Ahoy there me mateys! Another port plundered. Arrrr! I first heard about this author through her sea of shadows book and have also read that book’s sequel. So when I saw this novel in a bookstore while on shore, I just had to read it too. Sea of shadows was a fantasy. This book is a young adult thriller. What they both have in common is great characters, fun plots with fairly unpredictable twists, and excellent writing. So happy to have found this author.

The main characters Riley and Max form a great friendship bond of the type that just makes me super happy and I tend to be enthusiastic about. Max has a way of playing with words that is super fun. I am a Captain that enjoys etymology. The OED is one of my favorite things ever (side note – for a wonderful book about the compilation of the OED read the professor and the madman). Think about the difference between terrified, panic, anxious and words in between. There are a lovely couple of pages dealing with Max’s use of those words – pages 123 to 126 in my hardback copy to be exact. Riley is caring, courageous, flawed, and wonderful. Together the two are a great team.

Also all the young adults in the novel have some kind of problem be it PTSD, depression, etc. I thought the way the author handled those issues was deftly done. Mental illness is a serious problem and the novel did not belittle the characters with these issues or their concerns. I mean yes the illnesses had uses in the plot points but there still seemed to be care taken by the author to express the seriousness of both how the characters felt and were changed by diagnosis and questions about how our society perceives those people who have mental illness.

Overall I thought this was an excellent read and I cannot wait to read another novel by this excellent author.

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Ahoy there mateys! A young adult fantasy book for my lovelies . . .

I read this book in one evening and the time flew by. What a lovely unexpected young adult fantasy book. I had never heard of Kelley Armstrong and picked out this book on a whim. I am glad to now have made her acquaintance. Two fun strong female protagonists, excellent secondary characters, magical creatures, plot twists, and tension.

This world was set up with a feeling of Japanese culture and surroundings but still felt like its own world. For example, the swords in the book are described in a way that showcases the blades to be Japanese in origin, if you are familiar which such things, but the author deliberately decided to use the western terms. The only Japanese words used were some surnames. As someone with familiarity of Japanese art, literature and customs, I felt the author had a light and deft touch to provide cultural and Japanese flavor.

The main characters are twin sisters, Moria and Ashyn. I felt the author did a fantastic job showing their loving relationship and growth during the book. I loved the distinct points of view and how the girls made mistakes of judgment, but the sisters’ belief in one another stayed strong. They also have a giant mystical wildcat and a hound as companions. How cool is that? I am a sucker for larger than life intelligent magical animals in books. The book’s plot sets up lots of questions and ultimately answers very few, which was surprisingly a good thing. The end of the book was just about perfect in a “what the hell just happened” kind of way, and I am excited to read the next in the series when I can get my grubby mitts on a copy.

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