Since no one seem to visit my blog, I decided to only post reviews on Goodreads now. It's my senior year in college and I nee to focus on Senior Project, so I will do shorter reviews mostly.
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5082030-haley
Monday, February 6, 2017
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
The Black Key by Amy Ewing
Series: The
Lone City (bk. 3) final book
Genera(s):
Dystopian Fantasy/Sci-fi/Romance
Subjects:
royalty, classes, pregnancy, surrogates, slavery, abilities, love
Setting: The
Lone City, and the middle sector of the city, The Jewel
POV/Tense: 1st
person POV, present tense: Violet Lasting
Age/Grade
Level: Teen
Length: 295
pgs.
HC/PB:
Hardcover
List Price:
$17.99
Publisher:
HarperTeen
Summary/
product description:
“For too long, Violet and the people of the outer circles of the Lone City have
lived in service to the royalty of the Jewel. But now the secret society known
as the Black Key is preparing to seize power.
And
while Violet knows she is at the center of this rebellion, she has a more
personal stake in it—her sister, Hazel, has been taken by the Duchess of the
Lake. Now, after fighting so hard to escape the Jewel, Violet must do
everything in her power to return to save not only Hazel, but the future of the
Lone City.”
My Review: The Black Key is the epic finale to the Lone
City trilogy. What started in The Jewel and continued in the White Rose now
comes to a close. If you have not read The Jewel, I recommend the series to
people who like YA Dystopias and Fantasy. Fans of The Selection by Kiera Cass,
Crewel by Gennifer Albin, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Bumped by Megan
McCafferty, The Red Queen by Victoria Avyard, The Winner’s Curse by Marie
Rutkoski, A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess, Dorothy Must Die by
Danielle Paige, Pawn by Aimee Carter, Defiance by C.J. Redwine and Incarnate by
Jodi Meadows.
When Violet
finds out that the Duchess of the Lake kidnapped her sister Hazel to replace
her as surrogate, Violet comes up with a plan to disguise herself as a
lady-in-waiting to help rescue her sister. The rebel group known as the Black
Key has a greater plan in store and the big day in the next Auction Day and
Violet keeps on eye on her sister and what’s going on in the palace while she
plays the new lady-in-waiting for Coral, Garnet’s new wife. Garnet is part of
the plan and “hires” Violet for Coral, even thought his mother has denied any
lady-in-waiting that Coral selected.
Meanwhile Ash
Lockwood, Violet’s love-interest in the story and former companion (like a male
escort) of Carnelian (Garnet’s cousin), is gathering other companions to help
with the cause of the Back Key. Lucien, a male lady-in-waiting for the
Electress, also plays a huge role in all this since he’s the basically the
brains of the whole operation.
I really
enjoyed this finale. My only complaint is there isn’t enough romance in it, but
the awesome elemental magic abilities make for it. I really enjoy dystopian and
fantasy stories that have a character in disguise for some sort of revolution.
This happens in Pawn by Aimee Carter, The Red Queen by Victoria Avyard and
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. It’s not exactly royal-espionage, but in
this one it felt like it.
I loved
elemental powers. It reminds me of the show W.I.T.C.H. with the guardians, and
a book I recently read, A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess. Violet
went from a poor surrogate to a bad-A Paladin! She used the Auguries to change
her hair from black to blond and eye from violet to green, which was painful
for her, but she did it for her sister. She was like Katniss fighting the
Royals instead of the Capital.
I really adored
the world building of this series. The Lone city has five circles, kind of like
a Caste system in the Selection series, from highest to lowest: The Jewel, The
Bank, The Smoke, The Farm, and the Marsh. There’s certain naming conventions I
noticed for people from each place. The Jewel’s Royals are named after
gemstones and mineral, The Bank seemed to be luxurious items, The Smoke were
named after periodic table elements and industrial materials, The Farm people
were named after plants and animal, and the Marsh people were named after color,
for attributes like hair, eyes and skin. The Marsh names was something that
took a while to figure out.
An overall
great finale. I will miss the series and I hope to read what Amy Ewings writes
next: The Cerulean (a space fantasy book?).
Cover Art
Review: Lovely cover. Looks like shattered glass around the girl in the dress.
Monday, December 12, 2016
The Flame Never Dies by Rachel Vincent
Genera(s):
Dystopian/Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy
Subjects:
supernatural, demons, demonology, exorcists, abilities, magic, souls,
possession
Setting: Badlands
of Oklahoma?, Kansas, Colorado
POV/Tense: 1st
person, past tense: Nina Kane
Age/Grade
Level: Teen
Length: 342
pgs.
HC/PB:
Hardcover
List Price:
$17.99
Summary/
product description:
“Nina Kane was born to be an exorcist. And since uncovering the horrifying
truth—that the war against demons is far from over—seventeen-year-old Nina and
her pregnant younger sister, Mellie, have been on the run, incinerating the
remains of the demon horde as they go.
In
the badlands, Nina, Mellie, and Finn, the fugitive and rogue exorcist who saved
her life, find allies in a group of freedom fighters. They also face a new
threat: Pandemonia, a city full of demons. But this fresh new hell is the least
of Nina’s worries. The well of souls ran dry more than a century ago, drained
by the demons secretly living among humans, and without a donor soul, Mellie’s
child will die within hours of its birth.
Nina
isn’t about to let that happen…even if it means she has to make the ultimate
sacrifice.”
My Review: The Flame Never Dies is the sequel to The
Stars Never Rise. The author had said this is a duology, so I guess this was
the final book. I feel like this series could have been longer. The author’s
Soul Screamers series lasted seven books, but a trilogy would have been nice at
least.
If you have not
read this series I recommend it to those who enjoyed The Demon Trapper’s
Daughter series, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, Unbreakable by Kami Garcia and
urban fantasy books.
It’s written in
first person point of view and the main character Nina Kane is a natural born
exorcist. She can send demons back to Hell with the holy fire she can conjure
from her hands. Demon eat the souls of those they posses and when exorcised the
host body dies because there is nothing to occupy the body and there’s a bid
burning hole in the chest. If a demon is in a body too long it starts to
degenerate and become twisted. If you have not read the first book, then
spoilers are ahead.
Nina, Melanie,
Maddox, Finn, Devi, Reese, Grayson, and Anabelle are in the badlands (not the
South Dakota one, but Oklahoma or Kansas) trying to survive, hiding from the
Church. In the previous book Nina discovered the Church was ran by demons and
that her mother was a demon possessing a human body. Nina is public enemy
number one and a demon named Kastor wants her as a host.
Finn, a soul
who doesn’t have a corporeal form, is possessing a guard temporarily. Nina is
in love with Finn, no matter what body he’s in. Melanie is still pregnant and
due in about a month, and since souls are hard to come by, it’s possible the
baby won’t last an hour after it’s born. Nina plans on sacrificing her own soul
for the baby if it comes to it.
The something
unexpected happens that changes everything and sets Nina on a course for
revenge and for an even more meaningful sacrifice. Can she and her friends save
humanity from the demons who are destroying it?
So, this was a
great sequel. I wish it was longer or that there was a third book. I really
love it when there’s an interesting cast of characters, but I feel like some of
them were under-used. I wanted more dialogue from them. And I wanted more
romance. Despite that, it was a good sequel. Action and paranormal stuff and
cool discoveries and scary twists. I enjoy the way Rachel Vincent writes. She
has complex narrators that face terrible dilemmas, interesting love interests
(both Todd and Finn were incorporeal most of the time), interesting world
building and humor. I will miss the characters.
There was a moment
I considered this being set in the same world as Soul Screamers, but in the
future and that the demons were hellions, since both could posses people, but the
demons in this book don’t have a natural shape in Hell, and the hellions did in
the Netherworld. So that theory didn’t last long.
Cover Art
Review: Beautiful cover. Too bad it’s not metallic. I love the feather, but
there are no angels in this book. The title treatment is cool.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
A Million Worlds With You by Claudia Gray
Genera(s):
Sci-fi/Romance
Subjects:
multiverse, parallel universes, science, love
Setting: In
multiple parallel universes
POV/Tense: 1st
person POV, present tense: Marguerite Caine
Age/Grade
Level: Teen
Length: 419
pgs.
HC/PB:
Hardcover
List Price:
$17.99
Publisher:
HarperTeen
Summary/
product description:
“A million universes. A million dangers. One destiny.
The
fate of the multiverse rests in Marguerite Caine’s hands. Marguerite has been
at the center of a cross-dimensional feud since she first traveled to another
universe using her parents’ invention, the Firebird. Only now has she learned
the true plans of the evil Triad Corporation—and that those plans could spell
doom for dozens or hundreds of universes, each facing total annihilation.
Paul
Markov has always been at Marguerite’s side, but Triad’s last attack has left
him a changed man—angry and shadowed by tragedy. He struggles to overcome the
damage done to him, but despite Marguerite’s efforts to help, Paul may never be
the same again.
So
it’s up to Marguerite alone to stop the destruction of the multiverse. Billions
of lives are at stake. The risks have never been higher. And Triad has
unleashed its ultimate weapon: another dimension’s Marguerite—wicked,
psychologically twisted, and always one step ahead.
In
the epic conclusion to Claudia Gray’s Firebird trilogy, fate and family will be
questioned, loves will be won and lost, and the multiverse will be forever
changed. It’s a battle of the Marguerites . . . and only one can win.”
My Review: A Million Worlds with You is the final book
in the Firebird trilogy. If you have not read this series then I recommend it
to fans of series and book including: Parallel by Lauren Miller, Tandem by Anna Jarzeb, 3:59
by Gretchen McNeil, The False Memory Series by Dan Krokos, Unraveling and
Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris, Unremembered and Unforgotten by Jessica Brody.
It’s about
parallel universes and traveling between them. Marguerite in an artist and her
parent a physicist that built a device called the Firebird that a necklace that
lets you consciousness travel into another version of you. Marguerite is in
love with a young scientist named Paul who’s a grad student working under her
parents. There’s another student named Theo. Marguerite has a sister named
Josie, and there’s also the rich CEO Wyatt Conly, who is Josie’s fiancé in
other universes.
In this final
book Marguerite chases after the evil version of herself she call Wicked.
Wicked is from the Home Office universe that’s very advanced. Josie, who was
the perfect traveler from her universe, was splinted into many pieced, and
parts of her are in other Josies. They plan on destroying the other universes
to put her back together. In the previous book Paul was splintered, but only in
four pieces, which only took a Firebird to put him back together. Paul is still
damaged from this experience and even through Marguerite love him, he believe
he is still dangerous and pushes her away.
This book is an
epic saga of travel between dimensions. Wicked tries to kill the other Marguerites
in ways that are slow so when our Marguerite jumps into them, she might die too.
From futuristic London to an Egyptian dig to outerspace and so on. So many
different Marguerites. Paul says there’s a way to prevent the destruction of a
universe and builds stabilizers to save some, but it’s not easy. Can Marguerite,
her family, Paul and Theo save the multiverse from the Home Office, or will
someone have to make the ultimate sacrifice?
I was very
pleased with this book. Like the whole series, it was so exciting I really didn’t
want to put it down, but school and work go in the way, so I had to. This is
best read when there’s nothing else going on, like on a snow day or something.
This is probably one the best sci-fi series I’ve read. I’m going to miss it so
much.
Cover Art
Review: I love these cover so much. The watercolor is gorgeous, the skylines
flipped are so cool. Very sophisticated typography too.
Tags:
alternate history,
alternate worlds,
California,
dystopia,
dystopian,
final book,
love,
multiverse,
parallel worlds,
romance,
Russia,
sci-fi,
science,
scientists,
space,
technology,
universes
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