Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson – Book Review

January 12, 2017 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 1 Comment

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics…nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart — the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David’s father. For years, like the Reckoners, David’s been studying, and planning — and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He’s seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

“I hadn’t been fighting because of my father’s death. I fought because of his dreams.”

Boy, oh boy, this book was a really good one. I just wish that I had more time to dedicate to it than I actually had. With a lot of real life, heart-breaking situations that I had to deal with, reading this book really helped me calm down and reassure myself that things would be okay. Yes, even though David’s dad was killed in this book and there was so much death and destruction, reading this book really did make me feel like things would be okay.

So coming into this book after reading the sequel almost two years ago, it was nice to go back to where it all began. I was curious as to how Steelheart ended up succumbing to his fate and why David ended up leaving Newcago with the Reckoners. I was also curious as to how he ended up joining them, and whatever happened to the infamous Megan that he kept talking about. What was it about her that made him so… boyish?

I really don’t know how to explain his mentality sometimes. He’s 18 years old and yet I can still hear some of that immaturity in him when it comes to Megan. She’s like his first crush, and I get to see that develop in this book, so I’m really glad I got to.

Plus, finding out that the infamous Prof’s true nature was fun too, even though you only get to find out at the very very end of the book. At least it explains to me why it felt like David was so betrayed. Maybe reading this book will encourage me to reread Firefight and finally finish the trilogy with Calamity.

I’m glad for the backstory on David, and how he became one of the best members of the Reckoners. I am really hoping that the rest of the Reckoners get their chance to shine. We will definitely see.

Rated: 5/5 ★

The 100 by Kass Morgan – Book Review

January 5, 2017 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 1 Comment

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries — until now.

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth’s radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents — considered expendable by society — are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life…or it could be a suicide mission.

CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she’s haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor’s son, came to Earth for the girl he loves — but will she ever forgive him? Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.

Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind’s last hope.

“That was the thing about secrets-you had to carry them with you forever, no matter what the cost.”

Yay for finishing my first book of the year. It’s been five days since the new year began, and only now am I getting the chance to catch up on my reading. I have to say that I’m pretty proud of myself for not taking too long, although at the rate that I took to finish this, I did take longer than I really wanted. So at least I got that out of the way.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting through this book. I thought that since I like the TV show I would at least enjoy the book somewhat, but then I remember how I felt when I was reading The Vampire Diaries after falling in love with the show years before.

Yeah… same situation.

Really the only reason why I finished this book was because I just wanted it to be over. There were very few parts of the book that I actually enjoyed, but it wasn’t enough to keep me interested or read the rest of the series. Granted, the plot twist at the end was exactly what I was expecting, and had I liked the book, I would have been very quick to pick up the next book or at least finish it.

The premise of the book was great. To think that people have been living in space for the past 300 years or so after humans end up destroying Earth in a nuclear war is something that could easily happen with the way things are going right now. This book would have been the perfect way to delve deeper into that world and see what would happen if humans found a way to go back to Earth after all those years.

Honestly, I really wanted to see that play out, and I was really hoping that it would be a really good book. But unfortunately, it just didn’t catch my interest as much as it should have. Keep in mind, this is only the first book of the series, and maybe it was Morgan’s intention to keep it that way so as not to give too much away in the first book. But if the first book isn’t enough to keep me interested, then what would make me want to go on to the rest of the series?

Watch the TV show. The action is better, the story is more exciting, the characters are people you actually want to root for. Well, except for Clarke. For some reason, I just don’t like her in either outlet. Sorry.

Rated: 3/5 ★

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – Book Review

December 30, 2016 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 2 Comments

Alina Starkov doesn’t expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, she is sure of only one thing: her best friend, Mal–and her inconvenient crush on him. Until the day their army regiment enters the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. When their convoy is attacked and Mal is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power not even she knew existed.

Ripped from everything she knows, Alina is taken to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. With Alina’s extraordinary power in his arsenal, he believes they can finally destory the Fold. Now Alina must find a way to master her untamed gift and somehow fit into her new life without Mal by her side. But nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and her dangerous attraction to the Darkling grows, Alina will uncover a secret that could tear her heart–and her country–in two.

“I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I’d catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I’d seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I’d realize that you weren’t there anymore, and every time,every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don’t tell me why we don’t belong together,” he said fiercely.”

This book…

This book has been on my TBR list since it first came out. It was initially published back in 2012, and only now, at the very end of 2016 did I get a chance to finally read it. This is actually the case with a lot of other books that I have been meaning to read for years and just never got the chance to. Whether it was because I could never find a copy of the book to buy or borrow, or too many books that I wanted to read came out around the same time and I ended up forgetting about them until the next time I saw it again. Either way, I’m just glad that I was able to finally get my hands on the entire series and start with the first book.

One of the first things that I noticed when I was reading this book was the Russian influence in it. Granted, when I really felt like I was in some sort of alternate universe Russia, I took some time to read one of the reviews on GoodReads where it basically said that Bardugo didn’t do her proper research on Russian culture and messed up on some things throughout her book. If you want to read more about it, just let me know, or a quick search on GoodReads under the review section of this book, and I’m sure you will find it the same way that I did. Either way, since I read any bonus material until after I finished the book, it was at least nice to have it confirmed that I wasn’t going crazy, and that the reason why I felt like I was in some sort of Russian world was because Bardugo made it that way. If you haven’t read it before, the moment you look at the map, you’ll see what I mean.

Anyway.

This was definitely an exciting book for me to end the year with. Honestly, I don’t even want to read another book until the new year starts so that I can end 2016 with a really good story. It was one of the books that I just could not put down, and I really wish that I could have started this book sooner. Years sooner.

To start, Alina and Mal are both orphans, who grew up together under the care of a rich Duke that liked to adopt other orphans. I honestly don’t know if it was a play to be popular among the people, or if he genuinely didn’t want any of these orphans to grow up alone. It wasn’t like they didn’t have to earn their keep. They were working along with the rest of the house servants, as if he was just adding to his personal work force but didn’t have to give them money. I still can’t tell, especially when Alina ends up seeing him again sometime later. Well, Alina and Mal end up growing up together and end up serving in the First Army together, with Mal being an excellent tracker and Alina being a somewhat good cartographer. Well, their unit was sent to cross into the Shadow Fold, this extremely dark curse on the land that is filled with man eating creatures named volcra. Mostly anyone who has tried to cross the Fold winds up torn to pieces.

So when Alina and Mal are forced to cross over with members of the First and Second Army, it should come as no surprise when they get attacked and almost die. In fact, they would have died if it wasn’t for Alina, and that’s where the story really begins.

The Darkling, such a mysterious character that you don’t know whether to trust or run away from, ends up taking Alina under his wing, trying to make her stronger so that she can save her war torn country and bring peace to the lands. But is that really what his end goal is? His beautiful eyes and merciless behavior both draws people in and keeps them at bay. Even Alina can’t seem to resist his pull, and a part of her wants to be by his side, almost like the Darkling’s queen. With the Darkling as the most powerful Grisha in existence and Alina… well on the verge of becoming something great, there really wouldn’t be anything to stop them. But are they good or bad?

Will they save the world, or destroy it?

The different twists in this book had me on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t put this book down except to go to sleep and go to work. It was amazing. The world was one that I could really see in my mind, and Alina and Mal are two of my favorite characters in the entire book. I also liked another character, Genya, which if you’re someone like me, you’d like her too. I can’t wait to continue this series. My review probably didn’t sound like much of a review, but trust me when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed this ride.

Rated: 5/5 ★