Devoted: An Angel Academy Novel

Time for the next blog entry! I was given a free copy of Devoted by the author (Emery Skye) in exchange for an honest review. 

Devoted: An Angel Academy Novel

1 out of 5 Cringe-Worthy Stars

I don't even know where to begin with this one. I guess I'll start off with the most annoying aspect: the grammar and punctuation errors. It's one thing to misspell breathe vs breath (multiple times) but when you forget to end/start quotation marks when a character is speaking, that's where I draw the line. Also, "accept" and "except" are two completely different words. Seriously. Adding commas where they are not needed, ending sentences too early or letting them run on for too long, and the over use of descriptions just made the writing itself annoying to read. The readers do not need to know that a character has "long, wavy, thick dark hair." Personally, I think just saying "long dark hair" is enough information. And I can't ever see having a conversation with someone along the lines of "Hey, let's go to Chili's tonight. I really wanna go to Chili's. We're still going to Chili's right? Cause you said we would go to Chili's." The writing mistakes add up and makes reading the novel aggravating. This book was published through a publishing agency, so I don't know how there can be so many mistakes. And we haven't even gotten to the characters or plot line. 

The Story:

The main premise of Devoted is there are Angels and Demons on Earth, and the Angels train to fight the Demons and protect the humans from them. I haven't read an angel/demon book in awhile, but Devoted is very similar to Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and The Covenant Series by Jennifer L Armentrout. Plus, there are so many cliches in it that I feel like I've already read it before. I can't stand every single character in the novel being absolutely gorgeous, including the heroin (who of course doesn't know it). This seems to be most of Young-Adult books lately - "if people aren't pretty, they're boring." Which is so stupid and a topic for another time before I get completely off track. Devoted has The Special Snowflake Syndrome (I came up with this name thanks to my sister), which is basically the main character is super special/awesome/amazing for no reason. Yes, we want  to read about a protagonist that stands out; some series have The Special Snowflake Syndrome and they make it work, resulting in an amazing series. But then there's books like this one, where SSS turns into a nuisance that you just can't seem to get rid of. You've got the protagonist being awesome, the side-kick, the mean girl, and the hot guy who is supposed to end up with the protagonist. Oh, and the hot-guy is older than the protagonist, which doesn't really matter to me, but when the age part ends up being brought up a lot (which it always is), all I can think of is "pedophile". Yeah, I don't wanna read about that. Also, it took awhile to get to the main plot described in the synopsis, which makes the first half of the book drag on. And when you feel like you've already read it before, feeling slowed down does not help. The all-powerful angels act like children and they are pretty dull - I would rather face off Lucifer by myself than have them "help" me. Only thing that I agree with is the emphasis on following rules. Angels are made to obey God, so heeding "the Law" is very important, but these angels just seem to do whatever they want and make up the rules as they go. Especially when it comes to our main character, in which the rules are changed specifically for her, cause she's just so special.

The Characters:

Anna Hasdiel is our protagonist in this novel, and she is one of the biggest hypocrites I've ever had the displeasure to read about. She's all about training 24/7 so she can destroy demons and she looks down on all the other students for trying to also have a life. She places herself on a pedestal high above others, and don't forget that she's also valedictorian of her class - although she definitely doesn't act like it. The description of the other students does make them seem like incompetent imbeciles, but Anna looks down on anyone who wants to do something other than train (like her sister with liking to draw). Enter Legite Nathan Deror. Anna immediately starts crushing on him and wanting to be with him - but wait, isn't that exactly why she looks down on the other students? For wanting to have relationships? To live a little? But it's okay for Anna to want to be with Legite Nathan Deror, cause she's a special snowflake - and then she still continues to look down on her peers, EVEN AFTER SHE STARTS ACTING EXACTLY LIKE THEM. So, hypocrite. Anna also lacks even a little bit of control and has serious anger management issues. It seems to be hinted at that some supernatural force may be making her act this way, but I think it's just her true personality showing. Then there's Anna's sister, Amalie, who seems to act as dumb as a post at times and is extremely annoying. I cannot take any of these characters seriously at all, especially the ones that are supposed to be leaders. 

In Conclusion:

I feel like I've been pretty harsh with this review, but it is constructive criticism. I want everyone reading my blog to know that I'm going to be 100% honest with everything I post, and I'm not going to be timid about posting my thoughts because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. My honest opinion of Devoted is that it is a poorly written novel that needs serious editing, and that the characters and plot line aren't that great. If you're a fan of Vampire Academy, The Covenant Series or just a big YA Fantasy fan who doesn't mind grammar errors and misspellings, then you might like Devoted. I just can't stand all these errors plus the annoying characters, so this book isn't the one for me. I read about one-third of it, skimmed a bit, then decided that I'm not going to waste my time anymore - I have better books to read that I'm really excited for. Sorry if I seem harsh, but I'm not going to hold back on my reviews. I hope to have something nice to recommend to everyone in two weeks.

Death Note (Anime)

Hey everyone! So I realize I have been very inconsistent with my reviews, and I am going to change that - every other weekend, either a Saturday or Sunday, I'm going to try a put up a new review :) Today I am going to start with a fantastic anime called Death Note (for those of you that don't know, anime is basically Japanese cartoons that are awesome).

Death Note

5 out of 5 Deathly Brilliant Stars

"The human whose name is written in this note shall die."

Wow, this is one amazing anime! It's intense, brilliantly written and filled with extremely clever characters. I remember I almost watched it over the summer, but put it off to watch Dexter instead. I'm just glad I eventually got around to watching it! I've been searching for a story with intelligent characters that would shock me, and Death Note does not disappoint. The main story line is about a genius high-schooler named Light Yagami, who one day happens to pick up a notebook that has the words "Death Note" written on the cover. After picking it up and flipping through it, Light sees a set of rules describing how the Death Note works, the first rule being "The human whose name is written in this note shall die." All you need is a face, name, and the Death Note. Figuring it is just some stupid prank, Light leaves the Death Note back where he found it, but ends up picking it up again, letting curiosity get the best of him. A situation occurs with a man holding a group of children hostage, and Light decides to test out the Death Note to see if it's real. The situation is being broadcast on TV, and after learning the man's name and seeing his face, Light writes his name in the Note. He then knows the Death Note is real once the criminal dies after 40 seconds of a heart attack, which the Death Note said would happen. Thus begins Light Yagami's quest to rid the world of evil and create a new world filled only with good, kind people.

"This world is rotten, and those who are making it rot deserve to die. Someone has to do it, so why not me? Even if it means sacrificing my own mind and soul, it's worth it. Because the world... can't go on like this. I wonder... what if someone else had picked up this notebook? Is there anyone out there other than me who'd be willing to eliminate the vermin from the world? If I don't do it, then who will? That's just it: there's no one. But I can do it. In fact, I'm the only one who can. I'll do it. Using the Death Note, I'll change the world."

Light continues to regularly kill criminals by writing their names in the Death Note while the Shinigami (god of death) Ryuuk watches. Ryuuk is the death god that dropped the Death Note in the human world, and is now supposed to stay with whoever has the Note. Only people who have touched the Death Note can see Shinigami (so yes, Light can see Ryuuk).

Eventually, people start to connect the dots that all these criminals are dying of heart attacks, and that this is not a coincidence. Enter L, the world's most brilliant detective that has solved over 2,000 cases. Light is now known as Kira to the world, and L starts working with the Japanese Police to try and catch Kira. Both L and Light are extremely intelligent, and it's very interesting watching how the show proceeds.

"Justice will prevail." --L

There are so many points that have left me speechless in this anime, and it's definitely one of the best that I've ever seen. There are plot twists within the plot twists. It's also really cool seeing the character development throughout the show, whether it be a good change or a bad one. Light, L, Ryuuk and all the other characters make up a series that is exceptionally brilliant. It's intense, screws with your head in the worst way (at least for me it did lol) and leaves you thinking about it for a long time even after finishing the anime. It also brings up a lot of interesting concepts to think about. Is the main theme of Death Note that it's wrong to kill people even if they're bad? Or is it meant to be if you're given so much power over others, it's okay to use it for a good cause as long as you don't abuse it and lose sight of your own humanity? And, I think most importantly, what would you do if you had a Death Note? Like I mentioned before, this anime really screws with you head. I'm a bit disappointed with the ending and would love to talk about that, but I am not going to post any spoilers in this review. So, if you want a show that's going to make you think, leave you speechless, is crazy intense and has you questioning your own morals, then this is definitely the show to watch. Plus, it's on Netflix, so that's always nice :)

"Humans are... So much fun."

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the holidays! Winter vacation cannot come soon enough, just gotta survive finals first. Anyways, today's review is on......

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

3 1/2 out of 5 Revolutionary Stars

“Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!” 

Where to start with this one...

Well, first off, I love the first Hunger Games book, and like the rest of the series too. Ir has a very nice progression throughout it and I like when there's an overall arc to a story. The first two movies, Hunger Games and Catching Fire, stay very true to the book, and add in phenomenal actors like Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson (and some good scenes with Liam Hemsworth in Mockingjay) and you're bound to have some amazing films. The talent of the actors and the story line are what makes this series such a big hit. However, while Mockingjay is a good movie, I was a little disappointed and that's because all the films these days wanna pull off a Harry Potter. To clarify, Harry Potter split up the last movie, Deathly Hallows, into two separate films. Now, this is an almost 800-page book filled with action and suspense and intense plot lines. To get the full impact of the book transposed for a film, it had to be split, and neither Part 1 nor Part 2 disappoints. And since Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 were such a big hit, Twilight decided to split up the fourth movie also. Which is a complete fail. I admit to seeing both, and Breaking Dawn Part 1 put me to sleep and Part 2 was filled with complete nonsense, even more than I expected when I sat down to watch it. Which is saying a lot 'cause I didn't really expect anything good from it to begin with. Now Mockingjay has been split into two parts, and while Part 1 was nice to watch and did have some very emotional scenes, I left the theater wondering if it was really worth the $12 to see it. Plus the third Divergent book, Alligent, is also being split up. The first movie almost put me to sleep, although I did like the novel. The trailer for Insurgent isn't so great, to put it nicely, and not sure how the third book being split is going to be a good idea, since it isn't too great to start off with. Anyway, back to the topic at hand:

“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.” 

Mockingjay Part 1 is a nice movie to watch, but it's a filibuster. Plain and simple. It's a way for the producers to make more money, and there is no reason to have the third book (all 380-something pages) divided into two parts. It's a nice set up, but not needed, and now we need to wait another year to watch the resolution with the incredible actress Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen. You can always read the book to find out what happens, but I wanna see it on the big screen. I just wish movies would stop being split into two parts, that it will only happen when it's actually needed (like Harry Potter). But alas, the world is a greedy place and I don't see that happening. 

“What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.” 

So, if you've been keeping up with the movies and really like them, then Mockingjay Part 1 is probably worth seeing. If you've been on the fence about seeing it you might wanna wait until next year to watch Mockingjay Part 1 and 2 back to back. It's hard to say on this film, because once the movie ends, you're really going to want to watch Part 2. Let's just hope that the producers really did save the best for last.