The Foreshadowing by Marcus Sedgewick

Back in the day when we were at the Charybdis (aaah, to reminisce) I read and reviewed My Swordhand is Singing by the fabulous Marcus Sedgewick. I finished the post with the words "Inter-Library Loaning Every Other Sedgwick book I can find". Lo and behold, I followed through *cough* three months later *cough*! Here is the result!

Sasha is from a good, wealthy, patriotic family in England. Or so it appears. With World War I looming and the young men of her world disappearing to the front, conflict begins in her family. Brother Edgar wants to be a commander. Brother Thomas wants to avoid the call. Father Fox is furious with Brother Thomas and Brother Edgar doesn't help much with that. But Sasha has bigger problems. She can see the future in glimpses, where people are going, where they are, how they will die. Of course, as Cassandra of the ancient Greek stories, no one believes her or they shut her out in fear. But when her brother Edgar dies and she sees a horrifying vision of Thomas's fate, Sasha must find the courage to shed what society demands of her and save her brother against all the powers of destiny and fate.

Beautiful. The writing was beautiful, the characters were beautifully executed (erm... not literally), the settings were gorgeous and it felt very poignant. I put so much will into Sasha's search that I was actually tired when I finally put the book down (two in the morning) to go to sleep. And no, it wasn't just the fact that I was up until two in the morning to finish reading it. So many desperate moments and fantastic descriptions. Agh. But I'm gushing.

The negatives. As with My Swordhand is Singing, this is the sort of book and writing style that you either love or hate. But I recommend trying it. You may find that you love it like I did. And if you're interested in war time writing and historical fiction, there is alot of fact put into the plot that will pique your interest.

6 out of 7 lightnings! BOOMKAZAMPOW! Wow, I missed that rating system. Give this book a try. I can't guarantee you'll love The Foreshadowing, but I can guarantee it will be worth the shot.

Still hunting for Sedgewick,

Aella Siofra

Dear gods of the publishing industry,

please do not make me finish In Too Deep of the Elite novels. I'm not sure I can survive another chapter of this. Set me free to do more constructive things such as reading the new Luxe novel with that amazing cover or building paper mache dinosaurs. Instruct me in the ways of rubbing off the aggressive vapidity and *sparkles*.

Thank you for hearing me out,

Aella

I Can't Tell You by Hillary Frank

D0 you haz a pencil?

I haz a pencil.

Do you likez teh girl?

Yes. I likez teh girl. But she hatez meeeee... *sad scribbling*

riting notez be fixing n0?

The above is an Aellafied example of basic conversation in this book. Or lack therof. Jake is in love with his friend Xandra, but due to the recent epic battle with his best friend, the future is looking shaky. And all because of a few misplaced, mistimed, misspoken words. So he decides that the world would just be a better place if he no longer spoke at all. I Can't Tell You follows him through e-mails, notes, writing on walls, and in the margins of science notebooks as Jake looks for the resolution to life, love, and a crazy messy tangle of a friendship breakup that will not let him move on.

I could not remember that this book was about college students. The entire work felt very junior high-high school transition emotionally. So frustrating, because there was so much potential for the very awesome format of this book. But once I got over the awesomosity of reading someone's ever-so-secret confessions of lurrrrve, I realized that it was a recycled plot with no spine that had been shoved into a cooler mold.

So many sexual references. Unnecessary ones that filled in what might have been a place for some quality humor. Ugh. Irritating. Also, it was like all Jake could think about was sex. It seemed almost condescending to males as his thought process was Twilight movie reminiscent, "SexSexSexSex...new pencil.... SexSexSexSexSex". Ugh x2. It kind of killed how much I could have cared for the protagonist and the people that surrounded him.

Overall, kind of a frustrating book with a clever format that could have. been. so. awesome. Note general lame book grumpiness. And that's two negative reviews in a row. Perhaps we should break it up with Paper Towns. That review will be up in two days time! Hint = John Green did not f.t.b.a.

2 out of 7 Confessions of Adoration (eeeeh... February....). Do you haz good book?

Rereading the Year of Secret Assignments,

Aella

Need by Carrie Jones

I stared at this one for a while before picking it up. I thought to myself "It's going to be about vampires, just leave it alone." based on the title and cover (which reminds me of the one for Revelations). But it was just so shiny in all its newness... so I took it home and read it and laughed.

What was cool: I learned the names of a bunch of different phobias.... that I have now forgotten.

What was decidedly NOT: It was pretty much Twilight, but with pixies. In fact, the pixies here strangely resembled the vampires of Twilight. Which I find sad. *laments yet another disappointing faerie book* And really, what is it with authors stealing mythical creatures and demeaning them by making them SPARKLE? The only time I have seen sparkling gold dust used awesomely was in Poison. Oh and the faery drugs from Valiant. *applauds Holly Black and Chris Wooding*

3 out of 7 rousing renditions of that song from Peter Pan that's stuck in my head now.

Regretting that her ipod is all the way over THERE,

Medeia