- On Sale May 8, 2018 -
The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman - 2/5 Stars *Possible spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.* I cannot believe that I am rating this book 2 stars. This was my most anticipated read of 2017. After reading His Dark Materials last year and falling in love with the world and having the story shatter me and embed itself deeply into my soul, I was so excited for this book, I would honestly go to bed smiling sometimes thinking about how awesome this book was going to be. I think it's safe to say that how I'm feeling now, after reading it, is a little bit more than disappointed. I honestly want to cry when I think about how let down I am. I'm not even sure what I wanted from this book, I just know that I didn't get it. Okay, so I'm going to start with what I liked, before this turns into a rant review. What I liked: 1. Baby Lyra and the introduction of baby daemons. I had never given much thought to what a person's daemon is like when they're a baby, but the amount of cuteness that this entails is out of this dimension. 2. How much Malcolm loved and cared for baby Lyra. Kid did good. Good job, kid. 3. Alice and being generally feisty. She was the most real character to me in this story. She wasn't beautiful. In fact, she was even described as ratty at one point. I appreciated that and also her strength, tenacity, as well as her vulnerability at times. And now for the longer list, What I didn't like: 1. Nothing happened. Okay, so obviously some stuff happened, but for a 450 page book, nothing happened. For the majority of the book, it's just about getting Lyra from one part of town during a flood to the next. Pullman said somewhere that this book wasn't going to be a prequel or a sequel, but an EQUAL. He lied. If this isn't a prequel, I don't know what is. 2. Baby Lyra Yes, this is something I liked and something I disliked. At first, I was all: AWWWW. SHE'S SO PWECIOUS! But then it slowly dawned on me that she was going to be a baby throughout the whole book. I swear to goosh that I read somewhere that Pullman said the story would follow Lyra from the ages of 4 YEARS OLD to 20 YEARS OLD. Am I making this up? I honestly am so confused, because she was 6 months old throughout the whole dang thing. I was hoping that by the time she turned 20, she and Will would find a way to be together again. EXCUSE THE SHIT OUT OF ME FOR DARING TO DREAM! All I want is to live in a world where Lyra and Will can be together. 3. The dark tone. I mean, obviously Pullman includes some controversial topics in his works. In His Dark Materials, there were obviously dark things happening and some religious boundaries being crossed, but it was so magical, I didn't give a flying fluff. I honestly wasn't offended, just amazed at his creativity, genius and originality. I WAS ACTUALLY OFFENDED AND PUT OFF A NUMBER OF TIMES IN THIS BOOK. I am no super Christian, but what happened with St. Alexander was effed the fuck up! Having a bad group of Christians go to all the schools and tell the kids a story about a kid who told on his parents and got them hung for not being a Christian and then being made a saint is a low blow to Christians, I feel. Honestly, it seems like Pullman is getting bitter in his old age. There are also instances of RAPE, STRONG LANGUAGE, MURDER, FLOATING DEAD BODIES and a WEIRD NAKED BREAST FEEDING/BABY THEFT SCENE that mildly disturbed me. 4. Where is the magic? I'm not talking about spells and wizardry and whatnot, I'm talking about that special feeling you get when all of the elements of a story come together to create pure magic in your heart and soul. There really wasn't anything about this book that made it any different than any other book in the world. Nothing special to set it apart from all the rest like His Dark Materials had. No talking armored polar bears. No nothing. Except for a weird, delusional naked fairy lady who is in serious need of some mental help, but she doesn't count because I'm trying my best to erase her from my memory. 5. It took me forever to get through. Listen, some people read one book a week and, for them, that is amazing. I'm the kind of person that likes to get through about 3 books a week. Somehow, this 450 page book took me an entire week to finish. And it took away my excitement for reading the entire time. I kind of dreaded picking it back up, because I was afraid that the next disturbing thing to happen would lessen my opinion of the original trilogy somehow. I don't think it did, thankfully. I'm just going to mentally compartmentalize these two series into different categories, and not let this dud dampen my appreciation for HDM. I think that I will probably pick up the next book in the series, although probably from the library as to not waste my money, because I've come this far and I'm still holding out hope that it will get better. After all, it wasn't until the third book in the original series that my soul was shattered. You never know. I might even like the next book. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia - 5/5 Stars "Like life, what gives a story meaning is the fact that it ends. Our stories have lives of their own - and it's up to us to make them mean something." - Eliza and Her Monsters You guys, I finally got my 5 star read I've been searching for the past 5 weeks! SQUEE! I really, really liked this one. I'd heard nothing but good things about this book, and so of course, being the party pooper that I am, I went into this book completely skeptical. I had no idea what it was about. I was just blindly trusting the hype, something that doesn't usually pan out for me. And then I read the synopsis. I was like: I AM ELIZA. lol And then I started reading it... AND I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. I was super into the story. I loved the writing style. It was very simple and made for an easy read. The message behind the story was awesome and actually has me feeling pretty inspired to start writing again. I lost my inspiration to write almost two years ago and so this feeling right now is pretty awesome. It makes me want to sharpen all of my pencils and start brainstorming. NANOWRIMO, here I come! haha If you're on the fence about this once, I say go for it. If you're a fan ofFangirl, I think this book would be right up your alley as well. There's even a Harry Potter reference or two hiding in this book. Read it. The good book is good. :P Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall - 3.5/5 Stars (Let's just pretend that doesn't say Louis Gornall on the pic, kay?) This is going to be a tough review for me to write. This book hit a little too close to home with some of the issues that the main character Norah is going through. I actually cried pretty hard last night because the book made me take a hard look at my own life, and opened the door to things that I usually try to keep locked away inside of me, for the sake of my own sanity. The main character in this book is dealing with a plethora of mental health issues: Agoraphobia, anxiety, panic disorder, OCD and a sprinkle of hypochondria too it seemed. In other words, life is not easy for Norah. The simplest things, like stepping onto her front porch are just too much for her and shuts her body down. I think that the author did an incredible job capturing a true portrayal of how it feels to have anxiety issues. If you are dealing with any of these issues, I 100% think you should read this book because it forces you to be honest with yourself and is somewhat healing in that respect. If you don't have any mental illnesses, yay for you, but I still think that this is an important read for you. If you don't live with anxiety, you have no idea how hard life is for those of us who do. It's an eye-opening inside look into the brain of a sufferer that might help you understand a little better about how someone can be so crazy and yet so normal at the same time. Something that registered with me in this book is Norah's relationship with her anxiety. She HATES it, obviously, but at the same time, it is her best friend. It keeps her safe, while also keeping her trapped. That is exactly how I feel about my issues. I want to be normal, but I also am so afraid of getting better because then I'll be forced out of my comfortable little bubble. I'm not going to put any spoilers in this review but something that happens early on in the story to her mom I could also relate to. My anxiety used to be even worse than it is now. When I was about 15 or 16, I used to have severe panic attacks any time my mom would leave the house without me. I know it sounds crazy, but bear with me. Imagine you are seeing a loved one die in front of your eyes, over and over again and unable to stop the horrible images flashing through your mind for HOURS. It's mental torture. I remember that when my mom used to cut the grass, I would scream and cry inside the house, so afraid that the lawn mower blade would somehow cut her to death. My mind would relentlessly show me over and over again her being cut to ribbons. By the time my mom would come back inside, my body was spent and I was mentally and physically exhausted and drained. Those were Bad Days. Anxiety is a bitch. I'm kind of mad at this book for opening up old wounds that haven't exactly healed, but I try to keep the Band Aids covering them up pretty tight anyway. It's not healthy, but it's how I cope. Also, I don't have it quite as bad as Norah, and for that I am glad. It was a nice reminder that some people out there are suffering even more than you, and while that doesn't make it any easier for us, it does help to put things into perspective a bit. Overall, read this book but beware of being triggered if you have issues with self harm, anxiety, ocd or any other mental health illnesses. |
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