Trailer Tuesday: The Giver

Finally we get a trailer!  I have been waiting for this movie, literally, since I first read the book as a kid.  I knew exactly how I would do it, from the black and white beginning, scoreless beginning, to the flashes of color and music, and finally the nail-biting escape in the end.  The book was screaming to be made into a movie, and finally they have.  Unfortunatley---and check out the trailer below to see if you agree with me---I am not overwhelmed.  Honestly, it looks okay, but like it's trying to be an entirely different dystopia book all together.  I'm hoping they'll put out a second trailer soon that restores my faith in the movie.  I mean, it has some amazing actors---Meryl Streep? Anyone? In fact, everyone looks talented and well cast. Maybe it's just because I love the book so much and this adaption isn't anything like I imagined.  I don't know.  Will I still see it?  Of course, because I'm desperately hoping it will succeed. Still, based on this trailer, I'm not convinced. I'm so not convinced, that though the trailer came out the same week as the Maze Runner, I decided to review/share that trailer first because that one made me excited.  This one? Not so much.  So check it out and see if you agree with me. Maybe it's everything you were hoping for.  It just doesn't seem half as good as I wanted it to be.

Meme Monday

http://themetapicture.com/books-can-take-you-to-another-world/

Book Review: Sky Raiders

Cole Randolph was just trying to have a fun time with his friends on Halloween (and maybe get to know Jenna Hunt a little better). But when a spooky haunted house turns out to be a portal to something much creepier, Cole finds himself on an adventure on a whole different level. 

After Cole sees his friends whisked away to some mysterious place underneath the haunted house, he dives in after them and ends up in The Outskirts. The Outskirts are made up of five kingdoms that lie between wakefulness and dreaming, reality and imagination, life and death. It’s an in-between place. Some people are born there. Some find their way there from our world, or from other worlds. 

And once you come to the Outskirts, it's very hard to leave. 
With the magic of the Outskirts starting to unravel, it's up to Cole and an unusual girl named Mira to rescue his friends, set things right in the Outskirts, and hopefully find his way back home before his existence is forgotten.  Quoted from Goodreads

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Ever since the Fablehaven phenomena, I've been a big Brandon Mull fan, so, of course, I had to check out his new series.  I'll admit, I was a little bit scared because I didn't feel like The Beyonders, while good, was nearly as good as Fablehaven, so I was interested to see how this book would turn out.  I was delightfully surprised. I thought maybe each series would get progressively worse, but I think I enjoyed Sky Raider's more than any book in The Beyonder's series, and if Mull holds true to form, each book in this series will get progressively more and more interesting, so I'm excited.

Brandon Mull is such a creative writer, and he proves it once more in Sky Raiders. Again we have a boy from our world sucked into a fantastical journey in a land that has different rules  and dangers than anything we face here.  Beyond that, they're different from anything I've encountered in other books as well. I love the world building.  Everything is unique, creative, and essential to the plot.

I really enjoyed all the characters.  Cole is a well crafted protagonist, and the supporting characters are just as strong. Plus, all the action has a point. We don't get a fancy, creative fight or monster for no reason. Each obstacle thrown in the characters path reveals something about them or affects them later on. It's also rather refreshing to read some middle grade and get away from the YA angst once in a while. Sure, Cole likes Jenna. There are several other crushes in the book as well, but that is not one of the top ten driving forces propelling our characters in their decisions.  

As for the action, it's awesome.  Like I mentioned before, we have a very creative world for our character to deal with, and it comes with it's own host of problems. Basically, this is one of those quick read books, not because it's sort (432 pages), but because you never really get a breather where you can put it down, sure that your characters are safe.

All in all this is a delightful 4 stars for me.  It's a great beginning to a new series, and the best part is that book 2 comes out in October, so i don't even have to wait that pesky year to see what happens next.

Trailer Tuesday: The Maze Runner

I am so excited.  The trailer for Maze Runner movie just came out, and it looks amazing!  Seriously, it's a movie I would totally see even if I haven't read the books.  Check it out below, and let me know what you think.  Are you as excited as I am?

Meme Monday

http://themetapicture.com/the-mark-of-a-good-book/

Saturday Shorts: Bridge of Snow

Ignore the stirrings of war. Let the carriage to a royal ball wait. There is a story to be told: of a starless night, a mother and her sick son, and a mortal who falls in love with the snow god, and will do anything to have her . . .   Quoted from Goodreads

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This is a sweet, heartbreaking book.  The story itself isn't actually that sad, though the story in the story is rather tragic. I read this after The Winner's Curse, and having that glimpse into the future of these characters is what makes the story so haunting.  At the same time, it really is a sweet glimpse into Arin's life before everything happened.

The book is only 32 pages, so I don't want to say too much, but it is a great addition to the series.  Do you have to read it to understand the book at all? No.  Does it rehash things you've already learned? No, again---thank goodness, since that happens far too often in these novellas.  The story is entirely separate, so you could easily read it before or after The Winner's Curse, but part of me would recommend reading it after.  Maybe because that's what I did, but I felt like I appreciated it more knowing a bit more about the world.

So do I recommend this? Absolutely.  But, again, it is short.  If I were to compare it to an object, it would be a snow globe, and not only because of the whole snow connection. It's a private, tiny little glimpse into a perfect moment and character, so while it's not earth shattering or a huge adventure in and of itself, it's still an utterly delightful 4 stars.

Book Review: Mirk and the Midnight Hour

A Southern girl. A wounded soldier. A chilling force deep in the forest.
All collide at night’s darkest hour.

Seventeen-year-old Violet Dancey has been left at home in Mississippi with a laudanum-addicted stepmother and love-crazed stepsister while her father fights in the war—a war that has already claimed her twin brother. 

When she comes across a severely injured Union soldier lying in an abandoned lodge deep in the woods, things begin to change. Thomas is the enemy—one of the men who might have killed her own brother—and yet she's drawn to him. But Violet isn't Thomas's only visitor; someone has been tending to his wounds—keeping him alive—and it becomes chillingly clear that this care hasn't been out of compassion. 

Against the dangers of war and ominous powers of voodoo, Violet must fight to protect her home and the people she loves.

From the author of Strands of Bronze and Gold comes a haunting love story and suspenseful thriller based on the ancient fairy tale of “Tam Lin.”

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This was such a fun surprise.  Sure, I read Strands of Bronze and Gold and enjoyed it, but I liked this one so much better.  It's not so much that Jane Nickerson's writing has drastically improved her second time around---both books are written beautifully---but I liked the story so much more in The Mirk and the Midnight Hour.  

Besides some Voodoo, this  book reads more like Civil War Era historical fiction than a fantastical fairy tale retelling, which is one of the things I loved most about it. You can practically taste the atmosphere through the writing.  Plus, giving it such a strong setting and flavor makes it stand out from so many of the other retellings out there.  And the world building isn't limited to just the setting and time period.  All of the characters, even many of the minor ones are complex, multi-faceted people with their own strengths, weaknesses and particular habits. 

Violet is an excellent main character.  The story starts off with a little bit of a Cinderella vibe (I'll admit, I had to read up on Tam Lin before I started this book, just so I could recognize it's influence on the story), where Violet's father marries and then immediately goes to War, leaving Violet with her new step-mother and vain step-sister Sunny, but that's as far as the comparison goes.  This story is really a coming of age. It deals with Violet accepting change and being forced to confront what the war is really about and how she feels about it personally.  I love the subtle changes in Violet throughout the book and especially the person she ends up being.

I'm also a big fan of the romance.  It's not as bit a part of the book as you might think from the synopsis, though it plays a significant part.  Again, this is more of a coming of age story, but still, this serves as a catalyst for a lot of Violet's growth.  I love it because we get to watch it grow slowly.  We also get Sunny's more flamboyant romance as contrast so we can see how good Violet and Thomas really are. 

The magic in this book is of the subtle variety, so we don't get to see much until the end.  Still, it's a constant presence throughout the story, and while I didn't understand it all that much, it's more because Violet didn't work with it rather than lack of world building, because what we do see was rich and complex.

All in all, this is a wonderful 4 stars for me.  If you're looking for an excellent fairy tale retelling or are a fan of historical fiction or just want to read something well written, you absolutely need to check this out. It's atmospheric and delightful and absolutely insured that I'll be impatiently waiting for Jane Nickerson's next book, A Palace of Stone and Shadow.