Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 April 2011

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

Warning: If don't want to hear Breaking Dawn being criticized please don't read my ranting verdict.
Synopsis
In the final book of the Twilight series, Bella has made her choice. She is going to leave everything she knew, humans and all, behind, and start her new life as a vampire.
Twilight tempted the imagination. New Moon made readers thirsty for more. Eclipse turned the saga into a worldwide phenomenon. And now, the book that everyone has been waiting for...
Goodreads


Review
Category: Teen Fiction/Romance (Mild Violence)
Age Group: Teens
Star Rating: 0.5/10



Verdict (Beware: Rant)
What can you say about an absolutely rubbish book with no plot? Funnily enough, the book's initials are B.D., which suits the contents perfectly. Breaking Dawn is an absolute Brain Drain. Bella, who never bothered me from the start of the series, started really bugging me in New Moon. Please leave Edward alone if he's convinced he's too dangerous for you. Stop whining about the amazing 'after' car your fiance has bought you. If you are THAT displeased sell the car and donate the money to Salvation Army. Bella has become so much of a whiner that it totally spoils the book as readers stop to stab at her name with sharp fingernails and glare.
On the plot. Stephanie Meyer has previously spent three long books describing the supernatural world and what can and cannot happen in it. Then she turns around and totally ruins everything I was reading about. Rule: Vampires cannot have kids. Bella has a kid. Rule: Newborn vampires spend years being bloodthirsty and out of their head. Bella is not.
Come on. Supposedly, Bella has to struggle with the fact that if she wants to become a vampire, she will have to cut off ties with all humans she ever knew; she will be out-of-her-head-crazy for at least a few years; she will never be able to have kids. All this is spoiled with the author's obsession for having a happily-ever-after ending that Bella gets the best of both worlds by being beautiful, controlled, having a talented, amazing child, being amazingly talented herself. She opens her eyes and sees the world in a whole new perspective. After reading this, doesn't everyone want to be a vampire? There are absolutely no downsides to it! Mummy, I want to be a beautiful vampire with paranormal powers too. This total Brain Drain killed me to read and I ended up throwing my hardback copy across the fence to my three year-old neighbour who will hopefully enjoy tearing them up and chewing on the hard cover.

Saturday, 19 March 2011

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Synopsis: My Sister's Keeper is a story about a girl who is diagnosed with APL, a rare form of leukaemia, at a young age. Her parents are willing to do anything to save her, to the point where they create a 'spare parts child', first to donate cord blood at birth, then blood and bone marrow.
This is where things are complicated, when Kate is diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (kidney failure). Her parents want Anna, the 'spare parts child' to donate a kidney, and Anna, who apparently has had enough of being her sister's lifesaver, decides to file a lawsuit, suing her parents to the rights of her own body.

Suitable for: Anyone who has Time for a Book that Drags on and is Filled with Flimsy Junk
Age Group: Teens and Adults (or older children capable of handling a more mature topic)
Star Rating: 2/10

Verdict: Put very bluntly, My Sister's Keeper is a book with a good storyline which is ultimately wasted by the quality of the writing. Picoult drops metaphors in every chapter which were clearly intended to be deep and meaningful. Which I, as a normal person, has no brain capacity to absorb (a lot of junk about a house being bulldozed and rebuilt-literally-and then the narrator, in this case the mother, ends by saying 'but you know what? They rebuilt.) I mean come on. It is being over-dramatised far, far, far too much and it ends up becoming a load of cheesy junk. How does a house being rebuilt have any relationship to a kid with leukaemia?
Enough of that. Apart from too many failed metaphors supposedly containing the Meaning of Life, the characters personalities are completely cliche; there's the Teenager who Rebels, the Kid with her Own Opinions, and the Saint. Oh please. Added to that heap of failure there is also an amazingly stupid and completely irrelevant sub-plot about Anna ('spare parts child')'s lawyer, and the counsellor/social worker being in love. This is meant to be a book which questions ethics and morals and the basis of human society and the legal system, not a love story. Even Twilight would be a better choice than this if I wanted to read a love story (and considering how much I dislike Twilight, that's saying something).
Spoilers Below
The ending was an epic fail. It was too predictable, and far too unrealistic. Leukaemia Kid is miraculously cured. Dad gets over Spare Parts's death. Mum mourns but gets over it. Teenager who Rebels becomes good.
I personally know a cancer survivor, and someone who died from cancer. And either way, that's not the way it works.

Tuesday, 15 March 2011

Horror High Series

The Horror High series are about horror stories (hence the name) about high school students dying, murder cases, vampires, all the scary things that you can imagine. These series are written by several authors such as R.L Stine (well known for his goosebumps series) Diane Hoh and many many other authors

The one that I read was called "Horror High Deadly rumours" was about Abbie who just moved schools finds Louis and becomes his girlfriend. After some time she heard a story on how his girlfriend mysteriously died and Abby wants to find the truth after she gets threats and having to go under life threatening situations.

This story you could say it was predictable (as I suspected the killer on the first few chapters) but you keep turn the pages to see what happens as there are so many twists and turns.

Rating for the series: 7.5/10
Rating for Deadly Rumours:7/10

by Grace

Air Head by Meg Cabot

My friend introduced to this book a while ago, but I never took it really seriously. I read it today and it was about a tomboy called Emerson. During an accident at Stark's mega grand opening (a company for models) Emerson is suddenly slipped into supermodel Nikky Howard's shoes, leaving her old self and troubles behind and starting a new struggle with the life of a supermodel.

Ranking 6/10

Although the plot is well structured, I have to say that it was mostly a really long and included lots of unnecessary detail and I didn't really have a link to the main character.

by grace