I received this as an ARC a month ago. Thank you to the publisher for making it available.
I’ll admit I didn’t like it as much as Labyrinth Lost because I thought this was a continuation of Alex’s story not that we didn’t see Alex’s story progressed but she wasn’t front and center. Her older Lula took center stage. It was interesting to read about her she dealt with the traumatic experience of surviving Los Lagos and losing her identity but I wanted to know more about Alex and how she was dealing with her new powers as an ecantrix and exploring her bisexuality. Her relationship with her best friend, Rishi was so wonderfully set up in the last book, it was disappointing not to see more of it in this one. While we are told that they are still together and happy, we only get one scene with them together. I understand why she wasn’t included in the narrative as a sinmago, she had nothing to add to the story but I still wanted to more. In the last book I found Lula to be shallow and not that interesting and she started out that way. I have more of a connection to her now but I’m still only meh on her. The one trait that Lula and Alex have in common is that they are stubborn and will do what they want even if it’s the absolutely the wrong thing to do. I got frustrated about how many times she was told, not to do that but she wouldn’t listen because it wasn’t what she wanted to hear or she thought she knew better or could figure out a different solution and the end others we left to deal with the consequences of her actions instead of her. Ugh. Oh well, the next book is going to focused on the youngest Mortiz sister, Rose and she has very intriguing powers. I’m looking forward to that one.
I liked this one a little better than Carve the Mark. I think maybe because the world was more established and the complicated relationship between each character was more set. Also opening up the universe to new planets made and introducing more characters with darker skin as more than just warriors or brutal dictators also helped. That doesn’t make some of the character development any less problematic but I do think that Veronica Roth listened to the criticism of the first one and took that into account while writing this one. I’m also grateful that this is only a duology and not a trilogy. Knowing that this was the last book, I felt the pacing was better, the story more concise loose ends tied up. That being said, she did leave an opening to return to this world if she wanted to but I’m happy with how it ended.
The kingdom of of Orleans is obsessed with beauty because their people were cursed with grey skin and brittle straw hair. The Belles are the blessed few who were born with color and the ability to make others beautiful too. They can change a person’s skin color, bone structure, hair and make-up and because of this they have a privileged place in the kingdom. Camille is one of six new Belles and she wants to be the Favorite. The Favorite lives in the Palace with the Queen and the Royal family. She gets to help create the laws of beauty and sets the standard. She will do anything to be the favorite even if it means getting it over her best friend. However Palace life isn’t what she imagined. For one thing, the Princess is a nightmare and a psycho. She’s the technically the second in line for the throne but her older sister has been in a coma so she’s about to named regent. Camille is smart and ambitions but at times she is so slow I want to scream at her to pay more attention to wants going on! She at times is so wrapped up in being the best Belle and impressing others that she fails to see that she is falling right into their trap. It was a good set up to an intriguing series. It had a lot of world building in the this one so now that is out of the way, I think the rest of series will move at a better pace.
This novel had a lot of hype around it and I’m glad to say it was justified. From the very beginning I was hooked. With the exception of one section, it was fast paced and gripping. I immediately liked Zelie and was rooting for her to succeed. I was drawn to Amari and struggle to right the wrongs of her family and battling her own fears. Both of these women are strong and brave. They have their own flaws but when it came to helping those in need they didn’t hesitate to step in. It’s beautifully written and full of lush imagery that I felt I was taken to an Orisha just as I was taken to Wakanda in Black Panther. There is so much potential in how this series will unfold that I really can not wait to read the next book. Like I want it right now!
The final book in the Front Lines trilogy was fitting ending for all three of our heroines. The alternate history re-imagined World War Two if women had been allowed to serve and be drafted into the Military. Rio, Frangie and Rainey all enlisted as the US was on the brink of joining the war. Throughout the trilogy we have followed Frangie, Rio and Rainey through basic training, northern Africa and Italy all while trying to figure out who they are how they fit in in this new world. Does being a soldier make them any less feminine? And what future do they have to look forward to after the war is over. At the end of the last book, they were all awarded Silver Stars for their bravery in Italy. If they thought winning a Silver Star would make their lives as soldiers, they were mistaken. In some cases it only made their mostly male soldiers resent them even more. Rio’s hometown sweetheart, struggles to deal with the fact he had to be rescued by his girl and she gets rewarded for it. The gender roles have been reversed and he can’t deal with it. Our Soldier Girls are preparing for the D-Day invasion to open the final book. With it comes all the blood and carnage that we come to expect from years of seeing this battle depicted on the big screen. As the girls progress from Normandy to Paris to Battle of the Bulge in Belgium to finally Germany. They are faced with hardships and hard decisions as they continue to face the cruel reality of war. They are fighting a war against the Nazis about also about the sexism and racism in the Military. It truly speaks to what women face today. I have to wonder what our country would be like if women had been able to serve in World War Two. How would our world be different and how much would it be the same? It sort of get the sense that Michael Grant doesn’t seem to think that history would have changed all that much but also could be my own cynicism. Anyway, it was a good series full of great characters and an interesting ideas. I’m glad I read it but I can’t help but wonder what if there were stories of real soldier girls that could be told.
The Princess Diarist is as heartbreaking as it is heartwarming. Carrie Fisher dusted off her old diaries she wrote while filming the first Star Wars movie in 1977. Like everything in her life, she is brutally honest about what she saw and what she did and tells it with a biting sense of humor. Reading this a year after her untimely death is definitely after bittersweet as she was more or less correct about her own obituaries would say and what pictures they would use. The bulk of this memoir is focused on her affair with costar Harrison Ford, who as you know played Han Solo. Passages of her diary talks of her struggle to deal with the knowledge she is having an affair with a married costar and how she is falling in love with him even after telling herself that she wouldn’t. She also talks about how she struggled on the set, being told to lose weight and hours in hair and make up and keeping up the facade that she was more experienced than she actually was and of course the awkward promotion of the movie after the release. Carrie Fisher became Princess Leia in this diary and the transition wasn’t smooth. There was a lot bumps and bruises along the way but she eventually found peace with her alter ego. Honestly, we are lucky to have had Carrie as our Princess Leia and as our General Organa.
2 Women, So Many Books 