by Kay | Apr 22, 2011 | Reviews |
Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: Raised by Wolves #1
Published by Quercus Books
Pages: 418
Genres: Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Source: Purchased myself
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Rating: Adopted by the Alpha of a werewolf pack after a rogue wolf brutally killed her parents right before her eyes, fifteen-year-old Bryn knows only pack life, and the rigid social hierarchy that controls it. That doesn't mean that she's averse to breaking a rule or two.
But when her curiosity gets the better of her and she discovers Chase, a new teen locked in a cage in her guardian's basement, and witnesses him turn into a wolf before her eyes, the horrific memories of her parents' murders return. Bryn becomes obsessed with getting her questions answered, and Chase is the only one who can provide the information she needs.
But in her drive to find the truth, will Bryn push too far beyond the constraints of the pack, forcing her to leave behind her friends, her family, and the identity that she's shaped?
Thoughts: It took me a really long time to get into this book. I think I spent about a month slowly making my way through the first 70 pages. Although I could intellectually appreciate the writing, the plot did absolutely nothing for me. I couldn’t understand the main character’s motivations, and found the insta-romance that was both annoying and bland.
I was very tempted to put it down, but then re-read one of the many positive reviews that made me pick it up in the first place. I don’t know about you, but reviews tend to muddle in my brain to become either “Good, pick it up” or “Avoid avoid avoid”. I usually don’t to remember the details. So imagine my surprise to hear the book touted as one of the few truly feminist YA books out there, with a heroine I would love, and twists I would never see coming.
It really didn’t sound like I was reading the same book.
Turns out, I was. I so so was. I’d give the last half of this book five stars. The twists in this book really came out of left-field… and yet, like all good twists, when you re-read the book you can see the clues right in front of you. Suddenly, choices that had annoyed the hell out of me became logical, and characters with whom I had taken some issue suddenly made sense. It was a complete and utter paradigm shift. Fantastic stuff.
Bryn turned out to be quite the leader: this girl was one of the most fabulous, feminist alpha characters I’ve read in a while. Her fantastic support network was another one of the things that set this book apart – although adopted, she has a lot of people guarding her back. It’s rare to see good parenting (scratch that, any parenting) in YA, so it was a refreshing change! Alas, Bryn’s love-interest remained bland-as-hell. Honestly have no idea what she sees in that plank of wood, but at least I didn’t completely hate him… probably because was I was easily distracted by the oh-so-amazing alpha-werewolf Callum (oh, Callum ♥), who completely stole my heart. Loved him. He seemed so calm and in control, and yet he could be utterly cold and ruthless when required. And, GUH, his relationship with pseudo-daughter Bryn was a-mazing.
Bottom line: This book takes a very, very long time to like. But once you get past the first 150-or-so pages, you’ll love it. It’s well-worth the read and I – for one – cannot wait for Trial by Fire to come out!
by Kay | Jan 27, 2011 | Reviews |
Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires #2
Published by Gollancz
Pages: 357
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased myself
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Rating: Ten months after vampires revealed their existence to the mortals of Chicago, they're enjoying a celebrity status usually reserved for the Hollywood elite. But should people learn about the Raves-mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle-the citizens will start sharpening their stakes.
So now it's up to the new vampire Merit to reconnect with her upper class family and act as liaison between humans and bloodsuckers, and keep the more unsavory aspects of the vampire lifestyle out of the media. But someone doesn't want peace between them-someone with an ancient grudge...
Thoughts: That I love Chloe Neill is not much of a secret. Her YA debut
Firespell made my Top Ten of 2010, and the first in her UF series,
Some Girls Bite, made me long for Merit’s BFF and her asshole-Mr. Darcy.
Friday Night Bites is a solid sequel to the aforementioned UF book, but not as good as her other works.
Friday Night Bites really deals with Merit accepting her new position in the vampiric world – she makes decisions based on what the responsible vampire action would be and it’s all very grown-up. But Merit starts to change in this book, and while it is not a bad change, we start to worry (and as does she) that she might lose herself to her new job. As someone who does that all the time, that really struck a chord with me. When does the responsible move become the move that suppresses your true nature? Great stuff.
I also liked how Merit’s relationships developed in this book – some for better, some for worse. It wasn’t what had changed that I liked, but how Neill went about the change. We all lose touch with people we love and we all find unexpected relationships. There doesn’t have to be a death or a betrayal to spark a dramatic change… time does that all on its own.
Unfortunately the action left quite a bit to be desired. Even though I have never read Neill for her action-packed baddies, in Friday Night Bites she dropped the ball. The evil!plot was rather coincidental, and a few of the non-central characters behaved like plot devices. I know it’s hard for series writers to come up with Big. Events. for every book, but this one was particularly poor. I really wish I could give more explicit details – because there are a couple that made me really roll my eyes – but I don’t want to spoil all of you who are expecting fab stuff.
Bottom line? Fabulous writer, great characters, great series – but just an OK novel. I am hoping for bigger and better things from Neill in her next books!
by Kay | Jan 20, 2011 | Reviews |
A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin
Series: Matthew Swift #1
Published by Orbit on April 6th 2009
Pages: 464
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased myself
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Rating: Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift finds himself breathing once again, lying in bed in his London home.
Except that it's no longer his bed, or his home. And the last time this sorcerer was seen alive, an unknown assailant had gouged a hole so deep in his chest that his death was irrefutable...despite his body never being found.
He doesn't have long to mull over his resurrection, though, or the changes that have been wrought upon him. His only concern now is vengeance. Vengeance upon his monstrous killer and vengeance upon the one who brought him back.
Thoughts: I really wish I could write a 5 star review for this book. Honest to God, A Madness of Angels has one of the most creative, mind-blowing universes I’ve ever read – filled with monsters and magic that are unfamiliar yet instantly recognisable. Yet, its’ length and dense writing made A Madness of Angels a difficult book to finish. Even though I loved it, I could only read 4-5 pages at a time – it took me 4 months to finish! There is just so much to absorb in every line, and there are many many many lines.
Griffin created a lead character with a hell of a wit. Matthew Swift is king of the one-liners. Even though I never became emotionally invested in any of the characters, I truly enjoyed their banter. I was constantly jotting down lines to remember and reuse! Speaking of which:
“Oh Matthew. How did things ever come to this?”
“You know,” I replied. “I’m only two restraints, a cramp and a cocktail of drugs away from shrugging contemptuously in answer to that one.”
What impressed me the most was the way Griffin wrote about London. Griffin understands London in a way that few do: the social structures, the transport system, the bizarre Londonite habits, the cities-within-the-city. And she takes “urban magic” into every inch of London – from Oyster cards to Muswell Hill, even the smallest urban habit makes up the magic of London. It’s fan-bloody-tastic. I picked this book up right when I moved away from the city, and every paragraph was like a trip home. Griffin set battle scenes in streets, restaurants and tube stations I knew backwards – it will be hard for me to go back without seeing Griffin’s urban magic in the air. If you want to know London – and it’s unique brand of magic – this is the book for you.
But as I mentioned, the characters in A Madness of Angels were rather… unfulfilling. I never particularly cared whether anyone lived or died, I never particularly hated the “villians”, and I never really bonded with any of the “heros”. You don’t have to like characters in order to enjoy a book, but they do need to strike some sort of emotion within you…. even if it is utter loathing! I never got there with A Madness of Angels, and it made the numerous climatic scenes rather anti-climatic.
Bottom line? Griffin puts the urban into urban fantasy. A Madness of Angels has the most imaginative writing/setting/characters I have read in a long time – although it’s not the most emotionally engaging work out there. This book is a masterwork – and as dense as an epic too.
by Kay | Sep 26, 2010 | Reviews |
The Devil’s Kiss by Sarwat Chadda
Bookdepository / Amazon UK / Amazon US
Librarything / Goodreads
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult
Rating: 3.5 stars
Pages: 272
First Line: Killing him should be easy; he’s only six.
Summary: As the youngest and only female member of the Knights Templar, Bilquis SanGreal grew up knowing she wasn’t normal. Instead of hanging out at the mall or going on dates, she spends her time training as a soldier in her order’s ancient battle against the Unholy.
Billi’s cloistered life is blasted apart when her childhood friend, Kay, returns from Jerusalem, gorgeous and with a dangerous chip on his shoulder. He’s ready to reclaim his place in Billi’s life, but she’s met someone new: amber-eyed Michael, who seems to understand her like no one else, effortlessly claiming a stake in her heart.
But the Templars are called to duty before Billi can enjoy the pleasant new twist to her life. One of the order’s ancient enemies has resurfaced, searching for a treasure that the Templars have protected for hundreds of years — a cursed mirror powerful enough to kill all of London’s firstborn. To save her city from catastrophe, Billi will have to put her heart aside and make sacrifices greater than any of the Templars could have imagined.
Review: Sarwat’s book hasn’t gotten too much press outside the UK. I have no friggin’ idea why though, because it is awesome. This was, seriously, some fantastic YA urban fantasy that I think would easily appeal to adults. Sure, Billi is only 15 – but she has had to grow up really fast and it has made her more mature than some of the adult characters I read! (*cough* Faythe *cough*)
Billi is fighting the good-fight against the demonic forces – and it comes with casualties. There are angels, vampires, wolf-men and evil-spirits – it’s like a seriously compact episode of Supernatural. It is fantastic to read – and has a few OMG! twists that you will never see coming.
There’s a whole lot of biblical action – in fact, there is a whole lot of biblical references too. But what Sarwat does, which I found unusual in this new age of angelic!YA – was to include a lot of Muslim and Jewish myths and beliefs. Billi is also half-Indian, half-white – giving her a unique perspective on her role in the Templars.
Billi’s “ethnic” background was just one of the many things that made this book so very “London-y”. Sarwat Chadda recreates the city to a T – its multi-ethnic population just one of many things he got right! If you haven’t been to London, you will visit it when you read The Devil’s Kiss – and those of you who have, you’ll love his references to tube lines, misty weather and dodgy characters!
So, while I thought the verse and setting were great, I did have some trouble connecting with major secondary characters. Billi was great – by the end of the book I really felt like I understood her. But her friends and family that she felt so strongly about? Well, they just didn’t do it for me. It lessened the impact of some of the big scenes, and unfortunately made me bring this book down a star.
I have great hopes for the next book, The Dark Goddess, and can’t wait to start it!
Bottom line? Kick-ass YA Urban Fantasy that will appeal to both adults and teens. The Devil’s Kiss will keep you on your toes, wondering what the next page will bring!
by Kay | Sep 10, 2010 | Reviews |
Time Riders by Alex Scarrow
Series: Time Riders #1
Published by Puffin
Pages: 432
Genres: Science Fiction YA
Source: Received for review from publishers
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Rating: Liam O'Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2029. Yet moments before death, someone mysteriously appeared and said, 'Take my hand ...'
But Liam, Maddy and Sal aren't rescued. They are recruited by an agency that no one knows exists, with only one purpose - to fix broken history. Because time travel is here, and there are those who would go back in time and change the past. That's why the TimeRiders exist: to protect us. To stop time travel from destroying the world...
Thoughts: This book has two things that usually make me stop reading: short chapters and Nazis. They are serious pet peeves of mine because a) I am capable of an attention span greater than 5 minutes, thank you very much, and b) haven’t you heard the war is friggin’ over???
And yet… TimeRiders was awesome. Awesome in that kind of action-packed, bad-ass, yes-we-may-kill-off-your-favourite-character sort of way. This book felt like a blockbuster movie – but with a superior script. Alex Scarrow writes action scenes with handful of main characters and ten dozen extras zooming across the page without breaking a sweat – a talent I seriously admire.
Scarrow also created some fantastic villains. I read an interview of his where he described his desire to make 3D characters who – one could argue – were merely misguided. He lived up to his claim in TimeRiders, writing a villain with pure intentions that became twisted by circumstance and insanity. A villain who is trying to save the world, just in a somewhat psychopathic way. It is a welcome relief from the typical twirling-moustache villain!
However, I found the main characters a bit flat. Although perfectly enjoyable, they were rather secondary to the plot. So much crap happened to them, but there is very little emotional payoff. I also found a couple of the time-travel sequences rather… convenient. The sequences that took place over two times – but appeared in the book simultaneously – felt somewhat contrived. Just one of the many dangers of time-travel, I guess!
Bottom line? TimeRiders is a fun, action-packed, addictive book. Will likely appeal to teenage boys as well as girls – just don’t expect too much emotional depth. I think Scarrow is saving it all for the sequel.
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