Title / Author: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
Published August 27, 2013 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Page: 418
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Series: Throne of Glass
Source: Bought Amazon
Rating: 3 stars
Synopsis
An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt.
But her heart never wavers.
After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.
Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.
Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?
My Thoughts...
I'm back at it again. Curious got the best of me. After breaking up with prince in book one, I want to see where things with assassin and the captain would go. I read fourteen chapters into the book, and as far as those two got was a hug and countless looks at one another.
There is a dinner scene where assassin and the captain are looking at each (once again) and the prince sees this and in that moment he decides to let her go, because he wants a woman to look at him in that way too.
What just happen? In book one she was so in love with the prince. But after just one dance with the captain she is home. That had to be one hell of a dance to know that this man was her home. But guess who saw them dance? None other than the crown prince himself.
We got action! The crown prince is showing some back bone. He is talking back to the king. Did the prince just unleash his magic?
The assassin and the captain are on the captain's couch eating cake when she realizes that she wants a life with this man.
Since this is a "fantasy" story maybe we should add some fantasy into the story what better way than a talking door knob. I think I rolled my eyes so far back that I saw my hair growing.
Oh look another hug, all they do is hug. What is this, a Korean drama? I feel like Sebastian from The Little Mermaid "go ahead and kiss the girl."
Hot damn it took a date, a confession, talk of them running away together and her crying just for them to kiss. We got action! That must have been one hell of a kiss because now they're back in her bedroom bump and grinding.
How can there be so much going on with nothing going at the same time? The assassin and the captain are having a quickie in the broom closet, the Crown Prince is talking to a witch, the princess is talking to the dead queen. Everybody is talking but not saying anything.
The captain has been kidnapped. LOL. The captain is being beaten by his capturer and only thing he can think of is how impressed the assassin going to be at all the cursing he did at them.
“Enough! We have enough enemies as it is! There are worse things out there to face!” Celaena slowly turned to him, her face splattered with blood and eyes blazing bright. “No, there aren’t,” she said. “Because I’m here now.” That was like the best line ever, I'm going to need that on a t-shirt or bookmark or both.
And with the turn of the page I'm disappointed again. Why???
The princess is dead, the assassin tried to kill the captain but the prince uses his power to stop her. Because the prince does not want to see the woman he loves kill his best friend.
The assassin and the captain breaks up. She's back with the prince, this story is turning into a daytime soap opera. The prince is so happy she's not with the captain any more.
Oh look we are nearing the end of the book so this is the perfect time to set up for book three. I predict in book three that would be a great journey in her life.
Because the assassin has a guilty conscience she's going to try to open a portal to another world to talk to her dead friend. To stop her from opening the portal, the first king has to come to the prince in a dream to get him to stop her. Good thing the prince stop and pick up the captain first.
The assassin just got played by the male courtesan. He is going to her pay for that. Because of him she lost her only friend and boyfriend.
I don't think she hates the captain anymore she just jumped through a portal to save his life. Once she crosses over to the alternate world her true identity comes out. Celaena is Fae.
The captain made a deal with his father to get the assassin of town.
Not sure what I think of the ending. This book was a little better then book one but not by much. The only part of the story I found entertaining was the very brief relationship with Celaena and Chaol.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Published 2012 by Henry Holt and Co.
Genres: High Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic, Dystopia, Romance, Adventure, Young Adult
Page: 240
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Review by: Tina
Synopsis
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured. Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life.
Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha... and the secrets of her heart.
Review
I started this book with both high hopes and weary anticipation. I want excitement. I want world building. I want to read something with both heart and full of action.
The story starts with two orphan children who only has each other and they grow into adulthood. A world of mystery and darkness lies before them. On one of their missions, they were attacked. The girl saves the boy and discovers she carries a dormant power that is envied and could save their world.
Immediately, she is scurried away into the Grisha World where her skills are cultivated and her social status elevates. Under the protection of the Darkling, the most powerful magical elite, she becomes his weapon.
Thoughts: The book was getting really good until an unexpected romance hit. I did a double take. I was left confused. I read and re-read. There was such a large age difference! …Shortly after, it began to make sense. And the true romance was so pure and good, I was giddy with envy and warm feelings.
Characters: I really enjoy the characters! They are strong and well developed. Any one of the minor characters can come out in a side novella and I will greedily read it.
Quote: Fine, he said with a weary shrug. Make me your villain. –Chapter 21. Yessss!! I finally found the famous quote.
Title / Author: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Published May 7th 2013 by Bloomsbury USA Children's Page: 404
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Source: Bought Amazon
Rating: 1.5 or 2 stars? I CAN'T DECIDE JUST YET!
Synopsis
"
Nothing is a coincidence. Everything has a purpose. You were meant to come to this castle, just as you were meant to be an assassin."
When magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the King's Champion and be released from prison.
Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her.
And a princess from a foreign land will become the one thing Celaena never thought she'd have again: a friend.
But something evil dwells in the castle—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival—and a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys her world.
My Thoughts...
Where do I begin. I think if I had just read the above synopsis about this book instead of listening to others people opinions and review on this book. I would not have gone into this book with such high hopes and expectations.
For example, on the back of the book there are quote/reviews from Publishers Weekly and USA Today. Publishers Weekly says it's "A thrilling read." USA Today said it "A must-read for lovers of Epic Fantasy and fairy tale."
And there ladies and gentlemen is the problem. People refer to this book as an Epic Fantasy. I read this book there was nothing epic or fantasy about it. It was nothing more then a romance novel just a contemporary romance novel.
The heroine in this novel was described as the world's best assassin. But to me she was nothing more than a whiny drama queen she was more concerned about how she look and the clothes she wore.
But the thing that irritated me the most, was the instant love and the thing I dread more than anything. A Love Triangle! I cannot stand a love triangle! I don't understand why authors keep putting love triangles into their story. I have never once met a person that says 'I love a story with a love triangle in it.' They're annoying, they're useless and they take up wasted time in the story!
So for those who have not read the book let me give you a quick summary of the story before I continue with my ranting. So basically the crown prince of this kingdom goes to this prison camp to retrieve an assassin so she can compete in a contest to become the king's champions which is just a fancy word for being the king's personal assassin, which was the thing that sent her to the prison camp in the first place.
Spoiler Alert!
On their travels from the prison camp back to the palace the prince turns and look at the assassin and think she's beautiful. But don't think this is just a one-sided attraction, when they take her out of her cell and present her to the prince she looks at him and goes he's attractive.
Because she's been in a prison camp for a year the captain of the guard, who is also the Crown Prince best friend, has to train the assassin and get her back into shape and of course while training her he falls in love with her.
While reading this book I stopped and text Tina and told her this book just went from a contemporary romance novel to a drugstore romance novel. There is a part in the book when the prince touch the assassin and she was like I want him to touch me again it felt nice.
So there is this a masquerade ball scene and guess which two people danced the whole night together until the wee hours of the morning? You guess correctly if you said the crown prince and the assassin and who stand in the corner and being jealous? If said the captain of the guard then give your self 3 points.
After the Assassin wins the competition and becomes the king's personal assassin she breaks up with the crown prince and tell him I can't work for your dad and have a relationship with you because in four years I'm leaving.
She tells the captain of the guard I broke up with the crown prince and he is super excited.
But all is not lost, the reason I'm debating if this is 1 or 2 stars because buried deep deep deep in this book there was a story but every time the stories was trying to develop and go some where the author went back to the annoying romance stuff.
One last thing. I might be a little curious to see where the story goes but not curious enough to go out and pay full price. Maybe if I see the second book in the library. Or one day see it in a used book store for $0.99, I might pick it up. But I'm not going to run out and buy the book today no thank you.
Starflight by Melissa Landers
Published February 2nd 2016 by Disney-Hyperion
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Sci-Fic, Adventure
Page: 274
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Review by: Tina
Synopsis
Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She's so desperate to reach the realm that she's willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.
Review
I really enjoyed reading this book. It caught my attention from the first chapter. I was at first weary because it's about space but I was in for a treat...
What grabbed my attention
Intrigued by the prospect of a lone orphan traveler without a penny to her name or a place to go. She meets an old classmate who gives her passage if she indenture herself to him for five months.
Similarity
In chapter 14, I saw shades of Six of Crows. Clever one-liners. Witty dialogue. Amazing plot twists! Organized crime. Just what I love in a book! Did I mention I love a good jackass?
This book is definitely not what I expect from an outer space novel. It's fun and adventurous with a dash of deceit and chase. And pirates!!! Space pirates (a joke from The Martian)!
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Published March 8th 2016 by Viking Books
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Magic, Adventure, Mythology
Page: 246
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Review by: Tina
Synopsis
Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic.
But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from.
Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route.
Review
Amani lives in the desert that believes in magic. Her world exists the story of the First Beings that created the mortals in their image, of horses to look like the Buraqi, and of birds to look like the Rocs.
Her adventure begins with her as a low class woman with a sad childhood and upbringing wanting out. Her strong will keeps her morals and ambitions high. She has options and she tries her luck again and again to take her out of her birth city. Her escape escalates from one EXCITING adventure to the next.
What a fantastic read! From chapter one, I was hooked! This book went above and beyond my expectation. The Buraqi is an immortal horse created from wind and sand. Now this is the horse that's wicked cool like I imagined in Riders. There are also mentions of genies... um need more info please!! There's intrigue, rebel forces, shape shifters, illusionists, the list is endless with possibilities! Can I see your story board please??
Absolutely love the book!
