Tag: YA book

Reviews

The King of Attolia Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on The King of Attolia Review

untitledThis book was great!

Gen has managed to become the King of Attolia. Though he always maintained that he was in love with the queen and not the crown and he made his thoughts known throughout the Attolian court. Not paying attention during meeting, wandering around, acting indifferent towards the queen. Then he drags a young naïve guard into the middle of his political maneuverings. Cortis hates the king he is a staunch supporter of the Queen and feels like Eugenides has stolen the crown. Little does anyone know Gen is not someone to be trifled with and he will find a way to come out on top.

I loved the introduction of our new character Cortis. I like that he isn’t a fan of Gen and we slowly over the course of the storyline see his feelings and loyalties start to shift. I loved seeing the inner workings of the guards and attendants and how the interact with each other; the little ongoing rift between them added a nice spark to the storyline.  I thought Cortis was quite honourable and likable, he doesn’t just blindly accept rumors or speculation, even though he wants to. He sees what kind of person the King is and can’t help but grudgingly respect him.  

Gen was once again simply fantastic. I loved that we get to really see how he is portrayed through different perspectives. Because we don’t see his every move you can’t help but think something else might be going on. Nothing is really ever as it seems with Gen, he might make you think a certain way or give the impression of something but the truth is totally different. We get to see so many different sides to him in this book and he had me second guessing his character for a bit there but I knew that he had to have something up his sleeve. I like being surprised by him on a regular basis; it keeps me invested in the plot.

The whole premise and continuation of this storyline was fantastic. I think Megan Whalen Turner definitely went in the right direction and totally sets up the rest of the series beautifully. There are so many different directions the plot can go now that Gen has stepped up and finally become the true King of Attolia. Seeing all the little intricacies in his plans and how it all came together in the end was masterful. I honestly loved this book and I am very excited to continue on with this series very soon!

⭐️4/5 stars Political intrigue, plot twists and conspiracies!!! 

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Dance of Thieves

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Dance of Thieves

img_2764I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Remnant Chronicles as I gave all of the books 3 stars. There wasn’t really anything wrong with them, I just didn’t connect with the characters or the plot all that well. I did really enjoy how much the world expanded over the course of the series and the political intrigue was very interesting to read which is predominately why I decided to pick up Dance of Thieves. I think having a different set of characters with a new fresh plot has intrigued me enough that I want to read it. I also really like the premise of having a reformed master thief, it really keeps the stakes high and makes for more of a fast paced book which is more my style. Also this cover is absolutely beautiful, one of the prettiest on my shelves that’s for sure.

Happy Reading📚

Reviews

The Wicked King Review

by amyleighreads2 Comments on The Wicked King Review

26032887Similar to my experience reading The Cruel Prince, I just didn’t really gel to this book.

Its five months into Cardan’s reign and Jude has been running the kingdom under the guise of his Seneschal. With Cardan under her command she has complete control over the land and is finding it difficult to manage. Cardan is finding ways to undermine her orders and she has to circumvent many plots against the throne, her life as well as her king’s.

Jude again really got on my nerves in this book. I don’t know what it is about her but I can’t seem to warm to her. I thought she was a lot more thoughtful in her planning and processes in this book, but her lack of modesty in the sense that she feels like she’s untouchable just grates me. Like the fact that she’s warned time again to have a guard with her at all times and she rides off to Madoc’s property by herself and gets ambushed. She is told that someone she trusts has betrayed her by a Fae who cannot lie and all she does is speculate as to who it might be, she doesn’t actively try to pin point who… Little things like that where she thinks she is smarter than everyone else and can do things on her own. I enjoy a strong, powerful female protagonist who doesn’t need a man beside her to help her but Jude is on the other side of the spectrum to the point where I don’t care what happens to her. Every bad decision she makes that results in something bad happening to her I think well she deserved it.

The pace of the book was a little off for me as well. I found the first half of the book to be very slow but it did pick up towards the tail end of the story. Around the last 100 pages or so I did actually enjoy the plot and how things were unraveling but it took too long to get there. There were a few twists in the plot that I liked and piqued my interests, but they were too few and far between to keep me thoroughly entertained and intrigued.

I just think maybe this series isn’t for me right now. If you read The Cruel Prince and liked it you are probably going to really like The Wicked King. I tried The Cruel Prince and thought it was just ok and now I’ve read The Wicked King and again it’s not my cup of tea, I don’t know yet if I’m going to pick up the next book in this series…

⭐️2.75/5 unfortunately this book/series just isn’t for me…

Reviews

Flame in the Mist Review

by amyleighreads2 Comments on Flame in the Mist Review

23308087I really loved this book!

Marika is on her way to the imperial city to meet with her betrothed. A marriage her father a prominent samurai arranged for her as she had known would happen her whole life. On the road her convoy is attacked by the Black Clan, a rogue group of bandits, who’ve been hired to kill Marika. As the lone survivor Marika makes the decision to take her life into her own hands, track down the Black Clan and find out who wants her dead.

I really enjoyed Marika’s character. She wasn’t naïve or overly innocent and immature which I kind of don’t like in female protagonists. I thought she was quite forthright and speculative and unwilling to bend. She asks questions, she wants to be informed, she doesn’t want to be in the dark or unaware and she pushes for information. Her growth over the course of the book was great to read. She has decided she doesn’t want any man to make decisions for her. She is in charge of her own destiny. I also really liked how self-aware she became towards the end of the story. She understood how much she overlooked as the daughter of a samurai and how skewed her perception of the world and those around her were.

At first I didn’t find any of the members of the black clan to be likeable. I didn’t really connect with any of them until around the half-way point of the book. When they decided to trust Marika and we got a few more details about who they are and what they are doing and that’s really when I started to be more invested.

I loved reading about the backstory of Ranmaru and Okami. Everything about their father’s and the emperor and how it wove together into the plotline was beautiful. I loved that their friendship was based on loyalty and honour. You could really get a feel for the lengths that they would go to protect each other and the rest of the Black Clan.

I love that this book is so unique and different culturally, learning about the samurai’s and the different clans in the empire. Seeing the political manipulations of the emperor and his son’s and how they interact with others around them. How the plot unfolded and the way the characters interacted kept me highly entertained. Though there were passages at the start where it got a little boring and I was skimming a few paragraphs but overall the actual story was fantastic!

⭐️4.5/5 Twists and turns, samurai’s and sword fights!

Reviews

To all the Boys I’ve Loved Before Review

by amyleighreads3 Comments on To all the Boys I’ve Loved Before Review

item_xl_8917056_9117895I liked it, I didn’t love it….

This book follows the story of Lara Jean, she is a quiet, shy girl who wrote a letter for each of the guys that she had crush on. Unfortunately somehow the letters got mailed and she now has to face the consequences.

For the first half of the book Lara Jean kind of got on my nerves. She read a little younger than what I was expecting to be quite honest and she was a little too naïve for my liking. She kind of grew on me the second half of the story though, when obstacles started propping up and she was finding herself in the middle of various problems she has never had to deal with before I thought she worked her way out of things well and stood her ground.

I loved Chris. I thought her character contrasted with Lara Jean perfectly. The fact that they has so much in common back in middle school yet Chris evolved and rebelled and they somehow still remained friends was a nice element to the plot. I liked the fact that she wasn’t always around all the time but she still made an appearance at crucial moments in the plot to have Lara Jean’s back, which made me really like her. She is unaffected by what people think of her and she is true to herself which I think are pretty decent characteristics.

Peter and Josh I haven’t quite made up my mind yet between the two. I like the separate relationships they share with Lara Jean and how the counteract. I like that we see so many different sides to the two characters and I felt they differed enough from each other to be distinguishable. I just don’t have a distinct favourite of the two though, they both had there cute and obnoxious moments so I’m not convinced on either just yet.

I love the relationship that Lara Jean has with her family though. I thought they were very supportive and open with one another. Her father in particular I really liked! I thought he was present in her life without being too overbearing and really wants her to experience high school, which I found super endearing.

It was a cute, light, fluffy contemporary with just the right amount of conflict and cringe to keep me entertained.

⭐️3.75 I just need Lara Jean to be a little bit more self-assertive!