Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Release date: 15th May 2014

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Reason for reading: the twist! the twist!

Add it on Goodreads

Goodreads synopsis:

We are the Liars.

We are beautiful, privileged and live a life of carefree luxury.

We are cracked and broken.

A story of love and romance.

A tale of tragedy.

Which are lies?

Which is truth?

My thoughts:

 We don’t know much as the story starts. We know something happened to Cadence two years ago, on the island where her family spends their summers. We know she can’t remember what it was. We see Cadence struggle with debilitating headaches, see her life fall apart around her, and see her slowly, painfully, attempt to piece it back together. Cadence is the very definition of unreliable narrator; she barely remembers that whole summer, let alone the event that triggered her memory loss. Cadence returns to the island two years after the incident to discover the truth of what happened there; the truth so awful she forgets it whenever she is told it. 

The awkward, grasping feel of the present on the island is interspersed with Cady’s idyllic, dream-like recollections of summers past and with whimsical fairytale retellings. An interesting narrative style that left me feeling as though I was constantly teetering on the precipice of a massive revelation; dangerously close to a horrible truth, yet a touch too far away to see it clearly. The overall effect is unique and very haunting, wrapped up in the most luscious and elegant of prose. 

Cadence, the Liars, their families and the island were all described so vividly they felt tangible. I was completely enthralled by them all and their ridiculous, privileged, appearances-are-everything existence. You should hate them, or feel sorry for them, but I was addicted. I couldn't get enough of them. The more Cadence told us, the more I wanted to know. 

The ending did come as a massive shock because I was just so immersed in the world of We Were Liars. It's the kind of ending that makes you wonder how you missed it, makes you want to go back and read it again to catch the clues, makes you wish it wasn't so. But you shouldn't read this for The Twist, or because of how hyped up it is, read it because it is beautiful and painful, because it is love and loss and because it will make your heart ache. 

TL;DR: A beautiful, haunting story told in beautiful, haunting prose. Don't try to figure it out, just enjoy it.

Paper Vs Pixels thoughts

So my big thing for April was that I took part in the Paper Vs Pixels challenge set by Laure Eve and Hot Key Books! When the challenge was first announced, I knew I'd have to go with Pixels as I mostly read paper books, and I thought "no way, not possible" but after going away & looking through my Kindle & thinking about it, I decided maybe it was!

I drew up a shortlist of books, and while I didn't end up reading all the shortlist as a couple of others snuck in there (rereads and work books) I'm pretty proud that I read electronically for the entire month! It really made me think about how I read books...I found myself pretty uninspired when choosing what to read next, faced with a list of titles on an eInk screen rather than a stack of paperbacks, which I think is why I ended up rereading a couple of favourites & reading work books (the physical editions for which I could see at work, of course). I don't think it helps that I tend to use my Kindle for specific things: work books, editorial submissions and adult urban fantasy series. That means the number of unread offerings are usually fairly low, mostly titles bought in Kindle sales. I did, however, *pretty excitingly* get to read the sequel to Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve, The Illusionists, and felt that was just a perfect time to read it (and it is Ah-mazing!). In the end, I managed to read nine eBooks this month and I did not cheat at all. 

I only had a battery dilemma once, where my battery ran out on my commute into work, meaning my commute home again was sadly reading-free, but I remember how many times I've had to lug round 2 books for fear of finishing one and having nothing to read and really, having a Kindle is so ideal for combating this most traumatic issue...if you remember to keep it charged.

Overall, while I can see the many benefits of eReading, and while this was such an interesting experience, I wouldn't say I'm fully converted.  I'll still be reading certain things electronically, and will definitely continue to take advantage of Kindle bargains, but I can see me remaining a mainly physical book reader for at least the foreseeable future!

If you'd like to see which books I read this month, check back for my monthly wrap up this weekend!

Did you do the Paper Vs Pixels challenge? Which one did you choose and how did you do?

Review: Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve

Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve

Release date: 03/10/13

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Reason for reading: It sounded freaking awesome and I love the cover and it sounded freaking awesome

Goodreads
Buy: Waterstones | Hive | Hot Key Books

Goodreads synopsis:

There is a world where gods you’ve never heard of have wound themselves into hearts, and choice has led its history down a different path.

This is a world where France made a small, downtrodden island called England part of its vast and bloated empire.

There are people here who can cross a thousand miles with their minds. There are rarer people still who can move between continents in the blink of an eye.

These people are dangerous.

And wanted. Desperately wanted.

Apprentice hedgewitch Vela Rue knows that she is destined for more. She knows being whisked off from a dull country life to a city full of mystery and intrigue is meant to be. She knows she has something her government wants, a talent so rare and precious and new that they will do anything to train her in it.

But she doesn’t know that she is being lied to. She doesn’t know that the man teaching her about her talent is becoming obsessed by her, and considered by some to be the most dangerous man alive ...

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My thoughts:

Fearsome Dreamer is the sort of book that desires to seduce you slowly. There’s no quick pay off, no one night stand, the story reels you in, gently, gently, until you’re completely enraptured, immersed in the world Laure Eve has created. It’s clear that Laure Eve has been inspired by a great many things; paying them homage whilst still crafting a novel that is entirely unique and entirely her own.

You may feel that fantasy, alternate history, sci-fi, a slight dystopian slant and hints of horror would not a fantastic book make. You would be wrong. Laure Eve seamlessly weaves together snippets from multiple genres to create a story that almost defies categorisation and makes it one of the most unique and interesting books I have ever read. The World and world Laure Eve has created is both intriguing and developed. An interesting mix of future technological globalisation and old-England-come-fantasy-setting, information about the state of our planet and its inhabitants is drip-fed, avoiding a confusion-inducing info-dump and succeeding in holding the interest of the reader; curious to learn more.

The characters are real, with personality traits that are not always desirable but in no way affect the likability of those possessing them. Rue is fanciful and almost silly; with that innocent narcissistic touch that many teenagers exhibit, making her easy to relate to. She believes she is destined for great things, in that self-involved way many of us view ourselves in our teen years, and, in her case, she is right. Transported from her home in the countryside of Angle Tar, to one of the majestic cities, she meets White. The young and severely introverted instructor is quickly irritated by Rue’s thoughtless, unfiltered way of speaking; leading to a strained relationship, until an episode reminiscent of one of my favourite moments in Buffy the Vampire Slayer forces them to re-evaluate how they feel about each other. This new tension, this awareness, is heightened during my favourite scene of the book, which is clearly inspired by one of the great scenes of literature and is absolute perfection. White’s almost desperate attempts to forge the sort of connection he wants but struggles to make are endearingly heartbreaking, as is the almost complete social shutdown he forces upon himself, and the flashes of what happened to him before Rue came along are even more so. 

White and Rue are both ‘headhunted’ by Frith; a complex and complicated character that I found myself both respecting and fearing. It is through Frith that we discover the end game of the story:  the mysterious Castle; the horrors it contains; the need for the Talented, and the tense relationship between Angle Tar and World: a relationship that fuels some of the most important elements of this book.

Fearsome Dreamer is very literary in the sense that there’s a certain emphasis placed on the language and the characters; specifically their interactions and relationships with each other. The book reminds me of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater in this aspect, and its ending certainly packs a similar emotional punch to the climax of that novel.

TL;DR: Fiercely compelling, Fearsome Dreamer is an accomplished, captivating and thoughtful debut novel. There are some fantastic female writers really making waves in the fantasy genre lately; Leigh Bardugo, Samantha Shannon, Sarah J. Maas, and Laure Eve should count herself among them.