New Blog...

For anyone who happens to come across this, I decided to start a new blog called In The Stars Above, where I will talk about everything, not just books. I found this blog to be a little restricting because I could inly talk about books and I'm not reading enough lately for this to be enough. So head on over there for books, films, fashion and more.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

My Review: 5/5 Stars

Goodreads Average Review: 4.04/5 Stars

"I'd rather die on an adventure than live standing still."

Firstly, I loved the concept of this book. The idea of their being three separate London's, our being the only one without magic, was so interesting and unique, at least as far as the books that I've encountered. The characters are also very original, and the character development is great while still leaving questions about them that I hoping will be answered in the sequels.

Schwab's writing is truly addicting, meaning that this is one of those books that you just can't put down. She adds elements of fantasy, political implications, and a new language system which all work together to make this book so great and so believable, despite the less than real content.

I recommend that everyone go read this book as soon as possible, as well as other works by Schwab (Vicious in particular), and you wont be disappointed.

~Kayleigh

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

My Review: 4/5 Stars

Goodreads Average Review: 3.47/5 Stars

"They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But what if death came back to try again?"

The Shining Girls is a novel by South African author Lauren Beukes and tells the story of a 1930s American drifter who travels throughout time in search of his "shining girls". Harper stalks and kills each of these girls, leaving trinkets on the bodies that link each girl together. They are objects of his obsession, his need to make his murders perfect.

Kirby is one of these shining girls, the only one to survive the brutal attack, and she demands answers. What she finds, however, is impossible.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

My Review: 4/5 Stars

Goodreads Average Review: 3.79/5 Stars

“Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading.”

Never Let Me Go is generally described as a distopic novel, though I would say that it is an alternate world, coming of age, semi-romance novel. As you can tell by that description, this novel doesn't really fit into one category, and that it was I found so deeply interesting about this novel.While the skewed version of our world is a large part of this novel, this isn't science fiction. This focusses on the protagonist, Kathy, her friends Ruth and Tommy, and her memories of their time together. Generally, I prefer to know everything about a world such as this one, but I found Ishiguro's writing so hauntingly beautiful that I found myself more engrossed in Kathy's story. For me, this novel tells a story of mortality and morality. When your life expectancy is dramatically reduced, what actually remains important in the grand scheme of your life? What does it mean to be human, to have a soul?