Review - The Codex: An Angel's Guide To Seducing A Human by Joe Duck

Title: The Codex: An Angel's Guide To Seducing A Human by Joe Duck

Author: Joe Duck

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis:

When an ancient book capable of summoning a demon is stolen from heaven, Narius, a young and not so bright angel of knowledge, is cast down and ordered to destroy it.

If he fails, he can never return to his blissful life as a lazy library guard.

Fortunately, to aid him in his quest, Narius is accompanied by the Codex, a theoretically holy book, who sprouts terrible courtship advice like a cheap fortune cookie.

Upon arrival to the world below his, Narius is tricked into helping Emily, a greedy sorceress in a bit of a pickle, trying to deal with a hungry dragon.

Together, the human and the angel must overcome enchanted apples, evil elves and the impoverished dragon or risk watching their world burn.

I received a free ebook copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

My thoughts:

When Joe Duck contacted me to ask whether I would consider reading his book I read the synopsis and thought this is something I would enjoy. I’m glad I said yes. The Codex is a fantasy filled with funny lines and scenes that could appear in a not-too-serious fairy tale. Many times I found it hard to stifle a laugh and my family members gave me questioning looks because they didn’t understand what I was chuckling at.

Narius, the young angel of knowledge – who himself has serious difficulties in absorbing knowledge – meets Emily, the greedy guild member, who has to dispose of a dragon to be able to pay the guild’s debts. They soon become companions for Emily agrees to help Narius in his mission to satisfy her own material needs.

Narius has a book called the Codex, that gives him dubious relationship advice. In the beginning I found this ’character’ annoying and thought I couldn’t abide it much longer, since its every line contained some vulgarity, but later I absolutely got used to it and after a few chapters I wasn’t bothered by it at all, it transformed into a source of hilarity.

Narius is a lovely fool and Emily is the perfect mate for him; a bit harsh, but utterly down to earth. Every adventure they went through together was exciting. They met many strange creatures: a talking dragon, elves, giant bloodthirsty birds etc. Towards its climax, the story became a little more serious and quite a lot of blood has flown, but it fitted the atmosphere that had been created by that time.

The romance was cute, mostly because of Narius’ ignorance and shyness and the ending left me satisfied. I would recommend this book to those fantasy and paranormal lovers who would like to pick up something light and entertaining (and don’t mind coming across dark and gory parts occasionally).

Goodreads | Amazon

 

Liebster Award

 I got nominated for the Liebster Award by Grace from lovingmylit. 

It's very nice to know she thinks I deserve this award! Thank you, Grace! :)

  

The Rules:

1) Acknowledge the blog who nominated you and display the award

2) Answer the 11 questions the blogger gave you

3) Give 11 random facts about yourself

4) Nominate 11 blogs you think are deserving of the award

5) Let the bloggers know you have nominated them

6) Give them 11 questions to answer

Lovingmylit's questions:

Which one do you use more: the library or Amazon/bookstores?

(Online) bookstores! I mostly read in English an my local libraries don't have many English books, therefore I buy what I need.

How many books do you own?

I've never counted them. Altogether in our flat there are hundreds of books (my father is an avid reader too).

How do you organize your bookshelves: rainbow or alphabetically? If you have a Kindle/iPad, do you categorize your ebooks?

Mostly I organize it by book size and writer or topic (e.g.: my Shakespeares are next to each other, also I have a collection of books about the son of Napoleon, the Duke of Reichstadt, those are together as well). 

I categorize my ebooks by genre.

Are you on Goodreads? What’s your user name?

Yes. Here.

What’s your relationship with John Green?

I love the guy, even though I haven't read any of his books yet. I've watched his and Hank's videos. They are funny and thoughtful.

Are you religious?

I'm Roman Catholic, although I don't frequent the church any more (I went regularly until I was 18).

What’s your favorite kind of cover: simplistic, hand-drawn, or photographed?

There are many different things that can draw me in a cover. From these listed above, I'd say I prefer the simplistic ones.

Do you follow book ‘trends’? 

I read what I'd like to read, it depends on my mood, not on the trend.

Do you have a local bookstore?

Sure, I do. With lots of Hungarian books in it and few English ones.

Do you read comics? Do you consider them ‘books’?

I want to start reading comics. I haven't read any so far. I might start with Saga, because the art seems pretty in that one. And yes, I consider them books.

Have you ever bought a book for its cover alone? Which one?

Yes! The book is called The Outcast (by Sadie Jones). I bought it, because the man and the woman on the cover reminded my of Tom Hiddleston and Rachel Weisz from the movie 'The Deep Blue Sea' which I adore. In the end I liked the story too, in spite of the fact that it was very depressive. 

11 random facts about myself:

1. I'm Hungarian
2. I'm a teacher trainee (and currently am working at a language school)
3. I love watching movies and tv shows
4. I always obsess over something
5. I speak English and some Spanish and I'd like to learn Danish someday
6. I must be the only one in the world who started Gone Girl and didn't finish it
7. I love owls and stuff (clothes, bags etc.) with owls on it
8. I have a 7 year old little brother
9. I have a sweet tooth
10. I want to set out on a literary tour in England someday
11. I hate wasting paper

Questions for my nominees:

1. What's your favourite book cover?
2. Favourite reading position?
3. If you could choose one book to live in, which one would it be?
4. Can you imagine yourself as the hero of a book? If yes, what genre your book would be?
5. Agatha Christie or Conan-Doyle?
6. Poirot or Miss Marple?
7. Do you/Did you struggle with compulsory readings?
8. What books will you read to your kids?
9. What were your favourite bedtime stories?
10. Do you read in other languages than English?
11. What was the most influential book that you've ever read?

Nominees:

Kate - thelawandthereader

Lexxie - unconventionalbookviews

Stormi & Kathy - booksmoviesreviewsohmy

Sophie - seamlessreade 

Carina - carinabooks

Sarah - treesofreverie

Aleksandra - my-book-obsession

Alma - journeythroughfiction

Andrea - theoverstuffedbookcase

Jessica - jessabellareads

Megan - bookgeeksanonymous

Daniel Deronda - Favourite Quotes

 

As you can see I'm currently reading Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (among other things). I admire this book; truly, I'm obsessed with it. George Eliot's writing style is amazing (this is the first Eliot book I've ever read) and the story is fascinating – I never knew Jews were so frowned upon in Victorian England (too). Also, I might or might not be a little bit in love with Daniel.

I thought I'd share some of my favourite quotes with you. I'm only halfway through the book, so there might be another post coming later with another bunch of quotes. Enjoy!

"Development and catastrophe can often be measured by nothing clumsier than the moment-hand."

"Attempts at description are stupid: who can all at once describe a human being? Even when he is presented to us we only begin that knowledge of his appearance which must be completed by innumerable impressions under differing circumstances. We recognize the alphabet; we are not sure of the language."

"One couldn't carry on life comfortably without a little blindness to the fact that everything had been said better than we can put it ourselves."

 

"We know that he [Deronda] suffered keenly from the belief that there was a tinge of dishonor in his lot; but there are some cases, and his was one of them, in which the sense of injury breeds

– not the will to inflict injuries and climb over them as a ladder, but a hatred of all injury."

 

"Outsiders might have been more apt to think that Klesmer's position was dangerous for himself if Miss Arrowpoint had been an acknowledged beauty; not taking into account that the most powerful of all beauty is that which reveals itself after sympathy and not before it."

 

"There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms."

 

"I think I dislike what I don't like more than I like what I like."