Freitag, 24. April 2015

Review: Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

“You can’t choose the person who really sees you—the person who knows what you’re feeling without you saying a word, the person who can make you laugh and cry and everything in between just by looking at you. The one you can’t imagine being lucky enough to have, or unlucky enough to lose.”
 

Content:

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Cover:

The cover looks very interesting and creative. The colors are nice and if you read the book you will know what the “signs” on the cover mean.

My opinion:

I didn’t expect a lot from this book, as I haven’t heard anything about it on the internet yet whatsoever. I randomly picked it up in a book store because I really liked the blurb. So let’s start with the things I liked first. The plot itself kind of reminded me of Supernatural at first, and I loved that. However, it developed an own story at the end then, which was still very enjoyable. Furthermore, I liked almost all the characters. They were very likable and I enjoyed all their voices. In general I think that the whole book was very action-packed and fast paced, which is always a good thing in a book. I really liked it. But there were also some things which bothered me. I really didn’t like the writing at some points. It kind of seemed like the author had a random idea that she just threw into the protagonists head without any real connection. It was kinda confusing at some points. Moreover, slowly but surely I am very annoyed by love triangles in YA books, but especially in this book it seemed more than unnecessary. Right from the start I knew which boy she is going to pick. At some points it actually also seemed like she didn’t even want the second boy, but only one of them, which made it even more annoying.

Conclusion:

There were some flaws, which made me enjoy it less, but eventually I will pick up the second book in the series, because I enjoyed the plot a lot.

Rating:

3.5 | 5 stars
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Dienstag, 21. April 2015

“Shadowhunter” TV-show casting news & my opinion on it

Today I have exciting news for you all! As you know, the “The Mortal Instruments” series is going to be turned into a TV-show. As far as I know, they will start filming in May or June. But yesterday the producers revealed the first person of the cast. First off they showed us who has been cast for the role of Jace Wayland/Herdonale/Lightwood.


Dominic Sherwood!



You might know him from the Vampire Academy movie, or a Taylor Swift music video. In case you didn’t see it yet, here is the link for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CmadmM5cOk


Now for me, Dom is the almost perfect choice for Jace. Yes, he doesn’t have the gold hair or eyes, but hair dye and contacts are a thing in the 21st century, guys. However, a lot of people seem to be upset with the casting and they think that, and I quote, “he looks too tough”, “he doesn’t look as sweet as Jace”, “he looks like William” and so on and so on.

Now first of all you need to realize, that the Jace which exists in our minds DOES NOT exist in real life. Thus, he can never be PERFECTLY cast, because the perfect Jace of our imagination only lives in our minds, not in real life. It is more than clear that the actor who is cast isn’t JACE himself.

A lot of people seem to argue however, that Jamie Campbell Bower (the “former” Jace) would have been much better and much more perfect for the role of Jace. However, I can recall that when they revealed the cast for the movie, ALMOST EVERYONE was upset because they didn’t like Jamie and they couldn’t picture him as Jace. How come that that changed so quickly now suddenly? People only like him more because they are used to him, but you haven’t seen Dom as Jace yet, have you? So you can’t judge him now just by his looks, because the acting will play a much bigger role than his appearance.

Moreover, THEY WILL NOT KEEP THE MOVIE CAST. Stop acting as if we could change that! The TV-show is a new beginning, they want to start all over again, and you can’t start off freshly with the same old people. You don’t know anyone of the new cast, so be open and try to be happy about what we get. We get a TV SHOW! That is the most amazing thing that could happen to a Fandom! Of course everyone can have an own opinion, and I do not say that you HAVE TO like Dom as Jace, because I frankly don’t care, but at least wait until you see him as Jace, okay? It isn’t fair towards Dominic to hate on him now. Don’t judge him only by his looks, just be patient, watch the first few episodes and then decide.

Even Cassandra Clare herself said that Dom’s audition was amazing, and she is very excited to see him as Jace. And who, if not Cassie, knows how Jace should look like, or act like? If his mother approves, I surely do too!



Anyhow, I am sorry for these harsh words. I am sorry if I offended anyone, I never intended to, but this just had to be said. If you don’t like Dom, fine, but don’t hate on him alright?

I will keep you up-to-date with all casting news as soon as we get to know more, so stay tuned! ;)

Montag, 20. April 2015

Review: Never too far by Abbi Glines

“No man has ever loved a woman as much as I love you. Nothing will ever come before you. I don’t know what else I have to do to prove to you that I won’t let you down again. I won’t hurt you. You don’t have to be alone anymore. I need you.”

Content:

He had held a secret that destroyed her world.
Everything she had known was no longer true.
Blaire couldn’t stop loving him but she knew she could never forgive him.
Now, she was back home and learning to live again. Moving on with life… until something happened to send her world spinning once again.
What do you do when the one person you can never trust again is the one that you need to trust so desperately? 

Cover:

As usually with this series, I’m not a huge fan of the cover. These books are much better than the covers may make it look like.

My opinion:

After the first part of the series was rather sobering, I enjoyed the second one a lot more. In the first part you only get to see Blaire’s POV, whereas in the second book you get to see Rush’s as well, which was great. I always enjoy the voices of male protagonists much more than female ones. (ohh well ;) ) The writing-style was fast-paced and I enjoyed it rather a lot. The representation of the characters was really great as well. However, there were some things which disturbed me. First of all, the whole back and forth between the two main characters annoyed me a little bit. Yeah, I understand why Blaire doesn’t quite trust him as much as she used to, but at some points it again makes you feel that they are soul mates. I just didn’t understand this way of thinking, tbh. Also, at some points the plot seemed to be repetitive and kind of boring. It was predictable as well, because I exactly knew how it was going to end, and there were no real plot-twists which made it more interesting. However, a simple plot-line isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, right?

Conclusion:

It was better than the first book and although it had some flaws, I did enjoy it quite a lot.

Rating:

3.5 | 5 stars
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Freitag, 3. April 2015

Movie Review: Insurgent

“No, you are worth it. You are worth it to me. You have to promise me that you're not going to leave. I want you to promise me that you won't go.

Content:

Insurgent raises the stakes for Tris as she searches for allies and answers in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago. Tris and Four are now fugitives on the run, hunted by Jeanine, the leader of the power-hungry Erudite elite. Racing against time, they must find out what Tris's family sacrificed their lives to protect, and why the Erudite leaders will do anything to stop them. Haunted by her past choices but desperate to protect the ones she loves, Tris, with Four at her side, faces one impossible challenge after another as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the future of their world. © Lionsgate

My opinion:

First of all, I have to be honest with you guys. I am not a huge fan of the second book of the series. I think it’s the weakest of all three and at some points it’s pretty boring and not straight forward. You should know that before reading my review.

Seeing the film as a book to movie adaptation, the movie was pretty bad. They changed so many things, and I can’t even remember all of them. They even changed the main plot-line with including this “box” that contained the secret that Jeanine was trying to hide. Tris wasn’t afraid of guns, like she should be. Generally Tris seemed very different from the book in terms of behavior. Also Peter’s character was slightly changed, although that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Another thing, which was very confusing, if you have not read the books, was that Uriah and Marlene were here suddenly. They were not in the first movie and thus, they were very confusing for people who aren’t familiar with the books. So seeing it as a book-movie adaptation, the film really sucked.
However, I mentioned that I found the book boring at some points, and thus I actually enjoyed the movie more than the book. How they structured the plot-line in the movie seemed much more logical to me, and (most important of all) they didn’t need an endless amount of time to figure out what was happening, which made the whole plot more fast-paced. I loved that. Another thing which I really enjoyed was the Four-Tris chemistry. Yeah, things happened which shouldn’t have happened until the third book (if you know what I mean), but that didn’t really bother me. It seemed to be alright. The acting of ALL actors was fantastic and the visual effects were really impressive too, especially in the simulations. (I didn’t see it in 3D though)
The movie was better structured and more fast-paced than the book, which made me like the movie actually more than the book. Although it had its flaws, I saw what they were trying to do with it, and I liked it.

Conclusion:

It was a bad book to movie adaptation, but a great movie itself.

Rating:

3.8 | 5 stars
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Mittwoch, 1. April 2015

Wrap-Up: March 2015

Books I read in March:




Eleanor and Park - Rainbow Rowell {221 pages in March}
Ignite Me (Ich brenne für dich) - Tahereh Mafi {380 pages}
Seventh Son
(The Spook's Apprentice) - Joseph Delaney {285 pages}

Rush of Love
(Erlöst) - Abbi Glines {165 pages in March}
The Visit (Der Besuch der alten Dame) - Friedrich Dürrenmatt {134 pages}

All in all: 4 1/2 books completed
Total pages: 1185 pages