Review: The Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker

Posted on by
Reply
Version 1.0.0

This one is very much like the other but with a little bit more spice. Pretty much starting right where we left it. Raeve is getting her revenge, only to have her “other” take over. I have long suspected who her “Other” is, and it was confirmed for me. Word has gone around that there will be many moon falls happening soon, so Kaan has to prepare his kingdom for that, while also keeping his loved ones out of danger. The Princess has gone missing and is in the clutches of a psychopath. Raeve still denies who she is but also accepts she is in love with Kaan. A lot is going on in this book. Almost too much. It was at times hard to remember all of the characters and all of their storylines and how they connected. Two characters who were believed to be dead have come back to life. This is after Raeve herself was thought to be dead. Kinda makes the death of a character irrelevant if they can just come back to life later in the series. Like most second books in a trilogy, it had a lot to cover to fill in from the first book and set up the ending in the next book. It was still good but didn’t quite have the same pacing or punch as the first. Raeve is still as sassy as ever. Kaan is still as sexy as ever. I can’t complain about that. It did end on an interesting cliffhanger, so I am looking forward to the next book.

Quick Review: The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

Posted on by
Reply

Six is a dreamer. One of six who have the power to read omens in their dreams. The six of them are about to finish their 10 years, and then they will be able to be free, but one by one, they all start to disappear. Six has only one choice: to team up with a Rogue Knight and the King to find out what happened to her fellow dreamers and bring down the omens. It was a fun story, and I like the dynamic between the characters. Six is a smart and brave heroine. All of her life, she has dedicated herself to her craft to find out it’s all been a lie. It was a bit of a slow read to start because it took a bit to get into the world-building, but once I did, it started to pick up. I was pretty surprised by the ending. It was one of those endings that, in retrospect, should have been seen coming. It definitely did its job because I bought the sequel. Now that I know the world, I am sure the next one will be a faster read.

Review: The Children by Melissa Albert

Posted on by
1

When I read the synopsis of this book, it reminded me of another book about a child of an author, who wrote them in their book. It took me a moment to realize that book was also written by Melissa Albert. She has a niche. This book was different. Guinevere and Ennis’ mother was a famous author who used their names and likeness as inspiration. The world started to know them as their characters. Over the years, Guin leaned into it, but Ennis didn’t. As idyllic their life seemed from the outside, it was anything but in reality. They lived in a farmhouse in Vermont. Their mom was mostly absent even though she was there, and their father was more visible but also an alcoholic and adulterer. The story goes back and forth between the present, where Guin is releasing a memoir, and Ennis decides to have a surprise art exhibition, and the past during their childhood. In the present, the siblings haven’t seen each other for over a decade, and Guin is starting to remember things about her childhood that she has forgotten or had blocked out. When she was 11 and Ennis was 13, both of their parents died in a house fire. Just weeks before their mother was to publish the fifth book in the six-book series. So how did these two become estranged? It’s not a simple story. I really liked how the story is set up. I felt like I could see the farmhouse and the freedom they felt, especially in the early years. It was disheartening watching Guin lose her innocence and her brother being more of a parent to her than her actual parents were. It does have a magical element, but most of the book is very rooted in reality. I don’t know how I feel about the ending, though. I will have to sit on it a bit longer, but all in all, it was a good book and worth giving it a shot.

Review: When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

Posted on by
Reply

Raeve is my kind of psycho killer. Okay, she’s not psycho, but also not fully sane either. She definitely is feisty, which is always a good trait in a heroine. She is a paid killer for a rebellion group in the Fade. She does her job well. Until a truly heinous man kills her friend, and she goes on a killing spree, gets caught, and is sentenced to death. Enter Kaan. The King of the Burn. He rescues her because, you wouldn’t you know, she’s his long-lost love thought to be dead. Yes. That is kind of a spoiler but also pretty obvious from the get-go. They do have a lot of fun banter between the two of them. You can see how, in a different time, they would be drawn to each other. This book has a lot of world-building. So much that it comes with a glossary and cast of characters at the very beginning of the book. It does take a few chapters to figure out the world, but once things all fall into place, it’s a very quick read. It’s an almost 700-page book that I read in less than a week. I am very interested to find out how Raeve became Raeve because it is very far from where she began. The ending introduces a new villain that I am not sure was needed, as there were already some pretty good bad guys, but hey, what do I know. I will just have to wait until the next book.