Reflective: "Insight" by Jamie magee
Sometimes pleasure can be found where you least expect it. Mine was hiding in my brother's Kindle, waiting to be discovered. At first glance it appealed to me, with its cover featuring a teenage girl floating just below the surface of the water, promising a nice romantic trilogy for a girl like me. However people usually don't mention the second glance, but that could be just as important and fooling as the first. At a second glance on the first few pages, I thought the cover had tricked me. For the quality of the writing seemed novelty and the plot sounded generic. But this was the only book available, so I continued reading. And boy is I glad I did, ends up third time's the charm, my third impression left me buying the second book.
So what was it that made me want more? It was, ironically, the plot that I thought before to
be “generic” and the lovable characters. It centres around a 17-year-old girl and gets right into the good stuff on the first few pages. It's all about different dimension, and how there are many worlds besides ours. In certain worlds, people have special senses, like the power to sense other people's emotions, or sense people's intentions and see their auras. Before I read this book I didn't think I was very spiritual or believed people having past lives. But when I read this book I came to know a side of myself I didn't know existed. The idea of past lives and other things that most people may consider superficial or spiritual appeal to me more know and sound interesting.
Surprised I didn't take to it right away since I'm a sucker for quick beginnings, but I'm impatient and judgemental so I'll usually put down a book the moment It doesn't call to me. It was only after I decided to give it another chance that it revealed to me all it's hidden secrets. You could say the book influenced me, in one way especially, it gave me a very vivid, very terrifying dream. Well, I thought it was a nightmare in my dream so it seemed like the best way to describe it, but it was more of a super deep, meaningful, spiritual, but scary, message in the form of a dream (I will put the dream below this review separatly in case any of you would like to read it).
This book made me a more open-minded person because it brought out a part of myself that considered the possibility of things greater than the world we know. For anyone who loves fantasy, romance, drama and the idea of different dimension and worlds then you would enjoy this book. I suggest you give it a try, you might like it, as long as you're patient enough to give it your third impression.
So what was it that made me want more? It was, ironically, the plot that I thought before to
be “generic” and the lovable characters. It centres around a 17-year-old girl and gets right into the good stuff on the first few pages. It's all about different dimension, and how there are many worlds besides ours. In certain worlds, people have special senses, like the power to sense other people's emotions, or sense people's intentions and see their auras. Before I read this book I didn't think I was very spiritual or believed people having past lives. But when I read this book I came to know a side of myself I didn't know existed. The idea of past lives and other things that most people may consider superficial or spiritual appeal to me more know and sound interesting.
Surprised I didn't take to it right away since I'm a sucker for quick beginnings, but I'm impatient and judgemental so I'll usually put down a book the moment It doesn't call to me. It was only after I decided to give it another chance that it revealed to me all it's hidden secrets. You could say the book influenced me, in one way especially, it gave me a very vivid, very terrifying dream. Well, I thought it was a nightmare in my dream so it seemed like the best way to describe it, but it was more of a super deep, meaningful, spiritual, but scary, message in the form of a dream (I will put the dream below this review separatly in case any of you would like to read it).
This book made me a more open-minded person because it brought out a part of myself that considered the possibility of things greater than the world we know. For anyone who loves fantasy, romance, drama and the idea of different dimension and worlds then you would enjoy this book. I suggest you give it a try, you might like it, as long as you're patient enough to give it your third impression.
-Dream-
It was a suburban street I was strolling along, didn't recognise it at the time, nor did I know why I was there. As I walked along my eyes caught on some shadowy figure behind me. As I looked closer I could barely make it out to be some animalistic figure. I freak out a bit and started walking faster.. and faster. Then the shadow started to pick up its pace as well. When I noticed it's obviously following me I took off on a sprint and it runs after me. As it gets closer I can make it out better, it looked like a black lion, had the mane of a young male but the body size of a female. At this point, I'm thinking 'Why the heck is I being chased by a black lion in the middle of the city!?’. So I run, I run as fast and as far as my feet could take me. I begin to approach my apartment building and realised it was my neighbourhood I was in, and I see my double door entrance so I make a dash to the first door, reach for the handle and slam the door behind me. By that time the lion was right on my tail. When I reached the stairs I was safely behind two layers of glass with the lion on the other side. Or so I thought, ends up THIS lion can open doors, yay! So I continue leaping up 4 flights of stairs. I can't get inside without my key, then miraculously a little boy appears and lets me in. As I pass through and enter my apartment the lion comes and knocks over the boy pouncing at my door. My mom then rushes to my side asking what happened, as I explain that a lion is chasing me she attempts to open the door but the lion slams it shut trying to get in. I look through the keyhole and start to talk to it. What are you? Why are you chasing me? Etc. Then in my dream I found out that the lion isn't real, but rather a physical representation of something dark in my life that I have been running away from. Something that I need to face, so that the lion can be free and doesn't have to chase me anymore, and so I’ll be free from whatever it is I'm afraid of. The dream ends there.
Persuasive: "The ILLEGAL" by lawrence hill
The rush of adrenaline and anxiety just before the starter gun goes makes my stomach turn. With a loud bang, I set off. As I place one foot in front of the other, I grip the dirt with the soles of my Nike's. My heart rate’s steady but strong, my breath’s controlled and focused. As my legs propel me forward I strain the first kilometre, but after I pass that wall and get into my rhythm, I fly. The feeling of the air against my body, when it slips between my skin and my T-shirt is like no other. This is why I like to run. And running is the reason I read this book.
“The Illegal” centres around a fictional runner named Keita Ali. He was born and raised in the fictional country Zantoroland, where not many are privileged. His father's a writer for a local journal and his older sister is the brains of the family, his mother died when Keita was very young, as for Keita, he's the legs and the first of his family to escape Zantoroland to enter Freedom State.
This story houses many characters, each with their own set of problems and stories to tell. The author weaves all of these stories and lives together into one beautifully harmonious book. "The Illegal" touches many controversial subjects such as racism and equality while reaching out to those less privileged and looked down upon by society. With the vast difference in the backgrounds of all Lawrence's characters, this book appeals to a wide range of people and can teach those that read this book a lot about issues that one would not likely even be aware of if it were not for this book. Even though "The Illegal" is a fictional story, the concepts and key themes are mirrored throughout history and real events that have affected real people. How people of dark skin are discriminated because of their colour, or disabled people or those who identify with a different gender than straight.
After reading "The Illegal", not only did I learn the importance of place my feet on the ground gracefully while I run, also how with determination, passion, and drive, you can achieve the seemingly impossible when all odds are faced against you. I want you to also read this book, because you will learn something worthwhile and meaningful.
“The Illegal” centres around a fictional runner named Keita Ali. He was born and raised in the fictional country Zantoroland, where not many are privileged. His father's a writer for a local journal and his older sister is the brains of the family, his mother died when Keita was very young, as for Keita, he's the legs and the first of his family to escape Zantoroland to enter Freedom State.
This story houses many characters, each with their own set of problems and stories to tell. The author weaves all of these stories and lives together into one beautifully harmonious book. "The Illegal" touches many controversial subjects such as racism and equality while reaching out to those less privileged and looked down upon by society. With the vast difference in the backgrounds of all Lawrence's characters, this book appeals to a wide range of people and can teach those that read this book a lot about issues that one would not likely even be aware of if it were not for this book. Even though "The Illegal" is a fictional story, the concepts and key themes are mirrored throughout history and real events that have affected real people. How people of dark skin are discriminated because of their colour, or disabled people or those who identify with a different gender than straight.
After reading "The Illegal", not only did I learn the importance of place my feet on the ground gracefully while I run, also how with determination, passion, and drive, you can achieve the seemingly impossible when all odds are faced against you. I want you to also read this book, because you will learn something worthwhile and meaningful.