie, she was fierce and totally bad ass, a young girl struggling to find her way in the world. Once again Julie's characters are well rounded and believable, Kanin, Allie's mentor is dark and mysterious, whose knows the price of letting people in, Zeke the loveable human, who only sees the good in people and wants to help everyone and finally Caleb, the little boy, lost in a world full of monsters.
I loved this book, its a whole new take on both vampires and dystopian fiction. Its dark and disturbing with plenty of kick-ass action, you'll not be disappointed.
“The show's writers had peppered the piece with words like "savage," "wild," and "animalistic." What bullshit. Show me the animal that kills for the thrill of watching something die. Why does the stereotype of the animalistic killer persist?
Because humans like it. It neatly explains things for them, moving humans to the top of the evolutionary ladder and putting killers down among mythological man-beast monsters like werewolves.The truth is, if a werewolf behaved like this psychopath it wouldn't be because he was part animal, but because he was still too human. Only humans kill for sport.”
Bitten is the first book from the woman of the otherworld series,right from the beginning I was hooked, the plot is fast moving and engaging and the characters are well defined and entertaining I couldn't wait to keep reading to find out what would happen.
Elena is the only female werewolf in the world, she was turned by someone she loved and trusted against her will. It has taken Elena a lot to come to terms with her werewolf side and deal with her past. When we first meet her she has left her pack and is trying to live a normal human life with her human boyfriend, however when the pack needs her help she can't say no and she is thrown back into everything she tried to forget.
As I said before I was hooked from the first page, Elena is sexy, fierce and wonderfully funny, everything you want from a heroine. Clay is a cold hard killer with a charming personality he'll do anything to protect the ones he loves, he's a loveable rouge. The chemistry between her and Clay is hot and passionate, its definitely a love/hate relationship. Armstrong has created characters full of flaws and that connects you to them even more and makes you root for them throughout.
A book that is full of action and characters that will endear you to them, a real page turner that will keep you absorbed from start to finish.
