Portia By Christina Bauer

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Angelbound, Angels, author,  book reviews, book, books, characters, Christina Bauer, Demons, fantasy, fiction, literature, maxon, new adult, novel, plot, Portia, Portia By Christina Bauer, read, reader, review, stories, story, write, writer, writing

Genre: New Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 250

Point of View: First Present (Portia)

Released: October 27th 2015

Series: Standalone set in Angelbound universe.

Predictability: 4 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

My Summary:

Portia’s the opposite of her family (and the other protagonists in this series) She’s not a fighter or good with weapons, but she is smart. She’s a top class sorceress.

Everyone is afraid of her though, because she was born Marked by the void. Meaning one day she’ll turn into a void demon.

My Review:

A lot of the good was in the last 20%, so I can’t tell you about it, but you’ll have to trust me. The end is great!

The Good:

Standalones in an already established world are tricky, but Bauer did a fine job of explaining things for new readers without boring those of us who already knew about things. I’m always impressed how this author can continue to build on the world she’s created. The Firmament and the Dragon scale markings were nice additions.

All of the old characters were back, if only briefly. Portia’s family was so sweet and understanding towards her, but when trouble started they completely ignored her. (Weren’t they just saying she was so smart and an expert on all this?)

Portia was a nice protagonist. She could’ve used some of her mother’s snark though. (That’s what made this series fun!) She was hilarious when she got drunk though! Best part of the book.

Tempest was a complex new character. I had a feeling when he appeared in Maxon that he’d be back and I’m glad he was! I wish we got the chance to be inside his head for a couple of chapters.

The romance was sweet, but

The Bad:

Tempest is the first guy to speak to Portia, so naturally she falls for him. It was too hard and too quick for my taste though. I can see her liking him, but thinking of him as hers after one meeting? Not so much. (That one scene was my main problem.) After that it slows down a bit, but it was still too quick for me. (I suppose she only had 250 pages to get them to fall in love.)

Being so short it’s really fast paced. Things happened a bit too fast at times. I wanted more explanation about Portia’s quest. I know Portia did too, but I hate being confused! (Even if the main character is.) Portia did seem to know more than we were told though. How did she know she had Firmament magic and how to control it all of a sudden?

Do I recommend this book? Yes, but if you’re curious about this series you should start with Angelbound or Maxon. Not because of continuity or anything, but because they’re better. (Click the titles to see my reviews.)

Best Quote:

“He’s smarter than he looks. If he hasn’t killed you by now, he’ll go after someone you care about.”

I can’t help but chuckle. “Then good luck to him. My family is a bunch of fighters who would like nothing better than to go after a Class A demon.”

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How do you feel about inaccurate covers? I hate it when what’s on the cover doesn’t match the book! This book has a lovely cover, but the dragon’s not what I pictured at all. Wrong color, and not big enough. I thought it was a winged horse at first! At least the main character isn’t wearing something skimpy, even if she’s only in a dress for one scene.

Hunter By Mercedes Lackey

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author, book, book reviews, books, characters, dystopian, fantasy, fiction, Hunter By Mercedes Lackey, literature, magic, magic system, Mercedes Lackey, novel, plot, post apocalyptic, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, stories, story, world building, write, writer, writing, young adult

Genre: Fantasy, Scifi, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Magic

Pages: 384

Point of View: First (Joy)

Released: September
1st 2015

Series: Hunter 1

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: NetGalley

My Rating: 8/10 Stars

My Summary:

After the world ended, magic appeared and with it otherworlders, who think of humans only as prey. Luckily some rare humans with magic have a bond with magical creatures, known as Hounds. These Hunters keep people safe and are required to go in the main city of Apex.

Joy is a young Hunter, who has lived in a monetary on a mountain for most of her life. Her only family is her uncle, who is an important man in the city. When he requests that Joy join him, she has no choice, or she’ll risk the government learning about the other Hunters in the monastery.

She realizes things are more complex in the city than she thought. Her uncle is surrounded by enemies and Hunting is done very differently.

My Review:

I am proud to say I am yet again an oddball… I really liked this book!

I’ve never read a book before that started so BAD but ended so GOOD!

The Bad (the first 20%) :

Okay, so the first 20% I’d only rate a 6/10 and that’s being generous. The whole beginning is Joy riding the train to the city. It would’ve been so much better if it started in the mountains. Then we could’ve seen what it was like instead of being told about it.

It starts with TONS of info dumping! This girl has concentration issues. If she really spent this long staring into space people would think there was something wrong with her.

Seriously lots of telling! Do we really need to know how they make bread? The telling doesn’t even track! First she’s thinking about bread then it’s the armed services. She also talks to the reader a couple of times. (Which annoys me.)

I understand Joy’s never left home before and she’s homesick. But I wasn’t sure if I even liked her at the beginning! She came off conceited, constantly thinking how much better her mountain was and how silly the Cits are. (Cits = city people)

Speaking of which, I like made up magical words. But then she added in the dystopian slang too, and it was a bit much. Although I liked the names, did we really need things like coffee to be renamed?

Then she got to the Capital, sorry Apex, and Hunters are Vid stars. (It seemed very Hunger Games esque.)

The Good:

After Joy got to the city, she really grew on me! She really is a genuinely nice person. She also stopped constantly thinking of home and quoting her masters. (Which was beginning to grate on me.)

Once she she gets to Hunter HQ and starts going on hunts, the book improves drastically! The hunts were exciting and well done and I enjoyed the relationships between the Hunters. Though she not only makes friends, but also some enemies. Namely, Ace, the top ranked Hunter. He was a decent antagonist, I certainly disliked him.

There’s also a romance. The dates didn’t do much for me, because they couldn’t speak freely. (Since every minute Joy is being recorded.) There could’ve been more joking and banter, more getting to know him for me. Even though I liked him, I was never sure he was trustworthy and I think that’s why the author left him as a bit of a mystery, so there would be doubt.

The world was complex and there was so much to it; magic and psi energy, hounds and otherworlders. I love how the different mythologies come together. It’s so unique and such a good idea!

My favorite part of the book was the hounds! Joy and her hounds were more like siblings than pets. They had such a great relationship! The way they joked and helped one another. And everyone’s Hounds were so different; from winged lions to Joy’s large colorful shape changing Hounds.

The magic system was obscure, but had plenty of rules to ground it. I liked how it worked and the glyphs and the feelings she invoked. That last battle was pure perfection! Now this shows what a great writer Lackey is!

Do I recommend this book? Yes! But have patience with the beginning. It gets better, I promise!

Another reviewer complained that Joy was too special, but I didn’t think so. Sure, she was good with magic, but she didn’t start out with anything that was rare. (On the mountain at least.)

How do you feel about special protagonists? I don’t mind characters that are special. Talk about a character with a rare talent or a special magic and I’m there!

I am annoyed when they are perfect. Pretty and talented and with a perfect personality, it’s all a bit much. (And boring!)

Sequel Reviews: Miss Misery and Quanta

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author, book, book reviews, books, characters, cypher, Darkest Misery, Darkest Misery By Tracey Martin, dystopian, fantasy, fiction, literature, Lola Dodge, miss misery, new adult, novel, plot, Quanta, Quanta By Lola Dodge, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, Shadow Ravens, stories, story, Tracey Martin, urban fantasy, write, writer, writing, young adult

I always enjoy batch review posts and neither of these were particularly long, so I thought I’d stick them together.

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Darkest Misery By Tracey Martin (Miss Misery 4)

Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy

Pages: 279

Point of View: First (Jessica)

Released: August 25th 2015

Series: Miss Misery

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: NetGalley

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

See my review of the first three books in the series here.

I needed something to cheer me up after the Croak trilogy and these books always do just that. Though the fourth book in a continuing series, I’m pretty sure you could jump right in and it would still make sense, because everything is explained well.

My Summary:

Jess convinced the various Preds, Maji, and Griffins to sit down and work together to stop the Furies from essentially ending the world. But a murder and some evil Preds from headquarters complicate matters.

Spoiler free explanation for those who haven’t read this series: Preds are supernatural races that feed on negative emotions. Both the evil Furies and the Satyrs are Preds. The magi are magical bird shifters and the Griffins are the magical human police force. Jess is a member of the Griffins, albeit an unwilling one.

My Review:

All of the old characters came back. My favorite, Steph (Jess’ terrific transgender best friend) wasn’t in the book much. Tom, Jess’ supervisor at the Griffins, is growing on me though. I actually like him now, go figure.

I was worried when I read the official summary that Jess pushes her boyfriend away, but doesn’t really, she just goes to France without him. (But that isn’t until halfway through the book.)

The love triangle is still present, and I still don’t care. I love both these guys! And not because they’re perfect, because they aren’t. I know, this doesn’t sound like me at all! I promise I haven’t been body snatched! I just really like the way she does the romance in these books. Though there wasn’t as much banter as the last book there was a sappy moment. (Which shockingly I enjoyed too!)

The romance doesn’t take over the plot though. It’s still about solving mysteries, kicking butt, and saving the world.

The Bad:

Jess still lets her temper get the better of her. Who thought it would be a good idea to make her a mediator anyway?

I hated the head Satyr who showed up! I know I was supposed to, but I seriously want that guy dead! He attacked Jess and that scene really bothered me, because I was afraid he was going to rape her, but he didn’t.

Though it wasn’t to be continued, more storylines were left dangling than in previous books.

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Quanta By Lola Dodge

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian, Modified DNA, Seeing the future

Pages: 248

Series: Shadow Ravens

Point of View: First (Quanta & Altair)

Released: October 13th 2015

Predictability: 4 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 6/10 Stars

Age Rating:  Swearing, implication of rape and torture. (We know it happened even though it happens off screen and only implied.)

Even though this is the second book, it features a new story and all new characters. Does it stand alone? Mostly. Quanta didn’t do as good a job explaining the world and since I remembered little from Cypher (My review) I was rather confused by all of the terms.

The Stuff I forgot:

In a world where people have scientifically altered DNA the color or your Helix tattoo reveals what you can do. White Helix, also known as the Seligo are the elite. They don’t get sick and they don’t age. Black Helix are warriors with superior strength and stamina, greens have super smarts, blues are mysterious, but have some sort of mind control abilities. Then there’s the red helix, which are said to have unstable DNA. They have out of control powers and are to be captured or killed on sight. The Shadow Ravens are working against the government to free the red helix and protect them.

My Summary:

Quanta is a red helix who can see the future, so she’s spent most of her life in a cell.

Altair lives in a different sort of prison. He’s a green helix, a scientist, pretending to be the perfect son for his senator parents, but he’s only doing it to get information for the resistance.

When Quanta meets Altair she knows they are going to fall in love and she knows it will end badly. (Like both dying badly) So she fights her growing attraction to Altair. It’s not like she trusts people easily anyway. She doesn’t have a choice but to work with him though, because someone came up with a list of red helix’s and they have to discover how.

My Review:

The Good:

I liked how Quanta saw the future and the past. I’ve never read anything like it! She sees time ghosts, people in the space she’s in or connected to an object or person. Sometimes it was jarring having her visions in present tense and the rest in past, but that might have been the point. A lot of thought went into her powers.

We get to see how the elite live through Altair. They were as vain as expected. But some of their kids aren’t as stuck up. Altair’s crazy gamer sister was a great character! Not that the other characters weren’t good, but there wasn’t much opportunity for levity.

The Bad:

Like Cypher, the main characters in Quanta were ‘magically’ linked. Paired. Destined. Whatever. She requires him to have control of her powers. I didn’t like it in the first book and I don’t like it here. This one is a little better, but I still wish it was just a coincidence that he has this effect on her, or their feelings allowed this connection. And I don’t like that Lady Eva scientifically paired them together. Talk about controlling. Plus it spoils the romance!

Although stuff happens, the plot was rather slow for me. They spend the whole book not escaping from the lab. I also didn’t like the way Quanta’s powers grew. (Plot wise I mean.) It’s been done before and this book had the potential for more. (Sorry spoiler avoiding)

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Do you like multiple review posts? Because I still can’t find the words to describe the awesomeness that was One Good Dragon Deserves Another, so I might wind up sticking it with another book.

Warm Bodies and The New Hunger By Isaac Marion

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author,  book reviews, book, books, characters, fantasy, fiction, Isaac Marion, literature, New Hunger Isaac Marion, novel, plot, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, stories, the new hunger, warm bodies, Warm Bodies Isaac Marion, write, writer, writing, Zombie books, zombies

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Zombies

Pages: 256

Point of View: First (Julie, R)

Released: October 28th 2010

Series: Warm Bodies

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Bought

My Rating: 8/10 Stars

Warnings: Definitely an older YA. Violence, eating people, mentions of sex, and they’re fond of the F word.

My Summary:

Warm Bodies stars R, a zombie. He doesn’t remember anything about his life, but he thinks his name started with an R. He ‘lives’ (shuffles around) in an old airport. His best friend M is also a zombie. They mostly grunt and shuffle together, only capable of speaking the occasional word.

Then on a food run, (yes food is what you expect) R unexpectedly saves a girl named Julie. He wipes black zombie blood on her to disguise her living aura and takes her back to his home. He knows a bit about her because he ate her boyfriend’s brain. (Zombies see flashes of a person’s life when they eat brains.)

My Review:

This was one of the strangest books I’ve ever read! I usually avoid zombie books. They’re the one monster that totally creeps me out! But I saw the movie a while ago, (Yes I watched the movie first, I usually do *gasps*) and it was funny and cute and not at all what I expected. The book wasn’t exactly ‘cute’, but it was good. It’s a short, quick, fun read, which is just what I wanted.

The good:

I liked that we were inside the zombie’s head. R’s voice is what made this book! It easily could’ve been written from Julie’s perspective and though I liked her, it wouldn’t have been nearly as good. (And again my love for the whole good monster thing comes into play!)

R is one of the best protagonists I’ve read in a long time. He has an entirely unique voice and for a corpse he’s certainly eloquent. Far from being the mindless zombie, he might shuffle and groan, but his head is full. I especially liked the little things that changed in him after he met Julie. The hope, the caring, and all the little things like remembering how to smile. Julie was a good character too. She wasn’t just a damsel in distress or a mouthy tough girl, but somewhere in between, flawed and totally real. I also like both of the character’s best friends, M and Nora.

We don’t really learn what caused the world to collapse, or the virus of the Dead, and I don’t care. (Julie gives us her thoughts towards the end, but nothing’s confirmed.) The zombies, while traditional were unique enough. I liked the strange gray eye color and black blood thing. (Oh, and that eating human brains gives them flashes of memories.)

There wasn’t the normal sort of plot, because most of the time the characters didn’t have a plan and just reacted to the situations they found themselves in. But why would the plot be normal when nothing else about this book was?

For anyone curious both the movie and the book are good for different reasons. I remember the movie being more laugh out loud funny, but the book had quite a few chuckles. The movie was obviously more Hollywood, though they did a good job using R’s narration to keep his voice. I liked the book better of course, but just for the story not the missing internal thoughts. The Boneys (older Dead, now skeletons) in the book were much scarier than the horror versions of themselves in the movie. I think it’s because in the movie they were brainless, but in the book they acted. (Allbeit strangely) The boneys started a zombie church, and school. Giving children zombies to adults and teaching them what to do. It was all very weird.

The Bad:

There were parts that were a bit gross, but it is a zombie book after all.

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The New Hunger by Isaac Marion

Pages: 105 192

Point of View: Third (Julie, Nora, R)

Released: January 28th 2013 October 8th 2015

Predictability: 5 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: NetGalley

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

My Summary:

Nora and her seven year old little brother were abandoned by their parents in a world gone crazy. At only sixteen, Nora doesn’t really have a plan other than find people. (Living ones)

Julie and her parents are headed to an enclave which is supposed to be safe. At only twelve she can already take care of herself.

And a dead man wakes up in the woods with an empty mind.

My Review:

I’m glad I read Warm Bodies first, because even though it made The New Hunger predictable, it’s not nearly as sad. (I’d always rather be prepared for deaths.)

The Good:

It was nice to meet a young Julie and Nora. I loved Nora’s little brother Addy! M, R’s Zombie friend also makes an appearance. R’s parts were still my favorite! The things he talks to in his head were very strange, but I liked how he traded emotions for information.

I wish it had started just a bit earlier! I wanted to see R as a human and find out how he Died. Hopefully the sequel will answer some of the questions this book left me with.

We do get some answers about the progression of the messed up world, if not what caused it. And there’s a flashback of when they announced the zombie pandemic. It was also nice to see some other cities. (Or rather their ruins)

The Bad:

The tone was darker than Warm Bodies and it was missing the humor.

I was excited to read The New Hunger again when I heard they added more stuff in preparation for the sequel! But I was surprised at how little was added.

So, what’s different?

There’s an all new prologue and epilogue! (Though they were just weird and didn’t serve any purpose.) And a sneak peek at Warm Bodies 2! (Which shows Julie, R, Nora, and Marcus on a plane.)

The most interesting change to me was instead of R remembering the dead blond woman, he sees an old man in a tall building grinning and sipping a drink as his soldiers fill the streets.  Which could be significant.

Aside from that, the only really noticeable changes were Julie’s letter to her pen pal being removed and a paragraph about the militias added.

Though it obviously went through another edit, for word use and such, and possibly continuity. Most of the changes were small, like R being called him instead of the tall man.

Also, mentions of beer and rapists were removed and her penpal sent her Whiskey instead of Vicoden. (I don’t understand why since its still an older YA due to violence and the F word.) I do like that the brand names were removed, like ziplock and Redbox. (And some I hadn’t heard of before) because now it’s not so dated.

Were the additions worth it? I’m sure for big fans of the series they were, but I was disappointed. According to Amazon it’s about ninety pages longer, but it’s more like five! So while I still recommend it, if you’ve already read it there’s no reason to read it again.

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Do you prefer to read the book first or see the movie? I’d usually rather see the movie first, because otherwise I’m too annoyed by all of the changes. And the movie’s shorter, so it’s a good test if the book will be worth it.