The Selection by Kiera Cass

by kuro-hime

Hi, we are back. Sorry for the lame hiatus. 




SUMMARY :

35 girls fighting to be the bride of Prince Maxon, the future king of Illea. An opportunity to escape the life that they were born in and to fight for the chance to be in a better glittering world as a Princess and future Queen. America Singer is one of those contenders who ended up in the competition by mistake and chance. She doesn't really want the throne or Maxon. All she wants is to be home, with Aspen, her secret love.

But when Maxon turns out to be a nice gentleman, she slowly starts to dream of a better life that she had never ever imagined.

REVIEW :

I picked the book because of it's hypnotic cover and the idea of the book. The idea of 35 girls fighting for the prince - be it for good or foul reasons. Seem very hunger games, only that, no one really dies.

Did I enjoy the book? Oh yes, I really did.

I'm a girl so I'm a little bias. I was swept away by the new odd world that America Singer was in, the glittering beautiful world of the royals and the interesting romance bubbling between the characters.

I loved how the palace was depicted and how the author showed the difference of the royal life and an ordinary life.

The characters are all quite interesting however, I feel this book lacks character development. The characters didn't change and are pretty one dimensional. I did, however, hate the idea of another love triangle which was America being torn over Aspen and Prince Maxon.
Frankly, must every author write about love triangles? I didn't like that too much. Unfortunately, this is what the story was based on.

Most people were probably loving the love story, I was more interested the world that the author created. I was really interested in the royalties of Illea as they are constantly attacked by rebels. I wondered what the rebels wants and if there is a conspiracy bubbling that even Prince Maxon isn't aware off. Honestly, I wished this part of the story would be more developed. Hopefully, the next book would press on this.

However, there was one thing I really hated which was the author's writing style. It felt like the author wasn't sure what timeframe she wanted her story to be in. One minute, there were slangs of our time and next minute, they were of a more futuristic or olden day feel. It was all rather confusing. I hated that.

Other than that, this was a pretty interesting story. It has a lot of potential but it is neither disappointing or fulfilling.

I guess, I'll just have to wait until the second book, The Elites, to be out. (It would be out by April 2013).

I would rate it 6 out of 10.

Legend of Korra

Reviewed by Kurohime

Legend of Korra, the sequel to Avatar : The Last Airbender.


Well, season 1 recently just finishing airing.


The plot? 


It's about Korra, the new avatar who's trying to master airbending from Tenzin (Aang's son) but there's a threat that is posed, which is Amon, who is trying to equalize the world by getting rid of bending. 


My review of it?


I had high expectations because I am a huge fan of the original series. Did it disappoint me? Well, maybe a little.


Frankly, I found this new series to be a little dry. There was humor but not enough. It was all very serious. 


I felt that the main characters lacked character development & maturity (Korra & Mako). I understand that they are teenagers and teenagers make mistakes or does the stupidest thing. But the characters here, they do not seem to realize that they made a mistake or are being stupid.


The other characters in Legend of Korra were more enjoyable but I wished that there was more character development but maybe because it's a short series, it wasn't able to do that.


There were also a lot of romance and love triangle implied in this series. I didn't really like that. I felt that it was unnecessary. Love interest and love triangles are alright as long as they don't hog the screentime, not allowing for more plot growth or character development. It was alright to hint romance but shoving it in my face was just too much.


Oh, I also hated the finale because Amon just exploded and died. That's a pretty dumb & disappointing way of ending a pretty interesting villain. I really like Amon because he was enigmatic and interesting. But unfortunately, he's gone now.


Other than that, the series was alright. 


Watching this made me miss the original series and I really wanted to see the original characters to appear in this new series. It was nice seeing their children and some flashback. To me, that was the best part.


On its own, Legend of Korra is a pretty good show but it isn't great.


Compared to the original series, Legend of Korra is nowhere as great as the original series.


Maybe, the reason why I didn't enjoy the new series that much was because I'm biased towards the original series since I miss it and think the world of it.


Anyhow, I give it a 5 out of 10.  

Anime Spring 2012 List

lol. Sorry for the super late update. Anyhow, here is the Anime Spring 2012 list. ENJOY~~!!

If it doesn't load properly, here is the link :

http://static.neregate.com/2012/02/neregate.com-Spring-2012-Anime-v3.1.png