Showing posts with label Orchard books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orchard books. Show all posts

21 October 2012

LETTERBOX LOVE

Letterbox Love is a new meme hosted by Lynsey @ Narratively Speaking for UK based book bloggers to showcase the books that they’ve received each week.

Recently the books I've got have been ones I've bought or downloaded free onto the kindle. I've also been very tempted by some philosophical classics which I may not even by able to read and understand but I have always wanted to give them a go.


Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (bought).

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?


Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (free on Kindle).
(Inspired by Maureen Johnson's Devilish, I decided to give this a try first on kindle to see if I can actually understand it before buying a proper copy.)

Here indeed is a monumental Faust, an audacious man boldly wagering with the devil, Mephistopheles, that no magic, sensuality, experience, or knowledge can lead him to a moment he would wish to last forever.


Pantomime by Laura Lam (kindly given by Strange Chemistry).

R. H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. Nestled among the glowing blue Penglass—remnants of a mysterious civilisation long gone—are wonders beyond the wildest imagination. It’s a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimaera is still there. It’s a place where anyone can hide. Iphigenia Laurus, or Gene, the daughter of a noble family, is uncomfortable in corsets and crinoline, and prefers climbing trees to debutante balls. Micah Grey, a runaway living on the streets, joins the circus as an aerialist’s apprentice and soon becomes the circus’s rising star. But Gene and Micah have balancing acts of their own to perform, and a secret in their blood that could unlock the mysteries of Ellada.


Darkness Falls by Jessica Sorensen (free on kindle).

When the disease spread through the world, people had no choice but to go into hiding. The Colony is hidden deep underground, far away from the vampires—humans that were transformed by the disease. The vampires are hideous, starving, and they will kill any human they come across.
Seventeen-year-old Kayla is a Bellator, a warrior that protects The Colony. In order to survive, there are three rules she must follow:

Rule #1—Never go out after dark.
Rule #2—Always carry a weapon.
Rule #3—No matter what, never EVER get bitten.

But what happens when the rules Kayla has always lived by can no longer apply? 
The Highers run The Colony and accept nothing less than perfection. One slip up can mean death. Kayla has always worked hard to follow the rules and strive for perfection. But during a moment of weakness, she lets her imperfections show. Her punishment is worse than death. She is chosen for The Gathering and is thrown out into a world full of starving vampires. 
No one has ever survived The Gathering, at least that’s what Kayla’s been told. But when she runs into a group who insist they were once part of The Gathering, Kayla discovers the Highers have been keeping secrets. Secrets that could lead to a cure.


Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (bought)
Having read some good reviews on this one, I'm really looking forward to reading it (when I get the time!).

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. 

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.


What's arrived in your post this week?

22 September 2011

REVIEW: ULTRAVIOLET

Ultraviolet
Author: R.J. Anderson
Series: No, standalone
UK Publisher: Orchard books
UK Release date: June 2011
Genre: Paranormal Sci-Fi

Sixteen year old Alison wakes up in a psychiatric unit, with little memory of what brought her there. But what she does know is that she has killed someone. She will have to face the truth of her extrasensory perceptions to remember what happened and get her life back on track.

Review: Ultraviolet isn't anything like you might expect. Alison's suffers from a very intriguing condition - she can see sounds, smell colours, and even taste lies. Sadly she can't see the difference between her condition and mental insanity especially after a breakdown where she thinks she has murdered another girl and is now on anti-psychotic drugs in a mental institution. On a light-hearted note, the description of the way she sees sounds and can describe letters is stunning and beautiful.

The fact that her unusual senses are based on a real neurological condition makes it so fascinating and really brings the story to life and makes it more believable. Learning about her mother's rejection and emotional abandonment of her from a young age because of this condition makes me instantly feel sorry for Alison and instantly disapproving of her mother. But it was Alison's down to earth, humble and shy character that made me feel more than just pity for her, but feel really affectionate towards her.

The first two-thirds of the book are based in the psychiatric hospital, but despite this the plot is fast paced and intense. The insight we're given into what sanity and insanity looks like for different people is so different and interesting, and I totally felt for Alison as she struggled to prove to her family, doctor and even herself that she might be both sane and innocent. Often her every move was interpreted as crazy, and it reminded me of this old experiment when normal sane people were put into a mental institution as tests. Their reaction to the environment and boredom was interpreted by real practitioners as symptoms of psychological disorders, despite the fact that absolutely nothing was wrong with them!

The other young people in the ward each have their own issues, from Kirk's flirtations and pyromania to Sanjoy's delusions of alien invasions. Each of the characters felt completely real and really tugged on my heart strings when I learnt more about them and saw some of the sadness in their lives. On the flipside it is also these colourful characters that bring humour and life to the story.

In the third and final part of the story the plot takes an astounding and completely crazy twist. Although I was half expecting it, for some reason it just didn't live up the rest of the book which I absolutely loved. Maybe I wanted something cleverer or even more surreal, I don't know. Overall I really enjoyed Ultraviolet, but the first half was so much stronger for me and so gripping.

Different, gripping and full of psychological struggles, Ultraviolet is a story of how one girl comes to terms with an unusual gift.

Rating: 4*