Saturday, October 31, 2015

New to the TBR Pile (43) - October 2015



Borrowed from the library:
Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)
by Sarah J. Maas

An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt. But her heart never wavers.

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

The Door in the Hedge: And Other Stories
by Robin McKinley

Ensorcelled princesses... a frog that speaks... a magical hind — Newbery Medal winner Robin McKinley opens a door into an enchanted world in this collection of original and retold fairy tales

The last mortal kingdom before the unmeasured sweep of Faerieland begins has at best held an uneasy truce with its unpredictable neighbor. There is nothing to show a boundary, at least on the mortal side of it; and if any ordinary human creature ever saw a faerie—or at any rate recognized one—it was never mentioned; but the existence of the boundary and of faeries beyond it is never in doubt either.

So begins “The Stolen Princess,” the first story of this collection, about the meeting between the human princess Linadel and the faerie prince Donathor. “The Princess and the Frog” concerns Rana and her unexpected alliance with a small, green, flipper-footed denizen of a pond in the palace gardens. “The Hunting of the Hind” tells of a princess who has bewitched her beloved brother, hoping to beg some magic of cure, for her brother is dying, and the last tale is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses in which an old soldier discovers, with a little help from a lavender-eyed witch, the surprising truth about where the princesses dance their shoes to tatters every night.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds
by Cat Winters

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

Freebie from Amazon.ca:
Elsker (The Elsker Saga #1)
by S. T. Bende

Kristia Tostenson prefers Earl Grey to Grey Goose and book clubs to nightclubs, but when she transfers from her one-stoplight town to Cardiff University in Wales she falls in love with Ull Myhr. Her new boyfriend isn’t exactly what she was expecting. He’s an honest-to-goodness Norse God — an immortal assassin fated to die at Ragnarok, the battle destined to destroy Asgard and Earth. Kristia’s crazy visions are the only thing that can save their realms. Her orderly life just got very messy.

Gifts of the Blood (Angel's Edge #1)
by Vicki Keire

Caspia Chastain, art student and barista, is gifted (or plagued, if you ask her) with the ability to draw the future, usually at the worst possible times. Her parents are four years dead; everyday she watches her brother Logan fight his cancer diagnosis. Things get worse for Caspia the day she draws an angry stranger framed by planes of light and violent, bloody images. That exact same stranger walks up to her out of nowhere mere hours later knowing things he shouldn't, like her name, her brother's illness, and her strange ability. That's when Caspia discovers her hometown is a refuge for supernatural beings both Light and Dark, and she and her brother find themselves caught up in a war between the two that predates their very birth. In order to protect herself and her brother, she turns to the one who seems to have started it all: the man who walked out of her sketchbook calling himself Ethan.

But Ethan has his own agenda, Logan's getting sicker fast, and Caspia finds that drawing the future isn't the only strange thing she can do. Meanwhile, someone really wants all of them dead. In a town where Dark doesn't equal Evil and Light isn't always Good, Caspia and Ethan find themselves making strange alliances and even stranger sacrifices in order to protect those they love.

Kaleidoscope (Faylinn #1)
by Mindy Hayes

“Was I still a human? Gosh, I still wanted to be human. Even just to keep a sliver of who I thought I was. But as I thought about being human, standing in the shade of the forest, I felt less human than ever. The trees fought for my allegiance."

It starts in her chest. The change Calliope doesn't see coming. It pulses like a second heartbeat, urging her to give in to the need to be in the depths of the forest. She's compelled to fight the pull, but the more she denies it the stronger it becomes until she finally surrenders and is pulled into a secret world of enchantment.

Kai and Declan need her to accept what she is, but with everything left unsaid, acceptance may be the least of their worries. Knowing their fate lies in her hands, they’ll stop at nothing to protect and prepare her for what lies ahead.

Will Calliope be able to accept what Kai and Declan reveal or will her desire to be normal keep her from acknowledging her true destiny?

The Mind's Eye (SYNSK #1)
by K. C. Finn

A girl with a telepathic gift finds a boy clinging to his last hope during the war-torn climate of Europe, 1940.

At fifteen, Kit Cavendish is one the oldest evacuees to escape London at the start of the Second World War due to a long term illness that sees her stuck in a wheelchair most of the time. But Kit has an extraordinary psychic power: she can put herself into the minds of others, see through their eyes, feel their emotions, even talk to them – though she dares not speak out for fear of her secret ability being exposed.

As Kit settles into her new life in the North Wales village of Bryn Eira Bach, solitude and curiosity encourage her to gain better control of her gift. Until one day her search for information on the developing war leads her to the mind of Henri, a seventeen-year-old Norwegian boy witnessing the German occupation of his beloved city, Oslo. As Henri discovers more about the English girl occupying his mind, the psychic and emotional bonds between them strengthen and Kit guides him through an oppressive and dangerous time.

There are secrets to be uncovered, both at home and abroad, and it’s up to Kit and Henri to come together and fight their own battles in the depths of the world’s greatest war.

The Scourge (Brilliant Darkness #1)
by A. G. Henley

Seventeen-year-old Groundling, Fennel, is Sightless. She's never been able to see her lush forest home, but she knows its secrets. She knows how the shadows shift when she passes under a canopy of trees. She knows how to hide in the cool, damp caves when the Scourge comes. She knows how devious and arrogant the Groundlings' tree-dwelling neighbors, the Lofties, can be.

And she's always known this day would come—the day she faces the Scourge alone.

The Sightless, like Fenn, are mysteriously protected from the Scourge, the gruesome creatures roaming the forests, reeking of festering flesh and consuming anything—and anyone—living. A Sightless Groundling must brave the Scourge and bring fresh water to the people of the forest. Today, that task becomes Fenn's.

Fenn will have a Lofty Keeper, Peree, as her companion. Everyone knows the Lofties wouldn’t hesitate to shoot an arrow through the back of an unsuspecting Groundling like Fenn, but Peree seems different. A boy with warm, rough hands who smells like summer, he is surprisingly kind and thoughtful. Although Fenn knows his people are treacherous, she finds herself wanting to trust him.

As their forest community teeters on the brink of war, Fenn and Peree must learn to work together to survive the Scourge and ensure their people’s survival. But when Fenn uncovers a secret that shatters her truths, she’s forced to decide who and what to protect—her people, her growing love for Peree, or the elusive dream of lasting peace in the forest.

Spirit Legacy (The Gateway Trilogy #1)
by E. E. Holmes

“The Gateway is open...”

These cryptic words wake college student Jess Ballard from a terrifying dream into an even more terrifying reality. Jess' life has never been what anyone would call easy; doing damage control in the wake of your nomadic, alcoholic mother doesn't exactly make for a storybook childhood. But now her world has fallen apart just when it should be coming together: her mother gone—dead under mysterious circumstances; her life uprooted to stay with estranged relatives she’s never met; and there’s something odd about some of the people she’s been meeting at school:

They’re dead.

Aided by Tia, her neurotic roommate, and Dr. David Pierce, a ghost-hunting professor, Jess must unravel the mystery behind her hauntings. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more danger shadows her every move. An ancient secret, long-buried, is about to claw its way to the surface, and nothing can prepare Jess for one terrifying truth... her encounters with the world of the dead are only just beginning.


What's new to your TBR pile this month?
Did you get any books you're really looking forward to reading?
Let me know in the comments!

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Review - In the Shadow of Blackbirds

In the Shadow of Blackbirds
by Cat Winters
Date: 2013
Publisher: Amulet Books
Reading level: YA
Book type: prose novel
Pages: 258
Format: e-book
Source: library

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This book was part of the Big Library Read 2015. I'd seen the book on a few blogs back when it was released in 2013, but hadn't gotten around to checking it out. It's the sort of book I usually end up enjoying. It's mainly historical fiction, but with a dash of the paranormal. While I did enjoy it for the most part, it did have its weaknesses.

Please, dear author, I want some more...

The setting is really what makes this book work. Mary Shelley Black is a sixteen-year-old girl, the daughter of a jailed shopkeeper and a dead physician, who goes to live with her young aunt in San Diego near the end of World War I. It's the height of the Spanish Flu pandemic, and fear and death are everywhere. It was interesting to see how people reacted to what was going on: young men dying overseas in the trenches, and more young people dying at home from a mysterious illness. The home remedies that people employed seem almost laughable to us today... but when faced with such a deadly disease and even the doctors at a loss as to how to help their patients, people were trying anything they could think of to ward off the germs: burning sulfur, eating onions, bathing in onions... Combined with the smells from the crematoriums working overtime, the world must've smelled like hell itself.

This book kept me guessing, too. It's quite the mystery, and I didn't really see some of the twists coming. After Stephen's ghost comes to Mary Shelley, begging her for help, she tries to find out what happened to him so that his spirit can rest. My theories as to what really happened changed a few times as I was reading the book, which I liked; nobody wants to see the conclusion or the twist coming from miles away!

I also liked that there were no implausible romances, love triangles, or insta-love. The only real romance is between Mary Shelley and Stephen... which, because one of them is already dead, is somewhat limited.

It's all a matter of taste...

My main issue with this book is the characters. They're not always that consistent, and sometimes sound way too modern for 1918. At other times, their speech comes across as scripted, as if the author tried to get a little too poetic or was trying too hard to make a point. I also had a difficult time connecting with the characters. Aunt Eva is somewhat annoying, though Mary Shelley doesn't seem to notice. Stephen is okay, though I feel like we needed to know him a little more in the "before" period. There are flashbacks and reminiscences, but because we never get to meet him in real time until after he becomes a ghost, there's a lack of emotional connection with that character. I didn't even feel Mary Shelley's grief the way I thought I should. Her attitude was almost like, "The boy I loved and probably would have married is dead. Oh, well. Guess I'd better go find out what happened to him." Yes, she is so distraught at one point that she halfheartedly attempts suicide... but it's like watching her go through all this from such a detached perspective that it's hard to get emotionally involved as a reader.

The characters I did like were the injured boys in the convalescent home. In only a few pages, they engaged me far more than some of the main characters. At times, I wanted to be reading their stories rather than the main one! It's too bad they were just a peripheral part of Mary Shelley and Stephen's story, because they were pretty interesting.

Let's get technical...

The writing in this book is technically okay, for the most part. It's told from the first-person point of view, which makes me wonder why I didn't feel more of an emotional connection with Mary Shelley. I still can't figure that out. It may be that she's just one of those characters that I didn't click with; other readers may have a completely different opinion of her.

The verdict...

This is a well-plotted story that should appeal to fans of historical fiction as well as paranormal romance. There are some graphic scenes, so I would probably recommend this one to older teens.

Quotable moment:

"We can be terrible to one another." I dug my cheek deeper into the pillow. "And do you know the oddest thing about murder and war and violence?"

"Oh, Mary Shelley, please stop talking about those types of things."

"The oddest thing is that they all go against the lessons that grown-ups teach children. Don't hurt anyone. Solve your problems with language instead of fists. Share your things. Don't take something that belongs to someone else without asking. Use your manners. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Why do mothers and fathers bother spending so much time teaching children these lessons when grown-ups don't pay any attention to the words themselves?"

Premise: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Pace: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Editing: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall Rating: 3.63 out of 5 ladybugs


Friday, October 9, 2015

Review - Crown of Midnight (DNF)

Crown of Midnight
(Throne of Glass #2)
by Sarah J. Maas
Date: 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Reading level: YA
Book type: prose novel
Pages: 363
Format: e-book
Source: library

An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt. But her heart never wavers.

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I read Throne of Glass at the beginning of this year.  I wasn't all that impressed.  I didn't particularly like the characters, I thought the writing left a lot to be desired, and I just didn't get sucked into the story the way I expected to.  Pretty much everybody says that Crown of Midnight is better; in fact, it seems to be the favourite book of the series of many.  So I thought I'd give this series one more try.  I waited weeks to get my copy from the library (because the series is just so dang popular), and started to read immediately.  I got to 18%... and I'm sorry I wasted my time.

I do not connect with the characters at all.  I don't even like them.  None are developed all that well, beyond continual descriptions of their looks (these books all have a strange superficiality to them that I find off-putting).  Celaena is still one of the biggest Mary Sues, and she's just... boring.  She's supposed to be this kick-ass assassin, but even almost 1/5 of the way into this book, she'd yet to actually assassinate anyone.  Much of her time was spent shopping, flirting, and wandering the halls of the palace in the dark for no good reason (other than to position her to see certain things or gain bits of presumably relevant information).

I'm also allergic to Maas's writing.  The same things that bothered me in the first book bothered me here.  She just doesn't write in the third person point of view very well.  Put more than one "he" or "she" in a scene, and you can't figure out who's talking.  And then, in scenes where Celaena is the only girl, the author will use both "she" and "Celaena" in a paragraph (in that order), as if we'll somehow forget in the space of a couple of sentences that Celaena's the one who's speaking.  Also, Maas doesn't seem to know when to break up the paragraphs, leading to odd ones where one person speaks, a second person performs an action, and then the first person speaks again, all without a break (which could be confusing at times, figuring out who was doing and saying what).  It's just really weird, and I suspect that if the books had been written in the first person (with shifting points of view) they might have worked better.  (I'm not a huge fan of third-person narration, but it can be done right.  For example, I never got confused about who was speaking when Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were both in a scene together.)

After reading way too many pages of overly long descriptions of irrelevant things ("She glanced at the clock on the small table beside a wall.") and seeing few hints of anything remotely interesting happening, I decided to give up.  I wasn't enjoying the book at all.  I caught myself up with synopses and spoilers... and I'm not regretting my decision to quit this one.  (Aelin Galathynius?  Seriously?  That sounds like an STD.)

I'm completely baffled by the love for this series and for this author's writing.  Perhaps she manages to strike an emotional chord in her readers.  Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.  I find her writing weak and juvenile, and the stories tedious.

So, in the final analysis, the reasons why I didn't finish Crown of Midnight are as follows:
  • weak writing
  • superficiality
  • cardboard characters
  • boredom