The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson (The Remnant Chronicles #1)

Original Title: The Kiss of Deception

Year Published: 2015

Published by: Square Fish

Number of Pages: 486

First Sentence: "Today was the day a thousand dreams would die and a single dream would be broken."

Goodreads Rating: 5/5

Plot:

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor’s secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can’t abide. Like having to marry someone she’s never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia escapes to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

My thoughts:

This was not what I expected, which I’m thankful for because it turned out to be so much better than what I expected. Does that make any sense? Ah well, it was a really good book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It was such an entertaining read and it got me hooked from page one. I was a little apprehensive starting it because despite being interested in it, I was unsure whether I would like it or not since I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.

Lia, our main character, is absolutely brilliant. At first, you might think of her as a spoiled brat, but she turns out to be so much more. I wanted to bundle her up in a blanket and protect her from the world. She is just lovely and I really liked her.

Pauline, her handmaiden, is as equally brilliant. I loved the relationship between these two and how they were more like sisters than master and servant. We also got two very different yet strong women, proving that strong women come in many different forms.

Rafe and Kaden are the assassin and/or the prince. The best part? You don’t get to know which one is which until halfway through the book. Instead, they are only referred to as “the assassin” and “the prince” when we have chapters from their point of view. Lia doesn’t find out who they really are until the very end, so she is no help in figuring out who is who until Pearson finally tells you.

Something else that I love, is the fact that this book is perfectly set up for a love triangle, but it never happens. Yes, Lia finds both guys to be handsome and interesting, but she definitely only feels like she wants a relationship with one of them (I will not tell you which one). The fact that the book set the love triangle up and then pretty much said “nah, not doing that” was just amazing. Love triangles get so freaking boring, and I hope that it won’t become an actual love triangle in the other two books.

The plot was so much fun. It was fast paced and just so bloody interesting. Pearson’s world building was fantastic and brilliantly written. Her characters felt real and all felt unique and like they belonged in the story. Even the events taking place felt realistic and like they could actually have happened.

Do I recommend it? 

Yes, I do.

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (The Queen's Thief #1)

Original Title: The Thief

Year Published: 2005

Published by:  Greenwillow Books

Number of Pages: 208

First Sentence: "I didn't know how long I had been in the king´s prison."

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Plot:

The king's scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king's prison. The magus is interested only in the thief's abilities.

What Gen is interested in is anyone's guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.

My thoughts:

I have to be honest with you. When I first started this book I thought I would either finish it and hate it or not finish it at all. I turned out to be wrong. It's slow to begin with but as soon as it picks up the pace it turns out to be really interesting.

Gen, or Eugenides, is the main character of this book. When we first meet him he is in a pitiful state. He is looked in a prison and pretty much on the brink of death. He is saved by the king's magus, who approaches Gen with an offer (read order) to tag along on an adventure. Gen agrees (not like he has a choice) and off they go. As a character Gen is wonderful. He is sarcastic, good hearted and very honorable for a thief.

The other characters grow on you as well. Gen has four companions (perhaps jailers) with him on the adventure. The magus, who I hated at the start, turns out to be an ok guy. I won't tell you why, because spoilers. The three other characters, Sophos, Ambiades, and Pol, all play their part in the plot. Two of them you will get very attached to, and one you will come to dislike very much.

The plot then. The point of the adventure is to steal an artefact from a neighbouring kingdom. Since Gen is an excellent thief despite being captured he is of course chosen to do the actual stealing. But it is of course not that simple. The artefact is very well hidden and many covet it and its powers. A big part of the plot is the journey to where this artefact is being hidden. The first part of the journey is the boring part, but after a while, it gets really interesting as Turner begins to develop the characters. And of course it doesn't end with the stealing of said artefact, because of course Gen succeeds, but that is just the start of a new adventure.

Do I recommend it? 

Yes, I do.

ARC Review: Rend the Dark by Mark Gelineau and Joe King

Original Title: Rend the Dark

Year Published: 2015

Published by:  Gelineau and King (an arc was kindly provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Number of Pages: 78

First Sentence: "The boy felt it before he saw it."

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Plot:

The great Ruins are gone. The titans. The behemoths. All banished to the Dark and nearly forgotten. But the cunning ones, the patient ones remain. They hide not in the cracks of the earth or in the shadows of the world. But inside us. Wearing our skin. Waiting. Watching.

Once haunted by visions of the world beyond, Ferran now wields that power to hunt the very monsters that he once feared. He is not alone. Others bear the same terrible burden. But Hunter or hunted, it makes no difference. Eventually, everything returns to the Dark.

My thoughts:

Gelineau and King have quickly become favourites of mine. The stories are short (becuse they are novellas) but packed with entertainment.

In this installment, we meet Ferran, who has the ability to see the monsters that haunt his world. From being terrified by those monsters as a child, he is now a hunter who hunts them down. Despite being the sort of main character, Ferran doesn't actually star in it that much. Sure, he is very important but he isn't the actual narrator for the majority of the story. Instead, we are guided by Hileon, a young magistrate who meet Ferran when monsters threaten his peaceful life. Just as Hileon is being accompanied by his fellow magistrate Riffolk, Ferran also has a hunting partner, Mireia, a badass female huntress.

It is impressive just how well Gelineau and King develop their characters within the limited amount of pages a novella can hold. It really felt like you got to know the characters and by the end of it all, you care deeply for them at the end (which comes way to quickly).

The story is very engaging and well written. It's the perfect combination of adventure and suspense. There is violence and some graphic scenes, but they aren't horrible to read. In fact, they swish by so fast the slight gore in some scenes quickly fade from your mind. I won't spoil the story for you, but I will tell you that it is thoroughly entertainment and the pages will fly by, not because there are so few of them, but because you will be so entranced by the story.

Do I recommend it? 

Yes, I really do.

Update and blog move!

Hiya guys!

I have permanently moved to this blog: https://rickusbookshelf.wordpress.com/

The blog format over there felt much better to use and it is both easier for me to follow other bloggers and for bloggers to follow me. So if you actually like this blog and don't want to miss any updates, make sure to follow me to my new blog!

This blog will stay for a while (maybe forever, who knows) but it will not be updated.

The Waterborne Blade by Susan Murray (Waterborne #1)

Original Title: The Waterborne Blade

Year Published: 2015

Published by: Angry Robot (an arc was kindly provided via NetGalley)

Number of Pages: N/A

First Sentence: "By the time Weaver reached the anteroom to the king's chamber, the clammy chill of rain-soaked linen had seeped through to his very bones."

Goodreads Rating: 3/5

Plot:

The citadel has long been the stronghold of Highkell. All that is about to change because the traitor, Vasic, is marching on the capital. Against her better judgement, Queen Alwenna allows herself to be spirited away by one of the Crown's most trusted servants, safe from the clutches of the throne's would-be usurper.

Fleeing across country, she quickly comes to learn that her pampered existence has ill-equipped her for survival away from the comforts of the court. Alwenna must toughen up, and fast, if she is even to make it to a place of safety. But she has an even loftier aim - for after dreaming of her husband's impending death, Alwenna knows she must turn around and head back to Highkell to save the land she loves, and the husband who adores her, or die in the attempt.

But Vasic the traitor is waiting. And this was all just as he planned.

My thoughts:

Well, it is not a bad book. In fact, it is actually quite good. However, it took a lot longer to read than I had anticipated. And it is not just because it is long, it was also due to the fact that parts of the book are slow. This did not help the overall reading experience and I sadly enough found myself bored from time to time. The book felt more as a build up to the following books, which is understandable, but this is not the way it has to be.

The characters are likable and easy to get to know. We switch between three different point of views. The female main character, Alwenna, who is married to the king of Highkell. She is plagued by visions of events that are happening and things that are yet to come. Then it is the male main character, Weaver, who has been entrusted by Alwenna's husband to protect her. Finally, it is the point of view of the male antagonist, Vasic, who is Alwenna's cousin and who wishes to gain control over Highkell. They are all easy to understand and quite easy to follow, but so much of the book feels like you are in transit. Something is happening, but it is not very exciting.

I do believe that this series has the potential of becoming something great and I will probably read the rest of the series once published as well. I would like to point out that I read an arc, and that the published verison might be different from the arc I have reviewed.

Do I recommend it? 

If you like fantasy set in a historical setting then sure, why not? Like I said, it is not bad, but for me it was a little hard to get into.

Fairy Keeper by Amy Bearce

Original Title: Fairy Keeper

Year Published: 2015

Published by: Curiosity Quills Press (an arc was kindly provided via NetGalley)

Number of Pages: 238

First Sentence: "The last drops of fairy nectar clung to the edge of the jar fourteen-year-old Sierra Quinn held, poised aboved the vial containing that day's harvest."

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Plot:

Forget cute fairies in pretty dresses. In the world of Aluvia, most fairies are more like irritable, moody insects. Almost everyone in the world of Aluvia views the fairy keeper mark as a gift, but not fourteen-year-old Sierra. She hates being a fairy keeper, but the birthmark is right there on the back of her neck. It shows everyone she was born with the natural ability to communicate, attract, and even control the tiny fairies whose nectar is amazingly powerful. Fairy nectar can heal people, but it is also a key ingredient in synthesizing Flight, an illegal elixir that produces dreaminess, apathy and hallucinations. She’s forced to care for a whole hive of the bee-like beasties by her Flight-dealing, dark alchemist father.

Then one day, Sierra discovers the fairies of her hatch are mysteriously dead. The fairy queen is missing. Her father’s Flight operation is halted, and he plans to make up for the lost income by trading her little sister to be an elixir runner for another dark alchemist, a dangerous thug. Desperate to protect her sister, Sierra convinces her father she can retrieve the lost queen and get his operation up and running.

The problem? Sierra’s queen wasn’t the only queen to disappear. They’re all gone, every single one, and getting them back will be deadly dangerous. 

Sierra journeys with her best friend and her worst enemy -- assigned by her father to dog her every step -- to find the missing queens. Along the way, they learn that more than just her sister’s life is at stake if they fail. There are secrets in the Skyclad Mountains where the last wild fairies were seen. The magic Sierra finds there has the power to transform their world, but only if she can first embrace her calling as a fairy keeper.

My thoughts:

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. Why? Because the first chapter had me feeling a bit meh about the rest of it. But from then on it picked up and I only put the book away to sleep. Fantastic little book, with a good twist on magic worlds.

You really do need to rid yourself of your preconceived ideas of fairies. Bearce has made them very much like wasps, they even have the stingers. But they are still creatures of magic and love, and in the end I actually wanted a fairy of my own. Wish is amazing since I'm deadly allergic to wasps and usually the idea of anything like them give me the creeps. Well played Bearce, well played.

Sierra is an interesting main character. She is flawed, but with a good heart. Her childhood has not been easy, growing up with a horrible father and with a gift that she sees as more of a curse. But when her fairy queen disappears she goes on a dangerous search for her. Although her initial reasons for doing so might not be as selfless and good, they become more and more so as the journey goes on. It was nice to get such a good character development in this book since book like this tend to have very static characters. In fact, several of the minor characters have some kind of development in character, which was really nice to see.

I thought this was just going to be a cute little book about fairies, but it turned into so much more. It is about finding yourself, fighting against those who wish to destroy what's good in the world and the importance of family and friends.

Do I recommend it? 

Yes, I do!

The Curse Servant by J.P. Sloan (The Dark Choir #2)

Original Title: The Curse Servant

Year Published: 2015

Published by: Curiosity Quills Press (an arc was kindly provided via NetGalley)

Number of Pages: 287

First Sentence: "I knew this wasn't going to be the typical meeting with Julian Bright when, instead of the usual political organ-grinders at the campaing headquarters, I found a soccer mom duct taped to a chair, foaming at the mouth."

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Plot:

The one person standing between Hell… and an innocent girl… is a man without a soul.

A regular life isn’t in the cards for Dorian Lake, but with his charm-crafting business invigorated, and the prospect of a serious relationship within his grasp, life is closer to normal than Dorian could ever expect. In the heat of the Baltimore mayoral campaign, Dorian has managed to balance his arrangements with Deputy Mayor Julian Bright with his search to find his lost soul. Dorian soon learns of a Netherworker, the head of a dangerous West Coast cabal, who might be able to find and return his soul. The price? Just one curse.

Sounds easy… but nothing ever is for Dorian. A dark presence arrives in the city, hell-bent on finding Dorian’s soul first. Innocents are caught in the crossfire, and Dorian finds it harder to keep his commitments to Bright. When the fight gets personal, and the entity hits too close to home, Dorian must rely on those he trusts the least to save the ones he loves. As he tests the limits of his hermetic skills to defeat this new enemy, will Dorian lose his one chance to avoid damnation?

My thoughts:

OK, so I haven't read the first book and thought this would be a problem. It wasn't. There are some things that are most likely connected to the first book, but you don't need to know them to enjoy this book.

Dorian is a good main character. He is a likable and an enjoyable protagonist. A little bit messed up but always striving to do good. Although trying to find his missing soul should be his main concern, he refuses to put is own needs before other people in need. A proper good guy, although he might not agree with that label himself.

The plot itself is also very enjoyable. It took me a little time to figure out what the main plot was (I forgot to read the blurb, how stupid is that?) because there are several sub-plots. They are however nicely weaved together and are very easy to pick up and follow along with. There is enough mystery to really get you hooked, and although I figured out who one of the main antagonists was long before Dorian did, it did not lessen the reading experience at all. In fact, it was really exciting to see if I was right and why the antagonist had done what they did.

Definitely a nice read with a good splash of mystery, magic, romance and real-world problems that created a very nice overall reading experience.

Do I recommend it?

Yes, I do. I would like to point out that you should probably read book 1 as well. I surely will.