Book Review | The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Suzanne Collins

⭐⭐⭐

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UK Publisher | Scholastic Books

UK Release Date | May 19th, 2020

Format | Hardback

Page Count | 517

RRP | £18.99

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-almighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favour or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

The Hunger Games were not always the revered spectacle the Capitol annually celebrates; but rather we see them as the stark, cruel reminder of the cost of war, and the way in which people in power use it to exert control over freedom of will. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follow Corialanous Snow, later to become President of Panem, as he embarks on a mentorship to District 12's 10th Hunger Games tribute, Lucy Gray Baird.

Let's start with: I'm not as bitterly disappointed as I was anticipating; three stars is still a good rating.

I touched on this in my Heartless review, but books of 'villain origin' just don't interest me. I don't find them interesting as someone who loves well-written antagonists, as they often leave me feeling like they are redundant stories or whatever the inverse of creativity is. Especially with scenarios like this one, in which the crying out for a prequel has always been there. But, as they say: "be careful for what you wish for".

I thoroughly enjoyed how Collins engaged in worldbuilding, especially over the allusive start to the Games that gets glossed over in the original trilogy as it is expanded upon in this book. Suzanne Collins’ has a gift for creating a vision of a government that is struggling to enforce a totalitarian regime and regain strength after an act of people’s rebellion. This dichotomy between control and chaos makes for an engaging read, drawing the reader in to pay attention to the political landscape and form a discourse to current affairs.

Here are my problems with Ballad: I didn't think this book benefitted from being from Coriolanus's perspective AND I thought this book was too long.

Coriolanus Snow grated on me for being everything I despise, which I knew we were going to get, but his background story didn't make for a compelling or necessary read. I feel like I would've gained more insight into this era of politics in Panem without Snow, by giving me a protagonist to connect with. Furthering on from this, Lucy Gray Baird felt nothing more than a manic pixie dreamgirl and would have benefitted from having her perspective, giving her agency in the story other than the writing songs and being a love interest.

Overall, this is a novel of contemporary making, forming a commentary on capitalism and the current political landscape. For this, I still think The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a worthy read, however, I think it could have benefitted from a different angle.

Book Haul | January 2020 (#Gifted)

Let's go 3-for-3, how about that?
Something that is finally relevant to the year we are currently inhabiting - there's a metaphor in there somewhere.
This year I am really trying to make the conscious effort of reducing the books I am buying and requesting from publishers to try and reduce the TBR pile by a lot. It was going okay... until all the publicists unleashed their secret weapon; their blogger lists.

Fragile Things: Short Fictions & Wanderings

Neil Gaiman

Goodreads
**Bought in a charity shop near work - I immediately picked it up when I realized that there was a few short stories in this one I have yet to read.**
UK Publisher | Headline
UK Release Date | 2007 (this edition)

A Blink of the Screen

Terry Pratchett

Goodreads

**At a similar time, I picked this up for 50p. Short fiction is fantastic when I'm feeling slumpy and need to shake it up a bit.**

UK Publisher | Doubleday

UK Release Date | October 29th, 2012

The Stars We Steal

Alexa Donne

Goodreads

**Received from the publisher as a gift in exchange for an honest and truthful review**

UK Publisher | Titan Books

UK Release Date | February 4th, 2020

The Golden Key 

Marian Womack

Goodreads

**Received from the publisher as a gift in exchange for an honest and truthful review**

UK Publisher | Titan Books

UK Release Date | February 18th, 2020

The Bitter Twins (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy #2)

Jen Williams

Goodreads

**I recieved a copy from the publisher when it was first published, but I then passed it onto a friend after I had read it - so I bought a smaller paperback signed when I popped into Forbidden Planet.**

UK Publisher | Headline

UK Release Date | August 8th, 2018

The Library of the Unwritten (Hell's Library #1)

A.J. Hackwith

Goodreads

**Received from the publisher as a gift in exchange for an honest and truthful review**

UK Publisher | Titan Books

UK Release Date | February 11th, 2020

Bone Grier's Moon (Bone Grace #1)

Kathryn Purdie

Goodreads

**Received from the publisher as a gift in exchange for an honest and truthful review**

UK Publisher | Katherine Tegen Books

UK Release Date | March 10th, 2020

A Queen in Hiding (The Nine Realms #1)

Sarah Kozloff

Goodreads

**Received from the publisher as a gift in exchange for an honest and truthful review**

UK Publisher | Tor Books UK

UK Release Date | January 21st, 2020

BOOK TAG| Mid-Year Freak Out Tag

It's the eight month of 2017, and so that automatically means we are halfway through.

This book tag is making it's rounds on Booktube, no one had tagged me, but I thought it would be a great way to work out how my year is going.

1. What is the best book you have read so far in 2017?

Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1)
Laini Taylor

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This book. Was. Everything.
Everything I wanted it to be and more.
I don't think another book will top this. And I might already have plans to reread it over Christmas, already.
Please read it.
Give it a chance.
At least 80 pages of chance.
Love it.
Like it.
Read it.

2. What is the best sequel you have read in 2017?

Lord of Shadow (The Dark Artifices #2)
Cassandra Clare

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No year is complete without a Cassandra Clare book being released and this year it just so happened to be the sequel to Lady Midnight, her first book in her Dark Artifices trilogy.





3. What is a new release that has come out this year and that you really want to get to during the second half of the year?

Blackwing (Raven's Mark #1)
Ed McDonald

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I recently met Ed at YALC, lovely chap, even shook my hand?! I don't shake people's hands, but I did for Ed.

I've read a grand total of 50 pages before putting this one down. I got a feeling that I'm going ot love this one, I just need to set the time for it rather than speed through it for a read-a-thon.


4. What is your most anticipated release for the second half of 2017?

Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicle #2)
Jay Kristoff

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At the point of writing this, I have just recieved a e-galley of this. And I'm freaking the f**k out.

I'm not ready. Nope. REALLY NOT READY!

AHHHH.........


5. What has been your biggest disappointment so far, of 2017?

Torchwood: World Without End
John Barrowman; Carole Barrowman

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Just so bad!! Just- - - nope! Not getting into this. Just read my review.






6. What has been your biggest surprise of 2017?

Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood
Hollie McNish

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I loved this. I had to read it for a module on my University course..

A mismatch of poetry and diary entries on what it means to be a modern mum. And parenthood in general. Even I could enjoy the content as someone who has no interest in the screaming nuggets.

7. What has been your new favourite author of 2017?

Pantomime (Micah Gray #1)
Laura Lam

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Another author that I have very recently got the chance to meet. Her books are little gems and I wish more people picked up her book and read them.

I have a review coming up for this one very soon. Definitely on my Top 10 for this year!


8. Who is your new favourite fictional crush of the year, so far?

Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1)
Alwyn Hamilton

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... I mean I was going to use Strange the Dreamer again, but then thought that was cheating. Lazlo Strange was a definite new crush of mine.

Another? Jin, from Hamilton's RotS series.

AWWW... He's an absolute sweetie.

9. Who is your new favourite character of the year?

The Song Rising (The Bone Season #3)
Samantha Shannon

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Ognena Maria. 







10. Name a book that has made you cry in 2017.

Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1)
Laini Taylor

Are you sick of this book yet? Cause I sure am not.

Here's a little story. I read this during a week where I had multiple deadlines for a few modules. I stayed up til 3am finishing this books, and stayed up a further two hours crying. 

It broke me, okay?

Actually broke me.

11. Name a book that has made you happy in this half of the year.

Unconventional 
Maggie Harcourt

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Basically, this was just sugar sweet. 

I want more books set in conventions. Convention romance- more please?

I need. Really need.


12. What is your favourite book to movie adaptation you've seen this year?

Jessica Jones

To be honest I haven't watched MANY book to movie adaptions this year. Mainly TV adaptations so I'm cheating a little bit on this one as this is a comic book to TV show adaptation. Also, a date of when the adaptation was made is specified.

Out of all the Netflix Marvel TV shows that have been made this one really did stand out. I binged the entire and not because I was on a David Tennant kick, but because I was hooked.

I will cast some biasm, the Tennant casting for Kilgrave was brilliant. I forgot how well he could play villainous characters.

13. What is your favourite written review you've done this year?

Uh.... no clue? Check through my reviews and let me know which one you think I should feature. Although not a book review, I am overly fond of my write up for Don Juan in Soho.

14. What is the prettiest book you've bought this year?

I have been really good on the book purchasing lately. Mainly because I am poor and have spent my money on many of other things, so I may include a select few I have received from publishers that I have been sent:

• Our Dark Duet by V.E.Schwab (I knew she's sneak her way on here.)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix by J.K. Rowling
• Blackwing by Ed McDonald
• Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (The final count is at 3.)

15. What books do you need to absolutely read by the end of this year?

All of them?

To pick just a few:

• Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
• Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
• Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

I'm not going to tag anyone, just cause this is like two months late. I'm pretty sure everyone who would have tagged, have already done this.

REVIEW| Torchwood: World Without End

Torchwood: World Without End v.1 (Torchwood Comics)
Writers: John Barrowman, Carol Barrowman
Artist: Antonio Fuso
⭐

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Synopsis:

The members of the Torchwood Institute, a secret organization founded by the British Crown, fight to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats. 


Review

The Cover

I really love the cover choice for the bind up. The hues of orange and blues are just simply glorious. Although, ir speaks more military than aliens. No?

To be fair, that is what RTD did turn Torchwood into by the end of the fourth series.

The Content

Where do I ever begin?

I feel like I say that everytime I've made passing at this one, but this might just be the biggest disappointment of 2017 and I fear a rant is going to follow. So, I'll keep it brief.

I'm not quite sure who's idea it was to make this a bind-up issue at only four volumes, but already we are lacking story content. Comic book bind-ups, that I usually read, are five? Six? volumes long. And you could tell this fell too short. Both the pacing between each panel and the dialogue were off. I thought it was just me, but since I finished reading, I've gone on to read countless peoples commenting on having to flip back through pages thinking that they had missed a few panels, because they didn't have a clue at what was going on. My brain couldn't even fill in the gaps? 

Did it include aliens? Yes. Which says a lot considering the last series of Torchwood. Which didn't use anything alien in origin, like seriously? But, I have no clue as to how they were central to the plot... if there was even any plot. 

It just felt like Jack and Gwen were reunited, BAM!, ending. It just needed more. Either more issues and the plot really thorough out or perhaps, if they were to collaborate to produce a graphic novel. 

I am complaining about this a lot, but the characterisation of Gwen, Rhys and Jack was spot on when they did say something. And I did really like some of the art. There were a few full page illustrations with a very loose pen style that I thought were lovely. I say lovely, they were at all the big explosion parts. 

Blog Tour| The Space Between the Star [Extract + Giveaway]

The Space Between the Stars
Anne Corlett

UK Publisher: Macmillan
Release Date: 1st June, 2017

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Synopsis:

Jamie Allenby wakes, alone, and realises her fever has broken. But could everyone she knows be dead? Months earlier, Jamie had left her partner Daniel, mourning the miscarriage of their baby. She’d just had to get away, so took a job on a distant planet. Then the virus hit.

Jamie survived as it swept through our far-flung colonies. Now she feels desperate and isolated, until she receives a garbled message from Earth. If someone from her past is still alive – perhaps Daniel – she knows she must find a way to return.

She meets others seeking Earth, and their ill-matched group will travel across space to achieve their dream. But they’ll clash with survivors intent on repeating humanity’s past mistakes, threatening their precious fresh start. Jamie will also get a second chance at happiness. But can she escape her troubled past, to embrace a hopeful future?

This was pitched to me as: a unique dystopian fiction novel; a dramatic road-trip through the stars and an novel with  an exploration of the very human tendency to look for patterns and meaning in our lives.

I am yet, to still, write a review for this one, but I had to get involved. Here's an extract and the chance to win a copy:

From Chapter One

She walked over to the cupboard. Underwear, a pair of jeans. She pulled them on. No T-shirts.

The washing line. She’d been hanging out laundry when the first spasms had sent her to her knees, and then, by slow increments, to the medicine drawer.

She stood still. Until she went outside, this could all just be a game of what if?

Nought point nought nought nought one.

‘Shut up.’ Her voice sounded thin and rusty, and she swore, another harsh scrape of sound, then opened the door.

The sun was high overhead, the sky its usual denim blue, fading to smoky marl at the horizon. Outside the croft a halfline of washing swayed in the breeze. At one end, a bed sheet trailed from a single peg, the line sagging under its weight. The laundry basket was on its side, her clothes streaked and crumpled in the dirt.

She realised she’d instinctively wrapped the towel around her before stepping outside, just as though one of the farmhands might wander by with a casual wolf whistle.

Little things, she thought. It was too easy to forget, to fall back into past habits, paying too much attention to all the tiny, insignificant things.

She kept the towel clamped against her sides until she’d unpegged a grey T-shirt, and pulled it over her head. Her boots were abandoned by the door, as usual, and she sat to lace them up.

The birds had scattered over to the boundary fence, their quarrel muted by distance. The turbine turned quietly, and the cattle grumbled from the barn. She stood up, stretching her cramped limbs, forcing herself to look around. The main house was still and silent and she turned away, towards the open land beyond the station fences. A couple of faint scraps of cloud drifted over the hills, carrying a vague promise of rain.

Her thoughts were spiralling out, beyond the simple fact of the warm breeze and clear sun. This world had long growing seasons, regular rainfall, a simple infrastructure. It would be an easy enough place to survive, if surviving became all there was.

No.

The door of the main house was closed, but the curtains were open. Someone could be looking out right now. Or perhaps someone had heard her. Maybe they were stumbling to the window as she stood there.

But she didn’t move.

There was a rumble from the barn. If the Calgarth herd had been milkers, they’d have been protesting their swollen neglect long and loud. But these were breeders, and their complaints were probably focused on being barn-bound and out of feed. If those basic needs were met, they wouldn’t be troubled by the decimation of the human world.

She turned away from those empty windows, and walked down to the barn, swinging back the bar that kept the cattle from the yard. She found the herd outside, gathered in the shade of the back wall, near a trough of greenish water and a pile of fodder spilled from an upended bin. The scattered feed spoke of someone using their last strength to make sure the herd had enough to last until . . . for a while.

Her heart felt small and hard, as if her illness had turned it into something other than flesh. She hadn’t spent much time with Jim Cranwell, who ran the farm, despite being his resident veterinarian, but he’d always been courteous. She’d had more to do with his grandchildren, who’d run in and out of the barn, clambering between stalls and treating the cattle like oversized pets. At first she’d wished they would leave her alone. She found their constant questions distracting, and she veered between patronising, oversimplified answers and curt, too-adult responses. But she’d got used to their presence, even playing the odd game with them, although she always tired of it before they did.

She’d have to go round the station and prop all the gates open. There was a stream near the boundary fence, so the cows would have water. She wasn’t sure what to do about the bulls. If she left them roaming free, they’d fight, but if she kept them separate, there’d be no new calves. What happened when there was no prospect of anything beyond this generation? What happened when . . .

She gripped the edge of the door frame, her breath growing ragged. There’d be other people who’d beaten the odds. She had to find them. Until she did, these thoughts would keep piling up until she was crushed beneath them.

She stood for a moment, breathing slowly, trying to think about nothing but the blue of the sky and the curve of the hills. Then she turned and walked, slowly and heavily, towards the silent house.

The Space Between The Stars by Anne Corlett is published by Pan Macmillan, 1 June 2017, £12.99, Hardback.

For a chance to win a copy of The Space Between the Stars, fill in the form below. 

• Must be a UK resident
• Follow the Blog and/or Twitter- @ACityofBooks
• Closes 05/06/2017 (5th June, 2017)

Anne Corlett has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and has won a number of awards for her short stories, including the H. E. Bates Award. She works as a criminal solicitor and freelance writer, and lives with her partner and three young boys in Somerset. The Space Between The Stars is her first novel.

27.05.2017 - http://wordsfromareader.weebly.com/blog-tours/the-space-between-the-stars

28.05.2017 - http://www.talesofyesterday.co.uk/2017/05/tales-post-the-space-between-the-stars-by-anne-corlett-extract/

29.05.2017 - http://www.queenofteenfiction.co.uk/2017/05/blog-tour-space-between-stars-by-anne.html

30.05.2017 - https://thecosyreader.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/the-space-between-the-stars-blog-tour/

31.05.2017- Welcome to day 5.

01.06.2017 - http://chouett.com

02.06.2017 - http://onemorepage.co.uk

REVIEW| The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Wayfarer #1)
Becky Chamber

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐+

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Synopsis:

Somewhere within our crowded sky, a crew of wormhole builders hops from planet to planet, on their way to the job of a lifetime. To the galaxy at large, humanity is a minor species, and one patched-up construction vessel is a mere speck on the starchart. This is an everyday sort of ship, just trying to get from here to there. 

But all voyages leave their mark, and even the most ordinary of people have stories worth telling. A young Martian woman, hoping the vastness of space will put some distance between herself and the life she‘s left behind. An alien pilot, navigating life without her own kind. A pacifist captain, awaiting the return of a loved one at war. 

Set against a backdrop of curious cultures and distant worlds, this episodic tale weaves together the adventures of nine eclectic characters, each on a journey of their own.

Review:

The Cover:
I love this cover. I love it. I love it. I love it.

Purple-space-themed-gradient. Silhouette. And centred. Just speaks to my overall aesthetic. The lone girl says a lot in terms of being the one piece of a puzzle that we start on to start building a larger picture. The insignificance that we hold ourselves to but, within the much grander expanse of the universe we still have some importance.

I'm sorry if I just triggered an existential crisis. I almost went there.

The Content:

This book. This freaking book.

I have been holding off this review for about a month in order to gather actual thoughts and not focus on gushing like a maniac for the approximate of 500 words. Alas, it appears that it didn't work, and only made it worse. The more I sit on it, the more I love it. The more I think back on it, the more I feel fondness with the great desire and want to caress its cover.

If you don't like character driven Sci-fi, this really might not be the one for you. Or, it could be the book to turn you. You'll only find out if you read it. *hint hint*

I find sci-fi really hard to read. Never quite engaging with scientific and technical language.Yet, this is the book that has made me consider more about what the genre could offer, to me, as a reader. If I only took to finding more books that a just as driven by character.

It begins when Rosemary Harper arrives upon the Wayfarer to begin her new job- to work as the captain's clerk. At first, it is through the eyes of Rose that we learn how things are run and who her new co-workers are, we begin to follow this group as they live and work on the ship together.

And let me tell you.

EVERY single one of these character that Chambers has woven into her novel are just simply marvelous. Devine. Enchanting. DIVERSE!

I'm not a reader who will go out of their way to pick books that fit in support of diversity. But, when I do find a novel that incorporates this diversity, treats it with sensitivity and explores it. I will do everything in my power to scream about it from the rooftops.

THIS IS THAT BOOK.

For a book so diverse in species, ethnicity and sexuality, it's the richest story that best exhibits in full the best of humanity.