My not-so-great comback, Everyday by David Levithan

Apologies for my crappy blog and inconsistent reviews! I mean, who likes to view a blog that doesn't update and only talks about silly, uninteresting stuff? Well now that i am back, i pledge to definitely posts up all my reviews, and of course make it interesting for ya all screen readers.

After a whole year of disappearance, I've finally found a book that motivated me to post my review again. Strangely, that is none other than David Levithan's Everyday.

Why this book? You'll ask me. To be a bit honest, i came across this book a few times before i read it, but never once did it interest me enough to flip open the cover to read. Well, now that i did, it was just like BAM!

My mind got exploded.

Really, from the outside Everyday looks a bit like a typical teenage love story that probably look like a knock off of the fault in our stars or something even like twilight- you know, the very-in-love but cannot be together kinda lovey dovey thing. 

IT ISN'T.

The story comes quickly, i guess. From the very first part of the story, protagonist A talks about how he is in Justin's body, and how he is a different person every morning as he wakes up. 

No mystery, yet pretty mysterious...

Okay, so next the wonderful beautiful Rhainnon shows herself as Justin's girlfriend, and 'A' falls in love. After practicing a no attachment nor involvement rule for as long as he can remember, he finds himself unable to  resist her. Hence, they end up at the beach, just as Rhainnon wants. 

I mean, you can actually see the love coming!!!!! Even in Justin's body, A copes so well with Rhainnon that even non big fans of romance stories like me can feel it and actually really, really hope that something nice will happen. The date goes really really well <3 <3, but it comes to an end and IT MAKES YOU WONDER!

Probably when you come to moments like this in books, you'll, to a certain extent, know something extraordinary will happen or even anticipate for the plot twist or  something similar. I was doing that when i finish the first part of the story (when A says goodbye to Rhainnon for the day), but in the next chapter, A STILL WAKES UP IN ANOTHER BODY.

Okay so what if the story IS suppose to go this way? Little suspensions build the story, authors like to say. Fine i admit that. But really in the next few hundred pages or so, Rhainnon makes A wonder and want something he never knew he'll want, and that is exactly what the story is about. 

See, throughout the story, 'A' quite descriptively tells us about the host he is in, how they function, their lives, the people around them etc. But really, the thing that he is in their body, experiencing their lives while learning at the same time is what get me hooked. Of course, his mistake on leaving his host by the roadside one night as he sneaked out to meet Rhainnon at a party builds up suspense too, not to mention the killing, crazy need to see if he'll get a chance to be together with Rhainnon. These things contribute to the plot, but on deeper thoughts, the story focuses more on A's struggle to be trapped under his own skin, and wanting to have something he cannot want.

Really, this conclusion i draw out when i finished reading the book break my heart. 

It is just so sad. 

But on other thoughts, it cannot get better. 

Whether it is a sci-fi story which can very possibly lead to a sequel; a typical teenage love story about the struggles of getting together despite the love; or a genuine book that silently pleads people to value what they have, Everyday just simply tells this extraordinary story about an innocent creature who is trapped, and also conveys the message that we'll never always get what we want.

Really, it is worth it. 

And i HAVE to talk about the last part of the story. It not those crashing sadness that make you spill all your tears and ruin your book (like the fault in our stars), instead it brings a dull pain in your chest and screams WHYYYYYY.

Plus the suspense just make me go like :

But it was not really working. The last part came and it breaks me.

Well i've commented on the story all i can, no spoilers for you cause really, go read it it's worth it.

"People take love's continuity for granted, just as how they take their body's continuity for granted. They don't realize that the best thing about love is it's regular presence. Once you can establish that, it's an added foundation to your life. But if you cannot have that regular presence, you only have the one foundation to support you , always." 

- David Levithan, Everyday.

Blood Red Road - Moira Young

BLOOD RED ROAD - Moira Young

Now this is what i call thrilling. From the protagonist's emotional struggles to her undeniable bravery, the heroine character stands out the most even though she may have tons of flaws in her. 

The story starts off with Saba and Lugh, the twin siblings who live in this place calls Silverlake which happens to be a desert and together, they own a house with their father William and younger sister Emmi. Years ago, their mother Armis passed away while giving birth to Emmi,  and neither of them seems to be able to get over it, especially William. He is a star reader and spends most of his time reading them, often saying that there’ll be rain the next day. However, it never does. 

Both Saba and Lugh are really close siblings, but they both clearly have different views on things. Lugh gets annoyed and irritated of William's predictions and thinks that he fails as a father, hence he always avoid and even despise him, calling his own father a madman. On the other hand, Saba loathes their younger sister Emmi, who she thinks caused the death of their mother. To Saba, all she ever needs is Lugh, and none other matters (kinda obsessed, isn't it?)

One day, a strong dust storm covers Silverlake with red dust like blood (so it was described), and four coated men known as the Tonton - military men, appears in front of Saba and Lugh. One of them turns out to be their neighbor who is never around, and looking at Lugh, he tells his companion that he had been watching this boy for years. Puzzled, Lugh orders Saba to look for William while he himself runs towards the other direction to distract them. When Saba pounds on the door and yells for William, William seems to already know what exactly is  going on and tells Saba to stay strong as Lugh and Emmi will need her, making everything sounds like a prophecy. Soon, William is killed in the fight and Lugh gets taken away by the Tonton. Even so, Saba calmly buries her father and makes the decision of looking for Lugh herself, no matter how hard is it.

She first decides to send Emmi to her aunt in Crosscreek and set off to Hopetown to look for Lugh, but Emmi is as stubborn as Saba is (bizarre...) and Saba has no choice but to bring her along. They cross the sandsea (a vicious stretch of desert where people get lost every. single. time) and somehow end up in the Pinch’s boat (bad, bad guys :'/) . To protect Emmi, Saba agrees with the Pinch’s terms and becomes a warrior, or in fact, gladiator in Hopetown. Clearly, it is a high pay job. 

In Hopetown, Saba’s ability to fight got rewarded by the name ‘Angel of Death’ and when she finally finds rallies (a group of people call the Free Hawks) and has a plan to escape the Colosseum, she meets the intimidating Jack. Fate somehow arrange for her to save Jack, who is trapped in the cell during the great fire of the building. After betting farewell to him, Saba follows one of the Free Hawks, Ash, to their camp in the Darktrees and surprsingly, Jack turns out there too(Well, you know why). 

Previously in the Colosseum, Saba got to know about the reason the tontons captured Lugh - the king wants him as a sacrifice - the boy born in midwinter, for an unknown reason. The king’s palace is located at the Freedom fields, and there is the place Saba is heading to now.

Many other characters come in after that: the free hawks, Jack’s friends, and there are also many intense battles from Saba’s point of view. At last, they successfully rescued Lugh, but in the process, Saba is forced to shot one of her friends who is about to be captured by the Tontons and Jack’s friend Ike dies after getting an arrow at the neck.

The story ends with everyone going their own way, temporarily. The Free Hawks go the other way to contact the others, Saba, Lugh, Emmi and Tommo (Ike's followers) to the West where soil is rich and water is clean, and Jack is on his journey to Molly, Ike’s girlfriend. He has to tell her about Ike’s death and he makes a promise with Saba to meet each other at the West, the great water. This ending confirms on a sequel, and i certainly can't wait for what's next. 

This is a brilliant plot, and marvelous page-turner, with plot twists and action scenes everywhere, but I have to comment on Moira’s writing technique. Moira wrote the story in a very different way by omitting the apostrophes, making the sentence : <That’s it! He says. Precisely!> Instead of <“That’s it!” He says, “Precisely!”>. It is not wrong, certainly, but It is a bit confusing sometimes, especially when the book is also first person point of view, which makes you may wonder whether it’s something she said or just something she thought inside her brain.

Actually, other than Saba, i have to say i am very fond with her sister Emmi's character too. At such tender age, having a bravery as strong as Saba is indeed, admirable. Now, about the romance. The romance got me kinda gripped and honestly, Jack seems to be a really, really, really hot and nice type of guy. Despite that, the ting i love about their relationship is it's progess and also amount. Just nice, not to much nor too cheesy. 

This is definitely a good read!

4 stars ****

THE PLEDGE - Kimberly Derting

The reason for me to choose THE PLEDGE as my first post is undeniably the special setting of the story. It is a book categorized under the Science fiction, or more specifically, dystopian section. The plot of the story revolves around the protagonist Charlaina “Charlie”, who lives in a country, Ludiana. It is a country ruled by a cruel monarchy and is strictly stratified by a caste system divided by language. (The power of speech!) It has three caste in the system, and each speaks its specific language.

Englaise is the universal language used by everyone, or rather the only language for the serving class, Parshon for the vendor or middle class, and Termani for the upper class citizens. The citizens of each class are only suppose to know Englaise and their own language, while the others are not permitted to understand. When citizens in a higher rank speak in their specific language, one is suppose to keep your eyes on the floor and show respect. The smallest transgression, such as looking at the eyes of people talking to you when they speaks in their language, results in immediate death. Such cruel and strict caste system of course, comes with a history or war, just like every dystopian story does.

Many years ago, there was a rebellion upon the monarchy (The Revolution of Sovereigns), and when they successfully overthrown the queen, Ludiana became a republic country. The Senate that time brutally executed every royal blood available, and that almost caused the entire royal bloodline to extinct. Fortunately, some went into hidings and disguise themselves as the normal citizens, and they stayed that way since then. However, no longer after the rebellion, the queen managed to seize the throne back and set the caste system in order to reduce the interaction between people, preventing rebellion to happen again. 

The book is predominantly first person’s narration (Charlie’s point of view), but in between chapters there are also second person’s narration for the other characters like Max, the Queen, and Xander. Charlie is a vendor’s daughter who helps her parents in their restaurant during her free time after school and has a sister who never speaks, even though she understands when others talk to her. Since young, Charlie has a secret no one knows other than her parents - she’s able to understand all the other languages other than Englaise and Parshon (her own language), which is extremely forbidden and dangerous. She has not been taught, not under the strict rule of course, but the meaning under the foreign language just rang in her ears when someone speaks them in front of her.

The starting of the story gives us a glimpse of the city ruled by Queen Sabara, which is rather unpleasant place, filled with refugees from other parts of the countries due to the on goings rebellions, and vendors selling things on streets yelling in Parshon, which clearly none of the refugees understands. There are armed guards everywhere, and we can picture how strict the rule is, looking at children showing their Passport even to enter the school.

Charlie has two friends with her, Aron and Brooklyn, who accompany her to school and they seem to be really good friends. One night, Charlie followed Brooklyn to a club after a little incident in the restaurant (Charlie accidentally looks into a girl who speaks Termani , and clearly Charlie’s dad is upset, since he tell her zillion times to always be careful) and that is where she meet Max.

Max, or Prince Maxmillian, grandson to Queen Sabara, is actually the spy for the queen to track the rebels. His first encounter with Charlie occurs in the restaurant when she accidentally stares up at a girl who speaks in Termani, and he soon finds himself gripped (yes, by her). Max's love story with Charlie progresses a little bit too fast, (Max compliments Charlie 'beautiful' in their first conversation). Not to mention the next few encounters when their attraction towards each other grow more and more. From a reader’s point of view, Max and Charlie look like they fall for each other because of their looks rather than whats inside them. If their love story can progress a little slower maybe it will be better.

Towards the second part of the story, where the rebel parties grow stronger and stronger, Charlie is forced to find refuge with her little sister Angelina. Little clues of Charlie being the royal blood starts to appear here and there, and I do enjoy the author’s sense of suspension. It makes me read the book in less than a few hours, not willing to close the book due to the cliff hanger in every chapter.

Back to the prologue of the story, it gives us a picture of the queen’s essence, which is repeatedly mentioned in the story. The essence is basically the queen’s soul. When her essence goes into a new body, the body will give her a physical appearance as a human, but when the body grows old and frail, she will have to find another body with the royal blood in order to survive. Till this generation, Queen Sabara has no female heir. She has a son and two grandsons, which means there’s no one who her essence can consume on. Based on the information from the book, the next royal blood female will have to say phrases like “take me instead” for the queen’s essence to consume her body. And there’s the interesting part. When the queen’s essence consume a body, the original soul and mind of the body will simply disappear and be replaced by the queen, but not in Charlie’s case. She seems to successfully regain the control over her body, even though the queen’s essence is still in her. That again, is a cliff hanger to the story, and it will be continued in The Essence, second book of the trilogy.

The book has a prefect suspension, leaving me hanging by the end of every chapter and  looking forward to the next one eagerly. However, the story progress a little too fast without much 'species', and I certainly expect more interactions between the queen herself and Charlie. The last few chapters give me a feeling that the author tries to rush through it and end the story. Same goes to the romance part, which I mentioned earlier. If there’s more interactions between Max and Charlie, I will definitely like the book better.

3 stars ***

HEY HEY HEY

I am not a book freak. I just get attracted by books very often and i'm certainly not immune to the 'unputdownable' spell they always cast on me. After having a good read, the feeling to share it with someone bites me so much that i'll just talk about the story to people around me all day, though they have no clue what i'm talking about. I hope that you will be able to find the books you are interested in, or attracted to here, and i definitely look forward for your comments as well as endorse. Enjoy a good book swim! :D