The Procrastinator's Corner: November 2011

Book Review: Angelfall

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1)
by Susan Ee
Kindle Edition, 255 pages
Published May 21st 2011 by Feral Dream

Summary:

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Review:

Angelfall is not your typical post-apocalyptic angel YA fantasy book. Heck, I'm not even sure if there are other post-apocalyptic books that features angels as the cause of the devastation. Sure, there are some angel books where the angels want to annihilate the existence of humanity, but in no book does these angels succeed.

In Angelfall, the readers are transported into a post-apocalyptic world defaced by angels. Penryn, along with her wheelchair-bound younger sister and mentally unstable mother (mentally unstable as in someone-who-talks-to-the-devil-and-puts-lipstick-and-draws-six-pointed-stars-to-corpses-just-because type of mentally unstable) strive to survive the dismantled world. However, an encounter with a fight between an angel and five others separated their family. Her younger sister was abducted by the angels while her mother escaped. One of the angels lay unconscious in the aftermath, stripped off of wings. And in the hopes of finding her sister, Penryn decided to save him.

It's been so long since I read a book that has rendered me absolutely speechless. Angelfall's awesomeness was entirely unexpected, something that made it all the more surprising. Angelfall also has no boring page. The good scenes just keep coming and coming. It is action-packed, and the heroine is a badass. Both Penryn and Raffe are very likable characters. Penryn's mom is a serious case of nut, but I find her amusingly creepy. Other than her, there are also some more gruesome vivid scenes that may not be appropriate for the weak-hearted.

Also, original plot. And no insta-love! I like that Raffe and Peryn's relationship developed gradually. Although there's no clear signs of romance, the hints are everywhere. Overall, Angelfall is a captivating read that is capable of transporting you right into its world and keep you there long after you finish reading it.

Rating: 5/5 stars!!!!!

READ THE FIRST 5 CHAPTERS HERE

Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna #1)
by Kendra Blake
Hardcover, 316 pages
Published August 30th 2011 by Tor Teen
ISBN: 0765328658 (ISBN13: 9780765328656)
Source: Bought

Summary:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

Review:

Don't you just love books that already ooze with excitement the moment you read the first line? Anna Dressed in Blood started out in a way that will catch the readers' interest pronto. At the beginning of the book, Cas meets the killer ghost that he's set out to kill. Cas seemed like a likable and a super cool guy too even at the start, so it wan't hard to tell that I was so going to enjoy the book.

The first half was everything I hoped for and more. I loved how the readers are introduced to Anna. She is expected to be a very terrifying ghost, and so that was how Blake introduced her to the readers. I can still picture her as the malevolent ghost that suddenly materialized at the top of the stairs and effortlessly ripped a person in half. Not something you'd expect a ghost would do, or could do for that matter, but somehow, Blake managed to make it natural and realistically creepy.

Unfortunately though, about 3/4 through, the plot suddenly became inconsistent. I'm also not satisfied with how Anna's case was solved. It was abrupt and very wth-ish. Cas's relationship with Anna wasn't totally believable. It wasn't spontaneous, and not to mention really awkward. I guess it's something that you're supposed to expect in a young adult book, but still, I didn't see it coming.

Overall though, Anna Dressed in Blood still provided for a very good quick read. And in spite of the wth-ish moments, I still can't wait to read the sequel.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Book Review: Queen of Attolia

Queen of Attolia (The Queen's Thief #2)
by Megan Whalen Turner
Paperback, 362 pages
Published February 1st 2006 by Eos (first published May 31st 2000)
Source: Bought

Summary:

Revenge

When Eugenides (yoo-JEN-ə-deez), the Thief of Eddis, stole Hamiathes's Gift, the Queen of Attolia lost more than a mythical relic. She lost face. Everyone knew that Eugenides had outwitted and escaped her. To restore her reputation and reassert her power, the Queen of Attolia will go to any length and accept any help that is offered...she will risk her country to execute the perfect revenge.

...but

Eugenides can steal anything. And he taunts the Queen of Attolia, moving through her strongholds seemingly at will. So Attolia waits, secure in the knowledge that the Thief will slip, that he will haunt her palace one too many times.

...at what price?

When Eugenides finds his small mountain country at war with Attolia, he must steal a man, he must steal a queen, he must steal peace. But his greatest triumph, and his greatest loss, comes in capturing something that the Queen of Attolia thought she had sacrificed long ago...

Review:

It has been so long since I read the first book in the Queen’s Thief series. The Thief was one of the earliest fiction, and one of the few middle grade books that I’ve read from cover to cover. I remember liking the protagonist, Gen/Eugenides, very much. Though, before I randomly picked up Queen of Attolia in a second-hand bookshop (and I only picked it up because I was curious as to why it was so tattered, the edges were so white), I totally had no idea that it was the sequel to that book I read from when I was so much younger.

My memory of The Thief is very fuzzy, but I do remember that Gen was a very smart thief. In the beginning of Queen of Attolia, I was reminded of this and also of how much of a jerk Gen can be. Irene, the queen of Attolia, is described as a ruthless, barbaric queen. Even Gen thinks she is terrifying. Although, how he manages to be terrified and be a complete butt around her at the same time is way beyond me. Though, I must admit, it is one of Gen’s characteristics that makes him such a loveable character.

The first part of the book was rather slow. Pretty much the lot of it showed how depressed Gen got when he lost something that was very important to him. But I still liked the part, because I felt like it was an opportunity to see Gen as not so cocky as he usually was. I also got to see some wonderfully done character development. Gen practically turned from a goatfoot to someone swoon worthy. He may not be as attractive as your usual YA guy, but his genius is so hot, I’d totally marry him this instant.

This is book is strongly recommended to everyone especially the reluctant readers. My only advice is that you buy the e-book instead because there's so many awesome events that happened that you would absolutely need to bookmark. You may also have to reread some parts to get better grasp on Gen's genius.

Rating: 5/5 stars!!

In My Mailbox (21)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Ohai again, blog. It's been over a month since I posted something here. I've been buying and reading a lot of books, but apparently, not posting enough reviews. Anyhow, here are the books that I got over the past two weeks.