Lily's review of Winter by Marissa Meyer

A review of

Winter

By Marissa Meyer

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS PLEASE READ THESE BOOKS I PROMISE YOU CROSS MY HEART IT IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ IN MY 15 OR SO YEARS OF READING EXPERIENCE! Ok granted a good portion of that time was spent learning to read but still! Please read Marissa Meyer’s series called the Lunar Chronicles! There are five books (the first of which is Cinder) it is such a great twist on the fairytales that we all know and love...or tolerate. Like for example to show how good this series is if you know me, you know how much I hate the fairytale of Cinderella *I’m literally like gagging now* but these books are AMAZING LIKE SO GOOD IT MADE ME LOVE THIS VERSION! The writing style is so cool and unique (I haven't seen third person omniscient in quite some time! Oh I hope I got that right and I didn't totally bomb my English final..) and the way the author lines up her completely different story with the classic fairy tales is amazing! Like one second you're all like “what does being a cyborg have to do with being Cinderella?” And than you're all like “OH MY GOSH THAT WAS SO COOL HOW THAT ALL FITS TOGETHER LIKE OH MY GOSH TOP FIVE BOOK SERIES LIST RIGHT NOW!” So I really wanna not spoil these books for you so here is my presidential teen advisory board declaration READ THEM ALL NOW! The lake county public library system has all the copies floating around somewhere so head on over there and request some novels! So I'm gonna continue the review now but there will be spoilers! So don't be a dummy and keep reading this review if you haven't read the book yet ok? You can read my completely opinionated and biased review after you read these beautiful books!

Alright so Winter was a really great way to end this series! I really love happy endings like what's the point of sad endings anyway books are meant to entertain you not make you all depressed and confused *cough cough Divergent*. And I lllllloooooovvvveeee fairytales like to Luna and back (see what I did there! ) Fairytales are so sweet and magical and... morally ...like it's too great to pass up a good fairytale (unless it is that stupid Cinderella like for real no one else has the same shoe size in the whole kingdom? Come on!)

So at first I was reluctant to read Cinder because Cinderella (yes I know don't judge a fairytale based book on your previous hatred of that stupid story whatever) but when I started I was totally hooked! This world was so high tech but believable, I loved Cinder even though she didn't love herself that much (It's ok I love her enough for the both of us), and it was so cool she was all like “I'm a mechanic and who can google blueprints with my built in computer!” I loved all the characters in book one and it was such a great story, I love how she was like “oh no I'm from the moon and a cyborg that's like double the weird” at first but later in the series came to terms with it all and I think that's really sweet! And Scarlet and Cress were just as amazing! But I gotta say that I was a little creeped out by the whole dating wolverine “alpha” thing but I mean I won't judge, actually yeah I judge that's kinda why I write reviews in the first place! Like Scarlett was so not sweet innocent red riding hood (but totally likeable) and Cress was such an adorable satellite hermit and so sweet and innocent like red riding hood! The series was really epic so far! I liked Fairest, but honestly I wasn't as into it because the narrator couldn't be trusted you know? She was crazy and when you hate everything  the main character does it doesn't make you feel invested in the story, but I feel like it was a good prologue. And her short stories for the series were nice too (I'm pretty sure I read at least two of them but who knows that was like a year ago and my memory is about as good as Dory’s).

So Winter...OH MY GOSH IT IS SO GOOD! So I loved how it was written because I feel like every character got a fair amount of spotlight unlike previous books that leave you wanting more from one or less from another. I really liked that Winter was innocent and perfect, she was so good that she refused to use her moon mind control on anyone which made her crazy. I like how her story intertwined with the other’s slowly too. And quick tangent  I was so sad when Scarlett was captured and tortured like forget about the cruelty she faced that's not fair putting me through that emotional distress! Anyway I was like BOOYAH when she got out semi-safe even if she was smelly. I liked how the whole book felt actiony and like something big lead to something bigger which lead to something catastrophically huge which then lead to serious stress! But the end of Winter couldn't have been more perfect! I seriously miss books that let all the main characters live to see their happy endings! Like everyone was happy. The moon was on the track to recovery as well as Earth, and Cinder was totally still the coolest chick!

I about had a heart attack when Levana stabbed Cinder in the heart, I thought that she might have died and that whole chapter after it where Scarlett says I love you or something gushy and gag worthy to Wolf/Ze’ev (never know what to call that guy) I was like so focused on Cinder I couldn't focus on like anything else! (Can I just do a blanket apology for using “like” every five seconds, I just try to write whatever pops into my head so my reviews are more honest and I am a teenager so I certainly talk like one!) but then she was ok (not The Fault in our Stars “okay”, because that's depressing… Although that dude totally was missing a limb like Cinder…) and I was all like WOOT WOOT because she gets her own happy ending… Or will eventually I mean she has to get through the whole being queen for a limited amount of time before they go all republic and then she’ll get to be the official empress/mechanic of New Beijing. Yeah like Scarlett/Wolf, and Cress/Thorne got like immediate happy endings and Winter/Jacin and Cinder/Kai get like happy ending rain checks but still extremely good ending! And can I say just how much I love Iko? Good call on the color changing depending on mood eyes!

I really miss books that have happy endings without too much heart break, I read “young adult fiction” books not for the hormones or the drama in them (believe me I've got enough of that going on around me to write my own book) but for the chance of a sweet story that has good life lessons where you love the characters and they all get happy endings like they should (in my opinion, some authors like Lemony Snicket may beg to disagree). I really can't complain all that much about this series. I really loved the characters, writing, story, and the inside jokes! Overall this series is totally five stars and is on my top five list! It's not like an official list it's just like I know Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus are #1 and I think the Lunar chronicles could be #2(hehe #2 duty) it may have tied with Artemis Fowl for me which is a huge honor I might add! I hope you all enjoyed these books as much as I did and oh my gosh I literally just realized I read Winter during the season of winter! How cool is that!?!? Okay I'm done with the puns (I hope) hope you guys have a happy new year and all that jazz!

Oh really quick I just realized this is like the only series on my top five list to not have magic, like unless you call glamour magic, I mean she gave a logical-ish explanation right? Oh well it. Counts a sci-fi not completely magicy series is on the top five list! This totally counts as branching out right? Right. Okay bye guys!

-Lily

Lily's review of Fangirl By Rainbow Rowell

A Review of 
Fangirl
By Rainbow Rowell

Ok so I'm not new to the Rainbow Rowell book universe, I've read Attachments as well as Eleanor and Park, but I think Fangirl really stands out! I really didn't like the others that much, that's what you get for having a friend that's a sucker for sappy weird love stories that give you the heebijeebies!
Okay so some generic no spoiler reasons why I like this book so much:

Adorable main character who makes you just want to hug her and tell her everything will turn out ok in the end!
A realistic and relatable setting that reminds me of college (I mean I think so, I'm still only in high school so I only have those brochures to compare it to in my head…)
REALLY fun characters that you actually love because of their different personalities! Or love to hate...that too!

So I can't really continue this book review, I feel like for this to keep going I need to be able to spoil things like the ending so I can complain and praise this book so 

CONSIDER THIS A WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! 

If you read the book (I think you totally should check it out from the library!) make sure to read the rest and tell me what you think! Ok spoiler time!

JEEZ RAINBOW ROWELL COULD YOU PLEASE WRITE AN ENDING TO A BOOK THAT ISN’T SO ABRUPT AND STRANGE? Every time I read one of your books I feel like you just ripped it right out of my hands, like I WAS READING THAT DO YOU MIND? Or a more relatable comparison, you're just eating a sandwich and Rainbow Rowell comes up to you and goes HAH right in your face and swipes it out of your mouth running away laughing villainously! Even saying “SWIPER NO SWIPING SWIPER NO SWIPING SWIPER NO SWIPING” doesn't work! Once again I WAS NOT DONE WITH THAT! Like the ending for Attachments was ok (the whole book weirded me out a lot!) and Fangirl is, like, one million times better than Eleanor and Park (I'm literally puking in my mouth from that whole book) but for real Rowell it's like you can't decide when to stop so you just do! Like you could have finished a lot more hanging storylines by the end of Cath’s spring semester but you didn't! You seemed only worried about Cath and Levi’s lovey-doveyness...like she didn't even wrap up the fact that they wouldn't see each other that much in the summer and stuff. Not to mention the mother thing, like I respect that Cath doesn't want anything to do with her mom, but Wren and her mother Laura both want Cath to have some sort of relationship with her. Sooooo many loose storylines! I can't even fathom how an author who very clearly understands the need to finish a story right ( example: Cath obsessing over how to wrap up Carry On) could have totally disregard how her endings! Ugg! Just it was a really good book and you don't want your last memory to be sour! Right? Please agree with me Rainbow Rowell (not that you'd actually read this but slight minuscule chance that you do I'm sure you're a great gal...I just hate your endings:) )

So Cath and Levi, even though I'm, like, the most anti love and mushy goshies person in the world, even I can agree that this love story was not the grossest one I've ever read, it was sweet (even though sweet makes me want to puke on the inside, not in anyway does this reflect on Rainbow Rowell’s writing, just my total disgust towards love). I thought it was nice that Levi tried so hard, but I feel like that part where Levi made out with that other girl before he and Cath were a thing was a little forced, like it was written to show that “Dudley-do-right” could mess up, like he had to do that to show that nobody is perfect. Like it just made Cath not want to go back to school which was really saddening.

Anyways Fangirl has like THE BEST sarcastic lines! For real you guys it just is the kind of quick sarcasm that makes you snort laugh and think *I totally have said something like that*( I can be very sarcastic, in fact just this morning my mom said “ Don't you want to support *insert teacher name* and buy spirit wear? I believe my response was “ if he wants support so bad he can go buy a bra!”) this book made me keep reading for the quick one liners that are the best!

This book was pretty great and even though I sound harsh, it's just that I'm a harsh person and am very blunt with my reviews, so I hope you all enjoyed (the like two who read it:)love ya guys!) and see you at the next library event!

-Lily

(Image source: Nice Save Baz by Nina on deanneedsyou.tumblr.com)

Teen Perspective: Digitally Remastered - Comic books for gamers!

GadgetJax's (alias: David) second YALSA Hub blog post is up! Check it out here.

Nice job!

Quote of the Month: November 2015

Zack: I'll start bringing Mario Kart!

Jack: NO! We need friendships to last!

(Teen Advisory Board Meeting 11.10.15)

Jack's review of Gameworld

Personally I cannot recommend or not recommend this book. It was very cliche and the twists could have been predicted. I do have to give the author credit for using Caribbean magic, a magic that is not commonly referenced in literature. There is just not much I can say about this book. 

Lily's review of Howl's Moving Castle Written by Diana Wynne Jones Movie by Hayo Miazaki

Howl's Moving Castle
Written by Diana Wynne Jones 

Movie by Hayo Miazaki

I really really loved this book! Like so it's the book club book right, so first of all that's incentive enough to read this book, but then Mrs. Jennifer was all like this is SOOO great! And she was so right! So if you know me, you know that I pretty much only like books that are fantasy and are happy, mainly because they are so cool and magical, and this one started out sorta depressing actually. 

The main character, Sophie, was super depressed and had like no self value, which for me makes it harder to read a book, if I feel sad while reading then what is there to really make me want to continue? Well the storyline was really interesting and was one that I never knew what would come next! It was really cool to see how Sophie would solve her problems and if the people around her would be able to figure her out. All the characters were SUPER interesting and at times surprised me with how deep they could get! Overall I didn't see the ending coming that did but it was so nice and I loved seeing like no cliffhangers! I think everything was resolved and overall I give this book a big thumbs up! By the way I purposely put NO SPOILERS in this review so that you guys can read it yourselves for the book club! See you there! Now onto the movie...

So I love Studio Ghibli, mainly because I'm learning Japanese so it's fun to listen the the movies and see how much I can understand! But this one was sorta painful! Like I hate when movies don't follow the book, I read the entire book one Saturday and watched the movie as soon as I finished so everything was fresh in my mind so when I watched it it was like my expectations just crumbled into a million little pieces! Don't get me wrong the art was absolutely AMAZING! But the movie barely followed the book, it's like Miazaki just was like hey I like this book let's change everything we can and look at the book as more or an outline. YOU JUST DON'T DO THAT TO PEOPLE MAN! So I don't think Miazaki's version made any sense like at all! Seriously NOTHING made sense!!! I'm sure I would have liked it enough if I hadn't have read the book, but that's not the point! I couldn't enjoy this movie at all after reading such a wonderfully written and beautiful story.

I hope you all read this book, and if you've only seen the movie also read the book b/c it will make the movie make SOOOOO much more sense!

David's YALSA Hub blog post!

Our very own GadgetJax (alias David) has a book recommendation post up on the American Library Association's YALSA Hub blog:

Teen Perspective: A Trio of Tales about Dragons

Congratulations David!