Quick Catch-Up Review

I’ve read a lot since Daughter of Smoke and Bone but just haven’t really been up to writing too much about any of them. They didn’t strike me too much other than Looking for Alibrandi and I’m sure I have notes stashed somewhere but here’s a quick catch-up on my recently read books!

Finished up all of Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander series, other than the last book since it seems it doesn’t really have much to do with the overall series. Actually, only about four of the books had anything to do with the Fever series. The others, very loosely based just off the Highlanders.  Really loved it overall. Romance, action and shady darkness. Though often times, it’s the same exact plot, no?  I went back to reread part of FEVER just so I could catch glimpses of Christian’s Uncles… I don’t like rereading too much, but I had to!

Slowly reading through Melina Marchetta’s bibliography and finished Looking for Alibrandi. Lovely. There’s such raw realness whenever I read her characters and even more so when it’s regular teenage angst. But it’s so much more. I can’t really begin to explain how much I enjoyed it.  This isn’t a page turner but just another wonderfully woven story by Ms. Marchetta. I’m only disappointed that I’m slowly finishing up reading everything she’s written. Sad.

Dark Skye by Kresley Cole. It’s what we’ve come to expect from Ms. Cole and her Immortal After Dark series. It’s fun, the couple has chemistry and there must be something they must overcome and achieve all while the plot moves through the Ascension.

 
Beautiful Ashes by Jeaniene Frost was a disappointment. The premise is there and it’s interesting but at the same time, it feels done in the scheme of paranormal romance novels. Even the insta-lust that’s frequently used seems meh. Between Adrian and … the girl who’s name escapes me now, it’s supposed to be taboo and sexy but it’s neither. Adrian is interesting and even the girl but … something’s missing.

Night’s Honor by Thea Harrison had me worried that a new pair, one who we aren’t familiar with would turn me off of series but it was nicely written.  The relationship developed and blossomed. But with so much of the plot wrapped around that, the action was slightly neglected this time around and delegated to bickering of the Vampire council and quickly wrapped up toward the end.

Anita Blake. My go-to when I haven’t researched any new books to read and it’s there. Flirt was at least a story with a basic plot.  Bullet was a free for all shit show of fake eroticism and metaphysicalness that just barfed all over itself. Yeah…. I read it because shit. I DON’T KNOW WHY. It’s there. It’s cute man characters that I’m used to.

Curio by Cara McKenna. Oh snap. Erotica! Now while I realize once I got to the end, this book is considered erotica, it was very charming and heart felt. Strange I would use that to describe it but the relationship between Caroly and Didier was like a soft caress. They explored each other sensuously, languorously both physically and emotionally. And as I’m used to pseudo emotional angst of male characters, Didier problems seemed real and horrifying all at once. It was a very frank and honest look into a relationship.  Honestly I enjoyed it a lot and I have to admit that I actually skipped a bit just so I could find out what happened at the end.

I’d Follow You Melina, I’d Follow

Book Review: The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta
Rating: 4/5

Well there goes my moment of Ah Ha! Damn. And here I though I was so clever, I figured it out. That Saving Francesca was as much about her own depression as it was her mother’s. Duh.

Ok onto Piper’s Son.  I haven’t figured out if there’s a deeper hidden underlying reason for this title yet. And I probably never will. It’s just really “My Father’s Son”, no? The father son dynamic trickling down from the original Tom Finch to our Tom, Bill to his stepson and Tom Finch to Dominic, the son he’ll never know, and in turn Dominic’s abandonment from our Tom.

This was yet another wonderful book by Melina Marchetta. The ties that bind families and friends are often emotional, sometimes silly but difficult and uncomfortable. Relationships are work.

I was super excited but late in discovering the follow up to Saving Francesca. The boys were the standout characters for me and I’m impressed with how they’ve grown but somehow remained the same. I’m glad I’ve caught up in their lives like an old friend having missed a few get togethers but now finally reunited. The only one I’m missing now is Jimmy Hailer. Where are you?

I’m not very used to reading books about nothing, no zombies, no apocalypse threat, no sexy badass characters, no impending curse upon the entire kingdom.  This book isn’t about nothing though, the family dynamic and the uncomfortable but relatable situations are what make it. The realness is what humbles the experience because it’s a sense déjà vu.

Melina Marchetta has an exceptional skill to write characters who are emotionally strong yet fragile. And I love them all.

I’ll be here like an old friend waiting to catch up. I’m waiting for you Jimmy.

Really, Francesca WAS Saved

Book Review: Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Rating: 3/5 – I liked it and it was a sweet short read but not omg earth-shattering.

After I finished this book, I thought well, it was ok but I don’t see what was that great about it. Now after a week or two, looking back I can appreciate it that much more. Everything felt authentic, through the eyes of a teenaged girl. I’ve been there. In fact I’ve been her. I loved all the small things, all the things that reminded me of my own teenage experiences: camp, tuba guy (I had my own but he was the Fruit Stand Guy) and learning our parents were in fact only human.

Melina Marchetta as this unique ability to shape characters that are so tangible that we feel we know them intimately. Honestly though, I think the boys were the ones who shined the brightest. They were so vague, awkward, frustrating and funny. The interactions between the boys and girls definitely rang true with adolescence.

My biggest issue was that it was too short. We get a small glimpse into their lives, we’re drawn in but I don’t feel fulfilled. Francesca hasn’t grown through this short span. She’s saved, perhaps from her own thinly veiled depression (or is it regular teenage angst that I’m looking too much into) but we don’t know the outcome. Though I’m glad we’ve ended on a sense of there are better and brighter days ahead.

Update: 5 mins later…
WHAT – there is another BOOK!!! Well close enough to a continuation that I feel fulfilled and much happier about the book above. Ah, I’m a little slow on the Melina Marchetta train…

Are you Mad?

Book Review: Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta
Rating: 4/5

I do not like Quintana. The book yes, the girl no. Unlike Finnikin of the Rock and Froi of the Exiles, where the book features the titled character, Quintana of Charyn focuses on telling it’s tale through the eyes of both Charynites and Lumeterans.  In fact, I am surprised at the lack of Quintana here. Instead, we follow Froi’s quest to protect his love and his future. We learn that a Queen is not unlike a commoner, though her resolve is that much more fierce.We fall in love through a stubborn man’s heart. We hate the mad princess but understand and begrudgingly protect her.  We hope that everything will work out in the end, a happy ending for everyone we’ve come to care about. We believe in love. The series really boils down to this, to the love and loyalty of all the characters.

Ah, there is so much to say about this book and this series. I devoured it, needing and desperately hoping to find that peace and happy ending for Froi. This boy who is not the same boy at all from the beginning. This boy who really came to become the central and main figure of everything. All the characters, all the strings and lives that were so woven together was perfect. The only thing amiss would be that I didn’t fully understand since it was not addressed was the King of Charyn. He was always but a shadow, a vile man who’s motivation we will never know. Sadly this was the one thing that while my mind could gloss over most holes because the STORY was so wonderful, kind of gnawed at me.

Like the first two books of the series, Marchetta has written a story that wrings us through the full gamut of emotions here. I’m sad that this is done. Can we not get some sort of continuation – like the second generation… or.. something? Please?

Froi? Is That You?

Book Review: Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta
Rating: 4/ 5

How do you redeem a character so vile in the eyes of readers? By rewriting him, that’s how. It’s now three years later and Froi is not the same boy we knew. He can speak, he is learned and he is now loved. The darkness begins to ebb until it is no longer. Froi is not Froi – and I wish the darkness that’s in him hasn’t vanished so completely but I suppose a series of events as action packed as this book has would change anyone.

The story, the story is spectacular. If nothing else we get a story that is rich with characters big in personality. The setting has now switched from Lumatere to Charyn as we learn that Lumatere was not the only kingdom suffering in mysterious ways.  Froi journeys to Charyn and brings about a rebirth of another kingdom. It is on this journey, so rife with savagery that he finds his past and his future.

Much like the first book, I was moved in so many ways. It’s not always awe and enchantment but rather disgust and confusion but it is definitely a story I could not put down!

Random Notes:
I do no like Quintana, it is hard to relate to her. Hard to picture the life she has had, which is a horribly sad life. Sometimes it makes you wonder if all these horrible things that has been alluded to are necessary. I suppose they are but… I just don’t know.

How can Froi be so different? Where is the internal struggle, the darkness that we come to expect from him?!

Finnikin & Isaboe have matured and their love/relationship shows – which is a nice little update since the last book. 

Book Review: Finnikin of the Rock

This was a wonderful read that I enjoyed immensely. I generally don’t read fantasy (I hated the Hobbit though in my defense it’s hard to enjoy assigned reading when you’re in school). The story was brilliant – it was told so well and so thoroughly that any argument to validity in certain situations could be overlooked. I can overlook the fact that this book relies heavily on waving the goddess stick, if it is so then it must be her will.

I LOVE, love, love journey quests. I now realize that all of my most favorite books involved protagonists on a quest and along the way find love and family. That by the way was the most simplified summary of a book I’ve ever done – that one sentence right there.

What worked so seamlessly here was the love that unfurled. Too many times recently have I read a book where it was a romance book with other paranormal/ fantasy elements thrown in. It’s like an identity crisis, it knew not what it wanted to be. Finnikin of the Rock IS a fantasy book but the love is so ferocious, it becomes such a main point in the following books.

This is an amazing start to the series. You experience a full range of emotions when reading this: sorrow, horror, despair, hope, and love. That’s what made this brilliant.

Random Notes:
Was this always meant to be a trilogy? It certainly could have read as a standalone.

Some reviews have mentioned Evanjalin to be pushy and manipulative which is true but I see that called out far less with male characters. Can we not think of her as willful and driven? She is after all doing what needs to be done to put her kingdom back together. She who indeed has a lot at stake.

Check out my review illustration here: [Click memememe]

Book Review Illustration: Finnikin of the Rock

Tried to incorporate a lil color in my doodles.  Testing out new styles…
View more book review illustrations here!