Review - Jackaby by William Ritter

Jackaby by William Ritter

Series: Standalone

Published by Algonquin Young Readers on September 16 2014

Genres: paranormal, historical fiction, young adult

Pages: 304

Rating: 3 stars

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny. 

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre. 

As you probably know, Jackaby has been described as a cross between Sherlock and Doctor Who. Unlike most people, I was somewhat wary of this comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I like Doctor Who and I’ve seen the first two seasons of BBC’s Sherlock (though Elementary is superior in every possible way). The problem that these two shows share is that they are both led by the same misogynistic pig of a showrunner: Steven Moffat. This guy is an absolute tool. He’s responsible for running Doctor Who right into the ground, and he’s a self-congratulating, arrogant, pompous jerk-off. Clearly this is something I feel strongly about.

So! Coming back to Jackaby – I was interested to see how Ritter would put his own spin on the commonalities between Sherlock and Doctor Who and whether he would manage to allay some of the more offensive aspects of the two shows he is clearly pulling inspiration from. And yes I know that both Sherlock (the original stories and the franchise) and Doctor Who existed long before Moffat came around, but upon reading this book it is obvious that BBC Sherlock and Moffat’s era of DW are Ritter’s primary inspirations.

Thankfully, Jackaby is a pretty woman-friendly novel. It didn’t strike me as particularly offensive in any way, which I am grateful for. However, I did find it lacking in a few other ways. Though the main character, Abigail, has her interesting points, I felt that she lacked in depth. She is very trusting of the people around her – she is a young woman all alone on an unfamiliar continent in the late Victorian period and she struck me as incredibly naïve and accepting. Rather than doing any planning, Abigail whirled from event to event without any real agency. The only times she showed any backbone were when she ineffectually threw books at the villain and when she argued with Jackaby at the end of the book. For the most part, she just went with whatever was going on around her without much question. I found her almost instant acceptance and trust in Jackaby very unrealistic. I find it hard to believe that a woman in her position would be so unguarded.

I also found Jackaby trying as a character. He was incredibly inconsistent. It was as though Ritter was attempting to combine Sherlock Holmes and the Doctor into the same character, but it failed completely. His eccentric nature was irritating rather than endearing, and he constantly bounded between the positivity of the Doctor and the misanthropy of Sherlock. It was exhausted and simply didn’t make sense.

The three other principle characters – Charlie Cane, Jenny, and Detective Marlowe – are very hollow. We know very little about any of them beyond their surface characteristics. The semi-romance between Charlie and Abigail is very stilted and hard to support. I have no idea what exactly Abigail liked about Charlie, and vice versa.

Finally, the supernatural elements lacked finesse. The mystery was incredibly obvious (I figured out who the villain was the first time he was introduced) and the mythology just wasn’t that interesting. I did like how magical creatures were everywhere, but I wish there was an explanation for why Jackaby happened to be able to see what no one else could. It struck me as all too convenient that only one person in the entire world had the ability to witness the paranormal creatures of the world.

Though I enjoyed reading this book and didn’t find it grossly appalling, I find that a closer examination is poking holes all over the text and exposing more and more things that just didn’t add up for me. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to read this, but I don’t think I’d purchase it either. It just wasn’t as good as it could have been, and I found it rather disappointing as a whole.

Review - Split Second by Kasie West

Split Second by Kasie West

Series: Pivot Point #2

Published by HarperTeen on Feb 11 2014

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal

Pages: 360

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Life can change in a split second.

Addie hardly recognizes her life since her parents divorced. Her boyfriend used her. Her best friend betrayed her. She can’t believe this is the future she chose. On top of that, her ability is acting up. She’s always been able to Search the future when presented with a choice. Now she can manipulate and slow down time, too . . . but not without a price. 

When Addie’s dad invites her to spend her winter break with him, she jumps at the chance to escape into the Norm world of Dallas, Texas. There she meets the handsome and achingly familiar Trevor. He’s a virtual stranger to her, so why does her heart do a funny flip every time she sees him? But after witnessing secrets that were supposed to stay hidden, Trevor quickly seems more suspicious of Addie than interested in her. And she has an inexplicable desire to change that. 

Meanwhile, her best friend, Laila, has a secret of her own: she can restore Addie’s memories . . . once she learns how. But there are powerful people who don’t want to see this happen. Desperate, Laila tries to manipulate Connor, a brooding bad boy from school—but he seems to be the only boy in the Compound immune to her charms. And the only one who can help her. 

As Addie and Laila frantically attempt to retrieve the lost memories, Addie must piece together a world she thought she knew before she loses the love she nearly forgot . . . and a future that could change everything.

Split Second, the second and final book in the Pivot Point duology, was a thoroughly pleasant read. I have very few complaints about this series as a whole. Though it was enjoyable and quick and the writing was excellent, I just don’t feel like this series is as memorable as it should be. I wanted to love it so much more than I actually did. I greatly enjoyed the process of reading it, but looking back upon Split Second, it just didn’t quite cut it for me.

My favourite thing about Split Second was West’s decision to switch the narration back and forth between best friends Addie and Laila. I love love loved the addition of Laila’s viewpoint, and it really made the book so much richer. Not to mention that her love interest is a total babe. I thought that I was fond of Addie’s love interest in Pivot Point (Trevor), but Connor totally gave him a run for his money. I was a little bit wary of Laila’s point of view to begin with, as I worried that it might be a snorefest and I’d spend every second of Laila’s chapters wanting to get back to Addie and Trevor. Surprisingly, I found the opposite occurred! I just couldn’t get behind the idea of Addie having all of her old memories of Trevor while he had none of her – their relationship just seemed very lopsided to me in this book. It just didn’t meet up to the magic of their beautiful romance in Pivot Point. Laila and Connor, on the other hand? They were everything I wanted and more. Laila is so much more complicated and layered than she appears in Pivot Point, and I loved watching her let down her guard and slowly let Connor into her life, and vice versa. My one complaint about their relationship is how quickly they shift from complete denial of the chemistry and feelings between them to being one of those gross couples that are always all over each other. Not that they’re gross! They totally aren’t!

There were also some more minor details that I found particularly special. I loved seeing the way that Addie and Stephanie’s relationship was completely changed simply by how they first met. In Split Second, Addie is introduced to Steph at one of their fathers’ work functions, and Steph becomes her first friend in Dallas. This is so insanely different from the side of Steph we see in Pivot Point; the girl who is in turns jealous and manipulative and cruel to Addie. I also enjoyed seeing more of Laila’s siblings. I was slightly annoyed at how little her parents played into her storyline, especially considering how damaging her relationships with her mother and her father were, but I was pleased with the inclusion of her brothers (one more than the other). Despite making mistakes, it’s clear that Laila loves her brothers and wants to protect them. Their parents certainly don’t do a good job of it.

I did find the plot kind of contrived, and though it was fast-paced and action-packed, I just didn’t really like it. The premise of their world, yes. The actuality of the Compound officials going around and brainwashing people willy-nilly, not so much. It was just a bit too dramatic for my tastes. That said, I thought that it was a lovely conclusion to a lovely series. I really do love Kasie West’s writing, and I’m eager to pick up her contemporary novels in the (near-ish?) future.

Review - Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

Series: Bloodlines #5

Published by Razorbill on July 29 2014

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampires

Pages: 380

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives. 

In The Fiery Heart, Sydney risked everything to follow her gut, walking a dangerous line to keep her feelings hidden from the Alchemists. 

Now in the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian struggle to pick up the pieces and find their way back to each other. But first, they have to survive.  

For Sydney, trapped and surrounded by adversaries, life becomes a daily struggle to hold on to her identity and the memories of those she loves. Meanwhile, Adrian clings to hope in the face of those who tell him Sydney is a lost cause, but the battle proves daunting as old demons and new temptations begin to seize hold of him. . . . 

Their worst fears now a chilling reality, Sydney and Adrian face their darkest hour in this heart-pounding fifth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where all bets are off

I’ve never written a review of a Vampire Academy or Bloodlines book, and I’m not sure how to go about it because I’m so infatuated with this series and, moreover, this world in general. I suppose a good place to start is to confess that I walked around town for an hour and a half on a hot, sunny Wednesday afternoon (the day after the book was released!) searching for a copy of this book. I had to have in my hands. Immediately. I also paid far more than I should have for it ($21 plus tax! Ouch!), but it was totally worth it.

This is the only series that I drop everything for. I have to read the newest books the moment they are released and no later. I’m lucky that Mead produces books so quickly, otherwise I’m not sure my sanity could handle it.

Unlike most people I know, I actually prefer the Bloodlines series to its predecessor, the Vampire Academy series. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Vampire Academy books. But there’s just something about Bloodlines that makes me absolutely elated. Richelle Mead’s books give me a high like no one else’s. Maybe it’s all of the Adrian. Maybe it’s how much I love Sydney. I’m a die-hard Sydrian fan in a way that I just never quite got behind Rose and Dimitri as a couple. I liked Rose and Dimitri, but I love Sydney and Adrian.

That said, I found this book a bit difficult to read at times. I spent most of the first half (or so) of the book wanting to smack Adrian upside the head and tell him to stop feeling sorry for himself. Sydney needed him and he wasn’t there for her because he was too busy drinking and partying all night long. He’d shown so much growth, and to see him regress to his old ways was painful. But not as painful as what Sydney was going through in re-education. I swear, that girl is the most strong, resilient young woman. It’s frightening how well she keeps it together. I’d have been utterly and completely broken by what she endures, but Sydney is far stronger than I could ever hope to be.

I think what I love most about Sydney Sage is just that: she is incredibly strong, but not in a psychical sense like Rose was. She possesses a mental fortitude beyond my wildest imaginings, and I truly respect her for that. She has so many things stacked up against her, but she never lets them break her. Yes, she has the odd moment of weakness, but she believes in her convictions with every fiber of her being and I think that’s amazing. I aspire to be more like Sydney Sage. It’s clear towards the end of the book that Sydney has been emotionally scarred by her experiences in re-education and possible PTSD is hinted at, and I think that Mead made an excellent choice by including that. Even someone like Sydney can’t escape that kind of torture without serious emotional baggage.

Depiction of mental illness in a paranormal series is something that I commend Mead for. It’s quite clear for anybody who has experience with it that Adrian suffers from bipolar disorder, not to mention Lissa’s depression throughout the Vampire Academy books. With the addition of Sydney’s potential PTSD, I’m really impressed. It’s all been handled so beautifully, and more importantly respectfully. I don’t think I’ve read any other books that have achieved such a complex look at the entanglement between psychic ability and mental illness in paranormal stories (I honestly can’t think of any paranormal books that even include mental illness in any capacity). I think that what Mead has done with these books and characters is brilliant.

There were a few things that I wasn’t incredibly fond of throughout the book, but on the whole it was a solid 4.5 stars. If you haven’t read the Bloodlines series, you’re missing out. Trust me. I’m not someone who enjoys books about vampires – I don’t even really like the paranormal genre in general nowadays, but I keep coming back to these books because they’re consistently well written, well-paced, and have excellent plots and characters. I really don’t want this series to end, and there’s only one book left! Maybe we’ll get a spin-off of the spin-off?? About Trey or Angeline or someone else? There are so many parts of the Vampire Academy world that have only been glimpsed so far. I’m not ready to leave.

Review - The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand

The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand

Series: Standalone

Published by Simon & Schuster on August 27 2013

Genres: Middle Grade, Paranormal

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Olivia wants a new life, and it might take ghosts to get it. A heartfelt, gently Gothic novel from Claire Legrand. 

Olivia Stellatella is having a rough year. 

Her mother's left; her neglectful father, the maestro of a failing orchestra, has moved her and her grandmother into the city's dark, broken-down concert hall to save money, and her only friend is Igor, an ornery stray cat. 

Just when she thinks life couldn't get any weirder, she meets four ghosts who haunt the hall. They need Olivia's help; if the hall is torn down, they'll be stuck as ghosts forever, never able to move on. 

Olivia has to do the impossible for her shadowy new friends: save the concert hall. But helping the dead has powerful consequences for the living; and soon it's not just the concert hall that needs saving.

Olivia Stellatella is prickly. She’s stubborn and hurt and sometimes mean, and altogether a difficult twelve-year-old girl. Which makes complete sense, considering her mother left, her father walks around in a musical haze, her grandmother is a bit dotty and not in the greatest of health, and her family has absolutely no money to speak of. Not to mention the fact that she now lives in the rehearsal space of the old concert hall in which her father, an orchestra conductor, works. Someone mentioned that Olivia reminded them of Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice, which I agree with 100%. Olivia is a lot like a younger Lydia, which was as entertaining as you might expect.

Yes, it’s safe to say that Olivia isn’t the most pleasant person to be around. Thankfully, despite her best efforts to the contrary, she manages to snag a host of new friends throughout her year of living in Emerson Hall – Henry, a boy who gets straight As and spends all of his free time roaming the hall; Igor, a grumpy black cat whom Olivia imagines speaks like Cary Grant; Joan, a friendless girl who likes to spend her spare time protesting and talking about solidarity; and four ghosts stuck haunting Emerson Hall until they recover whatever object that is holding them in place and right it.

I honestly can’t think of another word to describe this book other than sweet. It’s not as light as a lot of middle grade books I’ve read, which is something I really appreciated. Olivia’s problems are real problems, and the fact that she’s twelve years old doesn’t negate them. This book really tugged at my heartstrings and made me feel for the characters (even the Maestro!). One smaller aspect of the book that I liked and thought was special was the way that Olivia repeatedly referred to The Economy to explain her predicament. It was clear that it was a term she’d picked up from the adults around her and that she wasn’t entirely certain of what it meant, only that it was to blame for the failure of the orchestra. I feel like many people throw around the term The Economy in a very similar manner – not quite sure what they’re talking about all the time, but thinking that it makes them sound knowledgeable. It was a minor detail, but one that I appreciated.

The ghosts are another notable feature in this book - they are all so interesting and unique. Their backstories are all absolutely heartbreaking (especially Mr. Worthington!) and I thought that the way that Olivia and her friends were able to help them was very creative. I loved being able to glimpse short snippets of their lives, and seeing them move on was bittersweet.

I can’t say that I’d recommend this to everybody, but I’d definitely pass it around to anyone who likes middle grade books or books about ghosts. It gets pretty dark at times, so that’s something to consider. I know that a lot of people who read middle grade like it because it tends to be a bit lighter and fluffier than some of the other options out there. This is not the book for you if that’s what you’re looking for.

Review - The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Series: The Madman’s Daughter #1

Published by Balzer + Bray on January 29 2013

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Horror, Paranormal, Historical Fiction

Pages: 420

Rating: 3/5 stars

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true. 

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood. 

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. It really hooked me in and I thought that the Juliet we meet in London was a fascinating character – she was smart and different and a little macabre, and I liked that. However, things took a turn for the worst when we were introduced to Love Interest #1, Montgomery. Suddenly a cruel scientist was trying to rape Juliet and she was cutting him with a cleaning tool and then off we go on a ship heading towards Australia. We meet Love Interest #2, Edward, on said ship and things just start to get simultaneously weird and boring, which is quite a feat in and of itself. This whole section of the book was just very rushed and disjointed.

By the time we hit the halfway point, I was thoroughly unimpressed by Juliet. I loved that she had a dark side, but she was very angst-y about it. She wanted to be absolutely nothing like her father, which for some reason meant that she couldn’t be interested in science. It didn’t really make sense to me, especially the explanation given towards the end of the book for her stranger inclinations. I like characters who embrace that darker edge to them. I also really wanted Juliet to make up her mind about where she stood regarding the ‘monsters’. Were they beasts or humans? Was killing them considered murder or not? How could she pick and choose which ones were more human than the others and apply her human morality only to those select few? I know I worded that very strangely, but I’m not sure how else to phrase it. Her attachment to Balthazar and the snakey guy pissed me off because the way I see it, if you accept one or two, you have to accept them all.

Juliet spent a vast amount of time worrying about which boy she most wanted to kiss, when she clearly had much bigger problems on her hands – namely the monster roaming the island killing people. No big deal though, right? My main problem was that the love interests were so freaking boring. I honestly didn’t find myself rooting for either of them, though I disliked Edward more than Montgomery. I suppose that makes me Team Montgomery? No thank you. Team Get-Juliet-The-Hell-Away-From-These-Psychos is more my speed. For the most part, the characters (with the exception of Dr. Moreau) are all very modern, with 21^st century ideas and beliefs, which didn’t cohere well with the Victorian setting. I had some qualms with the chosen time period, as it didn’t seem to add much to the book. Due to the vast majority of the book taking place on a more or less deserted island, the Victorian element doesn’t really come into play much and it felt a bit wasted.

The only characters I actually liked were the maid and the experiment-man gone rogue. They were cool and interesting, though by the end of the book one of them was dead and the other couldn’t speak.

Having not read The Island of Doctor Moreau, upon which this book is based, I only vaguely knew what was going to happen (most of the time). I knew the general idea, but nothing beyond that. That said, there was at least one thing that really worked for me in The Madman’s Daughter, and that was the atmosphere. This book had some seriously creepy moments, and despite the major issues I had with it, I sped through it. I thought the writing was solid, and am interested to see what else Megan Shepherd can produce in the years to come. Though I saw the twists coming miles away (this from someone who doesn’t usually pick up on these things!), I think I’ll give Book Two a chance. We’ll see. Hopefully that one will be more gothic horror story and less YA love triangle.

Review - World After by Susan Ee

World After by Susan Ee

Series: Penryn & the End of Days #2

Published by Skyscape on November 19 2013

Genres: Young Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, Paranormal

Pages: 314

Rating: 4/5 stars

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world. 

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken. 

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go. 

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

I’ll admit that I went into World After with very high expectations that I really didn't think it could meet. I honestly didn’t remember much of what happened in Angelfall (c’mon, I read it almost two years ago give me a break), but I knew that it was a book that had impressed me and I couldn’t bear for book 2 to let me down. As second books often do.

Much to my dismay, World After held its own against my extreme demands. It didn’t really do anything to help me readjust to Penryn’s world, which was both a positive and a negative. I’m not a fan of books that rehash everything that happened in the previous book because I think it’s tacky, but I do think that World After could have used a little bit more reference to the events of Angelfall, simply because the beginning of the book left me very confused. I didn’t know what was going on a lot of the time, and I felt like I was supposed to.

I really missed Raffe in this book. He was such a huge part of Angelfall, and his presence was sorely missed in a large portion of World After, by both Penryn (though she tried to deny it) and by me as the reader. I found myself wishing for a bit of banter to break up the extreme tension throughout the novel. Penryn is dealing with a lot, and I think that just a tiny bit of humour would have gone a long way. Of course, I imagine we’ll be seeing more of Raffe in the third book in the series.

That said, I was quite impressed by Penryn. She’s a stubborn young lady, but she’s not stupid about it. Generally speaking, she makes good decisions. And she has a lot of tough choices to make. One of the aspects that I love so much about this series is that it puts such a focus on family. Despite the fact that her mother is completely off her rocker and that her sister has been turned into a flesh eating monster, Penryn’s first priority is still her family. There’s a moment between Penryn and Paige towards the end of the book that I found truly moving. Their relationship, strange as it may be, really works for me.

On the whole, I thought that the pacing was pretty good. I’d give it a high B. It wasn’t as speedy as Angelfall – the beginning dragged quite a bit, but as soon as Penryn leaves the compound things really start to heat up and they stay hot right until the end. I really admire the way that Susan Ee can write such action-packed books that can still pack a very emotional punch. I must say, I never thought I’d be enthralled by a series about angels that take over Earth and kill humans like vermin. It’s unexpected and I like it. A lot.

All it all, this was a really solid book. I’m still really enjoying this series, and I’m not-so-patiently awaiting book three. There were a few things that could have been tweaked and tightened up here and there, but I was definitely happy with the final product.

Review - The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Series: Standalone

Published by Scholastic Press on October 18 2011

Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Pages: 404

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. 

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. 

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

I’m hovering back and forth between 4 and 4.5 stars for this one, but I'm leaning toward 4.5 because I can't think of any reason why it doesn't deserve it. There are a lot of things that Maggie Stiefvater does right with The Scorpio Races. I try not to compare titles by the same author, but who am I kidding, I totally do anyways, and I must say that I’m much more impressed with this book than I was with The Raven Boys, which I read a few weeks ago.

I really love the setting of this book. The island of Thisby really comes alive on the page and I feel like it’s a place that truly exists, a dreamlike, sometimes nightmarish place that I could visit if I so chose. I think Thisby is supposed to be an island somewhere in the UK, but it is up to interpretation as to which country it is in. I was a bit thrown at first by the talk of American tourists as well as tourists from “the mainland,” which is never given a proper name, but it all came together quite nicely for me.

I think the writing had a lot to do with my ability to become well situated in Puck and Sean’s world. There is a timelessness in Stiefvater’s prose that really works for me. She paints pictures with her words and there is a complexity to her language. I also appreciated how she handled the dual point-of-view, which is something that I am generally not a big fan of. I thought it really worked in this case. The Scorpio Races wouldn’t be as impressive as it is if it was experienced through the eyes of Puck or Sean, rather than both of them.

All of the characters really impressed me, particularly the two main characters. I honestly cannot claim to like one more than the other.  I will admit that I struggle to call Puck and Sean's relationship a romance – I regard it more as a deep mutual affection. And that is something that I really loved about this book. There is an understanding between Puck and Sean that is so much older than their years. They don’t rush into things, neither of them looking for more than the other is offering. There is a respect between them that I wish I saw more in YA. Their relationship was one of my favourite things about The Scorpio Races, which is saying a lot because romance is usually one of my least favourite things in the books I read.

I did have a few qualms with The Scorpio Races, which is why I just can’t give it 5 stars. The first is that it was so slow. The first hundred (or more) pages were really quite difficult to get through. It felt like nothing was really happening, and from what I can tell this seems to be a recurring theme in Stiefvater’s repertoire.  The first time I tried to read this book, a few years ago, I barely made it through the first two chapters before getting bored and moving on. While I’m glad I finished it this time, I do wish the beginning was more captivating. My other complaint is that the ratio of men to women in this book is frighteningly high. Where are all of the ladies?? I can literally count on one hand the women in The Scorpio Races – Puck, Dory Maud, Elizabeth, and Peg Gratton. There are a few others who are mentioned, but they’re still extremely outnumbered by the men. Are there no girls anywhere near Puck’s age on Thisby? Not a huge deal, but it was something that I found bothersome as I was reading.

On the whole though, I'd highly recommend this book, and not just to horse lovers. I'm not a huge horse person myself, though I'll admit I wanted to be when I was younger. If you're looking for in-depth characterization and slow and steady pacing, this is a great book for you.

Review - The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa

The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa

Series: Blood of Eden #3

Published by Harlequin Teen on April 15 2014

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Dystopia

Pages: 393

Rating: 2/5 stars

Vengeance will be hers. 

Allison Sekemoto once struggled with the question: human or monster? With the death of her love, Zeke, she has her answer.
Monster. 

Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren, the psychopathic vampire who murdered Zeke. But the trail is bloody and long, and Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions - her creator Kanin, and her blood brother, Jackal. The trail is leading straight to the one place they must protect at any cost - the last vampire-free zone on Earth, Eden. And Sarren has one final, brutal shock in store for Allie.  

In a ruined world where no life is sacred and former allies can turn on you in one heartbeat, Allie will face her darkest days. And if she succeeds, her triumph will be short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone. 

THE FINAL HUNT IS ON.

For the third and final book in a series in which the stakes are as high as they can possibly be, this book spends a lot of time on romance and not nearly enough on plot and action. The middle thirty percent of the book is literally just Allie and Zeke whining and arguing and kissing and whining some more. If I hadn’t already invested so much time and energy into this series, I would have DNF’ed it.

I might have enjoyed The Forever Song if Zeke was a stronger character. I might have liked it if I understood what made him so appealing to Allie. If I didn’t feel like he was holding her back. But that is not the case. I have disliked Zeke from his first appearance in The Immortal Rules, and my disapproval only increased in The Forever Song. Zeke is not the kind of love interest I want to see in a book about ruthless vampires who rule a dystopian society. He doesn’t fit in. His idealism is annoying instead of inspiring and I spent the first forty-odd percent of the book wishing he was dead. I think that this book would have been much stronger, particularly in Allie’s character development, if Zeke had in fact died at the end of The Eternity Cure. I would have loved to see Allie confront who she is as a vampire without Zeke around to guilt her into being a “good person”.

One of the biggest complaints I have about this series is the conflation of humanity and morality. Throughout the series, Allie rebels against what is expected of her as a vampire, believing their lack of humanity to make them inherently evil. This is something that I think Kagawa tries to resolve, but it didn’t work for me. I think that there is a distinct difference between humanity and morality, and I don’t think that line is painted as vividly as it should be in these books. It is not being a vampire that makes someone a bad person – morality is in the choices we make after the fact. Yes, there are a lot of horrible vampires out there, but I can’t say I’d have a lot of sympathy for the humans considering their immediate judgement of anything that is not like them. Not to mention the fact that humans have shown over and over and over that we are just as capable of atrocities as anyone else – humans do absolutely horrible things, but that does not throw their humanity into question. So why is it that humanity is something to hold on to at any costs?

I’m particularly disappointed in this book because of how much I loved The Immortal Rules and The Eternity Cure. There was so much potential for this book to be incredible, and it let me down at every turn. One bit of praise I can give it is that Kagawa writes great (though sometimes repetitive) battle scenes. She is quick with the action, and the pacing isn’t too bad if you forget about the middle section of the book.

My final complaint I have is the lack of female characters in the series. I didn’t really pick up on this until I was reading The Forever Song, but I can’t help but notice that Allison is the only woman in the entire series who actually matters. She is the only one with character development, the only one with agency and opinions and personality. The only other women to grace the pages of The Forever Song are Caleb and Bethany’s adoptive mother, who is suspicious and standoffish towards Allie and Zeke the moment she finds out that they are no longer human, and a human woman who Allie nearly kills at the beginning of the book, whose only purpose is to appear as a reminder to Allie of the relationship between herself and her deceased mother. I truly wish that some of the fascinating characters in these books could have been women. It just seems strange for there to be no other women in Allie’s life.

Best of Jackal (the one bright spot in this dismal book):

“Hey, maybe we can tie him half in and half out of the sun, that’s always interesting. Did that to some undead bastard who pissed me off several years back. The light began at his feet and crawled up towar his face, and it took a very long time for him to finally kick it. By the end, he was screaming at me to cut off his head.”

“Next time we get a flat, you’re on your own. In fact, I think some lazy little fucks who won’t be named need to learn the basics of changing a tire.” 

“For all I know, he could be chasing squirrels to make a necklace from their little squirrel balls.” 

“Puppy, I am getting so tired of listening to you whine about this. This isn’t rocket science. If you don’t want to be a monster, don’t be a bloody monster! Be an uptight stick in the mud like Kanin. Be a self-righteous bleeding heart like Allison. Or you can stop agonizing about it and be a fucking monster, it’s actually a lot of fun.” 

“All the meatsacks are perfectly content on their happy little island, Sarren has given up world destruction to raise kittens, and the magic wish fairy will wave her wand and turn shit into gold.”

Review - The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Series: The Raven Cycle #1

Published by Scholastic Press on Sept 18 2012

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal

Pages: 409

Rating: 3/5 stars

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.” 

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive. 

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. 

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. 

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. 

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore. 

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

I had a lot of trouble getting into The Raven Boys, but once I hit 40-45% it was SO WORTH IT.

The beginning of The Raven Boys is pretty boring, to tell you the truth. As the first book in the trilogy, it has a lot of exposition to get through before it arrives at the action. I found myself longing for the chapters revolving around Gansey and Adam while I read Blue’s chapters as quickly as possible (so that they would be over quickly). I was really surprised by this because, in theory, I should love Blue’s household. She lives with an all-female pack of psychics (side note: what do you call a large group of psychics? They aren’t witches, so they wouldn’t be a coven right?). What isn’t to love? Unfortunately I found Blue’s chapters kind of confusing. I couldn’t keep all of the women straight! I still don’t know who exactly Calla and Persephone are, or what their relation to Blue is. Are they just women who work with/live with Blue’s mother, or are they blood relatives? I can’t tell. I also (mistakenly) spent a large chunk of the novel believing that Neeve (whose name I really wish was spelled Niamh) was Blue’s grandmother rather than her aunt. It was rather disorienting.

That said, these weren’t problems with the book itself. They were my personal issues. The Raven Boys does have a lot of lovely assets going for it:

1. The boys themselves – Gansey and Adam and Ronan and Noah made this book for me. As someone who rarely likes the guys in YA books (the ones other readers swoon over), I was really pleased with this group of young men. They were all so different and interesting and well developed. They aren’t just characters – they are people who feel like they could step out of the pages and into the real world without difficulty. Adam was definitely the weak link of the bunch, but his flaws made sense, which is ever so important to me.
2. The writing – This is my first Stiefvater book, but I can now say that I am a big fan of her writing. I heard about her way with words long before these books came out, when she was popular for her Shiver series. I was somewhat interested, but I also heard that the books were full of purple prose and I’ve never been particularly keen on werewolf books. However, I found her writing really hit the mark in The Raven Boys. It wasn’t superfluous, as I’d worried, but brought the story to life in a way that it so rare in this genre (I have encountered a lot of poor writing in paranormal stories). I’ll definitely be on the lookout for The Scorpio Races and The Dream Thieves at the library.
3. The plot – Although the beginning dragged, once the plot got going I was hooked. I’m pretty sure I read the latter 50% in a single night (I may have been up until about 4am, but whatever. Who needs sleep when there are good books to read?). There was a great balance between plot and character, and it never felt like anyone was acting merely as a plot device. I particularly loved that Noah remained a figure in everyone’s lives even after his big reveal. It was surprising and really appreciated.

The reason I gave the book 3/5 stars is because I felt like the good and bad were equally weighted. As much as I found it difficult to plod through the first half, I loved the second half. Though I didn’t really care either way for Blue and her troupe, I was completely enamoured of the Raven boys. The writing was lovely, though it could occasionally err on the excessive side. Overall, I can definitely see what they hype was all about, though it was far from perfect.

(I'm not sure why, but this felt accurate)

Review - Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Series: Lynburg Legacy #2

Published by Random House Books for Young Readers

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal

Pages: 370

Rating: 3/5 stars

It's time to choose sides....  

On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways. 

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?

Disappointing. I liked all of these characters so much less than I did when we were introduced in Unspoken. The only character I consistently loved was Angela, but how could I ever dislike Angela? This is a girl who uses her spare class to nap and who hates everyone except Kami and Holly. She’s pretty much my soul mate. The conversation between her and Kami about her sexuality is particularly poignant and well-played by Brennan. It’s understated and completely true to who Angela is.

Ash and Jared were a huge let down in this book. First off, there was just way too much of them. I needed a break from the Lynburns, okay? It felt like every other scene was an altercation with either Ash or Jared (or, god forbid, both). Maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but that’s how it felt! There was just far too much boy drama for my tastes. Considering everything on the line, I just don’t have time for that shit. Ash was not a fun character to be around. I understand that he was feeling a bit dejected, considering he has the worst parents ever, but it was really difficult to sympathize with him. I mean, boy did try to kill my soul mate. Ash was whiny and annoying, while Jared was a little piece of shit from page one. He spent pretty much the entire book moping about the fact that Kami cut off the connection between them at the end of Unspoken. He was incredibly selfish, not even considering that Kami might be equally affected by what happened. There was also the issue of his mindlessly hooking up with Holly, which just seemed like drama for the sake of drama. On a side note, and only mildly irritating in the grand scheme of things, Holly really didn’t need to kiss every boy she knew to hide her feelings for Angela (because lets be real, girl’s in looooove).

I found the plot here to be pretty weak. Not a heck of a lot happened until the very end of the book. It was a classic second book in a trilogy with all of the expected missteps. The bulk of the nearly 400 page novel was snarky dialogue and trite love triangle, and it got old very fast.

Brennan’s writing is very humourous. Between the narration and the dialogue, it’s quip central. Every single character has something funny to add. In my opinion, it got to be too much. Instead of adding a lightness to supplement the darkness of what was befalling the town, it started to cheapen it. I have a hard time believing that every person in this small town is so quick-witted. Also, I’m not sure if the writing is to blame or if it’s just me, but I often found myself unsure of who Kami was speaking to, Ash or Jared. That’s not a good sign. I’m pretty sure you should be able to tell who she’s talking to based on what they’re saying as well as the narrative cues surrounding the dialogue, and it just didn’t come together for me.

The pacing also needed work. It seemed like there were long stretches during which nothing happened, with a few ~major events~ thrown in to keep the plot going. The big problem, I think, was lack of gravity to the important scenes. It never felt like anything was really changing or growing throughout the novel. Things were happening, but I had a hard time caring. I ended up skimming the last twenty percent or so because I was losing patience and just wanted it to be over.