Charlotte Black

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No one can take away Amy's imagination. The start of AtE is a draw. Immediately you're reading about lives of teenagers who live outside the norm. A teenage girl, Juneau, is preparing to be the next Sage. I get the impression she'll actually be leading the tribe.

The WW3 destroyed the world. The radiation killed everyone. Although, not everyone because the founders of the tribe took off to Alaska and have been there ever since. And not the hunters out there either. The hunters keep looking for the Juneau's people but Juneau's tribe know how to hide. They use the Yara.

Okay, alarm bells. there are a few adults in the tribe. A teenage girl? The last Sage was her mother who died years ago. Nobody in the tribe has the same skills as Juneau, which is why she's been specially mentored by a guy called Whit. He's honing her magic skills and her ability to work with the Yara. A magical connection to the earth which you can use to your advantage. Like hiding from hunters.

Juneau comes back from a hunting trip to find all her tribe are gone and their dogs have been shot. They haven't deserted, they've been abducted by those flying things in the sky. Hunters.

This is going to be interesting, I thought. A bit of action and adventure, and out in the wild stuff. To be honest it all fell a bit flat after that.

Juneau grabs enough food for her and the dogs and heads off to find her tribe.

But she finds a fully functional city, where people are walking and talking. No signs of WW3 here. She's been lied to. All her life she's been told the world as it was died 30 years ago. But she's been betrayed.

Yes, there are signs of being hurt. She's angry. At last, some emotional response.

In comes Miles. The second POV of the book. He's a drop out from school. Some might say he doesn't appreciate what he has. Namely a father who basically leaves him alone but gives him enough money to do what he wants. The father also works for a leading pharmaceutical company that are hunting Juneau. Miles decides, after overhearing a few of his fathers phone calls, to go off to Seattle and find this missing girl. For his father.

Okay, he can't stand his dad. And now he's going to travel from LA to Seattle and find a girl with only the briefest of descriptions? Seriously? This kid doesn't even have any skills. And Seattle's a big place.

What do you know? He finds Juneau. After a bit of traveling here and there, with the introduction of a rook (Whit's) and another witchy kind of lady who helps Juneau out, they're on their way to finding Juneau's tribe.

Then the romance starts happening. I didn't want this. I didn't like Miles at all. And I didn't really like Juneau. In fact, Amy Plum did her best to make the two characters sound as unappealing as possible, what with Juneau's starburst in her eye and Miles lack of personality. But still, after knowing each other for a day or two they start having zings when they touch, and think of kissing each other. I don't think so....

The book ends on a cliffhanger after Miles gets shot.

This is probably what I would call a road-trip book with two unlikely characters learning about each other along the way. But I didn't get any of the emotional buzz I usually get when reading an Amy Plum book. Really, there was nothing enjoyable about it at all. I didn't really care for the Juneau or Miles enough. Every story arc felt too forced, too convenient, too much fell in their laps too easily.

I will read the next one, if only for closures sake but I was thoroughly disappointed. The plot of the story could have been so epic, so big, but turned into a very small one dimensional trek.

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Points I liked. Sean was a cool love interest. However he did come over as the stereotypical bad boy. Tattooes, dangerous, capable with his fists. He did annoy me with his constant "I can't always be there to save you, Davy." It would have been cool if he'd taken her into the gym and trained with her therefore proving to him that she could be capable.

I liked Gil. I hope he has a bigger part in the next book. He was the first carrier person who was nice to her and Davy dropped him like a stone to pay more attention to Sean.

But! I did like the softly, softly approach to the romance. Not full on heavy petting but taking it very slowly and calmly.

The writing is very good, the plot is well paced and the story line is good enough. But it could have been better and would have come across better had it not included lots of clichés from typical YA novels.

What I didn't like. The 'kill gene' they're all talking about could have been expanded and verified to us better. I'm still really not sure how this gene came to being discovered. I mean, after thousands of years of civilisation this society think they can end crime and murder because of this one gene?

I also didn't like Davy been too clean and proper to begin with. I would have liked her to at least have one flaw to her porcelain perfect perception.

I thought the whole camp idea was off and a little naff, but that's just me! A little more world building could have been included also.

On the whole though, a book very readable and unputdownable :)

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I can safely say I wished I'd read this book sooner. I loved it, I loved Jenny and although it was a long time till we had Seth joining her I thought they made a formidable force.
Jenny is a nice girl, it's all those around her that are wicked. And nobody can hide away in a small minded town but Jenny found a few good people on her side. A shame that some others just have spite on their minds simply because you don't fit the mould.

All the way from the start to the end the momentum was building, building, until near the end the worst thing in anyone's eyes happened.
And it's not over yet. Once I got to the end of this book I knew I had Tommy Nightmare (Paranormals #2) also in my TBR pile.
I'm so excited to see where this series goes! Definitely worth reading.

Pro's
A good steady slow build-up. A romance that's slow burning and surprise's everyone, with the guy who finally sees what's genuine in front of him, and with good reason.

A good solid story, well thought out.

Great writing. I've not read J.L. Bryan before but I'm looking forward to more.

A female protag you really want to root for.

Con's

Lots of references to religion. I'm not that religious but the strong emphasis of church 'for-and-against' as a euphemism to good v evil is almost overkill in parts.

I had this down as a YA and I know nowadays books are becoming more graphic than they used to be but there is quite a bit of sex in this. Yes I know sex and drugs are prevalent at this age but it could have been toned down a tad.

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But then we have that dreaded interlude where we have to wait for book 2. You've been there, I'm sure. I didn't want to read book 2 until I could read book 3. So this was my dilemma. I waited.
But then my reading hiatus kicked in so here we are finally.

Book 2 - Days of Blood and Starlight has a different feel to it than book one. so we know Karou has the soul of Madrigal. But Karou is still her own person. Still loves Zuzana and Mik but she's broken after hearing Akiva tell her he killed her family.

Instead of staying and moping, and let's face it, who wouldn't. she disappears from the world. It's only after a few chapters we find out she's actually in Morocco and she's encouraged the demons (good and bad) to settle there while they regroup. she's also taken up the task of creating more creatures but what I love about this part is her character. She decides she isn't going to just recreate all of Thiago's close colleagues. She's ruthless and sneaky enough to pick and chose who gets remade.

One of the characters I loved most was Madrigal's other Kirin friend - Ziri. He's a nice demon, young and bit in love with Madrigal/Karou. His story really becomes the main character arc of the book. What Ziri does has a lasting effect on the rest of the demons to come, and on Karou.

Back to Akiva and what he's up to. With his two angel friends, they decide they're not going to openly kill the enemy anymore. To do so goes against everything Akiva was striving for when he dreamed the dream with Madrigal. He hasn't forgotten Karou, in fact, he mourns her, even if she isn't dead.

The book finishes nicely, ready for book 3.
What I liked the most? The writing doesn't fail in the slightest. The story is still ongoing and you can feel the world's expand as you're reading it. Such an epic fantasy, I'm maybe a little sorry I waited too long read it.

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A stand-alone story.

Pro's
Miranda grew on me. Initially I didn't take to her. Mostly I felt sorry for her, especially for the suffering she went through because of her father and his drinking habits.

She grew on me after his death although after investigating his hidden box and finding the weird weapon I would have taken the time to do more searching. Especially as she had so many questions regarding her mother.

She also gave Phillips the benefit of the doubt. This wasn't a romance with a bit of story involved, this was a story that would lead to romance once it was done. So many books these days put too much emphasis on getting the smoochies in instead of getting on with the story.

She did grow as a character but I didn't get any outward, as in looking outside her state, country, world. Because she'd never left her hometown I thought this was strange. We get the scene where she tries to go over the border but if she's spent so long on her own without friends I wouldn't expect her state of mind to be so positive.

Phillips, the second main character, had an interesting side to him. Between him and Miranda solving the mystery I thought they'd make a great team.

Con's
I didn't like they way the story went. A little too odd, and really contrived. I don't mind bending history but the way all the characters came back after disappearing and they aren't who they were before, well, it didn't gel with me.

The snake on her cheek. This wasn't really needed in the story. Great pains were taken to help us be intrigued by this but we could have solved it a different way.

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All is not well in the Court of Thorns and Roses.

New to the party is Ianthe, a High Priestess who appears to have a hold over Tamlin, though Feyre can't tell him what she see's for fear he'll ignore her. Just like he's ignoring her other problems. Namely, nightly visions of her time Under the Mountain and her frequent use of the bathroom to vomit her guts up.

Slowly but surely, our couple begin to implode. On the day of her wedding to Tamlin, it dawns on Feyre that life with Tamlin cannot possibly continue the way it used to. Things have got to change. He has got to change. She begs, in her head, for an escape. Lo and behold Rhysand hears her plea across their bond and whisks her away to the nightmares of the Night Court.

She's heard the rumours of torture, chaos and the bloodied high hand of the High Lord who likes nothing more than to shatter minds. She's surprised when she arrives for her week-long stint to find nothing could be further from the truth. The Night Court as she sees is lovely, peacefully and Rhysand is kind.

Although she fights it in the beginning, Feyre begins to have an understanding with Rhys. He neither mocks her, nor threatens her. Instead he promises her that he'll teach her how to write. Something she's never had a chance at doing because she was too busy looking after her family. Not being able to read nearly cost her one of the tasks Under the Mountain and reluctantly Feyre knows she will not be defeated in this way again.

Finally Feyre stays at the Night Court. Tamlin locked her up and refused to see that she needed help as much as he did. The Feyre he knew died at Amarantha's hand. The Feyre who return, with the kernels of all seven courts, is not that girl. This Feyre is something else entirely.

This is a story of building. Of understanding that you can change. You can grow from whatever horrible things you've done in your past. You can reach new heights. You can become better. Better than you've ever been before. And soon the people you were trying to please become smaller. You surpass them to a higher level.

The whole book is a story of growth. Feyre and Rhys start on unsteady sand and at the end the stand together on solid ground. They are a partnership, an alliance. Neither better nor worse than the other.

When they try to invade the Hybern territory, a foolish quest to me but hey, I'm just the reader, you can just tell the action hasn't finished yet. The bite of the story is still to come.

And it does. In epic fashion. That was one I didn't see coming.

The book leads us with a cliff-hanger as Feyre goes back to Tamlin's court. But she's a different person altogether than she once was. How long she can keep up the ruse if anyone's guess...

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In the beginning Feyre, (unusual name I had to come to grips with) is the sole provider for her family of two older sisters and a decrepit father. Feyre risks her life every day when she goes out to hunt so the others have food in the bellies. Feyre is a cold character. There is little joy in her life. She wishes her sisters could go off and marry so she can ignore the rest of the world, as the world ignores her. Despite all she does, only one of her sisters, Elain, is remotely grateful. Feyre doesn't have any choices either. She can't leave, there's nowhere to go. About two days north is a wall which keeps all humans separated from the world of Prythian beyond it. A world of the Fae.

In this beginning you feel a lot of hatred. Whether it's for the faeries who live a life of luxury over the wall, or whether its for Feyre's sisters who come across as altogether useless. Her older sister Nesta is a churning mass of misery and gloom. Feyre's father is useless in the way that he's resorted to being a cowering, insipid dog. There's little love here. The only delight for Feyre is either a few lost hours in the arms of her non-boyfriend Isaac or her painting. This is a world where rumours and appearance are prevalent in all manners of life yet while Feyre's sisters enjoy it, Feyre's heart is one of ice.
To be honest, this is why I nearly gave up the book. While the writing is clever in its depiction, bringing us into Feyre's world, the dark, hard life portrayed is miserable.

Feyre thinks her luck has doubled when she comes across a doe deer and a wolf. The wolf either wants to eat the doe or her. She kills them, skins the wolf (although it had crossed her mind it could be a shape-shifting faerie of legend) and carries the doe and wolf-skin home.

The next evening, for her crime against some mystical treaty between humans and Fae, she whisked through the wall to serve out her penance. To live among the faeries for the rest of her life.

Her saviour is Tamlin another shape-shifting wolf who has captured her because she killed his friend. Although she misses her family a great deal, she doubts whether they miss her at all, she finally accepts her fate, after a bit of toing-and-froing. Feyre begins to become a normal person, she doesn't have to fend for herself as food is widely available. She can keep clean, proving her dignity is intact. And she learns to laugh and not hide who she is. She develops a personality which was missing in her previous life.

But all is not what it seems as she begins to know that her many months of freedom comes with a price.

Tamlin's life is forfeit to an evil self-styled Queen--Amarantha--who wants nothing more than to rule the kingdom of Prythian. To keep her out of dangers way Tamlin sends her back to her family. But Feyre can't let her memory of Tamlin fade. He told her he loved her and she wants to help him be cured of the curse. She returns only to find Tamlin has been taken against his will to Under the Mountain.

It takes almost two thirds of the book to get to this point. From the beginning to here we've seen a whole character change to Feyre. Her icy, cold heart is gone. She becomes courageous and ever hopeful that although her human form is distinctly inferior she can help in someway erase the blight and get Tamlin back.

When Feyre enters Under the Mountain she becomes prey to Amarantha's predatory ways. Feyre knows from the outset her life may very well be forfeit but she has the fortitude to try. What upsets her the most is Tamlin's stony silence as she's paraded in front of this 'Queen', beaten to an inch of her life and thrown into an chilly cell. Later she must complete three tasks or solve a riddle and the curse will be lifted.

What started out as a fantasy of Fae becomes a fight to the death. While when Feyre lived at the Manor we were told of a life of colour, beauty and flamboyance it all disappears again and becomes reminiscent of the start of the book. The diversity of the story leaps off the page as much as the characters you begin to love and hate. I must admit I hated Feyre in the beginning. I wanted to scream at her for letting her family treat her so badly when she was doing what she could to keep them all alive. In the middle I liked Lucien, Tamlin's emissary, and he may have been forthright in demeaning Feyre but they soon reached a healthy alliance. But Under the Mountain the stand out character was Rhysand. He alone opened his heart to Feyre, although she didn't understand him initially. Rhysand was the only one who was able to keep her alive, no matter his faults or reputation.

Altogether, this could well have been a stand-alone book but that isn't Sarah Maas's style so the next book will no doubt lead us along another garden path. After all, the King of Hybern has yet to make an appearance and proclaim war. Feyre returns to the Court of Thorns and Roses and must overcome the devastation of her actions Under that Mountain. Somehow, I don't think Feyre will go down without a fight.

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Maya is cursed with an unfortunate horoscope which tells of death and destruction. All revere the horoscope and Maya is shunned because of hers. But the king must end the war and bring together an alliance. Maya is the Princess who must marry for her country to find peace.

Unfortunately for Maya the king has other plans. The king pronounces to her that an alliance will never be reached and so he gives her a vial of poison to kill herself. The king expects the other nations to war among themselves because of this slight. However, when Maya is about to drink a strange man catapults her from the palace and to freedom. Or so Maya thinks.

She pronounces her saviour as her rightful marriage partner and trusts his words and wisdom as he takes her on a journey which only fairy tales are made from.

Who is this handsome stranger to which she is indebted? Why is he not troubled by her horoscope of death? And what is in the lands of Akaran that will satisfy her educated mind to keep her?

This is most certainly a book of two halves. The first half will lead you to understand Maya and her stranger, Amar, while the second half will show how easily we must get up and fight for what we believe in.

I'm not saying this book was an easy read by any means. Sometimes I did wish the author would lay back a little and tell the straightforward story without so much purple prose. But it is beautifully written, with upsets and passion along the way.

This will certainly tickle your taste buds if you prefer your books romantically based, and with the passion of a great heroine I can safely say I did love this book.

-CBx

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And I read it in about 4 hours straight. It comes right into the story, at a crunch time and then just as you think you know how it's going to pan out, everything changes! The ending is one of the saddest I've read in a long time, and I'm very glad this is only number 1 of the Lost dacomé files because I'm dying to find out what happens next.

So, without giving away too many spoiler, Halika Dacome is threatened with a union with the opposing war lord. But they have other plans. Just as an agreement is met, lots of important people are murdered in front of her eyes and her father is spared on the assumption that all the Elementals are going to die anyway. But Halika doesn't believe that, she thinks they stand a chance of winning the war against the enemy. When her childhood friends arrive they bring war ships that enable her to stand a fighting chance. She also begins her bittersweet romance with Nerido Xipile (who I thought she hated from the first book Elemental: The First).

Anyway just as everything seems to be going to plan, it all falls apart. And not in a good way. There's an interesting chapter right at the end called Double Cross and that's exactly what happens. Except its not from all the people you expect, well it is and it isn't. You'll find out if you read it.

The world building and royal/political systems, the way of life, and the sheer characterisations in this book are mesmerising. I felt every high of happiness, and every low when it all went wrong. I even had a wobbly chin at the end when the Scribe finishes the story.

Absolutely this is a book to read. It doesn't matter if you enjoy Sci-fi or not, the story is of the characters and not of the world they live in.

5 out of 5 - I loved it!

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While the emphasis of this story is historical, it isn't the story itself.
Ethandun takes you on a human approach through the last 36 hours before the major battle between King Alfred and the Danes, led by a warlord called Guthrum.
The main character is Lord Tristan Dracanburh. Right from the beginning you know something is different about him. He's 17 and admits he's druid born but as you get into the story you realise he's not just a druid. He's something else too.

He, with Halika Dacomés human avatar called Dee, catch a danish boy who claims the Danes have enlisted Nerído Xipile and some horrible sounding elves, who call themselves the Nine Hundred. Their mission is to kill Halika Dacomé before the main battle because they think if she's dead the Danes will claim victory more easily. Wessex will be lost and King Alfred will fall.
The next hours, Lord Tristan uncovers the plot piece by piece and finds unlikely allies who help him and his close friends thwart (I love that word!) the threat.

What kept me fixated was the unravelling of Lord Tristan in the story. He's a good guy. A really good guy. Possibly swoonworthy. In some ways he's innocent, in others he's not innocent at all. He's killed people, he's a spycatcher, he's loyal to his father who is the King. He held his twin brother in his arms as he died. But he's got secrets too. Lots of them and slowly they come out and you realise that his burden is to carry all those secrets and to keep on going. Keep a brave face. Keep his men's confidence high. Make everyone on his side believe they will win the war. But it all has a price. Personally, I'm surprised he's still sane after all of it.

Any readers of YA fantasy will love this. If you like thrilling suspense, romance, fun and twists, then you'll love this. If you haven't read any of Ms May's previous books it doesn't matter (you can catch up later.) This book is a complete story and ends with a thread which will lead us to Elemental: The Circle of Fire (which I can't wait to read!)

A wonderfully written book!