The King of the Plot-Twists

Title: Pines

Status: Wayward Pines #1

Author: Blake Crouch

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Sci-Fi

General Thoughts: I'm very impressed.

Rating: 4.25/5 stars.

First Lines:

"He came lying on his back with sunlight pouring on his face and the murmur of running water close by. There was a brilliant ache in his optic nerve, and a steady, painless throbbing at the base of his skull - the distant thunder of an approaching migraine."

How would you feel if you woke up, lonely, with no ID or cellphone and no recollection of your life, not knowing where you are? This is what happens to Ethan Burke, at the beginning of Pines, and things just get more and more confusing and intense from there. What is this place, Wayward Pines? And why is Ethan there?

My God, this was one of the most intense reads ever. And I think one of the only books that I didn't by any means know what was going to happen or what the twist was. I'm still not completely sure what the twist is!

First of all, it was intense. Very fast paced and super intriguing. I don't recollect reading anything boring or not action packed. It was a crazy ride from beginning to end.

The characters, well, they were incredibly weird. Because no one knows anything, and everyone is very, very suspicious. And you don't even know what you're supposed to be suspicious of. But at the same time, you kind of know who is good and who is bad. But it's like everyone is potentially good or bad.

The story itself was full of plot twists. You first think it might be something, and then it's something more deep, and then it's even more complicated than that and it just finally ends up being completely different.

I do have to say, a very strong issue I had with the story was how unrealistic it could seem at times. I mean, the MC Ethan, he's the fucking Terminator. I swear, he literally could have fallen from a plane and still would walk all the way through the story. I mean, maybe the author could have toned it down a little with all the things he did, because man was it kind of ridiculous.

Also, I think it's a very big risk to do something as extravagant for the story. Like, I'm still not completely convinced by it. But maybe the second book will get me around? I've been told it's very good, as well.

Really, this book is completely worth the risk. You won't loose your time at it, and maybe the rest of the series offers a good time as well. Recommend this to everyone, but be aware that it's kind of scary at times.

Big Scary Lions That Surprise You

Title: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Status: The Chronicles of Narnia #2

Author: C.S. Lewis

Genre: Children, Young Adult, Fantasy

General Thoughts: Great cutesy book.

Rating: 3.75/5 stars.

First Lines:

ONCE there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids. They were sent to the house of an old Professor who lived in the heart of the country, ten miles from the nearest railway station and two miles from the nearest post office. He had no wife and he lived in a very large house with a housekeeper called Mrs Macready and three servants. (Their names were Ivy, Margaret and Betty, but they do not come into the story much.) He himself was a very old man with shaggy white hair which grew over most of his face as well as on his head, and they liked him almost at once; but on the first evening when he came out to meet them at the front door he was so odd-looking that Lucy (who was the youngest) was a little afraid of him, and Edmund (who was the next youngest) wanted to laugh and had to keep on pretending he was blowing his nose to hide it. 

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the thrilling start for the wonderful Narnia series, where we get introduced to the marvelous adventures of Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter, how it all started, and all the adventures that await.

Damn, I really like this series. I never read them as little because I just didn't have them here. But now I did and I feel great.

starting by saying, the movie adaptation was actually extremely close to the book. I mean, all the events from the book are in the movie, and they weren't changed chronologically or anything. There is of course, the factor that the book always offers more in depth knowledge of the story. But over all, very good adaptation.

The characters where even cuter in this book. But at the same, I didn't see them in depth, or at least not all. For example, Susan felt pretty ghostly for me, commenting when needed and being there to cause some trouble. But I can tell you, I hate Edmund more now. Before he was just an idiot. Now I find him an idiot and very stupid and evil.

One thing that surprised me was how Aslan's character changed for me. I had a very cute, harmless image of him, and with this book he became a little scary, actually.

And the scene where Aslan goes to the witch to be sacrificed, it affected more than it had with the movie. It was gruesome, even. I don't know, felt a little weird reading it like that.

Only thing, is that it's not as interesting as I thought it could be. And nothing really surprising happened.

Overall, I thought it was a great start for a book. definitely read it.

Netgalley Reviews. The Dissapointing kind.

Title: Witches Protection Program

Status: Stand Alone

Author: Michael Phillip Cash

Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Contemporary

General Thoughts: God, no.

Rating: 1.25/5 stars.

The Witches Protection Program is a secret agency that's been running for years, that seeks to protect those good witches, Davinas, from the harm done by those bad witches, Villas. In here, we find our protagonist, Wes, who was sent after his first assignment at work went wrong, turning his world upside down.

That description sounds promising. *shade* Better than the book, for sure. *shade*

I'm so mad I didn't like this book. But I'm not really mad at myself, I'm mad at the author for making it such a bad book. When I was cruising around to find NetGalleys, I found this, saw the description, saw the glowing reviews, and thought "well, this is surely to be a fun ride". Wrong.

I really hate being mean about books. Authors put so much time and effort in this little pieces of papers, and so do editors and publishing houses. Whenever I don't like a book, I feel bad about not liking it, and having to later review it.

But this book, no. It was all so cliche. Every single paragraph in this book, I've read at least twelve times. Every. Single. Paragraph. And the writing style, well, it was non existent. It really felt like a million authors trying to write a book at the same time. It was so bad.

There's even this one line I highlighted...

"If I was a man, everybody would marvel at my aggression. I'd be called a go-getter, ambitious. People would respect me."

and then used the notes tool to write this...

"Even the feminist statement is cliche."

And there was ZERO character development. I CAN'T READ WITHOUT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. EVEN IF IT'S JUST A LITTLE BIT. Literally, the characters in this book had no personalities, and they changed their minds every few lines, and none had a clear intention of what they were trying to be.

And the worst, instalove. It was literally the worst instalove I've seen in my whole life. The characters, said two times each, separately, that they felt something weird going on, and then they were alone together, and bum, kiss. And they didn't even do that awkward "sorry..." dance that some instalovers do, they just flat out went at it.

Oh, and the main protagonist has dyslexia (don't worry, not a big deal part of the plot, doing you a favor) and I like that the author tried to put some normal problem that people kind of ignore but it's present and important. But even the way he treated it was horrible. I have a friend who has dyslexia, and she suffered a little about it when little, but I mean 6-10 little. This man makes it sound like he's so ashamed, like he murdered somebody. And I hated that so bad.

I could go on about everything that's wrong about this book, like how the plot didn't make sense, and everything happened to fast, or the unnecessary things said-never-resolved, the plot holes, etc. But I'm tired, so no.

I'm really sorry, but this book was really badly written, and plotted out, and constructed. I don't think he should have bothered in the first place.

It does have a .25 more in the rating because there were some fun lines or references I kind of smiled at.

I'm mad I didn't like this book. It really promised to be a fun read. But I was just expecting that, fun. But not even that. Really, don't bother reading it.

Thanks to Chelshire Inc. for providing me with this title!

Small disclaimer section.

Due to it being an ARC, I won't put the first lines.

I received this copy in exchange of an honest review, for so, none of my feelings were affected or biased by the author or publisher.

The Beginning of Everything

Title: The Magician's Nephew

Status: The Chronicles of Narnia #1

Author: C.S. Lewis

Genre: Children, Young Adult, Fantasy

General Thoughts: Cute, easy, fun.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars.

First Lines:

This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child. It is a very important story because it shows how all the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Narnia first began.

The Magician's Nephew is the story behind the story, how it all began, the beginning of everything. A kid and his new friend go into different universes, thanks to the evil work of his uncle, and find more than a few things along the way.

I am so happy that I decided to pick this book up and read it. Great decision.

This book tells the story of how it all began, the beginning of all the adventures and characters that we saw in Narnia. This book marks the beginning of something great and fantastic.

I was a little hesitant of reading this one because it wasn't really a part of the series as of what characters matters. They were different and I didn't read Narnia anywhere on the synopsis, so I wasn't sure. But then I did, and it all changed.

I had never read any of the Narnia books, but I was a fan of the movies. Which I'm glad I was, because in this book, a lot of the things that are contained in Narnia are explained. And so I felt so excited every time I understood something, and realized where it all belonged to. I think it improved my reading experience so much more.

As for characters, they were all very cute and unique, and I loved them. Well, at least the ones who were good. The two kids were great characters and they weren't portrayed as the typical lost and stupid kids that authors so like to think are true. They were smart and not lost and real, for which, I am very grateful.

I thought the world building to be exceptional, and on few words. I saw everything happening in my mind (helped with the drawings) and it was so much more enjoyable that way.

I really think you should read this book, and the rest of the Narnia series. They're good, fun, cute and enjoyable. And most important, easy to read!