Review: The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Shadow Throne (The Ascendance Trilogy #3) 
Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
To Be Published: February 25th, 2014
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: ARC via Netgalley
Find: Goodreads

One war.
Too many deadly battles.
Can a king save his kingdom, when his own survival seems unlikely?

War has come to Carthya. It knocks at every door and window in the land. And when Jaron learns that King Vargan of Avenia has kidnapped Imogen in a plot to bring Carthya to its knees, Jaron knows it is up to him to embark on a daring rescue mission. But everything that can go wrong does.

His friends are flung far and wide across Carthya and its neighbouring lands. In a last-ditch effort to stave off what looks to be a devastating loss for the kingdom, Jaron undertakes what may be his last journey to save everything and everyone he loves. But even with his lightning-quick wit, Jaron cannot forestall the terrible danger that descends on him and his country. Along the way, will he lose what matters most? And in the end, who will sit on Carthya's throne?

Rousing and affecting, Jaron's adventures have thrilled and moved readers in The False Prince and The Runaway King. Journey once again with the Ascendant King of Carthya, as New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen brings his story to a stunning conclusion with The Shadow Throne.

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(Mini) Review: Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Antigoddess (Goddess War #1) 
Author: Kendare Blake
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Published: September 10th 2013
Publisher: Tor Teens
Source: Won via Publishers
Find: Goodreads

Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

I’m a sucker for stories based on Greek mythology, so it’s unsurprising that I practically devoured Antigoddess in a short amount of time. Then again, “devoured” might not be the right word to use in the context of this book when certain Greek gods are trying to postpone their deaths by destroying and consuming other gods ala the good old-fashioned Titans way. That's right, the almighty immortal gods are dying, and they're permanently stuck in the denial/anger stage.

This is what men risk so much for; this shiver, this acute heat and desire. This is what they think eternity feels like.

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Review: Hang Wire by Adam Christopher

Hang Wire
Author: Adam Christopher
Genre: Urban Fantasy
To Be Published: January 28th 2014
Publisher: Angry Robot
Source: ARC via Netgalley
Find: Goodreads

When Ted Hall's birthday dinner in San Francisco's famous Chinatown ends with an explosion, the fire department blames a gas leak, but when Ted finds strange, personalised messages from the restaurant's fortune cookies scattered around his apartment, his suspicions are aroused, particularly as his somnambulant travels appear to coincide with murders by the notorious Hang Wire Killer.

Meanwhile, the circus has come to town, but the Celtic dancers are taking their pagan act a little too seriously and the manager of the Olde Worlde Funfair has started talking to his vintage machines. And while the new acrobat is wowing the crowds, his frequent absences are causing tension among the performers.

Out in the city there are other new arrivals, immortals searching for an ancient power which has been unleashed, awakening something awful buried deep beneath the San Andreas fault... a primal evil which, if not stopped, will destroy the entire world.

The city of San Francisco doesn't know it yet but they're on the verge of total annihilation, and it all starts with an exploding fortune cookie during the birthday of a Bay Area blogger named Ted. It actually almost happened several times before (see: 1906 earthquake), but now with the circus in town, a few gods from long forgotten mythology in the mix, and a serial killer known as the Hang Wire Killer running loose around the city, things are looking a lot more serious.

There's certainly a lot packed into this book with a little bit of everything for everyone, and yet I didn't really like it as much as I thought it would. I was really hooked by the beginning as it (quite literally) started off with a bang, but the plot quickly became convoluted and I slowly started to lose interest.

The use of multiple perspectives was probably the best way to thoroughly explain most of the plot, but it's not one of my favorite things as a reader, especially when it includes one-time chapters of people who aren't the main focus or aren't necessarily important. One particular chapter changed points of views several times without warning which made for an annoying and confusing read.

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DNF: The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe

I was debating whether I should make this post or not as there are different ways to handle DNF books and there's no real agreed upon standard on how to deal with them in the book blogging world. My initial instincts were that it would be wrong to talk about I didn't even finish, but this book elicited so many strong emotions from me that I feel I have to share.

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant
Author: Joanna Wiebe
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
To Be Published: Jan 14 2014
Publisher: BenBella Books
Source: ARC via Netgalley
Find: Goodreads

So many secrets for such a small island. From the moment Anne Merchant arrives at Cania Christy, a boarding school for the world’s wealthiest teens, the hushed truths of this strange, unfamiliar land begin calling to her—sometimes as lulling drumbeats in the night, sometimes as piercing shrieks.

One by one, unanswered questions rise. No one will tell her why a line is painted across the island or why she is forbidden to cross it. Her every move—even her performance at the school dance—is graded as part of a competition to become valedictorian, a title that brings rewards no one will talk about. And Anne discovers that the parents of her peers surrender million-dollar possessions to enroll their kids in Cania Christy, leaving her to wonder what her lowly funeral director father could have paid to get her in… and why.

As a beautiful senior struggles to help Anne make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world without breaking the rules that bind him, she must summon the courage to face the impossible truth—and change it—before she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.

Stopped: Page 128 out of 458 (27%)

Why I Didn't Like It:
As Emma on Spun with Words said, the characters are half the battle. You don't have to necessarily like a character to enjoy reading a book. But if you don't enjoy reading about the main characters, then it will be a chore to get through the book. Getting through Anne Merchant was more like a chore and a half. Not only did I not enjoy reading about Anne and the other characters, I actually hated them to the point where they elicited rather strong feelings of anger and frustration at times. Our rather, I hated Wiebe's characterizations. Instead of seeing them as actual people, I saw Wiebe's characters more as shallow caricatures full of the worst cliches and stereotypes. Sometimes, it worked. Villicus, the headmaster of Cania Christy is sufficiently creepy and disgusting enough to play the villain with his arched eyebrows, hairy mole, and crooked brown teeth. Most of the time, the cliches and stereotypes can only go so far in creating believable, complex characters.

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(Mini) Review: Mitosis by Brandon Sanderson

Mitosis
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy
Published: December 3rd, 2013
Publisher: Random House
Find: Goodreads

From "New York Times" bestselling author Brandon Sanderson's action-packed novel "Steelheart" comes "Mitosis," a short story set in the world of The Reckoners series, exclusively available in the digital format.

Catch all the action before, "Firefight" the exciting sequel to "Steelheart" hits shelves in fall 2014.

WAIT! This review may contain minor spoilers for Steelheart. Don't continue if you haven't read it yet and want to avoid spoilers. Unless, of course, you don't mind spoilers. In that case, continue~

A short review for a short story! This novelette can be found on Brandon Sanderson's site, and it's a nice little filler to satisfy Steelheart fans before Firefight comes out in Fall 2014. (Why is that so far away?!) I can't really talk much about what Mitosis is about without spoiling Steelheart, so let's just say there's a new Epic in the town of Newcago by the name of Mitosis and leave it at that. If you haven't read Steelheart yet, what are you waiting for? Read. It. Now. If you need a little bit more convincing, most of the reasons why I loved this short story are the same reasons why I loved the original book, so keep on reading.

"Sparks," Tia said. "Like rats on a ship."
"Yeah," I said. "Or glitter in soup."
Tia and Abraham fell silent.
"Have you ever tried to get all of the glitter out of your soup?" I demanded. "It's really, really hard."

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Review: Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

Rebel Spring
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Published: December 3rd, 2013
Publisher: Penguin Books
Find: Goodreads

Love, power, and magic collide with war in the second book of the Falling Kingdoms series

Auranos has fallen and the three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now united as one country called Mytica. But still, magic beckons, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the world...

When the evil King Gaius announces that a road is to be built into the Forbidden Mountains, formally linking all of Mytica together, he sets off a chain of events that will forever change the face of this land, forcing Cleo the dethroned princess, Magnus the reluctant heir, Lucia the haunted sorceress, and Jonas the desperate rebel to take steps they never could have imagined.

WAIT! This review may contain minor spoilers for Falling Kingdoms. Don't continue if you haven't read it yet and want to avoid spoilers. Unless, of course, you don't mind spoilers. In that case, continue~

Admittedly, I had very mixed feelings about Falling Kingdoms. There were some parts that just dragged for me and most of the characters didn't exactly win my enthusiasm, but I still somehow wanted to read the rest in the series. Luckily, Rebel Spring turned out to be an improvement. While I still had a few issues with it, the second book in the series was a much more enjoyable read.

This summoned a grin once again. "Do you need such protection for a simple dress fitting?"

"I think so," she said, finally finding her own smile. "Don't forget, I will be forced to spend the entire day in the company of the queen."

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Review: World After by Susan Ee

World After
Author: Susan Ee
Genre: Young Adult, Scifi & Fantasy
Published: November 19th 2013
Publisher: Skyscape
Find: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

WAIT! This review may contain minor spoilers for Angelfall. Don't continue if you haven't read it yet and want to avoid spoilers. Unless, of course, you don't mind spoilers. In that case, continue~

Waiting for this book was like waiting in line for over an hour for that one roller coaster at the amusement park. It's long, agonizing, and you begin to wonder if it'll all be worth it halfway through the line. When it's finally your turn, you're thrown in a fast-paced thrill ride of many ups and downs and maybe a little loop de loop that makes all your worries fly away. Even before you finish the too-short ride, you already know you want to do that again. Yeah, reading World After is kind of like that.

"You broke me out of the grasp of a living horror when I thought all hope was gone. You gave me the opportunity to crawl back to life when no one else could." She glances over at me, her eyes shining in the dark. "You're a hero, Penryn, whether you like it or not."

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