Book Review: The Hunger Games

Better late than never. I only just read this book this summer. But it was one hell of a ride.

Summary (from Goodreads):-

Katniss, 16, takes her sister's place in the televised annual Hunger Games, competing against Peeta, the boy who gave them bread to survive after their father died. The cruel Capitol forces each of 12 districts to submit a boy and girl 12-18, to fight to the death. Only one can survive and be rewarded. President Snow manipulates behind the scenes.





Review:-

This book is kind of the tipping ice of many YA dystopian books (I mean you Divergent.... )
What makes it different? Well, the story has heart and its heart is the heroine, Katniss Everdeen. When her sister is reaped, you kind of predict that she will take her place so, the predictability level of the book is high. 
What makes me love the book is the way it is written. The emotions being drawn out by the author in each of the character is the strong point of the book. The Gladiator premise could have been the killer part of the book but with the sympathetic tone in the story, The Hunger Games is brilliantly played out as an exploitation rather than it being just a game. 

p/s:mistake on my part for watching the movie first before reading the book... :P

Ratings: 5 out of 5 stars...

Clockwork Angel : Steampunk Adventure.

i know... it's been like ages since my last post... 
this time, i'm going to review some books that i have read throughout my summer break.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Summary (from Goodreads):-
In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them....


This is the first book in The Infernal Devices from the famed author of The Mortal Instruments. (The City of Bones movie is coming out in theaters today 21st August..)

The reason why i wanted to read the book so bad was cause I was a huge fan of Cassandra and she's my dream author that i really want to meet.... :)

From the start of the book, you could sense a hint of maturity in the writing. Granted that it is set in Victorian England. But the fact that the characters are so young but so mature makes it hard to believe that you're reading characters that are just 16y/o. And Cassandra pulled it off with such ease. 
Even if you don't read The Mortal Instruments, you could be pulled in to the book right away. 
Although, Tessa seems to be portrayed as somewhat a typical damsel-in-distress, be reminded that she is young and a novice in this fantasy world. Seeing it through her eyes are symbolic to first time readers as you are introduced to it in a thrilled and adventurous way. 
And one more thing that I love, it's not the typical romance story where it's heavy with romantic notions but it falls to the basic principles of love and friendship. It's not the typical "i meet you and i knew i was in love" story but it concentrates on Tessa's friendship with Will and Jem. That, for me is more interesting than those Harlequin-Romance antics...

But its not fast paced as The Mortal Instruments hence that's the weakness that i feel the book has but granted, it is the first in "The Infernal Devices" books.

Rating : 5 out of 5 stars.... 

Writing = My way of releasing stress

I guess my stress meter has been going way up. The fact that it has been all jumbled up inside of me didn't help.
It's been a roller coaster year of feeling up and down. But mostly i feel down.

To make it worse, feeling alone is what i can't help. Feeling a wee bit bipolar, but who doesn't. I guess i just want some unwinding time. Time to think back on what i really want. I want to stop TRYING to live life and start WANTING to live it. A simple reminder to myself - satisfy yourself before trying to satisfy others. Nothing can bring peace but ourselves. I sometimes pray in times of stress hoping to find inner peace and hopefully it will always ward my stress away.

Second Post of the Year.. I guess....

Man it's been quite some time posting something. I guess my intuition of writing has been a bit off. Scrolling through my blog made me think all the posting i did when i started this blog. Hell it was quite a lot.

This is my place where i want to vent and write about whatever it is that is lingering in my mind. Forgive the awfully snobbishly sound coming off this post.. hahahahaha.. English thoughts are lingering in my mind :p

duhh... not culture shock k... *wink2* i can still speak "perfect" malay with the "proper" malay accent.

so what to talk about in this post.. hmmm... just blabbing endlessly i guess... ohhh... how i envy those who can just write endlessly in their blogs...

i guess it is a challenge to write for me nowadays.. a few years ago, i could write about whatever i want without the thought about what others would think endlessly. Now it's just shifting priorities ad judgy people with judgy looks in their eyes, but hey.. i'm always reminding myself that we are all human and there's nothing wrong with these kind of stuff... we all have reasons..

from now on, i want to be myself.. be better .. progressing towards better... InShaaAllah.. :)

like my new year resolution --> i want to try to do things for me first, make myself happy before making others happy...

I'm struggling and that's not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength...

chaiyok2 me..... hwaiting...!!!!!

Dusty ....

well now... it's been a year x update blog ... maw cakap busy , x jg ... just that the mood tidak smpi mw tulis...  now that i have the mood, i'm going to try to write as long as possible... :p

This winter holiday was one of the best holidays because for once it is on my terms and not "what i think people will think that is better for me" .. okay that sounds confusing... but hey, i'm trying to convey what's in my head.. if i were to really convey what is in my head, i think it would come out like this:

qwertgfcxcvbhghbnhgvn iekdxkcjnmtg... (okay , that's just gibberish... :P)

back to the point.. where have i been to now... ??

NORWAY...!!! yeah.. of all places, i went to one of the coldest place i could find in the world.. but hey, i wanted to feel what snow feels like... and honestly, saya JAKUN....!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA...

but the thing  is we went too early ( we were both lucky and not so lucky.. )
the snow was not heavy as we thought and instead of doing the easy stuff at the winterpark, we picked one of the most dangerous sport that even i thought i would not do in a gazillion years which is skiing... but hey, we had fun... and that's the most important thing right...

yes.. we skied until the sun set... =_=

other than going to Norway, i also went to visit ze bestfriend at Olomouc, Czech Republic... (i'm already missing her... )
the language is so hard to understand that my friend had to actually write flashcards for us so that we can buy our bus tickets. that's how hard it is but the bright side is that Czech can be shopping heaven for all the shopaholics out there... I think this is the summarized version of my winter break. I could go on and on like and that would be annoying so let's just stop there... :p

With Love From Prague...

After all those "elaborate" vacations, i just went back home and sit back like any other girl watching movies and any tv shows that i can stream. I finally finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower and i think i spoiled the experience by watching the movie first before even finishing the book... SAD..!!!

Next in line.. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by JOHN GREEN..

So wish me luck in finishing this book... and trying to not abandon my blog... SEE YA...  xoxo... (And i would not say PUBLISH like a girl in a certain movie ... "Istanbul Aku Datang", i mean u... :p ... )