Across the Library

Cassandra Clare has done it again - she's written another beautiful novel that captures readers with all of the supernatural characters, twists and turns, and even a bit of steampunk!  Clockwork Angel is the first of a prequel series by Clare.  The series, Infernal Devices , takes place around 100 years or so before her Mortal Instrument (MI) series, and though you do see some of the characters, and other characters' last names in the Mortal Instrument series, for the most part, the new series has a new cast of characters.  The series is set in the Victorian Era, but in the same world as the original series.  Both of these series by Clare are full of supernatural characters that will interest fans of all types.  There are Shadowhunters, who have the blood of the angels, vampires, werewolves, warlocks, faeries, demons, shapeshifters, and a very intelligent cat.  In Clockwork Angel , there are even clockwork people to interest the steampunk fans....

 What a strange little book!  Well, technically it's not a little book at all, but strange indeed! I knew I wanted to read this book before it came out.  I love Libba Bray!  I enjoyed her Gemma Doyle series, and though I knew Going Bovine would be completely different, the idea was intriguing and the book trailer of Libba going around in the cow costume was so fun!  It took me a while to finally get around to the book, but I'm glad I did.  A couple of my coworkers who also read a lot of YA fiction told me this book wasn't worth reading.  One of them never even finished the book.  I think it was just too strange for them.  I'd heard a lot of things about the book, including reasons why some parents wouldn't let their teens read it.  Still, I went in with an open mind and an open heart.  It didn't take long for me to see how strange the book was, and I could understand why the one coworker didn't finish it.  She thought it...

I almost waited too long to see this movie in the theater.  The day I decided that I had to see it was the last day it was at our big Regal Cinema, and I missed it.  Luckily, it had moved to the older, smaller Regal, so we saw it the next day.  As my earlier post says, I greatly enjoyed the graphic novel series, so I was really looking forward to how it would translate to the movie screen.  When books are turned into movies, there are always scenes or even plots that are left out due to time constraints.  With Scott Pilgrim, the fast, jumpy pace of the graphic novels lent well to the time limits of a movie. I love Michael Cera, and though I'm not sure if he was the perfect Scott Pilgrim, he did a great job as the character.  Kieran Culkin was a great Wallace as well, loved that portrayal.  I think Kieran may be around for a while, as he's proving to be a pretty good actor.  As for the other characters, I think most of them were pretty believab...

I promised to return with more of my thoughts on Mockingjay after I had more time to digest the final book of the series.  Initially I wasn't sure how I felt about the end of the book, though I admit to loving the book as a whole.  Now, I think that there are certain things about the end that I would have preferred to see end differently.  Namely, I would have liked to see more interaction between Katniss and those she cared about.  I don't think we got to see enough of those relationships being rebuilt, or in the case of one of them, continuing at all.   But just as with life, things don't always end the way we want them to, and we don't always get the perfect ending.  With that in mind, even if I'm unhappy with the ending, that doesn't mean it's unrealistic.  For such a hard story, with so much pain throughout, it shouldn't have the perfect little ending anyway.  One of the deaths that people seemed to be so upset about made me think, and I th...

I've fallen behind, but I will soon post more of my thoughts on Mockingjay , as well as reviews for Going Bovine by Libba Bray and Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare!