Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

My current favorite book of this series!!

(fourth installment after Heir of Fire)

Time to get down ladies and gents. Things don't take too long to progress in this book because everyone is currently at war. Celaena seeks to help her Kingdom by taking down it's evil King but now a new threat stands in her way; her once ally and now possessed enemy, Prince Dorian. Torn between the mercy of saving and the mercy of killing, she must face truths and find ways to think ahead of her enemies! So much drama to be had! Past enemies become friends, past romances become reluctant allies, current romances become steamier. (Helloooo bathroom scene!) More intense battle scenes and dangerous foe!

Things really take a big step in this book, a lot of the old history in the series is also brought forth to be dealt with so make sure you know about the back stories! Plenty of drama and action to keep readers strung along, I dare not reveal a single morsel in fear I shall spoil the delight of this book for you. What I liked least about this book was again, the POV of the witches, though I found it more tolerable than before since a new character is introduced and we get some more back stories. Eventually these two worlds collide, definitely making it more interesting so I'm intrigued to what will happen next!

 5 stars

 

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

  Wow, Wow, WOW!!! Sooo much better! 
                           (third installment after Crown of Midnight)




I was agonizing over the first two books. It would be so good one second then so angsty, dramatic, and cheesy. This one started out with a little angst with Celaena being in a new country with no allies, but it progressively got better.

Celaena takes on the name she was born with, Aelin, and with this change she morphs into womanhood, becoming more comfortable with herself, her powers, heritage, and her role as Queen. She aims for change, and keeps a promise made to her dead friend in her heart. But it was moving to see her make personal progress with the troubles of her life and past. Not to mention, we get to meet Rowan.

Aelin's strict, battle harden, elven teacher. Yum. Team Rowan, please!
Besides the delicious side dish we are introduced to, we get to follow a new character line of blood thirsty witches. I found their story to be a tad distracting when I was more enamored with Aelin's, but I suppose it will lead to something important...eventually.

It does give hints as to what Dorian's father is up to, (nothing good, obviously). There is also some personal progression with Dorian and Chaol. We're left with a giant, frustrating cliffhanger, alas but I was quite thrilled with where Maas is taking her tale!

Lauren - 5 stars

My review for Queen of Shadows! 

The Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne

3.5 stars

Not a bad read and it was unique, but it didn't really blow me off my feet.

A split POV book that ties two people's fates together.

Meet Kyra, a orphan girl who steals in order to keep a roof over her head, and food in her stomach. She is the best of her kind with her light footing, grace, and instinct for danger. Alas, along with her instinct comes a stubbornness that also lands Kyra in a lot of trouble and gets her involved in the Assassin's League.

On the other hand, we have Tristam, a knight and kind soul who longs for revenge for his slain friend, Jack. Jack was unjustly slaughtered by barbarians who are ravaging the land, stealing from villagers, and killing the innocent and Tristam works hard in order to find these vagabonds and protect the city all the while trying to stop the Assassin's Guild, as well. Eventually, Tristam and Kyra's tales become entwined as they have to learn to work together, and join forces to save the city from destruction. 

What made this book unique was the fact that it contained shifters, people who can change forms. It was also this unusual twist that left me with many questions. It's hinted that there are paranormal creatures out there such as griffins and dryads beyond the city and beyond seas, and yet we see no other supernaturals besides the shifters which leads to a lot of unanswered questions and curiosities. 

My other little disappointment was that the big secret of Kyra's was really no secret at all. I pretty much pieced it together right away. Another peeve of mine was that some of the plot developments felt slightly convenient and I also felt like everyone's emotions were rather fickle. Romantic feelings were easily developed in my opinion, and people kept betraying or lying to one another and some part of me wanted to scream out in exasperation of the sheer frustration of it all. Not to mention the relationship of certain someones in the book is left with a rather big question mark in the end. The feelings are obviously there, and they certainly are not enemies, but we are left to ponder on whether or not something will be pursued.

 In the end, I know a lot of my questions will most likely be tossed onwards to the sequel.

The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen

5 stars

(sequel to The False Prince)

My loyalty has been earned.

I was skeptical at first, I'll admit. I liked The False Prince, but as I said in the previous review, I wasn't blown off my feet. Consider me on my ass. Flat.

The Runaway King doesn't pick up too far off from its predecessor, which was a literary relief to start out with. I was nervous that this was going to be like another book I read where after all that pain to get where the main character to a certain point, they find themselves longing for their old life, and begin to feel irritable and unhappy with the life they worked the whole first book to obtain. 

But instead, I found myself reading about a Prince, trying to fill boots that he longs to fill properly, but finds he's a little rough around the edges. He was relate able, fierce, strong, stubborn, and best of all the underdog.

I'm a huge sucker for the underdogs, the people who throw you in for the loop, who fight and fight until they just can't fight anymore, who care for the people around them, sometimes more than they care to let on. Long live the underdogs!

The plot was fast paced, dangerous, and exciting! We get to meet new friends, make stronger bonds with old friendships, and repair old damages done. We get to see Jaron fight for his right to party to the throne, and take risks like never before. Did I mention there is pirates?

That's right, the Prince goes to pirate island in order to gain information, and prove that he should be the rightful King.

There was a nice surprise near the end of the book, further revealing the treachery within the kingdom, and we also get some more development on characters who I felt were somewhat skimmed over like the lovely Princess Amarinda, the betrothed of Prince Jaron. 

I love how clever the women in this series are, both Amarinda and Imogen are extremely clever. I've got to say, I'm honestly torn between Imogen and Amarinda. I have no idea where Nielsen plans to take things when it comes to this complicated little love triangle. I am so excited for the next book!! Bring on the next broken item themed book! Bring on Jaron, and his smart ass comments, and witty humor!!

(My review for The Shadow Throne)

 

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

4 stars

The False Prince was an interesting book. Sage, our main character, was easy to fall into stride with due to his snarky humor and clever ways. 

Sage is whisked away with a four other boys in order to train to become the "lost" King. The royal family is dead and unless the presumed dead Prince Jaron steps up to the throne a relative will take the crown.

A nobleman looking to install a puppet prince, trains these boys. The catch is only one will be Prince Jaron, and the others will not survive. 

Though Sage does have some bad temperament, I found him easier to like more than his competitors within the story. I laughed aloud a few times while reading this book which I appreciated. 

I was honestly torn between 3 to 4 stars since the book didn't exactly blow me off my feet, especially since I found myself torn at times. It was hard to decide on whether or not I liked a character, because as readers were introduced to the different characters we were shown both their good and bad sides, making our impression of them debatable.

In strong favor of the book, I was kept intrigued with the many mysteries that arose but were later explained, and while the book was predictable, it still had some slight surprises to it's credit, near the end. 

When you finally discover more about Sage, you truly come to appreciate his character even more than you had before. Get ready for an intense sequel.

Get ready for The Runaway King.

 

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

3.5 stars

(sequel to Throne of Glass)

Well to just get it over with, this book cover...

Sure it matches, the paperback of Throne of Glass, but urgh! Serious dissatisfaction, this is not now I imagined Celaena at all!

Now for my opinion on the book. At first, I was honestly shocked. 

I wasn't sure how to handle the cheesiness. In simpler terms, sometimes I felt like I was reading a book just kind of trudging through the events. Then at other times the style was more fluent and I was able to fall into character forgetting that I was in fact, reading.

For at least the good beginning portion of the book, we pretty much just dawdle in the puddles of drama that consist of Celaena, Dorian, and Chaol. 

Chaol and Celaena get closer, while Dorian just gets more and more jealous, quote:

"Damn him for caring. Damn him for every moment spent with her."

Gag.

It was there that I honestly, had to put my tablet down for a bit and just not...touch it. Not that I minded the romance, I had expected it, enjoyed it even at parts, and in my opinion, it might play some important role for the future books. But it just seemed to be the main event for the first half, and I know I ordered a YA fiction not a romance novel.

I was also starting to get frustrated with Celaena, you'd think she would realize how important is to get in the game, considering her experiences in the previous book. Instead she closes her eyes, covers her ears, and just ignores everything around her to the point where Nehemia pretty much calls her on the carpet for being a coward.

The book improves once some serious shit goes down.

Celaena realizes she can't play blind forever, and that she has a role than just being an assassin. 

We actually start to progress with the story!

Things like what is Celaena's greater purpose? What is Celaena's super secret dark past? (Which I totally called by the way, except for one part...)

What does the deceased fae Queen expect Celaena to do in order to save this Kingdom? How much power does the King actually have?

Dorian also gets some surprises of his own in the book that I don't dare spoil! 

I was able to take the book much more seriously afterwards, making it more enjoyable.

The ending is such a cliffhanger, I am hoping for some serious action in Book 3! So pull through the first half, so you can get to the action! And follow my review for Heir of Fire!

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

oooh pretty :3

3.5 stars

Now I found that there is some little novellas before and in between the series of this book, you don't HAVE to read them, but I found that at least the first four give more rounding to Celaena as a character, compared to just reading this book alone.

To start off in high praises, Celaena is the perfect girl power model. She is the best assassin known in their country, she doesn't take shit from anyone, and she is defiant, strong, clever, and sometimes wise. Depending on the situation. But in basics, girl's got street smarts.

What bothered me about her omnipotent epicness was that for a good portion of the beginning, that's all we hear about. How Celaena could easily kill that man with two moves, she could splatter that man against a wall, and how she was fast enough to do this and that...it finally eased up when more characters were introduced and more action came into play and then I breathed a sigh of relief from all the self praising.

In honesty, I have such mixed feelings for this book. 

It was good, and it could've been better. The action was fantastic, the mystery of finding out who was killing the Champions was intense considering whoever was committing the crime was mangling their bodies, and the characters were really interesting for the most part. 

Nehemia, who you'll meet not too much later in the book, was such a serious bad ass she was one of my favorites in this book. I adored and loved her. The perfect friend to Celaena's intense personality. I didn't care much for Kaltain as an evil character not because she was evil, but she was so...typical.
She was gorgeous, she wanted Dorian more than anything, and she had the generic bad attitude and snottiness as most antagonists in stories.  

In short, she bored me.

The writing was a bit cheesy at times, too. For example, the dialogue between Dorian and Celaena, or her actions in general around him. 

Another example, when she is trying to figure out how to play pool, and she just could not for the life of her, do it right. And she starts throwing a tantrum and biting the cue stick. Really? Really? I mean this is world's top assassin who can throw daggers, hit the ultimate point in a target from extreme distances, can fight with almost any weapon, but she can't play pool. Not to mention she's biting the cue stick like a rabid dog, and then this highly immature moment is attempted to be played off humorously by the entrance of Dorian looking "oh-so-dreamy," and then him saying he should get a picture painted of that moment.
Ahahaha...no...it's not funny. Sorry. 

Now that I've mentioned Dorian, we must come to the dreadful love triangle. 

So all readers immediately know that this love triangle will be Dorian, the typical handsome, blue eyed, womanizer (Did I mention he's a Prince?! Omg. *flails hands*) and Chaol the strict,  also handsome in a soldier way, Captain of the Guard, vying for her attention. Everything just seemed so wrong...Dorian seemed to be chasing after Celaena's heels like she was a dog in heat, lusting after her then discovering that he had feelings because she was different.
*eyeroll*

 
 Dorian could have any girl he wanted, Lord knows they practically threw themselves at his feet and offered to be his human red carpet to walk on, and yet he had to have the one girl he knew Big Bad Daddy wouldn't let him have. And it was only with her that he felt he could be a man, that he could be King. Pfft.

I was rooting for Chaol for the whole entire book. He seemed to be the lesser of two evils since Chaol was the wiser more cautious and mature one. His connection with her was yes, a little insta-romance, but it felt more natural since it grew into trust and a bond of  mutual understanding. 

Celaena's little heart fluttering moments seemed far more sincere and deep for Chaol than for Dorian since usually it was because Dorian was so handsome, he said something naughty, or the physical closeness of him was just too much! 

When her heart fluttered for Chaol it was because he smiled, or she saw something warm and comforting in his eyes, or she realized she could trust him and depend on him. He got up every morning to train her, and he took care of her.

Despite my frustrations, I still flew through this book in a day because the action was intense, it was interesting to see Celaena compete, and there was some interesting ghosts and magic! I'm hoping the sequel surpasses the first, but we'll see. :) 

See my review of Crown of Midnight here!

The Curse Worker Series by Holly Black

This review will include the entire series.

5 stars

This cover alone made me interested, it screamed sexy bad boy and his angst filled story. Usually not something that interests me but this time I wanted it.

This series truly intrigued me, a unique take on the fantasy side of the literature, Holly Black charms readers with the idea of "curse workers." People born with powers that are activated by touch, something once prized in others, now considered a threat, a fear for everyone. People are forced to wear gloves in public 24/7, and using your abilities is now considered a crime. Which makes Cassel and his family criminals; usually working as mob bosses or con artists. 

The catch is Cassel is the only one in his family who isn't gifted, which makes him somewhat of an outsider. 

He does have a deep dark secret; that he killed his best friend and love, Lila.

Things start to get interesting when Cassel realizes his family is keeping a secret from him, he has to go deeper in order to find out more.

The idea of "curse workers" was really creative. You have your luck workers, memory workers, emotion workers, death workers, and the rarest of all, transformation workers. Cassel's family is so messed up, that at times I wondered why he hadn't run away. But as jumbled as they are, you can't help but read avidly as the story unfolds.

4 stars

Of all the painful yet enchanting sequels! Gah.

Imagine loving someone for oh say, forever. And you have the chance to have that love reciprocated! Except you don't know if it's even true.

Welcome to Cassel's world.

We've have a heap ton of tid bits revealed to us from the first book for example, Cassel never killed Lila, she is in fact alive! Cassel is actually a transformation worker, and his brothers have known for awhile! In fact, they have been using him for his powers and erasing his memory. Just when everything seems to be working out in Cassel's favor his mom decides to do a thoughtful deed, and emotion work Lila to love him. 

Ouch.

So here we are, struggling with Lila's new re-entrance into Cassel's life and his new grasp on his powers plus his budding romance with Lila which he feels entirely unsure about. Plus Cassel gets entangled with the mob and the feds, plus the other events of his life make the book seem like a constant whirlwind.

I have to give Holly Black serious kudos for her con work in the books so far. This book has an even better con than the first, and they're always so clever and creative! I was so frustrated with the ending and Cassel's decision when it came to Lila and their messed up relationship.

The feels.

5 stars

The third book cover that never was.

  It was supposed to match the first two, and then suddenly, they decided to revamp the covers to attract more readers. I had to buy a book with a cover I didn't want. I wanted to yell at them saying, "Don't I get any say in this?!" Anyway, onto the review.

Black Heart is a damn good ending to a Noire themed trilogy with magic, crime, and good old fashioned style. 

While there wasn't as much crime work in this final book, the con itself was epicly amazing. Probably the best yet. One of the disappointments I had was the diamond. Supposedly, it belonged to Lila's father, and was swiped off of him by Cassel's mother which led to some drama in the book since he is holding her prisoner in a hotel until he gets it back.

There was even more tension for Cassel as he is torn between his usual life of crime and his love for Lila, and his chance to turn a new leaf and help the feds. Yet he feels torn between the two, as though the feds might be using him for their dirty work as well...

Despite all the frustrations, we get a deeply satisfying ending.  

Cassel achieves "the big score." The one con every crook wants to make, because criminals are never satisfied. You'll have to see for yourself!