Booktalk: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Hey everyone!

So as promised, here's my booktalk for Clockwork Prince, the second book in the Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare.


"Love and lies can corrupt even the purest heart...

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, while her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will- the wall he was built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers to who she is and what she was born to do? As their search for the truth leads the three friends into peril, Tessa's heart is increasingly torn, especially when one of their own betrays them..."

-From the blurb of Clockwork Prince

OMG! I absolutely adored  this book, it was just so good that I can barely describe my love for this book.It was a big step up from Clockwork Angel is definitely going on my list of all time favourite books.

A massive 95% from me and and so exited to read the next one.

So I'm gonna go into more detail about stuff that happened in this one so leave now if you haven't read the book and come back once you have so we can discuss it together.

Byeee non-spoiler peps!


*Warning, spoilers for Clockwork Prince ahead*

I find that most love triangles in books tend to be pretty weak. Whether its the fact that it's obvious to us who'll be picked or that there isn't really one but it's still called a "love triangle" for publicity. But here it's very different- in theory it feels like it could go either way (more on that in a sec)

Jem's the sweet, dying boy that you can't help but feel sympathy towards. He's so loving plus he's already engaged to Tessa. But then there's Will- the supposed bad boy, always another sarcastic comment on hand but who's really just a damaged boy who needs some love. He's so desperate for Tessa but too good a person to steal her from Jem.

Then there's also the parabatai element to it. Will and Jem and practically brothers so if Jem is with Tessa it'd be crushing Will every single day to see them together. Tessa knows this, and could never be affectionate with Jem in front of Will which would probably hurt Jem. But if she goes with Will, Jem would feel betrayed by both of them but could never say anything and Will would hate to hurt Jem like that.

So all in all it's pretty tense no matter what she does. Personally I think she'll choose Will because she's never said  "I love you" to Jem but she has said "I love him" as if she has to convince herself.


Hopefully there won't be any hard feelings either way but we'll see how that goes.

Once again we still don't know what exactly  is  Tessa! There's lots of crazy ideas going around but here's my grand ( as slightly bonkers) idea. So her mum is a Shadowhunter but she was a changeling so she was raised by the fey - which would explain how they knew her. Her mum married a mundane. But! Her real dad was a demon who had Changed into her mum's husband and got her pregnant. Does that even make any sense?? Even if it isn't this, I definitely think that she's something we haven't seen before.

Also side-note, I also think that whatever she ends up being she'll be able to have kids (even if she ends up being a warlock). Then she could have kids with Will and be Jace's ancestor? Maaaayyybbbeee....

What did you think about Mortmain being called the Clockwork Prince?  Does that mean he has a sister or a wife as the next book is called Clockwork Princess?  Or is it Tessa- who knows!


What about Starkweather? For me, the way he knew about Tessa is a bit weird, he obviously knew her parents which means that they had some contact with the Shadowhunter world. For some odd reason I feel like he could've been her dad? Or maybe is something to do with Clary's family as Clary's middle name is Adele and Starkweather had a grand-daughter, also called Adele

Anyways, booktalk for Clockwork Princess will be up soon

Bye for now,

Amber xxx

Booktalk: Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Hey everyone!

Today I'm gonna be talking about Blood Promise by Richelle Mead, the fourth book in the Vampire Academy series. Once again I'm very beind on booktalks ( 5 books behind, to be exact) so lets get on with it!


"Bound by love, sworn to kill.

The recent Strigoi attack at St Vladimir's Academy was the deadliest ever in the school's history, claiming the lives of Moroi students, teachers and guardians alike.

Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victims with them...including Dimitri.

He's rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her best friend Lissa- the one she has sworn to protect no matter what- and keep the promise Dimitri begged her to make long ago.

But with everything at stake how far will Rose go to keep her promise? "

-From the blurb of Blood Promise

The book picks up a few weeks after Shadow Kiss finishes. Rose has dropped out of St Vladimir's, leaving almost everything behind and is in Siberia looking for Dimitri, who is now a Strigoi. Her main goal is to kill him to fulfil the promise that she made to him, bacc in the first book ( Vampire Academy). Both of them had said that they'd rather be dead than be Strigoi and that they'd want to be killed if they had been turned. At the start of the book Rose is searching for the dhampir community where he was born and raised as a starting point to where he'd be.

I really enjoyed this book so am giving it a 92% and am super exited to carry on and finish the series. I'd definitely recommend reading this book and the rest of the series if you haven't already ( and if you haven't- why not?!)

Okay that's it for the non-spoiler section. Make sure you go ahaead and read the book and come back so we can discuss it together. Okay? Okay.

Byeeeeee!

*Warning spoilers for Blood Promise ahead*

So as we're now outside the Academy, we're introduced to lots of new characters. One of the first ones is Sydney, an alchemist. Now, at this point Rose has no idea who they are, and it was really interesting to see how their friendship ( if you can call it that) developed and to see her personality. We also hear Sydney's view of vampires and how that affects the alchemists. Personally, I have a feeling that she will definitely be popping up again in the last two books.

There's also Avery, who we find out about through Rose's bond with Lissa. Honestly, at the beginning, my first instincts were saying that she's bad news, get out of there! But as the book went on and Lissa, Christian and even Adrian were just casually hanging out with her I kinda forgot about any thoughts of her being a danger so by the end it was completely out of the blue for her to be a Spirit user.

What did you guys think of Abe? It was SO out there and actually really shocking for me that he was Rose's dad. My whole theory was that he was working for the Alchemists and was some bad guy and that the scarf had some sort of tracking device in it- yeah I know, mental right? I hope that we see maybe his relationship with Janine grow or maybe she will tell Rose more about their relationship.


We also get to spend some time with the Belikov family. Like Rose, I imagined it as some dhampir village with a bunch of slutty girls out all the time with loads of them pregnant, but it couldn't have been more wrong. Olena was such a caring mother figure (sort of reminding me of Mrs Weasley from Harry Potter) so it was really sweet to hear Dimitri's childhood stories from her- especially the one about him making bread.

So while Rose was with the Belikovs, she meets Oksana and Mark- a bonded Spirit user and shadowkissed dhampir, just like Rose and Lissa. It was really interesting to hear about what Spirit could do in the long run. As soon as I hear that drop about Victor Dashkov's brother, I'm pretty sure that's where we're headed, even if I don't know how we'll get there.

Meeting and reading about Strigoi Dimitri was really creepy and unnerving. He was so sweet and utterly good  in the previous books that it was really jarring reading about him being this cruel, bad guy version of him

(A/N: Don't read the next bit in italics if you don't want to be spoiled for books 1-5 of the Mortal Instruments)

It sort of reminded me of Jace and Clary in City of Lost Souls. Both Jace and Dimitri are someone they never wanted to be and Clary and Rose are in no position to help them. Especially the scenes where Rose is high on Strigoi venom, it so strongly brought me back to where Jace and Clary are in the club and she's high on faerie drugs and is hallucinating and can't make sense of the world.

( A/N: Okay spoilers over)

It was a little frustrating while she was high ( on Strigoi venom) because I just wanted her to get on with killing Dimitri and was scared that he'd just change her anyway. Luckily she got out.

Let me just tell you, that climactic scene where she's escaping was so dramatic to read. I was having a mini heart attack every few sentences and was terrified for her- couldn't put it down even for a second.

Then again with Lissa! Ugh that scene! It was so intense- things were happening left right and centre and just so much to keep up with- I can't even describe it well enough.

Did anyone else guess that Dimitri wasn't dead? I know I didn't! That letter was just so... creepy. He almost seemed like a crazy stalker or something- really weird!


What did you guys think of Blood Promise. Did you enjoy it and what do you think will happen in the last two books? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Bye for now,

Amber xxx

Booktalk: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Hey everyone!

So a little while ago I finished Clockwork Angel, the first book in the Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare which is a prequel/tie in trilogy to The Mortal Instruments.As most of you know already, both series tie together and have some crossover jokes and parallel in places.

"Magic is dangerous - but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray arrives in England during the reign of Queen Victoria, something is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gas-lit streets. Friendless and hunted, Tessa seeks refuge with the Shadowhunters, a band of warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons. Drawn even deeper into their world, she finds herself fascinated by- and torn between- two best friends and quickly realises that love may be the most dangerous magic of all"

-From the blurb of Clockwork Angel


Clockwork Angel is set in 1878 and the protagonist is Tessa Gray, a sixteen-year-old girl from New York. After both her parents died, she went to live with her Aunt Harriet but at the start of the book we find out that she died unexpectedly, so Tessa makes her way to London to meet up with her brother. However once she gets there she's kidnapped by two warlocks called the Dark Sisters who force her to "Change" (not gonna say anything else about that yet). Lots of events unfold but she ends up meeting two Shadowhunters; William Herondale and James 'Jem' Carstairs (anything familiar about Will's surname?! :D  ).

I knew that I probably was gonna like this book. I love Cassie Clare's writing style and the Shadowhunter world but there was always that little voice in my head before I read the book, that the plots and characters would be too similar to TMI. Once again I was wrong! The storyline is completely different and the characters and each their own. It's written in such a brilliant way that it makes sense for some of the characters to be related (ex. Will and Jace) with similar traits but you don't feel like it's repetitive at all. Amazing!

It was actually a really good book- it was a little slow in the beginning since you didn't really know any of the characters or the setting, even if you've read most of TMI. So that was a little confusing but once you get past the first bit, you really get into it- so don't give up!

So my overall rating is a 88% - not quite into the 90s due to a couple of confusing parts plus the world building but this, obviously, is necessary for a first book. Plus I'm definitely carrying on the series!

I would highly recommend starting this series if you liked The Mortal Instruments, and even if you didn't! It's well worth the read.

Bye non-spoiler people!

* Warning- spoilers for Clockwork Angel ahead* 

Okay!

Tessa's a really interesting character but as the main character, we really don't know much about her background or what  she is. In essence she seems to be a warlock, since she can Change and access that person's thoughts. BUT! She doesn't have a warlock's mark. So I'm guessing that she's something that we haven't seen before or something that both the Shadowhunters and the Silent Brothers believe to be impossible.


If you thought Jace was a pretty closed character you haven't seen anything 'till you've met Will. I really want to like him and I feel like he's just like Jace in the way that he uses humour and sarcasm to deflect personal questions and to block people out. It just seems like there's more to him than what you first see and I'm thinking that, maybe in the same way as Jem, Will's past is affecting him now.

At first I thought Jessamine would be the Izzy Lightwood of TID. They're both very pretty, care about their appearance and attract lots of male attention. But as the book goes on you realise that they're actually completely different.

Jessie: Wants to be a woman not a Shadowhunter, doesn't wants to get involved in action, is so caught it in finding a mundane husband 

Izzy: Definitely happy to be a Shadowhunter and all around badass, likes to have flings with any man ( well pre-Sizzy Isabelle anyway) and embraces who she is.

Jessie reminded me more of Rosalie from Twilight just because she's a little frustrating and pretty vain.


So the big part of the book is the massive fight at the Institute with the automatons. One of the scenes that really sticks with me is where Tessa supposedly stabs herself in front of Mortmain. I honestly thought that she was dead and that they'd have to somehow bring her back from the dead or something. And who do you think is JTS? The Magister's dead wife/girlfriend?

And right after it with Will! Aww they were just too cute! It really showed the softer side of Will so you realise that he's not the a**hole he pretends to be.

There's also this whole thing with the angel from her mother. I definitely think it's significant both for her past and background as well as in how the clockwork army is defeated. Is it one of the Infernal Devices? Currently we still don't actually know what they are - what do you think (but please no spoilers :)  )


So what did you think of Clockwork Angel? Comment your thoughts below!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I'm a little behind with all of my booktalks so I'm trying to get them written as soon as I can.


Bye for now,

Amber xxx

Booktalk: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Hey everyone!

So just quickly before I start, a fair few of my booktalks are gonna be pre-written so that I can spread them out evenly. So I'll now try to be posting at least once a week (probably on the weekends) and if there's another one it'll go up midweek. Also sorry for not posting last week, I wasn't feeling great.

Okay, on with the booktalk!

" Look I didn't want to be Half-Blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek god.

I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporised my maths teacher. Now I spend my time battling monsters and generally trying to stay alive.

This is the one where Zeus, God of the Sky, thinks I've stolen his lightning bolt- and making Zeus angry is a very bad idea."

So I know I'm very, very late to the Percy Jackson bandwagon so don't even get me started on that. But let me tell you I did actually really enjoy reading it, even if I wasn't sure , going in to it, if I'd like it or not. I wasn't sure if it  I'd be too old to read it and if I'd like it which is why I put it off for so long.

Stupid, stupid, stupid decision! 


I really liked this book and wish that I had just read it sooner! So I'm giving it an 87% and definitely recommend reading it if you haven't already.

I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here but here we go anyway. The book is about a twelve year old boy called Percy Jackson. He finds out that he isn't any normal troubled kid but actually the son of a Greek god, called a Half-Blood. Lots of these Half-Bloods go to a camp called, funnily enough, Camp Half-Blood where they are safe from any of the monsters that are trying to kill them. They also learn how to protect themselves for when they go back to the outside world.


If you haven't read any of the Percy Jackson books already ( and I mean at this point in time there aren't many of you left) definitely go ahead and read it- it'll be well worth your time. Don't be fooled at it being called a "Children's Book". Both Harry Potter and even sometimes The Hunger Games are classed under that category so don't let yourself be mislead!

Okay that's it for the non-spoiler section.
Bye non spoiler people !


*Warning spoilers for Percy Jackson and the Lightning thief from this point onwards*

Okay!
So I went into the book already knowing bits and pieces about it since it has  been popular for a while now. I knew that Annabeth was the daughter of Athena and that Percy was the son of Poseidon but that's it really. So it was interesting to be finding lots of this out on my own.

I was a little worried that the overall tone of the book would seem too 'young' for me as I'm used to YA books more recently. Boy was I wrong! To me, Percy feels more mature than his age would suggest and as a reader I'm perfectly comfortable to be in his head for the narrator. In fact he's one of the wittiest  12 year olds I've ever read about. Rick Riordan does such a good job of writing it that his age is irrelevant really.

I also just loved the idea of Camp Half-Blood! It sort of reminds me of Hogwarts (from Harry Potter) in a weird way. It seems like another one of those places where you would love to go.

Another thing that made the book even better was the fact that all the mythology made sense. We've all heard of Medusa and Zeus but the way the plot and back stories fit in around established legends is just amazing and another pat on the back to Rick Riordan.


Sorry that this booktalk wasn't nearly as long as it should be- it's been a while since I've read the book and have read a fair few books after it as well. Hopefully those booktalks will be coming up in the next few weeks as well as a Tifos movie discussion and other updates.

Bye for now,

Amber