Tsarina, by J. Nelle Patrick

Tsarina, by J. Nelle Patrick

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Historical-Fiction, Romance, Adventure

Rating: 2/5 stars

Publication: February 27, 2014, by Razorbill

Format: Hardcover Edition (borrowed)




Goodreads Summary: Natalya knows a secret. A magical Faberge egg glows within the walls of Russia's Winter Palace. It holds a power rooted in the land and stolen from the mystics. A power that promises a life of love for her and Alexei Romanov. Power, that, in the right hands, can save her way of life. But it's not in the right hands.

Review:

"Saint Petersburg was a city of illusions. There were the little ones, the sorts of illusions that most people would simply call lies: The couples dressed in finery, invited into fancy shops only to quietly slip jewellery and silver spoons into their pockets."

   As you may have known, I hate historical fiction. There were only a few rare times where I actually did enjoy a book that fell under that genre, and the only one that I can think of is A Mad Wicked Folly. Darn, I ADORED THAT BOOK. *giggles* What I do have to say about Tsarina is that it did show a bright point of view of a dark period in Russia, a period where the Romanovs did live in. This was a book that mixed with fiction and fantasy, and it basically circled around the idea of a magical egg.

   

        Yeah, a magical egg. Now although that totally sounds majonkers, it kind of made sense at the right time. The fantasy aspect of this whole book made sense and worked out well. What I had a problem with is how the author captivated us with the concept. What was the real point of this book? I don't know. But what definitely makes sense in this situation is that there's a mystery and the egg is captured which holds romance and love for Natalya and Alexei for the rest of their lives.

         What next? Not much. This was a story with about 300 pages that just revolved around that egg. Now I guess I understand why so many people enjoyed it and gave it 5 star ratings, But I knew it from the beginning that I wouldn't fall for this massacre. I skimmed through the ending because I just had enough of this sadness after 2 hours.

            The perks and the positives that this book had was that the characters seemed real and for once, their love had passion and was bittersweet. Alexei was absolutely adorable, as he was in other books I read that dealt with his family, and Natalya was kick-ass and they suited each other perfectly. The whole book itself was posh and smart, at times.

             "But mostly I was jealous of how easy it was for you and Alexei. It was like you didn't even mean to be in love, you just were. I grew taller, my hair grew longer, my French grew better—well, a little better, anyhow—and you and Alexei grew more and more in love."

            Aw. Instalove? Does that even exist in Russia? xD

            The rest of the book went downhill, fast, and I lost contact with its excellence that it somehow got going. I really don't know why I kept going with this book, especially since I really got annoyed by the end. It probably was because of the gorgeous setting of Russia. *sings Moscow in head*

Threatened, by Eliot Schrefer

Threatened, by Eliot Schrefer

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary

Rating: 3/5 stars

Publication: February 25, 2014, by Scholastic Press

Format: Hardcover Edition (borrowed)

Goodreads Summary: Into the jungle. Into the wild. Into harm's way.

When he was a boy, Luc's mother would warn him about the "mock men" living in the trees by their home -- chimpanzees whose cries would fill the night.

Luc is older now, his mother gone. He lives in a house of mistreated orphans, barely getting by. Then a man calling himself Prof comes to town with a mysterious mission. When Luc tries to rob him, the man isn't mad. Instead, he offers Luc a job.

Together, Luc and Prof head into the rough, dangerous jungle in order to study the elusive chimpanzees. There, Luc finally finds a new family -- and must act when that family comes under attack.

As he did in his acclaimed novel Endangered, a finalist for the National Book Award, Eliot Schrefer takes us somewhere fiction rarely goes, introducing us to characters we rarely get to meet. The unforgettable result is the story of a boy fleeing his present, a man fleeing his past, and a trio of chimpanzees who are struggling not to flee at all. 

Review:

"I shut the book, smoothed my hands over the cover, and toyed with the spirals at the edge. I wanted to live inside that book. Which is how I knew I was staying."

  When beginning and ending this book, this is how I felt and reacted:

    At first, I decided to read this book because Eliot's debut, Endangered, was pretty good. It was well-written and captivating for my liking. He always deals with a concept that is unique and fresh. I dove right into it, considerably enjoying it through the middle. But by the end, I was steering myself away from it, especially because of the boring-predictable plot. But then, the ending was fairly good, so that boosted up my happiness, just a little.

     This is about Luc, who has always been warned about the Inside. The "mock-men" have always been classified as extremely dangerous. Now, Luc is all alone, and his mother's gone. Then, a mysterious man named Prof comes into town where Luc "works," and offers Luc a job after he almost got robbed. They both head into the Inside to study the dangerous chimpanzees. Luc then realizes the truth behind everything, and that includes the chimpanzees themselves. Can you fight for creatures that you love?

       I seriously love Eliot Schrefer for his love of animals, specifically chimpanzees. I love monkeys, so dearly much. They're one of my favourite animals, and I seriously open my heart out to them. I have so much respect for people who are fighting anxiously to save endangered and beautiful species such as the chimps. Through reading this book, you can really see the love that this author has for these animals. He puts his heart and soul into it, and all of his thoughts about the surrounding world who may think differently. 

        The plot of this book wasn't the most enjoyable. I can very much see that Eliot's main idea here is to be aware and save the chimps. But he does it uniquely and that's great. It certainly had its dull moments where not much was happening and everything was all bread-and-butter like. So in that aspect, the book was a downer for me. 

        But I really opened my heart out to the characters. They were great. Luc was all rebellious and kick-ass and I liked him for that, but with the heart of his, it was even better. By the end, he had a great love for these primate relatives of ours, and that's just gorgeous to read about. I had my arms open to him and all of the monkeys. 

         My favourite character would have to be Prof. Despite everything that had happened, he was a remarkable person. Because of him, Luc got an opportunity to live his life in ways that he could never imagine of. He was a wise, unique person and believable. The feelings he showed were not fictional. 

          By the end, I was pleased with this book, but not as pleased as I was with Eliot's first book. The cover isn't attractive either. (A simplistic monkey cover, again?) It was an okay read, but nothing too special about it. The meaning is really beautiful, though.

The Declaration, by Gemma Malley

The Declaration (The Declaration #1), by Gemma Malley

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Dystopia, Sci-fi, Romance, Mystery

Rating: 2/5 stars

Publication: September 3, 2007, by Bloomsbury

Format: Hardcover Edition (Borrowed)




Summary: It's the year 2140 and Anna shouldn't be alive. Nor should any of the children she lives with at Grange Hall. The facility is full of kids like her, kids whose parents chose to recklessly abuse Mother Nature and have children despite a law forbidding them from doing so as long as they took longevity drugs. To pay back her parents' debt to Mother Nature, Anna will have to work for the rest of her life. But then Peter appears at the hall, and he tells a very different story about the world outside of the Grange. Peter begs Anna to escape Grange Hall, and to claim a life for herself outside its bleak walls. But even if they get out, they still have to make their way to London, to Anna's parents, and to an underground movement that's determined to bring back children and rid the world of longevity drugs.

Review:

"She opened the book and began to read. As she worked her way through the first few pages, her eyes widened with indignation. But she couldn't read it all now."

  Well, here's another book that was recommended to me that really ended up sucking. I really expected this book to be good--especially because it's a dystopia science-fiction romance. It definitely sounded like my type of book that I could've end up loving. And for that...

    It's the future, and in 2140 in a post-apocalyptic world, Anna realizes that she shouldn't be alive. Where she lives in Grange Hall, all of the kids are like her, and if she escapes, she will be put down like animals in the pound. Anna has to work for the rest of her life to pay debt to Mother Nature (what the heck) and when Peter, who is just like her, comes into Grange Hall, he has a lot to say about the outside world, and Anna wants to get out to meet her parents.

     I understand that this was published a long time ago. (7 years is a long time when talking about ideas of books revolving.) But the idea wasn't anything special. In fact, I kind of thought it to be immature and boring. The whole book practically was.

     In the beginning of the book and story, I was bored. I was beginning to get DNF thoughts into my head, but I kept on going because I trust recommendations and I didn't want to hate this book. Through the middle, it was great. And then it went totally downhill to the end. The ending sucked and the beginning sucked. Now that's kind of rude to do to us readers. 

     The story wasn't anything special. To classify the whole book itself, I'd say that it's just an under-classified dystopia sci-fi romance. That's all. It tried to build up the potential to become something amazing, but it just couldn't build itself to get up there. But from what it looks like, this book was just the beginning of dystopias and the revolution of the genre. If the author published this today, then that's a total different story we're talking about here.

      I thought the characters were okay. Anna was just a blob of nothingness and Peter was bearable. But I wouldn't classify them to be a good couple. They were both too plain-Jane. I don't have much to say about them because they both weren't any special, but they're the type of characters that you can read about without trying to stick your head out the window for air. 

        Surprisingly, I completed this book. But I ended up skimming through the end because I was barely interested in what would happen to the characters. So don't ask me if I plan on reading the sequel, because you already know the answer. x) But from what I found the ending to be, it was just like the rest of the book, the same old nothingness. Nevertheless, the cover of this book (at least the one I read from) wasn't beautiful for the eyes either.

          Hah, if you're looking for a boring dystopia read with a weird world-development, then this book is absolutely for you!