Book Review: The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy #1)

Title: The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy #1)
Author: Brent Weeks
Genre: high fantasy
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 645
Publication Date: October 1st, 2008

Plot (from goodreads):
From New York Times Bestselling author Brent Weeks...
For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.

Review:
I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. I'd just heard amazing things, and seen and been surprised by how good the goodreads ratings were. I didn't actually read the synopsis, at least I don't remember doing so, I just knew it was fantasy and apparently it was amazing.

And I was completely blown away.

Even at the beginning, there was something that just kind of struck me as different about it, about what was happening. Some people might find the beginning slow, but I didn't notice it until I thought about it after. I just found myself really enjoying it. And I think that slower pace at the beginning, and then a specific turning point and shift in that pace - is deliberate. And I loved it.

Alright, I'm going to try to not just squeal wordlessly at you about how amazing this book was. I took a bit, I tried to gather my thoughts. And they're kind of gathered, kind of. Basically - high fantasty, with assassins - excuse me, wetboys - and it hurts and it's fantastic.

I'm not sure I want to say more then that? Probably just because I enjoyed it so much going in blind, and I'm also sure this is definitely not a book for everyone. I liked the way Brent Weeks wrote, though, and the characters as we learned more about them, the politics was also interesting, the world.

To wrap it all up - I loved this book, if my inability to really talk about it without falling into it's so good, so good wasn't a big hint. I loved the characters, the writing, the world. And I was surprised, honestly surprised, at how much I did. And would recommend this book, but I'm sure others might not like it as much as I did. Saying that, I'm simultaneously itching to continue the series and don't want to because I don't want it to be over.

Book Review: The Shining Girls

Title: The Shining Girls
Author: Lauren Beukes
Genre: Horror, SciFi (time travel)
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 375
Publication Date: June 4th, 2013

Plot (from Goodreads):
THE GIRL WHO WOULDN'T DIE HUNTS THE KILLER WHO SHOULDN'T EXIST.

The future is not as loud as war, but it is relentless. It has a terrible fury all its own."

Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future.

Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times.

At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of the shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He's the ultimate hunter, vanishing into another time after each murder, untraceable-until one of his victims survives.

Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the ex-homicide reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on the impossible truth . . .

THE SHINING GIRLS is a masterful twist on the serial killer tale: a violent quantum leap featuring a memorable and appealing heroine in pursuit of a deadly criminal.

Review:
I really loved this book and I'm not entirely sure why, but we are going to find out. I first heard about this book sitting in a room full of book bloggers at BEA and 'time traveling serial killer' made me perk up a little. I'm a sucker for both of those things - in the same book? I will buy that immediately.

The funny this is - is that I did. And then preceded not to read it for over a year. Why? Who the hell knows, honestly, it's just sometimes how these things work out.

Now let me preface the rest of this review with this: since I'm a sucker for these two plot devices, I feel like my opinion is definitely biased. If you don't like time travel or serial killers (POV chapters from his perspective) or if you're not a fan of gore or random character studies or random, heavily researched historical things - this might not be the book for you. However, if that sounds interesting to you - continue on.

This book is a little confusing at first. The chapters have a name and a date, which is the perfect way to do it, but for the first 100 pages or so I was more trying to figure out who was who, who was still alive, and what the hell year they were in. Saying that - it was a lot of fun, figuring it out. And after about 100/150 pages, I had it straight enough in my head that I could plow through the rest of the book in one sitting (which I did).

There's so many POV chapters and so many different people, it's weird to think of this in classic terms as whose the main character? and I did not think of it in those terms until the very end, but by then it's obvious. Kirby is a strange main character to have, but also maybe the perfect one - she was attacked by Harper (our killer) and is now trying to figure out what happened, who he is, and if he's attacked anyone else. And all of her chapters tend to have a dark quirk of humor - that her and Dan have, that I really enjoyed.

Before I go off on another rambling tangent, I'm going to reign it in. This book is weird and is definitely not going to be everyones cup of tea. And, looking back, I had more small problems then I thought. However - I really, really loved it, in all, it was a very enjoyable book. And I was honestly surprised at the obvious research that had to go into some parts, and impressed.

Overall, I'd probably only recommend this to people who like serial killer books and who don't mind, or enjoy, getting tossed around in time by a slightly magical (?) house. I've always found serial killer things fascinating - and there's something that's strange to say - but the psychology behind it is interesting and that is probably very high on the list of why I liked this book so much.

Book Review: Wool Omnibus (Silo #1)

Title: Wool Omnibus (Silo #1)
Author: Hugh Howey
Genre: SciFi/Fantasy, Dystopian
Rating: 5/5
Pages: 539 (Paperback)
Publication Date: first published 2011

Story Notion: What... is happening? Oh my god.

Plot: (Goodreads)
Contains WOOLs 1 - 5.

This Omnibus Edition collects the five Wool books into a single volume. It is for those who arrived late to the party and who wish to save a dollar or two while picking up the same stories in a single package.

The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months. My thanks go out to those reviewers who clamored for more. Without you, none of this would exist. Your demand created this as much as I did.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

Review:
All of these five stories are connected, obviously considering they were put in one book, but they're also split up for a reason, I thought. It's almost to give you pause, like that part of the story is over now, or something is different.

And the first one is the shortest and the most confusing and kind of painful, they're all... painful, actually. So much stuff happens but at first it's slow going even though I felt things happening and I was pretty much terrified for the characters through this entire book. And it just got worse, actually, as it went on.

I couldn't tell you exactly why I liked this book, or collection, not exactly, but I can give you a few guesses. The characters would be number one, I'm also a character person, and these charaters are something, that's for sure, and I did enjoy them all and how they were connected and how they acted through out the series.

Also - I found the first three about books slow, because I did like the characters and the weird situation they were in, but it also kind of just meanders a bit at the beginning. And, looking back, I'm not sure it was a bad thing. If you find it too slow at first, just keep going and pushing, it's an amazing story with an interesting world that I want to learn more about and the writing is good.

Amazon
Indiebound

Book Review: A Game of Thrones

Book: A Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire #1)
Author: George R.R. Martin
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
Page Count:
Favorite Character: Uh, erm, uh... Tyrion, we're going with- Oh or Daenerys.

Plot: (From Goodreads)

In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes of the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Review:
It took me a while to get through this book just because of the sheer amount of information you get while reading it. So much happens in this book and it's told perfectly, there is just so much plot all of time, it never gets lost because of a subplot, they're all main plots. And I loved that. George R.R. Martin doesn't give you any detail you don't need or want to know. He doesn't have this beautiful writing style, by any means, but his writing is perfect for a story of this size.

I think the reason I loved it so much is because of the different perspective we get. There are so many of them and the story really doesn't truly have one main character, just because they all get equal time, really.  I loved all of these characters, too, you can't help it. I think it's because they just seem so real. Anyway, to the point, characters were amazing and were more real then I expected.

The world building. Just, the world building. This doesn't feel like a world that starts when you open the book, I feel like it just keeps going even when you're not there. It's a very lived in world, I feel like is the best way to say it. It feels like these characters just could be off living in Winterfell or Kings Landing. So, to sum it up, I was extremely impressed with the world building and how lived in that world felt, I don't feel like I've ever experienced anything really like it.

Also, not everything in this book is black and white, it's very grey. It's not just good verse evil, it's much more then that, and sometimes you don't really know who is good and who is evil. And I love that. I love not really knowing if I should love this character or that character as much as I do, but still loving them anyway. It's a place that not a lot of book go, that grey area of good and evil. I think because it's grey and unknown, but it truly is a wonderful way to read about these characters.

Anyway, though, I really did enjoy this book and I can't wait to read the next one. To sum up what I thought: the plot was amazing and intricate, characters were amazing, and the world felt very lived in. I feel like this is a series that is just crazy, really, some of the plot lines that it follows are just creepy or amazing or both. However, I'd recommend this to anyone, unless you don't like fantasy, and don't be daunted too much by the sheer mass of this book, it's worth it.

Book Review: Grave Mercy

Book: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassins #1)
Author: Robin LaFevers
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Historical (YA)
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 549 (Hardcover)
Favorite Character: It might have to be Anne. I mean I loved Ismae, but I try not to pick the main character for this. And I really like Anne, she was young and smart and quick.

Plot: (from Goodreads)

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?


Review:
It took me a while to make my way through this book just because of it's length, but it was so worth it. This book is amazing for many reasons. And I'm going to try and tell you all of them now. In short, this book has lovable character, a writing style I loved, good world building, and an interesting and intricate plot.

I loved the world building in this story and that it does take place over a longer period of time then most. The world in this story is just amazing and I loved being able to read about it. Historical novels are one of my favorite to hear the world building and to dive into, because it's as close as I'll probably get to time travel.

The characters were amazing, you just can't help but love and root for some of them just because of everything that's happening. Ismae is who this books follows and she's a handmaiden of Death, an assassin, and I really loved her personality. I may have laughed a little every time she asked if she could kill someone or her hand automatically went to her knife or something like that.

I rated this book 5/5 stars because of all of those things. I just truly loved this book and I can't wait for the next one in the series. (Also, random fact I learned through Twitter about the cover, I'm sorry to say I can't remember from who - if it was you tell me -, that she's holding a real crossbow on the cover. Those things are heavy! It's a beautiful cover, though).