Professional Bibliophile

Author, bibliophile and eccentric. This is my book blog. Think of it as Alice's Wonderland, only more books and less crazy.

[professional-bibliophile]

A Thousand Nights by E.K Johnston

It’s pretty much impossible not to mention The Wrath and The Dawn in this review as both books are adaptations of an original myth/fable/story and came out within a few months of each other. Having read TWATD, I was looking forward to a richly described world, filled with the magic of the desert and the power of old gods and demons, brought to life through brave, vivid characters. I was sadly let down.

The plot is good. Let me start with that, because I was wondering how they would explain the brides in this version and while I don’t think I like this way as much (I’m a sucker for romance!), I did still really like the idea. It fell flat for me though, because it wasn’t fully executed. There was so much potential to develop the back story here, but I felt like we were given nothing. (spoiler alert) The demon was an interesting concept, and the fact that there was more of it would have been something to reveal slightly earlier maybe, or at least worth more than a quick mention for a few pages then vanishing them. Had the build up to their appearance been bigger, they would have been more interesting. The same goes for the demon; there was a very severe lack of personality which I could have understood…had he not had POV chapters. That was Johnston’s chance to make us interested in why, how and what he was doing.

Same with Lo-Melkhiin. There was nothing about his character (or the demon’s really!) in the book at all. Which makes me think this is definitely a standalone. (This is a standalone right?) It has to be, because there were no interesting glances at Lo-Melkhiin, no hints that he has a personality. So it doesn’t really leave a lot of set up for the next book.

And if I’m honest, that was sort of the problem with the whole book. Despite being in first person, none of the characters had any personality. They were occasionally described as “firey” but it was never shown. The main character is never even given a name throughout the entire book, which left me feeling very distanced from the whole thing.

The book felt more like a desert; dry, barren and bereft of any refreshing moments. The characters had no personality and the whole thing lacked the magic and the vivacity that should have come naturally to it. It’s a passable version of the tale, but beware often repetitive and has no romance.

Plot: 2/5 Characters: 0/5 Cover: 5/5 (The main reason I picked it up!) Writing: 2/5

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this.

**I received this copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.**

[velvetiia]

A Thousand Nights by E.K Johnston

It’s pretty much impossible not to mention The Wrath and The Dawn in this review as both books are adaptations of an original myth/fable/story and came out within a few months of each other. Having read TWATD, I was looking forward to a richly described world, filled with the magic of the desert and the power of old gods and demons, brought to life through brave, vivid characters. I was sadly let down.

The plot is good. Let me start with that, because I was wondering how they would explain the brides in this version and while I don’t think I like this way as much (I’m a sucker for romance!), I did still really like the idea. It fell flat for me though, because it wasn’t fully executed. There was so much potential to develop the back story here, but I felt like we were given nothing. (spoiler alert) The demon was an interesting concept, and the fact that there was more of it would have been something to reveal slightly earlier maybe, or at least worth more than a quick mention for a few pages then vanishing them. Had the build up to their appearance been bigger, they would have been more interesting. The same goes for the demon; there was a very severe lack of personality which I could have understood…had he not had POV chapters. That was Johnston’s chance to make us interested in why, how and what he was doing.

Same with Lo-Melkhiin. There was nothing about his character (or the demon’s really!) in the book at all. Which makes me think this is definitely a standalone. (This is a standalone right?) It has to be, because there were no interesting glances at Lo-Melkhiin, no hints that he has a personality. So it doesn’t really leave a lot of set up for the next book.

And if I’m honest, that was sort of the problem with the whole book. Despite being in first person, none of the characters had any personality. They were occasionally described as “firey” but it was never shown. The main character is never even given a name throughout the entire book, which left me feeling very distanced from the whole thing.

The book felt more like a desert; dry, barren and bereft of any refreshing moments. The characters had no personality and the whole thing lacked the magic and the vivacity that should have come naturally to it. It’s a passable version of the tale, but beware often repetitive and has no romance.

Plot: 2/5 Characters: 0/5 Cover: 5/5 (The main reason I picked it up!) Writing: 2/5

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this.

**I received this copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.**

[professional-bibliophile]

The Sweet Scent of Blood (Spellcrackers.com #1) Suzanne McLeod  Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

I've got a lot to say about this book. To start with, I was thrilled to learn that not only was it set in London (woohoo!) but was also written by an English author. After suffering through the nightmare that was Street Magic, with all of it's utterly ridiculous and cringeworthy Cockney slang, (quite obviously written by an American author who has either never been to London or went there when Sid Vicious was kicking around), it was great to read the first chapter of this and see that it was normal.  Then I read on and realised that although the writing itself was ok, the plot, the characters and pretty much every other aspect of the book was awful. A lot of it doesn't make sense at all, and I say that even after having finished the book. I kept waiting for an explanation but none were forthcoming. There was awkward cliché after awkward cliché and what really killed the whole thing for me was the main character having to put on a corset at one point. A goth corset and skirt.  There was no reason for it, it just happened. One minute she's in a dilemma, the next she's like "ok cool, I'll put this corset and skirt on. Of course there are no other clothes around." Another cliché was that she was kind of all over one of the vampires. It wasn't really explained but one minute she was like "I don't know who he is and I think he wants to kill me" and the next moment she's (SPOILER) making out with him. Again, no explanation given.  One of the best examples of the awful writing has to be the (spoiler) fight scene at the police station. I genuinely doesn't make sense. I don't mean in some mysterious, we are yet to discover kind of way, but the writing does not make sense. It's absolutely horrific and I feel like the editor must have literally just skipped that whole part in despair.  To summarise; it was bad. It was really, really bad. The worst part was that if someone else had outlined a plot and some characters for this author then edited it after, she could probably write a fairly decent book. But overall, it was just painful to read. It felt like she got very lost along the way in this one and maybe decided to take out key bits of information that the reader NEEDED to know, in order to make it a bit more ~~~mysterious~~~. It didn't work.  Would I recommend this? God no. There are millions of urban fantasy books out there that are a thousand times better than this.

View all my reviews here.

[maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20]

I am giving away three Sinner advanced review copies to Tumblr people, and because I dislike complicated rules, all you have to do is reblog these two images with the following text or some version of it that doesn’t hurt your soul:

"Sinner, the standalone companion to the #1 NYT Bestselling Shiver series, coming July 1. Custom book wrapper if you pre-order from Fountain Bookstore.”

and you’re entered. International is fine. Only one reblog counts, so if you fall asleep on your keyboard and accidentally reblog it fourteen times, that is still one entry. “Likes” don’t count. It’s running from today until May 31st, when I’ll pick three random reblogs to win.

[professional-bibliophile]

[professional-bibliophile]

Looking For Alaska

Looking for Alaska by John Green My rating: 3 of 5 stars I liked this book. That seems a general statement, but it one that I feel best describes my feelings. The book is different to my usual genre of YA PNR, and without a supernatural element, I often find most books fairly dull. That's not a criticism of those books, it's just my general opinion/taste. However, I've seen a lot of hype around this book, and after speaking to the author, I decided to read it. And surprisingly, I liked it. It was well written, funny, heartbreaking (which I'm told is common in John Green's books), and generally entertaining. I couldn't really find any faults with it because both the plot and the characters are interesting and multi faceted. They felt like real characters, real friends, and not at all like so many characters these days, with wooden actions and robotic thought processes. The reason it didn't get a 4 star review, or a 5 star review from me is for two reasons, and neither is down to anything on the author's part, but my own. Firstly, I don't like the ending. A lot of people will, and it's a personal opinion, not a writing flaw. I just don't like that style of ending, so it lost a star for me. The second reason is simply because it is very rare that I find a book I adore, and I knew before I had even read this one that without a paranormal element, I would not love it. But don't let that discourage you from reading it as it is a good book; enjoyable and more than likely to trigger an existential crisis. View all my reviews

[professional-bibliophile]

Fever

Fever by Lauren DeStefano My rating: 4 of 5 stars Review was actually 4.5 and I wanted to give it 5 stars so badly but I just couldn't. I don't know why, but it seemed like there was a tiny bit of info dumping at the end. But it was only a tiny bit. Minuscule. However, that was the only negative thing in the book. The rest of it was perfect, and that is coming from someone who generally hates dystopian. Why? Because the hopelessness of the situation annoys me. I dislike dystopian so much that I don't, as a general rule, ever read it. Despite that though, I decided to check out Wither as everyone was in love with it and found that yep, so was I. The plot for the first book was amazing, and so is the second. The narrative is excellently written, the characters are just as fresh and alive as they were in the first book and the plot is really good. A little twisted at times (I can never go near a carnival again), but I loved it. The covers so far are some of my all time favourites too, so props to the author for that. View all my reviews

[professional-bibliophile]

A Touch Mortal

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford My rating: 5 of 5 stars If this series gets developed a bit better in the future, I can see it being my favourite. I absolutely adored this book and the characters were brilliant as well as the wonderful, if slightly predictable, plot line. Until about halfway in, this book was a solid 5 stars. But where it went downhill for me was when Eden acted like a brat and where Adam came in. *spoiler alert* I have never liked love triangles. I see them as a last resort when the plot just isn't good enough. Which is why I was sad to see one in this book as the plot was really really good! It was original, unique, a whole host of more synonyms for why I basically loved it. What I'm trying to say is that the plot DIDN'T NEED a love triangle! All the love triangle did for me was make me bored, annoyed and sad. I really don't like them. Now occasionally, a love triangle can be good. So far there has only ever been one book in which I enjoyed the love triangle and that was in Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr. Oh and Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. But apart from that, it's always clear who it will be, it makes the character seem stupid and weak and it really is overused. When a good book introduces an unnecessary love triangle, it makes the book all about said love triangle. Not a good move. *spoliers over* But apart from that I really did love the book. Which is why I'm hoping now that the one complaint I had with it is over, it will go back to being the intriguing and entertaining book it was at the start. Just to say, my actual review is 4.5 stars. Because of my personal vendetta against love triangles. But as soon as that goes away it will be 5 stars again. Because this book is awesome. So stop reading this and go pick up A Touch Mortal. View all my reviews

[professional-bibliophile]

Forever

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater My rating: 5 of 5 stars It's a testament to how well the author can write that I am in love with this book as I have always read books about supernatural/paranormal romance, but I have always had a fastidious distaste of werewolves. I got this book by accident, and when I found out it was about werewolves, I didn't want to read it. But the cover (the uk cover) was so beautiful that I couldn't help but read it. I fell in love with the book and its fluid plot line along with the gorgeous descriptive writing from Sam's eyes to the woods that Grace haunts. I really am hooked on this book, and it takes a very good author to make someone change genre. So its a 5 star review from me on both Shiver and Linger, and I am excitedly awaiting Forever. Also, this book really did make me cry, both from joy and sadness, though don't let that deter you. View all my reviews

[professional-bibliophile]

Darker Still

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber My rating: 4 of 5 stars I finished this book today, after staying awake most of the night in a desperate attempt to finish it. Not because I wanted it to be over, but because Darker Still has an almost addictive lure t it, making me unable to pull my mind away from it for too long. The writing was incredible, with gorgeous almost lyrical style and a few quotes that I felt really showed how wonderful the author's technique was. The book reminded me of The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of my favourite books of all time, written by my beloved Oscar Wilde. (If anyone knows me, they know how much I adore that man.) It wasn't simply the idea of the portrait, but the writing style and the clever little epigrams that Wilde himself would have been proud of. The plot of the story was wonderful, darkly gorgeous and moving at a pace fast enough that it kept (and held) my interest, but not so quickly that I felt lost or confused at any point. It had a natural progression to it that I felt flowed smoothly, allowing me to concentrate on the characters and the story, instead of having to work out what was going on. Especially with the introduction of Natalie and her world as she knew it, how it was established in the start, then as the portrait was introduced, her world began to shift and tilt off it's axis. As a reader, it was enjoyable to be able to see the subtle changes from what was her original world to the new, darker and magically infused one. The world building was so carefully crafted that there were no holes, or flaws, and it seemed to simply be constructing around the characters, with a fluidity that I envy. The characters themselves were gorgeously written, especially that of Mrs Northe. While Natalie and Lord Denbury were interesting and well written, it was Mrs Northe that I found to be the highlight of the characterisations in the novel. Darkly gothic and satirical, with a sharp tongue-in-cheek manner when talking about society and a quirky, unconventional style, I found her to be utterly entralling. When most authors are writing about their characters, the extra dimensions tend to only be applied for their hero/heroine and the love interest. Other characters rarely get the extra layers or intrigue added to their personality and while not being exactly a cardboard cut out, are often less well written. There was none of that in this novel though, with even the extra characters of Mr Stewert and Maggie being 3 dimensional and interesting. Mr Stewert didn't feature heavily in the novel, but that was due to him not having any relevance in most scenes and rather than forcing him in them anyway, the author instead had him off elsewhere which only contributed to his characterisation. Really, I can't praise this novel enough. It was brilliantly written and darkly enchanting with the chilling undertones that make for truly great reading. I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone looking for a novel to read, regardless of genre. View all my reviews