BOOK REVIEW: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Title: Siege and Storm
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: June 4th, 2013
Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy
Format: Hardback
Pages: 432

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.
The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

Of course this one is the second book in Grisha trilogy, the first one is Shadow and Bone. I posted my review on Shadow and Bone, not really liked it, but I gave it 4 stars anyway. The same situation is also happening in Siege and Storm here. Not really liked it, it took me a week to finish 400 pagess (urrrgghhh!), I gave it 4 stars.

First 100 pages I think, took off really well. If reading is some sort of marathon, this book just took us sprinting for 100 pages. The rest of the book? Just run slowly, or even walking and then took sprint for last 50 pages. Well, I figured this book will be that boring, since I read the first 100 pages, perusing the covers of the trilogy, and everthing just makes sense. If you know what I mean, you know what I mean (what?). The covers pretty much tells us what will happen in each book, for particular thing that happening in the book. So, I figured the 'thing' will not happen until the last book since it was written (not particularly written) in the cover.

For the characters, I kind of dejavu with the love triangle, or should I say the foursome? You know the love situation really reminds me of a series that I loved but ended with not making any sense of character development (psssttt, Shatter Me series). I would be mad if this love situation ended up the same with that series. Plus, I feel like our main character was kind of stupid (it was said in the book that it some repercussions of the 'thing' on our main character, but it was still stupid. Well, what kind of book without any love drama, right?

That is why I gave it 4 stars, I did want to give it 3 stars, but I figured this book is a fantasy, I appreciated the hardwork of Leigh Bardugo to write this magical world of Grisha, so I gave it 4 stars. I think I'm still going to read the last book just to know what will happened next.

Happy reading! :)

-Nikita

BOOK REVIEW: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Title: Shadow and Bone
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication Date: June 5th, 2012
Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 358

The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka.
Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free?
The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfill her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him.
But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him?
Glorious. Epic. Irresistible. Romance.

Okay. I read this book for the anticipation of the third book comes out in less than a month. I don't know much about this book, except that this is a fantasy and a lot of people loved it because it has a high rating on goodreads. So, here we go ...

It took me 3 days to finished the first chapter. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I found it confusing. I decided to push through to read the rest. It was pretty good, but ... it was flat. Until half point of the book, nothing happened. The world building was fine, not really that great. These points were taken when I reached the first half of the book. If you found the first half of the book was flat, you were expecting something would happened in the next half, right?

BOOM. I started to get excited, but then a little bit disappointed (again). 3/4 of the book, flat. Expecting something? Yes. I predicted something would happened later, and it actually happened. I'm sorry, but I didn't like this book that much. Well, I like the villain character of this book. He is not just typical villain, but more complex I should say. I'm not going into the Russian elements in this book, I don't really know that much to compare to the real one. I'm not sure about the romance, I thought the romance were pretty clear for me.

Overall, I liked it, but not enough to love it. So, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars, I'm definitely going to continue the series.

Happy reading! :)

-Nikita

BOOK REVIEW: Winger by Andrew Smith

Title: Winger
Author: Andrew Smith
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: May 14th, 2013
Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 439

Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.
With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.
Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.

I heard this book first from a booktuber, Raeleen at PadfootandProngs07. At first I didn't really excited about this book, but I just want to read a light, fun read, so I picked this book. I was quite surprised to be honest, but in a good way. I didn't expecting the book will be so addicting.

This about a fourteen years old boy named Ryan Dean West, who goes to school to Pine Mountain, which is a boarding school for rich kids. So, basically this book is about Ryan Dean's life at the boarding school. This is a coming of age story, so we got to see character development in this book. We also got friendship, some romance, some humor, and we got some pictures. Oh, there are a lot of swearing, and mature content too.

Ryan Dean also loves to draw. So we got some funny pictures, how he imagined some scenes that happened at school. I loves this book. If you are expecting a great amazing story, don't read this book. For me, I love it, I love the weird friendship between some of the characters, I love how the 'teenage dramatic' versions of things.

I laughed and CRIED while reading it. I think it does tell something about this book. Overall, I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. Like I said, if you expecting a great amazing coming of age story, you are looking at the wrong book. But if you are looking for a humor, light and fun read, I would recommend this book for you.

Happy reading! :)

-Nikita