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# | cover | title | author | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages | avg rating | num ratings | date pub | date pub (ed.) | rating | my rating | review | notes | recommender | comments | votes | read count | date started | date read |
date purchased | owned | purchase location | condition | format | ||
| 9780062024039
| 4.32
| 1,293,807
| 2011
| Feb 28, 2012
Update, March 23: *KICKS YOUR DOOR DOWN* SO I HEARD THERE'S A MOVIE? Ahahaha! How was it? No honestly, I don't care enough about whether it's good or b Update, March 23: *KICKS YOUR DOOR DOWN* SO I HEARD THERE'S A MOVIE? Ahahaha! How was it? No honestly, I don't care enough about whether it's good or bad, so you don't have to lie to me. --Warning: negative review and spoilers-- **There's no drawings for this one. I'm really sorry.** You can also read this review here. Bleh. I procrastinated A LOT on writing a review for this. And that procrastination took me to Reading With A Vengeance's Chapter by Chapter review of this book. Let me tell you something. When I hate a book, I love reading snark for it. It makes me feel better, and it makes me glad that someone took the time to say all the things I was thinking, and said it better than I could've. But you know with this book? I could only read the posts up to chapter 15ish. Why? Because it reminded me of what I had read and how annoyingly stupid it was and how pointless it was and just how terrible the plot was and all the things I did not like about it and all the things that made me go bleh and why and what the fuck? If you loved this book though, I suggest you read those posts, because Whitley goes into some really interesting issues. And if you hated it, you should do that too because you just should. Anyways, what did I think? First few pages: So this is Harry Potter and Hunger Games put into one? Nope? Maybe? Yes? Look, in Harry Potter (let's stick to first book), the Sorting Hat didn't say that you were ALL Ravenclaw, ALL Gryffindor, or ALL Slytherin. And if you didn't have enough of any of those qualities and good portions of one to get you into the house, there was always Hufflepuff. Don't any of you dare say anything about Hufflepuff, okay? I may not belong to that house, but I love it. Helga Hufflepuff didn't get too full of herself about what kind of students she would teach and not teach, she was like, "Hey, I'll take anyone and everyone." They're like the perfect people. Not too brave, not too ambitious, not too smartypants. We knew with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and many others that they had all of those qualities, and that their desire for one house or another may have influenced their sorting. And in the end, it was a magic school. Dormitories, and people and places you could work and hang out with/at. Yes, I know there were a million issues about how the school was run and how some of the houses were treated by both teachers and students of other houses. But I repeat, in the end, magic school. Wizards, witches, and Dumbledore and talking hats and Peeves and ghosts and giant dogs and why, in a place like that, would you want everything to make sense? For me, it was just more fun for it to not make sense. I like silly stuff like that. I've only read the first Hunger Games book, and I didn't like it that much. Even when I had questions about it though, I still knew that we could just blame the Capitol. It was the bad guy. Why are kids killing each other, why are they such terrible monsters, what the fuck is up with the world and these places and these Capitol people? The government. Something bad with the government. So now all the bad is government's fault. I could just think that and keep on reading. The problem with Divergent is that it doesn't give you good answers to all the WHY and HOW questions. Let's see here, main character, Tris, is the daughter of some guy who works in the government, and they're in a faction that only has people who are... selfless. Now, I at first thought that it was "valuing selflessness" -- so that it meant the people there wanted to be more selfless than smart or brave, not that it was the ONLY thing they could be. There's no possible way a person is... well, entirely all selfless. Like even being selfless is selfish, and in being selfless, aren't you being a liar, aren't you being brave, aren't you being clever, aren't you being at peace? There are people who do good deeds so they can feel better about making someone ELSE feel better. That has selfishness to it, doesn't it? Abnegation people apparently give food to the poor, they volunteer to help build stuff because they are selfless. But tell me, if you are someone who helps the poor and wants them to have enough food and drink and shelter, aren't you, in a way, wanting peace for them? Doesn't that bring peace to you? Then isn't that something of Amity in you? I know the test results are recorded, but in actually expecting all the people to go into the faction they've been given, aren't you asking them to be honest? Wouldn't they be displaying honesty? Yeah, I know, one person decides to go into a different one -- but that's ONE in I don't know how many. The hand cutting too, doesn't that require some bravery? Oh, and there was that bit about Abnegation climbing stairs because they're selfless, and then later on we see Tris struggling with running because she has never done it before. Uhm, why would a group of people who are always willing to volunteer to do construction work, make decisions in the government, and help out the poor, be against something like physical training? Don't you want your body to be healthy so you can continue being selfless and helpful towards others? Like, when you actually think about all of this stuff, IT. DOES. NOT. MAKE. SENSE. But whatever. I told myself it was a dystopia, and that it's possible that there's something wrong with these people, and there's some big bad that did it, and I tried to read on. And it was still very, very hard. If there was a big bad, and this was just the way this society operated, and even if I was to accept it in THEORY, and that it somehow all WORKS, and that I'd be given an answer -- which I wasn't, by the way -- I still do not see it in the characters. Like, if you really wanted to show me that society has trained these people and these kids to be so... limited in their thoughts and personalities or whatever, you could at least let me see that it's there. The characters, from whatever factions they were, showed bits of all factions in them. I guess you could say that it was all the intention of the author. Okay, I can go with that for a bit. So let's move on to plot, because trust me, you do not want me to get started on Dauntless -- this review would never, ever, ever end. Also, the fucking train. But not now, not now. So. Plot. Tris: I am not selfless, ugh this selfless thing is hard, oh my god my dad hates questions! My mom is beautiful! My brother is all selfless! I am not! I'm a terrible person but ugh I need to get out of this place! I hate it but NOO. *tests and initiations happen* Tris: Divergent? oh my god it's dangerous oh my god oh my god what do I do what do I do oh my god, I fit into THREE FACTIONS? I AM CLEVER AND BRAVE AND HONEST? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? OH MY GOD. *picks Dauntless* TRIS: BECAUSE I AM FUCKING BRAVE, YO. And selfish. *initiation starts* *all Dauntless kids, new and old, expected to jump on moving train because BRAVERY* *some kids can't get on train* HAHA SUCKERS YOU WEREN'T BRAVE ENOUGH TO GET ON THE TRAIN YOU COWARDS DIE AND BE FACTIONLESS *train arrives at Dauntless place -- must jump on top of roof from moving train* *kids get injured, some don't jump, one jumps and dies* WHAT FUCKING LOSERS! THEY DESERVE DEATH AND FACTIONLESSNISM BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU'RE BRAVE AND DAUNTLESS? FUCK YOU. YOU MUST BE ABLE TO JUMP OFF A FUCKING TRAIN ONTO A ROOF TO BE CONSIDERED BRAVE! *even though the kids have never been told or warned about it or would never have even considered this to be bravery of all things* *kids now jump off building into a hole because BRAVERY* *Tris jumps because she's fucking brave, yo* And on and on, these kids are beaten, abused, physically and emotionally -- they're yelled at, ridiculed, bloodied up, and just put against each other, all in the name of BRAVERY. There's bullying and there's friendship -- only thing that I was a little bit happy about because yay girls and friendship and not a jealousy fight over a guy! But basically, it's like the Hunger Games in the faction of the brave people, where in the end, only 10 are picked. Why? Because fucking bravery, yo. Wait, are you telling me that these kids, when they're all put together in one faction, where they will meet people that will be like them, who they should consider friends and family, are now fighting each other so they can get to the top 10? Yep. What happens to those that don't make it? Haha. They get their eyes stabbed, they get killed, abandoned, they get bones broken, or they commit suicide, or they are terribly injured, AND mocked for it, and then they leave Dauntless because those fucking cowardly losers do not deserve to be here, among the DAUNTLESS. Why? Because fucking BRAVERY, yo. Forgive me, really, but I don't understand why I'm supposed to be excited about all the violence that is done to the main character, and BY the main character to other people. Is it because she's a girl in a dress and she kicks ass? Is it because this means she's a strong female character? But tell me, what did all this brainwashing and bullying and hurting and shit do in the end to the character, and to anything, really? Oh, it was training her to fight the... uh... well, the zombies at the end? Did Tris know she was going to be doing that? This whole time, her goal was to make it into Dauntless. To be the top ten. And yeah, I get it, when you're fighting for your life, you wouldn't really be thinking about what comes after getting into top ten, but I knew that she would make it into Dauntless and I knew she was not going to die. I knew that. What are her motivations though? What drives her? What makes her want to live and make it to top ten? She doesn't know anything about what these Dauntless people do afterwards, and I don't understand why she would even be interested in it. Then, a dystopia. Can I get a hint at what's up with this society? No, of course not. The only thing that's supposed to happen in this book is Tris getting beaten and her beating up other people because fucking bravery, yo. No, I'm serious. I'm actually very serious. When you ignore all the other things that were supposed to disguise the pointless plot, that's all there is to it. Kids getting beaten up. Because fucking BRAVERY, yo. When Tris's mom comes in, and she tells her that stuff about the serum, I was like, oh finally. But the mom's like, Tris my dear, do that after initiation. Why? Because we need to see Tris beating up other people and being special and her getting beat up and Four taking care of her because oh my god, a YA book without romance? Cannot happen. Must put it ALL in there. So then, in the end, because of some weird shit, Tris suddenly is like, WHOA! The Erudite, the clever people, they want to turn us all into zombies! They're gonna make us go and kill all the Abnegation people because the clever people want to be part of the government! And then off she goes. The last 30 pages of the book, her whole entire faction is just going around killing Abnegation people, and Tris is pretending to be a zombie because she's DIVERGENT! SHE IS NOT INFLUENCED! And then the love interest joins in because oh, they're so special, and then somehow, the mom is like the hero and she saves her, and she dies oh, so heroically -- the lady that we only saw in like, three pages -- and then, and this is what really pisses me off, Tris teams up with her brother, her dad, and Four's dad, and they go and try to undo this zombie thing. 85% of the whole fucking book was Tris proving her bravery in the midst of all that violence from her own faction, and making friends, and doing whatever other stupid thing that Dauntless views as bravery, and what do we get for the climax? We get Tris and a character we had like, one paragraph of, a character we had 2 pages of, and a character we had like, one page of, and the character who took every opportunity available to hurt Tris because he was fucking BRAVE, yo. (I'm talking about Peter.) Those are our heroes in the end. Forget Christina, the PoC character who was Tris's best friend. Forget Will, who was also the best friend, and who -- spoilers -- gets killed by Tris because he's a zombie and Tris is fucking BRAVE YO, and forget Al, who was kind and who was desperate and who was involved in scaring Tris -- along with Peter and the other guy -- and who ACTUALLY told them to not assault her (because they could've actually raped her and then thrown her into the river), and forget everyone else. This is just about Tris being the hero and fucking BRAVE, and Four, and the power of true love. Al commits suicide because Tris does not forgive him. I don't think what he did to Tris was right, but I don't think what ANY person in this Dauntless faction was doing could be in any way considered even the least bit RIGHT. But Al commits suicide, and Peter, who we were supposed to see as the evil guy, who stabbed a character in the eye because he didn't want anyone higher in rank from him, and who tried to rape Tris, was one of the surviving people in the end, and on the train (THE FUCKING TRAIN OMYGOD) with the others away to the PEACEFUL people of AMITY, to get away from this war. The war was ... one faction turning another faction into zombies so they can kill a third faction. What was the point of that friendship, of the time Tris spent in the Dauntless faction, of the fighting and competition, if this is the ending we get? What, dear author, did you do here? Nothing. Other than have your main character get more and more apathetic, and judgmental, and cruel. You know what happens after Al commits suicide? The Dauntless call him brave. Then at the end, Tris compares his death to her mother's ~heroic death~ to save her, and she calls Al's suicide cowardice. She calls it COWARDICE. Veronica Roth, you do realize that many, many teens read this, right? I'm not gonna go into that, because I'll just get mad, but-- If Erudite was corrupt -- I think Dauntless is pretty shit too, but if you really love this book, then I know you'll blame that on Eric, who was also Erudite, but forgive me, I think that's not a good enough answer -- why couldn't we have something from the Erudite faction? Why couldn't Tris be part of Erudite? Why couldn't we switch to characters from Erudite, like, you know, Tris's brother! Or her father! Or her mother! They are the people of knowledge and conspiracies and truths, are they not? Then at least we could get to know more about the society, get to know more secrets, get to know how these things fucking work, but nope. Noooope. We get Dauntless, the faction of FUCKING BRAVERY YO, and we get violence, violence, more violence, and ... violence. Why? Because we need a strong fucking female character! WE NEED VIOLENCE. Fuck you, book. Fuck you. What a waste, what pointless shit, and oh, just thinking of the stupidity of the Dauntless hurts me. I'll be nice and leave the other factions out for now because we don't get enough of it, and you might think I'm being unfair when the focus was supposed to be FUCKING BRAVERY YO in this one. You know, I was going to give this book 2 stars, but now that I've finished writing this, I think I'll drop that down to 1. ...more | Notes are private!
| Goodreads.
| Apr 29, 2013
| Apr 30, 2013
Apr 29, 2013
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
| 79,187
| 1952
| 1953
--Warning: negative review-- (view spoiler)[ Oh, what a useless play. Nothing happens in it. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I can usually learn something from play --Warning: negative review-- (view spoiler)[ Oh, what a useless play. Nothing happens in it. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I can usually learn something from plays or novels I read for class, but this was just - god, stupid. Two guys sit and wait near a tree for some Godot person, and they just talk, and talk about nothing, and time passes - they go home, come back the next day, and do the same thing. I think I would've liked it if it was a bit shorter - but 60 pages of these two idiots doing nothing but talk? Come on! The dialogue was so annoying. It was like the talk I have with myself when I'm procrastinating on some project. Just childish and useless and nothing comes out of it except a waste of time. Like this play. I wonder if I'll change my mind about it after I go to lecture. We'll see. After lecture: Yeah, still think the same. Yes, I understand that this play would make us think about our own lives, and yes, I understand the whole, OH DOES GOD EXIST IS HE GONNA SAVE ME FROM THIS? thing too, but really Beckett, couldn't you have done that in a shorter play? An entire freaking paragraph of stage directions that consists of nothing but two characters passing around fucking HATS? I MEAN WHAT THE HELL! If he was seriously intending to piss off people by that, then he succeeded. If he was actually hoping that people got so bored and frustrated with these idiotic characters that it made them think of their own lives and how useless they were, and how they didn't normally do anything in life - well, then, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing, but that would only be not such a bad thing if say, people stopped reading or walked out sometime after ten minutes and did something productive. Which, I doubt happened. They probably sat there and laughed and thought, OMFG, pure genius, eh? No. Maybe to someone during that time, but to me, it's a huge freaking waste of time. Which kinda says something about people in our age, hm? Yes? Maybe? Kinda? No? Whatever. But really, there is no plot, no character development, the dialogue is shit, confusing, repetitive, all over the place and just ridiculous. I can appreciate classic works if there's something, I can bear it when there are characters and they do something, I'm still fine when there is next to zero plot and it's mostly thoughts - but this? God, no. No, no, no, no. I don't like it at all. (hide spoiler)]["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]> ...more | Notes are private!
| none
| Mar 21, 2012
| Mar 21, 2012
Mar 21, 2012
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| 9781416972259
| 4.35
| 434,207
| Jan 01, 2009
| Mar 24, 2009
--Warning: negative review-- (view spoiler)[ While reading this book, my head would droop like an unwatered flower. Then it would rise like a balloon in --Warning: negative review-- (view spoiler)[ While reading this book, my head would droop like an unwatered flower. Then it would rise like a balloon in anger. I'd throw the book across the room, it's cover open like a pair of wings. Jace's constant descriptions would make my brain itch, like a pair of silky fingers… like hot metal, like glass needles in the sky, like white powder, like quartz, like – Oh, GOD I CAN'T DO THIS. I'll tell you about that in a sec, let's get down with the plot. Oh, and I'm not even gonna bother trying to keep this spoiler-free, so you've been warned. PLOT Yeah... one thing was quite important in this one... hmmm... what was it? What was it... AH! I remembered. Turns out Jace is not Valentine's son. Yep, not obvious at all. Everyone is in love and conflict is resolved. Okay, it stopped being funny. I didn't like this book. I can't look past Clare's plagiarism. I can't even like Magnus. Sebastian was okay... but... well, who knows where Clare got that guy from? I really didn't like anything in this series. There were so many instances where I was reminded of something else I'd either seen or read... in a book, or a movie, or an anime, or a manga. CLARY In the beginning of the book, she did something stupid, and Luke gave her a good little talk. All right. That was fine. It seems like Clare wants to show her as the cute/innocent/brave type, but... well, Clary is a real bitch. She stays at Amatis's house, and just does whatever the hell she wants. She has no respect for the place she's staying at, or for Amatis. She sneaks out without telling the owner of the house. She uses Amatis's clothes without asking. She'll eat her food, not thank her once, and when she ever says anything to her, Clary will get angry. She really gave me the impression that... since Amatis was Luke's sister, and Luke is like Clary's father, Amatis had to love her, look out for her, cook for her, and just act like her fucking servant all the time. No. No. Saying THANK YOU is not that hard. Why are all these YA heroines so ungrateful? They have no respect, no compassion, and no real feelings for the people around them -- unless, that someone is a love interest. It makes me sick. MORE CLARY BUT JACE ALSO Another thing, which I've already talked about in my previous reviews, but I'll mention it again. The characters, seriously, MAKE NO SENSE to me. Sort of like... you know where an actor isn't doing a good job? Let me give you an example. At one point, Clary finds out that Simon is in jail. Jace and Clary had a fight or something the previous day, and she thinks that Jace hates Simon and so he put him in jail... or something like that. When she hears about it, she goes all, OMG! The world has stopped moving, I'm so shocked! Then we get a different POV -- Clare does this all the time -- so when we get back to Clary, she's at home, exhausted, and Jace is there. She acts a little sour towards him, and because of that POV shift, I thought it was because of that fight. When your reader forgets that your character is supposed to be angry, then you're doing it wrong. And hey, even if I didn't forget, Clary walks in and starts thinking of how hot Jace looks in his clothes, what his hair is like, his neck -- how am I supposed to believe this girl is angry or still worried about her friend? Her best friend, the only friend, and he's in JAIL. Suddenly, after checking him out, she starts throwing things at him. She punches him, and of course, since Jace is so strong, it doesn't affect him. And then they come close to kissing near the counter. Or maybe they did kiss... or was that when Jace's house blew up? Oh, did I ever mention that Jace gets talked about by all the different characters in this book so we can feel some sympathy for the poor kid? His past is always referred to. You know, I'd feel some sadness if it wasn't brought up so much and thrown in my face constantly. It kind of feels like Clare is bragging about her character. Oh, look how deep he is, look how troubled, look how handsome, look how brave despite his past, look how honest about his feelings, look how gorgeously angelic -- and he thinks he's a DEMON! WEIRD, EH? The past 1000 pages were all about him looking like a pure and beautiful angel, so angel-y that Clary dreams about him being an angel! What a surprise it was at the end when we found out that he has angel blood. What a shocking revelation. The character who is a real jerk and asshole, shown as angelic. MAX Poor Max. In my review for City of Ashes, I complained about how Clare just kills characters that we don't know very well in order to prove to us that a situation is dangerous. She does the same thing here, but the past ones didn't really make anyone sad... so she kills the nine year old kid in this one. If you're going to start killing children, you better have a really good reason for it. Something like a war. With... bombs blowing up and... the stuff you see on TV... that I don't watch because it makes me depressed. Anyways, Max stayed at home here. He was indoors when all the demons were out in the city, and he was supposed to be safe. Yet even though Sebastian attacks Isabelle with the hammer or whatever, we're told that it was Max who died. Isabelle isn't gonna die, of course. She's the strong female character. No way is Clare going to kill her off. She'll just get rid of that character who's always in the way, who she probably just put in to make you think, "Awh, how sweet, he likes Jace so much, and Jace likes him too~" Nowhere do we actually see that. Jace kicks him out of the room and never really talks to him like even I do to my younger siblings sometimes. You know, if it's a nine year old, I'd say he understands a lot of what's going around. It won't be that hard to explain things to him. Hey, kids actually listen if you talk to them properly. Please don't put children in your story if you don't need them for the plot. That's just annoying, and makes you look like a heartless... nonhuman thing. It's WRONG to use a kid like that. Also, after his death, I felt that the characters didn't even act like they were sorry for Max's death. We get Clary's dramatic reaction... and she runs out crying... and she only met him less than a month ago ... or ten days? By the way, the title of the chapter after the death is called, "Where There Is Sorrow," and Simon and Clary are sitting in Amatis's kitchen, talking... sarcastically. They joke about how someone had brought Simon a cat to drink blood from, and how he can't because he has a pet cat. You can't just put things in like that if you really want to show sorrow. First of all, like I said, Clary didn't know Max that well. We don't know Max that well. Wouldn't it make sense if we saw that scene through Jace's eyes? Or Alec? Or Isabelle? Max was part of their family. Or maybe it's just too much work for Clare. She won't bother getting too emotional about some minor character, she just wants you to know that Jace looks hot, and she wants you to buy her books. We do get some Jace and Isabelle, but... "A guy attends the funeral of his nine-year-old brother and misses all the fun." That's Jace. Yep. I have no idea what these people are made of. Isabelle? Goes to her room, cries, and attacks Simon for sex because it will make her feel better. Oh, poor, poor Max. Simon/Jace I had to find a way to make myself read through this pile of crap, so I started looking for some evidence that proves Simon and Jace really do love each other. That's the only way I could put up with their Clary conversations. Also, I have a feeling that Clare might've wanted some people to see this as Simon/Jace love, because I believe there are lots of other ways she could've written their interactions. Since she was a fan fiction writer herself, maybe she wants this to be a shipping. Here are my findings: "Look, I asked you here for a reason. Much as I hate to admit it, vampire, we have something in common." "Totally awesome hair?" Simon suggested... Something about the look on Jace's face was making him increasingly uneasy. Jace's LOOK was making him uneasy, people. Jace caught his arm, spinning him back around ... Simon looked pointedly at Jace's hand where it clamped his upper arm... Jace exhaled slowly, reluctantly—and let go his grip on Simon's arm. Ah, dang it. Well, they'll get to it next time. "But my eyes do," said a coolly amused voice from the doorway. Jace. He had come in so quietly that even Simon hadn't heard him; closing the door behind him, he grinned as Isabelle pulled Simon's shirt down. Jace's eyes hurt because he just saw Isabelle pulling up Simon's shirt. Jealousy~ "Go away, Isabelle." Simon, his hands fisted against his stomach, looked up at Jace, pleading in his voice. "Make her go." Simon does not like Isabelle. He wants her out of the room so he can be with Jaace~ It struck a chord of fury inside him, and if he hadn't been so debilitated by pain, he would have flung himself off the bed and onto the other boy in a rage. As it was, all he could do was gasp, "Screw you, Wayland." "Wayland, is it?" The amused look didn't leave Jace's face, but his hands went to his throat and began to unzip his jacket. "No!" Simon shrank back on the bed. Ahahaa! I told you they'd get to it! "Come to think of it, I have something I need to discuss with Simon. In private." Yeah, don't interrupt them. "In here," he said, half-shoving Simon through the doorway... "We should have some privacy—" "They were thin hands, the fingers and knuckles scuffed with old calluses. The backs of them were laced with the thin white lines of old Marks. They were a soldier's hands, not a teenage boy's. Simon knows every detail. He watched Aline touch Jace's wrist with her fingers as she reached for a piece of apple, and felt himself tense. But this is what you want him to do, he told himself, and yet somehow he couldn't get rid of the sense ... Jace met his eyes over Aline's head and smiled. Awhhh, look, he's jealous. He thought of himself saying, I could have killed you. And Jace: I would have let you. Come on, there's no way you can deny it now. ALL of the YA romance novels have this. Guy wants to kill you, but it's love. True LOVE. Same thing here. Yes? No? Fine, fine. Let's talk about those similes. Oh, those similes. SIMILES The Mortal Instruments is simile after simile after simile. No, I'm serious, Snape, I'm really serious. I don't know how I never realized that that was my main problem with it. Simile: a figure of speech that draws a comparison between two different things, especially a phrase containing the word "like" or "as," e.g. "as white as a sheet" - Encarta Dictionary The word 'like' appears 786 times in this book. 'As' appears 1066 times. Let's say that 15% of the word 'like' and 15% of 'as' was not in a simile, so that at least takes 118 'like' and 160 'as' uses out. That leaves us with 668 uses of 'like' and 906 uses of 'as'. Let's say she used around… 15% of those together at times. 100+136 = 236. The remaining 568, and 770… that gives us 1574 similes in the entire book. Hmmm… still seems like a rather large number, right? Let's cut that down by 15% again. 1338 similes. I've taken 28% off the original. That should be about right… I hope. Okay, there's about 151,000 words in this book. If we pretend that all the sentences are … *counts words in random sentences* … let's go with 30 words long (pretend the longest is 50 and shortest is 10), then that means there are around 5033 sentences in this book. Out of those, 1338 are similes. Which means that 27% of this book is filled with similes. Please note: - I'm talking just about similes. As in a type of metaphor... I'm not going to try looking up all the metaphors. - My math may be wrong, these are just guesses, and in reality, there maybe less. Or there may be more. I thought I should compare the number of similes in this book to others of about the same length, but… that's not really going to prove anything. Instead, I'll give you some of the similes Clare uses, so you can understand what a pain it is to have 27% of this book be nothing but similes. (You don't have to read these. You can just scroll down.) 1. He sounded like an adult talking to another adult. 2. There was a strange smell in the air, like ozone and burning. 3. Behind him strode Magnus, his cat eyes shining like metal in the hot Portal light that bathed the garden. 4. …the soft liquid noise brought him back to that terrible time with an immediacy that was like a dash of ice water in the face. 5. Her head popped up like a startled jack-in-the-box's, her eyes flying open. 6. Jace didn't take his eyes off Simon; there was an electric anger in his gaze, and a sort of challenge that made Simon long to hit him with something heavy. Like a pickup truck. 7. Something flat and hard and silvery like the surface of a mirror rose up in front of her. By the way, it's a lake. 8. Scattered among the other buildings were the same tall, thin, glasslike towers, each one shimmering like quartz. They were like glass needles piercing the sky. The fading sunlight struck dull rainbows from their surfaces like a match striking sparks. 9. Simon had to hurry to keep pace as they passed a set of huge double doors, thrown wide open like wings. 10. The Inquisitor drooped like an unwatered flower. 11. The Inquisitor's thin, worried voice rose like a balloon. 12. It went up faster than he'd thought it would; he let go of the paper as it burned, floating in midair like a firefly. Soon all that was left was a fine drift of ash, sifting like white powder across the rosebushes. 13. There was a crash—the sound of shattering—and a sudden spray of broken glass like a shower of jagged stars. 14. In his long dark coat and white shirt, under the pool of white light, he looked like a black-and-white illustration of a gentleman from a Victorian scrapbook. Let's take a break. Wonderful, aren't they? Aren't you happy I'm making you read these? 16. Clary woke to a sound like hailstones on a metal roof. Am I the only who thinks that wouldn't be a sound, but SOUNDS, since it's hailstones? 17. Sebastian's face came alive, like a video flashing back to action after it had been paused. 18. Blue sparks glittered at the tips of his long fingers, and there was suddenly a sharp smell in the air, like burning. 19. His hair tickled her fingertips, not silky like Jace's but fine and soft… 20. The fierce longing that had surged up in her so swiftly receded with a sharp recoil that was like an elastic band springing back. 21. Homesickness twisted in her gut like pain. 22. ...and then broke off, lifting his head, like a cat pricking up its ears at a distant sound. 23. Clary didn't know when he'd drawn it, but it shone in the witchlight like a blade of ice. 24. Jace, standing beside her, spoke in a voice that cracked like broken glass. 25. Clary saw with a distracted, terrible pity that it had curling golden hair like Jace's that shone dully in the light. 26. Its eyes were pits, its face slashed with scars, like a beautiful painting destroyed by vandals. 27. The desire in his eyes cracked into a thousand pieces like the shards of the Portal mirror at Renwick's. 28. Isabelle's whip came alive in her hand like the flaming sword of an avenging angel. 29. The runes on the blade shone like flashing lightning as she drove the dagger down. 30. Jace moved then the way he moved when he was fighting, like sunlight across water. 31. Clary ducked, covering her head with her hands, as glass rained down around her like tears. If you care to know, I was barely past 1/4 of the book, when I started skipping pages for similes. All the ones up there were randomly selected. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Reminiscent of the Harry Potter series and that's high praise!" What a stupid thing to say. You can't win me over like that. That's INSULTING! "A gorgeous fantasy that's so good it's dangerous." I'm sorry, Holly Black, I've only read one book of yours and I think it was ... okay, but .... seriously, since you're best buds with this woman, why not try and give her better advice? Wouldn't you want to be an honest friend? Oh, wait, it's all about popularity, isn't it? Tsk, tsk. "Hold on tight for a smart, sexy thrill ride." Where's my Tylenol? Where's my coffee? Where's my chocolate? Oh, this is going to be painful. EDIT: AND IT WAS! "A tale edged by lightning, driven by power and love." TAMORA PIERCE? I've only heard good things about you... why... why... never mind. I'll just pretend I didn't see your name here. "The Mortal Instruments series is a story world that I love to live in. Beautiful!" Oh, go to hell, Stephenie Meyer. Anything you think is beautiful is definitely creepy and disgusting. EDIT: AND IT WAS! Edit 3: S. Meyer, I would just like to apologize for telling you to go to hell. I think you're not as bad as Clare. (hide spoiler)]["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]> ...more | Notes are private!
| none
| Oct 03, 2011
| Oct 18, 2011
Oct 03, 2011
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
| 9781416914297
| 4.23
| 416,550
| Jan 01, 2008
| Mar 25, 2008
--Warning: negative review-- (view spoiler)[I'm in a good mood. It's such a beautiful day, isn't it? All that sun and warmth and -- no? Well, it is whe --Warning: negative review-- (view spoiler)[I'm in a good mood. It's such a beautiful day, isn't it? All that sun and warmth and -- no? Well, it is where I am. Soo beautiful. Okay, City of Ashes. I think I had something to say about that. Clare is a genius. Oh, she is such a genius. So, we've got Harry Potter. And it has millions of fans. We've got Twilight, and that has millions of fans. They're both different, the only thing that's similar is their million fans. What Clare did was put a How amazing. And what a beautiful day. I ask anyone who agrees with the above to go eat some ice cream and chocolate and read a book. Shoo! Oh – wait, before you go: I liked Magnus in this one better than the last book. In this one, he didn't uncharacteristically explode at a couple of teenagers he had just met. He only helped out – he was totally being used – and made stupid comments. In City of Bones, when he was first introduced, Clare farted after a few paragraphs and told us about how... uh... Magnus's parents tried to drown him in a well? Why is she so desperate to try and impress us with her characters? Make us feel something for them? Why can't she wait a little and drop it when it might have more of an impact? Why? Do you have an answer? No? Okay, you can go now. It's a horrible day and I am pissed. I hereby declare this the WORST out there. When people pick up Twilight, a lot of them would probably be expecting some kind of melodrama, and constant brooding and fail and shittery. Uh, well, maybe not when it first came out. The Mortal Instruments, though, is something entirely different. I can't fully describe it in words, so I'll draw you some pictures. This is Twilight: And now this is TMI: Looking at the Twilight drawing, you could probably understand something of the story. The Mortal Instruments one ... well, you see, there were faces there. There was a Clary, and a Jace -– which I hate to admit, I spent the most time on, especially his stupid hair –- and there was a Simon and a wolf and some black shadowy demon. Then I used one of those swirly tools, and they got all swirled up. Then I put words on it, and you could understand them, but then I put more, and more, and more, and now, as you can see, you can hardly make anything out. You might be able to spot some swearwords, but that was me expressing what I thought of the book. *lame explanation of lame art* Anyways, there's actually some meaning to this crap I'm telling you. Clare has characters, yes, but they're all... like a really horrible dish with all the wrong ingredients, where you can't make out the taste of ANYTHING you put in there. Ever made one of those? No? I did once. If someone removed all the names from the dialogue, I don't think I'd be able to distinguish one character from another. Hey, I had to re-read some stuff at times because I wasn't sure who said it, even when there were names. There's nothing special or unique about any of her characters, except for their looks. Wait, did I just say looks? HA. Remembered something: "...boy was all white and gold … the same way of walking, like a panther on the lookout for prey..."If I'm not wrong, in the first book, he used to get compared to a lion. Which, I guess makes sense. Here, though, he's white and gold, but he's a panther. I see a panther as meaning a black panther, and that's the image that I think would go to a lot of people's heads. Oh, and here's another one: "Who has called me here across the worlds?" Agramon demanded in a voice like shattering glass.Okay. His voice is like shattering glass, apparently. Does that mean that every time he talks, glass shatters? Like, "Who – *window smashes* – has – *wine glass breaks* – called -- *bottle gets thrown against the wall* – me…" How can the whole entire question and the one after it be said in a voice like shattering glass? Maybe, as Mello suggested, he has glass in his throat. [image error] "His were the color of black coffee— not really black, but a rich brown without a touch of gray or hazel."Clare, if you say black coffee, I understand that you don't mean BLACK. It's coffee. Then you say 'rich brown' and I understand that too. Then you add gray and hazel, and my mind gets fucked up. Where did gray and hazel come from? So, did the coffee have milk in it or cream? How much sugar was in there? Who the fuck said anything about gray and hazel? What makes you think I was going to say he had gray or hazel eyes? Or brown black dark coffee-ish eyes? Are you trying to tell me that you yourself DON'T KNOW? Probably. This book is full of things like that. After a while, I just ignored it. Every image she conjures up first gets ruined a sentence later. I think, and I could be wrong but I doubt it, that Clare doesn't think much about what she writes – she just wants her sentences to look fancy and poetic and striking and imaginative – and comes out making it all confusing. It stops the imagination of the reader. Horrible thing to do to your readers. At least, I mean, at the least, try to see if what you wrote makes sense. If you can't describe it the way you want to, and the details would end up being too much, just DON'T PUT IT IN there. I can do that part by myself. Isn't this supposed to be about me imagining the story in my head? Why do you have to butt in all the time and ruin it? That makes you a bad author. If it's not going to take away from the plot, or add to it, what the hell, just throw it out! I can give the demon a voice in my head, I can give Simon the darkest of brown eyes and there would be no confusion. I really need to say something about Clare's horrible way of keeping with her character's point of view as their POINT OF VIEW. I'm sure a lot of people have pointed it out, but really, it's so painful to read, I have to mention it. So, we'll be talking about Clary. I'm assuming we see things from Clary's eyes, not her head, though we do get her thoughts, but sort of where we see her face, and we see what she sees. Right? Right. Let's say Jace walks in, and Clary is now looking at Jace. Then, for some insane reason, we're told about Magnus, who is sitting somewhere else in the room, and about something he did that has nothing to do with that's happening now. Oh, there's this one part where Jace is in a cell, and he's looking at the bars or whatever in front of him. Then we get this: The hair on the back of his neck stood up, sharp as needles.How do we know about this? Why do we suddenly see the back of Jace's head? Are we seeing things from right above the back of his head? How does he feel his hair being as sharp as needles? Is his hand on the back of his head? Was he so curious to feel what his hair was like when it was standing, that a time when the prison was being broken into, his hand was on his head? I know this might not seem like much, but seriously, there are parts when we're with a character that doesn't know someone or is in an unfamiliar place, and suddenly, they'll be having thoughts about how one character thought this was funny or that was funny or something stupid like that – but we're told that they DON'T KNOW THEM. If you don't know them, then how can you make assumptions about what the other people are like? That part of the narration isn't coming from the character, it's coming from the author, and it JUST doesn't fit. Another example. Isabelle is standing near some fountain. We're told about her hair, the weather, the moon, the light, the cold, Isabelle, beauty, black – something like that, and suddenly, it's Clary thinking of Isabelle. I'd been thinking we were looking DOWN on the scene from the sky, since there was so much about the surroundings and the AREA Isabelle was standing on – Clary was walking towards Isabelle, and I'm assuming it was quite a distance if she had time to think all that, but still, how does she see her hair and her outfit and the leaves at her feet and what not? Someone tell me, am I... am I just not getting something about that? Clare, can you please, please, STICK to one person when you decide to shift into their heads or eyes or the back of their heads or the eyes on the back of their head? PLEASE? Clare while she's writing: Simon's time. Oh, I just HAVE to tell them what Clary was doing there, haha, they'll like it, really. Okay, Jace part now, I know how much they all love Jace, so I'll describe his golden hair and eyes and angst once more – oh, wait, I know, I'll throw in half of the previous dialogue as well, I have to make it relevant. Lolzy, polzy, they'd wanna know what Magnus was doing. They HAVE to know about that. Really – oh, and Alec. Precious Alec. I have to put him in – I know how much they like my wonderful gay characters. I put it in there for that exact reason. They'd wanna read about Isabelle's beauty. Of course, she's so beautiful – oh, but wait, that part should beIf YOU want to take over and tell us about the story, just do that instead. It will be much simpler on you and us. Even now, there are so many parts that just don't fit, and to that, I say, "Clare couldn't keep herself out of her own story." People say Clare is Clary, but I personally think it's all her characters. It kind of shows, you know. That's why they're all so shitty. I mean, the only half-decent one in this book is Magnus – just in this one, not the previous – and he ends up with Alec. Alec is SO BORING. I think Magnus could do better. What's he doing with that boring dishonest person? Did he just wake up one day stuck with him, because Clare wants it like that? Poor warlock. Back to what I was saying. If Twilight had grammatical mistakes, and it sucked to be in Bella's head, at least there was that sulky/mopey/dreary flow to it. This writing is ALL over the place. It's confusing, and it hurts my head to try and comprehend. So combine Clare's writing to her plot = horrible. Oh, yeah. Plot. Wanna talk about plot? Guess what? That's the plot. Talking about plot is the plot. It was all about what happened and what will happen and what could happen and then it's melodrama, melodrama, blah, blah, kissing, sparkling, and some more melodrama, and then talk, talk, talk. Clary: Jace. Jace. Jace. Oh, Simon. Lips. Mmm. Simon: Puke. Clary. Mm. Jace: Angst. Angst. Mope. Clary. Mope. Angst. Haha. Clary: Simon? Simon? Oh, blood juice. Suck. Jace! Yum. Mmmm. Jace: Clary! Mmmm. Isabelle, Simon: Puke. More Puke. Simon: *transformation* Vampire. Fangs. Hurrah. I'm sexy now. Clary? Clary: SIMON! Mmm. Jace – fuck off. I'm punishing myself. Jace: Growl. Mope. Angst. Daaaaddy! Valentine: blah, blah, blah. Ship. *on ship* Clary: Blah. Blah. Blah. JACE! SIMON! Jace: blah, blah, blah. Simon: Yo, Valentino. I'm cool now. See, I'm handsome. I got these powers, and I got these looks, and I got this body that's so hot – even Jace wants me – and now, now, I can totally beat you with my hotness. Clary: Ooooh, Simon. Oooh, Jace. So much hotness. *sudden *ship destroyed* Valentine: Wtf? *disapparates* *unknown characters get killed* Clary: Oh sadness. People I didn't know died. OH NO. Sun coming up. Simon and his hotness dying! NOOOO! Me: It's not gonna happen, dumbass. I bet my arm and leg. If Clare wanted to kill any of her characters, she would've done that somewhere else and in another place, and during one of those million other times that Simon should and could've died. Now? After some stupid battle and in the back of a truck? No. And if she wasn't trying to surprise us with something stupid, she would've made Clary find a way to build a wall or something, or Jace sprout wings, or bring apparation into the story.Simon: blah, blah, Clary, Mmm. Love. Jace: blah, blah, blah. *sun rises* Clary, Jace, everyone else: OOOH SIMON SPARKLES! HE DOESN'T DIE IN THE SUN! THIS IS LIKE TWILIGHT BUT BETTER BECAUSE SIMON IS NOT EDWARD AND THIS IS CASSANDRA CLARE AND NOT STEPHENIE MEYER – HAH! AWESOME! Oh, god. Seriously. How is this any different than Twilight? Because the female character in this one can throw knives, you say? I think you can tell how much I hate Jace by just looking at my status updates. I also made this picture of the fucking jerkface: There's not much I like about Simon, either – I mean, now that he's all sparkly and graceful like Jerkface. Or Alec. Or Isabelle. They're so empty and lifeless and fake and just so... unreal. Clary, though, is the most lifeless of all. In order to prove that she's a strong female character, we're shown how she, uh... throws knives and leaps like a cat. I'm not even gonna talk about her rune-making abilities. Instead, I'll talk about Haruko Akagi. She's a character from Slam Dunk. There's nothing really special about her. She's not fast or very intelligent or super cute or even a good basketball player. She's just normal. She has a crush on one of the basketball players, Lukawa. The guy is not a jerk. The guy is not a show off. He's just really good looking and plays basketball really well. He's a hero of their team. She's loved him for a long time, and she has made a fool of herself for him a few times. When Haruko realizes that Lukawa will never spare a glance her way, that he doesn't have room for anyone or anything in his head except basketball, she feels sad, but then wipes her tears, and tosses the idea out of her mind. She doesn't hate him. She doesn't break down and beat herself up or feel sorry for herself. She just accepts it, that Lukawa and her = not gonna happen. I liked Lukawa. He was cold and weird and rude, but not because he hated people, he was just like that. After that happened, though, and I saw how well Haruko took it, I thought, "He doesn't deserve you." Haruko doesn't change herself for Lukawa to notice her, and she doesn't find faults in herself or Lukawa to explain why they can't be together. She just walks away, and focuses on other important matters. All that time spent loving him, and she's able to just let it go. Clare, that's a strong female character. That's someone I can really respect. She has no physical strength, but she's strong. I'd mention a few from FMA, but they're all so amazing, it won't even be worth comparing. Yay Hawkeye! Yay Armstrong! Yay May Chang! YAY Mustan—Oh, he's a guy, haha. Okay, okay, I'll stop now. I don't care if Clary can throw knives even though she's so tiny, I don't care that she has a very hard grip for someone who's so tiny, and I don't care that no one could destroy the ship or open that prison door but precious little Clary did it with her rune-making – while still being tiny. She SUCKS. She has no fucking personality, she has no mind, and she has no soul. You can drown her, trap her, put her in physical pain, kill her off in the most brutal way and I won't FEEL anything for her. She's nothing. Oh, and there's something I want to say about Isabelle. WHAT THE FUCK LADY? How could you trap your little brother in the room when you go off to some mission that you don't even know when you're going to return from? Isabelle can beat up demons and men and anyone who comes her way – and she'll mercilessly trap her little brother in the room because she wants to and because she can. Was Clare trying to make it funny? That's not funny, that's cruel. Speaking of funny, isn't it funny that most of Clare's main characters escape all kinds of dangerous situations and are not hurt too badly? I'll give you an example. When Simon and Maia were taken by Valentine, Maia had half of her braids ripped off. "He could see where her braids had been torn away from her scalp on one side, her hair matted with blood." Then Luke gets his leg snapped in half. Oh, I know what you're thinking. He's a werewolf, he can heal, and same with Maia. But that's exactly the problem, isn't it? She'll take her liberty with torturing them, because oh, they heal up pretty fast. Jace however, escapes anything that will slow him down, and the most injuries he gets are some bloody wrists. The characters that were mean to Jace in the beginning of the book or somewhere in the middle? Yep, they get punished by Clare. They get killed off. Oh, and the Silent Brothers? Haha, no one cares about them, so she kills them in order to show us how villainous her villain is, but that same villain couldn't end up killing a vampire. In order to prove to us that this was indeed a war, and something serious, Clare makes sure that NONE of her main characters die, except for those that were given a line or two of description in the book. Like that one Malik dude. Who was he again? And we're supposed to feel sad that he died in the book. This Shadowhunter apparently came all the way from the land of Shadowhunters to join the battle, but he died because it was such a terrible war. The parents got hurt, all the adults got killed, Maia was beat up – did you see HOW BADLY? Yeah, see, that's serious stuff. Jace, Simon, Clary, Alec, Isabelle, Magnus, and all your favorite people – well, you know, they're much too powerful to get hurt that bad. They're smart, they avoided most of the damage. Shows you just how much strength these characters posses, eh? Oh, Clare, you fail so much. Aaaaand, where's my chocolate? *looks around* (hide spoiler)]["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]> ...more | Notes are private!
| none
| Sep 04, 2011
| Sep 14, 2011
Aug 06, 2011
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 9781442402003
| 3.90
| 20,691
| Aug 31, 2010
| Aug 31, 2010
Review Also Here. A lot of people praised the writing for this one, so I kind of feel bad saying that I didn't think it was ... well, that great. I ha Review Also Here. A lot of people praised the writing for this one, so I kind of feel bad saying that I didn't think it was ... well, that great. I have so much to say about this book, but I won't get to it all. Let me start off with a little summary – just a fast summary of half of the book, bear with me. Spoilers coming. I don't mean just the tagged ones. Isobel gets partnered up with Varen for her English project. She doesn't think that's fair and wants to switch partners because he's weird. He writes his number on her hand and tells her not to call after nine. In my school, people used to do that all the time. We even wrote on each other's faces. It's not a big deal, right? Well, to Isobel's friends, it's a very big deal. One of Isobel's friends, Nikki – I think her name was – wanted Isobel to tell her boyfriend, so he could threaten Varen to make sure he doesn't go anywhere near her. All he did was give Isobel his phone number so they could work on their project together. Nikki and Isobel get in a fight. It seems Nikki told her boyfriend – I don't know his name – and her boyfriend told Isobel's boyfriend, Brad. I remember Brad's name because the guy's a jerk. Brad threatens Varen. Isobel gets mad. Nikki gets mad because Isobel got mad. Isobel's friends think they're right and Isobel is wrong. See, Brad's a real asshole here. Varen is quiet and so far he hasn't done anything. So what would the reader do in this case? Feel bad for Varen, and hate Brad. You'd also want Isobel to get to know Varen more because all of her friends are horrible. You'd want Isobel and Varen to be in love. Then it's blah, blah, blah and Isobel tells her friends that she has a dentist appointment, and meets up with Varen in the library to do homework. Yes, homework. Remember that. H-o-m-e-w-o-r-k. They talk about Poe, where for the first time in the book, I was intrigued. Anyways, fast forwarding a bit, Isobel's friends find out that she wasn't at the dentist and that she was meeting up with Varen. They are pissed. They treat her like shit. She feels guilty and doesn't bother saying anything like, "I was doing my homework. I have a project and I need to do well to pass English. Now, shut up and let me eat." All I could think during this part was WHAT THE HELL? Seriously, all she did was work on her project. The only thing happening for half of the book is Isobel lying to her parents and friends about sneaking out and doing homework. I'm sorry, but I didn't find anything interesting about the plot. Questions readers would probably be asking themselves at this point: - What else is Brad going to do to stop Isobel from seeing Varen? - Is Isobel going to switch partners to get her project done? - When is Varen going to beat up Brad? - When is Isobel going to beat up Brad? - When are Varen and Isobel going to kiss? THEY ARE SO IN LOVE, RIGHT? I didn't care about any of those. Why? Because during the prologue of this book, I was given something about a man running away from some monsters. Then I get high school drama that's so cliché that it's cliché. Let's move on, shall we? Isobel and her friends get into a fight because of something that happened with Varen. Your heart would bleed for Varen and you'll hate Isobel's friends even more. Don't read the spoiler if you want that to happen. Read it if you don't care. (view spoiler)[Brad and his stupid gang go to the place Varen works at, and they turn it upside down and nearly beat him up because... I think it was just because they felt like it. Isobel slaps Brad and tells him to get lost – about time, really – and then cleans up with Varen. (hide spoiler)] At school, Isobel can't really sit at the same table with those 'friends' of hers, so she takes her tray and goes straight to the table Varen sits at. Varen ignores her. That table is full of goths, and they call Isobel a barbie. She calls Varen a hypocrite or something like that, and goes into a washroom, kicks a few trashcans, and cries her eyes out. Sigh. It all started because he wrote her number on her hand so they could work on their project together. Homework. And if the cafeteria was so horrible that she wouldn't be able to find a place to eat or sit with anyone without her friends glaring at her and talking about her, why doesn't she just go to some other part of the school? Hey, why doesn't she work on her HOMEWORK somewhere in the library? SINCE SHE'S, LIKE, FAILING? Oh, I don't know, because we need more drama and we need to feel sorry for Isobel, and we need to hate Varen now, and we also need to hate Brad's gang. I mean, seriously. Then – yes, there's more – this girl that's right beside Isobel's locker starts talking to her. And they become friends. And she's so cheerful and helpful and funny and most readers at this point are ready for another character because they're sick of the ones they've dealt with already and Gwen is, like, hilarious, so they welcome it and everything starts becoming a little more happy. Oh, and I should probably mention the dad about now, because things can't stay happy forever. See, Isobel's dad, when he was first introduced, seemed like a pretty cool dad. He was funny and just how dads really should be. However, this dad likes sports, and he likes Brad because Brad is on the football team. When things go bad between Isobel and Brad, he pretty much sides with Brad because according to him, Brad is a very nice guy and Isobel needs to treat him well. You'd think a nice dad would defend his daughter against a big bulky mean looking moron. But noooo, he gets angry that she's fighting with Brad. He orders her to have a quiet talk with Brad, which leads to the girl getting forcibly kissed. Brad wants Isobel to get back together with him because she belongs with him, she's his property, and she can't see Varen anymore. (While this is happening, Brad's gang is still looking for ways to hurt Varen. Oh, there's also this weird thing about dreams and some guy that only Isobel can see, but that's only put in to pique my interest, give me nothing but descriptions and then drop some more high school drama on me.) Oh, what happened to HOMEWORK, you say? Dad doesn't care. He thinks Varen is a hoodlum. The skinny Varen with his lip piercing, who's a huge fan of Poe is scarier than a big hunky bullying rapist. Let's talk a little about Isobel for a second. She didn't seem that stuck up in the beginning to me, and her reactions to Varen were not so different than how most people would feel being partnered up with someone they've only heard strange rumors about. I just didn't understand how she could be friends with her 'friends' – they're nothing like her! It's as if the whole thing about her friends was there to create conflict. You're meant to hate Brad, you're meant to hate her friends, you're meant to like Varen and feel sorry for him. I really don't like that. See, characters in this book are made out to be horrible, or they're made out to be good. Cheerleaders are bad, football players are bad, the goths are bad, the nerds are good. Isobel, who was part of the football and cheerleader crowd is now getting closer to someone from the goth/nerds, and oh, no, the two sides CLASH. The characters turn up here and there, but they don't really feel like anything. I don't remember half of their names. They were just... people going in and out. The school doesn't even feel real with everyone sitting at their own table and not talking with anyone outside of their groups. I mean, it's high school! In junior high, my school was like this. People looked down on each other, and there were certain people you hung out with and others you couldn't stand – even if you didn't know them, the rest of your friends didn't like them, so why should you? In high school, that slowly vanished. Even if everyone wasn't best friends with each other, people could still talk and do things peacefully – especially projects. Grades become a lot more important in grade 11 and 12 for us, so those little problems were pushed aside. I don't know if it was my school, but I'm pretty sure that would usually be the case in most schools. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. That's why I didn't feel like there was anything great about this. Sure, the writing might have been good in places, but with a story like this, I can't bring myself to look at beautiful passages or poetic sentences. I don't care. Give me something to care about and then I might appreciate your writing. Another thing, around the end of the book when something finally happened that wasn't exaggerated high school drama, some action came in. The problem, though, was that after every sentence where something happened, I was given ten or twelve sentences where things were described. Again, I don't care. Move the story forward. If I'm reading a scene where things need to move fast – skip a few things. I'm not stupid, I can guess and imagine more than half the things myself. I had to put down the book over ten times, and this was at a part where Isobel was on a rescue mission. See that summary I gave you of the book? Well, actually it was more than half, but you'll see that it largely involves Isobel's problems with her friends, who have problems with Varen, which leads to their unfinished homework project. After all that, at the end of the book, Isobel is thrown into this dark realm where she must ... look around for Varen? I think that was mostly what it was. MORE than HALF of the book was about those bold parts up there, and now I must be concerned about Isobel making it through this strange place by herself. Why? What does that have to do with the past 400 pages? What do those 400 pages have to do with this? There's a connection? Really? Oh, you mean Varen and Brad? Ooooh. Please. There was no other way to show Varen's strange power/imagination/dream/nightmares or whatever they were except by putting him through all that suffering from Isobel's friends? There was no other way to create a more interesting plot, one that doesn't revolve around a girl with homework and boyfriend problems? This could've been so much better. There were a few good things about this book, which is why I gave it two stars: - Gwen really is hilarious. - Isobel's little brother was so adorable. - Reynolds is mysterious, and I like mysterious. - I want to know more about Varen and his notebook and stories and dreams. That's why I read this to the end. Unfortunately, the good things I listed had ways of annoying me too: - Gwen: Yeah, she's funny. She's a plot device. I don't think it's fair. She's one of the characters that I liked, and instead, she's just there to help Isobel get to Varen and the dance and what not. That's a bit cruel, don't you think? Isobel also doesn't treat her well, but I guess that shouldn't matter at that point because things are getting better with Isobel and Varen, right? That was the sole purpose of the stupid mess, right? Ugh, no, please don't do that. - Reynolds: He comes in, says weird shit, then leaves. He appears like two times. In the final 50 pages of the book, he appears again. What really pissed me off was that Isobel would say things about his character, like he wouldn't do this, or do that, but we don't know this guy. At all. How can she say that? Am I expected to be so relieved that this mysterious guy turned up, that I completely forget and look over the part where I WASN'T TOLD MUCH ABOUT HIM, CUZ OF THAT HIGH SCHOOL SHIT GOING ON? - Isobel's little brother was rather convenient: She's not allowed to talk on the phone! Don't worry, the little brother will find a way to get the phone to her and pretend he's talking on the phone. Isobel's not allowed outside of the house! Don't worry, little brother will find a distraction. Isobel is caught! Don't worry, little brother will find a proper solution. Isobel doesn't want to talk to Varen! OH, NO! Don't worry, little brother will come in and say that Varen is awesome, so you don't have to be the only one thinking it. - Varen: See, if this book was from Varen's point of view, it would've been fascinating. There's so much to him. Even without the weird thing he has with his notebook and imagination and writing or whatever the hell it was, he has real problems to deal with, like his father, and that bookstore keeper. Not homework and cafeteria table problems, you know. (view spoiler)[Gosh, that scene with his dad tearing apart his room and walking over his poems broke my heart. (hide spoiler)] Sadly, this was another plot completely wasted. It could've been so much more. I weep, I really do, because I felt like 300 pages of this book might as well just have been blank instead. They could've been cut. I'm probably in the minority here, I know. A lot of people might appreciate the writing and the fact that it's a little different than most paranormal romances. If it counts for anything, this book got me interested in Edgar Allan Poe. The strange thing is, I'm sure I had a lecture about him, but the only thing I remember from that lecture is that he married his cousin or something. If I had a lecture about him, that means I must've read some of his works... but I don't remember. Huh. I should pay attention in class. EDIT: I want to add something by Stephen King here, from On Writing. Might explain why I didn't like this book. "Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's." ["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]> ...more | Notes are private!
| none
| Aug 09, 2011
| Aug 17, 2011
Jul 27, 2011
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 9780316160193
| 3.53
| 986,983
| Jan 01, 2006
| Sep 06, 2006
Review Also Here. Oct/1/2013: There's a paragraph in this review where I talk about how S. Meyer should go see a psychologist. Looking back at it now, Review Also Here. Oct/1/2013: There's a paragraph in this review where I talk about how S. Meyer should go see a psychologist. Looking back at it now, it was rude and unnecessary. It has nothing to do with Meyer's writing, just what she made her characters show or say. I don't like it at all, and no, I'm not saying this because of any GRs policy. It's just something that I don't approve of now. I would remove it, but I don't want to pretend that I never said it. So please try to ignore it if it bothers you, and I'm very sorry. *Spoilers* I think I read Twilight during 2008, and I was really, really frustrated with it. That's why I still haven't read New Moon. But then, I've read other horrible books, and I've survived, so how bad can this be, right? It can't be that bad. So I got my chocolate, got the book, got comfy, and started reading. New Moon: The Zombification of Bella Swan. This is the story of Bella, Jacob, and Edward. We all know Bella Swan, the miserable whiny girl living in Forks, the rainiest little place in the world. In this book, her sparkly little Edward decides to pack his bags and leave all of sudden, saying he doesn't want to be with her anymore. He leaves Bella in a forest, under a new moon, and she stays there, in shock, unable to move... And she turns into a zombie. Now, I don't read much about zombies, so I don't know exactly how it happened, but I do have some theories. Remember when James bit her hand? I think the poison from that was left dormant in her palm, and with Edward Cullen around, the man who pulled out the venom, it didn't do much because it was scared of his presence. However, that poison or venom wasn't enough to turn Bella into a vampire, so instead, it turns her into a zombie when Edward leaves. As the name of the book shows, the new moon played a huge part in this process. Lying under a new moon for so long, and with Edward Cullen gone, the poison activates, and starts taking control of Bella's body. She even gets a hole in her chest. That hole is there because Edward Cullen leaves – and we know that it was Eddie who pulled out the poison, right? And it was his presence that made the poison stay in Belly's palm, right? So, now that Edward is gone, the poison travels to Bella's chest, and it starts to burn a hole there. The hole is so painful, that Bella needs to clutch her chest to keep it in place. It's serious stuff, and nobody knows about it. Otherwise, why else would Bella not remember 4 months of her life? That's all because of the zombification process. Poor Bella doesn't give up though. She knows that it's Edward's fault and she decides to find a way to bring him back. The last thing Edward tells Bella is that she should keep herself safe. It's easy for that moron to say, not knowing what he caused her. Bella fights the zombie part of her body, and decides to go see Jacob. As we all know – I mean, siriusly, who doesn't? – that Jacob Black is a Anyways, Jacob Black doesn't actually turn into a werewolf during a new moon or a full moon – but, they do have the power to minimize the effect of the poison in a person's body. See, it all makes sense. New moon, full moon, werewolves, wolves, Jacob, zombies – It's all connected. Bella figures that out, and to find a way to get rid of the zombie inside her, she hangs around Jacob, who also makes the hole in her chest less painful. She doesn't forget about Edward though, and she needs revenge. So she puts herself in danger by riding motorcycles and jumping off cliffs in order to alert Edward in some way. Her genius plan works, and Alice the future seer thinks that Bella committed suicide. Now, here's the thing. You all know those Volturi, right? They're the ones who want Alice and Edward on their side. It was actually them. It's all their fault, because they're the bad guys. The Volturi were told by Victoria that Edward and Alice are like, super strong, so the Volturi wanted to find a way to get them on their side. They sent that one dude, who can... um... what was it? Make a person not feel anything? Alex? Okay, they had sent Alex to make Edward not feel anything, so then he had no feelings towards Bella – which is why he left. Alice is a little smarter, because she can tell the future, so she went off with Jasper. However, when she sees Bella commit suicide, she hurries off to tell Edward – I mean, you can't ignore a relationship of six When Edward hears that, the effects of Alex's magic wear off, and he realizes that he had loved Bella all along, and that it was the Volturi's fault that he left her. He decides to beat the crap out of them. He can't do that by himself though, and he wouldn't listen to Alice, so Alice rushes to Forks, to warn Bella. When Bella finds out that the Volturi and Victoria were behind the whole mess, she decides to go along with Alice to help Edward out. Alice phones up the rest of her family, and they prepare themselves. Jacob doesn't want Bella to leave, and he's not very fond of vampires. He also knows that it's possible Bella could get killed. He decides to go help the Cullen family, because then he would at least get to kill some vampires. They have to take planes to Italy, but after that, the Cullen family make their way down to Volterra with their insane speed, and Jacob morphs into a wolf and carries Bella with him. They arrive in less than five minutes, and an epic battle ensues. . . . Ah, who am I kidding? I lied. None of this happens. Well, okay, some of it does... but... I don't want to talk about that right now. New Moon reads like a troubled teenager's diary. A very depressed teenager's diary. A teenager who has been through many traumatic experiences, a teenager who has a very deep past, or doesn't have a home, or has lost someone precious, either to war, disease, or simply lost everything that was ever his or hers. Bella is none of those. She has her friends, she has her family, she has a very peaceful neighborhood, she has food on her plate, she has a house to live in, she has clothes to wear – she has everything that a person needs to be alive. No, Edward doesn't count. It's been long since I read Twilight, but if I remember right, they knew each other for about six months. Just that one person doesn't become everything in that short amount of time. Even if it was one year – I don't care. If Edward was the only thing she ever knew, then yes, it would be a little more acceptable. Why is a teenager who has everything she needs so damn depressed? If this was about Bella getting better, finding a way to get over Edward, it still would've been okay. But as soon as she feels better, she goes back and punishes herself. Siriusly. What was wrong with S. Meyer? Has she been through something traumatic in her life that no one knows about? Is this her way of talking about it, by putting her pain into a character who simply lost a sparkly man she'd known for six months? Has anyone suggested S. Meyer see a psychologist? Go back to your copy of New Moon and take a look at some of those sentences. They're so dark, you'd think there's something really serious going on, or going to happen soon, but all you get is that? Bella's loss of her boyfriend? It doesn't even fit her personality. She hates herself! She thinks she doesn't deserve Edward. So now that the moron actually left her, she's sad? "Edward, I'm the worst person you could ever find stumbling across this planet, but I love you, and even though you deserve better than me – no, you most definitely deserve someone better than me, I want you to love me. No! I don't believe you! You don't love me, but please don't leave me! I love you, Edward!" This isn't an exact quote, but that's practically how Bella feels. WTF? How does that make any sense? HOW? Now, there are books where the characters are so stupid and dumb, you want to reach in and strangle them. Then there are books where the characters are so stupid and dumb, you don't take anything of what they say seriously. You can easily tune them out. But then there are characters who tell you they're stupid, who know they're stupid, but still go on saying deep shit like the world hasn't treated anyone worse than them. Bella alone I can handle. I can tune out her stupid thoughts, I can laugh at her dumb Romeo and Juliet comparison, but Bella with people, friends, and around her family... good lord. She's such a bitch to everyone, but she still expects others to treat her like she's the queen of the world. And when they don't, when they give her exactly what she deserves, she says it's not fair. IT'S NOT FAIR! Bella, you miserable piece of shit, you don't make the rules in Charlie's house. You don't befriend someone just so they can distract you from other things, and when you treat someone with disrespect, when you ditch them in the middle of a movie that you suggested in the first place, you give them a damn apology. People aren't just there for you, you need to be there for them as well. You DO NOT take advantage of them and then toss them away. And don't you dare tell me I'm being unfair! It'll be a long time till Eclipse. ...more | Notes are private!
| none
| Jun 29, 2011
| Jul 02, 2011
Jun 29, 2011
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 9781416989417
| 4.02
| 314,648
| Jan 01, 2009
| Oct 13, 2009
Everything in this review is my own personal opinion. Okay? Okay. I read this book with a very open mind. It was so open, in fact, that whatever went Everything in this review is my own personal opinion. Okay? Okay. I read this book with a very open mind. It was so open, in fact, that whatever went in simply found its way back out. I did that so I wouldn't have to think too much about the contents of this book. For my brain, you know. There were a few things that stayed in there for a bit longer than I would've liked. Patch Vee Nora Ugh, I hate them. That's all I really wanted to say for the review, but then I found a few things in my notes -- not in my head, but in my notes -- so I'll just add them here: "… We should sneak into the front office. It would all be in his student file." --> adding something to the plot, so it's not just sitting in the classroom and having weird conversations with a jerk. "We are NOT sneaking into the front office." --> someone has to say no, but maybe this was there to make the readers side with Vee. Since everyone hates her. "I could create a diversion. I'm good at diversions. No one would see you go in. We could be like spies." --> Of course, there has to be a character that's good at diversions. "We are NOT spies." --> Author trying to put in some reason, but we all know it's for nothing. "Do you know his last name?" Vee asked --> Do I care to know? "No." --> Uhuh. "Do you know anything about him?" --> No, we know nothing about him. The author needed to put this in because we readers are so stupid, we need something to help us REALIZE that, OH! There's actually more to Patch! Other than good looks, omg hawtness, and being a jerk. Seriously. Wow. "No. And I'd like to keep it that way." --> We all know by now that Nora is an idiot and a liar, not only to herself but to everyone else. Even though I really don't want to think too much about this book, I can't help myself here. This is pretty insulting. First of all, Nora is worse than the person who can admit that they are interested. It makes women appear weaker, as though all we really do is lie to ourselves, especially when a man is involved. Well, if that's the case, no wonder nobody listens to Nora. No wonder she doesn't know how to simply say, "No." *shakes head* Okay, I'm gonna stop there and not go any further, or I'll be going into a few depressing topics that involve women around the world. Ahem, moving on. "Oh, come on. You love a good mystery, and it doesn't get better than this." --> Author wants to take this opportunity to present the whole plot to us, and tell us that there's more mystery coming -- oh, wait, you mean this is supposed to be MYSTERIOUS? "The best mysteries involve a dead body. We don't have a dead body." --> Uh… so we are going to get a dead body? Subtle, isn't it? Vee squealed. "Not yet!" --> Oh, my. The Suspense. When I was reading this conversation between Nora and Vee, I thought... Could this be the author talking to herself? I read it twice, and after that, every time Vee and Nora were having a conversation, I imagined two sides of the author's head battling out a problem in the plot, but instead of resolving it, she just decided to put the whole thing in there. I have one thing for Patch, Vee, Nora and the whole book: Die in the hottest of flames. ...more | Notes are private!
| none
| May 30, 2011
| Jun 2011
Apr 17, 2011
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 9781416914280
| 4.12
| 793,547
| Jan 01, 2007
| Mar 27, 2007
Longer review, in case this one gets deleted, here. Clare's fanfic titles: Yes, that last one says the Mortal Instruments. And yes, it was about Ron an Longer review, in case this one gets deleted, here. Clare's fanfic titles: Yes, that last one says the Mortal Instruments. And yes, it was about Ron and Ginny. --Warning: negative review-- Before you leave me comments about your love for Clare and how I need to understand this poor flawed favourite author of yours, do me a favour and check the other comments. Chances are that many others have asked or told me the same thing, and I have already responded to it. (view spoiler)[ What Cla(i)re did in the past: http://www.journalfen.net/community/b... http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/... I don't like this book, and I don't like Clare's writing style, or her characters, or her, and if you're a fan and you read this, you might get offended or hurt. So don't. ***WARNING: SPOILERS*** Full view There's going to be some yelling and hissing. I'm sorry. Let's take a look at our characters: Luke: I'm like Lupin, but you know, cooler. Harry Potter wasn't cool enough, Star Wars wasn't cool enough, so I came along to make it cooler. I'm a werewolf, but no one knows that. I'm in love with Clary's mother, because she's so special. I used to be like, Valentine's best friend, but then I found out he was evil and all, so I became a good guy. (Do you see what's happening there? It's like James Potter's gang and the Death Eater gang put together. Smart, eh?) Clary: Omg, I have no friends, because all the girls I know are so different than me, and I'm special. Simon is the only one who hangs out with me, and he's like, a total nerd. I tell him he's my best friend, when really, I don't give a shit. Jace: I'm like, the best demon hunter out there. I wear, like, leather pants and fight with daggers. I'm like, a total Draco Malfoy – except, with leather pants and I'm a good guy. I have, like, a wand, but it's not a wand, because that's like Harry Potterish, and we're like, the cooler crowd, and we use like, steles. My dad was like, totally abusive and shit, but I'm like, totally in love with him. He was a great man. I'm an asshole to everyone, and I love Clary... because she's special. Simon: I have a lot of friends. We're all geeks, we're in a band, we play video games and have fun, but I'd rather just hang out with Clary because... she's special, and I love her. I'd do anything for her, because I love her, because she's so special and... special. Isabelle: I wear skirts, I carry a whip, and I'm so beautiful. I love myself and everyone loves me because I'm so beautiful – EXCEPT for Clary. I hate Clary. She's so special, and that makes me jealous of her. Yeah, I don't hate her because she has no personality and is the most unintelligent thing walking on this planet – I hate her because she's so small with red hair and the same name as the author and JACE freaking WAYLAND likes her. How can I not be jealous? Clary has everything. I just go around kill demons and shit with fucking style, but I'm not special like Clary. *sad face* Alec: I'm jealous of Clary. I'm jealous of her because Jace likes her and not me. I love Jace. *sad face* (I forgot to draw Magnus on there. Sorry.) Magnus: I'm like the only decent character in this book. Everyone else is just too fucking weird and special – BUT OH WAIT. I HAVE A VERY DEEP PAST. My parents tried to kill me and my mom tried to kill herself, and I'm a warlock and I try to act all happy and cheerful and sarcastic and cool and witty, but I HAVE A DEEP PAST. I told Jace and the others as soon as they walked in my door – I had to tell them to prove to you that I'm a very well developed character – three dimensional and all! One of the things I really hate about this book is just how stupid it makes me feel. Honestly, I don't know what the hell Clare was trying to do. There are parts where it actually feels like the book is trying to tell you that it knows you're reading. Does that make sense? No, obviously not. It's like Clare knows you're reading, and she's commenting on parts as you're reading. She should use footnotes or something. If you want to know what color the eyes of the electric blue haired guy were - you needn't worry, she'll tell you, even if Clary is standing a long distance away and probably facing his back. If you want to know what the gold haired guy's name and job is, don't worry, Clare will tell you. Even if it makes no sense for the characters to explain to their enemy who they are and why they're killing him/her. "Demons," drawled the blond boy, tracing the word on the air with his finger. "Religiously defined as hell's denizens, the servants of Satan, but understood here, for the purposes of the Clave, to be any malevolent spirit whose origin is outside our own home dimension—" "Nobody here needs a lesson in semantics—or demonology." Good lord, every time I read that I just face palm myself so hard it hurts. Yeah, tie up a demon and then tell him all that while he tries to escape. "They return to their home dimensions when they die," said Jace. "In case you were wondering." Shut the fuck up, book. Shut up. SHUT UP. To me, that screams something like, HEY CHECK IT OUT, AREN'T YOU INTERESTED? ARE YOU IMPRESSED? "Have you had dealings with demons, little girl? Walked with warlocks, talked with the Night Children? Have you—" "My name is not 'little girl,'" Clary interrupted. "And I have no idea what you're talking about." They'll tell you about all their lessons, because of course, you're curious, and Clare can't wait to brag about her world. She'll tell you about the food at the restaurant, all the interesting looking characters' issues and personal back stories, when you should really be worried about the main character's mother. Oh, right. SHE'S not worried. Besides, look at all the hot guys and interesting characters! Aren't they hilarious and cool and badass? Clare will insert quotes from a lot of famous works, she'll put in Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Indian - and she'll tell you all about them right there, even if they don't really have much to do with the plot. I read all three books, and I read this book TWICE, but I still have no fucking clue how this whole Shadowhunter world and the Clave business works. Whatever. I don't care anymore, and I don't want to care anymore, and I never want to pick up this stupid, stupid book again. I hate the characters, I hate the writing, I hate the plot, I hate everything about it. __________________________________________ From Draco Veritas (Fan Fiction): The falcon did not like Draco, and Draco didn't like it either. Its sharp beak made him nervous, and its bright eyes always seemed to be watching him. It would slash at him with beak and talons when he came near: for weeks, his wrists and hands were always bleeding. He did not know it, but his father had selected a falcon that had lived in the wild for over a year, and thus was nearly impossible to tame. But Draco tried, because his father had told him to make the falcon obedient, and he wanted to please his father. When Draco was six years old, his father had given him a bird to carry his mail. The other children Draco knew had friendly owls, or the occasional bluebird, but Draco's father gave him a falcon, with bright black eyes and a beak that curved like the mark on a Sickle. ... Harry realizes that what Draco has been saying all this time into his neck is really the simplest litany of all: his name, just his name. From City of Bones: When the boy was six years old, his father gave him a falcon to train. The falcon didn't like the boy, and the boy didn't like it, either. Its sharp beak made him nervous, and its bright eyes always seemed to be watching him. It would slash at him with beak and talons when he came near: for weeks, his wrists and hands were always bleeding. He smelled of salt and blood, and only when his mouth came close to her ear did she understand what he was saying, what he had been whispering before, and it was the simplest litany of all: her name, just her name. If the fan fiction is hers, and she later turned it into a book, where's the problem? First of all, the fan fiction was based on something else, like Harry Potter for example. In this fan fiction, she used passages, quotes and ideas from all over the place, and didn't cite them. She decided to take that and turn it into a book. She changed the names, tweaked a few things here and there, then called it the City of Bones. Is it her original work? Hell no. Am I going to think about her plagiarism every time I see her name? Yup. City of Ashes. City of Glass. (hide spoiler)]["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]> ...more | Notes are private!
| none
| Mar 25, 2011
| Jan 27, 2012
Mar 25, 2011
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 9780316015844
| 3.56
| 2,761,970
| Jan 01, 2005
| Sep 06, 2006
New Moon Review. I only read this book because of how many times 'Harry Potter' pops up when people are talking about it. So, I started the book and I New Moon Review. I only read this book because of how many times 'Harry Potter' pops up when people are talking about it. So, I started the book and I knew it was going to be about vampires. I was expecting something amazing to happen because ... well, it was compared to Harry Potter and amazing things happen in Harry Potter. About three chapters in I started to wonder why the character is so boring and annoying. About ten chapters in I started to wonder if I got the right BOOK - I mean, it's being compared to Harry Potter, maybe I got a different book by the name of Twilight. I actually googled it and checked the name and spelling of the author's name... but no, I had the right book. Then I started falling asleep. I was getting frustrated with this Bella, and with this Edward, and their stupid talks about love and danger and beauty and I don't know what. When I finished the book, I was ready to rip it to pieces and throw it in the trash can - but it was a library book. Thank goodness I didn't buy it. ...more | Notes are private!
| none
| not set
| not set
Jun 25, 2009
| Paperback
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text:
Visual LightBox is a jQuery Image Gallery with beautiful Lightbox-style overlay effect and a lot of nice gallery templates. Visual LightBox comes with drag&drop GUI wizard for Mac and Windows to create your gallery in just a couple of clicks – without coding or image editing.
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How to Win:
- Comment below on what you think about this product – use your real email so that we can contact you in case you win!
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Winners will be selected using Random.org and will be announced exactly a week from now.
Good luck!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Lakewood Ranch
- Continental Breakfast
- Suites
- Swimming pool
- Free High-Speed Internet
- Fitness/Health center
- Wheelchair accessibility
TripAdvisor Reviews Holiday Inn Express & Suites Lakewood Ranch Bradenton
Travel Blogs from Bradenton
Dog culture
Just a side note about "dog people" and "dog culture"... We have owned 3 dogs over the past 30 years. Until this most recent dog, Sammy, we just got a puppy, added it into the family mix and moved on. We had a dog, but we were not "dog people". I did not realize what this meant until this new dog. Since we live in Ohio, if you get a new puppy Feb 1 (stupid idea) you have to do extra things like shoveling snow ...
Getting a routine
... a place that has more going on after 5. The south end, Bradenton Beach, has more motels, tourist bars, shops, etc. My guess is there is more going on there in the evening as well. We have been appreciating being able to walk to everything here but we may need to go elsewhere in the evening for some activity. Since it is dark by 6, the beach isn't an option. Shelling here is not Sanibel, but there is always something to find. I found a small, unbroken sand dollar this afternoon. ...
Getting settled
... that I got to this point in my life where I can afford to have this time in this place, and be healthy and able to enjoy it. Had dinner tonight out on the City Pier. Met a nice couple from Cincinnati and we traded jokes about how cold it was at home and how lucky we were to be here. Walking back down the pier we were joined for a few moments by a Great Blue Heron. Very cool ...
Home Run
... despite the hotel having no suspicions history whatsoever), later we went to a second baseball game, this time bradenton marauders vs clearwater threshers, it was free-t shirt night and a free hot dog was also thrown in, the game was again one-sided, this time the threshers running rigs around the marauders 7-2, despite the marauders coming close to a comeback in the seventh inning ...
Getting Close to Ft Myers
Did you know that you can click on options in the right hand corner of the map at the right and see my trip route? If you double click, I think you can get a closer view of each state, or an overall US map with my stops tagged.
Throughout the South, if there is a fast food restaurant at any freeway exit, it will be McDonalds. The exits are all about fast food. If there is a discount/grocery story along my route, it will be a Walmart. There seems to be a Walmart in every small ...