Thursday 11 February 2016

The Creative Blogger Award // I WAS TAGGED!

Image designed by Freepik



All things aside, this is my first time being tagged in ANYTHING in the book blogging community so naturally, I hyperventilated for an hour over it then proceeded to work myself up into an excited frenzy THAT OMG I WAS TAGGED. I am very excited guys. Very excited.
ahem. 

Thank you so much to Joan @Fiddler Blue for tagging me in these awards. She's lovely, guys. If you haven't checked out her blog yet you should totally do so because she's honestly one of the nicest people I've met on the blogosphere to date. 

I was actually tagged for The Dragon's Loyalty Award as well, but I don't know enough people in the book blogging community (yet!) to tag so I'll just be doing The Creative Blogger Award :)






Rules for The Creative Blogger Award
  1. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
  2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
  3. Nominate some bloggers in return and notify them about their nomination.
  4. Keep the rules in your post to make it easy for everyone to know what to do. 

FIVE INCREDIBLY INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ME
 (yes they will be interesting.. shush)


  • I am bilingual. Here in Malaysia, the national language is Malay. It's also a compulsory subject in school up to your secondary school education. So naturally, I can speak, read, and write both in Malay and English :D

  • I was punched in the face by a fellow classmate in my first year of school. (I was seven) I can't remember much about this incident, but I think I deserved it! All I remember is being taken to the principal's office along with my classmate, and our lovely principal sorted out all our seven-year old anger issues. My classmate and I became quite good friends after that.

  • When I was in school, my art teacher told us to divide a paper in half. I proceeded to measure the entire length of the paper, divide that number by two, and measure it again. I then realized I could've just folded the paper. Mind you, I wasn't that young when I did this. 

  • I was convinced at the age of 6 that I would become one of Santa's helpers, but I didn't know how to wrap presents. This concerned me a great deal. I don't know how my parents dealt with me as a child. 

  • I'm hopelessly short. I'm 5'2 and have remained that height since I was 13. Malaysians aren't very tall people, thank the heavens. But I'm still one of the shortest ones in my class. We can't have everything in life. 




I HEREBY TAG:
(only if you guys want to of course!)






Congratulations. Now you know everything about me. (not really, but close.) I promise I fold paper like a normal person now, so don't find me too weird. :D Do you have any interesting facts about yourself to share? (of course you do. you my friend, are an incredibly interesting person *winks*)
LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.



Monday 8 February 2016

The Impostor Queen // A Review




Author: Sarah Fine
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: January 5th 2016
Pages: 432 pages






Sixteen-year-old Elli was a small child when the Elders of Kupari chose her to succeed the Valtia, the queen who wields infinitely powerful ice and fire magic. Since then, Elli has lived in the temple, surrounded by luxury and tutored by magical priests, as she prepares for the day when the Valtia perishes and the magic finds a new home in her. Elli is destined to be the most powerful Valtia to ever rule.

But when the queen dies defending the kingdom from invading warriors, the magic doesn’t enter Elli. It’s nowhere to be found.

Disgraced, Elli flees to the outlands, the home of banished criminals—some who would love to see the temple burn with all its priests inside. As she finds her footing in this new world, Elli uncovers devastating new information about the Kupari magic, those who wield it, and the prophecy that foretold her destiny. Torn between the love she has for her people and her growing loyalty to the banished, Elli struggles to understand the true role she was meant to play. But as war looms, she must align with the right side—before the kingdom and its magic are completely destroyed.

     
OH MY GOD THIS BOOK <3 
THIS BOOK GUYS ARGH. 

I devoured the entire, wonderful thing and had next to no problems with it. SO WHY THE FOUR STARS YOU ASK? I wanted more of certain things guys.. I just wanted more. 

Let's get to all the listing and the reasons *grins*


Things I loved:

  • Elli, the main character is WONDERFUL.
Okay yes, she's a sixteen year old copper-haired, blue-eyed beauty BUT she's a strong, determined, fiercely loyal sixteen year old copper-haired, blue-eyed beauty. I found her slightly vapid and naive at first but that quickly changed into admiration. And I mean, pure, unwavering admiration. 


  • The relationship between the Valtia and Saadella is just ARGH SO LOVELY.
Okay so the Valtia is the queen and the Saadella is the next-in-line to the throne. I don't know about you guys but in all the books I've read, the next-in-line to the throne is usually an impatient potato who kills the ruler to come into power faster. But in this book, the two of them have the best. relationship. ever. It was such a fresh perspective to read about the big sister, little sister relationship between the Valtia and the Saadella and those kind of relationships are the best guys, okay?


  • Stereotypical love is thrown far out the window and is drowned in a nearby river
In YA, authors tend to make sexuality a huge thing throughout the novel. Don't get me wrong, it definitely is. But it doesn't have to be written in a 'LOOK AT ME I'M A HUGE DEAL' kind of way to make an impact on readers. Sometimes, sexuality that is written in an almost passing way can make me go YES!, this is exactly how it should be treated in society. As something that everyone understands even if it's not yelled from the topmost tower. As something normal.

Elli isn't confused in the slightest about her sexuality and doesn't even question it which I find SO AMAZING. 

I feel like authors should pick up on this more and change the way they write about sexuality, especially in Teen Fiction and YA. 



  • Oskar.
*coughs*



  • The concept of ice and fire magic was ON POINT.
Maybe I'm a naive little potato but I always assumed that having fire magic basically meant you were able to set your school  stuff on fire and ice magic meant having the ability to freeze everything around you. But in this book your basic fire and ice magic is totally reimagined guys. I mean, you can move stuff (!) by focusing hot and cold air on the object at once. There's so many other concepts but I clearly found 'moving stuff' the coolest part. I can't imagine why. *clears throat*



Things I wanted more of:


  •  More kinds of magic?
Argh I'm kind of conflicted about this one. The magic in this book is only ice and fire, and while I found it cool that wielders of magic could do so much with those two powers alone, I wanted a larger variety. But this is a totally 'it's me and not you' thing.


  • More on the outcasts!
Sarah Fine merely writes that the people who are thrown out of the main town are 'outcasts' that eventually became thieves and bandits to survive. BUT WHY? How were they thrown out, how did they come together, how do thieve (!), how do their lives go? I feel like a lot of the book was concentrated on Oskar's family and Elli and I WANTED SO BADLY to know more about the general thief population. Tormented pasts and elaborate thieving schemes are my jam guys, I live on the stuff. GIVE ME MORE!









So have you read The Impostor Queen? What were your thoughts on it? If you haven't, do you plan to? LET ME KNOW! *grins*