Release Date: 07/06/12
BOOK BLURB:
The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka. Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom's magical elite - the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free? The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfil her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him. But what of Mal, Alina's childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can't she ever quite forget him? Glorious. Epic. Irresistible. Romance.
REVIEW:
OK, this is a book that I originally put on the back burner for a number of reasons, first of all because the burb sounded a little confusing alongside complex and at the time I fancied something straight forward and secondly because I had to be in the mood for a love story.
Whilst I am pleased I left it until I was really in the mood for it, I was a little upset that I left it so long, purely because the author, Leigh Bardugo has put a lot of work in, the world building is up there with a lot of the top adult authors, the characters shine through the pages and the complex plotline works on so many levels keeping the reader guessing from the first page to the last.
Add to this a wonderful sense of roundedness to the characters, wonderful interaction and of course a love thread that really does make this a hard to put down book. But when you throw in a great sense of pace alongside solid prose as well as cracking dialogue the reader really is in for a treat. All in a great novel to use as a break through from Teen to Adult but also one that will enamour itself of a great many readers old and young. Magical.
Release Date: 01/03/12
BOOK BLURB:
As the new girl at the elite St. Sophia's boarding school, Lily Parker thinks her classmates are the most monstrous things she'll have to face. When Lily's guardians decided to send her away to a fancy boarding school in Chicago, she was shocked. So was St. Sophia's. Lily's ultra-rich brat pack classmates think Lily should be the punchline to every joke, and on top of that, she's hearing strange noises and seeing bizarre things in the shadows of the creepy building. The only thing keeping her sane is her roommate, Scout, but even Scout's a little weird - she keeps disappearing late at night and won't tell Lily where she's been. But when a prank leaves Lily trapped in the catacombs beneath the school, Lily finds Scout running from a real monster. Scout's a member of a splinter group of rebel teens with unique magical talents, who've sworn to protect the city against demons, vampires, and Reapers, magic users who've been corrupted by their power. And when Lily finds herself in the line of a firespell, Scout tells her the truth about her secret life, even though Lily has no powers of her own - at least, none that she's discovered yet ...REVIEW:
As a huge reader of Urban Fantasy and a keen reader of YA fiction I love it when the two worlds collide. As such this title by Chloe Neill sets itself up by the blurb to be something that not only intrigued me, but demanded that I spent the time upon it. Not only that but findind out that the second book in the series was already available pretty much made it a get it now type of pick up.
Whilst for me the book started quite slow, the pace picked up and began to take the reader deeper into the world of Chloe’s imagination. It did take its time and to be honest I was left wondering if it was going to happen at all, but at the end it all came good. There was key action sequences, great prose and an author that from hindsight, wanted to get the reader to know the character prior to throwing a lot of the supernatural our way.
All in, a fun book, one that did manage to hook me and with a lead character accompanied with a strong supporting cast, its made the second book a must read. The only thing I can hope is that Chloe does a bit more building and allows the characters to grow, otherwise it won’t be a series that stands out amongst the masses already available.
Release Date: 01/03/12
BOOK BLURB:
Protecting Chicago from the dark side can be an exhausting job, especially when you're a sophomore. So when the girls of St. Sophia's start gearing up for Sneak, their fall formal, Lily decides to join in on some good, old-fashioned party prep - even if it means not giving demons, vampires and the twisted magic users known as Reapers her undivided attention. But when a Reaper infiltrates the school, Lily doesn't forget what she's sworn to protect. She reaches deep into herself to draw out her magic - and finds that it's gone. And it turns out she's not alone. A magical blackout has slammed through paranormal Chicago, and no one knows what - or who - caused it. But Lily knows getting back her magic is worth the risk of going behind enemy lines ...
REVIEW:
Having neither truly loved nor hated the previous book I wanted to give Charmfall a fair crack of the whip, so having been lucky enough to have recently finished Firespell, I thought that I’d crack on with this one and see what it did for me as a reader. Sadly it left me with the same impressions as the original and whilst its certainly not the worst out there its pretty mediocre as the world hasn’t increased and the characters sadly didn’t get the opportunity to grow which will keep a lot of the readers with no attachments and therefore the Emo reaction to what befalls them.
Don’t get me wrong, there will be people out there that love this, but for me with no character growth and a pace that struggles to get going, it was a real struggle to make my way through. A great shame all in.
Release Date: 02/02/12
BOOK BLURB:
Lis London is hoping for a fresh start when she arrives in the sleepy village of Hollow Pike - but nothing here is as it seems...Lis has a recurring nightmare where someone is trying to kill her. A ritual murder in the woods - just like her dream - makes Lis think she might be next to die. A killer stalks the night.And the birds...see...everything...Hollow Pike - where witchcraft never sleeps.
REVIEW:
Young Adult stories are a joy to behold as they deal with all manner of issues from real life such as dealing with bullies to the fantastical tales of magic within our own world. Whilst this title from James works on a number of levels, the main problem that I had with it was that, for me, the magic within this title wasn’t needed. It really detracted from the tale whereas if they’d left it out it would have generated a greater story overall as a tale of friendship alongside real life struggles for modern teens.
That said, the characters were believable, the dialogue had a teen flavour and the prose alongside pace worked extremely well. All in its my first James Dawson title and I’ll definitely be back for more, but I hope the author remembers that at times less is more and slightly more realistic slant can generate a greater story overall.
Release Date: 01/09/11
BOOK BLURB:
Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old Jack lived an unremarkable life in the small Ohio town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take daily and the thick scar above his heart set him apart from the other high-schoolers. At least, until one day Jack forgets his 'medicine'. Suddenly, he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident than ever before. And it feels great - right up to the moment when he loses control of his own strength and almost kills another player during the soccer team tryouts. An incident which proves to be just the beginning. Jack is about to learn the startling truth about himself: he is Weirlind; part of an underground society of magical people who live among us. At the head of this magical society sit the feuding houses of the Red and the White Rose, whose power is determined by playing The Game - a magical tournament in which each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the death. The winning house rules the Weir. As if his bizarre magical heritage isn't enough, Jack discovers that he's not just another member of Weirlind: he's one of the last of the warriors, and his power has manifested at a time when both houses are scouting for a player. Jack's performance on the soccer field has alerted the entire magical community to the fact that he's in Trinity. And until one of the houses is declared Jack's official sponsor, they'll stop at nothing to get Jack to fight for them ...
REVIEW:
Having enjoyed Cinda’s other fantasy series, I was interested to see what she’d do with an Urban Fantasy and loved the way that she brought magic to the modern world with some similar touches to David Gemmell in this warrior based title. Add to this some decent characters that the reader can associate with as well as some dark touches that placed the reader in territory that was not only unfamiliar but had the fright factor added.
It’s cleverly written and its definitely a book that has all the right elements to include great pace, some wonderful lulls and peaks as well as cracking prose. It’ll be interesting to see what the other two titles in the series contain.
Release Date: 06/10/11
BOOK BLURB:
Seph McCauley has spent the past three years getting kicked out of one exclusive private school after another. And it's not his attitude that's the problem: it's the trail of magical accidents - lately, disasters - that follow in his wake. Seph is a wizard, orphaned and untrained, and his powers are escalating out of control. Worse, as the magical accidents that plague him grow in intensity, Seph makes a discovery: the stories he's been told about his parents' life and death are fabrications. The people he most trusted have been lying to him. After causing a tragic fire at an after-hours party Seph is sent to the Havens, a secluded boy's school on the coast of Maine. Gregory Leicester, the headmaster, promises to train Seph in magic and initiate him into his mysterious order of wizards. Maybe here he will find a community he can trust? But Seph's enthusiasm dampens when he learns that the training comes at a steep cost. Who can he trust, when everyone around him is keeping secrets? And where can he turn, when he finds himself at the centre of a war he may well not survive?REVIEW:
The second title in the Heir Chronicles and one that continues to build upon the success of the first by delving into another of the powerful dragon sects has its own share of problems, especially with the new rule changes from Cumbria taking the various peoples in a whole new direction with some angered at the diminishing of their own power within the races.
It’s clever, the characters have realistic hooks to bind them to the reader and when you add to this Cinda’s cracking pace, wonderful walkthrough plotline and a great overall arc with darker agenda’s beneath the surface of the whole its one that really has been a joy to explore and enjoy.
Release Date: 06/10/11
BOOK BLURB:
Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar, even though you've never been there before, or felt that you know someone well, even though you are meeting them for the first time? It happens. In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a visiting journalist, Eric Seven, and a young local woman known as Merle are ritually slain. Their deaths echo a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire they come close to finding what they've lost. In a novel comprising seven parts, each influenced by a moon - the flower moon, the harvest moon, the hunter's moon, the blood moon - this is the story of Eric and Merle whose souls have been searching for each other since their untimely parting. Beautifully imagined, intricately and cleverly structured, this is a heart-wrenching and breathtaking love story with the hallmark Sedgwick gothic touches of atmosphere, blood-spilling and sacrifice.
REVIEW:
This is a quirky story and one that Marcus Segwick does well as he takes the reader on a journey of discovery through the principle characters past lives as well as giving the reader the chance to observe the almost Shakespearian tragedy of them throughout. It’s experimental, it has Segwick’s fingerprints all over it and it has some interesting twists but to be honest it wasn’t a title that kept me enthralled as it felt a little flat and more a series of short stories with an interlinking thread throughout rather than a fully planned or realised novel by the final page.
Don’t get me wrong, it does do what it promises and gives you something different, but for me, its not a title that’s going to stay with me for very long and I feel that others have tackled this sort of thing before with greater success. Still something for Marcus’ fans but for the majority of readers, not the authors best piece of work to date.
Release Date: 03/11/11
BOOK BLURB:
Arnold Ruben has created a memory machine, a utopia housed in a picture palace, where the happiest memories replay forever, a haven in which he and his precious daughter can shelter from the war-clouds gathering over 1937 Britain. But on the day of her seventeenth birthday Amaryllis leaves Warlock Hall and the world she has known and wakes to find herself in a desolate and disturbing place. Something has gone terribly wrong with her father's plan. Against the tense backdrop of the second World War Sally Gardner explores families and what binds them, fathers and daughters, past histories, passions and cruelty, love and devastation in a novel rich in character and beautifully crafted.
REVIEW:
When I want a book that’s different against any other in the Young Adult market then you’ll often find me picking up a title by Sally Gardner, as they have realistic associable characters, great plot lines and whilst usually historical in nature, they are available to the modern reader without any difficulty.
What this latest book from Sally presents to the reader is a story that whilst it has science fiction elements, allows the reader to find the principle characters perils and tribulations whilst being able to associate with them which keeps this book at an adrenaline high throughout as you worry about each new situation that arises. It has some cracking dilemmas, harsh choices and above all else an authorly voice that is easily unique in the YA world. Finally add to this a wonderful use of language alongside pace and authorly sleight of hand and the reader really won’t put this down until that last page is turned.
Release Date: 03/02/11
BOOK BLURB:
April Dunne is not impressed. She's had to move from Edinburgh to Highgate, London, with her parents. She's left her friends - and her entire life - behind. She has to start at a new school and, worst of all, now she's stuck in a creepy old dump of a house which doesn't even have proper mobile phone reception. Ravenwood, her new school, is a prestigious academy for gifted (financially or academically) students - and the only place her parents could find her a place, in the middle of term, in the middle of London, on incredibly short notice. So she's stuck with the super-rich, and the super-smart . . . and trying to fit in is when the rest of the students seem to be more glamorous, smarter, or more talented than she is, is more than tough. It's intimidating and isolating, even when she finds a friend in the conspiracy-theorist Caro Jackson - and perhaps finds something more than friendship in the gorgeous, mysterious Gabriel Swift. But there's more going on at Ravenwood than meets the eye. Practical jokes on new students are normal, but when Gabriel saves her from . . . something . . . . in the Highgate Cemetery, and then she discovers that a murder took place, just yards away from where she had been standing, April has to wonder if something more sinister is going on. . . . and whether or not she's going to live through it . . .
REVIEW:
To be honest I missed out on this one until I had the second title land and requested the original as I hate to jump into a series if I can read the preluding books. What this title by husband and wife team Tasmina and John Perry, does is give the reader a story that whilst it starts slow allows the reader to get a firm grip on the lead character in order to be able to associate the strange world into which she’s thrust through her eyes.
Add to this some very nice descriptive pieces, a setting that you can walk through mentally and of course a plot line that will grasp the reader within its palm to guide them to where the author wishes them to travel. All in it was a story that I enjoyed reading, I loved the twists and I hope to see more from this couple as they work very well together.
Release Date: 01/09/11
BOOK BLURB:
Highgate When April's family moved to the sleepy North London village of Highgate, everyone told her it was the start of an amazing new life. They didn't know the half of it. Weeks later, her father was the latest in a series of brutal killings, someone has tried to kill her, and now her boyfriend, Gabriel, is dying too ...Murder April couldn't save her father, but there's just a chance she can save Gabriel. There's an ancient recipe, hidden in a forbidden book, which holds the cure. All April has to do is find it. Somehow. Vampires But she has to keep a low profile. In a school full of vampires, where one of their own has been killed, they're beginning to suspect they have a Fury in their midst. April's blood might be deadly to vampires, but even that won't save her if they figure out who she is. Time is short, the stakes are high, and surviving school has never been so tough ...
REVIEW:
This is the second title in the Ravenwood Mystery and whilst the original guided you into the world, this one really doesn’t lt up from the first page to the last. The action within comes thick and fast, the characters continue to grow and the novel changes that sets this series apart from the multitude of other vampire titles really takes this one in a direction of its own.
Add to this the seemingless blend of a writing couple that work well together, backed up with stunning prose and pace which leaves you with a title that is not only hard to put down but nigh impossible until the final page is turned. Whilst at times harrowing, it’s the strength of the characters that drives the story through and the emotional turmoil to which they find themselves. A stunning series.
Release Date: 15/09/11
BOOK BLURB:
Mickey Bolitar's year can't get much worse. After witnessing his father's death and sending his mom to rehab, he's forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools. A new school comes with new friends and new enemies, and lucky for Mickey, it also comes with a great new girlfriend, Ashley. For a while, it seems like Mickey's train-wreck of a life is finally improving - until Ashley vanishes without a trace. Unwilling to let another person walk out of his life, Mickey follows Ashley's trail into a seedy underworld that reveals that this seemingly sweet, shy girl isn't who she claimed to be. And neither was Mickey's father. Soon, Mickey learns about a conspiracy so shocking that it makes high school drama seem like a luxury - and leaves him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew. With this new series, Coben introduces an entirely new generation of fans to the masterful plotting and wry humour that have made him an award-winning, internationally bestselling author.
REVIEW:
The modern trend seems to be for successful adult authors to move into the YA Genre to create something that will not only sell but a title that adults will pick up as they already know the author. What Harlan presents in this book is a story that works to his strengths, gripping undercurrents, mysterious twists and a historical touch that helps generate backstory without going into too much detail.
Add to this a cracking lead character, a solid overall arc and of course great dialogue which when backed with a myriad of supporting cast members makes this title work on so many levels. I really will enjoy the next book in this series as it’ll be interesting to see what Harlan takes it.
Release Date: 07/06/12
