Miss Phi's Bookshelf: March 2016

book review

Review: Truthwitch

3/30/2016

Title:
Truthwitch
(The Witchlands #1)

Author:
Susan Dennard

★★★☆☆

3.75 out of 5 stars
(rating might be higher)

In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

I haven't struggled so hard to rate a book in a long time, for as much as I liked Truthwitch I disliked it at the same time, I feel I would have to re-read this book in order to decide how much I actually like it, also to understand its world better.

I have gone through many reviews of this book and one of the things people mention the most is the confusing world building, and let me tell you guys, it is confusing indeed; you get thrown in a world that is not only new but also a little complex with distinctive terminology and none of it is properly explained, and as a reader, I was forced to make my own definitions with the little information I got. This compromised my experience, I couldn't get into the story that easily because I had no idea of what was going on; my liking for some of the characters and the relationships between them is what made me continue reading.

As I mentioned before, I highly liked some of the characters but the main character isn't one of them. Safiya is a little childish, spoilt, and annoying when she is by herself, her other half, and by other half I mean her threadsister* Iseult, is the complete opposite, she is more of a quiet character but when paired with Safi they complete each other and become a great team, and that is what I liked the most about Truthwitch, that it is a book that focuses more on the relationship between friends than it does in the romantic ones; the friendship between Safiya and Iseult is beautiful and strong, you can tell the girls love each other deeply and will always be there for one another, this kind of relationship isn't so easy to find on YA fantasy and for that I absolutely engaged into my reading. Having two heroines instead of one makes the whole story better and makes it original, now it is not only one girl against the world, it is two best friends.

The male characters are also appealing, they are funny and smart. Prince Merik is not the typical perfect guy, he has flaws and the biggest one he has got is that when it comes to magic, his is actually pretty weak, making him feel more reachable and less cliché. Even the bad guys end up being likable as the bad guys, you know? Villains you love to hate, although at the very end you can tell one of them is not so much a villain but an antihero and oh my, I loved that.

For those who are seeking for some romance when reading YA novels, there is some romance in Truthwitch, it wasn't insta-love but it still felt a little fast passed, it was as if the characters were just beginning to like each other on one page when they were confessing their undying love for each other on the other. I like when the romances cook slower, otherwise, I find them hard to believe. I do feel there will be more than just one couple in the book, the first one is the one I just described, the second one might take a longer time for them to get together if they get together at all, but sparks fly all over the place when both characters interact, and I must say that I ship them both together more -and harder- than the other couple.

Have you guys read this book yet? If so, what were your thoughts about it? Will you continue on with the series? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Happy reading,

*According to Miss Phi: a thread family is formed when the threads of life between two people intertwine and form bonds that are stronger than blood.

book review

Review: Clockwork Angel

3/21/2016

Title:
Clockwork Angel
(The Infernal Devices #1)

Author:
Cassandra Clare

★★★★☆

4 out of 5 stars

In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever.

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them...

This was my first time reading a book from Cassandra Clare, I have never picked anything from her before, why? probably because of the hype, I decided to avoid the author since I wasn't sure she would meet up to my expectations, she is not quite up there yet, but I have to admit this book kept me entertained for the majority of it.

I have to admit that even though this is a 4-star rating I had little problems with the book, the writing is not the best and at some point, I felt it could be 100+ pages shorter. It also took me a while to get used to the story and to even like some of the characters, to me Tessa was the best one, but when it came to the male characters I wasn't much of a fan. Jem is likable, he is a nice guy but lacks some personality, Will has all the personality in the world but is a real a**hole and a cliché at that, why? Well, I don't even need to get further into this series to know he has a golden heart.

Let's go back to Tessa, shall we? I do like her and am expecting her to become an awesome kick-ass woman, it would honestly make her character shine for me. I felt very attached to her, I like how the circumstances are obliging her to grow up and face reality when she was more used to only thinking instead of acting. Oh boy, I do like her because she -in a way- reminds me so much of myself. I have my hopes high right here, I want her to become one of those characters that are ahead of their era and becomes a symbol of what people -in this case, females- could be/do.

The story itself feels slow even though many things happen, I remember looking at my progress and thinking "Wow, I am just 35% done with this book and I want it to be over already, I wonder what else is going to happen when there really isn't much to tell by the looks of it" but then BAM! it picks up, surprisingly I found myself reading faster and getting more and more into the story. I can honestly say the second half of the book is the best, and that if it weren't for it, my rating would be a lot lower. Not to mention the epilogue, it made me want to get up in the middle of the night just to go buy the next book at my local bookstore. Yes, it is that great.

I shall continue with this series and am hoping some great things will happen with Tessa, also, I am intrigued about how will things turn out and what the angel around Tessa's neck is, I am not much of a fan of the romance but we will see how that turns out.

Have you read anything from Cassandra Clare? What are your thoughts on this series?

Should I read The Mortal Instruments? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading,

top 5 wednesdays

TW5: Fictional Items You Want

3/16/2016

cover

Judge It By Its Cover: But she is not a sex kitten

3/11/2016

It feels trite and cliché to be talking about this in 2016, on Women’s History Month, but we digress. What is it with the sexual objectification of female characters on covers of books where women are the target audience? This isn’t new, there is an overwhelming amount of covers that follow the same formula, especially in the Urban Fantasy genre. It’s always the same: a sexy woman with a tramp stamp, striking a “come get me” pose, holding a weapon. We can’t deny that sex sells but why is it portrayed as the main theme of a story when there is actually very little sexual content inside? We’re going to use the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs as the an example for this subject.

We picked this series to talk about today because we are familiar with the story, having read the first four books. We were in denial about reading these books for the longest time (because the cover made us roll our eyes), until one day we ran into a video of a BookTuber we follow who was recommending it, so we thought we would give it a try. Once we actually got into the story, we thought it was such a shame that the cover was portraying something that doesn’t reflect what we were reading.

So why do we have a problem with our main character being over-sexualized? Well, because Mercy is not a sexual character. In fact, she is often described as the least sexy person ever, especially when she wakes up and smells all the dirty shirts on the floor to figure out what she is going to wear. Yet somehow, based on the cover, you’d think she walks around in low-cut jeans with her lace thong showing and she just can’t get enough male attention. Our point here, is that - while there is nothing wrong for a woman to be comfortable with showing off her body - this image does not fit this character at all, nor does it fit the events of the story; but because it is featured on the cover, it creates a preconceived notion for potential readers. You’re either going to be pleasantly surprised (like we were) or you’re going to be wildly disappointed when you actually read the book.

Just for a moment, let’s talk about the fact that Mercy doesn’t ever wear a crop-top. We went back and tried to find any description of her wearing anything other than simple jeans and a normal t-shirt with grease stains on it, and we couldn’t come up with anything. And what about the tattoos? We know she has some and we can’t confirm is she actually has a “tramp stamp” but we can confirm that the coyote paw one featured on the covers is actually hidden at all times. She doesn’t have it on display, ever. In fact, it is only ever discovered and explained during a scene where she is taking off her clothes in order to shape-shift.

On that note, the Mercy Thompson series is about shape-shifters and the paranormal. Why not feature those themes on the cover instead? In fact, each book focuses on a different type of “creature” (wolves, vampires, fae, demons, etc), so why not explore that idea to be highlighted as the main element of the cover design? Maybe that way, this book would be put in the correct category of Adult Fantasy and Urban Fantasy instead of Paranormal Romance.

We have nothing against the artist who created the actual illustrations for the cover. We actually think the art is very well done. It’s just targeting the wrong audience, in the wrong way. We can’t speak for everyone, but personally for us, as women who are very much into the geek culture, we don’t like feeling excluded by designs that feature the objectification of female leads for stories that don’t have anything to do with the subject of sex.

This isn’t a feminist rant. We are all about equality. We also don’t think that male leads should be overly-sexualized on the cover of a book either when the subject doesn't call for it. We just used Mercy Thompson as an example because we aren’t familiar with any books with an objectified male character on its cover.

What do you guys think about this topic? Have you read any books where the main character (male of female) is wrongly being objectified on the cover? Does that approach make you want to buy the book or shy away from it? Let us know in the comments below!

book review

Review: Illuminae

3/07/2016

apocalyptic

Review: Angelfall

3/06/2016

Title:
Angelfall
(Penryn & the End of Days #1)

Author:
Susan Ee

★★★★☆

4 out of 5 stars

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

At first, I thought this was gonna be just another book with a really strong female character that ends up in an insta-love situation and everything else in the story becomes secondary...I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

I must say, I am not a huge fan of first person, present tense narrative because I feel like it just kills a lot of world-building possibilities and this book was no exception. Half the time I waiting for more of an explanation about how everything was set up so I could make a good mental map of where everything was. I like an immersive story where I feel like I can be a part of that universe. This book does not do that. However, the story does present an interesting plot-line and characters.

Because it is all written from the perspective of our main character, Penryn, you do miss out on a lot of things. Especially once you start to realize there is so much going on over at the Angel's side of things. There was a very specific moment in the book that left me with a million questions that weren't answered (because Penryn wasn't there narrating) and I have no indication that they ever will be, though I am hopeful because seriously...what happened?! Without adding any spoilers, I will just say, it involved an albino, a female angel and an operating table. I have a couple theories that are probably very close to being right, but still would like a full explanation.

Having said all that, I really liked Penryn. The ever so complex relationship with her mother, her undying loyalty and sense of responsibility towards her sister and her general positive attitude while trying to make sense of this new world she has to survive in, all while growing up and trying to find herself and who she wants to be, make her a very interesting character to read.

The book moves at a pretty steady pace throughout, except for the last 10 chapters of the book that had me going like: "Whoa! That escalated quickly!". No, really, EVERYTHING happens in the last 1/4 of the story. So much more to know and learn about! It really sets the perfect stage for me to go read the next one.

Had I finished reading this book back in September of last year when I was supposed to, I would have given it 3 stars. But listen, it isn't the book's fault that I wasn't that into it. I was sort of in a very very long Book Hangover and this just wasn't the book to get me out of it. I am glad I waited though...

I marked it as Currently Reading in January when I decided to pick it back up but it wasn't until a couple weeks ago I actually sat down and started over, plus, I promised @MissPhi I would finish it. So I went back to the beginning and I realized I actually like this story!