Paper Towns, by John Green

Synopsis: 

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life — dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge — he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues — and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.

John Green never disappoints me, no matter what I read. From TFIOS to An Abundance of Katherines, they are all special in their unique ways. Only John Green can make us laugh, cry and think so deeply with the same page. And Paper Towns was a perfect example of it. 

There’s a problem in this book with verb tenses. Chapter nine in the second part was in present tense, suddenly, when everything had been in past tense and will continue from chapter ten in past tense. That shocked me, because I started reading the chapter and I knew something was different, but it took me some time to notice the verb tenses. And then, the third part is all in present, but that’s fine. The third part was my favorite. The road trip, epic. 

The characters are greatly developed, and real, which is the most important thing. Everyone has their virtues and, more importantly, their flaws, and that’s what I love about John Green’s books. Even Q wonders why he is friends with Ben when he ends up drunk at that party and all that, but Radar reminds him that we should like people for what they are, not because of what we want them to be, and that’s a huge lesson in life. They speak the truth, and that’s pretty valuable. 

Paper Towns tells a story about friendship, love and identity, and it’s full of deep characters that evolve throughout the novel (which is what I value the most) in a very common environment that makes it possible to identify ourselves with them. 

When Margo disappeared, I knew she was going to be disappointing. All those comments Ben made about how she just wanted them to keep her as the centre of their worlds, how she just wanted to be the centre of attention, was exactly as I expected the ending to be. Then we find out she didn’t put those clues out for them to find them, and that she didn’t want to be found. And then Q finally learns that Margo doesn’t exist, not as they want her to be. And that’s what the book is about. There’s a different Margo for every one of them, and that’s what happens in real life. We see things and people the way we’d like them to be, and most of the time, they turn up to be very different from what we imagined them to be like. And that disappoints us. But that’s how we are, that’s how life is, and that’s what John Green is trying to show us. 

The book was fresh, written in this John Green way of his that I’ve learned to know and love. I loved learning about paper towns and contemplating philosophical questions about one’s identity. If you love John Green or simply enjoy new but at the same time old stories, this is your book.

The Fiery Heart, by Richelle Mead (Bloodlines #4)

Synopsis: 

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives.

In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her. . . .

But the struggle isn't over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there's still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure — and re-education — looms larger than ever.

This may be one of my favorite books in this whole series. It had a lot of romance, which is exactly what I needed at the moment, and the couple was Sydney and Adrian, which made everything better. It’s taken me a long time to finally find this book, because I can’t find it in my country and I needed to get to London or somewhere to finally buy it, but it was definitely worth waiting for it. 

My first thought when I saw that I’d be reading chapters from both Sydney’s and Adrian’s perspectives was begging that this wasn’t going to be another Allegiant. But it wasn’t. Hearing from Adrian’s point of view was interesting, because I’ve always wanted to know more about his way of seeing the world, but it was also a bit disappointing, because I thought very differently of him. Nonetheless, it was great seeing him so in love with Sydney, and also getting to know how he’d felt when he was with Rose. Something else I enjoyed from his point of view was getting to know how Lissa is doing and everything that’s going on at Court and in spirit research. 

And Sydney… she’s changed so much since we first met her in Blood Promise, and I’m so glad she did! She’s become such a different character… and even though I miss that smart, architecture-and-cars-loving girl who was deeply afraid of the evil creatures of the night, I also like the strong, fearless woman, someone who stands up for her believes and who’s learned about love, that she is now. When I first read about her, I could have never suspected she would end up being so in love with Adrian, who’s just her opposite in every single aspect. But they are so great together… And the escape plans, and the she-eats-and-he-doesn’t-drink deal, and the time together at Court… 

So, as you may have guessed already, my favorite thing about this book was their romance, but there are many other things to comment about. 

I deeply dislike Zoe. I never liked her, but the ending of The Fiery Heart, that made me desperate. There was a moment or two throughout the book when I thought I glimpsed some hope for her, but then she just betrayed everything that being sisters means. Little sisters are never horrible in books, but this was unbearable, and Sydney kept trying to fix things with her all the time. It’s also partly Sydney’s fault, because she’s been obsessed with Adrian all the time and there was no way of hiding that, but even though, there’s this unmentioned sisters’ code that’s expected to be respected between sisters everywhere, and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t include selling said sister to the evil Alchemists who will mess up with her mind. 

Jill, Eddie, Angeline, Neil, Trey… I personally think there are too many characters around at the moment, and the worst thing is trying to have them all in love with someone else in the group, setting up all these couples… it was a bit too much, in my opinion. But I really like Eddie and Jill... And Ms. Terwilliger and the witches, and Marcus and his followers… there’s like thousands of things going on at once. 

And about the ending… poor Sydney. I do not want to see her giving up. And she won’t. For Adrian. But she’s going to go through really tough things, and I’m worried. The Alchemists can be really cruel. But Adrian and the others are probably going to go on a mission to save her and end up with the Alchemists’ re-education and all that… Because Silver Shadows will be the last one, right? I don’t want it to end… just like I was really sad for Vampire Academy to end, but then Bloodlines appeared. I guess we’ll see. But either way, thank you Richelle for all these books.