obscurepages's reviews
374 reviews

This was my first time reading a graphic novel and I really loved it!

I do miss the detailed narration and the different in-depth perspectives of Carter and Sadie (along with Horus and Isis, of course), but the illustrations were really amazing! It was interesting to see how the illustrator sees the world that Rick Riordan built.

All in all, it was really good!

Now I'm craving for the other graphic novels of these series haha!

FIRST OF ALL: WOW. JUST WOW.
I didn't actually plan on buying this book on purpose. What I was planning to buy was Release (also by Patrick Ness), but this is what I found on the book fair.
And let me just say, man, I'm so glad I found this!

This book was gripping in a way that you're hooked with every turn of the page. The little twists and turns will take your breath away and will more likely stun you momentarily.
The writing style is one of my favorite thing in this book. Honestly, my mouth dropped open a couple of times as I progressed through the book. I applaud the author so much for such brilliant work. It was poetic, it was symbolic—breathtaking in every paragraph, in every chapter.

"Life does not have to go how you think it will. Not even when you are very sure what is going to happen."

The characters were so well written; their backstories were more than enough to stab you in the heart and hook you on their personalities. Tomasz was such a ball of sunshine; he's got so much hope and faith inside of him that it almost felt tangible for me. Regine's grief and anger serves as a sort of fuel that drives their little team together. And Seth, his loneliness and his pain serves as a reminder that there's more out there, and that sometimes we need to fall and be broken in order to realize that.

"...what I've learned is that there actually is more. There's you guys. You guys are my more."

I also really loved the concept of the "online" world and how everyone started preferring that over the real world. In a way, it reflects us, it reflects how people live nowadays—how we choose to browse over the internet for ridiculous amounts of time, use various social networks to create a new life for ourselves and hide behind those whenever reality becomes too much to bear.

"Maybe compared to how the real world was going, it was paradise. Maybe all we wanted was a chance to live real lives again, without everything fall apart all the time."

Overall, this book was truly amazing. I'm so glad I picked this book up, not really knowing what to expect of it. Then finally reading it, and experiencing just how amazing it is.
10 STARS FOR THIS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING BOOK.
10 STARS.
A HUNDRED.
A MILLION
IDK IT'S AMAZING OKAY.
NOW I'M EXCITED TO READ PATRICK NESS' OTHER WORKS.
GO AHEAD AND READ IT.

I would give this book a million stars if that's possible. This book is truly one of a kind, I swear.
Leigh Bardugo never fails to impress. I think there was one part of the book that I just stopped reading and almost cried because of how good the writing is. I AM SERIOUS.

Anyway. I'll try to post my full review on my blog today! 😄

This is one of my most anticipated April reads, and now that I read it, I am once again bombarded with feels. Honestly, everything Becky Albertalli writes fills me up with so much emotions. This book is no exception.

Buying this book and getting into it, I was really excited. I loved Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda; the characters, the message it was trying to portray to the dear readers, and the simplicity it shows, it's truly beautiful. I was so excited for Leah on the Offbeat because I know Leah has much more to say—she has a story and it needs to be heard. And of course, I was so excited to come back to Creekwood!

Okay, so, onto the story! I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT. My theory was right! (And I've had this theory ever since I've read Simon versus, hahaha!) It was just so good reading through Leah's perspective. I know sometimes she may seem really annoying, but I loved her; she was sarcastic and badass, but she was also shy and insecure, and sometimes even cynical (in those parts I could really relate to haha!)
I really got to see Leah and her struggle and confusion as she weaves her way through the last few months of her senior year. With tension between her friends, family, and her own self, it was good to see how she tried to cope with it and how the people around her dealt with it. 

I also love how I could feel Leah's longing and confusion for love and affection throughout Albertalli's writing...

"Imagine going about your day knowing someone's carrying you in their mind. That has to be the best part of being in love--the feeling of having a home in someone else's brain."

...and Leah's constant struggle with people making unnecessary comments about her weight (in which I could totally relate to.)

"I swear, people can’t wrap their minds around the concept of a fat girl who doesn’t diet. Is it that hard to believe I might actually like my body?"

I wanted a little more at the end though. It seemed a little too easy for me. I wanted to have more details about how the gang dealt with the truth and the outcome of all the tension that happened, and how did they moved on from it. The ending was short and sweet, and I guess I really craved for more, after everything that happened in Leah's journey. 

Al in all though, I really liked it and my heart is satisfied. I give this book 4 stars!

(ALSO CAN YOU JOIN ME IN FANGIRLING OVER THE COVER? IT'S GORGEOUS, AND MY FAVORITE COLOR IS POPPING!)

You can also find this review on my blog.

Reading this book really made me feel nostalgic—about my teen years and my fondness of anything related to mythology. And at the same time, this book got me thinking for the nth time, “Wow. The movie adaptation was REALLY different wasn’t it?”.

I love everything about this book; from Percy’s sass, to the well-thought out plot incorporated within the prophecies, to the normal conflicts that these twelve-year old characters are going through, it was so, so good.

And the characters! This is the book where I definitely came to love the trio, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. Their characters just melded into each other, and through their little adventure, their friendship was forged.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a reread! Been wanting to reread the PJO series for quite some time now, and yaayy this is it!
Check out my "Revisiting Camp Half-Blood" blog post! (I'll be making a blog post series about my PJO reread and this is the first part!)

(You can also find this review on my blog.)

Well. That was certainly a wild ride! A handful of my friends are big fans of this book and they have encouraged me tirelessly to read it. And after months of it being stuck on my TBR pile, I finally got the chance to pick it up!

Getting into the story, I felt a lot of Hunger Games vibes from it, so I really wanted to see what sets it apart. And as I read on, I really found their world very interesting; how they’re divided by Red and Silver, by power and weakness, and how Mare is really a mutation of sorts.

“I’m an accident. I’m a lie. And my life depends on maintaining the illusion.”

The plot is very interesting. A real-page turner, I had trouble setting the book down when I finally had the time to read it. It really kept me on my toes from the beginning until the end. The plot twists are either really frustrating or very shocking. I’m actually upset with myself that I didn’t see this one foreshadowing of the major plot twist at the end.

“Flame and shadow. One cannot exist without the other.”

“This was the shadow controlling the flame.”

The characters are good, but they’re not great. I had trouble trying to get a feel of Mare’s personality as I read through her perspective. I didn’t trust Cal and Maven one bit since the very start (I only started to like Maven in the middle of the story, oops I guess). Shade had such potential—the way he was portrayed through Mare’s perspective made it seem like he holds a lot of significance to the story. I hated Evangeline. I hated Maven’s mother. And I feel really sorry for Corriane, I feel sorry that I never got see more of her.

The writing style… Okay, now, I’m very conflicted about this. Although the author has her moments that seem to really capture me and entice me, there were also times that I found myself thinking that the writing lacked a little bit of finesse. The plot was great, yes, but I would have liked to see more in the execution of it.

This feels like a 3.75 stars for me. But because I’m a sucker for Fantasy, it’s a 4 haha! I am excited to see what happens in Glass Sword!

(You can also find this review on my blog.)

When I first read the synopsis of this book, I was hooked! And then I found out that it was going to be a movie this 2018; that got me even more excited! (I then vowed to read the whole series before the movie comes out haha!)

I just finished reading it and wow! It was really amazing!

The plot was really good. I liked how there aren't just two sides in the dystopian world, and it kept me wondering what's going to happen next, what will the characters do, what other secrets will they find out. I can't wait to read the other books and know how the story will progress (also that ending wrecked me so I really need to read the next one AAAAHHH). I'd also love to know just how the disease started, and why those who survived woke up with powers they can't control. That's a really interesting part of the story, I hope I get some sort of explanation in the next books.

I loved the characters! Brainiac Chubs, precious Zu, brave Liam, and sweet Ruby. I love how the author was able to show their personalities, the nightmares that haunt them and the individual inner battles they all fight.

I love how I also saw flaws within the characters. I got to witness Ruby's struggle with her powers. She knows she's dangerous—far dangerous than anyone else—and she's scared of it, terrified even.

"I'm a monster, you know. I'm one of the dangerous ones."
"No you aren't, he promised. You're one of us."

And then Liam, no matter how brave he is, he's also insecure. Insecure of his mistakes, of not being there for his friends.

"He's so busy looking inside people to find the good that he misses the knife they're holding in their hand."

Clancy was an interesting character for me on the other hand. (I'm not gonna say anything else because I'm afraid it would be spoiler, sorry!) I think his character will have a bigger part in the rest of the series. Also his interactions with Ruby had me feeling some sort of Alina/Darkling vibes from the Grisha trilogy. He's letting Ruby know that they're both different and that they will never be like the others. That sounds a lot like the Darkling to me haha!

The writing style is so good. The author was able to hook me in the story and keep me wanting for more. There were also parts that made me so curious and invested, and I wanted more details immediately, but the author knew just when and how she was going to reveal those secrets and enlighten me with plot twists.

This was such a good read! I can't wait to see the movie in a few months, and see how the director will give life to this wonderful story. 5 stars for this one!

(You can also find this review on my blog!)

Alternate universe? Time travel? Oohhh sign me up!

Upon reading the synopsis of this book, I was immediately intrigued! The idea of a parallel/alternate universe or time travel is something that I really like. And so I went ahead and read this book!

This book has a blend of romance, historical fiction, and science fiction that I quite liked! Although there were parts that I was not exactly fond of, there were aspects that really delighted me!

Let’s start with the parts I was not fond of.

Insta-love. Don’t get me wrong, the story of Elisa and Claudio was romantic indeed, a love that surpassed space and time, but I’m afraid insta-love is a trope I’m not really fond of. I just felt like it happened all too quickly. The next one is the sort-of-cheating aspect in the story. I am all for unconditional love and all, but cheating is one thing I won’t be able to embrace. (Also, I’m trying so hard not to spoil anything AAAHHH)

But let’s go to the parts I really liked!

The writing style of the author and how she talked about Italy is amazing! There were certain passages in the book that really left me in awe because they were so beautifully-written it’s as if I am within the story, witnessing the beauty of Italy myself.

“She forced herself to live in the moment—in her favourite time of day, twilight. She listened, noting the turtle doves in the nearby trees, chirping and cooing to their young, settling them in for the night. Alice could see the last little bit of the sun peeking out from behind the horizon in the west, slowly sinking down to a tiny brilliant sliver. The rolling hills were the most incredible shade of green against the lavender sky. Off in the distance, she could make out multiple tiers of grape vineyards, sculpted into the faces of the gentle mountains with olive trees tucked in between. Everything was so calm, so serene, so peaceful.”

and...

“The ancient Etruscan ruins stood just ahead in all their splendour. Standing steady as sentinels of an age past, they bore witness to an untold number of stories of the people who had taken refuge in their inviting space.”

And of course, I also liked the parts of the book where it talked about the history, specifically Renaissance Italy. Plus I also liked how this story challenges the fate and destiny of a person.

“You make your own destiny. But sometimes you may be placed in a situation where there was only one possible outcome, no matter how much you thought you were in control of your own life.”

The characters were also interesting! I love the character of Leonardo da Vinci and how the author portrayed him. Bruno and Enzo back in Renaissance Italy, oh how I hated them. But it is understandable since we’re talking about the time where men were ultimately superior (it sucks, I know). Claudio was a gentleman who was filled with so much love for Elisa, and it was nice to see Elisa grow into a brave woman.

All in all it was a good read for me! A whiff of something new as my previous reads were epic and dark fantasies haha! This will be really perfect who love romance and adventure in one! I give this one 3.5 stars!

This one is a page-turner—a story full of secrets, pain, love, fear, and plot twists. Now, I need to watch the movie adaptation of the first book! AAAAHHHHH