oneandonlywm3

Kindly skip the sentences that were underlined as they will contain spoilers.


Before I get into the review of the novel, I'd like to point out that I was expecting this to be a bad rip off of Ready Player One. RPO's one of my favorite novels, so I had mountain high expectations for The Eye of Minds.

Just like James Dashner's The Maze Runner, this one literally started with a mystery. I kinda like that about Dashner. A mystery at the very beginning tends to make the reader speculate possible events, although with that style, consistency is a must.

Honestly there were a lot of problems with this novel. Some that cannot be overlooked.

Michael, Sarah, and Bryson are best friends, but only in the VirtNet, not in the real world. That's not the problem though, the problem was that they were described as the smart ones. Sure, conceitedness is very evident in most novels, but like I said, consistency is necessary. They were introduced as smart kids, so I was expecting them to actually be smart. But blindly accepting VNS' mission/forced task was clearly stupid . Yes, I know they threatened Michael, and also cut him off VirtNet, and that triggered his choice to accept the mission, but, if he's really smart, he could've found a way out of the threat. But instead, he dumbly followed VNS. Thus causing havoc in his life.

Another terrible thing I noticed was that Dashner didn't explain a very important concept well, and that's tangent. I understood tangent as something from my Trigonometry class, those who aren't computer nerds would be unsure of the meaning. I did use my context clues skills and decided to conclude that the meaning of tangent here was something that exists because it was made, and something in a computer. I wanted to be certain though, so I decided to check it out on the net. Here's what I got from Urban Dictionary:

Mathematician who got back from the beach.

Noun: A completely and utterly worthless computer company that sells blocks a shit, aka laptops, to college students.

one that is
a. radio disc jockey that touches a circle of toenails at one toenail
b. a polar bear
c. an idiot of the 270th degree; three pie halves in radians

My point being, the author should've clearly described what the hell tangent meant. I'm sure that some people would say "use your common sense, it's so obvious that it's all about computer shit", well, that's your opinion of it. I did speculate about it having to do with computers, so I guess I used my common sense.

Now, to talk about things that I liked about this, as to support my 4 stars.

Kaine. He was very likeable, especially this being a YA novel. Most antagonists in YA tend to become boring and weak. Kaine on the other hand, proved to be the monstrous devil he clearly was. In fact, I liked him more than all of the protagonists combined. That's not necessarily bad in a novel, one liking the antagonist more, but clearly the author intended Michael and his friends to be superior.

The huge plot twist in the end, and the one near the end were very good. I did not see them coming, that being said, the rating from 3 moved up to 4. Without those plot twist of Kaine being a tangent, then Michael being a tangent, this would be one hell of a mediocre novel.

One more thing that I liked would be, believe it or not, the somewhat non-existence of romance in this novel. That was a huge thing for me, as I was expecting little romance, if not none because of the blurb. Most, if not all, YA novels revolve around romance, and most of the time, it should be called forced romance. I guess most YA authors write for the ladies, and that's why I really filter out YA novels, and only read the ones that were meant for both genders. This novel was not chick-lit, not even a little. It was also not romance-YA-lit. That being said, this actually turned out to be a good novel for me, in terms of that standard. The only hint of romance would be of Michael and Sarah in the end, where they promised each other stuff. But that could also be interpreted as a best friend gesture, idk, it depends on the reader I guess.

Another thing I'd like to point out before ending this review would be the ignorance of people when it comes to the blurb/synopsis of the novel, or even the genre at all. Kindly read it first, and decide if you really want to read the novel. Don't just read something because of the hype it's been receiving, because if the blurb bored the hell out of you, what more would the novel. I'll be honest and say that I tend to read novels without really reading the blurb, and end up hating the novel. Although if a person didn't like the blurb, but ended up loving the novel, then that makes the author a really good writer. A very difficult thing to achieve, so I'd suggest the reading of the blurb properly part.

The huge plot twist would result into an obvious sequel, and I heard that this was going to be a trilogy, and I can't wait to read the next book. This had an original plot, and I guess I really liked this one. I didn't mind the "writing style" of Dashner, that everyone seemed to hate. It was bearable, for me at least. A solid 4 stars, and I'd like to point out that this may bring back hope to the YA genre(alongside Steelheart- Brandon Sanderson), for me at least. If you're a Sci-Fi fan, I'd give this one a try. It was a good short read, not disappointing, but also not amazing. Kindly remind yourself that this is a YA novel, so don't expect much. Bad world building, and mediocre character development. In terms of YA though, this could be considered amazing, especially when compared to others of the same genre.

Mixed thoughts about this one. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but for a YA novel, this was sort of good to be honest.

So The 5th Wave was basically about an alien invasion wherein the "aliens" try to eradicate the human race. The big question is, why? And also, how?

This novel was written with a dual point-of-view. Very common in YA novels, and most actually succeed by doing this. I could consider this as one of those successful ones, but only because I liked one of the two. Let me talk about the one I didn't like first.

 

Cassie's point-of-view
This should've been the favorable one, but 100% not for me. At first though, I did like her pov(point of view) very much because it talked about how she wanted, and was surviving the invasion. But as the novel progressed, all I read was romance. I know romance is very essential to any kind of novel, but too much is never good.

The part about Evan Walker was very disappointingly predictable. She clearly violated her number one rule, don't trust anyone. In fact, she violated it very quickly. She just trusted him for no reason at all. That seems to be rather contradicting.

(show spoiler)

I know that the romance was just added for the sake of it, and I was clearly supposed to be engrossed with her survival story, but the opposite thing happened. I read more of her wanting to like Evan, to hating Evan, more than her actual surviving. That was a huge letdown for me.

Zombie's point-of-view
Now this is how a Post Apocalyptic novel should be written. His story was clearly better than Cassie's, for the sole reason that his story talked about the novel, as Cassie's should have had. Honestly his pov reminded me of Ender's Game. A crew in training, with a "weak" leader, and their need to climb their way up to the top of the scoreboard. His parts were very climactic, and it obviously contributed most to the plot and its development.

 

So he became the sort of guardian of Nugget, or Sammy (Cassie's brother). And it's amazing how he gave everything he could to save this kid's life. He wasn't even related to him. Another reminder of Ender's Game for me, in a way.

(show spoiler)

Characters(Cassie) aside, another huge problem encircles this novel. Its predictability. All of the twists were very predictable for me. In fact, I was just waiting for them to finally come up. But like I said, I did expect this from a YA novel, so expectations were lowered to the extreme level.

Evan Walker being the silencer would be the biggest joke of a plot twist ever. First things first, he showed up, taking care of Cassie out of nowhere, and all of a sudden he told her that he loves her. With no clear explanation why he was helping her. And Cassie, alongside violating her first rule, gave her complete trust and didn't doubt him, until it was too late. He ended up not being the bad guy though, but his feeling for Cassie was still a huge question. It made him look like a psycho.

The recruiting of the kids, and ended up being a huge betrayal was also very predictable. Maybe its just because I've read many YA novels, and Sci-Fi novels, thus the predictability was very apparent to me.

(show spoiler)

Another huge disappointment would be the lack of development of the main premise of the story, aliens. That was one of the few reasons why I ended up reading this novel in the first place. Hopefully we'd see more Sci-Fi in the next novel, as this was the first novel, clearly for world building and character development.
 
The very good thing about this novel though was that it answered all of the questions it needed to, despite it being a series (I think). I know most YA novels end up answering all the questions in the second or third novel, and it shouldn't be like that. Each book needs closure, and this proved to be a good first novel.

So after all those complaints, one may ask why I rated this 4 stars, and the reason's that I liked Zombie's story. His training and survival made this novel quite enjoyable. Cassie might've been a let down, but maybe she could redeem herself in the next novel. Not sure what the next novel would be about, because this ended up not being a cliffhanger. After a huge lowering of expectations,  the result was a 4 star rating. Not the best YA novel I've read, but it wasn't as bad as the others. This had more depth in the plot, alongside the cheesy overused romance. I'd recommend this to avid YA readers, as they'd like this more than I did. For those who aren't immune to the YA genre, better lower your expectations like I did, or you're in for a mediocre ride.

Mixed thoughts about this one. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but for a YA novel, this was sort of good to be honest.

So The 5th Wave was basically about an alien invasion wherein the "aliens" try to eradicate the human race. The big question is, why? And also, how?

This novel was written with a dual point-of-view. Very common in YA novels, and most actually succeed by doing this. I could consider this as one of those successful ones, but only because I liked one of the two. Let me talk about the one I didn't like first.

Cassie's point-of-view
This should've been the favorable one, but 100% not for me. At first though, I did like her pov(point of view) very much because it talked about how she wanted, and was surviving the invasion. But as the novel progressed, all I read was romance. I know romance is very essential to any kind of novel, but too much is never good.

The part about Evan Walker was very disappointingly predictable. She clearly violated her number one rule, don't trust anyone. In fact, she violated it very quickly. She just trusted him for no reason at all. That seems to be rather contradicting.

I know that the romance was just added for the sake of it, and I was clearly supposed to be engrossed with her survival story, but the opposite thing happened. I read more of her wanting to like Evan, to hating Evan, more than her actual surviving. That was a huge letdown for me.

Zombie's point-of-view
Now this is how a Post Apocalyptic novel should be written. His story was clearly better than Cassie's, for the sole reason that his story talked about the novel, as Cassie's should have had. Honestly his pov reminded me of Ender's Game. A crew in training, with a "weak" leader, and their need to climb their way up to the top of the scoreboard. His parts were very climactic, and it obviously contributed most to the plot and its development.

So he became the sort of guardian of Nugget, or Sammy (Cassie's brother). And it's amazing how he gave everything he could to save this kid's life. He wasn't even related to him. Another reminder of Ender's Game for me, in a way.

Characters(Cassie) aside, another huge problem encircles this novel. Its predictability. All of the twists were very predictable for me. In fact, I was just waiting for them to finally come up. But like I said, I did expect this from a YA novel, so expectations were lowered to the extreme level.

Evan Walker being the silencer would be the biggest joke of a plot twist ever. First things first, he showed up, taking care of Cassie out of nowhere, and all of a sudden he told her that he loves her. With no clear explanation why he was helping her. And Cassie, alongside violating her first rule, gave her complete trust and didn't doubt him, until it was too late. He ended up not being the bad guy though, but his feeling for Cassie was still a huge question. It made him look like a psycho.

The recruiting of the kids, and ended up being a huge betrayal was also very predictable. Maybe its just because I've read many YA novels, and Sci-Fi novels, thus the predictability was very apparent to me.

Another huge disappointment would be the lack of development of the main premise of the story, aliens. That was one of the few reasons why I ended up reading this novel in the first place. Hopefully we'd see more Sci-Fi in the next novel, as this was the first novel, clearly for world building and character development.

The very good thing about this novel though was that it answered all of the questions it needed to, despite it being a series (I think). I know most YA novels end up answering all the questions in the second or third novel, and it shouldn't be like that. Each book needs closure, and this proved to be a good first novel.

So after all those complaints, one may ask why I rated this 4 stars, and the reason's that I liked Zombie's story. His training and survival made this novel quite enjoyable. Cassie might've been a let down, but maybe she could redeem herself in the next novel. Not sure what the next novel would be about, because this ended up not being a cliffhanger. After a huge lowering of expectations, the result was a 4 star rating. Not the best YA novel I've read, but it wasn't as bad as the others. This had more depth in the plot, alongside the cheesy overused romance. I'd recommend this to avid YA readers, as they'd like this more than I did. For those who aren't immune to the YA genre, better lower your expectations like I did, or you're in for a mediocre ride.

Special mention to Kat Stark! Because of her 4 star rating of this, and a really favorable review, I decided to pick this up again, as it was lying around on break for over 3 months already. I completely forgot about it (blame the really long to-read shelf). Thanks Kat! Your review was amazing, and it ended up making me finish an amazing novel.

Here's a link to her review: my link text

Finally finished this, and I'm really glad I did. What a freakin' ending that was.

The best Stephen King book that I've read, alongside The Long Walk. Kindly consider though that I've only read three as of this moment. Needful Things, The Long Walk and Carrie. Carrie was another great novel, but Needful Things and The Long Walk were far more superior for me.

Not really sure why this has a low rating on Goodreads. Better read around and find out.

It had a diverse set of characters, and all of them were interesting in their own ways. I'm not going to mention all of them anymore, as it would lengthen this review, and that's quite unnecessary anyway.

Some of the notable characters though were Nettie, Polly, Alan, Brian, Ace, and Sean. Okay I was kidding, of course we need to add Mr. Leland Gaunt. He was one of the most powerful characters I've ever encountered. Aside from all the symbolism he portrayed, his character alone made the novel as amazing as it was. All the fighting around town were really interesting in their own ways, and we can all blame the "devil" Leland Gaunt for that.

One thing that I didn't like about this novel though was the length. It could've been lessen down to around 300-500 pages, then it would be more bearable than its current state. But aside from the length, I couldn't find anymore flaws. I did bear with it, but it took me around 4 months to finish this. I did take a break during the middle part though. So if I were to exclude the break that I took, I probably finished this in a week or so.

Needful Things is the name of the shop where all your wishes can come true, but it's for a price. There's nothing in the world that's free nowadays, unless there's a mad"man" who wants to cause havoc in the vicinity. An interesting name like that would tempt and catch anyone's attention, thus the havoc began.

Honestly the blurb alone made me want to pickup this novel right away. Interestingly new for me, so I gave it a try. When I did pick this up though, I was still in the state wherein I didn't like reading huge novels, thus the break commenced. Now though, I am more interested in Fantasy novels, and Sci-Fi, so the length does not bother me anymore. Special mention to you A Song of Ice and Fire. That being said, I think that if I were to reread this right now, I would enjoy it even more, and it might even make it to my favorites shelf, but that's not going to happen right now. With my to-read shelf as long as the great wall of China, I can't really afford to reread as of right now. In the future though, I'm going to read this again for sure.

I pretty much rambled on about useless things in the previous paragraph/s, so I'm going to wrap things up right now. A very interestingly good novel. Have yourself a different read, and have a great time in the process too. Honestly a few dull moments here and there, but just a few paragraphs or so, very bearable in my case. This will not be my last ever Stephen King novel, in fact, I have around 5 more sitting impatiently on my bookshelf. I'm going to read another, if not more of his works in the near future. 5/5 stars, truly deserving.

The few first sentences of this short novel made me rate it 5 stars right away.

The day had finally arrived, a day I'd been awaiting for ten years. A glorious day, a momentous day, a day of import and distinction.

It was time to buy a hot dog.

Okay I was kidding, obviously there are a lot more reasons why this short novel was pretty amazing.

Brandon Sanderson is the only author (as of right now) who could write an amazing SHORT NOVEL .

I mean, you have to admit that most short novels are either mediocre, or just good. Most would receive 3-4 stars, and only a few had the privilege to earn that 5 stars. Mitosis is one of the few worthy of that 5 stars.

I read this weeks after I've read Steelheart, so the Steelheart book hangover was over already. Steelheart was really good, so I was expecting a lot from this short story.

So this is basically about Mitosis, an epic who can mutate himself. Obviously an enemy who could mutate himself would be a huge problem to any superhero out there. So David and the Reckoners had to find the weakness of Mitosis to defeat him, and keep Newcago safe, once again.

Don't worry, I'm not going to state Mitosis' weakness, just because I don't want to use a spoiler tag, and because it was really shocking for me. Didn't expect it at all, and I want you guys to experience the same thing.

One of the few things that I really liked about this series was the weaknesses of the Epics. It made me ponder upon it a lot. I tend to pause from reading because of all the speculations going on in my mind of what the weaknesses could be. There are literally thousands if not millions of possibilities, and Brandon Sanderson always has a pack of witty ones right up his sleeves. I can't wait for the second book, and I might not have to wait that long anymore. (Fall of 2014), and I still have millions of books to read anyway, and some of them are of Brandon Sanderson too.

To wrap things up, this was an amazing short story. This was my first time writing a review for a short story, and clearly I had a good reason to do so. Buy this, and you'll surely get your money's worth. 5/5 stars, another amazing piece of treasure from the master of Fantasy, Brandon Sanderson.

A few quotes from the novel, so I guess slight spoilers ahead. Major spoilers will be hidden under a spoiler tag, lol just wanted to do that.

Wow, what an amazing novel! Been wanting to read a good Sci-Fi-Space novel for quite some time now.

I'll be honest and say that I was a little bit disappointed because no Space-Horror happened, but everything else made up for it, and I was aware, because of the blurb, that this was not going to be a horror novel, so my mistake for hoping for something that clearly wasn't going to happen.

Another truth to be told, I hated the humor of the novel, until page 71. I hated it so much that I had to put sticky notes on every bad humor the main character tried to execute. I ended up wasting 19 sticky notes. But right after page 71, everything became so much better.

I started to love the humor of Mark Watney. Mark Watney is one freakin' funny man. Despite being alone on Mars, he still has a great sense of humor! I realized that after 71 pages though.

Aside from Mark Watney, the other characters (slightly minor I guess?) were very humorous too! Notably Venkat, Mindy, Annie, Teddy, and Mitch.

Venkat who's always seemingly panicking.
Mindy who got cocky in the end.
Annie with the constant swearing. We can even nickname her fuck.
Teddy who hates the press. I think Venkat hated the press too?
and finally Mitch. Mitch, just Mitch.

Here are three funny quotations, that literally made me laugh out loud.

"Also, please tell them that each and everyone of their mothers is a prostitute.
-Watney
PS: Their sisters, too."

LOG ENTRY: SOL 61
How come Aquaman can control whales? They're mammals! Makes no sense
-Watney

That was when people from NASA were wondering what Watney could be thinking, was he losing his mind? Nope, just a great sense of humor.

"Also, he's a good-natured man. Usually cheerful with a great sense of humor." - Irene (Psychologist)

Okay that last one didn't make me laugh, but it was a clear and concise description of Watney!

Enough with the characters, now to talk about the plot, and the novel itself I guess.

There were a lot of Science, and I love Science. A few Chemistry here and there too (titration and of course Nitrogen, Oxygen, CO2, etc.). Also a lot of space stuff, and Physics stuff too. Almost all of the space stuff were alien to me, but it was very fun to read about, and learn at the same time. (I sure hope those facts were actually facts).

Another thing that I really liked was the way the author described how Mark Watney tried to survive on his own, on Mars. Clearly most people have vague knowledge of Mars, so I was really expecting to learn a lot of it, and have fun at the same time. Got my wish.


EDIT: I decided to put this in a spoiler tag. Just realized what a major spoiler this paragraph is.

Not sure if this should be hidden by a spoiler tag so, if you haven't read it yet, skip this paragraph. I honestly thought Mark Watney was not going to make it. The odds were very much against him. Everything he tried to do (correctly) failed, because of natural causes like sandstorms and the difference of atmosphere and other stuff on Mars. But in the end, he actually survived. (What a relief).



This novel was a perfect example of a page turner. I didn't want to stop reading because I had to know the fate of Watney. If sleep was not a necessity, I would've finished this in one reading. Such an amazing novel.

One more thing, if I were to choose my least favorite planet, it would be Mars. Despite this book being awesome, I still don't find Mars as exciting as any other planet. That includes you planetoid Pluto, we all love you. And by the way I hated John Carter of Mars. See, Mars. Not a huge fan, but this novel was still pretty amazing despite it actually being about Mars, and the survival of Mark Watney of course. I think the survival part outweighs the Mars part.

I'm not quite sure but I think I've written one long review. So, to wrap things up, this was an amazing novel. How could someone read about Mark Watney and not want to know what would happen to him? Add a huge amount of Sci-Fi facts to spice things up. A huge recommendation to any Sci-Fi fans, and I wanna say to the people who are interested with the survival genre? Cause this was clearly about one man's survival on Mars. Added this to my favorites list, now it's time to look for more awesome space novels.

5 out of 5 potatoes indeed.

I decided not to do a full review anymore, just because my review would be a comparison of this to another amazing Fantasy novel, and not of the YA genre. I know how some people are very protective of their favorite books, so I decided to avoid arguments from the fanatics of Shadow and Bone.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad novel, but clearly it wasn't good enough for me. It was good enough though to make me slightly want to read the sequel. In short, it was good enough for a Young-Adult novel.

A huge warning for avid Fantasy readers like me, don't expect much Fantasy. You'll be receiving more romance than Fantasy, and even more romance than a concise explanation of how the magic system works. Normal problem/s for a YA novel. Nothing wrong with a little romance in a novel, but too much overpowers the other supposedly good elements of the novel. Avid YA readers would devour this though, don't get me wrong. I'll try to further lower down my expectations for the sequel, if I am to read it soon.

A huge disappointment for me, but to be honest I only picked this up because of that awesome looking cover.

Don't judge a book by its cover

Yeah that doesn't really apply much nowadays.

The novel started really slow, and I mean really slow. I was already in the middle yet it felt like the beginning of the book. Well come to think of it, it was a rather fast read. The font was big, and the spaces were kind of big so that made the novel look longer, but believe me, it's a short read.

The characters were okay, nothing to be wowed about. I didn't relate to any of them, and to be honest, Wren was really weak for me. A weak main character. Callum, alongside Wren, was also a weak character. Damn it, all of them weren't developed enough to be liked.

During the last few chapters though, both I kinda liked both of them, but come on, it took me more than 75% of the novel to like the main characters, that says a lot.

Now, to talk about the plot. I have a huge problem with the blurb. The blurb pretty much summed up the entire novel. In fact, I'm now regretting reading the blurb. Okay maybe the blurb spoiled till 75% of the book, but that's huge.

But the perfect soldier is done taking orders

Way to spoil the surprise.

If Wren did stop following orders around 20-30% of the novel, then that would've been much better, but no, she stopped following orders around 50% of the novel. Nothing shocked me. I don't wanna spoil, and I don't wanna add more spoiler tags so I'm just gonna say that nothing shocked me, even the parts that probably shocked you.

So the novel revolved around Wren falling for Callum I guess.

I didn't expect to read that much romance from this one, but Young-Adult novels nowadays have so much romance in it that it ends up overpowering the main premise of the novel. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate romance, but it being a main theme of the novel wouldn't catch my interest at all, nor will it make me really like the novel. Sure Wren and Callum's romance was pretty different, but the novel revolved around that. I was expecting a different read I guess. Should've read more of the reviews, my fault.

All those things said aside, I'm still willing to buy and read Rebel, the second novel, just because starting from around 80% of the novel, things started to get a little bit interesting. The Sci-Fi premise of the novel started to really standout. That being said, I guess I'm still a bit interested to know what's going to happen next, and how the duology will end.

Not a huge recommendation from me, because obviously I've read way better YA novels, or novels in general, and add the fact that I'm not really a fan of YA. Slow start and middle, and the end was a bit interesting. Avid YA readers would probably love this, but not me, "I liked it" though in a way(last few chapters), hence the three stars.

Sometimes in terms of novels,
The end justifies the means

I did say sometimes. Add this to the sometimes list.

One of my favorite novels of all time. Of all time. Amazing world building, best I've ever read for now. Amazing in a way that every detail was thought of very well. Aside from the best world building I've ever read, the characters were also just as superb. Wade Watts has been added to my favorite characters of all time.

A video game themed novel, what more can anyone ask for? Aside from it having amazing references from amazing video games and movies that I've known since I was a child, the characters were also amazing. In fact, everything about this novel was amazing for me. I can't find any flaws in this novel, is that even possible? I knew almost everything that the author talked about (video games, movies, etc.), I couldn't help but feel proud that I knew all those, despite being called a geek by someone.

OASIS is a virtual utopia, where users can log-in and be in a world, similar to the real one, a virtual reality in short. Honestly, OASIS is my dream video game ever since I was a child, so I was super excited before reading this. I had mountain high expectations, and I was shocked that I was left not only satisfied, but also amazed after reading this novel. I took my time reading this, took me around 3-5 days to read this, and the only reason for that was I wanted to enjoy the novel. It being a standalone, I needed to enjoy every moment.

Wade Watts or Parzival was a very realistically awesome character. Similar things can be said about Aech and Art3mis. The other minor or slight major characters were also interesting in their own ways, and obviously their existence were a need to convey that amazing plot. It was unavoidable to hate Sorrento though, he was just a huge pain in the novel, but like I said, I loved every character in this novel.

The last chapter produced so much emotions. Aside from it being the fact that the novel was ending, I felt teary eyed reading it because of Wade and Art3mis. I'm not going to go into detail so that I may not spoil anything, but to keep things short, get ready to feel mixed emotions of high intensity while reading the last few chapters. I've grown to love every character, so that obviously contributed to my feelings toward the end.

An amazing novel for Sci-Fi fans, or maybe even a normal avid reader. If you haven't picked this book up, there's clearly something wrong with you, or you've been living under a rock. Go ahead and read this, and have one of the best reads you'll ever have. I think I need a new shelf named "Exceptional-Favorites" just for this novel, I might have to think this through.

More of a 100 stars rather than the mainstream 5. I will definitely read this again soon. A need to immerse oneself with a superb novel is a necessity, and Ready Player One is my choice for that. A fun filled ride with the occasional reference to one of your favorite games/movies of all time. This novel is a need, not a want.

What a huge disappointment. My rating now might change depending on my further assessment of the novel. I'm still contemplating whether I should give it 1 or 2 stars. Most of my 1 star are for my dnf books, so I might go ahead and give this a 2. Lucky bastard, but like I said, it might drop down to 1star one day.

The main problem would be the characters. Almost all of them were flat and dull. Dull to the point that you wouldn't mind them dying. To be honest Kelly and her daughter were the only ones well developed. That says a lot about this novel, she's not even the main character. Nate was terribly boring, despite his knowledge of the Amazon and all. No sympathy felt while reading this.

Another huge problem would be the plot, or the substance of it. This novel had huge potential, but wow, it failed big time.

The Amazon. That alone drawn me in to read this novel, and obviously I was expecting a lot. I was expecting to read more of the animals, insects, and other weird made up creatures, but instead I was shoved with plants, and a few mildly interesting creatures.

Don't get me wrong, the plants mentioned in the novel were fairly interesting, but it wasn't adequate to make the novel as amazing as it should've been. Like I said, we're talking about the Amazon here, anything can happen. It being a huge mystery, James Rollins could've given us more than what he did. I can't further express how disappointed I am, because the list would go on and on if I am to talk about the inadequacy of the Amazon experience I was looking forward to.

Next issue would be the "secret" of the Amazon. It was okay, but nothing to be amazed about.

Sure the fact that his father was still alive was a little bit shocking, but I wasn't that impressed. Even the cure itself was utterly boring for me. Need I repeat myself, James Rollins could've given us more.


Before anyone comment on maybe I'm not fond of this genre, I will stop you right there and say that I'm a huge Sci-Fi fan, especially of this genre to be precise. Amazon, jungles, underwater, desert, etc. Those things interest me, especially the animals and weird horror filled things that could be unraveled. Mystery filled Sci-Fi adventure is an amazing genre for me, I've read some books, and also seen some movies regarding these, and I liked them.

So to sum it all up, I really didn't like this novel. It had a huge potential to be one of my favorites, but it ended up being one of the novels I wouldn't recommend to anyone. I didn't like it, but I guess it was also okay in a way. Mildly interesting botany facts, and a few mildly interesting creatures. If I were you though, I'd read something else of James Rollins. I've read some of his other novels, and really liked them. I did have huge expectations before reading this, so maybe that contributed to this awful disappointment I'm feeling right now.

2 bloody awful stars.

A satisfying conclusion to one of my favorite trilogies of all time. It delivered what it promised, closure. All answers have been answered. I'm very satisfied with this one, and the ending was really amazing.



So Vin and Elend died. I didn't expect that one happening to be honest, and what happened to Sazed was a shock too. Plus the "secret" about the atium was also unexpected. For me the death of one or two main characters is very cliche in terms of trilogies, but they way they died here was pretty different.



A lot of twists and turns, and unexpected events. This is a highly recommended trilogy. With a very interesting magic system, and characters that you will love till the end. An amazing trilogy written by an author who has mastered the genre of Fantasy. Can't wait to read A Way of Kings, another highly acclaimed work of Brandon Sanderson.

This was a really good thriller novel. An interesting premise, and it was very well executed.

Purified didn't have a slow start, it was gripping right from the beginning. There were a lot of possibilities, so I can't say that the novel was predictable. The whole time that I was reading this, a lot of speculations popped up in my head. A good novel does that. The book itself was written well, the timing of everything was perfect. The book never got boring for me, a lot of suspense every chapter. I did like the psychological-thriller genre novels I've read in the past, and I'm pretty sure I can consider this as one.

My only problem with the novel would be the flat characters. A lot of them were really forgettable, notably Warren, Steve, and Adam. Mason and Stace were the only ones interesting for me, and Dr Harlow of course, despite the problem stated though, I believe this deserves 4 stars. Not really sure if it's a standalone, hopefully not though. I really want more of this, a prequel or sequel would be nice.

I'm aware that a lot of people hated this one, or not hated, but rather they considered this as their least favorite. You might be wondering why I rated it 5 stars, and why I placed it on my favorites shelf, well this review will probably answer those questions.

Spoilers ahead! Only slight though, not much to spoil here to be honest.



I'm fairly aware that this had the least interesting events of the four, and to add the fact that Daenerys was not evident, plus only a bit of Jon Snow was mentioned, but I still really enjoyed it.

Jaime and Cersei both made this book very enjoyable for me. Honestly I had to take a break from all the main characters, although i wasn't expecting a full break from them though. I really liked Jaime and Cersei's relationship ever since book three, so that added to my liking of the book, considering both of them are the 'main characters' here. Nothing huge happened, but both of their adventure were fairly entertaining to me.

Brienne and the other random/fairly important characters were very interesting too. Their journey through the novel was entertaining, for me at least. I had to known if Brienne would fulfill her mission of locating and protecting Sansa Stark, as that was her sworn mission to Catelyn. Speaking of Catelyn, she also had a minimal appearance here (only one), and that made me slightly disappointed.


The part of Sansa and Arya had to be a bit confusing to me. It's my fault though for not paying that much attention to details, so j forgot about their secret identities, and got confused who the hell was speaking, thankfully their narration reminded me of who they really were. Despite the confused state I was in, i really enjoyed their chapters too. Quite an interesting journey for the both of them, and Arya has grown into a strong and independent girl/lady.


While reading the first three novels, which were as large as this one, I used to be super mindful of the pages. I found it a dread then to go on and on till I reach the 1000th page. I can't say the same for this one though. Obviously the first three novels were my first big books, so I was new to it then and was very impatient, because I tend to want to read as much novels as possible. I can' t say the same for this one though, I didn't even noticed that I was on page 500 already, I only did because I wanted to complain where Daenerys was.

So all I can say that this novel had fluidity. The novel having 978 pages didn't bother me for once.

The 'afterword' of George R R Martin really relieved me of the fear that the main characters weren't coming back, or them having less appearances.

Another reason, I think, why I liked this one so much is because I took a break from the series. After reading the third book, I read a lot of other novels before reading this one. That contributed to my wanting to know what's going to happen next. I'm a million percent sure that if i read this one right after reading the third, my rating would've been lower than 5 stars.


I think I've defended my 5 star rating and adding to the favorites shelf. I enjoyed this for a lot of reasons that other people thought otherwise. I respect their opinion, and hopefully they'd do the same. This concludes my review, I think I've said too much already. Once again though, I'm going to take a break first before reading the fifth novel, hopefully the outcome would be the same.

5 stars and another addition to my favorites list! An obvious recommendation to any fantasy readers out there. A fair warning though, the third book is my favorite of the series, so i'd suggest not expecting much of this one. A different adventure, but still quite amusing.

--Spoilers for the first book--


This one was even better than the first book!

I wasn't really expecting a lot from this before I read it. The reason is that the first book had a really good ending. The Lord Ruler died, so I thought, what more could happen? I didn't realize that the book would be talking about the aftermath of the death of the Lord Ruler, and the need to secure their place of royalty. This novel was also full of politics, and I really enjoyed that.

Can Elend and Vin save the city, or will their alliance prove to be a failure?

I'm not going to talk about the plot, or how superb the characters are, because those things are very eminent already.

All I can say is that from the beginning till the end, I really enjoyed this novel. A lot of betrayal, and a huge twist in the end. Honestly the last few chapters really made my heart beat faster, the novel was that good.

Another addition to my favorites list, I might even read this again one day, if I find the time. A huge recommendation, even bigger than my recommendation of the first one. This was a really good novel, and I can't wait to read the third one. Brandon Sanderson, you are an epic writer.

Interesting blurb, it caught my interest right away. I was reluctant though because of it being a YA novel, and that Brandon Sanderson wrote it. I've read Mistborn, and I loved it. Mistborn is not a YA novel, so I had to see if Brandon Sanderson can write a great YA novel, and he clearly did.

Steelheart killed David's father when he was still a child, and that caused his yearning for vengeance. He spent years researching about Steelheart, to know what his weakness is, because he's the only person who saw Steelheart bleed. The Reckoners is a group that kills epics. The epics that kill people for no apparent reason. So the ones that abuse power in short. .

David knew that he couldn't fight Steelheart alone, and after 10 years of extensive research and study of Steelheart, he still hasn't figured out the mighty epic's weakness.

What made me read till the end was my wanting to know the mysterious weakness of Steelheart. It's very intriguing for me because I am a huge fan of "Superheros" especially of those of Marvel and DC.

I didn't expect the weakness of Steelheart to be something original considering I've read a lot of comics about superheros already. But I've never read of a fictional character having this weakness the only thing that could hurt Steelheart is someone who's not afraid of him.
I thought that David might not be afraid of him considering his yearning for vengeance has been driving him for years, but clearly his attempt to kill Steelheart by firing 3 gunshots didn't do the trick. .
So in the end I found out that the only person not afraid of Steelheart, was Steelheart himself. David set up a trap with his gun and that caused Steelheart to pull the trigger, pointing at David, yet the gun exploded to himself, causing his death.

After that really good ending, I'm not sure what can happen next. I'm not that excited for the sequel, because I have no idea what's going to happen to the next novel. Although Megan is fairly interesting, and she hasn't really made her decision yet if I'm not mistaken? She's an epic who "tricked" the reckoners into believing that she also wanted to kill Steelheart, but no, she's an epic herself, an epic named Firefight, one of Steelheart's "companions?".

So to wrap things up, this was a great novel for me. Superheros are my thing up to now, so the novel was great. A very fast read, something light after my few High/Dark/Epic Fantasy novels. I'll be reading the second book once it's out in the stores. For now though, I'm going to read another Brandon Sanderson novel. He's been clearly added to my favorite authors. He knows how to write an amazing fantasy novel, even of the YA genre.

This novel for me was original and climatic. Never a dull moment, and all aspects were clearly explained. To be honest the blurb didn't amaze me, but thankfully I listened to all the recommendations because I ended up loving this novel, and hopefully the next books of the trilogy/series.

There was an amazing character development, and I really mean amazing. Vin, Elend and Kelsier are among my favorites.



Yes, in the beginning Vin was not much of a powerful character, but as the novel progressed she became a really strong character. And that was really necessary considering she's the main character. I also liked Elend, although I'm not sure if everyone else liked him. I don't think the author meant to describe Elend in a favorable way, but I clearly think that he will be more awesome in the next book, considering that he's the new king!

Kelsier has to be my favorite in this novel, and I got really annoyed because Brandon Sanderson decided to kill him right away. I know his death meant something to the plot and all, but for me his death came up rather early, too early in fact. We can consider him as a main character alongside Vin, and most main characters don't die until the second or third novel.

The other characters were also interesting in their own way, but some failed to meet my standards. Sazed was really cool, I believe that without him, there would be an inadequacy in Vin's character development. Lord Ruler for me was a weak villain. He only really showed up in the end, and he died right away. Clearly not a memorable villain, but interesting in his own way. We were already informed of his "secret" right away, and thus I have to ask, what will happen int he next novel? Who will the next antagonist be? It added to the excitement of reading the next book.

Some of the weaker characters are Elend's "friends", Breeze, and Dockson. I was expecting more from Breeze and Dockson, hopefully we'd see more growht in the second book.



This novel was amazing for me, and only thing I didn't like was Kelsier's death . That aside, this novel was almost flawless. I tried to look for flaws, or things I didn't like, but honestly, what's there to hate? (aside from the one I mentioned, but that's clearly opinionated, and can be forgotten I guess).

Clearly the magic system of this series is unique and original. I've never read a novel with characters using magic from metals. I love the Chemistry, and I think that contributed to my favorable review of this novel, and also to my liking of the novel itself. I like reading original stuff, or to rephrase that, great original stuff, and this satisfied my standards. I've been yearning to read an amazing magic fantasy novel, and I've finally found it (aside from the other awesome ones I've read of course.)

5 stars, favorites list, and a serious recommendation. If you're a fantasy fan, and you haven't read this, then you're clearly missing out on something so unique and awesome. I'm gonna read the next books soon, if not right away.