Book Review: Eden Conquered, by Joelle Charbonneau @jcharbonneau

It doesn't often happen that I enjoy the second book in a series more than the first. but Eden Conquered was more compelling than Dividing Eden.

Dividing Eden just took a long time to get going, but in Eden Conquered, the excitement starts at page one and continues to ramp up until the exciting conclusion.  If you haven't read Dividing Eden, you should probably quit reading this now and go check it out.

For most of the book, we get two perspectives.  One is Carys who has left Eden after faking her death.  She's trying to figure out who she can trust (pretty much no one) and what the almost constant whispering in her head is about.  She is no longer addicted to the drugs her mother provided, so things are much clearer.  She is sure she is being betrayed by people who are really loyal, and she is being betrayed by those she thinks she can trust.  It is a constant struggle as she tries to find answers.

Meanwhile, the other perspective is her brother, Andreus, who is now king of Eden. He has much the same problem as Carys--trying to figure out who he can trust.  And also, it doesn't seem like there are many people he can. The Elders who are serving him are all suspect.  And the wind, which keeps the lights on and keeps the kingdom safe from the zombie-like creatures called Xhelozi, has died. He has a lot to worry about and doesn't have much support.

As Carys finally returns to Eden (I don't think that is too much of a spoiler) the two points-of-view become merged. Will Carys and Andreus be able to work together to save Eden?  Or will Eden be conquered?

You'll want to find all that out for yourself.  If you've read Dividing Eden, you will definitely want to get your hands on Eden Conquered.  If not, start with that one.  It will be worth it, I promise.

Published by HarperTeen, June 5, 2018
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
320 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

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Book Review: Renegades by Marissa Meyer @marissa_meyer

Renegades is an exciting, hard-to-put-down adventure full of magic and intrigue.

Prodigies are people with certain magical powers. There are two groups of prodigies:  The Renegades, who saved society from the awful reign of the Anarchists, the second group. A group of Renegades called The Council are the rulers and they are like rock stars. And other Renegades are used to keep order and administer justice.

But humans are suffering almost as much as when the Anarchists ruled.  And the Anarchists have been driven into hiding.

Nova, also know as Nightmare since she can put people to sleep, is an Anarchist.  She is determined to seek vengeance.  She becomes a Renegade to infiltrate their organization and defeat them from within.  She is on a team of Anarchists led by Adrian (called Sketch - because he can make drawings come to life). Adrian and Nova become close, and the distinction of who are the good guys and who are the bad guys is very hazy.

That's one of the best parts of Renegades for me.  The fact that neither side are really doing the right thing.  They are all misguided by different things, but neither group is accomplishing enough to improve this society.

The superpowers are interesting and very unique. (A woman that turns into butterflies??) There are great action scenes and battles.  The characterizations, with the exception of our two main characters, are not very deep, but the deceptions on everyone's part keep you turning the pages. It is never clear until the very end...and unfortunately it isn't clear then either, since there's a startling revelation and a huge cliffhanger!

The conclusion (yes, only two books!) doesn't come out until November, 2018, so patience is required.  My book club is reading Renegades this month.  I cannot wait to see what they have to say. I always say I'm not a fan of books with a lot of magic, but Renegades sucked me right in!

Published by Feiwel & Friends, November 7, 2017
Copy obtained from the library
556 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

The Last Magician creates a unique, magical world full of wonder and a lot of danger.

Esta can travel through time with the help of a stone in a bracelet she wears.  Professor Lachlan has been like a father to her and has taught her everything she needs to know to survive in other time periods and return safely. She is a master thief, and her ability to slow time helps her immensely.

New York City is different than the one we are familiar with.  There is a barricade, called "The Brink" that keeps everyone with magical powers from crossing the river and leaving Manhattan.  If they do, their magic is stripped, sometimes causing their death. "The Order" is a group of men who are bound and determined to uphold The Brink and rid the city of anyone with magic. Esta has been training for one, all important mission--to return to 1902 and steal a book that will allow the destruction of The Brink.

The setup is complex, and I missed a few things, I think.  It took me a while to "get it" and I probably should have gone back and re-read the beginning again.  But this is a looooong book, so I just went with it. Once Esta went back to 1902 it was very exciting, although I thought at times the book dragged.  The action was interrupted by constant reiterating of points we already knew.  How awful The Brink is, how devious certain characters are, how determined Esta is to betray everyone in 1902. Somewhere some of that could have been cut.

The ending is excited and unexpected.  The reader really has no idea what is going to happen, which is wonderful.  This episode does have some closure, but then we are thrown right back into the conflict and danger, only to be left hanging -- waiting for the next installment.

I hesitate to read books with a lot of magic because sometimes things just become too easy if every problem is solved by its use.  However, The Last Magician has enough interesting rules about magic and the way it is used never feels like an easy out.

My teen book club chose this one for December, and I'm looking forward to hearing their thoughts.  I would recommend The Last Magician to any readers who enjoy fantasy and alternate worlds.

Published by Simon Pulse, July 18, 2017
Copy obtained from the library
500 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard

King's Cage does a great job continuing the story of the Red Queen and is very exciting and tense.

Mare is in big trouble.  She's a prisoner of King Maven and can't use her power. She sees no way out.  But during her awful imprisonment, things are progressing among the rebels and eventually they assist in Mare's escape.

Cal, of course, is working with the rebellion, and I liked how his relationship with Mare progressed once they were reunited.

There is a lot of fighting and a lot of planning to fight.  During her imprisonment, Mare is very introspective and kind of whiny.  I get she's miserable, but that went on perhaps a bit too long. The final battle is epic, but the turn things take at the very end is heartbreaking.

I really love the world that Aveyard has created.  I enjoyed looking at the map in the book -- normally, those don't do much for me, but the idea that this is a future United States is intriguing.  I like the hints we get about the distant past and how the world came to be this way.  I hope we get more of that in future books.

What will the future hold for Mare and Cal and the entire kingdom?  Once again, we will have to wait.  The Red Queen is a very popular series among my teens and they are loving this installment.

Published by HarperTeen, February 7, 2017
Copy obtained from the library
528 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz

I read Odd Thomas many years ago.  Probably shortly after it was published in 2003.  The re-read was just as enjoyable as the first time.

Odd Thomas is the name of the main character, and it's not a nickname. He lives a quiet life in Pico Mundo, California, a fictional town. Actually, his life isn't always quiet, since he sees dead people.  These "ghosts" don't talk to him, but they have the ability to communicate and draw him to their story.  Usually, it's a story of how they were murdered.

He also sees ghost-like creatures that he calls bodachs.  These creatures hang around people or places where violence is about to happen.  They act as harbingers of death. Good thing that Odd is friends with the chief of police, and the chief knows of Odd's abilities. They work together to, hopefully, stop these acts of violence before they happen.

The best thing about this book is Odd's voice.  He's very entertaining and the turns of phrases and metaphors he uses add much to the reading. His abilities are quite believable because of the way his character is written.  I'm not much of a Koontz fan, but in this book (and the series, I presume), he's masterful.

The other characters just fill in the story.  The police chief, Stormy (Odd's girlfriend), and all of the people that know and love Odd are very well done.

The pace is pretty slow but the writing makes it not seem so.  The ending is fast-paced and thrilling.  And there's a twist -- and I won't say any more about that. (I did remember it from my first reading.) I also remembered the narrator's voice from the movie, so I could just hear Odd talking as I was reading.

My book club picked Odd Thomas for this month.  It's a different type of book for them, so I'm interested to see what they think.  I highly recommend Odd Thomas if you enjoy thrillers with a bit of a paranormal twist. I believe there are seven books in the series.  I think I've only read the first one, but someday I'd like to continue.

Published by Bantam, 2003
Copy obtained from the library
399 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

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Book review: Possession: Diary of a Haunting by M. Verano

Possession fell flat for me. While haunting, it fails to step-up the tension which makes it seem slow and repetitive.

The story is narrated by Laetitia, first as she writes entries in her very popular blog, then as she changes those posting to private.  She had lofty ambitions to be a famous singer, but all that changes as she loses her singing voice and begins to have very realistic dreams about being tortured in which she actually feels the pain. She begins vomiting up weird things. These same symptoms happen over and over which makes the story drag.  She stews about what's wrong with her for a long time before we ever see any action towards figuring out what is happening. Although Laetitia has serious problems, they don’t seem to progress or get any worse until the very end.

There is a side story about the trial of a police officer for shooting a black teen that doesn’t add anything. There are several bits of the story that seem just thrown in and not fully explored. There's a kid she has a crush on who is involved in the protesting, but all she ever does is "wonder how he is." There are two episodes where she apparently brings an animal back to life. Her friend Angela who gets mad at her in the middle of the book and suddenly appears at the end and they make up. All of this feels incomplete and therefore unnecessary. The ending, written as a very short editor’s note, was anticlimactic and so quick it didn't have any emotional impact.

There are photographs and reports from various medical and legal professionals that add an interesting element. Mom, Gramma, and Miss Pierre’s magic are the highlights of Possession. And while I found it repetitive and somewhat boring, die hard fans of stories about possessions will relate to the vivid and horrid dreams and the other gruesome symptoms Laetitia exhibits.

Possession is the second book in the Diary of a Haunting series, but it isn't necessary to have read the first book.

Published by Simon Pulse, August 30, 2016
ARC obtained from School Library Connection Magazine
340 pages

Rating: 2.5/5

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Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo @LBardugo

Six of Crows is and exciting adventure that kept my attention, although there were some slow spots.

Six of  Crows is told from several points of view which adds to the drama and excitement. Kaz is a criminal in Ketterdam. He has a crew that helps him with his capers. He has a chance to make it rich if he can just steal a very special person from a prison in a faraway land. This prison has some of the most sophisticated security precautions, but Kaz has never backed down from a challenge.  Especially when he will be set for life if he succeeds.

The Grisha have special powers, but they must keep their magic secret because they are being hunted and killed or imprisoned. Or.. they are captured and given an new drug, jurda parem, that enhances their powers and turns them into weapons. The inventor of jurda parem is the person who Kaz and his team are trying to find and bring to Ketterdam so that no one can have access to the drug.

One of Kaz's crew is a heartrender, a Grisha who can heal. Will she survive the mission to go to this dangerous place where her kind are being tortured? All of the characters are vivid and exciting. The story builds up the tension nicely. My only complaint is there were a few sections that seemed to drag a bit, and this might be because I was so anxious to see what was going to happen to them next.

The ending is a bit of a cliff hanger, and the sequel, Crooked Kingdom, will be released in less than a month. Good thing!

Teens are loving Six of Crows, and I will keep recommending it to them.

Published by Henry Holt, 2015
Copy obtained from the library
465 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye @EvelynSkyeYA

I keep thinking about The Crown's Game. I became attached to these characters and really suffered with their dilemma.

The two main characters, Vika and Nikolai are Enchanters. They are in training and don't know about each other. The setting is an alternate historical Russia and the country has become somewhat unstable and the king needs an Enchanter to help him make decisions and use magic to control the people. It's very unusual to have two Enchanters, so they must hold the Crown's Game to decide which one is worthy. The other one must die.

Vika and Nikolai get to know each other during the games and begin to care for each other. The games are not the type I expected, where they compete against each other, at least not a first. They just each take turns creating magical things that please the King and the Prince, who happens to be Nikolai's best friend. But the Prince doesn't know Nikolai is an Enchanter. The creations are pleasing, but might also be deadly to their opponent.

There's a bit of a romance and even a love triangle, but it's slow and subtle and fits in nicely with the plot. The world and the magical creations are vivid and delightful.

The ending is devastating, as it must be, since we are going to lose one of our main characters. Or are we?  The Crown's Game is a imaginative, well-written story. There is some tension, but not too much. Some romance, but not over the top. Wonderful characters and lots of unique elements. Too bad it's almost summer (not really) and I can't recommend this for our next book club pick. Hopefully next fall we'll choose The Crown's Game.  In the meantime, I'll be recommending this one a lot.

P.S. This is my favorite cover of the year. Love it.

Published by Balzer + Bray, May17, 2016
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
416 pages

Rating: 5/5

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