Scookie Reviews

DESOLATION by Derek Landy (Demon Road #2) 4 Stars Verdict: Would work better as a film. #1 - Demon Road #3 - American Monsters DESOLATION was mostly an enjoyable read, and overall I’ve give it 3.5 stars. I enjoy Landy’s quirky style and attention to pace. It wasn’t as good as DEMON ROAD, but I found myself drawn in by the mystery and promise of demon deals and life-or-hell situations. Where book one was a series of episodes leading up to a finale, book two is more like a movie. Actually, most of it would work better as a movie, but I’ll get to that later. I don’t think Amber grew as a character – in fact, most of the book wasn’t about her. Lots of other characters were introduced, and we followed them for sections instead. I didn’t mind the two old TV actors, but the Scooby gang parody felt like too much, too fast, too thin. Sadly, Milo and Glen were my favourite characters of book one. With one down to start with, the story felt like it was missing most of book one’s a...

GLASS SWORD by Victoria Aveyard (Red Queen #2) 2 stars Verdict : Repetitive prose, slow pace, and lacks plot. #1 - Red Queen #3 - King's Cage In my opinion, this book had two flaws: the story and the way it was written. I wanted to love it as much as I enjoyed book one, but I honestly found it dull. The story followed a predictable path. Book one ends with Mare and a list of newbloods to recruit. Book two, Mare travels around collecting newbloods. I didn’t need to read GLASS SWORD to know what would happen. It lacked originality, and the author compensated for this with a rather indulgent prose which killed the pace entirely. Aveyard is the master of tautology; she knows how to say the same thing in so many beautiful ways. If you read a few lines in isolations, it’s easy to gush over the beauty and flow of the writing – it’s a book to quote, and that’s why I’ve given it two stars. Unfortunately, when you put all these sentences together, the narrative becomes repetit...