Destroy Me (Tahereh Mafi)

Perfect for the fans of Shatter Me who are desperately awaiting the release of Unravel Me, this novella-length digital original will bridge the gap between these two novels from the perspective of the villain we all love to hate, Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45. 

In Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Juliette escaped from The Reestablishment by seducing Warner—and then putting a bullet in his shoulder. But as she’ll learn in Destroy Me, Warner is not that easy to get rid of. . . 

Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow. 

Set after Shatter Me and before its forthcoming sequel, Unravel Me,Destroy Me is a novella told from the perspective of Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45.

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After my review of Shatter Me the other day, Josie said I should totally read Destroy Me before moving on to Unravel Me, and I took her advice. It took me less than no time to finish this novella. And people, ok, I kind of get it! I’m still not “in love” with Warner, but I get him a whole lot better now, and I feel this weird sympathy for him… it is weird because he’s still a bit psycho!

I liked that he felt shame and regret by the way he behaved towards her. I actually loved all his reactions to everything Juliette, such as the notebook… man, some of those entries shattered me completely… her parents were horrible people! And so is his father! Gods, I just wanted to reach into the book and shoot him myself!

Oh, I hope his father rots in hell!!!! Despicable man!

And then, there was this moment that I realized “holy crap, he’s a good guy!” (see quote below). So well deserved! But then his father ruined everything.

I have a lot of feeling towards this book. I simply loved Warner’s voice, even if I’m still not entirely sold on him. I somehow wish I could see more moments from his perspective. And the entries on Juliette’s journal are so insightful and so disturbing at the same time.

I loved this one!

Rating: 4.7 Stars

Armada (Ernest Cline)

>>>>>  Nº 35 on My 2015 Reading Challenge – A book set in the future <<<<<

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure. 

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe. 

And then he sees the flying saucer. 

Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.  

No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it. 

It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar?  

At once gleefully embracing and brilliantly subverting science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline could, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a classic coming of age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you’ve ever read before—one whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon.

Pub Date: July 14, 2015 by Crown

I received this book from the publisher through Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

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First off, I would like to let you guys know that I haven’t read Ready Player One yet. I’ve noticed that some people had a lot of problems with this book, due to their high expectations following Ready Player One, I had so such problem.

I quite enjoyed this book, it had me laughing and wanting to know what would come next, so I label it a success in my book. It isn’t, however, my kind of book, but I still enjoyed it a great deal.

I found Zack, the main character, pretty relatable in some things and highly likable. Unfortunately, due to the short length of time of this novel – roughly 2 days – the other characters were not fleshed out at all, with a couple of momentaneous exceptions (that you’ll have to read, because SPOILERS!). So, to be honest, I was only invested in Zack’s life really.

Although I’m not a gamer, or a HUGE Sci-Fi nerd, I really enjoyed all the references and thought that the premise was well engineered. The idea that the government has been supporting movies, shows and video games that simulate real life in order to prepare the human race for an upcoming invasion, it’s smart and I thought it was well done. The explanation for all the Sci-Fi tropes made sense, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

The main problem I had with this book was the predictability, though it managed to throw me off a bit by the end. I liked the ending, but it was sort of open and I would like to read more about what comes next.

Although not my favorite book of the year, it was still a good read.

Rating: 3.7 Stars

The Harry Potter 30 Days Challenge #30

Welcome back for the 30th day of The Harry Potter 30 Days Challenge! As you know by now, Leannaatc @Short Story Long had this idea of a month full of Harry Potter and you can find the prompt for each day here here. This is it people, it’s the END!

– Day 30: What affect has Harry Potter made on your life? How much does it mean to you? –

I can say that Harry Potter means a lot to me. It came into my life at a critical point in it: the year of writing my Master thesis. Sure, I had heard of Harry Potter before (who hadn’t), I’d watched most of the movies that were out by then, but I had no interest in reading them – reading was not a thing I did a lot back then.

But then I fell in love with reading because of Twilight (yes, you read that right!), and one day I decided that I wanted to read all the Harry Potter’s as well. So I went into FNAC and bought all 7 books, the first one in portuguese (they didn’t have it english for some reason) and all the other 6 in English (my lovelies pocket signature edition). I didn’t really start reading right away, I wanted the Sorcerer’s Stone in English so bad!!! Luckily I found it on the same week and started to journey through all the books.

Then a funny thing happened, talking about the books allowed me to reconnect with an old friend, and we ended up reading the last 4 books “together” – by together I mean: each at our own houses, exchanging text messages about the book – no whatsapp then either. It was a blast, and we managed, albeit for a short time, avoid a lot of things that were and always will be, wrong with our friendship, and we enjoyed each other’s company for a while and it was good.

So for me, Harry Potter will always mean a time of my life that I was a bit lost and I found an old friend again. By the way, I’ll always love this friend of mine, she’ll always have a special place in my heart, but it’s just the kind of friendship that is so toxic, that staying away is for the best.

After that, Harry Potter meant being part of the fandom in some small way, and that is an amazing feeling!

I ended up giving my portuguese Harry Potter e a Pedra Filosofal to my nephew, in the hopes that he would start reading – because me and him like to share nerdy things, it’s “our thing” – but the kid is not that much into books… he likes his phone and likes to make videos, and he’s actually quite good at it and I’m kind of hoping that he’ll want to pursuit it when time comes.

Last Christmas I made another attempt to influence another nephew… this time my oldest niece, who was 11 at the time – perfect age, right? So I bought her the 2 first books in the new 15 year anniversary edition – they’re so gorgeous! This kid told me “yes, I’ll read it in the summer!” – I’m sure she hasn’t, but hey, I tried! I even bought them all wands when I went to The Harry Potter Studio Tour (and those things are bloody expensive!).

                                  

(I kind of wanted to buy all this collection for myself because I’m in love with the covers, but my mom started making fun of me on the shop… “aren’t those books for kids? You’re 30!”)

And this is it! The end of the The Harry Potter 30 Days Challenge! Wow, it has been a crazy month, now I want to curl up and watch all the movies, re-read all the books (it won’t happen anytime soon) and relax. 🙂

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– Day 1: Favorite Book? – 

– Day 2: Favorite Movie? –

– Day 3: Is there anything in the film adaptations that annoyed you? – 

– Day 4: Who’s your least favourite female character and why? – 

– Day 5: Who is your favourite male character and why? –

– Day 6: Which house would you want to be in? –

– Day 7: Who’s your favourite female character and why? – 

– Day 8: What’s your favourite lesson from the series? – 

– Day 9: Who’s your least favourite male character and why? – 

– Day 10: Horcruxes or Hallows? – 

– Day 11: Which character would you say you are most like? – 

– Day 12: Favourite ship? –

– Day 13: Least favourite movie? – 

– Day 14: Team Voldemort or Team Harry? –

– Day 15: Pick three characters to be your best friends at Hogwarts? –

– Day 16: Expecto Patronum! What form does your Patronus take and why? –

– Day 17: Favourite Harry Potter Fan adaptation? –

– Day 18: Least favourite book? –

– Day 19: Do you prefer the books or films? –

– Day 20: If you got to meet one member of the cast, who would it be? –

– Day 21: Pick one character to bring back from the dead –

– Day 22: Would you rather read only Harry Potter for the rest of your life, or never know it existed? –

– Day 23: Which scene (book or movie) made you cry the hardest –

– Day 24: Which scene did wish was filmed, but wasn’t –

– Day 25: Nineteen years later. Are you happy how it turned out, or do you wish something was different? –

– Day 26: If you could be able to work one spell without a wand what would it be? –

– Day 27: If you had to take a PIECE of your soul and place it in an inanimate object, which do you choose? –

– Day 28: Do you listen to Wizard Wrock? What do you think about it? –

– Day 29: Did you enjoy A Very Potter Musical? –