Snowflakes and Spider Silk

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme:  Top Ten Worlds I'd Never Want To Live In  Even if I'm out of the age range that makes people eligible for being unwound, it's so freaky that a country would agree to have their "trouble children" broken down and distribute their organs.  Most people in this world are fused to objects, buildings, or other people after a nuclear bomb went off. The rest are perfectly healthy, but live in a super-controlled dome. Neither scenario sounds very appealing.  I think it's safe to say I don't want to be anywhere near the Forest of Hands and Teeth - goodbye Zombies!  If I lived in this world, odds are I'd die a brutal death. I'd prefer to stick around for a little longer, thank you very much.  There is some pretty freaky stuff going on in this book that involves tapeworms, conspiracies, and people dying. No spoilers from me, but I really hope I'm

Title:  Fragments Author:  Dan Wells Genre: Science fiction, dystopian, young adult My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence—it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that involves Kira, a plan that could save both races. Her companions are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them? Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what's left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira's journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and Kira

This is a meme hosted by Rinn Reads , and I thought I'd join in for this week! A friend recommended Mistborn: Fall of the Empire on the grounds that unlike another book he'd recommended to me, this one had a strong female protagonist and would not make my inner feminist scream bloody murder. Well. Vin of Mistborn lore is a pretty badass character, and she has her vulnerabilities and flaws; she's not a bad character, per se. But just because the main character is a girl doesn't mean it's a "feminist" novel. Vin may be the awesome powerful hero of the story, but there isn't a single other female main character. All the other ones in the series (perhaps with exception to Twindyl) are either beautiful people that stand there and look pretty/minor threats that you never really take seriously. I don't need there to be an equal number of men and women in my books, I just want the few women to be treated with respect and given roles that actual

Title:  The Golem and the Jinni Author:  Helene Wecker Genre: Fantasy, historical fiction, literary fiction My rating: 5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master, the husband who commissioned her, dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York in 1899. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Though he is no longer imprisoned, Ahmad is not entirely free – an unbreakable band of iron binds him to the physical world. The Golem and the Jinni is their magical, unforgettable story; unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures – until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme:  Top Ten Things On My Reading Wishlist Historical fantasy - I love the Infernal Devices series , and recently read and loved The Golem and the Jinni . I just love the idea of introducing a little element of magic or mythology/folklore into our history - it makes the present a little more exciting too. I really want to read a book that mixes magic with ancient China or Elizabethan Europe. Something involving Arthurian legend - I'm not very familiar with the canon Arthurian legend (all my knowledge of King Arthur is from BBC's Merlin and a bunch of references to it in other movies/books). I want to read something more true to the original. A Melina Marchetta book - I love all her books to death because her character are all so realistic that I have to remind myself that they aren't real. I have cried for these characters and I have cheered for them, and I want more! I e

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: Top Ten 2014 Debuts I'm Excited For So...looking at my to-read list and most of the books on it are continuations of series I'm already reading. In fact, there's not a single 2014 debut on there! Thanks, people at The Broke and the Bookish for forcing me to go hunt for some lovely debut novels :)   Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge - I'm a sucker for fairy-tale retellings, and this one sounds awesome - an assassin version of Belle who is supposed to kill the "beast"!    Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne - It seems like this is the year of assassins, because this books also features a girl who's an assassin. Fantasy, danger, power struggles, and  secret pasts sound like a recipe for a good book :)   Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey - I used to read a lot of mysteries as a kid, but I stopped reading them after a while because they got predictable. La

Title:  Scarlet Author:  Marissa Meyer Genre: Science fiction, retellings, YA My rating: 5 of 5 stars Goodreads summary: Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the best-selling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison - even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become

Title:  Precious Thing Author:  Colette McBeth Genre: Psychological thriller, mystery, adult fiction My rating: 2 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary:  I know her inside out.  I know what she’s thinking, I know what she wants. So I can’t give up on her, she knows I never will. Some friendships fizzle out. Rachel and Clara promised theirs would last forever. They met in high school when Rachel was the shy, awkward new girl and Clara was the friend everyone wanted. Instantly, they fell under one another’s spell and nothing would be the same again. Now in their late twenties Rachel has the television career, the apartment and the boyfriend, while Clara’s life is spiraling further out of control. Yet despite everything, they remain inextricably bound. Then Rachel’s news editor assigns her to cover a police press conference, and she is shocked when she arrives to learn that the subject is Clara, reported missing. Is it abduction, suicide or something else altogether? Imagine discovering

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: Top Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2014 I kind of already did this with my Happy New Year post a few days ago, but why not write down my bookish goals again? :) be better about updating my blog - I'm going to be more consistent and hopefully have more fun posts instead of just reviews check out my fellow blogger's stuff - I'm really good about commenting back, and not so much about checking out other blogs on my own. I'm going to try and do that more often! I'm looking forward to all your wonderful posts. A-Z challenge on Goodreads - The plan is to read 26 books each that start with the letters A-Z (the only exceptions being X and Z which can simply be present in the title) 2014 Goodreads challenge - This year, I'm planning on reading 80 books. I've only read 2 so far, but I usually do a lot of reading over the summer so plenty of time to catch up :) Partic

Title:  The Pirate's Wish Author:  Cassandra Rose Clarke Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult My rating: 3 of 5 stars Goodreads summary: After setting out to break the curse that binds them together, the pirate Ananna and the assassin Naji find themselves stranded on an enchanted island in the north with nothing but a sword and their wits. But Naji has unseen enemies, and Ananna must face the wrath of the Pirate Confederation. Together, they must travel afar, defeat their foes and break the mother of all curses. With all this going on, falling in love would be such a bad idea... All of this and much, much more await, in the swashbuckling sequel to The Assassin's Curse. As I said in my review of The Assassin's Curse , the first book felt like part of a larger book instead of its own novel. The second book does a little better on that front, but it still wasn't as good as I'd hoped. The Pirate's Wish is about how Ananna and Naji attempt to break the spell by

Title:  The Assassin's Curse Author:  Cassandra Rose Clarke Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult My rating: 3 of 5 stars Goodreads summary: Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to another pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. When Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn't really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together. To break the spell, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks--all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic...and the growing romantic tension between them. I had heard a lot of good things about this book, so I picked it up eager for some swashbuckling pirate princess action. How many books have you read that involve pirate princesses and magical assassins? It just sounded like so much fun, and after reading some dense books that was exactly