The Assassin's Blade
author: Sarah J. Maas
published: March 4th 2014 by Bloomsbury Childrens
pages: 448
my rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.


This book is a collection of five novellas about Calaena Sardothien's life before Throne of Glass. I personally read it after reading Queen of Shadows and kind of regret not reading it sooner. Sarah J Mass said you can even read it before Throne of Glass but really you can't ruin the reading experience either way.The stories all explain a lot about her character and how she ended up being the way she was in Throne of Glass.

Since Calaena goes through so much character development in the Throne of Glass series, reading this book kind of threw me back to the beginning and I know have the urge to reread the entire series from start to finish (I'll probably read Empire of Storms first though).
I really love how badass and powerful she is, she's basically the definition of a strong female character.

Her relationship with Sam truly broke my heart. She obviously loves Sam and he loves her. Reading it after Queen of Shadows made it so much harder to read *cough*. Especially the last story – The Assassin and the Empire – crushed me.

“My name is Celaena Sardothien," she whispered, "and I will not be afraid.”
That quote became so much more meaningful after reading these novellas.

The other stories were great as well and I really hope some of the people she meets come up in Empire of Storms or later books again. I also have the feeling that some people or situations were already mentioned in the earlier books which is why I wish I'd read this book sooner.

If you like Throne of Glass I highly recommend you read this. They might only be novellas but they can make you excactly as emotional as any other Sarah J Mass book can.

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus #1)

The Lost Hero – Heroes of Olympus #1

author: Rick Riordan

published: October 12th 2010 by Disney-Hyperion Books

pages: 557

my rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Jason has a problem.

He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper, and a best friend named Leo. They’re all students at a boarding school for “bad kids.” What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly?

Piper has a secret.

Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare about his being in trouble. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits during the school trip, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out.

Leo has a way with tools.

When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about, and some camper who;s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god. Does this have anything to do with Jason's amnesia, or the fact that Leo keeps seeing ghosts?

This is the first book in the series and it takes place after Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian. 

The start immediately drew me in, it's captivating from the start. 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
author:  J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, Jack Thorne
published: July 31st 2016 by Arthur A. Levine Books
pages: 327
my rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later.

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

Let me just start this off by saying I was extremely nervous starting this book. There is so much about the Harry Potter universe that I don't want to get ruined and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to read it at first.

As many will probably already know this book is written as a play and I wasn't a huge fan of that. It took some time to get used to and I think the pacing was way too fast. But other than that it didn't made reading it harder and I could soon get completely get sucked back into the Harry Potter universe once again. The feeling of reading a Harry Potter book is definitely there, even though it is very different.

It did hurt a bit to see everyone grown up with jobs and adult problems. But it soon became clear that their friendship hadn't really changed at all and they're still a great team.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Draco Malfoy played a role here as well and I feel like his character gets a lot more detailed and layered. I don't think there was anything completely new about his character but I feel like he's shown from a different perspective and lots of things that weren't as clear in the original books gets a bit more attention here.

Albus, Harry Potter's son is one of the main characters of the play and in many ways he is similar to Harry. He has problems figuring out his place in the wizarding world and feels like an outsider which in many ways, Harry did too. And like Harry he is extremely loyal and goodhearted. Unfortunately he also makes some really stupid mistakes which ,again, Harry did too.

I did think that the entire conflict in the play could've easily been avoided and it's all kind of Albus fault, which is a thought I couldn't really get out of my head. It really seems like the authors where looking for a way to expand a story that had ended perfectly and that might actually be what happened.
But other than that I loved the plot, it completely horrified me at times and there where some amazing plot twists. It came way to close to destroying the peace and happy end I enjoyed so much and I was anxious to find out what would happen next.


I think you shouldn't view this as the "next Harry Potter book" but as something completely separate from the series because the format, plot and even the characters are different. By doing that I really enjoy this book without comparing it constantly.

Demon Road

Demon Road 
author: Derek Landy
published: January 1st 2015 by HarperCollins Children's Books
pages: 507
my rating: 5 out of 5 stars


Full of Landy’s trademark wit, action and razor sharp dialogue, DEMON ROAD kicks off with a shocking opener and never lets up the pace in an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers: they’re all here. And the demons? Well, that’s where Amber comes in...Sixteen years old, smart and spirited, she’s just a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal themselves.

Forced to go on the run, she hurtles from one threat to another, revealing a tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. Her only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be… 

When I saw this book on the shelf I couldn't resist buying it. I love Derek Landy's series Skulduggery Pleasant and I just knew that I would love this book as well. Spoiler alert: I did.

As Dead As It Gets

As Dead As It Gets
author: Katie Alender
published: May 15th 2012 by Disney-Hyperion
pages: 442
my rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is the third book of a trilogy. There will be spoilers.
Bad Girls Don't Die review
From Bad To Cursed review

It's been three months since Alexis helplessly witnessed Lydia Small's violent death, and all she wants is for her life to return to normal. 
But normal people don't see decaying bodies haunting photographs. Normal people don't have to deal with regular intrusions from Lydia's angry ghost, sometimes escalating to terrifying attacks.

At first, it seems that Lydia wants revenge on Alexis alone. But a girl from school disappears one night, and Alexis spots one of Lydia's signature yellow roses lying on the girl's dresser the next day. Soon, it becomes clear that several of Alexis's friends are in danger, and that she's the only person who can save them. But as she tries to intervene, Alexis realizes that her enemy is a much more powerful ghost than she's ever faced before... and that its fate is tied to hers in ways she couldn't possibly imagine.

Not even in her worst nightmares.

Prior to reading this book, I was wondering how Katie Alender could possibly write a third creepy ghost book without it being repetitive. I can confidently tell you that somehow she pulled it of perfectly and I might actually like this more than the first book.

From Bad to Cursed

From Bad to Cursed
author: Katie Alender
published: June 14th 2011 by Hyperion
pages: 442
my rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This review will contain spoilers for the first book in the series. If you haven't read it yet, check out the review here:
Bad Girls Don't Die review

Alexis is the last girl you'd expect to sell her soul. She already has everything she needs--an adorable boyfriend, the perfect best friend, and a little sister who's finally recovering after being possessed by an evil spirit, then institutionalized. 
Alexis is thrilled when her sister joins a club; new friends are just what Kasey needs. It's strange, though, to see how fast the girls in The Sunshine Club go from dorky and antisocial to gorgeous and popular. Soon Alexis learns that the girls have pledged an oath to a seemingly benevolent spirit named Aralt. Worried that Kasey's in over her head again, Alexis and her best friend Megan decide to investigate by joining the club themselves. At first, their connection with Aralt seems harmless. Alexis trades in her pink hair and punky clothes for a mainstream look, and quickly finds herself reveling in her newfound elegance and success. 
Instead of fighting off the supernatural, Alexis can hardly remember why she joined in the first place. Surely it wasn't to destroy Aralt...why would she hurt someone who has given her so much, and asked for so little in return?

This is the second book of Katie Alender's Bad Girls Don't Die series and even though it's probably my least favourite in the series I still enjoyed it a lot.

Schachnovelle

Schachnovelle/ Chess Story
Autor (author): Stefan Zweig
Veröffentlicht (published): 1941
Seitenanzahl (pages): 64
Meine Bewertung (my rating): 2.5 von 5 Sternen

This is just a test. Since I read this book in German and it wasn't written in English originally I thought it might be more fitting to write this review in German as well. I'm not sure if I'll continue doing this but you can read the english version beneath this one (just scroll down a bit). Feel free to let me know what you think of this, I would really like to get some feedback:)