What a beautiful ending to a wonderful book. Thank goodness Harry seem to have disappeared from the picture - I wonder what happened to him?

It was horrifying to read about Mutti's condition at the end, to imagine anyone could survive such a thing let alone the hundreds of people who did is just.... insane. It really does seem like a work of fiction; heartbreaking and impossible to believe.

Lovely ending, poor girl after all her heartache she deserved such a joyful end.

All the characters were exceptionally well done, even the devious Harry who I'm fairly certain turned into a narcissistic psychopath fundamentally due to his horrible circumstances. Terrifying to imagine how many others out there who would have turned into similar beings.

Still the skill the author showed in this book, creating this story and these superb characters was incredible. The Girl With No Name also had a unique writing style, sort of third-person then scatterings of first-person POV, admittedly I was a little weirded out by it at the beginning but it really worked for the story, I don't believe it would have been told as well without it. I'll definitely be looking into more of her work.

4 Stars

I'll admit the only reason I managed to finish this book was because it's loosely based in my place of residence (Brisbane) and I was intrigued. It was interesting to see how the author views the place we both live so differently to me, clearly a city girl who spends a lot of time at Kangaroo Point (which does have a beautiful view).

Anywho even though I did at times struggle with finishing Vigil I can't say it was a bad book as I did enjoy it. I think the reason why it was so easy to put down is more due to the pacing, there were times when there was a clear pause in the story, like a mini-finish where I could easily put the book down or would be bored enough to go off and do other things, plus the descriptions were a bit long for my taste, I prefer the minimalist amount. I have a good imagination my brain will do the rest.

The creatures where great, loved how they were dark and deadly. Characters were alright, I didn't really care for any of them or click with them. The main character had the maturity of someone in their late teens/early twenties even though it was obvious her character was meant to be older, this I find is a pet-peeve of mine. Really bugs me.
The book being based in brissy was trippy, some places were easily identified others not (though I did wonder if I'd be able to look up some places or people and see a real life version). The idea of so many people disappearing here is a bit ludicrous. It's not a very big city and we have a fairly good homeless community service programs here, even if they can't find a spot in a home they have access to food for free a few times a week by different groups, so the regulars are well known. Still not a bad idea if the city was bigger or if I hadn't lived here for a few years I'd be totally behind the idea.

I really enjoyed how everything came together nice and neatly in the end. I had no clue as to whom the bad guy was masquerading as so that was a nifty little surprises.
Anyways based on everything I decided to rate this book 2.5/3 stars.

The Great Zoo of China started off strong. The introduction gave us the setting for the story - a death scene, a hint of bad guys and dragons. Afterwards we were introduced to our characters, given tidbits of information about their history and relationships with each other. Then to the zoo and dragon, this part was great, they explained in detail how they came across the dragons, their skills, abilities, and physical structure, the linking DNA with other creatures, how the dragons played a part in history - all of the information was sound, if dragons did exist I could easilypicture them being just like this.
Later on we go for a little exploration around the zoo, check out the incredible skill of the Chinese when it comes to infrastructure, where the dragons live, their activities, where people would visit and how they'd interact with the dragons - then the action started and all logic and physics went flying out the window.
The action was badass! everyone....well almost everyone was dead within just a few hours, with the book describing the gory death scene's, the dragons eating peoples faces, blood and brain matter everywhere, the inability of people being able to fight and survive against such a brutal and intelligent predator..... think Jurassic Park times a thousand. Which was cool and all but the complete lack of realistic survival kept pulling me out of the story, the dragons were so badass, its ridiculous to believe anyone would survive, let alone CJ who continuously stopped during a life and death moment so she could watch the dragons kill everyone around her. And who would put her in charge of the group when there was a perfectly good military guy just standing around? He would be the most logical choice - of course she was the only person intelligent enough to figure that tidbit out as well. Sorry CJ but with how much importance you were given made me dislike you a lot more than I ordinarily would - she was a tough, intelligent, go-getter, who played with crocodiles for a living and was a vet. Really she was thatamazing, but it was overshadowed by the unbelievable parts she played in the book, girl was a glory hog.
Still the beginning was great and the action entertaining, and it had dragons so this book is still worth at least 3 stars just for that!

Unfortunately no where near as good as Stiefvater's other book, Scorpio Races. Though The Raven Boys certainly was interesting.

I have mixed feelings about the use of magic in this book. On one side it made things unpredictable, which I didn't mind, but there also felt like there was no solid footing - the rules kept changing to fit the circumstances, and I did notice a couple of holes in the story that I suppose may, or may not be explained in the following books.

I did like how all the characters had failures but I didn't in particularly like any of the characters, they for me where just.... meh. Blue was strange just for the sake of it (I suppose knowing people are going to judge you anyway why not just run with it) the boys sounded similar when reading from their POVs.
I'm disappointed Adam turned out the way he did, also what of that 'thing' toward the end - will it have a lasting impact?
I felt fairly meh about Gangsey, though I suppose for a teenage boy he was interesting enough.
Ronan was definitely the most fascinating - he also stuck the most clearly to his 'defined' personality which I like, even if his personality wasn't great. He didn't flip-flop around like the others occasionally did.
The bird was certainly fun and a good look for Ronan.
Noah was alright, his relationship with Blue was cute.
So while non of the characters particularly floated-my-boat I do appreciate the uniqueness and backstory of the four main characters. They were ....complex in comparison to a lot of YA characters, with broken families, domestic violence, suicide and death and Blue's family (an all female & not completely blood related) was certainly different to any other family I have read about which was nice.

Overall still a so-so read for me, even if I do find myself deeply fascinated with what Ronan's secret could be, but possibly not enough to continue reading the next book.

3 stars.

Why did I read this? What was the point of it? why was it so highly recommended? my life view hasn't changed in anyway, I'm not moved, I'm mainly just bewildered as fuck.

What was the point of this book? For all intents and purposes i have almost no answers after reading this book, it was shrouded in mystery from beginning to end. I think i might be even more confused about the book after i finished reading it > how is that even possible?

SPOILERS
Well to save you guys from reading this book I'll sum it up for you. We have our two main characters, Beatrice and Axl. There some mysterious old age, lets guess 80's, they have almost zero memory of their past (this includes things that happened even an hour before) no they're not suffering from Alzheimer's, everyone is suffering from this mysterious Mist that clouds all thoughts. They all of a sudden decide to depart of this epic journey across country to meet up with a son, which the can barely remember and have no clue where he actually lives. As they travel they come across many a random strangers and monsters, some friendly some..not so much. In one town they save a boy from death by simply taking him away, they also travel with a warrior. We know almost nothing about these two, still dont except the boy has been bitten and can lead them to the mysteries behind the mist, the warrior is a Saxon here to stop the mist so he can get on with conquering the land because of horrendous past deeds. We learn about some war stories, why the mist was create, and some weird shit bouncing around inside of the boy's strange head. (view spoiler)
So yea the epic journey continues, we occasionally swap POV to the others, and everyone is talking in the hideous polite town that bores almost everything they say, because it makes a sentence much longer and more complicated then necessary. The four travelers come across a Knight, who has a not so surprising twist at the end, some messed up and twisted monks (who occasionally get eaten by crows) then the group split up, do some more traveling, some how stumble upon each other, figure out the mysteries of the mist....then I'm a little confused from there.... oh spoiler here > there's son dead! surprise! then I believe (view spoiler)
So Yea that pretty much sums up the book. I have no clue what going on and more answer than ever.

The world building was pretty awesome, we had some really interesting background and stories, problem is we never get to explore it so while the glimpses were great there not enough to make this book good.

I'll rate this book 2 stars (more like 1.5 stars) because of those little glimpses, and because i felt a little sad over the love lost in the end, did i feel for the characters? not particularly. But i have a soft spot for old fogies and they had been through so much, was kinda sad the way things ended. And because this book managed to make me read all of it even though the whole way through i was confused as to why i continued (maybe a little bit of mist crept out?) man I'm so annoyed i didnt get ANY BLOODY ANSWERS!

So yea, not something i recommend to other readers for the simple fact i don't see anything gained by reading this book, just time spent.