Review: Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne
Release date: September 2012 (paperback)
Publisher: Headline
Source: Purchased
Reason for reading: Love the premise, seen really good reviews

Goodreads description:

They say I'm evil. The police. The newspapers. The girls from school who shake their heads on the six o’clock news and say they always knew there was something not quite right about me. And everyone believes it. Including you. But you don't know. You don't know who I used to be. 

Who I could have been.

Awaiting trial at Archway Young Offenders Institution, Emily Koll is going to tell her side of the story for the first time. 

Heart-Shaped Bruise is a compulsive and moving novel about infamy, identity and how far a person might go to seek revenge.

My thoughts:

I really didn't know what to expect from this book when I started to read it. I'd seen the really good reviews and the award nominations but I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. I also felt kinda bad because I read Heart-shaped Bruise after reading Shadow and Bone which I LOVED and I felt like HSB wouldn't be able to match up.

But it did. It was so wonderful. You know when you start a book and you just know that you're going to love it? That is exactly how I felt reading Heart-shaped Bruise. Emily Koll was so captivating. Her voice just leapt out of the page. I loved how the fact she was writing in a notebook, never sure if someone would actually read it, made it feel so much more personal. Like you were the only person to read her story.  Emily was so full of life, of vitality, even though she judged herself so harshly. I felt like, because she was so hard on herself, I didn't have to be. I didn't have to hate her, or be shocked by her or resent her, because she did all that herself. It was so easy to empathise with her, to like her, which isn't really something I expected. I actually really liked Emily, loved her even, despite what she'd done. I totally got why she felt she had to ruin Juliet's life, like, she had to hate someone and she couldn't hate her dad because she loved him, so she hated Juliet. She needed someone else to experience that moment of  realisation that a person you trusted and loved wasn't who you thought they were. It was kinda tragic because all the way through her retelling of her story you can see how it COULD'VE gone; how her life could've been if she didn't have such a need for revenge.

I've read a couple of books where the main character has done something horrible and they skirt around it, hinting at it without actually telling you what happened, and I can find the whole thing quite frustrating and not particularly enjoyable. I find myself reading the book simply to find out what happened rather than because I actually want to. This didn't happen with Heart-shaped Bruise. I enjoyed every minute of reading it, every snippet of information Emily gave me, every snarky comment and beautifully-constructed sentence. I didn't feel like she was keeping secrets from me because she wanted me to read the whole of her story, but because she didn't want to think about them long enough to write them down until she really had to, but that the secrets were always there, at the back of her mind, permeating every thought. 

Heart-shaped Bruise is so fantastically written which is something I love in a book. The prose was beautiful and evocative and Emily felt so vibrant and real. There was a level of dark humour to the story that I didn't anticipate being there, but it really worked with and added to the story. I was initially disappointed by the ending, but once I thought about it I knew that ending it any other way would do the story, and Emily, and injustice. 

TL;DR: Heart-shaped Bruise is a darkly funny, intimate tale of a bit of an anti-hero dealing with the consequences of her actions.

Review: Graceling by Kristen Cashore

Graceling by Kristin Cashore 
Released: 22nd January 2009 (UK)
Publisher: Gollancz (UK)
Source: Library book
Reason for reading: Recommended by everyone
Rating: 5/5

Goodreads synopsis:

In a world where people born with an exceptional skill, known as a Grace, are both feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: the Grace of killing.

Feared by the court and shunned by those her own age, the darkness of her Grace casts a heavy shadow over Katsa’s life. Yet she remains defiant: when the King of Lienid’s father is kidnapped she investigates, and stumbles across a mystery. Who would want to kidnap the old man, and why? And who was the extraordinary Graced man whose fighting abilities rivalled her own?

The only thing Katsa is sure of is that she no longer wants to kill. The intrigue around this kidnapping offers her a way out – but little does she realise, when she takes it, that something insidious and dark lurks behind the mystery. Something spreading from the shadowy figure of a one-eyed king...

My thoughts:

I was really pleasantly surprised by Graceling. I wasn't expecting much which is why I took it out of the library instead of buying it for myself. I quite like it when you go into a book sceptical and end up devouring it, completely absorbed by the story and the characters. I loved Katsa, she was the epitome of an independent female; physically strong and skilled, intelligent and resourceful and of course, a little prickly. Po, at first I was obsessed with how stupid his name was, but I quickly got over that. He was so patient with Katsa which I liked. Most people seemed to view her as either an amusement, a pest or someone to avoid in terror, but Po really liked her for who she is and I liked that.

 I was really intrigued by the plot, I thought it was going one way and then it changed and evolved several times in a really interesting way. I loved the whole journey aspect of it. It was really interesting to see so much of the country they lived in in such an organic way. I enjoyed watching the developing relationship between Katsa and Po; the roller coaster of emotions that were faced by them...well, mostly by Katsa. It was interesting to watch her process her own emotional journey, she learnt so much about herself and her interactions with others and I like those sorts of journeys. 

What I liked the most about the story, I think, was watching Katsa's relationship with Bitterblue. They went on a literal and a metaphorical journey; travelling such a long and treacherous distance and learning so much about themselves and each other. It was a great way to see how much Katsa had developed as a person; old Katsa would probably have left Bitterblue and saved herself; new Katsa put Bitterblue before herself in every situation. 

I really liked the big build up of the story, I all of a sudden thought "I know what will happen here" and it did and I was just so...dismayed. Like I could feel my heart sinking into my stomach, which then dropped down to my knees. How could this have happened after such a journey? It just wasn't fair! And then, for the whole thing to be over so quickly....I was shocked. But in a good way like, I couldn't believe it was over so quickly and simply. I liked that though; normally I would have been disappointed but I just loved the characters so much and wanted it to go well for them. 

It helped that the real challenge came later. What happened towards the end was so tragic, but the way it was handled was so wonderful. There needs to be sacrifice in stories sometimes in order to be realistic. It was a little bit of a bittersweet ending, but I'm happy with it. 

TL;DR: Graceling was a surprising novel for me and it really kickstarted my enjoyment of fantasy. A richly detailed world surrounding a wonderful story and realistic and likeable characters. I enjoyed it so much I bought my own copy. 

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Series Review: The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan

The Magicians' Guild (The Black Magician Trilogy #1)
Released: 2001
The Novice (The Black Magician Trilogy #2)
Released: 2002
The High Lord (The Black Magician Trilogy #3)
Released: 2003
Publisher: Orbit
Source: Borrowed from friend
Reason for reading: Friend recommendation + trying to read more fantasy
Series Rating: 4/5

**As this is a series review, there may be spoilers, though I have tried to avoid them** 

Goodreads Synopsis for The Magicians' Guild:

"We should expect this young woman to be more powerful than our average novice, possibly even more powerful than the average magician."

This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work—until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders . . . and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield.

What the Magicians' Guild has long dreaded has finally come to pass. There is someone outside their ranks who possesses a raw power beyond imagining, an untrained mage who must be found and schooled before she destroys herself and her city with a force she cannot yet control.

My thoughts:

No, I can't believe I didn't read this series before now, either. It was all over the library when I was a pre-teen/teen, but I wasn't into fantasy at that age (aside from CS Lewis/Garth Nix...) so they completely passed me by. But my good friend Laura lent them to me and I've been trying to read more fantasy (I'm finally reading Game of Thrones) so I decided to give them a go.

I'm really glad I did. You know when you go into a book/series with no expectations and it ends up like, completely ruling your life for however long it takes you to read them?  That was the case here. I wasn't a huge fan of The Magician's Guild at first, all the books are split into 2 parts and after the initial event of the first part, I found the rest of it pretty dull. I kept hoping Sonea would get captured so something interesting would happen, and I found myself getting annoyed by her thought processes. As an individual book I only gave TMG 3/5, because of this first part. However, once we got into part 2 things got a lot more interesting. I loved all the detail about how the magician's guild worked, and meeting all the magicians and learning about the history and the magic they do.

The Novice was on the whole a lot more interesting, we moved outside of the magician's guild with Dannyl's ambassadorial duties and whilst I did find it really interesting to read about his research and his journey, I sometimes wished we'd be back in the guild with Sonea. I had definitely warmed to her by this point, she was strong and intelligent and hardworking, but I did sometimes wish she would stick up for herself a little bit more. I also really liked Rothen, her guardian and father figure, but Akkarin was definitely my favourite character. Dark, mysterious, sexy, possibly evil, he's my perfect character. I love how other character's assumptions and speculations about him drive your perceptions of this guy. The end to The Novice was like "gaaahhh!" but if I thought that was bad...

The High Lord. Oh there's so many emotions for The High Lord. The Akkarin situation was fully explained, and was along the lines of what I had guessed from hints in the previous books, though it is always nice to get the full story on something you're dying to know more about. The developments in terms of his character and the characters around him weren't much of a shock either, and I did really like them. I did feel some aspects were a little rushed, but then given the circumstances this can be expected. The rest of the magicians acted like absolute idiots in this book, and if they weren't all being murdered I'd've been screaming "SEE?! SEE YOU RIDICULOUS PEOPLE?!". Their responses and prejudices were SO infuriating but it really helped engage me in the story and really feel for the characters I supported I loved how all the strings of the various storylines throughout the books came together, how all the characters had their parts to play and their moments. The inevitable battle scene was good, though I admit I was a little confused about the power distribution, I felt Sonea should have had enough without yep...that thing that happened. That thing that happened that I knew would happen and dreaded happening for like, most of the book. How do I feel about that? It was brave. Necessary as well, I think. I don't think post-battle life would have worked if it hadn't happened. What I didn't like was the WAY it happened, it was kinda harsh, really. And the actual end of the book felt a little rushed, which I didn't appreciate. 

I am so glad I finally read this trilogy. I experienced so many emotions from it, so many ups and downs, from the little things like the anger felt over Sonea being bullied, the exasperation of her not fighting back, the elation of her final victory over her bullies, to the big things, the shock at the revelations, the fluttery stomach at the romances, the suspicion of like, everyone, the anticipatory dread for the finale and the heart-pounding, stomach-clenching fear at the climax.  

If you haven't read this series yet, I urge you to give it a go. 

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Published: 15th September 2011
Publisher: Harvill Secker

Goodreads description:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.


But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

My thoughts:

The book itself is breathtaking, and it is clear how much effort has gone into making this book look special. The edges have been sprayed black, there's a red cloth bookmark attached and a beautiful overall finish that really adds to the sense of wonder that comes with this book.

The plot is as intriguing and mysterious as the circus it centres around, the lack of chronology in the story, far from confusing me, lead me to devour this book, knowing that eventually, somehow, these elements would all fit together.

The story follows Marco and Celia, two young children pitted unknowingly against each other by their older and clearly vaguely amoral  guardians. A game is set up, a game to which the rules are unclear and the winner can take decades to determine. Their arena? Cirque des Rêves. But the plot focuses on more than just the battle between these two (which involves snow gardens, wishing trees and mazes) it looks at the dynamics of all the relationships that exist as a result of this game; and the effect that has on the wellbeing of the characters. Some characters flourish within the confines of the circus whilst others go decidedly downhill, struggling with the concept that their lives do not fully belong to them, that they are being manipulated in ways they could never have imaged. Poppet and Widget were by far my favourite characters, children of the Night Circus, they are gifted and not entirely what you would expect from normal children. I loved the way Bailey was fitted into the plot, it was subtle and very elegant.

But most elegant of all was the stunning writing. It's amazing that this is Morgenstern's first novel, the writing is haunting and fanciful; befitting of such an enigmatic circus. She handles the descriptions of the various circus tents and acts beautifully, it is never monotonous hearing about the circus, in fact, I wish she'd publish a whole separate book outlining each and every detail.  She ties all the elements together with a grace that seems effortless.

Whilst written for an adult audience, this book has amazing crossover appeal and I would recommend it to any young adult reader. A beautiful debut, one of my favourites of the year. 5/5

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