Review: Soulmates

I discovered Soulmates by chance during one of my many trips to Waterstones, and it was a book that impressed me from the start.

Soulmates is about… Well, Soulmates. But most definitely not in the way you would think.

Soulmates exist… Just not in the way you think.

Soulmates is about love and forbidden love with a twist: they really cannot ever be together.

With a split narrative between the main character and two mystery characters in italics, the story seems that of a normal college girl.

Normal as in, she occasionally passes out and can’t control it.

Normal as in, she doesn’t believe in love.

Until.

I very much have to limit myself on what I say here, because the book is filled with twists and some heart string pulls, and I absolutely will not spoil anything… But it is that book that stands alone and is very different from the typical young adult section.

If you’re looking for mushy romance, you’ve stumbled across the wrong book… But you should still try it, because it might just give you something to think about.

Review: Shadow Bound [Book]

Shadow Bound: A great book for older readers.

Shadow bound is a book by Rachel Vincent, and so far it is one of her best books. While it may be unsuitable for preteens and under due to some adult themes, it’s a great book. The very tag line of the book was what drew me to it:

In a world of black and white, can their love survive the shadows?

This may be starting to sound like a mushy live story, but trust me – its anything but. There is swearing, and there is violence, but this is the world Kori lives in. Trapped by the Syndicate owner Jake Towers, she is abused and mistreated to the point of not feeling anything. Then he offers her a chance to redeem herself, but with severe consequences if she doesn’t. Even worse, Kori is bound to Jake Towers – she has to do what he says, and cannot do what he tells her not to, or she will face resistance pain and this would most likely kill her… But that doesn’t stop her breaking the rules. There are always loopholes.

The first paragraph alone is a great hook:

If you live in the dark long enough, you start to forget what light looks like. What it feels like. You may remember it in an academic sense. Illumination. … But after awhile those abstract memories are a you have left, and they’re worth less than the memory of water to a man dying of thirst.

This made me suddenly sit up and realise that this book was not just the ordinary; it possessed a powerful message, and if there is one thing I would choose in a book, it is meaning. This book is not about winning all the time. It is about manipulating and, to quote Pluto Heavensbee, it is about moves and countermoves. That’s all there is to it.

As said before, I would recommend the book to anyone of the teenage bracket and above, as there are some things that could be unsuitable for younger ages, but as I don’t believe in telling people not to read a book regardless of their age, if you’ve read Rachel Vincent before and like her work or have heard good things about it (or this review has convinced you to try it!) then I’d say use your own judgement on whether you want to read it or not because, let’s face it, only you can judge what is suitable for you.

Shadow Bound: The Back of the book.

Review: Minecraft Redstone Handbook

This review is concerning the minecraft Redstone handbook. So far all my reviews have been quite positive, so I decided to review this handbook because it’s mixed.

The Minecraft Redstone handbook is good for all ages because it is a very clear font and layout. It teaches you the basics and analyses how Redstone works; each individual part of Redstone including levers, buttons, Redstone dust and Redstone lamp.

Xbox users like myself (and playstation users may find this when Minecraft is released on the PS4 some time this year) will find that crafting objects is as simple as clicking one button with the 9×9 grid for materials not being used, but the Redstone handbook includes these for PC users to refer to.

The book does feature some materials not accessible to Xbox users, such as the daylight sensor, and this does make at least one design not applicable to the Xbox version… But when the concept is added, it explains it clearly how to use it and connect it to the Redstone.

It seems to assume that the user has the computer version, which is completely up to date whereas the Xbox version is behind.

In addition, some designs do not work for the Xbox, such as the fire charged arrow launcher and Jebs Hidden Door. I’m not sure whether this is something that will be patched with the next few Minecraft updates, or when the Xbox One edition is released, but setting up basic Redstone systems is explained in a lot of detail.

So, in summary, the book is very good for guiding a complete newbie like me when it comes to Redstone, and getting to grips with the basics – but if you’re an Xbox user, you may find you have to change the Redstone design challenges to make them work. It certainly puzzled me when I tried the creations, and all three of us were trying to work out what I’d done wrong… As far as we could tell, it was Minecraft not working (or the designs not working) rather than me as the user doing the wrong thing when it came to the Redstone.

So, for pc users of Minecraft, I’m side it’s one of the best guides out there… And for Xbox users? Not so much, but it still does contain useful information.

Review: Shadowhunters Codex, Cassandra Clare

Review: Shadowhunters Codex by Cassandra Clare

I don’t know if you’ve heard of The Mortal Instruments series. You should have at least some idea that it exists out there somewhere  – City of Bones came out Summer 2013. If not, let me summarize: A series that causes me to talk excitedly at a speed that no one else can understand and flap hands looking like a retarded penguin, focusing on the humerous yet hopelessly romantic and (run out of adjectives suitable) drama of Clary Fray, Jace the Many Named (trying to keep it spoiler-free here) and Simon Lewis. I could do a review about that series, but let’s be honest, most of it wouldn’t make any sense at all and would consist of IT’S SO AMAZING OMGAWD READ IT READ IT RIGHT NOW repeated over and over again, continuously, until you facepalm the keyboard so hard it leaves little letters imprinted all over your face. Which isn’t really what you want in life, or in a book review; not a good one, anyway. (The book review, not the face, although the face doesn’t really want letters imprinted

This review, instead, is about the book-within-a-book that is the Shadowhunters Codex. In Cassandra Clare’s work, all books focus around Shadowhunters. Demon killers. Savers of the Mundanes (ordinary folks like yourself), and also interactants (is that even a word?) with Downworlders. That’s the “fair folk” faeries (nothing fair about them, the lying little–), werewolves and vampires. Not sparkling ones – normal ones. This Codex contains all the rules that Shadowhunters have to follow, with “revisions” aka scribblings-over from the three main characters. It covers everything, from the origins of Shadowhunters (we knew that already, but it’s all in full and official-looking here) to all the runes (or as many as they could fit onto four or five pages) and details of all the demons. Including face-melter. Marked as self-explanatory. And also decorated with drawings, sketches and paintings from a range of artists including Cassandra Jean, the sort-of-official “spoilery art” artist for the last book in The Mortal Instruments Series, City of Heavenly Fire.

In short, it’s a good addition to the two series by Cassandra Clare.  And if you have read The Mortal Instruments, you should read it. If you’ve read both The Mortal Instruments Series and The Infernal Devices series, you should definitely find a copy and read it asap. While there’s no spoilers that I’ve discovered so far about TID, there are some nods to the characters such as the sensor that was created by a character (there’s lots about the sensor) and even Jace telling Clary that she is related to Henry (Again, for spoilery purposes, that’s all I’m saying) in the little notes written around the main text. There’s input from Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn for those who are uniformed, on why people become a shadowhunter and also a two-page written letter from Clary about passing the codex onto “you” as she no longer needs it.

Overall, it’s a nice add on, one that has provided endless entertainment even in the under 24 hours that I’ve had it. You might be able to buy it slightly cheaper on Amazon than in Waterstones, unless its under the “buy on get one half price” offer that I used to buy it. Or you could pay the full price and get a stamp on a Waterstones stampy-card-thing. It’s up to you, but as I said, if you’re a fan of Cassandra Clare you should definitely consider getting it.