GingerRead Reviews

Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1 Genre: Young Adult, Greek Mythology Release  Date: June 1st 2005 Source: Bought Overall Rating: 3.5/5 Stars Cover Rating: 2/5 Stars Synopsis:  Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.  Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves. Fir...

Series: A Song of Ice and Fire  #1 Genre: Adult, Epic Fantasy Release Date: 1996 Source: Bought Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars Cover Rating: 1/5 Stars Synopsis:  Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.  As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.  The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne. First Line: '"We should start back," Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them.' I doubt there are many people in the world who haven't heard of A Game of Thrones left after the huge success of the television series but to tell ...

I haven't written a discussion post in quite a while and I decided that I really should. Everyone has different opinions about classics and there are probably more people talking about them than actually reading them so I decided as an avid classic reader I would write a two part post about why people don't read classics (but they really should. There is a quote by Mark Twain that defines a classic as "a book which people praise and don't read". At first I denied it to myself but after thinking about it I realised just how true that really is. There are hundreds of different reasons to explain. Size -  The first and probably most common reason is the sheer size of the books. I mean of course you have the really short ones but many of the most highly acclaimed ones are huge! Les Miserables has a whopping 1463 pages and War and Peace is close behind standing at 1392 pages. People may argue that the page count is irrelevant because the Harry Potter books are huge ...

Series: Graceling Realm #1 Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy Release Date: January 22nd 2009 Source: Bought Overall Rating: 4/5 Stars Cover Rating: 4/5 Stars Synopsis:  In a world where people born with an exceptional skill, known as a Grace, are both feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: the Grace of killing.  Feared by the court and shunned by those her own age, the darkness of her Grace casts a heavy shadow over Katsa’s life. Yet she remains defiant: when the King of Lienid’s father is kidnapped she investigates, and stumbles across a mystery. Who would want to kidnap the old man, and why? And who was the extraordinary Graced man whose fighting abilities rivalled her own?  The only thing Katsa is sure of is that she no longer wants to kill. The intrigue around this kidnapping offers her a way out – but little does she realise, when she takes it, that something insidious and dark lurks behind the mystery. Something spreading from the sha...

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of Diantha Jones' Oracle of Delphi series so it's only natural that I would participate in the blog tour for book three. I warn you this is going to be a long post but don't fret reading it will be worth it. And there may be a giveaway in it for you if you reach the end... But first things first - my review! Series: The Oracle of Delphi #3 Genre: Young Adult, Greek Mythology  Release Date: July 15th 2012 Source: From author for review Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars Cover Rating: 4/5 Stars Synopsis:  Summer Solstice is here. Let the games begin. Nothing but lies (some of them her own) and deceit have brought Chloe to Olympus for the Solstice Olympic Games. As the Oracle and the special guest o f the King of Myth, Chloe becomes immersed in a life of unfathomable luxury, taunting history, and overwhelming excitement. Though scheming and untrustworthy, the gods remain on their best behaviour as the tension and anticipation builds around th...

Series: Standalone Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction  Release Date: January 10th 2012 Source: Bought Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars Cover Rating: 3/5 Stars Synopsis:  Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumors in her lungs... for now. Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that ever...

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted over at  Breaking the Spine  - an event spotlighting the upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating. I have taken part in this meme before but I wasn't very constant so I'm starting afresh which is why I've listed this post as '#1'. So what book am I eagerly anticipating today? Title: The Dream Thieves  Author: Maggie Stiefvater Series: The Raven Cycle, #2 Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Release Date: September 17th 2013 Cover Rating: 3/5 Stars Synopsis:  Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after... What's so good about it? After utterly adoring everything about the first book, The Raven Boys, I absolutely h...