Author Event With Maggie Stiefvater *EEK!* (02/10/10)

Look! Look! That's me! That's me with Maggie Stiefvater! No really, it is! Okay, far too many exclamations but I was fairly happy to meet someone who writes such fabulous books. My love of Maggie's books can be seen in one of my reviews Here and another Here. Sadly the event part of the day I had been expecting was not to be, it was only a signing. Though on a plus side I got there early enough to shelter from the London rain under the doorway. *beams* Also I was fed a Skinny Lemon & Poppy Seed Muffin from Starbucks. Mmm Muffin. I love any excuse to go to London. It's big, it's loud and it's shiny, I like it a lot. I'm also in love with The Underground. Getting anywhere conveniently in a few minutes, I'm a fan. *grin*

I apologised profusely for bringing more books to a signing than was polite (*cough5cough*) Three of which were mine and two were a work colleagues. In my ambition to turn the entire world to geekdom I offered to take her books across the country for her. Maggie however, graciously said it was fine and a good sign, since that meant you liked her enough after the first book to keep reading. : ) She also commented to me how people kept apologising for the bad weather. She said it was expected of England, and it would make more sense to continue apologising if they were struck with a tropical heat wave that they had stolen from another country. She was as lovely as expected.

I then got to explore a bookshop for longer than was probably healthy. I found (and resisted!) a signed copy of The Gruffalo. *whimpers* and got bought the third book in the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness. *hugs* *daydreams about a signed Gruffalo book* If anybody wants me i'll be in the corner snuggling my signed Maggie books. : )

Kiss Me Deadly Anthology By Trisha Telep (3/5)

I was left feeling generally underwhelmed by this anthology, I'm fairly sure the only reason I was able to finish it was because it was a compilation of short stories and I didn't feel like it was too much to get through. A couple of the stories had redeeming features that made me like them, but not enough to save my opinion on the entire book. I enjoyed Telep's previous Anthology, The Eternal Kiss, a lot more than this one.

The Assassin's Apprentice By Michelle Zink (2.5/5)
I enjoyed the idea of a young girl trying to get revenge for her dead family and it being somebody else's responsibility to keep her safe. That said the love story was far too fast paced, unbelievable and felt very forced indeed. I suppose that's a hazard of having a lot of short stories revolve around love, authors are forced to rush. I just really didn't buy this one.

Errant By Diana Peterfreund (3.5/5)
An enjoyable story. I liked the growing bond between the two girls, and enjoyed the development of the character of Elise, as she realised that she had a natural born talent with the unicorn and a stubborn streak that would help her to acquire the strength to own her own land.

The Spirit Jar By Karen Mahoney (3/5)
I enjoyed the characterisation in this story, and I was very eager to read more about Moth, since I loved the last short story that I read that had included her. I feel that this story suffered from the short length of it, and some parts felt rushed. I enjoyed the fight between her and Adam quite a lot but felt like the conclusion to the story was a little bit lack lustre.

Lost By Justine Musk (2.5/5)
Something about this story didn't sit quite right with me. I liked the idea that Sasha had her own personal power to find, but I still felt that she was taken advantage of in this story and shouldn't have had to end it as she had. I don't think she was given enough to justify the decision she made in the end.

The Spy Who Never Grew Up By Sarah Rees Brennan (4/5)
I love Sarah's humour. She never fails to entertain me. I'm not really a fan of Peter Pan but I did love his characterisation in this story. The idea of his immaturity and fear of growing up extending into outfit selfishness I really enjoyed. The idea that the heroine of the story is the great-great-great grand daughter of Wendy was a fabulous concept, and I love that she has been pre warned against his tricks and comes out fighting with pepper spray. Also, Ninja Fairies *beams* No. Really. This is why I adore this author so.

Dungeons of Langeais By Becca Fitzpatrick (2.5/5)
This story kept me gripped, I enjoyed the pace and the style of it. Unfortunately it didn't seem to manage to make me care, and it seemed to be lacking a certain something. I did like the casual cruelty that the characters exposed one another to though.

Behind The Red Door By Caitlin Kittredge (3/5)
The setting to this story was rather elaborate and surprisingly detailed, considering it was a short story. I did actually really enjoy the “love” story in this short. She started out terrified by a ghost on a dare and then ends up slowly being taken in by him. Her descent and loss of control is quite scary to witness, as are the facts she manages to unearth about her beloved. Though the ending didn't pack as much of a punch as I would have liked it to.

Hare Moon By Carrie Ryan (2.5/5)
Much like The Forest of Hands and Teeth this story had a great setting, a claustrophobic atmosphere and made you see it all so clearly. Though just like the mentioned novel it makes you care for characters and then strips them of every nice thing they could ever achieve or own. I don't know what she has against happiness, but I really do feel badly for any character she puts in her books, they are not going to be rewarded with a satisfying ending. : (

Familiar By Michelle Rowen (2.5/5)
I really liked the character of Brenda, I liked the fact that she was scared of failing so just didn't try and I enjoyed the world that was created in this short story. That being said the love story was predictable and uneventful and the “hero” of the piece was so generic *insert usual 'attractive' guy here* Brenda should have kept the little cute kitten and been happy with him. : )

Fearless By Rachel Vincent (2.5/5)
I enjoyed the style of the story and the character of Sabine. She refused to be weak and always came out fighting, which I admired. Though the scenes where she had to feed as a Mara were quite terrifying. O_o I liked Nash being the love interest, though I felt we were told that she loved him more than shown it. The mystery after that was quite uneventful, which is why this story got it's lower score.

Vermillion (2/5)
Eh. I thought the world that was set up was very interesting and I would have liked to have explored it further, though I wasn't given the chance. I generally found Velvet and Nick uninteresting and I disliked the fact that the Character of Amie was only put in there to be hated, also her vendetta didn't actually make any sense to me. It was as if we were supposed to accept it because she was clearly “a hysterical woman” Whatever.

The Hounds of Ulster By Maggie Stiefvater (4/5)
I really enjoyed this story. I love it when Maggie writes about Irish Folk music, because you can tell she really knows her stuff. I found the fragile friendship between Bryant and Sullivan quite endearing and I felt sorry for Bryant when Sullivan began to be seduced by the faerie world. Nobody likes to be left alone. I also adore stories that take what you know and turn it upside down, forcing you to re envision everything you thought you knew about the story. Maggie's story does this and more. The twist at the end is enough to drop your jaw and it made me feel a little ashamed for my assumption. The mark of a good writer. Go Maggie! : )

Many Happy Returns By Daniel Waters (3.5/5)
A well written little story that follows the story of a father waiting to see if the daughter he loves will return from the dead, as some teens do. Not in a terrifying Zombie way, more in a resigned to a less than full life way. I felt for Cal as he was waiting to see if he would ever get to see his daughter again and I really felt for Jake. The effective Zombie Boyfriend waiting to see if his beloved would join him and abandoned by his superstitious parents. Quite a sad little tale, with enough hope to make it not truly upsetting.

So, I'd say there were a couple of stories that were definitely worth reading, but they couldn't really save the entire anthology in my opinion. I am probably extremely biased since both Maggie Stiefvater and Sarah Rees Brennan are favourite writers of mine, but theirs were the stories that stood out to me the most.

Clockwork Angel By Cassandra Clare (3.5/5)

Once again I find myself in two minds over a novel. It may be me, I don't know. There were some parts to this that I liked, I enjoyed the character of Tessa and how sensible she was in every situation she found herself in. I enjoyed her entry to the story and her time imprisoned by The Dark Sisters and I found her relationship with her brother and it's development well worth reading. I would love to go into more detail on this little fact, but I'd like to keep this review spoiler free.

Even though I found this story quite entertaining, it just didn't grip me like The Mortal Instruments series. I wanted it to, I wanted to love it even more, Demons in Victorian London? Men with hats and canes? Corsets? I wanted to swoon, I really did! I mean, just look at the cover! I believe I can recall being told something at some point about not judging a book by... Yeah, but look at the pretty! Everything about it just works. It screams that I should love it and hug it and buy it nice little bookends and other things that it will love. But something just fell short of the mark. I think setting it in the same universe as TMI was both a plus and a minus for this story. A good feature was the opportunity to get to know more about the fascinating world of Shadowhunters. A down side though was that it felt all too similar to what most people had already read in Cassandra Clare's other series.

Another disappointing fact was how little I found myself caring for the characters. They were entertaining and some were quite endearing, but if I'm not clutching the book and gasping then I just don't care enough. I liked the characters well enough, mostly, I just didn't seem to have any connection or passion with this book. I found this rather distressing, since this was one of my most eagerly awaited reads of the year. The only character that I really found engaging was Will. Not only was he rude and sarcastic, but he was hideously inappropriate, especially when the era he is living in is noted. I find Jem to be quite lovely, but bland, no personality whatsoever, besides from being “Oh So Nice”. Will was awful, not even just cheeky, he behaved despicably and I really quite enjoyed it. Unfortunately even he became a little too much after a while and I really wanted him to just shut up and give poor Tessa a little bit of a break. I can't really understand how people can even really be passionately supporting “Teams” that consist of either Will or Jem. I don't see where they are getting their encouragement from, at least not yet. I have hope for some great developments amongst the relationships, I just felt that I am yet to witness them.

I realise now that I'm sounding like I really didn't enjoy this book at all, I did! It was quite a fun read, I just feel it paled in comparison a little bit when you've read Clare's original series. This does sadden me, as I expected The Infernal Devices to be even more impressive. (*coughdemonsinvictorianlondoncough*) But sadly I was left a little under whelmed.

I have hope for the next book though. I do love Clare's writing and I feel like she can turn this around for me. I may feel differently about this book after reading it again. Alas! I shall cross my fingers that I enjoy the next book in The Infernal Devices series as much as I have previously adored The Mortal Instruments Series

Currently Reading: Kiss Me Deadly (Anthology)