Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crown of Midnight is the second book in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. Published August 27th, 2013, this work of art is complete with 418 pages. I started reading this one on the same day I finished Throne of Glass even though it wrapped up nicely I needed to continue the journey, because I have heard from several booktubers that the series gets better with every book.

BEFORE SHE WAS DEADLY. NOW SHE IS UNSTOPPABLE.

As far as all fandoms are concerned spoilers are hated by most and as a reader and also a movie and tv series lover I must admit I hate them myself. Therefore I will not mention anything specific that happens in the book and only speak of what my thoughts are after finishing it.

Throne of Glass was full of momentums unexpected by many readers which is a big reason for it to have made such a blast in the YA community. Crown of Midnight has just as many surprises, but it also has a faster pace I felt. The only thing I had expected from this series was for it to have a heartless badass assassin as a main character, which lacked a little in the first novel. But WOW, Celaena came in and destroyed all the grasps I had gotten on her personality in this sequel. Celaena as a character became much more layered and complicated in a good way. There were definitely some happenings you never see coming and also one or two that you slowly had started suspecting.

Over all I agree with the booktubers on the statement of the series getting better with each book. Crown of Midnight have impressed me to 100% and I gave it 5 out of 5 big fat stars!!

Until next post, have an epic adventure!!

// Dulls

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Hello there! It has been over a year since I last wrote a book review, but I am happy to be back. Here is my review on Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.

This year (2016) has been crazy so far, so crazy that I started reading this book in April and only just finished it now… in September. I used to read at least one whole book every week last year, but I guess life takes over sometimes. Anyhow, Throne of Glass is the first novel in the legendary Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. Published August 2nd, 2012, this beauty is complete with 404 pages.

A HEART OF ICE. A WILL OF STEEL. MEET THE ASSASSIN. 

Celaena Sardothien is the world’s most feared assassin, until one day she got caught. Being forced to work as a slave in the salt mines of Endovier for a year did not make her lose her skills as a killer, which are put to test when the king organizes a competition that he would choose his very own assassin through. The one who is crowned as the King’s Champion is to work for the king for only an amount of time before being granted a clear name and freedom. Winning a competition over thieves and murderers is easy for Celaena until she discovers that there is a far greater darkness waiting to be unleashed.

This world Sarah J. Maas has built is incredibly flexible and unbelievably well made. I was not prepared for what this book held in store for me and every page was a mystery. The story is dangerously broad, but at the same time just wide enough for the series to go on and keep the reader’s attention and intrigue. As a YA lover I must admit that some stories are very predictable because of the key monuments that are needed to build up a novel, but this one held everything in it. Sarah J. Maas took those key monuments and twisted them into these wickedly surprising turns of events that a reader do not see coming.

And for that I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Until next post, have an epic adventure!!

// Dulls

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

  

Here I am with another book review and this time it is the sequel to The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

First of all let me just say that I am super confused and cannot wait until I get my hands on the third book in this series. Another thing is that I cannot really give you a summary because of course… Spoilers which we all hate. So I will just say this “They escaped the Maze. Now it is time for phase two, the Scorch Trials.”. That is all I am gonna give away as far as summary is concerned.

But oh my, I admit that it took me a chapter or two to really get into The Maze Runner, but this book guys… This book started exactly at the very last sentence I read in the last page of The Maze Runner which very few sequels do and I really liked that about this one. Because I am already aware of the main characters it felt good to be back on track and get to read their funny conversations, I now feel a big bond between me and the characters. This book took me on a new adventure with the characters I so much like and taught me so many new things, it was overall a giant experience filled with horror, blood, brutality, survival, friendship etc etc. Sorry if this counts as spoilers but now that they have escaped the Maze they are in the outside world where anything could happen which was a big part of the excitement, they are no longer surrounded by the Glade, they do not know where they are, they have so many questions in mind but all they got to do is survive.

Through the whole book I was on the edge of my seat, well, you might as well say I did not sit at all because of all the unexpected happenings. I hate how authors leave you with too many questions until the point where you are left in the total darkness with a big fat confusion inside. But somehow through that I feel this series getting better and therefore I believe that it is worth 5 full, shining stars!!

Until next post, keep reading, it feels good!!

// Dulls

Shadow Falls series by C.C. Hunter

  

This is a review on the first three books in the Shadow Falls series by C.C. Hunter. I dived into this series without so much of an expectation and was pleasantly surprised by it.

Kylie Galen is 16 years old and got many issues to face in her daily life. It all starts off with her parents getting a divorce, her having a stalker whom nobody else seem to realize is there, her grandmother’s death and a party where Kylie was and the police found drugs at. Because of her cold mother who never listens Kylie gets sent off to a summer camp for troubled teens called The Shadow Falls Camp. On the bus that would take Kylie and some other teens to the camp she realizes that the teens are somewhat weird. There is a girl dressed all in black, another girl with hair in three different colors and carries a toad with her. Soon Kylie will get to see all her childhood fairytale and goodnight story creatures come to life right in front of her own pair of eyes.

This series feels like a mixture of every fantasy book I have read. There are angels, ghosts, heaven, hell, vampires, weres, witches, faes and many more. Seeing all these mythological, supernatural beings meet and collide in our world as teenagers was an experience worth my time. The excitement does not stop there, there is some triangular love involved too. I will continue on with this series as soon as possible, as always too many books and so little time.

I recommend this book to you if you enjoy some fantasy in your life!!

Born at Midnight – 

Awake at Dawn – 

Taken at Dusk – 

Until next post, keep reading, it feels good!!

//Dulls

Half Bad by Sally Green

This book is about the journey of Nathan Byrne, a half black and half white witch, to find his true self. There is a witches’ community where white witches are befriended and black witches are hunted. That is all you should know getting into the book.

I bought this book knowing that much and did not know what I should expect. At the beginning the writing style was kind of confusing, but a little bit into the story I was hooked. And now I am waiting for the second book, a new release, to arrive at the book shops here in Stockholm.

A weird thing about this book is that there are no “world is going to end” type of big twists, but there is always something happening anyway and that is why I can not really tell if it is a fast-paced or slow-paced book, either way it is a good one. The main character really grew on me and now I can not wait to see what happens next. The plot is real bad-ass, it is about survival, patience, how to think and how to solve mysteries. This whole series/trilogy is going to be a good one!!

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars!! Sally Green sure knows how to grab someone and glue ’em on her fantasy world.

And it is sure as heck on my recommendation list!!!

Until next post, keep reading, it feels good!!

// Dulls

‘The Selection’ trilogy by Kiera Cass

These three books have been a fast-paced journey filled with beautiful day dresses, dreamy ball gowns and just the right amount of love. Although it seems to be more fitting for younger audience I certainly enjoyed it very much.

It is based in a dystopian version of our world where World War 3 and 4 has taken place and the countries and states have changed a bit. Upon the ruins of the United States was born a country called Illéa where the people would live in different castes that technically work as the class where the Ones are the royalty and Eights are the poorest. America Singer was born as a Five but soon she gets picked as one of the 35 competing girls to become the next queen of Illéa. While all the other girls’ dream is to become the bride of prince Maxon, all America wants is to stay away from Aspen Leger and beside all the drama between the girls on who would get to keep prince Maxon’s heart, all America thinks of is to stay at the palace as long as possible so her family would receive more money. What America did not expect is the palace taking in new guards where Aspen takes advantage.

This trilogy never gave me a moment to get bored, there was always something happening and the excitement never left. The love in this trilogy was not one of those eye-contact-instant-love, which was one of the reasons that made me like it more. I laughed many times and it left me with tears in my eyes. It is simply a fairy tail for someone who loved watching Disney princess and Barbie movies growing up (hint: me). I will definitely be re-reading this trilogy in a few years!!

I give the whole trilogy 5 out of 5 stars!!!

Becca made this “animated” version of me, it does look like me, good job Bex!!

 – I show a big thumbs up to Kiera Cass!!!

Until my next post, keep reading, it feels good!!

// Dulls

Blythewood by Carol Goodman

This book has a really beautiful cover, don’t you think?

I was genuinly thrilled by Blythewood. To be honest I have this fancy for all books that involve boarding schools and magic (dedicated Harry Potter fan here). This story was overwhelming but at the same time not too much, according to me. Something thrilling and exciting was always going on which made sure that you as a reader never managed to put the book down. I had many “oh fudge berries i have to sleep… just one more chapter” moments. There was always some kind of secret about to be relieved and I must say it was very stimulating. I hate reading books where half of it is just rubbish that bore you to death, while you are waiting for the action to start.

Blythewood had me from the first page since it was a very different setting. Through most of the book I never certainly knew in which century the story played until much later. The first time Carol Goodman actually gives you an exact date in the book is *Spoiler alert* where she involves the titanic that sinks on the same day.

Personally I have this eternal grudge against the fact that all Young Adult books must involve some kinda love story, but I was positively surprised by Blythewood. The love story was not intense nor dramatic and didn’t steal the focus. It was a more subtle sweet kinda thing that played at the side of the main story.

Now some may say that Carol Goodman overdid her descriptions alot and made the whole book a bit overdramatical. To be honest, yes, at some parts the descriptions get weird, but she still managed to create this beautiful fantasy world that I found myself lost in for a while.

If you are a big fan of Harry Potter (or books in involvning boarding schools in general), and love fantasy, alternate worlds/dimensions, fairies, MAGIC, shadows and birds then you should read Blythewood 😉

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!

Best regards, Becca

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Here is my review on Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge, which I just finished last night and fell into a huge book-hangover.

As I see it, it is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast with a little more fantasy and a little more action than the original story and it is much darker. This story has quiet a lot of connections with the past, present and the future and there are also many connections to the ancient Greek gods (mythology) which I personally really enjoy reading about.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge is about a girl named Nyx, who have been trained all her life to become the demon prince, the Gentle Lord’s wife and destroy his castle and save their city from his demons and free the city from the parchment dome that is covering it. Nyx’s father had made a bargain with the Gentle Lord, which was to get twin daughters and give one of them to the Gentle Lord as his wife when she becomes of age and keep the other. But what their father did not know was that the bargain would also cost his own wife’s death while giving birth. Now Nyx’s plan is to find the four main elements (earth, air, fire and water) which are giving life to the Gentle Lord’s castle and destroy them with the right sigils and the castle would collapse along with the Gentle Lord and the parchment dome over the city would disappear. But will it go the way it was planned to when she falls in love with the Gentle Lord?

The book starts from the morning of her wedding day and she gets married to a statue which represents the Gentle Lord and afterwards gets dropped off outside the Gentle Lord’s castle and the journey takes off from there. It was really enjoyable, entertaining and fun to read because Nyx was not the kind of helpless, precious little lady like in most princess and prince fairytales. Nyx was strong and funny in a very entertaining way and she could fight for what she wanted.

I love this story and the world is just beautiful, so I decided to give it 5 out of 5 stars.

A DEFINITE RE-READ FOR ME IN THE FUTURE!!!

Enjoy!!

// Dulguun

The Goddess Inheritance by Aimée Carter

   

The Goddess Inheritance by Aimée Carter is the final book in the Goddess Test series. It is a beautiful conclusion to this amazing series (honestly, I just cried through the last 20 pages, non-stop). All readers know the feeling you get when you’re down to the last book in a series you’ve had fallen in love with and it’s exactly that feeling I got when I started reading this book. Now that I finally know almost everyone of the characters’ back-stories, it’s really sad to let them go.

As we all should know by now, the second book in the series (Goddess Interrupted) had such a huge cliff-hanger and this book continues on right where we were left. It would contain major spoilers if I ever even tried to write a mini summary of the book, even the beginning, so I shall not do that this time but I can assure you 100% that you’ll have such a great experience if you read this series. This series shows a lot of examples of life decisions, personalities, consequences to face etc. and it’s really worth your time.

I give this book and this series overall 5 full and complete bright-shining diamond stars!!!!!!

Enjoy!!

Dulguun

The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter

The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter is the first book in the Goddess Test series. It is a beautiful take on the Greek myths, really fast paced so you as a reader won’t have time to be bored and it takes no time to hop into the story because there’s nothing you are gonna be thrown into, but you’re gonna get to know everything in time together with the main character.

Kate Winters’ mom is dying and her last wish was to get to spend the last few months or days in her childhood hometown, Eden. And so Kate and her mom moves to Eden, where Kate get’s to go to a new school and meet new people. In some twisted way she meets Henry, the guy who could bring back the dead who offers her a deal. She will spend the next 6 months with Henry at his house and try to pass these tests while her mom will be kept alive, if she passes the tests she will become Henry’s bride and a goddess. But if she fails…

This book will suck you into it’s enchantingly breathtaking world filled with greek myths becoming the real history, beautiful ball gowns and thrones. There’s everything from love and music, to betrayal and blood. Your reality will become a subplot while this magical world will become your new life.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR ALL OF YOU WHO ENJOY GREEK MYTHS, FANTASY AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION BOOKS!! I’M SURE YOU’LL LOVE IT TOO!

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars because of making me want to be one of them.

Enjoy!

Dulguun