Week 39 Review: A Face Like Glass

From Goodreads:
In the underground city of Caverna, the world's most skilled craftsmen toil in the darkness to create delicacies beyond compare—wines that remove memories, cheeses that make you hallucinate, and perfumes that convince you to trust the wearer, even as they slit your throat. On the surface, the people of Caverna seem ordinary, except for one thing: their faces are as blank as untouched snow. Expressions must be learned, and only the famous Facesmiths can teach a person to express (or fake) joy, despair, or fear—at a steep price. Into this dark and distrustful world comes Neverfell, a girl with no memory of her past and a face so terrifying to those around her that she must wear a mask at all times. Neverfell's expressions are as varied and dynamic as those of the most skilled Facesmiths, except hers are entirely genuine. And that makes her very dangerous indeed . . . 

My Review:
Oh, this book was weird and strange and a little hard to get into at first, but so great to read! I enjoyed it so much! Remembering the different parts of this book to write this review was a great experience, even if I'm having a bit of a hard time figuring out what to say!

Neverfell was a bit naive at the beginning of this book, which made this book feel more of a middle grade than YA, maybe upper middle grade. She was very trusting, and she was lucky and she was smart and she got through some pretty tricky situations, and learned from them. I was really impressed with who she became in the end!

One weird/funny/strange bit of this book was the guy in charge, with his two halves of his brain, and how they thought differently, and why he'd set that up. It was a pretty bitter-hilarious bit when both halves started attacking each other!

There were a few mysteries going on in this book. Who Neverfall was, where she came from, who was the thief, and more. It was complicated, and there were a few things going on, and I really enjoyed how they all resolved!

This book was great and I enjoyed it immensely once I got going!

Author: Frances Hardinge
Read: September 27th, 2018
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: I enjoyed her other book, and it's a SAC 2018 Book!
Publisher: Amulet Book
Published: May 9th 2017

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

4.5/5 Stars

Week 13 Review: The Lie Tree

From Goodreads:
In this deliciously creepy novel by the author of the critically acclaimed Cuckoo Song, the fruit of a magical tree uncovers dangerous truths

Faith Sunderly leads a double life. To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy—a proper young lady who knows her place as inferior to men. But inside, Faith is full of questions and curiosity, and she cannot resist mysteries: an unattended envelope, an unlocked door. She knows secrets no one suspects her of knowing. She knows that her family moved to the close-knit island of Vane because her famous scientist father was fleeing a reputation-destroying scandal. And she knows, when her father is discovered dead shortly thereafter, that he was murdered.

In pursuit of justice and revenge, Faith hunts through her father's possessions and discovers a strange tree. The tree only bears fruit when she whispers a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, delivers a hidden truth. The tree might hold the key to her father's murder—or it may lure the murderer directly to Faith herself. 

My Review:
I really enjoyed this book! It was just that, it was for a slightly younger audience. And I loved to hate this time and attitude towards women. It was a really great book, but for me, not one that I'll read again any time soon!

There was a big thing in the background of this book that was only slightly mentioned in the synopsis-the inferior to men bit. To my untrained eye, this book seemed to be set in the 1800's what with the gentlemen scientists, younger sons going to be clergy, the level and amount of science, And that attitude was thoroughly annoying-I'm glad that I was born in this time! There might still be discrimination against women, but it's better then it was then!

Faith struggled against these restrictions. Though she was a product of her times, she initially thought her curiosity and inquisitiveness basically evil. She's also at that awkward time between childhood and adulthood. I loved watching her on this journey!

The whole thing with the lie tree, that was really fascinating! Loved how that all worked! It was really interesting and unique and enjoyable! It was a bit of a guilty pleasure, because lies are bad. But the balance of that was truth, so yeah. Guilty pleasure!

Really interesting book and enjoyable, just not a great fit with me!

Author: Frances Hardinge
Read: March 21st, 2016
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: It sounded great, and I wanted to read it! And it's a SAC 2016 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Amulet Books
Expected Publication: May 10th 2016

5/5 Hearts

3.5/5 Books

3.5/5 Stars