Tag Archive for: Young Adult

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The Eternity Key

The Eternity KeyTitle: The Eternity Key
Author: Bree Despain
Series: Into the Dark #2
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Spice: 0.5 / 5
Format: ARC
Pages: 368
Reason Read: ARC Review
Rating:

Also in this series: The Shadow Prince, The Immortal Throne
My Thoughts

Holy crap! Bree kicked it up a notch with THE ETERNITY KEY. Not only are the stakes higher, but I was more invested in the characters because of THE SHADOW PRINCE. I was on an emotional roller coaster while reading. The tension is strong with this one. Anyway, I don’t know how I’m going to wait until book 3 is published.

The mythology in this series is still awesome. It’s even more awesome in the second book than what it was in the first because of all the things we learn and the new people we meet. I still love the characters. Haden and Daphne are great protagonists. I love the addition of Tobin’s POV so we get some insight from outside of Haden and Daphne. I enjoyed getting to know Tobin a little bit better this time around. I still think of Joe Vince as Spike from Buffy, even though he was partially based on David Tennant in the 2011 Fright Night movie.

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The Shadow Prince

The Shadow PrinceTitle: The Shadow Prince
Author: Bree Despain
Series: Into the Dark #1
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Spice: 0.5 / 5
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 481
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

Also in this series: The Eternity Key, The Immortal Throne
My Thoughts

I’ve wanted to read THE SHADOW PRINCE ever since I knew it was coming out. It was amazing. I absolutely loved it!

I loved all the mythology that came into play. I thought it was just going to be a retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth, which would’ve been awesome in and of itself, but it was so much more than that. I loved that Bree meshed the stories of Eurydice and Orpheus, Zeus and Hades, and Zeus and Kronos with Persephone and Hades to create her own world surrounding all of these myths.

I loved the characters. Haden and Daphne were perfect protagonists. The switch between their POVs was a great way to tell the story. I loved learning about each character and their motives. I loved thinking of Joe Vince as a non-vampire Spike from Buffy. I also loved imaging my kitty Dax as Brim. It helped bring the story to life.

I loved that music is such an important part of this story. It’s fun to imagine the music and how it’s affecting the world and the characters. The foreshadowing was awesome. I guessed some things before they happened and I think I already know some of the things that are going to happen. I can’t wait to see if I’m right. And, I can’t wait to see where this story goes.

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Seeing Redd

Seeing ReddTitle: Seeing Redd
Author: Frank Beddor
Series: Looking Glass Wars #2
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: Kindle
Pages: 384
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

Also in this series: ArchEnemy
My Thoughts

Even though I’m giving SEEING REDD the same rating as THE LOOKING GLASS WARS, I liked this one better than the first book. The setup that took a third of first book wasn’t there and I liked the relationship between Alyss and everyone else, especially Dodge, better this time around.

It was refreshing to read a book not in first-person narrative, but I don’t think third-person omniscient is necessarily the best way to go with these books. It provided a very broad view of the whole picture and I wanted to get into the nitty gritty. I latch more onto characters than plot, and these stories are very plot-driven. I wish there was a bit more character development and that the story wouldn’t jump from each character as often as it did.

I still enjoyed the overall story and I’m glad I’m reading them. I look forward to reading ARCHENEMY, so I can find out how everything ends.

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Insurgent

InsurgentTitle: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #2
Genre: Dystopian, Romance, Young Adult
Spice: 0.5 / 5
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 525
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

Also in this series: Allegiant
My Thoughts

I’m glad I read INSURGENT because I liked it a lot. I liked learning about the aftermath of the Erudite’s actions and gaining a little more insight behind their reasons. I liked seeing how the other factions dealt with it, especially Candor and Amity since they weren’t involved in the events in DIVERGENT. I liked seeing how it affected individual characters. And, I liked meeting a lot of the new characters, even if I didn’t like many of them.

Tris and Four were really interesting in this book. At times, I wanted to strangle them both for their idiocy, especially when it came to each other. That’s the one thing I had a hard time with–the change in their relationship. I hated feeling like Tris, and subsequently I as the reader, was always walking on eggshells around Four. (Not that it was all his fault.)

Even though I know a lot about what happens in ALLEGIANT, I’m actually really excited to read it. I want to find out why and how the things I know happen.

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For Darkness Shows The Stars

For Darkness Shows The StarsTitle: For Darkness Shows the Stars
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Series: For Darkness Shows the Stars #1
Genre: Dystopian, Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Spice: 0.5 / 5
Format: Kindle
Pages: 448
Reason Read: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

My book club decided to read both PERSUASION by Jane Austen and FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS because the latter is a retelling of the former. We read the former first, of course, and then the latter. It made for a fun discussion.

I really enjoyed FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS. It was everything I wanted PERSUASION to be with a little sci-fi / dystopia thrown in. I really liked the characters and how they tied into their corresponding characters in PERSUASION as well as just on their own. I thought Elliot had a lot more spunk than Anne, and I even liked Kai better than Captain Wentworth. My book club thought he was really mean and didn’t like him very much. I could just see how hurt he was, so his actions toward Elliot didn’t really bother me. I really liked all the Posts and I liked Ro a lot too. I liked the accident scene a lot more in FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS because it was so much less idiotic.

Whereas I didn’t start enjoying PERSUASION until more than halfway through it, I enjoyed FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS from the very beginning. I was intrigued about the dystopian world they lived in and the reasons behind the Reduction. The theology was interesting as well and I found myself wondering which side Peterfreund was on. My guess is she has the same ideals as Kai–that there’s a happy medium between the extremes of the Lost and the Luddites. I loved all the letters between Elliot and Kai. It helped us get to know the real Kai (something we weren’t privy to with Captain Wentworth) and the world Peterfreund created while in the midst of story.