Book Labyrinth: trilogy

Showing posts with label trilogy. Show all posts

June 2, 2015

Lion Heart Blog Tour: Guest Post from A.C. Gaughen

Lion Heart by A.C. Gaughen
Release Date: May 19, 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Pages: 348
Series: Scarlet #3

Synopsis:

Scarlet has captured the hearts of readers as well as the heart of Robin Hood, and after ceaseless obstacles and countless threats, readers will finally find out the fate of the Lady Thief.

Imprisoned by Prince John for months, Scarlet finds herself a long way from Nottinghamshire. After a daring escape from the Prince's clutches, she learns that King Richard’s life is in jeopardy, and Eleanor of Aquitaine demands a service Scarlet can’t refuse: spy for her and help bring Richard home safe. But fate—and her heart—won’t allow her to stay away from Nottinghamshire for long, and together, Scarlet and Rob must stop Prince John from going through with his dark plans for England. They can not rest until he’s stopped, but will their love be enough to save them once and for all?

How I Spent My Summer Vacation by A.C. Gaughen

Let’s break it down!

Writing
FIRST, the week of June 8th, I’ll be heading down to New York to start the Boldly Bookish tour! I’m rocking out with Tiffany Schmidt, Trish Doller and Emery Lord, and I’m basically expecting it to be a five-city sleep over. That’s what grown ups do, right?

After that, I’ll have time off this summer--I’ve been working as a teaching fellow for the past year, so that means I get to write—all the time! Which is pretty fantastic, because as soon as I get home from tour, I’m diving into revisions for TERRA, the first book in my new Elementae series that my editor at Bloomsbury just acquired. The first book will be out in 2017, so I need to get cracking!

Life Stuff
I’m hearing wedding bells in surround sound this year. Launch week is also the week of my third of seven weddings this year, but it is by far the most special—my older brother is getting married! So right after launch I’m resting my toes to get ready to dance the whole weekend away. Then I have another wedding in July, and it’s formal so I get to wear a long, pretty dress! Then I can relax until the next wedding in September. Plus Fourth of July and fun stuff in the sun (ok, under a hat and an umbrella and counting the minutes until I’m in the water or air conditioning).

But yes, in general, my summers consist of hiding from the sun, looking like a lobster no matter what I do, and hanging out on a boat (when I’m not jumping off the boat with my rascally, water-lovin’ goldendoodle Lucy!).

Thanks for sharing, Annie! I wish the Boldly Bookish tour was coming near me, because it sounds like it will be awesome. Speaking of awesome, Terra sounds absolutely epic. Everyone, you can add it to Goodreads here.

About A.C.:

I am shamelessly addicted to staying up far too late (it feels like stealing time), diet coke (it burns so good), Scotland (stupid country stole my heart and won't give it back. Interpol has been ineffective for prosecution) and thieves (so I guess I'm not that mad at Scotland).

Where to find A.C.:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Giveaway:

Prizes = 3 complete sets of the SCARLET series. US Only. Copies will be sent out from the publisher at the end of the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

April 16, 2015

The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
Release Date: March 3, 2015
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Pages: 402
Series: The Winner's Trilogy #2
Review Source: eARC from publish through Raincoast Books

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement... if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

My Thoughts:
The Winner’s Crime is an intense sequel to The Winner’s Curse and it is so, so good. It’s very much a second book, in that things don't get resolved, more problems arise, and there's definitely not any happy shipping moments. Despite this, the plot moves forward beautifully and the emotional intensity was at a high for the the whole book.

Kestrel is determined to keep Arin safe by keeping him out of the loop. She plays a very dangerous game, loving Arin and wanting to help him (and his people, by extension), while under the watch of the emperor and the threat of her father. This book is full of courtly intrigue and Kestrel's extreme intelligence in doing everything she can for Arin without him knowing and without getting caught. I would have liked to see Kestrel and Arin working together, but I get why things were the way they were.

In this second book we also see how Arin's people, the Herrani, are surviving and what the Valorians are doing to another people in the east. There’s so much evilness in this empire that is always wanting to expand.

I can’t stop using the word intense to describe this book, because it’s such a perfect descriptor. My stomach was in knots almost the whole time reading The Winner’s Crime. Marie Rutkoski is such a talented writer. Her words are beautiful, and she does an amazing job at portraying the subjugated and the subjugators in a slave based empire. I can’t even explain how highly I recommend this series, and I am on pins and needles waiting for the arrival of the third book (which will hopefully have some happier moments in it!).

The Cover:
Like!

Rating:

March 12, 2014

The Worlds We Make by Megan Crewe

The Worlds We Make by Megan Crewe
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 288
Series: Fallen World #3
Review Source: Netgalley

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

The virus has taken away Kaelyn’s friends, her family, her home.

And now a deadly enemy threatens to take the one hope she has left: THE CURE.

When Kaelyn and her friends reached Toronto with a vaccine for the virus that has ravaged the population, they thought their journey was over. But now they're being tracked by the Wardens, a band of survivors as lethal as the virus who are intent on stealing the vaccine no matter what the cost.

Forced onto the road again, Kaelyn and her companions discover the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta is their best hope for finding scientists who can reproduce the vaccine. But with the virus already spreading among them, the Wardens hot on their trail, and hundreds of miles to cross, Kaelyn finds herself compromising her morals to keep her group alive. Her conscience seems a small price to pay if protects them and their precious cargo. Unless even that is not enough...

In the final installment in Megan Crewe’s captivating the Fallen World trilogy, Kaelyn is on the run from her biggest adversaries yet. While she continues to face horrific loss, her resolve is still strong. But to survive this shattered world, will she have to sacrifice all that's left of the girl she was?

My Thoughts:
The Worlds We Make, the conclusion to the Fallen World trilogy, is a book filled with tough decisions, harsh realities, and heartbreaking situations. But don’t let that scare you away, because this book, out of the three, definitely has the most hopeful tone, despite its dark edges.

Kaelyn is a character who I definitely admire. She always seems to find the determination to go on, no matter how difficult her situation is. I really love her strength and how she cares for other people. Kaelyn is an intelligent and empathetic young woman, someone who has had to make tough decisions and do things that aren't pretty, but who ultimately wants to do right by people. She always sticks to her goal of ending the virus by getting her late father’s vaccine to the right people. This requires making huge choices, but I so loved seeing Kaelyn realize that she has the power to shape the world into a place where she wants to live.

Megan Crewe is a very powerful writer. You can really feel the frustrations and hopes and all of the things that the characters are feeling and experiencing. This book, like the others, really looks into the nuances of human behaviour, examining the type of things you'll do to survive. There’s also heart pounding action alongside these philosophical musings, as this book focuses on Kaelyn and her group trying to avoid those who aim to hurt them.

At the end of the book I felt like some things were a tad open ended, but the way the trilogy ended still felt very right. There was definitely enough closure and a “happy for now” type of ending, or at least “at peace for now”. This is such an interesting and thought provoking trilogy, and I'd definitely recommend it to all YA fans.

The Cover:
Like it.

Rating:

March 10, 2014

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Pages: 355
Series: The Winner's Trilogy #1
Review Source: eARC from publisher through Raincoast Books

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

My Thoughts:
There’s been a huge amount of hype for this book for months now, so it definitely means something when I say that I adored The Winner’s Curse. So often books with hype fail to impress me, but this one most definitely did. The characters are so interesting and layered, and the plot was one that grabbed me from the beginning. I was intrigued by the world building and the situation in place (one nation’s people being the victors and the oppressors, the other’s the subjugated and enslaved).

While this book is about so much more than romance, I couldn’t help but adore the delicious slow burn tension between Kestrel and Arin. What they have (or what they could have, really) is completely forbidden. Neither of them should care for the other, but there’s this sense of understanding between them: they can really see each other. I think what I loved most about Kestrel and Arin's relationship is that it's very much about the emotions and connection between them. Their potential is all about these deep epic feelings they’re battling, and not about a mysterious physical connection, like so many other books feature.

While the evolving relationship between Kestrel and Arin is at the heart of the book, The Winner’s Curse is also primarily a book about freedom and choice (or lack thereof). It focuses on the cost of victory (hence the term “the winner’s curse”), and about our personal roles in a larger conflict. This book is deliciously written. I almost can’t remember the last time I was so swept away in a book’s world right from the beginning. So much happens in this first book, and Marie Rutkowski takes readers to a place where we’re satisfied with the ending (aka it’s not the type of book that just randomly stops), but we’re still incredibly excited to see what will happen next.

The Cover:
Gorgeousssss!

Rating:

March 3, 2014

Three by Kristen Simmons

Three by Kristen Simmons
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 384
Series: Article 5 #3
Review Source: eARC from publisher through Raincoast Books

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Ember Miller and Chase Jennings are ready to stop running. After weeks spent in hiding as two of the Bureau of Reformation’s most wanted criminals, they have finally arrived at the safe house, where they hope to live a safe and quiet existence.

And all that’s left is smoking ruins.

Devastated by the demolition of their last hope, Ember and Chase follow the only thing left to them—tracks leading away from the wreckage. The only sign that there may have been survivors.

With their high profile, they know they can’t stay out in the open for long. They take shelter in the wilderness and amidst the ruins of abandoned cities as they follow the tracks down the coast, eventually finding refugees from the destroyed safe house. Among them is someone from Chase’s past—someone he never thought he’d see again.

Banding together, they search for a place to hide, aiming for a settlement a few of them have heard about…a settlement that is rumored to house the nebulous organization known as Three. The very group that has provided Ember with a tiny ray of hope ever since she was first forced on the run.

Three is responsible for the huge network of underground safe houses and resistance groups across the country. And they may offer Ember her only chance at telling the world her story.

At fighting back.

My Thoughts:
Kristen Simmons concludes her fabulous Article 5 trilogy with a book full of incredibly high stakes. It seems like there’s danger and risk for the main characters at every turn, which made for an awesome, but nerve wracking, read.

Ember has come so far from the first book. There’s a real transformation in her character that is documented throughout the series. She’s brave and strong, but she also questions who she is: the person she was versus who she's become. Ember struggles a bit, not feeling entirely comfortable with the things that she's done personally and the things that she's accepted because of the situations they’ve been in.

I absolutely loved the interactions between Ember and Chase, the fact that they stayed strong and recognized how they're so much better together, but that there were still moments of tension between them. Chase is such an interesting character, and I adore him as a love interest. He’s a great guy, but he’s not that “perfect” character. Chase struggles sometimes, and he doesn’t always like sharing about his problems. Chase is this completely tough macho soldier type, but he’s also so much more than that. He has panic attacks, and he doesn’t like fighting, even though that’s what he’s good at. He’s strong and desirable, but he has a tough time dealing emotionally with the things that he’s done.

The beginning of Three is a teensy bit slow. It’s not that I found it boring at all, but I wanted more action and less sitting around and talking about what to do. Very quickly this changed and the book became extremely exciting, with crazy reveals and hold your breath type of action. Overall I thought this was a completely perfect end to the trilogy. It didn’t wrap everything in a bow with a magical solution, but neither did it leave you hanging with some far off hope like how another certain dystopian trilogy did. The end of Three leaves off with the main characters in a good place, giving the reader even more hope for the greater political situation. This was such a great book, and I really can’t recommend this trilogy highly enough.

The Cover:
Not my favourite, but I like how the three books look together.

Rating:

January 11, 2014

Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau

Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau
Release Date: January 7, 2014
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages: 310
Series: The Testing #2
Review Source: Edelweiss

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

In the series debut The Testing, sixteen-year-old Cia Vale was chosen by the United Commonwealth government as one of the best and brightest graduates of all the colonies . . . a promising leader in the effort to revitalize postwar civilization.

In Independent Study, Cia is a freshman at the University in Tosu City with her hometown sweetheart, Tomas—and though the government has tried to erase her memory of the brutal horrors of The Testing, Cia remembers. Her attempts to expose the ugly truth behind the government’s murderous programs put her—and her loved ones—in a world of danger. But the future of the Commonwealth depends on her.

My Thoughts:
Note: This review contains some spoilers for Book 1, The Testing.

I very much enjoyed The Testing, so I was anxious to see what would happen in Independent Study. Thankfully this book was just as exciting as the first.

I love how these books are so action packed and yet they’re very internal. You really get inside Cia’s head and see how she thinks, what her process is, and what she feels. Not every book is like that, and I really appreciate it here, where you’re never sure exactly who to trust.

While the first book focused on the tests to get into the university, now Cia and her classmates are at the uni, but that doesn’t mean that The Testing has ended. Instead there’s a new type of initiation in order to be placed in an assigned field of study. The book features new obstacles and new potential enemies, while Cia still continues to deal with the old ones.

A large part of this book is Cia adapting to her new reality. As we saw at the end of The Testing, she doesn’t have full memories of what happened during The Testing, and has to rely on her own recorded memories to tell her what happened. She doesn’t want to believe that all those bad things happened, but increasing evidence and some recovered memories show her just how corrupt The Testing administrators are, and how the university runs much the same way.

I enjoyed watching Cia support the rebels by doing her own investigations. She’s a very logical and intelligent person, so having her trust her instincts and both fail and succeed in certain areas was interesting. I enjoyed the scavenger hunt type of induction that Cia and her classmates had to endure to enter their faculty, as well as the look at what the uni classes and internships were like. While there was definitely less of a romance in this book compared to the first, I didn’t feel like it was lacking in any way. I liked what we saw of Toma and Cia interacting, and how their relationship evolved under the circumstances.

As I said, this was such an exciting book, just as enthralling as the first. I love how Hunger Games-esque this series is in terms of theme, while still bringing completely unique things to the table, with the characters and the circumstances. I’m quite excited to see where things end up in Book 3, Graduation Day.

The Cover:
Like! (Though once again I think the UK cover is way more kick ass)

Rating:

October 24, 2013

Horde by Ann Aguirre

Horde by Ann Aguirre
Release Date: October 29, 2013
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 432
Series: Razorland Trilogy #3
Review Source: eARC from publisher through Raincoast Books

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
The epic conclusion to the USA Today bestselling trilogy.

The horde is coming.

Salvation is surrounded, monsters at the gates, and this time, they're not going away. When Deuce, Fade, Stalker and Tegan set out, the odds are against them. But the odds have been stacked against Deuce from the moment she was born. She might not be a Huntress anymore, but she doesn't run. With her knives in hand and her companions at her side, she will not falter, whether fighting for her life or Fade's love.

Ahead, the battle of a lifetime awaits. Freaks are everywhere, attacking settlements, setting up scouts, perimeters, and patrols. There hasn't been a war like this in centuries, and humans have forgotten how to stand and fight. Unless Deuce can lead them.

This time, however, more than the fate of a single enclave or outpost hangs in the balance. This time, Deuce carries the banner for the survival of all humanity.

My Thoughts:
This book is incredibly intense, a completely action-packed conclusion to the Razorland trilogy. I’ve enjoyed this series from the beginning, but this was definitely my favourite installment. There was a little bit of everything (action, character development, romance), and it concluded the series perfectly.

Horde features a lot of time at war. What I enjoyed (“enjoyed” being an odd word, but I’ll go with it) so much is that there real consequences and that war was never glorified. There were injuries and there were losses, and while it was sad, it was also real. Similarly, there are scenes where Deuce describes the bone tiredness she feels in long battle. Despite her skills, she’s not perfect, and she needs help from Fade or from others at times. Everything was all the more real, because Deuce is a strong and mighty character, but she’s also not invincible. I just loved how that was shown, making the book feel more real and the character more relatable.

Deuce has grown as a character throughout the trilogy, but it really shows in this book. She starts out as a Huntress, prizing the fight over anything else, but she’s learned to value people: to build a family and accept love. This book, and this series, is her journey as a warrior, but also as a person and a woman. Deuce has learned what bravery and fighting are all about. She no longer fights for glory or for the sake of fighting, but she fights for a peaceful future for her and her family.

On the romance end of things, I totally forgot how much I ship Deuce and Fade. You might not expect to find such a swoonworthy romance in a series about zombies, but these two love each other something fierce, and they are so lovely together. Horde shows such an awesome progression of their relationship.

What this book needed to really succeed was answers about the Muties, and Ann Aguirre provides them in spades. There’s a lot of discussion throughout the book about how the Muties are changing, and why they are the way they are. There are also some revelations which were definitely surprising, yet still made sense.

This book definitely wraps up the trilogy so well. I really loved how there was a happy and hopeful ending after all the misery the characters went through, but that there was also loss and a sense of the bittersweet. It left you in a good place, but it didn’t feel unrealistic. The one thing I’m not sure about is the epilogue. On the one hand it was kind of nice and sweet, but on the other hand it felt a bit cheesy and not really necessary. Either way, I am such a fan of this series, and I’m so grateful and happy that Horde was the strongest and most epic of the three books. I love when the last book of a series can remind me why I fell for the characters and the plot to begin with, and then make me want to read the series all over again, and that definitely happened here.

The Cover:
So freaky!! I like it, though.

Rating:

[5/5]

Purchase Links:
Book Depository | Chapters-Indigo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble