Review: Rebel of the Sands

Stars: 3
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher:


Review:
The first chapter was gangbusters. We start off with a shooting contest and a good swirl of intrigue and some very neat wild, wild west, meets Arabian nights world building. Sadly, I found the second chapter, and the rest of the book, to be very inconsistent. There was enough action to keep me interested, but much of the plot as though we were jumping through space and time and did not flow smoothly. The world building was actually my biggest problem and then the dialogue. There is A LOT of world building here, so much so that I struggled to keep track of it. The world didn't seamlessly build around the characters, instead it felt dropped into the narrative in large chunks. It often felt like info dumps that were literal asides from the narrative. Strangely, the whole set up was really interesting and I still wanted to know. The first few pages had really hooked me with the main character of Amani. There is also a romance, but I wasn't too keen on that either.

We meet, Jin, mysterious boy and romantic interest on the first few pages. He is mysterious, as almost all young adult fantasy heroes are, but it is very, very clear that there is going to be romance. Amani immediately begins noticing his muscles when his shirt is off. We proceed from there quite quickly to them kissing-- as a distract as they are running from people who want to catch them. After that, it seems to fall flat. There is little, if any romantic tension for the rest of the book.

The big reveal I also did not find very revealing. It is pretty standard fare for this type of book. So I wasn't surprised at how the ending played out.

Reading this back it looks as if I completely hated this book, which oddly enough, I didn't. I actually read quite quickly and wanted to get to the end, which is unusual for books that I dislike. There is something here. I might be willing to dive into the second book in hopes that the writing improves and now that all the world-building is out of the way, we can dig into the meat of the story.

Review- A Torch Against the Night

Stars: 5 stars
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Razorbill


Review:

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I'm happy to report that after a decidedly difficult experience with the first book, An Ember in the Ashes I LOVED this installment. Maybe I loved it because it reads more like traditional adult fantasy than the first one. Tahir doesn't pull any punches with the amount of dark and downright horrible things that happen in this second installment-- and I respected her commitment to the story and the characters.

It took me more than a third of the first book to get into the story largely because it read like most other teen fantasy novels. There were a bunch of love trials and what felt like teenage angst. There were hints that Laia was more than what she seemed, a lot of things that have been done a lot by a lot of people.

However, by the second third of the first book, there were hints of depth and Laia's character had started to fill out. The introductory and development of the secondary characters like Izzi, Cook and Helene started to work and I started to care what happened to them. There were a lot of mysterious elements introduced in that first installment not properly answered and sadly, many of them were again NOT answered in Torch. Like WHO is this Cook person?! (I have my suspicions.)

But, in this installment, Laia is fully formed as a character. She is fierce and tenious-- someone you can really route for. More importantly so is Elias. His demons come front and center in this book and he becomes a character that I really, really connected with. I wanted his and Laia's love story so bad! I did not feel fulfilled! That alone will get me reading book 3.

Even better, we get into Helene's head and find her to be a deeply conflicted, rounded character. Somehow the three head POV rotation works here in a way that it maybe doesn't for me a lot of the time. In the first book, I mostly wanted to brush off Helene because I couldn't really understand her blind allegiance to the empire despite the genuinely shitty things that were happening to and around her. Here, we get to see inside her head, what makes her tick, and understand the truly horrible choices put before her.

The setting reads like Gladiator which is unique, but the newness ends there. Book one introduces relatively little of what would be found in adult fantasy and so the Romanesque setting is really the only novelty from other YA reads in this genre. What I really liked in Torch was the full-on dive into fantasy: wraiths, the Forest of Souls, magical abilities, etc. There are elements of great fantasy here, reminiscent of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. And as I said before, Tahir doesn't shy away from the darkness. People die. There is a genocide. There is torture. These elements make the story incredibly engrossing and much more emotionally relevant than if Tahir had written a lighter, more friendly book. At the end, I was DYING for the next installment (which I will have to wait until next year for!!!! *sighs*)

Book Review: The Wrath and the Dawn

Stars: 4 stars!
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Amazon

Review:
My first 1001 Arabian Nights retelling and boy was it a good one! Got this rec from Ivy Book Bindings, who I almost always steers me in the right direction as far as great fantasy goes. This was a total winner, great pacing, beautifully written, and with an EPIC love story at the center of everything. I had to knock off a star though because the ending made me WANT TO SCREAM. I know there is going to be a sequel, but this installment did not resolve anything and it left all the characters in the worst way and I just wanted to keep flipping to the next page because I was sure that I missed something.

Aside from the lack of ending, this book was a home-run. It might be because I haven't read many books like this. The setting in the Arabian desert, the amazing clothing, the kings, sultans, princesses, the food, the palace etc. The whole middle-eastern fairy tale thing completely rocked my world. I wanted to dive in, curl up and take a nap on Shazi's platform bed covered in colorful pillows. 

But even without all of that, I think I would have loved this book. Shahrzad is a fierce heroine. Fierce like Beyonce, but good with a bow like Katniss. She's absolutely great-- and the way that she falls in love with Khalid against her own will was just delicious. Khalid is a tortured hero, but not really in the  typically angsty way. Although honestly what we know about him for most of the book really is what we DON'T know about him. Once his secret is fully revealed (which if you know the story, I guess you know going in) you realize he sort of does have the weight of the world on his shoulders and there is really no good way for him to spin it. 

I'm not sure where the author is going with the next book-- I read the synopsis and thought that is seemed a bit of a departure from where she left our characters, but I'll take it. I wish it was coming out before May though!

Review: The V Girl

Stars: 1
Author: Mya Roberts
Genre: YA Dystopian
Publisher:


Review:
DNF 16% 

*NetGalley eARC

Sadly this book did not work for me AT ALL. And I don't think it is really a good one for kids to read. It's pretty explicitly focused on sex, but in a way that feels both completely unrealistic and very voyeuristic. I did not understand the premise of the dystopian world set forth by the author. I did not finish this book (not sure that matters in this case), but there was a quite a lot of info-dumping at the beginning that the author uses to try to world build, but that didn't explain in a way that makes sense how the world had ended up in this very, very messed up place.

From what I could understand there was a civil war happening in the America and has been for 21 years. And apparently soldiers on one or both sides had been given drugs to turn them into violent, sex-crazed super-soldiers, and thus are allowed to rape people because that seemed the best way to keep them in line?  But it was unclear who was still fighting and why. And also, why, when there women available (Lila makes mention of them) to have sex with the soldiers willingly did they need to turn to rape? I mean I guess that happens a lot in warfare, but to turn it into an established practice and legalize it seems bizarre. And also, why was sex and rage and being a virgin the central focus of everything and everyone? Surely there were more important conflicts in a society riddled by a war lasting more than two decades than who is and isn't having sex with who consensually or not!

Then there was the whole inciting incident where Lila doesn't want to get raped so she plans to have sex with her friend Rey before the troops come to town. It just didn't really make sense. She wants to have sex, but she doesn't. Rey won't have sex with her and she's upset and really wants to do it especially after she is rejected, so she goes and sits in the woods and watches two other people have sex. Also there is an incident where she is swimming naked in the river and comes upon the hero and somehow ends up sliding off a rock, naked, butt-first onto his head. See what I mean? There is really very little sense to the world-building.

I really couldn't follow. The writing also felt choppy and all over the place. Lila would have a thought and then two or three lines down have another that would directly contradict the first. The "hero" Aleksey had that sort of weird, old-school romance-hero thing going on: he was big like a lion and had long, flowing hair. Gag me please.

The way that all of the characters talk about sex all the time was also unnerving and not in the way that pushes the readers' boundaries or makes them think about things in new ways, in the way that makes you feel uncomfortable. For example Lila's sister, Azalea, is talking to Lila about Aleksey and wondering if Lila has considered him for her "emergency de-flowering" by saying, "He towers above soldiers so his truth must be...extraordinary. Too much for a tight girl." Really?! That's both awkward and weird. Lila's father talks the same way about sex to his kids, some of them young. I think the author was trying to convey the necessary frankness in this world and differences in boundaries between this world and ours, but it completely misses the mark for me.

I couldn't finish this book because there was really nothing I liked enough about it to keep me reading. I also think it is 100% an adult story because it doesn't have any ANYTHING that I consider important for young adults to read and feels very inappropriate.

Book Review: Burning

Stars: 2
Author: Danielle Rollins
Genre: Ya Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA


Review: 
I did not like this book, but it that doesn't mean it is a bad book. In fact, I think a lot of kids might like it. It's a bit edgy (in that the teens in the book are in a juvenile detention center and they have committed crimes, some of them seem like they are sincerely dangerous and disturbed). It has a very, very Orange is the New Black vibe right from page one. I could almost picture Brunesfield as Litchfield. Also, there is a quite a bit of violence, some of it a bit gory, and there is a mystery/thriller element with a paranormal twist. I found it to be well-paced, but not particularly original. The story didn't totally lose me until after about 60% when the dangerous purpose of the SciGirls club is finally revealed (cue the cheesy, creepy music).

I didn't mind the heroine, Angela, but she didn't really do much for me either. She is reasonably well-fleshed out and her two friends: Cara and Issie are also reasonably well-drawn, but none of them were particularly compelling for me. Quite frankly, I didn't care what happened to any of them. The mystery centers on a newly incarcerated young girl named Jessica. Over the first 40% of the book we come to find out Jessica has the mysterious and horrifying ability to set people and things on fire-- with her mind! (*gasp* ) However, after the initial mystery surrounding Jessica is revealed, the story fell flat for me. I easily predicted that the new, "good" doctor at the prison, was not really good and that there would be a romance between Angela and the guard (really?! Straight rip-off from Orange is the New Black *sigh*). I didn't love any of that. And  I really didn't love the conspiracy theory secret-organization-who-takes-girls-from-juvie-for-secret-experiments-because-no-one-will-notice-or-care angle. There is a cliff-hanger at the end, but by that point, I was skimming. I wouldn't pick up the next one. For a younger, less-jaded reader this book might work, but it didn't for me.

TBR January 2016

Here's what's in the works for January, I hope...


Net Galley arcs:




Borrowed from the library:

Purchased: 

Haven't bought yet, but I'm thinking about it:

Audiobook:

Book Review: Dumplin'

Stars: 4
Author: Julie Murphy
Genre: Young adult fiction
Publisher: Balzer & Bray

I fought against liking this book, I'm not sure why, but I did. In the end, it overcame all of the negativity I could throw against it and was a really excellent read-- and not just for girls who have felt "fat," or bad about themselves their whole lives-- this is an empowering story for anyone who has struggled with body image or self-esteem. My initial concern with the book came from thinking that this would be a book that encouraged girls to be unhealthy. I think everyone should be happy in their body, no matter the size, but eating healthy and maintaining a healthy weight is important, especially for teens. The blurb makes it sounds like Will (Dumplin') is one of those "fat" girls that is all in your face about how she's fat and she's proud and she doesn't care if that means she is unhealthy.

It turns out that Will, like all of us, has a confident front that she puts on, but is insecure deep down. But she's insecure about lots of things in her life, not just her weight, I guess you could say that most of them stem from her weight, but really this is more than just a story about a girl with body-image issues.

I LOVED the setting in Texas. Somehow a Texas setting always feels like you are reading about some exotic foreign country (if you are living in the Northeast like me). I also loved the excellent development of the secondary characters. Will's mom was well-fleshed out, and Will's aunt Lucy, though deceased, plays a big, important role in the story-- a complex role. Will has really complicated feelings about her aunt and the things that she struggled wit h in her life (Lucy was morbidly obese). The other girls competing as the ugly ducklings of the pageant are pretty great and are given more than just the token-misfit roles here. And lastly, Dolly Parton plays a big role in the story which sets the whole story apart.

There is (I hesitate to call it a love triangle) some conflict for Will about her feelings for Bo versus Mitch. I liked the way that conflict was resolved. Although you can see going along that Mitch-- the nice guy-- is going to get the short end of the stick. It's hard to watch Will treat Mitch badly and know what she is doing, but continue to do it anyway. But I could relate to that, and I think lots of others will too sometimes you hurt people carelessly and then feel bad about it.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the storyline with the pageant, and Dolly Parton references, and how Murphy resolves everything. And it's not some silly, ridiculous, tied-up-in-a-bow perfect ending, it felt legit.

I immediately picked up Murphy's first novel: Side Effects May Vary, because this was a great read.