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Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
I've been getting into lots of fae-related books lately (two books from my last library trip are fae stories), and I really enjoyed The Iron King. It's a great romp through well-known fairy tales with a dash of wonderland thrown in, and I especially loved the sorta steampunk addition in the iron fae. At times I felt the story went a little too fast, at the expense of our heroine Meghan. She does some selfless things (going to save her brother, making deals to make sure she can), but ultimately the book ends up being cycle after cycle of Meghan stumbles into danger, someone bails her out. I enjoyed Robin Goodfellow (though I prefer [a:Rob Thurman|121825|Rob Thurman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1310421838p2/121825.jpg]'s much more adult take on the puck) and Grimalkin, similar to the well known Cheshire Cat. What I didn't particularly care for, and what bothers me in most genre YA, is the romance being slotted into the book. It felt out of place for Meghan suddenly falling for someone in the span of, what, two days? Three? (I lost track with all the action going on.)
There's enough good about The Iron King to make up for the issues I have with it. I'm not particularly rushed to get the next book in the series, but I'll eventually pick it up because I did enjoy the world Julie Kagawa has built.
I've been getting into lots of fae-related books lately (two books from my last library trip are fae stories), and I really enjoyed The Iron King. It's a great romp through well-known fairy tales with a dash of wonderland thrown in, and I especially loved the sorta steampunk addition in the iron fae. At times I felt the story went a little too fast, at the expense of our heroine Meghan. She does some selfless things (going to save her brother, making deals to make sure she can), but ultimately the book ends up being cycle after cycle of Meghan stumbles into danger, someone bails her out. I enjoyed Robin Goodfellow (though I prefer [a:Rob Thurman|121825|Rob Thurman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1310421838p2/121825.jpg]'s much more adult take on the puck) and Grimalkin, similar to the well known Cheshire Cat. What I didn't particularly care for, and what bothers me in most genre YA, is the romance being slotted into the book. It felt out of place for Meghan suddenly falling for someone in the span of, what, two days? Three? (I lost track with all the action going on.)
There's enough good about The Iron King to make up for the issues I have with it. I'm not particularly rushed to get the next book in the series, but I'll eventually pick it up because I did enjoy the world Julie Kagawa has built.
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
This book was absolutely gorgeous. I wasn't so sure of it at first, as the plot reads like something that could go terribly wrong, but it ended up being so much more than that, and I'm so glad I pushed through my initial discomfort to get into it. Shine is a dark, moody portrait of a smart, confused, shuttered girl who begins to emerge from her self-imposed exile. Cat is a great protagonist, and what struck me most about her taking on the mystery, to get it out of the way first, was that she didn't do anything overly brilliant or stupid. She simply asked questions, followed where the answers took her, and found the answer.
While the hate crime against her former best friend Patrick is what propels the story, it's what it does to Cat as she solves the mystery that really made me love the book. Years before, Cat completely severs her connections to everyone, including her best friend; an event in her life leaves her unable to deal with people and she withdraws into herself. (I figured out the event pretty quickly, but that doesn't take away from the reveal when it comes. While it's not as disturbing as some might expect to make Cat react so deeply, it still impacts and traumatizes her in such a way that I understand why she did.) Seeing Cat finally begin to interact with the world she used to belong to is what makes this book so wonderful. It's books like these that remind me why I love reading YA fiction.
Cat isn't the only great character in the book, however. So many YA novels don't develop secondary characters that well, but Shine has an amazing cast of them. Some didn't get as much time as others, some were only around for a single conversation, but in that single scene there's enough in what they say, how they act and what Cat thinks of them that you get a vivid portrait of who they are, the life they've led and where they'll go once the book is through. Her brother, her aunt, the townsfolk and my favorite, a quirky kid named Robert, are all vividly drawn, to the point where I could picture them walking around their little town. Even Patrick, who is in a coma for the novel, is as fully realized a character as Cat is.
The only thing I didn't enjoy about the book was the romance sub-plot. It was good to see Cat have some light in her life and Jason did have some helpful moments, but it felt shoehorned in, as if to fit some sort of YA novel romance quota. But Shine is a great enough book that I can forgive it and recommend it wholeheartedly.
This book was absolutely gorgeous. I wasn't so sure of it at first, as the plot reads like something that could go terribly wrong, but it ended up being so much more than that, and I'm so glad I pushed through my initial discomfort to get into it. Shine is a dark, moody portrait of a smart, confused, shuttered girl who begins to emerge from her self-imposed exile. Cat is a great protagonist, and what struck me most about her taking on the mystery, to get it out of the way first, was that she didn't do anything overly brilliant or stupid. She simply asked questions, followed where the answers took her, and found the answer.
While the hate crime against her former best friend Patrick is what propels the story, it's what it does to Cat as she solves the mystery that really made me love the book. Years before, Cat completely severs her connections to everyone, including her best friend; an event in her life leaves her unable to deal with people and she withdraws into herself. (I figured out the event pretty quickly, but that doesn't take away from the reveal when it comes. While it's not as disturbing as some might expect to make Cat react so deeply, it still impacts and traumatizes her in such a way that I understand why she did.) Seeing Cat finally begin to interact with the world she used to belong to is what makes this book so wonderful. It's books like these that remind me why I love reading YA fiction.
Cat isn't the only great character in the book, however. So many YA novels don't develop secondary characters that well, but Shine has an amazing cast of them. Some didn't get as much time as others, some were only around for a single conversation, but in that single scene there's enough in what they say, how they act and what Cat thinks of them that you get a vivid portrait of who they are, the life they've led and where they'll go once the book is through. Her brother, her aunt, the townsfolk and my favorite, a quirky kid named Robert, are all vividly drawn, to the point where I could picture them walking around their little town. Even Patrick, who is in a coma for the novel, is as fully realized a character as Cat is.
The only thing I didn't enjoy about the book was the romance sub-plot. It was good to see Cat have some light in her life and Jason did have some helpful moments, but it felt shoehorned in, as if to fit some sort of YA novel romance quota. But Shine is a great enough book that I can forgive it and recommend it wholeheartedly.
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
Another recent entry into the field of dystopian YA, Legend breaks from the mold slightly by focusing on action and adventure, with a touch of romance and the inevitable government betrayal. The novels follows two very different character that come together: Day, a notorious teenage criminal, and June, a famous child prodigy working her way through college and into the military. Day and June are interesting characters on their own, and we get a great glimpse into who they are as the narrative splits between them. There's a bit of stretch in belief when they meet and spend some time together, as certain events and gestures and things said have to happen a certain way for all of it to come together, but I didn't mind it at all because I really enjoyed Legend. Even with the romance. I feel like I say this a lot, but not every YA novel needs romance. Day and June and their burgeoning friendship and the way their fates are tied together could have been enough without having them become romantic partners.
Ultimately, Legend was good fun, and I can't wait for the second installment. Also, props to Marie Lu for wrapping up the first novel in a series instead of leaving it with a cliffhanger.
Another recent entry into the field of dystopian YA, Legend breaks from the mold slightly by focusing on action and adventure, with a touch of romance and the inevitable government betrayal. The novels follows two very different character that come together: Day, a notorious teenage criminal, and June, a famous child prodigy working her way through college and into the military. Day and June are interesting characters on their own, and we get a great glimpse into who they are as the narrative splits between them. There's a bit of stretch in belief when they meet and spend some time together, as certain events and gestures and things said have to happen a certain way for all of it to come together, but I didn't mind it at all because I really enjoyed Legend. Even with the romance. I feel like I say this a lot, but not every YA novel needs romance. Day and June and their burgeoning friendship and the way their fates are tied together could have been enough without having them become romantic partners.
Ultimately, Legend was good fun, and I can't wait for the second installment. Also, props to Marie Lu for wrapping up the first novel in a series instead of leaving it with a cliffhanger.
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
In A Certain Slant of Light we follow Helen, a ghost who cleaves to an unwitting person and haunts them. Nicely, of course. Helen just wants to stay close to her humans, reading over their shoulders and experiencing their lives. Until she meets a boy who can actually see her, and she's propelled into a whirlwind romance with the only other person she's met like her. This novel is...interesting. On one hand, it's a very well written (Helen's narrative is so polite at times), moody, engrossing book. On the other, you get about half way through and it starts to veer off into unexpected places, and none of them all that good, in my experience. I did enjoy the idea of it, the execution of most of it, and if it weren't for the fact that things just got worse and worse (and worse) in the most melodramatic way before the end, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
In A Certain Slant of Light we follow Helen, a ghost who cleaves to an unwitting person and haunts them. Nicely, of course. Helen just wants to stay close to her humans, reading over their shoulders and experiencing their lives. Until she meets a boy who can actually see her, and she's propelled into a whirlwind romance with the only other person she's met like her. This novel is...interesting. On one hand, it's a very well written (Helen's narrative is so polite at times), moody, engrossing book. On the other, you get about half way through and it starts to veer off into unexpected places, and none of them all that good, in my experience. I did enjoy the idea of it, the execution of most of it, and if it weren't for the fact that things just got worse and worse (and worse) in the most melodramatic way before the end, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
New Girl is...interesting. I found it hard to put my thoughts together once I was through because there were different layers to it, half of which I loved, half of which drove me nuts.
We have two narrators; New Girl, who is a Floridian sent to a Northeastern boarding school in her senior year, and Becca Normandy, the giant shoes she has to fill, no matter how much she doesn't want to. New Girl's chapters are a practice in confusion and loneliness - the kids at school aren't particularly nasty to her at all, they just really loved Becca, who has gone missing. Becca's chapters are the typical spoiled brat determined to be popular trope, but as we move along we realize she's a girl with so much doubt and no idea what she wants, which anyone can relate to.
Weighing these characters against each other, it's easy to root for New Girl and hate Becca simply for the legacy New Girl has to live up to, but the book isn't that simple. Becca is a trainwreck of a girl, and though the simplistic bent of her narrative bugged me at first, it's hard not to sympathize with her. I might not have loved her at the end, but I knew who Becca was and why she was.
The romance here is actually pretty damned good. It's not your straight up boy meets girl, crushes ensue, everyone ends up happily ever after type of story. It's much more complex and messed up at times, which is easy to say of the entire book.
New Girl is a pretty good read at the end of it all, a complex, interesting novel highlighting two very different girls and who they are and choose to be.
New Girl is...interesting. I found it hard to put my thoughts together once I was through because there were different layers to it, half of which I loved, half of which drove me nuts.
We have two narrators; New Girl, who is a Floridian sent to a Northeastern boarding school in her senior year, and Becca Normandy, the giant shoes she has to fill, no matter how much she doesn't want to. New Girl's chapters are a practice in confusion and loneliness - the kids at school aren't particularly nasty to her at all, they just really loved Becca, who has gone missing. Becca's chapters are the typical spoiled brat determined to be popular trope, but as we move along we realize she's a girl with so much doubt and no idea what she wants, which anyone can relate to.
Weighing these characters against each other, it's easy to root for New Girl and hate Becca simply for the legacy New Girl has to live up to, but the book isn't that simple. Becca is a trainwreck of a girl, and though the simplistic bent of her narrative bugged me at first, it's hard not to sympathize with her. I might not have loved her at the end, but I knew who Becca was and why she was.
The romance here is actually pretty damned good. It's not your straight up boy meets girl, crushes ensue, everyone ends up happily ever after type of story. It's much more complex and messed up at times, which is easy to say of the entire book.
New Girl is a pretty good read at the end of it all, a complex, interesting novel highlighting two very different girls and who they are and choose to be.
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
Blood Red Road is an epic adventure from start to finish. While I count it in the dystopian and post-apocalyptic genres, it feels much more like a real western. I kept picturing the TV show Firefly as I read, minus the tech.
Our heroine is Saba, who starts her journey when her twin brother is kidnapped. What I love most about her is that she starts off as a determined, no-nonsense, almost unlikeable person. And what I love more, is that she doesn't change entirely. She's still determined and no-nonsense, but she can kick more ass and is a bit more likeable. She changes for the better in the areas that she needed to grow, but she's still the same girl at the end of it all. Everything she does and says as the book moves along always makes sense, even if they're the sorts of things you don't want to see from a heroine.
The secondary characters are great as well, from Saba's little sister Emmi, to the group of warrior girls she (reluctantly) befriends, and Jack, the love interest. I can see why Jack would be an appealing interest, but this was where the novel lost me for a bit, because it's one of those 'destined to be together because our eyes met and I feel warm about it all the time' sort of romances. I still enjoyed the sort-of flirting and their back and forth feelings for each other as their friendship grew, but the start of it bothered me.
Also fun was the writing itself. It was a little jarring at first ("would/could of" is one of my biggest pet peeves), reading Saba's mispronunciations and misspellings, but once I got going it made picturing Saba and her world that much easier.
I really enjoyed Blood Red Road for the departure from most teen dystopian/apocalyptic novels these days. It's a fun ride from start to finish, and, joy of all joys, it wraps up at the end despite this being the first in a series.
Blood Red Road is an epic adventure from start to finish. While I count it in the dystopian and post-apocalyptic genres, it feels much more like a real western. I kept picturing the TV show Firefly as I read, minus the tech.
Our heroine is Saba, who starts her journey when her twin brother is kidnapped. What I love most about her is that she starts off as a determined, no-nonsense, almost unlikeable person. And what I love more, is that she doesn't change entirely. She's still determined and no-nonsense, but she can kick more ass and is a bit more likeable. She changes for the better in the areas that she needed to grow, but she's still the same girl at the end of it all. Everything she does and says as the book moves along always makes sense, even if they're the sorts of things you don't want to see from a heroine.
The secondary characters are great as well, from Saba's little sister Emmi, to the group of warrior girls she (reluctantly) befriends, and Jack, the love interest. I can see why Jack would be an appealing interest, but this was where the novel lost me for a bit, because it's one of those 'destined to be together because our eyes met and I feel warm about it all the time' sort of romances. I still enjoyed the sort-of flirting and their back and forth feelings for each other as their friendship grew, but the start of it bothered me.
Also fun was the writing itself. It was a little jarring at first ("would/could of" is one of my biggest pet peeves), reading Saba's mispronunciations and misspellings, but once I got going it made picturing Saba and her world that much easier.
I really enjoyed Blood Red Road for the departure from most teen dystopian/apocalyptic novels these days. It's a fun ride from start to finish, and, joy of all joys, it wraps up at the end despite this being the first in a series.
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the first book in this series, Hex Hall, because I was delighted once I dove back into Sophie's world. She's a great character to follow along as the world of the Hex Hall series is expanded, and she's one of the easiest, least annoying first person POVs I've had the pleasure of reading in a while.
What I appreciate most about Demonglass is how smart Sophie is about things. She does everything a smart teenager should do in a series like this, and I've never once yelled or groaned because Sophie did something that just begs her to be offed, unlike some other YA paranormal heroines I won't name.
Even the inevitable sort of love triangle didn't bother at all, because it wasn't shoved in just for the same of having a love triangle. Sophie's caught between two guys she genuinely likes - one who she knows she should stay away from (and does, for the most part), and the other who is a pretty great guy. Neither of the guys fight for Sophie in an unhealthy way, neither professes their stalkery love for her, and it's just. So. REFRESHING.
I felt a few of the secondary characters in this one, from the new demon teens to some of the council members were drawn a little thin, but I did enjoy getting to know Sophie's father, and her gay vampire best friend Jenna is always a delight.
I can't wait for Spell Bound to come out, especially after that doozy of a cliffhanger ending Demonglass.
I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the first book in this series, Hex Hall, because I was delighted once I dove back into Sophie's world. She's a great character to follow along as the world of the Hex Hall series is expanded, and she's one of the easiest, least annoying first person POVs I've had the pleasure of reading in a while.
What I appreciate most about Demonglass is how smart Sophie is about things.
Spoiler
The boy she really likes is a bad guy? Don't meet up with him in secret! (The first time, anyway.) Doing something dangerous and you get advice that changes your mind? Change it!Even the inevitable sort of love triangle didn't bother at all, because it wasn't shoved in just for the same of having a love triangle. Sophie's caught between two guys she genuinely likes - one who she knows she should stay away from (and does, for the most part), and the other who is a pretty great guy. Neither of the guys fight for Sophie in an unhealthy way, neither professes their stalkery love for her, and it's just. So. REFRESHING.
I felt a few of the secondary characters in this one, from the new demon teens to some of the council members were drawn a little thin, but I did enjoy getting to know Sophie's father, and her gay vampire best friend Jenna is always a delight.
I can't wait for Spell Bound to come out, especially after that doozy of a cliffhanger ending Demonglass.
