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samantha_randolph
When Delilah Marlow is coerced into visiting the famous Metzger’s Menagerie, she feels horrible for all of the mythological creatures/people in the show, ranging from oracles to werewolves to sirens. When she witnesses a particularly brutal treatment of an exhibitor, Delilah discovers she isn’t as human as she thought. Taken into custody and then sold to the Menagerie itself, Delilah discovers that fighting for freedom, for herself and the others at the menagerie, will take more strength than she ever imagined.
I am hopelessly in love with Rachel Vincent’s Menagerie. The writing grips the reader tight from the beginning, squeezing harshly in the horrifying scenes of inhumane treatment and torture, and doesn’t loosen up until the last page is turned. The dark, evocative emotion churning through this story is not for the faint of heart, as fitting with such serious themes. Vincent captures the wide spectrum of humanity with an unflinching narration, likely leaving readers shocked at how easy it is to imagine a world like Delilah’s where her society no longer considers her human. Yet, as bloody (but not too gory) and scary as the story may turn, themes of justice, kindness, and family prevail among them and offer glimpses of hope for humanity in the darkest times.
The relationship, which I would be reluctant to label romantic, between Delilah and Gallagher is powerful and intense. The lines of distrust and unease are meshed right alongside a kind of honorable friendship and mutual hunger for some sort of justice. There are several twists in their stories that made me not only gasp, but also nearly drop the book in surprise. The secondary characters are just as complex and remarkable, and the wide range of mythological creatures is highly impressive.
With the sometimes brutal violence and heavy themes, I would recommend this for older teens and up. Menagerie is a frightening, frantic, and richly sublime story that claws your heart while whispering promises in your ear, and I can’t recommend this masterpiece by Rachel Vincent enough.
Review originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/18815-menagerie
I am hopelessly in love with Rachel Vincent’s Menagerie. The writing grips the reader tight from the beginning, squeezing harshly in the horrifying scenes of inhumane treatment and torture, and doesn’t loosen up until the last page is turned. The dark, evocative emotion churning through this story is not for the faint of heart, as fitting with such serious themes. Vincent captures the wide spectrum of humanity with an unflinching narration, likely leaving readers shocked at how easy it is to imagine a world like Delilah’s where her society no longer considers her human. Yet, as bloody (but not too gory) and scary as the story may turn, themes of justice, kindness, and family prevail among them and offer glimpses of hope for humanity in the darkest times.
The relationship, which I would be reluctant to label romantic, between Delilah and Gallagher is powerful and intense. The lines of distrust and unease are meshed right alongside a kind of honorable friendship and mutual hunger for some sort of justice. There are several twists in their stories that made me not only gasp, but also nearly drop the book in surprise. The secondary characters are just as complex and remarkable, and the wide range of mythological creatures is highly impressive.
With the sometimes brutal violence and heavy themes, I would recommend this for older teens and up. Menagerie is a frightening, frantic, and richly sublime story that claws your heart while whispering promises in your ear, and I can’t recommend this masterpiece by Rachel Vincent enough.
Review originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/18815-menagerie
Lirael was taken as a child to be trained to eventually kill and replace her duplicate on a different Earth. The Sleepers are intent on being the ones not to disappear from the Earths, and she is one of the soldiers in their plan. But when Lira arrives at her new home, she will discover that not everything is what it seems, and sometimes being the perfect solider doesn’t equate to real happiness.
THE UNQUIET has one of the most unique premises and protagonists that I’ve ever read. I love how the author creates the idea of two parallel Earths and the consequences that might happen when you have two of everything. Lira is one of my favorite protagonists, and she has phenomenal development. She’s a dark character, often cold, and there’s a seriousness to her that shows a quiet ferocity. She doesn’t know how to connect with people well because of the environment she was trained in, yet even she can’t help a few people carving a place for themselves in her heart.
Though the romance is a minor part of the story, I couldn’t help falling head over heels for it. It’s slow, sometimes sad, but very powerful and sincere. I hoped for the best for them every step of the way. Their relationship, even before it becomes romantic, is kind of about choosing your own family when you have none of your own or when your family isn’t really a family.
The action can be a little slow at times, but it’s well worth it. Every plot point is intricately built up, laying all the necessary steps before the next big action. By the time readers get to the end, they are sure to have a book hangover they won’t forget.
Mikaela Everett tells a magnificent story of emotion, strength, and internal battles in THE UNQUIET. This is a story to sink into slowly and to leave with a new but not uncomfortable heaviness of having read a really good and deep novel.
Review originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/18366-the-unquiet-1
THE UNQUIET has one of the most unique premises and protagonists that I’ve ever read. I love how the author creates the idea of two parallel Earths and the consequences that might happen when you have two of everything. Lira is one of my favorite protagonists, and she has phenomenal development. She’s a dark character, often cold, and there’s a seriousness to her that shows a quiet ferocity. She doesn’t know how to connect with people well because of the environment she was trained in, yet even she can’t help a few people carving a place for themselves in her heart.
Though the romance is a minor part of the story, I couldn’t help falling head over heels for it. It’s slow, sometimes sad, but very powerful and sincere. I hoped for the best for them every step of the way. Their relationship, even before it becomes romantic, is kind of about choosing your own family when you have none of your own or when your family isn’t really a family.
The action can be a little slow at times, but it’s well worth it. Every plot point is intricately built up, laying all the necessary steps before the next big action. By the time readers get to the end, they are sure to have a book hangover they won’t forget.
Mikaela Everett tells a magnificent story of emotion, strength, and internal battles in THE UNQUIET. This is a story to sink into slowly and to leave with a new but not uncomfortable heaviness of having read a really good and deep novel.
Review originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/18366-the-unquiet-1
Gypsy Beaumont has been waiting for her thirteenth birthday for a long time. She can’t wait to find out what special fun her savvy, also known as her magical ability, will be. When her birthday arrives, her savvy turns out to be something she never expected; she can see visions of the past and future! Gypsy barely has time to adjust to her savvy when her grandmother comes to stay with her family, and everyone’s savvies start changing, and one rescue mission will turn into a night of mishap and adventure.
What I Loved:
Switch is an adorable story with incredibly important themes. Ingrid Law captures the complex emotions and circumstances that come with living with a grandparent with Alzheimer’s, as well as developing a touching friendship between Gypsy and a young boy who loves makeup.
Though I haven’t read Law’s previous two books in the Savvy companion series, everything is mostly explained in the beginning, so readers can easily pick this one up without having prior background information. Gypsy’s narration is sweet and humorous, and the adventure she goes on to save her grandmother is one you won’t forget.
What Left Me Wanting More:
Though the plot is dynamic and engaging, some of the nuances between major points are slow. This makes the story drag in areas, though readers who enjoy a slower unfolding should have no issue with that.
Final Verdict:
Though this book isn’t my favorite, Switch is full of delightfully sweet moments, hilarious adventures, and crucial themes. Ingrid Law has a clear talent for unique stories, and I definitely want to read more of her works.
Originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/kidsfiction/18814-switch
What I Loved:
Switch is an adorable story with incredibly important themes. Ingrid Law captures the complex emotions and circumstances that come with living with a grandparent with Alzheimer’s, as well as developing a touching friendship between Gypsy and a young boy who loves makeup.
Though I haven’t read Law’s previous two books in the Savvy companion series, everything is mostly explained in the beginning, so readers can easily pick this one up without having prior background information. Gypsy’s narration is sweet and humorous, and the adventure she goes on to save her grandmother is one you won’t forget.
What Left Me Wanting More:
Though the plot is dynamic and engaging, some of the nuances between major points are slow. This makes the story drag in areas, though readers who enjoy a slower unfolding should have no issue with that.
Final Verdict:
Though this book isn’t my favorite, Switch is full of delightfully sweet moments, hilarious adventures, and crucial themes. Ingrid Law has a clear talent for unique stories, and I definitely want to read more of her works.
Originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/kidsfiction/18814-switch
Short and Sweet:
Oh look, there goes my heart getting caught in the pages of another Rosamund Hodge book.
To Elaborate….
I always say reviews for books I love are the hardest for me to write, and that is 100% true for Crimson Bound. Sabrina was SO SWEET to grab an ARC of this for me at a book event longgggg ago, and I really debated over when to read it. I got it right before starting work on my thesis, in which I used Hodge’s other book, Cruel Beauty, and I was worried I would get the stories mixed up or that it would influence me in a way I didn’t want. So, I ended up making a decision to not read any other books from the authors I used in my thesis while working on my thesis (authors were Hodge, Alex Flinn, and Stacey Jay), AND I wouldn’t read any other Beauty and the Beast retellings because that was the subject of my thesis.
Now, I am exhausted and thrilled that my thesis is turned in, and I can FINALLY catch up with these authors, and I had to start with Crimson Bound. I was super nervous going into it because Cruel Beauty has had such an impact on me that I was worried Crimson Bound might not be as good. After literally sitting in my room for hours not able to put this book down, I am happy to say that I loved Crimson Bound every bit as much as Cruel Beauty, though in different ways.
If you’ve read Cruel Beauty, you know it focuses very heavily on the romance, since B&tB is a romance. Crimson Bound is a retelling/mash up of Little Red Riding Hood and The Girl with No Hands, so while it has romance (and um, hella sexual tension, heck yes), the action/adventure is the center of this show. The fighting scenes remind me of the ones in Throne of Glass in terms of intensity/badass warriorness. I LOVE the world building and the mystery behind the Great Forest. Everything comes together so beautifully, and I gasped out loud several times with my mouth hanging open like a fish after some of the twists.
More than anything, what makes my heart absolutely swell with happiness in this book (and in Cruel Beauty) is that we have a female protagonist who is not so nice. Rachelle makes some bad decisions, some hard decisions, and some highly morally ambiguous decisions, and I love her all the more for it. In Hodge’s stories, there is never a main character who is anything less than thought-provokingly complex and neither wholly good nor wholly bad. I want to see so many characters like Rachelle who are strong, wicked, fierce, loyal, and hopeful.
This book has turned me into a puddle of feels, and I can’t recommend it enough!
Originally posted at The Forest of Words and Pages: http://www.forestofwordsandpages.com/2015/10/review-crimson-bound-by-rosamund-hodge/
Oh look, there goes my heart getting caught in the pages of another Rosamund Hodge book.
To Elaborate….
I always say reviews for books I love are the hardest for me to write, and that is 100% true for Crimson Bound. Sabrina was SO SWEET to grab an ARC of this for me at a book event longgggg ago, and I really debated over when to read it. I got it right before starting work on my thesis, in which I used Hodge’s other book, Cruel Beauty, and I was worried I would get the stories mixed up or that it would influence me in a way I didn’t want. So, I ended up making a decision to not read any other books from the authors I used in my thesis while working on my thesis (authors were Hodge, Alex Flinn, and Stacey Jay), AND I wouldn’t read any other Beauty and the Beast retellings because that was the subject of my thesis.
Now, I am exhausted and thrilled that my thesis is turned in, and I can FINALLY catch up with these authors, and I had to start with Crimson Bound. I was super nervous going into it because Cruel Beauty has had such an impact on me that I was worried Crimson Bound might not be as good. After literally sitting in my room for hours not able to put this book down, I am happy to say that I loved Crimson Bound every bit as much as Cruel Beauty, though in different ways.
If you’ve read Cruel Beauty, you know it focuses very heavily on the romance, since B&tB is a romance. Crimson Bound is a retelling/mash up of Little Red Riding Hood and The Girl with No Hands, so while it has romance (and um, hella sexual tension, heck yes), the action/adventure is the center of this show. The fighting scenes remind me of the ones in Throne of Glass in terms of intensity/badass warriorness. I LOVE the world building and the mystery behind the Great Forest. Everything comes together so beautifully, and I gasped out loud several times with my mouth hanging open like a fish after some of the twists.
More than anything, what makes my heart absolutely swell with happiness in this book (and in Cruel Beauty) is that we have a female protagonist who is not so nice. Rachelle makes some bad decisions, some hard decisions, and some highly morally ambiguous decisions, and I love her all the more for it. In Hodge’s stories, there is never a main character who is anything less than thought-provokingly complex and neither wholly good nor wholly bad. I want to see so many characters like Rachelle who are strong, wicked, fierce, loyal, and hopeful.
This book has turned me into a puddle of feels, and I can’t recommend it enough!
Originally posted at The Forest of Words and Pages: http://www.forestofwordsandpages.com/2015/10/review-crimson-bound-by-rosamund-hodge/
3.5/5 stars rounded up
"Winnie is a proud skeptic. She loves watching horror movies, and is admittedly excited to help her long lost Aunt Maggie with her fearsome reality show, but she is firm in her belief that none of it is real. While on set, Winnie and the group of young Demon Hunters hired for the show attempt to find the New Jersey Devil. Along the way, Winnie will discover that her family has something to do with the Devil, and magic may not be as unrealistic as she thought." Full review at Fresh Fiction: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=56682
"Winnie is a proud skeptic. She loves watching horror movies, and is admittedly excited to help her long lost Aunt Maggie with her fearsome reality show, but she is firm in her belief that none of it is real. While on set, Winnie and the group of young Demon Hunters hired for the show attempt to find the New Jersey Devil. Along the way, Winnie will discover that her family has something to do with the Devil, and magic may not be as unrealistic as she thought." Full review at Fresh Fiction: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=56682
