Did you like the Force Awakens and find yourself wanting to know more about the new characters? *throws this book at you*
POTENTIAL SMALL MOVIE SPOILERDid you like the Force Awakens and find yourself wanting to know more about the new characters? *throws this book at you*
POTENTIAL SMALL MOVIE SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!
Want some insight to the identity's of Stormtrooper who died in front of Finn or the one who seemed to take Finn's betrayal personally? Want a short story that includes more Captain Phasma appearances than the movie it self? You'll get that from Finn's story.
Want to know how Rey learned to be such a bomb ass pilot? Want to know why she likes to work alone? What about her life on Jakku? You'll get that from Rey's story.
Want to know how Poe came to join the Resistance? Why there even is a Resistance to begin with and the Republic hadn't done anything about the First Order? What about just reading Poe's story for Leia freaking Organa? Because it's all there guys all available to you in a quick and easy read.
I recommended this to anyone who enjoyed the movie and it just looking for more. ...more
I needed something like this. A sort of one and done book one night stand that I could just read and be done with. No three or more book commitment. WI needed something like this. A sort of one and done book one night stand that I could just read and be done with. No three or more book commitment. We had a nice time together. It might not have been the greatest book I've ever read. There were times it felt like there was too much info dumping going on. There were times where all the references to the eighties either got on my nerves or were a little lost on me, but all and all this was exactly what I wanted from a book quickie.
The Plot It's the 2040s and life on Earth pretty much sucks. Global warming, energy crisis, people are living in extreme poverty. This is the type of dystopia I can find credible. Which scared me a bit. Other dystopias on the market right now, while entertaining, don't always make a lot of sense. A lot of times some horrible unexplained event or war happens and now we're just suppose to accept that society lives in factions or has death games. Not here.
We're just supposed to accept because reality sucks so hard a lot of people spend their time in the biggest immersive online gaming platform in the world. It's used for everything. Gaming, school, work. When it's creator dies everyone and leaves one giant quest to find a his hidden easter egg and claim his massive fortune things start to get interesting. Particularly when a evil corporation throws it's hat into the ring with the intent on exploiting the rules to the contest and gaining control of game for themselves.
Characters Wade a.k.a. Parzival: Wade has grown up with nothing. Scraping to get by living in the trailer skyscrapers in the slums. He doesn't have the money or the means to fully enjoy all the OASIS has to offer, but that hasn't discouraged him from trying to participate in the contest. He's our POV character and at times frustrated the hell out of me.
Art3mis: She's the love interest. Wade cyber stalks her blog and geeks out over her hard. She's a fellow contest in the massive egg hunt and a skilled player. A lot of things could have gone wrong with her character. It was refreshing that she didn't feel like a manifestation of every gamer girl stereotype out there. Still I could have done without the whole love interest portion of her story. Listening to Wade gush about how awesome she was all the time also tended to get tiring.
Aech: While he was absent for a good chunk of the middle because romance and Wade is our POV. Aech is this books saving grace. He's Wade's best friend. A PvP all star. I can't really say much more without spoiling. But Aech is my hero. Aech is amazing. All hail Aech. (view spoiler)[Aech is actually a female in real life. A black female. A black female lesbian who created a white male avatar because it afforded her so many more opportunities in the online communities. I wish this book had been about Aech. (hide spoiler)]
Sorrento: The books antagonist. He works for the corporation that's trying to win control over the OASIS. He's your typical scum bag corporate villain. Pushes around his underlings like they're replaceable garbage. Cheats and bullies to get his way. CEO McDouchebag Gamer thy name is Sorrento.
Overall I'm going to be honest with you all here. The writing itself is nothing to get excited over. There are sections that vomit background information, world building information, random gamer information all over the page. There are sections that are so padded down with references to music, games, or television shows from the eighties that appear to be nothing more than playful nods to the audience. It can get annoying, but the selling point for me was the pure love and nostalgia this book seems to be written with.
I've read books before that throw in references to things like Dungeons and Dragons and World of Warcraft and you just know the extent of the author's knowledge on the subject is extremely limited. That they threw it in there as short hand for this character is geeky. Not here. You can tell Cline knows what he's talking about. You can tell he's someone who's played these games and been involved in online communities before.
The best part? This book doesn't attempt to use the story line of online gaming and relationships as a platform to demean it. Do you get the sense that Wade might benefit from maybe joining reality every once in awhile? Yes. But the book never implies that Wade should cut this part of his life out entirely. It toes that fine line of acknowledging online friendships, relationships and gaming are awesome and fun and totally acceptable, but also that reality can be pretty good too. ...more
Reviews for the five new stories below. I read the other ones originally on Wattpad, so I went ahead and skipped them in this one.
The Keeper This Reviews for the five new stories below. I read the other ones originally on Wattpad, so I went ahead and skipped them in this one.
The Keeper This story is told mostly from Michelle Benoit's point of view. (There are a few starts that are in Scarlet's POV). It tells the story of the time when Cinder was in her care in the underground in stasis. I enjoy her POV as we barely got to meet her back in 'Scarlet' and everything else we got to learn about her was post mortem. It was nice to see her as an actual character because she's a pretty awesome old lady.
After Sunshine Passes By "And though Cress had never been fond of Sybil-had, in fact, been terrified of her since before she could remember-she still wanted Sybil to be fond of her.
I adore Cress. Which is why I wished that this story was a bit longer. It was still a sweet story. I still admire Cress for the dreamer that she is and reading more about her treatment and the treatment of the other shells made we want to wrap her up in blankets, kiss her on the nose, and then promptly kick Sybil Mira in the shins.
The Princess and the Guard "I will accept this side effect. I will accept any amount of monsters my mind wants to give me, but I will not become a monster myself."
This story provides more insight to Winter than I thought it would. We get to see the events we only heard about in the series. We get to see Winter before she stopped using her Lunar gift. We get to see the reason she decided to stop using it all together. So if you're looking for more about Winter you should at least look into this one.
The Mechanic It's not an entirely new concept. Lots of authors like to do a rewrite from their male protagonist's POV. I'm use to this failing spectacularly. I'm use to reading these and wondering if the author knows anything about males at all. I'm use to thinking 'I'm pretty sure guys don't think or talk like that.'
I didn't get any of those feelings here. This is what a good rewrite from the guy's point of view looks like.
Something Old, Something New It's our epilogue. Our reunion. Our chances to see all these characters together again after the story. Where they aren't fighting for their lives or constantly separate and in danger. In fact, there's a wedding. And it's beautiful. ...more
Guys. It took me awhile to come down from my high from this book. I didn't want it to end, and this whopper was 800+ pages.
The beauty of it was that Guys. It took me awhile to come down from my high from this book. I didn't want it to end, and this whopper was 800+ pages.
The beauty of it was that it never felt like it was dragging. I never once felt like ugh this thing is so long. The pacing was exciting. There was always something happening and grabbing my attention. There had been other books where POV switching bothered me. Not here. I was continually excited to get back to various characters and where the previous chapters had left off with them.
Guys, the night I finished this I had to take the next day off of work. I couldn't put it down. I stayed up till four in the morning finishing it. Then I couldn't get to sleep afterwards because the series was over and I was sad about it, but also happy because it was such an enjoyable read.
That's the best thing about this series for me. It's fun. It's enjoyable. Marissa Meyer wrote characters I cared about. I grew to love each one of them. All their voices felt different and each one of them was engaging. I loved the way she was able to tie in just the right bits and pieces of the original fairy tales but at the same time make them feel new and exciting.
Now I've got to go find Stars Above but let's be real I know after I finish that I'm still just going to end up wanting more. ...more
There was so much going on in this book. Sydney got involved in way too many conflicts this time around, and I was worried that the book might drop thThere was so much going on in this book. Sydney got involved in way too many conflicts this time around, and I was worried that the book might drop the ball. That one of the plot lines might be forgotten about and just fizzle out.
That wasn't the case. All the major threads that are brought up in this book come to some satisfying resolution.
And still had time for sweet, romantic flirty bits.
I'm not a huge fan of romance. I don't hate it. I didn't much care for Rose and Dimitri's story line in Vampire Academy but darn it if I'm not a sucker for Adrian.
Whenever Sydney would try to shake off or break away from any feelings she had for Adrian I just wanted to shove her closer to him. I understood where she was coming from, and I understood it was part of who she was too.
But honestly I just wanted to scream. Screw the Alchemists. Screw the rules. Make-out with him now!
The romance plots and complications weren't overpowering or protagonist had her priorities in order. Like looking into Alchemist secrets and stop a youth sucking witch. Which was refreshing to see. Most female protagonists nowadays would let the world burn for the pretty boy.
Sydney's struggles were interesting. Her constant struggle in trying to find where she stood between the group mentality that she had been raised on and her own personal beliefs was well fleshed out. Her growth as a character is evident and I'm glad to see she's still growing. Still figuring herself out and given the cliffhanger this book ended on I'll be excited to see what her next step will be. ...more
I'm doing a happy dance because I always dread the second book in a series. It's usually when the book hits a slump and the second tends to feel like I'm doing a happy dance because I always dread the second book in a series. It's usually when the book hits a slump and the second tends to feel like a stall between the first and the grand finale in the third. Here we had decent pacing. Plot advancements. Surprises and twists. It's why I was able to finish it so fast.
The Plot Picking up a few months where the last book left off. The threat of Zara still looms over everyone while she appears to be carrying out her righteous mission of Damning criminals across the country. With things starting to go to shit the town begins to turn against Lex, Uncle Mort and the other Juniors. They begin to blame them for what's been happening and even accuse them of working with Zara. All the while Lex and her friends are attempting to uncover the mysterious 'Wrong Book' before it winds up in the wrong hands.
The Characters Lex: It was interesting to watch her struggle with guilt over the event of the previous book and events during this book, but at the same time keep that same sarcasm and wit that made her fun to read in the first place. She ends up with a lot to deal with during this installment especially with the whole town, that she's come to love, turning on her.
Uncle Mort: There was more of him in this one! Which makes my heart leap with joy. I could have done without his need to keep secrets though. At times it just felt like short hand for I want to foreshadow the readers about this big awesome secret, but I also don't want to tell them just yet. So I'll let Juniors overhear Mort saying certain things but then have him refuse to tell them...yet. He's lucky he's the hottest most awesomest uncle ever because it helps me forgive him.
Norwood and Heloise: These fuckers had to have been raised in whatever rotting pit Umbridge crawled out of. They're of the same we don't believe you and we're treating you like trash and accusing you of all these horrible things for the good of the town cloth. I wanted to see them pushed in front of traffic.
The Juniors: They're the kind of friends you'd want to have in your corner. While I like the two new rookie Juniors, Pip and Bang, that arrived in this book I didn't really see the point of shoving in two new characters. They didn't add anything new, but at the same time their presence didn't distract from anyone. Their interactions with the other characters had their moments, but it doesn't seem like it would change the book that much if they were gone either.
Overall This book does well to balance it's darker moments with a splash of humor. There's a lot of death in this book, but you never get the feeling like you're spiraling into a void of death and misery. I mean there's still the Afterlife. King Tut is there. He can bench press a camel. ...more
Cinder, my dear I know the circumstances that brought you to Earth were horrible. I know your foster mother was downright cruel to you. I still think Cinder, my dear I know the circumstances that brought you to Earth were horrible. I know your foster mother was downright cruel to you. I still think you might have lucked out, because your mother and aunt.....yikes.
Fairest is a prequel focusing around Levana.
I applaud Meyer for being able to bring out a human aspect to the Lunar queen, but at the same time strengthen my resolve to see her defeated. This prequel does a fantastic job of aiding the reader in understanding Levana without woobiefying her.
It is an interesting read that provides insight into the events leading up to the series. Which can be a hard thing for a prequel to achieve given, for the most part, we know what will become of the characters. I would confidently say that if you're a fan of the series this installment is worth a read. ...more
I've been here before. The group of demon slaying teenagers with snarky attitudes, a lose interpretation for rules, and tend to be little shits even tI've been here before. The group of demon slaying teenagers with snarky attitudes, a lose interpretation for rules, and tend to be little shits even though they're supposed to be the good guys. But this book went and changed it up on me. The characters were likeable. Dare I say loveable.
The pacing was excellent there was never a dull moment. Helped by the fact that the book didn't feel the need to hammer us with love triangles and paragraphs about how pretty and perfect designated love interests were. Instead it opted to change things up and focus on developing the friendship between the two female characters instead. (God this made me so happy.)
This book is definitely worth a read. It's fun. It's different. The narrator and her voice are great and as an added bonus this book features a kick ass, intelligent, awesome, disabled female. This is for sure going to end up being one of my favorite books for this year. ...more
I have no idea if the science in this book is accurate. I mean I'll be honest with you every time Mark Watney explains why and how he's doing somethinI have no idea if the science in this book is accurate. I mean I'll be honest with you every time Mark Watney explains why and how he's doing something and get's into the math of it....
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This isn't even really meant as an insult to the book. I mean I gave it five stars. I seriously enjoyed it. Though my enjoyment didn't really come from the math and chemistry lessons.
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Okay I'm not that lost when it comes to science babbling. Still though after reading through book after book where the author couldn't be assed to research how guns work that, even if I didn't always follow the math, it endeared the book to me. It was nice to see an author care enough to put so much research into his work. Especially since it was math. Icky, horrible, ungodly math.
Again I don't know how accurate it is, but I'm told it's all pretty solid accurate spacey wacey stuff so I'm going to assume that yeah it's right.
It isn't just that the author gave enough of a damn to research the topic that earned five stars from me (because let's be real that should be the default and requirement). If this had just been a book of Mark Watney meticulously writing out what he was doing and why I probably would have put it down. (Because math is icky and boring. God, I would totally die on Mars.)
It was the fact that it was peppered in with just the right amount of snark and personality. Mark Watney was a breath of fresh air in comparison to the angst babies I've had to read through recently.
I mean this guy has every reason to dip into the woe is me everything sucks bucket. He doesn't. He remains focused and determined to survive.
“Me: “This is obviously a clog. How about I take it apart and check the internal tubing?� NASA: (after five hours of deliberation) “No. You’ll fuck it up and die.� So I took it apart.�
All while keeping a healthy sense of humor.
I mean he's fucked. He's truly fucked. He's alone on Mars. He has to survive. I've seen certain characters turn into giant crying piss babies over less. Mark doesn't. It makes me want to hug him instead of see him die out there. You want to root for him.
And even with the humorous aspects of Mark Watney's narrative voice I still felt this sense of fear for him. There were times I was nervously turning pages worried about what would happen to him next.
All and all this one earned a solid five stars from me and I'm glad I picked it up. ...more
While I enjoyed this installment, the book itself felt more like a stall than solid progression forward. It was understandable enough as this is what While I enjoyed this installment, the book itself felt more like a stall than solid progression forward. It was understandable enough as this is what our characters set out to do. While there were struggles going on in their world, it was never the character's original goal to get involved directly.
Their entire plan at the end of the last book and the start of this one was to go to the school and hide and learn there. Now they have an entire year worth of experience and knowledge, and this one ends with the plot finally feeling as if it's going somewhere.
I didn't even mind that this was a bit of a stall book because it was interesting enough. The characters felt real and well developed. The world felt fleshed out. The writing was was extremely enjoyable as well. But five hundred pages is long for a book that is setting up for future plot.
I'm still giving it five stars though because I honestly enjoyed it. ...more
I've heard nostalgia is a tricky and horrible thing. Nostalgia sends blinds you and sends you running back into the arms of things that are better lefI've heard nostalgia is a tricky and horrible thing. Nostalgia sends blinds you and sends you running back into the arms of things that are better left forgotten in the past.
Fuck that this was awesome.
It was a wonderfully preserved piece of my childhood resurfacing after twenty years. This comic still managed to capture the heart and soul of the show I once loved. It toed the line of being silly and serious. Most important being that it captured the spirit of the characters. Even after twenty years just reading I could hear their voices and remember various traits about them all over again.
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