Sophie Reads YA: Puffin

Waiting on Wednesday: The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo #2) by Rick Riordan

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#RockMyTBR 2016 Challenge

Review: The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan

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The Hidden Oracle
Series: The Trials of Apollo #1
Author: Rick Riordan
Published May 3rd 2016 by Puffin

Goodreads Summary
How do you punish an immortal?

By making him human.

After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus's favour.

But Apollo has many enemies - gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go . . . an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.
Goodreads

Review
Right, so I've just finished my final exams, and will be graduating uni in a few weeks. My degree is combined history and ancient history, and since I was young, tales about mythology have intrigued me, either reading the originals, or adaptations/retellings. Rick Riordan quickly became one of my favourite authors about five years ago, when I discovered the Percy Jackson series, and since then I've loved anything by him.

When I first heard that Riordan would be returning to the world of Percy Jackson, after the end of the Heroes of Olympus series, I immediately added it to my wishlist. Taking place about six months after the end of Blood of Olympus, the god Apollo has angered his father and is punished by being turned mortal, landing, quite literally, in a dumpster in New York. He realises he needs help to get to Camp Half Blood, so tries to find Percy, with the help of his new friend, Meg. Once he manages to get to the camp, he finds out that life isn't going to be quite as easy as expected, as the Oracle of Delphi, and for that matter, all the Oracles, has grown silent, and campers are going missing on a weekly basis. Sinister forces appear to be at work, and with the gods no longer communicating with their children, it's up to Apollo to save the day.

I loved the way Apollo was portrayed. Yes, he was a bit similar to Percy, but also had his own distinctive voice. He could be whiny at times, but that's down to his being a god for thousands of years, and having a sense of entitlement that he's been used to. He didn't really click with the campers at first, especially with his children, cause that was a bit awkward, but over the course of the book, his character really grew and developed, and I can't wait to see more of that in the future instalments.

If you've read Riordan's other new series, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, this book takes place at roughly the same time, so I can see some overlap coming in the future. With Percy having a cameo part in this book, and Annabeth in The Sword of Summer, I happy we can see how they develop further, without them being the main characters of the story. The secondary characters, some of whom we've met before, added to the plot, and I, like many others, was overjoyed to see the Solangelo ship sailing! Meg, though younger than most of the others, was like a breath of fresh air. She didn't take any stick from Apollo, and her own back story and development was as good as Apollo's. Their friendship was a bit reminiscent of Percy and Annabeth in the start, but I don't think I can see them developing into a relationship, because of the age thing - though you never know.

For me, my favourite era of Ancient History is Roman - the Late Republic and early Empire - so the development of the Triumvirate storyline intrigues me. Really, I'm just excited for the next book, even though that's going to be months away. If you've enjoyed Riordan's other books, this is one for you to pick up!

Dates Read:
May 7-9, 2016

Rating
4 Stars

#RockMyTBR 2016 Challenge

Review: The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan

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The Sword of Summer
Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1
Author: Rick Riordan
Published October 6th 2015 by Puffin

Goodreads Synopsis
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he's tracked down by an uncle he's never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. His uncle tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .
Goodreads

Review

I ordered this book way back in October, when it came out, and for some reason it's been gathering dust on my shelf ever since. Rick Riordan is one of my favourite authors, and I adore his Percy Jackson series, especially since it is really faithful to the source material, and I'm a classics student. I did a module on the Vikings last semester, and became really interested in the Norse mythology, especially the whole idea of Ragnarok.

The Sword of Summer is about Magnus Chase (yes, that surname is familiar, he's Annabeth's cousin!) who after living on the streets for the past 2 years following the death of his mother, dies, in battle with a mythical Norse giant. Just your everyday occurrence. Because his death was heroic, and in battle, he was chosen by Samirah, a Valkyrie, to got to Valhalla and join the ranks of those training for the final battle. To top it all off, he's not just a mortal who committed a heroic action, but also is the son of the god Frey, and has to reclaim the legendary Sword of Summer before it triggers the start of Ragnarok - the end of the world.

The characters were this amazing! I loved Magnus! I had seen a lot of people saying he was extremely similar to Percy, as if they had the same voice, but I didn't find that. Rather, I thought he was his own person. He was dorky, and self-depreciating, and more mature, having had to deal with his grief and having grown up on the streets. Yes, there may have been similarities between Percy and Magnus, but the differences were more than enough for me.

Samirah (also called Sam) was a breath of fresh air. She had that sort of air about her that Annabeth had in the earlier PJO books, where she just wouldn't put up with any of Percy's crap. In this case, Sam is punished for picking Magnus to join the ranks in Valhalla, and she joins forces with him to recover the Sword to show that her decision was valid. Also, she was a diverse character, but not in your face diverse, added for the sake of diverstiy alone. She was Muslim, and wore a magical hijab that she'd fashioned from the material all Valkyries are given as a sort of invisibility cloak. She was also a descendent of Ahmad ibn Fadlān ibn al-Abbās ibn Rāšid ibn Hammād, who, if you know anything about Vikings and whatnot, wrote one of the earliest accounts of the Rus people (eastern Vikings living around the region of the Volga). I had to study his work last semester for my exams, and I loved how this was incorporated into the story.

The other characters, Blitz and Hearth, had been caring for Magnus when he was on the streets, and turn out to be from the Norse world too (a giant and a dwarf). We see all the characters have their own plot lines that all converge from time to time, and everything single part seemed necessary to the story.

We even get a little cameo from Annabeth, and the way her's and Magnus' relationship develops, I'm think she may be around more in the future too (hopefully with Percy this time.)

The plot line was a usual faced paced as you would expect from Riordan, and I can't wait to get my hands on book 2, The Hammer of Thor. If you've enjoyed any of Rick's books in the past, check this out, you won't regret it.

Dates Read:
May 4-5, 2016

Rating
4 Stars

5 Stars

Review: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer

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Winter
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
Author: Marissa Meyer
Published November 12th 2015 by Puffin

Goodreads Synopsis
Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?
Goodreads

Review
God, this book was utter perfection! I think the entire book blogging community was waiting with baited breath for this series finale, and it did not disappoint. The only downside I have is that the series is over with now - no more Thorne :(

This book is an absolute whopper! It's 823 pages long - well my copy at least was - and I never found any parts of the story that could have been left out. Every single page of the 823 was important to the plot line, and, to be honest, I would have been so happy if there was even more.

Our favourite characters are all here, and even some new ones, like Winter, who we've only really seen glimpses of previously. The best part was, we also got PoVs of a lot of these characters, though I do wish there was more from Cress and Thorne - they are by far my favourite characters. The story lines that have been developing in the past instalments of the series are all brought together in one climatic ending, that was everything I wanted it to be. I'm not going to spoil too much here, but I don't think I have ever smiled so much reading the last page of a series finale as I did reading Winter.

Meyer is fantastic at writing relationships, both romantic and otherwise, and I could really feel the connections between each of the characters involved. There were at least four ships in this book, which I think we were all expecting, and also the allusion to another one. Like I said, Cress and Thorne are my favourite characters, and my favourite OTP of the series, but I also adore the ships of Cinder/Kai, Wolf/Scarlet, and Winter/Jacin - even though I originally hated Jacin.

Levana is one serious sick SoB, and she deserved absolutely everything that she got in this book. Even when I read Fairest, and felt *some* sympathy for her, I still couldn't stand the woman. She is definitely one of those YA villains who has absolutely no redemption, and who you hate with a passion, a la Umbridge from HP.

Right, so I think I've rambled on long enough. Basically, this series is amazing, and you should read it all ASAP. The plot is well written, the characters as real as they can be for cyborgs, aliens, etc., and it remains to be one of the best fairytale retellings I have ever read! It may take me a while to get over this series, but at least we have Marissa's new books to look forward to ;)

tl;dr: Buy this book, and series, right now! You will not be disappointed :)

Dates Read:

November 13-16, 2015

Rating
5 Stars