Book Review: Horizon (Horizon #1)

Release Date: March 28, 2017
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Length: 241 pages
Source: Purchased Book

When a plane crash-lands in the arctic, eight young survivors step from the wreckage expecting to see nothing but ice and snow. Instead they find themselves lost in a strange jungle with no way to get home and little hope of rescue.

Food is running out. Water is scarce. And the jungle is full of threats unlike anything the survivors have ever seen before -- from razor-beaked shredder birds to carnivorous vines and much, much worse.

With danger at every turn, these eight kids must learn to work together to survive. But cliques and rivalries threaten to tear them apart. And not everyone will make it out of the jungle alive.

    

Review:

Protagonists: There are a LOT of characters in this story. On a crashed flight to Japan, eight teens are the only ones who seemed to have survived the wreckage. If their flight path is right they should be in a much colder climate, however, a quick look around shows that they are instead in a dense and odd jungle and a rescue seems unlikely. My biggest problem with this book wasn't the characters themselves, there's a highly diverse cast of characters who each add a special element to this story and have their own strengths and weaknesses. However, there are eight main characters and while it was easy to get a handle on a few of them, it didn't take too long before I started to mix up names and lose or mix up character descriptions. While it does get a bit better as the story proceeds, I really wish the cast of characters was cut down to a more manageable size.

World Building: I went into this book expecting something a bit more paranormal, however, I was mildly surprised and delighted to find a much more sci-fi book on my hands. The world building in this story is fantastic, as new discoveries are made the tone of the book only gets darker. It's sci-fi for sure but there's an element of a thriller in this story as well. The treats in this book are fantastically terrifying and while this is a bit more character driven, the world is still a bit of a character itself, but without much more than this strange jungle to explore and a rather short book there wasn't much more than terrifying sci-fi jungle cliches to experience for most of the book. The world building does get expanded toward the end, but talking about that would be a spoiler.

Predictability: Looking back over this book, I can't really remember a time when I predicted anything in this book. I don't mean that none of my predictions came true, more than I just never made predictions for this book. There were things I hoped to happen that either did or didn't, but since this is such a short book and there's a wide range of characters that we follow, there wasn't a whole lot of time to make predictions. That being said there were a bunch of twists to this story, with varying levels of shock and excitement from me, don't get me wrong there are some fantastic twists, but there are also moments that seem like twists, but never impacted me in that way.

Ending: As for the ending I never saw it coming and by that I mean I was listening to an audiobook from the library, I often switch if I have both physical/ebook and audiobook, and didn't realize the end was nigh. I could pinpoint a final climax and while it did have its intense moments I was hoping for something a bit more intense to send of this story with. I wanted something that would glue me to the page, or headphones as it was, and keep me captivated until the very last word. While I did enjoy the ending to this story and there is a fantastic and mind-boggling twist at the end of this story, I think I was just hoping for a more intense final action scene.

Rating:

Due to a large (although diverse) cast of characters it was a bit hard to really get into this book but when I did it was a fun, action-packed ride, and while I had hoped for a more intense final climax, I'm excited to see where this story will go.

Book Review: Shadowcaster (Shattered Realms #2)

Release Date: April 4, 2017
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Publisher: HarperTeen
Length: 551 pages
Source: Review Copy From Publisher

A lifelong war.

Alyssa ana’Raisa is the reluctant princess heir to the Gray Wolf throne of Fells, a queendom embroiled in a seemingly endless war. Hardened by too many losses, Lyss is more comfortable striking with a sword than maneuvering at court. After a brush with death, she goes on the offensive, meaning to end the war that has raged her whole life. If her gamble doesn’t pay off, she could lose her queendom before she even ascends to the throne.

A life in peril.

Across enemy lines in Arden, young rising star Captain Halston Matelon has been fighting for his king since he was a lýtling. Lately, though, he finds himself sent on ever more dangerous assignments. Between the terrifying rumors of witches and wolfish warriors to the north and his cruel king at home, Hal is caught in an impossible game of life and death.

The shadow of defeat.

    

Review:

Protagonists: Alyssa Ana'Raisa, crown princess of the Fells, has been fighting in the war against Arden since she was a lytling, but she wants to do much more than just defend her borders. She wants to make Gerard Montaigne sweat and for his thanes to find warring with the Fells to be too costly. She wants to invade Arden and show Montaigne the might of the Fells. Halston Matalon knows the king is gunning for him. As the son of one of Arden's thanes, and one particularly against the war at that, Hal knows that he could lose his life as a message to his father. Breon d'Tarvos travels with a group of performers, but when a commission to woo a pretty girlie with music turns south, he's on the run and without much of a place to go. All three of these protagonists are amazing. I mean, never once did I feel that a certain character got the short end of the stick. They all have compelling personal plotlines that entangle in a fascinating way. Oh, and the best part is there's a fourth POV, and it's someone we met in book 1, but I won't ruin the surprise.

Romance: So, there's really only one romance in this story and I loved it so much more than the first book. While I understand why the insta-love in the first book happened the way it did, I still wasn't too keen on it, but luckily in this story, we don't get anything close to an insta-love. While the romance between Alyssa and Hal isn't exactly slow burning, it's still rife with complications and feels realistic and very much in character for both these characters. Best of all the romance is pretty swoon worthy. I can't wait to see where Chima takes these characters since we didn't get all too much of a romance in this book and there is most assuredly more to explore with this relationship.

World Building: So I knew before venturing into this book that this series was going to be very different than series I've read in the past. Imagine if you will mixing a companion novel series and a more traditional series and you'd have this series. Unlike the previous book this story isn't told from the POV of Ash, instead, the clock gets turned back a bit and we see some of the events that happened in Flamecaster from other characters perspectives and we get to see some events that we really only heard about in the previous book. The central mystery of this entire series is the magemark mystery and while we do get some more clues as to what the magemarks are and why certain individuals have them, there is still far more to learn about them and by this point, I need to know. It's like an itch I can't scratch and while I'm a bit pacified for now I can't wait to see how things unfold in the next installment. One of the things about this series that I find very interesting is that in both this book and Flamecaster, the stories start out making the reader believe that Arden and/or Montaigne are the "Big Bad(s)" of this series, however, the real threat comes from across the seas and in this story we get to see more from Empress Celestine and learn more about her plans for the Seven Realms.

Predictability: So, I'm going to level with you, and I feel like I've done this a lot lately, but I was sort of spoiled on a plot point that happened at the very end of this book, but while it sort of was the entire basis for the cliffhanger, it didn't impede my enjoyment of this book at all. As for the things I wasn't spoiled for, since this does turn back the clock a bit there are things that happen that I knew would happen thanks to the first book, and honestly, there were quite a few twists that I was able to predict, though luckily they were smaller twists. The larger ones still managed to surprise me and suck me deeper and deeper into the story.

Ending: Like I said this story ends with a cliffhanger and the wait for the next book is going to kill me, I know it. The cliffhanger ending isn't all that bad, it's more what this story didn't reveal that has me chomping at the bit for book three. The final climax of this book was fantastic, I mean the edge of your seat, white-knuckle gripping the arms of your chair fantastic. Even though I already knew what would happen there were other details that I didn't know and that made this ending all the more exciting. We see the ending from a couple of perspectives and honestly, the final words in this book left me breathless and pretty much internally holding out "gimmie" hands for book three!

Rating:

I knew going into this book that I was going to love it and it did not disappoint, I only wish that I had read it sooner as I had planned on. I can't wait to read the next installment in the series and I hope to be able to read it early, and trust me if I get that chance I will read it early this time!

Book Review: Four Weeks, Five People

Release Date: May 2, 2017
Author: Jennifer Yu
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Length: 384 pages
Source: ARC from Publisher

They're more than their problems

Obsessive-compulsive teen Clarissa wants to get better, if only so her mother will stop asking her if she's okay.

Andrew wants to overcome his eating disorder so he can get back to his band and their dreams of becoming famous.

Film aficionado Ben would rather live in the movies than in reality.

Gorgeous and overly confident Mason thinks everyone is an idiot.

And Stella just doesn't want to be back for her second summer of wilderness therapy.

As the five teens get to know one another and work to overcome the various disorders that have affected their lives, they find themselves forming bonds they never thought they would, discovering new truths about themselves and actually looking forward to the future.

     

Review:

Protagonists: This story has five first person POVs, which on its own is a serious challenge, but it really works in this story. While there is a central plot of sorts that these characters all participate in they each have their own trials and struggles and add serious depth to this story. It's funny but since this is a standalone novel, for some reason, I expected that the development of these characters would have been more dramatic and that by the end they'd be, well maybe not "cured," but better, but that's not how mental health works, and I appreciated that the author didn't provide an idyllic view of mental health, but, from what I could tell, a very real one. I can't say I necessarily loved all the characters because Mason could be severely insufferable, and Ben could be overly dramatic at times, even though I think I identified with Ben the most. I loved Stella's sardonic and sarcastic personality, though she does soften a bit as the story goes on. Clarissa feels like this sweet and innocent creature you want to protect from the world, but also hope she can find a way to stand on her own to feet. Andrew, who is probably my favorite character, but ironically it's more for his interactions with Stella than who he is as a character, though he is a pretty great character who adds a lot of comic relief to this story.

Romance: I don't know why but I went into this book expecting a romance, but I was unprepared for the romance that actually formed in this story. I don't want to say too much about it because I fear if I say too much it will shatter your experience of this romance. I will say though that I really respect how the author handled this romance. It's tricky to write a realistic story where people dealing with mental health issues are attracted to each other, but they still have to deal and work to overcome their own issues. I really liked the way the romance unfolded and how it added another element to the overall story and where these characters end up by the end of the book.

World Building: For those who do not know, I suffer from clinical depression as well as anxiety, so I feel I can only really comment on how well those aspects are portrayed in this story. I feel as though those aspects were portrayed in an extremely realistic way. There was a moment when a character has a complete breakdown and I could very easily relate to how he was feeling and it kind of scared me just how connected I felt to that character in that moment, even though the rational side of my brain was telling me he was being completely unreasonable. As for the other mental health issues addressed in this story, while I don't have first-hand experience with them, from what I understand about them the author did a great job of showing off these characters' struggles.

Predictability: Since the author takes such a realistic stance with this story it's not as if everything fits in that YA fiction formula, and instead there are twists that happen with no warning at all, or things that don't happen because this isn't some cheesy YA contemporary where everyone pairs off or discovers some hidden truth about the world. Instead, there is a bit of foreshadowing if you know where t look for it, and there are secrets that these characters keep that over the course of the story and as we get to know them, slowly come to light.

Ending: I feel a bit like this book tricked me. When I first received it I wrote it off as one of those deep, heavy, books that focus on serious topics and while they may be amazing, they really drain a lot out of you. However, I decided to read the first chapter and found there was a levity to the story and some humor to break up moments that could be very draining, and that pattern continued for quite a while. However, as the story got closer and closer to ending, those fluffy moments or those moments filled with comedy spread out more and things got pretty heavy. The ending to this book deals with some pretty intense stuff and while there are still moments of serenity or humor to break it up, I did feel pretty drained by the end of the book. It is a standalone story so I expected a wrapped up, but it's also a realistic story and while I'm not completely dying for another installment, there are still some things left up in the air.

Rating:

This book drained me good. I loved it so much and while I still have a few questions about some of the characters, I'm fine with this being a standalone, but I can't wait to see what this author will write next.

Audiobook Review: The Sparks (Feud #1)

Release Date: January 31, 2017/February 24, 2017
Author: Kyle Prue
Narrator: Jon Eric Preston
Publisher: Cartwright Publishing
Length: 300 pages/9 hrs. 14 mins.
Source: Audiobook Received for Review

HONOR DOES NOT BEND. A WILL OF IRON DOES NOT BREAK
VICTORY LIES WITHIN THE ASHES.

The Vapros, the Taurlum, and the Celerius: three dynasties bound by an ancient promise, and given superhuman abilities to protect the city of Altryon from the dangerous world beyond its walls. The Vapros have the ability to teleport and turn their enemies to ash, the Celerius have super speed and the ability to heal from any wound, the Taurlum have skin like steel and godlike strength. Centuries of petty infighting, have turned the families against each other, resulting in a secret war. A powerful emperor now rules over all as the families have been weakened by massive casualties.

16-year-old, Neil Vapros, desperately wants to become an assassin in order to please his overbearing father. After failing his first mission, Neil learns that a new sinister threat has awakened. This mysterious new power threatens to shatter the established order and the lives of everyone in Altryon – regardless of their family name or allegiance.

    

Review:

Protagonists: While a majority of this story is told from the point of view of Neil Vapros, a boy who wants nothing more than the respect of his family, this story has many points of view and while not all of them are the protagonists of this story, a great deal of them are. What I love about all of the protagonists is that they aren't these paragons of goodness that you can easily take the side of, they are flawed and their logic of this ridiculous feud between their families is warped beyond comprehension. Each of the protagonists grows in some way or another over the course of this story, it's a growth that's easily seen but not in your face and obvious. I really liked each character who has a POV in this story, while not all the POV characters are good, they are still well layered and it's easy to see their logic, even if it's not something I personally agree with.

World Building: One of my biggest problems with this story, I almost feel too embarrassed to share. This book takes a long time to get fully set up, and while, once it's done, it's a really fantastic world that I'm totally sucked into now and I can't wait to see what happens in it, it was hard to get into at first because there was still a lot of set up. However, once a certain event occurs things speed up and kick into high gear. There's a lot to this world, and while it takes a while to set up it's quite a sight to behold. I mean the synopsis for the story sets it up a bit, but as you dive into this story the backstory for not only the characters but the families as well are incredible. Even after all this story has to offer in terms of set up there are still mysteries it hides and I just want to know more and to follow these characters as they hopefully discover more about the world they live in and the feud between their families that has consumed their entire lives.

Predictability: Other than one very large twist that I was able to figure out from the synopsis alone, this book does a spectacular job at keeping the twists of this book under wraps. If you're worried about reading the synopsis and getting spoiled on something big, don't worry there's enough foreshadowing for that twist that even without the synopsis you'd still see it coming a long time before it's actually revealed. As for the other twists in this story, I'm sure there might have been some foreshadowing for the larger twists, but I can't seem to remember all that much. For the smaller stuff, there wasn't all that much that felt like and intentional twist, but more like a part of the plot to move things along.

Ending: If I didn't know this book was part of a series going in, I would have known it by that ending. While this story doesn't end with a heart stopping cliffhanger or game changing twist, there is a lot that happens towards the end of this story. There are still a great many mysteries in this world and I just loved that the author used what I like to refer to as the "cooldown" period of this book, after the final climax, to remind readers that there's still more that won't be revealed until at least the sequel. The actual final climax of this story was incredible. Since there are multiple perspectives we got to see what was going down from multiple angles and through the lenses of different characters.

Audiobook Notes: As I've said in past Audiobook Reviews, I don't really have a great talent for articulating my thoughts about an audiobook unless it's something special and the creators and producers go above and beyond or the narration was so monotonously boring that I couldn't help but shut it off. While there wasn't anything in the production of the audiobook, such as ambient sounds, music, etc. that heightened the experience, the narrator does a spectacular job at bringing the characters in this story to life. His narration is anything but boring as he does good voices, and really adds a lot of great depth and emotion into his performance. When characters cry it really sounds like the narrator is crying, or when characters have to cover their mouths while talking in a certain scene, that comes through in the narration. Overall, this was a spectacular book to listen to.

Rating:

While this story does take quite a while to get fully set up, and the story can seem to drag in certain parts until then, once things start going they don't stop and I can't wait to find out what happens next in this intricately designed fantasy world.

Book Review: The Screaming Statue (The Curiosity House #2)

Release Date: May 3, 2016
Authors: Lauren Oliver & H.C. Chester
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 368 pages
Source: eARC from Edelweiss

In this second book in the exceptional Curiosity House series by bestselling author Lauren Oliver and shadowy recluse H. C. Chester, four extraordinary children must avenge their friend’s death, try to save their home, and unravel the secrets of their past . . . before their past unravels them.

Pippa, Sam, Thomas, and Max are happy to be out of harm’s way now that the notorious villain Nicholas Rattigan is halfway across the country in Chicago. But unfortunately their home, Dumfreys’s Dime Museum of Freaks, Oddities, and Wonders, is in danger of closing its doors forever.

But their troubles only get worse. The four friends are shocked when their beloved friend, famous sculptor Siegfried Eckleberger, is murdered. As they investigate, they find clues that his death may be tied to the murder of a rich and powerful New York heiress, as well as to their own pasts.

This is the second book in the series and so boasts many wondrous and mysterious things inside, such as:

· Howie, the “Human Owl,” whose head turns just about all the way around
· A mean but important house cat
· Some perfectly ghastly wax sculptures
· A very thin boy named Chubby
· An awful mechanical leg

It continues not to have:

· A cautionary tale about running with scissors
· A list of time-consuming chores
· Nutritious and decidedly not delicious vegetables
· A perfectly sweet bedtime story about a wayward bunny
· Two wet kisses on the cheek from your aunt Mildred

Learn more about the series online at www.thecuriosityhouse.com.

    

Review:

Protagonists: After discovering their troubling roots Pippa, Max, Sam, and Thomas just want things to go back to normal at Dumfrey's Dime Museum of Freaks, Oddities, and Wonders, but tickets aren't selling well and their only hope seems to be a new exhibit featuring the murder of a prominent New York socialite who seems by all accounts to have been killed by her husband in a jealous rage. However, before they know it their dear friend, Siegfried Eckleberger, is murdered and it seems to be connected in some way to their new exhibit. As they look deeper into this mystery everything is not quite what it appears. I have to say I really love these characters. It's very easy to get a grasp on these characters and see where they're going. Pippa's gifts are growing and yet it happens very gradually, there's no great surge of sudden power, but fleeting feelings and moments. Max becomes a bit distracted by a new member of the Dumfrey's Dime Museum family who isn't all well liked by the others. Sam, still unable to fully control his strength is full of angst, just wanting to be like everyone else, to have a pet or even open a door without risking pulling it off its hinges. Then there's Thomas, as curious as ever and in many ways the tie that binds this group. I loved seeing these characters grow and face challenges that while a bit different can still resonate with the reader.

Romance: As with the first book in this series, there isn't a lot of romance, in fact, I'm skeptical to even call some of the stuff in this book romance. That being said, though, there are some romantic feelings floating around this cast of characters. It's all very innocent stuff that wouldn't make me hesitant to use the word "crush." There's a bit of a Middle-Grade love triangle in this book as well, but it's done in such a way that makes it obvious where things may eventually go. I really enjoyed the small spatterings of romance through this story. It never detracts from the story and as I said before it's all very innocent blushes of new feelings for the kids involved and so I'm not sure where it'll go or if it will even come to anything before the series comes to a close, but either way it's so far been spectacularly done.

World Building: So I looked back at my review for the first installment in this series and I have no idea what I was thinking. In that review I said there wasn't a lot of world building, however, there's a whole lot of it in both that book and this one. I think where my mind was, was that the author wrote a fantastic 1950's-ish setting but there wasn't a lot of this unique part of this world expanded upon. The origin story of the children is a bit muddy (from what I can remember) and while the makeshift family in the Curiosity House is fantastic, it comes off a bit underwhelming. In this book a lot of those problems are still there, although the world is expanded upon, it feels very isolated to this one installment. It's been a while since I read the previous installment, so maybe there's some mention of the events and people that seem to be introduced in this installment, and if they are I take back what I am going to say, but there's a lot introduced in this book that feels like it deserves some sort of, at the very least casual, mention in the previous installment, otherwise the two stories have a weird unseen division between them. I found the further world building a bit underwhelming for the second book in a trilogy. I was expecting big surprises and twisted revelations but while there were some great twists, which I'll get to in a moment, there wasn't a whole lot of meat to this story. Don't get me wrong it's extremely entertaining, but it just feels lacking as a prominent fixture in this trilogy.

Predictability: As I said above this book does a good job to throw twists in the way of the story. There are a lot of moving parts to this story and because of that, there's a lot of possibilities for where the story can go and what the possible twists could be. That being said there's one twist that while incredibly well concealed, was a tad underwhelming. I was hoping for something more elaborate and again, while the author did do a great job at covering her tracks so the surprise would be a good one, I just wish there was something a bit more complex going on. I know this is a middle-grade book, but even so, there could have been some other facet of the story, some greater plan that could have still been accessible to a younger reading group.

Ending: As seems to be the theme of this story there's a lot to the ending that feels underwhelming, that being said though as the story comes to a close there are some fantastic little surprises that genuinely caught me off guard and helped round out this book just a tad more. The final climax of the story was very well done and had a very cinematic feel to that defining climactic moment, and the cooldown period is where things start to come together again. With a lot of the moving parts to this story out of play, things become clearer and some really interesting red herrings come to light. I did truly like how this story ended in a way that settles things down for a while and there isn't some over the top crazy cliffhanger to make readers go crazy for nearly a year.

Rating:

I did really enjoy this story, it's a wonderfully written and nicely paced mystery, I just wish it wowed me more and felt a bit more cohesive. It's still a great addition to this trilogy and I'm excited to see where the story will go in the grand finale.