REVIEW | Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor was my 13th read of 2016! I gave it a full 5 out of 5 stars!!

No spoilers ahead until I give a warning, so don't be scared to continue reading!

This book is about a girl named Karou who doesn't know much about where she comes from, but she does know that there is more to the world than just Earth and its beings.  She spends her days (when she's not at art school in Prague) running errands for her caretaker, Brimstone.  He is in the business of making wishes come true if you pay the price in teeth - any teeth will do.  The thing is, while Karou is an eccentric human with tattoos and blue hair, Brimstone can't quite pass in our world.  He has the head of a ram, with eyes like snakes and the body of a man.  As the story unfolds, Karou begins to learn how she ended up in the care of a magical creature and where he and his people come from.

(Image from Calivel)

I listened to DoSaB on audiobook and it was phenomenal! The narrator's voices and accents truly made the story come alive!

I loved how we got more and more information about the world that Liani Taylor was creating throughout the story.  It wasn't a rush of information that was hard to follow; instead she gave us little snippets that built to become one huge picture.  And the world was AWESOME! I can't wait to see more since we did spend most of our time in our own human world!

THE CHARACTERS.

Karou. Karou is probably one of my favorite female leads I've ever read.  From the start of the story, I loved that she didn't fit the normal description of a teenage girl with her tattoos and blue hair.  Her humor was on point and I loved that her past with the "asshole" makes her even more different for a traditional YA character, because SHES HAD SEX BEFORE THE STORY STARTS. That was AWESOME.

Zuzana. I loved Karou's best friend Zuzana. She was sassy and didn't put up with Karou's disappearing acts without questioning what was up.  She's human with no tie to the other life Karou has, but she didn't feel like a filler character.  She was important to Karou, and I hope we get more from her throughout the rest of the series.

Brimstone. Brimstone feels like a loving father figure who is doing bad things for the greater good.  That's how he comes off to me.  He isn't perfect by any means but he is trying to do the right thing both for Karou and for his people.  He also is like the wise old man of the story.  He knows more than he can say.

Issa and Twiga.  Issa and Twiga are like the cool aunts who took care of Karou when she was little and still take care of her now when Brimstone is busy doing business. More characters that aren't human, I loved hearing the snake like voice the narrator gave Issa. I really hope we see more from these two in the future books.

   

(Image from divergent-nephilim)                  (Image from Pinterest)

Before I head into spoilers, I do want to mention that Laini Taylor did a wonderful job dealing with flashbacks and a nonlinear timeline.  We jump into a huge flash back that lasts a few chapters I believe and it was not confusing, but instead was just as riveting as the present.  I commend her for that!

SPOILER TIME.

Akiva. The love interest. Akiva's story was so intense from the moment we met him! I felt for him, and in the end when he's telling Karou what he's done I was shivering. I didn't know what to feel! I am so in love with Akiva and Madrigal's love story but I couldn't wrap my head around how Karou could forgive him for what he did.  Destroying the ability to reincarnate and Brimstone with it was such a shock, I sat in my car when I finished the last chapter for about 5 minutes before listening to the epilogue. I'm so distressed!!

     

                                  (Image from tumblr.)           (Image from blackbirdink)

  

Madrigal. Karou's past live. Madrigal. I think my favorite part of this entire book was all of the flashbacks and meeting Madrigal.  The first scene we meet Madrigal is from Akiva's point of view when he was dying on a battleground.  From that moment I had a feeling Madrigal was Karou but I didn't figure out how it could be until we get the scene describing Chiro's transformation and how it works.  I loved the description of Madrigal! I loved the description of almost all the Chimaera anyway but Madrigal felt even more beautiful than the rest.

 

                               (Image by jo-yumegari.)               (Image by halsurfer.)

THE PLOT AND STORY.

Guys. I can't tell you how much I'm still thinking about this story when I finished the book days ago. I just sit and think about how broken Akiva must feel and how just numb I would be if I were Karou and just holy shit!

I loved getting to know more about Thiago and the war and reincarnation and everything that we're told in the second half of the book was just so freaking good!

I do hope we get to see more of Zuzana.  She was so integral to the first part of the story, and then she sort of just disappears but I want her to maintain a relationship with Karou because I really think she matters to Karou.

I STILL THINK AKIVA AND KAROU ARE ENDGAME.  Like I know he killed important people and basically destroyed the only way that the chimaera were keeping up with the power of the Seraphim and that's all really awful and depressing and aggravating, but he's also just perfect in his imperfections. And their love is so glorious I love it so much; I hope it doesn't destroy them.

I can't really think of any other coherent (ish) statements to make about this story. I LOVED IT. I can't wait to listen to the sequel because the audio was so amazing and I want hard copies for my bookshelf so I can see their beautiful covers every day.


Until next time,
MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | Shearwater Part 1 by Derek Murphy

This is read 12 of 2016, and I gave Shearwater Part 1 by Derek Murphy a 3 out of 5 stars.  This is a story about a girl named Clara who's parents die in a car accident just before her sixteenth birthday, forcing her to move in with her new guardian, the Grandpa she didn't know existed.  As if this wasn't life changing enough, the American Clara has to move continents because her Grandpa lives in Ireland.  With so many lies surrounding her mother, Clara moves with the goal to find out why her mother never told her where she was from, never talked about her family, essentially never told her anything.

As the story unfolds, there is more than meets the eye for Clara as she realizes there might be supernatural reasons for her mother suddenly picking up her life and leaving Ireland.

This is only part one of the full novel, Shearwater which comes out later this year (2016) so it ends with a huge cliffhanger! I will definitely be picking up the finished novel when it's released because I want to know what happens with our protagonist!

That being said, I did have some issues with this story.  There are many stereotypical YA scenes and aspects of our characters used even when it read like the author was trying to stay away from them.

This book was very entertaining! The mystery of different aspects of this story, including both why Clara's mother never told her anything as well as the information regarding mermaids was all very intriguing and made me want to pick the book back up whenever I had to put it down.

I definitely recommend picking up Shearwater when the finished first book comes out later this year if you like mermaids and the supernatural YA story!

Until next time,
MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray was my 10th read of 2016! I listened to the audiobook for this one and it was phenomenal! I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars!

For more on what I thought about the book, make sure to check out my review on my Youtube Channel!

REVIEW | Pivot Point by Kasie West

I gave Pivot Point by Kasie West a complete 5 star rating! This is my 11th book of the year (and the month, go me!) and I picked this book up from the library.  My friends Red and Brittni are obsessed with the story and I saw it as I was perusing the shelves and decided to take it home with me.

This story was thrilling, captivating, and so intriguing!

Addison is part of a small hidden community in the United States of people who have special abilities.  Its a well hidden secret that people walk among the Norms who can do things we have only seen in movies.  Addison can Search her future, but only if she is handed a choice.  When her parents decide to get a divorce, and her father further rips the family apart by deciding he wants to leave their hidden community and live among the Norms, addison Searches the two futures to make her decision.

We watch Addison in the month following her decision to live with her mom in the community and we was her move to Texas with her father.

AND SHIT GOES DOWN.

I love how interconnected the two choices were, and I freaking love Trevor! Talk about an OTP oh my god!

I thought the writing of this book was amazing! Kasie West was phenomenal in making sure both stories remained connected without seeming forced to do so.  I did not see any of the plot twists coming either!

The characters and their powers were fascinating to learn about! Knowing that the sequel delves further into Laila's story makes me so interested because her home life was definitely something I want to know more about.

I loved that the abilities also weren't so far fetched as a lot of super power stories tend to be.  These powers were very realistic, if that's a word that's possible to describe something that doesn't exist?

I'm not going to go into spoilers for this book because I know its a lesser well known book. But I do highly suggest you all go get this book and read it because it was phenomenal!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day!
Talk to you again soon,
MissSassyKassie

REVIEW | Saga Series by Brian K Vaughan (Volumes 1-3).

I am absolutely loving this series! This will be a comprehensive review of Volumes 1-3.  I will warn for spoilers per volume before getting into them, so don't be scared!

A lot of times when I read graphic novels, although they interest me and the art may be cool, I find myself a little lost on the details of the plot.  I find myself feeling like I'm just reading a summery instead of an in depth story.

This was not like that.  I love the narration from the daughter; I found that she cleared up a lot of the details that I might have missed if we only got the bigger picture dialogue and such.

The art is fantastic in this novel! I love the bright colors, and the cool creatures that we meet throughout the series! Don't get me wrong though, sometimes I found myself thinking, "what the fuck am I reading right now?" because the creatures can definitely be odd! But that added to the fun of reading these novels in my opinion!

The story is very political, and I absolutely loved it.  I couldn't help but draw parallels from the story about our reality and I loved that the authors really are delving into many parts of our society instead of sticking to one particular problem area.

SPOILERS AHEAD PER VOLUME.

Saga Volume 1 Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

This volume was such a hook! It took me a few pages to get over the fact that I was basically reading some weird ass porn in between classes, so I couldn't help but shake my head every once in a while.

The Stalk is so cool! I love how beautiful they managed to make such a terrifying alien. Like how is an 8-eyed spider like creature with a human body but no arms possibly beautiful?! I don't know but the artist managed it.

I do have to say that what knocked the volume down a star was how easily we see our main characters get angrily panicked.  I wanted to have at least one of our protagonists maintain a level head during most of the crazy that these two are dealing with.  They both are so quick to freak out, its a wonder they've survived.

Saga Volume 2 Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.

My favorite thing from this volume was meeting Isabel (the ghost). I love that she's pink and punk. I loved the fear of the horrors, and then they weren't even scared at all.

I'm a little lost about how Marko is powerful enough to fight off the entire group of wings that come to get them on the planet. If the moonies have that much power, why is there even a war? And it seems to me the wings are the one that carry the most power so... how is that possible?

I love that the moonies have magic too. I like that they require ingredients like snow and a secret; especially the secret thing that was fun!

I was pretty disappointed that The Stalk was killed. I enjoyed her even though she was really creepy. I loved the whole aspect of The Stalk and The Will being in love but having a complicated relationship.  I like that the main "bad guy" is a little morally ambiguous!

And of course having Marko's parents show up at the end of the story was hilarious. I couldn't help but think that something could go wrong here considering that these species are at war.

Saga Volume 3 Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.

Seeing the flashbacks of Marko and his parents while he was growing up was really interesting. I loved that they fought in the wars in the past.  I thought the concept of having proxy wars for these warring planets since they can't survive without the other was fascinating... WHY HAVE A WAR THEN? I hope they delve further into what even started the war. The brief explanation in volume 1 was not enough.

I do have to say however that it was frustrating during the hallucinations because the moonies speak a different language but there was no translation so I'm still not sure what happened there.

I'm so glad Marko (and his mom) go to save Isabel. I love that he cares enough about this ghost that he would risk his life to save her.

Sextillion was fascinating and weird and once again I found myself questioning, "what the fuck am I reading?" I liked that it was a planet on its own, and the topic of child prostitution was talked about in a very interesting way.  I once again find myself liking The Will.

THE FUCKING ALIEN THING THAT HATCHED WHAT.

Having Gwendolyn show up was a little convenient to me, which is why we lost half a star here.  I knew she'd have to show up eventually but the fact that she teams up with the guy who's also trying to find our protagonists was just... ugh.

I was enjoying the slow burning between The Will and Gwendolyn, and that they save the girl.  That was fun.

The whole hallucination thing on the planet they crash land on was also so cool! I was so confused and thought The Stalk had survived and found myself disappointed once again that she was not alive.

Meeting the author was really interesting.  I like that we see his conversation with Prince Robot IV before we find out that he actually is a pacifist and everything.  The whole section at his lighthouse was fun. I loved that we actually got some fun relaxing scenes from our protagonists.  The whole game between the couples was really cute.

I do have to say that the instalove between the mother and the author was a little annoying.  Like its been a week since the love of your life died soooo relax. I know they bring it up but it doesn't take much to convince her that she should move on.

I was very disappointed that the author died.  I wanted more of him!

I loved the whole ending though.  Getting to see Alana fly was great! I was interested in finding out why she maintains that she can't fly. What happened to her wings? Will we find out?  I hope The Will survives even though he's trying to kill our main characters.  I like him and Gwendolyn together!

I even feel a little sorry for Prince Robot IV.  He's going to be a father and now he's short circuited.  He may never understand that he had a woman and future child he loved. Thats sad. Once again I'm loving that our bad guys are still morally ambiguous. They're not just straight evil, they have their good parts in them as well.


I will definitely be continuing with this series! Looking forward to reviewing the rest of the volumes as I read.

Until next time,
Kassie

Winter Biannual Bibliothon Winners & Honorable Mentions.

The Winter Biannual Bibliothon 2016 wrapped up a couple weeks ago!  We have already announced the winners for all our challenges, but I wanted to talk about some of my other favorites for the week!

All of the videos for the week were AMAZING! But some just could not be kept in the dark.  Check out the video here if you're interested in hearing about my favorite videos!

REVIEW | Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard.

This book was a 3.5 or 4 star read for me.  It took me a minute to get into the writing, and to stop comparing it to books I've read before; while the ending was gripping to say the least, there were many predictable plot lines as well.  While I think this was an entertaining read, and I will definitely pick up the sequel when its released this year, I also think it has its problems.


I'm going to go through everything in a spoiler free way, and then get to spoilers at the end of the post so don't be scared if you haven't read the book yet!

THE PLOT.

There were unfortunately many times when I was reading that I felt like I was reading a story I already know.  This story feels like a combination of Hunger Games meets The Selection (which is interesting because the Selection is described as The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor...).  There are many things especially in the first portion of the story that is very Hunger Games-esque and the general dystopian government has a similar set up as well.

Theres also the general plot of bringing the girl from rags to riches. Teaching her the ways of court and royalty/nobility/what have you.  I couldn't help but feel like I was rereading the Selection, especially when we meet a character at court who reminded me of Celeste.

THE WRITING.

While Victoria's story was very similar to stories I've read before though, I also loved other parts of her writing.  She wrote this story in third person present point of view, which I'm coming to realize I really love in a story that is thrilling such as a dystopian. It makes it feel like anything can happen because there's no assumption that your narrator survived what is happening in the story! I loved that.

I also loved all of the super powers described in the stories. I thought it was fun that each type of power had a nickname such as "greeny" for those who can control the earth and "nymph" for the water controllers. It was a very cute unique way to describe the powers we were seeing.

I also thought Victoria did an amazing job in writing her sinister villains. I was sufficiently angry and frustrated with the evilness of the villains in the best way possible!
(Fun fact: I fancasted the King in this book as the King from Reign aka our new Valentine for the Shadowhunters tv show. I think this was the best decision ever.)

THE CHARACTERS.

I'm going to have to warn for spoilers here. I want to get into some specifics about individual characters.

Mare. There are some mixed feelings here. I did enjoy that unlike many stories with a "hero" who is different than the rest and must rise to the occasion, Mare doesn't try too hard to run away from the role she must play in this game of court and government. I love that she wants the change and wants to be a part of the change.  But even with that said, I feel like Mare was a little generic.  She's not the perfect daughter, but she loves her family more than anything.  She hates those in power who have wronged her people, but she still may be in love with one or both of the princes.  I love that she wants to prove herself and her power but her emotions seem very generic in regards to her relationships with other characters in the story.

The cast of Reds. (Kilorn, Farley, Mare's family, etc)
I'm worried that Kilorn is a love interest, and I'm not into it.  He also reminds me a lot of Aspen in The Selection and I found myself rolling my eyes a lot reading his scenes.
Farley is so badass, and I hope whats her face from GOT (brienne of tarth) plays her in the movie.  I was so glad to see that she survived the climax of the story, but I also felt it was too easy that everyone lived. I hope that doesn't continue with the entire series, and our hearts will be ripped at some point.
Mare's family fell a little flat for me, in regards to Mare's relationships with them. There was so much negativity from Mare about her family, that I found myself a disinterested when Mare would worry about them.  It didn't mesh well.
When we find out Shade is dead, I wasn't as sad as I wanted to be when reading about Mare's breakdown when she visits her family. And then when we see Shade alive at the end, I once again was not surprised.  I saw it coming but I also just didn't care because I hadn't cared that we thought he was dead either.

The cast of Silvers. (Evangeline, Lucas, Julian, etc)
Lucas and Julian were probably my favorite characters. I loved Julian and I loved getting to know more about his powers and also how much he knows about the Reds.  I felt his relationship with Mare once again could have been more fleshed out, because when he decided to leave at the end to go on the run, it just didn't hit me as emotionally as I felt Victoria was trying to make it.  He was fun though and I'm always a fan of the character that gives us information about the world.
Lucas was also just a cute little comedy relief.  I thought he was fun.
Evangeline is basically Celeste in The Selection, except WORSE. I love when she yells "she's mine!" during the execution scene! I want so badly for the scene where Mare and her duel it out, and Mare wins.  I want a nice epic death for her, but I have a feeling she might see some redemption in the end.

The King and Queen.
Alright lets talk about our villains. Like I already said they were probably my favorite part of this story. This powerhouse of a marriage was terrifying from the first time we see them together from afar.  The King is terrifying in his own right, but of course the Queen is just... yikes. Nightmares about her I swear.
The betrayal of the queen was insane.  Its not that I didn't see it coming for her, because I did but I think I wasn't expecting it to happen in the first book. I expected the power house to maintain control together for a while longer.  The scene with the Queen controlling Cal to make him kill the king was probably one of the more emotional scenes of the book. I loved the description of seeing that Cal was scared to do it, and hearing the King have some humanity, telling his son it's okay and he knows its not him. Wow probably the best part of the whole book!

Maven. okay. I need to talk about my heartbreak for a minute because I was so down for a different type of inevitable love story in a dystopian and I DIDNT GET IT. We met Cal first, and of course Mare is not betrothed to Cal but his brother, and so everything is leaning toward Cal for our OTP of this book. BUT I WANTED THIS TO BE DIFFERENT. I wanted her to want Maven, and I loved that we were seeing more strength in his character! When we see him come out as a rebel to Farley and Mare I got so freaking excited! and then BOOM my dream was destroyed because he was always his mother's son. I AM UPSET.

Cal.  Can we just not with Cal? I'm so over the wishy washy feelings of Cal.  I have to do what i'm supposed to and be king even if things are wrong???? no. I don't like it. And I know we probably will see some character development within Cal to realize that everything is wrong and ugly with his kingdom, but I'm still annoyed that Mare was falling for him before that.


SOME SPOILERY PLOT POINTS

I absolutely loved the idea that the reds are lying with their technology and making the radiated areas of the land look radiated when they're not in order to have a rebel base.  That realization on the train was pretty fucking cool.

I was also terrified at the moment when Mare realizes her blood is down in the cells, and the queen will find out it was her who set the rebels free. The moment of terror flew through me, and I was so anxious until its resolved... which of course it was always resolved because the Queen is fucking everywhere.

Cal's excitement over the motorcycle... oh my god it was hilarious in such a good way. I loved Mare's reaction, saying something along the lines that its a death trap. It was such a normal conversation to have in this fantasy book. I loved it.

I thought it was interesting to get to hear bits and pieces about how red technology and silver power coexist, intertwine, and are also separate depending on what they're talking about.  I found it fascinating and hope the whole concept gets more flushed out and delved into.

Okay time to talk about the ending.  I know I talked about it a little when I discussed Shade and Farley, but I'm just a little disappointed that everyone we cared about survived. Its such an unrealistic idea that everyone Mare had met (almost) would have surprised such an intense attack on the rebels, and I didn't like it.  I think I'm most annoyed that Kilorn is still alive and obviously going to create a love triangle. Can we not.



Thats everything I needed to say about Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard! Did you guys like this book? Are you planning to read the sequel?