Mini Reviews # 10

THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS by Rae Carson, MERCY by Rebecca Lim and THE NEAR WITCH by Victoria Schwab are three more 2011 Netgalley titles I finally got to review. Read my mini reviews for them below.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Girl of Fire and Thorns #1) by Rae Carson

The blue gemstone in Elisa's navel is a sign for the divine purpose she's destined to fulfill. Chosen by God like many others before her every century. Married to King Alejandro de Varga, Elisa is expected to fit into her new role as future Queen of Joya d'Arena. Until she is kidnapped by revolutionaries and  has to choose her very own path.

Finding her path has to be understood figuratively as literally. Elisa is travelling a lot whether she wants to or not. She leaves her home of Orovalle for Joya d'Arena, most of the route leads her through desert areas of great expanses. I really would have liked a map to go with the story so I could have followed Elisa's journey more easily. She's living in a war-torn country and that's why there were too many discussions about strategy and stretched marches through the desert that lacked all kinds of excitement.

It must have been the long and tedious  journey that clouded my senses and made me unresponsive for Elisa's desert romance.

Central to the story are high beliefs in God, thorough praying, a profound historical background and tellings of former Godstone-bearers.

3,5/5 ***/* THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS -  Have a little faith and this could be an adventurous journey!

Elisa's special because she's a Godstone-bearer. But her ways of communicating with God weren't exactly what made her appealing as a main character but the metamorphosis she's undergoing in so many different ways. For fans of GRACELING by Kristin Cashore, LEGACY by Cayla Kluver or A TOUCH OF POWER by Maria V. Snyder.

Publisher: Harper Teen
Publishing Date: September 1^st 2011
Length: 423 pages
Keywords: YA fiction, fantasy, religion, history, romance, sorcery

Source: Netgalley

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The Girl of Fire and Thorns Excerpt 

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Mercy (Mercy #1) by Rebecca Lim

Waking up in a new human body now and then, taking over their lives to righten things, that's what Mercy's existence looks like. This time Mercy finds herself on a schoolbus on its way to a choir practice trip and with that in the life of Carmen Zappacosta. From the beginning it's all about singing and choir meets - a complete musical overload if you ask me.

Then there's a crime case at hand that Mercy gets involved with. Lauren, the daughter of her host familiy went missing almost two years ago and Lauren's brother Ryan still hasn't lost hope of finding her. Mercy and Ryan team up to dig for info with joined forces.

There was nothing said about Carmen's life before Mercy or that much about the missing girl's life.

Ryan and Mercy as Carmen wander around town, blatantly and obviously asking people about where Lauren could be. I could't call it hunting for clues, they are just too dumb to realise what's right in front of them the whole time. I guess they were supposed to bring a romance factor to the story of MERCY but I hardly felt the spark.

From the sound of its abstract MERCY is supposed to be the start of a new paranormal angel series but there's not much talking about angels and everything about the background of Mercy is left in the dark. No explanations, therefore stark frustration.

1,5/5 */* MERCY – Music, angels, a missing girl – all rather disproportionate and shapeless parts of MERCY not really adding up.

MERCY was a touch case. The story got more absurd and cruelly evoking disinterest with each passing page. The entire choir and music theme a liability. The romance probably the weakest I've encountered so far this year. Only the idea of some angelic being put into another human's life to offer help and improvement time and time again was what kept me reading.

Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publishing Date: May 17^th 2011
Length: 288 pages
Keywords: YA fiction,music, angels, romance, missing girl

Source: Netgalley

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Mercy Excerpt 

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The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

The Near Witch is only an old child's tale. That's what Lexi believes until one day when a stranger appears, in the town of Near where there are none, and children start to disappear overnight.

Lexi and the stranger Cole, who has an otherworldly feel about him, start looking for clues to find the lost children and see if there's actually more to the near witch tale than they always thought. Cole is mysterious and elusive and  I wasn't sure if their relationship was supposed to be a love story, it only evoked weak feelings.

The story itself is supposed to be scary, slightly unset was all I felt. It's more of a spooky tale to read to children than a Young Adult novel.

3/5 *** THE NEAR WITCH – An eerie read for cold and windy days. More children's tale and not much of a successful YA debut.

It's been a while since I read THE NEAR WITCH and even though the plot wasn't elaborate enough to fully grasp me it's the atmosphere of a remote town, a whispering gale, moor and green glades that's still surprisingly present when I think about Victoria Schwab's debut.

Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publishing Date: August 2^nd 2011
Length: 282 pages
Keywords: YA fiction, tale, witch, romance

Source: Netgalley

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The Near Witch Excerpt 

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Mini Reviews # 9

This week's Mini Reviews post is about the first book in three different series that I probably won't be finishing at all or in the near future, THE MEPHISTO COVENANT by Trinity Faegen, IMMORTAL BELOVED by Cate Tiernan and THE GIRL IN THE STEEL CORSET by Kady Cross.

The Mephisto Covenant (The Mephisto Covenant #1) by Trinity Faegen

Sasha is Anabo, a daughter of Eve's and one of the purest souls on earth. So it doesn't take long for Eryx, an evil immortal who wants to take over hell, and his devotees to start hunting her. To her rescue come dark and mysterious Jax and his brothers, devotees to another master, Mephistopholes. Together they try to fight against evil and prevent any more good souls in Sasha's surroundings to get lost.

Strong emotions about a book are almost always a safe sign for said book's and the author's story-writing qualities. Just what if anger and frustration aren't caused by antagonists but directed at main characters? It simply doesn't feel right.

Here's what THE MEPHISTO COVENANT was like. A fight between heaven and hell is realised by cultish formations robbing high school kids of their free will, turning them into aggressive and brainless minions. Between mostly passable kissing scenes, of course Sasha and Jax can't keep their hands or mouths to themselves, there's talking about religious beliefs. Stalking and brain washing are involved, too. Feelings of hatred are strewn into a high number of scenes, scenes without any real relevance to the story.

The first and second book were published by Egmont. Then the publisher decided to say no to more books in this series. Fans will be happy to hear that Trinity Faegen is thinking about self-pulishing them.

1,5/5 */* THE MEPHISTO COVENANT – Unbalanced characters, a screwy system of beliefs and a stale love story!

As you can see THE MEPHISTO COVENANT had very little to offer to me and my patience was tested more than once. I often felt like quitting but somehow made it to the end. This will definitely be the end of my acquaintance with the THE MEPHISTO COVENANT series, as sad as I am to give up on any book series.

Publisher: Egmont USA
Publishing Date: September 27^th 2011
Length: 438 pages
Keywords: YA fiction, romance, religion, cult, hell, heaven

Source: Netgalley

Goodreads Summary 

The Mephisto Covenant Excerpt 

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Immortal Beloved (Immortal Beloved #1) by Cate Tiernan

Nastasya is an immortal and has lived a long life in excess and ignorance. In the past hundreds of years she hasn't been the best version of herself. When one of her so-called dark friends harms a human, Nastasya decides to leave her gang of dangerous immortals and with them all destructiveness and misery behind her.

IMMORTAL BELOVED discusses what it means to have a never-ending life ahead of you and what it is you should do with it. On her quest for change Nastasya meets an immortal who offers shelter to all the lost immortal souls looking for a new start. So she finds a home in River's mansion. It has a kind of boarding school feel about it because of all the avid students buzzing around. Immortals can take lessons and have to do chores. With the help of others Nastasya is now learning to master a normal life. And with that things start to fall into a monotone pattern without prospect of any serious action.

Between complaining about chores and slowly discovering her heritage Nastasya develops a crush on fellow immortal Reyn. Theirs isn't a love story of the exciting but more of the repellent kind. So this romance didn't exactly fit my idea of sexy.

3,5/5 ***/* IMMORTAL BELOVED – A reform school presenting us with a new somber spin on immortality.

IMMORTAL BELOVED was appealing in a way because of all the possibilities immortality had to offer. When I pick up a novel with immortals in it I'm mostly interested in hearing more about their pasts and Nastasya's visions of the past are one important part of her story now. Visit River's remote reform school for immortals with a dark atmospheric feel about it but don't expect all too much fun in the end.

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publishing Date: September 1 ^st 2011
Length: 400 pages
Keywords: YA, fiction, romance, immortals

Source: Publisher

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Immortal Beloved Excerpt 

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The Girl In The Steel Corset (Steampunk Chronicles #1) by Kady Cross

Finley Jayne's on the run from her past. She just took care of a lord who molested her. Or more precisely, her bad side did. There are two sides battling for attention in Finley, one good and one evil. She's lucky young duke Griffin and his friends take her in and show her a new world, one filled with magic and solidarity.

What starts with a kick-ass heroine in action gradually reverses into a series of trivial dialogues and unexciting scenes. Since we are given access to so many characters' perspectives, Finley, Griffin, Sam and some others, there is little chance for anticipation and wondering left. My attention was amiss more than once during the story.

Finley's and Griffin's love story is of the average kind, too few intense feelings and actual kissing scenes. A love triangle was purely unnecessary, so Jack Dandy, the man who Finley's dark side favours, was a character I just couldn't get acquainted with. Finley's biopolar personality is the most interesting aspect about THE GIRL IN THE STEEL CORSET because it made her such an unpredictable character

3/5 *** THE GIRL IN THE STEEL CORSET – A diverting 19^th century stroll with rather weak performance on part of the clockwork automatons.

Victorian London is one of my favourite places for a story to be set. We will even be graced with Queen Victoria's presence. Evil master minds as enemies and clockwork automatons always promise to bring some excitement to the story, not so much in this case. THE GIRL IN THE STEEL CORSET is a historical fiction with fantastical elements I only enjoyed to a certain extend.

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publishing Date: May 24^th 2011
Length: 473 pages
Keywords: YA fiction, magic, romance,Victorian London, steampunk

Source: Netgalley

Goodreads Summary 

The Girl in the Steel Corset Excerpt 

Author's Homepage