ARC Book Review: Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz & Michael Johnston

Frozen

Melissa de la Cruz & Michael Johnston

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: Putnam Juvenile

Pages: 336

Genre:  Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Adventure, Young Adult

Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.

Frozen has this distinct adventure feel to it. A Treasure Island kind of feeling. We are shoved into this post-apocalyptic version of America that is freezing cold, cancer is the norm, life expectancy is considerably lower than it is now and beings of fantasy have come out of the ice. That last bits important to know before going in, there is a lot of fantasy beings/themes in this book.

We follow Nat who has escape from some kind of facility and is hiding out in New Vegas as a card dealer and Ryan, an ex-soldier turned runner who does the dirty work other’s don’t want to do. Nat has found a way to get to the “Blue” a paradise that is said to be only a rumor and she ends up hiring Ryan and his crew to get her there.

I’d be lying if I said that this book was brilliantly written. Sometimes the main relationship is a little awkward, but other than the ending which felt all over the place and rushed, the writing didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of it.

There was a spark to Frozen that kept my attention. As soon as they were out on the waters, I felt myself wondering what kind of thing they would encounter.

I think if we had focused more on the environment and less on the people encountered it would have been more enjoyable.

The fantasy aspects of this book are so cool in theory, but end up giving the story an over-burdened feeling in practice. I think it would have done just as well without the different species and had instead just kept to the special powers.

I also wish we had seen more of the “wailer” before the ending, but I really liked the whole scare and wonder of what it is during the book and then the bird as well.

I kind of like that the Nat and Ryan choose not to stay with each other and instead go with their duty. I’m sure in a later book they will be reunited, but romance in YA and NA has made me want more couples not to end perfectly.

Ratings for this book are all over the place if you look it up. I think, however, though it’s not without it’s issues, the idea and plot are interesting and the adventure part is really enjoyable.

3 Bookmarks

Book Review: Poison by Bridget Zinn

Poison

Bridget Zinn

Published Date: March 12th 2013

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Pages: 288

Genre:  Fantasy, Adventure, Young Adult

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she’s the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

I picked up Poison due the an interesting synopsis paired up with a gorgeous cover. I would be lying if I hadn’t thought of Poison Study and hoped that this book would be written in a similar style.

Luckily, reality didn’t hit too far from my expectations. Things were a little lighter, a little simpler, but the style of the writing the kind I enjoy reading the most.

The book opens up with Kyra sneaking around and avoiding old friends and guards, because she had tried to kill the princess with her potions and poisons. She failed the first time and now everyone is after her, but she is determined to try again… despite the fact that the princess is her best friend.

The great strength of this book is how our main character doesn’t tell us, the reader, anything. For example the book starts off going on about how she needs to kill the princess and after we’re comfortable with that it throws us for a loop with the best friend thing. It then teases us with only half an explanation of why and we spend most of the book wanting to throttle Kyra, and have her think clearly about it all so we can understand what's going on and her motives.

Because of this, the book becomes very engaging, keeping the readers on their toes with an active mind up until the very end.

I also enjoy the fact that the book is carefully set up so that we are dropped in at the middle instead of at the beginning.

The characters are sometimes simple, but varied and charming (when they’re supposed to be). I’m personally a fan of this kind of charaterization, so I enjoyed this.

Where the book did suffer a bit is with the pacing. The climax felt less like a climax, more like it was dragged out and I couldn’t figure out which part was supposed to be the big turning point. Other times the pacing was too fast. It’s not a huge issue, however, and didn’t stop me from enjoying.

So many pieces of information slowly dripped to us through the course of the book and even the ones that didn’t sneak up on me, I didn’t start to piece together until right before the reveal. Simple touches made this work out perfectly. Things like the relationship between Kyra and her mother being what it is so that she naturally refers to her as “Duchess” instead. The way that the fiance prince is described in a way that fits Fred, so that when he is revealed, as surprising as it is, it also doesn’t feel forced or out of the blue.

I like books that do something just a little bit differently and though it doesn’t always pay off to experiment, in this case I believe it did.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys some nice YA Fantasy with charming characters. I also recommend this to anyone who enjoys it when an author carefully fits together the reveal of a mystery like a puzzle.

This book was published post-mortem as the author died of cancer in 2011. There won't be any more books by her and that is such a tragedy. She would have easily become a favourite author of mine. I hope she realized how great this book was.

4.5 Bookmarks

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

Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)

Marissa Meyer

Review of Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2)
Review of Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)

Publication Date: February 4th 2014

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Pages: 550

Genre:  Fairytale, Scifi, Adventure, Young Adult

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has

Finishing Cress left me with a similar sensation to the first time I read Scarlet, that I liked it, but not as much as I hoped I would. I think for me, the Lunar Chronicles are a series I have to reread, because for some reason I enjoy them better the second time around. Honestly this makes them more valuable as books than those that I read once, enjoy immensely and never pick up again. These books have a lasting power.

Cress sees the continuation of the overreaching plotline from Cinder with the addition of the characters from Scarlet, plus the new plotline taken from the fairy tale "Rapunzel". "Rapunzel" happens to be one of my favourite fairy tales, though I still don't know why. I remembered watching closely when I heard Disney were going to get their hands into it (long before the general public knew), the pain when it got shelved again and the joy when it was brought back and designs were released. I went to see it opening night. I also wrote my own interpretation of the story in the story telling medium of Visual Novels.

One interesting thing that I have taken from these different versions is that Rapunzel ends up being characterized the same way: naive and awkward. But really, realistically how else is a girl supposed to be when trapped in a tower for so long? Cress is certainly my favourite version I have read. The way she is written and presented as a character once again solidifies what I stated in my review of Scarlet, that Meyer does characters strong and well. The relationship is also my favourite of the three presented so far in the series, it's adorable, quirky and tentative. Both of them are out of their depths and it's wonderful.

Though the characters are the stars of the books, the plot also continues to hold my attention, which after three books of it is not an easy task.

The biggest issue I had while reading the book can only get worse, unfortunately with the final installment. With each book, there is an increase of characters and plotlines. Last book, the balance was perfect. This time around, with Cress I started to feel a little overwhelmed. The story of Rapunzel got shafted a bit in the end, having to bow to getting the characters to where they're supposed to do so the main plot doesn't fall apart. Unlike in the first two books, this time I can see obviously where bits from the fairy tale were forced it. It was less natural.

I do think that this is something that will improve upon rereading and honestly I'm being a bit strict, perhaps, but I feel as though Cinder and Scarlet have set a bar.

All of that said, I am incredibly intrugued by the charactera of Winter and her probably beau and cannot wait to read them.

The bit that is the most awkward for me in the book was Cress's kidnapping just having her end up in a safe place. I get we needed to get them back with the group, but I felt like so much that could have been was cut out, because of all the other stuff that needed to be put in the book. Meyer had to make decisions involving pacing and length, and although I'm sure most would read an 800-page book by her at this point, her publishers probably wouldn't have been so keen on it. And I don't know how that would have affected the pacing of the rest of the book. There was already a slight feeling of the book being put on pause so that desert time could be squished in.

On a plus note, I love that Iko has a body now! And I love that it's so realistic. I want Iko to have a story! I want her to have lovey dovey time. I'm also really interested in how she has gotten so much personality. What in her programming has allowed her to create such a realistic AI.

Ah! The kiss. The kiss was so cute and I loved that he remembered her desert fever babblings. I love how Cress in general kept making Thorne control himself, and through controlling himself he realizes when he starts to become fond of her that he wants to be careful and learn how to do things right and not just spurt words of meaningless love. Cress realizing he is more than a "hero" like she thought is also really nice to see.

I wish I had been surprised when I'd learned that Cress was the doctor's daughter, but I had been spoiled for that by a review on Goodreads.

Are you not reading this series yet? Seriously? Get on it! Even if you're not a fairy tale person, it's a great YA Scifi story. Though of course loving fairy tales increases it's enjoyability. I'm also starting to believe that very few authors do characters as well as she does. Pretty much I recommend this to everyone. Read it!

4 Bookmarks

Book Review: The Dark Triumph

Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2)

Robin LaFevers

Review of Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1)

Publication Date: April 2nd 2013

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Pages: 385

Genre:  Fantasy, Historical, Adventure, Romance, Young Adult

When Sybella arrived at the doorstep of St Mortain half mad with grief and despair the convent were only too happy to offer her refuge - but at a price. The sisters of this convent serve Death, and with Sybella naturally skilled in both the arts of death and seduction, she could become one of their most dangerous weapons.

But her assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to the life that nearly drove her mad. Her father's rage and brutality are terrifying, and her brother's love is equally monstrous. But when Sybella discovers an unexpected ally she discovers that a daughter of Death may find something other than vengeance to live for...

Sybella's journey in Dark Triumph is a much different one than Ismae's in many ways, yet similar in the way that she also comes to terms for what it means for her to be Death's Handmaiden.

Dark Triumph picks up the story before Grave Mercy ends with the moment of Sybella's warning. We are then pulled into the dark twisted world that is her family, and it becomes very obvious why she was so crazed when she had appeared at the abbey. Sybella's story is much, much darker than Ismae's.

Once again LaFevers storytelling and characters are compelling. We deal less with intrigue and more with family politics this time around. We explore a household held hostage by fear of the patriarch. We see how abuse is internalized and how even good things can become twisted.

The romance does not disappoint as well. I found our two hero enjoyable with how compatible they are. Beast's need to save people is important to impart Sybella with belief in humanity again.

I am more than ready to devour the final book in the trilogy, our final Handmaiden's tale.

The story of her baby killed me. This entire book is a spiral into hell as we uncover more and more of Sybella's secrets. I felt for her as a character. After finishing her story, Ismae's tale felt so fluffy and happy just because Sybella's is so twisted and dark.

I am also quite fond of the character Tephanie, who showed a great amount of courage in her budding need to help keep Sybella safe. I hope that she will continue to follow Sybella around and be another friend to her.

If you enjoyed Grave Mercy, don't hesistate to pick up this next book. It is a slightly different sort of book from the first one, but it is written just as well.

5 Bookmarks

Book Review: Hero by Alethea Kontis

Hero (Woodcutter Sisters #2)

Alethea Kontis

Review of Enchanted (Woodcutter Sisters #1)

Publication Date: August 1st 2013

Publisher: Harcourt Books

Pages: 304

Genre:  Fairy Tale, Adventure, Young Adult

Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.

Here lies the review of the sequel to the enjoyable Enchanted. And personally, this book showed improvement in Kontis's writing, and stole my heart even more than the first.

This time around we are following Saturday, the second youngest out of the Woodcutter sisters. She is the "non-magical" one, having received only an axe from her fairy godmother as opposed to the amazing things her sisters received. Of course, this has changed since she became indestructible at the end of her younger sister's adventures and it becomes obvious that she has a destiny to fulfill and until then she has to stay intact due to the logic of this world.

This time around it doesn't seem like Kontis focuses on any one fairytale and instead alludes to several while turning a few traditional fairytale tropes on their head. This time around we have a heroine saving a "prince" and it's lovely.

The writing style has shifted to fit Saturday's voice, becoming less dreamy and more practical. This especially shows in the romance in which the book doesn't even try to dress up (despite being insta-love) with drama, emotion and reasons. It presents it as "romance happens this way in fairytales, I guess we'll just go with the flow" and surprisingly this ends up working rather well and being very effective.

Where the last book suffered from Sunday feeling a little less developed, all of the characters in this one are fantastic. Saturday and Peregrine are layered characters (even without their gender-bending scenario to deal with) and all the side characters are memoriable.

I also applaud the fact that this can act as a stand-a-lone book, separate from Enchanted, though it does seem like there will be slightly more direct sequels after this one.

Peregrine is one of the most awkward characters ever in the best possible way, though I guess with his body being an odd mix of sexes and living alone sans for a chimera, this isn't too surprising. The fact that the first thing he does with Saturday is kiss her made me laugh out loud. He's just all IT'S A GIRL AHHHHHHH YAY and luckily Saturday's personality just takes it in stride.

Saturday on the other hand, I loved the way she is described. I love that she's not traditional beautiful. She is big, she is muscular and it's great. Also she punches Jack, which I prayed she would when I realized he'd popped up, because I'd wanted to punch him. He's just such a prat! Let's his family believe he's dead so he could continue adventuring along! Seriously. Thursday is off on her own, but at least she still remembers her family!

As for the ending, I do wonder how this will end up playing out. The next sister we will look at will be Friday, so I assume we'll be hearing of what goes on by hearsay, or something Friday ends up doing will influence things. The fact that Seven has fallen asleep means that this has to be an overreaching plot. My guess is that the next book after Friday's will be Monday's Daughter, who we know by description is on Thursday's ship, considering she's described like Snow White, and sleeping death is a rather Snow White thing, I'm assuming that the conclusion will come from her.

Finally, I'm still hoping for a stand-a-lone prequel of Thursday's tale.

Even if you haven't read Enchanted or didn't feel like you enjoyed it very much, I highly recommend getting your hands on Hero. It's a book that deserves to be read by lovers of the fairytale. I also think that those who are fans of Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest books will enjoy this book as well. If Kontis continues to improve, the next book, Dearest, is going to be phenomenal.

4.5 Bookmarks

Book Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Splintered (Splintered #1)

A.G. Howard

Publication Date: January 1st 2013

Publisher: Amulet Books

Pages: 371

Genre:  Adventure, Romance, Young Adult

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

I'm rather up in arms about this book. On one-hand I adored the writing. Howard was able to entrance me with the prose. On the other hand I didn't enjoy the triangle and some of the ways the romantic interests were. On one-hand I was heads over heels for the world created here, and on the other, something would be just off with the plot to keep me from falling in love completely.

I guess I should rewind and start this review from the beginning.

Splintered is a fantastic, unique take on the world of Alice in Wonderland. It follows a girl whose long ago ancestor was the famous Alice Liddell, inspiration for Carroll's book, and every girl in their line had gone crazy. So pretty much, Alyssa, our main character, is terrified of ending up in an asylum like her mother. She already hears bugs and flowers talking, she's sure eventually she'll just break.

As a character, I was two ways about Alyssa (my obvious theme for this book). There were some points where I really liked her and other times where I would be practically pleading out loud with her to stop making certain choices (usually when Jeb was involved). The quirks that Howard established for her in the beginning, however, were brilliant.

The world of Wonderland... I really enjoyed this interpretation. I enjoyed how Howard re-imagined the major players of the original story, giving a grotesque and creepy vibe to everything. There were some things (such as the somewhat forced-feeling reference to them as netherlings) that sat weird and unnatural. But, when it comes down to it I am more than ready to revisit this world.

And... there is a love triangle. I personally could have done without it in all honesty.

To expand upon what I just said about this love triangle... seriously, Jeb was unnecessary as a character. I think this should have been a love story between Morpheus and Alyssa, but ending about the same way with the perceived betrayal and death of our caterpillar. Even though I wouldn't trust Morpheus with a hair on my head, he is way more interesting, they have more chemistry and less of an asshole. And Jeb so often felt... added on, like Howard kept forgetting he was there and that he needed to be utilize.

Okay, I'm sure many people will argue this with me, but I also found Jeb to be a jerk and really not compatible with Alyssa. She's spontaneous and needs to just do things and learn her own lessons (as shown by her affinity to skateboarding and her decision to go to Wonderland in the first place). Jeb, on the other hand, won't let her do anything. I saw this from their first argument in the very beginning and then he became unbearable in Wonderland.

It's sad when I believe the main character will be happier with the manipulative, untrustworthy Morpheus over this guy.

That whole rant aside. The other major issue is the ending. I liked most everything that happened within it, but when I had finished I felt like it had gone by a bit too fast. I also kind of wish she didn't know Morpheus was alive and that was the start of the second book, but oh well, I was just happy he was okay.

I recommend this book to people who want to read a very fantastical (and grotesque in the best way) re-imagining of Wonderland. If you don't dig love triangles, I think the world and plot overshadow the one in here, but I guess tread lightly just in case. I happened to enjoy this book a lot despite it, however. 

4 Bookmarks

Extra Note:I was wondering if any of my readers/other bloggers classify Alice in Wonderland as a fairy tale or not. I, personally, do not, and probably won't ever. It's a classic book for me, but I think the way that it is adapted so often (and in the common domain) makes it easy to lump it in our minds as one.

Of course that's only my opinion on the subject.