Kari
Wow. Just wow.
This book sucked me in right from the beginning when I read about it on my library's recommendation page. It reminded me a bit of Chevy Stevens's Still Missing (a book that I HIGHLY recommend) only because it's the recounting of a kidnapping and the events following.
Of course, it wasn't like Still Missing at all. Quite different, but engrossing nonetheless. I spent the time reading feeling claustrophobic for Gemma. Feeling helpless because she was. I was creeped out by Ty and constantly felt like bugs were crawling on me.
I must admit that I just couldn't stand the idea of being stuck in this sandy, dusty desert. I wanted to take a shower everytime I picked up the book!
But it was fascinating. Gemma's struggle to escape, to not care about Ty and to reconcile her feelings with what the right thing to do was. Gemma was strong, but compassionate. I wish that the story followed through a bit longer. I feel like there was so much more story to tell. I read a FAQ of Lucy Christopher's in which she's asked if there will be a sequel and now having finished the book I can see why people asked. There's definitely more.
Talk about a cliffhanger! I'm loving this even more than I did in the beginning. I love the astrals, especially Alex's.
This takes us back almost eighty years beginning around 6 years after the death of the last male shogun. In the previous volume Yoshimune goes to Murase to ask about the Chronicle of the Dying Day and in this volume two the Chronicle plays out.
In the first volume there was some humor and attempts at lightheartedness. Here is just a lot of bleakness, violence and tragedy. Kasuga will not let anything stop her from saving the Tokugawa name. Murder, kidnapping, whatever, she'll do it. She is a terrifying character.
There was just a lot of sadness, but we got to see the transition from being a place that housed women for the shogun to a place that housed men who thought that their male shogun was still alive and favored men. The secrets that were kept and doled out to a select few who were then doomed never to leave the Inner Chambers.
I am anxious to get back to Yoshimune to see how she will have taken this account and what she will do, if anything, to change the state of affairs in Japan. And also, how she will deal with the Inner Chambers.
I enjoy these sweeping sagas. I don't really stay interested in most historical fiction, but Asian history keeps me engaged.
Taking place in Korea during the first half of the 1900s, basically the entirety of Japan's rule over Korea. I loved the relationship between Najin and her mother, but the heavy handed Christian-ness was a turn off. Though I do understand the missionaries invaded and smothered Koreans in their religion heavily during this time, I probably could have done with less religion speak. It started to feel like an advertisement for religion. As if the book itself was a missionary trying to force Christianity onto the reader.
I didn't love this as much as I loved Spell Hunter, but I did enjoy it. It seemed really short, the story really quick, but I enjoyed the continuation of the story and seeing how Oakenwyld has made it so far.
I didn't think I'd like this too much, but I really did! I liked that we learned enough and still look forward to the next book!
Too much recap for me, but I guess if people didn't read the books just wanted to pick up the graphic novel this would be for their benefit. For me, it was lacking, but it was good to see an end to the story.
review for Missing in Death: This one was too short for the amount of story she was trying to tell. Especially with the tie ins with Summerset there seemed to be so much more she could have gone into, but chose instead to limit herself to 70 or so pages.
I really liked this little mystery in Nightmare, Arizona. I liked the idea of a year round Haunted House and getting to work in all the different positions. Loved all the monsters/spirits/witches. It was very fun!
Zoey has got to be the dumbest heroine ever. She does the most ridiculous things!! The story itself is interesting. I can't wait to see what comes out of the Stevie Rae story line. That being said, I wish the Cast duo would try a little less ‘teenspeak'. Every time Zoey mentions who she craves blood she has to follow it with something like ‘Ick, gross I know'. Yes, we know. You say it EVERY TIME. I think I read the word ‘ho-bag' about 18 times, which is 18 times since the 90s
I think that Zoey is one of the most annoying characters in books today. She says ‘Jeesh' and ‘bullpoopy' waaaaay too many times in this book alone. She also is weirdly attracted to almost any boy/man/vampyre/fledgling who shows her any attention whatsoever without any real guilt at cheating on whoever her boyfriend is. She also makes it a point to say that she isn't a ‘slut' or a ‘ho'. Um, yes she is. She blames her mistakes on someone else and instead of getting help from someone she knows is powerful and good she screws everything up.
These are also reasons why, even on a cliffhanger ending I will not be reading the rest of this series...
I am sick of reading:
- ‘brown pop'. Just say ‘soda'.
- ‘ditto, Twin'
- ‘hag'
- the circle casting ceremony is getting old. She has to go through and describe every single time how fire heats up the area, wind blows through our hair. I get the point. In fact, after the first time, in the first book, I got it.
- it is so irritating to me how she has to remind everyone all the time about Damien & Jack being gay, or writing ‘gay little tornado'. Really??? That's offensive. Do PC & Kristin Cast think they are being so cool to include a gay character that they must make sure everyone reading knows they're gay?
The books suck.
It seems impossible that so much happened in such a short book. This felt like it should have been epic, like Game of Thrones size epic, but it wasn't. And yet, still, I'm reeling still from everything that happened.
I've never been a fan of Keenan. Well, not with Keenan being with Aislinn, but after the first book I didn't really like Keenan at all. Here I found him to be more true. He wasn't what he thought he should be he was what he was meant to be, maybe?
Except for the fae in Faerie we get closure from just about everyone. We lose a few I wish didn't have to go, but it is war. It did feel a little too tidy at the end and I thought with a laugh that Marr really did get things just this side of convenient, but it's ok.
This was a great ending to a brilliant series. Finally finishing this I can say that while I did like Carnival of Souls it hasn't grabbed me the way Wicked Lovely did. Nonetheless, these are books I can see myself picking up again in a year or so. Definitely worth it!
Big things are happening in Faerie and in the mortal world. It's so amazing to see this world that Marr has created. When you think you've learned all of it and now it's just a matter of building on the existing story she adds more. Layers and layers of rich, alluring faerie goodness.
The story is complicated. It's not a he loves her, she loves him kind of plot. It's just so great. It pulls you in and I love how dark and violent everything gets without being overboard. The threat is there, blood is drawn, gore is but a mere whisper and it doesn't feel forced or showy. She's not trying to shock the reader, she's just trying to show that these aren't Tinkerbell faeries. Each book has ended in a way that gives you a bit of satisfaction with some resolution, but the bigger picture is still hanging there so you want to just jump right into the next book.
There's something to be said for waiting so long to start the series! At least I don't have to wait for the next book to come out....
I started reading this series after watching the first episode of Shetland on Netflix. I found out it was a book series and decided to start there. The first book “Raven Black” was nothing like the first episode so after reading the second book I thought maybe I could start watching the show. However, this book is finally the case that the first episode focuses on.
I notice a lot of the cases that touch Shetland or the surrounding islands have something to do with something that happened far back in the past. It's as if the residents are so isolated they cannot even escape the mistakes of the ancestors. I ached for Hattie, but what I enjoyed most about this installment was how much time we were in Sandy's head. After two books where he is portrayed as a useless dummy it was nice to see what goes on in his head.
It still bothers me that Hannah “loves” Mike and Norman and then gets jealous/mad when Mike talks about dating other women, but this is still a quick, fun mystery.
Tying up loose ends. That's what this book seemed to be about. Hopefully it's not the end for Harper, Tolliver and Manfred because I really enjoy these books!
Weird and wild. Oftentimes confusing. My favorite part was the quick appearance of Mack and Ava, but I enjoyed the weird and the author's personal reasons for writing this book.
A little too predictable at times (though I guess that's what happens when you base your premise on a famous story), but it was enjoyable.
Very cute and sweet. I do wish I could have seen Lindsay get her butt kicked and the ending felt abrupt, but I still really liked it.