Monday, November 23, 2009

Apologies or Why I am a Bad Blogger

13 comments Posted by Rhinoa at 10:25 AM

So I have prefaced this apology with a cute picture of Eris sleeping on my face! It's a distracation from how rubbish I have been. For the last few months I haven't been keeping up to date with my reviews. I also haven't been commenting much on other blogs. I am so sorry, I am still here reading your blogs but mostly form my phone where I can't leave comments. I have been feeling really low lately with not a lot of energy, but I feel really guilty for not being around more. My aim is to get up to date on my book reviews at the end of the year and that in the New Year I will clear my reader and start again getting to all of your blogs again. It is one of my New Years Resolutions!

 

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Saturday, November 07, 2009

Pretties, Specials & Extras - Scott Westerfeld

6 comments Posted by Rhinoa at 11:36 AM


Rating : 4.0/5
Number of Pages : 370
Series : #2 Uglies
Format : Teenage Fiction, Science Fiction
Reason for Reading : Scott Westerfeld Mini Challenge, to continue with the series


Tally Youngblood is back after the events of Uglies, but now she is a Pretty. The Pretty operation is what happens to everyone when they reach 16. They have their face and body changed to conform to Pretty standards. She lives with the other Pretties who form cliques/clans. They party all the time, have access to as many clothes and amusements as they want and generally have no responsibilities.

Tally is part of the Crim clique and their thing is pulling tricks like they did in their younger Ugly days. It gives them a buzz and helps them wake up from the Pretty haze that they otherwise live in. Tally is drawn to fellow Crim Zane and the two of them quickly start spending more and more time together. Events from Tally's past though don't stay buried for long and people form the Smoke start appearing to her with a series of clues and tests for her to follow. Trouble is, will she like what she finds at the end and where will it take her next.

This was a lot of fun. I like Tally and it was good to meet some new characters like Zane and Andrew Simpson Smith. The story moved on nicely and I am looking forward to the next in the series.

Rating : 4.5/5
Number of Pages : 372
Series : #3 Uglies
Format : Teenage Fiction, Science Fiction
Reason for Reading : Scott Westerfeld Mini Challenge, to continue with the series

The third and final in the main Uglies series. Tally and co return again this time as Specials. There is still tension between Tally and Shay, but it is surpressed now that Shay is the leader. They are still trying to stamp out the New Smoke and Tally is keen to get Zane to join their team to make him better after the events in Pretties. The Specials are fighting machines, they are Cruel Pretties designed to instil fear into others and were created by Dr Cable just in their city.

Shay leads the Crim group in a chase of the Uglies, but they capture Fausto leaving Tally alone to save Shay. They take Shay too and Tally decides to follow them and ends up meeting up with Andre Simpson Smith again to get coordinates. It takes her on a journey to the New Smoke and another city. She learns the truth finally and gets involved in a war.

A great conclusion to the story. I was glad it didn't have a completely happy ending, it was quite a realistic series despite the sci-fi elements and this made it more so. I am interested to see how Extras fits in as the story closes quite nicely.


Rating : 4.0/5
Number of Pages : 417
Series : #4
Format : Teenage Fiction, Science Fiction
Reason for Reading : Scott Westerfeld Mini Challenge, to continue with the series

Aya lives in what must have once been Tokyo, Japan. Their city works on a system of face ranks. Everyone has their own feed and those that are the most popular have a higher face rank and are more recognised and watched. Aya's rank is 451,369 and she dreams of being in the top 1000 so she can be invited to the thousands ball. She is a kicker, someone who writes about stories and uncovers hidden things bringing them into the open. Her brother if one of the most famous kickers in the city and she has a lot to live up to.

She stumbles across a group of girls one night who ride the mag-lev trains which is illegal and very dangerous. If she can get enough information and footage on her flying camera Moggle she can kick the story and really increase her face rank. The question is, is she comfortable lying and betraying her new friends? She has also started hanging out with Frizz, someone with a much higher face rank than her who had surgery making him unable to lie. He wouldn't take kindly to her lying to others either.

An interesting addition to the main series. It's a completely new story in a new city, but it does link back to Tally and her experiences as she is the most famous person and has a face rank of 1 despite never having been seen. There is more scope to add books to the series which I hope happens.

 

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Thursday, November 05, 2009

October Summary

1 comments Posted by Rhinoa at 11:09 AM


Check out the awesome set of cat nail polishes I got yesterday, each colour has a different kitty picture on it. How cool!

Not a bad month for reading although I read mostly manga and graphic novels. I am at that time of year when my reading is really lagging and I still have so many challenges I want to complete. I did finish the RIP IV, What's in a Name II and Scott Westerfeld Challenges this month though so I can cross some off. I am still very behind with reviews, now a whopping 18 which is the highest so far. I just seem to have so many things pulling me in different directions at the moment. I am going to the gym more and am really into playing Disgaea on the PSP which have both caused my reading slump. I really want to finish the 666 and Vampire Challenges this year as well as the ones with Mariel and Nymeth so I will be prioritising these.

Books Read = 17, Total = 159
Pages Read = 4,156, Total = 35,955

Manga Challenge : 6/6 plus 14 alternatives
Scott Westerfeld Mini Challenge : 3/3 COMPLETED
Arthurian Challenge II : 1/6 (read 6-8 books)
What's in a Name Challenge II : 6/6 COMPLETED
Challenge with Nymeth : 1/5
Challenge with Mariel : 0/5
Graphic Novel Challenge II : 15/18
Guardian Challenge : 42/50
Vampire Challenge : 1/2
666 Reading Challenge : 18/36
GLBT Challenge : 5/6
Sookie Stackhouse Challenge : 0/9
LJ Smith Challenge : 0/6
RIP Challenge : 4/4 COMPLETED

100 Mile Challenge : 35/100

 

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