Clockwork Angel- Cassandra Clare

Book 1 of My Summer Reading Challenge 2015

My rating: 4/5 Stars

I have got to say that I loved this book, so many twists and turns which you didn't see coming so that it left me wanting more.

I would of given this book 5/5 stars were it not for the fact that I found it was very similar to The Mortal Instruments books. Don't get me wrong, I loved the TMI series and I've read it through twice but I was hoping for something new and exciting from Clare. I just found that many of the characters which were in the TMI series were recreated to fit them into this storyline.

Also, Mortmain as the Magister? Called it! I thought that it was too predictable that De Quincey was the Magister and it would of been too easy for the shadowhunters to defeat him. Also the fact that the main characters got left behind at the Institute gave a big clue that something huge was about to go down.

Towards the end of this book there was hints which Clare added so that the reader is left wanting more. such as the idea of who is Tessa's father? What is her mother? Why is this Clockwork Angel necklace suddenly alive? What is going on with Will? and why is he going to Magnus for help? All of these things are clever ways to get the reader to buy the next book.

Despite the minor problems which I found with this book, I need to say that I just cant get enough of the Shadowhunter world and I WILL be reading the next book just because I need to find out what happened!

Also, Will or Jem?

Jem is an absolute sweetheart but at this stage in the series I am kind of leaning towards preferring Will. Maybe it is just the 'Bad boy' part of him. We shall see in due course.

My summer reading challenge!

So, recently I have been unable to read much due to the pressures of exams which are close! However, I have been slowly reading throughout this time even though it is not much. Currently I have been reading Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare and I am loving it, I'm just trying to pace myself so that I can still do revision.

My exam is on the 19th May and so after this, I do not have to go to school anymore (Yippee!). This gives me the opportunity of 4 months to relax and get ready before university in September, which means that I can go on a book binge!

I have so many unread books which I need to get round to reading but I always end up ditching them for books which I really want to get into and I just end up forgetting about them. But no more! For I have created my own summer reading challenge which I will take part in during these 4 months.

I am going to write all of these books on pieces of paper which will be folded up and put into a pot which will then be picked out from random, so that I can see how many of these books I can read during my four months.

However, I have so many books on the go at the moment which I have not finished so I am hoping to read as many as I can before I do this challenge. These include:

~The Infernal devices (Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess) By Cassandra Clare

I have only recently started reading these and I am enjoying them quite a bit so I would like to finish them off, as well as The bane Chronicles which I have.

~ The Kill Order by James Dashner

I was reading this book not too long ago and due to revision it got left on the side. Honestly I was kind of disappointed but, oh well. I will get over it and finally finish the book!

~ Firesong by William Nicholson

This is the last in The Wind on Fire series which I really enjoyed reading last year. Unfortunately, I really wanted to read A Song Of Ice And Fire which meant this book got put aside and was never picked up again. :(

~ Son Of Neptune by Rick Riordan

I LOVED the Percy Jackson series. I have no idea why I never finished this book! So silly of me! But now that the last book has come out I am hoping to finish this series and enjoy it even more!

~ Demon Road by Derek Landy

Okay, so I know that this book has not come out yet but I don't care, Derek is one of my favourite authors and I love his books! This is a must for me to read over the summer when it is released!

Now onto the books which are being involved in my summer reading challenge!

~ Uglies (Uglies, Pretties, Specials and Extras) by Scott Westerfeld

~ House Of Night (Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, Untamed, Hunted, Tempted, Burned, Awakened, Destined, Hidden, Revealed and Redeemed) By P.C. and Kristin Cast

~ The Demonata (Lord Loss, Demon Thief, Slawter, Bec, Blood Beast, Demon Apocalypse, Death's Shadow, Wolf Island, Death Calling and Hell's heroes) by Darren Shan

~ The Saga Of Darren Shan (Cirque Du Freak, The Vampires Assistant, Tunnels of Blood, Vampire Mountain, Trails of Death, The Vampire Prince, Hunters of the Dusk, Allies of the Night, Killers of the Dawn, The Lake of Souls, Lord of the Shadows and Sons of Destiny) by Darren Shan

~ The Thirteen Treasures (13 Treasures, 13 curses and 13 secrets) By Michelle Harrison

~The Caster Chronicles (Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos and Beautiful Redemption) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

~ Morganville Vampires (Glass Houses, The Dead Girls Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus, Fade out, Kiss of Death, Ghost Town, Bit Club, Black Dawn, Bitter Blood, Last Breath, Fall of Night and Daylighters) By Rachel Caine

~ The Demon Trappers (Forsaken, Forbidden, Forgiven and Foretold) by Jana Oliver

~ The Immortals (Evermore, Blue Moon, Shadowland, Dark Flame, Night Star, Everlasting) by Alyson Noel

~ Iron Fey (The Iron King, The Iron Daughter, The Iron Queen and The Iron Knight) by Julie Kagawa

~ The Winter Trilogy (A Witch in Winter, A Witch in love and A Witch Alone) by Ruth Warburton

~ Echo by Alyson Noel

~ Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

~Inkheart Trilogy (Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath) by Cornelia Flunke

~ Shiver Trilogy (Shiver, Linger and Forever) by Maggie Stiefvater

~ Books of Faerie (Lament and Ballad) by Maggie Stiefvater

~ Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

~ The Cursed Ones by Nancy Holder and Debbie Vigue

~ Tempest by Julie Cross

~ Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin

~ Dust Lands (Blood Red Road, Rebel Heart and Raging Star) by Moria Young

~ Teardrop by Lauren Kate

~ Weather Wardens (Ill Wind, Heatstroke, Chill Factor, Windfall, Firestorm, Thin Air, Gale Force, Cape Storm and Total Eclipse) by Rachel Caine

~ His Dark Materials (Northen Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) by Phillip Pullman



Lets face it, I am not going to get all of these books finished over the summer but that isn't this point of this, It just means that I don't have to try and work out which book to read next. Fate will decide. Most likely I will get lots of new books at some point over the summer which will then  also go into this challenge. Lets see how many I can finish!!

Happy Reading :*

Snow like Ashes- Sara Raasch

My rating: 2/5 stars

I finally managed to finish it! I will tell you what, this was hard going and it took me a day to just sit down and read to be able to get through most of the second half of the book.

When I set out to read this book, I really liked the look of the story line and I thought that I would enjoy it so I gave it ago! And honestly, I did enjoy it.. For a little while. However, I found that there was so many issues with it that I just didn't want to read it and it took all of my effort to finish it.



My first thoughts as I was reading it was that I just didn't like the main character, Meira. Normally I would connect with the main character and I would feel as if I was in the book but this just didn't happen for me. She just winned about not being able to go on the missions when she should of just said "Okay, I understand." and get on with it. I liked Mather and just felt like he could do much better than her.

Honestly, I found the whole story line predicable. [spoiler alert!] As i was reading the book, I knew that Meira had to be Hannah's daughter. It just explained what was going on and i do not think I enjoyed it as much as I already knew what was going on. I think I would of liked it more if i was surprised.

I am not going to lie, I really did like Theron. He is just so kind and compassionate and cares what Meira thinks of him. Another male character who Meira doesn't deserve! even though I liked that Theron was in the book, I was not pleased about the introduction of a Love Triangle as this is another factor which just ruined this book.

I am not sure about reading the next book in this trilogy "Ice like Fire" which is going to come out in September as the book did not leave a cliffhanger which leaves me begging for more but instead it leaves the book at a place where another book is not needed and the second book could just ruin the series more. I wouldn't mind reading the next one but I will not go out of my way to do so.

[Spoiler alert!] If you are going to kill off a character.. Keep them dead! Let the readers feel for the death. Don't wuss out and bring them back! That was just the topping of the cake for why this book was a huge disappointment.

-We are Winter!

Inside out- Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 5/5 stars

There was only one problem which I had with this book but nonetheless this book deserves 5 stars because it was BRILLIANT! 

The problem which I did find was that I had trouble with picturing the world of Inside at the beginning of the book but it soon started to take shape. 

Other than that, I absolutely loved this book and it was so hard for me to put it down. let's just say, I will most definitely be reading the next one. I just found the world so original and captivating. The book had me hooked from the first page.

I'm not a huge romance fan so I was pleased that even though I was rooting for them, the Riley and Trella romance was not a huge story line but instead the book focused more on the events which were occurring. let's hope that carries on in the next book. 

I loved the chronicles of Ixia series so I though this book would have a lot to live up to. But by god! Maria V. Snyder has done it again!

Predictions for Game of Thrones

So, If you knew me at all you would know that I am absolutely in love with Game of Thrones and that I have read ALL of the books and now (not so) patiently waiting for George R.R. Martin to finish the next book and for Season 5 of Game of Thrones to start in just over 2 weeks! Yippee!

Everyone has their Ideas of who will end up on the Iron Throne in the end so I am now going to take the time to explain my predictions.

In the end I think it will be Jon Snow who will take the crown. (I know, I know. he is a bastard) My reasons for this is that it just makes sense and there are little things which happen in the books which piece together that this is what will happen.

To start with, it is known that Jon is not Ned's son. So why would he look after him for 17 years knowing that it isn't his? One reason: He is not his son but in fact, his nephew!

That is right! Jon Snow is the son of Lyanna which explains why Ned offered to look after him through his childhood. Another reason for this is that fact that he must be related to the Starks (Ned in particular) in some way as in the first book it is mentioned that Jon looks very much like Ned does so there is a family resemblance. I know it is said that Wylla is the mother of Jon and I have an explanation for that too which will come in due course.

Now that the mother has been established, it is time to speculate on the father and why he will be king. I know that there is the thought that Jon is the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar but I just do not think this is right. Would Ned look after Rhaegars son? I don't think so!

We all know that Robert and Lyanna were in love, right? So it could of been possible that they got married before the war and Lyanna had a child? (Jon!!) Maybe this explains where his black hair comes from? We all know that Targaryen children have white hair so it cannot be possible for Jon to be Rhaegars son. But the black hair could be from his Baratheon father?

So now it is time to talk about Wylla (The supposed mother of Jon). Obviously she is not the mother so where does she fit into all of this? Simple! In the third book, we are able to meet Edric Storm who is a bastard of Roberts who managed to get away. (He is replaced in the show with Gendry who stays behind during the travels to do work in the books) Edric mentions to Arya that Jon was his "Milk brother" as Wylla was his wet nurse. Wait?! Does this mean that Wylla is the wet nurse of Jon too? I think it does! Surely if Edric (Roberts bastard son) and Jon (Roberts legitimate son) were taken care of by the same wet nurse this would explain that they both had a connection to Robert.

If only poor Catelyn knew about this before she dies maybe she wouldn't hate Jon so much.


Comment your thoughts below!!

And remember,
You either win, or you die.

The Mortal Instruments- Cassandra Clare

My ratings: 

City of Bones- 5/5 stars 
City of Ashes- 3/5 stars 
City of Glass- 5/5 stars
City of Fallen Angels- 1/5 stars 
City of Lost souls- 4/5 stars
City of Heavenly Fire- 4/5 stars 




I read the first 5 of these books a few years ago so when City of Heavenly Fire came out, I thought it was worth reading the whole series again so that I didn't forget anything that happened. After re-reading them, I now realise what a complete waste of time it was. Maybe this was due to my reading tastes changing or because I already knew what was coming but I just did not enjoy the books as much as I hoped that I would the second time around. 

So, this review is mainly a review on City of Heavenly fire:

Normally, I would of given City of Heavenly Fire 5/5 stars but I just didn't feel like it was worth it. It's no secret that this series was obviously dragged out past the initial trilogy so that more money could be made  (let's be honest, the series would of made sense if Clare just stopped at the end of city of glass which in my opinion was the best book) and book 4 was a complete bore fest for me but I think Clare brought this series back from the depths of hell slightly to finish off with a high, even though there was a few things which I didn't enjoy about the book. 

To start with, I think that the sections with emma was a complete waste of time and that if I'd read the book without them it would of still made sense.. In my opinion it's just another way to develop the blackthorn story line into another trilogy so that Clare can get more money from this. 
Don't get me wrong, I'll probably still read them just so that I can finish all of the shadowhunter chronicles even if I don't enjoy them.

The whole way through the book there was references to Tessa which I found annoying since I haven't read The Infernal Devices yet and wanted to get round to them soon but now I feel like I know what the endings are going to be to those books so I found it cheeky for Clare to presume that everyone had already read TID .

Other than that I thought the book was great (apart from the utter heartbreak I felt during the loss of a part certain persons memories which I will not say because of spoilers) and it was able to finally bring the series to a close.

Oops!

I cant believe that I have done this!

I have had little time to write reviews recently so it has completely slipped my mind with juggling school as well as two jobs it can get to you!

But never fear, my lovelies! I have plenty of posts which will be up and coming in the following week! These include: My book reviews on The Mortal Instruments (As a whole series) by Cassandra Clare and also Inside out by Maria V. Snyder. there are also two books which I am currently reading which are Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch and Outside In by Maria V. Snyder which I would like to finish by the end of the month (Hopefully)!!

Not only that, but I am going to see Insurgent on Sunday and will be writing a review of what I think!

I will also do a review on The Battle of the Five Armies (Which I saw a long time ago but will try to do a decent review)!

It is now 3 weeks until Season 5 of Game of Thrones which I am so excited about, which is why I am going to explain what I think is going to happen at the ends of the series and why.
I am also going to try and review every episode of this season and try to compare them to the books which I thoroughly enjoyed.

But for now I will finish these books!!

Happy Reading

~Shannon

P.S. Isn't Aidan Turner just beautiful in Poldark?