Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Review: Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta

Genre: Dystopian
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: June 10, 2014
Pages: 272
Source: I won an ARC of this book from Harper Voyager in a giveaway.
Synopsis: Global warming has changed the world’s geography and its politics. Wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe, including the Scandinavian Union, which is occupied by the power state of New Qian. In this far north place, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that Noria’s father tends, which once provided water for her whole village.

But secrets do not stay hidden forever, and after her father’s death the army starts watching their town—and Noria. And as water becomes even scarcer, Noria must choose between safety and striking out, between knowledge and kinship.

Imaginative and engaging, lyrical and poignant, Memory of Water is an indelible novel that portrays a future that is all too possible.

Review:

I really loved the idea behind this book, and one that could come true some time in our future. The novel is beautifully written. Though it did seem slow at times. It had a alot of description through out and I could picture and feel what she felt. I know some people like to skip over blocks of description but I liked that about this book. Since I didn't know to much of the culture and the going ons of a tea master it was interesting to learn about. 

This novel was very slow to start. It just always seemed like the reader was waiting for something to happen and nothig major did. It's kind of sad if you think about it. Imagine you wanting to do something and making big plans to go against the government and not fulfilling it. That is kind of what happened here. Most dystopians have a strong character that goes against the government and changes it to make it better for the people. Though this is a dystopian nothing changes in the end really. 

I would have liked to known more about the water police and the officials. Noria the main character of the story is left with little to go on and little understanding of these hardened water officials. Her parents did not ready her at all to be on her own, so I understand that she only could do what she had to work with. 

I would have to say my favorite character out of this book would have to be Noria's friend Sanja. Sanja seemed like a tough character and kept working to help her family no matter the problems set up against her. She worked with her hands to build things and was a good friend to Noria. I liked that she got away in the ending. 

I ended up on goodreads giving this book a 3 out of 5 stars. Though I did have some problems with this book I did enjoy the writing style and the characters. I also loved the whole concept and ideas put into this book. 

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Bout of Books 10.0 - Day 7 - Wrap up

Bout of Books

Currently Reading:

  • The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks (Buddy read)

Books Completed:




  • Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
  • Orgins: The Fire by Debra Driza (Short story)
  • Reboot by Amy Tintera
  • Rebel by Amy Tintera
  • Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta
  • MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza
  • Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love (Short story)
          




Books To Read:

  • Renegade: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (Possibly if I like the series)

Pages Read Since Last Update: 237


Total Pages Read: 1706


Time Spent Reading Today: About 3 hour


Thoughts:

Whew that was a great week of reading, got lots of books read. Finished up reading Mila 2.0 today and then finished the short story of Fire Bound. I didn't get far in The Way of Shadows, but I plan to read it all tonight and will try to finish it up by tomorrow. I got most of the books that I wanted to read off of my list. I hope to continue on with reading a lot and make it a great reading month. I have already finished 7 books and 2 short stories for this month so I plan to keep on going.


Things to come:

I will be having a written review for Memory of Water to come as well as a video review of The school for Good and Evil as well as Cinder when I do get to reading it for this month. So far this month I will have read 4 books that have been on my TBR pile for quite a while. So I am proud to say that I am finally getting to some of those books slowly but surely.

Hope you guys all had fun reading!

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Bout of Books 10.0 - Day 6

Bout of Books

Currently Reading:

  • MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza

Books Completed:

  • Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
  • Orgins: The Fire by Debra Driza (short story)
  • Reboot by Amy Tintera
  • Rebel by Amy Tintera
  • Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta

Books To Read:

  • Renegade: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (Possibly if I like the series)
  • Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love (Short story)
  • The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks (Buddy read)

Pages Read Since Last Update: 319

Total Pages Read: 1469

Time Spent Reading Today: About 4 hour

Thoughts: Finished the book I wanted to. Now I hope to finish Mila 2.0 and get a good chunk of The Way of the Shadows done. I am almost done with both books but I have a feeling I will only finish one before the end of Bout of Books. I had a great time this readathon and can't wait to participate in another! I might also try to read the short story Fire Bound tomorrow and add that to my read list. 

Let me know how you guys are doing and what you are reading.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Bout of Books 10.0 - Day 5

Bout of Books

Currently Reading:

  • Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta
  • MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza

Books Completed:

  • Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
  • Orgins: The Fire by Debra Driza (short story)
  • Reboot by Amy Tintera
  • Rebel by Amy Tintera

Books To Read:

  • Renegade: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (Possibly if I like the series)
  • Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love (Short story)
  • The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks (Buddy read)

Pages Read Since Last Update: 100

Total Pages Read: 1150

Time Spent Reading Today: About 1 hour

Thoughts: Like I predicted not a lot read today but I plan to change that tonight and hope to finish another book. Hopefully.  

Bout of Books 10.0 - Day 4

Bout of Books

Currently Reading:

  • Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta

Books Completed:

  • Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
  • Orgins: The Fire by Debra Driza (short story)
  • Reboot by Amy Tintera
  • Rebel by Amy Tintera

Books To Read:

  • MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza
  • Renegade: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (Possibly if I like the series)
  • Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love (Short story)
  • The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks (I can't start reading this again till this Wednesday because of being part of a buddy read)

Pages Read Since Last Update: 303

Total Pages Read: 1050

Time Spent Reading Today: About 4 hours

Thoughts: Finished Rebel it was so good. Great conclusion! I will be starting to read Mila 2.0 along with trying to finish up Memory of Water. Got great reading in today. I am thinking tomorrow won't be a big reading day since my significant other has the day off so I probably will be spending a lot of time with him. But we will see. Today I had a great day other then reading I got to see the new Godzilla movie and went to Books A Million and picked up of course a couple of more books. 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Bout of Books 10.0 - Day 3

Bout of Books

Currently Reading:

  • Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta
  • Rebel by Amy Tintera

Books Completed:

  • Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
  • Orgins: The Fire by Debra Driza (short story)
  • Reboot by Amy Tintera

Books To Read:

  • MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza
  • Renegade: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (Possibly if I like the series)
  • Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love (Short story)
  • The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks (I can't start reading this again till this Wednesday because of being part of a buddy read)

Pages Read Since Last Update: 283

Total Pages Read: 747

Time Spent Reading Today: About 3 hours

Thoughts: 

Since I work overnight tonight I will be trying to get a lot of reading done at this time. Then that means though that I won't be reading a lot during the day due to sleeping. I have a Midnight movie showing that I am going tomorrow so I definitely need to make sure I get enough sleep. I hope to read a little though when I wake up. I hope to have Rebel read by the end of tomorrow or really close. Depends on how much of Memory of Water I read as well. 

I hope you all are having a good reading week so far. What are you reading?

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Bout of books 10.0 - Day 2

Bout of Books

Currently Reading:

  • Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta
  • Reboot by Amy Tintera

Books Completed:

  • Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
  • Orgins: The Fire by Debra Driza (short story)

Books To Read:

  • MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza
  • Renegade: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (Possibly if I like the series)
  • Rebel by Amy Tintera
  • Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love (Short story)
  • The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks (I can't start reading this again till this Wednesday because of being part of a buddy read)

Pages Read Since Last Update: 310

Total Pages Read: 464

Time Spent Reading Today: About 4 hours

Thoughts: 

I got a lot more reading in today. I plan to do the same tomorrow. I had to start on a new books since the Memory of Water wasn't really keeping my interest. It is wonderfully written and it does mak you care about the characters, there just isn't a lot happening. I will keep chugging along on this book just little by little bit. I should have Reboot finished by tomorrow and then I will start on Rebel. I might also try to finish an e-book I am 75% of the way finished with, that book is calle Freaks of Nature by Julia Crane. But that is a maybe and I usually only read the e-book when busy at work so we will see how tomorrow night is.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Bout of books 10.0 - Day 1

Bout of Books

Currently Reading:

  • Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta

Books Completed:

  • Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
  • Orgins: The Fire by Debra Driza (short story)

Books To Read:

  • MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza
  • Renegade: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (Possibly if I like the series)
  • Reboot by Amy Tintera
  • Rebel by Amy Tintera
  • Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love (Short story)
  • The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks (I can't start reading this again till this Wednesday because of being part of a buddy read)

Pages Read Since Last Update: 154

Total Pages Read: 154

Time Spent Reading Today: About 2 hours

Thoughts: 

I did change up my to read books a bit and also will be throwing in some short stories that I come across. I still might put the books on my origninal list back in depending on how fast I go through what I am currently reading. I didn't get in much time to read today since I have been mostly spending time with my seginificant other. I will be reading a lot tomorrow and hope to get through more pages then I did today.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Bout of Books 10.0

Bout of Books

"The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog."
- From the Bout of Books team

I have decided that I wanted to take part in this readathon with so many other people. I will post everyday on here during the week of May 12th - 18th. I will post how much time that day I devoted to reading, books to read, currently reading, books completed, and pages read. Now to tell you what I will be planing on reading during this this next week.

TBR-


  • The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks. (I will be finishing this up for a buddy read)
  • Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta
  • Blades of the Old Empire by Anna Kashina
  • Stolen by Lucy Christopher
  • Bloodwitch by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
  • Reboot by Amy Tintera
  • Rebel by Amy Tintera


Of course this may change but that's the plan so far.
Let me know what you have been reading lately? Anything interesting?

Friday, May 2, 2014

Busy month for May

Okay so I didn't write any more than what I finished with on 4/29/14 for Camp NaNoWriMo. The point is though that I won! I have a busy reading month ahead of me, and some how I still have to make time for some editing. I have to finish up editing my first book so I can send it in for two free paperback copies so I can have people read my story. Along with that I will be going to Lazerfest, I plan to have an awesome time listening to all 15 bands. My significant other is making me go see my first Godzilla movie and going to the midnight premier so that will be exciting.

 Other than that I will just be reading lots of books. I have two books that I won in giveaways that I will be doing extensive reviews on, if you want to know which two books just click on the reviews button at the top and you can find out more about the books there. I also am just starting The way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks. It is a Fantasy book with assassins, it is part of a trilogy and I have the whole set and thought it was about time I start this. Caitlin from A Bit of a Bookworm on youtube decided she wanted to start a book buddy read along. So I decided to read this with her and her other friend on goodreads. I will also be putting up an extensive review on this at the end of the month since we will be reading and discussing this book through the whole month. Also I plan to read my TBR pick of the month which was Blood Trinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Diana Love. I also might be reading one or two more books depending on the reading groups that I am in and what books they choose. If I have them on my TBR pile I will definitely be picking them up to read if I have to go purchase them I might or might not. I also really want to read Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott there is a goodreads group reading this for the month of May as well but I am not sure if I will get to this one or not.

What books are you planning on reading this month?

I think that is all that there is to report I hope you all look forward to those reviews I will be doing. I am thinking of doing a youtube video review on The school for good and evil and the second book The school for good and evil: A world without princes by Soman Chainani. Now lets see how much of this I can get done this month. Wish me luck.