Book Review: Before She Ignites (Fallen Isles Trilogy #1)

Release Date: September 12, 2017
Author: Jodi Meadows
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Length: 496 pages
Source: Edelweiss Review Copy

Before

Mira Minkoba is the Hopebearer. Since the day she was born, she’s been told she’s special. Important. Perfect. She’s known across the Fallen Isles not just for her beauty, but for the Mira Treaty named after her, a peace agreement which united the seven islands against their enemies on the mainland.

But Mira has never felt as perfect as everyone says. She counts compulsively. She struggles with crippling anxiety. And she’s far too interested in dragons for a girl of her station.

After

Then Mira discovers an explosive secret that challenges everything she and the Treaty stand for. Betrayed by the very people she spent her life serving, Mira is sentenced to the Pit–the deadliest prison in the Fallen Isles. There, a cruel guard would do anything to discover the secret she would die to protect.

No longer beholden to those who betrayed her, Mira must learn to survive on her own and unearth the dark truths about the Fallen Isles–and herself–before her very world begins to collapse.

    

Review:

Protagonist: For all of Mira's life she's been the Hopebringer. She's always stood for the treaty that united the Fallen Isles that was signed on the day of her birth and named after her. Then one day, she learns a secret that gets her sent to the Pit, a secret that she would take to her grave. The Pit is a dark and hopeless prison, there a cruel and sadistic guard will do anything to uncover the reason Mira was sent there. One of the things I loved about Mira is that she's flawed. At the beginning she believes everything told to her, she never questions it and while she never comes across as stuck up, she never realizes the priveledges she has, not only being the Hopebearer but also being the daughter of a rich politician. However, over the course of the book she slowly begins to develop, learning important lessons from her new comrades in prison, and going through things no one should have to endure, she'll come out stronger, and while she's still flawed, her development is remarkable and exciting.

World Building: This world revolves around the Fallen Isles and the mythology associated with the islands. I'm a huge mythology buff and even though this isn't based on classic mythologies, at least as far as I can tell, the mythology t the author created for this world is still as captivating and rich as if she had. I loved learning about how this world works, or at the very least how the denizens of this world believe it to work, and of the various gifts given by the gods of this world. I was kind of saddened that even though dragons are a key plot element, they didn't show up as much as I was expecting. This entire world was, more or less, perfectly crafted for this first installment, however, there are still a great many things I hope to learn more about in the future, particularly one island's people that were rarely if ever, mentioned past the prologue.

Predictability: The writing and plot structure for this book were also well crafted. There's a certain formula to YA books where if you know what to look for you can pretty much guess how at least sixty-five percent of the book is going to go. However, in this story, I couldn't detect traces of the YA formula. I mean, sure there are things that with most books are a given, but I had next to no idea where this story was going to go. I mean, I felt like I was flying completely blind with this book and I was so excited to see where this book would take me next.

Ending: The ending, well, the ending I sort of guessed. I mean, it doesn't take a formula to figure out roughly what will happen toward the end of this book. Still, it was an exciting and exhilarating ride the whole way through. This story ends much the same way most first books in series do. There wasn't a huge cliffhanger or anything. However, it didn't quite plateau out as much as I hoped it would. I'm clamoring for the next book in this series, there are so many questions brought up at the end of this book that I need to be answered ASAP and unfortunately with this book not even released yet, the wait for book 2 is going to be killer.

Rating:

I wasn't quite sure what rating to give this book, but after writing this review I know it deserves five glorious and brightly burning stars. The pacing can be a bit slow in parts, but that doesn't last long and the book as a whole is a fantastic story in a brilliantly crafted world.

Blog Tour Book Review: The Alchemists of Loom (Loom Saga #1) + GIVEAWAY!

Release Date: January 10, 2017
Author: Elise Kova
Publisher: Keymaster Press
Length: 380 pages
Source: eGalley for Blog Tour

Her vengeance. His vision.

Ari lost everything she once loved when the Five Guilds’ resistance fell to the Dragon King. Now, she uses her unparalleled gift for clockwork machinery in tandem with notoriously unscrupulous morals to contribute to a thriving underground organ market. There isn’t a place on Loom that is secure from the engineer turned thief, and her magical talents are sold to the highest bidder as long as the job defies their Dragon oppressors.

Cvareh would do anything to see his sister usurp the Dragon King and sit on the throne. His family’s house has endured the shame of being the lowest rung in the Dragons’ society for far too long. The Alchemist Guild, down on Loom, may just hold the key to putting his kin in power, if Cvareh can get to them before the Dragon King’s assassins.

When Ari stumbles upon a wounded Cvareh, she sees an opportunity to slaughter an enemy and make a profit off his corpse. But the Dragon sees an opportunity to navigate Loom with the best person to get him where he wants to go.

He offers her the one thing Ari can’t refuse: A wish of her greatest desire, if she brings him to the Alchemists of Loom.

    

Review:

Characters: When Ari and Cvareh have a chance meeting, that nearly leads to a brutal battle, they find themselves seeking something the other has and are willing to trade. Ari wants vengeance for those she's lost due to the Dragon King, and Cvareh needs passage to the Alchemist's Guild on Loom, in exchange, he offers a boon, a wish that he's bound to do anything to fulfill. There are other characters who the pair come into contact with, most notably their traveling companion and Ari's student Florence, and the Dragon King's right hand who will do anything to see Cvareh dead. I'm a sucker for a book with multiple perspectives, especially when those perspectives are in the third person. The author does a fantastic job giving each character's perspective it's own voice so even if you don't see who's chapter it is, it's obvious by how the chapter is written. Each of these characters are so compelling and even the "bad guy" character's perspective even as she hunts our heroes, is so enthralling. One of the things I love that this author did was give us these badass characters, but over time we get to see their flaws and shortcoming and we get to see them even overcome some of them.

Romance: There isn't a lot of romance in this book, at least not a lot of obvious romance. I feel almost like admitting there's romance in this book is a spoiler because of how slowly things burned between two of the characters. I went into this book expecting a fiery romance born from the opposition between Ari and Cvareh, but what I actually got was (while similar) something different. The chemistry between Ari and Cvareh is off the charts, even when they're fighting there's this palpable tension between the two that makes you live for the moments when they let their walls down and show each other their vulnerabilities. The romance is a very slow burning one, so slow that at times I wasn't even sure if there was a romance in this book. However, what I found ironic was that I was far more invested in this slow-burning possibility of a romance than almost any romance I've read before.

World Building: Something unique I found about this book is that there aren't large info-dumps in the beginning of this book to let you get to know these characters and the world they live in. Instead, the author drops you right in the middle of this world without so much as a road map (though there is a map in the beginning of the book and an appendix in the back) and you discover what's going on in this world bit by bit, and the best part is that the storyline described in the synopsis doesn't take a third of the book to start, instead it happens by the end of the first chapter. As you learn about this world bit by bit it starts to come alive and, if you're anything like me, you begin to care for this world and its denizens. I don't want to talk too much about this world because I feel if I say too much that I'll ruin the experience of discovering it through the book, but it's pretty intense. I loved watching the world unfold before me and while there was never anything I would describe as an info-dump, by the end of the book, I felt like I had a pretty good, if not excellent, grasp on the world and what was going on, and yet there's still so much more to explore.

Predictability: This book was far less predictable that I'd care to admit. The author does an astounding job at hiding things from the reader. Since we learn about this world and these characters bit by bit, when big aspects of these characters are brought up, significant moments from their pasts, it was always a huge surprise to me. In fact all of the things I was able to predict I'm sure the author meant for readers to be able to figure out before the reveal. Then there were things I thought were going to happen that didn't, which I'll talk about more in a bit, regardless, this book was incredibly well plotted out and while I still have a great many questions about this world I'm sure I'll get my answers soon and in a way I didn't expect.

Ending: This is one of those books where I'm unsure quite where the ending really starts. The final climax, or at least what would traditionally be the final climax happens earlier in the book than I had anticipated and while there was still a great more to discover in this installment, I knew from the moment a certain chapter ended that we wouldn't get a traditional ending to this installment. In fact, as the end drew nearer I was expecting a huge twist, something that would have me reeling until the next installment in this series, and yet, one didn't come. That's not to say that the end of this installment wasn't great it was, there was some really profound character development, but that final bit of excitement I was hoping for never really came.

Rating:

Going into this book, I didn't expect to love it as much as I do now. I love how the author takes her time to tell this story bit by bit and only revealing enough to keep you interested. While I do there was a more explosive ending, I'm still waiting with bated breath for the next installment in this series!

About the Author:

Elise Kova has always had a profound love of fantastical worlds. Somehow, she managed to focus on the real world long enough to graduate with a Master’s in Business Administration before crawling back under her favorite writing blanket to conceptualize her next magic system. She currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and when she is not writing can be found playing video games, watching anime, or talking with readers on social media. She is the USA Today bestselling author of the Air Awakens Series as well as the upcoming Loom Saga (Keymaster, 2017).

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr | Goodreads

Giveaway:

1 winner will receive a signed finished copy of THE ALCHEMISTS OF LOOM, International.

3 winner will receive THE ALCHEMISTS OF LOOM Swag Packs, International.

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Book Review: In the Shadow of the Dragon King (The Chronicles of Fallhollow #1)

Release Date: May 31, 2016
Author: J. Keller Ford
Publisher: Month9Books
Length: 403 pages
Source: Digital Review Copy via the Publisher

Seventeen-year-old, Eric, is a kick-butt squire to the most revered knight in Fallhollow. Well he would be if Sir Trogsdill allowed him to do anything even remotely awesome. Determined to prove his worth, Eric sets out to find the mythical paladin summoned to protect the realm from the evil lurking nearby.

Sixteen-year-old, David, spends his days collecting school honors, winning archery tournaments, and trying not to fall in love with his scrappy best friend, Charlotte.

Right when things start to get interesting, he is whisked away to the magical realm of Fallhollow where everyone thinks he's some sort of paladin destined to fulfill a two-hundred-year-old prophecy. He's supposed to help kill a dragon with some sort of magic key. The same key that happens to adorn the neck of an annoying squire who's too wrapped up in proving himself to be much help to anyone.

With egos as big as the dragon they need to destroy, Eric and David must get over themselves, or watch everything they know and love, burn.

    

Review:

Protagonists: This book is told in alternating points of view between Eric, a young squire, who after constant coddling sets out to prove himself, and David a boy from a world much like ours who finds out that he holds an immense destiny in Fallhollow. A lot of Eric's character development stems from the fact that Sir Trogsdill, the knight he serves, and all of Trog's friends handle Eric with kid gloves. They are so overprotective of him that at one point in the story he snaps and does whatever he can to show them that he can not only handle himself in the face of danger but succeed. On the whole I rather liked Eric, he could be pig-headed and stubborn but he was still a very likeable character at the end of the day. Then there's David, my biggest problem with David is that he feels like every bad thing that happens around him, even those out of his control are his fault. This is a character trope that I hate above all else. Really it makes for a really annoying character who believes that they should have been in control of not only their actions but the actions of others as well. There is development with him though and hopefully he'll be a bit more levelheaded in future installments.

Romance: So this romance really bugged me. First off while it's not necessarily a pre-established romance as the characters aren't dating prior to the start of the book, they may as well be. Seriously David and Charlotte act like they're dating but never actually call it that. Then when their feelings do come to light David has the world's worst excuse as to why they can't be together. It just felt very contrived and even if David had a good reason for them to not be together, I still couldn't root for them because I never felt that chemistry between them, except for maybe in one scene. The author did a lot of telling instead of showing. Constantly reminding the reader that Charlotte is the love of David's life without really showing us why he fell for her or why he loves her.

World-Building: So I have to admit, the description of this book really confused me to what this story was going to be. From the description I assumed that somehow Eric and David were going to venture out on a quest together and get on each other's nerves before eventually succumbing to friendship and saving the world. That however didn't happen. I'm not mad though, I was just confused since that was the vibe I got from the synopsis. Instead it's almost two stories in one that only truly interconnect near the end. The world of Fallhollow was really interesting, the political intrigue and magic system were particularly interesting. My biggest problem though was the writing. I mean for the most part it was okay, great even, but there were times when things were still a bit rough, things were revealed in such an out of the blue or jarring way, or things were resolved way too quickly. It could just be that I got an earlier version before these rough spots were buffed and polished. Finally there were moments that I felt like I was missing something, even going back in the text to double check that I didn't, which really bothered me.

Predictability: So, there was actually quite a bit about this book that I couldn't predict. In fact other than a few vague things I didn't guess any of the huge shocks in this book. The funny thing though is that the author sort of sets up what's going to be revealed without the actual reveal, leading me to lots of crazy conspiracy theories, and even some way out of left field theories. Though when things are finally revealed most of the time I was shocked that I at least got part of the reveal right. The one thing that bothers me though is that there are things set up, things that I felt were supposed to be revealed in this installment that weren't that sort of bug me since it also feels like they were just dropped from the storyline, and they still bug me.

Ending: So the ending isn't at all what I expected it would be going into this book, though going into this book I hadn't expected David and Eric to meet at the end. So going into the final climax of this book everything was very high intensity and the action and battle started to almost go by too fast. While I understood what was going on there were a few moments that either felt way too convenient or that I wasn't quite sure how something got from point A to point B. When we got to the cooldown period though was when I got the most confused. A character was very certain about one thing that made no sense, I mean I guess it made sense just that there wasn't exactly anything to hint at this thing happening, I'm sorry if I'm confusing you I just want to avoid spoilers whenever possible. Let's just say the ending has some confusing and anti-climactic moments.

Rating:

So I debated really hard on this rating. On the one hand this story is incredible the world is exciting and rich, on the other though the writing is rough, the romance sadly underdeveloped, and there are just some things that don't quite add up. At the end of the day though I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next installment.

In the Shadow of the Dragon King (The Chronicles of Fallhollow #1) by J. Keller Ford (WOW #11)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that everyone’s excited about!

Seventeen-year-old, Eric, is a kick-butt squire to the most revered knight in Fallhollow. Well he would be if Sir Trogsdill allowed him to do anything even remotely awesome. Determined to prove his worth, Eric sets out to find the mythical paladin summoned to protect the realm from the evil lurking nearby. 

Sixteen-year-old, David, spends his days collecting school honors, winning archery tournaments, and trying not to fall in love with his scrappy best friend, Charlotte. 

Right when things start to get interesting, he is whisked away to the magical realm of Fallhollow where everyone thinks he's some sort of paladin destined to fulfill a two-hundred-year-old prophecy. He's supposed to help kill a dragon with some sort of magic key. The same key that happens to adorn the neck of an annoying squire who's too wrapped up in proving himself to be much help to anyone. 

With egos as big as the dragon they need to destroy, Eric and David must get over themselves, or watch everything they know and love, burn.

In the Shadow of the Dragon King releases on May 31, 2016 from Month9Books

So I literally only heard about this book yesterday and I'm already obsessed with getting my hands on it. I kind of have a thing for books where one of the characters gets pulled from the modern world into a fantasy realm. I have high hopes for this one! Plus, look at the cover!!!

So, what are you waiting for this Wednesday?