Review: The Astonishing Color of After

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Release Date: March 20th, 2018
Source: Netgalley
Date Read: 3/14/18
480 pages

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

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I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from ARC may or may not be in the published edition.

Hello there, long time no see. I’m back from…wherever I’ve been, to review The Astonishing Color of After, an amazing debut that I have had the wonderful pleasure of reading. Seriously, it’s only March and I’ve found a 2018 favorite. And I mean, yes, though it is probably due to the fact that I related so much to the biracial main character, there was just so much more to it than that.

Review: A Darker Shade of Magic

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: February 24, 2015
Source: Bought
Date Read: 3/16/15 to 3/17/15
400 pages
Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰

Kell is one of the last Travelers—rare magicians who choose a parallel universe to visit.

Grey London is dirty, boring, lacks magic, ruled by mad King George. Red London is where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London is ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. People fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. Once there was Black London - but no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see. This dangerous hobby sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to another world for her 'proper adventure'.

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive — trickier than they hoped.

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I. Loved. This. Book. I loved it so much, that I did not put it down once on my plane trip back from Hawaii. I don't even care that I bothered the people around me with my overhead light. A Darker Shade of Magic was seriously THAT good. The fact that this book is already going through it's fifth printing in a little over a month should prove that.

A Darker Shade of Magic features Kell, one of the last of his kind, who can travel between three different worlds as long as he has a token from each one. These worlds are all connected through coincidence, all having a city name London and a river. The worlds used to always be open to one another, but after Black London, everything has been closed off. Magic only flows in Red London now, with Gray London having no (barely) any magic, and White London struggling to control magic.

I loved the portrayal of how alive and mysterious magic is in the book. I loved the aspect of traveling between four different worlds. And I loved, loved, LOVED, the different characters. Kell is, no surprise, freaking awesome. Since the first chapter where they described his coat of infinite layers, I fell in love with his character. I COULD NOT RESIST. 

Also, I did not expect a companion in this book! Lila, from Gray London (Our London) kind of appeared out of nowhere, and I thought I would hate her, but it didn't turn out that way. She's not whiny and neither is she too dependent on others to save her. I love how she basically forced Kell to take her along with him.

I CANNOT STOP TALKING ABOUT THE CHARACTERS. They are just all so complex and different and all throughout the novel I was feeling all the feels because man this plot is well thought out. There is seriously nothing else I can say except for READ THISSS. READ THISS.

I have absolutely no gripes. This was amazing. I would read this again, and again, and again, and again, and again, again, again.

Review: Cress

Cress by Marissa Meyer
The Lunar Chronicles #3
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Release Date: February 4th, 2014
Source: Owned
Date Read: 10/14/14 to 10/29/14
550 Pages
Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

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Where is the next book when you need it?
Seriously. When is it coming out?
Ok, Fairest is coming out in January, but where is Winter! I want Winter! gah

If you've read both my reviews for Cinder and Scarlet, and still haven't picked up the series yet, what are you doing with your life? 

I'm just kidding. But seriously, The Lunar Chronicles just gets better and better. At first I thought Cinder was amazing, and then I read Scarlet and thought it was even better. And then Cress, just take the amazingness of Cinder and Scarlet, but them together, and multiply that by ten. That's how good Cress was.

It is also such a beautiful book on it's own. Just look at it.

Since this is the third book in the series, and I can't exactly do a full review without spoiling anything, but, I can say that this is one of the best books I've read so far this year. (You know, if you haven't gotten that from my previous statements)

The best part of Cress isn't just the storyline, or the fact that it's another fairy-tale retelling. No. Cress is all about the characters. Meyer weaves together a story that fleshes out every single character she creates, making us, the readers, fall in love with them completely. 

I loved our new addition to the gang, Cress. Although around half of the book centered around her, Meyer was able to somehow develop the other main characters, Captain Thorne and Cinder, even when she was limited to 550 pages. Oh, and don't forget her amazing writing, her ability to create an amazing side story out of nowhere, while weaving it perfectly into the main plotline.

It's official. Marissa Meyer is now on my list of favorite authors.

I'm really at a loss for words, because Cress is the epitome of amazing. All I can do is wait until 2015 for the next two books. 

Seriously, this review does no justice (I know), so I'll leave you with this beautiful photo of the pumpkins my friends and I carved earlier today.

I carved the cat by the way.

I hope that from this review, anyone who hasn't started the Lunar Chronicles, will start it right now.

That is all I have to say. Also, Happy Halloween everyone! I would've made it two different posts, but I'm lazy, and I also haven't gotten a book review up in a while. I don't read spooky books though, so the two are kind of unrelated (lol Cress is not spooky)

Review: Scarlet

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
The Lunar Chronicles #2
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Release Date: February 5th, 2013
Source: 
Date Read: 9/12/14 to 10/10/14
452 Pages
Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

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Marissa Meyer, I will honestly read anything by you. I don't care the topic.

Seriously, I cannot believe I waited THIS long to continue on with the series. What was I thinking??!  I even spent a month on it because I wanted to savor the writing. I didn't skim or skip ahead, and instead I read every single word on each page.

For the readers that have not even touched Cinder yet (my review here), here are a couple reasons on why you must pick up the book now.

• The author is a genius, no joke. Her writing is perfection. The futuristic world is portrayed through show, and not tell.  
• And speaking of the world of The Lunar Chronicles, it is everything I ever wanted in a series. Nothing is underdeveloped, I can envision everything in my head, and I'm never left asking for more. Because it's already there, even in the first book.
• The characters, do I even need to explain this? Cinder is awesome, and original. A cyborg, genius mechanic, what more could you ask for?

Now here's my review of the next book, Scarlet. Feel free to skim, but just letting you know there aren't any spoilers! 

Scarlet blew me away, and it was honestly just as amazing as the first book, though probably even better. There were a decent amount of new characters introduced, such as Scarlet (well, duh) and the ever mysterious Wolf.

The main reason I loved Scarlet, was not only did it expand on the world-building (and also Paris!), but Meyer did that one thing that I love the most. She took both pairs of characters, developed them separately, and then forced them to meet in the end. I'm such a sucker for those things.

And then there was the lies and and the deception! Wooo! Even though it made me sad when it happened, it was a good kind of sad. Even I was sometimes fooled. I kept on changing my mind on whether I should trust certain characters or not.

ALSO. FAIRY TALE RETELLINGS. Red Riding Hood isn't even that popular, but Meyer still made it more awesome. She wove the characters and subplot into the main plot so neatly, with absolutely no plot holes or "what just happened" moments. Basically, this awesome sci-fi world with comms and ships and reimaginings of cities, but in the future, just grew larger and more amazing. I really just want to immerse myself in this world, and learn more and more and more and more.

I think the one thing that bothered me a little was that there was less Cinder, and more Scarlet. I mean, I still loved Scarlet and Wolf, but you know, I wanted to more about Captain Thorne. ALSO PRINCE KAI. I still think he's "eh" but whatever. I do want him to be part of the action in Cress, or I guess Winter.

But anyways, I'm already reading Cress with Holly @ Part of Your World, which may be a bad thing since I'll be finished with it before Fairest and Winter come out. But I'm going to read it anyways. I'll just have to find something to distract me in the mean time.

Favorite Books of 2013

Now that there's only two more days of 2013, it's time to reflect on all those good books I've read. This year I only managed to read 27, which is actually the most I've read ever since starting college and high school. But anyways, here are the top 10 books I read this year!

10. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Amazing read, although the only problem for me was Gaiman's writing style, because he has a weird way of explaining what's going on at the moment. I also read The Ocean at the End of the Lane and had even more trouble with it. Nevertheless, the plot pulls you in and keeps you engaged. I mean it's a boy being raised by ghosts in a graveyard how can it not be awesome?

9. The Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Usually I never ever read books that are about suicide, drugs, and school shootings, but this one was different. The reason I even bothered to pick it up was for an All About Me challenge (which sadly I didn't finish). Although at first I wasn't looking forward to reading it, after the first few chapters I was hooked. The Hate List accurately portrays what happens before, during, and after a high school shooting, unlike the media. And since the character, Valerie, is directly related to the shooter, I got to see how she had the handle the situation. Honestly I felt so bad for her, because none of it was her fault. During the entire book I just wanted to scream and tell everyone that just because the shooter was her boyfriend it doesn't mean she's bad too. Anyways, this book was really intense, and I highly recommend it. 

8. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente

I was super excited to read this one, and although it was a little below my expectations, it's still one of my favorites of the year. Basically, this little girl, September, winds up in Fairyland and goes on a journey in order to get rid of the new Marquess. This is one children's book I will be making my kids read, because there are so many twists that I just did not expect. And because of that, I will be eagerly awaiting the sequel.

7. This Is How You Die: Short Story Anthology

This is actually the sequel to The Machine of Death, which I read about a year ago. AND ALL OF THE STORIES ARE AMAZING. This is what it says on the back:

The machines started popping up around the world. The offer was tempting: with a simple blood test, anyone could know how they would die. But the machines didn't give dates or specific circumstances-just a single word or phrase. DROWNED, CANCER, OLD AGE, CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. And though the predictions were always accurate, they were also often frustratingly vague. OLD AGE, it turned out, could mean either dying of natural causes, or being shot by an elderly, bedridden man in a botched home invasion. The machines held onto that old-world sense of irony in death: you can know how it's going to happen, but you'll still be surprised when it does.

How does this NOT make you want to read the book? Just that alone should intrigue you and make you read it because this and it's prequel is amazing. I really recommend it to everyone.

6. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I don't know why I haven't read this until this year, but I do not regret it one bit. Not only do I love the fact that it's in space, but also it features young kids. I know it is hard to imagine, but it shows that kids can be smart, wise, and responsible. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm really looking forward to watching it.

5. The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

I know I just wrote a review for it (which you should check out), but this novel is just simply amazing and I enjoyed it immensely! I loved Anna so much, I just wish that there was an epilogue or a sequel! Actually, there is a prequel to this, but it's more of a spin-off so I'm not sure I will like it or not. But I will read it soon!

4. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

If I am not mistaken, this is Wecker's first novel. And kudos to her because this is one HECK of a novel! This is an amazing tale that brings together two religions and connects them with a story of two very magical beings, by using LOVE. I am an absolute sucker for crossovers, so I enjoyed this so much that I cried when it ended. This is an amazing example of a historical fantasy, and I recommend to all, as usual.

3. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I'm just going to bring up my little post from Tumblr which I wrote right after I finished this:

Ok, let me gush about this book because I JUST NEED TO. If you haven't heard of it, you go read it RIGHT NOW because it describes the Tumblr community COMPLETELY. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell describes Cath, an introvert that literally fangirls about a book series (like harry potter) and writes fanfiction about it,pairing up the two male leads in the series. I can say that she DEFINITELY represents EVERYONE here on tumblr that is part of a fandom, like sherlock, doctor who, harry potter, supernatural, etc. etc.

If you aren't convinced HERE ARE SOME QUOTES:

"Have you ever seen an alpaca, Cather? They're like the world's most adorable llamas. Like, imagine the cutest llama that you can, and then just keep going."

"I'm not interested in lips out of context."

"This was why Cath wrote fic. For these hours when their world supplanted the real world. When she could just ride their feelings for each other like a wave, like something falling downhill."

"There are other people on the Internet. It's awesome. You get all the benefits of 'other people' without the body odor and the eye contact."

As you can see, there's nothing more I can say, other than how SUPER FANTABULOUS this book is!

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I have no words to say other than this quote from the book.

“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.”

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I read this book on my kindle for book club, and then I made someone buy a hard copy for me for Christmas. If I had the time, I would read a little bit of this book every day. It made me sad, made me happy, made my frustrated, made me angry, and most importantly, it made me realize how powerful words can be. This story isn't about the Holocaust; it's about a girl that has the ability to shake the world with her words.