Book Review - Furnace: Fugitives

Title: Furnace: Fugitives
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN-13: 978-0571259397

Synopsis
I am no longer trapped in the darkness. But the darkness is still trapped inside me. We did it. We cracked the gates, escaped from Furnace. We’re out, but we’re not free. Not yet. Now the whole city is in lockdown ­– the roads sealed, the police scouring every building. And there are worse things here – creatures of unimaginable fury hunting us down. An unholy army, sent by Alfred Furnace himself. Now a war is raging as he tries to bring the world to its knees. I can still feel the warden’s poison inside me. It’s the only thing keeping me alive, but it’s turning me into one of them, into a monster. I don’t know how much longer I can fight it before the rage takes over. If I don’t find a cure soon then it will be me out there tearing this city apart, me feasting on blood. If I ever want to be truly free then I have to travel into the heart of the darkness. I have to find Alfred Furnace before he finds me. We made it out but the nightmare followed us, and soon the whole world will be our prison…

My Review
I read the first 3 books in this series for Book Day at work last year, and met the author. He was a very cool guy, made us all laugh, squirm, cringe and laugh some more. He has an awesome sense of humour. Compared to his personality these books are the complete opposite, they are filled with death, terror and madness. But i love them. These books are a bit like when you drive past an accident, you know you shouldn't be looking, that it's going to be gruesome, but you just cannot look away. 
I requested this book from the library and was so excited when it came in. Book 3 ended on a real cliffhanger and i couldn't wait to start reading. 
Alex, Simon, and Zee have escaped from the depths of 'Furnace' a prison gone bad, where all the inmates are tortured and mutated into monsters. Chaos reins over the city as monsters, fugitives and 'Wardens' are let loose. Struggling to escape from police, the three young boys hide away and try to get out of the city, but soon they realise there are things much worse hunting them. A new type of monster, worse than what was being created inside Furnace is on the loose, and more people are turning by the minute.
This book is so exciting, i literally could not put it down. Everytime i thought they would escape, BAM another obstacle would intercept them, there were so many unexpected twists in this story that i was on the edge of my seat. 
This is something i never thought i would like, but was so surprised, it is a fabulous series, very well written, with great characters and a great plot.
The characters really come alive, i feel sorry for Alex, Zee and Simon and all they have happen to them, and I find Alfred Furnace terrifying, you never physically meet him, he's just a presence and it's almost like he is watching you through the pages of the book, it adds an element of excitement to it. 

My Rating
I would give this book 8.5/10, i cannot  wait for the next and final part in this series which comes out in March :D

A-Z Reading Challenge

This is a challenge hosted by Book Junky over at The Thoughts of a Book Junkie. If you haven't signed up, I suggest you do! 

So... here's how its gonna work... 

Read 26 books this year ( easy right ) 

One for each letter of the alphabet.

As I'm doing other Challenges, i thought why not incorporate them into this one.
Click on the Title to go to my review.

Here is my list so far:

A - Across The Universe by Beth Revis
B - Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James
C - Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson
D - Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding
E - Evermore by Alyson Noel
F - Furnace; Fugitives by Alexander Gordon Smith
G - Grave Doubts by Meg Cabot
H - Heaven Sent by Meg Cabot
I - Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon
J - Jungle Vampire by The Beastly Boys
K - Kisses For Lula by Samantha Mackintosh
L - Lula Does The Hula by Samantha Mackintosh
M - My So-Called Life by Joanna Nadin
N - Night Star (Immortals 5) by Alyson Noel
O - Oriana's Eyes by Celeste Simone
P - Piratica  by Tanith Lee
Q - Quest of the Demon by M L Sawyer
R - The Rising Moon by Nilsa Rodriguez
S - Sign Of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
T - Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
U - Unreliable Life of Harry the Valet by Duncan Hamilton
V - Vampire Knight Vol.1 by Matsuri Hino
W - Wings by E.D Baker
X -
Y - Young Blood by Meg Cabot
Z - Zero Hour by Mark Walden

Almost got a full list. :D

Book Review - Hex Hall

Synopsis
In the wake of a love spell gone horribly wrong, Sophie Mercer, a sixteen-year-old witch, is shipped off to Hecate Hall, a boarding school for witches, shapeshifters and faeries. The traumas of mortal high school are nothing compared to the goings on at "Freak High." It's bad enough that she has to deal with a trio of mean girls led by the glamorous Elodie, but it's even worse when she begins to fall for Elodie's gorgeous boyfriend, Archer Cross, and frankly terrifying that the trio are an extremely powerful coven of dark witches. But when Sophie begins to learn the disturbing truth about her father, she is forced to face demons both metaphorical and real, and come to terms with her own growing power as a witch. 




My Review
I wanted to read this book as soon as i heard of it, months ago, but i had to wait for the UK release date then the order of my copy from the library to come through. But it was well worth the wait.
Sophie Mercer is sent to Hectate (Hex) Hall after she performs a love spell on her friend and it goes horribly wrong. Hex Hall is a boarding school for Witches, Faeries and other magical beings. All of them have done something bad to get in there and have to learn to control their powers. 
Sophie is a great witch, her magic went wrong and dangered others, but she always did it with the best intentions, now she's stuck at Hex, with the 3 most powerful witches out to get her, a crush on the cutest boy who happens to be dating one of the 3, and secrets about her father who she has never known are coming out. Could things get any worse. 
I found myself empathising with Sophie and hoping things would turn out ok.
I also loved Sophie's room-mate Jenna, a young vampire girl, outcast in the school and very sweet-natured. The girl's friendship blossoms and they make a good team.
The plot is very fast moving and exciting, it's got everything, adventure, danger, romance, magic and twists that will leave you gripped to the pages and on the edge of your seat.
I cannot wait until book 2 comes out, it's the start of a very promising series.


My Rating
I would give this book 9/10. A very exciting read!

Book Blogger Hop: January 14th - 17th

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy-for-Books and is an awesome way to for book bloggers to interact and find each other. Such a wonderful idea! There's a new question every week that all the participating blogs have to answer. 

This week's question comes from Barb who blogs at Sugarbeat's Books:

 

 "Why do you read the genre that you do?  What draws you to it?"

 

My Answer: I love Fantasy/Supernatural books, the escape into a completely different time and place,  somewhere your imagination can escape to. I drift into these books and enter these strange new worlds, and i like to learn of all the different species. I love the wonder of magic and illusion. I also read chic lit, clique novels, characters i can relate too, i can feel a part of their lives.

 

 

The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don't have time to Hop today, go back later and join the fun!  This is a weekly event!  And stop back throughout the weekend to see all the new blogs that are added

If you've stopped by my blog from the hop, welcome, it's great to have you here, please feel free to look around, and follow. I will then visit you in turn. :D     

 

Book Review - The Legacy

Synopsis
When a Pincent Pharma lorry is ambushed by the Underground, its contents come as a huge surprise - not drugs, but corpses in a horrible state. It appears Longevity isn't working and the drugs that are supposed to guarantee eternal youth are failing to live up to their promise. A virus is sweeping the country, killing in its wake, and Longevity is powerless to fight it. When Richard Pincent of Pincent Pharma suggests that the Underground has released the virus, something has to be done to put the story straight once and for all and alert everyone to the truth. 




My Review
I requested this as soon as i knew it was coming out. I loved book one 'Declaration' and enjoyed book 2 'Resistance' and so was looking forward to book 3. it took a few months before it was released then i had to wait for it to arrive and so the other books weren't fresh in my mind, but i did get back into the story quite quickly. This one starts with a prologue which actually takes you back before the beginning of book 1.
Albert is researching a cure for cancer when his daughter is taken ill, he finds a cure, but it is the ultimate cure, it will heal you of every illness and renew your cells so you don't die of old age either. It looks like he has created a form of immortality.
His assistant is hungry for the formula and the fame that comes with it and so takes the formula and gets rid of Albert.
It then skips to 120 or something years later and back where book 2 ended. Anna has escaped the 'surplus halls' a place where children who were born 'illegally' are sent. She has found that she isn't a waste on society but a valuable human being. She is happily living with Peter, her brother Ben, and her baby Molly.
The Underground are still trying to sabotage Pincent Pharma, destroying drugs, stopping the children from being taken away, trying to restart the circle of life. But one raid on a van of what they think is drugs reveals piles of withered dead bodies, and they aren't the first. Hundreds and thousands of people are mysteriously disappearing, and word gets out of an illness, it seems the drugs aren't working anymore. Pincent Pharma try to cover the catastrophe by blaming the Underground.
Can Anna, Peter, Jude and Sheila uncover the truth before everyone either dies of the disease or gets killed by angry scared people. 
I'm a bit confused about how i feel about this book, i enjoyed parts of it, but at other times it was a bit too political for my liking. The author makes quite a debate about the value of life, and why one person can think that they have more right to live than others. Should we have eternal life on the consequence that no new life can be born. It is an interesting subject but it felt a bit forced. There were a few surprises in the story line that i enjoyed and i found myself trying to figure out who was on what side and what was going to happen. 
One part of my brain was saying, 'this isn't that good, and not at all believable,' but the other part was saying 'keep reading i need to know what happens, this is getting good.' the result was that i couldn't put the book down and was up until 1.30 in the morning finishing it!
I think i was mainly disappointed because i loved book 1 so much and felt they went downhill from then on, but i would say, it was worth finishing and i really liked how it ended.

My Rating
I would give this book a 6.5/10. Worth a try.

Library Thursday Blog Hop

What is Library Thursday?
Library Thursday is a weekly blog hop that I've started to:
1. Encourage people to support their libraries when they can
2. Meet new bloggy friends and grow your following

If you're anything like me and you can't always get new books each week & you don't get a bunch of ARCs delivered to you, this is a great hop for you! If you DO get new books and ARCs each week, this is also a great hop.

The Library Thursday Hop is a new weekly meme hosted by Lah @ Lazy Girl Reads. Each week we will list which books we've picked up, put on hold, or skimmed through at the library. It's a great way to see what other bloggers are browsing through while we are waiting for new titles to come out. And it's a blog hop! So you can make some more bloggy friends. If you haven't signed up head on over to
Lazy Girl Reads and join the fun.

Don't forget about the library!


I found this today and think it's a great idea.

Here are some titles i have looked at over the last few days in the library:

1) Never Bite A Boy On The First Date by Tamara Summers - there is a request list on this so i won't get it for a while, but it sounds quite funny.

2) The Dark Divine by Bree Despain. - I served a girl who was taking this book out and it caught my eye, read the blurb and decided i wanted to read it, so have put in a request.

Unfortuantely i have my maximum number of books out and have loads to read at home so i haven't got many this week. Will be more another time I'm sure. What are you reading?

Book Review - Changeling: Demon Games

Synopsis
Teenage werewolf Trey is facing the most important and dangerous mission of his life. He must journey into the dark Netherworld and rescue Alexa, daughter of his vampire guardian Lucien, who is being held hostage by a powerful demon lord. But strength and courage alone are not enough to succeed – instead Trey must ‘win’ both their freedoms by participating in a death-match against his deadliest nemesis yet. The forces of evil are stacked against him and Trey can only be certain of one thing . . . one of them WILL die. 


My Review
I grabbed this book as soon as i finished the last one and read it in one day. I just could not put it down. I have become obsessed by this series. I love them.
Alexa has journeyed to the Netherworld to save her friend Phillipa, when that goes wrong, Trey finds himself following her and coming to the rescue, but nothing is ever that easy. There are traitors everywhere and Trey must work out who he can trust. In order to escape he has to make a deal with the Demon Lord and fight in the Demon Games - a brutal sport where nether creatures must fight to the death.
Can Trey face his enemies and escape with his and Alexa's life. I found this book really exciting, the journey through the Netherworld was exciting and very different from what i thought. The characters really come to life, and i found myself trying to figure out who was a good guy and who was the traitor. Some parts of the story were again slightly predictable, i knew exactly where Feasey was heading, but i still enjoyed getting there.
The only bad thing about this book is that the next one isn't out yet and it's left me wanting more, which i suppose is really the mark of a good book.

My Rating
I would give this book 9/10, grab the series now!!!

Book Review - Changeling: Blood Wolf

Synopsis
 

Trey thought he was the only one.

It was a lie.

The last hereditary werewolf has found his pack – and they’re vicious, bloodthirsty, and truly wild.

Trey has had enough of vampires, demons and sorcerors. He needs to get in touch with his real family – the ones with fur, fangs and killer instincts.

But the wolf pack howling at the moon in Canada is not what he expected. And without the protection of de-fanged vampire and demon-hunter Lucien Charron, the family secret is more dangerous than he ever knew. Trey’s out of control. Can the werewolf be tamed? 

My Review

This book is a fresh break from the first in the series. It branches out into another location, plot and lots of new characters. Trey journeys to Canada to visit his uncle and join the pack of wolves that live there. Determined to go alone and discover his past and future by himself, he sets off. But things are never as they seem.

There is more to the pack than it seems, and there are some secrets that maybe shouldn't be discovered.

I loved the setting in Canada, it's very well described and sounded lovely. The new characters are great and all the different personalities really shine through. No matter what his past and excuses, i found myself liking Trey's Uncle and holding my breathe to see what would come next. 

Meanwhile back in London, Phillapa is trying to get over the lose of her dad and the discovery of the demon world. When things get complicated, she must rely on Alexa and Lucien to help, but Lucien is having his own problems. Things will really start to get complicated.

I really enjoyed the break of the two settings, it kept the interest and familiarity in Lucien and his grew in London, and then gave a fresh new approach with Trey.

There were parts of the story that i thought were a bit predictable, but i enjoyed it nevertheless. 

Much better than book two and i couldn't wait to grab hold of book four - The Demon Games.

My Rating

I would give this book 8.5/10. Fantastic work, a must read.

Teaser Tuesday: Changeling:Demon Games by Steve Feasey

TEAser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, just do as following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include any spoilers so as not to ruin the book for others!

Make sure to share the title and the author so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR piles!

My Teasers:  Changeling: Demon Games by Steve Feasey (same series as last week, but now onto book 4!)

"There was a fizzing sound in his ears, and his vision began to fog, the world around him became indistinct and monochrome. There was a loud cracking sound over his left shoulder and as he turned to see the source of the noise a huge head appeared, followed by a taloned hand that wrapped itself round his neck."

Page 53

"For it's size, the creature moved with incredible speed. It ran on great tree-trunk legs straight through everything in it's path to the vampire."

Page 160




What's your teasers?

Blog Makeover & Update

Hi Everyone,

You may have noticed my blog has had a bit of a makeover, and I love it.
I want to say a huge THANK YOU to Jen over at 'Jaebirddesign'

She did an amazing job and i love my header. It's beautiful, she did everything quickly and without hassle. If you want a blog design head over to her page, her prices are really good too!

What do you think?


I'm also excited because today i got an e-mail from Jannette at '-The Story Realm-' who told me i had won her first Giveaway. This is the first Giveaway/Contest i have won and i am super excited. I get a YA book and a homemade scarf.
Can't wait until they arrive, So Thank you too.


I have really got into a reading rhythm at the moment and are plughing through books so there will be quite a few reviews coming.

What are you all reading at the moment?