Reader Rayna

Month: December 2015

  • The Final Empire Book Review

    thefinalempireTitle: The Final Empire
    Series: Book #1 in the Mistborn trilogy
    Author: Brandon Sanderson
    Publisher: Gollancz
    Publication Date: July 25, 2006
    Genre: Adult – High Fantasy
    Pages: 647
    Format: Purchased Paperback – UK Edition

    In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with colour once more?
    In Brandon Sanderson’s intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage – Allomancy, a magic of the metals.

    This book was incredible and I can’t believe it took me about four months or so to finish reading it. Holy carp.

    So this book intrigued me, initially, because so many people were talking about it in the Booktube community earlier this year. I had to know why it was so popular and gaining a lot of hype, and, frankly, I wasn’t disappointed.

    The plot of the story seems kind of simple at the beginning: can the evil overlord be taken down? But there are so many facets and different levels to the plot that turn into subplots and break down ever further into smaller bits that it’s no wonder than this book gained so much praise. From the lore behind a lot of who and what the Lord Ruler is, to what Allomancy and how it works, to the political and cultural structures, to the subtle romance, to the amazing adventure that takes place, this plot has a little bit of everything that please my inner reader.

    So let me briefly talk about the magical aspect of this fantasy novel: Allomancy. Allomancy is a type of magic in this world that not many people are able to use. It’s a type of magic that relies on metals and being able to use ten different known types of metals to one’s advantage. There are Mistings: people that can use one type of metal, like pewter to gain strength – they’re called Thugs or Pewterarms, or copper to prevent from other Allomancers discovering them – they’re called a Smoker; and then there are Mistborns: a rare few who are able to control and use all of the metals known: zinc, copper, pewter, gold, tin, iron,steel, bronze, brass, and the strongest metal, atium.

    The fact that Allomancy is used throughout this book already makes it unique. Often when I think of magic in fantasy books I think of being able to manipulate objects or use elemental magic – not like this. And the way Sanderson describes how the characters use it is detailed and vivd, allowing you to picture what’s going on and how they’re using the metals that they’re using.

    The main characters that we follow, Vin and Kelsier, are very different in some ways, but very similar in others, and I loved being able to get a dual perspective throughout most of the book; there were even a few times when other characters were introduced and we got some of the story from their perspectives.

    Vin is a street thief skaa (skaa being a peasant in this society), working and fighting to just stay alive. She doesn’t trust anyone and she has a hard time opening up or believing what other people say. Once she is introduced and thrust into the life that Kelsier’s crew whips up, she slowly unfolds and learns more about herself than she ever thought possible: she is a Mistborn.

    When she discovers this news, she becomes an extremely quick learner, even impressing Kelsier with how fast she learns. She slowly becomes a pawn to be used in the plans set forth against the Empire, becoming a noblewoman to go to parties and balls to gather information, but she soon realizes that not all of the noblemen, despite what Kelsier thinks, are bad people and she wants to help them – specifically one over any other.

    I think that she also picked up some mannerisms from Kelsier, but those mannerisms were probably just hidden deep down somewhere within her, such as stubbornness. She acts foolishly a lot of times, but at the same time I think that she almost follows suit after Kelsier. He’s like a fatherly figure to her and I can understand why she wants to stick near him often.

    Kelsier, on the other hand, is the lone Survivor of Hathsin, a hellish place where he had to work night and day to gather atium for the Lord Ruler after having been captured with his wife when they were on a mission. Despite what he’s gone through, and despite what he does at night in the mists, Kelsier tries to keep an upbeat and cheerful personality, making light of many situations. But he is full of a lot of passion and I think that passion is what helps to really drive the others to listen to him and respect him as a leader.

    A lot of the choices he makes, though, are risky at best, but as the story progresses and we see it all come together, after a major plot point happens, we can see just how his planning and actions have helped all along – even if it’s in a very different way from what was expected.

    I found him to be a very likable character. Though he sometimes seemed to let his ego get the best of him, it just showed that he was still just a man, even though he had Allomantic powers.

    Also how the characters grew from one another and their surroundings I felt was a really important aspect of the book. Even though Kelsier was a grown man in his mid-thirties with a huge ego, he still managed to learn from Vin, who is a seventeen year old girl. And she, in turn, learned from Kelsier and everyone else around her.

    The lore behind who the Lord Ruler is and was surfaces time and again throughout the book, and we get some logbook entries at the beginning of each chapter (which I didn’t realize that’s what they were until much later into the story). I thought that these little snippets were nice insights into the man who was to be the Hero of Ages. Though there are so many questions behind why the Lord Ruler does the things he does and how he became the way he is, we never really get answers to those questions. Well, kind of. A few questions were answered, in my opinion, but maybe more will be answered in the upcoming books.

    Also, that plot twist at the end, though. And my heart. The feels. Just, so many feels.

    This book was phenomenal. If you’re looking to get into an adult high fantasy series with a unique spin on magic and a detailed plot with lots of action, political intrigue, hints of romance, and more, I highly recommend this book for starters. I seriously can’t wait to read the second book.

    I rated this book 5/5 stars and highly recommend it.

  • Finding Your Voice As a Writer

    So if you’ve ever tried to write before, you probably struggled trying to find “your voice.” You know, your style of writing that makes your writing unique.

    From writing in first person or third person – even second person – to using extremely detailed descriptions for the setting to incorporating large, complex, and dynamic sentence structures, to having very simple but effective tastes in your plot, writing and finding your voice as a writer is, in itself, an art form.

    It takes practice.

    Honestly, did you think it would be easy? For some people it is, but for many of us it’s not. I started writing back when I was probably eleven or twelve, and from there I really started to develop my own voice. I prefer to write in third person point of view, and usually those kinds of books use past tense to tell the story. For example:

    Mary Beth could feel her heart pounding in her chest, the only sound she was able to hear was her own heartbeat in the silent air. She thought she was still asleep – she had to be. What else would explain the blood pooled on the floor and the dead body lying just beside it?

    Now, I didn’t just wake up one day and all of a sudden BAM I was able to write like that, but rather it took me years of trial and error to really reach and hone in on my voice. But I also think it came a lot more naturally to me because I’ve always loved writing. I’ve always loved to create in many forms, and writing is just one of them. (And honestly, if you couldn’t tell by some of my reviews, then I don’t really know what to tell you.)

    Does it mean it’s perfect writing? Not at all. I still make grammatical and spelling errors, just like everyone else. And yes, sometimes I sound a word out out loud to make sure I can at least phonetically spell it.

    It takes patience.

    Let’s be honest: writing’s tough. I find myself struggling to want to even write stories lately, but sometimes I get hit so hard with motivation or with a new idea that I have to write out the scene playing in my head or else I’ll forget it.

    Sometimes it can get frustrating, though. I’ve struggled with writing a story before, and it’s just not fun. I tried to originally write a story from a single perspective in the third person before I realized I wanted it in first person, duel perspectives.

    The thing is: I can’t write in first person. It just doesn’t sound like me. When I was editing the story I was talking about, it just didn’t sound the same; it sounded generic and like what I had been reading a lot of at that time. It wasn’t my voice, and so I stopped and switched back to third person perspective, but I kept the dual perspectives.

    And boy did it sound so much better. And it just felt right. You know you’re writing well when it feels right and it actually sounds like your voice.

    When it comes to finding your own voice, play around a little! See what kind of perspectives and styles your prefer and go from there.

     

    If you don’t get it right away, don’t stress about it! Again, this can take time and practice and patience.

    It just takes writing.

    If nothing else, finding your voice just takes writing. Set up a time each day to write a little blurb and see if you think it sounds good to you. And if not each day, than each week or something that fits your schedule.

    Try this technique: when you type it out as if you’re speaking it out loud, does it still sound good? Or should you tweak it to fit a different audience or the setting?

    I try to always make blog posts like how I’d actually speak in person, but sometimes in person I’m not always so eloquent with my words. It’s just always easier for me to get my thoughts out in writing than orally because I can always delete and try again if I don’t like something. So don’t be afraid to try it – you can always delete and try again.

    If you’re struggling to find your voice as a writer, then don’t worry so much about the content and just play around a little bit with different types of tones, perspectives, languages, etc.

    If you’re writing about a tsunami crashing into land and killing hundreds of people, you’re not going to make that scene or the overall tone of the book sound cheery. It’s going to be serious, melancholy even, and you’re going to want to try to convey that through your voice in your words.

    Same as if you’re trying to write about two friends getting together after being apart for six years: you’re not going to make it sound like both of their dogs just died; make this sound more upbeat and cheerful.

    If you’ve been struggling with writing, I do hope that this helps at least a little bit. I can definitely go more in depth about writing for a specific audience, writing different genres or scenes, the differences between first and third person, and other kinds of topics. Let me know what kind of writing topics interest you and I’ll do my best to give my opinion on the topic.

    Do you ever find yourself struggling to find your voice in your writing? If you’re a writer, what kind of voice do you use (would you mind writing a blurb to share)? If you haven’t found your voice yet, what are you struggling with and how do you think you can improve? Let me know!

  • The Future Collection Short Stories Review

    thefuturecollectionTitle: The Future Collection
    Author: Beth Revis
    Publisher: Scripturient Books
    Publication Date: January 13, 2015
    Genre: Young Adult – Short Stories, Sci-Fi
    Pages: 105
    Format: Won eBook for nook

    This collection of sci fi stories from NY Times Bestselling author Beth Revis features worlds and technology from the future. Featuring three brand new, original tales and three reprints, each story explores a different set of characters in a different world and facing different problems in the future world.

    “Doctor-Patient Confidentiality”: A girl wakes up in a cryomed unit and must recall why she’s there and what’s she’s lost.

    “The Most Precious Memory”: In a world where memories are sold and consumed like drugs, one deal has a weird twist.

    “The Girl & the Machine”: A time traveller meets someone who claims she’s met his future self and that they’ll change the world together.

    “Lag”: A reporter has found the story of a lifetime–but a malfunctioning teleportation has made her forget it…

    “The Turing Test”: A college student must determine which test subject is human and which is an android with A.I.

    “As They Slip Away”: A novella set in the world of Across the Universe, exploring the fate of a side character.

    So I really love the science fiction genre, and Beth Revis really showed me just why I love it so.

    Not only are these short stories a unique spin into the world of sci-fi, but they’re also just imaginative, heartfelt, creepy, and held the hint of possibility in them. Though, as you’ll see, I have a hard time talking about these stories without giving too much away, so I’m sorry for being kind of vague.

    The first short story, Doctor-Patient Confidentiality, told the story from the perspective of a young woman who had just woken from hyper sleep to discover that she had died – or come close to it. She has an internal struggle as to losing her friends, losing time, unsure of whether or not it was her husband’s fault, etc. This story had me questioning just why she continually blamed the husband when, really, it was her fault that she had gotten sick.

    And then you find out who the doctor is and it hits you in the feels. Oy.

    The second short story, The Most Precious Memory, tells the story from a perspective of a young man who doesn’t remember anything – he’s sold his memories, or drank them, to the point in which he doesn’t know his name. One day when someone offers to sell him the most precious memory, he can’t pass up the opportunity.

    And when he does he really starts to try to want to hold onto those memories.

    This one hit me right in the feels. It had so much heart because of just who the memory that he was buying belonged to and it really just made me want to cry.

    The third short story, The Girl & the Machine, is about a teen who can time travel, but he can only time travel within his own direct timeline. He can’t go into the future, and he can’t go too far into the past. But he does change some things and does things to become the young man he is today, and that’s when he meets the girl.

    The girl knows him from his future self and how she was told that together, they could change the world. So the boy, being naturally curious, follows her to a lab where they learn a little more about each other.

    And that’s when my emotional attachment and curiosity for the boy halt and I want to slap him. The subject of rape does come up, so tread lightly if this is a trigger warning for you, but it’s not so detailed that it’ll make you cringe. It did make me angry, though.

    And then the girl told him who she was and just what she was planning to do, and though I was horrified just from everything that was going on, I was kind of impressed with how she handled it.

    The fourth story, Lag, is about teleportation and how one woman is teleported and forgets everything over the last two weeks. She has no recollection whatsoever, and the last time she updated her memories at the Memory Bank, it was two weeks ago. So what had happened?

    Being a reporter, she has a natural knack for getting information, and she quickly discovers just what that information will cost her – and has cost her. This story was engaging and very descriptive of some gruesome details, but the reasons why she couldn’t remember anything for two weeks will shock you. I was shocked, anyway, though I kind of got it a little bit before reading about why.

    The fifth story, The Turing Test, is probably my second favorite. This one is about a girl who is majoring in artificial intelligence and she is asked to be put to the test to determine if two computers she’s talking to are AI’s or humans – or neither or one or the other. As she asks them questions, she quickly picks who is who because of the discussions being held, but then things turn on their head and new mysteries and revelations are discovered.

    This one has a lot of possibility of happening in the future, so it’s creepy in that aspect, but it was extremely fascinating to read about. I’d definitely want a continuation on this short story.

    The sixth and final story, As They Slip Away, was the longest story, but it was also told in about four parts, all from the same perspective of a girl who lives at the Hospital aboard the ship, Godspeed. She, along with others, are called “loons” and they are all the crazy people on board, but one of the other girls has a theory that the pills they take aren’t because they’re crazy, but it keeps them continuing to see realty.

    As the story progresses, it focuses on six individuals who are adept at the arts, and who each have talents and assignments to complete in a month. But there is one guy who is just kind of too creepy, though he finds the main protagonist beautiful.

    Then things just spiral downward after a shared moment with a friend.

    I’m not really sure how I feel about this story. It was creepy, but entertaining, but mostly creepy and kind of sad. She gave up her humanity because of a guy. It’s tragic, really.

    Overall, I loved each of these stories. I think each had their own special quirks to make them unique and that ultimately interested me and had me wanting more. But there were also a lot of typos that I spotted, so that was really the only downfall. And I wished there had been more.

    I rate this collection 4/5 stars and highly recommend it if you’re looking for a quick sci-fi fix.

  • Top 5 Wednesday: Books to Read By the Fire

    Welcome to another Top 5 Wednesday as hosted by Lainey of gingerreadslainey. Today’s topic is our top five favorite books to read by the fire, aka holiday/winter reads. So here are my picks in no particular order:

    5. The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews

    magicbites

    This adult urban fantasy series would be nice to curl up by the fire with because not only does it have action and fantasy, but there’s also a slow burn romance that’s just filled with tension as the books progress.

    4. The Starbound trilogy by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

    This trilogy is beautiful and epic and it tells the story from six different perspectives throughout all of them. Between the lonely and dangerous world in the first book, to the war ridden, split territory world in the second, to the underworld and an mysterious beings in the third, this trilogy definitely has a lot to offer during those cold winter nights. Plus the romances are amazing.

    3. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

    cityofbones

    Need I say anything about this series? It’s got action, adventure, conflict, romance, demons, magic, weird creatures, kickass people, and so much more. Definitely a good read to curl up by the fire with.

    2. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

    eleanorandpark

    This story is both part sweet and bitter, but the sweet far outweighs the latter. This story is about two outcasts and how they come together to find a love that’s truer than anything they had ever experienced before. How sweet for the holidays, right?

    1 . All the manga!

    I love manga, so reading it is just a fun activity to do in general. You can find everything under the sun from action, adventure, romance, shoujo-ai (girl-girl love) and shonen-ai (boy-boy love), to one-shot, slice of life, horror, and so much more. Really, whatever your preference is, you can pretty much find a manga based around it. Really, all you have to do is find the one that you think best fits your winter mood.

    So there you have it! My list of some of my favorite winter reads. Definitely check these out and see what you like curling by the fire with.

    What books would you read during the holidays/winter time? Let me know!

  • Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I Read in 2015

    Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday as hosted by the lovely peeps over on The Broke & The Bookish. Today’s topic is all about our top ten best books that we read this year.

    For my list I’m basing the books I picked based off of my overall enjoyment of them, so that doesn’t necessarily mean they were 5 stars, but most of these probably were. So here is my list, in no particular order, of the best books I read this year:

    1. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas – This book was everything and more that I wanted from this series. Romance, action, blood, witches. It was amazing and definitely the best book in the series so far.
    2. This Shattered World and Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner – These two books blew me away and hit me right in the feels. I loved the world building, the relationships, the action, the mystery.
    3. Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi – The character arc in this series is incredible and definitely my favorite part about this series. And Warner. You know.
    4. The Raven Boys by Maggie Steifvater – The uniqueness of the plot, mixed with amazing individual characters, plus the magical elements, made for an amazing read.
    5. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli – It made me laugh out loud – literally – and it made me want to cry happy tears. This book hit me SO HARD in the feels and I loved it.
    6. Daughter of Smoke & Bone and Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor – These two books are amazing in story, characters, setting, and more. Not only is this a unique spin on a fantasy tale to include chimera and angels together, but then throw in everything else going down? Holy carp, hell yes these two were two of the best books I read the whole year.
    7. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson – I love it so muuuuucchhhh. Romance, action, politics, deceit, loyalty, betrayal, and so much more. Amazing!
    8. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – Beautiful setting, intriguing characters, amazing plot line, and so much more, this book was everything I wanted and more.
    9. The Amazing Book is Not on Fire by Dan Howell & Phil Lester – The audiobook version was soooo hilarious, and I just love that these two really put in as much effort as they did for what they do. Kudos to them.
    10. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare – I just. I mean. I can’t. It was the perfect wrap up to the first three books and it had so much action, so many times that made my heart stop, so many times where I swooned and gushed and made all that weird noises. Yes.

    Okay, I know that’s more than ten books, BUT I COULDN’T HELP IT. I loved all of these books so, so much, and this wasn’t even a complete list of the best books that I read or listened to.

    What about you? What were the best books you read in 2015? How many did you have? Let me know!