Genre: Fantasy

Review: The Sudden Appearance of Hope – Claire North

Review: The Sudden Appearance of Hope – Claire North

The Sudden Appearance of Hope is a fascinating novel, intricate, complex, and beautifully written. Are we still real if nobody else knows us? The Sudden Appearance of Hope is dubbed as a fantasy, but I think it’s much closer to contemporary, with some light paranormal elements in some ways. Hope Arden is the girl / woman you’ll never know you met! From when she was 16 years old, people would forget her almost as soon as they looked somewhere else, and it was almost as if she didn’t exist at all. Both the story and the prose are very particular, and the peculiarity is one of the things that won me over and made me feel like there was more […]

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Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue – Maggie Stiefvater

Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue – Maggie Stiefvater

WOW! What else can I say about Blue Lily, Lily Blue? It was awesome – and I’m so happy I don’t have to wait for The Raven King! So much happened in Blue Lily, Lily Blue, and yet, not that much time actually passed for these amazing characters as the story unfolded. Between missing parents, new, nefarious characters showing up for dark reasons, and more about both dreams and what Adam is capable of, I was enchanted from start to finish! The world is so tangible, even if this is fantasy, I really felt like I could stretch out my hand and touch the trees in Crabeswater, or hug Blue when she needed it. And some characters I found to […]

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Review: The Dream Thieves – Maggie Stiefvater

Review: The Dream Thieves – Maggie Stiefvater

The Dream Thieves is a darkly beautiful story, with intricate, full-grown characters who continue to grow and evolve throughout the various plot-lines. As always, when reading a Stiefvater novel, I was immediately transported to another world, with vivid characters, a dark but promising story, a mystery and plot-lines that slowly but surely got weaved together to make a whole picture. I couldn’t even say what’s my favorite part of her writing – I love that the characters are so well developed, and that they keep evolving and changing as the story and the plot is moved forward. The Dream Thieves is both character driven and plot-driven, both are important, and play together to show the complexity of all that is […]

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Review: Tell the Wind and Fire – Sarah Rees Brennan

Review: Tell the Wind and Fire – Sarah Rees Brennan

Tell the Wind and Fire made me believe in Rees Brennan’s brilliant story-telling once more! A dark world, in which segregation is paramount, but characters who are willing to bend the borders in order to obtain justice. I loved how Lucie was so strong in many ways, mostly perceptive, too, but that she was still somehow at a loss when it came to some people. Tell the Wind and Fire starts out with a day at a beach, where Ethan and Lucie can sunbathe, spend time together and just be a young couple in love. The day doesn’t end on the same kind of sweet note, though, as the couple misses their train, and have to take on that isn’t […]

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Review: Anathema – K.A. Tucker

Review: Anathema – K.A. Tucker

Anathema is very different from the stories I had already read by Tucker, and while her paranormal story is a bit different, I found the main character, Evangeline, to be very naïve and too trusting. Now, I feel the need to say that Anathema was published five years ago, and I think it’s among Tucker’s first book. And I might have enjoyed her take on vampires and witches more if I had read it when it was first released rather than now. The reason for that is all on me – I have read a lot of inventive and original paranormal series, so I am possible a bit blasé when it comes to stories like this one. That being said, […]

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Review : Firespell – Chloe Neill

Review : Firespell – Chloe Neill

Firespell was intriguing enough to keep me reading, and the ending also made me want to find out what happens next. Firespell was a bit like other YA fantasy series, where the young protagonist is sent away from home, enters a new school and finds out that there is more to the world around her than she first thought. Lily is a likeable character, she’s not drama queen, and she deals with her parents going to Germany for a sabbatical without her, and being sent from New York to Chicago quite well. The dynamics of the students in her new school is similar to that of most other stories taking place in high-school, there are the snobs, the brats, the […]

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Review: Waylaid – Kim Harrison

Review: Waylaid – Kim Harrison

Waylaid proves that size doesn’t matter as long as it’s done correctly. Harrison managed to truly make her characters shine in this short-story. I wouldn’t be against more crossovers between The Hollows and The Drafter series, because Waylaid gave me the best of both worlds – namely Rachel, Jenks and Peri! It was a fun, short rump, and it was great seeing Rachel and Peri trying to figure each other out. For those who have not completely finished The Hollows series, there may be some small spoilers, but nothing major. The way Rachel was deposited into Peri’s world made me laugh, because Peri really doesn’t believe in supernatural happenings, even if she herself can go back in time to change things. […]

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Review: Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet – Darynda Jones

Review: Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet – Darynda Jones

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet brought more insight to Charley and what she is capable of, and it also shed more light on everything else that is going on with the reaper, the ghosts, and the people surrounding her. I loved the case Charley had to work on in Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet, because she really had to use all of her wits to figure out what was going on, and she definitely got it before I did! Cookie is such a great side-character and best friend, she is always there for Charley, even when Charley only wants to spend her hard-earned money on buying stuff she sees on late-night infomercials and not leave her apartment if at all […]

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Audio Review: Reap The Wind – Karen Chance

Audio Review: Reap The Wind – Karen Chance

Reap the Wind is extremely fast-paced, and so much is going on both in Cassie’s world and in other places and times… The overall storyline in Reap the Wind didn’t cover as much as I had expected, especially with everything that happened! Cassie traveled a lot through space and time, in order to save people, and herself, and to figure out more about her power. She also had more help in this story than in the prior ones, and that was certainly a relief. I felt almost frantic while listening, because there is a lot to cover, even if most of that has to do with Cassie herself. I loved the interactions between Cassie and her very own acolytes, because […]

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Review: Firstlife – Gena Showalter

Review: Firstlife – Gena Showalter

Firstlife is set in a unique world with very strong mythology and factions fighting each other for power over the realms, not only in the first life, but in the ever life as well. In the very complex universe of Firstlife, there is a lot of darkness, and Ten’s story starts with horror. She’s a prisoner in an asylum, where her parents have sent her in order to make her sign her everlife with Myriad. She, however, wants to make her own choice, and she still isn’t sure if Myriad or Troika will be the best place to spend the rest of her existence. War between the two realms doesn’t make her decision any easier, and even in the asylum, […]

Posted 22 February, 2016 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 21 Comments
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