Book Review: Sever by Lauren DeStefano

February 11, 2013 by 6 Comments

Sever by Lauren DeStefano Sever by Lauren DeStefano
Release Date: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Source: Borrowed ARC from Lindsey (thanks!)
Rating: ★★★½☆ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered. – Goodreads

Review:
It’s always hard to write reviews for the final book in a series because I want to SCREAM about specific things, but I obviously can’t do that without ruining things for others. As such, this review will probably be a short one. Here’s what you need to know:

As you may or may not recall, Fever was not my type of book. Like, at all. Lauren DeStefano’s prose was beautiful, but I felt that the plot itself lacked direction and I was definitely disappointed by it since I had loved Wither so much. I can’t say that I enjoyed Sever as much as the first book, but it picked up steam in a major way and the entire time I was reading it I was like, “Yes, HERE is the emotion that I missed from book two.”

Because, for better or for worse, there was plenty of emotion to be had in Sever. Lauren DeStefano reminded me of the strength between the sister wives: how far their bond went and their place in each other’s lives. I was able to get back into Rhine’s mindset and feel her determination to reunite with her brother. Lauren DeStefano allowed me to have a better grasp on several characters: to understand their motivations, their fears, and their realizations about the world. I was left staring at the book in shock when certain developments arose and, right now, days after having turned the last page, I’m still remembering the “Noooooooo” moment I had. I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THAT MOMENT.

There are a few issues I had with Sever, namely that one particular character remained too underdeveloped for my liking and that ending could have been expanded on, but I definitely feel that this book made up for what I felt was lacking in Fever. Lauren DeStefano filled in the gaps, allowed her characters to grow and, overall, delivered a satisfying conclusion. I’m looking forward to getting to know the characters in her next series.

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Book Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

February 4, 2013 by 5 Comments

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Source: ALA 2012
Rating: ★★★★★ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner. – Goodreads

Review:
After having loved Cinder so much, I was left with grabby hands for the rest of the books in the Lunar Chronicles series. It should be no surprise that Marissa Meyer did it again: just like with her twists to the original Cinderella fairytale in Cinder, she made Red Riding Hood her own in Scarlet and, hell, she made this installment even BETTER than the last. Seriously, Marissa Meyer stepped up her game and made Scarlet such a thrilling ride to experience.

Initially I was a little worried about reading Scarlet because I had grown attached to Cinder, Kai, and everyone else in the first book, so much. Would I be able to invest myself the same way with a new cast of characters? By the first chapter Marissa Meyer had me going, “Yes, I can!” Scarlet is different from Cinder, but she’s equally awesome.. As she unraveled the mystery of her grandmother’s disappearance, she displayed just how capable and strong she was; I completely admired her loyalty and tenacity.

And the boys! Wolf and Thorne are such a contrast to the other, but I fell in love with them both. How do you do it, Marissa Meyer? WHO ELSE DO YOU HAVE UP YOUR SLEEVE? I WANT TO MEET THEM. Really, though, Wolf was so mysterious and, as hard as it was for him, I loved the conflict he experienced. The uncertainty between him and Scarlet was so, so good and I loved their progression in the book. As for Thorne, I was sold on him immediately. He’s such a vibrant character, has so much swagger, and I found myself completely delighted by him and his humor. MORE THORNE.

I didn’t have to worry about missing Cinder, Kai, Iko, etc, so much because Marissa Meyer included them in Scarlet. Woohoo! With Cinder, she’s the second main POV in the book so it was great to not be left in the dark about what was going on with her. The bigger picture is coming into focus and I’m so excited for it!

Scarlet was pretty much a perfect sequel because it had everything I loved about the first book and THEN SOME. The stakes were higher, there was energy on every page, Marissa Meyer infused humor effortlessly, and she had my heart racing through several scenes. Those grabby hands after Cinder? They’ve made a return after the end of Scarlet and I’m so sad that Cress and Winter seem forever away.

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Book Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

February 1, 2013 by 6 Comments

Title by Author Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: LAPL
Rating: ★★★☆☆ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns? – Goodreads

Review:
With very few exceptions (Unearthly, Angelfall), angel books are usually a big miss with me, but Wendy Higgins’ Sweet Evil was middle of the road.

I’ll start off with what I did like:
• The addictive quality of the book. Seriously, this book was like candy and I read it in one sitting which is pretty rare for me nowadays.
• The angel mythology. It’s so different from other YA angel books so thumbs up for originality!
• Wendy Higgins wasn’t afraid of making her world dark. Perhaps I’m just too used to the fluff and such, but I was really surprised by some of the themes and actions of Nephilim in Sweet Evil. They made sense for the world she created, though, so I’m glad she didn’t shy away from that.
• The chemistry between Anna and Kaiden was pretty good. I did have some issues, but the UST was definitely there.

My dislikes are a little difficult to put into words because, yes, I did enjoy reading the book quite a bit, but I didn’t love it.
• I found the characters to be grating at times — especially Anna who was annoyingly naive and suffered from the always eyeroll inducing “I’m beautiful but I don’t know it” character flaw.
• Kaiden is a typical bad boy (he even has a British accent!), and I’m not too into those personally, but at least his “badness” had a reason. So, not all that much to DISLIKE here, really, I just wasn’t super into him.
• Patti, Anna’s mother, is a trip and I really don’t understand what was going on in her head. At all.
• The other side characters had interesting backstories, but as characters themselves, I found them to be flat. That sounds really odd, I know, but I guess I liked their larger roles in the angel mythology more than I liked them as individuals? We’ll stick with that.

I will read the next book because this one was so addictive, but I do wish the character development had been expanded. I’ll be curious to see how Wendy Higgins handles that in the next installment.

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Book Review: Prodigy by Marie Lu

January 28, 2013 by 4 Comments

Prodigy by Marie Lu Prodigy by Marie Lu
Release Date: January 29, 2013
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Source: BEA 2012
Rating: ★★★★★ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action – Goodreads

Review:
Alright, so while I think I preferred Legend to this one, Prodigy wasn’t lacking in any way. Marie Lu easily allowed me to slip back into June and Day’s world and, wow, it was such a journey with them as they had to make difficult decisions and reaffirm their trust for one another.

June and Day are apart for most of the book, but it didn’t really feel that way to me because they have such a strong presence in each other’s lives that they always think about the other in a team mentality (and as more, too, of course). Their separate journeys are meant to lead to the common goal of assassinating the new Elector, Anden, but they couldn’t be more different. While June finds herself in the familiarity of the Republic, Day learns more about the ins and outs of the Patriots and their rebel operations.

Marie Lu continued to effortlessly switch between Day and June’s POVs and did a great job keeping me invested in both characters. While I’m usually so against POV changes, it actually works well for this series. In Prodigy, the narration switch moved the story forward and added urgency because they were both experiencing very different situations. Not only were the political aspects a contrast to each other, but it allowed me to be privy to what the other character wasn’t which, in turn, had me going “!!!!!!!” inside.

The romantic developments in Prodigy are…interesting. As mentioned, Day and June spend a lot of the book separated, but their scenes together had me loving them all over again. However, they did have other people step into the picture. I won’t get into specific spoilers, but I will say this: I could understand the romantic interest that June had, but Day’s? Ehhh, not into it and seemed to come out of nowhere for me.

Overall, Prodigy is a must-read and the ending had me going, “WOAHHH.” I fear Marie Lu will break my heart in the final installment of the series, but I’m sure I’ll love every word of it.

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Book Review: Crewel by Gennifer Albin

January 21, 2013 by 4 Comments

Title by Author Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Release Date: October 16, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Source: BEA 2012
Rating: ★★★☆☆ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

Enter a tangled world of secrets and intrigue where a girl is in charge of other’s destinies, but not her own.

Sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys has always been special. When her parents discover her gift—the ability to weave the very fabric of reality—they train her to hide it. For good reason, they don’t want her to become a Spinster — one of the elite, beautiful, and deadly women who determine what people eat, where they live, how many children they have, and even when they die.

Thrust into the opulent Western Coventry, Adelice will be tried, tested and tempted as she navigates the deadly politics at play behind its walls. Now caught in a web of lies and forbidden romance, she must unravel the sinister truth behind her own unspeakable power. Her world is hanging by a thread, and Adelice, alone, can decide to save it — or destroy it. – Goodreads

Review:
Like many others, I was so eager to dive into Crewel because it sounded unlike anything else in YA. The ability to weave time with matter? Embroider the fabric of life? Yes, please! I was all for learning about a new world, especially with the main character, Adelice, in a position of power as a Spinster. Although I was somewhat confused about what everything meant, I was definitely pulled into the story when Adelice endured a lot in the first few pages. I enjoyed finding out what being a Spinster entailed, finding out who the major players were, and discovering how Adelice fit into the bigger picture. Unfortunately, the book lagged in the middle for me and I think it sort of fell into the contrived plot lines of many other YA dystopian novels.

If you hate love triangles, well, Crewel does have one and I felt pretty blah about it. I feel that Adelice and her main guy rushed too quickly into their feelings. Gennifer Albin didn’t quite develop them and I was definitely left puzzled when they were proclaiming their love for another; it didn’t add up for me.

Adelice herself was fairly likable. I do think she settled too quickly into her new life, and that she didn’t properly mourn for all that she lost, but I did admire her feistiness. I do wish I had been able to better understand her motivations, though, as I felt a lot of that was just told instead of shown.

While perhaps not the read I was hoping it would be, Gennifer Albin’s Crewel offers plenty for other readers to enjoy in its premise.

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