Category: Speculative Fiction
Pawn by Aimée Carter
(Cover picture courtesy of Imperial Beach Teen Blog.)
YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.
For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.
If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister’s niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.
There’s only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed…and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that’s not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she’s only beginning to understand.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Despite my misgivings about the Goddess Test trilogy, I actually enjoyed Pawn by Aimée Carter. The world was refreshingly unique for what seemed to be such a stereotypical dystopia and I found the main character, Kitty, to be a pretty sympathetic character. Considering I usually want to strangle the female leads in YA dystopia, this is quite a feat if I’m honest.
First off, the world-building. It seems like your typical divided society dystopian trope, but it’s not really. There are actually reasons for the division and the reasons are explained when the history of the country is presented. I found the Hart family’s rise to power surprisingly believable and how they keep their hold on power even more believable. It was rather disturbing to see what Elsewhere was because it really reminded me of the world Lois Lowry created in The Giver, but I suppose it makes sense when you have a system like that.
Kitty was not your stereotypical heroine. She was ready to do whatever needed to be done to survive, even if it meant pretending to be someone else in a family that mostly hated her. Was she a kick-butt heroine? No and her reluctance made sense given her upbringing as well as the Hart family’s reputation. How she handles herself in that complicated maze of politics was quite impressive and I cheered her on the whole way.
The pacing was pretty good, but the only thing I found a little off about this book was the plot. It wasn’t boring, per se, but it didn’t exactly keep me on the edge of my seat. Some of the plot twists were unpredictable, yes, but they felt a little off. Like Aimée Carter was departing from the whole feeling of the story, what she had been building toward previously. It was a little disconcerting, but overall I think Pawn is a pretty good read and I’d recommend giving it a try if you like YA dystopia.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
(Cover picture courtesy of The Royal Library.)
The path to the throne is broken – only the broken may walk it.
To reach the throne requires that a man journey. Even a path paved with good intentions can lead to hell, and my intentions were never good.
The Hundred converge for Congression to politic upon the corpse of Empire, and while they talk the Dead King makes his move, and I make mine. The world is cracked, time has run through, leaving us clutching at the end days, the future so bright that those who see it are the first to burn. These are the days that have waited for us all our lives. These are my days. I will stand before the Hundred and they will listen. I will take the throne whoever seeks to thwart me, living or dead, and if I must be the last emperor then I will make of it such an ending.
This is where the wise man turns away. This is where the holy kneel and call on God. These are the last miles, my brothers. Don’t look to me to save you. Don’t think I will not spend you. Run if you have the wit. Pray if you have the soul. Stand your ground if courage is yours. But don’t follow me.
Follow me, and I will break your heart.
Um, wow? There’s really nothing else to say about this. What a stunning conclusion to such an unusual trilogy.
First off, Jorg is his usual horrible/awesome/ruthless/sarcastic self. He really makes no apologies for who he is and doesn’t even try to become a better person now that his child bride Miana is expecting a child. The plot flips between his actions and adventures five years ago and his current trek for the Congression in order to become Emperor of the Broken Empire. It’s reminiscent of Don Carlo’s character in Ernani except without the whole vowing to be a better person if he becomes emperor.
What I did like the most about Jorg’s character is that despite his all-around awfulness, you get the feeling that he’s broken on the inside as well and is fully aware of it. Even with those limitations on his character he grows within those limits quite well. As the end draws nearer you can feel his need to fulfill the purpose Fexler told him about despite the consequences. And how he fulfills that promise and solves the whole Dead King problem is absolutely brilliant on Mark Lawrence’s part. The epilogue also sticks to how Jorg’s character is and imagines a realistic ending for such a broken man.
As usual the world-building in The Broken Empire trilogy is amazing. We get to see all kinds of new places, learn about the promised lands where the radiation from the nuclear bombs went off and see all kinds of new characters that have grown out of the dark underbelly of the broken empire. What I found particularly interesting were not only how certain religions survived, but also the cult of mystery that surrounds ‘mathemagicians’. In a place that has essentially reverted back to the Middle Ages I suppose advanced math would be sort of magical.
The plot wasn’t nearly as confusing as it was in King of Thorns. I found the switches between different points of view had a more natural transition and that the little subplots were better explained. Overall it was a little more fast-paced because of that and Mark Lawrence kept me guessing until the end. Even in the epilogue I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to Jorg until it was revealed within the narrative. Now that is the mark of a good storyteller.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Disarming by Alexia Purdy
(Cover picture courtesy of Kristina’s Books & More.)
The world has changed. One must adapt to survive or hold on to the crumbling shards of humanity.
April continues to hold her fragile world together, but the ties that hold her family together are quickly unraveling. Rumors of a massive human underground settlement draw her to the shadows of the city once more in search of other survivors more like her, even with the hybrid vampires opposing her every move.
The darkness hides secrets along with the continued threat the Feral Vampires create, but a greater evil hides within the city. Something tells April that the humans will be less than welcoming of her, and that’s if she can find them before the Vampires do. Joining sides with the enemy might be the only choice she has left.
[Full disclosure: Alexia Purdy provided me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.]
And April’s back, this time with more romance, more blood and more excitement than the first book!
Remember how the only thing I really had to criticize in Reign of Blood was the unrealistic dialogue? Well, that’s mostly resolved in Disarming, thank goodness. We get a lot more character interaction so good dialogue is essential and although it’s far from perfect, it’s so much better. As for the plot, it’s just as fast-paced as ever. We start out with April and the lovesick Rye trying to solve the mystery of a large colony of humans still living in the city and once we learn the truth of their colony everything spirals out of control.
I don’t think I’m spoiling too much when I say that yes, there’s a love triangle in Disarming. Is it annoying? No. Is it believable and does it develop organically? Absolutely! I love that huge twist Alexia Purdy used the love triangle to create because heaven forbid love triangles have a purpose in the plot other than to create needless drama. Just when you think everything will develop perfectly between April and Rye despite April’s reluctance, an old friend from the first book pops up and we have ourselves the first good love triangle in a long time.
April and Rye are still awesome characters and I have to say that April really did a lot more maturing in Disarming. She was already mature, but she becomes even more like an adult in this book because so much happens to her and her poor little brother. Some of the choices April has to make in the last part of the book show how much she’s changed and they definitely make me eager for the third book, Amplified.
Aside from the crazy fast plot, my favourite element of the book is the actual vampires. You have your feral vampires, your traditional sane vampires, humans and then there are hybrids like April. I don’t want to give too much away, but you’ll discover a terrifying new type of vampire by the end of the book. It just goes to show that not everything is as it seems and like all species, vampires also evolve as time goes on. Truly, even if you aren’t a big vampire fan you’ll love Disarming.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
(Cover picture courtesy of The Streetlight Reader.)
To reach greatness you must step on bodies, and many brothers lie trodden in my wake. I’ve walked from pawn to player and I’ll win this game of ours, though the cost of it may drown the world in blood…
The land burns with the fires of a hundred battles as lords and petty kings fight for the Broken Empire. The long road to avenge the slaughter of his mother and brother has shown Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath the hidden hands behind this endless war. He saw the game and vowed to sweep the board. First though he must gather his own pieces, learn the rules of play, and discover how to break them.
A six nation army, twenty thousand strong, marches toward Jorg’s gates, led by a champion beloved of the people. Every decent man prays this shining hero will unite the empire and heal its wounds. Every omen says he will. Every good king knows to bend the knee in the face of overwhelming odds, if only to save their people and their lands. But King Jorg is not a good king.
Faced by an enemy many times his strength Jorg knows that he cannot win a fair fight. But playing fair was never part of Jorg’s game plan.
I believe I said this before, but it bears repeating: Jorg is like Genghis Khan if he’d gotten started on the whole conquering business in his teen years. Trust me, King of Thorns and the whole of The Broken Empire trilogy is brutal in terms of blood, guts and gore. It’s not for the faint of heart.
With that said, I still love Jorg as a character. Mark Lawrence has managed to create a character that is far from sympathetic, but is more empathetic. Readers get an in-depth understanding of who Jorg is and why he is the way he is, but it’s hard to feel sorry for him very often. Rather, he’s an interesting character so you can’t help but keep on reading to find out what happens to him. Although the narrative was a little more disjointed, you can certainly tell how Jorg has changed from the first book now that he’s eighteen years old. Is he any less ruthless? No. But he does feel at least a little sympathy for some human beings by this point.
My only complaint about King of Thorns is the disjointed narrative. We get treated to excerpts from Katherine’s diary, Jorg’s point of view four years ago immediately after the events of Prince of Thorns and the current wedding day/battle. During each of these points in the narrative there are flashbacks within the flashbacks, so I admit it did get a little confusing. Could Mark Lawrence have written this in a better way? Probably. Does it still work out? Yes. The plot is tied up nicely by the final battle and even though Jorg has changed, his last main action at the end of the novel is so completely in character you can’t help but laugh. Then again, maybe you won’t because I personally have a morbid sense of humour.
What I really liked about this second book in the trilogy is that Jorg is an even better character than before, but also that we got to see more of his world. This post-apocalyptic quasi-Medieval world is absolutely fascinating! You can tell Mark Lawrence really put effort into world-building because we get all kinds of subtle hints at the events that brought along the apocalypse as well as how it changed the world. I don’t want to give things away, but from the sounds of the Builders and the political strife that occurred after their fall it’s no wonder Jorg is the way he is. It’s a brutal, cruel world and seemingly good men like the Prince of Arrow are swallowed up by it.
Overall, I absolutely loved King of Thorns. It was fast-paced if a little disjointed at times, the characters acquired more depth and the world-building was expanded upon. If you like dark fantasy/post-apocalyptic fiction you’ll love The Broken Empire trilogy.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
Apocalyptic Organ Grinder by William Todd Rose
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
A fatal virus—a biowarfare experiment unleashed on an unsuspecting world—has reduced the once-mighty United States to a smattering of tribes dueling for survival in the lawless wilderness. The disease-free folk known as Settlers barricade themselves in small villages, determined to keep out the highly contagious Spewers—infected humans who cannot die from the virus but spread the seeds of death from the festering blisters that cover their bodies.
Tanner Kline is a trained Sweeper, sworn to exterminate Spewers roaming the no-man’s-land surrounding his frightened community. As all Settlers do, Tanner dismisses them as little more than savages—until he meets his match in Spewer protector Lila. But when hunter and hunted clash, their bloody tango ignites a firestorm of fear and hatred. Now, no one is safe from the juggernaut of terror that rages unchecked, and the fate of humanity hangs on questions with no answers: Who’s right, who’s wrong . . . and who’s going to care if everyone’s dead?
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Whatever my expectations were starting Apocalyptic Organ Grinder, they were blown away within a few chapters. William Todd Rose packed so much into this novella that I hardly know where to start.
Let’s start off with his world-building. It was fascinating, terrifying and worst of all, believable. The divide between the Spewers, the people infected with a horrible disease who pass it onto healthy people and the healthy people is realistic. Spewers are outcasts to be put down like animals upon sight by Sweepers like Tanner, who will do anything to keep their friends and family safe. Yet the atrocities aren’t limited to the uninfected because the Spewers’ hands aren’t clean either in this war. I love how in Apocalyptic Organ Grinder both sides are relatively ambiguous; it’s left up to the reader to decide for themselves who’s good and who’s evil. Personally, I decided both sides are a mixture of good and evil.
Both Tanner and Lila were fascinating characters. Tanner will do anything, which includes kill Spewers, in order to protect his little girl back at the settlement. He does have a guilty conscience and wrestles with it and it’s that struggle that brings Apocalyptic Organ Grinder to its horrifying conclusion. His hands are certainly not clean and we do feel more sympathy for Lila, the Spewer who only wants to protect her family and her tribe from Sweepers like Tanner. Since we get to see things from both perspectives we’re left to judge the characters by their actions and internal struggles.
The plot was fast-paced in this little novella and I read the whole thing in one sitting. Reading a book in one sitting is not unusual for me as my regular readers will know, but frantically flipping the pages to do so is. William Todd Rose certainly knows how to create suspense in a limited number of pages. He is also quite even-handed with the perspective switches so that we get enough switches to understand both sides of the story but not so many as to become confusing or annoying. In short, Apocalyptic Organ Grinder may not have a completely unique premise, but it does have awesome characters, great world-building and suspense.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.