Book Review: Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #1)

Release Date: December 4, 2018
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Length: 912 pages
Source: Purchased Book/eBook

Dark secrets and forbidden love threaten the very survival of the Shadowhunters in Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness, the final novel in the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling The Dark Artifices trilogy.

What if damnation is the price of true love?

Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the blight that is destroying the race of warlocks.

Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.

    

Review:

Characters: This story begins right after the end of Lord of Shadows, meaning most of our protagonists are in mourning after the tragic murders of Robert Lightwood and Livia Blackthorn. Much of this story deals with loss and how our protagonists cope with their grief. In fact, a lot of the choices that these characters make going forward has the tragedy of Livvy's death in mind, whether consciously or not. Losing someone like that, and the fear of losing someone else can make people do crazy things. I loved seeing how all our protagonists faced their struggles, even if I didn't agree with how they chose to handle their grief, and the journey that they all take, whether alone or together, in this story is fantastic. Since this is an insanely long book, there's so much that these characters go through, so many trials and tribulations, yet every choice they make, every step they take, feels organic and authentic to who they are as characters and even when I don't agree with their choices, if they were to make "the right" choice, it wouldn't feel as realistic as them making "the wrong" choice.

Romances: This series focuses on two main romances, that of Julian and Emma, the parabatai that were never meant to fall in love, and Kieran/Cristina/Mark the "love triangle" of this series. When I first started this series I wasn't expecting to get as swept away by the romances in this series as I did, and this installment brings everything to an amazing head and the complications of these romances aren't small little things that are easily dealt with, there are real stakes in this story that extend to the romance as well, partially because in Emma and Julian's case their romance is one of the main plot points of this entire series. I love how everything comes together and even the smaller romances in this series, the ones featured in the past, or will be featured more heavily in the future, despite the heartaches, there's always hope, and that's always something I've loved about Cassie's works, there's always hope.

World-Building: Ohmigosh! Seriously this installment cranks everything up to 11 and doesn't exactly stop. This is a story where things are going to get worse before they get better, which is mainly why it took me so dang long to finish this story. In addition to all the assholery (yes, that's a word) that goes on from the members of the Cohort, there are quite a few scenes that brought back memories from the other final installments in The Shadowhunter Chronicles so far. I can't talk really talk about them in anything other than very vague terms as they're huge spoilers, but even though I wasn't a huge fan of one of the aspects to the story at first, as I felt it was TOO reminiscent of a previous finale, by the time that aspect was finished, it felt so immensely important that I didn't mind it anymore and in fact I'm hoping to see more in the future. This is also an installment where big changes come, and the Shadow World may never be the same after this installment.

Predictability: Holy Crap. I'll admit it's been a couple of weeks since I finished this book, but looking back I can't pick out a single moment that I saw coming in advance. On the contrary, there were so many moments that completely blew me away and the twists and turns this story takes will keep you gasping until the very end of the book.

Ending: What a phenomenal final climax. I mean, I wasn't expecting such a phenomenal action sequence full of heartache, heartbreak, and just heart. So much goes down in the final climax of the story, but that's not the end. Even though there are a few moments of high tension after the final climax, including something that left me stunned speechless, I think it's more than safe to refer to the "final battle" of this book as the final climax. After all, is said and done and all the crazy insane stuff goes down, there are a couple of chapters that show the characters that are left and what they're up to and there's one scene that had me bawling like a baby and I'm not even ashamed.

Rating:

It's no surprise to me that I love this final conclusion to The Dark Artifices. This series is so tense and exciting and overall amazing. There's so much more I could say about this story and how much I love it, but I feel if I go on too much longer I won't be able to censor myself from spoilers.

Book Review: Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales #1)

Release Date: October 1, 2002
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Length: 310 pages
Source: Purchased Book

Welcome to the realm of very scary faeries!

Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces the sixteen-year-old back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms -- a struggle that could very well mean her death.

Newcomer Holly Black's enormously powerful voice weaves teen angst, riveting romance, and capriciously diabolical faerie folk into an enthralling, engaging, altogether original reading experience.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Kaye has lived most of her life moving from place to place with her less than stable mother. When she and her mother have to move back in with Kaye's grandmother, Kaye finds herself sucked (not literally) into the land of Faeries, when she saves a Faerie Knight one night. Soon she's in too deep, discovering secrets about herself that not even the rest of her family knows and putting her life on the line in a struggle between the Seelie and Unseelie fae. One of the things I love most about Kaye is that she's not your typical YA heroine. She smokes, she shoplifts, and she'll do something wrong even if she knows it's wrong. Granted, I don't want to "become" Kaye, but the flaws and complexities to her character really make her stand out, while not making her so unlikable that I don't want to root for her. In fact despite her flaws I wanted her to succeed every step of the way in this book, and regardless of where she ends up, she does not succeed at every step along the way.

Romance: Another thing that was pleasantly surprising to me is the romance in this story. It's not all consuming like the YA books published around this time always seemed to be. Instead it burns at a constant, but slow, rate that I ended up really enjoying. While Roiben isn't the perfect love interest, he comes pretty darn close and the chemistry that he and Kaye have is undeniable. These two characters start off fairly counterpointed as Roiben is much more formal and polite while Kaye... isn't. She's got a sharp tongue and she doesn't care who she stabs with it, while Roiben uses words like a fencer uses a saber, graceful and elegant. It wasn't hard to start rooting for them even before they actually started to truly tolerate each other.

World Building: FAERIES!!!! So, while I haven't been reading a lot of Faerie stories lately, I loved falling back into a world governed by dark tricksters and mischievous gremlins. While this story does begin in the modern world, and by all appearances, "our" world, it doesn't take too long for the magical mayhem to begin. This version of Faerie, as there are so many different kinds, i divided into the Seelie, Unseelie, and Solitary Fae. Considering this series is canonically part of the "Folk of the Air" trilogy, the first book of which is The Cruel Prince, I'll have to reread that book to remember how all the different parts of faerie connect. Anyway, the world Holly Black creates in this book is breathtaking, I mean, I couldn't stop wanting to see more and more of what this world held. This world is as wondrous as faerie fruit, sweet and addictive, but have too much and you may go mad!

Predictability: I was completely blown away at how unpredictable this story is. I mean, considering this book isn't exactly a spring chicken in the YA world, the fact that its story doesn't feel full of stale and thrown out tropes years later, and can still knock me off my feet at some of the twists and turns this story holds, is magnificent. Looking back I'm trying to see if there was any time when I knew for sure what would happen, and maybe it's because I haven't read very much in a while, but nothing felt obvious about this book, even when I tried to predict something, nothing felt certain.

Ending: This story has a more wrapped up ending that I expected for a trilogy. Though, that's because the next book in this series is a companion, while the "technical" sequel to this book is actually book 3. On the whole though, you could read this story as a standalone, there's enough closure to the story that I don't need to come back, though I will because I love this book and why not, but everything wraps up well for now, and I could see how waiting a while between installments could have really hurt if there wasn't as much closure as there is in this story. As for the final climax, well I'll just say that things didn't unfold how I expected them to. This isn't your typical YA final climax and the diversity in storytelling with it was a treat to behold.

Rating:

Yeah, it's hard to deny that I love this book! It holds up incredibly well after sixteen years and I practically devoured every word of this brilliantly crafted tale. Honestly, I thought Holly Black grew into her writing over time, but no, she's always been this good!

Book Review: The Angel Gift (Dark Word: The Angel Trials #4)

Release Date: September 30, 2018
Author: Michelle Madow
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Length: 270 pages
Source: Review Copy from the Author

Everyone is separated, and no one is safe.

Raven Danvers didn’t think her life could get any crazier since the night a demon attacked her in an alley and abducted her mom.

She was wrong.

Because now that same demon has abducted her too. He’s thrown her into a secret bunker with a group of humans who have unique abilities that make them “gifted.” They don’t know what the demons want with them, and the bunker is impossible to escape.

Her only hope is Noah—the wolf shifter she’s imprinted upon. She just needs to let him know where she is. But she can’t do it alone. Her only way to get a message to him is to team up with the other humans by making use of their unique gifts.

But they have to do it fast. Because their time in the bunker is temporary. The demons are prepping them to go somewhere else… somewhere far worse than where they are now.

They don’t know what this place is.

They just know they really, really don’t want to find out.

Get ready for a magical, twist-filled ride in the fourth installment of The Angel Trials series, a fast-paced urban fantasy adventure that will leave you on the edge of your seat wanting more!

  

Review:

Protagonists: In this installment, the POV characters are switched up a bit. There’s a greater focus on Noah and Thomas, specifically Noah as I think he has the most chapters out of anyone, even Raven, in this book. We do get to see quite a bit of Raven though, as she learns more about both her captivity and her “gifted” human status. Interestingly, Sage does not narrate any chapters in this book, which makes sense due to her being forced into the blood bond at the end of the previous installment and this story does go into why her having a POV chapter wouldn’t be so interesting without actually addressing it head-on. Finally there is a new POV, or at least I think her POV is new, and that’s Mara, Azazel’s daughter, I was extremely surprised at how much I liked her chapters, sure her character arc does feel a bit tropey, but it’s a trope that I like so I’m completely on board. I really loved reading from all these characters POVs, each one (apart from the last chapter POV) had something to learn and experience over the course of this tale, except maybe Noah, which is a little disappointing, I mean there are plenty of other characters that had phenomenal development in this story, but since he has the majority of POV chapters, not to mention that he’s my favorite character, I would have liked to see some more development from him in this story and more of a purpose in this installment than just the guy who wants to get Raven back.

Romance: There was actually very little romance in this story, I mean it’s not surprising as our two main romantic couples have been separated, not to mention the fact that an individual in one of those couples, Sage, has been so fundamentally changed that she’s pretty much not the same person anymore. There is some romance in this story, though there isn’t much romantic development, and certainly no romantic development with our two main couples as they need to overcome a few obstacles before those relationships can continue to develop. The romantic development that is in this story is more laying the groundwork for another couple, Flint and Mara, finally showing Mara’s side of things and her feelings about her imprinting bond with Flint after the blood bonding ritual.

World Building: How the world Building unfolds in this installment feels a bit different than the previous installments in the series, I mean, there is expansion to the world, we start to get a better idea about what the demons are planning, in fact, I’m pretty sure I know what their endgame is, but I did leave this story with more questions than answers as to HOW they will accomplish this feat. Still, in many ways this story feels like filler, pretty open and shut in terms of the amount of story progress this installment will have, and while we have some new information and we’ve met some new people, this felt like more of an unplanned pit stop (or kidnapping, whichever you prefer) on their way to Avalon and while I didn’t expect they’d reach Avalon in this story, which they didn’t, and even though I told myself to view this story as an episode of a TV drama which helped immensely in the previous installment, this story just felt like it was missing something, maybe more about the “gifted” humans, though I suspect we’ll get more on that later, maybe another Mara chapter, maybe even an Azazel chapter, I’m not sure all I know is it feels like it’s missing SOMETHING. (Edit: About a day after writing this review I realized what that SOMETHING was, I talk about it in the conclusion.)

Predictability: Overall this installment did feel very by the numbers, there were, of course, a few moments over the course of the book that caught me off guard, such as what I think Azazel’s, and by extension many if not all of the demons’, plans are, but even then, when I’m caught off guard like that, I’m not surprised, in fact, I was only surprised two times and they were both towards the end. Also, I will say that there are a couple moments in this tale that seem a bit too easy and a bit too constructed which pulled me out of the story a few times, so I do wish things were a bit harder on our protagonists, that way they feel like they’ve really earned their victory, should they have one.

Ending: Again, as it seems the theme of this review is, the ending was pretty predictable, and while this was the only time in the entire story that I was truly surprised, that only applies to two moments in the last few chapters. The final climax is great and included one of the shocking and surprising moments, but it did play out mostly how I expected. There was also only one point during this story that I was at all confused, and that was the final chapter. In Madow’s typical Dark World form we have a final chapter from the POV of someone new, but unlike past, let’s just call them epilogues, unlike past epilogues this one didn’t have the same cliffhanger gut punch for me that it usually does, I feel like I missed some subtext or just plain text because while I felt I understood what was going on, I just didn’t feel that signature Madow stomach dropping cliffhanger, but then again, I’d rather have a calmer ending than that torture-fest and the end of the last installment.

Rating:

While I did utterly devour this installment, as I said numerous times in this review, it’s missing something, everything that’s in the book is fantastic, except for maybe the epilogue, but it's been about a day since I wrote this review and upon reflection I realized what it was missing, it was missing all of the great character interactions from the previous installments, while I love seeing our main characters interacting with newer and returning characters, because everyone's split up, there's sort of a hole left in the story that not even a fantastic story like this could fill in.

Book Review: Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicle #1)

Release Date: August 9, 2016
Author: Jay Kristoff
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Length: 429 pages
Source: Purchased Book

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.

Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.

Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

    

Review:

Protagonist: Mia Corvere lost her family in one night due to her father's failed rebellion, now she needs to get revenge on those that killed her father, but she cannot take on this task without training first. Mia seeks out the Red Church, a school for assassins where she needs to be honed to a razor's edge. I love Mia and all the shades and shadows that make her a great morally gray character. Mia's not a good person, sure she has a bit of a heart, but she won't let anything stop her from getting the revenge she feels she rightly deserves. Mia's a complex character that I just love to read from, she's a bit unpredictable, which always makes for a good time, and she has a lot of something I feel more and more protagonists are lacking and that's common sense. Mia's smart and practically already an assassin when this story begins, yet I never felt like her character development was held back because of that, this is more about honing Mia's skill and her journey to avenge her familia and discover the secrets of what she is.

Romance: One of the things I loved about the romance in this story is that it doesn't infringe on the rest of the story, sure it matters, it has its place in the story, and it's not shoved toward the back or the front, it's just there and how it plays into the rest of the story I felt was brilliantly handled. Mia's not exactly a warm character so it was really interesting to see how she approached the romance she has in this story. There is a bond between the couple and I really enjoyed seeing that explored. Everything felt so natural, I mean, it was almost unreal how natural the two characters feel together and how natural their romance and relationship progresses in the story.

World Building: The world building in this tale is incredible. All over this story are footnotes that give additional information on the world and the mythos of this dark fantasy world. Well, I say dark but really this world hardly sees a truedark, most of the time it's day, and that's only the base surface of this world. I'm a huge sucker for a school or test setting where a group of characters is brought together and only a few will succeed in the task set before them, and this is probably the best version I've ever seen of that trope. Plus there's a murder mystery aspect to the story that blew me away, what else did you expect to happen at a school for assassins? This story is a bit dense towards the beginning, it took me a while to really find my groove with the story but once I got the hang of things, everything went a lot smoother. I will also say that I listened to all of this story as an Audible audiobook and I'd warn if you're thinking about listening to this story as an audiobook, I'd follow along for the first couple of chapters because it goes back and forth in time quite a bit and it's harder to follow on the audiobook at first.

Predictability: I don't think I predicted a single thing in this story, not even joking, there was this one moment where I thought the story was going in one direction, I thought that something pretty tropey was happening, and in the space of a couple seconds everything changed and the story barreled on in a different direction and it was glorious. With some of the twists I'd play around with the truth, but things never truly made sense until minutes before the reveal, if not seconds. Also, I listened to this story in six chapters at a time, so I don't know if it's that or how the story is told but it's so complex that I'll forget about plot points at certain times so I never really had a lot of time to truly consider what would happen when certain things were revealed.

Ending: The end of this tale is glorious. I mean, action scene after action scene, amazing twists, possible foreshadowing to bigger things and a LOT of death, what more could you ask for? I can't even really just talk about the final climax because there were a few different climactic moments toward the end and all of them need to be praised because that is some of, if not the best, action scene writing I've ever read. I was completely sucked into the story, into the carnage and death all around, soaking it in. Then, when the dust settled and losses counted, there was one of my favorite things to see in books, an epilogue, and this epilogue was truly something. It gives a lot of closure on the events of this story and teases what's to come for the next book, or at least I hope it does, and while this story doesn't leave off on a cliffhanger, I'm desperate to know what happens next.

Rating:

This is by far one of my favorite books of all time, I loved the complex characters, the intricate and detailed world building, a romance that felt just right, and a mystery and path of revenge I cannot wait to continue following!

Book Review: Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron #1)

Release Date: February 27, 2018
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Length: 480 pages
Source: OwlCrate Book/Audible Audiobook

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.

Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.

When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.

What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

    

Review:

Protagonists: This story is told from four, third-person, POVs. We have Ana, the orphan girl raised by a crew of outlaws, Robb, the screw-up son of a noble family with a mission, Di, the Metal boy who's Ana's best friend and medic, and Jax, the best pilot in the galaxy with a tragic past, I quickly came to love most of these characters, though I have to say that I felt we didn't get a lot of time to truly know Di, and while I care for him because Ana and the others care for him, I couldn't really get invested in his character all that much. Ana is a fantastic heroine, sharp-witted and sharp-tongued, she's a force to be reckoned with, Robb has a deep sense of loyalty to those who deserve it, and Jax is pretty much the personification of my favorite character trope, the cocky yet damaged character. None of these characters are perfect, they each have their flaws, whether it be poor impulse control or an inability to move on, they're flawed, but each has the potential to grow.

Romances: So, I wasn't a huge fan of one of the biggest romances in this story. See, Ana has feelings for Di, or D09 as he's sometimes referred to as, and whether it was the fact that Ana has these feelings from the beginning of the story, Di's appearance not being very humanoid, the fact that he's a fairly emotionless robot, or some combination of the three, I just couldn't get into their romance. Eventually, it gets to a point where there's hope that I might get invested in their romance, but things happen and the book ends before I can really get invested. The other main romance in this story though, I did really enjoy. Robb, a cocky and rogueish noble, and Jax, the pilot with a dark past, have some really great moments in this story. There's one scene, that kind of reminds me of Star Wars, but their dialogue during that scene was fantastic and I felt there are so many fantastic moments between them in this story, yet not really enough. For what there is, it's fantastic, and it doesn't affect my rating that I want more, I just want more.

World Building: The world building in this story is fantastic, from the history to the mythology of this world everything was captivating. I don't read too much sci-fi, but this is the sci-fi that I love, space battles, outlaws flying through space, lost royalty, mysteries, I love it all. This story also has major Cinder by Marissa Meyer vibes, mixed with a little Star Wars. This is also an Anastasia story after all and while I think this story did a pretty good job in that area, it was how things diverged from the story being retold that really fascinated me. There are some fantasy elements mixed with the sci-fi in some of the best ways I've ever seen and the royal angle of this story and the secrets hidden in Ana's family history are astounding. There's a lot built out in just this one installment, so much that I'm wondering if this might be a duology.

Predictability: This story is on the predictable side of things, not only with it being a retelling but the foreshadowing was pretty obvious as well. Take, for example, there's something in this story that could have been a truly amazing twist, I mean mind-blowing, but I felt like I got all of the pieces to that puzzle quite a while before it was revealed, there are quite a few twists that went that way, though there were a few times, particularly toward the end where things were more shocking.

Ending: The final climax of this story is fantastic, it's intense and chaotic. There's a lot that goes into setting it up and everything leading to this final mix of scenes was fantastic. As I said earlier, there are a lot of shocking, and some not so shocking, moments in the end and I pretty much raced through this story until the ending because I could hardly stop. There is a bit of a breath after the final climax but still as things unravel and even though there wasn't really a cliffhanger, the ending does feel too soon, and I'm excited to see where things go.

Rating:

Even though I had a few problems with one of the characters and one of the romances, I still really love this story and cannot wait to dive into the next (and final?) installment!

Book Review: Worlds Collide (The Land of Stories #6)

Release Date: July 11, 2017
Author: Chris Colfer
Publisher: Little, Brown Book for Young Readers
Length: 480 pages
Source: Purchased Book/Audible Audiobook

The epic conclusion to Chris Colfer's #1 New York Times bestselling series The Land of Stories!

In the highly anticipated conclusion to the Land of Stories series, Conner and Alex must brave the impossible. All of the Land of Stories fairy tale characters--heroes and villains--are no longer confined within their world!

With mayhem brewing in the Big Apple, Conner and Alex will have to win their biggest battle yet. Can the twins restore order between the human and fairy tale world?

Breathtaking action mixed with laugh out loud moments and lots of heart will make this a gripping conclusion for many fans!

    

Review:

Protagonists: After Alex's disappearance Connor has been out of his mind with worry about where she might be, meanwhile Morina has begun her plan to invade the Otherworld with the witches from the Land of Stories and the Literary Army. When the worlds begin to collide, hopefully, Connor and his friends can save Alex, and their world, before it's too late. What can I really say, I love these characters, I've loved following their journey through this series and while their character development was a bit heavy-handed and could have been more subtle, I still enjoyed our characters journeys through this finale, and their actions felt very authentic to their characters.

Romance: As this is the final book in this series and there has been a touch of romance since the third installment, there is still a touch of romance in this book as well. Alex has had a couple flirtations and while she does have more important things to do than worry over her love life in this book, and I love that the author never pushed the romance too much, especially in times of crisis, except one but it completely fit and was a spectacular moment, but it was neither Alex nor Connor's moment. Anyway there is a level of conclusion to her romantic drama, and of course, there's Connor who, while there's technically only one girl he's had feelings for this entire series, does find some good closure on that relationship as well, though the prologue kind of spoils things, we'll get to the prologue later.

World Building: In this book worlds truly do collide as the Land of Stories is set to collide with the Otherworld. One of the things I really commend this story on is showing a true battle and following various groups of heroes as they take on the threat to New York City. While the battle does feel a bit formulaic, it was still a lot of fun to experience. We do get to see more characters from the past as well, although one of my biggest frustrations is that there are aspects of this book that have way too much of a recap feel to them. This story is also very message heavy, while I'm not opposed to stories having specific messages, I especially understand having them in fairy tale-inspired stories, the messages here are far too heavy handed. I mean, instead of following someone's journey where they learn from their mistakes and it's left at that, this story makes sure that you understand just what it is that those characters learn, though that may be just an unfortunate side effect of the writing. I'm not saying the writing is bad, in fact, there are some spectacular moments in this story that I loved but the writing can be a bit rough and direct at times and lack a certain finesse.

Predictability: Looking over this story I can't say there was much, if anything I was able to predict, there were a few small things I was spoiled on, but they were a tad predictable, to begin with, but everything else, well while I can't say I saw it coming, nothing wasn't a huge surprise. There were a few moments that almost caught me by surprise but even if I was able to predict something shortly before it happened, it didn't change how some of those twists affected me.

Ending: Sigh, the end of this book... See the final climaxes of this story are amazing, like I said before there's a really fantastic battle and things are intense and awesome, and then there's the final threat. I like the way it was dealt with and it really speaks to the themes of this series and it fit very well, there's even a great scene just before the end with the twins in a specific office... Things begin to settle down, we get some great closure on some of our favorite heroes and the stories ends very well, then there's the epilogue. Many of you may know that I love epilogues, but both the prologue and epilogue felt unnecessary in this book. The prologue just felt out of place and while I understand the purpose the author had for it, it really didn't need to be there, much like the epilogue which brings a sort of full circle ending to the story and while it's possible this may not be the last series in this world, and while I wouldn't turn my nose up at that, I still don't like how open-ended this book is for the final book in a series.

Rating:

While I still really enjoyed this final installment in one of my favorite series, between how open-ended the story is, especially for a conclusion, and how heavy-handed the messages are in this story, I did feel a little disappointed in this finale.

Book Review: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (Montague Siblings #1)

Release Date: June 27, 2017
Author: Mackenzi Lee
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Length: 513 pages
Source: OwlCrate Book

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

    

Review:

Protagonist: After getting thrown out of boarding school, Henry "Monty" Montague is preparing to go on his Tour of the Continent. When he comes home his life will be different, he'll have to take over the estate from his abusive father, his best friend who he might love will be going to Holland for Law School, and even his sister who he doesn't always get along with won't be there to pester him since she's off to finishing school. Monty hopes this tour will be a yearlong journey of debauchery before his life changes, but when Monty stumbles into some trouble, everything snowballs out of control. I love Monty so much, so many times in this story I just wanted to hold him and tell him he's worthy of happiness, his father has messed him up so much, and he does so much to hide it. Monty is by no means perfect, he's selfish and entitled, he's reckless and a bit of an alcoholic, but the best thing about this story is how he changes and at what rate. All the character development for not only Monty but all of the characters felt very natural and authentic, and the authenticity really lends itself to telling this complex tale.

Romance: As I mentioned above, Monty feels he's in love with his best friend, Percy, and while the romance didn't progress as quickly as I'd like the pacing does fit well with the overall tale so I'm not upset. I really love how Monty's sexuality was explored. At the start of this story, Monty knows he's bisexual, though they didn't have a word for that in the 1700s, and I love how well that's established, as someone who's bisexual, I love seeing that represented so wholly, we see Monty flirt and canoodle with both men and women and how he explains his feeling to his sister later in the book felt so freaking relateable I almost cried. Then there's the Percy of it all. From the start, Percy is the light of Monty's life, though since Monty's not so great with feelings or expressing them, Percy is unaware. They're best friends who've known each other since they were young and with that comes a very special relationship that I love seeing evolve into a romance. While Monty and Percy's romance comes with a whole lot of drama and a little miscommunication, I just love it and really enjoyed the ride.

World Building: First off, I love that this story doesn't take place during a specific year, it just takes place in 17--, which for someone like me who isn't all that interested in history and specific dates but gets swept away by romanticized historic time periods, this was perfect, and the time period isn't even romanticized, well maybe a little bit, but this story shows a harsher side of history, there's racism in this book, slavery, abuse, homophobia, etc. This isn't a story where the setting is perfect and beautiful, but as with great characters, I'd rather have realistic over idealistic. The settings are fantastic, as our group travels across Europe we see a variety of settings and I was swept away but the imagery and locales, I've always wanted to travel around Europe so I loved doing it vicariously, even if it's 1700s Europe. Going into this book I had thought there were no speculative fiction elements and I guess to some degree this isn't speculative fiction depending on what you believe, but when the story gets started the plot seems to move in a bit of a speculative direction and while I wasn't prepared for that, I ended up really enjoying the plot and how it fed into the subplots of this book.

Predictability: When it comes to the story on the whole, since I pretty much read this book in one sitting, there wasn't a whole lot of time for me to do speculating beyond what I pretty much go into any book understanding, characters are introduced, shenanigans happen, it ends happily. I did do some speculating about the spot of trouble our Touring group finds themselves in, and I was way off, I was also trying to figure out how this story will end, besides happily, and I'll get to the ending in a second, but pretty much right up until the end of this story, I had no idea how everything would play out. This book caught me off guard so many times and I loved mostly just following the story along as we Toured Europe.

Ending: I have so many favorite scenes from this book, but one of them is how this story comes to a close. The final climax is awash with action, adventure, shocking revelations, and devastating choices. As I said I wasn't sure how this story was going to end, but how everything is resolved blew me away, and there's something a bit poetic about something specific that happens to Monty that I'm still a little shook by. There is also a bit of an epilogue portion of this book that gives a small view into the future of our heroes, one of whom has an adventure of her own coming soon, and wraps the story up very nicely.

Rating:

As you can no doubt tell by my gushing, I love this book so much, from the bisexual representation to the fact of a male protagonist, something that's a bit rare in YA stories, to the dazzling settings and the complex characters, I love this story so much and cannot wait to read Felicity's adventure soon!

Blog Tour Omnibus Review: Star-Touched Stories (The Star-Touched Queen #2.5)

Release Date: August 7, 2018
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books
Length: 304 pages
Source: NetGalley eGalley

Three lush and adventurous stories in the Star-Touched world.

Death and Night

He was Lord of Death, cursed never to love. She was Night incarnate, destined to stay alone. After a chance meeting, they wonder if, perhaps, they could be meant for more. But danger crouches in their paths, and the choices they make will set them on a journey that will span lifetimes.

Poison and Gold

Now that her wish for a choice has come true, Aasha struggles to control her powers. But when an opportunity to help Queen Gauri and King Vikram's new reign presents itself, she is thrown into the path of the fearsome yet enchanting Spy Mistress. To help her friends, Aasha will have to battle her insecurities and perhaps, along the way, find love.

Rose and Sword

There is a tale whispered in the dark of the Empire of Bharat-Jain. A tale of a bride who loses her bridegroom on the eve of her wedding. But is it a tale or a truth?

    

Reviews:

Death and Night

Recommend Reading AFTER The Star-Touched Queen

In a time long before the events of The Star-Touched Queen, Death needs to find himself a consort, but a curse cast on him causes him to seek companionship without love. Then he meets Night, a girl who would never marry without love. At first, I wasn't sure why this story would be necessary, given that most of it is at the very least alluded to in The Star-Touched Queen, however, other than seeing this world expanded even more and learning more about how this world functions, I found myself really invested in the stories of Death and Night. Even though I knew their story, I never really saw them fall in love, at least not the first time, and it was interesting to see how they originally came together. We also get to see more of their personal lives, Death's friendship with Gupta and Night's with Nritti and as much as I hate who Nritti becomes, I have to say that I really enjoyed her here which really only turns my rage for her into sadness, at the loss of what could have been. Still, even if I wasn't surprised by the events of this story, I was surprised by how much I was sucked into it and by how much I ended up enjoying it.

Rating:

Even with how much I love The Star-Touched Queen, I never really expected to love Death and Night as much as I do, going in I felt it was going to be a fluff piece, which in some ways it is, but I didn't expect to get so thoroughly invested in a story that I thought I already knew the ending of.

Poison and Gold:

Recommend Reading AFTER A Crown of Wishes

Aasha, the vishakanya who was given a choice to live two lives in A Crown of Wishes, is back and sets out on her own adventure when Gauri and Vikram need her to train for a new position in the palace. Her training is grueling and her new mistress is fierce, plus she needs to hide her true nature for the protection of her friends as well as herself, and lately, her power to shift between her human and vishakanya forms hasn't been cooperating. At first, I was a bit bummed by how tropey this story can be, I mean, I feel as though I've read stories of characters who suddenly lose control of a new power, and of an apprentice training under a seemingly cruel master or mistress. Then, almost suddenly I didn't care, I mean, that's one of the things this author does so well is to take classic tropes and show them her way, infused with her culture and it totally works on me. I love Aasha so much and her journey in this story is a great one and carries a powerful message. I will say though that I felt the ending was rushed a little bit and I wish that it could have had an ending that didn't feel so sudden.

Rating:

I love this story so much and was happy to see a little more of this world after A Crown of Wishes as I was completely over the moon when it came to that story and I love seeing Gauri and Vikram again as well as learning more about Aasha.

Rose and Sword:

Recommend Reading after A Crown of Wishes

This is a tale told in the past, just before Gauri and Vikram are to be wed, and the present, decades later on the eve of another wedding, though it isn't our main character getting married, it's her sister. Hira is sad that, after her sister's wedding, Meghara will leave to go live with her new husband and his family, so after a fight between the sisters Hira goes to see her grandmother and there her grandmother tells her a story. The story is about before Gauri and Vikram's wedding and the tragedy that shakes the palace. I cannot tell you how much I love this story, it's a story of love, both familial and romantic and how, even in anger love can still burn bright. I love seeing this world open up so much more, yet still, have a focus and a home base in Bharata or now it's called Bharat-Jain. As always the author's writing is lyrical and poetic and every moment feels necessary and full of life, even amongst death. Then there's the end, an end that leaves a small window open for more stories, stories that pray will someday be written, and an end to parts of the story that I never want to say goodbye to, but I know must inevitably come!

Rating:

I didn't have to think twice about this rating, I barely had to think once. I practically melted into this story while reading it and by the end, I was shedding tears, though whether they were tears of happiness or joy, well, you'll have to read this story for yourself to find out.

Overall Rating:

I loved this small collection of stories so much and it really helped to fill in the hole of not having more novels in this series, though the window left open for more gives me hope, my only drawback for this collection, and as you can see it didn't affect my rating is that this collection isn't in hardcover, but c'est la vie!

About the Author:

Roshani Chokshi is the New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen and A CROWN OF WISHES. Her middle grade debut, ARU SHAH AND THE END OF TIME, released April 3, 2018 from Disney/Rick Riordan Presents. Her next young adult novel, THE GILDED WOLVES, is slated for Winter 2019. Chokshi's work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Shimmer, and Book Smugglers. She was a finalist in the 2016 Andre Norton Award and the Locus Top Ten for Best First Novel. Her short story, "The Star Maiden," was longlisted for the British Fantasy Science Award.