Reciclagem... nas Capas (8)

Esta semana deixamos os estereótipos encontrados em capas de determinados géneros e voltamos a concentrar-nos na utilização sucessiva da mesma imagem. Desta vez, tenho no entanto de reconhecer que se fez algum esforço para modificar a imagem, especialmente no caso do livro da "Paixão de Maria Madalena" e as suas "imitações". :)

Obrigada à Whitelady e à Jen por descobrirem esta. :D

Ui, esta imagem é utilizada tantas vezes! Só aqui coloquei dois exemplos, mas acreditem, há muitos mais.

Não sei qual delas é a imagem original, mas pelo menos esforçaram-se por fazer com que parecesse diferente.

In my Mailbox (10)

E chegámos à 10ª "In my Mailbox" (Na Minha Caixa do Correio)! Parece que ainda ontem estava a anunciar a criação desta rubrica... sniff. Nesta edição apresento as sempre presentes encomendas do The Book Depository, um livro que comprei para celebrar o dia do Livro e uma oferta! :D Eis a foto, com o meu novo gato cor-de-rosa ao lado (é para as costas, não é fofo?).

Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods, #5) - Melissa de la Cruz (YA, UF)

Divine by Mistake - P.C. Cast (FT)

The Goddess Test - Aimee Carter (YA, UF)

Eona - Alison Goodman (YA, FT)

City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments, #4) - Cassandra Clare (YA, UF)

O Regresso dos Deuses - Rebelião - Pedro Ventura (FT)

O Desejo - Alexandra Bullen (YA, UF)

E vocês o que receberam na vossa Caixa de Correio (What did you get in your mailbox this week?)?

"In my Mailbox" is hosted by The Story Siren.

Booking Through Thursday: Brevemente, num cinema perto de si!

Se pudesses escolher um livro para ser adaptado ao cinema de forma perfeita - um filme que capturasse tudo o que adoras, as personagens, o mundo, a atmosfera, a história - qual seria?

Só um? Bem, fazendo um pouco de batota, eu gostaria imenso de ver a série Uglies (que são quatro livros) do Scott Westerfeld transformada no filme perfeito. Seria um excelente filme se conseguisse realmente captar de forma realista as personagens, o mundo, a história e especialmente a atmosfera. :)

Infelizmente, cada um forma a sua própria visão do mundo e das personagens quando lê um livro, por isso nunca seria o filme perfeito a não ser para mim. Para os outros seria apenas mais uma adaptação.

Review: Darkness Becomes Her

Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

Publisher: Simon Pulse (2011)
Format:  Hardcover | 288 pages

Genre(s): Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

Description (Goodreads): "Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is. Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued. 

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.
Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed."

WARNING: Contains some Spoilers!

Exploring greek myths seems to be a new and popular trend in the "YA book world". I know of at least two books out this month that deal with the subject. "Darkness Becomes Her" also explores a greek myth.

Ari has always felt different. How could she not? She has teal eyes and almost-white hair that refuses to stay short; everytime she cuts it it grows back in two or three days. So Ari thinks she can find answers with her missing parents... the ones who abandoned her to the system when she was four.

She travels to New 2, the old New Orleans, a strange city that is no longer under the control of the government due to a natural disaster. Since she was born there, Ari expects to find some answers about her heritage. But she may just uncover more than she is prepared for.

I was a bit weary to read this book, since I've already read another one by this author and didn't like it very much. Fortunately "Darkness Becomes Her" was a lot better (for me) than "The Better Part of Darkness".

The main problem I had with "The Better Part of Darkness" was that I didn't think the author described her world in a believable way; and although the same happens, to some degree, in "Darkness Becomes Her" (because everything happens very fast and Ari is quick to believe everything) I could envision this world much better. It seemed... more plausible, if that makes any sense.

The story was interesting but predictable. The main characters are... well, normal for these type of books (as in stereotypical) but fortunately there is no love triangle (although there was almost insta-romance). Ari is spunky, mouthy but lovable (and she cries... she isn't all though) and Sebastian is suitably tortured and dark. I loved the supporting characters especially Violet. She was great and very innovative!

I'd have liked to know more about the gods, their origins and their powers, but I suppose this book was about Ari and her past so not much was said about that. But I'm hoping we'll get more details in the next few books.

Overall this was a good read, especially if you like Greek Mythology. The story was usually fast-paced and kept you reading even though it was, as I said before, predictable to a point. I loved the descriptions of New Orleans' traditions, of the Mardi Gras and of the masked ball... I think the author captured the very essence of vampire "sexy ness" then.

Recommended for YA book lovers who like their heroines spunky and somewhat different, some action and magic. "Darkness becomes Her" is a fun, quick read, with themes a little different than usual (because there are gods, à la Percy Jackson) but that also has all the supernaturals we know and love: vampires, witches and shape-shifters. The mythology for all the creatures seems solid (although not much is explained in this first book) and interesting.

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Lançamento: O Regresso dos Deuses - Rebelião

Mais um lançamento fantástico que vale a pena assinalar. Não apenas porque é Fantasia (um dos meus géneros de eleição) mas porque o autor é português e isso, para mim, merece uma menção. Pedro Ventura estreia-se na Editorial Presença com "O Regresso dos Deuses - Rebelião", uma obra de fantasia épica cuja sinopse me pareceu francamente interessante. Aqui fica mais informação sobre o livro.

Título: "O Regresso dos Deuses - Rebelião"

Autor: Pedro Ventura

Editora: Editorial Presença (Colecção Via Láctea, nº 95)

N.º de Páginas: 392

Data de Lançamento: 19 de Abril

Sinopse (Editorial Presença): "Após um longo sono de várias décadas, Calédra, a bela guerreira aurabrana, desperta subitamente para uma realidade que lhe é estranha, um tempo que não é o seu. Antiga rainha dos aurabranos, Calédra está destinada a protagonizar uma missão quase impossível – salvar o mundo e os humanos da crescente ameaça do domínio Holkan. Ao longo desta saga extraordinária, são muitos os aliados que Calédra vai encontrando, e muitas as vezes em que enfrenta inimigos terríveis e se vê às portas da morte. Mas o seu espírito inquebrantável promete dar luta aos seus inimigos e cativar-nos desde logo, levando-nos a ler com insaciável voracidade as páginas deste épico vibrante."

Booktrailer

Sobre o autor: Pedro Ventura é formado em estudos Portuguesas e Ingleses pela Universidade Católica. É autor de romances e crónicas épicas. O Regresso dos Deuses – Rebelião marca a sua estreia sob a chancela da Presença e promete causar furor entre os fãs da literatura fantástica nacional. Pedro Ventura participou em diversos eventos e antologias.

Mais informações em: http://pedroventura.yolasite.com

Esperando por... (4): Edição Especial

E eis que, inesperadamente, me saio com mais uma edição de "Esperando por...". Na semana passada também não houve porque, enfim, deu-me mais um ataque de preguicite aguda e pronto. Por isso esta semana tenho uma Edição especial para compensar... com dois livros ao invés de um! Mwahahah! Um deles faz parte de uma série que sigo com regularidade (Ghost Story) e o segundo pareceu-me bastante interessante e é da autora da série Wicked Lovely. E agora, os livros... *drumroll*

Ghost Story (Dresden Files, #13) - Jim Butcher

Editora: Roc Hardcover
Data de Publicação: 26 de Julho de 2011
Páginas: 432
Idioma: Inglês

Sinopse (Amazon.com): "When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn't doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin.
But being dead doesn't stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has nobody, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own.
To save his friends-and his own soul-Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic..."

Graveminder - Melissa Marr

Editora: William Morrow

Data de Publicação: 17 de Maio de 2011

Páginas: 336

Idioma: Inglês

Sinopse (Amazon.com): "The New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series delivers her first novel for adults, a story about the living, the dead, and a curse that binds them.

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn't a funeral that Maylene didn't attend, and at each Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words "Sleep well, and stay where I put you."

Now Maylene is dead and Bek must go back to the place--and the man--she left a decade ago. But what she soon discovers is that Maylene was murdered and that there was good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in placid Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected. Beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D--a place from which the dead will return if their graves are not properly minded. Only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk. "

Review: Feed (M.T. Anderson)

Feed by M.T. Anderson

Publisher: Candlewick Press (2004)
Format:  Paperback | 320 pages

Genre(s): Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Dystopia

Description (Goodreads): "Brave New World takes a romantic teen twist in this disarming, engrossing novel set in a hyper-computerized future.
Spending time partying on the moon and riding around in his "upcar," Titus is an average teen of the future, complete with a computer chip implant -- the "Feed" -- that lets corporate marketers and government agencies broadcast directly into his brain. Then Titus meets Violet, and an anti-Feed hacker shuts down their Feeds for a short time; but when Violet's Feed is seriously damaged, she begins spouting some radical ideas.

M. T. Anderson has predicted the future, and it's startling indeed. Although Titus is a good, well-meaning kid, his blissful ignorance of the control over him leaves readers thinking twice about the destiny of earth's citizens. Beneath the book's techno-veneer, however, lies a romantic tale between a boy who gives into the system and a girl who sees beyond it. All told, Feed is a "meg" remarkable work of science fiction, and once readers begin, they'll be caught up in its powerful grip. Matt Warner"

WARNING: Contains Spoilers

I really don't know what to say about this book, except that I loved it's concept and was "chilled" by it at the same time.

A few days ago, a friend of mine saw this book in my pile of new acquisitions and asked me if this was that book about zombies that she'd heard about (I think she was talking about "Feed" by Mira Grant). She commented on the cover being different from what she remembered. I told her no, this isn't a zombie book.

Well, it turns out I was partially wrong. No, this book isn't a supernatural dystopia, but it doesn't mean it doesn't have zombies. Because the very definition of a zombie is a creature with little to no intellect that is fixated in one thing only. This describes the characters in this book pretty well, I think. They even have rotten flesh (ew).

Imagine a future where some unknown piece of technology is planted into your brain at a very young age. It's like a combo of television, radio and computer, wired into your brain and it allows you access to some version of the internet; but an internet completely dominated by big corporations that insist that you buy, buy, buy. While your "feed" (the name of the implant) allows you to watch shows, download music, chat directly with your friends and family and have whatever you want (as long as you have credit) it also bombards you with publicity pretty much all the time.

This is the world where Titus (one of the main characters) and his friends live. There is no longer any need for education because with a thought you can download any information you want. School(TM) is meant only to help you learn to use the feed. And everyone has one.

What I loved (although it scared me too, lol) about this book is that while this seems to be very far into the future, the society portrayed is essentially an extreme version of ours. The rampant consumerism, the elimination of individuality, the culture of indifference. Humankind focused on itself, consuming anything and everything until there is nothing left. People are actually distantly aware of the world's problems, they just don't care. It did make me shiver.

While I loved the concept and the story I wasn't too fond of the characters. They seemed too much like the Pretties from Scott Westerfeld's books. But I understood why they were that way, because their whole world was to shop and nobody can have that many voices in their heads and remain completely sane. My favorite character was, of course, Violet. Titus wasn't really anything special right until the end, but I'm pretty sure the author intended it that way. Also, I kind of understood Titus in a weird way. He was human in his decisions and choices, not some kind of hero. That made the book all the more realistic to me.

So... what else to say about this? It was scary, it was confusing (people with wetware in their brains tend to be, apparently) and that meant I could only read a few chapters at a time... even if the characters were indifferent to pretty much everything, reading this book was still... intense.

Overall, a good book, a cautionary tale of sorts with a clear message for future generations about the evils of our consumer-based society. It's worth a read for fans of dystopian/ apocalyptical fiction and for trend-following teenagers everywhere, lol.

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