Lady Danielle

I know I said I was going to delete my damn account (many, many times), but whenever I look at that "delete my account" link, I cringe. I've been on that site for two years... two damn years and had such a fun time. I can't just give it up like that. I know some of you have been on longer and deleted faster than a man can blink, but I can't seem to do it. I haven't been reviewing on there since September (although I did post a little 'review' of my DNF The Book Thief in October), but that's all. (Sighs) I don't know, I still love GR... but then again I hate it. I guess you could say I'm hurt and angry at it. I'm treading cautiously, though. Goodreads is on eggshells, one more shit move can make those eggshells break. I'll see how things go next year.

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” 

If you'd asked me earlier this year about my thoughts on A Game of Thrones, I would have told you it's boring; however, my thoughts, opinions, and feelings are entirely different now since I pushed myself to finish this. Worth it.

I can speak for [almost] everybody when I say fantasy is the best genre to read to get lost in another world entirely different from our own -- especially the long fantasies since one could savour it a little more... A Game of Thrones is one of those long fantasies people should read. 

However, please be careful when looking at the shelves people put it on (i.e. dragons). There's some talk of dragons, but they're not present. This book mainly treads through exactly what the front of the cover says: a game of thrones. This is about ownership, wars, allegiance, betrayal, and long, long, discussions about heirs to the throne. You read about the Lannisters, Starks, Tullys, and other important surnames as well as their mottos. You read about the Seven Kingdoms. Magic slowly -- very, very slowly -- creeps its way into A Game of Thrones. This book is mainly about characters. I promise you, it's not as boring as I'm making it out to be. Due to the fact these are long fantasies and there are going to be 7 books in this series, I understand why A Game of Thrones is incredibly slow. The characters must be introduced.

When I put this book on hold at the library, my position in the "holds" queue was 100. Yes, 100. I waited patiently; once I received this, I started reading and couldn't let this book go. I read up to page 546 and had to return it because other people were waiting to read this and I couldn't renew it -- so I bought the damned 5 book box set. It's pricey, but definitely worth it. I don't regret wasting my money on this series one bit (not to mention the box set/books are really purrrttttyyyy). I'm reading Clash of Kings (book 2) and I'm taking my sweet, sweet time with reading it. I'm not rushed, I don't have to return the book to the library, nothing. I'm very happy.

Now, the characters: Arya, Sansa, Bran, Ned, Catelyn, Tyrion, Jon, and Daenerys. Eight alternating point of views. It's enough to make anyone run in the opposite direction; nevertheless, I found it rather interesting to read about each of these characters (though at times I wanted to fall asleep). I enjoy Tyrion and Daenerys' PoVs the most. 

Let me also add that this book -- at times -- isn't a very nice read: there's rape, incest, and gore in here. There's prostitution and slavery (claiming ownership of people as if they were dogs). Yes, not a very nice book... but it's realistic in a way like the middle ages. A Game of Thrones has that atmosphere. 

I have yet to see the HBO television series everyone's talking about. I mean, I've seen half of the very first episode (and liked it a lot), but I have yet to continue. I think I'm going to watch them once I've finished books 2 - 5.

So many passages I wanted to highlight/save to put it all in this review, but alas, I'm only going to quote a few inspiring ones here:

"... sometimes words can accomplish what swords cannot." (535)

"Most men would deny a hard truth than face it." (105)

"... a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it's to keep its edge." (103)

Brace yourselves when reading this, lads, winter is coming....

Now, you might say 2 1/2 stars is a bad rating... maybe a book that should be 'avoided'. On the contrary, my rating system is different: 2 1/2 stars is neither bad nor good. It's both a positive and negative thing. This review helps curious readers make a decision about picking this up and keeping an open mind whilst reading. 

It is understandable why people would either love or hate this book. This has so many flaws that makes readers lose their patience with continuing with the story. So many flaws. I honestly don't know how to write this review because I have a lot of stuff I want to talk about/cover. So... brace yourselves, my friends, this is going to be a semi-lengthy post.

_____________________________________________

Every reader knows that books' greatest hamartias are:

++ Insta-love

++ Love triangles/angst

++ Too many alternating PoVs -- especially if it's not done well

++ When the readers are left with questions that are [still] unanswered 

++ A story that's not wholly original/unique

++ Frustrating/flat characters

++ Confusing/unimportant/unnecessary flashbacks

++ When the world building isn't thoroughly created/written

... I think y'all are getting the picture.

With that being said: The 100 suffers from everything that I stated above (minus the love triangle [kind of], but the angst is present).

I hope Kass Morgan will be rid of the unnecessary flashbacks in the second instalment. It takes up 35% of the story which made me skim through the flashes or skip them entirely (only reading the end. Even after reading the end of the flashbacks I got the gist of the significance). Also, Glass's point of view was superfluous. I'm still scratching my head, wondering why the hell Morgan gave her an important role to play in this story. In all honesty, I skimmed through her PoVs and I have to say you're not going to miss much if you decide to do the same.

These alternating point of views was endurable, but, dude, can Morgan please make them a little longer with a gotdamn point? This is science fiction (in a way), but the "romance" grabs the story's importance (and rather amazing premise) and gives us this sappy teenage angst. 

And the story ends there.

Morgan's writing is amazing, but her imagination for creating a world entirely of her own is not. It's somewhat unoriginal; The 100 reminded me of Across the Universe by Beth Revis... but better. Kind of. There's some world building, however, since the story goes by swiftly and the romance is thickly present, it is not noticeable -- which is very unfortunate because no one can possibly deny the amazing concept of the story: after a nuclear war (or whatever) on Earth, humans boarded a ship. A century passes and the people are content with living outer space on there. However, 100 teens will be sent to Earth to see if there's still life on the planet. 100 teens who've been labelled "criminals". For some of the teens, this is not a bad sentence; some have been wanderlust -- craving to be off the ship they've spent their whole life on. When the teens arrive, things seem pretty normal. Only problem? Food shortage as well as medicine shortage... not to mention the older teens trying "take charge"... and the animals that have evolved. 

Bellamy stood with an animal carcass draped over hid shoulders, a trail of blood in his wake.

A deer. Wells's eyes travelled over the lifeless animal, taking in its soft brown fur, spindly legs, delicately tapered ears. As Bellamy moved toward them, the deer's head swayed back and forth from it's limp neck -- but it never made a full arc, because each time it swung back, it knocked against something else.

It was another head, swinging from another slender neck. The deer had two heads.

Kass Morgan should have wrote this book in third person PoV. If you're going to write about 100 teens going to a planet that hasn't been set foot on in a hundred years, you have a shitload of explaining to do. We don't want to read about some angst-y, poor-excuse-of-a-love-triangle bullcrap story. We want to be mindfucked and have an adrenaline rush whilst reading this. This could have been one of those stories that'd leave you biting your nails and wondering what's going to happen next. Morgan, in your next book, keep the fucking flashbacks to yourself (or possibly shorten them to a paragraph summary). Also, can we please have some more action and nerve racking shit? I mean, we're back on Earth, we need to be scared shitless about the life on the uninhabited planet because we have no idea what's going to happen and no idea how to survive a place we don't really know much about. Get rid of the fucking romance. That's the thing with novels nowadays: they have this brilliant premise, yet the icky romance completely decimates the entire story. I PROMISE, it's totally fine when romance isn't present when having a novel such as this. I feel that authors think we want that for every single novel. We don't. 

I'm not really a big fan of science fiction; I enjoy fantasy, paranormal, and historical fiction more. But I can't lie and say this was a horrible one. This has the potential, but everything I've stated above ruins the story and then some. I'm praying to the book gods and Kass Morgan that the sequel will be a whole lot better than this. I love and hate this book at the same time. Would I recommend this? I honestly don't know. It's all up to you. If you want to give it a shot, or not. It's not that shocking The 100 is being adapted into a television series as we speak (I have a feeling it's going to become a guilty pleasure of mine). Hell, it probably might be better than the book.

If you'd asked me earlier this year about my thoughts on A Game of Thrones, I would have told you it's boring; however, my thoughts, opinions, and feelings are entirely different now since I pushed myself to finish this. Worth it.

Review to come.

ohmygodohmygodohmygod

The time has come, off to Hogwarts!

Me when I first found out I was a witch:

Image from HERE.

Friends, as you have seen on the news, a monstrous typhoon hit my country last week. It killed, swept away, and displaced many people. What used to be lively provinces with lush green trees and heritage churches became wastelands that reek of death. Within a few hours, many of my brethren lost their homes and their loved ones, and have been left with absolutely nothing. It terrifies me to think what they could be feeling right now. Up to this day, aid is still scarce, and many are dying. 

On behalf of my fellowmen, I ask you to help and stand beside my helpless people rebuild their lives. I believe as citizens of the world, it is during these times that we have to help each other, especially those who have seen and felt the fury of nature's wrath.

If you can donate, please do so. Here is a link to many organizations that provide relief to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan: http://news.yahoo.com/how-to-help-donate-to-victims-of-super-typhoon-haiyan-195111618.html.

If you can't donate, that is fine as well. I instead ask you to keep the victims and families in your thoughts/prayers. Any of these is deeply appreciated.

Purchased the A Song of Fire and Ice box set (almost finished with Game of Thrones)

and bought the Lord of the Rings box set, My Life in France by Julia Child, Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Ashers, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and The Host by Stephenie Meyer from this wonderful; magical bookstore called Sam Johnson's Bookshop. Opera and classical music is playing whilst you browse through books. I wanted to buy everything -- they had rare books (new and used) at affordable prices.

If you're ever in Los Angeles, be sure to visit it:

The address is 12310 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

BUT HOW DID I NOT KNOW THE CASUAL VACANCY BY J.K. ROWLING IS GOING TO BE A TV SERIES NEXT YEAR?!

― Stacia Kane

EXTREMELY sorry I haven't been on lately (and haven't written my review for The 100): college. Essays. Studying. The shit I'm extremely new to -- I'm exhausted.

I'll be on this weekend (and I'm definitely still doing the Harry Potter read-along on the 18th -- can't miss that). 

Hi there,

 

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I honestly don't give a damn. At the end of the day, we're still censored. 

Besides, I'm not getting on my account anymore. Going to delete it on the 25th of this month (left my account up so people could find me, a month is good enough).

Finished...

I have a lot to say... 

Review to come.