Blog Tour Audio Book Review: Power of Five (Power of Five #1)

Release Date: May 29, 2018
Author: Alex Lidell
Narrator: Victoria Mei
Publisher: Alex Lidell
Length: 226 pages/ 5 hrs. & 27 mins.
Source: Audible Audio Book Provided for Review

Four elite fae warriors. One mortal female. A magical bond they can’t allow—or resist.

Orphaned and sold to a harsh master, Lera’s life is about mucking stalls, avoiding her master’s advances, and steering clear of the mystical forest separating the mortal and fae worlds. Only fools venture into the immortal realms, and only dark rumors come out... Until four powerful fae warriors appear at Lera’s barn.

River, Coal, Tye, and Shade have waited a decade for their new fifth to be chosen, the wounds from their quint brother’s loss still raw. But the magic has played a cruel trick, bonding the four immortal warriors to... a female. A mortal female.

Distractingly beautiful and dangerously frail, Lera can only be one thing—a mistake. Yet as the males bring Lera back to the fae lands to sever the bond, they discover that she holds more power over their souls than is safe for anyone... especially for Lera herself.

Power of Five is a full-length reverse-harem fantasy novel.

    

Content Warning: This is a New Adult book and does contain explicit sexual scenes, read at your own discretion.

Review:

Protagonist: Lera, a mortal girl living as an indentured servant to a harsh and forward master, finds herself somehow linked in a Fae Quint, an elite team of fae warriors, and travels into the Fae lands to sever the obviously mistaken bond. On the whole, I didn't hate Lera, but there was never really anything that set her apart as a protagonist. She's stubborn, like most fantasy female protagonists, she'll do what she wants, damning the consequences, and that's all well and good, but I really wish there was something more to her. If I'm being honest there's nothing special about her, I mean, I'm sure there's something "special" about her, a reason she was bonded to this Quint, but other than the fact that she's the main character, there wasn't really anything about her that made me care for her as a character.

Romance: So, this is my first Harem story, Reverse or otherwise, and going into it I didn't quite know what to expect. Is it a love triangle, just there are more love interests? Is it going to be a polyamorous relationship? I knew if I wanted to experience a Harem story that it should come from an author who I've enjoyed in the past and who I know can write romance. Here's the thing though, I felt like there was very little actual romance in this story. Sure, there's lust, there's a hell of a lot of lust, but I never felt invested in Lera's romantic or sexual bond with any of the fae males, mainly because with either bond there's no development. From near the very start, it's clear that even if one of the guys doesn't act like they want Lera around, that isn't true, they care about her from practically the beginning of the story and of course since she's described as gorgeous they're also all horned up for her too. Any "development" on the "romance" front is more Lera getting said male to admit they want her around.

World Building: Where I felt the romance and Lera's character was lacking quite a bit, I actually really enjoyed the fantasy aspect of this Reverse-Harem Fantasy, and I probably would have enjoyed it more if there was more of it. Most of this book is dedicated to solidifying Lera's bond with certain characters, or at least I believe that was the point, in actuality all it did for me was let me get to know the males who've fallen for Lera, and while that's not a bad thing, there are four of them and this is a rather short book. So, while I was interested in learning more about the Quint bond, the Faerie Lands, and why Lera was drawn into this bond in the first place, there isn't a whole lot of development with any of that. The book is not boring, far from it, in fact, I LOVE all of the main plot progression that we got, even if I did feel there wasn't a whole lot.

Predictability: I was not prepared for the number of tropes this book had. Okay, I'm not totally serious, though there were a few times when something would be revealed and I would mumble to myself an exasperated "of course," but as I said, that only happened a few times. On the whole, there wasn't a whole lot I could predict about this book, mostly because as I acknowledged in the previous section, this is a pretty short book and a good chunk of it is devoted to fleshing out the love interests. That being said, while I wasn't surprised by some of the twists that happened, I didn't exactly call them either.

Ending: So... the ending to this book is a bit weird to talk about. First off there's the final climax... at least where the main story and action are concerned, which was fantastic and how the characters decide to handle the aftermath actually got a chuckle out of me. There was a lot of tension in the final climax and even though I never really grew to care for Lera as more than just the protagonist, I admit, I kind of got swept away with the scene and thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. Then there's everything that comes after that final climax, and after all of the main story bits are taken care of, well the story ends in a place I've never seen a story end before. It's not quite a cliffhanger, but it's not a plateaued ending either.

Audio Book Notes: Obligatory preface: As I've said in past Audio Book Reviews, I'm still getting used to reviewing audio books and I probably won't be able to fully articulate my feelings for this audio book, please bear with me. So, I really enjoyed the performance here, I mean, the narrator does distinct accents for each of the fae males, and a few other characters as well, and she really puts her all into this performance. She doesn't just read the words she'll act them out and those inflections in her voice, really add a whole new layer to this story.

Rating:

So, even though I did give this book a hard time, I did really enjoy it, while I wasn't so happy with the fact that Lera isn't very special, I did like the fae males, River, Coal, Tye, and Shade who do have a good deal of backstory and characterization, I also LOVED the main plot aspects dealing with the Quint Bond and the Fae world, and I'm excited to see what comes next, and even though I wasn't invested in the romance elements that much I am not so secretly hoping that as the series progresses it gets better, since I have read great romance from this author in the past.

About the Author:

Alex Lidell is the author of Amazon bestsellers AIR AND ASH and WAR AND WIND (Danger Bearing Press, 2017) and an Amazon Breakout Novel Awards finalist author of THE CADET OF TILDOR (Penguin, 2013). She is an avid horseback rider, a (bad) hockey player, and an ice-cream addict. Born in Russia, Alex learned English in elementary school, where a thoughtful librarian placed a copy of Tamora Pierce’s ALANNA in Alex’s hands. In addition to becoming the first English book Alex read for fun, ALANNA started Alex’s lifelong love for YA fantasy books.

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Book Review: The Traitor's Game (The Traitor's Game #1)

Release Date: February 27, 2018
Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Length: 400 pages
Source: Review Copy from Publisher

Nothing is as it seems in the kingdom of Antora. Kestra Dallisor has spent three years in exile in the Lava Fields, but that won't stop her from being drawn back into her father's palace politics. He's the right hand man of the cruel king, Lord Endrick, which makes Kestra a valuable bargaining chip. A group of rebels knows this all too well - and they snatch Kestra from her carriage as she reluctantly travels home.The kidnappers want her to retrieve the lost Olden Blade, the only object that can destroy the immortal king, but Kestra is not the obedient captive they expected. Simon, one of her kidnappers, will have his hands full as Kestra tries to foil their plot, by force, cunning, or any means necessary. As motives shift and secrets emerge, both will have to decide what - and who - it is they're fighting for.

    

Review:

Protagonists: Kestra Dallisor is the daughter of the king's right-hand man, Lord Endrick, a cruel tyrant and Kestra's father isn't too different. After years in exile, Kestra's return home is ruined when her carriage is attacked and she's forced to make an agreement to find a legendary blade that's supposed to end Endrick's evil rule. Accompanying her is Simon, a boy from her past who's now one of her kidnappers. I was really interested in these characters toward the beginning of this book, Kestra isn't the type of girl you'd usually root for at the beginning of an adventure, she's hot-headed, stuck up, and rude and acts every bit the Dallisor she is. Simon's feelings toward Kestra at the beginning of this book are muddled at best and the bonus of having to actually be her protector and watcher on this mission doesn't make him too happy. Simon's more or less blindly loyal to his cause, as is Kestra and seeing these two individuals embark on this mission and discover more about who and what it is they're fighting for is amazing and seeing them come into their own over the course of this book was phenomenal.

Romance: The romance in this story is rather interesting. I mean, for a book that takes place over five days at most the romance moves rather quickly. I mean, I understand they have a history and it's not like I didn't root for them, but I do feel for characters that are supposed to despise each other at the beginning of this book, despite their shared history, wouldn't change their feelings as much as they do in the time that they have. Again, it's not as if there's nothing to root for when it comes to this couple, in fact, there's something about them that just fits so well and I really do hope these two can find a happily ever after, I just felt that Simon and Kestra's feelings changed too quickly and I wish there had been a bit more resistance on both sides before giving into their feelings.

World Building: The lore and history of this world are really interesting. This story takes place in a kingdom that still feels the effects of a dramatic take over as it hasn't been so long since the shift in power and finds thee groups fighting for control of this kingdom and those that get caught up along the way. I have to say, for a world that talks about magic and a magical tyrant a lot, we don't really get to see much magic at all, which I understand as not only is this the first installment in the series and that showing and explaining the magic system would prove difficult given nearly no one actually has magic, but I just wish I understood it a bit better to know just how threatening our main antagonist is. Still, I was captivated by the history of this kingdom and how it is that our main characters do what they can to carve their name in it.

Predictability: This author is brilliant when it comes to telling a story, she knows just what secrets each character will keep and just who knows what in this world and then sort of sets the reader on this scavenger hunt to figure everything out. While there were a few twists that were obviously coming that I was practically begging for something on, because it's bad when a twist comes out of nowhere and you're shocked beyond belief, but to know it's coming and having no real idea what "it" is can be pretty torturous.

Ending: There were quite a few facets to the end of this story. While the true final climax of this book was one of revelations and change, there were quite a few scenes prior to the end of this book that were full of climactic tension. In fact, I was surprised how many times it felt like the final climax was delayed but was still treated to moments of tension and action. There is a short cooldown period to this book, more getting things in order for the next book than really setting it up, but there is a rather exciting cliffhanger that will leave me waiting for the next installment with bated breath.

Rating:

I loved this book, I thought the characters were fantastic and the world was really interesting, and while I there were a couple of things I would have wished to see different, I still cannot wait until I can read the sequel!

Novella Review: Ruler of Beasts (Dorothy Must Die #0.6)

Release Date: February 16, 2016
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 84 pages
Source: Library Audio Book

Danielle Paige delivers a dark and compelling reimagining of a beloved classic, perfect for fans of Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Beastly by Alex Flinn, and Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

When the Cowardly Lion set off for the Emerald City in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with Dorothy and the others, he sought courage above all else. This digital original novella is the sixth installment in the prequel arc to the edgy and thrilling New York Times bestsellers Dorothy Must Die and The Wicked Will Rise, and is the Lion’s story after he got what he’s always wanted.

The Lion’s wish has finally come true—he is the courageous ruler of the forest and all of its beasts. But the Lion is bored—he misses the days of his adventures with Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, and the Scarecrow. When Glinda the Good Witch shows up unexpectedly and tasks him with a mission back in the Emerald City, he jumps at the chance to do something exciting, even though he knows she’s not telling him the entire truth.

    

SPOILER WARNING: So I wrote this while very tired, still a little tired, and there are mild/medium level spoilers in this review. I'll try and come back and edit this review later so there are as few spoilers as possible, but I'm kind of going to pass out right now.

Review:

Protagonist: Lion is bored, after the excitement of confronting General Ginger, all Lion wants is something to do and a purpose in his life. Enter the puppet master, Glinda, who asks Lion to watch over Ozma and try and find a long lost necklace capable of helping bring back an old friend. I can't believe I'm saying this since Lion seemed to have the most "red flags" when it came to turning to the dark side, but he's sort of the most sympathetic of Dorothy's friends. I was surprised to find that underneath his rough exterior, is a soft little kitty cat, well sort of. This is still a story of his turn to the dark side, but there's a large part of me that really wanted him to be forced into it, or it really wasn't him we saw in the main series because a large part of me bleeds for this character we see in this book. Lion wants to be good, but since he's not as shrewd and cunning as Scare, or as ambivalent as Tin, his perception of what is truly "Good" is off.

World Building: So, I've said before that the world building for these novellas isn't that big, especially these ones that deal with how Dorothy's friends turned evil, but if I'm not mistaken, and I sincerely hope I'm not, it seems that this story does hold a good amount of world building that will hopefully serve as foreshadowing to what might happen next in the main series. Also, after six prequel novellas, it's interesting to look back and put everything in chronological order to see how some of these carefully laid plans fell into place. I said Glinda's a puppet master and this story shows just how much she is.

Predictability: Going into this book I had so many expectations on how this story would unfold, especially after reading the previous two novellas, but I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Not only did it sort of break the streak of interesting yet unnecessary novellas, at least presumably, but even after finishing it, I still felt sympathetic towards this character, which the only other time that happened in one of these novellas is in The Witch Must Burn. There are a few twists this book holds as well, some things that are hopefully foreshadowing for the future and some things that show more of how everything ties together.

Ending: I was really surprised and excited by how this story ended. Again, I still felt the Lion is a sympathetic character, and I almost wish we had seen more of how he turned evil, but I liked seeing that there was still a little bit of humanity in him, however much of an oxymoron that is, by the end of this story. The final climaxes, yes there are two, were really interesting and show not only how the Lion has come a good way since the beginning, but also set the stage for more in this world.

Rating:

I was not expecting to give this book five stars, I thought the Lion would be the least sympathetic of the bunch but there's a part of me that wants to just give him a hug, and the story was actually really fun and hopefully foreshadows what the future holds.

Book Review: Cinderella Dressed In Ashes (The Grimm Diaries #2)

Release Date: August 15, 2013
Author: Cameron Jace
Publisher: J A W I G I (I Think)
Length: 253 pages
Source: Purchased eBook

Loki is controlled by the Queen through his Dreamhunter's Fleece, and he's now Snow White's enemy. No one's sure what the Queen of Sorrow wants to do next, and what her plans with Sorrow are.

In another Dreamory, they learn who Cinderella really is, where she came from, her relationship with Snow, and what historical period she'd affected with what she calls the Forbidden Art.

The Second installment of the Grimm Diaries.

This Diary continues the adventure, from Snow White's POV.

  

Review:

Protagonists: One of the things I really enjoyed about this story was that we really got to see from multiple perspectives, unfortunately, none of those were Loki, but honestly, in the end, I didn't care about not exploring his story further in this tale. The first main POV we get to see from is Snow/Shew who takes center stage in this story of her connection to the Cinderella character comes to light. I have to say that I did like Snow's character development better than Loki's. While Loki mostly glided through his story not really doing much and leaving the heavy lifting to everyone else until near the very end, Snow took less time to start to take control of her life. Granted it still took her longer than I wanted but when she did things really began to heat up. The other characters we see are Axle and Fable, stuck in the Waking World trying to help Snow and Loki. There still really isn't all that much character development with these two. I feel like the things they did by the end were things they would have done at the beginning of the series and Axle is a wealth of Deus Ex Machina information and theories that just so happen to be correct, and yet never feeling truly earned.

Writing: Much like with the first installment, my biggest criticism is the writing. This book has so much potential, and really this book feels like a fantastic first draft, but it's seriously unpolished and really needed to go through some critical beta readers and a professional editor. It's not just that there's bad grammar, spelling mistakes, and typing errors. While he's getting better, the author still does a lot of telling instead of showing in this story and sometimes he has way too many extraneous details. There are still characters who just show up and know things or remember every little detail of stories that they really shouldn't have perfect recall on, there are huge Deus Ex Machina moments, some that make sense, but others that just feel unnecessary. The author still feels like he doesn't quite know his target audience, though I think some of that is using more general words for much grander things and having things come off a bit basic and more aligned with a Middle-Grade story than a YA one, though he still uses cheesy terminology which definitely skews more MG.

World Building: Once again, the thing I feel holds the most promise in this story is how the author weaves history with fairy tales and classic stories. However, there were definitely a few times in this book that things got needlessly complicated and convoluted instead of the complexity that I'm sure the author was going for. The Cinderella in this story, Cyrenè, isn't just "Cinderella" I won't tell you all who she is, but there's a fairy tale that she's connected to that just doesn't quite seem to fit with the theme the author was try to ascribe to her. Also, classic stories got more involved in this world with explanations that, while interesting, just made the story feel cluttered. Since we're in Snow's Dreamory, we see things from her past and learn more about her background, but since she has control of her actions in the dream, it's hard to know what's really happened and what Snow changed from her story.

Predictability: Something I feel this author needs to understand is that foreshadowing is a great friend to an author. The thing is, you can make stuff up as you go along, but you need to be able to introduce it in some small way earlier in the story so that readers think you're playing by your own rules, and while you can break your own rules once or twice for special occasions, breaking them for next to no reason isn't a good idea. There were a few new concepts in this story that were introduced with no preamble and everything about them just felt chaotic and tacked on, as opposed to a living and breathing part of this world. There are for sure some fantastic moments in this story when the author gets the foreshadowing just right and brings everything together for an amazing twist or moment, but the times when he didn't, or couldn't in the cases of things that should have been teased in the first book, really didn't help the book.

Ending: So, as far as I can tell this is the second book in a four-book series. I know the prequels exist, but, again, as far as I can tell this plot that was started in the first book will only last two more books and that troubles me. As of the end of this book, I feel there is still so much to explore in this time and plot, and that's just with the story started in the first book, that's not even counting the story started in this one or the other stories that this book promised. Do I think the author can tie up all his loose ends in just two books, sure, but I'm afraid it would have to be extremely rushed and I don't know how effective it could be if he does. The climax to this book brings many new questions and theories and while the book ends with a startling cliffhanger and a puzzle for readers to solve, I feel like we're just at the beginning of a much larger and more expansive tale.

Rating:

Much like the first installment, this story holds so much promise and if things were polished up I bet this story could truly shine. The author's writing is marginally better in this installment, which only makes me hope more that he'll revisit and revise this series at some point because I feel that I can see this world's potential and I want it to reach that potential so badly.

Book Review: The Vampire Wish (Dark World: The Vampire Wish #1)

Release Date: June 1, 2017
Author: Michelle Madow
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Length: 204 pages
Source: Review Copy via Author

TWILIGHT MEETS ALADDIN in this hot new fantasy series by USA Today bestselling author Michelle Madow!

He’s a vampire prince. She’s a human blood slave. They should be enemies… but uniting might be their only hope to prevent a supernatural war.

Annika never thought of herself as weak—until the day vampires murdered her parents and kidnapped her from our world to the hidden vampire kingdom of the Vale.

As a brand new blood slave, Annika must learn to survive her dangerous new circumstances… or face imminent death from the monstrous wolves prowling outside the Vale’s enchanted walls. But not all in the kingdom is as it appears, and when a handsome vampire disguised as a human steps into her life, Annika discovers that falling for the enemy is sometimes too tempting to resist.

Especially when becoming a vampire might be her only chance to gain the strength she needs to escape the Vale.

Enter the magical world of the Vale in The Vampire Wish, the first book in an addictive new series that fans of The Vampire Diaries and A Shade of Vampire will love!

  

Review:

Protagonists: This story follows three characters' points of view. While there are only two characters that I would deem protagonists, with the other coming off as an antagonist, I want to talk about all three of them. First, we have Annika, a normal human girl enjoying Spring Break with her family when tragedy strikes and her parents, along with her brother, are murdered by vampires. Now she's a blood slave in the hidden Kingdom of the Vale. Wanting to no longer be helpless and a victim, Annika rebels against the vampires by stealing the food not meant for human blood slaves. Jacen is a newly turned vampire prince who wasn't able to control his bloodlust soon after turning and is now confined to the palace. Every day he practices his control and he feels he's ready to be around humans but his sire, the vampire queen, disagrees. Forcing him to sneak out of the palace, posing as a human, and entering the human village where he has a chance meeting with Annika. Camelia is a powerful witch with grander ambitions that just being Queen Laila's advisor. No, she wants to become an immortal vampire, and, more than that wishes to marry Jacen and secure her place in the hierarchy of the Vale. From a narrative standpoint, I love all of these characters. Annika is a great, and strong protagonist who is willing to fight for what she wants but she isn't as rash as some other female heroines. She understands her limitations all too well, but that doesn't stop her from doing what she knows she can do, and dreaming of a better life. Jacen is tormented by his bloodlust and while he has it mostly under control, much like Annika, he understands where to draw the line so he's rarely impulsive. He never wanted this life and he struggles with feeling like a monster. Camelia is a cold and calculating witch, she has ambitions that are within her grasp, but somehow cannot fully come to fruition without annoying trials and tribulations getting in the way.

Romance: I've had some difficult experiences with Madow's romances in her other books, and while I eventually came around to the main romance in the Elementals series, it did take a couple of books for me to get there. However, while I do feel the romance between Jacen and Annika is a bit fast-tracked, it's nowhere near as speedy as the source material, and I'll get to the source material in a bit. While there isn't all that much substance to their relationship yet, Annika and Jacen seem to be a great foil for one another. Annika has a desire to become a vampire and gain the strength, abilities, and freedoms that come with it, while Jacen is disgusted by what he's become and wishes to just live a normal life once more. They also share related interests and you can see some great chemistry that's not quite fully embraced in this story yet, but holds great potential. Another aspect I like is that Annika's desire to become a vampire doesn't stem from wanting to be with Jacen forever, though that would be a great plus, it's a more personal reason which adds some depth to her character.

World Building: Going into this story, and reading the synopsis I didn't quite see how this story could be anything meets Aladdin, but as the story unfolds I was shocked to discover that in many ways this story is a retelling of Disney's Aladdin but with vampires, witches, and shifters. I mean, it's a story that has to have been originally thought of to be a retelling, rather than a story simply borrowing elements of a classic tale. Though, it's not quite a strict retelling as the supernatural world building elements as well as the fact that this isn't a kid's book but a Young Adult one, seem to have lead the author to subvert some of the source material to match the tone and feel of the world and story she's created. One of my biggest grievances with this story is how much info-dumping there is in the beginning. I'm not opposed to learning more about this world, but it was that not only was it so dense in the beginning, but it was almost, if not, all told in first person exposition and so instead of learning about it organically, which for some of the world building would have been hard, if not impossible, to do so I would have forgiven it there, but for a lot of the exposition it would have been easy to add a few chapters before the post-prologue time jump and seen Annika or even Jacen learn about some of this world in a more organic way.

Predictability: During the exposition portion of this book as I've decided to call it before the Aladdin parallels fully kick in, this story was fairly unpredictable. I wasn't quite sure where the story would go, the synopsis does a good job to tease readers but not give them a good understanding of what they're in for, at least not in my experience. However, once the Aladdin story starts to get retold, while the author does subvert some of the plot points, it's pretty straight forward how things will progress. Don't get me wrong the author does still manage to have a bit of shock and awe in the story leading up to the rather interesting ending, but in all honestly, I was never really blown away by anything meant to be a twist after a certain point. I would just get a feeling of understanding rather than surprise.

Ending: After a certain point in the story it was obvious that the entirety of the story of Disney's Aladdin wasn't going to get told in just this one book, which makes sense as this is a series and there are more books yet to come. However, I was really interested in seeing where along the story it would end up and how certain plot points of the movie would play out with the world building established in this story. This story does end on a cliffhanger because of course, it does, and what's great about the cliffhanger here is that it isn't a huge "What's going to happen next?" question. It's obvious what'll happen next, but, at least for me, that knowing makes me all the more excited to read the next book. It's how that next chapter will unfold that has me chomping at the bit to read the next installment.

Rating:

On the whole, I loved this story. It was a fun variation on the Aladdin tale, specifically the Disney version, and I felt that Madow did a fantastic job of bringing various supernatural races into this story. However, with huge info-dumping portions in the beginning of the book and the fact that the retelling aspect was a bit too heavy-handed at times, I wouldn't feel that this book deserved five stars even though I enjoyed it so much. Also, I wouldn't call it Twilight meets Aladdin, as the world building is next to nothing like Twilight, and that characters are much stronger, at least in terms of their characterization, I would liken it more to The Vampire Diaries than Twilight.

Book Review: Xander and the Lost Island of Monsters (Momotaro #1)

Release Date: April 5, 2016
Author: Margaret Dilloway
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 320 pages
Source: Library Audiobook

Xander Miyamoto would rather do almost anything than listen to his sixth grade teacher, Mr. Stedman, drone on about weather disasters happening around the globe. If Xander could do stuff he's good at instead, like draw comics and create computer programs, and if Lovey would stop harassing him for being half Asian, he might not be counting the minutes until the dismissal bell.

When spring break begins, at last, Xander plans to spend it playing computer games with his best friend, Peyton. Xander's father briefly distracts him with a comic book about some samurai warrior that pops out of a peach pit. Xander tosses it aside, but Peyton finds it more interesting.

Little does either boy know that the comic is a warning. They are about to be thrust into the biggest adventure of their lives-a journey wilder than any Xander has ever imagined, full of weird monsters even worse than Lovey. To win at this deadly serious game they will have to rely on their wits, courage, faith, and especially, each other. Maybe Xander should have listened to Mr. Stedman about the weather after all....

    

Review:

Protagonist: Xander Miyamoto would rather play video games with his best friend Peyton than pay attention when his teacher is droning on and on about global warming and the natural disasters happening around the world. However, after his father is taken away by a giant tidal wave, he discovers a startling family secret and goes on a journey to save his father, and possibly the world. Xander is a pretty standard MG protagonist. He's not too into school, he has a wild and vivid imagination, and what sets him apart makes him special. I honestly wish I could have connected better with Xander, I think MG aged readers would connect better with him, but as an adult I honestly found him to be a bit too whiny and self-deprecating.

World Building: So, while this is an MG book that deals with foreign folklore, I wasn't expecting it to be like a Rick Riordan book, though with it being from the same publisher maybe I had a bit of hope. It's definitely not as gripping as a Riordan novel, though maybe I wasn't in the right headspace when I read it or maybe I didn't have enough knowledge of Japanese folklore for it to really pop out and grip me. The Japanese folklore elements, especially the story of Momotaro, were interesting to encounter in the story. Whenever I did know what something was or recognize a Japanese word I did perk up a bit, but honestly, the pacing and storytelling was a bit more juvenile than I would have liked. Again, I think it'd be great for someone who is MG aged but wasn't as gripping for me as an adult.

Predictability: Something I noticed pretty early in this story is that the author is pretty heavy-handed with the foreshadowing. I understand that covers are chosen after a book is, at the very least, mostly completed, but after acknowledging something on the cover, I almost felt constantly beaten over the head with foreshadowing that hints at that reveal, and honestly I think it would have felt that way even if I had never seen the cover. There are a few other twists where the foreshadowing was heavy-handed, I think there was only one large twist that wasn't completely obvious way before its reveal and I was still able to figure it out long before the secret came out.

Ending: The ending of this story really isn't that bad. In fact, I can appreciate how everything came together in the end and I really did enjoy the final climax of the story. It had a great bit of action and tension, and even after what happens with the main threat there's still a great bit of gripping tension before the final cooldown period begins. I think if the book had gripped me more during the bulk of the story I would have been more invested in the ending, but objectively it is quite an exciting ending. The story does end with a rather predictable twist at the end, but it's a twist that I'll admit I'm a bit curious to discover more about.

Rating:

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this book quite a bit, but it just wasn't as gripping as I would have liked and the protagonist did rub me the wrong way from time to time. That being said the second book does sound pretty compelling and while I don't think I'll get to it right away as I had planned, I will try to get to it sometime next month.