Reviews

Tochter der DĂ€mmerung by Claudia Gray

sophilozophy's review against another edition

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5.0

Things aren’t as they seem in Bianca’s life. Secrets are being kept from her at the same time she is keeping secrets from others. How is she going to continue seeing Lucas when getting caught anywhere near Evernight will cost him his life? There are some new arrivals at Evernight that are causing trouble and will answer the question of why humans are being accepted in what was in the past a vampire only school. If she doesn't have enough to handle Bianca's vampire instincts are getting closer to the surface. She needs more and more blood to stay satisfied and her parents say it's only a matter of time before she has to takes the final step and become a true vampire. But what if she doesn't know if that is what she wants any more. What will become of her?

My emotions were in sync with Bianca’s. You’ll feel her need for love and blood just as she does. This book doesn’t disappoint and it looks like it's only going to get better and so much more complicated in the books that follow.

laura222005he's review against another edition

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4.0

i couldn't putit down, there are so many things that i don't understand so i hope in the next book i get some things. i loved Baltasar and bianca omg, who is jane, what happened to bianca's parents, are they dead? charity i totqlly hate you like gosh i hope you die. raquel idk girl i think you are gonna be a problem.

cheyenneisreading's review against another edition

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3.0

Evernight was good, I enjoyed reading it and expected the same results with the second book. However that didn't occur. From what I can remember it became repetitive and I stopped at book 2.

glitterbomb47's review against another edition

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2.0

2.5 stars.

ellenpenleysmith's review against another edition

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4.0

I have finally recived stargazer and finished it. I gotta say it was unexpected and also predictable to a certain extent.
Much better compare to the first book, Evernight, I would have liked it to be a bit more .. oh i dunno... i just didnt seem right.

I am still going to finish the series, whenever the third and fourth book come out, and i would recommend it to other people.

I had hopes that something stronger would rise up between Bianca and Balthazar and it did, to an extent. I am very interested to see how Gray continues the series with [b:Hourglss] the third (and second last) book of the series.


sunnydee's review

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5.0

4,8 von 5 Sternen
*Inhalt:*
Bianca und Lucas sind getrennt, da Luca wieder beim Schwarzen Kreuz ist und Bianca weiterhin in der Evernight Academy unterrichtet wird. Doch sie finden einen Weg sich zu treffen und ihre Liebe bleibt bestehen. Auf der Academy allerdings geschehen merkwĂŒrdige Dinge. Geister erscheinen und sie wollen anscheinend nichts gutes. Aber was wollen sie und was hat das alles mit Bianca zu tun?

*Meinung:*
Das Cover ist wunderschön und sinnlich. Das Lila spiegelt sich auch auf dem Einband des Buches wider. Auch der verschnörkelte Schriftzug mit seinen kleinen Details hat mir wie schon beim ersten Band wieder sehr gut gefallen. Das Buch enthÀlt kein LesebÀndchen und auch keine Extras oder Werbung.

(ACHTUNG SPOILER ZU TEIL 1)
Die Grundidee ist nicht wahnsinnig originell, aber meines Meinung nach gut umgesetzt. Es ist die typische Dreiecksgeschichte – ein MĂ€dchen und zwei Typen. NatĂŒrlich ist sie (angehende Vampirin) das genaue Gegenteil von ihm (Mitglied des Schwarzen Kreuzes und somit VampirjĂ€ger) und sollte sich daher eigentlich von ihm fernhalten, kann das aber nicht. Auch wenn dies alles nach Schema F klingt, ist das Buch bzw. die Buchreihe sehr lesenswert, da sie durch die Charaktere ĂŒberzeugt und Emotionen gut herĂŒber gebracht werden. Auch die Spannung kommt nicht zu kurz, aber dazu spĂ€ter. Im großen und ganzen geht es um Vampire und ihre Gegner. Dazu zĂ€hlen nicht nur das schwarze Kreuz sondern auch andere Wesen, die in diesem Teil zum ersten Mal auftauchen.

Der Schreibstil ist flĂŒssig und typisch fĂŒr ein Jugendbuch. Allerdings kommt es ohne aufgeblasene Jugendsprache aus, was ich sehr begrĂŒĂŸe. Die Geschichte wird aus der Ich-Perspektive und der Vergangenheit beschrieben.

FĂŒr mich war das Buch spannend, allerdings bevorzuge ich ruhige BĂŒcher und bin daher kein wirkliches Maß zum Thema Spannung. Das solltet ihr bedenken. FĂŒr mich hatte es eben genau die richtige Dosis Spannung, die durch verschiedene HandlungsstrĂ€nge aufrecht erhalten wurde, denen immer wieder unterschiedlich viel Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt wurde. Die Liebesgeschichte um Bianca und Lucas, die Entwicklung um die Geister, Biancas Entwicklung als Vampirin und ein weitere Handlungsstrang um Balthazar, den ich hier nicht voraus nehmen möchte, machen die Spannung aus. Das Level ist dabei fast immer gleichbleibend und gipfelt dann in einem eher kurzen Showdown. Es gab keine riesigen Überraschungen, das meiste war vorhersehbar, aber zumindest gab es eine Sache mit der ich nicht gerechnet hĂ€tte. Die Entwicklung um Biancas Zukunft hat doch eine unvorhersehbare Wendung genommen.

Die Emotionen kommen sehr gut beim Leser an, ohne aber zu nah zu gehen. Man bricht also nicht in TrĂ€nen aus oder schmilzt vor RĂŒhrung dahin. Die Liebesgeschichte ist etwas fĂŒr Romantiker, zu denen ich mich beim Thema Buch zĂ€hle. Ich finde die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Bianca und Lucas sehr schön. Auch die Freundschaft mit Balthazar und Raquel gefiel mir, obwohl vor allem letztere etwas weiter ausgebaut hĂ€tte werden können. Vor allem mit Biancas GefĂŒhlswelt konnte ich mir gut identifizieren und dadurch gut in das Buch abtauchen.

Die Charaktere sind meiner Meinung nach das Highlight der Reihe. Bathazar und Lucas sind tolle mĂ€nnliche Charaktere. Man merkt Balthazar sein wirkliches Alter an. Dadurch wirkt er wie ein BeschĂŒtzer und ein Fels in der Brandung. Lucas wirkt erwachsener als er eigentlich sein sollte, aber auch das ist plausibel wenn man seine Geschichte kennt. Beide Charaktere sind fĂŒr mich total unterhaltsam und einer der beiden ist meistens im Spiel. :) Die Nebencharaktere bleiben meist etwas blass und trotzdem wirken sie sympathisch oder interessant.

Es gab auch in diesem Band wieder eine Ungereimtheit, die ich störend fand. Ich kann sie hier nicht nennen ohne zu spoilern, aber irgendwie scheint mir die Autorin, wie schon im ersten Band, mit ihren Geheimnissen nicht ganz Schritt zu halten. Plötzlich eröffnet sie etwas weltumwerfendes, dass vorher fast schon widerlegt wurde vom Verhalten der Charaktere. In diesem Band fand ich es allerdings nicht ganz so extrem wie im Band 1.

Das Ende war relativ offen. Sehr viele Fragen bleiben offen und man MUSS einfach weiter lesen.

Grundidee 4/5
Schreibstil 5/5
Spannung 4/5
Emotionen 4,5/5
Liebesgeschichte 5/5
Charaktere 5/5

*Lesergruppe:*
Jugendliche und Junggebliebene, die trotz der zahlreichen JugendfantasybĂŒcher um Vampire immer noch nicht genug haben. Ich finde diese Reihe sehr empfehlenswert. Aufgrund einige recht brutaler Gewaltszenen wĂŒrde ich das Buch ab 14 Jahren empfehlen.

*Fazit:*
4,8 von 5 Sternen
Der zweite Teil konnte mich fast noch mehr begeistern als der erste Teil. Ich finde die Liebesgeschichte in dieser Reihe sehr ĂŒberzeugend und romantisch. Außerdem glĂ€nzt die Reihe durch ihre interessanten und sympathischen Hauptcharaktere. Außerdem wird durch eine weitere Art von 'Wesen' die Reihe in diesem Band noch interessanter gemacht. Von mir gibt’s eine klare Leseempfehlung.


Reihe:
Band 1 Evernight
Band 2 Evernight - Tochter der DĂ€mmerung
Band 3 Evernight - HĂŒterin des Zwielichts
Band 4 Evernight - GefÀhrtin der Morgenröte

thecozyreaderwbo's review against another edition

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5.0

This post will be the review only. I will post the contest this weekend as I am having a crazy week.

Stargazer (Evernight Academy, Book 2) by Claudia Gray
HarperTeen (March 24, 2009)
329 pages (Hardcover)

Originality: 19!
Characters: 20!
Writing: 19!
Setting: 10!
Plot: 19!
Passion: 10!
Grade: 97/100!

NEW! Cover Bonus Points: 2/5!
99/100!

Inside flap description:

The vampire in me was closer to the surface . . .

Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all--vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.
But Bianca fell in love with Lucas--a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.
Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross--or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.
Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning. . . .

Read an excerpt HERE!

Originality:
The plot was very original in this book. Ghosts, vampires, humans, teens, adults, extremely old vampire teens. It has it all. Everything worked well together in this recent installment by Claudia Gray.

Characters:
Bianca and Lucas's love holds strong even thought they are forced apart. We learn more about Bianca, her parents, and her roommate Raquel. We also learn a bit more about snob Courtney. And a major character this time around is one of my favorite characters: Balthazar. We also meet his sister in this book, who turns out to be a major character.

Writing:
Claudia did such a better job on the writing this time around! I remember reading Evernight feeling confused and a bit ahead of where the reader should have been or something like that. Not with this book. I felt right at home. Everything matched and met up at the correct times. There was no confusion about the storyline, the characters, or even where it was all leading to. It was very well done.

Setting:
Well, the setting is Evernight Academy. A giant stone building with towers and gargoyles. The setting is setup very well. A lot takes place within Evernight and the details needed to convey the setting were there, not aggressive but not lacking either. We got to travel a bit in this book and each new setting was welcome and presented just great.

Plot:
This book was chock full o' badassness! There was lots of action, lots of planning, lots of collaboration between characters. Overall, I had tons of fun reading this. Everything worked out in the end with little-to-no loose ends, well except for the ending, but that's to be expected!

Passion:
Wow. The passion is totally there. Between Lucas and Bianca and even Bianca and Balty. Lucas and Bianca have a very close scene that they both ended up confused by what the other wants and it ends terribly, terribly bad. I wanted to cry and beat someone up. I felt totally sad for Bianca but I also understood where Lucas was coming from. And what makes it even worse is that Balthazar is such a nice guy, vampire, whatever, and he and Bianca would work great together. They share a moment that was so hot it was freezing....for a moment I thought I was reading one of my adult romances.

Cover:
The cover isn't that great. They stayed true with the artwork of the first book with a contrasted pic of a girl but I don't get it. I do love the font that Stargazer is set in though. And the purple is cool too.

Overall:
This was a great book. I totally loved it and I was soo sad with the end. Because I didn't want it to end. Here's the closing line:

"Yeah." I looked at Lucas as I took his hand in mine. "I'm with you."


So, needless to say, I WANT MORE!

The next book titled Hourglass will probably be a whole year away.

There are some cool wallpapers and avatars on Claudia's website!

Stay tuned for my contest of a BRAND NEW copy of Stargazer! I'll be posting it sometime later this week!

http://bookreviewsbyjess.blogspot.com/2009/03/stargazer-evernight-academy-book-2-by.html

katherineguild35's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

kphmitten's review against another edition

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5.0

It was really fabulous. It got a tad slow for about two seconds and then the climax took everything over in a whirlwind. I loved the mystery in the novel and the new character (Charity) was deliciously twisted. I'm so excited for the next novel in this series because Bianca's problems have only just begun.

ashreads10k's review against another edition

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After reading Evernight, I was dying to start Stargazer to know what happened between Bianca and Lucas. I mean, their relationship is total Romeo and Juliet "my family wants to kill you, and your family wants to kill me." Coming home for the holidays might be a little tense, don't you think?

Lucas and Bianca together are totally swoon-worthy. Hell, Lucas himself is swoon-worthy. He's protective of her, and despite the fact that she's a vampire, he still loves her. But, Lucas isn't the only boy in Bianca's life... we see a bit more of Balthazar, a fellow vampire. I really, really like Balthazar, and even though not much has happened between him and Bianca yet, I can definitely sense that I will most likely be Team Balthazar soon.

If you thought the twist in Evernight was intense, Claudia Gray manages to up the stakes even more! We're not just dealing with vampires and vampire hunters anymore. Now something much darker and deadlier has been added into the mix... and it wants Bianca.

Totally recommended if you loved Evernight, or even if you were so/so on it. There's more suspense, more action, lots more Lucas action, so pick it up! 4 out of 5 stars.