review – Page 79 – Amy Leigh Reads

Nevernight Review

October 24, 2018November 28, 2018by amyleighreads4 Comments

*No Spoilers!*

51GGgNUKG0L._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_ I really, really enjoyed this!

This story follows Mia Corvere who wants to attend a prestigious and highly secretive school for assassins. She is seeking revenge on those who captured and murdered her family after her father failed to incite a rebellion, eventually leading her to become orphaned and hunted by her father’s former comrades.

This was highly entertaining! I liked the steady pace of the storyline. At the start it was a little overwhelming especially with the addendums on top of all the information that Jay Kristoff was giving us in the plot. I like a nice background and history of the world but this was a bit too much for me. So I pretty much ended up skipping or skimming through most of those and just sticking to the actual plotline.

Mia is a great character. I like that she endured all the trials and the training and yet still managed to maintain her true self through all of that. She is strong, resilient, stubborn and highly capricious but is still kind of naïve at times which reinforces how young most of these characters are. I also really enjoyed Tric as well, I found him to be a good equal to Mia. He speaks his mind when he thinks she is wrong and isn’t afraid to act when he feels the need.

I like that the magical abilities vary from character to character. Some are more subtle and then others like Mia are definitely utilised more blatantly. We really learn more about Mia’s abilities as she discovers them herself, I like that she kind of has to go through that journey to finding out who she is and what she can do. I thought that her abilities were really original and unique and it was interesting to read.

There was a lot of action and gore throughout the course of the book, but being a book predominately about assassins it was to be expected. I thought it added a layer of suspense as everyone is susceptible to being killed, no one was safe. I kind of liked that it was super intense and hard-core and the stakes were always really high, it kept the whole plot moving very quickly and was very entertaining. I couldn’t predict what was going to happen at any stage of the story either so that kept me on my toes as well.

⭐️4/5 stars the twists and turns and that ending OMG!

Reviews

This Savage Song Review

October 22, 2018November 28, 2018by amyleighreads1 Comment

*Careful, some spoilers…*

thissavagesong I loved this!

The start was a little slower paced for me and it kind of took me a minute to really get invested in the storyline but once I did I was hooked!

This Savage Song is essentially about a city that is divided by humans and monsters. We follow two perspectives of Kate Harker and August Flynn. Kate is the daughter of the kind of leader of the human side and August is a monster that is adopted into a family that is the leaders of the monster side of the city.

August was so different than the usual kind of male protagonists we see in YA fantasy. The fact that he is a monster but is trying so hard to abstain from that side of him and try to be more human and how he yearns for peace is so captivating.

Kate is kind of a badass. To start I didn’t really find her to be very likeable but as her story progressed throughout the book I started to be really empathetic and feel for the situation she’s in. All she’s really ever wanted to do was to live up to her family name and show the world and her father that she is worthy. To be feared and respected like him and show that she isn’t little Katherine anymore, she is grown up and can handle this life.

The premise of the book really blew me away. I don’t typically find myself picking up a lot of urban fantasy, I’m much more of a high fantasy kind of girl but I was super engrossed the more I read. The idea that monsters are literally birthed from violence and the different kinds of violence committed creates different breeds of monsters is so originally and creative. I liked hearing the history of Verity and kind of how the whole war began and the causes behind the division of the city and how August and Kate and their families are linked into all of it.

As I said the start and introduction into the story was a little slow at first and it took me a little while to get situated with the story, but after about the first 100 pages or so it really pulled me in. The action sequences were amazing and seeing the differing styles of attacks from the different monsters was so interesting and gripping.

I also really enjoyed the fact that the relationship between August and Kate was very organic and natural, it didn’t feel forced or contrived in any way. I like that there is also room for their relationship to grow and broaden especially after everything that happened!

⭐️4/5 stars highly enjoyed, super unique can’t wait to continue on in this duology!

Reviews

Edgedancer Review

October 16, 2018November 28, 2018by amyleighreads3 Comments

81SuJQI8uNL I enjoyed my time reading Edgedancer but I don’t think it is a completely necessary. It was really just kind of ok for me.

This is a continuation of the character Lift who has a small role in Words of Radiance. I think she only had a couple of chapters in the whole book. We follow on after she is captured by the darkness who has been following her for the last few months.

I like Lift as a character. I thought she was quirky and different and brought a lightheartedness to the storyline. However it was a little too slow paced for me for the first half of the novella. It’s pretty much a reread of her chapters from Words of Radiance and then the story continues and that kind of bored me a little and made me a little less invested. I did still really enjoy the introduction to the Darkness and how he is connected to the White Assassin Szeth, that was fun to connect those dots together.

I can really see the characters that are introduced in Edgedancer being highly integral to the plot in the coming books in the Stormlight Archives and I am super excited to continue on in this series with Oathbringer very soon!

⭐️3.5/5 stars I enjoyed Lift and Wyndle but wasn’t blown away by the story.

Reviews

Blue Lily, Lily Blue Review

October 15, 2018November 28, 2018by amyleighreads1 Comment

*Some Spoilers*

Blue-Lily-Lily-Blue Once again Maggie Stiefvater has taken the plot in a whole different direction to what I thought was going to happen. I honesty haven’t been able to predict anything in this series and that’s one of the qualities that I am really enjoying!

Blue Lily, Lily Blue starts about a month after Maura has disappeared underground. Blue is trying to adjust to life without her mom and the boys have renewed their attempts to try and find Glendower whilst dealing with their own personal issues in the meantime.

One thing I love about this series is how multifaceted the characters are. They all have some many layers and different sides to them that really help to convey their personalities that are all so different.

I enjoyed Blue a lot more in this book than The Dream Thieves. I thought she was a lot more vulnerable and showed a lot more emotion and anguish that we haven’t seen from her. We see her relationship with Gansey start to grow even though she knows what will become of it which is kind of exciting to read as we don’t know when or how or what will happen after so that’s keeping me on the edge of my seat throughout the book. Adam was a little up and down for me. I liked that he decided he wasn’t going to hold any grudges against Gansey and Blue and let everything go, simply because he still didn’t want to loose either of them. I thought that shown more maturity from him that we haven’t seen before. I think that has a lot to do with the Cabeswater and how much responsibility he has taken on listening and trying to interpret its needs. Ronan is showing more and more of his softer side as the series progresses. Even though he still has that hard outer shell that he wears constantly we are getting more glimpses of what I think is his true self. The caring, die-hard, loyal person I think he would have been had everything not happened with his dad. Gansey I think grew a lot more as a character in this story. He’s always been pretty well established but every now and then he displays these raw emotional scenes that really touches me. All of the scenes with him and Blue by themselves are so emotionally charged and the scene in the cave where he falls and he opens up to the rest of them was beautifully done.

There is still the end goal of finding Glendower but I find everything else that’s going on is sidetracking me. The pace of the story was a little slow in comparison to the other books. There was a really slow kind of build up to the final scene where everything was kind of jam packed in. There was a lot more intrigue in this book though and some plot twists that I definitely did not see coming! Ultimately I am deeply invested in the story and the characters, I now need to know what is going to happen next and I am excited to pick up the last book and read the conclusion.

⭐️4/5 stars I’m picking up The Raven King and reading it ASAP!

Reviews

The Dream Thieves Review

October 11, 2018November 28, 2018by amyleighreads1 Comment

*Kind of a little spoilery*

17347389 I’m getting invested!

The ley lines around Cabeswater have officially been woken and now things really seem like they are coming together in their search of the Raven King. That is until an unknown Gray Man lurks into town in search of a Greywaren and seemingly interferes with everything.

Things have really taken a turn that I absolutely did not see coming! The developments of the characters are slight but impressive. We really get to delve deeper into their motives and how each of them entwine around the plot is so entrancing. I particularly enjoyed the psychics and the role they played. Maura, Calla and Persephone are so interesting and enigmatic and how they each have a distinctive voice is wonderful. Even though they are not the main protagonists in the story they are quite vital and each have scenes that I really enjoyed that explain why they are necessary.

I think that Ronan was really the star of Dream Thieves. I like that he’s kind of unlikeable but every now and then he shows a different side of him and you can catch a glimpse of his redeemable qualities that he shields within himself. I enjoy how much we get to see about his past and what happened with his father and how that affected his relationship with his brothers and Gansey. The introduction of his powers and the connection with Cabeswater was super clever and ties things together from the last book but also establishes new questions that I need answering thus ensuring my continuation of the series (which was inevitable anyways).

I think Dream Thieves although highly entertaining and action packed was just really setting up for the next two books in the series. I highly enjoyed the read and I am surprised and intrigued about everything that has gone on in the story. But I really feel that everything is building up and the hunt is really going to be on in Blue Lily, Lily Blue and then the crescendo at the end with Raven King. I honestly have no idea what is going to happen next, but after that ending I can really see things becoming a lot more frenzied and urgent, particularly in Blue’s case.

⭐️4/5 stars literally cannot predict what’s going to happen next!