Mini-Reviews: Ink and Bone and Off The Page

The last two months have not been very good reading months for me. I always seem to get a bit slumpy during the beginning of fall, which makes no sense as fall is such a good reading time. I think I'm finally getting out of the slump, as it's only November 9th and I've already read 3.5 books. In an effort to make this blog more active, I have two mini-reviews today.

 



 

First off, this cover is gorgeous! The spine looks like an old leather bound hardcover, and I just love it. The reason I was so drawn to this book was because it's about books, and because it had a lot of Harry Potter comparisons. It is definitely nothing like Harry Potter. They both take place in a learning environment, but there is no awesome school like Hogwarts in this book. The only real similar thing was a chess set that moves itself, which to be honest, kind of bugged me. Oh, and there's a train that transports them, but it's much more fancy than the Hogwarts Express.

 

I spent the first half of this book not really caring about it. I was liking it enough, but it wasn't completely holding my attention. The premise is really interesting. Real books are kept controlled by the Library and to be in possession of them is a crime. There's a group of students who are being trained to work for the Library (there are different job titles), and then they are sent to war-torn England to try and smuggle out some books. Naturally, people are trying to kill the students. This was when the story got really interesting.

 

At times I found it hard to care about the characters. I thought they were well-written and such, but I just didn't care that much until about the middle of the book. It probably sounds like I didn't enjoy this book, and that's not true. I did like it, but I did have some issues. I didn't really like/care about the romance . It felt forced and rushed and just off. I do plan to read the next one because once I finally became invested in the story, I really needed to know what happens.

 

I gave this a 3 out of 5 stars because it was a bit slow at first, but it ending up picking up in the latter half.

 

 

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time then you know that Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite authors, and I will basically try anything that she writes. Off The Page is the companion book to her book Between The Lines, which was co-written with her daughter Samantha van Leer. I read Between The Lines back in 2012 and really liked it.

 

Between The Lines is about a girl who falls in love with a prince from a book, and about how they try to get him out of the book. Off The Page is about the boy, Oliver, out of the book and living in the real world. I'll mention right away that you do need to suspend your beliefs in order to read this book, but I really loved it. I had such a good time reading this book. It's fun, and cute, and maybe a bit cheesy, but there are also some serious undertones to it.

 

In order for Oliver to leave the book, someone had to take his place. The authors son, Edgar, happened to be the one who took Oliver's place.  The author doesn't know that the boy living with her is the character she created, and most definitely not her son.

 

Watching Oliver try to navigate modern life/high school was funny and sweet, until something happens to the author and it's decided that Oliver needs to go back to the book so that Edgar can come out and be with his mom. Problems arise when they try to get Edgar back out and Oliver back in. I loved the cast of characters, both in the book and in the real world. I will never forgive Picoult and van Leer for a particular THING that happened, though. I just don't think IT had to happen.

 

Like I said before, I had a lot of fun reading this book. It's almost like a modern day fairy tale, and is perfect for anyone who hasn't read a good old fairy tale in a long time. After all, who hasn't fallen for a book character and wished they could be a real person?

 

 



The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige

Last year I read Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige (review here) and fell in love. When I heard that it was going to be a series, I was pretty excited and started the countdown until the second book.

Goodreads Synopsis: To make Oz a free land again, Amy Gumm was given a mission: remove the Tin Woodman’s heart, steal the Scarecrow’s brain, take the Lion’s courage, and then Dorothy must die....

But Dorothy still lives. Now the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked has vanished, and mysterious Princess Ozma might be Amy’s only ally. As Amy learns the truth about her mission, she realizes that she’s only just scratched the surface of Oz’s past—and that Kansas, the home she couldn't wait to leave behind, may also be in danger. In a place where the line between good and evil shifts with just a strong gust of wind, who can Amy trust—and who is really Wicked?

My thoughts: This was nothing like Dorothy Must Die. I feel like nothing really happened. Yes, there was one big issue dealt with (not going to spoil it), but beyond that there was a lot of Amy questioning herself. Am I good, or am I evil? Where do I belong? I got tired of her questions. We get it, you're angsty.

We did learn more about Ozma, and I'm starting to like her character, but there wasn't a lot of character development for anyone else. I was definitely let down by this book, which is unfortunate. I expected more after the action-packed first book, but I didn't get that.

I was also disappointed by the length. Dorothy Must Die was 452 pages and this one was 293 pages. That was probably a good thing, considering that nothing really happened, but still.

It wasn't all bad. I did like some of the new characters we were introduced to and I loved the monkey lair. The ending did leave me wanting to read the next book, so it's not like I'm going to abandon the series, but I think this was suffered from second book syndrome majorly. Here's hoping that the third book is more reminiscent of Dorothy Must Die.

I rated this 3 out of 5, but it's probably more like 2.5.

Book Review: Dorothy Must Die

 

I'm going to start by saying something that may not make me the most popular person: I am not a fan of The Wizard of Oz. I'm just not and never have been. Sure, I've seen the movie a few times, but was never really into it. I haven't read the books, and have no desire to. When I first started hearing about Dorothy Must Die, I was 'meh' about it. The premise sounded interesting, but not interesting enough for me to add it to my TBR pile. But then I saw a tweet with a link to the first few chapters and decided to read it. Awesome decision, self! I loved it! Then I eagerly awaited the rest of the chapter releases and found myself needing more, so I pre-ordered it. I haven't pre-ordered a book since Harry Potter, so you know this was a huge book in my mind.

If you haven't read a synopsis yet, here's one from Goodreads:
I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.
But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened?
Dorothy. They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.
I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.
I've been trained to fight.
And I have a mission:
Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.
Steal the Scarecrow's brain.
Take the Lion's courage.
Then and only then—Dorothy must die!

Intriguing, right? Definitely not the Oz we all know from the movie/books. I loved this version of Oz. It's not sparkly or colourful. It's dark, and gritty, and full of dark magic. Magic that is literally being sucked from the ground for Dorothy's own personal use. People have moving tattoos, the flying monkey's talk, and some have cut off their own wings so they can't be controlled by Dorothy.

Enter Amy Gumm, the other girl from Kansas who arrives the exact same way as Dorothy, but who finds herself in not quite the same predicament. Amy was a bit annoying at first, but she eventually grew on me. She started off very whiney and kind of bratty, but I found myself liking her as the story went on.

There are a lot of characters in this book. The ones we all know are there, but there are lots of new ones, some of whom make up the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. Gert is a seemingly crazy old witch, Glamora is Glinda's twin sister (Glinda is part of Dorothy's entourage), Mombi is another witch who seems to be hiding things, and Nox is a mysterious orphan and one of the only male members of the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, and therefore, Amy's love interest.

I don't even really know how to review this book without giving anything away. The Order is badass, Dorothy is super evil and creepy, walking around in tight dresses and forcing her minions to wear PermaSmile (aka Oz's botox?) and changing night and day to suit her needs. She is the worst kind of crazy because I think she genuinely thinks what she does is normal. She sees herself as a princess after all.

The Order has given Amy one mission - to kill Dorothy, so Amy enters Dorothy's palace as an undercover maid and of course, all sorts of things happen. Not limited to a moving picture that can show you whatever you want to see, the Scarecrow's terrifying lab where he literally reconfigures people, and the weird maze in the garden. Oh, and Pete who Amy meets when she first gets to Oz who seems to show up in not-so random situations and has more to him than what we find out in this book.

I'm so glad that there's at least two more books planned because I need more. More action, more answers, and more Oz. This book will appeal to those hardcore Wizard of Oz fans and those like me who aren't really fans. Just don't go expecting the Oz we all know. Though, with a title like Dorothy Must Die, I don't know how you can expect to find the Oz from The Wizard of Oz.

If you're not convinced, go here to read the first twelve chapters. I bet you'll be hooked after.

5 out of 5 stars based on Goodreads rating system.