Holy crap, I actually had time today to finish a book! albeit, a teen one so it didn't have any huge abstract things to mull over and was a relatively short book (I finished it in about 2 1/2 hours at a leisure reading pace), but I finish one

My sister picked up Ash by Malinda Lo and since she didn't have time to read it yet, I read it lol.

It was a 'comfort food' book since it was a retelling of the cinderella fairy tale and I generally like fairy tales retellings. The writing style is a bit sparse on details (I'm still having trouble seeing what some of the characters look like) and seems a bit stiff at first. But you get used to it and/or it grows on you.

Lo did a good job of getting into Ash's feelings (never got why she's nicknamed ash. Her name is Aisling and she was called ash long before she ended up as cinderella. Perhaps I missed a detail somewhere. *edit* turns out I was just pronouncing 'Aisling' wrong. *facepalm*) and how she never got time to mourn her parents death, particularly her mother's. Her stepmother is evil. The fairy god'mother' is distinctly less benevolent.

Parts of her romance with the huntress took a bit of 'fairy tale suspension of disbelief' particularly the ending chapters, but it isn't as a bad as romeo and juliet (they fell in love + marriage in a week) and thank goodness it wasn't love at first sight.

The ending felt a bit like a cop out but after remembering it's a fairy tale retelling, it's easy to let it slide.

Overall, I name it 3/5 stars. I would have liked more details in general and the ending to feel less of a cop out. But it's a good book to settle in with on a rainy day.

Oh, and another thing I liked about the book was there was no "*OMG, but we're both girls! (*&&*^&%" drama. I get way too much of that from manga and tv shows so it's a nice change.

Just finished Mastiff. I am not a happy camper.

I don't know if anyone else here is going to read Mastiff, so I won't spoil it for you, but...

I'm really upset with something that happens near the end. It's not right. I do not approve.

*pouts*

I love fantasy books! Not sure if I'll be able to finish reading these books in time, but I'll try my best ^^

I just learned that Dianna Wynne Jones died earlier this year. I'm slightly heartbroken. I adore many of her books (although she did have some duds), and it's really disappointing that there will never be another sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. House of Many Ways is a disappointing end to the series. Of course, that's completely discounting her as a person. I'll surely miss her witty and subtle writing.

iPink - I just found that out too! I am currently reading Howl's Moving Castle, which I had never read (but LOVED the movie) and I liked it so much that I am going to feature it on my book review this friday. When I went to reasearch her author-page I found out that she had died.

Howls moving castle is a book? I remember loving the movie when I watched it when I was little, though I only half remember it...hmmm, I wonder if they have the book at our local library...is the series finished, then, if the author has passed away?

@playpink - it is indeed a book, written by Dianna Wynn Jones. I think that there is a book, House of Many Ways that is the follow-up, but I have not read it. iPink said, in a previous post, that it was a disappointment to her, but I will probably read it anyway.

The Castle series includes Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways.

I finally got enough time to finish a book X3

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

Pretty good book though I found the protagonist unfortunately very whiny. Yes I understand he lost his whole world but seriously, I don't wanna read 100+ pgs of whining. He then gets a backbone at the worse possible time (seriously, why would you trust a woman named Lamia?!)

So any scenes with minimal Richard whining was good. The other characters are pretty cool and the villains are sufficiently scary. Names to run from: Vandermar and Croup.

Overall, a 4/5 book. -1 for the whining.

I've read the Wikipage for Neverwhere and, to be honest, I don't think I'd read it if I had the chance. As you said, the main character seems...well, not the sort of person I'd like to read about. The fact that I have only read and enjoyed a grand total of two (two! *hangs head in shame*)books where the main character was male only adds to that. Although I don't see what's so untrustworthy about the name Lamia.

I have just finished reading Song of the Lioness. For the fifth time. I just love that book, even though (potential spoilers here, I'm trying my best to elaborate without giving anything away) most of those deaths in the last book seemed pointless and sad to me. Even though Thom was kind of a jerk. A stupid, conceited one at that. And, diregarding the 'potential' spoiler bit, I don't get how once Alanna leaves for the Bazhir she's not dating George anymore. I mean, it's not like they specifically said that they're breaking up or anything...

Because Alanna and George were never dating/courting, officially. They were just... 'enjoying each others company'.

@playpink: Because Lamia is a half woman half serpent monster who eats humans. Depending on the version one's reading, Lamia seduces her prey before eating them, and is also similar to vampires and succubi.

Hence, do NOT trust a woman name Lamia in a place that's filled with mythical-ish creatures like Neverwhere lol

Trying and failing to read "The Space Between" by Brenna Yovanoff. Interesting premise. A demon girl, the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith, learns about being human and falls in love with a human boy. Good premise. Fail execution.

What ticked me off was that from the start the girl did not come off as demonic at all, other than the fact that she lives in Hell. She has a very non-demonic mindset, as in she's not interested in being evil.One would think that living in Hell and being the daughter of THE Devil would make someone be, you know, evil. Or at least have a warped perspective of good and evil. This girl does not.

She adores her brother, the son of Lilith and Adam (as in the Adam from the Bible), who for some reason is in charge of the doing-good department. Of Hell. Why would Hell have a do-good department is really beyond me.

I am not interested in reading about a demon who is a demon in nothing but name. She's already not demonic from the beginning, so what do I care about her learning to be human? She just sounds like all other whiny heroines from the YA paranormal romance.

!!! Now I am going to have to read that, D_A!
I just finished 'The Time Weaver' by Thomas A Knight, and loved it. It is a neat mix of urban fantasy meets high fantasy.

I'm currently reading the book American Gods by Neil Gaiman. KTC, if you liked Gaiman's other book besides the whining, you'd probably like this one. The main character, while something of a cipher (at least compared to the other, far more interesting characters), he never complains, despite having a lot of things piled on him (his wife dies, he goes to prison, his best friend and wife cheated together, they literally died while engaged in oral sex, etc.). I'm not sure where the book is going right now, but it's definitely engaging, and what the protagonist lacks is definitely made up for by Mr. Wednesday, the deuteragonist. If you haven't read it then I definitely think it's worth a try.

@ipink: That's actually my next book to read since my sister has a copy XD Now to find the time... ;-;

Edit: annnd I have finished American Gods.

Thank the Goddess the protagonist wasn't whiny! It's a much better book than Neverwhere. The plot seems a little slow at places but as a mythology junkie, this was very tasty. I knew many of the figures described and wanted to google the ones I didn't recognize but my sister said no. It would spoil it. I liked the twists and turns and may have to venture out to visit the places mentioned.

I still can't quite get a handle on Shadow. He's not whiny which is a major plus, but he's also pretty much apathetic about the whole thing. He's just along for the ride most of the time though at odd times he decides to take the reins a few times before reverting to baseline silent bouncer type. But I guess he matches his name wel l enough (always shadowing people around ya know?)Ah well, he's a pretty cool character either way.

There be spoilers here. Do not past this line
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I ended up liking Laura a lot by the end. The dead-yet-not-quite-dead version of her anyway. She's dead yet she's not whiny about it. Depressed but doesn't moan about it. And she can expertly kill people despite not being a killer when she was alive Rofl. Glad she finally could rest in peace.

Wednesday- fishy god is fishy. Nice add in with Loki.

'As old as my tongue, and a little older than my teeth' XD

Started reading Hunger Games recently. By now I probably seem like I can like nothing. Because guess what? I also don't like this book.

Katniss sounds as whiny as wangsty and annoying as any of those "tough" YA heroines. Faux-tough anyway. It's SO BORING even though it's supposed to be tense while Katniss is preparing herself for the Big Game.

Also, IT'S SO MARY-SUE IT'S NOT FUNNY. Everything is about her! She's the MOST special! Before HER, there's no other "tributes" that did what she did! Before her, the stylists gave District 12 dumb outfits all the time! Before her, none of D12 tributes managed to push the mentor into giving them advice! THAT'S DUMB.

I don't have the energy to move on, and I'm just about to hit the Games. Will I even BE interested in reading about the games?

Speaking of which, I just read the manga Battle Royale. HG is too similar to BR for its own good. Just because HG expanded upon it and actually went through with the rebellion instead of just ending it with the tributes surviving the Game, doesn't make it any less of a possible rip-off. If anything, BR is way more effective in showing us how evil the Program and the government are. Author may claim to have not read the book, but where's the proof? Don't even have to read the book. Manga is out in 2000 and ends early 2006. Hunger Games got out in 2008. Enough time for a rip-off to happen.

Weak from hunger and starvation aside, the tributes in the Hunger Games get at least SOME training. Other than the one kid from their own District, they're facing nameless strangers. As much as killing people - CHILDREN, especially - is wrong and horrible, killing a stranger weighs less on your conscience than killing people you actually know. And then if they die, it's probably better that way because their district is so poor.

In Battle Royale, they get zilch training. Just provisions and weapons that may or may not be useful. And their "enemies" were their FRIENDS. Classmates. People they might have known their entire lives. And most of the kids still has families who they love and LOVE them. They have reason for wanting to go home.

I'm probably comparing apples to oranges here, but Hunger Games beat me over the head with the fact that this Game is SO EVIL and the government is SO SUPER DUPER EVIL. Yeah, fricking, right. If that's evil, then what's Battle Royale? Hell Incarnate?

The idea of Tribute as punishment for rebellion looks similar to the Minotaur myth to me. King of Athens caused the son of King of Crete to die, so King Minos of Crete waged war on Athens and won. As punishment, Athens then has to send 7 "pairs" of young men and women, chosen by lots, to be fed to the Minotaur. That is a very interesting adaptation, and I kinda liked that.

The rest are just... meh. And some research fail. As one reviewer pointed out: who in their right mind keeps PIGS in an impoverished town?

We'll see if it gets better. Won't be surprised if it doesn't.

I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy and the Battle Royale novel (translated to English of course). Both of them have their merits, but I think I prefer Battle Royale.

As agas pointed out, BR is brutal in the way it does things. You have to kill your classmates instead of complete strangers. Some of the classmates are your friends, others aren't. It brings about a whole new level of paranoia, as in...
"He's my friend! He won't kill me. We can trust him."
"But with all the pressure and the time limit, can we trust him? If he attacked you, would you kill him?"
"He's my friend. I couldn't kill him."
"So then you would let him kill you first?"
"Well, if you put it that way...I'd probably fight back in self-defense..."

In BR, everything is set up so that the kids will kill each other as quickly and brutally as possible. The detonating collars, the forbidden zones, the time limits...all are there to ensure that the students keep on the move and pick each other off within 3 days. They have nothing except whatever supplies they are given (which isn't much) and whatever they can find. They are largely left to their own devices, paranoia driving them forward and also driving them all apart.

In the Hunger Games, it feels more like a popularity contest rather than a survival game - win the audience's favour and you get gifts to help you! It just makes things feel a little more fake.

Also, you don't even come close to knowing half the Tributes, even in the book, so when they die, Katness (and by extension, the reader) has no emotional connection to them. In Battle Royale, each character is given a personality, a history, and a reason for doing what they do, and when they face off against friends, it's even more heart-wrenching (the lighthouse incident, anyone?) To make things feel even more cruel, BR treats us to a slow countdown of who died and how many are left (i.e. "Girl #18 Fujiyoshi dead. 41 to go." - as if we need reminding that we have a long, bloody road ahead of us with each death).

The Hunger Games was still an entertaining read, especially the first book. The second and third books were...less impressive (characterizations get derailed, leading to very few likeable characters). But I still think that BR is better in terms of achieving that brutal survival game atmosphere.

Yes, Hunger Games WAS advertised to me to be this brutal, crazy, battle-to-death game. I was imagining a gladiator fight mixed with the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. I really hated the way it's being overhyped and I was reluctant to even touch that book for the longest time, but I thought that's just me being unreasonably negative against anything super-popular and overhyped so I finally gave it a go.

The disappointment I felt when I read it is so immense I went right back to really hating the book. Those scenes where Katniss was ENJOYING how she was all dressed up super-fancy and super-pretty was extremely annoying, especially because the book is in first person. There's NO REASON she'll be all twee and giggling about how pretty it is. She should be SICK of them. She's about to fight to death, and being treated as celebrity ought to make her mad. She has been showing disdain towards the Capitol people, so why is she ENJOYING the fancy stuff they throw at her? There's no mention of here thinking, "Hey, I'm about to die. Might as well enjoy this short moment of good life." Or maybe, like Heidi of the Alps, try to send some of the fancy food to her mom and sister back home. Especially her sister, whom Katniss supposedly cared about so much that she volunteered to take her place? FAIL.

And the sponsors. Ha. Author, you're really just trying to pull all sorts of nonsense out of thin air to make sure there's a loophole somewhere so that Katniss and her TWU WUV Peeta could escape, right? Author, your interference in the story is so obvious it's not funny.

Lack of real emotional investment in anyone makes me NOT want to read the story. The story makes no effort to make me care about anyone except the protagonist, and I don't even like the protagonist! *fumes*

The Hunger Games, huh? I tossed it the moment I saw it was written in first person POV. But really, your comment regarding the book just made me even MORE convinced that all stories/fictions written in first person POV are writing failures.

The main characters seemed to become a whiny, over-reactive drama queen (because most of the time, the protagonist is a female) who makes this huge fuss over every minor problems.