An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir

An Ember in the Ashes is the first book in the An Ember in the Ashes series and also the first book I have ever read by Sabaa Tahir. I can safely say that I'M SO GONNA READ THE REST OF THIS SERIES!!

The Blurb:

Under the martial empire.

Defiance is met with death.

When Laia's grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother arrested for treason by the empire, the only people she has left to turn to are the rebels.

But in exchange for their help in saving her brother, they demand that Laia spy on the ruthless Commandant of Blackcliff, the Empire's greatest military academy. Should she fail it's more than her brother's freedom at risk... Laia's very life is at stake.

There, she meets Elias, the academy's finest soldier. But Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he's being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined - and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

My Thoughts:

One of my co-workers has been talking highly of this book for a while and, in the end, I decided to finally buy it and do a little research. And here I am, writing this review. 

Where to begin? This was something completely different from what I expected. I fell in love with this book and now I understand why my co-worker's been talking so much about how great An Ember in the Ashes was.

The story begins with Laia and the dreadful night when her grandparents gets killed and her brother arrested. When she comes to Blackcliff, things starts to happen. And the Commandant.. oooh the Commandant... let's just say that Voldemort is like a puppy in comparison. Yeah. If someone is just one second late, they get punished or killed. Depends on her mood. So you can imagine how Laia must feel when she pretends to be a slave and spy on this ruthless human being. 

Poor Elias.. just wanting to be free. And I completely understand him! The reasons I can't say because then I will spoil things and I really don't want to do that. Not with this book. But there are things, bad things he has to go through if he wants to be free.

I like that the author gives us both Elias' and Laia's point of view. And you also get to know them very well. The stories behind these two that builds up their personalities are great. You get to understand why they act like they do. There where times that I ended up wanting to tell Laia over and over again that Elias is not a bad person!!! Trust him!! He's not like the others!! But of course.. I really understand why she's scared of him. One of his people did murder her grandparents so.. yeah.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and I highly recommend reading An Ember in the Ashes! If you like dystopia novels then this is waaay up your alley. Seriously..

So looking forward to read the next in this series! (Patiently waiting for the paperback to get re-published again 😢)

Bye! xx

5/5

Currently reading: Stephen King - Insomnia

Sand - Hugh Howey

Finally finished Sand by Hugh Howey! Took me some time but here we are :) This is the same author who wrote the Wool trilogy (got the reviews on my blog in case you want to read them :) ) and I loved those books which is why I just had to read Sand too.

The Blurb:
The old world is buried.
A new one has been forged atop the shifting dunes.
Here in this scorched desert, four siblings find themselves scattered and lost.
Deep within the sand lies the key to bringing their family together.
And the secret that could tear their world apart.

My Thoughts:
I have no idea how to do this review because my head is not with me today (got so much to do before work.. eep!), so be nice to me :P Gonna try my best (as I always do)!

One thing first; there was a lot of sand.. a lot... that's all I can say. Of course there was a lot of sand in this book.. I mean.. it is called Sand and they were in a desert so... anyway. Jokes aside. I liked this book :) Not as much as Wool but I really did like this one. I thought this would be kind of a part of the trilogy, but I was wrong. Yes, the characters lived in a post apocalyptic world but everything was different. It was a whole different world.

Was bit of a slow start but at the same time, things already started to happen from the beginning. Just after few chapters something real bad had already happened. So there was always something. And I also learned loads of different names for sand too. It was nice of Howey to make footnotes under the pages for the different kind of sand the characters felt in their boots, mouth and so on. Like I said, a lot of sand which also means lots of different types of sand. Oh, and also, they dive through the sand like it's water! Which sounds awesome, but at the same time scary cause everything depends on their diving suits. Yes... diving suits! Was lot of technology going on in this book as well like power to the suits so they could go through the sand and visors to see through the sand and lots of things they needed for the diving.

While reading this book, I struggled a bit to understand some of the words he used like ker (kind of a scarf in front of your face to shield from the sand) and other words I can't remember right now. But after reading those words in different settings, I started to understand more and it got easier for me to continue. And the diving part, I actually tried to figure out how it would look like if they make a movie out of this, like, how would they manage to make it look like they're actually diving through the sand? And how would the suits and stuff look like? So there was a lot of thinking while reading this time :P

It did take me some time to finish Sand, but it wasn't because I got bored. Life just happened :P (And, also, another book happened (Norwegian - originally Swedish - book so no review from that).)  When I started to read Sand again after finishing the Norwegian one, I got hooked and couldn't put it down because more and more things started to happen and you also get to know more about the siblings past and why they do the things they do.

All in all, I liked the story. It got more and more suspenseful the more I read and there were anger (always a bad guy in his books) and smiles (when good things happened), surprise (when unexpected things popped up) and also sadness (people die in this book as well).

Got no idea what else to write so I hope this review helps you a bit and also that I haven't spoiled a lot of things for you (you get to know all about the diving and stuff from the start so..)

That was all for now! Sorry for the bad review, but like I said; My head doesn't work right now :P

Bye x

4/5

Next book to read: Behind Closed Doors - B. A. Paris

Dust - Hugh Howey (#3, Silo Trilogy) Review

Click here to read the last review on this trilogy.
For the ones who hasn't finished Shift or wants to read this trilogy: Don't read this review as it contains spoilers for you guys!


The end of a great trilogy is here and I have to say it's sad to leave Jules and the rest of the characters. I will miss them all!

If you haven't read any of the books, then...why haven't you?? It's great, it's awesome, it's dystopia, it's sci-fi, it's...I could go on and on! If you're still not sure if you want to read the Silo trilogy then fear not. I did a review of the first one right here. I know it's kinda bad review as all the other ones that I have written, but I hope it will help you. If you're still unsure then I suggest that you look it up on goodreads to read more reviews (that's probably better than mine) and make your decision then.

Let's just say that if you like the Hunger Games trilogy or the Divergent trilogy and all the other books that's in that category, then I know you will like this one as well!

Ok.. it's getting late and I want to start on another book by Hugh Howey called Sand which is kind of a part of the Silo trilogy I think... My coworker told me that I shouldn't read Sand before I finished Dust because it would be some spoilers. Will know more about it when I dive into the book pretty soon!

Bye xx

Shift - Hugh Howey (#2, Silo Trilogy) Review

The review for Shift is up! Took me a while to finish it, but here we are at last!

Click on this link or go to the Series/Trilogy review section on the side to read the review! ->

And if you haven't read the first review then scroll down on the site and you'll find it (or just use the archive to find it there):P

Bye! xx

Wool - Hugh Howey

Wool is the first book in the Silo/Wool trilogy by Hugh Howey. It's also the first book that I have read from this author. It kind of reminds me of The 100 with the whole post-apocalypse were the air is toxic but these people lives in a underground silo on earth instead of space. So if you like The 100 then this might be a book for you! I enjoyed this book so much that I bought the last two books in this trilogy at work today! :P

The Blurb:
In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exist in a giant underground silo.

Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full og rules and regulations.
But some people choose not to conform.
These are the people who dare to hope and dream.
These are the dangerous ones.
Jules is one of these people.
She may well be the last.


My Thoughts:
I finally finished it! The beginning was bit slow, but when I started reading it again after finishing Always With Love, I could barely put it down! When I first started on this book, all I could think about was the beginning(?) of the second season of The 100 with the new people that shows up out of nowhere. Not the grounders, but the others. (if you have seen it, you'll know :P)

Apart from reminding me of that tv-show, I really liked this a lot and am glad I bought it! The beginning might be slow, but the rest was a thrilling, suspenseful read. The characters got their own personalities and it is easy to get to "know" them. And, of course, there's one character that you just hate :P Never fails with these kind of books! The silo seems like an exhausting place to live with all the stairs you have to go to just to get to a level. If you live on level 1 and have to get down to level 100, you have to walk all those stairs to get there which will take you 2-3. And then you'll have to go back up again... so yeah.. sounds exhausting! Of course they stay over night to rest on different levels when going up or down, but still...

Without saying too much about the story, I can also say that a tiny part of it kind of reminds me about Divergent. Not sure how to explain that but, it's about the jobs and the kids shadowing  older people and have to decide if this is the place they want to stay and work. Like, if you're smart, you end up working on the IT level, if you're good with machines and fixing things, like the main character, you become a mechanic and so on. If that made any sense...

Other than reminding me of tv-shows/books, I was really into this book. I had a huge grin on my face and got excited when things happened, and also got angry, sad and all the different emotions you get reading books like these.

And as always, I'm not sure what more to say other than it was a thrill read and I can't wait to read the next book in this trilogy!

Bye! x

5/5

Next book to read: Shift (Nr. 2, Wool/Silo trilogy) by Hugh Howey

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

I've finally finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman! There's been loads of new authors that I've been checking out lately (I've noticed) and Neverwhere is one of them. I liked it and I think I will continue to check out more of his books :)

The Blurb:
Under the streets of London...

It's a place most people could never even dream of.
A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizzare.
And strange destiny awaits him down here,
beneath his native city: neverwhere.

My Thoughts:
Even though I used so many weeks to read this book, I really enjoyed it. Like I said in one of the other blog post; it was a nice change from The Twistrose Key because it was kinda the same but completely different all the same. In this book, they're under London in the sewers and walking around old places that used to be a part of London but are no longer there. That have fallen between the cracks. And there was no animals in this apart from rats. But some of the people in this book was described like different kinds of animals. Such as wolves and foxes and so on...

I'm not sure what to say about this book since it took me so long to finish it. And I also don't want to spoil anything either. But I can say that I liked the characters and got shocked when some (not so good) truths came out :P And when it comes to the ending, I kinda knew or had the feeling that Richard was going to do the thing he did... if that makes any sense... oh well. And that's unfortunately all I can say about Neverwhere. I know it's not much, but this is not supposed to be me summarizing the whole book. These are just my thoughts and that's what I've been doing all along :P

One of the reasons it took me this long is because 1) There's been stuff to do lately and I haven't had the time to read other than late at night, 2) I haven't felt relaxed enough to read during the day and 3) I started to feel tired after few pages in most of the time so I ended up almost falling asleep while reading it (I did also manage to fall asleep while reading). Which sounds bad but I did... Doesn't mean it was boring! I did enjoy Neverwhere! You know... sometimes there are books that you just can't put down and you end up staying up all night just to finish it. And then there are books that you enjoy, but after a few pages you struggle to stay awake and you try your best to continue but fails. And the latter was this book. I still enjoyed it though even though it made me sleepy!!!

That's all folks! A weird review, but hey! Can't be perfect all the time, ey? ;)

3/5

*Next book to read: Before I Go To Sleep, S. J. Watson

Variant - Robison Wells

Variant by Robison Wells is the first book I've read from him. There's also a sequel to this book called Feedback. If you liked the Maze Runner, I'm pretty sure you will like this one as well! It's similar, but with a twist. And by a twist, I mean things turned out to be completely different from what I imagined.

The Blurb:
Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he's trapped in a school that's surrounded by a razor-wire fence, where video cameras monitor his every move - and where breaking the rules equals death.
All Benson wants is to find a way out. But when he stumbles upon the real secret the school has been hiding, he realizes that escape may be impossible.

My Thoughts:
When I started reading this, it wasn't like I could barely put it down like other books that's been so good that I can't leave it, but I wanted to see if Benson made it out in the end. It wasn't boring or anything because stuff happened all the time and the way the school was run by teens, I wanted to know what this was all about. Same as Benson.

And then, after halfway through the book when he finds the truth about this place, I couldn't put it down! Seriously, I finished this book around 4 this morning. I couldn't stop reading and when I finished it, I jumped out of the bed and got the sequel out of the bookshelf and continued. When the clock turned almost 5 a.m, I told myself that I had to put it down and go to sleep :P Everything changed and trust me, I did not see this coming, at all! At one minute, things felt a bit strange about this place, but nothing really happen and then everything changed when he found out what was really going on. Usually, you have an idea about how a book might end, but this was something else.

It went from ok, this reminds me of Maze Runner..they're stuck in this school and Benson's the only one in this place who actually wants to escape to What is happening?? What is this place? Omg! I did not see this coming!! You can't trust anyone here! What's going to happen now? and so on.. It ended up becoming a thriller more or less.

Of course, this is my thoughts about this book and I thought this turned out to be one awesome story. Some people might not think that this was any good at all or maybe thought the twist sounded weird or something :P But, if you like the Maze Runner (and I don't mean the movie version) then I'm pretty sure you will like this one too.

4/5

Wake - Lisa McMann

Wake by Lisa McMann is the first book in the Wake/Dream Catcher Trilogy. This is also the first book I've ever read from her. Before I read this, I thought that this was going to be a bit creepy and stuff. Some dangerous dreams or something. I don't know :P But this was something completely else! And in a good way too! Well, at least I think it was good tho..

The Blurb
Not all dreams are sweet.

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can't tell anybody about what she does - they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant...

My Thoughts:
Like I said in the beginning, I did not expect this. Anyway. This is one of the books you read, but at the same time it doesn't feel like it at all. (If that made any sense? )I started reading this before I went to bed and suddenly it was time for me to put it down and sleep. You know those kind of movies/episodes/youtube vids that is so great that, when it's over, you feel like no time has passed and you look at the time and it's suddenly much later than you'd thought? That's the feeling I got from this book. Probably a bad example but you get the idea.. I hope? It's difficult to describe.

The way this story has been written is so different and peculiar from the others that I've read (apart from a few) with a date and time. There are chapters, but it's split up by day to day and time of day "entries" in Janie's life. I think that this was also one of the reason why it felt like I read it the way I did because the chapters was split up the way they had and the "entries" were short so it wasn't so "heavy" to read.

Seriously... especially this book! Ahh..

From trying to describe the feeling of reading this to how I thought about this book. I really enjoyed reading this and it was surprisingly great. Like I said earlier: I thought this was another creepy book that I would read this week (thanks to the blurb) but nooo. This was a lovely book and with a complete different plot than I thought. Instead of creepy psycho killers with horrible dreams, there was a guy with bad dreams and Janie and him becomes close. The only "creepy"dreams was his and her friend's. Other than that there was some weird dreams and a few sweet dreams. And that was it. No scary stuff at all :P And I'm looking forward to begin on the next book in this trilogy tonight! :)

This must be one of the worst reviews I made, but hey! At least I'm trying to describe my thoughts the best way a Norwegian can to describe things in English!
(Yes...that's my best excuse for writing bad! Ha!)



4/5

Winter - Marissa Meyer

So that was fast! Been reading one book for 2 month and now I finished this one in only a few days! Anyways... Here's my thoughts about this wonderful book!

Winter by Marissa Meyer is the last book in this amazing saga called The Lunar Chronicles. I was lucky I didn't have to wait as long as the others to read this book since I found out about this last year. I know I might have said this with the other books (and maybe continue to say it in the future), but if you haven't read any of these books then you might miss out on an amazing (and awesome) story about disney princesses and characters in a whole different setting and universe!

The Blurb:

Winter is admired for her grace, kindness and beauty, despite the scars on her face. She's said to be even more breath taking than her stepmother, Queen Levana...

When Winter develops feelings for the handsome palace guard Jacin, she fears the evil Queen will crush their romance before it has a chance to begin.

But there are stirrings against the Queen across the land. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies. Winter might even find the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress and Winter claim their happily-ever-afters by defeating Levana once and for all?

My Thoughts:

I just love this saga and am so happy to find out about these books! It's like reading about the good old disney characters you've grown up with but with a twist.

In this book you get to find out about Winter and the things she's been through and Cinder, Scarlet and Cress are obviously a part of this book as well. The same way as in the other books. 

In the previous book, it ended with them planning on taking over Luna and take the Queen (if I remember correctly). In this last book, they go to war and tries to get as many people of Luna over on their side to defeat the Queen and her army. The planning, the war and everything had me so hooked I could barely put the book down! Especially when I came to the part when they went to war against the evil Queen and her people! I was raging at the Queen and felt sorry about Winter and just..just..all these emotion reading about the characters and what they were doing and all the trouble they went through just to do the right things. And even had tears in my eyes at some point when the Lunars agreed to help the lost princess to get her crown back. I always get tears in my eyes when it comes to people trusting someone and wants to help..(happened on Arrow too, when Diggle said he wanted to help Queen..). I just can't help it...

So anyway. The story is amazing and I have no idea what more to say other than that I just love the whole setting and wasn't disappointed about the ending (although it would have been nice to read about the things that happened next).. It's a reason why I say that I'm writing my thoughts and not a review :P

One thing for sure and that is that this is not the last time I'll be reading these books! It was such an amazing story from the first book to the last one.

5/5

Cinder - Marissa Meyer

This is the first book in The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. It's a whole different world with old disney characters brought back to life in whole new ways (if that made any sense). This book is about Cinder (don't have to tell you who she's based of)  and in the other books we meet Scarlett (Little Red Riding Hood), Cress (Rapunzel) and Winter (Snow White). The last book, Winter, was released few weeks ago.

The Blurb:

Cinder,  a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.

Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth's future.

A forbidden romance.

A deadly plague.

Earth's fate hinges on one girl...

This is not the fairy tale you remember. But it's one you wont forget.

My Thoughts:

I saw this book in a youtube video earlier this year and wanted to check it out. I grew up with the good old disney so I was excited about this one. It's a whole different world with good old disney princesses in an alternative universe. Cinderella is a cyborg who works as a mechanic. The prince is there (and still handsome) and her stepmother is the same. Aaaand there's also the Evil Queen of course. Sooo..what's not to love?  Let's just say that I loved it so much that I had to buy the next two books. (had to wait for the last book since it got released few weeks ago.. :(  I finally got it noow!:D ) The whole story is great and I can easily connect the names in these books with the old characters.

 It would have been awesome if someone made The Lunar Chronicles series into movies.

Anyway.. I fell in love with this series and can't wait to read the last one! And I will most likely read them again some day!

5/5