The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Volume I, written by M. T. Anderson

If you have read my other blog posts, you may have noticed that I focus on the plot and characters in a novel a lot more than I focus on the actual writing and writing style. If you haven't noticed, then it's okay, I forgive you. :) For me to enjoy a novel, it has to have a good overall plot and a likable main character. The writing style isn't as important; I'd rather read a book with a good plot and bad writing than one with a bad plot but good writing. I think this is why I did not enjoy Suite Scarlett and The Moon and More as much as other people. Both Maureen Johnson and Sarah Dessen are great writers (writing-style wise) and you can tell when reading their novels, but I cannot push myself to enjoy a book if the plot and main character/narrator are not equally as good.

That being said, the plot of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, Volume I (the length of the title being about the same length as the novel itself) could have been absolute crap and the writing would have made it all worth while.

"But Brianna," you say, while glaring into your computer screen, "that makes absolutely no sense! You just said that writing style doesn't mean anything to you!"

And to you, I say, "Stop talking to your computer; people are starting to think you are crazy."

Okay fine, I know this makes me a hypocrite, but this book is like reading poetry, if poetry always sounded beautiful and made sense (which is doesn't). I knew I would love the writing after reading the last line of the first chapter: "How doth all that seeks to rise burn itself to nothing." Isn't that amazing? I'm thinking it would make an awesome tattoo, but in the context of the book, it means that those that strive for greatness and power will eventually fall into nothingness. Which isn't exactly uplifting. But still beautiful, right?

You will have to read the book in order to fully appreciate how excited I am about the writing, but if you (like me) think that plot is way more important, than lucky you! The plot is weird and wonderful too! Though there are a few things I need to warn you about first.

This book includes:

• Ye olde fashion English, including a large amount of "thee"s, "thou"s, and "dost"s 
• Historical accuracy (and some inaccuracy, but I still love you M. T. Anderson)
• Philosophy

and a few other things that you probably aren't looking for in a book to read for fun. But the English used is not like Shakespearean English or even Arthur Miller English; it's pretty easy to read! And the book is about an African boy who grows up in the mid-18th century in a philosophical college as an experiment, and his life as an experiment and *SPOILERS* escape.

I don't know if I've convinced you to read this book or not, but if I have, then Yay! Go read it now! And if I haven't, then who cares! Go read it now anyways! Because you won't regret it. 

And if you do, then that sucks for you, cause I still got you to read it, so I win. :)

The Moon and More, written by Sarah Dessen

If you've finished Suite Scarlett and are looking for another beach read, here you go! Sarah Dessen's The Moon and More is almost the epitome of a beach read. I mean, look at the cover!

Of course, it takes place in a beach town during the summer, with romance and friendships and whatnot. But beware, because reading this will make you realize that you have done basically nothing this summer so far except read and watch vlogbrothers videos and will start questioning if you even have a social life....

Anyways... Though the whole "beach summer romance" thing sounds cliche, this novel actually had a lot more depth than I expected. Character development is prevalent and the plot line is unlike anything I've ever read. A lot of the novel is Emaline figuring out who she is and how she relates to her family and friends as those relationships change the summer before she goes to college. It's a character driven story, rather than plot driven, which actually works really well in summer books such as this (authors, this is where you start taking notes from Sarah Dessen).

There were a few problems I had with Dessen's writing though. Her writing style is engaging and shows she is talented, but there were some issues with her characters. I found the character development somewhat lacking. A lot of characters undergo a transition through the book, but the transition was usually awkward and poorly explained. One character that sticks out to me is Morris, who changes from lazy slacker to competent hard worker fairly quickly with no real explanation except that he decided he should. The only person that had a smooth transition was Emaline, but that's where my other problem comes in.

It's hard to relate to Emaline sometimes, and any issues relating to her are things that Dessen could have easily fixed. The first time I noticed this was a few chapters in when she calls Daisy "my best girlfriend." Only women over 40 call women who are their friends "girlfriends," so it sounded absolutely ridiculous coming from an 18-year-old. There were other questionable word-choices similar to this too. Another problem was Emaline's break-up with Luke; very few things about it seemed realistic. Emaline's actions and feelings were not really explained and therefore made the whole situation confusing at best. If these problems are ignored, though, then I really liked Emaline as a character.

In conclusion: It's not perfect, but The Moon and More is pretty good, especially if you are looking for something easy to read. It is more of a chick book, but well worth reading. It definitely made me want to check out Dessen's other novels, at least!

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha Series #1), written by Leigh Bardugo

So I get a lot of my book recommendations from websites and sometimes there aren't full reviews of the novels; they are just highly rated. The first review of Shadow and Bone I read was on the front cover of the novel, which says, "Unlike anything I've ever read." Now there are two ways to take this. The first way is that it's very different from anything else and therefore absolutely phenomenal. The second way is that it is so horrible no one up to this point in the history of ever wrote something this bad. So I wasn't sure what to expect. But then I read it and out of the two choices, Shadow and Bone definitely follows the first definition at lot more than the second.

Was it very different from anything else and absolutely phenomenal? No, but it was pretty fantastic!

Unlike Suite Scarlett, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone. It is a more realistic fantasy novel, lacking mythical beasts and magic (though the "science" is basically magic with a vague explanation to why it is not) so I think it appeals to a wider audience than most fantasy novels. There is action, romance, and a plot that makes you stay up until 1 AM reading.

Not that I did that. Nope. Not at all. Because I have willpower. o__O

Anyways... Because I am a book critic (in my mind, obviously not in real life, because look at this writing; I most certainly am not a professional) I am obliged to critique Shadow and Bone and what prevented it from being "absolutely phenomenal."

The novel drops you into its world, so it took me a chapter or two to fully understand what was going on, but that's not terribly abnormal for fantasy novels. The vocabulary took longer, however, with words like kefta and oprichniki that were never outright defined; you have to use the context to understand the meaning. It's hard make a fair complaint against this though because it is a first person narrative and therefore it would be weird for the narrator, Alina, to randomly define words that are part of her every day vocabulary.

I don't have a definite stance on the romance in the novel either. Immediately after finishing the book I felt like there was too much romance. I wanted the author to focus on Alina and her world because the setting and history that was discussed throughout the novel was so fascinating. I wanted Alina to focus on what she had to accomplish and her character growth rather than worrying over her feelings about the Darkling and Mal. But after a little while I started thinking maybe there wasn't enough romance, or at least analysis of the romance involved. It does play an important part in the plot, but I don't think it's importance was emphasized enough. When the Darkling first kisses Alina, why is he doing that? To confuse her? To make her more loyal to him? The novel does not delve into the implications of the Darkling and even Mal's actions towards Alina for the first half of the novel, and I think it deserved discussion.

The novel was beautifully written. I liked the majority of the characters and it was very easy to relate to Alina, even though she's in a different situation in a different world. It was enjoyable and quick to read, which is how I like my books.

So, in summary: read this book. It's dark and not exactly a "beach read," but it is clever and fascinating and better than a lot of other books you could be reading (believe me, I know). I'm not saying that everyone who reads it will like it, but if you like some fantasy in your novels, then you will certainly enjoy this.

In terms of other books: think Howl's Moving Castle level fantasy with a meeker version of Tris from Divergent as the main character, the darkness of Abhorsen, and it all taking place in Russia. And if you haven't read any of those novels, read them next.

And now I'm off to see if I can obtain any and all books in the Grisha series. :)

What is this? Where am I?

While I doubt many people will be reading this, this is going to be a blog about books that I have read and my opinions about them. Usually my opinions can be taken with a grain of salt, especially because I will most likely recommend every book because I believe every book is worth reading. I hope that this will be useful for people who are looking for book recommendations though!

Thanks for reading! :)

Suite Scarlet, written by Maureen Johnson

As an avid vlogbrothers fan, I felt it was my duty to check out Maureen Johnson, a.k.a. the real John Green. She seems to be a very fun and amusing person in real life, and my hope was that this would transfer to her written work. The only other book I have read of hers is 13 Little Blue Envelopes, which I might review some day. Right now, however, I will review her novel Suite Scarlet, which I finished approximately five minutes ago.

Let's see, where to begin... I suppose a summary is in order. The novel is about Scarlett Martin, a 15-year-old who lives with her parents, two sisters, and brother in the Hopewell Hotel. The Hopewell Hotel is in New York City and is rather run down, slowly losing money, etc. when all of a sudden a very wealthy guest named Mrs. Amberson moves into the Empire Suite and their lives are turned upside-down!

Okay, honesty time: I am horrible at summarizing, especially if I'm not supposed to spoil anything. It would be a much better idea to just look up a summary somewhere online, because my above summary in no way reflects the actual plot to the novel. Let's move on to my personal opinion of the novel, which hopefully will make more sense than my summary.

I'm still not sure how to feel about Maureen Johnson's writing style. On one hand, I am determined to love her writing because John Green does and he has fantastic taste (for the most part). On the other hand, I've read better, which sounds kind of snotty and is also in no way a good reason to dislike a book. I suppose a pro/con list is in order.

Pros:

• The relationships between siblings was fantastic. While there were some romantic relationships, there was a focus on the family that I really appreciated, especially between Scarlett and Spencer. Their relationship made me want to have a brother, which I don't say too often.
• I really liked Spencer as a character. He's witty, charming, and someone that is determined to follow his dream of becoming an actor even after being constantly shut-down. He is Scarlett's rock and kept Scarlett relatively sane throughout all of the drama she goes through.
• Scarlett is also pretty awesome, and for me it is important to have a likable main character, or else I will not enjoy the novel (which kind of happened with 13 Little Blue Envelopes). She has Spencer's wit and handles everything that Mrs. Amberson throws at her with very little panicking. There are times where she's mopey and slightly frustrating, especially about Eric, but she is able to solve her problems as well as others. I appreciate that she is a flawed character, because those that are perfect are absolutely no fun to read about.

Cons:

• Marlene was a hard character to deal with. I know that she had cancer, but her personality afterwards did not seem likely. I found it hard to understand or empathize with her, but then again I've never liked the bratty younger sibling in books or TV shows (Megan in Drake and Josh, anyone?). 
• Eric was predictable. *SPOILERS!* I knew from the beginning that something was off. Authors do not describe their characters having flawless bodies if they also have amazing personalities. While I can somewhat understand where Eric was coming from, cheating on his girlfriend from home as well as leaving Scarlett in the dark made me upset with him. Scarlett's reaction to Eric's explanation, as well as her interaction with Eric as a whole, did not seem very Scarlett-y either, which was frustrating.
• The plot, which is kind of a big deal when discussing the overall value of the novel. I think the main problem I had with it was that the main conflict kept changing. I like my novels to have one main conflict that is resolved in the end, which side problems along the way, though I am notorious for changing my mind and therefore this statement may not apply to other novels. It just seemed that the book was a list of problems and once one problem was solved, another would appear. Even after the performance of Hamlet there were still problems and at that point I was ready to just walk into the book, explain everything to everybody, and make any lingering problems go away.

Final review: 4/5 stars

Overall, and this may be a shock to you, I would recommend this novel. While disliking the way the plot was set up cannot be ignored, it is my personal preference and therefore I'm sure many people can easily just ignore my critiques and enjoy the book. It's a fun summer read that is pretty easy to get through; definitely more for a day at the beach then a men's book club (this is more of a chick book I think, plus I doubt there are men's book clubs). I enjoyed it, and I think many other people will too.