Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Subjects: magic, love, diversity, racism

Setting: Albion, a country much like London in the early 1900s

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Jessamin

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 275 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover  

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Downton Abbey meets Cassandra Clare in this lush, romantic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White.

“I did my best to keep you from crossing paths with this world. And I shall do my best to protect you now that you have.”

Jessamin has been an outcast since she moved from her island home of Melei to the dreary country of Albion. Everything changes when she meets Finn, a gorgeous, enigmatic young lord who introduces her to the secret world of Albion’s nobility, a world that has everything Jessamin doesn’t—power, money, status…and magic. But Finn has secrets of his own, dangerous secrets that the vicious Lord Downpike will do anything to possess. Unless Jessamin, armed only with her wits and her determination, can stop him.

Kiersten White captured readers’ hearts with her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy and its effortless mix of magic and real-world teenage humor. She returns to that winning combination of wit, charm, and enchantment in Illusions of Fate, a sparkling and romantic new novel perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, The Madman’s Daughter, and Libba Bray.”

My Review:  Illusions of Fate is a standalone fantasy novel that reads more like a paranormal historical fiction novel. I’ve never been a fan of historical fiction; especially ones set in late 1800s/early 1900s London, England (The only series I like set there is The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd). This book is basically set in an alternate version of early 1900s London. It’s got some of the historical sounding English phrases that I hate to read. It’s got carriages and some cars and limited electricity and so on.

But enough of the thing that I did not enjoy. I loved Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy series. She’s good are writing interesting heroines that are determined and sometimes stubborn. She adds humor and lightness and makes pages fly by. Chapters are never too long. There are always interesting elements and side characters. Her books are usually fun. That said, I read Illusions of Fate in one day.

The main character, Jessamin, is half Melei and half Albion. Melei is an island colony much like Tahiti, or maybe the Philippines. The natives have dark skin, Asian features. Albion is basically England and Jessamin’s father is a professor there. Jessamin is studying history though her real passion is math. She’s always doing equations in her head. She meets a guy named Finn and he flirts with her and they run into each other a few times and Jessamin gets invited to a Gala and he’s there. Finn is an interesting character too. He’s charming and sometimes infuriates Jessamin because of it. There’s a character named Eleanor who becomes Jessamin’s friend and she’s very dramatic and loves gossip. She has a brother named Ernest.

I really love Sir Bird, a black bird (Crow or Raven possibly) with yellow eyes that turns into a book. Jessamin is really annoyed with this bird at first but grows to like him. He’s a familiar. He does not talk but he seem to understand some thing. Crows and Raven are smart birds and definitely not evil, but some other black bird seem to be spying on Jessamin. Also there’s a man called Lord Downpike who has evil intentions and threated to hurt Jessamin if Finn doesn’t give him what he wants.

This book has themes of colonizing and race issues. It’s a diverse book since the main character is Asian, even if it’s the fantasy world version. I recommend this to fans of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, The Madman’s Daughter, books with Asian main character and books that may be steampunk or set in Victorian London.

Cover Art Review: Lovely cover. The title with the violet glow and the bird coming out of the painted cup is just gorgeous.

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. 

The Dark Light by Sarah Walsh

Genera: Paranormal Fantasy/Adventure

Subjects: Supernatural, parallel worlds, magic, Nebraska, romance

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 483 pgs.

HC/PB: Harcover

List Price: $16.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary/ product description: “Mia is torn between two guys—and two worlds—in this epic, romantic fantasy.
Mysterious lights have flickered above Crownsville for as long as Mia can remember. And as far as she’s concerned, that’s about the only interesting thing to happen in her small town.
That is, until Sol arrives. Mia’s not one to fall for just any guy, but she can’t get Sol—or the brilliant tattoo on his back—out of her mind.
Then Mia’s brother goes missing, and Mia’s convinced that Sol knows more than he’s sharing. But getting closer to Sol means reevaluating everything Mia once believed to be true. Because Sol’s not who Mia thought he was—and neither is she.”

My Rating: êêê1/2

My Review: I had no idea what this book was going to be about. I was guessing angel, aliens or mythology, or a phoenix (based on that tattoo on the cover). Instead I got a parallel world full of magic. I’ve been reading a lot of parallel world books lately (Like: The Other Normals, Magisterium, Through to You, and Under the Never Sky, which isn’t really parallel), so it’s kind of unexpected to be reading another by accident. This book was good. I loved the narration. And the surprises were pretty awesome (even though I kind of wanted angels, aliens or mythology…)

I liked this book for the most part. The uniqueness to the fantasy world was cool. Toward the end, what we found out about Sol was awesome. In the middle I was kind of losing interest. The book felt a little too long. Like everything was being dragged out. Books over 400 pages are hard to like for me. I would rather has shorter books in a series than one long stand alone. Some people hate series because of cliff hangers and having to wait a whole year to find out what happens next. I’m okay with them because there’s always something else to read. I also am disappointed about the lack of steamy hot romance that the cover implies. No sexy fallen angels or demi gods. This book managed to remind me of the book I’m writing because the fantasy world I made has a few similarities, and the necklace is kind of like the amulets in my book. I like seeing how other people handle world building in fantasy books. I’m glad this wasn’t high fantasy because I’m not found of the way they speak in those books. But sometimes it was clear that the author was British. She using “huffing big” and meters instead of yards and a few other words/phrases that weren’t American.

I recommend this book to people who like fantasy.  If you liked The Iron Fey series or the Wings series, this book may not have Faeries, but it sure has a lot of creatures that are similar. Mia reminded me of Meghan Chase from the Iron Fey books.

Cover Art Review: The cover’s too simple to describe what’s inside. I like the title, and the bird tattoo, but I don’t like the black & white of the photo. So boring.

 

~Haley G

The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini

Genera: Fantasy/humor/contemporary

Subjects: Parallel universes, other worlds, adventure, RPG, nerds

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 387 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperCollins: Balzer & Bray

Summary/ product description: “The Other Normals centers on 15-year-old Peregrine “Perry” Eckert, who’s seriously obsessed with an uber-dorky role-playing game called Creatures & Caverns. Concerned about his stunted social skills and need for fresh air, Perry’s parents decide to ship him off to summer camp to become a man. He anticipates the worst summer of his life until he arrives at camp and stumbles into the World of the Other Normals, a place where his nerdy childhood may serve him well — but not without connecting with the real world first.”

My Rating: êêêê

My Review: This book was really funny. So many ridiculous things happened. The characters themselves were pretty funny too. It felt kind of like a parody of some epic fantasy story, with some sci-fi thrown in. Perry is very naïve for a nerdy mathlete/RPGer. And very immature. He kind of reminded me of my brother, except my brother addicted to Call of Duty and other war games instead of WoW and RPG stuff. Ada and Mortin are pretty cool characters. Perry likes Ada a lot.

 There are some very unique creatures in this fantasy. Lots of unique world building. It’s almost a dystopian, but it’s really a parallel world or mystical creatures, some from mythology and other created by the author. You’d have to read it to understand how unique this book really is.

It reminds me of a few other books. Parodies by the Harvard Lampoon have similar humor. And There Is No Dog was also a funny one. If you like fantasy stories with faeries and elves and such, or are into RPG and WoW, then this is one book you can relate to. I also recommend this to all the nerdy and geeky guys out there (you are loved, we aren’t trying to make fun of you). I think this book would make a funny movie. Fantasy-comedy. It reminded me of that Scott Pilgrim movie, also.

Cover Art Review: This cover really captures the content. You have the figurines in the background and a guy who’s supposed to be Perry on a figurine stand. It’s just a good, fully, well designed and simple cover.

 

~Haley G