Ready, set, REVIEW!

First of all, Happy New Year! My New Year's Eve was not particularly happy, but I hope yours was.
And now...for the reviews.
I've read a ton of books over the past week or so (Thank you, Winter Break!), and I have so many thoughts tumbling around inside my head that I need to get them out, so prepare yourselves. I'll most likely be posting several times today, once I sort out the jumble in my brain into some sort of socially acceptable piece of prose that could pass for a book review.
Anyway. The first book I will be reviewing is...The Sweet Far Thing, by Libba Bray.

I have read the entire trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels) within two days, and I am throughly impressed. The Sweet Far Thing kicks off several weeks after where Rebel Angles left off, when Gemma Doyle, the main character, binds the powerful magic of a place called the realms to herself in an attempt to stop the power from falling into the wrong hands. However, holding all of the magic seems to cause oodles of problems. First she can't enter the realms at all. Then her visions come back, stronger and more powerful than ever before. Gemma fears she may be losing her mind as she's haunted with visions of a woman in a lilac dress and endures warnings from various members of the Order and the Rakshana, telling her to hand over the magic or face the consequences.
Meanwhile, Felicity is at risk of losing her inheritance, and also, her dream of never marrying and living alone in Paris. Ann is offered an opportunity to join a performing company, but her lack of confidence and extreme abundance of self-doubt hinder her progress to inevitable stardom.
Both of Gemma's friends began to resent her for withholding the magic from them, and Gemma begins to feel lonelier and more lost than ever before. Kartik is infuriatingly evasive, helping Gemma with her task and then disappearing for lengths of time. Gemma learns that things and people are not always what they seem, and that putting your trust in the wrong cause may lead to certain death.

The Sweet Far Thing is a terrifying and heartbreaking journey through the mind and life of a girl who thinks she's gone mad, interspersed with bits of romance and tragedy. There's some humor in there, too, bits of sarcastic remarks that I loved.
I can honestly say that this is my favorite book, as of now. Never before has a book reduced me to tears, or scared me enough to seek out a brightly lit, well-inhabited spot to read in, where none of the Winterlands creatures could get to me. *shudders*
If you read A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels, GO READ THE SWEET FAR THING. Right now. No, really. I don't care if you have to rob a bookstore to accomplish this task, just do it!
I give this chillingly amazing book of magnificence five stars!
(I think I might come up with another method for rating books, but stars will have to do for now.)

First Post of Awesomeness

Hellooo!
So, I am incredibly bored and decided to make my own blog. Mostly because Xanga is becoming more and more rage-inducing with every passing day, Myspace is so fraught with drama that merely answering a question on a survey suspiciously will ellicit several angry, pointless messages from people, and because Facebook is more puzzling than the fact that Britney Spears has yet to be institutionalized.
Anyway, here I am. I may or may not tell you my first name, I haven't decided yet, but for now I will be known as The Perilous T. 'Perilous' is my favorite word (okay, one of them) , and 'T' is my first initial.
This will mostly be me rambling about random crap. I may throw in a few book, movie, or tv show reviews occasionally. Just for fun.

Hmm, I guess I should tell you a little bit about me. Well, I live in Georgia. I'd rather not. The weather drives me absolutely batty, and I'm not exactly loving the whole water crisis thing.
I'm 14. Yeah, I know. Most people think I'm older, probably because I look older, but oh well. I guess I'm just a bit more mature than some other 14 year olds I know, ones whose knowledge of anything other than MTV and makeup doesn't extend much farther than "Huh?"
Don't get me wrong, I love makeup, and MTV does have it's little way of sucking you into it's seemingly harmless, ridiculously fake reality shows. For example:
Me: I hate Laguna Beach.
My friend, Charlotte: You should watch The Hills. It's a lot better than Laguna Beach, trust me.
Me: It's pretty much the same thing. I'm going to hate it.
Charlotte: Just watch it.
So of course, I watched it. And immediately fell in love with the vapid, shallow characters and storyline. Now, every Monday night at 10:00, guess where I am?
Curled up in bed, glued to the TV screen and anxiously awaiting the next installment in what should be called Hey, Let's Take A Group Of Privileged Twenty-Somethings And Follow Them Around With Cameras To See What Happens, Even Though Every Other Word Will Be Handed To Them By The Show's Writer.


I'm warning you now. If you are one of those people who is addicted to so-called reality TV, or are becoming addicted, STEP AWAY FROM THE TELEVISION! Run, fast, to the nearest bookstore and pick up a book on the American Revolution or something substantial that will undo any damage that The Hills has done.

Alright, so this next sentence is most likely going to sound very hypocritical, but it's true. I'm going to go watch everything I've TiVo'ed this week, including -gulp- The Hills.
I'll finish this later.

-----

Okay, so I just got back from what can only be described as a POSITIVELY TERRIFYING foray into the world of college preparation! (Despite my being only a freshman in high school). My mom received some letter from some company who offers guidance, assessment, and financial aid for college, so we went to their workshop. Basically, we sat there for an hour and listened to some overly-caffeinated lady talk to us about 'the seven critical steps to college acceptance' and other such crap, only to be told that the program costs $1195.
I was like, woah. That's seriously not worth it.
But the whole thing got me feeling all college-y, so you're going to have to hear about where I want to go. FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology) is my first choice. It's got the perfect location (New York City), the major I want to study, (Fashion Merchandising Management), and the most exciting attribute of all- IT'S IN NEW YORK!


Which is like a two hour plane ride from Georgia, and at least a two day drive. I'm loving how far away it is- I'm so sick of this stupid town. I WANT OUT!
And the only way I'm going to be able to get out is if I stop slacking off in school and actually start to care, so I'm taking an oath.
*raises right hand*
I, The Perilous T, hereby state that from now on, I WILL try my hardest NOT to suck at school.
Amen.
-teehee-
Seriously, though. Even though I hate the educational system and everything associated with it, I really do need to focus more on my schoolwork. Sometimes I wish I wasn't in advanced classes, but most of my friends ARE, so it would be a great loss if I wasn't.

Anyway, after we left the workshop (which I just remembered made me have to reschedule my weekly TV watching marathon) , my mom and I went to Publix to do some grocery shopping. And I discovered my new favorite aesthetically pleasing Christmas cookie!
Behold, THE STARBUCKS GINGERBREAD MITTEN! Sadly, I could not locate a picture, but just imagine a red gingerbread mitten and you get the idea.
Starbucks is amazing. I love their pumpkin spice lattes. And pretty much anything else.
KUDOS, STARBUCKS!


Alright, I'm off to read my new Nylon magazine, eat pizza, and later, drink some hot chocolate and maybe watch this week's episode of Pushing Daisies that I recorded.
Haha, most likely not. I'll probably stay on the computer until I go to bed.
Toodles!