20 February 2013

Weekly Reads: Beautiful Creatures & Mixed Up Fairytales

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia: I was really impressed with this book. YA fiction seems to be flooded with supernatural characters and story lines right now, so they all end up feeling like the same story told over and over. This one really stood out though. The writing was fantastic--as much as I wanted to speed through it to the end to find out what happens, the way it was written naturally slowed you down. It was also a welcome change for a story/book to be written from the perspective of the hero and not the heroine. There were parts of the book that were funny, some that were sad (o.k......really really sad--nothing like sitting in bed at 3am sobbing because of a book), some that were frustrating and everything in between. This is definitely a book I would recommend and a series I can't wait to finish reading!

On a side note: while I have not seen the movie yet, whoever decided to cast Jeremy Irons as Macon Ravonwood was a bloody genius. It almost felt like this character was written with him in mind.

I love reading alternative versions of fairytales and the idea that maybe things weren't quite so cheery as Disney portrayed things.

The Grimm Diaries Prequels Vol 1-6 by Cameron Jace: I love reading alternative versions of fairy tales. One of my favorite books that I read last year was Brom's take on Peter Pan in his book The Child Thief so when this set of novellas showed up in not only my recommendations from Amazon, but also Goodreads I knew I had to check them out. Each prequel is a retelling of a one of the Brother's Grimm's fairy tales that we are all familiar with, with a darker twist. It was a really quick read and a great way to get ready for the full series of books.


Her Mad Hatter by Marie Hall: I don't know about this one. I gave it three stars just because. It was a quick read but I felt like it could have had some real potential had the author stuck with it a little longer. The characters, especially The Hatter could have had a really interesting backstory had the author taken the time to really develop the story. How did he get to Wonderland? Why was he Mad? There are a couple more stories in this series, which I will most likely end up reading  But they will be reserved for an afternoon when I can't find anything else to hold my interest and I need something quick and easy to read.

2 comments:

  1. The Grimm Diaries looks kinda interesting - I've always had a weird point of view and interesting thoughts regarding children's tales. Have you read any of the "Cirque Du Freak" books? I just watched the movie and it was "meh" but it made me curious about the book series.
    If you feel like it, here's a link to a post I wrote about Peter Pan, who, in my opinion, is the worst of the children's stories.

    http://unitedstatesofbecky.blogspot.com/2012/02/suck-it-tink.html

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  2. I just finished the Mad Hatter series, I felt the same way but I did enjoy the rest of the books! I am also dying to read the rest of the beautiful creatures series!

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Thanks for reading!

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