DNFing GILDED

It’s not often I do write-ups on The Pewter Wolf Reads about books/audiobooks I quit (or DNF [Did Not Finish]). And if I do, I usually only write my thoughts on Goodreads (mainly because so I remember why I quit or because it’s a review copy and I want to show publishers via NetGalley that “hey, look, I did try and read it. Why aren’t my Did Not Finish review not affecting my Reading Percentage, NetGalley [hint hint!]?”). But mainly, us book bloggers don’t exactly practice what we preach about reading for pleasure and quitting when we’re not enjoying it. Though we are getting better.

But Gilded by Marissa Meyer, I wanted to talk about because while I did quit this around the halfway mark (57%, I believe) and I borrowed the audiobook from the library and had this on double speed (something I rarely do), I do think some of you guys will really like this book. I mean, this is a fairy tale reimagining of Rumpelstiltskin – I already know most of you guys love a good fairy tale retelling.

Serilda is a miller’s daughter who can’t stop telling stories (well, she was cursed by the god of stories and lies). When she is caught out one night, she tells a story to keep herself from getting killed – that she’s out to collect straw so she can turn to gold, she catches the attention of the Erlking who, every full moon, takes her to his castle and demands to spin straw into gold – or be killed for lying. Desperate, Serilda accidently summons a mystery of a young man who can spin straw into gold – for a price. Magic always demand payment. As the two spend time together, they form a connection and wonder why the Erlking wants so much gold. For the Erlking has plans… dark plans and Serilda has found herself at the heart of it.

Now, in theory, this is right up my street. A YA fairytale retelling (with just enough darkness at its heart and yet, a romance to keep things light) with hints of other fairytales (I keep thinking this had dashes of Beauty and the Beast thrown in, and strong Once Upon A Time vibe) with strong writing and other elements that should have ticked all my boxes.

And yet… I quit the book around the halfway mark. Not because the book is bad – it isn’t, and I do think most of you guys will enjoy reading this. But, the book had two issues that didn’t work for me as reader and now that I’m typing, I now realise that these were the same issues I had when I tried to read another retelling from this author a few years, Heartless – a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Heart: book felt too long and repetition.

I get why: most of the story takes place on night of the full moon so, of course, there’s going to be repetition over how the characters react, their actions and whatnot – hence the issue of length. The chapters of the full moon have to be long and with the story going in the direction it’s going, it’s needs that length. However, this is the first in a series (duology?), so if these issues are here now with me, I sense I’m going to have these issues in the next book. Which then leads to a question every reader ask them when starting a new series: do I want/need to continue?

For me, the answer’s no. But I have read several reviews from book bloggers I like and respect, and their answer is yes. Not every book is going to work for every reader.

But I did try to read this, and there are elements I do like and I will recommend this book to readers. It’s just that this book didn’t work for me, sadly.

Audiobook Review - Fairest

• Title And Author: Fairest by Marissa Meyer
• Publisher: Bolinda Publishing
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed by BorrowBox & Essex Libraries 
• Length: 288 Pages or 5 Hours 33 Minutes

If you backtrack through the Pewter Wolf, you will know I started the Lunar Chronicles and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I enjoyed Cinder and loved Scarlet. And then, I stopped. I didn’t go any further. Now, I did try to read the third book in the series, Cress, but every time I did, I stopped at the halfway point. I kept getting so tense over the characters, I kept having to stop myself and I could never come back. And when Winter, the last book came out, I knew I wouldn’t go back to this series as it was SO LONG (over 800 pages). 

But I have always been curious over the little novella, Fairest. As you know, each book in the Lunar Chronicle is inspired on a fairy tale (Cinder follows Cinderella, Scarlet is Little Red Riding Hood, Cress is Rapunzel and Winter is Snow White) so this novella is about the Evil Queen… And I think we all want to know what makes a villain a villain… 

Before Levana was the ruthless Queen of Luna, she was someone completely different. A young, shy girl who lives in her awful older sister’s shadow, hiding her scars behind her Glamour… But what made this girl become who is in the Lunar Chronicles?

DNFing Heartless

Because I have said that I will try and be as honest as I can about (and it's important to be honest with each other, dear reader, in my opinion). Sometimes, no matter how much we want to "click" with a story, for one reason or another, you just don't.

And sadly, Heartless is one of them. I think I know why, but let's talk about the book first before I explain my thinking.

We all know the story of Alice in Wonderland. But do we know the story about the Queen of Hearts? Before she became Queen, Cath just wanted to be the best baker in Hearts. She just wanted to fall in love.

The King Of Hearts wants to marry her, much to Cath's horror, and when she meets the new court jester, Jest, Cath feels a pull towards him. She wants to have control over her own life, her own destiny. But in Wonderland, where magic, monsters and madness go hand in hand, fate has other plans...

This type of book, I should be all over! I always seem to like Alice in Wonderland reimaginings/retellings and go towards them, and I have been excited to read this since I first heard of it a few years ago.

But why am I DNFing this? At 50 percent (yes, half way!)?

I have a mix of reasons. I think I might be in a bit of a reading slump since reading Garth Nix's Goldenhand and because of this, I am a bit harsh on my reading. And I did try to read several other stories before I started Heartless and seeing as I made it to 50%, I'm not entirely certain if this is the full reason.

I think I have two problems: the pacing and the characters. From what I have read, the majority of the story is quite slow in pace. I don't mind a slower paced story, but there were times I really struggled with the pacing. When it got going, I flew through those pages, but then it's slowed and I struggled to keep my reading pace going.

My problem with the characters is that they felt flat at times and, because of this, I didn't connect with them. If they were a little fleshed out, I think I would be on board with them. But they felt flat and, because of this, I didn't related.

I am saying this now that this isn't a review. I am not reviewing Heartless. I'm stating why I decided to stop reading this now (even though I'm currently meant to be in an adult literature reading month). I would like to return to read this once I feel more out of my reading slump and maybe closer to UK publication date.

GoodRead - The Queen's Army

Another day, another eNovella review. I'm seem to be going through a blitz/binge of them lately. And why not? Am enjoying myself. Today, am going to talk about The Queen's Army, eNovella that is sandwiched between Cinder and Scarlet.

Z must leave his family. He must join the Queen's army. It should be an honor, so refusing is not acceptable. He must become a soldier for his Queen and learn to fight. Fight to the death.

Unlike most of the stories from the Lunar Chronicles, this takes place on Luna and is told from the point of view of Z, a lunar. And it was interesting. I always imagined a lunar very different from how this story depicted them. And the story itself, how a child became a soldier... that was interesting too. Though there were moments I went "That's horrible!". I believe Marissa might have touched on some of these in Scarlet but in here, we see it and there is flinching.

This helped a lot on why characters behaved the way they did in Scarlet - this is a very character driven story and this help explains things if you read Scarlet and you had questions. Now, to read this before or after? I read this after Scarlet so I was reading this going "Oh, you have no idea what's going to happen to you, do you?" and getting tense. But I knew all the info and this cleared a few things up. I do worry that if you read this before you read Scarlet, you will pretty much guess most of the plot for Scarlet, BUT you will have the histories of the characters so it's very conflicted.

If you're a fan of the series, read it if you can! You can buy on your kindle or read of Tor.com for free!

GoodRead - Glitches

I got this free on Kindle. Free! And on its own! I know you can get it as one of the five stories from the Fierce Reads Anthology, but I randomly saw this on Twitter and went "I have to have it!" and managed to get it! I think I downloaded this after I read Scarlet. Am surprised I haven't read it till recently...

In this prequel of Cinder, we see Cinder as she is bought into her new family five years prior to the novel and her realising that she will never fit in with them... 

It's short! I read it over a course of a day, on and off (I was working!), and I just wanted more. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know more about this young, shy Cinder. I wanted to know more about her stepfather, Garan (who we see very little of). I wanted (and still do) want more about Adri. Oh, I have so many questions about Cinder's stepmother from reading just this eNovella, it's a bit stupid. I need Marissa to write a story about her or from point of view. 

But this was good! It set up the story of Cinder. It fed me till I could make time for Marissa's other eNovella, The Queen's Army. But these novellas are a good way for you to discover if you like the author's writing style if you are unsure on wanting to read the series. 

I did, and really enjoyed myself. And the story is free in the Fierce Reads Anthology or, if you don't have a eReader, you can read it here on Tor.com. 

GoodRead - Scarlet

I randomly won an ARC from the US publisher of the Lunar Chronicles during their #ScarletFriday on Twitter (YEAH FOR INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING AND FOR THE PUBLISHER BEING AWESOME TO READERS!). So, after bouncing up and down like a looney tune when I got it (in a scarlet padded envelope! I LOVE when publisher do tiny details like this! Just LOVE IT!), I jumped straight into it.

After the events of Cinder, Cinder is in prison and will soon be taken to Luna. But she can't let that happen. She has to escape. But if she does, she will the Commonweath's most wanted fugitive. But she has no choice. She has to escape...

In France, Scarlet's grandmother has vanished. And the Police have stopped looking for her. Scarlet decides to find her beloved grandmother herself. But as she starts searching for her, Scarlet begins to wonder how well she knew her grandmother. And when Scarlet discovers that her grandmother was kidnapped, she has to trust a street fighter called Wolf. But should she? 

As Cinder and Scarlet's stories collide, the ruthless Luna Queen is more determined than even in her plans to rule both Luna and Earth. And she ups her game to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner...

Now, if you are aware from my previous review of Cinder (here's the review if you want it!), I wanted to read Scarlet first but was advise to read this to help with back story. And I am very glad I did. While you can easily jump straight into this as most of this book follows Scarlet, with Cinder's story popping up every now and again, it helped with the back story of Cinder. Of how she got into this situation, why the Queen Luna wants her dead and her story with Prince Kai (oh yes, fans of Kai, he has some chapters too. And there will be where you and every readers will scream "NO! DON'T DO IT!" at him). 

I adore this book so, of course, my review is going to be bias. I love how, unlike Cinder where everything hits the fan at the fifth chapter, Scarlet hit the ground running. I love how the story moves at a shocking fast pace (compare to Cinder, this moves fast. Cinder took past over a course of weeks. Scarlet takes place in a matter of days). I love that the pacing never truly lacked or went slack. I love how the new characters were introduced (oh, Captain Thorne is probably my fave new character as he bought much needed humour to some stressful situations). I love the direction this book went and went it's going with the next book in the series, Cress. I can not wait. 

However, while I am totally bias, I know some of you won't be. I know that there will be issues that will drive a few of you nuts over. Ok, let's address them. First of all, Scarlet and Wolf's relationship. It changes and evolves VERY QUICKLY and, in real life, this wouldn't happen. And, because the story doesn't stay with Scarlet (it jumps from her to Cinder to Prince Kai and, at one point, the Luna Queen herself [these changes will annoy some of you, as well,), some of you won't feel the chemistry between her and Wolf. The same could be said with Cinder and Captain Thorne, but seeing as they are thrust together and have to make do, their relationship works nicely. But Scarlet and Wolf's relationship does move very quickly. But, remember, we have two more books in this series and I suspect that we will be seeing more of Scarlet and Wolf in them so we will probably see more of their relationship as the series moves through Cress and into the finale, Winter. 

Like I said, I'm bias to this book. I adore it. I can not wait for Cress, which will be out next year (this is the disadvantage to getting ARCs - longer waits...)! Bring it on! 

GoodRead - Cinder

Cinder was one of those books that I've been a bit wary over it. I heard all the hype and I went "Really?" and I stayed away. But then I watched a video from This Week In YA where they chatted about the sequel of Cinder, Scarlet, and I got excited over this. A retelling of Red Riding Hood, set in the south of France? Now, after I saw this, I wanna know if I could read Scarlet without reading Cinder so, asking the author and a few friends on Twitter, I was told that I could, but Cinder would be very helpful. So, on pure impulse, I downloaded on my kindle and read it at the same time as Cat Clarke's Torn.

In the future, after World War 4, in New Beijing, Cinder is a talented mechanic. She's also a cyborg, due to being in a terrible accident when she was 12. Hated by her stepmother. When her stepsister catches the plague, Cinder's life is thrown into turmoil when she is trying to find an antidote while finding her life entertwined when he needs an android fixed, but she knows he's lying about why he needs it fixed. 

And, just to make things even more complex, the Queen of Luna is coming to New Beijing, wanting Prince Kai to become her husband... 

The first few chapters, I must admit, didn't grab me. I admit that. I kept getting confused with the terms of cyborg and android as no one really explained the difference and I felt that the story wasn't hitting the ground running. 

Then chapter 5 happens where Cinder's stepsister caught the plague and that's when it suddenly went full throttle. And I fell in love with it, then. 

I love how Marissa Meyer took the fairy retelling idea (Cinder is the first book in a four book series), set it in the future and then threw everything at it. Aliens, disease, robots, love, hatred. And, while I was reading this going "This is a fairytale retelling of Cinderella, so there has to be a ball", I kept finding new things and I kept getting sucked in and then, when I finished Torn, I sped through the book. And Marissa twists the fairytale to such a degree, you go "Oh, wow! That's the slipper!" and you kick yourself for not seeing it sooner! 

There was one twist near the end that I saw a few days before, and that might be interesting to see how that develops. Apart from that and the first few chapters, I think this is a brilliant retelling. I saw it in my head and I would LOVE to see this turned into a TV show or movie (hint hint Once Upon A Time!) as long as they STICK to the story and cast the characters right! NO WHITE PEOPLE! This isn't the horrible US book trailer (and no, am not going to show you that! Am going to show a better review of Cinder, though...). If you're going to turn this into a movie/TV show, get it right! 

I can not wait for Scarlet! Can we have it bought forward a few months? Please!