Book reviews: Death Most Definite | The Magicians of Caprona | Reptilrummet

Title: Death Most Definite

Author: Trent Jamieson
Original title: Death Most Definite
First published: 2010
Genre: Fantasy, Adult
Series: Death Workers #1
Publisher: Orbit
Format: Paperback
Pages: 372
Finished: 25/04/2019
Summary: Steven de Selby has a hangover. Bright lights, loud noise, and lots of exercise are the last thing he wants. But that's exactly what he gets when someone starts shooting at him.
Steven is no stranger to death-Mr. D's his boss after all-but when a dead girl saves him from sharing her fate, he finds himself on the wrong end of the barrel. His job is to guide the restless dead to the underworld but now his clients are his own colleagues, friends, and family. Mr. D's gone missing and with no one in charge, the dead start to rise, the living are hunted, and the whole city teeters on the brink of a regional apocalypse-unless Steven can shake his hangover, not fall for the dead girl, and find out what happened to his boss- that is, Death himself.

My thoughts: I read this for the reading theme of April; A skeleton in the closet! This book is about ghosts and death, so I thought it would be very fitting indeed.
And it was good! Best book I’ve read since February, though it doesn’t reach higher than ⅘ stars for me. It was entertaining, humorous, fast paced, and pretty action packed. Not a work of art, but I think it definitely deserves a higher rating on Goodreads. Overall very pleased with the reading experience! I also want to read more Australian literature after this, seeing as I’ve also enjoyed “Jam” by Yahtzee Croshaw and “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak before (both Australian authors if I’m not mistaken, can’t be bothered to Google atm).

Rating: 4/5

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Title: The Magicians of Caprona
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Original title: The Magicians of Caprona
First published: 1980
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
Series: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci #4
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 273
Finished: 26/04/2019
Summary: Tonino is the only person in the famous Montana household who wasn't born with an instinct for creating spells, but he has other gifts. His ability to communicate with cats just might help defend the city of Caprona against a mysterious enchanter -- but only if Tonino can learn to cooperate with a girl from the hated Petrocchi family of spell-makers.

My thoughts: So this is a book that I started reading a few years back but for some reason didn’t have the energy to finish even though I literally only had 50 pages left (lazy). This wasn’t my favourite book in the series so far; I think the sheer amount of characters threw me off from the start and I just never caught up. I also didn’t find the protagonist to be as appealing as in the previous two books (we follow a new character in every book). However, I’m still in love with the world and Chrestomanci, and the story in itself is well written and enjoyable. I will most likely continue to read the series.
Btw this is a bind-up edition, so I only read the first book, and the second book in the bind-up is "Witch Week". Idk why that feels important to mention, but now u know.

Rating: 3/5

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Title: Reptilrummet
Author: Lemony Snicket
Original title: The Reptile Room
First published: 1999
Genre: Middle grade
Series: Syskonen Baudelaires olycksaliga liv #2
Publisher: Richters
Format: Hardback
Pages: 200
Finished: 29/04/2019
Summary: Spoiler alert! Dear Reader,
If you have picked up this book with the hope of finding a simple and cheery tale, I'm afraid you have picked up the wrong book altogether. The story may seem cheery at first, when the Baudelaire children spend time in the company of some interesting reptiles and a giddy uncle, but don't be fooled. If you know anything at all about the unlucky Baudelaire children, you already know that even pleasant events lead down the same road to misery.
In fact, within the pages you now hold in your hands, the three siblings endure a car accident, a terrible odor, a deadly serpent, a long knife, a large brass reading lamp, and the appearance of a person they'd hoped never to see again.
I am bound to record these tragic events, but you are free to put this book back on the shelf and seek something lighter.
With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket

My thoughts: I’m back to the Series of Unfortunate Events after reading the first book in January (link to that review HERE). This is a very solid children’s/middle grade series and I’m a bit saddened that I wasn’t introduced to this when I was younger. Nevertheless, the author has a quirky writing style that appeals even to older peeps like me. I believe these books would be fun to read to children (at least those who are patient enough to listen these days). All in all, this was a solid book, though I wasn’t feeling very involved in it. After all, I’ve already seen the entire Netflix adaptation, so the plot is fresh in mind. It lands on a middle-ish grade.
(yes, it bothers me that this is the best picture for the cover I could find)

Rating: 2,75/5

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