Virginia Readers' Choice Selection

Today, I was able to vote in the Virginia Readers' Choice Selection! It was a really hard decision because there were so many great books to choose from! I narrowed it down to This Dark Endeavor and The Fault in Our Stars, which are both excellent books that I plan to post reviews for later.  I had a terribly hard time picking between the two, so I ended up flipping a coin! I will try to remember to post the final results as soon as I find out what they are!

Until Next Post,

Regan  

Book Review: The City of Bones

Credit: goodreads.com

The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare follows Clary Fray in her adventures in the world of shadowhunters, demons, and downworlders.  It is a story filled with action, drama, humor, and tragedy.

The first book in Cassandra Clare's best-selling The Mortal Instruments Series is beautifully written in third person, mostly following Clary's thoughts although it occasionally switches to that of other characters such as Jace Wayland.

This book is clearly written for young adult readers and not for young children.  Some of the concepts spread throughout the book would not be understood by younger readers. Furthermore, The City of Bones contains some cursing and some situations that are not exactly appropriate for children.

However, The City of Bones is a wonderful book, sure to have you craving the next installment of the series, The City of Ashes.  This book is perfect for fans of urban fantasy and adventure.

Happy reading,
Regan

Book-to-Movie Review: Divergent

As you probably know, Veronica Roth's Divergent has recently been turned into a film starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James. 

Firstly, the book is simply amazing, one of my favorites.  It tells the story of Beatrice Prior, who lives in a future version of Chicago where citizens are divided into factions based on their personalities.  This is done in order to keep peace but is doing a pretty terrible job.  On Beatrice's choosing day, she switches from her birth faction, Abnegation, to the faction for the brave, Dauntless, where she changes her name to Tris.  It's beautifully written and packed with action, humor, tragedy, and romance.

I believe that having read the book or having not read the book affects one's opinion of its corresponding movie.  Having not read the book, one could almost certainly have enjoyed the movie if they typically like dystopian plots.  However, it is a wonderful movie both for fans of the book and nonreaders. 

Admittedly, I was a little upset about the absence of "the butter knife scene."  Also, the aptitude test was drastically changed.  They added a really cool effect with some mirrors, but they cut the old man on the bus and changed the cheese to meat.  A few other details were changed, but another major one was the ending.  The way in which the simulation is shut down and who shuts it down are changed.

Despite the numerous changes, the Divergent movie was still good, but it is still inferior to the book.

Until next post,
Rae

P.S.- The above images are not mine.  I got them off of Google Images.

Divergent Movie

I'm really, really excited to see the movie for the book Divergent tomorrow!! I hope my plans to see it work out. I'm planning to post a book/movie comparison afterwards. 

Keep reading,

Regan

Book Review: Steelheart

 

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson follows David, an 18-year-old, whose father was killed by an Epic called Steelheart.  Epics have superhuman abilities and often abuse their power.  Steelheart rules over what was once Chicago, planting fear in the hearts of his subjects.  David wants to get his revenge by killing Steelheart, so he looks to join the Reckoners,  a group devoted to killing Epics.  The story is packed with action, humor, and drama.

 

Steelheart is a must-read for Sci-Fi, super hero, and action fans.  It is fast-pace, well written, and wonderfully thought out.  There are a few twists that Sanderson throws at readers sure to affect the upcoming sequel Firefight. 

 

Overall, this is a wonderful read for YA science fiction readers, recommendable to almost anyone.

 

Warning: There is a little bit of moderate language in this book.  It isn't much, but it is still there.  Other than that, there wasn't much that wouldn't be appropriate for younger readers.  There is a lot of violence and some ideas that might be hard for children to understand. 

 

Happy reading!

 

Until next post,

Regan



Before We Begin Babbling About Books...

Hello, Book Lovers!!

I'm Regan (or Rae if you prefer), and I am a mega bookworm.  So, I decided to make a book blog because, well, why not?  On this blog, I plan to review books, talk about upcoming books, compare books to their corresponding movies, etcetera. 

I guess it'd be nice for you to know just a little bit about me.  I am a fangirl, otaku, and a bookworm (like I said earlier).  In my spare time I enjoy reading, writing, editing, drawing, and browsing the internet. If you'd like to check out some of my writing click here, and to look at some of my artwork click here.  I also love my cat and food.

Before we get started, I'd like to say that my favorite genres are Sci-Fi, fantasy, and dystopian.  Please, recommend books to me! I'd really like to know what you guys are into. 

So, I guess that takes care of things for now...

Until next post,
Regan