Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

*This review may contain spoilers.*

This book is absolutely phenomenal, and if you're thinking about getting it, just buy it, you will love it! The book trailer did not do it justice, in my opinion, I found it a bit hokey, but the book was wonderful, and much better than the trailer led me to believe.

I hadn't heard of Rachel Hartman before, which is explained when the inside front cover states that this is her "fantasy debut." However, I am very happy that I am now aware of this author, because she is awesome!

First off, I got this book because I was intrigued by the amazing cover I saw in an email from Barnes and Noble; it's like an antique wood engraving or something! Then, if you look underneath the dust jacket, it's bound in this golden color with a black leather type thing on the spine...it's really, really beautiful. Also, it's a good size book, too, nice and big!

I had my father pick this up for me, and he handed it to me around noon and I finished it just now (around quarter 'til nine), so that should give you an indication of how engaging a read this was! Books that I can finish in one day really, really go up in points for me.

The world in this book was just great! I, personally, get a bit of a Medieval feel from the clothing and system of government, but it's set in a completely fantasy world. Our protagonist hails from Goredd, but there is an abundance of other places and peoples referenced; I always like to feel like the world is a world that I have the privilege of peeking in on through the page, not like the world was created to allow for the story to take place, and I absolutely get that feeling from Seraphina.

I really, really, really like Rachel Hartman's style of writing. It's a very melodious, almost like it has a cadence of some sort, which is quite fitting, due to Seraphina's musical abilities. I find I am unable to describe it accurately, but it's very lush and magical; I enjoyed it immensely. I am definitely keeping an eye out for this author's future novels.

I also found Seraphina to be a great heroine. I really enjoyed the way she grappled with truth and her identity and such, and it really touched me.

...And, of course, the romance with Prince Lucian Kiggs. Yay, romance! This book didn't have an overwhelming amount of romance, but what there was was very satisfying. I liked Kiggs a lot, though I didn't get all melt-y over him like I do with other heroes, it was  more of a pleasant, heartwarming kind of a thing. I may or may not have engaged in some good old-fashioned fangirl squeeing during their final scene in the tower.

The mystery and intrigue and the anger and violence and prejudice and death in this book...I don't want to say it was gritty, since that would be very discordant with the overall tone, but it was ... real. For a book marked as for people 12 - 17 on the Barnes and Noble website, it was surprisingly sincere and deep and ... epic.

That's a good word...this is not a young adult novel, this is an epic. Okay, maybe not with an invocation of the Muse or an in media res opening, but it's just a broad, sprawling narrative that encapsulates a young woman's quest for truth and love, the politics of two kingdoms soon to be at war with themselves and each other and very universal themes that make this book one of the best ones I've read in a long time.

Final Verdict: Infinity and beyond/10. It was completely perfect, and I highly recommend you pick it up! I'm completely genuine when I tell you that if you are a literate individual, then this book is for you! It's just magical, really. I'm going to make one of the most radical statements I have ever made in my entire eighteen years of life: I believe this book to be the best fantasy book I have ever read, possibly ever written. The world was expansive and rich and real and the characters were genuine and lovable and the plot was intriguing and everything was just perfect.

For more info, check out the author's website here, I'm going to go put this book on The Shelf.

Thanks for reading!

Perception by Kim Harrington

*This review contains spoilers.*

This book is the sequel to Clarity, about a teenage girl in Cape Cod who has psychic abilities and finds herself faced with a murder investigation as well as a love triangle.

My Thoughts:

1. I should mention that I loved the first book, so of course I picked this one up. 
2. I really, really enjoyed this book. It was so engaging that I can honestly say I read it in about two and a half hours. 
3. Just a random thing, the inside covers are done with this really natural looking green paper...it's like flecked with tree fibers or something. It's just a gorgeously bound book in general. 
4. Like the first book, I enjoyed the paranormal influence throughout...how normal it is to the Fern family, how embedded it is. 
5. Kim Harrington's style is just to die for! I love, love, love the way she writes. It's very accessible and fluid, but still very much poignant, in my opinion. 
6. The mystery in this book is just amazing! You really are kept guessing on all fronts. Twists and turns all over the place. 
7. I really did feel genuine prickles of fear on my spine. It's easy to get that through the visceral sense of cinematography and sound effects in a movie, but I rarely get that in a book. However, here, I was literally freaked out. Like, I read this from roughly 6:00 PM to 8:00PM and if it had been any later, I would've genuinely been frightened, Kim Harrington is that good. 
8. The love interests! Woooo! Can I just say I love Gabriel. His protection of Clare from Cody, his passion, his understanding, how he's willing to bank his future on her decision...just his general demeanor is very appealing. In the end, the love triangle was resolved in a very satisfactory manner. 
9. I loved the ending of this book. Clarity ended on kind of an ominous note, what with the creepy prediction from that other psychic in town, but Perception ended on a high note. 
10. I don't mean to be critical of the Young Adult genre (I am a young adult, after all), but I find that some of them are characterized by rather cheap thrills. That's fine, I mean, camp is a good, fun romp occasionally, but I really think that this book is better than that. I don't mean to say that I think it was necessarily an awakening of my soul or anything, but I did think a lot about relationships and popularity and people and my own life. You know, it kind of was soul-stirring, for me at least. 
11. I don't know what to tell you other than I thought this was a well-written, engaging, entertaining book that genuinely made me care for the characters and swoon a bit over Gabriel. (Not that it's hard to make me swoon.) This is pretty much what I want to get when I go to the store looking for a new book. 

Who Should Read It:

• Mystery fans! Seriously, I was guessing and having to re-evaluate and guessing again for a good two-hundred of the almost three-hundred pages of this book. 
• People who read the first one! This one is just as good, if not better, in my opinion. 
• Most people! I really like this as a book and highly recommend it. 

Final Score: 10/10 Pretty much perfect. Not in a way that I'd ever read it again, but in a reading it was a wonderful experience kind of way. 

I checked out Kim Harrington's website (here), and apparently her next book is called The Dead and Buried and will be available next year! Ah, I'm so excited! Definitely look that up (or click that link) because it sounds really good!

Thank you for reading!

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

Recently, I purchased a bunch of classic novels from Half-Price Books, and this was among them. I was very excited to read it, and it did not disappoint.

My Thoughts

1. I absolutely love Sir Walter Scott's style - it's amazing! His language is simply enthralling, and I highly recommend this book just for that. 
2. I will allow my nerdy flag to fly high: Medieval England is very near and dear to me, so I liked that a lot. 
3. I mean, come on, Robin Hood was in it! Woo!
4. I'm not going to lie, everything Wilfred went through to marry Lady Rowena and even for Rebecca was just so touching, and I thought the relationships were wonderfully portrayed. 
5. I really can honestly say I cried while Cedric was in the dungeon waxing poetic on the degradation of his race (the Saxons), Scott is that good. 
6. Brian de Bois-Guilbert. I was rooting for him, too, licentious though he was. Something about him get niggling my brain, and I finally realized what it was when he approached Rebecca in her cell before her execution and told her he'd dishonor himself as a Templar, as a knight and as a man and not turn up at the trial by combat if she only promised to love him in return. She refuses, and he's hurt that death is preferable to life with him. Think on that for a bit, it should come to you.....Sir Guy of Gisborne to Marian in BBC's Robin Hood! When the people who laid siege to Nottingham Castle told Guy he could only take his wife with him, and he proposed to Marian and she refused him! Then, later in Ivanhoe, when the trial by combat is about to commence, Brian de Bois-Guilbert asks Rebecca to climb astride his horse and is prepared to sacrifice everything, most likely have to fight for their survival and ride pell-mell out of England all together, and Rebecca still refuses him! I wanted her to love him back, even though he had his vices, I just think it's horribly sad when that level of devotion is rejected. Back to the Robin Hood analogy, it does not hold true in that respect: Robin/Marian is my OTP and I will go down with that ship. However, I, personally, am somewhat co-dependent and have a thing for damaged men (and, you know, the appreciation for Richard Armitage in leather pants that I am sure is universal to the female population). 

Who Should Read It

• Fans of Medieval romances/epic quests/knights in shining armor/damsels in distress, that kind of thing. 
• Fans of literature. 

This was an amazing book that I really enjoyed reading and have placed on The Shelf...10/10 at least...really, really, really good. If you're contemplating reading it or just looking for a book, you will not be disappointed with Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.