Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic

Author: V.E. Shwab

Series: Shades of Magic #1

Publisher: Tor Books

Publication Date: February 24, 2015

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy; Historical Fiction; Adventure; Adult for Young Adult

Pages: 398

Format: Hardback

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Kell is one of the last Travelers—rare magicians who choose a parallel universe to visit.

Grey London is dirty, boring, lacks magic, ruled by mad King George. Red London is where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London is ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. People fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. Once there was Black London—but no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see. This dangerous hobby sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to another world for her 'proper adventure'.

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive—trickier than they hoped.

Parallel universes, magic, London, London, and more London. How…intriguing.

Scene One: Red London. So saturated with magic, the inability to control the elements is considered odd. Scene Two: Grey London. Our London, aka the considerably less cool of all the Londons. Scene Three: White London. Oppressed by the cold, cruel, colorless Danes twins, this London is doomed to meet the unspeakable fate of Black London.

First of all, character building? Flawless. Lila, the bossest of characters I’ve read in 2016, was a hands down favorite (except, of course, the Danes twins, but we’ll get to that later…). Kell and Lila made the most fantastic team. The dynamic between the two was indispensable in creating the suspenseful nature withheld throughout the entirety of the novel. Let me explain:

Kell: Dreamy (emphasis on the dreammmyy). The pet of the Red London royal family. A good boy, except when he’s not. A curator of relics of other Londons and an unapologetically proficient black-market dealer, which happens to be a bit illegal. An Antari and one of the few remaining Travelers.

Lila: An all-round-good-for-everything badass. Dreams of adventure and escape, preferably of the pirate variety. A competent thief and incurably stubborn. Sarcastic, insensitive. A blast to read.

They fit together like two perfect pieces of a puzzle.

As they fight two villains who could possibly be two of my favorite villains of all time, they work in perfect harmony. I appreciate how Schwab doesn’t make their victory too easy. Those Danes twins were the most well-developed antagonists. With well-placed rumors of floors inlaid with the bones of their enemies, their wonderfully creepy appearances, and their insane, despicable dispositions, the Danes twins were entirely unlikeable (in the most likeable way).

Parallel universe settings are so easy to get wrong. Luckily, Schwab knows what she’s doing and does it right in every way. She cuts down on the potential confusion by focusing on one particular place throughout the entire novel with certain checkpoints to hold the three worlds together. She doesn’t go overboard with fifty worlds, nor does she lamely half-ass her attempt with only two worlds. She sticks with the nice, comfortable, simple number of 3 (or, technically, 4). She briefly mentions the differing surroundings of each world, but doesn’t go into too much depth.

Also, can we just take a second and look at this beautiful cover? Is it not stunning?

A Darker Shade of Magic was a job well-done. Every part of this book deserved the favorable reception it was given. I’ll be reading the sequel very soon.

“I’d rather die on an adventure than live standing still.”

A Gathering of Shadows

The Girl At Midnight Review

The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey

Title: The Girl at Midnight

Author: Melissa Grey

Series: The Girl at Midnight #1

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publication Date: April 28, 2015

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy; Romance; Young Adult

Pages: 357

Format: ARC

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Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.

Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.

Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, though if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.

But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.

How to describe this book…A Mortal Instruments copycat? Sure. Honorable attempt turned epic failure? Yes. Boring? Definitely.

Echo is a self-taught thief adopted by the magical race of the Avicen, a.k.a. The Bird People. The Avicen has had a raging, violent war with their counterparts, the Drakharin, a.k.a. The Lizard People, for centuries. The only hope for either race’s survival is the Firebird, a mystical object with enough power to stop the war or destroy everyone in it, and Echo is tasked with finding it. Her seemingly impossible mission will bring unlikely enemies and allies alike, and Echo will have to decide who she can and cannot trust.

Looking back on it now, it even sounds ridiculous.

From page one, I’ve felt as if I’d read it all before. Nothing was new, including the characters. Take the Mortal Instruments: one female human, several non-human friends, one guy in love with another guy in love with another guy in love with the female human, and one non-human sister-brother pair. The Girl at Midnight was exactly the same. Exactly. No difference what-so-ever. If I wanted to read another Mortal Instruments novel, I would’ve just read the original. I would’ve been more entertained the second time around than I was with the first time of The Girl at Midnight.

The romance desperately needed something. A lot of something. I could see the potential, but it was never realized and all around just made me sad. The “snark” and “wit” of the main character was rudimentary and unoriginal. The setting was uninteresting, as was the plot. I was never totally clear on the exact plot/goal of the characters. I lost focus about mid-way and never found it again. Overall, a whole-heartedly one star disappointment. 

The Shadow Hour

April 7, 2016

An Ember In The Ashes Review

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Title: An Ember in the Ashes

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Series: An Ember in the Ashes #1

Publisher: Razorbill

Publication Date: April 28, 2015

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy; Romance; Adventure; Young Adult

Pages: 446                     

Format: Hardcover

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Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

I was put off by this book for some odd reason. I think it was the word “ashes.” Apparently, I’m naturally repulsed by the word “ashes,” especially in book titles. I can only guess it’s because of past traumatic experiences.  Thank the Powers That Be that I had a momentary lapse in judgement and decided to read this book.

Laia and Elias live different lives. Their paths were never meant to cross. They should have nothing in common. But they do, and there’s nothing they can do to stop the attraction between them, no matter how much they know they should. One is a soldier, and one is a slave. One rules over the other. Mutual hatred is expected. Elias is a soldier, top of his class, son of the terrifying Commander. Everything about him should scream “Martial Empire!”, and yet, it doesn’t. He resents his family, his past. He is a slave to his own duty, and he only wants freedom. When a search for the new Emperor pulls Elias even deeper the realm of the Martials, he can no longer run. He must fight. Laia is a princess of the rebellion, expected to continue her family’s line of duty in fighting against the oppressive Martial Empire, but she is unexpectedly reluctant to fight for what her parents died for. When her brother is captured, Laia is willing to do anything to retrieve the only family she has left, including joining the Rebellion singlehandedly built by her parents. She is tasked with spying in the heart of the Martial Empire. She may get everything she’s ever wanted including her brother and her freedom, or she may die a torturous death at the hands of the Commander.

When you look at the cover, what are your first thoughts? Mine were simple: 1. Cool. 2. Post-Apocalyptic. 3. Too many words. 4. Fire. 5. Stereotypical Armageddon, maybe with a pinch of not-so-well-written romance. Five thoughts in all, and none of them were correct. Yet another example of that cliché about book covers and judging and whatnot. But seriously, I was so wrong, it wasn’t even funny. First of all, this book was more than cool. It was fantastic. It was more like a fiery pit of awesome than just “cool”. Secondly, it wasn’t even post-apocalyptic. It was futuristic yet kind of medieval and magic-y and different and intriguing. Thirdly, the book didn’t have too many words. It didn’t have enough. Fourth, fire really wasn’t a big deal. And lastly, it was not stereotypical, or Armageddon-like, and the romance was definitely not badly written and did not exist in a quantity that can be described as a “pinch.” So, in conclusion, all my preconceptions about this book were absolutely wrong.

The characters were so great. Mysterious yet understandable, complex yet simple. The romance was die-hard intoxicating and mind-controlling. You know the kind: the one where you walk around all day thinking about nothing but the complicated romance and the characters, and you constantly have to remind yourself it’s a book and you obsessing over it won’t change anything. Except, this one was a little different. Picture this: you’re at a basketball game and you’re cheering for a team, then suddenly, out of nowhere, the team you were rooting for changes into a completely different team, and even though you have no idea who they are, you continue rooting for them until you’re full heartedlly cheering them on. Then, BAM, you’re back to the original, and you’re still cheering like an idiot because you have no idea what else to do. Then there’s a giant puff of smoke and you’re in an entirely different game with entirely different teams, and now you’re really an idiot because you have no idea what’s going on, and you’re still cheering. It’s like that. But worse. It’s so great. Eventually, you familiarize yourselves with the teams and pick a favorite. I’m Team Elias all the way, baby. I can understand the other side, though. Actually, I take that back. I don’t get anyone who’s not on Team Elias because Elias ROCKS.

Read the book. You won’t regret it. I’ll even bet ten bucks that this is the next big thing. It’s that good. 

TBA

April 26, 2016

Perilous Sea Review

The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas

Title: The Perilous Sea

Author: Sherry Thomas

Series: The Elemental Trilogy #2

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Publication Date: September 16, 2014

Genre: Fiction; Historical Fiction; Adventure; Fantasy; Romance; Young Adult

Pages: 414                     

Format: Hardcover

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After spending the summer away from each other, Titus and Iolanthe (still disguised as Archer Fairfax) are eager to return to Eton College to resume their training to fight the Bane. Although no longer bound to Titus by a blood oath, Iolanthe is more committed than ever to fulfilling her destiny—especially with the agents of Atlantis quickly closing in.

Soon after arriving at school, though, Titus makes a shocking discovery, one that makes him question everything he previously believed about their mission. Faced with this devastating realization, Iolanthe is forced to come to terms with her new role, while Titus must choose between following his mother's prophecies—and forging a divergent path to an unknowable future.

Yep. Sherry Thomas still got it.

Iolanthe (how do you say that? EYE-OH-LANthhh? EEE-uh-LAWNT? I wish I knew. It would make the book so much better if I wasn’t always thinking “DAMMIT WHAT IS THAT NAME?”) and Titus come back together after spending a summer apart after the crazy events of The Burning Sky. Iolanthe is still acting under the pseudonym of Archer Fairfax. She and Titus continue to work together, reading spell books, practicing magic, and a little something extra, if you catch my drift (*wink wink*). Things are going good until Titus decides to have a realization that will ruin all their plans and their relationship. Way to go, Titus. You put the im- in impossible romance. Iolanthe aka Archer can no longer serve the purpose she was originally promised. Can she recover from being tossed aside after everything that’s happened?

I had doubts. It had been a while since I read The Burning Sky, and I wasn’t entirely convinced that I would remember all that I was expected to remember. Like when you go back to school after summer break. Unrealistic expectations of you retained from last year’s chemistry class is inevitable. Lucky for me, this book was very different from a chemistry class (thank God). The story was surprisingly easy to catch up on with skillfully placed reminders.

The sequel was just as fantastic as the first book. The key to a successful series is to write the separate installments as separate stories with their own personalized story lines. Otherwise, readers are stuck with a boring continuation of a story to which they already said goodbye. Readers want new, exciting, suspense. They can’t have that if they are caught into reading a prolonged conclusion to a washed-up plot line. Sherry Thomas knew this and played it up. Her Perilous Sea story was exciting and filled with its own set of problems. I was just as entertained with the dazzling magic in this book as the previous.

The characters were built and written fully. They were well rounded and complex. Their romance was held back just enough to keep my intrigue and left me wanting just the right amount of more. Respectfully clever and hard to put down, this novel an overall success. With the bar set to sky-scraping heights, I can’t help wonder if Sherry Thomas can keep up with the standards she’s set for the final book.

The Immortal Heights

October 13, 2015

Alias Hook Review

Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen

Title: Alias Hook

Author: Lisa Jensen

Series: None

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Publication Date: July 8, 2014

Genre: Fiction; Historical Fiction; Fantasy; Retelling; Romance; Adventure; Adult

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

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"Every child knows how the story ends. The wicked pirate captain is flung overboard, caught in the jaws of the monster crocodile who drags him down to a watery grave. But it was not yet my time to die. It's my fate to be trapped here forever, in a nightmare of childhood fancy, with that infernal, eternal boy."

Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan's rules. From the glamour of the Fairy Revels, to the secret ceremonies of the First Tribes, to the mysterious underwater temple beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain.

With Stella's knowledge of folk and fairy tales, she might be Hook's last chance for redemption and release if they can break his curse before Pan and his warrior boys hunt her down and drag Hook back to their neverending game. Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen is a beautifully and romantically written adult fairy tale.

When someone said “Peter Pan,” I used to conjure up feelings of warmth and love. Now, whenever someone brings up Peter Pan, the only words that come to mind are: “Dammit, that annoying little twit.” 

A twisted retelling of Peter Pan for adults, this story shines a light on the classic fairy tale of Peter Pan never seen before. James Hook is an adult in the rotten, cursed world of Neverland, and he is doomed to be haunted by that horrible Peter Pan over and over again. He can’t die, but his men can, and he must live with the burden of watching them fight to the death in an endless cycle. Only he can survive, even when what he wants more than anything is to die. He’s a living, breathing pawn of Peter Pan’s game, and there is no way out. Until, Stella Parish decides to make a surprise (and forbidden) appearance. Unsure of how she got to the world of Neverland, Hook is sure she was sent there for a reason. And that reason may just be his escape.

I never realized it until after reading this book that Peter Pan is a spoiled, ungrateful little brat who is too bloodthirsty for his own good. I love kids, but Peter Pan is not a kid. He is a monster who exists only to torture Captain Hook. Think about it: in the story, Peter Pan cuts off Hook’s hand and then feeds it to a crocodile. It’s kind of sick, actually.

Despite all the times I was this close to chucking this book across the room whenever Pan ruined things, I understood on some level the importance of his character and Hook’s characters. While they seem like foils in the original story, in this retelling, you see that they are the same. Pan is Hook, and Hook is, on some level, Pan. They are afraid of the same things and have different types of crippling innocence and guilt. They are both scared of growing up and moving on, but in the end, at least one of them learns how to do just that.

Everything was so unexpected and even when it seemed wrong, it worked out to be so right. There was the dark underbelly of Peter Pan, and then there was the soft side of the scary Captain Hook. You could finally understand his defeat, his loss of life when he was stolen and taken into the cruel world of Neverland. It was impressive, the emotion I felt alongside the characters of the story.

I was astounded by the artful remastering of J.M. Barrie’s classic, the phenomenal attention to detail in its remaking, and the addictive story line that hardly allowed me a moment’s break. This is still a tale of growing up, but it is also a story of defying your destiny.  

Atlantia Review

Atlantia by Allie Condie

Title: Atlantia

Author: Ally Condie

Series: None

Publisher: Dutton Children’s

Publication Date: October 28, 2014

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy; Futuristic; Dystopia; Romance; Young Adult

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

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Can you hear Atlantia breathing?

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.

Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.

Ugh. I just—ugh. UGHHHGHHGHG.

(Me at the first sighting of Atlantia)

Me: Ooh pretty book. (Strokes cover a little creepily)

Book: Read me. I’m fantastic, I promise.

Me: I don’t know…

Book: I’m a futuristic romance with sirens and other cool stuff…come on, you know you want to.

Me: (with pitiful naiveté) Okay!

It was pathetic. And it’s never happening again. I am so done with sirens.

Rio wants to leave the Below more than anything. She’s dreamt of living in the sands of the Above all her life, but in the few seconds it takes for her sister to abandon her in the underwater city of Atlantia, Rio is stuck. Forever. Dun dun DUUUN. She seeks the help of a stranger to get her above ground, to find her sister who obviously has a perfectly reasonable reason for leaving Rio there to wither away alone. Obviously. Then there’s a little romance and blah blah blah until it finally ends.

I was so bored. I was bored writing the summary. I was bored reading the actual book. Every time I opened that stupid awful thing that is not a novel, I died a little in side. The book nerd in me started to cry.

If you haven’t already figured it out, I hated this book.

First of all, the names. THE NAMES. We get it, there’s lots of water. You don’t have to name your characters after it! We get the picture. I mean, Bay? Rio? Oceana? REALLY?? Can we have a little subtlety please? Apparently not.

The writing was even worse. Apparently young adult readers need to be talked to like they’re fourth graders, and they need to like it. If you haven’t noticed, the best young adult books speak to adults and teens with a level of intelligence both can understand and enjoy. Taking away all the talent and skill that comes with writing a novel does not make it better. It makes it awful. Period. Exclamation point.

I didn’t even like the idea of mermaids and sirens in the first place. I’ve never read a book that actually did it well, and apparently I never will. The only reason I read this book in the first place is because it sounded similar to a book called the Dark Life, which I actually truly enjoyed. It was nothing like that. The world-building was nonexistent and the explanations for character’s actions were stupid.

After reading this book, I wanted to throw it away and forget I ever wasted time on that plotless, interest-less, talent-less excuse for literature. Honestly, you’d think publishers would figure out that things need to be of high quality before they sell it.

The story line was swamped with mediocrity, the romance was confusing and unrealistic, the characters had to be purposefully bad because no one could do that accidentally, and the overall book gave me a raging headache. But hey, it’s kind of my fault right? I should’ve just stopped reading, but stubborn me wanted to finish that God-awful book. I don’t know why, but I did. Well, I’m never doing that again. 

The Inventor's Secret Review

The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Cremer

Title: The Inventor’s Secret

Author: Andrea Cremer

Series: The Inventor’s Secret #1

Publisher: Philomel Books

Publication Date: April 22, 2014

Genre: Fiction; Fantasy; Historical Fiction; Steampunk; Romance; Young Adult

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover
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In this world, sixteen-year-old Charlotte and her fellow refugees have scraped out an existence on the edge of Britain’s industrial empire. Though they live by the skin of their teeth, they have their health (at least when they can find enough food and avoid the Imperial Labor Gatherers) and each other. When a new exile with no memory of his escape  or even his own name seeks shelter in their camp he brings new dangers with him and secrets about the terrible future that awaits all those who have struggled has to live free of the bonds of the empire’s Machineworks.

The Inventor’s Secret is the first book of a YA steampunk series set in an alternate nineteenth-century North America where the Revolutionary War never took place and the British Empire has expanded into a global juggernaut propelled by marvelous and horrible machinery. Perfect for fans of Libba Bray's The Diviners, Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel, ScottWesterfeld's Leviathan and Phillip Reeve's Mortal Instruments.

Am I the only one that’s getting sick of the whole “steampunk” fad that’s going around right now?

It’s the nineteenth century—around the time the Revolutionary War should’ve happened but didn’t. Instead, the British have expanded into the dictatorial leaders us Americans always knew they would become, and things are worse than ever—especially the wealth and power of the rich.  And of course, they’ve invented super robots with terrifying powers and scary tools to track down and punish the Patriots. Charlotte is the younger sister of the one of the leaders of the rebellion, and she’s predictably juvenile and short-sighted. Her immaturity grated on my nerves, and she just never seemed to take a hint. And no one likes someone who can’t take a hint.

It’s not that I’m against steampunk. It’s just that it’s been talked about ad nauseam. Like, come on, get a new idea. It’s no longer cool. It’s been used too many times, and it’s getting old. Find some other type of “punk” to overuse and drive into the ground.

Usually I have a blind spot for romance. If a bad story has a really well formed romance, I usually give it more credit than it deserves. I really shouldn’t, but I can’t help it. In this case, the lovey stuff was good, but it wasn’t enough. It was too quick and too predictable. First of all, we started off with the whole “if he bullies you, it’s just because he likes you” thing going on. Because, as we all know, if a boy likes you, he has to be mean to you. I feel like the author tried to do a fake out on the reader of where the romance was leading, but failed miserably and just ended up falling on her face in the attempt. It was obvious. Strike one. Secondly, it happened too fast without any build up. Not enough conflict. It was too easy, and it’s really not fun to read a romance that’s too easy. It makes the readers feel like they didn’t work for it. What’s the point of continuing to read if we already know that boy gets the girl and good defeats evil? I mean, come on. Give me a little of anxiety while reading. Emotion make the world go round after all.  

So there were bad things. There were also good things too. There was humor. Point for Cremer. And the cover was pretty cool too. Not the best, but pretty cool, but only this cover. The other covers suck. And, if I’m being completely honest, the plot line was not a total fail. It was, however, one that I’ve read a million times and probably could recite in my sleep. Can we thing of another story line besides a tom boy turning into lady and getting the guy? And please, for the love of God, do not put it against a steampunk backdrop, whatever you do. I beg you.

Overall, it wasn’t so bad. Let’s just say it’s not my go-to book for recommendations. And I probably won’t read the sequel. 

The Conjurer’s Riddle

November 3, 2015

Afterworlds Review

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Afterworlds

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Series: None

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication Date: September 23, 2014

Genre: Fantasy; Contemporary; Supernatural; Realistic Fiction; Young Adult

Pages: 599

Format: Hardcover

goodreads

Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings… 

Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.

Ohmygod, this book was so bad. Soooo bad. Like, really, really painful. Honestly, how I even finished it I have no idea.

I’m not even going to rewrite the summary. I really do not feel like reliving it.

It’s almost like Westerfeld couldn’t exactly decide between two stories: one, a paranormal romance about a girl who can pass into the Underworld, and two, a young author learning to “discover herself,” so he smooshed them together and called it a book. Too bad that both were absolutely awful.

I’ll start with the paranormal story, aka the fake story that was serving as a fake manuscript. It was actually the lesser of the two horrible evils because this one actually had a plot line. You’re probably thinking, “But wait, don’t all published stories at least have a discernable plot line?” I was once like you, all naïve in thinking that publishers would at least make sure their book had some plot to it, but oh contraire, my dear reader, that apparently is not a requirement. This one did however have a sliver of a conflict and just a bit of a standard plot line. And that is the only good thing I can say about it. Throughout the entirety of this book, all the main character’s fellow author friends kept saying how good her story was and how creative and how amazing. Lies. All of them. The characters left much to be wanted and the story line was utterly atrocious. The world building was virtually nonexistent and did Westerfeld forget how to write dialogue? And even if I wanted to like it, I couldn't because I was being constantly interrupted and reminded that what I was reading was in fact not a real story. How am I supposed to submerse myself in a story when I know it's fake? I’ve read Westerfeld before, and I once was a huge fan of his. I really liked Uglies and The Leviathan series, but this book? He would’ve been better off just not writing it.

Now for the realistic fiction part. Oh god. There were parts in this book where I just all together skipped these sections because I could not stand the main character. She was whiny and did nothing to help herself. And what about using all of your money from a manuscript (that sucks by the way, read above) and spending it on living in New York City instead of college is smart in any way? Seriously. How stupid is this character? And news flash, if you’re going to write a story, you might want to make sure that the story has a plot! Plot is important. Like, really important, and it does not exist here. There was literally no conflict. Absolutely none. I would’ve gotten the same effect if I had read a story about a deer skipping across a field. I was bored out of my mind, and I really saw no point in reading Afterworlds. If this story, no…book (there were no story elements whatsoever, so it really wasn’t a story now was it?) is based on Westerfeld’s real experiences of being published (although I doubt it by how ridiculously unrealistic it is), I feel bad for Westerfeld, and I also don’t see any reason why he should share with us his incredibly boring tale of publishing.  

Overall, two stories were shoved together in a haphazard fashion and without any consideration for the individual stories themselves. The cost was the quality of both stories, and the result was a book I would recommend to no one ever. Let’s just say I wish I had never picked up this horrifying excuse for a book. 

Lynburn Legacy #3: Unmade Review

Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan

Title: Unmade

Author: Sarah Rees Brennan

Series: Lynburn Legacy #3

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: September 23, 2014

Genre: Fantasy; Gothic; Romance; Fiction; Contemporary; Supernatural; Young Adult

Pages: 384

Format: Hardback

goodreads

A modern, magical twist on the Gothic romance and girl detective genres, the Lynburn Legacy books will appeal to fans of both Beautiful Creatures and the Mortal Instruments series.
 
Powerful love comes with a price. Who will be the sacrifice?

Kami has lost the boy she loves, is tied to a boy she does not, and faces an enemy more powerful than ever before. With Jared missing for months and presumed dead, Kami must rely on her new magical link with Ash for the strength to face the evil spreading through her town.

Rob Lynburn is now the master of Sorry-in-the-Vale, and he demands a death. Kami will use every tool at her disposal to stop him. Together with Rusty, Angela, and Holly, she uncovers a secret that might be the key to saving the town. But with knowledge comes responsibility—and a painful choice. A choice that will risk not only Kami’s life, but also the lives of those she loves most.
 
As coauthor with Cassandra Clare of the bestselling Bane Chronicles, Sarah Rees Brennan has mastered the art of the page-turner. This final book in the Lynburn Legacy is a wild, entertaining ride from beginning to shocking end.

Brennan, I had such high hopes. You have an idea for a fantastic series, you write an amazing book, a slightly underwhelming sequel, and then this? Seriously, what happened?

Jared has, once again, gotten himself stuck in a mighty difficult hole to dig himself out of. Kami, fettered with magical ties to the wrong boy (why she doesn’t just cut them, I don’t know; there is literally no reason for them to continue to be stuck together, and yet, they still are) must for the ten thousandth time save Jared’s suicidal ass. Rob Lynburn, like the good little evil villain he is, terrorizes the town and is strangely placated and not at all hostile. He could do so much worse, and why he doesn’t, I am again unsure. As protocol calls for, Kami and all of her friends wade through obstacle after terrible obstacle. As this magical and gothic series comes to a close, a totally predictable battle scene leaves one force victorious and the other entirely destroyed in this not-really-epic conclusion of the Lynburn Legacy.

If you can’t already tell, I was entirely unimpressed with this disappointing and seemingly rushed conclusion to a series that was once one of my favorites. In the summary, the tagline reads “Powerful love comes with a price. Who will be the sacrifice?” I can answer that: the readers. The readers are to be sacrifices along with the quality of this gothic romance.

One of the best things in this series had utterly departed in this conclusion. The humor, the thing that made this whole series worth it, was gone. Vanished. Nowhere to be found. In the first book, there were times when I was literally rolling on the floor, hysterically laughing almost to the point of crying. Let’s just say the most this book got out of me was a twitch of the lips. No matter how much I wanted the opposite, there was nothing other than that small amount of amusement.

If I’m going to be completely honest here, I’m just going to say that reading this book was like walking through a forest trying to enjoy the scenery during the night while it is foggy to point of zero visibility. I didn’t retain anything. Sure, my eyes saw the words, and I heard the sentences in my head, but did I actually pay attention? No. No, I most definitely did not. This was mostly due to the fact that I was being bored to tears. The whole middle section of the book was just like blah blah blah blah.

Rusty was stepped on and marched over during the whole book, and the author did a horrible job of trying to convince me that Jared was worth more than sweet Rusty. Anyone with a mass of gray matter between their ears can see that Jared is the hoity-toity prince of a rich family who goes off to the woods to sulk and generally be a jerk, and Rusty, amazing Rusty, is selfless (not all the time, but much more than Jared) and willing to be there for his friends (something Jared is frequently not). Kami, also, didn’t grow at all in Unmade. Instead, it’s like she regressed into a pathetic, little, helpless girl who was incapable of being the badass I was expecting. That was probably the biggest disappointment of all.

This series was just too strong in the beginning for me to accept this mediocre and sub-par novel as an adequate ending to an otherwise wonderful series. I closed the cover to this book, and all I could do was wonder what exactly happened to have caused the cataclysmic destruction of this phenomenal series. I would ask for Brennan to try again, but it’s already just too late. I’ve said my goodbyes to this series, and I won’t be sad if I never see this second-rate finale again.