Well that was an emotional and disturbing roller coaster, but I want to read more of this series...

Crazy Rich Asians was a book I never intended to pick up and I’d never heard of. I’m not even sure how I quite ended up buying the book; I think it was cheap on Amazon for kindle and I thought it could be fun. Chick-lit drama for me is probably my least favourite kind of book, the last one I read was Me Before You where I had the very unpopular opinion of not liking it. However, this was I liked better and I do enjoy some ridiculous, drama every now and again when I just need to not think. However, I usually prefer urban fantasy/fantasy/paranormal for my escapism.

Crazy Rich Asians clearly knew it was full of ridiculousness, it never really had a serious tone until the last few chapters which got dark and didn’t really fit with the tone of the book. I was a little put out by how easily everything seemed to be resolved at the end (but I think that’s one of the reasons I don’t like chick-lit). I liked the Singapore setting and the focus on the rich of Asia, it’s so refreshing to see from all the American based rich kids (Gossip Girl, Dynasty). It gave the book a more unique feel, which I guess was the main draw for me.

The characters, well I’m still struggling to understand how they’re all related and who is who. A mind boggle to keep up with. Most of them I hated and some of them really surprised me (Nick’s grandma). There was one character that stole the show for me though.
Astrid, she was clearly struggling so much in her personal life, but she had this class at all times, this concern for Rachel and I just loved her whole sense of style and love of culture. She was just a fantastically likeable and rounded character for me.
I actually really liked Nick as a character, except I thought he was really f**king dumb about his whole family.

Overall, I won’t be calling this my favourite book of the year, I might watch the film eventually and I’ll probably read the second book in the trilogy. It was fun and exactly what I needed when my brain was a shed post-dissertation hand in.

Blood Kiss started off with so much potential. I actually had no intention of reading it until I enjoyed Paradise's POVs so much in The Shadows. The first half for me was solidly 4 stars, Paradise was great, the trials for the training programme and introduction were exciting. Admittedly, it was not BDB, but this was supposed to be something different and I'm glad Ward gives us as a reader the ability to dip in and out without major plot points going through both series. However, the second half was all about Paradise/Craeg and them getting it on. Like, I know Ward focuses on romance, but the BDB series has so many other elements that make it a strong series. Primarily the action, the snark, the big world things and Blood Kiss just became about the romance, which is where I was a tad disappointed.

The romance itself was a little lack-lustre, it started off quite strong and then rapidly declined.

I mean Paradise, a aristocratic female from the top of the glymera, losing her virginity in the bathroom of a shady club, I just don't buy it

. I felt like it was a little rushed, and I get people think with their sex brains, not their actual brains when they get attracted, but I didn't quite get sold on it.

Also, how easy Paradise' dad seemed to accept Craeg as non-aristocratic because it was a 'love match' he'd always wanted

. There just seemed to be lots of little things that were annoying and felt like sloppy writing.

The only outside area we got was the Butch/Marissa relationship and I've never been the biggest fan of their relationship and characters anyway. They always seemed a little too straight-laced for me, and this was reaffirmed in this spin-off. They were drawn into the main storyline as a murder went down of a young-female, who somehow managed to make it to Safe Place. Butch who was leading the training programme then had these divided loyalties between his cop days and his BDB position. It could definitely have become much more of a crime/romance thriller with this element, but alas the connection ended at the word murder. There seemed to be an awful lot of loopholes for me in their whole storyline.

How did they BOTH make it into the Sex Club when people knew they weren't members, and Axe said he could about get Butch in.

Overall, I felt like their input and this storyline didn't really add much to the BDB series.

I know BDB and Ward's books are not the pinnacle of amazing writing, but I expect better consistency and more thought in the characters. Overall, BD Legacy was a fun spin-off, but it wasn't anything more. It was thankfully shorter than the BDB books which stretch up to 700 pages, but I think I would not have minded if we'd have gotten more about the training programme, more about Paradise (not the Paradise that only thinks about sex). I might try the next BD Legacy book, but I'm not 100% sold. For those wanting to read any of Ward's books, I would recommend starting with the BDB (Black Dagger Brotherhood) core series as it's A, so much stronger and B, you'll get minor spoilers about relationships/people etc if you read this instalment.

Finally finished this one! Thoughts to come.

Wow.

I'm actually entirely speechless right now. I don't know what to think about this book. There were so many positive elements, but then it was so dark and haunting at times.

Full Review:

The Poppy War was a book I'd heard lots about and I was immediately curious because it combined many elements that I am interested in: mythology, fantasy, and history. The book draws on east Asian cultural ideas and themes and appears to be alluding somewhat to the historical tension and warfare between Japan and China (as a history student, there were so many strong references to comfort women who were abused and massacres of civilians and soldiers). However, the book sets itself apart from this history by drawing in the fantasy elements of shamanism, of gods, of mythical powers and this is what made it readable because frankly there were some very dark moments in this book. This book is not for the faint-hearted, it is NOT young-adult material, but it is worth the read.

The premise is based on the young Rin, who battles here way to the most prestigious military academy Sinegard. Here she must battle against the prejudice of both her masters and her fellow students towards her dark-skin and peasant background. This book is excellent in the way it tackled issues of ethnicity, class, origin and education. Kuang showed Rin as a very strong, if not very disturbed young girl who managed to battle her way through the academy and show incredible fortitude and determination in the face of great adversity. The plot continues to follow Rin through the academy and into the big wide-world. One of the issues I struggled with was that the initial book seemed to have a lack of direction. Obviously it was building up to these grand events later in the book, but it was very difficult in the early stages to understand what these were going to be or quite where the book was going. This was both good and bad because the unpredictable element is exciting, but it made me feel like there wasn't a strong continuous plot in places, and that Kuang was just writing and seeing where the writing took her.

Things I really liked:
- Shamanism/God Mythology - I haven't read too many books that have dealt with Shamanism and God mythology in this way and it was a really interesting development throughout the book. I wish we'd learnt more about some of the gods and the history of shamanism as it always felt like Kuang was just brushing the surface with some of her stories. I wanted more history and more depth to everything.

- Jiang - I really liked him as a character, although he did make me sad. I can't say more without spoiling it for other people.

- The friendships -

this book had no romance (can I get a hell yeah). There were moments where I thought Kuang was going to draw it out but it never happened and I was so thankful. It was so not relevant to the plot.

The friendships she crafted were brilliant. The switching between all the relationships; were they enemies, allies, foes, friends. The suspicion, the concern and the love all of it was crafted so well. I actually grew to like many of the characters I thought I would despise and I'm still hoping (perhaps in vain) they will reappear in the second installment of this series.

- I also really appreciated that Kuang didn't shy away from the horrors of warfare, from the brutalities that humanity commits and she really showed how human choice impacts on everything by the end of the book. It was a very stark message for a fantasy book, but it was fantastically executed. I would say though, this book has huge trigger points surrounding torture, self-harm, rape, violence and all kinds of horrid events.

Things I struggled with:
-Plot pacing - as I mentioned previously I wasn't really sure where the story was going for most of the initial novel and it seemed to be building with no clear initial direction which made it feel a little like a runaway train.

-Altan - he was a very controversial character and I'm still not sure how I feel about him.

-The darkness of the book - at the same time as applauding Kuang for doing this at moments I wanted to stop and to not read any more or turn the page to find out what would happen next.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, and I thought it was going to be a new favourite of the year. I did really enjoy it, but there were just a few little niggly points that stop me from rating it 5 stars. It is one of the best books I've read recently and made me really want to sit and read all the time again, but sadly not quite five stars!

*SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ OTHER BOOKS IN SERIES*

I feel very confused in opinions right now about how much I liked The Beast. The first quarter to half was quite dull, and I didn't really get the point of the whole Rhage/Mary storyline. I did guess where the eventual direction of the storyline was going as admittedly I felt like it was something that was a big warning bell in book two. The second half got much better as lots of events happened and big changes took place, that were kind of like "DAMN WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN". The problem was, even though there were some really BIG changes to the whole big-wide-world plot that Ward has going on, this book seemed to have generally lost a bit of the magic and the excitement of the BDB series. I'm not sure why.

I actually thought most of the Rhage/Mary storyline was handled really well; there was no ridiculous drama or tension that was forced between them. This was a plausible issue and at no point did they seem to hate each other. I liked that we had this solid foundation in their relationship (which I always loved), which didn't get ruined. That was important.

In terms of secondary storylines, this one was just a "CAN WE GET TO LAYLA AND XCOR ALREADY". The beating around the bush is killing me. The Layla POVs were admittedly a little dry in this one because we didn't really get any Layla/Xcor relationship

Mainly the whole Xcor being kidnapped by the BDB and him being in a coma, I just wanted Layla to rock up and be like YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE THIS MAN, SET HIM FREE. That didn't happen, so obviously I was disappointed.

Assail reappeared in a much bigger way in this instalment, and I'm eager for his story and to find out what happens with Marisol. He didn't quite have the same sexy, broody air he'd had in previous instalments, but I think that was mostly down to the drug usage. Then there was a new human introduction, Jo, who was very boring. She seems super dull right now, and I wasn't really feeling a interesting vibe from her.

Overall, I liked the return to Rhage/Mary, more than I did the Wrath/Beth book, and the overall events were big events for the series, that seem to be building us up to a (dare I say it) end of the series. However, I wasn't really sold on the overall execution of this book. There were lots of great elements, and I felt very emotional by the end. However, sadly I think Ward needs to do something AMAZING with The Chosen to rekindle my love. I would say this was arguably stronger than The King for plot points, but execution/style wise, feels like one of the weakest books. After The Shadows felt like a return to form with Ward's storylines and execution, this was a tad disappointing.

Why the hype..
This book was very average.
The MC, Mac is one of the most annoying,vapid characters known to man. The other characters don't get much better, I didn't particularly like any of them.
The storyline itself had promise with mystery (to a degree, most obvious plot point later in the story).
I'll probably read book 2 to see if this can be redeemed at all, but I really don't get the hype. So many better UF books out there!