Friday, February 28, 2014

Feature And Follow #8




Hey guys! 

So this is a blog hop, which basically means, that it's a way to find and follow new blogs, by hopping from one to the other? Hahaha that's what I understand anyway! 
This particular blog hop, this particular 'Feature Follow' is hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee and Alison at Alison Can Read. Check out their blogs, they're pretty awesome if I do say so myself! 




It'd be awesome if you could subscribe to my new Booktube channel over at Emdawg Reads too!



 To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
  1. (Required) Follow the Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
  2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers.
  3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
  4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
  5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
  6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
  7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
  8. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!





The Fall of Five
  by Pitticus Lore

This must be like, the fiftieth time I've brought up the Lorien Legacies series on my blog, but I just love it so much! The Fall of Five, the forth book, annoyed me so much. Not that I didn't like it, I really did, but one thing in particular ruined it for me!

Eight should never have died! His death didn't add anything to the plot, apart from realisation that Five is an idiot! He was one of the best characters in the series for Pete's sake!

I would have done it differently. Eight would have lived, and he, Six, Seven and Nine would have injured Five to the point where he had to flee. Then the gang would focus on getting Ella back, setting up the plot for the next book. It just makes so much more sense!










See you later guys!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

City Of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare


Title: City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #3)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: McElderry Books
Published: May 8, 2012
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
Source: Amazon

What price is too high to pay, even for love?

When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other.

As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?




'City of Lost Souls' made me happy. After the previous book, my expectations weren't too high, but I feel like I would have loved this book regardless. And I do, love this book. Signature to other Cassandra Clare works, it's filled with everything you could possibly want from a book. A brilliant story, awesome characters, and easy to read yet not too simple language, to name a few. Humor too! You wouldn't necessarily expect a book, or even a series like this to make you laugh, but I can honestly say that there were times where I cracked up whilst reading. It was fantastic!

Try as I might to fault this book, I just couldn't! Equally as difficult was picking my favourite aspect of it. It was that good! One of the few things I felt I enjoyed the most, however, was the story. The storyline for this series is, in ways generic, but in others, so utterly unique! This book in particular, I thought, was even more so! I thought the story was really well written, with all the sub-plots and everything! I loved how the story seemed to knit itself together, and in a seemingly effortless way too!
After ending on a high, with the previous book, 'City of Fallen Angels', I expected a slow beginning, but it wasn't slow at all, and man was I grateful for that! It didn't take forever for the characters to find out where Jace was, like I expected, and when they did, a new, very interesting plot was set in place. All the various different sub-plots were separate and connected at the same time, and how the story flowed from one to the next was smooth and awesome to read! If you're familiar with Clare's work, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Another thing that really stood out to me, was how much our characters developed in this book. There are what, eight or nine different main characters in this series, and to have developed them all, even in the slightest? I truly applaud you Cassandra Clare! I became so heavily invested in each one, including Jordan, the most recent addition, I believe. I empathised with every single one of them, shared in their excitement when they were excited, and in their sadness when they were sad. To have done that really needed planned developments and creativity!

I thought it was brilliant how this book doesn't focus just on Clary, and I know during 'City of Bones' and 'City of Ashes' I thought the books would be better from just her point of view, but now I'm really starting to appreciate the way in which these books are written. You get to really see what's happening with all of the characters, see the many characters you love change and develop, and not just one. I went from being bored by Jace, to really liking him as a character! That's saying something!

Nearing the end of the book, as I, almost literally, was tearing through the pages, did I realise another thing. Cassandra Clare has a knack for writing endings! Though the epilogue seemed painfully long before starting it, I flew through it and ended up craving more. It was the perfect mix of bringing the story together, and at the same time, setting up the plot for the next book. When Maryse showed Brother Enoch the gift from Sebastian, I got so hyped up to read on!

In all, this book was fantastic, and I absolutely cannot wait for the next book to be released in May!



I really want to hear what you guys thought of the book!
Thanks for reading guys!

Monday, February 24, 2014

My Booktube Channel - Emdawg Reads



Hey guys!

I've done it! Well, half done it.. I finally made a youtube/booktube channel! It's called, Emdawg Reads and now, not only can I talk about books here on the blog, but I can talk about all things bookish on booktube too!

Currently there aren't any videos posted, but I've filmed a few and will start editing soon! When I do start posting, you can expect things like book hauls, the usual book reviews, book discussions, bookish tags and so much more! Sound good? Well if you do like the sound of it, why don't you go on over and subscribe, so you won't miss any!

Being the anxious person that I am, filming the first video was so weird, but I can already feel myself loosening up, and before soon, I'll be quite the natural! Haha. But all joking aside, I'm so excited about this, and encourage anyone who's thinking of trying it, to go ahead!


So yeah, don't forget to subscribe to the channel, and thanks for reading!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Feature And Follow #7




Hey guys! 

So this is a blog hop, which basically means, that it's a way to find and follow new blogs, by hopping from one to the other? Hahaha that's what I understand anyway! 
This particular blog hop, this particular 'Feature Follow' is hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee and Alison at Alison Can Read. Check out their blogs, they're pretty awesome if I do say so myself! 

If you're participating, and actually want to follow my blog, because you're just so awesome like that, just become a member of my blog in the little sidebar GFC thing! Oh and on Bloglovin, if you don't mind! Haha





 To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
  1. (Required) Follow the Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
  2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers.
  3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
  4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
  5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
  6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
  7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
  8. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!










I didn't actually cry whilst 
nor did I cry after reading 
The Fault in our Stars by John Green. 

Actually I don't think I've ever cried 
because of a book, 
but this was the first to come very close!


















See you later guys!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

City Of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare



Title: City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: McElderry Books
Published: April 5, 2011
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
Source: Amazon

The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

 But nothing comes without a price.

 Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.



'City of Fallen Angels', forth book in the Mortal Instruments series, disappointed. Continuing the series after the great 'City of Glass', this book was expected to accept the baton and run its portion of the race, eventually handing satisfied fans over to its sequel. Unfortunately City of Fallen Angels tired about halfway through and was forced to drag itself across the finish line. The renewed plot, after the previously-thought finale in City of Glass, was slow to arrive, the quality of the writing just wasn't the same, and previously-redeemed characters, yes Jace that's you I'm talking about, seemed to spiral out of control. This book was a good read, but could have done with some series tweaking.

I'll be quick to address what exactly I didn't like in this book. While it was nice and entertaining to return to the lives of our mostly awesome group of characters, and it was cool to continue down each of their different paths, I thought it could have been done much better.

Personally, the plot didn't start until three-quarters of the way into the book, in and around 250-300 pages. That's a lot to get through. I felt like the beginning was just spent catching up and became really repetitive really quickly. I did actually really enjoy parts of the first half, even found myself laughing at times, but turns out I sighed with frustration more times than laughed.
Then I thought the author, Cassandra Clare, tried to include bits and pieces of the actual story in a way that would build up the suspense. For me, that didn't work too well. By the time all the serious stuff started happening, I was so detached, that I found it really difficult to enjoy the book.

Speaking of being detached, what was that whole 'can't happen' romance between Jace and Clary. We all know, at this point, that Jace and Clary aren't in fact siblings, so what's keeping them apart right? I really believe Clare just enjoyed keeping them apart for the sake of, finding any sort of excuse to do so and rolling with it. Which I hated, because it made me really dislike Jace. Like, even more! I'd been rooting for the couple for three books before starting this one, and now, after reading I hate to admit that I'm not too bothered with whether they stay together or not.
I understand Jace being afraid to hurt her while under the influence of a certain evil someone, what I didn't get was the whole self-pitying, self-punishing, self-loathing thing. Whenever Jace spoke about how he loved her and explained how he didn't think he deserved her, all I heard was "I love you, so I can't be with you." It makes no sense whatsoever, I know, but that's how I thought it came across.

I think it's safe to say that I didn't like Jace's character. Luckily, I liked every other character to the extent that my disliking Jace didn't completely override my thoughts on the book. I also really enjoyed exploring the relationships between the different characters, other than the Jary/Clace one that is. Maia and Kyle, Jocelyn and Luke, Alec and Magnus, and my personal favourite, Simon and Isabelle. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked those two, their individual character developments, and their relationship.

Well, that brings us to the ending. While I absolutely loved learning about Lilith and her plans, I thought that Clare's writing didn't do it justice. For some really strange reason the ending seemed really rushed and ill-prepared, and I couldn't help but wish she'd taken her time while writing it, because it was such a crucial moment in the book!

Unfortunately I was let down by this the fourth book in the series, and hope the next is an improvement!



I know there are a lot of mixed opinions about this book. What did you guys think of it?
Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

"Should-Be" Covers



I'm pretty fond of the Mortal Instruments series. Not too fond of the covers though..

I was looking around Tumblr, something I almost never do, and came across these fanmade covers at The Manila Institute. Dare I say, that I think these are so much better than the originals! Based on the books I've read, the stories are so well captured in these fanmade covers, better than they are in the actual covers.

Personally, I think they're fantastic! What do you guys think of them?


Tuesday, February 18, 2014

City Of Glass by Cassadra Clare


Title: City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Published: March 29, 2009
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
Source: Easons

To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

 As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City - whatever the cost?




That's how I felt after finishing this book.
'City of Glass' is the fantastic third book in the Mortal Instruments series, a great sequel to 'City of Ashes', and an all-round awesome read! It's chalk-full of exciting fight sequences, yet sprinkled with surprising, and well-appreciated humor. It harbors a romance aspect, but one much more interesting than those of most other books, and is home to a great bunch of entertaining characters. The plot is nicely woven with just the right amount of everything, perfected with a smooth-flowing and easy to read writing style. This book was brilliant.

In my opinion, the first two books in this world-renowned series, were slightly over-hyped. I read and enjoyed them, but wasn't left with the absolute certainty that they deserved all the fame. This book, however, completely changed my perspective. It follows Clary, through a now, more plausible example of character development, as she tries to cope with the madness around her. She's distraught as her Mother is yet to wake from some magical coma, she's walking on thin ice with the fragile relationship between herself and best friend Simon, she has a fair bit to learn when it comes to her new role as a shadowhunter, and finally she is trying to end the battle with herself over her love for 'brother' Jace.

I'm aware that these books aren't actually focused on one particular character, that the point of views tend to drift over the stories of the main characters, but it was easier for me to just put Clary in the lead. It's for that reason, that I noticed more of a change in her character, than in any of the others. Okay, maybe except for Jace, but anyway. 'City of Bones' Clary and 'City of Glass' Clary are, for me, two completely different people, and the journey from the first book, to this point, made for a great read. I loved how Clary handled everything she came against, with maturity and reasoning. Even at that, however, I think would have held her in higher regard, were the books solely written from her point of view.
Clary may have been my favourite character in this book, but the character of Jace was definitely the most impressive. It's quite distinct, the difference that is, between his character two books ago, and at the end of the third book. Even from the start of this book, to it's closing pages the difference in character is still rather evident. I speak only for myself, mainly because I don't want Jace-loving fans after me, in saying that Jace's character in the first two books, and some of the third, just came off as petulant, a little overly sarcastic, and really annoying. I had no respect for the guy. But after finishing the book, I saw him in a whole new light. Everything came together, the character development was much more clear and concise, and I actually liked him.

Speaking of clear and concise, can we just talk about the plot in this book for a sec! Wow! In the past, the author, Cassandra Clare, didn't seem too sure of where she was taking the story, and that kind of irked me. But 'City of Glass' showed obvious signs of careful planning, as well as undeniable creativity. The twists in the story, especially nearing the end, had me utterly and genuinely baffled, and for a while I was unable to believe the cleverness of it all. All the insight into relations between Shadowhunters and Downworlders, the history of how Valentine experimented on his children with demon and angel blood, everything was just so intriguing and very well written.

I think I made the right decision by buying all the books in the series at once, because right now I just want to start 'City of Fallen Angels'! Just to re-iterate this whole review, I thought this book was brilliant, and was very impressed with Cassandra Clare.




What you guys thought of this book, particularly the plot, is what I want to know! Haha
Thanks for reading guys!

Saturday, February 15, 2014

City Of Ashes by Cassandra Clare



Title: City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Published: March 25, 2008
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
Source: Easons

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

 To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?



I started this book, honestly, with low hopes and even lower expectations. The first book, 'City of Bones', was just one of those books, where after reading it, you're not in too much of a hurry to get your hands on the sequel. At least, that was my experience. Overtime I began to forget about the series itself, until recently, when I braved the idea of buying the rest of the series and forcing myself to read it.
I regret nothing.. so far.

The beginning of 'City of Ashes' almost turned me off. The book begins with Clary settling back into a daily routine of watching T.v with Simon, thinking of her Mother and how desperately she wished the woman could just wake up, then thinking of her brother Jace, in ways that she shouldn't, chiding herself for thinking about her brother Jace in ways that she shouldn't. If the book had been written from just Clary's point of view, getting into the story would have proved some task, but fortunately we have what's going on in the Institute for redemption. On the shadowhunter side of things, Maryse exiles Jace from the Institute, and just when I was starting to like Jace, he throws his tantrum and goes to beat up have a dozen werewolves in Luke's bar.
Though this wasn't the best way to be re-introduced to Jace's character, it sure was a good source of entertainment.

Right about this time, was when my thoughts on the characters began forming. Let's take the obvious cases, of Jace and Clary. If you've read 'City of Bones' you'll know that these are our two protagonists, more or less, so it was kinda disappointing that after a few chapters of reading the book, I disliked both of them. And I mean really disliked. Clary wasn't too bad, other than the fact that she came off as rather childish and quite annoying. In fact, there was this one moment, when Clary was talking to Max Lightwood, and he said she looked fourteen as opposed to sixteen, her actual age. I couldn't help but think whether the author, Cassandra Clare did this purposely, for self-deprecation or something, but I remember absolutely loving it, and having to suppress laughter (because I read it on the bus and would've looked freaking weird had I laughed aloud).

Jace, was a whole other story. I'm not sure if Clare's interpretation is all that accurate, whether girls are actually drawn to the selfish, sarcastic, condescending, arrogant, and a million other nasty adjectives, type of guy, but for the better part of this book, it sure did look like it. Jace's personality, in my opinion, was really unappealing for the most part, which was a shame because I really wanted to like him.

Then, something magical happened. I was rewarded for sticking through all the not-so-enjoyable chapters, with awesome interpretations such as deadly faeries, genuinely funny moments like the one in Seelie Court, when they were all talking about kissing, creepy introductions to the Inquisitor and the Soul Sword. Out of nowhere, everything that I was inwardly complaining about, had been changed in some way, or developed, and turned the story around. Suddenly there were perfectly-written action sequences, and interesting plot reveals, and major character development.

As the story fleshed out, I started to like the characters more. Particularly, Clary. As I already said, she seemed really childish and overall not a very strong protagonist for the first part of the book, but that changed and I soon found myself really liking her. And I really have to commend Clare on that. Jace, still not so much though.
Alec, Simon, Magnus, and Isabelle were also characters I really enjoyed following!

The plot was perhaps my favourite part of the whole book. Once it picked up, every chapter was a new, very interesting adventure! I would never have guessed that Simon would have such a big, and awesome role in this book, and what happens to him near the end. Neither, was I expecting the reveal of Jace's and Clary's special abilities. The various plot additions made me want to tear through the book and find out what was in store fore them, and oh, was it big!

All in all, I'm so glad I picked this up, and can't wait to read on with the rest of the series!
If you've read it, how was City of Ashes for you? If not, and you're interested in YA fantasy, I would recommend this series!

 


Thanks for reading guys!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

The Son Of Neptune by Rick Riordan


Title: The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus #2)
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Published: October 4, 2011
Genre: Young Adult / Greek Myth
Source: Kindle store

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,  

To storm or fire the world must fall. 

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. 


Percy is confused. When he awoke from his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight with the pen/sword in his pocket. Somehow Percy manages to make it to a camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he has to keep killing monsters along the way. But the camp doesn't ring any bells with him. The only thing he can recall from his past is another name: Annabeth





Oh wow, this book is something else. After reading and loving the Percy Jackson series, then the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series, my excitement for this book was just sky high. I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed!

The Son of Neptune starts off with the infamous Percy Jackson, who is believed to be missing by everyone back at Camp Half-Blood, his home. After escaping two gorgons, meeting Juno and arriving at Camp Jupiter, he meets and quickly befriends Hazel Lavesque and Frank Zhang, two demigods at the Roman demigod camp, Camp Jupiter.

First of all, can I just explain how much of a relief it was to finally read about Percy again. The Lost Hero was great, don't get me wrong, but we all love Percy, and after reading that he'd mysteriously disappeared, just when we finally got some Percabeth action, it was awesome to finally see things through his eyes.

Percy finds Camp Jupiter, and it gives a whole new twist to the stories we're used to reading. Up to now, we had only ever seen Camp Half-Blood, the camp for Greek Demigods, and as much as I disliked the new camp, I'll admit getting to know it was pretty cool. Predominantly, 'The Son of Neptune' is set in this new camp, so of course we're going to expect a fair bit of world-building, and fortunately, the author, Riordan doesn't let us down. To be honest, he never does! By now we're all geniuses when it comes to Greek myths, because of the Percy Jackson series, and 'The Lost Hero' book, but now we are offered more insight to the world of Roman myths. I loved learning about how the demigods were sorted into Cohorts, as opposed to by their Godly parent in Camp Half-Blood. Albeit that my heart will always be with the Greeks, I thoroughly enjoyed the flipside, the Romans, too.

Hera's/Juno's devious plan may not have been too good for our beloved character Percy and others back at Camp Half-Blood, but it certainly was for us, in terms of meeting a load of new characters and becoming invested in a whole new group of demigods. Though Percy still was the main character, and I found his development really entertaining, I just loved reading about Hazel and Frank. Riordan, I suppose, has now perfected the art of creating backstories, as seen in the previous book. It was the same for this book. Frank's story with the burning stick, and the legacy of his family, was so interesting, and enthralling to read, but it was Hazel who really did it for me. I just couldn't get over how creative her past was, how she was actually from the 40s, but was resurrected, how she's cursed with deadly precious stones. I absolutely ate it up!

As per usual, Riordan's writing is fantastic! It's really uncommon nowadays to come across a good read, where the author attempts to write light-heartedly yet still be serious at the same time, and actually succeeds. Riordan does all that, and then some! It's so refreshing, and makes reading the book so much easier, because the flow of the story is so easy and smooth.

There's so much more that I haven't covered, but I think I'll just leave it at that. Obviously, I loved the book, and thought it was a brilliant second book in the new Heroes of Olympus series! Highly recommend this series, and the Percy Jackson series, if you haven't already read them!




Thanks for reading guys!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The Fault In Our Stars Trailer



Hey guys!

I am a little late on this topic, because the trailer has been out two weeks already, but it doesn't matter! We all know we'll be watching this right up to the movie! Haha

I was talking with a few friends, about the trailer, and it just brought all the feels back, all the feels! So I wanted to share it on my blog, in the rare case that you haven't already seen it!
Oh and if you haven't even read the book yet, what the heck are you waiting for man? Read it asap! Okay? Okay!

There'll probably be some TFioS read-a-thon later on in the year, around the movie release date and I'll re-read the book and post my review then!

See you later guys!

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Champion by Marie Lu


Title: Champion
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: Penguin
Published: November 5, 2013
Genre: Young Adult / Dystopia
Source: Bought - Easons

He is a Legend. 

She is a Prodigy. 

 Who will be Champion? 

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps Elect while Day has been assigned a high level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them once again.

Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything he has. 




I thought I knew what I was getting into when I decided to read this trilogy. It seems most, if not all Dystopian endings nowadays, are written to tear your heart out!

'Champion' starts off with our protagonists Day and June, dealing with the aftermath of the previous book, 'Prodigy'. The various plots are set in place very early on in the book, which I liked because sometimes when books wander too much in the beginning, I tend to loose interest and the next thing I know, I'm moving onto a new book! On the flip-side, however, the bad part of it was that we, the readers, were left quite depressed really. You know, with Day's illness constantly getting worse, and his actively separating from June. Oh, let's not forget the war between the Republic and the Colonies either. Altogether, though I liked that we weren't left hanging for long in the beginning, and that the plots as a whole flowed perfectly, it kinda made me sad to read on.

Speaking of Day's illness (I'm not exactly sure if it was cancer or not), am I the only one who was a little disappointed with our protagonists this time around? Firstly, I hated the way Day felt compelled to distance himself from June because he was sick. I understood his excuse for doing it and got the impression that he wanted to be the hero, but it made me really frustrated to read the chapters where they were kind of ignoring each other! If he'd told June earlier on, about his diagnosis and stuff, maybe he would've been taken to Antarctica or something. That's probably just me selfishly wanting them to spend more time together, but I don't care haha!

We really got to see into our characters more in this book. We've always known that Day is a family guy, but getting his brother back, getting Eden back really brought this side of him into focus. The same goes for June. The executions of Commander Jameson and Thomas, or the time leading up to the executions, really impacted June and brought back memories of her brothers. The way we see the protective and slightly selfish sides of Day, we see a more vulnerable side to June. This break from our previously known awesome-around-the-clock characters shows that they are almost real people. It was brilliant!
I don't want to dwell too much on the two protagonists, because I also thought the other characters were brilliant! It's hard to pick just a few, but as for the likes of Tess, and Eden, and Anden, and Thomas, they were all really well-developed too, and made the story that much better!

The Legend trilogy has already shown great world building, but this last book took it to a whole new level of awesomeness! I didn't think we'd be allowed to see outside of the Republic and the Colonies, but man was I wrong! Of course I'm talking about Antarctica! The brief world-building in the rebuilt country was just fantastic! I watched a booktalk on Youtube, by Cristine, and she said that life in the new Antarctica was like a video game, and I couldn't agree more! It was so cool, how everyone in Antarctica was ranked by their points are the points system was used to keep bad behavior under wraps! It just seems like a really clever idea, and very futuristic!
Africa too! We didn't get to see any of it, but hearing that Africa was one of the most advanced countries was so different and really interesting to read!

Okay, onto what really matters. The ending.. agh! I've read many many reviews, claiming that the ending was unsatisfactory, and I agree to an extent. Yes I would have liked Day to get over the amnesia and he and June could walk off into the sunset, hand in hand and into a brighter tomorrow, but after all that happens, is it really realistic? You could argue that dystopians aren't supposed to be realistic, but come on, it just wouldn't have had the same impact on you. It's the same thing as the end of the Divergent trilogy. The ending that the author gave could have been happier but it might not have been better. So that's why I loved how Champion ended. Oh and anyway, it was completely up to how you perceived it. I don't know about you guys, but in my mind, June and Day did fall in love again.

Alright, with all that said, I think I've gotten my opinions across. I loved this book, even what you can argue were 'flaws', and thought that the trilogy ended perfectly! Definitely recommend it!





What did you guys think of the ending? If you haven't read this trilogy yet, I would advise starting asap! Haha
Thanks for reading guys!