Waiting on Wednesday #6

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly blogger meme started by Breaking the Spine. If you want to check this meme out at its origin and particpate, just click here.

It's getting tough to pick books I'm waiting on, especially when there are so many! But this week I am waiting on the third book in a wonderful series by Cassandra Clare. That's right, the third installment of her The Infernal Devices trilogy, Clockwork Princess. I already posted about the cover reveal here, but let's take another look at it, shall we?

Blurb:
Danger intensifies for the Shadowhunters as the New York Times bestselling Infernal Devices trilogy comes to a close.

If the only way to save the world was to destroy what you loved most, would you do it?

The clock is ticking. Everyone must choose.

Passion. Power. Secrets. Enchantment.

Danger closes in around the Shadowhunters in the final installment of the bestselling Infernal Devices trilogy.

Clockwork Princess is due out March 19th, 2013. I'm not sure I can wait that long! But at least we have City of Bones movie news to tide us over, and other books to fill the void.

So what are you "waiting on" this week?

Mini Review: Dream Dark

Title: Dream Dark

Placement in Series: 2.5

Series: Caster Chronicles/Beautiful Creatures

Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

When Link joined his best friend, Ethan Wate, on a quest through a mysterious network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, he knew the journey would be dangerous. But returning home to Gatlin, South Carolina was just the beginning...

Wounded during a climactic battle, Link discovers that tending his injuries won't be as simple as visiting a doctor and that healing his arm should be the least of his worries. For being bitten by a Supernatural does more than break the skin -- it changes a person, inside and out, turning Link into someone more and more like the dark creature who injured him.

Mini Review:

I kind of wish this was from Link's POV. Considering the rest of the series is told from Ethan's perspective, I understand why Dream Dark does not stray from that, but I feel as if this would have been more effectively told had it been from Link's perspective instead. It just didn't feel realistic that Ethan would know so much detail about what Link went through, even though he did state that Link told him all of this. That's really my only qualm with Dream Dark.

I'm glad we got to get a look into Link's life, especially considering what had happened to him in Beautiful Darkness. This was a nice little companion to the Caster Chronicles that I enjoyed. I have always found the "point fives" of a series to be just as important as the rest of the books, and this one is no different. Getting this look into Link's transformation is something integral that I am glad is available to us readers. Plus getting a glimpse into a secondary character's life is always refreshing.

Also, this novella really helped me to feel for Link. I knew his mother was crazy, but I didn't think she was this crazy! I would love to see more from Link. I find him to be a very interesting character, and one of my favourites.

The '4' rating was because I really felt like more could have been included, but again, because it was Ethan telling the story there was not really much room for that.

Cover Reveal: Clockwork Princess

FINALLY something to tide us over until March 2013, when the final Infernal Devices book is set to be released. After over 30 000 tweets containing the hashtag #ClockworkPrincess, shadowhunters.com revealed the Clockwork Princess cover.

Is it not gorgeous? *stares*
I cannot decide what I love more: the glowing book or Tessa's dress. *stares some more*

The tweet count on the cover reveal page is still rising, and I doubt it will stop anytime soon. You can view the page here, and even grab the Clockwork Princess Countdown widget to put on your site.

It pains me to think that I still have to wait so many months to read the final book in The Infernal Devices. I posted a review (my second on this blog!) on Clockwork Prince, which you can view here. As you can tell by the informal but necessary caps used towards the end of that review, Clockwork Prince got me VERY excited, and I am literally bouncing with excitement for Clockwork Princess.

So what do you guys think of the cover?
I'm glad we finally get to see Tessa!
I don't think that dress would have been appropriate time-wise, but hey, what do I know? I haven't done any research and I don't really care because that dress is hot and I want one.
But anyway, leave your comments about the cover and discuss how EXCITED you are (or not) over Clockwork Princess in the comment section below.
:D

Review: Infinity

Title: Infinity
Series:  Chronicles of Nick
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Goodreads Link: Goodreads Description
Rating: 4/5

Review:

(Note: This review contains minor spoilers.)

Firstly may I just point out how much I like the 'f' on the cover? Okay, cool. Moving on.


I really enjoyed this book. It's the first 'zombie' book I've read, and it wasn't what I expected. Then again, I don't really know what I expected. There is a lot going on in this book, and I was left very confused as to who could be trusted and who was and was not aware of all of the supernatural going on. But I'm pretty sure that was the point, considering we were left with a very confused Nick.


I do not have too much to say about this book. In this case, it's a good thing. I thought the writing was good; it felt juvenile at times, but if that botheres you, you have to keep in mind that it's written from the main character's point of view, and he is a fourteen year old male. The voice throughout the book was perfect. And when it switched points of view to someone who was not our fourteen year old Nick, the voice was readably more mature, so Sherrilyn Kenyon did a great job on that.


One thing I noticed was the mention of Dark Hunters. I guess I'm a bit slow realizing this, but Sherrilyn Kenyon wrote a series about Dark Hunters. Chronicles of Nick is a series that is loosely connected to her Dark Hunters series, I'm assuming. I definitely want to read that series to see where this all 'began', for lack of a much better term.


There were a lot of characters introduced, and so many were male that I kept forgetting who was who. I'm just generally not good with names right away, so it was not until I reached halfway through the book that I was finally able to say 'okay, this character is Nick's bully' or 'okay, this character is a random football player'.


I really enjoyed Nick's character. He was a very believeable character, but he was also very interesting. I liked how even towards the end of the book he was in denial about most things. There aren't a lot of people who will just sit back and accept that the world as they knew it was actually full of supernatural beings. He called bull on a lot of characters who tried to tell him of this, which kept things very real. There are too many books out there nowadays where a main character will be introduced to some strange concept, and they will accept it within the first half of the book. The book is finished and Nick is still a skeptic. Although if I were Nick I would have just accepted it all by the time he met Simi. I mean, really, how could you not tell simply by the way that she spoke and acted that she is pretty out there.


And I just love his mother. She's an amazing person who brought her son up right. I think her whole story is just really tragic, too, and she's a secondary character I've come to love. Oh please don't let her die. I mean just think of what it would do to Nick.


The one reservation I had with this book is how no major or secondary characters died. Not that I wanted any to, but with everything that was going on, I find it crazy that no one was killed. Everyone miraculously escaped, with only Nick and that guy who got a chunk taken out of his arm having the most serious injuries. I guess this isn't really a complaint, though. I mean, the major chunk of the plot happened in one night and most of the supernatural stuff was happening around Nick, and all of the explanations the characters had for surviving made sense. Maybe I'm just too used to seeing and expecting deaths in books. Plus there are three (four?) more books to go in this series. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.
And what even happened to the principal? I mean, I'm assuming he died, but that was not very clear to me. Then again, Nick could probably care less, and so perhaps that is why.


There are so many questions I have that I'm sure will be answered in the next books (and one I know is since I have already started on the second in this series, Invincible), plus I feel like anything else I have to say about the book is a huge spoiler, so I'm going to cut this review short. Basically, if you're into the supernatural and don't mind a book from a fourteen year old's perspective, give this one a try. It's pretty fast paced and I was never bored.

Thoughts: The Mortal Instruments

TMI Thoughts & Informal Review

Note: So I've decided to do this very informal review of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series (from City of Bones to City of Lost Souls). There are some minor spoilers below. But here is a quick summary: I love this series. Definitely hooked. I suggest you read them if you haven't already and enjoy supernatural/fantasy books. Also read the prequel series Infernal Devices. It is also amazing. Possible more. I rate this series and overall 4.5/5)

City of Bones had me hooked right from the get-go. I had read the first chapter somewhere (I think either in the back of a book I once read, or perhaps online somewhere as a preview), and ever since had been wanting to pick up the books. When I finally did back in March (I'm late to the party, I know, but at least I got here in time to wait for CoLS), reading that first chapter again was like meeting up with an acquaintance I had met once, but was regretfully unable to spend more time with. My first impression of the characters went basically like this (I had to tame down what my actual first impressions were, because... they weren't all that appropriate. I apologise for the inappropriate words to come. I tried my best, I swear I did.):

• Clary, cool, you're the main character and can see things your bff couldn't. Interesting. I want interesting stuff to happen to me. But oh my goodness, you have guts. But curiosity killed the cat, remember.
• Simon, I love you. You are sarcastic and hilarious. Be MY best friend. Please.
• Jace you asshat, conceited sexy beast. Don't ever change.
• Alec, you are probably cool, but who peed in your cereal this morning?
• Isabelle, you are a bitch. Come down off your high horse.
• Magnus, okay. You're a little odd. But you have magic. That's cool. I want magic powers and to be immortal.

And that is pretty much how I saw each of the main characters to begin with. They go through some amazing character development throughout the series. Of course, we see more of Clary of Jace, but their relationship changes QUITE drastically. For those of you who have not read the books, there WILL be slight spoilers later on, so you should take caution from hereon in.

I found the whole 'are Jace and Clary actually siblings or no?' thing to be interesting. I had heard things about the books and this plot beforehand, however, so finding out that in the end they weren't was not actually a surprise. However, I loved the trip Cassandra Clare took us on, toying with our minds. That was fun.
Jace soon became irritating with his whole 'my father is evil and might have made me out of demons so I must be evil too' thing. At first Jace brooding over it made sense, but after he found out he wasn't actually part demon, I didn't understand why he kept pushing people away. It just got repetitive, and I lost all interest in Jace and Clary. The supporting characters, however, really kept my interest in the plot and what was happening with them. I definitely like the supporting characters more than I do Jace and Clary, but that's just personal opinion, of course. And I do like Jace and Clary; I'm just glad there are other characters because at times it is easy to become bored of those twoand their angst.

I liked how we got to see what was happening from the different third person perspectives of most of the characters. It filled in a lot of blanks, and to be quite honest, if it had just been all from Clary's point of view, I would have punched a hole in the wall. Or broken my hand trying, anyways.

The different directions that the plots form each book took us was interesting. I like how we slowly found out how the Mortal Instruments came into play, and how we got a history lesson of the Shadowhunters throughout the first three books, either from plot or from Clary teaching herself about them through books from the library. A character betrayal in the first book was one I have to say I did not see coming, and those are my favourite kind of plot twists. It was kind of convenient, I thought, how Jocelyn became comatose. Parents always seem to get in the way, though, so having Jocelyn out of the picture for that reason made sense. She is one of my least favourite characters anyways, but I won't get into that. Although once Clary found out about the Shadowhunters, I wish she had just confessed everything. It would have made things go a lot more smoothly. Of course, then we wouldn't have much plot, would we? Her over-protectiveness of Clary in the later books made me want to smack her. I understood it, of course, since she is Clary's mother. However, when Jocelyn took it to the point where she told Clary to her face that she didn't have hope in her relationship with Jace, that signed the deal of my dislike for her. I really hope we see less of her in the final Mortal Instruments book. She's pretty much useless now that we don't need information about Valentine.

I need to talk about Sebastian/Jonathon for a moment. I love him as a villain, a lot more than I liked Valentine as a villain. I never really got where Valentine came from, but Sebastian I found I was able to feel for at moments. Of course, he turns out to be completely and 100% downright awful and I'm looking forward to his death (because that is pretty much inevitable), but man. A+

I liked seeing the fun-loving, arrogant side of Jace that was first introduced to us in City of Bones when Jace was under the influence of Sebastian. Seeing Jace like that in City of Lost Souls reminded me of how much I liked Jace at the beginning. I have no idea what he will be like in City of Heavenly Fire. I can see it going either way. Either he gets over everything, or he becomes even more whiny. Let's hope it's not the latter. I know Jace has been through a lot now, but I really miss the old Jace. He's not fun anymore. I honestly don't know how Clary puts up with him. I would have given up on him a long time ago, haha.

TMI Character impressions as of now:

• Isabelle, I love you. You are amazing and strong, but also vulnerable because of your parents' relationship. I hope Simon is good for you <3 I wish I were you. I'd love to have a sister or best friend like you. Favourite female character of this series. By far <3 So much respect.
• Simon, you and your sis are so sweet together. I hope we get to see more of her, but also, I love you. You are sarcastic and awesome. Be MY best friend.
• Jace, I hope you stop being so mopey now. Except I doubt that will happen considering... Too bad. I miss your superiority complex.
• Alec, I understand your intentions but oh man :/ I love you. But that was wrong. Hopefully you'll grow up a little and things will be okay.
• Clary, I don't know how you have put up with Jace through all of this. I bow to you.
• Magnus, I love you so much. You have some growing up to do too. You may be old (in the you were born centuries ago sense), but you still have some learning to do. Learn to open up to those who love you and all will be okay <3

Predictions for Heavenly Fire (caution: spoilery) 

• Someone I love will die. Aka one of the characters I've posted about above. But it won't be Clary or Jace. I just don't see either of them being killed off.
• Malec will repair (more of a hope than a prediction)
• Sizzy
• We will find out something about Tessa? Since Clockwork Princess will be out, it won't spoil anything. 
• Ditto finding out about Brother Jeremiah.
• We'll see a little more of characters that will appear in the sequel series aka Emma.
• Clace will live mostly happily every after. Meaning Jace will be cleared of his heavenly fire duh.
• Someone I love will die :'( I know I already said that. I'm just so terrified. 

I'm curious. What are your CoHF predictions?
What do you want to happen?
What don't you want to happen?
---------------------------

Anyways, sorry for the word vomit, but I had to get those feelings out. I have a lot more I could write, but I think I'll leave it at that. However, if anyone would like to discuss this series thusfar a bit more, the comments are open! I'd love to hear your thoughts, even if and especially if they are different from mine! (Not to argue; everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just to compare notes)

Review: The Immortal Rules

Book: The Immortal Rules
Series: Blood of Eden
Author: Julie Kagawa
Goodreads Link: Goodreads Description
My Rating: 4.5/5


Review:

Caution: Possible spoilers below. This has been your warning. You may now proceed with the knowledge that anything I say from hereon out is not my fault for spoiling it, as you have been warning. I cannot stress that enough. Although I do promise that I do not spoil anything of too much importance other than basic plot points that the book trailer and synopses let on.

Okay wow. Where do I begin?

The story begins with a look into the life of Allison Sekemoto (who we can only assume through several hints is of Japanese heritage, but is unaware of it as race is far from importance in this dystopian world -- in the means that people have much bigger things such as vampires and survival to worry about than where they came from). She lives in a dystopian USA run over by vampires. Her city is protected by walls that keep out the rabids (crazed vampires with no sense of thought, personality, or humanity), while the inside is run by the regular vampires. Registered humans give blood to the vampires every so often in exchange for shelter and food. The Unregistereds, which includes Allie, basically forage for themselves and try to stay out of the vampires way.

I must say that I love how there are two very different groups of vampires: the crazy out-of-control rabids, and the city ones. Neither, of course, are the kind you want to be buddy-buddy with, considering all you are to them is a food source, but I would rather take my chances in the city than out in the ruins where the rabids could get me. Then again, I wouldn't want to be under control of vampires, either.

Anyways, Allison gets Turned into a vampire (through events which I will not spoil) and her Creator teaches her the ways of being a bloodsucker. I really liked this bit, because it was not just Allison learning, but also the readers. And we don't learn it in a super boring 'oh my goodness, just get on with it already!' kind of way. We get fed pieces that we can take the time to digest. It worked well, and I applaud Julie Kagawa for that. I won't reveal much more plot-wise, because I hate spoilers and I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, so here are some scrambled thoughts of mine about The Immortal Rules:

I thought the vampire genre had been killed repeatedly already, but Julie Kagawa was able to bring it back in a really interesting way. Tying it in with the current popular genre of dystopias was pretty genius, I must say. But the plot was again an interesting twist on dystopias, as well. It follows, of course, some basic dystopian plot norms, but it does not do so in a way that we know pretty much what is going to happen next. There were a lot of moments where I was like "Whoa! I did not see that coming!" which was great. Predictable is not always fun.

 The characters were pretty amazing, too. Of course Allison is the protagonist and we see everything from her perspective. She is a pretty BA heroine, I must say. Very unlike other protagonists in the vampire genre. Of course, they are usually human and unable to help their helplessness, so perhaps that is a factor.

 One thing I'd like to learn later in this series is how exactly the vampire cities are run so well. Do humans have jobs or do they just slack around? Do vampires do much or do they just feed? We don't get to see that in The Immortal Rules, and that's no fault to the plot or the author or anything -- Allison was never a part of the vampire cities in a direct way, so we might not ever get to see it. But I am curious to know.

The way Allison fought her Hunger felt very realistic to me (although what do I know? I'm no vampire), because she had a lot of trouble with it. In other vampire books and stories (and I'll point out Twilight as a specific because it's one of the few I've read, and also The Vampire Diaries - at least the TV shows as I've not read the books) they show the vampires as 'vegetarian' vampires. Allison's Creator makes it very clear that while it is possible to survive off animal blood, it's like junk food for vampires and never truly fills them up. This makes more sense to me, because it does not glorify being a vampire. As a vampire, you will kill a human. It's what they do. The Hunger will always win out. There are a few exceptional quotes from Allison's vampire Creator when explaining this, and they are some of my favourite quotes from this book. BUT I don't want to give too much away, so... go read the book :P

I know that I am seriously rambling here, so here are some quick sum-up points:

• The description Julie Kagawa uses to describe the vampiric dystopian world sucked me in. It is definitely not a place I would want to live in, but the description was so amazing that I could picture everything in my mind as I read, which is very important to me. Some books have amazing plots but seriously lack in the description, and some books have great description but that overshadows the plot. There was a great balance between plot, characters, and setting in TIR. So, go Julie!
• Allison is great. She is sarcastic, witty, caring, and overall bad ass. I do not picture her as the model on the cover art, considering Allie is supposed to be Asian (I'm guessing Japanese considering the references to the katana and her surname), but that's fine. It did bother me a bit at first, but Julie painted a well-enough description of Allie that I managed to pick up (I'm usually terrible at imagining characters in my mind and often rely on the cover art. My fault, no one else's).
• There is romance. And it is done well. It certainly does not over-shadow the plot. It is a small vine in the forest of the plot, and is done very well. Kudos.
• Julie was not afraid to kill characters. I learned this in the first few chapters and found myself feeling Allison's relectance to get close to any other characters. Which was cool.
• Eden! I don't want to spoil anything. So I won't say anything else about Eden. But I want to. I have questions. But I am sure those questions will be answered in the later books. Hopefully.
• The plot twists! Just when you think you know where the story will go, Julie snags the rug out from under your feet and points you down a new path in the maze. And not in a whiplash sort of way, either. Each twist was well-placed and well-done.
• If you are not a fan of vampire books, this book might just change your mind. I've been hesitant, but picked this one up for two reasons. 1-Julie Kagawa. I read her Iron Fey series and cannot wait for Ethan's trilogy. 2-vampire dystopia? That's new!

 In conclusion, Julie Kagawa continues to be amazing. Some may say the vampire genre has been overdone, but Julie brought it back in an original way. Knowing I have to wait about a year for the second book in this series to be released is...slightly torturous. Buuuut I know it will be worth the wait. Go read this book.

ps: My next review will be less scrambled, this I promise. But if I didn't type this out now, the procrastinating would never end.

A Review: Clockwork Prince

Book: Clockwork Prince
Series: The Infernal Devices
Author: Cassandra Clare
Goodreads link: Goodreads Description
Rating: 5/5

Review:

CAUTION: Possible spoilers below. If you are like me and hate even hints at what could be a spoiler, stop reading this, and just read the book. This has been your warning.

When I originally picked up the first series about Shadowhunters by Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments, everyone was telling me something along the lines of "Oh, you've got to read the prequel series!", and let me assure you, it was very much in my intention. With everyone suggesting I read The Infernal Devices, I read my way through TMI and loved it, and wondered to myself "How can the prequel series possibly be better than the original?" because everyone suggesting I read it claimed it was better. They were right, but it took me until Clockwork Prince to realise this. One reason I love a series of books more than a stand-alone novel is because I get more story and more character, and it's easier for me to fall in love with the characters straight-away (unless the stand-alone book is amazing, but I honestly cannot pick one out -- I pretty much love on book series -- sequels, triologies, quartets, etc.), and The Infernal Devices was no exception to this.

 Not that I disliked Clockwork Angel, but it took until Clockwork Prince for me to really appreciate the characters, and I think the main reason for that is because I knew we were only getting a small part of their individual stories in the first book, and that more was to come in this one. So when we got to learn more about the characters, my gosh, I fell in love with them. Not all of them, of course, but I came to appreciate the ones that I did dislike and hate. I mean what we learn about Will, in particular, as his background story is the one we really get to focus on in this book, just really make you FEEL for him. In Clockwork Angel, I glared a lot at Will (yes, I glare at my books) when he was being an ass (which was basically every time he spoke),  and even though I knew there was more to him than his outer shell, I could not feel for him like I did in Clockwork Prince because I did not know his story. I don't feel blindly, and I'll use Jessamine as a perfect example for that. She was rude, and I felt there was more to her. But there really wasn't; she ended up being completely selfish and a backstabber. But anyways. Amazing character development in this book. It really made me feel for each of the characters, even if I could not relate to them in a way where I understand what they were doing and why (aka Jessamine).

The reason why I'm talking so much about the characters, by the way, is because they are generally what keeps me reading a book. The plot draws me in, but the characters make me want to stay even more. This does not, however, mean that I disliked the plot. The plot was amazing. The things we learned about everything going on created so many more questions. Between Mortmain and, of course, the plot between Tessa, Jem, and Will (which, may I just say here: I DON'T KNOW WHAT MY FEELINGS WERE DOING WHEN WILL FINALLY FOUND OUT YOU KNOW WHAT, AND CAME BACK ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT TESSA AND JEM YOU KNOW WHAT). These questions, I sincerely hope, will be answered in Clockwork Princess, which is not due out until later 2013 (hold me, please). Questions like, 'what is Tessa?' and ... Actually, that is my biggest question right now. Of course I cannot wait to see how the war will play out -- it has been so far set up beautifully. I like how Clare did not make the first half of Angel just about Tessa being introduced to the Shadowhunters and then BAM! War. The war is coming, we know that, but the little battles and side-paths are important and integral. They feed us information and create more questions and don't move the plot too slowly that we get bored. I think I am rambling now, so let's move on.

Okay here is the serious spoiler of this review. The ending chapters seriously blew me away. I was not expecting a proposal. I'm glad Jem stepped up and went for what he wanted, but it tore my heart to remember Will. Speaking of Will, I was very proud with how he handled the situation. Him asking Tessa to change her mind and tell Jem no was a little selfish, but I do not blame him. And I'm glad that Tessa told him she can't do that. But later when Jem announced to everyone their news, Will stood up and congratulated them first and that was very good of him. I'm intrigued as to how this will play out in Clockwork Princess. As well as with the ending cliffhanger there. Cecily. I mean, oh my goodness! With so few pages left I did not expect Will's family to be brought back up until Clockwork Princess. But nope! Cecily shows up and seriously it was such a shock to me. Maybe that's just me. I mean, of course I knew Clare would bring the Herondales back up, but I thought it would wait for Princess, as like I said there were too few pages left for me to imagine it. But she brought in Cecily and it was like slamming into a brick wall -- in the best, most painful way possible. The noise that escaped me reading those last words was so inhuman I'm glad I managed to keep quiet because I finished this book around 1 am when everyone else in my house was asleep. HOW I managed to keep quiet... But anyways, this is not about me.

CLOCKWORK PRINCESS WHY ARE YOU SO FAR AWAY?