Where I Went | 2015

Rome

For me 2015 was a year where I went places. I went out of my comfort zone, moved to England and  saw a small snippet of our beautiful world. This year was challenging at times, but through it I think I grew up a little and made so many great new friends. 

When I moved to England I got a job in a little village called Longworth, just outside of Oxford. From there I saw a bunch of amazing bands including, The Strokes, The Libertines, The Mini Mansions, Jamie T, Kendrick Lamar, Beck and a few others. 

I was also able to travel around and I went to Brighton, Bath, Manchester, Reading, London (many times), Fort William, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paris, Annecy, Lyon, Nice and Rome. 

I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to experience all this and see the places and things that I have. 

The Promenade, Nice

The Best Gelato in Roma

The Colosseum, Rome

Rome

The Port, Nice 

Across from the Louvre, Paris

Paris, Duh!

More Paris 

Edinburgh

Eileen Donan Castle, Scotland

Glen Etive, Scotland

The Libertines, Reading Festival

The Mini Mansions, Reading Festival

It's obvs London

O X F O R D 

Brighton Promenade 

Bath 

The Lanes, Brighton

Beck (waiting for The Strokes), Hyde Park

The Bridge of Sighs, Oxford

Lake Annecy

Lyon

Bath

Camden Markets

The Old Town, Annecy 

I know this might seem a bit like I'm bragging, but I want to go into 2016 feeling happy about how 2015 went. I want to remind myself to be grateful about all the amazing things that happened this year, because I think that I often get caught up in the day to day nuisances and let them affect my mood too much. I forget to look at the big picture and remember that 2015 was actually pretty rad.

Monthly Reads | June x

We're halfway through the summer here in the UK and there's nothing better than sitting out in the sun reading a light book and sipping on elderflower presse. This month I only read three books but they were all great easy reads and perfect for summer. 

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han 
3/5 Stars
This was my least favourite book of the month but don't let that deter you from reading it. It's super cute and easy to read. A perfect book for when you want to switch off and feel all warm and fuzzy. I love how the relationships progressed throughout the book and how the characters perspectives of other people were challenged throughout the story. I'm super excited to read the sequel P.S I Still Love You, hopefully I will read it before next months update post! 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart 
4/5 Stars
As a girl who spent her teenage years watching Gossip Girl, reading fictional stories about rich people who attend boarding school is a guilty pleasure of mine. I really enjoyed reading this one as it has the whole 'skull and bones' element to the story and it is told in such an honest way that you can't help but feel both love and disappointment for all the characters. In many ways this story is about why people make the decisions they do and why they act the way they do.

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver 
5/5 Stars 
Vanishing Girls has the compelling nature of Panic (also by Lauren Oliver) combined with the mystery of We Were Liars (by E. Lockhart) and I absolutely loved the combination. The writing was compelling and the story was so carefully constructed that when I finished I immediately wanted to go back to the beginning and start again (I didn't). I loved the relationship between the sisters and how it went back and forth between the characters and in time. I really enjoyed the ominous feeling throughout the book and how the plot unfolded at the end. Definitely makes me want to re-read We Were Liars and Panic.

Tell me what you've been reading this month in the comments! xx

Monthly Reads x

Okay. So you know how I was gonna do a monthly update on the books i've been reading. No, you didn't? Well I forgot too apparently. Anyway I though I'd give you a little update on the books I read in May. 

As you can see from the pic above I read Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Leviathan and Rachel Cohen and Firecracker by David Iserson.
While I enjoyed reading all these books, I can't say that I really loved any of them. 

Eleanor and Park was probably my favourite of the three, but that being said I found Eleanor's character quite annoying. Just open up girl! And that ending though. If you've read it you know what I'm talking about. 

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, mainly because it wasn't really dares they had to do, more like a scavenger hunt. Nevertheless it was a cute story and I really liked Dash and Lily's characters and the way they interacted with each other.

Firecracker was quite interesting to read. I liked how it was different from the other two as it's main focus was on the character development of Astrid Krieger. But I was quite annoyed with how the blurb sold the book as a story about a girl who lives in a rocket ship and has to go to public school for the first time. The whole rocket ship was referred to like a whole three times. But I did really like the progress from where Astrid's story started to where it ended.

Of these three books I was more emotionally invested in the lives of Eleanor and Park than Dash, Lily and Astrid's lives, but they all tell good stories 

If you've read any of these books let me know what you thought.

This Shattered World

Rating: 6.5/10

A Brief Blurb:
This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner is the second book in the Starbound Trilogy. The story is set on Avon, a planet torn by rebellion and follows Captain Jubilee (Lee) Chase and rebellion leader Flynn Cormac who have more in common than they originally thought. 
If you want a proper blurb check it out on goodreads here- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13138734-this-shattered-world?ac=1

Discussion:

Alright. Where to begin… 
So This Shattered World, despite being the sequel in the Starbound Trilogy has a different set of protagonists to These Broken Stars. I quite liked this. Sure I was sad that Lilac and Tarver’s story had come to an end but i think thats a good think because we all know that YA romances are a bit like lollies or chocolate. Good at first but then they become too sweet and a little bit sickly and you just want it to end (Twilight anyone?). But thankfully Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner were smart enough to use the world they had created to explore new characters, planets and relationships, while continuing on from the events Tarver and Lilac introduced us to. 

That being said I didn’t enjoy Flynn and Jubilee’s relationship as much as Larver’s (please tell me thats their ship name, cause that would be awesome!). Sure they had some good banter at times but I guess I didn’t believe it as much as the other one. I also felt as though their individual characters weren’t as well developed. Sometimes they were a bit emotionless or too logical in their reactions. This may be because Amie and Meagan spent a year playing around with Tarver and Lilac before writing the book and they weren’t as familiar with them.
However I did really like where their relationship ended up and I really liked them as individuals. 

This Shattered World also had a mysterious element to it with the Fury and Whispers and I really enjoyed unravelling this. I liked how it explored the two sides of the rebellion and how Jubilee and Flynn were able to recognise right and wrong even though they were on opposite sides of this war. 
This book had a much quicker pace, which I enjoyed immensely and some pretty intense action scenes. 

I didn’t really like the dreams at the beginning or each chapter. I kind of skim read them and so they didn’t make much sense until the end. (my bad!) For most of it I was like what is the point of these dreams and although it eventually made sense I think it could’ve been done better. 

I loved the world building in this one. Especially as it was lacking in the previous book. My only problem is that Avon seems to be ridiculously small (unless it was only set on a small area of it) I hope that we get to explore more planets in the next one. 

I really like the fast paced, action packed style of this book. I loved reading about the issues in which Jubilee and Flynn faced and how their relationship developed and their perspective on the rebellion changed as they became more informed and consequently, empathic towards the ‘enemy’. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

-Rachael xx

These Broken Stars

Rating 7/10 

A Brief Blurb:
These Broken Stars the first novel in Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner's Starbound Trilogy follows Lilac La Roux, the daughter of the richest man in the universe and Major Tarver Merendsen on their journey to rescue as their spaceship the Icarus crash lands on a deserted planet. It soon becomes clear that Lilac and Tarver are the only survivors out of 50,000 passengers and that no help is coming. 

Discussion:
Let me start off by saying this was not what I expected from the blurb (not the one I wrote. Obviously I mean the official one). For one, I for some reason thought that they were going to crash on a colonised planet and part of the plot would be keeping Lilac’s identity secret while they searched for help. What I didn’t expect was for it to be mysterious and creepy at times (tell me the whispers didn’t give you chills at first). In other words These Broken Stars was far better than I expected it would be.

One of my favourite aspects of the book was the beginning of each chapter where it showed a bit of dialogue between Tarver and his interrogator. I loved the way in which it set the tone for the upcoming chapter and filled me with a sense of anticipation and sometimes even dread.

I know this is completely predictable, but I loved Lilac and Tarver’s relationship. But I also loved their characters separately. Their banter was so much fun and I really enjoyed seeing their characters develop and how their perceptions of each other were constantly shifting as circumstances forced them to reveal themselves to each other. 

I did feel as though the world building however was lacking a bit and the world they exist in seemed so interesting. I hope we get to explore it more in the next books. Because of the lack of world building I was left feeling that Tarver and Lilac’s story was just the beginning to something. Almost as though it was a prequel, like the back story for what’s to come.

The ending of the book was quite strange and I don’t think i fully understood everything that happened but I did like it even if it was weird at times.

Overall and it definitely wasn’t what I expected. These Broken Stars extremely original (except for the weird titanic in space bit at the beginning which kept making me think of that Futurama episode where they take off Titanic and Bender is Jack), a surprising read, with a compelling characters and a beautiful love story. I hope you love it as much as i do.

-Rachael xx

Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

While I was getting lost in the expensive labyrinth that is Harrods, I somehow managed to stumble upon Percy Jackson's Greek Gods. Keep in mind this was ten days before the release date. I immediately picked up a copy and went straight to the nearest cash register. I was so excited that I walked straight past a goldmine of Harry Potter merchandise without even noticing it until after Rick Riordan's latest book was safely in my possession.

I hope that gave some idea of the level of my excitement for this book and thankfully it didn't disappoint. I rate this book 5/5 stars and it deserves every star.

I know some people who've read the Percy Jackson series might be reluctant to read this as it's about Greek mythology not Percy adventures, but don't be put off this book is both interesting and hilarious.

When I imagine Rick Riordan writing this book I picture him writing the basic myths then going "you know what? I'm gonna add ALL the sass."
Seriously though, this book is still written by the POV of Percy and he is the one who is retelling the myths and he is so hilariously honest about his godly relatives and the ridiculously stupid and selfish things they did. It's fantastic!
I studied Ancient Greece in school last year and we did a whole term on myths and legends, so I was quite familiar with most of the myths, but the whole time I was reading it I was wishing this book came out a year and a half earlier. It would've been so useful! It gives a great recount of various myths, but unlike most 'informative' websites the stories are clear and entertaining. That being said I don't think it would be the best book to reference in my assignments. For some reason I don't think 'the promise of delicious cookies' would be accepted as a reason for the Titans turning on Ouranos by my teacher.

Another awesome thing about Percy Jackson's Greek Gods is that the brilliant chapter titles are back from Percy Jackson and the Olympians. My personal favourite titles are 'The Beginning and Stuff', 'Persephone Marries her Stalker, or, Demeter the Sequel' and 'Hephaestus makes me a golden  llama (not really but he totally should)'.
Seriously though, Rick Riordan makes learning fun.

One thing I was disappointed with was that I brought the British edition which doesn't come with illustrations and an uglier cover. This cover features a Logan (movie Percy) Lerman wanna be, some lightning, statues of Poseidon and Athena and the caption 'half boy, half god, all hero,' on the cover. Yeah. That happened.
But it's okay. I have ordered the other edition online.
The book also came with a sneak peek of The Heroes of Olympus which comes out on the 7th of October and I'm SO flipping excited for it!

For real though, if you're still reading this you should just stop and go and buy this book.
Bye! xx

Rebel Belle Review

I read Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins literally a month ago, but it was one I really wanted to review so I've finally gotten around to writing this review. So much happened in this book took me awhile to work out what I wanted to say. Nevertheless here it is. 

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads and although I enjoyed this book immensely, there were many aspects that irritated me in relation to characters and the plot. 
But before I go into the negative I thought I’d first talk about the positive. p.s there will be spoilers (although nothing too specific or anything that wasn't obvious after reading the first few chapters).

Positive:
I really enjoyed the way Rebel Belle was written from Harper’s POV and I found it really helped set the tone to the book and kept it light hearted. 
The plot was fast paced and action packed, which made it a really fun read. 
This book was hilarious! The character reactions to events were so funny and yet they felt quite genuine. I was often literally laughing out loud, which may have drawn odd looks from my family. Oops. 
The plot was pretty simple so far, however I have a feeling this will change with the next books. I really like it when series do this as it can be kind of annoying when you’re thrown into the deep end of a book.
I always find the whole fantasy world in Southern USA really interesting as it seems so conflicting and because of that Rebel Belle kind of reminded me of Beautiful Creatures, which I really like.

Negatives:
I really didn’t like how Rachel Hawkins wrote Harper’s relationship with Ryan. It felt a little convenient and I really hated it how Harper was completely neglectful and yet it was often made out that Ryan was just being needy.
She also obviously wanted Harper to move on to David and because of that I felt like she didn’t bother giving Ryan much of a personality. It bothers me when there are love triangles and the author feels the need to make one boy a lesser being in some way to justify the choice of the girl.
There were some instances in the book when the characters had conveniently, uncharacteristic dumb moments which moved the plot forward but also seemed unrealistic. 

Predictions:
So I’m no oracle, but my predictions for the next books is that we’ll find out that the Ephors wanted David to become mega-oracle so they can use David’s power to make themselves more powerful. It practically says so in page 298 (hardcover version).

Thanks for reading. xx

On The Fence Review

Charlie is a tomboy. She has no mum, a police officer dad and three brothers. Well four if you count Braden, her next door neighbour. But when Charlie is forced into taking a job at a clothing store and is persuading into becoming a canvas for make-up tutorials a bit of girly-ness begins to rub off on her. And her life begins to change. 

When I started this blog in January I had never read a book by Kasie West. I have now read three; Pivot Point, Split Second and On the Fence and it’s pretty safe to say that i’ve become quite the Kasie West fan. I absolutely love the way in which Kasie writes relationships (of all sorts, not just romantic ones) and On the Fence was no exemption to this. I absolutely enjoyed reading about her relationships with her brothers and Braden and how became friend people she previously thought were polar opposites to her. All of the relationships felt natural and realistic but still interesting and amusing. On Goodreads I rated On the Fence 4/5 stars.

I also loved Charlie’s character development. Through her new job Charlie grows and becomes more of herself than before. I often don’t like it when characters change and aren’t at all themselves anymore, but in On the Fence Charlie is still the same person there is just more to her and she is able to be open with her feelings and becomes less of the tomboy stereo-type. 
This was particularly good as I didn’t like the way Charlie was presented at the start of the book. Kasie made a real effort to describe how much of a tomboy Charlie is and often it felt like the book was telling me this rather than showing this to me. Not that Kasie didn’t back up what she was saying with actions. 

It was really interesting to read about Charlie while she was with Evan because in those instances she changed herself to be someone he would like and I’ve seen my friends do that and found it quite relatable and showed how insecure Charlie really was. 

The fence chats between Charlie and Braden were so much fun to read, even when Charlie was being a bitch. It did bother me though that Charlie and Braden made the same mistake twice where one was trying to talk about their feelings for the other, and the other was trying to talk about Charlie’s mum. Miscommunication pisses me off in books/movies/life. Just listen to what they’re saying, not what your going to say! 

Overall this is a really great summery read.

Thanks for reading. xx 

Since You've Been Gone Review

I generally read book series rather than stand alone books, but after reading the Legend series by Marie Lu, which I did enjoy, I was a bit sick of drawn out plots and more specifically, trilogies. So I headed to Goodreads and stumbled across Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson, and it seemed to be everything I was looking for. A quick read with a fun plot. The only problem was that this was three months ago and the book was only released a few days ago. Needless to say I had a lot of anticipation for this book and I’m happy to day that it didn’t disappoint. 

The story followes Emily who is a very shy and socially awkward girl who is best friends with Sloane, who is glamorous, daring and charismatic. They have the perfect summer planned, but everything changes when Sloane and her family disappear without a word. Until a letter from Sloane arrives in the mail, containing only a summer bucket list for Emily to complete. 

This book is so good and in so many ways. The characters were probably my favourite aspect about this book as they were beautifully developed and very relatable, even if their names weren’t to be envied. (Sloane, Frank, Dawn? Really?) Names aside, I really enjoyed the way in which Emily’s perception of other people changed over time, particularly Frank and Sloane. At the beginning you see through Emily’s flashbacks that it was always Sloane and Emily not the other way around, with Emily going along with whatever Sloane wanted to do. But as the book goes on Emily’s thoughts and memories of Sloane become more aware of who Sloane was and she realises that her best friend isn’t perfect and that she doesn’t have to be like her. I really liked the way in which Morgan Matson did this as Emily didn’t like Sloane any less after these realised this, but simply became more sure with who she was as an individual. Emily also realises that Sloane needed her just as much as she needed Sloane and I found this really sweet and realistic, as we often don’t realise how much we mean to others as others show affection in different ways to us. 

I loved how through the List Emily was able to make new friends, grow more confident and feel as though she belonged somewhere. Because even when she was with Sloane Emily wasn’t entirely comfortable in group situations. I also really enjoyed how Emily’s perception of Frank changed as she got to know him and how their relationship developed. 

This book was often quite funny and had me laughing out loud more than once, which is something I always appreciate in a book and attributed to my love of the characters and their relationships.

I also loved it how Emily wasn’t too obsessed with completing the List and how it didn’t become her whole life, but helped her find a new life with new friends. I loved the pacing in this book, nothing felt rushed, nor did it feel like it was dragged out.

Overall I rate this book 9 out of 10 and it is perfect if you’re looking for a simple summer read, although I read this in winter… Ooops! x 

Legend Book Discussion

Day is the Republic’s most wanted criminal

June is the Republic’s most promising prodigy.

Raised in two different sides of the country, they have no reason to cross paths. That is until Day becomes the prime suspect for the murder of June’s brother. But not all is what it seems…

Yes the Legend series is a dystopian trilogy, but unlike most dystopia’s I’ve read, this book is equally split between two POV’s, June and Day. And I think this is what made this book so fantastic! There was more than one perspective, which really helped the reader to somewhat empathise with the Republic, even though they are the ‘enemy’. More importantly it was consistently from both a female and male viewpoint, which I loved. Because we all know that when a book is solely from girls POV the story always becomes really romantic and often love-triangly. (blah!) Don’t get me wrong; there were romantic tendencies from both characters but it was more of a side plot with a purpose, which made it more interesting than most dystopian love stories.

June and Day are both really smart and I really liked this about the book. There wasn’t a dominant character. They are equals and both have flaws and virtues, which made them really well rounded and Marie Lu did a great job creating them.  I did prefer Day’s chapters more than Junes, but I think that as the story goes on and June becomes more aware of what the Republic is really like then she will become more relatable and consequently, more likable. But I do like June, just not as much as Day.

I found this world really realistic. People weren’t separated by values like in Divergent, or by region like in The Hunger Games, but by the potential of their genes. At the age of 10 everyone has a trial, which measures physical, mental and social abilities and determines the level of education they will receive and the jobs they’ll be able to do. In some ways this form of a dystopian society reminds me of Hitler’s goal of creating the perfect race. The republic is trying to weed out the stupid from the intellectual, and I find this really interesting for a dystopian story.

Overall I rate Legend 4/5 stars!

I’m really excited to read Prodigy and Champion. (Please hurry up and arrive in the mail!)

I really recommend this series! xx

Infernal Devices Review

Very rarely am I satisfied by the ending of a book/book series and unfortunately the ending of The Infernal Device's series by Cassandra Clare was not one of those rare occasions. I have already done a post on the first book in the trilogy, Clockwork Angel (which you can read here), but I thought that instead of doing two more individual posts I would combine them into one about the series as a whole.

Now whilst I was disappointed by the ending of the series it is not one that I regret reading. All the books had great moments and chapters, particularly when the character Will Herondale was involved.

The dialogue in general was realistic, amusing and not too long (except for when it was a romantic scene, then it went forever!). But one of the things that irritated me personally throughout the books was the focus on relationships. I also felt as though not much happened in Clockwork Prince.

Don't get me wrong I love reading about the relationships in books and how the develop, but I felt like throughout the series the plot was often forgotten and it was all about who was going to end up with who.

It was a bit like there were 70 pages of relationship development then Cassandra would be like;

"Oh shit! I forgot about the story, lets add in a thirty page scene about the actual plot including a fight where someone nearly dies, so I can make the relationships more complicated."

But those thirty pages were always very interesting and well written. I particularly liked the worm scene at the beginning of Clockwork Princess.

Overall I would give this series 3.5 out of 5.

Okay so the rest of my review contains spoilers.

The Will-Tessa-Jem love triangle. What can I say? It was painful.

Now I enjoyed the other romantic story lines such as Sophie-Gideon, Cecily-Gabriel and even the Charlotte-Henry story. But Will, Tessa and Jem... Yeah I wasn't feeling it.

It was just so ridiculous. Let me sum it up for you from the beginning to the end.

Tessa meets everyone. Tessa likes Will and he likes her back. They make-out. Will is horrible to Tessa because he doesn't want her to love him because he believes she will die. Tessa makes-out with Jem. Tessa kisses Will again. Tessa kisses Jem again and he proposes. Will finds out that people don't actually die when they love him. Will tells Tessa he loves her. Tessa tells Will she is engaged and in love with Jem (this is a suprise to Will because apparently parabatai don't talk about the girls they are in love with.) Jem dies. Will and Tessa immediately sleep together after finding out. Jem isn't dead, but a silent brother who can't marry. Tessa marries Will. They have children together. Will dies of old age, but Tessa doesn't because she's immortal. Jem is no longer a silent brother. Jem and Tessa hook up.

It seems to me as though Tessa chooses which ever guy is currently available and this really annoys me. She just CAN'T end up with both! Just no.

This is obviously a major reason as to why I don't like the ending. But the other major reason is that Mortmain dies and then there is still like 150 pages left!!! This was a particularly bad surprise as I was reading this on my ipad and was disappointed when I saw that there was a ton of pages still left and I just wanted the book to be over.

I'm starting to sound awfully negative about the book, but those two things really did disappoint me and kind of ruin it.

I did find it hilarious how Will kept callincg the Lightwoods the 'Lightworms.' It was always so funny and satisfying. I also really liked how Will was crazy over-protective of Cecily, who turned out to be a complete badass.

I think Cassandra Clare does really well at small details and small character traits/habits, but often gets carried away with her fanfic instincts on the major plots.

Thanks for reading! xx

Clockwork Angel Review

Overall Rating 4/5

Whilst Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare was very enjoyable to read and there were some great moments, there were also many things I found irritating about this book. I had already read the first three books in the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare series and it was inevitable that I noticed the very obvious similarities. 
Here are the main ones that irritated me:
Clarissa Fray- Theresa Gray, I can't be the only one to notice the similar names and lack of creativity.

Jace- Will, their characters were very alike (This may be due to them both being Herondale's)

Missing Mother- Missing Brother, whilst the rest of the stories are quite different they both begin with the theme of a missing relative and receiving the circumstantial assistance of the shadowhunters

Magnus Bane- Magnus Bane, there is a warlock called Magnus Bane in both of them, unoriginal much. (only joking with that one)

But ignoring those similarities and a few others the plot was interesting, although I was generally able to foresee the twists. I really enjoyed the mystery of the shadowhunters backstories (particularly Will's) and when we did learn about them I found it really interesting. They were also quite unpredictable and I can't wait to read about Will's in the next books. 

The characters and their relationships were done really well, particularly Jem and Will's. I personally didn't really like Tessa's character. I thought she was a judgmental gossip who was always demanding to know everything about everyone, even though she just met them. But other than that she was alright, she wasn't a character that I didn't exactly dislike I just didn't really think there was much to like about her. Although in a way this a good thing because it makes her character seem more realistic. Despite my indifference towards Tessa the story was compelling enough to make me get over this. 

I didn't like the way the book was becoming a love-triangle because I hate love-triangles. I think they are infuriating and out-dated (although maybe Clockwork Angel can get away with it as it's set in the 1800's) 

The dialogue was very vibrant. It was quite witty and amusing and often it was very carefully written and thought-provoking. 

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait until I've read the next one. xx

The 5th Wave Book Review

After the appearance of an Alien spaceship, earth has experienced 4 attacks know as waves. The worlds population has been reduced to a small, unknown number of survivors. Cassie is one of these survivors. In this new world Cassie quickly learnt that to trust is to die. But she may have to run that risk in order to keep a promise. 

I finished this book on Sunday (it's now Wednesday) and my immediate reaction was "Gimme the next one!"(which, unfortunately won't be released until later in the year.) I always have to wait a few days before reviewing a book because at first all I can think of are all the good bits about it and not the parts that irritated me, which I pushed to the back of my mind. 

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey is a dystopian, si-fi, YA book, and like other books such as Divergent and The Hunger Games it is written in a way that gets the reader hooked. Even if the quality isn't the best. The writing is simple and often quite colloquial, which is good for hooking the readers, particularly teen and YA readers. In some cases the language was refreshing (I quite did enjoy the few f-bombs Rick threw in there), but other times it was irritating and sounded a bit silly such as: 

"Time for the angrily-storming-out-of-the-room part of the argument, while the guy folds his arms over his manly chest and pouts."

Or

"Abs a-clenching, pecs a-popping."

Nobody would ever say something like that, let alone a sixteen year old girl. Even if the author is going for a colloquial style, then he may as well make it relevant to the character. 

The story is written in first person, however the POV does change. The blurb led me to believe that, like The Hunger Games, it would all be written from the point of view of Cassie. I didn't mind the change, and I sometimes I preferred the other chapters, but it annoyed me that the blurb made the book sound like it was all about Cassie when it was just as much about a guy called Zombie. I read several reviews and I noticed lots of people didn't like the change in POV, particularly as it didn't state who the perspective was at the beginning of each chapter where it swapped. This apparently created a lot of confusion. I, however am used to books where the POV switches without warning, in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series for example the POV frequently changes within chapters. Each POV should sound different, especially when it's in first person, because everyone thinks and feels differently, and if people struggled to differentiate then obviously the POV's weren't well written.

This book has been to compared to many other books and ones that I found similarities with was Ender's Game, The Host (I've only seen the movie of that) and Twilight. It had the 'train children to defeat the aliens' aspect of Ender's Game, pretty well the same aliens from The Host, and the creeper-stalker romance from Twilight. However unlike these these works The 5th Wave lacked any substance. (Yes I did just say that Twilight has substance, but remember I am excluding Kristen Stewart's acting.) There was no point to it. Ender's Game for example, primarily explored the reasons behind actions and if that excuses the results. But I couldn't really find a sustainable theme or moral the book was exploring, other than 'Aliens! Don't attack us! We're stronger than we look.' Oh and 'don't trust people.' Good life message *rolls my eyes*

One thing that really bothered me was Cassie seemed to switch between being all like "Screw you Aliens! Bite me!" to "I'm so insecure. I miss my high school crush who I talked to like once 5 years ago. Family? Friends? Why would I grieve about them when I can grieve about a guy who didn't know I existed." Okay, I added the last part, but she did spend more time thinking about him than anyone else. 

I'm so sick of unhealthy relationships in YA books. The women are supposed to be strong and brave, but as soon as boys come into the picture they either become like Katniss who cold, indecisive and indifferent. Or like Bella who becomes obsessive. Where are the Hermione's in recent YA literature? 

Lastly, I didn't like the Aliens. They were too heartless. Too easy to hate. Excluding one character, there was no evidence to suggest that the were good at all. As I've grown older, I generally prefer books where it becomes difficult to hate the enemy, because that makes it feel more real and I honestly enjoy being torn between sides in literature. However maybe in the next book the aliens will become more likable. As this book was written in first person by humans there is obviously bias in the narration, but I hope to see more conflicting POV's later in the series. 

Okay I could rant about this book for ages, especially as none of my friends have read it. But overall I give this book 3 1/5 stars out of five. It's a good read if you not picky and just want a trashy YA dystopian novel to read. It does get the reader hooked, however it is inconsistent in its quality. Hopefully in the next book Rick Yancey will have found his voice and it will be more consistent. 

Thanks for reading. Comment if you think of the book or if you found this review helpful or unhelpful.