Review: A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard

Following an all-out battle with the walking Dead, the Spirit Hunters have fled Philadelphia, leaving Eleanor alone to cope with the devastating aftermath. But there’s more trouble ahead—the evil necromancer Marcus has returned, and his diabolical advances have Eleanor escaping to Paris to seek the help of Joseph, Jie, and the infuriatingly handsome Daniel once again. When she arrives, however, she finds a whole new darkness lurking in this City of Light. As harrowing events unfold, Eleanor is forced to make a deadly decision that will mean life or death for everyone.

Hardcover, 406 pages

Published July 23rd 2013 by HarperTeen 

(info grabbed from GoodReads)

I was not really sold on this series when I decided to pick up A DARKNESS STRANGE AND LOVELY -- I was on a historical fiction/steampunk kick and not really wanting to try something new-new.  I started reading and it was like "Yeah.  Yeah.  Meh."  but then:  "YES.  OMGOMGOMG.  YAY."  I don't know what exactly happened, but I now am in love with this series.  It's not like I didn't like SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY, it just didn't have a certain... je ne sais quoi-

Oh.  That's right.  I'm in love with France.  I forgot for a second.

This review could quickly spiral into a rant of how much I enjoyed the fact this book is set in France, but I'll try and stay coherent: I loved the rich descriptions of Paris and how the setting was actually used within the story.  I get annoyed when a book is set in a destination for no real purpose to the story.  A DARKNESS STRANGE AND LOVELY definitely used the locale change to the story's advantage, from Eleanor's excitement over sightseeing, to eating at a cafe as well as other French novelties, to seeing the Palais Garnier and inserting other such landmarks into the plot.  It was wonderful and brilliant and other positive adjectives.  Viva la France!

With a new setting come a couple of new characters.  Laure was a fun addition serving as a female friend to Eleanor and bringing a bit of light to Eleanor's somewhat drabness.  She was charming, insightful, and a little quirky.  Her presence added a bit more spark to the story than it's predecessor had.  And then there's Oliver.  Oliver is the other new character worth mentioning (I suppose).  He wasn't as welcome for me or for Eleanor, and I found him annoying for most of the novel.  It wasn't anything he did, I just didn't like his whole deal.  Why?  Because he is not French.  And he's whiney, but mostly because he is not French.  That aside, both characters add to the story.

The other reason this book was better can be summed up in two words: Daniel Sheridan.  Yes, I am aware he is in the first book.  He is actually in MORE of the first book, but his limited presence made it so much more special when he was around.  Because hot damn, insert GIF here.

All in all, I'd recommend reading SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY just so you can read the sequel.  And if you have read SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY and were on the fence about reading the sequel, then get off that damn fence and experience the glory that is this book.  Because it's amazing and France, France, France, France, France, and sexy rakish Daniel, but mostly France.

Final Thought: TOADSTOOL.

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

Review: Die For Me by Amy Plum

In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

Hardcover, 341 pages

Published May 10th 2011 by HarperTeen

(info grabbed from GoodReads)

Die For Me surprised me by not being nearly as brooding as I expected it to be.  Honestly, I wasn't expecting to like this one, but alas, I did.  Though Kate does start out a bit mopey (understandably since her parents just passed away), she doesn't stay in her totally depressed state.  The story follows Kate's journey back to the normal world of the living sparked by the love of a sexy Frenchman.  Who just happens to be a zombie.

...yeah.

But seriously, I felt Die For Me read more like contemporary with paranormal elements than fantasy.  The author pulled off making the fantastical seem normal in a sense I have never read before.  By focusing on the great chemistry of the characters and how a relationship can bloom around one character being slightly dead made for a much more interesting read than I anticipated.

  

But moving onto the fantastical: Amy Plum’s Revenants were refreshing in how the PNR genre is not saturated with them.  Though they share traits with more common paranormal creatures, they still felt unique.  With the richer and romantic history surrounding them, I felt that the Revenants tied in better into the backdrop of Paris than some of the other more commonly used paranormal beings would have.

Which, by the way, did I mention I heart Paris?

I heart Paris.  So I especially loved the mini lessons in French culture and exploring the city through the prose.  We get to read at a café, go to a museum, sword fight on a bridge… ahh… all typical things I would want to experience in my own visit to the City of Lights.

The only con I have is that Vincent seemed too perfect, but I guess depending on the reader, that’s not really a con.  For me, I felt it a little hard to believe.  I found zero faults, and I tend to find characters more interesting for what their faults are and see how those faults add to the story.  Maybe I’ll get my wish in the next book, but so far the only thing resembling a fault is that he is too altruistic.  …yeah, that doesn’t count.

Final Thought: 3 out of 4 toadstools

This review is also posted on GoodReads

Review: Feed by Mira Grant

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

Paperback, 571 pages

Published May 1st 2010 by Orbit 

(summary grabbed from GoodReads)

Oh dear lord, the feels.

Feed was spectacular.  It was way more than I was expecting and everything that I've ever wanted in a zombie book.  I'm not really a zombie-book aficionado, with the only zombie book I think I've read was Alice in Zombieland, which didn't even have zombies, it had ghost zombies.  Which if you think about it, kind of just makes them ghosts and not zombies at all.  I think a more appropriate title would have been Alice in Ghost-Land -- DON'T PROMISE ME ZOMBIES AND NOT GIVE ME ZOMBIES! 

...moving on.  However, I have probably watched nearly every zombie movie in existence.  Even the B movies.  I may spend over half the movie hiding my head from the inevitable and astronomical amount of gore, but I still stay in the room and listen (which should count for something).  Anyway, Feed went with a more traditional take on zombies and the problem I usually have with traditional zombie movies is that there's not a lot of back-story or explanation about the zombies (and no one seems too curious, but I don't know if I would care how zombies ticked if the threat of being eaten was imminent).  A reason or explanation is something I'm always craving in zombie stories, and every little craving was satisfied with Feed.

The first thing that made Feed stand out to me as more than “just another book” was the thoroughness of its zombie-science.  Without ever throwing an info dump on the reader, Mira Grant explains her zombie lore, which although based a lot on George Romero’s movies, had a lot of originality.  For example, the zombies in Feed grew smarter in groups and could form a pack mentality.  That aspect of the zombies wasn’t very explored, but it is just an example of how well thought out the zombies of Feed were.  Also, the author makes note of how her zombies are like George Romero's zombies, and thus in the book, George Romero is seen as a national hero for educating the world on zombies through his movies.  Hence, our main character’s name is Georgia.  I thought that was genius.

The book begins over twenty years after the zombie apocalypse with our main characters having lived their entire lives under the threat of zombie attacks.  It was clear from the beginning that the author had put some serious though into what kind of people would grow out of this kind of world.  She explores how more people have turned to religion, others live in fear, and then there are others.  Georgia and Shaun are in the others category.  Both are bloggers/reporters, but they go about blogging in different ways.  Georgia wants to shower the world with truth while being the world’s greatest action hero at the same time.  The opening of the book involves her gunning her motorcycle up a ramp and flying over a hungry hoard of zombies to safety.  Shaun on the other hand likes to bait zombie in Jackass related stunts for entertainment.  Their differences combined with their co-dependence as siblings made Feed extra special.

  

Feed honestly felt like a realistic possibility of the future.  You could get lost in the book, which is the thing I love about reading the most.  I would call it more of a mature read, but not because it has mature content (it doesn’t).  It was a bit dry, dealt with politics and reporting a lot, and lacked a romance.  Feed focused on the characters and how they did their reporting in this zombie filled world, not the zombies themselves.  Like I said before, there wasn’t a romance, and though some people will enjoy that, that could be a turn off for some.  I absolutely adored it and recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction or thrillers.  Which I guess is odd since Feed isn’t particularly science-fiction-y or ultra thrilling, but I think that is who it would appeal to the most.

Final Thought: 10 out of 10 undead toadstools

This review is also posted on GoodReads

Me thinks I should read more zombie books and watch less zombie movies.

Review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

 

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

Hardcover, 404 pages

Published September 25th 2012 by Harlequin Teen

(summary grabbed from GoodReads)

I told myself I was not going to read this book. I loved the original Alice in Wonderland and it is what first got me into reading. My grandma's name was Alice and when we would watch the Disney cartoon movie, she would tell me the movie was about her. I would be like "Grandma's silly haha," but it got me curious in the story and I read the book. I fell in love with reading at that point, so yeah, I'm kind of attached to the book. I sort of don't want anything to ruin it for me. Not that one badly written story could ruin a lifetime's attachment, but… you understand.

It would be impossible for Alice in Zombieland to ruin Alice in Wonderland since the two have nothing short of details in common.  The similarity between the two novels ends with both main characters first names being Alice.  My brain made no connection between the stories; there was no "Oh I see how she did that to incorporate zombies" or "this reminds me of that scene."

None. Of.  That.

If you were looking for Alice in Wonderland meets zombie appocalypse, look elsewhere.  And it is not just the name that implies this notion: all over the cover of the book it says “Off with their heads!”  I was horrifically disappointed, as this could have been so good.  At the very least, it is a cool book to look at.

I dropped it after getting 200 pages in with still no real zombie goodness.  What I concluded from these 200 pages was that Alice was an inconsistent character.  She didn't have any defined, consistant traits.  For example, she is a sheltered and fairly modest girl in the beginning, and then marches out of her friends house in hooker heels without so much as a grimace.  This did not add up to me.  Also, I found the main love interest uninteresting, as he was so over the top with the bad boy persona to the point of ridiculousness.  I couldn’t have cared less about them getting together -- I WANTED ZOMBIES.

Final Thought: 1 toadstool for the White Rabbit in the sky

                          But it’s out of 300 so it doesn’t really count.

This review is also available on GoodReads