The Seven Kingdoms: Bitterblue

 I read Graceling and Fire a few years ago, I had never known then that how much I would have loved the series completely. Bitterblue came out on the 1^st of May this month, I had it in my hands by the 2^nd and done and completed by the 3^th of May.  As I always say, its hard to write about the books that you love, and blogging about Bitterblue will be tough enough.

One of those really pretty covers!

Bitterblue:

18 year old Bitterblue now the Queen of Monsea faces the challenge of gluing back her kingdom her graced King father had destroyed. The people of Monsea are still waking up from the past. They don’t know their Queen and the Queen is unaware of her Kingdoms potential nevertheless rules it by signing and looking after papers. The Queen is in for a surprise when she realizes that her Advisers are hiding something from her and that there is more to her Kingdom then she thought there was.

Amazing Writing:

The above summary is pretty crappy. You see, I don’t like summaries in general I like reading a book without reading its back. This goes for Bitterblue as well, I didn't read the back so I really didn't know what it would be about. All I knew was that Bitterblue was in Graceling (Kashore’s debut novel) as a ten year old princess.

Things I knew about Bitterblue beforehand:

1. Katsa and Po would be in it (amazing characters from Graceling)
2. Bitterblue would be 18 and obviously the Queen of Monsea

That’s it.

Unpredictable: This book has got to be the most unpredictable books I have ever read. It would be extremely foolish to even try because Cashore’s unexpected twists and new plots left be gripping the edge of my bed!

Brilliant Hand: I wish I could write as brilliantly as Cashore wrote this novel. I really liked her writing in Graceling and in Fire but this was a completely new level. Amazing vocabulary and use of metaphors! What I loved was the character development especially, that of Bitterblue. Reading the first page I could not have ever imagined how much changes she would have gone through. From completely being unaware of anything to being the heart of her kingdom, the potential in her that budded and blossomed during the ending was jaw breaking. I absolutely loved Bitterblue as a character, completely stubborn and yet cautious of how her Kingdom would be affected, A true Queen! The one thing that made me more attached to her as character was the fact that she was a normal human who did not have any sort of grace (graces can be distinguished due to different colors of eyes and people with graces power that makes them different from normal people. Graces can be as simple as dancing to fighting with swords).What touched me the most of the influence Leck(father of Bitterblue) had even though he had been dead for eight years. Even though he was no longer alive he was still in the villain of the story. He was still powerful enough, his memories were not forgotten and the Kingdom had not gotten over him. I never really got why Leck was considered that evil in Graceling in the first place, this book gave me the reasons why. After reading this I have more respect for Graceling as a novel as well. I love the way how all of the three books connect (not giving away spoilers)

The Illustrations in this book were so pretty! The best part: there were MANY!

Connections:

Kristin Cashore is a genius, that I have to admit. The Seven Kingdom’s is a fantasy trilogy but yet while reading Bitterblue I felt that Cashore connected a lot of that fantasy based on her opinions on current world affairs.

1. The first one which was quite evident from the first few pages it self was how The Council formed by Lady Katsa was trying to over throw monarchies with Kings who were corrupt and unaware of their Kingdom’s needs. Without a doubt, this one is obviously mentioning the Arab Spring. Katsa and Po are trying to over through the King of Estill because the public no longer likes him. Most of the parts in which Po and Katsa as well as other Council Members are present is spent on how to tackle that subject. During the Arab Spring, people used technology as a way of communicating with each other. The Council uses people instead  They have people, from inn keepers to the kings servants working for them to give them information on the kings themselves. I really liked the way Cashore incorporated this in her work. During the end of the book, one of the Kingdom’s had given up Monarchy and were voting and becoming a democracy. Its fantastic to think that even thought Bitterblue is a fantasy and will eventually end up being in NY Times Bestsellers list, it relates to current affairs that are going through his period. Unlike, other Young Adult novels, Cashore has more deep meaning to her work.

The most prettiest covers in a series!

 

 2. Homosexuality: Cashore expresses her opinions on this matter quite openly. In Graceling and Fire both of these topics were quite restricted  and in fact not mentioned of at all. Bitterblue opens up a lot! We have two couples and a man who confess their sexuality preferences. This is one of the things that makes it one of the most unpredictable books I have read. Cashore supports gay rights and we can see how much she values their perspective of living. I read almost everyone of her blog posts, so I do actually remember her posting about how happy she was New York legalized gay marriages. Which is how actually in the book Bitterblue too wishes to legalize homosexuality in her Kingdom too. I love the fact that she shows that all people, irrespective of positions in the Kingdom can be gay and how their rights are equally as important as ours.

3. Importance of Education: We all know that Education is important, every one knows it but that does not mean that they get it. The same situation is happening in Bitterblue, the people want to be educated but they don’t have enough support or well-educated teachers who can teach the entire Kingdom who is illiterate. A few characters outside the Palace do know how to read and a one of them is even writing a dictionary.Its marvelous how Cashore inculcates this in her book, its fantastic!

Her draft of Bitterblue, she writes by hand!

Overall:

 I have gained so much respect for Kristin Cashore because of her last book in this trilogy. Its good to know that Young Adult writers too these days add politics into their books even if it’s a fantasy. I love books in which I can relate to even thought if I’m in a separate world! This book is one hell of a ride, Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Action, Politics. It has everything I could have ever asked for. Brilliant, mind-blowing, puzzling and GENIUS! I ♥ YOU KRISTIN CASHORE! 

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Millennium Trilogy

You don’t always come across books unexpectedly. There is a lot of hype, excitement and every person you know has read or heard of it. You often come across people holding it in their hands, reading it so that the tip of their noses are brushing across those white pages or flipping through the book fervently their eyes following the text word to word. One can draw two simple conclusions:

1)      It’s crap

2)      It’s the best book man has ever set their hands/eyes on

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Harriet Vanger has been missing for over 40 years.  Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist for a magazine called, Millennium is employed to solve this mystery by Harriet’s Uncle who believes that she is still alive. Blomkvist along with the help of Lisbeth Salander, a computer genius and an anti-social 24 year old with various piercing and tattoos try solving the mystery which leads them in depth of Swedish corruption.

The Girl Who Played with Fire

Mikael Blomkvist is exposing a new article in his magazine, Millennium which connects corruption in Sweden to a sex trafficking operation. Two reporters who wrote the article were found dead before the story was published. All evidences leads to only one culprit, Lisbeth Salander.  Blomkvist is the only person who believes in Salander’s innocence but The police have already charged her of double murder.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Lisbeth Salander is in a Swedish city hospital with a bullet in her head.  After recovering she has to prove her innocence of triple murder in front of the District Court with evidence as well as destroy the man who had come to kill her.

Life had give me so many signs for reading this book that Paulo Cohelo would call it an Omen and yet I had left this book just hanging for the longest time. Believe me, this book was on TV, radio, blogs, Youtube, libraries, goodreads, second hand book markets, twitter, normal book stores and it was even selling for $65 (paper-back version) in Dubai International Airport . It was EVERYWHERE. I had to read it sooner or later so I picked it up last year from our school library. Every single bit of it was worth it (which sucks because I could have bought it off a cheap second hand book sore and could actually own and put it in my small library!). Regrets aside, this was truly a marvelous book and as the People put it on, “Believe the hype . . . It’s gripping stuff.”

The first book, as many people say takes time to sink in. It was the same for me; the first 45 pages of the book was slow but after one of the main character Lisbeth Salander was introduced, the story took a U-Turn. Salander is one of the most original characters I have ever seen. She is a genius hacker, photographic memory, has suffered a lot, knows how to fight, covered in tattoos, wants to be left alone and is completely anti-social. Completely eccentric right? To add one more quality she has been abused her entire life. Originally, the title of the first book was "Men Who Hate Women." which I think fits in more perfectly with the theme of the book. In the entire trilogy, their are parts there are descriptive parts in which women are being abused by men. I think the fact that shocked me the most, was “Forty-six percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to violence by a man.” We don’t really expect countries like Sweden to have gender equality problems, do we? This book contains a lot of violence and sexual content, so read if your up for it!

For those of you who don’t really know the first book, has been made into two movies:

Swedish Version:

 American Version:

Hats off to Larsson’s amazing Trilogy! 

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"Constant Vigilance"

Its been such a long time, two weeks to be precise since I have written anything. To begin with, I wish you a Happy New Year and hope that you had a enjoyable blast to boost up the rest of your year. Mine isn't going exactly according to plan. Just yesterday a lizard leaped out of my hanger and almost jumped on my hand, then while walking barefoot into the kitchen garden (I advise you not to walk barefoot) I was a few millimeters away from squishing a green-brown toad with (to highly emphasize) Bare-Feet and then just today a huge black cockroach came running after me. Yes, a lot of screaming has been deleted and edited off from this post. Since then, as Mad-Eye Moody says it I have been in "Constant Vigilance".

So, I am in the look out for bugs and insects who are willing to sabotage my day. It reminds me of that horrid song of Linkin Parks latest album 'A Thousand Suns'

"Oh when they come for me

Come for me 

I'll be gone. "

Besides that horrible tune that has been 'bugging' me since then, I have been not only been in constant vigilance for lizards and frogs but also for books.

Ilsa and the Happily Ever After: Stephaine Perkins 

Just yesterday, the great Perkins released a devastating news: Ilsa and the Happily ever after will be releasing in 2013. Disappointing. Really really upsetting. I am huge Anna and the French Kiss fan and I was really looking forward to reading Ilsa. I guess, that she has given us a really good reason why in her blog. She needs time and I do want Ilsa to be her best book considering that fact that it might have old characters such as Josh and Ilsa. I want her to know that I totally support her and hope that Anna makes to adult book shelves as well! Also, I wouldn't really mind if she releases the cover within this year, I cannot wait any longer!

City of Lost Souls Cover! 


To finish today's post I leave you with one the most anticipated YA Novels Cover, City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare. You can even read the prologue here!

To be released in May 8, 2012!

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Sequels can be Disastrous: Lola and the Boy Next Door

I couldn't have asked for much from Stephanie Perkins. Whatever happened to all the legions of Etienne and Anna fans? Why? Why did Perkins have to break up with all of you fans to make that dull sequel. Today the Bookish life has returned after such along time to discuss, no, actually tear apart Lola and the Boy Next door. I read the book long time back. I still hated it to the core. Cricket, Lola, Max and everything in between. Before reading this post, if you haven’t read my review of the Anna and the French Kiss, you should. This is because Anna And the French Kiss was one of the best debut novels (that is after Graceling) I have ever read. It was pure perfection though sometimes clichéd but over all I still believe that it captured every single moment and made all the fiction seem so realistic.   

LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR  by Stephanie Perkins

Lola is a costume girl; she does not believe in fashion at all. Her new years resolution was not to repeat one costume more then twice in a year because life is too short to be the same person. She has a boyfriend who is five years older then her called Max who she thinks is really intelligent and smart. She has plans for the future and wants to be a designer. Lola’s believes her life is perfect until her old neighbor moves right next door. The person she dreaded the most, Cricket Bell.

My Opinion:

I practically worshiped Stephanie Perkins when I read the Anna and the French kiss. I had to give it the title of the best YA Chick-lit. Now, Lola was my next target. I mean obviously, to any person who has ever read any chick-lit, they will forget all of those trashy Meg Cabot’s and Sarrah Dessens and cry over the fact that why they hadn’t read Anna till now. This was like a betrayal. Everything about LOLA was a betrayal. Aren’t the sequels supposed to be even better then the first book? Look at Harry Potter, The Queens Thief series and even The Mortal Instruments. (Not Twilight, it get worse with every single word)

Things I hate about LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR:

Lola: I hate heroines that do two-timings or emotionally cheat with their boyfriends. I hated the fact that she was in a relationship with Max who was a “wrong” guy to be with and that she had to be with him till the last minute to break up with him. This was such a classic chick-lit. My definition before Anna and the French kiss was basically what Perkins wrote in Lola and the Boy Next Door. Lola annoys be to death with all her sparkly costume and her sense of dressing. Not to mention her superior air, lying to parents and her attitude. I felt that she was like those 12 years sisters that many people have. She was a completely un-relatable character, I don’t even see how people gave this 5 or 4 or even 3 stars on Goodreads. The point I will never ever get is: Why did she make such a huge fuss over a guy and still hasn't gotten over it after 2 years? Its pathetic the way she has over-reacted to the whole scenario with just one boy who happened to live next door. By the end of the book, I really don’t see much transformation in her character. Perkins writes that she had changed but where was it? I couldn't even feel so called “I have changed”.

Cricket: Doesn't it make you think of this? 

Lola has had a crush on Him (above) her entire life. What kind of a name is Cricket? Who would anyone want to name their child Cricket? Why?Why?Why? Oh, Perkins! You ruined our trust! Why did Cricket wear striped pants or too short shorts or pointed shoes? It was not cool. Do you hear me Perkins? Not cool at all. Even after reading Anna for the 7^th time I still kind-of believe that if I can go to Paris I will find Anna and Etienne standing in Point Zero in front of Notre Dame. The story seemed that realistic. If I think of Lola and the Boy Next Door I think of their abnormal Crickety names, costumes and pointed-shoes inventors and Moon talking. Yes, you read what I just wrote “Moon Talking”. They sit in their balconies and TALK TO THE MOON. I don’t want to describe it so don’t get me going. Cricket just seemed like a jerk sometimes, not because of what he had done because that wasn’t as bad as Lola made it seem but because of his emotions toward her during the entire book. It freaked me out. He knew that she had a boyfriend, still he stalked her. Ugh. Twilight. *Shudders* 

Max: Yet, another jerk who is even worse then the other. Come on Perkins! We are NOT two year olds. The books is called “Lola and the boy next door” Max is not her neighbor. Its annoys me to death knowing that Lola is with the wrong guy, a.k.a Max when she has to definitely end up with Cricket, the skinny insect! Max has tattoos, does pot, smokes and whatever not. We know that she is with the wrong guy yet still we have to wait until Lola get some sense in her to realize that Cricket is the one!

Anna and Etienne: I am sorry to say this, I really am, but I hated these two the most in the entire book. For those of you who don’t know, they made many appearances through out the book and I despised whenever each one of them was around. They were STUCK LIKE GLUE. Not the song, but literally stuck like India’s best selling glue, Fevicol Super Glue. It was that bad. Whatever magic they had created in Anna and the French Kiss died in an instance. Perkins, why did you suddenly get all so inspired by twilight? Why did you keep repeating Étienne as 'the guy who always followed Anna'?  

 ❤ ❤Me and my beloved copy of Anna
And The French Kiss ❤ ❤   

I had built up such huge expectations for this book after Anna that it just kind of ruined it for me. San Francisco was not like Paris and all the characters just fell apart. I feel bad writing about  Stephanie Perkins like this, I still consider her the best chick-lit writer I have read but that title only lies and will remain forever for Anna and the French kiss. Stephanie Perkins I am still your fan, please do not disappoint me with Ilsa and the Happily Ever After. Please, I am counting on you for the last time.

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The Nonsensical Babbles from Marvah Gorlorwulu: “Who knew you had some Indian in your blood.”

The Nonsensical Babbles from Marvah Gorlorwulu: “Who knew you had some Indian in your blood.”: At LCS, students have required CAS (Creativity Action Service) hours to fulfill every school year. The 10 th grade has to complete 15 hours...of Creativity, Action, and Service each, totaling 45 CAS hours. When I learned about this, I had no idea what I was going to do for Action. I like art and wanted to learn more about photography so I knew that would join one or both of those clubs for Creativity. The service trips would always be available to go on every Wednesday after school so I was good on Service; however, my biggest concern was the Action. Without a track team, I really can’t physically do any other sport. I was never good at basketball, soccer, and volleyball because of my poor hand-eye coordination (or I guess foot-eye coordination in the case of soccer), and I am a horrible swimmer. Not being in the Leadership PE class also would make it difficult to fulfill the fifteen hours of action.

While I was worrying about my dilemma, I became friends with a girl, Sanskriti, who was in a similar situation to my own. We talked about our shared lack of athletic skill many times, trying to think of ways to get our hours done. Then she told me that for her Personal Project, a large project every tenth grader has to do, she had created a Bollywood dance club, Bollywood Fridays, and only had one consistent member; since dancing is considered Action, of course I joined the club! I was a little hesitant at first about joining because I thought that people would find it hilarious that an African-American was doing a Bollywood dance, but everyone was really supportive and in fact found it impressive. Not only did I join the club for Action hours, but also because Sanskriti was and has been really good friend to me, and I thought – and now know – that Bollywood Dancing could be – and is – lots of fun.

We spent four Fridays after school and three extra days at Sanskriti’s house practicing a dance she partially choreographed. The song she chose, “Dheem Ta Dare”, was from a stiff, lifeless dance sequence from a movie, so Sanskriti changed some parts to make the dance feel less like an exercise video and also to make it easier for us less experienced (in my case, no experience) dancers. 

Dheem Ta Dare (the original dance from the motion Thakshak)

Sanskriti (front) trying to teach Anagha (back) and me (middle) a new move

With no background of Indian dance, it was really hard for me to pick up the moves in the beginning. I was stiff and robotic instead of graceful and free like Sanskriti and Anagha, the other member, but I practiced the moves at home for hours after our group practices until I felt more comfortable with them. 

Sanskriti (left) teaching me (right) part of the dance

My improvement from my extra practices even made the teacher whose classroom we used for practices jokingly considered the possibility of some Indian in my blood. Though, the practices were hard work, Sanskriti, Anagha, and I were always joking, laughing, and just generally keeping the mood lighthearted. Bollywood Fridays were the most fun days in Ghana for me so far.

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Sorry Folks...

 I haven’t had time to write anything since I have shifted to Ghana. My lame excuses are as follows:

• When I cam here two months ago, I didn’t have internet
• I got internet three weeks late
• Then I had homework
• Then I had personal project
• And then I had HOMEWORK.

Ah, yes undeniably these list of excuses must be the best ones. So now that we finally have October Break (YES!), I hope to continue writing. The good news is that I haven’t stopped reading at all. In fact I just robbed my school library yesterday and issued at least 6 books. I was hoping for more but I was afraid my bag would rip.

So instead of reviewing books today I thought I could share some really exciting news with you!

Bitterblue: I just got the news today because I didn’t have the time to actually read my favorite authors Kristin Cashore’s blog for a long time. So the cover has apparently just released last week, I feel severely guilty that I couldn’t manage to see it the day it was released. It is really pretty actually better then either its first book Graceling or Fire.

Keys? What do they symbolize, why do they look like weapons and why is one gold, silver and bronze? One year of waiting for the final book has been an a ginormous torture but Kristin Cashore gives the reason why in her blog, “A lot of people have asked me why it took so long for me to finish this book. The answer is simple. It's not because I was distracted; it's not because I wasn't working my ass off; it's simply because Bitterblue is longer and more complicated than the other books I've written, and some books require more time than others. The book decides.”

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The Amber Spyglass

Source:  E-Book

Publisher: Scholastic Point

Age Group: 10 Above

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Sci-fi

Pages: 399

In Series:Once upon a Time in The North (Prequel), The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass, Lyra's Oxford (not part of trilogy), The Book of Dust (not part of trilogy)

If you have been following my blog recently, you might have noticed that I have been talking about the His Materials Series a lot. Well, I just finished the third book. You don’t know how disappointed or a better word how depressed I am.

The Amber Spyglass:

Lyra has been kidnapped by her very own mother who has put her to sleep on the tip of the Himalayas in her Lyras own world. The Church is coming to kill her, the small men are coming to get her to her father Lord Azriel and her best friend Will and the faithful King bear Iorek are coming to save her. But while all this is happening Lyra is having dreams straight from the underworld where her dead friend Robert is communicating to her. Now that Will does rescue her, The Subtle Knife has been broken. She cannot break her promise to her dead friend but she has to find a way into the underworld to find some answers and to save all the ghosts residing in the fearful underworld.

Writing Style:

As I mentioned in my review of The Subtle Knife, the plot left us in a very tight positioned cliffhanger, The Amber Spyglass begins exactly where the second book ended. After that it followed different narrative, going from Lyra to Will to Serafina Pekkala to Father Gomez and so on. The Amber Spyglass continues the themes of Loyalty, Love and Good vs Evil. What I like the fact about Pullman is that he adds different mythologies together and scripts from the bible to provide knowledge to his readers. I like the way he makes me think of what I couldn’t possibly imagine before. Is there a god? If so has he died? Am I living in a world with no god? He makes us think out of the box, which is something different for all of us.

My Opinion:

I’ve read many Trilogy’s, but his one by far has to be the one with the worst ending. I am a sucker for happy endings. I hate it when something sad happens. I cant really tell you what happened because it would destroy all the climax. But I can tell you this, the ending is happy in its own way. The ending, just ruined it all for me, really. Each time I think about His dark Materials the ending pops into my mind and ruins all the effect that the author had created for me in the first two novels. Now that I have finally finished the entire Trilogy, I wonder if I will ever read it again. Maybe not because I would have to face this one too.

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