Review: The Raven King - Maggie Stiefvater

For years, Gansey has been on a quest to find a lost king. One by one, he's drawn others into his mission: Ronan, who steals from dreams; Adam, whose life is no longer his own; Noah, whose life is no longer a life; and Blue, who loves Gansey . . . and is certain she is destined to kill him.

Nothing dead is to be trusted.

Now the endgame has begun.

Nothing living is safe.

Dreams and nightmares are converging. Love and loss are inseparable. And the quest refuses to be pinned to a path.

The Raven Cycle:
The Raven Boys
The Dream Thieves
Blue Lily, Lily Blue
The Raven King

Visit Maggie Stiefvater's website for more information

Review:
It's been a couple of weeks since I finished The Raven King and I'm still struggling to come up with the words to review it. If I had to sum it up in one word then I'd probably have to say forgettable. In fact it was so forgettable that I just had to skim the last 80 pages to try and remind myself how it ended. I loved the first two books in this series but have to admit that I was so disillusioned by Blue Lily, Lily Blue that it took me a year to get around to picking up this final instalment. I'm not sure if the length of time between books contributed to my lack of excitement or if it was just a case of this series and me not being compatible but it was hard work reading this book.

In my opinion there were too many new character POVs introduced in the last book and that continued into this one, we spend too much time finding out about all these minor characters who don't really have any important roll to play in the story and that gives us less time to spend with the characters I actually cared about. We get some brilliant Ronan and Adam moments but not enough of them. We see a little of Blue's family but nowhere near as much as I wanted to. And the romance between Blue and Gansey just kind of stalled out here, what happened to all the shy glances and hand holding and, you know, actual romance? If it was in here I must have missed it when I was busy skimming past all the boring bits about Mr Gray and Piper and Laumonier and Henry and Seondeok and however many others I've forgotten about. Even at the end when we could have got a nice, emotional moment with them theres a third wheel sharing their page time.

I don't think this was a terrible book but I honestly don't think this series lived up to its potential. I do seem to be in the minority again though because most of my friends loved this book so take my opinion with a pinch of salt and don't let me put you off reading it for yourself.

Source: Purchased

Other reviews of this book:
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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week has a different theme & you can find all the details about how to join in HERE.

Today's topic is Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To. There were actually a lot of 2015 books that I was really excited about but never got around to reading but here are the ones I REALLY want to try and get to soon!

Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To:

Young Adult

1. Witch's Pyre - Josephine Angelini 
2. Riders - Veronica Rossi
3. The Raven King - Maggie Stiefvater
4. Arcana Rising - Kresley Cole
5. Torch Against the Night - Sabaa Tahir

Adult:

1. Grave Visions - Kalayna Price
2. Cursed - Sue Tingey
3. A Closed and common orbit - Becky chambers 
4. Alliance - S.K. Dunstall
5. Infernal - Mark de Jager

What books are on your list?

Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue - Maggie Stiefvater

For the first time in her life, Blue Sargent has found a place where she feels at home. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own and she is sure that this is where she belongs.

But certainties can unravel.

Visions can mislead.

And friends can betray.

The trick with found things is how easily they can be lost . . .

The Raven Cycle:
The Raven Boys
The Dream Thieves
Blue Lily, Lily Blue
The Raven King

Visit Maggie Stiefvater's website for more information

Review:
After loving the first two books in this series I had very high hopes for Blue Lily, Lily Blue and I'm afraid it just didn't live up to them. There is no doubting that Maggie Stiefvater is a wonderful writer, she has a beautiful style and her stories are always captivating but this book just didn't grip me as much as the previous two. In fact, I'd have to say I was bored for the majority of it and it was one of those books that was very easy to put down even part way through a chapter and then I pretty much had to talk myself into picking it back up again. That's something I NEVER expected to be able to say about a book written by Maggie. I do seem to be in the minority on this one though, nearly all of my friends rated it 5 stars and I'm still really looking forward to seeing how everything ties together in The Raven King so don't let me put you off trying this for yourself if you enjoyed the first two books.

There were certainly some brilliant moments scattered into the story, I absolutely adored Gansey and Blue's relationship for one thing, they are just so incredibly sweet together and I love the sly little touches and looks they give each other when nobody is watching. I also really enjoy the friendship between Ronan and Adam. The women of Blue's family always steal every scene they appear in but I definitely found myself missing Maura in this instalment, she's always been Blue's anchor and now Blue is lost and adrift without her which was sad to see. The Gray Man is a character who continues to surprise me and I love the way he looks out for Blue and the others while Maura can't.

Unfortunately I think the story focused on too many new plot threads and lost track of some of the things I'm invested in, I wanted to see more of Noah, more Ronan (especially more of him with his brothers - I STILL don't get why he has such a problem with Declan!) and more of Adam too. Adam actually started making great progress in trying to figure out the balance between accepting help from friends versus feeling like he's a charity case and there was a brilliant scene between him and his father but it just kind of fizzed out and went nowhere. They went to the effort of bringing Gansey's mentor over from England but then he seemed to have absolutely nothing helpful to add to the story, really he could have achieved everything he did via telephone conversations and I didn't see the point of them dragging him around on the hunt for Glendower with them.

There were a lot of new characters, some of whom I didn't feel had much to add to the story and others who may have more important roles to play in book 4. I actually feel like a lot of the things that didn't make much sense or felt just like filler in this book will probably all become so much more clear when I pick up The Raven King, I trust that Maggie Stiefvater has a plan and I'm sure I'll end up being blown away by her clever plotting but at this point in time I feel really indifferent to Blue Lily, Lily Blue. It could have been a brilliant book but it was just okay and that's not what I expect from this author.

Source: Purchased

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

Review: The Dream Thieves - Maggie Stiefvater

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after . . .

The Raven Cycle:
The Raven Boys
The Dream Thieves
Blue Lily, Lily Blue
The Raven King

Visit Maggie Stiefvater's website for more information

Review:
I loved The Raven Boys so I was really looking forward to reading this book, all my friends seem to have enjoyed this one even more so I had very high expectations going in and unfortunately The Dream Thieves just didn't quite live up to them. Not to say this isn't a good book but, for me, it just didn't quite reach the heights I've come to expect from Maggie Stiefvater. It's beautifully written but I found the first half (or two thirds if I'm being really honest) were very slow, when I put the book down I felt very little impulse to pick it back up and in fact I went away and read at least 2 other books when I should have been focusing on this one. That final third of the story makes up for the slow beginning though, when the pace picks up the story starts getting REALLY exciting and I was left feeling desperate to make a start on Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

I said before that The Raven Boys was a very character driven novel and that is definitely the case here too so I'm not quite sure why it didn't work as well for me this time around. I loved getting to find out so much more about Ronan and his background, he is definitely the focus of the story and I really enjoyed learning about the dream world he visits and the way he is able to bring items back with him when he wakes up. I also enjoyed the interactions between Ronan and his younger brother Matthew but I was really hoping to get to the bottom of the resentment between him and his older brother Declan, hopefully we'll find that out in a later book because it's quite frustrating at the moment. Ronan is still holding onto a lot of anger towards his father but we do get to see a sweeter, more caring side to him occasionally which was really nice.

I liked Adam in the first book but I'll admit he got on my nerves for a lot of this one, he does make some important changes towards the end but for a lot of the story he is just so angry and bitter towards his friends and there were a few moments that I worried he might actually harm Blue or one of the others. I'm glad he seems to be turning things around now but he's kind of lost me a little for now and it's going to take him a while to redeem himself fully. Noah has a much smaller role in this story but he is incredibly insightful when we do see him and there was a moment between him and Blue that completely broke my heart because it was so beautiful.

It's hard to know what to say about Gansey, he's just obsessed with his goal of finding Cabeswater as ever and with the power of the ley line fluctuating drastically that is becoming more challenging. I really love the sweet romance that is starting to develop between him and Blue, something all the more bittersweet because she knows that she can't kiss her true love or he'll die. Blue is probably my favourite character though, I love that she's not afraid to be herself, she knows that she's different but has no inclination to try and mould her personality to fit in with those around her. I think her upbringing has a huge amount to do with that and I just love all of the women of 300 Fox Way. The relationship between Blue and her mother is brilliant and they're such close friends as well as mother and daughter which reminds me a lot of my relationship with my own mum (although my mum isn't a psychic LOL).

The women of this series definitely steal the show, there is always some amusement to be had when you visit Blue's family and I love the way they're constantly testing each other's abilities and surprising visitors with their insider knowledge. It's just so nice to read about a houseful of women who are all living together, supporting each other and actually acting like friends. In too many stories they put a bunch of girls together just to watch them rip each other apart so I'm all about the sisterhood in these books. Another wonderful addition to the story was the Gray Man, I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from him at first, especially since he introduces himself as a hit man, but I loved his interactions with Blue and her family and I hope we see a lot more of him in the next two books.

It's really hard to rate this story because although it wasn't my favourite book by Maggie Stiefvater even on a bad day her writing far outshines many other authors. There is certainly something captivating about these characters and I love that she's come up with such a unique concept for the series. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where these friends go from this point forwards and I have very high hopes that this series will become a firm favourite.

Source: Purchased

Other reviews of this book:
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Review: The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater

Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why – either he is her true love or she has killed him.

Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower – a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey her true love? She can’t imagine a time she would feel like that, and she is adamant not to be the reason for his death. Where will fate lead them?

The Raven Cycle:
The Raven Boys
The Dream Thieves
Blue Lily, Lily Blue
The Raven King

Visit Maggie Stiefvater's website for more information

Review:
I'm a massive fan of Maggie Stiefvater but, for possibly the first time ever, I actually managed to hold off on starting a much anticipated series until just before the release of the final book. No year long wait between each new instalment can only be a bonus, especially when it means I can read the whole series over the space of a couple of months (I'm reading with a group of friends & we're reading one book every 2 weeks otherwise I'd probably have devoured the entire series in one massive long binge). I didn't have any doubts that I would love this story because I already know how beautifully Maggie writes but I went in knowing pretty much nothing about the story or what to expect from it.

The Raven Boys is very much a character driven story and it has such wonderful characters at the wheel that you'll be hooked in no time. Blue was my personal favourite, as the only non-psychic in her family she has been raised to believe in the paranormal but she's never seen it for herself. Blue is smart, independent and she follows her own path even if that means she never quite manages to fit in amongst her peers. She is also living with a dire prediction over her head, one that means if she ever kisses her true love he will die so that obviously makes even the idea of dating just a little bit difficult. While Blue never doubts the abilities her mother and the other women they share their home with she is desperate to experience some kind of magic for herself so it's no surprise that she's drawn to Gansey and his band of adventurers.

Gansey, Adam, Ronan and Noah are all Raven Boys, known as such because their school crest is a Raven. Aglionby is a boys school for the wealthy elite (as well as the occasional scholarship student) it's the kind of school that gives students the best education money can buy and almost guaranteed acceptance into the most prestigious colleges out there. Each of the boys is attending the school for different reasons and they all undoubtedly bring their own baggage to the party but Gansey is the central character that the other boys seem to revolve around. He is the glue that holds them all together and it is his obsession to find the Ley lines, along with something he believes has been hidden along them. The others aren't so interested in the Ley lines for themselves but want to help Gansey achieve his goals.

I loved all four of the boys in different ways, Gansey can be pretty hopeless in social situations because he is so stuck inside his own head that he is often oblivious to what is going on around him but he has a strange kind of magnetism and he's the kind of guy that people would follow anywhere. Adam is probably the most normal of the bunch but he is dealing with a very difficult situation at home that is quite heartbreaking to read about. He wants to deal with things on his own terms and I do respect him for that but at the same time it was frustrating to watch him constantly refuse the help he desperately needed and that his friends were willing to offer. He has a bit of a chip on his shoulder as far as money goes and even though I could understand where it was coming from it did get a bit irritating to read about. Ronan is the brooding mysterious one with an anger problem, at first glance he's the boy your parents warned you to stay away from but that's probably what makes him so fascinating. I want to dig deeper and uncover his secrets and we've already had a glimpse that he's not quite as tough as he pretends to be. Noah spends most of his time in the background but the others rely on him to help keep the peace. I don't want to say too much about him but he was the character who surprised me the most and I just want to climb into the book and hug him!

It's not surprising that Blue is drawn to the boys and their quest is something she is in a unique position to help them with thanks to her family abilities. She also knows things about them that they are completely unaware of and there are things she is determined to stop from happening. This isn't a fast paced story, instead it's one that takes time to fully develop the various characters, but that doesn't mean nothing happens. In fact there are some brilliantly vivid and creepy scenes and we're only just beginning to scratch the surface of the mystery surrounding the Ley lines. I can't wait to see where their investigation takes them next and events at the end of the story have definitely set things up for future instalments.

Source: Received from Scholastic in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

Winners: A Witch in Love & The Scorpio Races

With the help of Rafflecopter I am happy to announce the winner of a SIGNED copy of A Witch in Love by Ruth Warburton is:

Kate K (email address starting kateojgray@...)

Congratulations Kate!  You should have already received an email from me asking for your address so please make sure you look out for it.  If I don't hear back from you within 48 hours then a new winner will be chosen.

With the help of Rafflecopter I am also excited to announce the winner of a SIGNED copy of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is:

Karen S (email address starting tibiux@...)

Congratulations Karen!  You should have already received an email from me asking for your addresses so please make sure you look out for it.  If I don't hear back from you within 48 hours then a new winner will be chosen.

International Birthday Giveaway: The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater (Signed ARC)

So today is my birthday and you know what birthdays mean - presents! Well I thought I'd celebrate my birthday by giving presents to you so I have 2 giveaways being posted today.

Next we have an International Giveaway for a signed ARC of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I really enjoyed The Scorpio Races (read my review here) so don't miss you chance to win a signed copy.

Giveaway Details:

Now how would you like the chance to win a copy of The Scorpio Races?

• Courtesy of Scholastic I have 1 Signed ARC of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater to giveaway to a lucky international winner.
• The winner will be chosen at random from all entries received.
• To enter please use the rafflecopter below to enter, there are optional extra entries for following or tweeting about the giveaway but these are not required to enter.
• The giveaway will close at 12:01am EST on the 16th of April 2012 and the winner will be contacted soon afterwards. You will have 48 hours to reply to me with your address or a new winner will be chosen.

Review: Lament - Maggie Stiefvater

Sixteen-year-old Dee is a cloverhead - someone who can see faeries.  When she finds herself irresistibly drawn to beautiful, mysterious Luke, Dee senses that he wants something more dangerous than a summer romance.

But Dee doesn't realise that Luke is an assassin from the faerie world.

And she is his next target.

Books of Faerie Series:
Lament
Ballad

Visit Maggie Stiefvater's website for more information






Review:
I'm going to start this review by saying that I don't have the best track record when it comes to books about faeries so I wasn't sure if I should read Lament or not.  Having said that I am also a massive fan of Maggie Stiefvater, I love her Wolves of Mercy Falls series and I also really enjoyed her recent stand alone book The Scorpio Races.  If anyone could convince me I like faeries then I was pretty sure it would be Maggie!

As I expected Lament is beautifully written, I don't think this author will ever write a book that isn't full of wonderful descriptions that transport you to the worlds she has created.  I also enjoyed the mythology of her faeries more than I thought I would, these faeries are vicious, cunning and manipulative and staying one step ahead of them isn't going to be easy for our main character Dee.  Unfortunately I didn't love the book as much as I've loved Maggie's later releases though.  It's by no means a bad book but it didn't capture me the way her others have so although I will still read the sequel Ballad I won't be in a rush to do so.

Dee is a talented musician but she suffers from terrible stage fright whenever she has to perform in front of an audience.  I found it easy to relate to her nervousness and I loved how her friend James was so supportive of her.  What I didn't like was the romance between her and the mysterious Luke.  Even when she finds out that Luke is an assassin who has killed countless victims and that she is his latest target she brushes it under the carpet because she is attracted to him.  I wanted her to find out more about why he had done the things he had done before she even considered dating him but that just didn't happen.  I don't enjoy the kind of instant connection that was between them when there was nothing to back it up apart from suspicion and behaviour on his part that should have had her running a mile in the opposite direction.  Once you start to find out more about why Luke is the way he is then I started to like him more and I think I'd have preferred the romance if it had developed more slowly.

Although this wasn't my favourite book I still think Maggie Stiefvater is a wonderful author, she is on my automatically buy list and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what she comes up with in the future.  I would recommend her more recent books to anyone and if you're a big fan of faeries then I'm sure you will also enjoy Lament so don't let me put you off trying it.

Source: Received Scholastic in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Scholastic & Foyles Events with Maggie Stiefvater - 12th November 2011

Maggie Stiefvater & me

Last week I was very excited to have the chance to meet up with Maggie Stiefvater, author of Lament, Ballad, Shiver, Linger, Forever and The Scorpio Races (links will take you to my reviews).  I met her last year when she came over here on tour (click here to read my event write up) and was really looking forward to seeing her again.  Thanks to Catherine at Scholastic a few of us got to meet up with Maggie for brunch at the Covent Garden Hotel before her afternoon event at Foyles.  We were spoiled with delicious food (bacon, pancakes and maple syrup - yum! Although unfortunately due to allergies Maggie was only able to eat a couple of fried eggs) and great conversation.  We did try to get Maggie to tell us about the new secret novel she is currently working on but unfortunately she didn't spill any secrets so we'll all have to keep waiting until it's finished.

Caroline & Lynsey

Lynsey & Maggie

Catherine

After brunch Lynsey, Caroline & I set off in hunt of Ben's Cookies as a treat for Maggie (we may possibly have bought some for ourselves too but I'm not going to confirm that rumor lol!) before heading to Foyles for the event.  Things kicked off with a guest appearance from Jonas and Plunkett, their song Spaceship was on Maggie's play list when she was writing Linger.  They also wrote the music to the song Summer Girl which is the song Sam wrote for Grace in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series and is the song that Maggie used in the Forever book trailer. 

Here are Jonas & Plunkett singing Summer Girl:



and here they are singing Spaceship:



I loved Summer Girl after hearing it on the Forever trailer but hadn't heard Spaceship before.  I have to say I'm now a big fan of theirs though & have downloaded all of their songs on iTunes (Spaceship is actually a charity single raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital - a very worthy cause so go and buy your copy now!).

Adrian (Plunkett), Jonas & Maggie

When it was time for Maggie to talk she had the audience in stitches when she told us about how she found out that Linger was number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list.   She was actually on a plane at the time and her Dad had forgotten to turn his mobile phone off which got Maggie in trouble with the stewardess!

Maggie then gave us her top 10 tips for writing a Maggie Stiefvater novel:

1.  You need to decide on a mood - Maggie's mood for writing Shiver was that she wanted to make people cry when they were reading it.  Maggie said she is one of those people who never cries at sad movies or books, she usually laughs at the sad parts. She did say that The Time Traveller's Wife is the only book that has made her cry, in fact it even made her cry the second time she read it (proper crying with snot bubbles & everything - Maggie's words lol).

2.  Get an idea - Maggie mentioned that you could steal an idea but it is generally frowned upon unless the person who came up with the idea originally is already dead!  Some examples of good ideas included "scientists create dinosaurs on an isolated island", "a man dressed as a bat who goes around solving crimes" and "a boat containing Leonardo DiCaprio sinks".  Maggie's books tend to have similar ideas behind them:
~ Lament - A boy has to kill a girl but doesn't want to.
~ Shiver - A boy turns into a wolf but doesn't want to.
~ The Scorpio Races - A girl has to ride a killer horse but doesn't want to.
Did you spot the theme yet?

3.  Decide on the ending

4.  Research is the key - Maggie because obsessed with cliffs when she was doing research for The Scorpio Races, she visited cliffs in California and throughout the UK.  When she was on tour in Paris and had a day off but instead of spending a day in the world's most romantic city with her husband she made him take her to Normandy so she could visit the cliffs there.

5.  Start writing - you can have the best idea ever but it's worthless unless you actually write it

6.  Something should die within the prologue or first chapter (this is a Maggie Stiefvater novel after all!) - Maggie did say you could possibly substitute killing with severe maiming but she would have to see it in context to decide if it worked or not!

7.  There is no step 7

8.  Put food in it - Maggie said that she likes to read a book that makes her salivate.  She mentioned a book that I think was by Diana Wynn Jones (I didn't catch the book title I'm afraid) that mentioned butter cakes, Maggie was desperate to try them and was horrified to discover that they don't exist.  She decided that she wanted to do something similar to her fans when she was writing The Scorpio Races and came up with the November cakes.  Even though they weren't supposed to exist Maggie found she couldn't resist experimenting and after an afternoon of baking she managed to create them - you can find the recipe on her blog here (I'm going to have to try and have a go at baking them sometime!).

9.  By now the story should have a beginning, an end, a good mood and someone should have died.  At this point you're probably stuck - research is the key that will dig you out of the hole.  Think about why the book is important to you.

10.  Ignore steps 1 - 9!  Maggie said that writing is different for everyone, you have to find the way that works best for you.

Maggie

Maggie also took questions from the audience:

• Why does Malvern (a character in The Scorpio Races) put salt and butter in his tea?  Maggie wanted to show that the character is eccentric and well travelled so she made him drink Tibetan bitter tea.  She said that the tea is traditionally made with yak butter (although technically that isn't possible as female yaks are called naks so it should be nak butter!).
• Was your first trip to London what you expected?  (I may have the wording of this question incorrect).  Maggie said that her friends had told her that school visits in the UK would be very different to ones in America and she found that was definitely the case.  She visited 6 schools and gave the same talk she usually does at home but didn't get the same response over here.  She also found pupils were very shy about asking questions, at one school the first question was actually a comment "your accent is very cool".  This did give other students confidence to ask questions but it was more like a visit with her grandmother than a school visit with questions like "what airline did you fly over with?" and "what is your hotel like?".
• What do you find is the saddest thing to write?  Maggie said she doesn't get upset writing sad scenes in her books, in fact she usually laughs while writing them.  She likes to play with people's emotions!
• Who is your favourite character?  Maggie said her favourite character to write is Cole but she definitely wouldn't recommend dating someone like him.  In fact she advised the audience to go out and search for a Sam!
• Where is The Scorpio Races set?  Maggie didn't want to answer this question but she did whisper that all the place names are Irish so that was probably a good hint.
• Will there be a third book in the Lament series?  Maggie said she had always planned on the series being a trilogy and she does still plan to write the 3rd book.  The book was kind of pushed into a ditch when the Wolves of Mercy Falls idea came to her, it was about to climb out when The Scorpio Races pushed it back in and then it was knocked back down yet again by her new secret novel.  Maggie did say that if the idea still refuses to climb out of the ditch when she has finished the current book she's working on then she will have to shoot it in the head herself to put it out of it's misery.

After the event had finished it was time for the signing and Maggie very kindly posed with us for this group picture.

Caroline, Lesley, Maggie, me & Lynsey

Then the four of us headed off for an afternoon of shopping, eating and lots of book chat - I do love spending time with other book bloggers :o)  I'd like to say a massive thank you to Catherine at Scholastic and Neil at Foyles for arranging such a fabulous day for us.  We had an amazing time and it was great to get to chat with Maggie again!

Who Was There?

Catherine - Scholastic

Maggie Stiefvater - Website

Jonas & Plunkett - Website

Caroline & Lesley - Big Book Little Book

Lynsey - Narratively Speaking

ARC Review: The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater

This review was originally written by me as a guest post for Carolyn at Book Chick City and can be found here.

Stay alive, stay astride, stay out of the water...

Every November, the Scorpio Races are run beneath the chalk cliffs of Skarmouth.  Thousands gather to watch the horses and the sea that washes the blood from the sand.  The mounts are savage water horses.  There are no horses more beautiful, more fearless, more deadly.  To race them can be suicide but the danger is irresistible.

Sean and Puck both enter the Races hoping to change their lives.  But first they'll have to survive.

The Scorpio Races is released in the UK on the 19th of October 2011.

Visit Maggie Stiefvater's website for more information

Review:
As a big fan of Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls series I was really excited about reading The Scorpio Races.  Although the books couldn't be more different in terms of the worlds Maggie has created they both have her beautifully descriptive style and you are fully pulled into the story.  I did find that The Scorpio Races was a bit slow to get started, I struggled a little to get into the story and found the mythology of the sea horses confusing at first but once it gets going I was completely gripped.

Maggie has created something totally unique and I loved that it was so different to anything else I've ever read - flesh eating sea horses? Yes, that's something I've not come across before!  These aren't seahorses in the traditional sense - no curly tails here - they look like normal land horses but live in the water, only coming out to feed.  Every November the horses start to come ashore in Thisby and the islanders are at risk of death or serious injury if one of the horses find them.  Although they live in fear of the Cappaill Uisce they also celebrate them and hold an annual race across the cliffs and beach.  People come from all around the world to watch the races and the participants face all kinds of dangers, even trying to capture a horse to race on could cost them their lives.  The chances of surviving to the finishing line are low but the rewards for the winner makes it worth the risk. 

I have to admit that I found it frustrating trying to figure out the pronunciation of the Cappaill Uisce (said COPple Ooshka) / Capall Uisce (said CAPple ISHka).  For the first half of the book I was confused every time I came across the words and had to flick back to the pronunciation guide at the front of the book to remind myself how they were said.  I was especially confused every time the word Uisce was used on it's own - was it supposed to be Ooshka or ISHka?  In the end I gave up and just mentally pronounced them they way they are spelt, after that I found reading the book much easier as I wasn't thrown out of the story every time they were used.  That would be my major niggle with the story though and probably wouldn't bother most people as much as it bugged me.

The story follows two of the competitors in the race.  First we have Sean Kendrick who is an expert when it comes to the Cappaill Uisce and four time winner of the races.  His horse Corr is known to be the fastest one on the island and he is easily the favourite to win the race again this time.  Sean has very good reason to enter the race, he is hoping to win his freedom and desperately wants Corr to belong to him.  I loved Sean from the beginning and found it fascinating watching him training the water horses, he was the island's expert and someone that everyone turned to whenever there was a problem with any of the horses.  Sean was the only one who seemed able to calm the horses down and he really had a magical connection with them.

The other competitor we spend time with is Puck (Kate) Connolly, orphaned when her parents were killed by water horses she has every reason to avoid the races but due to circumstances beyond her control she feels like the only way to keep whats left of her family together is to enter.  Puck is such a brave and plucky character that you can't help but warm to her even though you're thinking she must be crazy to even consider racing.  She is the first woman ever to enter the race and this doesn't go down well with the other riders but she stands up for herself and refuses to be pushed aside.  There is a sweet and slow building romance between Puck and Sean but I loved that this didn't take over the whole story, the focus was definitely on the horses and the race.

Anyone who has ever had an interested in horses or riding will love the descriptions in the story.  It really is beautifully written and I felt like I was riding along the cliffs with Puck and Sean as they were training for the race.  It was easy to picture the island and although the idea of flesh eating horses is terrifying they are strangely beautiful animals in my imagination.  If you're a fan of Maggie Stiefvater or have a passion for horses then I would definitely recommend reading The Scorpio Races.  It makes a refreshing change to read a stand alone novel (I seem to be starting so many different series at the moment!) but I would happily re-visit Puck and Sean's world if Maggie did decide to write a sequel.

Source: Received from Carolyn at Book Chick City for a guest review on her blog

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Today I'm Guest Reviewing The Scorpio Races at Book Chick City

Today you'll find me over at Book Chick City where I'm guest reviewing The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.  Thanks so much to Carolyn for inviting me to visit again and for sending me the book to read!

Stay alive, stay astride, stay out of the water...

Every November, the Scorpio Races are run beneath the chalk cliffs of Skarmouth.  Thousands gather to watch the horses and the sea that washes the blood from the sand.  The mounts are savage water horses.  There are no horses more beautiful, more fearless, more deadly.  To race them can be suicide but the danger is irresistible.

Sean and Puck both enter the Races hoping to change their lives.  But first they'll have to survive.

As a big fan of Maggie's Wolves of Mercy Falls series I was really looking forward to reading The Scorpio Races.  Although the story was totally different and nothing like what I expected I ended up really enjoying it.  I still think that Shiver is my favourite of Maggie's novels but The Scorpio Races was like nothing I've read before and I really liked the idea behind it.

I'm not going to say anymore here so you'll have to head over to Book Chick City if you want to read my full review :o)

Winners: 1st Blogoversary Giveaways for 9 signed books

With the help of random.org I can now announce the winners of by 1st blogoversary giveaways!  There was such an amazing response to the giveaways so thank you all for entering and helping to spread the word.  Congratulations to all of the winners!

Giveaway 1 - Fallen & Torment by Lauren Kate:

I had left it up to you to decide if there would be 1 winner receiving both books or 2 winners receiving 1 book each.  I took the following screen shot of the poll results after the giveaway closed and as you can see the result was 1 winner

So I can confirm that the winner who will receive signed ARC copies of both Fallen and Torment by Lauren Kate is:

Laura Soucek (email address starting noevus32@...)

Giveaway 2 - Entangled by Cat Clarke:

Winning a signed ARC of Entangled by Cat Clarke along with a cover flat is:



Julie Renaudin (email address starting pique.a.chou@)

Giveaway 3 - A Summer Fling by Milly Johnson:

Winning a signed copy of A Summer Fling by Milly Johnson is:

.Ambur. (email address starting ambiepie_6@)

Giveaway 4 - Girl Missing by Sophie McKenzie:

Winning a signed copy of A Girl Missing by Sophie McKenzie is:

Alice Reed (email address starting ccs_bm@)

Giveaway 5 - Randon & Hellhole:

This giveaway was UK only unless international entrants were prepared to pay postage costs because of the weight of these books.  If you are an international winner of one of these books I will let you know how much postage will cost when I know your address, I will pay the postage cost if you are a UK winner.

Winning a signed hardback copy of Randon by Craig Robinson is:

NatD23 (email address starting natlovestoread@)

Winning a large paperback of Hellhole by Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson (signed by Kevin J Anderson) is:

Melodie (email address starting ashlinn_riddle@)

Giveaway 6 - Shiver & Linger by Maggie Stiefvater:

Again I left it up to you to vote on how many winners there would be and as you can see from the screenshot below you voted for 1 winner

So winning signed UK copies of Shiver & Linger by Maggie Stiefvater we have:

Nina (email address starting nina.happyendings@)

 

Congratulations to you all!  If you can email me at sarahsreviews at ymail dot com with your full address I will get your books posted to you.  If I don't hear from you within 48 hours then new winners will be chosen.

1st Blogoversary Celebration Giveaway: Shiver & Linger by Maggie Stiefvater - NOW CLOSED

* UPDATE - THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED - Winner announced here *

So it's time for the last giveaway in my 1st blogoversary celebration week & I've saved my favorite for last!  If like me you've already read Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater then you're probably eagerly awaiting the release of Forever in July.  How would you like to win signed UK copies of Shiver & Linger to read while you're waiting?  Meeting Maggie and having afternoon tea in London's weirdest restaraunt was one of the highlights of my first year of blogging so of course I had to buy extra books to get signed for a giveaway.

As with my giveaway for Fallen and Torment by Lauren Kate (which you can still enter by clicking here) I wasn't sure if people would prefer to have 1 winner who would receive both books or 2 winners who would receive 1 book each so I'm going to let you choose by voting using the poll below.  Whichever option has the most votes at the end of the giveaway will be the one I go with so make sure you vote now for your preference!

How many winners should there be?

• 1 winner (receiving both books)
• 2 winners (receiving 1 book each)

View Results

Create a Blog Poll

While you're here don't forget to enter the other giveaways I have going on, I'm giving away 9 signed books by various different authors (you can see a full list at the top of my blog above this post)

Giveaway Details:

• This giveaway is international so anyone can enter no matter where you live.
• Depending on the results of the above poll there will either be 1 winner who will receive both signed books or 2 winners who will receive 1 book each.
• The winner/s will be chosen at random from all entries received. If you vote to have 2 winners the first winner picked will win Shiver and the second winner will receive Linger
• To enter the giveaway all you need to do is fill in your name and email address in the form below (please have permission from your parents if you are under 16). Extra entries are available but they are entirely optional.
• Only one entry per person please, any duplicate entries will be deleted
• You have until the 28th of February to enter the giveaway and I'll announce the winner/s soon afterwards on my blog. The winner/s will have 48 hours to contact me with their postal address or another winner will be chosen.
• Winners addresses will only be used by me to send out the prizes and will be deleted afterwards.

Author Signing & Blogger Event: Maggie Stiefvater - 2nd October 2010

The lovely Maggie Stiefvater

I know I've been a bit quiet on the blogosphere recently but I've spent 2 of the last 3 days in London attending some amazing events.  I currently have over 600 blog posts in my google reader so it might take a few days to catch up but I'll be spending time reading blogs & commenting tomorrow :o)  For now I want to tell you all about the first event - a signing & afternoon tea Maggie Stiefvater.

Saturday was such an amazing day that I hardly know where to start describing it to you - I got to spend time with some great friends and then got to meet the lovely Maggie Stiefvater & get my books signed.  If that wasn't exciting enough Alyx one of the lovely publicist from Scholastic took us for afternoon tea with Maggie in what has to be one of the strangest restaurant come nightclubs in London but more about that later.

I met up with Lynsey (from Narratively Speaking) at Waterloo station at about 11:30am and we made our way to High Street Kensington on the underground to meet up with Caroline (from Portrait of a Woman).  The 3 of us decided to check out Waterstone's to make sure we knew where we were going for the signing but of course we had to have a look at the books while we were there!  I'm sure you can probably guess that we all ended up buying books - we all wanted extra copies of Shiver & Linger ready for the signing.  When we finally dragged ourselves away from the books we decided to find somewhere for lunch.  We ended up in a nice pub which I think was called The Britannia (I might have the name wrong through).  After seeing the puddings we all decided on a small lunch to save room which I'm very glad about - Lynsey & I had a delicious banoffee pie & Caroline's chocolate pudding looked yummy!


Lynsey with her banoffee pie

Caroline with her chocolate pudding

Becky (The Bookette) unfortunately couldn't make it in time for lunch but she joined us soon afterwards to go to the signing.  We were all very excited & happily chatted about books and life in general as we were stood outside of Kensington Waterstone's in the rain waiting for Maggie to arrive.  Considering the event venue hadn't been announced until the middle of last week there was a good turn out for the signing but we were lucky not to be too far back in the queue.  While we were waiting we met up with the lovely Kaz Mahoney (a young adult author who's debut novel The Iron Witch comes out next year - check out her website here)

Caroline, me, Lynsey & Becky waiting outside Waterstone's

Kaz Mahoney

All of our excitement levels increased when Maggie arrived and she was so lovely chatting to all of her fans.  She took the time to speak to everyone and was happy to sign as many books as you could give her (a very good thing considering Lynsey had about 17 books with her LOL).  It was so nice that she took her time to ask everyone questions and then pose for pictures.  It meant that the queue was quite slow moving but I don't think anyone minded waiting and it was worth it for the time you got when you made it to the front.  I have to say I wasn't very impressed that Waterstone's had set Maggie up on a table in the doorway - we didn't think that was a very nice way to treat a best selling author but Maggie took it with good grace and it didn't seem to upset her.

Me with Maggie

Here are some more of the pictures that I took at the signing - watch out for Maggie holding Lynsey's massive pile of books (she even got her Shiver bag signed!)

We were so incredibly lucky to have been invited out for afternoon tea with Maggie after the signing and I'd like to say a massive thank you to Alyx and all the staff from Scholastic for arranging this for us.  I can not tell you how excited all of us were all day waiting for that to happen - it was like a dream come true and I never expected that I'd get opportunities like that when I first started blogging in January!  After we'd had all of our books signed (I may just have got a couple of extras signed for a blog giveaway I'm planning!!) we were happy to hang around while Maggie finished signing books for other fans and the rest of the store's stock.  Then Alyx arranged for a couple of taxis to take us all to the restaurant for tea.

Kaz & Lynsey

Me, Caroline & Becky

Can you tell how excited we were when we were on our way?  I think Maggie might have been a little bit scared if she had heard our excited squealing!  I'd never heard of Sketch before but I have to tell you it was the strangest restaurant / bar / nightclub that I've ever been inside & it was an experience I'll never forget!  If you'd like to experience this for yourself you can check out their website here but you might want to read the rest of the post before booking a table - it isn't a place for the faint hearted LOL.

We waited outside until Alyx, Maggie & Kate (Maggie's sister) arrived & then went in to find a table.  We did kind of get the impression it might be a bit strange inside by the statue of the faceless dog that is on the wall outside (picture below) but we had no idea.  You walk into a pitch black corridor (it reminded me of my trip to the York Dungeons!) and they have some really cool light sculptures scattered around the hallway.  There were lots of different rooms leading off of the hallway & I'd quite like to go back and explore around the place but I have to confess I'm a bit scared about what I might find.  Our table wasn't ready when we arrived so they asked us if we would like to have a look around their exhibition while we waited.  I'm not too sure what I was expecting but let me just say that I couldn't have imagined what we were about to experience in my worst nightmares!i

The faceless dog statue outside Sketch

We were taken into a large white room filled with white leather sofas, it would have been quite nice in there I'm sure - apart from the fact that it was so dark and creepy.  None of us knew quite what we were supposed to do so we were just standing there in the middle of the room chatting.  We all agreed that it felt like the set of a horror movie and we were expecting some kind of monster to jump out at us at any second.  I'm not sure if I was expecting werewolves or aliens to beam us up! 

We'd been waiting a while when suddenly they started projecting images onto the walls.  To start with the pictures were fairly mild - odd, surreal & enough to bring on an epileptic fit but relatively harmless - but the longer we stood there the stranger it got.  By the end of the display the images were distinctly pornographic - abstract perhaps but definitely pornographic - especially when accompanied to the sounds of whispering, groaning and men's voices not quite loud enough for you to figure out what they were saying!  Can you picture the scene?  You have 2 YA authors, 4 book bloggers (mainly YA ones!), a publicist and Maggie's younger sister and we were all just standing there with our mouths hanging open in shock gawking at the pictures and shooting horrified looks at each other!  I wish someone had taken a picture of us all as I'm sure it would be priceless.

When they collected us to go to our table I think it's fair to say that we were all a little shell shocked but you haven't heard anything yet.  The restaurant itself was quite pretty - the walls were red at the top and faded down to white at the bottom, the tables were nicely decorated and surrounded by sofas and comfy chairs.  If you ignored the strange patterns on the walls that looked like glittery blood splatters, the rotating mirrors that surrounded the ceiling and the red laser beams that moved around the room floating across people's faces & chests you could be forgiven for thinking you'd been taken to a normal restaurant.  I have to confess it was quite disconcerting being skewered by lasers as you sat eating - I don't think I'd have been shocked if someone had actually started shooting at us (I'm not sure if that says more about my state of mind or the general strangeness of the place!).

The food was lovely we all had a delicious cream tea with scones, elderberry jam and cream.  This was served with earl grey tea but as one of the few English people who doesn't like tea I had a coffee.  Maggie was absolutely fantastic - she is so friendly and funny and was just the same as I had imagined her from reading her tweets and blog posts.  We all had a brilliant time chatting and laughing away but although Maggie did mention that she is currently writing a stand alone young adult paranormal story we didn't manage to get any spoilers about Forever out of her.  Well actually she did tell us the last line of Forever "... and they all die, The End" but I think that she was joking :o)

The strangeness of the evening kicked off when we had to go to the toilet.  I honestly have no idea why it didn't occur to me that a place like Sketch wouldn't have normal toilets - I think I was lulled into a false sense of security by the restaurant.  I should have started to worry when we had to go through the exhibition room to get to the bathroom but again my internal warning system wasn't working properly and I merrily walked along with Maggie & Lynsey with no idea of the horror to come.  I'm not sure I can find the right words to describe it - I don't think I'd believe it myself now if I didn't have pictures to prove it!

You reached the end of a corridor and in front of you was an igloo shaped room with a domed roof and stairs winding up around each side of it to the next floor.  I'm not quite sure what was inside the igloo but I think it might have been another bar area (or possibly the mother ship's control room!).  We had been directed up the stairs but when we reached the top we all just stopped and stared around the room in amazement.  Everywhere you looked all you could see were these strange tall egg shaped white pods... yes you guessed it - each one of them contained a toilet!!  At this point I was pretty convinced that I was about to be abducted by aliens or that someone had slipped something in my drink & I'd imagined the whole evening but as you can see from the picture below that was just wishful thinking.  When we'd plucked up the courage to use the toilets (and promised each other that we wouldn't leave anyone behind - we weren't going to make it easy for the alien's to abduct us!) the experience got even stranger.  After you'd locked yourself inside the pod (which was lit up in pink and made me feel like I was a chick embryo inside an egg waiting to break free!) and sat down the background noises started.  My pod played the sound of cows mooing, sheep baaing, and chicks cheeping which I found odd enough but others reported the sounds of underground trains, cathedral bells and poor Alyx swore that her pod actually laughed at her so I guess I was quite lucky!!

Toilet pods!!  (The dome at the bottom of the picture is the roof of the igloo room)

Yes we really did have to pee in one of these!

I think Maggie was a little shocked by the toilet pods!

Maggie brought some American postcards on tour with her and she has been writing them out for strangers and leaving them in random places.  Of course she couldn't resist writing one to leave in a toilet pod - I wonder what the person who found it thought?  It was probably the most unsurprising thing in the bathroom!  I didn't take many pictures at Sketch but here is a slide show of the ones I did take.

After we'd finished the meal and had revisited the bathroom (come on, could you resist a second look at toilets like that?) we posed for a group picture in the main corridor.  I know I've made a lot of fun at the expense of Sketch but it really was an amazing place to visit & I'd recommend going there just to experience it for yourselves.  I'd like to say a massive thank you to Alyx for taking us there - even if she didn't have a clue what she was getting us into when she booked it :o)

Becky, Lynsey, Maggie, Kaz, me & Caroline

We all went off to hunt for the nearest tube station and as we were walking along we spotted this "Feel like wolf" poster outside one of the shops.  Maggie couldn't resist posing for a couple of pictures - quite an appropriate way to end the day!

Maggie

I would like to say a massive thank you to Maggie and her sister for taking the time to chat with us bloggers - I hope we didn't come across too fan girlish and scare you!  It was so lovely to get the chance to meet you and I'm already looking forward to coming to see you at another signing when you're back in the UK touring next.  I'd also like to give a huge thank you to Alyx and all of the staff from Scholastic for arranging the blogger event for us.  We all had such an amazing time and I don't think I can possibly thank you enough for it.

Who was there:

Maggie - Maggie Stiefvater - Maggie's event report

Kate (Maggie's sister)

Alyx - Scholastic

Kaz - Karen Mahoney

Lynsey - Narratively Speaking

Caroline - Portrait of a Woman

Becky - The Bookette