Book Review: Rebel Heart by Moira Young

October 26, 2012 by 9 Comments

Rebel Heart by Moira Young Rebel Heart by Moira Young
Release Date: October 30, 2012
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Source: ARC for review
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

It seemed so simple: Defeat the Tonton, rescue her kidnapped brother, Lugh, and then order would be restored to Saba’s world. Simplicity, however, has proved to be elusive. Now, Saba and her family travel west, headed for a better life and a longed-for reunion with Jack. But the fight for Lugh’s freedom has unleashed a new power in the dust lands, and a formidable new enemy is on the rise.

What is the truth about Jack? And how far will Saba go to get what she wants? In this much-anticipated follow-up to the riveting Blood Red Road, a fierce heroine finds herself at the crossroads of danger and destiny, betrayal and passion. – Goodreads

Review:
Ouch, it actually hurts me to write this review because it’s not a very positive one. As you may or may not remember, I absolutely loved Moira Young’s Blood Red Road. It was one of my favorites from last year and Rebel Heart, even with a cover redesign that I did not appreciate, was one of my most anticipated books of 2012. The first book packed a punch with its energy and fast pace and I had grown to love the characters so much; I was really looking forward to a reunion with Moira Young’s world. Unfortunately, Rebel Heart took on another direction and I wasn’t much of a fan.

As mentioned above, Blood Red Road kept its momentum going with its fast pace and the adventures Saba set off on. With Rebel Heart, that wasn’t the case. To be fair, it started off on a great scene with Jack and it looked like Rebel Heart would take things up a notch. Instead, however, it dragged for me. It felt like Saba and co. were just traveling around aimlessly because I didn’t feel the same urgency that I did when she was trying to find Lugh in the first book. Considering how much I love Jack I feel that I should have been more invested in Saba’s possible reunion with him. Jack aside, though, I found myself feeling pretty bored with a good portion of the book. I didn’t get caught up in the danger or excitement. It was all just sort of MEH.

Next, the characters didn’t quite grab my attention either. Maybe I needed to re-read Blood Red Road before diving into this one, but I found it difficult to keep track of who some of the side characters were. My feelings towards the core few (i.e. Saba, Lugh, Emmi, etc) ranged from annoyance to straight up “JUST STOP.” I feel like Saba lost a lot of the fire that I loved so much in the first book and that was the saddest part of this sequel for me.

Rebel Heart took on a few unexpected directions and I’m not quite sure what to make of them. I was really thrown for a loop and I’m sure many of you will experience the same, “WHAT?!” reactions that I did. I’ll be interested to see how certain things will play out but, I won’t lie, I’m nervous about a few others storylines. While I’m sure many of you will enjoy what’s within the pages of Rebel Heart, I’ll have my fingers crossed that Moira Young will be able to turn this series around for me in the final book.

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Book Review: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

December 15, 2011 by 5 Comments

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
Release Date: December 6, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 502
Source: Purchased Copy
Rating: ★★★★★ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart. – Goodreads

Review:
With just Clockwork Angel, I already vastly preferred Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices books to her Mortal Instruments series. The setting, the characters, and all the details just seemed to appeal to me more and this second installment, Clockwork Prince, was easily one of my most anticipated books of 2011. Boy, did it deliver! It would be very easy to make this entire review a love letter to one James Carstairs so, to avoid that, I will give my thoughts on each of three main characters:

Will: What a source of conflict for me! While I am adamantly Team Jem, I would be lying if I said that Will didn’t have his own pull on me. My heart breaks for him because of his misery and then it swells when he allows himself to be without restraint. Even though he can be, at times, selfish and rash, he’s a good person and such a devoted friend. His friendship with Jem is always a highlight, the two characters being a perfect balance to the other, and this book in particular displayed the length of love and respect that Will has for Jem. Gah, these two boys. It’s difficult to be happy for one when it undoubtedly means the other will break.

Tessa: I love her! She’s never one to back down and always puts on her brave face no matter the circumstance. I loved seeing her confidence and I’m still so excited to see her grow to her full potential as she continues to uncover the secrets of her past. Though some additional bits of information were revealed in this book, her identity is still very much a mystery. Then, of course, there’s the love triangle. I obviously have my preference, but it’s still easy to relate to the conflict that Tessa feels. It’s a love triangle done right with impossible choices to be made.

Jem: MY FAVORITE, MY PRINCE, ETC. I already fiercely loved him in Clockwork Angel, but this book had me wanting to tattoo I LOVE JEM to my forehead. Alright, maybe that’s too extreme, but my love for him definitely rose to new highs. His goodness was something I was already aware of, and he perfectly displayed that again in this book, but it was fantastic to peel back more of his layers: his insecurities, his anger, his desperation… Oh, and there was also some hotness in the middle of all of this. I was in a mental state of CAPS LOCK and “!!!!!!!!!!!!” Um, yeah, Will who? (Kidding…sort of.) Jem’s kind heart, his sweetness, hotness, and all over loveliness has made him one of my favorites ever and I will raise hell if anything awful happens to him and/or certain characters hurt him in any way. My heart would not be able to handle it, but I am already preparing myself for the worst in Clockwork Princess.

Clockwork Prince was an amazing sequel to the first book and, although I do love me some action scenes, I like that character development was at the forefront here. My attachment to these characters only grew and it’s going to be a torturous wait for Clockwork Princess. On one hand, I want to see how it all concludes, but on the other, as mentioned above, I’m preparing myself for the worst. One way or another, there’s heartbreak ahead and someone will have to hold me.


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Book Review: White Cat by Holly Black

October 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

White Cat by Holly Black
Release Date: May 4, 2010
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 310
Source: Purchased Copy
Rating: ★★★★☆ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they’re all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He’s noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen. – Goodreads

Review:
White Cat is the first Holly Black book I’ve read and I must say that I’m impressed! During a good portion in the beginning, I wasn’t too sure of how much I would enjoy White Cat. It felt like things were happening but the pieces of information weren’t coming together in a way that made sense. It soon became clear, though, that the main character, Cassel Sharpe, was equally confused, so I was able to figure things out as he did — which is a good thing, I think. It’s very frustrating when I, as the reader, am ahead of the main character and can easily see what they’re missing or what direction the story is going; there’s no point in reading a book like that, but White Cat managed to keep me on my toes.

I completely fell in love with the idea of curse working. We’ve seen the ‘magic’ featured before, but it was fascinating to see what individual had what ability, as well as the extent of their responsibility over it. There were a few individuals with hidden talents, too, so those reveals were great. Furthermore, I really enjoyed how contained curse working felt here. Yes, curse working is illegal, and there were a few characters causing trouble for their own benefit, but the storyline here felt very personal with a relatively small cast of characters I grew to be familiar with. None of that larger than life, saving/destroying the world type stuff. At least not yet, anyway.

White Cat is the type of book that doesn’t slow down, but instead keeps building from one con to the next. That last con? There is so much tension that you might just break out into a sweat. Cassel is the only non-curseworker in his family and it was quite exhilarating to have him keep pace with those who had an obvious advantage. Unfortunately, the final reveal at the end of the book fell flat for me due to my own stupidity of reading the summary for the sequel, Red Glove, while still in the middle of reading this one. Oy, major facepalm, I know. Still, I think it’s an interesting shift in the story and I know it’s going to torment Cassel to an extreme degree… who doesn’t love a good internal conflict? I can’t wait to read it!

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Book Review: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

August 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 336
Source: Simon & Schuster Galley Grab
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

Words are the most dangerous weapon of all.

In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she’s spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It’s there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she’s never heard before . . . and her secret is almost exposed.

Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can’t be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country’s only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime. – Source

Review:
Awesome cover + great premise + an author whose work I’ve enjoyed = an excellent book, right? As a big fan of Kimberly Derting’s Body Finder series, I was excited to see her take on a new story that was so different. The Pledge was one of my most anticipated titles for this year and I was eagerly counting down to when I could read it. Unfortunately, I found the novel to be very underwhelming.

Strike One: I felt like Charlie’s ability, her understanding of all languages, was severely underused. There were some tense moments when it seemed that things could go badly for her, and I found the hierarchy of her world to be interesting, but none of it was explored enough. Straight up: her ability was only really used in the story to “complicate” things with her love interest, Max, since she understood his language and he knew that she could. The drama! Which leads me to…

Strike Two: Max and Charlie’s romance did little for me. There were a few nice, sort of swoony moments, but they were surface-level stuff; there was no real development between the two. Max never grew as a character beyond being the love interest and I honestly have no idea what the pull was between them. Too much intensity without any substance!

Strike Three: I felt like I was going through the motions while reading this. Nothing particularly surprised me and there was a heavy detachment from any of the characters. With the Body Finder books, I’ve found myself at the edge of my seat, my heart racing, and expecting some twists along the way. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare them, but with The Pledge I kept waiting for the moment that I would sit up and start feeling involved with the story. It never happened.

So, yes, this was a disappointment for me, but I’m sure many of you will enjoy it more than I did. I hope you do! I’ll eagerly be looking forward to Derting’s The Last Echo next spring.

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Book Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

June 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 459
Source: Galley from Simon & Schuster | Purchased final copy
Rating: ★★★★★ 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That’s fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba’s world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she’s a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. – Goodreads

Review:
Hellooooo, new favorite book!

The first thing that makes this read different from others is the writing style. It has short and abrupt sentences, no quotation marks, and is written in Saba’s dialect which is grammatically incorrect. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness uses a similar technique, but Blood Red Road definitely takes it up a few notches. It took a few pages to get used to, but soon enough I was so completely wrapped in the story that I hardly noticed it. I could see this writing style turning some readers off, but I personally felt it gave the material a little more character.

The book is completely action packed! It opens with a sandstorm, four horsemen showing up, Saba’s father killed, and her twin brother, Lugh, captured by said horsemen. From there, we begin a journey with Saba to find and get Lugh back. Naturally there are quite a few bumps along the way — very intense bumps — but Saba proves what a complete badass she is, taking people down along the way and remaining unwilling to give up in her search for her brother.

Saba’s charm for me, though, is not how many punches she can pack, but how much of a flawed character she is. She’s selfish, stubborn, and can be very unlikable at times, but she’s also fierce, vulnerable, loyal, and it would be impossible not to empathize with the loneliness she feels without Lugh. She does love him to a fault, but she manages to grow throughout the course of the novel and becomes a bit more self-aware. This isn’t to say that she undergoes a magical transformation because, no, she does continue to screw up, but she’s beginning to take the steps out of his shadow and into her own identity. I’m very excited to see the continuation of her personal journey in the next books in the series.

JACK!!! I can’t have a review of this book without a mention of him. I absolutely LOVE him! Not only was the banter and tension between him and Saba delicious from the very beginning, but I wanted to give him a high five for being unafraid to call her out on her crap and her unfair treatment of Emmi. They’re such a perfect balance for each other! LOVE.

If I could pinpoint the one real issue I had with this book, it’s a certain event that happened in the last few pages. It completely took me by a surprise and I felt it was almost unnecessary. Perhaps it’s setting up something in the next books, but I’m skeptical since the characters seemed to move past it fairly quickly… This might bug me more later, but right now I’m just completely in love with the rest of the novel. This was a great debut from Moira Young and I’m looking forward to more from her, both in this series and any other future works.

I enjoyed this book so much that I’m giving away a final copy of it! The giveaway is international as long as The Book Depository ships to you (check here). The entry form will close on June 21, 2011 at 5pm PST and a winner will be selected using random.org. You don’t have to be a follower to enter, but it is appreciated!

Fill out the form!

A special shoutout goes out to Samita for pushing me in the right direction to read this one! ;)

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