The Girl in the Steel Corset

I was ALL ready for this book.  A hidden dark side she doesn’t understand?  Steampunk?  Sign me up.  For the first 100 pages I was loving it.  Then came in the Jekyll and Hyde tie ins and I wanted to scream.  Really? So heavy handed.

But I kept going.

And then there was the stupid love triangle in which the bad, bad criminal man becomes a big softy and does no evil.  WHAT.  I saw no criminal-ing from Dandy.  Yet repeatedly we are told what an awful person he is.  *dies inside* why is our main character in love with him?  Oh yeah, because he looks dangerous.

Seriously I cannot even describe how much I hate relationships based off looks.  You don’t have feelings for someone because they are hot.  You may be attracted to them, but falling in love?  No.

Character development was all over the place.  This made sense for Finley’s character as her two personalities were vying for domination, but for someone like Griffen, it made no sense.  He starts out as this really young lord who isn’t real sure of himself, but then immediately becomes this powerhouse of an individual.  Even his physical descriptions change.  Someone does not become broad shouldered and menacing overnight after being described as like a stick the day before.  Just because sexual tension comes into play does not mean that a person’s body should suddenly change.

The steel corset.  I actually rolled my eyes at this one.  I get it.  We are in a Steampunk novel.  I like steam punk.  Besides being bashed over the head with all her random ass leather corsets, I was pretty excited for the corset on the cover of the book.  Until I found out it was armor.

I make corsets.   Let me just say, there is no way this would be effective armor.  Even this Tudor steel corset wouldn’t be as affective as real armor:

Better than nothing, yes.  But zero protection to the heart.   Maybe I am a bit of a feminist, but I get TIRED of fancy protagonists and the eye candy of female superheroes.  Armor is not meant to be pretty.  It is supposed to keep you alive.

Also.  She is going to a BALL.  Why the hell does she need armor?!  Everyone in the book acts like it is the best idea ever!  Again…she is going to a ball.  Not war.

Three stars.  Just because I enjoyed it, though I am not sure why.

Spiderwick Chronicles

I was going to review each of these books separately, but because they are so short, I have decided to do them as one.

I liked this books.  Quick, light, fun.  I am amazed that I missed out on reading them when I was younger.  They are very juvenile, though enjoyable.  But I can absolutely see myself reading this aloud to future children.  

 

I especially loved Mallory.  It isn’t too often that you get a girl character who is as awesome as Mallory.  She is a fencer.  She beats up her brothers when they don’t do what she wants.  All three kids have problems, but each is loveable and well developed.

And the illustrations.  Brilliant.  Beautiful.  And I couldn’t stop staring.  

Thank you to Katie for recommending these books for me!  5 stars to a set of amazing books!

Mistborn

My one year mark is fast approaching, which makes me infinitely sad.  I have not been able to keep up reading a book a day for a year.  But I do want to continue this blog.  It is nice to have a record of all the books I read.  And it is nice to reflect upon the books - in the end I think it will make me a better writer as I strive to publish my own work.

So today I want to talk about Mistborn.

I have been struggling with writing a review for this book for some time.  I loved it, and yet didn’t LOOOOOOOOOOVE it like I have other Sanderson books.  I love Brandon Sanderson.  The problem is…I read the Stormlight Archives before this one…and now I compare everything to that series.

I can clearly see how much he has grown as a writer.  His “surprises” and “plot twists” were not nearly as masterfully masked as I have come to expect of him.  His characters are not as fully developed, and neither are his relationships.  The characters are good, but not ah-may-zing.

But still.  This is a damn good book.  And I was hooked.  Why?  Well firstly, the bad guy.  No, I do not mean the Lord Ruler.  Yeah, he’s bad.  But I knew he couldn’t be the driving force of a series this long.  But the real evil is only hinted at in his book.  These hints are actually really well done- I have only shadows of guesses as to what awaits.

Magic.  Brandon Sanderson is a BOSS at magic systems.  I bow before his brilliance.  This magic system is no exception.  The beauty of his magic is all the limitations it has.  Reading about someone who can do everything with magic is boring.  Reading about someone who must overcome the gaps in their magic by other means is exciting.  And Sanderson does that really well.

Four stars.  This book was amazing, and I highly suggest reading it.  Just…read it before you get to the Stormlight Archives.