Blood Passage by Heather Demetrios

Series: Dark Caravan Cycle (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Subjects: jinn, supernatural, magic, alternate worlds, mythology

Setting: Morocco, Africa and the Sahara Desert

POV/Tense: 3rd person past tense: Nalia, Raif, Malek, Zanari

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 481 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer & Bray

Summary/ product description: “A jinni who's lost everything.

A master with nothing to lose.

A revolutionary with everything to gain.

When Nalia arrives in Morocco to fulfil Malek's third and final wish she's not expecting it to be easy. Though Nalia is free from the shackles that once bound her to Malek as his slave, she's in more danger than ever before.

Meanwhile, Malek's past returns with a vengeance as he confronts the darkness within himself, and Raif must decide what's more important: his love for Nalia, or his devotion to the cause of Arjinnan freedom.

Set upon by powerful forces that threaten to break her, Nalia encounters unexpected allies and discovers that her survival depends on the very things she thought made her weak. From the souks of Marrakech to the dunes of the Sahara, The Arabian Nights come to life in this dazzling second installment of the Dark Passage Cycle.”

My Review: Somehow I did not enjoy this sequel nearly as much as the first book. Possibly because I was so busy that I had a hard time finding time to read it and it took me five days to get through half of it and then I rushed the second half in one day. It is a very long book and the 3^rd person POV doesn’t help. Exquisite Captive was exciting and new and mixed contemporary paranormal romance with fantasy.

Blood Passage takes place mostly in Morocco, which is a very different place from LA. It’s where the portal to Arjinna is located. It’s also where Nalia, Raif, Malek, and Zanari starts their search for Soloman’s ring. I’ve never read a book set in Morocco, so I found this part pretty cool. Then they must travel through the Sahara to find it. Nalia is required to take Malek to its location because it was his 3^rd wish and she’s bound by wish magic. On their journey some people die, they meet Dhorma jinni, make allies and sacrifices. There are some heart-wrenching twists and sad parts.

I may have had a hard time getting into this sequel, but I still enjoy the world-building and characters in it. The different castes of Jinn are interesting. Most jinn can only use one element: water, fire, earth or air. Nalia can use all four. Her purple eye and powers make her a Ghan Assouri, and she’s the last her kind and the rightful empress, although she’d rather not rule. Raif is a Djan, as is Zanari. They have earth abilities and green eyes. Zanari can also remote view. Malek is par-djinn, or part-jinn. He’s half Ifrit, the fire users. I like Raif as a love interest, but I found Malek more interesting. He kind of reminded me of the bad-boy characters in other series, like Warner in Shatter Me. He’s not all bad. He’s definitely done bad, but in the end he’ll do the right thing to save Nalia.

I recommend this series to people who enjoy stories that have mythology. If you are interested in non-western myths especially. If you enjoyed City of a Thousand Dolls by Mirium Foster. If you enjoyed other book with Jinn/Genies. If you liked fantasy books like Snow Like Ashes, or Red Queen or The Young Elite. It you like book about elemental abilities like the House of Night series or Vampire Academy.

Cover Art Review: Simple, but not too exciting. The symbol on the cover makes sense though.

Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios

Series: Dark Caravan Cycle (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Subjects: jinn, supernatural, magic, alternate worlds, mythology

Setting: Los Angeles, California, various other places around the world, and the world of Arjinna

POV/Tense: 3^rd person past tense: Nalia and Raif, and present tense chapters of various jinn.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 463 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer & Bray

Summary/ product description: “Forced to obey her master.

Compelled to help her enemy.

Determined to free herself.

Nalia is a jinni of tremendous ancient power, the only survivor of a coup that killed nearly everyone she loved. Stuffed into a bottle and sold by a slave trader, she’s now in hiding on the dark caravan, the lucrative jinni slave trade between Arjinna and Earth, where jinn are forced to grant wishes and obey their human masters’ every command. She’d give almost anything to be free of the golden shackles that bind her to Malek, her handsome, cruel master, and his lavish Hollywood lifestyle.

Enter Raif, the enigmatic leader of Arjinna’s revolution and Nalia’s sworn enemy. He promises to free Nalia from her master so that she can return to her ravaged homeland and free her imprisoned brother—all for an unbearably high price. Nalia’s not sure she can trust him, but Raif’s her only hope of escape. With her enemies on the hunt, Earth has become more perilous than ever for Nalia. There’s just one catch: for Raif’s unbinding magic to work, Nalia must gain possession of her bottle…and convince the dangerously persuasive Malek that she truly loves him. Battling a dark past and harboring a terrible secret, Nalia soon realizes her freedom may come at a price too terrible to pay: but how far is she willing to go for it?

Inspired by Arabian Nights, EXQUISITE CAPTIVE brings to life a deliciously seductive world where a wish can be a curse and shadows are sometimes safer than the light.

My Review:  I got way more that I expected out of this book. When I first heard about it, I thought it was some historical fairy tale retelling of Aladdin. Thank goodness that’s not what this book is. It’s a mix of paranormal romance and fantasy, set in modern Los Angeles. I love this take on Jinn. Jinn from Middle Eastern Islamic mythology (Djinn, Genie) appeared out of a magic lamps and granted wishes. (Mentioned on Ancient Aliens, Jinn could have been projections of holograms of aliens).

These jinn all have elemental based powers and can grant wishes or manifest things by drawing energy from their element. They comes from a world called Arjinna and are separated by their elemental castes. Wikipedia mentions the different types of Jinn: “The social organization of the jinn community resembles that of humans; e.g., they have kings, courts of law, weddings, and mourning rituals. One common belief in Muslim lore lists five distinct orders of demons — the Marid (the strongest type), the Ifrit, the Shaitan, the Jinn, and the Jann (the weakest type).” In the book the Marid have the element of water, the Ifrit have fire, the Shaitan have air and the 4^th type, the Djan have Earth.

Nalia can draw power from air, water, fire and earth, and that make her a rare kind of Jinn. The royal caste of Jinn called the Ghan Aisouri, which are all but extinct. The fire powered Ifrit jinn have been killing then off. The other lower caste hated the Aisouri rulers because they forced them into servitude. Nalia has a fiery strong personality and stubborn. She doesn’t like being forced to do things for her master and want badly to escape and save her brother who was taken from her. She meets Raif, a Djan revolutionary who may be able to help her in exchange for an important relic. Raif has prejudices against the Aisouri, and seems to hate Nalia at first, but their relation changes as they get to know each other. Romance happens!

There are also undertones of human trafficking/slavery in this book. Stuff like this happens in real life. Girls get sold to men in foreign countries. (If you ever seen Taken with Liam Niesen, when the daughter is taken.) This book is magical and a supernatural romance. Nalia has to try to seduce her master Malek, even if he seems like a sick, horrible person.

This book is so complexly plotted, it has me excited for the rest of the series. There needs to be more unique paranormal/fantasies that take mythology to a whole new level. This is that kind of book. If your interested in Eastern/Asian myth and legend and books about fantastical world parallel to our own, than make Exqusite Captive you next read! Don’t bottle up you reading list! Put this book on your wishlist.

Nalia is stuck with a very powerful master who won’t grant his final wish, so she’s his slave.

Cover Art Review: I love the colors and the type on the cover. The bracelet it nice, but I wish it was more detailed. Maybe the second book will be violet and gold instead of blueish and orange

The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

Release Date: September 17, 2013

Series: The Elemental Trilogy (bk. 1)

Genera: Fantasy/Paranormal Romance/Historical fiction

Subjects: supernatural, magic, mages, elemental abilities

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: ARC page count: 449 pgs. Hardcover: 464 (?)

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer + Bray

Summary/ product description: “It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.”

My Review: When I found out that this book was partially set in England in 1883, I didn’t want to read it. I’m not a fan of historical fiction. I hate historical dialogue and words. British words confuse and annoy me. And I don’t really like books written in 3^rd person. But when I received this book as an ARC, and when I heard good things about it on TeaTime with EpicReads, I had to read it. This book may have not been the most exciting book I’ve ever read, but for a hist-fic fantasy, it’s not bad. It took me more than 4 days to get through it, but I wasn’t bored or skimming.

I loved the magic in this book. I though it was going to be copying Harry Potter, because the wand and Latin spells, and the boarding school, but it was very different. (For one, the boarding school was not for wizards. It was just a regular boys boarding school). I really love stories in which the main characters can control elements. Like the House of Night series, Vampire Academy, or the show Avatar: The Last Airbender. Iolanthe, an elemental mage, could control Fire, Water and Earth, but not Air. And somehow she could make a lightning bolt come down from the sky.

There was also something called subtle magic. It’s spells and wand that can do thing like change you shoes and clothes, or make you see things far away. It’s for useful things. There’s also vaulting, which it teleportation. Titus is a master at it.

There’s also different realms. Mage realms. I’m not sure if the mage realms are a parallel world, or something like a hidden world or country similar to in the Mortal Instruments series. Maybe they’re cloaked islands? It mention Atlantis a lot, so maybe an island. There are a lot of magical creatures. Dragons, wyverns, and so many more. There’s just so much that I became confused. The world building could use a little work.

I felt like the main characters were a little flat. Iolanthe and Titus reminded me of Rachel and Logan from Defiance, but without the 1^st person narration, they don’t have much personality. I did love the humorous dialogue. Especially when Iolanthe was pretending to be a boy, Archer Fairfax. She was able to pull off a cocky boy attitude perfectly. There was a little romance between Iolanthe and Titus. Nothing too in depth. Some kissing and flirting. I’m hoping book 2 will have more. My favorite parts of this book were when Iolanthe pretended to be Archer Fairfax, or when she was turned into a canary. Also some of the scenes where they’re in that fairytale world.

This book is similar to other fantasy books, but I think it’s unique. I haven’t read many historical set fantasy, so I don’t have many to compare them too. I’d say this is kind of Harry Potter with a girl main character. But if you liked Definace by C.J. Redwine, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, or Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, then you might enjoy this. Or even books like the Unicorn Chronicles series by Bruce Colville. This book is mostly fantasy with some very late 1800s British speech.

Cover Art Review: My ARC has a different cover than the hardcover. I like both versions. The hardcover has a beautiful fiery dragon/phoenix/wyvern on the front. I love the colors, and feathers. The castle is cool on the ARC. It’s upside-down. I feel like there should have been more lightning on the hardcover. Fire may be the main element that the character likes to use, but controlling lightning and air is the struggle.