The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards, #1) by Scott Lynch (2006)

Description from Goodreads:

An orphan’s life is harsh — and often short — in the island city of Camorr, built on the ruins of a mysterious alien race. Born with a quick wit and a gift for thieving, Locke Lamora dodges both death and slavery, only to fall into the hands of an eyeless priest known as Chains, neither blind nor a priest. A con artist of extraordinary talent, Chains passes his skills on to his carefully selected family of orphans “Gentlemen Bastards.”

Locke grows to lead, delightedly pulling off one outrageous trick after another, infamous as the Thorn of Camorr—no wealthy noble is safe from his sting. But the Gray King is slowly killing Capa Barsavi’s most trusted men and using Locke as a pawn in his plot to take control of Camorr’s underworld. With a bloody coup under way threatening to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the magically protected Gray King at his own brutal game — or die trying.

--

I'm a huge fan of George R.R. Martin's writing, and the first thing that made me interested in The Lies of Locke Lamora was the fact that in the cover of the book is a quote from Martin: "Fresh, original, and engrossing tale by a bright new voice." I mean, if this doesn't capture your attention what does? I just needed to get my hands on this book.  I tend to have really high expectations of every book I'm planning to read, whether it had been rated over 4.0 or under 3.0 on Goodreads. So as one can imagine, having sky high expectations can some times (or plenty of times) result in sore disappointment. But all my expectations were met after I had finished reading The Lies of Locke Lamora.

It's just really difficult to start with this book - there are so much to say about it! First of all the writing was just so beautiful yet so effortless. Every chapter was a page turner as almost every other chapter was about how Locke Lamora ended up in a position as the leader of Gentleman Bastards, and the other half was about the events that took place in the present. The plot was incredible addicting as you just had to know what Locke and his companions are going to next and whether they succeed in their crimes. This and the witty humour of the irreplaceable characters was just a killer combination. 

And how about the world? Oh, dear. Thanks to the fantastic writing, it did justice to The Lies of Locke Lamora. Lynch has an incredible mind for details concerning not only the physical world but also the history, hierarchies, and culture! The whole book is just so epic in every aspect from the grandiose city centre to the scheming of Lamora. While reading the book I felt like the world itself became reality, and I was just absorbed so that I forgot the real world around me completely. 

Absolutely one of my favourite things in the novel is the Gentleman Bastards group. They pull off these scams of epic proportions and always seem to get away with them. It's really rare for me to get emotionally attached to all "good" main characters, but once again The Lies of Locke Lamora surprised me. I loved all of the members of Gentleman Bastards, even though Lamora gets most of the attention. Lamora is the brains, the twins Calo and Caldo had the wits to do anything, Jean was the muscles, and Bug was the eager apprentice. I loved how they all were so very different from each other yet they made the perfect group of conmen. 

I'm so-o-o-o glad Lynch decided to do a series out of this! Even though The Lies of Locke Lamora could have survived alone, I'm super happy as I can continue the adventures with Gentleman Bastards. Even though I hate to say "to the lovers of __ series", I can't help myself to say that those who enjoy A Song of Ice and Fire series, Ocean's Eleven and The Godfather movie trilogy will also find themselves engrossed by The Lies of Locke Lamora. There is so much potential in this series to become one of my favourite series, so I'm really looking forward to see what Scott Lynch will do with the future books!

☆☆☆☆☆

Book Review: Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2) by Sarah J. Maas

Description from Goodreads:

An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt.

But her heart never wavers.

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

--

Celaena has survived the King's Champion Contest and won the title of Royal Assassin, but just barely. Now she has to work as the cruel King's minion, and Celaena hates every moment of it. However, she has found her own silent way of rebelling against the King of Adarlan - every victim King chooses to be annihilated, Calaena gives them a choice: to be killed or flee from the country for ever. However, things get complicated as the King appoints Calaena's next victim to be a male prostitute who happens to be an old acquaintance of hers. Can she save her old friend, or does she have to sacrifice herself for the sake of righteousness?  I have no idea why I had so high expectations for Crown of Midnight, when the book 1 for the series in my opinion was only okay. I like to think it was some sort of woman's instinct because this book, rocked my world. Crown of Midnight deserves all shiny five stars, even six if I could give them. Sarah J. Maas has really stepped up with her second novel in Throne of Glass series. She wrote a more focused storyline, deepened the characters and the relationships between characters, and created thrilling moments for us readers. I think I can freely say Crown of Midnight is one the best book (certainly belongs to my top3) I have read this year, and the most spectacular novel (to be) published this year.  The first thing that I noticed while reading the book was how much more stable Calaena was as a character. Even though we get to see the most badass side of her ever seen, as well as her soft fragile side, in Crown of Midnights the sides of her were so much better written and established. Calaena felt a lot solider character and therefore I was more willing to accept her extreme sides than while reading the book 1, Throne of Glass. To make Caleana even more realistic character, Maas allowed the readers to see brief glimpses of her past which gives so much more credibility and depth to her character. Another thing I was so pleased about was the fact that the author had written a lot more assassin action of Celaena as well as her thoughts about her haunting profession. THANK YOU SARAH J. MAAS. You have just written a heroine who is perfect in her own imperfect way (and who is also my favourite heroine). Even though I usually love triangles, I was so incredibly glad when I found out Maas had decided to rule it out from the storyline. In Crown of Midnight, the relationship between Celaena and Chaol starts to develop and the romance between Calaena and Dorian is left out (just like I wanted, yay!!). I never cared much for the Crown Prince Dorian as I found him a bit too much arrogant and pompous to be Celaena's love interest. All my support go to Chaol who is more down to Earth, sincere and well, a bit broken. I seem to have this thing for men who are emotionally a little bit astray, and Chaol is exactly something like that. Another reason why I love him so much is the fact that despite he is extremely sweet, caring and protective, he is also a very manly man. Despite he has a very pleasing masculine appearance, he is also the type that likes to take control and can be very passionate when he wants. Ugh, I still can't handle some of the scene in the book which involve the fervent Chaol.  You can immediately notice how much better Maas's writing and storyline development is compared to the book one. The plot is focused and doesn't go wandering into situations which are unnecessary for the overall progression, and so the story already is more captivating and interesting. I found myself turning the pages of my Kindle frenziedly. The plot never bored me, and I had to wake up at 7 am on my day off to continue reading. Even though the book contained as much elements as book 1, everything seemed to be under the control the author which made the reading experience so much more enjoyable.  Even though the book 1 wasn't exactly my taste, the book 2 compensated for the whole series. So much indeed that I can say Throne of Glass is my favourite book series at the moment. I have no idea how I can wait until 2014 when the book 3 is published. I have so much confidence in this thrilling series that I can state it is the best high fantasy YA series. I'm just infatuated with the world, characters, relationship, with the magic and Faes. Pure love from me. Fortunately for the Throne of Glass lovers at least 6 books have been planned to be published - awesome!!  I don't think my words can exactly convey how many positive feelings I have for this book. I think those who loved the first book will find themselves reading one the most suspenseful books they have read for a long time. The twists, revelations, drama, action... Everything so well executed.

☆☆☆☆☆

Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1) by Beth Revis (2011)

Description from Goodreads:

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. 

And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

--

This is what I'm expecting when I want to read outer-space/science-fiction young adult book. Across the Universe excelled in every criterion that I have for a YA: there was a problem in need of fixing, realistic characters, captivating plot, twists I didn't see coming, well-established world, a romance that wasn't insta-love, engrossing language, and an original idea! What's not to love?

I loved loved the setting. All the events take place in the spaceship, Godspeed. Now the name already is fascinating, but that's not the only thing. There are several different levels where farming, experiments, and nursing are done. The moving from a level to another is one via grav-tubes which are tubes that allow you to move vertically with a great speed. As the events happen in the future, I was really impressed by the technology Revis included in the book. There also were wi-coms (wireless-communication devices), floppies (a portable, paper-thin computers) and many others! Revis did a great job describing them, as I wasn't confused at any point.

Both Amy and Elder narrated the book, and that's probably the reason why I liked them both so much. At first Elder appears a bit immature, but as you get to listen his thoughts, he soon became one of my favourite characters. While Elder is very smart, loyal and curious, Amy is the witty and brave one. They have their faults too which only made me like them better - they aren't perfect and that's why they become more realistic. 

And how about the romance? Ugh, it was so frustrating and that's why so awesome! It's clear right from the beginning that Elder is infatuated with Amy the moment he sees her. Amy on the other hand, understandably, is a bit reluctant - she has just been asleep for hundreds of years and now that she has awoken, she is all alone. She is very leery at first, but gradually as she gets to know Elder, also starts to trust him. This is the reason why I loved the romance - it is so realistic and compelling, but also a bit heart-breaking yet tingling. It was very well-established as it wasn't rushed.

I just devoured every page I read. It's really rare for me nowadays not to see what is coming up with the events of the book, but with Across the Universe, most of the time I didn't know what to expect! The plot moved with fast-pace but wasn't poorly executed. There were some twists that made me gape at the pages and ask "Really, Revis? REALLY?". The trilogy currently is among my favourite ones, so I really hope other people will pick up the books as well! A smashing read.

"“He sounds like a regular Hitler to me", Amy mutters.  I wonder what she means by that. Eldest has always taught me that Hitler was a wise, cultured leader for his people. Maybe that's what she means: Eldest is a strong leader, like Hitler was."

☆☆☆☆☆

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) by Susan Ee

Description from Goodreads

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

--

I read this book on November, 2012 after noticing what a huge amount of hype there was on Goodreads. Angelfall started off as an internet phenomenon. I remember my flatmate warning me that I shouldn't have so high expectations as those books don't always have the same standard as those being published by publishing houses. Nevertheless, I found the description so fascinating that I had to order it from Amazon US as it hadn't been published back then in the UK. 

I probably had to wait a few weeks before the happy day came when the mail man finally delivered the book. I still remember that I read the very first pages in a bus, going to my first lecture of the day. I think I hissed a little when the bus finally arrived to the Uni, because I knew the next time I was able to read the book wasn't until I was going back to home (I have to mention that my bus ride to my Uni lasts over 40 minutes so I was nicely captivated the book when I arrived to the campus).

The first thing struck me as amazing in Angelfall was the absolute post-apocalyptic setting. The world was in ruins, and nothing was exactly same as we know it to be in our world. The world was physically  devastated as the angels brought the havoc. And that leads us to the angels. I hadn't read any angel books before, but I had always been quite interested in the whole angel mythology. Even though Angelfall doesn't exactly play with angelology, I was so captured with the angels of the book - they were cruel, malicious and power-hungry. Nothing what one would expect from a stereotypical angel.

And the characters! First of all, Penryn is such a kick-ass heroine. She is self-efficient, brave, loyal and righteous. At some level, she reminds me of Katniss Everdeen, the heroine in The Hunger Games trilogy (which maybe is my favourite trilogy ever). I think that reference tells quite a lot how awesome character Penryn is. To be honest, I probably wouldn't change a thing about her - I just find her so perfect, even with her imperfections as it makes her more realistic character in an unrealistic world. 

One the most entertaining things in the book is the relationship between Penryn and Raffe, the angel who has promised to save Penryn's little sister Paige with Penryn. The relationship isn't insta-love as Raffe and Penryn are sworn enemies as the first one is an angel and the other a human. Even though it isn't directly said, Penryn does become attached to Raffe. Naturally this the last thing she needs, and Penryn feels conflicted. I love how their relationship isn't straightforward, but there are obstacles and controversies that need to be solved before they can become involved. 

What else, what else (to be honest I could write an endless post about Angelfall, but I think I'm going to write one last paragraph, but I'm having difficulties which perfection I should include). I loved Ee's writing style. She can be very descriptive and even gruesome at points which I just adored. I'm not a big fan of writers who like to embellish their writings, but I enjoy reading when things are presented as they are, even if they are something utterly terrifying. Susan Ee did this in her book, and I absolutely love her for that!

☆☆☆☆☆