Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Tally Youngblood is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait for the operation that turns everyone from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to party. But new friend Shay would rather hoverboard to "the Smoke" and be free. Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The "Special Circumstances" authority Dr Cable offers Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

My Thoughts: 

This book had been on my wish list for a long time. The reviews I had read were quite positive and it seemed to have an interesting concept - somewhat different from what I had read so far. Needless to say, my expectations were relatively high and I was really excited to start this series.

Starting with what I loved about this book.

I really enjoyed the whole concept and the idea that people needed plastic surgery to enter the different stages of their lives. Yes, it was a bit weird that everyone kind of looked the same and that they were so focused on their appearance - something that I (personally) find quite unhealthy and excessive -  but in their world it made perfect sense to be like that and to basically bash the way they looked before the surgery.  The idea that was promoted by this society was incredibly wrong and appalling but I enjoyed it because it made me think about it and because it made the story a lot more captivating.

I also liked its messages and how the book tried to educate the reader through its story. However I couldn't help but feel that some of them were targeted to a younger audience (maybe between the ages of 14-16) but I was still able to appreciate them and understand what they conveyed.

Unfortunately, there were some things that didn't sit that well with me.

I felt that it's pace was somewhat irregular. The beginning was fast; Shay and Tally became best friends instantly and soon began the drama. Then it dragged for about 50 pages and when Tally arrived to a new city, again, it all seemed to happen too fast. It annoyed me and it actually compromised my connection with the story.

The characters weren't (in my opinion) that relatable and I felt that they weren't that well written. Shay didn't seem to have a mind of her own, was a bit childish and easily influenced by others. Tally was smart but too brainwashed by the society's ideology (I can't really blame her for that) but I liked her transformation throughout the book and the fact that she started to see things differently. Finally, there was David; he seemed a lot more rational than the other characters and I liked how knowledgeable he seemed to be. Unfortunately this is all I can say about this characters; they didn't have much more going on ...

I also didn't like the fact that this book was written in a way that was actually distracting and confusing. I wouldn't always gather what was actually going on and it wasn't sufficiently engrossing - I even got sidetracked a couple of times.

Overall I enjoyed this book and I felt that it set some interesting foundations for the following books. It's a bit juvenile but I was able to appreciate it, its story and messages. I just hope that the next books are more enthralling and that the characters have a bigger development. 

I give it 3,5 out of 5 stars

Aniversário Sonhar de Olhos Abertos

A Catarina do blog Sonhar de Olhos Abertos está a comemorar 6 mesinhos de existência e por isso para assinalar esta data especial, foi criada uma rubrica na qual participaram várias bloggers portuguesas. A ideia era que cada uma sugerisse um livro e explicasse porque é que o escolhia.

Para ver as várias participações quejá foram feitas basta clicar aqui

Muitos parabéns ao Sonhar de Olhos Abertos e à Catarina :)

#Friday Reads (12)

This weekend I'll be finishing Uglies, the first book on the Uglies series created by Scott Westerfeld. This is actually one of the books I pledged to read this year for my A to Z challenge. A lot of people like this series and I want to see what it has that makes it so special.

Here's the synopsis:

Tally Youngblood is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait for the operation that turns everyone from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to party. But new friend Shay would rather hoverboard to "the Smoke" and be free. Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The "Special Circumstances" authority Dr Cable offers Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

I've already read about a third of the book and so far I'm enjoying it. As soon as I'm done with it, I'll post my review :) 

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen. The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.

My Thoughts

When I first started watching book reviews on Youtube, I found a video from a girl that was always raving about this book. She would always say that this was the best high fantasy book out there and that everyone should check it out because it was amazing. 

I was curious and bought the book, but it was so big that I had to postpone its reading to a more suitable time. I was also a little affraid I wouldn't like it because I'm not used to that particularly genre and since the book was nearly 800 pages I just kept thinking that if I didn't like it, it would become a burden and that I would really have to push myself to finish it. Fortunately that wasn't the case, because this book is fantastic and the story is so engrossing that I would completely forget about its size.

Patrick Rothfuss has an amazing writing style. He doesn't waste our time with details that aren't important to the story, the characters are so well writen that we can easily picutre them and the dialogues are fantastic. 

I also like the way he incorporated traditions and tales to the story; it was almost like the story itself was based on ancient history and it was something that I really liked because I felt that it made the story a lot more engaging. I really enjoyed reading about all those tales and knowing more about the origins of this world.

As for the characters, I think it's impossible not to be - even if just a tiny bit - amazed by Kvothe. He's incredeably smart and the way he sees the world and how he faces the many ordeals he has to deal with is quite unique. I also liked his parents, not only because of the way they educated Kvothe - they helped him develop his intelect but also to grow with a set of good values -, but also because of their love story and their devotion to one another.

Overall I loved this book. My expectations were somewhat high given the reviews I had read but, fortunetely, this book didn't disapoint me. The story is quite enthralling and the characters, especially Kvothe, are amazing. This is only the first instalement of the Kingkiller trilogy and I can't wait to read the remaining books, even though the third one will only come out in 2014. The books are all huge but after reading the first one I'm not surprised; there is still a lot to be told and a lot of mystery to be unfolded.

If you haven't checked out this book yet, than you definitely should :)

5 out off 5 stars

Reading Challenge Update #6

I'ts been a while since I've done one of these but the truth is during the month of June I didn't read any of the books from my challenges so I thought there was no point in doing a post about that.

Here's what I've been doing as far as the challenges go

• A-Z challenge: I've read 3 books from this challenge and they were Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (review here), The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak (review here) and A Great and terrible Beauty by Libba Bray( review here). So far I've read 10 of the 25 books I pledged to read

• Books on my bookshelves challenge: I've read only two books for this challenge and they were The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (I'll try to post my review during this week) and The English Patient by Michael Onndaatje. (this challenge was created by deliberatereader.com).

Read in July

Here are the books I read during the month of July

I actually won this book on a giveaway on Youtube. You can check out my review here

One of my favorite books of the year; it's AMAZING! Review here

Funny book but far from hilarious ...

I've also read Trangressions by Roger D. Griffin but I didn't like it ...

It wasn't a bad month. I thought I would read much less :)

TAG: Verão com Leituras

O meu primeiro post em português lol

Hoje trago um post um pouco diferente. Fui recentemente apontada pela Catarina do blog http://asonhardeolhosabertos.blogspot.pt/ para participar na tag Verão com Leituras. Deixo o link para o seu vídeo aqui.

1 – Qual o teu género favorito para ler no Verão?

Hm, pergunta difícil. Acho que não tenho nenhum género em especial que reserve para o Verão. Geralmente aproveito estes meses para ler tudo aquilo que em tempo de aulas não pude ler. 

2 – Qual o teu lugar favorito para ler no Verão?

Gosto de ler na praia mas confesso que me chateia um bocado ver os livros com areia entre as páginas. Se não for na praia, qualquer sitio sossegado em que não oiça barulhos de carros e agitação da rua é perfeito ;) 

3 – Verão: campo ou praia?

Praia!!!! Gosto de campo também mas Verão sem praia não dá! 

4 – Qual o autor que não dispensas no Verão?

Sydney Sheldon e/ou Agatha Christie. Quando estava a ler esta ergunta apercebi-me deste padrão; é geralmente no Verão que acabo por ler livros destes autores. 

5 – Qual o autor muito associado ao Verão que toda a gente já leu menos tu?

Qualquer livro de Sarah Dessen. Há imensa gente que fala dos livros dela e chegam mesmo a dizer que são perfeitos para o Verão mas até agora ainda não li nenhum dela. 

6 – Qual a leitura que estás mais ansioso/a para fazer este Verão?

Hm outra pergunta difícil .... Acima de tudo quero aproveitar para ler os livros mais densos ou maiores que não pude ler em tempo de aulas, o que incluí continuar a saga do George R R Martin e ler O Nome do Vento de Patrick Rothfuss. 

7 – Que livro vai ser lançado neste Verão e estás ansioso(a) para ler?

Não me recordo de nenhum livro que me tenha prendido a atenção e que saia agora durante o Verão. No entanto, posso dizer que um dos livros cujo lançamento aguardo com alguma ansiadade é Allegiant, terceiro e último livro da trilogia Divergent, que sai em Outubro. 

8 – Que saga/trilogia recomendarias como leitura de Verão?

Sagas distopianas acho que são perfeitas para o Verão, especialmente se já estiverem completas (exemplo Hunger Games ou Matched). Outra que também me parece interessante para o Verão é Hex Hall; ainda só li o primeiro mas daquilo que li posso dizer que me parece perfeita para op Verão. Tem uma história simples e leve mas com momentos muito engraçados. 

9 – Mostra 3 livros que vais ler neste Verão e 3 livros que recomendas como leitura de Verão.

Livros que vou ler este Verão (eu aqui vou fazer alguma batota)

Estou a ler neste momento e estou a adorar!

Apesar de só colocar aqui a capa do primeiro livro, quero ler toda a série Uglies de Scott Westerfeld (livrinhos que irão chegar a minha casa algures durante a próxima semana hehe)

Queria avançar um pouco mais nesta saga e por isso, se conseguir ler, pelo menos, estes dois, já não será mau.

Livros que recomendo como leitura de Verão

Adorei este livro e cho que é perfeito para o Verão. Aqui podem ler a minha review.

Série Death Note. Primeira série de manga que leio e é simplesmente genial. Tem um conceito único e a história é incrivel! Podem ver as minhas reviews aqui e aqui

Também aconselho qualquer livro da Agatha Christie, especialmente aqueles cuja acção decorre ou na praia (alguns exemplos: Crime na Mesopotâmia, Encontro com a Morte, Morte no Nilo e Morte na Praia)