Category Teen Books

Jun 21 2014
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Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and boneTitle: Shadow and Bone

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series: Grisha Trilogy #1

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka. Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free? The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfill her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him. But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him? Glorious. Epic. Irresistible. Romance.

Shadow and bone 2

The Review:

I am a YA high fantasy addict. I’m sure of it. I just can’t seem to get enough, and Shadow and Bone was easily one of the most unique ones yet.

It all started with world-building. Actually, it started with an engaging prologue that had me hooked right away, then it dazzled me with world-building. I’m a sucker for desert settings (something which I’ve only just realized about myself), and the busy markets, the flag-topped tents, the “dry docks,” and the caravans were only some of the setting elements that created a really cool atmosphere for this book. Take all of that and add the shadowed white sands of the Fold – a magical dark divide containing flesh-eating monsters called volcra dividing the kingdom from the seaports on the other side – and I’m sold. It was fantastic.

But world-building goes beyond mere settings, and my favorite element was the magic system in the form of colorfully robed Grisha (I love it when things are color-coded, especially in books). The Grisha had many different talents, distinguished by these colored robes, and learning about them was easily my favorite part of the book. There’s even a school for Grisha, one which we get to explore a little. Bardugo definitely hit on several things that trigger my interest as a reader. My only hope going forward is that we get to learn even more about the Grisha because, as interesting as it was, we really only got into surface level stuff in this first book.

And the characters! Alina was incredibly relatable, which went a long way towards immersing me in the story. I liked her, but was also emotionally invested in her. She had a fantastic growth arc throughout the book, physically, emotionally, and mentally, and that’s probably why she was so much fun to read about. I also loved the the dynamic between her and the other characters, specifically Mal and The Darkling… let’s just say she surprised me (in a good way) on several occasion. It was refreshing.

Overall, this is an excellent addition to my arsenal of “awesome teen fantasy books” to recommend and I wish I had picked it up earlier. In any case, now that Ruin and Rising has just been released, I think I waited the perfect amount of time before devouring this trilogy (my apologies to those of you who’ve been waiting a few years, lol). That’s only part of it, though. What finally got me to pick it up was the news that Bardugo was just signed for a new trilogy taking place on one of the island nations within the series. I already kind of knew Shadow and Bone had a desert setting, but the knowledge that I’d be able to travel and explore this world through more books was incredibly appealing. So I hopped aboard the Grisha wagon… and I’m so glad I did! If you like any of my recommendations below, Shadow and Bone should definitely be on your list.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Jun 19 2014
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Book Reviews: Scarlet and The Lady Thief by A.C. Gaughen

sc:ltTitles: Scarlet and The Lady Thief

Author: A.C. Gaughen

Series: Scarlet #1 & #2

Genre: Teen Fiction

Rating: 3/5 stars

The Overviews: Scarlet: Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

Lady Thief: Scarlet’s true identity has been revealed, but her future is uncertain. Her forced marriage to Lord Gisbourne threatens Robin and Scarlet’s love, and as the royal court descends upon Nottingham for the appointment of a new Sheriff, the people of Nottingham hope that Prince John will appoint their beloved Robin Hood. But Prince John has different plans for Nottingham that revolve around a fateful secret from Scarlet’s past even she isn’t yet aware of. Forced to participate at court alongside her ruthless husband, Scarlet must bide her time and act the part of a noblewoman—a worthy sacrifice if it means helping Robin’s cause and a chance at a future with the man she loves. With a fresh line of intrigue and as much passion as ever, the next chapter in Scarlet’s tale will have readers talking once again.

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The Review:

Yep – I’m doing a dual review because after two months of trying, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no way I’m going to get caught up with all of the books I need to review unless I take some drastic measures… and your looking at ’em. It helps matters that these two books were incredibly similar – even down to receiving the same overall rating. I also liked and disliked them for the same reasons. Behold the review:

I am not one for retellings, but this version of Robin Hood won me over. Not only was it clear the author done a fair bit of research, but the spin that she took on its was something I’ve not seen before… it was actually quite brilliant. I loved the characters – everyone from Robin Hood himself (hubba, hubba) to a one-armed sidekick named Much were vibrant and rounded.

One of the twists I actually liked the most was the addition of a love triangle between Scarlet, Robin Hood, and John (don’t cringe, it was actually one of the better ones). There was no doubt in my mind who I thought she should go with, but it was a lot of fun to see her get pulled in different directions. Did the drama between the three go on a little too long? Probably. Was some of the drama a little senseless? Definitely. But the magical thing about this book is that I didn’t care – I just had fun reading it.

Be warned when you pick up this series that there is a slightly distracting use of language throughout the entire thing. Whether it was to create and uneducated feel for her main protagonists, or just to make a statement and stand out with the language, the author went through and replaced every “was” with a “were.” She were this, she were that, the castle were big.… You get the idea. While I appreciate what she was trying to do, I don’t think it actually did more than make me work harder to understand the story. Changing a single word does not make for a successful new dialect, and I thought it would’ve been a lot stronger if she had just spent some extra time adjusting the dialogue of the main character and left the narration alone. As it was, Scarlet spoke intelligently save for that single word. In the whole scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal, and as the author gets further into the story it becomes less noticeable (probably because there’s more dialogue), but it is something to be aware of before diving in.

I love the story of the first book, and indeed thought it could’ve stood as a standalone if it wanted to, but the plot for the second one had me highly interested. I really like the promise it held and the direction it was going in. It didn’t quite explore things as thoroughly as I would’ve liked, but again that didn’t bother me too much because I was genuinely enjoying reading it.

Overall, if you like retellings, this is definitely a book I would recommend. I will be picking up the third and final book in the trilogy, but it’s not one of those I’ll have to have the day it comes out (I say that, but you watch me change my tune as soon as there’s cover reveal, lol).

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Jun 14 2014
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Book Review: Push by Eve Silver

pushTitle: Push

Author: Eve Silver

Series: The Game #2

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 2/5 stars

Release Date: June 10, 2014

The Overview: It’s either break the rules or die. Miki Jones lives her life by her own strict set of rules, to keep control, to keep the gray fog of grief at bay. Then she’s pulled into the Game, where she—and her team—will die unless she follows a new set of rules: those set by the mysterious Committee. But rules don’t mean answers, and without answers, it’s hard to trust. People are dying. The rules are unraveling. And Miki knows she’s being watched, uncertain if it’s the Drau or someone—something—else. Forced to make impossible choices and battling to save those she loves, Miki begins to see the Committee in a glaring new light. And then the Game crosses a new boundary, pushes harder into Miki’s and her friends’ lives, and there’s nothing in the rules that can save them now.

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The Review:

I was really looking forward to Push, especially after the awesome direction Rush was headed when it ended. It promised to focus on all the things I enjoyed about the first book and move away from all the things I didn’t. Instead, Push kind of stagnated around all the same issues without much of a story progression at all. Heck, I’d even go so far as to say it regressed a little. I’m disappointed to say it was not the action-packed amazing novel I’d hoped it would be.

I had a lot of issues with the relationship development in the first book – a seemingly smart, independent girl who fawns over a guy despite the fact that she thinks he’s a total asshole – and was hoping the change in direction of the story would get the main character away from that codependent focus. It did not. The first half of the book, which I thought would be packed with adventure and excitement (the good stuff) was like reading one big long soliloquy about how much she hates him, how much she loves him, how much she misses him, and what she needs to do to get him back. Here I am thinking she’d grown enough to stand strongly on her own, but evidently the story couldn’t progress until she smoothed out her love life. Sheesh.

If I had been able to get behind the relationship in the first place, the huge focus on it probably wouldn’t have bothered me so much. I live for a good love story, and even expect it from my YA novels, but in this case, it just didn’t work for me. Even after all this time, I still can’t see a compelling reason why the relationship started and why it’s continuing. It could be just me, though. So if you enjoyed the love angle of the first book, no doubt you will enjoy it here. I just found a lot to be desired.

If this series took place entirely within The Game, it wouldn’t be too much for me. There are thousands of teen drama love stories out there, but only a handful of really cool takes on what it would be like to live in a video game. The concept is still my favorite part of the story, and I think it would have benefited Silver to pour more of her focus into it. As it were, some of the story was set in the alternate existence, but not enough to really progress the main overall conflict of the series (unless the main conflict is the romance, in which case that’s certainly getting enough attention). There was one single ray of hope in the form of an added plot element within The Game – one which I can’t even talk about because it’s a spoiler – and it added a fascinating wrinkle to the story. All I have to say is, if I read on it will be because of that single interesting plot point.

Overall, I hoped for more…. but I seem to be in the minority yet again.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Jun 10 2014
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Book Review: Mirror X by Karri Thompson

mirror xTitle: Mirror X

Author: Karri Thompson

Series: The Van Winkle Project #1

Genre: Teen Dystopian

Rating: 2/5 stars

Release Date: June 30, 2014

The Overview: Cassie Dannacher wakes up in a hospital over 1,000 years into the future after her space capsule is retrieved from space. She soon learns that 600 years prior to her arrival, the earth was struck by a plague, killing over half of the world’s population. Naïve and desperate, Cassie, who longs for home and is having trouble adjusting to the new, dictatorial 31st century government, is comforted by Michael Bennett, the 20-year old lead geneticist at the hospital where she was revived. But why is Cassie in genetics’ hospital in the first place, and why do several of the people around her seem so familiar, including Travel Carson, the hot and edgy boy she is fated to meet? Soon she discovers there is a sinister answer to all of her questions – and that they want something from Cassie that only she can give.

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The Review:

I want to start off by saying that I love the initial concept for this story – it got me thinking: what if characters like Katniss or Tris had grown up in our day and age before being thrust into their futuristic, dystopia societies? How they viewed the world around them would’ve been a lot different, that’s for sure. Well, that’s exactly what happens to Cassie in Mirror X, and that culture-shock was enough to grab my attention right away.

Granted Katniss and Tris had advantages Cassie did not – having been immersed in a society from birth does give one a deep understanding of how things work and, even more importantly, how to fight back. Cassie had to discover everything on her own. That discovery process, in which she got to see and explore this futuristic world, is what I was most looking forward to reading about. The trouble is, aside from its few advances in technology and medicine, there wasn’t as much exploration of this new world as I was hoping for. The plot was structured to give the story a very narrow focus, making it really difficult for the character to see much of anything (heck, most of the book took place in a single setting). This was a shame because the possibilities for world-building were endless.

I also thought the story’s pacing could have been a bit stronger – that is, having the character discover things a little faster. There were plenty of the drop in hints and allusions to what was really going on, but nothing concrete driving the story until about a third of the way in. There were even a couple of scenes that I thought could have been comfortably combined early on that would have helped move the story along quicker. The book was definitely a lot more character and dialogue driven than action driven.

Overall, Mirror X had a great concept and a killer cover (which was enough to get me to read it) but I unfortunately didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. It wasn’t written poorly or anything, but my expectations were a bit different than what the author delivered.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Jun 8 2014
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Book Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Crown of midnightTitle: Crown of Midnight

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass #2

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil. Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart. Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena’s world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie…and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

Crown of midnight 2

The Review:

I’d like to start off by saying that I am especially glad I decided to read The Assassin’s Blade before picking up this book – the backstory seriously makes all the difference, giving Celaena some much-needed depth.

This review is going to be fairly short, as I imagine most people who want to read this series have probably already done so (I’m basing this strongly off of the massive geek-out for Heir of Fire that’s been flooding my social media for the past couple of weeks), and I’m likely not telling you anything you haven’t already heard. In any case, I’ve been stalling on reading Crown of Midnight for several months because I didn’t want to have to wait too long for the much-anticipated third book. I can tell you now, based on how this one ended, I will not be able to show the same restraint when the Heir of Fire comes out. :-)

While my final assessment of this book is a “really liked” rating, there were things about it that I really loved: the relationship developments – not just with the love interests, the conflict escalations – sh$t’s getting real on a broad scale now, and the many fascinating dynamics of the main character – just when I think her predictable, she surprises me… It made for an incredibly engaging book, one that took me on a wild ride from start to finish. It also pulled at my heartstrings, jerking my emotions all over the place – it was fantastic! 

With all of those good things said, I did think the end half of the book was a bit repetitive. Highly interesting, mind you, but repetitive. However, it made up for it at the very end, which left me oogling the pages with excitement… suffice to say I am incredibly eager for the next book.

Overall, Crown of Midnight was a lot of fun to read and an excellent champion for the teen fantasy genre. I do  have to admit my favorite in the genre is still The Girl of Fire and Thorns, but I’m probably in the minority. I think the difference is, while I love Celaena, I don’t find a single thing about her relatable. Elise, on the other hand, is my homegirl. In any case, they’re both so similar in their awesomeness that you really can’t go wrong if you’re trying to decide between them. I’d say read ’em both, then tell me which one you prefer! ;)

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Jun 3 2014
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Book Review: Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau

independent studyTitle: Independent Study

Author: Joelle Charbonneau

Series: The Testing #2

Genre: Teen Dystopian

Rating: 5/5 stars!

The Overview: In the series debut The Testing, sixteen-year-old Cia Vale was chosen by the United Commonwealth government as one of the best and brightest graduates of all the colonies . . . a promising leader in the effort to revitalize postwar civilization. In Independent Study, Cia is a freshman at the University in Tosu City with her hometown sweetheart, Tomas—and though the government has tried to erase her memory of the brutal horrors of The Testing, Cia remembers. Her attempts to expose the ugly truth behind the government’s murderous programs put her—and her loved ones—in a world of danger. But the future of the Commonwealth depends on her.

independent study 2

The Review:

While I only liked The Testing, I absolutely loved Independent Study! The testing process was what initially drew me to this series, and I was concerned that once the testing in the first book was over there would be nothing to carry my interest over to the second book. The awesome part is that the testing does continue, it just does so in a slightly different way (in the form of new student initiation). There were a lot of tasks and obstacles for the main character, Cia, to overcome, and I was wildly entertained to see how she managed to cope with each one.

I have read some criticism that Cia is just too smart to be a realistic character. While I totally see why some people would feel that way, it wasn’t something that bothered me at all. Even though Cia always had the answers, I always felt like she had to work for them, and that effort was more important to me than anything else. It took a lot of creative construction on the author’s part to not only come up with the tests, but to think up answers that were complex enough to challenge the characters. I love reading books about tests/trials and books about competitions, and Independent Study was a great combination of the two.

Although it took me a while to get used to, I actually like the voice the book is written in. Charbonneau was a very unique way of saying things that (I eventually decided) adds a great deal of personality to Cia. Charbonneau also uses the language to create phenomenal pacing – both speeding up passages for excitements and slowing them down to make sure you understand the gravity of what she’s talking about. It worked really well, I only wish I had caught on to what she was doing more quickly so I could’ve studied it better.

Overall, this book is definitely getting a spot in my top ten books of 2014. Now all that is left to do is to read the third one, Graduation Day, and hope it is just as good! While the series is not terribly unique compared to the myriad of dystopian’s on the market, I think it’s cool concept and voice (and the sheer awesomeness of the second book) are enough to make me want to recommend it to other readers.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes