14. So book fourteen is ..... The Da Vichi Code by Dan Brown. Just because this book is the last book on my list in now way makes it the worst book. Oh god no! This book was super amazing and it had me hooked from the very beginning. I mean I love this film - who doesn't life a little big oh Tom Hanks. But the book was so much better and Brown's research into everything and his depth of characters .... ugh! It was so good! Okay. A lot of you won't know what this book is about so I will give you a little preview. The Da Vinci Code follows the story of Robert Langdon in his second book - thought I would mention that since I made that mistake myself the first time I picked the book up - in which a man he was going to meet who is the curator of The Louvre is violently murdered and the police think that Langdon had something to do with it. Whilst escaping the police he and the granddaughter of the curator, Sophie Neveu, have to decipher a load of clues and riddles in order to find out everything that is going on. And it all has something to do with the Holy Grail.
I'm sorry it that was a completely awful summery of the book but it's so hard to write anything about it without giving away the plot line. This book was so amazing and if I haven't have read so many other magnificent books this year, I suspect that it would have easily made it into my top 5 at least.
13. The next book in my list was The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. How can I describe this book? Well ... It's a little bit odd. It is written from the point of view of a boy with schizophrenia and this is perfectly shown through the abstractness of the whole book! The writing style is like that of a young child - similar to that of a book that I am studying for A-level English literature which is bloody awful - and it actually works. It uses a lot of thought in it and it clearly shows the characters emotions and thoughts to the reader straight away. Something which I think is so beautiful.
I can't really summarise this book with out giving everything away; yes, it's one of those books. So I shall write you the blurb.
'I'll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name's Simon. I think you're going to like him. I really do. Bit in a few pages he'll be dead. And he was never the same after that.'
What the hell! I mean what the absolute hell! How awesome does that sound. And that, fangirls and fanboys, is why this book is in my top 14 books of this year. It literally took me no time to read because the chapters were minuscule and the character's story was so interesting that I literally couldn't put it down!
12. Gone by Michael Grant is the next book on my list. Now then, this book was awesome, don't get me wrong but it went a lot further than I expected it to. I know that there are several more books in the series because when I went to buy it in the shop there were about twenty of them all lined up and looking really really beautiful. Well ... maybe not twenty ... but there were a lot of them. So when I read the book I was expecting it to finish long before the timer ran out. Oh ... I haven't mentioned the timer yet have I. Well, basically at the start of each chapter there is a countdown to ... no ... I'm not going to tell you that, you'll have to read the book to find it out. Anyway, I saw the countdown kept going down and that the book wasn't getting near the end anytime soon so I was really really confused. But this book actually really suites this because I don't think the story line would work without it ..... I'm rambling now aren't I ..... sorry .... it's like 2:00 am at the minute and I can't sleep.
A brief summery of this book is that:
One day in a small town in America, suddenly over the age of fifteen disappeared. That sounds pretty awesome when you think about it initially. However, these children soon discover that they are trapped in a dome of sorts and that as soon as you hit your fifteenth birthday, you disappear. As time goes on, things begin to get a bit violent as the resources begin to wane. And people begin to have these powers; these mutant powers. Children, alone and with magic powers. That's really going to work out well for everyone.
This book, I have to be honest with you, I loved it from the very beginning. It is beautifully written and incised me instantly. It is so action packed and I am really excited to discover what happens in the next book .... when I eventually get round to reading it.
11. This next book is something that I suspect would have been part of someone else's top five, at least. However I was not too impressed with it. Don't get me wrong, I did like it, but I really don't see all the hullabaloo about it. If you haven't guessed yet, then I suppose I will tell you what it is. Number eleven on my top fourteen books of 2014 is The Fault In Our Stars by John Green,
For those of you who don't know, the Fault in our Stars is about two teenagers who both have different forms of cancer. Basically they meet at a cancer support group and fall in love.
Think that's the easiest way to describe it to you. And if you don't know what it's about, have you been living under a rock for the past few years?
Okay, I'm going to admit something to you all. I did not cry when I read the book. It did not upset that much. I read it in the middle of my exams, I was super stressed out and just curled up in bed with about three buckets worth of chocolate and read it in about five hours. Maybe it was because I was so stressed out that I didn't get so emotionally attached to the characters; but I just didn't/ It was a good book but I really don't see why everyone loves it so much.
10. City of Bones is a book that I actually began in 2013; however I didn't read it all until this year so it is allowed. It is by Cassandra Clare and puts a whole new spin, for me anyway, on demon hunting books.
Basically it is about a young girl, who's mother disappears, and she learns that she descends from a lines of warriors who protect our world from demons. She then joins forces with others like her and heads into an alternate, far more dangerous version, of New York City; known as Downworld.
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would, and yes it took me a few chapters to get into to it completely. But it did interest me from the very beginning.
9. Although this book took me a while to get into it, I was so glad I read it because it is blooming amazing. Number nine on my list is The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I think that everyone will agree with me when I say this, this book is definitely nothing like any other book that's out there. Yes, few dystopian books are identical but this is far from anything out there.
If you don't know it is basically about a young boy who wakes up in a lift that takes him to a maze. He has no memory of anything before that. He only knows his name. And in this maze there are other boys; all of whom don't know their past. Since his arrival, nothing in the maze is the same.
Is that a really bad synopsis? I'm rubbish at them!!!! Anyway ... this book is so good, though I did have to start it three or four times to actually get into it; but once I got past the initally difficulty I really enjoyed it.
When I finished the final chapter I was a bit disappointed to be honest; they built the book up and then it just sort of ended. However, when I turned the final page ..... OMG!!!!!!! Pure genius!
8. The Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin is amazing, though very difficult to read and fairly embarrassing when you read it on public transport, especially with the multitude of sex scenes in it, and since a lady one time next to me was reading it over my shoulder. This lady was at least sixty and I think she was getting off of it. Ugh! CRINGE!!!
I can't really give it a plot summery because it is so long winded, however basically it follows the story of different characters that live in this world called Westeros. The book mainly revolves around the Stark family and how Eddard - the father - is asked to become the Hand of the King. And ... well ... basically .... well it all goes to shit!
7. When Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern or Love Rosie as it is known now is such a beautiful book. It was written in a way that I really doubted I would like - through the exchange of letters, emails, etc between Alex and Rosie. Usually I don't like this style but in this book it was written so beautifully and the characters emotions came through so perfectly that I had to love it! And the ending!!!! Ugh!!!!!
A rough idea of the book is that it follows the story of Rosie and her best friend Alex as they grow up and begin to realise that they are completely and utterly in love with one another. Though different things in life get in their way.
And there is really very little else I can say about this book; it is too beautiful to describe in any number of words. Other than one of course, beautiful.
6. This is the second time that Dan Brown will be on this list and that is because he is such a blooming amazing author. This time, it is with Angels and Demons; this is his first book, though it was the second film which is blooming confusing; don't you think!
This follows the story of Robert Langdon who is called to investigate the symbolical meaning behind a murder of a man who helped create the largest amount of anti-matter. This anti-matter was stolen and placed somewhere inside of Vatican City around the most important time for all the Catholics in the world; conclave after the sudden death of the Pope.
Let me tell you something about Dan Brown's writing. It is pure genius!!!! Literally! He is such an amazing author who really doesn't give anything away until it is absolutely necessary. And then when he does, you are so shocked by it all. He doesn't always end chapters with it either, sometimes he'll just throw it into the middle of a chapter and then you just sit there thinking; what did I just read, wait what???? Meaning then that you have to go back and reread it!
But that huge moment that there is at the end when the main mystery is revealed whether that be a key murder or the riddle is finally solved; you realise that he has been subtly hinting at it through out the whole book. Dan Brown is truly a legend!
5. Uglies by Scott Westerfield is the next book on my list. This book I read most of when I was lying beside one of the lakes in the lake district this summer in this blistering heat; I got a horrid sunburn from it. This book I had no idea if I was going to love it or not; one of my friends had suggest for me to read it about two years ago and I only just got round to it and I have never been so enticed by it.
It is based in a dystopian future in which everyone at the age of sixteen is given extreme plastic surgery in order to look beautiful. Tally Youngblood and her friend, Shay, rebel against this vision and meet people who look just as we do now a days.
Uglies is so beautiful because it expresses the idea that you don't have to conform to society in order to be pretty; that everyone is pretty in their own rights. And that is probably why this book is in my top five. It is shows young girls .... and boys ... that they don't have to be conventionally pretty in order to fall in love. Something which people now a days really don't understand!
4. The Enemy by Charlie Higson is such a blooming amazing book and I wish it could be higher than this but the top three were truly outstanding reads so I really couldn't place this any higher. But it is so amazing!!!
Basically the book takes in London, after a worldwide sickness that has infected adults; either killing them off or turning them into cannibalistic zombies. The children live in the post-apocalyptic world and since their is little food left in their area then they are forced to travel somewhere else. A boy they rescue says that there is a safe heaven in Buckingham palace; but could it be too good to be true.
Although it's a horror - something that I probably read the least of - it is blooming brilliant. And I'm loving apocalyptic books at the minute; so I can't wait to read the rest of the series.
3. This book has the be the one book that I have ever read in my whole life that I can relate to completely since I obviously am one. Number three in my top 14 books of 2014 is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. If you haven't read this yet; go an read it now!!!!!! Rainbow Rowell has basically created a book that is completely us. And it is brilliant.
Fangirl follows the story of the story of Cath who goes away to college with her twin sister, Wren, who suddenly decides that she wants her own life. Cath struggles to accept this but goes along with it, having to get a new room mate and live like any ordinary teenager. However, Cath is a fangirl who writes fanfiction on the Simon Snow series and she uses these books as an escape. Her fanfiction is very famous on the internet. As well as learning to balance her writing for pleasure and her writing for school, Cath is flung into a new environment and is forced to create new friends; oh the horror.
I literally had to write that like seven times because I wanted to reveal so much to you that would probably reveal the whole plot line. As you can probably tell by the way I am rambling; I loved this book. It was perfection and Rainbow Rowell really put across the struggles that we, as fangirls and boys, regularly face in everyday life!
I truly cannot wait to buy the rest of her books; this woman is a gift!
2. Procession of the Dead by Darren Shan is a book that was given to me by one of my closest friends for my last birthday. And I literally couldn't put it down. My dear friend was actually absent on my birthday - I don't blame her for that though, it was in the middle of our G.C.S.Es and she didn't have an exam so she had the day off - so she gave it to me the next day. Along with another book that I won't talk about at this moment in time. After the exam of that day, I didn't know it but my dad was taking me and my mum to go and see a musical for our birthdays - her's is the day after mine. He spoiled us by getting us first class virgin tickets - OMG! - and booked a table. For basically the whole trip there, I read the book. I read it when we stopped when we were walking round London. I read it before the show. I read it in the interval. I read it on the train back. This book was amazing! It also helps that I have a certain love for Darren Shan; have done since I picked up one of his books for the first time - something that me and my dear friend constantly bond over.
I've gone off topic now.
Basically, Procession of the Dead follows the story of Capac Raimi who arrives at The City in order to make his mark in the world and follow his uncle; he wanted to become a gangster. And because of this he runs face to face into the Cardinal - the leader of the city. As Capac grows more and more ambitious, he begins to learn what the true cost of ultimate power is.
How awesome does it sound!!!! It is so awesome!!! I love it!!! I really really do!!! Yes. It is insanely rude and graphic but it is just written in a way that is far too beautiful to explain!!!
And that is why Procession of the Dead is the second book on my top fourteen books of 2014.
1. This has been the easiest to place because it was so astounding and I loved every single bit of it. I'm always suggesting this book to people and as soon as you know what it is you will understand!
My top read of 2014 is The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey.
The 5th Waves follows the story of Cassie Sullivan, a sixteen year old girl who is attempting to survive in a world that has been almost completely destroyed by the waves of an alien invasion. Cassie is all alone and knows from experience not to trust anyone; the only thing she wants to do is to save her baby brother Sammy.
This book is brilliant. One of my friends did the review for it before it came out and she said how outstanding it was; and truth be told I didn't believe her. Until I read the blurb. OMG! It intrigued me instantly because of the few lines that are quoted from the book itself.
The 1st wave took out half a million people.
The 2nd wave put that number to shame.
The 3rd wave lasted longer. Twelve weeks ... four billion dead.
In the 4th wave, you can't trust that people are still people.
And the 5th wave?
No one knows.
But it's coming.
How blooming epic is that extract!!!! Ugh! This book is so amazingly written and Rick Yancey has this imagination that is on the same scale as Tolkien and Rowling!!!! I can not wait to read the rest of the trilogy. I'm going shopping so might buy the latest book then and pray that it lives up to the mountainous standards that he has created for himself. Rick Yancey, I tip my hat at you sir!!!!
And that, people, is it. That is my top 14 books of 2014. It has been a good reading year for me, and I hope next year will be the same too.
Please let me know if you have read any of these books and if so where you would rank them. Or what book would be your top book of the year. I really need some new read selections so please let me know.
Love you all
-IAMAGEEKINGGINGER!
XXX
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