Review: The Rose Society (The Young Elites #2) by Marie Lu

The Rose Society (The Young Elites #2)

by Marie Lu

Publication Date: October 13^th 2015

Publisher: G.P Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Source: Bought

Find This Book: The Rose Society

Rating: 4/5

So I’ve never official reviewed a book by Marie Lu before, but I absolutely adore her. I purchased Legend, Prodigy, Champion, and The Young Elites all when they came out (I especially loved the legend trilogy because the book’s fonts were printed in color! That’s just so aesthetically pleasing for me).

***Spoilers of Book One***

So the main twist in The Young Elites is that the protagonist, Adelina Amouteru, is actually the villain of the series, not the hero! The world building is just so great in this series, all of the countries, culture, and politics are there in the background for you to soak up and The Rose Society doesn’t fail in my expectations of the sequel!

The Rose Society takes place after Adelina reunites with her sister and gets kicked out of an elite secret group called The Daggers. The love of her life is dead and she decides to take revenge by leaving the country and rounding up her own elite squad to rival The Daggers. Boy does she get the rivalry she craves. Her new groupies, which she dubs ‘The Rose Society’ is made up of Herself, her sister Violetta, Magiano, and Sergio. Sergio is mentioned in book one as the boy who couldn’t control hos storm powers. Well, he’s back and in control now! My favorite member, Magiano has the special ability to imitate other Elite’s abilities which sucks if you’re not around elites to steal powers from, but is totally AWESOME for the inevitable Dagger/Rose showdown.

In the meantime, the Daggers also leave Kenettra and go across the sea to meet with a foreign queen. Turns out malfettos are treated pretty nicely over there and even their queen is an elite. Spoiler stuff happens regarding the beloved Prince Enzo’s death and the brand new queen (Enzo’s sister) leaving us with the foreign queen deciding that now is the perfect time to conquer the country of Kenettra.

The reader is now faced with a power struggle between the current Kenettran queen, the foreign queen supported by the daggers, and Adelina and her Rose Society who also want the crown. This creates the perfect environment for tensions between Adelina and her old friends, as well as more experimentation with Adelina’s powers, dark side, and character development.

Once I actually started this book I found it hard to put down and I’m super intrigued by the concept of the main character being the series’ villain. I’ve never seen that down before. While I’m reading it I’m also low-key thinking about how this might be told differently if told by the traditional hero perspective. My only qualm with this book (that took away one star) is that Adelina’s relationship with Enzo is brought up a lot and while I’ll admit that they had a spark in book one, you know before he DIED, their relationship was never really strong. While I understand that it was over exaggerated in Adelina’s POV I still thought it was too overdone in The Rose Society.

Top Ten Tuesday #4

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish 

Top Five 2015 Releases I Meant To Get But Didn’t

1. The Rose Society by Marie Lu

I absolutely loved Marie Lu’s Legend Trilogy and have pretty much decided to read everything that she writes. I read the first book of this series and really liked it. I even pre-ordered The Rose Society and had it ship to my house the day it came out! But… I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. Addicted to YA book club is reading this book for January so I’m hoping to read it with them this month. Still haven’t started it (I’m currently reading City of Glass) so we’ll see I suppose.

2. Ignite by Sara B. Larson

I received an ARC copy of the first book of this series back in 2013 and I really enjoyed it (There’s a 5/5 star review of it here on Love at First Write). So I was super looking forward to reading this book! I actually almost bought it along with the 3^rd book when I was at Barnes and Noble last week. I am 100% buying it next time I see it because I really enjoyed the characters and Sara’s writing style.

3. Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes by Rick Riordan

I absolutely enjoy Rick Riordan’s writing and mythology so this is another book that I’ve purchased and that I’m sure that I’ll love. I didn’t get to this purely because the large book’s format makes it too tall to fit on my dorm bookshelf! I had to leave it at home after I purchased it.

4. You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

I ADORE Felicia Day and my friend met her and had Felicia sign their copy of the book! I was so pumped for this to come out I just… haven’t gotten around to it? I don’t exactly have the money to be buying all of these new books (I mostly read over the summer when I actually have time) so I’ve gotta check it out of the library this May!

5. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

I don’t know much about this book but the cover was gorgeous and I meant to read this book when it came out this year. Hopefully I’ll get it from the library or something and read it this year!

Review: Reboot by Amy Tintera

Reboot

by Amy Tintera

Publication Date: May 7^th 2013

Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Bought

Find This Book: Reboot

Rating: 3/5

           

            I’ve owned this book for awhile, I actually don’t remember when I bought it, and I finally got around to reading it the past week! I’ve got to admit, I originally bought it for the aesthetic of the cover- it’s so cool. Besides, a book about a badass girl and a hopeless boy? Yes, please.

            SO. Reboot is about a girl named Wren who died, and 178 minutes later she woke up. When you die and come back you’re no longer human, and no you’re also not a zombie. You ‘Reboot’. You become stronger, faster, able to heal, and become less emotional. The longer it takes a person to Reboot, the less human they are. Our main character is the deadliest Reboot in the known universe (though it does only take place in a couple locations in Texas in some sort of post-apocalyptic world). She trains the newbies to be tough like her, except when she’s training a boy who’d only been dead for 22 minutes; her task is more than a little difficult. Our novel is a gripping story about friendship, love, and freedom and since it doesn’t end in a cliffhanger I’m not that interested in reading the sequel.

            178 and 22 have an interesting relationship. Callum is sweet and human-like, and honestly reminds me of one of my own relationships. It takes awhile but that cutie wins Wren’s affections and they decide to escape their government holding cells when she is ordered to exterminate the troublesome 22! I’d say their relationship was pretty well-written and adorable. It has a happy ending which was a pleasant surprise. Too many books that I’ve read recently have ended either bitter-sweet or full on tragedy so this was a nice change-up. Like I said before, the story ends on a pleasant note, not a huge cliffhanger or anything so I’m kind of content where the story is right now and might not read the sequel… 

            I don’t particularly have anything to nitpick at, there’s nothing that I disliked about this book and would totally recommend it to anyone interested! At the same time it was a bit underwhelming. The concept of Reboots is interesting and I think it could have been explored a bit more in this first book with some more background details. Specifically, What happened to the rest of the world? What is bringing these people back to life? Why is it that kids adapt better to being Reboots; does the government kill every adult Reboot? The book didn’t make me passionate by reading it, which is why I feel pretty “meh” about the book as a whole.

Review: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1)

by Rick Riordan

Publication Date: Oct 6^th 2015

Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books
Source: Bought

Find This Book: The Sword of Summer

Rating: 5/5

I preordered this book the second it was available and was sitting as patiently as possible to await it’s arrival. Let me just say this- I was not disappointed! While I’m not sure if it reaches Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus standards, it was just as good, if not better than the Kane Chronicles. This book brings together a homeless boy in Boston, a deaf elf, an unappreciated dwarf who’s trade is bulletproof ascots, and a strong, empowering woman of color. None of these characters felt stereotyped and each brought something new and fresh to the story. Thank you Uncle Rick for bringing together some diversity here! Each of the characters had their own depth and backstory and while we got a satisfactory summation of each, I hope that that’s something Riordan will dive deeper into in future books.

For those of you that may have been wondering, Riordan pours on the sass and wit in this wonderful volume of Norse Mythology. There are many jokes for long-term fans of Riordan as well as just genuinely funny remarks. It’s similar to his old series, but at the same time The Sword of Summer is distinctly different. They travel to some of the different realms, encounter a squirrel, and have a very intense deep sea fishing expedition! In Midgard the world is set in Boston which was pretty cool. Knowing a bit about Boston drivers from living there myself it was also amusing to see this city from Magnus’s perspective. Additionally, we get to see Annabeth in the book momentarily and Magnus clearly doesn’t appreciate how much of a badass she is: yet.

Ok so general plot: Magnus is destined to pull his Father’s old weapon The Sword of Summer out of an old Norse shipwreck here in Boston and this basically triggers Ragnarok because that sword has been missing for centuries and it’s needed to cut Fenris Wolf free to start the apocalypse. For a unique twist, Magnus our main character gets killed in the first chapter. We then proceed to delve into Norse myth along with Magnus, which I thought was great because I don’t know them was well as I know Greek Myths. As usual the whole story flowed well and this is just another huge Riordan masterpiece. 

I would definitely recommend this to Riordan Fans, fans of Norse mythology, or anyone looking for characters other than strong hero-type hetero-normative white males! Not even Magnus truly fits that stereotype and it was just pure amazingness.

Kid's Lit Quiz

Fun Fact, I volunteer with the Kid’s Lit Quiz which is an international reading competition created by Dr. Wayne Mills. This year his World Final was being held in America and he had a bunch of authors invited who I had the pleasure of meeting. The one that stood out the most would be one of my childhood favorite author’s: Ron Roy, who wrote the A to Z Mysteries! To explain a little, Dr. Mills was a professor at the University of Auckland who couldn’t help but notice that kids didn’t get rewarded for reading like they did for sports. This led him to create a local Quiz, which is basically fun trivia about a number of children/young adult books. This quickly spread to heats in all of New Zealand with winners from different sections then competing in the final. Soon Australia, England, then to all of the UK, South Africa, Canada, and most recently Connecticut, USA and Singapore all joined the competition with winners in each country being invited to the World Final.

I became involved 3 years ago when Wayne first started quizzing in Connecticut to find his American finalists. The World Finals were to be held in New Zealand in July of 2012 and I hitched a ride with the winning American team and their coaches (who just happened to be from my old elementary school and the head coach just happened to be my 2^nd grade teacher). That year there were teams from New Zealand, Australia, Scotland (who represented all of the U.K.), South Africa, Canada, and the first ever U.S. team. It was such a blast watching all of the kids interact with each other, forming friendships and getting rewarded for reading! The teams are together for a week in the host country with the competition on Wednesday and fun activities in between.

This year, the World Finals are being held at Central Connecticut State University and we’ve taken the kids on plenty of cool trips. For the majority of them it is their first time in America and it was really funny to see them all react to a yellow school bus with no seatbelts. They were taking pictures with it like it was the Statue of Liberty! (They were also shocked with how high the back of the bus is ejected out of their seats every time they went over a bump). Visiting the Mark Twain house, Mystic Aquarium, and New York City is just the start of their trip. Just this Wednesday New Zealand won the trophy with South Africa coming in Second and America in Third. The night of the competition, it’s tradition to hold the International Dinner where the students, coaches, parents who came, coordinators, and guests get all mixed up and talk to people from other countries. I was sitting with on of the New Zealand girl’s mothers, the Coordinator for all of Canada (who will be hosting the World Finals in 2 years), an Illustrator, the aunt of one of the South African girls, and the grandmother and adorable little sister of one of the Canadian boys. They all had quite interesting and different stories to tell and it was absolutely great meeting all of them!

The week isn’t quite over yet. At the very least we have a Rock Cats game to attend this afternoon and I’m just so glad I met Wayne all those years ago and that I still get to be involved! (I was actually the person running the scoreboard on Wednesday). Even though there will be more space between me and the World Final next summer, (with college expenses I don’t think I’ll be able to fly all the way to New Zealand again) I know these are relationships that will last a long time and I look forward to when Wayne visits again for the U.S. heats and the Canadian World Final!

So that’s what I’ve been up to recently and why I’ve not been so active. Even though I’m a small fry college student, I’ve been spending a lot of time helping this all go smoothly :) For any of you interested in learning more here's a link to a demo quiz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjf4MS30qJo and here's a link to the Kid's Lit Quiz Website 

Quizmaster Dr. Wayne Mills

Review: The Ring of Solomon (Bartimaeus 0.5) by Jonathan Stroud

The Ring of Solomon (Bartimaeus 0.5)

by Jonathan Stroud

Publication Date: November 2^nd 2010

Publisher: Hyperion
Source: Bought

Find This Book: The Ring of Solomon

Rating: 5/5

I read The Amulet of Samarkand years ago and absolutely loved how witty Bartimaeus was. The original trilogy is one of my most beloved book series and I was so excited to buy the prequel! (I was also pretty excited because I got to meet Jonathan Stroud and had him sign this book and The Screaming Staircase for me). I remember driving home from the book tour just over a year ago and imagining all the adventures I would have with Bartimaeus like it was just yesterday. Unfortunately, getting a signed copy meant it became my most treasured possession and I never wanted to take it to the beach or to the pool in case someone ruined it (thise locations are where I do the majority of my reading). That being said, it took me a very long time to start this book because I wouldn’t let it leave my room. That being said, I can’t believe it took song long for me to read this book!

This novel immediately brought to the forefront of my mind everything I had loved about the original series. Those characteristics being the magic and demons, historical references, and humanly flawed characters. You don’t need to read the series to enjoy this spectacular book, however the world-building was done in the original trilogy so Stroud doesn’t explain about the demon summoning and pentacles much in this prequel. What you find instead is a snarky character telling about his fast-paced adventure in 250 B.C. Jerusalem with his additional commentary in the footnotes. While is does switch to a human perspective occasionally, Asmira was quite interesting unlike Nathaniel and Kitty in the originals. Asmira is a hereditary guard for the Queen of Sheba and is sent to Jerusalem to assassinate King Solomon in order to try and save her country from an invasion from Solomon’s army. Being sent on basically a suicide mission, she is being used just as much as the djinni being summoned around her. While she refuses to acknowledge this fact, Bartimaeus and Asmira are a bit similar in that regard and the book brings up a thought provoking perspective on philosophy and psychological slavery. Not so bad for the typically shallow YA book, right? 

While the reader knows that Bartimeaus can’t meet a gruesome end due to the fact that he is alive and well during Victorian England, the book was detailed and suspenseful enough to make me forget about those other books. While this wasn’t the prequel I wanted (I was looking forward to a book about Bartimeaus’s time with Ptolemy) this not only met all of my high expectations, but also went even further. 250 B.C. was a great setting and the book seemed well researched. To sum up; the plot was quite simple overall, it was your typical “girl meets boy who is actually a shape-shifting djinni who is in servitude to an evil magician who is one of the 19 powerful magicians who works for the King of Solomon who said girl is trying to assassinate to steal the most powerful object EVER”. Did I forget to mention the hippo wearing a skirt? This is definitely a book that everyone would look into if they enjoy humor, sass and a bit of history!

Throwback to my Selfie with Jonathan Stroud (2013)