Top Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing This Year

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Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing This Year, top 10, top 10 tuesday, top ten, top ten tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. They come up with top ten lists that people can blog about every week.

Sorry for the late post. I was distracted by this little bugger  and I was jet lagged. (You can so be jet lagged without changing times zones. Only explanation for the zombie that was me this morning.)

1. The Name of the Wind(The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)

Kvothe is the most notorious wizard the world has ever seen, but he’s now in hiding. It takes him three days to tell the story of his life.

This book is doomed for me! Three times I’ve borrowed it from the library, but something always happens before I can start it. (It must be telling me to buy it.)

Recommended By: Yvo

2. Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire, #1)

Jorg was nine when his brother and mother were killed. His father, the king, didn’t even punish the count who did it. Jorg plots revenge and intends to be king no matter the cost.

I love a good antihero and this is like THE antihero book. It might be a bit dark for me, but I think it will be interesting to see through the eyes of such a character.

Recommended By: Nathan

3. The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)

Orphan becomes con man, starts band of expert thieves.

I was clearly in an antihero mood when I made this list. (I didn’t even realize it at first.) Locke Lamora is said to be witty and funny too!

Recommended By: Mogsy

4. Unwind (Unwind, #1)

Until their children turn eighteen parents can decide to unwind them, where all of their parts are used to save lives. Three teens at risk of being unwound try to escape and survive.

This book just sounds creepy, but reviewers I trust loved it and I’m just too curious.

Recommended By: Shannon

5. The Summoning(Darkest Powers, #1)

Chloe discovers she can see ghosts. She gets herself locked up in Lyle house for troubled teens, but turns out they’re all special too.

I’m hoping this is a lighter book. It looks like fun with lots of different kinds of paranormal creatures. I’m a little worried that there’s a mental institution thing, which is why I haven’t read it already.

Recommended By: Carmel

6. The Iron King (The Iron Fey, #1)

Megan knows something’s about to change. Someone is stalking her and her best friend is acting over protective. She discovers she’s the daughter of a fairy king and a pawn in a war. To save someone she cares about she’ll have to face a mysterious evil and she might be developing feelings for a prince who would rather see her dead.

Mostly I’ve read that Puck is in the book and I always loved that trickster character. Plus war and a forbidden romance.

Recommended By: Sydney

7. Hex Hall (Hex Hall, #1)

Sophie is a witch, but after a spell goes wrong on prom night her father sends her to Hex Hall as punishment, a reform school for witches, faeries and shapeshifters.

I love magical boarding schools and the different magical species thing sounds like fun. I think there’s also some mystery.

Recommended By: Melanie

8. Among Thieves(Tales of the Kin, #1)

Drothe is a member of the Kin, thieves and murderers who work for a crime lord. When an ancient book that everyone wants falls into his hands it causes all sorts of trouble.

I actually own book two already and I’ve heard good things. It’s also another antihero book, which I obviously like.

Recommended By: Anya

9. Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #1)

Atticus is the last of the druids and twenty one centuries old. He draws his magic from the earth, can shapeshift into a wolf, and wields a magical sword. It’s this last part that gets him into trouble when a Celtic god wants said sword.

I like funny urban fantasys and it’s a rather long series, which means it should last me a while. (I hope)

Recommended By: Pabkins

10. Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion, #1)

A test determines your place in society. Kitty is a lousy III, but she can become a IV if she agrees to be surgically altered into the Prime Minister’s niece who died mysteriously. The catch? She has to stop the rebellion the niece secretly started.

I’ve read so many good reviews of the sequel Captive, which was released this year. (Always good to know the series holds up)

Recommended By: Natalie

Do you feel the need to own good books? If I read a good library or Kindle book, I HAVE to own it for real! I am a big rereader though, so it’s not like I ONLY like staring at all the pretty books.

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Demons at Deadnight by A&E Kirk

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author, book, book reviews, books, characters, Demons at Deadnight, Divinicus Nex, fantasy, fiction, Hex Boys, literature, novel, plot, read, reader, review, stories, story, write, writer, writing, YA, young adult

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Demons, Powers

Pages: 404

Point of View: First (Aurora)

Released: January 5, 2012

Series: Divinicus Nex Chronicles

Predictability: 5 out of 5 (Where 1 is George RR Martin (If the characters make a plan or think about the future I know it isn’t going to go that way.) And 5 is Cinder (where I guessed what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still a great book.)

Source: Choosy Bookworm (I found a new place to find free to review books!)

Warning: Some icky-ness and one character wears flip-flops. (This warning is for Jess. 🙂 )

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

My Summary:

Aurora can see demons, and sense when they’re near. They’ve never bothered her before, but now the demons have stopped ignoring her. After an incident that left Aurora scared, her family moved back to Gossamer Falls. Aurora hasn’t been here since she was eight, but she vaguely remembers her old friends. When she meets them again, they’ve grown up into six cute young men with secrets of their own.

My Review:

I realize this sounds like a female harem, (and yes of course all six of the guys are extremely good looking) but it’s not and although more than one of the boys flirts with Aurora only one of them might like like her. (This is a reference to a funny conversation in the book where the boys actually discussed this.)

I liked her interactions with Ayden (the like like boy) but I’m not a fan of the shivers went down my spine, I got hot when he touched me style of romance. (So I skimmed those parts)

The Good:

While not perfect, Demons at Deadnight was a cute, fun, lighter book, and I really enjoyed it. Aurora had a great voice, but I’m always a fan of funny sarcastic protagonists.

The book alternates between demon attacks and Hex Boys scenes. (What the boys are called by their fellow high schoolers) Both the action and the boys’ scenes were well done and shockingly I found myself preferring scenes with the boys. (I know, what’s wrong we me preferring non actions scenes?) It’s just that the interactions and joking between the characters was so well done.

I image it was hard to create six unique teenage boys and have them all feel different and stand out while not becoming clichés, but the authors did it. Their arguing and joking felt authentic and they came off like real guys. (Which is always good in a male character.)

I LOVED Aurora’s family. So often in young adult the family is nonexistent or horrible, but her family really felt real and while it wasn’t perfect, it was nice. I liked all of her annoying little siblings and her overprotective parents. Since so much of what Aurora does is to protect her family, it was really important for us to fall for her family and I so did. (I actually teared up at a sweet father daughter moment)

Everything was described well, and I could picture the characters, school and houses perfectly. The world building was simple, but I liked it and though the powers were nothing special, they managed to make them unique. (And look really cool)

Most of my questions were answered with enough lose threads to make me want to read the sequel. I liked how the secrets were handled. The characters didn’t just confess everything, which makes sense, because in real life people wouldn’t. When they realized Aurora had to know some things they explained only what they felt she needed to know, still holding back their personal secrets. (Which also prevented information overload.)

The Bad:

Yes, Aurora occasionally acts stupid. Demons are trying to kill you, so you run from your protectors? But at the time her actions made sense being inside her head, because she wasn’t sure who she could trust.

The characters were so clueless! I figured out their secrets from the get go and they should’ve figured out Aurora’s too, but they never did. (I realize it’s probably realistic for someone to assume people don’t have powers, but come on! How many times do you have to have hints of them before you get it!)

 Will I read the next one? Yes.

How do you feel about perfectly attractive characters? 

I prefer not all of the characters looking like gods, but that’s me. I might be the oddball here (what else is new) but, I’d rather flawed or quirky characters.

Top Ten 2014 Books I Read this Year

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2014 Books I Read this Year, 2014 releases, top 10, top 10 tuesday, top ten, Top Ten Books I Read In 2014, top ten tuesday

(It was way too hard to pick my top ten books of the year, so I’m only doing 2014 releases.)

I read 23 books published this year! Since my previous record was like 3-4 I’m pretty impressed!

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It was hard to find good quotes without spoilers, but I did it! (Some I had to remove names, but I made it work)

Sequels

1. Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3) by Marissa Meyer

Cinder and Captain Thorne (a criminal with a spaceship who helped Cinder escape from prison) contact Cress on her satellite. (Told from Cress’ point of view.)

He leaned forward to inspect her closer. “Is that all hair?”

With a squeak, she ducked out of view of the camera and scrambled beneath the desk. 

“Wha—where’d she go?” Thorne’s voice came to her through the screen.

“Honestly, Thorne.” A girl. Linh Cinder? “Do you ever think before you speak?”

“What? What did I say?”

” ‘Is that all hair?’ “

“Did you see it? It was like a cross between a magpie nest and ball of yarn after it’s been mauled by a cheetah.”

This might not be the best written book on the list, but thinking back it was the most fun. Lots of people like Scarlet best, but I couldn’t really connect with her. Cress might be a bit odd, but so am I, and I related to her the most and I really like Thorne. (Such a lovable scoundrel) Also the plot deepened, and there were good moments with all the past characters too!

2. Dreams of Gods & Monsters(Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3) by Laini Taylor

“Finding his door still closed, she gave a chuff of derision and didn’t knock but only crashed it open and glared at the sight that greeted her.

“Well,” She said, “At least you still have your clothes on.” 

I loved the fist book, struggled with the second and loved the third. (the second was too dark and Karou got wimpy) but the third is back in the swing of things. There was a new character who I didn’t see the point of and I didn’t like her parts at the time, but after it all comes together that was one of my favorite parts. (I know I’m fickle) It was left open for a sequel and I for one NEED MORE!

3. The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5) by Rick Riordan

“Legion, cuneum formate!’ Reyna yelled. ‘Advance!’ Another cheer on Jason’s right as Percy and Annabeth reunited with the forces of Camp Half-Blood.

‘Greeks!’ Percy yelled. ‘Let’s, um, fight stuff!’ They yelled like banshees and charged.

Jason grinned. He loved the Greeks. They had no organization whatsoever, but they made up for it with enthusiasm.”

Percy Jackson was my favorite book of the year, but thinking back I just didn’t enjoy Blood of Olympus as much as Cress or Dreams of Gods and Monsters. (I blame the lack of Percy-ness)

4. City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6) by Cassandra Clare

“We shouldn’t,” protested Isabelle. “The Clave has a plan.”

“The Clave has the collective intelligence of a pineapple,” said Jace.

Alec blinked up at them. “Jace is right.”

Isabelle turned on her brother. “What do you know? You weren’t even paying attention.”

“I was,” Alec said, injured. “I said Jace was right.”

“Yeah, but there’s like a 90% chance of me being right most of the time, so that’s not proof you were listening,” said Jace. “That’s just a good guess.”

Again, not the best book in the series, but still really good. I didn’t think it felt long at all and I enjoyed it even if I didn’t get the Jem time I wanted.

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New Series

5. The Iron Trial (Magisterium, #1) by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

“They all yelled in excitement. Tamara yelled because she was happy. Aaron yelled because he liked it when other people were happy, and Call yelled because he was sure they were going to die.”

I liked this book, but by the end I LOVED it. If you try this and you get bored in the middle, keep going I promise it’s worth it.

6. The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1) by Marie Lu

“Be true to yourself. But that’s something everyone says and no one means. No one wants you to be yourself. They want you to be the version of yourself that they like.”

I had mixed feelings about this book, because it was so weird and dark. The main character felt like a bad guy and I wasn’t really feeling the romance, but it was such a cool concept and world. I NEED the sequel NOW, even though I haven’t a clue what the book is going to be like.

7. The Last Changeling (Faerie Revolutions, #1) by Chelsea Pitcher

“You have to make sacrifices for the things you believe in. If you don’t, what’s the point in believing in anything?”

Most of you might not like this one, because it has instant annoying love, but I like it when the main character is the mystical thing, the monster, the cyborg, or in this case the Fairy. It was just a fun book and I also want the sequel of this, because things were left rather dramatically. (not to be continued though)

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Debut Authors

8. Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, #1) by Pierce Brown

“I stand over them and cock my head. ‘Is this the first time you’ve lost at something?’ No answer. I frown. ‘Well, that must be embarrassing.’ ”

The beginning of the book book was excellent! The middle was a bit repetitive and violent for me, but I enjoyed the ride. My main problem was I didn’t really like the main character, Darrow. I think he matured over the course of the book though. This is a book where I NEEDED the sequel simple because of its potential. (Thanks to Netgalley I’m reading it right now!)

9. Storm Siren (Storm Siren, #1) by Mary Weber

“I think some have to fight harder to choose good over evil because the evil’s got it out for them. And maybe it’s because those’re the ones evil knows will become the strongest warriors, recognizing true wickedness when it rears its head.”

The magic, the political intrigue, this was a good book. Then the author went all Goosebump ending on me! (Anyone who’s read those children’s books will understand, lets just say it was unexpectedly horrible.) Even though it was a good book, (if a bit dark) I’m not sure if I want to read the sequel.

10. Between by Megan Whitmer

“It’s fine.” I feel my blood pressure rise as heat branches out from my chest throughout my body. Oh no. I’m about to start saying stupid things. “I don’t know why I keep getting so flustered around you. And I get that it’s weird for you or something.” The words come faster and faster. Oh my God, Charlie, shut up. “It’s just sometimes it seems like you want me close and sometimes you don’t.” Stop talking. Just. Stop. Talking. “But I get it. You’re not interested.”

I liked the world building with lots of magical species, but that’s pretty much all I remember about this book. I know I liked it, but it didn’t stick with me.

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Next week I will be on vacation! I’ve never gone away for Christmas, but this year we needed something different, so my mom and I are flying to South Carolina to visit my sister! I’ll actually have a warm Christmas for once! (I hope, with my luck it will snow.)

I have no clue how many comments I will get a chance to respond to or how many of your fabulous blogs I’ll have time to read. They all get sent to my email though so they’ll be waiting for me when I get back. I’m planning on writing posts ahead of time. (Shockingly I already have the book review written, so there will still be postage.)

What are you doing for the holidays? 

I will be eating good food, because not only is Charleston a foodie town, but my sister is a fabulous cook and she spoils me.

I will also get to enjoy (be tortured by) sappy Christmas movies.

And my sister is getting a Schnauzer puppy 3 days before we get there, so I’ll get to play with him!

When you think back on the books you read do you change your mind about them too?

Like for me I remember enjoying Young Elites more as time passes and others like Blood of Olympus which I loved at the time I remember less fondly (and some books I can’t even remember what they were about.)

Angelfall and World After by Susan Ee

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Angelfall, Angels, Angels and demons, author, book, book reviews, books, characters, End of Days, fantasy, fiction, literature, novel, plot, read, reader, review, stories, story, Susan Ee, World After, write, writer, writing, YA, young adult

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy or Science Fiction, Apocalypse, Angels & Demons

Pages: 283

Point of View: First (Penryn)

Released: May 21, 2011

Series: Penryn & the End of Days

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is George RR Martin (If the characters make a plan or think about the future I know it isn’t going to go that way.) And 5 is Cinder (where I guessed what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still a great book.)

Source: Kindle freebie

My Rating: 8/10 Stars

My summary:

Two months ago the world ended. Angels came out of the sky, comets struck the earth, and tsunamis and storms destroyed large portions of the cities. Penryn is a survivor, not only does she take care of her seven year old paralyzed sister, but her schizophrenic mother.

Penryn witnesses a battle between angels which leaves one wingless. When her sister’s kidnapped she aides the wingless angel to discover where the others could have taken the little girl.

My Review:

Penryn’s had a rough life being the adult of the family at only seventeen after her father left. As a child her mother forced her to go to every sort of self defense class after an accident left her sister paralyzed. (Which I thought was a great way for Penryn to kick butt!)

I know Penryn loves her mother, because she’s her mother, but I hated seeing such an abusive relationship! We don’t get to see the abuse, but we’re told about it happening in the past. (It’s not like her mom’s better now. If anything she’s more scary crazy.) I couldn’t like her mom because of this and I wanted to, because she was scary crazy to the bad guys too!

The Good:

The world is the one we know, albeit a bit more rubble. Still the author manages to create a unique post apocalyptic world.

I loved the two main characters! Their relationship was wonderful, from uncertain allies to unlikely friends. Their banter was great! I love when a book manages to be dark and funny at the same time!

Angelfall was face paced and nicely plotted. I never knew what was coming next and I gobbled it up. (I needed this book! Thank you to everyone who recommended it!)

The Bad:

I had so many questions about the angels and where they came from, why they’re here, but we aren’t really given any answers! I need answers!

There was quite a lot of violence and general grossness in this book. Most of the parts I didn’t like were more of a personal taste thing. The ending was fine. I was disturbed and not totally happy about everything, but it worked. (Note: I am easily grossed out so it might not bother you.)

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WORLD AFTER ~ No spoilers!

Pages: 438

Released: Nov 19, 2013

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

I like it when a sequel picks up right where the last one left off (That way it feels like I didn’t miss anything) and World After picks up literally the next second. She’s quick to remind about what happened previously without getting boring.

The book was fine, but I’d probably have liked it better if I hadn’t just read Angelfall. (Angelfall great, World After just good)

The Good:

The BEST parts of these books are the Penryn and Raffe moments. We still get a few excellent moments between the two, but for the most part Raffe isn’t in the book. (Which was so sad!)

I cracked up at one part towards the end. It was perfection! (I’m not going to spoil the joke, but if you’re not liking this book as much you should still keep reading, it’s worth it.)

A few of my questions were finally answered! (Even if these answers raised even more questions)

The Bad:

Penryn alone isn’t nearly as fun and I was annoyed with her a little bit. (I am with most main characters at some point though)

I felt like too much time was spent on unimportant things and the whole book could’ve been greatly reduced. (Okay, I just wanted the parts without Raffe. The beginning needed reduced so we got more time with him!)

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Okay, where’s the third book? I kind of have to know what happens next!!! End of Days will be released on May 12, 2015. (At least I didn’t have to wait two years!)

 

 

Unrelated question this week, but something I’ve been curious about. How young is too young for the protagonist of a book? Do you have a cut off age? If so, how young of a character will you read?

I’m debating on how young my main character should be. (Pabkins sister was nice enough to point out that it depends on what my target audience. I’m thinking young adult. Even though there’s no romance, it’s written more mature, and I just can’t get the page count down enough for middle grade. She was originally going to be 10-11, but I’m thinking 12-13 might be better?)

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2014

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New authors 2014, New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2014, top 10, top 10 tuesday, top ten, top ten tuesday

(5 in a row! I almost didn’t make it this week. I procrastinated a bit too much. Also, this is my 100th post!)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. They come up with top ten lists that people can blog about every week.

Before this year I rarely branched out and tried a new author, so I made it my goal to read only new authors in 2014! (and I’ve succeeded so far.)

I wanted to only include authors that I’d read more than one book by and got at least 8 stars from me. (Which is why there are only eight, but I did cheat on my ‘rules’ once.)

1. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson & Heroes of Olympus (ALL)

“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we’re related for better or for worse…and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.” 
― Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters

Strengths: Creating great characters, sense of humor, (bad puns rule!) Knowing what children like, making mythology his own.

Weaknesses: Lots of points of view, (He does this fine I just often wish I could hear another character’s thoughts at that moment instead.) Sappy romantic moments. (He really does romance fine too he just doesn’t do as much romance as most YA authors and I needed another weakness.)

2. Cassandra Clare – Infernal Devices & Mortal Instruments (Books 1-3) The Iron Trial

“Is this the part where you say if I hurt her, you’ll kill me?”
“No” Simon said, “If you hurt Clary she’s quite capable of killing you herself. Possibly with a variety of weapons.” 
― Cassandra Clare, City of Glass

Strengths: Creating likable characters, complex world building, non obnoxious love triangles and decent romances

Weaknesses: Overly descriptive, love triangles, lots of romance

3. Laini Taylor – Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Books 1 & 3)

“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.” 
― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Strengths: Atmosphere, unique story and setting.

Weaknesses: Darker story, Not a lot of humor (Mostly centered on the best friend character) I wasn’t  a fan of the second book (Mainly the main character got weak, but I loved the third book too!)

4. Marissa Meyer – Cinder (All)

“Vanity is a factor, but it is more a question of control. It is easier to trick others into perceiving you as beautiful if you can convince yourself you are beautiful. But mirrors have an uncanny way of telling the truth.” 
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

Strengths: Her characters are great! (As of Winter there will be 9 main characters and they’re all excellent!) Unique take on retelling fairy tales (Made me like retellings) Plenty of humor

Weaknesses: Predictability (I guessed the ending way ahead of time)

5. Marie Lu – Legend (Books 1 & 2) The Young Elites

“Be true to yourself. But that’s something everyone says and no one means. No one wants you to be yourself. They want you to be the version of yourself that they like.” 
― Marie Lu, The Young Elites

Strengths: Kick butt characters, & interesting worlds

Weaknesses: Her characters in Legend were book very perfect and sounded a lot alike. (I wasn’t bothered by this) One word: Champion. (I didn’t like the end of the Legend trilogy)

6. Leigh Bardugo – Grisha (Books 1 & 2)

“Of course not,” said Sturmhond. “Anything worth doing always starts as a bad idea.” 
― Leigh Bardugo, Siege and Storm

Strengths: Dark mysterious characters, unique Russian-like culture, excellent secondary characters, un-guessable plot lines, love quadrangles

Weaknesses: Main characters. (I wasn’t a fan of the main character or her main love interest) Plot lines that don’t always make sense (Okay I’m just not happy with the third book, mainly something that happened towards the end. I won’t rant about it again. Hey at least she made me care enough to be so upset, right?)

7. Derek Landy – Skulduggery Pleasant (All except book 2)

“What is it?” Stephanie whispered.
“That, my dear Valkyrie, is what we call a monster.”
She looked at Skulduggery. “You don’t know what it is, do you?”
“I told you what it is, it’s a horrible monster. Now shut up before it comes over here and eats us.” 
― Derek Landy, Skulduggery Pleasant

Strengths: Humor. Witty sarcastic characters. Good world building & action scenes. (I only rated these 7 stars, but they made my list for entertainment value. There’s just some thing so addicting about them.)

Weaknesses: Excessive action, main character doesn’t always think, not a lot of romance.

8. Honorable Mention: Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games (Books 1 & 2)

My first dystopian and the YA book that got me started.

“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.” 
― Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

(One of the best most accurate quotes ever. That’s why I didn’t like Mockingjay it resonated with me too much.)

Strengths: World building, plotting, tense action scenes

Weaknesses: Killing off characters.

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What do you think is the most forgivable and unforgivable writer weakness? I think the most forgivable writer weakness is probably lack of romance, I don’t need romance to be happy. Also if descriptions are too long I can skip them.

For me the most unforgivable thing a writer can have is weak characters. If they are  flat or unlikable it ruins the whole book.

 

Indie Book Review: Elemental Rancor by Charles Lominec

Tags

author, book, book reviews, books, characters, Charles Lominec, Elemental Rancor, Epic Fantasy, fantasy, fiction, Indie book, literature, novel, plot, read, reader, review, stories, story, write, writer, writing

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Magic, High, Epic Fantasy

Pages: 417

Point of View: Third Distant (Major: Sarnen, Lorgen, Grenot, Disa, Magmanoid, Lanon, Timorn, Yonele. Minor: Sheila, Marasina, Jorsana, Sukaro, Byron, Kerome.)

Released: April 18, 2014

Predictability: 2 out of 5 (Where 1 is George RR Martin (If the characters make a plan or think about the future I know it isn’t going to go that way.) And 5 is Cinder (where I guessed what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still a great book.)

Source: The author contacted me and asked if I would review this book.

My Rating: 6/10 Stars

Warning: Adult rating for violence and gore.

I’m glad the author contacted about this book, because I never would’ve chosen it for myself. I know I’m terrible, but I judge a book by it’s cover and I don’t like this cover. It also doesn’t depict the book very well, because that really doesn’t look like a man riding a pteradon (pterodactyl). (And now everyone is squinting at it, because I made it so small. I just didn’t want to keep looking at it. Sorry!)

My Summary: 

In a world where the elements have a consciousness, the mighty Empire has learned to communicate with them. These people are called Tutors, but the Tutors have a problem. After a star disappears from the sky the elements start acting strangely. Air is more demanding, and fire has disappeared. What does it all mean?

Two children find out when they develop strange new abilities, abilities that no one has had before.

Lanon, a pteradon squad leader, winds up being forced into helping a disgraced Tutor discover what’s wrong with the element Earth.

The Empire has declared war on Marapor, but Grenot knows if the Empire goes to war they will lose, so he decides to take matters into his own hands.

My Review:

These are only the main three story lines, but there are quite a few more. The author certainly has a vivid imagination, but I think he tried to put too many ideas into one book. (At least too many characters. Molly was confused. Though it probably didn’t help that I kept referring to them as S person and L person. And then there were two L persons!)

The Good:

Elemental Rancor has a very interesting world with all kinds of cool creatures; bird people, fish people, dinosaurs, not to mention monkey vultures. (The monkey vultures aren’t important, they just creeped me out!)

I liked that the elements had a consciousness and the magic is really just people communicating with them. (I wish we’d gotten to see someone arguing with their magic, that would’ve been funny.) The ways magic was changing was well done too and it made sense. I liked the kids’ abilities the most! (That was the story line I kept reading for.)

Except for the beginning it was all fast paced. It was a good thing the chapters changed points of view or I never could’ve put it down. (Even though they all ended to be continued, not knowing when that character would come back helped me to stop.)

It took me a while to figure out who was who, but I liked most of the characters, and even the ones I didn’t care for were well developed. (A bit too much development if you as me. I didn’t really need flashbacks about a character’s mom who was barely in the book.)

The Bad:

I’ve read plenty of books with multiple points of view. Usually the books where people are complaining about too many characters, I’m fine with, but this one had too many in the beginning even for me. (It didn’t help that all of the grunts had names too, so I didn’t know who was important.)

A couple of things that happened I thought were a bit silly. There were also some very violent and gross parts. (Only one gross thing actually bothered me. I also considered this one of the silly things. I was tempted to google if it was actually possible, but I decided I didn’t want to know.)

The story was well told, but there were some tell tale signs that this was the author’s first book; unnecessary words, things repeated when they didn’t need to be, everyday conversations that could’ve been cut, that sort of thing. It was a bit distracting but the story was good enough that I kept reading. (I told myself going in that I’d give up if it wasn’t for me, but I couldn’t, he had me hooked.)

Verdict: 

It’s not a perfect story, but I was entertained, which in the end is all that matters to me. Even when I was confused I couldn’t put it down. I found myself staying up too late, because I was just going to read one more chapter.

Will I read the next one? Yes.

How many points of view do you like? I like multiple points of view, but I tend to prefer 5-7 at the most. (For the first book at least)

Top Ten Books I’m Looking Forward To In 2015

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2015 books, top 10, top 10 tuesday, top ten, Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward To In 2015, top ten tuesday

(4 in a row! And ANOTHER to read list.)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. They come up with top ten lists that people can blog about every week.

So many to read lists! To keep them non repetitive, I’m not listing sequels (Just did that) or debut authors. (Coming up in January) I don’t remember these top tens doing so many want to read lists before. (At least I didn’t put any 2015 books on last week’s list.)

1. A Darker Shade of Magic (A Darker Shade of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab

(Author of: Vicious)

I can’t wait to read Vicious and I’ve been wanting to read a good parallel worlds book.

Kell is a magician who has a rare ability to travel between parallel worlds. Officially Kell is a ambassador of London from the ‘red world’. Unofficially he’s a smuggler, but he’s set up for treason and flees to ‘Gray London’ where he meets a thief and they team up to save all of the worlds.

2. The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1) by Jodi Meadows

(Author of: Incarnate (Newsoul, #1))

Forbidden magic and a princess reclaiming her thrown! So much YES!

After Princess Wilhelmina’s kingdom is conquered she’s taken to the enemy capital along with the other noble children. Ten years later, they are the osprey, experts in stealth and thievery. With their help she plans to get her kingdom back. A wraith is sweeping the nation and Wil’s magic might be the only thing that can stop it, but magic is forbidden. (2 book series)

3. A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J.
Maas

(Author of: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1))

Okay so I still neeed to read Throne of Glass, but Beauty and the Beast and fairies! (and maybe a war too)

Feyre kills a wolf and is dragged off to a magical land, by a ‘beast’ who is actually a fairy ruler.

4. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

(Author of: Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales, #1))

I’ve been meaning to read something else by Black and this fairy-tale sounds so cool

In a town where humans and fae live side by side a fairy prince has slept for hundreds of years, then one day he wakes up. Hazel knows that the fae aren’t good, but she made a deal with one for her brother. Now it’s time to pay her debt. She teams up with her brother, a changeling boy she can’t help being attracted to, and the fairy prince himself.

5. The Aeronaut’s Windlass (The Cinder Spires #1) by Jim Butcher

(Author of: Storm Front (The Dresden Files #1))

Jim Butcher (Dresden Files) writes steampunk,enough said. Also the oddities that thee people who can manipulate crystal magics have sound funny.

People live in spires and transport is on air ships, which are powered by crystals. Certain people can manipulate the energy in the crystals, but most of them have an oddity like not being able to use doorknobs. There are also mean talking cats.

6. Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

(Author of: Cruel Beauty)

A retelling of little red riding hood. Everyone liked Cruel Beauty (Now on sale for Kindle for $2) so I want to check this one out.

Rachelle serves the realm (I’m thinking military) and she’s assigned to protect the King’s son, a man she hates. She forces him to help her find a legendary sword to save the kingdom.

7. Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

(Author of: Unspoken)

A retelling of A Tale of Two Cities with magic! And I like doppelganger things. Again, I own Unspoken, but haven’t gotten to it yet. (I need more TIME!)

Lucie’s New York is caught between two kinds of magic. She wears magical rings and has a secret The love of Lucie’s life, Ethan also has a secret, he has a doppelganger created by dark magic.

8. Uprooted by Naomi Novik

(Author of: His Majesty’s Dragon (Temeraire #1))

I love coming of age learning magic tales.

The dragon (actually a wizard) protects a village from the corrupted woods, but every ten years the village must give him a young girl. (Not to eat, but to work for him)

9. The Veil (Devil’s Isle #1) by Chloe Neill

(Author of: Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, #1))

I don’t read much adult Urban Fantasy, but the premise sounds so unique.

The veil between humanity and the veil was torn. Now some humans have magical powers, but they are all forced to live in the district called Devil’s Isle. Claire is a sensitive, but she’s untrained because she’s kept her power a secret.

10. The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent

(Author of: My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers, #1))

Post apocalypse with demons and evil exorcists. (I only hope they aren’t zombie like) Plus the cover is purdy.

Nina’s town has been destroyed by soul sucking demons. She’s trying to protect her little sister Mellie, but she learns her sister has a secret that will put her in danger. Her sister’s committed a sin and the church and their exorcists don’t tolerate any sinners. Finn saved their lives, but he could be an exorcist. Can she trust him?

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I’ve actually only read two of these authors, but they’ve all made my wish list! 🙂

How do you choose which books to read next? Covers, blurbs, authors, or some other system? I mostly go by blurbs, (and if certain things are mentioned, I’m there) but I’ve been known to be swayed by a pretty cover and there are some authors that I see their name and I want to read the book regardless of what it’s about.