Books 13 & 14 - 2014
Book 13: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Fifth: The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket - 221 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
As the three Baudelaire orphans warily approach their new home Prufrock Preparatory School: they can′t help but notice the enormous stone arch bearing the school′s motto Memento Mori or "Remember you will die." This is not a cheerful greeting and certainly marks an inauspicious beginning to a very bleak story just as we have come to expect from Lemony Snickett′s Series of Unfortunate Events, the deliciously morbid set of books that began with The Bad Beginning and only got worse.
Thoughts:
Still working my way through these. This one introduces the characters of Isadora and Duncan Quagmire who seem to be in a fairly similar situation to the Baudelaire children and who attempt to help them escape Olaf once again. This time he is disguised as a running coach he tries to run the children effectively to death. The ending’s to these books are starting to get more and more adult in their content, a trend I have noticed as I get further through the series. Still relatively interesting and nice quick reads.
13 / 50 books. 26% done!
4580 / 15000 pages. 31% done!
Book 14: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge - 342 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
The romance of Beauty and the Beast meets the adventure of Graceling in a dazzling fantasy novel about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny. Betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom, Nyx has always known her fate was to marry him, kill him, and free her people from his tyranny. But on her seventeenth birthday, when she moves into his castle high on the kingdom's mountaintop, nothing is as she expected--particularly her charming and beguiling new husband. Nyx knows she must save her homeland at all costs, yet she can't resist the pull of her sworn enemy--who's gotten in her way by stealing her heart. For fans of bestselling authors Kristin Cashore and Alex Flinn, this gorgeously written debut infuses the classic fairy tale with glittering magic, a feisty heroine, and a romance sure to take your breath away.
Thoughts:
This was a delicious story. It came up on my recommend Goodreads email one month and I put it on my list and for some reason decided to get it from the library while I was on a short break between finishing one job and starting a new one. I wasn’t expecting it to be so delicious, but I have no other word to describe it. It’s a combination of Beauty and the Beast, Graceling (another book I adore), and various mythologies (there is elements of the Psyche and Eros story from Greek mythology). All are things I love. But it could have failed really bad if not for the manner in which Hodge makes her very reluctant, very bitter main character work. Nyx resents her life, resents her sister, resents her purpose, resents her resentment. On her seventeenth birthday she is sent to kill the beast that lives in the castle on the mountaintop. She goes in guns blazing, willing to throw herself at this beast, in order to trick him and kill him. Her plans don’t go the way she intends, and there is an immediate, hate-filled attraction. Hodge does a fantastic job of showing just how thin the line between love and hate is. Nyx wants nothing more than to kill her captor, but she is also drawn to him and to a strange being that lives in the castle. The relationship between all three is bizarre and fascinating and watching it evolve is what makes this story so good. You want it to work out for everyone, even though, maybe, everyone is maybe a little evil, or a little selfish, and maybe they don’t deserve a happy ending. Nyx’s flaws as a person are what make her so engaging for me. I love misunderstood characters, I love romances that make you wonder whether the couple should really be together, even though they make perfect sense in many ways. I flew through this book, determined to find out how it ended, and I loved the ending. It was fitting without being soppy or overly cheerful. For not entirely human characters, it was beautifully human. Highly recommended!
14 / 50 books. 28% done!
4922 / 15000 pages. 33% done!
Currently reading:
- Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs - 283 pages
- Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything by Harold L. Sirkin, James W. Hemerling and Arindam K. Bhattacharya - 267 pages
- Sunshine on Sugar Hill by Angela Gilltrap - 310 pages
And coming up:
- The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Volume 3: White Gold Wielder by Stephen Donaldson - 500 pages
- The Odyssey by Homer - 324 pages
- One for the Money by Janet Evanovich - 290 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
As the three Baudelaire orphans warily approach their new home Prufrock Preparatory School: they can′t help but notice the enormous stone arch bearing the school′s motto Memento Mori or "Remember you will die." This is not a cheerful greeting and certainly marks an inauspicious beginning to a very bleak story just as we have come to expect from Lemony Snickett′s Series of Unfortunate Events, the deliciously morbid set of books that began with The Bad Beginning and only got worse.
Thoughts:
Still working my way through these. This one introduces the characters of Isadora and Duncan Quagmire who seem to be in a fairly similar situation to the Baudelaire children and who attempt to help them escape Olaf once again. This time he is disguised as a running coach he tries to run the children effectively to death. The ending’s to these books are starting to get more and more adult in their content, a trend I have noticed as I get further through the series. Still relatively interesting and nice quick reads.
13 / 50 books. 26% done!
4580 / 15000 pages. 31% done!
Book 14: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge - 342 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
The romance of Beauty and the Beast meets the adventure of Graceling in a dazzling fantasy novel about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny. Betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom, Nyx has always known her fate was to marry him, kill him, and free her people from his tyranny. But on her seventeenth birthday, when she moves into his castle high on the kingdom's mountaintop, nothing is as she expected--particularly her charming and beguiling new husband. Nyx knows she must save her homeland at all costs, yet she can't resist the pull of her sworn enemy--who's gotten in her way by stealing her heart. For fans of bestselling authors Kristin Cashore and Alex Flinn, this gorgeously written debut infuses the classic fairy tale with glittering magic, a feisty heroine, and a romance sure to take your breath away.
Thoughts:
This was a delicious story. It came up on my recommend Goodreads email one month and I put it on my list and for some reason decided to get it from the library while I was on a short break between finishing one job and starting a new one. I wasn’t expecting it to be so delicious, but I have no other word to describe it. It’s a combination of Beauty and the Beast, Graceling (another book I adore), and various mythologies (there is elements of the Psyche and Eros story from Greek mythology). All are things I love. But it could have failed really bad if not for the manner in which Hodge makes her very reluctant, very bitter main character work. Nyx resents her life, resents her sister, resents her purpose, resents her resentment. On her seventeenth birthday she is sent to kill the beast that lives in the castle on the mountaintop. She goes in guns blazing, willing to throw herself at this beast, in order to trick him and kill him. Her plans don’t go the way she intends, and there is an immediate, hate-filled attraction. Hodge does a fantastic job of showing just how thin the line between love and hate is. Nyx wants nothing more than to kill her captor, but she is also drawn to him and to a strange being that lives in the castle. The relationship between all three is bizarre and fascinating and watching it evolve is what makes this story so good. You want it to work out for everyone, even though, maybe, everyone is maybe a little evil, or a little selfish, and maybe they don’t deserve a happy ending. Nyx’s flaws as a person are what make her so engaging for me. I love misunderstood characters, I love romances that make you wonder whether the couple should really be together, even though they make perfect sense in many ways. I flew through this book, determined to find out how it ended, and I loved the ending. It was fitting without being soppy or overly cheerful. For not entirely human characters, it was beautifully human. Highly recommended!
14 / 50 books. 28% done!
4922 / 15000 pages. 33% done!
Currently reading:
- Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs - 283 pages
- Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything by Harold L. Sirkin, James W. Hemerling and Arindam K. Bhattacharya - 267 pages
- Sunshine on Sugar Hill by Angela Gilltrap - 310 pages
And coming up:
- The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Volume 3: White Gold Wielder by Stephen Donaldson - 500 pages
- The Odyssey by Homer - 324 pages
- One for the Money by Janet Evanovich - 290 pages