Medair (Medair #1-2)

THE BLURB:

The complete epic fantasy "Medair" duology, containing the Aurealis Awards finalist "The Silence of Medair" and the heart-rending conclusion "Voice of the Lost".

Time stole Victory.

Medair an Rynstar returned too late to drive back the Ibisian invasion. Centuries too late.

When friend and enemy have become the same thing, what use are the weapons Medair planned to use to protect her Empire? There is no magic, no artefact, no enchanted trinket which can undo the past.

But no matter how Medair wishes to hide from the consequences of her failure, there are those who will not allow her the luxury of denying the present. Her war is already lost, but she carries weapons which could change the course of new battles.

With the skirmishes of war beginning, and hunters in near pursuit, it is her conscience Medair cannot escape. Whose side should she be on? What is she really running from?

From the Aurealis Awards judges' report: "You can read Silence of Medair for its strong, conflicted heroine, its playful subversion of fantasy tropes, or its deep, detailed analysis of the nature of racism. If not, just read it for the beautifully crafted prose."

MY THOUGHTS:

What a gem!

The Medair duology is fantasy that sets its bar high. The story idea as well as the history and politics of the world is tremendously compelling.

In face of the inevitability of labeling an invading group of people as "Other", what happens when your hesitation (stemming from the conflicting feelings you harbor about who is definitively "right" and who must therefore be "wrong") leads to you being transported 500 years into the future? Times have changed, beliefs and borders have changed, people and cultures have intermixed. Who now is the enemy? Can you bring yourself to move past an enmity that no longer has reason to exist, even if it remains so fresh in your mind?

Reading this book reminded me in some ways of playing a fantasy-based video game. This may in part be due to the fact that I had just finished Dragon Age: Inquisition right before reading it, but I could see so many of the settings as clearly as those on the screen. Medair's choices lead to intriguing adventures, and misadventures. She stays true to her own convictions and explains herself with honesty and integrity, thereby currying favor or disapproval from those around her in a realistic manner. She navigates through a colorful world that never gets boring.

There were a couple of things that stood out as imperfections in my mind, such as the writing going on at too much length about information that didn't necessarily drive the story forward. Medair's loop of rhetoric in her head, her struggle with whether she is right or wrong to do what she does, gets repeated too often. It's an important piece of Medair and her story, but I felt like I was rereading the same things over and over again, even though we are also actually told outright that Medair keeps thinking these same things repeatedly. A bit overkill, but nothing that ruined the story for me.

The overall story was wonderful, but I do think I preferred Book 1 by a certain margin. The court intrigue pieces reminded me a bit of Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel duology, in a good way. Avahn, who was such a part of Book 1, gets relegated to the background of the story in Book 2. But still, altogether I loved the whole thing.

And the way the romantic interests were addressed at the end was so magnificent and COMPLETELY PERFECT, I actually let out an "awwww" after reading the last page. Happy happy reader!

I can't wait to read more from Ms. Host, who writes the genres I enjoy while creating original and commendable facets in her stories that make you proud to be a reader of her work. So, well done, and now on to the next! 

MY RATING:

5 booksies!

Author website: http://www.andreakhost.com/

Veiled Intentions

THE BLURB:

When a young Muslim high school student is accused of a crime she didn’t commit, her school counselor gets involved to clear her record in this ripped-from-the-headlines romantic thriller from the author of Vanished in the Night.

When Lily Simon finds cops in the lobby of the high school where she’s a guidance counselor, she’s not surprised: cops and adolescents go together like sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. But when the cops take Jamila, a Muslim student, into custody for a crime she didn’t commit, Lily’s high school becomes a powder keg.

Police think Jamila is responsible for a hit and run, and since she’s not talking, they have no choice but to keep her as the main suspect. And since the victim—a young soldier recently returned from Afghanistan—is lying unconscious in the hospital, the whole town is taking sides on whether or not Jamila’s arrest is religious persecution. Determined to find the truth, Lily teams up with a reporter to uncover what really happened the night of the hit and run. But Lily didn’t expect to find such a tangled web…

MY THOUGHTS:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction...The chain reaction of evil-hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars-must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

This Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quote sums up the message of Eileen Carr's novel, Veiled Intentions.

A high-achieving Muslim high school student gets accused of a hit-and-run accident involving a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Jamila is stunned, and heartbroken, to see how quick all the people she has grown up with and known her whole life are to suddenly label her as "Other", even though she denies any involvement in the accident. She, along with other Muslim families in the community, become targets for bullying and hate crimes. They are alienated in their own hometown. Jamila is no longer a seventeen year old high school student active in community projects who also practices Islam; now the view of her is limited to simply to her religion. In her distress, she turns more toward the only aspect of herself that society will allow her to be defined by.

Veiled Intentions looks not only at Jamila and how she feels about and reacts to everything that ensues, but also all of the other various members of the community. We see all the different viewpoints involved in such a situation-the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is not a "feel good" book. However, it takes a necessary look at issues that are prevalent in the world today. It does an admirable job of surveying all of the different thoughts and opinions found in society today about issues of religious or cultural differences and how they should be 'dealt with'. It does so using simple and straightforward writing.

In addition to representing all of the views that crop up about such matters in a smart fashion, this book drives home the lesson Dr. King was attempting to teach decades ago: Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. This is a call for the world to find a way to stop the cycle of discrimination and violence.

MY RATING:

3.5 booksies

 

Author website: http://www.eileenrendahl.com/index.html

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Author Website: veronicasalt.blogspot.com/

Thrall

Thrall is the first title in the YA paranormal trilogy, The Daughters of Lilith

THE BLURB:

Braedyn is a normal girl just trying to survive high school with her two devoted friends, Royal and Cassie. Together they’re doing a pretty good job of shrugging off the slings and arrows cast their way by the popular crowd when a new boy, Lucas, moves into the house next door. Suddenly Braedyn finds herself falling in love for the first time.

But as her sixteenth birthday approaches, Braedyn discovers humankind is at war with the Lilitu, an ancient race of enticing demons that prey on human souls. Her father is a member of the Guard fighting against the Lilitu - and so are the new neighbors, including her crush, Lucas. 

As her world starts to unravel at the seams, Braedyn learns the right answers aren’t always clear or easy. And as for “good” and “evil” – it all depends on how we choose to act.

Inspired by the ancient Mesopotamian myths of Lilith and her offspring, Thrall explores first love, strong friendships, and taking on adult responsibilities against the backdrop of powerful supernatural forces and life-and-death stakes

MY THOUGHTS:

• This was pretty good! An enjoyable young adult paranormal novel that managed to avoid many of the pitfalls I see in others of its type these days.
  
  Braedyn was a likable main character, and didn't make any of the illogical or silly decisions other protags sometimes do in the current YA fantasy fare. I liked her two besties, and only wish they weren't shunted to the periphery of the story so much when Braedyn learns about who she is and the part she must play with the Guard. Perhaps they feature more in the following installments of the series? I liked Lucas, too, although he sort of fizzled out after a while in the story. You still like him, but it's hard to remember why we're supposed to be in love with him.
  
  The story was fun, exciting, and fairly original. The enemy are succubae (is that the plural of succubus??), descendants of Lilith. They seek to regain their rightful place in the world, as Lilith was shunned for not being satisfied to stay Adam's biddable doormat of a partner in the Garden of Eden. This includes revenge on the sons of Adam. The archangels attempt to keep things in order, but they also have other business they must attend to, and so much of the work is left in the hands of the humans who know of the demons' existence and seek to stop them. But are the Lilitu truly evil, or just jilted and jaded? I suspect we'll delve into this question some more in the next books.
  
  I definitely plan on picking up the sequel some time!

MY RATING:

4.5 booksies!

Author's Website: http://jenniferquintenz.com/

Fire in the Blood (Last Moon Rising #1)

THE BLURB:

Global warming is playing havoc on Earth, and when 17 year-old Haley tumbles to a parallel world, she discovers that Earth's issues stem from a war between the Eyids, the gods of nature. Because her necklace is a stone that holds the power of the Air Eyid, Haley is called upon to help stop the war. But Haley has a problem. Actually, two problems. One named Tuggin, and one named Ian. Both lie to her. Both have secrets. And neither are who they say they are. With her stone of power, Haley's forced to make a choice that will decide the fate of all the worlds. But who should she trust, who should she fight, and who is the one with fire in his blood bent on betraying them all?

MY THOUGHTS:

This book, the first in a young adult fantasy series, is based on a relatively original idea. A girl travels to another world in which the deities of Earth, Water, Air and Fire and their descendants are in a power struggle. The resulting disharmony affects the climate in all worlds.

Unfortunately, I didn't much like any other aspect of the book. The writing needs quite a bit of work. Dialogue is stilted and at times silly. The protagonist swoons over boys who treat her like garbage, which is not only hard to believe, but makes it difficult to like her very much. No one ever bothers to explain to her what is going on, ever, which leads to a whole lot of unnecessary trouble for everyone, even with the fate of all the worlds hanging in the balance. When introducing tension into the story, you have to do it in a way that readers will buy and won't have them banging their heads against the wall. And if I had to read the phrase "hall god" one more time...!

The author has decent ideas for YA fantasy, but needs further improvement with her writing and novel-crafting abilities. Perhaps she already has gotten better since putting this book out, but at this time I do not plan on reading any further in this series.

MY RATING:

2 booksies

  

Author Website: http://authordaleibitz.weebly.com/

The Shining Girls

This is not a self-published novel by an indie author

THE BLURB:

THE GIRL WHO WOULDN'T DIE HUNTS THE KILLER WHO SHOULDN'T EXIST.

The future is not as loud as war, but it is relentless. It has a terrible fury all its own."

Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future.

Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times.

At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of the shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He's the ultimate hunter, vanishing into another time after each murder, untraceable-until one of his victims survives.

Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the ex-homicide reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on the impossible truth . . .

THE SHINING GIRLS is a masterful twist on the serial killer tale: a violent quantum leap featuring a memorable and appealing heroine in pursuit of a deadly criminal.

MY THOUGHTS:

The writing in this book was very good, and it tells a pretty exciting story that keeps you reading, but there were a couple things I found bothersome that kept me from giving it 5 stars.

The story is good, creepy, unsettling. Kirby is a protagonist that is easy to root for. The main thing that prevented me from loving it more than I did is the graphic violence and gore. There may have been a time in the past when a book containing these things didn't bother me so much; it's just a book, right? But at this point in my life I can't help but think about the fact that there really are screwed up people like the book's serial killer in this world, and these F'd up things actually happen to people, and it's terrible, and do we really need to turn it into entertainment?

Other than that, I mostly enjoyed the book, except that the ending left me a tad bit disappointed. I really liked the connection between Kirby and Dan, and was saddened to see that we never actually get to witness it going anywhere. We are left with the promise that it will happen ("If you want to kiss me again, then shut the fuck up and stop bleeding to death"), but I would have actually liked to see more of it myself. That, and I want to know more about the little tidbit dropped about the nature of the House at the end. The tie-in in the postscript was really smart, though.

MY RATING:

4 booksies

 

Author's Website: http://laurenbeukes.com/

Wool (The Silo Series Book 1)

Wool is comprised of five short stories, and is also the first book in a sci-fi series

THE BLURB:  

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

MY THOUGHTS: 

Howey writes pretty well, but I did not like this book. I can speculate that the reason might hinge on the fact that he began by writing a single short story, then tacked others onto it, leading to something that just did not cut it for me as an overall novel. Perhaps in the very beginning he did not know just how far he would be taking the story, and once he realized there was a demand for more, didn't know quite how to navigate to turn it into a full length novel. 

There are some interesting ideas mixed in the story, but nothing that gets fleshed out; it's more just an interesting premise that never gets fully realized in this story. And the way it was put together just did not do it for me. There were some exciting scenes here and there, but for the most part I was very, very bored. I abhor not finishing a book once I start it, so I pushed on with this one, but it was a chore to force myself to read more. It wasn't until about halfway through that any plot advancement at all took place. This might be where the book's inception as separate short stories comes into play; the scenes seemed to just plod along haphazardly, without much in the way of cohesiveness. It didn't build up like a novel should, in my opinion.

I found myself questioning things about the world we are shown here, the explanations we are given. Many times the characters' reactions didn't make sense to me. Some characterization didn't seem all that consistent, either. I failed to develop an investment in any of the characters, and as a result didn't much care what happened to any of them.

I'd like to reiterate that the writing was good, though, and some of the ideas held promise. The author could potentially impress me more with a different story, one crafted more smartly than this one, perhaps planned initially as a mapped out novel rather than a meandering tale of filler scenes all thrown together into something I couldn't make myself care about. 

MY RATING:

2 booksies

Author Website: http://www.hughhowey.com/

Ice Massacre

Ice Massacre is a Young Adult Fantasy novel with an ending that makes way for a sequel.

THE BLURB:

A mermaid’s supernatural beauty serves one purpose: to lure a sailor to his death.

The Massacre is supposed to bring peace to Eriana Kwai. Every year, the island sends its warriors to battle these hostile sea demons. Every year, the warriors fail to return. Desperate for survival, the island must decide on a new strategy. Now, the fate of Eriana Kwai lies in the hands of twenty battle-trained girls and their resistance to a mermaid’s allure.

Eighteen-year-old Meela has already lost her brother to the Massacre, and she has lived with a secret that’s haunted her since childhood. For any hope of survival, she must overcome the demons of her past and become a ruthless mermaid killer.

For the first time, Eriana Kwai’s Massacre warriors are female, and Meela must fight for her people’s freedom on the Pacific Ocean’s deadliest battleground.

MY THOUGHTS:

In many ways, Ice Massacre was like a breath of fresh air. I can't say I've read any other mermaid tales lately, and even then this book casts them in a new light. They can be beautiful creatures of seduction, or anger can transform them into someone you would not want to meet in a dark alley...er, stream. These mermaids are fearsome warriors who feast on human flesh when they're of the mind.

The story overall I found very interesting. The battle scenes particularly were well-written, exciting without becoming tiresome after repeated skirmishes.

There were some things I struggled with here. For one, the time period was not clear to me. Many aspects of life on Eriana Kwai made me think of older times, or the sort of story in a slightly altered reality where people live as if in this world's past. They fight with crossbows, sail wooden ships, and then all of sudden there are references to TV and such. I also had a hard time swallowing that the island was so utterly cut off from the rest of the world in a time where there apparently would be the internet and airplanes. I don't know, I got a bit confused about the exact circumstances here.

The team of girls sent for the massacre were a bit too...girlish for what I have preferred for this story. If the island wanted to send their most fit female warriors, I would think an older set would have been more appropriate, as women tend to be at their peak physical prowess at an older age than men. As it is, we have a ship full of 18 year olds who, despite their unusual and grave circumstances, still deal with a fair bit of teenage drama.

Despite these few issues, there were many things to praise here. And one really lovely aspect that was woven in so perfectly naturally, no big deal. Wonderful.

MY RATING:

3.5 booksies

Find Ice Massacre on Amazon.com  

Author's website: http://www.tianawarner.com/

Fanged Princess

Fanged Princess is the first novella in a series of two.

THE BLURB:

I will not let my brother suffer the same loss…

Hadassah’s father, the Vampire King, punished her harshly for her choice to love a human. Now her brother, the only person in the world who still matters to her, has fallen for a human girl. Determined to keep the girl safe, the three of them flee from their home in New England and find themselves cornered with their father’s minions closing in. If they want to escape, their only hope may be to join forces with the mortal enemies of their kind…

Be ensnared in this dark tale of enduring love, revenge, and suspense from teenage author, Elisabeth Wheatley. 

MY THOUGHTS:

This is a quick read, but a pretty impressive one. Ms. Wheatley has quite the talent with writing, and here she begins the tale of a kickass vampire princess who fights her own kind for the sake of the love her younger brother has found with a human.

This book has vampires and the humans (and vampire enforcers) who hunt them, and also makes mention of many other creatures of supernatural lore. Our heroine is the daughter of the Vampire King. Make no mistake, though - Haddie may be a princess in name, but you won't find any sparkly froufrou in her story. She's got a (humorously) snarky and down-to-earth personality, and a chip on her shoulder for the wrongs done to her in the past.

Gritty, action-packed, and smart, Fanged Princess could be the start of something beautiful!

MY RATING:

4 booksies!

Fanged Princess is FREE on Amazon!

The sequel, Fanged Outcast, is available through Amazon.com for $1.99. The two books combined are about the length of a full novel, for an overall price of less than two dollars - and trust me, it's well worth it!

Author's website: http://elisabethwheatley.wordpress.com/

Ignite

Ignite is the first in a series of 4 YA paranormal romances

THE BLURB:  

Kira Dawson has the power to burn vampires to a crisp. The problem is, she doesn't know it yet. The even bigger problem is, she's dating one.

When Kira Dawson moves to South Carolina, she meets Luke, a blond goofball who quickly becomes her best friend, and Tristan, a mysterious bad boy who sends shivers down her spine. Kira knows they're keeping secrets, but when she discovers Tristan's lust for blood and her own dormant mystical powers, Kira is forced to fight for her life and make the heartbreaking decision between the familiar comfort of friendship and the fiery passion of love.

MY THOUGHTS:

This book wasn't all terrible, but there is little here to praise. It reads like a first draft that needs a LOT of work.

Firstly, this book dearly needs an editor. The first few pages had so many errors (grammar, etc) that I had to make a point to ignore them if I was going to give he story a fair shot. The mistakes continued throughout.

Then, other than the original idea of conduits, the rest of the book was very derivative. Everything else here has been written before, many times over. The beginnng felt just like a poor man's Twilight. New girl in a new school, her new friends point out the table of "unusual" kids in the cafeteria, the vampire boy is torn between his desire to love the human girl and to drain her blood.

Several things were not explained to the readers' satisfaction. Did NO ONE question it when they found the school auditorium reduced to rubble? Also, inconsistencies and questionable explanations abound. A baby is said to be 3 months old when certain events occur, but when those events are described later the child acts in a manner fitting a much older infant. In fact, we are later told the baby was a year old at the time, instead of the 3 months mentioned before.

Can you really drive away from the "eye of an eclipse"? If 3 glasses are filled with your blood, after a vamp has already taken some blood from you directly, are you really going to get up to attempt to flee? And what is with, "He's not dead yet, but his heart stopped, and I'm not sure for how long"?

A couple of the characters had promise, but they are not developed enough. Two people become BFFs after only a couple of scenes where nothing much special happens. As far as the romance, the attraction is clear, but the parts that would solidify actually falling in love are glossed over instead of being actual realized scenes.

Ms. Davis' writing may very well have matured since putting out this book (and she may have hired editing services for later books), and not everything here was bad. As a novel overall, however, Ignite just does not work. I will not be reading any other installments in the series.

MY RATING:

2 booksies

 

Author Website: http://www.kaitlyndavisbooks.com/p/about-me.html

Thorn

Thorn is a standalone novel by indie author Intisar Khanani. She has plans for a companion trilogy, which would be set in the same world as Thorn, but with a different heroine.


THE BLURB:

For Princess Alyrra, choice is a luxury she's never had ... until she's betrayed.

Princess Alyrra has never enjoyed the security or power of her rank. Between her family's cruelty and the court's contempt, she has spent her life in the shadows. Forced to marry a powerful foreign prince, Alyrra embarks on a journey to meet her betrothed with little hope for a better future.

But powerful men have powerful enemies--and now, so does Alyrra. Betrayed during a magical attack, her identity is switched with another woman's, giving Alyrra the first choice she's ever had: to start a new life for herself or fight for a prince she's never met. But Alyrra soon finds that Prince Kestrin is not at all what she expected. While walking away will cost Kestrin his life, returning to the court may cost Alyrra her own. As Alyrra is coming to realize, sometime the hardest choice means learning to trust herself.

Thorn has received a Badge of Approval from Awesome Indies.

MY THOUGHTS:

This retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale The Goose Girl was great fun.

Thorn is a heroine many readers can stand behind, a strong and principled character who strives to understand true justice, how it should be meted out, and by whom.

This is somewhat at odds with how we first see her - a princess cowed by her ruthless mother and beaten by a cruel brother, but still known across the kingdoms for her honesty. But when she and a greedy servant girl have their identities switched by a sorceress, she finds herself no longer bound by the conventions of royalty and court intrigue, and she begins to blossom.

With her new perspective, Thorn is able to learn more about how the world really works than she had ever learned as a princess. This, combined with her inherent sense of honor, only serves to mold her into a more fitting potential ruler. But it is her duty to the kingdom that battles with her desire to be free to make her own way in life which becomes the struggle that shapes the story told in this book.

The book wasn't 100% perfect for me - I was left with some questions, things that weren't totally explained to my satisfaction. Thorn arrives at conclusions now and again that surprised me and I couldn't figure out how she got from A to B. I didn't really understand her mother and brother, who seemed too black and white, pure scoundrels with no redeeming qualities and no sufficient explanations as to why they came to treat the princess the way they did. And lastly is one issue that is not a problem with the book, really, but just one thing that didn't quite match my personal tastes - although there is a possibility of romance here, we don't get to see it develop. There is no way it could in the part of the tale told in this book, so the author certainly didn't do anything wrong here, but I just prefer to have a bit more romance in my stories, to feel my own heart rate pick up when the would-be lovers find themselves navigating around one another.

Overall, though, I really really enjoyed this book. It sucked me in, and I stayed up way too late to keep reading! I found many of the characters very likable. I especially found Red Hawk to be an intriguing figure. I see that the author plans a companion trilogy, set in the same world as Thorn, but with a different heroine. Can I request, Ms. Khanani, that Red Hawk figure into the new story? Pretty please? Perhaps, but not necessarily, even as a romantic interest? I would SO read that!

MY RATING:

4.5 booksies! 

Author website: http://booksbyintisar.com/

Find it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00869SADQ/ref=pdp_new_dp_review

Eternal Night

This book is not self-published, but it's not exactly a product of traditional publishing either. It's more of a collaboration between the author and the "story architects" of Paper Lantern Lit. I had never heard of PLL before, but the website can be found here, and I'm kind of intrigued with the whole concept. I haven't decided yet exactly how I feel about it, other than...intrigued. The idea is that anyone can submit a sample of their writing, and if the "major plot geeks" (who all have experience in the world of writing, editing, or publishing) think you're a match, they will give you the outlined plot of a novel for you to flesh out. I may be oversimplifying things, I'm not sure. It seems like the PLL peeps basically lead the writer through the novel-building process.

THE BLURB:

There are gods among us...

Six young gods are hiding in plain sight among mortals, living secretly in cities across the world. From lavish penthouse soirees to pulsing underground clubs, for them, the party literally never ends. Until now.

On a hot June morning, the body of a beautiful girl is found floating in the rooftop pool of the Jefferson Hotel, her white-ink tattoos revealing the story of a life much longer than seems possible. Only the immortals know the truth: Nadia was the goddess of hope. Now she’s gone, and the world as they know it is ending. The Hudson River has turned blood red. Storms rage overhead. Mania is rapidly spreading across the globe.

It is up to the remaining gods—Lola, Dean, Weston, Mark, Nike and Peitha—to put aside centuries of betrayal and heartbreak, and stop the mysterious source of darkness that is taking over… before the sun sets forever.

Carina Adly MacKenzie, writer for The CW's hit series "The Originals," has penned a steamy, romantic, and ultimately redemptive story of forgotten gods, the persistence of hope, and the power of love to save us.

MY THOUGHTS:

This was a pretty fun read.

The gods mentioned in the blurb are descendants of the Ancients such as Odin and Dionysus. Their power began to diminish as mortals ceased believing in them. As such, they are now forced to live among their one-time worshipers, trying to blend in as mortals themselves.   

The chapters in this book switch POV, and we get to go along on a wild ride with the gods and goddesses of victory, love, war and hope, to name a few, when the world is threatened by an ancient evil. Each of these characters is well-defined and interesting, and a lot of fun in their own way. In addition to their struggle against the looming disaster, they are dealing with centuries of history with one another, not all of it kittens and rainbows. This adds another engaging dimension to the story.

There is a lot of neat god and goddess lore presented here, woven in with the unfurling story. I suppose I might have preferred to see the main characters here portrayed a bit differently - more epic, and less like the modern day youth they posed as, with modern day youth problems. I guess as their powers dwindled and they had to live as young human men and women, they became, for all intents and purposes, just like the mortals they portrayed. But I think it would have been fun for them to be a bit more badass, shaped by their pasts as divinities who were once the objects of worship. This is a nitpicky point, though, and certainly nothing that spoiled the book for me. Such a change would probably alter the intended audience, too, so all in all, you should probably forget I even said anything. After all, not every story can involve a vampire/werewolf hybrid trying to come to terms with his troubling past and occasionally lashing out violently during the quest to recover the last remnants of his humanity... ;)

The only real issues I noted in this book are fairly minor and did not detract from my overall ability to enjoy it. It could use some more editing (there are instances of typos, wrong words, repetition of words, etc), but these were minimal. The author relies a bit too much on adverbs rather than strong verbs, something that is discouraged in the writing world. But her strength lies in her storytelling ability, which outshines any of these other things. I would definitely consider reading any future books by Ms. Mackenzie.

MY RATING:

4 booksies

Author's website: http://carinamackenzie.com/

Find Eternal Night on Amazon

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

This is not a self-published book of an indie author

After reading Euphoria by Lily King, I was in the mood to read more books along anthropological lines. King's book is a poignant novel loosely based on the life of real-life anthropologist Margaret Mead. This book, on the other hand, is completely nonfiction. In these pages, Anne Fadiman writes about her investigation into a story she had heard tell of regarding the clash between a Hmong family in California and their daughter's American doctors.

THE BLURB:

Lia Lee was born in 1981 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, overmedication, and culture clash: "What the doctors viewed as clinical efficiency the Hmong viewed as frosty arrogance." The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, written with the deepest of human feeling. Sherwin Nuland said of the account, "There are no villains in Fadiman's tale, just as there are no heroes. People are presented as she saw them, in their humility and their frailty--and their nobility."

MY THOUGHTS:

This book is sad and upsetting in a way, but it highlights such an important topic. It gives perspective on the difficult task of providing medical care to people with differing belief systems. What culturally sensitive healthcare boils down to is this: the ideology of biomedicine and whatever personal ideology the patient holds true must come together to find a solution that both parties consider acceptable. What you assume the ideal outcome should be is not necessarily what the patient came to you seeking, and it is of utmost importance to understand just what it is the patient is asking your help for. The healthcare provider may not consider the end result a total success, but it's small successes that both parties can live with that matter most in these situations.

However, the case of Lia Lee had another complicating factor. Lia was a child when she was being treated for epilepsy; with minors, there is the possibility that well-intentioned parents can be overridden if U.S. authorities believe that their beliefs are not in line with the child's best interest. 

Here is where the subject is so heartrendingly difficult. Lia's parents loved their daughter and wanted what was best for her. Lia's doctors wanted what was best for her. But their ideas of what exactly that entailed were not the same, and after a slew of miscommunication as well as a failure to compromise, tragedy ensued for Lia Lee. No one was happy with the end result. 

Apparently this book has been required reading for some medical schools and such. I think that's a great idea, and it would be wonderful for everyone in the healthcare field to read this book. It will at least help remind practitioners why it is so important to consider cultural factors when dealing with patients, in the interest of trying to avoid unhappy outcomes like the ones seen for the people in this book.

MY RATING:

5 booksies

A Question of Will

Book One of the Aliomenti Saga

THE BLURB:

They murdered his wife and son. They burned down his house. They beat him within an inch of his life.

And then they realized they had the wrong man.

They should have killed him when they had the chance.

Will Stark is a thirty-five-year-old self-made billionaire. He's happily married and father to a young son he adores. He's well-loved in his community for his philanthropic efforts. He lives in a beautiful home inside a private, secure community designed to provide safety for his family from those who would do them harm.

His idyllic world is shattered when, despite his best efforts, men storm his community, murder his family in their home, and burn his house down. In his efforts to rush to the aid of those he loves, Will is seized, beaten, and nearly killed.

And as it's happening, the men who've attacked him realize they've mistaken him for someone else.

Will's rescue from certain death brings him into the midst of a battle between two factions of a secret society, one in which members learn the secrets of developing superhuman abilities. And it's a battle in which a man named Will Stark has been the focal point. Will seizes the opportunity to learn these secrets, and battle those who destroyed his family. His own rapid development, however, means he may become a target for attack of his own accord.

As he builds his new life, however, Will is faced with a critical decision. Will he use his new abilities to seek out vengeance? Or will he risk everything he has to save those he holds most dear?

MY THOUGHTS:

The story in this book is a sort of thriller with heavy science fiction and fantasy elements. There is a nefarious organization of people with special powers, plus a rebel group that broke away from the others and works in the best interests of the plain old humans. A man and his family get unsuspectingly tangled up in all that business. A dash of time travel spices things up.

The author has some good ideas and a degree of talent with the written word (although he is rather fond of some cliche phrases), but has yet to learn how to string it all together into a cohesive novel in a way that works.

The book would tell the same piece of information over and over again as we read from different character points of view. I understand that one person is just learning of it, but since the reader already knows, you have to find a better way than just repeating the same things to us. And then again. And again. This was especially tiresome when the entire first scene was repeated from different perspectives at least 4 times. 15% through the book and we were still reading about the same sequence of events, again and again. I struggled to keep reading at that point.

(Only now do I realize the author's long-winded blurb for the book does the EXACT same thing - Will is attacked, his family killed, his house burned, but he's not even the man his attackers were after. Insert some descriptions of Will, and then tell us AGAIN that he was attacked, his family killed, his house burned, but - gasp! - he's the wrong man! Still...Again. Oy.)

I developed no connection to any of the characters, and found some of the characterization laughable.

As I said, though, the author has some good ideas, he just needs some more experience on how to piece the story together in a more compelling way. 

MY RATING:

2 booksies

Author's website: http://www.alexalbrinck.com/

There are currently six books in the Aliomenti Saga, and this first installment is available to download as an ebook for free at most major retailers.

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Euphoria

This is not a self-published book by an indie author.

"Inspired by events in the life of revolutionary anthropologist Margaret Mead, Euphoria is a captivating story of desire, possession and discovery from one of our finest contemporary novelists."

THE BLURB:

National best-selling and award-winning author Lily King’s new novel is the story of three young, gifted anthropologists in the 1930s caught in a passionate love triangle that threatens their bonds, their careers, and, ultimately, their lives.

English anthropologist Andrew Bankson has been alone in the field for several years, studying a tribe on the Sepik River in the Territory of New Guinea with little success. Increasingly frustrated and isolated by his research, Bankson is on the verge of suicide when he encounters the famous and controversial Nell Stone and her wry, mercurial Australian husband Fen. Bankson is enthralled by the magnetic couple whose eager attentions pull him back from the brink of despair.

Nell and Fen have their own reasons for befriending Bankson. Emotionally and physically raw from studying the bloodthirsty Mumbanyo tribe, the couple is hungry for a new discovery. But when Bankson leads them to the artistic, female-dominated Tam, he ignites an intellectual and emotional firestorm between the three of them that burns out of anyone’s control. Ultimately, their groundbreaking work will make history, but not without sacrifice.

MY THOUGHTS:

Beautiful and heartbreaking.

This book stirred up a huge wave of nostalgia in me, bringing back memories of my time as an anthropology student a decade ago. In addition to all of the fascinating cultural tidbits here, the novel showcases what makes us as individuals different, and what makes us the same; how we can change in the context of the people around us.

I am left a tiny bit unsatisfied with one thing though: 

*SPOLIER ALERT*

So Fen "vanished" after being implicated in his wife's death. But we're never told if he ever sold the flute to a museum. He must have, since that's what he went through all the trouble for. But if he had, wouldn't it show up in the museum collection of the Sepik tribes at the very end of the book?

*END SPOILER*

A very good book, although it's going to take me a little while to shake off the sadness it leaves you with. It totally left me with a thirst for more novels with an anthropological flavor.

MY RATING:

5 booksies!

 Author website: http://www.lilykingbooks.com/

Galdoni

Galdoni by Cheree Alsop is a young adult novel, first in a series that teeters on the edges of science fiction/fantasy and paranormal.

THE BLURB:

"This is the Arena, and here we live to die.” These are the words carved into a holding cell where genetically-altered gladiators, the winged humans called Galdoni, are trained to fight. Kale, rescued by three high school students and nursed back from the brink of death, is given the chance to experience life as a human. When he is captured, he has to use what he learned in the world outside the Academy in order to free the other Galdoni and return to the human girl he loves.

Dark and exciting, Galdoni pushes the boundaries of love in a world of violence.

MY THOUGHTS:

The pages of Galdoni are filled with what would make a decent basis for part of an engaging story. The writing in this book is pretty good, but the plot left much to be desired.

I think it would have been better to have started the story while Kale was still at the Academy, see his life there, believe the lies he and the others are told about their existence. Then you have a little more of a clue going into the story, plus you get to be shocked right along with Kale when he learns the truth. Instead all we get is the piece of the story after Kale has left the Academy, and a small portion at the end when he returns to the Arena that is the seat of all the conflict in the story.

There are too many plot holes here, or questions that aren't answered to the readers' satisfaction. Some examples: we are told the mess hall is guarded more after the Academy reopens, but then Kale stands on a table and gives a rebellious speech before guards show up. If the Galdoni are so strong and such skilled fighters, how are the humans able to oppress them? All the guards have are whips and night sticks. Sure, it'll hurt if you get hit with one, but we are led to believe the Galdoni have superhuman talent in fighting and intense training. It seems they could take the guards down. ESPECIALLY in the end fight when the Galdoni are armed with swords and maces, but still they cower when the guards show up. And are there no female Galdoni? I can't even remember now why the Arena closed in the first place. But why in the world would they choose to loose these alleged "bloodthirsty animals", completely unfamiliar with how to live in the outside world, out into society? And then all of a sudden change your mind and take them all back? The explanations were thin and unconvincing, when they were there at all.
 
The characters here are likeable enough, but not very fleshed out, and the romance was laughable. It was basically a classic case of instalove. After a handful of interactions, none of which are anything special, the two people involved suddenly proclaim their love for one another. And if Brie's eyes filled with tears ONE MORE TIME....!

And I have a guess as to who knocked a character on the head after the end fight, but it's never explained.

The redeeming qualities include the fact that the author, as mentioned above, is a decent writer. But sadly, the plot was lacking.

MY RATING:

2.5 booksies

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We Were Liars

This is not a self-published book by and indie author

We Were Liars is a young adult novel that I would consider literary fiction. And it is amazing.

THE BLURB:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

MY THOUGHTS:

The Sinclairs are a privileged family who spend every summer on their own private island. Cadence's summers growing up are magical, creating a special bond between her and the others there her age - her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and family friend Gat.

But being a Sinclair comes with responsibilities. You are not allowed to be anything but beautiful and strong. You are not allowed to break, no matter what. And if you feel yourself starting to crack around the edges, LIE, and pretend you are just fine.

Then, the summer the friends are fifteen, something happens. There is an accident. Cadence has no memory of what happened, but she knows it must have been something too terrible to remember. Even after she recovers from the initial trauma, she is plagued by debilitating migraines. Her new best friend is Percocet.

I'll be fine, they tell me. I won't die. It'll just hurt a lot.

Each time Cadence asks what happened, her mother cries and says she told her everything before and she never remembers. The doctors say it might be best for Cadence to remember it on her own.

The summer she is seventeen, Cadence returns to the family island to confront the past, and to try to remember. Her cousins and Gat welcome her back with open arms, but the family knows she is damaged, know that they have to treat her gently. Her mother has warned them that she needs to remember the events of summer 15 on her own.

I absolutely love how this book is written. Cadence is a very sympathetic character. Some very powerful topics are touched on. And when the author wishes to emphasize a heart-wrenching point, she writes it like this:

Now, he was free to go forth and make a name for himself in the wide, wide world.
And maybe,
just maybe,
he'd come back one day,
and burn that
fucking
palace
to the ground

We Were Liars left me ruined for any other book for a while after I finished it. I experienced total book hangover. I loved it, and it crushed me.

MY RATING:

5 enthusiastic booksies

Author's website

Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass is the first in a series of young adult fantasy books by author Sarah J. Maas. It is followed by Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire. There is also a collection of five novellas telling Celaena's story before the events of Throne of Glass.

THE BLURB:

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

MY THOUGHTS:

Celaena Sardothein was raised harshly and trained thoroughly by the leader of assassins. She used her talents to defy the king who took the land of her people through violence and ruthlessness. She is the best assassin there is by the time she is sixteen years old, when someone betrays her and she ends up working in deplorable conditions in the enemy's labor camp.

Now that same enemy, the king she considers the root of all the lands' problems, is hosting a competition to select his Champion. The competition is more of a game for the nobles and highly placed officials in the realm, watching and betting as they each endorse one criminal in the contest against others.

The Crown Prince Dorian chooses Celaena as his nominee for the competition. She is taken from the labor of the salt mines to live in the castle during the contest, and if she wins, she acts as the wicked king's Champion for four years in order to earn her freedom.

Overall this was a pretty enjoyable read. There were instances where the plot was rather thin (the king would really trust a criminal who despises him to work for him? He would really let an assassin free after the contract ends? Seriously, no one realized they were housing the realm's most dangerous killer in a room with a conveniently "forgotten" secret passage out of the castle? Would she honestly tell NO ONE what she discovered about the murders and their perpetrator, while she and everyone else is the castle remain at risk? Her guards would just let her traipse out of the room she is kept in because she tells them their Captain said she could go to the ball?) However, the story remains fun enough that you are willing to overlook these occasional, questionable incidences.

One other issue of note pertains to Celaena's character. She spends an awful lot of time thinking about all the crazy badass things she would do to the people around her, and how easily she could take them down, and yet we never really see any evidence that she could or would. The book only delivers two instances where Celaena actually uses her fighting skills, and those don't come until well into the book, after the halfway point. And although Celaena fondly considers all these violent things she's tempted to do, what she actually does a lot of is preening over pretty dresses and melting for puppies. And I have no problem with that - I truly liked Celaena, but most of the time she did seem glaringly inconsistent with what the narration tried to claim she was really like.

The writing was definitely better than I was expecting. The author has a wonderful way with words at times.

There are sparks of potential romance here, and the scenes between Celaena and Dorian and Celaena and Chaol were my favorites. Amusing banter, believable emotion. The overarching story of the competition and dark magic was interesting, but it was Celaena's evolving relationships with other people that really caught my interest.

This book was not perfect, but it was mostly fun and engaging.

MY RATING:

3.5 booksies

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