Scookie Reviews

A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC by V. E. Schwab 5 Stars Verdict: Slow to start, totally worth it. Kell is a blood magician who can travel between the four worlds, each with a different affinity for magic but sharing the anomaly of the name 'London'. When Kell finds a dangerous artefact, he must return it to the darkest form of London before it falls into the wrong hands. I found the beginning slow with too much exposition, but intriguing nonetheless. At first I struggled to get to grips with the different worlds as they're each very different in description, history, characters - of course there needs to be a lot of world building in a book about multiple worlds, but it made Kell's narrative heavy to read. Yet, it had many redeeming quirks, like the elemental toy and the enchanted coat, which made me think the book could swing either way for me. I kept reading with an open mind. When Kell bumps into Lila Bard, the book really gets going. Lila's a thief who yea...

HOMECOMING (The 100 #3) by Kass Morgan 3 Stars Verdict:  Not much to say. #1 - The 100 #2 - Day 21 The dropships have landed, and now the colonists are being led by the old Vice Chancellor, who I pictured as Governor Ratcliff from Pocahontas. He’s pretty thick, arrogant, with not enough to him to be redeeming. It’s a mystery to me why he’s in charge, but there you have it. Let’s start a war. It’s quick and light read, with not much to say. The idea behind it is brilliant, but the book itself is meh. The target audience is on the younger side of young adult, and maybe the TV series set my expectations too high. The ending went to mush too, like the last book, and that sets me off on a down note. The problem with so many characters in a short book is that none of them really get fleshed out. The author tended to tell exactly how the characters feel or who a character is, when really I wouldn’t have guessed. Whether they were happy or sad, it felt shallow. I’m glad th...

DAY 21 (The 100 #2) by Kass Morgan 3 Stars Verdict:  It's okay. #1 - The 100 #3 - The Homecoming Oops, I forgot to write a proper review for this one when I read it last December, so this might be a bit short. In truth, I read it quickly and moved on. Nothing really stood out, good or bad, that I haven’t already said for book one. It’s an easy read and it's written in a straightforward manner… plus with further explanations to make sure you really get the point. From that, I gather this is aimed at the younger side of the young adult spectrum, so maybe it lost me a little there. I enjoyed the unravelling of the characters’ pasts alongside where are they now. It's not a style I usually enjoy, but Morgan does it well. I think the ending got to me the most. It’s anticlimactic, and once after watching the TV series, I expected depth, grit, and shocking twists, and instead it was easy, simple, and – how dare it – happy. In the end, I just expected to feel more ...

THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR by Nicola Yoon 5 Stars Verdict: Loved it! This story is about one momentous day. It’s Natasha last day to stop her deportation back to Jamaica, the place she was born but feels little connection to. It’s also Daniel’s day to shine in an interview for Yale that he couldn’t care less about, but his first-generation Asian immigrant parents believe it is the best thing for him. Their encounter is improbable, their relationship doomed from the start, yet they’re meant-to-be. I fell in love with Natasha and Daniel. Natasha likes observable facts, only believing in what can be studied – not fate, or karma, and definitely not love. Daniel is more comfortable with the unknown and a hopeless romantic. Over the course of one day, he tries to prove that they’re meant to be together. Okay, so one day is a little fast, but I like to think the quality of their interaction is what mattered – how open they were, how much they learned. Or maybe I’m willing to make excuse...

GAMBIT by C. L. Denault 3 Stars Verdict: An unexpected romance novel. It started out strong, with lifelike characters and a rich, warm setting for the tale of the lost heir with genetically amazing powers. It felt a lot like Red Queen in a good way, with enough differences for it to stand out. Our main character Willow starts out naive and rude, but full of spirit, and I hoped she’d grow throughout the story into a strong, feisty woman. However, Willow didn’t exactly grow throughout the book. Although everyone called her strong, I found her immature, rude, aggressive, and stroppy – a complete brat, and that isn’t the same thing as strong to me. When the terribly dystopian-guard Reese was introduced as her love interest, I struggled to go with the flow. I didn’t think it made much sense (for spoiler-related reasons), and the pair had too many petty arguments for my tastes, where the same points would be rehashed with different words, circling over and over until things got ugl...