Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas.
The best kind of books are those that leave you gasping for breath, clutching your poor shredded heart, and wondering how on earth black markings on paper are able to affect you so much. I thought I was prepared. I thought I had girded my metaphorical loins. I thought I could read this and emerge relatively unscathed. I was wrong. I had been warned and I had an inkling, but this book looked at my expectations and tore them to shreds like a wyvern (or seadragon) would a flimsy dinghy.
I don’t usually drop books and whisper “no, no, no” even if I figure out a heavy piece of foreshadowing in advance. Especially not in public. Yet Sarah J. Maas has already made me do this twice. Once I actually threw the book across the reading nook because it really ripped into me ... the writing is so immediate and gripping that you can almost feel and smell the place in addition to seeing it in your head.
Yes, there are issues, but show me the book that doesn’t have a single flaw and is perfect on every account of political correctness, representation, gender, plot holes, you name it ... and I will be probably half asleep by the second page because of it. There is such a thing as analysing a book to death and no book with such an impact deserves that. Critical reading yes, but slaughtering it for the sake of finding flaws no.
What does deserve analysis and praise are the development and direction this series has taken. With the first and second book it started out as a nice, well-written story about an easy to handle cast of characters that I cared for in varying degrees, but from the third and especially fourth book onwards the scope has become so much broader, the cast so much bigger and the overall impression so much deeper. You can clearly see how the author has grown with these books and at the same time (and that is something I truly admire) the foundation for all of this has always been present in the back-stories. I absolutely love how all of it is coming together and adding up. I love this series. Period. And I absolutely hate that it sure as daylight is going to break my heart in one way or another. Or in many ways actually.
Which author have you been following long enough to notice and appreciate their learning curve? Share them and your teasers in the comments!
To play along just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas.
 |
| Empire of Storms – Bloomsbury |
Rolfe let out a low laugh. “The talk of young idealists and dreamers.”
“The world,” Aelin said, “will be saved and remade by the dreamers, Rolfe.”
— Chapter 28
Because she made a bad choice, trying to heal a wound she couldn’t ever mend. Trying to avenge the people she loved.
— Chapter 60
The best kind of books are those that leave you gasping for breath, clutching your poor shredded heart, and wondering how on earth black markings on paper are able to affect you so much. I thought I was prepared. I thought I had girded my metaphorical loins. I thought I could read this and emerge relatively unscathed. I was wrong. I had been warned and I had an inkling, but this book looked at my expectations and tore them to shreds like a wyvern (or seadragon) would a flimsy dinghy.
I don’t usually drop books and whisper “no, no, no” even if I figure out a heavy piece of foreshadowing in advance. Especially not in public. Yet Sarah J. Maas has already made me do this twice. Once I actually threw the book across the reading nook because it really ripped into me ... the writing is so immediate and gripping that you can almost feel and smell the place in addition to seeing it in your head.
Yes, there are issues, but show me the book that doesn’t have a single flaw and is perfect on every account of political correctness, representation, gender, plot holes, you name it ... and I will be probably half asleep by the second page because of it. There is such a thing as analysing a book to death and no book with such an impact deserves that. Critical reading yes, but slaughtering it for the sake of finding flaws no.
What does deserve analysis and praise are the development and direction this series has taken. With the first and second book it started out as a nice, well-written story about an easy to handle cast of characters that I cared for in varying degrees, but from the third and especially fourth book onwards the scope has become so much broader, the cast so much bigger and the overall impression so much deeper. You can clearly see how the author has grown with these books and at the same time (and that is something I truly admire) the foundation for all of this has always been present in the back-stories. I absolutely love how all of it is coming together and adding up. I love this series. Period. And I absolutely hate that it sure as daylight is going to break my heart in one way or another. Or in many ways actually.
Which author have you been following long enough to notice and appreciate their learning curve? Share them and your teasers in the comments!
Tuesday, 4 October 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig.
This is one of the books where saying just one word too many can ruin the whole surprise so I’ll tread very carefully. I’ll just say that I’m usually not a big fan of crime and thrill books. Not for any particular reason I just don’t really like reading them. And as for everything there has to be an exception and I made mine for this book.
Ask yourself this: How well do you know your partner? Do you really know everything about them? How well do you know them really?
Pretty well one wants to say since you have been together for a while and not without reason. Flynn probably would have said something similar about his girlfriend January ... Until he comes home one evening before Halloween and the police are waiting for him, accusing him to be involved in January’s disappearance.
That he hasn’t seen her for almost a week must be kept secret, because Flynn has a secret of himself that he wants to keep hidden from the police, his parents, and most of all from himself.
But then the search for January comes to an abrupt dead end and evidence appears that January wasn’t exactly the girl Flynn believed her to be. Flynn is determined to find out what happened. Because he feels guilty and because he has to prove that he isn’t the culprit.
I love how fitting one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes quotes is for this book: There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. Because here nothing is as it seems, everyone has an agenda, and no one can be more mysterious than the person you think you know best.
I have seen comparisons to Gone Girl and Thirteen Reasons Why. They aren’t wrong, but I think this debut can very well stand on its own, too, and shine quite brilliantly.
Which is your no-go genre and have you made an exception for any particular book? Let me know about them and share your teasers in the comments!
To play along just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig.
 |
| Last Seen Leaving – Feiwel & Friends |
It was the last time I saw her. They were the last words she spoke to me.
— Chapter 2
My thoughts splintered as I stumbled up the slope, abject fear making an icy slush of my bloodstream, certainty and denial kicking in simultaneously. I told myself no, no it isn’t, it can’t be, no, but I knew.
— Chapter 9
This is one of the books where saying just one word too many can ruin the whole surprise so I’ll tread very carefully. I’ll just say that I’m usually not a big fan of crime and thrill books. Not for any particular reason I just don’t really like reading them. And as for everything there has to be an exception and I made mine for this book.
Ask yourself this: How well do you know your partner? Do you really know everything about them? How well do you know them really?
Pretty well one wants to say since you have been together for a while and not without reason. Flynn probably would have said something similar about his girlfriend January ... Until he comes home one evening before Halloween and the police are waiting for him, accusing him to be involved in January’s disappearance.
That he hasn’t seen her for almost a week must be kept secret, because Flynn has a secret of himself that he wants to keep hidden from the police, his parents, and most of all from himself.
But then the search for January comes to an abrupt dead end and evidence appears that January wasn’t exactly the girl Flynn believed her to be. Flynn is determined to find out what happened. Because he feels guilty and because he has to prove that he isn’t the culprit.
I love how fitting one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes quotes is for this book: There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. Because here nothing is as it seems, everyone has an agenda, and no one can be more mysterious than the person you think you know best.
I have seen comparisons to Gone Girl and Thirteen Reasons Why. They aren’t wrong, but I think this debut can very well stand on its own, too, and shine quite brilliantly.
Which is your no-go genre and have you made an exception for any particular book? Let me know about them and share your teasers in the comments!
Tuesday, 27 September 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir.
This book nearly killed me ... multiple times actually. First because of the wait. Or to be precise because it wasn’t even sure that there would be a second book, but thankfully that was cleared up pretty fast after the first book came out (more power to the readers). Then the actual wait with hints and teasers and speculation. Reading the book almost made me walk into traffic, too. And then the book itself ... skies and ten hells, my poor poor heart. At least there are now two more books announced (no idea how I’m supposed to survive those, but let’s be optimistic).
Sabaa Tahir is a masterful storyteller who knows how to grip her readers by the throat and lead them on a journey of hope and loss and love and betrayal so delicately interwoven that at times I forgot to be wary of things to come but still felt that underlying threat. And it’s so full of suspense that sometimes I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out how a particular scene would play out. My cry-pillow also got a good work out ... just a fair warning. What a punch to the gut, very mean author is very mean.
The book doesn’t really end in a cliffhanger per se yet there are some things unresolved and hanging in the balance that I would like to know more about sooner rather than later. But apparently book three is at the moment scheduled for a 2018 release? Say it ain’t so! Not complaining about more books though.
I have no idea how they could have let the story end after the first book, but I suspect the publisher wanted to wait and see if signing up more books would be viable ... not sure if I like that tactic. What do you think? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!
To play along just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir.
 |
| A Torch Against the Night – Razorbill |
“Always so afraid of the darkness within.” Mamie takes my hands. “Don’t you see? So long as you fight the darkness, you stand in the light.”
— Chapter 18
Failure doesn’t define you. It’s what you do after you fail that determines whether you are a leader or a waste of perfectly good air.
— Chapter 48
This book nearly killed me ... multiple times actually. First because of the wait. Or to be precise because it wasn’t even sure that there would be a second book, but thankfully that was cleared up pretty fast after the first book came out (more power to the readers). Then the actual wait with hints and teasers and speculation. Reading the book almost made me walk into traffic, too. And then the book itself ... skies and ten hells, my poor poor heart. At least there are now two more books announced (no idea how I’m supposed to survive those, but let’s be optimistic).
Sabaa Tahir is a masterful storyteller who knows how to grip her readers by the throat and lead them on a journey of hope and loss and love and betrayal so delicately interwoven that at times I forgot to be wary of things to come but still felt that underlying threat. And it’s so full of suspense that sometimes I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out how a particular scene would play out. My cry-pillow also got a good work out ... just a fair warning. What a punch to the gut, very mean author is very mean.
The book doesn’t really end in a cliffhanger per se yet there are some things unresolved and hanging in the balance that I would like to know more about sooner rather than later. But apparently book three is at the moment scheduled for a 2018 release? Say it ain’t so! Not complaining about more books though.
I have no idea how they could have let the story end after the first book, but I suspect the publisher wanted to wait and see if signing up more books would be viable ... not sure if I like that tactic. What do you think? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!
Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi.
This book is so so very wonderful! I am aware that more than others it might really come down to liking this particular way of writing, but for me the author spun a tale of language and plot in a pretty, whimsical, and engaging narrative. Language is such a mighty tool in this book and I loved the way it is used to paint incredible scenes and scenarios. I have no idea how rainlight might look like in reality, but the words are so powerful that after a while you accept the world created in this book with its wondrous and to our mind strange proceedings.
The story itself is as simple as it is extraordinary and that makes this book so precious in my opinion, because it brings a special kind of magic to a journey of self-discovery, rescue, and towards understanding and friendship. Language appreciation will most certainly add to the reading experience yet you can also read it for the adventure and friendship element alone and be thoroughly entertained.
Another YA author writing Middle Grade and transitioning well I think. I’m sad that this seems to be a stand-alone as I’d have liked to see more of this fascinating story universe ... maybe one can hope. Which stand-alone would you want to be expanded into more than one book? Share thoughts and teasers in the comments!
To play along just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi.
 |
| Furthermore – Dutton Children’s Books |
Humility had gotten lost on its journey to his ego, but the two had finally been reunited, and the meeting appeared to be painful.
— Chapter 23
Love had made her fearless, and wasn’t it strange? It was so much easier to fight for another than it was to fight for oneself.
— Chapter 24
This book is so so very wonderful! I am aware that more than others it might really come down to liking this particular way of writing, but for me the author spun a tale of language and plot in a pretty, whimsical, and engaging narrative. Language is such a mighty tool in this book and I loved the way it is used to paint incredible scenes and scenarios. I have no idea how rainlight might look like in reality, but the words are so powerful that after a while you accept the world created in this book with its wondrous and to our mind strange proceedings.
The story itself is as simple as it is extraordinary and that makes this book so precious in my opinion, because it brings a special kind of magic to a journey of self-discovery, rescue, and towards understanding and friendship. Language appreciation will most certainly add to the reading experience yet you can also read it for the adventure and friendship element alone and be thoroughly entertained.
Another YA author writing Middle Grade and transitioning well I think. I’m sad that this seems to be a stand-alone as I’d have liked to see more of this fascinating story universe ... maybe one can hope. Which stand-alone would you want to be expanded into more than one book? Share thoughts and teasers in the comments!
Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.
This is a harmless middle grade series written by two serene and light-hearted authors ... said no one ever about The Magisterium series. Don’t get me wrong the plot and language are (in my opinion) totally age-appropriate, but if you know the authors from their YA background you also know that they are part of that lovely writer group who thrive on reader angst and tears. And I mean that in the most lovingly, while slightly emotionally tortured, way.
This third book in the series was again a wild roller coaster of high stakes, adventure, and emotion written in that wonderful smooth and blended voice of two masters. I pretend that I can in some passages see who wrote a particular expression or comeback, but overall you’d never guess that there was more than one person writing this. Apart from the part where the story wouldn’t be as dense and the characters maybe lacking a certain layer of depth, but it’s completely impossible to say how this story would have turned out on its own.
That end though ... I have no idea where this will go from here, but rest assured that I’m barely able to contain myself ... yep another year long wait ahead. But some things are worth waiting for and here that’s definitely the case.
Do you know authors who successfully write for more than one age group? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!
To play along just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.
 |
| The Bronze Key – Scholastic Press |
“Someone spent their summer rereading all their Nancy Drew mysteries,” Jasper said.
Tamara gave him a toothy grin. “Someone is going to get a punch in their face.”
— Chapter 6
One of its eyes opened, its pupil large and black, the iris around it a bright purple and star-shaped.
“Children,” it whispered. “I like children.”
The “for breakfast” went unsaid, but seemed clear to Call.
— Chapter 10
This is a harmless middle grade series written by two serene and light-hearted authors ... said no one ever about The Magisterium series. Don’t get me wrong the plot and language are (in my opinion) totally age-appropriate, but if you know the authors from their YA background you also know that they are part of that lovely writer group who thrive on reader angst and tears. And I mean that in the most lovingly, while slightly emotionally tortured, way.
This third book in the series was again a wild roller coaster of high stakes, adventure, and emotion written in that wonderful smooth and blended voice of two masters. I pretend that I can in some passages see who wrote a particular expression or comeback, but overall you’d never guess that there was more than one person writing this. Apart from the part where the story wouldn’t be as dense and the characters maybe lacking a certain layer of depth, but it’s completely impossible to say how this story would have turned out on its own.
That end though ... I have no idea where this will go from here, but rest assured that I’m barely able to contain myself ... yep another year long wait ahead. But some things are worth waiting for and here that’s definitely the case.
Do you know authors who successfully write for more than one age group? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!
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