Tag: young adult

Review: Skyward (Skyward #1) by Brandon Sanderson

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA sci-fi, dystopian
Length: 510 pages
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Delacorte
Release Date: November 6th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Spensa’s world has been under attack for decades. Now pilots are the heroes of what’s left of the human race, and becoming one has always been Spensa’s dream. Since she was a little girl, she has imagined soaring skyward and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with that of her father’s—a pilot himself who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, leaving Spensa the daughter of a coward, her chances of attending Flight School slim to none.

No one will let Spensa forget what her father did, yet fate works in mysterious ways. Flight school might be a long shot, but she is determined to fly. And an accidental discovery in a long-forgotten cavern might just provide her with a way to claim the stars.

SANDERSON DOES IT AGAIN!

I STAYED UP WAY TOO LATE TO FINISH THIS AND I REGRET NOTHING. Sanderson should keep writing YA sci-fi novels, because this was fantastic.

“The answer is not to fear the spark, but to learn to control it. “

The world of Detritus is intricate and well thought out. The underground civilization, the above-ground command centers, the ring of debris around the planet!? So stinkin’ cool.

I know I only have the Mistborn series to go off of, but Sanderson puts together amazing female heroines. I absolutely love Spensa and her personality. She’s stubborn, blunt, and full of witty and odd old school remarks. I love how she handles and approaches her own issues and flaws, but in the same breath, stands for her crew and friends.

“You’re insubordinate, mouthy, and…well, you’re scudding frustrating. But when you fly, Spin, you fly as part of a team—and you keep my people safe.”

Also, the minor love interest that is screaming hate-to-love is making me beyond excited for the next installment. I love Jorgen and I am here for their romance y’all.

The banter and camaraderie in the Skyward crew is my absolute fav. I love a group of characters who balance each other so well. Even with the few people that you don’t get to know that well, I still felt attached to them. As I’ve noticed, Sanderson isn’t afraid of death. Spensa and the surviving crew mates have to deal with grief and guilt and it was making me feel too.

I can’t even handle M-Bot and Doomslug. I laughed so much listening to M-Bot attempt human emotions. Then the fact she has a random pet/creature that she named Doomslug who makes little noises? Dead. It was great and I loved these two.

“Brave to the end.”

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult sci-fi
  • No language
  • Violence: space ship blasts, war
  • Romance: a hug
  • Trigger warnings: grief, loss of loved ones

Review: A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆ .5
Audience: YA contemporary
Length: 320 pages
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: October 16th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.

Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.

But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down. 

SO MANY EMOTIONS.

This is a book that is hard to put down. I finished it within hours and was utterly involved in every aspect of this book. I love Mafi’s work and this was fantastic.

I will never understand or be able to comprehend the things Shirin goes through. I could truly feel her anger coming off the page within the first few chapters. This was only the beginning of how well placed the emotions were throughout this book. It’s been awhile since I have felt everything an author was trying to convey through her characters.

Ocean was this precious, sweet soul who I seriously had flutters reading about. All of his interactions with Shirin were immensely heartfelt and was a strong reminder that, yes they’re bad people, but there are a lot more good people in the world. It’s something I personally strive to remember and connected on a deeper level with. I didn’t always love how he was treated by Shirin, but I sought to understand the base reasoning that drove her decisions.

Her big brother, Navid, was the best protector. I loved seeing him throughout the book constantly ensuring that Shirin knew someone had her back (along with his group of break dancing friends). The break dancing did take a back-seat to the overall love story. I personally didn’t mind because Ocean brought out a lot of self-realization for Shirin.

I appreciated that Shirin acknowledged her right to feel angry, but also her right to let it go [within reason]. Her ability to work on giving the world a chance made me love her character even more.

The writing may seem juvenile at times, but upon further thinking it over, it’s highly accurate. There’s a lot of uses of: wow, like, and just and I kept thinking, oh my goodness this is driving me insane — then, wait, I know I used to talk that way as a teenager myself.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult contemporary
  • A lot of language
  • Romance: some intense kisses
  • Violence: physical, verbal
  • Trigger warnings: islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, mentions of past assault

Review: Evermore (Everless #2) by Sara Holland

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Rating: ☆☆
Audience: YA fantasy
Length: 368 pages
Author: Sara Holland
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: December 31st, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The New York Times bestselling series!

Jules Ember confronts the girl who is both her oldest friend and greatest enemy in the highly anticipated sequel to Everless, praised by New York Times bestelling author Stephanie Garber as “an intoxicating blend of blood, secrets, and haunting mythology.” 

Jules Ember was raised hearing legends of the ancient magic of the wicked Alchemist and the good Sorceress. But she has just learned the truth: She is the Alchemist, and Caro—a woman who single-handedly murdered the Queen and Jules’s first love, Roan, in cold blood—is the Sorceress.

The whole kingdom believes that Jules is responsible for the murders, and a hefty bounty has been placed on her head. And Caro is intent on destroying Jules, who stole her heart twelve lifetimes ago. Now Jules must piece together the stories of her past lives to save the person who has captured her heart in this one.

Perfect for fans of Victoria Aveyard, Kiera Cass, and Kendare Blake, Evermore is the high-stakes, star-crossed follow up to the New York Times bestselling Everless that fans have been waiting for.

MUCH TO BE DESIRED.

It almost pains me to give this book such a low rating because I loved the first book so much. This one however, left too much to be desired.

Jules Ember is not the sharpest tool in the shed. For a heroine who is trying to avoid the Sorceress and the law in general I don’t think it’s wise to let everyone know who you are. She was constantly going to places and events and letting everyone know her plans. Of course she was found!? Jules also kept sending mixed messages to everyone. She’d spit angry things at them, then turn around and basically shout her feelings at her friends/lover.

Liam is the only reason I hung onto this book. I loved his character from Everless. This was a total annihilation of his persona. “His face reddened” more times than I could count. Love struck fool was not a good look on him. It was rushed in comparison to how he treated Jules previously. Though, he was almost the real hero because he repeatedly saved Jules from her own mistakes. It was an odd, off-balanced pairing.

The original book captured my attention because of the blood as time and currency concept. I’ve seen other reviews that mentioned this isn’t totally new (in my case, I haven’t read others like this yet) so I was intrigued! It made things a bit twisted and confusing [in a good way]. Evermore never brought this into play. There was only mentions on the side about others doing using this alchemy.

All of Jules visions were throwing me off big time. They would come at random moments (That’s So Raven anyone?) and not make total sense. It was interrupting the flow of the plot itself. At least the last vision answered a lot of the questions I was stumped on about the actual relationship between The Alchemist and The Sorceress.

Lastly, I profoundly loathe obvious, cliche moments. Pure love conquers pure evil y’all. *sigh*

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • No language
  • Romance: a few kisses, one loosely implied love scene
  • Violence: knives, a bit of blood, murder

Review: The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2) by Holly Black

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA fantasy, no language, violence, romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Release Date: January 8th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world. 

THE SEQUEL SURVIVES.

I totally, thoroughly enjoyed this wicked tale. Was it the best sequel ever? Maybe not, but it was wrapped up in so many devious plots that I enjoyed it all.

“The three of you have one solution to every problem. Murder.”

“Someone tries to betray the The High King, murder. Someone gives you a harsh look, murder. Someone disrespects you, murder. Someone ruins your laundry, murder.“

– The High King, Cardan

I mean, look at that quote. Cardan for all of his twisted ways, is not a murderer. Unlike our lovely seneschal, Jude. This is what makes this series the height of amusement.

I love how cruel and tortured these souls are. Jude remains plagued by her obsessive need for power, yet struggles at some of the most basic emotions. She’s ambitious, reckless and morally gray. Cardan on the other hand has this complete layered sense of wickedness. He is so complex and I would totally love a POV from him. The High King is an amazing villain/anti-hero.

“I want to tell you so many lies.”

Now put those two together and the craziest level of sexual tension ensues. Oh, they drove me batty. They both lack the fundamental rule of a ‘relationship” (that being trust) and in losing this, have created a beautiful tragic love that will probably end up in flames. Though I’m truly counting on them working it out. I’m all for a reunion scene, am I right? They both deserve to love and be loved and I need everyone happy okay??

The pacing is a little slow in this book, as I feel it suffers the plague of the sequel. I wasn’t really invested til about halfway and then within the final few pages things darn well blew up. SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!? The most wicked of all the books will be coming next year, that ending about guarantees it. Jude completely gets what she deserves [and I secretly love it, but also hope she gets revenge all in the same breath].

There’s plenty of characters I would willing stab myself for Jude and I am eagerly anticipating how Black destroys them in the finale. Taryn, Locke, Nicasia, Madoc, Orlagh, I mean, y’all, I have a list.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • No language
  • Violence: some gore, knives, poison, torture, enchantments
  • Romance: a bit of kissing, a lightly detailed love scene, discussion of how faeries love to be naked
  • Trigger warnings: alcohol, bullying