The Maze Runner Trailer

I’ve been meaning to post a link to this trailer for quite some time now. I finished Maze Runner by James Dashner more than a year back and was exceptionally curious as to how the book would be adapted into a movie. Especially the Grievers. Because I pictured a dinosaur-ish creatures. But I’ve got to say the maze looks exactly the way I’d pictured it to be. And I’ll definitely be picking up Scorch Trials, the sequel to Maze Runner, very soon.

And oh, Bonus! Dylan O’Brien as Thomas. I mean just look at that fine male specimen.

Prodigy by Marie Lu – A Book Review

Author: Marie Lu

First in the Series: Legend

Genre: YA Dystopian Fiction

Prodigy on Goodreads

Prodigy

Warning: This review May contain spoilers for those who haven’t read the first book, Legend.

Plot: After helping Day escape from the execution, June is now the Republics most wanted traitor. Day, who has lost his mother and his elder brother John, is now desperately trying to get Eden back from the clutches of the Republic. Injured and anguished, they turn to the Patriots while chaos ensues in the Republic. Love and Loyalties are tested in this epic sequel to Legend.

I am so happy that I pre ordered Champion, the sequel to Prodigy, because it would have been agonizing to wait for it for a week.

In fifteen word or less: Prodigy does not let down Legend. It delivers much more than it promises.

Finally. It feels like its been forever since I read a good sequel to an equally good first book in the series. Matched, Delirium none of them managed to live up to the expectations in the second book quite like Legend. I am ecstatic to say that Prodigy does not disappoint. At all. Au contraire, Prodigy carries the story forward with explosive twists and cliffhangers. If you think that the sequels will be somewhat of a Hunger-Games rip-off, you’re sadly mistaken. Prodigy has something different to offer, with conspiracies, adversaries and suspicion full to the brim.

Another unparalleled aspect in Prodigy is how Marie Lu has addressed June and Day’s relationship without making it cheesy or oversentimental. Its not easy for Day to completely forget what June has done or for June to leave all her luxurious comforts behind. They do trust and love each other, but their relationship isn’t completely devoid of suspicion and guilt.

The Jay Ship

Also, Marie Lu has this incredible ability to make me shout at the characters.

Another praiseworthy aspect is how sibling relationships have been portrayed. June’s love for Metias and more importantly, Day’s concern for Eden. I have read so many books that attempt at establishing a unique association with other characters but in the end it gives a very fake and pretentious impression. Prodigy on the other hand genuinely strikes a chord with the reader with the characters feelings. Apart from the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series, Prodigy is the only other book that manages to recreate a unique type of love for parents, siblings, friends and family.

Marie Lu also corrects a mistake that she made in Legend: June and Day’s perspectives, unlike Legend, are now distinct. Day is sarcastic while June is more thoughtful.

The only problem was that there were a few chapters right in the beginning from Day’s point-of-view that were too action-packed. Of course Prodigy is meant to be a fast paced book, but action like “jumping over a wall” doesn’t really transcribe into books the way it translates into a movie. But thats a very minor problem.

Overall Prodigy is one of the very few dystopian books that do not disappoint. And I highly recommend this book to those who have read and enjoyed the Hunger Games. I would have said that the book left me satisfied, but the Climax!!

The Climax!!

Marie Lu stop messing with my feels.

Legend By Marie Lu – A Book Review

Set against the backdrop of a futuristic dystopian Republic in the Western United States, Legend is the story of June and Day. Fifteen year old June, born into one of the wealthiest families, is the Republic’s prodigy. Born into one of the poverty-stricken sectors of the Republic, Day is a notorious criminal. 

However, when June’s brother Metias is killed, June sets out to bring her brother’s killer to book and thus crosses paths with Day, who is desperately trying to fight for his family’s survival. Amidst plagues, unfaithful friends and adversaries, June uncovers the truth – truth that could destroy the very foundations of her Republic.

I have to admit, Im a sucker for Young Adult Dystopian books. But biases aside, Legend lived up to every expectation I had. Action? Check. Romantic subplot? Check. Cliffhangers? Check. This is definitely the book to read if you enjoyed The Hunger Games and Divergent.

Marie Lu has delivered all the ingredients in just the right amount to her readers. Alternating between June and Day’s perspectives, Legend juxtaposes two different point-of-views with several twists. With feisty characters and dramatic cliffhangers emerges an explosive and action-packed plot with captivating twists and turns. Despite mutual suspicions, June and Day are drawn towards each other and we find ourselves rooting for this ship already.

The only time when I faced a problem with this book was when Day was described having “unruly, long white blond hair” that “hangs over his shoulders”. Not to sound prejudiced or anything, but for some surreal reason, every time I tried to picture Day that way, Lucius Malfoy popped into my head.

Excuse me? Am I not pretty?

So I decided to picture Day with short black hair. Other than that and the fact that authors love to mess with our feels by just killing off characters (“a necessary evil” as they put it), Legend is definitely worth a read. I will definitely be picking up its sequel, Prodigy.

Im Back!

I would sincerely like to apologize for my incessantly long absence. The culprit being school, its is to be blamed. However, I (once again) promise to rebound with a lot of HP posts, head cannons, hunger games stuff and some ‘Secrets Of The Smitten Stories‘. A Divergent spam is also headed your way (If you haven’t read it yet, I strongly suggest you pick up a copy of it – Divergent by Veronica Roth). And of course   Catching Fire‘s trailer is less than a month away! I’ve also been trying to coax some ‘Teenage love stories’ out of my friends. They’re reluctance in letting go of their secrets is taxing. I mean, I only wish to add a little drama to their stories, change their names and give my readers a refreshing love story, something that will send butterflies in their stomachs. In fact one of my friends is still infuriated with me for spilling out her secret. Remember the stapler incident? Pfft. Anyways, Im back! Even though I have school, and its the twelfth grade, I ,sure as hell, am going to take some time out for my blog!

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 13,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

Ship Drapple?

One Day Crush

I would just like to apologize for my absence, school has been hectic. Anyway, this story is a little different from the others. Its not a part of any fanfiction. And it isn’t based on my personal experience. A friend of mine told me about her infatuation. 

I gave a sigh of relief as I heard the bell ring. Finally, I was starting to get sick of all those chemistry lectures. Luckily this period was free. I could utilize this time for studying.

I settled myself on a comfy chair at the back of the class, away from all the noise. I was so engrossed in the Animal Farm, that I didn’t even notice when the chair next to me moved and Maggie came and sat next to me, literally begging me for help. Apparently, some charts for the house board needed to be put up and no one was willing to help.

“Aw, Okay.” I agreed. Grudgingly, I picked up the stapler she had left at my desk and proceeded towards the board. They didn’t even have any pins to fasten the charts with! Shame. I yanked out a chart from the box and started to staple it onto the board. There goes my  free period.

Halfway through stapling the chart, it stopped working. Something was stuck in it. Great. Now I’ll need to fix it. “Damn it, this thing isn’t working!” I mumbled.

‘Give it to me,’ I heard someone say from behind. I turned to face Mark Anderton? Eleventh grader, captain of the basketball team.

Somehow, I had never noticed him. He was tall and had a sturdy build. Gray eyes that looked straight into mine. He was, I had to admit, handsome. He was one of the popular boys, always hanging around with a bunch of “cool guys”. So there was never any reason for me to pay attention to him.

His hands were working magic. He swiftly adjusted the pins within and fastened it. He then turned toward the board and starting pinning the charts onto the board.

I just stood there frozen for a minute after realizing that I probably looked like a moron just standing there and watching him. So I quickly turned around and disappeared behind the corridor.

I was acutely aware of the fact that my pulse was racing. The ringing of the bell finally brought me back to reality. Biology. I groaned. Our biology professor was yet to impress me with her teaching skills. I grabbed my books and notes headed to the lab.

Biology classes were nothing new. Today we would be starting with the cellular anatomy of a neuron. Our bio teacher was perched on the window sill, all ready to give us another afternoon of misery.

The lecture droned on. Sue was taking notes. Apparently, she had not noticed that I was in a daze. Good, I’ll just copy the notes from her. Right now, I just fell the need to sit back and daydream. I had already seen myself in the wedding dress, when the bell finally rang. I picked up my books and headed out the door. Sue was hanging back to have some doubts cleared. Jeez, how much can you study?

I had barely reached my seat, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. Oh no! It was him.

“Hey! Adriana right?” He knew my name? “You forgot your stapler,” I fumbled with the stapler as he handed it to me. I made a mental note to steal this stapler. My heart was hammering because of the proximity.

He brushed past me as he headed towards the door and I drifted, once more into a series of daydreams. So much for studying plans.

Love it? Hate it? Leave a comment. Criticism appreciated. 

Why I ship Dramione!?

For those of you who do not ship Dramione, WHY YOU NO SHIP DRAMIONE!?!? Okay, kidding.

I do not mean to impose my ship on you, I only wish to tell you why is it that I love Dramione, Why the ship – In my opinion – is perfect. Hermione is one person who forgives and is the only person who has the ability to look beyond motives into the real person, somewhat like Lily who could see the best in a person when most importantly that person could not see it in themselves. They are both strong characters. To ship Dramione is to talk about love – Real Love – which has no barriers and which knows no limits, which knows no prejudice. Love which means forgiveness and redemption.

It would have been a great twist to put them together and in some ways it would be completing the love story between Severus Snape and Lily Evans. The Slytherin Prince and the Gryffindor Princess.

It is the Beauty and the Beast pairing, where because of the beauty, the beast has a change of heart. Or the ship could also carry a “Pride and Prejudice” theme. Yes, there are quite a few striking similarities between the Mr. Darcy-Elizabeth Bennet pairing and the Draco Malfoy-Hermione Granger ship.

The chemistry between the characters increases when you realise that a boy picks on girl when he actually likes her.

Dramione would be the perfect redemption for Draco. He called her a ‘mudblood’ all his life. It is imperative that he falls in love with a muggle-born to redeem himself of all his wrongdoings. He went over to the dark side; She was from the Golden Trio. They would be purrfect.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Ronmione too. Ron was also perfect. Its just that it would be nice to explore some other aspects as well.

However I strongly disagree when Fans ship “Feltson”. Tom and Emma are celebrities. We don’t know them personally, so spreading rumors that are not true only inconvenience them. We should respect their privacy. There is no harm in shipping Dramione as Draco and Hermione are fictional characters, but lets leave Tom and Emma out of this. They have a hard time dealing with Paparazzi as it is. They don’t need fans to add fuel to the fire. All this will only lead to Tom and Emma’s equation getting defiled.

For Feltson fans, I’d like you see this blog (Here) and see reason. Leave Celebs out of this.

Congratulations, Slytherin!

Congratulations to all Slytherins, winners of the Pottermore House cup 2012! Party More in the Common Room.

The Yule Ball

(Clockwise from Top Left) Viktor Krum, Hermione Granger, Roger Davies, Fleur Delacour, Harry Potter, Parvati Patil, Cho Chang, Cedric Diggory, Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, Padma Patil, Ron Weasley.