Five Reasons Why You NEED Dive Into Jason Segel and Kristen Miller's Otherworld

When I got the email that I would be receiving a special package containing a hot off the presses hardback of one of my MOST anticipated releases of the year, I might have happy danced around the place.

Do bookdragons happy dance? I think we can, when it comes to bookish news and then spew fire on everything else? And also devour all books. Yup, that is the life.

Anyway, over the weekend I FINALLY found the time to dive i nto Jason Segel and Kristen Miller's BRILLIANT YA novel, Otherworld and I fell in love with everything it had to offer. So, instead of doing a simple review, I decided to do a post talking about the Five Reasons Why You NEED Dive Into Otherworld:

~*~*~*~*

In Short: This book was BRILLIANT – filled with a plot structure that kept evolving, brave and lifelike characters and a virtual reality game that was more real than virtual. It was fast paced, filled with twists and a changing environment and unlike anything I’ve ever read

.

There are so many reasons why you should already be holding Otherworld in your arms, including:

1.       SIMON EATON:

Within the first few chapters, I was ALREADY in love with Simon Eaton, the protagonist. He was reckless and ruthless in this world and Otherworld and unflinchingly loyal to the girl he loved. I loved his courage, his ability to brave any situation but most of all, his readiness to go to the ends of this Earth and a virtual reality for a girl he loved. He was a BRILLIANT character, deep and I loved every second of his three hundred plus page narration.

2.       OTHERWORLD:

This world- the virtual reality people could step into was a whole other level of insane. I thought this book would be about an unreal life in a very believable video game made to satisfy your every desire BUT IT WASN’T. Otherworld was about how a virtual reality game took a life of its own, a conspiracy, survival, love, loyalty, secrets and human nature and so different from anything I’ve ever read before.

3.       THE EVOLVING PLOT STRUCTURE:

The plot of Otherworld is something I marvelled. It was a little confusing at first when Simon put on a disk and entered the game instead of a headset, with the Children and the realms but that was one of the biggest mysteries and best parts of this BRILLIANT BOOK. We move from the real world to Otherworld and inside Otherworld itself, we switch between realms that people virtually settle in to indulge in their desires and I LOVED IT ALL. I loved the conspiracy, the characters, the pace – EVERYTHING.

4.       THE PACE AND THE DIMENSIONS:

Otherworld was FAST paced. There was never a dull moment, and the story kept moving and moving until we reached the end. Otherworld itself was filled with so many different dimensions – ones that revolved around rage, desire, greed and others, ruled by Elementals and it was BRILLIANT. The pace is also unrelenting and it just keeps going and I loved it.

5.       KAT, BUSARA, CAROLE, GOROG AND EVERYONE ELSE:

As much as I LOVED Simon, I also loved all of the other secondary characters especially Kat. They were fully rounded and flawed characters with their own desires that hit you in the face as you read through the book. I loved Busara and I’m very excited to see where the next book takes us with her.

Otherworld is a high stakes BRILLIANT fast paced novel centred around a more real than virtual virtual reality game that will keep you on the edge of your seat and you will love every minute of it. 4.5 stars.  

Title: Otherworld (Otherworld #1)
Authors: Jason Segel and Kristen Miller
Publication Date: October 31st 2017
Publisher: Rock The Boat UK (Oneworld Publications)
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 1 on 2 of the Otherworld Duology
I Got A Copy Through: Rock The Boat (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Amazon UK || Barnes and Noble || The Book Depository || Wordery || Foyles || Waterstones || WHSmith || Books A Million || Chapters Indigo || 

Blurb Description: The Company Welcomes you ToOTHERWORLDThe new generation of gaming.
Welcome to real life 2.0.Are you ready to play?
There are no screens. There are no controls. You don’t just see and hear it—you taste, smell, and touch it too.In this new reality there are no rules to follow, no laws to break.You can indulge your every desire.Why would you ever want to leave?Step into Otherworld. Leave your body behind.
Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller have created a brilliant and terrifying view of a possible future that’s not far away. OTHERWORLD asks the question we’ll all soon be asking: if technology can deliver everything we want, how much are we willing to pay?

Jason Segel is an actor, a writer, and an author. Segel wrote and starred in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and co-wrote Disney’s The Muppets, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. On television, Segel starred on How I Met Your Mother and Freaks and Geeks. He is the co-author of the New York Times bestselling series Nightmares!  Otherworld is his first novel for young adults.

Kirsten Miller is the author of the acclaimed Kiki Strike books, the New York Times bestseller The Eternal Ones, and How to Lead a Life of Crime. Otherworld is the fifth novel Kirsten has written with Jason Segel.  kirstenmillerbooks.com

What are some of your favourite futuristic books? 

What do you think about Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality?

Are you a gamer? What are some of your favourite games?

If you've read Otherworld or have any recommendations like it for me, I'd love to hear what you think!

Maas' Best Work To Date // REVIEW: Tower Of Dawn by Sarah J Maas

Title: Tower Of Dawn (Throne Of Glass #6)
Author: Sarah J Maas
Publication Date: September 5th 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury India
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 6/7 of the Throne Of Glass Series
I Got A Copy Through: Bloomsbury India (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Amazon UK || Barnes and Noble || The Book Depository || Wordery || Flipkart || Snapdeal || Foyles || Waterstones || WHSmith || Kobo || Books A Million || Chapters Indigo || Google Books

Blurb Description: In the next installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, follow Chaol on his sweeping journey to a distant empire.
Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered, since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.
His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica—the stronghold of the southern continent's mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them.
But what they discover in Antica will change them both—and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.

In Short: I LOVED EACH AND EVERY SECOND OF THIS BOOK. It reminded me on the initial books in Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass series that I fell madly in love with and I don’t know if I have the WORDS to describe what this book meant to me. It was perfect, filled with plot twists that BLEW MY MIND and then some and I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED (and nervous) for the finale that comes out this May.

I will admit that I wish this cover matched the white backgrounds of the rest of the series, but it doesn’t matter that much to me, because there was so much else to love about this book. Let’s break it down:

REASONS I LOVED THIS BOOK:

1.       THE PACE AND PROPER DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTERS: I went into this book a little sceptical. With the exception of two characters (okay, four, but you barely get to know the other two in The Assassins Blade) this book was about to introduce you to a whole new CONTINENT filled with characters and I was nervous that I wouldn’t care about them/ the book wouldn’t make me care about them. I was WRONG. Tower Of Dawn has this medium pace through the book as we are introduced to a whole new court, whole new families and so many new traditions.

I ADORED the world building that Sarah Maas did in Tower Of Dawn – it was brilliantly constructed and explained, rivalled only by her construction of the Night Court.

2.       YRENE TOWERS AND NESRYN FALIQ: If you think that Sarah J Maas can only have powerful assassins/ shape shifters/ fae as her main characters, think again. Both Yrene Towers with her healer magic and her strong sense of self and Nesryn Faliq with her unflinching loyalty and warrior spirit FLOORED me with their strength and courage and I can’t wait to see the both of them again.

3.       A WHOLE HORDE OF NEW PRINCES AND PRINCESSES: Of course Sarah Maas introduced a whole new slew of Princes and Princesses. I loved the cut throat world they lived in, and I ESPECIALLY fell in love with Prince Sartaq. I loved the part where Nesryn and he go to the Aerie, and meet his hearth family. He, and all the other Princes and Princesses, were so different from the ones I’ve been used to reading in Maas’ books and I LOVED IT.

4.       A KINGDOM I GENUINELY WANT TO LIVE IN: Seriously, you guys, Antica is the accepting, teaching and loving world all of us dream of living in where there is no discrimination, hate or abuse. It was this PERFECT kingdom and I sat around FANGIRLING OVER IT.

5.       SO SO MANY PLOT TWISTS: I WILL NOT TELL YOU WHAT THESE ARE, BUT THERE ARE SO MANY TWISTS THAT IMPACT THE WHOLE SERIES THAT YOU HAVE NOT SEEN COMING AND YOU WILL FREAK OUT WHEN YOU DO.

6.       THE LACK OF EXAGGERATION: One of my biggest problems with Empire Of Storms was the amount of repetitive praise that the characters gave the others as the POVs switched around. In their heads, of course, but after reading the same thing for over 600 pages, it got monotonous and boring.

Tower Of Dawn, however, was the EXACT OPPOSITE of Empire of Storms in this manner. Mass’ introduced up to all her new characters subtly but surely and let their actions speak for themselves. It showed me AMAZING growth in her writing and now I can’t wait for the finale.

7.       EVERYTHING ELSE - I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF THE TIME I SPENT READING THIS BOOK. It was one of Mass’ best works to date, and I was so sad when it got over.

I honestly cannot believe that we’ll all have the finale in our hands in just a few months because I AM NOT READY FOR THIS SERIES TO END.

A brilliant, perfect fantasy with unrivalled world building and character growth. 5 stars. 

Sarah J. Maas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series as well as the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

Sarah lives in Bucks County, PA, and over the years, she has developed an unhealthy appreciation for Disney movies and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales and ballet, drinks too much tea, and watches an ungodly amount of TV. When she's not busy writing, she can be found exploring the historic and beautiful Pennsylvania countryside with her husband and canine companion.

 Have you read the Throne Of Glass series? What do you think of it? 

Do you like the Throne of Glass series better or the ACOTAR series better?

Have you dove into Tower Of Dawn yet? What do you think of the cover?

I'd love to chat with you guys!

A Beautifully Spun Tale // ARC Review: The Creakers by Tom Fletcher

Title: The Creakers
Author: Tom Fletcher
Publication Date: October 5th 2017
Publisher: Puffin Books (Penguin Random House)
Part of a Series?: No, A Standalone
I Got A Copy Through: Penguin Random House India (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon UK || The Book Depository || Wordery || Foyles || Waterstones || WHSmith || Kobo || Google Books

Blurb Description: The darkly magical new story about the monsters under the bed, from bestselling author of The Christmasaurus, Tom Fletcher.What silently waits in the shadows at night? What's under your bed, keeping just out of sight?Do you ever hear strange, creaking noises at night? Ever wonder what makes those noises? Lucy Dungston always did.Until, one morning, Lucy discovers that all the grown-ups have disappeared - as if into thin air. Chaos descends as the children in Lucy's town run riot. It's mayhem. It's madness. To most kids, it's amazing!But Lucy wants to find out the truth. Lucy lost her dad not long ago, and she's determined not to lose her mum too. She's going to get her back - and nothing is going to stop her . . .. . . except maybe the Creakers.

Actual Rating 4.5 Stars

Would it be appropriate to call 2017 the Year of Middle Grade Novels? Because for me, it has been. I don’t know if I’ve ever read this many MG novels, and, even more surprisingly, enjoying most of them!

It took me a while to decide to dive into Tom Fletcher’s The Creakers. It wasn’t anything about the book, but about the fact that it was targeted towards children younger than I was that kept me from diving into it quickly.

Once I did open the book, Tom Fletcher’s easy to slip into and HILARIOUS new world kept me engrossed and when I came out on the other side, I realised I’d fallen in love with this beautifully spun Middle Grade novel and that I would definitely read MORE stories about Lucy Dungston and her lovely little (Creaker filled) town.

There were honestly SO many things to love including:

1.       THE GORGEOUS ILLUSTRATIONS: Honestly, the illustrations brought this book to LIFE. I loved seeing the Creakers, the messed up town with no adults and all things Lucy and Norman brought to life beside the text. I truly marvelled at all of them.

2.       LUCY DUNGSTON THE FEARLESS: About fifty pages into the book, I was WISHING that I’d met Lucy Dungston through the pages of a book when I was her age. She was fearless, super smart and kind. She helped the children around the block, took care of some of them all while being this adorable kid herself, who just wanted her parents back. She was the Nancy Drew and Katniss Everdeen of this hilarious and yet slightly scary novel!

Image is subject to copyright and is owned by Penguin Books UK

3.       THE WOLEB: *The Woleb is the realm below ours where all Creakers and their Creaker families exist. It’s what you might, as a kid, have called Opposite World. Where up is down and right is wrong and adult become children and vice versa. I LOVED the very idea behind The Woleb and the illustrations that brought it out so well.

4.       THE CREAKERS: I couldn’t do a review about this book without mentioning how much I fell in love with the slimy, garbage craving Creakers. I know the exact moment I fell in love with them too – when Lucy manages to trap them under a laundry basket and their interactions with her and each other were SO FUNNY.

Image is subject to copyright and is owned by Penguin Books UK

Honestly, The Creakers is the PERFECT book to give children and middle – graders to encourage their love of reading. They’re sure to fall in love with Lucy’s bravery, be slightly scared of The Creakers and also learn to love and be kind.

One of the funniest books I’ve read in a while! 4.5 stars!

Tom Michael Fletcher is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, children's author and YouTube vlogger. Among his accomplishments, he is one of the lead vocalists and guitarists of English pop rock band McFly, in addition to being the group's founder and principal songwriter. He is credited as having written songs for bands including One Direction, Busted, The Vamps and 5 Seconds of Summer.

Fletcher released his first children's book in 2012. Co-written with band-mate Dougie Poynter, The Dinosaur that Pooped Christmassold over 72,000 copies and became the most popular debut children's novel of 2012. Fletcher has released his first solo novel, The Christmasaurus, on 6 October 2016.

What are some of your favourite books that have illustrations in them? 

What are some of your favourite MG books? 

Are you a McFly fan? What was your favourite song?

I can't wait to hear from you!

An Unconventional Novel // REVIEW: The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Title: The King of Attolia

Author: Megan Whalen Turner
Publication Date: February 28th 2017
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (Harper Collins)
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 3/6 of The Queen's Thief Series
I Got A Copy Through: Harper Collins India (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Amazon UK || Barnes and Noble || The Book Depository || Wordery || Flipkart || Snapdeal || Foyles || Waterstones || Kobo || Books A Million || Chapters Indigo || Google Books

Blurb Description: By scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become King of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making.
Then he drags a naive young guard into the center of the political maelstrom. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king's caprice, but his contempt for Eugenides slowly turns to grudging respect. Though struggling against his fate, the newly crowned king is much more than he appears. Soon the corrupt Attolian court will learn that its subtle and dangerous intrigue is no match for Eugenides.

Short and Sweet: The King of Attolia defied all conventional logic that a fantasy series follows and managed to delight me and keep me hooked throughout this political masterpiece.

Let’s go more into detail:

It honestly took me a while to pick up The King Of Attolia after I put down book two, The Queen of Attolia, for reasons unknown to even me. I really liked QoA in comparison to book one, The Thief, but it still took me a long time to get into the mood for this one. 

I'd heard a lot of people say that The King of Attolia was BY FAR the best book in the series so far and so my expectations were high. It didn't disappoint, but I will admit that the beginning of this book threw me a little bit. If you've been following my reviews of The Thief and The Queen of Attolia, you'll know that it took me a while to get used to Eugenides and his narration but the minute I had, we got the book from another's (new) character's point of view.  

While books one and two were all about travelling, this one was set purely in the palace with Gen's transition to King being told from the point of view of a Palace Guard. Gen, once again, faces tremendous character growth but from the eyes of a third party.  At first, Gen seems like a thoroughly disinterested King. sleeping at meetings, wears ridiculous clothes and takes none of his duties seriously, letting his wife, the Queen rule as she always has.

From Costis' POV (the guard) we see how his view of Gen changes from an arrogant King to a boy who misses his home and everything he knew.

One thing I should mention is the GORGEOUS construction of Attolia in this book. In The Thief, we only saw it from it's enemy kingdom's perspective but in this book, we were properly introduced to the customs, religious practices and superstitions of  a beautiful kingdom.

As always with this series, Megan Whalen Turner managed to get the politics and ruling a kingdom SPOT ON. There were twists, turns, betrayals, assassination attempts and so high paced that I LOVED IT. 

A series definitely worth diving into (you can read them all as stand-alones or together) purely for the fact that you will NOT be able to predict what happens next.

The Queen's Thief series defies all conventional fantasy rules and paves its own way to glory. Highly recommended.

Megan Whalen Turner is the author of short stories and novels for children, teenagers and adults. She has won the LA Times Book Award for Young Adult LIterature, a Boston Globe/ Horn Book Honor and a Newbery Honor. She won the Mythopoeic Award and was shortlisted twice for the Andre Norton Award.

Have you had the chance to dive into Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen's Thief series?

Who are some of your favourite fictional thieves? 

If you had to form a Heist Crew, which fictional characters would you choose?

Like Returning Home // REVIEW: King's Cage By Victoria Aveyard

Title: King's Cage (Red Queen #3)
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publication Date: February 9th 2017
Publisher: Orion Books // Harper Teen
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 3/4 of the Red Queen Series
I Got A Copy Through: I Bought It!
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Amazon UK || Barnes and Noble || The Book Depository || Wordery || Infibeam || 
Foyles || Waterstones || WHSmith || Kobo || Books A Million || Chapters Indigo || Google Books

Blurb Description: In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard's bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl's spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother's web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare's heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.

I’ve seen a lot of people complain that King’s Cage was by far the slowest installment of the Red Queen series, and they’re not wrong.

I actually went into the book knowing that it was going to be a slow book, and so it wasn’t a shock to me at all.

While it definitely was different from the fast paced, heart shattering power and politics I’ve come to expect from this series, that doesn’t mean I didn’t understand why it happened.

Truth be told, with everything that happened in the last two books, it is understandable that these characters needed time to refocus, and gather and find themselves in a world completely different from the ones they knew. It felt like a much needed breather, in the grand scheme of things.

Also, I can honestly never fault this series for anything because it feels like HOME to me.

Before I go on, here’s some Red Queen Series and I history for you:

I fell in love with in two years ago in Australia as I stayed up in the middle of the night to see the shocking betrayals and power games. I got the opportunity to read an ARC of book two seven months later and I spent one of my last school days before the exams began devouring it.

And now, a year and a half later, I finally flipped open King’s Cage.

THOUGHTS:

1.       The ending of the last book KILLED me. It made my already wounded heart shatter completely and I was VERY excited for King’s Cage. I literally DREAMT about the book, Corros prison and all my favourite characters inside it after I finished it.

    2.       If it’s not well known by now, Maven is my heart in this series. It’s like I always say, point me to the worst boy in the entire series and he’s probably the one I’ll fall for. Like Aeduan in the Witchlands series or the fact that I was Team Darkling in the Grisha Trilogy. He was the star in this book for me, as we learnt more about his relationship with his mother, Elara, and his dark, twisted and brilliant mind.

    3.       Sorry Mare and Cal shippers, I totally oppose you. I don’t REALLY ship Mare and Maven either, because I don’t know how he can ever redeem himself in her eyes, but I’ve never shipped her and Cal. It’s like the book said, Cal can’t ever make decisions, making him such an insufferable puppet. He’s also sort of a bore and MEH.

4.       I ADORED THE POLITICS IN THE BOOK. Well, maybe adore is the wrong word, but I’m definitely in awe. This book took things to a continent-wide scale, and the moves and counter moves each side of the multiple sides in this war were subtly told and so well plotted out.

5.       I liked that the viewpoints kept switching. A majority was still Mare, but we also got to see things from Cameron’s and Evangeline’s points of view. It gave you more insight into different parts of the Power Game being played and a more holistic view of the book itself.

6.       I’ve never been a fan of Cameron. She feel like a secondary character put there SOLELY for the purpose of her Newblood Ability, and hence I don’t really want to get to know her.

7.       I WANT MORE MAVEN. I WANT A MAVEN VIEWPOINT IN #4 AND I ALSO WANT A MAVEN FILLED PREQUEL NOVELLA. I honestly feel like it’s necessary because we need to get into this boy’s head to truly see all aspects of the story. Plus, he’s my squishable broken prince shaped cupcake and I need everything that has to do with him.

Here’s to hoping that I wake up tomorrow morning to Victoria Aveyard announcing that the final book comes out on that day because I NEED IT. NOW.

One of the best young adult fantasy series’ out there and if that’s not enough, I don’t know what will be.

I'm a screenwriter/YA author who likes books and lists. This site is the nexus of my universe.

My book RED QUEEN will be published Winter 2015 from HarperTeen at HarperCollins. I'm repped by the incomparable Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc. 

The genres I'm into include YA, Fantasy, Historical, Adventure, Apocalyptic - if people are dying, I'm buying.

Have you read the Red Queen Series yet? What do you think of it?

Who are your favourite characters in this series? Are you a Mare and Call shipper or do you ship her with Maven?