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I always enjoy batch review posts and neither of these were particularly long, so I thought I’d stick them together.
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.
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)
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.
Woven Magic Books 
I love that in the first book there is a love triangle and that you don’t care! I love it when authors can do that. 😉
great review Molly!
This is the first love triangle that I’ve liked. Others I didn’t mind, but I’ve never enjoyed one before. Thanks!
Do I like *coughs* I did one today so I have to say yes. They are good when I have many smaller ones
Haha! I love your batch DNF reviews.
AH yes I heard about the 2 of them but I’m mainly curious about the first book because the series sounds totally for me. In fact I even have it on my wishlist!
The Miss Misery series does sound like you. I hope you enjoy it. The first couple of books I had a few issues with the protagonist, but I enjoyed the world enough to keep reading and she really grew on me. Without changing into another person. I hope you enjoy it!
Yes, I love multi-book review posts, because I do them all the time because quite frankly, too many books, too little time 😀
I am glad that you liked the book enough that the love triangle was fine! I am generally fine with a LT as long as it is handled well. Sorry that Quanta was kind of “meh” though!
I always liked your multiple review posts. I’m glad mine turned out okay. I’m always afraid that I’ll bore people. Sometimes I just don’t have enough to say about the book.
Yeah. I think this is the first book where I actually liked the love triangle not just tolerated it. Quanta was kind of meh. I think it was her debut, so hopefully she’ll get better. I’ll still read the next book though, because it’s by a different author! (One I like)
Ahh I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve been on your blog! MY BAD. *hides in corner of shame* But still, this is a fabulous post even though *whispers* I probably shouldn’t have read it because I haven’t actually read the first two of these series. But pfft. Life is short and I was curious. 😉 I think like the second series sounds maaaaybe like something I might like?! It sounds sort of X-men-ish and a bit like Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi! 😀
And I like posts with multiple reviews! I DO THAT TOO!
I’m sorry I haven’t come to visit you for a while. I’m surprised you remembered me. 🙂 My laptop died last spring so I’ve been blogging on my phone and I couldn’t ever seem to get to everyone.
Thanks! I was careful not to spoil anything and the second book was a standalone, so you’re good. The Shadow Ravens series is good. The first book was better than this one and I have high hopes for the third, I like that author.
I’m glad the multiple reviews post turned out. I always like reading them, so I figured why not.