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Author: Lauren Oliver
Release Date: February 28th, 2012
Publisher: Harperteen
Pages: 375
Edition: Hardcover
Cover Judge: It's nice, still sad my Delirium doesn't match though
Quote Choice (Down Below): THIS WAS SO HARD. Lauren Oliver is honestly one of my favorite writers of all time. Not just author, writer. Her writing speaks to my soul in the way of very few writers can.Source: Bought
Goodreads: Link
Oh, Lauren Oliver, how you mess with my heart! Pandemonium was an amazing, amazing sequel to Delirium and the stakes are so much higher. Oliver takes us outside of the city and into the wilderness which had this crazy starkness to it that I adored. You're shown two halfs of Lena's life: Before and After. Before is when she's in the wilderness, training and learning how to become a rebel and a warrior and this is where her character really grows. The wilderness is no joke guys and it's full of blood and rebels and training montages and badassery! And then After is when Lena is infiltrating this organization that promotes awareness of Deliria and advises on vaccinating early and ends up being kidnapped with the poster boy of the company: Julian. Oh Julian, be still my beating heart. I thought my heart would always belong to Alex but guys, I was dead wrong. Julian is quiet and benign where Alex was fierce and passionate and it's a contrast that shifts well in response to Lena's personal growth throughout the book.
I'm pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.The old life is dead.But the old Lena is dead too.I buried her.I left her beyond a fence,behind a wall of smoke and flame.
The people who had a problem with Delirium being a tad slow will not find that problem in this book! Everything is fast-paced and pumping, even the quiet, heart-breaking scenes that happen during Before. There was never a moment that I felt I could put the book down and her writing just makes everything so much better. There is not a line in there that is not beautiful, well-written, and absolutely lovely.
“Grief is like sinking, like being buried. I am in water the tawny color of kicked-up dirt. Every breath is full of choking. There is nothing to hold on to, no sides, no way to claw myself up. There is nothing to do but let go.
Let go. Feel the weight all around you, feel the squeezing of your lungs, the slow, low pressure. Let yourself go deeper. There is nothing but bottom. There is nothing but the taste of metal, and the echoes of old things, and the days that look like darkness.”
Title: Spellbound
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Release Date: March 13th, 2012
Publisher: Hyperion
Pages: 205
Edition: Hardcover
Cover Judge: It matches! Which is cute. But what up with the purple water?
Quote Choice (Down Below): So. Funny.Source: Bought
Goodreads: Link
Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies—the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that’s what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn’t as confident.
Sophie’s bound for one hell of a ride—can she get her powers back before it’s too late?
How does Rachel Hawkins manage to write funny, heartfelt, and kickass heroines all at the same time? Hawkins is honestly the funniest writer I know and she doesn't disappoint with the final book in the Hex Hall trilogy! Sophie Mercer is back and even more hilarious and badass! You don't even get a moment to rest before you're slammed with revealed secrets and this urgent race to find out whose alive after the crazy battle that ended Demonglass. Hawkins manages to capture a perfect teenage voice that is both snarky and authentic. Sophie may be a sarcastic witch but she's also just a kid thrust into this crazy demon war.
The plot in this book is crazy! You're taken back into the depths of Hex Hall and things are a lot more sinister than when you were first there in book one. There's never a dull moment while reading these books and I think that's my favorite part! There's always something to do, something to find, someone to get. You're never just sitting back and reading a boring conversation because everyone is so amusing and awesome.
Speaking of awesome and amusing, I adore Archer and Sophie's relationship. Their relationship is a bright spot among all the darker things that happen throughout the novel and their witty banter is something that I've come to crave. They just go so well together and even if I do love, love Cal, they are my one true pairing for this series.
One thing I could say I didn't like was towards the end, there's this really big scene that wasn't further explored within the book? It was like: we did it, it happened, let's get on with our lives. AND I WAS LIKE WUT? But at the same time I do know that Rachel is doing a spin-off of the books so maybe our questions will be answered then? We'll see! I also like that not everyone went unscathed, as awful as that sounds. People are lost and the proper grief is shown because of it (maybe it's just my bitterness at Mockingjay).
“Um…Mercer? Haven’t seen you in nearly a month. I was expecting something like, ‘Oh, Cross, love of my heart, fire of my loins, how I’ve longed—’”
“You’re dead,” I blurted out, pressing a hand against my stomach. “You’re a ghost, and you think—”All the humor disappeared from his face, and he held up both hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not dead. Promise.”My heart was still hammering. “Then what the heck are you?”Archer almost looked sheepish as he reached inside his shirt and pulled out some kind of amulet on a thin silver chain. “It’s a speaking stone. Lets you appear to people kind of like a hologram. You know. ‘Help me, Sophie-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.’”“Did you steal it from the cellar at Hecate, too?” Archer had collected all sorts of magical knickknacks back when we had cellar duty at Hex Hall.“No,” he said, offended. “I found it at a…store. For magical stuff. Okay, yes, I stole it from the cellar.”
Happy Reading!
