The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater // it legit gave me nightmares and i love it

Nothing living is safe. Nothing dead is to be trusted.

For years, Gansey has been on a quest to find a lost king. One by one, he’s drawn others into this quest: Ronan, who steals from dreams; Adam, whose life is no longer his own; Noah, whose life is no longer a lie; and Blue, who loves Gansey… and is certain she is destined to kill him.

Now the endgame has begun. Dreams and nightmares are converging. Love and loss are inseparable. And the quest refuses to be pinned to a path. 

(This review is SPOILER FREE!)

I always feel that the hardest reviews to write for me are the ones of books that I ADORE. So this review is going to be particularly difficult, because The Raven King absolutely blew my mind. Okay, where do I even begin?

When I finally got The Raven King from my library, I decided to get all the others along with it, and do a reread, because if there's one thing I love about Maggie Stiefvater, it's how her writing has so many layers and how things in previous books pop up later on in the series. Foreshadowing! Symbolism! It's fabulous. So I reread the first three (The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily Lily Blue), and finally dove into The Raven King. (I also listened to a reread of The Scorpio Races before this Raven Cycle adventure, so my life was REALLY full of Stiefvater words. This is the opposite of a bad thing.)

The Raven King is absolutely the perfect conclusion to this perfect series. Everything just kept rising towards the inevitable culmination of all the plot threats and - oh dang it was just beautiful. Everything tied up perfectly and, as I had expected, things in the past three books showed up to haunt us in the last one.

If you thought the first three books were getting dark and dramatic, let me tell you - the final chunk of The Raven King had me considering the conclusion that literally everyone was going to die and the world would dissolve in darkness. But at the same time, in between chapters where you legitimately are afraid for the ending of the book, you discover scenes that are some of the happiest and sweetest and squee-worthy in the entire series. And amazingly, it doesn't disrupt the flow at all, or feel in any way out of place. MAGGIE HOW DO YOU DO THIS?

Talking about darkness, the night before I finished the book I decided to put it down for the night since I was waking up early the next morning and couldn't afford a reading-until-midnight sort of thing. I ended at what was one of the aforementioned happy scenes in the midst of horror, and thought it was a good stopping point. Well. Usually I don't have dreams affected by what I think about before bed, but that night I dreamed about about raising people from the dead and black magic and a possessed black raven who talked in my head. NO JOKE, I SWEAR.

Okay I don't know how that is any sort of commendation for this book - "Read The Raven King it will give you creepy dreams!" - but I promise that I am telling you this story with the intention to show you how Maggie's writing worms its way into your head. MY NIGHTMARES ARE A GOOD THING OKAY? ...at least in the context of this review :-P So yes, the dark levels for this were WAY more than the previous books, but dang I loved The Raven King for just how much it freaked me out.

Let's talk characters! Because you all know how much I adore good characters, and Maggie's are some of the best. The development of all the main characters has been spot on throughout the series. I legitimately felt proud for my baby Adam growing up in BLLB, and in The Raven King Ronan got all my love and hugs. It's been amazing to see Ronan develop and, as readers, to be able to figure out what hides behind his rough exterior.

AND OMG THE SHIPS. I won't spoil any for you, but - dang, I just love all the characters. <3

With a series conclusion, it's important that everything wraps up well. and in The Raven King  it definitely did. Questions from the beginning of the series were answered, and prophecies fulfilled. But I am a forgetful little squid, and the first time I read anything, all I get from it are feelings (which, though are useful in reviews, you can't just write 100% about them - or can you?). In a book like The Raven King where there is so much going on and so many layers, I think I'll need to do another reread just to fully work out all the secrets and the twists. Maggie Stiefvater's magic never happens just because. Her worldbuilding is so on point that I know that everything happens for a reason. And because of this, I really think a reread is necessary for me to logic through the ending, as satisfying as it was.

ALSO, NEWS:
MAGGIE STIEFVATER IS WRITING A RONAN SERIES WHAT IS LIFE.

Have you read The Raven King? LET'S TALK IN THE COMMENTS. Feel free to talk spoilers down there, but please use spoiler alerts! (And if you haven't read The Raven King yet, tread lightly to avoid spoilers.)

Uprooted by Naomi Novik // lush and eerie and beautiful and polish

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows - everyone knows - that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn't, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

Sadly, I don't have a goodreads progress screenshot for this one, because I read it on a ship in the middle of the North Sea with no wifi. :( 

If you are around here often (or around my twitter often) you know how much I desperately desire more fantasy based in cultures that are not Western-European-Medieval. I'll be happy with any culture (give me all the immersion!) but I PARTICULARLY am always on the search for anything with Slavic roots. This may have just a little bit to do with my own Ukrainian heritage? (Just a bit.)

Thus, I was super super excited to read Uprooted, because there had been rumors of its Slavic-ness. And when I read it, I quickly realized that it wasn't only very Slavic, it was through-and-through-no-questions Polish. SO POLISH. (Which makes sense, I suppose, because that is the author's heritage.) It was as Polish as you could get without setting it in actual Poland. Here's why I felt this way:

• The country was called Polnya
• The country they were at war with was called Rusya (*cough cough Russia cough cough*)
• The main character was Agnieszka (only Poland creates sounds with that many s's and k's and z's next to each other.)
• The spells had equally difficult smushings of consonants in them. 

But this isn't to say I didn't LIKE the Polish vibes - I actually super adored them (except for the obvious Polnya/Rusya deal). I (being Ukrainian) was able to sound out the spells and figure out sometimes why they did what they did, which was epic. It's kind of like in Harry Potter, where, if you know Latin, you can see the correlation between spells and their results. For example, kalikual, which is a crippling curse in Uprooted, sounds very similar to a word in Ukrainian meaning cripple - kalika - and to the Polish word too - kaleka. Also, one of the towns that had been destroyed by the evil, sentient Wood was called Porosna - sounding very much like the word for empty.  It was really cool to notice little things like this, where I could see the worldbuilding actually happening. 

Yay! My need for Slavic folklore was satisfied.

Let's talk about what else I liked:

• Agnieszka! (Which, by the way, is a gorgeous name and the diminutive of the Polish version of Agnes, if you were wondering.) I love her as a character. She is insanely clumsy and always manages to have dirt on some part of her clothes, no matter how hard she tries. She's thrown into this world of being a witch, and manages to wrap her head around it effectively enough to make good use of her powers - but it doesn't happen so quickly that it felt like one of those fantasy cliches. I just adored watching her grow as a character.

• Kasia! Kasia is Agnieszka's friend, and is gorgeous and elegant and strong in ways that Agnieszka isn't. But I loved the way her character developed too. To be honest, I didn't expect her to become more than an introductory beautiful maiden contrasted with our clumsy MC - but she totally defied my expectations. The way her development was intertwined with Agnieszka's was beautiful to read.

• The descriptive writing - this book is written so gorgeously! The eerieness, the beauty of the country, the elegant magic, all of it was so immersive. It really made me think of paintings of folktales - quiet, pretty, with an ever-present foreboding of something malicious around the corner. i mean, just the idea of a sentient and evil Wood is fascinating and chilling and I love it. As a disclaimer, I do love full descriptions and all that, so see my last bullet point of this review for more commentary on that. 

• The spells - I kind of mentioned this already, but I really love the way the spells sound and feel in my mouth. I read them all out loud (in a whisper, obviously, so people didn't think I was cursing them or something), because I wanted to see if I could translate them. A side effect of this was that I got to experience what they would sound like if actually spoken. The sounds repeat themselves in each spell, in different orders, sometimes slurred for less effect, sometimes enunciated for full power. Just say this: Paran kivitash farantem, paran paran kivitam. See what I mean? THEY. ARE. GORGEOUS. I also love the interplay between the way that Agnieszka works magic and the way that the Dragon works it. 

But I didn't give it five stars on goodreads! Why not?

• In general, books with really old wizardy love interests that look like young men just creep me out. Agnieszka is SO MUCH younger than the Dragon, literally like a toddler compared to him. I can forgive the creepy bits about him taking girls from the village - the explanation for that is satisfactory enough - but I'm just not aboard shipping him with Agnieszka. It happens too fast (he's immortal, for heaven's sakes), and if Agnieszka doesn't know better (she's young, I'll give her a pass), he should. 

• I... kind of didn't know this wasn't YA? It read like a YA for a lot of the book (though some people say that the flowy writing isn't super YA characteristic, but I liked the writing, so didn't really notice). But then suddenly - SEX SCENE. It wasn't very graphic compared to other NA/Adult books, but it was definitely not your average YA fade-out-to-black sex scene. I didn't mind it necessarily, but I didn't like it because (a) see bullet point above and (b) I was thinking "YA" this whole time and it was a bit of a shock at first. (This isn't really what brought the rating down to four stars, tbh).

• Granted, the writing could be a little slow at times (even for me!) though not frequently. As much as I loved the fullness of her descriptions, it was less of an action adventure fighting book (though it had those scenes) and more of a slow, beautiful, eerieness to it.

Have you read Uprooted? What did you think? What is your favorite fantasy not set in Western-Medieval-Europe? And what is your opinion on immortal and old but young-looking handsome love interests?

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde // i return to the classics

 

 When the exquisitely handsome Dorian Gray sees his portrait he dreams of remaining young forever while his painted image grows old and, in a sudden moment, he offers his soul in return for perpetual youth. While his beauty remains unblemished, the portrait begins to reflect the wildness and degradation of his soul as he surrenders to a worship of pleasure and infinite passion.

The Picture of Dorian Gray caused outrage when it was first published in 1890 and marked the onset of Oscar Wilde's own fatal reputation and eventual downfall. An evocative portrayal of London life and a powerful blast against the hypocrisies of Victorian polite society it has become one of Oscar Wilde's most celebrated works, full of the flamboyant wit for which he is justly renowned.

Well, it's definitely been a while since I've read anything off my Classics Club list! I'm still not sure if this was the best book to bring me back into the classics world - but I did enjoy it quite a bit. I unfortunately don't have a "Goodreads Progress" for this book because I read it during my flight home from Denmark. :-(

I hadn't read any Oscar Wilde before (though I have seen The Importance of Being Earnest performed multiple times), and I believe this is the only novel that Wilde ever wrote. It starts off with an interesting prologue outlining Wilde's views on art and the creation of it. I agree with some of them (like, "Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art," and "It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors," and "Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital") and I disagree with others (like, "No artist has ethical sympathies," and "No artist desires to prove anything," and "All art is quite useless"). It's an interesting prologue, and, I think, really adds to many of the philosophical discussions in the book.

And there were a lot of philosophical discussions, and I don't think I can do justice to this book in a short review written shortly after I've read the book once. I don't tend to grasp "deeper" things until the second or third reading, so don't expect too much literary analysis out of this post - it's lots of ramblings. But this book is definitely worthy of a reread because there is SO MUCH in there to analyze. My mother wants to read it too, and so then I'll have a live discussion partner!

It was fascinating the way that Wilde was able to show Dorian Gray's struggles and the tension between his conscience and the voice (Lord Henry's voice?) that told him that he should live for pleasure and nothing else. You'd think that something like a magically inexplicably changing portrait would seem odd in such a novel (it's not as gothic/eerie of a novel as I thought it would be), but it works.

Actually, let's talk about Lord Henry, because he absolutely FASCINATES me. He's a spouter of shocking aphorisms just to shock his listeners, and I am still not sure if he believes them in his own soul or is, as Dorian tells him, just saying them to be shocking. He frustrated me a bit because he was either extremely simplistic and pleasure-loving, or extremely deep, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out WHICH. But whatever his motivations may be, no one can deny that he was the catalyst to Dorian's downfall.

Since all the characters were so well portrayed, I can't help but feel bad for all of their plights - from Gray and his strange end, to all those whom he hurt with just a moment's remorse, I really just wanted to give them all hugs. Is that weird? They all had such unnecessarily troubled lives! And I can't help blaming Lord Henry and his social experiments.

Wilde was a strong believer that, as he writes the the prologue, "There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all." How fitting a retort, considering that this book scandalized so many when it was first published.

Have you read The Picture of Dorian Gray? (Have you seen the recent movie with Ben Barnes? Was it any good?) 

ALSO: go enter my blogversary giveaways - THEY END FRIDAY!! There's something for everyone - Jane Eyre, and Rose Under Fire, and an ebook of your choice!  

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel // unfortunately i sleep out of boredom

 A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand. 

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved. But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

Okay, just look at that synopsis. Giant metal creatures! Political intrigue! Possibility of aliens! Badass female scientists! It looks like the perfect recipe for an epic and thrilling book.

Sadly, it really disappointed me. Why?

The novel is written in an interview format (interspersed with some letters and diary entries), and the interviewer is anonymous. It got really difficult to differentiate between the characters - they all sounded the same! None had distinct voices. It was so hard to get a good grasp on each character's personality when you were just getting all the information from interviews that all sounded like they were of the same person.

Literally the only person whom I could differentiate clearly from the rest of them was the interviewer, and not just because his text was bolded. He actually had a distinct speaking style - more formal and distant and official. But we don't really find out a lot about him anyway. He seemed the coolest of them all.

The plot started out very intriguingly, with a lot of questions to be answered, and I was excited to get those answers. Well, the story quickly got a little (that is to say, VERY) confusing. I know it's the first of a series, but there were questions in the beginning that totally weren't answered in the end. When I started, I was forgiving of the confusion - new book, new worldbuilding - but by the end I had more questions than answers. The first book is supposed to set the stage for the series, and yet I didn't feel grounded enough in the world to be comfortable in it.

Once I stopped following what was going on, it just got boring. On Goodreads (where I actually do star ratings but don't take them very seriously), I was planning on giving it a three-star rating, if the ending was satisfactory (for a book one in a series, obviously), but it wasn't, so my rating slid down to two. The conclusion didn't feel conclusion, and even though I like cliff-hangers as much as the next guy*, even a book with a sequel should have some kind of resolution.

*meaning I hate them from a feels standpoint but love them from a literary standpoint.

In general, the book felt flat to me. You know how there's that storytelling mountain? The one with exposition, development, climax, resolution? Yeah, this book felt about as mountainous as a speed bump, except for one scene in the climax that, yeah, was pretty enthralling, I admit. :-)

Okay but it couldn't have been all bad, could it? No, there were definitely good points.

Firstly, as I mentioned, it's written in interview format, and I will ALWAYS be excited when a book has an interesting narrative structures. I love when authors experiment with that sort of thing, and it makes it feel fresh.

Also, I really liked the concepts behind the science fiction - monsters! aliens! actual science! As a nerd, I'm always appreciative when there are other nerdy characters (hello Rose Franklin! Is your name a nod to the real-life scientist Rosalind Franklin who discovered DNA? I think so!). The book references actual research and I just loved how sciency it all was. 

The idea behind the novel was super fascinating, even if it wasn't executed in the best way. I could see this becoming a pretty good film, actually. And a lot of people give it really good reviews, so I'm probably just the weird odd-one-out. So if you think you'd like it, give it a try! 

Thanks to Random House Publishing for the advance copy! Sleeping Giants came out April 26th and is available in bookstores now!

Have you read Sleeping Giants? What did you think? Do you like unique formatting/narrative styles in novels? And can you recommend any other super science-nerdy books?

Mini-Reviews: Scandinavian Murderousness in Novel and TV-show Form

So if you've been reading this blog for at least the past month, you will know that I'm living in Denmark for the semester. It's awesome! It's adventurous! It's cold! (But I'm a Chicagoan I can handle this)

Because I am practically Scandinavian now, obviously, I've been reading a lot of Scandinavian fiction. (The English translations of course - I'm not THAT Scandinavian yet.) And because Scandinavia has some of the lowest crime rates in the world, of course their authors like to write about DEATH AND MURDER AND GORE. You know, to bring in some excitement.

Also, have you seen Norwegian forests? Icelandic mountains? Danish foggy roads? Those places are just ASKING to be crime scenes in novels. 

But yes, Scandinavia is known for it's crime fiction for a reason. They have some of the best crime novels and TV shows in the world, and I'm taking a class where we read the best. So I thought for today's mini-reviews I'd share three that I've read so far. (And down at the bottom are some bonus TV-show recommendations because I want to get you addicted.)

(Warning, this is a long post. But I'm really into this stuff now.)

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo - Norwegian

 Oslo in November. The first snow of the season has fallen. A boy named Jonas wakes in the night to find his mother gone. Out his window, in the cold moonlight, he sees the snowman that inexplicably appeared in the yard earlier in the day. Around its neck is his mother’s pink scarf. 

Hole suspects a link between a menacing letter he’s received and the disappearance of Jonas’s mother—and of perhaps a dozen other women, all of whom went missing on the day of a first snowfall. As his investigation deepens, something else emerges: he is becoming a pawn in an increasingly terrifying game whose rules are devised—and constantly revised—by the killer.

This one was the first Scandinavian novel I ever read, and whoa was it a good introduction. Let's talk about this magnificent whirlwind of a plot first: it just kept going in so many directions, with so many unanswered questions, and so many red herrings,* but it was never confusing or overwhelming. Masterfully done.

*Red herrings are sadly not a delicious Swedish dish, but instead misleading clues that actually lead to nothing.

When I finished reading it, I was in love, I was sure I would give it at least four stars (not five, because the writing was good but not great - maybe it was a translation issue, but I never like the sharp, constantly short sentences of adult contemporary thrillers). But then we had class discussions, and class discussions, I now realize, can change your opinion of a book a lot.

I pondered the novel beyond it's grabby and fantastic and truly excellently crafted plot, and found: disappointing female characters. It's not that the book was blatantly sexist, just slightly, unobtrusively, dare-I-say normally so. (I wrote an essay on it, so I'm not going to expound here.) Basically, the lady characters that you THOUGHT were going to become epic and strong and good and feminist ended up becoming tropes.

But that totally didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel. I loved reading it, it was just my post-reading-analysis wasn't as satisfying as it might have been. And I still totally recommend you read it (and according to my Danish host mom, his other novels in the series have the ladies playing a less one-dimentional role, so maybe it was a one-time-thing). So if you want a good eerie Scandinavian read? The Snowman is a good place to start.

I give it 4.01 snowy stars.

Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason - Icelandic

When a lonely old man is found murdered in his Reykjavík flat, the only clues are a cryptic note left by the killer and a photograph of a young girl’s grave. Inspector Erlendur, who heads the investigation team, discovers that many years ago the victim was accused, though not convicted, of an unsolved crime. Did the old man’s past come back to haunt him?

As the team of detectives reopen this very cold case, Inspector Erlendur uncovers secrets that are much larger than the murder of one old man--secrets that have been carefully guarded by many people for many years. 
So if The Snowman ruled in plot and fell apart with characters, Jar City ruled with characters, which made up for it's fine, but not 100% gripping plot. It also won with its empathy and understanding towards the plight of women rape survivors having to report the rape to the police, and how they can be dismissed as attention-seeking or confused or hormonal, and just disbelieved in general. You want a feminist male writer? Indridason is your guy. (I also wrote an essay on this, by the way, and my final paper is going to be comparing Jar City with The Snowman and their perspectives on the female character. Do you understand now why I adore this class?)

But even though I said the plot didn't wholly grasp my attention, and even though the writing was satisfactory but not fabulous (maybe translation issues again?), Jar City still had a worthily crafted plot with enough eeriness and intrigue to keep me happy. And the characters made up for what the plot lacked. Here are things you cannot find in this book: (1) Sexy ladies being sexy just because they're ladies. (2) A police department without a super-smart lady in a top investigation position. (3) Misogynists who are not portrayed as anything other than extraordinarily disgusting. Here are things that you can find in this book: (1) A fascinating and eventually satisfying relationship of a father and his adult daughter. (2) A victim who is actually a villain. (3) Minor characters who have full well-developed personalities.

If that is something that appeals to you (which is should), I highly recommend you read this book.

I give it 4.12 stars.

My Soul to Take by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir - Icelandic

A grisly murder is committed at a health resort situated in a recently renovated farmhouse, which turns out to be notorious for being haunted. Attorney Thora Gudmundsdottir is called upon by the owner of the resort - the prime suspect in the case - to represent him. Her investigations uncover some very disturbing occurrences.

This one is my favorite so far, as you can see by the rating. And I think it was because of the writing. Finally, a thriller novel with pretty writing! And it had humor too - lots of snark between our main character Thora and her boyfriend/investigation partner Matthew. Their relationship was so perfect.

She pointed at a little brown mound of dirt close to them. "What's this?" she asked, going to look at it. 

"Is there no end to your powers of detection?" said Matthew. "Look, you found some dirt."

I mean, aren't they SO CUTE and the PERFECT DETECTIVE TEAM? I love them.

Really, considering that the ending came as a bit of a shocker (in perhaps a not so good, didn't really see the plausibility of it, way), and that the plot was much tamer than the two books above, perhaps I shouldn't have rated it so highly. But THE WRITING and the ICELANDIC EERINESS and the CONVOLUTED FAMILY HISTORY (incest? child murder? neo-nazis?) made me amp up my rating a bit. Because despite what my class consensus was, I loved this book so much and I want to read more of her stuff.

I give this book 4.53 eerie Iclandic night sky stars.

And now, we move on to...

My professor for Scandinavian Crime Fiction is Danish, and yet she insists that Danish crime novels fall short when compared with other Scandinavian writers. BUT, in terms of crime shows - the Danes are unarguably at the top of the game. 

(Also it's lovely when you get to watch TV shows for homework.)

Forbrudelsen (The Killing)

Do you want proof of how good this show is? BBC aired it with English subtitles and it became SO POPULAR in England and the Brits were so proud that they were addicted to a foreign show. It's that good. 

The unique things about Danish crime shows is that it's not one case per episode, but one case per season instead. Imagine 20 episodes of the same case! Every episode ends with a cliffhanger, there are so many side stories to explore, and all the characters are fully fleshed out and so real. 

Also, Scandinavian equality means super badass female lead. She wears jeans and sweaters and ponytails; never is her appearance discussed in a derogatory way; I think she's gorgeous, but that's never the point. There's romance, but not between her and her co-detective, they both have their separate family lives. If I compared her complexity to that of Sherlock Holmes, it would be a worthy comparison (though she's not really sociopathic - she's just rather tunnel-visioned). Oh, if for nothing else, watch it for her. 

(Also, a note: Watch the original, not the US remake which is not as good stay away stay away)

The Bridge

This one is super cool because it is actually half Danish and half Swedish. It involves a body being found on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden - exactly half is in one country, and half is in the other. Who gets the case? Turns out that the two amicably rival countries have to work together. It's a study in cultures on top of a murder mystery. They actually speak both languages! (In the poster, the Swedish detective is on the left and the Danish detective is on the right,) 

This idea is so fascinating that it's had two different remakes - one between US and Mexico, and one (called The Tunnel) between the UK and France. I haven't seen those, but I want to!

The Swedish detective in this one is also a super good female character. It's also implied she has some form of Asperger's, but never actually specified. I just love how these shows make every character so well-rounded and realistic - I CANT GET OVER IT.

But where can I watch these things? You ask. I am not in Scandinavia! 

Well, I'm 99% sure UK Netflix has the first season of the original Danish The Killing available. I... don't know where to find them in the US.  (And, weirdly, Danish netflix does not have Danish The Killing, only the US remake. Why?)

If I find out where to get them in the US (because my addictions must be satisfied even after I leave Denmark), I will let you know! 

I also found this useful post that may help you.

Go and watch and be addicted! 
Also, tell me what is the eeriest crime novel you've ever read... 

Mini-reviews // Six Impossible Things + Prince of Venice Beach

It's February. The time when Chicago, in honor of my birthday earlier this month, covers its streets in grey, dirty, and half melted snow. And even though I'm not in my hometown, I am in a country (Denmark) that celebrates February in a similar way - with fog, drizzly rain, and grey clouds.

So what better way to remind myself of summer than to review two summery reads?

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood

Fourteen-year-old nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a reversal of family fortune, moving house, new school hell, a mother with a failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and an impossible crush on the girl next door.

His life is a mess, but for now he's narrowed it down to just six impossible things...

First of all, let me say this is the first book I've read set in Australia. Wooo!

The main character Dan is absolutely adorable. This may be one of the first books that I thought oh he's such a cute little baby-child awww about a teenage protagonist. Does this mean I'm old? But he likes Thai food and makes literary references so this means that we would 100% be best friends. 

The romance is adorable. You can't help rooting for Dan all the way (though I still don't see why Estelle is so utterly unbelievably desirable?). And Dan's friends were absolutely hilarious and I want them as my friends too.

The writing was super accessible and frank and overall it was just a really pleasant read. Four shiny stars for this shiny book!

The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson

Robert "'Cali" Callahan is a teen runaway, living on the streets of Venice Beach, California. He's got a pretty sweet life: a treehouse to sleep in, a gang of surf bros, a regular basketball game...even a girl who's maybe-sorta interested in him.

What he doesn't have is a plan.

All that changes when a local cop recommends Cali to a private investigator who is looking for a missing teenager. After all, Cali knows everyone in Venice. But the streets are filled with people who don't want to be found, and when he's hired to find the beautiful Reese Abernathy, who would do anything to stay hidden, Cali must decide where his loyalties truly lie.

So, funnily enough, I read this book while my parents were on a trip to California and they sent me pictures from Venice Beach. It was actually super cool to kind of be able to visualize the setting from the book. And they confirmed that Venice Beach is The Place for homeless/wandering people of all shapes and sizes. It's like it's own microcosmic culture.

That's possibly my favorite part of the book - it really delves into that Venice Beach culture, and even though I hadn't been there with my parents, I still was able to get a pretty good idea of the environment and the people, just from Blake Nelson's writing. I want to say - good worldbuilding! - but this isn't fantasy. Nevertheless, worldbuilding is the only word for it, and Blake Nelson does it marvelously.

In addition, I really liked Cali's voice. He has SUCH PERSONALITY. You see everything so well through his eyes. Also, he's supercool and I want to be his friend. 

It's definitely for a biiit of a younger audience - he IS a runaway and I don't know how well that stands with me? And I have seen it recommended for reluctant readers, which is definitely super valid! All in all, this (really short) book just felt happy and fresh and smelled like saltwater and sand. I happily give the Prince 4 stars!

What's your favorite summery read? And how's the weather in your corner of the world?

Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones // superpowers! spies! slight disappointment!

When the MK virus swept across the planet, a vaccine was created to stop the epidemic, but it came with some unexpected side effects. A small percentage of the population developed superhero-like powers. Seventeen-year-old Ciere Giba has the handy ability to change her appearance at will. She's what's known as an illusionist...She's also a thief.

After a robbery goes awry, Ciere must team up with a group of fellow super-powered criminals on another job that most would consider too reckless. The formula for the vaccine that gave them their abilities was supposedly destroyed years ago. But what if it wasn't?

The lines between good and bad, us and them, and freedom and entrapment are blurred as Ciere and the rest of her crew become embroiled in a deadly race against the government that could cost them their lives.

I was super excited for this book - it has such a fun premise - I was so ready for spies and superheroes and thrilling chase scenes. In a way, it gave me that, but it didn't GRIP me as much as I had hoped. 

So let's break it down into a list because that's the best way to review three star books, no?
(Lists are the best way to do anything, actually.)

What I didn't like as much:

•  The "sides" had me confused. Whose side were people on? There were the immune renegades, there was the government, and there were a bunch of other organizations who went by initials that I forgot what they meant. I couldn't keep track of which spy/agent belonged to which association.

• The characters didn't seem fully fleshed out to me. They had their "thing" that they're good at (their immunity), but other than the main character Ciere, they were kinda one dimensional. I SO wanted to like Kat, but I never really felt like I could relate to him in any way at all. And the characters sometimes did kinda out-of-character things just to move the plot along.

•  Talking about Ciere, she's supposed to be this really good thief and spy. Kat's raised her to be good at that sort of stuff. She spouts out sneaking thieving wisdom. And she's pulled off major heists, and we see her perform jobs impressively. She obviously knows what she's doing. But then, every so often, she lets down her guard 100% and does something so incredibly transparent, which is illogical, considering her spy knowledge. Like, I know you're just a teen. Yes, you're doing exactly what I would do in the situation. But you're not supposed to be ANY teen. You're this special spy thief superhero teen who should KNOW BETTER.

• Also, apparently, after this kind of life, she's never seen anyone die before? C'mon. 

• The writing seemed a little distant and didn't pull me in as much as I want a thriller novel to. I never was in GRAND SUSPENSE GASP.

But it was not all annoying! I enjoyed quite a bit, actually. Here's what I liked:

• SPIES. INTRIGUE. HEISTS. Therefore, SO MUCH FUN! We have weird governmental plotting, young heroes doing badass things... 

• Also, combine that with SUPERPOWERS. So not only are they spies and thieves, they are superhero spies and thieves.    

• The plot moved along steadily and with lots of twists! I definitely never thought that there were any slow bits. 

• Ciere is always doling out advice on how to be a proper criminal/spy/thief. THIS IS USEFUL INFORMATION. It's... nice... to know things like this. (DONT DENY IT YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO BE A SPY)

I also don't remember any of the main good guys being middle aged. They're all also rather good looking. Not necessarily a bad thing, just weird. 

I personally won't be reading the sequel, but I say if you are even kinda interested by the plot, give it a try! 

Have you read Illusive? Did you like it? Please recommend me some good YA spy and heist and maybe even superpower books! 

(Also PS I HAVE A BLOG BUTTON! It's over on the sidebar and it even has an official looking grabby code so go grab it for your blog because I'M SUPER PROUD OF IT if you haven't realized)