Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

*This post contains spoilers for the first two books in The Illuminae Files series, Illuminae and Gemina.*

Read my review of book 1, Illuminae, here!

Read my review of book 2, Gemina, here!

Series: The Illuminae Files, #3

Publications: March 13th 2018 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Description:

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion? 

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. 

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken. 

My thoughts:

Obsidio absolutely blew my mind! It was an amazing concluding novel to this epic sci-fi series! It was such an exciting read! 

Liked Rhy- pretty interesting. But nothing compared to Ezra and Nik

Wasn't a fan of Asha- my least favourite of the girls. Wasn't as interesting. Felt very one dimensional. 

Despite not being massive fans of either of them I was still rooting for them and was invested in their part they had to play in the series!

I was here for the other characters though. Starting with our original duo: Kady and Ezra have the best banter in the chat rooms that had me laughing out loud. But they also had some very sweet emotional moments too that I loved reading. My favourite parts where any time they were on the page. 

Ella and Nik's interactions were such a highlight too!

An unexpected pair that stole the show for me was Nik and Ezra. The two are funny guys by themselves and together they are freaking hilarious! Their unexpected friendship in Obsidio was everything. I was here for it!

Obsidio started in the beginning but then I couldn't read fast enough. The second half of the book was mad. There was so much action it was as intense and crazy as the previous books. 

I loved the illustrations by Marie Lu from Hanna's journal- there was a mini comic strip in the story and I was dying reading it. Marie Lu captures Hanna's voice so well in her illustrations. Her personality comes across so well.

Obsidio was such a heart pounding read with lots of action and shocks and I throughly enjoyed every minute of it! It wrapped up the series very nicely and I can't wait to see what Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff do next! 

Thanks for reading,

A :)

A Court of Frost and Starlight

*This post contains spoilers for the first three books in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series; A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin* 

Read my review of book 1, here!

Read my review of book 2, here!

Read my review of book 3, here!

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Publication: May 1st 2018 by Bloomsbury YA

Goodreads Description:

Hope warms the coldest night.

Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve. 

Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated--scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court. 

My thoughts:

This novella/book is completely unnecessary to read. It is an alright read but it has nothing in it that will not be mentioned in the next book in the series so you definitely skip it. If you want to read it, give it a go but I'd recommend going in with low expectations and here's why: 

There is absolutely no plot. We follow Feyre going on multiple shopping trips and a few other characters just hanging out around Solstice/Christmas. It felt very reminiscent of fanfiction I have read about multiple series I love. It was fun at times but boring at others and felt repetitive. 

Feyre in ACOFAS is not the Feyre we know and love from ACOMAF/ACOWAR. I was constantly annoyed at her while reading this novella. I was/am very disappointed in how Sarah J Maas took this badass role model female character we all love and made her into a stereotypical house wife in this 200 page story. In ACOMAF and ACOWAR it is constantly brought up that Feyre is a High Lady and Rhys' equal but in A Court of Frost and Starlight he's the one out at meetings and running the Night Court and Feyre is out shopping and cleaning their house and cooking for him and the others.

The writing is a bit all over the place. The book is told in multiple POVs but Feyre and Rhys's were in first person but Mor and Cassian's were in third person which confused me, like just pick one and stick to it. There was also a good few repeated phrases here and there and lines from previous books reused.

AVOFAS is not a necessary read I will say it is a quick one; I read it in a few hours and when I wasn't annoyed at Feyre I did enjoy it. Also I'm still SJM trash so I'll read anything by her. 

ACOFAS was marketed as a novella that was supposed to set up the storyline for the next book which it does but literally in the last few pages. The content of which could easily have been a prologue in the next book. 

Will I  be picking up the next book? Definitely. Was this one a waste of my time? Kind of. 

Thanks for reading,

A :)

Stormcaster by Cinda Williams Chima

*This post contains spoilers for the first 2 books in the Shattered Realms series, Flamecaster and Shadowcaster*

Series: Shattered Realms, #3

Publication: April 3rd 2018 by HarperTeen

Goodreads Description:

The third book in the thrilling four-book Shattered Realms series from New York Times bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima

The empress in the east—the unspeakably cruel ruler whose power grew in Flamecaster and Shadowcaster—tightens her grip in this chilling third installment in the series.

Vagabond seafarer Evan Strangward can move the ocean and the wind, but his magical abilities seem paltry in comparison to Empress Celestine’s. As Celestine’s bloodsworn armies grow, Evan travels to the Fells to warn the queendom of her imminent invasion. If he can’t convince the Gray Wolf queen to take a stand, he knows that the Seven Realms will fall. Among the dead will be the one person Evan can’t stand to lose.

Meanwhile, the queen’s formidable daughter, Princess Alyssa ana’Raisa, is already a prisoner aboard the empress’s ship. Lyss may be the last remaining hope of bringing down the empress from within her own tightly controlled territory.

Multiple intricately interwoven storylines converge in this gripping novel about a brave, coordinated effort to undermine a horrific tyrant. 

My thoughts:

I had the best time reading Stormcaster! It was a phenomenal addition to the Shattered Realms series! I absolutely loved it and it is now tied for first place with shadowcaster as my favourite in the series. I loved it that much!

In Stormcaster all the storylines are weaving together into this bigger plot with higher stakes and I loved it. All our characters are working towards the same plotline by the end of the book. 

There are so many characters to keep track of now and I love every single one of them! There are a good few POVs so don't be worrying if you are 300 pages in and still haven't heard from some characters I promise they do get page time! The bad thing about all the POVs is that while I loved all the storylines i hated how I had to wait like 50-100 pages before going back to the ones I was obsessed with. I loved them all but was itching to get back to Ash and Evan in particular.

We were introduced to Evan in Flamecaster but weren't given much information about him until Stormcaster. In this one we get Evan's whole backstory about his childhood and how he met Destin. He quickly became one of my favourite characters. 

There are some great pay offs in this book we've been waiting for since book 1 which I loved and even more to come in the next book!

Raisa got a good bit of page time which I wasn't expecting but appreciated because who doesn't love that woman?

Storylines not crossing is something I get frustrated about, I am just such an impatient reader and want the characters to cross paths and interact with each other. But I know all the waiting will pay on when I read the final book! The ending of this one set the next one is very interestingly so I am very excited to see where it goes. I have lots of theories and questions so I am eagerly anticipating Deathcaster!

Thanks for reading,

A :)

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Series: Creekwood, #2

Publication:  April 24th 2018 by HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray

Goodreads Description:

Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

My thoughts: 

Leah on the Offbeat was a quick easy read. I flew through it in one day. That being said though I was a bit disappointed with it.

I am a huge fan of Simon Vs the Homosapiens Agenda so I was over the moon when I heard we were getting a second book with my favourite characters but I was disappointed with it. I didn't get that giddy feeling I got with Simon, I was expecting to be smiling and laughing and gushing at all the cute adorable moments but I wasn't. As I was reading I felt like I was reading fan fiction. The story just didn't live up to what I know Becky Albertalli can write. 

The plot was very weak, as in there was none. It took me a good 100 pages to get into the story and even then I wasn't hooked. 

I loved Leah in Simon so I was so excited to read a full book all about her. Surprisingly I ended up not liking her much while reading. I found her to be very related in some ways (she draws fan art of percabeth and Nina and Inej and reads Drarry) but she is also an awful person. Her constant lying, negativity and cursing drove me mad, she was also rude to others and was just a pretty bad friend overall. I feel bad saying it because there are parts of her that I see myself in but she was a very unlikable main character and not the Leah we got in Simon.

The romance also brought my opinion of this book down. It just didn't make sense to me at all. I was so confused when I realised what direction we were going in. I didn't feel any chemistry between Leah and her love interest and it just felt out of the blue given what we know about her in Simon. There was no cutesy moments that had me gushing and I just couldn't believe that they two characters liked each other. It felt like fanfiction. The relationship was very odd and I was rooting for it or invested at all. 

The best thing about this book was seeing Simon and Bram being all cute and coupley! They were so adorable and I loved any time they had page time! 

Overall I had a weird reading experience with Leah on the Offbeat, I felt like what I was reading wasn't canon, and therefore couldn't believe what was happening. 

Thanks for reading,

A :)

The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan

*This post contains spoilers for the previous books in the Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan.*

Series: The Trials of Apollo, #3

Publication:  May 1st 2018 by Disney-Hyperion

Goodreads Description:

The formerly glorious god Apollo, cast down to earth in punishment by Zeus, is now an awkward mortal teenager named Lester Papadopoulos. In order to regain his place on Mount Olympus, Lester must restore five Oracles that have gone dark. But he has to achieve this impossible task without having any godly powers and while being duty-bound to a confounding young daughter of Demeter named Meg. Thanks a lot, Dad.

With the help of some demigod friends, Lester managed to survive his first two trials, one at Camp Half-Blood, and one in Indianapolis, where Meg received the Dark Prophecy. The words she uttered while seated on the Throne of Memory revealed that an evil triumvirate of Roman emperors plans to attack Camp Jupiter. While Leo flies ahead on Festus to warn the Roman camp, Lester and Meg must go through the Labyrinth to find the third emperor—and an Oracle who speaks in word puzzles—somewhere in the American Southwest. There is one glimmer of hope in the gloom-filled prophecy: The cloven guide alone the way does know. They will have a satyr companion, and Meg knows just who to call upon. . . . 

My thoughts:

The Burning Maze is my favourite book in the Trials of Apollo series. It  was so much fun to read, it also surprised me and it was also much more emotional than previous books. The stakes are a lot higher in this book and it made for a very enjoyable read.

Apollo's narrations is as hilarious as ever. He has grown a lot over the course of the books, and it is interesting seeing him starting to understand what it is to be mortal. Up until now Apollo has always been my least favourite RR main character but I really grew fond of him in this book. 

I was so happy to get to spend time with Grover! We haven't seen him in ages in the books and it was nice having him around.

Speaking of old characters, over the course of the book Apollo and the gang have to get in contact with some of the characters from Heroes of Olympus. Leo played a big role in ... and Jason and Piper are part of The Burning Maze. Piper in particular plays a big role which I loved. I love hanging out with Piper and it was so nice to see her being the badass girl she is in this book. 

Some old monsters also make an appearance 

The Burning Maze was a surprisingly emotional read for me. Rick Riordan took some risks other authors would shy away from in order to please fans and I liked it. I didn't think he'd have the guts to do what he did in this book but it really made the book stand out against his other demigod books.

It was fun going back into the labyrinth; because you never know what's around the corner I was always anticipating the worst which made it a suspenseful read at times.

The ending was mad. I cannot believe Rick Riordan did that! I need the next book ASAP! 

The Burning Maze was for sure the best book on the series so far and I can't wait for the final instalment of this series!

Thanks for reading,

A :)