Tag Archives: YA fiction

Series We Said Goodbye to in 2019

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After years of following your favorite characters. You’ve laughed. You’ve cried. You’ve screamed at them for every stupid decision they make. And then you come to the end. As everything must end at some point. Here are the series that I finished this year and I will miss.

  1. The Dark Artifices Series by Cassandra Clare – Another Shadowhunter trilogy in the books. It was good and I love that Cassandra continues to push boundaries and populates her worlds with diverse set of characters. I was kinda surprised on how it ended but as always with her books, one series bleeds into another.
  2. Caraval Trilogy by Stephanie Garber – It’s rare that I actually find a series as it’s ending but this one I hit at the right time and read all three back to back and I’m glad I did because I don’t think I would have liked to have wait to see how the Caraval ended. Even if only liked one of the sisters.
  3. Three Dark Crowns Series by Kendare Blake – This is like the Game of Thrones but mostly only the women in the kingdom. It had everything from palace intrigued to rebellions and betrayals and magic. It really kept me guessing to the end and really cemented Kendare Blake as one of those authors I just have to read.
  4. Legend Series by Marie Lu – Technically I’ve already said good bye to this series once already a couple of years ago but that was before Marie Lu decided she needed to close a few plots she left open and give us readers the closure we all needed.
  5. Renegades Trilogy by Marissa Meyer – Superheros with superpowers fighting each other is pretty awesome stuff. It was a quite ride as we follow our heroes and watch them debate who has what best for the city in mind. In the end, it was villains and heroes coming together to save the day.
  6. The Folk of the Air Trilogy by Holly Black – I’ve probably said this numerous times but Holly Black really knows how to write fairies. She just understands how they think or how they would think. This was a perfect ending to a really great series and she even seamlessly wove in her other characters from past books into the narrative without it being obvious or distracting. That’s a true feat.
  7. The Magisterium Series by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. – Call and friends when through a lot in the year 5 years at the Magisterium. I kinda miss Call’s sassiness.
  8. The Charlotte Holmes Series by Brittany Cavallaro – Charlotte Holmes would have made her famous ancestor proud in how she solved her mysteries. She was truly a class above all else.

What Series did you finish this year? Comment below and let us know what series we need check out next.

Quick Review: Children of Virtue of Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

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Wow. This was gripping from the very beginning. I really love how Tomi Adeyemi has built this world. It is full of such imagination but also so rooted in the the real world. Zelie and Amari completed the ritual to bring back magic but it kinda worked too well. Not only do the Maji have their magic back but Nobles with any Maji ancestries also have magic now. So their enemy is just as powerful and in some cases more powerful. This book really explores how deep the hurt that hatred and bigotry lies and not easy to get over and move on. Amari and Inan both try to get both sides to come together but there are just too many years of hurt and betrayal for either side to trust each other. In fact they are both so sure that the other side is wrong that the only way forward is to eliminate the other. Also the power of grief and how it can really paralyze you to move forward. Pretty much everyone in this book makes big mistakes that will hunt them. Except for Tzain, who is just maybe the best person ever. I really can’t believe it ended the way that it did. It is a much bigger cliff hanger then the first one and I’m not sure I’m okay after reading it. Obviously there is one more book and so the solution couldn’t have been as easy as they thought it should have but the ending was such a twist and confusing mess that it really messes up the reader as much as the characters. I really hope the next books comes out soon.

What I’m Reading Now: The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

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This was one of the books I got from New York Comic Con back in November. I’m excited for this because I’m digging the old west vibe from the cover and summary. I’m all about that.

What I’m Reading Now: Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

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Damn! Just look at the cover!!! I’m so excited to see what awaits Zelie and Amari.

Review: The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

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What a way to end a series. Jude is not the same girl she was at the beginning and neither is Cardan. They both have grown up so much over the three books. I’m so proud of them. Jude is an exile after Cardan secretly marries her and then exiles her for killing his brother. She’s more then a little depressed because well she got out maneuvered by Cardan. She’s more then a little bit of a whiplash. One minute she’s getting married and the next she’s back in the human world, living with her sister and brother. How did this happen? How did she lose control so quickly. Things take a turn when Jude takes on a dangerous job for a fairy and learns Cardan’s reign is in trouble and then her twin sister, Taryn comes to pay a visit and drop some serious news. Jude must go back to Faerie and help her sister and in no time she’s back in the Game of Thrones. She’s kidnapped by her father, who’s making a play for the throne. She discovers his plan and does what she can to get back to Cardan. Cardan for his part is the same sarcastic king he was but he’s also matured into his role. We have known that he was in love with Jude and didn’t know how to deal with his feelings because 1. She’s human and 2. he never got much love as a kid himself. He knows that he was born under bad stars and people never expected much from him. He didn’t give them much in the last book by drinking for most of it but he’s been better. He plays a part in Jude’s rescue and really takes down his walls for her. This totally throws Jude off her game because its not the Cardan she knows and it’s almost too good to be true. When Madoc finally makes his pitch for why he should be king, Cardan does something so surprising for him that he little transforms the kingdom. Jude is tested like she’s never has been before. She has the power but it’s tenuous at best. To hold on to it will she follow the bloody past of her father? Will she make one more bad bargain? or she will use her one advantage over all of fairies and be human? I want say too much more because I don’t want to spoil it but it’s good. I will admit, I knew what Jude was going to do before Jude did but it wasn’t any less satisfying. I really love when Holly Black when she writes fairies because she no one understands them better. I also love how she seamlessly integrates her other fairy characters into the story without it being too obvious or forced. It’s clear that they all live in the same universe and opens up the story in so many ways. There is so many ways she can take it. This trilogy may be over but she definitely left it open for certain story lines to continue on in other stories and I’m here for it. I am so here for it.

Quick Review: Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

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At the end of the Raven Cycle, Blue and her Raven boys found what they were looking for. Gansey found he didn’t need a wish from a dead Welsh King. Blue is was not just an ordinary girl living among unordinary girls. Adam that he was more then just poor abused kid and Ronan that he could move on from his grief. Well, apparently there is more for Ronan and his brothers Declan and Matthew have more to work through. Call Down the Hawk starts the fall after the end of the Raven King. Gansey and Blue are off driving around the country during their gap year. Adam is off at Harvard and Ronan is home dreaming at the Barns. Ronan and Adam are still together but the distance is hard. Ronan thought he wanted nothing but to live at home but finds that he wants more than just dreaming. His older Brother Declan, wants to live a boring life where he goes on unnoticed. Matthew is just his happy self except for when he wonders for no reason. It turns out being a dreamer is more dangerous then one might think. It’s not just collectors like Colin Greenmantle that wants Ronan but a secret society of hunters that believe that dreamers like Ronan will bring the end of the world. The Brother’s Lynch soon meet Jordan Hennessy and her many dream selves and things start to unravel quickly. For fans of the Maggie Stiefvater and the Raven Cycle this is a must read. It has the same feel of mystical storytelling of it’s predecessor but moves at a much faster pace. The stakes are much higher as the body count is also higher. Ronan is still everyone’s favorite bastard. I love him. Adam is still wonderful and the best boyfriend. Declan is the real surprise. We really didn’t get to know him in the last series and what little we did was through the lense of Ronan, Gansey, Blue and Adam and well they are a little bias. Declan maybe the least magical person in the lynch family but he also the glue that keeps them together. He comes off cold and uncaring but really he cares almost too much about his brothers. I won’t say it’s better than the original series but it’s definitely close.

Quick Review: SuperNova by Marissa Meyer

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So I mentioned in my Review for Rebel that what makes a good villain is one that you don’t necessarily disagree with. Nova has been playing the villain role. She’s been a double agent. Working along her enemies, the Renegades while undermining them working for the Anarchist. All because she believed that the system needed to change. The rules the Renegades have put into place were too ridged and anyone who didn’t want to conform to what they thought was right was thought of as a criminal. She and her fellow anarchist felt that all prodigies should have the freedom to live they want to live without fear of persecution. You can’t really fault her or them for that. Things get murkier, when the Renegades introduce Agent N. A biological weapon that take away prodigies powers. If any villain steps out of line, they would be neutralized. The problem with this is who decides who is truly a villain? What process will the go through to decide? When word comes down that patrols will be outfitted with Agent N and given permission to use as deemed necessary to protect themselves. Now we come to a situation where prodigies would be neutralized on site without any due process. The whole shot first and ask questions later routine. I’m sure many people can draw comparisons of this in our society. There is a lot of back and forth that goes on this book. Nova is discovered but Adrian and his team look for any reason to not to believe she is Nightmare, that they are so easily duped into releasing her. I mean, yes a lot of the evidence was circumstantial but also pretty obvious. Nova for her part, sees another way to get what she wants,thanks to her time with the Renegades but also time in prison. She soon discovers that past prejudices are hard to overcome and what you thought was true is not always the case. The epic battle comes down to Nova, Adrian, Oscar, Danna and others to put aside their differences and learn to trust each other so they can work with each other. I enjoyed the series as a whole but I do think they council needs to be disbanded and another form a government needs to put in place because as good as they are superheros, they are bad policy makers and considering that the door has been left open for more books, I hope that this will be explored more.