Category Young Adult Books

Apr 6 2015
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Book Review: The Novice by Taran Matharu

noviceTitle: The Novice

Author: Taran Matharu

Series: The Summoner #1

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Release Date: May 5, 2015

Rating: 2/5 stars

The Overview: When blacksmith apprentice Fletcher discovers that he has the ability to summon demons from another world, he travels to Adept Military Academy. There the gifted are trained in the art of summoning. Fletcher is put through grueling training as a battlemage to fight in the Hominum Empire’s war against orcs. He must tread carefully while training alongside children of powerful nobles. The power hungry, those seeking alliances, and the fear of betrayal surround him. Fletcher finds himself caught in the middle of powerful forces, with only his demon Ignatius for help. As the pieces on the board maneuver for supremacy, Fletcher must decide where his loyalties lie. The fate of an empire is in his hands. The Novice is the first in a trilogy about Fletcher, his demon Ignatius, and the war against the Orcs.

The Review:

Two things got me through this book: 1. The sense of obligation I felt towards the publisher and NetGalley for being kind enough to approve me for this title and 2. All of the “keep reading” reviews on Goodreads who claimed the first part of the book is worth trudging through because of the school for demon summoners!! Those were frankly about the only two things that would have kept me reading under any other circumstances. I did not enjoy The Novice nearly as much as I thought I was going to and honestly wish I hadn’t spent so much time on it.

It had all of the elements that, on paper (no pun intended), should add up to a killer novel, but I think it was published before it was developed to a high level. I know firsthand the frustration of working on a story for years, trying to get it perfect, but at some point you really do need to just throw in the towel and work on something else until your writing ability matches your taste level (Ira Glass – On Being Creative, YouTube). The Novice read very much like a first book (my apologies to the author if it wasn’t), so I can’t help but wonder how much better it could have been with more experience. Maybe I’m just projecting my own writing experience onto this product, but I thought it needed a lot more work before it was ready to be published.

I hinted at above that I was interested in the school, and would like to add that I thought the concept for the demons was the coolest idea out of the whole thing. Each kid gets a demon to call their own and proceeds to learn how to channel magic through it at the school. The demons themselves came in all shapes and sizes and I found particular pleasure in finding out what kind each of the students ended up with. For me, these were all the selling points of the novel, the problem is, we don’t see a glimpse of these great ideas until almost a third of the way through the book (that’s about 100 pages, folks). If I were in this author’s critique group, I would have strongly suggested reworking the story to get to the school a LOT sooner. The interesting thing is, the basics of the story are quite similar to those of what I’ve been working on for my own novel (just replace demons with dragons), so I’ve spent a lot of brainpower on exactly the issue of getting the character to the school quickly. I’m not saying my way is better, because obviously I don’t have a book published yet, but it was interesting for me to see “what could’ve been” had I not decided to restructure (tossing out about 90 pages) to get my character to the school immediately. Food for thought…

Anyway, while I appreciated the concept behind the story and a few ideas within it, I will not be recommending this one anytime soon. It felt like it needed a pacing makeover, more depth of character, and more focus on the elements that make it special (e.g. the school and the demons). I feel like I had to work to get to the “exciting” parts and when I finally did the payoff wasn’t enough to justify the effort.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Apr 3 2015
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Trilogy Review: The Chemical Garden by Lauren DeStefano

Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Fever by Lauren DeStefano
Sever by Lauren DeStefano

The Chemical Garden Trilogy
by Lauren DeStefano
4.5/5 stars

The Overview: [I’m only including the overview for the first book to help avoid spoilers for those who haven’t yet started it] By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape.

The Review:

I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the lines I became addicted to the type of story that I’m affectionately referring to as “girls in pretty dresses in a slightly dystopic era” genre (I should really come up with a better catchphrase). It seems like a weirdly specific subgenre to like (I blame the Selection by Kiera Cass), but I have absolutely LOVED almost every single book I’ve read so far within it (see my “Other books you might like” list below). I can’t even tell you why I love it – maybe I get a vicarious kick out of being pampered and doted on through these characters, but the real substance comes with the realization that even in the glamorous life, things are never as perfect as they seem…

This trilogy was remarkable and unique in a couple of different ways. For example, the vast majority of YA novels include a love triangle as one of the primary conflicts of the story. While there were two men involved in this series, and some people might consider it to be a triangle (I don’t), the story was always ever about Rhine and her struggle to find her brother… her male counterparts were ultimately incidental to that struggle. It was wonderful because it showed female lead who’s whole world didn’t revolve around a boy, and who proved capable and resourceful enough on her own. Because of this, I’m calling the love story in this trilogy atypical, and in fact found myself more emotionally invested in Rhine’s relationships with the other captive women than I did the main love interest. It’s worth mentioning that I genuinely liked the male interests in the story, I just appreciated that they weren’t the ultimate focus of the book.

So, now that we’ve established how much I loved story and the character, let’s talk about the main reason why I’m still gushing about this trilogy in particular – the writing. Oh my gosh, the WRITING! It’s breathtaking, beautiful, lyrical, and poetic without being pompous and convoluted. This trilogy is more than a dystopian, it’s a work of art. I don’t usually reread passages simply because I think they’re beautiful, but I found myself doing just that several times throughout. The fact that she was often writing about tragic events with such beautiful language only makes it more poignant. The aspiring writer in me wants to be Lauren DeStefano when I grow up. Because of her beautiful writing voice, I am 100% committed to reading anything she publishes in the future, I don’t care what the subject matter is. I’ve already ordered a copy of Perfect Ruin – I can’t wait!

Overall, The Chemical Garden Trilogy is now among my all-time YA favorites and I can definitely see myself rereading it one day. My overall rating for the series is 4.5/5 stars, but for the individual books is as follows:

Wither – 5/5 stars!
Fever – 4/5 stars
Sever – 4.5/5 stars

Other books you might like:

While I enjoyed Matched, it is not one of my all-time favorites… more books like this need to be written!

by Niki Hawkes

Mar 27 2015
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DNF Q&A: The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkowski

the winners crimeTitle: The Winner’s Crime 

Author: Marie Rutkowski

Series: The Winner’s Trilogy #2

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 0 stars

The Overview: The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement… if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret. As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

The DNF Q&A:

This is a reviewing feature I’ve been eyeballing on one of my favorite book blogs There Were Books Involved for a couple years now because I think it’s an excellent way to talk about an unfinished book fairly. I’m incredibly grateful because Nikki (the brains behind the blog, who has a most excellent name)  kindly allowed me to steal the idea and questions for my own blog. As my list of “amazing books to read” continues to grow, I find I have less and less time and patience to devote to the books I’m just not enjoying. I never would have considered DNFing a book ten years ago, but then I came across a quote, “Read the best books first, for you might not have the chance to read them all,” and have since made it my personal mantra. Life’s too short to read books you’re just not enjoying. So let the Q&A begin!

Did you really give The Winner’s Crime chance?

Absolutely! That is, if reading more than half the book before deciding to put it down is “giving it a chance.”

Have you enjoyed other books in the same genre before?

Yes – in fact some of my all time favorite books in this genre share a lot of similarities to the Winner’s novels, most notably:

I just didn’t think this book stacked up.

Did you have certain expectations before starting it?

Well, all of the five stars “Oh my God, the FEELS!!!” reviews flooding the blogosphere certainly didn’t help me dive into this book with no expectations. I will say that I also had issues with the first book that placed me in the minority, so I was already skeptical that I would like this one as much as everybody else.

What ultimately made you stop reading?

Ultimately it was the inconsistency of character that made me put this book down. I started out liking Kestrel, and still think she is a great character, but I’ve never been able to perceive Arin as a complete person – mostly because his passages seldom focused on developing his own character, but rather on how his world centers around Kestrel. I think his entire persona in this book can be summed up by a quote on page 212, “Arin’s unruly mind didn’t care for that logical explanation.” And it was this complete lack of logic and individual thought that made him feel like a subpar character and ultimately frustrated me enough to stop reading. He just didn’t ever feel real, and as the entire plot structure hangs on the reader giving a shit about the relationship between him and Kestrel, I found it wanting.

If it was just Arin though, I think it would’ve been okay. But when Kestrel – one of the coolest female strategists I’ve come across in the genre – failed to attack her problems regarding Arin with any sort of strategy, that was when I found my deal breaker. I feel like if she’s going to be that amazing at strategizing, it should apply EVERYWHERE in the book, not just when the author needs to advance a plot line. As it was, the conflict between the two main characters felt just as unnecessarily forced and drawn out as it did in the first book. I would have found it so much more satisfying had they worked together to solve their problems instead of needlessly perpetuating them. 

Was there anything you liked about The Winner’s Crime? 

Yes – I liked the secondary characters and really enjoyed the story before the protagonists fell out of character. I am genuinely interested to see what happens in this world and how the dynamics play out… I just don’t think I have the patience to actually see it through. I also still really like Kestrel and was fascinated every time she put strategy into play.  

Would you read anything else by this author? 

That’s a good question – it depends a lot on what type of story she writes next and if I’m in the mood to risk it at the time… I feel a little burned at the moment.

So you DNF’d the book – would you still recommend it?

Absolutely! I realized going into this sequel that I am BY FAR in the minority on how I feel about it. Chances are, if you liked Throne of Glass, you will also really enjoy this one. I’m actually more disappointed that I didn’t like it as much as everyone else than I am about the book itself.

by Niki Hawkes

Mar 3 2015
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Book Review: The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

The Glass ArrowTitle: The Glass Arrow

Author: Kristen Simmons

Series: N/A

Genre: Teen Dystopian

Rating 1.5/5 stars

The Overview: The Handmaid’s Tale meets Blood Red Road in Glass Arrow, the story of Aya, who lives with a small group of women on the run from the men who hunt them, men who want to auction off breeding rights to the highest bidder.

In a world where females are scarce and are hunted, then bought and sold at market for their breeding rights, 15-year old Aya has learned how to hide. With a ragtag bunch of other women and girls, she has successfully avoided capture and eked out a nomadic but free existence in the mountains. But when Aya’s luck runs out and she’s caught by a group of businessmen on a hunting expedition, fighting to survive takes on a whole new meaning.

The Review:

I was warned about this one. One of my favorite book bloggers posted a review explaining why she did not enjoy this novel… and I read it anyway. To be fair, I’d already been approved for a digital arc, so I was kind of already committed to reading it, underwhelming review or not. It turns out, my fellow book blogger was totally right… this was not a very strong book.

I really love the idea for it – women living in the wilds, on the run from hunters who’s goal is to capture them and sell them to the city as breeding stock. You see, evidently the women who live in the city are incredibly infertile, so the wilds women are high commodities. I thought it sounded fascinating, and reminded me of some of the other similar books I’ve read and loved recently (Wither by DeStefano, The Jewel by Ewing), but it just did not deliver. All of the books in that specific sub-genre require a bit of the “just go with it” attitude, but the plot structure and world building for this one just had so many things wrong with it that it was hard to read. For every rule she gave on how the society functioned, I could think of a couple of reasons why it wouldn’t work. And the thing is, I wasn’t actively looking for inconsistencies, they were just so blatant that my brain couldn’t help but point them out.

It wasn’t just the illogical nature of the plot that took away my enjoyment of the book (although that was the main thing). I also thought the book suffered from poor pacing and a bit of repetition. I don’t think there were enough plot points to sustain an entire novel and probably would have liked it a lot better had it been a short story. The plot points that were there still have me a bit perplexed – very little of the story had anything to do with the overall arc and climax of the book. It almost felt like I was reading three different books in one (or short stories –  bam!) and none of them related to each other very well… It was weird.

Eventually I got fed up and just started skimming during the last fifty pages of the book. But I did finish it, which I thought ironic considering how many issues I had with it. It made me go back and really think about what compelled me to keep going. It wasn’t what the author was writing, but rather how she was writing it that kept me reading. I enjoyed the style and thought Simmons had a lovely voice. She made me care about the main character and I had no trouble immersing myself into her perspective. I would love to see this author tackle something that requires a lot less world building and concept so she could focus on the element that, in my opinion, she does very well.

Overall, I was really underwhelmed by this title and it was a bit of a struggle to get through it. I was really excited about the concept and the writing style, but don’t think it ever lived up to its potential. I don’t see myself hand-selling this one anytime soon. Maybe it’s just me though – go check out the “this is her best book yet” five-star reviews on goodreads before making any rash decisions. ;)

Other books you might like (better):

by Niki Hawkes

 

Feb 20 2015
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Mini Book Review: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

heir of midnightTitle: Heir of Fire

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass #3

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Overview: Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his own toughest enemy. While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love? 

The Mini Review:

Contrary to popular opinion, I did not think this book (or series) merited five stars… please don’t yell at me. I think this is a really fun series, and I always enjoy reading it, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as some other titles within the same genre (with the sole exception of Assassin’s Blade, the compilation of prequel novellas to this series – that was amazing). While I like Celaena and think she is a really interesting character, I don’t find a single thing about her relatable. I also think a lot of the decisions she makes don’t follow a logical thought process. I could say the same thing about the storyline. While I really like where it’s going, there were a couple of things leading up to this point that felt forced and inconsistent, especially regarding character. All of that said, I still enjoyed Heir of Fire – especially the villain POVs and the creative bits involving dragons… I’m looking forward to seeing where it’s headed. Overall, If by some chance you haven’t read it yet (but would like to), I would definitely recommend it, but only after you’ve read some of my other favorites…

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Feb 4 2015
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Mini Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and boneTitle: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1

Genre: Teen Fantasy/Paranormal

Rating: 3/5 stars

The Overview: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”; she speaks many languages–not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out. When one of the strangers–beautiful, haunted Akiva–fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

The Mini Book Review:

I thought the concept for this book was friggin cool: teeth-harvesting chimera, an art student in Prague, and a heavenly love interest, topped off with great writing and a quirky voice. My favorite element of the story was probably Karou herself. You see, I’ve always been in awe of people with strong artistic talents, I really feel like this book allowed me to get immersed into her world as she attended her art classes (in Prague nonetheless, which made the whole thing seem more exotic and exciting). I also liked the supporting characters, but often wondered if they were a little too one-dimensional.

I honestly think if I had read Daughter of Smoke and Bone ten years ago I would have loved it, probably because the romance would have resonated with me a lot more then than it does now. As it were, I found it a bit tiresome and predictable… but then again, I have read a ton of teen love stories over the last decade and after a while they all start to sound the same. My advice is, if you’re in the mood for a semi-typical teen romance with a whole bunch of cool crap around it, give this book a go.

Daug daughter of smoke and bone 2hter of Smoke and boneAnd I’m totally serious about the art thing – I love reading about people who are amazing at their craft (even if it’s a craft that doesn’t technically exist in our world like dragonriding or magecraft). This book inspired to the point where I even dusted off my old paints. I’ve always been pretty decent at copycatting, but have never been able to create something beautiful from scratch. Also, notice that this painting is only half finished… It has totally been that way for about six months and will probably remain that way forever.

Is painting ADD a thing? I have it.


Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes