Stuti's blog for depleting ships

Ohhhhhhhhhh, I can't wait to start the next book; this one was so damn fun! And somebody please slap the cover artist five ways to Soviet Union.

AM I the last one to find out about the latest JKR shenanigan? Won't anybody else read and tell me if it's good and not Casual Vacancy slog?Won't you?PLeaseeeee?!??!

Basically, I just wasn't engaged enough.

Passion and obsession, yooooooooooooo!!!!Here they come- a cast of beleaguered, flawed, loathsome and forlorn characters.Asshole 1.Asshole 2.Idiot mewl 1.Idiot mewl 2.and the shameful posterity.Terrible eidetic memory Gossip 1.Nosy visitor 1.And we(yes, me too) are all lovestruck. Even with all its slog and horrible structure(was there really any need of Mr Lockwood? What part did he actually play?).

ANGEL TROPESNeed I say more?I suppose. :(Here are some facts:1. Angel lore has been re-written to everything short of 'abcd...' in contemporary literature, be it YA or adult.2. Angels are the more hotter versions of Vampires, who are cold because they are dead. Duh.3. I like angels.4. I like angel tropes.5. Phrases like 'laugh out loud funny' have become banal enough to have their meaning vacuumed out, so the only way to describe the hilariosity of [b:No Angel|215679|No Angel (The Spoils of Time, #1)|Penny Vincenzi|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348449324s/215679.jpg|3246463] is through the following not-really-onomatopoeic phrase- Agwup munkh brrr-ahaha!And before you ask it: no, that is NOT the sound of me trying to get a suction pump off my face. 6. St Mary's is the school[actually a demon hub] where Rafael, an angel, is sent to study. There's a St Mary's right here in my city, and my esteemed powers of perception have revealed that it just might be a demon hub as well.7. Paranormal books need to loosen up and STOP offing characters; they're always getting their panties in wads over the littlest problem in the universe. The strongest aspect of Keeble's novel is her play on the traditional image of angels. Well, traditional in our sense, not the biblical sense, in which case, this book follows the norms to a T. Even with all that, Keeble novelty in her mythos and gives a new spin to it all. With demon hunters; demonic teachers and pedophilic ones; creepy- flying-appendages angels, constantly in the fear of sprouting multiple bestial heads and anecdotes like this:I broke off from my hummed rendition of "U Can't Touch This.""I'm a seraph," I reminded her happily."I'm supposed to sing constant praises.""Not about yourself!""Doo be do do- demons can't touch this!" I sang again.[b:No Angel|215679|No Angel (The Spoils of Time, #1)|Penny Vincenzi|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348449324s/215679.jpg|3246463] does a fantastic job of maintaining the plot and not going over the top with her humor.The characters are diverse and likable, with their own quirks and dispositions. Rafael himself is a great character- a funny, relatable narrator. There's not much character development and frankly, there isn't any need for it. The side characters themselves make up for a huge part of the entertainment. Krystal, the human who summons an angel with a computer-guided laser-etching machine; Faith, the sweet girl who just can't get anything through her head; Michaela, the demon[ ;) that's winking face, btw, you'll know why when you read the book] with a fetish for pentagram flashcards and more girls, girl, girls...Not adhering to the stereotypes and people's preconceptions of an only boy's stipulation in an all-girls' school, this book doesn't turn into an all out pillow-fight and pajama nights, with the protagonist's bewildered yet content face smushed between two pairs(or more) of cans. Because, err... demons? Plot? Which is a bit confusing and involves true love and kisses, and sacrifices and seduction of demons(horrible plan). It's engaging and droll, albeit it comes second to the witty dialogue among the characters as they sit around and craft appalling plans, in terms of entertainment.The ending left me a bit confused; I still have a few questions(with emphasis on few), the most pressing of which why did his power's disappear?. I wish the ending had been a bit more clear as to what happened.All in all, Keeble has an amazing sense of humor and she pertinently incorporates that in her novel. Her hilarious writing is refreshing and her characters definitely need a bit more of the limelight, I mean, look at that What the hell did angels talk about? "I come bearing Good News! For unto you a child shall be born!"The girl stared at me. She did not look like she considered this to be bad tidings."Hey, I just deliver the news, I don't write it," I snapped.A review copy was provided by the publishers.Crossposted on Books behind Dam{n}s

I have this theory that either [a:Paula Weston|5446913|Paula Weston|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1341220975p2/5446913.jpg] has had some past brawl(what do you call an aussie brawl?) with Melbourne and it deeply wronged her, or... she simply doesn't like Melbourne! Which is blasphemous in my eyes, but to each her own, I say! The characters(or one of them) has been dying, begging, prostrating to visit Melbourne since the last book but you know when they actually reach the palace of graffiti? When most of the pages have passed by. And then we stay there for no more than 6 pages(or something). Cheeses is so upset at these people! :(Haze picks off some days after the events of Shadows. However, the story doesn't move forward much. In fact, the plot is practically crawling towards whatever it is they should crawl towards. Nothing much really happens in this book, no new revelations are made, but instead we make several stops on the way to Melbourne and meet several new characters- some really cool, like Mya. On the other hand, Weston keeps the story from progressing with subplots that somehow come to interrelate with the entire story by one coincidence or the other. Frankly, I wasn't interested. There's entirely too less action. In this whole mashup, the original thread actually gets misplaced and mistaken a lot. The basic story from the first book was about this girl-angel and her brother mixing up shit and producing a stench of holy hell that draws out the bad and the evil, and they all want her.In this follow-up, we get zilch of actual information and the background. Even though, it's usually the second book that's built up as the Info-Dump Central. Moreover, the world-building is poor as ever. I don't really get a sense of this world, nor its mythology- something that bothered me in Shadows as well. More than half of this book is like the quests we have to finish in a video-game before we get to the actual enemy. Like, go get these antidotes from this guy, but first earn some money by defeating this monster that's been plaguing the poor villagers. Go meditate and get some training but look- your master's been abducted! Save them and unlock a secret weapon. And yada, yada, yada! The rest of the book is confounded angels, monsters and peoples, asking each other, what did they do? Tell me what did you do! You must or I shall behead you!!!Still, the distracting sequences and the deliberate hush on the story work its way toward a short climax, whose inadequacy is satiated by the epic ending.I'd say this series isn't for the curious or the impatient, which is weird because that's what I am like most the time. You see? This series has the power to temporarily change you. It will pressure the cat inside you into oblivion.And it's gonna be a bitch to resuscitate it.But enough of the grumpy!I still like The Rephaim series and it's partly for the characters. In the last book, I must admit, I absolutely didn't care for Rafa's relationship with Gaby. However, boy have my reservations been flipped! I believe there's much more development and chemistry in this installment. Like I mentioned before, Mya was an interesting character and I automatically took a liking to her. And Taya(and Simon but I don't really care for him) from the previous book also plays some part and gains personality. Nathaniel isn't there most of the time but still, I preferred him to Jason. Which brings me to~ Jason, why youz so bland in this rainbow of colorful characters? Why youz a tool and why youz introduce new subplots and threads that keep putting off my Melbourne trip?! Why youz keep annoying me like a fly trying to bugger its way into my soda and my custard! You evil, boring fly! I haz no love for you!Gaby has become admirable and worth rooting for, over the books. She has spunk, and while I do feel like throttling her every now and then, on the whole, her character is slowly working its way up to sheer brilliance.Anyways, folks. Let me just take a moment to convince you all why despite all its shortcomings, you should still try out this series and why I shall continue sticking for it.This series has dismal characters and kickass characters. When the end will come, this series is going to go off with two shits and a score of bangs. (I'm already missing the characters and I just finished the book.) In the meanwhile, this story is enough to keep you hooked, even if it takes tall, big and mysterious to a whole new level.(Book two is high time to unlock some secrets, methinks.) I won't guarantee it'll be an instant addition to your re-reads shelf; yet I do believe you are missing out on some smarmy and snarky angel-on-angel action, ie, Rafa. I'm expecting a lot from the next book[which, apparently is named Shimmer; I'm not exactly jumping in joy here] and you guys know what I want most of all? Cross-posted on Books behind Dam{n}s

I've tried to come up with a way to review this book and the best I've been able to figure out is listing what I don't think this book is, rather than what it is-~This book isn't appealing, feasible or entertaining.~This book isn't about a girl who beats the system or even the system.~This book isn't a thriller or a mystery.~This book doesn't have a closure.~This book doesn't have very charming characters.Reasons you might want to avoid this book~Anais, the MC, is very expressive and indiscreet with her expletives. And I don't mean a casual 'fuck'.~It features many dark and fucked-up stories.~The reality isn't pretty.~Rape, prostitution, wanking, and excessive swearing constitute a whole lot of this book.This book is the ultimate troll. What with the blurb and cover and all, I expected thriller/dystopic/sci-fi novel. Something within that range. But [b:The Panopticon|13073519|The Panopticon|Jenni Fagan|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1321570291s/13073519.jpg|18240138] deals with simple, unblemished going-on's of an orphan girl's life, and other people she comes in contact with. Anais is fucked-up beyond reason, but not actuality. Born in an asylum to a vanished mother, drifting from home to new home, addicted to 'all the bad things', she has one more problem to cope up with: the Experiment. She feels them watching her, reading her, waiting on her. They want her to break and they sure do their damnedest to make that happen. Anais has known about them since she was a kid; she knows she can't let them find that out. So along with all her trouble, she's also been living in a panopticon all this time.As Karen point out in her review, the idea of the setting of the Panopticon-style home had no point really. The stuff with the experiment and the allusion to the greek prison made sense, but the setting was never fully conceptualized.There's a whole dismal rainbow of characters, and each one grabbed a fold of my heart. These are just teenagers with problems not bigger than the world's, but individually it's so scary. The girls and boys in this book feel so human and teenager-type, they each have their coping methods and it's not all fun and games. These kids have been run over by life and adults, but you won't see them paying it any heed. There's no respite, no silver lining for anybody, you gotta swallow it straight and keep lugging, if you want to move on.The story isn't really all that there. It begins with Anais being sent to the panopticon for putting a police woman in coma, and what basically follows(and I'm telling you in unappealing terms, quite unlike this book) is her psyche getting drained. I mean, really. Besides the heartrending characters, whenever we are alone with Anais, there is paranoia, fear and desolation. Every moment hurts.But Anais is a tough character if there ever was one.I'm a bit unconvinced by reality, full stop.There are things I didn't like, particularly something major that happens to wards the end. At first, I was in a rage at the author for using such an ugly plot device to make the character round up her shit and get her act together. HOWEVER, I realized this was life being consistent in all its inconsistent, fucked-up grandeur.To say I liked this book would be incomplete, and trying to exactly pinpoint my feelings and fit in a glasscase for you is impossible. But look, I have written my review!Also, I have wish: I wanna say this to someone someday, with genuine and unyielding conviction.I've read books you'll never look at, danced to music you couldnae appreciate, and I've more class, guts and soul in my wee finger than you will ever, ever have in your entire, miserable fucking life.A review copy was provided by the publishers.

Growing up is made up of a million small moments in time, and one of the most painful is the moment you’re severed from the whole, when you realise that your parent is complicated and fallible and human.This is a book of unfinished chapters. Friday Brown's life is composed of unfinished chapters. Why do books have to be so heartbreaking?The cover just about makes me lose my shit.Definite recommendation, guys. Read this bloody book. Read it, for those last chapters and for the whole book and for Friday and Silence and Bree and Wish and Carrie and, even, Arden. Read it.

1.510 Things I Hate* About Indelible*More of 'don't like' but 10 things I don't like about Indelible just doesn't have the same ring to it. This isn't really a review, more of things that made it impossible for me to like this book. 10. A time to tell, and a time to whine. There should be some sort of rule that you simply cannot shower readers with your mommy troubles on the second page. Literally, on the second line of the second page. Because guess what? I won't fucking give two shits if you start your whining on me before I even know you. This is like, some random stranger coming to you in a bar, and going hi, hello, I like to dance and my mommy killed my dada- aaaand wait, stranger who likes to sasha is talking to empty air.9. You say Inq and I say bloody hell!So, there are two characters in this book: Inq and Ink. Tell me the bloody difference between their pronunciations because I don't see it. The best I've been able to figure out is Inq sorta goes with a 'kw' sound at the end. Maybe I'm just no good with my phonetics but I hate these types of distinctions. 8. Flash! Flash!And there it goes again, the Flash! Flash- the annoying interruptions. It has something to do with the plot that I can't explain. Suffice it to say that it reminded me of Flash and I kept wanting toFlash! Flash!7. Dense WritingI did not like the writing at all, and not because of its simplicity. In the beginning, it almost made me Flash the other way, it was so difficult to wade through. Though it gets easier on your eyes as you move on, it's still remarkably unremarkable. Except when it's giving you a few chortles with stuff like...his lips touched her forehead: soft and precious and fragile as snow. hahahahahahh!!!!!All in all, the prose was awkward, awkward and stuck.6.My trees stuck the turtle in twirled the Great Wall of China.Does that make sense? Not to me, just like [b:Indelible|182012|Indelible (Grant County, #4)|Karin Slaughter|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1299703450s/182012.jpg|2392798]. The book is filled with inexplicable dialogue, as if the writing weren't enough. Half the time, it goes on a weird tangents and unsaid words that I'm perhaps too thick to understand but gimme a break- that did not make sense at all. Like the prose, it also gets simpler moving on but then again, it isn't much better because all they want to talk about is how grooved ears make you human and HIS FIRST KISS!! OMG!! WE MUST CELEBRATE!! and the lehman business, wherein I was out of my depth, bringing us to my next point:5.Blow on the hut, piggy dear.The world-building is half-assed. The construction is fragile and bafflinf, at least on my first read and I'm sure as hell not going back for another. There's some stuff explained in the beginning but I don't get it. Magic needs to be saved, so magical creatures(who aren't explained either) give cool humans their marks and watch over them. This somehow balances the world. I don't see how. Humans could very well survive without these marks, it seems, and only the woodland creatures would be wiped out without magic, far as I can figure it out. And what's the bloody Council, dude, I'm halfway through the book? What's the bloody council, dude, I'm halfway through the remaining half of the book? What's the bloody council, dude, I'm almost to the fin- oh, that's itt!!!!!!!! Could you give me some more tidbits, please? NOPE.And I don't get the lehman business at all. Why it's such a big deal and why people even want to be fucking sex slaves.4.Round and round we runThe bloody plot.Shit.It wouldn't even know its own shit from itself.3.Santa, Santa, Ho ho ho!I don't know why but I just felt like adding that.But number three is bout the characterization, if you're interested still. The characters never clicked with me and I like them not one bit. ~Joy: You are not a joy to my eyes. Even though the book is a third-person narration and that usually tones down the irritation if you have an annoying MC, Joy still fucking got on my nerves. I could excuse her bad decisions but as the book moves on, she's all I kissed him! I love him! and I'm all, Sweetheart, maybe you should bloody focus on learning how to survive but after being harassed again and again, she doesn't even fucking ask how to fend off the monsters.~Ink: He's patronizing and nothing else. Oh yes, your father's protective of you, I approve. Oh yes, you thought of your friend before yourself, I approve. Oh yes, you didn't run away, I approve.This is just condescension and I don't approve. Even Jace from TMI has some semblance of a personality and I can garner the feeling of hatred towards him. This guy in nothing. ~Monica: Joy's BFF. She's horrible. 'Nuff said.2.Love and other instantly prepared itemsI don't expect too great a romance from YA fantasy/sci-fi books these days. My standards have been lowered, sad as it is. But this insta-love was too tragic, even for me. So boy knifes her eye, a week later they kiss, the girl realizes she loves the boy and as it turns out, boy liked her before he knifed her. Here after six years of marriage, people don't truly love each other and these two are pledging their lives to each other after just one bloody kiss. I call bullshit, book.1.Magic-lessI hate the title. I keep reading it as inedible. And that gives me a constant reminder that no, I can't eat this book. Not that I was ever planning to, it's an e-copy for fuck's sakes! But not eating it was just a notion in the back of my head; I didn't even think about it until I was, in no uncertain terms, told that it is inedible and I cannot eat it. It just takes the magic out of everything, you know.***On a happy note, I do like the cover and Inq to some extent, so half a star is for that. A review copy was provided by the publishers.Cross-posted on Books behind Dam{n}s

3.5Part One: CoolPart Two: AwfulPart Three: GoodThis is my problem with the rating system. I can't, in good conscience, give this book more than three stars but then, I think of all the books worse than this one that I've given better ratings to.Yeah, but that's the thing: I read them before this one. Anyways, this 3-star review is actually a positive one. If you have been around the YA post apocalyptic corner, you gotta know there's a certain formula they follow:World ends, Girl* survives. [Sometime later] Girl runs away(from rehab camps, isolation, facility, society blah di dah). Girl manages to encounter another flesh of civilization, Girl integrates into society, Girl finds the government controlling society evil. Evil people find their evilness discovered and about to be unleashed, Shit hits the fan, Girl plans to burn 'em all.*'Cause they're all mostly girls, yeah?If you haven't been around, well, whoops! minorly spoilerly. My bad.And of course, there are a few personality traits, the most important being the utmost devotion to a little kid/sibling. That will make your MC automatically popular. Not that there's anything wrong with that; I used to be a fan of those characters myself until recent times. No relationship that I've encountered is as smooth as these people portray, especially sibling-hood. I think it's okay to say that I'm SICK TO DEATH of these; I just want a sisterhood akin to Saba and Emmi's from [b:Blood Red Road|9917938|Blood Red Road (Dust Lands, #1)|Moira Young|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1293651959s/9917938.jpg|14692536]. Why can't we have more of that? Moving on, Cheeses, I have read so many of these books and yet I love, and love to follow, these books to the end. There's something about people overthrowing governments that appeals to my very sensibilities. Nothing ever really stands out in [b:In The After|12157407|In the After (In the After #1)|Demitria Lunetta|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351415769s/12157407.jpg|17128269]. It's partly about survival in the mad, mad world with the big, bad wolves out there and then the bigger wolves, aka fellow humans, come into play and it's all human depravity and iniquity.It's a question that's been bugging me a lot lately. Why do humans always turn out to be the biggest monster? It's as if we have to assert our supremacy in everything, even evilness: WE ARE THE WORST FUCKERS AROUND, THE GREATEST EVIL CREATED! BEWARE OF US! But at the end of the day, it's a survivalist novel and who doesn't love those, even if they have nothing new to offer?The whole plot of [b:In the After|12157407|In the After (In the After #1)|Demitria Lunetta|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351415769s/12157407.jpg|17128269] comes down to a major reveal at the end, albeit it's a bit obvious before that. I especially liked the missing pieces that Lunetta sets in the beginning and ties it all very nicely towards the end. Most of it reeks of generic conformity, with the inclusion and set-up of ignorant and beaten-up society, and nothing here truly sets apart this book from many others. Except the technique and full realization of something called 'shock factors', for which, kudos to Lunetta! The story isn't actually predictable, even while it follows the aforementioned outline.My favorite part of the book cannot be mentioned for fear of spoilers. Suffice it to say, that I absolutely got Amy's desolation in the latter half of the book. I truly hurt for her as stuff kept happening, and everything she lost. After that I loved how instantly indignant and wary of the society Amy becomes, somewhat like how I would have reacted. Most MC's take such long periods of time before coming to such conclusions. This is what sets apart [b:In the After|12157407|In the After (In the After #1)|Demitria Lunetta|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351415769s/12157407.jpg|17128269] for me. And the romance.It's probably very hard to create a realistic romance in an end-of-the-world setting, is what I've gathered over the years of books. The romance mainly becomes the downfall of novels, case in point: [b:The 5th Wave|16101128|The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave, #1)|Rick Yancey|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359853842s/16101128.jpg|19187812]. It can make or break you characters as well as the whole book. But [a:Demitria Lunetta|5267376|Demitria Lunetta|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1338825263p2/5267376.jpg]'s book doesn't converge on romance and it's very light. The romantic interest is different and he actually is a believer and follower of the evil society that the MC will have to overthrow. He's constantly getting irritated with her for not seeing things his way. There isn't much build-up, nor is there any mushiness. I don't necessarily like him, but I don't like any of them these days. What the fuck is happening to me, is a good question to ask. May be this Or mayhap WhatevsFor comparisonists, far as I'm concerned, this is better than [b:The 5th Wave|16101128|The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave, #1)|Rick Yancey|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359853842s/16101128.jpg|19187812], although I gave that one a higher rating. The characters are much more realistic and likable, the pacing is significantly better and the sci-fi aspect is handled with more precision. There are a lot of similarities between the two, but one's gotta trump the other, no?So no, this is not a Guilty Crown fiasco, capitalizing on the fame of the mecha genre, awesomely as it started. But that is another quarrel for another time. [b:In the After|12157407|In the After (In the After #1)|Demitria Lunetta|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351415769s/12157407.jpg|17128269] doesn't have any new contributions but that's not always why we read or love a book, is it? Sometimes, it's because no matter how rote, it's still SO DAMN FUN! Case in point: Supernatural TV show. And now I'm adding this gif because it's FUN!Cross-posted on Books behind Dam{n}s

2.5In moments of extreme conceit and hubris, sometimes, things click with me and I become them. A pair of dragonfly wings catch my eyes and I decide that's what I'd be if I were a pair of dragonfly wings. Not a vein different, not a vein prettier. That's how [b:A Corner of White|8661987|A Corner of White (The Colours of Madeleine #1)|Jaclyn Moriarty|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1341206712s/8661987.jpg|13533441] clicked with me. Other people blinked at regular intervals, but not Belle. Now and then her eyes would go into a flying panic where she’d blink and blink to catch up.CLICK!Unfortunately, I'd be a trying book and it'd take heck of perseverance to be my true readership. The problem with [b:A Corner of White|8661987|A Corner of White (The Colours of Madeleine #1)|Jaclyn Moriarty|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1341206712s/8661987.jpg|13533441] is that its what it says it is. An exploration of worlds and characters; nothing, zilch, nada beyond that. Also Unfortunately, I'm not a very patient person. So while this book clicked with me, and made me feel at home in its pages, the entertainment hydraulics certainly weren't functioning. Page by page, I observed Madeleine, her mother, Elliot; and the levels of my engrossment mitigated, even as I laughed thoughtfully at the epistles being passed between our two protagonists.There's a certain charm to [a:Jaclyn Moriarty|47290|Jaclyn Moriarty|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1199066598p2/47290.jpg]'s words that had me eager to dress up and parade around as her books. Be it the world of Cambridge or the Kingdom of Cello, she made it magical. Trivial, pesky acts of lives had a flair of surrealism in her books. Snarfing down cakes read akin to being enraptured in fae music. Acts of hooliganism were the works of elves at midnight. A little girl blinking could bring down a rain of fairy dust. It was terrible and fascinating how magic could be brought back in our worlds if only Moriarty were the hand writing our stories. That's how it clicked with me; that's why I have no qualms about being covered in rainbows and shrubs(I wouldn't ordinarily, either).The story and plot exist for the first few chapters, to help us get involved in the book and characters. Later on, plot devices are abandoned in the middle like pigeon carcasses, and storylines are lost and left hanging. After half the book, the languid story(or lack of it) became somnolent albeit it was like waking up from a satiating, beautiful dream. One of those that it hurts to wake up from. They do serve their purpose, though, and get you acquainted with the characters. Quirky, realized and intriguing characters. And not just the protagonists- the side characters had their own share and developments in the book. The wacky adults, the pensive children, and the dreams that burst at the prick of reality...Far be it from me to actually try and give you an account of the happenings and non-happenings of the book, however. I'd just rather explain the rating and my uneasiness at the rating. See, I have a benevolent nature, when it comes to stars and generally, I give it aplenty. Even now, my hand strays and awards the sycophantic half star. The 'thing' being, as I refer to it, the haphazard and slapdash nature of the ending. Throughout the 400 exact pages, we had no story, the threads had been snipped off, and gone for good. But at the end, J. Moriarty seems to have gathered all the cut-offs and joined them end by end stretch it into the next, or so methinks. It's casual and feels like an afterthought. Overall, this book saddened me by being slow and so to cite a friend of mine who is like a JM character herself, My book is not my clone. Your argument is invalid. But guess who's already ordered the whole Ashbury/Brookfield collection after hours and hours of scouring the net and finally getting them for half their original prices. Yeah right, babe! That's me!Crossposted on Books behind Dam{n}s

Volume 2 isn't as interesting or fun as Volume 1. It's till kick-ass in its own right but let's not make comparisons.It's disgusting-creepy-weird now, no funny-weird's anymore. I suppose the cache's already run out.The dialogue is adorable as ever, though:Hiya, Mama Cellulite. Care to guess how you're about to die?The art, in accordance with the weird, has lots its charming but still retains the cool.More characters are introduced, and the old ones grow truer to their stories.A few of the sub-plots from Vol 1 come full circle and yet more are incepted.What I love best of all, though, about this series is so much cool stuff happens and you don't even realize it until you take a look at the overview. I'll stick on for the next installments, which I hope will bring more of hilarious-disgusting-weird. Like thisOr (even worse or better) this:

Basically, this is a book about a couple coming to terms with their old age. No no, just kidding.[b:The Snow Child|11250053|The Snow Child|Eowyn Ivey|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327098624s/11250053.jpg|16176521] is an especially evocative, lyrical and beatific book, encased in winter and sadness. It's a slow, captivating story about an old, childless couple, as most of them are.Jack and Mabel grow old, get tired of life and family, move to Alaska for a new beginning. But life is a bitch and it is hard for them here. Their dreams of working their own fields, side by side, being rather unrealistic remain just that. Separated from their background and growing apart day by day from each other, they live on in their silent, isolated worlds. Even after decades of marriage, their love is marred, by a deep scar that drove them away from their fulfilling life early on: the dead body of their first and only child. As the book starts, Mabel is contemplating committing suicide and the simple, honest devastation of hers for the little things she can't have wrenches the heart. On the other hand is Jack, unable and not wanting to share the weight of all responsibilities weighing them down. In the beginning, Mabel seems an enervated and solitary creature, whereas Jack comes across as hardy and focused. But gradually, there is a change of perspective and bit by bit, Mabel grows desperate, content and fearful, before ultimately coming to terms with it all. Jack, on the other hand, faces these emotions in reverse. I hold especial awe for this bittersweet relationship, how it sometimes takes years and years and your final days to build a long-lasting firmament. Jack and Mabel love each other, that they know. But does that really mean they're close or happy with each other? Or do they need a snow child to carve out their happiness from the ice? One day, in a rare moment of elation, Jack and Mabel make a child out of snow and give it mittens and clothes. The next day, they discover small footsteps, vanished clothes, and a while later, they find a magical little girl who stays for the winter and could never be their own, but was as much of a family as one could be. Apart from the spot-on depiction of the grief and desolation of the couple, the author also manages to capture their hope and fears. There is a quiet, melancholic and surreal quality about the prose. The writing style is such that at every point in the story, it isn't lost on you that this book is about magic of hope and making your own endings, be they sad or happy. It's sad throughout and this particular virtue gives the story an almost magical feel. Even as they scenes play out, it's as if they didn't and it was a dream. Yeah, this book reads like a dream and feathers.I suppose I have an infinitesimal problem with the ending. This story is a retelling of the Russian folktale, in every version of which the snow child goes away or dies.Mayhap, it was that they loved her too much, or too little. Sometimes, she falls in love and stays the summer, or strays too near a fire. she tries to be a human and she doesn't get to be shit.Ivey's version covers all these bases and well, I can't reveal if she stays on or not. My iffy is that it doesn't fade like winter is supposed to and that's where my expectations lay. A bit slow, a bit chilly, and a helluva delicate. But I personally felt it was abrupt and lost some of its charm. Well, I guess global warming had a hold on the Alaskan wilderness in the 1920's, too.All in all, though, it was a fresh and captivating read about family, love and the power of sacrifices, that they may prove futile sometimes but even then, there's something to them, to giving away for your loved ones that will get you a moment or tow of happiness.

Wow.This is a new record of mine.Abandoned, with not even a whit of hope that I'll read it in the future, before the second chapter.In fact, I didn't even finish the first chapter because I saw how it ended“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve, Blue. Either you’re his true love,” Neeve said, “or you killed him.”At this point, I was laughing so hard, I think I will snort coffee to the end of my days.Just no. Nope. Nah. Nay, Nyon. Nein.I guess Stiefvater isn't for me. I haven't been able to finish even one of her books and believe, I have tried. Not even The Scorpio Races, which the whole world and its apish ancestors love like Nutella.

This novel gets off on solely its eccentricity and characters. In the way of plot, it just has a beginning and then run, run, run for your lives!The art is just fabulous. There is this The Stalk creature and it's just the most wondrous thing I've seen in a while. There are so many things that don't go along and feel clunky if you look at it as a whole, and I suppose that's the major falling point.But the rest of it? It's like the progeny of weird, quirky and funny-gross.Moreover, it's got a 'cool' pair of star-crossed lovers and rocketship plants.(Plants that grow spaceships.)What's not to like?Maybe TV's humping each other- I suppose it's actually disturbing. But one can easily find that hilarious and overlook the disgusting if you've got the right mindset.I do.

You’re in a story and the body writing it is an asshole.There are stories and there are characters. Then, you also have stories with characters and characters with stories.But what Valente does is entirely different. She creates her characters, and they move on, swirl around, slowly and surely coalescing into a story, pushing it forward even as they become the story.[b:Six-Gun Snow White|16104414|Six-Gun Snow White|Catherynne M. Valente|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360171677s/16104414.jpg|21916225] is a retelling and it stays very true to the original fairytale, but it is much more honest and original than any derivation or version of Snow White that I've come across. The story includes the few firm elements of the variable tale, but instead of yielding to them, it twists around and round.It's a gorgeous story and its humbleness astounds me. It is rich in the way that Valente stories are; however, the writing is from what I've experienced of hers before, in the books I finished and in the ones I only sampled. It's not quirky like in The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, nor is it prosaic as in Silently and Very Fast, and it's definitely not as precise and intense as in Deathless and The Orphan's Tale.The writing style here is melancholic and candid; and it flies.This novella brings about such characters, and in a few short pages. The author writes so finely, so exquisitely, that every word has something crucial to tell you. With just a few lines, Valente makes you sad and with a few less, she makes you wretched.The worst thing in the world is having to go back to the dark you shook off.For me, this book renders all retellings null. The story is as richly layered and the hackneyed concept has been revisited with beauteous depth and meaning. More than this, the novella also takes on issues of the past: racism, abuse, neglect, et cetra, et cetra and the most perverse of all, love.Not romantic love, but an abusive one. Of Snow White's, our protagonist, love for her Mrs H, the vile step-mother and vice versa. Snow White shies away from her but in the end, she loves this woman too much even as she hates her,; and even as she takes her heart, Mrs H loves and cries for Snow White.The first half of the story is Snow White's narrative and just as it gets more and more hurtful, Valente turns to third person and changes the pace altogether.There is no Prince Charming and if there is retribution to be had, it's not clear to me as yet, why?The ending was munificent of the author, methinks. And it also leaves you ambiguous about the identity of a monster in this tale. In the end, isn't love the biggest of monster of all? Do we really need another skin and bones one? But perhaps, love could be the savior, too and while the evil stepmother poisons the fair maid, she's saving her as well. I'd urge you all to read this fantastic short story and although, it won't hurt not to, do you really want to miss out on this:You can’t kiss a girl into anything.Cross-posted on Books behind Dam{n}s