Review: A Ameaça

A Ameaça by Ken Follett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[17/11/16]
I finally finished this! I took such a long time because of university, but I enjoyed it every time I grabbed it! Ken Follett is one of the masters of thriller, and this one didn't fall behind on that.

Whiteout deals with a deadly virus that, if spread, could kill millions of people. One of the scientists died with the virus but it was an isolated case. That was supposed to be the worst thing that could happen, right? Wrong.

Toni Gallo is an ex-police that now works as the head of the security of a lab that belongs to Stanley Oxenford. And she now has to deal with the biggest crisis of her life, and if she fails, millions could die. But this isn't just about her. Stanley's family - which is a huge family - has a role in all of this. And what a pleasant surprise that was! (it's not everyday that you find a thriller revolving around an entire family)

Miranda was a really good surprise, she turned out to be one of the bravest of that family. Ned too, I was really bothered with the way he acted but then he turned out to be a good character. I still have a meh opinion about Hugo but the guy didn't deserve what he got. Olga was a pretty good character, if it probably wasn't for her - and the snow, mind that - the virus would have probably been released.

But the most amazing surprise were the kids. Even if Caroline didn't have any role at all and Tom barely had one, Sophie and Craig almost stole the spotlight. They were amazing, and funny in their own way, and incredibly brave and even helped Toni literally save the day.

The bad guys were well developed too (as obviously they'd be, it's Ken Follett, duh). Madoba-2 was actually Toni's main problem, but it derived from Kit, so I wasn't that wrong. Kit is a very complex character, so I enjoyed all of his thoughts.

The only downfall? The ending. It's completely predictable, including the main character's ending. There's not any twist to it. It's predictable and even cliché, and that's why it doesn't get 5 stars.

All in all, this is a great book, with good characters and a good plot. It all makes sense and all the characters play a role (almost all of them, basically the ones I don't remember the names don't have that big of a role). It was very nice to be reading a thriller but still see the way the characters interacted with each other. Some of the chapters were really pleasant in the sense that it seemed like a completely normal story about a big family. And that's probably what I like the most, the way Ken Follett is able to intertwine trivial things into a thriller and make it all seem realistic.

[11/11/16]
I'm still confused with the names of everyone that showed up in the first chapter, but Stanley's family is pretty easy to memorize. Also, I want to see how everyone his family, especially Miranda and Olga, will play their roles in this story. I'm sensing the main problem for Toni won't even be Madoba-2 but yes Kit.

[1/11/16]
I'm currently very confused with all the names. I really don't know who anyone is besides Toni and Kit due to the amount of characters that were introduced just in the first chapter. Still I'm sure by the end of the book I'll know exactly who everyone is.

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Review: Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 1

Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 1 by Sui Ishida
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Up until now, it's pretty faithful to the anime! I don't remember it well, but I think this entire volume happened in episode 1 and perhaps 2 as well.

It's really interesting to see Kaneki and the parallels between him and the books he read. Also Nishiki seems more evil here than I remember him. Hide is precious, he needs to be protected forever!

I hope that by reading the manga I get a deeper understanding of Kaneki and his reasons, but I'm expecting things to start shifting from the anime only around the second season and the volume that corresponds to it.

So far so good! A great start that isn't boring in any way!

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Review: Silence

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars!

Wooow, I never thought I'd like it this much! First of all, I read Hush, Hush a bunch of years ago, when I was a teenager (and younger than Nora btw) and I remember really well it was the typical love story between teenage girl who meets a new student who's some kind of supernatural. Then, I read the second about... two years ago? But the only thing I remember is how much it seemed like a simple romance story and nothing supernatural about it, except the fact that [SPOILER FOR WHO HASN'T READ THE SECOND BOOK] Nora loses her memory.

Now here we are! On to the third book! And this is lovelyyy! The way Nora can't remember anything but the way that Patch just keeps on being there on the back of her mind! Nora is a fearless main-character, actually. She's pretty brave! And the way that Becca constructed her world and wrote this book gave more depth to the characters. I loved Scott in this, he's the cutest guy ever, but I didn't like Vee that much. If my best-friend did what she did to Nora, I'd probably react the same way. Apart from Nora, Patch, and incredibly Hank, I don't feel any of the other characters had much development. They barely showed up except Scott and Nora's mother. That's the only fault, pretty much, because the story went at a perfect pace.

This still got 4.5 stars (leaning to 5) from me because of how cute and simple but still complex this is! Seeing Nora regain her memories and "reclaim" back her identity and world with Patch's help seems simple enough, especially when you think this is a story for young-adults, but had a certain level of deepness that contributed in the right way for it but still didn't make it too heavy. Also, the romance is just right, Becca is a master at writing love emotions.

It was the perfect read to keep my mind in a clean state and it never felt heavy. It was almost like a light read, but not exactly light that I'd feel my time was wasted on this "teenager" story. It was a perfect read.

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