Review for My Lady Mage (Warriors of the Mist #1) by Alexis Morgan

My Lady Mage by Alexis Morgan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A cursed destiny. A band of warriors. And one troubled kingdom.

It is whispered in Agathia that the legendary warriors of the mist—cursed by the gods—can be summoned only when a champion is needed and the cause is just. Gideon, their captain, knows this to be the one path that will lead his men to redemption—lest they face an eternity of damnation.

Years have passed since anyone has journeyed to the river's edge, but times are desperate. Oppressed by a cruel guardian whose dark magic threatens to destroy her people, the beautiful and courageous Merewen calls upon the bespelled warriors. In Gideon she finds more than a champion, and in his arms, more than protection. However, their enemies are fighting with a power darker than anything than they imagined, and should Gideon fail, she will lose everything she holds dear—including her heart

2 - 2.5 rating...

Honestly, I suppose this was an okay read, well that's what two stars stands for, but for me, it never really clicked. Maybe it was because I was expecting something along the lines of C.L. Wilson's Tairen Soul, and was really psyched to read it.

However throughout the story (except for a brief period towards the end) I was thinking to myself, "when will this end?"

For one, the world seemed to be thinly developed, in terms of, for this type of book, I was expecting it to be high-fantasy. There's magic in here (no that alone doesn't make a high-fanatsy but bear with me), with these ancient warriors, who have been curse by the gods (by the way we know next to nothing about these gods) and they can be summoned in times of danger. There's an evil person practicing dark magic. But we never get the feeling of it. That's my problem right there, for something that's classified as fantasy-romance, I have never seen the world. It's just oh, "let me mention about magic here and there, and never explain anything, or show it in motion." Yes, Merewen uses magic, but we never get the sense/feel of it. Heck we don't know what it is really. But then again, that can be something the author plans on explaining later.

Which brings me to Merewen herself, much like the story, I didn't get any sense of personality itself and I felt that she was made out to be this perfect being. Oh everyone loves her, oh she does things that warms my heart, oh...she is so brave. Okay, fine, say that she is all those things, show it. Don't make her do something minor and then turn it into a big whoop-ti-do-da. It's like the author is telling us this character is so great, but I am yet to see great feats from her.

Gideon is another blah character, but at least we're not being bombarded the wonders of his everything.

In fact the more interesting characters in this book seemed to be the side characters and (more than anything else) the animals.

The writing, as I said before, seemed to be more of a telling than showing nature...or at least that's how it felt to me. And everything else was probably average...I'm probably in the minority here though, seeing as this has an average 4.01.

I didn't hate it though (aside from merewen's character..and it's more dislike than hate) so I won't rate it a one star.

Will I be checking out the other books? maybe, I still want to know what's going on (I'm a glutton for punishment), but I won't be breaking my neck to get a copy.


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Review for Quintana of Charyn (Lumatere Chronicles #3) by Melina Marchetta

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"There's a babe in my belly that whispers the valley, Froi. I follow the whispers and come to the road . . ."

Separated from the girl he loves and has sworn to protect, Froi must travel through Charyn to search for Quintana, the mother of Charyn's unborn king, and protect her against those who will do anything to gain power. But what happens when loyalty to family and country conflict? When the forces marshalled in Charyn's war gather and threaten to involve the whole of the land, including Lumatere, only Froi can set things right, with the help of those he loves.

Melina Marchetta, you have slain completely and utterly until there’s no breath left in my body.
The Lumatere Chronicles has been a wonderful series, and I mean from the bottom of my boogity shoo (in the words of The Platters and whoever else sang/wrote that song).

We start off Quintana with Froi and the rest searching for Quintana and Quintana hiding in the least likely of places…but not really when you think of it. I’m trying not to give anything away and I’m not quite sure if how much more I can say without giving away anything, even if it’s the slightest, because if you’re planning on reading this series, I wouldn’t want anything to detract from your experience.

The plot was paced, I think, just right for how the story unfolds. And the characters, oh the characters. I know, I said this before in my review of Froi of the Exiles, but Froi has grown so much from the boy-who-wasn’t-really that we met in Finnikin of the Rock. He has really come into his own, and … gah… I don’t know what else to say..this book leaves me speechless.

Quintana the mad queen, the savage queen, Quintana the brave…I love you dearly…you have endeared yourself to me just as you endeared yourself to those you have forged a bond with. What you have endured, why you have endured and what you fear (really do you think you could not love your child?) just wants to make me hug you and wrap you up in a nice lil’ cotton ball.

Isaboe, Finnikin, you’re old friends that I’ve been happy to see. Froi’s family (the Charyn one – really Froi you’re definitely loved, you have two families ^_^). You’re a bit dysfunctional, but the love and loyalty has always and will always be there.

Lucian…you’re a stubborn Mont, but I love you. Phaedra, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not useless and don’t believe it either. You ought to be called Phaedra the strong.

Really though this book was like coming home, everything tying together and did I mention the relationships between the characters. Because I think that was done beautifully, and while I would love to give you examples…I can’t.

Anyone and Everyone. Read the book. ‘Nuff said.

Granted I’d more recommend this series to those 16/17 and up.

But seriously. Read it. You’re missing out on a lot if you haven't.

Review for Poison Princess (Arcana Chronicles #1) by Kresley Cole

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

She could save the world—or destroy it.

Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.

But she can’t do either alone.

With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can’t totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?

Who can Evie trust?

As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side….

3.5 stars...

So the premise of Poison Princess was pretty interesting, a group of teens represent the major arcana of the tarot cards, and are basically pitted against each other, every once or so century. dun dun dun. The book itself, is between two settings, A.F. (after flash) and B.F. (Before flash).
The flash was the mega solar flare, that...well if you're planning on reading this book, you'll see.
In any case the Flash turns the world into a post-apocalyptic world..and yea..you're gonna have to fight for your right to survive.

On to the characters, (I'm really just going to focus on Evie and Jack). Evie is basically as the summary of the book says a privileged girl, and so at the beginning of the book, she acts and behaves as a privileged girl would. But she's friendly enough. Oh and then of course, she desperately wants to have a normal life. Why do you ask, well she was in the nuthouse. A lot of this I think, causes her to make some not so good decisions in the beginning [honey you do not need to keep a man that badly..nuff said]. But like I said, I think it's more of -"I want to be normal. Everything's fine and so not falling a part. My boyfriend isn't a jerk. He does care for me. etc."-
But at the same time, she's the person who will try to persevere through it all, because after the flash, although she thought herself useless, she had tried her best to help and she doesn't unnecessarily complain and whine. So that's good. And she did this all while thinking herself half-crazy. kudos to you chica. Once she realised normalcy was never going to happen... well let's just say I'm interested to see what she does after this. It's a pity everything had to "crash and burn".

Jack is a mean-ass, jack-ass. I'm sorry. But yeah, he can say somethings that make me want to smack his head and toss him into the bottomless abyss. But Jack is someone with a huge-ginormous chip on his shoulder, and I think it'll take a while before he gets over that. He can come across as a bi-polar jack-ass. But he does care about Evie..he just has a thoroughly messed up way about going over it. It's like one step forward-two steps back with him. He's harsh on her. But he wants her to survive. He protects her, constantly, even when he could ditch her. He likes her, but he obviously doesn't think he's good enough for her, either that, or the distance between the two of them in terms social class really pisses him off. So he'll expect her to be snobbish towards him, etc. but she's not. And then when he acts jerkish towards her, she slams it right back at him. So it's a tug-of-war really.

And despite my...frustrating feelings of them as characters. I do like the writing. It's flippin' Kresley Cole people. And I like how she created the characters, as in you can see where they're coming from. You know them, and I do believe they're going to grow into their own selves. And after how this book ended, will I read the next book when it comes out? Yes. Plain and simple...I don't know if it comes across as I didn't like this book. But I did, the plot is really interesting, and I want to see where Cole takes it. I want to know what's going to happen with Jack and Evie, because I honestly think they both need a good sit down to just talk. I want to know more about the other Major Arcanas. I want to see Evie flip her stick again and get all thorny on those bad cards. I want to see how the events of the last chapter affected her and everyone else. That said I wouldn't call it a cliffhanger. It's just that things happened that can cause interesting repercussions.

So will I keep an eye out on this series? Yes.

Review for Seraphina (Seraphina #1) by Rachel Hartman

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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 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.

Yea, I liked this book..

Suffice to say that I can understand what the hype about this book is, it is pretty darn book. The world building never felt lacking, the characters were great:

Seraphina - the girl living in a world where she has to hide who she is. Growing up in that world where her remaining family wasn't one to hug or cuddle. She didn't suffer from any bouts of -I want to bash my head in the wall so badly because of your characterization- She was pretty strong heroine in her own right. And, I must point out this. It's really great to see a heroine who doesn't have to be particularly tom-boyish or I refuse to wear frills, etc. Often times we see this happening where it's emphasized that heroine of the story portrays this...In Seraphina, Seraphina is just Seraphina. She isn't -ew-dresses- nor does she exhibit any extremely feminine qualities, she is simply the person shaped by her experiences, and that's great because that makes her natural.

The plot, has one of the things I love about fantasy, the political intrigue. And in Seraphina's case we have a fragile truce between the dragons and the humans, and in the midst of all of that we have a murder, a murder of a prince that seems to be of dragon means.

You have the Seraphina, trying to help the princess and the prince, both of whom I think are pretty good characters. Lucian being the truth seeker, but of course people are more than just one facet of their chracter. He's witty and has an occasional self-deprecating humour that work. Glisselda really pulls through as a princess and knows how to stand tall, and for me, she was a very endearing character. Anyhow, Seraphina is with them, or they're with her...trying to figure out the mystery behind it all...and along the way we see Seraphina struggling with what she is, and how to really extricate herself from this web of lies that she -not started but certainly helped [not that she had much of a choice]- But it was all very real.

Orma in particular was very dear to me, because dragons are not meant to feel..yet here he is flawed and though he may not outright show his love, he certainly does express it.

All in all, the plot is solid, the characters are good, the world is great [cuz we have the politics, the different cultures and how the react/interact with each other] so I'd say..if you're looking for fantasy..Seraphina is a pretty solid bet...