Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Laini Taylor has really put me in my place this time.

I was very eager to read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, so much so that I ordered it as soon as it came out. To say that reviews for this book are gushing is a real understatement; they are, in fact, stellar.
Truth be told though, I was more than a bit biased. Lips Touch: Three Times, her short stories collection had collected the same kind of reviews. Not from me.
I'm not crazy about that book. I suspect it has a lot to do with the short story format but I just wasn't convinced by it.
My lukewarm feelings were actually confirmed when I started Daughter of Smoke and Bone and I met Karou and Akiva.

On a merely thematic level, at first I thought it was highly unoriginal.
Angels/fallen angels? Where had I read that before?
A girl who doesn't fit in, has a secret, feels she's meant for something else and falls in love with the worst possible candidate? Where have I read that before?
Star-crossed lovers? Duh.

Your average paranormal YA romance story, in a pretty package (the package being Taylor's writing.)
Ever since Lips Touch, my impression has been that Taylor takes tropes of YA which many, many authors have developed before her, and just makes them better. Because she certainly does.

BUT. I take it all back.
While the impression I had lasted for the first half of the book, as soon as the story started to unravel and to make sense, EVERYTHING changed.
First, I was shocked at how she smoothly, impeccably passed from said paranormal, average YA story to a more traditional fantasy novel. I didn't even notice it, if not after. I was reading about Prague and then, all of a sudden, I was wondering: how did I get here?
Furthermore, this is a book that goes beyond the normal scope of a fantasy novel, transcending its genre and making us readers think: it's a book about discrimination, be it religious or ethnic, about racial superiority and it's a book about acceptance with a message of hope, that things can really change if we really, really want it.
It made me think: How is beauty always good and ugliness always evil?
I love books with a message and this certainly has a deep, profound one. In this sense, I couldn't help but comparing it to Finnikin of the Rock and associate its fantasy setting with a deeper message.
Also, Taylor's worldbuilding is spectacular. I had already glimpsed as much in the third short story of Lips Touch, Hatchling, but here, yet again, its complexity and detail are taken to a whole different level. Very dark, gothic, innovative, Laini takes elements of mythology and makes them hers, constructing a world that is not only fascinating and scary at the same time, but enriches it with new elements making the imagery so sophisticated I was awed.
As her imagery is sophisticated, so is her writing style. I don't think there are many the likes of her out there at the moment. Her usage if language is so confident, so stately smooth, she is so much in her element that she uses it as a medium to plunge us into elsewhere, manipulating it to her needs.
Ultimately, this is a book about hope. It says so repeatedly during the course of the story and I felt this feeling was beautifully conveyed.
In Brimstone's words:

"Hope is the real magic."

I'll be eagerly waiting to read the continuation to this story and I can't recommend it enough. For lovers of fantasy and all its sub-genres this is a must-read.



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Saltwater Vampires

Saltwater Vampires by Kirsty Eagar
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Barely.


So, Saltwater vampires.... as opposed to freshwater vampires?


Kirsty Eagar's Raw Blue was probably one of the best YA fiction I read this year but this book is just a NO for me.


First of all, it is unclear to me what this book exactly wanted to be: did it want to be a dark, paranormal novel à la Anne Rice where some rebel bad-ass vampires try to become all-powerful?

Did it want to be YA fiction about some kids who love surfing but who end up in a big, messy trouble?

Or did it want to be a thriller where a secret society plots to annihilate said bad-ass vampires and to restore peace and perpetuate its secrecy?

There were three distinct plot threads going on at the same time and let me tell you that the whole thing was complicated and distracting.


The parts where the book wanted to be a paranormal novel reminded me a lot of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, except the pirates, in this case, were vampires. The whole book is about them stealing a flask of super ancient vampire blood in order to perform a ritual and be able to:

a - walk in daylight again, so basically being nostalgic of the time they were humans;

b - travel through time to go back to the time of the shipwreck of the Batavia and look for Lucretia. WHAT? A bloodsucking predator with a romantic heart? Did I miss something there?


The parts were the book wanted to be YA fiction were certainly the best, we know Eagar excels in the field. Lots of surfing, like in Raw Blue, and a set of quirky, funny characters trying to solve their inner conflicts and, simultaneously, fight off the horde of monsters come to town. I loved those scenes, the surfing and the dialogue but it put a lull in the building-up of the plot, making the pauses excessively long. Midway through, it lost momentum and it started to get tedious.

The final scene is really adventurous and spectacular but I'm not sure if readers will actually get that far in the book. I did, out of sheer stubbornness.


The part where it wanted to be thriller and the secret society was involved were fairly predictable, both in regard to Clifford's motives and as to how it would end for him. And how could said centuries-old secret society be so inept at locating the bad guys?


The writing is, true to Eagar's style, flawless, although this book could surely have been (should have been) shorter, in my opinion.

It is its hybrid character that really didn't sit well with me.


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Hunting Lila

Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars


This is what I can tell you about Hunting Lila:

don't go into it with too many profound, life-changing expectations. A dialogue concerning the two chief World systems it is not.

What you should expect is a lot of fun, in the form of a lot of action à la X-men,  a good deal of mystery, a paranormal element, some forevah and evah love and a swoonworthy guy.


When somebody murdered her mother five years earlier under unclear circumstances, Lila and her father moved back to England, his home country, leaving behind Lila's brother, Jack, but most of all Jack's best friend, Lila's crush of all crushes, Alex.

Lila is now 17 and gifted with some "abilities" which she barely controls. After an attempted mugging risks to turn into tragedy, Lila finally loses it and takes the first plane back to California, to her brother Jack and Alex.

But from the frying pan, Lila jumps straight into the fire.

In a whirlwind of action, Alex, black ops, Alex, kidnappings, Alex, guys with "abilities" and... well, Alex, Lila will uncover the stunning truth about her mysterious gift and the secret behind her mother's death.


So... Alex.

As I was saying, I really liked this book, it's a lot of fun. But to say that this girl is plagued by raging teen hormones would be a serious understatement. By half book, I was kind of smiling benignly at Lila for spending 99.9% of her time, while in absurdly dangerous situations, lusting after Alex. They're trying to kill you girl, get a grip, for chrissake. He's hot, I agree, but she describes his eyes with stroboscopic effects.

Also, I thought Lila was very puerile to be 17. She really did not sound like a girl that age but much more immature. A tad whiny and with serious concentration issues.


Still, this is a book I'd recommend because you will find it hard to put down, fast-paced and funny. The perfect read to kick back on your couch after a long day of work and relax, for a few hours of thoughtless, unadulterated fun.


Will surely pick up the next book, I want to see how she keeps up the romance.



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Bloodlines

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Today I'd like to hone some of my (poor) mathematical skills and entertain you with some simple but self-explaining equations:


Bloodlines: Richelle Mead= x: Cassandra Clare


Hint: Spin-offs? Bad idea. You either planned them from the very beginning or anybody in this solar system can see that you're clutching at straws here.


Lissa : Rose = Adrian : x


Hint: Spirit users have a most peculiar ability. If you're familiar with Aladdin like I am, you'll know it's one of the wishes that the genie cannot grant. The gifted Moroi can, but with, uhm, side effects.


Rose : Dimitri = Sydney : x


Hint: Ah, forbidden love. While in VA we followed the illicit affair of a then underage student and her infinitely hot professor, we are now presented with the blossoming affection between a (racist) human and a Moroi. It's not declared yet but there are 5 more books to go, can't waste it all in the first one, can we?


Should I go on? Not necessary? I'll give you one more:


Mia Rinaldi : the b!tch in VA = x : the same b!tch in Bloodlines.



I could go on and on but then I'll be spoiling all the book for you, in case you want to read it.

Have you guessed all the unknowns of my very simple equations? If you have, then you also have figured out that, in Bloodlines, Richelle Mead has taken a lot of Vampire Academy, given it a touch up and presented it to us AGAIN.

Sub plots differ, of course, but the general idea? The same.


And possibly worse. One element that really, really infuriated me in Bloodlines is the underlying motif of racism and discrimination that permeates the whole book.

I could not decide whether to compare Alchemists to the Holy Inquisition or to KKK. This hate group's radicated belief (including Sydney's) that vampires are untouchable, disgusting and revolting unnatural beings did not sit well with me. The way it was developed and treated sounded very discriminatory and backwards (and a bit unbelievable too, IMO), you could just take out the word vampire and insert any other ethnic minority that has been persecuted in history and it would have fit perfectly.


Hence, I did not like Sydney. I was pulling my hair out when she was naming her car and complaining about its color. I was scratching my nails on a blackboard when she got miffed because the freakin' fitter of the school gave her a size 4 instead of a 2 and she started getting paranoid about being fat. I was trying gouge my eyes out when she came out with stuff like not accepting food from vampires, checking that the water bottles were sealed not to drink from where they drank and stuff like that. I DESPISE RACISTS. Enough said.


Not to mention the fact that this book is like a DIESEL car. VERY slow to warm up. The action picks up at about... yeah, 80% into the book. Before that it's a whole lot of racist comments, car rides around Palm Springs and mini-golf. Yes, you read correctly.


So... are my 3 stars justified? Probably not.

Yet, after being infuriated for about 80% of the book, when it finally started to take off, I have to say I quite enjoyed myself. Mead sure knows how to write some good action scenes and I foresee, in the far, far, far horizon, character development and possible redemption.

Also, I liked Adrian. He's such an ass I cannot help it. His sarcastic and cocky comments were the highlights of my reading experience. And frankly, after the way he got treated by Rose in VA, I could not help but feel indulgent towards him.

So, mathematical rant aside, I will pick up the next book in the series. This book is not as good as any of the Vampire Academy series but it MAYBE got potential, to be determined by further installments and consequent agonizing wait.




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Venom (Elemental Assassin #3)

Venom by Jennifer Estep
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It is a truth universally acknowledged that...

-  Gin Blanco, aka The Spider, professional assassin, always carries at least five silverstone knives on her at all times: two up her sleeves, two down her boots and one in the small of her back;

-  Finnegan Lake drinks a lot of chicory coffee and the supposed caffeine content does not affect him;

-  the symbol for Northern Aggression is a heart with an arrow through it;

-  Mab Monroe's rune is ruby with wavy rays all around;

-  Gin Blanco's eyes are grey whereas Owen Grayson are violet (and by the way, I still have to meet in my life somebody with violet eyes);

You might have guessed from my remarks what kind of problem I had with this book.

If there was ever a GoodReads' contest for Queen of Repetitions 2011, I would vote Estep.

Because she not only recaps events of previous books in the series, she recaps CHAPTERS within the same book. If we took away all the repetitions the book would probably be half its size.

And it is with great chagrin that I say this irritated me and distracted me quite a bit. It feels like like the author suffers from short-term memory loss OR she thinks that it's ME suffering from it.


The plot is good. I enjoyed it quite a bit and that is why I am giving this book 3 stars anyway. The writing is smooth. Characters have become familiar to me, they are well formed and interesting. I liked how she introduced Bria in the story, I liked that she got rid of donovancaine and I give my blessings to Owen Grayson. I WANT to know how the story goes on. But can I take another or multiple books of continuous recappings?

I am baffled: who edited this book?

This could be easily a five star book if not for the fact that my intelligence feels insulted by it.

If you're a lover of UF this is definitely a series I recommend reading. If you can stomach the recappings.




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Eye of the Tempest (Jane True #4)

Eye of the Tempest by Nicole Peeler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars



Take a look at the Jane True series cast:


- a half selkie who constantly engages in  conversations with her libido;
- an attractive shapeshifter with a rather canine sense of fashion;
- a powerful gnome who always carries her rocking chair with her;
- a kelpie named Trill who turns into a pony;
- a satyr with a loincloth problem;
- a former porn star turned lesbian heiress socialite;

if you feel the corners of your mouth turning up by now, the Jane True Series might be just the thing for you.

Then, if you think you might want your story peppered with:


- incredibly funny and incredibly bad jokes (obviously complementarily);
- obscure and not so obscure pop culture references;
- an action packed urban fantasy plot populated by all kinds of supernaturals;

then you HAVE to read this series.

This book has been, so far, the very best in the series and I can't wait for the next book to come out - alas, next year.

I'm hacking off half star because of the rather huge plot hole in the middle of the book. Mr. Peeler, how could two of your most experienced characters act in such an amateurish way?

Nonetheless, a great funny UF series which doesn't get enough credit but I hope more people - with the right sense of humor - will read.




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