Vampire Academy

*****

5 Stars/5

Rose Hathaway and her best friend Lissa have been hiding from their old school St Vladimir’s for the last two years but now they have finally been caught. However, St Vladimir’s is not an ordinary school, it is a school for Moroi, living vampires and Dhampir, half humans, half vampire whose job it is to protect the Moroi from the undead and evil vampires Strigoi. With Lissa being the last of her royal family and the bond between the two of them since they both survived the car accident that killed Lissa’s family, all Rose wants to do is to protect Lissa as her guardian, but to do this she must stay out of trouble. That might be tricky with Rose falling for a forbidden guy, vicious rumours about both Lissa and Rose, Lissa’s going down a deep road of depression and someone knowing their secret, will they be able to survive school.

Vampire Academy is a brilliant book which has politics, action, danger, romance and a kick-ass heroine who you can help but love. I like the different versions of vampires and the background we learn about them.

I love Rose as she is the type of person I wish she could be as she is caring, protective, confident and willing to fight for what she believes in. I also like Lissa as I felt I could connect with her really well and I liked how the friendship between both of them was portrayed. I liked all of the characters in this book as they are all unique and I can’t describe them all, but I have to say I love Dimitri as he is my favourite male hero as he is strong, calm and caring. I like the bad person in this book as I did not predict who it was or what was going to happen next.

I love Vampire Academy and cannot recommend this series highly enough to anyone who likes paranormal or just great books. 

Arrow of the Mist

***

3 Stars/5

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me this book to review.

Barbed roots are breaking through from the land of Brume, and terror strikes the kingdom of Nemetona. When Lia’s father is poisoned Lia, her grandfather, her cousin Wynn and his best friend Kelven, travel to the forbidden land of Brume to use Lia’s herbal knowledge to find a cure. The further Lia travels into Brume the more she grows in tune with the land and with many ingredients to find and a powerful enemy to defeat, is Lia able to create the cure in time.

Arrow of the Mist is a nice light fantasy book which a good adventure for children and older. However, I felt the book went into too much depth with certain subjects while barely mentioning other important stuff, this means that the book did not flow easily.

I liked Lia, but I felt she and the other characters did not grow in the book, even when she discovers new things about herself, she does not change. Also the romance was a bit bland as it was wrapped up with in the first half of the book and then was not really mentioned again; therefore we did not see the romance expand. I however, liked seeing the different mystical creatures and how this book remained me of classic fantasy novels.

Arrow of the Mist is a nice light read and I would recommend to fans of classic fantasy books for children or YA.

Song of the Moon

**

2 Stars/5

Artemis’s life is changed forever when she meets the man she has been dreaming about, Ares, who claims she is a werewolf and is also his mate. With the humans being killed, will Artemis be able to accept herself, her mate and her destiny? I read Song of the Moon because I really liked Banks book, Mercenary, but unfortunately I just found this book OK as I could not connect to the characters. I especially did not like how the main characters are either part of, or OK with killing or enslaving humans, and as a human myself I am against this. 

Through the Ever Night

***

3 Stars/5

It has been months since Aria and Perry last saw each other, as Aria has been forced by Consul Hess to find the Still Blue and Perry has be busy leading the Tides through a troublesome winter. Now Perry and Aria are back together even though they are pretending to be just acquaintances as the Tides do not trust her as she is half dweller. With Aria still needing to find the Still Blue, and Perry facing doubt in his leadership abilities, he may have to choose between the girl he loves and the tribe he has sworn to protect.

Through the Ever Night is the sequel to Under the Never Sky, and is a good dystopian book. It has an interesting story and I liked that we could see more of the world which Rossi has created. However, while with the first book I felt the romance was a bit rushed, in this I felt that there was a lack of one as Perry and Aria were hardly together in this book.

I liked Aria more in this book as she is stronger and is willing to make her own decisions no matter how hard they are for her. Also Perry has matured since the last book as he is more thoughtful about his tribe and secure about the person he wants to be.

I enjoyed this book and am interested to see how this series concludes in Into the Still Blue. I would recommend Through the Ever Night to people who enjoyed the first book, Under the Never Sky. 

Under the Never Sky

***

3 Stars/5

Aria has lived all her life in Reverie as a ‘dweller’ who lives in an enclosed city with virtual environments called The Realms. However, after one disastrous night in which she tries to contact her mother in another similar city, everything changes for her and she is kicked out to die outside. Perry has always been suited to being an ‘outsider’, even though he is an outcast in his own tribe the Tides. However, with Perry’s family falling apart and his nephew kidnaped by the dwellers, he makes an uneasy alliance with Aria. Their journey is challenged by Aether storms, cannibals and their own prejudices and feelings for each other.

Under the Never Sky is an enjoyable YA dystopian book by Veronica Rossi. It has good world building, interesting characters and an entertaining story.

Aria is a quiet likable person who is determined when she wants to but I feel is a bit too trusting. Perry is a silent and brooding type of character but he is also brave and very loyal to those close to his heart. I also liked the secondary characters as they had their own unique personality and did not blur together. However, I felt the romance was a bit rushed as they had only known each other for a week or so and yet they were head over heels for each other.

I enjoyed Under the Never Sky and would recommend it to people who like YA dystopia novels. 

Asleep

****

4 Stars/5

Thanks to Netgalley and Patchwork Press for giving me this book to review.

During the most important engagement party of the five realms the soon to be groom prince Devaran is kidnapped from his finance castle. Drugged and locked in a tower, Dev relives his history with Jess and sees how their relationship has grown from childhood friends to her being the love of his life. At the same time princess Jessmyn and Dev’s brother Tanvir are hunting for the person who took him and will do anything to rescue her beloved. However, is the person who took Dev using his kidnap to hurt him, Jess and their two kingdoms or as a catalyst to take over the entire five realms.

I really enjoyed Asleep as it is a good YA romantic fantasy and is a very unique interpretation of Sleeping Beauty. I have not read the first book The Eye of the Beholder but I don’t think it matters as I did not feel like I was missing anything.

I liked Jess as she is a strong character who would fight for who she loves, who still being a bit insecure. Dev is strong in a different but equal way and I liked him as he was brave, funny, but this hid his self-doubt about his ability to rule. However, I would have liked to have seen him interact with people apart from mostly in his memories. I enjoyed how the world of the five realms was different from most fantasy book as women could also be warriors and leaders and no-one made an issue of it.

I really enjoyed this book and will want to read the first book The Eye of the Beholder. I would recommend Asleep to fans of Slumber by Samantha Young or Scarlet by A C Gaughen. 

Crown of Midnight

****

4 Stars/5

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (UK & ANZ) for giving me this book to review.

Celaena has won the competition and is now the King’s champion. However, she is not as loyal as even her friend’s think, as she is sparing instead of killing the people the king has ordered. Now her next task is harder than the others as firstly it is in Rifthold right under the king’s nose and second is that the target is an old friend of hers called Archer. On top of this she has to figure out the secrets of the wyrdmarks, Elena’s mysterious riddles and her growing feelings for one of her friends.

Crown of Midnight is the really good second book in the Glass series, which has an increased suspense, romance and storyline.  However, while there was a few interesting plot twists most of the story was a bit predictable, especially the one at the end.

I got really annoyed with Celaena in this book as she gets very angry with a certain character for not telling her something but she keeps more secrets than all the other characters which makes her come across as a big hypocrite. However, I do like Dorian, Chaol and Nehemia as their characters really develop and became their own people. I especially like Chaol as we get to see his softer side and how loyal he is. I also like the new character Mort as he is the only one who stands up to Celaena and does not treat her as anything special.

While it seems that I did not like this book, I actually really enjoyed it and can’t wait to see what happens in the next novel. I would recommend this book to people who liked Throne of Glass, the first book.