Weekly Shard Community Book Review

[Sunbird]

Welcome to the first weekly book review by Sharders, for Sharders! Come here to read critiques and discuss what everyone's reading this week. (To write your own review and contribute to this great community, Sign up here!) Applause goes to The Young Bard for organizing this group.

To get the ball rolling, I'll share my review of The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa, originally written a few years ago after I read the book the second time.

 

Allison Sekemoto lives in a future where the Red Lung virus has wiped out most of society as we know it. In her hometown of New Covington (which as a Cincinnati resident I suspect is actually Covington, Kentucky) vampires control virtually everything. As an Unregistered resident of the Fringe, the outer portion of the city, Allison lives a tough life, scavenging and stealing to keep herself fed but free of the compulsory bloodlettings Registered citizens must endure. One especially hungry day she ventures outside the city into the Ruins to look for food. She is attacked and mauled by a pack of rabids, vicious, mindless creatures infected with the virus. Kanin, a vampire, finds her and offers to save her life by turning her. Though Allison hates vampires, she wants to live badly enough that she accepts. Kanin teaches her how to survive as a vampire, and a lot of the book deals with Allison's struggle to accept what she has become.

One thing that I thought was very well done was the relationship between Kanin and Allison. (Speaking of which, I'm still not sure how to pronounce his name. Is the emphasis on the first or second syllable?) Kanin is a kind but firm teacher, always giving Allison the blunt truth and letting her make what she will of it. To me the relationship felt very realistic, and I liked the way the two of them interacted with each other. At times Allison disobeyed Kanin's instructions meant to keep them both safe, but you could see her reasons behind it. On one such occasion Allison's indiscretion leads to her and Kanin being hunted down by the vampire officials of New Covington, who are after Kanin. He stays behind to fend them off and give Allison time to escape, which she does.

Having never been outside of New Covington before and not knowing where to go, Allison wanders and eventually runs into a group of about a dozen humans who claim to be searching for Eden, a city free of vampires and rabids. Allison joins them, knowing she needs to be around humans to feed on (as animal blood does nothing to sate her thirst), concealing her vampirism and pretending to be human because their leader, Jeb, is staunchly anti-vampire. The whole time she is with these wanderers, Allison feels bad for deceiving them but feels it is her only choice--they would kill her if they knew she was a vampire. Eventually her secret comes out and Zeke, a boy who she would've wanted to be more than friends with, lets her escape unscathed because he was starting to care for her. He promises to kill her if he sees her again, but Allison has begun to care about his group and follows them to protect them. I have to say I adore Allison's character. She is such a badchull in a fight with her samurai sword and Matrix-esque vampire moves, but she also has integrity and refuses to abandon the people who took her in even when they turn on her because she knows she can do something to help. (And also because she's falling in love with Zeke.) That is the kind of person I want to be, and that's why I love Allison.

I enjoyed the latter half of the book even more than the first half because Zeke and Allison finally get to have a real relationship not based on a lie, and because there are some truly awesome fight scenes. (Believe me when I say The Immortal Rules is NOT primarily a romance.) I also love that Allison does everything she can to show that she's not going to kill everyone in their sleep, even when the people she's trying to help are scared spitless of her. If only everyone were that good.

The only thing I can think of that I didn't like about the book was the language. There is a fair bit of language, but thankfully no f-bombs, which are usually a deal breaker for me.

Overall probably the best vampire book I read in 2012. (And I read a lot of them, so that is an accomplishment!) If you like vampires, apocalypses, or tough-girl heroines who don't whine and who make you wish you were them, READ THIS BOOK. You won't regret it. 5 stars all the way!

And, if you've already read The Immortal Rules, you might be interested in my reviews of books 2 and 3 in the Blood of Eden trilogy, The Eternity Cure and The Forever Song. (SPOILER WARNING: My reviews of books 2 and 3 contain spoilers for previous books in the series.)

Edited July 28, 2016 by Sunbird

[Jondesu]

A few hours ahead of schedule, I give you my review of Lost Stars, by Claudia Gray.

Spoiler

The concept of star-crossed lovers has been a classic trope in stories for millennia, and yet in all of those stories, it's been rare for one to literally involve characters being separated by stars.  In Lost Stars, however, Claudia Gray tells just such a story, set within the new Star Wars universe.  One of the first books to be released within the new framework of The Journey to the Force Awakens, this book is canon within the Star Wars universe, secondary only to the films themselves.

 

Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree have grown up on the planet Jelucan, separated not by a vast distance on the small Outer Rim world, but rather by culture and circumstance.  Thane is from a high-class family among the newer arrivals to the world, while Ciena is from a simple farming family in the first wave of settlers on Jelucan.  Despite their differences, they bond over a shared love of ships and piloting, and a chance encounter with Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, who encourages them to consider becoming pilots for the newly forming Empire, which is solidifying its rule following the collapse of the Old Republic.  Through their friendship, which gradually blossoms into more, we also follow the events of the galaxy from the rise of the Empire, through the rise and victories of the Rebellion and the destructions of both Death Stars, and lastly to the final defeat of the Empire at the desert world of Jakku.

 

While the story takes us through these major events, and other smaller encounters that fit well within the Star Wars lore we all know and love, the fate of the galaxy is only tangential to the lives and relationships of Thane and Ciena.  Through the turbulence of a war torn galaxy, and through moral crises that each responds to in their own ways, we experience the reality and brokenness of war, and we see not big heroes, or Jedi and Sith battling away in grand style, but the lives of everyday people making their way in the galaxy.  Their relationships are the stars of this story, and much like the beloved television series Firefly, the focus of the story is not the events happening around them, but how they interact with each other and with those around them.

 

Claudia Gray shows her incredible writing skill, marking her as potentially one of the great Star Wars authors along with such names as Timothy Zahn and Aaron Allston.  She avoids using excessive technical detail or archaic terms, but instead showcasing a beautifully minimalistic writing style that draws you in to the story, without distracting you with flowery language.  The characters have true depth and emotion, and you understand their motivations as well as how they perceive the others around them with heart-rending detail.  Lost Stars is well worth the read, and a wonderful indication that the legacy of Star Wars novels will continue to be one with incredible stories and deep characters despite restarting into a new universe.

 

[Delightful]

It's been a little more than a week, but here's our next book review!

 

‘Bluescreen’ by Dan Wells:  a YA near-future semi-dystopia about teenage Marisa and her friends as they investigate the eponymous synthetic drug that will threaten life as they know it.

 I went into this book trusting Dan Wells as an author, but also afraid it would be either a cheap plot set in a game because hey teens like video games don’t they, or that it would be some snotty comment about how addicted people are to technology. (No offence to Dan, there are just way too many of those types around). Bluescreen is none of the above.

Firstly, hands down my favourite thing about this book is it’s setting. The ubiquitousness and development of technology feels like a natural extension to what we use today, nothing feels contrived best of all,people’s relationship with technology is treated respectfully. All transport is self-driving, all vehicles coordinated to avoid crashing or traffic jams. Drones called nulis do everything from clean the house, to deliver pizza to your moving vehicle, to document your life vlog-style. And most importantly are the djinnis, personal computers connected to each person via brain surgery. Here’s where it could easily get dystopian and condescending, but it doesn’t. The djinni is treated much like most people’s relationship with mobile phones – you are not your phone, but much of your interaction with the world goes through it, you record special moments, set reminders, talk to your friends, check the weather, do everything through your djinni, except the djinni can also interact with your sensory nerves.  Interestingly, Wells contrasts this with one character who ideologically refuses to have a djinni, and interacts instead via mobile. (More on characters soon). The plot gets going when Marisa’s friend Anja procures the drug Bluescreen on a USB that plugs into your djinni and overloads a person’s senses, giving them a high followed by a ten-minute blackout. It should be as perfectly safe as any other djinni software, until Anja starts sleepwalking and drama ensues.

The cast of characters is large, and if anything this is my one major complaint – they were often hard to keep track of. We have our protagonist Marisa, and her five Overworld teammates, Anja, Sahara, Fang....and I don’t remember the others. All are decent hackers, and they run with their team catchphrase ‘play crazy,’ which translates both to manipulating Overworld in interesting ways, and in tracking down the maker of Bluescreen. They are joined by a  handful of guys, including the djinni-less Bao, the mysterious Saif and their friend Omar, who’s father is head of an important gang at odd’s with Marisa’s parent’s restaurant. Add in Marisa’s parents, siblings and grandmother including her older brother who left home to join a gang, his wife and child, the gang leader, Anja’s rich father, and then all characters they meet while investigating Bluescreen and its implications.....it’s hard to keep track. That being said, the characters are all distinct and individual, there’s just a lot of them. In a reread or two I’d probably be fine.

Now, Marisa. She’s really cool. A competent hacker and gamer, she has a bionic arm for legitimate reasons and speaks Spanish as her first language. (there were lines untranslated which is great for story flow I just didn’t understand what she was saying. Guess I’m not the audience for that line.) She’s also a realistic teenager, a little scared and in over her head, struggling with independence and family expectations, heavily reliant on her friends and basically really relatable. Some great female POV moments include pulling off high heels before running somewhere, and thinking about her clothing regarding how it makes her feel in different situations rather than how it necessarily looks. The POV was done very well.

I won’t say too much more or I’ll leave with a summary and no reason to read the book, just that the plot unfolds at such a natural place that halfway through the book I literally paused and thought “wow. This was just about some rich-people party drug. How on earth did it get to here?.”  Tension increases and the story becomes more complex, without any gut-wrenching sudden turns in direction or reveals that changes everything, just layers and layers slowly unfolding until the truth is revealed and the characters are suddenly way in over their heads with no way out.

In short, this book is great. It’s not perfect, but it sure is a hell of a ride. Highly recommended.

[Sunbird]

I have also updated the OP with links to my reviews of the second and third books in the Immortal Rules series, for anyone who has already read the first one.

[Sunbird]

Sorry for the delay, everyone! Without further ado, I present Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron:

BookBub introduced me to "Nice Dragons Finish Last" when it was on sale on Amazon recently, and boy, am I glad I decided to download it! This book is a nonstop roller-coaster ride of action, sidesplitting laughter, and awesome characters.

Here's the scoop on the plot: Julius is the youngest of the Heartstriker clan, a very large family of dragons. He's also the runt and the least dragon-like: all his siblings are cruel, ambitious, and conniving, whereas Julius is a nice guy. So he tries to just stay out of the way and not cause trouble, but his formidable mother Bethesda is not satisfied with this behavior. So she puts a spell on him to bind him into his human form and carts him off to the Detroit Free Zone--which is the city of Detroit after it's been taken over by the water spirit Algonquin and where dragons are illegal--with the threat that if he doesn't prove he can be a "good" (in other words, despicable) dragon in a month, then she'll have him killed.

Enter Marci. Marci is a human mage on the run from a shady business mogul named Bixby, who desperately wants a magical artifact she has that her father stole. (Also relevant is the fact that Bixby had Marci's father killed in revenge for stealing the Kosmolabe, the artifact in question.) Marci flees to Detroit at about the same time Julius gets dumped there, and they end up working together to try to track down a runaway dragon from another clan, Katya, to prove that Julius is competent, though Marci doesn't know that she's dealing with dragons (yet).

After saving each other's lives several times, Julius and Marci become fast friends, which does nothing good for Julius's reputation with the other dragons. On top of trying to prove his worth, Julius has to keep the secret of his true nature from Marci, and they both have to deal with Bixby's goons coming after them multiple times. PLUS Detroit is full of dangerous magical monsters, which makes for some epic fight scenes. I think my favorite fight scene was the one with the giant mutated lampreys in the sewers. The really massive one reminded me of a Hydra from Greek mythology, or the basilisk from Harry Potter.

One reason I had to give this book a full 5 stars was that I loved Julius and Marci together. They both start out kind of wary of each other, since they've been used and manipulated before, but over the course of a few days of working together, fighting side by side against Bixby's goons and Detroit's magical monsters, they each discover that here is someone who will stick by them in good times and bad, and I loved watching their relationship evolve into something so wholesome and just all-around *good.*

I also thought the solution to the conflict Julius figured out was both elegant and realistic. He managed to figure out a way to prove his worth to his family without betraying his conscience, and that made me SO happy. I hate when good people end up doing horrible things, because if the protagonist is not someone you can admire, why are we even rooting for them?--but that didn't happen here at all. Julius began the story as a stand-up guy and he came out of it still a stand-up guy, but with more of the worldly experience necessary for dealing with the sneaky other dragons.

Another great thing about "Nice Dragons Finish Last" was how doggone CLEAN it was. I'm used to reading YA fiction that has at least a few swear words in it, sometimes an implied sex scene, but this book was a nice breath of fresh air. I don't recall seeing a single cuss word, though there were a few uses of the word "whore," and occasional references to dragons' "mating flights." Nothing crude or inappropriate, though. I really loved reading a book that was so clean.

My only real complaint about the book is a minor one--it could have been more scrupulously edited in terms of grammar/spelling/etc. There were occasional homophone mixups and apostrophe errors that a copy-editor should've caught and corrected, and Bixby's name was at one point misspelled as "Bibxy." But like I said, this is a minor complaint, since I could always figure out what the author was really trying to say, and the errors were pretty few and far between.

My other complaint has nothing to do with the book itself; I'm just disappointed that book 2 has not been released yet, because this is a series I want more of, and I want it now! Hats off to you, Rachel Aaron, for writing such a fun, upstanding novel! My interest has been piqued for your other books, which I plan to read while I'm waiting for Heartstrikers #2. Outstanding job.

I wrote this review in December 2014. Although the end of the review says there is no sequel yet, that was more than 18 months ago, and books 2 and 3 in the Heartstrikers series, One Good Dragon Deserves Another and No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished, have been released since then.

[Delightful]

12 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

Sorry for the delay, everyone! Without further ado, I present Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron:

 

  Hide contents

BookBub introduced me to "Nice Dragons Finish Last" when it was on sale on Amazon recently, and boy, am I glad I decided to download it! This book is a nonstop roller-coaster ride of action, sidesplitting laughter, and awesome characters.

 

Here's the scoop on the plot: Julius is the youngest of the Heartstriker clan, a very large family of dragons. He's also the runt and the least dragon-like: all his siblings are cruel, ambitious, and conniving, whereas Julius is a nice guy. So he tries to just stay out of the way and not cause trouble, but his formidable mother Bethesda is not satisfied with this behavior. So she puts a spell on him to bind him into his human form and carts him off to the Detroit Free Zone--which is the city of Detroit after it's been taken over by the water spirit Algonquin and where dragons are illegal--with the threat that if he doesn't prove he can be a "good" (in other words, despicable) dragon in a month, then she'll have him killed.

Enter Marci. Marci is a human mage on the run from a shady business mogul named Bixby, who desperately wants a magical artifact she has that her father stole. (Also relevant is the fact that Bixby had Marci's father killed in revenge for stealing the Kosmolabe, the artifact in question.) Marci flees to Detroit at about the same time Julius gets dumped there, and they end up working together to try to track down a runaway dragon from another clan, Katya, to prove that Julius is competent, though Marci doesn't know that she's dealing with dragons (yet).

After saving each other's lives several times, Julius and Marci become fast friends, which does nothing good for Julius's reputation with the other dragons. On top of trying to prove his worth, Julius has to keep the secret of his true nature from Marci, and they both have to deal with Bixby's goons coming after them multiple times. PLUS Detroit is full of dangerous magical monsters, which makes for some epic fight scenes. I think my favorite fight scene was the one with the giant mutated lampreys in the sewers. The really massive one reminded me of a Hydra from Greek mythology, or the basilisk from Harry Potter.

One reason I had to give this book a full 5 stars was that I loved Julius and Marci together. They both start out kind of wary of each other, since they've been used and manipulated before, but over the course of a few days of working together, fighting side by side against Bixby's goons and Detroit's magical monsters, they each discover that here is someone who will stick by them in good times and bad, and I loved watching their relationship evolve into something so wholesome and just all-around *good.*

I also thought the solution to the conflict Julius figured out was both elegant and realistic. He managed to figure out a way to prove his worth to his family without betraying his conscience, and that made me SO happy. I hate when good people end up doing horrible things, because if the protagonist is not someone you can admire, why are we even rooting for them?--but that didn't happen here at all. Julius began the story as a stand-up guy and he came out of it still a stand-up guy, but with more of the worldly experience necessary for dealing with the sneaky other dragons.

Another great thing about "Nice Dragons Finish Last" was how doggone CLEAN it was. I'm used to reading YA fiction that has at least a few swear words in it, sometimes an implied sex scene, but this book was a nice breath of fresh air. I don't recall seeing a single cuss word, though there were a few uses of the word "whore," and occasional references to dragons' "mating flights." Nothing crude or inappropriate, though. I really loved reading a book that was so clean.

My only real complaint about the book is a minor one--it could have been more scrupulously edited in terms of grammar/spelling/etc. There were occasional homophone mixups and apostrophe errors that a copy-editor should've caught and corrected, and Bixby's name was at one point misspelled as "Bibxy." But like I said, this is a minor complaint, since I could always figure out what the author was really trying to say, and the errors were pretty few and far between.

My other complaint has nothing to do with the book itself; I'm just disappointed that book 2 has not been released yet, because this is a series I want more of, and I want it now! Hats off to you, Rachel Aaron, for writing such a fun, upstanding novel! My interest has been piqued for your other books, which I plan to read while I'm waiting for Heartstrikers #2. Outstanding job.

 

 

I wrote this review in December 2014. Although the end of the review says there is no sequel yet, that was more than 18 months ago, and books 2 and 3 in the Heartstrikers series, One Good Dragon Deserves Another and No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished, have been released since then.

Sounds awesome!

[Sunbird]

Apologies for the longer-than-expected hiatus, everyone! Sunbird here with another review--this time it's a paranormal romance. But it's not your usual PNR because there are no werewolves, shapeshifters, or vampires. And without further ado, I present...

Die For Me by Amy Plum!

Spoiler

What to say about Die for Me... As you can tell by my 5-star rating, I loved it. Amy Plum has created in her revenants a new sort of supernatural lore that is at once unique, poetic, and exciting. (And nowadays it's hard to find something unique in the paranormal romance genre, so I applaud her for that!) I love the concept of the revenants and enjoyed learning about the rules that govern their world.

I think Vincent and Kate make a great couple. I love how Vincent is completely open with her and lets her make her own choices, unlike a lot of one-sided, controlling relationships you see in YA fiction where the guy is all overprotective and doesn't let the girl live her life. Kate is a sensible, brave heroine who doesn't make stupid choices like many other wishy-washy YA heroines. I felt like I could really relate to the way she was feeling throughout the book--freaking out over seeing her revenant friends die, being afraid to fall in love for fear of breaking her heart, and especially her choices at the climax when she had to make difficult, life-or-death decisions. At no point in the book did I think, "Wow, that was stupid, Kate."

Another great thing about Die for Me was how clean it was. There was no sex, and I don't think I found a single swear word in the whole book. Not your normal YA fare, and in this case that's definitely a positive. There was some violence (kind of hard to avoid when the revenants die frequently), but it was not especially graphic and was necessary for the story.

All in all, a fantastic debut novel from Amy Plum. You'd never know it was her first just from reading it. 5 stars all the way!

Die For Me is the first in a trilogy. The other two books are Until I Die and If I Should Die and are already published.

[Delightful]

It's been more than a week! Sorry to keep y'all waiting. We should get better at this.

So.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl - Written by Ryan North , Illustrated by Erica Henderson

I picked this up recently at the library, out of curiosity because there’s been some buzz about a possible film/show starring Squirrel Girl and I’m thinking, what on earth is s cool about someone with freaking squirrel powers?

Luckily, the writers were pretty aware of this too, and go for the over-the -top treatment of the character, which is, mostly, hilarious. We start off not with an origin story (though it’s mentioned by-the-way that she’s a mutant), but with her fighting crime and singing her superhero song, which goes to the tune of the spiderman song, all about eating nuts and kicking butt and how awesome squirrels are. 

So between claws and a super strong tooth and agility, Squirrel Girl is not quite as hopeless or powerless as her name suggests. I felt that she was a bit overpowered, particularly as she goes on to defeat Galacticus, Devourer of Worlds, with only the help of her squirrels who noticed he was coming, and a suit she *ahem* borrows *ahem* from Iron Man in order to get to the moon.

At the bottom of every page the writer include a snarky comment about what’s going on, sometimes referencing background details that were wonderfully done. For example, she goes to a university fair and walks past “Short Bludgeoning Staff Club aka Club Club”. I’m guessing the humour, and the character in general, is a bit hit and miss. You love it or you hate it but I don’t imagine there’s much in between. For me, the beginning worked really well but the conclusion stretched my suspension of disbelief rather too far. It was still pretty funny, just, like, it seemed a little to easy of a conclusion. 

In terms of the art, I’m hardly a seasoned comic book reader. That being said, I didn’t feel that Squirrel Girl was objectified at all, she’s just a normal-sized girl with a squirrel doing her job. And she’s super self-confident, which is great. There are a few visual jokes scattered through, including Deadpool’s Offical Guide to Super-Villains cards (Not as hilarious as I expected but still good). The back of the comic, after the story (I’m assuming there’s an official name for this that I’m ignorant of) there’s a short story, drawn differently, showing Squirrel Girl’s original meeting with Iron Man and their subsequent fight with Dr Doom. This storyline actually made a little more sense than defeating Galactacus, but her eyes were these weird triangles and I didn’t like the look very much. 

In short; Squirrel Girl is quirky, confident, and overly-capable. She hasn’t made it onto my Favourite Characters Ever list but I’d pick up another book to read, and I think if they made a show it has the potential to be awesome. Or totally cringeworthy. The comic basically pokes fun at itself and I’d recommend picking up a copy and giving it a try. Just maybe don't spend $100* on a fancy copy till you’re sure you’ll like it.

 

*Price entirely made up by me. 

 

[+Slowswift]

Funnily enough, "debut" and "review" rhyme.  

Anyways, here's my review of The Hidden Oracle, by Rick Riordan; book one of The Trials of Apollo.

 

Spoiler

The Hidden Oracle, by Rick Riordan

If you were wondering what happened to Apollo after the events of The Blood of Olympus, this book's for you. Essentially, what's happened is this: after Apollo royally screws everything up, Zeus banishes him from Olympus and sticks him smack in the middle of New York City as your average, acne-riddled teenager. Obviously, this doesn't go over so well with Apollo. He makes his way to Camp Half-blood, where various shenanigans ensue as the god realizes that, surprise! There's a plot to take over the world. Worse, it involves the oracles, something Apollo takes rather personally.

The Good

I actually really loved this book. For all I say later, this book still had me thoroughly engaged. It was fairly well-paced, and I found the conflict engaging. Even though parts were formulaic and cliché, there were still a couple twists I didn't see coming. The history nerd in me loved the reveal, even though, since I'm not a huge history nerd it wasn't quite as powerful a reveal as I felt it could've been.

And honestly, as much as I don't really approve of his attitude, being inside Apollo's head was quite the ride. I found he, the other protagonist, Meg, and several other characters (such as some recurring characters from previous series) to be sympathetic and engaging,

The humor remains Riordan's characteristic style, and with few exceptions it worked for me. There were actually a few moments that had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe (namely, Apollo during guitar lessons). And of course, let's not forget the humorous chapter titles, this time in the form of haikus. 

The Bad

Rick's writing really hasn't improved. I suspect this is because he's forced himself through the last several books he's written with no breaks or other projects to recharge. I appreciate the frequency with which he publishes, but you really shouldn't sacrifice story quality for fan happiness.

I do enjoy the stories in his more recent writing – he's still a good storyteller – but they've become rather formulaic: apocalypse of some kind foretold by some prophecy, stopped in the nick of time by the hero and/or several actual gods, that sort of thing.

What I'm trying to say is, I read his books for the story, not for the writing quality.

Another problem I've noticed is that, while appreciated, sometimes it feels like he's trying too hard with the pop culture references. While at time enjoyable, they can come off as forced at times (though I did love the bit with the '67 Chevy Impala).

I also don't like the way he's started writing the gods. They're all either buffoons, hippies, short-tempered, a jerk, or some combination of the above. There are a few who are reasonable, though those tend to be found in his earlier works

TL;DR Though my first reaction upon hearing about this series was "Another one? Really? Uuggghhh", I ended up loving it. It has its flaws, but there are plenty of things to enjoy as well.

 

[Delightful]

May I present,

 

Have I got a book to reccomend. 

Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club is basically a modern, YA urban fantasy, except its set in the Regency Era. Our protagonist Helen discovers she is developing powers that enable her to fight demon Deceivers that feed off human energy, yet Helen has been raised as a proper lady who’s duty is to be quiet and obedient and marry well (particularly since her dead parents were involved in a scandal that stains her good reputation). Now she doesn’t particularly want to be a perfect obedient lady - she’s inherited her mother’s spirit of adventure - yet she is still firmly rooted in the social conventions of her time. Reliant on her angry sexist uncle until she turns 25, she really does want to marry well and so ensure for herself the greater freedoms of a married woman. (I know sexism was standard then. He still says things like 'you must know the height of femininity is obedience!' ugh).

This story is very much a classic “Do I choose this new dangerous scary life where I can make a difference, or do I stick to what’s known and safe and proper,” but instead of “should I do homework or save the world” it’s “do I break all societal expectations of propriety, ruin my prospects of a good reputation and reputable marriage in order to fight Deceivers and help people, or do I do my duty to my family, stay put, marry well, and do what is safe and expected of me and difficult enough without adding demons to the mix.” 

Somewhat typically, and yet with this fascinating Regency twist, the story really gets going when the mysterious, handsome and untrustworthy Lord Carleston comes into Helen’s life and teases her with answers as to why her senses are suddenly stronger, where her restless energy has come from, why she has always been able to read people’s real intentions into their faces. It’s highly amusing and interesting to see how in a world in which every social interaction is heavily governed by rules and propriety, they manage to dodge around chaperones and find privacy for Carleston to introduce Helen to this new world she has inherited from her mother. 

Despite this story following a more or less typical plot structure, it took about half the book for me to realise there was a love triangle happening, since it’s so much more subtle than the common boring “he is so attractive. Yet the other guy is so attractive too. swoon. Whichever shall I choose, poor tortured me!” On the one hand there’s her brother’s best friend the Duke of Selburn, a charming young man who shares Helen’s interest in art, who is kind, respectable, and genuinely likes Helen. On the other there is the rough-edged ,demon fighting, undeniably attractive Lord Carelston who is kind beneath his prickly skin, and shares her passion for science over alchemy and superstition….who is also suspected of murdering his former wife, a bit of a societal outcast, and much hated by both Helen’s brother Andrew and the Duke of Selburn.

The setting is gorgeous to the point that I am unsurprised that in the Author’s Note, Goodman admits to having researched details down to the weather reports. Known addresses, historical events happening in the background, the detail in which the dresses and coats and exact details of what every small movement and intimation means to the people involved is presented in wonderful detail, never enough to be oppressive or overbearing, always enough that you feel solidly grounded in the world. This is possibly the first Regency novel I’ve read (granted, I haven't read many) in which I feel like I could step into the world, as if they were all real people in a real place and not stiff formalities living in an idealised vision of the past. 

This is a gorgeously written, captivating story that takes known, worn out tropes and spins them just enough to be new and interesting. In all honesty at a few points I was thinking “ok the outcome of this is obvious, I’ve seen this plot before,” and yet every time Goodman managed to twist and change the outcome into something not shiny new, but still unexpected and pleasing. I very much look forward to the second book in this series.

 

(The story also guest stars Lord Byron, as yet no Mary Shelley. I would be delighted if she showed up at some point.)

 

Edited September 25, 2016 by Delightful

[Sunbird]

@Delightful Oooooh, that sounds like something I'd enjoy! *adds to never-ending "to-read" shelf*

[Delightful]

8 hours ago, Sunbird said:

@Delightful Oooooh, that sounds like something I'd enjoy! *adds to never-ending "to-read" shelf*

It's great!

If you're read Shades of Milk and Honey, this is what I wish that book had been. Granted it's longer and there's more room for substance. 

[Sunbird]

It's that time of week again! This week, I present book 2 in the Heartstrikers series, One Good Dragon Deserves Another:

 

Spoiler

 

Rachel Aaron has done it again: utterly dazzled me with her storytelling. I absolutely LOVED Nice Dragons Finish Last and could not wait for One Good Dragon Deserves Another, and boy, were my high expectations met and exceeded! There's action! There's romance! There's magic! There's plot twists! There's humor! There's DRAGONS! And all in larger amounts than in book 1!

So OGDDA (as I will refer to book 2 from now on, because typing out One Good Dragon Deserves Another every time is going to get old really fast) has two intertwining plots. Plot 1: remember when Julius's brother Justin dragoned out in NDFL? Well, being that dragons are illegal in the DFZ by order of the powerful water spirit Algonquin, there are consequences for that: Algonquin's formidable dragon hunter, a spirit named Vann Jeger, tracks Marci down in order to coerce her to reveal the whereabouts of what he thinks is her "dragon master." However, Marci, being the clever mage that she is, manages to buy herself a day of freedom in which she promises to bring Vann Jeger a dragon. If she doesn't, the curse he laid on her will kill her. Problem is, Julius is 1) still sealed into his human shape and 2) not a good enough fighter to defeat Vann Jeger--who, by the way, has killed every dragon he's ever fought--even in his dragon form. Since Vann Jeger's curse only stipulates that Marci must show up with a dragon, this means Marci and Julius must get some dragon help to take down Vann Jeger if the two of them are going to survive.

Plot 2: Estella, seer of the Daughters of the Three Sisters and nemesis of Julius's seer brother Bob, is going around attacking important Heartstrikers...except nobody can figure out why, since nobody ever ends up dead after these attacks, just short-term amnesiac. But the futures of everyone Estella targets disappear from Bob's sight, so something sinister is definitely up.

I enjoyed this entire book immensely, but one of my favorite parts about it was Julius and Marci's relationship. After becoming fast friends with Marci in NDFL, Julius is trying his darnedest not to potentially mess that up by making romantic overtures to her, even though he desperately wants to. And the two of them are completely loyal to each other. At one point Marci turns down an offer from another dragon to come be "her" human despite all the fabulous perks such a position would come with, because 1) Marci is nobody's human and 2) she values Julius above just about anything. Not to mention the whole Vann Jeger predicament. The whole reason Marci gets the curse laid on her is because she refuses to betray Julius, and when Julius finds out that one of them is probably going to die because of it--either he will, because Marci will deliver him to Vann Jeger, who will then kill him; or she will, because she'll refuse to do it and the curse will kill her--he doesn't just shrug his shoulders and say, "Oh well, it's been fun, enjoy your last day of life!" like probably all his siblings would. He busts his butt trying to find a way out so that both of them can live, but if that's not going to work he's willing to die for Marci.

Remember how I mentioned plot twists? Well, my favorite one came right towards the end. The secret of why the targets of Estella's attacks are no longer visible to Bob's seer-sight and the solution Julius figures out to combat it are both brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The magic involved is so large-scale that when you think about it, it sort of seems like you should call it a deus ex machina, but it's so cunningly set up and executed that it doesn't feel that way when you read it. And the whole reason it works is because Julius is the Nice Dragon. Nobody but someone with his disposition towards goodwill could have pulled it off as he did.

My other favorite plot twist was the sixth Fang of the Heartstriker. Usually there are five of them in use, but at the end of OGDDA someone claims the sixth one and it is FANTASTIC. I totally didn't see it coming, but when it happened it felt so right.

Speaking of endings, I believe Rachel Aaron is the master of setting up a story so that all the pieces are there for fitting together the conflict's resolution, but keeping them smoke-screened so that you only realize where the story is leading right before it actually happens. That is my favorite kind of ending, and one reason why I am raving so passionately about this book. Rachel Aaron does not write herself into a corner. Even when Julius and Marci are truly in dire straits, they always manage to find a way out, but never one that feels contrived or unrealistically convenient.

On the subject of mature content: it is implied that two individuals are sleeping together, but there is nothing sexually explicit. Some of the characters use the occasional mild curse--and I mean very occasional, like less than 10 total instances in the whole book. There is, of course, fighting, but nothing graphic. Overall OGDDA is very clean compared to lots of YA fiction these days.

All I can say is daaaaaang, Rachel Aaron. You've got some mad skills. Thanks for another riveting installment in the Heartstrikers series, and I eagerly await A Dragon of a Different Color! (Note for clarity: A Dragon of a Different Color was the old title of Heartstrikers book 3, which is now No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished.)

 

 

[Andarist]

Absolutely loved this book, and I feel like it was a huge step up from book 1. The third book, which came out this year is great too. 

[Sunbird]

25 minutes ago, Andarist said:

Absolutely loved this book, and I feel like it was a huge step up from book 1. The third book, which came out this year is great too. 

I agree; book 3 was also fantastic! I'll probably post my review of that one at some point as well. Maybe when the release of book 4 is closer.

[Sunbird]

Another week has come and gone. Accordingly, may I present The Row by J.R. Johansson? Its official US release date is October 11; my review is of the ARC I received at Salt Lake Comic Con back in March.

 

Spoiler

 

Full disclosure: I received a free ARC of this book directly from the author herself at a convention back in March. She did not ask me to write a review; I decided to do that on my own because The Row is ah-MAZ-ing.

For almost twelve years, Riley Beckett has been in and out of courtrooms and prison visitation rooms, watching as her father is condemned on every side for three brutal murders he has always sworn he didn't commit. Riley, her mother, their lawyer Mr. Masters, and his assistant Stacia are the only ones who believe in David Beckett's innocence. After the last chance to get her father off of death row falls through, Riley is shocked and devastated during her next visit to the prison when her father confesses that he actually did commit the murders he's being punished for. She doesn't know what to believe--the innocence he has claimed for twelve years, or the eleventh-hour confession of a doomed man. And when another murder happens that matches the MO of those her father supposedly committed, her confusion only deepens, especially after her father tells her that his confession was a lie he told to give her some peace of mind about his upcoming execution. Now, with a sliver of hope for her father's future on the horizon but her faith in him catastrophically shaken, Riley is determined to uncover the truth.

The Row made it onto the short list of books that have made me cry. Seeing Riley struggle with the loneliness of being the only one who thinks her father isn't guilty, with her emotionally unstable mother, with the web of lies she's been surrounded with "to protect her"--seeing all that made my heart hurt for her. Every new revelation was like a sucker punch to the gut: it shocked me and took my breath away, and not in a "Wow, the Milky Way is so beautiful tonight" kind of way--more like a "Holy cannoli, I'm going to suffocate from all the feels" kind of way.

One of the best parts of the book is Jordan. Jordan's dad is police chief Vega, the officer who arrested Riley's dad after the original murders. As such, Chief Vega often features in Riley's nightmares of that night, and she retains a marked distrust and fear of him. Jordan and Riley meet by chance at a mall, and though they don't realize or admit who they both are to each other right away, the truth comes out pretty quickly. Understandably, who Jordan's father is puts a strain on the teens' emerging friendship, but in the end it also helps Riley get to the bottom of what really happened to get her father thrown in prison for over a decade. I love Jordan for a lot of reasons. For one thing, he doesn't immediately shun Riley once he realizes who she is. For another, he's totally loyal to her, keeping secrets from his father because Riley asks him to. Not to mention that he gives Riley a ride home after she tries to drown her sorrows with alcohol the night her father confesses. If Jordan were a meme, he would definitely be Good Guy Greg, minus the cigarette.

Just one more thing I want to say before wrapping up... The Row alternated between destroying my faith in humanity (looking at you, broken US court system and Riley's judgy neighbors) and restoring it (namely through Jordan and Mr. Masters). It exposes some harsh realities, and it might make you uncomfortable. But I found it absolutely worth my time, and the story does an excellent job of illustrating that things are not always what they seem and judging by appearances is not a good life strategy. The Row is an excellent addition to JR Johansson's repertoire.

 

 

[Delightful]

5 hours ago, Sunbird said:

Another week has come and gone. Accordingly, may I present The Row by J.R. Johansson? Its official US release date is October 11; my review is of the ARC I received at Salt Lake Comic Con back in March.

 

  Hide contents

 

Full disclosure: I received a free ARC of this book directly from the author herself at a convention back in March. She did not ask me to write a review; I decided to do that on my own because The Row is ah-MAZ-ing.

For almost twelve years, Riley Beckett has been in and out of courtrooms and prison visitation rooms, watching as her father is condemned on every side for three brutal murders he has always sworn he didn't commit. Riley, her mother, their lawyer Mr. Masters, and his assistant Stacia are the only ones who believe in David Beckett's innocence. After the last chance to get her father off of death row falls through, Riley is shocked and devastated during her next visit to the prison when her father confesses that he actually did commit the murders he's being punished for. She doesn't know what to believe--the innocence he has claimed for twelve years, or the eleventh-hour confession of a doomed man. And when another murder happens that matches the MO of those her father supposedly committed, her confusion only deepens, especially after her father tells her that his confession was a lie he told to give her some peace of mind about his upcoming execution. Now, with a sliver of hope for her father's future on the horizon but her faith in him catastrophically shaken, Riley is determined to uncover the truth.

The Row made it onto the short list of books that have made me cry. Seeing Riley struggle with the loneliness of being the only one who thinks her father isn't guilty, with her emotionally unstable mother, with the web of lies she's been surrounded with "to protect her"--seeing all that made my heart hurt for her. Every new revelation was like a sucker punch to the gut: it shocked me and took my breath away, and not in a "Wow, the Milky Way is so beautiful tonight" kind of way--more like a "Holy cannoli, I'm going to suffocate from all the feels" kind of way.

One of the best parts of the book is Jordan. Jordan's dad is police chief Vega, the officer who arrested Riley's dad after the original murders. As such, Chief Vega often features in Riley's nightmares of that night, and she retains a marked distrust and fear of him. Jordan and Riley meet by chance at a mall, and though they don't realize or admit who they both are to each other right away, the truth comes out pretty quickly. Understandably, who Jordan's father is puts a strain on the teens' emerging friendship, but in the end it also helps Riley get to the bottom of what really happened to get her father thrown in prison for over a decade. I love Jordan for a lot of reasons. For one thing, he doesn't immediately shun Riley once he realizes who she is. For another, he's totally loyal to her, keeping secrets from his father because Riley asks him to. Not to mention that he gives Riley a ride home after she tries to drown her sorrows with alcohol the night her father confesses. If Jordan were a meme, he would definitely be Good Guy Greg, minus the cigarette.

Just one more thing I want to say before wrapping up... The Row alternated between destroying my faith in humanity (looking at you, broken US court system and Riley's judgy neighbors) and restoring it (namely through Jordan and Mr. Masters). It exposes some harsh realities, and it might make you uncomfortable. But I found it absolutely worth my time, and the story does an excellent job of illustrating that things are not always what they seem and judging by appearances is not a good life strategy. The Row is an excellent addition to JR Johansson's repertoire.

 

 

Sounds like this is going on my list too! What else has the author written that you'd recommend?

[Sunbird]

@Delightful The other thing I've read and enjoyed by her is the Night Walkers trilogy. The first book is called Insomnia, and it's about this teen guy who spends the night in the dreams of the last person he makes eye contact with before bed. It is the opposite of restful, so he's literally dying of sleep deprivation until he accidentally enters the dreams of a girl whose sleeping mind is unusually peaceful, enough so that he can get some rest. Then he gets kind of obsessed with her, his lifeline, which of course leads to all sorts of problems.

She's written some other things too, but I haven't read them yet.

[+Slowswift]

..."two" and "review" rhyme, too?

Anyways, here's my review of Croak by Gina Damico, first book in the Croak trilogy.

 

Spoiler

Croak, by Gina Damico

If you've ever wondered what a Grim Reaper's (not so) average workday looks like, this book's for you. Basically, what happens is this: Lex, a previously straight-A student and model citizen, decides for some unknown reason to start acting like an angel of death. As it turns out, it's because she's an angel of death!

Let me explain. Lex's parents decide that farm work might pound some sense into her, and so ship her off with her (not so) subtly-named Uncle Mort. However, Uncle Mort is not a farmer, he's a Grim Reaper, and it's time for Lex to learn the family business.

Which is fine by her, except there are two problems: she's got a burning desire to take justice into her own hands (which is strictly against the rules), and people are turning up dead under circumstances even Grim Reapers can't explain.

The Good (Things I liked)

I loved this book. A lot.

The humor is pretty good. There are a few bits that I might describe as narrator commentary, as well as a fair share of dark humor. (Depending on your tolerance for gore/dark humor, you might want to skip this bit.) Some examples are passages such as:

“Lex wondered, for a fleeting moment, what her principal's head might look like if it were stabbed atop a giant wooden spear.”

“…and she punched people. A lot of people. Nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, goths, gays, straights, blacks, whites, that kid in the wheelchair – no one was safe. Her peers had to admire her for that, at least – Tyrannosaurus Lex, as they called her, was an equal-opportunity predator.”

“He handed her a box of Life cereal. 'It's ironically delicious.'”

“It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Then it's one-eyed fun.”

I love the premise of the story, too – Grim Reapers operating out of towns across the country, working full-time to collect the souls of the dead, whilst wearing black hoodies and wielding pocket scythes? Awesome!

The characters were interesting. They were sympathetic, and I generally cared about what happened to them. The plot itself was engaging, and I enjoyed the mystery. In general, the reveals were satisfying, and I didn't feel as though I was left hanging by any loose threads.

The Bad (Things I didn't like, and possible trigger warnings)

I'm not sure if this is her debut or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is. The writing isn't necessarily bad, just… amateurish. The book reads cleanly, but there are parts that could've been phrased better or described in a more concise way.

Regarding content warnings, let's say… I'd probably rate it PG, maybe PG-13. It's tamer than some YA I've read, but it'd definitely need some editing if you were to hand it to a kid. There's some mild swearing, though the more serious ones are usually cut short. And, though several people probably don't mind, there are a couple of instances where Lex takes the name of the Lord in vain. It only happens maybe twice, not often enough for me to feel obligated to put the book down, but if that's a deal-breaker, now you know.

There's also a brief mention of sex, but as far as I recall nothing inappropriate ever happens, and it was just the once.

Also, there's lots of death. There's mentioned several descriptions of death scenes, so proceed with caution necessary. None are particularly gory, but it's better to be safe, I think.

TL;DR

This is a great book based on a fascinating idea, and I thoroughly recommend it – though, depending on your tolerance for dark humor, death in general, and mild swearing, you might want to proceed with caution.

 

[Sunbird]

Apologies for the lack of reviews last week! I finally got around to reviewing a book that I finished reading about 6 weeks ago, so this week, I present The Sweet Sister by C. David Belt!

Spoiler

 

I don't usually delve very deeply into the horror genre, but ever since I read Mr. Belt's Children of Lilith trilogy, I've been a fan of his work. And he's truly outdone himself with The Sweet Sister.

Peggy Carson has been in love with her best friend Derek for years. She's tried repeatedly to get him to see her as something more than a friend, but in Derek's eyes, she remains firmly in the friendzone. So when Derek starts obsessing over a collection of old diaries that he swears were written by the same woman intermittently over a span of centuries--a woman he thinks is a fairytale princess suffering from a curse--it breaks Peggy's heart to see him determined to pursue his "princess" who might not even be real, when she's right there already.

Well, it turns out the princess is real: Derek manages to find her and is completely smitten with beautiful, innocent Elaine. He is convinced that her hideously disfigured sister, Morgaise, is the source of Elaine's curse, and begins courting Elaine not only because he's attracted to her but also to dig into the mystery surrounding her apparent hopping through time (based on what he read in her diaries) in the hopes of finding a way to free her from the curse. Peggy--knowing instinctively that Elaine and her sister are trouble--tries to dissuade Derek, to no avail. I don't want to give too much of the plot away, so suffice it to say that what's actually going on is a lot more terrifying than Derek could have imagined.

I found a lot of things to like in this book. Anyone who's been keeping up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe probably had the same reaction I did to the name Peggy Carson--sounds a lot like Peggy Carter, Captain America's paramour from the 1940s, right? Derek and Peggy joke about that in the book, and I appreciated the nod to a movie that I love. I was also highly amused by a scene that takes place at Salt Lake Comic Con. I looooove SLCC, and I totally identified with Peggy as a cosplayer; she dresses as Tauriel from the Peter Jackson Hobbit movies. But what amused me about this scene was that Mr. Belt wrote himself a cameo as an author selling books from a booth at the con.

Another thing that really impressed me was the blending of two different types of horror in the story. There's the visceral, animal-instinct fear of death that you would probably feel when confronted with an angry bear or a pack of wolves out in the wild; we residents of first-world countries don't really have to deal with that kind of fear very often anymore. Then there's the more subtle, creeping fear of something that looks human and good, but is concealing evil inside, and you can't tell the difference. It's the kind of horror triggered by stories of serial killers that look like any other person, body-snatchers, or demonic possession. Both kinds of horror are present in abundance in The Sweet Sister. I can't think of many things that could trigger an instant fight-or-flight response more effectively than being growled at by a pair of horse-sized obsidian-black dogs that look like they could be Hades's literal pet hellhounds. And it seriously freaks me out to contemplate the idea of dating a guy, really getting to like him--maybe even love him--only for him to lure me, unsuspecting, into the victim's role of a human sacrifice, because that had been his plan all along. Two different kinds of fear, but equally effective and masterfully blended in this book.

I think my favorite part of the book, though, was Peggy herself. She's a proud geek, like me, and she doesn't think she is pretty enough--which I certainly relate to, and I'm pretty sure most women do as well. But she's also tough, brave, clever, compassionate, and not afraid to put up a fight when necessary. Additionally, I was very pleased to see her grow as a character by the end of the book in terms of gaining more confidence in herself and becoming emotionally mature enough to realize that what she originally thought she wanted wasn't actually going to make her happy.

One more thing--the big reveal of Elaine and Morgaise's identity/relationship had my jaw on the floor. That was the last explanation I expected, and it just made the whole book so much creepier.

Ok, I lied; that wasn't actually the last thing. Sources of possible objectionable content in The Sweet Sister: not many, for a horror novel. There are a couple of grisly ritualistic murders and a seriously freaky sanguivorous tree, but the most graphic violence is kept "offscreen" so you just see the lead-up and the aftermath. This is more psychological horror than "let's see how much fake blood and guts we can splatter across the room before somebody loses their lunch" horror. There is mention of rape, plus a scene where a man attempts it but is thwarted. No actual sex. No obscene language either.

As I said at the beginning of my review, I think The Sweet Sister is Mr. Belt's best story yet--absolutely worthy of a full 5-star rating. If you want a book that will surprise you and make you want to sleep with the lights on, you won't want to miss this one.

 

Extra note: Like Brandon, Mr. Belt is a Mormon, but unlike Brandon, his books have a lot of explicit references to Mormon culture and beliefs. So some jokes or events might be a little confusing if they depend on understanding life as a Mormon.

[Sunbird]

Still trying to keep this alive! *performs CPR on thread*

On today's menu is Sands by Kevin Nielsen. It's the first in a series; there are 3 books so far.

Spoiler

Wow. I thought I knew basically what I was getting into when I started reading this book, but it surprised me over and over. Sands is an excellent and thrilling start to what looks like a very promising series.

Lhaurel is a young woman of the Sidena clan, a group of desert-dwellers who live a harsh life. They compete against several other desert clans for resources in the unforgiving environment, and for a few months of every year they must seek refuge in the Oasis--the only shelter from the hordes of monstrous, bloodthirsty genesauri--during the genesauri's yearly migration. In Sidena society, women are second-class citizens. Actually, maybe that's too kind a description. They're treated more like property or brood mares, good only for bearing children, doing housework, and pleasing their husbands. Women who speak out of turn or otherwise show "disrespect" to men are beaten without repercussions. Lhaurel chafes at these restrictions and rebels by practicing sword forms in secret.

On the day of Lhaurel's wedding (an arranged marriage where she has no say in the matter, of course), a pack of sailfins--the smallest but most numerous kind of genesauri--attacks the Sidena, slaughtering a large number of people because the clan only had a few minutes' warning; and they only had even that much warning thanks to a mysterious stranger who announced that the genesauri migration had started early. In an effort to defend her best friend from a ravenous sailfin, Lhaurel takes up a sword during the attack and manages to slay the beast. Because Sidena women are forbidden to wield weapons, the clan leaders sentence Lhaurel to death and chain her up to a rock in the desert for the genesauri to devour. Cue the return of the mysterious stranger, who introduces himself as Kaiden and offers to rescue Lhaurel if she swears fealty to his clan. She agrees--what else is she going to do?--and they narrowly escape the approaching sailfins on the back of Kaiden's aevian, Skree-lar, a super-sized bird of prey. (I'm thinking probably a falcon, based on the diving habit.)

Thus begins Lhaurel's new life among the Roterralar, Kaiden's clan. They're waaaay different from the Sidena: women have rights, participate in combat, and hold leadership positions. Not to mention the aevians; many of the Roterralar have a feathered companion to serve as their steed in battle against the genesauri. And some members of the clan are mystics, meaning they can magically manipulate either water, metal, or electricity.

So at this point in the story, Lhaurel has some big questions that need answering. 1) Why did the genesauri start migrating early this year, and how can the clans survive it? 2) Why have the other clans been kept in the dark about the Roterralar's capabilities (i.e., the existence of aevians and mystics)?

Stuff I liked:

THE AEVIANS. I love birds, so the idea of having a massive falcon for a best friend and flying around on his back is like the coolest thing ever to me. Lhaurel's aevian, Fahkiri, was easily my favorite character.

The plot twists! They just kept coming, and I don't think I correctly predicted a single one. Time after time, characters proved to be not who they seemed, and I never knew how Murphy's Law was going to manifest next.

The journal quotes at the beginning of each chapter. It kind of felt like a throwback to when I first read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy--I could tell the excerpts were hinting at something relevant to the plot, but they were mysterious enough that I only got a vague, nebulous idea of what they were hinting at until I got close to the end. (I'm still not entirely sure what the full history behind the journal entries is. Hopefully more of that will be revealed in book 2.)

The imagery! Kevin Nielsen has done a wonderful job bringing the bright, rugged desert to life in my mind. Not just the desert, either, but also the fierce aevians, the valiant Roterralar warriors, the shifty Sidena politicians, and the holy-carp-scary genesauri.

Areas I think could be improved:

More scrupulous copy-editing. I recall some instances of homophone confusion, e.g. breech vs breach. ("Breeches" is an old-fashioned word for pants/trousers. "Breach" means a break--a breach in the defenses of a besieged city, a breach in protocol, a breach in etiquette, etc., and can also be used as a verb in a similar way as "break.") Additionally, throughout the book, there were plentiful references to "casts" and "cast leaders" within the Roterralar clan. These were obviously referring to social groups, so I wonder if maybe it was supposed to say caste (with an E) instead. A few times there were little formatting issues--quotation marks curved the wrong way, or the first letter of an emphasized word not being italicized like the rest of the word.

Adding a pronunciation guide. Lots of the names gave me pause when I was trying to figure out how they should sound, namely genesauri, Eldriean, Rhiofriar, relampago, magnetelorium, wetta, and marsaisi.

But you know what? All my "complaints" are pretty superficial. The story, the characters, the worldbuilding, the emotional connection I felt--they were all spot-on, and those things are far more important factors in what makes a good book.

So if you're looking for a fantasy that takes some familiar tropes and thinks outside the box with them, a fantasy that will keep you guessing about who to trust, a fantasy that's at once epic and personal--don't miss Sands! It's a very solid 4 stars. Bravo, Kevin Nielsen.