Book Review: The Crowns of Croswald (The Croswald Series #1)

Release Date: July 21, 2017
Author: D.E. Night
Publisher: Stories Untold
Length: 320 pages
Source: Review Copy from Author

In Croswald, the only thing more powerful than dark magic is one secret…

For sixteen years Ivy Lovely has been hidden behind an enchanted boundary that separates the mundane from the magical. When Ivy crosses the border, her powers awaken. Curiosity leads her crashing through a series of adventures at the Halls of Ivy, a school where students learn to master their magical blood and the power of Croswald’s mysterious gems.

When Ivy’s magic––and her life––is threatened by the Dark Queen, she scrambles to unearth her history and save Croswald before the truth is swept away forever

    

Review:

Protagonist: Ivy Lovely has lived a rather ordinary life as a servant in Castle Plum, due to the magic repelling plants around the property. However, she can't stay cooped up inside the castle grounds forever and when she steps beyond them her magic, and her past, come crashing in and the only place to find the information she seeks is in the Halls of Ivy, a school where children learn to master their magical talents. On the whole, I really liked Ivy as a character, she's spunky, impulsive, and adventurous, but she also has a few concerning Mary Sue traits. There are quite a few moments where Ivy is just able to do what she wants without any real consequences. Sure she makes mistakes, but nothing too terrible happens and she gets at least a small bit of what she wants. Don't get me wrong, she doesn't just float through this book having people practically falling at her feet with nearly no conflict, it's just that sometimes it feels like she's a walking Deus Ex Machina.

World Building: So, going into this book I was completely wrong about the world building. I thought this book would be kind of like Stardust by Neil Gaiman, and in a small way it is, I guess, with Castle Plum acting more like the town of Wall where nothing magical can exist on one side, while the other side is extremely magical. Instead, this story reads more like Harry Potter. In fact, there are moments in this book that are scarily close to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, however, the overall world building and the magic system are so different that it's extremely difficult to even entertain the notion that this could be a Harry Potter rip-off, it's just that some moments are a bit too reminiscent of classic HP scenes.

Predictability: While I do love the world building I have to say that some times it could get a bit confusing, or shall I say it's easy to misunderstand how certain bits of world building fit together. This was most present when I was trying to decipher the truth about Ivy's past before it was revealed in the book and due to a misunderstanding with some of the foreshadowing, I was hopelessly confused until everything came together. I do have to say that even with the misunderstanding I don't think I would have completely figured it all out anyway, and it's a rather complex answer at that.

Ending: The ending to this book is very interesting. On the one hand, the final climax is anything but anticlimactic, although in all honesty, in the final climactic battle of this installment I never felt like Ivy used what she learned at the Halls of Ivy to tackle the battle with her foe, instead, she just sort of does what she needs to do, adding to that Mary Sue feeling I talked about earlier. The cooldown period is great because it makes sure the reader fully understands all of the twists and turns and acts a really great debrief before launching into a really interesting cliffhanger.

Rating:

I thought long and hard about this rating and while this story is fairly slow paced it does pick up and begin to snowball but with a protagonist with Mary Sue aspects and some easily misinterpreted world building/foreshadowing I didn't feel a higher (or lower) rating would fit. I'm still extremely pumped about the sequel though!

Book Review: Geekerella

Release Date: April 4, 2017
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Quirk Books
Length: 320 pages
Source: Purchased Book

Anything can happen once upon a con…

When geek girl Elle Wittimer sees a cosplay contest sponsored by the producers of Starfield, she has to enter. First prize is an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. Elle’s been scraping together tips from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck behind her stepmother’s back, and winning this contest could be her ticket out once and for all—not to mention a fangirl’s dream come true.

Teen actor Darien Freeman is less than thrilled about this year’s ExcelsiCon. He used to live for conventions, but now they’re nothing but jaw-aching photo sessions and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Federation Prince Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the diehard Starfield fandom has already dismissed him as just another heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, closet nerd Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

    

Review:

Protagonists: Elle is living a Cinderella life (pre-ball), evil stepmother, two stepsisters, orphaned, the works, but as long as she has Starfield, her parents' favorite show she can make it through. However, it was just announced that the reboot movie will star teen heartthrob and teen soap star, Darien Freeman, the last person Elle wants playing Prince Carmindor. Darien is secretly a HUGE Starfield fan, and to play a character like Carmindor, a character he connects with on multiple levels is his dream. However, due to his father's insistence on keeping his heartthrob image alive, he can't show off his nerdy side and fans of Starfield are calling him a disgrace. When a twist of fate finds Darien and Elle anonymously texting each other, they may be just what the other needs to help them overcome their obstacles. I love both of these characters so much. The funny thing is that while there are definitely parts of their characters that I can relate to, the things I can't personally relate to, make them no less compelling of characters. Their drive to overcome the challenges life throws at them, and persevering when all seems hopeless is inspiring and I just couldn't get enough of these characters.

Romance: The romance is phenomenal. I mean, I can't even put into words how it made me feel. The romance starts off friendly which is hilariously juxtaposed with their hatred of each other's alter egos, but then a shift happens and things turn romantic and it's just super sweet. The way they bond over their mutual love for a nerdy show and then as they discover more about each other slowly they begin to fall, it's beautiful. Some of the texts between them made me smile and tear up, some made me laugh hysterically. It wasn't even the Cinderella aspects of this relationship that I liked because let's be honest, there are no real romantic moments between Cinderella and the Prince except for a dance or two. The way these two connect and get each other, the way that it sort of parallel's Elle's own parents' romance just made this book explode with wonder.

World Building: So, the big hook for this book is that it's a contemporary Cinderella retelling with a Nerd Culture twist, and I think this book handed both elements beautifully. So, for those who've read my reviews for a while, you know I LOVE a good fairy tale retelling and this is a GREAT fairy tale retelling. I loved how the author mixed all of these fairy tale elements into a story that is truly a love letter to nerd culture. This retelling was pretty standard, but there were twists to some of the classic elements, little changes here and there, that made this retelling truly shine. So, I like to call myself a nerd, and I do get swept away by nerdy things such as comics, mythology, and of course books, but I'm not an "Issue X is the first appearance of villain Y" type of nerd that's super hardcore about one or two specific things. I dabble, but still, this book touched my heart in so many ways. I may not have experienced things like these characters do in this book, but I've heard about them from friends and I'm sure we can all relate to Elle when Darien was cast in the Starfield movie, because I'm sure we've all had that one book to movie or tv series adaptation where we felt a character was miscast. Again, this is a huge love letter to nerd culture and even if you're a dabbler like me I'm sure you'll love it!

Predictability: So.... this is a fairy tale retelling and with that territory comes a lot of predictable moments, but I didn't care. Look, in general, this story had a lot of predictable moments, not all tied to the retelling aspect, or even the "it's a book" aspect, but I just didn't care because this story was fantastic. The writing and everything made me not care, and honestly, there were quite a few amazing and unpredictable twists in this book. One twist in particular, which I can't even remember what it was now, but I do remember predicting the twist, but the how of it all was unknown to me until it happened and I remember really enjoying how the author presented that twist.

Ending: The ENTIRE third part of this book (this book is broken into three parts f.y.i.) was spectacular, and I may or may not have shed quite a few tears. They were both sad and happy tears because this book is just that emotionally moving. Honestly, I'm not sure what the final climax of this book even was because there were so many moments when our intrepid heroes had to over come great obstacles in the end. Every climactic moment was pure gold, and while this is most definitely a stand alone, I was still left wanting more in the end. Nothing specific, just... more.

Rating:

This book is everything I ever wanted it to be and more! This was one of those books for me that I went in knowing I was going to love but came out thinking that love isn't a strong enough word for how I feel about this book. Even with a doozy of a plot hole that I picked up on toward the end that I'll chalk up to human error on the part of one of our protagonists. I can't wait to see what this author will write next!!!

Book Review: The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events #2)

Release Date: September 30, 1999
Author: Lemony Snicket
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Length: 190 pages
Source: Purchased Book

Dear Reader,

If you have picked up this book with the hope of finding a simple and cheery tale, I'm afraid you have picked up the wrong book altogether. The story may seem cheery at first, when the Baudelaire children spend time in the company of some interesting reptiles and a giddy uncle, but don't be fooled. If you know anything at all about the unlucky Baudelaire children, you already know that even pleasant events lead down the same road to misery.

In fact, within the pages you now hold in your hands, the three siblings endure a car accident, a terrible odor, a deadly serpent, a long knife, a large brass reading lamp, and the appearance of a person they'd hoped never to see again.

I am bound to record these tragic events, but you are free to put this book back on the shelf and seek something lighter.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

    

Review:

Protagonists: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire have escaped the evil clutches of Count Olaf and his dastardly plan to steal their fortune. In the process, however, Count Olaf has escaped. Hoping that their next placement will be better, and if it is, permanent, the children are delighted when their new guardian is a kind and intelligent man who is happy to help foster their own unique talents. That is until something unfortunate happens and Uncle Monty, the children's new guardian, unwittingly hires Count Olaf as his new assistant. Now the children must once again put their collective talents together and hope for a much happier ending this time around. Now, with most Middle-Grade stories this short, there isn't a lot of character development. That's mostly due to the fact that since it's so short there isn't a lot of time to have an exciting plot and develop three main characters. That being said I still enjoy these children. They're much smarter than most kids their age, sure, and the adults that aren't trying to steal their fortune are rather dense, but given that there's a lot of nostalgia when it comes to this book that's something fairly easy to overlook. Regardless, it's exciting to watch these extraordinary children try and escape from the corner Count Olaf always seems to back them into.

World Building: After the children's terrible time with Count Olaf it was nice, for however long it lasted, to see them in a loving and happy home. I love how Snicket can very easily lure the reader into a sense of false hope, that even when you know what's going to happen, that you hope beyond all hope that you're wrong. There isn't that much overall progression of the story in this book, there's still a lot of set up. We don't find out why the Baudelaires' parents want them to live with relatives, or why these relatives are ones they've never heard of. There's still a lot of questions up in the air and even though we don't find out any answers Snicket's writing is so addicting that it's hard to put the book down. Snicket's macabre, ironic, and humorously dry writing style has become iconic and it's not hard to tell why. In most books, you're rooting for a happy ending, yet in this book, you find out, right from the start, that things are not going to end in sunshine and rainbows, that by the end the Baudelaire's lives would still be unfortunate. There's something about that concept of knowing bad things are going to happen and hoping that somehow what you've been told it wrong that makes books like these, books that are so different, yet share small common tropes, that are addicting to read.

Foreshadowing: Once again, when rereading a book it's easy to see where things are going and it's so much fun to notice things you never did before. Since I'm not reading this for the first time as an adult it's hard to tell you what is or is not predictable about this book. That being said, though, I'm not sure if that would even matter as there are a few larger twists that were flat out told to the reader by the author. However, those revelations just add to the tension of the story and it's not as though he gives away the ending. In fact, it's that tension developed by those revelations that lead the urgency felt in the final act of this story. Things begin to heat up and these kids are backed into a corner with seemingly no way out and it's really here when knowing what's going to happen and would end up being a detriment, at least on your first reading. This time it was a less tense since I already knew how thigs would eventually wind up and while I can't really remember my first time reading this book, I'd have to this time was more enjoyable. It was exciting watching everything fall into place as the Baudelaire's used their combined skills to try and survive another of Count Olaf's attacks.

Ending: Looking back over this book I'm not sure where I would place the cutoff for what would begin the end. If I were reading any other book I'd say that nearly the last half is the end, because the events that transpire within the final half of this book would, given that this was a longer and more substantial book, be the actual ending, the final climax of the story followed by the traditional cooling down period. That being said this isn't any other book and I'm not quite sure where the cutoff should be, regardless the ending to this story is really built up and what it builds to, at least if you're in the appropriate age group, is amazing. As an adult it was enjoyable, and I really did like how all the pieces came together, but the ending was a tad on the predictable side.

Rating:

So I tried to be as unbiased as I possibly could, looking at this book objectively it is a fun and macabre installment in this dark and timeless series, yet there isn't all that much that happens. Things are still being set up and there isn't any real development and honestly except for one or two things in this book you could probably skip the entire thing if you wanted.

Book Review: Who Could That Be at This Hour? (All the Wrong Questions #1)

Release Date: October 24, 2012
Author: Lemony Snicket
Publisher: Little Brown
Length: 258 pages
Source: Borrowed Audiobook

The adventure began in a fading town. Far from anyone he knew or trusted, a young Lemony Snicket started an apprenticeship for a secret organization shrouded in mystery and secrecy. He asked questions that shouldn't have been on his mind. Now he has written an account that should not be published that shouldn't be read. Not even by you.

Seriously, we recommend that you do NOT ask your parents for this, the first book in his new ALL THE WRONG QUESTIONS series.

Lemony Snicket, in case you don't already know, grew up to be the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events series

    

Review:

Protagonist: Lemony Snicket finds himself involved with a secret organization and under the care of a rather overbearing, quirky, and redundant chaperone. On (as far as I can tell) his first mission for this unnamed organization, Lemony is charged with retrieving a stolen statue, but not too long into the case, it becomes clear that this case isn't as open and shut as it appears. One of my biggest pet peeves and this seems to happen more in books aimed MG and younger, is the idiot adult and brilliant child trope. I understand that this is meant make a younger audience feel special and intelligent, but it doesn't make for a universally appealing book. Lemony is one such child who is unusually bright, and while I like him as a character, but when juxtaposed against comically idiotic adults it makes for a rather unpleasant and groan-inducing cast of characters.

World Building: Going into this book all I knew was that it was about a young Lemony Snicket, though I didn't comprehend just how young he'd be. My first big hiccup with this book was that it begins with the reader sort of dropped in the middle of Lemony's transition to this secret organization that he starts working for. It's a bit awkward and while it's easy enough to forget about once the main plot of the book starts, the beginning of this tale produces more questions than it answers. As this book gets started it's easy to recognize Snicket's rather unique writing style. The world he builds has the same timeless feel as the one in ASoUE, most likely because it IS the same world, but as far as I know the location featured in this book isn't one visited or even mentioned in the series about the Baudelaire orphans. That isn't to say there aren't Easter eggs that connect with that other series, in fact, I'm almost positive that by the time this series ends there will finally be answers to some long-asked questions.

Predictability: I am really happy that I'm able to review this book after the first time I've read it because this section will not only be easier to write but will be a lot more honest. I wasn't expecting this book to be the mystery that it is, nor was I expecting that the overarching story for the entire series would stifle the mystery of this book so much. That all being said, I did really enjoy this mystery and while I was never really completely caught off guard, except for one small moment toward the end, I reveled in watching this mystery unfold and reveal some of, though not all of, it's many secrets.

Ending: One of my favorite mystery tropes is the classic "Parlor Room" scene, where the main character goes through the mystery from the beginning, explaining any clues the reader, or in some cases viewer, might have missed before finally cracking the case and revealing "whodunnit." This book did have a similar type of scene, however, since rather large aspects of this mystery bleed into the larger series storyline, there are some large questions still left unanswered by the end of this book. With this author's track record of leaving seemingly very important questions unanswered I am a bit nervous but I will continue this series, not only because I enjoyed this book, but also because I hope that my burning questions will be answered.

Rating:

It was so much fun to read a new Lemony Snicket book, his writing style is so unique that it's a joy to experience a new tale by him. Unfortunately, there was only so much that nostalgia can do, and since this is a "new to me" tale, not even my nostalgia could cover up some of the tropes that I haven't been a fan of for some time. That all being said I do look forward to the next installment and I hope to find some answers I've been waiting years to discover.