The Midnight Star by Marie Lu

Series: The Young Elites (bk. 3) final book

Genera(s): High Fantasy/Paranormal Romance/Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: magic, supernatural, abilities, superpowers, kingdoms, royalty,

Setting: A fantasy world, the island of Kenettra

POV/Tense: 1st peson POV, present tense: Adelina Amouteru, and 3rd person intermissions of other characters.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 317 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Penguin: Putnam

Summary/ product description: “There was once a time when darkness shrouded the world, and the darkness had a queen.

Adelina Amouteru is done suffering. She’s turned her back on those who have betrayed her and achieved the ultimate revenge: victory. Her reign as the White Wolf has been a triumphant one, but with each conquest her cruelty only grows. The darkness within her has begun to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy all she’s gained.

When a new danger appears, Adelina’s forced to revisit old wounds, putting not only herself at risk, but every Elite. In order to preserve her empire, Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest—though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger.”

My Review:  The Midnight Star is the epic finale to the Young Elites trilogy. If you have not read the Young Elites, then I recommend it if you are a fan of any of these books: The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Crewel by Gennifer Albin, The Jewel by Amy Ewing, Defiance by C.J. Redwine, Snow Like Ashes by Sarah Raasch and the Red Queen by Victoria Avyard. This series is an epic fantasy that is very unique. The Young Elites have abilities caused by the blood fever. It’s said that they are connected to the God and their ability comes from the immortal realm. Other people believe they are demons and call them malfettos. Adelina has the power to create illusions, including both visual and sensual. Her hair is silvery white and she has a scar where one of her eyes should be. These are the markings of the blood fever.  

In this final chapter, Adelina, know throughout the lands as the White Wolf, have become a conquering queen. She already took the throne of Kenettra and extended her rule to Dumor. She now has her sites set on Tamoura. She hears word that her sister Violetta is in Tamoura and she’s sick. Violetta, who has never bared a mark before, is not covered in dark veins and seems very weak. Her ability is to take away Elite abilities.

 Raffaele and others from the Daggers are there too and once Adelina, Magiano, and Sergio get there, Raffaele tries to convince Adelina of a plan that involves them going to the immortal realm to fix the damage that it’s causing to the mortal realm. It’s an hard journey and they must find other Elites that can help them. Can Adelina abandon her cruelty and find the compassion to help save their world and forgive her sister?

This very unique fantasy series has some very unique characters that are not clichés or Mary Sues. It’s very diverse and different. It feels like a manga, with the strange colored hair, eyes and markings. This series would be perfect as a manga or graphic novel. The world building is creative. The world is different, with it’s three moon instead of our one. The mythology of their gods is woven with detail and share similarities to Roman and Greek mythology. Marie Lu put a lot of work into this series. I hope that we get to see it in some visual format be it a graphic novel, movie of TV series. I will miss this beautiful and dark fantasy series greatly.

Cover Art Review: Nice cover. Fits with the series.

Frost Like Night by Sara Raasch

Series: Snow Like Ashes (bk. 3) Final Book

Genera(s): High Fantasy

Subjects: magic, seasons, winter, royalty, kingdoms, adventure, war, princes and princesses, king and queens, warriors, rebellions, slavery, orphans

Setting: The Kingdoms of Primoria

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, present tense: Meira, and 3rd person: Mather and Ceridwen

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 483 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer & Bray

Summary/ product description: “Angra is alive, his Decay is spreading—and no one is safe.

Meira will do anything to save her world. With Angra trying to break through her mental defenses, she desperately needs to learn to control her own magic—so when the leader of a mysterious Order from Paisly offers to teach her, she jumps at the chance. But the true solution to stopping the Decay lies in a labyrinth deep beneath the Season Kingdoms. To defeat Angra, Meira will have to enter the labyrinth, destroy the very magic she’s learning to control—and make the biggest sacrifice of all.

Mather will do anything to save his queen. He needs to rally the Children of the Thaw, find Meira—and finally tell her how he really feels. But with a plan of attack that leaves no kingdom unscathed and a major betrayal within their ranks, winning the war—and protecting Meira—slips farther and farther out of reach.

Ceridwen will do anything to save her people. Angra had her brother killed, stole her kingdom, and made her a prisoner. But when she’s freed by an unexpected ally who reveals a shocking truth behind Summer’s slave trade, Ceridwen must take action to save her true love and her kingdom, even if it costs her what little she has left.

As Angra unleashes the Decay on the world, Meira, Mather, and Ceridwen must bring the kingdoms of Primoria together…or lose everything.”

My Review:  Frost Like Night is the final book in the Snow Like Ashes trilogy. If you have not read Snow Like Ashes, I recommend it to those who enjoyed Frozen, Game of Thrones and books like: Incarnate and The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Crewel by Gennifer Albin, The Jewel by Amy Ewing, Defiance by C.J. Redwine, The Young Elites by Marie Lu and the Red Queen by Victoria Avyard.

Meira is the queen and conduit of the Winter kingdom. She’s trying to find away to stop Angra, the evil ruler of Spring who use the magic of the Decay. Meira is brought to Paisley, the kingdom hidden in the mountains of the north. Rares and his wife offer to train Meira in using her magic. Meira soon discovers that the only way to defeat Angra might not end in a happy ending for. She might have to sacrifice everything to save her kingdom and the rest of Primoria from Angra and this war. With Mather by her side, she feels she can do anything.

Mather would do anything to save Meira from the fate she plans to accept. He really does want to spend his life with her and can’t imagine living without her. Ceridwen is now the monarch of Summer, but cannot use her kingdom conduit because it is male-blooded. She’s trying to save her own people and create new allies. She also wants a relationship with Jesse, but he must first break his relationship with Raelyn, his current wife who’s now under Angra’s influence.

This epic finale is filled with magic and adventure and even all the romance we were hoping for. I will say that I did not enjoy this book as much as the previous book. I’m not a fan of 3^rd person POV and I would have preferred only to have Meira 1^st person POV or have 1^st person perspective of Mather and Ceridwen. Also I was so busy with school, that it takes a long time to finish a book. I did enjoy this series overall and hope to find more unique fantasy series like this one. I’m very happen to see how this series has come so far and to a satisfying ending. I can’t wait to see what other stories Sara Raasch cooks up.

Cover Art Review: I love these cover so much! They are consistent and beautiful. The chakram with the seasons in it is so cool.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Series: Six of Crows (bk. 1)

Genera(s): High Fantasy

Subjects: criminals, gangs, magic, abilities, drugs, rescues

Setting: Ketterdam, Kerch and Fjerda

POV/Tense: 3^rd person POV, past tense: Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Nina, and Matthias

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 462 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Macmillan: Henry Holt

Summary/ product description: “Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.”

My Review: This book came out last year and I finally got around to reading it because the sequel just came out. It took me about two weeks to read this book because I was so busy with school, and then my bird died, which made it hard to read. So now I’m finally done with this book. Even though it took so long, I still enjoyed it. It only took me 3.5 hours to read the last 120 pages.

This book was like a fantasy version of Suicide Squad, and I kind of want to compare Inej to Katana and Nine to Harley Quinn and Jesper to Deadshoot, and I’m not sure who the others seem like. It’s about a group of misfits, criminals from various places who came together is a city called Ketterdam, which is basically like Amsterdam. It has cannels and different districts and legal prostitution and lots of gambling dens. It has a late 1800s feel. It’s not even a decade after the event of the Grisha Trilogy and I feel like there’s lot of industrial advancement that happened.

So the book has six main characters, but it only rotates between five point of views: Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Nina, and Matthias. Wylan doesn’t get his own chapters. Kaz is a theif who uses slight of hand, he’s the leader and he also limps because his leg never healed quite right. Nina is a Heartrender Grisha originally from Ravka and she’s busty and bold and has a talent for languages. Inej, a Suli girl, is also known as the Wraith. She moves very silently and collects secrets for Kaz by spying on wealthy people. She used to be an acrobat. Jesper is a Zemeni sharpshooter who has a bad gambling habit. Matthias is a Fjerdian witch hunter who ended up in prison. Wylan is the son of a mercher, and he’s got a lot of talents.

These character are given a task that will earn themselves 30 million kruge (dollars)if completed. They must rescue the scientist who developed a drug called jurda parum from the Fjerdians. The drug make’s Grisha powers powerful beyond imagination and it’s also highly addictive and eventually fatal. The take a boat to the Ice Court in Dierholm and plan to enter and prisoner, hoping to find the scientist in a cell, but like all plans, there are quite a few bumps along the way and tons of twist and turn you won’t see coming. The book also features many flash-backs that give us more backstory on the characters.

I recommend this book to fans of fantasy who want something a little different and unique, also fans of steampunk, because this is kind of like steampunk in a way. And the Curseworkers series by Holly Black, another book about magical criminals.

Cover Art Review: I like the illustration of the crow and towers.