Book Review: The Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Released: August 1999
Read: First time in 2007/08

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format: Paperback, 317 pages

Series: Harry Potter #3

Description from GoodReads: Harry Potter, along with his best friends, Ron and Hermione, is about to start his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry can't wait to get back to school after the summer holidays. (Who wouldn't if they lived with the horrible Dursleys?) But when Harry gets to Hogwarts, the atmosphere is tense. There's an escaped mass murderer on the loose, and the sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school...

Review: Okay so this review is going to have a ton of spoilers, but honestly why haven't you read it yet. This book is by far my favourite out of all the HP books. The whole Aunt Marge beginning always creeped me out as a kid, and it sorta still does. But boy does the book just get better and better from there.
  A big part of my interest in this book comes from the focus on the magical animals in the wizarding world. Like the beautiful hippogriff on the cover, or the Animagus and werewolves. Even the boggart was cool. Don't even get me started on the patronuses (patronus'? patroni?)!
  The other amazing part to this book was the time-turner. The whole time-traveling sequence in this book is great and beautifully simple. While there are some obvious questions, like why didn't they go back in time and kill Voldemort, effectively saving Harry's parents and thousands of other people? Why did Dumbledore not think of these ideas before giving Hermione a time-turner to do homework? Are there other magical teenagers who got time-turners to help with their homework? What happened to them???
   Oh and Hermione punching Draco in the face was a blessing.

Quotable Quotes:
"I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for."
"Why, dear boy, we don't send wizards to Azkaban just for blowing up their aunts."
"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

Rating: 10/10

Read if You Liked: Carry On, School For Good And Evil, Narnia?

Optimistically yours, Ola

Book Review: Stonefield

Taken from Goodreads
(how pretty is this cover??)

Stonefield by Christy Lenzi

Released: March 29th, 2016
Read: February 2016
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Format: Paperback ARC, 320 pages
Series: N/A
Source: McNally Robinson Two Thumbs Up Program

Description from Goodreads:
In a small town on the brink of the Civil War, Catrina finds a man making strange patterns in her family’s sorghum crop. He’s mad with fever, naked, and strikingly beautiful. He has no memory of who he is or what he’s done before Catrina found him in Stone Field. But that doesn’t bother Catrina because she doesn’t like thinking about the things she’s done before either.
Catrina and Stonefield fall passionately, dangerously, in love. All they want is to live with each other, in harmony with the land and away from Cat’s protective brother, the new fanatical preacher, and the neighbors who are scandalized by their relationship. But Stonefield can’t escape the truth about who he is, and the conflict tearing apart the country demands that everyone take a side before the bloodbath reaches their doorstep.

Review:

I chose this book because I absolutely love retellings of classic novels. This one is a retelling of Wuthering Heights, but not in the here and now (as most retellings are), but during the Civil War. I was excited, and so eager to read the result. But I was disappointed. Although the plot was sort of already written, it felt mish-mashed, and a little overwhelming. You could tell that the author was trying to emulate the writing style of Bronte, but it came across as forced, and almost sarcastic. It was a struggle trying to interpret what was actually being said. Another thing, was that the characters had very little development, (especially the main character)  so you never really connected with Cat. I wasn’t rooting for her to be happy in the end. I also had a problem with the romance in it. I love reading books where the main characters fall slowly in love. But SLOWLY! They literally were totally in love by page 50. Not even kidding. It was so fast! It was way too quick, and then Bible verses were added to make it sound as if it was less promiscuous. It was weird.  I also didn’t like the fact that they were able to somehow speak telepathically. That was never really explained. It was a weird book, all in all and unfortunately, not my favorite.  

Rating: 4.5/10

Reccomended for people who enjoy: retellings, romance, lots of descriptive language

Happy Reading,

Mari

Book Review: The Mime Order

    The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

Release date: January 27th, 2015
Read: August 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Hardcover, 510 pages

Description from GoodReads:
   Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London...

   As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city's gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner. Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.

Review: I'm going to start off by saying that I loved the Bone Season, and the cliffhanger ending tore my heart out. This book haphazardly stuffed my heart back. It was probably because the whole suspicious Scion-Rephaite connection was blown wide open, and every motive was painstakingly explained. Not to mention, the whole 'trying to survive'/'learning about my powers' was pretty much over, which was what added the thrills.

   Although I took a five month break, I'm glad I picked it back up again for the ending. Not being one for huge written fight scenes, the 'Rose Ring' fight was surprisingly good. The whole thing was very Hunger Games-esque, but better. (Set the walking in sequence to "Too Slow" by Johnny Klimek)

   The Warden, was just there. As always. There only when Paige needed him. The first book rounded him out a little, but the Mime Order flattened him out again. 

   Altogether, there were only about five chapters that were worth it.

Quotable Quotes:
"Words are everything. Words give wings to those who have been stamped upon, broken beyond all hopes of repair."
"Madness is a matter of perspective, little dreamer." - Jaxon Hall 

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Read this if you liked: Mockingjay, the Bone Season, a Great and Terrible Beauty, Divergent, etc.

Optimistically yours, Ola <3