REVIEW: The Raven Boys (and and and...)

Title: Gemina; The Raven Boys
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN: 9781407134611

UNSPOILED: 

I'm a little late on the train for this one, since The Raven Boys was originally published in 2012, but I've read all four books in the series this year, and I am on the Stiefvater train.

I'll be honest, I didn't read this for so long, because the blurb seemed very 'girl from wrong side of tracks simultaneously falls in love with four rich boys also magic', which is not technically incorrect, but I'm a big fan of the podcast The Worst Bestsellers and they recommend The Raven Cycle ALL THE TIME.

Thankfully... It's not as schmoopy as I thought it would be. In fact the opposite. Blue, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks in question, is sassy and stubborn, and while one of the plot points in the series involves a prophesy that her true love will die if she kisses him (see tagline), she doesn't spend TONS of time moping about it. A bit of moping, but I guess she's entitled to that. Then she gets on with rocking at life.

Blue is the only non-psychic in a house filled with psychic women, and I loved the details of the house, and the variety of large, full women that surround her. The boys were also each endearing, and although they start off seeming fairly interchangeable they all peel away their layers to reveal detailed and individual personalities. They all, and Blue, have their own needs and purposes that do not solely involve being a love interest to another person, which shouldn't be refreshing, but really was. There's also a really involved plot about finding a buried/sleeping king and getting a magical favour and it's very solid, but the real draw for me was hanging out with these characters. The books are not the paciest reads, but I genuinely didn't mind.

SPOILED:
I really need to talk about Adam. I loved Adam. Adam is my fav. Adam turns out to have been dead for 7 years. I LOVED this twist. Throughout the first book occasionally when they're at school teachers refer to the 'three boys that hang out' and I vaguely was a bit 'oh there are four does one of them not hang out at school is this a typo' and it turns out that Adam is a ghost and a lot of people can't see him at all. This was revealed SO WELL, and the progression of Adam's fading character throughout the next three novels was amazing and heartbreaking. Loved it. 

RANDOM BITS

• THIS is the king that Gansey is obsessed with waking up. Thank you Wikipedia.
• The rest of the series: The Dream Thieves; Blue Lily, Lily Blue; The Raven King.

REVIEW: Gemina

Title: Gemina; The Illuminae Files_02
Author(s): Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Publisher:Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781925266573

UNSPOILED:
Illuminae, the first book in the trilogy by Kaufman and Kristoff came out last year. Anyone who knows me, knows how massively obsessed I was with that book. (Review HERE) It was flat out the best book I read all year, probably the best book I'd read since reading WAR AND PEACE in 2014.

I said it. You need to be muthafreakin' Tolstoy to compete with Illuminae.

Needless to say, my expectations for Gemina were rather high... And I'm very very very very very relieved to say that it totally lived up to them. I loved Gemina, and I read it in one short gulp. The book follows a new set of characters on the Space Station Heimdall, rather then (initially at least) continuing to follow the adventures of the Hypatia. We have Hanna (sassy rich girl), Nik (sassy criminal boy) and Ella (sassiest tech guru, cousin of Nik, and my personal new hero). The characters are all very likable and the plot is so thrilling and so much fun.

It starts off relatively slowly in comparison with Illuminae, but the emphasis really is on relatively since Gemina still manages to have at least two books-worth of plot jammed into it. It just also has a little breathing room at the start. Not a bad thing.

The format still worked really well for me, and I loved the addition of Hanna's beautiful diaries. I could have read so many more pages of her random thoughts about her life and living on the station.

Now, close your eyes O delicate ones who don't want to be...


via GIPHY
SPOILED:
Basically my only issue is the same issue that I had with Illuminae. In both books the male lead (Ezra and Nik) appear to die, only to then turn out to have not died. Both times......... I wanted them to stay dead...

I know. I'm a horrible, unromantic, mercenary beast. I have no heart. I am without feeling and should be trapped in a small room and fed only rice crackers until I repent.

But also think how GREAT that would have been!

I really do love both Ezra and Nik (but I mean, like, obviously hashtagteamezra if I had to choose). Great, fun, interesting characters. But also I'm kinda super rarely into romance plot points, and I feel like the death could have been more interesting.

At one point in time whilst reading Gemina, I thought for a moment that it was Alternate World Nik who was alive, and that he and Hanna would end up in the same place, and I was super into THAT because I thought 'Oh how awkward, to have them be the same but not the actual same- what would you do?' and I know that there are tons of readers who ARE super into romance, and I think that that is a valid lifestyle choice, so this isn't a criticism per se, since this particular choice WAS written really well, but just an observation.

Also again for the record- I am all about Ella. I want an Ella t-shirt, Ella spin off book series, Ella branded stationary. Hell, I want an Ella Pop Vinyl, and I don't even collect them thingz.

RANDOM BITS

• Hypatia was a Greek mathematician (and a bunch of other awesome science stuff) who was murdered by a mob.
• Heimdall the space station is named after Heimdall the Norse god who guarded the gateway to Asgard, currently being played in the Thor movies by Idris Elba. You're welcome.

via GIPHY

Buy HERE