Showing posts with label assassins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assassins. Show all posts

Monday, February 4, 2013

Review: Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and GIVEAWAY!


Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published by:  EgmontUSA
On Shelves Now
Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn
The Sisters Say:  Assassins.  Romance.  Conspiracy.  Need I say more?
There are people in this world who are Nobody. No one sees them. No one notices them. They live their lives under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away.

That’s why they make the perfect assassins.

The Institute finds these people when they’re young and takes them away for training. But an untrained Nobody is a threat to their organization. And threats must be eliminated.

Sixteen-year-old Claire has been invisible her whole life, missed by the Institute’s monitoring. But now they’ve ID’ed her and send seventeen-year-old Nix to remove her. Yet the moment he lays eyes on her, he can’t make the hit. It’s as if Claire and Nix are the only people in the world for each other. And they are—because no one else ever notices them.


Assassins.  One of my favorite topics in YA!  We’ve been seeing more and more books focusing around assassins in the YA genre, and I love that each one of them is unique in their own way.  In Jennifer’s book, nobodies make good assassins because they lack “energy,” which in turn, keeps them from making any lasting mark on anyone.  Even further, they are almost invisible to everyone and everything around them.  So, of course—perfect assassins.

This book started out with a bang when Nix and Claire see each other in a very intense situation.  From there, it does slow down a bit, which was a bit depressing because that beginning was amazing.  However, it didn’t slow down so much that I was bored or frustrated.  I still kept flipping those pages at a quick pace because I wanted to see what was going to happen next.  So, push through the parts that drag because it’s definitely worth the read.

I loved the world that Jennifer created, mainly because I love conspiracies.  JFK, Bermuda Triangle, Roswell—they fascinate me, and the organization that Jennifer has created in her book is just like a giant government conspiracy.  They have tons and tons of power, and they use that power to manipulate politics to help them.  If something doesn’t go their way, enter Nix, seemingly invisible super-assassin.  Nobody knows people like Nix and Claire exist, and that makes it all the more intriguing!

I really like Claire as a main character.  I felt so sorry for her, seeing the pain and loneliness that she suffered, but she didn’t let it bring her down.  On multiple occasions she would start to feel sorry for herself and then straighten up and tell herself, “No pity.”  I loved her strength to persevere through that pain, and then when Nix finds her, the world seems to open up.  Immediately, they are drawn to each other, and no matter how hard Nix pushes against her, she pushes right back.  She takes ahold of this gift of friendship and love, and she doesn’t let it go.  It was great to watch her become even stronger in the face of danger.

I really liked Nix, too, because—I mean, hello, assassin!  He was one of those guys that can kill you with one punch, so power—he has tons of it (which I love).  He did bug me at times because he did let himself fall to pity whereas Claire resisted it.  But, those moments didn’t last long.  I liked that he was willing to give his life for those that he cared about, even after the organization had brainwashed him into thinking that he would never be loved in return.  I kind of wish we would have seen more kick butt and less somberness, though.

The only thing that really bugged me was the dragging pace, like I said before.  The book was long, 400 pages, and I think it could have easily been in the 300-325 range had they cut out some of the slower moments.  Those moments felt a bit repetitive, so I really think they could have easily been cut out.
Overall, it was a fun and interesting read and I’m looking forward to what’s next. I enjoyed the world and characters that Jennifer created. I would recommend this to actions fans, with a warning that you might have to push through some parts to get to the goods.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It spotlights books that have not yet been released, but ones that you should pre-order today! This week's book that we are anxiously awaiting is ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE by Gail Carriger.  ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE releases on February 25, 2013 from Little Brown and Company.

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It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly.  It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea--and god forbid anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But little do Sophronia or her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right--but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deceit, espionage, and the modern weaponries. Sophronia and her friends are going to have a rousing first year at school.

First in a four book YA series set 25 years before the Parasol Protectorate but in the same universe



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I have been watching for this one since I first saw people bringing home ARCS from BEA.  (I'm super jealous by the way.)  It focuses on a girl a little younger than what I am used to reading (she's 14, I usually like the 16-20 range), but the synopsis just sounds so intriguing, that I still am dying to read it.  I love the idea of assassins--in fact, if I found a genie and got one wish, it would be that I had the bad-a kick butt skills of an assassin.  It would just be fun to wield that kind of power--don't judge my maniacal side.  Anywho, I think this one sounds great and I am anxiously awaiting it!

P.S.  If you have a copy--I'd love to borrow it or trade for it!