artsy musings of a bibliophile

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Review: The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas

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ABOUT THE BOOK

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas

young adult fantasy published by Bloomsbury Childrens on 4 March 2014

prequel to the Throne of Glass series

Celaena Sardothien owes her reputation to Arobynn Hamel. He gave her a home at the Assassins’ Guild and taught her the skills she needed to survive.
Arobynn’s enemies stretch far and wide – from Adarlan’s rooftops and its filthy dens, to remote islands and hostile deserts. Celaena is duty-bound to hunt them down. But behind her assignments lies a dark truth that will seal her fate – and cut her heart in two forever…

THE RATING

THE REVIEW

The best thing about The Assassin’s Blade is how each of the five novellas tell a different story but form a whole arc from when Celaena was an annoying, selfish and arrogant assassin to everything that led her towards her enslavement in the Salt Mines of Endovier. Much is revealed about Celaena Sardothien’s life before the events of Throne of Glass. I am definitely curious about how these novellas will come into extended play later on in the series.

However, The Assassin’s Blade and I seem to have lost some love on my reread as I ended up finding the novellas less enjoyable. Apparently, I had forgotten much of the plot of the novellas and could only wonder at the importance of The Assassin and the Healer and The Assassin and the Underworld. I had the most fun reading The Assassin and the Desert because of Ansel. Still, my favorite novella is The Assassin and the Empire and that’s because of Sam. Obvs. And oh, I liked how the novella cleverly hinted at her true identity.

I was not expecting to like Yrene at all, but her personality is in such a contrast to Celaena’s that I kept rooting for her till the end. Ansel of Briarcliff is just so violent and twisted and please let there be more of her later in the series. Farran and Arobynn are despicable as fuck and I really can’t wait for their impending deaths later on in the series because that needs to happen. Especially Arobynn’s.

There’s no doubt that Celaena Sardothien is a strong character who can be immature and unapologetic as fuck. She can also be gullible which is understandable, I guess, with her not going through the worst of it yet. She’s just so angry at everything and even though I know why she’s angry, I couldn’t help but think that much of that anger is displaced. The only way it’d make sense is if the King knew everything from the beginning and that it all had to go down this way.

Sam Cortland, where do I begin and where do I end? I don’t think there’s anyone who’s read Throne of Glass series and not fallen in love with him. There were legit tears in my eyes at the end. Again. I now see just how important Sam is to Celaena’s arc and story line and that’s really something to take in. Poor Sam.

I’d definitely recommend starting the series with The Assassin’s Blade and not Throne of Glass as that’s the weakest book in the series. There’s also a bit of foreshadowing in each of the novellas which I always enjoy. Despite not being necessary to the main plot of the series, it’s interesting to see just how it all started and then there’s also Sam.

THE QUOTES

‘If you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. Some people learn to embrace it-to love it. Some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget.Others turn it into anger.’ 

‘Life isn’t easy, no matter where you are. You’ll make choices you think are right, and then suffer for them.’

Interview: Amy Zhang

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Click the image for more info on #KiRCReads.

If you know me, you know I love contemporary YA the best and I’m very glad to be a part of Keepin’ it Real. Kaitlin is awesome for doing this and I’m so glad to be interviewing Amy Zhang. I’ve read 58% of Falling into Place after which I stopped because hello, I-don’t-want-this-book-to-end syndrome. I think I’ll re-read it before finishing it because it’s just that good.

It says in your bio that ‘books, tea, architecture, words, and pie make me very happy.’ Well, all of those things make me happy, as well (though, doughnuts and pizza make me more happy than pie). Anyway, I’d love to see a photo of your paper-mached desk that you did yourself using old book pages. And now for the question part of the question, tell us a bit more about yourself.
Hi! Thanks for having me! I’m Amy. My hobbies include wasting time on Pinterest, marathoning TV shows, and online shopping. I started writing in a fit of self-pity when I moved to Sheboygan, WI, in eighth grade, and I kept writing because I fell in love with it. I’ll be going to New York for college in a few weeks, and I’m nowhere near ready. My favorite word is “misadventures.”

Hello, Amy’s gorgeous paper-mached desk.
Liz is a beautifully raw character and it’s hard to not like her despite her flaws. I think we need more books like this, so thank you for writing Falling into Place. How would you describe your debut, Falling into Place?
I usually tell people that it’s just a book about high school and all of things that happen in those years. It’s about wanting to grow up but not know how. It’s about being a friend and falling in love and feeling like the world revolves around you because you haven’t seen enough of it yet to know any different. It’s about living in the moment and making mistakes and trying to fix them and not doing a good job of it. It’s about learning how to be a person.
How do you like the cover of Falling into Place? I, for one, love it because it’s abstract and minimal and yes.
I LOVE IT. I can’t stop looking at it. Originally, we were going to go with a different cover, but when my editor sent me this one, I just remember thinking, yes, this fits better. I couldn’t imagine a better cover. I love the car and the hand and the physics equations in the background. I love the colors and the chevron on the flaps and the pearl finish. It’s absolutely perfect. 
Falling into Place is about suicide and Newton’s laws of motion. How did you get to writing about such an unusual combination?
Falling started as two short stories, one of which was about a girl who committed suicide and left behind a notebook with her reasons why outlined in terms of Newton’s laws of motion. I was really intrigued by the idea of motion—how things don’t move if you don’t push them, how they keep moving unless you stop them. There was something about that that seemed so applicable to life, particularly high school life. I think that as a teen, you always feel kind of isolated. You exist in the moment. You’re often afraid to share your opinions, so you almost feel as though you’re the only one to ever think, really think. You feel alone, and that just isn’t true—actions reverberate. Everything is an interaction.
Falling into Place starts in the present and then goes back bit-by-bit with memory flashes. Did you intend it to be this way?
You know, I don’t actually remember what I was thinking when I first sat down to write. My first outline had all of the flashbacks and snapshots, but I never really thought about the structure. That was just the way I saw Liz’s story—in flashes, in memories, in puzzle pieces. Honestly, I didn’t think even think of it as nonlinear until one of my critique partners put a label to it. I don’t know that I intended to tell a certain way—that was just the way the story needed to be told.
Books about unlikable characters are always a bit tough to write because you’re working on a very thin line of endorsal vs portrayal. How did you tackle it in Falling into Place?
I think everyone is a bit of a jerk in high school. What I wanted to show in Falling into Place is that you can’t define yourself in moments—either your best or your worst. No one is likeable at their worst, and Liz was constantly at her worst. I wanted readers to know why, and that she had reasons for being there.
You’re doing a #100daysofFiP photo project on Instagram. How did that come to be?
I have this app on my phone that counts down the days until Falling’s release, and I wanted to do something fun once I hit the 100-day mark. I had just gotten a new camera as a graduation present, and I figured that I should put it to good use!
Is the world of publishing as scary as it sounds? How has your experience been?
Not at all! Deciding to look into publishing was the best decision I’ve ever made. Everyone is so incredibly dedicated and enthusiastic. I think publishing is just one of those industries in which everyone is there because they want to be there, and you can totally see that. It’s fantastic.
Are there any other works in progress? Since I read your blog a bit, I know there are a few and I’m very fascinated by all of them, especially, Memento Mori.
Yes! I’m working on a book tentatively titled This is Where the World Ends right now, which is about a boy who’s obsessed with apocalypses and a girl whose goal in life is to make the entire world fall in love with her. There’s spray paint and a coffee shop full of origami cranes and wings made out of dictionaries, and I can’t wait to share it with everyone! Memento Mori will probably be my next project.

Lastly, everyone should know that you are – ?
…horribly disorganized, usually sleep-deprived, and alarmingly dependent upon caffeine.
Amy Zhang can be found at
Add Falling into Place on Goodreads

Are you looking forward to Falling into Place? I really think you should be. It’s releasing on September 9th.

Monthly Recap: July

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Ah, July, what a busy month!

LIST OF NEWSWORTHY


First you Ramadan
The whole family was here for the summer and then Ramadan began so in between trying to finish reciting The Holy Qur’an and the fasting and the constant state of sleep-deprivation, I had little to no time to read or blog or tweet. The only books I did manage to read were at the beginning of July. I promise I’m gonna blog more and it’s gonna be awesome.

Then you Eid
Currently, it’s the third day of Eid and my bones hurt. But tomorrow’s gonna be busy with my Mother’s dialysis in the morning and hi-tea with a few of my high school friends. My tired self is tired just thinking about it. But yes, Eid was fun and I already ordered a book because Eidi. Still deciding what else to buy.

#30DaysofBookstagrams
I finally managed to finish a month long challenge and I’m glad it was book-related. I got so much better at book photography and hell yeah, practice makes perfect.

Podcasting It Up
I clearly see myself as a future podcast addict and it’s all because of Lillian since she introduced me to Welcome to Night Vale. I downloaded the Podcast Addict app for Android and discovered tons of interesting podcast channels.

Of Cancelled Sequels
Cristin Terrill’s All Our Yesterdays totally ruined me and I’d been looking forward to the sequel ever since. Sadly, there’s not going to be one. Terrill did publish a short story on her tumblr and plans to release an e-novella in fall 2014 along with a few more short stories. I’m sad but I was kind of expecting this since there has been little to no update about the supposed duology. I’m just happy that we get to see more of Em and Finn however short that more is going to be.

TV WATCH

I didn’t watch all that much TV this month except Teen Wolf which is going asdfghjkl-y awesome.

MOVIE WATCH

None because so busy err.

LIST OF READS

I’m glad I read an adult paranormal after so many years and it was a pretty good reading month. Also, I’m still in the middle of The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas and it’s perfect.

Reckoning by Jeaniene Frost
Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno
On the Fence by Kasie West
Before You by Amber Hart

LIST OF BLOGPOSTS

I couldn’t blog much so here’s what I managed to post:

I posted my review of The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno.
I posted my review of Before You by Amber Hart.

I also wrote a guest post about mood vs systematic reading on Miranda’s blog for her feature: She Said-She Said.

LIST OF BOOK BUYS

I got some very awesome ARCs I still need to finish reading so I didn’t buy all that many books.

Angelfall by Susan Ee
Cress by Marissa Meyer
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

PLAYLIST

I didn’t listen to any music but I did listen to 6 episodes of Night Vale radio. It’s so addictive and creepy and yes.


How was your July?

Review: Before You by Amber Hart

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AMBY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Before You by Amber Hart
young adult contemporary romance published by K-Teen on July 29th, 2014
first book in the Before & After series

Some say love is deadly. Some say love is beautiful. I say it is both.

Faith Watters spent her junior year traveling the world, studying in exquisite places, before returning to Oviedo High School. From the outside her life is picture-perfect. Captain of the dance team. Popular. Happy. Too bad it’s all a lie.

It will haunt me. It will claim me. It will shatter me. And I don’t care.

Eighteen-year-old Diego Alvarez hates his new life in the States, but staying in Cuba is not an option. Covered in tattoos and scars, Diego doesn’t stand a chance of fitting in. Nor does he want to. His only concern is staying hidden from his past—a past, which if it were to surface, would cost him everything. Including his life.

At Oviedo High School, it seems that Faith Watters and Diego Alvarez do not belong together. But fate is as tricky as it is lovely. Freedom with no restraint is what they long for. What they get is something different entirely.

Love—it will ruin you and save you, both.

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Review: The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno

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KLTHLoMP

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno
young adult contemporary thriller published by Harper Teen on July 8th, 2014

You take it for granted. Waking up. Going to school, talking to your friends. Watching a show on television or reading a book or going out to lunch.

You take for granted going to sleep at night, getting up the next day, and remembering everything that happened to you before you closed your eyes.

You live and you remember.

Me, I live and I forget.

But now—now I am remembering.

For all of her seventeen years, Molly feels like she’s missed bits and pieces of her life. Now, she’s figuring out why. Now, she’s remembering her own secrets. And in doing so, Molly uncovers the separate life she seems to have led…and the love that she can’t let go.

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