[Review] Cruel Beauty - Rosamund Hodge

Author: Rosamund Hodge

Original Title: Cruel Beauty
Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release Date: January 28th, 2014
Finished Date: April 18th, 2015
Pages: 342
Read in: English

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom - all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth she has been in training to kill him.
With no choice but to fulfil her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle - a shifting maze of magical rooms - enthrals her.
As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Source: GoodReads

Rating

This is a very peculiar book. I'm glad I went into it knowing little more than that it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I can't decide whether this was beautifully weird or weirdly beautiful. Maybe it was both. The point is that this book should not have worked. But it did.

This book takes most of my buzzwords - greek mythology, Beauty and the beast retelling, morally grey characters - and blends them together in a complicated and strangely woven plot.

If you're looking for a great, out-of-the-box read, I definitely suggest picking this one up.

«Demons are made of shadow. Don't look at the shadows too long or a demon might look back.»

The following extended review contains spoilers

If you have not yet read the book and/or do not wish to be spoiled, please do not read any further.

[Review] Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) - Marissa Meyer

Author: Marissa Meyer

Original Title: Scarlet
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: February 5th, 2013
Finished Date: August 15th, 2015
Pages: 452
Read in: English

Synopsis

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. 

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Source: GoodReads

Rating

For starters, the one thing that really surprised me in this book is that we continue following Cinder's adventures, as well as Scarlet's. I thought that each book would be centred on a different character, meaning that this one would revolve around Scarlet, and that maybe we'd only hear about Cinder through other characters' POVs.
I was very glad that was not the case. Even though I felt that this book was overall weaker than the previous one - especially because of the part the romance played in it, but I'll explain that in detail in the spoilery section -, it was still a wonderful story full of twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat.

I ended up liking Scarlet as a character very much - maybe even more than I like Cinder. And of course there's the awesome addition of Carswell Thorne. I mean, Captain Carswell Thorne. With many of the characters from Cinder out of the picture, I was afraid this book would end up being dry or that I just wouldn't have enough time to get attached to another set of characters. But I did.
I honestly don't really know what to expect from the next two volumes. I thought I knew where this one was going and I really had no clue, so I think I'll just wait to be blown away.
If you haven't yet read the first book in the series, Cinder, go check that out. You won't regret it.

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1)
Glitches (The Lunar Chronicles, #0,5)

The following extended review contains spoilers

If you have not yet read the book and/or do not wish to be spoiled, please do not read any further.

[Review] Glitches (The Lunar Chronicles, #0,5) - Marissa Meyer

Author: Marissa Meyer

Original Title: Glitches
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: January 18th, 2012
Finished Date: August 1st, 2015
Pages: 32
Read in: English


Synopsis

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. In Glitches, a short prequel story to Cinder, we see the results of that illness play out, and the emotional toll that takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch…

Source: GoodReads

Rating

There won't be any spoilery bits to this review as it is such a short novella.

This was very bittersweet. In a way I loved it, because even though it made me very sad it gave insight into Cinder's childhood as well as her friendship with both Iko and Peony. But at the same time, it was so short. And it made me so mad at Adri. I can't even, you guys. This series is taking over my life.

I always feel very strongly for characters when they're children, especially if there's any kind of abuse involved. Reading this and seeing first hand how Adri psychologically abused Cinder was awful. The part where she decides to be useful and puts Iko back together was so sad. And then that ending with Garan where Iko and Cinder have that first friendship moment left me a bit hollow inside.

This is really very short, and if you have read Cinder, I suggest you read it - it won't take long, and it'll provide some background on Cinder's character.

Click here to see my review of Cinder:

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) - Marissa Meyer : ★★★★.5

Have you read this? What did you think? Let me know! :)

[Review] Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) - Marissa Meyer

Author: Marissa Meyer

Original Title: Cinder
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: January 3rd, 2012
Finished Date: July 17th, 2015
Pages: 390
Read in: English

Synopsis

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Source: GoodReads

Rating

This is seriously awesome. Please, check it out. I have no idea why it took me so long to pick it up, it sounded amazing and it really didn't disappoint. This is both science fiction, a futuristic envisioning of Earth and a fairy tale retelling, which honestly sounds like it shouldn't work, but it does. The book has that kind of quality or feeling to it that fairy tales seem to possess, which is that even though everything is kind of predictable in the sense that you know everything will turn out all right, you can't help but enjoy it.
Cinder is a reimagining of Cinderella as a futuristic cyborg mechanic. Even though you know she is Cinderella, don't believe there are no surprises. Don't think you know where her story is going, because trust me, you don't.
This was an awesome ride, and I highly recommend it.

The following extended review contains spoilers

If you have not yet read the book and/or do not wish to be spoiled, please do not read any further.

[Review] Life and death (Twilight, #5) - Stephenie Meyer

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Original title: Life and death - Twilight reimagined
Publisher: Little, Brown
Release date: October 6th, 2015
Finished date: October 11th, 2015
Pages: 442
Read in: English


Synopsis

Celebrate the tenth anniversary of Twilight! This special double-feature book includes the classic novel, Twilight, and a bold and surprising reimagining, Life and Death, by Stephenie Meyer.

Packaged as an oversize, jacketed hardcover “flip book,” this edition features nearly 400 pages of new content as well as exquisite new back cover art. Readers will relish experiencing the deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful love story of Bella and Edward through fresh eyes.

Source: GoodReads

Rating

Life and death is a complete gender swapped version of Twilight, written by Stephenie Meyer to prove that Bella wasn't really a damsel in distress, but a human in distress. Did Stephenie prove her point? I'm not sure, but I really think not. What Stephenie did was show us in not such big words what a screwed up society we live in. But I'll get into that in the spoilery section of this review. The point is this is not Midnight Sun.

Now, what everyone wants to know: IS IT WORTH BUYING?

Let me start out by saying that I'm not a Twilight hater. I started out as a gullible Twilight lover, actually. As I grew up, I begin wondering why my 14/15 year-old self loved this book so much. I went back and reread it. I did not enjoy the story that time around, but I couldn't deny the feeling of nostalgia that came with reading it. You see, back in 1999, 6 year-old me began reading the Harry Potter series. I got a new book every few years, and can you guess what I read in between? The ones that were already out. So by 2007, with the release of the last Harry Potter book, my reading life fell to a standstill. I was in a book hangover for a very long time, during which I read mostly classics.

It's easy to see why Twilight revolutionised my reading - I began reading YA again. I began reading fantasy again. And even though I loved Harry Potter with all my heart, I could finally move on.

It sounds overly dramatic, I know, but everything feels this way when you're 15.

So back to the question, do I believe you should buy this book?

No.

Unless you want to read the Twilight series for the first time, and never came in direct contact with the franchise, in which case, if you're curious enough, go ahead.

If you're just super super curious but don't wish to spend that amount of money on it - lets be honest, the cash cow is moaning right now - and you already know Twilight, try reading the spoilery section to make sure you really are that interested.

All in all, I didn't hate this book - I actually thought it was better than Twilight in some ways -, but I couldn't really take it seriously. Because even though the characters were gender swapped, their dialogue and especially Beau's inner turmoil remained mostly identical to their opposite gender counterparts. 

The following extended review contains spoilers

If you have not yet read the book and/or do not wish to be spoiled, please do not read any further.