Tuesday 27 January 2015

Book Review | The Chimera Vector

Title: The Chimera Vector
Author: Nathan M. Farrugia
Series or standalone: First in the Fifth Column Trilogy
Genre: Sci-fi/Thriller/Action
Publication Date: May 1st 2012
Format: ebook
Source: Author

Goodreads Summary:
The Fifth Column: the world’s most powerful and secretive organization. They run our militaries. They run our governments. They run our terrorist cells.
Recruited as a child, Sophia is a deniable operative for the Fifth Column. Like all operatives, Sophia’s DNA has been altered to augment her senses and her mind is splintered into programmed subsets.
On a routine mission in Iran something goes catastrophically wrong. Bugs are beginning to appear in Sophia’s programming and the mission spins out of control.
High-speed chases, gun fights, helicopter battles, immortal psychopaths, super soldiers and mutant abilities are all in the mix in this edge-of-your-seat action-packed techno-thriller.
Perfect for fans of Matthew Reilly, THE CHIMERA VECTOR melds sci-fi with sizzling espionage action.

REVIEW:

Firstly I want to thank the author for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
Although I didn’t give this book the highest rating, I still think that other people may LOVE this book, but it just wasn’t for me. It’s been said to be a lot like Matthew Reilly’s works, but as far as I can tell, the only real similarity was the action. Throughout the book, I couldn’t help but compare it to Reilly’s work (who is one of my favourite authors) and there were some major differences. I feel as though Matthew Reilly’s characters are fleshed out a lot and I felt like I knew them inside and out, but with these characters I felt so detached from them and I just didn’t know them at all.
The plotline itself was interesting, but a lot of the time I couldn’t keep up. It was just too confusing and there were so many scientific terms that I had no idea what any of it meant, so it was really hard to grasp the concept of it. I also found that there were whole paragraphs dedicated just to how someone would reload their gun and a lot of the writing was very matter of fact, for example, “Jay did this. Damien did this. Then Sophia did this”.
One thing I loved about this book was that there was an awesome main female lead who was sooooo badass. I love strong, female leads and I think it’s so great that we’re seeing more of them in the action/adventure genre.
To be honest with you, I think people who love science and genetics and actually know their stuff would LOVE this book. But unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me. So if you like action and lots of scientific stuff, this one’s for you!


Plot: ★★.5
Characters: ★★★
Writing: ★★.5

Romance/Feels:
Ending: ★★★
Overall Enjoyment: ★★★

Thursday 22 January 2015

Book Review | Malala, The Girl Who Stood up for Education and Changed the World

Title: Malala - The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Changed the World
Author: Malala Yousafzai, Patricia McCormick
Genre: Non Fiction - Memoir
Publication Date: 19th August 2014
Publisher: Orion
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781780622156
Goodreads

Summary:
I Am Malala. This is my story.
Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren't allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn't go to school.
Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause: She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school.
No one expected her to survive.
Now Malala is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner. In this Young Readers Edition of her bestselling memoir, which has been reimagined specifically for a younger audience and includes exclusive photos and material, we hear firsthand the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world -- and did.
Malala's powerful story will open your eyes to another world and will make you believe in hope, truth, miracles and the possibility that one person -- one young person -- can inspire change in her community and beyond.


REVIEW:

Firstly, I just want to mention that this memoir is the 'younger readers' version of her memoir titled, 'I Am Malala'. I think that older children in schools should definitely be reading this book and talking about it. It will open their eyes not only to the importance of education, but also to different cultures, religions, beliefs, countries and the impact that terrorism can have. 
Reading Malala's story was truly an inspiring experience and even though I'm now fully aware of her story and everything that occurred, I still find myself wanting to read the Adult version of her memoir to see the differences and just because her story is so inspiring and encouraging that I would certainly read it again.
I would definitely recommend this book to children and young adults over the age of 12, because even though it is the 'younger readers' version, it still contains mature themes and violence that could be disturbing to young children.
I definitely highly recommend this book or even the adult version because it's definitely a book that anyone can get something out of. The fact that children in westernised countries hate going to school when Malala is fighting for the right to learn, it really puts things into perspective. 
To see a seventeen year old girl go through so much terror and trauma to go on to becoming such a success and an advocate for change is so inspirational. 

Rating:
★★★★★

Saturday 17 January 2015

BOOK REVIEW | RED QUEEN BY VICTORIA AVEYARD

Title: Red Queen
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Series: First in the Red Queen trilogy
Publisher: Orion
Format: Paperback ARC
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Dystopian
Goodreads


What a book! There has been so much hype regarding this book all throughout the blogging and youtube community, so I was so excited when I got a copy for review!
The book is centred around the theme of inequality in a dystopian setting. There are people that have silver blood, who are the superiors who have all different kinds of powers and abilities, and then there’s the people with red blood, the commoners, the people who live in poverty. The reds have no powers or abilities except this one girl who finds herself working as a servant for the silvers and FOR ALL THE IMPORTANT SILVER PEOPLE TO SEE, ACCIDENTALLY SHOOTS LIGHTNING OUT OF HER HANDS. UM.
Okay, the main character is honestly comparable to Katniss, with her being a catalyst for change and just in general being an all round kickbutt character. I just loved her.
The story itself was just so interesting! I love this kind of stuff with superhuman powers and such. There’s also a killer love triangle that is SO WELL DONE.
There’s such a wide array of characters in this book, it’s just fantastic.
As for the writing, for the most part it was great and I had absolutely no issue with it except for a bit at the start. It almost felt like I was struggling to picture the world the author was building and I almost felt like I had to create the majority of it in my head, but this got better as the book went on,
I DEFINITELY recommend this book when it comes out! THAT ENDING. OH MAN. YOU NEED TO GO AND PRE-ORDER THIS RIGHT NOW.


Plot: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★
Writing: ★★★★.5
Romance/Feels: ★★★★.5
Ending:
★★★★★
Overall Enjoyment:
★★★★.5
Rereadability: Definitely!


Final Rating:  4.75 stars

Book Review | How the Wolf Lost her Heart by Sarah Brownlee

Title: How the Wolf Lost her Heart
Author: Sarah Brownlee
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self Published
Format: ebook
Source: Author
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Goodreads

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review!

I want to start off by saying that this book definitely had a lot of potential, but I couldn’t get past a lot of things that really bothered me. I honestly hate giving books I’ve received for review low ratings, but I have to be honest.
I was really intrigued by the premise of this book, of a dystopian type setting where a small number of people can transform into an animal at will. I LOVE animals, so I was really excited to read this one.
However, I did have problems with it. Firstly, there were quite a few spelling and grammatical errors, and I understand that this is a self-published book, but grammar and spelling errors really bother me. I also found the main character to be extremely annoying because she always created unnecessary drama for no reason at all. She was very immature and I didn’t really buy the romance (this one had a mild case of instalove). I also thought the world building was definitely lacking. The government is briefly mentioned, but how did the world come to be this way? And what do the government do? If the world they live in is as crazy as it’s portrayed, how do people have jobs and work for money and things like that when the world is essentially almost in ruins? Some things just didn’t add up for me and I don’t know if that was because I was looking into it too much, but that’s just my opinion. The ending was really underwhelming and VERY open ended, but hey, maybe the author will write a sequel!
I really liked the idea though! I just think it needs a little bit of tweaking and it could be really great!


Plot: ★★
Characters: ★★
Writing: ★★★
Romance/Feels: ★★
Ending: ★★
Overall Enjoyment: ★★.5


Final Rating:  2.25 stars to be exact!