Review: Spirit Binder by Meghan Ciana Doidge

Spirit Binder (The Cascadian Chronicles #1) 

By Meghan Ciana Doidge 

Published: July 30, 2012 

Publisher: Old Man in the CrossWalk Productions 

Paperback, 219 pages 

Theo woke severely injured, covered in blood, and missing ten years of her life.

Just to complicate matters further, Theo was born under a prophecy; one that has rabid followers with three different interpretations, all of whom are willing to sacrifice her in order to fulfill it.

Not knowing if she can trust the stranger she’s betrothed to, the warrior visiting her dreams, or even her own mother, Theo tries to piece together her past only to find that her present is far more dangerous.

It’s the power of her own blood that scares her most of all. This is a responsibility Theo never wanted, and a destiny she cannot deny, “All because of a prophecy she was trying not to believe in, but kept fulfilling.” --Goodreads

4 Stars

Review:

After being confused over many references in Time Walker, I have them all answered in Spirit Binder, so here is my recommendation people: read Spirit Binder first! Many little details, especially in the beginning of Time Walker, are references to this book, so please do read this first if you intend to try this series out at all.

Theo has just awoken from lying in a pool of blood and is now twenty-six, but only has her memories up to her sixteenth problem. This is the point where we expect Ms. Amnesia to go turn into a clueless numskull blaming everyone else for her problems. Thankfully, Theo does the opposite, despite the many secrets that are being hidden from her. While trying to uncover the secrets of her missing ten years of memories, Theo has to face a prophecy; the endearing Hugh, her betrothed of the prophecy; and the psychopathic uncle who comes along with the hot warrior who comes along with him. 

I guess it's kind of obvious that Theo has a giant mess to sort herself out of. Like in Time Walker, Theo is a strong, independent heroine. However, I appreciated Theo more than Beth because she was willing to accept others' help more easily than Beth. It's hard to like characters who think that they can hold up the mountain, but end up screwing up everything. Noble idiocy is a serious illness that Theo has skillfully avoided, even with all of the trust issues she is having with everyone around her. 

For the most part, all of the characters in Spirit Bound were hard to distinguish when it came to their motives. We see Theo's mother who obviously is hiding plenty of important things from Theo, but we still cannot dismiss her as a terrible mother. She clearly cares about Theo, but she is forced to allow Theo to follow her own path. Most fantasy novels have a syndrome called terrible parents, but thankfully the story is able to progress well without any abusive or negligent parents being the catalyst for the disasters. However, there is probably something that should be mentioned for horrible uncle-hood or something because I do not understand how Theo's mother and Theo's uncle can cooperate with all of the bad blood (Sorry, I just couldn't help myself with this pun) that Dr. Phil needs to remedy. 

Although there is a hint of a love triangle in the blurb, the love triangle does not take over the entire plot. Since I already read Time Walker, I already knew how the love triangle would end up as, which was why I was glad that the love triangle did not consumer the story or Theo herself. Hugh, Theo's betrothed, and Ren, her warrior friend, are both extremely amazing guys that totally deserve Theo. Despite this, Theo knows to set her priorities straight and to not turn into a suicidal Bella. I do have to say that the rivalry between Hugh and Ren is adorable to read about, so there are definitely some bonuses for this love triangle if you are a hater for this clichéd plot device.

Unfortunately, my love for the characters could not prevent something serious from happening: lost plot lines. Notice, this does not mean that the entire story was fluff. What this means is that there were some instances that I felt somewhat lost while reading this book. I just wasn't sure about why certain things were said or done because they felt unnecessary or irrelevant to the overall whole of the book. Otherwise these few brief moments, everything else was well done when it came to the plot.

The conclusion of this book was really something that stands out among fantasy novels. There is definitely that climatic final battle that many fantasies do, yet I found this one so much more compelling because this was everything that I was anxiously waiting for. Some fantasy novels, such as Lord of the Rings or The Girl of Fire and Thorns, have these mini battles constantly throughout the entire book, making the last battle seem somewhat lackluster. Instead, there is the build-up for the finale that makes the battle seem more climatic and epic than it probably should seem. Regardless, the ending riled me up so much that I was spazzing out to discover what happened next. 

After I finished Spirit Binder, I immediately went back to re-reading Time Walker to pick out the little details here and there that connect these two series. If you didn't know, Theo is a supporting character in Time Walker, so I was definitely glad to see more of her. There hasn't been a heroine that I have rooted for as much as Theo and I hope to find more similar to her. 

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase Spirit Binder here: Amazon/ B&N/ Book Depository

Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Published: Nov. 11, 2011 by Harper

Hardcover, 338 pages

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. --GoodReads

Review

Shatter Me is a dramatic, beautifully written story of a girl who is given the chance to hope, smile, and laugh once more. It's emotional, heartening, and many times, very DEPRESSING. And a bit very really uber repetitive. To those of you who have read the book, you will understand my stylistic joke.

Okay, so I know a lot of people out in the YA novel world think that this novel was "ahbsolutelygoodohmygawditwassodramaticandallthat." I can't say that it was perfection, but I would like to point out a few things. For those new and have yet to read it, I would suggest "Go for it!," but I shall warn you. It is quite, no, VERY d r a m a t i c. With an extra "-uh-"

That's my representation of the story in about three pictures. Oh, I kid, I kid. But really.

Soooo, for the new people around town that just skipped to the review. The story's about a girl, Juliette, who's lived a life without love - even from her parents! Yippee, that sounds like just a SWELL childhood. She's completely good, and takes crap from people around her just because of one thing. When she touches people, she kills them. Sorta like Rogue from X-Men. Except that she's blond, 5'3, can't fly, and just kills them (you know, instead of making them pass out.)

But, oh, hey! They both end up wearing dorky jumpsuits!! Oh, and every man she encounters, which is a lot,  by the way, thinks she's "stunning, gorgeous, beautiful." Yeeeeet, she can't see for herself that she's attractive. I don't understand YA heroines. JUST LOOK IN THE MIRROR. If you're gorgeous, you KNOW you're gorgeous. Don't beat around the bush. Just admit it. No body likes an indecisive girl.

But anyway. Juliette is really an unstable (sort of annoying) girl. It's narrated in her POV, so we get to hear her innermost thoughts! My joke from before was that Tahereh's writing style was to depict the story such a way that looks like the notebook she writes in all the time. There are fragments that make no sense, yet still work with the story. Those things are fine.

My only real pet-peeve is that she crosses out thoughts she thinks she shouldn't be thinking ALL THE TIME!!!!! It happens at least 4-5 times per chapter.  It's really annoying. No it's super annoying. Terribly horrible. And then you can barely read the letters because the darn line is right in front of eeverything so how are you really supposed to tell an "E" from a "C" in lowercase????

One more thing. This book is really emotional and deep so if you flip to a random page in the middle and start reading aloud to your friends, you'll probably burst out laughing because you won't know what's going on. I feel like you have to have understood the plot line and be really into it in order to feel the emotions that Juliette is trying to convey. Otherwise, it's just silly.

NOT TO MENTION, Adam (the love interest) and Juliette enjoy each other's presence. A LOT. Probably way too much. Every other chapter they're going at it like rabbits.

Frankly, I'm surprised it's still a YA novel.  Shut yer eyes, you little kids that shouldn't be reading YA lit!!

However, I cannot deny this book's addictive quality. Although the drama may be a little over the top, I can't ignore the fact that I couldn't put it down! Setting the cliché factor aside and an author who may have went a little too happy with the "strike-through" option, this book was over all pretty good. I would suggest this to anyone willing to give an emotional/feels book a try and/or loves Rogue from X-Men.

Order Shatter Me at: Amazon/ Barnes&Noble/ The Book Depository