Book reviews: Bilbo: En hobbits äventyr | Steelheart | Cinder

Title: Bilbo: En hobbits äventyr
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Original title: The Hobbit
Genre: High fantasy, Classic
Series: --
Publisher: Rabén & Sjögren
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 306
Finished: 12/6/17
Summary:  Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey ‘there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon.

My thoughts: Honestly, this time, I don't have a lot to say. At least not at the moment (being early in the morning just after I finished the book). What I can say is that I'm proud over myself for finally reading this and I'm very happy that I did. It's a fun, exciting adventure to take part in, even as a reader. Gandalf was sassy, Thorin Oakenshield was grumpy, Bombur was fat, and Bilbo just wanted to go home. A lot of things were different from the movies. Radagast wasn't in the book, and neither was Azog the Defiler, and I was at first very confused at his absence, as he plays a very big role in the movies. Not here, though, in fact he plays no role at all really.
All in all, I liked it! It's a great summer read for both fine days and bad.

Rating: 4,5/5

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Title: Steelheart
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Original title: Steelheart
Genre: Science fiction, YA
Series: Reckoners #1
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Finished: 18/6/17
Summary: Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills. Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them. And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning - and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience. He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

My thoughts: Wow. I can't believe I put off reading something by Brandon Sanderson for so long. I mean, I've been wanting to delve into one of his series for ages. I was originally planning to start off with the Mistborn trilogy, but I ended up purchasing Steelheart instead at the Swedish Bookfair in maybe 2015, I think? This book is half the size of The Final Empire, so I guess this was the better one to start off with. And I have no reason to regret that decision! It's action packed, fast-paced, and exciting beyond measure! I was so fascinated by the villains of the story, in particular Steelheart and Nightweilder. I love the idea of humans with superpowers going evil (hence my fave novel being Vicious by V.E. Schwab, hehe), so I knew from the start that this aspect of the story would appeal to me a lot. One of the small faults that I found in the novel what that since it focused so much on plot and excitement, it lacked somewhat in its descriptions of certain characters. Now, I don't mean that the characters were shallow and all the same; it's the opposite and I guess that's why I was disappointed when I didn't get to know some of them as close as I'd have wished. Cody and Abraham could definitely need some more time in the spotlight and I can't say that I know much about Thia either. These characters were all still awesome, though!
My reason for not giving this a full five stars is because I feel like there is room for improvement. I like the writing style and the characters and the plot, but I still felt like it missed that little extra that earns a full score. Of course I'll be continuing the series, because this was awesome, but I think I'll look into some of his other series first maybe... especially Mistborn :)

Rating: 4,5/5

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Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Original title: Cinder
Genre: Science Fiction, YA, Retelling
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1
Publisher: Puffin Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 387
Finished: 23/7/17
Summary: Cinder, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.


My thoughts: I loved this. This was so great. It's so refreshing to read a YA novel that stands out from the rest; that doesn't stick to the norms and that dares to challenge the similar structure that most modern YA novels follow. Cinder was such an amazing book, and what made the experience even more wonderful was reading it together with my dear friends Matilda, Emmy and Karin.
The characters were on point. They weren't shallow or just there to alter the course of the plot; they had actual personalities and acted according to those, not just to be convenient. The writing style had me capture from the sentence to the last, and although it was not beautifully poetic it had a way of gripping me as a reader. The pages flew by and I had a hard time putting it down. The whole concept of the setting and the story is just amazing and I love it. I can't believe this book has been collecting dust on my shelf for so many years, but all the same I'm glad that I waited until now to read it. It was a good book for a book club! I just wish that we'd gotten to see more of the universe and that the book had been maybe 50 pages longer. Anyways, it was amazing!

Rating: 5/5

Book reviews: Så har jag det nu | Wonder | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Title: Så har jag det nu
Author: Meg Rosoff
Original title: How I Live Now
Genre: Dystopian, YA
Series: --
Publisher: Brombergs
Format: Paperback
Pages: 188
Finished: 15/5/17
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy. As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. 

My thoughts: Let me start off by stating that this was not particularly my cup of tea. I don't enjoy dystopian novels very much (though my Swedish teacher keeps throwing them as us) and I'm not too fond of bland, forced heterosexual romances that seem to only be there for the sake of it. I don't mean to take it out on this novel specifically; I'm just so tired of all these halfhearted love stories between and guy and a girl that don't do anything to enhance the story or add any depth to the characters. In fact, romances in general shouldn't stand as a major theme in most novels. I could name several that would do just as well, or even better, without the romance in the centre.
Anyways, back to the novel. The protagonist's name is Daisy and she has some issues. She's anorectic, a bit depressed maybe, and just generally sad and miserable most of the time. I can't say I enjoyed reading the story from her point of view. Not because she had issues, not at all, but because she was passive as all hell and didn't care about almost anything but her cousins, how thin she was (and proud of it), and her dad and his new girlfriend, both of whom she seems to hate a little. While there was an ongoing war around them, she still focused on eating less, ignoring all else. I was rather interested in said war, but nope, we don't find out much about it so....
The other characters are fine, though I never got to know any of them well enough to actually come to care for them. The novel is short, and there is little focus on anyone but Daisy overall. I would've liked to read it from someone else's point of view, Isaac's for example, but I was stuck with Daisy throughout the whole thing. Well-o-well. I didn't hate her character; I could sympathize with her despite me disliking her.
The story itself is interesting, or at least to a certain point. The plot has its moments of excitement, but I was never really into it enough to enjoy it. There will be other books, though. This is by far not the worst I've ever read.

Rating: 2/5

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Title: Wonder
Author: R.J. Palacio
Original title: Wonder
Genre: Contemporary, Middle grade
Series: Wonder #1
Publisher: Corgi Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 310
Finished: 27/5/17
Summary: Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

My thoughts: As usual, I don't have as much to say about good books as I have with not-so-amazing books (*cough cough* How I Live Now *cough cough*). I did thoroughly enjoy Wonder, though! The novel is of reasonable length and I worship the short chapters. I'm especially grateful for them as I only have a 9 minutes train ride each morning to read and I'm a slow reader...
Anyways! The short chapters are not what made this book into what it is. This is an emotional ride following a young boy, August, who's struggled with poor self esteem his entire life due to a severe facial malformation that he's had since birth. We get to read the story from several different points of view, all of characters that are close to August. I enjoyed all the perspectives and I was impressed at how the author had really succeeded in successfully writing so many different perspectives and personalities in a believable way. I loved the friendship between August and Jack and Summer, though I'd wished to see more of Summer towards the end of the novel. I also missed the character of Miranda in the first half, but oh well.
In the end, I had a hard time putting this down while reading it. It's one of those books where you go "ah, just one more chapter" again and again. It was uplifting and inspirational and invoked a lot of sympathy in me. The reason I'm not giving it a full 5/5 rating is because I didn't find it exciting. That was the one element I missed during the entire story. I didn't get excited at any point really. Sure, it wasn't a fantasy adventure or anything of the sort so I can't have expectations that are too high, but even books like these can invoke some rush of adrenaline. Well, that's what I didn't get.

Rating: 4/5

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Title: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Author: Jack Thorne
Original title: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Genre: Fantasy, Play
Series: --
Publisher: Little, Brown
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 330
Finished: 3/6/17
Summary: It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

My thoughts: My first impression when I started reading this was not good. I had dearly hoped it would be better than its Goodreads rating told me, but I was met with something that didn't even live up to that rating in the first place. I was about to give up on it completely, I kept going and in the end, it did sort of redeem itself. Here's my thoughts.

I read this along with my good friend Emilia. It was a quick read, though it still took me about a week to get through it, what-with schoolwork and all else that stands in the way. Let me start off by stating that I do not, and will not, consider this book to be a true part in the Harry Potter series. Partly because J.K. Rowling didn't actually write this, and because I do not feel it deserves it. Argue however you like, but this is my final judgement. When reading Act One of this play, I very nearly hated it. The old characters were wrong to me, and although I understand that time might have changed them, they were still just ghosts of how I remember them. However, where Jack Thorne failed with characters like Harry, he still did a pretty good job with the newer characters, like Albus and Scorpius (whom I ship together). Nevertheless, I got used to his Golden Trio in the end, thank dog. In acts 2 through 4, I thankfully encountered some real excitement and though there were some MAJOR PLOT HOLES, I still found myself captured by the story.

I had a hard time picturing this play on an actual stage. I'm sure the pros made it work, but some things in the script just seemed impossible to do even with cool light and sound effects. I guess I'll have to wait and see when they release the play on video.

My rating for this book was going to be a 2/5 rating in the beginning, but I ended up adding a star. The story really picks itself up in the second act and some scenes had me moved. However, I still cannot overlook the first act and the plot holes, and the major issues I had with some of the characters. I see it more as a passable fanfiction. Far from the best I've read, but still decent enough to give a try. As a fanfiction. Maybe it's better when seen as a live play? I don't know. As a script, though, it has some things to work on before I'm going to find it worthy as the eighth part of the Harry Potter series.

Rating: 3/5

Covers in the World: Wonder

English, Portuguese and French covers:

I'm a big fan of the original English cover. I like the simplicity of it and the way it kind of manages to tell some of the story. It fits nicely with the atmosphere of the story as well. The Portuguese cover looks like something from a graphic novel. To me, this would fit well as a cover for either a sad graphic novel or a book about something medical or hospital related, like STDs or mental illnesses maybe. I'm not entirely sure, actually. Anyways. The French cover is nice, but not as pretty as the original. Would still like to have on my shelf, though.

German, English, and Indonesian covers:

The German cover confuses me. Not because I don't understand what it's trying to convey, it's just... befuddling and weird. Not very pleasant to look at. The English cover (idk if this is a movie cover? Is there a movie?) is okay, actually. A bit plain and ordinary, but I like it all the same. The Indonesian cover is very pretty. It looks a lot like the original, but they changed it a little and made it their own. I do prefer the light blue background, but the red one works as well.

Portuguese, Serbian, and English covers:

The second Portuguese cover is pretty bland, honestly. Doesn't say anything about the content of the book and doesn't do the story any justice. The Serbian cover sure is something else, but I love it. It's so unique and I adore the art style. I could hang this cover on my wall. I also find myself infatuated with the red English cover. It does portray the character of August well, and I like the style. If I didn't already have the original cover in my possession, this is the one I would go for.

Spanish, Ukrainian, and Dutch covers:

The Spanish cover is nice, but I wouldn't say that it's a better version of the original. I'm conflicted about the Ukrainian cover. I'm guessing it's supposed to be August? I don't think it looks like him at all; at least not if I'm to trust the descriptions in the book. It think they've tried to change how he looks to make him more appealing and I don't like that. The Dutch cover is boring. Just like the second Portuguese cover, it says little about the story itself. I'm not a big fan.

Slovak, Latvian, and Thai covers:

The Slovak cover... I can't... no... kill it with fire! The Latvian cover, on the other hand, is gorgeous! I love the colours and the clean style! It reminds me a lot of the covers for the Shatter Me trilogy. I like how the title is spelled out by the eyelashes. The Thai cover is also very pretty! However, I would prefer the red English cover over this.

French, Spanish, and Hungarian covers:

First of all, the second French cover is trippy as all hell, but I still kinda like it?! It's just weirdly aesthetically pleasing to me, I guess. I'm not a big fan of the second Spanish cover, though. Again, this is something I could imagine finding as the cover of a book on depression or something like that. It's colourless, depressing and doesn't stick out. And don't even get me started on the Hungarian cover. The monstrosity. Get it off the face of the Earth, please.

Chinese, Arabic, and Russian covers:

The Chinese cover is cute, though I'd preferred it if the motive was a bit larger. The Arabic cover isn't much different from the original, aside from the colour of the background. Orange is an unusual colour on YA books, but I must confess that I like the good old blue one. The Russian cover is okay, though I don't understand how it reflects the story itself. The numbers in the right half of the bottom reminds me of platform 9 and 3/4 for some reason.

Book reviews: The Picture of Dorian Gray | Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay | Flickan med gåvorna

Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Author: Oscar Wilde
Original title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Genre: Classic
Series: --
Publisher: Penguin Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Finished: 7/2/17
Summary: Upon seeing his own striking portrait Dorian Gray is bewitched and offers his soul if only the painting will age while he remains eternally youthful. Believing himself incorruptible, Dorian indulges in a life of pleasure and excess. But what has become of the portrait?

My thoughts: I never expected this novel to be as mind bending and mind blowing and mind boggling as it turned out to be. This is a book which, unlike many other classics I've read before, lives up to it's reputation, and with good margin. Sure, I was bothered by the blatant sexism often spoken by Lord Henry as well as the rather weak minded female minor characters (with few exceptions), however I've realised that sexism is an unavoidable theme in all classic novels written by men. So when I learnt to look past that, I found that this story is a treasure in many, many ways.
The characters are, if a bit over the top and dramatic, were believable and rather well developed. Especially the character development of Dorian Gray himself impressed and astounded me in its simplistic yet shocking probability. The character of Lord Henry was also one that I was charmed by in the end, despite his comments about the female sex. The amount of quotes that man produced in a little over 200 pages is remarkable, even more impressing is the author of the book himself, Oscar Wilde. Speaking of the gay and flamboyant Mr Wilde, there were indeed a lot of hints to gay intimate relationships throughout the whole novel. That made me happy while reading it.
The plot line itself is a wee bit on the slow side in the beginning of the novel, however I was rarely bored while reading. The only chapter I had problems with, and I'll warn you now; there might be a small spoiler here so watch out, was freaking chapter 11, which was about 20 pages long in this edition and dragged on for forever. All it did, in the end, was list different types of rocks and gems, types of music, embroideries, odours and fashion. Sure, I saw some point in it, but I feel like that chapter was meant to be a way for the author to show off his researching skills to the public as it didn't really add anything to the story but a lack of pace and intrigue.
I'll admit that it was all worth it in the end, though. The ending was the best it possibly could've been and I might have been a little bit heartbroken and I might have shed some tears, but it was okay because The Picture of Dorian Gray was worth my sorrow. Honestly, the only thing keeping me from rating the book 5/5 stars is the sexism and chapter 11. The rest of it was just pure amazingness (yes, that's a word now).

Rating: 4,5/5

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Title: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
Author: J.K. Rowling
Original title: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
Genre: Fantasy, Historical
Series: Fantastic Beasts #1
Publisher: Little, Brown
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 282
Finished: 15/2/17
Summary: When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt's fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone…

My thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this, however I will keep this review short. I saw the movie a few weeks back at the cinema, and reading the screenplay was of course just like watching the movie all over again. This is one of those rare cases where the movie is equal to the book, and both are good. Really good. This was a quick read, filled with action, witty dialogues, magic vibes, good characters and excitement. Most of all, I can't wait for a continuation. So if you saw the movie and liked it, I strongly recommend that you give the novel a chance as well. And of course the cover is beautiful.

Rating: 5/5

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Title: Flickan med gåvorna (The Girl With the Gifts)
Author: M.R. Carey
Original title: The Girl With All the Gifts
Genre: Dystopian, Adult
Series: --
Publisher: Ordfont
Format: Hardcover 
Pages: 391
Finished: 19/2/17
Summary: Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius."
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.


My thoughts: I read this for Swedish class with a small group of my chill classmates. I kid you not, this is probably the only dystopian novel I've ever legit enjoyed. More than that, it's the best dystopian novel I've ever read. I'm not at all a big fan of dystopian novels in general; I think the concept is limited and honestly quite depressing and boring. However this book was different somehow. Maybe because of the zombie theme. I mean, zombies are awesome. I also liked that the perspective was split between five, on different levels, major characters as we moved through the story. The characters themselves were very well developed and described, and their personalities didn't mix and sort of blend together; something that often happens with characters in YA novels.
The story was fast paced and incredibly thrilling. Not one boring chapter passed me by during the entire read. This was indeed a real page-turner. The only slight problem I had with the book was the awkward sexual tension between some of the characters. It kind of worked itself out in the end, but I was highly uncomfortable with it at certain points in the story. I also felt like part of the story was never fully completetd (spoiler alert, it was never explained what happened to vildarna). Those are the only things keeping the final rating from five full stars. But! It's still very much worth the read.
I will not watch the movie :(

Rating: 4,5/5

Book reviews: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea | The Colour of Magic | Den sommaren

Title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Original title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Genre: YA, fantasy, horror
Series: Between #1
Publisher: Dial
Format: Hardback
Pages: 360
Finished: 2/1/17
Summary: Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. 

My thoughts:
Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Where do I even start with this? First things first, somehow this author managed to do everything wrong with this story. To start off with something, let's do a short summary of the main character, Violet White (silly, silly name), who quite honestly doesn't have much of a personality. I'm tired of authors portraying their female protagonists as stubborn, weak in the presence of good looking teenage boys, illogical, sensitive, and quite dumb, but then throw in a "she reads books" and that's supposed to make me, the reader, think she's intelligent? My point is, Violet talked in her inner monologue about how her personality was, but every decision she made and her every action went directly against the picture she painted of herself? Unprofessional.
Then we have the to main male characters; Violet's twin brother Luke and this story's male love interest River West (again, silly name). Luke, firstly, is a sexist bastard and he is extraordinarily open about it, and everybody is just okay with it?! To be fair, Violet and River express dislike towards Luke's sexism, but neither of them speak up when he goes on degrading half the Earth's population with his uneducated statements. The only time Violet speaks up is when Luke throws a bottle into the sea. Oh, so then he's doing something wrong? Nu-uh, I don't appreciate that at all, Sir Author.
So River, then. Lying, manipulative, murdering. He seems to be a manipulative liar, and I mean as long as Violet is okay with that in their relationship, then I guess it doesn't do too much harm, but the way he treats her is also so disgustingly sexist, I just couldn't stand it. I won't go into detail, but he was not very appealing.
And logic! Where did it go? They came to conclusions out of nowhere that made no sense whatsoever, and then the author tried to just explain it with some stupid logic, and it made even less sense. Also, the story was so predictable, not even the plot twist was very twisty. This was supposed to be horror? I wouldn't have noticed unless I'd looked at the tags on Goodreads. If this classifies as horror, then cotton could just as easily classify as iron.
Oh well, it wasn't all bad. A few select parts were good, I'm sure. I don't remember them, but I'm sure they were there, hidden behind sexism, plain characters, predictable plot, and long, boring, unnecessary environment descriptions.
The cover was pretty though!

Rating: 1/5

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Title: The Colour of Magic
Author: Sir Terry Pratchett
Original title: The Colour of Magic
Genre: High fantasy
Series: Discworld #1
Publisher: Corgi
Format: Paperback
Pages: 238
Finished: 14/1/17
Summary: On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet...

My thoughts: 
This is great. I loved this, and I don't know how it took me almost a year from start to finish. Reading slumps are tricky things. Anyways, storywise, this had everything. The world is well developed, the characters are unique and hilarious, the plotline is up paced, and the whole this is just to die for. I can't think of more things to say without spoiling it for you, but just GO READ IT!

Rating: 4,5/5

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Title: Den sommaren (That Summer)
Author: Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki
Original title: This One Summer
Genre: Graphic novel, Contemporary
Series: --
Publisher: Placebo Press
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 319
Finished: 6/2-17
Summary: Every summer, Rose goes with her mom and dad to a lake house in Awago Beach. It's their getaway, their refuge. Rosie's friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had. But this summer is different. Rose's mom and dad won't stop fighting, and when Rose and Windy seek a distraction from the drama, they find themselves with a whole new set of problems. It's a summer of secrets and sorrow and growing up, and it's a good thing Rose and Windy have each other.

My thoughts: This was my first time reading a graphic novel! I picked this up at the library the other day. I usually don't borrow books, but I'm broke so I'll have to cope. I chose on of the heftier ones that I'd seen a lot of on BookTube a while back, and going into it I had no real expectations or knowledge of what is was going to be about.
Hands down, I adored the artwork in this novel. The illustrations were so beautiful, and although I thought I might end up confused with only drawings of what happens rather than worded descriptions, I found that I had no problem following the plotline. Regarding the plot, then, it was not as good as the artwork (the artwork being my favourite thing about this book), but it wasn't bad. Just rather boring. Some of the minor characters were pretty bland, and there was close to no excitement during the entire read, although I did finish the whole thing in one sitting. However, what I did enjoy a lot was the close friendship between Rose and Windy, and the summer vibes. For two hours, I was on a sunny beach rather than here in cold, snowy, grey Sweden. My favourite character was Windy. So charming and believable.
In the end, I loved the artwork and found the story ok. The art kind of pushes the rating up a bit, I have to admit ;p

Rating: 3/5