I do not like writing bad reviews, I have stated this a few times now. This is just my way of keeping track of the books I have read/attempted to read and my own personal opinion regarding them. Remember reading is subjective - one mans poison and all that.
I will try to add links to positive reviews in order to balance it out.
Cassel is cursed. Cursed by the memory of the fourteen year old girl he murdered. Life at school is a constant trial. Life at home even worse. No-one at home is ever going to forget that Cassel is a killer. No-one at home is ever going to forget that he isn't a magic worker. Cassel's family are one of the big five crime families in America. Ever since magic was prohibited in 1929 magic workers have been driven underground and into crime. And while people still need their touch, their curses, their magical killings, their transformations, times have been hard. His granddad has been driven to drink, his mother is in prison and his brothers detest him as the only one of their family who can't do magic. But there is a secret at the centre of Cassel's family and he's about to inherit it. It's terrifying and that's the truth. The White Cat is a stunning novel of a world changed by magic. In this world only 1% of the population can work magic but they have the power of nightmares.
My thoughts: I did actually read this one to the end. As I closed the last page I just found myself thinking that I had wasted the best part of 3 evenings reading it. I know other people that rave about it and will hunt down their reviews. For me I found the plot quite predictable, the characters were in the main unlikable. Throw in gory imagery and that is me put off completely.
Other opinions:
Synopsis:
How do you describe "Elsewhere"? This is a novel so astoundingly original and carefully crafted that its complexities become common place and the common place resounds with poetry. In this delightful novel death is a beginning, a new start. Liz is killed in a hit a run accident and her 'life' takes a very unexpected turn. At nearly sixteen she knows she will never get married, never have children, and perhaps never fall in love. But in "Elsewhere" all things carry on almost as they did on earth except that the inhabitants get younger, dogs and humans can communicate (at last) new relationships are formed and old ones sadly interrupted on earth are renewed. Full of the most ingenious detail and woven around the most touching and charming relationships this is a novel of hope, of redemption and re-birth. It is a novel that tells of sadness with heart-breaking honesty and of love and happiness with uplifting brilliance.
My thoughts: although I love the premise of this book, I really like the idea of life after death and fulfilling your dreams. However, this take on the after-life ideal just wasn't for me. I didn't like the fact that they worked, rather than getting to a utopia. Plus I found the idea of the relationships formed as they were getting younger just a bit 'ick'. I will admit to only reading the first few chapters and then skimming the end, but unfortunately this one just was not for me.
Other Opinions:
Synopsis:
rewarded, do something bad and Karma will make sure you get what's coming to you. A sort of cosmic balancing act. But when Mason Brooks, Maddy's boyfriend of two years, gets caught tongue-wrestling with Miss Perfect Body Heather Campbell, and absolutely nothing happens to either of them - except that they wind up the hot new couple of Colonial High School, it seems like Karma has officially left Maddy in the lurch. That's why Maddy and her best friends, Angie and Jade, decide to start the Karma Club - a secret organisation whose sole purpose is to clean up the messes that the universe has been leaving behind. Whether they're modifying Heather Campbell's acne cream as part of 'Operation Butterface', or righting a few wrongs when it comes to Angie and Jade's own slimy exes, they know they're just doing what karma should have done in the first place. They're taking care of one another.
My thoughts: although I actually really liked the writing style and the idea behind the story. I love the whole Karma ideal and positive thinking ethos - what you give is what you get; unfortunately I found the female protagonist so utterly annoying, it put me off reading the whole thing. Again, I read the first few chapters and skimmed the end.
Other Opinions:
I was thinking of giving White Cat a try, but i didnt like Holly Black's Tithe, So maybe i'll just get it from the library and save my money. That way I wont feel like i owe it to myself to read it lol.
ReplyDeleteWell you know I'm a little disappointed that you didn't like White Cat, as it's on my TBR pile. But I couldn't get through Elsewhere either. In fact, I read maybe 50 pages, flipped to the end and then didn't bother.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice that you put other reviews of the books to give a more balanced view of them :)
I love, love "Elsewhere", I thought it was such a great book!
ReplyDeleteI love Elsewhere too! It really caught my imagination. I have a feeling I'd like The Karma Club as well - it sounds like my kind of book! It's great to read your views, though, and I really enjoyed this post. Thank you for the link, too!
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