Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck Review

2 out of 5 stars

This is my first, but will probably not be my last, negative review.

After 18 year old Kelsey Hayes takes a job at a circus (which sounds pretty exciting until you realize that she’s on the cleanup crew), she feels herself drawn to the mysterious white tiger who lives there, and he is extremely docile around her. When a man shows up saying that he needs to take the tiger, Ren, to a preserve in India, Kelsey is devastated. However, he also offers to bring Kelsey because she handles the tiger so well. Once Kelsey is in India, she soon realizes that neither Ren nor her job are what they seem.

Let me just preface this by saying that I was SO EXCITED to read this. I had heard so many good things about this book and it has so many good reviews. I was quickly disappointed. At first, I really liked Kelsey. She seemed cool and quirky and ready for adventure. But then everything went downhill.

 Kelsey revealed herself as a completely boring and unrealistic character, and the plot had so many holes and was so slow. Kelsey immediately, and I mean immediately, fell in love with Ren, which annoyed the heck out of me. She was rude to him and inconsiderate and so terribly weak. She literally could not do a single thing for herself. The narration is horrible. It’s in first person, which could have been really amazing if Kelsey didn’t sound like an idiot. The best way to describe it is this: the immature awkwardness of a 12 year old writing in her journal force-fed through a 50 year old woman’s brain. Which brings me to the dialogue: it was some of the most awkward, stiff dialogue I’ve ever read. All the characters sounded really similar and it just fell flat.

Another glaring problem was the pacing of the plot. The author spent so much trying to describe every little unimportant detail that I kind of wanted to scream.  When something exciting did happen, the author would fly through it in four pages, and then it was back to 15 pages of information on the texture of Kelsey’s pants, or whatever. It was a struggle to finish.

This book wasn’t completely terrible. The ideas and the setting were interesting, but they couldn’t overshadow the cliché, annoying, boring-ness of it all. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Thanks!

Liv

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Review

5 out of 5 stars

So… I also really liked this book.

Okay, I know I said that I probably wouldn’t write reviews on popular books, and this one and Legend are both pretty popular. I debated on whether or not to write the Legend review, but I did. I, however, did not debate writing this review. This book is amazing.

The summary: It is 1939 in Nazi Germany when young Liesel and her brother are on their way to be given to foster parents by a mother who can no longer take care of them. Except Liesel’s brother dies on the train ride there, so she alone is given to Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Though Liesel is plagued by nightmares, she quickly becomes at home with her new parents and becomes best friends with the boy down the street, Rudy. However, as trouble finds the Hubermann household, Liesel’s world begins to fall apart.

This book has the most amazing, surrealist writing, and it pulls it off for one reason: it is narrated by death. The organization is jumbled; the narrator picks you up, puts you down, and picks you back up again. Generally, 3^rd person omniscient narration leaves the characters flat and the storyline slow, but this actually worked perfectly. I have read many books about WWII, but I’ve never read a book written like this one.

This book is not a fast read, and though it deals with young characters, it is a fairly mature book. I would say that it is more of a high school and up age range. Another quick warning: this book does not have a happy ending, not really, and I actually cried. I would still suggest it, especially if you love historical fiction. I know that this book has lots of good and bad reviews, but if you are looking for something deep and different, I would give it a try.

Thanks!

Liv

Legend by Marie Lu Review

4.5 out of 5 stars

Ok, so I really liked this book.

In Dystopian Western United States, two teenagers living opposite lifestyles (are destined to) meet. One, June, is a wealthy orphan who lives with her brother. She is considered the country’s prodigy and is being trained for elite levels of the military. The other, Day, is a criminal living in one of the poorest parts of the city. When June’s older brother is killed and Day is blamed, she tracks and down and captures him. However, as June begins to learn more about her brother and her government’s past, she realizes that maybe Day is the only one she can trust.

 Whew. I am getting more dramatic by the minute.

So I know that sounded like the story was mostly about June, but in all actuality the story alternates between Day and June’s point of views. I generally enjoy multiple narrators, especially between first person boy and girl. There are so many popular dystopian books out now, but this is probably one of my favorites, along with Divergent. Except this one, which is also in a trilogy, has a much better book #2 than the Divergent one.

Okay, now for the actual review. There were so many things to love about this book. Both of the characters were extremely different, but they both drew my sympathy in different ways. They had very distinct voices, which I think is often lacking in multiple POVs. Day is a little rough around the edges, but was also very vulnerable and open, if that makes sense. June, on the other hand, is polished, tight-lipped, and calculating.  They are wonderfully opposing characters. The government, like in most dystopians, plays a huge role in the book, yet it is also filled with characters who are good, bad, and in between.

Overall, I think this book was well developed and well written. It gets a bit violent at parts, and there is obviously some romance, so I would say it would be about 12 and up. A quick warning: if you are planning on reading the second book, it is more mature than the first. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a dystopian book or just one with some interesting action and conspiracy theories and that sort of thing. I loved it, and I hope you do to.

Thanks!

Liv