The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

4 stars

I’ve always thought that the best way to go into a Suma novel is to know almost nothing about it. When I went into Imaginary Girls all I knew was that the cover was gorgeous and that the main protagonists were sisters. I went into 17 & Gone only knowing that the main character was trying to crack the case of a missing girl and then becoming obsessed with several other missing cases. I went into The Walls Around Us only knowing it was written by Suma. I didn’t even read the summary and I think all I need to say about Suma’s work is…

But since I’m reviewer and I’ve been slacking on reviews ‘cause I’m absolutely horrible and have decided to get a social life, I’ll actually articulate my thoughts on this novel without using just one gif.

If you are curious what this book is about… then the briefest summary I can give you without spoiling the major plot is that Ori and Violet were best friends… until something went wrong and one of them ended up with Amber in a place she never expected to be. That’s literally all you need to know. I don’t want to spoil anything because not going into this book with any knowledge was what had me turning the page and biting my nails in anticipation for the reveal. I consider Suma to be one of the best YA authors I’ve read. She has an entrancing style that I just breeze through and find myself easily lost in.


This book opens up in a really weird way. Don’t let the beginning trip you up, though. It has a purpose… a purpose I wasn’t expecting Suma to use. Also this book is set in Canada. I don’t read very many Canadian settings, but this one was interesting. This book is simply put a “typical Suma”. This sounds weird for someone who hasn’t read any of her works before, but all of her elements are there. Lyrical writing, dark atmosphere, haunting characters, and the ability to leave me in chills once I close to book (or my PDF file). I did find this to be Suma’s most suspenseful novel so far. The only thoughts going through my head while reading were, “What’s going to happen?” “What’s the secret/ twist?” “Where’s this going?”


We have two POVs, which is very different from Suma’s usual style, but then again I’ve noticed that she never sticks to a particular writing POV in her novels. They always vary.


The main female characters in this one are Amber, Violet, and Ori. Amber is my spirit animal for books. I can totally see Suma’s love for books and the library in Amber’s character.
"Our private taste books showed a hint of our secret selves, and sometimes I was the only one who got to see those secrets."
This quote was during a prison break. Amber had the chance to break out and run free, but she went to the library… her library. I don’t know if I liked her character though. She was enamored with Ori too much. It kind of creeped me out. Then there’s Violet who has become THE ballerina. She’s off to bigger and better things soon, but first she must visit Ori. I once again find myself loathing a Suma character. She reminded me a lot of a character is Suma’s debut novel (that I won’t mention because it’s a spoiler) with her manipulative mindset and psychopathic tendencies. She was also incredibly obsessed with Ori. Obsessed to the point where I was waiting for her to be like “P.S. I love Ori as more than a friend/ sister and that’s why I hated your bae.” Alas, that didn’t happen because Violet is just Violet. Then there’s Ori. She reminds of the same character that Violet reminds me of. It’s so weird, but she’s has her ability to make people fall for her on-sight. The thing I like about Ori is she doesn’t use people’s love and admiration against them. She’s a genuinely good person to the people in the novel.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: Amber- 7 Violet- 5 Ori- 8

The main male character is… I just think I should point out that there is never really a main Romeo in her novels, which is something I truly love and admire about her novels. A good writer is a writer who can make me love the characters without there being a love story. (But Ori did have a bae. He seemed to love her and it was adorable in the scene I’m thinking of.)


Swoon Worthy Scale: Omitted

The Villain-

I like to think of Suma as an evil puppeteer stringing us along in her writing because fun times for her while making us squirm, plus there was a bloodbath.

Villain Scale: 8

The girls of the prison were integral in the story. I love how Suma was able to weave in their personalities without it being annoying to the flow of the story.


Character Scale: 7

I love the incorporation of ballet and prison life. Two very parallel things, but it somehow worked very well.


This book left me feeling haunted. Oh, puns! The content is one of Suma’s darker ones- taking on the theme of retribution and punishment. The twist at the end was very strange, but justice was served. Definitely not Suma’s strongest work, but still enjoyable. I highly recommend this for Suma fans or anyone curious about all the hype around her.


“Some actions remove words entirely from your vocabulary.”

Cover Thoughts: I love the cover all on its own. It’s is absolutely beautiful, but since I’ve read this I can actually appreciate it’s symbolism and the beauty of it (also the horror).

September and October Book Haul

I'm still alive I promise! I'll be around a little bit more in the next months. Hopefully if everything goes according to plan the week of Thanksgiving I will be posting my Harry Potter series review.

Catch Up Reviews

Sorry, I haven't been around lately. School is kicking my butt, my obsession with American Horror Story also meant that I didn't want to check e-mails or be social. The last few weekends have been very hectic, but I have a five day weekend and you'll probably see me again this weekend. I leave you with three book reviews. Two I hated, one I loved. All very different from each other.



Daimon by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Prequel to the Covenant series

4.5 stars

Alexandria and her mother have lived with mortals for three years. Three years away from her home and trying to forget her duty to protect demigods. After horrifying events lead Alex to Miami she finds herself on the run from daimons, the very things she’s been trained to kill. On the run from daimons and trying to find her way back to the place she escaped from- the Covenant- things are about to get crazy for Alex. The thing I love about JLA is that her writing is always fun. She’s snarky and entertaining. I always find myself loving the heroine and swooning for the hero. Being that this story is only 62 pages and I was already starting to feel this way, I’d say that Armentrout is amazing. I know that a lot of people don’t like this series because it’s a “rip-off” of Vampire Academy. I love VA and I see the similarities, but it doesn’t seem all that much the same now. Keep in mind that Obsidian was also said to be a rip-off of Twilight with aliens. If you’ve read more than one book, then you know that this because completely irrelevant as the story progresses. I’m sure the same thing will happen with this series.


For a short story, I thought Alex was great and this Seth guy sounds great. I already have Half-Blood and hope to get to it soon because JLA never disappoints.


Cover Thoughts: This cover is gorgeous. It’s not particularly different, but it is a good cover and I like it a lot.

This book can be read free online here.




Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose

1 star

Undaunted Courage chronicles the story of Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition, Thomas Jefferson’s dream of America’s expansion, and the events leading up to and after the expedition. Well, this is a nonfiction novel so I can’t pick apart characters or plots. That’s probably my biggest problem with Undaunted Courage it offers no great excitement besides that Indian battle. I read 50 full pages and then decided the easiest way to get through and enjoy this book was to skim through. I read the first sentence of every paragraph and if it pertained to my project I would read the full paragraph. I didn’t enjoy this novel in the least. It was boring, endless and it left me miserable and unsatisfied. I did learn a few things from this book surprisingly (I didn’t know Lewis killed himself and was pretty shocked by that), but I didn’t feel anything besides boredom and the feeling of impatience while reading. Nonfiction like this just isn’t my forte.


There were many maps and pictures inside this novel. They were greatly detailed and offered a lot to the expedition.


Cover Thoughts: It’s a great painting, but it doesn’t appeal to me.


 

Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn't Fly by P.T. Jones
DNF-1.5 stars

Mary doesn’t know what to think when she’s at a lame birthday party with her lame overly religious family when a boy floats up a tree and into the sky. She doesn’t know what to do when her brother starts to float to and other kids. The prospect of this novel is different and cute. I thought I would enjoy it. Sadly I didn’t. I DNFed 91 pages in. I have enough back story on this novel to say that this novel isn’t for me. The writing is painfully childish and uninteresting. The book is chalked full of bad pop culture references. This novel tries to be cool, but instead of me enjoying the references, I found myself annoyed with the author for trying so hard to appeal to younger readers.


Mary was a character who I couldn’t connect to. She had some funny lines, but she was telling me her life instead of showing it to me. I can’t stand characters like that. Mary was just one of the reasons why this book didn’t work for me.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2
The “love interest” I was introduced to was a flop. I’m not sure if he was meant to be a love interest or a crush, but regardless I wasn’t interested.

Swoon Worthy Scale: 1
The Villain- I’m not really sure where this story is going, but that weird man was unsettling. I’ll give the book that.

Villain Scale: 2.5
Mary’s friends and family were present in comparison to most YA and MG novels, but I didn’t feel a family bond or a close friendship bond.

Character Scale: 2
This book was just unsatisfying and I’m sure I continued to read further instead of DNFing, I would’ve just hated it more.

Cover Thoughts: Hands reaching… I’ve never seen that used before.
Thank you, Netgalley and ChiTeen for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Have you read any of these? Let me know down below!

A Devil and Her Love Song by Miyoshi Tomori

I'm sorry I've been absent and not very active in the community, but junior year is kicking my butt. On the bright side hopefully within the next couple of weeks I'll get back to blogging. I also haven't been reading a lot because I've discovered American Horror Story and I think that show is life. Seriously if you haven't watched it yet, you need to. I watched Murder House in two days, Asylum in four, and I'm half way through Coven. It's amazing. I'm so excited for Freak Show. Anyway I'll try to stop by and start writing and filming more videos. I miss my blog, but life is busy.




A Devil and Her Love Song by Miyoshi Tomori

First Volume

3 stars

Maria has just transferred from a Catholic school and she seems to have a knack for reading people. This doesn’t win over her classmates, but Yusuke and Shin seem to want to be her friend. This is a pretty disappointing manga. It’s nothing great and it lacks in comparison to other realistic shoujo manga I’ve read. I went in thinking that this would be a paranormal manga. I was wrong! This is very much contemporary and while that isn’t a bad thing, I feel like A Devil and Her Love Song was poorly executed. There were times when the tone was very dark and then would randomly throw in light undertones and completely stop focusing on the original plot point of the chapter. It was very annoying and I found myself becoming less invested in the characters as I continued to read, but I may continue with the manga series all because there was a cliffhanger.


The art is quite beautiful. While the light and dark plot changes bugged me, art wise it was beautiful to look at. The art is simple and not very different from most popular shoujo mangas, but it was still aesthetically pleasing.


Cover Thoughts: I love the cover. It was why I bought the volume in the first place. It just has this badass vibe to it. Sadly the book is not as badass.

Jackaby by William Ritter

Jackaby William Ritter

2.5 stars

Abigail Rook has just arrived in New England. She isn’t supposed to be there, but she can’t contain her wanderlust attitude and hope for adventure. She meets R.F. Jackaby at a bar in an odd encounter and finds herself working for him as an assistant to his investigations. Jackaby isn’t like other investigators though, he sees things that aren’t really there- or at least seem like they wouldn’t be. As a series of gruesome murders begins to occur Jackaby and Abigail must uncover who the vicious killer is before it’s too late. I was so excited for this one. The cover is gorgeous. I was really intrigued by all what this novel had to offer, but everything just fell flat. Jackaby is novel that is mediocre. There’s no other way to describe this novel. It’s simple in plot, writing style, characterization, as well as suspense build up. If it wasn’t for the interesting crime scene visits or the remaining fifty pages, I would’ve gladly DNFed this novel. I expected quite a lot out of Jackaby and was disappointed. I do have to commend Ritter for the usage of paranormal and fantasy lore. It was very entertaining at times, but at others it was randomly thrown into a scene and just seemed like information overkill. The easiest way to describe this novel is odd. That sometimes is a great thing, if done correctly. Sadly, Jackaby lacked in the departments necessary to make an odd novel entertaining and fun to breeze through.


The main female character is Abigail. I have nothing to say about her. She was a heroine, but she was also more of a cardboard cutout than character. I feel that besides her want to be adventurous, I know nothing about her. I didn’t connect to her. She has zero personality. I just didn’t connect to her at all.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 3

The main male character is Jackaby. Jackaby and Abigail have no romantic relationship, which is kind of nice. It makes their partnership strictly businesslike and not all lovey-dovey. Jackaby does have more characterization than Abigail. He seems slightly more solid, but still not really a solid enough character for me to form any thorough opinion on liking or disliking him.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 3.5

The Villain- I did like the lore behind this villain. It was very different from what I usually read, but still not a solid enough characterization or buildup of lore to qualify as anything other than me scratching my head and asking if that’s it.



Villain Scale: 4

The side characters are all very entertaining. There’s a banshee, an old assistant turned duck, a ghost, a homeless woman who isn’t as crazy as she seems, a werewolf, and a crabby police chief. It’s very entertaining, but also some of these characters felt like fillers to add in random information that wasn’t necessary to the investigation or novel.


Character Scale: 4.5

Jackaby is mediocrity at its finest. I’m extremely disappointed in this one, but that doesn’t mean that somebody else won’t like it. I recommend this to fans of paranormal mystery. I don’t recommend this to fans of Sherlock because that would feel like a bit of a letdown to go into thinking this is Sherlock with Supernatural combined.


Cover Thoughts: The cover is absolutely gorgeous. I just love the colors, the fading effect, and how classy it looks. It’s a beautiful cover. If I loved this book I probably would’ve bought it to show off on my shelf for the cover alone.

Thank you, Netgalley and Algonquin Young Readers for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The One Safe Place by Tania Unsworth

The One Safe Place by Tania Unsworth

4.5 stars

Devin has always lived on a farm and when his grandfather dies he knows it’s his time to go into the city. What Devin finds in the city is a world of poverty. The rich are the ones living in houses, drinking water, and eating. The homeless are children and people who can’t afford to live nicely. Devin meets a girl on the streets and they become fast friends. Rumors of a home where homeless children go to be adopted are whispered amongst the homeless, but Kit says they are just stories. Until they aren’t. Devin is offered to go to the home and he’s taking Kit with him. Not everything is what it seems in the home. Horrible things are being done to the children and there is no escape. I’ve never read The Giver or Among the Hidden, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I was highly impressed by this novel. I hit a lot of sour reads through Netgalley and even more mediocre ones. I always get so excited when I find books that are genuinely fantastic on there. This is one of those books! I was very thrown off at first. It is an odd book from the beginning. This is a dystopian novel. It doesn’t seem like one but it is. I like the feel of that in writing. I know the world is horrible, but it feels like today’s current world only in the behind the scenes. Our world is wreaked with poverty whether we want to acknowledge it or not. In that sense, this novel heightens the form of poverty to no middle class. You are either rich or homeless. There’s no in between.


Dystopians can always seem predictable. There’s your basic regime government of supposed utopian society gone downhill. There’s a revolution in the underground waiting to break free that the main character discovers and leads. Your basic romance that can sometimes just be absolutely gut-wrenching (I’m looking at you Suzanne Collins). Dystopians have a basic set up, but The One Safe Place goes against your basic backdrop. We have absolutely no interaction with the government and there is no revolution. We do meet someone who in a way governs the orphans, but is in no means the government. There’s no takedown per say, but there is a conclusion that leaves hope for the characters. There is also no romance, just a strong friendship that could be more in the future. I loved all these differences. It’s refreshing. It made me enjoy this book. I went from apprehensive to absolutely thrilled.


The main male character is Devin. It’s interesting to be thrown into a dystopian where the main character hasn’t grown up in this environment. His family has lived on a farm as a way to escape this world. As Devin journeys into this world we feel the same confusion and questions about this world that Devin has. It was an interesting perspective and I really enjoyed it. Devin also has synesthesia. I have never read a book with a character that has this disability, but I have quite a few on my TBR list. I thought it was a very interesting take for Devin, but I don’t feel like it was fully touched on or even touched in the proper way. I’m not sure though since this is my first time reading about or even really getting knowledge on it.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 7.5

The main female character is Kit. There’s no romantic connection between Kit and Devin. It was hinted at as a possibility, but when you are fighting for your life it’s put on the back burner for these characters. This is something I really enjoyed. It doesn’t have to be all about romance and it was refreshing for it to be put on hold to let the plot be the main focal point of this novel. I didn’t particularly like Kit though. She could be very naïve about things and as well as annoying. I understand her reasoning though.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 6.5

The Villain- That twist?! The problem that orphans face in this utopian home is that they all go into a Dream. The Dream was not what I was expecting at all. I was completely blown away by the actual thought behind the Dream. It was just so cool.


Villain Scale: 8

I loved the orphans. They were such a colorful cast of characters. How could I not smile at the simple jokes? Also the pig was just such a fun touch to the novel.


Character Scale: 8

I’m highly impressed with The One Safe Place. It’s very different from current dystopians and worth the read. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a dystopian that is different from Divergent or The Hunger Games.


Cover Thoughts: I really like the cover. It’s simplistic, but it’s not amazing. I just really like the simplicity of it.

Thank you, Netgalley and Algonquin Young Readers for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Summer of Reading: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

I had to read four books this summer for AP English. This is the first book I read this summer and I decided to finally review it.:)





East of Eden by John Steinbeck

4.5 stars

East of Eden focuses on the lives of the Trasks and the Hamiltons. The Trasks have lived a life of brothers plagued to play out like Cain and Abel. The Hamiltons are a quaint, poor family in the Salinas Valley. That’s the best description of this book without giving anything away. Believe me; you don’t want to be spoiled for this book. This book is my favorite classic. I hold classics in a different regard to books published long ago (In Cold Blood is a classic and it’s a big favorite of mine, but it’s nonfiction so I hold it on a different standard). As a fictional classic, East of Eden is superb. Steinbeck is the classic writer of a good drama. This book is insanely dramatic. Yes, it’s lengthy. Are there a lot of unnecessary descriptions? Sure, but most of them have something relevant to the plot. Everything Steinbeck writes means something. I enjoyed every minute of this novel. It’s whirlwind ride of deception, psychos, bad brothers, and secrets. I have so much to praise and talk about but I don’t want to spoil anything or give too much away of the brilliance of Steinbeck’s characters.


A Breakdown of Characters:
There are so many characters in this novel and each of them are connected in some huge way to another. We have the main family line which starts with Adam. His mother killed herself when he was a baby and his father instantly remarried and fathered another son named Charles. Adam loved his brother, but Charles hated him because their father loved Adam more. This is a reference to Cain and Abel as their father being God because he is a high authority to them. Then we are introduced to a quaint but very poor family of Irish descent in the Salinas Valley. They seem to hold no point to the main story but later Adam meets Samuel Hamilton and they become fast friends. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with Samuel? He’s an awesome guy with good beliefs and has great perceptions of reality that he loves to discuss. Then we are introduced to Cathy. Cathy is the original psycho. She’s absolutely insane. Manipulative, deceitful, spiteful, and calculating; Cathy always has a plan and she wants money. Cathy somehow finds her way with the Trask brothers. Adam instantly falls for Cathy and she wraps him around her finger. They get married, but she sneaks into Charles’s bed. Then Cathy finds out she’s pregnant. Then chaos ensues. Whore houses are introduced, the Hamiltons slowly self-destruct, and Adam’s twin boys are pitted against each other constantly. My favorite characters of this novel were Lee, Samuel, Cathy, Adam, Caleb, and Abra. I love Lee because he shows the stereotypes towards Chinese people and also provides great philosophies and is a great second father to the boys. Samuel as I said before also is philosophical, but he’s a great father, inventor, friend, and person. Cathy is a horrible person, but I love how psychotic and crazy she is. I just love it. She made this novel for me. Without Cathy this novel wouldn’t have been nearly as fantastic. Adam is great because he offers a look at the war, homeless life, brokenhearted-ness, fatherhood without a mother to help, and a man with ideas that don’t seem to work. I love Caleb. He could be cruel to Aron, but he was also just a great character. I adored him and I can’t help but ship him with Abra. Abra is a little girl that Aron and Caleb met as children. Aron instantly falls for her and she likes him a lot more than Caleb. As they grow up though she begins to realize that Aron doesn’t see her, but what he wants her to be. Much like his father saw Cathy. It’s man’s greatest downfall to see things in a way completely different from the way they are.


Character Scale:10

I don’t think I have to spell this out for anyone, but people don’t seem to realize the most obvious comparison to Cain and Abel. The characters all have a C or A name: Cain and Abel, Charles and Adam, or Caleb and Aron. I just thought it was really cool of Steinbeck to be so straightforward with him saying this is who I’m allusioning.


I just really loved East of Eden. It’s a great literary piece, but it’s also a great drama. I highly recommend this if you love stories with plots, psychos, and philosophy.


Cover Thoughts: I love my cover of East of Eden. It’s how I pictured the Salinas Valley to look and I think the art is just beautiful. 


Have you read East of Eden? What are your thoughts on it? Let's rave about Cathy's insanity below!:D