Series Review: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill
Published: 2007-2010
Pages: 2,692
Source: Gifted
Rating: 3 Stars

Synopsis for Vampire Academy, Book 1:
Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.
After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger... and the Strigoi are always close by.
Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever...

In short: The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead was an easy and entertaining read, though I would have preferred it to be much higher stakes (no pun intended).

Despite not loving the first Vampire Academy book when I read it two years ago, there was a definite addicting feeling to the story and the promise of more exciting plot-wise action to come, and so I kept reading and have now finished the entire series two years later. I had been hopefully expecting the subsequent books in the series to move away from the largely trivial plot of the first book and delve into a deeper, higher stakes storyline for the rest of the series. And thankfully, it does. Though not to the extent that I had hoped.

I guess what I expect from long over-reaching speculative fiction series like this one, is an epic high stakes plot in which the safety and lives of many are threatened and the hero/heroine has to find a way to vanquish the bad guy despite bad odds. Instead, what I got with the Vampire Academy Series was conflicts that revolve around a very small community of people involving royal vampires and their guardians. The conflicts always seemed so minor to hinge an entire six-book series on and a lot of the time I found myself wondering, "And I should care about this why?"

Thankfully, Richelle Mead did manage to make me care enough about the characters for me to care about where the story was going, at least somewhat. The major conflict of the series revolved around the fate of Rose and Dimitri's relationship and though I much prefer non-romance-centric plots, I did like these characters enough to feel invested in their romance. I do think that perhaps this plot line could have been handled better though, as it was largely played out come the fifth book, Spirit Bound, leaving the final book, Last Sacrifice, rather anti-climactic.

I have no regrets for seeing the series through to the end, however. Overall, despite the often trivial nature of the plot and the poor execution of the storyline, the Vampire Academy Series is a pretty entertaining read. Richelle Mead's writing often comes off as very amateurish and unimpressive to me, and yet at the same time it is this simplistic writing style that makes the series so easily readable. I would have preferred a much higher stakes version of the series, like the other speculative fiction series that I love, but at least it made for an easy and entertaining read.

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Review: The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Scholastic
Published: September 9, 2014
Pages: 299
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 2 Stars

Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial. 

Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail. 

All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him. 

So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing. 

Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future. 

The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . .

In short: Unfortunately, The Iron Trial just smacked of unoriginality to me.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's certainly true, and it may have been the thought process behind The Iron Trial, the first in a Middle Grade series by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare with a storyline that is remarkably similar to that of Harry Potter. We've seen how successful the story of the young boy going to magic school - marked at birth for greatness by an evil dark overlord who wants to be immortal - has been with Harry Potter, so why not just repeat this exact same storyline and make a few changes along the way?

I probably don't need to tell you that I'm pretty crazy about Harry Potter and its premise and concept. It's everything to me. But do I need to see it repeated almost exactly in another book? No, there's no point to that. The Iron Trial just smacked of unoriginality to me. It was hard not to constantly be making comparisons to Harry Potter while reading it. And what's more, not only was it an HP doppelgänger, but it was not a particularly great one. When compared to Harry Potter - which as I mentioned, is impossible NOT to do - The Iron Trial is undoubtedly the weaker of the two.

Would I have liked The Iron Trial if I had read it in a world where Harry Potter didn't exist? Yes, absolutely, the premise and concepts in that case would have seemed wholly original. And I find I can always appreciate the work that Holly Black and Cassandra Clare put into the engaging personalities of their characters. I still don't think I would have LOVED it though because I still found The Iron Trial to be missing that extra special something in the end. Overall, I'm sorry to say I was pretty disappointed by the unoriginality of The Iron Trial and I will not be continuing with this series.

Other Reviews:
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Review: City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6) by Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: May 27, 2014
Pages: 733
Source: Bought
Rating: 4 Stars

ΕRCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID.

I am coming.

Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance? Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world changed in the sixth and last installment of the Mortal Instruments series!

This review is spoiler-free

In short: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare does not pack the punch that the original Mortal Instruments trilogy finale had, but was still a good read overall.

I have been a fan of The Mortal Instruments series since its release in 2007 (and prior to that I was a big fan of Cassandra Clare's Harry Potter fanfiction). I recall thinking the story and world in the first instalment, City of Bones, was pretty derivative (take one part Harry Potter, another part Buffy the Vampire Slayer, add a smidgeon of Star Wars, and there you have City of Bones), but I instantly fell in love with the characters and the humour of the series and said features remain my favourite parts of Cassandra Clare's writing today.

I was perfectly happy with the ending of the original trilogy in City of Glass - it really was a fantastic finale - but when presented with an opportunity to read more from these beloved characters in the form of a new trilogy, a continuation of the series, I was keen. I loved the series, why wouldn't I be excited for more? Well, my attitude changed at some point when I realized that this second trilogy wasn't living up to my love for the original trilogy. I can be picky about series finales; a good series finale is one in which the final book raises the stakes, goes out with a BANG, and is the best instalment in the series. City of Glass gave me all that. So I needed City of Heavenly Fire to give me that and MORE.

And well, it came close. There was certainly action aplenty and of course there was the emotional pain and turmoil that Cassandra Clare is so well known for. I like how the story played out and where the characters ended up - in some cases in good positions and in some cases bad. It was a good finale, but the fact remains that the City of Heavenly Fire ending was just not as good as the original ending in City of Glass. I felt that certain issues were wrapped up too easily, some resolutions were resolved too conveniently. The final showdown seemed a bit abrupt, and thus anticlimactic. And as far as emotional feels, well, it came no where close to those of Clockwork Princess.

And as for these beloved characters of mine, what does it mean that my favourite scenes in City of Heavenly Fire were actually the ones involving characters from Clare's steampunk trilogy, The Infernal Devices, and the ones involving new characters from her upcoming new Shadowhunter trilogy, The Dark Artifices? Well, it indicates to me that as much as I love the Mortal Instruments gang, I am ready to move on. Their story has been played out and they deserve some rest now because Clare sure put them through a lot of crap over the years. It's time to say good-bye finally, and it's sad, but I'm ready for something new.

So while City of Heavenly Fire didn't pack as much of a punch as I needed from a finale for one of my oldest favourite series, it was still a good read overall. I definitely wouldn't say no to Mortal Instruments character cameos in Cassandra Clare's next Shadowhunter trilogy, but I'm satisfied with their ending in City of Heavenly Fire and I'm ready to move on. Bring on The Dark Artifices!

Previously, my reviews of City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls.

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Review: City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: May 8, 2012
Pages: 535
Source: Bought
Rating: 3.5 Stars

What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

In short: Though I am no longer as enamoured with this series as I once was, Cassandra Clare does a good job of getting me amped up for the conclusion of The Mortal Instruments in City of Lost Souls.

It saddens me that this series that I once loved has become a bit of a chore to read. I really enjoyed the original Mortal Instruments Trilogy and I thought City of Glass was a great and epic finale. My thoughts upon the announcement of the expansion of the trilogy to a further three books were conflicted: I do love these characters that Cassandra Clare has created and I was excited to see more from them, but I was also satisfied with the original ending as it stood and wasn't convinced the plot could be dragged out further in any particularly interesting way.

Upon reading the first two books of The Mortal Instruments v2.0, City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls, my thoughts remain similarly conflicted. I do still love spending time with these beloved characters, but it has taken me a while to become truly invested in this whole new story line. The beginning of City of Lost Souls dragged for me and I was worried that I wasn't ever going to find that gripping spark that The Mortal Instruments once had. Thankfully, the story does hit its stride eventually and ramps up to a thrilling final sequence, but I wish my excitement had been incited sooner.

I guess my main concern is that The Mortal Instruments v2.0 and specifically the final book, City of Heavenly Fire, will fail to live up to high standard set by the epic conclusion of the original trilogy. How disappointing would that be if the series ended with a less than stellar finale? It would be anticlimactic. That said, I do still have faith that Cassandra Clare will pull out all the stops for City of Heavenly Fire. She has yet to disappoint me with a finale and I liked the direction she went with the ending of City of Lost Souls, so I haven't lost hope on the series yet!

Previously, my review of City of Fallen Angels.

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Burning Impossibly Bright
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Review: The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: September 17, 2013
Pages: 464
Source: For Review from HarperCollins
Rating: 3 Stars

It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…
Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.
Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.
But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.

In short: Though The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas seemed to have everything I love in my fantasy books, I needed more originality to make it stand out.

There's a fine line between enjoying a fantasy book that incorporates all the elements that you love in fantasies and being disappointed in a fantasy book because most of the elements are overused and cliched. Could be just a matter of mood. On paper, I should have loved The Burning Sky to pieces and maybe if I had read it at a different time, I would have. But instead of being of being comforted by the familiar tropes I have come to love in my favourite fantasies, I found myself annoyed that The Burning Sky had little to offer that was truly original.

The Burning Sky is your typical orphan prophesied to be really powerful and take on the dark overlord of the world story. Almost every spell, potion, and magical object in The Burning Sky has a corresponding match in the Harry Potter series. It really seemed to borrow heavily from the world J.K. Rowling created and that bothered me. Especially when the world building just FAILED in comparison to that in the Harry Potter series. It wasn't hard to follow or anything, but I didn't leave the reading experience with a complete understanding of it. The plot in The Burning Sky was also significantly less engaging than Harry Potter.

There was still enough interest from The Burning Sky to maintain my attention though. I loved the inclusion of elemental magic and the idea of the magical book, The Crucible (even if it wasn't wholly original either). And I was fond enough of the characters and romance. The narration alternates nicely between Iolanthe's and Titus' point of view and we get good opportunities to get to know both of them and see how their minds work. The romance was of the slow burn, love-hate variety that I like, but at times I wished we could move away from the romance and focus more on the larger plot and enemies at hand.

Overall, The Burning Sky seemed to have everything I love in my fantasy books. But I needed more originality from it to make it stand out. Because as it is, there is no way that it was going to win in a comparison with its book twin, Harry Potter. We already have a story like Harry Potter and it's excellent so we don't need a subpar version that is not as interesting or engaging - sorry if that sounds harsh. There were definitely some redeemable factors about The Burning Sky, but I am going to hold off on reading book two until I see how it fares in reviews.

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Review: Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: March 19, 2013
Pages: 592
Source: Bought
Rating: 5 Stars

Danger intensifies for the Shadowhunters as the New York Timesbestselling Infernal Devices trilogy comes to a close.

If the only way to save the world was to destroy what you loved most, would you do it?

The clock is ticking. Everyone must choose.

Passion. Power. Secrets. Enchantment.

Danger closes in around the Shadowhunters in the final installment of the bestselling Infernal Devices trilogy.

This review is spoiler-free

In short: I felt that Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare was the perfect ending to an amazing series and its beloved characters.

Overpowering happiness and emotional devastation - is it possible to feel such entirely different emotions over the ending of a series? Because with Clockwork Princess, the final book in one of my most favourite and beloved series, I sure felt that way. Clockwork Princess was a mixed bag of thrills and laughs, anguish and dread. I felt much the same about Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince, but Clockwork Princess kicks it up a notch definitely. I could not think of a more perfect outcome and ending for this amazing series and its beloved characters.

The same thing that I have always said about Cassandra Clare's characters holds true: they are some of the most engaging, endearing, and interesting characters I have come across. Every character, whether main or side, has their own unique personality and backstory and I have SUCH fondness for them all! Which makes it all the worse when they inevitably have to deal with ALL THE CRAP as Cassandra Clare systematically goes through each and every one of them and bestows drama and anguish and shite on them all. Cassandra Clare has proven time and time again that she has no problem playing with her readers' emotions and I suspect she in fact enjoys seeing us fall madly and deeply in love with her characters only to reduce us to puddles of despair and heartbreak by torturing them. Damn her! Works. Every. Time.

"How could three people who cared for one another so much cause one another so much pain?" -pg.175

One of the main sources of this heartbreak is of course the love triangle. But it is a love triangle that actually WORKS. I am still kind of in awe of Cassandra Clare's ability to craft a love triangle that does NOT make me want to cut somebody. But there it is: a TRUE love triangle in which everyone involved feels an equal amount of affection and respect for each other and in which no one comes out of the affair looking bad. Something of a rarity for love triangles. And I love that Cassandra Clare gave Will and Jem's bromance as much emphasis as she gave to the main romantic relationships. For the first time ever, I feel as though a love triangle has been handled effectively and gracefully. And I am so thankful of that.

[Cassandra Clare wrote a really excellent (and completely spoilerish) blog post about the love triangle/epilogue that sums up my feelings perfectly, by the way]

I don't think Clockwork Princess was technically perfect; I had some minor, passing issues. But what do they matter when this finale affected me so profoundly and emotionally? I was very much saddened to have to say goodbye to this series and its cherished characters (though as we have come to expect from Cassandra Clare, this is not necessarily the case). I think Cassandra Clare came up with a practically perfect ending for The Infernal Devices that will hopefully satisfy the majority of readers - it did for me, anyways.

Previously, my reviews for Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince.

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Review: Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: September 4, 2012
Pages: 306
Source: Traded with Stories & Sweeties
Rating: 2.5 Stars

In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures--if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.
All Mallory knows of The City is that her father--and every other witch there--fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it's only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.

In short: Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr has a ton of potential, but is unfortunately bogged down with an exposition-heavy story that lacks in action and character development.

Creating dark and gritty fantasy worlds is something that Melissa Marr excels at. Her books tend to have these really sinister atmospheres that make for edgy and dangerous stories. And Carnival of Souls is no exception. Enter the world of the carnival in which cage fighting matches and masked seduction occur in equal parts. Transitioning between two different worlds - the normal human world and the parallel daimon realm - and four different characters perspectives, Carnival of Souls has a lot going on and a lot of potential.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel like the concept and premise of Carnival of Souls was used to its full potential. What should've been a dangerous and exciting read was more often slow and boring. I blame the crux of this problem on the poor world building. Melissa Marr has created a wonderfully complex world, but it is the execution of the set-up of this world that was lacking: a good majority of Carnival of Souls is exposition. The particulars of the daimon realm and the caste system are described at length and it really bogs down the story as there is very little actual action going on. The exposition-heavy story really hurts the pacing and reads more like a textbook at times as it is not integrated very well into the text.

And I can't say I particularly cared for any of the characters either. We never truly get to know any of them that well and that makes it difficult to relate to them. The romances were similarly underdeveloped and one of them was another ubiquitous case of insta-love. I spent Carnival of Souls feeling removed from the story and the superficial characters, not really caring what happens and eager to set it aside so that I could start something more engaging. And I hated the ending.

I can't help but think that most of the problems I had with Carnival of Souls could be fixed if only it was longer in page length. Very talented authors can get a lot done in very few pages, but I think even the most talented author would have had a hard time setting up such a complex world and still having time for character development and action scenes in just 300 pages. But as it is, Carnival of Souls was 300 pages of exposition - the execution of which was fairly poor and boring - and that's a shame because it really could've been a truly exciting story.

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Review: City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: April 5, 2011

Pages: 424

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

Rating: 4.5 Stars

City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. 
Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

In short: In this latest installment to The Mortal Instruments Series, City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare features the return of our favourite characters but now with new troubles, consequences, and villains that are not to be missed!

I was so excited for this long awaited return to one of my favourite series! Oh, how I missed the intense action scenes, the witty dialogue, and above all, the characters. I have grown extremely fond of the characters in The Mortal Instruments Series over the years. As I mentioned in my Clockwork Angel review, Cassandra Clare excels at creating characters that all have unique personalities and all have their own side stories. There is not one character who falls flat in this series and I honestly care about all of them and their futures. Simon lovers, like me, will especially enjoy this latest installment as he receives a major emphasis in the story this time around.

The beginning of City of Fallen Angels was a little slow for me and I had a bit of trouble returning to the world. But once I did, it was like I had never left these characters whom I adore so much. It was such a relief to feel this way because I had initially had my doubts about the continuation of a series that started off as only a trilogy. Could Clare create a new and unique plot and new trials and tribulations for our favourite characters, and not have it seem manufactured and forced? Turns out that yes, she most certainly can!

Speaking of new trials and tribulations for our favourite characters, boy, did Clare ever provide us with some doozies! I felt so bad for some of the things the characters have to go through. Poor Simon, hasn't he been through enough change in his life to deal with? Poor Jace and Clary, will they ever get to have their happy ever after? Well, not if Clare has anything to say about it. She has proven time and time again that she is evil and has no problems with playing with her readers' emotions. And no where is this more evident than in the jaw dropping cliffhanger that she leaves us with! Argh!

Overall, City of Fallen Angels is an amazing addition to an amazing series. It was so cool to read this book and then return to my list of Top 10 Questions to be Resolved in TMI Cycle 2. Clare whet my appetite by answering a handful of my questions while still leaving a few of them to be resolved in either City of Lost Souls (to be released in 2012) or City of Heavenly Fire (to be released in 2013). I simply cannot wait!

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Poetry to Prose
Supernatural Snark

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*Read as part of the YA Series Challenge

Review: Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely #5) by Melissa Marr

Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: February 22, 2011
Pages: 336
Source: Won ARC from HarperTeen
Rating: 4 Stars - I Loved It!
Description: The Summer King is missing; the Dark Court is bleeding; and a stranger walks the streets of Huntsdale, his presence signifying the deaths of powerful fey.

Aislinn tends to the Summer Court, searching for her absent king and yearning for Seth. Torn between his new queen and his old love, Keenan works from afar to strengthen his court against the coming war. Donia longs for fiery passion even as she coolly readies the Winter Court for battle. And Seth, sworn brother of the Dark King and heir to the High Queen, is about to make a mistake that could cost his life.

Love, despair, and betrayal ignite the Faery Courts, and in the final conflict, some will win . . . and some will lose everything.

In short: The final book in the Wicked Lovely series, Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr, is a satisfying finale and the most action-packed and intense book yet. Keenan becomes more tolerable.

Darkest Mercy was a truly satisfying finale to an involved series. It had tons of interesting plot developments and twists that made reading very quick and easy. It was definitely the most action-packed and fast paced of the series yet which was refreshing because one of my main complaints from the previous books in the series was that there was a lot of talk about the end of the world but very little action to back it up. The main drama of the previous reads was focused on the relationships. In Darkest Mercy, we get both relationship drama and action to create a truly intense read.

In Darkest Mercy, the reader gets to read from the point of view of a record total of eight different characters, including three that we hadn't heard from before in the previous books. This brings the total number of unique character point of views to fourteen! Quite a feat, especially because I never got confused or had difficulty distinguishing between so many different voices. If you're interested, here is the breakdown of the characters featured in each of the books (may be spoilery so highlight to read):

Wicked Lovely: Aislinn, Keenan, Donia
Ink Exchange: Leslie, Niall, Irial
Fragile Eternity: Aislinn, Seth, Donia, Sorcha
Radiant Shadows: Ani, Devlin, Rae
Darkest Mercy: Aislinn, Seth, Keenan, Donia, Niall, Far Dorcha, Gabriel, Chela

I'm still left with quite a few questions about faery mythology after Darkest Mercy. I'm the kind of person who likes tons of details and world building in everything I read so I was a bit disappointed that I still had a lot unanswered at the end. If you're not one of these people who is so obsessively involved in knowing every little detail about the mythology in a book then this probably won't bother you.

The characters in the Wicked Lovely series were ones that I had a hard time relating to. I almost feel like they were too "cool" for me with their multiple piercings, tattoos, motorbikes, and cigarettes. I'm just a simple nerd, a square really. And yet, I found that I really came to care for and love (almost) all of them. I'm probably going to miss Seth and his quirked eyebrow the most. He's a very easy character to love. And I don't think I mentioned this earlier but he lives in a train house! I mean, how cool is that?! I wish I lived in a train house.

And of course, I wouldn't be able to write a review for a book in this series without mentioning Keenan. In previous reviews, I've made sure everyone knew my loathing for him, calling him a plethora of things, including fake, manipulative, selfish, a prick, and a dick. He is able to redeem himself in Darkest Mercy which leads me to sympathize with his character a bit more than in the previous books but I have to say, I still dislike him on a whole. When faced with the decision between his court or his true love, there is only one clear choice that he could've made to make me like him and he took way too long to settle on it.

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

Melissa Marr is going to be making a special appearance in celebration of the release of Darkest Mercy! She will be doing a signing and Q&A at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego which will also be streamed live for everyone! Be sure to tune in on February 23rd at 5PM Pacific Time!

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A Blog About Nothing
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An Avid Reader's Musings

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*Read as part of the YA Series 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

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*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.