Review: Falling Kingdoms

Book One of the Falling Kingdoms series
By Morgan Rhodes
Available now from Razorbill (Penguin)
Review copy
Part of the 2012 Breathless Reads

I love high fantasy epics.  I mean, people have written pages upon pages about the problems of Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, George R. R. Martin's, et al's style and while all of that criticism has a point, it doesn't matter for me. 

I love fat, bloated fantasy that is grandiose and full of melodrama.  Gimme secret children, incest, betrayal, political intrigue, loving descriptions of servant number five's uniform any day of the week.

Thus, I expected to love FALLING KINGDOMS.  As you've probably discerned by now, I didn't.  One of the big problems for me was the structure.  The book cycles through several points of view - at least five - which isn't inherently bad, but I never really connected with any of the narrators.  They're living in a crappy world that forces them to make tough decisions, but I wasn't feeling their anguish.  These are teenagers who are instrumental in pushing their countries from peace to the brink of war!  And yet, they all felt like small people.  They were all sort of mopey in the same way, aside from Jonas, who was also righteously angry.

FALLING KINGDOMS also felt oh-so-predictable.  Morgan Rhodes is obviously taking more after the model of Martin than Jordan, but part of what makes A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones so much fun is when it subverts genre expectations.  Look, as I pointed out in my intro, I love the tropes and style of high fantasy.  But FALLING KINGDOMS didn't seem like it was having fun with them.  It just sort of lurched through unhappy set pieces.  All the grimdarkness and angst beat me down.

I have high expectations for the titles Penguin Teen names as Breathless Reads.  I've enjoyed almost all of them, even when I didn't expect too.  FALLING KINGDOMS didn't even come close to leaving me breathless.  More like a sad sigh of frustration that I was in North Dakota and it was the last book I'd taken with me that I hadn't read.

I do recommend Morgan Rhodes' books as Michelle Rowan.  Honestly, I never thought I would say one of her books wasn't fun. 

Review: Black City

Book One of the Black City Chronicles
By Elizabeth Richards
Available now from Putnam (Penguin)
Review copy
Part of the Fall 2012 Breathless Reads Campaign

I watch True Blood an entire season at a time.  My dad Tivos the episodes for me, then I watch them all when I go to visit him. Thus instead of watching season five this summer, I watched it shortly before reading BLACK CITY.  One of the points made repeatedly was the humans outnumbered vampires enough to destroy them all if it came to war, even though the vampires are stronger and faster.  Then I read BLACK CITY, where the vampires (called Darklings) are all living in a ghetto, having been defeated and quarantined by the humans. 

How do you keep the Darklings to stay quietly behind a wall?  How do you keep them fed, since it wouldn't be well received to let a defeated people starve to death?  What do you do about the plague racing through the population?  What do you do about the children of half-human, half-Darkling heritage?  These are all questions the heavily religion-influenced government would prefer the population not think about.

Ash Fisher has to think about it because he's a twin blood, living with his human father and letting humans get high on the drug that is his blood because there's no other way he can make money.  Natalie Buchanan has to think about it because she's the daughter of the Emissary, the head of the local government who is struggling for control with Purian Rose, local religious leader.  They also have to think about it because they fall in love - and human and Darkling relationships are illegal.

I must praise Elizabeth Richards for putting both vampires and a love triangle in her debut and doing something very different with them.  Seriously, this is one very inventive twist on the love triangle and I can't wait to see how it plays out in PHOENIX and other subsequent installments of the Black City Chronicles.  And her vampires have an interesting mythology.  They have their own legends, funeral rites, and other culture.  They're willing to do tough things in order to endure and eventually overcome.  Richards also throws in some genetic manipulation via mad science, and ya'll know I'm always up for mad science.

BLACK CITY is a fast-paced, and indeed breathless, read.  I fell in love with the story from the first chapter, where Ash's meeting with a client goes very wrong.  And I didn't fall out of love at any point.  I'm intrigued by the world Richards has created and want Ash and Natalie to make it, even if I do have to laugh at some of their more dramatic gestures of love.  BLACK CITY is an intense, original novel and I cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel.  I have to know what happens!

Review: Venom

Book One of the Secrets of the Eternal Rose trilogy
By Fiona Paul
Available now from Philomel (Penguin)
Review copy
Part of the Fall 2012 Breathless Reads

VENOM endeared itself to me immediately.  The plot is set into motion when Cassandra Caravello's best friend dies.  She goes to her mausoleum and finds that her body is gone, replaced by that of a murdered prostitute.  In the graveyard, she also runs into a boy named Falco, who perhaps helps her escape the murderer.

Oh, but back the immediate endearment.  Cass's dead friend is Liviana, which is one of the names I based my pseudonym on.   How could I not love this book?  It's set in Venice, which is one of real cities that makes a great fictional setting.  Clandestine meetings on boats are clearly better than clandestine meeting in dirty alleys that probably stink of human waste.  And Fiona Paul pays attention to her setting.  Cass, living in Renaissance Italy, isn't as free as many heroines.  She must maintain her reputation and marry the fiance her late parents chose for her.  Her romance with Falco and desire to find the murderer lead her to risk ending up on the streets.  The stakes are high for Cass even if the murderer doesn't catch on to her investigation.

I'm most amazed that Paul managed to make me like Falco.  Let's face it, Cass met him in a graveyard shortly after finding a recently dumped body.  That's suspicious.  I was suspicious of him, and thankfully Cass was too.  As Cass came to believe his explanation for his presence, I came to believe he was at least not a killer.  (Hey, he was still clearly up to something.)

The only real weakness I can think of in VENOM is that there isn't much about the Eternal Rose society.  The series name is "Secrets of the Eternal Rose," but there aren't many secrets on display in VENOM.  The society doesn't even come into play until very late in the novel.  But I can deal with the fact that VENOM is just setting up the main plot for the trilogy since the mystery plot is very involving.

Cass doesn't forget that she's in danger, or that other women are in danger.  She keeps her focus on finding clues.  And she is useful to the investigation - she finds out information that the more street-savvy Falco fails to obtain.  Although there were romantic interludes, they didn't overwhelm the mystery.  Cass doesn't spend two hundred pages mooning over Falco and her fiance while forgetting that there's a serial killer on the loose.  (Not that she uses the term serial killer due to the setting.)

VENOM is lush and absorbing.  It certainly kept me distracted while I read it.  I expected it to take a couple of days since it was slightly thick and I was very busy, but I devoured VENOM in a single sitting. I would read more historical fiction if it were all like this.

Review: Origin

By Jessica Khoury
Available now from Razorbill (Penguin)
Review copy
Part of the Fall 2012 Breathless Reads

ORIGIN is a science fiction novel that appears to be a standalone.  Say it with me ya'll: YES!  I love a good, standalone sci fi novel and I am still craving them.  Thus I am very happy that they seem to be becoming more popular in the young adult section.  (Or at least the publishers are pushing the genre more.)

Pia is a spoiled brat living in Little Cam, a small laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon.  She has reason to be spoiled.  The scientists tell her she's perfect, the best at everything she does, although they work to keep her ignorant of the outside world.  They also make her pass Wickham tests, and we all know something named after the cad from PRIDE & PREJUDICE can't be good.  Pia is minimally curious about the outside world until a new scientist comes to Little Cam.  Aunt Harriet is glamorous, flirtatious, and less inclined to keep secrets from Pia.

Just as Pia's curiosity is aroused, she discovers a hole in the fence and leaves the compound for the first time in her life.  There she meets Eio and his people, the Ai'oa.  Suddenly becoming a scientist isn't Pia's only goal.  But she can't give up her original dream - because she's immortal and wants to create other immortals to live with.

When I started ORIGIN, I only meant to read a few chapters while waiting for my toenail polish to dry.  I ended up finishing the book.  I mean, obviously the scientists are up to no good, but I loved waiting to see how Pia would figure it out.  I thought the relationship between Pia and Eio was well done too.  Both grew up as outsiders - Pia being the youngest person around and immortal; Eio being half white - and they're both instantly attracted to someone who is more like them than anyone they've ever known.  They do, however, spend time together before doing anything really crazy.

I also liked the subtle exploration of colonization, racism, and classism in ORIGIN.  The scientists treat the native Ai'oa as stupid and ignorant and take over part of their land.  Meanwhile, the Ai'oa are just as intelligent and any other people and know quite a bit more about the local flora than the scientists since they've been living with it for centuries.  Pia learns things Little Cam never dreamed of because she bothers to get to know people.

ORIGIN is the anchor title of the Fall 2012 Breathless Reads campaign and I think Penguin made a great choice.  I was breathless while reading Jessica Khoury's debut novel.  ORIGIN will appeal to sci fi and romance fans, and the immortal angle might draw some paranormal fans into the SF fold.

Review: Nightshade

Nightshade trilogy (Book 1)
By Andrea Cremer
Available now from Penguin Philomel (HC) and Speak (PB)
Review copy

Part of the Breathless Reads tour

Calla Tor can turn into a wolf, but that doesn't make her a werewolf. It makes her a Guardian. The Guardians fight against the Searchers, under the guidance of the Keepers. Now that she is seventeen, Calla will marry Renier Larouche and begin a new pack. Of course, there's plenty of tension between the Nightshade and Bane alphas as they try to determine who will top after the marriage.

I fell in love with the characters. Calla had my heart, if only because her favorite book is WATERSHIP DOWN. But there's so much to her. Even though she's young, she's in charge of the other teenage Nightshade wolves. She thinks about how her actions affect them. Ren is super sexy. He's clearly not going to get the girl, but I almost don't mind the obligatory love triangle since he has so much sizzle. The side characters are fantastic too. I particularly like Bryn, the love interest of Calla's brother. She can put two and two together about Calla and Shay, but she's there for her friend. Shay does veer close to being more of a plot point than a character. He's the love interest, he's somehow special, but there just isn't much to him. His geekiness is endearing, but he lacks spark.

NIGHTSHADE comes close to being a first book in which nothing much actually happens. As Shay and Calla investigate what makes Shay so important, mysteries upon mysteries pile up. I might've been less satisfied with the few answers revealed if the end weren't so action-packed. NIGHTSHADE ends with Calla, Shay, Ren, and the Nightshade pack in a precarious position. Luckily, anyone who reads NIGHTSHADE now can begin WOLFSBANE immediately.

Fans of urban fantasy and paranormal romance will enjoy NIGHTSHADE. Andrea Cremer plays just enough with werewolf tropes to make the Guardians and their world her own creation. I liked how much power women could have in the packs, even though the Keepers maintain ultimate control. (It's a good reason to be suspicious of them even before Calla begins poking around.) I also loved the setting of Vail, Colorado. It's a beautiful city and the mountains are a perfect place for the wolves.

Do You Have Questions for the Breathless Reads Tour Panel?

Tomorrow I am going to the second annual Breathless Reads National Panel Tour. For those of you who live in North Texas, I hope to see you there. It's at 7 p.m. in the Stonebriar Center Mall Barnes & Noble. For those who live elsewhere, this is you chance to submit questions and get them answered.

Who will be there?

Marie Lu, author of LEGEND, which I reviewed here. Marie's dystopian debut has already been optioned by CBS Films. She is also the owner of Fuzz Academy.

Another debut author, Jessica Spotswood, will also be in attendance. I reviewed BORN WICKED, the first of the Cahill Witch Chronicles, here. This recent release has been receiving rave reviews.

But it's not just debut authors! New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis will be there repping the Across the Universe trilogy. You can read my recent reviews of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and A MILLION SUNS.


Another New York Times bestselling author is attending as well: Andrea Cremer. The Nightshade trilogy recently concluded with the publication of BLOODROSE. You can read my reviews of the trilogy tomorrow and Friday. It's hard to believe Calla's story is over!

So, what would you like to ask these talented ladies?