In Other Lands
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Description
In Other Lands is an exhilarating novel from bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools - friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world — even if it means giving up your phone.
Excerpt:
The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border — unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and — best of all as far as Elliot is concerned — mermaids.
"What’s your name?"
"Serene."
"Serena?" Elliot asked.
"Serene," said Serene. "My full name is Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle."
Elliot’s mouth fell open. "That is badass."
Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands.
It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world.
Book Information
Posts
Anfangs hatte ich so meine Probleme, in die Geschichte reinzukommen. Elliot ist ein ziemlich eigenartiger Protagonist und auch oft etwas unsympathisch. Aber mit der Zeit versteht man ihn immer mehr und ja, am Ende habe ich ihn geliebt. Auch Luke (mein Baby, protect him at all costs) und Serene waren wunderbare Charaktere. Zugegeben, der Plot war sehr vollgestopft, aber man gewöhnt sich dran. Dafür bekommt man auch eine der besten Slowburn-Romanzen, die man sich vorstellen kann. Ich habe die komplexe Gefühlswelt der Charaktere absolut genossen. Alles in allem war dieses Buch super besonders und ich werde noch lange daran zurückdenken.
This book has no plot and paper-thin worldbuilding, but I still enjoyed it for a quick ya fix with snarky characters and lots of teen angst. Have to say though, some of the fights they had felt a bit harsh to me for something you say to your supposed friends, and Elliot insisting that even at the 400 page mark he wasn’t friends with Luke really felt ridiculous to me. I also learned close to the end that the author wrote part of The Bane Chronicles, and let’s just say, I definitely felt there were some similarities with some of Cassandra Clares work. All in all a fun book, but not as groundbreaking as I expected and way too long for having basically no plot.
I’m so glad that I started this book on a weekend. I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on work, knowing that there are pages left unread waiting for me at home. Mostly, this book was hilarious. Even though Elliot is a handful, at times enraging and unfair, he can be witty and charming as well. Besides, he isn’t blind to his faults, still he doesn’t emerge as the perfect MC at the end of the book. Many authors do this, even if I think that it’s perfectly fine for characters to have flaws. Don’t we all? And let’s hear some praise for managing to give the side characters depth, a feat not everyone is able to accomplish. Furthermore, the author managed to include some serious topics as well as food for thought. I really liked how expectations towards the sexes were swapped in elven society. In my eyes, it illustrated perfectly how nonsensical this type of stereotyping is. And how simply swapping them doesn’t actually change a thing and wouldn’t bring us one step closer to equality. Another topic I really liked was that, deep under all the ridiculous things Elliot did and said, was this boy who built walls around himself because he was lonely and never taught how it feels to be loved. Who feared making himself vulnerable and get hurt in the process. I knew someone like that, she attacked people quite fast and often for no reason, so they never had the chance to hurt her first. But if you don’t give up and look beneath all those thorns, there might be someone quite loveable (even though I have to stress might here). Imo, the author depicted this really well. There were many other things integrated in this story, e. g. the pointless glorification of war and violence, but you should see for yourself. On another note: The romance was *chef’s kiss*. Probably one of the slowest burns that ever burned. I loved it. All in all: Do yourself a favor and read this book.
Description
In Other Lands is an exhilarating novel from bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools - friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world — even if it means giving up your phone.
Excerpt:
The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border — unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and — best of all as far as Elliot is concerned — mermaids.
"What’s your name?"
"Serene."
"Serena?" Elliot asked.
"Serene," said Serene. "My full name is Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle."
Elliot’s mouth fell open. "That is badass."
Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands.
It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world.
Book Information
Posts
Anfangs hatte ich so meine Probleme, in die Geschichte reinzukommen. Elliot ist ein ziemlich eigenartiger Protagonist und auch oft etwas unsympathisch. Aber mit der Zeit versteht man ihn immer mehr und ja, am Ende habe ich ihn geliebt. Auch Luke (mein Baby, protect him at all costs) und Serene waren wunderbare Charaktere. Zugegeben, der Plot war sehr vollgestopft, aber man gewöhnt sich dran. Dafür bekommt man auch eine der besten Slowburn-Romanzen, die man sich vorstellen kann. Ich habe die komplexe Gefühlswelt der Charaktere absolut genossen. Alles in allem war dieses Buch super besonders und ich werde noch lange daran zurückdenken.
This book has no plot and paper-thin worldbuilding, but I still enjoyed it for a quick ya fix with snarky characters and lots of teen angst. Have to say though, some of the fights they had felt a bit harsh to me for something you say to your supposed friends, and Elliot insisting that even at the 400 page mark he wasn’t friends with Luke really felt ridiculous to me. I also learned close to the end that the author wrote part of The Bane Chronicles, and let’s just say, I definitely felt there were some similarities with some of Cassandra Clares work. All in all a fun book, but not as groundbreaking as I expected and way too long for having basically no plot.
I’m so glad that I started this book on a weekend. I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on work, knowing that there are pages left unread waiting for me at home. Mostly, this book was hilarious. Even though Elliot is a handful, at times enraging and unfair, he can be witty and charming as well. Besides, he isn’t blind to his faults, still he doesn’t emerge as the perfect MC at the end of the book. Many authors do this, even if I think that it’s perfectly fine for characters to have flaws. Don’t we all? And let’s hear some praise for managing to give the side characters depth, a feat not everyone is able to accomplish. Furthermore, the author managed to include some serious topics as well as food for thought. I really liked how expectations towards the sexes were swapped in elven society. In my eyes, it illustrated perfectly how nonsensical this type of stereotyping is. And how simply swapping them doesn’t actually change a thing and wouldn’t bring us one step closer to equality. Another topic I really liked was that, deep under all the ridiculous things Elliot did and said, was this boy who built walls around himself because he was lonely and never taught how it feels to be loved. Who feared making himself vulnerable and get hurt in the process. I knew someone like that, she attacked people quite fast and often for no reason, so they never had the chance to hurt her first. But if you don’t give up and look beneath all those thorns, there might be someone quite loveable (even though I have to stress might here). Imo, the author depicted this really well. There were many other things integrated in this story, e. g. the pointless glorification of war and violence, but you should see for yourself. On another note: The romance was *chef’s kiss*. Probably one of the slowest burns that ever burned. I loved it. All in all: Do yourself a favor and read this book.