Book Review: The Warrior Heir (The Heir Chronicles #1)

Release Date: March 28, 2006
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 426 pages
Source: Library Audio Book

Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old Jack lived an unremarkable life in the small Ohio town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take daily and the thick scar above his heart set him apart from the other high-schoolers. Then one day Jack skips his medicine. Suddenly, he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident than ever before. And it feels great-until he loses control of his own strength and nearly kills another player during soccer team tryouts.

Soon, Jack learns the startling truth about himself: He is Weirlind; part of an underground society of magical people who live among us. At the head of this magical society sit the feuding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, whose power is determined by playing The Game - a magical tournament in which each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the death. The winning house rules the Weir.

As if his bizarre magical heritage isn't enough, Jack finds out that he's not just another member of Weirlind-he's one of the last of the warriors - at a time when both houses are scouting for a player.

    

Review:

Characters: I had a tough time trying to figure out who to talk about in this section. Normally if there's a prevalent protagonist I would just talk about the one person and if there's more of an ensemble cast I'd talk about a bunch of characters, however for this book there is a very obvious protagonist, but the other characters in this story are so dynamic I wanted to talk about them as well. First off is our protagonist Jack. Jack lives a fairly normal life, but after he forgets to take his medicine one day and after a fairly eventful trip with his aunt Linda, he gets thrust into a world of magic, hierarchy, and mystery that hides in the shadows of modern day. Jack learns he's a warrior and, in this world, magical warriors are used as fodder for a barbaric tournament to determine which wizarding house rules. Jack was a fantastic narrator, he's very perceptive and whenever he gets sidelined by something it's never something that obvious to the reader or that there was a lot of foreshadowing for. He's a very tangible character who reacts to this world in a very realistic way, which is hard to find in a lot of YA series these days. Then there are the other characters, I kind of don't want to go into specifics here because I feel like if I do I'll give something away, but I love how even some of the minor characters of this story jump off the page. Every character feels realistic, every character is flawed and complex and has this aura of life to them that's hard for me to fully articulate.

Romance: So, there isn't much romance in this book, and yet the romantic relationship featured in this story is still one of the best one's I've read. I think what makes this romance so great is in fact how little attention there was to the actual romance. It's the relationship that's featured and it's not all lovey-dovey, and race to saying "I love you" but establishing a bond between these characters so that when a romance is introduced it doesn't feel rushed or forced. In fact for pretty much the entire book the romance feels very fledgling and doesn't develop very far, however, the romance isn't the star of the show, it's not why you should pick up this book, but I like that the author added it and incorporated it so well into the much grander story this book has to tell.

World Building: I have to say going into this book I was a bit hesitant, Having read Chima's Seven Realms series and loving it so much I was afraid that venturing forth into another world created by this author would end up being underwhelming, especially since this is her earliest published work. That being said I had no reason to fear. This world is incredible, it does take a moment or two to fully adjust to what's going on, but once everything is explained this world begins to suck you in and the plot begins to thicken as things are foreshadowed and the intricacy of this world begins to show. I love the political intrigue elements of this world with the different magic guilds and how one guild has found themselves on top and instead of ruling just have begun to abuse their power. The way the magic system is set up is also amazing, it's not overly complicated or too simplistic it finds a nice balance in the middle and has good checks and balances.

Predictability: Overall Cinda Williams Chima does a great job setting up twists in one of her books. There's always the right amount of foreshadowing and misdirection and one thing I really appreciate is that she never goes for the complex twist or out of nowhere surprise. In this book, there are a great deal of revelations that come out, and for me, the things that I had already predicted and the things that genuinely surprised me were about even. There is a big twist, probably the biggest twist of the book and it was something I was able to predict and the funny thing was that it wasn't because of foreshadowing or anything like that but purely because there was no other option.

Ending: Going into the ending of this book I wasn't sure what was going to happen, I had a pretty good idea at some of the big picture things, but overall I wasn't sure how things were going to go down during the final climax. That being said, what I assumed at the time was the final climax turned out to be just the beginning. The real final climax was interesting, I liked how the author was able to begin to bring this story to an end without resorting to a loophole or quick fix. There are real stakes in this ending and real consequences of the actions taken. As the story enters its final chapter there's an epilogue of sorts. This book ends in a very unique way. There's an ending to the story, but it's almost like the ending to a series where you know a spin off's coming, as if there's a calm now, but the storm is still brewing.

Rating:

I loved this book and this world and these characters just come to life. I did want to say that after finishing this book, with the way it ended I wasn't chomping at the bit to continue down this series, but as more time passes since finishing this book I just want to read the second one more and more.

Book Review: The Exiled Queen (Seven Realms #2)

Release Date: September 24, 2010
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Length: 586 pages
Source: Library Book

Haunted by the loss of his mother and sister, Han Alister journeys south to begin his schooling at Mystwerk House in Oden’s Ford. But leaving the Fells doesn’t mean that danger isn't far behind. Han is hunted every step of the way by the Bayars, a powerful wizarding family set on reclaiming the amulet Han stole from them. And Mystwerk House has dangers of its own. There, Han meets Crow, a mysterious wizard who agrees to tutor Han in the darker parts of sorcery—but the bargain they make is one Han may regret.

Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana’Marianna runs from a forced marriage in the Fells, accompanied by her friend Amon and his triple of cadets. Now, the safest place for Raisa is Wein House, the military academy at Oden's Ford. If Raisa can pass as a regular student, Wein House will offer both sanctuary and the education Raisa needs to succeed as the next Gray Wolf queen.

Everything changes when Han and Raisa’s paths cross, in this epic tale of uncertain friendships, cut-throat politics, and the irresistible power of attraction.

    

Review:

Protagonists: When we left off on this journey both Raisa and Han were travelling to Oden's Ford to seek schooling there and escape their lives in the Fells. Raisa finds that she likes not being treated like a princess every day and actually having to work hard to get the things she wants. Her drive to be a better leader and Queen than her mother grows as she learns new things in Oden's Ford. She becomes a stronger character both physically and mentally learning the hard truths about her people's suffering and doing all she can, while doing her best not to expose her true identity, to help them. Han is on his way to learn magic alongside his best friend Dancer. but crossing paths with the Bayars isn't what he had hoped for. While in Oden's Ford Han makes a lasting impression on some of the staff. Soon he finds himself caught in a dangerous game as the Wizards and Clan folk try and use him as a puppet. I love both these characters, once again their paths don't cross quite as much as I would have liked and they do have completely separate stories from each other, but the times where their paths do cross, they're good for each other, they challenge each other and help the other grow as an individual.

Romance: To say the romance in this series is complicated is an understatement. Honestly I'm not sure where I stand. There are a lot of complications with any of these romances. First off, Amon and Raisa can't be together due to the vows Amon made to protect the Gray Wolf line and the measures put in place that keep them apart. That won't stop the attraction however, an attraction that can only lead to heartbreak. Then there's Han and Raisa, who at first only have a subtle romance, like the first book, commenting on the other's features, but as the story goes on something begins to develop, but it's not like they could get together either, Han's a wizard, and while his intentions might be pure and he has, at least for the most part, the love of the clans, he's still a wizard. Plus there's the whole fact that both parties are keeping secrets from the other, and that too con only spell disaster in the end. Again, I don't know where I stand, hopefully there will be some sort of way everyone can have a happy ending, but as it looks now, I don't know if that'll ever happen.

World-Building: One of the things I love best about this series is that the world-building is so expansive. There are seven realms in this land and as of this book we've only really gotten a good look at two of them. Going into this book I thought it'd be a quick trip to Oden's Ford for both parties, but it turned out to take longer than I expected. On their journeys, specifically Han's, we see a lot of Arden, and learn about the prejudices there against wizards, and find out more about the civil war among the princes. War is coming to this world in many ways. First there's the war between the realms which looks to be getting ever closer to becoming a reality, and then there's a war that hits closer to home in the Fells, between the wizards and clan. Unfortunately our heroes somehow find their way right in the middle of everything. What we learn most about though are the schools in Oden's Ford, about the magic the wizards carry, and we are given some particularly intriguing foreshadowing to future installments.

Predictability: So I'm kind of mad. There is a huge mystery at the heart of this book, something with what looks to be a lot of foreshadowing surrounding it, something I'm convinced I know the answer to, and there's no reveal in this book. Now, I'm not mad enough to start knocking off stars for it, but it's really evil to keep readers in suspense like that. Plus, again, while my theory would probably sound crazy, I'm convinced I'm right and that just makes waiting to find out all the more aggravating. As for everything else, the author does an amazing job of weaving in foreshadowing without making anything too obvious, as well as add in those twists from no where that begin to make sense the more they're digested. I'm also not completely used to high fantasies apparently, or it's a genre that has no real set patterns or story telling formula, which makes it harder to predict where things are going.

Ending: This ending is one gigantic ball of chaos. Granted it's organized chaos, but chaos nonetheless. As this installment winds down, it also starts to build up again to prepare for the next book in this series. In fact there isn't really any cooldown in this ending. There are lulls, sure, but for the most part this ending is high intensity chaotic goodness that works to set up the next adventure in this series.

Rating:

I love this book to pieces, much like the first installment, the pacing starts off pretty slow, but once the ball gets rolling it's hard to stop. I'm cursing myself for thinking I could wait about a month between installments, I guess I'll have to do some adjusting to my July TBR because there's no way I'm waiting two months to complete this series!

Book Review: Killer Instinct (The Naturals #2)

Release Date: November 4, 2014
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 375 pages
Source: eGalley via NetGalley

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has a gift for profiling people. Her talent has landed her a spot in an elite FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother’s murder, Cassie hopes she and the rest of the team can stick to solving cold cases from a distance.

But when victims of a brutal new serial killer start turning up, the Naturals are pulled into an active case that strikes too close to home: the killer is a perfect copycat of Dean’s incarcerated father—a man he’d do anything to forget. Forced deeper into a murderer’s psyche than ever before, will the Naturals be able to outsmart the enigmatic killer’s brutal mind games before this copycat twists them into his web for good?

With her trademark wit, brilliant plotting, and twists that no one will see coming, Jennifer Lynn Barnes will keep readers on the edge of their seats (and looking over their shoulders) as they race through the pages of this thrilling novel.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Cassie went through a horrible ordeal in the previous book when she discovered that her mentor turned out to not only be her aunt, but the serial killer she and the other Naturals had been tracking. When we first see her in this book, she's not over that experience, but she's trying to move past it making the most out of her life as one of the Naturals and helping to solve cold cases. However once again the Naturals are sucked into an active serial murder case, and like the last time this case hits home with one of their own. Since it had been so long since I read the first installment I wondered if I would have the same connection I had with Cassie, if she would seem different and somehow less after so long a time. In fact, she may have been better than before. There's a lot to love about Cassie, she's flawed sure, but not egregiously so, she cares almost too much and that can get her into trouble, she's impulsive and strong and wants so badly to be there for the people she's come to love. Her development in this fairly subtle, there are moments when it's easily seen, but there's even more going on between the lines on the page and it'll be hard to recognize it until it's already happened.

Romance: I don't remember all that much from the first installment, in fact I felt the need to read a recap of the book before starting this one, but one the thing I did remember was that there wasn't all that much emphasis on the romance and that the love triangle was written very well. While there may be a bit more attention on the romance this time around it still doesn't distract from the main plot of the story, nor does it overshadow it. I'm still not completely sure how to feel about the love triangle, while I still felt it was handled well, there were some moments that bothered me. During the course of this book it becomes clearer where Cassie's heart lies, and that makes her other love interest do and say some douchey things, it's nothing to terrible, more pet peeves of mine, and it's not necessarily because Cassie has feelings for someone else, more about the existing relationship between the two boys.

World-Building: I'm a huge fan of procedural dramas and I love how in many ways these books take inspiration from them. I get the same whodunnit feeling when I'm reading these books as I do when I'm watching shows like Bones and Criminal Minds. My favorite chapters are the "You" chapters where we go into the mind of the killer and learn small things about them, what their doing, and a bit about their mindset. There's actually quite a bit introduced in this book. Obviously we learn more about Dean and his past with his father. We learn about the horrors of his childhood and the things he had to do to survive. We are introduced to key new characters that expand this world and open up new doors we haven't seen before. I cannot stress enough how much I loved seeing these characters interact, learning about them, and watching their development through Cassie's eyes.

Predictability: The big twist in this story of course is about the UNSUB, the person who is committing these gruesome murders and I'll get to them in a bit. First however, I want to talk about the other surprises this book has in store. With all the information we learn comes a great slew of twists. Some of them there is foreshadowing for, however it's no where near enough to actually grasp what the twist is. There are also things that come out of the blue, things that there is no preparation for and seem added for shock value in addition to their other purpose in the story. Finally, there's the killer. I won't say too much but I have to say that I had trouble not trying to psychoanalyze and profile them as I read more about them in the story.

Ending: The ending for this book is a game changer in many ways. As the book comes to a close there is a crazy and tension filled final climax followed by and interesting cooling down period where everything for this case is wrapped up nice and neat. However, there are quite a few cliffhangers. It's nothing that would make readers wait in agony until they got their hands on the next installment, and actually most things have come to a sort of plateaued period. There are still many questions to be answered, and like I said there are game changing things in the end, none of which are all that shocking.

Rating:

Like I said before I was unsure if I would still love this series after so long away from the series. I know my tastes in books has changed and I've become more discerning in what I like and don't like in stories, plus there's also the dreaded sophomore slump where the second book doesn't measure up to the first, but I ended up loving this book and can't wait for the next heart pounding and intense installment.