Feature and Follow Friday #4

This meme is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee , just click on their names and follow the links. The point of this meme is to make new friends and gain new followers. There are a few rules to follow when participating in this meme so just click here to find out more.

I have decided to do the question I missed out on I think last Friday? I am not a big Twitter user so this weeks question doesn't really apply to me and I like to write long winding answers and have a proper discussion rather than just say, I don't use Twitter...that would be boring.

So here is the question I will be answering:

Do you read more than 1 book at a time, and if so, how, like a certain amount of pages per book before moving on to the next one in the queue? -SUGGESTED BY: Words I Write Crazy 

LONG ANSWER:

I was never one to read several books at a time and when I use to see people on Goodreads reading, sometimes, 5 books at a time I just could not wrap my head around that. I did recently buy an iPad though and I travel quite a lot for college purposes (at the moment I have to get a train to Dublin which is Just over a 3 hour train journey from where I live, at 5.30 every Monday morning and get the train home at 7pm - I have several hours in between classes and my trains, the train times do not suit me at all, so I have a lot of time for reading - just not while I have these two essays to write for Monday :-/). I was reading Wicked by Jennifer L. Armentrout on the Kindle app while travelling but I was really hating it and so while I was at home I started reading The Kiss of Deception. It is the only time I have read more than one book at a time (apart from when I was a kid) and the only reason was my extreme hatred for Wicked which I really don't think I can finish...Yeah Ren is sexy, I GET IT.

SHORT ANSWER:

I rarely ever read more than one book at a time, unless I read a Graphic novel along with a novel or I am reading a Kindle book that I am not that into while travelling and a different physical copy while at home.

So what about you...Do you read more than one book at a time? Leave a comment below and a link to your post as I would love to check it out.

Book Review: Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

    Title: Well of Ascension
    Author: Brandon Sanderson
    Publisher: Gollancz
    Published: December 10th 2009
    Pages: 763
    Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler – the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years – has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves. 

As Kelsier’s protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.

Stopping assassins may keep Vin’s Mistborn skills sharp, but it’s the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn’t run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier’s crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won’t get easier with three armies – one of them composed of ferocious giants – now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler’s hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal.

As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

REVIEW

27/01/2015 My feelings for this book are quite mixed. For the first half of this story I was actually fairly disappointed. I trudged through the first, at least, 200 pages of the book hoping that something, ANYTHING would happen. This part of the book was pretty void of all action and was more concerned with the planning stages, discussing problems and how they would solve them. 200 pages of this was excessive and rather boring and this is the reason that I simply could not give this book 5 stars as I did for the Final Empire.

I am glad that I continued on with the story as the last 2/3 of the book were significantly better. The action scenes were exactly how I expect them from Sanderson, epic and detailed. The battle scenes are so fantastically vivid and believable - it is so easy to fall into this world and believe in it and that is a truly rare feat of genius that only a handful of authors can achieve. The fantastic world-building and simple, yet effective descriptive writing that I came to love in the Final Empire were all evident in this book also.

However, and this is a big however, the character development (or lack there of) of one of the characters was very disappointing. For anyone who has read the story I am sure they know who I am talking about, and that is Vin. I was so disappointed with Vin's character in this story. She became so needy, constantly wanting Elend's attention and doubting herself.Throughout Vin's POV we hear how worried she is about Elend leaving her and if she isn't thinking about Elend she is either thinking about pretty little dresses or what a shit-hot Mistborn she is. The independent and feisty Vin of the Final Empire is a distant memory. At one point Vin discusses cutting her hair with Elend but when he tells her he likes it longer that is all she needs to hear and is happy to keep it long. GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER VIN. Gawwwd cut your damn hair if you want to cut your hair....SIMPLE.

The most pointless and irritating scene of the entire book was perhaps the dress shopping scene - what in the name of all that is holy was that about except portraying Vin as a shallow TWIT. I want the Vin who enjoys flying threw the mists not mourning over pretty dresses and fancy balls. Bring back the old Vin.

The last half of the book was by far my favourite and I flew through that part of the book. The action, suspense and plot twists were fantastic and it made me excited about the story again - I was not expecting that ending. The last half of this book deserved 5 stars but the slow start means I could only give it 4 stars.

I was not expecting the ending...

   

Waiting on Wednesday: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My Most Anticipated Book of the Coming Months:

    
    Title: The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth #1)
    Author: N.K. Jemisin
    Publisher: Viking Juvenile
    To be Published: August 4th 2015
   

Goodreads Synopsis:

This is the way the world ends. Again. 

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze—the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years—collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.

Why I am eagerly anticipating The Fifth Season:

I fell in love with this book once I had read the synopsis. For one, I love fantasy and this sounds like it could be a great Fantasy novel. Also, my favourite fantasy books, so far, have all been written by men so I think it will be a nice change to read a female-written fantasy. I also really just love the concept - a woman chasing after her husband who has killed her son and kidnapped her daughter in a fantasy setting - this is not like anything I have ever read before. Essun seems like a really strong female role model and I don't think there will be an annoying love interest that turns her into a blundering fool like a lot of books I have been reading lately. 

When I saw the rating on Goodreads I was really surprised that it already had only 3.58 rating. Turns out that this book has been pushed back quite a bit and people were not happy and started giving it one star reviews while others started giving it five star reviews because they were so excited for it. That is one thing I don't think people should be allowed do, is rate a book before they ever read it, it just doesn't make sense.

Have you read anything by N.K. Jemisin? What did you think about her writing? Do you rate a book before you ever read it on Goodreads? What book are you most excited for?

Novella Review: The Assassin and the Pirate Lord (Throne of Glass 0.1) by Sarah J. Maas

    Title: The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
    Author: Sarah J. Maas
    Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's
    Published: January 12th 2013
    Pages: 70
    Rating: 1 Star

Goodreads Synopsis:

A Throne of Glass novella. 

On a remote island in a tropical sea, Celaena Sardothien, feared assassin, has come for retribution. She’s been sent by the Assassin’s Guild to collect on a debt they are owed by the Lord of the Pirates. But when Celaena learns that the agreed payment is not in money, but in slaves, her mission suddenly changes—and she will risk everything to right the wrong she’s been sent to bring about.

REVIEW

I was just so bored by this. Caelena has to be the least likable character I have ever read. She is arrogant, self-righteous and instead of being a bad-ass character I found her to be more of a pain-in-the-ass! The only thing I took from this story is that Caelena thinks she is the most beautiful and skilled girl on the earth.

The plot was predictable, and far too easily and unrealistically solved. I really hated the Throne of Glass and Crown Of Midnight but for some reason I thought I might like Caelena when she was an assassin that ACTUALLY killed people. Turns out I really didn't...You might like this one if you liked the other books in the series but I honestly found this one so boring, which really wasn't my problem with ToG and CoM.

I could not continue on with the rest of the short stories in the Blade of Assassins book but at least I can say I really gave this series a try.