Review: The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson

Title: THE NAME OF THE STAR (Shades of London, #1)

Author: Maureen Johnson

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Publication Date: September 29th, 2011

Synopsis: The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. 

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Review:


The short of it: I feel like I wanted to like THE NAME OF THE STAR more than I did. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy it, to an extent, but it wasn't everything I was hoping for. The characters were generally engaging, the small hints of romance were just enough, and the Jack the Ripper aspect was well thought out and researched. Unfortunately one of the main themes of the novel - the obvious ghosts - is what lessened this novels likability for me. 


The semi-long of it: The first half of THE NAME OF THE STAR reads very much like a Contemporary, with Rory moving from another country to attend boarding school in London, making new friends, crushing on a guy, and generally getting used to a whole new way of living. It also seemed a lot stronger than the second, perhaps because the hints towards who the "new" Ripper later in the novel were were all too plain for me. That said, I really did enjoy the Jack the Ripper Has Returned aspect of the book. It was eerie, and most importantly, it was interesting. Some of my favourite parts of the novel were when we were experiencing the attacks through others eyes, and the growing tension as the dates coinciding with the original Ripper murders grew closer.


And then the ghosts came a long. I like ghost stories, I do. I was even reading this in the perfect environment for a ghost story: it was raining, there was thunder. But something was... off. I can't really explain it. Maybe I've been watching too many ghostly television shows lately, but I knew who each ghost was, even before they were revealed. When Rory began to see the ghosts - after an unfortunate choking incident - I wasn't surprised. Then again, that is the whole point of the novel, isn't? With this new ghostly sight, Rory is also exposed to The Shades, an organization founded by persons higher on the pecking order who select those who have come close to death and can now see ghosts. They are, of course, the secret ghost police mentioned in the synopsis. Thus a whole new group of characters is introduced, but at this point I was left wishing the novel would return to how it was: the new girl at the boarding school who can see ghosts, with more focus on the supposed "return" (read: copycat) of Jack the Ripper.


[SPOILER]One thing I will say that surprised me was the actual identity of the "new" Ripper. And no, not that he was the ghost whom Rory had seen hanging around the school in the first few days she was there, but who he was prior to his death. It all made sense, and tied things up neatly with a bit of added thrill at the end.  
I do give props to Maureen Johnson for her writing, and her characters. The writing was easy to read, it flowed well, and in some parts I genuinely laughed. Reading THE NAME OF THE STAR made me want to read other books written by her. All in all, THE NAME OF THE STAR is a book that I would read again, even if it wasn't quite as amazing I thought it would be, and I look forward to reading the rest of the novels in this series.


Rating:

Add on Goodreads | Purchase at The Book Depository / Amazon 

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor

Title: DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #1)

Author: Laini Taylor.

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

Publisher: Little, Brown (US) / Hodder & Stoughton (UK & Aust)

Publication Date: September 27th, 2011

Synopsis: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. 

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. 

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. 

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. 

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?


 Review:

I've been wanting to read DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE ever since it began circulating around Blogspot. How could you not? The cover is quite transfixing, with a synopsis to match.  A combination of fantastical, supernatural elements, a unique heroine and a fresh take on a withering genre makes DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE one hyped up novel that does not disappoint.


In the beginning we meet Karou: a young art student living in Prague, who is also an errand girl for the monstrous Brimstone. Aside from the fact that her hair grows out of her head a brilliant blue and she has a string of wishes around her neck, Karou could pass for a normal seventeen-year-old girl. But there's something missing; something that makes her feel like she's not whole. 


Prague is a character in itself, aided by Laini Taylor's expressive writing which allows just the right amount of description to make the setting - so different from anything that I've read before - interesting and vivid. You really do feel as though you're there. Then you follow Karou through a door and into Elsewhere and everything shifts. In the devil's shop with hummingbird-moths fluttering around the lantern lights and strange creatures scurrying in the dark corners live the beings - more animal than human - who make up Karou's makeshift family. They call themselves Chimaera, and they could pass for monsters in any other setting. Brimstone deals in wishes, trading them for teeth which he sends Karou all over the world to collect. At this point we don't know what Brimstone's fascination with teeth is, and neither does Karou. In turn this creates part of the mystery that follows the first half of the novel which is slowly unveiled to the reader as it is to Karou. 


I don't want to go too much into exactly what happens, because I feel like it would ruin the experience and this is definitely one of those books where you simply have to read it. However I will say that what could be described as the "twist" in the novel was - to me - more of a succession of events that were plainly supposed to happen. There wasn't a great big SURPRISE, but at the same time it didn't take away from the enjoyment. 


The romance part of the novel could be seen as very stereotypical of Young Adult fiction these days: love at first sight (almost), wanting to be together when you really can't; very much the star-crossed love promised in the synopsis. Nevertheless, the quality of the writing and the characters helps steer away from what could be an over-the-top approach, making for some beautiful moments between the two. But the romance does come fast, and did teeter towards the predictable at times. 


If I'm honest the part of the book I probably enjoyed the most was the writing. Laini Taylor's talent is one that far surpasses many others in the same genre. Her prose is beautiful without being too much, and there's an almost lyrical quality in the way she weaves words together. I was pretty much a hulking green monsterette of envy whilst reading this book. That said, Laini Taylor could have written about pirate elves who take over a kingdom of marshmallow clouds and I still would be left thinking, "Why can't I write this good?"


Rating:

Add on Goodreads | Purchase at The Book Depository / Amazon