Monday 20 June 2016

The Infernal Devices Discussion!

Hello book lovers, it's been awhile since I last posted something here, especially a book review! However, today shall be the day that I continue to do some blogging on book reviews!

For this review, the first part is SPOILER-FREE, so you can read on with peace, when it comes to the details of the books, I will warn those of you that hasn't read the book yet to STAY AWAY. Unless, you want to get yourself spoilt for the trilogy, but I recommend you don't!

Alright, with the disclaimer stated, let's get started!

So, I recently just read The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare, and I have so much to talk to you guys about!

First off, what is The Infernal Devices? 
          This trilogy is set in the Shadowhunter world and there are demons, vampires, werewolves, and even faeries! This trilogy takes place before The Mortal Instruments series, in 1878.
          The books are Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, and Clockwork Princess.
       
          So, in this trilogy, we follow our three main characters, Tessa Gray, Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs, who had to fight for their own lives, trying to figure out who they are, and to just get on with their lives, and there is also a really huge love triangle in the story.

Here's a synopsis of Clockwork Angel :
In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Timesbestselling Mortal Instruments series.

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them...


Rating :
Clockwork Angel : 5/5 stars
Clockwork Prince : 5/5 stars
Clockwork Princess : 5/5 stars

Now, doesn't the rating says a lot for how good the trilogy is? Well, at least I enjoyed reading them, and the time that I spent with all the characters in the book. However, you might have opinions that differ from mine, so read on to see if this trilogy might interest you.

Characters :
As mentioned above, we start off the trilogy with our main characters, Will Herondale, Jem Carstairs, and Tessa Gray. 
  • Tessa Gray is just the perfect female character you would want to read about who isn't all whiny and useless, trying to depend on every character there is in the book, but instead she is someone who is headstrong, determined and controls her own life, by facing every obstacles there is that stood in front of her. 
  • Will Herondale is a character that is very mysterious, and makes you wonder who he really is behind all the walls that he has put up for himself, to keep everyone away from him. He is someone you wished you have as a partner in real life, to comfort when he is heartbroken, to laugh at when he is really goofy, to swoon at when he makes all the quotes from the classics that he has read. 
  • Jem Carstairs is a really delicate character, one who you can't help but fall in love with, be it his looks or his personality. He is really calm, and forgives people easily, never holding a grudge on someone, especially to those that he loves. He plays beautiful music on his violin, like it's his life that he's holding on to, playing with such gentle hands, expressing himself in a way that he can't with words. You will find yourself falling in love with him, whether you want it or not, he will capture your heart, and play it on the strings of his violin.

Then we have characters who aren't the leads, but they play HUGE roles in the books. We have Charlotte Branwell the head of the London Institute, Henry Branwell; Jessamine Lovelace; Magnus Bane; the two Lightwood brother, Gideon and Gabriel.
  • Charlotte Branwell is a great leader, despite being a female. She faces a lot of obstacles set by people who dislike her for being a leader just because of her gender, trying to bring her down from her position. However, she treats everyone with care, welcome whoever that needs her help to the Institute, and she never resort to violence and betrayal even to the people who backstabbed her, instead she always try to solve things diplomatically instead of violence. She is a character that you will look up to, and will enjoy reading about her in the books.
  • Henry Branwell isn't the character that you will expect yourself to read about. Although he is a man, he doesn't lead the Institute, instead he lets his wife to do the job, while he supports her on the sideline. He puts his time on inventing things, although most of his inventions always brought danger to the shadowhunters in the Institute. Even though he doesn't seem like the guy who is very dependable, he actually is. He supports his wife silently, helping her along the way when things are going all the wrong ways possible in the Institute, giving suggestions to his wife on how to solve things, and he loves his wife a lot, showering his affection on her.
  • Jessamine Lovelace is one of those characters that you can't help but hate. She is really whiny, and does the things opposite to what others want her to do. She hates her life and is always trying to do something in order to change it. She isn't the most favourable character in the books, but you will grow to like her, and understand her, in ways you didn't at the beginning.
  • Magnus Bane is a warlock, and he is the one of the most powerful and also the oldest. Warlocks are half demon and half human, and they are able to perform magic. He is a really interesting character that you will meet, and you will enjoy reading about him in the books. He is someone who is also very mysterious but at the same time has a lot of sass, and isn't afraid to show who he really is to everyone.
  • Gideon Lightwood is a character that only start to play a huge role in the second book, and he is just really calm, and super chill with whatever he do, but when things come to his brother, he seems to have a 'brother complex' and he has NO chill at all. 

Okay so basically that is all for the characters. I have to say, they all just grow onto me after the third book, and I couldn't even bear to finish the story. *deep breathes*

TMI or TID first?
So a lot of you will be wondering, should I read The Mortal Instruments (TMI) or The Infernal Devices (TID) first.
For me, I read City of Bones first, then reading Clockwork Angel, proceeding with City of Ashes when I was in the middle of Clockwork Prince (oops haha!) and then Clockwork Princess. However, there are definitely a lot of different ways of reading the Shadowhunters Saga (is this what you call the whole thing...?)

First, you can read it according to the timeline of the book, TID then TMI.
Second, by the way Cassie Clare suggests:

  1. City of Bones
  2. City of Ashes
  3. City of Glass
  4. Clockwork Angel
  5. Clockwork Prince
  6. Clockwork Princess
  7. City of Fallen Angels
  8. Clity of Lost Souls
  9. City of Heavenly Fire
Third, if you are worried that you cannot get into TMI, then go for TID first, since it helped a lot of people to get into the series, and they loved TID better!

Okay with that, I will end the non-spoiler part of this post, and hopefully you will feel excited to read this trilogy now! Do not read on if you haven't finish this trilogy! Okay, BYE!


So here on, it will be spoilery... So, stay away if you don't want to be spoiled on the third book : Clockwork Princess! 

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!!
CLOCKWORK PRINCESS SPOILER!
PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

I definitely enjoyed Clockwork Princess a lot, more than Clockwork Prince, but maybe slightly lower than Clockwork Angel. 

Clockwork Princess started off with a bang, and it was just fantastic! Seeing Tessa in her wedding dress was really fun, and the way she has to fight the worm in that dress was even more hilarious! I have to say, the part where Jem was trying to stop Tessa from going into the battlefield was just so sweet! And I loved the comeback of Will when Jem said how Will wouldn't be able to fight in the wedding dress. He just said "Perhaps not," said Will, who had ears like a bat's. "But I would make a radiant bride.” This part was just #sassyherondale. 

What I like about this book:
A LOT OF THINGS, haha! But I guess one of my favourite part was all the interaction between the ships, especially Gideon and Sophie, as well as Gabriel and Cecily. The way they had to overcome the obstacles they were facing in order to be together, was just so heartwarming and so cute.

I also liked the part where we got to see the power of the Parabatai rune coming into action. Although it was a really sad scene, it was just so amazing seeing how the rune really bonded them together and you can see how Will and Jem really loved each other, the way Will was so angry and hurt for not being able to be by Jem's side. 
Okay, this is definitely not a very happy scene, but I was just so captivated by the whole thing. (My breath was just getting shallower as I was reading it, like I was hiking up to the submit of Mount Everest. I couldn't handle this scene, at all.)

Oh and I definitely enjoyed that small conversation between Charlotte and Henry about the baby's name. It was just such a cutesy scene, and oh so wonderful to see them immerse themselves in the world of just the three of them, not thinking about the horror of the reality and Mortmain.

What I hated about this book:
MORTMAIN. That guy is just so annoying and disgusting, I can't even. I never knew someone can have a rotting brain and heart in them, not using it to think. I hated how he treated Tessa's mother, making her make out with a demon whom she thought was her husband in order to create Tessa was just so messed up. 
Regardless of whatever reasons he had to do all these things, and how bad his childhood was, he still don't have the right to mess someone else's life in order to fulfill what he wants. (The typical plot where the antagonist has a bad childhood which leads to him being all messed up in the head)

Confusing scenes:
Let's be real here, I got really confused at the part where Tessa decides to lay herself out there in that cave for Will when she heard that Jem was already gone. I mean, seriously? If you really loved Jem, you wouldn't be like "Ok, let's get this on with it Will." (Okay, I know I'm being mean or not true to the later part of the scenes, but when I just read about what she was doing, that was my thought. I couldn't understand why she could just give herself to Will really easily and not even think about Jem. 
I know she did that because she loved Will, and time was running out, so in order to confess their love for each other, they decided to do that. But I really did not expect that, I thought she will be guilty and try to not want to do it with Will because of her engagement with Jem... 
Maybe I am reading too much into this part, and I'm sure a lot of people will be hating me after they read this small review.

Interesting facts:
I loved how the part where Tessa's clockwork angel actually burned a small star onto Will's shoulder, and it will be forever in the Herondale's blood, which was just so awesome and interesting. 

I was really shocked that Jem didn't die and turned out to be Brother Zachariah, major shock! I was actually assuming him to be Brother Jeremiah, since their names bother started with 'J' but I'm glad he wasn't. (You will know what I mean if you've read City of Ashes) Now I can't wait to see Brother Zach again in the TMI!

You guys know how we all will cry in this book right, and some people told me I will cry around this part, and I was nearing the ending and I still didn't cry, trying to figure out what's the sad part of this book... I didn't get why people cried so much about this book. It wasn't until I reached the epilogue of the book, did I know the pain that people suffered when reading this book! 
The epilogue really killed me. (Although it wasn't like a full-crying-nose-with-snot cry, it was still really sad. 
The way Will called Brother Zach over to him when he was on his deathbed, and the part when he played the violin for him the last, and said "Ave Atque Vale", my heart just literally tore into two parts, and into million pieces, and tried to fix itself back but it will never be whole again.

All right, I hope you readers out there aren't like me, controlling the tears as I typed my small review out. I hope you guys enjoyed this TID Discussion and it will spark your love for all the characters once again! 
With this, I will end this post here. Happy Reading! =)

Thursday 2 June 2016

Me Before You Review

Hello book lovers, it's been a REALLY long time since I last updated this blog. I didn't really have any books I would like to review, so thus the semi-hiatus on this blog.

However, there is a book that I recently read in April, and I LOVED it, the movie is also coming out in June 2nd, so I thought why not just do a review on this book, to get you guys pumped up for the release of the movie?

NOTE: This review is non-spoiler in the first part, and the remaining will be spoiler, BUT I will let you guys know beforehand that the spoiler is coming in red, so just stay clear from it, if you haven't read the book and would not like to be spoiled (which I recommend you to do so).

So the title suggests everything, so let's get started with the review!

Synopsis (from Goodreads) :
Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.
What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.
What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.
 


There are a lot of things that I love about this book, and things that makes this book unforgettable for me, even after I finished reading it, I will still be thinking about it. Although there are some slight issues that I didn't like, I still love the book so much!

Thus the rating: 5/5 stars

What I love about this book:
I really enjoy reading about the characters, they were really the main event of the book, where you try to get to know them more as you dive deeper into the book, flipping the pages filled with curiosity trying to find out more about them. My favourite character definitely has to be Lou and Will, we will get to why soon.

I also love the whole plot of the book, where everything is planned out in a way you will not be able to predict anything, and the story is really unique and interesting, something that I have not read about before.
Just the introduction itself blew my mind away, with all the actions and coming at you all of a sudden.

I like how the author actually did her research before writing this novel, giving as much details as she could about the issue at hand with our main character, trying to stick true to things, and trying not to gloss over anything.

Characters:
As mentioned previously, I really love our main characters, Lou and Will.

Lou:  As a main character, she really shines and makes you really feel like you are her. Although she is very different from people in real life, just looking at her being so genuine with everything, you can feel like she is really someone you know, and not just some fictional character. Always being cheerful and optimistic, handling things clumsily, but always never give up and trying her best to do her things makes you feel like looking up to her as a role model.

Will: Our next main character you will be reading about frequently is Will Traynor. He is those typical guys who think they look good and have the money, thus they can do anything they want, (which is kind of true in a way). He is very hyper and loves the thrill to life by doing the most dangerous yet exciting things in life before something happened to him. Even after what happened, he still really tried his hardest to deal with life even though there are many obstacles he has to deal with. He is a character that you will definitely grow attached to by the end of the book, and is someone whom you will never forget about.

Nathan: This character is our caretaker in the book, and he appears not as often but still holds a really important role in the book. I didn't really like him at the start of the book, and my opinion of him only really changed when it is nearing the end of the story. He has this arrogance aura around him, which makes him less appealing to me, which started to change after I get to know more about him in the book. (Which I have to say is a huge change).

Katrina: Now this character here is Louisa's sister, and I have to be honest and tell you guys that I despise her a lot, not just a little, but even nearing the end of the book, there is still this rage in me whenever I see her name in the book. Don't get me wrong though, she is a really cool and smart character, but then, her personality is just really bad.

Camillia: This character is Will's mother, and I have to admit, I hated her in the first half of the book. I really hated her presence, the way she treats Lou, and how the world just revolves around her and everybody has to bow down to her. However, as the story goes, and you understand what she really thinks and feels, it really changes your opinion of her!

This are just some of the characters that are more unforgettable than the others, but there are still some characters that I don't really like but they mostly appear for a few scenes, so I feel like you should get to know more about them yourself!

What I dislike about this book:
There is actually nothing about this book that I hate, besides the characters, and some parts of the book (which I will not talk about).
So for the characters, some of them are just really a pain to read, and they are just so annoying. Sometimes, when I read and they come into the scene, I feel like just dragging them out of the room and throw them down to hell. Some of them I am just so glad that they got out of Will's life, because my baby doesn't need this kind of people, they can just rot in hell.

Let's move on to something happier about this book.

My thoughts on this book:
Although the synopsis of this book is very simple and doesn't let you know too much, to be very honest with you, when I read that synopsis, I wasn't a huge fan of it, and it doesn't strike me as a book that will be so unique and interesting. I was almost put off by that synopsis, thinking that this book isn't as good as it will be, and that it might even be boring. But nonetheless, the reason I picked this book up is because of the movie trailer.  (FUN FACT: If you haven't read the book yet, please don't watch the trailer, it's full of spoilers here and there. The editor edits the video in such a way you don't even know that it's a spoiler from the book)

Mostly the reason why I enjoyed this book was how genuine the characters are, Jojo Moyes makes the characters come alive, and you can really feel them being in this world, and that they could even be around you. The characters were all so unique and interesting, and their thoughts are most definitely different from how normal people thinks, and that might sometimes even surprise me, since I wasn't expecting it from them.

This book felt like you are hiking towards the top of the mountain, the first parts were a little slow as it builds up the introduction and the scene and dropping small little details here and there in the book, and as you slowly get to the middle of the book, that's where things starts to pick up their pace and you know, that things are finally exciting and worth to continue reading.

This book got me laughing (like really laugh out loud) and even giggled, and obviously I swooned over that hot guy in the book (Will) and yes, I eventually cried at the end. (From a happy cry or a sad cry? Who knows. You will just have to read the book to know what I mean)

Okay, so with this, I will end the NON-SPOILER review here. You can read on, ONLY if you have finished reading the book, because the next part that I am getting to is the spoiler details.

So thank you for reading this non-spoiler part of the review, and hopefully it makes you feel like reading the book! With that, I will end off the first part of the review!

(SPOILER AHEAD!)

(SPOILER AHEAD!)
PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!!

Characters:
I'm pretty sure you guys already know that this book is focused heavily on the characters, so of course there will be some characters that I just can't stop myself from hating. Let's see if we have the same opinions!

Rupert: My hate for this character is just so strong, that it's not even funny. I hated him so much, because let's be honest here, if it wasn't for him, calling Will and rushing him, he wouldn't have jay-walk, and he wouldn't have had that accident, which was partly this guy's fault. However, you can argue to defend him about how he didn't know that he would have jay-walk. And I was okay with him at first, until he suddenly came to visit Will with his girlfriend, Alicia, which I should remind you was Will's ex. Really, Rupert? Are you seriously that desperate? And he came to visit him, making himself look good, trying to show that the whole accident wasn't him who caused it, and acted very innocent.

Alicia: This girl have my anger rising to the brim. I detest her as much as I love Will, and that says a lot. I never hated on a character this much, and this is a first. She acted so innocent, and made it sound like the whole "let's-abandon-Will" thing look like it wasn't her fault for leaving Will's side (which I am very glad that she left him, he don't deserve this person). The way she cried to Lou saying how she tried really hard to get him back to living life, but he won't look at her like how he did before the accident, and all this made her "disappointed" and had no choice but to leave? This is just excuses, and I cannot deal with it.


Katrina: So just now in the first part I mentioned that this person is Lou's sister, and let's be real here, I hated her from the beginning, and maybe my opinion of her changed slightly at the ending, but not much really. She was just so over-dependent on Lou, expecting Lou to sacrifice everything for her, as if Lou didn't have a life to live. She always act as if she needed help, and that her life is the most important, and nothing else should be mattered, which kind of got really irritating after awhile. She got to have everything that is good in life, while Lou has to suffer and yet, the sister is always the right one.


Patrick: Okay, this guy is not even a human, he is just heartless, and someone I would like to bash when I see him, if only he was a real person. He is just not understanding, expects Lou to listen to him, constraining her from doing what she loves, and keeps forcing her to become a personal trainer, or to start training, something along those lines. And it was just so irritating after reading about him. He is so petty about everything, and wants to dominate over every single little thing, which was really tiring to read about after some time. In the scene at the dinner party for Lou, he was just so annoying, and he kept being so sarcastic to Will about his problems. 


Favourite scenes:
So let's talk about some of the scenes in the book, that happen to left me with a very vivid memory.

  • When Lou first met Will, and he starting acting crazy, crying and shouting, and it turns out to be an act to scare Lou off was just hilarious. I loved that scene and it was just a really wonderful scene, which in my opinion, I feel like Will did that to see if she is the right person to take care of him.
  • At the wedding of Rupert and Alicia, where Will brought Lou along to congratulate them, and she found more things about Will, and even got to dance with him was just the best scene ever. Although after the wedding when things went downhill wasn't what I expected, but still, that scene was just glorious.
  • This scene was my favourite out of all the other scenes, when Lou was feeding Will to eat, and she actually hide the vegetable from him behind the other food, to "trick" him to eat it, and he ended up finding out about it was just the funniest and perfect scene. It was all a habit after having to feed Thomas for years and he didn't like to eat his vegetables, which suddenly came out when trying to feed Will. I will never be able to forget about this scene.
Ending:
I am very speechless about this ending, although I already expected it to happen, I still didn't want it to be this way. Everything they did together, everything they went through together just went out to the drain after he left this world. Maybe everything wasn't for nothing as it left Lou with all the wonderful memories she would never have if she never met him, but still... I didn't want it to be this way. And the way she actually left him before he even had the chance to say goodbye and left for Switzerland was even sadder. 
The last part where he was on the bed and she laid down beside her, and she knew that nothing she say will ever change his mind, and she just stayed quiet, suffering on the inside as she listened to Will talk, which makes the whole scene even sadder and I just want to cry. (writing this review seriously makes me want to cry once more)

Fun fact:
I cried after reading this book, and then went to watch the trailer of the movie and the feels was so strong that I cried again because I couldn't accept the fact about Will, and then I went back to the book and read the ending once more, and it just left me hanging and I can't even handle it, and as expected, I cried the third time.

Alright, with this, I will end this blog post here. Thank you for taking your time to read this, I know I haven't been posting much, but this book, I can't just read it without posting my thoughts on it. Now after writing this review just made me so excited for the movie, but at the same time, I don't want the sad feelings to hit me again in the cinemas. 

Until the next post is up, happy reading! =)