Tag: Fantasy

Villains Never Die by Nick DeWolf

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Villains Never Die

Author: Nick DeWolf
Reviewer: Marlou

Summary

It started when the warehouse exploded. But not really. The moment when Japan was nearly destroyed. But not quite. When the world’s greatest heroes came together to fight the Triad of Evil, it began. But still, no. The moment Doctor Dendrite became the world’s most feared man.

Almost there.

History is coming to a head. The military is moving in the shadows. Evil, thought to be long gone, reemerges, while plans made decades ago are set in motion. The world is crumbling, and at the center of a hurricane of chaos are three people who will change everything.

An old villain.
A new hero.
And a wayward girl.
One’s been planning. The other’s been training. And the third?
She’s in way, way over her head.

Find this book on Goodreads.

Review

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Big thanks to the author for giving me a free ebook in exchange for a review.

Was this a horrible book? No. Was this a good book? Also, no. 

It’s the kind of book you can’t quite give your opinion on. But I’ll try because I do want to properly review this book.

The three different POV were useful for the story but it was often confusing who’s part you were reading because everyone sounded the same to me. There wasn’t a difference between the supervillain, the ‘normal’ girl, and the Latina agent/soldier.

Agent Garcia spoke a lot of Spanish and the translation was never given. This confused the hell out of me, because I don’t speak Spanish. Her bilingual nature also felt forced which was too bad.

Every character was quite bland. The story had potential but it just didn’t work for me. Maybe superhero stories aren’t my thing, I wouldn’t know, this is the first superhero book I’ve read. I do love superhero movies though…

Thanks again to Nick DeWolf for giving me a free copy of his book. I always feel so bad when I read a book given for free to me by the author and then end up not liking it, but I am always honest so there you have it. Villains never die gets 2.5 stars from me.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

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Girls of Paper and Fire

Author: Natasha Ngan
Series: Girls of Paper and Fire, # 1
Reviewer: Marlou

Content Warnings

Sexual abuse, violence, rape

Summary

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It’s the highest honor they could hope for…and the most cruel.

But this year, there’s a ninth girl. And instead of paper, she’s made of fire.

In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most oppressed class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it’s Lei they’re after–the girl whose golden eyes have piqued the king’s interest.

Over weeks of training in the opulent but stifling palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit being a king’s consort. But Lei isn’t content to watch her fate consume her. Instead, she does the unthinkable–she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the very foundation of Ikhara, and Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide just how far she’s willing to go for justice and revenge.

View this book on Goodreads.

Review

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Girls of Paper and Fire was such an intense, and oftentimes brutal, read. This isn’t a book that you can say you loved, this is a book that has opened your eyes. This story isn’t meant to be easy or pretty. It shows truths about our world, even in a total fantasy world. This book is an #ownvoices title.  Ngan has suffered and now shares her story, and that of many others, in this compelling and dark read. 

This book has a female/female romance and boy did Ngan write it beautifully. It didn’t feel forced like some same sex romances have felt to me. No, Wren and Lei are two amazing woman who find comfort in each others arms like any other couple in any other book does. Wren can be turned male and still none of the conversations they had would be different. Now, that is amazing storytelling.

Some parts of this book were very slow, others very fast. The ending felt a little rushed, but maybe Ngan did that so she has an opening for flashbacks in her second book. I wish she had fleshed it out though. I feel like I’m missing a very important piece. I remember checking the page numbers to make sure that my copy didn’t just miss a couple pages.  It didn’t. 

All in all, a very interesting read and I will definitely read the second book when it comes out.

Thank you Fairyloot for including this book in your box, I don’t think I would have read it otherwise.

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The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

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The Beautiful

Author: Renée Ahdieh
Series: The Beautiful #1
Reviewer: Marlou

Content Warnings

Violence

Summary

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.

View this book on Goodreads.

Review

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This book was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I so badly wanted to like this book, but alas, I did not. Three stars is me being generous. This book really was not for me. Look, I love vampires, so when this book was said to include them and the location was New Orleans, I squealed in delight. But it was not meant to be.

Supernaturals: the supernatural world is not explained. At all. The creatures that live in this other-world are not mentioned clearly. There is just no world-building at all. I do not know anything and I have truly read every word of this book.

Writing style: I could not get used to the way this book was written. The author used too many details, too many descriptions and way too few actual plot points. The entire story doesn’t feel done, it feels as though parts of this story were not included in the novel.

Characters: although the characters were all vastly different, I still found them boring, flat and uninteresting. Even the beautiful devil himself, Bastien. I did not feel close to anyone, did not mourn any deaths nor was outraged at people getting hurt. I just did not have a connection with anyone.

Language: this book has a lot of French in it. If you don’t know any French then that is seriously taking some nuances of the book away. I speak a little French so I could understand enough of it to make sense of the sentences. The important lines are translated, but the subtle little things are not which, if you don’t speak French, can be of great annoyance because you won’t quite get what they’re saying.

Murder mystery: this book is supposed to be about some kind of murder mystery. It did not feel that mysterious to me as the reader can read into the thoughts of the killer. The bodies are all mauled by some rabid animal which is clearly a vampire attack and the immortals in the story know that. They probably also knew exactly who the murderer was this whole time or at least its motive. Nothing felt mysterious to me, it was just several murders…

I’m just very disappointed by this book. I can see the potential. I can see why some will like it. I just didn’t. It’s not the book for me. Three stars is all it is getting and I’m truly feeling generous giving it that rating.

Shadowscent by P.M. Freestone

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Shadowscent

Author: P. M. Freestone
Series: Shadowscent #1
Reviewer: Renee

Summary

Across the Aramtesh Empire, scent is everything. Prayers only reach heaven on sacred incense, and perfumes are prized status symbols. 17-year-old Rakel has an uncanny ability with fragrances, but her skills aren’t enough to buy her dying father more time.

 Ash bears the tattoos of an imperial bodyguard. When his prince, Nisai, insists on a diplomatic mission to an outer province, Ash is duty-bound to join the caravan. It’s a nightmare protecting Nisai on the road. But it’s even harder for Ash to conceal a secret that could see him exiled or executed.

 Rakel and Ash have nothing in common until smoke draws them to a field of the Empire’s rarest flower. Nisai’s been poisoned, flames devour the priceless blooms, and the pair have “suspect” clinging to them like a bad stench. Their futures depend on them working together to decipher clues, defy dangers and defeat their own demons in a race to source an antidote . . . before the imperial army hunts them down.

View this book on Goodreads.

Review

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I picked up an ARC at BookCon 2019 because the premise sounded interesting. I had mild expectations but it blew me away. It’s equal parts mystery and fantasy. I don’t think I’ve read a book that focused so much on scents before. I was a bit overwhelmed by all the descriptions of scents, but I quickly learned which ones were really important.

This book focuses on two characters. Rakel is on the run because she’s being falsely accused of attempting to kill the prince, Nisai, and the only way to save her and her father’s lives is to find an antidote to a poison she didn’t create. Ash is the Prince’s Shield and has sworn upon his life to protect Nisai. He has to determine if his duty to protect the prince means he stays put as the commander orders, or if he must run (and look guilty) to find an antidote. He chooses to run because that’s the only way to help the prince.

I liked Rakel right away. She was making tough decisions and doing what she needed to do in order to save her father from the Rot, a disease that slowly consumes the person affected. She’s determined and confident. She knows she’s one of the best and she’s not afraid to prove it. She puts everything on the line to prove she’s the best and get a good job to send money and medicine back to her father.

Ash has a mysterious background that gets brought up a few times until the reveal at the end. I enjoyed how he had to decide on how best to protect Nisai. He’s sworn to protect him and will lose his life if he fails. Nisai was poisoned and it seemed like nobody was looking for the antidote so Ash decides it’s his duty to go find the girl and discover what she knows. Unfortunately for him, Rakel doesn’t know much and only had advice from a mysterious person who told her to find a place that doesn’t exist if she wants to save the prince. With no other option, the two journey together. Obviously, they don’t really trust each other but Rakel pushes forward since this is her only chance to prove she’s innocent and to save her father.

I didn’t like how the book ended. It was wrapping up nicely but so many things were revealed and the last line is almost along the lines of “ok, let’s get started.” But we just finished! I generally don’t like when books end in a way that means the characters are going to take an immediate action. Regardless, this book surprised me and I really enjoyed it. I’m excited for the sequel.

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

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The Raven King

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #4
Reviewer: Marlou

Summary

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love’s death. She doesn’t believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore

View this book on Goodreads

Review

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“He was a book, and he was holding his final pages, and he wanted to get to the end to find out how it went, and he didn’t want it to be over.”

I did not want this story to end and yet I wanted badly to know how it ends. I think we all know that feeling…

The Raven King was a very interesting read. It often had me smiling like crazy or just plainly laugh out loud:

“The kitchen window groaned open, and Jimi shouted out, “Blue! Your boys are out front, looking like they’re fixing to bury a body.”
Again? Blue thought.”

There were some really nice and cute Ronan and Blue moments:

“No homework. I got suspended,” Blue replied.
“Get the fuck out,” Ronan said, but with admiration. “Sargent, you asshole.”

There was Ronan being Ronan:

“Are you going to lock your shitbox?”
Adam said, “No point. Hooligans got in anyway.”
The hooligan in question smiled thinly.”

Sometimes it got a little confusing because so many people were mentioned:

“Depending on where you began the story, it was about…”

And then suddenly there was Henry. Good, funny Henry:

“Look at this,” Henry called from a few yards away. His voice was theatrically shocked. “I have discovered that, at some point, this side door was broken into by a teenage Korean vandal.”

“Make way, make way, make way for the Raven King.”

And that was that. The book has ended. The series is done. My heart has been stolen by these lovely Raven Boys and this one spectacular girl. Don’t mind me, I’m just gonna cry in a corner somewhere.

And that’s the last review of The Raven Cycle! All 4 books! But wait! A new trilogy spinning off of the original four is coming! Starting with Call Down the Hawk on November 5th!!

See Marlou’s reviews starting with The Raven Boys, (book 1) in this series!

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Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

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Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #3
Reviewer: Marlou

Summary

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. 

The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

View this book on Goodreads

Review

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“Blue was perfectly aware that it was possible to have a friendship that wasn’t all-encompassing, that wasn’t blinding, deafening, maddening, quickening. It was just that now that she’d had this kind, she didn’t want the other.”

No one would want a normal friendship when you could have Gansey, Ronan and Adam. I mean, duh. Who wouldn’t want their own set of lovely Raven Boys? Sign me up.

I loved this book so much. The second book was a bit slow paced, but this book more than made up for that. There were a lot of things happening at once, and yet, I could follow everything perfectly fine. Maggie Stiefvater, you are a magician with words.

There were some lovely, heartwarming scenes in this book. I do think this one is my favorite:

“In the hall stood Richard Campbell Gansey III in his school uniform and overcoat and scarf and gloves, looking like someone from another world. Behind him was Ronan Lynch, his damn tie knotted right for once and his shirt tucked in.

Humiliation and joy warred furiously inside Adam.

Gansey strode between the pews as Adam’s father stared at him. He went directly to the bench, straight up to the judge. Now that he stood directly beside Adam, not looking at him, Adam could see that he was a little out of breath. Ronan, behind him, was as well. They had run.

For him.”

Welcome to the new class; How to break my heart, repair it and then warm it completely 101.

I can’t really say anything more without spoiling the entire book, so I’ll just mention, again, how much I loved this book. I REALLY LOVED THIS BOOK.

Stay tuned for more reviews of The Raven Cycle as we approach the release of Call Down the Hawk on November 5th!

See Marlou’s reviews starting with The Raven Boys, (book 1) in this series!

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The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

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The Dream Thieves

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #2
Reviewer: Marlou

Summary

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…

View this book on Goodreads.

Review

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“In that moment, Blue was a little in love with all of them. Their magic. Their quest. Their awfulness and strangeness. Her raven boys.”

Same, girl, same. I didn’t like this one as much as the first one, I don’t exactly know why though. I do know that I despised Kavinsky. I don’t like Adam in this book and he already wasn’t one of my favorites to begin with. Somehow everyone seemed a little more annoying in this book but that could just be me.

Then why give it 4 stars just like The Raven Boys? Because Maggie’s writing deserves a solid 4 stars. Her world building is magnificent. Her characters are immensely diverse. The bromance is real. God, I love good male friendships without feeling like they’re gay.

Oh wait, one is definitely gay though. I want to keep this review as spoiler free as possible so I hid the names in this quote. You can decide if you want to know the names, just google it and I’m sure the internet will tell you!

“Don’t say (NAME), man. Do not say it. He is never going to be with you. And don’t tell me you don’t swing that way, man. I’m in your head.”

“That’s not what (NAME) is to me,” (NAME) said.

“You didn’t say you don’t swing that way.”

(NAME) was silent. Thunder growled under his feet. “No, I didn’t.”

This book was a bit long for my taste. There wasn’t necessarily much happening and the things that did happen weren’t that impressive. I also didn’t quite get the things that were going on with Adam and that confused me from time to time. I did like it that we got to see more of Ronan and that we got to know more about his strange ability. It’s still a 4 star read for me because it was well-written, the characters are amazing, and the world is just awesome. And I just love them all so much.

Stay tuned for more reviews of The Raven Cycle as we approach the release of Call Down the Hawk on November 5th!

See Marlou’s review for The Raven Boys, book 1 in this series!

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The Rise of Kyoshi

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The Rise of Kyoshi

Author: F.C. Yee
Series: The Rise of Kyoshi, book 1
Reviewer: Renee

Summary

F. C. Yee’s The Rise of Kyoshi delves into the story of Kyoshi, the Earth Kingdom–born Avatar. The longest-living Avatar in this beloved world’s history, Kyoshi established the brave and respected Kyoshi Warriors, but also founded the secretive Dai Li, which led to the corruption, decline, and fall of her own nation. The first of two novels based on Kyoshi, The Rise of Kyoshi maps her journey from a girl of humble origins to the merciless pursuer of justice who is still feared and admired centuries after she became the Avatar.

View this book on Goodreads

Review

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I picked up this book because I love Avatar the Last Airbender. I know who Kyoshi is…or I thought I did. Being a sequel, I thought I knew what would happen. I didn’t. Kyoshi’s life does not follow the “normal” life of an Avatar. I love this book so much and was surprised several times. So much for thinking this was an easy read to just get background info on a character I thought I knew.

I loved the different personalities (especially the ones who clashed!) and their development as the story progressed. Things wrapped up well for most characters and I’m really excited for the next book. I highly recommend this book for fans of Avatar and for those who have never watched an episode. The history of the Avatar and the reincarnation is explained well so anybody who hasn’t seen an episode can also enjoy the story.

There are minor spoilers ahead (all happen really early in the story, but stop reading if you want all the surprises as you read). 

We meet Kyoshi as a young child then again when she’s a young adult working at the Avatar mansion. The last Avatar died and his Team Avatar promised to find and train the new Avatar and do better (Avatar Kuruk died young). Problem is, they can’t identify the next Avatar. A while after Avatar Kuruk dies, they declare they’ve found the new Avatar. There are lots of twists and reveals as you go through the story, but you also get to know Kyoshi as a person, not just as the Avatar.

Kyoshi was abandoned and lived on her own in the Earth Kingdom, with only a chest with a few objects from her parents. She is despised by the locals but makes friends with a few who also work in the Avatar mansion. She doesn’t fight back when challenged by other kids, which upsets her best friend, Rangi, daughter of the Avatar’s firebending master.

I really enjoyed watching Kyoshi go from a frightened, orphaned girl, to learning who she is, to deciding how much she’s willing to let her personal feelings determine her path.

I still want to know more about Kyoshi’s parents – why they left her, why the chest, what significance do the items have, where did the items come from? I hope these are answered in the next book since I feel it was not explained well in this one, but maybe they aren’t that important. I really want to know why her parents left her. Did they know she was the Avatar and couldn’t be with them because of their chosen lifestyle? (I’m assuming this if I don’t get additional answers since they are described as caring about family above all else, but they abandoned her.)

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

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The Raven Boys

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Reviewer: Marlou

Summary

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

View this book on Goodreads

Review

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“The way Gansey saw it was this: if you had a special knack for finding things, it meant you owed the world to look.”

And look for things he did. Gansey’s obsession is amazing. Stiefvater wrote it in a way that he doesn’t seem like a madman yet he’s still completely obsessed. With Gansey it’s more like he finally found something that money can’t buy.

Let’s talk about the friendships in this book. Can I have a tight group of friends like that please? They’re all different, they all have issues and they could have been enemies; instead they’re friends and kinda scare the crap out of people. The friendship was real strong at the beginning of the book, NOT.
“Did you get notes for me?”
“No”, Ronan replied,”I thought you were dead in a ditch.”
And yet I still want a friend like Ronan Lynch… Something is either epically wrong with me or totally right. I don’t wanna know which one it is.

My favorite Raven Boy is Gansey, Ronan is a solid second. I don’t like Adam… Noah is alright. As for the ladies at 300 Fox Way, I love them all. Blue is so lovely and eccentric and doesn’t take shit from anyone.

Why not give this book 4.5 or 5 stars? I really like this book, but that’s just it: I like it, not love it. I love different worlds and magical characters, so yeah basically Epic Fantasy. The Raven Boys is more Urban Fantasy, which I totally like but I doubt Urban Fantasy and the like will ever be any of my favorite books.

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”
And then the questions that have been bugging me. Is this epic foreshadowing? Are both things gonna happen because Blue kisses him and then he dies? Are Blue and Gansey gonna end up together? Does this series have a happy ending?
Btw, I don’t want to know the answers to these questions, I wanna find out for myself.

Stay tuned for more reviews of The Raven Cycle as we approach the release of Call Down the Hawk on November 5th!

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The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab

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The Steel Prince

Author: V.E. Schwab
Series: Shades of Magic Graphic Novels
Reviewer: Finja Marie

Summary

Before he became King Maxim Maresh, father to Rhy and adoptive father to the Antari Kell, he was a prince. Young, arrogant, and inexperienced.

When his own father sends him to the Blood Coast of Verose, Maxim must learn that Red London was a sanctuary in a cruel world. Out here, the people don’t obey the law; violence rules, magic runs wild, and even the guard doesn’t stand a chance against the evil under the surface.

Maxim learns this the rough way, even though he refuses to adapt to this dire situation. But the biggest thread still awaits, for the pirate queen returns to claim her bloody throne…

View this book on Goodreads

Review

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Steel Prince is a prequel to Schwab’s much acclaimed Shades of Magic series. The first bound-up contains issues #1-4 and spans the first adventure of a still young Maxim Maresh, formerly known to  readers as the stern king of Red London. In the first arc of the comic series, he must learn that his world is not as sugar-coated as he formerly thought, and he must face his first real opponent in Arisa, the self-proclaimed pirate queen. 

The world of Shades of Magic works splendidly in a visual medium. The magic system comes alive through Andrea Olimpieri’s artwork, which is more on the rough, edgy side – a perfect fit for the darker tone of the setting. 

The story itself is solid, but nothing new. It pulls out all the tropes one would expect for character introductions. The execution is still interesting and entertaining enough, though, as one would also expect from an author as well-established and hard-working as Schwab is. 

The only qualm I had with this comic book was the fact that it’s too much story on way too few pages. Especially towards the end, one or even two more issues would’ve done the story a much better service. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but the way some of the scenes were brushed over took too much suspense away from what could’ve been one of the best scenes in the entire book.

Other than that, I am really looking forward to the next arc. Maxim Maresh is an interesting character with a lot of potential. I also liked that you don’t have to read the Shades of Magic trilogy first – new readers can jump into this world right with this comic book!