Category: Book Review
Painted Blind by Michelle A. Hansen
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Seventeen years old and agoraphobic, Psyche Middleton vows her dad will never see the risqué photos she took during a summer modeling stint abroad, but one of them ends up on a billboard in her Montana hometown. Now everyone—especially her dad—can see it. And yet, somehow, those are the mundane things in her life because she is about to fall unexpectedly, head-over-heels in love with Erik, a mysterious young man who rescues her from a crowd of admirers, and who she’s never actually seen because…he can make himself invisible.
As strange as this may seem, it’s about to get even stranger. Erik takes her to his palace in an idyllic kingdom, and she is swept into the beauty and culture of his world, but his affection has one condition: she may not see him. Overtaken, intrigued, and still not wholeheartedly believing he’s real, Psyche is going to have to decide if she can love him blindly; because if she can’t, she may lose him forever.
A wild, romantic adventure that travels at breakneck speed, Michelle A. Hansen’s debut is a fantastical journey filled with laughter, danger, and the indomitable power of love. Painted Blind reminds us that one can overcome seemingly insurmountable odds with fortitude and a little luck and confirms that real love is worth fighting for.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Okay, Painted Blind was nothing like I expected and that’s a good thing because I really didn’t expect much from the blurb. But I still requested it from NetGalley for something new to read. And wow, was I ever surprised.
If I had to describe it one way, I’d call it The Goddess Test on steroids because it has a more realistic romance, better characters and a plot that glued me to my computer chair for over three hours straight. Michelle Hansen knows just how much information to reveal to her readers to hint at things, yet doesn’t give so much away as to make all the plot twists completely predictable. While I was reading, there were a lot of times I thought “Whoa. Didn’t see that coming.” Even the most cynical of readers like myself won’t be able to predict half of the plot points, which means that this is most definitely a unique novel.
I love the characters. Erik and Psyche may seem like your stereotypical romance characters, but they’re not. They actually have depth and I could sympathize with both of them. The way they fell in love was a bit quick, but actually quite natural when you think about it. First it started off as a sort of unexplainable attraction, then they got to know each other and fell in true love, not the kind of lust that passes for love in most YA fiction.
To be completely honest, I can’t believe this is Michelle Hansen’s debut novel. The writing quality is much better than most established authors, in my opinion. Her world-building is excellent; you can tell she really thought it through and made sure things made sense to readers. I honestly can’t wait to see her what she writes next!
I give this book 5/5 stars.
City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
The Mortal War is over, and Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at least. And—most important of all—Clary can finally call Jace her boyfriend.
But nothing comes without a price.
Someone is murdering Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her. His mother has just found out that he’s a vampire and now he’s homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side—along with the power of the curse that’s wrecking his life. And they’re willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he’s dating two beautiful, dangerous girls—neither of whom knows about the other.
When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: She herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.
Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.
With all of the little unanswered questions at the end of City of Glass, I couldn’t help but be eager for the fourth book. So now that I’ve returned to The Mortal Instruments series, I can finally review it.
In City of Fallen Angels we see a lot of different characters’ points of view, which I actually like. Clary has taken a bit of a backseat to Simon, who is coping with being a Daylighter and bearing the cursed mark of Cain. Did I mention the idiot is dating two girls at once since he doesn’t know how to say no? Come on, things like that hardly end well and the love triangle feels a bit forced. Other than that, Cassandra Clare’s characterization is decent, but nothing truly exceptional.
The plot is well paced and there are some unexpected twists. We also meet some of the characters from Clockwork Angel, which I would recommend you read first. It’s not necessary, but it helps you understand the vampire Camille and Magnus’ past, especially when Camille and Magnus allude to their past together. One of the best things about City of Fallen Angels is that we finally get to learn more about demons and their origins as well as about the history of the Shadowhunters. And with the cliffhanger at the end, I’m anxious to read the fifth book, City of Lost Souls.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Wilde’s Army by Krystal Wade
(Cover picture courtesy of Krystal Wade’s blog.)
“Hello, Katriona.”Those two words spark fear in Katriona Wilde and give way to an unlikely partnership with Perth, the man she’s been traded to marry for a favor. Saving her true love and protector Arland, her family, and their soldiers keeps her motivated, but the at-odds duo soon realizes trust is something that comes and goes with each breath of Encardia’s rotting, stagnant air. The moment when concern for her missing sister spirals out of control, all thoughts of trust are pushed aside and she finds herself trapped by the daemon tricks Perth warned her of.
However, rescuing those she loves is only half the problem.
Kate still must get to Willow Falls, unite her clashing people, and form an army prepared to fight in order to defeat Darkness. When so many she’s grown fond of die along the journey, her ability to play by the gods’ rules is tested.
How will she make allies when the world appears stacked against her? And will she still be Katriona Wilde, the girl with fire?
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I don’t think I’ve been this excited for the next book in a series since I finished Feed. And I don’t think I’ve ever been so anxious to get an advanced ebook off NetGalley either. So with that said, even though Wilde’s Army will only be released tomorrow on the mass market, I can’t wait for the next book in the trilogy, Wilde’s Meadow. Moving on…
Wilde’s Army is the amazing follow up to Wilde’s Fire. The romantic tension between Arland and Katriona (Kate) is still there and it adds another dimension to both characters. Better yet, the relationship feels real, unlike a lot of horribly forced relationships in YA literature. But Kate’s relationship with Arland is certainly put to the test in this book when she is forced to pretend she loves Perth in order to buy time to gather the army Griandor said she would need. Add to this the fact that her mother and her sister Brit are now in Encardia, increasing the pressure on Kate even more.
Krystal Wade’s fantastic world-building and masterful plotting are both excellent reasons to pick up her debut series, but the thing that speaks to me the most is her characters. Kate is memorable because she is very strong when she needs to be, but is also very vulnerable and struggles with the fact that a god (Griandor) has basically told her she will be the one to save or doom Encardia. Her love for Arland is also very real and never really takes a back seat to anything; in fact it’s probably more prominent in this book than in the first. One of my favourite characters, other than Kate, was Perth, the Ground Dweller Kate was promised to. In the first book he doesn’t play a very large role, but in Wilde’s Army he really acquires a nice amount of depth and isn’t all that he seems.
The world-building is even better than ever as we learn about new types of daemons, new peoples and the regional differences in culture and magic use, even among humans. As for the plot, it was riveting. Krystal Wade maintains an incredible speed throughout the novel, enough to keep me up reading much later than I should have been. And she leaves us with one heck of a cliffhanger, so I’m very anxious to see how she ends her trilogy.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Shift by Kim Curran
(Cover picture courtesy of Iceberg Ink.)
When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he’s not so average after all. He’s a ‘Shifter’. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he’s ever made. At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world quickly starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I honestly don’t know how this book could have gone wrong, but I just couldn’t get into it. The premise was fascinating and well executed and the plot was reliably fast-paced throughout the entire novel. Shift had the potential to be an absolutely amazing book, but it was the characters that fell flat for me.
Scott is your average YA protagonist: he accidentally stumbles upon his powers, is seen by someone with the same powers and is taken to a secret location to learn about them, only to discover that he is more powerful than most people with the same powers. Without spoiling much more of the plot, let’s just say I could predict most of his actions throughout the novel, which I don’t like to be able to do as characters should surprise readers once in a while. Of course, since it’s a girl that finds him, you know that they’re going to fall in love eventually. Aubrey is another cardboard cutout and the other characters in the novel really aren’t much better.
However, I absolutely love the explanation for why and how shifting occurs. Kim Curran has actually taken the time to come up with a believable, scientific explanation rather than just saying that it’s magic and leaving it at that. She also wrote a very fast-paced novel, which somewhat makes up for her poor characterization. If Shift had not been fast-paced, I never would have been able to finish it.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
(Cover picture courtesy of Rachel Hartman’s website.)
Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend the court as ambassadors and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty’s anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.
Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen’s Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift—one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.
In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina’s tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they’ve turned the final page.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Rachel Hartman’s debut novel has received quite a bit of attention, and rightly so. Which is why for Canada Day (and review #150!), I’m reviewing Seraphina as it is a novel written by a Canadian author that I actually like. I’ve probably just jinxed Ms. Hartman now because excellent mainstream novels rarely win literary awards. Oh well, I’m still predicting that Seraphina will be a bestseller.
The novel starts out rather slowly, but this is a good thing because otherwise readers would be completely overwhelmed by the well built fantasy world it takes place in. Somehow Rachel Hartman is able to convey enough information so readers know what’s going on, but not too much so readers will keep reading to find out more. Seraphina’s incredible backstory is revealed to us gradually and could probably be used as an example of how writers should develop backstory. She is no Mary Sue and will go down as one of my favourite female leads ever, so hopeful writers take note!
And unlike in most fantasy novels, there is diversity. She has obviously put immense effort into her world building because of all the different peoples, religions and countries. Some of the government is based on feudal Europe, but it is not nearly as in-your-face as it is in many fantasy novels. Also, the people of Goredd are not homogenous and we actually see people who worship different gods (or “saints” as they’re called) and speak different languages. As for the coldly rational dragons…they’re incredibly unique and I mean that in a good way.
Technically Seraphina isn’t out yet (I got an early ebook from NetGalley), but I already can’t wait for the second book. Rachel Hartman is a new author with enormous potential, so it will be interesting to see where she takes the series.
I give this book 5/5 stars.