Uglies: Cutters by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Uglies: Cutters
Author: Scott Westerfeld and Devin Grayson
Illustrator: Steven Cummings
Publication Date: 2012
Length: 176 pages

Uglies: Cutters is a graphic novel retelling of Pretties by Scott Westerfeld, from Shay's perspective. It's the sequel to Uglies: Shay's Story. Shay's story in Pretties basically consists of her rejoining the Crims, and starting up the Cutters, a group of Pretties who cut themselves in order to achieve the mental clarity that's so difficult for Pretties to reach.

I pretty much had the same issues with this book as I did with Uglies: Shay's Story. Basically, all the people look the same, which is a particularly big problem in a book like this, where looks are very important to the characters.

Also, Tally really did all the interesting stuff in this part of the story. So watching Shay is not really that great. She doesn't know what's going on with Tally most of the time, so we just catch glimpses of that stuff, and meanwhile, Shay just goes about her business, doing stuff with the Crims, etc. So it's not as good a story as Pretties is.

2 stars.

Lasher by Anne Rice

Title: Lasher
Author: Anne Rice
Publication Date: 1993
Length: 628

Warning: This is a review of the second book in the series, and may contain spoilers from the first book, The Witching Hour.

Rowan has run off with Lasher, and is now travelling the world with him. Apparently she has stayed with him because her scientific curiosity would not allow her to let him go (which, in my opinion, is straight up crazy). Somewhere along the way, she becomes his prisoner, and he continually tries to impregnate her, leading to multiple miscarriages. Meanwhile, Michael is looking for her, and the Mayfairs are dealing with the women in the family dying of miscarriages.

Later on in the book, Lasher tells his story, and we finally learn more about who he was before he became "the man" to the Mayfairs. It's strange, because Lasher often seems like a sympathetic character when he's telling his story, which is so at odds with his thoughtless cruelty in the present.

I know so many people who loved The Witching Hour and didn't like this book, which I just don't understand! I actually liked this one even better than the first. I especially like Mona Mayfair. I think most people don't like her because she's a young teenager who goes around having sex with older men. But as disturbing as that is, Mona's such a powerful character that I can't help but love her. She has the potential to be a very powerful witch, since she has more Mayfair blood than almost anyone else, thanks to the horrifying degree of incest in her family. (This book actually made me realise I need a family tree to understand the Mayfairs, which I have started creating on my computer, much like Mona did.) But Mona's also powerful in the more mundane ways. Despite her young age, she knows exactly what she wants and isn't afraid to go get it.

This is another one of those epic Anne Rice books. There's so much going on, I can't do justice to it all. You also get to learn a lot more about Julien Mayfair in this book. Lasher is a great continuation to The Witching Hour, and I can't wait to read the conclusion in Taltos.

5 stars.

Challenge Completed: 2013 Women Challenge

I finished a challenge! Considering how far behind I usually am on most challenges, it's extra exciting that I finished one in the first half of the year! My goal in the Women Challenge was the highest level available: 16 books written by women. I knew this would be easy for me, because I already read what I think is a pretty even spread between male and female authors. I tend to prefer women authors, though there are some men among my favourites as well.

Check out the books I read for this challenge (and continue to read; I'm still adding to the list for the rest of the year!) on my challenge post. You can see other reviews people have written for this challenge here (which I just discovered; I still have to add all of my reviews there).

Thanks to Peek-a-booK! for creating this challenge! :)

Animorphs #12 - The Reaction by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Reaction (Animorphs #12)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: November 1997
Length: 152 pages

Warning: This is a review of the 13th book in the series, and may contain spoilers from the earlier books.

The Animorphs find out that an a famous teen actor, Jeremy Jason McCole, is going to endorse The Sharing, the cover organisation for the Yeerks. Since Jeremy is the love of teen girls everywhere, the Animorphs know they have to stop this, or The Sharing will have no problem recruiting a whole lotta teenagers. But as they plot to stop him, Rachel starts having a really weird problem: she's morphing uncontrollably, sometimes from one morph to another without even morphing back to human again.

I liked the whole thing with Rachel's allergic reaction to the crocodile morph. It was one of those story lines that gives you more interesting details about morphing. There were also some pretty awesome fight scenes in this one. Overall, it wasn't a particularly groundbreaking book as far as this series goes, but it was enjoyable.

4 stars.

April 2013 Wrap-Up

Here's a summary of my book-related activity for April, just a wee bit late. The highlight was definitely the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon! There was also the Children's Hospital Book Market, at which I was quite restrained, I rather think, but it still wasn't great for my tbr pile. *smiles sheepishly*

Books I read (linked to the reviews)

The Host by Stephenie Meyer (TBR pile)
The Witches by Roald Dahl (new book)
The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (TBR pile)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (TBR pile)
Ghosts Beneath Our Feet by Betty Ren Wright (TBR pile)
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous [Beatrice Sparks] (TBR pile)
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer (new book)
Wild Children by Richard Roberts (NetGalley) (in progress)

Books I bought

The Short Second Life
of Bree Tanner
by Stephenie Meyer

Night Games
by R.L. Stine

Alone in Snakebite Canyon
by R.L. Stine

The No-Nonsense Guide
to Indigenous Peoples
by Lotte Hughes

The Risen Empire
by Scott Westerfeld

Beneath the Vaulted
Hills by Sean Russell

Child of the River
by Paul J. McAuley

The Spirituality of Mazes & Labyrinths

Atlas, Schmatlas: A Superior
Atlas of the World

Books I've been approved for on NetGalley

The Testing by Joelle
Charbonneau

Angel on the Ropes
by Jill Shultz

Wars in Toyland by Joe Harris

The Orphanage of Miracles
by Amy Neftzger

School Spirits by
Rachel Hawkins

Seduction by M.J. Rose

Red Moon by
Benjamin Percy

Progress on challenges

I did not select a Random Read this month.

I forgot to go out of my comfort zone again this month.

I completed the following letters for the A-Z Book Challenge: H and M

I read 5 books for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge. (I'm caught up on this challenge now!)

I read 0 books for the Anne Rice Challenge. You can still sign up!

I read 0 books for the Debut Author Challenge.

I completed the following squares for the Book Bingo Challenge: read 2 books from your tbr pile, read 1 book that is part of a series

I read 0 books for the Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge.

I read 2 books for the Dystopia Challenge.

I read 6 books written by women.

I read 2 books for the Seriously Series Challenge.

Progress on my TBR pile: I added 16 books to my to read list and removed 13 (the 8 I read plus 5 expired NetGalleys that I removed), so my pile increased by 3 this month.

Read-a-Thon: End of Event Survey

We're done! We made it! I'm going to bed now. :) Here's the end of event meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? There were a few of them, actually, scattered throughout the day this time.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? The Animorphs books are really great read-a-thon material!
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope! It was awesome as usual!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The whole thing.
5. How many books did you read? I read 6 whole books, and started on a 7th.
6. What were the names of the books you read? The Witches, The Change, Mockingjay, Ghosts Beneath Our Feet, Go Ask Alice, and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate
8. Which did you enjoy least? Surprisingly, Mockingjay was a bit of a disappointment.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't a cheerleader.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I always participate as a reader, and will continue to do so.

Read-a-Thon Hours 23 and 24: 5:00 - 7:00

What are you reading right now? The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

How's that going? Good. I don't really remember Bree Tanner from Eclipse, but that doesn't seem to be interfering with my enjoyment of this story.

Books finished so far: The Witches by Roald Dahl (4 stars); The Change (Animorphs #13) by K.A. Applegate (5 stars); Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (3 stars); Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (4 stars)

Pages read these hours: 80

Total pages read so far: 1137 (Not quite but my goal, but pretty darn close!)

Food consumed this hour: None.