Burn It To Ground

Review of 

Demon’s Lexicon

by Sarah Rees Brennan

Sixteen-year-old Nick knows that demons are real. 

Magicians call up demons in exchange for their power. The demons can appear in any shape, show you marvels, promise you anything - until  you invite them in and receive their mark. What happens next? 

First you get possessed. 

Then you die. 

Nick’s been on the run his whole life, ever since his mother stoel a charm from the most feared magician of them all, and the only person he trusts is his brother Alan. Alan’s just been marked by a demon. Only Nick can save him, but to do so he must face the magicians - and kill them. The hunt is on, and Nick’s going to discover things he never dreamed were out there...

I wasn’t going to read this book. For me, it’s just one of those books that sound real awesome but the problem lies here: according to the backcover, the lead is a male. I rarely read books with male leads. I start them and I like them but I never finish. I actually hate them, because they are good. But no strong female characters means me reads not. Well, yeah, I know it’s sexist. I don’t like it either. 

But Demon’s Lexicon isn’t just that. It’s also a book that shocks you. Reading it is like a good game of hide and seek that ends with a huge prize - no matter if you lose or win. Of course, you couldn’t tell it’s awesomeness by reading the backcover. The summary tells you absolutely nothing, it degrades the twisting plot of DL. Thank god the cover - no matter which one - is better. 

Straight to the point: the bad boy of bad boys ever, Nick Savyer. I could comment, how I love his way of describing things, as if he sees them through a window. How, through Nick, we see every little detail, how he has this strong grip on everything and how absolutely adorable he is. Yes, I said adorable. Because, yes he is a bad boy, but he’s not bad bad. He’s just like that because of a certain idiot who should be burned alive. But still, I find Nick to be lovely and adorable and he could do anything and I wouldn’t hate him. One of the best things about him is that he makes mistakes. He may have a thick armor on, but it doesn’t make him unfeeling. Plus, Brennan’s way of writing brings out every detail in vivid color and she never fails in bringing him through. 

At the start of the book I didn’t think much of one Alan Savyer. And it must be the way Nick thinks of him - Nick sees he has to protect his brother, that he’s the one who has to make the sacrifices for his brother. But, as Brennan brings us to the end and whacks us  with a frying pan, we see that the Savyer brothers are both just as adorable in their ways of demon hunting and scheming. He’s the geekier one, the one with the glasses, so of course his points rise up a lot. Plus, we still don’t know everything about what he’s capable of, so he makes me curious. 

Mae and Jamie. Let’s start by saying I love Jamie. First, any gay character with a real good personality is a favorite of mine, but his awkwardness is the best. You hardly have awkward characters that aren’t unimportant in books, that aren’t either hated or killer or created just to show off the leading chracters. Jamie’s nothing like that. He lives his own life with his awkwardness and he brings more comedy to the book. It almost feels like without him, DL would be a very angsty book to read. Just the way Nick reacts to him is extraordinary.

Mae. I’m preparing myself for the tomatoes, but I hated her. She wasn’t like Alan, whom I just didn’t get in the beginning, but Mae? I hated her, for she seemed like the Mary Sue virus from fanfiction - the eccentric girl, with secrets, will do anything for her family and gets the hot guy(s) to love her. She seemed to have no imperfections. But here I slapped myself. We see very little of her. Half of the so-called smallness of her character is thanks to Nick: it’s as if he has conflicting emotions about her, so no wonder we, as readers might. So I slapped myself and really looked at her. She loves Jamie, which is wonderfully portrayed in the book, even through Nick and honestly, the girl’s got fire in her. There’s definitely more to her and I’d love to know more.

The brothers’ relationship is - the way I see it - the other carrying force of the book. They both have secrets from each other, they both love each other, even though it might not always seem like it. It all comes down to this amazing need to protect each other, to sacrifice themselves for the other. Now that’s brotherly love if you ask from me. And the same is with Mae and Jamie. They also have this huge love for each other and the need to protect their sibling. But theirs is also more prominent and they embrace it, while the Ryves brothers have this manly way of not showing it.

The second thing for me is Brennan’s writing. It’s so emotion-based, so filled with little details and yet it moves like flowing water - or at places like a raging fire. It won’t let you go, you just breathe it in. Brennan delivers humor and depth in one hand. It makes me feel like that she could pull of even the worst of books with just the way she writes. 

The plot is to die for. It’s full of twists and turns so that you never know where it’s going. You think you do, but you don’t. While you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t even know half of the characters. They’re all hiding something from each other and at the end of the book you have no idea who’s who and where the story is going. 

So my final words? Read this book. Even if it’s out of your comfort zone with demons, or the main character being a male, read it. It’ll be worth it in end and it’s a beautiful beginning for a trilogy that’s a wild ride with crazy characters.

My Blood Is Singing

Review of 

Nightshade 

by Andrea Cremer 

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she’ll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters’ laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything - including her own life. 

Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

I have to tell you that I’m a vampire girl. I’ve been one since I was nine, I think and werewolves hardly ever work for me. Basically because they’re made in to this mindless beast that follows pack rules until the ends of times and where the characters are just one pack and they have no self. 

So thank gods for Nightshade and Andrea Cremer, thank you for writing this book. 

Calla Tor. I think she’s the girl we all want to be. She’s tough, a warrior, trustworthy, loyal, an Alpha and beautiful without make up. While that sounds pretty perfect, she makes mistakes: she’s selfish at times and doesn’t always think before she acts. But she has a good heart, I think and tries to do the good thing. The only thing I didn’t like about her, is how she lets Ren be so posessive over her, but I guess with her society’s ideals and her upbringing, it can be forgiven. 

The best thing about Calla is, that it’s easy to follow her narration. I may not agree with it all the time, but I’m not her, so I’m not exactly supposed to. And all the mistakes she does, she fixes by trying to do the right thing. 

I love it how she works towards freedom throughout the book and how she - and Shay - try to solve all the secrets. 

Basically, there’s not a moment that I’m doubting the realness of Calla, which says something when you think of the wide variation of books out there and she seems like a person that if you were her friends, she’d be a good friend for the rest of your lives. 

Before I read Nighshade, I’d noticed the Ren vs. Shay talk and I was afraid this was going to be yet another love triangle thing. (Sorry, but with all the books with love triangles in them, it’s getting old). So, I was pleased to notice that there is none. More like rivalry between suitors, but Calla is so torn between her choice for what she has knows is right and the choice that could lead to freedom for her whole pack, there isn’t much talk about OMG, who do I love? 

Before you start throwing the tomatoes at me, here’s how I see it: There’s the guy she’s engaged to, because some people she’s not related to says so. He’s an Aplha, a nice guy, strong and not stupid. Not forgetting the good-looking thing. She’s known him for a long time, just like she’s known they’re going to be married and supposedly having kids at one time. With a future like that, you sort of have to like the guy. And Ren is a good guy and I like how he’s written. I just can’t stand the whole, “you were promised to me when we were five” -attitude, or the “I can’t wait honey, let’s just make out a littleNOW” -attitude, either. It’s the rules, wolf boy, abide. But with that society, I’m trying to let it pass. Trying, see? I want him to be happy, I do! ...But with someone else, than Calla? 

Because I absolutely adore Shay. The guy reads comic books and his idol was Indiana Jones? My kinda guy.. I like his character, the way he talks and is smart and he seems to be - for a little while - the only character that actually thinks, but yes that is because of the situation. Still, it makes me like even more. I also like how he keeps saying that what the Keepers are doing is wrong and it really hit me, when he says, 

     “You belong to yourself,” he said quietly. “And I can wait for you to figure that out.”

                                                             page 397.

I became a huge fangirl-colord puddle right there. His whole act of pursuing Calla had annoyed me little, because like Ren he hadn’t understood her responsibilities(like men never do). But in this conversation he tells her he’s giving her space, that he finally gets it. But that he’s not letting her go that easily. And I think that while Calla and Shay have less in common that Ren do, they connect more in this book. He sees her in a different way than Ren, who’s “had” her for a longer time. Also the fact that, besides a few kisses and obvious attraction, neither fall in love like SNAP. They’re not looking for love.

I’m not saying he’s perfect, by the way, I think he can be really annoying and not understanding of Calla’s world, but he has his faults too, so thumbs up. 

The characters that surround them are likable, too. There are too many to mention them all, but the great thing is, that even we may see little of them, we get this immediate picture about how they are, and most importantly, how Calla perceives them. WIthout saying we can feel the love Calla feels for her brother Ansel and best friend Bryn. We can feel the protectiveness she has towards her pack. And I think that’s soemthing that’s been missing in some werewolf stories I’ve read. It’s pack dynamics that are amazing here. THey’re obviously following an unsaid hierarchy and I love it how they interact. 

I have to mention Ansel and Bryn, Mason and Neville. The names in this book are the best. I like how the couples act and especially these four. They’re important, supporting characters and without them, this book wouldn’t be what it is now. They make it richer. 

The world Nightshade takes place in is original. It’s magical and it’s awesome. It’s dark and full of secrets and Calla’s warrior that fits right in there. It’s like an unsolved puzzle, that will most hopefully be solved in the next books. We get small glinches at all that is a part of the world, but still, at the end of the book we don’t know everything. 

Without spoiling too much, I’ll just say I hate the whole Keepers bossing everyone around thing. But I think it’s being solved - so far - in a very realistic way, for people who have been living in it for their whole lives. 

The ending is pretty obvious, but not the plot leading to it. And I like it how all these hints and secrets that Calla and Shay are trying to unveil, they’re not so easy to guess. If they are, it’s more because Calla gets it the next moment. And I love it! It’s horrible when the main character is trying to connect the dots and thinks it over and over, but doesn’t get it, while you’re screaming at her that it’s the butler, you blond! Well, it doesn’t happen here.

The plot may be simple, but the secrets and world are not. You’ll never really know what’s coming. 

So I like this book. I think I’ve found yet another new favorite writer and I Need Wolfsbane Now Please. Cremer writes wonderfuly, it’s easy and a pleasure to read and you’ve read thirty pages before you even notice it. It can be smooth the one minute, something about Calla’s uncertainty and the next thing we know is that she’s in wolf form and she’s gotta run. 

What makes Cremer’s writing skills even more awesome, that it’s like reading music. While you’re reading, there’s an invisible, mute, soundtrack constantly being played in the background and at some point you just have to turn the volume up on music player. It’s amazing. 

And I think there might be something to learn here, or something bigger than just the words on these pages. And that’s exactly what this story is like, it’s so big and full of energy and emotion. It’s bursting out of the book’s pages. 

There’re only two things to say: read it, now and can I have Wolfsbane now? Pretty please?