Book Review: The Crowns of Croswald (The Croswald Series #1)

Release Date: July 21, 2017
Author: D.E. Night
Publisher: Stories Untold
Length: 320 pages
Source: Review Copy from Author

In Croswald, the only thing more powerful than dark magic is one secret…

For sixteen years Ivy Lovely has been hidden behind an enchanted boundary that separates the mundane from the magical. When Ivy crosses the border, her powers awaken. Curiosity leads her crashing through a series of adventures at the Halls of Ivy, a school where students learn to master their magical blood and the power of Croswald’s mysterious gems.

When Ivy’s magic––and her life––is threatened by the Dark Queen, she scrambles to unearth her history and save Croswald before the truth is swept away forever

    

Review:

Protagonist: Ivy Lovely has lived a rather ordinary life as a servant in Castle Plum, due to the magic repelling plants around the property. However, she can't stay cooped up inside the castle grounds forever and when she steps beyond them her magic, and her past, come crashing in and the only place to find the information she seeks is in the Halls of Ivy, a school where children learn to master their magical talents. On the whole, I really liked Ivy as a character, she's spunky, impulsive, and adventurous, but she also has a few concerning Mary Sue traits. There are quite a few moments where Ivy is just able to do what she wants without any real consequences. Sure she makes mistakes, but nothing too terrible happens and she gets at least a small bit of what she wants. Don't get me wrong, she doesn't just float through this book having people practically falling at her feet with nearly no conflict, it's just that sometimes it feels like she's a walking Deus Ex Machina.

World Building: So, going into this book I was completely wrong about the world building. I thought this book would be kind of like Stardust by Neil Gaiman, and in a small way it is, I guess, with Castle Plum acting more like the town of Wall where nothing magical can exist on one side, while the other side is extremely magical. Instead, this story reads more like Harry Potter. In fact, there are moments in this book that are scarily close to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, however, the overall world building and the magic system are so different that it's extremely difficult to even entertain the notion that this could be a Harry Potter rip-off, it's just that some moments are a bit too reminiscent of classic HP scenes.

Predictability: While I do love the world building I have to say that some times it could get a bit confusing, or shall I say it's easy to misunderstand how certain bits of world building fit together. This was most present when I was trying to decipher the truth about Ivy's past before it was revealed in the book and due to a misunderstanding with some of the foreshadowing, I was hopelessly confused until everything came together. I do have to say that even with the misunderstanding I don't think I would have completely figured it all out anyway, and it's a rather complex answer at that.

Ending: The ending to this book is very interesting. On the one hand, the final climax is anything but anticlimactic, although in all honesty, in the final climactic battle of this installment I never felt like Ivy used what she learned at the Halls of Ivy to tackle the battle with her foe, instead, she just sort of does what she needs to do, adding to that Mary Sue feeling I talked about earlier. The cooldown period is great because it makes sure the reader fully understands all of the twists and turns and acts a really great debrief before launching into a really interesting cliffhanger.

Rating:

I thought long and hard about this rating and while this story is fairly slow paced it does pick up and begin to snowball but with a protagonist with Mary Sue aspects and some easily misinterpreted world building/foreshadowing I didn't feel a higher (or lower) rating would fit. I'm still extremely pumped about the sequel though!

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.

Book Review: Bright Smoke, Cold Fire (Untitled #1)

Release Date: September 27, 2016
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Length: 448 pages
Source: Edelweiss ARC

When the mysterious fog of the Ruining crept over the world, the living died and the dead rose. Only the walled city of Viyara was left untouched.

The heirs of the city’s most powerful—and warring—families, Mahyanai Romeo and Juliet Catresou share a love deeper than duty, honor, even life itself. But the magic laid on Juliet at birth compels her to punish the enemies of her clan—and Romeo has just killed her cousin Tybalt. Which means he must die.

Paris Catresou has always wanted to serve his family by guarding Juliet. But when his ward tries to escape her fate, magic goes terribly wrong—killing her and leaving Paris bound to Romeo. If he wants to discover the truth of what happened, Paris must delve deep into the city, ally with his worst enemy . . . and perhaps turn against his own clan.

Mahyanai Runajo just wants to protect her city—but she’s the only one who believes it’s in peril. In her desperate hunt for information, she accidentally pulls Juliet from the mouth of death—and finds herself bound to the bitter, angry girl. Runajo quickly discovers Juliet might be the one person who can help her recover the secret to saving Viyara.

Both pairs will find friendship where they least expect it. Both will find that Viyara holds more secrets and dangers than anyone ever expected. And outside the walls, death is waiting. . .

    

Review:

Protagonists: What I found most interesting about this Fantasy Romeo and Juliet retelling is that Romeo and Juliet aren't our main protagonists, instead they find themselves accidentally bound to our main protagonists. Paris never expected the chance to be bound to the Juliet, but after his only and most fierce competition Tybalt is killed he has to step up and take his place. However, before the ritual to bind Paris and the Juliet together can take place, Juliet runs off with Romeo and when Paris finds them trying to bind each other something goes wrong, it seems Juliet dies, and Romeo and Paris somehow wind up bound together. Runajo (which I could find no way to pronounce that rolled off the tongue well) has devoted herself to the Sisters of Thorn, who work to fortify the city against the Ruining. Runajo wants to find a way to save her dying city and on her search for a solution accidently pulls Juliet out of the Mouth of Death and finds herself bound to a girl who's bitter and angry and ready to kill. I have to say I really liked these characters. They both had flaws, like deep noticeable ones. They weren't pure lights in a deep darkness that were meant to banish all darkness away. They completely moral, but they'll do what they can to save and avenge those they love and have come to care for which I find very admirable.

Romance: So actually there isn't a lot of romance in this book. Barely any in fact. Paris and Runajo have no love interests, at least none of which I could see, and since we don't really get major scenes from Romeo or Juliet's POV it's hard to call that a real romantic plotline. That being said, there are, for lack of a better term, chapters that are told from Juliet's third person POV before the start of the book, and each one goes further back in time and shows her and Romeo's relationship as it is tested, as it thrives, and as it blossoms. It seems to me that this is more than your average insta-love, in fact, while there may be an instant attraction between the two, I wholeheartedly believe that true love came after, even if it did come rather fast.

World Building: I have a sort of love-hate relationship with the world building of this book. First, let me say that the world building is so vast and expansive. I mean, this is a fantasy world, and the author did such a great job at crafting it, coming up with the lore and have so many variations on the beliefs of these characters. I mean to see so diverse a cast of characters, some believing one things, others something completely different, or only marginally the same, is fantastic. How the magic system works in this world and everything that goes into not only weaving spells but fortifying them is gruesomely fascinating Then we have the parallels with the source material. I have to say that I wouldn't quite call this a retelling. Most of the story is already complete by the time the story begins, but there is definitely more here than other "retellings" I've read. I loved seeing these characters in a whole new light, though I'm a bit upset that Rosaline's facsimile character has a name change while most of the other major player don't, plus again Runajo isn't the easiest word to pronounce. Now on to the stuff I didn't quite like. Actually, there's only one thing and that's the pacing. I'm not sure why I was expecting a faster-paced story but I was and I have to say this was a sluggishly paced book. Each chapter felt longer than it was and it wasn't until the end that things really started to pick up.

Predictability: I have to say, on the whole, this book was pretty unpredictable. There weren't a lot of huge twists or anything, but it wasn't all that easy to see where the story was going to go. I think a lot of that was tied to the pacing. Things took quite a while to get done and by the time there was a set plot it was already too late and things were happening. I'm looking over my reading experience and I don't think there was anything that I predicted, at least not exactly, and there were some devastatingly huge twists too.

Ending: Going into this book I knew that it was going to be a duology, or ar least a duology, but since we only knew about one other book, for whatever reason I thought maybe it'd be a companion series. Before too long in this book though it became very clear that this was just the beginning. I can barely comprehend this ending but I'll do the best I can. There wasn't really a final climax, I mean, there was but it was very well sustained throughout the entire end of this book. There was no real cooldown and as things were revealed, betrayals were made and devastating secrets come to light, I could only think that I need to get my hands on the next installment.

Rating:

Oh my, there was so much to love about this book. The world building was mind blowing and the characters were so richly balanced. That being said there was a price to pay for such a gorgeously crafted story and that was that the pacing was very slow. However, if you enjoy richly detailed fantasy retellings than this is the book for you!