The Princess Bride Book Review

Rawr Reader,

I've been putting off reading this book for about a year and a half so I finally pushed myself to buying it so I could relive some of my favorite Princess Bride moments. ("You killed m father, prepare to die." "Inconceivable!" "I'm not a witch I'm your wife!" And so so many more.) Alright, let's get right into it! This is the synopsis, provided by Goodreads:

A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts - The Princess Bride is a modern storytelling classic.

As Florin and Guilder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchmen, rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this dazzling adventure, she'll meet Vizzini - the criminal philosopher who'll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik - the gentle giant; Inigo - the Spaniard whose steel thirsts for revenge; and Count Rugen - the evil mastermind behind it all. Foiling all their plans and jumping into their stories is Westley, Princess Buttercup's one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate.

Reference:
I want to say it's... from the movie. :D

Review

(safe for those who haven't read this yet)

    The movie isn't one of my favorites of all time, however any chance I had of watching it I would. Contradictory it sounds, but I guess it's because I've finally read the book. This book has one thing going for it in my opinion, and that's the dialogue. The exchanges between the characters are ranked highest probably among all the books I've read. We have fantastic lines like Westley's: As you wish, Vizzini's: Inconceivable, and of course I won't forget Inigo Montoya's: Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you've killed my father, prepare to die. If you haven't heard these lines before, stop what you're doing and go to your nearest movie store and rent this movie. Or if you have Netflix you can go that route. I'd recommend seeing the movie first because then when reading, you can envision these characters living and breathing these words as you read them. 

    Now I'm not going to segue this from a book review to a movie review, but I would just like to insert a praise for the screenwriters of the movie. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STAYING LOYAL TO THE BOOK. Yes there several scenes not seen in the movie-- but honestly, the movie hits all the important scenes and everything else really is just extra.

    And that was my main problem with this novel. There were a lot of scenes that were completely unnecessary-- and if not completely unnecessary, they were stretched out for too long. We come into this book not diving first into Buttercup and Westley's relationship, but into the [fictional] author's (Goldman not Morgenstern) childhood. 

   Now I won't lie, this was actually really interesting a concept overall and I liked how [the real author] played with it. The story does intertwine with Morgenstern's original story with interjections by Goldman who is writing the abridged version of this story, however the interruptions with the flow of the story sometimes were so sudden that 9/10, I was annoyed. Majorly.

     In the beginning mostly, not so much in the rest of the story, Morgenstern sort of interjections of his own by including multiple parenthetic comments to explain what was going on or his thoughts on it or when the scene was taken place (before maps were made, Florin and Guilder were where Sweden and Germany were before Europe, etc). Whenever Goldman interjects in the abridged version of the novel, his notes are much longer, sometimes a page or two, and are italicized. It was the beginning with Buttercup and Westley's story that the parenthetic sections were rampant, but thank heavens they dimmed down once the story progressed.

    As this is a young adult, or what I would consider a children's book, I found this story to be pleasantly funny. Not only in dialogue, but just in scenes and how characters would interact with one another. Reading this felt like watching a movie because it was so hilarious. Sometimes I find authors try to hard trying to make a moment between characters funny or awkward (for the reader's sake), but 8/10 this just seemed force. However, Goldman does this constantly throughout and it seems effortless. The fact that Goldman wrote screenplays definitely shows. He's seen how actors respond, he's watched people and studied them well, because even though this story carries elements of fantasy, everything honestly feels really believable.

    Now, you might be concerned why I'm going back and forth with praising to bashing this story, and to be fair it's intentional. I don't want to seem like I hated the book, all in all, I still admire the story. However, unfortunately, how it was delivered wasn't my favorite. This is leaning more toward humor (and don't get me wrong I love humor), but I guess it was Goldman's format and writing style that does not match my taste in literature. 

   So for this, I need to be honest. I love the story, but I wouldn't read the book again. I'll just watch the movie.

I give this book 2/5 stars.

Quote:
“Who are you?"
"No one of consequence."

"I must know."

"Get used to disappointment.” 

― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

“We’ll never survive!” 
“Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.” 
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

    Okay, so does anyone else wish that Goldman took out all the parts about his childhood and his adult life? I read the beginning part with his childhood, but the short section after the "ending" of the book, we're taken to Goldman's adult life, I skipped. I find it so boring and unnecessary. However, I guess even the "after escaping Florin City" scene was unnecessary, as Goldman just takes us down a path he will later cut us off. First he starts off with Fezzik saving Waverly, but then goes back in time to tell us when Waverly was born, then brought back to that moment where Fezzik saves her from a cliff, ultimately (though never written) perishing to a doomed death at the bottom of the cliffside. Honestly, I think it was one of the most well written narrative scenes in the book (this includes no dialogue). Just that he was falling to catch this little girl who meant so much to him, it was really very sweet and evocative. However, a page later, there's no more. It's like Goldman wanted to be really "deep" and moving with this story because the four main characters had gone through so much together (against and with each other), but it just ends with Fezzik dies and that's it. Oh I'm sure Morgenstern meant to miraculously save Fezzik but nope for now he just dies. Really Goldman? Really?

    Buttercup was annoying as heck for me. She's really immature, flat and hopelessly in love with no reason but just because in the beginning she was jealous of the Countess' wife because she was looking at him. That's it. She was jealous, and somehow that molded into true love. Like okay-- yeah sure-- passionate love that she'll never gain from anyone else again (idealistic-- but that's just it. It's idealized and it's boring) but her love is just one color, and love should be a rainbow, with reds and greens and oranges you confuse with yellows and lovely purples and blues. You hate your love and then you don't. I know this isn't a romance book more than adventure, humor, and action, let alone a young adult novel/children's novel-- but still, give me something. (This is why I tend to stray from children's books. Most of the time FANTASTIC plots and world-building and adventures, however, characters usually don't and cannot win me over-- which in essence, is why I'm reading.) But yeah, Buttercup was annoying and winy and the only thing important to her was Westley. Yeah. These women don't interest me at all. Thankfully in the movie, she was toned down.

     

Stolen Songbird Book Review

Rawr Reader,

Woah, it's been a while!
Like half a year while... 
I wanted to get back into writing my book reviews at the end of the spring, but during the summer and over the fall the only books I got to reading were for school-- and I like to keep this blog exclusively to books I read for fun. One, because reading for school can make me a little more biased toward liking or disliking a book, and two, because I never know if I'll write a book I need to write and I don't want to write something in my paper that's also said here. Not that it would be written the same-- I don't write like this in my papers. I'm having a conversation with you now-- I don't have conversations in my college papers, as should none of you once you start writing college papers. ^^

Anyhoo~ Aside from reading less than a sixth of the amount of books that I read last year, I've become very interested in learning Korean and while I only started studying in the past couple weeks, I did watch a lot of dramas and they can take up a lot of free time. ^^ 

Unfortunately, I was suffering under a prolonged and unexpectedly extended book slump-- starting near if not over ten books and dropping them all around the 100 page mark. So, I felt that reading a fantasy might help me get back into reading a lot again and thankfully I was able to finish this one. Three cheers, hip hip hurray~~

But enough about me in the past 6 months, let's get on with this review!
This is Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen, and the synopsis is provided by Goodreads:

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.

But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.

As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.

Reference:

Hmmm, this was so long ago I heard about this book I'm just going to say a person I follow on Goodreads. First off the cover was really pretty, but then it said something about trolls in the synopsis which I've never read about, so naturally, I became very interested.

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this yet)

        Cécile has a bright future ahead because of her voice-- however it all comes to an end when she is kidnapped just before she makes her debut on the stage. She's kidnapped and taken to a hidden troll kingdom believed to be a an ancient myth. Awesome!

       She sees the trolls and like their name suggests, they're ugly. Uniquely enough, all deformed and misshaped in their own ways. All ugly, except the one she's supposed to be given to. Alright, losing some of its awesomeness.

      Cécile was a character that annoyed me by her clichés and her precarious and ambivalent and roller coaster of emotions. She felt one way and then a second later she felt the exact opposite. Mmhmm, she got on my nerves-- and maybe it was because I enjoyed the concept of trolls and magic that I forgave the author for it. 

    What probably gave me so much enjoyment reading this was because the concept was new and different. Maybe I'm just unaware of any other troll books, but I like having these creatures as the focus of the story instead as side monsters. 

     Hmm, the magic was interesting as Jensen described it, but I wish there was a little more to her descriptions or back story to the magic. She explained the magic once and that was it. It may not bother other people-- but I felt Cécile accepted it too easily. At this time, magic isn't as common in the world aside from witches which are a rare find. Actually, thinking back on it, Cécile accepted a lot of things way too easily. I won't go into specifics to not reveal any spoliers, but she accepted things easily not only in the beginning, but throughout the book. Mmhmm, yeah I thought it was weird and sort of stereotypical of female young adult protagonists.

      What stood out for me was as I was finishing the book, I began to notice how Jensen didn't seem to concentrate on a clear plot. Not that there lacks any-- however what Jensen outlines at the beginning that the reader would assume to be the focus of the story, transforms instead to a subplot. The story instead focuses on the relationship between Cécile and her troll prince husband, Tristan, as it grows and how they bond. 

       Tristan doesn't bare any remarkable or unique qualities that differs from the typical love interest, although I praise the lord that there is no love triangle here. I hope Jensen doesn't form one in the next book or even the last book, but no love triangles are definitely welcome in my book.

    Jensen's writing isn't unqiue, remarkable, or awe-inspiring, but I don't care as much about judging one's writing as I do judging how often they implement clichés. Dear lord they were everywhere. Alright, I exaggerate a little bit, there were just too many for my taste. But, as I said, as long as the writing isn't obviously awkward and the plot/characters/story is intriguing, the writing doesn't matter half as much. Writing is entirely subjective and I don't like when people get pretentious by saying that a writer's style is childish or lacks technique. Jensen wants to tell a story-- not become a revolutionary writer-- and that's okay. 

    Judging amongst other young adult books, I liked how trolls were the creatures of this story. Although I will say that if perhaps trolls were the trends instead of vampires or werewolves, I don't know if I would find anything specifically exceptional in Stolen Songbird. 

    However, if the plot intrigues you even if just a little bit, I say give it a read!

     

       

I give this book 4/5 stars.

Quote:

“Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up ’cause they’re looking for ideas.” 

― Paula Poundstone

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next to Read:

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel

Return of Rawr Reader?

Rawr Reader,


Last August I made the decision to take a "vacation" from my blog which might have led many of you who ardently follow my blog into thinking it turned into a retirement. 

Last fall I didn't make much of an effort to try and return to my blogging and I apologize, my only excuse being I was taking a foreign language and a high leveled literature class, along with 2 other classes which made reading on the side difficult. I thought spring would be the semester of my return, however taking 3 English classes (2 lit and 1 creative writing class) as well as taking the second class in my foreign language. This meant there was already a ton of reading for class as well as try to polish my foreign language which moved at a rate twice as fast as the first class in the fall. 

I'm sorry, this may seem as a ramble and I don't want to bore you, but I felt merely saying that I was really busy in the fall and twice as busy in the spring would be as dull and bland as unbuttered toasted bread. 

That is to say, it isn't that I never had the opportunity to read, I just used my free time not reading about Shakespeare or nonfiction essays or British authors or touching up on my foreign language class on something other than reading. As much of a bookaholic as I am, my mind can go on overload if I read too much and I didn't want to end up loathing the pasttime. (I've really become an addict of Korean dramas.)

Which leads me to now. My final exam and paper of the spring semester is tomorrow and then I'm home free! I'll be off for 6 weeks which hopefully turns into 6 weeks of a Flip-A-Page Palooza! I've started 6 books already and will hopefully finish them quickly and start reading some others I've neglected since the start of the new year. 

I want to read a lot, but I also want to start focusing on my writing again as I only have about a year and a half of college left and my goal is to go straight into publishing once I graduate. So if by some reason the end of my 6 week summer vacation ends and I only have a few book reviews to please your starved Nicole-book-review minds, I apologize beforehand. 

I love it when you guys comment on my reviews or just say a simple hi. I love how we all come from different parts of the world and still have the fated chance to meet here. So thank you from the east to the west. 


Until Next Time,
Nicole Ciel


P.S. Here are some of the books that I've started and plan to write reviews, but still a tentative list:
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
The Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Horns by Joe Hill

Cruel Beauty Book Review

Rawr Reader,

I needed to do at least one book review this month since I've been neglecting this blog for so long. I've been in a reading slump more or less, and it doesn't help I'm taking three English classes and a foreign language class, so any free time reading a book for fun isn't annoying but sometimes overwhelming. I have read several books though since my last review, of which this is the only one I wanted to do a review for. So without further ado, this is Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge and the excerpt is provided by Goodreads:

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Reference:

   One of the young adult book run sites that discuss new young adult books coming out next year, and this one stuck out immediately because of the cover and then the synopsis.

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this yet)

   I waited so long for this book and thankfully it didn't disappoint. While I wouldn't call the characters complex by any means, I did find each of them interesting in their own way and always interested to know what would happen next.

  What probably drew me into the story the most was the myths and world-building. The language used made this YA unique to other YA books who I feel rely too much on cliche and a certain structure. 

   The main character Nyx was more interesting to me in the beginning, as was Ignifex, but as the story continued I felt they were being taken to the typical YA conclusion and it made the story lose some points for me. On that note, I felt the ending was a little off. I felt one of the main plot points was revealed then but at that time I was clueless and I felt that nothing in the story led me to even guess at to what that plot point may be.

   I read this about a month or so ago and I can't remember much, but it's a YA that I would rank as one of the best written, dialogue/world-building wise. And the cover is one of my favorite book covers, possibly the top.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

Quote:

"There are too many books I haven't read, too many places I haven;t seen, too many memories I haven't kept long enough."
-Irwin Shaw

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

TBD

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel

City of Thieves Book Review

Rawr Reader,

First review of 2014! Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be as review heavy as the previous year, but I'm very capricious with these sorts of things. This is City of Thieves by David Benioff and the excerpt is provided by Goodreads:

During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.

Reference:
I was in Books-A-Million and they had this in the bargain section. I can't say no to a good bargain!

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this book yet)

  There's a magical quality in reading and when you find yourself really loving characters for their flaws. Or maybe it was Benioff's writing that I found myself just being completely soaken into this story. Yes, many of the events are a little unrealistic as to what would have happened in WWII Russia, but I think if the author was trying to create a realistic story, then it would have fallen short in its humor and entertainment, let alone the message or character development.

   Going off of the humor, this story was one of the funniest books I've ever read; and that has to be thanks to Kolya. Handsome, charismatic and loquacious but it was his personality that really appealed to me and what soon edged off on Lev. Sure Lev was the complete opposite of him, but I think their friendship/bromance, however you'd like to see it, was what Lev needed to survive the war. Simple, kind words and faith present in a time where the person was surrounded by anything but was the sliver of humanity that Lev wouldn't have been able to discover on his own.

   Each chapter is short and you find yourself just being so engrossed in the story that this book really flies by. And I think it was the quest part but it reminded me a lot of The Hobbit which I had just finished rereading a week ago. Also something that really stuck out to me was that ever line seemed to original and creative, from the dialogue to the world-building.

   I don't have much to say but if you enjoy World War II stories, or Russian culture, or adventures/quests, let alone fantastic characterization and thrills with laughter and danger, you should really consider picking this book up. I think I love it more because I stumbled upon it randomly. ^^

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Author's Quote:
"In spite of all his irritating qualities, I couldn't help liking a man who despised a fictional character with such passion."

"It made me happy that poems are referred to in the present tense even when the poet is in the past tense."

-Lev Beniov, David Benioff, City of Thieves

My Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

   My favorite part was Kolya telling Lev the The Courtyard Hound story. It was short, tragic, lovely and I only wish it was something he had been able to publish. And after that I realized what a beautiful title that is. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Or is me just so in love with Kolya that I'm a little biased? Hmm, I guess we'll never know. ^^

   Ever since the beginning we knew that we were going to meet Lev's wife in the story and I'm sure I wasn't the only one guessing who it would be from the beginning. I doubted it would be Vera, I would be very surprised if he returned to her after what she did, so every time they met a woman I kept thinking, hmmm, is it her? I guess it was meant to be with the fiery red-headed Vika being the one.

    Okay, I just want to mention the rooster Darling. I laughed much longer than I should have. Also when Kolya got shot in the ass and his exchanges with Lev afterward. Seriously, if you didn't think they had a bromance (which Vika can also support several times), at that point you had to have been thinking it too if you weren't before.

    Kolya's death was something I predicted from the beginning. Almost every story I've been reading has death of the main characters so when I read a book where a main character doesn't die, I'm very surprised. And this is a war story, someone needed to die, even if several of the events were a little too unrealistic (but of which I didn't mind at all). However, his final line really struck me, because at the heart of the man, he was just as afraid as anyone in war and his facade of uninhibited honesty with life and their experiences together. 

    

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel

My Name is Memory Book Review

Rawr Reader,

Hey, it's been a while. How you doing?
It's a little funny, I was just talking to my best friend about this blog and she asked about it since she hadn't seen anything in a while. Who knew I found a book I wanted to talk about so soon. ^_^

This is My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares, the synopsis is provided by Goodreads:

Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. For all the times that he and Sophia have been connected throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart.

But just when Sophia (now "Lucy" in the present) finally awakens to the secret of their shared past, the mysterious force that has always separated them reappears. Ultimately, they must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are ever to spend a lifetime together.

Reference:

I was at Books-A-Million and they had this in the bargain section, as you can see in the picture above.

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this book yet)

   I don't read many romance driven stories, however I haven't read a romance story that isn't even implemented in the story for 1/4 of it. Seriously, pitiful. Most of this book was flashback and though it had some beautiful moments, world-building, character development, characterization as a whole, was lacking. This book tackled too much without a strong structure. It bounced back and forth and that is very dangerous, at least with me they are. Such as The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, if an author chooses to jump around in time, you best be prepared to amaze me with excellent plot or you will be reviewed harshly. (I didn't do a review on The Night Circus since I read it before I created this blog, but I did like it a little more than this book, but it did lack plot.)

   The writing of this book was beautiful, though not memorable. I got myself caught up in the story in the moments when it wasn't dragging, and it made me wonder if what I look in a book, what I prefer in a book. Is it good writing or a good story? I choose the latter.

    The characters I found likable, however none of them stand out and I'll forget their names soon enough. And they lacked consistency, especially the two protagonists, they need consistency and development, not just development. Lucy is obsessed then completely frightened off by Daniel within the first chapter. And then Daniel is determined then left hopeless by the end of the first chapter. The first chapter actually is the first tumbling block in the story because the first chapter sets up our protagonists, but then Brashares writes the rest of the book contradicting the characterization that she's set up. So either the first chapter should've been rewritten, or the rest of the chapters after the first. Either way, this story just doesn't work.

    And it's a little funny because I wanted to like this book, but when I stepped away from the book and really thought about it, I found myself seeing only bad and not a lot of good. So let me say something I did like about the story.

    The idea had potential, this story really could have been great and their love romance epic, however it was just cut off in parts it shouldn't have and idea wasn't as explored as it could have been. A book I say had the potential, but the attention was focused on the wrong things. Sorry, that's the most good I could say. 

       I give this book 2/5 stars.

 Some other books that I think have interesting interpretations on souls (first two) or reincarnation (last two):
   Every Day by David Levithan
   The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (I haven't read but I've seen the movie)
   Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
   The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Author's Quote:

“Love who you love while you have them. That's all you can do. Let them go when you must. If you know how to love, you'll never run out.”

-Ann Brashares, My Name is Memory

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

City of Thieves by David Benioff

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

    Okay, I had many many problems with this book, of which I'm sure you've heard of above. ^-^

    First is the introduction of Alexander, Marnie's younger brother. He was cute, then a little annoying, then his true colors revealed. Okay, I understand why Brashares wanted to include him-- maybe he turns out to be the guy that Joaquim teams up with. But no, he's not. He doesn't even show up after his night with Lucy, only briefly mentioned that they hooked up several more times after that. 

    And one of the biggest problem I had with this story was that I came into it thinking that it would be a romance story, where the couple would actually, you know, be in story together. Waaaaay too much flashback for my liking and most which didn't actually benefit the story. I counted, 75% of the story, from page 23-277 they make no contact. Of course, monkey-see-monkey-do-Edward-wannabe Daniel just stalks her for some parts or just completely avoids her altogether which I don't understand for several reasons.

     1) In the most recent life where they have recognized, trusted and loved each other for the first time equally since Sophia (in the life of Constance in England), is the first time Lucy/Sophia actually accepted what Daniel tells her, you would think that in the next life they were together that Daniel would be more optimistic about them being together. For crying out loud, this is the first time that she is his age or around it, not married, and she actually likes him, heck she even kisses him after five minutes even though he ignored her for two years without so much as a word, but in the first chapter he tried to commit suicide. SERIOUSLY??? He didn't even try again which he would have done when he was her brother-in-law, or fatally wounded, dying, not her age-- but no, when he has no legit excuse to actually try and pursue her or just explain, he just gives up. This is either the stupidest 1200 year old soul or this is just another case of the the Twilights. 

     2) Lucy. Seriously, give a guy a break. I didn't have a problem with her when reading, but thinking back on everything she did after she ran out on him. I mean oh no, an attractive guy telling you he loves you and always will, better run before he I don't know, turns to be a millionaire and prove his faithfulness to you (oh wait he is and he does!) I just see her as another stupid-headed girl whose life is defined by a man. Which, technically, I should expect since this is the 21st century and a romance nonetheless, God forbid that girls actually want something of their lives. I will admit, she didn't just give up which Bella Swan would've done, she tried to move on and graduated college, attending grad school by the time she and Daniel meet again, but she still obsessed over a boy who didn't so much as spend more than five minutes with her.

   3) The flashbacks. We step into a great hunk of history which I enjoyed at first since I love historical fiction, but I didn't want to read only about their past, I wanted to know their present. I was bothered and bored with reading about past families that didn't affect Daniel since he was so committed to being with Sophia, but then all of a sudden he did find a family he actually cared for, more the mother Molly than anything, but ohp! he killed himself so he could reincarnate with Sophia. Seriously, this man doesn't make sense or remain consistent, let me get to the point with consistency.

     THERE WAS NONE. Daniel kept going from hopeful to depressive, to suicidal to determined, he wanted to give up but then ohp! no he didn't. I know you want to make your characters round, but authors need to give them ground to stand on, not quicksand. Daniel just sank. There was no outstanding character development from any character.

   And the plot. Jeez, if the characters won't give me much, at least give me some form of plot, but there was none. The villain only appeared for about five seconds at the end---so what was driving this story?? Nothing. Which means that this story, though intriguing at some parts, was pointless for most of it. Why should I care about their pasts or the past of Daniel if they don't even have a reason to be apart if the villain isn't even there. Only Daniel was standing in his own way and not even for a real reason, and not even without trying very hard which doesn't match his prior lives who wouldn't stop at anything.

   And we aren't explained what these souls are. (At least Every Day by David Levithan did, or at least ventured to do so.) Ben briefly and cryptically explains some things that Joaquim is a shapeshifter while Daniel is a Memory keeper, but nothing is explained about the souls like them. Ben sounded omniscient which got me thinking he was some god-like person who somehow had no powers, unless his power was knowing all but not actually having the power to control any of it. But what confused me was the fact that Ben could change gender. Joaquim as far as we know, and Daniel had always reincarnated in male forms. So why did Ben/Laura/Amita change?

   Joaquim was the unseen villain. He didn't even really do much. He shot Lucy but even then she ended up not losing her arm... A bunch of characters that were mentioned but that never were fully developed were her sister Dana, her snake, Alexander, Lucy's parents and her relationship with them. But yeah, Joaquim was the worst written villain ever, which is a pity, because he had potential, as did this book. 

    But it fell utterly short of anything impressive.    

    Which leads me up to my last problem which wouldn't exist if all the others hadn't accumulated as they have-- why did Branshares have to give the only Spanish-sounding name in the book to the bad guy. I wouldn't have even noticed before, but alas, I did.

    The ending didn't bother me. The fact that they spent more of it in an ocean than actually talking bothered me. I like that it was open-ended like Every Day, however it didn't accomplish half as much as Every Day did with the concept.

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel

The Doctor's Wife Book Review

Rawr Reader,


      Woah, it's been a month and a half. How are you? Have you missed me as much as I've missed you? I've read so many books since my last review and I'm sorry I just never got around to writing a quality review. And then November started and I'm participating in Nanowrimo and so reading at all went to the back of my priorities. However, school trumps Nanowrimo and so I had to read and I just finished such an awesome book! This is The Doctor's Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. The excerpt as always, is provided by Goodreads:

When The Doctor's Wife was first published in 1864, Mary Elizabeth Braddon was well known for her scandalous bestseller, Lady Audley's Secret. Adultery, death, and the spectacle of female recrimination and suffering are the elements that combine to make The Doctor's Wife a classic women's 'sensation' novel. Yet it is also Braddon's most self-consciously literary work and her rewriting of Madame Bovary. Like Emma Bovary, Braddon's heroine, Isabel Gilbert, is trapped in a marriage to a man incapable of understanding her imaginative life. But Braddon's novel differs vastly from Flaubert's in the nature and consequences of Isabel's 'affair'.

Reference:

    This is one of five books I had to read for my women in literature class.

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this book yet)

   Just to set up a little background on the novel itself, the very little I know but do only because of my literature class, I want you to know this is very different from what you usually see on my blog. But I like to be diverse in my reading endeavors so I hope by the time you finish reading my review, you'll be interested in checking this book out. It's a Victorian novel published in the 1860s, and is subgenred as a "sensation" novel which entitled several themes but not exclusive to murder, disguise, secrets, mistaken identity, women and their conflicts with their domestic lives. Sensation novels helped a rise in literacy and increase of printed material which resulted in decrease of price, which means more read and more could be bought to be read. Alright, that's about all I have in my notes, onward to the text. ^^
   This story, though may have been written in the 1860s isn't difficult to read at all. In fact, other than The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë which is another book I had to read for the class, I outright enjoyed reading it. I actually enjoyed this one more because I enjoyed almost every character, whereas in Tenant I only really enjoyed one character. But it's easiness in read is probably what helped it make it so popular among the masses. I don't know how successful this book itself was back then, but as a sensation novel I can understand why this type of book was. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I've been exposed to many more genres of literature and fiction than they had accessible to them. Reading this reminded me a lot of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley I read for the first time earlier this year (though of which I don't have a review, I apologize) because I fell under it's spell of both language and plot. I, probably like you, think that some classics (not famous Classics but books written before the twentieth century) can be predictable and boring and with nothing interesting that happens but I promise you that there are books that aren't and I defend that this book is one. Granted, if you're looking for action, seek sci-fi, fantasy, any YA being released nowadays. 

     Now I said that I enjoyed this book because, compared to Tenant, I loved most of the characters. The first I want to talk about is Sigismund Smith, a writer who absolutely loves word. This man is dedicated to his profession, an aspect that I hope one day I can claim to be my own as well. He writes penny-numbers, basically thrilling stories that are released at extremely fast paces. His name itself is an illusion, his real name being Samuel. I don't know about you, but if I meet someone who is so dedicated to his craft that he believes he needs to change his name to live up to readers expectation, that's someone who I want to meet and be friends with. As I read his scenes, I just wanted him to step out of the pages so I could be his friend. My only regret is that he's in such a small portion of the book.

     The next character is Isabel Sleaford, later to be known as Isabel Gilbert, Geroge Gilbert's wife. Before she meets and going into their marriage, we learn how Isabel is a very enraptured reader, absolutely loving and investing in her characters in all the books she reads, albeit how naive it can make her depictions and expectations of the real world. So while others in my class argued that she was just childish, melodramatic, and naive, I found her very relatable because of her passions for novels. Her basic knowledge of any form of education has only been drawn from her reading novels and she was never taught otherwise, which wasn't allowed due to her place as a woman. So yes, when she finally married George and still possessed her pre-marital obsession with books and the dramas and deaths it brought, and who still expected a "hero" to come into her life, I didn't judge her and condescend on her character.

     Enter Roland Lansdell, the charming, godly-looking man who chanced upon her life. Oh, and did I mention that he just so happens to be one of Isabel's favorite authors? Oh, and he's ridiculously rich, with 15,000 pounds a year (equivalent to 1.5m dollars a year today)? Oh, and if that isn't enough for you, he's cousin to Isabel's late employer before she was married, Charles Raymond, the closest living relation to Roland in the world. Yeah. So, he's definitely a sign of trouble. But what made him so remarkable was that he was so flawed in his feelings for Isabel, when at first he thought her merely stupid and not that pretty. Ah, love.

     So it would be a lie to say that a romance doesn't form between them, but it's a romance with love that does not equate the other. Because what is life but separate interpretations of people, and their interpretations of love? I won't go into what types of love, because not all love is good, but equally, not all love is bad. And I really came to loving this tentative couple and how they grow and learn what they can of the world. While one has the keys to the world and wishes to share it with someone and the other who yearns to see it but only does through her novels, it makes it quite an argument how these two can't be a perfect couple. 

     However, earlier this week my teacher made it light that certain events in the book which seemed to be closed at the beginning begin to come to light and return to Isabel's world, I may or may not be expecting what happens in the end. Me, being the most open-minded person in the world, began to consider a million and one ways this book could end. And now that I have, I was right in one of them. Which doesn't help you, but I just wanted to let that be known. ^_^

     For most of this novel I wanted to give it 5 stars, then nearing the end I wanted to give it 4 stars because it got a little boring, but decided on 5 stars because there were several really beautiful words said and just like Frankenstein, it really stuck with me and transcended in its story above all those I've read so far. I found what Frankenstein opened my eyes with in the question of humanity, this story does with different interpretations of love.

                                                           I give this book 5/5 stars.

Author's Quote:

"He has told me what I am: 'an infant crying in the night; an infant crying for the light; and with no language but a cry.' "

-Roland Lansdell, The Doctor's Wife

My Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

   Why did Sigismund get no love after the beginning? I mean yes we saw him once more after Isabel was married and Roland had left to try and get over Isabel, but he was so charismatic, I wish Braddon wrote more scenes with him. Anyone else who's read it loved him?

    And yes, I hated the ending. A little before George got sick I thought to myself, watch her end up losing both of them. So yeah, Roland's death really ate my heart out and chewed it and spat on my remains. And his final words to Isabel really made me fall in love with him, but I pitied how he was such an empty character. He genuinely believed that he didn't have anything to offer to the world even with his mass amounts of money, and how that his love for Isabel wasn't enough even on his deathbed. While he did love her, he knew that even if she did end up marrying him after George's death, them together wouldn't have been pure and true, only coincidental for him and only a second love for her. 

     Both Isabel's and Roland's mentalities toward their young demises was a little depressive. Don't get me wrong it was a little funny at the beginning, but then as they kept saying how they were going to die young, and even slightly, embracing that they would to finally fulfill their literary fantasies of an epic life. 

    Isabel got a lot of heat in my class for being so childish, naive and melodramatic, but I only saw it as wishing for the life that she read about. Her home life wasn't terrible, but she was lower middle class and she was part of a family who didn't understand her. She fell in love with novels and its characters and the world through literature's lens instead of reality's, and I connected with her for that. And she wasn't perfect, she didn't love her husband but a man who wasn't, but she didn't do it to harm anyone. In that way, she was completely innocent whereas Roland at first wasn't. Though eventually he grew to love her, they both represented and stood for two ends of the spectrum, what it means to be worldly and what it means to be innocent. Roland was, he was rich and had traveled abroad and had loved women though not truly, and Isabel was poor and meek and who invested herself into novels because she only ever thought that was the closest she'd ever get to it. So yes, the masses may hate Isabel and think Roland foolish, but the only true fault I see is that they weren't allowed the liberties that our society offers today, which is to love and actually show you love.

   Another of my favorite characters is Charles Raymond, arguably the moral compass of the story. He admits to pondering how perfect Isabel and Roland would have been for each if they had met a year before, but he tries to keep them in focus that that was a life that wasn't an option anymore and that they had to focus on the truth of how life is now. He tries to convince Roland to give up his infatuations and its all because of his love he had for Roland's mother, so he knows what life was like to love someone that wasn't theirs to love. 

   And while leaning of his past love for his other was only one of the most heartbreaking parts of the story, and another of learning how Isabel's life was after two years after Roland's death, my number one would have to be Roland's final words to Isabel. I haven't been so emotionally toyed with since reading The Bronze Horseman trilogy or actually more recently, A Storm of Swords. I hated how I completely understood the truth he was saying to Isabel, how he couldn't be happy with her if they could be together. I understood that he didn't just believe in only their earthly love, but a more universal one, that wouldn't be constrained by time and existence. And coming from a man who had the world at the palm of his hand and who wasn't very religious, that just had to be one of the most romantic things to be read. That's right, read, if a guy said that to me in real life, I more than likely would react differently. 

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel