The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

"It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. "

I have read quite allot of books that are about/based in the time of WWII/Nazi Germany. My mother was always adamant that I know what happened so that something like this may never happen again. So I know allot about that time period. So when I was told about this book, I was intrigued to read it. And to be honest, I was less than underwhelmed by it. It was talked up so much, and then they made a movie about it; I was ready for an amazing book. But I wasn't amazed. It was a good book, and aspects of the writing and story were interested, but  I did not see what the author was trying to tell us. I feel that if you are going to write a story about this heavy topic, you need to have a lesson that was or needs to be learned. I didn't learn anything. I was sad, and that was all.

What I did like about it is how Zusak used Death as the narrator. I felt that it made it more poignant. I also liked how it was set up. It had sections within sections, and made it an "easy read". What made it a long read was that there was a lot of time wasted on non important parts of the story and on the little things in life, and made the story drag on. 

If you like unique points of view, life struggles, difficulties to over come, and WWII than I would recommend this book to you. I give this book a generous three out of five stars. 

Ironhand's Daughter by David Gemmell

"The armies of the Outlanders crushed the highlanders at the battle of Colden Moor–killing their finest warriors and breaking their freeborn spirit. The highlanders are now a conquered people, ruled by the brutal Baron Gottasson.

Prophecies speak of the coming of a new leader, a descendent of Ironhand, mightiest of the highland kings. A leader who will throw off the Outlander yoke. But only one highlander carries the blood of Ironhand: Sigarni, a wild and willful teenage girl who cares for nothing save her own concerns. Until a fateful encounter thrusts her onto a path of rebellion. Now, hunted by the baron’s soldiers and stalked by an evil sorcerer, Sigarni will be forced to fulfill her destiny . . . or perihs."

I picked this book up at a yard sale, forcing the "don't judge a book by its cover" moto. I just have a personal thing about books that look like they are quick published, and the author has like tons of books printed because they are not taking time in their story and just want to get something on the shelves. I know it really doesn't make sense but that it how I feel. But this book was actually really good. 

The characters were very interesting and I liked that the heroine really didn't care what anyone else thought. She went through many emotional changes throughout the book, and it made her into a better leader by the end. The only thing I didn't like was that there were to many characters that you had to remember, and they all had unique and obscure names. So at times I did not remember which character was which. 

But if you like adventure, battles, magic, Scotland, historical fiction, and strong female leads than pick up this book! I am giving it a four out of five stars!

The Accomplice by Kathryn Heyman

"This is the story of one of the most shocking events of the seventeenth century: the wreck of a Dutch ship, the Batavia, off the west coast of Australia, and the extraordinary events that befell its stranded survivors. It is also the story of Judith Bastiaansz, sailing with her family to a new life, who is caught up in something well beyond her experience: first infatuation and then, perhaps, something far more dangerous. Combining a gripping narrative with vivid historical detail, this is a beautiful, terrifying, deeply moving novel of love and anarchy. "

 I bought this book a while ago, and at the time I was really into reading Historical Fictions. So after reading the back of the book I thought that this was going to be great. But again I judged the book by the cover, and was wrong. Firstly, it took forever for the story to start. I was pushing ,myself to read and become engaged in it for the first hundred pages or so. Now this a, what I call average, average size book. So I was close to half way through it before I really started to be interested in what was happening.  The second thing was that, in the beginning, she keeps jumping from the past to the present without any explanation. So you are left floundering to figure out at what time the story is taken place in. This just contributed to the hardship it was to get into the book. I wanted the main character to have a stronger presence, but did not get what I wanted. I felt she was a meek character, and although she did survive the hardships in the story, she did not become a stronger person or really grow. She stayed the same. I was disappointed in this book, and did have to force myself to read to the end.

I give this book a one out of five.