La Conteuse

So many childhood memories! I'll definitely be continuing this series!

Okay, so... this is an incredibly short read and it's, well... confusing :D But I still kinda liked it and I'm looking forward to discussing it in class.

Well, I've had my problems with this book. Several problems even. But I will get to that in a minute. Lets focus on the good stuff first.
The general idea of Sentinel is pretty cool, I think. It's a nice story to read and most of the characters are pretty cool. The writing's nice. But still.

The world Nicholas, the main character lives in is kinda like in the Shadowhunter world. There's normal people and then there's not so normal people, but the normal people don't know about them. These not so normal people are the Sentinel. Nicholas' parents were Sentinels and after they get killed, the boy gets sucked into this 'other' part of his world. This brings me to the point which annoyed me the most in this book. Nobody cares to sit Nicholas down for a few hours and explain this damn cool, exciting new world to him. Of course this sucks for Nicholas, who basically has no idea what's happening to him, but it also sucks for the reader. You have no idea what's going on. A lot of things got clearer towards the end, but I still can't say I really understand what's going on in this world. I don't know what exactly Sentinel are, where they came from, what they're doing - apparently they're only there to somehow protect the world from these evil creatures - I don't know much about those either.

I'm sure the world Joshua Winning has created here is wonderful and yes, it sounds promising and exciting, but a little bit of worldbuilding would have made this story one billion times better. I hope this gets more attention in the sequel.

Other than that, I found that Nicholas was just super annoying most times. Like, seriously boy, you have no idea about this new world, a woman tells you that you have to stay inside the house at all costs - and you decide to go outside?! More than that, doing so, you almost get yourself killed at some town - and as soon as you get back to safety you decide you want to go back there?! Yeah, sure, you're lucky that didn't cause you any problems in the end... /heavy sarcasm off

Now, this may sound as though I didn't enjoy the book at all, but I did. I really did, it was a nice little read (which took me ages to get through but that was because of school), it just wasn't especially capturing or exciting or anything...

Sentinel is a book with a great concept which is still a little poorly executed. There was so much potential the author simply didn't work with and I really hope the sequel, which I will most definitely be picking up makes up for that a little bit.

I'd recommend you just try the book and see for yourself, it's short, it shouldn't take you that long to read and it's not a waste of time.

Okay. How do I start this. Uhm. I got this book from my English teacher, he was like "Hey, I have a feeling you'd like this, why don't you take it home over the summer?" And I was like well okay why not.
Maybe the brief summary my teacher gave me will help you understand my feelings about this book a little better. You must know that my English teacher is all kinds of crazy (in a lovely way) and he's just... well, a little off. No offense. Now he said: "It's about a crazy woman. She builds her own house and then meets a handicapped child which experiences child abuse. If you think the book is confusing - good.".
If you know my teacher, you would think twice before reading something he describes as 'confusing'.
To set the record straight - I ended up loving the book. Like... ah, it was amazing, truly amazing. But let me explain.

You read the first say 10 pages and you're like What in the almighty hell is going on?! Seriously, it's bad. But it's amazing. When you think about it after reading the book. The first few pages of the book are written in an incredibly poetic and beautiful manner which just so happens to be confusing as hell as it just throws you right into some kind of plot - although at the same time, it's not really 'plot' yet. Do not be intimidated by that part! Or maybe, be intimidated. When I returned the book to my teacher yesterday and told him how much I loved it, he said to me: "Listen, you might not want to study language or English literature, but if you liked this book, they're totally missing out on you. Most people would pick it up and throw it across the room after 10 minutes."
But I did keep reading, and it was totally worth it.

The book is written through the perspective of the unreliable narrator - a kinda crazy woman, as stated above. Her name's Kerewin Holmes and she has been living away from her family for over 20 and away from the rest of civilisation for 6 years as the book starts.
This definitely shows through in her thoughts, but it's incredibly entertaining.

Kerewin (her name sounds almost exactly like the author's, huh?) soon meets Simon, the 'handicapped boy who experiences child abuse'. This brings me to my most favourite aspect of the entire book. Simon. Approximately 6 years old (no one really knows for sure) and pretty much the most adorable, lovely, wonderful and deep character I have ever come across. I loved Simon right from the start and still now, roughly a week after finishing the book, I stop every now and then and I just think "Simon D: ♥"

After reading the book, I read a few reviews on Amazon and something a person said really stood out to me. They wrote something along the lines of 'good concept, but what I was missing was a depth of character'. I seriously laughed out loud.
If there is one thing, that is not missing in this book, it's character depth and development. All the characters are well designed and absolutely 'deep'. Kerewin, who hasn't experienced social contact in over 6 years and who is struggling with the loss of contact to her family, Simon, of course, who is torn between loving and hating those who hurt him and then Joe, a loving and caring father when he's sober, but cruel when drinking brings up all of the emotions he's supressing.

I must admit that the book can be fairly slow-paced, I found myself having quite a hard time getting through some passages but that doesn't change the fact that 'The Bone People' is an incredibly well-written, heart wrenchingly beautiful story about love (not necessarily romantic love) and the conflict between European and Maori culture.
This is another aspect I'd like to breifly talk about. The novel deals with a lot of references to Maori culture and languages and offers an appendix including the translation of several important Maori words and phrases used in the book. I loved getting an impression of this very special culture and the nvel definitely inspired me to do more research on that in the future.

I would recommend 'The Bone People' by Keri Hulme to everyone, who is willing to give it a try. You should be aware of the fact that you'll be 'WTF'-ing a lot of the time and that the book deals with harsh language, child abuse and heavy drinking. You're fine with all of this? What are you waiting for?! Buy this book. Now!

I just really disliked the language used in this... There where a lot of passages where I just found myself asking - What the hell is going on?! Like, I seriously couldn't follow the plot because of the writing style. Also, do I really need to talk about the perception of women in this?
Might still pick up the sequels - mainly because the covers are pretty.

Oh my god, this book was soooo amazing, like... aah D:
I loved both Audra and Vane, their characters were so well-developed and it was absolutely easy to empathize with both of them and equally understand their choices even though they were radically different at times.

I really enjoyed the whole idea and plot, too and now I'm absolutely excited for the sequel. I WANT IT NOW.

God, I just loved thos book.The plot was amazingThe characters were amazingI gotta say Wade's obsession with Art3mis was just incredibly annoying for a few chapters but hey, it got better.Although I'd really really hoped for him to press the button in the end... Would have made the story even more epic.But even so, amazing, amazing read, go buy this book RIGHT NOW guys!!

**[Received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review - thank you very much!]**In general, I have to say that I did enjoy this book. I have read some reviews claiming that this book wasn't good at all or complaining about a lot of things I didn't think were that annoying.(Warning, the following part may contain spoilers)I would have given the book 4 stars if there hadn't been a few things, that put me off a little.So, to begin with, I think the original idea behind this book is a very good one. I am a sucker for contemporary fiction and Teenage Pregnancy isn't a topic that's all too famous in the book-world. The plot is also good, although a little bit exaggerated maybe, as I couldn't really imagine parents throwing treating their kids that way or a whole school making fun of a pregnant person (I've had pregnant girls at my school and almost everyone was always very supportive, understanding and friendly about it), but maybe that's just because I am lucky enough not to have to deal with such problems. After all, hey, it's a story, it needs a little dramatising and who knows, there surely are people as cruel as that somewhere out there. My prayers go out to those who have to deal with them.It wasn't like the plot was outstandingly exciting or full of action but that's not what I expect when reading Contemporary, so that didn't bother me at all.The characters were... well. Some of them I quite liked, Grace towards the end for example, not really at the beginning, she was just a little bit too annoying for my taste, as she just kept going on about how miserable she was for losing all her senses just because Nick stuck his hands down her panties (Seriously, I don't want to know, how often I've read this sentence in the book). Still, I think this might have been the authors intention, as you can witness a very clear character development as the story proceeds.The other characters seemed to be a little bit stereotypical most of the time, like Nick, the perfect boy who just so happens to be arrogant and throws girls away like used condoms, or even Aunt Helen, who I liked, but come on, the also very perfect mother figure who sticks her nose into other people's business but is still loved by anyone? Who, of course, presents a harsh contrast to the cruel, cruel parents who, in the end, turn out not to be ALL that cruel.Jennifer was cool, but a little bit annoying as well. Why does she always have to know it better??There was one thing, one thing that really, really drove me crazy. Switching the narrator is perfectly fine and would make sense for this story - but please please please do it through different chapters or something, don't mess around with the perspective midsentence. I found it quite hard to follow and had to read several passages over and over before I understood who's thoughts I was reading at that moment.Overall, I would recommend giving this book a try if you like Contemporary. It was a really fun read and I found myself quite attatched to the characters at the end. The book certainly has its flaws and the great potential could have been worked with a little bit harder, but in the end, nobody's perfect - as is very nicely shown in this book.

I re-read this book this year, since it has been almost 2 years since I read it the first time.In generalOverall, this is a really good book and I am definitely going to continue this series.I thought the beginning was a little bit slow-paced and boring, just average and nothing too special. I didn't like Cassandra Clare's writing style in the beginning either, but got more and more used to it as the story proceeded. PlotDespite the slow start, at some point in the book, the story just draws you in and you can't stop reading. One of the things I really liked about this book was Clare's talent to throw in some brilliant plot-twists I even found surprising while re-reading because I didn't remember all of them. Especially towards the end the plot gets very capturing and packed with anticipation and action.CharactersYeah, what to say about the characters... Despite the fact that Jace is pretty much the epitome of what I like about a boy - feature-wise that is, nobody can deny that this boy is completely wrecked on the inside - I came to like most characters. Yes, Jace's heart and soukd and whatnot might be torn apart by his past - you still have to like him. And Alec, aah, gotta love Alec.Especially regarding the different characters of the story, Cassandra Clare's talent for sudden plot twist becomes apparent. Everything you though you knew about a character can easily be proven false in the course of one sentence - brilliant.Book To Movie?About the upcoming City of Bones movie... Let's say I am, well, curious. I don't really like the cast all that much but I am super excited for how they will translate the world displayed in the book into a movie. It has good potential - the question is whether or not that'll be used.RatingI give this book 4, maybe 4 1/2 out of 5 stars, simply because it was a very nice and exciting story but nothing absolutely special. Also, the beginning was quite slow.

Really liked this! My first play by Shakespeare and I found the plot and characters quite interesting. As being from Germany, I've had some troubles with the language as first but you really get used to his style and the Dictionary function my Kindle provides helped out with certain words so overall, I was able to quite understand most parts. Definitely going to read more Shakespeare stuff soon!

Really liked this! My first play by Shakespeare and I found the plot and characters quite interesting. As being from Germany, I've had some troubles with the language as first but you really get used to his style and the Dictionary function my Kindle provides helped out with certain words so overall, I was able to quite understand most parts. Definitely going to read more Shakespeare stuff soon!

Absolutely loved this book!John Green's writing is beautiful as always and although this seems to be 'just another Teenie book' on the surface, it covers some of the most important questions of human nature.Although I didn't find Pudge, the main character very likable, I was amazed by how much he develops throughout the book. Especially towards the end I was very annoyed by his 'everything is just about me' attitude and I'm glad that changed quite quickly.Absolute recommendation!