25 Followers
27 Following
Iona

Where Is Wallis?

My name is Iona English. I am currently a 20 year old Media Production student doing a degree at Brooksby Melton College, which doesn't exactly lean towards the idea of me being a massive and proud book worm, but I am. I love to read. My favourite genre's are YA Contemporary, Sci-Fi and Fantasy, with some Classics thrown in. 

 

Where to find me:
http://where-is-wallis.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/user/whereiswallis

 

 

Currently reading

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
J.K. Rowling
The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
Robert Rankin
Tender Morsels
Margo Lanagan
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Catherynne M. Valente
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone
Kat Rosenfield
Blackout
Robison Wells
Burial Rites

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden Series #1)

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden Series #1) - REALLY enjoyed this book

Scent of Magic

Scent of Magic - Maria V. Snyder I really am loving this series!
Touch of Power - Maria V. Snyder More like 4.5, really enjoyed this book

Bloodfever (Fever Series, Book 2)

Bloodfever - Karen Marie Moning Definitely getting into this series now!

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Series #1)

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Series #1) - This is a re-read. I forgot how much I love this book until I re-read it. It's brilliant. A true epic fantasy. If you were put off by the film; and let's face it, it was shit, I highly recommend you check out the book anyway. The characters are so full of life, the world building is amazing and even though it is classed as a children's novel it has a lot of adult themes which I didn't see when I first read it as a 10 year old but now definitely get and I thoroughly enjoyed watching how the characters handle these issues.

Darkfever

Darkfever  - Karen Marie Moning Much better on the second reading because I understand the world and characters better. Also I miss the internet. I'm using too much of it on my phone to check out social media and see what I'm missing :(

The Reapers Are the Angels

The Reapers Are the Angels - Alden Bell I loved the imagery in this book, beautiful and grotesque all at once

Pushing the Limits

Pushing the Limits  - Katie McGarry Wow I really loved this bookEdit 01/01/2013 Noah Hutchins is bad news. A dark loner with a nasty reputation, a leather jacket and a bad attitude. Exactly the kind of boy Echo knows to stay away from, but could his brutal honesty and lack of respect for authority be exactly what she needs when no one else seems to want to tell her the truth or even help her find out why she doesn't remember the night she some how ended up with scars decorating her arms and a restraining order against her mother?This book is told from both Noah and Echo's point of view. This alternating between the two main characters really helps you to understand them and their problems better. You really connect to them because you see what they think and feel about things. The other characters too felt like they had personalities and weren't just there to help or hinder Noah and Echo, they were all flawed but in ways that felt real. Never did this book become too typically teenage to the point where you want to roll your eyes, throw it at the floor and walk off because it's given you a headache and made you sick to death of anyone under 20 (which I myself am not so that's irony for you). It felt just right. Yes these characters are hormonal, slightly naive teenagers but they're also smart, determined and they don't always sit around and sulk when there is a problem, they do something about it.I won't say that this book was particularly surprising, with a little bit of brain power it's not hard to work out what happened to Echo and how this whole story will end but really it's the journey that matters. The chemistry between Noah and Echo was electric and their relationship and devotion to helping each other as friends and more was so heart-wrenchingly sweet that it made me miss being at the start of a relationship, or just in a relationship all together. There were points when Noah and Echo were kissing that I just wanted to put my book down and go find me a hot guy to make out with but I didn't, I was too enthralled with their storyline.Over all I think this is a really great story. It's not really going to help anyone who is going through problems like Echo's because it at some points felt like the book was implying that you can't work out problems on your own, you need someone else's help to do it. Preferably someone you are greatly attracted to. But because the relationship felt so real I'll let that slide. I definitely think this was one of the best contemporary romances of 2012.
Pretties - Scott Westerfeld Really enjoyed this book!

Throne of Glass

The Assassin and the Princess - Sarah J. Maas When people talk about this book, and Celaena they mention that she is beautiful, arrogant and girly. Not usually traits I particularly like my female protagonists to have, yet Celaena pulled it off incredibly well. I was terrified that this girl would end up like whatshername from Paranormalcy, girly and arrogant to the point of stupidity, but no. Celaena has her reasons to be arrogant; she's good at what she does and she is deadly beautiful. You really feel for this character. Orphaned at a young age, trained in sometimes dreadful ways and then betrayed and left to rot as a slave for a year in a place most people only last a month. She has been beaten and broken and yet she remains a fighter. I expected this to be a decent book about palace politics and a female assassin fighting for freedom, but it was so much more. It was a book about friendships, love, magic and not letting the world break you. I never expected so much depth, or magic.The relationships between people are perfectly built. If Celaena doesn’t like someone your skin crawls as well. If she befriends them you feel yourself growing attached. The relationships never feel forced, or at least they don’t till right at the end. And while there is a love triangle it doesn’t take president over the story itself it just develops naturally throughout.The magic element is never really mentioned in reviews so when it became a big part of the plot I was incredibly happy and surprised. What’s a good fantasy without magic? The magic here makes you feel like something bigger is going on, that Celaena has a destiny that is only hinted at throughout the book bot not revealed. This aspect will certainly make me want to read the next book. Overall though this review isn’t particularly good, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually done a written one, I’d say the book it’s self is good. It’s not written in a way that makes you want to tattoo the whole thing over your body but the world building is superb, the characters are well fleshed out and the plot is all but simple. I think this book definitely deserves the reviews shining it has gotten. I received this book in ebook form from Netgalley for review. The formatting was terrible on kindle, but the book itself was excellent. Review appears at http://inky-pages.blogspot.co.uk/

Glow (Sky Chasers Series #1)

Glow (Sky Chasers Series #1) - Today I thought I’d write a review for Glow. Both from the cover and the genre of this book I thought it would be painfully like Across the Universe, which I did not like, and so I was incredibly apprehensive about reading this at first. In fact I didn’t even bother to check out the description, so turned off by the idea it might compare to a book that had disappointed me as much as Across the Universe had done.However, after seeing a ‘glowing’ (haha like my pun) video review by Raleen on Youtube I decided to give it ago, gritting my teeth and not expecting much at all. First of all I’d like to say that I did not hate this book, but I do have a lot of reservations about it.The characters are good for the must part, Waverly definitely feels like a tough chick. Unlike so many lead protagonists she does not "umm" and "ahh" about things. She acts. She finds things out, changes what she doesn’t like, stands up against what she doesn’t believe in and battles through out. Some of the other characters like Kieran and Seth also feel well rounded and actually like people, but there is not much more than 5 or 10 characters that feel like that. A lot of the side characters feel flat and uninteresting.The world building was decent. I felt like this book had enough scientific knowledge in it, although not great amounts. I was a little annoyed during the vacuum scene where it was obvious that the author didn’t know what would actually happen if someone died in a vacuum. However the differences between the two ships in terms of crew felt very real and I did like the way religion was shown in this book. It can give hope and create peace, but it can also be a dangerous weapon of power over people.My biggest issue with this book was the pacing. Every few chapters we’d get a sentence randomly in an event which said “a few months passed like this” or “after a few months” etc... but it didn’t feel like a few months had passed, nor did it feel like some of the issues should have taken so long to resolve. If you are desperate and angry some things should take weeks at best to overcome. As well as the events in this apparently taking so long no one aged, not one person had a birthday. I know it’s unlikely they’d celebrate a birthday but it could have been mentioned if this book supposedly spans months and months. And the timelines where events where happening on the Empyrean and events were happening on New Horizon didn’t seem to match very well, they could have been happening more clearly at the same or different times.Over all this book was decent. A good quick read, but it was by no means beautifully written or well thought out really. Science was used when it helped the plot and that was about it, the issues it tackled were good but they could have been handled better. Overall it was decent but not book of the year for me even though I enjoyed Waverly’s character and the storyline I don’t think it was executed as well as it could have been. Also what's with the name Glow? Trying to sell to tweeny little girls much?
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Anna Quindlen Brilliant
A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray Review to come

A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness, Jim Kay I thought it was good but I didn't like it as much as I expected to

Stormdancer

Stormdancer - Jay Kristoff When I received this book I was instantly surprised. I had applied to get an advance copy for review but expected not to be able to get my hands on this book until it was released in paperback. So of course when I did get a review copy I was instantly terrified that either I would hate the book or my review would be terrible. And neither is something you want to do with a highly anticipated novel. That being said, my review may still be terrible but I definitely did not hate this book although I'm still pretty certain they only accidentally sent me a copy to review.The book starts off by throwing you into the action, Yukiko is fighting for her life against the Oni, but you have no clue how she got there or why a winged beast is attempting to save her and before you find anything out you are taken back to a few weeks before the fight starts.For the first quarter of the book you are introduced to the muti-dimensional and flawed characters on-board the Thunder Child, as well as the world that Yukiko lives in. Jay Kristoff has this amazing way of describing things. One of the most memorable scenes to me is when Yukiko is walking through the market to the docks. The description is exquisite. No detail is missed by Kristoff, he uses all of the senses to make you feel like you are actually walking along with Yukiko experiencing the terrible and grand things that she does.Occasionally the description gets a little repetitive but I think that aspect is needed as you are so fully submerged in this other culture and without the slight repetition you would not know what was going on because there are so many different elements to remember.This story is more than I was ever expecting, I was expecting a reluctant hunter’s daughter to find a thunder tiger and become a Stormdancer, pulling her family from poverty to riches, or something along those lines. But this is so much more. There is love, betrayal, an insane leader and a corrupt, fanatical guild vying for power but neither able to truly control on their own. There is civil unrest, substance abuse, friendships, loss, sex, murder as well as twists and turns all the way through that weave a tail of morality above all.This book does not pussy foot around important issues as many YA’s do. It acknowledges and addresses them head on in a way that say’s “these things exist and we can’t ignore them or pretend that good people don’t have flaws.” Which is what I love most about all these characters, they are all flawed. No one is perfect but they try to be as good as they can in the terrible situations they are in.I don’t know if you can tell but I’m trying to write this review without spoiling it because there is so much that you just need to read for yourself to fully appreciate it so my review isn’t talking about any of the specific elements I loved. I am reviewing the book as a whole and being very general because I honestly think you need to go out and read this book, if for nothing else read it for Yukiko who is one of the best female protagonists I have read in a long time. She is strong but at times naively unaware. The relationships she forms with people and creatures feel very organic and even though this book is not from her point of view Jay Kristoff captured her personality and voice so perfectly I can still hear her in my head.One problem I had with the book is that I’m terrible with names, and a lot of characters are given multiple names in this book which sometimes mean I wasn’t sure who I was reading about but I usually figured it out after a little bit.OK, so wow. For a really general review this is really frigging long but I just loved it. In just one book Kristoff, the literal literary giant, has created a brilliantly thought out world with a cast of three-dimensional characters. The way it ended was perfect; I loved how he didn’t take 3 or 4 books to tackle a problem. It was dealt with and I can’t wait to see how the world continues to develop and tackle its issues in the next two books. I hope they live up to the high bar Jay has set himself. THIS IS A MUST READ!

The Hobbit

The Hobbit - Written for J.R.R. Tolkien's own children, The Hobbit is the classic children's story about Bilbo Baggins, the reluctant burglar for a group of dwarves intent on taking their treasure and home back from the terrible dragon Smaug. This is a re-read. I first read this book when I was about 8.The Hobbit has been held as a classic for a long time and it deserves that status. The story follows this unlikely group of creatures as the set off towards the misty mountains. Tolkien's writing style is incredible, it flows beautifully and describes this wonderful cast of characters and their predicaments perfectly. I love how songs and riddles are incorporated through out the story, which is something modern fantasy doesn't tend to do much of. Bilbo is such an endearing character. He is basically a grumpy, middle-aged man who has been thrown into some of the worst and most marvelous experiences. And as he's never had any experiences outside the shire you really get to experience these things as he does; as a stranger who has been invited into something marvelous. There are some beautiful moments, like with the elves, and some pretty creepy moments like with Golumn.Also being massive fan of the The Lord of the Rings films, and hopefully eventually the book, I found it really interesting to re-read things about characters that are mentioned or who have big parts in LotR but that I had forgotten about in The Hobbit. Gandalf is also quite different when he is younger.I would say though that although this book was wrote for children I think the language is quite hard for children of the modern age who might struggle in some places. I would say for children it is best read to/ or along with but it is also great appreciated by yourself as an adult/ late teen. I only have two problems with The Hobbit, one is the demise of Smaug, which just seems a little too convenient. The other is that in this entire cast of characters there is not a single lead woman, in fact you'd be pushed to find a woman in it at all. I know it was a different time back then, but it almost feels a little misogynistic. In some aspects then it doesn't quite work so well tackled by a modern reader, which is why they had to play up the 3 main female characters and make them stronger in LotR films, but it is still a beautifully written fantasy.To buy or not to buy? I think The Hobbit is the sort of book everyone should have in their collection and pass it down through the generations. So buy it, read it and love it for the quirky classic fantasy that it is.