Book Review #8: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

This is the same author as the Mortal Intruments series. I really enjoy her work and think that she is a brillant writer. There are a handful of published authors that I hope to meet one day and Cassandra Clare is one of them. She's fantastic.

So Clockwork Angel(Please read my review on The Mortal Instruments so I don't have to break down the whole Shadowhunter hierarchy.)is the world that Ms. Clare has created just rewind a couple hundred years. This series takes place in England -not NY- and is pretty good. Its focused on a girl named Tessa who lives in NY with her brother and aunt(? -its been a while since I've read it and that detail has slipped my mind). Her brother goes to England and eventually sends for her. However something goes wrong on her arrival and she's taken captive. Come to find out she's a very, very special Downworlder with a unique power.

Shadowhunter Will comes in an rescues her and takes her to the... safehouse, for lack of a better term, where she (and the reader if they hadn't read The Mortal Instruments) all about Shadowhunters and Downworlders. HUGE HUGE HUGE twist that I wasn't expecting regarding Tessa's brother and the bad guy. Usually I'm pretty good at guessing the plot line, but this one I didn't unravel until a few pages before the story told me. There is a whole new list of characters and a wee bit of a love twist. Will is the cocky, self assured, mysterious guy. Jem is the guy you take home to your parents. Tessa is torn between the two... of course. I do have to say, I'm not a fan of Tessa -she whines entirely too much. (I do LOVE Clary -the main female character in Mortals- and its RARE that I like the female lead) Anyway, I thought that I liked Will but for some reason, I'm drawn to Jem.

This is the first in The Internal Devices series; I'm excited to read the next one as this one left you on a cliff hanger -isn't that always the goal of good writing?! Not as good as City of Bone/Ashes/Glass but up there. I don't think Ms. Clare can write crap, she's just that good. I give it four hearts. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Book Review #7: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My good friend Sam -and not the main character in my novel- suggested a few series for me to read. I'm thinking that our tastes in books is pretty similar -as are our horse's personalities- so I decided to listen to her. The first set of stories I was told to read was The Hunger Games. She warned me that I had to get past the violent tone of the the story, and that it was a simple read as its a young adult fiction novel. For Christmas my father got me an iPad (SWEETNESS, I know!) and the Barnes & Noble e-reader, the Nook, was a FREE App that I could DL onto my iPad. I purchased a couple mark Twain novels and Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland, then looked to start DL more popular novels. The Hunger Games was the first.

The story is written in first person from Kaniss Everdean. She's 16 and lives with her mom and little sister, Primrose (a.k.a Prim) in "District 12". America no longer exists and the territory is distributed among 12 -used to be 13- districts; all of these are run by The Capital which likes to flex their metaphoric muscles by instituting a nationally publicized game: The Hunger Games. These "games" consist of taking one boy and one girl from each district and putting them in an arena -which is climate controlled by The Capital- where they must survive and fight to the death. There may be only ONE winner.

Enter in Katniss. Her little 12 yo, sensitive, sister's name is pulled out of the lottery, much to Kat's horror. So she volunteers to take her place -as Katniss is skilled in hunting, surviving, and living on little-to-no-food (hunting is illegal, btw). The boy from District 12 to be called is a guy named Peeta. Anyway, so their journey starts. Oh, and I forgot to mention that District 12, they rarely win the games. Out of 70+ years, there has only been 2 winners from Katniss's District. So without giving away alllll the story... I suggest you read it!!!!

The book is simply written, as I said, but somewhere along the line I got SUCKED in. Like a vacuum. Out of no where. I know its a good read when I'll be doing something else (like driving) and find myself itching to read the rest of the story. Its a little over 230 pages and goes by FAST. I inhaled this story! I believe its free of cussing, BUT BUT BUT is rather very violent, I will admit. Not for the faint of heart. Love the first one and can not wait to read the next two. Five hearts... totally. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥