Review of The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

Razorbill

The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3)
by Richelle Mead
5 Scribbles

The female students at Amberwood Prep are in trouble. There’s a murderer in town, killing the youngest and prettiest of girls. Mrs. Terwilliger suspects it’s a witch intent on absorbing the girls’ youth, power and beauty, but because she has personal connections to the witch in question she must rely on Sydney’s help to find the killer. Can Sydney overcome her aversion to magic long enough to come to Terwilliger’s aid and put a stop to the killings?

As a die-hard Mead fan, I hesitate to review Mead’s work because it’s always so engaging and the plotting is so well done! Truthfully the main conflict above only scratches the surface of the massive amounts of action that occurs throughout. And the character development taking place in this book is superb. The conflict between Sydney and Adrian that began at the conclusion of The Golden Lily is set aside in the wake of the murders, and the two return to their established friendship to try and catch a killer. Or do they? The romantic tension between these two is palpable—will Sydney finally grow a backbone and realize that the doubts she has about the Alchemists and the intolerance she has been taught is not the whole truth? Will she realize that magic may have a place in the world, and that not all vampires are evil? And more importantly, will playboy Adrian finally abandon his partying ways and stick to his new-found chivalrous ways? While markedly different from the romance between Dimitri and Rose in the Vampire Academy series, this potential romance packs just as much heat—in fact, it’s probably a relationship that many of us find we can relate to more easily, because the protagonists are, for the most part, everyday people. Yes, they may be witches and vampires, but neither has any real super-skills or can fight like a ninja! The difference from our reality is that Sydney risks everything and everyone she has ever known and trusted to grow that backbone and “have” Adrian. For many of us, such loss would not be worth it. Additionally, a new little romance is blossoming—will Eddie and Angeline stay together or will Jill take the plunge and reveal herself to Eddie? And just when you thought it was all being worked out, a new character is added to the mix that will shake up Amberwood, and Sydney, in a way the reader never anticipated! I’ve already pre-ordered The Fiery Heart, set to be released November 19, 2013.

Review of The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Balzer & Bray

The Madman’s Daughter
by Megan Shepherd

3 Scribbles

She should have been a Victorian lady, making her debut in society and finding a charming, educated man to spend her life with. Instead, Juliet is a chamber maid at the local hospital, scrubbing blood out of grout after autopsies. Her father, Dr. Moreau, was a renowned surgeon making strides in medical science, until it was discovered he was performing vivisection—dissecting living organisms to see their insides work.  When Dr. Moreau was banned from England and Juliet’s mother died shortly thereafter, her fortune forever changed—that is until the day her old childhood friend and family servant, Montgomery, shows up in London, and Juliet wonders if her father is still alive. If so, is Dr. Moreau really the evil monster the medical community has made him out to be?

I pre-ordered this book because (1) I loved the cover and (2) the synopsis hooked me.  Obviously, the story is a reimagined version of the classic by H.G. Wells, The Isle of Doctor Moreau, a novel I really enjoyed, so perhaps holding the original as the gold standard by which to judge this retelling skewed my judgment. I did enjoy the intrigue in the story. Of course I knew where the strange creatures on the island came from, but I was still riveted and appalled when Juliet stumbles into her father’s laboratory and witnesses the source of the tortured cries in the compound. The laboratory and its horrors are so well-described and so chilling I read through that section twice!  I also appreciated the characterization of Dr. Moreau; he is exactly what I imagine a crazed killer with wild ambitions to be—at one moment charming and bedazzling with excellent taste and rare moments of affection—and in the next moment, cold, distant, rude and dismissive.  His doesn’t exist on the plane that others do, he lives only for his pursuits of the forbidden—like most madmen.  I found the drawing of his character insightful. I began to understand not only his insanity, but the way others were drawn to him. Juliet, however, felt more like a sketch to me. Granted, she exists as a lens to reveal the story, but I wanted more for her character. Indeed, the author tries to engage her in a love triangle, but I simply didn’t buy into the romance or heat. The fact that she loves Edward and Montgomery could totally work and add tension to the story, but it doesn’t here, for some reason her attachments seem false. Maybe it’s because there is plenty of tension in the setting itself, with the jungle darkness, strange creatures, and an unknown killer on the loose.  And oh the setting! It is the setting that is the greatest frustration for me. Characters do a lot of running back and forth on the island, Juliet after Edward then Edward after Juliet, Montgomery after Juliet and Montgomery after Moreau…etc. etc.; it feels as if someone is saddling up at every turn, and I found such running about and accomplishing nothing exhausting. However, I suppose that’s unavoidable given the limits of an island setting. The ending was also a frustrating cliffhanger, but I suppose that is so readers will be motivated to buy and read book two. I do want to know what happens to Juliet, but whether or not I read book two really depends on what other reading option might be sitting next to the second installment on the bookstore shelf.

 

Review of The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

Greenwillow Books

The Crown of Embers (Fire and Thorns #2)
By Rae Carson
4 Scribbles

Someone within her royal court is sabotaging Queen Elisa, which is not surprising since she only recently took power after the death of her husband. She is young after all, even if she did save the country from destruction.  The pressure is mounting by the day, and Elisa feels the weight of it.  Her royal advisors want her to remarry a neighboring nobleman to increase the security of the nation, and worse, Invierne sorcerers have appeared within the city walls. Clearly, it is the power of Elisa’s godstone that the enemy seeks, but from where does this power come?  In a quest to find the source of the godstone’s power and thus prevent it from falling into enemy hands, Elisa grows into a commanding woman and queen to be reckoned with. Perhaps most importantly, she learns whom she can trust.

What is so refreshing about Elisa is the sheer believability of her character. She starts to grow and change in this installment; she matures. She’s still not perfect, she’s not experienced, and she’s not physically strong.  Even her godstone, which sets her apart from the masses, isn’t something she controls; in fact, some would say the godstone is simply another outside force that controls her. What Elisa has, however, is street-smarts, wisdom, humility, and faith that her life has a special purpose.  What more could a reader want in a protagonist? The action in the story is as entrancing as in book one, even though the country isn’t technically at war. Carson engages us immediately with the intrigue of a possible in-house assassin. And, in a plot device similar to book one, there is the quest; Elisa and a selection of her companions (including Hector) must embark on a journey to find the source of the godstone. Actually, I was glad to see the quest. I was sort of worried at first that we’d be stuck on the castle grounds with Elisa during the whole novel, busily searching through ancient scriptures, looking over our shoulder for a killer and dodging arrows, but alas, no!  In fact, the quest introduces a whole new environment and rich scenery that adds to the world building that began in book one. And, for those readers who want to see action of a different kind, fear not. Elisa may have lost Humberto in book one, but her friendship with Hector is growing stronger—she could be falling in love with him—except for the fact that she is queen and he is a commoner, not exactly an ideal choice for king since he has no power or holdings. But she could at least love him and have a companion, no? Does he feel the same for her? A twist at the end is a bit easy to predict, but no worries, it only serves to tease the reader into anticipating what awesome new developments will take place with Queen Elisa in book three, The Bitter Kingdom, releasing in the Fall of this year, and already on my to-order list!

Review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Greenwillow Books

The Girl of Fire and Thorns
by Rae Carson
5 Stars

Lady Elisa is special. She is the bearer of the Godstone, a stone placed in her navel by God which marks her as someone who will perform an important act of service during her lifetime. Elisa loves God and studies constantly to know God’s will for her life. But she has been sheltered, and there are things she doesn’t know about the Godstone. There are enemies that would happily kill her to harness its power, and Lady Elisa is in danger. Now, married to the handsome King Alejandro of Joya d’Arena as the seal to a bargain that will provide troops against the enemies of both countries, Elisa wonders, when will her act of service occur, and will she, like most Godstone bearers, die young?

Before I go on and on about how pleased I am to find a tough, independent, resilient, and overweight protagonist who is also a princess, let me first give an enthusiastic shout out to the author of this phenomenal novel; hello and thank you, Rae Carson (OH-IO)! I feel certain that Ms. Carson is going to be one of those YA novelists from the great state of Ohio who stands arm and arm with other gifted YA writers from this state—Cinda Williams Chima, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Sharon Creech, Angela Johnson, Sharon Draper to name a few—all of whom make me proud to be a Buckeye.

First, let me say that while the synopsis of this book (above) makes it sound like a religious book, I would argue that the religious overtones do not at all come off as overly didactic. In fact, when religion is referenced at all, it comes off as highly generic in nature; faith becomes the greater theme that Lady Elisa deals with. Lady Elisa’s character seems naturally concerned with faith, it suits her—especially at the start of the story when she is married off to a handsome stranger who doesn’t really desire her at all, and she is taken to a strange country. Faith is all she has. Will King Alejandro ever desire her? After all she is very, very fat. Like many of us, when Elisa becomes stressed out, concerned, or simply bored, she eats—and because of this, she is a fat bride. Thus, her self-confidence suffers, at least at first, but her faith and intelligence trump her insecurities and help to make her a formidable future queen against her enemy—the neighboring country Invierne. The dynamic changes Elisa goes through during the action in this novel (and the action and conflict between Joya d’Arena & Invierne is the primary focus of the work) make her perhaps my most favorite female protagonist ever!

The secondary characters in the novel are equally interesting. It’s not hard to see early on that the handsome King Alejandro, who Elisa worries over in the start of the novel is a flake. He is spineless and cannot take a stand, even when it comes to acknowledging his own marriage. Indecisive, adulterous, cowardly, and inexperienced, Alejandro cannot hold a candle to Elisa.  Equally as interesting, but not nearly as spineless, are Elisa’s devoted nurse, Ximena, who clearly has a secret past, and the spiteful Cosmé, the handmaiden to her husband’s mistress who seems hell-bent on Elisa’s destruction. But perhaps the most endearing character is Humberto—a humble desert boy who treats Elisa with love and honor, whether she is obese or thin. Who doesn’t love a guy like that?

The writing in the novel is incredibly strong. Unlike many other YA novels that include such disturbing plot twists as arranged marriage, espionage, and war, as this novel does, sensitive situations are dealt with tactfully, and there are absolutely no sexually explicit scenes.  The author uses Spanish (or perhaps Italian?) words to add an exotic feel to the narrative, and this, coupled with the fantastic descriptions of deserts and sandstorms made this Ohio native feel like I’ve traveled to lands far away. Each chapter was short and punctuated with enough action and intrigue to keep me on the edge of my seat.  

Happily and in her own words, “God is not done with [Elisa] yet”—book two, Crown of Embers is already on the shelves, and I’ve just ordered my copy.