Runes by Ednah Walters

Source: Free ebook deal
Pages:313
Key Info: Goodreads| Amazon Uk| Amazon.com

3.5 stars

I liked this book. The writing was really good and it didn't take me very long to read it. I'd say fans of the Mortal Instruments and Magnus Chase will like this book as it kept reminding me of them.I liked the different characters that we are introduced to. The plot was good but towards the end it seemed a bit rushed. It seemed as though, the plot was getting simpler in order for the book to end. I enjoyed the book and would continue and read the next one in the series.

Spoilery

I really liked Raine at the start of the book but towards the middle and end I found myself disliking her more and more. She claimed to love Eirick or at least like him. She was in a relationship with him and then cheated on him with Torin. I didn't like the instalove between her and Torin. She didn't like him one minute and the next she loves him. I don't believe it was gradual. When Torin left,she didn't break up with Eirick because he comforted her. I found that to be very selfish.When she had Eirick,she wanted Torin and when he left,she wanted or needed Eirick. I feel as though she used Eirick a lot. She also led herself to believe that Eirick was into Cora. That might have been to ease her own guilt.

The ending was surprising and I believe it's a second chance for Raine. To start a relationship with Torin in the right way. For readers to see a proper relationship because I shipped them but didn't like that she cheated.

November Wrap Up

Magic Study ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was the first book I read this month. For some reason it was really hard to get into at first. I tried to read it last month and kept starting again. Though once I got past that I really enjoyed the book.

Fire Study ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I enjoyed this book.Althogh I did think that the main character was acting a bit different in this.I thought this was the conclusion of the trilogy but turns out it's not a trilogy and there's more books to it.

Queen Of Shadows ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved this book! I've wanted to read this for so long but there were so many reserves for it in the library. I had to end up buying it for my birthday. My ship totally sank in this. The other ship though I can live with because I love him too! I'm not saying names because I don't want to spoil anyone! You can never go wrong with a
Sarah J Mass book.

The Raven King ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

OMG OMG.  I wanted to read this book for so long also but I was so scared to read it. Everyone who has read the first book know it was going to lead to the inevitable this book. I'm so happy with this book! I loved it!

Origin Of the Sphinx ⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed this novella. It was light and easy read.I liked the different characters and found them to be fun. I haven't actually read Curse of the Sphinx but this has made me want to.

Shadow Kiss ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed this book. I found it an easy read and time flew by. The characters were really good and the fight scenes were described really well.

Overall, I liked the plot and it the ending has intrigued me to read the next in the series.

Runaways Volume 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I enjoyed this. Great start to the series. I wanted   a quick read and this is what I picked up. I flew through it.

Overall this was a great reading month for me!

What books did you guys read?

Jamba The Joint Family by Sriram Balasubramanian

Jamba The Joint Family by Sriram Balasubramanian

Source|For review

Pages:300

Key info:Amazon.in|Goodreads|Amazon.com 

In an age when families are becoming more nuclear, Karthik's family was an aberration: It was a large joint family with its own complications, contradictions and commonalities. Two love stories and a wedding get intertwined within the family at the same time. One of them could make or break the joint family, will the family survive? Will the love story succeed? Will the younger generation respond to the needs of the family? How will the older generation respond to the changing perceptions of the younger generation? Will the family eco-system survive?

In an India swamped by globalization, this racy and humorous story tries to dissect the generational changes in Indian society and how the Indian society is responding to the changes.

My review:

This book was a light and easy read but there were many words that I did not understand. Another language was spoken and it was not always translated. I believe the conflicts were easily resolved and there wasn't much of a climax. The narrator had an easy way of talking which I liked. I was put off at some points but continued on.I found it was worth it. A thing to note is that there were a lot of errors within the book. What I mean by this is that there were random lettering in it. This sometimes made it difficult to read and understand. Although I would not choose this book normally, overall I liked this book and give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

About the Author:

Sriram Balasubramanian is a Writer who has contributed extensively to international publications such as NYT, WSJ, Foreign Policy, Forbes India, and The Hindu among others. He has interacted with a variety of global business leaders and policy makers in his experience as a journalist and writer. His main area of focus has been on human development, education and socio-economic issues with a global context.

Besides this, he has a Master’s Degree from University of Southern California and is pursuing another degree at Columbia University in NYC. He is also authoring another book on the World Chess championship which was held recently.

He is very passionate about India, its cultural ethos & socio-economic evolution. He can be reached at @Sriram316 or http://www.facebook.com/jambathenovel20 or http://www.srirambala.in

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare Review

Lady Midnight y Cassandra Clare
Source:Bought
Pages:669
Buy:Amazon|Book Depository|Goodreads

In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word.

A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabataiis your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other—but they can never fall in love.

Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries—the most powerful of supernatural creatures—teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge—and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.

Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?

My thoughts 


I really enjoyed this book and thought it was a great start to the first book of a series. This book has a different feel to it as Emma already knew about the Shadow World and so it was a different experience being thrown in to the world right at the beginning and reading about the world that we're so familiar with now.  An explanation as to what a seraph blade or witchlight was not needed. It was definitely a 5 star read.

Spoilery

I adored the relationship Julian had with his siblings but felt sad for him as he had to grow up so fast. It was great to see his love for Emma right from when he was introduced and I loved it when they finally acknowledged their feelings for each other. It was great that Mark finally came back and Julian had an older brother again 

s a great character.

I love Emma, she's a great character. it was great to see her developing and coming in terms with her feelings for Julian. It was great that she finally got revenge for her parents' death, although revenge isn't always a good thing. It was heartbreaking to learn that she's going to pretend to love Mark as that would heart Julian the most and        make him hate her. I'm interested to see how her relationship with Mark plays out.

It was sad to see that Mark didn't understand that five years had passed and that his little siblings weren't so little anymore. It made me happy to see that at least he had someone to share his burdens with in the name of Kieran. It was interesting to see how Kieran told of his just so that he could go back to him. People show their love in different ways. I'm really excited to see how his relationship with Emma turns out as he said 'Why lie?'. So does he want a real relationship with her to spite Christina?

Right from the beginning we knew that Christina had a lot of secrets and I loved how she was a great friend to Emma. Kit was shown in the prologue so I guessed that he would play a bigger role in future books. I was right as he was the last Herondale. It will be fascinating to see how he will cope living with the people he was taught to kind of hate.

Overall, I loved the story and can't wait to read the next book when it comes out next year!

Legend By Marie Lu

Legend by Marie Lu
Source:Borrowed
Pages:305
Buy:Amazon|Book Depository|Goodreads


I have had this on my tbr shelf since last year. To some this might not seem a lot but to me it is as I normally read a book I want to read straight away.I found this book to be an interesting and quick read. It was fast paced and everything I expected it to be and more.

This book is told in two different perspectives, one a boy named 'Day' who is a criminal who might not be the most dangerous but is the most wanted. Nobody seems to know the way he looks, which he uses to his advantage. The second viewpoint is of June,who is a girl who has a perfect trial score and is everyone's favourite little prodigy. She is very clever and we learn that she attends University and went their 4 years prior to everyone her age.

By the story being told by two different people, it gives you a wider range of their world and what is happening in it.I think this was an effective approach as you could see how both of them would weave into each others story-line and their thoughts and feeling about the matter at hand. I thought both of them had a distinct way of talking and I never got confused on who was talking.I always knew if it was 'Day' or June. Another good thing about this was that I did not find my self wanting to quickly read one perspective so I could go onto my favourite one. I found both perspectives to be quite interesting and enjoyable.

Spoilery Review

At the start of the book we learn that Day is a criminal and that he failed his trial at the age of 10. He has a family,in which only his older brother,John,knows he's alive. People who fail the trial are taken and their family's paid compensation. The children are then killed. We learn that America has been split up into Republics and colonies and the 'Day' lives on the Republic side. There is a major plague and his little brother,Eden has it.Although,'Day' is confused as a X,which is normally drawn on houses with the plague, is drawn but it has a third line across the middle.We also meet Tess who accompanies him.What I noticed was that 'Day' kept holding his pendant for comfort which I thought would have a significant meaning. He breaks into a hospital in order to get a cure for the plague.There he meets Captain Metias who tries to stop him. 'Day' throws a knife which hits Metias shoulder and then proceeds to escape.He also learns that he dropped his pendant somewhere.I think this was a great start to the book and that it introduced the main idea of the story,

June has just got excluded from school because she was scaling a wall 14 stories high. Her brother Metias has to go to the hospital to check up on it. She wants to go with him but he refuses. Thomas, another soldier, informs her that her brother is dead and she believes it was 'Day' who done it.She plans to avenge her brother's death. She is in disguise as a poor person, roaming ths streets and looking through the trash bins to survive.

This is where the two story-lines meet as he has to save her from a skiz fight, after she refuses to fight again after she wins and the crowd is after her. She then stays with 'Day' until she's better as she has a knife wound. He does not tell her his name and nor does she.

One thing I did not particularly like about this book was that i believed the romance was too quick. The book could have been a bit longer in order for the romance to be natural and not seem forced. As quick as it was, the quicker she turned on him. And how she found about him? By him reaching for a pendant that was not there. I do not find this quite believable although i understand that June and 'Day' are both very perceptive. She turns him in and Thomas kills his mother. At this point I suspected that Thomas had to have had something to do with Metias' murder as he followed every command without question. 

In the end, June helps 'Day' escape as she learns many secrets and also learns who the real killer was. She seeks the help of the patriots. I did not think that 'Day' would have a perfect trial score although I did think that he did not fail as he was so good on the streets and survived 5 years.

What upset me was that John sacrificed his life in order to save his brother, so that he could save Eden.I found this very heart wrenching and was quite affected by his death although we did not know him for long.

All in  all I think this book is 4-4.5/5 stars as some parts of this book were questionable and there were still questions left unanswered. Overall it was a great story and the writing was great.

I can't wait to read the second book Prodigy.

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare Review

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
Source:Borrowed
Pages:567
Buy:Amazon|Book Depository|Goodreads

Danger and betrayal, love and loss, secrets and enchantment are woven together in the breathtaking finale to the #1 New York Times bestselling Infernal Devices Trilogy, prequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

THE INFERNAL DEVICES WILL NEVER STOP COMING
 

A net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. Mortmain plans to use his Infernal Devices, an army of pitiless automatons, to destroy the Shadowhunters. He needs only one last item to complete his plan: he needs Tessa Gray.

Charlotte Branwell, head of the London Institute, is desperate to find Mortmain before he strikes. But when Mortmain abducts Tessa, the boys who lay equal claim to her heart, Jem and Will, will do anything to save her. For though Tessa and Jem are now engaged, Will is as much in love with her as ever.

As those who love Tessa rally to rescue her from Mortmain’s clutches, Tessa realizes that the only person who can save her is herself. But can a single girl, even one who can command the power of angels, face down an entire army?

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment, and the tangled threads of love and loss intertwine as the Shadowhunters are pushed to the very brink of destruction in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

My thoughts

I had waited a really long time to read this book and I really don’t know why. I loved the other two in the series and I knew that the last one had come out but I still didn’t read it. Because of this, this lead me to read a lot of spoilers about this book as I follow Cassandra Clare’s Twitter and Tumblr. But by me being spoiled, it made me want to read the story even more. It seemed that the book would be really interesting and that it would turn out better than the others. I was not disappointed!

In brief, I really loved this story and the characters. It seemed to me that it was a satisfying ending to the trilogy. The writing was magnificent and it seemed to flow really easily.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! BE WARNED!

 In the Prologue, we see Adele StarkWeather who is about to get her first rune marked on her. When the silent brothers are marking her, she is extreme pain.

When reading the prologue I did not understand what this had to do with the rest of the book but upon finishing the book, I realised the importance of it.

At the start of the book, you see Tessa trying on her wedding clothes when Jem comes in. Tessa has to hide as it is seen as bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding. I found this really cute and funny. Jem tells Charlotte that Gabriel Lightwood is downstairs.Everyone is informed and go to see what the fuss is about. Gabriel Lightwood calls his father a ‘worm’ which is quite funny and i thought that he finally realised that he was on the wrong side. Will seemed to be thinking the same and he said that it was great that he agreed with the others. Action was in the story right from the start and I really enjoyed reading it. It made me want to finish the story really quickly because normally when you read a book, the interesting part does not start until 100 or so pages in but in this the action was starting right from the start.

Throughout the book, I was left wondering what would happen next and how things would play out. One thing I really liked was the change in style. By this I mean is the letters that were written. We, as readers got to see and know things that others in the books did not know. For example, the readers knew about the back and forth between the consul and the council and we learnt early on that the Consul did not like Charlotte as much as she originally thought.

The songs that Bridget sang brought some humour into the story although she might not have been singing about happy events.It was fun to see the characters reactions to her depressing songs.

One thing I truly loved was that Will did not want to hurt his Parabatai, Jem, and that he kept his love for Tessa a secret. Not because he was selfish but because he truly cared about them both and that he wanted to see them both happy. He did not want to be the cause of their unhappiness. When Tessa was kidnapped and Jem ill, my heart went out for him. He couldn’t decide whether to stay with his Parabatai,or find Tessa which would be what Jem wanted. I cried when the emotional scene of Will leaving Jem to go and find Tessa.

When Jem returns as a silent brother i was shocked. Although, i knew that he was going to be one because of spoilers it still surprised me that he was fighting alongside them so quickly, like he was never ill at all. I felt the happiness that Will and Tessa must have felt.

When Tessa turned into the angel, and had all that fire surrounding her, that was the last thing i expected. That was a really good way to end the danger and kill mortmain.

The third person perspective was really effective as you were able to see their world from different view points and their was no biased view. Like the letters it gave you information that the characters did not know.

I feel like this is so long but that’s because I loved the story so much. It is definitely one of my favourites. The epilogue was so sweet and it seemed such a good way to give an insight to the lives of the others.

One more thing I forgot to mention was that I really like that Henry was appreciated in this book, especially by Magnus. I was devastated to learn that he was nearly dead and could never walk again. It was interesting to learn that he and Magnus were the ones that created the portal used in the Mortal instrument series.

Finishing thoughts

I really love this trilogy and it is definitely one of my favourites. I liked that all the characters had a solid relationship and i loved the mini love story for each of the characters in between the main plot, especially Gabriel’s and Cecily’s.I definitely recommend this book to others and it is quite worthy of 5/5 stars