young adult – Page 2

Book Review: Aura (Aura Jax #1)

I received a free review copy of this book through Hidden Gems, so a huge thank you to them and the author/publisher!

Dystopian novels are not new, nor are they few. It’s becoming far more frequent to see these stories featuring or revolving around advanced technology. This is one of those books, set in a futuristic world dominated by technology – as well as the Elite. Society is separated into two main categories: Workers and Elite. Workers do just that – they work, right after taking a test at twelve years old. Elite are different; they continue education and go onto work in the Telepathe, the centre of the Society. Within this group are extremely special and rare individuals, who have a Gift. This can take a few different forms, with some Gifts rarer than others.

Aurora ‘Aura’ Jax is a worker, like her mother. Her father is in prison, and the family watch the monthly announcements with dread. During these broadcasts, names are announced for the next executions. It’s only a matter of time until Aura’s father’s name appears.

Aura also has a sister, Selena. She is, in defiance of the strict laws of the Society, neither a Worker nor Elite. She is entirely unregistered. The family have moved around a lot for all of Aura’s life, though she doesn’t really know why. Life is tough for them, as it is for all Workers.

One of Aura’s childhood friends is Elite, and he gives Aura details for a bus leaving the Society. When ‘Cog’s raid their home, Aura’s mother gives herself up to give her daughters a chance to make a run for it. So they do.
The girls make it out, even finding the camp where Aura’s best friend ran away to with his mum. But they find other outcasts, too; Neeve and her father, Edward. They immediately notice that Aura is different, and agree to help the camp with resources if she helps them out. And so they help her learn more about herself, her abilities, and even her past.

This was a really exciting read, though I did find the passage of time kind of strange. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it was nothing major. The details on how different technologies work, as well as how the Gifts work, was really good (though there were perhaps a couple of little holes). I found Aura to be a little naive, I guess, and I wasn’t one hundred per cent sold on her as a character, but she wasn’t bad.

The plot was different, with lots of intriguing twists. And the ending was actually rather unexpected – it definitely intrigued me. I would quite like to read on! I definitely did enjoy this and would recommend it to any YA or sci-fi fans!

Book Review: Throne of Silver (Silver Fae #1)

*Throne of Silver* (Silver Fae #1) by K.B. Anne

First, a huge thanks to the author/publisher and Hidden Gems for providing me with a copy of this book!

This book was certainly interesting, in both good and bad ways if I’m entirely honest. But please don’t be put off by that! I’ll describe both positives and negatives, so don’t write it off as a ‘bad book’ just yet.

Our protagonist in this novel is Starr Bishop, who we see taking an exam for a summer fellowship at her first choice uni alongside her friends. However, this quickly appears to be very different to what it first seems; within a few hours, her friends have been involved in a conspicuous accident, and Starr has been recruited by the anonymously referenced “organisation”. She soon decides to make a run for it, dying her hair and contacting a school friend for help. She’s put in contact with Christian, an emo kid who seems to despise her for no apparent reason. Together, they go on the run, trying to avoid the strange organisation that’s after Starr while simultaneously hunting for answers.

Minor spoiler: somewhere along the line, Starr suddenly remembers that her father was fae. This was problematic for me. How do you ever forget that kind of thing? Or how do you suddenly remember, and not really question it? Surely the things your father said when you were a child about being a faerie would be brushed off as whimsy, just a bit of fun? I just couldn’t quite get my head around that.

Another minor spoiler: a ‘romance’ quickly buds between Starr and Christian. Again, this just felt too fake and forced to me. It was so sudden and just didn’t really make sense at all. Honestly, it was mostly just strange. I didn’t feel the connection between them at all.

Also, Starr is portrayed as pretty bad-ass at the beginning, but then when she’s in trouble later in the book she is completely helpless. Little inconsistencies like this really irk me!
There were some nice details around Christian’s Cherokee heritage, and I liked him as a character (even if he is a bit full-on with Starr). And although there were definitely some issues with the plot, punctuation, and grammar, I still found myself wanting to know what happens next when I reached the end. Plus, I’m a sucker for a faerie story.

So, there are some issues with this book, it isn’t awful. I wouldn’t call it bad, even. There were some definite good elements. 3.5 stars!

Book Review: Fragmented (Untamed #2)

*Fragmented* by Madeline Dyer – *Untamed #2*

This is the sequel to Untamed, a YA dystopian novel. I’d definitely recommend ensuring you’ve read the first book before reading this one!

I am going to keep this review pretty short, and won’t discuss the plot in too much detail. It follows Seven, the main character from the previous book, along with Corin and Esther. They are trying to survive in a world dominated by the ‘Enhanced’; people reliant on advanced technology and augmenters for strength, power, beauty, and just about everything else. If the Untamed – like Seven and her friends – are captured, they will be forcefully converted. Seven has already been there, and is definitely not going to let it happen again.

The trio stumbles across a group of other Untamed people – a group that turns out to be part of the largest remaining group of Untamed, practically a myth, called the Zharat. It seemed like the gods and spirits had led them to these people, their saviours.

Naturally, it isn’t all that simple. The Zharat are not all that they seem, and Seven and the others encounter a lot of obstacles. They thought they were safe, but they were wrong.

My main things to note are that the writing can be repetitive at times, similarly to the first book, and I noticed the tenses being mixed up throughout it. Nothing major, just little things that I picked up on. Also, I found the marriage plotline to be kind of cliché, you know? But it wasn’t too bad.

Thank you to the author/publisher for accepting my request to read and review this book

Oh, and like in the first book, I really wasn’t feeling the whole Corin-Seven thing. It just felt too forced.
Still, I have to admit that I enjoyed this more than I expected. I enjoyed reading it, I sometimes struggled to put it down. Despite its shortcomings, it is a pretty good book! 3.5 stars.

Book Review: Untamed

There are a lot of dystopian YA novels out there. A lot of them are decent, unique stories, but some are very samey. This was, thankfully, in the former category in my opinion.
It’s set in a world where ‘addiction’ to augmenters is the norm; using these turns you into an Enhanced or Chosen One. The augmenters can do almost anything – there are specific ones for calmness, strength, speed, even for altering your height and physical appearance. Taking just one augmenter also changes the appearance of your eyes; the entire eyeball becomes a mirrored silver surface, with no clear pupil or iris.
According to the Untamed (the people resisting Enhancement) this new way of life destroys your humanity. You can’t feel any negative emotions – it’s not right. So these small groups of Untamed desperately try to avoid detection and ultimately conversion, raiding Enhanced cities for necessities.
There are several rules the Untamed follow, with one of the most important ones being don’t get converted. If this happens, it’s pretty much impossible to go back. You become dependent on augmenters, addicted.
I won’t describe too much more of the plot now. Basically, Seven, the protagonist, is turned. But she’s rescued, and thus struggles with her newfound love of augmenters. Does she really want to remain untamed? Or is the Enhanced life truly better?
There are also Seers in this book – Untamed who can visit the Dream Land to receive warnings from the gods, goddesses and spirits.
Seven is hunted by the Enhanced. They want her, bad. Apparently, she’s important, but she doesn’t know why. Her and her friends face numerous difficulties and problems while trying to keep her safe.
Like I said before, this is different. I’ve not read anything particularly like this before. However, there are some cliches, and I was not fond of the way Seven and Corin’s relationship ‘developed’ at all. I use the word developed very loosely; their attitudes toward each other changed very suddenly, with little character development. I know the whole hate-turned-love thing is popular, but I wasn’t overly impressed with how it was written here.
I also found it a bit difficult to connect with Seven emotionally, or even sense her emotions a lot of the time. She was weirdly detached. She didn’t seem to really care about much at all.

Despite the negatives above, I did find myself enjoying reading this. Yes, there were some technical problems and little issues, but it was still a good read. 3.5 stars!
*Note: I also read the second book in the series, which I think I enjoyed more! The review will be posted shortly.

Book Review: The Suicide Killer

I should probably admit that I didn’t realise this was a sequel and hadn’t read the first book. Oops. That probably put me at a disadvantage, so please bear that in mind when reading my review!

This is kind of a thriller, kind of a detective/crime novel. It’s got action, family drama and relationship issues. And death. Plenty of that.

I don’t want to describe the plot too much in case anyone wants to read it. But here’s the general gist of it:

Lane, 18 years old, is the daughter of a (now deceased) serial killer. I got the impression that there was a lot on that in the previous book which I therefore missed. When Lane hears of strange deaths in the area, mirroring some from decades ago, she uses her mother’s investigative notes to try and piece together what’s going on. Because that’s what Lane does in her spare time – she hunts down criminals and deals out justice. She’s kind of a vigilante type, I guess, but with a hint of her mother’s darkness.

Lane also discovers some history between the so-called Suicide Killer and her own mother, which makes her even more determined to solve the case and discover the truth.

The plot itself is really interesting, I will openly admit that. But there was something about the narrative voice of Lane’s that I just couldn’t quite seem to get on with. Something to do with her lack of emotion – which I get, as she’s possibly somewhat sociopathic or at least disturbed in some way – which seems to alternate with kind of out-of-character shows of emotion? It might just be me, but it just felt a little inconsistent.

Overall, I did like it. I think I would have benefitted from reading the first book first, and maybe one day I’ll get round to it. 3.5 stars.

A huge thanks to Hidden Gems for providing me with a free review copy!

Book Review: Feathertide

This is one of those books where I couldn’t describe the plot if I wanted to – I just couldn’t do it justice in such a short post. But I’ll try and outline some of the main aspects.

The story is of a girl called Maréa. She is born and raised by her single mother in a, ahem, brothel. Oh, and she has feathers. Not wings, but fine downy feathers across her body, and longer, thicker feathers along her back and shoulder blades.

Maréa has a relatively happy childhood. She’s loved by her mother and all the women living in the brothel. She is, however, confined to the cellar for most of her time. The farthest she’s ever travelled is the market, and this was only done on birthdays. Her mother simply wants to protect her, scared that her feathers will make her the recipient of unwanted attention.

Long story short, Maréa decides she wants to find her father. He had feathers, too, and perhaps he’d have some answers for her. But it won’t be easy. The last – and only – time her mother ever met him was in a magical, faraway place, often referred to as the City of Water. Further, she never even knew his name.

Despite these clear obstacles, Maréa decides to head off across the ocean, alone. It’s terrifying but so, so exciting, too! And oh, what the City had in store for her…

Let’s just say the City of Water felt like such a mystical, whimsical place. Maréa and her feathers weren’t strange – not when there were mermaids and Sky Worshippers around. Maréa soon settles in, making friends and even finding work and a place to live. She hears stories of all the wondrous people around, of things she had never dreamed of. And then she learns of the feathered people, the ones who sound so much like herself…

In this incredible city, Maréa learns a lot about herself as well as the world around her. She lives a life of adventure she never imagined for herself.

I know I probably didn’t describe it very well, but there’s just so much going on in this book. It had such a beautiful, fairytale feel to it, and I really enjoyed it. It was poetic and romantic at times, and also magical and wholly unique. I would definitely love to visit the City of Water. 4 stars!

Book Review: The Ten Thousand Doors of January

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow – ebook, Published September 10th 2019 by Orbit

At a time like this, I think we all need to be whisked away into another world. This book is perfect for that!

January Scaller is “a perfectly unique specimen”. In other words, she’s not white, but she’s not entirely coloured, either. Her father is a dark-skinned man from somewhere far away – January doesn’t know where – and her mother is no longer around. While her father travels the world for work, rarely returning home to her, January lives with the man who hired her father and practically saved their lives. His name is Mr Locke. He is wealthy, white, and the nearest thing January has to family most of the time.

One day January finds a book titled The Ten Thousand Doors. As she reads, she discovers the amazing truths about the world around her – and the thousands of others – as well as herself.

But January isn’t the only one who knows about the Doors to other worlds. It turns out the people closest to her already knew – and some of them aren’t happy about her finding out.

So January spends time in a mental asylum, is attacked by a man-slash-vampire, almost loses her beloved dog, and ends up travelling to places she could have only dreamt of.

This was a truly magical book. It had a sort of Inkheart-like vibe to me in some ways, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were twists and turns, beautiful imagery and emotional moments and development.

As this was a sort of historical fiction novel, there was a lot of emphasis on race inequality. Sadly, this feels all too relevant right now. The difference between how January is treated when she’s with Mr Locke – wealthy, upstanding, and most importantly, white – compared to when she’s alone is shocking. But of course, it’s real. And it’s still happening to some extent today.

Anyway, I really liked this book. It took a little while for me to get into it, though, so I’m giving it 4 stars. Definitely worth a read!

Book Review: Mermaid Adrift

Mermaid Adrift by Jennifer Laslie – Published April 2018

I actually received an ARC of this book via the author’s newsletter almost two years ago, but I have so many books to read (and so little time) that I only got round to reading it now. Oops!

I have always been a huge fan of mermaids. One of my all-time favourite series, even to this day, is the Ingo series by Helend Dunmore. Not quite your stereotypical mermaids, but I adore it nonetheless.

As the title suggests, this is a story about a mermaid. It begins five years in the past when Meryia, our purple-scaled protagonist, encounters a ship caught in a storm. Humans are dangerous, but for some reason, Meriya is compelled to save the boy – she knows she is physically unable to carry the older man – and return him to shore. He seems to be unconscious so she is safe from discovery, but she bears a small tear to her tale. Likewise, the boy has a wound on his forehead as a memento of the day’s events.At the ‘current’ time, Meriya is betrothed to a boy who has teased and taunted her for years at school, she can’t seem to do magic – and every mermaid can do magic – and occasionally, she still wonders about that boy she rescued all those years ago.

When Meriya decides to study the underwater volcanoes near the kingdom for her school assessment, she finds herself witnessing a full-on eruption. After hitting her head and being badly burned, she wakes in a strange enclosure which she soon discovers to be a garden pool.

Rowan has been obsessed with proving mermaids exist ever since he was rescued by one the night he lost his father. So when he finds Meriya washed up on the shore, he can’t believe his eyes. As someone who works with marine animal rehabilitation and care, he takes it upon himself to keep her safe and attempt to help her heal. He decides to keep her in his saltwater pool and tend to her wounds while she’s still unconscious.

Without going too far into detail, Meriya treats her captor with a mix of fear, hostility and contempt for quite some time. She has heard too many stories about humans to be able to trust him that easily. Rowan does his best to show her that humans aren’t that bad, and even protects her from his rather nosey best friend, Nick.

A lot happens. Nick becomes more of a threat than Rowan anticipated, and Meriya hears news telepathically from Cayson that the eruption has wiped out almost the whole kingdom. There’s a lot more, too, but you’ll have to read it yourself to find it all out.

I did find this a little bit cliché and stereotypical at times. But then again, cliché isn’t always a bad thing! Sometimes it’s nice to have something a little more light-hearted, cute and magical and reminiscent of childhood fairy tales. Plus, Laslie included a rather unique element that I liked: the concept of the Ocean being Her own character. I’d be interested in learning more about Her!

So overall, I definitely did enjoy this. It has possibly rekindled my love for mermaids (not that it ever truly died) and I may have to go and re-read the Ingo series again sometime soon. (Because I definitely don’t have enough new books to read.) 3.5 to 4 stars for this book.

Book Review: The Winter Sacrifice

The Winter Sacrifice by Marisa Claire – Rise of the Dark Fae #1

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I will not discuss the plot too much in my review, to avoid spoilers for any potential readers. (Plus, the blurb does a pretty good job of this.)
My main points of note are that this was simultaneously unique and rather stereotypical/cliche. That makes no sense, I know, but that’s how I felt. It’s like it was trying a little too hard to be different, you know? I can’t say I read very many books like this so I’m no expert in the genre, but still. That’s just how it came across to me.
That being said, I did actually really enjoy reading it. It was easy to read, and it was pretty fun. There were moments I didn’t see coming. I’m even considering getting the sequel.
One other criticism I do have, though, is that it felt a little amateurish at times. There were some typos that I noticed, but also some phrases or lines of dialogue that just felt off. While it was nothing major, I feel that little details like these can make a huge difference!
My rating is between 3.5 and 4 stars. I really did enjoy it, more than I ever would have expected. But there are definitely a few areas for improvement.

Book Review: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

This was certainly an interesting book.
It begins with April May discovering a giant metal robot sculpture. As an artist herself, she appreciates how much effort this must have taken, and is appalled to find no one else paying any attention to it. So she calls her best friend, Andy, who makes videos and podcasts. They upload a video of April and the robot, which goes viral. This may seem a bit odd – it’s just a video of a sculpture, right? But it turns out there’s one of these robots in every major city on Earth, and absolutely no witnesses or footage of how they got there.
Anyway, it turns out these ‘Carls’ as they come to be known are a pretty big deal. And quite possibly alien.
April and Andy are caught up in all of this, inexplicably linked to the ‘alien’ robots forever. Fame and wealth overtake their lives. Their story is really quite remarkable (hah! I get the title now).
The first thing I noted was that April is in her twenties, which I liked a lot. So many YA novels have younger protagonists, and I struggle to relate to them now I’m getting a bit older. I loved having a YA story full of mystery and excitement that begins after the age of twenty. (Perhaps there’s still hope for me yet, eh?)
I also liked the narrative format – April is writing it as an account of the past, it seems, with some insight she would only gain from experiences later on.
As with any good book, there are a ton of subplots, too. April’s relationships are extremely complicated – she messes them up on a frequent basis. She also struggles to maintain her humanity with the sudden fame she acquires, which is so often the case in these circumstances. As she is telling the story from the ‘future’, this means she is able to identify and comment on her mistakes, too.
The ending was both extremely unexpected and kind of predictable. I was both refreshed and annoyed by how many things were left unresolved – especially a lot of April’s relationships. I think it’s purely a matter of personal preference as to how you take the ending of this book.

As this was an ARC, I did notice quite a lot of typos, grammatical errors and also some dodgy formatting that impacted my reading a bit. However, I assume most of these would not be present in the final publication, so won’t let them alter my final rating.
Overall, I really did enjoy this. It was unique for sure, and though I didn’t actually like April all that much as a person, she was a pretty good character. 4 stars!