Catalyst by Marc Johnson

Title: Catalyst	Loved it	Graded
Author: Marc Johnson
Genre: High fantasy
Publisher: -
Elements: Wizards, dragons, elves
Series: Book 1 of The Passage of Hellsfire

For centuries, the kingdom of Alexandria has protected Northern Shala from the monstrous creatures lurking in the Wastelands. Now, a dark force threatens that fragile peace.

Far from home, Alexandria’s princess is abducted. When a young villager named Hellsfire stumbles upon her and her captors, he rushes in to rescue her, alone and unarmed. His fear and fury unleash an uncontrollable magical force that grants him the power to save the princess—and change the world.

Hellsfire has never craved nor dreamed of power. But such magic as he now possesses has not been seen in Northern Shala for a thousand years, since the devastation of the War of the Wizards and the creation of the Wastelands.

Now Hellsfire must leave all he’s ever known, and make a dangerous journey to learn to master this wild, ferocious power—power he knows he is not ready to wield. More difficult still, he needs to master his emotions. If he can’t, the power will consume him, Alexandria will fall, and darkness will eclipse the land, destroying everyone he loves.

In the dead of cold, the spark shall burn...

This is the story of a boy named Hellsfire.

I know, I know. Even though there's a reason for it, it's absolutely cringe-worthy. You'd think he'd have a nickname to fall back upon, but no. I liked that he had spunk and was a genuinely good kid, trying to put the negative connotation of his name away, having suffered torment because of it.

CATALYST has a lot of elements that either separately, or together, are some of my favourite. Political intrigue (yes! my absolute favourite phrase!), love that grows across time and space, aka years and a heck lot of journeying.

And yet I wasn't as emotionally invested as I could be. I could see the actions, but there's not a lot of introspection on Hellsfire part. It's one scene after another, which mostly works. There's a constant tone throughout the book, which has its pros in terms of the writing going fluidly, but its cons when it comes to heightening the suspense and tension of a certain scene. Thus, while it strives to be serious--and the events and character's reactions are portrayed as such--at times it comes off as cheesy.

There's a lot of action to make up for it and the plot moved fast. I'd say that the events that occur here is about as much as a whole YA series. There is a lot going on, but it doesn't lose its narrative focus. As a character, Hellsfire comes off as almost too perfect as the story went on. It didn't bother me too much. This is a familiar occurrence in the urban and high fantasy series that I read, with the powers coming on fast and furious at the start, after which the coping and downfall start to occur (and the rising up after the fall part).

Certain parts reminded me of Legend of The Seeker and LoTR, which is neither good nor bad, just a small recognition. For me, I liked it because it's been a while since I read high fantasy.

For readers, this is more in the vein of those good old school high fantasy series ala Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth, of which the Legend of the Seeker television series was made of. It's an entertaining story. There's a lot of travelling across a vast land, magical creatures working together in tandem and kingdoms and lands in fraught danger. If you like those types of books, try this.

In My Mailbox

IMM is a meme created by The Story Siren.

I haven't done these in a while!

A Temptation of Angels by Michelle Zink

When her parents are murdered before her eyes, sixteen-year-old Helen Cartwright finds herself launched into an underground London where a mysterious organization called the Dictata controls the balance of good and evil. Helen learns that she is one of three remaining angelic descendants charged with protecting the world's past, present, and future. Unbeknownst to her, she has been trained her whole life to accept this responsibility. Now, as she finds herself torn between the angelic brothers protecting her and the devastatingly handsome childhood friend who wants to destroy her, she must prepare to be brave, to be hunted, and above all to be strong, because temptation will be hard to resist, even for an angel.

Harper Madigan: Junior High Private Eye by Chelsea M. Campbell

7th grade detective Harper Madigan works alone. He doesn't need the vice principal assigning him a new partner to keep him in line, especially a stuffed-shirt wannabe-journalist who totally cramps his style. And he especially doesn’t need his troublemaker ex-girlfriend showing up out the blue and asking for his help. She’s accused of attacking the star of the school musical, and with her less-than-sparkling track record, she’s only one suspension away from getting expelled. Only Harper believes she’s innocent, and now it’s up to him to prove it, even if it means making an enemy of the PTA mafia, risking his agency, and confronting the mistakes of his own dark past. But when his new partner insists on doing everything by the book, and his old nemesis–the one bully he can’t catch–starts harassing his clients, it’s going to take more than just detective work to solve the case.

These are a couple of books that I got recently, and they look pretty good, don't they? I'm about fifty pages in, and A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS is getting intriguing. There are secret passages, and the supporting characters relationships are really fun to read about.

HARPER MADIGAN is a Middle Grade book, and I'm going to try this based on the strength of THE RISE OF RENEGADE X. (It has a sequel coming out!)

What did you get this week? Any books for me to stare all puppy-eyed at?

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Title: Hallow	Loved it	Graded
Author: Cynthia Hand
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen
Elements: Angels
Series: Book 2 of the Unearthly series

For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

This review contains spoilers.

HALLOWED brought the Unearthly series to another level, and solidifies its status as one of my favourite series, only two books in.

It speaks a lot about the state of YA books nowadays that I'm surprised when rules that come with a mythology are upheld. The actions are dealt with without relying on any loopholes or 'twists' to explain it away. In HALLOWED, Clara and her family are dealing with the aftermath of the events in UNEARTHLY--or the lack thereof.

The main storyline here--and what I absolutely love-- is that it focuses on Clara and her mom's relationship. It made me tear up. It's not as an aside to the main love story and adventure, as a way to round the book up and give more depths to the characters, but the actual plot. Clara's mom is a huge influence on her life, and that knowledge is everywhere in the book. from Clara's actions to her lifestyle. It's rare to see a YA book that actually focuses on another important part of YA: the parental influence.

As for Clara and her boy troubles. I'll be upfront: I'm a Clara and Christian fan. With how the mythology is laid out and Clara's purpose, I was under the impression that Clara would be with Christian in the end. Then again, my favouritism has been blinding me to the fact that they're both part angels, and that would mean that somewhere in the lineage, humans came into the mix, so a Clara Tucker pairing would be perfectly plausible too.

I love the depths that and goes to, and it's admirable--and quite brave-- how this is a YA book where the main focus is on a parent child relationship. I love the themes displayed, mortality, free will and so on. I'll be waiting for for book three. It's set in Stanford!

Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter

Title: Out of Sight, Out of Time	Loved it	Graded
Author: Ally Carter
Genre: Mysteries, thrillers
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Elements: Boarding School, espionage
Series: Book 5 in the Gallagher Girls series

The last thing Cammie Morgan remembers is leaving the Gallagher Academy to protect her friends and family from the Circle of Cavan--an ancient terrorist organization that has been hunting her for over a year. But when Cammie wakes up in an alpine convent and discovers months have passed, she must face the fact that her memory is now a black hole. The only traces left of Cammie’s summer vacation are the bruises on her body and the dirt under her nails, and all she wants is to go home.

Once she returns to school, however, Cammie realizes that even the Gallagher Academy now holds more questions than answers. Cammie, her friends, and mysterious spy-guy Zach must face their most difficult challenge yet as they travel to the other side of the world, hoping to piece together the clues that Cammie left behind. It’s a race against time. The Circle is hot on their trail and willing stop at nothing to prevent Cammie from remembering what she did last summer.

Finally, finally, book five is here.

I have been waiting for this book for a long, long time, and darn, did all the waiting pay off.

The book really starts off with a shock. Readers were left with Cammie right before she went on her mision, and now we find out that she's lost all memories of the mission, whether she has even completed it. I'd say that it's a cruel thing to do to us, but cruel in the spy sense does not have the same connotation here.

There's a darker tone here, as Cammie navigates the now unfamiliar walls of Gallagher Academy. Relationships have evolved without her, and as Cammie feels that she could trust no one. Not her friends, Zach, nor her mom. During these parts, I couldn't help but to feel Cammie's frustration and underlying exhaustion and suspicion. It felt like the bubbly part of her had been effectively killed. This change in tone brings some brevity to the situation. I can no longer now believe that they are still playing dress up and having adventures, as I did before. Now the situations are real. The threats are ultimately real, and my favourite part? The betrayals and infiltrations have begun.

This is a small part, but when she returns, Cammie's just only a senior in GA. To be an active spy, having been hunted down in the past few years without having graduated makes her eventual graduation ceremony feel more of a ceremonial procedure than an introduction into the spy world.

There's a psychological factor in play that is absolutely creepy and heartbreaking to read. OSOT had me tearing up in parts, and  Carter delivers on whatever hints and mysteries have been introduced in the current book without leaving any cliffhangers. As a writer, it shows that Carter has a strong, solid grasp on the world that she has built and the characters to know when to let a conflict be resolved, and to trust that new conflicts will appear without forcing repeated mentions or scenes regarding it.

The ending was utterly satisfying, and it makes me so excited for book six. If we follow the pattern, it'll take place right after Cammie and her friends graduate, so we'll be able to see more action outside of GA's walls, which is what book four attempted, and OSOT went further, just in time too. While I enjoyed the scenes taking out of doors, GA had started to feel a bit stifling. There's only so much action that can happen in Cammie's favourite hidden passageways.

Reminds me of when the Harry Potter series were still being written. I just might go through another re-read or two of the whole series.

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Title: Unearthly	Loved it	Graded
Author: Cynthia Hand
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen
Elements: Angels
Series: Book 1 of the Unearthly series

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . . Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

I didn't have high hopes for UNEARTHLY, but then again, I don't have high hopes for a lot of books nowadays. :/ UNEARTHLY plays with the themes of free will vs destiny, or to look at it another way, love vs the job. It's not an uncommon theme in YA. What Hand does that makes it unusual is that it has the main protagonist accepting her destiny resolutely, and she finds ways to work around it rather than fight it outrightly.

Clara has a clear understanding of her role to play--after all, she's there because her purpose is to save Christian from the fire. She is guided by her mother, someone who has been through what she's been through, and accompanied by her as-yet-without-a-purpose brother.

As guardian angels, they have the means to move to any place where the purpose might occur. The setting feels luxurious, with a forest as a backdrop, a ski resort. Sometimes it comes off more as hidden school for VIPs rather than a normal school away from the hustle bustle of the city. It feels like such a holiday to me!

The relationships between Clara and her family is adorable. Tucker grated on my nerves, because he grated on Clara's nerves. This is one time I'm fully on the seemingly perfect guy's side. I found Tucker's sister/Clara's friend to welcoming and friendly, but she annoyed me sometimes.

Clara's attraction to Tucker was unexpected to her and put a cinch in her perfect plans. The ending was not entirely unexpected, but it left me conflicted.

This book was published sometime when angel mythology was all the rage in YA. It almost slipped through my notice, and while the synopsis does not do the book justice, UNEARTHLY is better than I expected. It was halfway through that I realised that the book is gold.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Black

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood	Loved it	Graded
Author: Kendare Black
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Tor Teen
Elements: Humour
Series: Book 1 of the Anna series

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

This review contains spoilers.

There's this thing I'm doing where I pick a book based purely on the recommendations of trusted readers, regardless of whether it's something that I would have picked up on my own. ANNA is a book that I've been debating about reading for a while. The cover, synopsis and title labelled it as a non-Liyana book, but so many people have been raving about it, and now here I am.

The first time we're introduced to Anna is when she tears someone in half. That kind of thing tends to stick in your mind, and further reinforced the characterisation of Anna's ghost as a bloodthirsty, remorseless killer who spared no one.

It was horrifying and scary, and huddled under my blanket, a tiny part of me was thrilled. I read on, and looked forward to experiencing some much lauded humourous horror scenes. There were a few briliant scenes where Anna goes head to head with Cas, with some creeptastic fight scenes and atmospheres. The basement scene is one of my favourites. It showed me what is possibly the scariest part of horror stories: after the kill.

Meanwhile, things were starting to get a little bit monotonous. While the battles were fun to read about, it seemed like a one off ghost vs hunter story.

Then Anna and Cas fell in love.

Anna mellowed and while I adored quasi-human Anna, I missed scary, badass Anna. The focus shifted more onto revealing Anna's history, and the current day events were quickly explained away.

The disappearance of a few teenagers were quickly explained away, if any. The mystery of Cas's father's death. There was no explanation as to why Anna spared Cas the first time, nor the many times after, and it detracted from the story and the tension. Even if it was the curse breaking down, the start of the romance felt jarring and out of place. On Cas's side, it seemed as if he was fascinated with Anna to the point of obsession, calling it love.

I don't know, it's a relationship between a ghost and a ghost hunter. It's bound to be weird. Let them call it whatever they want.

Alone, Cas and Anna were formidable opponents. Together, they were actually a pretty cute, normal everyday couple. While I can't begrudge them that little happiness after all the shiz in their lives, it did come at the expense of the better parts and resolution of the story.

Pure by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Pure	Loved it	Graded
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Elements: Boarding school, kick ass mythology, Greek mythology
Series: Book 2 of the Covenant series

There is need. And then there is Fate...

Being destined to become some kind of supernatural electrical outlet isn't exactly awesome--especially when Alexandria's "other half" is everywhere she goes. Seth's in her training room, outside her classes, and keeps showing up in her bedroom--so not cool. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it has no effect on what Alex feels for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. Or what he will do--and sacrifice--for her.

When daimons infiltrate the Covenants and attack students, the gods send furies--lesser gods determined to eradicate any threat to the Covenants and to the gods, and that includes the Apollyon... and Alex. And if that and hordes of aether-sucking monsters didn't blow bad enough, a mysterious threat seems willing to do anything to neutralize Seth, even if that means forcing Alex into servitude... or killing her.

When the gods are involved, some decisions can never, ever be undone.

PURE focused on the micro aspects of the universe, and gave me what I appreciated most in HALF-BLOOD: more interactions between the characters, especially between Seth and Alex. The development of their relationship and the link between them is one of the strong point of the series, and I hope Armentrout will expand more on the lasting effects in future books.

However, this resulted in the world-building to fall a bit flat and the central conflict being marketed in the synopsis playing a much lesser part and being downplayed. Thus when the climax happened, the battle scenes with Alex and Seth seemed too much, while beautifully and thrillingly illustrated.

I did miss Caleb, and how he represented a member of the opposite gender who was not a love interest. Alex's life felt so lonely, and her only other source of friendship was Lea, who is more of the latter part of friendemy.

I loved how PURE dealt with the political and social aftermath of HALF-BLOOD's events. Armentrout explored more about how the Covenant's society, and I was pleasantly surprised on that part.

In my review of HALF-BLOOD, I referred to the parallels with the Vampire Academy series. I'm going to refer to it again. If I recall correctly, the issue of dhampirs and Morois having a relationship wasn't one of the main conflicts, and was referred to as a side event in one of the books. There wasn't an actual resolution for it.

Here, it plays a major part, if I'm assuming that the endgame couple is Alex and Aiden, alliteration and all. I'd love to see more of the court members and how they would resolve the issue of the halfs and the pures having a relationship.

I'll be looking forward to the other two books in the series. There's so many little events that I want to be explained!

Win Tix to Hunger Games Singapore Premiere [Update 15/3]

So you wanna go to the Hunger Games Singapore Gala Premiere?

Cathay's giving you the chance to do so. (12 - 16 Mar):

To win, simply follow the instructions below:-
Step 1: Visit any Cathay Cineplexes outlet & look for The Hunger Games movie posters.
Step 2: Snap the QR codes featured on the movie posters.
Step 3: Watch The Hunger Games trailer & answer a simple question on our Facebook page.

Here's are other contests:

• BE A CITIZEN OF PANEM AND WIN GALA PREMIERE TICKETS! (Ends: 5pm, 14 Mar)
• Radio 91.3 (Daily; Ends 21 Mar)
• InSing

Can't make it? There are more promotions listed below. Too much awesomesauce, really. I've never seen such effort put into promoting a movie based on a book series. Love it!

Other promotions:

• Hunger Games combo (While stocks last)
• Hunger Games notebook (2 - 12 Mar)
• Mockingjay pins (while stocks last)
• Hunger Games poster (Signed by cast; open worldwide; ends 30 April)
• Five sets of Hunger Games goodies (27 April)
• Hunger Games playing cards (While stocks last)

There might be more contests and promotions coming up. You can check their Promotions or Facebook page for more details.

Disclaimer: Not being paid/endorsed by Cathay. Purely motivated by the chance to win contests and lots of collectibles and merchandise for a series I'm a fan of.

Harry Potter: The Exhibition in Singapore

OH HEY Y'ALL POTTERHEADS!

There's going to be a Harry Potter exhibition right here in Singapore! (As the title states.)

Important details first.
Running from June 2 until September 30, 2012
Tickets go on sale from 1 May.
Available for purchase on

• the ArtScience Museum website and
• all Marina Bay Sands box offices.

What is this about? (Grabbed from the AsiaOne Showbiz article.)

From June 2, the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands will host the exhibit where fans can immerse themselves inside the magical wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling and immortalised in books and movies.

For the first time in Asia, fans will enjoy a firsthand look inside the Harry Potter films as they experience the amazing craftsmanship of hundreds of authentic costumes and props from the entire film series.

Visitors can look forward to seeing some of their favorite props and costumes from all the Harry Potter films, including Harry's iconic wand and eyeglasses, Professor Snape'sTM original costume, the Golden SnitchTM and the Gryffindor school uniforms. The exhibit will have themed vignettes such as the Gryffindor common room, Hagrid's hut, the Forbidden Forest, the Great Hall, and more.

Interactive features include the chance to to pull a Mandrake from its pot in the Herbology vignette and toss a Quaffle in the Quidditch area.

"The Harry Potter films were such a huge phenomenon throughout Asia that we are thrilled to be bringing fans the opportunity to experience a piece of the films with Harry Potter: The Exhibition in Singapore," said Karen McTier, executive vice president of Warner Bros. Consumer Products Domestic Licensing and Worldwide Marketing.

Tickets will be go on sale from May 1, 2012, and will be available for purchase on the ArtScience Museum website and all Marina Bay Sands box offices.

Created by Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES) in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, it will run from from June 2 until September 30, 2012.

Please excuse the exclamation marks as I suppress the urge to do jazz hands and/or point an imaginary wand at random strangers and yell out charms and curses at them. I'm so planning to go there in my as-yet-uncreated standard Hogwarts robe (because I'm fair, or erm, indecisive like that) with loads of moolahs for the merchandise.

And there are interactive features. You know what this means: we get to go all touchy feely with the Harry Potter universe. *faints from too much hype*

First person to buy a ticket gets either a killing curse or hug from Voldemort!**

**total lie

The Potterpuff Hogwarts professors welcome you.