Review: Grim by Christine Johnson

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Ellen Hopkins
Amanda Hocking
Julie Kagawa
Claudia Gray
Rachel Hawkins
Kimberly Derting
Myra McEntire
Malinda Lo
Sarah Rees-Brennan
Jackson Pearce
Christine Johnson
Jeri Smith Ready
Shaun David Hutchinson
Saundra Mitchell
Sonia Gensler
Tessa Gratton
Jon Skrovan

Kindle Edition, 480 pages

Expected publication: February 25th 2014 by Harlequin Teen

(info grabbed from GoodReads)

GRIM is an anthology of short story retellings of fairy tales.  This is true.  However! not every story is as dark as the blurb promises.  It was a nice surprise to me that the stories are all mixed up: you have dark tales and funny tales, urban fantasy and science fiction.  GRIM ended up being a delightful collection in how eclectic it was.

I'm not going to go through every story's ups and downs individually; each story in the collection was enjoyable (though to varying degrees).  Some highlights for me where Julie Kagawa's THE BROTHERS PIGGETT, an awesomely dark tale, and also Sarah Rees Brennan's BEAUTY AND THE CHAD, which had me laughing out loud.  And although I personally didn't enjoy SKIN TRADE by Myra McEntire, it definitely made my skin crawl, and I'm sure there are those out there where that is exactly what they're looking for.  And that is my point: there is something for everyone in this anthology.  There was a lot of variation from each original story, but also from each story within the anthology.

All in all, a great collection of short stories perfect for anyone who wants to revisit some familiar tales, but each with a twist.  The authors are truly talented and packed so much emotion and fun into their stories.  It was a fast read and surprisingly easy to read in one sitting.  Each tale stood on it's own and didn't blend into one another while reading.  I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone, because who doesn't love a good fairy tale now and again?

This review is also posted on GoodReads

Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Hardcover, 452 pages

Published February 5th 2013 by Feiwel and Friends

(info grabbed from GoodReads)

Holy amazeballs did I love this book.  Marissa Meyer does an amazing job with faerie tale retellings in that she creates a story all her own while still maintaining a slight nostalgic feeling from the original story.  I was a little worried that Scarlet would deviate from the plot in Cinder, but I could not be happier with this sequel.  I think it was even better than Cinder; Scarlet added a new set of characters, moved the plot forward, and did both without ever feeling incomplete in either area.  Did I mention I think Marissa Meyer is brilliant? 

Moving on, Scarlet as a new character is awesome.  I didn’t think anything was really missing from Cinder, but now that I have read the sequel I can say that Scarlet was missing from this series.  She is a presence that needed to be.  Her stubbornness and kickass-ery made her a force to be reckoned with.  This new Super Little Red Riding Hood can hold her own against the Big Bad Wolf, and does so with French flair.

I love the writing in Scarlet maybe not because it’s the greatest ever, but because it is easy to get pulled into the story.  I didn’t have that “lost” feeling I usually get from sequels where you can’t remember what all happened in the preceding book, and I think it was because Marissa Meyer’s writing made it so easy to get pulled back into her fantastical cyberpunk world.  She referenced and reminded the reader of events in Cinder without a flashback sequence or any other cliché for sequels.  It was seamlessly woven into the story and made for a very enjoyable read.

Scarlet did not disappoint in anyway, and in fact exceeded my expectations.  It is filled with great characters, an amazing plot, and cyberpunk awesomeness -- you just need to read and enjoy the glory that is Scarlet.  

Final Thought: 10 out of 10 toadstools

This review is also posted on GoodReads

Review: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888. As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.

An evil presence is growing within Europe's royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina's strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar's standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina's help to safeguard Russia, even if he's repelled by her secret, and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.

The time has come for Katerina to embrace her power, but which side will she choose—and to whom will she give her heart?

Hardcover, 386 pages

Published January 10th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers 

(info grabbed from GoodReads) 

The Gathering Storm surprised me by being exactly what I expected, but in a way I didn’t expect it too.  I was not expecting to really like this book, as I thought mixing Russian history with the supernatural would be too… I don’t know, but it would be “too-something.”  But I didn’t find The Gathering Storm to be too anything; in fact, I thought it served up a generous heaping of both historical fiction and paranormal and mixed them seamlessly to form a dish that turned out to be “just right.”

I have been bored with historical fiction in the past by the slow pacing and lack of plot development, and I grew to expect that from all historical fiction.  That was incorrect of me, and any time you generalize to an entire genre it usually will be just that: an overgeneralization.  I was happy to find in The Gathering Storm a well paced plot while maintaining the sense of history in the novel.  The historical aspect seemed very accurate to me in terms of what nobility everyday life is like, and even felt that the writing fit.  Not that it read like late 19^th century literature, just that the prose wasn’t as relaxed as contemporary paranormal.

The insert of paranormal elements into the Russian court was like adding a needed spice to a dish -- it would have been incomplete without it.  At first, I thought having fairies mingling within court a bit odd, but it grew on me.  I thought Katerina’s response to her own gift of necromancy (she saw it as a curse) was appropriate for the character and the time period.  Raising the dead unintentionally is pretty scary and her reluctance towards exploring her ability was understandable (though maybe a little annoying for me as I heart some zombies).  

The Gathering Storm is a great start to a potentially superb trilogy.  I loved how it felt like a complete book in and of itself while still alluding to its sequel, as some other trilogies have failed to do.  The addition of the paranormal to history was something I had not anticipated liking as much as I did.  I would recommend it to anyone who thinks the mix of paranormal and historical fiction sounds intriguing and is craving something a bit different.

Final Thought: 5 out of 7 toadstools

This review is also posted on GoodReads