Review: The Burning Sky

The Burning Sky
The Elemental Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Sherry Thomas
Pages: 464
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: September 17, 2013
Read: September 15
Source: ARC from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.

First Sentence: "Just before the start of Summer Half, in April 1883, a very minor event took place at Eton College, that venerable and illustrious English public school for boys."

Review:

In my experience, YA novels written by romance novelists generally go one of two ways: awesomely or atrociously. Now, this may not be the case for most, but, personally, I go to a romance novel and a YA novel for totally different reasons, and I don't want a romance novel from my YA; romance can (perhaps should) be a part of that, but there should be more going on than that. Thankfully, Sherry Thomas has written an absolutely amazing YA novel, bursting with fabulous characters, action, delightful writing, and a swoon-worthy romance.

Where do I even begin with what I loved when there is so much? Okay, let's start at the beginning, where we meet our stubborn, hard-working, thoughtful heroine Iolanthe. She's practicing hard to do the lighting at a wedding ceremony with her elemental magic, all to protect the job of her guardian, though he's done little to deserve it. Then in he comes, ranting and raving and reminding me of Haymitch (his name is Haywood - coincidence?). He tells her not to perform at the wedding and ruins her light elixir. Consulting a magic text, she learns a thunderbolt (or more accurately lighting bolt) can save her elixir, so she discovers some powers she never knew she had just like that. No big deal. This alerts everyone, both good and bad, to the fact that she is a seriously kick butt elemental mage, and they all want her for something.

Enter Titus: spoiled Prince or hope of the Domain. Because of a prophecy, he knows that he needs this elemental mage to help him save everyone from the tyrannical, apparently immortal ruler of Antlantis. Titus believes in the prophecy and will risk everything, including both of their lives to fulfill it. Though he's very goal-oriented, I took to Titus immediately with his spell-casting and his weird hobby of reading ladies' magazines because he finds them comforting.

Now we're getting to the really good part, namely the one where one of my favorite tropes comes in, and this really isn't a spoiler I promise, since you will guess it in the tiny prologue. Basically, to hide out from the super terrifying bad guy, Iolanthe has to go undercover at a boys' school, because Titus, misguided, assumed the mage of prophecy would be a guy, so he had a male's disguise ready. Oops. Lucky for him, Iolanthe is brilliant and totally rocks at gender bending. Why do I love this so much? Because reasons. That may have to do with the fact that there's always an adorable lgbt subtext. Like, yeah, Titus is straight, but he's totally not bothered by all the rumors that he and his friend Fairfax are actually gay lovers, which is a quality I find charming in a guy. Also, it means the heroine isn't super gorgeous all the time or fretting over her looks, and he likes her none the less for that.

Okay, so, obviously, there's a romance here, and obviously I love it. They have a total hate to love thing going, which is my favorite. They also, true to that romantic arc at it's best, excel at bantering with one another. Thomas really makes you feel the chemistry between them, and I was essentially trying to reach into the book and make them kiss all the way through. Even better, the romance doesn't follow traditional lines, Iolanthe generally being the aggressor physically and Titus the more emotionally committed. In fact, Titus totally spends a lot of time daydreaming and doing the fantasy novel equivalent of doodling her name on his notebooks, and my goodness but it's precious. Oh, and, even better, he doesn't mind letting her save him sometimes.

Leaving the romance behind, I also want to praise Sherry Thomas for how powerful women are in The Burning Sky. On both the side of good and of evil, in the past and in the present, women have achieved both high rank and high power. So often, it's just the heroine who really takes a strong female role, the better to stand out, but the Inquisitor, Helgira, and even Lady Callista are certainly to be feared and admired, in their ways. For once, this is a fantasy world in which everything isn't intensely patriarchal, even more rare in a historically-based fantasy.

My only quibbles lie in the world building, which is a bit of a pop culture hodge-podge. While this didn't detract from my enjoyment one bit, it's a bit to process and might annoy other readers with similarities to other works. For example, I was strongly reminded of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Howl's Moving Castle, and Stardust (one of the cutest scenes of that movie - and maybe book, but I don't remember - gender swapped). On top of that, I found the interweaving of our culture's fairy tales into this fantasy world rather puzzling. I guess this must be an alternate universe then? I'm not quite sure, which is sort of my point. There's a lot happening and it's all fun, but I'm left feeling a bit shaky.

The Burning Sky kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. If you enjoy the fantasy works of Maria V. Snyder or Kristin Cashore, odds are you will appreciate Sherry Thomas' YA debut. The sequel cannot come quickly enough. In fact, I loved the romance and themes in here so much, I may even try her romance novels.

Me, to this book.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Did they believe you? All boys tell such tales about their wands.'
     He glanced up, his eyes first blank, then lit with mischief. 'Maybe they do, but I actually possess a superior wand—the finest of its kind no less. The sort of fireworks my wand can produce will leave any girl breathless.'
     They both burst out laughing."

Don't Take My Word for It:
Good Books and Good Wine's word: "it’s a total fricken boss" - 5 stars
Snuggly Oranges' word: "It hit all the right notes." - 4.5 stars
A Girl, a Boy and a Blog's word: "Thomas’ style was very difficult to read." - 3 stars

Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #33: Across a Star-Swept Sea

Across a Star-Swept Sea
For Darkness Shows the Stars, Book 2

Author: Diana Peterfreund
Pages: 464
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: October 15, 2013
Read: September 2-5, 2013
Source: Gifted ARC - thanks, Lenore!
Recommended by: Christina of Christina Reads YA

Description from Goodreads:
Centuries after wars nearly destroyed civilization, the two islands of New Pacifica stand alone, a terraformed paradise where even the Reduction—the devastating brain disorder that sparked the wars—is a distant memory. Yet on the isle of Galatea, an uprising against the ruling aristocrats has turned deadly. The revolutionaries’ weapon is a drug that damages their enemies’ brains, and the only hope is rescue by a mysterious spy known as the Wild Poppy.

On the neighboring island of Albion, no one suspects that the Wild Poppy is actually famously frivolous aristocrat Persis Blake. The teenager uses her shallow, socialite trappings to hide her true purpose: her gossipy flutternotes are encrypted plans, her pampered sea mink is genetically engineered for spying, and her well-publicized new romance with handsome Galatean medic Justen Helo… is her most dangerous mission ever.

Though Persis is falling for Justen, she can’t risk showing him her true self, especially once she learns he’s hiding far more than simply his disenchantment with his country’s revolution and his undeniable attraction to the silly socialite he’s pretending to love. His darkest secret could plunge both islands into a new dark age, and Persis realizes that when it comes to Justen Helo, she’s not only risking her heart, she’s risking the world she’s sworn to protect.

In this thrilling adventure inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel, Diana Peterfreund creates an exquisitely rendered world where nothing is as it seems and two teens with very different pasts fight for a future only they dare to imagine.

Previous Book in Series:
1: For Darkness Shows the Stars

First Sentence: "If the Wild Poppy dared return to Galatea, Citizen Cutler was ready."

Review:
There's a life lesson in this series for me. Much as I think I'm going to love the books that retell favorites, I'm probably actually going to prefer the ones that retell books I didn't like or that I haven't read. The latter is the case with The Scarlet Pimpernel, though I do have it on my shelves, along with a fifth of the other books I hope to read someday but haven't. Initially, I was a bit skeptical to a sequel to For Darkness Shows the Stars, but Peterfreund weaves Across a Star-Swept Sea into that world brilliantly, creating a read I found much more emotionally resonant.

Not being particularly familiar with The Scarlet Pimpernel, I cannot tell you with any degree of accuracy how well the retelling has been done, but I suspect quite well, as Peterfreund did a fantastic job with Persuasion. Even better, Peterfreund has done a gender swap and made The Wild Poppy. Persis Blake pretends to be an air-headed socialite so that no one suspect that she is in fact the most notorious spy in the kingdom.

Peterfreund really digs into gender roles and the absurdity thereof. In Across a Star-Swept Sea, three different cultures mingle, all with different gender roles for women. Even in Galatea, where women have been able to hold rank and rule for ages, everyone automatically assumes that The Wild Poppy is a man. Of course, this feeling that women cannot be so clever or powerful does make it easier for Persis to totally mess with their minds. I liked how, even though she makes use of the resources available to her, even if that means the assumption of her weakness or stupidity. Persis is a truly remarkable girl, intelligent, focused, resourceful, and a skilled actress.

The reason The Wild Poppy exists is to save Galatean nobles. In that country, the regs revolted and overthrew their leaders. However, they're not happy with equality; they want payback, and are punishing their leaders with Reduction. The world building is a bit complex and won't make much sense if you haven't first read For Darkness Shows the Stars, so I would really start there, even though this is marketed as a companion novel. Anyway, the pink pills simulate actual Reduction and remove a person's mental faculties, so that the regs can force the aristos to labor for them for a change. Medic Justen Helo, a symbol of the revolution because his grandmother Persistence Helo developed the cure to Reduction, fears that the new government has gone too far and seeks to escape to Albion. All of the medical stuff surrounding Reduction, both the sort that happened organically because we tampered to much with genes, and the created sort are entirely horrifying. Society, can we please not do this?

The plot runs largely more to intrigue than to daring rescues. In fact, she only goes on a couple of Poppy missions throughout the course of the novel, stuck instead at feigning a romance in her home country of Albion for most of the book. Romance is pretty central to the plot, not that I think the world building is neglected or anything, but it's key. Justen and Persis have this great hate to love thing going, and have the added complication of having to pretend to be a couple to explain why he's in Albion, since the Galateans don't know he no longer supports the actions of the Revolution. Basically, I ship this QUITE a bit. They have excellent banter, and it's fun to watch their feelings slowly change. Justen, of course, is in the difficult position of thinking Persis is an idiot, as she very much pretends to be.

However, much as I loved Persis and Justen, a couple of the secondary cast were wonderful too. Isla, the young leader of Albion is clever like Persis, and she has the cutest little romance going that she's not meant to. Watching her stop deferring to the old men in her council was super gratifying in patriarchal Albion. Tero and Andrine, the reg siblings, are fabulous. The show stealer, though, is Slipstream, aka Slippy, Persis' seamink. I picture him looking mostly like an otter. He's basically the cutest and also very useful. I would like a sea mink, though I doubt my cat would approve.

Across a Star-Swept Sea was pretty close to perfection for me, except for one thing: the hackneyed way that the novel resolved. Now, with a large aspect of Across a Star-Swept Sea being the romance, certain aspects of the ending are pretty much definite. Essentially, I was left feeling unsatisfied, because the romance aspects were left hanging. The book ends in what feels like the middle of the scene. No doubt this was done intentionally, but, as a reader, I am really tired of spending hundreds of pages getting emotionally attached to a particular couple but never getting that emotional payoff in the end.

On top of that, a very large plot point was left wholly unresolved. Without going into too much detail, there's a crossover with the plot from For Darkness Shows the Stars. We get to see those characters briefly, but they essentially don't serve any plot purpose that couldn't have been done more neatly with other characters. Yes, it's nice to show how the book's fit together, but that doesn't mean the characters can show up and have their plot entirely dropped.

Diana Peterfreund's follow-up to For Darkness Shows the Stars truly is best read as a sequel, and not a standalone, at least if you like to have all of the knowledge, like I do. Across a Star-Swept Sea is more light-hearted and romantic than its predecessor, with the same excellent writing and intriguing world building. Long as it is though, it did feel a bit abbreviated, though I still recommend it quite highly.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote:

"'You think they like you because you're soft on them. But all you're teaching them is that you're soft.'
     Now Isla did turn, and fixed Councilman Shift with her most royal glare. 'And if I let your insult pass unpunished, sir? What am I teaching you?'"

Don't Take My Word for It:
The Social Potato's word: "Is it really good? Hell to the YES." - 5 stars
Good Books and Good Wine's word: "this novel was a pure delight" - 5 stars
The Biased Bookie's word: "not a book you should read drowsy" - 4.5 stars

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Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch. This one was recommended by two separate people convinced I will love it, so *crosses fingers*

Want to tell me what to read? Fill out the following form with a suggestion! For more details, check this post.

Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #32: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Mara Dyer, Book 1

Author: Michelle Hodkin
Pages: 452
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Read: August 28-September 2, 2013
Source: Won ARC and yeah oops
Recommended by: Aly of My Heart Hearts Books

Description from Goodreads:
Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.
She’s wrong.

First Sentence: "The ornate script on the board twisted in the candlelight, making the letters and numbers dance in my head."

Review:
Going into The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, I had some expectations but also no real idea what the book was actually about. It's an odd thing, diving into a book that pretty much everyone you know has already read. Though readers at large loved Hodkin's debut, the bulk of my friends, as evidenced by ratings on Goodreads, did not like this book at all. For much of the book, I could definitely see myself going the same way, but then the twist happened and I've got to say that I'm curious and really eager to read the next book.

Before you get mad at me, do not even try to tell me that saying there's a twist in this book is a spoiler. It's about a girl who waked up in a hospital with no memory of her friends dying and herself being trapped when a building collapsed. Obviously, that is a book that is all about surprising you with spoilers. You should expect this.

As is the case with many books that use this basic framework, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a bit slow and awkward at the beginning. Much of the book, you're really just waiting for answers and a reason to care. Thankfully, I found one, with the seriously creepy twist about which I want to know so much more. I wish I could say more about that, but then it would be a spoiler.

Many readers were upset by the relationship dynamics between Mara and Noah, but it really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Noah does run to the English, fantastically wealthy and overprotective stereotype, true, but I don't feel like he forces Mara into anything that truly matters. He does initially seem too interested in her, but there are reasons for that explained later. In a lot of ways, Mara's the more powerful person in the relationship and Noah's the nice one once he opens up a bit. I wouldn't say that I ship them, really, but I don't want to strangle Noah either.

The characterization in Mara Dyer is rocky. Obviously, Mara's not in a healthy mental place at any point in the novel, as she suffers from PTSD after her friends' deaths. Plus, she's hallucinating and generally not sure of anything. It's not a good place from which to get to know her true character. Pretty much the only thing I know and really like about her is that she likes to protect animals, but even that seems somewhat inconsistent. Noah, too, doesn't ever really jump off the page. He's interesting, but seems somewhat contradictory at various points throughout the book. I also, because I'm me, really loathe the fact that he smokes, which seems like an incredibly unnecessary thing to add and only romanticizes a filthy habit. Oh, also, he needs to stop attacking every guy who says anything flirty to Mara. While it can be attractive for a guy to have the strength to defend you, it's certainly not hot to assume you require that protection and starting shit over minor incidents will really only endanger the girl than protect her in the long run.

My favorite character doesn't get a whole lot of screen time, but I hope he comes back in the next two books. Jamie Roth is hilarious and one of the only people in the school not to subscribe to the social hierarchy accepted at their pretentious private school. Plus, he's bisexual AND a POC (as I believe Mara is as well, actually). He's by far the most interesting character in the book and I only wish it was more about him.

Like the characterization, I think the writing is a bit clunky. The transitions, especially, were off somehow, with inconsistent switches between memories, dreams and the present. Much of the dialog felt stilted. The writing as whole was pretty decent, but Hodkin has quite a bit of room to develop her prose. This being her debut, I don't think it's a bad showing.

I'm really all over the place with this book, but what it comes down to is that I'm captivated by the plot and have to know where it's going. I'm not sure why it worked more for me than others, except perhaps a certain weakness for particular plots.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Your level of neuroses would only find love in a made-for-TV movie.'"

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Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund! I've enjoyed all of Peterfreund's books that I've read so far, so hopefully this one will go well too!

Want to tell me what to read? Fill out the following form with a suggestion! For more details, check this post.

Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Author: Holly Black
Pages: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Read: September 24, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

First Sentence: "Tana woke lying in a bathtub."

Review:

Holly Black ranks as one of the premier young adult authors, much honored for her Black Cat series. Perhaps that's where I should have started, as it sounds much more original than The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Now, there's nothing wrong with an author taking on less unique subject matter, but I think I may personally have reached my limit for vampires. If you're still into vampires, then The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is an entertaining, dark, gory read.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown starts off with a bloody bang. Tana, the heroine, awakens in a bathtub at a party, concerned about the pictures people likely took of her in that embarrassing position. After straightening up, she heads out of the bathroom to find a scene of gruesome carnage. All of her friends are dead, eaten by vampires, the first severe attack in quite a while. Most of the vampires are locked up in Coldtowns, so attacks like this are rare. In the bedroom of the house, Tana discovers that one other person has survived: her ex-boyfriend, Aidan, bitten and cold. In the context of this book, cold means a human ready to turn, a human who will die and become a vampire as soon as they have some human blood. Also in the room with Aidan is a hungry, half-mad vampire. Tana saves the two boys from the vampire mob that perpetrated the deaths of her friends and they're off.

The group heads for a Coldtown, which is not a spoiler since it's in the title, guys. What Black does well is the gross and gory stuff. These are not cuddly vampires. Most of them are creepy and crazy, as are the humans who seek to live in Coldtowns in hopes of becoming a vampire one day. Most of the sane people end up getting eaten, in fact, so I think you have to be a bit crazy to survive in a Coldtown.

Holly Black doesn't really add anything new to vampire mythology with The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. The ways to kill or impair a vampire are the same, they've been corralled in cities, and they've even had this overly simple method of turning humans into vampires before. I do think that The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is entertaining and capably written, but it does not stand out for me in the mass of vampire fiction, and I suspect I will not remember it for very long after I read it.

The big weakness is the characterization. Though the characters do say some witty-sounding things, they never actually have personalities. Part of this is the brevity of the time frame, all of this taking place over the course of the week and with all of that being serious business time. I have no clue what any of these people or vampires are really like on a normal day, except for Tana and Aidan, and what I do know I don't like. It's all quite hackneyed and predictable, with Tana ending up trapped in the Coldtown despite her clever plan and falling in instalove with the strongest of the vampires, who of course loves her too because she's unlike anyone else he's encountered in his hundred plus years of life. The logic that sends Tana into the Coldtown, too, is weak at best, since she wasn't even sure if she'd gone cold from the tiny bite she got escaping the house at the beginning. How about you wait just outside the Coldtown and see what happens? And if you're going into the Coldtown to protect your family like your dad asked you to, how about you also not contact them, as he also asked?

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown does the creepy horror thing well, and will no doubt have quite a bit of appeal for readers who still enjoy vampire stories. This is a read for those who care more about the action and less about the logic of the world building and character motivations.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "If she was going to die, she might as well die sarcastic."

Audiobook Review: The Bitter Kingdom

The Bitter Kingdom
Fire and Thorns, Book 3

Author: Rae Carson
Narrators: Jennifer Ikeda & Luis Moreno
Duration: 12 hrs, 57 mins
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Read: August 27-September 1, 2013
Source: Digital copy from publisher

Description from Goodreads:
The champion must not waver.
The champion must not fear.
The gate of darkness closes.

Elisa is a fugitive.

Her enemies have stolen the man she loves, and they await her at the gate of darkness. Her country is on the brink of civil war, with her own soldiers ordered to kill her on sight.

Her Royal Majesty, Queen Lucero-Elisa née Riqueza de Vega, bearer of the Godstone, will lead her three loyal companions deep into the enemy's kingdom, a land of ice and snow and brutal magic, to rescue Hector and win back her throne. Her power grows with every step, and the shocking secrets she will uncover on this, her final journey, could change the course of history.

But that is not all. She has a larger destiny. She must become the champion the world has been waiting for.

Even of those who hate her most.

Previous Books in Series:
1: The Girl of Fire and Thorns
2: The Crown of Embers

Review:

My relationship with Rae Carson's Fire and Thorns series is a complicated one, and probably always will be. When I first read The Girl of Fire and Thorns, I did not like it. As time passed and endless praise rolled in, I felt like maybe I'd not given the book a fair shot, so I tried again, this time with the audiobook. Why reread a book I didn't like? Because tastes can change. In this case, though, they really didn't. However, I still went ahead with the audiobook version of the series, which I'm sure would be looked at askance by many. Why would a person read the sequel to a book they've disliked twice? Because you never know. This time my persistence paid off, and I found myself wholly wrapped up in The Crown of Embers. Though I still have some rather large reservations about books two and three in the series, I also loved them in some ways. Make of that what you will.

Though I do love romance in books, it's not often what makes a book for me. Generally, I would say I love the characters first and the romance between them second. In the Fire and Thorns series, the romance comes first. The arc of this relationship gets a full five star fanfare of cellos and unicorn whinnies, okay? (I'm just going to assume that would sound awesome. Roll with it, yo.) Hector and Elisa go from having no real romantic attachment in book one (note that this is the book I didn't like), but with a nice solid foundation of respect and mutual admiration, to love and impending marriage in The Bitter Kingdom. They do so slowly and with quite a bit of swoon.

The ending scenes of this book almost made me happy cry, something I do much more easily than sad cry. Attending weddings of friends, I find a lot of the trappings of them quite sexist and unappealing. Carson's series is, I think, at its most beautiful and woman power-y right there at the end in a traditionally patriarchy-dominated ceremony. Hector loves that Elisa is powerful, and is man enough not to feel challenged by that, and just so much yes to all of that.

One of the key selling points of Fire and Thorns is Elisa's weight. There aren't many novels about non-skinny heroines, and even less so in the fantasy genre. Now, Elisa does lose a good deal of weight over the course of book one while tramping about in the desert. This did concern me a bit, especially since the romantic interest in her really kicks up at that juncture. However, now that it's done, I'm really happy with the portrayal of weight in the series. Elisa never gets thin or reaches her society's standard of beauty, which is slim like our society currently holds up as ideal. Elisa will always be curvy or even overweight. Hector finds her very sexually attractive, and that's fantastic. What really makes the portrayal of Elisa's weight issues so powerful, though, is that Elisa herself comes to love her own body and to stop yearning to be someone else with a different body type. The reason people are beautiful is their uniqueness, and Elisa's road to self-love has been long and bumpy, but she made it and I think I finally like her as well.

The Bitter Kingdom also spends much less time on the religion elements which made me so batty in book one. While I know this worked for some, I found the fact that it was basically relabeled Christianity both lazy and preachy. By The Bitter Kingdom, Elisa has no real idea what the deal is with god. She still prays and believes somewhat, but she's questioning. She no longer has that certainty that her way is right and is really seeking knowledge. Where before the series came off as dealing with religion, The Bitter Kingdom takes a much more theological angle, which I love. Fun fact: I minored in theology.

So far as the cast goes, this is one of those rare books where I feel things but don't really identify with the heroine. Though I do have some commonalities with Elisa, we have never been able to bond. I respect her now and admire her, but we would never be best friends (maybe because I'm plotting her death to steal Hector? - kidding...mostly). Hector is everything fabulous, and other YA love interests should learn from him. He walks the line between protective and trusting perfectly. There's a place for protecting your lady and a time to step back and let her get shit done, and he knows when to do which thing. My favorite characters are Mara and Belen, and they are both just the cutest. The Bitter Kingdom gave me a couple of new ships, and I actually would really like another book set in this world about one of them. *coughs* (Who would have thought, right?) I'm a little disappointed that Rosario basically didn't show up in this book, since the little prince is kind of important, but oh well. (I'm asking for more moppet? What has this book done to me and my values?) Oh also, Red is an incredibly adorable moppet as well, and, yeah, she's the best, even if her name is straight up My Little Pony.

The plot of The Bitter Kingdom meanders a little bit. There's a lot of journeying to one place and then hearing about a thing and needing to go somewhere else and OH HEY a plot point. It's not a huge issue, but I also wasn't really all that concerned about the plot overall. You basically know what the endgame is and ride that train all the way around the theme park until it gets to the final stop. There was one part that was straight out of Lord of the Rings basically, which was a little bit ridiculous to me, but, again, not a major problem for me either. Carson also took things a bit easily, with Lord of the Rings being a good comparison actually. The stakes are always really high, but she's not merciless to her characters, which I know some people love but I like knowing that anything could happen at any time.

Only one aspect of The Bitter Kingdom seriously irked me. To explain it, I will have to delve into SPOILERS in this section, so stop here if you do not want to know, mmkay? In The Bitter Kingdom, Carson throws in this huge world building twist, but doesn't really address it. She just throws it out there like it's no big deal and I'm like WHUT. Anyway, Elisa and company learn that if an Invierno mates with a Joyan, their offspring will be unable to reproduce. These offspring are referred to as mules.

Now, I seriously suck at science, but this immediately set off serious warning bells, because the reason mules, the product of horse and donkey sex, cannot reproduce is because they come from two disparate, if similar, species. Considering all of the racial themes in the series, this made me really uncomfortable, especially since the word mulatto, came from the same root word of mule. Now, it turns out the Joyans actually came to the planet and colonized it much like the Europeans came into the Americas, so they are actually not the same creatures, but I still feel like this is some really messy, sensitive subject matter to throw into book three. I especially do not feel like enough world building was put into this, since apparently one or the other of them is not human but alien. This begs so many questions. It's a pretty cool twist, but leaves me feeling hyper-curious and not entirely satisfied with the world building.

The audiobook versions of this series have been marvelous. Jennifer Ikeda does a fabulous job with the different characters all the way through. I'm not as thrilled with the casting of Hector, who sounds a bit too much like Kevin Spacey for any guy as sexy and hispanic as Hector is in my head. Still, he doesn't do a bad job. I'm also not entirely sure Hector's POV was necessary in The Bitter Kingdom, but whatever.

Rae Carson's Fire and Thorns series is one that I do think is well worth reading, even if it has always been varying degrees of problematic for me personally. The series gets better as it goes along, and features one of the best and healthiest romantic relationships.

Rating: 4.5/5

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: The 100

The 100
The Hundred, Book 1

Author: Kass Morgan
Pages: 277
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Read: August 24, 2013
Source: ARC from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
In the future, humans live in city-like spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland... before it's too late.

Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again.

First Sentence: "The door slid open, and Clarke knew it was time to die."

Review:

The 100 has been billed as Battlestar Galactica for teens, and, for once, I totally agree with the marketing. Of course, it's very much season 3 Battlestar where things started going a bit off the rails, with some people on planet in weird costumes and Gaius Baltar becoming some sort of religious figure on the ships. I mean, not exactly, but that's the level of quality the book has. It's not the first season of awesome, and it's not quite the ending where I didn't know what the fuck was happening anymore. What it comes down to is that The 100 is a highly entertaining drama-fest set in space, but not especially deep.

Word on the street is that The 100 is set to be a show on the CW. Now, I don't know if it's for certain yet or not, but I can see this making a really great teen show. The reason I'm starting this book review with this particular comment is to help you understand whether you'll enjoy reading the book. If you enjoy CW teen programming with a little bit of a plot and a big heaping helping of teen angst over the top, then The 100 is a good choice for a quick, entertaining read.

Morgan uses four third person limited perspectives in The 100: Clarke, Wells, Bellamy, and Glass. Just try and guess their genders based on their names alone! Hint: the first and last are females. Actually, speaking of gender, that's one of the things that I think The 100 did fairly well. Women are not entirely marginalized in this futuristic society, which is a nice change from so much science fiction and dystopian stuff out there. Clarke's actually one of the stronger characters and Glass, though I didn't like her, does make choices for herself.

Anyway, these teens live on a spaceship and things are kind of a hot mess on board. There are rules about who can have kids, and capital punishment is really popular with the government. All four of the main characters, except for Bellamy, are Confined, basically imprisoned until their eighteenth birthdays which are rapidly approaching. At that point, they're to have a retrial, but that's just a formality, because no one's being found innocent at retrials anymore. Harsh, man.

So the point is that 100 of the teens from Confinement are going to be put on a ship and sent to earth to make sure it's habitable again (more on that later). Then there are some shenanigans and Glass ends up staying on the ship, allowing the reader to find out about all of the drama happening there, and Bellamy gets himself onto the prison ship. The ship goes down to earth and the rebellious teens start in on the romantic drama and trying to set up a rudimentary society, only they're a) rebellious and b) basing their knowledge of how society works off of the ship. All of this means things get pretty serious fast and it's totally a popcorn read.

What saves The 100 from being merely a surface read and builds out a bit of depth are the flashbacks in every chapter. These flashbacks show how the teens ended up in Confinement, and slowly reveal how desperate the situation on the ship had gotten. They really raise the stakes and the intensity, as you realize how far each one of these teens is willing to go.

As much fun as The 100 is to read, I had some issues with the world building, in that I would like more of it. I mean, the reader does learn that there was some sort of nuclear something or other and Earth is now irradiated. While they're waiting for the radiation to dissipate, they're chilling on this ship. Supposedly the radiation is maybe down to livable levels. What I want to know is roughly how long they've been on the ship and how they got there. Was there a plan in place to escape before things went haywire like in Phoebe North's Starglass? There's really no inkling of that.

Also, most of the characters are pretty terrible people, which means that I really don't care if they live or die. Even the nicest of them is such a terrible judge of character that I don't really care what happens to him either. I still had fun reading about them, but there's definitely no emotional investment here.

The 100 is the bookish equivalent of a teen TV show, complete with romantic drama, shirtless boys and action scenes. It's fun and a nice choice for when you don't want to have to think too hard, and sometimes that's just the kind of book you need, you know?

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "Anyone who wanted to eat vegetables probably had little, mushy white brains themselves."

Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #29: Quintana of Charyn

Quintana of Charyn
Lumatere Chronicles, Book 3

Author: Melina Marchetta
Pages: 516
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Read: August 13-18, 2013
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review
Recommended by: Steph of Cuddlebuggery and Lynn

Description from Goodreads:
The climactic conclusion of Printz Award winner Melina Marchetta’s epic fantasy trilogy!

Separated from the girl he loves and has sworn to protect, Froi and his companions travel through Charyn searching for Quintana and building an army that will secure her unborn child’s right to rule. While in the valley between two kingdoms, Quintana of Charyn and Isaboe of Lumatere come face-to-face in a showdown that will result in heartbreak for one and power for the other. The complex tangle of bloodlines, politics, and love introduced in Finnikin of the Rock and Froi of the Exiles coalesce into an engrossing climax in this final volume.

Previous Books in Series:
1: Finnikin of the Rock
2: Froi of the Exiles

First Sentence: "There's a babe in my belly that whispers the valley, Froi."

Review:
This series is over. MY BODY IS NOT READY. I just want to live forever with these characters. Is that wrong? Sometimes reading is a painful hobby. I get so close to and so emotionally tied to the happiness of fictional characters, but then their books end and I emerge, blinking and lonely, into the real world. They leave me slightly changed, but are none the different for my love of them. Quintana of Charyn did not quite surpass Froi of the Exiles for me, but it is still an immensely satisfying read that I will surely revisit someday.

As ever, Melina Marchetta excels at world building. The whole of this world is so real to me, and I have such an understanding of their prejudices and customs. Those are, I think, what Marchetta does to really make the communities seem so real. There are always the stereotypes of whatever group, and they have their truth, but underneath there's so much more. For example, the Lumaterans are a much more physically affectionate culture. Happy occasions are shared with the whole of the community, like the scene with the proposal at the end of Finnikin of the Rock and another, similar scene in Quintana of Charyn. Of course, even within the Lumaterans, the people of the Rock aren't quite like those of the Mont, and, oh, Marchetta does this all beautifully.

In Quintana of Charyn, Marchetta really delves into the political situation in Charyn. With the death of the king, Charyn was thrown into chaos as various factions attempted to take control. The whole country is on the verge of a massive civil war. Neighboring Lumatere fears that such a war could overflow into their borders, especially since they already have a tense relationship with the Charynite exiles living in the Lumateran valley between the two countries. Political sounds boring, but it's not because battles and relationships in jeopardy.

For me, though, it's all about the characters. They're so beloved of me, this whole large cast of flawed, beautiful, grumpy people. Watching them find love and acceptance, move past the curses of their people, has meant so much. To speak to why I love each one of them would make this review of a length utterly unacceptable, so let me just hug them all in my head and proclaim that I would read as many books about these people as I could.

Though I loved this one nearly as much as Froi of the Exiles, I do have two issues with Quintana of Charyn. The first is a reiteration of my reason for not finding Froi of the Exiles quite perfect. Marchetta has created well-drawn, lovable characters, but I think her own love for them has kept her from making the book as dark as it would need to be for perfection. Everything wraps up a bit too conveniently.

The other issue is a change to the writing style in Quintana of Charyn. Where the rest of the series was entirely in roving third person limited, Marchetta makes the odd choice of adding in first person for Quintana. While Quintana's narration is hauntingly beautiful, written in a sort of savage poetry, I do not understand this decision. Perhaps if Quintana has ALWAYS been in first, but to add this, and for so few sections, in the final book in the series, makes absolutely no sense to me, and was really unsettling as a reader.

Quintana of Charyn is a solid conclusion to the Lumatere Chronicles, even if it does leave me wanting more because Marchetta probably couldn't write enough about these characters for me to tire of them. The final installment will not leave fans disappointed.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'I determine my own worth. If I had to rely on others, I'd have lain down and died waiting.'"

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Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be The Grass Dancer by Susan Power, which was recommended by Ann Kristin. It was...an experience. Come back later to find out what kind of experience.

Want to tell me what to read? Fill out the following form with a suggestion! For more details, check this post.

Audiobook Review: The Off Season

The Off Season
Dairy Queen, Book 2

Author: Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Narrator: Natalie Moore
Duration: 6 hrs
Publisher: Listening Library
Read: July 2-7, 2013
Source: Library

Description from Goodreads:
Life is looking up for D.J. Schwenk. She's made it to eleventh grade, finally. After a rocky summer, she's reconnecting with her best friend, Amber. She's got kind of a thing going with Brian Nelson. Plus there's the fact she's playing for the Red Bend High School football team as probably the first girl linebacker in northern Wisconsin.

But then the season, which began so well, starts to go suddenly, horribly wrong. As autumn progresses, D.J. struggles to understand what's happening with football, Brian, Amber, and most of all her family. And as her life turns completely upside down, she discovers she's a lot stronger than she—or anyone—ever thought.

This hilarious, heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant sequel to the acclaimed novel Dairy Queen takes D.J. and all the Schwenks from Labor Day to a Thanksgiving football game that you will never forget.

Review:

The Off Season differs quite a bit from Dairy Queen. Where in Dairy Queen, the focus is all on DJ, she is, in some ways, not the central character in The Off Season, playing a more supportive role: sister and daughter. Though I think I was perhaps a bit less interested in the plot of The Off Season than in Dairy Queen or Front Center, which I've already started, I'm also hugely impressed by the content and daring in the subject matter.

Murdock takes some risks with the second book in the series, no question. Right at the very beginning, after the first book in the series was all about D.J. managing to join the boys' football team, she quits. She has reasons, good ones, but it's still anticlimactic after all the build up. However, it's such a mature choice, because, if she didn't stop playing, a minor injury might become a bigger deal and prevent her from playing basketball, which is pretty much her only shot at a scholarship and college. Though it's sad to see her give up on her football, seeing D.J. be so mature and face up so bravely to the judgment of her classmates is inspiring.

The real story here, though, isn't about D.J., though she's central to it and crucial to the way things unfold. Her oldest brother, Win, is injured in a football game, one the whole family was watching live. Injuries happen in football all the time, but this one is life-changing: Win's spinal cord snapped. He will never walk again, and that's just one thing among many that he'll never be able to do again. His dreams have been crushed, and he had a real shot at pro ball. Even with intense physical therapy, he'll probably not regain much use of his body. The Off Season is about Win's injury and the way the Schwenk family pulls together to help him.

D.J. basically puts her whole life on hold to help Win, because no one else in her family can take the time off, since her mother badly injured her back, her father needed to help his wife, her other older brother has football and college, and her younger brother is in middle school. That is so much pressure to put on one teen girl. Win, unsurprisingly, does not take the injury well. D.J. doesn't know what to do with her taciturn brother, but she turns out to be just the right person to help him, with her slow, quiet, determined Schwenk ways. There is so, so much strength in D.J., and she just does not see it yet, but I'm getting ahead of myself since that's what book three is obviously going to be about. Anyway, Murdock tackles Win's injury in this really powerful, emotional way, and goes into a lot of details about the hospital and physical therapy, and that is just so unique in YA fiction.

The romance remains on the back burner, and goes pretty much exactly where I predicted. Brian Nelson's a great guy in some respects, but much to caught up in the expectations of others. Basically, D.J. did not need all of that crap to deal with while she was trying to get her brother back on his feet. That's life, though, isn't it. In fact, that's what's so great about this series: how real D.J. feels and the whole cast.

I'm continuing to be really impressed with Murdock's Dairy Queen series. The audiobooks are fabulous, accent and all, and I'm already about a quarter of the way through the final book, which I both do and do not want to finish, because I already think it will be my favorite.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Crown of Midnight

Crown of Midnight
Throne of Glass, Book 2

Author: Sarah J. Maas
Pages: 432
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Read: August 16-17, 2013
Source: Gifted - thanks to Alyssa of Books Take You Places

Description from Goodreads:
An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt. But her heart never wavers.

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

Previous Book in Series:
1: Throne of Glass


First Sentence: "The shutters swinging in the storm winds were the only sign of entry"

Review:

My love for Throne of Glass is well known, but, after reading some reviews, I started wondering if the book was quite as good as I remembered. There were some fair criticisms, things I'd not even considered. In Crown of Midnight, Maas really hits those elements that were missing from the first, and ups the stakes to an incredible degree. This sequel is a must read for those who loved Throne of Glass and perhaps even for those who were on the fence.

One of the criticisms I'd seen was of Celaena being proclaimed a heartless assassin, but that not really ever being shown. Instead, she's going to balls and eating candy. Of course, I love that the assassin has a softer side, but I did agree retroactively that it would have been good to see more of her dark side. In Crown of Midnight, you get to see Celaena living up to her reputation, and, when this girl is on a killing spree, it's a thing of bload-soaked beauty. She may like frilly dresses, but she's also totally cool with being covered in blood. Being able to see all of the facets of Celaena really adds depths to her character.

The other main criticism of the first book that I agreed with was that the King, clearly the villain, didn't have much of a role. He just sort of cackled evilly every so often. In Crown of Midnight, we get to see more of him and learn about his plans, still only the very slightest understanding, but it's enough to make him one intensely creeptastic villain.

The plotting of the story becomes much more complex in Crown of Midnight. Actually, I was really surprised by the direction that the story has gone, very different from the more basic fantasy roots of the first. There are a number of twists, none of which I really saw coming, though I felt really dumb that I missed the biggie, since there were a lot of hints. The plot is full of twists and turns, and full of betrayals. I do have some quibbles with the world building, but they're minor enough I can't really draw a line to any one thing.

Of course, there's also the romance. The age of Dorian is over and now it's all about Chaol (as it should be). All I can really say about what happens here is that I approve wholeheartedly. This is why I love guys like Chaol, all cool and collected on the outside, but so much passion on the inside. *sighs happily*

Maas impressed me with her willingness to be cruel and heartless to the characters. To be honest, I really didn't get the impression from Throne of Glass that she would be willing to kill off characters, but I'm thrilled to be wrong. Oh, she's brutal. Mwahahaha. And, no, I won't tell you who dies, so have fun sitting on the edge of your seat the whole time. As you may know, I find killing off a beloved main character a mark of good fantasy.

Sarah J. Maas really proves her talent in Crown of Midnight, deftly avoiding any sort of second book syndrome. Instead, she greatly amps up the world building, plot and intensity. In my opinion, this series is a must read for fantasy fans. The third book is poised to be epic and heartbreaking, and I am so excited.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: (Warning: It's a bit SPOILERY, so read with caution)

 "'Who said anything about shame?' She gestured down to her naked body, even though it was covered with the blanket. 'Honestly, I'm surprised you're not strutting about, boasting to everyone. I certainly would be if I'd tumbled me."

Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #28: All Our Yesterdays

All Our Yesterdays

Author: Cristin Terrill
Pages: 368
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Read: August 5-10, 2013
Source: ARC via NetGalley
Recommended by: Lili of Lili's Reflections

Description from Goodreads:
"You have to kill him." Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.

Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was.

All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice.

First Sentence: "I stare at the drain in the center of the concrete floor."

Review:
Oh, time travel, you and I have a complicated relationship. I always want every book about you; your appeal is irresistible. Each time, I'm sure that this book and I will fall in love and run away together into many different sunsets in a variety of eras. So often, though, the book in I, we don't see eye to eye. The book says the universe works one way, and I cannot suspend disbelief. All Our Yesterdays is one of those instances. That said, All Our Yesterdays is also a really impressive debut with solid writing, intriguing characters, and a deliciously dark plot.

Terrill tells this complex time-bending story through two first person perspectives, Em and Marina. The two girls could not be more disparate. Em is hard and desperate to save the world. Locked in a prison with only Finn, her friend in the neighboring cell to talk to, she schemes her escape so that she can travel back in time and save the world from an evil dictator. Marina meanwhile has more average teenage concerns: friends, appearances, and a boy. Marina is selfish and vain. These perspectives are brilliantly done, even Marina's though I was not a fan of her.

My favorite aspect of the novel is the relationship dynamics. Marina and Finn have a connection forged over years, specifically the same set of years over and over. They've had to watch one another be tortured and been separated by the wall of a prison. Though technically still fairly young, they're aged and matured by their experiences, ones such as no person should ever have to go through. Hardened and prepared to kill, they have this intense and touching love. Even more delightful is that, though their love feels real, they do not put that first, and are ready to say goodbye to one another to save the world. They both put survival first and love second.

Marina, on the other hand, has romance foremost in her mind. She's been in love with her best friend for ages now, still amazed that he turned into such a hottie and grateful that, in so doing, he raised her social status at school. Unfortunately, he treats her like a kid, both because he's slightly older and a genius who graduated early and is off at college being brilliant. When he comes home to visit, she can't make much progress because James' other friend is always there like one big, obnoxious cockblock. Of course, the friend has an obvious crush on her, well, obvious to me but not to Marina. Both guys are fantastic, and, frankly, Marina does not deserve them, though she is young and may learn.

Terrill really does some surprising and daring things with her plotting, and I loved that too. Where a lot of YA novels really wimp out on the villains, this one is epic and terrifying. At several points, I was surprised by what happened, even in ways not surrounding the resolution, with which I took some issue. The plot is dark and intricate, and kept me constantly curious to know where the story would go.

However, the time travel elements all depend on whether you can accept her time travel theory which suggests that time will take care of a paradox. Personally, I don't. It's all just too convenient, and really doesn't make sense to me. In the end, I'm left feeling like that convenience took what should have been a devastatingly heartbreaking ending of amazing into a sad but hopeful ending. That will work for some readers, but for me was frustrating. Now, I've always been completely awful at science, so it may be that Terrill's explanations make perfect sense, but they don't to me and that's all there is to it for my personal reading experience.

The plot of All Our Yesterdays is full of drama, action and will make you scratch your head more than once. I loved how dark and thrilling the story was. Assassinations, chases, fights, kissing all combine to make All Our Yesterdays an edge of your seat read. For readers who are less particular about time travel mechanics, All Our Yesterdays is a must read.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Why don't you go by Marina anymore? I've always loved your name.'
     'It's a silly name. It's the name of a fairy-tale princess who gets back everything she ever lost.'"

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Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta, and then I'll be done with that series and moving on to finish the Mistborn trilogy in my SHS sequels. WOO!

Want to tell me what to read? Fill out the following form with a suggestion! For more details, check this post.