The Blood of Olympus | Book Review

Title: The Blood of Olympus
Author: Rick Riordan

Series: The Heroes of Olympus #5

Publisher/Year: Disney-Hyperion, 2014

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Middle-Grade

Pages: 528 (Hardcover)

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.42/5

My Rating: 4.25/5

This is the fifth and final book of The Heroes of Olympus. 









Don't get me wrong, I loved the book, but it was a disappointment. I expected so much more from a series that I loved so much. Maybe I just went in with my expectations too high, but I felt it could have been better.

My first complaint was that there was barely any Percabeth. I love Percy and Annabeth so much, I wanted more of them. They stood at the sidelines in this book and I wish they had a bigger role. Yes, they had their series where they saved the world, but I wanted to see them save the world again. I didn't think that the last time I got to read from their point of view would be The House of Hades and I needed to be prepared for that. Without a point of view from Percy and Annabeth, the book lacked the necessary closure. I couldn't say a proper goodbye to two characters who I have been with for 10 books.

The main problem I had was that the book was rushed. Everything happened too fast, from the battles (which you should definitely read with intense battle music in the background) to the ending. The climax ended too easily. I was expecting more the characters to face more of a challenge when fighting Gaea. The actual ending, after Gaea is defeated (is that a spoiler? I mean it's to be expected), could have used 50 more pages to wrap things up better. I still have quite a few questions that I would like the answers to. The very last chapter of the book definitely should have been more than --- and ------ flying off into the sunset.

Now while I did think the book could have been better, there were some parts I did like. I really enjoyed reading from Nico (who is bae), Leo (also bae), and Reyna's point of view. It was great getting to learn more about Nico and Reyna. I laughed and smiled a lot as I read the book. The characters' sarcasm and sense of humor is perfect. I also just cried nonstop as I read the last 50 pages which is always good.

The Blood of Olympus could have been a better conclusion, however, The Heroes of Olympus as well as the Percy Jackson series will always have a special place in my heart. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go cry until The Sword of Summer comes out.

The Fire Children | Book Review

Title: The Fire Children
Author: Lauren Roy

Series: Standalone

Publisher: Ravenstone

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 272 (Paperback)

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.00/5

My Rating: 3.5/5

To Be Released: June 30, 2015

It's been 15 years since the last eclipse and Yulla is hiding underground with the rest of her village. When her curiosity gets the best of her, she goes up to discover the Witch Women capturing one of the Fire Children. Together with one of the Fire Children, she must stop the Witch Women.

I received this from NetGalley for review.

Meh. For the most part I enjoyed this book but I didn't think it was anything special. I really liked the premise and the folktale-like story but I had a few problems. I felt that the characters were really one-dimensional. They didn't have much of a personality and weren't very unique. I couldn't make a connection to them which is something I look for in books. The world building needed some work as well. The world the book takes place in is really interesting and I would have loved to learn more about it! However, the book only scratches the surface of the background. The plot was also a bit underdeveloped. The story was too easily resolved and not much happened. Overall, I did enjoy The Fire Children but it needs work.

Miss Mayhem | Book Review

Title: Miss Mayhem
Author: Rachel Hawkins

Series: Rebel Belle #2

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 288 (Hardcover)

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.92/5

My Rating: 4/5

Miss Mayhem is the sequel to Rebel Belle. Life has gone on for Harper since Cotillion. But when her best friend Bee returns, the Ephors make another appearance and force Harper to undergo a trial that will either kill her or permanently make her a Paladin.

Miss Mayhem wasn't the best sequel but it was pretty good. I really enjoyed reading from Harper's point of view and I love her as a character. She has a lot of personality that translates well in writing and makes the story more interesting. The book also had a great blend of humor, romance, and badassery.

However, it could've been better. After reading Rebel Belle, I had high hopes for Miss Mayhem, so when I read it it was kind of a let down. The story seemed really out of place. Some parts didn't seem to fit into the plot and the book could have been a whole lot longer. Nothing really seemed to be happening; there wasn't a lot going on in the book. The book needed some more important events. The whole thing with the Ephors lacked content and wasn't fully developed. The ending was somewhat unsatisfying. It was a bit anti-climatic. There was just too much missing from the story. One of my favorite parts of Rebel Belle was the amount of badassery, which was really lacking in Miss Mayhem. There was more angsty teen drama than there was action and plot.

While I do think the book could have been better developed and more thought out, it was a quick and fun read and I really enjoyed. I look forward to reading the next one!

The Kiss of Deception | Book Review

Title: The Kiss of Deception
Author: Mary E. Pearson

Series: The Remnant Chronicles #1

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 489 (Hardcover)

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.7/5

My Rating: 2.75/5

When Lia is forced to marry a prince of another country for a political alliance, she runs away to a small town. There she meets two men, the prince and an assassin, and discovers things about herself she never would have guessed would to be true.

Well, I didn't hate it. There is a lot of hype, undeserved hype, surrounding this book. The premise of the story is interesting but nothing special. The first 230 pages were pretty good but after that things went downhill. I usually like to start off with the things I liked but for this book there were none.

Something that really needed improvement was the world building. Throughout the book the audience was given only small glimpses of the what the world is like and what the culture is. There are a lot of references to the culture and beliefs, but those are never fully explained. The culture of the world seems pretty interesting and I want to know more, but there is no information on it. There is also many things going on outside of the main storyline that need more background information. Why is there a war going on? How did the war start? What is the belief system of these countries? The origin story of the world is a pretty important part of the book, but the explanation is very vague.

I also didn't enjoy the characters and the romance. The romance was superficial and surface-level. I didn't understand why the two characters were "in love" when they had no connection. The characters lacked personality and growth. They stayed one-dimensional the entirety of the book. They felt more like character tropes rather than actual characters with real personalities.

 A big part of the book is figuring out who the assassin is and who the prince is. My guess was wrong, however, I felt that the personalities of the two love interests completely switched after the reveal. As if the author thought "Well I don't want the readers to be able to figure out who it is so I'm just going to switch the personalities to trip them up."

There's also too much "telling" in the story. The author tells the readers what is going on rather than showing them what happens. It takes away from the novel and is the main reason I felt no connection to this book. By just telling and not showing, the audience isn't able to feel anything and the romance falls flat.

The Kiss of Deception wasn't terrible. It was actually pretty fun to make fun of with my friends. It was a waste of my time though and I do wish I hadn't read it.

Happy reading!

Hana

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Red Queen | Book Review

Title: Red Queen
Author: Victoria Aveyard

Series: Red Queen #1

Publisher: Harper Teen

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian

Pages: 320 (Hardcover)

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.14/5

My Rating: 4/5

Mare lives in a world where Reds are the poor commoners and Silvers are the rulers of the land. When she discovers she has powers similar to what the Silvers have, her life is flipped upside down and changed forever.

This book was definitely worth the hype. It was gripping and fun to read through. I really liked the characters and the plot. If you haven't read this yet, I definitely recommend it.

First of all, let's just take a moment to admire this cover. So one thing I really enjoyed was the writing. It was really easy to follow and the action sequences were written really well. Usually in an author's first book, the writing is mediocre but I think Aveyard did a pretty good job. There was a ton of badass moments, which is always a plus. Often in dystopian books, the love triangle takes over the story but the love triangle (possibly square) took a backseat and didn't overshadow the plot in Red Queen. Some of the characters were really interesting as well. I enjoyed Mare and her ability to understand her emotions and face them head on rather than deny that they exist, as well as the complex personalities of Maven and Cal(sort of).The plot twist was also well done. I had no idea that was going to happen but thinking back I feel like I should have known.

The main reason this was a four star rather than five was that there were too many similarities to other dystopian novels. Throughout the book I constantly found myself thinking "this is a lot like Divergent/The Hunger Games/The Selection/Shadow & Bone". Normally, I don't like comparing books to each other and I understand that dystopian books have a lot of the same elements. However, I felt Red Queen wasn't too original and was basically what Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Selection, and Shadow & Bone would be if they were one book. I also felt that the world building was a bit underdeveloped but there's supposed be a lot more of it in the sequel so it's not too big of a problem. One thing I didn't like was how the characters weren't very real. Besides the three main characters, the others were pretty one dimensional. Mare, Cal, and Maven also had so much room to grow but that didn't happen. Cal's personality didn't really make sense to me either. In the beginning and end he seemed to have a pretty strong personality but it just faded in the middle, but since the book is from Mare's point of view, it kind of makes sense. The villains also didn't have a real reason to do what they did. They were evil just for the sake of it. Another problem I had was the romance. I didn't think the characters had much of a connection.

It seems like I disliked the book more than I liked it but I really did enjoy it. I think the second book will probably solve most of my problems and I can't wait for it to come out! (in 2016 //cries) 

Happy reading!

Hana

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Half Bad | Book Review

Title: Half Bad 

Author: Sally Green

Series: The Half Bad Trilogy #1

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal

Pages: 394 (Hardcover)

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.82/5

My Rating: 3/5

Nathan is an abomination; he's half Black Witch and half White Witch. His father is the most dangerous and violent black witch, Marcus. His only hope for survival is to find Marcus and receive the three gifts necessary to become a full Witch.

The hype is strong with this one. I didn't dislike the book, but I didn't like it either. It was just "meh".

The writing was very off-putting. It was simple and childlike. It matches Nathan's simplistic and childlike nature, but it stopped me from really getting into the book. At some points of the novel, it switches to second-person which, again, threw me off.

The premise of the novel itself is very interesting. White witches versus black witches, Nathan being a Half Code, whether or not white witches really are good...It's all very intriguing, but it's the execution of the story where this book falls flat.

The world building wasn't the best. I felt a lot of information was left out. For example, why did the White and Black witches hate each other? There is a brief explanation of the origin of witches, however, the actual cause for this hatred is unknown. Are they just inherently racist towards each other? Did the witches do something to each other? Who knows.

The characters also lacked a lot of depth. They were all very flat, even the main character, Nathan. I wanted to feel bad for him, and at times I did, however I did not connect or relate with him at all. Obviously, he's being tortured and beaten so he shouldn't be super relatable, but there should be some sort of relatability. He completely failed to connect with me. The love story fell quite flat as well. It was very insta-love and didn't seem real. Nathan has a sort of obsession with Annalise and it doesn't play out well. It could have been an interesting "forbidden love" story, but Annalise is such a useless character with no personality whatsoever. Most of the characters just seemed there, adding nothing to the story and not progressing the plot at all. I would have liked for the villains to have some sort of personality, rather than just being evil for the heck of it.

I found the plot to be boring as well. Sure, the ideas are interesting, but nothing really happens. Nathan goes here, he goes there, shit happens, more shit happens. So interesting... It was pretty predictable and halfway through the novel I started skipping words and lines just so it would end faster.

On a related topic, the pacing wasn't great either. In the beginning it just dragged on and then towards the end it became rushed, as if the writer realized she had a deadline to meet and couldn't fit everything she wanted in it. The middle was so slow, I expected some sort of dramatic ending, however, it was incredibly anti-climactic...

So, what's good about this book? The only thing I can think of is Nathan's sarcastic sense of humour that made me chuckle at times. Other than that, nothing. It's not a bad book, it's just not good.

While I am still curious about what happens next, I do not plan to pick up the rest of the series.

Until next time,

Hana

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