'Dreams and Shadows' and 'The Ask and the Answer' Review!

Evening everyone, I'm pleased to say that I'm finally able to post a review for 'Dreams and Shadows' by C. Robert Cargill after what seemed like weeks (but was in fact only about 5 days) trying to finish it. I think finishing it has spurred me back into a reading frenzy, which is not helpful as I have a busy weekend planned, so I have also finished the second book in Patrick Ness's 'The Ask and the Answer' which is the second book in the 'Chaos Walking' trilogy. Without further ado, here are my opinions on both. 

Dreams and Shadows by C. Robert Cargill

"It begins with a love story. A love that is almost too sweet, too perfect. From that love comes a child. Life is wonderful. 

Until something unspeakably vile scuttles out of the shadows and steals the child away. Leaving a changling in its place. 

But this is no ordinary fairy tale...

C. Robert Cargill has written a modern American tale. A tale that twines the real world with the supernatural. A tale of faerie changed. Faerie that has danced alongside our world.

It is a realm that we visit with two boys. It is a dark, dark place to grow up."

First off, I got this book from the library, and I realized that I had very few books I actually had in mind to read, so I went for a random book. The cover is really beautiful, it's the kind of book that would look brilliant in hardback on a bookshelf, and the blurb really hooked me in, I felt like I had made a good choice. 

However, as I mentioned, this book was definitely not the smoothest read, Cargill, to his credit, is very accurate and attentive with his representation of the folklore in the book which in itself takes a while to get used to, especially the Gaelic and Latin names that are often used. Another aspect which hinders the flow of the book is that there are regular chapters that are written as excerpts from a folkfore book called 'A Chronicle of the Dreamfolk' which, while informative, are really very non-fiction-y. Plus, the book takes place over the space of about 18 years with the main characters Colby and Ewan growing up. 

There's a lot of jumping back and forth and while the ending is well written, if a little anti-climatic, this book was a bit of a disappointment to me. It's very very well written in terms to content and research, but technically, I feel like it could have done with several volumes just to ensure the reader was up to speed with the plot. 

Characters: 6/10

Plot: 3/10

Overall: 4/10

The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness

"Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss.
Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor's new order. 

But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer? 

And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode."

As you can see from my review of the first book in the series 'The Knife of Never Letting Go' I enjoyed the book, but didn't immediately love it. Well, 'The Ask and the Answer' has completely changed my opinion, second books in trilogies are notoriously the worst books, but TAATA is completely and utterly brilliant. As I was already used to the way the narrative reflects the way Todd speaks, I powered through, desperate to find out what was going to happen.

The world that Patrick Ness has created is incredibly interesting to me and I love the way this book planted Todd and Viola in a town and made them live through the, at times barbaric, new society that Mayor Prentiss has created. Viola who has been left with the healing ladies, soon becomes part of a women led rebel force called 'The Answer' which directly opposed Mayor Pretiss's rule, which Todd is working for. 

I cannot praise this enough, the ending was completely surprising and there are several loose ends which I can tell will be important in the final book. I love Todd and Viola's dynamic and the new characters like The Answer's leader Mistress Coyle and the character development (especially of Davy Prentiss) is wonderful. 

Plot: 10/10

Characters: 9/10
Overall: 10/10 

I hope to have another book review ready for Sunday, as I have the fifth Mortal Instruments book which I have been trying desperately to put off reading so I don't have to wait too long between having no books left and the release of The City of Bones movie in 3 weeks. I also have several other books waiting so it depends how much time I have over the weekend. I also plan on starting a new 'Top Ten Tuesday' feature which I have seen on several other blogs so the first one will be up this Tuesday, I might have to queue it however as it is the day I get my exam results and I may be curled in a corner refusing to open the envelope to see what I got. Till then, have a good weekend!

PS: Please, please do comment a link to your blogs and I will follow you if you have a google+ button! I would appreciate any of you lovelies following me too!