Helena Christodoulo
“Reign the Earth” is the first novel in “The Elementae” series, written by A.C. Gaughen. The novel follows Shalia is the proud daughter of the desert and in order to ensure her people's safety and to keep the peace, she is willing to trade her own freedom for her people, so she becomes the Queen of the Bonelands by marrying Calix, who is motivated only by his desire to eradicate the Elementae, who are mystical people who can control the four elements which includes, earth, wind, air, and fire. Shalia beginnings to have feelings for her husband's brother, which unleashes a power over the earth she never knew she possessed—a power that could get her killed. As rumours of a rebellion against Calix spread, Shalia must choose between the last chance for peace and her own future as an Elementae.
I really enjoyed the novel, as the novel contains elemental magic, which is always great. I also thought that the romance was quite interesting. The novel did have some heavy themes. I gave the novel 3/5 Stars.
This manga is the first in a series, called “The Ancient Magus' Bride” by Kore Yamazaki. This manga is quite interesting, it is about an orphan named Chise, who is sold to a mage named Elias. With her sale as a ‘slave' to Elias, she starts to learn the truth about the world, she lives in, which is filled with magic, fairies and other magical beings in the world.
This manga is very interesting, and strange, but I really enjoyed the type of magical and magical creatures that were introduced in the manga. I also liked the fact that there is alchemy and alchemists in this word alongside the mages. I gave this manga a 5/5 Stars. I really enjoyed the art and the story.
“Descender” is the first in a graphic novel series, written by Jeff Lemire, and art by Dustin Nguyen, with lettering done by Steve Wands. The first volume follows a young robot boy named TIM-21 and his robot friends trying to survive in a universe where androids have been outlawed. TIM-21 is being hunted, because one, he is a robot and two, he has a code which is identical to the mysterious robots called the Harvesters, who attacked humans, and TIM-21 with the same code could help save lives and defeat the Harvesters.
I really enjoyed the story and the art of this graphic novel, so I gave this volume a 5/5 stars.
The second volume is just as great as the first volume. Mikasa is a kickass straight from the start of this novel, just as she was from the first volume and we learn more about her past, and she meet Eren. This volume is full of action, and the volume ends on a strong note, leaving us with more questions.
I loved reading this again, still love the art. This is the second reread, and I notice things that I didn't notice the first time, that come to play in future volumes. 5/5 Stars is what I gave this manga.
“Attack on Titan” is a manga series written by Hajime Isayama. This volume includes four chapters. This manga is a post-apocalyptic story, where humanity has been pushed to the brink of extinction, by these giant humanoid beings know as Titans, which have been devouring humans. For the last hundred years, the remaining humans have been hidden within three giant circular walls, where people believe that they would be safe within these walls, but they were wrong.
The main character is named Eren, and he hates living within the walls, and when the first wall is breached he makes a statement that he will kill all Titans. Eren, and his two friends named Mikasa and Arimin join the military cadets, and plan on joining the Scouts.
I love the manga and the anime, I gave this manga and the anime a 5/5 Stars.
“To Kill a Kingdom” is a standalone novel written by Alexander Christo. This novel follows two perspectives, Lira a siren princess who kill's princes and takes their heart while the second character is Elian a human Prince who hunts sirens and kills them. Lira's mother turns Lira into a human and is tasked with bringing Prince Elian's heart to her mother. After Lira becomes human, she is saved by Elian, and she promises him that she can help destroy the siren's. They both go off to find something that can kill the siren queen, and during this adventure Lira and Elian fall in love with one another.
The novel was okay. I felt that the characters were fine. Though Elian trusted Lira way to fast after he saved, her from drowning. Lira was meant to be ruthless and bloodthirsty, but I did not get that from her character. I only got the ruthlessness when Elian caught that other siren and Lira was okay with helping him kill one of her own kind. I gave the novel a 3 out of 5 stars.
“Wintersong” is the first in a duology written by S. Jae-Jones. The novel follows Liesl, who is obsessed about the ‘beautiful, dangerous' Goblin King. She has heard stories of the Goblin King her whole life, and these stories helped inspire her musical compositions. The Goblin King takes Liesl's sister instead of her and well she is some what jealous, so to save her sister she journeys to the Underground and eventually she replaces her sisters place as the Goblin King's bride.
The main character is annoying, and the romantic relationship within the novel is also very strange and weird. I did not enjoy this novel, I only gave this novel a 2/5 Stars.
“P.S. I Still Love You” is the second novel in Jenny Han's trilogy, which continues the story from the first novel. In this novel we see Lara Jean and Peter, in their real relationship. But another recipient of the five letters shows up and his return brings up problems for Lara Jean and Peters relationship, as Lara Jean has feelings for both John the new boy and Peter.
There was a love triangle in the first novel, but in this novel the new love triangle was better. As Lara Jean having feelings for both Peter and John, do make sense. John is a very nice character and he would be a great boyfriend, especially after Lara Jean finds out the Peter had been keeping secrets about him and his ex, from the last book, which causes problems. Though Peter was still a nice guy, but I did not like him putting his ex first. I liked Peter much more when he starts to fight for her. The novel was just as fast paced and fluffy as the first novel, I gave this a 4.5/5 stars.
‘My Hero Academia' is a manga series written by Kohei Horikoshi. This manga is set in a world where 80 percent of the human population manifested superpowers, that are called “Quirks” at the age of four. Within this world Heros and Villans are battling it out everywhere. Those who are born with the quirks and want to become Heros need to be taught how to control their powers they go to a Hero school.
The manga follows Izuku Midoriya, who is born quirkless, and dreams of being hero more than anything else. Izuku wants to get into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, but an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives Izuku a chance to change his destiny, and be the hero he wants to be.
I really enjoyed the start of the story. I really enjoy the characters that we meet in the first volume of the manga. I really felt for Izuku when he found out that he had no quirk, and that he couldn't fulfil his dreams, but that all changed with meeting All Might, who trained him, and passed on his own quirk to Izuku. I gave this volume a 5 out of 5 stars.
“A Court of Frost and Starlight” is a 200-page novella written by Sarah J. Maas. This was meant to be a bridge between the first trilogy and the second trilogy, but really, it was a story on Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends trying to rebuild the Night Court.
I did not care for the novella, there was no action besides from sex. I gave this a 2/5 Stars.
“Unearthed” is the first in a duology co-written by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. “Unearthed” follows two main characters named, Jules Addison and Amelia Radcliffe. These two meet on the planet Gaia, after Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race called ‘The Undying' who had advanced technology that has the potential to undo the environmental damage to the Earth. Both characters have different reason's for being on Gaia, Jules Addison is there to study “The Undying's” culture while Amelia Radcliffe is there to scavenge for treasures.
I enjoyed the novel, which had elements of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, which I enjoy, but unlike Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, “Unearthed” was not as entertaining and as exciting as these adventurous movies. I gave the novel a 3/5 Stars.
“How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back” is the fourth book in the white trash zombie series. The story continues on from the previous novel. In this novel Angel is caught in the start of a war between the Saberton Corporation and the zombie mafia. Which is started when Saberton is abducting zombies, which includes Angels friends. Angel goes on a mission with the zombie mafia, to save the abducted zombies.
The beginning of this novel was slower than the first three, but near the end the novel did pick up, and was more exciting. There was some great female friendship between Naomi and Angel. I enjoyed this novel as much as the previous three, but Angel at parts was a bit annoying. I gave the novel a 4.5/5 stars.
“Beneath the Sugar Sky” is the third novella in a series written by Seanan McGuire. The novella continues the story after “Every Heart a Doorway” after Sumi was killed in the first novella. The novella follows Rini, Sumi's daughter, but Rini is now fading after her mother died, before giving birth to her daughter. Now Rini needs to go on an adventure to try to bring, her mother back to life to keep the future from changing.
I really liked learning about the multiple worlds that we see throughout the novella, all the worlds were very interesting and cool, so I gave the novella a 4/5 Stars.
“Down Among the Sticks and Bones” is the second novella in a series written by Seanan McGuire. This novella is a prequel to “Every Heart a Doorway” which follows the twin sisters Jack and Jill, and how they ended up in Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. In this novella we see Jack and Jill finding their new world and home, and then it eventually shows the readers how they ended up being sent back to Earth.
I found Jack and Jill's story interesting and their world was quite dark. I thought that Jack's character was much better than Jill's as she was annoying. I really enjoyed the novella, so I gave the novella a 4/5 stars.
“Every Heart a Doorway” is the first in a series written by Seanan McGuire. The novella follows Nancy who goes, to Eleanor West's home for Wayward Children, this is a home and a school, a place for children who had found their true home after walking through a door and emerging somewhere, where they fit in and feel at home, but sometimes these children are pulled back to Earth, and they can't find their way back.
There is a murder mystery throughout this novel, which was somewhat interesting, but I found the different worlds that the children visited and lived, much more interesting. The characters were also interesting and fun. I gave this novella a 4/5 Stars.
“Flame in the Mist” is the first in a duology, written by Renee Ahdieh. The novel follows a Japanese, seventeen-year-old, named Mariko who was raised one purpose and one purpose only: to marry. On her way to her betrothed, her journey is cut short when Mariko's party is savagely attacked by the Black Clan, which is a dangerous group of outlaws who have been hired to kill Mariko before she reaches the palace. As a survivor of the attack, she dresses as a peasant boy to infiltrate the Black Clan.
The novel was interesting, and enjoyable. I thought Mariko was a strong character. There is romance in the novel, that was okay. The novel is not a Mulan Retelling! I gave the novel a 3/5 Stars.
“The Light Fantastic” is a novel set in the Discworld written by Terry Pratchett. This novel continues the story about the inept wizard Rincewind, who was last seen falling off the edge of the world, and now he is the only one who can save the world from a disastrous collision.
I really enjoy the world that Terry Pratchett created. The world is great, fun and interesting. I love the characters especially, Luggage, he is really funny and awesome. I gave the novel a 5/5 Stars.
“The Kiss Quotient” is a romance standalone written by Helen Hoang. The novel follows Stella who has Asperger's and she thinks that she can learn how to date, and to have physical relations with a man, by hiring an escort named Michael.
The novel follows Stella having lessons with Michael, and eventually these lessons turn into dates and meeting the parents. The two who wanted a no-nonsense or no-attachments relationship start to care and having feelings for each other. The novel is cute and does have some graphic scenes. There are two points of views, which showed the two characters falling for each other. I gave the novel a 3/5 stars.
White Trash Zombie Gone Wild” is the fifth book in the white trash zombie series. This novel follows Angel trying to stop the exposure of zombies to the world, in order to stop her life that she has built, from being destroyed, and on top of this, Angel has gone back to her old ways with new drugs, made for zombies.
This was probably, my least favourite book so far, due to Angel having a drug problem, along with stealing drugs from those who needed the drugs, I found this annoying, because she been doing so well, then feel, back to her old habits, which ended up harming others. The romance with Marcus ended a few books previous, so the new romance within this novel kinda came out of nowhere. I gave this novel a 4.5/5 stars, due to the novel still being white as fast paced and exciting, even with Angel doing drugs.
“White Trash Zombie Unchained” is the sixth book in the white trash zombie series. Angel pulls herself back together after the events of the previous novel. Angel and her friends have to go on a hunting to find and stop the new type of zombie that has emerged in town. These new zombies are mindless, infectious and ravenous, with these wondering around, a pandemic could start, and that is not good.
This novel was as good ad the previous novels. Angel was not as annoying as the last two novels, she has grown over the series as a whole. The novel had zombie alligators, which was pretty cool, which made the novel better. I liked the action within the novel, so I gave this a 4.5/5 stars.
“White Trash Zombie Apocalypse” is the third novel written in the White Trash Zombie series written by Diana Rowland. Angel is still dealing with her alcoholic deadbeat dad, her maybe-boyfriend, the zombie mafia and much more. Things get crazy when a zombie movie starts filming in her town, and with this movie, Angel starts fighting her way through mud, blood and bullets, as zombie both real and fake are prowling the streets.
The novel is great, and fun, though the beginning was slow, but the second half was much faster, I gave the novel a 4/5 stars.
‘Water's Wrath” is the fourth novel of the ‘Air Awakens” series written by Elise Kova. The war in the North is over and Vhalla has won her freedom along with the war.
Vhalla and Aldrik's relationship is explored after the events of the third novel. Aldrik and Baldair's brotherly relationship grows throughout the story and in this particular novel it peaks. This novel made me cry at some parts. I gave this novel a 4/5 stars.
The ‘Undying' is the final novel in the ‘Unearthed' duology written by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. The novel starts off, where the first novel ended, where both Mia and Jules are trapped abroad the Undying's ancient spaceship.
They are in a desperate race to warn Earth about the danger humanity has unleashed, but being surrounded by Undying saving Earth will be a lot harder than expected.
The novel follows the characters finding out who and what the ‘Undying' are. The characters go on a journey to find Jules fathers. The final novel was an enjoyable read, I gave it a 3/5 stars.
“No Good Deed” is a standalone novel written by Kara Connolly. The novel follows the main character named Ellie Hudson who is the front-runner on the road to gold for the U.S. Olympic archery team, but to qualify for the Olympics she need to win at the trials in England. While there she makes a wrong turn when in the caverns under Nottingham Castle and with that she ends up in medieval England.
This novel is a Robin Hood retelling and has time travel aspects. Overall the novel was enjoyable, though the romance was strange, especially at the end of the novel. Ellie is a strong and brave character. I gave the novel a 3/5 stars.
“To All the Boys I've Loved Before” is the first novel in a trilogy written by Jenny Han. I re-read this novel when the Netflix movie came out this year. This novel follows main character Lara Jean, who writes letters to boys whom she had feelings for, and places those letters in box. One day those letters have been mailed out.
There were five letters that were sent out, and Lara Jean has to deal with the outcome of this. Though out of the five letters, only three recipients of the five letters, are seen throughout the first novel, but of those three, one is gay, one is her sister's ex-boyfriend - Josh -, and the other is the boyfriend of Lara Jean's enemy - Peter. Peter and his girlfriend break up, and he suggests after getting the letter, that he and Lara Jean pretend to be in a relationship, to make his ex jealous, and so that Josh, will think that Lara Jean has no feelings for him any more. Throughout the novel Lara Jean starts to halve real feelings for her fake boyfriend.
I liked the relationship between Lara Jean and her two sisters, and how Lara Jean, does not like having feelings for her older sisters boyfriend, as she does not want to hurt her siblings. I also liked the fake relationship between Lara Jean and Peter, and how that relationship turns to a friendship then eventually into an actual relationship, near the end of the novel. I also liked the baking aspect. The novel was fast paced and fluffy, which I really enjoyed, I gave the novel a 4.5/5 stars.