I'm Back!

Holy Cow - I can't believe it has been five months since I started writing this post!  I honestly don't even remember what books I've read since January.  I had to go back through my library books due notices, and I am pretty sure I still missed some (the library's email system was down for three months so I didn't get any notices between December and March!).  I think I've got fourteen books to tell you about (!), so I am going to have to split those between two posts.  Here is the first half:

Igniting Darkness, by Robin LaFevers, is the second book in a duology, which is a follow-up to her His Fair Assassin trilogy. (You can find my quick blurb about the trilogy here, and my mini-review of Courting Darkness here.)  The series is about a group of assassin nuns, and each book must be read in order or nothing makes any sense.  I liked this one a little better than the first book in the duology, but I think that is mostly because the first one had to spend time getting the story rolling, so this one was just smooth sailing to the end.  Just like all of the previous books in the series, this book was jam packed with romance, and action, and intrigue, all rolled into a very well-written package.  This is a pretty short mini-review, so I'll leave you with one of my favorite lines from the story:  "I mean, I have longed for you for years, finally have you, and now I find it has been like wanting a piece of rotten fruit."  The king might have thought this about one of the assassin nuns, but I assure you it in no way describes this book!   (Reading Level 5.1 / Upper Grades)

Well, I pretty much hated Seven Endless Forests by April Genevieve Tucholke. Yes, hated.  The book is set in the same world as The Boneless Mercies (see my mini-review here), which I really liked, but this one was just . . . too much I guess.  The way everything was girl-centered was refreshingly unique in the first book, but it just felt weird in this one.  The way everything (the people, the places, the battles . . .) had strange names like the Salt and Marsh Witch War, the Evil Stepmother Tavern, Cloven Tell, Butcher Bards and Pig Witches and Fremish wolf-priests, gave the original story an interesting fantasy feel, but in this one there were too many references to these things and it felt overdone.  Same goes for all of the sagas and legends they mention - in this book, it was just enough already after awhile, because it was somehow exhausting trying to keep up with all of the references to imaginary proper nouns. The first book was supposed to be a retelling of Beowulf, and I think it did a good job, and this one was obviously supposed to be based on the King Arthur myth, but it did NOT do a good job.  It mostly just threw lame references in here and there with place names and the like.  And there was waaaaaaay too much drinking and taking drugs going on.  Oh, and strangely intimate behavior between all of the characters.  As if all people who lived in Dark Age-type societies spent all their time sitting under trees getting hammered . . . . and then singing and crying about their dead . . . . and then sleeping in each other's arms.  The crazy thing is, I was all into this book at the beginning.  It was only once the story got properly going that it all fell apart.  Unfortunately, by the time I had completely hit my limit, I only had like 50 pages to go, so I went ahead and finished the thing.  But it was painful.  Sooooooo painful.

A couple of years ago I read a book that was supposed to be a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story.  It was awful.  At the end of my post about it (you can read it here), I said I was going to have to be on the lookout for a better one.  Well folks, I finally found it!  A Curse So Dark and Lonely, by Brigid Kemmerer was a wonderful surprise.  I didn't even realize it was supposed to be a Beauty and the Beast story.  I thought it was supposed to be something creepy.  (I know, the briars on the cover might have been a clue, but I just saw dark and curse!)  Anyway, this book was exactly what a fairytale retelling should be.  It stayed true to the original concept while offering something new and unexpected.  Actually, the fact that it was a full-length novel meant that it offered quite a bit of unexpectedness, but all by way of putting meat on its bones and creating characters with depth.  Everything about this book was AMAZING, especially the way the male characters spoke - the dialogue would make any romantic weak in the knees.  If you like fairytales, or romance, or romantic-action-fantasy (because this book has it all), you have got to go out and get a copy and read this ASAP.  Trust me - you won't be disappointed!   (Reading Level 4.2 / Upper Grades)

A Heart So Fierce and Broken is the sequel to A Curse So Dark and Lonely.  I didn't realize the first one was part of a trilogy until I got to the end and it was perfectly obvious that, although there was a perfectly good resolution to the story, the author just knew we would want more so she was going to keep on going.  Now, I don't mean to rain on the parade, but this one was actually a bit disappointing.  Not because it wasn't fantastic - it was!  But this one focused not on the main character from the first book, the prince, but instead on his sidekick.  (Okay. Horrible word choice.  He was the commander of the Royal Guard, and what the two young men went through was hardly a comedy or flippant adventure.)  What the author did for the main character in the first book, she did again for the new main character in this one - she gave you a broken boy who you just could not help but fall in love with.  The problem?  After falling in love with the prince in the first book, the reader now had to sit through 450 pages in which he pretty much became a flat, lifeless side character.  And a horribly mean one at that - although if the author had paid him more attention, she could have put the reader inside his head and we would have understood and (somewhat) forgiven him for his actions.  (If I liked using emojis, which I do NOT, I would put one of someone crying here.)  Now, don't get me wrong - I loved this book anyway!  So you should definitely go out and get a copy of it too, and read them both ASAP!   (Reading Level 4.6 / Upper Grades)

A Vow So Bold and Deadly is the final book in the Cursebreakers saga.  (I hate the way they name trilogies these days!)  Luckily for me, this one had a release date of only a few weeks after I finished reading the second book, so I was able to order all three at once and didn't have to wait for the library to get its copy onto the shelf.  So.  This one focused on both of the young men, mostly equally, so we once again get the depth of character for the prince that was missing in the second book.  Unfortunately, the first half of the story is like a tv show where you wait five seasons for Scully and Mulder to get together, and they finally do on the season finale, only when the first episode of season six comes along, something has happened and they aren't exactly together anymore.  You know, the kind of plot development that makes you say Whaaaaat?  How could she do that to us?!  The good news is, it works itself out by the middle of the book (Whew!) so the reader can focus on how the main drama is finally going to be resolved.  This one wraps up nicely, but actually leaves things open for the author to give us some follow-up books.  Hopefully she does, because after you go out ASAP and get a copy of this one and read it, you will definitely be wanting more!   (Reading Level 4.8 / Upper Grades)

I checked out Winter White and Wicked, by Shannon Dittmore, because I loved the cover.  (Yes, I actually do that.  It was even better in person - the actual cover was all silvery-metallic.)  I pretty much hated it for the entire first half.  It was about a girl who was a trucker, maybe the best there was, and a rebel leader made a bargain with her to do a very dangerous haul for him.  It read a whole lot like The Rift (find my mini-review here), which I also hated for the entire first half and then liked by the end.  This one also seemed like a combination of fantasy and science fiction (there wasn't really any science fiction to it, it just felt like that kind of story), and also kind-of-mythology and indigenous folklore, I guess?  (I am not really a fan of folklore.)  It was a weird mix.  The book was actually super boring and kind of dumb, and then something happened that was super interesting and so unique that I'd never come across the idea in a book before.  And then we learned some deep dark secrets about two of the main characters, and then I really enjoyed the last 15% of the story.  Unfortunately, the author makes you totally pumped to find out what is going to happen to these people, and leaves everything just hanging . . . but there is no indication anywhere online that there is going to be a sequel.  So maybe hold off on this one for a bit and see if the author gets signed to write part two.  On second thought, maybe you should actually buy a copy, so the sales will be good and the author will get signed to write part two!   (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

The last book I'm going to share has a bit of a longer review - I have much more I want to say about it than will fit into a mini-review, but I honestly don't have the time to go back through the book and find the kinds of examples that I usually put into a full-length review.

Damsel, by Elana K. Arnold, was fantastic!  It was so very unique, I don't know if I've ever come across anything like it.  The concept, as well as the writing, had me hooked from the very first chapter.  It was written in the third person, but in that way that wonderful storytellers use.  You know, the way that puts the wonder in wonderful.  The way that sets you on the edge of your seat, not because there is intense action, but because there is an intensity to the story and you become immersed in the story itself, and you are anxiously anticipating where it will go.  The author has a wonderful way of explaining things, looking at everything from an angle that is slightly skewed, and she has a way with words that makes the mundane sound deep and mysterious and utterly and completely fairy-tale-ish (but in the traditional, dark, and definitely NOT Disney way).  

Although shelved in the young adult fiction section, the book is for the somewhat older reader, because it is quite risque, with references to particular body parts and states of arousal and conquests.  It does it, for the most part, however, in very - for lack of a better word - literary way.  A way that makes it all somehow less, and yet much, much more shocking at the same time.  Almost like what is being written is so unseemly that it has to be said in code.  It's the kind of thing that would make a matron blush.  It's the kind of thing that Mrs. Pruitt would gleefully make my senior honors English class read. (Some of you know exactly what I mean.)

And speaking of literary, this book has a very definite theme - one should never try to tame something that is wild.  The author does an excellent job of weaving together multiple story elements to gradually build this theme before delivering the final, massive punch at the end of the story.  The book also has motifs - eyes, everywhere there are eyes. . . . and cats.  What is it with all the cats?  Oh, and heat.  Hot dragons' breaths and warm amniotic fluid and fires and suns and burning fevers.  This is the kind of book that would be perfect for homeschooled older teens.  Well, let me clarify that.  If a teenager is homeschooled because the school system doesn't offer what they need, then, perfect.  If, however, a teen is homeschooled because their parents wish them to remain innocent and naive, then this one is probably not a very good idea.

Now, this book has been touted as a feminist novel, presumably because the prince is a typical product of the patriarchy - almost archetypically so.  No, scratch that - completely archetypically so.  He is the epitome of the stereotypical fairytale prince, but without the innocent Disney glamour.  Not a bad guy, but not a good choice for any woman not on board with living a Victorian-era, married kind of life.  And then, of course, there is the heroine, who is not so sure that she wants to live the rest of her life in a situation where she is basically owned by a man.  A woman who comes to realize her own value, and the power she holds within.  So I can see why feminists would love it.  But you know what?  This doesn't have to be a "feminist" novel in order to talk about these things.  In fact, when I read it, I saw it as more of a historical-anthropological study of human nature and patriarchal societies (no judgement, just an observation of their characteristics) and the strength of the human spirit.  So even non-feminist women should be able to enjoy it as well (as long as they don't have delicate sensibilities that could be offended by the risque bits).  I've already ordered a copy for my home library, so you can be confident that this one is a keeper.   (Reading Level 6.8 / Upper Grades)

So there you have the first half of the fourteen books - all but one of which I had read way back in February when I first started writing this post.  Next time I'll cover the rest, and since I've already read them, I'll just need to find the time to write those reviews!