There were at least 3 lines that I read and had to pause for a second because The 1-line Review:
A seriously quotable fantasy novel .
The longer review:
There were at least 3 lines that I read and had to pause for a second because of how impressive the lines read. The first one that stopped me was ""We have not yet slain the devil: how shall we determine who is to be our new god." that was a seriously awesome line to me. I can't find the other 2 quotes for the life of me but there were a couple others that had some real pull.
The story starts off with a Ranger's Apprentice feel and the rest falls in line with a story similar to The Beyonder's series. It is a lightning-fast non-magic fantasy. The story is driven by political shifts and espionage, but not to the Level of Game of Thrones. This story would be a great read for a youngster who would love Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, but are too young for those levels of reading.
I was impressed with the sage-ness of the character Mordecani. Many of the 'quotable wisdoms' came from him. The main character, prince Korbin, progresses well from start to finish and was a very likable main character. Prince Korbin ages from boy to man and has to fight with feeling of Duty, and a justice of law that must be brought down upon him.
The strength of the writing and flow of the story overcomes any debut novel shortcomings I detail below. I very much enjoyed the book start to finish.
Where the book lost a star:
Half a star for character naming. Down to the end I was confused with character and location names. The author favored names beginning with A (Aeggis, Ascanth, Astrith, Adamah, Addrich) and R (Rotchardin, Raccanith, Radrin, Roald) . The sound of many of the names felt too similar, like how Angie and Angela are similar while Angie and Amanda are less so.
My other gripe was the interjection of a young character in the middle of the novel. There needed to be a flash back type memory or discussion placed somewhere in the beginning of the novel to tie that character to something. Rather it felt completely out of no where.
Bottom Line:
This was a great debut, I expect the next to really build and flourish off of this first tale. The land of Adamah has real potential to flourish into a great fantasy realm....more
What can I say, I loved this book just as much as the first. The magic gets even better, the plot lines are deep and woven, and we gThe 1-line Review:
What can I say, I loved this book just as much as the first. The magic gets even better, the plot lines are deep and woven, and we get a great story line into the history preceding the main trilogy story line.
The longer review
Marcellus, Nicolai, and Corren have to handle new roles as King, Prince, and Head of the order. The Norther magical guild, The Osiris Colony threatens the balance of the realm with a claim to the powers of the Phoenix. The earth faeries face a challenge that will challenge their way of life. Can the new king and his brothers safeguard the realm of humans and fairies before the land they know is destroyed? (you should read and see)
The magic continues to impress from the first book. The book dives into the history of the Mapmaker and the earth fairies that added a great depth of knowledge to the character of Salerno as well as the origins of The Order. There is still much to learn about the order, leaving mysteries for the next installment.
The Lost Branch matches the great depth the first book, Gift of the Phoenix, contained . Again the layers of major and minor plot lines are woven together so intricately, and feel separate but connected at the same time I felt like there were several “mini ending” throughout the story that gave me a satisfying sense as each perspective plot line came to a close.
The main character of each chapter rotates among Marcellus, Nicolai, and Corren, with occasional chapters and excerpts centered around pro and antagonists. Each chapters grips and pulls you into a story line, only to be switched back into another characters story pages after. It ends up creating quite the page turner as you constantly are reading to get back to each character to see what happens next.
Bottom Line:
I can’t wait for the next! this series is truly one of the great ones....more
Action and adventure are abound in a book even better than the first.
The longer review:
The Watcher of Zargon built upon t(4.5 stars) The 1-line Review:
Action and adventure are abound in a book even better than the first.
The longer review:
The Watcher of Zargon built upon the strong foundation built by Ben the Dragonborn. It was hard to put this book down, reading one chapters became eight as I tried to stretch my lunch breaks to get more reading in. Much less takes place at the school as Ben, Allison, and new student Mack are quickly dropped into Zargon. The rest of the story became a back and forth of
Zargonian war, family feuds, and diplomacy written in a way that is understandable and appropriate for the intended reader (juvenile) while still being very entertaining for an adult reader.
I think the greatest improvements from book one stem from the growth of the author. Ben and Allison’s feelings and actions more accurately portray their age (14-15 years old) in this book. I felt they, particularly Ben, acted a bit younger than 13-14 year olds in the previous book. The Watcher of Zargon also has much better chapter to chapter flow than its predecessor; it sheds some of the episodic feel of the last book.
By the end of this book, readers of the six world series have journeyed with ben through 3 worlds, with the promise of an adventure on an unexplored world in the next installment. I certainly hope we get a story into each of the remaining worlds that have not been traversed by Ben and Allison.
Where the book lost half a star:
I’d say my only wish for for a bit more length to the stories. A little more dialogue and a interpersonal development will go a long way for the coming stories. I think any youngins’ reading the next installment will already be invested in the series and be able to take a little more complexity without losing interest.
Bottom Line:
A series that is picking up speed and worth coming back to again!...more
A sequel as good as the first; solidifying The Afterlife Series as a series worth reading.
The longer review:
The Taking doesn’t disapThe 1-line Review:
A sequel as good as the first; solidifying The Afterlife Series as a series worth reading.
The longer review:
The Taking doesn’t disappoint; avoiding the sequel slump that can often stymie a series. The addition of a grumpy old protagonist adds an unexpected depth to the mix of characters. He is a needed balance to the amount of millennial thickheaded-ness Aurora and Cindy bring to the table. (As a millennial myself, I hope the world doesn’t think we all act like them.) Aurora’s decision making doesn’t drive as much of the plot in book two as it did in book one; this is a big plus for the story line.
The story has a gradual build up in intensity ending in a great fight seen finish. The ending was full of action packed surprises and more of that lovely decision making by Aurora. Aurora does some crazy things in the end and again gets reprimanded by the arch angels. Honestly, one of my biggest gripes is that I was truly excited for her to in trouble, but her punishment felt week compared to what I thought she deserved. Dang that girl got off way to easy.
Anyway all the other fledgling side angel characters don’t appear in this story, and the remaining characters all grow in depths from book one. There still is all the tendon ripping, bone breaking fighting you can take. And leave it to Aurora to have this lingering love triangle make its way from start to finish.
Bottom Line:
If you liked the first you will like the second. If you held off reading the first, i’d say this is a series worth getting into.
Where the book lost a star:
The prologue. I new right when I saw the word that points were coming off. The Ethan surprise would have been much better as bomb drop we didn’t know about in the middle of the story. Instead, we knew before the whole book got started. I have never been a fan of prologues, they almost always can be woven into the story in a better portrayal....more
Great characters and plot within an exciting story, but with some structural issues.
The longer review:
I really like the story, charaThe 1-line Review:
Great characters and plot within an exciting story, but with some structural issues.
The longer review:
I really like the story, characters, and the new take on well used fantasy roles, but give the book a tough critique when it comes to structure.
Hybrid is the debut novel from author Venus Morales. Its a fresh take on fantasy with a uniquely diverse array of characters; Greek Gods, Vampires, Demons, Angels, and a new take on phoenixes attribute to a cast of characters I have never seen together. I really enjoyed the authors portrayal of the Greek Gods, Ares and Hera. Greek Gods have been dominated by Rick Riordan fiction (some of my favorite books), and Morales created Godly characters I didn’t expect.
Ultimately, Hybrid is a love story and concentrates on Ari, the main character, and her relationship struggles with others and within herself. Ari, is a kick butt, do-what-I-want-when-I-want-t0 loner type. She kills demons to let off steam and has no problem doing it with her god-vampire-phoenix ancestry. She has an inner evil alter ego, Rheain, who is in a constant fight for control of Ari. The back and forth relationship between the two of them was my favorite in story relationship. They can’t live with each other, but can’t live without, and at times they get the best of each other.
There is a love triangle relationship that Ari has to come to terms with through the novel. I don’t want to give more away here, you’ll have to read to see who wins in this Edward vs. Jacob relationship struggle.
I think the middle of the book was the strongest. And there is an excellent story arc where Ari has to fight for the right to remain phoenix royalty while fighting her own demons. I think this middle piece had the chops to be it’s own story.
Bottom Line:
I think this is a strong showing from a new author, and believe the next book in the series will be an even stronger sequel.
….Where the book lost a stars:
This is the hard part, I liked the book plot and story line over all, but felt it had structure weaknesses.
While the story content had a YA feel, I think the writing and verbiage fit better into the juvenile fiction genre. (The book is definitely not meant for the juvenile age range though.)
The books starts with a blunt and unnecessary prologue. It gave way too much detail away. The prologue could have been left out entirely and the reader would have been able to discover all that info naturally.
While the middle of the book was very strong over all. The beginning happened suuuuuper quick and i felt the ending was rushed.
Alaris- he was supposed to be supreme evil, but I never got more that a bad boy from the wrong side of town vibe from him. His evilness really didn’t develop enough.
I think Alaris was introduced (very quickly) and the main antagonist in the first few pages. Through the middle of the story he all but disappeared. The middle story are I referred to as strong is the fight for Ari’s nobility. It felt like a really good story within a story. During it I kept wondering if the Alaris thing was going to resolve at the end. The ending came back to Alaris, but ended very quickly....more
A completely unique story and super thrilling read.
The longer review:
Fledgling is very captivating and hooked me from the beginningThe 1-line Review:
A completely unique story and super thrilling read.
The longer review:
Fledgling is very captivating and hooked me from the beginning. The plot instantly stood out as unique and is different remind me of anything I have read before. Quick spoil free plot- Murdered girl turned archangel in training on quests to save innocents by mind dumping conscious(es) into evil doers. Cool, right? Author Katrina Copes spin on angels was a real refresher on you typical archetype.
Its all about angels, but I would call it christian fiction. This is definitely a 13 and up read due to gruesome fight scenes.Cope really paints each scene very vividly in your brain, and that includes very detailed fight scenes. You can definitely feel the action jump off the page. The bone crunching and cartilage ripping pushed my (relatively low) limits for that kind of action sequence, some will like the realness of it, the faint of heart might, well… faint.
The main angel (no name dropping, kind of a mini spoiler. You’ll understand when you read it) is likable in that annoying kind of way. Her haste and haphazard choices really turn the pages. I can tell if I loved not liking her, or hated liking her. Either way she kept the story going.
Bottom Line:
Great scenes, excellent action. Highly entertaining, very engaging page turner. Could be the start to a a very worth-reading series.
Where the book lost a half star:
Main angel was the most real feeling character, but she became a bit one tracked, especially in her decision making. One male angel had some decent enough depth. The rest of the small character cast were ambiguous (some by design) or felt very one dimensional.
The gruesomeness pushed the limits a bit. Like I said above, some will love it....more
The last 4 words were the most thrilling. There was too much ambiguity to get deeply invested.
The longer review:
This is a ‘Don’t reThe 1-line Review:
The last 4 words were the most thrilling. There was too much ambiguity to get deeply invested.
The longer review:
This is a ‘Don’t read the last page first’ kind of story. Some people peak, but don’t; otherwise it kills the whole story. I have not read any other story in this series, and this story is readable if it is your first one. While this story is a good read for a sci-fi/thriller, it didn’t make me so invested as to want to read others from the series.
The ARC, essentially an alien collection vessel and mobile habitat, was filled with creatively dangerous species from a newly discovered planet. The crew member get trapped inside the recreated habitat and have to traverse the region in its entirety to get to a maintenance door and exit. The ship is cool, the creatures are cool. The action scenes and suspense are nice, but there is an amount of ambiguity from start to finish that kept me from getting deep into the story.
I think over-engineered technology drives the plot. That is to say, there would have been no danger if engineers had put door handles on all the automatic doors. Normally I don’t like when the storyline hinges on something so little. In this case I like it because it sheds some light on the way we are designing technology now. (Like key-less entry cars with electronic backup systems to open them in case of failure. If the electronics totally fail, you cant open the car…) Anyway the engineer in me is digressing…
Bottom Line:
Props to Thracker for writing this story in a month. If you like his work, I would say this book was better than Golden Crystal but not as good as The Depths. (Have not read Enigma Strain yet, so cant judge that one.)
Where the book lost a half star:
Why even enter the zoo in the first place. The team could have figured away to defend against one species in the conference room. And Malai (the one team member not trapped) could have blown open the conference door, rather than the door he actually blew up. Common sense wise, it dint make sense.
The team of explorers about the ARC (spaceship) refer to their specie’s traits and how they do or do not resemble those traits. But never do we get an inkling of what this species looks like. So I ended up thinking about them all as humans who talked kind of nerdy. All the actions they take sound human; walk, sit at tables, eat soup, sleep lying down, etc. All of that is entirely human, nothing stood out as different. However all the other species in this book were clearly set apart from earth species.
Every species was designated a number and no name. Makes sense, but at times I have to stop and think which were which because you can forget when every name is a number.
While the over-ingenuity lucked out as being a plus, the team suffered from single personality disorder. With maybe one or two exceptions, the essence of almost every team member was the same; logical to a fault, stick to protocol, little creativity, meticulous. The team was very ISTJ when an advanced society capable of space travel should be able to get a more diverse team together....more
I want to dislike this series but can’t. The plot is like trying to catch water in a net and I think the dystopian society is to simThe 1-line Review:
I want to dislike this series but can’t. The plot is like trying to catch water in a net and I think the dystopian society is to simplified, but for a second time this series has kept me turning pages.
The longer review:
Yes I know this book just became a movie, but I’m going to review it anyway. What can I say, better late than never. I think Veronica Roth is a great writer because I don’t love the plot line but I like this story. I don’t see how such a large society can divide themselves into such simplified factions. There’s a fight club, a book club, a debate team, a Model United Nations, and farmers. If you have any personality whatsoever you get to be homeless, so naturally there’s a whole c**p-load of homeless people (so it really is like chicago, which has one of the highest homeless populations in the U.S.)
So the plot is that the queen of the book club decided she wants to kill everyone. First thing she had to do was destroy Model UN by brain washing fight club, logical first step since everyone know Model UN isn’t real anyway. Then half of fight club decide to think a little and feel like that wasn’t cool. So they go hide with the debate team. The queen of book club talks with the debate team leader for about 2 minutes before he decided to let the book club use his entire debate team as brainwashed zombies too. Clearly the debate team needs more practice negotiating. Then the half of the fight club we are supposed to root for team up with the homeless personality squad and invade book clubs library. Then, in a stroke of surprising mid altering plot twists, the homeless people take over because they hate being homeless. Then everyone watches a Nat Geo documentary and gets pissed off. Slap a cliffhanger on the end and Boom you got a book.
Bottom Line:
Read it, you’ll probably enjoy it. If your in high school just watch the movie and pretend you read it when you talk about it....more
Schism hooks you in fast and is exciting from start to finish. Urban fantasy, extra dimension, big battle, mage Merlin descendant…YeThe 1-line Review:
Schism hooks you in fast and is exciting from start to finish. Urban fantasy, extra dimension, big battle, mage Merlin descendant…Yes Please!
The longer review:
Schism begins as a mystery and ends as a modern magic-urban-fantasy. The storyline got deep quick, I was only 30 pages in when I felt like I was half way through the book. Main characters Gabe and Lea feel real and have that fleshed-out, multi-layer-protagonist-with-flaws essence about them (wow that was a mouthful.) They are quirky and likeable and sometimes annoying and develop a cute little relationship that evolves overtime. There’s not enough lovey-dove stuff to make it a romance, so its a good read for everyone.
Safe to safe the book eventually gets off earth and into Illirin (since the book is part of the Illirin Trilogy) and you wont be disappointed by the mix of magic, war, and political conflict that make up the second half of this story. It stayed exciting right up to the final battle and cliffhanger ending (arrggh!)
Schism has a great storyline and strong writing, much better than I normally anticipate from a debut authors first novel. I was impressed by the dialogue and internal monologue sequences and look forward to reading the next book in the series.
Bottom Line:
Definitely worth the ebook read. Great start to a series and Debut novel. Boys and girls of they YA and urban fantasy genres will love it!
Where the book lost a half star:
AHH! the cliffhanger ending. I try not to hate on these endings, but i turned the page expecting to read more. Now I have to wait for the next one!...more
Will’s winning character: Smoos- the adorable, overly large sea kitty
The 1-line Review:
A fun dungeon adventure for the 8-12 range.
The longer review:
EnWill’s winning character: Smoos- the adorable, overly large sea kitty
The 1-line Review:
A fun dungeon adventure for the 8-12 range.
The longer review:
Ennara and the Fallen Druid is the first in a series that holds a lot of potential. The characters and storyline are enjoyable and the story is well written. For an 8-12 year old this book will be a fun adventure. Battles with dungeon monsters and fun magic items found along a D&D like quest fuel this adventure. The end game being to save their land from a fallen druid looking to rise to power once again.
Despite being an overall good story. The book did not stand out from the pack so to speak. It was a good dungeon/magic adventure in line with what you expect from an archetypical high world fiction. I found that when I put the book down I would not pick it up again for awhile. It didn’t pull me in like it needed too.
The main character is enjoyable and her cast of two other boys and Smoos the Sea Cat are a good little rag tag team. At times the two boy support characters felt the same, so I would forget who was who during the middle of the story. I really did love the Sea Cat, whos like a big swimming leopard.
I want to read book two in the series and see what happens. The series has a chance to evolve into a great series for that young age range.
Bottom Line:
Great read for fantasy reading children, but lacks the depth to keep an older reader into the story.
Where the book lost a star:
For this book it was all minor points and not a major plot issue. (That is a good thin!)
While the characters are likeable. They don’t get too deep.This is something a young audience might not need or notice, but would add some needed depth to really connect with the characters. The villain was a real bad dude, but I never felt that grandiose-ness of his fear or power. For me, the the story didn’t stand out from others yet. It was good but felt very standard-dungeon-adventure for a good part of the middle chapters. ...more
Book two felt much like the first and did not build upon the series like it should have.
The longer review:
I read this a while ago anThe 1-line Review:
Book two felt much like the first and did not build upon the series like it should have.
The longer review:
I read this a while ago and failed to write the review. Part of that was because it just didn’t leave an impression on me. I don’t remember the exact details of the book anymore, but I still remember my overall feeling toward it.
The first in this series was pretty good, decent story and characters. The end really built up well to something more. Alas, that build up did not amount to anything in out for blood. I thought out for blood was going to amount to something bigger than the high school problems of vampire teenagers. The plot was similar to the first book. In one book a mysterious vampire was attacking humans, in the other novel an unknown human was attacking vampires. Both stories happened to similarly to feel different.
The character relationships didn’t seem to build off of the last book. There were some new characters and relationships but no real forward progress.
The end salvaged the story and gives the series another chance to grow to much more than it did in Out For Blood. I hope the story can get back on a good track in the next installment.
Worn Out Word:
The phrase “Ivan and Amelia, Kula’s Vampire Protectors”
this phrase was tough for me after awhile. Ivan and Amelia were introduced like this several times in the first book. We get it by the second book, but they were introduced like this from start to finish. Every single time the characters showed up, start to finish, they were introduced as Kula’s Vamp protectors…every….time…..
Bottom Line:
If you liked the first one give it a shot. I will read a third book if R Barri Flowers writes one. For me, this one fell short....more
Will’s winning chapter: 14-Jessimn the Healer, (Honorable mention: 31, 31)
Will’s winning character: Lin
Will’s worn out word: giggle
The 1-line Review:
AWill’s winning chapter: 14-Jessimn the Healer, (Honorable mention: 31, 31)
Will’s winning character: Lin
Will’s worn out word: giggle
The 1-line Review:
An enjoyable quest/destiny high-fantasy that would have been perfected with just a touch more depth in a couple places.
The longer review:
I would specifically recommend this novel to girls that enjoy or are just getting into fiction fantasy. The Last stored has adventure, tension, some mystery, and a few budding romances mixed into an excellent high fantasy. The story has a Lord of the Rings meets Immortal Bones kind of feel. (Don’t read that as two stories blended into one, more like little ingredients similar in feel blended together in a new recipe)
The book would fall under the christian high fantasy genre. I enjoy christian fantasy when the allegory is more subtle. Poynter does an excellent job at incorporating her faith in subtle, enjoyable ways. (Subtle vs not subtle christian authors: Wayne Thomas Batson:subtle, Christopher Hopper: NOT subtle.)–hopefully this gives you a perspective on what I mean if you enjoy christian fantasy yourself.
Sonya Poynter’s novel The Last stored is a great debut novel for a new upcoming novel. She creates an alternate world filled with color and dimension past what can visually understand here on earth. Her character cast in not overly large or too small and I enjoyed many of the supporting cast. My favorite character was the supporting protagonist Lin; I actually think i found her and her relationship with Chaney(another support protagonist) more exciting that the main characters Amber and Cree. (Adventures of Lin spinoff!)
The main characters Amber and Cree alternate chapters in first person to give a great perspective on the same story. the characters really evolve as a team as they journey together through the story. Amber is the unsuspecting destiny child with great potential power. She is protected by Cree, the highly trained and sworn protector who has the ability to ride the wind, be invisible, and sense others energies. Cree is called a “Wind Rider” and his ability is called “blowing out,” very cool name for a power :)
The book culminates to a great fight seen in the end. I found it to be the high point of the book (The end should be the most exciting part). Some fantasies have a lack luster ending, but this is not the case here!
Bottom Line:
The Last Stored is a great new high fantasy that I would highly recommend for girls on any age that enjoy christian fiction-fantasy. Very worth the read and I would suspect more in this series to come.
If you want my critiques of the book read on….
Where the book lost a star:
For this book it was all minor points and not a major plot issue. (That is a good thin!)
I think the very colorful world became less descriptive as the story went on. The world is vastly different from earth and I wanted to here more of the settings. Much of Amber and Crees feeling toward each other were explained very staccato-like. Ex. “I love that about her.” I wish there was a bit more poetic-ness about it, and that the the character relied more on there actions portraying there affections rather than there thoughts on each other. I think this is why I enjoyed the Lin-Chaney romance more, because we could only see in through Cree and Amber’s perspective. The characters do much traveling and avoiding conflict. I would of liked to see one or two more Moriavis(dragon) or Ague(mindless soldiers) attack on the traveling group. Amber was consistently reffered to by her full name and the people of Tali said that is how they do it, but Fej, Dartlin, Fink, Lin, Chaney, Lorthis were never referred to by there full name from what I can remember. ...more
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