Thoughts On: Love triangles and DNF books

I've realized something lately.

The last few books I haven't finished haven't been because I didn't like the characters. Actually, in the case of Glow's Waverly and Fracture's Delaney, I actually really liked the characters.

And yes, yes, yes, before all you Fracture lovers start jumping on me that it's NOT A LOVE TRIANGLE!!1!!111!!eleven!!!, I understand that it doesn't end up being a love triangle, that Delaney understands she has a weird connection based on whatever happened to her brain, and ends up with Decker. That doesn't stop the first 157 pages (a good half of the book) of it being a love triangle.

With Glow, I don't even know if it ends up being a love triangle; I only got 48 pages into it before I gave up. But given that the summary is about "two young lovers on a ship bound for New Earth" and the first 48 pages gives us Waverly contemplating her love of Kiernan and thinking about what a potential relationship with Seth would have been like, I can only presume that's where it's heading.

I don't like love triangles. I've been over this before; I devoted an entire thoughts on post to that alone. It's not because I don't think they can work - I love me some Iron Fey, and give me Lancelot/Guinevere/Arthur any day.

But often times, they're there for unnecessary reasons.

And I realized that's what making me put this book down.

Why can't Kiernan and Waverly just be in love? Why can't Seth just be an old friend of Waverly's who was pulled away by his father, and that's why their relationship is weird?

Why can't Delaney fight the feelings she has for creepy-new-guy-with-the-same-powers-who-is-following-her-around (Troy) and focus on her semi-relationship with Decker? Why can't Troy feel a connection to her because of their abilities and use it to teach her rather than try to stick his tongue down her throat?


Why am I being given this silly love triangle that doesn't make sense in terms of the larger plot and the character development instead of focusing on what's actually important to the story?!

And that's why I keep putting these books down. Because the love triangles make the story bad - not because love triangles themselves are badly written, but because they're so unnecessary to the plot of some of these stories that it takes away from what could be an interesting story.



What makes you stop reading a book?

Feature Friday: Bookcase (63)

Who said storage had to be boring?




Claudia Bignoli designed this. I think it's awesome because I like curvy furniture that stands out and is awesome and yeah. I like that it can store a lot of books but hide what them simultaneously depending on the angle. It gets rid of that cluttered look! Haha.

What do you think?

Friday Fronts - For Darkness Shows The Stars

Everybody and their mother seems to love this cover. I don't understand it. I mean, it's certainly pretty. It's not a bad cover. But I just don't think it stands out.

Maybe it's the weird face and pose of the girl, or the font that is pretty but doesn't seem to mesh with the girl itself. I'm not sure. I think it's the girl that puts me off the most; she doesn't seem to fit. (Her ridiculous skinniness doesn't help, either.)

Lament: The Fairy Queen's Deception

Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: Books of Faerie (#1)
Publisher: Flux
How Received: bought

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind...

I'm under the impression that you can't go wrong with homicidal fairies.

Stiefvater's Lament doesn't have the same lyrical prose that her later novels do; however, the world is just as original and brilliantly created as all of her others. She once again manages to capture the essence of a mythology and twist it just a bit to make it new again.

I loved the way the fey were presented in this novel. Some are deadly and some are evil and some really aren't evil and some don't know any better but none of them are the innocent frolicking folk that you find in some other retellings. Una and Brendan were absolutely fantastic to read about. They're definitley my favorite characters from the entire story.

Though I normally dislike love triangles, the one in Lament is set up in such a way that it was unavoidable. (The parallels between Diedre and another character seem to twist and bind the fate of Diedre, so in the end, she really couldn't escape falling for Luke.) I can only hope that James get a chance in Ballad, the sequel.

At the beginning of the book, I kept getting distracted by parallels of this and The Iron King - Puck and James are awfully similar, as are Ash and James. Luckily, it veered off in another direction very quickly a few chapters in, so I didn't have to worry about that for too long. But fans of The Iron King should definitley pick this up.

Overall Rating & Final Comments: 8/10. I loved the fey and the world, though I missed the beauty of the prose that I find in Stiefvater's later novels. Though I won't forget the fey and the world, I don't think I'll be rereading it, either.
Stiefvater's Lament or Kagawa's The Iron King?: My vote depends on what you're in the mood for. Lament is darker and I love the fey. The Iron King is a bit more fun and dramatic (and you get Grimalkin!), but focuses much more on the love triangle.

Has anybody else read Lament? What do you think of it compared to other Stiefvater books?

Waiting on Wednesday: Timeless

Because we all have something we're waiting for.

Timeless
Author: Gail Carriger
Series: Parasol Protectorate (#5)
Release Date: 1 March 2012

Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire's second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell's acting troupe's latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a damper on Alexia's enjoyment of her new London lifestyle.

Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. With husband, child, and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?

My love of this series knows no bounds. Are the plots a bit easy to figure out? Of course. Should Alexia have put up more of a fight after Maccon's treatment of her in the last book? Of course, but let's also remember that it IS Maccon, and as far as werewolf alphas go, he's definitley the most honest. AND the sexiest.

Long story short: I can't have enough of Alexia Tarabotti in my life, silly plots and all.

Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book

I missed this one a few weeks back and just couldn't resist picking it up on a freebie day! (You know, for Top Ten Tuesday.)

If I know an author I love has another novel coming out, I didn't include them on the list. It doesn't mean I don't want their book any less! (That's why Gail Carriger, Libba Bray, T.A. Barron, Laurie Halse Anderson and Alexandra Bracken haven't made the list! ... consider them honorable mentions.)

10. J.K. Rowling
Rowling made nearly every blogger's list. Now that Harry Potter's over (and Pottermore's a bore), we're clinging onto the edge of our seats waiting for the next book of hers to come out. She did say she was writing something, after all. Let's face it: if she released a collection of her grocery lists, we'd probably read it.

09. Suzanne Collins
Another author who made nearly every list, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games left a lot of people craving more of her writing. To be fair, I've been craving more of her writing ever since I finished the first Gregor the Overlander book - I've eaten up her work since the beginning; I can't get enough! It would be lovely if she would publish something new. Or just get a new website layout. One of the two.

08. Maggie Stiefvater
I have full confidence in Maggie releasing another book at some point eventually in her life. I don't know when it will be or what it will be about, but I can guarantee you that after loving the romantic werewolves that was Shiver, the tear-trading fairies in Lament, or the homicidal horses in The Scorpio Races, I'll probably love whatever she puts out next just as much.

07. Eilis O'Neal
Eilis O'Neal has exactly one book published at the moment: The False Princess. Which I loved. The world and the characters and the plot were all absolutely fantastic, and I have no idea if she plans on writing another book or if it's being set in the same world or what. But I'd really like another one by her!

06. Anne McCaffrey
Sadly, this one will never happen as Anne passed away earlier in the year. And though she has written dozens upon dozens of books, most of her work focused on her Pern series - I would love to have seen at least one new world come from her on top of the world of Petaybee and the worlds in the Rowan series and all of her other brilliant worlds. Maybe I'm just greedy, though.

05. L.A. Meyer
L.A. Meyer IS writing another book, so technically he shouldn't be on the list - Jacky Faber isn't done yet! - but I really want him to write something once the Bloody Jack series is over. I want something new from him, some other new brilliant character maybe in some other new brilliant world.

04. Clive Barker
Clive Barker is amazing. His Abarat series is one of the most well-hidden and best written fantasies in the YA world. (though, I do admit, completely twisted. And also completely awesome.) The last one in the trilogy (I think) just came out a while ago. But I don't know if he plans on writing more, because he's also a director-producer-scriptwriter-painter and is fantastic at ALL of those things. A girl can hope, right?

03. Eoin Colfer
The last Artemis Fowl book is about to come out, and I have NO IDEA what else Eoin is writing. Not at all. To be fair, he is probably writing another book about something somewhere, but I have no idea what it is. I can only hope it's another awesome fantasy series or another fantasmagorical stand-alone like The Supernaturalist.

02. Lisa Mantchev
Since I have the absolute honor of being Facebook friends with Lisa, I know she's writing another novel - with steampunk and awesomeness, which makes me want it - but I have no idea if it's been picked up or anything. Besides, Lisa will always be on my list of writers I need more books from. After the fabulousness that is the Theatre Illuminata series, she's made my must-read list!

01. David Clement-Davies
Nobody seems to have read David's books, which are a shame, as they are all FABULOUS. I've read nearly every one (I'm only missing The Telling Pool, which I own, and the one that was only published in Britain) and they're all absolutely fantastic. I keep craving more of his work and I wish he had a bigger fanbase - perhaps we would get some that way!

On an unrelated note, I hadn't seen a picture of him until I looked it up for this post. He's cute, too. I regret nothing about this observation.


Who would make your top ten?

Giveaway: In Darkness

What do I have up for grabs today? Only In Darkness, a new book by Nick Lake!

"Shorty" is a Haitian boy trapped in the ruins of a hospital when the earth explodes around him. Surrounded by lifeless bodies and growing desperately weak from lack of food and water, death seems imminent. Yet as Shorty waits in darkness for a rescue that may never come, he becomes aware of another presence, one reaching out to him across two hundred years of history. It is the presence of slave and revolutionary leader Toussaint L'Ouverture, whose life was marred by violence, and whose own end came in darkness. What unites a child of the slums with the man who would shake a troubled country out of slavery? Is it the darkness they share . . . or is it hope?

And it's super easy to win!

How To Win:
[mandatory] follow WORD using Google Follower (sidebar) or
[mandatory] follow WORD using the subscribe button (sidebar) or
[mandatory] follow WORD on Twitter (@wordforteens)
[mandatory] fill out the form below

Quick Recap:
[1] copy of Nick Lake's In Darkness up for grabs
[1] winner in the U.S. or Canada
ends on January 30 at midnight

Poison Study

Poison Study
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Series: Study (#1)
Publisher: Luna
How Received: bought

Choose: A quick death… or slow poison…

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear…

Ever since I read Snyder's Inside Out, I've been overly curious to dive into her other fantasy. I got a copy of Poison Study and... it sat on my shelf for months.

Luckily, in a fit of being unable to sleep the other day, I started reading it. Eight chapters in the fatigue started to hit me, but I picked it up the next morning and bammed it out in one shot.

Poison Study is fantastic; though I loved Inside Out, and I still have a soft spot for the characters when they're brought up, the story itself hasn't stuck with me very long. I didn't want to reread it right away, I didn't feel any sort of longing to keep it on my shelf - I actually ended up giving my copy away to a friend. I haven't read the sequel, either.

Poison Study, though? Amazon giftcard, here I come. (Unless it's in my local indie book store, which I'll be visiting soon.) I need the sequels in my hands now.

Not because Poison Study leaves some ridiculous cliffhanger - actually, it wraps up the main plot points for the story rather nicely, leaving a livable gap between the two books. But because the characters and the story and the world were so bloody brilliant.

[SPOILER ALERT] My only problem with this book was the predictability at how the scheme with Butterfly's Dust was going to end up. It wasn't that hard to figure out that there was no such thing, especially as early on in the book, Yelena goes days without the antidote in her "My Love" stupor; an observant reader could easily figure it out, so I was surprised when Yelena didn't. Alas. Nobody's perfect, and she did have other things on her mind. So I can look past it. I can't be surprised every time, right? [END SPOILER ALERT]

Speaking of our lovely main character: Yelena seems to be made of pure awesome. She's got a history and she's flawed but she does her best to learn everything she can and train and she's not just insta-good! at everything she does. She has to learn, and she's still not better than some people. (And when she is, well, she deserves it, or there are reasons for it.)

And Valek! Oh, be still my heart! One of the things I loved about this story was that, though I was hoping Yelena and Valek would get together from the moment he offers her the position of poison taster, any potential romance between them wasn't the biggest part of the plot. (How could it be? The Commander might be killed at any moment!) But it was still bloody awesome.

Speaking of awesome things, I want Janco and Ari as my best friends.

Overall Rating & Final Comments: 10/10. I'm planning on picking up the second book soon; loved the characters, loved the world, loved the plot. A must read for fantasy lovers.

Snyder's Poison Study or Inside Out?: Inside Out reads more like a "typical" YA novel, whereas Yelena (though only eighteen) doesn't act like a teenager; she acts more like an adult. However, I loved Poison Study much more than I did Inside Out, in terms of both plot and characters. That might just be my love of fantasy coming out full force, though.