Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

The Book

City of Bones is the first in a series of books that merges the mundane world of 21st century America with that of the fantastical - werewolves, vampires, demons, fairies etc. They live amongst us but with a veil of glamor that shades them from discovery.
The setting is not an unfamiliar one, but the pace never lets up and by the end as Clary and Jace flew over New York, I was almost convinced that these creatures might just live amongst us too. Clare doesn't dwell too much on lengthy background or exposition, but leaks out explanations and back story gradually over the action, which helps keep the pages turning.
The main characters were interesting and a whole range of teen situations were explored - unrequited love, family loss, adoption, homosexuality and trying to get a sense of who we want to be as an adult.

 The dialogue was witty and had some great retorts to situations (asking the werewolf if he wanted to hang his head out the car window as they drove along for example).

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

The Book

This is the second in the Percy Jackson series, and not having read the first I was basing my previous knowledge on the first Percy Jackson film - the Lightning Thief. The general conceit is that the Gods and monsters of Greek legend are real and still live amongst us, albeit having to adapt to 21st Century civilisation.
Percy is the half-blood son of Poseidon and together with Annabeth (of Athena) and Troy (a Cyclops), they head of to the island of Polyphemus to rescue their satyr friend Grover and recover the Golden Fleece.

As the book is a sequel, it is clear that the original film played about with the plot removing a connecting strand about the evil Kronos. Having seen the trailer for Sea of Monsters I can tell that this part of the story has now been included, but quite a lot has been altered.

The film does seem to make the story more adult and sensible, however - not a bad thing. I found quite a lot of the humour a bit childish and ill-judged.

Beautiful Creatures

The Book

Spoiler Alert! 

An easy page turner with a plot along the lines of something you may already be familiar with - a sort of Romeo and Juliet, where Ethan is a Mortal and Lena is a Caster and where small town mindedness and High School posturing are just some of the problems. Its a mix of Buffy (librarian), Carrie (Prom night) and the Craft. Sometimes familiarity is comforting, however, and the knowing references and self-deprecating humour worked well.
The whole cast of Casters and Mortals were well drawn and the main characters are ones that you feel sympathy and a connection with. 
The whole story hinges on Lena's sixteenth birthday, where she will either become light or dark and where the fate of her whole family and her relationship will be decided.

The near 600 pages build up to this climactic event, so it is a bit of a disappointment when such a simple thing as the moon not being out (caused by cloud of Lena's own making) derails the ages old curse and the choice is put off for another year. What's to stop Lena doing the same again every year? I will have to read the sequel to find out..

Now is Good

 The Book

The book has the more downbeat title of "Before I Die" but with a quote from Heat magazine saying "A book that will make you happy to be alive".
The story is of sixteen year old Tessa who has been diagnosed with leukemia and given a few months left to live. She draws up a Bucket List of many of the things that you would expect to be typical behaviour for a teenager living today - sex, shop-lifting, driving, become famous. Not being a teenager, some of these immediately grated with my programmed social norms!
The author does a very good job through first person narrative of putting you into Tessa's short-term life view and priorities and there is empathy there. I did find myself feeling more sorry for the family and friends that would be left behind, however.


 The most affecting piece for me was where she learns that her boyfriend Adam has been making long term plans behind her back - going to University - and she sets about destroying all her clothes and possessions in a frenzy of anger and frustration. Her father comes in to her room and calls her a monster, as she is leaving nothing intact behind as an object to remind him of her.

The Silver Linings Playbook

The Book

Having watched the trailer for the film adaptation of Silver Linings, I was anticipating a quirky sort of rom-com drama featuring someone suffering from a mental health issue. I have yet to see if that is what the film is like, but the book is more than that. Yes it does have its humorous moments, and thankfully they are not derived from laughing at people with mental health problems, but underneath it has a lot of sadness and heartbreak.
Pat Peoples is released from an institution and goes back to live with his parents. In his thirties, he was married to Nikki, and all he looks forward to is the end of apart time, when they can be reconciled. His dogged determination to be re-united leads him to new friendships and eventually a new beginning.