The Midnight Star by Marie Lu

Short review today! I am super busy in college and don't have much time to write lengthy reviews for the next few weeks! 

*Warning this post contains spoilers for the first two books in the series; The Young Elites and The Rose Society!

Series: The Young Elites, #3

Publication: October 11th 2016 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Description:
There was once a time when darkness shrouded the world, and the darkness had a queen.

Adelina Amouteru is done suffering. She’s turned her back on those who have betrayed her and achieved the ultimate revenge: victory. Her reign as the White Wolf has been a triumphant one, but with each conquest her cruelty only grows. The darkness within her has begun to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy all she’s gained.

When a new danger appears, Adelina’s forced to revisit old wounds, putting not only herself at risk, but every Elite. In order to preserve her empire, Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest—though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger. 

My thoughts:

When I picked up The Midnight Star it had been nearly 2 years since I had read The Rose Society so I was a bit aprehensiive going in becuase I could hardly remember anything but it turned out not to be a problem. A few chapters in and everything came back to me and I was hooked. I had so  much fun reading this conclusion to the trilogy!

I had forgotten how dark Adelina was and when I was reminded I fell in love with her all over again. She's so different from other YA characters. Her growth over the course of the series is amazing and while she takes her cruelty to a new level in this final book I couldn't help but admire her confidence. While I love her wicked side I can't ignore her more vulnerable side that we do get to see in this final book. Adelina's relationship with Magiano really brings out the humanity in her from time to time and I really liked that!

There was a good bit of world building in The Midnight Star that I wasn't expecting since this was the last book in the series but I enjoyed exploring more aspects of the world. We get some answers about the Blood Fever and how it came it be and also get introduced to the idea of Immortals in the world and the mythology behind them which I found interesting.

I absolutely loved the ending. The series wraps up in such a nice way it was great. I particularly loved the last chapter/epilogue because it read like a fairytale/folk tale! The writing was just amazing. I loved how the series went in such a unique direction.

If I could only use one word to describe this series it would be 'different' and that's what makes it so fun to read! I loved how unique The Young Elites is from other YA trilogies out there. From the world to the characters it is just all so fresh and new! I had a lot of fun reading this series and regret not picking up this final book sooner.

Thanks for reading,
A :)

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

*warning this review contains spoilers for the first book in the Monsters of Verity duology, This Savage Song*

Read my review of This Savage Song here!

Series: Monsters of Verity, #2

Publication: June 13th 2017 by Greenwillow Books

Goodreads Description:

THE WORLD IS BREAKING. AND SO ARE THEY.

KATE HARKER isn't afraid of monsters. She hunts them. And she's good at it.

AUGUST FLYNN once yearned to be human. He has a part to play. And he will play it, no matter the cost.

THE WAR HAS BEGUN.

THE MONSTERS ARE WINNING.

Kate will have to return to Verity. August will have to let her back in. And a new monster is waiting—one that feeds on chaos and brings out its victims' inner demons.

Which will be harder to conquer: the monsters they face, or the monsters within?

My thoughts:

I really liked This Savage Song last year when I read it and I am a huge fan of Schwab's books so I had high expectations going into Our Dark Duet and unfortunately I was a bit disappointed. For me This Savage Song is the stronger book in the Monsters of Verity series, that's not to say Our Dark Duet was bad, it just wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be.

There was a handful of new characters introduced in the beginning but they just disappeared when Kate left and got no page time so they were very underdeveloped and I would have liked to see much more of them. Another new character that gets brought into the story is a 

new sunai called Soro. Soro is gender neutral which is something I've never come across in YA so they were cool to read about even if they didn't get as much page time as I would have liked.

We also get a new POV in Our Dark Duet- Sloan. I was meh about all his chapters, I only cared about Kate and August. His POV wasn't really that necessary and it didn't add much to the plot at all in my opinion.

I loved how Kate doesn't take anyone's shit and how strong  and capable August has become. Their character arcs in this book are a lot different than book 1.

I found the plot to be very slow until half way when the characters started interacting with each other. And I was struggling a bit which is a first for me with VE Schwab. It was okay though because halfway through it picked up and the last quarter was amazing. There was so much action and stuff going on; it got fast paced and compelling and I couldn't stop reading.

Our Dark Duet ended in an unexpected way but I can't imagine any other way it could have ended. Schwab did something I think a lot of authors wouldn't risk and it was perfect.

While ODD wasn't as good as TSS I still liked it and am a bit sad we won't get another book with these characters.

My rating: 4 stars

Thanks for reading,

A :)

Through The Dark by Alexandra Bracken

*This post may contain spoilers for all three books in The Darkest Minds Trilogy by Alexandra Bracken' The Darkest Minds, Neverfade, In The After Light*

Series: The Darkest Minds, #1.5, #2.5, #3.5

Publication:October 6th 2015 by Disney Hyperion

Goodreads Description:
Don't miss this breathtaking collection of stories set in the world of the New York Times best-selling Darkest Minds trilogy. Featuring ebook original novellas In Time and Sparks Rise, and a gripping, brand-new novella, Through the Dark is a must-have for fans of the Darkest Minds. This collection contains three novellas: In Time, Sparks Rise, and Beyond the Night, as well as a sneak peek at the first novel in Alexandra Bracken's new series, Passenger. 

IN TIME 
Gabe's life has been devastated in the wake of the economic crash. The only option left for someone like him to escape his tragic past is to leave his small town behind and to attempt to become a skiptracer. This already almost-impossible task is made all the more difficult by his first "score,"a young girl who won't speak, but who changes his life in ways he could never imagine. 

SPARKS RISE 
Sam didn't think things could get worse at Thurmand rehabilitation camp. Then the Reds arrive. Everyone assumed the kids with firepower had been killed years ago. Instead they were taken away, brainwashed, and returned as terrifyingly effective guards. To her horror, Sam recognizes one of them: Lucas, the one spark of light in Sam's dark childhood. Lucas has a deadly secret--he beat the brutal training that turned his fellow Reds into mindless drones. When Sam defends herself against an attack by a vile PSF guard and faces a harrowing punishment, Lucas must risk everything to save her. 

BEYOND THE NIGHT 
The government-run "rehabilitation camps" have been shut down, but kids with Psi powers are anything but free. Sam would rather be on her own than put in the care of a foster family and given the "cure"--a dangerous procedure that unclaimed kids across the country are being forced to undergo. But there's more at stake than just her own safety. Sam once made someone a promise, and the time has come to fulfill it. Now that she's out of her camp, Mia only has one thought in her head: finding Lucas, her beloved older brother.

My Thoughts:
Through The Dark is an amazing addition to The Darkest Minds Trilogy. I would highly recommend reading the three novellas in between each novel; so: The Darkest Minds, In Time, Neverfade Sparks Rise, In The Afterlight and then Beyond The Night.
Alexandra Bracken is so freaking good at wrting novellas. even though the stories are short they have all the charm and emotional punch her full length novels have. 

In Time
The character development in this novella is enough of a reason to read it. It was my least favourite of the three but it was still really good.

Sparks Rise
I really enjoyed this novella. I gave readers a really good insight into what the camps were like. I was really surprised at how much of an emotional read Spars Rise was. The new characters,Sam and Lucas, introduced were just so likable. The more I read the more invested I got in them. I really grew to love both Sam and Lucas in the 80 or so pages we got with them. I really felt for them, I was cheering for them at points and I was genuinely worried for them at other parts.

Beyond the Night
This novella was definitely my favourite novella. The story takes place a few weeks after the events of In The Afterlight so if you weren't satisfied with the ending you should read this novella. It answered a lot of questions I had when I finished In The Afterlight. And I loved this novella because the old gang makes an appearance!! I'm not going to say who but I was so excited to see them.I missed them so much so it was wonderful to see all my favoruites again.

Overall, Through The Dark is a great addition to the series and a must read if you love The Darkest Minds Trilogy.

My Rating: 4.5

Thanks for reading,
A :)
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The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín

Publication:August 30th 2016 by David Fickling Books

Goodreads Description:
Imagine a world where you might disappear any minute, only to find yourself alone in a grey sickly land, with more horrors in it than you would ever wish to know about. And then you hear a horn and you know that whoever lives in this hell has got your scent and the hunt has already begun.

Could you survive the Call?

My thoughts:
The Call is dark and bloody and I loved it. I couldn't put it down.

Nessa, our main character, is a determined young girl who I really admired. I loved how she didn't let her disability stop her from anything. She had a strong mindset of not falling behind and trying her very best in spite of her legs.
We do get a good grasp of the other characters, but I would have liked a bit more. There was so many characters, I felt like we just skimmed the surface of them.  The story does swap POVs a lot; personally I would have preferred to stay with Nessa because she was my favourite but if we had then we wouldn't really see how bloodthirsty and twisted the Sidhe are.

The plot was super gripping and engaging. I couldn't stop reading, I had to know what was going to happen. It was so fast paced and chapters often ended on a cliffhanger which made me eager to keep reading.

The setting was great. I am Irish so I loved how the story was set in Ireland, I have never come across a YA set here! I loved how our culture really shined through and how some of the names were irish, like there was an Aoife! I have never come across an Aoife in my reading! I loved how our mythology was woven into the story with the faeries and stuff. Those who don't have Irish/ aren't from Ireland might have a hard time pronouncing a lot of the names/places.

One of my problems with The Call was that the ending wasn't an ending in my eyes. It was a bit anticlimactic. I really hope there is a sequel because there is still a lot of questions unanswered.

The book was marketed as horror but I didn't find it scary at all. It was pretty violent but nothing I haven't read before.

Overall I really enjoyed The Call and will definitely be picking up anything else Peadar Ó Guilin writes, especially if there is a sequel!

My rating: 4 stars
Thanks for reading,
A :)
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Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Series: The Illuminae Files,#1

Published: 20th October 2015 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Description:

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes. 

My thoughts:

Illuminae is freaking amazing! I absolutely loved it! It is a fantastic story told in a unique way that I throughly enjoyed.

The formatting of Illuminae is what really makes the book special. The story is told through IMs, survallience footage, interviews, transcripts of audio recordings, emails and lots more types of multi media. This unique format is hard to get used to in the beginning, the first 50 pages or so were difficult for me to follow the but I pushed through and eventually it started to make sense. Because of the unique formatting we get lots of POVs which is great, even artificial intelligence which is so cool!

I loved the two main characters Kady and Ezra so much. They were great. I had a hard time really connecting to Kady because it's all through dialogue it is hard to really get to know her but with time I really grew to love her. She is one of the coolest characters ever; she is a freaking genius computer hacker! And she is really pro-girlpower which I love and she so so sarcastic and blunt I loved it! Ezra was freaking hilarious; he is so snarky and just anytime he was in a scene it was so much fun. The banter between the two of them was on point. The authors really captured teen voices in their characters. The way they spoke (well typed since it was IMing mostly) was so relatable and realistic. Their relationship was so fun to read and was developed perfectly. 

The plot was a bit slow in the start; there is a goo bit of build up but then it gets crazy. Once it got going to story was so intense, with some surprises here and there, it was so addictive,I couldn't put it down. I was constantly on edge wondering will they make it or won't they make it.

I'm not a huge sci-fi reader so I was apprehensive going in that I wouldn't have a clue what was going on but it was grand. Illuminae is very sci-fi- there is spaceships and computers and artificial intelligence but I didn't have a problem with it at all. 

The ending makes me so excited for the next instalment in the series; I've heard the second book is about different characters so it will be interesting to see how their story connects with Illuminae.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Illuminae, it was nothing like I've ever read before and I highly recommend it!

My rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Thanks for reading,

A :)

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Spolier Free Series Review of the Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown

Series: Red Rising

Publication:January 28th 2014 by Del Rey (Random House)

Goodreads Description of book 1, Red Rising:"I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."

"I live for you," I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

My thoughts:
There is a lot of hype surrounding this trilogy so I went in with very high expectations and I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed. I liked the first book and really liked the second book and loved the third. The Red Rising Trilogy is definitely one that gets better with every book!

Book 1, Red Rising felt similar to some other YA dystopian/fantasy books. I felt like I was rereading something I'd already read before which is not necessarily a bad thing but I was expecting something more unique.

It took me a while to get into. The plot was very slow to start but I pushed through and the second half was fantastic and as I said the series gets better with each book

I had a hard time understanding the world in the beginning. There is a lot of info dumps in the first book he first book and I kept getting lost in the explanations but I kept reading and somewhere during the second book it all kind of clicked in my head. Side note on the world building: there is a lot of unique vocabulary which was really confusing in the beginning. Not everything is explained so you just kind of have to go with it and eventually you get a better understanding.

There wasn't a lot of scifi stuff in the first book but the 2nd and 3rd are full of it. There is lots of spaceships and technology. There is so many epic Intergalacic battle scenes which blew me away.

Darrow wasn't anything special; to me he felt like a typical YA dystopian protagonist. I loved some of the other characters though; especially Mustang and Sevro who are introduced in the first book.

Friendship and loyalty are big parts of the series which I liked. There was lots of betrayals and there was definitely some characters that I wasn't sure if i should trust them or not. And there was some friendships that were developed at a lovely pace. 

All in all, I really enjoyed the Red Rising trilogy. I am glad I picked up the second book and continued with the trilogy. While red rising didn't live up to the hype for me Golden Son and Morning Star did! If you are into scifi you  should give the troligy a go. 

My ratings:
Red Rising: 3.5
Golden Son: 4
Morning Star: 4.5

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This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

Series: Monsters of Verity, #1

Publication:July 5th 2016 by Greenwillow Books 

Goodreads Description:
There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives. 

My Thoughts:
This Savage Song is a truly unique story that captivated me from the very first page. It is unlike anything story I have ever read before and I enjoyed reading it because it was so fresh and new.

Kate is a very intense character. She is hard to like because she so cut-throat and edgy. The only problem I had with her was she is a rebellious bitch who rebels for the attention in the beginning of the story. I did really grow to like her though. It was slow going but by the end of the novel I did like her.

August on the other hand, I loved straight away. He is the sweetest monster. I loved reading about how he just wants to be human. It was also cool reading his POV becuse he is really into music; so the way he describes things was so interesting.

Kate and August end up in an unlikely friendship and it doesn't hint have any hints of  romance which is so refreshing to read a YA like that. Usually the romance in YA can take away from other aspects of the story like plot but because there is no romance in This Savage Song this isn't a problem!

The world building is done really well. The story is set in a very dull war torn city with humans and monsters trying to live alongside each other. The different types of monsters is explained really well. I found the concept of monsters being the results of different negetive actions so interesting and fascinating.The Malchai are formed from murders, the Corsai are formed from violent act and the Sunai are formed when there is a major catastrophe such as bombs. 

The plot is a bit slow in the beginning but I didn't mind because I was so interested in learning about the world and characters. The plot really picks up when Kate and August meet. And the story gets really fast paced towards the end of the story.

The writing is amazing,as expected since it's Victoria Schwab! The duel points of view are easy to distinguish because Augusts' uses sound and music to describe a lot of things whereas Kate doesn't.

Overall This Savage Song is not my favourite Schwab book, but I still really enjoyed it. 

My rating: 4 stars

Thanks for reading,
A :)

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Initiate by Laura L. Fox

*I received an eARC of Initiate by Laura L. Fox from the publisher, OfTomes Publishing, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

Publication:November 15th 2016 by OfTomes Publishing

Goodreads description:
The only home Riga Garrison has ever known is the Tunnel, a subterranean research facility buried deep beneath Antarctica’s ice and snow. 

Yet, while a safe haven for the last outpost of humanity governed by the Initiate, it is also home to a secret so dark that they will risk anything to protect it.

Surrounded by deceit and faced with exile to a frozen wasteland, Riga must defy not only the Initiate's top biologists and loyalists but also her own mother, in an attempt to unearth the truth.

My thoughts:
I liked Initiate but didn't love it. I think my expectations were too high as I was expecting to be blown away with it but I wasn't. It was an enjoyable read for the most part but I had a lot of problems with it.

Firstly, the writing. The writing style was not for me. I felt like it was very inconsistent; especially at the start. Sometimes it felt very formal and at other times it felt like it was trying to hard to sound like a teenager. There were parts though that Riga's narration did feel natural it just took a while to get right. I also noticed there was a lot of long paragraphs; some were almost a full page long. Personally long paragraphs are hard for me to read as I get lost reading them.

The main character Riga annoyed me so much. All her problems were problems because she made them problems. There was easy solutions too most but she made stupid decisions and complicated her situation by making rash decisions. 

Riga's friendship with her best friend was probably the best part of the story. It was nice to see two girls being there for each other as opposed to being against each other. I wish we had gotten a bit more time exploring their relationship.

I was not a fan of the romance- if there was any? Riga does start a relationship- i guess that what you would call it...later in the book but I didn't feel any romantic chemistry between the two characters. To me they felt more like friends so it was weird when they turned their relationship into a romantic one.

The plot takes a while to get rolling and it is pretty predictable for the most part. But there was some mystery and a few action scenes that were enjoyable.

The setting was super interesting- there's lots of explanation which is good but I felt like it could have been executed better; as I mentioned earlier there was a lot of long paragraphs and a lot of them were explanation about the world.

The ending wasn't really an ending- it felt more like the start of a story. As if what I had just read was only half the book. I assume this means there will be more books to make it a series. I'm not sure if I will pick up the next book.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks for reading,

A :)

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The Last Star by Rick Yancey

*Warning- This post contains spoilers for the first two books in the trilogy, The 5th Wave and The Infinite Sea*

Series: The 5th Wave trilogy, #3

Publication: May 24th 2016 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Description:
The enemy is Other. The enemy is us.

They’re down here, they’re up there, they’re nowhere. They want the Earth, they want us to have it. They came to wipe us out, they came to save us.

But beneath these riddles lies one truth: Cassie has been betrayed. So has Ringer. Zombie. Nugget. And all 7.5 billion people who used to live on our planet. Betrayed first by the Others, and now by ourselves.

In these last days, Earth’s remaining survivors will need to decide what’s more important: saving themselves…or saving what makes us human.

My thoughts:
If your hesitant to pick up The Last Star because you didn't like The Infinite Sea a much as The 5th Wave I'm here to tell you pick up The Last Star it's way better than book 2!

Rick Yancey's writing just gets better and better with each book! There was a good bit of cursing which I'm not a fan of but other than that his style is truly unique. Some of the passages in this book are so poetic and other times he just tells it like it is. I really like his style.

I find that a lot of authors can't write different point of view to sound different but Rick Yancey can. I never got confused as to who was narrating. Each character has their own distinct voice which made it easy to follow who was narrating.

The plot of The Last Star is so fast paced. There is so much going on in this book. It is action packed from start to finish and I couldn't put the book down, especially because of the short chapters and cliff hangers at the end of each POV.

My only problem with the fast pace was I would have liked if the plot was slowed down a little so we could have a few more character driven moments rather than plot drive ones. I understand that the characters don't really have time to be sitting around chatting but it would have been nice.

Looking back at where some of the characters were in The 5th Wave and where they are at the end of Th Last Star you can really see how the characters have grown and changed.

I still love Cassie. Her narration was probably my favourite just because she's so snarky. She's does make some rash decisions in The Last Star and I didn't really agree with her all the time but I couldn't help but admire her courage.

Ringer definitely has a lot going on in The Last Star. In The Infinite Sea she gets the 12th System downloaded into her body so she has enhanced abilities and she really explores them in The Last Star which I really liked reading. It was interesting swing her relationship with Zombie/Ben after the events in The Infinite Sea, we do get to see them interact a good bit in The Last Star but I wanted a bit more.

Zombie/Ben is my favourite character in this series. His sarcastic remarks in The Last Star were the best. I really liked seeing him step into a father figure role in The Last Star not only for Nugget but for Megan too.

I really liked how Cassie and Evan's romance was pushed aside in The Last Star. Personally I was more interested in the other stiff going on so i was happy about this.

The ending was satisfying enough as well as bittersweet. It was definitely predictable but I didn't mind.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Thanks for reading,
A :)
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