Magic

A Court of Mist and Fury

a-court-of-mist-and-fury A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Publication Date: May 3, 2016
Read Date: December 31, 2016

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Book #2

Amazon, Goodreads

The sequel to A Court of Thorns and Roses was definitely not what I had expected. To be honest, I was really despising this book and seriously considered not finishing it. That would have been a huge mistake. A lot of people you will have noticed stopped reading it because of how Tamlin seemed to have changed and how all of a sudden, Feyre’s with Rhysand. I felt the same way. I was pissed. We go through the entire first book where she literally DIED because of her love for Tamlin, only for her to go to Rhysand?!!

But Maas knew what she was doing. She had planned it all during the first book. It was never going to be Tamlin. I’ve accepted that, and now that I’ve finished the book, I couldn’t see it any other way. It was honestly genius. Rhysand is everything. If I ever get the chance to reread this, I will do so with way more excitement than before. Maas explained everything sooo well. She makes you see that there was really only ever Rhysand. And you know what? That’s OK too, because he has loads more of a personality than Tamlin ever did. Can you believe how often Tamlin would bow to others?! Such a turn off. In this book, Rhysand actually has tattoos on his knees and explains that he would never bow before anyone but his own crown. Now that’s a high lord.

The world building was even more spectacular in this, which played well amongst the plot line regarding the differences between Tamlin and Rhysand. Feyre getting to understand her powers was spectacular. There’s this really epic battle scene where she just kicks ass. I’m not even going to share one bit about it because everyone deserves to read that battle scene without an inkling of knowledge of what she does.

The ending is killer. I can’t wait for May to read the next one because this world is just phenomenal. The growth in the characters, new and old, is just so much fun to watch. I said “if” earlier, but when I’m able to read this book again, it’ll be 100% better knowing that everything happens for a reason and it’s genius.

five-stars

A Court of Thorns and Roses

a-court-of-thorns-and-roses A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Publication Date: May 5, 2015
Read Date: December 23, 2016

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Book #1

Amazon, Goodreads

This book kind of feels like a mashup between Beauty and the Beast, The Hunger Games, and Twilight. And you know what? That’s OK. I really enjoyed it. This is one where the main character, Feyre, is the youngest of her family, but the mightiest. She has had to learn to hunt in order to ensure her and her family’s survival. No easy task for a nineteen-year-old who used to come from money. But she made it happen. But now there’s this world that she has ever only heard horror stories about on the other side of the wall. The Fae live there, and they’re awful. Or are they? Her beast in this story, Tamlin, started out a little rough around the edges, but that’s how all beasts start out. And because we know it’s a take on Beauty and the Beast, I was like “Feyre! Just enjoy his presence!”

There’s this curse going on where everyone in the Spring court has masquerade masks stuck on their face and that’s hilarious. This has been optioned for a movie and I can’t wait to see how that’s done. I loved seeing Feyre’s growth throughout the story. She has only ever imagined what it would be like to not have to take care of her family, but then, as Tamlin starts to grow on her, she starts being able to paint, one of her absolute passions. But then in order to break the curse, she can’t be that person she had wanted to be, to not have a care in the world and just paint, she needed to be a hunter again and take care of her family.

This isn’t really a spoiler, but she has to accomplish three tasks to break the curse or solve a riddle and the whole thing will be over. Not even halfway through the riddle did I know what the answer was. I guess that means I’m well read. Or just literate. Or clever. So because I knew the answer, getting through reading the tasks was killer for me. However, if Feyre was clever and/or literate, we would have never known what the tasks were and it would have been a cop out.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and actually read it in just a day. This book is also a prime example of building a world without information dumping. It all felt effortless. By the way, did you know this is classified as New Adult? Basically the fantastical aspects of Young Adult, but for adults. This book has brought me to my new favorite genre. Thank you, Sarah Maas.

five-stars

Six of Crows

six-of-crows Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Publication Date: September 29, 2015
Read Date: January 10, 2017

Amazon, Goodreads

First off, I do want to say that it was tough for me to get over the Heartless hangover and I thought that a book that actually got 5-star reviews from ALL of my favorite reviewers would be the perfect way to move on.

I was wrong. I’m actually still not over Heartless, but I don’t think that that was a reason for my thoughts about this book.

I do want to acknowledge that I am VERY MUCH in the minority on how I felt about this. Everyone raved and said it’s one of their favorite books. It was almost like an Ocean’s Eleven with this incredible heist but with a team of six. There’s magic, there’s wit, there’s a heist. Sounds absolutely perfect. Except I found that I could have put the book down at any time and not ever cared if I picked it back up or not. It just never really grabbed my attention.

I understand that there was a trilogy that had come out previous to this book that would have helped me understand the whole “Grisha-verse” but not having read that, this was very confusing in the beginning. There is a lot of terminology that I didn’t understand, nor was it ever explained. I wish there was a glossary in the back so that way when I forget whatever made up word I had come across, I wouldn’t be completely in the dark. That’s what is tough when creating a different language, making it to where it won’t be too confusing. But the purpose is defeated when you use that language on a character who doesn’t understand that particular language and then it isn’t explained. So now that character is in the dark as well as the reader. It just gets confusing.

The strongest aspect of this book is definitely the dialogue.

There was rage on his face when he turned back to Kaz. “Always one step ahead, aren’t you?”
“Geels, when it comes to you, I’d say I have a running start.”

Nina crossed her arms. “I’m mad at you too.”
“Me? Why?”
“I don’t know yet. I just am.”

“You came back for me.”
“I protect my investments.”
Investments. “I’m glad I’m bleeding all over your shirt.”

My favorite:

“If Pekka Rollins kills us all, I’m going to get Wylan’s ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost.”
Brekker’s lips quirked. “I’ll just hire Matthias’ ghost to kick your ghost’s ass.”
“My ghost won’t associate with your ghost,” Matthias said primly.

I did enjoy the characterization to a point. Nina was definitely my favorite, I love how assertive she is, especially when it comes to Matthias. One thing that threw me off was when Jesper all of a sudden thought that Wylan was cute late into the book. We had had previous chapters from Jesper’s perspective discussing Wylan, but never did he mention he thought he was cute. It should have been talked about it earlier. Teasing is something friends do to each other. That doesn’t always mean that the person “like” likes another person. So when it was brought up that Jesper liked Wylan, I was like…where the hell did this come from?

I also found it hard to believe that these characters are kids (teens) pulling off running a gang and breaking into two prisons. If they were older, I think I would have found it easier to believe. But being the mastermind of a gang and masterfully plotting every step at such a young age was a little ridiculous. I understand how in a place where they grew up, they would have to grow up fast. Look at Carl, from The Walking Dead. We’ve watched his character grow up on screen over the years. He’s had to grow up fast, and I think he’s grown into a bit of a badass. But do I think he would be capable of being a mastermind like the teens in this book? No. If they were a little older, maybe, but the suspension of disbelief was tough for me here.

I’m also not a fan of flashback scenes in the middle of the action. Which ended up happening a lot during the main action. It completely strips away the adrenaline from the scene.

Ultimately, this book just wasn’t for me. I’ve tried thinking back on it to see if maybe I was being too hard, but I just didn’t care for it. The cover is gorgeous though, and the dip-dyed pages in black is stunning. I’d honestly pick up the sequel because it’s only getting the one other book and that one is gorgeous too. Those pages are red!

two-and-a-half-stars

As Old As Time

as-old-as-timeAs Old As Time by Liz Braswell

So when I was at Barnes and Noble recently, I walked in and saw this beauty (no pun intended). There’s just something about a really cool cover; the fact that it was a Beauty and the Beast telling made it a win for me. The internet connection is always awful at my Barnes and Noble location, though, so I wasn’t able to check reviews before buying it. Wish I had been able to, because they weren’t the greatest. I am, however, not going to let those reviews affect my own.

I put down the book about halfway through after flipping to the end to see what the point of all of it was. It’s basically an exact telling of the Disney movie, word for word, in the chapters that have to do with Belle and the Beast. The other chapters are devoted to Maurice and meeting and then loving Belle’s mother, who is a powerful Enchantress. Those scenes weren’t very compelling, and if I want to read the scene-for-scene version of the Disney movie…I won’t. I’d rather just watch the movie. (Side note: which is why I won’t pick up the screenplay versions of movies coming out.)

Anyways, I don’t really care about Maurice falling in love, so that makes the chapters not devoted to the retelling of the movie boring. There are a couple of things I liked, though, which were the explanations as to why we never hear about Belle’s mother (could she have been enchanted to forget?) and if Belle might end up suffering from Stolkhom Syndrome, which she recognizes and disagrees with (love that it’s brought up). I noticed that a little after halfway through it starts going off track from following the movie to a T, but I longed stopped caring.

I was expecting an imaginative retelling, not something that was an exact telling with a romance involving crazy old Maurice peppered in.

one-star

Different

different Different by Alicia Linwood

Tainted Element Series:
Book 1

Moira is an elemental, along with many other people in this world. There are people with pure elements, which are considered strong, and sub-elements, which are considered weak. Moira is starting to develop a second pure element: fire. It’s kind of freaking her out because that’s supposed to be unheard of. After traveling to an island where her mom might be able to help find answers, help finds Moira instead. Noah appears out of thin air to tell her there are others like her and that he can help. And so starts the adventure.

With so much to understand about this world, it was tough to figure it out when I had to keep rereading confusing sentences, such as:

“…I could feel myself reaching for it, but I couldn’t feel fire, which obviously didn’t mean I didn’t have it.”

There are many of these sentences with negative contractions throughout the sentence. It just makes it more difficult to read, because I have to keep going back to see that I’m thinking what it means to tell me. It’s just unnecessary when a simpler sentence would do. Also, everyone seems to be licking their lips before they say anything. Is the air dry there? On an island? I don’t think so. I don’t want to keep reading about every single person licking their lips before they need to speak.

Timing was off whenever cooking was involved with dialogue. In one scene, someone starts making pancakes (or french toast in another scene), and dialogue goes back and forth twice and all of a sudden the pancakes (or french toast) is done. What? Not even 30 seconds have gone by! That’s a bit too much liberty with the time there.

So the above issues coupled with the grammar and editing issues left much to be desired. I didn’t even care about the cliffhanger because I just didn’t really care about anyone. I do have to say that I loved the loyalty and trust Moira had towards her parents; that was really commendable and it made her a stronger heroine. But the start of what was looking like a weird love triangle despite the lack of romance amidst the mind control and elementals hunting other elementals, just isn’t really interesting me.

However, because of how much rereading I had to do to make sure I understood this world, it’s tempting to continue on with the series in the hopes it gets stronger. I invested myself enough to understand the world, I might as well give it one more book to see if I’ll really stick around.

two-stars