Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts

Saturday, 19 September 2015

How I Imagine Places/Characters In Books: Throne of Glass


Every time I read a book for the first time my mind automatically begins to construct and create a complex architectural image in my mind which is most likely to stick with me the whole series. If I end up reading something wrong by accident and realising later on, it is very hard for me to redirect my mind and make myself imagine the original idea. Here I want to show you all an idea of how I visualised certain parts of Throne of Glass and I want you guys to let me know whether you think similarly or completely different in the comments below. I will try and go in chronological order by as much as I can remember so if the timeline is a little off, please don't pull a Celaena on me! Thanks!


Endovier




I think we can all agree of how much Endovier would look like the biggest shit hole in the world, if not the same as Calaculla. I imagined it as this big, black, hell-hole of a place mainly because of the mining and I think it's safe to assume that it would be underground as just as dark and musty as it looks in the pictures above. As horrible as Endovier seemed, I truly don't think that the true vision of Endovier could even fully be imagined until you have experienced it. And hearing from Celaena's experience and what people across Erilea seem to think of it, I don't think we'd ever want to know!


The King of Adarlan's Throne Room




Personally I originally found the King's Throne Room a little hard to envision at first, but this picture threw it all in place for me. This gives enough room for a large audience to fit in, including multiple members of the kings council to be present at all times. I know that part of the castle is created of glass but where on earth would you find a picture of that, let alone imagine that? I don't even think a glass castle exists in this time and age unless someone can prove me wrong! This is just a basis of what it would be like and it's intimidating enough to look like it suits a King such as the bastard himself.


Dorian's Personal Library





At first I thought the library Celaena stumbled upon to be quite a small, homely kind of library which would consist of a few random books that the family had collected over the years and ones that hand been handed down generation after generation. After reading more and more of Crown of Midnight, it became a little more obvious that it was larger than I had realised and actually had a lot more books too, rather to be the size of an actual library. What more would you expect from a King and one who lives in a castle as large as his which is partially made of glass? I find this picture to be rather satisfying to look at as personally I wouldn't mind having a home library this large; in fact I one day plan to do this in my home when I get one large enough (as you might already know, I'm not that rich yet! YET!).



Celaena's Four-Poster Bed





Could you even imagine a more comfortable and classy way to sleep? The first picture has a great feel of crimson red to it in which I feel is symbolic to her job as an assassin so it seems like it would fit her almost perfectly. The second picture I chose plainly because of the books sitting in a pile on the floor next to the couch simply because Celaena loves to read and it would be something that she would do. I love both of these as they both seem quite eloquent and dashing, though the crimson theme is definitely my favourite and I think Celaena would care to agree.


Glass part of the Castle



I found it hard to imagine what the glass part of the castle would look like but I found this and thought, if it were to look like anything it would look similar to this. It can't all be made out of glass right? It has almost a modern look to it but I feel like this book isn't as Victorian sounding as I originally thought it was (I mean it is a fantasy and she could have set this in a completely different dimension with magic and all). I think that possibly the King of Adarlan would have a room much like this in this section of the castle, just drastically larger.


Secret Passageway, Elena's Tomb and Mort





These three pictures show a lot in terms of how Elena's tomb would look. The first is basically the only thing close enough I could find to looking something like what was described in ToG. The second is obviously an Egyptian tomb but that is how I pictured Elena's tomb to look like, just with grey stone walls, Damaris and a bunch of gold and gems stored in the corner, and a carving of Elena and Brannon in the back wall. The third picture is literally everything I pictured Mort to be, and I feel like if it were him, his eyes would glow a deathly black or even something lighter like a sapphire blue. It's quite creepy but then his humor would make up for his butt-ugliness.



That was everything for now! I hope you all enjoyed delving into my mind for five minutes. I enjoyed looking at these probably more than you did to be honest! I will try post more stuff like this because I enjoy it and it's just another reason to spend more time making my blog look a little more sexy than others (thanks to the Throne of Glass series)!



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Thursday, 17 September 2015

Demon Road by Derek Landy: Book Review


Full of Landy’s trademark wit, action and razor sharp dialogue, DEMON ROAD kicks off with a shocking opener and never lets up the pace in an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers: they’re all here. And the demons? Well, that’s where Amber comes in...Sixteen years old, smart and spirited, she’s just a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal themselves.

Forced to go on the run, she hurtles from one threat to another, revealing a tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. Her only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be…

SPOILER FREE REVIEW
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There is nothing like a sharp, sarcastic, action-packed novel to get you going. Derek Landy has been known for his wittiness from his original series, Skulduggery Pleasant and he seemed to have brought it all back with him this time around. From killer cars to vampires to serial killers, this was bound to be the craziest yet coolest novel yet. You wouldn't think that reading a book about demons would be a good thing, especially if you're a hardcore Christian and think that everything is a symbol or is of the devil. Well if you are, you're 100% correct as this story couldn't get any better with the rowdy and hell-bent characters (pun not intended) and emotional roller coaster ride of the century. If anybody knows what it is like to not feel loved by anyone in the entire world, it would be Amber Lamont, and God knows what will happen while she's on the road! (No seriously, we're talking about demons here!)

Amber was a really cool chick to me. She was totally selfess and cared about how other people felt, proof of that was letting the principal keep her job and keeping calm at the diner while those two idiots gave her shit. Personally I don't see what point there was in having them in the story apart from Amber's little outburst (this happens later on), but when she is trying to change into her demon form and she tries to remember the guys name. It must have been a trigger for her to get that confidence to become the person she wanted to be, the one who no one would mess with. Amber finding out about her heritage and being a demon obviously was a major shock to her at first, I think anyone in her shoes would feel the same way and feel disgusted about themselves. She seemed to take refuge in this new-found information and use it as a tool - yeah it made her a little more attractive and she definitely preferred it over her human form but she seemed to enjoy feeling like having power over others so that she doesn't get hurt or feel scared. This was a great defensive mechanism physically and emotionally, especially due to having parents who never really cared about you and actually wanted to kill you all along. Throughout this book Amber went through a major transformation and I feel like her development was symbolism for coming of age and maturing by realising that everyone has a monster inside of them but you have to learn to hone it and mould it into something useful.

The side characters who join Amber in her journey were the perfect pick and filled the right gaps; the quiet one and the one who won't shut up. A perfect combination for a drastically hilarious novel! Like Amber, at first I was a little weary of Milo and didn't really trust his motives and constantly felt like he was hiding something but eventually as time went on during the road trip and they found themselves in more and more sticky situations, he eventually proved himself worthy enough to trust and I ended up not minding him. Glen however was completely hilarious and I loved the fact that he was so quirky and had so much to say all the time. Maybe because he reminds me of myself in a way although I don't think I would take the level of annoying that he seemed to reach on multiple occasions. Apart from that, he made the long journey seem bearable with complete innocent, blatantly obvious and sometimes sarcastic lines. Some people might find him annoying, I personally found him stupidly entertaining. Amber's parent's were arguably the worst parents of any YA written and I think that a lot of people who don't like their parents or hate being told what to do will really enjoy this novel. If you love your parents and you would trust them with your life, I feel like this novel would do everything to frustrate the hell out of you (haha that pun WAS intended! I feel like Derek Landy has influenced me way too much).

The overall story line was thoroughly thought through and carefully planned. The characters and their personalities keep you on your toes, the many different types of monsters popping up all over the place along Demon Road keeps it interesting and the ending will break your heart (in a good way, I promise!) It was dragging on a little at the end and I honestly found myself skipping a few lines because I was so anxious to find out what would happen, but I'm sure that's meant to be a good thing. I rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars because it was one of the best horror fantasy's I've ever read and I personally can't wait to receive Desolation in the mail when it is released! Landy has made a great first impression on me and I shall now try to find some time to check out Skulduggery Pleasant!


Thank you HarperCollins New Zealand for the review copy! Go like their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Harpercollinsnz?fref=ts


Go add Demon Road to your Goodreads list HERE


Go buy it on MightyApe with 1 day delivery in New Zealand HERE

Tuesday, 4 August 2015

Booktube-A-Thon TBR 2015 on Booktube/Youtube!

Hey everyone!

Booktube-A-Thon 2015 has officially started and so far I've only started one book on my list, "The Winner's Curse" by Marie Rutkoski! I've filmed two video's for my channel as well and I am loving how much fun this challenge is becoming, even though I may not finish my entire list in the week due to how busy I am going to be. I wish I had every day free but unfortunately that won't be possible! Have you checked out my video's on my channel yet? I'll link them down below so you can go watch!


The first challenge was real fun to film but if I had of known about the rule change beforehand I would have put so much more effort into my domino formation. At least it was still a bit of a challenge seeing as spelling out my name with books seemed to be harder than I intended it to be! The next challenge for day 2 is going to be a scene reenactment and I am still trying to figure out what I want to do but I have a feeling it'll probably be something to do with one of Sarah J. Maas' books because why not be Feyre or Celaena for fun!

Let me know whether you are doing the Booktube-A-Thon and what your TBR list is in the comments! Happy reading!

Ella Fleming-Christie



Find more out about my writing career at: