ARC Book Review: Furysong (The Aurelian Cycle #3) by Rosaria Munda

August 4, 2022June 26, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: YA Fantasy + Romance
Length: 496 pages
Author: Rosaria Munda
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Release Date: August 9th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this explosive conclusion to the epic trilogy that began with Fireborne, Annie and Lee are fighting for their lives—and for each other—as invading dragonfire threatens to burn their home to the ground.

A new revolution is underway, and nobody will emerge unscathed.

In New Pythos, Griff is facing an execution by the dragonborn, who are furious at his betrayal. He has allies on both sides seeking to defy his fate, but the price of his freedom might come at a dear cost. And Delo will have to make a choice: follow his family, or finally surrender to his conscience.

Meanwhile, Annie must race home to hatch a plan to save her Guardians and their dragons. With Callipolis on the brink of collapse and the triarchy set to be reinstated, she may be the one person who can save the city—if she can overcome her own doubts about her future.

Lee is a revolutionary at heart, but now he’ll have to find a way to fight with diplomacy. Going up against the dragonborn court and a foreign princess, he faces a test of loyalty that sets his head against his heart.

As the fate of Callipolis darkens, Annie and Lee must determine what they are willing to sacrifice in order to save each other, defeat their enemies, and reclaim their home.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for the eARC.

EPIC.

This series is TOTALLY UNDERRATED AND EVERYONE SHOULD GO READ IT PLEASE.

Now with that business out of the way let me give a non-spoiler review.

I LOVED this story. It is slow for YA, but as someone who loves fantasy across the board I was into it. Packed with a punch from the get-go the action did not cease for awhile. I loved the drift it took into slower territory, where building of armies, tension, and romance was able to happen. I was absolutely smitten with both romances. Lee and Annie are too precious for this world. This incredible bond formed when they were orphaned children that grew into something unquantifiable. It was passionate and TEARS WERE SHED at some specific, not to be named scenes.

I also adored the romance between Griff and Delo. It had a whole different vibe to it with a changing of position and having to be let the festering anger burst before bonds could reform. I love the hope that came from between them even when things were at there bleakest.

Can we also discuss the side characters??! Holy cow they brought it too. Power has got to be one of my new favorites. He was everything I love about morally gray dynamics. Caught wanting to better his life, falling into unrequited love and more that I wish I could say. His scenes were next level.

And the plot is full of DRAGONS, politicking, action and more. I think this plot flowed really well and I truly didn’t know how things were going to end up working out in the end. I did nick 1/2 star because I wanted a little more *oopmh* in the ending (though I do promise it ends perfectly well and you will not throw your book). Besides that hard to nail down thought with the ending, I NEED Y’ALL TO PLEASE READ THIS SERIES.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy + Romance
Language: some
Romance: closed-door
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: battle themes, loss of life, loss of loved ones, grief & depression depiction, near death experiences, torture, animal cruelty, fires, indentured servitude, harassment

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ARC Book Review: Master of Iron (Bladesmith #2) by Tricia Levenseller

July 26, 2022July 23, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Tricia Levenseller
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: July 26th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In Master of Iron, the conclusion to Tricia Levenseller’s exciting Bladesmith YA fantasy duology, a magically gifted blacksmith with social anxiety must race against the clock to save her beloved sister and stop a devastating war.

Eighteen-year-old Ziva may have defeated a deadly warlord, but the price was almost too much. Ziva is forced into a breakneck race to a nearby city with the handsome mercenary, Kellyn, and the young scholar, Petrik, to find a powerful magical healer who can save her sister’s life.

When the events that follow lead to Ziva and Kellyn’s capture by an ambitious prince, Ziva is forced into the very situation she’s been dreading: magicking dangerous weapons meant for world domination.

The forge has always been Ziva’s safe space, a place to avoid society and the anxiety it causes her, but now it is her prison, and she’s not sure just how much of herself she’ll have to sacrifice to save Kellyn and take center stage in the very war she’s been trying to stop.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy audiobook.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED.

Tricia Levenseller books are some of my absolute favorite YA reads. She is an auto-buy author for me and once again, has hit it out of the park. I was a bit neutral after the first book in this duo, but this ending, AMAZING.

I loooooved Ziva. The social anxiety rep here feels so spot on and I could relate 1,000 different ways to how she was feeling talking to others, making friends, and being assertive when the time came. Ziva showed great character growth and the ability to listen and learn how to communicate with those she loved.

The ROMANCE. SO DANG SWEET. I adored Kellyn. I liked that they got a lot more time together and that there were legitimate relationship struggles they worked through. It was authentic and I liked how both parties learned to COMMUNICATE and lean on one another as a bond of trust deeply formed. Oh my gosh they were just the best y’all. And some well placed pet name use had me swoooooning.

There’s also a beautiful sister relationship here. Temra and Ziva have one of the tightest connections I have read about. And I liked they way they were always there for each other and also could say, I can do this myself, too. There was a great give and take and acknowledging ones’ place in the world.

Within all of this greatest was a solid plot of action and battles. I love that I felt like nothing overshadowed one plot aspect over the other. There was balance between the romance, the big plot, friendships and subtle quiet moments. I devoured this book and anxiously await Levenseller’s next great read.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy Romance
Language: a little
Romance: mentions of closed-door
Violence: medium
Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, war themes, kidnapping, physical and magical altercations, torture

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Book Review: The Devil’s Thief (The Last Magician #2) by Lisa Maxwell

July 8, 2022August 15, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: YA Historical Fantasy
Length: 704 pages
Author: Lisa Maxwell
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: October 9th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this spellbinding sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Last Magician, Esta and Harte set off on a cross-country chase through time to steal back the elemental stones they need to save the future of magic.

Hunt the Stones.
Beware the Thief.
Avenge the Past.

Esta’s parents were murdered. Her life was stolen. And everything she knew about magic was a lie. She thought the Book of Mysteries held the key to freeing the Mageus from the Order’s grasp, but the danger within its pages was greater than she ever imagined.

Now the Book’s furious power lives inside Harte. If he can’t control it, it will rip apart the world to get its revenge, and it will use Esta to do it.

To bind the power, Esta and Harte must track down four elemental stones scattered across the continent. But the world outside the city is like nothing they expected. There are Mageus beyond the Brink not willing to live in the shadows—and the Order isn’t alone in its mission to crush them.

In St. Louis, the extravagant World’s Fair hides the first stone, but an old enemy is out for revenge and a new enemy is emerging. And back in New York, Viola and Jianyu must defeat a traitor in a city on the verge of chaos.

As past and future collide, time is running out to rewrite history—even for a time-traveling thief.

WAY TOO LONG.

I finally picked this series back up (I don’t know why it took me so long, I loved The Last Magician!). This was a hefty tome to read, and was filled with a lot…and nothing…all at the same time.

My biggest complaint is the length, there was no way this needed to be 700 pages. It became very unfocused and searching after ONE stone took up the entire book. It led to off pacing, moments where the characters themselves were dragging their feet and I was wishing things would get a move on.

The writing is great though. Even with how thick it is, I didn’t start feeling that strain until late in the second half of the book. I wanted to read every word, wanted to know what was going to happen next. I think it’s also because I enjoy most of the characters. They’re endearing and frustrating, which makes them feel real. Esta probably annoyed me the most because she kept FLAT OUT REFUISNG to let Harte help her with anything. It was like she had to prove she could do anything on her own, every. dang. time. I need this character arc to bring in some ability to ask for and accept help.

There’s MANY points of view here. Some that made sense, I understood, was overall fine with. Then, there were others that I’m questioning why they were necessary? I don’t think the handful of them really added anything and probably could have been left out and the story wouldn’t be lacking.

The historical aspects of this were interesting. I haven’t read a book set in this time period and in this location. I liked the Author’s Note at the end as well that explained some more of the history, her writing choices and other books to read on the subject. I love when this is put in there for historical fiction-ish based books.

Overall audience notes:

YA Historical Fiction / Fantasy
Language: some
Romance: kisses to heated make-out
Violence: physical altercations, explosions, magical attacks, train wrecks, poisoning
Trigger/Content Warnings: hate crime, racism, substance abuse, pain-med addiction

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Book Review: Rebel (The Extinction Trials #3) by S.M. Wilson

June 8, 2022July 20, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA Dystopian
Length: 384 pages
Author: S.M. Wilson
Publisher: Usborne
Release Date: February 7th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Betrayal. Sacrifice. Survival. Welcome to The Extinction Trials

Storm and Lincoln’s city is burning. The people are starving. The only place left to run is Piloria, the continent of monsters. It’s up to Storm and Lincoln to keep their people alive as they colonize this lethal paradise. But will the biggest threat to their survival be the monsters in the jungle…or the ones inside the encampment with them?

The Hunger Games meets Jurassic Park in this wildly popular series filled with action, survival and betrayal.

SATISFYING CONCLUSION.

I finished another series! Which feels like a big accomplishment since it takes me forever to swing around and finished and already completed series, so yay!

Anyways, I really enjoyed this last book. It was filled with plenty of being chased by dinosaur action and more political intrigue as Stormchaser and Lincoln had even more to contend with.

I wish that there was something more added to this. It did begin to feel repetitive over the course of the entire series because it had the same model, run from dinosaurs — survive — move on…repeat. When that was taken out there was a bit more substance over how to settle in a new and foreign area.

The relationship between Reban and Stormchaser was one of my favorites. I love the quiet and fierce side of Reban who watched Storm at all costs and that there was some movement in their overall reconciliation. Lincoln and Storm were super cute too and I would have loved even more romance from them!! Give me all the character story.

As the ending rolled in, I felt that what needed to happen did. I wasn’t shocked by anything (because someone had to die and I figured that out early on), and the world had to keep turning. It ended at an acceptable place to give hope to the new future that awaits them among the dinosaurs.

Overall audience notes: