Ranger's Apprentice: The Burning Bridge ~ Review

Format: Ebook (.mobi)

Size: 938 KB
Publication date: 01 Jan 2005
Language: English

Publisher: Penguin Books LLC

Bracing for a final clash with the evil warlord Morgarath, the Rangers rally the kingdom's allies, and Will is chosen, along with his friend Horace, as special envoys to nearby Celtica. But the simple mission soon takes an unsettling turn - the Celticans have disappeared, their town abandoned. The scheming hand of Morgarath, it seems, has been far from idle. He has found a way to bring his legions over the once impassible eastern mountains and is planning to ambush the king's army in a rout. Now with help many miles away, Will and Horace are the only ones standing in the way of the dark lord's plans.They have shown great skill and courage in their training, but how will they fare in the face of true evil?

With bigger battles and higher stakes, John Flanagan's epic adventure charges ahead with this rousing follow-up to The Ruins of Gorlan.

★★★★★

In this book we are introduced to another character Gilan, who becomes the inseparatable part of Will's life. His sense of humor is  self-explanatory, as all rangers apprantely have this special dry-type of humor which is funny at times. There are few passages which I would like to share with you that I found quite funny:

" 'That's the question, isn't it?' said the Ranger. 'I suppose I could hang them. I do have the authority. After all, tehy did try to interfere with officers on the King's business. And they're looting in time of war. They're both capital offenses.' He cast his gaze around the rocky hills surrounding them. 'The question is whether I can actually do that here,' he murmured. 

'You mean,' said Will, not liking the way his friend was thinking, 'you may not have the authority to hang them now that we're not in the kingdom itself?' Gilan grinned at him. 'I hadn't considered that. I was actually thinking that it'd be a bit difficult when there isn't a tree over a meter high within a hundred kilometers.' "

And then there is this thing when Halt finally shows that he cares for the boy, which really tugged at my heartstrings: 

" 'Gilan, do you think for one moment that I don't want to tear that plateau apart stone by stone until I find him?' "

Beside the funny attitude and heartwrenching moments I almost at all times reading through this book felt the surges of fangirliness. (resulting in me kicking my legs,  hugging my pillow and everything because I simply love this series and characters in it - no...DOn'T LOOK AT ME THAT WAY! I know that you know what I mean.). This series and me, one true love. And to add thanks to these books I found my soulmate :P.

Ashwood ~ review

Format: Ebook (.mobi)

Pages: 200
Publication date: 07 Sept 2016
Language: English

Publisher: Fantasy Works Publishing

When sixteen-year-old Willow goes urban exploring in an abandoned asylum she expects the dark halls, creepy echoes, and ominous atmosphere. But she doesn’t expect it to follow her home. After the trip, Willow becomes haunted by nightmares in which she never left Ashwood Asylum. Nightmares where she is pursued by grotesque, mind-infesting horrors called the Mora who feed off the fear of mortals. Unfortunately for squeamish Willow, they are hungry. And she is their perfect meal. 

Upon waking, Willow recalls only fleeting memories of dead butterflies, hollow eyes and discordant whispers. But slowly these phantasms begin to bleed into her daily life, making Willow question her own sanity. She soon realizes that the solution lies solely within the decrepit walls of Ashwood. As the boundary between dreams and reality disintegrates, Willow must find the courage to defeat the leader of the Mora before he traps her soul in the nightmare forever. 

★★★★

First off, I should mention this book was received as an ARC and I'm very very thankful for that! It took me longer to read than expected and I'm very sorry for the late review.

From the start it really does feel like dark fantasy. I, who is easily scared by the way, was glad that I've read it during the daylight hours (despite being a spn fan!!). The first few chapters were really scary.

The first point of view and descriptions of her emotions give out the perfect vibe, making the reader live through the dangers together with the character. Yet somehow during me reading it I lost the connection. I wasn't that interested or hyped to read the book. After longer parts of descriptions or without any dialogues I got a tad bored.

Besides that it got all a good book should have. There was romance, action, sadness and even some mystery that needed to be solved. I give it four stars only because it didn't drive me crazy. I actually managed to put it down to read another book, which I reviewed in the meantime and am almost over with another one.

Still it was a great book with just as great ending. Promising some more mystery from the author along with unanswered questions.

Ranger's Apprentice: Ruins of Gorlan ~ review

Format: Ebook (.mobi)

Size: 701 KB
Publication date: 08 June 2006
Language: English

Publisher: Penguin Books LLC

hey have always scared him in the past — the Rangers, with their dark cloaks and shadowy ways. The villagers believe the Rangers practice magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now 15-year-old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger's apprentice. What he doesn't yet realize is that the Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles reach the people. And as Will is about to learn, there is a large battle brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the kingdom. This time, he will not be denied.... 

★★★★★

This book is book from 'my childhood' in a way. I've read it on elementary school and it became my istant love. The way it's written, the characters the dialogues the describtions.

This was the third time I've read through the book and it didn't take me long to flip through the pages. It's a literall page turner, action is behind every corner and you want to either know what will happen next or more about the characters that are travelling along the journey through the kingdom.
To add it 'added gas to the fire' you could say, of my love for middle ages and all that. I wanted to become a part of the Rangers and everything you could possibly think off.

As for the technical side of things the book was an excellent debut for the author and it wasn't lacking anything. There was humour, non-confusing dialogues between the characters even development. And despite it being in third POV narrative when the character was confused so were you. Very, very well written and would recommend to kids from 6th grade to any adult. It's interesting to say the least because despite having the setting in a 'real world' with all working components of middle aged society with parts where magic fits in.

School of Deaths ~ review

Format: Ebook (.mobi)

Size: 896 KB
Publication date: 14 May 2015
Language: English

Publisher: MuseItYA

Thirteen-year-old Suzie Sarnio always believed the Grim Reaper was a fairy tale image of a skeleton with a scythe. Now, forced to enter the College of Deaths, she finds herself training to bring souls from the Living World to the Hereafter. The task is demanding enough, but as the only female in the all-male College, she quickly becomes a target. Attacked by both classmates and strangers, Suzie is alone in a world where even her teachers want her to fail. 
Caught in the middle of a plot to overthrow the World of Deaths, Suzie must uncover the reason she’s been brought there: the first female Death in a million years.

★★★

I've noticed that I've read this book a while ago, in March to be precise, and I have few good excuses for that:
First it was really not that interesting book to read,
secondly I had finals to prepare for ~ so yeah.....

I found this book to be very simlar to Harry Potter. The character was just sucked up into the supernatural world and I found it a bit fast paced.  Suzie is kind of forced to do stuff and that might have been the reason why it had taken me so long to get through it. She seems  without any flaw,s, maybe if she was scared of fire or something it might have been a slightly more believable character...Or maybe I'm just not sure about this, becuase I haven't really noticed.

I didn't feel like I was immersed into the story, no real connection with the character, which I was lacking. I tend to live in the situation with the chacters and this book didn't give me the feeling of acomplishment when she indeed defeated the antagonist in this book.

Yet the descriptions of nature and the actual world had depth I have to admit that. There was lore, many other different kinsd of supernatural beings with their own customs and it added to the diversity and made the story a tad more interesting to read. 

Darca (The Giver) ~ review

Format: Hardback

Dminesions: 152×219 mm | 420 g
Publication date: 2014
Language: Slovak

Publisher: Artforum

In a perfect world, Jonas begins to see the flaws...THE GIVER is the classic award-winning novel that inspired the dystopian genre and a major motion picture adaptation for 2014 starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes and Taylor Swift. It is the future. There is no war, no hunger, no pain. No one in the community wants for anything. Everything needed is provided. And at twelve years old, each member of the community has their profession carefully chosen for them by the Committee of Elders. Twelve-year old Jonas has never thought there was anything wrong with his world. But from the moment he is selected as the Receiver of Memory, Jonas discovers that their community is not as perfect as it seems. It is only with the help of the Giver, that Jonas can find what has been lost. And it is only through his personal courage that Jonas finds the strength to do what is right...The Giver is the award-winning classic of bravery and adventure that has inspired countless dystopian writers as the forerunner of this genre.

★★★★

This book started and actually was very similar to the Divergent series and I have a feeling that Veronica Roth took some inspiration from here. Where ther ewas a system of plitics, closed off from any influence, of having everything to be by the rules, not out of normalcy. It tried to point out how our feelings andknowledge of our past, from which we can learn our mistakes, is important. To beware of the previos mistakes we had made.

The end was sad, which I didn't expect it to be like that. I hoped that The giver and Jonas would find a way to help people without such of a big sacrifice. It also surprised me how the author portrayed the fact that if we had the possibilities to make decisions for ourselves that it would be dangerous. Which in a way is partly true, because we don't always make the right decisions.

Still the book was written in easy language, younger readers would understand of what was going on. There were many pictures adding to the experience, almost after every single chapter and it wasn't that chunk of a read thanks to that. The sentence flow was easy and I didn't have the need to skip paragraphs to get to the point of the chapter.

Yet the only thing that bugged me were the mistakes in the print. There were often different font types and I even found a grammatical mistake, which I will balme on Slovak translators or possible the editors. Now I understand why editorss need to know their language. I would be ashamed if i let this kind of thing into print.

A Court Of Mist And Fury ~ review

Format: Paperback

Dminesions: 129 x 198 x 43mm | 437g
Publication date: 05 May 2016

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

★★★★★

The long awaited reviews are coming up. Finally I have the time to put something together. After all the school's over, and I have more time for reading books! Yay! Anyway ~ I was waiting for this book for over half a year and when it finally arrived I didn't do anything else but read it. (don't count the overjoyed feeling when it was in my hands >.<)

It was the best book I've read from Maas so far and I loved it to bits. I don't think there is a thing I would mark as a  negative. The narrative was perfect, the whole story, oh my. I was on a roller coaster of emotions! Like, at first I thought I hated Rhys, but the more I read the book the more I'm starting to hate Tamlin instead! Mass did a great job of convincing me, making me fall in love with Tam in the first book and then. BAM! Everything he did from the very beginning of the book had me screaming inside.

Even though the first book was more engaging, I immersed myself right into it. This one, however, has the action scenes divided into more pages and has more descriptions of Feyre's thoughts. Which I think was another bit that made the book more appealing. Definitely worth more then five stars if it was possible.

I was pushing the time when I'll finish the book till the very end, not wanting it to end. Especially with what was at the end! Had me read it over again. Also I can't wait for the Empire of Storms to come out!