YA Fantasy

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Book Review: These Broken Stars – Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Synopsis from Goodreads:   

Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive — alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth. 


The Starbound Trilogy: Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy.


My Review:
These Broken Stars was a good adventure of twist and turns, a new planet, and budding love, and I look forward to reading the remainder of The Starbound Triliogy.  At the start of the book I almost felt like I was back on a cruise ship with all the different decks, entertainment options; but I felt the book really took off once Lilac and Tarver landed on the unknown planet.  As for the characters, I really enjoyed Lilac and Tarver’s relationship, it was fun at the beginning with each of them trying to display disinterest and indifference, and then growing into fondness with obvious attraction into something more.  In the end, I think the best aspects of this book was the world building and the story line/emotional roller coaster that the authors takes you on.

Rated:  PG 
Genre: Young Adult
Rating:  3.5 Stars – While I did love the world building, the travel time/time between action seemed kind of lengthy
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Book Review: Ignite Me – Tahereh Mafi

Author:  Tahereh Mafi

Genre: Young Adult – Romance, Dystopian, Fantasy
Series:  Shatter Me – Book 3
Synopsis (from Goodreads):   Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she’ll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew – about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam – was wrong.

Review:  I’ve been meaning to write this review for a while now.  I probably finished the book a month ago, and you know…life.  Anyhow, first off, let me just say I really do love this series.  I’m about ready to go ahead reread all three again, just for the fun of it.  The story, and the characters were just so good.  I loved the premise; I mean dystopian meets X-Men, who wouldn’t?  I found myself drawn to read Ignite Me in a way that I haven’t really been experiencing as of late.  You know how it is…you put down the book because it’s been at least an hour, and you have kids and a husband to pay a little attention too, but twenty minutes later you find yourself right back in the same spot with the book again.  It consumed me more than I consumed it.
So yes, I loved Ignite Me.  Just loved it.  I love Tahereh Mafi’s writing style, and the characters she created.  I love the world – well, that’s relative; I love reading about the world, I wouldn’t want to live there though.  I especially loved learning a bit more about Warner, or Aaron rather.  It felt so indulgent to get so much background on him after the first 2.5 books, but I soaked it all in.  I loved that there was some emotional rollercoastering going on as well.  There were parts where I, myself, felt near to tears.  That’s good.  I like that.  As long as the main character didn’t die.  Then I don’t like that!  😉
There were, however, parts that I didn’t love so much.  It was more an aftertaste than anything.  Like when you start to drink something and it’s so wonderful that you finish it in that first taste, but then after you’ve sat there for a bit you discover that it wasn’t quite as good as you thought it was?  Hmm…that sounds a little harsh.  Let me elaborate….but first a warning, if you haven’t read this book and don’t wish to know details about it…stop here.
 ********************************************************************************************************************
So typically I’m all for the first guy that is presented as the love interest in a triangle such as this.  Perhaps it is because it is the first person that the author makes me fall in love with, and I hate the idea of this conflict of emotions.  However, after their encounter in Unravel Me, I knew Warner was the guy.  There was just something about him in that book, not to mention Destory Me,  that makes you just want him to win.  And then you start reading Ignite Me, and it is just reaffirmed over and over again.  Tahereh Mafi is an expert at writing these wonderfully delightful and passionate kissing scenes, and these tense moments between boy and girl that make your knees weak and your heart thump.  I’m sure this is a large part of her appeal as an author…(plus the superhumans!).  But then there is Adam.  Adam who was so wonderful in Shatter Me, and patient and loving.  And that shower scene!!!  He loved Juliette, that is so hard to forget.  When you start to read Ignite Me this is what you remember; the Adam who loves Juliette.  But what you get is a very angry, unrelenting, careless person.  I kept waiting on some kind of reconciliation (not for he and Juliette to get back together, but an acknowledgement of their behavior and the love that they did share).  I waited on him to be reasonable.  I waiting on his own happy ending. Something!  And you get tastes of things.  Maybe a new love interest?  (But no details.)  A fresh start with his new family?  (But no details.)  I felt so, incomplete without the second half of this book (at least I felt like he was the second half of this book from Shatter Me getting some kind of closure too.  It sort of drove me a bit crazy.
The other thing that kind of got to me was the ending.  Here we’ve worked up to this battle.  It’s been 2 (and then some) books now, and the struggle has been long and harsh.  So the time for the final battle has arrived, and not only does everything go almost exactly as planned, but Juliette walks in and although she does get lost on the ship, and has to battle with an unknown secret weapon, she easily takes everyone down and it’s done.  I was sort of waiting on the other shoe to drop.  Surely something is going to happen…nope.  Warner comes climbing up out of a pit, and they all live happily ever after.  The end. 
In short;  I think, maybe perhaps…the third book was rushed. 
Would I recommend this series?  Yes. I loved it.  For your teenager?  Eh, probably I don’t know.  The scenes are right on the edge.  And there is some sexual content….think Twilight, they work right up until that moment and…fade out, next scene.  So, that part of it is all implied.  But it’s still a mature book.
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Book Review: Defy – Sara B. Larson

Author:  Sara B. Larson 
Genre: Young Adult – Fantasy, Romance
Publication Date: January 7, 2014
Publisher: Scholastic Press
**I received an ARC from Netgalley.com.  Other than the joy of reading, I received no compensation for this review.**
Synopsis (from Goodreads.com):  Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king’s army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince’s guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can’t prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.


The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she’s sworn to protect?


Review:  I was destine to enjoy Defy for many reasons.  I have this crazy attractions to books that are seemingly historical, whether they are or not.  Actually, I think what draws me to them is not  that they are historical, but that they lack much of modern technology (although, I’ve been known to enjoy a steampunk book now and again, which sort of throws this theory out a different window).  The characters do not have the ease of jumping in a car or a plane and heading off to their destination.  They either travel via foot or horse or whatever animal happens to be available.  There are usually little to no guns, much less machine or automated guns; instead they have bow and arrows, swords, etc.  I also love the fantasy aspects, magic and evil of a very dark nature.  Some of the books that come to mind  that fall somewhat into these categories include:Throne of Glass, Pillars of the Earth, Robin Hood, Scarlet, and Graceling, to name a few.  So seeing Defy on NetGalley, and so recently after having read Throne of Glass, I knew it was for me.
At first I was afraid that Defy was going to be a bit too much like Throne of Glass and I wasn’t going to enjoy it, but as the story line moved from the initial “I’m extraordinarily good at what I do,” phase and into the real meat of the book, it took on a life of its own.  Alex(ia) shapes out to be such a three dimensional character; a girl disguised as a boy to protect herself from the terrifying breeding house.  She and her brother join the army, then are able to join the  guard to the spoiled crown prince, Damian. She lives in a kingdom run by a tyrant king who makes it his goal to banish all forms of magic everywhere, under the guise of revenge over his murdered wife and queen.
The story-line really was the best part about Defy.  I really enjoy watching it play out; Alexia determining who to trust and how far to get involved.  Then as her back story starts to come out, and peoples true characters are revealed.  All things that sucked me in and had me reading this book in less than two days.   I also enjoy strong female characters (although unbeatable female characters, while fun, are getting to be a bit over-done).  The climax/conclusion of Defy was the best! The story had its fair share of victories and heart break – and that’s not referencing the love triangle. 
Ah, the dreaded love triangle, we all know how I feel about love triangles.  I would have to say this was a bit of a lopsided triangle, since Alexia had a few moments of vacillating before choosing her guy.  HOWEVER, the ending of this book leaves me to believe book two might have more vacillating involved.   I really, really hope not.  I hate that.  I hate books being over-run with this “I want both of them” crap.  Another thing I would have to point out is that Defy was a bit heavy on the visual drooling on Alexia’s side.  Rarely in a YA novel do I notice so many references to the body (chest, arms, shoulders) of the male.  Yes, they usually are described  (muscles, or skinny and lean or whatever) enough to give you a mental picture, then the author may go back to one defining feature (great hair, eyes, whatever) however Defy did seem to linger a bit long.  As a twist to their story, I was expecting Prince Damian to hold off a bit longer and play with Alexia a bit before revealing that he knew she was a girl.  It was obvious from nearly the onset that he knew, and for a while it seemed like he was going to slip up and do something awkward.  I guess pushing Alexia up against a wall for a kiss while she thought he thought she was a boy might have been a bit traumatic to Alexia. 
If I had to stick my finger on one part of the book that made me squirm and in a way want to throw up – it would be the breeding house.  It was uncomfortable to read, to say the least.  I understand it’s purpose, and how we were suppose to hate the king , etc.  I can’t even say that the book would be better or worse without this aspect.  It was just hard to read, and almost throws this book out of YA and into the New Adult category for me.
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Girls Heart Books Book Blast: Gemini the Heir – Kristen DaRay

Gemini the Heir
Gemini Book # 2
By-Kristen DaRay
Expected Publication Date- December 1st, 2013
Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy


Just a year ago, I thought I was an ordinary human, and I gave up everything on Earth to save the people I loved. I have become the Lenai of Emréiana, making me the heir to the Emréian throne. It also makes me in charge of defeating the Bremoir, a race that has been consuming other worlds. If I can’t stop them, the universe is doomed.
Then there is Aaronmon, my betrothed. We have only known each other for a year, but our bond is strong. It’s that bond that makes it hard to know my true feelings. While I think I am ready for the ceremony, I wonder if I really love him like I loved Kyle, my ex- boyfriend who was murdered.

But none of my feelings matter. In order to rule Emréiana, I must go through with the bonding ceremony. If I don’t, then I risk losing the right as heir and I’ll have no power in the war against the Bremoir. Nobody wants them defeated more than me.


  
About the Author- 
Kristen was born in Alabama in 1991 and still resides there today. She has been writing since the 6th grade. However, she did not begin to write fiction until she was 15. In 2009, Kristen had an idea that would spark the concept for Gemini of Emréiana that she would later write in 2011. During that time, she met her husband. They married in August of 2012. When Kristen is not writing, she spends time watching Korean Drama’s or creating SIM’s 3 stories. Kristen continues to write the next novels to the Gemini Trilogy. She also plans to release a new series later on in the year.

   


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Book Review: Unravel Me – Tahereh Mafi

Author Site: Tahereh Mafi
 Form:  eBook, Nook
 Genre: Young Adult – Dystopia, Romance, Fiction

Synopsis (from Goodreads):   
tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it’s almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She’s finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam’s life.

My Review:  I just finished reading this book literally 5 minutes ago, and I can tell you that I have a myriad of emotions to go along with it.  I devoured this book.  I can’t believe I held off as long as I did to read it, except I was hoping it would end up on the libraries downloadables (since Shatter Me and Destroy Me are both there).  So while waiting, I re-read Shatter Me, then read Destroy Me, waited another week and finally bought Unravel Me.

So one, teenage angst + mentally unstable = a little bit much for me.  Adam was WAY over the top with his feelings, but it seems to be the theme of these books.  Everyone FEELS every little word, emotion, thought as if they were taking some kind of “feelings steroid.”   It makes for good reading though, I suppose.  I mean, if my husband would confess to the type of love as Adam…and Warren apparently have…well, geez, I’d be a puddle of goo on the floor too.

So, here we go with the love triangle, which I think is horribly unfair.  Tahereh Mafi sort of has me going for the underdog in this one, which is unusual for me.  I’m usually pretty straightforward.  However, the unfair part is this; you CANNOT have your characters say things like “I’ve loved you forever,” and “I’ve always loved you,” and have these heart wrenching encounters, and then turn around and have mixed feelings.  (Well, I guess you can, I mean..here it is.  She did it.  It’s definitely possible.)  But you all get what I’m saying, right?  I just..I can’t…I can’t wrap my mind around it.  I guess I like the big red bow.  And I’ve already admitted to a desperate hate for love triangles.  NEW THEME AUTHORS…PLEASE RELEASE US FROM THIS STUPIDITY!  🙂

Why am I being so mean to this book?  I love it.  I already said I devoured it.  Every word.  Okay…one more complaint.  I really hope Juliette does not go back to wishy-washy in book three.  This back and forth is giving me mental whip-lash.  Do you want to fight, are you strong, or do you want to cower in a corner and cry and feel guilty about every little last thing in your life.  Again…teenage angst.  Arg!

Okay, so despite the angst, and the back and forth, and the triangle….I have to say, I think I just must love Tahereh Mafi’s writing.  It seems like too much, but I find myself wanting more.  I find myself just wanting to eat it up or finding a spot to hide and just live there.  That doesn’t happen very often.  Another bonus for me, I think the last book that made me flush was Clockwork Prince – and it’s been over a year since that came out (even though I’ve read it 5 times – the first time is always the best).  The book just barely stayed on this side of decent…but again, I was gobbling up ever last drop!

Thank you, Ms Mafi, for your words and your story!  Despite my complaints, you still earn the full 5 stars, I mean…really.  I imagine I’ll be re-reading these again before book 3 is released.

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Bewitching – Alex Flinn

Title: Bewitching

Author: Alex Flinn
Rating: 5 stars
Genre:  YA Fantasy
Form:  ebook

Synopsis: (from goodreads)
Bewitching can be a beast. . . .
Once, I put a curse on a beastly and arrogant high school boy. That one turned out all right. Others didn’t.
I go to a new school now—one where no one knows that I should have graduated long ago. I’m not still here because I’m stupid; I just don’t age.
You see, I’m immortal. And I pretty much know everything after hundreds of years—except for when to take my powers and butt out.
I want to help, but things just go awry in ways I could never predict. Like when I tried to free some children from a gingerbread house and ended up being hanged. After I came back from the dead (immortal, remember?), I tried to play matchmaker for a French prince and ended up banished from France forever. And that little mermaid I found in the Titanic lifeboat? I don’t even want to think about it.
Now a girl named Emma needs me. I probably shouldn’t get involved, but her gorgeous stepsister is conniving to the core. I think I have just the thing to fix that girl—and it isn’t an enchanted pumpkin. Although you never know what will happen when I start . . . bewitching
Review:
Bewitching will not disappoint fans of Alex Flinn’s fairytale re-tellings. The synopsis says the book is about Kendra (the witch who turned Kyle into a beast in Beastly). This is true and not true. We learn more about Kendra and get a deeper feel for her personality and her start as a witch. However the majority of the story is taken up by Emma and Lisette.         
There are four fairytales that are retold in this book. I’m not telling which ones because it ruins the stories. Yes stories there are also four different stories being told. It works really well though. At times Emma and Lisette’s story got to be too tragic and too much for me to handle, I wanted to strangle Emma numerous times and usually when it got to that point, there would be a break and a short story like an intermission. It was a format I’ve never seen in a book before and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
As for the characters; I believe they were well written. I mentioned before I wanted to strangle Emma a few times, but when you really think about it and think like her, you realize it’s no surprise why she does what she does. Now Lisette was sort of hard to figure out. Where she went with her was no surprise, but it took me a while to figure out that was definitely the personality being developed for this character.
I loved the ending of this book. I was rooting for one way and then the way the author ended it was not what I expected, but so much better than what I was rooting for. I especially liked how things end for Kendra. It’s a happy ending, but not all of the tales told in the book had a happy ending.
Now I will admit, I’ve only read two of Alex Flinn’s books: Cloaked and Bewitching. I did see the movie Beastly which is alluded to in Bewitching. I plan on reading A Kiss In Time, in fact I have it requested from my library now. I really liked Bewitching better than Cloaked. I’m not sure why but Cloaked didn’t grab my attention. It was good, but it wasn’t a favorite. Bewitching however, I couldn’t put down. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. If you love fairy re-tellings as much as I do, than this book is definitely one you should read.

Review by Stephany


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Infamous – Sherrilyn Kenyon

GENRE:  Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
FORM: Audiobook

NARRATOR:

SERIES: Chronicles of Nick

SYNOPSIS (from Goodreads.com):  

The world has fallen in love with Nick Gautier and the Dark-Hunters. Now Nick’s saga continues in the next eagerly anticipated volume…

Go to school. Get good grades. Stay out of trouble. That’s the mandate for most kids. But Nick Gautier isn’t the average teenager. He’s a boy with a destiny not even he fully understands. And his first mandate is to stay alive while everyone, even his own father, tries to kill him.

He’s learned to annihilate zombies and raise the dead, divination and clairvoyance, so why is learning to drive such a difficulty? But that isn’t the primary skill he has to master. Survival is.

And in order to survive, his next lesson makes all the others pale in comparison. He is on the brink of becoming either the greatest hero mankind has ever known.

Or he’ll be the one who ends the world. With enemies new and old gathering forces, he will have to call on every part of himself to fight or he’ll lose everyone he cares about.

Even himself.

REVIEW:  Infamous is the continuation of Nick’s story, and I have been enjoying this series since it came out a few years ago. I have a love for sarcasm, and that is one thing you can rest assured that you will get whenever reading Sherrilyn Kenyon, but Nick’s version is extremely teenage and wonderful! I like this book because, unlike reading her other books – while the characters continue to appear and reappear in the books, the “main cast” for each story changes almost every time; but in the case of The Chronicles of Nick you get the same basic cast. Yeah, a few are added and taken away here and there, but the people you know and enjoy stick around a bit longer.

At first I was a little bit surprised at the length of the book (short…), but I have a tendency to forget that it’s a Young Adult novel, which makes the length even more appropriate. And then I listened to it….and found that the book contained many teenage angst monologues and pep talks and feel good verbiage. Was I missing this before?? I don’t know, but I felt like it was lathered on rather thick this round. At one point the book even sounded as if it was doing the, “here’s the good feeling wrap up for the end of the book” thing that books sometimes do…when they aren’t going to end in a dramatic cliffhanger, and when I looked at my iPhone, I realized there was still almost 2 hours left in the audiobook. Whoops!

I am anxious to find out what is going to happen with Nick. The will he or won’t he turn big, bad, and evil?? What I love about this though, is no matter the ending (and I have an idea of how I think it’s going to turn out), Nick has so many layers, which is explained in Infamous, that even though Nick may “change his story,” all of Sherrilyn’s other books still stand and are an accurate account of that version of Nick. I love complicated layers in books, especially series like this one, it makes them much more interesting!

So yes, I found the book a little bit slow at times, however that does not take away from my general love of this series. I love the characters, I love the action, I love the pace of Nick and Cody’s relationship. I’m looking forward to more….

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Shatter Me – Tahereh Mafi

GENRE: Young Adult – Fantasy/Romance/Dystopian
FORM: AudioBook
NARRATOR: Kate Simses
SERIES: Shatter Me

SYNOPSIS (from Goodreads): 

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

REVIEW:  I found Shatter Me one day just looking for something to put on my iPhone to listen to while I worked. I had never really heard much about it and really didn’t even know what it was about. When you start off at an insane asylum, and the main character is teetering on the edge of sanity, even though she was placed in there because of a disease rather than actual insanity, you are left wondering what is going to happen.

Juliette has a problem. She cannot touch anyone without sucking their life from them. It’s a disease, it’s an ability, it’s a curse, it’s a gift. The entire book is written from Juliette’s perspective. I listened via audio, but I think that it was actually suppose to be a journal of her experience. The audio had a lot of slashing sounds that I am assuming was suppose to be her marking what her thought was out and replacing it. Anyhow, it’s obvious from the moment that she gets a cellmate, a male cellmate where the direction of the romance portion of this story is moving. It only later becomes clear that the two had known each other previously. Juliet had gone to school with Adam, from 2nd grade all the way up until Jr High, and she remembered him to be the only person who didn’t look at her like she was a monster, who actually stuck up for her even though they had never spoken. But something has brought him to this place with her…

Shatter Me is a very dramatic book. From the beginning, when it’s a little hard to follow Juliette’s thoughts and actions until the very end when she’s much more stable and sure of herself. The romance between her and Adam is obvious, frequent, passionate and…frequent. I actually enjoyed the journaled-like writing, although via audio sometimes I had a hard time distinguishing between something Juliette said and something she just thought. The book is dystopian, collapse of the world due to global warming and many other world-malfunctions. There is a strong armed leader – an extremely stereotypical villain – Warner. He was so much the power hungry, masochist. He was written almost sexy in a way that was kind of disgusting, and I’m really, really hoping that it doesn’t go a whole lot further in that direction between he and Juliette .

From beginning to end – and I have read this in several reviews since I listened to the book – Juliette is a constant reminder of X-Men’s Rogue…this is fine, since she was always my favorite character. The story is basic, and fun and really just entertaining. If you like lots of kissing, then you’re in for a bonus as well!

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BOOK REVIEW: Beauty and the Werewolf – Mercedes Lackey

Title: Beauty and the Werewolf
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Five Hundred Kingdoms #6
Form:  book
Review:  First off let me say I love Mercedes Lackey. I’ve read almost all of her Elemental Masters series. I believe the Fire Rose was my first Mercedes Lackey book. It’s also a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I have to say I like The Fire Rose better than Beauty and the Werewolf, but this isn’t a review about that book so let me get back on track and talk about Beauty and the Werewolf.
It’s the sixth book in The Five Hundred Kingdoms series. I would say each book could be a stand-alone but I recommend reading them in order starting with The Fairy Godmother, just so that you can get a better understanding of The Tradition. Also the main character of that book makes an appearance in all the following books. (My favorite is One Good Knight). OK back to Beauty and the Werewolf. I liked it. It was a good retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
I really loved the invisible servants, they reminded me of all the household items that came to life in the Disney movie. I liked their relationship with Bella and their resolution and the end of the book.
Speaking of Bella, I liked her. I read some reviews that said she was manipulative and bossy, yes she was, BUT there is character growth. I liked her because she had a mind of her own. She wasn’t demure, she wasn’t too innocent. She knew what she wanted and went for it. She knew what she needed to do and did it. She was determined to make more of herself than other women of that time period.Traditionally, she played a big part in helping to break the curse on him, but it wasn’t through a traditional kiss.
The him that I speak of is Sebastian. I’m not sure how I feel about him. I don’t think his character was developed enough. I would have liked to see more growth in him and more about his relationship with Bella. He’s a good character but not a very deep one. 
Now Eric on the other hand. I didn’t like his character then I liked his character, then I didn’t like his character, then I liked.. well you get the idea. He kept things interesting. I think his relationship with Bella is a little bit more developed than hers with Sebastian, which is interesting considering the ending of the book.
I’ll admit, I’m getting sick of the love triangle that seems to have started with Twilight, but I wouldn’t say that is in this book. Sebastian is the Beast and Eric is a representation of Gaston, not a close one, but enough of one that I don’t think Bella, Eric, and Sebastian could be considered to be in a love triangle.
The ending of the book was not as big of a surprise as I would of liked, but it was a good one and it wasn’t too typical. Another review I read said the reader had figured out everything early on in the book. I personally was kept guessing. I thought I had it figured out, then I kept changing my mind. Lackey definitely kept me guessing throughout the book which kept me reading.
It’s not a heavy read. There’s not a lot of emotion and depth, but for a fun little retelling of Beauty and the Beast, I think Lackey did a good job.
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BOOK REVIEW: Clockwork Prince – Cassandra Clare

GENRE: Young Adult – Fantasy/Steampunk/Romance
FORM: eBook
SERIES: The Infernal Devices – Book 2

SYNOPSIS: The London Institute is under harsh evaluation after having harbored a spy, and eliminated a vampire clan that had been falsely accused (despite breaking the law regardless). Questions are being raised of whether Charlotte and Henry are really cut out for this kind of responsibility. They are given a chance to prove themselves and ensure their spot at the institute though. They have two weeks to find the one who calls himself The Magister; Axel Mortmain.

REVIEW: After a years’ worth of anticipation – I could hardly wait to get my hand on the next installment of The Infernal Devices. I will admit though, after reading subtle hints or blanket statements from both Cassandra Clare (via Twitter/Facebook – I don’t know her personally obviously) and other blogs/fans/etc., I was also sort of dreading this book – mostly because…and if you read my blog regularly, this will not come as a shock to you…there was a true blue love triangle in this series. ARRrrg! I fell hard and fast for Will Herondale in Clockwork Angel. His wit, love of books, and secrets were intriguing to me. (And I’m a bit like Magnus Bane – I really like black hair/blue eyes, what’s more attractive?) Don’t get me wrong, I like Jem….in a nice, sidekick/bestfriend/guy who will always be there sort of way, just not as a love interest.

That being said; I both absolutely loved and really hated Clockwork Prince. (“Hate” is not indicating how GOOD this book was, it was excellent!) I cannot, will not diverge on all the reasons I hated the book. I will just say that there IS a love triangle, and while Tessa does get hot and heavy…ITS WITH THE WRONG GUY!!!!!! Not that Will didn’t get his fair share of play time as well, but still. Another reason I do not like love triangles: someone will always get hurt. Badly. Usually more than one someone. I love Tessa, she is funny and wonderfully nice. It’s that “nice” that is getting her into trouble though. This all would never would have started if that nice, ‘I don’t want anyone to get hurt/be hurt by me’ attitude didn’t present itself. Granted, she had her fair share of hurt, by Will none-the-less, I just think it was always obvious that he was lying. It was obvious something more was at play with him. Patience is a virtue.

And I will be patient. For another year. Waiting on Clockwork Princess. When I’m almost positive the world will right itself once again. 😉

Okay, so why did I love this book? Well let’s see. First of all, we get to see and learn more about Will. I find this funny because I remember reading someone say that this was “Jem’s book,” and I can see where that might partially be true, but we don’t learn much more about Jem that we didn’t already know. Will and his past was a larger part of this book.

Clockwork Prince was the “inbetween” novel, the middle one in a series that gets you from Point A to Point B. It is also the novel that in most series you get the most insight and historical details on most if not all of the characters and the situation at hand. While sometimes it can make a book seem long depending on the author, I tend to like these middle books because I like knowing why people are the way they are and why they act the way they do. Cassandra Clare does an awesome job of doing this while at the same time keeping the storyline moving forward. Progress is made in finding out the how’s and why’s of the automatons and the Magister, but not much. Just enough to keep the story engaging, the real movement in this book is between characters.

A quick rundown of some of that movement: We learn more about Axel Mortmain, and why he might hate Shadowhunters so much. Charlotte and Henry are also front and forward a lot more, and we learn of the sweet delicate relationship they share. I was a Henry fan from the start. He’s cooky and distracted, but I always knew that his heart is exactly where it is suppose to be, and that is proven in this novel. Jessamine plays a rather large part in this book, and I’m curious to see if she will be able to redeem herself after this book. Gabriel and Gideon Lightwood…just wait and see. We get a bit more of Magnus Bane, and given that he’s a reoccurring character in two of Clare’s series, it’s fun to sort of gather bits and pieces of his life at random intervals and periods of time. There are also a lot of hints and nudges in the direction of where Tessa came from and how she may have come to be – but nothing definite yet. That is obviously going to have to wait for the Grand Finale!

There was a lot of foreshadowing going on in Clockwork Prince – I may have been looking for things that weren’t actually there, but I don’t think so and I’m looking forward to finding out if I’m right. I’m not going to tell you some of the things I picked up on, because I don’t like ruining anything – if you didn’t see it you’ll just be that much more surprised when it comes up. I will say that I’m a tinsy bit suspicious of that cook. What is her DEAL?