Tag: fantasy

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Romance · Young, New adult/College

Throne of glass – Sarah J. Maas

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40512568| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament – fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

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My thoughts: I’m a little disappointed actually. I know I can’t compare this to the ACOTAR series but it is hard not to. And to be honest, this is not what I expected from an author like Maas, who where one of my top favorite author in 2018. Very underwhelming after years of hearing that this is THE YA series to read. I expected more and not to walk away with an unsatisfying feeling.

Every reviewer and booktuber I follow loved Celaena. I however did not. She is arrogant, mean, lame and high on herself. She is such an over hyped character that it is a disappointment to read the book about her. To be that young, for having had such a hard life and after a year as a slave in the most notorious salt mines, you would expect her to be more humble toward life and not as vain and shallow. Her and most of the characters have no dept, no smooth development and the plot is slow and quite overrated. Maas have been raised to the skies for her strong, female protagonists and deep YA relations, but I saw noting of that here.

There is some attempt to romance and love/triangles but that just fell flat. It is not good. Nothing that got my heart pumping or the need to keep reading. You really get to know Dorian and Chaol and they both are so much better in my opinion than Celaena, which is supposed to be the main heroine character to love and follow. There is nothing unique or original. And the plot is just weird. There is some questionable decisions and there is more of a telling the story than showing the story. All the action and important parts, where jump over and later retell so that we, the readers, knew what had happens since last. No, not good.

To be honest I do not know if I will continue the series. At first I gave the book three stars but after a night’s sleep and the time of writing this review, I realize that I was too generous and lowered it to two. It is not as bad as a one star rating but certainly not as good as a three. It wasn’t as mind-blowing as I expected and it was nowhere near as well written as the ACOTAR series. Both in the character development, plot and settings.

Is it worth more of my time?

Fantasy/Paranormal · Romance

Lover awakened – J.R. Ward

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42900| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly war raging between vampires and their slayers. And there exists a secret band of brothers like no other – six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Of these, Zsadist is the most terrifying member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

A former blood slave, the vampire Zsadist still bears the scars from a past filled with suffering and humiliation. Renowned for his unquenchable fury and sinister deeds, he is a savage feared by humans and vampires alike. Anger is his only companion, and terror is his only passion—until he rescues a beautiful aristocrat from the evil Lessening Society.

Bella is instantly entranced by the seething power Zsadist possesses. But even as their desire for one another begins to overtake them both, Zsadist’s thirst for vengeance against Bella’s tormentors drives him to the brink of madness. Now, Bella must help her lover overcome the wounds of his tortured past, and find a future with her…

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My thoughts: You got to love those angst filled, save him, save her, type of romantic suspense books. This one is even in the paranormal category. I absolutely love the characters. I love how vulnerable they are even though they are vampires. They can easily be hurt or even die. I liked Bella a little less than I thought I would. She seemed so much older in the last book where you meet her. But she is a lot younger than you though and that shines through. In some occasion I liked it, in others not so much. Zsadist, gosh I hate the names in this series, was such a complicated character. He is deep with a lot of hurt in him. He is so far gone that even himself thinks he is a goner. But no, there is so much more in his core, just waiting and it certainly gave the whole book some serious depth. The history, memories and relationship with his brothers and friends certainly makes the book come alive and the building of future books is so greatly done. I did however not like Phury’s part of the plot that much. But I do not need to get into that. I do hope, when I come to his book, that it will be a lot better than I feel it would be right now.

Overall this is a page turner. It is exciting, captivating and astonishing. very little predictability and a lot of questions who you get all the answers to. It ended just perfect, with happy tears and all. And no cliffhanger. 🙂

Fantasy/Paranormal · Romance · Young, New adult/College

Strange the dreamer – Laini Taylor

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36187690| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: THE DREAM CHOOSES THE DREAMER

Since he was five years old, Lazlo Strange has been obsessed with the mythical lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to go in search of it. Then a stunning opporunity presents itself – in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legandary warriors – and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

 

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My thoughts: I’m finally DONE! Thought I never see the day. It is so slow and what the heck is I missing? Did I even read the right book because quite frankly, I can’t see what’s all the raving about. It is so dark. Incredibly dark and slow and with a terrible ending. Not a series I wish to continue to say it frankly.

I got through it and I did like parts of it to be honest. Other not so much. And I had such issues getting into it. I got to around 150 pages and had to put it down for several weeks before I could start it again. And only because I’m waiting on the January book club book that should be here any day now and I’m trying not to start anything new.

The world of Lazlo and Weep is certainly one heck of a good writing. I give you that. The environment and descriptions of both characters and history is wonderfully done and I really liked the character Lazlo. I can see the charm and maybe understand why others like this so much. For me personally it just never hit home. I’m not much for those heavily angst-ridden, young adults, fantasy themed books that are so popular nowadays. I need some velocity to get hooked in that kind of themed book. Like the ACOTAR series for an example. That had everything I wanted, needed and sought for. This one? Not so much.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

If looks could kill – Heather Graham

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731806.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Madison Adair didn’t witness her famous mother’s brutal murder. But she saw it. Saw the gloved hand…felt the knife strike…knew her mother’s terror.

That was a lifetime ago. But the nightmares have returned; only, this time they’re of a faceless serial killer stalking women in south Florida. A killer she can’t see but who knows she is watching. Surrounded by her family, Madison knows she should feel safe, but she doesn’t.

And how much can FBI agent Kyle Montgomery protect her, when he can’t let go of the past they’ve shared? Madison is Kyle’s only link to the killer, but can they find the truth before the killer strikes again? Because sometimes, it’s what–or who–you can’t see that holds the greatest danger….

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My thoughts: Nah! Nothing for me. Quite the same as always. Horrible history, broken hearts, murder mystery, stalker, new killings, FBI, macho man, irritating female protagonist and a situation that just feels dumb. Come on, they hardly talk but they do argue a lot. About the same thing over and over. If they actually had talked early in the beginning, the arguing would probably not have been as bad. And I probably would have liked the book a lot more.

It was a fast read without any real depth. The murder mystery was quite interesting, but you didn’t receive any clues to who the killer are so the whole guessing game for me fell flat. Oh Graham certainly tried to make other characters seem guilty but it was too obvious so I actually dismissed them from my “who the killer is” list early on.

Not overly fawn over the characters either. There is some stuff happening that just make you lose the respect for that character and creates a situation that is just awkward. To be quite frank, Kaila and Dan (two side characters) relationship and short chapters about them, are the one thing I actually liked and felt had the most depth. And the book was not even about them.

It is probably time to realize that Graham is not an author for me. I have read five of her books but not one of them have received a higher rating than 3 star. Average rating is 2.8. It is time to spell the flowers and confess to myself that it doesn’t matter how much the synopsis appeal to me, she is just not an author that I like to read. Unfortunately.

Adult fiction/Erotica · Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

Bird box – Josh Malerman

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18498558.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it’s time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat–blindfolded–with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

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My thoughts: I had such a bad luck with this book. Me and a friend started a BookClub since we could not find one here where we live. The first book we choosed to read was Bird Box. It was supposed to be Novembers book. But I could not get hold of a copy in a bookstore. So I ordered one online and the order was cancelled due to empty stock. I ordered from another web store, same thing there. Note that by this time, two weeks had already passed. I tried to order it to a bookstore in town, but the system was down. In a last attempt I ordered a different format from the first place I ordered from. After a couple of days I received note that the book had been shipped. Hallelujah. I may still have time to read it since this was around 15 of November. However due to Christmas, it took longer than usual for the book to arrive. I actually started to think that it had gotten lost in shipping. But on the 3 of December it finally arrived. 18 days after I ordered it, a month after I ordered the first time. But I still had time to read it. Our club meeting is on Thursday 6 of December. It gave me three days. Would I make it?

Well I did And i’m so happy that I finally received the book. It was so much better than I had predicted. Malerman did a great job writing a book, solely relaying on sensory other than image description. Sound and feel descriptions, emotion and imagination build most of the book. It creates a really spooky feeling while reading. It reminds you how vulnerable we would be without our eyes and it certainly reminds you of all your childhood fears. Remember those? The terror you as a child felt for not what you could see, but what you could not see. The monster under the bed, the beast in the closet. The creatures outside your window, just waiting to eat all the small children, not laying in bed at night. It is an emotional read where even you as an adult do feel discomfort to some degree. And I loved it.

Unfortunately I did have some problem with the writing. Malerman keep referring them by names ALL THE TIME. I’m not kidding that Malories name was mentioned on the same page at least fifteen times. If he had used words like “her”, “she”, “him”, “that”, “it” and so on, would have eased up the flow of the text considerably. After fifty pages you don’t think about it anymore, but it bugged the hell out of me in the beginning and when a book only is 250 pages, you do not want to be bugged one quarter of it. And I have thoughts about the end. I will however not discuss it here due to spoilers. But either way, the book is certainly worth reading and I’m happy that I finally got to.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Romance · Young, New adult/College

A court of frost and starlight – Sarah J. Maas

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31076583| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Hope warms the coldest night.

Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve.

Yet even the festive atmosphere can’t keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated–scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court.

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My thoughts: Can you love a couple of characters as much as I love Feyre and Rhysand? O my god how wonderful they are. This is the book about just after the war. Wounds need to heal and order need to be restored. It is powerful, wonderful, happy yet so sad that it breaks your heart. And it gives you a sneak peek on what will come in the future. Because yes, there will be more books in the Court of Thorns and Roses series and o my, I can hardly wait.

It is as good as you would expect. The writing is still the same and Maas is still the queen. I wouldn’t say that the book is especially exciting or anything like that. Not really that much happen, but it is a closure for the old and a beginning for something new. Perfect little middle book while you are waiting for the next one. Oh I hope it comes soon.

This is so far the best series I have read this year. Yes it is that good. All of the books. Two received five star and two received four star. Wish to read more? Her you have my other review.

A court of thorns and roses
A court of mist and fury
A court of wings and ruin

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction

Royal Assassin – Robin Hobb

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22016387.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Fitz has survived his first hazardous mission as king’s assassin, but is left little more than a cripple. Battered and bitter, he vows to abandon his oath to King Shrewd, remaining in the distant mountains. But love and events of terrible urgency draw him back to the court at Buckkeep, and into the deadly intrigues of the royal family.

Renewing their vicious attacks on the coast, the Red-Ship Raiders leave burned-out villages and demented victims in their wake. The kingdom is also under assault from within, as treachery threatens the throne of the ailing king. In this time of great danger, the fate of the kingdom may rest in Fitz’s hands—and his role in its salvation may require the ultimate sacrifice.

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My thoughts: Oh my! Fitz does really feel sorry for himself. That was probably my biggest problem with the book. Yes it is easy to forget how young Fitz is supposed to be and yet it was so annoying that I didn’t even want to read on. It makes me so conflicted. I loved the beginning and the end but all that stuff in the middle is just mud. Nothing major or big really happens and it is such a character driven story that 50 pages can have been read but nothing substantially had happen. However that is what in the end make it so great so overall I do like the book.

I did struggle more with this one than I did with the first. A lot because of the writing. This is high/epic fantasy for adults and it is such a slow burn that when you read page after page without any action and no breaks between the sections, it is hard on the head. Well at least for me. Hobb certainly has an unique way of writing. Hard but still great writing that gets you involved regardless of the challenges it contains. It is powerful, deeply imaginative and beautifully constructed. A real work of art. You get emotional invested and when all that stuff is happening and Fitz stands in the middle of it you can’t stop thinking about the book.

It certainly is a great story with a highly imaginative and deeply written plot where characters became friends and enemies. It ended unexpectedly and I do believe that the third book will be a great ride in this roller coaster called Fitz Life.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

Miss Pregrine’s home for Peculiar children – Ransom Riggs

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9460487| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow-impossible though it seems-they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

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My thoughts: Before I saw the movie last year, I hadn’t heard about this book or series. I do not know which rock I have been living under to miss it but hey, I did and so it is with that. When I was back home I did find the three books in the same bookstore and since they had a great deal that day I ended up buying all three. I don’t like to buy complete series if I don’t have read the first book yet. But I did and I’m so happy that I didn’t dislike the first book. Because OH this was so fun. And I’m happy I didn’t remember much from the movie because it was almost like reading it without knowing much about it.

I liked most of it. I liked the strange but interesting plot and characters. I did however not like Emma and some of the things she does, says and thinks. No spoilers. I loved the photographs, history and story Riggs have written around them and I did find the whole “time traveling” quite interesting. However there was some details that didn’t make sense and if you thought about it you do wonder why they couldn’t do “this” or why the rules was like “that” and how it worked when it should not to. Maybe i’m thinking to much on the details instead of the big picture, but it did annoy me.

Not a big fan of cliffhangers either and yes this book did end on a light cliffhanger. Fortunately I do own the other two books in the series. 😛

Fantasy/Paranormal · Thriller/Horror

Sleeping Beauties – S. King and O. King

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34466922| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze.

If they are awakened, and the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place.

The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease.

Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied, or is she a demon who must be slain?

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My thoughts: I don’t know how to sum up my thoughts and feelings regarding this one. The thing with Stephen Kings books (in my opinion) is that almost every time it gets too much. To excessive and it’s easy to lose focus. Apparently it is still the same even if he co-writhes with his son Owen King.

It is a good book though. When sum it up as a whole it is a great book. It captivated me right from the start and it has a horrifying yet believable plot which is easy to connect with. It stayed that way for at least 400 pages and I just could not put it down. Then it slipped over to the typical King trait. Nothing happened, it started to be repeatable, slow and all you did was just wait for it to start up again. When it finally did, they had lost me. I did never get my 100% focus and attention back into the book. At the last 100 pages I just wanted to be done. I find this happening often with Kings books and it is too bad because I do really like his storytelling, imagination and writing in general. Perhaps it is my fault for not being able to stay focused throughout his 700 + page books, but there are books much longer than that, that I have read without a problem. So I can’t accept that it is totally my fault.

Anyhow, despite that, I really love the book. It was a perfect start on the horror month of 2018. The topic with the men who are the destroyers and women are the healers is put in a interesting way that makes you think. Would the world be better or worst without women. There is some philosophical thoughts and I do wish there were a book club in town where we could read and discuss. Specially this one.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Romance

In the company of wolves – Paige Tyler

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25391400.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: He opened his mouth to order her to drop the MP5 she had aimed at him, but nothing would come out. It was like she’d robbed him of the ability to speak. Shooting her wasn’t an option, though. And the idea of arresting her didn’t make him feel any better.

There’s a new gang of criminals in town who are organized and ruthless in the extreme. When Eric Becker, along with the rest of the Dallas SWAT team, ends up in the middle of a shootout, he immediately senses werewolves-a lot of them. Turns out, the new bad guys are a pack of wolf shifters.

In a spray of gunfire, Becker comes face-to-face with the most gorgeous woman he’s ever seen. Becker does the logical thing. He hides her and leaves the scene with the rest of his team.

Jayna Winston has no idea why that SWAT guy helped her, but she’s glad he did. Ever since she and her pack mates got mixed up with those Eastern European mobsters, everything had pretty much fallen apart.

So what’s a street-savvy thief like Jayna going to do with a hot alpha-male wolf who’s a police officer?

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My thoughts: With a truly fantastic start we are once again thrown into this action packed story with clean cut and deep characters that are introduced in a way I really enjoyed. It was nice to once again meet some of the characters from the earlier books but still the focus was mostly on Becker and the new pack in town. It did however dropped off for me after approximately half way through and I did find the storyline somewhat thin. It did not keep up the heat and did not in the end deliver that punch I had expected and learned to associate with Paige Tyler.

It is not a bad book by far but it is not the best one either. A solid 3 star rating and I do like it. And the best part is actually that Tyler have put more energy on the werewolf mythology and we are introduced to other parts and aspects of the history. Beside Alphas we are also introduced to Betas and Omegas and there was some exciting twists. So I’m satisfied by that read and can recommend it.