Review: The Rook (which is hilarious and you should read it right now)

So I'm sick again. For the second time in three weeks. With exactly the same awful cough. Life kinda sucks. However, while I have languished in self pity and a good amount of pain it was made quite bearable by The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. I picked up this book at Pulp Fiction in Brisbane after having it recommended to me and I'm so glad that I asked to be recommended good books because The Rook is awesome.

The Rook is a brilliant piece of urban fantasy set in present day London. We follow the story of Myfanwy Thomas who recently found herself awake in a random park, in the rain, surrounded by corpses and with amnesia. She abruptly finds herself caught up in a supernatural espionage thriller set in a secret public service aimed at keeping the unknowing British population safe from things that go bump in the night. I can't really explain anything else of the story without spoiling it but it is incredibly weird and pretty awesome.

If I was to give one reason why you should read The Rook it would be because it is absolutely HILARIOUS. I found myself bursting out in laughter and snorting really loudly on public transport. I had to go to work on Friday and the whole time I was reading this on the train I was smiling like an absolute loon. It is a genuinely fun wild ride of a story and amnesia Myfanwy is really funny.

There is a really cool magic system going on in this book and the characters have some sweet as supernatural powers. The writing is clean and really easy to read and all the characters are really fleshed out with some great descriptions.

In short, seriously just go and buy this book and read it!

Anyways, I'm going to have to go and suffer in my tutorials tomorrow. I'm going to try my best not to spread my disease but when I cough everywhere spontaneously it is not exactly easy....

Ciao for now!
Jakall :)

Sam Bowring is Fucking Awesome!

Well, he is!

I just finished reading Prophecy's Ruin which is the first book in the Broken Well Trilogy and my god is it amazing.

The plot twists and turns like nothing else! He is a total master of plot twists. I suppose I'm not exactly the most adapt at predicting what will happen in books and i have to admit that I'm pretty oblivious to anything until it actually happens so I'm pretty much like 'SAY WHAT!?!?!?!' to most twist in books...

What I'm trying to say though is that the twist towards the end of this first book was incredible. I was crying and screaming silently inside (because I was reading it on the train and was trying not to show much emotion because people look at me weird) and all I wanted to do was throw the book across the room and pray for a better world. But then the other twist came and I looked up and breathed out the biggest sigh of relief ever.

And this is just the first book!

I'm desperately trying to not read spoilers online before I go and buy the other two books tomorrow.

Also, if you read this and haven't read Bowring's Strange Threads Duology (The Legacy of Lord Regret and The Lord of Lies) away with you! Go and buy them both at your nearest bookshop. Don't make the mistake I did and only buy the first book and spend the next week in misery and an itching state of tension because I didn't have the second book. (I totally would have gone to the shops and bought it if I didn't live on a mountain 1 hours drive away from a reasonable bookshop and no car) I was that desperate to read it I bought a copy of The Lord of Lies on itunes and I hate with a passion reading novels off a screen. But I read it in like, 6 hours. Yeah, it's an amazing series. I then went and bought the physical copies and read them through a second time.





I'm a tad freakish when it comes to books I love. I re-read pretty much every book i own with alarming regularity. I also have a thing where I read every book in a series just before the new one comes out. I'm about to start re-reading the entire Skulduggery Pleasant series (7 books) in preparation for the new book (September 2nd cannot come fast enough). Mind you, when the time comes I'll write a post for Skulduggery because those books are very close to my heart.

Anyways, I pretty much wrote this post because I'm procrastinating. Yeah, I have an assignment due tomorrow that I haven't even written and intro for yet. Oops...

Just make sure you read Sam Bowring because holy shit he is an amazing writer!

I suck at goal setting but I do it anyway...

So... I'm basically the laziest arsehole that ever lived... I promised myself that I would write an entry nearly everyday but, you guessed it, that has appeared to have failed epically. I am terrible at keeping my goals, which sucks and is a quality that I would like to get rid of. I wish I was more motivated, which kind of makes me laugh because this morning I uploaded a chapter summary for university 2 minutes before the deadline. I didn't even read the text until an hour before it was due. Right now I've been procrastinating on an Ethics assignment which is due tomorrow. I've currently written 200 words of complete bullshit, then again, most of my assignments are quality bullshit so I guess it's not too bad.

I thought I'd create a goal for myself on this blog. I'm going to take a picture of my bookshelves and review (give my really shitty opinion) all the books, movies and tv series I own. I'll write a new one every day and hopefully they'll slowly improve my writing skills. I will also give random insights and opinions on current things happening in my life and, well, I'm not doing this for anyone but myself. So if you don't like it then I suppose you don't have to read it.

So, without further ado, here are my glorious bookshelves!

Yes, that is a Game of Thrones shelf, complete with dragons and special edition TV series! Also, I love my Neil Gaiman shelf! And, that is the wire skull that I made in year 12 art.

OK, yes I am an 18 year old who has held on to her Beanie Bear collection... and Disney videos... and Pokemon. But, I am quite proud of my Doctor Who shelf!

And finally, I present to you a cute picture of my cat and dog, being adorable. Meet Otto the dog and Kiba the cat! :D

Well, here I am starting a blog. It is something I have wanted to do for an age but have been lacking the motivation and the courage to start. Just a word of warning to anyone: this blog is going to be filled with absolute rubbish straight from my mind. If anyone actually begins to read my blog (first I'd be astounded but then)... well, I think you should probably run or click far away.

This will be filled with the ramblings of my small mind. With anything and everything I can think of just for the sake of writing something. I haven't done much online writing before, hell, I only post once every fortnight on Facebook and I am waaaay too scared of the hordes on Youtube waiting to tear me apart if I misspell one single word. I guess the reason I don't do much online writing is because I am terrified of being judged. But obviously that's all going to change with this new blog that nobody will ever read! Hooray! Now my writing will be on the internet to be judged by my unlucky wanderer who happens to click on my blog. Sigh, it's for the best really. I need to practice my writing for my writing major and hopefully with a lot of practice and hard work it will slowly get better.

How about I talk about myself. No? You don't want to here it? WELL TOO BAD! I'm on too much of a role now to stop! RANDOM FACTS:

I have red hair, but was strangely never teased about it. I live on a mountain. I love fantasy and 'young adult' fiction. I was a massive (new) Doctor Who fan until this last season (which I found kinda terrible). I like going to uni and attending lectures. I don't like writing assignments (let's face it, who does?). I have not had a proper boyfriend which kinda makes me feel a bit foreveralone. I love drawing and sketching although I am actually terrible at it (this is not one of those actually-really-awesome-artist-who-thinks-they-are-shit moments either, I really am terrible at art). And, last but not least, I can involuntarily move my big toe and third toe at the same time without any of the other toes moving (everyone thinks I'm a little bit weird).

To finish off this monumental First Blog Post I will say that I am actually in bed sick and at this hour should probably be asleep. Also, I just finished Terry Pratchett and Steven Baxter's new novel 'The Long War' and I must say it was awesome. *Spoiler* it didn't actually contain a war (which I was slightly disappointed by) but the sheer brilliance of the concept of a Long Earth does not disappoint in any way and continues to amaze me (also the characters are as awesome as ever!). Well, I think that is enough.

Ciao for now!