Imitation/Flattery etc.

I start this blog with a shout-out. After starting a challenge of reading 35 books during 2012 (and successfully meeting my goal of 25 for 2011), a beloved friend decided to also undertake the challenge. So I choose to meet her intellectually and start a blog as she has done. I promise nothing...short of pure, unadulterated genius. :P and perfect modesty.


I am attempting to broaden my literary horizons but have fallen into a fantasy kick...because it is a wonderful genre! So far this year i have read:

Divergent by: Veronica Roth

A Clash of Kings by: George R. R. Martin

City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1) by: Cassandra Clare

All very interesting and drastically different despite falling under the umbrella of "Sci-fi/Fantasy". But here is a quick take in the three:

Divergent: A good book for someone just starting to delve into fantasy and dystopian fiction (although i would recommend Hunger Games instead). Some of the plot devices are a bit lame (the main romantic characters are named Four and Tris...come on) and the story could use some fleshing out but its a quick read and the idea that people are divided based on their most precious character traits is cool. (they are split up into factions called things like "Amity" "Dauntless" and "Abnegation"). I believe it is intended for a younger audience.

A Clash of Kings: This book is NOT for the faint of heart. Especially considering that this is book 2 in the series of A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones being book 1), one must have already braved either the first book or the HBO original series. Either way, the brave/addicted reader is given their money's worth. It is longer than GoT but is not lax on death and bloodshed...there is next to no happy/romantic/uplifting scenarios...but who wants that anyway? A great read that you only put down to sleep and regain feeling in  your wrists (its freaking 900 something pages!). The series is darkly fantastic.

City of Bones: I really liked this book. Much lighter than the aforementioned. There are some brilliant snarky comebacks between the characters that i absolutely love as well as (what i assume to be) subtle shoutouts to other popular series in the genre. Filled with vampires, werewolves, Shadowhunters and all sort of dark, twisted things...makes Twilight jealous on all counts. I am chaffing at the bit to read the next in the series. You can't help but love the unrequited love octagons and Star Wars homages. It also included a lot of Latin...which can't really be a bad thing.

Here's to the first of hopefully many bookblog entries!

Rach xx