Book Review: The Silver Mask (Magisterium #4)

Release Date: October 10, 2017
Authors: Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Length: 240 pages
Source: Review Copy from Publisher

A generation ago, Constantine Madden came close to achieving what no magician had ever achieved: the ability to bring back the dead. He didn't succeed . . . but he did find a way to keep himself alive, inside a young child named Callum Hunt.

Now Call is one of the most feared and reviled students in the history of the Magisterium, thought to be responsible for a devastating death and an ever-present threat of war. As a result, Call has been imprisoned and interrogated. Everyone wants to know what Constantine was up to-and how he lives on.

But Call has no idea.

It is only when he's broken out of prison that the full potential of Constantine's plan is suddenly in his hands . . . and he must decide what to do with his power.

In this spellbinding fourth book of Magisterium, bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare take us beyond the realm of the living and into the dangers of the dead.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Callum Hunt has been revealed to the entire mage world as the reincarnation of Constantine Madden, The Enemy of Death, and now he's in the Panopticon with seemingly no way out. That is until he's broken out and given the chance to achieve what many believe to be his destiny. I really enjoyed Call's character development in this book. A majority of this development is truly facing the fact that he has the soul of the Enemy of Death inside him and what that means for who he is as a person. It's a really fascinating journey and I loved seeing Call learn more about who he was and figuring out just who he is and can be.

Romance: This is by far the weakest point of this book, and while it's not a big element to this story it was very disappointing. In this book, Call gets a new love interest, and it comes completely out of the blue and honestly feels very forced. I mean I think there might have been a touch of foreshadowing in previous books, but nowhere near enough for it to not feel forced and on top of that there is next to no chemistry with these characters, thus there was no reason for me to root for them. I mean, even Call and Celia had more chemistry.

World Building: The majority of this book's world building revolves around Constantine Madden and his goals. I don't want to give that much away, but I will say that we see more about the world outside of the Magisterium, and get a deeper look inside the minds of the villains of this story. Honestly, that's pretty much it. I mean, the story was immensely enjoyable at times, but most of the time it was just sort of a middle area in terms of enjoyment. This is a very short book and because of that not too much happens. There are a few big developments over the course of the book and again we do get a deeper look at this world, these characters, and where the story is headed, but I just couldn't help but feel that either the authors are saving the bulk of things for the last book, or they've sort of lost steam for this series.

Predictability: This book definitely had its moments. I mean, on the whole, I knew more or less what was going to happen, either the story didn't do such a great job at foreshadowing or the book just followed a fairly simple premise, but that being said there were some fantastic moments in this book. There are things that happen in this book that either shocked and thrilled me or chilled me to my core.

Ending: So much like the previous installment, this ending was the most twisted and topsy-turvey part of the whole book. The final climax was fantastic, while not quite the action sequence I was hoping for it was fraught with tension and was very moving. Everything after well let's just say that I'm left with a lot of questions and a cliffhanger that will make the next year not so happy.

Rating:

I heavily debated this rating, I mean, I gave the last book four stars only because of the messy romance that this series has, and honestly continues to have, but in the end I felt I had to knock off another star because I didn't feel that the authors put their all into this book and while I'm optimistic for the finale, it's a very cautious optimism.

Book Review: The Bronze Key (Magisterium #3)

Release Date: August 30, 2016
Authors: Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Scholastic
Length: 256 pages
Source: Purchased Book

Magic can save you.
Magic can kill you.

Students at the Magisterium are supposed to be safe. Under the watchful eyes of the mages, they are taught to use magic to bring order to a chaotic world.

But now the chaos is fighting back. Call, Tamara, and Aaron should be worrying about things like pop quizzes and magic contests. Instead, after the shocking death of one of their classmates, they must track down a sinister killer… and risk their own lives in the process.

As Call, Tamara, and Aaron discover, magic can only be as good as the person who wields it. In evil hands, it has the capacity to do immeasurable harm, unless it is stopped in time.

In this striking third book of Magisterium, bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare present us with a school where anything, good or evil, can happen, and the only way to unlock the truth is to risk everything to find it.

    

Review:

Protagonist: After spending the entire summer with his best friend, Aaron, and getting an award for the destruction of The Enemy of Death, Callum Hunt is really happy with his life. He's even hoping to have a normal year at the Magisterium, that is until an attempt is made on his life and a fellow student winds up dead. Now, Call, Aaron, and Tamara want nothing more than to discover the spy hidden in the Magisterium, and if all goes to plan, do so without breaking too many rules. Call's character development in this story, at least in regards to the main plot, is done very well. There's a huge theme of personal responsibility, and knowing that your actions have consequences, some good and some that could cause irreparable harm. Over the story, Call sort of lets this lesson sink in and there are some parallels with Constantine and Call and their own personal journeys, and the responsibility they each had in their lives.

Romance: Ugh. Seriously I kind of just want to leave it at that comment and move on, but I also feel the need to elaborate more. So, if this series never had romance in it I would have been fine. If the authors had taken the time to really grow and develop a romance between two characters, even if one of them wasn't Call, that would have been fine as well. However, the romance, if you even want to call it that, in this series is a mess. It's like there's this weird love triangle with Celia, Call, and Jasper, and then there may or may not be romantic things going on between Call's apprentice group, but it's all done in a very vague way which leaves me just wanting Call and Aaron together because they make more sense than any other romance in this series, and they honestly don't even make that much sense.

World-Building: There's something dark brewing within the Magisterium and it's after Callum. As our characters go through their Bronze Year at the Magisterium, Master Rufus informs them that they are not to put a toe out of line and they are to devote themselves to their studies. Over the course of the book, we learn more about magic, specifically chaos magic, as Call and Aaron are both Makaris. We see more Elementals and meet up with characters we haven't seen since the first book and catching up with characters we saw in the previous installment. Honestly, though, I'm not quite sure what to put here. I mean, there is a great deal of world building, specifically, characterwise, we learn about so many characters, their backstories and their motivations. However, there isn't all that much more to the world that we get to see, we find out where all the big Elementals are being held, and that scene specifically was very fun, and we finally see the Collegium, but overall, we more get a greater sense of the world as a whole and specifically certain characters' roles within it.

Predictability: I'm going to be honest with you, I read the last line of the book before I got there. This happens sometimes when I try to see how many pages a book has (I really should have just looked it up on GR) and my eyes curiously wander. That being said, while I had a vague idea of what was coming, I was in no way prepared for what happens in this book. I'm still trying to get over the events of this book. Granted, I did just finish it, but there's a lot that happens. Now, going into this book, and even up until nearly the final climax I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen. There were a few twists that this story had already that caught me off guard, but that was nothing compared to the twisted ending this book has.

Ending: Like I said above, this ending is seriously twisty. As we get to the final climax of the story, things start to come together and make sense, however, then the final climax hits and I wasn't quite sure where things were going to go. Things happened in that climax that I don't want to talk about, mainly because of spoilers, and this all leads to the most confusing, yet interesting, cliffhanger of all time. Honestly, I don't know where this story is going to go next, and I don't care, all I care about is getting that next book in my hands and finding out.

Rating:

Literally, the only reason this book is getting four stars and not five is because of the romance. I'm sure by the end of the series it will all come together, but until then it's currently a mess and it detracts from the amazingness that is this story.

Cover Reveal: The Portal to Kerberos (Elementals #4) + Giveaway!

Last time a reviewed a cover for this series I'd only read the first book in the series. Now I've got three books under my belt and I've officially become obsessed with this series. I will admit the first book gets off to a bumpy start. It feels very much like an introduction to this world and these characters. The second book is better, but there were still a few flaws in the writing and a rather weak ending. However by the third book I was all in! I was fully on board with the main romance, I loved all the action scenes, and ate up the story like it was cheesecake (my favorite type of cake)! I'm so excited to see where this story will go after the, shall I say, semi-unexpected ending of the third book! Without further ado, here's the cover the book 4, The Portal to Kerberos

↓

↓

↓

↓

↓

↓

↓

↓

↓

↓

SYNOPSIS:

She will venture into hell to save the one she loves.

After being betrayed by one of their own, Nicole watches helplessly as Blake is snatched into the prison world of Kerberos—along with Medusa’s head, which is the one item they need to stop the Titans from rising again. Now Nicole and the other Elementals must enter the portal, find Blake, and bring him and Medusa’s head back to Earth before the deadly monster Typhon returns and wreaks havoc on the world. But there’s one catch—their elemental powers don’t work in Kerberos. In a dimension designed to make those within it lose touch with reality, and that's filled with dangerous creatures who want to stop them from completing their task, will they make it out alive?

In this penultimate book of Nicole’s story, join the Elementals as they journey through hell to save the world… before it’s too late.

The Portal to Kerberos comes out on September 20, 2016

Pre-Order Now!

The adventure began in the first book in the series, Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows. To grab a copy of the first book for free, visit www.michellemadow.com. 

The Elementals series is available on Kindle Unlimited, so subscribers can read it for free!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michelle Madow writes fast-paced YA (young adult) fiction that will leave you turning the pages wanting more!

She grew up in Baltimore, and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida, where she writes books for young adults. Some of her favorite things are: reading, pizza, traveling, shopping, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time with friends and family. Michelle went on a cross-country road trip from Florida to California and back to promote her books and to encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.

Want all three parts of the Transcend Time Saga—Michelle’s first YA romance series—for FREE? Click here to learn about the series and claim your books

To get instant updates about Michelle’s new books, follow her on Amazon!

Author Links:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Website

Giveaway:

Michelle is hosting a giveaway for a Kindle Fire! To enter the giveaway click here!

Book Review: The Head of Medusa (Elementals #3)

Release Date: June 29, 2016
Author: Michelle Madow
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Length: 190 pages
Source: Review Copy from the Author

The epic story of witches, gods, and monsters that USA Today called a "must read" continues in the third book of the Elementals series!

When Nicole Cassidy moved to a new town, she discovered that she was a witch descended from gods. But that was nothing compared to learning that it was up to her and four others with mysterious elemental powers to help save the world from the Titans, who would soon return to Earth.

Now her relationship with Blake -- the fire Elemental -- is finally heating up. But she must remain focused, because Typhon, one of the deadliest creatures in history, has escaped from the weakening prison world. Only one object can destroy him -- the head of Medusa herself.

Follow the Elementals as they journey to the end of the Earth, facing choices that will put their lives and the entire world at risk. Will they all survive the mission? Find out in the riveting third book in the Elementals series, The Head of Medusa.

  

Review:

Protagonist: After the end of the previous installment in this series Nicole has never felt more free, she can date Blake without upsetting the dynamic of the Elementals group, they know about her ability to use black energy to kill, and now they all have a way to keep monsters from constantly coming back from Kerberos. Things couldn't get much better. That is, until she and her team find out that the deadliest Titan Typhon is rising and they don't have much time to gather the things necessary to defeat him before all is lost. Nicole does have development in this book, but it's more directly related to her romance, which I'll get to in a bit, and while I don't mind that she doesn't grow too much individually, at least not noticeably, she's still a character that has a good variety of strengths and weaknesses that are tested in this book, she still has some growing to do, but with any luck she's got plenty of time to do it.

Romance: There really isn't too much of a focus on the romance in this book. It's there sure, the first chapter is even Nicole and Blake's first official date, but as a sub-plot it's very small. They're there for each other, and for the most part the romantic sub-plot revolves around Nicole's ever growing feelings for Blake and her pondering over whether or not to tell him she loves him. Now, that's not a spoiler because it's in the first chapter. I really enjoyed that the author chose to really have her main character debate over whether or not saying that would be too soon. Too often these days YA love interests say "I love you" within days, sometimes even hours, of knowing each other, and while it's only been a couple of months with these two, that's where the whole "we've been through a lot with each other" thing actually feels realistic and not just some contrived way to get these two characters to say the "L" word to each other at a break neck pace. Overall, I really enjoyed the romance and after two books I'm actually rooting for these two all the way and actually really love them together.

World-Building: Even though our heroes now have weapons that can send monster to limbo for a year until the Portal to Kerberos is closed, that doesn't mean it will work on all monsters, especially not a Titan like Typhon. For that job, the only possible defeat is the Head of Medusa. However slicing off Medusa's head isn't going to be super easy, This adventure takes our heroes to new places and has them fight for their lives nearly every step of the way. One of the things I've really come to enjoy about this series is how tightly all these installments fit together. I mean, most series have great continuity and will bring back characters, or dole out the consequences of a past book well, but for some reason, that really stuck out to me in this book. Everything works so well together and this author does a fantastic job of leaving noticeable threads that you just know will be picked up later.

Predictability: Here's something weird. I honestly don't know how to describe what I was and was not able to predict. Let me try to explain. I would be able to predict one or two aspects of what was to come, but the specifics would be wrong, or the timing would be off. There are some pretty big twists in here and the author does a good job of mixing foreshadowing with misdirection. Sometimes I would think I predicted something big, only to be wrong, and vice versa. Sometimes I thought I'd have the perfect idea of what's going to happen, only for the details to all get switched around and for it to turn out much more hopeless than I planned.

Ending: I thought I had more time. That's really all I can think to say, at least the only thing spoiler free I could think  to say after finishing this book. As things just hit a high point of tension, the highest for the entire book to be honest. I expected things to wind down, for there to be a cooldown period of some sort. Nope it ends, it ends with literally one of the most infuriating cliffhangers I've ever read. Michelle Madow, you are evil and I'm okay with that, and I am not okay with that. There is a final confrontation I guess, but that's a bit too far from the end, and not nearly final enough to be the final climax. The final climax was intense and crazy and if I wasn't in a hurry to read the first two chapters of the next book (which are at the end of this book) I could probably sit here and rant about it all day!

Rating:

Finally a five star book for me in this series. It's not even that the other books were bad, they were great, even though the first book felt a bit too much like and introduction and not enough like a solid first installment, however I'm completely addicted to this series and am totally chomping at the bit for book four! Bring it on!!!

Book Review: The Fire Artist

Release Date: October 14, 2014
Author: Daisy Whitney
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Length: 288 pages
Source: eGalley via NetGalley

A forbidden romance literally heats up in this new fantasy from acclaimed author Daisy Whitney.

Aria is an elemental artist—she creates fire from her hands. But her power is not natural. She steals it from lightning. It’s dangerous and illegal in her world. When she’s recruited to perform, she seizes the chance to get away from her family. But her power is fading too fast to keep stealing from the sky. She has no choice but to turn to a Granter—a modern day genie. She gets one wish at an extremely high price. Aria’s willing to take a chance, but then she falls in love with the Granter . . . and he wants his freedom. Aria must decide what she’s willing to bargain and how much her own heart, body, and soul are worth.

In a world where the sport of elemental powers is the most popular form of entertainment, readers will be swept away by a romance with stakes higher than life and death.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Aria steals fire from the sky. She does this because it's the only way to keep her family together. However the process to take the fire isn't always reliable and after she's transferred to big leagues for her elemental artistry she needs to find a more sustainable and long lasting solution to her problem. The only other way to achieve a fire artist's abilities other than being born with it or taking it from the sky is to find a Granter and wish for the ability. However all Granter's require a price, is Aria willing to pay hers? I actually really liked the character of Aria, she isn't resigned to a single trope or stereotype, instead she comes off as a very realistic character, she cares about her family, her friends, and it's her protectiveness that leads her every move in this book. Over the course of this book Aria gets even stronger becomes a more fully developed character.

Romance: Going into this book, I felt that a large majority of it would focus on the romance, and with this being a fairly short standalone, I didn't find that unreasonable. However, there is very little of this book, comparatively, that focuses on the romance. Another thing I'm going to stick in here, I know that the synopsis is usually written by the publisher and not the author so I won't take any stars off for it, but this isn't a forbidden romance, at least not in the traditional sense. There are aspects to the romance that if you squint hard enough could be called forbidden, but the romance itself isn't. Anyway, my biggest problem is that since this is a standalone, the "L" word is going to inevitably come up, and my deal is; if it feels earned by the time the words come out, sure I'll roll with it and if not then hey they're just kids it's not like it's true love. However by the time it comes up, since there isn't all that much romance beforehand and this book is so short, it doesn't feel earned, I was actually hoping that the author would find a way to not even have to use the word love when describing these characters feelings but alas it just didn't feel right.

World-Building: If you get to the halfway point of this book, you'll probably feel that while there is a decent amount of world-building there isn't a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but hey, it's a standalone so there doesn't need to be an abundance of world-building. The things is though, that in the back half of this book there's a lot more world-building to discover. I'm not necessarily angry at the abundance of world-building, more that with as much as there was, I could have easily seen this book become a series. I felt like with all that we learned in the back half, it wouldn't be very hard at all to extend some things, add some things and develop the world and characters just a bit more and then there would be plenty of content for more book set in this world. Again, I'm not mad that the world is so complex by the end of the story, I'm more just a bit disappointed that there was a missed opportunity.

Predictability: This book was actually really unpredictable. There was a fair amount of foreshadowing, some that it was easy to tell that, while I may not know how that will pop up again, I'm sure it will, and some that I didn't even realize until it was too late that it was important. There was even some misleading foreshadowing that made it seem like something was a big deal or that it would make a larger impact later, only for it to sort of not come to a head. Overall I really enjoyed the unpredictability of this book, of course there were a few times when I was able to catch onto things before they were revealed, but you kind of want that in a book, you don't want to feel like the author totally pulled the wool over your eyes, or at least I don't.

Ending: The ending of this book was really weird. Like I said before with so much world-building introduced toward the end of this book, I could have easily seen it becoming a series, and toward the end there was a perfect place for a crazy cliffhanger ending. However since this is a standalone it moves on past that to tie things up at the end so that there are no loose ends. I did really enjoy the way things turned out, and I didn't necessarily think they were rushed or squeezed together in an awkward way, but at the same time, it just feels off. I can't quite put my finger on what but while it didn't feel rushed it sort of felt a bit too convenient maybe. Regardless, I enjoyed the ending, but there was just something about it that didn't completely sit right with me.

Rating:

On the whole I really enjoyed this story. It is a little bit of a slow start, the romance should have been given more page time and been developed a lot more, and there were a few parts in the book that were a tad confusing, but in the end I really enjoyed the world and the characters and look forward to what's next from this author.