Hush

Hey, now for my next book: Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale.

The book is described on Amazon like this: "Melkorka is a princess, the first daughter of a magnificent kingdom in mediæval Ireland -- but all of this is lost the day she is kidnapped and taken aboard a marauding slave ship. Thrown into a world that she has never known, alongside people that her former country's laws regarded as less than human, Melkorka is forced to learn quickly how to survive. Taking a vow of silence, however, she finds herself an object of fascination to her captors and masters, and soon realizes that any power, no matter how little, can make a difference."

I really enjoyed the book. I read it fairly quickly. But it is not for people hoping for a happy ending. The book is fairly grim for most of the story, but I found it to be an incrediably interesting and captivating book. It's written very well, and the author describes the places visited with skill. You really get to like the main character, and I liked how she did not just gie up like many people would have. The fact that she had hope gave the book a happy ending in an otherwise unhappy situation. I love that this book takes place so long ago, because I love history as well as english, and Donna Jo Napoli described ancient Ireland so well. I was not disappointed by anything in the book, and I especially loved the author's subtle use of words and meanings. If I did a rating system, this book would get 5 stars. i definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a bit of historical fiction or a twist on a fairy tale. (The book is based on an ancient Icelandic saga)


Coming next: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

Beastly

Okay, so the first book I'm going to review here is...Beastly by Alex Flinn. It's basically a new version of Beauty and the Beast, written from the Beast's point of view, and set in present day New York.
I really liked this book. It's fresh, and very entertaining. I wanted to read it in one sitting, so the whole day at school I kept on wanting to reach into my bag and start reading, even though I should have been paying attention. I liked that the book told about what it was like for Kyle/Adrian before he was changed. Most Beauty and the Beast stories tend to start after the fact, and I liked the new take. I liked the fact that instead of making the story too modern, the author still kept a lot of the fantasy of a fairy tale in it. The chat room sequences were also pretty funny, especially if, like me, you can tell which fairy tales each speaker came from. The only bad thing I can say about the book is that I found some parts to be a tad cheesy, especially when Adrian took to calling Lindy by terms of endearment in his head. But it was overall a very good book, and I recommend that anyone who likes retellings of fairy tales read it.

Coming Soon: Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale by Donna Jo Napoli.

First post...

Hmm. So I've never had a blog before, and i guess i feel kind of dumb as I write this right now. But I'm not expecting many people to see this, or even anyone to see it. Frankly, i don't care that much if no one ever reads this. But of course it would be cool if someone did. But i guess maybe i should write a little about myself. I'm alwasy careful about what i put out into the internet, probably because my mom has made me paranoid and convinced me that people can find me easily. But anyways, a little about me:
I love to read books, and have since i was little. I also love english, and i think i might want to be an editor. Or a book reviewer, which is what i'm going to do on this blog. That is, review books.
But a warning: I am a complete nerd. Others, mainly my boyfriend, would disagree. (I think.) But I am; I'm a complete bookworm, and an English nerd. So if you have an aversion to nerdy people(which i doubt since you are reading this. i think.) then i suggest you don't read this blog. Um, okay then i guess I might post here often, I might not. The question is: will there be anyone to read them?