Review: XVI by Julia Karr

Publisher: Penguin

Published: January 6, 2011

Pages: 325

Source: Won from Logan E. Turner (Thank you!)

Rating: 2 Stars

Every girl gets one. 
An XVI tattoo on the wrist--sixteen. 
Some girls can't wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be okay. 
Then, with one brutal strike, Nina's normal is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she believed about her life is true. But there's one boy who can help--and he just may hold the key to her past. 
But with the line between attraction and danger as thin as a whisper, one thing is for sure... 
For Nina, turning sixteen promises to be anything but sweet.

In short: XVI by Julia Karr was an unfortunately obvious satire that suffered from awkward writing and a lack of urgency.

XVI by Julia Karr is set in a world where the government is controlled by the Media and girls are encouraged to seek out sex when they turn sixteen. This makes for a rather ham-fisted and obvious satire, unfortunately, and this was my main problem with XVI. It's not that I don't agree with the overall message presented, it's just that I don't need to be hit over the head with it. A more subtle approach would have been much more appreciated.

I did like Nina as the main character, however. She was a strong and moral girl, determined not to be just like every other teenaged drone. She had an admirable ability to stay strong and not break down in the face of terrible events and her love and protectiveness she had for her little sister was sweet. Still, she had a few TSTL moments.

Julia Karr's writing was a miss for me. It was awkward and repetitive. There was also a distinct lack of urgency throughout the novel that made for a bit of a boring reading experience. Despite the seemingly serious events that would routinely take place in XVI, Nina would be back to normal and hanging out with her friends the next day. And I lost count how many times Nina and friends would get together and rehash the situation again and again, barely progressing.

Overall, XVI didn't work for me. Though I appreciated Nina as a strong, female character, I was put out by the obvious satire, the awkward writing, and the lack of urgency. I will not be continuing with this series.

Other Reviews:
A Blog About Nothing
Avery's Book Nook
That's Swell!

Author Links:
Website
Blog
Twitter
Goodreads

*Read as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge
*The Letter X in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Review: Ashes (Ashes Trilogy #1) by Ilsa J. Bick

Publisher: Egmont

Published: September 6, 2011

Pages: 480

Source: Goodreads First Reads

Rating: 3 Stars - I Liked It

It could happen tomorrow... 
A cataclysmic event. An army of "The Changed." 
Can one teen really survive on her own? 
An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it's a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human... 
Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom---a young army veteran---and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse. 
This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive.

In short: Though I disliked the last third of Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick, the first two thirds provided an intense, action-packed post-apoc/zombie thriller with great characterization.

Ashes is the latest post-apocalyptic/zombie book, this time featuring an electromagnetic pulse that kills some people, spares some people, and changes others into zombies. Alex, an orphan with a brain tumor, is one of the spared. With that background, she is already one tough girl and her nature aids her greatly in the new post-apocalyptic world. She joins eight year old survivor, Ellie, and love interest, Tom, as they start up a new family and try to survive in a world overrun by brutal zombies.

I loved the first two thirds of Ashes, which were intensely action packed and frighteningly haunting, if perhaps a bit derivative of many other post-apoc/zombie reads. Ilsa J. Bick has a real talent for setting up and describing extensive, heart-thumping action and fight scenes. The pacing was incredibly fast-paced. Another thing that Ilsa J. Bick excelled at were her characters and character relationships. I loved reading about Alex, Ellie, Tom, and their little makeshift family together. The characters all had well developed histories and genuine characters. All in all, I would give the first two thirds of Ashes a strong 4 Stars.

It's the last third of Ashes where things go wrong. There is a development that happens that, while interesting, slowed the pacing considerably. While the first two thirds were nonstop action, the last third introduces a completely new environment, new information, and a new love interest. It felt like a completely different book. It was just odd, anti-climatic, and frustrating. The last third seemed better suited to be the beginning of the sequel to Ashes. It's a shame because I felt Ashes had such a good thing going with the first two thirds.

Overall, while I wouldn't say the last third of Ashes ruined the book for me, I wasn't pleased with the halt in the pace. If the plot development in the last third had taken place earlier in Ashes or at the beginning of the sequel, I would have welcomed it as an interesting and original idea.

Word of warning: If you are someone who dislikes brutal animal violence (there is a very graphic scene involving a zombie murdering a dog), love triangles (the second love interest is introduced very late in the book), or cliffhanger endings (this one had absolutely no resolution), then I would be wary of Ashes.

Other Reviews:
All of Everything
Tracy's Happy Bookshelf

Author Links:
Website
Twitter
Goodreads

*The Letter A is the A-Z Reading Challenge

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: September 27, 2011

Pages: 450

Source: For Review from Simon and Schuster Canada (Thank you!)

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

In short: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin couples a freaky psychological thriller with realistic characters and relationships to masterful effect.

You know I love me a psychological thriller. The more creepy and messed up and confusing, the better. And The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer delivers as an intense, freaky thriller that messes with your mind right from the beginning. I tore my way through this one, largely thanks to its very short chapters, but also because Michelle Hodkin throws at the you scene after mind-bending scene that leaves you more and more confused with every page turned, so that you need to read on to find out what exactly is wrong with Mara Dyer and her freaky hallucinations.

My favourite part of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was its odd combination of unrealistic hallucinations with realistic characters and relationships. Mara has a whole, complete family (two parents and two brothers), which is unusual and refreshing compared to the non-existant or broken family structure that we're used to seeing in YA. I loved reading about Mara's relationships with every member of her family. But none more than Mara's relationship with her mother - the frustrated daughter and overbearing but caring mother kind of relationship - which wonderfully and accurately represented mother-daughter relationships in real life. Mara's insecurities and awkwardness around her love interest, Noah, also rang true to real life.

I found Mara to be an easy person to like. She's nerdy and awkward and prone to swearing and violence (what's not to like in those qualities?). At various points in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, she feels the urge to punch people in the face for annoying her: the mean girl at school says something rude and she wants to punch her in the face; her brother and her love interest, Noah, team up behind her back and she wants to punch them in the face; on one memorable occasion, the sun blinds her and she wants to punch it in the face; and several times, she says something awkward to Noah and wants to punch herself in the face. I couldn't help but like her for that.

I was not a fan of Noah's, however. I didn't always buy into his character; some of the things he said were cliched. But worse, he was an arrogant jerk, which I know some people who are into bad boys love, but it just isn't my thing. There is a fine line between being confident and smug and just plain douche-y, and unfortunately for me, I found that Noah fell on the wrong side of that line more often than not. That said, I have a feeling I may end up in the minority and most readers will love Noah. At any rate, my love of the plot was able to largely overrule my dislike of Noah, thankfully.

Overall, I loved The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer for the way it messed with my head one moment and then brought me back to earth with its realistic depictions of family life the next. Michelle Hodkin is a talented debut author and I highly recommend The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. Word of warning though: if you hate cliffhangers and the wait in between books, watch out because The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer has one heck of a torturous cliffhanger.

Other Reviews:
i swim for oceans
The Bursting Bookshelf

Author Links:
Website
Blog
Twitter
Goodreads

*Read as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge
*The Letter U in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Review: The Monstrumologist (The Monstrumologist #1) by Rick Yancey

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: September 22, 2009

Pages: 454

Source: Won from YA Book Shelf (Thanks!)

Rating: 5 Stars - Super Crazy Awesome!

These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for nearly ninety years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.
So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a doctor with a most unusual specialty: monster hunting. In the short time he has lived with the doctor, Will has grown accustomed to his late night callers and dangerous business. But when one visitor comes with the body of a young girl and the monster that was eating her, Will's world is about to change forever. The doctor has discovered a baby Anthropophagus—a headless monster that feeds through a mouth in its chest—and it signals a growing number of Anthropophagi. Now, Will and the doctor must face the horror threatening to overtake and consume our world before it is too late.

In short: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey is a masterpiece, a thrilling horror with exquisite writing and terrifying monsters.

Monsters are real and some of them come in the form of headless seven foot tall hominoids with thousands of razor-sharp teeth in their stomachs, called Anthropophagi. Oh, how refreshing to read about monsters that want to rip you to shreds rather than the more romantic fare that we are so used to in YA these days! The Monstrumologist is horror at its best: terrifying and thrilling, enthralling and unputdownable, despite the absolutely nightmarish horror of the events.

I don't often comment on the writing in books but I simply must do so for Rick Yancey's writing. The Monstrumologist is definitely the best written book I've read this year. The prose is mesmerizing and rich and portions of it left me in complete awe. With a few well crafted phrases, Rick Yancey can paint a horrifying image that becomes imprinted in your brain and follows you long after you finish reading. There are a few terrifyingly gorgeous images from The Monstrumologist that I will never, ever forget.

I wouldn't say the writing style made The Monstrumologist an easy read, however. Taking place in Victorian New England, there were quite a few words and terms that went over my head. I needed to read The Monstrumologist with a dictionary in my other hand. I don't see this as being a negative point though. I love feeling challenged and I love that Rick Yancey didn't dumb down his writing and in the process, patronize the reader.

I was also very impressed with the attention to detail with regards to the biological aspect of The Monstrumologist. Coming from a science background, I often nitpick instances in books where there are scientific falsities that the author failed to research when writing. I am happy to report that I found nothing of the sort to nitpick in The Monstrumologist. Rick Yancey's knowledge of evolutionary adaptations and anatomy was evident, of which I was very appreciative.

And lastly, the characters in The Monstrumologist were brilliantly written, perfectly developed, and completely intriguing. I loved the dynamic between the monstrumologist, Dr. Warthrop, and his twelve year old assistant, Will Henry. The Monstrumologist is told as if written from Will Henry's journal and follows Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop's monster hunting adventures together. They have two very different personalities that often warred (Dr. Warthrop is egocentric and obsessed with his work and Will Henry is sweet and brave and honourable) but you could tell they care for each other deeply as they are the only person in each other's life.

Overall, The Monstrumologist was absolutely fantastic (and other people must agree because it won a Printz Honour award)! Certain passages left me awed and breathless, they were so well written and horribly horrifying. I highly recommend The Monstrumologist to fans of horror and historical fiction. I can't wait to read more of Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop's monster hunting adventures in the sequel, The Curse of the Wendigo!

Other Reviews:
A Myriad of Books
Page Turner's Blog
Good Books and Good Wine

Stalk the Author (not for serious):
Website
Twitter

*Read as part of the YA Series Challenge

Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2005

Pages: 841

Source: Borrowed (Thanks Auntie!)

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

In short: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson presents a damn good mystery and a fascinating enigma in the character of Lisbeth Salander, but could do with a fair amount of editing.

The original title of this book in Sweden is Men Who Hate Women, which, I think, sums up pretty well its truly horrific plot. After months of reading only YA, it was a nasty shock to read about the events that take place in this very adult book. Still, I very much enjoyed the well laid out mystery. With all the pieces of the puzzle in place, the revelation at the end was really well done.

The biggest problem I had with this book was its length. At 841 pages (albeit the mass market paperback version), there was a ton of extraneous and pointless information that could have been left out. I really don't need to read about all the intricacies of hacking and economics. With editing, easily hundreds of pages that were non-essential to the plot, mystery, and characters could have been removed. The two main characters, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, did not even meet until half way through.

Out of all the characters, Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, was really the only one who stood out for me. Maybe it was just because she was so peculiar that all the other characters paled in comparison. Salander is probably the most fascinating character I've read in years. An utter enigma. She is incredibly intelligent and introverted and violent. Why does she behave the way she does? What is her revulsion to turning to the police for help?

Though I suspect the other books in the Millenium Trilogy will also be just as long-winded, I would like to learn more about Salander and so I will continue on with the series. I also look forward to watching the movies, both Swedish and American alike. The American version trailer was just released and it looks very edgy and cool:

*Read as part of the Into the Old World Reading Challenge
*Read as part of the Book Series Completion Challenge,
*The Letter G in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Review: Possession by Elana Johnson

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: June 7, 2011

Pages: 416

Source: For Review from Simon and Schuster Canada (Thank you!)

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even thinkabout kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself. 
But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn. 
This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

In short: Possession by Elana Johnson has an interesting concept and a likeable heroine, but ultimately, the novel's downfall is its extremely fast pacing.

If there is one thing I noticed about Possession by Elana Johnson, it's the novel's extremely fast pace, which can be seen as both a blessing and a curse. Sure, it means non stop action and never a dull moment, but at the same time, things moved too fast for me to truly absorb the events that occurred in the novel and to get a feel for most of the characters. It also means that how the dystopian world in Possession originated was summarized in one paragraph, which is not nearly enough to suffice my curiosity.

The relationships between main character Vi and her two love interests in the love triangle fell flat for me, also because of the fast pacing in the novel. With Zenn, we get to see so little of him that I never got invested in his character. With bad boy Jag, things progress so unnaturally quickly that it seemed unrealistic and silly. I mean, they declared their love for each other only a few days after they met!

The world building was okay for a dystopian (world building is the number one must that I expect to be done well in dystopians). There were some interesting concepts but again, they were not given time to fully develop due to the fast pace of the novel. One thing that I thought Johnson did do very well was all the terminology that the reader has to understand to grasp the concept of the world: this could have easily been confusing with the fast pacing, but I thought Johnson handled it well and I found I could follow it fairly easily.

My favourite part of Possession would have to be the heroine, Vi, who was instantly likeable. A thief and a liar, Vi speaks and thinks in a very typical "teenage" way, with a very sarcastic tone that was enjoyable to read. Unlike some of the other characters, the reader will instantly get a feel for her personality and her rebellious nature as a "Free Thinker".

Overall, for me, the fast pace was really Possession's downfall. That said, just because this novel wasn't for me, doesn't mean I don't think someone else couldn't (and hasn't, from reviews I've read) enjoyed it a lot more. If you are someone who gets annoyed by very slow pacing in books, then I would recommend Possession to you; you would probably enjoy it more than I did!

Other Reviews:
The Bookish Type
Musings of a YA Reader
Supernatural Snark

Stalk the author (not for serious):
Blog
Website
Twitter
Goodreads

*Read as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge
*The Letter P in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Review: Choker by Elizabeth Woods

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: January 4, 2011

Pages: 233

Source: For Review from Simon & Schuster Canada (Thank you!)

Rating: 3 Stars - I Liked It

Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria. Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in.
But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

In short: Choker by Elizabeth Woods is a creeptastic read but unfortunately, I was able to guess the surprise reveal much too easily to be truly satisfied.

My original plan when writing this review was to avoid using the word "creepy" when describing this book because pretty much every other review I read for Choker made a point to mention it. But I think it's pretty much unavoidable: this book was utterly creeptastic. Do not be fooled by the pretty-in-pink book cover. Some events that occurred in this book were truly disturbing and I have to congratulate Elizabeth Woods on that success.

Normally I would have enjoyed such a freaky plot a lot more except for one thing: the mystery was way too obvious, in my opinion. This is coming from someone who admits to being pretty daft the majority of the time when it comes to figuring out mysteries. And yet I figured this one out after about fifty pages when Cara's old best friend, Zoe, comes back into her life. The reveal was very cliched; it's been done before. I can think of quite a few books and movies that had the same end reveal.

Despite this disappointment, there are a few things Elizabeth Woods does well: she created a relatable main character and a fast paced read. I'm sure that for the people who are unable to guess the ending right away, the big reveal would actually be quite impressive as the clues placed throughout the book were well done. Ultimately for me though, I was unable to find the book satisfying. When a book's ultimate success depends on a big reveal and it fails to deliver that surprise, it's a big disappointment.

Other Reviews:

Just Another Story

Books of Amber

Daisy Chain Book Reviews

Stalk the Author (not for serious):

Publisher's Page

*Read as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge

*The Letter C in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Review: Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala

s

Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: June 22, 2010
Pages: 256
Source: iTunes Audiobook Podcast
Read by: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 4 Stars - I Loved It!

Tell me a secret, and I'll tell you one… 
In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister’s world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own. 

Then two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears. Stripped of her former life, Miranda must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister’s demons and her own.

In short: Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala is a touching read with characters that are sure to insight a strong reaction.

Before you read this review I implore you to watch this AMAZING book trailer for Tell Me a Secret. It is probably my favourite book trailer ever.

I am not a big contemporary reader. Nor would I say I have ever had an interest in reading a book about teen pregnancy. But I found that despite this I really enjoyed this book. This may be because Tell Me a Secret was about much more than teen pregnancy which we find out when we delve into the complicated life of Miranda Rand Mathison.

The thing that struck me the most about this book were its well developed characters. Characters that were able to insight a very strong reaction out of me. Some characters were utterly engaging, others utterly infuriating. One character in particular actually made me so angry I wanted to strangle her: Delaney, Rand's new best friend, was just such a - ugh! - female dog! Major kudos to Cupala for creating an antagonist that was able to get my blood boiling. An antagonist hasn't created such a strong emotion of hate in me since the last time I reread Order of the Phoenix. (Keenan doesn't count because I believe Melissa Marr intended for him to be a likeable and sympathetic character; I just didn't agree).

And at the same time that I hated Delaney, I loved and sympathized with Rand in equal amounts. Especially near the end of the story, things get so bad for Rand that I just ached for her. She hits such a low point in her life and I wanted so badly for her to make it through all of her problems. She was such a relatable and realistic character. You just can't help but root for her.

A note on the audiobook: Fantastic! Jenna Lamia did a brilliant job with all the voices of the characters. I will for sure be looking into whether she has ever done any other audiobooks because I would love to hear more from her. This audiobook is available as a podcast on iTunes for free but from what I understand, it's for a limited time only. I strongly recommend that you download it while you can!

Other Reviews:

365 Days of Reading

A Blog About Nothing

Good Books and Good Wine

Stalk the Author (not for serious):

Website

Twitter

Goodreads

*The Letter T in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Review: Radiant Shadows (Wicked Lovely #4) by Melissa Marr

Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: April 2, 2010
Pages: 340
Source: Library
Rating: 3 Stars - I Liked It
Description: Hunger for nourishment. Hunger for touch. Hunger to belong. Half-human and half-faery, Ani is driven by her hungers.

Those same appetites also attract powerful enemies and uncertain allies, including Devlin. He was created as an assassin and is brother to the faeries' coolly logical High Queen and to her chaotic twin, the embodiment of War. Devlin wants to keep Ani safe from his sisters, knowing that if he fails, he will be the instrument of Ani's death.

Ani isn't one to be guarded while others fight battles for her, though. She has the courage to protect herself and the ability to alter Devlin's plans—and his life. The two are drawn together, each with reason to fear the other and to fear forone another. But as they grow closer, a larger threat imperils the whole of Faerie. Will saving the faery realm mean losing each other?

In short: Unfortunately, I had a hard time connecting to the characters and relationship in Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr. But at least there was no Keenan!

Radiant Shadows is the second departure from the Aislinn-Seth-Keenan storyline in the Wicked Lovely series (the first one being Ink Exchange) while still being a continuation of the story. If that makes any sense at all. Radiant Shadows features halfing Ani, who we learn about briefly in Ink Exchange, the advisor to the High Queen, Devlin, who we learn about briefly in Fragile Eternity, and a completely new character, Rae, who is a dreamwalker.

I was pretty tolerant of the first departure from the main storyline in Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely #2), I think because I hadn't become as invested in the main characters at that point, but after reading Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely #3), I found that I didn't have very much patience for these new characters. While Marr does a fairly good job at tying in this book to the overarching storyline, I couldn't help but feel like I just wanted to get back to the main story with the main characters. I think it's for this reason that I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. Also, the relationship between Ani and Devlin was just sort of random and felt inauthentic. There was no real buildup to their relationship.

I hesitate to mention this, but I have one nitpick with the plot that just won't stop bugging me: I really wish Marr had taken the time to understand how the Sleep Cycle and REM Sleep works. Or maybe she does know but she just chose to ignore it. At any rate, there were certain scenes involving Rae, the dreamwalker, that just didn't work for me because they didn't have at least a basis of fact. It might be unfair of me to nitpick to this detail but unfortunately, it did impact my enjoyment of the novel and simple research on Marr's part could have corrected this.

The ending was the saving grace of Radiant Shadows; I really liked the direction and advancement of the plot at the end. It sets it up perfectly for the final in the series, Darkest Mercy! Another thing I really liked was the further look into the mythology of the Dark Court, and along with that, Niall and Irial's relationship. Also a plus: no Keenan!

Previously, My Reviews for Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, and Fragile Eternity.

Other Reviews:
Shaded
A Blog About Nothing
Musings Of A Reader Happy

Stalk the Author (not for serious):

Website
Blog
Goodreads
Twitter
Fansite

*Read as part of the YA Series Challenge
*The Letter R in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Review: Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely #3) by Melissa Marr

Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: January 1, 2009
Pages: 389
Source: Library
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Description: Seth never expected he would want to settle down with anyone—but that was before Aislinn. She is everything he'd ever dreamed of, and he wants to be with her forever. Forever takes on new meaning, though, when your girlfriend is an immortal faery queen.

Aislinn never expected to rule the very creatures who'd always terrified her—but that was before Keenan. He stole her mortality to make her a monarch, and now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she'd ever imagined.

In Melissa Marr's third mesmerizing tale of Faerie, Seth and Aislinn struggle to stay true to themselves and each other in a milieu of shadowy rules and shifting allegiances, where old friends become new enemies and one wrong move could plunge the Earth into chaos.

In short: Though I didn't love Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr as much as the previous two books in the series, it was still a solid, entertaining sequel. I still hate Keenan.

I've never written a review for a sequel in a series before (Ink Exchange didn't really count) so I am going to do my best to try to make this as vague as possible to avoid any spoilers.

First off, let me say that I am glad I decided to read Ink Exchange instead of skipping it even though it wasn't technically a sequel. In Ink Exchange, the reader gains loads of information about the Dark Court. As the Dark Court is still integral to the plot in Fragile Eternity, I would have missed some significant developments had I chosen to skip it.

Right at the start of Fragile Eternity, there's a promise of action the likes of which we haven't seen before in the previous books in the series. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a false promise because there wasn't really a whole lot going down for the first half of the book. There was a lot of talk of the impending doom of the world, but very little danger actually takes place. The majority of the drama in the story occurs in the complicated relationships. Of course, this is true for the previous books in the series as well but I was able to overlook that because that was during the still early stages of the series. I'm getting a bit impatient for some real action now that I'm more than halfway done the series.

In case you were wondering, Keenan is still a selfish prick. He continues to manipulate both of his love interests for his own gain, blatantly leading them both on. He wants the total love and attention of both of them. And somehow they're both still forgiving and sympathetic towards him?! There were some hints that he feels bad for his actions, but I just don't buy his feelings.

Okay, okay. Enough of the bad. Now let's talk about the good. I enjoyed the new reveals in the faery mythology. Whereas Wicked Lovely focused on the Summer and Winter Courts and Ink Exchange focused on the Dark Court, Fragile Eternity focuses on the High Court. I've really come to enjoy and appreciate this slow reveal of the Faery World that Marr has been doing with each book, learning about it all in bits and pieces rather than all at once.

Although I didn't like Fragile Eternity as much as the first two books in this series, it was still a fairly entertaining read. I look forward to reading Radiant Shadows next!

Previously, My Reviews for Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange.

Other Reviews:

Novels On The Run

Musings of a Reader Happy

The Story Siren

Stalk the Author (not for serious):

Website
Blog
Goodreads
Twitter
Fansite

*Read as part of the YA Series Challenge
*The Letter F in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Note: I'm so sorry that it's been two weeks since I last posted a review! I'm feeling completely overwhelmed with school at the moment as I scramble to write up a research grant proposal for the summer. And it's only going to get worse as midterms are fast approaching... Sincerest apologies.