Review: Antigoddess

Antigoddess
Goddess War, Book 1

Author: Kendare Blake
Pages: 333
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: September 10, 2013
Read: September 5
Source: Finished copy from publisher

Description from Goodreads:
The Goddess War begins in Antigoddess, the first installment of the new series by acclaimed author of Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake.

Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

First Sentence: "The feathers were starting to be a nuisance."

Review:

I'm one of the few people who never got around to reading Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood, though I do have a copy and will read it...someday. Initially, it wasn't really on my radar, because horror isn't something I seek out, but the reviews convinced me. Antigoddess, however, was a topic that called my name and I was hopeless to resist that call, much like Odysseus and the sirens. Thankfully, Kendare Blake lived up to all the hype, and Antigoddess was a non-stop horrorshow and thrill ride.

Antigoddess is one of those books where the reader basically has no idea what is happening at any point. To predict the outcome, you'd basically need to be a prophetess like Cassandra. Sometimes, I hate this in books, especially in mysteries, but with Antigoddess it works. That feeling of being out of your element and out of control really plays into the mythology, the fact that these gods, even diminished are really beyond our ken. Though I don't mind predictable formulas (like romances and their inevitable HEAs), Antigodess was a refreshing change, because I had zero clue how it would end at any point, and have even less idea what will go down in book two.

I am all about Greek mythology, and, while Blake's interpretation might not exactly be canon, it's mindblowingly cool and creepy. So the Greek gods have basically continued existing and doing their things, blending in with humans or running around in non-populated places, whatever they want. But then, dun dun dun, they began to die. Obviously, they're not super thrilled about this because 1) they're supposed to be immortal and 2) they're dying in really nasty ways. Like Athena getting slowly smothered to death by owl feathers growing inside of her body. Anyway, Athena and Hermes are trying to figure out a way to stop dying, and so are some other gods (most importantly Hera and Poseidon) and they're all also at war. There are also so humans involved and it's all just nuts in the most awesome sort of way.

What really makes me squee about Blake's world building is how empowering it is for women. Yes, there were always female gods, and some of them are quite powerful, but, in Greek mythology, the dude's are still really running the show. In Antigoddess, though several male gods are present, it's the women who are running the show, specifically Athena and Hera. Hermes defers to Athena, for example, and Poseidon to Hera. In the original mythology, Hera is powerful, but mostly just gets to be cuckolded over and over, without any ability to prevent Zeus from sleeping around and then punishing the girl, who, often, Zeus even raped. Hera still may not come out of this smelling like roses, but at least she's imbued with agency. Within the human characters too, Cassandra and Andie are exceptionally strong. Blake writes female characters who kick serious ass and have brains to back that up.

Though I didn't emotionally bond with the characters, they're all fascinating and compelling, so that even the comparatively slow beginning didn't drag for me in the slightest. Also, good news for those who are sick of romance dominating plot, that is not the case here. There are some ships that you can board, but they take up relatively little page time. Also, for the record, I am definitely on a couple of those ships, and got to watch the one I wasn't on sink. Mwahahaha. *high fives Kendare*

The other thing I really want to note is how well Kendare writes. I'm not a visual reader, but Blake has a way of making things very visceral, and putting definite images in my head. Very few writers can do this for me, and I'm always so impressed when it happens. Her descriptions of the feathers seeding Athena's body especially will be haunting me for a while.

Kendare Blake's Antigoddess is a dark, creative roller coaster ride of a read. For readers who enjoy action-packed books or unique mythological retellings, particularly with a feminist bent, Antigoddess is a must.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'Everything born must die,' she repeated. 'But I sprang fully formed from our father's head. So that doesn't exactly count, now does it?'"

Review: Starry Nights

Starry Nights

Author: Daisy Whitney
Pages: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Read: August 25-26, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old Julien is a romantic—he loves spending his free time at the museum poring over the great works of the Impressionists. But one night, a peach falls out of a Cezanne, Degas ballerinas dance across the floor, and Julien is not hallucinating.

The art is reacting to a curse that trapped a beautiful girl, Clio, in a painting forever. Julien has a chance to free Clio and he can't help but fall in love with her. But love is a curse in its own right. And soon paintings begin to bleed and disappear. Together Julien and Clio must save the world's greatest art . . . at the expense of the greatest love they've ever known.

Like a master painter herself, Daisy Whitney brings inordinate talent and ingenuity to this romantic, suspenseful, and sophisticated new novel.A beautifully decorated package makes it a must-own in print.

First Sentence: "The padlock glistens with rain."

Review:

At first, I totally thought this was going to be one of those times where I really like a book that most of my friends did not. The early reviews were discouraging, but it was a 4 star book for the first 75 pages or so. From there, things slid downhill. My hopes were high for Starry Nights, but, sadly, a highly original, creative, beautiful concept turns into a cheesy pile of instalove. Be warned that this review does contain some spoilers.

The opening of this novel is so strong. Whitney's a talented writer, and the concept is gorgeous. At the outset, we have Julien, an artist of limited talent, whose mother runs a Parisian art gallery. He does tours and generally loves art of all forms, music, paintings, sculpture, dance, etc. At night, Julien wanders the halls and sees the art come alive. The subjects pop out of their frames, Degas' dancers performing ballets that only he can see.

The imagery of this, the idea that the paintings have lives of their own within the museum after dark, is stunning. While, yes, there are all sorts of reasons this is unlikely, it's beautiful magical realism, and done very well. At least, until it ceases being magical realism and turns into a paranormal/mythological plot.

While I wasn't a fan of this plot twist where the story went for the mythological rather than the subtle beauty of magical realism, which is one of my favorite things right now, I still admire the originality of the world building that Whitney devises. She's built a novel around the Muses, which I've not personally seen done before. On top of that, she brings in a look at the evolution of art, the way it went from being something done solely by educated men to something that can be created and appreciated by anyone. These are powerful themes, and I still think she handles her concept well. Though not quite what I wanted, her Muse mythology is fascinating and meaningful.

Where Starry Nights flops is the romance. It's a classic case of instalove, complete with the relatively flat characters so typical of this romantic "arc". Even before that, though, I have issues with the romance. She's a girl in a painting and he's a person, so their options are pretty limited, and, though I do sometimes go for weird ships, they didn't have enough of a connection for me to root for them in the face of odds where she's not even a real person. Sure, she likes to eat and he brings her food. They both like art. Wow, do they both like Breakfast at Tiffany's too? There wasn't any real verve or banter in their conversations which are largely boring, and I personally thought he and Emilie, who's in a total of three scenes, had a lot more chemistry.

This is the dog version of: "Is this a kissing book?" *groans*

Julien and Clio, the girl in the painting, fall in love pretty much immediately. In a rather classic Romeo & Juliet scenario, Julien is just out of a bad breakup. Clio, on the other hand, has been in a painting for over a hundred years in a private home, meaning that she hasn't seen ANYONE BUT HIM. He is literally the only boy she's seen in hundreds of years. Instalove is bad enough when there are options, but, when it's "I love you because you're the only person I've literally ever been capable of loving," to me that's not romance but desperation. Part of love is choosing that person over other people, not being cornered into it by circumstance.

Then, there's the ending, which is completely cheesy and convenient. The book could have at least ended in the expected heartbreaking place, but, oh no, this is paranormal romance world and there just HAS to be an HEA, even if it makes no sense. Let's nurture the concept that manicpixiedreamgirls will literally step out of our pop culture to love us. Yeah, that's healthy. Well, good luck to you, Clio and Julien. Two people with no marketable skills who got together when one was on the rebound and one had never spoken to another boy. I'm sure this will end well.

All told, I do think there is a good framework to Starry Nights, but the instalove killed it. I'm left feeling not angry, but disappointed. This could have been a thoughtful, slow-paced, magical novel, but instead went the way of paranormal romance tropes.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'All artists are a little bit insane. I was hoping that was your crazy.'"

Review: Solstice

Solstice

Author: P. J. Hoover
Pages: 384
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: June 18, 2013
Read: June 17-19, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Piper's world is dying.

Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles that threaten to destroy the earth. Amid this global heating crisis, Piper lives under the oppressive rule of her mother, who suffocates her even more than the weather does. Everything changes on her eighteenth birthday, when her mother is called away on a mysterious errand and Piper seizes her first opportunity for freedom.

Piper discovers a universe she never knew existed—a sphere of gods and monsters—and realizes that her world is not the only one in crisis. While gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper’s life spirals out of control as she struggles to find the answer to the secret that has been kept from her since birth.

An imaginative melding of mythology and dystopia, Solstice is the first YA novel by talented newcomer P. J. Hoover.

First Sentence: "Mom says, 'Watch the heat today.'"

Review:

There's a special kind of sadness reserved for a book that starts out well, that you think you're going to be best friends with, but which, instead, goes somewhere that your heart and mind can't embrace. For me, Solstice is one such book. For the first hundred pages, Solstice was heading for a 3.5-4 star rating, but then the twist and the romance happened. Though not for me, Solstice does have good qualities and will no doubt be pleasing to a slew of other readers.

The first hundred pages of Solstice are solid post-apocalyptic, though I wouldn't really call the book dystopian myself, though really what a dystopia is has really lost all meaning for me by this point. The world Hoover has created is an eerily possible future earth, one beset by global warming. In Piper's world, one hundred degrees Fahrenheit is a cool day in Austin, TX. Going outside requires sunscreen pills and cool misting sprays at all times. Water comes in two temperatures: warm and hot. Air conditioning is used to cool buildings down to the upper 80s or 90s - any more than that is illegal. Governments around the world try to fix the heat with science, but the attempts are not proving promising.

In these opening chapters, Piper is cool-headed, thoughtful, and obedient to her overbearing mother. Other students look to her for advice and instructions during crises. Because of her mother's restrictions, she does feel a bit lonely, and wishes she were allowed to date like the other kids, especially since she's legally an adult at 18. For this reason, I wasn't bothered by her intense immediate attraction to the hot new boy at school who just happened to sit next to her in class and want to talk to her OR to the hot boy who came by her house claiming to be the son of one of her mother's colleagues. The girl has been toeing her mother's line for so long she was bound to crack eventually; she's entered her rebellious phase, as evidenced by the tattoo she gets with her best friend. That was all fine.

At this point, if you're concerned about spoilers, you may want to step away. I can't review this one without spoiling the big twist, because I have things I need to talk about to explain why my opinion changed about Solstice. The twist is discussed in the blurb above, but I generally ignore those and didn't know myself, so up to you.

Right around the one hundred page mark, Solstice becomes an entirely different book, a fantasy about Greek mythology. Unfortunately, the transition is marked with excruciatingly instalove-ridden romance, rather than action or good mythology. Hoover does bring the mythological elements to an interesting conclusion, but there was too much unfortunate romance before that got going that kept me from liking this book.

The romance elements have the unfortunate gender dynamics present in other young adult Persephone adaptations, like Abandon and The Goddess Test. Reese (Ares) and Shayne (Hades) are fighting for Piper's love, though she cannot figure out why (even though she's OBVIOUSLY Persephone from when the Greek myth stuff first starts, she won't figure that out until page 290). She instaloves (one week, people!) with Shayne, who refers to her as the "spoils" of his position in the Underworld and refuses to tell her anything, though, to be fair, there does end up being a reason for that later (though my opinion was set by the time I learned that). Whenever Piper gets near Reese, though, his intoxicating scent fills her with memories of their time together, fictional ones, and she cannot help making out with him. Only at the very end does she actually make any sort of informed choice about romance, mostly being led about by the men. The logical, thoughtful heroine of the beginning of the book disappears never to be seen again. Neither love interest ever gets personified beyond on nice strong guy and evil strong guy respectively.

Much as I can't personally get past the romance, I can appreciate the way that Hoover resolved everything. She does put an interesting twist on the relationship dynamics of the myth. Piper's relationship with her mother echoes the original tale, but puts a different spin on Demeter's desire to keep Persephone with her.

I'm torn on the resolution to the whole global warming plot of the beginning. Hoover does come back to that and deftly ties it into the mythology by explaining that it's always summer when Persephone's with her mother. That's pretty awesome on one level, but also really annoys me on a couple of others. From a mythology standpoint, I just don't think that her mother being happy would equal an increasingly hot summer, because it's not like the world was an arid desert until Persephone started spending six months in the Underworld every year. Also, I find the idea that global warming has been turned into a side effect of the squabbles of the gods, rather than of humans completely fucking up the planet, distasteful. I know it's just been done for the fictional value, but I still can't get completely behind it.

If, like me, you're not a fan of poorly characterized instalove romances, you may want to give Solstice a pass. However, if you're curious and not as easily frustrated by such things, there are a lot of cool things in Solstice for you to appreciate. I really like what Hoover did in theory, and I do think that she shows a lot of promise as an author; her writing is good and the concept is fantastic. Though Solstice didn't work for me, I'll be open to reading more of Hoover's books in the future.

Rating: 2/5

Favorite Quote:

"'So you missed me?' He tilts his head and waits for my answer.
     I move my hand, scratching a different head. 'I missed your dog.'"

Review: Everbound

Everbound
Everneath, Book 2

Author: Brodi Ashton
Pages: 384
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: January 22, 2013
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Nikki Beckett could only watch as her boyfriend, Jack, sacrificed himself to save her, taking her place in the Tunnels of the Everneath for eternity — a debt that should’ve been hers. She’s living a borrowed life, and she doesn’t know what to do with the guilt. And every night Jack appears in her dreams, lost and confused and wasting away.

Desperate for answers, Nikki turns to Cole, the immortal bad boy who wants to make her his queen — and the one person least likely to help. But his heart has been touched by everything about Nikki, and he agrees to assist her in the only way he can: by taking her to the Everneath himself.

Nikki and Cole descend into the Everneath, only to discover that their journey will be more difficult than they’d anticipated — and more deadly. But Nikki vows to stop at nothing to save Jack — even if it means making an incredible sacrifice of her own.

In this enthralling sequel to Everneath, Brodi Ashton tests the bonds of destiny and explores the lengths we’ll go to for the ones we love.

Series Up to This Book:
1: Everneath (review|Goodreads)

First Sentence: "Ancient Greeks called it the Underworld or Hades."

Review:

Goodness gracious, great balls of awesomeness! I really liked Everneath, but I had some reservations. With Everbound, Ashton really delivers, solidifying the elements that made Everneath so compelling and ramping up the action. Everything gets ten times better in Everbound. Pardon me while I applaud Brodi Ashton for defying second book syndrome utterly.

Take note that I'm assuming you intrepid review readers have already read Everneath or have no fear of spoilers for that book. As you know, at the end of book one, Jack went to the Tunnels instead of Nikki. This leaves her on the surface miserable and hated by the town for being the last person to have seen the missing golden boy. Given Jack and Nikki's incredibly strong connection and her guilt over his sacrifice, she will literally stop at nothing to get him back.

The first few chapters are a bit slow, but everything speeds up with the arrival of Cole back in town. Basically, Everneath alternated between awesome Everneath bits and flashbacks. In this installment, the flashbacks are greatly reduced and the plot has sustained forward momentum. While I did enjoy the flashbacks in the last book, they work to much greater effect here, and keep the reader from being thrown out of the present moment. The more linear storytelling fits this story perfectly.

Going into Everbound, I hoped to learn more about the Everneath and that is precisely what Ashton delivers. Her world building continues to be entirely excellent. Her fantasy world references so many different classic stories, mostly mythological in origin, though I felt some distinct shades of Alice in Wonderland in places, but still manages to be something entirely new and magical. I have some theories that I cannot wait to find out the correctness of in the next installment, particularly about Shades.

If you dread love triangles, have no fear because this one is awesome, and Ashton really doesn't rub it in your face. The feelings involved are complex, but Nikki knows what she's doing. She never questions herself or her actions, even though the reader does sometimes; her goals are set, and I love her dedication. Though I've never personally had a connection to Jack, I admire Nikki for not being the sort to be easily swayed, especially since it makes their love so much more believable.

Two things made Everbound absolutely incredible. The first is that, as they journey through the Everneath in an attempt to rescue Jack from the Tunnels, Ashton really digs in and develops Cole's character. He spends much of his time on the periphery of Everneath, remaining largely a mysterious figure, but here we get a much closer look at the real Cole. Getting to learn some of his past and try to parse his precise feelings for Nikki will keep you intrigued and unsure all the way through.

The second thing is the ending. As soon as I finished reading, I immediately had to message a friend to discuss what happened, because shit gets real. The ending totally caught me off guard and fits the story completely perfectly. I didn't see it coming, but as soon as it happened, I knew that it was precisely what needed to happen. Ashton brings various plot threads together to weave a gorgeous tapestry and to deftly set up the next book in the series.

Whether you loved Everneath or were on the fence, I urge you to give Everbound a try, because Ashton's work is just getting better. I have a lot of faith that the next book will be even more astounding, and I only wish I did not have to wait another year to read it.

Rating: 4.5/5 - for that ending!

Favorite Quote:

"'Whatever you think of me, I was honest with you. Just because you want to live the mortal life doesn't mean that my path is any less moral.'
     'You feed off of people,' I said.
     'But it's their choice.'
     'You sacrifice humans.'
     'But it's their choice.'"

Review: Everneath

Everneath
Everneath, Book 1

Author: Brodi Ashton
Pages: 370
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen.

"Everneath" is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

First Sentence: "History books call it the Underworld."

Review:

Obviously, I have been wanting to read Everneath for most of this year. I say obviously, because who could resist this cover? Certainly not me. However, I feared Everneath might turn out to be a crushing disappointment, since pretty dress covers have lured me into many traps in the past. In case you had similar concerns, lay them to rest. Everneath has incredible world building, compelling characters, and solid writing.

The Persephone myth has inspired numerous authors, but those attempts at a young adult retelling which I have read have been ill-considered to say the least. Both of the other two YA adaptions I've read, Abandon by Meg Cabot and The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter, involved an intense immediate attraction for the Hades figure. A big part of why these attempts failed is this perversion of the myth, trying to forge an immediate romantic connection between Persephone and a misunderstood version of Hades. Well, sorry, but that just does not fly. One of the main elements of the Persephone myth is that she is taken and that she is kept. If right from the beginning she kind of wants to hang out in the Underworld, the author's kind of missing the point.

All of that lead up is to say that I think Brodi Ashton hit the nail on the head with the Persephone myth. Of course, she put a lot of twists on things, but a lot more of the core of the myth remained. Though Nikki doesn't hate Cole, who is not Hades but one of the Everliving who lives in the Everneath, she does not trust him either. He did take her there and he did keep her through the months, with her having no say once she let him in a little bit. Cole has a proper amount of darkness to fill this role, and Nikki begins with a sort of weakness I identify with Persephone.

Actually, I loved just about every single thing that Brodi Ashton did with her reworking of the myths. Instead of the Underworld, we have the Everneath, a land populated by the Everliving, humans who have found the secret to eternal life, and Shades, ghosty type things. The Everliving survive by feeding off of the emotions of humans on Earth, but have to bring a particular human to the Everneath every hundred years to Feed. This human is a Forfeit, and once they've completed their service, they are buried in the Tunnels to power the Everneath. It's a wee bit confusing, but mostly just creepy and awesome. Ashton puts a fascinating and unique twist on not just the myth of Persephone, but also that of Orpheus and even incorporates mythologies outside of Greek too.

Nikki, Cole and Jack are the only characters to receive any real attention, but, thankfully, Ashton does a marvelous job with them. Nikki very much has her own way of being, and feels quite real. She is not the most sympathetic heroine, quite passive and depressed much of the time, but she has a core strength, one that she's slowly finding. Seeing her slowly unfold, like a flower after a long winter beautifully matches the arc of the tale. Because of her coldness, I did have some trouble emotionally connecting with her, but I very much appreciated her as a character.

With the listing of Cole and Jack, you might be worried about yet another love triangle, and I do suspect things are heading that way. In Everneath, though, I hardly felt the romance as a main part of the plot. Much of the time, Nikki is too drained of emotion to feel anything. She doesn't trust Cole and is unsure what she wants from her ex, Jack. Their interactions are complicated, and all of the emotions are well established and believable. The closest comparison for the romantic arc in this book is definitely Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr.

My only real complaint is that I would have liked even more of the stellar world building. During the dramatic opening scene, Nikki declares her desire to go to the surface, Shades fly at her, and then she wakes up in a convenience store. Yes, this is dramatic, but it made no sense. Then, all of a sudden, she seems to know the terms of her sentence up above, but, if some of the things she knows are explained to her, I missed them. I want to know every single thing about this world, and I feel like sometimes some information was kept back from me.

If you enjoy original takes on mythology, Everneath is most definitely worth your time. From what I hear, the second book, Everbound improves on the beginning established here, so I most definitely recommend that you give this one a try.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Remembering is easy. It's forgetting that's hard.'"

Review: Guardian

Guardian
Halflings, Book 1

Author: Heather Burch
Pages: 320
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Source: Publisher for blog tour hosted by The Book Vortex

Description from Goodreads:
Vigilance. The mission to safeguard Nikki Youngblood depends on the fragile alliance of two half-angel, half-human guardians, both struggling with intense feelings for the girl who has been assigned to their care. Mace, steadfast and deeply in love, wants to protect Nikki at all costs, while Raven's loyalty to Nikki finds him advocating for her independence and battling his own darker inclinations. At the same time, Nikki finds it harder and harder to choose between the two heavenly beings she may never have. Dangers intensify, and tensions between Mace and Raven flare as the purpose of their mission becomes clear. Can their defenses hold up to master manipulator Damon Vessler and the powerful secret he holds regarding Nikki's heritage? Can anyone protect Nikki from her true purpose and destiny?

First Sentence: "'We are not going in.'"

Review:

The fact that I enjoy the Halflings series by Heather Burch remains an utter surprise to me. They are so much not my thing that I keep expecting to be annoyed beyond repair on every page. I say this to emphasize that, while my rating is certainly on the low end of liking the book, it's a miracle that I liked it at all. If you enjoy paranormal romance and Christian themes more than I do, then you should most definitely check out Heather Burch's Halflings books.

As those familiar with my reviews probably know by this point, one of the few genres I generally cannot stand is Christian fiction. Not being a believer myself, I hate being preached to, so that kills a book immediately. Thankfully, Burch does not preach much at all. Both Halflings and Guardian felt more like they were merely set in Christian mythology rather than trying to impart Christian values to me, a fact I am immensely thankful for. 

Another reason I like these books is Nikki. Except with regards to romance, Nikki Youngblood does not act like the stereotypical heroine. She's strong, and always wants to help, even when people (primarily Will and Mace) try to marginalize her. From years of martial arts training, she's physically powerful. She loves motorcycles, and actually knows how to ride them, unlike Bella Swan who used them as suicide machines. On top of that, she knows and appreciates her own skills and refuses to let anyone tell her what she can or can't do. Best of all, she will not compromise herself to make a boy happy.

The plot meandered a bit in the beginning of the book, but took shape towards the end. I never did figure out precisely why the trip to Europe at the opening was necessary; the explanation that a higher power told Will does not fly with me. They really do not seem to have accomplished anything there that could not have been done in Nikki's home town. However, once the actual plot kicked in, it was both exciting and creepy, as Nikki confronts her internal battles and Raven studies some mad scientists.

The biggest weak point of the series is the love triangle. Of course, I'm generally not a huge fan of love triangles, so I suppose that's not surprising. On the plus side, there does seem to be a slight possibility Nikki might go for either guy, but I don't really imagine she would choose anyone but Mace. Unfortunately, Mace bores and irritates me, what with his desires to protect her like a manly man. Raven may be the "bad boy," but he empowers Nikki, helping her gain in strength so she can protect herself. Sure, he'll protect her if she needs it, but that's the back up plan. Mostly, though, I dislike the way Nikki acts when she's with them, because she finds herself unable to resist either Raven's or Mace's charms, swept away. Nikki is stronger than that, and it seems out of character for her to be so indecisive and to go from boy to boy, and especially to cheat.

Though I am not the ideal audience, I happily recommend these books to those who welcome Christianity as a main theme in their fiction and who are perhaps more tolerant of love triangle shenanigans than I am. They're well-written and certainly some of the better angel books I've read.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'In case you didn't notice, there's a war going on around us. And I've been drafted. So I'm sorry you don't like the idea of your girl fighting, but you better get used to it. Because I'm not backing down.'"

Review + Giveaway: King of the Dead

King of the Dead
Jeremiah Hunt, Book 2

Author: Joseph Nassise
Pages: 352
Publisher: Tor
Publication Date:November 27, 2012
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Joseph Nassise shook up the urban fantasy genre with Eyes to See, a novel New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry called “heartbreaking, deeply insightful, powerful and genuinely thrilling.” In a devil’s deal, Jeremiah Hunt sacrificed his human sight in exchange for the power to see the hidden world of ghosts and all of the darker spirits that prowl the streets. Hunt uncovered a world of murder and magic that took his daughter from him and nearly cost him his life, but that was only the beginning....

Now Hunt is on the run from the FBI, who have pegged him as a mass-murdering dark sorcerer. His flight from the law is diverted to New Orleans when his companion, a potent witch, has a horrific vision of the city under magical siege. When they arrive, they realize that the situation is more dire than they could have imagined: the world of the living faces a terrifying attack by forces from beyond the grave. King of the Dead, the second book in this groundbreaking series, promises more of Nassise’s electrifying writing that will enthrall readers looking for a supercharged, supernatural thrill.

Previous Books in Series:
1: Eyes to See (review|Goodreads)

First Sentence: "Life as an interstate fugitive isn't easy."

Review:

Sequels generally fail to live up to their predecessors. To be fair, they're under a lot of pressure. They need to refresh readers who read books out of order (a ghastly affair, I say) and to set up the following book, assuming there is one (which there usually is, duology's not being especially popular). Unfortunately, I feel like King of the Dead had some real issues, and was not as powerful as Eyes to See, however, the ending was jam packed and left me wanting more.

The first problem with King of the Dead I referenced above. Authors writing the second book of their series have two basic options: rehash the plot so that people who skipped book one won't be lost or launch straight in and hope that people are smart enough to go back to book one if they're confused. Nassise chose the former option, which might have been okay with me had I not read Eyes to See less than a week ago. With a strong knowledge of the plot, I could appreciate just how poorly the information dump was handled. One sentence, just a descriptive one about how inanimate objects take in emotions, he even reused verbatim in this book. If you're going to repeat the infodump, at least do me the favor of writing something new, especially since I wasn't a huge fan of that sentence in book one, which is why I recognized it.

Much as that annoyed me, though, it's a fairly common problem, and the repetition is dispensed with in a couple of chapters, so it's really not that big an issue. The larger problem was how the plot meandered for most of the book. Where Eyes to See started with a bang (Jeremiah performing an exorcism), this one only has a brief vision of Denise's to get us moving. Apparently, the vision means they need to go to New Orleans for some mission wholely unrelated to Hunt being wanted by the FBI. Alrighty then.

Thankfully, I do feel like the plot did come around to being a bit more overarching towards the end, bringing in a mysterious figure from book one. The last third or so of the book has a lot of action, death, and battle, so I got really into it at that point. There was one questionable moment in the battle's climax where I question Hunt's ability to take out the opponent, but hopefully the powers he uses then will be explained later on. Otherwise, not cool.

Hunt continues to be a delightfully odd hero, in that he's not especially heroic. He doesn't really want to save people and he's really not that useful a lot of the time. He gets them caught by doing something stupid, and he has to hide in the corner during battles, because he lacks any sort of fighting prowess. His most useful skills are his ghostsight and the fact that he's really good at the harmonica (soothes ghosts and three-headed dogs). Personally, I find this refreshing, because most people don't get to be the badass hero in their own lives.

King of the Dead had some issues, but I certainly recommend it with some reservations. Given the intense ending, I do plan to continue with the series myself and only hope that Nassise will ease the transition into book three and try to space out the action a bit better, like he did in Eyes to See.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "Under the best of circumstances, pissing off a woman was usually not a good idea. Doing so to one who could turn you into a cockroach was even worse."

Giveaway:
I'm offering up both Jeremiah Hunt books, Eyes to See (mass market paperback) and King of the Dead (hardback) to one reader in the US. Just leave your contact information in THIS FORM and leave a comment on either this review or the one for Eyes to See.  Open until December 26, because I don't want to fight the frantic Christmas hordes at the post office.

Review + Giveaway: Valkyrie Rising Blog Tour

Valkyrie Rising

Author: Ingrid Paulson
Pages: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date:  October 9, 2012
Source: e-ARC for Blog Tour

Description from Goodreads:
Nothing ever happens in Norway. But at least Ellie knows what to expect when she visits her grandmother: a tranquil fishing village and long, slow summer days. And maybe she’ll finally get out from under the shadow of her way-too-perfect big brother, Graham, while she’s there.

What Ellie doesn’t anticipate is Graham’s infuriating best friend, Tuck, tagging along for the trip. Nor did she imagine boys going missing amid rumors of impossible kidnappings. Least of all does she expect something powerful and ancient to awaken in her and that strange whispers would urge Ellie to claim her place among mythological warriors. Instead of peace and quiet, there’s suddenly a lot for a girl from L.A. to handle on a summer sojourn in Norway! And when Graham vanishes, it’s up to Ellie—and the ever-sarcastic, if undeniably alluring Tuck—to uncover the truth about all the disappearances and thwart the nefarious plan behind them.

Deadly legends, hidden identities, and tentative romance swirl together in one girl’s unexpectedly-epic coming of age.

First Sentence: "Half the school came to Graham's eighteenth birthday party."

Review:
Sometimes, it kind of seems like authors have purchased dictionaries of mythological and paranormal creatures, flipping through and arbitrarily choosing one to write about, because they know it will make them money. Actually, that's what my friend suggested when I tried to explain the plot of Valkyrie Rising to her. I'll admit that she does have a point, but, hey, I prefer some well-done variation to consistent repetition of vampires, werewolves, witches, etc.

NGL, I hardly know anything about Norse mythology. My childhood mythology obsession only stretched as far as Greek and Roman, so do not expect this review to critique the accuracy of Paulson's take on Odin and Valkyries. I can't tell you that. What I can tell you is that this book was just so fun, and that I loved the Valkyries. I mean, who doesn't love a group of hot girls who can destroy anyone with their physical prowess and mind powers? Sure, some of them are a little bit evil, but they're still really interesting, which is clearly the most important thing.

I completely loved the first half of this novel, before the paranormal elements really entered the scene, not that I didn't like those but they weren't my favorite part. What I loved was the dynamic between Ellie and Tuck. They have this snarky back-and-forth banter, a mutual loathing/attraction, that I find incredibly compelling. Basically, they remind me a whole lot of Benedick and Beatrice (couple name: Beatrick) from Much Ado About Nothing. Given that they are perhaps my OTP, that's seriously high praise from me. The best moments are when Ellie and Tuck really get the insults flying thick and fast.

Ellie comes across as a real teenage girl to me, awkward and rebellious and lonely and without an accurate sense of herself. Graham, Ellie's perfect older brother, basically runs her life, keeping guys from dating her, because of an uncomfortable instance one time, and making sure she sticks to curfew. Ellie resents this, but cannot find the will to act out, because she basically hero-worships Graham. Their relationship reminded me a lot of Lugh and Saba in Blood Red Road, especially in the later discovery that the younger sister turns out to be much stronger.

I bonded with Ellie almost immediately, alone at a party, unsure whether to join or to hide. She feels uncomfortable in her own skin and no longer knows if she's a social pariah because of herself or her brother. When she goes to stay with her grandmother in Norway, she arrives before her brother and Tuck. She meets a really hot guy, cuter even than Tuck and older too, Kjell, and he asks her out. She agrees to go in a fit of rebellion. Though he's gorgeous, she does not trust him one bit, and has little to no interest in him. This made me want to fistbump Ingrid Paulson for letting a heroine care more about personality than looks.

I will say, though, that aside from Tuck and Ellie who I loved, the rest of the characters did not seem particularly well-developed. I really don't have a sense of any of them as people, even Graham, which might be part of why I dislike him so much. This dovetails with my other complaint: this should be a series. The story does wrap up, but it's open-ended. So far as I know, a sequel isn't in the works, but it should be, and then we could see the other characters grow more.

Valkyrie Rising is just a heck of a lot of fun, with the added bonus of a unique setting in small town Norway. I loved reading it and will be keeping an eye on Paulson's career from here on out.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'I didn't pick this fight, gentlemen. The first move is yours,' Grandmother growled. 'And the final one, I assure you, will be mine.'"

Giveaway: This giveaway is tour-wide. Check out the Rafflecopter form for details.
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Review: The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy

The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy

Author: Nikki Loftin
Pages: 284
Publisher: Razorbill
Source: Penguin Young Reader's Group via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
When Lorelei's old school mysteriously burns down, a new one appears practically overnight: Splendid Academy. Rock-climbing walls on the playground and golden bowls of candy on every desk? Gourmet meals in the cafeteria, served by waiters? Optional homework and two recess periods a day? It's every kids's dream.

But Lorelei and her new friend Andrew are pretty sure it's too good to be true. Together they uncover a sinister mystery, one with their teacher, the beautiful Ms. Morrigan, at the very center.

Then Andrew disappears. Lorelei has to save him, even if that means facing a past she'd like to forget – and taking on a teacher who's a real witch.

What Lorelei and Andrew discover chills their bones – and might even pick them clean!

First Sentence: "When my mom was alive, she read me stories every night."

Review:
Middle grade fiction is my new favorite thing. I still haven't read that much, but I have yet to be seriously disappointed by any of the ones I've picked up. The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy is incredibly delightful, one of my favorites thus far. Full of dark humor and classic fairy tale plot elements, it's a story that delighted me from beginning to end, giving me a perverse desire to eat everything.

If you pay attention to my little reading widget, you might know that it took me weeks to read this despite its brevity. This was my iPod touch book, for reading while in lines. I read a lot of it while waiting at the DMV so I could get my license renewed. Thank goodness I had a delightful book to buoy me up during that harrowingly mind-numbing experience. While, you could easily devour this delicious book in one sitting, it also worked well as a book to nibble at and savor. I had no trouble picking it back up after a week of not reading, the story remaining fresh in my mind.

I will say that TSSoSA is not a book you should read if you want to be surprised. Maybe if I were a middle grader, I would feel differently, but, as a lover of fairy tales, I always knew where the plot was headed. Sometimes, though, I think that's a good thing. There's something comforting about that, like a big ol' bowl of mashed potatoes. This retelling of Hansel and Gretel (with a whole bunch of other tales mixed in) does some unique clever things, but reads very much like a classic fairy tale.

Nikki Loftin's writing is simply perfectly matched to the tale. She's witty and clever. The story is told in first person by Lorelei. Unlike a lot of children's books, she's not a prodigy, just a regular girl. Her voice rings pure and authentic, complete with childish snits, self-recrimination, and problem solving. She struggles with feelings of guilt over her mother's death and anger at her father's marriage to the obnoxious Molly.

The one thing I don't get about TSSoSA is Molly. She certainly fills the role of evil stepmother incredibly well, money-grubbing and child-hating. However, I fail to see why Molly would ever have married Lorelei's dad. She obviously has expensive tastes and begrudges any money spent on the kids, but she married a poor man. Why? It really doesn't matter from a plot perspective, but I found myself musing on that a lot.

When Splendid Academy pops up over night in their little town, Bryan and Lorelei desperately want to go, lured by the siren call of the coolest playground ever. Due to the convenient burning of the local school and the affordable nature of Splendid, they get to go. Not only that, but it turns out to be every child's dream, school days consisting solely of breakfast, lunch, snack times, and recesses. I think I'm getting old because instead of being even slightly envious, I kept worrying about how much their education would be set back if they survived Splendid and went back to public education.

Also, I loved Andrew. He's Lorelei's only friend, the fattest boy in school. I feel like there are rarely fat people in fiction, and they are usually figures of mockery. Not so, Andrew. He does get mocked of course, children being terrible, vicious creatures (something Loftin does not flinch away from depicting), but he is obviously one of the best and smartest in the school. Even better, Andrew knows why he's overweight and is working on it, which has given him incredible self-control to the degree that he figures out what's going on at Splendid, having had to train himself not to pig out on food.

TSSoSA is utterly charming. If you're looking for a wonderful fairy tale, look no further. Get yourself a big bag of M&Ms and start reading!

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Use your imagination, Lorelei,' she'd say, 'and your whole life can be a ffairy tale.' I wanted that to be true. But I should have paid more attention to the fairy tales."

Audiobook Review: Starling

Starling
Starling Saga, Book 1

Author: Lesley Livingston
Narrator: Lesley Livingston
Duration: 8 hrs, 1 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Source: Publisher for Review

Description from Goodreads:
Mason Starling is a champion fencer on the Gosforth Academy team, but she's never had to fight for her life. Not until the night a ferocious, otherworldly storm rips through Manhattan, trapping Mason and her teammates inside the school. Mason is besieged by nightmarish creatures more terrifying than the thunder and lightning as the raging tempest also brings a dangerous stranger into her life: a young man who remembers nothing but his name—the Fennrys Wolf. His arrival tears Mason's world apart, even as she feels an undeniable connection to him. Together, they seek to unravel the secrets of Fenn's identity as strange and supernatural forces gather around them. When they discover Mason's family—with its dark allegiance to ancient Norse gods—is at the heart of the mystery, Fennrys and Mason are suddenly faced with a terrifying future.

Set against the gritty, shadowed back-drop of New York City, this first novel in award-winning author Lesley Livingston's epic Starling Saga is an intoxicating blend of sweeping romance and pulse-pounding action.

Review:
I'm going to put this out there and make no bones about it: I didn't care for Starling. There were a few different reasons for that, some of which are just bad timing and others which involve Starling running along classic YA tropes I personally dislike. Now, some books I don't like leave a bad taste in my mouth, make me angry, but this one didn't. I know many readers will enjoy this, and I do not begrudge them that. It just was not for me.

Starling sounded so up my aisle like you wouldn't believe. I mean, slap the mythology label on something, and I'm pretty much guaranteed to be chomping at the bit to read it. Unfortunately, while the mythology in Starling is original, it didn't resonate with me. I don't know if it's because I don't know much about Norse mythology (or some other kinds of mythology, since Livingston draws from a bunch of different ones), but I was a bit confused. I could have used more descriptions of the various attacking creatures, since very few of them were familiar to me.

Of course, I might have been more charmed by the mythology herein had I not, through unfortunate happenstance read Valkyrie Rising, another Harper YA title with an eerily similar cover, while in the process of listening to this audiobook. Both involve Norse mythology generally, and Valkyries specifically. With that little coincidence, I can't help comparing the two, and I much preferred the more straightforward tale in Valkyrie Rising, as well as the fact that the setting fit the mythology so much better than an expensive prep school. I had some suspension of disbelief issues with the plot evolving around this prep school run by families who believe in Norse mythology still.

If you like a lot of action, Starling will provide that for you in spades. It's pretty much storm-battle-family drama-flirting-battle-battle-date-battle and on like that. Not only that, but you get to watch Mason and Fennrys battle myriad creatures. I will say this for Starling. Mason does have skills, and I liked that she was a talented fencer. I liked less her tendency to choke at big moments, usually because a boy told her she wasn't good enough to win. For all her magical mojo, she's the kind of heroine who runs when told to by a protective male, even though she has fighting talent. This may be the wiser choice, but it's not generally how I like my heroines.

Up to this point in my little discussion here, I know I've sounded hypercritical, but, honestly, the book would probably still have elicited a 2.5 from me, just sort of meh. What dropped it into the 'nope, not for me' range was the romance. If you don't like the main couple and you're supposed to, it's painful, am I right?

When the story opens, Mason has a crush on Callum, her fencing partner, and has had for ages. We soon learn that he likes her too, but, due to a beauty-maiming injury at the start of the novel, he's too afraid to make a move, and never stands a chance, serving as the pathetic, bum leg of the love triangle. Well, too bad, so sad, because Mason's over it as soon as she sees another (now prettier) face. Fennrys, who falls butt-naked out of the sky like man(na) from the heavens, catches her eye immediately, both for his sexy body and his manly fighting prowess.

Like that...only less clothing.

He comes and finds her later so that he can clothing borrowed from the fencing team. They flirt and she commits to helping him find out who he is, since, conveniently he has amnesia. You may be wondering what's so convenient about amnesia. Well, it's pretty damn convenient when the only things that have been forgotten are plot points! *headdesk*

Anyway, Mason and Fennrys did not work for me at all. For one thing, they are just shy of instalove. They moon over one another from moment zero, but they at least don't declare their love during that opening battle scene. What REALLY made me rage, though, was that I'm supposed to ship them, even though Mason is like totally terrified of him at times. You know what's not a good sign? BEING AFRAID OF THE GUY YOU LIKE. And I'm not talking afraid he's going to fart on you or eat the last oreo, okay? She sometimes suspects he's dangerous and might hurt her. I'm not saying that means she can't date him ever, but you should probably hold off on going places alone all the time and pretending he's your soulmate.

Starling failed to be what I wanted it to be, but you might still like it. So far as I could tell from the audiobook version, I had no issues with the writing. I really don't have a specific recommendation. Give it a go if you're interested.

Rating: 2/5

Narration:
I think it's just so cool when authors narrate their own work. There's something so personal about that. Of course, not everyone has the voice for it, nor do they necessarily have the time, as audiobook narration is quite the length process.

Livingston has an incredibly pleasant voice. Her narration wouldn't have worked if the book were in first person, but suited a third person omniscient narrator just fine. Don't judge me when I say that my favorite part of the book was listening to Livingston's pronunciation of words in her Canadian accent. I am pretty fanatical about accents, so you can imagine me giggling with glee every time she said the word 'sorry.' Unfortunately, either because I was disengaged from the story or because of my personal reaction to Livingston's voice, I had a lot of trouble focusing on what was happening. I listened to at least two chapters twice, because I could not for the life of me remember what had happened, even though I'd only been listening.


Rating: 3/5

Audio or Print?: 
I think that depends on you. I'm not sure if I would have liked this book any more in the print version, and suspect I might have liked it less. Livingston's narration is good, but not out of this world, so I don't feel the need to urge either format on you.

Overall Rating: 2.5/5

Review: The Song of Achilles

The Song of Achilles

Author: Madeline Miller
Pages: 369
Publisher: Ecco
Source: Finished paperback for review

Description from Goodreads:
Greece in the age of Heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is nobody, just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles.

Achilles, 'best of all the Greeks', is everything Patroclus is not — strong, beautiful, the child of a goddess — and by all rights their paths should never cross. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his wing and soon their tentative companionship gives way to a steadfast friendship. As they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something far deeper — despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel and deathly pale sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.

Fate is never far from the heels of Achilles. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to the hands of Fate.

Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.

First Sentence: "My father was a king and the son of kings"

Review:
Like me, many of you likely had to read Homer in high school or in college. If you read Homer, you may have felt as I did: that his books were written to torture students. Seriously, I tried to reread (via audiobook) The Iliad recently, and I just could not do it, even though the narrator was awesome. I mean, Homer LOVES detail to a degree that would make even Tolkien weep with frustration and boredom. For example, in The Iliad, he spends a chapter listing EVERY SINGLE DAMN ONE of those 1000+ ships sent for Helen and which ruler goes with it. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS, HOMER!

Ranting complete. Whether you did or not, you probably know the story (they did make that awful movie Troy), and that the story itself is marvelous. Gods, betrayal, war, cleverness, heroes, sacrifice, and hubris make for a story completely epic in scope and so entirely Greek. The Song of Achilles tells Homer's story, but does so much better in my opinion. This is what I wanted The Iliad to be.

There have been so many different Homer adaptations, my favorites of which thus far have been Adele Geras' Troy, which focuses on Helen and Paris, and Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad, which follows Penelope as she waits for Odysseus to return home. Like most adaptations now, Miller does not seek just to tell the story as it was in friendlier language with the boring bits cut out. She adds her own spin to the tale, taking the good bones of the story and fleshing out something deeper and more touching.

The Song of Achilles first came to my attention on a list of last year's best LGBT fiction. Miller has chosen to tell the story of The Iliad through the lens of Patroclus, who you may remember as Bradchilles' "cousin" in the film Troy. As we all knew, they are totally NOT cousins. Miller added onto The Iliad, crafting a back story for Patroclus and Achilles, setting them up as lovers doomed to have too little time together.

Patroclus, a prince in his own right, has no skill at fighting, but accidentally manages to kill a boy and is exiled for his crime. His father sends him to live with a number of other exiled princes in Phthia, King Peleus being sympathetic to the plight of these boys. At first, Patroclus loathes Peleus' son Achilles, who is a foil to Patroclus. Where Achilles is bright, beautiful, powerful, respected, Patroclus is dark, ugly, weak and spurned.

Of course, as one expects, his hatred eventually changes into friendship and then into...other feelings. While Achilles and Patroclus do have a sexual relationship, the descriptions are not especially graphic. Their relationship is just SO sweet, and, obviously, sad, as this whole book is an exercise in dramatic irony. What got me right in the feels was how committed the two were to one another. Achilles could have had anyone he wanted, but he never had any desire for anyone but Patroclus, who, according to all reports, has little to recommend him. Patroclus, for his part, stands by Achilles unwaveringly and does his best to try to keep the boy he loves from turning into someone else in the pursuit of glory.

Another wonderful aspect of this novel for me was that I finally understood Odysseus. I know from hours of exhaustive English class analysis how I'm supposed to perceive Achilles (clever, funny, wise, most likable of all of the Greeks), but I never really did see him as anything especially special. I loved Odysseus in here. He's so funny (especially when chatting with Diomedes), and he's such a shit-stirrer. He totally knows everyone's business and likes to mess with them, both for business and for fun.

The ending, which I won't discuss in detail, as some of you might have been living under a rock and not know how it goes, is a bit odd. Miller does something interesting there at the end that I was not expecting at all. My first reaction was an eye roll and disappointment, but she did sell me on it by the last page. It's a bit on the over-sweet side, but I loved the thought behind it.

Miller's writing has a simple sort of beauty to it, a lovely cadence. Reading her words was a sheer pleasure. I declare this a must read for everyone who loved the story of The Iliad but was bored to tears, or just anyone who wants a beautifully-written, moving tale.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'I would still be with you. But I could sleep outside, so it would not be so obvious. I do not need to attend your councils. I—'
   'No. The Phthians will not care. And the others can talk all they like. I will still be Aristos Achaion.' Best of the Greeks.
   'Your honor could be darkened by it."
   'Then it is darkened.' His jaw shot forward, stubborn. 'They are fools if they let my glory rise or fall on this.'"

Out from Under - Incubus

Stormdancer
The Lotus War, Book 1

Author: Jay Kristoff
Pages: 313
Publisher:Thomas Dunne Books
Publication Date: September 18, 2012
Source: ARC from St. Martin's Press

Description from Goodreads:
A DYING LAND
The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, the land is choked with toxic pollution, and the great spirit animals that once roamed its wilds have departed forever.

AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST
The hunters of Shima's imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger – a legendary creature, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows the beasts have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.

A HIDDEN GIFT
Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a talent that if discovered, would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, she finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her.

But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire.

First Sentence: "As the iron war club scythed toward her head, Yukiko couldn't help wishing she'd listened to her father."

Review:
Holy epicness Batman. Stormdancer is, perhaps, the most talked about book of this summer, and, having now finished, I can tell you that all of that anticipation and expectation is well-deserved. However, Stormdancer is also not what I was expecting. Not at ALL. Partly, this was my fault, but partly this was because of the way books are marketed.

What I didn't find in Stormdancer was the sort of Joss Whedon-esque humor that I was anticipating from communicating with Jay on Twitter and Goodreads. There is humor of a sort, but that's not a driving force by any means. That was my incorrect expectation. I was also expecting, from the way this book was marketed, a young adult dystopia about Yukiko. Well, sorry, guys, but that's not what this book is.

Jay Kristoff actually wrote an incredibly insightful post that got me thinking about the distinctions between young adult fiction and adult fiction, and how, much of the time, the lines are entirely arbitrary. In fact, there have been several books recently that I never would have guessed were 'young adult, and this most definitely falls into that category. I wonder whether some readers will be disappointed and dislike this book because it's so unlike most of the other novels published under that unclear heading.

Although Yukiko is undoubtedly the heroine of our piece, Stormdancer is definitively not just about her. Told in third person, the narrative does not even follow her alone. Many important characters left their teens behind years before. This book does not tackle issues that face a teenage girl. The scope of Stormdancer is broad, and I think that, were this not a dystopia and were YA not so popular, this book would be marketed as epic fantasy, where I personally feel it belongs (if we feel the need to push labels onto our books).

Moving on from that rant, let's actually talk about Stormdancer. You may have noticed that this book (or at least the ARC version) is but 313 pages. Don't let this fool you. Stormdancer is not a short book. The ARC is larger than a traditional trade paperback, the font is not large, and the margins are small. Published in an ordinary fashion, Stormdancer would probably be somewhere from 500-700 pages. If published the same way Divergent was, it would be IMMENSE.

All of those words to read are not a struggle, though, or were not for me. Jay Kristoff can write. His language is ornate and complex, with some of the best diction I've seen from a modern writer, yet all quite natural. Seriously, this man is a genius.

The best part of the book, most definitely, is the world building. Jay Kristoff has built a truly epic world, a steampunk Japan full of demons and fantastic creatures. A young, merciless shogun, Yoritomo, rules as tyrant over Shima, allowing the country to fall to ruin. In this steampunk world, machines run on lotus (think opium...only with the ability to power machinery and to pollute the environment). The mass of the populace is dying from the lotus, breathing the smoke of the polluted air into their lungs. Shima's soldiers (Iron Samurai) and priests (The Guild) are encased in metalwork, safe from the environment.

Set within this dying world, addicted, one way or another, to lotus, Masaru, Yoritomo's master hunter, receives orders to capture and deliver to the shogun an arashitora, a thunder tiger (half eagle, half tiger, as seen on the cover). Though they are believed to be extinct, Masaru and his crew, including Yukiko, set out on the fruitless search. What could, in a lesser book, be the whole of the first volume, this quest takes only the first third or so of the novel. Once they find the arashitora, Buruu, that is when the book really (pardon the pun...or, actually, don't) took off.

At first, I was appreciating the language and the mastery of the world building, but I wasn't particularly involved yet. This is a big part of why I would call this epic fantasy: good epic fantasy takes some time, because there's so much that has to be set up since the world is so different. Once Yukiko and Buruu began to bond, I really became attached to their characters and caught up in their fates. Yukiko is, as the cover promises, a BADASS, with the all-caps completely necessary to convey the degree of her ability to be awesome. However, Buruu totally stole the show from her, I thought. He is definitely my favorite character, because he's funny and loyal and A FRACKING THUNDER TIGER! It does not get more hardcore than that.

The other characters are also fascinating, interesting in how unclear they are. I really don't know how to feel about most of them, unable to figure out whether they're trustworthy or not. Pretty much by the time you figure that out, it's too late. This is not a world where good and evil are always bathed in black and white, and both are generally bathed in red, either from blood or from lotus.

So yeah, Stormdancer is just as crazy cool and full of action and steampunkery (like chainkatanas...think chainsaw + katana and accept the fact that Kay Kristoff is better than you) as you could possibly want. I advise you not to get to hung up on what Stormdancer is, and just to sit back and enjoy the ride through the storms.

Favorite Quote...er, Scene: 

"'You forget where you are, Yukiko-chan,' Daichi waved his hand across the vista. 'The haunted valleys of the Iishi Mountains. Demons are as real as the trees or the sky to the children who grow up here.'
   'Then why do you stay?'
   'Long shadows. Dark nights. As far from the Shogun's throne as a man can be, and a thousand and one myths to keep superstitious eyes away.'
   'I thought oni were just that.' Yukiko looked at her hand, curling and uncurling her fingers. 'Stories to frighten the simple and the young.'
   'I am afraid not.'
   'Where do they come from?'
   Daichi blinked, as if he didn't quite understand the question.
   'From Yomi, of course.'
   'Yomi?' Her voice fairly dripped skepticism. 'The deepest hell?'
   'Hai.' His reply was flat. Iron. 'The deepest hell.'
   'But the old tales...' Yukiko shook her head. 'Even is they're true, the gate to Yomi was sealed shut. And the stormdancer Tora Takehiko gave his life to see that it would remain forever closed. My father used to tell us that story all the time.'
   'It was a great sacrifice,' Daichi nodded. 'But the cracks are big enough for the little ones to slip through.'
   'Cracks?'
   'The great boulder that the Maker God pushed into place over the Devil Gate is only stone. Stone breaks under enough force. Enough hate.'
   'So it's all true? The old stories? The myths my father told us at bedtime?'
   Daichi tilted his head and frowned, motioned toward Buruu.
   'You walked into this village with a thunder tiger beside you. You have slain demons with your own hands. Are the old myths really that hard to believe?
   'They wouldn't be myths otherwise, would they?'
   'Then have a care, Yukiko-chan,' Daichi smiled. 'Keeping the company of the last arashitora in Shima sounds like an excellent way to become a myth yourself.'

"To resist is to piss in the wind
Anyone who does will end up smelling
Knowing this, why do I defy?
Because my inner voice is yelling
There is a fist pressing against
Anyone who thinks something compelling
Our intuit we're taught to deny
And our soul we're told is for selling

Get out from under them
Resist and multiply
Get out from under precipice and see the sky
Get out from under them
Resist, unlearn, defy
Get out from under precipice and see the sky"

Perfectionist - Landon Pigg

Origin

Author: Jessica Khoury
Pages: 394
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: September 4, 2012
Source: Penguin at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home—and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia’s origin—a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost. This is a supremely compelling debut novel that blends the awakening romance of Matched with the mystery and jungle conspiracy of Lost.

First Sentence: "I'm told that the day I was born, Uncle Paolo held me against his white lab coat and whispered, 'She is perfect.'"

Review:
You guys, I have been so excited to read Origin. Unfortunately, just because I think a book sounds awesome does not mean that it actually will be. Sadly, I found Origin to be an entirely disappointing read for me, full of mistreatment of animal, bitching, and unsurprising plot twists.

Origin kicks off with animal torture. Yup. They believe in animal testing in Little Cam, the scientific community where Pia has lived all of her life. In the first chapter, she and Uncle Paolo (not really her uncle, but she calls everyone there Uncle or Aunt, since they all aided in her creation) put a sparrow through a cruel test. This is not the last instance of animal abuse in the book. If you're an animal lover, be warned that this book will make you extra super sad. I didn't like that and it set the tone for the novel.

The next thing that turned me off to Origin was Pia, our heroine. In novels, so much hinges on one's relationship to the main characters; there are some authors that can interest you in horrible characters, but that is rare and difficult to do. In theory, Pia is just the kind of person I would totally want to read about, since she, through the power of scientific inquiry, has been rendered immortal. Blades cannot cut her and she has crazy stamina. I love people with powers, people beyond human.

However, the scientists raised Pia for all of her seventeen years telling her how perfect she is. Well, after being told that for so long, she believes it, and acts accordingly. Perfect Pia is, in my opinion, a perfectly pretentious prat. Ugh. I just wanted to slap her for the whole of the opening of the novel. After helping with the torture/research of the sparrow and constantly thinking about how completely gorgeous and wonderful she is, Pia's little paradise is thrown into chaos with the arrival of a new female scientist. Pia immediately hates this woman for being too alluring and taking attention away from Pia. She refers to the woman as Dr. Klutz for half the book, even though the doctor has done nothing to garner her hatred. Later that night, at the fancy birthday party she insisted upon, Pia is upset that everyone's dancing but her, even though she turns down an offer to dance with someone she deems unworthy.

Pia is, simply put, one of the snottiest heroines I have encountered. Though she does grow up through the book, her transformation did not balance out my hatred for her earlier self. Honestly, if I didn't feel compelled to finish this for reviewing reasons, I might have DNFed. Another annoying habit of Pia's is her habit of referring to Wild Pia, her internal self that wants to go crazy in the jungle and reminded me unfavorably of 50 Shades' inner goddess.

Things got worse during the initial scenes after she met her love interest, aka the only boy her age she has EVER MET IN HER LIFE. Sorry if I don't swoon over the romance when she LITERALLY has never had any other options. Her standards are pretty low at this point. Anyway, they meet and she says racist things, assuming he's an idiot because he's a native, and he says sexist things, because she's a girl, AND EVERYONE'S OKAY WITH THAT. Except for me. Here's a sample (though keep in mind that this comes from the ARC and could be changed in the final version):

"'How do you know English? Uncle Paolo told me you natives were ignorant about everything outside your own villages.'
   'I'm not ignorant,' Eio objects. 'It is you who are ignorant, Pia bird. My father taught me English.'"

And a bit later, misogyny:

"'I will take you back,' Eio announces, rising to his feet.
   'I can find the way,' I say.
   'I will take you back,' he repeats in a firmer tone. 'It's not good for a woman to walk alone in the jungle without a man to protect her.'
   He thinks I'm a woman. I stand a little taller. 'Well, all right. If you want.'"

So now, they've bonded and she still is judging him:

 "I feel like I've discovered some fascinating new species. Homo ferus: wild human. An unpredictable, nocturnal creature usually found in trees. Caution: may cause bewilderment and disorientation. Also, prone to teasing."

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but since I don't tend to be the most touchy or PC person in the world, I'm guessing that some other readers will probably be irritated by these exchanges as well. I just found most of the book to be in rather poor taste, and the characters, at best, to be meh. I had very little interest in Eio or anyone else.

The bad guys and the good guys were clearly demarcated from the very beginning with no surprises. Everything was completely black and white, so things that should have been twists I saw coming from a long way off.

As far the dystopian stuff goes, it's definitely not especially dystopian. It's more dystopian in a microcosm. Certainly, Pia has discovered that her little world might not be what she always thought it was. There is some hinting that perhaps the corporation involved controls governments too, so it could be large-scale dystopian, but the focus is really on Pia (no wonder she's so vain) and not so much on the dystopian elements.

Despite all of that, I'm sure some people will enjoy this book, but it was not for me. I would probably be willing to try another Khoury book down the road, assuming I heard good things about the heroine. If you think you can handle Pia, then you might want to try Origin; if she sounds awful to you too, you may want to pass on this one.

Favorite Quote: "'That was a long, long time ago. And who knows if it's even true? But we started somewhere didn't we? There must have been a first people at some point in time. Which means that everyone on earth is descended from them and that, in a way, we're all connected, because in the beginning we were one people. One tribe.' He looks at me sidelong and smiles. 'So you see, we're really not that different after all.'"

"You're wonderful
You're good at everything you do
Everyone is equal, but not as equal as you
You're the best
You're the best...

Just take trip far away when no one really cares about those things
And expose yourself to the pleasures and pain of this life
You can let down your guard tonight"

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