Review: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

"If you believe only in facts and forget stories, your brain will live, but your heart will die"

Emma Carstairs has finally avenged her parents. She thought she’d be at peace. But she is anything but calm. Torn between her desire for her parabatai Julian and her desire to protect him from the brutal consequences of parabatai relationships, she has begun dating his brother, Mark. But Mark has spent the past five years trapped in Faerie; can he ever truly be a Shadowhunter again?

And the faerie courts are not silent. The Unseelie King is tired of the Cold Peace, and will no longer concede to the Shadowhunters’ demands. Caught between the demands of faerie and the laws of the Clave, Emma, Julian, and Mark must find a way to come together to defend everything they hold dear—before it’s too late.

Lord of Shadows is the fantastic second installment of Cassandra Clare's bestselling series The Dark Artifices, an addition to her fictional world of Shadowhunters. As a huge fan of her books, I was so excited to start reading this and I wasn't disappointed! At nearly 700 pages long, I'd be lying if I said I flew through this novel but I was gripped the whole way through by the vivid mythical universe Clare has created and the intricate plot she weaves in each of her novels.

What is so appealing about Cassandra Clare's books is that all of the characters within the Shadowhunters universe are intertwined somehow, so Lord of Shadows sees the return of old favourites Jace, Clary, Magnus and Alec and of course a few more, but revealing the rest would be a spoiler ;) Lord of Shadows is the perfect blend of fantasy, romance and action packed scenes. With the main characters being teenagers, she also manages to somehow make fighting against demons seem relatable. The Blackthorn's children distrust and disrespect for authority is also certainly not exclusive to the world of Shadowhunters.

As always, Cassandra Clare does a fantastic job of bringing marginalised communities to the forefront of young adult literature, whether it be creating role models in Hispanic characters or giving the LGBT community representation. She educates young people who may otherwise lack knowledge on these topics or gives them someone to relate to who feels the same things.

Those who were gripped by Julian and Emma's complicated and often dangerous relationship in Lady Midnight will not be disappointed and fans of Cristina will be excited to see her play a bigger role in this novel and see a figure from her past make a reappearance... Also, new character Kit takes centre stage and provides humour and comedic relief when the plot darkens.

I cannot recommend this book enough! Whether you're an obsessed Shadowhunters fan or you're curious about dipping your toe into the YA fantasy world, The Dark Artifices series is a fantastic place to start!

9/10 

Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

"No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people."

Clay Jensen returns home from school one day to find a mysterious box with his name on it, outside his front door. Inside he discovers a series of cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush. Only, she committed suicide two weeks earlier. On the first tape, Hannah explains that there are 13 reasons why she did what she did - and Clay is one of them.

If he listens, Clay will find out how he made the list - what he hears will change his life forever.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a profound, hard hitting and emotional YA book following ordinary high school student Clay in the aftermath of of his first love's suicide. Clay is the protagonist of the novel, but it's Hannah's story. Her witty humorous tone takes the reader on a journey that becomes increasingly dark and helpless as we learn what led to Hannah losing all hope. It's a very difficult story to read as Hannah often describes her dark thoughts in detail. Additionally, some of the incidents that lead to her suicide seem small and inconsequential until added with the strain on her mental health provided by other situations no one could have known about. This provides food for thought, making you honestly think as a reader about how our actions are impacting the lives of others in ways we may never know.

I picked up Thirteen Reasons Why after seeing the hype in the bookstagram community and also around the TV show. This book is a really important read and it's great that hard hitting topics are being brought into mainstream media and provoking necessary conversations surrounding mental health, however I didn't really feel that the book actually lived up to the hype. Also, I feel that although it's important to provoke conversation around mental health and teen suicide, it shouldn't be shown in a way that sensationalises or even normalises these feelings. It's important to me that young people consuming this kind of media are learning about how to recognise signs of poor mental health and reach out for help, not seeing at as something that romanticises suicidal feelings.

Honestly, this book is doing a great thing in encouraging important discussions in mental health, sexual assault and support systems for young people in school. However, it is a really tough read and I did find it quite upsetting. If you are affected by any of the issues raised within the book, you should reach out for help and support as that is the message Jay Asher is sending out to his audience. Ultimately, Hannah takes responsibility for her own actions and we recognise as readers that Hannah's situation could have been prevented had she been provided with proper support or reached out for help.

8/10

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in Thirteen Reasons Why, please visit https://www.papyrus-uk.org/# or https://youngminds.org.uk/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwnPLKBRC-j7nt1b7OlZwBEiQAv8lMLOwONmklIHvyZD-qHVq7HMbb8RspNj4rTOabELc0m0kaAnWQ8P8HAQ

Interview: Arnie Cantarero, Author of Emotions

Emotions is an exciting YA sci-fi novel perfect for lovers of Doctor Who and Star Trek. It's an interesting focus on the emotional scope of the human mind and the development of artificial intelligence and the awareness of a computer. The story follows Jason, an alien with a computer installed in his brain to help him navigate Earth. This tale is poignant at an age where technology seems likely to surpass us and it's definitely worth a read! I interviewed Arnie Cantarero to discover why he's so fascinated with the concept of emotions, the importance of Hispanic representation in literature and why he'd love to pick the brain of Doctor Who. 

What would you say makes your book stand out in the sci-fi genre?

Where to start on this one. So many books I’ve read have a chosen one character, while that can work extremely well for some books, I wanted to stay away from that. In Emotions, we have a binary being; An emotionless alien (that’s not evil) and an implanted sentient computer, and everyone in his planet is like him, and there are billions of them. He’s also depowered compared to the rest of his kind.

On top of that, the main character is Hispanic (well, appears Hispanic since he’s an alien) and a large majority happens in a nondescript (on purpose) Latin American country along with other locales around the world.

All and all, I wanted a story that would leave the reader not only wanting more but feel satisfied once they finished reading it.

If the book was adapted into a film, who would you cast as Jason and why?

I’ve often wondered about that. While I’ve seen movies that star well-known actors, if and when, Emotions gets turned into a movie, I’d like it to be a star creator, not a star vehicle. I’ve seen so many amazing actors in little-known movies, why not give them a chance at the big time?

Why did you decide to focus on the concept of emotions in the book?

A good question. Growing up, I was a bit of an odd duck, never quite understanding why people did things or how people worked. I’d say thank you when people insulted me (drove them nuts) since I didn’t get what the big deal was. Then it hit me; someone with no emotions would try to fit in but wouldn’t understand the basics for how, or why, we do things, and therefore wouldn’t know how to respond to our world. I also realized how important emotions are to further advance us as people, they drive us after all. That’s when Jason was born.

Where do you take your inspiration from as an author?

From everything I see. I’ll be watching a tv show, and something in it will get me thinking to the point that I’ll come up with something new (solved an issue in the sequel this way) or be in the real world, talking to people, and the conversation will inspire me. We live in an amazing world, full of ideas waiting to be discovered if we’re willing to look.

If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

It’s an older book, but I've read it like six times (at least). It’s the novelization of 2001: a space odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. The movie is one of my earliest memories, and when I found out it had a book, well, I just had to get it. The HAL 9000 computer is an amazing character, I wanted more than what I saw in the movie. I even got the audio book just in case I find myself in a very long drive (another way to come up with new ideas and find new places).

If you could sit down with one literary character for a cup of tea, who would it be?

While I wouldn’t want to become a companion (maybe) I’d say Doctor Who. I know he’s technically a TV character, but he’s had his fair share of books. He’s the ultimate nerd, I’d love to pick his brain.

Has writing always been a dream of yours or was there a particular moment that inspired you to pursue it?

A bit of both, actually. I remember always coming up with little stories, daydreaming, (especially at school) but didn’t quite know how to communicate what I was seeing. Everything came together in High School when my English teacher (aren’t teachers awesome?) showed us how to write essays. That’s when I realized how much I loved writing. Heck, my classmates asked me to do their essays, and I’d write them for free. I remember writing an essay about the superiority of mechanical pencils over pens. Got full marks but my teacher said it was the strangest essay he’d ever read. I took a lot of pride in that.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors hoping to pursue a writing career?

Never ever give up on your dream and keep reading. The road is littered with people that may have had the next big thing but gave up before they got there. Be the one that makes it to the end.

Emotions is available as an ebook on the Kindle or a paperback on Amazon

Review: Emotions by Arnie Cantarero

"An emotionless being in an emotional world"

I received this book from Arnie Cantarero in exchange for an honest review.

Jason Ariaz is not your average 22 year old. He has been genetically and cybernetically enhanced but that’s only the beginning. He is an emotionless extraterrestrial born to human parents and living amongst us. Both him and his implanted thinking computer were damaged on landing and must go through life as less than what they really are. The purpose of their mission: to gain permanent emotions from the more primitive society that is Earth. If he is successful, he will be the first of his species to do so in nearly 200,000 years.

Hope lies in the fact that he is capable of emotional episodes and he has been able to forge true friendships. However, he does have the chance of completing his mission if he can truly care for Ariel, the closest human in his life. But he better know his heart soon. Their lives are in danger of ending tonight, unless he can recover what his species has lost.

Emotions is an exciting YA take on the sci-fi genre perfect for anyone with an interest in graphic novels or comics looking for a book that has the same kind of action and references to artificial intelligence. I don't usually read sci-fi books as sometimes the technological details can be too much to keep up with for someone who doesn't have an interest in computers, however the concept for this story had me hooked from the beginning.

This book definitely wasn't an easy read as such but Cantarero doesn't intend for it to be, choosing to tackle big questions surrounding human interaction and the complexity of the human experience. It was certainly interesting to follow Jason's internal dialogue between him and Computer and I think this book provides a lot of food for thought surrounding what makes a person a person and what we should value most as people - the greater good or our personal relationships. This book will have you questioning whether our emotions are what make us human and whether they are a weakness or a strength unique to intelligent life.

This book was enjoyable and though complex and slightly heavy with technological details, it's a really interesting read that will lead to some deep thinking! Definitely a must for sci-fi lovers and fans of Star Trek!

7/10

Emotions is available as an ebook on the Kindle or a paperback on Amazon