Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Titel: Everneath
Author: Brodi Ashton
Publisher: Harper Collins
First published: 2012
Pages: 570
Series: Everneath
Star rating: *****


Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever. 

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...


So this book is another book that has twisted the Hades and Persephone myth, and I think that Brodi Ashton did it well. It is not an exact copy of the myth, but that would be kind of boring, and I like the twists in her version. 

So when it comes to the characters I really like most of them, and some of them I dislike because they were written to be disliked, it therefore makes a whole lot of sense to not like them. Lets start of with Nikki or Becks or Nik or whatever. She is a really good character, and she grows a lot through this novel. After just being in the underworld (Everneath) for 6 months or actually 100 years, you can't come out unscratched an she doesn't. She struggles a whole lot with dealing with all of this stuff, and trying to figure out more about the everlings and everneath, and of to interact with all of the people she knew before going to Everneath and I really liked her development.

Next up is Jack...
Jack was just so endearing, I really just liked him. He was left broken after Becks left, and struggles with a lot of his own problems, along with helping Becks. You couldn't help but feel sad for him, because you know stuff... Then there is Cole the opposite of Jack. i really disliked him, but he was probably written to be dislikable, but on the other hand you kind of feel sorry for him at points, so is not all bad like "He who most not be named". 
The other characters were fine too, but really we did not see that much of them, but I really liked Meredith too.

Now back the mythology thing. While I liked the spin on the Hades and Persephone myth, I missed some more greek mythology, some more besides this one. The Hades & Persephone myth was pretty much to only myth along with Orpheus and Eurydice, you got to know in the story and I wanted more of the stories, and not just their story maybe you know some of the other gods as well, but maybe that will arrive in the next one. Who knows? (Well Brodi Ashton knows...)

I liked the way it was written as well, with the flashbacks giving you the parts you were missing, they were well done and they made sense. They didn't just pop out of nowhere, it was related to the present. 

All together I really enjoyed this book, I started reading it in the evening thinking I would just read a couple of chapters and then go to bed. I ended up reading about half of the book. Even though it was not much of an action book, which I usually prefer I really liked it, and of course a Cliffhanger. Now I really need the next one Everbound, and it doesn't come out till sometime in 2013

The son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Titel: The son of Neptune
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Hyperion
First published: 2011
Pages: 521
Series: Heroes of Olympus
Star rating: *****


Synopsis: 

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, 
To storm or fire the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath, And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

Percy is confused. When he awoke from his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight with the pen/sword in his pocket. Somehow Percy manages to make it to a camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he has to keep killing monsters along the way. But the camp doesn't ring any bells with him. The only thing he can recall from his past is another name: Annabeth 

Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. Sure, she was an obedient daughter, even when her mother was possessed by greed. But that was the problem - when the Voice took over her mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for and evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Hazel wished she could ride away from it all on the stallion that appears in her dreams. 

Frank is a klutz. His grandmother says he is descended from heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn't see it. He doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery - although not good enough to win camp war games. His bulky physique makes him feel like an ox, especially infront of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely - enough to share the secret he holds close to his heart. 

Beginning at the "other" camp for half-bloods and extending as far as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment of the Heroes of Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all destined to play a part in the Prophesy of Seven




So I have no idea why it took me so long to get along to reading this. I mean it is by Rick Riordan, Greek/Roman Mythology and PERCY! Whatever I finally read it, and I am so glad I did!! I had really high expectations for this book, but it surpassed them.

Lets see what was awesome about this book. PERCY! 
I missed him so much in the Lost Hero, I mean Jason, Piper and Leo were really cool too, but they just weren't Percy, but his parts were written in 3rd person, which was a little irritating because I had gotten so used to having him written in 1st person like in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but aside from that it was just wonderful to get to read about Percy again. But on the otherhand I still miss Annabeth...

Then there was the other camp, it was just really cool, since it was structured to differently then Camp half-blood. Some parts of it was better, but definitely not all of it. It was just really cool to get some more of the Roman Myths I think I still prefer Greek but Roman mythology is very cool too. This other camp also helped explain a lot of about Jason, whereas when you have Percy Exploring Camp Jupiter you have Camp Half-blood to compare to, and such. 

There was also a bunch of new characters, which mostly were so so cool! I really liked Hazel I think she was just such an awesome character, and her background story was just brilliant! Reyna was actually quite awesome too, at first she seemed (At least to me) like just a new Clarisse, but she was so much more then that. After a while you get to see some of her backstory and then she just became so much more then just another Clarisse. Frank, well I didn't love him as I loved some of the other characters, but I mean I was quite cool, and so was is family gift (So COOL!) but I just couldn't really connect to him, like I could to some of the other characters. 

So this was just another wonderful book by Rick Riordan and I can't wait till October for the Mark of Athena, because of course Rick Riordan just had to end on a cliffhanger....

The fellowship of the ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Titel: The Fellowship of the ring
Author: J.R.R.Tolkien
Publisher: Grafton
First published: 1954
Pages: 529
Series: Lord of the rings trilogy
Star rating: *****


The first volume in J.R.R. Tolkien's epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.

In a sleepy village in the Shire a young hobbit is entrusted with an immense task. He must make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ruling Ring of Power - the only thing that prevents the Dark Lord's evil dominion.

Another wonderful tale by Mr. Tolkien. 

This one left off a great deal of time after the Hobbit, but you still got to meet Bilbo and Gandalf and such, and got introduced to a bunch of new characters, that I ended up liking a great deal as well. I think that Frodo's companions are just all to wonderful. I definitely liked the hobbits the best. Pippin, Merry and Sam were just so super awesome. These small little creatures that just end up being really important, and they come with some funny comments in sad spots and all of that and it is just brilliant. Also Strider is just so cool! (And he is played by a danish actor in the movies) He has this secrecy to him, sort of like Gandalf does, and that is just so cool. You just wanna know who he is and where he came from and really just his entire story. 

Also I found that this one was more fast paced then the Hobbit, and that was one of my few problems with the Hobbit, and that was just great. Also just the entire adventure in this one seems a whole lot more meaningful and serious, then that of the hobbit.

Again like in the hobbit the world building is just amazing, I don't even wanna know how long Tolkien spend on getting all of this together, because it is just amazing. There is all of these awesome creatures and awesome enchanting forrests, secret castels, tons of different cultures and it is just remarkable how well thought out this world is. Yes, it is sometimes a little irritating having him describe a tree for an entire page or something like that, but when it comes to imaging the world it really helps to have this amazing description. 

So I really enjoyed this book, the fantasy was again amazing, and by know I have gotten more used to Tolkiens writing style, and all of that. Already started the next and so far it is just as good.

Looking Back (April)

I'll be doing this "Looking back" at the end of each month, to wrap interesting things that happend through April about books in my little world. Therefore it will mostly be about interesting books that came out, other book announcements, books I bought or got and so on.
This month I started book-blogging again, which I will try to do often, but I can't do it everyday, that of course is big news concerning books and me.
This month the title for J.K. Rowling's new book was announced, and it is to be called "The Casual vacany" and to be released September 27th, and I am so excited for it to come out, even though it's synopsis is not something I would typically read, but since it's J.K. Rowling I am sure it will be good.
This month I also started reading Lord of the rings, which I have been wanting to do for so long, and now I finally started, and so far I am really enjoying it.
This month I bought 4 books. I was so lucky that the bookstore that I was in actually had an okay selection of English books, since I live in Denmark this is not something I often come across. So you can imagine my excitement, but they didn't have many books I wanted anyways so it wasn't that good. They would have some in a series, but not the ones I wanted, but I did manage to find 4 books. I bought Everneath by Brodi Ashton, Pegasus and the flame, Pegasus and the fight for Olympus, Pegasus and the new Olympians all by Kate O'Hearn. They all look quite good so I am looking forward to reading these.
This is just shortly what happend of interesting things this past month, hope you all had a great month, and look forward to May just as I do.

2012 YA/MG Fantasy challenge hosted by The Book cellar

Since Fantasy is my favorite genre, I thought It would be fun to participate in a fantasy challenge, and the one hosted by The Book cellar sounded like a great deal of fun. The goal of this challenge is to read and review 10 fantasy novels coming out this year. So I would get to review some books and read some more fantasy books :D Will be updating on how far I am in the challenge as I read the books :D

The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien

Titel: The Hobbit
Author: J.R.R.Tolkien
Publisher: Grafton
First published: 1937
Pages: 285
Series: Prequel to Lord of the rings
Star rating: *****
"The Hobbit is a tale of high adventure, undertaken by a company of dwarves, in search of dragon-guarded gold. A reluctant partner in this perilous quest is Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving, unambitious hobbit, who surprises even himself by his resourcefulness and skill as a burglar. 
Encounters with trolls, goblins, dwarves, elves and giant spiders, conversations with the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent, and a rather unwilling presence at the Battle of the Five Armies are some of the adventures that befall Bilbo. But there are lighter moments as well: good fellowship, welcome meals, laughter and song.
Bilbo Baggins has taken his place among the ranks of the immortals of children's fiction. Written for Professor Tolkien's own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when published. It is a complete and marvellous tale in itself, but it also forms a prelude to The Lord of the Rings"

Wow, I had heard that the fantasy by Tolkien is good, but I guess it is one of those things you have to read to truly believe. The world building in this book was really amazing, I felt as if what you were told and saw through the story were only the tip of the iceberg. It could get the 5 stars only based on the world building, if you where to ask me. All of the creatures where just great, and I really liked the hobbits and the elves too.

I really liked the characters too, they were all very realistic, and Bilbo was great. He was such an awesome unwilling hero, and he just grew so so much through a single book, that some characters doesn't even do in an entire series.

Even though I really enjoyed this book I had a few issues with it as well. Sometimes Tolkien described the look of some random tree in a little to much detail for me it would have been enough just to be told that it was an oak tree, that had grown for decades or something like that. It didn't need a long passage. Even though it was great with a lot of detail when it came to the history of the people and important landmarks.

The style in which this book was written wasn't really the type I was used to, which of course is mostly because of the age of the book, and it therefore took me a little longer then a normal 300 paged novel would. Also almost every chapter was it's own little story, in one chapter they would meet the orcs and escape too, and in the next they did this and that, but it all lead up to the big adventure. This was at points just wonderful, because it made sense, but sometimes it seemed that each chapter was written alone and not in a novel.

So overall this was a really great book, and probably something every fantasy fan should read, and I look forward to starten the fellowship of the ring :D

Language change

I have written the first two of my posts in Danish, but I am gonna switch to English know, since I read most of my books in english so it only seems natural that I should review the books on english too. Also I am very new to all of this blogging stuff. I have tried before, but stopped quickly afterwards, so we will see how it goes this time!