Category Archives: Fantasy

Review: The Shadow Hour by Melissa Grey

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,
The Shadow Hour by Melissa Grey

The Shadow Hour (The Girl at Midnight #2)
Melissa Grey
Delacorte Press
Published July 12, 2016

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About THE SHADOW HOUR

Everything in Echo’s life changed in a blinding flash when she learned the startling truth: she is the firebird, the creature of light that is said to bring peace.
   The firebird has come into the world, but it has not come alone. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and Echo can feel a great and terrible darkness rising in the distance. Cosmic forces threaten to tear the world apart.
   Echo has already lost her home, her family, and her boyfriend. Now, as the firebird, her path is filled with even greater dangers than the ones she’s already overcome.
   She knows the Dragon Prince will not fall without a fight.
   Echo must decide: can she wield the power of her true nature–or will it prove too strong for her, and burn what’s left of her world to the ground?
   Welcome to the shadow hour.

My Review

I keep trying to figure out who my favorite character is, and every time I settle on one member of the cast, I remember another member who’s so amazing. I always loved Echo– right from the beginning of the first book in the series. She has such deep longing to belong and to protect her friends. I’m not sure it’s possible to dislike Ivy, Echo’s Avicen friend. She’s all the things a good friend should be: gentle but brave, loyal but not blinded by it.

Then of course there are the boys. I’m totally team Caius, and I forgot that Echo had a relationship with an Avicen before she left in the first book. So that was a bit startling to read, but honestly my fault for not remembering the first book very well. So that creates a bit of a love triangle, which kind of distracts from the story, but ultimately was okay.

I like the complexity of Caius, though. He’s torn between loyalty to his people– who’ve pretty much abandoned him now that his sister has taken the throne. And he loves his sister, even though she stole his crown and tried to kill him. He’s smart, and he pays attention to the people around him.

Ultimately THE SHADOW HOUR has that middle book feel, where you know it’s setting things up for the big final book. Echo has a quest, and she and her team pursue a specific goal (as do her enemies), but you can see all the pieces begin to come together for the final battle.

I think book two in a series with a really clever story world always has a hard time comparing with book one because we’ve lost the element of discovering that amazing world. Though liked the first book in the series better than the second, but I’d say THE SHADOW HOUR is still a good book. I enjoyed reading it. I want to read the third book, too, but I will confess that I flipped through the pages of THE SAVAGE DAWN and noticed that a character I like dies. So… hmm. It doesn’t change the fact that I want to read it, but it’s kind of slowing me down a little bit.

Read on for notes on content in THE SHADOW HOUR.

Representation
Characters have a variety of skin tones. Other than Echo, they’re from a made up world. Two prominent characters are gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl and between boy and boy. Lots of romantic tension between the two boys. A girl and boy sleep side by side, but mostly keep to themselves other than some cuddling.

Late in the story, it’s clear two characters intend to pursue having sex.

Spiritual Content
At the end of THE GIRL AT MIDNIGHT, Echo becomes the Firebird, a mythical creature with power that’s supposed to save her people. In THE SHADOW HOUR, we learn that there’s an opposite force to the Firebird, something that seeks to destroy her and anyone she loves. Echo also carries with her the memories of previous Firebirds, and at times relives their fears and loves.

Violent Content
Graphic battle scenes. A mysterious illness plagues battle victims, killing many. Some (not gross graphic, but still dark) descriptions of a prisoner, bound and tortured.

Drug Content
Echo briefly battles memories of her violent alcoholic mother.

Review: The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton

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The Everlasting Rose (The Belles #2)
Dhonielle Clayton
Freeform/Disney Book Group
Published March 9, 2019

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About THE EVERLASTING ROSE

In this sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller, Camille, her sister Edel, and her guard and new love Remy must race against time to find Princess Charlotte. Sophia’s Imperial forces will stop at nothing to keep the rebels from returning Charlotte to the castle and her rightful place as queen.

With the help of an underground resistance movement called The Iron Ladies-a society that rejects beauty treatments entirely-and the backing of alternative newspaper The Spider’s Web, Camille uses her powers, her connections and her cunning to outwit her greatest nemesis, Sophia, and restore peace to Orleans.

My Review

I was a little hesitant to read THE EVERLASTING ROSE because a friend reviewed it and didn’t really like the writing and dialog. Based on her review, I kind of expected it to be trite or annoying or something, but I wanted to give it a try.

And I’m so glad I did. I fell in love with the story world and all its fantastical, steampunk elements. I loved the little floating lanterns and mini blimps and OMG the teacup dragons!

Camille won me over immediately, with her love for her Belle sisters and her desire to protect them and rescue those in danger. Even her anger felt easy to identify with. The story moves along at a quick pace, and Camille never wavers from her goal. I found myself staying up too late trying to fit in just one more chapter before going to bed because I really wanted to know what happened next.

My only difficulty was that I wasn’t already familiar with the story world, so I sometimes felt a little confused about some of the ways the Belle system worked. I’m not sure I understand the use of the leeches or how the Belles rebalanced their arcana. So I wish I’d read THE BELLES before THE EVERLASTING ROSE.

In terms of language and romance, this is a pretty mild book. Readers should be aware that two characters die by suicide on scene in the book, and the story does reference torture. Read the content section for more details.

Fans of THE RUBY AIRSHIP by Sharon Gosling should check out THE EVERLASTING ROSE.

Representation
Camille and some other characters have brown skin. Some minor characters are gay.

Recommended for ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. At one point Camille sleeps in bed with a man, but it’s less romantic and more hiding from certain death.

Spiritual Content
Many gods and goddesses exist in the heavens, disconnected from earth. They’ve left various favors behind – including the existence of the Belles. Another favor is teacup pets – tiny versions of animals like dragons or elephants.

Belles have arcana in their blood which gives them power to do magic. They mostly use this power to perform beauty treatments on others.

Violent Content and Trigger Warning – suicide
Sophia tortures her enemies (happens off-scene, but Camille witnesses the results). Camille witnesses two characters suddenly commit suicide. It happens quickly, but it’s shocking to the reader and devastating to Camille.

Drug Content
Sophia gets drunk on champagne.

Note: I received a free copy of THE EVERLASTING ROSE in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which don’t cost the reader anything when used but which help cover the costs of running this blog and occasionally provide an efficient caffeine delivery system for the blogger.

Review: Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

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Obsidio (The Illuminae Files #3)
Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published March 13, 2018

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About OBSIDIO

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they’ll find seven months after the invasion?

Meanwhile, Kady’s cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza’s ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha’s past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. 

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

My Review

I’ve probably said this about all the other books in the Illuminae Files series, but I really liked the format of the story. It’s told in a series of instant message chat logs, video transcriptions, and emails. It’s funny — I wondered earlier in the series who was transcribing the videos, because sometimes the transcriber adds some humor or clearly has an opinion about the character in the video feed. OBSIDIO mentions how those transcriptions came to be. I didn’t pay enough attention to figure out who transcribed which videos, but I bet someone has figured it out.

I read a hardback version of OBSIDIO which was really different for me. For ILLUMINAE, think I had an eARC and then read an ebook version of GEMINA. I liked the hard cover version because some of the pages are meant to be seen in a two-page spread, which I haven’t figured out how to do on the Kindle app. So that would be my recommendation for this series, to read a physical copy rather than an ebook, where you’ll lose those two-page spreads or as an audiobook, where you would lose the illustrations that tell some of the story, too.

If there is a drawback to this book, it’s that we’re keeping tabs on so many characters in order to wrap up the whole series that we don’t really get to focus on some of the individual stories. I liked Asha and Rhys and found their story interesting, but not as compelling as Hanna and Nik or Kady and Ezra, and I think it’s because there wasn’t time in the story to focus on them as much.

On the whole, though, I found OBSIDIO funny– definitely had some laugh out loud moments– and thought-provoking. A really entertaining end to a super fun series. This is a series you need to read from the beginning, though, so start with ILLUMINAE if you’re new to the books.

Recommended for ages 12 up.

Representation
Asha has darker skin. Nik and his cousin Ella are from a mafia family. Ella is wheelchair bound.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One thing that’s kind of clever about this series is that they black out all the uses of profanity. It’s like someone went through the transcripts with a sharpie and colored over them. There are lots of black marks where characters used curses, but I didn’t catch any that were exposed.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Some innuendo. For instance, at one point I think a girl says she’s going to change clothes and the boy responds with a comment like, “down boy”. Things like that. Couples sometimes talk about plans to share bunks in their limited sleep hours. (Anything that happens between them happens off-scene.)

Spiritual Content
Some exploration of what it means to be alive and to love. AIDAN, a computer system, develops feelings and attachments.

Violent Content
A gas kills thousands of people. Conditions on the mining colony are pretty grim. Workers comply with BeiTech because they have family members imprisoned. Thousands of bodies lie in a mass grave. Soldiers are ordered to kill any unidentified person immediately. At one point, characters witness a young girl murdered by soldiers.

Drug Content
Nik smokes cigarettes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which don’t cost the reader anything, but when used, help support my blog.

Review: Far From Agrabah by Aisha Saeed

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Far From Agrabah Review and Giveaway

I’ve really been liking the novels that take place kind of between the scenes of some of my favorite Disney movies, like Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book, and Aladdin: Far From Agrabah. Today, I’m partnering with Disney Book Group to offer a giveaway for Aladdin: Far From Agrabah and a magic carpet-style reading blanket. Read on for my review of the book and don’t miss the details of the giveaway below.

Far From Agrabah
Aisha Saeed
Disney Hyperion
Published April 2, 2019

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About FAR FROM AGRABAH

This stunning original novel will tell an all-new story set in the world of the new film, featuring Aladdin and Jasmine. A magic carpet ride full of adventure, suspense, and wonder written by New York Times Bestselling author Aisha Saeed, this story will be a must-read for any Aladdin fans who find themselves drawn into and enchanted by the magical world of Agrabah and beyond.

My Review

Aladdin: Far From Agrabah begins with Prince Ali trying to impress Princess Jasmine and follows them through the magic carpet ride which allows her to get to know him and totally changes how she feels about him. It’s mostly off-script from the original story, something that could have happened in a deleted scene.

In the original animated movie, we don’t really get to know Jasmine very well. We learned about her desire to marry for love and her frustration at being kept apart from her kingdom. But in this book, we get to know her much more deeply. She dreams of things much bigger than marriage. She wants to lead her people. Jasmine wants to make a difference in their lives. She has ideas she wants to try if only someone would give her a chance.

Aladdin treats her as his equal, and never acts as though this is noteworthy. He wants to impress her with his wealth and prestige, but clearly considers her thoughtful and worthy of his respect. They make a great team, and the story really captures that partnership dynamic to their relationship.

Interspersed through the story are snippets from a history that Jasmine studies about great leaders. I liked how the story tied the lessons from history into the present through the moral lessons the leaders learned. It wasn’t preachy at all, but made the book seem like so much more than a fairy tale.

Aladdin fans, especially fans of Princess Jasmine, won’t want to miss this deeper look into the fabulous magic carpet ride that took Jasmine and her prince into a whole new world.

Recommended for ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are Middle Eastern.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One instance of mild profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Aladdin relies on the genie’s wish-granting ability to create a fictitious kingdom of Ababwa.

Violent Content
A man threatens to kill an ally of Aladdin’s and threatens a young boy with a knife. He makes a comment at one point asking if he should torture the boy, cutting off his fingers or toes first.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of FAR FROM AGRABAH in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost readers anything. They help cover the costs of my blog and help me purchase more books.

About Aisha Saeed

Twitter | Instagram

Aisha Saeed is the author of Written in the Stars which was listed as a best book of 2015 by Bank Street Books, a 2016 YALSA Quick Pick For Reluctant Readers, and named one of the top ten books all Young Georgians Should Read in 2016. She is also the author of the middle grade novel Amal Unbound which has received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus and is a Global Read Aloud for 2018. Aisha is also a founding member of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books™. She has been featured on MTV, the Huffington Post, NBC, and the BBC, and her writings have appeared in publications including the journal ALAN and the Orlando Sentinel.

Enter the Giveaway

I’m partnering with Disney Books to give away a free copy of FAR FROM AGRABAH plus your own magic carpet reading blanket! Open to US addresses only. Enter the giveaway below!

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Review: Peter Green and the Unliving Academy by Angelina Allsop

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, Paranormal, , , , , , ,

Peter Green and the Academy of the Unliving
Angelina Allsop
TCK Publishing
Published November 20, 2018

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About PETER GREEN AND THE UNLIVING ACADEMY

Fourteen-year-old Peter Green can’t remember how he died. 

All he has are his pajamas, a silk tie, and a one-way bus ticket to Mrs. Battisworth’s Academy and Haven for Unliving Boys and Girls, a strange and spooky school for dead orphans like himself. But that’s all he needs: the Unliving Academy has everything, from vampires in the hallways, to monsters in the cafeteria, to ghosts in the basement. 

And that’s just the teachers; the students are far stranger.

As Pete learns to fit in with his new supernatural schoolmates, he starts to discover his own uniquely undead abilities, and even begins enjoying his life after death…but he just can’t shake the feeling that he’s forgotten something (or somebody!) important. 

Somebody he left behind in the land of the living. 

Somebody he loved very much. 

Somebody who’s in terrible danger.

My Review

PETER GREEN AND THE UNLIVING ACADEMY is filled with an imaginative story world. The dead have their own school, their own frustrating government forms to fill out, and all sorts of rules for staying safe. At certain moments, it felt like a lot to digest, but for the most part, the story world feels crisp, fresh, and packed with spooky fun.

The most challenging part for me was the number of named characters popping up everywhere. Sometimes Peter would meet someone only to have that person be like, actually, you need to meet this other person and their two friends. Or someone would go on to name and describe professors that never appeared in the story. This made it difficult for me to keep track of who was who and figure out which names were important, because a lot of them were only mentioned one time.

Other than that, though, it was a pretty fun read. I liked that Peter sees visions of a girl who needs his help and has to figure out who she is before something bad happens to her. I enjoyed his band of friends, especially Charlie and Scoot.

Readers who enjoy dark fantasy (think Tim Burton’s NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS or SHADOW MAGIC by Joshua Khan) will enjoy the spooky creatures and afterlife story world.

Recommended for Ages 10 to 12.

Representation
I think all the major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Peter has a bit of a crush on one of the girls in Charlie’s entourage.

Spiritual Content
After Peter dies, he appears in Purgatory, a realm for people who have died but need some closure on a particular element of their lives. There are a few references to other realms of the afterlife, and some reference to having the option to be reincarnated or to have children in the afterlife. People go on to choose careers, including becoming a werewolf or ghost.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Peter faces various monsters, like a werewolf, a large snake, and battles them with the help of his friends.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of PETER GREEN AND THE UNLIVING ACADEMY in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost readers anything but help cover the costs of my blog and help me purchase more books.

Review: Forsaken by Gina Detwiler

Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

Forsaken
Gina Detwiler
Vinspire
Published September 2017

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About Forsaken

He was forsaken but not forgotten.

Nine months have passed since Grace Fortune saw the boy she loves, Jared Lorn, die before her eyes. But Grace’s suspicions have her wondering if Jared really dead. Along with her friends, she sets out to find answers, and the investigation leads to an unexpected place: Silo City, an abandoned silo complex that houses as many dark secrets as it does forsaken people.

Very much alive, Jared’s on a mission to save the girl he loves by collaborating with the enemy—a young, brash rock star named Lester Crow who fronts the punk metal band Blood Moon. Jared’s “deal with the devil” will take him on a cross-country journey into the heartland of darkness. The music of Blood Moon is a weapon against God, and Jared must wield this weapon while trying desperately to preserve his mind and soul from its power.

Jared and Grace are desperate to be reunited, but first, they must defeat the demonic forces arrayed against them. And pray that Jared, a Nephilim forsaken in God’s eyes, has a chance at a future.

My Review

I feel like I had a lot of strong thoughts about this book. Some things I really liked a lot. The way the author describes music really pulled me into each scene. I loved that so much of the story followed Grace’s singing (or her inability to sing) and Jared’s talent with the guitar. I wanted to sit in on their jam sessions. The big concerts felt very realistic.

In terms of the spiritual elements, I struggled with some of the doctrine. Jared, the son of a powerful demon and a human woman, had a lot of questions about his value and identity. I like that he’s a complicated character, that he wants to do good and be good despite his origin. Honestly, I think that’s pretty relatable. I don’t think it’s something that’s within the bounds of Christian ideology, though.

Music in the story has a strong spiritual component. I thought this was also pretty cool to show this spiritual component to songs depending on who’s playing them, what the songs glorify, and the motives of the musicians playing them. Early on in FORSAKEN, a mentor character shares a theory that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones artists were Satanists. He cites some interesting evidence.

I looked it up because I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be an in-the-book thing or a this-is-real thing. The individual things the character points out are true (an occult founder being pictured on an album cover and some lyrics about Lucifer), I felt like those were probably things the artists used for their shock value. I didn’t see any indication that the artists themselves had any real love or worship for Satan, so I had a hard time following that thread of the plot.

Sometimes I felt like I had missed something – I think because I started reading this series with book two. I think FORSAKEN makes a good choice for TWILIGHT or BEAUTIFUL CREATURES fans or readers who like a sweet paranormal romance. I’d recommend starting with the first book, FORLORN.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
I think all the major characters were white and straight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One instance of mild profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to two characters having sex (off-scene).

Spiritual Content
Jared is the son of a demon and human, but he wants to be worthy of God’s love, and seems to be part of God’s plan as he has visits from other angels. Grace has a guardian angel who tries to keep her safe. At one point, characters start talking about a church where the pastor preaches that God wouldn’t send anyone to Hell because he loves us so much, and that Hell doesn’t really exist. One of the girls scoffs and responds with something like, “Why would anyone believe in God if there’s no Hell?” From a Christian perspective, I didn’t think this made any sense. I could see not believing in Jesus if there was no Hell, since his death and resurrection are the reason people don’t have to go there. I didn’t understand the point being made there, maybe?

See my review for more on the spirituality of FORSAKEN.

Violent Content
Jared has some anger issues and gets into fights when provoked. At one point, the girls venture into a dangerous part of town and a man attacks one of them. At another point, one character stabs one of the girls.

Drug Content
One of Jared’s companions uses a lot of drugs and is very often drunk. He has a girl with him who’s often high or drunk as well. Jared doesn’t participate in any of that.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing, but help me buy more books.