GoodRead - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I have to admit something. I adore the Disney versions (both the animation and the Tim Burton version - "The Alice?"), but I have never read Lewis Carroll's stories of them. I knew they were two stories of Alcie adventures merged together, but never read them. So, when the lovely Emma from Book Angel Booktopia sent me a copy as a surprise (I love her because she thinks of books and shares them with people), I thought "Ok, I will have to read you in the near future." But it took reading several quite dark books and me beginning to feel I might slip into a reading slump to grab this.

I think we all know the stories. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice falls down a rabbit hole, chasing the White Rabbit. Here she meets the Dodo, had tea with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, play croquet the Queen of Hearts and met (my fave character) the Cheshire Cat. In Through The Looking Glass, Alice walks through a mirror into world that feels like a huge chess game, meets the Red and White Queens, talk to some talking flowers, was told the tale of the Jabberwock ("She kills my Jabber-baby-wocky!?") and meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

It's very weird to read this as an adult because, I think, if I read this as a child, I would have loved it. And a tiny part of me love it. But while I was reading it now, as an adult, all I could think was "If Lewis Carroll tried to get this publish today, he couldn't. It would near impossible to get this publish today. So, how did this become a children's classic?" That was what I was thinking. I wondered how it became a classic. I think Disney help cement it, but I might be wrong.

It was weird. And insane. And I needed that. So, this was the perfect book to have after reading dark books as it was a relief. There was no pressure. And, I watched Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and I kept going "Oh, this was in Alice in Wonderland" or "Oh! That's why her knights are chess pieces!" or "So, that's why we have the Bandersnatch, the Jubjub Bird and the Vorpal Sword! They're mentioned in the Jabberwocky poem!" (I didn't know Lewis Carroll wrote the Jabberworky poem so this was very new information for me!)

I did have issues when I first finished the book but, since then, I have watched an Alice In Wonderland so some of my issues have gone. Bar one. And this is aimed more at the publishers than you guys so...

To my knowledge, before a book gets published, publishers have editors and proofreaders to read the book and make sure that there are no mistakes in the book. However, I found TONS of mistakes. TONS! Most of them were grammar mistakes (for example, Alice would think something and then she would speak. Expect you had no idea when the thought ended and the speaking began because there was no quotation marks at the start of Alice speaking. Or the one sentence when Alice was playing croquet and the sentence read She she went in search of her hedgehog. Sorry, but she she? Only one she is needed). Small mistakes and yet, these slipped through and they got published. If this happened once or twice, I would have let it go, but these kind of mistakes happened ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE BOOKS! And that is very annoying to a reader. Well, to this reader. I can't speak for all of you guys.

I know this happens rarely (this is the first book that this has happened since I have started blogging - if not, ever!) but it's makes reading the book harder as you're going "Is that how it's meant to be...?"

While I do like it and I now truly "get" the Alice movies, I have been bought up on the Disney movies so my love is going towards them. But, if you want to read what the movies are based on, then get your hands on a copy (maybe not this edition, if you can help it)...

GoodRead - Not My Wolf

I saw this randomly on Amazon, saw it was free and saw it had gay werewolves. That's the main reasons why I downloaded it. I didn't know till later that this was M/M EROTICA and from the same writer who wrote What He Wants (if you didn't see my review which saw me rant and rave, and basically ordered you all NOT to buy this [which is something I never do!], here you go. Enjoy the ranty fury!)

That's right, this is an gay M/M erotica read and, after a long time, I've decided (maybe against my better judgement) to talk to you guys about it. So, if this isn't your kind of thing, BACK AWAY! Do not read!

As pack Alpha of the Rocky Mountains fenrir wolf pack, Corey has a lot on his plate. But when he has a dream that could lead him to his mate, things look up. But when he meets Devin on a double date, he's shocked to discover that Devin is his mate. Which is slightly problematic as Corey's straight. But the two can't deny that they are strongly attractive to each other and when Devin gets into trouble with a rival pack, Corey moves heaven and earth to find him...

This is a novella of around 18,000 so most of you guys would read this in an hour. Maybe an hour and a half and, even though I lost my temper over What He Want, I actually enjoyed reading this. I do have an issue (but will get to that in a second). The writing was good and well-editted and the characters and mythology was interesting. Yes, it was a bit one-dimensional at times, but in a novella, that's to be expected.

My main issue is Corey. Most of the way through the story, he's very much "I'm straight. You're not my mate as you're a guy." He doesn't accept it immediately (which I liked) but there was no real emotion or he wondering "Could I be...?". No, none of that. But after a moments together (and a night), he's still "Nope. Am straight." And then Devin is taken by the rival pack and INSTANTLY, Corey's feelings change from "I'm straight" to "He's my mate!". Really? You changed how you see Devin and him being your mate THAT quickly?

Another small scene which bothered me was Devin picking a lock to watch Corey sleep. That whole scene, if taken out of context is VERY creepy. And the fact that, when Corey wakes to see Devin, while freaking out, Devin says something about rape (I can't remember what it was, exactly)... but, seriously?

I know most of the people reading this novella will want to know if the sex scenes are hot and steamy (not answering that!), but if you like this sort of thing, here you go. Enjoy. I think I might have judged Eden Cole too harshly with What He Wants...

SMILE - What Do Ducks Think?

My thanks to CassJayTuck's tumblr.

GoodRead - Night School: Legacy

I managed to nab my hands on a copy of Night School: Legacy when I took part in the Night School Legacy blog tour (did you take part?) so when I have now read it and can be honest with you on my views on the book.

Allie has turned her life around. Before she was forced to join Cimmeria Academy, she was arrested three times and her family was close to a breakdown since her brother's disappearance. But at the Academy, she has got her life back. But after the fire that nearly destroyed the school (and her with it), Allie realises that Cimmeria isn't as safe as she first hoped. The school is at a centre of a conspiracy and outside forces - along with her brother's help - want control of it. And with someone inside the school working as a mole for the enemy, Allie has to be careful who she trusts. But secrets are dangerous things. They can rip the strongest of relationships apart. They can get someone killed.

As you guys are probably away if you go back to my review of Night School (which was last year, I think), I read it thinking it was a standalone and didn't rate it so highly. This time round, I know that Legacy (ok, am shortening it to this, hope that's ok for you guys) was the second book in a series so I knew there would be unanswered questions. I knew things will hit the fan. But when they did...

I really liked it. I walked into this book as if I was greeting an old friend and thoroughly enjoyed it at the beginning. But the end, I wanted to kill a few characters. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. First, let's get into the pros of this book.

It's still a slow thriller. We still have that sense of foreboding. Oh, CJ, you know how to make that work for you. And now we have the feeling of being inside a conspiracy theory, it seems more complex and layered. The character development matches the pace of the book and feels real. Like these characters are growing. And with everything that is slowly unravelling and some of the threads being wrapped up and others left annoyingly dangling (WHO'S THE MOLE, CJ?! WHO?!), making reading the next book interesting ...

I have one or two faults. Sorry, I do. I always do, I find recently. First is character development  Yes, I know I said this is a good thing (and it is), but with a character (naming no names), I wondered if they had a personality transplant. Who was this angry, possessive, controlling person, for they weren't in the first book? And I got so angry over this, the author tweeted me to see if I was ok and had calmed down (I did, but I had to stop reading it for the rest of the day).

The second thing was everyone's reaction. Now, I'm sorry, but one of the bad guys was a former student of Cimmeria and he killed people. Let's say that again. Killed. So, while they was extra security (which is fine), the characters were allowed to do midnight patrols of the grounds (when it has been known that he got pass security on several occasions), have a party at castle ruins because of tradition (again, knowing that a killer could get pass security) and hosting a Winter Ball with high profile people in the world of politics (with again, this guy has got pass security and the fact that there's a mole in the school). Sorry, but I found that hard to believe. I found it hard to believe that, if this was real, that this would be the way to go...

Anyway, Legacy. I liked it. It's better than Night School. And I'm intrigued over the next book, but I kept picking holes in it...

Celia Bryce Virtual Writing Workshop - Plot and Narrivate

Ok, hands up who here tries to write stories? *raises mine* Ok, hands up if you guys want some advice on plotting and narrative? Well, you're in luck as, for this week, author of Anthem For Jackson Dawes, Celia Bryce is going to talk about plotting and narrative, and over the course of the week (on different blogs), she will give ideas, tips and talks about how she writes. My thanks goes to Celia for taking time to write these posts and to Ian at Bloomsbury for organizing this mini-blog tour.

Now, enough of me, let's hand it over to Celia!

*

PLOT/NARRATIVE

Plot and Narrative are used to show and tell how a story unfolds. The plot reveals the story bit by bit, using scenes where there’s speech, action and thought. They allow the reader to step inside the book, watch what’s going on, as it goes on, and experience it at the same time as the characters. Scenes can help the reader to get to know who they’re reading about.

The narrative reveals other parts of the story which can be told just as well and just as strongly, without having to involve the characters in a scene, but which are still important to the reader. These sections of narrative can help cover weeks, months or years, in just a few sentences, paragraphs or pages.

There’s no need to show everything in scenes and no need to tell everything in narrative. We need to try to balance the two and in some stories heaps of scenes can work and in others heaps of narrative can work, but generally a good mix of the two works best. How do we choose? Let’s see. If we get up in the morning, we go to work, perhaps, or school then we come back and have something to eat, maybe watch TV and go to bed. It would be pretty boring to write or read about each and every day in scenes if nothing changes. So we can just tell what happens very simply instead, in a few words or sentences of narrative. But if, one Thursday, for example, something interesting or terrible or wonderful occurs, that’s when to use a scene, to show and involve the reader in how it happened, what was said, how the main character/characters behaved and to make the reader wonder what’s going to happen next. It’s not always easy to get it right and at times you just have to write and write till the story’s finished then have a look and see if some of the narrative can be turned into a scene or a scene turned into narrative. Or if some bits really just need to be crossed out. That happens a lot!

I think of writing a novel as rather like putting together a necklace, say a string of beads. Without the string (that is, the narrative/storyline) there’s nowhere to hang the beads (plot/scenes). That’s how I look at it. You need bits of everything. Otherwise it’s not a string of beads.

In Anthem for Jackson Dawes, the storyline is this: Megan Bright has cancer, she is treated in hospital, she recovers and is changed by the experience. This story is revealed through a number of scenes with some narrative to join them together. But if Megan’s story really was a piece of string then it would be very short and perhaps with only one or two beads on it. It certainly wouldn’t make a necklace.

If you look at a piece of string, you’ll see that it is formed from a number of strands twisted together to make it strong, hard to snap. If I’d just kept to Megan’s cancer story that would be just one strand. It could be quite weak, easy to snap. I added Jackson’s experience and intertwined it with Megan’s giving another strand to the string, making it stronger. By adding even more experiences - Gemma’s, Kipper’s, Grandad’s, Mum and Dad’s -  the piece of string growths in strength. And of course with so many more people in the story there are more beads to hang, that is, more scenes to show how they all behave when they’re with Megan. Some will be bigger than others, making them varied and interesting and the narrative will keep the scenes connected. And the necklace completed.

SMILE - THE BLOG'S DOWN! PANIC!!!

Don't worry! My tech-people are on it... 

My thanks to the random CassJayTuck tumblr!

GoodRead - Pure

When Ben from Headline (hi Ben!) asked if I had heard of Pure and its sequel (out on Valentine's Day, FYI)  by Julianna Baggott, I was honest: no, I hadn't. When he asked if I wanted to read both of them, I said yes with no real idea of what the books were about (probably a wise decision) but when I agreed, I did very little information hunting and discovered the following:

1. This book has received a lot of praise
2. This book was described as dystopian/post-apocalyptic read
3. It had the line "If you liked The Hunger Games, you'll love Pure" (A statement I dislike - but we'll talk about why on a later date, shall we?)
4. When I got the ARCs of both books, my other half called it "The Naked Book" as there was NOTHING on the cover. It was a blank white cover.

After the dropping of the Detonations, the world is split into two groups of people: the Pures and the Wretches. The Pures, who live inside the Dome, safe from the effects of the Detonations. And the Wretches, who felt the effects of the Dentonations and were fused into whatever was closest to them; wherever that was a doll, birds, a handheld fans, the pavement, other people (friends, strangers, your children), the list goes on...

Pressia lives outside the Dome, a Wretch with a doll head instead of a hand, trying to survive. Partridge, a Pure inside the Dome, knows he's not as perfect as the other Pures. And when Partridge's father says something about his mother, Partridge and Pressia's lives are thrown together in a way that no one, not even they, could imagine.

I am going to state this now and will say it again at the end of the review: Pure is the most frightening post-apocalyptic read I have read in a very long time, if not EVER!

I feel I should explain this statement. In most, if not all the dystopian novels I read, I want there to be a grain of truth. A feeling that what the book is suggesting COULD happen if we're not careful. This is why, I think, The Hunger Games trilogy, the Matched trilogy, Divergent, Chaos Walking, Under the Never Sky trilogy and the Delirium trilogy have hit a nerve with us readers. It could happen if we're not careful. But Pure is the most frightening as we're almost there. It's not years in the future, but it's frighteningly close to us. The idea that the atom bomb having side effects (and yet, how many countries have their own nuclear weapons?) is terrifying so the ideas the author put forward aren't as implausible as you first think...

This book is very dark, very morbid and violent (though Julianna never glamorised the violence. She merely states it). This is not a book for the faint-hearted. You can't go into this, thinking it's a light read. If you do, I give you a matter of two or three pages before you realise your mistake.

The writing caught me up and, while there were times I wondered why I was reading this as it was so dark, I kept me turning pages, desperate for more.

There are faults (don't I always?). I might be alone with this but it took a while to connect to the characters. I did by the end of the book (hence me going "WHERE DID I PUT THE SEQUEL?!") but for a while, I didn't connect with the leads. But I think the author did this on purpose. This isn't a book you can jump straight into. You have to invest in this book.

The second thing is that this book is SO morbid. It is very morbid and dark. This will turn some of you guys off, I know this hence why I am telling you. At times, I was wondering why I was reading this dark, when the tiny moments of happiness and joy last mere pages. But again, I think the author did this on purpose. In a world that she is writing, a world that is so harsh and cruel, when you discover a tiny moment of beauty, you cling to it with everything you have because you don't know if you're going to have another moment like this...

As I have said earlier, this book is the most frightening post-apocalyptic novel I think I have ever read (and the fact that the film rights to Pure have been bought and will produced by one of the lead producers of the Twilight Saga just boggles my brain as to HOW they are going to bring it to the big screen). I do have EVERY intention to read the sequel, Fuse, but am scared to at the same time... Wish me luck!

GoodRead - The Man In The Picture

I fully blame Amazon and their 12 Days of Kindle sale earlier this month for this. I was scared off Susan Hill by the movie version of her classic ghost story, The Woman in Black (seriously? How was that a 12A movie?!) as the audiobook version creeped me out (review here). But when I saw this for 99p, I couldn't resist. I bought it and a few others eBooks that I hope to read over the coming year (unlikely, but I shall try!).

By the fire place, Oliver's old Cambridge dom, Theo, tells a tale. A tale about a painting he has hanging on the wall. A painting of a Venetain carnival. But behind the masks within the painting, lies something sinister. Something that will slowly have an effect on Oliver's life, although he is unaware of it. For the painting isn't simply a painting...

This is a very quick read and fills very neatly into the classic ghost story. No blood, guts and gory here. Just a feeling of uneasiness and Susan Hill does this really well. I read this in 3 sittings, two of them at night and at these sittings, I did feel a little spooked by it as it was the sense of foreboding. The reader knows something awful is going to happen but the characters in the book don't.

While this is a quick read and some of you will like this this, I have problems. Two, mainly. The first is the way the story is told. I read it with four voices in my head: Oliver, Theo, the Countess (which comes later in the story) and Oliver's fiancée, Anne. While I know it should be two technically as Oliver is writing the story down, I heard four voices. And I had no idea when one voice stopped and another started. I had to guess every time a chapter started if Theo had taken over or if Oliver was still talking to us. It was very annoying and took me out of the story every now and then.

The second was the ending and the fact it didn't spook me. Maybe it was when I read it - being very tired - but with the first two sittings of read this, I got spooked. But when I read the last bit, I didn't feel spooked. I kinda guessed the ending and it didn't unnerve me. I was kinda "... is that it?"

I can very much see some of you lot reading this and getting creeped out by this. And I will read another Susan Hill ghost story (Dolly looks quite scary!), but it didn't rock my boat like The Woman in Black did.

*

PS - I was going to try and find an image of Venice Carnival scene but came across these two pics and don't they look creepy?!