Pendragons 🐉

Friday 21 October 2016

Gemina Book Launch + EoS Fangirling

Luna & Saturn October 21, 2016 0 Comments

Hi everyone, we hope you’re having a lovely day! In this post, it’ll be me (Luna) covering the Gemina Book Launch in Melbourne and fangirling over an Empire of Storms freebie we recently received in the mail. We hope you enjoy this post!

So firstly, I'm going to talk about how lucky we were to be able to go to the Gemina book launch. When the RSVP tickets for the Gemina Launch were available, we were interstate, and so didn’t check our emails and so forth (how could we enjoy our holidays while on our phones all day?) AND MISSED THE SEATS. 😭😭😭

But to cut a long waiting period short, we joined the wait list and managed to get tickets to the event.

So you can understand how excited we were, considering we thought we couldn’t attend the launch. But upon arrival, I must say that it was quite anti-climatic. There was zero decorations except two lone blue lights at the front. It’s our first ever book launch we’ve been to so I’m not sure if all book launches have many minimalist decorations - to be fair, the event was free, so I can't really complain.

But to the event itself. Amie and Jay only talked for about half an hour, with Adele Walsh as the interviewer. They were all really nice and sweet up there. Saturn’s and my favourite part was the space quiz to name either Jay or Amie the ‘Space Champ’. Some interesting facts I learnt was that the moment I step on Venus without a space suit, I’d explode, choke to death and be squashed flat instantly. I don’t know how that works, but that’s what Adele said.

And, winning by a huge margin, was Jay! I think Amie only won two or so points? But never mind, congratulations to both! So this is the third time seeing Amie and Jay speak (click to read MWF Part 1 & Inky Awards Part 2) and it’s really good to see that they still have the sense of humour and easy-going nature they always have in their talks.

We loved the book wave - it was absolutely amazing to watch. However, since we pre-ordered Gemina, it hasn’t arrived yet, so we couldn’t join in. But it was amazing nonetheless.

However, it might be because I was sitting at the back, but the room itself was very echo-y. It was quite difficult to make out the words most of the time, so we can't design a 'favourite quote' graphic we normally do in our other posts. But moving on, after the short talk was the book signing. All I can say is, it was very long. Saturn and I managed to take a picture with Amie and Jay 😊😊😊, and we can't wait to review Gemina when it arrives.

But we were at the end of the line, so we wandered around a bit beforehand. Lili Wilkinson was at the event and we desperately wanted a photo with her, but we were too nervous to approach her. New fact I learnt: Next time I see an author, I will ask for a photo with them, because Lili left quite early and I couldn’t find a way to say hi.

Another author we saw was Shivaun Plozza. I sort of stared at her for a bit because she looked like someone I knew, but I couldn’t pinpoint a name, but she was SO NICE anyway. She said “Hi” even though she was halfway through a conversation with someone else. [#OzAuthorsAreSoNice]

And just a quick fangirl moment, recently, this little free notebook came because we pre-ordered Empire of Storms. Check out the cover! And also, we’re super excited that Green Valentine AND Illuminae are being shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards! 😍😍

Please comment below and tell us what you think! And do you also agree that Amie's new hairstyle is so fitting for the release of Gemina?

Friday 14 October 2016

A Study in Scarlet

Luna & Saturn October 14, 2016 0 Comments

Review

First published in 1887 - and yet Sherlock Holmes mania still lives. A Study in Scarlet is the first short novel that features legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his partner in crime-solving, Dr Watson.

To begin with, this novel’s writing is lyrical, and despite being written over a hundred years ago, it is easy to follow. There is a perfect balance of expository and dialogue and in this novel; you don’t see unnecessary paragraphs and descriptions.

We’re pretty sure everyone can think of that one book in which the author basically rants about some beautiful scenery and one scene just goes on forever and ever. In those books, it’s like the author treats words like they’re embellishments or even decorations, rather than crafts to work with. With Doyle, his writing reflects the character of Sherlock Holme. Sherlock Holmes - when solving the crime - dismisses the immaterial evidence and focuses solely on the relevant materials. Likewise, Doyle’s writing cuts out any unnecessary descriptions and dialogue to present to the reader a masterpiece. If anyone is looking for a good short read, then we definitely recommend Sherlock Holmes.

Favourite Quote

Because this is my (Saturn’s) first Sherlock Holmes book, I was quite surprised at this legendary character. I expected him to be some calculating, serious and sombre man. Instead, he is eccentric, and one of his quirks is he is “as sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any girl could be of her beauty”. He can play the violin, and has profound knowledge in chemistry and crime, yet very little knowledge in literature, philosophy and doesn’t realise the earth revolves around the sun!

However, a downfall in this novel is that there is a very, very lengthy flashback that explains the motive behind the crime. We felt this could have been a bit shorter, and not so abruptly placed into the book, because it was very disorientating at first - we didn’t even know it was flashback, we thought it was a different story altogether! Despite this shortcoming, the story itself was very nice.

We’d definitely recommend Sherlock Holmes.

Rating

Friday 7 October 2016

Inky Awards 2016/ Part 2: The Authors

Luna & Saturn October 07, 2016 0 Comments

Hi everyone, to continue from the last post: The authors!

Fiona Wood: She wrote her book Cloudwish with a Vietnamese protagonist to try and promote diversity in YA novels. You don’t see minorities often presented in books (or authors either). Books are a platform to spread this awareness and acceptance of different cultures and people. When she said this, I completely agreed. Books should reflect society and therefore should reflect the diversity of our community.

Erin Gough: Her character is a lesbian. Again, there was that underlying message of diversity in literature. However, Gough mostly talked about how she had the idea for this book ages ago and only really wrote a while back. Basically, keep hold of your ideas as you never know when you might need them.

Lili Wilkinson: She wrote this book because she started a veggie garden. She was pretty excited about the idea because after all, it is a YA novel about GARDENING. As one of her family members stated, “the idea sounds like a career-ending decision”. What really resonated with me was when Wilkinson spoke about girls, especially powerful girls. When writing the novel, she thought how media depicts those mean girls who control the school and their subjects, I mean, fellow students. The thing though, this image of the mean, powerful girl seems to say that girls, and women can’t be powerful. That women abuse power. So the novel is also about how a Astrid can use her power for good, against the typical media stereotype.

And last but not least Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff! Congratulations for winning the Gold Inky Awards! Illuminae definitely deserved it!!!

These two amazing authors basically talked about how the book came to be. Once upon a time, Amie Kaufman had an anxiety dream about a school test, the one you didn’t know was coming and it was in German. She also dreamt she was writing a book but when she woke up, she didn’t remember what it was.

So she had brunch with Jay and told him about it and they started to decide what the book was about. They decided to write about space because putting the words in space after the plot sounded wayyy cooler. Here was Jay’s explanation.

“Imagine you have pirates fighting dinosaurs. Sounds pretty cool. But then you have pirates, fighting dinosaurs, IN SPACE. That just makes it exponentially cooler.”

Then they spoke a bit more about how Illuminae came about but the thing that really struck me was the advice they gave when writing. When they were writing the novel, publishers told them the book wouldn’t sell. That’s because sci-fi doesn’t sell (this is not my opinion everyone. NOT MINE) and books in alternative formats don’t sell either. So Jay and Amie wrote the book like nobody was ever going to read it.

And it worked. They said when writing, it is never a waste of time if you have fun and enjoy the creative process. They put all their efforts and love into Illuminae and through hard work and dedication, it became a success.

Then the ceremony wrapped up with Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun receiving the silver Inky awards and Illuminae receiving the gold Inky awards. Congratulations to Amie, Jay and Jandy for winning!!!!

Also, I should mention I was so happy when I told both Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff about this book blog Pendragons, they both agreed that it was a WICKED name. Luna and I, had difficulty when thinking of a name, but settled on Pendragons, and we’re so happy somebody agrees with our choice! (We have a video of them saying hello to Pendragons, but unfortunately, it won't upload 😩😩😩)

Thank you for taking your time to read this long post! Please comment below on your thoughts about the awards!

Thursday 6 October 2016

Inky Awards 2016/ Part 1: The Judges

Luna & Saturn October 06, 2016 0 Comments

Hi everyone! Today it’s just me, Saturn, because only I attended the awesomesauce event -Luna had extra maths class after school:(:( [Luna did manage to come at the very end though].

This was my first year going to the event and when I ran in late (train delays), I thought WOW! (not in the shocked wow way)

There weren’t that many people.

Maybe a) it was raining and b) it was a Tuesday and everyone was at school. But still, I expected a little more. The really small crowd made the atmosphere a bit anti-climatic for me. The claps were restrained, and considering it was a room that echoes, every loud sound reflected how little people there were.

However, what the awards ceremony lacked in people, it made up for enthusiasm. The teen judges were fantastic, speaking with passion and humour. Only three managed to attend though, 1 from Tassie and 2 Victorians. I only vaguely remember what they spoke about but I definitely remember their last words.

They were giving advice for aspiring Inky awards judges.

One directly quoted a Cindy Lauper song “I see your true colours shining through and that’s why I love you”. I assume he is saying ‘be honest’. The last judge to speak echoed his advice saying be honest about your reviews - criticise but give praise. The other judge’s advice was simply this: when doing your video submission, put lots and lots of books in the background. He did exactly that to try and show he was an avid reader.

Basically, the judges themselves were really nice people, and what we love about the Inky Awards is that the books are chosen by young adults, shortlisted by young adults and voted for by young adults too!

Please tell us your thoughts on the Inky Awards, and we'll be posting Part 2: The Authors very soon!

Monday 3 October 2016

Empire of Storms

Luna & Saturn October 03, 2016 0 Comments

Note: Although this review does not contain spoilers of the book, it may contain spoilers of PREVIOUS books in the series. You have been warned. Proceed with caution.

Series: Book #5 in Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: YA fantasy

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 693 pages (paperback)

Swift Synopsis:

The assassin-queen Aelin heads to Terrasen to raise an army against Erawan. We can’t say anything more.

Review:

This book is epic.

EPIC.

One of the reasons is that there isn’t one big problem, there are many smaller problems that just heighten the sense of hopelessness (Game of Thrones vibe!). With so many conflicts happening at once, it means there is never a dull moment in this book. We found Queen of Shadows’s pacing slugged along but Maas changed this in Empire of Storms. Every chapter - you’re guaranteed heart-stopping action and wrenched heart strings.

The book is told in many POVs and this really developed characterisation. In previous books, it was just Aelin and one or two other characters whose personalities were really fleshed out and delved into. New POVs in this novel are Lysandra and Aedion. This novel changed all of that and even starts to show a more vulnerable and human side to Aelin’s very unhuman court. You see characters starting to doubt themselves, and realise that they are very, very flawed.

Favourite Quote:

However, there are 3 things that annoyed us:

1. The love scenes. Must it happen with almost every character? We mean please, can’t the characters just be friends and not lovers? And what really frustrated us was some of this characters are centuries old warriors and they were unable to control their lust and desire.

2. Every character is so beautiful. We mean they are literally flawless. Yes, we understand the characters are Fae and monsters and all, but there are humans in the mix as well and they too have beauty that rivals a Fae’s (insert name: Elide). The unearthly beauty gives the book a fantastical vibe but we wish there is something blemished in the characters. It makes them more human and relatable.

3. This book has some very similar events to A Court of Mist and Fury. It seems as Maas was writing one series, it rubbed off to the other series. Because of spoilers, we can’t tell you what several events were extraordinarily similar but it made the book predictable and unfresh.

But, this book on the whole is amazing. Maas really grows as a writer, as unlike Throne of Glass in which the plot is very jarring and jumpy, the plot of this book is fluid and coherent. The writing is beautifully crafted and the ending will be seared in your heart forever.

Just a note, this book references A LOT to The Assassin’s Blade. Characters and events are mentioned that you will have absolutely no idea of knowing if you haven’t read the prequel yet.