Category: Books

Reviews and ratings of books Toi has read for pleasure.

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Books

Review: Spellbound

Spellbound (Spellbringers #1) by Tricia Drammeh

I give this book a 5.

This is one of those books that sat on my TBR list for so long, not because I wasn’t interested, but because I had a feeling once I started I wouldn’t want to stop, and I was right. I’m so glad the summer afforded me the opportunity to read this book without the constant interruptions I’m used to.

Spellbound tells the story of two girls who seem to live in completely different worlds, though they reside in the same town and go to the same school. The thing that draws these to ladies together is the pleasantly invading presence of the Alexander family. One of the girls could be “the one” this magical family has been looking for while the other will alter and change their lives in ways they hadn’t expected from a mere human.

Before I go into the why I loved this book, and I totally did, I just want to say that this author is amazing. I’d read her blog a bit before, but never really followed her writing; what a mistake. Her attention to detail and her respect for the diversity of her characters empowers me to be bolder in my own writing. She’s now one of my favorite authors and I’ll probably start stalking her a bit…Now back to the book.

Obviously from my last statement, you can surmise that the characters of this book are well-developed and likable. If you’ve read any of my other reviews, you know that YA is a struggle for me in general because of all the teen antics. This book was no different, but for some reason, I grew to like these characters and quickly got over there teen drama, especially when they started to face real physical and life-altering threats.

I like the way the setting aids the story. It takes place in a small town, but the world travels of the Alexander family plays a role in their daily lives. It’s sometimes easy to think that whatever is happening in the story will only affect their little town, but when characters star “popping up” out of the blue from around the world, it really puts matters into a global perspective.

I don’t usually go into too much detail about specific characters in my reviews, but I knew from the start I’d like Bryce, even if he didn’t start out in the best light and wasn’t around much. The descriptions of all the pretty people in this book had me shaking my head and remembering a few good times from high school when I dated basketball players. Ah, youth.

Then there’s the magical element of the story that goes beyond the surface. In this story, magic isn’t a separate entity that affects the character’s world; it’s part of their culture. There is a gray matter that I have been unable to clarify in the use of magic within this story, but I’m hoping the next two books (which I’ve already purchased) will straighten it all up. There are clear good guys and bad guys in the first story, but there’s foreshadowing that implies some characters and events will be more about picking sides than being right and wrong. Plus the ancestors of those with magic all seem to come from the same “people” but are dark and some are light…I can wait to read more.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes YA and or Fantasy and even a few who don’t. Anyone who appreciates cultural diversity in fiction will also appreciate this book, even if they’re not big into fantasy.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest opinion, which has in no way affected the rating of this piece.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Books

Review: Cruel Beauty

Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty Universe) by Rosamund Hodge

I give this book a solid 5.

LoveIt

I listened to the audio version of this book so that may have had an effect on the comments I make below.

I don’t usually make comments on the narrator because I try to focus on the story at hand, but I really enjoyed the reading of this story. The narrator gave a wonderful and engaging performance.

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A dark twist on the Beauty and the Beast tale, Cruel Beauty tells the story of Nyx, a daughter raised as a sacrifice and tribute to the demon ruler of a world in captivity. Filled with hatred and contempt, but bound by duty and a sincere desire to do at least one noble thing in her life, Nyx sets out to destroy her would be husband and then die, with no hope for anything greater.

I know there will be no way for me to fully describe how much I truly enjoyed this story so I’ll just babble on a bit and then stop.  The first thing that I noticed about this story is that it was promoted to me as a YA/New Adult book. I haven’t had the best of luck with these kinds of titles. They are either too teen or too adult for my liking, but this book is what New Adult should be, though I’m sure some will argue for a little more steam and I’d  let them.

I describe this book as a dark twist to a fairy tale for two basic reasons. Traditional fairy tales aren’t that lighthearted, but recently people have forgotten what fairy tales once were, mostly due to the success of the Disney Corporation. Now, I’m not hating on Disney, but some of the things they’ve done to fairy tales is ridiculous.

  1. I want readers to understand that this is a dark story and not because of explicit violence and heavy gore. This story is dark because it touches on the truth of people’s nature and the sense of self-loathing, hatred, and disgust that could arise in any of us at any time given the right circumstances.
  2. This story is also dark because it challenges you to face the reality of choices you make every day and to see whether or not you are always as virtuous as you may think you are.

This book did something to me that not many books have. It made me look forward to reading and experiencing the romance that was taking place between the characters. I think I was pulled into this romance because it’s not at all what you’d expect it to be; especially after you learn that there are others involved you hadn’t expected to even be factors in the equation.

I loved the fact that I really hated Nyx’s family. I don’t use the word hate a lot and I am talking about a work of fiction, but even with all the twists that take place, I’m still not fond of her family, and I love it. This is one of those stories where none of the characters are truly worth rooting for when you get deep down to their souls and see the things they’ve done because they are all human and so beautifully flawed. Even with their lack of virtue, there is still a clear sense that all these lives are still worth saving, simply for the sake of living.

This author may become one of my faves. I’ll definitely have to see what else I can get my hands on from this author. At this point I’ve stopped trying to describe this book and want to say, just read it if you dare. It’s not for kids, and men may not cling to it, but if you are open to really trying something new and different, and have an appreciation for mythology, fairy tales, complicated romance, and or fantasy, then give this book a try.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Books

Review: Stardust

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

I give this book a 4.

LikeIt

I don’t feel it necessary to describe this book for three reasons. 1. You can see the description at the top of the book’s page, 2. It’s been turned into a movie and you should have at least heard of it by now, and 3. I don’t know how I would put this into my own words and not write a short essay.

I want to start off by making a confession. I’m going through a phase of reading books that I’ve already seen the film versions of to do comparisons and so far this is the first one where I think I liked the movie better. Now, if you all are ready to hunt me down and kill me, please hold off and hear me out.

The fact of the matter is I do like this story very much. It’s a really good story with excellent writing, originality and creativity, and detailed and realistic world-building. That’s why I’m giving it a 4. There’s no denying that this book is a wonderful story.

The problem that I’m currently faced with it a rare one indeed. Usually, the film versions of movies always seem to be lacking that complete sense of magic that the book usually overflows with. However when I read this book and then thought about the movie I’d already seen, the magic of the movie overpowered the book.

I realize that I’m probably a great minority in this matter, but there were parts of the movie’s story that I simply liked better, but I’m not going to talk about those. I will talk about what I really enjoyed from this book.

I like the little story of how Tristan’s parents met. That wasn’t in the movie.

I like that the Unicorn had a much more involved role and actually had a bit of a personality.

I like that Tristan wasn’t some outcast from his village and was quite well-adjusted.

There are other things I could mention, but then I’d have to put a spoiler alert on this review and I don’t want to.

This is but one of many Gaiman stories you can immerse yourself in and enjoy whether you agree with my assessment here or not. This is an adult read, though I can see teens enjoying it. I wouldn’t recommend it for children. If you like adventure and fantasy, you’ll like this book.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords