Turtles All The Way Down, by John Green

Hey all! 

I just finished reading Turtles all the Way Down, the new John Green book! It completely lived up to my expectations! 

"Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts."



So! Turtles All the Way Down has been highly anticipated since John Green's Fault in Our Star, that took (and broke) everyone's hearts a few years ago. 

In Turtles, we meet Aza, a high school student who lives with OCD. What's interesting is that the author has announced his OCD and has talked about it before. 

Never have I read a book where mental illness was a characteristic of one of the main characters, where the illness was talked about so incredibly. Some thought spirals felt real, they were written in such a way that they felt almost like my own thoughts. It was never romanticized, over-dramatized or downplayed. It was truly incredible to read something like this! 

This is definitely Green's darkest book, but also the most unique one. We're not looking at his usual tropes of a love story between incredibly quirky characters, with strange friends and deep philosophies. This is a whole new twist on his style, one that I really appreciated! 

** SPOILER SECTION** 

Okay so I really liked Daisy as a character - she was a supportive friend in the sense that she never pressed Aza for information about how she felt. She had her own story but didn't burden her friend with it because she knew she had problems of her own she needed to face. She took Aza on an adventure which allowed the book to progress. 

However, whereas plot is usually a driving force in a book, this book revolved around character interactions. The plot allowed for characterization to develop. Aza and Daisy didn't always agree, but they were there for each other. Their other friend, Mychal, was sweet and strange and a nice addition from time to time. 

And then there was Davis. Davis is one of my personal favorite guys from the John Green books. He's quiet, allows for awkward silence and understands that some relationships should be careful and slow. He loves astronomy (aw yes), and is an incredible brother. He is so beautifully patient with Aza's OCD and does not let it bother him. 

Oh, can we just talk about how mature everyone is in this book? Characters say exactly what they think, and they recognize individuality. It was nice to read something where you didn't have to 'yell' at characters for not seeing others as human. 

One part that really stressed me is when Aza would get into her thought spirals about C.Diff. Her cut finger was like an anchor, which was off-putting. But when she kissed Davis and swallowed hand sanitizer to feel safe, I got so worried for her. There is so much stuff in hand sanitizer... and then she did it at the hospital in front of her mother. That's when I really got the idea that mental illness is not something you can hide in front of others during a bad period. It's not 'just in your head', it's really something scary that almost controls you more than you control it. 

I could keep talking about this book forever! There was so many amazing things about it that I wish I could write about with the right words, but I think it's best if you discover all of this for yourself :) 

I'm giving this a 5/5 feather! It was really a book I can get back to! 

Have you read Turtles All the Way Down? What did you think? Let me know!! 

Stay bookish, 

Bookish Talks ~13~ So much to catch up on!

Hey, all! 

Oh my goodness, it's been such a long time since I wrote one of these. I've been so busy in life, I'm magically been socializing a tiny bit more and I've actually had a lot of bookish events happening around me! I just haven't taken the time to blog much... But now that university started for the 4th year, I'll be able to post more regularly again :)  I mean, hopefully! 

Magic Tea

So recently I've been chosen by @magicchests over on Instagram to review their new Magical Teas which has been the BEST thing! I love tea so much, so having tea based on bookish moments is amazing! A full review of these teas will come up here sooner or later. I received samples of Morr, Second Breakfast, Common Room, Winterfell and Beyond the Wall and I adore them all! Their brewing time is a little long but it's worth it, I promise! I tried Common Room with a friend who knows nothing about reviewing yet still said that it tasted exactly how he imagined the Gryffindor Common Room to smell, which is exactly what you want with bookish teas :) You guys can use Blog10 for a discount! 

Bookstagram Meetup NL

In August, a few Instagram friends and I organized a bookstagram meetup for Dutch Instagrammers! (Follow @anniekslibrary, @sortingdays, and @sneirrbooks!) It was so much work but in the end, we had over 40 people show up, provided goodie bags for everyone, and had local Etsy shops show up to meet their customers IRL! We had a pizza dinner and played Cards Against Humanity and just generally had a great time! It was so wonderful to meet some bookstagrammers that I have known for a long time but had never really met! 

Light The Pages

I also started (and just finished) repping for Light the Pages! Liv owns a little candle shop that has the most lovely and unique candles! She really puts a lot of love and work into her creations, and I would love it if you checked out her shop! You can get a discount with ANOTHERBB10, but just for a few more weeks! Trust me, they're so worth it! I like to burn one a day and have different ones for different moods. Plus they're always packaged with the most care and they are really fragrant! I'm going to miss repping for you Liv! 

Harry Potter Night

You guys know how I'm working with the bookstore in my local town, Maastricht? Last Friday, we had a huge Harry Potter evening to close off the Young Adult week! We had 440 people racing through our bookstore, who got sorted, and who participated in the House Cup quiz! We had Quidditch, actors, a sorting hat, and all kinds of people showing up! Follow Young Adult Dome on practically any platform for photos! :D 

My 21st

I just turned 21 on the 18th of September! Nothing big or fancy happened, but I did get the Percy Jackson and the Olympians box set - the ones with the pretty spines! Now I have two sets of those books but it's ok, I love them so much!! 

University life 

So now for more everyday happenings. I'm in my 4th year of bachelors out of 3, taking extra classes and still working hard with the Charity Committee. It's the first time that I really feel socially comfortable, which I am very, very happy about! it took a long time for me to get to this point where I'm less of an introvert and I can talk to people without worrying about being judged. That may also be why I haven't been so active on my blog this year - which I'm so sorry about! - because I can now spend more time talking to people and going to events than before as I'm less anxious about it. A few people really had a big impact on me in this sense which I am incredibly grateful for. :) 

Music
So it's no surprise that I love music, of almost all types. I talk about it a lot here and always have a song-of-the-day on my Instagram! Recently, I managed to get tickets to see two of my all-time favorite bands; Imagine Dragons in February and The Script in March! I can hardly believe that I'm going to see either of them and even less both! I know there's still several months to wait but I'm actually going now and I cannot wait!!! 

Floating Shelves
I recently caved in and bought myself some floating shelves for my room! I have 3 of them and they look so good! I don't have a photo to share with you just yet but I'll try to upload one soon :) 


That's it for today! I hope you all have a lovely day/week, depending on when I post again ^^

Stay bookish, 

Truth, by Christina Benjamin

Hey, all! 

I just finished reading Truth, book 1 of the Geneva Project, by Christina Benjamin! 

Christina was kind enough to contact me on my Instagram and ask me if I wanted to read her book! I want to apologize that I wasn't able to read it right away - my TBR for work and for books that I just wanted to catch up on was quite incredible! 

"Trapped on a flood-ravaged island full of orphans, natives and wealthy citizens of the prosperous city Lux, a young girl named Geneva finds herself enslaved at an orphanage with no future and a past she can’t remember. That all changes when she meets someone who promises her that there’s more in store for her than she ever could have imagined. Her once dull life rapidly spirals out of control as she starts to acquire new magical powers that may be the key to unlocking an ancient legend along with her true identity. But first, she must master these powers, all while trying to keep them secret from her friends and the evil headmistress at the orphanage. Before she knows it, Geneva is in over her head and has inadvertently wrapped her friends into her web of magic and lies and now all of their lives hang in the balance once the headmistress finds out her plan to prove that the legend of Lux may not be a legend at all! Who will Geneva trust and how far will she go to save her friends and find out her true identity?"

Before reading this, you guys should be aware that this book is more of a middle-grade story than young adult. The main characters are quite young and the story is more 'fun' for younger readers. However, it was a middle-grade done well! There was a lot of good elements that makes this book a good introduction to reading for younger readers - magic, a dystopian setting, friends, enemies, and a whole lot of backstory and exposition. 

Truth follows a young girl who only knows her 'number' rather than her name, in a setting where people secretly know their names, and the fact that magic is real. She soon discovers that she is one of these magic-wielders and that she can take magic powers from others. She is tied to the legend surrounding the island, and by the end wants to learn more about herself and her origins, in a society where children are mostly orphans helping re-build the city after destruction. 

You guys know how much I love characters and their stories - it's really what I live for when I read. I feel like these characters should have been developed a little bit more - but then again I understand that this is difficult to do in a society where everyone is known by their age and number only. Hopefully, in the next book, the characters will flourish a bit more! I feel that that would give more depth to the book and make the emotions associated with the story magnified. 

Although some parts were predictable, I found that the story overall was original and fun to read - the chapters were short (my fave!) and it was always interesting to see what kind of trouble the characters could get into. 


Overall I'm giving this book a 3.5/5 feathers! Not so much my speed but I did appreciate the story and the originality behind. it! Cannot wait to read part two! 

Make sure to check out The Geneva Chronicles on Amazon! 

Stay bookish! 

Lord of Shadows, by Cassandra Clare

Hey, all! 

It feels like I haven't blogged in AGES! Goodness I missed it! It's surprisingly hard to find time to read and write in the summer - during class it becomes routine, but when you're busy in the summer with visits and traveling, finishing a book takes forever!

Not to mention that I'm a full 18 books behind on my Goodreads challenge... RIP 2017 reading ambitions... 

Anyway more on my non-reading year in a few days, I'm planning a huge Bookish Talk post! 

(I really need a blogging calendar...) 

I recently finished reading Lord of Shadows, by Cassandra Clare! (This review will be quite short as I finished it over 2 weeks ago and it's super difficult to be able to review it with the same clarity as I usually do.)

"A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners—sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love.

Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden—it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides?

Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and “unsuitable” Nephilim. They’ll do anything in their power to expose Julian’s secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own.

When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows—the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear."

WARNING: This review will contain loads of spoilers for Lady Midnight, and some for Lord of Shadows. Do not proceed if you still haven't read them! 

This book was a lot better than Lady Midnight! I felt a lot more related to the characters and some situations. 

In this book, Kit is becoming a more official member of the Blackthorn family. Kit is honestly one of my favorite characters in the series. It's nice to see someone who knows about the shadow world and be surprised to find out that he's actually a part of it. He really does not care about the status of being a Herondale, and is very sarcastic. However he develops a truly amazing relation with Ty, and a good one with Livvy. I really really love Kit and Ty. Kit really seems to understand him and is able to reach out to him despite his autism, that none of the other Herondales know about. I really hope that they become parabatai in the third book - they just work so well together, it's beautiful! He also had a cute 'relationship' with Livvy UNTIL THAT ENDING! 

Cassandra Clare has a special talent - that of seeing someone's heart, deciding it would look better in shreds, doing everything possible for that to happen, then handing it back on a silver platter, acting all innocent. While this didn't kill me as much as Clockwork Princess, I cannot believe what she did. Yet again I can just because it's a lot more realistic that way. BUT THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY! Now we all have to wait 2 years to know how it plays out... wonderful! 

I like Emma and Julian's relationship, but Julian still scares me. He's like a Parseltongue for people rather than snakes, or a Charmspeaker, and it makes me really uncomfortable. But I'm glad to see that their relationship may possibly be possible? Or will Cassie do something horrible again? Who knows! I just love their friendship more than anything else :) 

Now I REALLY liked Annabel, despite her wrongdoings. She is so intriguing and I really cannot wait to see how her character plays out in the next book! 

I was so happy to see that Magnus, Alec, Clary and Jace were all supporting characters! They really created a bridge between the stories that left me thinking "I see what you did there!" That was more for fun than practicality, but you need a bit of nostalgia sometimes! 

I'm also really liking the whole Christina/Mark ship, with Keiran kind of annoying everyone. It's fun to read about, and you really have no clue how it will end! (Although I hate Diego, he can leave yesterday.)

My favorite quote from the book that isn't all deep and morally-convincing is simply Julian and Emma talking about Shadowhunter last names!

"I wonder what other family mottoes are," Emma mused. "Do you know any?"

"The Lightwood family motto is 'We mean well.'"

"Very funny."

Julian looked over at her. "No, really, it actually is." 

"Seriously? So what's the Herondale family motto? 'Chiseled by angsty'?"

He shrugged. 'If you don't know what your last name is, it's probably Herondale'?"

Emma burst out laughing. "What about Carstairs?" she asked, tapping Cortana. "'We have a sword'? 'Blunt instruments are for losers'?"

"Morgenstern," offered Julian. "'When in doubt, start a war'?"

"How about 'Had even one of us ever been any good, like ever, seriously'?"

Overall, this book was a really great installment for the series! I can't believe that we have to wait for so long until the next part in published! 

I'm giving this book a 4.5/5 feathers! 

Have you read Lord of Shadows? What did you think of it? Let me know! 

Stay bookish! 

The Girl with All the Gifts, by M. R. Carey

Hey, all! 

I just finished reading The Girl with All the Gifts, by M. R. Carey! This was not exactly YA - more of a general sci-fi book about a not-so-distant future in which zombies have taken over. Totally not my type of book, usually, but I heard so much about this one that I just had to pick it up. 

(Searching for the cover art, I just realized this was made into a movie! I might take time to watch it if I'm bored!)

"Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius."

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

The Girl with All the Gifts is a sensational thriller, perfect for fans of Stephen King, Justin Cronin, and Neil Gaiman."

This book was nothing I expected, and a lot more. I did have a few problems with it, but overall, it was an enjoyable, intense read that was difficult to put down. 

The first thing that struck me about it is that it's in the present tense. At least in YA, it is quite unusual to read a book in which everything is narrated as it is occurring. This brought a new angle to reading that I'm not used to, but it also made it a very cinematic experience. you discovered things along with the characters and saw their actions as they played out. It was actually quite refreshing to read in the present! I did some research and found that Carey is/was an author for DC/Marvel, which you can really see in this book through the way it's written. 

The characters in this book were difficult to pinpoint, personality-wise. Melanie, the main character, was the most vivid. She was a smart girl who only wanted things to be good and sunny. She was actually adorable at her worst. Although she is a zombie, she acts and thinks like a normal child. But when the time comes for her to eat someone to save her teacher, Miss Justineau, the narrative keeps shifting from how gory it is to how much she's enjoying it. The wierd thing is that although she realizes that this is not 'normal', she's all sunshine and rainbows and shiny-anime-eyes when she first discovered eating. 

Miss Justineau is strong-minded and protective, but I would have loved to know more about her past. Through the book there is a feeling that her past before the zombie apocalypse may not have been very bright and sunny. This is one thing that I think having the book written in the present missed out on - we were missing out on backstories, which is something I think is important for character development. 

One character who goes through a lot of development is Parks - this man is completely military, and a real leader. He at first believes that everyone would be better off and safter if he killed Melanie, however he grows to trust her and show affection for her. 

We also have Ghallager, who was my favorite of the group - he's a young guy who is learning how to be a soldier under Parks. I could feel a real personality from him. Have you guys ever seen Pocahontas? You know the kid-setteler who John Smith teaches to shoot? I kept imagining Ghallager as him! 

Finally you have Caroline (ugh hate reading about characters with familiar names), who is a scientist (aw yeah!) in search for a cure against the zombifiying fungus. She is often seen as the misunderstood villain of the story, as she wants to kill Melanie to find a cure. 

This book does go through ethical quesitons as well - weather is is okay to kill for the sake of humanity, and the idea of child imprisonment and keeping the truth from people in order to prevent chaos. It is a lot to think about but I think that the book handled it very well! 

One thing I did NOT like about the book was its end. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but goodness it fell so flat in my opinion! But to be fair, it was 'realistic'. Depressing, but realistic. 

Overall, this book was fast-paced, constantly shifting and moving, with interesting characters and plot, but I wish there could have been a bit more backstory and a more drawn-out ending

I'm giving this a 4/5 feathers! Worth the read, for sure! 

Have you read The Girl with All the Gifts? What did you think of it? Let me know!

Stay bookish, 

Mosquitoland, by David Arnold

Hey all! 

I recently finished reading Mosquitoland, by David Arnold! 

"After the sudden collapse of her family, Mim Malone is dragged from her home in northern Ohio to the "wastelands" of Mississippi, where she lives in a medicated milieu with her dad and new stepmom. Before the dust has a chance to settle, she learns her mother is sick back in Cleveland.

So she ditches her new life and hops aboard a northbound Greyhound bus to her real home and her real mother, meeting a quirky cast of fellow travelers along the way. But when her thousand-mile journey takes a few turns she could never see coming, Mim must confront her own demons, redefining her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane."

When I started Mosquitoland, I had no expectations - I was lucky enough to meet David Arnold in April at YalFest.NL, but I honestly did not know what his books were about or what kind of author he was. 

Super prepared, right? 

Recently I decided to do a 24-hour readathon to see how much I could get done in a day, and to try to reduce my huge Goodreads Goal lag. I started with Mosquitoland, finished it in the day, and am now in the biggest reading slump I've been in for years. 

Why? 

This book was amazing! 

Mosquitoland follows Mim - a girl who ran away from home to visit her mom in Ohio, who she believes is sick. This book is in the style of a road trip, and each of her stops is stranger than the next, with complex characters and an incredible, funny narrative. 

Of course, her road trip does not go as planned, there are accidents, she meets strange people that may not want the best for her, etc. But she also meets good friends and gets pulled into stories that are almost unimaginable. 

I loved the way David wrote this - it was smart and funny and light on the heavy issues. It covered mental illness and societal problems in a really unique way, compared to contemporaries I have read before.

What I appreciated was the way he approached mental illness. So often, contemporary authors are put down for their portrayal of mental illness, saying it's 'romanticized' or not explained right. David Arnold does have some characters will such illnesses, but he never really puts a label on them. One of the side characters is described to have autistic-like characteristics, while the main mentions of Mim's illness are the fact that she needs to take daily medicine, and that she knows that people around her think she has a problem. They way it was described made mental illness a background feature of this book, rather than a pivotal plot point, which was very refreshing! 

A lot of this book was centered around personal relations between people - whether they are strangers, friends or people who have to be dealt with despite disagreements or dislikings. We saw Mim's perceived relations with both her mother and step-mother, her father, and strangers. Strangers always had a distinctive feature about them as their 'name', such as Poncho Man. People she considered as friends were called by their first names. I loved each of the characters, even all of the side characters that were only around for one chapter! 

The plot of the book was unexpected but done really well - nothing was so incredibly out of the ordinary that it fell into the ridiculous, which was great! Through the series of events, Mim goes through loads of character developments that I found amazing! She grew through friendships with very different people, which is something that I can relate to and really enjoyed reading about! 

The ending of this book was unexpected, emotional, and came out of nowhere. There was loads of redemption and none of it was cliche! 

I could keep gushing about this book for hours, but, because of upcoming travels, I have to stop my review here!! 

I'm giving this book a 5/5 feathers - it was so great! 

Have you read Mosquitoland? What did you think of it? Let me know!! 

Stay bookish, 

Lady Midnight, by Cassandra Clare

Hey, all! 

I just finished reading Lady Midnight, by Cassandra Clare! 

I know, it took me absolute ages to get to this series! Especially for someone who loves Cassie Clare's work as much as I do... To tell you guys the truth, I tried reading this book already last year, but got bored 200 pages in, so stopped ^-^. However, with the recent release of Lord of Shadows, I just had to try again, as part of my Shadowhutners Re-read, for the Young Adult Dome I write for, and just for my own interest. 

If you guys want to see my reviews for all other Cassandra Clare books, you'll be able to find them at some point today up in the reviews tab! I'm taking the time today to refresh that page, finally! 

A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other—but they can never fall in love.

Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries—the most powerful of supernatural creatures—teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge—and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.

Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?

So I have loads of thoughts about this book. Overall it was good, especially towards the end! However I feel like the first half was slightly loose and messy. So far, Cassandra Clare has written series in such a way that her first installments are slightly weaker than the rest of the series, before publishing an explosive finale. This introduction to The Dark Artifices (You guys have no idea how many times I think the Artificial Devices, it keeps mixing up!) was quite strong and very different from her other introductory novels. In Lady Midnight, our main character, Emma Carstairs, already knows everything about Shadowhunters, their laws and histories. In that sense the only thing that needs to actually be introduced is the family and their situation. Now, this gave us a fresh perspective on things: they didn't have to explain the world again, which was something I think was really needed. 

This book had a lot going on through it: Emma is investigating her parent's murder, Julian is taking care of his many siblings, and around all of that there is a pot of its own that advances through the book. I had a little bit of a hard time adhering to the plot but it got better, again, towards the end.

This book definetley has its place in the Shadowhunter book collection. It has great supporting characters, and goes deeper into the Shadowhunter universe. We have a new branch of Shadowhunters called the Scholomance who do all the research and have secret information, and who have a different fighting pattern. This book also teaches loads about Fairies, as well as dark magic, which were both very interesting to learn more about!

This is all I can really talk about without delving into spoilers! So if you haven't read it yet, make sure to come back once you have! If you have, read on! :D 

Ok let's do this one 'thing' at a time. 

The book opens with this guy called Kit, the son of Johnny Rook, a mundane who knows about the shadow world. It was a confusing way to start because you never hear about Kit again until halfway through the book. But at the end, Tessa and Jem show up, kind of out of nowhere, and announce that Kit is actually... 

Johnathan
Christopher
Herondale

I actually gasped and closed my book in shock! There's another Herondale and he has the same name as Jace and he's going to be protected by Jem and THERE'S ANOTHER HERONDALE!? I was not expecting it, at all. I thought Johnny was maybe some half-fey or something, but never a Shadowhunter! I cannot wait to see how that plays out!! 

Also, in this book, we are introduced to a warlock called Malcom Fade. He's a hopeless romantic who is sweet and funny, who hangs out with the Blackthorn family, watches movies with them, and kicks demon butt with them. He has this way of talking that reminds me a lot of the gods in Percy Jackson. And then he ended up being the bad guy of the book... That killed me! I mean you can sort of understand why he wanted to revive Annabel, his old love, and why he hated the Blackthorns - because they killed her. But it still really upset me that he would turn on them like that! However, I highly doubt he's dead. Cassie glossed over that much too quickly. Plus he's a warlock, isn't he supposed to be hard to kill? 

Now, Emma. Emma wasn't my favorite. She was rebellious and snarky, but has a way of talking that made her sound like a side character, or someone who was trying too hard to be in the loop of things. Her parabatai is Julian. One of the big plot points in Lady Midnight is her and Julian admitting that they love each other - which is agains the Parabatai law. At the end of the book, Jem told Emma that when two parabatai are in love, they have warlock-like magic, that can be consuming and maddening, which is why it is against the law. Again I'm not convinced by the maddening part, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out. 

Additionally, at the end of the book, Emma goes to Mark, asking if they can pretend to be together to trick Julian. Mark turned and replied that they didn't have to pretend, chichis freaking me out a bit! We'll see. 

Back to Julian, he's really nice, but really intense. He'll suddenly go to Emma and say something brute and harsh, or recklessly start kissing her. At the end he managed to spin a whole lot of lies to get his family out of trouble, arresting an innocent vampire instead. (Vampire who's using 'addictive demon powders' in his pizzas which made me laugh until yin fen crossed my mind... Please don't eat the pizza, Jem!) Something's up with him, and I really want to know more about it. 

Mark is kind of strange - I mean he's completely in character, having come back from a land where things are totally different than what he remembers, but I felt like it dragged out for a bit too long. I really ship him with Christina, though! Despite the whole Kieran and Diego thing I really think they could be good together! Christina is also amazing, I can't wait to know more about her. 

The plot of this series is interesting so far - the blend of necromancy, murder and their connection to Sebastian and his story is something I'm interested in reading more about! 


There is so, so much more I could talk about - if you want to talk about anything I missed please put it in the comments! I'd love to talk to you about it! 

I'm giving this a 4/5 feathers! Fun reading experience, but, as expected, many loose ends.

Have a great day! 
Stay bookish!