Character Review! - Tuesdays with Ash

Heya guys!

Sorry that I didn't post last week guys! It was half-term and I spend most of my time sleeping! A brilliant excuse, I know.

Anywho, a couple of weeks ago Belle did a character review on Ian O'Shea from the book The Host, so I decided that I would do my own review on one of my favourite characters! (Just a heads up, if you guys haven't read Harry Potter yet there will be spoilers ahead so read at your own risk!)

If you hadn't guessed yet, yes this character is from Harry Potter and it is none other than... 

Draco Malfoy!

For you guys who haven't seen or read Harry Potter Draco starts off being one of the main antagonists of the books and stays as Harry's rival through the series, until the very end where he has a change of heart. As many of my friends know I adore this character and I have a crush on the actor who played him spectacularly in the films, who is none other than Tom Felton.

Since this review will be about the Draco in the books, Harry and him first meet in Madam Malkin's which is a clothing shop in Diagon Alley where they are being fitted for robes. They engage in polite conversation but it is clear from the way Draco talks, especially when he talks about pure-bloods being 'our kind' and calling Muggleborns 'mud-bloods' that he is extremely arrogant and Harry instantly has a dislike of him. During this entire exchange Draco has no idea who Harry is until when they meet again on the Hogwarts Express (or outside the Great Hall in the films) and he extends his hand in friendship. 

However, Harry completely disregards him as Draco had previously insulted Ron who Harry had just made friends with. Through the rest of the third year Draco attempts to make Harry's life a misery and even goes as far as to try and expel him. Draco is constantly followed by his 'henchmen' Crabbe and Goyle, and his most famous saying is 'wait till my father hears about this!'

Crabbe (left) and Goyle (right)

Throughout the first four books Draco is portrayed as a bully to Harry and his friends, with Rowling even suggesting that Draco was jealous of Harry's high status as 'The Boy Who Lived' which is shown when Draco ridicules Harry when Lockheart's having a book signing by saying 'you can't even walk into a book ship without making the front page'. Many people may wonder why I like this character so much and I honestly can't explain why, but it will start to make more sense as the book series continues.

It is in the 5th book (The Order of the Phoenix) when you start to see a change in Draco's behaviour, as his father (Lucius Malfoy) is send to Azkaban (a wizard prison) due to Harry revealing him to be a Death Eater (a follower of Voldemort). Draco attempts to hex Harry on the Hogwart's Express but his friends come to the rescue and Draco, Crabbe and Goyle end up going home looking like giant slugs! 

Draco's life takes a turn for the worst in book 6 (The Half-Blood Prince) as he has become a Death Eater and has been given the task of killing Dumbledore. It is told later that if Draco did not succeed in his mission, Voldemort would kill him and his parents instead. Draco spends the whole year trying to fix The Vanishing Cabinet so that the Death Eaters can enter Hogwarts. Draco's character changes drastically as he is shown to become distant from his friends and almost kills Ron and Katie Bell when attempting to kill Dumbledore. Draco himself almost dies when him and Harry have a wand fight (no dirty thoughts here guys!) in Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom but is healed by Snape. When the time comes for Draco to kill Dumbledore, he cannot bring himself to do it so Snape intervenes and all the Death Eaters flee Hogwarts.

Draco injured in Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom

During the last and final book (The Deathly Hallows) it is hard to tell whether Draco is still on Voldemort's side or has turned good. When Harry, Ron and Hermione get captured Draco is forced to identify Harry, in which he says 'it might be'. This is a huge character development for Draco as even though Voldemort has threaten to kill him and his parents, he still won't intentionally give Harry up. This means that there might still be a chance for Draco to prove himself. As well as this when Draco, Crabbe and Goyle flee the burning Room of Requirement with Harry, Ron and Hermione and Crabbe doesn't, it shows Draco morning for his lost friend which shows that even though Crabbe seemed no more than a henchman for Draco he was still considered a dear friend. 

It is also shown during the final confront between Harry and Voldemort that Draco does indeed have a close relationship with his parents. When Narcissa is ordered to check whether Harry is still alive after being struck by the Killing Curse, she lies about his being alive so that she will be able to search Hogwarts for Draco. After Voldemort dies, it is briefly mentioned that the Malfoys are all sitting huddled together showing that they are all alive and well. In the epilogue, Rowling has stated that Draco married Astoria Greengrass (the younger sister of a classmate of his) and they now have a son called Scorpio. When Draco sees Harry, it is shown that he gives him a brief and curt nod which symbolises that their rivalry is other and they are no longer enemies. However, on Pottermore Rowling has also stated that Draco and Astoria are not teaching Scorpio to be scornful at Muggle-borns and only be friends with pure-bloods, which apparently Lucius is not so happy with. But for all I could care, Lucius can go and stick his opinion where the sun don't sun as his son has grown up and has become a better person than what he was. 

Draco, Scorpio and Astoria in Kings Cross Station

This character has gone through many significant changes and has grown up into a good man in front of our very eyes. As you can see from the gif, he obviously deeply cares for his son and wife and I am so glad that he got a happy ending. With the amount of shit that happened in his life, I think that he deserves it. Yes, I admit that he was a douche to the Golden Trio but it is clearly shown in the books that he has grown out of that arrogant boy and if Harry can forgive him then so can you. Even though it may take Ron some convincing otherwise, with him telling his daughter Rosie not to get too friendly with Scorpio, as 'Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pure-blood'. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this not-so little review about Draco Malfoy and I hope that if you didn't like him before, that you may like him a little bit now. 

See you guys next week!

Ash xx

Book Series' Reviews! (#2) - Tuesdays with Ash

Hey guys! =D

First of all, happy Tuesday! I hope your week started off alright and that the rest of the week is awesome for you! Second of all, welcome to my second instalment of Book Series' Reviews! Once again I shall do three book series so here we go!

1. Gallagher Girls - Ally Carter

I first saw this series on Amazon when I was browsing it one day and it caught my interest, so I bought the first book and ended up buying the rest of the series within the next couple of weeks.

There are 6 books in this series:

1. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You
2. Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy
3. Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
4. Only the Good Spy Young
5. Out of Sight, Out of Time
6. United We Spy

The story revolves around a young teenage girl named Cammie and she goes to the Gallagher Academy which is a secret girl's school for spies. I loved this book and I think the main reason I was interested by it was that it reminded me of H.I.V.E (look back at my previous Book Series' Reviews to read up on that series). It's absolutely brilliant because as well as dealing with all martial arts classes and special gadget classes Cammie still has to deal with teenage girl drama, including a crush on a boy who has no idea she's a spy...

The blurb of the first book is as follows:

"Do you ever feel like you're invisible? I know I do - just call me Cammie the Chameleon. But at my            school, that's seems as cool. Why? Because the Gallagher Academy might say it's for geniuses, but it's really a school for spies."

Cammie Morgan might be capable of killing a man in seven different ways, but she's about to begin her most dangerous mission yet; falling in love.

(By the way there is actually a blocked out word in the blurb it's not just me XD)

2. Special Agents - Sam Hutton

I seem to have a thing for spy books XD Anyway, I got this book series a long time ago but I still love it even now! This again revolves around a teenage girl called Maddie who trains to become a spy and teams up with two slighter older boys; Alex and Danny. I have to say that I've always had a small crush on Danny as I just find him hilarious and... yeah he's just awesome =3

There's 6 books in this series as follows:

1. Deep End

2. Countdown

3. Final Shot

4. Kiss and Kill

5. Full Throttle

6. Meltdown

Here's the blurb of the first book:

Your life can change in a second. Maddie Copper's did. She and her parents were gunned down in the street by an unknow assailant. Maddie's mother was killed and her Scotland Yard Inspector father was left in a wheelchair. Maddie was injured in the fall, her career as a dancer finished almost before it had begun. Searching for a new role in life, Maddie signs up as a trainee in her father's notorious flying squad: Police Investigation Command. PIC had a roving brief to combat crime in London and Maddie, quick-witted, intelligent and intuitive, is well-equipped to cope with the demands of her new job. She teams up with Alex Cox, an ace undercover man who can slip in and out of accents as easily as he does disguises, and Danny Bell, an electronics whizzkid with a razor-sharp mind. These three talented teenagers have the ability, courage and technical know-how to fight crime, wherever it rears its ugly head on the streets of London.

3. Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer

This series is completely original and this is one of the reasons why I fell in love with it. One of my friends introduced me to it (the same person who introduced me to Eragon) and it's just amazing. The characters are instantly likeable, even though the main character Artemis is a bit of the douche in the beginning but I swear that he gets better! And yes, Artemis is a girl's name but there you go =P You first meet him when he's about 12 and by the end I believe he is about 18 so it's quite a journey as you can tell. I've grown a fond attachment to Artemis as you literally watch him grow up before your eyes and you watch him overcome obstacles in life as well as meet new friends, such as Holly Short who I also love as she's such a badass! By the way, she's also a fairy but I won't give too much away so you'll have to read it for yourself. Also, I believe that the author's name is pronounced 'Owen' if I'm not mistaken. 

There are 8 books in this series as follows:

1. Artemis Fowl

2. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

3. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code

4. Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

5. Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony

6. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

7: Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex

8. Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian

Here's the blurb of the first book:

Artemis Fowl is a 12 year old genius born into the Fowl dynasty, that is, he is heir apparent and an already accomplished master of criminal activities that have founded the Fowl empire; he also has every intention of continuing in his father's footsteps. With his manservant, bodyguard and all round unstoppable man mountain, Butler, Artemis proceeds in his plan to replenish the family coffers with gold... lots of it. But this is no ordinary gold he has his sights on, this is Fairy gold, but then Artemis is no ordinary 12 year old.

So there you have it! Three more book series to have a look at if they have caught your interest! If you do decide to read them then I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

See you next week!
Ash xx

Book Series' Reviews! (#1) - Tuesdays with Ash

Hey guys! =D

Can't believe that it's Tuesday once again! I swear these weeks are getting shorter and shorter as they go by! Anywho, this week's blog is going to be reviews on 3 different book series that I love! However, I shall refrain myself from writing a review about the Harry Potter franchise as I will go on forever and, basically, it's amazing and you should all go and read it. Now.

The series I've chosen are all quite different in their own way so I really hope that you'll see one that you'll enjoy reading! =)

1. H.I.V.E - By Mark Walden

This series is by a very talented author and I read through the entire series in under a week!

There are 6 books in this series:

1. Higher Institute of Villainous Education (H.I.V.E)
2. The Overlord Protocol
3. Escape Velocity, Dreadnought
4. Rogue
5. Zero Hour
6. Aftershock

As you can tell from the title of the first book, this series is based around a school in which teenagers are sent too a secret school *cough* kidnapped *cough* and here they learn all sorts of different spy tricks such as martial arts and building cool technology. It's basically a school to train kids into becoming the next James Bond, but as a villain instead.

Confused? Well, the fact is that there are even more villainous people in these books which these kids have to try and defeat. Even though it may sound a bit strange it shouldn't stop you from reading these amazing books! They are full of action with extremely clever plots as well as the occasional dash of humour here and there. The story focuses around a 13 year old boy called Otto Malpense and his group of friends and I just absolutely adore him as he is just believes he's an ordinary boy, but really he has such a tragic backstory. A bit like Harry Potter actually.

Anyway here's the blurb from the first book:

Thirteen-year-old master criminal Otto Malpense has been chosen to attend H.I.V.E, the top-secret school of villainy. But there is one small catch - he cannot leave until his training is complete. There's no way Otoo is going to spend six years studying something he has such a natural talent for. He is left with one option. Escape. He just needs to figure out how...

2. Chronicles of Ancient Darkness - By Michelle Paver

This next series is an old favourite of mine and I read these books way before I read the H.I.V.E series. This story is based in the time before the ice age and it focuses around a boy named Torak who has to survive on his own after the passing of his father. Luckily though, he finds comradeship in a lone wolf and you get to read about all the adventures they have together. This series is simply wonderful and is so different to any other story that I've read.

The author has clearly done her research into this as there are many different medicines and tribal traditions that take place throughout the book. Also, the point of view change from Torak to Wolf (yes, that is what he ends up naming the wolf) every so often and you get to see the world through Wolf's eyes which I find adorable as he has different names for objects and people. For example, he calls Torak 'Tall Tailless' from which you can guess why he does. At the beginning and end of each book there's a map of their world and they are all beautifully illustrated.

There are 6 books in this series:

1. Wolf Brother
2. Spirit Walker
3. Soul Eater
4. Outcast
5. Oath Breaker
6. Ghost Hunter

Here is the blurb of the first book:

Torak is alone... wounded, terrified and on the run. An outcast like his father, he has avoided all contact with the clans. But now his father lies dead: slaughtered by a demon in the form of a great bear. Somehow, Torak must keep going. His only ally is an orphaned wolf cub...

This book also has a great review from the actor Ian McKellen:

'Like other great children's books which also entrance adults. Wolf Brother conjures up an utterly believable yet original world.'

3. Inheritance Cycle - By Christopher Paolini

This next series is just stunningly beautiful as it creates a whole new world full of magic and most importantly: DRAGONS! This series got recommended to me by a friend of mine and we have a very similar taste in books so I gave it a go and I am so glad I did! The writing style is breathtaking and you seriously will just lose yourself in these books! The author was only 15 when he wrote the first draft of Eragon!

There are 4 books in this series:

1. Eragon
2. Eldest
3. Brisingr
4. Inheritance

They are quite chunky books, with the first one being just shy of 500 pages and the author even included a map of the world in the first couple of pages, just like in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. There are also languages called the Ancient Language,  the Dwarf language and the Urgual language and Paolini (no idea how you pronounce his surname by the way) has added in a pronunciation guide at the end of each book! This series focuses on a boy called Eragon who finds a egg in the woods which hatches into a dragon, but someone else is also searching for this dragon and will stop at nothing to find it...

Here's the blurb of the first book:

One boy... One dragon... A world of adventure

When Eragon finds a polishes blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realises he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself.

Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic and power. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands...

Right, I think that's it from me this week. I could write down quite a few more book series but I'm afraid that it would go on forever!

Hope you guys enjoyed this week's book series' reviews!

Ash xx