Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Throne of Glass Novellas?! Um, YES PLEASE

So when I finished Throne of Glass, there was a little more than the usual grieving process of shucks, that was a great book, what am I going to read now; I really enjoyed this book, so it was more like OH MY GOSH IT'S OVER and THE SEQUEL'S OUT "FALL 2013"?!  THAT'S NOT EVEN A REAL DATE I NEED IT NOW SARAH J. MAAS I WILL FIND YOU AND--"*

You get the idea.  It was a bit traumatic.

So if any of you are also undergoing Throne of Glass-withdrawal, check out the Throne of Glass NOVELLAS!   These are four prequel stories about Celaena's missions as an assassin before she's captured and imprisoned in Endovier (where we meet her at the beginning of Throne of Glass).  They explain a lot more (almost 400-total-pages more!) about Celaena's backstory and Throne of Glass:  how she dealt with the Pirate King and his slave trade, her training with the Silent Assassins, who "Sam" is, and best of all, who betrayed Celaena and ensured her capture. Yes, you definitely want to know this. 

Bad news: they're only available as ebooks, and they're not free.  Good news:  they're really cheap! Only 99 cents each.  I read them on Google Play's site for books and downloaded the free app so I could read them on my phone; you can do pretty much the same thing with Amazon and a Kindle app or get the novellas in Spanish (!) at Barnes & Noble and use the Nook app (or just use a Kindle or Nook, if you're so lucky). Just click on any of the nice blue links in this paragraph - you can preview the first few pages for free!

From right to left, the order in which they're supposed to be read.  Y'know, if you're into following rules.
That's it!  And don't worry, you won't need to read these novellas for the book club meeting discussion - this is just an opportunity to get more Throne of Glass if you NEED MORE NOW like I did. Don't forget to come to the meeting, next Thursday, December 6th at 6pm.

*NOTE: I do NOT encourage threatening authors, either to get a sequel sooner or for your own crazy reason.  Authors are people too, and threatening them won't get a sequel to you sooner. F'reals.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

December: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Ready for another great book, smithies?  Sure hope so, 'cause this is a book club.  In case you weren't sure. Y'know.

Anyways, December's pick is Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.  Not that we'd pick out anything not good for you to read, but srrsly, this one is LARGE AMOUNTS OF WIN.  It's like The Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones.  Or, if you've already read The Selection by Kiera Cass (think Hunger Games + The Bachelor TV show), it's like The Selection, but with ninja skills.  Yeah, awesome.

Check out the cover and summary:

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Though Celaena's bored stiff by court life, things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Mmmmmmawesome.  Sounds like a good way to spend your Thanksgiving vacation, no?  And don't forget to come to the meeting (and if you didn't get to read the book, come anyway): December 6th, 6pm.  BAM.


Thursday, November 8, 2012

LIKE OMG, A QUIZ

THIS IS IS THE BEST THING SINCE KEYBOARD CAAAAAAAAAAATTTT!!!
Ermigeersh, who loves quizzes?!  Quick, tell the computer all your hopes and dreams and eyecolor and birthday and it will tell you where you will DIE!!! Wait, no, that's really morbid. 

Seriously though, Veronica's put together a quiz of Cinder trivia - test yourself to see how well you remember the book!  Click on the pretty blue words in the last sentence to take the quiz:  eleven questions in two minutes or less.  Aaaaannnnnddddd... GO. 

And don't forget to post your scores below if you want to brag.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

November After-Meeting Mint: Ballgown [Not] Required

She's good with a wrench? Seriously?
NEVER saw that coming.
Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting to discuss Cinder last Thursday - my sources say the convo was excellent!  If you couldn't make the meeting, keep reading to catch up on the club's take on Cinder:

This book is set in the future, but it's set in future China, which is unexpected but works really well - a change of scenery did us good? - and it had some cool future tech, both good and bad; Cinder's cyborg abilities (lie detection) and the "portscreen" devices are great, but the ID chips that were implanted in everyone are way creepy, seeing as the government could always know where you were and what you were doing and everything else in your life, ew.  

And speaking of technology, the whole prejudice-against-cyborgs thing was no good; the reason behind this wasn't clear either, but we all agreed that it's not surprising that prejudice could exist in the super-future as much as now.  It's pretty hard to define what it means to be "human", though.  And as cyborgs are defined in Cinder, "cyborgs" probably already exist today (nerds, rejoice! Your sci-fi dreams are coming true!), so we could face this ourselves someday.

Everyone seemed to really like this book because it so unusual - even people who don't like to read loved this book!  If teens spread the word, the book could be pretty popular  - really, it's that different from other dystopian novels.  But we mostly thought that this book would be more popular with girls than guys, even though the main character, Cinder, is a mechanic (the luuuvvv aspect of the book was a hit). 

So if you still can't get enough of Cinder  - the sequel's not out for A.  WHILE.  - then keep talking in the comments.  Tell us what you thought about the cyborg-superpowers, the ID  chips, the  cyborg hatefest and prejudice in general, whether or not cyborgs already exist (!), or just what you thought of the book in general.  Or tell us something else random - it's a free country, do what you want.

And get ready for next month's book, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (more on that later)...

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Meeting Tonight!

... in a galaxy far, far away... wait, wrong story.

Tonight's the night!  The night for November's meeting!  We'll be in the conference room (off to the left side of the library's lobby) at 6pm to discuss this month's book, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and to sign up for next month's meeting.  Be there like share-ware.
Speaking of which: if you're already signed up for the book club this month, we have a FREE COPY OF THIS MONTH'S BOOK (Cinder, like I said) with your name on it waiting for you in the teen room!  Just ask at the teen reference desk for your copy.

Also, here are some basic questions about Cinder to be thinking about for the meeting: 
  • Was the plot predictable (snoozefest), or did it take you by suprise?
  • Could you see someone make the same decisions as the Cinder and Prince Kai in real life?
  • Were there any decisions made by Cinder, Prince Kai, etc. that you disagreed with?
  • Did you like the ending (no spoilers!)? And did it suprise you?
  • Did the book have larger meanings to think about?
  • Like it? Hate it? Meh? Recommend the book to friends?
Come by tonight and argue about it.  Nicely. Or just discuss.  Conference room, 6pm, be there, be square, comb your hair.