Galdoni

Galdoni by Cheree Alsop is a young adult novel, first in a series that teeters on the edges of science fiction/fantasy and paranormal.

THE BLURB:

"This is the Arena, and here we live to die.” These are the words carved into a holding cell where genetically-altered gladiators, the winged humans called Galdoni, are trained to fight. Kale, rescued by three high school students and nursed back from the brink of death, is given the chance to experience life as a human. When he is captured, he has to use what he learned in the world outside the Academy in order to free the other Galdoni and return to the human girl he loves.

Dark and exciting, Galdoni pushes the boundaries of love in a world of violence.

MY THOUGHTS:

The pages of Galdoni are filled with what would make a decent basis for part of an engaging story. The writing in this book is pretty good, but the plot left much to be desired.

I think it would have been better to have started the story while Kale was still at the Academy, see his life there, believe the lies he and the others are told about their existence. Then you have a little more of a clue going into the story, plus you get to be shocked right along with Kale when he learns the truth. Instead all we get is the piece of the story after Kale has left the Academy, and a small portion at the end when he returns to the Arena that is the seat of all the conflict in the story.

There are too many plot holes here, or questions that aren't answered to the readers' satisfaction. Some examples: we are told the mess hall is guarded more after the Academy reopens, but then Kale stands on a table and gives a rebellious speech before guards show up. If the Galdoni are so strong and such skilled fighters, how are the humans able to oppress them? All the guards have are whips and night sticks. Sure, it'll hurt if you get hit with one, but we are led to believe the Galdoni have superhuman talent in fighting and intense training. It seems they could take the guards down. ESPECIALLY in the end fight when the Galdoni are armed with swords and maces, but still they cower when the guards show up. And are there no female Galdoni? I can't even remember now why the Arena closed in the first place. But why in the world would they choose to loose these alleged "bloodthirsty animals", completely unfamiliar with how to live in the outside world, out into society? And then all of a sudden change your mind and take them all back? The explanations were thin and unconvincing, when they were there at all.
 
The characters here are likeable enough, but not very fleshed out, and the romance was laughable. It was basically a classic case of instalove. After a handful of interactions, none of which are anything special, the two people involved suddenly proclaim their love for one another. And if Brie's eyes filled with tears ONE MORE TIME....!

And I have a guess as to who knocked a character on the head after the end fight, but it's never explained.

The redeeming qualities include the fact that the author, as mentioned above, is a decent writer. But sadly, the plot was lacking.

MY RATING:

2.5 booksies

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We Were Liars

This is not a self-published book by and indie author

We Were Liars is a young adult novel that I would consider literary fiction. And it is amazing.

THE BLURB:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

MY THOUGHTS:

The Sinclairs are a privileged family who spend every summer on their own private island. Cadence's summers growing up are magical, creating a special bond between her and the others there her age - her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and family friend Gat.

But being a Sinclair comes with responsibilities. You are not allowed to be anything but beautiful and strong. You are not allowed to break, no matter what. And if you feel yourself starting to crack around the edges, LIE, and pretend you are just fine.

Then, the summer the friends are fifteen, something happens. There is an accident. Cadence has no memory of what happened, but she knows it must have been something too terrible to remember. Even after she recovers from the initial trauma, she is plagued by debilitating migraines. Her new best friend is Percocet.

I'll be fine, they tell me. I won't die. It'll just hurt a lot.

Each time Cadence asks what happened, her mother cries and says she told her everything before and she never remembers. The doctors say it might be best for Cadence to remember it on her own.

The summer she is seventeen, Cadence returns to the family island to confront the past, and to try to remember. Her cousins and Gat welcome her back with open arms, but the family knows she is damaged, know that they have to treat her gently. Her mother has warned them that she needs to remember the events of summer 15 on her own.

I absolutely love how this book is written. Cadence is a very sympathetic character. Some very powerful topics are touched on. And when the author wishes to emphasize a heart-wrenching point, she writes it like this:

Now, he was free to go forth and make a name for himself in the wide, wide world.
And maybe,
just maybe,
he'd come back one day,
and burn that
fucking
palace
to the ground

We Were Liars left me ruined for any other book for a while after I finished it. I experienced total book hangover. I loved it, and it crushed me.

MY RATING:

5 enthusiastic booksies

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Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass is the first in a series of young adult fantasy books by author Sarah J. Maas. It is followed by Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire. There is also a collection of five novellas telling Celaena's story before the events of Throne of Glass.

THE BLURB:

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

MY THOUGHTS:

Celaena Sardothein was raised harshly and trained thoroughly by the leader of assassins. She used her talents to defy the king who took the land of her people through violence and ruthlessness. She is the best assassin there is by the time she is sixteen years old, when someone betrays her and she ends up working in deplorable conditions in the enemy's labor camp.

Now that same enemy, the king she considers the root of all the lands' problems, is hosting a competition to select his Champion. The competition is more of a game for the nobles and highly placed officials in the realm, watching and betting as they each endorse one criminal in the contest against others.

The Crown Prince Dorian chooses Celaena as his nominee for the competition. She is taken from the labor of the salt mines to live in the castle during the contest, and if she wins, she acts as the wicked king's Champion for four years in order to earn her freedom.

Overall this was a pretty enjoyable read. There were instances where the plot was rather thin (the king would really trust a criminal who despises him to work for him? He would really let an assassin free after the contract ends? Seriously, no one realized they were housing the realm's most dangerous killer in a room with a conveniently "forgotten" secret passage out of the castle? Would she honestly tell NO ONE what she discovered about the murders and their perpetrator, while she and everyone else is the castle remain at risk? Her guards would just let her traipse out of the room she is kept in because she tells them their Captain said she could go to the ball?) However, the story remains fun enough that you are willing to overlook these occasional, questionable incidences.

One other issue of note pertains to Celaena's character. She spends an awful lot of time thinking about all the crazy badass things she would do to the people around her, and how easily she could take them down, and yet we never really see any evidence that she could or would. The book only delivers two instances where Celaena actually uses her fighting skills, and those don't come until well into the book, after the halfway point. And although Celaena fondly considers all these violent things she's tempted to do, what she actually does a lot of is preening over pretty dresses and melting for puppies. And I have no problem with that - I truly liked Celaena, but most of the time she did seem glaringly inconsistent with what the narration tried to claim she was really like.

The writing was definitely better than I was expecting. The author has a wonderful way with words at times.

There are sparks of potential romance here, and the scenes between Celaena and Dorian and Celaena and Chaol were my favorites. Amusing banter, believable emotion. The overarching story of the competition and dark magic was interesting, but it was Celaena's evolving relationships with other people that really caught my interest.

This book was not perfect, but it was mostly fun and engaging.

MY RATING:

3.5 booksies

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Psychophilia

Psychophilia by Michelle Muckley is marketed as a disturbing psychological thriller.

THE BLURB:

Plagued with strange memory gaps, Charlotte wants her life back, even if someone has to die for her to get it. She has tried so hard to be what Gregory wanted her to be, and yet still he doesn't love her. Pregnant, miserable, and knowing she is being betrayed by the one person she had left to rely on, she promises herself that she will do whatever it takes.

She must learn the truth about what happened before that day on the lake, but lies can be seductive and easier to believe, especially when they are her own.

MY THOUGHTS:

I don't know how to feel about this one!

I thought I would be giving this book 4 booksies, right up until the end.

I enjoyed most of the story. Perhaps "enjoy" is the wrong word, because it's actually a pretty depressing (ha, ha) story. Another reviewer used the word bleak to describe it, and I think that fits perfectly.

Rather, I appreciated much of the story. I admire the style of the book, how the MC's mental illness made you realize right up front that she was likely an unreliable narrator, leaving you on tenterhooks the entire time, not knowing what was really true. I also admired how well the author was able to portray the manifestations of mental illness, how Charlotte rationalizes her actions, and her insight into them and the fact that they were not "normal". This is one of those times the writing is so effective that you begin to examine the question of your own sanity :)

I thought I saw what was coming in the story, not the details but rather the fact that we were going to be blindsided when the revelations finally came. But then, did they ever come? I mean, they did, but not in any way that I could understand. I feel like we were told what was really going on, but I'm not really sure what exactly we were told, it was confusing, and now I have more questions than I ever did while reading.

Unfortunately, it was this confusion and unsatisfactory ending that reduced my rating from 4 to 3. Bummer.

MY RATING:

3 booksies

 Author's website: http://www.michellemuckley.com/

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