Jane, Unlimited

Jane, Unlimited is by Kristin Cashore.

If you could change your story, would you?

Jane has lived a mostly ordinary life, raised by her recently deceased aunt Magnolia, whom she counted on to turn life into an adventure. Without Aunt Magnolia, Jane is directionless. Then an old acquaintance, the glamorous and capricious Kiran Thrash, blows back into Jane’s life and invites her to a gala at the Thrashes’ extravagant island mansion called Tu Reviens. Jane remembers her aunt telling her: “If anyone ever invites you to Tu Reviens, promise me that you’ll go.”

What Jane doesn’t know is that at Tu Reviens her story will change; the house will offer her five choices that could ultimately determine the course of her untethered life. But every choice comes with a price. She might fall in love, she might lose her life, she might come face-to-face with herself. At Tu Reviens, anything is possible.

The Breakdown:
1. If like me, you are a Cashore fan from the Graceling series, be warned this book is absolutely nothing like it.  It is a very different style of story, and story telling.   In some ways is reminds me of the Chose your own adventure books I read as a child.  There are five different stories that diverge depending on Jane's choice after the very first part.  They range from stories with a little mystery to very out there in concept stories.

2. Jane is a quirky and charming character.  I feel that she stays true to herself even with the chaos around her in the stories.  I love the ideas of her artsy umbrellas and I kind of want one.  Although, I think that the fall in love is a bit misleading.  There are hints in a couple of the stories of something between her and Ivy, but I never felt that really went very far.

3.  For the most part, I thought most of the supporting characters were forgettable.   I liked Ivy alright.  Really the best supporting character was Jasper, the basset hound.  I loved him, surprise, surprise.  He was adorable, and was the center of the last story with Jane.

4.  While I enjoyed most the stories, the one that centered on Kiran's missing stepmother was just strange and creepy.  I am not sure it added anything to the book.   I think my favorite stories were the missing children/spy story and the soul dog story.   That being said, I don't feel that with the individual stories made for a great novel.

To Read or Not to Read:
This is definitely a take it or leave it book.

Audiobook: Flame in the Mist

Flame in the Mist is written by Renee Ahdieh and narrated by Nancy Wu and is the first book in the series of the same name.

The only daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has always known she’d been raised for one purpose and one purpose only: to marry. Never mind her cunning, which rivals that of her twin brother, Kenshin, or her skills as an accomplished alchemist. Since Mariko was not born a boy, her fate was sealed the moment she drew her first breath.

So, at just seventeen years old, Mariko is sent to the imperial palace to meet her betrothed, a man she did not choose, for the very first time. But the journey is cut short when Mariko’s convoy is viciously attacked by the Black Clan, a dangerous group of bandits who’ve been hired to kill Mariko before she reaches the palace.

The lone survivor, Mariko narrowly escapes to the woods, where she plots her revenge. Dressed as a peasant boy, she sets out to infiltrate the Black Clan and hunt down those responsible for the target on her back. Once she’s within their ranks, though, Mariko finds for the first time she’s appreciated for her intellect and abilities. She even finds herself falling in love—a love that will force her to question everything she’s ever known about her family, her purpose, and her deepest desires.

The Breakdown:
1. I really enjoyed pretty much everything about this book.  From the setting, inspired by feudal Japan, to the characters, and the narrator.   Wu captures the tone of this book so beautifully in her narration.  Ahdieh proves, like in her The Wrath and the Dawn series, that she is a master at the hate to love trope.

2.  I have to admit, as much as I loved Mariko, sometimes she really lacked in her common sense.  She is very smart in the way things work, but is a little clueless in how humans work.  Sometimes it is painful to watch her miss what seems so obvious, and for me, that makes her feel more real.  She has great strengths, but also some glaring flaws.

3. One of the things I really loved about this book, it was a society where men were the obvious power players, but the women really seemed to control the power from behind closed doors.  I, also, very much enjoyed the magical elements to the story.  I look forward to learning more about them in the next book.

4. I want to take a minute to talk about Okami.  The mysterious member of the Black Clan, and Mariko's love interest.  He has so many layers to him, and even at the end of the book, Ahdieh has not reveled all there is to know about it.   I loved seeing his confusion over his attraction to Mariko before discovering what she is, and their banter was always entertaining.

5. As for the ending, Ahdieh throws out multiple twist and turns at the end, along with some enlightening reveals.  I cannot wait to see where the next book goes.

To Read or Not to Read:
Read

Umberland

Umberland by Wendy Spinale is the second book of her Everland series.

They’re dreadfully fond of beheading people here…

Gwen, Pete, and the others have escaped from Everland. Except the safe haven they hoped to find at Alnwick Castle doesn’t exist. With the Queen of England on her deathbed, Duchess Alyssa has stepped in, but things have gotten worse as the cure Doc created for the Horologia virus has mutated into something even more deadly. The only possible solution he can think of is to go back to the virus’s origin: an extinct poisonous apple.

Legend has it, though, that a tree bearing the apple might be found at the center of an impossible labyrinth hidden deep within Germany. A place no one in their right mind enters. With no other options, Alyssa sets out with only her sword, her wits, and the help of Maddox Hadder, a wild boy who oversees the castle gardens. To get to the center of the maze, she’ll be forced to battle monsters more terrifying than her darkest nightmares.

But can anyone truly survive the madness of the maze? And what if there’s no apple to be found there?

The Breakdown:
1. I feel that Spinale suffers a little from a sophomore slump in this book.   The book dragged a little.  It was told from three prospectives, Alyssa, Pete, and Jack.  I felt that Pete's chapters weighed the story down a lot.  Alyssa and Jack's chapters were far more interesting. 

2.  I did love Alyssa and Maddox together.  They both are so layered as characters.  I enjoyed seeing Alyssa learn that there is more to Maddox that what she initial thought.   I really enjoyed Maddox's back story and who he is and how he came to Alnwick. 

3.  I find Jack a interestingly complicated character.  Most of the time I cannot decided if he is trying to curry favor with his stepmother or trying to find a way to redeem himself to the lost boys.  I am interested to see what happens with him in the story as the books progress.

4.  Given the ending of this book, I really feel that this book was mostly laying the work for the next book. 

To Read or Not to Read:
Read, because I feel like the next book all that happened in this book will really come together.

The Sandcastle Empire

The Sandcastle Empire is by debut author Kayla Olson.

When all hope is gone, how do you survive?

Before the war, Eden’s life was easy—air conditioning, ice cream, long days at the beach. Then the revolution happened, and everything changed.

Now a powerful group called the Wolfpack controls the earth and its resources. Eden has lost everything to them. They killed her family and her friends, destroyed her home, and imprisoned her. But Eden refuses to die by their hands. She knows the coordinates to the only neutral ground left in the world, a place called Sanctuary Island, and she is desperate to escape to its shores.

Eden finally reaches the island and meets others resistant to the Wolves. But their solace is short-lived when one of Eden’s new friends goes missing. Braving the jungle in search of their lost ally, they quickly discover Sanctuary is filled with lethal traps and an enemy they never expected. 

This island might be deadlier than the world Eden left behind, but surviving it is the only thing that stands between her and freedom.  

The Breakdown:
1.  In this book, Olson creates a dystopian empire where the have nots, after a  series of disasters, have overthrown the haves in the US.   Those not part of the Wolfpack are placed in these work camps to provide for the Wolves. Eden and others are lucky to escape this place and find the sanctuary island her father's journal detailed.

2.  Eden is a girl who lost everything.  Her first love was killed on Day Zero when the Wolfpack took control.  Her father is later killed by them.  She wants nothing more to be free.  She is determined to find the sanctuary, and quickly learns that there is more to this sanctuary than she knew.  I become very frustrated with her character.  She misses so many clues about the island and those around her motives.  She spent the better part of two years obsessing over her father's journal, but missed so many clues he left her.

3.  While on the island, the Resistance people show up.  Their leader, Lonan, becomes the love interest for Eden.  There really is a forced feeling to their relationship.  He goes quickly from not trusting her to telling her everything.   Their relationship is just not very believable.

4.  There are a lot of unanswered question at the end of this book especially for one that is suppose to be a stand alone novel. The one that bothered me the most was the Edens memories of Birch, her first love, and Emma, her best friend.  She tells us what happens to Birch, but there is no explanation for Emma.  Was she killed, sent to different work camp, or part of the Wolfpack?  There is absolutely no closure in that area.  If Emma was so important to her, why does she not think about happened to her.  Then the ending felt unfinished.  There just so much more that needs to be resolved.

To Read or Not to Read:
As much as it pains to me say about a dystopian book, Don't Read.  Maybe if a sequel comes out I might change my mind.

The Female of the Species

The Female of the Species is by Mindy McGinnis.

A contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives. 

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

The Breakdown:
1.   McGinnis does an interesting job with exploring rape culture in American, especially in a small town.  I like that she does it without constantly throwing in the readers face, but you definitely know it is there and are uncomfortable with the implications of it (as you should be).  I loved that she explored through three very different characters.

2.  Alex is a interesting character.  She has some serious sociopathic tendencies but has a her own strange moral code about things.  She has really tried to distance herself from others, knowing that there is not something right about her.  Still Jack and Peekay pull her into their lives.

3. I like Peekay the most of the  narrators.  She is a good person.  She starts out a little naive, but after a party one night, she, in a way, loses her innocents.  She is a good friend to Alex.

4.  The last narrator is Jack.  He is the golden boy of the school: smart, athletic, and cute.  Jack is definitely the guy, who for most of his teen years, has let his hormones rule him when it comes to girls.  While he does this, he has regrets about it.  Once he connects with Alex,  he really starts to change.   He grows up, and with revelations about Alex herself, he learns to how to love someone despite their flaws.

5.  This book deals with some heavy subjects without getting too graphic about it.  McGinnis does a great job of pointing out what is wrong with the acceptance of rape culture without using very explicit imagery.  It is hot topic and a subject that needs to talked about more, and this a great book to help get the discussion going.

To Read or Not to Read:
Read

Audiobook: The Sword of Summer

The Sword of Summer is written Rick Riordan and narrated by Christopher Guetig and is the first book of the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series.

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .

The Breakdown:
1.  I loved Riordan's Percy Jackson books, so I was excited to read this book.  It, in a way, takes place in the same universe as Percy Jackson.  Magnus is Annabeth's cousin, and she makes a cameo in the book.  Magnus, however, is a Norse God's son, and is learning to navigate his way through the Nine Worlds of Norse Mythology.

2.  The biggest disappointment for me was the narrator for the book.  Guetig  has probably been my least favorite narrator out all the books I have listened to.  He is more like a really good story time reader at the library than a voice actor for audiobooks.  It also bothers me that he gives Magnus a faint mid-western accent when he is a boy who has lived his whole life in Boston.

3. While Magnus is snarky and funny, for me Samirah "Sam" Al-bbas is my favorite character.  She is a Muslim Valkyrie, whose dad happens to be a big figure in the Norse gods.  She is smart, and has some pretty amazing moves.  Plus without her Magnus would be dead-dead, and she helps to keep him clued into who is who in the Norse world.

4.  I enjoyed the book as a whole, and the wittiness, but I don't think it is as good as the Percy Jackson boos.  I thought it was hilarious that Thor uses the most power weapon Mjolnir to watch television.  I Blitz and Hearth, Magnus street friends who are more than what they seem.  I want to know more from this series, and see if it will continue to improve.

5. On a side note, I now realize where J.K. Rowling got the Death Eater Werewolf's name from.

To Read or Not to Read:
Read

Lord of Shadows

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare is the second book of The Dark Artifices series.

Would you trade your soul mate for your soul?

A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners—sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love.

Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden—it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides?

Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and “unsuitable” Nephilim. They’ll do anything in their power to expose Julian’s secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own.

When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows—the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.

The Breakdown:
1.  I really enjoy the world of the Shadowhunters, and I am excited to see the new developments in this series.  I like the complex relationships both between the individual characters and the different races, i.e. the Shadowhunters and the Downwolders.  In this book, Clare really highlights these relationships.

2.  There are a lot of feels in this book.  Emma and Julian struggling to deny their feels for each other.  Christina, Mark, and Keiran work their way through their complex feelings and friendships.  Kit, Ty, and Livvy building a friendship.  Kit's decision whether to stay in the world of Shadowhunters.  Diana dealing with her secret.  With everyone's personal issues combined with the threats from the Unseelie King, there is never a dull moment.

3.  Speaking of feels, Clare breaks my heart a few times in this book.  Oh, and she is killing me with all the questions I have at the end of the book.  I am dying to see where she takes the story.

To Read or Not to Read:
Read