This is a new feature I want to try out on my blog where each Friday (more or less) I talk about some of my favourite book related things. I'll decide the topic each week and tell you about my favourites.

This week's topic is: Favourite Male Characters

1. Harry Potter He had the be in there, didn't he? But really he is (in my eyes) a truly great character. He's so well rounded it's almost unbelievable. He's smart, but not over-the-top-intelligent, he's brave something to the point of stupidity, and he gets angry, jealous and is sarcastic - just like any other teenage boy. He feels extremely real to me.

2. Percy Jackson Another one of those great three dimensional characters. Well actually I just think he's absolutely hilarious - like seriously funny. I enjoy reading from his perspective so much, I could read his POV forever I think.

3. Richard Gansey III He's a relatively new favourite of mine and since I've only read two books with him in it's hard to pin down exactly what I like about him. It might just be the way Maggie Stiefvater translates his charm onto the pages but it's very hard not to like him.

4. Dominic Courtenay Perhaps a lesser known fictional character but wow do I love him. He seems to be a bit of a typical nice guy at first but he's passionate, tragically loyal and refreshingly honest. I'm so sad the Boleyn Trilogy is over and I'll only have rereads to visit him again.

5. Gideon Lightwood I could see this being an odd choice especially against the likes of Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs, and considering that he's only in Clockwork Princess. But I just instantly fell in love with him; he's awkward and a little bit uptight but pretty god damn adorable.

Do you agree with my picks? Or not? Who are your favourite male characters from books?

Movie Review: Fury

About the Film:
Title: Fury
Director: David Ayer
Screenwriter: David Ayer
Starring: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman
Genre: War, Action, Drama
Release Date: 22nd October 2014 (UK)

Trailer:

Rating:

Review:

In the past I haven't been a massive fan of war films, but something about this film caught my attention. So I managed to convince my sister to come see it with me and off we went. Now firstly I didn't go into this film thinking it was going to be awesome and one of my favourites of the year, I got exactly what I thought I would. A better than average war film, with pretty stellar acting and well paced action sequences.

The performances in this film really were superb. Logan Lerman definitely impressed me most, his character goes through a massive change over the course of the film and he does so without losing any of his original essence or making it look too sudden. Brad Pitt leads the film really well also; his character isn't the most likeable out there but even from an audience perspective you respect him the way his soldiers do and Pitt makes his courage quite admirable. Unfortunately the rest of the five leads are restricted to basic archetypes that are less than memorable. And beyond Lerman's character no time is spared for any of them to undergo any real development, which really disappointed me. 

One thing I was wary about going into this film was the action sequences. I have a tendency to get really bored during them unless they're really well shot and paced. Luckily they did really well with these. They were exciting enough to keep the tension running, yet they didn't get ahead of themselves so it dragged on and felt like a never ending parade of gunfire and explosions. I mean if you ignore the weird bullets that looked suspiciously like they were taken straight from Star Wars. But moving on, I genuinely did love the fight scenes especially the last one which was so perfectly played out with the right tone and the music to boot which really amped up the atmosphere.

And while the pacing in the action scenes was unusually on par, the scenes in between...well not so much. They dragged on to the point where they felt pretty useless, despite the small role they did play in the advancement of the plot. Normally when I watch films in cinemas I get absorbed to the point where I forget I'm actually in a cinema. But during this 'in between' scenes I found myself looking around, completely disinterested and distracted. Not at all what I wanted.

Still these lows were evened out by the highs; the excellent performances and well choreographed action scenes. It was a highly entertaining watch, and during the later half an emotionally charged piece that made me almost forget about the previously boring moments. It's not a masterpiece but it's decent and if you're into war films then it's definitely something you'll like. But beyond that I would recommend it but I wouldn't call it a must-see.

Life of a Blogger: Halloween

Life of a Blogger is a weekly meme held over on novelheartbeat, where each week participants are given a new topic to discuss in order to help their audience get to know the blogger better, and also fellow participants.

This week's topic is: Halloween

Okay, okay I'm just going to put this out there now; I don't really celebrate Halloween. Yeah I know. Admittedly over here in the UK it is definitely not as big a deal as it is in the US, it only really started to catch on when I was growing up. My parents didn't celebrate it at all so they never passed on the tradition to me. At primary (or elementary school for you Americans! Or whatever the equivalent is in your country) school we started having Halloween discos and I'd dress up and everything but I wasn't really that into it. I'm not even right now. The idea of trick or treating is really odd to me as well, the thought of having to go round people's houses and ask for things from them seems...a little well rude. But that might just be the British in me. However that isn't to say that there aren't some things about Halloween that I do like. As a kid I used to adore watching films like Halloweentown and Hocus Pocus, but then again, what kid doesn't? Even watching them now gives me a lovely sense of nostalgia.

I expect most of you celebrate Halloween a little more enthusiastically than me? Do you have any traditions? Or a favourite costume you've worn?

Top Ten Tuesday: Whatever, I still like to dress up.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted over on brokeandbookish. This week we had a choice of two options and since in England we don't really celebrate Halloween, and I've never really been that into it; I picked the second option. Because secretly I am five years old and love pretending to be people I'm not.

The topic is: Top Ten Characters Who I Would Totally Want To Be For Halloween

1. Isabelle Lightwood A black dress, thigh high boots and an electrum whip? Um yes please. Seriously though Halloween is perfect for pretending to be a shadowhunter.

2. Scarlett O'Hara I adore clothing from different time periods and really I would look a little mental if I dressed as her any other time. 

3. Bellatrix Lestrange Hands down best Halloween costume ever. Like she's scary but also looks damn fine in a corset. Also I'd really like to know if I could make my hair look like hers.

4. The White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia. She must have like the coolest outfits ever. And plus the fur would keep you really warm since it's freezing in October (I'm a wuss when it comes to the cold).

5. Aphrodite Any of her appearances in the Percy Jackson series. Especially her civil war era one. She's the goddess of beauty for god's sake who wouldn't want to dress as her?

6. Daisy Buchanan How I love 1920s clothing. Everything about dressing up as Daisy appeals to me. Even if I don't like her as a character.

7. Dorothy Gale A bit of a Halloween favourite but I love the cute little outfit and she's one of my favourite fictional characters ever.

8.  Tessa Gray As you might be able to tell I really love period dress (bit of a history nerd not going to lie), so the idea of dressing in Victorian clothes appeals to me immensely. Mental I know considering how uncomfortable they are.

9. Hermione Granger I would pretty much use this as an excuse to go out and buy a uniform and wand, which I crave but have no real need for. Of course I should dress up as one of the best female fictional characters of all time.

10. Black Widow Okay, okay I know this is supposed to be a book meme so I'm cheating but the topic is technically only fictional characters. And I long to don a red wig and a black jumpsuit. 

Are any of you actually dressing up as an fictional characters for Halloween? Or who would you like to dress as?

Let's Talk About: Strong Female Characters

Everyone wants to see a strong female lead in books. In fact I would even go so far to say as though we need them. Little girls who read books need characters they can look up to, genuinely inspirational women. Books are usually great examples of this, most (and I really do mean most) authors won't write a two dimensional protagonist. But sometimes people get confused with what makes a strong female lead.

A lot of people turn to the weapon-wielding, butt-kicking bad ass. Of course it's great to see women taking on these roles usually reserved for men. But sometimes people think that that is the only example of a strong women. And by God that isn't true. By restricting the definition people are once again limiting what women can do and what defines a strong woman. Great character such as; Mara Dyer, Liesel Meminger and America Singer. These characters all have admirable qualities and to label them as 'weak' or any other word synonymous with that is unfair. 

Personally I find it a lot harder to relate to characters like Tris Prior and Katniss Everdeen, sure they're brave and are awesome in there own way. But they're so far removed from some girls (and certainly their situations). I find it a lot easier to look up to characters like Annabeth Chace (I mean sure she's a freakin' demigod but she's a lot more like me) and June Iparis (admittedly she kicks some butt). And while I do love a women who can fight for herself, sometimes their cold, and occasionally sociopathic personalities mean they're not the kind of people I'd want to hang out with...at all. But then again, that isn't to say I don't wish I was a little bit more like Katniss and a little bit less like Bella Swan.

Review: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

About The Book:
Title: The Dream Thieves
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Age Range: 13+
Publication Date: 17th September 2013
Pages: 439 pages (hardback)
Publisher: Scholastic

Summary:

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Blue and Gansey will be the same. Ronan is falling more and more deeply into his dreams ... and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Gansey is needed at home, and is struggling to stay in Aglionby. And Adam? He's made some new friends. Friends that are looking for some of the same pieces of the puzzle that Gansey, Blue, and Ronan are after. Great power is at stake, and someone must be willing to wield it.

Rating:

Review:

It's official; I am in love with The Raven Cycle series. The Raven Boys was mainly focused on world building and introducing us to the characters, but in The Dream Thieves it's full steam ahead with character development and thickening the plot. Honesty is one of my favourite things in books, authors who romanticise and sugar coat thoughts and feelings just end up with a book that feels fake. But Maggie Stiefvater does no such thing; all the internal monologues are brutally honest and often I find myself imaging thinking the exact same thing. She writes people so well; each character has their own charm and appeal but also their ugly secrets and not so pleasant attributes, but it's this kind of reality that makes them all so likeable. The whole cast of characters feels like they could really exist, their dynamics, their speech, their whole existence. 

Ronan takes the spotlight in this book, which at first I wasn't too excited about as I wasn't a fan of him in The Raven Boys, but once we dug deeper into his story I actually started to like him. Without giving too much away I think it's safe to say that he's a lot more than the token bad boy. Although it we only get glimpses of it in this book it's easy to see how his individual character arc is going to tie into the overarching storyline. Gansey still remained my favourite in this book, I especially loved how his relationship with Adam and Blue shifted and that we got to see more of his home life. I've never been a fan of Noah, though I hope (like with Ronan) we get to know more about him (though I doubt it because of the whole you know...thing), and he feels kind of secondary compared to the other raven boys. I love Blue, she's so...well normal. And she hates it. And that's the best thing - that feeling of not quite belonging (similar to Adam) is something I connect with so well and Maggie executes it in a way so that it doesn't come off as self pitying.

In this book the plot deviates away from the Glendower arc a little, though it's always there in the background, and kind of comes back into it at the end. I enjoyed the change and the whole concept of dreams was so cool. I could imagine it would be quite hard to pull the weirdness of dreams off without it creeping into down right trippy territory but it was done so well. Admittedly at times I did get a little confused with everything linking in together and for pages at a time I was lost. It may have been the linking together of the two plots but in the end I was clear on what was happening, and I loved how the ending set up for the next book.

The only massive problem I had was the Grey Man. Honestly I just didn't get the point of him, apart from maybe adding a little dept to Ronan's story. But honestly it seemed like a needless diversion from the main character's points of view, and because the air of mystery is so key to him, his chapters didn't really help my connect or understand his character. I would've preferred the book without him I think, although I did like his relationship with Maura.

But overall I really did love this book, the complexity of the plot and the introduction of the Grey Man did ruin it a little for me which is why I can only give it four stars but on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's an intricately woven story where (almost) everything ties in so neatly. The hints at what are to come are so subtle yet I'm able to pick up on them mostly and the speculation which comes from them just makes it an even more interesting read. I cannot wait for the next one.

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