THE INFERNAL DEVICES ARE WITHOUT PITY.

THE INFERNAL DEVICES ARE WITHOUT REGRET.

THE INFERNAL DEVICES ARE WITHOUT NUMBER.

THE INFERNAL DEVICES WILL NEVER STOP COMING.

Tessa Gray should be happy — aren’t all brides happy? Yet as she prepares for her wedding to Jem Carstairs, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to the Magister, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. He needs only one last item to complete his plan of destruction.

He needs Tessa.

Tessa knows Axel Mortmain, the Magister, is coming for her, but not where or when he will strike. Charlotte Branwell, the head of the London Institute, is desperate to find Mortmain first. And the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa’s heart, Jem and Will, will do anything to save her. For though Tessa and Jem are now engaged, and Will knows he should force himself to find someone else to care for, he is as much in love with her as ever.

In the last words of a dying Shadowhunter reside the clue that might lead Tessa and her friends to Mortmain. But the Shadowhunters of the London Institute cannot stand alone, and in their homeland of Idris, the ruling body of the Clave doubt their claims that Mortmain is coming. Deserted by those who should be their allies and with their enemies closing in, the Shadowhunters find themselves trapped when Mortmain seizes the medicine which is all that is keeping Jem alive. With his best friend at death’s door it is up to Will to risk everything to save the woman they both love.

To buy Will time, the warlock Magnus Bane joins with Henry Branwell to create a device that could help them to defeat the Magister. As those who love Tessa work to save her, and the future of the Shadowhunters that resides with her, Tessa realizes that the only person who can save her is herself —for in the discovery of her own true nature, Tessa begins to learn that she is more powerful than she ever dreamed possible. But can a single girl, even one who can command the power of angels, face down an entire army?

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment, and the tangled threads of love and loss intertwine as the Shadowhunters are pushed to the very brink of destruction in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

ERMAGERD.

So... heartbreaking...

SPOILER ALERT - GO READ CLOCKWORK ANGEL AND CLOCKWORK PRINCE

Tessa and Will, Tessa and Jem...

So of course Jem gets even sweeter in this book, which makes it impossible to hate him even though you really really want to for stealing Tessa from Will, because Will is the best, right?

readreadreadreadread. Okay? readreadread.

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It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery....

Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found.

With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

I read this for school, and wow. I'd been wanting to read it for a really long time but had never gotten around to it...

Liesel just struck an interesting chord with me. She was dependent on books, just like I am, and had an intriguing tenderness that made me care about her.

The narration is peppered with dark humor that makes this subject bearable to read about.

I really don't feel like doing much analysis today. But. Suffice it to say that I cried at the end.

This is pretty much a must read.

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Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

*spoiler alert - just go read Clockwork Angel right now.*

Can I say I AM OBSESSED?

Although Tessa was totally clueless, which annoyed me, she was a likable enough character, sensitive and bookish. She kind of reminded me of me (although I read the first paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities and it puzzled me so much that I put it down). She had depth enough, I suppose.

But now on to WILL AND JEM AND MY FEEEEELINGS ABOUT THOSE TWO. I'm ENTIRELY PRO-WILL, OF COURSE. WILL IS THE BEST. HE WILL ALWAYS BE THE BEST *SWOONS* HE IS AWESOME. MORE THAN AWESOME. HEAVENLY. BEYOND HEAVENLY. *SWOONS AGAIN* 

HOWEVER, I FIND IT IMPOSSIBLE TO HATE JEM, AS MUCH AS I WANT TO FOR STEALING TESSA AWAY FROM WILL AND BREAKING HIS HEART LIKE THAT.

Did I mention I could kill Tessa for hurting Will like she did? I mean, he's WILL! MAKE HIM HAPPY! EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE HIM HAPPY!

The plot is good. Supporting characters are good.

THE MAIN THING IS, TESSA NEEDS TO END UP WITH WILL.

AWESOMENESS.

BYE.

I AM REQUIRING YOU TO READ THIS SERIES.

3 DAYS UNTIL CLOCKWORK PRINCESS! *SQUEAL* TESSA AND WILL, WILL AND TESSA...

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My SECOND photomanipulation - OMG.
Here are all the image credits. GAH.
http://browse.deviantart.com/art/Fish-png-177597268
http://absurdwordpreferred.deviantart.com/art/Butterflies-png-177594528http://panna-acida.deviantart.com/art/Texture-01-80537216http://mossi889.deviantart.com/art/fish-292036485http://evelivesey.deviantart.com/art/Flying-Parrot-178998378http://netzephyr.deviantart.com/art/STOCK-Raven-Flying-with-Alpha-Layer-188264521http://michelle-long.deviantart.com/art/fly-205105347
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/42900/42988/golden8_42988.htm

Basically, I created this for a school project on the golden ratio using a golden spiral as a layer. It turned out actually okay, so I decided to post it here. This is pretty close to what I originally had in mind, a multitude of creatures all flying in a golden spiral towards a certain special something. I made it on PicMonkey, so I decided at the last minute that the "something" should be love and stuck a cute heart in it.

Hope it's good, for my second photomanip! Thanks!

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On March 7, 2013, a fellow NaNoer, Ash, lost her fight with leukemia.

I never met her. I wanted to contribute something to her memory, though. And this is what I came up with.

Rest in peace, Ash.

...................................................................................................................................................................

**NOTICE**: Considering how this story turned out, I've taken it off this blog for the time being and have submitted it to a magazine for consideration. Thanks for all your wonderful feedback!

UPDATE: I made a cover for this - I'll post it on Figment once I get around to joining.

Cover design by Starflower Hunting. Stock texture courtesy of ~Inthename-Stock on deviantART (http://inthename-stock.deviantart.com/).

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Elysia is created in a laboratory, born as a sixteen-year-old girl, an empty vessel with no life experience to draw from. She is a Beta, an experimental model of a teenage clone. She was replicated from another teenage girl, who had to die in order for Elysia to exist. 

Elysia's purpose is to serve the inhabitants of Demesne, an island paradise for the wealthiest people on earth. Everything about Demesne is bioengineered for perfection. Even the air induces a strange, euphoric high, which only the island's workers--soulless clones like Elysia--are immune to.

 
At first, Elysia's life is idyllic and pampered. But she soon sees that Demesne's human residents, who should want for nothing, yearn. But for what, exactly? She also comes to realize that beneath the island's flawless exterior, there is an under-current of discontent among Demesne's worker clones. She knows she is soulless and cannot feel and should not care--so why are overpowering sensations clouding Elysia's mind? 

If anyone discovers that Elysia isn't the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When her one chance at happi-ness is ripped away with breathtaking cruelty, emotions she's always had but never understood are unleashed. As rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her, Elysia must find the will to survive.

I was kind of stunned by this. Part of me wanted to say "wow" and the other part was disappointed with it.

So I'd heard of the book before and was mildly wanting to read it, so I saw it at the library and brought it home.

THE ROMANCE IS PITIFUL.

THE HEROINE IS PRETTY COOL.

THE PREMISE IS EPIC.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY LOOSE ENDS?

Aaaaannnddd.... that's pretty much it. I know I've been writing some pretty flighty reviews today, but I am mulling Finn over in my head (more on him later) and I am jittery.

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*spoiler warning* GO READ DIVERGENT. NOW. I ORDER YOU TO.

One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Should I even talk about this?

I... am... obsessed, pretty much. So there's Tris. And I love that she's short. Just had to say that. She is definitely one of the most complex, strong female protagonists I've ever read. Everyone, of course, immediately thinks of Katniss Everdeen, and I really liked her before she got all hyped up. I read The Hunger Games three or four years ago, and back then I was wild for it. But now... meh.

Back to Tris. And Tobias (I really dislike that name, but *sigh* oh well). They just had such a perfect and yet confusing dynamic and I was like WHY ARE YOU ARGUING?!

I read this a while ago, yes, because I'm behind on reviews (I'm currently reading Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare - gah - WILL) and so I can only provide you with a grievously inadequate analysis, but the characters and emotional depth and everything.... GAH.

If you've read Divergent, read this. DUH.

If you haven't read Divergent, I can only shake my head and say... "HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK?!"

So bye then. (Divergent #3, which does not yet have a title: 10.22.13 - I will read it.)

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Lord of the Flies, William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island, is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition. --Jennifer Hubert, summary from goodreads.com

Another book I read for school.

Into Thin Air and Lord of the Flies made quite a jarring pair for me. They are both about humans in hostile environments turning towards their chaotic natures. 

There were so many eerily accurate things about this book that I just can't convey...

But my review wouldn't do justice to either of them, really. There are most likely others who would do it much better.

That will be all.

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When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet (roughly the cruising altitude of an Airbus jetliner), twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds...

In this definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest, Jon Krakauer takes the reader step-by-step from Kathmandu to the mountain's deadly pinnacle, unfolding a breathtaking story that will by turns thrill and terrify.

This is a true story.

I had to read this for school and wasn't expecting much. The general attitude of most adolescents is that nonfiction isn't supposed to be cool, right? But this was beyond... anything I've ever read. It's a captivating and achingly descriptive account of a jarring tragedy.

The impartial, journalistic tone used throughout the book was superb, and really assured me that I was reading the truth and nothing but.

It's a very moving, powerful book filled with symbolism and shattering truths.

Just read it.

I know this is a brusque review, but EEK I'm behind and I need to get moving. I'm requiring you to read this one. Seriously.

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