Title: Reign of Shadows (Reign of Shadows #1) Author: Sophie Jordan Publisher: Harper Teen Release date: Harper Teen Source: Edelweiss Format: eARC Rating: 3.5/5 Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository
Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead.
But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized.
With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.
With lush writing and a star–crossed romance, Reign of Shadows is Sophie Jordan at her best.
Reign of Shadows is an interesting YA fantasy book with romance, it tells the story of Luna, a 17-year-old girl that has lived her entire life in a tower in a forest that is said to be cursed and with the only human contact of her caregivers Perla and Sivo, whom had been dedicated to protecting her from the murderer of her parents and the outside world. For the last 17 years the kingdom had lived almost in eternal darkness due to an eclipse, with only one hour a day of light, so that the world around it has changed and is not safe, because there creatures called "dwellers", which are a zombie like that eat humans, also due to the lack of sunlight is difficult to grow plants, so food is scarce. And despite all this Luna wants to explore the world.
So when she stumbles and saves the life of Fowler, a young man whose main goal is to survive in the strange world in which he had to live and what he least want is a fellow traveler, due to some unexpected circumstances he reluctantly accept Luna to tag along in his search of a safe place. So most of the plot is about their journey and the obstacles they encountered along the way, besides the romance that develops between them.
The book is told from the point of view of Luna and Fowler, so we get to know both of them and we learn a little about Fowler´s background and this give us some understanding of why he´s so harsh with Luna and so disconnected from his humanity.
Because Reign of Shadows is a book of fiction, I read it with understanding that everything is possible, so I did not stop to analyze what is feasible and what´s not, and that due to the total eclipse for almost 17 years (there is only one hour of mid light), it is difficult to grow food and some animals have mutated, besides some of Luna´s skills may not be believable (in a normal world), but I decided to accept them as they come. The story feels more post-apocalyptic than fantasy sometimes, but it is very entertaining and I really enjoyed it, And it has an cliffhanger ending that hook me to read the next book in the series.
Title: The Demon King (Seven Realms #1) Author: Cinda Williams Chima Publisher: Hyperion Books Release date: September 7th 2010 Rating: 4.5/5 Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository
Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for his family. The only thing of value he has is something he can't sell—the thick silver cuffs he's worn since birth. They're clearly magicked—as he grows, they grow, and he's never been able to get them off.
One day, Han and his clan friend, Dancer, confront three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to keep him from using it against them. Soon Han learns that the amulet has an evil history—it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.
Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Marianna, princess heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. She's just returned to court after three years of freedom in the mountains—riding, hunting, and working the famous clan markets. Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea—the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But her mother has other plans for her...
The Seven Realms tremble when the lives of Hans and Raisa collide, fanning the flames of the smoldering war between clans and wizards.
I finally read The Demon King! For years I´ve heard about this series and the first time I saw it ¿was on an In My Mailbox where they talked wonders of it, I do not remember if they were talking about The Gray Wolf Throne (third book in the series) or The Exiled Queen (second book in the series), but I remember that it caught my attention and I added in my wishlist, and soon after I began to see it in booktube and other blogs which also said that it was an amazing book series, so I decided to buy them...... and I own the four books that make up the series, but as always there are more books to read, and I left them on my bookshelf for years, but this 2016, Flamecaster is going to be published, the first of the Shattered Realms series consisting of four books, that take place 20 years after the events in theSeven Realms series, so I need to catch up on my reading.
Han Alister is a 16 years old boy, he used to lead a gang of thieves, but at the beginning of the story he had already retired from that life and is trying to make a living in another way for the sake of his younger sister and mother, so he sells medicinal herbs and transports liquor for other, in order to get money for his family. In the streets he´s known as cuffs - for the silver bracelets he wears on his wrists that had been there since forever and although he had tried, he had never been able to remove them - in the clan of his best friend he´s called Hunts Alone and the rest of the people know him as Han Alister.
The problems of Han Alister begin when he takes a magic amulet from Micah Bayar, the son of the High Wizard and the queen´s adviser and since this amulet is a powerful and forbidden Micah wants it back, because it belonged to the Demon King, a dark wizard who tried centuries destroy the world.
The story is told from two points of view, Han Alister and the Crown Princess Raisa ana'Marianna who recently returned home after spending a few years training in her father's clan, but now she must return to her responsibilities as a crown princess and apparently that include to find a good alliance through marriage and so one day she can lead her queendom. But Raisa's dreams are bigger, as it aims to be a great queen as it was Hanalea, the warrior queen who fought and defeated the Demon King, and Raisa wants to somehow achieve something great and not just be a pawn of her family.
The Demon King is an introductory story to the Seven Realms series and the main characters Han Alister and Raisa ana'Marianna and what I liked more that we get to know them in their own environment, with their families and friends, there is no romance (among them at least, as normally is expected in YA fantasy novels). The lives of the main characters do come across in this story, but everyone has their own separate plot (which I liked). I really really enjoyed it! the book is very well written and the story flows swiftly, so no boring moments and is quickly read. I can not wait to read its sequel.
Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
The book I´m waiting this week is
Bright Smoke, Cold Fire (Untitled #1) by Rosamund Hodge
Release date: September 27th 2016
When the mysterious fog of the Ruining crept over the world, the living died and the dead rose. Only the walled city of Viyara was left untouched.
The heirs of the city’s most powerful—and warring—families, Mahyanai Romeo and Juliet Catresou share a love deeper than duty, honor, even life itself. But the magic laid on Juliet at birth compels her to punish the enemies of her clan—and Romeo has just killed her cousin Tybalt. Which means he must die.
Paris Catresou has always wanted to serve his family by guarding Juliet. But when his ward tries to escape her fate, magic goes terribly wrong—killing her and leaving Paris bound to Romeo. If he wants to discover the truth of what happened, Paris must delve deep into the city, ally with his worst enemy . . . and perhaps turn against his own clan.
Mahyanai Runajo just wants to protect her city—but she’s the only one who believes it’s in peril. In her desperate hunt for information, she accidentally pulls Juliet from the mouth of death—and finds herself bound to the bitter, angry girl. Runajo quickly discovers Juliet might be the one person who can help her recover the secret to saving Viyara.
Both pairs will find friendship where they least expect it. Both will find that Viyara holds more secrets and dangers than anyone ever expected. And outside the walls, death is waiting. . . .
Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Bright Smoke, Cold Fire is a darkly romantic and atmospheric fantasy from acclaimed author Rosamund Hodge.
Why I'm Waiting?
I really enjoyed Cruel Beauty and Crimson Bound and so far I really like Rosamund retellings. And I also read on her website that this book is the first in a duology and it takes place in the last city after a zombie apocalypse.
Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
The book I´m waiting this week is
Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard
Release date: February 9th 2016
Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.
The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.
Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.
But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.
Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?
Why I'm Waiting?
I really enjoyed Red Queen and I can´t wait to read what happens next.
Title: The Lies About Truth Author: Courtney C. Stevens Publisher: HarperTeen Release date: November 3rd 2015 Source: Netgalley Format: eARC Rating: 4.25/5 Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository
Sadie Kingston, is a girl living in the aftermath. A year after surviving a car accident that killed her friend Trent and left her body and face scarred, she can’t move forward. The only person who seems to understand her is Trent’s brother, Max.
As Sadie begins to fall for Max, she's unsure if she is truly healed enough to be with him — even if Max is able to look at her scars and not shy away. But when the truth about the accident and subsequent events comes to light, Sadie has to decide if she can embrace the future or if she'll always be trapped in the past.
The Lies About Truth is a contemporary novel, it deals with the grief of losing a best friend in a car accident, and in the same accident the main character is left with visible and invisible scars.
Almost a year after a car accident where Sadie´s best friend Trent died, she was left with large scars on her face and arms, and where Max (Trent´s younger brother) lost his voice almost entirely and Sadie pushed away her best friend Gina and her boyfriend Gray from her life, she does not know how to move on, do not know how to return to normal and what to do with the secrets that she´s keeping.
When the accident happened Trent´s family decides to go as missionaries for one year to el Salvador, during which time Sadie´s only contact with Max is by email and at the beginning of some chapters we see their conversations, so we get to see how they begin to connect romantically, and also because is easy to "talk" about difficult things that they would not talk about face to face, they share significant moments. And through flashbacks we see the kind of friendship that Sadie and Trent had, and understand the great friendship that they had them since childhood. I really liked Trent.
I really enjoyed it, it´s a book that touched my heart and squeezed it a little. I enjoyed the character of Sadie, Max and Trent, I care and worry about them (and I got really sad when I grew fond of Trent, because through flashbacks we get to know him a bit, but knowing that he already died and the secret that he kept .... so sad).
The Lies About Truth is an emotional book about the pain of losing a loved one, but is also about friendship, love and getting if not to overcome all your problems, at least know how to live with them. A very touching story.
Favorites quotes
"Sometimes the journey to let someone love you is the journey to loving yourself."
