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Book Review: The Girl On the Train

Rating: 2 stars

The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives.

EVERY DAY THE SAME

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

UNTIL TODAY

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

This book is overrated. I read this story because I was itching to read a thriller story, but was severely disappointed. 

The Girl On the Train is a good thriller story, but has so many plot holes that it makes it hard for the reader to enjoy the story. What made this story so thrilling to me was when Rachel couldn’t remember what happened the night Megan went missing. This made me excited because I wanted to find out what happened, wanted to figure out how the pieces would fall together. But then once I did find out, I was disappointed because I expected something more from this book. There were so many directions Paula Hawkins could’ve taken the story to reveal the killer to the reader. This was exciting to me too because it opened up the possibility that the killer could be any one of these people and for different reasons. But once Hawkins revealed who the killer was, I wasn’t happy with the decision. I was unsatisfied because there were no clues that this person was responsible until the last twenty pages. And even then, I felt like the character in question went through a complete change without any real explanation. I felt cheated because I expected someone we hadn’t been introduced to was involved. 

The reason I find the plot lacking in this book is because things just sort of happen without any real explanation. For example, we are introduced to the character Andy, a guy Rachel bumps into the night Megan goes missing. But we don’t really get much from him other than Rachel spotting him near her when she’s on the train. And whenever Rachel does finally talk to him, it’s for a really brief time and that’s it. Throughout the story, you think he’s going to play a major role later on. But then once you find out his role, you are left feeling disappointed because he ends up being a minor character this whole time. Another example that comes to mind is Rachel’s relationship to Scott throughout The Girl On the Train. It’s pretty up and down throughout the book because she lies to him in order to get involved in his life. When she first reaches out to him, he’s interested in talking to her and finding out what she knows. Then from there, things get a little weird. He confides in her, believing her to be a good friend of Megans’. It’s almost as if he depends on her because of the little piece of information she has about Megan. Then when he does find out Rachel didn’t know his wife, Scott overreacts, making it easy for the reader to believe he’s responsible for her disappearance. 

My least favorite aspect of reading The Girl On the Train was the characters. While I enjoy reading a story where the characters involved have serious flaws, I just couldn’t enjoy any of the characters here, because they were one dimensional too. For example Rachel is an alcoholic. Throughout the book, she drinks even after saying she’s going to quit or lay off the booze for a little while. But then she goes back to it again and again, resulting in her making terrible choices throughout the story. In many ways, it makes her unreliable because the reader doesn’t know if she’s telling the truth. But she continues doing it anyway. I also just didn’t like any of them either because they were completely unsympathetic. 

The only thing I enjoyed about this book is that it kept me reading until the end. Despite not liking the characters or the story, I was still curious to see how everything unfolded and was glad when it was finally over. 

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Book Review: Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) 

Rating: 4 stars

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena’s world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie… and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

Like Throne of Glass, I found that I enjoyed reading this book. I found the story to be captivating, wanting to find out what Celaena would do after the competition. She is exactly the same character I remember from this book’s predecessor, except she does go through some development of her own whenever an unfortunate event occurs with one of her dearest friends in the castle. Her development was a shift I never saw coming and made me appreciate her character even more.  

One element of Crown of Midnight I enjoyed was the emotional pull I felt as events unraveled. A lot of things happened in this book. While I sometimes had a hard time keeping track of everything, I felt like there was a lot more deeper emotions in this one than I experienced in Throne of Glass. I think part of it is because as Celaena continues to stay at the castle, she starts becoming closer to the people around her. To the point when something happens to them, she does everything in her power to protect those who she holds dear. 

I also enjoyed seeing the politics at play in this series. Celaena is conflicted throughout about her actions and that the king will find out what she’s done. She’s stuck between making a lot of serious choices, resulting in consequences occurring that shake up her character. In this book, we finally see an emotional side to Celaena that we haven’t experienced before. She feels pain, regret and anger at some of the choices she’s made, but ends up continuing to do everything in her power to fix her wrongs. To the point where some of her serious relationships falter due to the hurt and pain she’s experiencing. 

Another favorite part of this book for me was seeing Dorian’s character continue to grow. He’s the king’s son, yet he’s completely different from his father altogether. The way his development progressed surprised me because Maas changed him in ways I didn’t see coming. But they are changes that made sense to me in the overall story. 

Like with Throne of Glass, so much happens in this book, which I see as both a good and bad thing. It’s good because the story is progressing in ways I didn’t see coming. But it’s bad because it can sometimes make it hard to continue reading, due to the overwhelming amount of information presented. 

I also found myself wondering what the king’s perspective is of everything going on. Yes, I get he’s not heavily involved with some of these events, but they do impact him too. Especially the magical elements that are included in the story. I know he’s technically the villain so he’s not going to have a bigger role in the story arch until things really start rolling, but I think it would’ve been nice to see what his perspective is of what’s going on in his castle. It’s his kingdom so I feel like he’d definitely have some clue as to what’s going on at some point in the story. 

However, Crown of Midnight  was still a fantastic read. I enjoyed all of the fantasy elements in the story and I feel like the characters are continuing to make me invested in what’s going to happen next. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series to see where Celaena’s journey takes her.  

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Book Review: The Book Jumper

                                       Rating: 2 stars

Amy Lennox doesn’t know quite what to expect when she and her mother pick up and leave Germany for Scotland, heading to her mother’s childhood home of Lennox House on the island of Stormsay.

Amy’s grandmother, Lady Mairead, insists that Amy must read while she resides at Lennox House—but not in the usual way. It turns out that Amy is a book jumper, able to leap into a story and interact with the world inside. As thrilling as Amy’s new power is, it also brings danger: someone is stealing from the books she visits, and that person may be after her life. Teaming up with fellow book jumper Will, Amy vows to get to the bottom of the thefts—at whatever cost.

This book wasn’t quite what I expected. Told from the perspective of Amy Lennox, a girl whose family has the ability to jump into books, I was hoping this would be a much better read. 

But before I get into what was bad, let me quickly tell you what I enjoyed about The Book Jumper. I found the story itself to be interesting. Even though I’ve read a book similar to this one (Inkheart), I find the idea of being able to immerse yourself into your favorite stories and meet some of your favorite characters to be very exciting. As someone who hopes to one day publish a story of my own, books like this remind me why I love reading and writing so much. They bring out the love in storytelling for me and make me interested in reading books I haven’t enjoyed in a really long time. 

I also liked the characters. Despite any of them having any sort of development, I found the characters to be relatable. I also loved finding out how they were connected to each other in Stormsay. Each of the characters had an important role to play and it was interesting to see how everything turned out in the end. I liked getting to meet some of the literary characters because it was nice to see how they interacted with each other. 

One of my favorite aspects of this book was seeing Amy’s ability in action. I was curious about how the author was going to incorporate book jumping into the story and wasn’t disappointed. It was interesting to see that book jumping had zero affect of the original plot of the books unless jumpers themselves decided to interfere with the story. 

I also like the book cover and the little paragraphs before each chapter. It looks really beautiful, like the story came out of a fairy tale.  I found the little paragraphs before each chapter to be very captivating. After reading this story, you understand their purpose and see how they connect to the overall plot.

Sad to say but there were so many things with this book that made it hard to enjoy it as much as I’d have liked. I found the writing to be too dense, almost as if the author was trying to pack everything in at once. And it showed. The reader can see it in the story when it comes to the plot. It’s all rushed, like the author had no time to continue writing this story. 

There’s also a lack of character development and morals in this book that bothers me. I find that even though the characters can be relatable, they don’t really learn from what happens in this story. They don’t change or progress in any way that shows that what happened in the story affected their lives. The only exception to this is Amy since she didn’t know about her abilities until she and Alexis came to Stormsay. What also bothers me with The Book Jumper is the way protecting the stories is portrayed. Throughout the book, Amy again and again is telling everyone that something is going on in the literary world. But nobody believes her or listens to her, except for Will. Instead, they get mad she’s using her abilities to go to other literary world’s when she’s been assigned to watch over one of them. Even when a literary character loses their life in the real world, nobody bats an eye. They continue moving on as if nothing happened. In many ways, it’s as if the events in this book happened in a small vacuum because nobody else in the real world is affected by the outcome. 

Even though I enjoyed reading The Book Jumper, I’m sad because it’s not as good as it could be. It had so much potential, but the author didn’t manage to pull it off. 

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Book Review: Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2)

                                                                

                                               Rating: 3 stars

The longing of dreams draws the dead, and this city holds many dreams.

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. With her uncanny ability to read people’s secrets, she’s become a media darling, earning the title “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” Everyone’s in love with the city’s newest It Girl…everyone except the other Diviners.

Piano-playing Henry DuBois and Chinatown resident Ling Chan are two Diviners struggling to keep their powers a secret—for they can walk in dreams. And while Evie is living the high life, victims of a mysterious sleeping sickness are turning up across New York City.

As Henry searches for a lost love and Ling strives to succeed in a world that shuns her, a malevolent force infects their dreams. And at the edges of it all lurks a man in a stovepipe hat who has plans that extend farther than anyone can guess…As the sickness spreads, can the Diviners descend into the dream world to save the city?

Lair of Dreams was a great read for me because the story and characters made me want to find out more. I enjoyed this book because the story centered around the ability for Diviners to walk through dreams. In particular, it centered around my favorite character’s friend Henry and introduced us to Ling, both whom can walk through dreams. I found this part of the story to be interesting because readers found out more about Henry and also learned how the dream world played a role in the events that followed. I also find dreams to be a fascinating subject, which allowed me to enjoy this book even more. Especially when Ling discovered a new ability she could harness in the dream world. I liked learning Henry could walk through dreams because it’s a nice tidbit of information that Libba Bray didn’t include in The Diviners. It also allowed me to learn more about his character before he and Theta had become friends. I also liked learning more about Theta and how she plays an important role in the story. 

I also enjoyed this story because the dream world felt so real. Bray really did a good job of making dreams so powerful that nobody would want to wake up from them. She really made the place Henry and Ling went to feel so real as if I was there myself. But she also did well at showing the dark side of dreaming and how it can affect the mind. This can be seen through Henry who starts visiting the dream world more frequently because the love of his life is there. He then starts staying in the dream world for longer periods of time to the point where it affects his everyday life. You as the reader also see this through the sleeping sickness. This sickness is the main root of our character’s problems as the sickness spreads and affects one of their own. It’s up to them to stop the cause before the sickness can spread through the whole city. 

I also enjoy the mystery of the series surrounding Project Buffalo and Blind Bill. Bray gives us little details about Project Buffalo that make us continue to be invested in the series. I also like the way Blind Bill’s character is portrayed and can’t wait to find out what his main role will be in the rest of the series. 

While I don’t particularly like the ending of Lair of Dreams, it has many more flaws that’ve caught my attention. One of my biggest criticisms of this book is Evie’s character. In The Diviners, I really didn’t mind her character too much. However, I feel like she’s devolved since then. She’s now famous because of her powers and goes on the radio to show off her ability to read objects. She also no longer wants anything to do with her uncle and starts going to parties almost every night because of her celeb status. I feel like all of these things made me like her character less because she becomes shallow, vain and selfish and allows her fame to get to her head. While I understand why she’s doing all of these things, I just had a hard time sympathizing with her and wanting to read her role in this book. She becomes so caught up in city life she fails to realize how much danger she and the people she loves are in, causing her not to play as much of a vital role in the story. 

I also disliked the role Will’s character plays in the story. I hate it because Bray doesn’t really tell us where he’s gone off to and the only time we see his character after he leaves causes the reader quite a bit of confusion. I find this to be a serious flaw in the story because it leaves me with a lot of questions that don’t get answered by the end of the book. It would’ve been nice to have some answers instead of feeling more confused than when I started. 

While I very much enjoyed reading Lair of  Dreams, there were so many issues I had with it that I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I’d hoped. 

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Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

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Rating: 3 stars

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.

I remember being introduced to this book by an old friend of mine when I was in high school. At the time, I remember reading it, becoming so engrossed with Hannah’s character. She was a mysterious girl because when reading, you didn’t really know too much about her. She told you about the things that happened to her during her freshman year of high school and that she wasn’t the type of girl the rumors portrayed her to be. But I also felt a connection to her, having been in high school at the time and understanding the struggles she was going through.

I felt that I could relate to her. Even though I never had rumors like that about me flying around school, I was bullied during my early years of education. So I completely understood where she was coming from and could see how the events that transpired turned her whole world upside down. Even though I’m no longer in high school, reading Thirteen Reasons Why a second time around didn’t change that perception for me.

Hannah Baker is a very sympathetic character. She attends a new high school, trying the best she can to fit in only to find her peers never taking the time to get to know her as a person. They are so busy believing the rumors about her to realize how alone she was and to see that their actions unintentionally lead to her death.

Another reason this story pulls at my heart is because it’s a very sensitive topic. Suicide isn’t something a lot of people feel comfortable talking about, due to people not understanding how the smallest things can have a big impact on a person’s life. Like mental illness, people don’t know how to talk about suicide and don’t understand it as well as people who’ve felt that pain before. Despite how hard suicide as a topic is to discuss about, these discussions need to be had and I appreciate Jay Asher, the author of Thirteen Reasons Why, for writing about it. It makes me hopeful that one day, suicide won’t be such a big stigma.  This book also brought up a lot of other key issues, such as rape and drunk driving, which aren’t heavily talked about either and are just as important to discuss.

I also enjoyed this book because of the way the story is told. The novel is from the perspective of Clay Jensen, who receives cassette tapes one day after school with Hannah’s voice on them explaining why she killed herself, saying the responsibility lies with those who receive the tapes. The people involved also receive a map of their town, marked with stars of locations where the events Hannah mentions take place. I enjoyed reading this book through Clay’s thoughts and actions and Hannah’s voice. It made it seem more in depth and personal. I also liked that Asher used cassette tapes for Hannah’s death note. As a 90s child, I grew up using cassette tapes and a Walkman whenever I wanted to listen to something on the go. It made the story a little nostalgic with those elements, considering how far technology has advanced in today’s day and age.

However, I do have a couple criticisms for Thirteen Reasons Why. While I enjoyed the way this story was told, I felt like Asher had Hannah more telling the story than Clay. Yes, he’s the one who had the tapes and his thoughts about what transpired where pretty clear, but I felt like there was more telling in the story than showing. I also didn’t really see a whole lot of character development in any of the characters in this story. I think part of that is because of hearing from Hannah her thoughts about the people who affected her life made it hard for us to really get a good understanding of the other characters. We knew Hannah didn’t really like them, but I wish we could’ve learned more about them and why they were such terrible people.

I also just didn’t really get how Clay is supposedly a nice guy. He’s included in the tapes and the story is told from his perspective, but you don’t really get to know him as a person outside of him listening to those tapes. Throughout the book, he only interacts with a couple people and even those few interactions didn’t give us a real glimpse of his character. Yes, he did some nice things, helped people out, but that isn’t enough for me to truly believe someone is a nice person. I also didn’t see how this whole thing really changed his life either. I get he had a better understanding of what Hannah was going through after the tapes, but he didn’t seem all that different to me than before. But I did sympathize with him because it was evident in the story how much he cared about Hannah and wanted to help her in any way he could.

I felt like I knew more about where Hannah and the rest of her classmates lived than the characters in this story. Part of that was because of Clay going to some of the locations Hannah mentioned in the tapes and Asher describing those places in perfect detail. While I don’t mind knowing more about the world characters live in, it’s a little frustrating with this story because I wanted to know the characters better other than knowing all the terrible things they did to Hannah.

While I sympathize with Hannah, I sometimes find her character to be very weak. I understand how depression works on a person’s mind, making them feel completely helpless, but I just didn’t always understand some of her actions. For example, the incident with the sign I felt like she could’ve very easily done something about. I know she had called the police, but I felt like she should’ve told them who knocked the stop sign down. I felt this way with some of the other incidents that happened in the book too because they were things she could’ve very easily done something about. Especially all of the things that happened towards the end where she’s still struggling to make up her mind about whether to take her own life. Despite these issues with her character, I understand that she was probably already too far gone at these moments in the story to really do anything about these situations. I feel like that is probably why she didn’t stop certain things from happening and why I feel myself questioning some of her actions.

While I have all of these criticisms for Thirteen Reasons Why, I still enjoyed reading it again. It left me sad knowing the story was over and remembering Hannah being dead, but I still found it as good of a read as the last time I read it. I hope others read it with an open mind and find themselves understanding suicide being a much more complicated issue than it seems. Because even though the reasons Hannah gave seem very small and insignificant, together they created a snowball effect that resulted in her not able to get any help until it was too late.

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Book Review: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)

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Rating: 4 stars

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her … but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead … quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

I remember the first time I read this book. My sister had come home to visit from college and gave me a copy, telling me a friend of hers from school thought I’d enjoy it. I remember reading it, feeling completely mesmerized by the story within its pages, wanting to find out what happened next to Celaena. Reading Throne of Glass again, I still remember those feelings, which have returned just as deeply.

The first book in a series I have yet to continue reading, Throne of Glass made me wonder what it would be like living as an assassin. An assassin well-known for her abilities, Celaena is more than she appears, which is why I enjoy her character so much. She’s very headstrong, good with any weapon in existence, and knowledgeable about the world she lives in. Even though she’s an assassin, she cares very much about protecting the people around her, despite the circumstances she’s currently dealing with. While at times I could find the way she talked to certain characters annoying, I overall enjoyed seeing such a strong character that I can’t wait to see how she continues to develop in the rest of the series.

I also enjoyed seeing this book from Dorian and Chaol’s point of view. Having their points of view allowed the reader to better understand their characters and how they both changed as the competition continued. While both Dorian and Chaol’s loyalty belongs to the kingdom, it gets tested when Celaena’s life is at stake during the final moments of the competition. I also loved their perspectives because you could see how conflicted both characters could be. As prince of the kingdom, Dorian knew he shouldn’t trust Celaena, but at the same time you could see the relationship he had with his father was pretty rough. This resulted in him being conflicted between doing what was right for the kingdom versus his own happiness, which I believe will continue to play an important role in the series as it continues.

I enjoyed reading this book too because of the competition and how magic came to play in the story with the competitor’s mysterious deaths. Sarah J. Maas did a wonderful job at weaving both these elements together to create a unique story that keeps the reader wondering what happens next. However, I did sometimes find these elements could be a little too much because I felt like there was already a lot going on in the story. But at the same time, Maas does a good job of connecting these two things together in order to allow more possibilities to exist in the world Celaena lives in.

I overall enjoy Throne of Glass because it kept me coming back for more. I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in the series to find out what Celaena does next.

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If We Were Having Coffee: Prepare for Christmas Break

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I’d like to wish you all Happy Holidays. I know not everyone celebrates Christmas, so I want to wish everyone a good holiday, no matter what you are doing this year.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I’ve just completed my last week of work for the year. My job doesn’t start back up until January 2017 so I’ll be off for the next couple weeks. Unless I’m able to find something else close to home or a job using my degree, I’m hoping to spend the next couple weeks enjoying my time off and look for another job. But these last couple weeks went okay. My crew did a secret Santa of our own, which was very enjoyable. I like exchanging gifts with people because I enjoy seeing the look on a person’s face when they open their gift. I also like the act of giving gifts because I like getting things for people that they want or need. Yes, getting gifts is just as exciting too, but I really enjoy giving gifts to people more. Just the idea of making someone’s day with a simple sign showing I care fills me with so much joy.

But I’m also glad this semester is done because it’s been a very trying one. A lot of things happened at work this school year that really tried my patience, made me realize I need to get a job elsewhere as soon as possible. While I’m extremely thankful that they’ve kept me on, it’s my time to move on. I need to start my career now. I need to work somewhere I enjoy, around people with similar passions and interests. Somewhere I know my hard work will be appreciated instead of taken advantage of. I know I’m not happy with this job anymore so it’s time for me to say goodbye as soon as possible. I just need to get a job somewhere else first, which is something I sincerely hope I’ll be able to do during this short break. So I’m hoping to really buckle down on job applications these next couple weeks while I’m at home so I can leave for good. Fingers crossed I’m able to find places hiring and get scheduled for an interview soon.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I’ve continued watching Criminal Minds and playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. I’d also like to tell you I finished reading Fell this afternoon and plan on writing my review once I’ve completed this post to publish on my blog.

I’d also like to apologize for not writing as much too. I know I’ve probably already apologized so many times for this, but I just haven’t been writing a lot lately. There are times where the flow of words come out of me very quickly. During these moments, I’ll have something to write about and you’ll notice more posts on my blog. But when I’m not writing as much, you’ll see my writing schedule is all over the place. I’ll post every couple weeks, sometimes go two or three weeks without any writing being done, or just stop posting altogether except for whenever I have a review ready.

I know my blog is mostly for book and video game reviews, but I really want to branch out with my writing a little on here too. Maybe even do more Flash Fiction Challenges or poetry, when the time feels right. Or short stories too. I don’t know. But either way, I want to have more content to publish on my blog. Because I feel like I just haven’t been posting quite as much. I don’t know. I think I could just be very critical of the way I’m blogging right now, which is also possible because I know how hard I can be on myself at times. Regardless, I want you all to continue following my blog because you enjoy the content I post. So I want to do more on my blog whenever I can. But until I figure out what that is, I hope you all stay here a little while yet. Even during the moments when I don’t have much to write about because my mind is moving all over the place.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you we are getting ready for Christmas here. I sent out my Christmas list a little while ago and Mom and I have started Christmas shopping for our family Friday night. We continued doing some of our shopping today too and will probably be doing some more in the next couple days as we prepare for my sister and grandmother to be here with us. We have yet to put up any Christmas decorations though so I’m sure we’ll be doing that too soon enough.

This will probably be the last coffee post for 2016, since next weekend will be Christmas and the one after we’ll be entering into the new year. So I would also quickly like to say too that I hope you’ve all had a wonderful 2016 and wish you all good luck in 2017 and what’s to come! I also hope this weekend and next will be a good one and I promise to be writing more on my blog again soon.

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Book Review: The Sight (The Sight #1)

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Rating: 4 stars

In the shadow of an abandoned castle, a wolf pack seeks shelter. The she-wolf’s pups will not be able to survive the harsh Transylvanian winter. And they are being stalked by a lone wolf, Morgra, possessed of a mysterious and terrifying power known as the Sight. Morgra knows that one of the pups born beneath the castle holds a key to power even stronger than her own power that could give her control of this world and the next. But the pack she hunts will do anything to protect their own, even if it means setting in motion a battle that will involve all of nature, including the creature the wolves fear the most: Man.

I remember the first time I read this novel I was in middle school. I don’t remember how I came upon it. What I do know is that the cover intrigued me and made me interested in reading the story between its pages. And so I did, several times throughout middle school and high school. It’s a story I loved reading back in those days that I felt the need to revisit.

Even though I’ve read The Sight before, I found my love for it is still there. The story is just as beautiful and enchanting as when I last read it. It’s rich in detail about wolves, making it clear David Clement-Davies did his research on the wolf pack hierarchy. As someone who finds wolves to be fascinating and beautiful creatures, the story in this book’s pages whispers to me and reminds me of why I love stories with high elements of fantasy.

I love this book too because of those fantasy elements. The story centers around this mysterious power known as the Sight. This power is rare, wolves are born with it and it allows them the ability to do things like see the future through the water’s reflection or seeing things through a bird’s eyes. This power adds a unique element to this story that intrigues the reader into wanting to find out how this ability plays out in this novel. It’s at the center of the whole universe these characters live in and makes me view wolves in a completely different way.

The storytelling in The Sight is very rich in detail and the characters are deeply developed in their own unique ways. My favorite character development in this story can be seen with Larka’s brother Fell who plays a very important role in this novel and the sequel that follows it. He’s the complete opposite of Larka, both in physical appearance and mentality. While Larka’s fur in color is white, he’s completely black. While Larka is the light of this novel, Fell’s character takes a drastic turn you don’t see coming. But in the end, he’s saved by Larka’s love for him when she realizes who he’s become. He plays an important role in the story that causes his character to shift in unexpected ways but that makes changes in his life for the better, leading up to him being in charge of his own destiny.

In this novel however, there were two things I didn’t like about it. I wasn’t particularly pleased that Clement-Davies had different names for the animals in the story, like the Omega wolves in a pack also being known as Silka. While I understand the author’s need to add some uniqueness to the story, I found that having these names without any real explanation to their origins can cause some confusion to readers like me, but also reduce his research credibility. These names also didn’t add anything to the story so I wasn’t able to really see why they had to be included.

I also have a love-hate relationship with the ending. While I understand why Larka’s sacrifice is necessary to keeping everyone free, it makes it feel like what she did was all for nothing. But at the same time, I understand that it was her destiny and she did what she felt was necessary for the sake of everyone else. It still didn’t make it easier for me though to accept, despite how many times I’ve read this story. It’s the one aspect of the novel I sometimes wish was different, but am also grateful because we wouldn’t have the sequel without it.

Despite these two things, The Sight is a beautifully crafted story, rich in folklore and fantasy that I find myself reading over and over again. It’s one of my favorite stories and I highly recommend it to any fantasy and wolf lover.

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If We Were Having Coffee: Be Thankful For the Things You Are Given

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Hello everyone! I hope you’ve all had a great week and that your weekend is everything you want it to be right now.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask you about your Thanksgiving. I’d want you to tell me how it went, would want to know about your Thanksgiving traditions. Then, I’d tell you how mine went. I’d tell you my sister came from Nashville to spend time with Mom and I and that we invited one of Mom’s friends over to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.

I’d say we have a lot to be thankful for. Because that’s what Thanksgiving is about: being thankful for the things you are given. At least, that’s how I choose to celebrate it. I choose to be thankful that I have a life and that I have clean water, food and a place to sleep. Because not everyone has these same comforts in life. I might at times complain a lot about the way things in my life are going. Life is hard and everyone has their own struggles they have to deal with. But I’m lucky because not everyone has things as easy as I do.

Yes, I’ve had my own struggles. But that doesn’t mean I can’t sit back and reflect on the things I’m grateful to have. I might sometimes hate my job and definitely wish I worked elsewhere, but I’m glad I have one even during the roughest of times. I’m grateful for my family. Because while we might be a small bunch, we are really close and there isn’t anyone else I’d want to spend my holidays with. I’m grateful for the friends I do have because while we might not talk as much, they are important to me and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them.

I’m thankful for this blog. I love it so much because I can express my feelings and emotions in my writing to others in a welcoming community of people. I might not know every single person who reads my blog, but I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my posts. I’m thankful for my blog most of all because I can express myself. I can be my own person here and talk to others who share the same passions as me.

So if you’re reading this post right now, thank you. I appreciate you and hope you are having a wonderful day because you deserve it. Know that you are loved and don’t stop believing in yourself.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you what all else I’ve been up to. Besides spending time with my wonderful family, I’ve also made some time for myself too. Maybe not as much time as I’d have liked, but I was with family so it was okay. I was able to write a post about one of my favorite video games Kingdom Hearts for Chapter Six of the online course I’m currently taking, which can be found here if you’re interested in checking it out. I’ve been thinking about this post a lot so I figured I’d go ahead and write it so I can continue this class and become a Creator on the site.

Along with finally writing another post, I’ve also started playing one of the games in the series mentioned Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep. I’ve felt the itch to play this series games in their true order to try the best I can to actually beat all of the games. We’ll see if I’ll be able to accomplish this or not, but I’m definitely thinking about writing a post about all of the games once I do.

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Characters from Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep.

I’ve also continued watching Criminal Minds whenever I’ve had the chance and just recently started rereading a book I haven’t read in a long time. Criminal Minds is still very enjoyable for me, probably one of my favorite crime shows today. And the book I’m currently reading is still as enjoyable to me as when I last read it, which I plan on telling you all about on my next book review.

But other than this, I haven’t been up to much. When I go back to work tomorrow, I only have two more weeks until we have our Christmas break, which roughly lasts a month. So with that, I plan on thoroughly searching for a job in my field or trying to get a job closer to home.

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the rest of what’s left of this weekend.

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