elfswood

The Cloud Roads

2016-01-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

by Martha Wells

Moon has spent his life hiding what he is — a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight.

An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as Moon is once again cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself... someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into his community. What this stranger doesn't tell Moon is that his presence will tip the balance of power... that his extraordinary lineage is crucial to the colony's survival... and that his people face extinction at the hands of the dreaded Fell!

Now Moon must overcome a lifetime of conditioning in order to save and himself... and his newfound kin.

The Three Worlds is one of those fantasy creations you just can't get enough of. Reading The Cloud Roads, I wanted to find out more about the groundlings and their different cultures. I wanted to know more about the floating islands, the seas and underwater realms. I must admit my irrational self was disappointed that the book didn't let us see more of this, but at the same time, I knew that if it had, it would have distracted from the main story Wells was trying to tell.

This book was diverse, but not in any comparable way to our own social structures. The groundlings were perhaps the closest thing to humans, and even then they sported different skintones or other physical traits that you'd not find in the real world. It makes for a very "colourless" journey, and I found myself focusing more on the characters for who and what they were, rather than their physical appearance.

If you're looking for a fast-paced fantasy read from the get-go, then this might be the book for you.

Moon doesn't know it, but he is a Raksura. His is a race that can shape-shift. Moon uses this to merge with groundlings and live amongst them, before he finally learns what he is. The Cloud Roads begins with him discovering his place in the world. But his adoptive clan is plagued by ill-omens; his species hunted by the foul, blood-tainting Fell; and soon Moon finds himself on a journey to saving the future of Indigo Cloud and rooting out the evil that threatens their survival.

One of my favourite things about the Raksura is their matriarchal society. Some stories try to add matriarch communities, only to end up coming across as half-baked and random; nonsensical; and a cheap, easy way to make the book more progressive and diverse,
I did not find this to be the case with The Cloud Roads. In many ways, the Raksura reminded me of other natural colonies, such as bees and ants, and in the same way, it only made it natural for theirs to also be ruled by a queen.
Not only that, but the social structures were created smoothly and logically. The warriors with wings, who protect the colony; working together with the arbora, who had the body type and skills to build and provide; and the fertile queens, who ensure the continuity of the clan.

The characters were also enjoyable, and some, insanely adorable. My second favourite part of this novel was how the character relationships developed.

Moon is filled with some degree of angst, which not many readers will enjoy -- but I found it believable, given his solitary past, and his abandonment issues. His relationship with Jade was just lovely and evolved with time. And Jade. Hoboy.

Jade was aggressive, in the sense that she knew what she wanted and was not shy or afraid of pursuing it. I'm doubly impressed as Wells managed it just in the right doses, and unlike many other books out there sporting "aggressive" females, Jade did not come across as desperate or needy; bratty or privileged; self-important or vain.
Her power and self-confidence did not come at the expense of other female characters. Indeed her biggest rival was the presiding queen, Pearl, but even then their relationship with each other was only hostile when it came to their differences of opinion on how to best protect the colony. In the broader sense, they both worked together to achieve the same goals. It is nice to see healthy rivalry, especially between women, in the midst of jealous spates and girl-on-girl hate that litters other books out there.

That's not to say that this book was without fault. For me personally, the very, very ending slightly disappointed. Not the conclusion or the climax of the novel, mind you -- but a minor detail that served to wrap up the whole thing; which is why I'm not taking many points off for it.
The fact that Pearl ended up wanting to mate with Moon felt off for me. Moon was already a special character, and we did not need him to be any more special by having two queens fight over him. The only mitigating factor is I understand that Pearl wants to ensure the continuity of her clan and position as queen -- and she can't do that without having a mate.

Another minor gripe I have, is that although I loved the characters, the major ones did not seem to have many flaws. Moon's was his distrust and emotional issues brought about by his past; but Jade was only a mass of greatness that I would have liked to see more human sides of.
In my opinion, the side characters were nicely done. Chime is just a favourite of mine (can I keep him, please?)

I do hope we get see more of these flaws and weaknesses in the following novels; which yes, I have full intention of reading.

Uprooted

2015-07-16T19:22:00.001-07:00

by Naomi Novik

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

Ok, first of all, hot damn mama. I'm not usually a fan of romance, but someone grab me an ice-cold bucket of water!

❞ Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.

If you're into the cold, detached, but secretly-gooey-deep-down-inside male love interest, then Sarkan aka Dragon is the lead lover for you. It's not often that I come across a cold male character, who doesn't pass into the realm of heartless-asshole [your mileage may vary] or who teeters on the verge of abusive.
I found Sarkan to be pleasantly distant. Sometimes wanted to shake him a little. But all in all, a great contrast to Agniezka's more forthright character. And to be honest, if my partner was half as clumsy [and sometimes clueless] as Agniezka, I wouldn't be able to resist a few sarcastic comments, myself.

But the best part of the romance? We hardly ever see it! I am so excited about this because most of the time, romantic themes start to overshadow the main plot. Luckily this was not the case in Uprooted. We stay focused on the main mystery of the Wood; the tension between characters only ever adding a little subtle spice to the narrative every now and again.

Speaking of characters. This is the number one reason why this book won me over. Agniezka must be one of the strongest, most pro-active and likeable female character I've read of in a long time. Her relationship with Kasia was beautiful. Sure, there was a fleeting moment of jealousy/envy revealed, but it went both ways and it didn't affect their friendship in any negative way. In fact, it only showed how much more relatable these two ladies were.
It was just such a nice change to have two female characters with a productive and complementing relationship.

The plot itself started off suitably sweet. The mystery soaked me right in, and the pacing was exactly right for me -- with moments of quiet between build-ups, several different plot points, before finally reaching the peak of the puzzle and ending on a satisfying note.
By the end of the novel, all of my questions were answered [or at least, all the major ones]. Everything was resolved, left with no hanging threads. At the same time, there was no cheesy happily-ever-after, which also gave a more realistic and bittersweet conclusion.

All in all a delightful read, and perfect for anyone looking for something a little more adult but tinged with an almost fairy-tale feel.

Splintered: Review by Fari

2015-04-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

First in Splintered
by AG Howard

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

an electronic copy of the book was provided for the guest reviewer in exchange for an honest review. if you would like to know how you can review for elfswood, and to see the selection of books available for review, please click here

☆

When I went into this book, I was very, very hesitant. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve heard a lot of INCREDIBLE things about this book, everybody seems to LOVE IT and that is the exact reason that I was skeptical because how can EVERYBODY love a certain book? Trust me, I’ve even met Harry Potter haters. We’re not exactly friends. So, I lowered my expectations and tiptoed into this book and oh my gosh, I fell in LOVE!! Absolutely LOOOOOOVVEEEE!!! This book is so awesome!

I am in love with this creepy, weird and yet amusing wonderland! It’s amazing and the thing is, things just… make so much sense! You don’t go like, “Well, that’s not possible because…” it all fits together with the original story and I love that about this book! I would rather go to this wonderland with talking flowers, rabbits who are actually Rabid White and where grown men can turn into pretty moths. It’s an awesome world, I think.

I liked Alyssa. She wasn’t my favourite heroine by any means but I didn’t mind her and I could relate to her. Though, she is very… not curious. Well, I wouldn’t say that, but she’s not as “OHMYGOSH THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER THIS IS INCREDIBLE AND AWESOME AND I LOVE WONDERLAND AND EEEEXXXXXXXPPPLLLOOOORREEEEEE!!” No, she’s more like, “Shit, Carroll got the Wonderland way wrong. Now I just gotta plan my escape…”

Ya, I loved the Wonderland and this kind of thinking made me want to hit somebody upside the head.

There is a love triangle, of course. Whoever shall she choose, Morpheous or Jeb? The guy who can turn into a butterfly moth or the whiny drama queen king?
She’s all for Jeb (even though she’s all ohmygoshwhydoiwanttokissmorpheoushecan’tbetrustedbutmybodywon’tlistenblahblahblah right now) but I’m pretty sure that won’t last.

I personally like Morpheous better because he’s so much funnier and dramatic and just interesting! Jeb on the other hand, is a whiny drama queen (there’s a difference between dramatic and drama queen. A big one!) who just wants to go hooommmeee. Once, leave the wonderfully creepy wonderland that I love. No, I do not like him. Also, he’s like, deciding everything for Alyssa.

This triangle kind of reminded me of the love triangle from Shatter Me. Juliette = Alyssa, Warner = Morpheous and Adam =Jeb. I won’t go into details because of spoilery purposes but there were quite a few times where I had that déjà vu feeling, sometimes in a good way and sometimes not so.
Anyway, this book is magnificent and awesomesauce and you should read it.

Now, if you will excuse me, I must go read Unhinged, the next book.

About the Guest Reviewer

blog | goodreads

Fari has an itty bitty obsession with cake, books and the dark –though the latter is only acceptable if there is a book for comfort and ideas in her mind for her imagination to run loose. She also feels kind of uncomfortable writing about herself in third person.
She can be found co-blogging at My Little Corner for Books or on Goodreads. These two places are her sanctuaries to discuss books and without these, she would go mad. Perhaps then she would be a good fit for wonderland.

The Invasion of the Tearling

2015-04-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

First in The Queen of the Tearling
by Erika Johansen

With each passing day, Kelsea Glynn is growing into her new responsibilities as Queen of the Tearling. By stopping the shipments of slaves to the neighbouring kingdom of Mortmesne, she crossed the Red Queen, a brutal ruler whose power derives from dark magic, who is sending her fearsome army into the Tearling to take what is hers. And nothing can stop the invasion.

But as the Mort army draws ever closer, Kelsea develops a mysterious connection to a time before the Crossing, and she finds herself relying on a strange and possibly dangerous ally: a woman named Lily, fighting for her life in a world where being female can feel like a crime. The fate of the Tearling – and that of Kelsea’s own soul – may rest with Lily and her story, but Kelsea may not have enough time to find out.

~ Disclaimer ~

An advanced reader copy was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

As before, folks. Come prepared with fries and your favourite condiment. Long and bitter review up ahead.

If ever I could use half-star ratings on goodreads, it would be now. Actual rating would be 2.5 but I decided to be generous and round up.

I gave it a go, and it passed. Barely. Enough to convince me to read the third book once it's out? Absolutely. The writing style is simplistic and yet remarkably fluid, absorbing, and just keeps you turning the pages. I urge you to also take a look at the more glowing reviews, as I doubt reading mine would actually tempt you to read this book. But really, The Invasion of the Tearling deserves a fair shake and it may just be your cuppa tea.

But all that said, I have to warn some of you (potential[?]) readers -- this book should come with its own trigger warning for rape, sexual assault/harrassment, and self-harm. To give credit where credit is due though, I did not find these topics to be used in a romanticized way or gratuitously (although it teetered there in some ways -- which I will get to in the meat of my review later).

Speaking of my review. Please do not click the "spoiler" tags unless you are in fact prepared to be spoiled.

And not in the brush-your-hair-feed-you-grapes sort of way.

I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as I'd like to; and for very similar reasons that I expounded in my review of The Queen of the Tearling, which you can find >>here<< should you be interested. As I've detailed them in my previous review, I'll not repeat them here. The reason I enjoyed The Invasion marginally better than its predecessor is simply because at least it managed to answer some much-needed questions. Unfortunately this came at the expense of more questions, albeit little details, and so my enjoyment of it was really constrained.

My biggest peeve of this book in particular, and the whole series in general, would have to be Kelsea's inexplicably powered necklace, which so happens to be a deus ex machina. Nearing the end of the novel we're given a tease of the first sighting of the necklace. Yet by the time we close the book, we still know absolute Jack Schmidt about it -- where it came from, how it got its powers, what exactly were its powers and how did it function ..... Kelsea's ~~deus ex machina~~ necklace remains the novel's greatest mystery still.

This wouldn't be so much of a problem if literally everything weren't solved by it. Indeed, all Kelsea needs to do is twirl around at her new-found prettiness and let her jewelry do its job.
With this kind of unknown force, we have no idea what its limits are and how it operates. It effectively remains open as a miracle solve-all for indeed anything and everything until the author decides it inconvenient for her plot progression to use the necklace as an answer.
[show/hide spoiler]

Kelsea could have been substituted for any other character for all the effective agency she had. Everything was solved away by the magical mystery of her necklace, and her -- or its -- powers seemed to suddenly blossom during the last few chapters of the book.
Powers that we had never even seen before or heard mention of, suddenly were mastered and -- just when I thought I couldn't possibly dislike Kelsea even more -- came to save the day in a final battle that could only be described as mind-rape.

Again, I've gone through enough detail regarding Kelsea's character in my first review, so I'll only brush it briefly here. Suffice to say, her choices were so foolish, stupid, and made for no valid reason. It seemed extremely out of character for her to make, which makes it painfully obvious that it's all a huge set-up and foreshadowing for the third book.
[show/hide spoiler]

I suppose Kelsea was frequently "out of character", though. I call it puberty, or the Red Queen's libido somehow transferred on to her. It must be all that darkness brewing up in her soul. Funny, though, that the "darker" Kelsea grew, the more horny she became? I thought we were all pro-lust, here?
Speaking of puberty -- it did wonders for Kelsea, and not just on her hormones. Forget the author's rather extensive article on the "need for ugly heroines" -- she may as well take that back.

All of our protagonist's preoccupations on beauty in the previous book were not for nothing. Here, Kelsea transforms from an ugly duckling -- into Emma Watson. And by gosh you guessed it, that process involved losing weight.

I will just pause right there as we all take a collective gnashing of teeth.

But enough about Kelsea, and on to the world. You'll all be relieved to hear that we get a lot more info on the world's history -- although keep in mind, it all still needs to be taken with a mountain-high suspension of disbelief.
[show/hide spoiler]

A plus point of this book were the glimpses we saw of Earth's future, leading up to the Crossing. These scenes I found to be interesting and a breath of fresh air between Kelsea's ..... hormonal woes. The depiction of women is very disconcerting, however -- as if with the sheer amount of women's rights movements and feminists nowadays, we could ever revert back to those dark, dark ages.
But never mind how plausible Johansen's future earth is. She needed it that way to show dissatisfaction and how low mankind have become. I'll let you decide for your own whether it was necessary for the author to use scenes of domestic violence and rape to illustrate just how despicable Lily's husband is. Just like I'll let you decide whether it was necessary or added any value to the story/characterization to have Kelsea self-harm.

Personally, I found it odd -- but only because there seems to be so much going on. It gives me the impression, and the first book gave me the same impression, that Johansen is trying to cramp her book full of contemporary issues that we all should be concerned about.
Self-harm, rape and sexual assault, religious intolerance, homosexuality -- it's all in there. Right next to allusions of child sex trade, deathrings ...
As admirable as it is to bring up these issues, the whole jumble of them makes it unfocused and actually cheapens the effect. As if the author has overreached herself and is trying to swipe at what is most likely to appeal to her audience.

Add to it that our protagonist, of course, falls on the "right" side of these issues. It's such a cheap way of making readers feel guilty and "wrong" should we dislike our heroine.

Unfortunately, I'm not one to feel much guilt. I detest you, Kelsea. You and your mind-rape and stupid decisions and hypocrisy.

Despite the overall tone of my review, I did not, however, detest this book.

Sabriel

2015-02-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

First in Abhorsen
by Garth Nix

Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him.

She soon finds companions in Mogget, a cat whose aloof manner barely conceals its malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories.

As the three travel deep into the Old Kingdom, threats mount on all sides. And every step brings them closer to a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death -- and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own hidden destiny.

Protip: Don't google image search this book unless you're looking for Sam Winchester + Gabriel shipping.

Now that I've got that warning out of the way.

I was so conflicted about rating this book. It's sat there between a high 3 to a low 4, to be honest. But then I thought -- a younger Manda would probably have adored this book. My younger self, not having yet read as many fantasy novels as my old-fart-self, would have been absolutely in awe.

What's not to love? Magic, zombies, juxtaposed to a Victorian-England-esque setting, and a female protagonist whom you could actually get behind.

The fault is solely mine. I've been reading fantasy (and I don't mean romantasy) since I was five. Before you challenge me on that fact, let me assure you that I was an early reader. Betch please, when my classmates were learning their A-B-Cs, I was sitting quietly in a corner by myself, reading Enid Blyton *flips hair*. So by the time I read Sabriel, it just ...... meh.

Oh I still recommend this book, though. So long as you're not looking for anything groundbreaking, or if you're relatively new to the fantasy genre.

taken from DeviantArt

Sabriel is one of the more quality protagonists I've read of by far. She's good at what she does, but with enough room for self-improvement, and she certainly benefits from the aid of her friends.
Nowadays, especially in the realm of young-adult-romantasy, I read far too often of heroines who can get by perfectly well without the aid of others. So it's nice to read of a more realistic heroine who reminds us that as human beings and social animals, we actually do need others. And there is no shame in that.

Moving on to Mogget -- asides from the unfortunate name that sounds a little too close to maggot -- oh, how I adored this kitty. Okay, so cat sidekicks are a little cliché by this stage of my fantasy-reading life. But Moggsy (can I call you Moggsy?) was a darling, even with all that anger and vengeance squelched down deep inside.

taken from DeviantArt

Beyond those two, I found things to be slightly lacking. I, for one, could have done without the romantic turn of events between Sabriel and Touchstone. I saw the potential was there, and perhaps if it was left to be built upon for the sequels I would have been fully behind it. But as it is now, it just seemed a little sudden and forced.
There never really was much focus spent on developing relationships between the characters -- romantic or no. In fact, there was not much time spent on character development at all. Sabriel and co. were constantly on the move, ticking off one checkpoint after the other, we never really had the time to breathe and get to know any of them on a more personal level.

But you know what, yeah, give this book a fair go. Chances are you might enjoy it. As for the sequels... yeeaaah, I might give them a shot.

I do have one thing to be thankful of: Sabriel was the first book I've read in a long time; successfully breaking my three-month reading hiatus. So hey, that must count for something.

On Writing: Writerly Resources

2015-02-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hi writers and readers alike...

Apologies for not being able to post for the last few months. If it weren't for the lovely guest reviewers, this blog wouldn't have had any content since around November 2014.

Since work is still going to keep me swamped ~~for the next decades to come~~, I thought I would fill in the void with this brief post on writing resources that I've come across. If you have any programs you use to keep yourself organized, please share in the comments. Otherwise, let me know which software(s) you use, and if it's been working for you!

Liquid Story Binder XE
download here
trial, register to use

I have the full version of this software, so I can speak more about it. It seems a little confusing at first, but after a while, it really helps keep you organized, and they offer tutorials on their website. And better yet, this programme is portable, which really helps mobile workers such as myself.

SOFTWARE FEATURES

Dossiers
Create Dossiers for major characters and settings.

Timelines
Plot your novel by organizing cards along colored timelines.

Storyboards
Combine images and text to create a visual reference board.

Journals
Create a writing journal, or even fictional journals for each one of your characters.

Outlines
Create a collapsible tree of plot ideas.

Mindmaps
Link ideas together using lines and text.

Image Galleries
Organize your reference images into galleries.

Checklists
A list of titles and captions with checkmarks.

Contrasts
A two-columned list for direct comparisons.

Builders
Organize complex scenes using titles, descriptions, and color indexing.

Position Memory
Liquid Story Binder XE remembers just where you left off.

Manuscript Building
Combine multiple chapters into a single manuscript automatically.

Printing
Preserve your font and paragraph editing with Format Printing.

Workspaces
Preserve your favorite window layouts for quick access.

Project Goals
Words per day, words left to write, days remaining, multi-document word counts.

Color Schemes
Create the perfect writing environment with your favorite window colors.

Recordings
Record yourself reading your own novel. Test for pacing and time.

File Listings
Organize all your files into easy-access file trees.

Backups
Every Chapter has its own backup repository. Never lose a single word with automatic version and session backups. Compress your whole archive into a single ZIP file.

Shortcuts
Quickly access your favorite external software and documents.

Statistics
Times, Word Counts, Goals, Sessions, Versions, Days.

Reader
Read over your work in a easy to view columned window, free of editing distractions.

Music Playlists
Add your MP3s and sort them into playlists. Set the mood for writing.

External Editing
Open your work outside of Liquid Story Binder.

If you're not convinced yet, take a look at some of these screenshots (click for larger image). More screenshots are available at their website.

Dossier:

Timeline:

Outline:

WriteItNow
download here
trial, register to use

This one is more simple and has a more "basic" look for those of you daunted by learning the ropes around new programmes. I also have the full version of this software, so I can attest to how easy it is to use.

For me personally, perhaps it is too simple -- but for those of you who prefer the clean-cut, easy-to-navigate platforms, then it may just be the tool for you.

Their features include:

Story Board
150,000 Word Thesaurus
Spelling Checker
Word Count + Readability
Create a Formatted Document
Charts
Links
Event summary
Add-ons

Tutorials and screenshots are also available on their website.

yWriter
download here
free, register optional

I have an unregistered version, and to be honest I haven't really dabbled with this programme. Their list of features include, but are not limited to:

Organise your novel using a project.
Add chapters to the project.
Add scenes, characters, items and locations.
Display the word count for every file in the project, along with a total.
Saves a log file every day, showing words per file and the total. (Tracks your progress)
Saves automatic backups at user-specified intervals.
Allows multiple scenes within chapters
Viewpoint character, goal, conflict and outcome fields for each scene.
Multiple characters per scene.
Storyboard view, a visual layout of your work.
Re-order scenes within chapters.
Drag and drop of chapters, scenes, characters, items and locations.
Automatic chapter renumbering.

yWriter looks pretty straightforward and simple to use, but I just haven't started playing around with it. If anyone has experience with this software, don't be shy to drop a review at the comments below.

Scrivener
download here
trial, register to use

This one I haven't gotten around to using, but have heard many incredible things about. Mac users out there will be pleased to hear that scrivener is also designed for Mac OS X.

Their features include (but are not limited to) text editing, corkboard, outliner, statistics and targets, and a name generator! But at USD 40, it's just a little much for me.

If anyone has been using scrivener, let me know what you think of it!

CeltX
sign up here
online, free to premium memberships

This one is an online platform, which truth be told, I haven't even signed up for. I've hear about CeltX from fellow writers, and they've been giving good reviews. Of course, they've also been using the premium (or, at least, standard) membership. I have no idea how recommended the free memberships are; if anyone has any experience, do let me know!

And what programmes do I personally use?

Well, I only occasionally use the Liquid Story Binder for certain stories. Other resources I use include the Simple Family Tree builder to map out character charts, especially for those pesky royal families. This one is a very simple, basic, but extremely helpful programme to keep my characters straight.

As for writing programmes I use on a regular basis, there are two: Microsoft Word, and Microsoft OneNote. Because I'm old school like that. OneNote keeps all my ... well, notes ... organized, and the brilliant thing about it is that I can create subpages and tabs based on whatever I need. Plus it can be password protected, so secretive folk like me can sleep easy.

Oh and I'm not plugged to advertise any of the programmes above :p

Tell me which ones you use, recommend, and if there are any others I've missed!

The Miniaturist: Review by Samantha

2015-01-31T19:49:00.000-08:00

by Jesse Burton

On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office-leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.

But Nella's world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist-an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . .

Johannes' gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand-and fear-the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?

an electronic copy of this book was provided for the guest reviewer in exchange for an honest review. if you would like to know how you can review for elfswood, and to see the selection of books available for review, please click here

☆

As a young girl, dollhouses never interested me much. Neither did the dolls themselves – I had one Barbie, given by a friend for a birthday. The only thing Barbie did was sitting on a shelf. Now that I’m a bit older, I can see the appeal of dolls and dollhouses – not only the art of their creation, but dabbling in it, manipulating characters as one see fit.

More so if I think about the era that The Miniaturist is set in. A time when successfully running a household was a major achievement for a woman. How satisfying it must’ve been to be able to just direct this person this way and bend that other person that way, when it would take so much effort to do it in real life with everyone’s judgmental eyes set on you.

Generally, I liked Nella, the main character and narrator of this tale. Her fumblings as a young newly wed, newly rich, and supposed mistress of the house seemed painstakingly human. There were some flaws to her characterization, too, particularly due to inconsistency. Sometimes she suddenly was no longer that innocent country girl and later on she would revert again.
The other characters all seemed to have mysterious backgrounds and hidden depths, something that we learn as we go further into this book. Unfortunately, we get to know almost all of them only rather superficially. Perhaps it’s because it’s from Nella’s perspective, but it’s kind of a pity that they turned out that way; dramatic and tumultuous as some of their interactions were - I felt quite disconnected from them.

The artist has done an awesome job designing the cover. I love its look (I read the ebook of this novel, but recently saw a printed version, which only confirmed my opinion). It adds to the beauty that we encounter throughout the tale. The author did well with her descriptions and detail of the miniaturist’s creations. I’ve read about readers criticizing the historical elements; whether they are correct or not, I’m not knowledgeable enough to say. As a historical novel, though, I did get a good sense of the era and experienced the appropriate atmosphere.

The Miniaturist was overall very engaging – it had just the right amount of suspense, mystery and drama to have me hooked. I was immersed in it for a short few days and suddenly I was at the end. Unfortunately, when I got to the last chapters, I felt like there were promises that were not delivered. I was left wanting and not really in a good way - the main mystery about the miniaturist was solved, but not entirely.
The drama had climaxed, but the way it was settled, it didn’t feel like closure. Such a good read; but such an unsatisfactory ending. The journey itself is worth taking, though, as I found the author a really good storyteller (I definitely would like to read more novels by her, perhaps with a more solid plot). So, don’t let my judgment prevent you from picking up this one!

About the Guest Reviewer

goodreads

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away that lies under the sea (level), a little girl was born. Her parents named her Samantha. Sam's childhood was filled with books; she too, developed a passion for reading, escaping to a world of fiction almost daily. At one point, she traveled half the globe to settle in her father's birthland, Indonesia, where she still lives until now.

She grew up wanting to become a chef, but ended up something else entirely, which she also enjoys but keeps her quite busy. These days she has a legion of four cats, with whom she likes to contemplate how to rule the (her) world. Sam also really loves bicycling and regrets nothing about her funny tan lines. Whenever not working, she still spends a huge chunk of her time in worlds of magic, murder, and mystery - she hopes she'll be able to do this for a long, long time. (Not yet) Finite.

Afterworlds: Review by Fari

2015-01-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

by Scott Westerfeld

Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings…

Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.

☆

I had pretty huge expectations for Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld because of all the hype about his Uglies trilogy and this spectacular summary! Well, I was not disappointed! A solid 4 out of 5 stars. It was a great read!

The thing I like most about this book is the fact that there is a story… within the story! One story about Darcy’s experience with the publishing and writing a novel and the other being Lizzy’s story –the character in Darcy’s book -- about discovering and exploring the Afterworld.

I enjoyed both stories, though I must admit, I did like Darcy’s story better.

Darcy’s Story:

I’ve always been really curious by the publishing process and so I was very intrigued by this concept! I also really liked Darcy, she was relatable and I could understand her. Also, bonus points for LGBTQ!
I haven’t read too many books where the main character is Gay or Lesbian but Darcy is and I LOVE the fact that there was no “Oh my god, you’re gay? WHAT?!” about it but rather, “Oh, you like girls? Okay. Hey, did you hear about that new release?...”
I liked how there was no huge extravaganza but rather that this is completely normal and acceptable –the way it should be.

I loved how much I could relate to Darcy! She has countdown widgets of to be released books on her blogs? Can’t control herself at BEA?! Reads, reads and reads?! YES!!!! I really liked her and being in her head was a pleasant experience.

Lizzie’s Story:

Her story was really intriguing and awesome! I loved this world, it was unique and creative!
Lizzie’s also a really nice character and I liked her, too. Yama was okay but… meh.
I like this one but I don’t really have much to say about Lizzie’s story. It kind of got slow and boring at parts.

Afterworlds is a well-written, unique, creative and solid read, especially for a stand-alone. Definitely recommended.

*Thanks a ton to Amanda for providing me with an e-copy to review.

About the Guest Reviewer

blog

Fari loves to read, write, eat and sleep. She is absolutely terrified of dentists, which may have to do a tid-bit with her absolutely undying love for chocolate. She currently co-blogs at My Little Corner for Books (My Little Corner For Books) and LOVES it!

2015-01-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

Update

Merry belated Christmas and happy new year! I hope you all are having [or had?] a fantastic holiday. I for one am looking forward to 2015 -- although I foresee a very busy year ahead for me. Hopefully I will be able to squeeze in a little blogging time, but unfortunately I highly doubt it. It's times like these I wish I had a co-blogger.

Luckily, more guest reviewers have come to my rescue last month and were kind enough to provide some reviews for the blog. Don't forget you can also post a guest review, or a discussion post. Check out how right here.

December reviews

These two books were reviewed by a long-time goodread friend, Samantha. Go check out her profile [here].

Hope you're having a great start to 2015. Have you got your reading challenge set for the year? See you soon! ~ღ

Horns: Review by Samantha

2014-12-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

by Joe Hill

Once, the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more—he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.

But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside...

Odd. That’s one of the first descriptions to come to my mind when I think of this book. The best I can say about it is that: (1) it kept me interested and curious until the end, I really wanted to know how it would progress and conclude, and (2) it has made me incredibly curious about the movie - I’d like to experience all those strange visuals as CG.

Never before had I heard of this book until the movie came out - it attracted my attention while at the bookstore. Mostly due to Daniel Radcliffe’s face, I suppose (hey, don’t tell me you can resist that!). I probably would never have read this book if not for the movie, which I have yet to see.

So, let’s talk about this strange novel. That it made me fascinated throughout may sound like a good thing for a book - but I can’t say that it was, as I can’t say that I truly enjoyed reading it.

❞ Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life.

I found this excerpt somewhat misleading. Expecting a modern fantasy-like novel, I got one that didn’t seem to know what direction it was meant to go - horror, murder mystery, romance, religion or indeed fantasy? This shouldn’t be an issue if it was smoothly combined or transitioned somehow, but I got the feeling that it would jump from one type of story to another.

During some parts, it felt to me that the author just wanted to add some shock value with all the crass language and vulgar events. Rather than grossed out, my reaction was more along the lines of ”Is this really necessary?. Several sections, especially those referring to sexual acts and such, just seemed so tasteless. There were some parts that were suitably creepy and disturbing, particularly due to the unbelievable thoughts and obsessions of some characters and the strange visuals the author has created. Sometimes, the symbolism got a bit out of hand and confusing. Or maybe I just lack the imagination for it.

The antagonist was quite the character - evil incarnated. Really hateable - quite impressive how strong my feelings were despite everything. I guess that throughout the whole book, the most fascinating was the author’s exploration of the darker side of human nature.

How odd, don’t you think - my overall impression was meh but I still got hooked. I guess there is just something about it. By all means, pick up this book if you think it is your kind of thing - reviews seem to be varied and rather personal. Go and judge Horns’ oddness for yourself.

About the Guest Reviewer

goodreads

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away that lies under the sea (level), a little girl was born. Her parents named her Samantha. Sam's childhood was filled with books; she too, developed a passion for reading, escaping to a world of fiction almost daily. At one point, she traveled half the globe to settle in her father's birthland, Indonesia, where she still lives until now.

She grew up wanting to become a chef, but ended up something else entirely, which she also enjoys but keeps her quite busy. These days she has a legion of four cats, with whom she likes to contemplate how to rule the (her) world. Sam also really loves bicycling and regrets nothing about her funny tan lines. Whenever not working, she still spends a huge chunk of her time in worlds of magic, murder, and mystery - she hopes she'll be able to do this for a long, long time. (Not yet) Finite.

City of Stairs: Review by Samantha

2014-12-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

by Robert Jackson Bennett

Years ago, the city of Bulikov wielded the powers of the Gods to conquer the world. But after its divine protectors were mysteriously killed, the conqueror has become the conquered; the city's proud history has been erased and censored, progress has left it behind, and it is just another colonial outpost of the world's new geopolitical power.

Into this musty, backward city steps Shara Divani. Officially, the quiet mousy woman is just another lowly diplomat sent by Bulikov's oppressors. Unofficially, Shara is one of her country's most accomplished spymasters-dispatched to investigate the brutal murder of a seemingly harmless historian. As Shara pursues the mystery through the ever-shifting physical and political geography of the city, she begins to suspect that the beings who once protected Bulikov may not be as dead as they seem-and that her own abilities might be touched by the divine as well.

☆

Actual rating: 4.5

Apparently, Mr. Bennet - the author - isn't very fond of having people trying categorise his novels. Not that I would like to label it, but how else am I supposed to describe the awesomeness of The City of Stairs? It's a blend of fantasy, politics, with fictional religion, geography and anthropology. This doesn't come close to fully describe it, though. Add a murder plot, espionage, academia, pirates (in the background) and even some steampunk elements (flying ships with machine guns, anyone?) and we get a bit closer. And, of course, have the story brought to live by interesting characters in a rich and atmospheric world and we're almost there. To really understand what I'm trying to get at, you really got to read this one for yourself!

This whole mix may seem a bit too complicated and diverse - trust me, it isn't. The political intrigue alone was enough to keep me interested, not to mention that it's further complicated by what is essentially racial division and inequality. This, in turn, was initially established by this world's deities, introducing another interesting layer to it. As a result, the people came from a somewhat stereotypical cultural and racial mould, further perpetuated by their upbringing and beliefs.

The characterizations, though - so believable and memorable! Take Shara, for example, despite being a strong and confident Continental female in a position of power, we are also shown her insecurities and shortcomings. Or Sigurd, a somewhat brutish but loyal man of a few words, whose family history we learn about as the story progresses. The characters' relationships and struggles seemed realistic and even the supporting characters left a deep impression (even dead ones!).

The magical elements were interesting with a strong religious background. Magic in itself, was basically waning from this universe, but still prevalent in the form of wondrous objects. Very, very interesting objects with oddly specific functions and pitfalls. I would've enjoyed seeing more of these in action - alas, they were more like background (but important!) plot devices.

Each chapter begins with an excerpt of some text or another, which not uncommon in fantasy but always a clever way to introduce information to the reader. Here the types are variable - letters, journals, religious texts, indexes - which was nice. I liked how we only learned bit by bit about the myths and gloomy history - we’re mostly kept in the dark, just like most of the people in this universe.

The title had me curious from the beginning and it was surprisingly literal - I particularly liked how these "stairs" and the ruined city were described. The resulting visuals in my mind were awesome.

As far as I know, there have been rumours of a series. The world building in this book is just so amazing. I'm satisfied with a standalone, but what Mr. Bennet has created here - so much potential for more. I, for one, wouldn't say no to a sequel!

About the Guest Reviewer

goodreads

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away that lies under the sea (level), a little girl was born. Her parents named her Samantha. Sam's childhood was filled with books; she too, developed a passion for reading, escaping to a world of fiction almost daily. At one point, she traveled half the globe to settle in her father's birthland, Indonesia, where she still lives until now.

She grew up wanting to become a chef, but ended up something else entirely, which she also enjoys but keeps her quite busy. These days she has a legion of four cats, with whom she likes to contemplate how to rule the (her) world. Sam also really loves bicycling and regrets nothing about her funny tan lines. Whenever not working, she still spends a huge chunk of her time in worlds of magic, murder, and mystery - she hopes she'll be able to do this for a long, long time. (Not yet) Finite.

2014-12-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Update

I've been so busy last month; I had to go overseas for a few weeks for work, followed by a sh!t-ton of reports and papers to hand in within the next week; which left me with an absolute zero amount of time to dedicate to reading and reviewing.

New ebooks giveaway

New ebooks available for you to review. These are ebooks in my collection and review list that I haven't had the time / motivation to get to. If you are interested, you can review them for me in a guest review post, in exchange for the epub. *I only accept reviews in English or Bahasa Indonesia.

I didn't buy many ebooks in November, thanks to Amazon's amazing rule of not allowing people outside their region to buy books [seriously, it's an electronic book; it shouldn't matter where on the planet I am, there is absolutely ZERO shipping problems]. As a result, I only have two; and even those I haven't had time to read. Plus, Endsinger is in my to-read list until I've read the previous two books in the series.

Complete list of ebooks available for review can be found here. Let me know if you're interested in reviewing any of these books, or to make it easier, you can apply at the link provided.

November reviews

As I've said, I've been sooo busy lately I couldn't read + review anything at all!

Luckily some lovely people have taken the weight off my shoulders and last month has been filled with awesome guest reviews.

Margaret is a blogger and writer, you can check out her website [here]; Hannah has a new book blog up. Don't forget to welcome her to the blogging world [here]; and Lectus has been on the blogosphere for a while now, as you can see [here]

November features

Unfortunately I only had time to write one discussion post last month; a Pet Peeves feature [here] about female protagonists always ending up with a love interest. My commenting plantform -- Intense Debate suddenly started acting up on me and deleted all the commentluv comments.

Now you can only see the default blogger comments on that post. It's an annoying bug that apparently happens if someone opens and comments on the page through the mobile site, but I have (hopefully) fixed the bug and it (hopefully) will not happen again.

I am soooo sorry for all the comments that have been removed. I swear, it wasn't me not liking your comments and then deleting them (T___T)

That's all for November '14, hopefully I'll have more time to blog next month (T__T) ~ღ

Talon: Review by Lectus of On Lectus

2014-11-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

First in Talon
by Julie Kagawa

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

☆

Let me see… so simple, really, that I cannot bring myself to finish it. I like Kagawa’s Blood of Eden series but this is totally pathetic. Is this Twilight wanna-be with dragons? Because perfect, beautiful, gorgeous humans are monumental here.

Why should I care about MC Ember? Ah! Right, because she is a dragon that must pass by a gorgeous human. But she is also so tired of following the rules and the training that the order of Talon forces her to undergo. And then there is Dante, her just p.e.r.f.e.c.t. brother.
We also have Garret, the perfect epitome of beauty, as Ember puts it, BUT he hunts dragons.

Do you see where the simplicity of this is going here?

This world with dragons hiding among humans felt plain and just uninteresting to me. I can’t help to wonder if Kagawa rushed to write about dragons before the boom of Daenerys and Game of Thrones faded because this is so ridiculous that I cannot finish. I’m half way through, though.

I can’t connect with none of the characters because they all lack depth… development.

So our perfect human Garret saves dragon girl Ember of being sexually assaulted (as if there could have been any chance of that happening to a dragon!) and Ember is instantly wondering is she would ever see Garret again and “somehow break through that dignified shell to the person beneath.” But, of course she must put those thought out of her mind because Garret is human and dragons and humans simply don’t mate.

Oh! But Garret can’t get Ember out of his head either. You know, she being so beautiful and all…

Then we have a rebel dragon that left the protection of Talon and is stalking Ember because he wants her to know the truth about Talon. (….)

And so the story will become a love triangle that I have no interest in knowing how is going to end :-)

About the Guest Reviewer

blog

Just in case you're wondering... I love razor-sharp wit and sarcastic humor; and yes, I judge a book by the cover. I don't just love to read books; I love to read about books. For me, half the fun of reading is the thrill of the chase - discovering new books and authors, and discussing your finds with others.

The Young Elites: Review by Hannah of Swayed Through Books

2014-11-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

First in The Young Elites
by Marie Lu

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

Actual rating: 3.5

The Young Elites is definitely some of the best fantasy I've read this year. The premise isn't exactly the most unique, but what drew me to the book was the nuanced characterizations in the story.

Adelina is not your typical YA fantasy heroine.

I feel like this statement has been thrown around a lot to refer to a lot of YA heroines, but Adelina really stands completely apart from most of the heroines I've read about.

Adelina is brave. She is resilient, she is a fighter. But more than that, it would be very difficult to call her good. And it is this very lack of "goodness" that makes her such a fascinating character.

❞In spite of everything, I feel a strange sense of glee. All this chaos is of my own creation.

There's a darkness inside of her that festers, and instead of going away, stays with her throughout the novel and becomes a driving force for her. She wants to hurt, kill, cause chaos. It's easy to see why others are weary of her but also easy to see why this darkness drives her, creating a novel narrated by an anti-hero rather than a hero, which is something I've scarcely seen in YA.

Oh, and she has one eye. Which is totally awesome.

None of the relationships made me want to hit my head against something.

The friendship between Adelina and Raffaele, a hot male courtesan who's also really kind, is presented so, so well. His beauty and kindness is acknowledged by Adelina throughout the novel and in another book, this might have immediately set off my love triangle meter, but here, the friendship between a boy and girl is done the way it should be.

I also loved the relationship between Adelina and Violetta, her sister. I could relate so much to the jealousy Adelina had towards Violetta and I could understand all of the bad thoughts Adelina harbored for her, and yet I could also see exactly why Adelina protects her and cares for her.

Enzo and Adelina's relationship is never the main focus of the book, which is always a plus point. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really feel the chemistry between them, and I was left wondering until the very end whether they really genuinely care for each other (which isn't as bad of a thing as I think I made it sound; in fact, I thought it added to the intrigue around both of their characters).

The plot always keeps you on your toes.

While the plot might not be purely action, per se (though there are several very well-written fight and action scenes), the subplots are always fascinating and keep you hooked.

And of course, the ending. I think I actually stopped reading for several minutes after getting halfway through that one particular event to collect myself before resuming. The book ended on a very strong note.

I didn't really enjoy Legend by the author and gave up halfway through the second book of that series, so I didn't have incredibly high expectations for this book despite the hype. But Marie Lu does fantasy a thousand times better than dystopia (I mean that in the best of ways) and you will not regret picking up The Young Elites.

About the Guest Reviewer

blog | goodreads | tumblr

Hannah is a high school student who, like anyone who's blogging about books, loves to read. Her blog is only a few months old even though she's been reading stacks of books ever since she can remember, and what spurred her to make her blog was not exactly her love for books, but the need to vent her anger at one. She wants to be an engineer (numbers speak to her almost as much as words), and other than that and reading, she also loves to paint and draw.

2014-11-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

This one has been nagging me for so long now, but since almost every book I've read is guilty of this particular peeve, I've grown desensitized to it so much that sometimes I barely even notice it.

What am I whinging about this time?

Female protagonists always ending up with a love interest! Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with romance [and obviously if you pick up a romance novel, our female MC would most likely end up with her other half], but I just find it jarring that every single book out there always ends with our female protag happily-ever-after-ing with her soulmate.

Even when the book in question is not a romance.

All the books I've loved have done it. Hermione did it; and lords know I love Hermione. Quintana, who started off such a wild beast, ended up "tamed" by her newfound love. Vin of Brandon Sanderson's fantasy series, Mistborn, was a happily partnered, yet powerful, heroine.

Even Graceling's Katsa, who resents traditional concepts of relationships, also ends up with a partner, so to speak.

Again, there is nothing actually wrong with this; and the main character ending up with a partner is not something that changes my feelings towards a book overall.
But it's a little peeve of mine because I would like to read a Young-Adult non-romance book once in a while, where our strong, kick-ass heroine can end up happily ever after without a love interest to "complete" her.

Once in a while, I'd like to read about a female protagonist who is defined completely as her own character, without a romantic side-plot to distract us from her as her own entity.

Or, I don't know ... maybe I just haven't been picking up the right books.

What do you think? Does this bother you as well, or am I just being nitpicky? If you know any YA paranormal/fantasy/dystopia novels out there where our female MC remains happily single, do let me know!

Starship Troopers: Review by Margaret Taylor

2014-11-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

by Robert A Heinlein

In one of Robert Heinlein's most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe--and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind's most frightening enemy.

Nobody preached duty to these kids in a way they could understand – that is, with a spanking. But the society they were in told them endlessly about their "rights." The results should have been predictable, since a human being has no natural rights of any nature.

I don't think that I have ever had so much fun getting offended. After finishing this book, I feel like I've just finished a nice round of intellectual jiu-jitsu. I disagree with Starship Troopers's fundamental message, but I enjoy picking apart why, and the book's well written along the way.

For a little historical context, Starship Troopers was published in 1959 and has been controversial ever since. Not only is it a classic of science fiction in its own right, it inspired the movie of the same name, the space marines in Aliens, and the entire space marines concept in general.

The book is set some few centuries in Earth's future. After society collapsed in the mid-twentieth century, people rebuilt with a one world government and sent faster-than-light spaceships out to found colonies. Out in space, we run across our greatest threat – the Bugs, a race of insectoid aliens that like the same habitable planets we like. The two civilizations escalate into a state of total war.

Enter Juan Rico, a Filipino high school graduate. He signs up to join the Terran Mobile Infantry and ships out to fight the Bugs. Over the course of the book, he rises through the ranks from boot camp trainee, to soldier, to sergeant, to lieutenant. But Juan's story isn't very important. The plot's just a framing device for the world Heinlein has cooked up.

And this is the point where I need to make something clear. Heinlein is not joking. See the quote from the book above? Juan's in boot camp, recalling a lesson his old high school teacher taught him: twentieth century society collapsed because people didn't smack their children enough. It was an apocalypse by brats.

Naturally I thought Heinlein had gotten me good and the whole book was a stealth parody of Cold-War-era jingoism. So I did a Google search. It's not. The United States was considering agreeing to a ban on nuclear weapons testing at the time and Heinlein wrote the book as an argument that the testing should continue. The dude was dead serious. Paul Verhoeven, who made the movie of the book, was joking, though.

Through the eyes of Juan, the book espouses the "military democracy" of the Terran Federation. To get citizenship and a vote, you have to serve the Federation for two years. There are lots of different ways to serve, some of them combat and some noncombat. The point of the whole system was that only people who felt social responsibility should get a say in how the government worked.

Starship Troopers is remarkably ahead of its time for coming out against the draft and arguing that women can hack military service. In this world, women go into the space navy because they're better at piloting starships, apparently, and men go into the space marines because they're more muscular. One of the characters says that if you're disabled and want to serve, the Federation will make up a job for you, but how would that work? And if you wanted to live long enough to enjoy your vote, wouldn't it be strategic to saw one of your own legs off, then sign up?

What about the Merchant Marines? In one scene, we find out that these guys are sore because their job doesn't count as Federation service. But sailing merchant vessels is a dangerous and uncomfortable job that society depends on to keep functioning. Why doesn't that count as being socially responsible? What about farmers? What about Quakers? There are noncombat jobs available, but you don't get to pick. If I was a Quaker, would I be willing to serve such a militaristic society anyway?

These are just a few of the dozens of questions I raised in my mind because this book is so damn incomplete. Since we're stuck inside the head of Juan Rico, we never get to see the military democracy be a democracy. Heinlein says the noncitizens get to enjoy personal and property rights and that everyone's rich and happy. But how? How will a veteran vote well when they've spent at least two years getting trained to obey orders without question? Why is responsibility towards the state the only responsibility that matters?

Usually I hate to invoke death of the author because I'm a writer myself and I'm not dead yet, damn it. But the gaps in the narrative lead me to wonder whether the Terran Federation really works the way Juan thinks (and Heinlein claims) it does. Juan never does get his citizenship, for instance. He's supposed to get it after he's discharged from service. Juan signs up and suddenly there's a war on and nobody's going anywhere.

The political process works like this:

❞ I see I didn't make any mention of how the Terran Federation moved from "peace" to a "state of emergency" and then on into "war." I didn't notice it too closely myself. When I enrolled, it was "peace," the normal condition, at least so people think (who ever expects anything else?) Then, while I was at Currie, it became a "state of emergency" but I still didn't notice it, as what Captain Bronski thought about my haircut, uniform, combat drill, and kit was much more important – and what Sergeant Zim thought about such matters was overwhelmingly important. In any case, "emergency" is still "peace."

If you change around a few of the names, in fact, you could get a good psychological study of a Stormtrooper. Juan's a mortal man who fights for his country right or wrong and shoots at whatever he's told to shoot at.

Then there's the problem of the Bugs. There's no way around the fact that they're space Communists – Heinlein comes out and says that's what they are. They're controlled by a hive mind and attack in perfect synchrony without any thought to an individual's safety. As far as we know. Juan himself says that we don't really understand them. Why do we have to be at war with the Bugs? Juan shrugs his shoulders at the question. If we don't exterminate them, they'll exterminate us.

The most uncomfortable part of this book is that either the Geneva Conventions don't apply anymore or they don't apply to aliens. The Federation's preferred tactic to kill bugs is to seek out their nests and pour nerve gas down the entrance holes. They don't make a distinction between fighters and civilians because the Bugs themselves don't seem to care. But how do we know? It is not much of a spoiler to say that by the last chapter, the Federation is launching a massive invasion of the Bug homeworld of Klendathu. They plan to kill every last Bug in existence.

When there are no more Bugs to fight, what will a military democracy do with itself? Find a new enemy?

What lesson about war are we supposed to take out of this? We don't know about any aliens right now. If we ever find them, they'll probably be so far away that all we'll ever be able to do is swear at each other by radio telescope. Our wars are against bona fide, live human beings, no hive minds allowed. And if there are no Communists anymore, who do we find to be our enemies?

But Heinlein's future comes to pass because the liberal democracies of the twentieth century failed. We're fourteen years into the twenty-first century and we're still at it. Every election, we put to the test whether ordinary people are too stupid to govern themselves or not. Let's find out.

About the Guest Reviewer

website | amazon | barnes & noble | smashwords

By day, Margaret Taylor is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. By night, she writes. She enjoys jumping all over the border between science fiction and fantasy. When not writing or researching, she enjoys cross-stitch and exploring the Twin Cities.

The good guys always win – and Alec Nightshade isn't going to take it anymore. Alec's a fifteen-year-old member of the Norgolian Society of Evil Overlords, which means not having much of a life expectancy. When a hero hunts down and kills his aunt, the Viper, he sets off on the first evil scheme of his life to set things straight.

Starting an evil scheme proves to be harder than it looks. Alec catches a break when a friend tips him off about the Eggbeater of Doom, a device that can summon a kiloton-sized elder god with a grudge against those puny hairless apes. If Alec blabs about the Eggbeater, gets a hero to go after him, then kicks the hero's ass, he can break the cycle of prophecy that dooms his side never to see the age of fifty. He doesn't mean to hurt anybody else. But when another overlord steals the Eggbeater with the intent to actually level a city, Alec knows what he and his gang of minions will have to do: save the day. He will never get to live this down.

2014-11-05T03:20:00.000-08:00

New ebooks giveaway

October reviews

I think I may have found my favourite book of 2014! It is a beautiful novel for fantasy lovers out there and I just can't gush about it enough! It's an old book (first published in 1980) but it's simply timeless. Written by a woman of colour, it is diverse, touches on a lot of controversial themes and issues, and is also a very touching and powerful love story. --> read my review here

Come to think of it, October was a month of diverse books for me! I read and reviewed two other books featuring POC characters, both I definitely recommend for fans of Paranormal / Fantasy.

October features

October was a dreaded month for critical book bloggers, as one particularly disgruntled author took to The Guardian to spill out on her latest stalking of a Goodreader. Read my take on it in last month's Around the Woods feature [here].

If you haven't noticed, it's National Novel Writing Month, and to get us all in the mood, I've shared a few resources and guidelines in how I write my characters. You can read about it in my On Writing post, right [here]

And finally ...... last month was the closing for my birthday give-away, and I happily announced these four lucky winners:

- Isla wins 1st prize of USD 20 at The Book Depository
- Amaya Kim wins 2nd prize of IDR 250,000 at Periplus online bookshop
- Fauziyyah Arimi wins IDR 100,000 at Scoop online bookshop
- Biondy Alfian wins IDR 100,000 at Scoop online bookshop

Unfortunately our 2nd Prize Winner has not responded to emails, so if by 7 days you are still to respond, I will have to draw another winner.

That's all for October '14, see you all next month! ~ღ

The Fire Seer

2014-11-01T02:01:00.000-07:00

First in Coalition of Mages
by Amy Raby

Taya has risen from humble roots to become a fire seer in the Coalition of Mages. Eager to prove herself, she arrives in the town of Hrappa to locate a “jackal” - a mage operating outside the Coalition’s authority - who has murdered three people.

But in Hrappa, she discovers that the man assigned to be her bodyguard is Mandir, her nemesis from years ago. When she and Mandir.

I don't know how this book doesn't have more reviews. It's quite a hidden gem! Fantasy inspired by Egyptian culture, it was definitely different than most other fantasy novels out there, and showcases a cast of POC characters.

The Fire Seer was a double win for me because I love murder-mysteries, and I also love fantasy. This book has both. Taya is a fire seer appointed to investigate a series of murders, discover the jackal behind it, and put the perpetrator to justice.

Not only do we follow Taya as she sleuths around and tries to put together all the pieces to this mystery, we also get to know her and Mandir -- her partner -- and the dark history that connects the two.

I have to pause and warn you at this stage, because The Fire Seer is not all sunshine and happiness. This novel touches on several issues that had me wary throughout reading the entire thing. For a start, to say that Mandir is not the most likeable character on the planet would be an understatement.

❞ What he'd wanted to do with her, to her, even at that tender age... well, he couldn't blame her for being frightened of him. He'd tried everything to free himself of the obsession, from tormenting her and pushing her away to, later, reversing tactics and actively pursuing her in hopes that one torrid night might satisfy his twisted lust.

Suffice to say, he was a bully. And not just the tease-you-in-class sort of bully, Mandir tormented her, physically abused her, and stood by and watched as his friends sexually harassed her.

So believe me, I read through this book with a mix of wariness and disgust. Taya was a strong, self-sufficient heroine and I enjoyed her character. But for much of the novel, I couldn't say the same about Mandir.

❞ He'd watched Taya like this, from behind, more than she knew. Indeed, he'd practically stalked her for yeas. He wasn't proud of it. Even as a child, he'd been ashamed of it -- not that his behavior was ugly but that his obsession targeted a girl so ridiculously beneath his station.

Not only a stalker, he was also revoltingly shallow. I'm very torn about this, because Mandir does show remorse and works hard to redeem himself. The author, in this aspect, handles the situation with enough sensitivity.

The fact that Taya was made to work with her past abuser was enough of a horror show. If there is one major criticism I have about this, is that I certainly did not approve of the ending. I understand Mandir has changed since he grew up, and time and time again he's apologized for his previous behaviour, but as Taya says:

❞ You think you can make up for four years of torment with an apology?"

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I absolutely applaud the idea of this formerly despicable, revolting character have his eyes opened to his evil ways and work hard in changing himself. I like that in a character, and in no way do I resent the new Mandir.
What doesn't sit well with me, though, is that it took Taya this one criminal investigation before being able to come to terms with Mandir's past crimes against her and develop a sexual relationship with him.

Not only that, but throughout the novel we'll have her considering his physical attractiveness every now and then, as if being handsome made it harder for a girl to resist her tormentor:

❞ Allowing him to put his hands on her would send entirely the wrong message. Not only that, but Mandir was way too physically attractive. She didn't want her body responding to what her head and heart knew would lead to disaster.

I'm sorry for being stone-cold, but I couldn't even look at some of my ex-boyfriends without shuddering with disgust and hatred, as attractive as I objectively know them to be.

So that was probably a minus point for me. Another potentially minus-point, which I thought the author managed to avoid, was how close to becoming a Mary Sue Taya was. She was beautiful, powerful, and--

❞ Several of the boys in our class secretly liked you. They wouldn't have approached you while I was there, but after I left, I'm sure a few of them came sniffing around."
"They did," said Taya. "I sent them away."

--everyone secretly wants her, even though they bullied her to no end. Which kind of reinforces the idea that if a man is an asshole to you, he secretly loves you but just can't find a way to express that.

No, thank you.

But I was supposed to be talking about Taya's almost-Mary-Sue-ism before I got sidetracked. The reason I thought Raby got away with this is because Taya was an unassuming character. Moreover, although several times we were reminded of her beauty and strength, it was never made into a focal point, nor did it grant her any special privileges or helped her out of certain situations.

In the end, though, The Fire Seer was a satisfying read. It may contain some problematic messages in there, but I appreciate the way the author attempted to handle issues of abuse and bullying in a sensitive way. The plot and pacing were balanced for me, the mystery enough to keep me absorbed. While adult themes were brought up throughout the book, there is only one steamy scene far towards the end; so if you're expecting an erotica or heavy-handed romance, you may be disappointed.

Wild Seed

2014-10-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

First in Patternmaster
by Octavia E Butler

Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex or design. He fears no one until he meets Anyanwu.

Anyanwu is a shapeshifter who can absorb bullets and heal with a kiss and savage anyone who threatens her. She fears no one until she meets Doro.

Together they weave a pattern of destiny (from Africa to the New World) unimaginable to mortals.

Power came the way a child came -- with agony.

Wild Seed is a complex, multi-layered prequel to the Patternmaster series. It is a fantasy novel, rich in themes of slavery, colonialism, and subtle commentary on human morality. It is a long, deep look into multiple aspects of humanity, and as such readers looking for action and adventure are better off turning to a different book.

But for those of you undaunted by exposition, and those of you who enjoy complex and subtle romances; for me this book was heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time -- and I cannot recommend it enough.

❞ Most of us don't believe in gods and spirits and devils who must be pleased or feared. We have Doro, and he's enough.

What can I say about Wild Seed that could come anywhere close to doing it justice? This is the story of how Doro met Anyanwu, the only living soul on Earth who could possibly match his will; test his patience, endure his passive cruelty, and time and again defy him in ways even she could not possibly understand.

And forever is a long time to endure one another when you are two of the only immortal beings on the planet. Theirs is a love story that goes beyond physical desire; Anyanwu needs Doro as much as he needs her, whether either are willing to accept it or not.

❞ Doro looked up. He held Isaac's gaze, not questioningly or challengingly, not with any reassurance or compassion. He only looked back. Isaac had seen cats stare at people that way. Cats. That was apt. More and more often, nothing human looked out of Doro's eyes.

Doro is both our antihero and villain. An ogbanje -- evil spirit -- as Anyanwu would call him, he is not malicious through any evil intent of his own. He simply is. Much like fire must burn and virus must spread, Doro's nature is simply a part of him he cannot destroy.

image from DeviantArt

Having lived long before the Son of God even walked the earth, Doro has developed his own moral compass -- or lack thereof. He has very utilitarian motives, is constrained by no societal boundaries, and therefore much of the contents of this book would strike the reader as outrageous, disgusting, and their abhorrence inevitably directed towards our antihero.
But I could not bring myself to hate him. This is what it should be like to be immortal and see your loved ones die one after the other. To bury your lovers, children, grandchildren ... you don't live for thousands of years without these kinds of things changing you.

Doro could have been intentionally malevolent and put his power to actively harm people. Instead, all he seeks for is a way to simply endure. And in this aspect, I sympathized for him.

image from DeviantArt

But this is what Anyanwu has a hard time accepting -- and I do not blame her one bit! How can a healer, a mother, a being that respects all forms of life such as her, submit to the heartless demands of a sociopath?

❞ Doro looked at people, healthy or ill, and wondered what kind of young they could produce. Anyanwu looked at the sick — especially those with problems she had not seen before — and wondered whether she could defeat their disease.

And when people say opposites attract, this is what they're talking about. Anyanwu and Doro are two very opposing beings who complement each other perfectly. Their love for each other is so complex it's beautiful. They hate each other for completely different reason, they need each other for equally different reasons, and they are inevitably, constantly drawn back towards one another.
For Doro, Anyanwu is the only one who could last long enough to keep him rooted to his long-forgotten humanity; and for Anyanwu, Doro is the only one who can understand her with an intimacy no mortal man ever could.

But please, if you are daunted by romance novels (such as I am), do not be hesitant about Wild Seed. Despite my gushing on and on and on about Anyanwu and Doro's beautiful love, this was not a romance book. Well, it is, at the core. But in no way, shape, or form does it torment you with romance. It is only there subtly, being hinted at in our two main characters' interaction and behaviour towards each other.

On Writing: Guidelines and Resources for Character-Building

2014-10-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! The national novel writing month is just around the corner, so to pump up all you NaNo-ers out there, I thought I could share some of the writing resources I use when building up my characters.

I'm more of a reader than a writer. But sometimes I get the sudden urge to write, and just for fun, I do it.

Okay. Before I get more sidetracked, here are some of the fantastic resources I've discovered, along with basic insight into how I like to mold my characters:

Naming our character

> The Everchanging Book of Names
If you, like me, can spend up to weeks just thinking about that perfect name, then this programme will be your dream come true. It's a name generator that uses specific algorithms to generate a new name with one click of a button.

Why it's great? Because with this tool, you can be sure you won't have one character named Legolas and another of the same race/culture named something completely inconsistent, like Bob.

This tool comes with its own "chapters", including an awesome Lord of the Rings-inspired set, but there are also a ton of supplementary chapters or books available to download. What are chapters? Basically, it's the set of names/algorithms that "inspire" the names generated. You can download A Song of Ice and Fire-themed names, Roman-inspired names, and many more.

What makes it even better is you can also learn to make your own chapters (it's not as complicated as it sounds, really. All you need is notepad) so the name generator can produce names based on the sounds and algorithms that you create to suit your own world.

results from a custom-made chapter of my own

The not-so-great? Well -- it's a shareware, meaning there is of course a paid version. This means that unless you register, some chapters are locked and you can only generate five names, and then you have to re-select that chapter again to generate more names. It's only a small hassle, and many, many chapters are unlocked by default, so I don't find it to be too much trouble.

Character background

> Mary Sue Litmus test [this one] or [this one]
> Character creation chart
This is just a fun little test to see whether or not your character is a Mary Sue / Gary Stu. If they are, please consider revising while you still can.

There are several character creation charts out there that could be fun to fill out when building your character, but I like to write mini stories about my main characters instead: tales of defining moments in their childhood; their first love and first heartbreak; the day they left home to venture out on their own ... and similar situations that tend to leave a mark on a person as they grow older.

This way, I also get to know more about my character and their past. That said, of course, it is equally important to have at least a general idea of your character's basic background; some things I like to keep in mind include:

- their childhood; their relationship with their parents/guardian/siblings/friends, their financial situation and how it affected them growing up
- their weaknesses; not necessarily an Achilles heel; this also includes personality traits that may seem counter-productive to what they need to achieve. Also, if any, what are the things that can change their minds in a debate? how can someone sway or persuade them in a disagreement? What makes them lose their temper? What calms them down?
- their fears; this includes what they are most afraid of, or their greatest insecurities; how they overcome or, if not, how they at least cope with it; how it affects them and their interaction with others
- their strengths; what is their greatest strength? What are the traits, skills, etc. that others find most admirable about them?
- self-awareness; things such as how in touch the character is to his-/herself. Are they aware of all their fears, strengths, weaknesses? How does this affect them? How in touch are they with other people and their needs?

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I'm sure you have other factors you find are important to consider. Don't forget that all these characteristic traits can change and develop as your character grows!

Before I continue on characterization, I have to warn you. I was an undergrad and postgraduate psych student, so I tend to get extremely detailed when it comes to fashioning the personalities of my characters. I've found that a lot of standardized (and some not-so-standardized) personality tests really help me paint a more vivid picture of each character.

There are two things I can do:

1. Take these different personality tests roleplaying as a character, choosing the options that particular character would, and coming out with a result that acts as guidelines in how I will later portray the character in question, or

2. Skip straight to the results/descriptions. Pick one that I think best suits the character, and use that particular result to guide me in my characterization.

There are several things to keep in mind: these "character traits" are by no means meant to rigidly box your characters into certain roles. Anyone who has taken Psych 101 could tell you that we always find a bit of ourselves in every personality "type" -- the most easiest example I can think of is that we are all a bit of an introvert as well as an extrovert; it's all about the degree in which one particular aspect of our personality is more dominant than another.

Second of all, remember that I use these personality tests as a basic blueprint to guide how my characters will behave, think, what motivates them, etc. but it does not mean that the character cannot evolve and grow outside of their original personality "type". A character starting off as a chaotic evil introvert, for instance, may very well turn into a neutral good introvert by the end of the novel. In fact, I find that the best characters always show some form of development.

So, without further ado, here are some of the personality tests I use as a blueprint for my characters.

Character compass

> The alignment test

This is what I like to think guides a character's moral compass. What would he do if a band of robbers attacked his village? Is he more likely to flee, to fight, to use the situation to his benefit somehow?

If he chooses to fight, is he fighting to protect his loved ones, fighting out of some need for vengeance? bloodlust? fighting out of duty?

There are so many things that come into play. Not only a character's actions are important -- motives are also a crucial and often forgotten point that should be considered in order to build a more complex and rounded character.

What's this? I hear you say. Using D&D to build your characters? I can't take you seriously now.

You may scoff, but don't undermine the power that is role playing. *note* I've never role-played in my life and wouldn't know how to if my life depended on it. But this nifty alignment type is quite helpful to keep yourself consistent when writing a character.

There are many other alignment tests out there a quick google search can help you find. The one above is just one of them, complete with more detailed descriptions on each alignment that can serve as a launching pad in building your character.

Character typology

> Jung + Enneagram personality test
> Description of the Jung/MBTI personality types [basic descriptions] [in-depth descriptions]
> Description of the Enneagram personality types [basic descriptions] [in-depth descriptions]

The Jung typology is one of my favourite personality descriptors out there, which helps serve the building blocks for my characters. Combined with the Enneagram, they pretty much provide a detailed framework I can work off of.

The Jung / Myers-Briggs typology if applied to The Hunger Games characters

Both these typologies have healthy-vs-unhealthy descriptions of each type. Again, the simplest example would be how a well-adjusted introverted individual would be completely different from a maladjusted introvert.

Likewise, a healthy type-6 character will be completely different from an unhealthy type-6 character. These are all factors that you also need to keep in mind when writing your characters; how well-adjusted are they? How does it affect the way they perceive things? Their actions?

The nine Enneagram personality types in brief

Again, remember that people are not meant to be rigidly put into one particular typology; rather, a character should be fluid, often certain aspect of their personalities cross over with other types. I look at my character's specific type simply as being their core -- the dominant aspects that guide them and colour the way they think about, experience-, and react to things.

Now that we're done with the basics of our characterization, it's time to actually write!

I always come back and find new things about my character as the story goes on, but I keep all the above in mind to make sure that their characterization remains consistent and logical.

If you like to write, let me know what type your character is (or at least, which type best describes him/her)! And if you have more resources that could help, please do share!

> Edits <
Imogen @ Gossiping with Dragons also shares some resources on her blog post [here]

2014-10-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Poisoning the Well: Kathleen Hale's Attempt to Justify her Stalking

Drama exploded amongst the book blogging community once again, when yet another author decided to take matters into her own hands and investigate a reviewer. In this piece submitted to The Guardian, Ms Hale successfully paints a picture of herself as being the innocent victim of a vicious reviewer -- all the while recounting in detail how she goes through extreme lengths of finding out this reviewer's real name, address, work, and going so far as to call her and even showing up at her doorstep.

❞ One day, while deleting and rewriting the same tweet over and over, (...) a tiny avatar popped up on my screen. (...) Her name was [Miss X]. She had tweeted me saying she had some ideas for my next book.

Note how brilliantly Ms Hale here makes it sound as if Miss X was the one to initiate contact with her. Only later, almost incidentally, she quickly glosses over the fact that it was she who invited contact on her twitter account:

❞ I'd been asking Twitter for ideas -- "The weirdest thing you can think of!" -- promising to try to incorporate them in the sequel.

So at this stage, we can take nothing out of this exchange. Miss X cannot be assumed as a "troll", trying to rile up Ms Hale, or egging her on through social media. It is later discovered that Miss X has read, and hated, Ms Hale's book. Even going so far as to write a scathing review on Goodreads.

❞ "Fuck this," it said. "I think this book is awfully written and offensive; its execution in regards to all aspects is horrible and honestly, nonexistent."

[Miss X] went on to warn other readers that my characters were rape apologists and slut-shamers. She accused my book of mocking everything from domestic abuse to PTSD. (...)

Other commenters joined in to say they'd been thinking of reading my book, but now wouldn't. Or they'd liked it, but could see where [Miss X] was coming from, and would reduce their ratings.

But this is how discussions are supposed to work. Fellow readers, potential book-buyers, may read through reviews to give them a general idea on whether or not they might like the book. People have often commented on my reviews, too. Some saying they would not buy the book because they were swayed by my negative review; some saying they would still read the book despite my negative review; some also saying they have bought a book because of my positive reviews.

That is simply how the reviewing world works. You cannot blame a reviewer for changing the minds of some potential readers. We are not under any obligation to promote authors or ensure their financial and professional success.

❞ "Rape is brushed off as if it is nothing," [Miss X] explained to one commenter. "PTSD is referred to insensitively; domestic abuse is the punch line of a joke, as is mental illness."

"But there isn't rape in my book," I thought.

Again see here how effortlessly Ms Hale insinuates a couple of things: (1) That Miss X is lying about the contents of her book, or/and (2) that given the "erroneous" points in her review, Miss X must not have actually read her book at all.

Defenders of the author seem to assume those two things above, if you read through their comments on the article. They have called Miss X a troll, out to ruin Ms Hale's career.

But here, allow me to point you to Miss X's actual review on Goodreads. Please note it has been updated on January 2014 (maybe following Ms Hale's suddenly showing up at Miss X's front door and ringing her up at work?) and her original review may have been different.
Her reading updates, however, are still there if you scroll down a little. And they clearly indicate that Miss X has indeed read the book. The references to rape are actually more specifically statutory rape, and her accusations of PTSD, slut-shaming, and domestic abuse being made light of are backed up with quotations from the book.

Are you still with me?

Discrediting the Source

At this point, I fail to see how Miss X has done anything that deserves her to be accused of trolling, bullying the author, or having any malicious intent.
It seems even Ms Hale agrees with me, because why else would she go on to describing what Miss X has been accused of doing in the past -- in an event completely unrelated to her own book, review, or situation.

❞ "[Miss X] was involved in an [online] attack on a 14-year-old girl back in May 2012," Parker said. The teenager had written a glowing review of a book [Miss X] had hated, obliquely referencing [Miss X]'s hatred for it. (...)

In response, [Miss X] rallied her followers. Adults began flooding the girl's thread, saying, among other things, "Fuck you."

I did hear something about this several years back. I can't say much on it because I don't know the details. All I can say is, do not take this information at face value. Like all things, there is more to this "story" than it seems. What Ms Hale so persuasively terms here as Miss X "rallying all her followers" to "flood the girl's thread" is most probably something far less orchestrated.
What more likely happened was that other people found their way to the girl's thread (Goodreads is a social networking platform, after all, and that's what happens in social networks -- things spread), and they voiced their own distaste to what the girl had written in her review, which was not a review of the book, but was more an attack on Miss X's review; policing how she thinks Miss X, and by extension, everyone else, should write reviews. Understandably, a lot of reviewers on Goodreads did not take kindly to this and were not shy to tell her so.

Now, I don't support attacks on a person for voicing their opinion. Personally, I would have left the girl and her "review" well off alone.

But see what Ms Hale has done here? Well done for completely filibustering and derailing us off topic. She's painted a vivid image of Miss X as being some head clique leader, with a bunch of Plastics right at her tail. And now that everyone has this picture of Miss X as being a Grade-A bully, they are far more likely to believe that her review of Ms Hale's book was vicious and malicious in intent.

Since Ms Hale thought it relevant to bring up Miss X's past, perhaps then it is only fair that we note Ms Hale's own past. As this article from The Digital Reader points out:

[Kathleen Hale] wrote on Thought Catalog that she has cyber-stalked at least one other person, and she previously wrote for The Guardian that she has displayed obsessive behavior.

and unlike Ms Hale's filibustering about Miss X's previous behaviour -- which are subjective and secondhand accounts coming from dubious sources, these two articles linked by The Digital Reader are confessions from Ms Hale herself. So far, all this tells me is that here we have an author with the self-confessed tendencies of becoming obsessed with something; one who has no reservations of stalking an individual.

But going back to Ms Hale's more current article.

Action vs Reaction

She proceeds to point out her issues with Miss X and her review.

❞ In the following weeks, [Miss X]'s vitriol continued to create a ripple effect: every time someone admitted to having liked my book on Goodreads, they included a caveat that referenced her review. The ones who truly loathed it tweeted reviews at me. (...)

That same day, [Miss X] began tweeting in tandem with me, ridiculing everything I said. (...) So instead I ate a lot of candy and engaged in light stalking: I prowled [Miss X]'s Instagram and Twitter, I read her reviews, I considered photos of her baked goods and watched from a distance as she got on her soapbox. (...)

One afternoon, good-naturedly drunk on bourbon and after watching [Miss X] tweet about her in-progress manuscript, I sub-tweeted that, while weird, derivative reviews could be irritating, it was a relief to remember that all bloggers were also aspiring authors.

My notifications feed exploded. Bloggers who'd been nice to me were hurt.

What we can take from here, is that Miss X wrote a review. It was a short, foul-mouthed review, but hey. To each their own. It apparently created a "ripple effect" and soon, other reviewers were also giving her negative reviews. Some even (gasp!) tweeted the negative reviews at the author.

And in response, Ms Hale:
- amped up her cyber-stalking
- under the guise of giving a review copy found out Miss X's listed home address,
- asked Miss X for an interview, and when refused
- cyber-stalked some more to verify Miss X's excuse for refusing said interview
- discovered that Miss X is not who she says she is
- rented a car and drove all the way to Miss X's home
- rung Miss X at work
- continue to harass the woman (who may or may not be Miss X) because Ms Hale
- wanted so persistently to find out who Miss X really is.

What is this?

What does it matter who Miss X's name really is? Is my name really Amanda? Are my facebook pictures really mine? Do I really live in a tropical island in South-East Asia?

Please compare Ms Hale's reaction to Miss X's actions:
- writing a review (albeit in bad taste) which then created a "ripple effect"^[1]
- refusing an interview^[2]
- possibly lying about her identity

^[1]What does that even mean? Supposedly because of one bad review, everyone else were swayed into thinking it was bad? How do you know others didn't just read the book and also genuinely agreed with Miss X in their reading experience? Sounds like a bad case of denial to me.

^[2]Readers, reviewers, bloggers don't owe authors anything. Least of all an interview. We do not need to justify or rationalize or even explain our reviews to you. If someone refuses to give you an interview, that would be your cue to feck the right off.

I can assure you, despite who I may or may not be, my reviews are still valid. I still read the books I've reviewed. My hatred of one book and adoration of another does not change, whether I claim to be a 25 year-old Asian girl, or a 40 year-old basement dweller in South America.
Ms Hale's entire episode is what we call poisoning the well. A big, ad-hominem attempt to discredit her critiquer in order to discredit her entire critique, and by extension, justify her disgusting stalking and harassment of said critic.

But even if everything Ms Hale accused Miss X of happens to be true, please consider the author's reactions to it. Nothing justifies stalking someone; finding out your real identity, real address, real job only to show up at your door, call you at work, pursue you for information. That is beyond creepy. If you are being harassed, contact the authorities. Stay away from your harasser.

It is clear that Miss X did not want to have anything to do with Ms Hale, judging from the fact that she privatized her social media account and refused interviews with Ms Hale. Does a bully do that? No. A bully seeks you out and chases you to your front door.

The devil's circle

While taking someone's pictures and claiming them as your own is quite the effort and weird in itself (not to mention may be infringing on copyright laws), I completely understand (especially given Ms Hale's creeptastic behaviour) why someone might want to use a completely different persona to protect their true identity. And it in no way justifies being stalked.

My only consternation is that this will further reinforce our devil's circle. I already predict more readers will put Ms Hale under a "will never read" sort of list (including yours truly), which will further perpetuate STGRB and their ilk's idea of reviewers being bullies who are trying to kill an author's career.

So let me pre-empt that by clarifying:

I don't care about Ms Hale's career. I don't care whether she shoots into stardom and creates a hollywood blockbuster, or if she dies in obscurity. I will not read her book for me. I will not knowingly put myself at the risk of being researched and investigated and stalked throughout cyber-space or real life.

I also don't care if other readers still choose to read her books. I will not lose any respect for fellow bloggers who still do. I will also not try to persuade others into joining in and blacklisting her. The purpose of this (now rather lengthy) article is simply to inform what has happened and how dangerous it can be for bloggers and reviewers. Even your anonymity may not save you from being stalked.

Further Reading

- Previous instance of Kathleen Hale's ill-advised behaviour by Katiebabs
- Screenshots of previous twitter conversations [1] [2] [3] [4]
- Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
- Dear Author
- Jezebel comments section are quite productive as of this moment
- The Digital Reader
- Breakdown of the supposed "trolling" review by Alex Hurst
- The other side of the story by YA Reads

Let me know if I've missed any interesting articles on this topic -- and certainly let me know what you think.

Birthday Splurge: Giveaway Winners

2014-10-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

It's time to announce the four lucky winners to my birthday giveaway!

First, thank you for all your kind birthday wishes. I wish I could give everyone a prize ~~but unfortunately I'm not that rich~~. For e-book enthusiasts though, I do have some e-books to giveaway in exchange for an honest review (written either in Bahasa Indonesia or English). The complete list of e-books I am giving away can be seen here.

Okay but now, without further ado, I give you our winners (the order goes from 1st place winner, to 4th place winner).

To freshen up your memories, here is what you've won:

1st Prize
goes to Isla
USD 20 worth of books at The Book Depository

2nd Prize
goes to Amaya Kim
IDR 250,000 worth of books at Periplus online bookshop

3rd Prize
goes to Fauziyyah Arimi and Biondy Alfian
IDR 100,000 worth of books from Scoop online bookshop

You can take a look at the websites and choose your book(s) to the added value that you have won. I will email winners individually to discuss details of delivery, so please check your email this weekend!

Congratulations and choose your books wisely!

Promise of Shadows

2014-10-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

by Justina Ireland

Zephyr Mourning has never been very good at being a Harpy. She’d rather watch reality TV than learn forty-seven ways to kill a man, and she pretty much sucks at wielding magic. Zephyr was ready for a future pretending to be a normal human instead of a half-god assassin. But all that changes when her sister is murdered—and she uses a forbidden dark power to save herself from the same fate.

Zephyr is on the run from a punishment worse than death when an unexpected reunion with a childhood friend (a surprisingly HOT friend) changes everything. Because it seems like Zephyr might just be the Nyx, a dark goddess made flesh that is prophesied to change the power balance. For hundreds of years the half-gods have lived in fear, and Zephyr is supposed to change that.

But how is she supposed to save everyone when she can’t even save herself?

What did he mean "ruin" me? What, like I'm some maiden to be delivered to an altar as a sacrifice?

- Zephyr Mourning, at Tallon's refusal of sex.

I didn't care about anything else at that point; Zephyr had completely won me over.

This is what I mean when I'm talking about a balanced heroine. She is sex-positive, has an overall good image of her body, and is confident but not overbearingly so *ehem* Celaena Sardothien. She is also all-out powerful but manages to have flaws that cut her short from being a perfect Mary-Sue.

For one, she's a coward, which is not something many people will openly admit or even write into their prized character. And second, like Einstein apparently said, Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. And similarly misattributed, Zephyr was also a huge disappointment to her teachers and family. She sucks at school, though by no fault of her own.

A reflection on the world's educational system? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I appreciated it nonetheless.

Zephyr is also a little selfish and can be whingy at times. But all of this I found forgivable, and I was happy to see how she grew into her powers by the end.

Speaking of which. Talk about an ending! It was refreshing to see a climax where our hero/ine didn't just breeze through everything, defeat the villain, and come out unscathed.

Although Zephyr's sacrifice might have been undermined in the end, it was still a nice change from the happily-ever-afters littering the YA scene (often at the expense of logical consequences). So this was definitely one of the greater points of Promise of Shadows.

Another major love point for this novel was how diverse it was. Our heroine, for once, was not a caucasian female! Hurray for diversity! Seriously, this book has almost everything I look for in a YA novel. Likeable and flawed characters, a romance that does not overshadow the actual plot, none of those damsel-in-distress heroines that at one point needs their Love Interest to come and rescue them, and friendships that actually see growth and development.

So far I've only pointed out the positive points, but now I'm gonna be a Negative Nancy and spoil everyone's mood. I have one big gripe: Zephyr's power just suddenly blossomed and all of a sudden, she's the most powerful thing around.
If she had it all this time, where was it when she was stuck in the underworld? Where was it when she was growing up? She'd been containing it so well for so long ... how come all of a sudden it was literally seeping out of her?
My second and final meh moment was the surprise factor, or lack thereof. Was it really any surprise who her father turned out to be? I knew it the instant the man was mentioned.

But overall, this was definitely an enjoying read and definitely much recommended for YA readers who want something a little different than your average paranormal romances.

2014-10-05T03:34:00.000-07:00

New ebooks giveaway

September reviews

It isn't much compared to the blogging pros out there, but I'm very proud of what I've managed to review this month!

I also got a little playful and posted a Sims Review that TS3 fans might enjoy (^__^)

September features

Last month I introduced the first of my new Little Peeves of Mine feature, plus I opened a new giveaway to celebrate my upcoming birthday. The giveaway is open internationally and still up until the 16th of this month so don't miss it!

Pet Peeves: Gary Stu
Giveaway: Birthday Splurge

And that sums it up for September '14! ~ღ

The Silkworm

2014-10-04T05:17:00.000-07:00

First in Cormoran Strike
by Robert Galbraith

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives—meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before...

Anybody who's going to kill themselves because of a bad review has no business writing a novel in the first place.

I think that quote alone cements my undying love for Rowling (albeit in the guise of this peculiar Galbraith fellow). Except, can I just fix it a little bit to make it more applicable to real life? Here...

Anybody who's going to whinge on blogs and social media because of a bad review has no business writing a novel in the first place.

There you go. Alternatively, you can also switch "kill themselves" with "sic the masses upon somebody".

But wait! Galbraith isn't done yet. This is one author who likes to fairly represent both sides of the fence (*ehem* unlike Anne Rice) so you can bloody well expect there to be some criticism of the opposite end, too.

❞ With the invention of the internet, any subliterate cretin can be Michiko Kakutani.

Damn, Rob, right in the gut.

And that's what I've always loved about Rowling's work -- there's always this realism imbued in it. There are always truths to her novels, no matter how fantastical the genre and plot. There is always some form of commentary on our society, and the best part? it is all balanced and conveyed neutrally in a manner that lets us decide for ourselves what we think of it.

I can always count on Rowling/Galbraith to break my painful reading streak. I picked up The Silkworm after reading a series of unfortunate novel choices, not even bothering to peek at the synopsis to see what this second installment would be putting Cormoran and Robin through.
What they did go through, I will not rehash, because there are countless other reviews out there that will give you details on this particular case.

Instead, I'll skip straight to my own comments regarding the book.

Let's start with what I liked. Robin. That's what.

this exact hair colour, with just the right English accent

While many reviewers may criticize Rowling/Galbraith's portrayal and role of women, I actually see it more as a reflection on society.

And let's be honest; although plenty of men and women have become more aware of women's role in the workplace, in politics, in the home environment, etc., there are still biases that are just so deeply rooted in society that it -- unintentionally or no -- affects the way people interact.
There is a scene in The Silkworm that, although small and insignificant, was actually a prominent example of this. Namely Cormoran's aversion to being chauffered by Robin[*]. While it fits perfectly to the stereotype of "women can't drive" and "never let a woman drive for you", Robin goes ahead and proves to be remarkably skilled at it.

[*]although to Cormoran's credit, this is not (at least overtly) because he harbours sexist prejudices that women cannot drive -- instead, he has an aversion to being chauffered by anyone in general.

Seriously people, stop fetishizing Mr Strike. In absolutely nowhere is he protrayed as a hunk of spunk. He's supposed to be bulky, guys. I'd love it if we can adore and be romantically invested in a man who has a gut instead of a six-pack. I imagined Strike to look a lot like Crowley, except a little bigger and stockier.

Such prejudices, whether Cormoran is aware of them or not, also seem to permeate the way he treats Robin. Her reduction to meager assistant duties -- making phone calls and internet searches -- when she is capable of so much more may hit some readers in all the wrong veins.
But to me, Rowling turns all this right around. Robin not only is very much aware of how diminished her role is; her frustrations even culminate in her confronting Cormoran.
What's this? An ambitious, talented woman working in a traditionally male vocation? One who musters up the courage to eventually voice her dissatisfaction? This shows to me how a woman can indulge in traditionally female traits (Robin is beautiful, adores her husband[*], etc), while debunking myths associated with femininity.

[*]This, too, might bring criticism to Rowling's penchant of placing her female characters in domestic roles (which, by the way, is not a problem in and of itself). This is also only a problem if an author portrays women to be successful or complete, only if she also plays a domestic role -- eg. a successful businesswoman is only truly happy if she has a child/husband to please.

However the exact opposite is true for Robin. It is her job, her ambitions, that complete her. In fact, she becomes so much aware of this that she even ends up communicating this to her husband, who throughout the novel is thoroughly against her vocation, and despite which she still continues to pursue her aspirations.
Again, if this is not a positive and empowering message to convey, I don't know what is.

My only star is taken by what I briefly worried over in my review of The Cuckoo's Calling: Romantic tension between Cormoran and Robin.

Cormoran's impression of Robin sometimes teeters on the verge of romantic interest. Thankfully this is, at this point, all one-sided. But I'm very anxious because the roots for Robin's marital discontent have been planted. Although the novel ended with hopes for Robin and Matthew, with a heavy heart I have to say I wouldn't be surprised if further down the road there will be some --er... office affairs.

Please, Rowling. I do not see you winning me over with this. Matthew is a dick, but I'd much prefer to see his character grow into a loving, sensitive husband (which would also prove wrong the stereotype that men will never change! ha!) rather than have a romance develop between Cormoran and Robin.
Don't get me wrong; I love Cormoran, and I love Robin.

But Cormoran-and-Robin? No, Rowling. Me no love.