Book Review: Taken by David Massey

Taken

David Massey

ARC Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by the publishers to review this book favourably. The review is my own honest opinion (Whether or not it is agreed with).

Publisher: Chicken House

Published Date: March 6th 2014

Genre:  Adventure, Suspense

A young crew of five are toughing it out together, sailing around the world on a gruelling charity challenge. They are used to being pushed to the limit, but nothing could have prepared them for being kidnapped.

When they are taken hostage by a notorious warlord and his band of child soldiers, the trip of a lifetime turns into a one-way journey into the heart of the African jungle.

When hope is all you have, survival is all you can fight for...

Taken is most certainly a plot driven book. A group of young ex-soldiers whose service was cut short by debilitating injuries decide to show their new disabilities do not hinder them by taking a sailing trip around the world for charity. Rio, our main character, is hired as support crew as she is a sailing champion and they are required to have a certain number of able bodied members aboard or no sponsors.

As that stands there is of course a little tension as Rio is an outsider to this close knit group. Of course, when a group of child soldiers led by a terrorist attacks their ship and takes them captive every thing soon changes.

Taken is a pretty unique book among New Adult. I feel as if most NA and YA books are heavily character (or romance) driven as opposed to plot. Of course, due to the focus the main group of characters feels underdeveloped compared to what I am used to. Many of them are a bit one note, which didn't ring well with me. The most developed and layered character however, is the Empty Child. She soon becomes the mystery that I am most interested in and her story does not disappoint.

Along those lines for much of the book I was confused as to the age of our main characters. Rio seems to be sixteen or seventeen, but the others were all in military and trained. I don't know the age for military service in Great Britain and the book didn’t specifically say what their ages were. This may not bother most people, but I spent half the book wondering about it.

On the plus side, the environment and situations in this book is very well done. A couple of scenes had my heart dropping. Others filled me with grisly anticipation.

There also was an obvious amount of research done which I appreciated as a reader. I loved the inclusion of the runner blades for Ash as those are one of the cooler innovations I’ve come across. And all of their issues were different as was how they dealt with them. On top of that we have the horrifying description of child soldiers, fear and brainwashing and the wild animals the group comes across.

The scenes that hit me the most are definitely the ones with the hippo and the gorilla. Hippos are incredibly dangerous creatures so when one appeared I was loving the acknowledgement of this fact, but then when I realized the reason the hippo was attacking was because of the baby I died a little bit on the inside.

The gorilla as well, the way they hunted it down just to prove how amazing they were was sickening, though if they hadn’t our characters wouldn’t have been able to be found.

I loved the empty child’s revelation as well. I kind of guessed some parts, like that she was the daughter, but I didn’t realize that she was supposed to be Kony’s bride as well or the rest of her story. I loved her finding Ash and Rio at the end. I hope she goes with them to travel.

I think if you enjoy survival and adventure stories you will enjoy Taken. If you find plot more important to you than character development than I also recommend this book to you.

3.5 Bookmarks

Blog Tour and Kindle Giveaway: Shattering Halos by Sunniva Dee

Shattering Halos (Halos #1)

Sunniva Dee

Goodreads | Amazon | Tour 

Publication Date: February 24th 2014

Pages: 362

Genre:  Paranormal Romance, New Adult

I traded my death for love. I wasn’t given a choice. His decision has caught up with us, so now I am a living, breathing catalyst to war between Heaven and Hell.

The violations he committed saved my life. Since the collision, he’s appeared everywhere. In my hospital room, my school, even my house. He shows up in my paintings, my drawings, in all of my art projects. I can’t stop thinking about him.

He says his name is Gabriel, and he doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. He doesn’t know how I can see him or why he wants me in ways that should be impossible for a Celestial.

My obsession grows. I need him to hold me, kiss me—give all of himself. For every day he protects me, the consequences loom darker and taller. Soon, they’ll crash down on us.

The war is about to begin.

When Shattering Halos starts it is a story about obsession. It is frightening to read, even. For some it may seem romantic, but for me I didn't trust it one second. I was worried I wasn't going to like this book because of how much it put me off. Then our two main characters stop fighting and the story changes.

The last two-thirds of this book are an epic paranormal ride. As soon as the actual plot and stakes are introduced things become interesting. We start to learn about this world and become involved. Dee has a way with words. Her sentences compelled me and dragged me along. Her prose style in the beginning is different than most New Adult or Young Adult out there, less straight forward and little more dreamy and it ends up working for her well. The reader is made to feel like they are passing through a dream in that first third, which is very close to Gaia, our main character is feeling throughout it.

Cassiel is the strongest out of all the characters dealt with in the book. Unfortunately Gaia and Gabriel fall flat when portrayed on their own. It's their relationship and romance that is the true main character of the book and not them. Cassiel on the other hand is layered. He's the one that becomes the most interesting to follow. I would read more books with him as a main character.

Though I was better with the romance in the last parts of the book, there was still enough of that obsession making me feel a bit off-kilter (I think that Gabriel being and angel made this far worse, especially when it comes out that Gaia's body would pretty much crave his like a drug and having sex is dangerous yet she is constantly craving it. That's scary.), added to the fact that things worked out too easily for them (no punishment?) that I wish that their relationship would have had a tragic end some how. It would have fit so well with the story as well. An epic love beyond all love becomes even more epic if it is lost.

On another note, I loved reading a description of the battle. I could not get over how well Dee set it up and described it. It was a gorgeous bit of action, I wish I had gotten to read more battles in the story because of it.

I recommend this to people who enjoy stories of angels and fallen angels. I also believe that if you are into reading epic romances (even if some realism is lost in loo of epicness) this is definitely a book for you. It is not surprising that most of the 5 star reviews I've seen around laud the romance as being amazing.

3.5 Bookmarks

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ARC Book Review: Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon

Take Back the Skies

Lucy Saxon

ARC Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by the publishers to review this book favourably. The review is my own honest opinion (Whether or not it is agreed with).

Publication Date: June 3rd 2014

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Pages: 384

Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Young Adult

Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .

Take Back the Skies was written for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) when the author was sixteen. That bit of information is enough to make some people want to stay as far away from it as possible and others it causes them to pick it up immediately. As for me, I hadn't found out till I was about halfway through the book, but I personally had no trouble judging this without needing to involve her age in it.

The book has an intriguing world, a mixture of Disney's Treasure Planet and fantasy. It's got a pretty unique base. I can see bits of adventure, bits of contemporary, bits of fantasy, bits of historical and bits of science fiction. However, when it all comes to down to it, for me this book screams ADVENTURE.

And I have to say that's what Saxon did best in the book, the adventure. Even when things didn't make sense, or seemed rushed, or not exactly realistic (which did happen a few times) I found myself unable to get annoyed, because I was dragged right along the adventure of the story. I found myself rooting for them, holding me breath and wishing everything ended up okay.

The characters were a bit of a mixed bag. I didn't dislike any of them, and none felt terribly written or anything like that, but only some of them did I truly connect with, like they were missing something. It's hard to explain. At times it feels like this book is somewhere between professional and amateur. There are some parts to the writing that are absolutely brilliant, and other parts that feel unnatural or forced. The ending especially felt that way.

I guess if I judged it on the level of the author being young and thus lowering the bar then it's absoultely amazing. As it stands, I'd be very surprised if Saxon doesn't continue to improve. She is hands down an author to watch and I will certainly be picking up her future writing. There is just something about it that ensnared me.

Fox's death felt entirely way too anticlimatic and contrived. As soon as they "woke up" the mechanical boy I knew he was going to shoot Fox, and then I didn't even feel all that upset about it because it just felt so cliched. This is what brought down this book from four stars. The epilogue also felt unnecessary, I'd just rather read a sequel with her dealing with being a hero and James trying to win her over. I'd love to see her growing up and realizing a first love is a first love and sometimes isn't forever.

Also... ... I could be wrong about this, but wasn't it mentioned in the beginning of the book that Cat hadn't had her first period yet? Something about her not being a woman yet, and her being slow on the puberty thing? Whatever happened to that? I kept expecting her period starting and that giving her away (I don't care if that would have been cliched, it would have been a great scene, darnit).

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an Adventure story in the YA voice. There are definitely Treasure Island vibes during parts of the first half of the book. And, while this book might not be for everyone, I did enjoy the read quite a lot.

3.5 Bookmarks

Book Review: Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Lies Beneath

Anne Greenwood Brown

Publication Date: February 7th 2012

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Pages: 303

Genre:  Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans and absorb their positive energy. Usually, they select their victims at random, but this time around, the underwater clan chooses its target for a reason: revenge. They want to kill Jason Hancock, the man they blame for their mother's death.

It's going to take a concerted effort to lure the aquaphobic Hancock onto the water. Calder's job is to gain Hancock's trust by getting close to his family. Relying on his irresistible good looks and charm, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter Lily. Easy enough, but Calder screws everything up by falling in love--just as Lily starts to suspect there's more to the monster-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined, and just as the mermaids threaten to take matters into their own hands, forcing Calder to choose between them and the girl he loves.

One thing's for sure: whatever Calder decides, the outcome won't be pretty.

Okay, I'm not going to lie, I went into this book truly afraid I wasn't going to like it, that I would want to throw it across the room because the characters were angsting too much. You could say that I'm very wary when it comes to YA Paranormal, especially if I'm not an angst "Oh! I cannot be with you!" fan (just my personal preferences). I also am wary with male perspectives (that's pure personal bias that I'm not one-hundred percent proud of). So needless to say I started reading it with the lowest expectations. Thus, when I ended up with my eyes attached to the book and enjoying it, I was happily surprised.

Yes, Calder does seem a bit melodramatic for my taste, and Lily plays the part of sacrificial lamb. Yes, they cannot be and it is very dramatic, but there are a lot of other things that were more up my alley. Their love developed slowly, with Calder trying to charm her pants off because he's supposed to and Lily pretty much ignoring him. Calder's sisters are top notch villains with interesting and different personalities, and the idea and mythology of the mermaids is so well done. This idea is unique and actually had made me nervous to take my backpacking trip up the edge of Lake Superior a few months after I had finished it.

The writing has a rather poetic, dramatic (like stage play dramatic) tone to it that I like, and most of the side characters seem to have their own direction and depth to them that is unusual in a lot of books that worked to add a layer of realism to a paranormal tale.

I absolutely adored the twist at the end where it turns out that Lily's father is actually a merman and just never knew it, that technically Calder's foster mother was Lily's blood grandmother, making Lily some kind of mer-hybrid-thing. The thing is, is that Brown forshadowed this like crazy, but I didn't even suspect that was the truth and I think that proves how well she did it, foreshadowing can be a very thin line to walk (you don't want to make it too obvious, but you want reader's to realize the twist was ALWAYS there).

I recommend this book to people who love mermaid stories, but wants something a bit different, for people who love Lake Superior and for people who enjoy good villains. I am very happy that despite my reservations I chose to read this book.

3.5 Bookmarks

Book Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky

Veronica Rossi

Publication Date: January 3rd 2012

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 376

Genre:  Dystopia, Young Adult

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.

DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

For some reason this book was a rather hard to read, and what's frustrating is that I cannot pinpoint exactly why. I know that are a few things that didn't work so much for me, but usually I'm not thrown off that much.

The story is dystopian in a rather Uglies Trilogy type of way with the outsiders, the savages and the Insiders. At the same time we can't really figure out what is wrong with the Inside (other than the fact that no one pays attention to reality) governmental wise that's all that bad.

Outside on the other hand, it is very clear it is like a post-apocalyptical world. I think maybe this was one my biggest issues, it was almost as if Rossi tried to fit two entire world buildings into one story, that of the inside and that of the outside, and as soon as she tries to get us stable on what the inside is like she throws Aria outside and that's all that matters. The worlds are so different, it's hard to keep them both in one's head. I almost wish Rossi had spent a book completely on Aria on the inside and ended it with her being thrown out, so that she can spend a second book doing what she did this book.

On the other hand I love, love, love the title and the thought of it. Because of the aether, you never see the sky anymore, they live in a world of the never sky.

I also really enjoyed the outsiders and their abilities and how that all worked.

I was both surprised and disappointed that Aria ended up being a mixture. On one hand I wasn't really suspecting, but I see the clues that were there, on the other hand it just feels so clichéd. I like the idea of her being completely insider, yet being able to survive out there anyway.

Rereading this review, it does seem somewhat negative, but I did enjoy reading the prose in this story and I do think it was well written, it was probably just not for me. I recommend this to people who like the idea of having two completely different world in a dystopia.

3.5 Bookmarks

ARC Book Review: The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

The Assassin's Curse

Cassandra Rose Clarke

ARC Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by the publishers to review this book favourably. The review is my own honest opinion (Whether or not it is agreed with). 

Publication Date: October 2nd 2012

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Pages: 416

Genre:  Adventure, Young Adult

Ananna of the Tanarau is the eldest daughter of a highly-ranked family in the loose assortment of cutthroats and thieves in the Pirate's Confederation. When she runs away from the marriage her parents have arranged for her, they hire Naji the assassin to murder her.

When a mysterious woman in a dress shop offers her magical assistance for dealing with the assassin, Ananna accepts. She never went in much for magic herself -- she lacks the talent for it -- but she's not quite ready to die yet, either. Unfortunately, the woman's magic fails.

Fortunately, Ananna inadvertently saves the assassin's life in the skirmish, thus activating a curse that had been placed on him a few years earlier. Now, whenever her life is in danger, he must protect her -- or else he experiences tremendous physical pain. Neither Ananna nor the assassin, Naji, are pleased about this development.

Follow Ananna and Naji as they sail across the globe, visiting such mysterious places as the Court of Salt and Waves, in their desperate effort to lift the curse. Soon they will discover that only by completing three impossible tasks will they be able to set themselves free.

I went into this book going: Pirates and Assassins, just what I want to read. And indeed, there were many pirates and assassins, adventure and magic, desert and ocean and yet very clearly only the beginning.

The Assassin's Curse has a very strong "Pirates of the Carribean" feel to it, not because they both of pirates, but the way the adventure and magic are woven together instead make it so. I will admit the beginning started a bit shaky. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the book at that part, but as soon as our "hero" was introduced the novel truly kicked off I was hooked, completely forgetting that I ever doubted it.

The heroine is feisty and ruthless, while our assassin is ironically the more compassionate one, and not so ironically a calm, composed type. The prose is fast paced (which I why it was so shaky in the beginning) which fits the adventure theme completely and the descriptions made it easy to imagine the fantasy world that Clarke had created.

The book became completely and utterly addictive as soon as they got to the island. The magic and danger of the place took things up a notch and I kept (figuratively) turning page after page, so much that when I came to the end, I was so sure that it was a mistake, that there were a few more chapters at least, that my copy of the galley was incomplete.

I recommend this to people who want to read a fast-paced adventure novel, also to anyone who likes pirates and superstition.

3.5 Bookmarks

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Book Review: Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Deadly Little Lies (Touch #2)

Laurie Faria Stolarz

Review of Deadly Little Secret (Touch #1)

Publication Date: November 9th 2009

Publisher: Hyperion

Pages: 288

Genre:  Young Adult, Thriller

Since Ben abruptly left town, Camelia has been studying everything she can about psychometry, and wonders if Ben's abilities have somehow rubbed off on her.

Deadly Little Lies feels like the beginning of a series a lot more than Deadly Little Secret did. While the first book feels more standalone with some teases of things that might happen in the future, this book is full blown SOMETHING IS GOING ON, and we, as the readers, want to keep reading to figure out what is going on.

Camelia returns and this time she is starting to notice that when she just lets impulse sculpt for her she keeps sculpting things that are real or that come true and it's freaking her out. As she deals with that and Ben's game of hot and cold (I don't know any other character that plays it better than him…) we get glimpses of her aunt as a teenager through diary entries scattered throughout the book. I'm really glad that Stolarz found a way to continue the structure of having these separate special parts as it adds a layer of interest to the storytelling I adore.

I also enjoyed how things are stirred up in our brains, but not everything is revealed. We have enough to guess, but not enough to know 100% and the characters haven't had it revealed to them yet.

I also liked how they extended the first books plot into this one via an old character.

I have to admit I found it pretty obvious that it was Debbie from the start as soon as she had gotten back, because she had definitely lost a few, blaming Ben instead of her stupid friends who had pulled the pranks that had led to her accident. I did however enjoy her as a villain, she did some pretty scary things, possibly scaring than Matt in the first book did, because of the way they melded with Camelia's new ability, giving Debbie's "attacks" a supernatural feel to them, despite not being supernatural.

I am super picky with continuing books, but I think I will continue at least one more book in this series, if only for Aunt Alexia, I want to read Camelia figuring it out. The book is good, but I don't find it amazing, I also don't find it terrible either. I think it's well written. I do recommend this series for contemporary fans who like a bit of a thrill.

3.5 Bookmarks

Book Review: The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler

The Thirteenth Princess

Diane Zahler

Publication Date: September 9th 2009

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 256

Genre: Fairytale

Zita is not an ordinary servant girl--she's the thirteenth daughter of a king who wanted only sons. When she was born, Zita's father banished her to the servants' quarters to work in the kitchens, where she can only communicate with her royal sisters in secret.

Then, after Zita's twelfth birthday, the princesses all fall mysteriously ill. The only clue is their strangely worn and tattered shoes. With the help of her friends--Breckin the stable boy, Babette the witch, and Milek the soldier--Zita follows her bewitched sisters into a magical world of endless dancing and dreams. But something more sinister is afoot--and unless Zita and her friends can break the curse, the twelve princesses will surely dance to their deaths.

A classic fairy tale with a bold twist, "The Thirteenth Princess" tells the unforgettable story of a magical castle, true love, spellbound princesses--and the young girl determined to save them all.

I believe I mentioned in another review how the "Twelve Dancing Princesses" is one of the most adapted fairytale in YA/MG history, and well here's another one. What's great is that it seems like every adaptation I read puts their own little twist on it. In the case of The Thirteenth Princess there is, well, thirteen princesses, the last one not raised as a princess and the main character. The story's focus is also not about the fairytale, but instead about the family themselves and the character of Zit, and I really liked that. In fact the fairytale does not even kick in until the second half of the book.

The book made a great comfort read, with me reading a few chapters a night before going to sleep as the prose was light and entertaining, but not overly thought provoking.

It is well written, but I will admit it does not make too  much of an impression as many other books I read do (as I'm reaching for straws for something else to mention about it).

I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys fairytale adaptations, and those who especially love the Twelve Dancing Princesses, especially with an original spin on it.

3.5 Bookmarks