The Lunar Chronicles

TOP TEN TUESDAY: My Top Ten Villains

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week. This week it’s all about villains and I’ve chosen to write about the most memorable villains I’ve ever come across, whether that’s because they really are despicably evil or for some other reason. So without further ado, here’s some great villains.

Professor Dolores Umbridge – Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
While Voldemort might be the main bad guy in Harry Potter, Umbridge is almost more terrifying because she’s so normal and the way she inflicts pain and restrictions is all within the rules of the law. She uses the system to her advantage and is a bigot who always believes she is right.

Nils Bjurman – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
This man is evil and manipulative who preys on people who he sees as weaker than him and who are dependent on him. He’s a rapist and a sadist and just really, really horrible.

Cruella de Vil – The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
I read The Hundred and One Dalmatians when I was about thirteen and I’d seen both the animated and live action films many times, but Cruella de Vil in the book was still super scary. (more…)

TOP 5 WEDNESDAY: Fictional Items I Want

Top 5 Wednesday is a great feature created by GingerReadsLainey. To find out more about Top 5 Wednesday and the upcoming topics, check out its Goodreads page. When you read books, especially fantasy ones, there’s always cool stuff that you wish were real so without further ado, here are five fictional items I’d love to have.

Time Turner – Harry Potter series
Who wouldn’t want a Time Turner?! It would be great if you’re so busy that you can use it to have those extra hours in the day or if you spent the day being ridiculously lazy and procrastinating all your responsibilities, you can use it to go back in time and actually be productive with your time.

Lucy’s Cordial – The Chronicles of Narnia
Lucy’s Cordial can cure any illness and malady and that would be so useful. I could use it to get rid of an annoying cold or even something much worse if a friend or family member was seriously ill. That being said, you’d have to use it sparingly and there’d certainly be a lot of responsibility having something like that.

Kaz’s cane – Six of Crows
This is kind of just because I think a cane with a crows head looks really cool but also because it can also double of a weapon so you can be protected without anyone really realising till it’s too late.

The Rampion – The Lunar Chronicles
Yes the Rampion is an old battered cargo ship but it’s also pretty cool. It can be controlled by artificial intelligence and it’s managed to best mightier ships. I just want to go into space with my own crew OK?

The Light of Eärendil – Lord of the Rings
This would be so handy! When you can’t find your house keys in your bag and your phones died so you can’t use that to search by, you can use this instead! Sure it’s a pretty mundane thing to use it for when it’s said that it can be a light “in dark places, when all other lights go out” but I don’t care – it’s a source of light that’ll never die.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten Books on my Spring TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. As the title suggests, these are ten books I hope to get to over the next few months. Pretty much all of my books are currently packed in boxes as we’re moving house next week so these chosen few (plus my kindle) are to see me through until we’re all unpacked in the new place in a months’ time.

The Secret Fire by C. J. Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld
This is like a supernatural/mystery/end of the world type book and it’s been ages since I’ve read anything like that and I got to say the cover is one of the first things that drew me to this book – I love it!

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
This one is getting all the buzz at the moment so I’m intrigued to see what I make of it. I might wait a while to read it though as I read A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston in January and I’m slightly worried they’ll be very similar and then I’ll get bored/be biased.

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
I got this in the Illumicrate box and I’m interested to see what I think of it. While I like fantasy books I have very rarely read any book centred on witches so it will be new territory for me. (more…)

The Totally Should’ve Book Tag

I was tagged by Lauren at Never Anyone Else to do this pretty self-explanatory tag – her blog is pretty darn great so don’t forget to check it out! Now onto the tag!

1. Totally should’ve gotten a sequel
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
I’d love to see what happens to these guys next, if the trio stick together or if they go their own ways.

2. Totally should’ve had a spin off series
Harry Potter (obviously!)
I want to know more about what happens to the likes of Seamus, Dean, Luna and Neville after the Battle of Hogwarts.

3. An author who should totally write more books
Christopher Paolini.
He certainly earnt a break after writing the epic Inheritance Cycle but it would be cool to see what other things he would write, would he stick to fantasy or write something completely different? I want to know! (more…)

TOP TEN TUESDAY: My Top Ten OTPs

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. This week, as it’s the run up to Valentine’s Day it’s all about romance and couples in books. So I’ve decided to share my top ten favourite couples or OTPs (One True Pairings)!

Hermione and Ron – Harry Potter
I wanted these two to be together before I even knew what OTPs and shipping was. They are probably my oldest and possibly most influential OTP.

Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff – Marvel Comics
Though Clint is kinda my fandom bicycle, my first choice for him will always be Natasha. They just work so well together and give me so many emotions.

Sabriel and Touchstone – The Old Kingdom Trilogy
These two are a team! They were friends before they ended up becoming a couple and they balance each other out.

June and Day – The Legend Trilogy
I love how the series ended for them. It might not be to everyone’s taste but I just love the possibilities it leaves for them. (more…)

REVIEW: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Winter EleanSquareEyes Princess Winter, the stepdaughter of Queen Levana, is admired by the people of Lunar for her beauty and her grace but little do they know about the visions in her head. Winter finds comfort and sanity in her childhood friend Jacin as she struggles to stand up to her stepmother and her rules. There’s some hope for Winter as Cinder and her crew plan to invade Lunar and start a revolution. Winter must find her courage and the threads of her sanity to try and work with Cinder to help save her people.

As this is the third book in the series there may be some vague spoilers for the previous books Cinder, Scarlet and Cress but they will be kept to a minimum.

Winter is a fascinating character. On the surface she seems quite mad and perhaps a bit useless when it comes to overthrowing a Queen but really she is incredibly strong and smart. She has horrible visions that often have her frozen in fear but because so many people think she’s crazy, they underestimate her and how she’s more perceptive than people might think. Also I love how kind Winter is to the people of Lunar, she puts them before herself a lot of the time and never feels better than them because she’s royalty. (more…)

REVIEW: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Fairest is a prequel novella in The Lunar Chronicles and tells the story of Levana, what she was like as a teenager and how she became Queen of Lunar and the villain we know her to be from reading the series.

I’d definitely say if you’re going to read Fairest, read it after Cress as it deals with events and characters that are mentioned in the main series so you might get spoiled for some great moments in the series. Also you don’t really have to read Fairest to enjoy The Lunar Chronicles but it does add an extra layer of creepiness to Levana and makes her seem more interesting than this foreboding figure you’ve seen in the previous books.

In Fairest you see Levana commit these horrible acts that you’ve just seen mentions of before and it is sometimes really disturbing. You see how Levana was treated by her family and in some ways you can almost sympathise with her because her life is quite sad but then she does something that is incredibly weird and unsettling and it puts you right off her again. Her relationship with a palace guard is very disturbing and her infatuation with him is often uncomfortable to read, she believes what she feels to be true and she’s so disillusioned that it’s slightly terrifying.

Fairest is really a character study of Levana and how she became who we see in the series. You can see that in some ways she’d make a great Queen as she is interested in the running of the country but then she has a cruel streak that wouldn’t make her enamoured to the people. While it is mainly a character study, you do see the seeds of major plot points from the series planted in Fairest as the story starts about 18 years before the events in Cinder.

Fairest is a super quick read and it’s fascinating to see more of who Levana is and why she’s as messed up as she is. 4/5.

The Lunar Chronicles Book Tag

To celebrate the release of Winter, the final book in The Lunar Chronicles series, Book Addicts Guide has put together a special Lunar Chronicles Book Tag! So without further ado, here’s the tag!

CINDER | The cyborg
a book that’s often misunderstood or under appreciated

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
No one I know has read this book and it’s one of my favourite adult fiction books I’ve ever read. It’s all about a dysfunctional family and it’s so funny.

KAI | The prince
a book about royals/royalty

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot.
This was one of my favourite series as a child/young teenager and had a big impact on me and my taste in books – Meg Cabot was one of my auto-buy authors for years. (more…)

REVIEW: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress has been locked in her satellite for most of her life, it’s her own little world where she spies on Earth for Queen Levana. Soon Cress’s world gets a lot bigger when she makes contact with Cinder and her motley crew. Cress ends up on Earth in the desert with Thorne. Meanwhile Cinder, Iko and Wolf need help and Scarlet is all on her own. Cress needs to be brave as she’s suddenly in a world of adventure she’s only ever dreamed of.

As this is the third book in the series there may be some vague spoilers for the previous books Cinder and Scarlet but they will be kept to a minimum.

While Cress may be the titular character, that doesn’t mean all the characters you already know don’t have a lot happening with them. Cress is definitely an ensemble book and the finale features them all working together in a heist! I love heists a ridiculous amount and seeing how all these different characters who each have their own problems and differences work together to try and save the day was a joy. (more…)

FRIDAY 56: Cress by Marissa Meyer

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice. The aim is to share a few sentences of a book (whether it’s the one you’re currently reading or not) so other people might be enticed to pick it up.

Here’s the rules:

– Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
– Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
– Post it.
– Add the url of your post to the Linky on Freda’s most recent post.

Kai thrust his finger toward the blackened netscreen. “Cinder became a cyborg when she was eleven, after a freak hover accident. You think an eleven-year-old had a choice about anything?”

That was from 56% mark on my kindle book of Cress by Marissa Meyer.

Elena Square Eyes

Thoughts of a film fan, reader and geek