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Although her father gave away the invention meant to cure her before he died, Eyelet is determined to hunt down his invention and use it herself. In a world where madness is treated without mercy, the machine may be her only hope to cure her seizures. However, her father’s power hungry colleague, Professor Smrt, is determined to beat her to it. When she finds it at last, it’s only to watch Urlick Babbit steal it before she can. In order to defeat Smrt, she and Urlick will have to face many dangers together, including the machine which may turn out to be the greatest danger of all. (adapted from goodreads)

Jacqueline Garlick has definitely mastered that most talked about technique – showing instead of telling. This book was action packed right from the beginning and while it took me a bit to orient myself in the original world she’s created, I loved every minute of it. I’ve only read a little steampunk, but to me at least, many of her creative imaginings of that kind of world were brilliantly novel. Her hero and heroine were equally unique, with features that distinguish them dramatically from the annoyingly unrealistic perfect heros and heroines who populates so many YA stories.  This only made them more likable. They each had their quirks and insecurities which contributed to the realistic romance that followed. Unlike in many books, I can point to specific reasons the characters like each other, a fact that makes a romance feel far less cliche.

My only problem with the book is the pacing. While more realistic than most, the romance progressed fairly quickly. The adventures were exciting, but the hero and heroine were so often in near death situations that they lost their emotional impact. By the end, they could be gasping their last breath and I wouldn’t be too concerned, because they’ve survived everything already! Despite my lack of worry for the characters, I was sad to come to a cliff-hanger ending. While I’m sure everything will work out, I wanted to know what came next. I really became invested in this fantastic world and the fates of these unique protagonists. I can’t wait to read more! I would recommend this to any fan of steampunk, but also to fans of realistic romance and of gothic stories since this had a distinctly gothic feel at times.

Amazon|Goodreads

The post Lumière appeared first on Doing Dewey.

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Like Touch of Power, this book clearly exhibited the superb writing I’ve come to expect from Maria V. Snyder. Even better, she completely fixed the pacing issue I had with the first one. Instead of dragging at the beginning, this book started off fast. The author kept the tension and excitement high with the introduction of a second viewpoint. Strategic chapter breaks kept me constantly wondering what would happen next. The world building of the last book was expanded on in new and clever ways, always staying internally consistent. I was more engaged in this book than the previous one and loved every minute of it.

Title: Taste of Darkness
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★★

The first bit of this book seemed slow to me, but we quickly switched back to a multi-perspective format which preserved the exciting pace of the second book. The world-building only got better as Avry solved more mysteries about the plague. The action was constant. The relationships between the characters, both the romances and many great friendships, really came into their own in this book. While many series today seem to be trilogies because it’s trendy, Marie V. Snyder took advantage of that format in her creation of believable and emotionally engaging characters. The romance was very convincing, the friendly banter was a ton of fun, and the demonstrations of the trust these characters built throughout the series was inspiring. This series only got better as it went and after finishing the last page, I’d wholeheartedly recommend the whole thing.

The post Healer Series in Mini-Reviews appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Title: 

Avry is the last of the healers. After a plague the healers couldn’t cure decimated the Fifteen Territories, all of the healers were hunted down and killed. On the run, Avry is eventually captured by a band of men who, surprisingly, value her healing skills over the bounty for turning her in. Unfortunately, they want her to heal the man Avry blames for the healer’s demise. The decision she has to make is a tough one, since he might also be her land’s best chance at peace.

As soon as I started Touch of Power, I remembered why I love Maria V. Snyder’s writing so much. It’s precisely what I want when I pick up a YA book. She’s clearly mastered the art of showing instead of telling. Information about the fascinating world she’s created is seamlessly integrated into the events of the book. Although the pace felt slow to me at the beginning, I eventually got into the story and started tearing through the pages.

Like every YA book I’ve read lately, this book does involve a romance. Fortunately, it adds to the plot without overshadowing it. Although there’s a little overlap between romance and action, it never distracted the characters from what needed to be done. Avry’s feelings grew in a very believable way and I ended up quite impressed with how the romance was handled in this one. I liked the book more and more as I went and by the time I finished, I couldn’t wait to pick up the next book in the series.

Amazon|Goodreads

The post Touch of Power appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Title: 

Only by disguising herself as a boy is Alexa safe from a fate worse than death. Fortunately, her impressive fighting skills quickly earn her a place in the elite prince’s guard. In that position, she’ll have to decide where her loyalties lie, with her prince or her kingdom. Her decision will influence the fate of her world. Also, there is a love triangle.

That’s what the book should have been like, anyway. Oh, and by the way, a love triangle. Instead, the love triangle took over the book. There wasn’t much misplaced romance in the middle of danger, but there were moments when I wondered why we were spending time on this. The fate of kingdoms was in the balance! I didn’t care much which of the men who somehow fell in love with the boyishly disguised Alexa ended up with her. Given how much of the story was devoted to this love triangle, I was extra annoyed by the ending. Character’s who create their own romantic problems are one of my pet peeves.

The love triangle was especially disappointing given how good the rest of the book was. The writing was vividly descriptive, drawing me right into the constant action and intrigue. I loved the characters and the character development. The plot wasn’t too novel or surprising, but it reminded me of Tamora Pierce’s books in a great way. Were it not for the love triangle, I easily could have given this four or five stars. It wasn’t the worst love triangle I’ve ever read, with a reasonably decisive heroine. However, my interest in her love life paled beside the fascinating political intrigue which I wish had gotten more attention throughout the book.

Amazon|Goodreads

The post Defy appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Title: 

In the world of Divergent, society is divided into five factions, each of which prize a particular virtue (intelligence, bravery, etc.). At age 16, children must choose which faction to belong to and changing factions means leaving all friends and family behind. Tris’s choice to leave the selfless faction for Dauntless is brutally hard and she has a secret to hide which will make things even harder.

Having heard such good things about Divergent and having generally enjoyed the dystopian craze, I was prepared to love this book. Unfortunately, the world building was completely unconvincing to me. Nothing about the society in Divergent made sense and I don’t believe our society could ever evolve that way. In addition, there was lots of artificially withholding information from the reader to make the plot more interesting. I did like Tris’s personality a lot. She wasn’t completely relatable, possessing a natural strength and ability to be violent I didn’t connect with, but I enjoyed that this made her distinct from many other YA heroines. The narration was spot-on and I was completely convinced Emma Galvin was a teenage girl.

The post Soundbites About Divergent appeared first on Doing Dewey.

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Into The Fire is the sequel to After The Ending (which is currently on sale on amazon for only $.99 by the way!) and picks up right where the previous book left off. The world has basically come to a halt due to a virus and two friends, Dani and Zoe, are trying to survive with everything changing. Strange new abilities, people gone mad, and crazy government conspiracies are just a few of the exciting elements of this great series.

Even though some of the characters were similar to one another, I quickly remembered who was who as I started this sequel. I’ve often found that difficult in other series, but in this series, the characters stuck with me very vividly. No information dump needed.  One complaint people had with the previous book was the central role romance played, despite the world nearly ending. I actually found it really realistic and think it’s part of why the characters seemed so believable to me. As long as people aren’t in immediate danger, interpersonal drama and the building of romantic relationships is always going to be a thing. That said, I think people who were bothered by the romance will find it less of a problem in Into The Fire. While some enjoyable romance is still present, it clearly plays a secondary role compared to the action and world building.

Something exciting was constantly happening. The action kept me turning pages as fast as I could! The world building was very well done. Most of the new information about how this world works was revealed to us early on, but throughout the book we discover how individual characters got to where they are. I thought this was a great way to avoid artificially holding information back – something that has always been a pet peeve of mine in YA – while still keeping me curious. There were a few little pet peeves of mine that did show up in this one, including some slightly too serendipitous occurrences and characters who refuse to talk about their problems, but overall, this was an incredibly fun read.

Even the science was quite well done. Although I’m not convinced that what happened in the book could happen in real life, the book is both internally consistent and consistent with basic science. Some of the facts of our reality our different from the book, but again – the basic science holds. I love when authors do their research! So yep, great characters, fascinating world building, constant action, and believable science. Obviously, I’m going to highly recommend this one.

Amazon|Goodreads

The post Into The Fire appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Title: 

The Dream Thieves is the sequel to The Raven Boys. It continues the story of Blue and the boy who is her true love, but who will die if she kisses him. The focus of the book, however, is on one of the other boys. Ronan is a complete punk at first glance, but there’s more to him than meets the eye. Not only can he be nicer than you might expect, he also the ability to dream things into reality. And some very bad people would love to make use of that ability if they find out who he is…

I recently had the extreme good fortune of meeting Maggie Stiefvater at Oblong Books and if you’re in NY, you should check them out, because they rock! And Maggie rocked too! She was funny and personable and gave a great talk about her books. I also found out that The Scorpio Races was her favorite book she’d written until The Dream Thieves. I thought The Scorpio Races was pretty much the best thing since sliced bread, so of course I came home and started reading The Dream Thieves immediately.

It was perfect. The slowly growing romance and the well developed characters reminded me of why I loved The Scorpio Races. The epic ending which could do for a complete series ending reminded me of my favorite part of The Raven Boys. And the sense of humor was both brilliant and all its own. The beauty of the writing reminded me of The Scorpio Races too and I like to imagine that that’s the author’s love of her story showing through. I loved this book and while I’ll continue to read Maggie’s book in general, her favorites will definitely be the ones I anticipate the most.

Amazon|Goodreads

The post The Dream Thieves appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Title: 

Hollow’s End is inspired by both the legend of Sleepy Hollow and the history of the town where the legend is set. Events from the Revolutionary War  pitted the town’s inhabitants against each other, leaving lingering animosity that leads to paranormal activities as Halloween approaches. Although Rowen is from a family of witches, she’s never wanted to do anything with such things. Unfortunately, her relationships and her powers leave her little choice but to deal with visions sparked by ancestors of the towns current inhabitants…

The potential this book had was overwhelming, to the point that at the middle of the book, I was imagining a five star review. Rowen is a perfect YA heroine. She feels guilty and concerned about her weight when she’s splurged on junk food, but is generally confident and happy with her appearance. She’s nervous around her crush and even once wonders why he likes her (dear lord, please spare me from heroines wondering why guys like them). However, the butterflies in her stomach mostly don’t make it out of her mouth and she manages to hold her own in every conversation. I adored her. She reminded me of what it was like to be a teenager without becoming the overdone, insecure, teenage stereotype found in so many YA novels. She also has a great relationship with her mother, who helps her deal with events both paranormal and romantic. Obviously, not every teen has great family relationships, but I suspect it’s far more common than having parents who are bizarrely absent or too stupid to notice paranormal activity when they see it. All around, many points for avoiding annoying YA tropes.

The plot was a little less amazing. There wasn’t too much to the mystery the book centers around and “new” information was being revealed long after it was clear what it had happened. The final confrontation, although written well enough to be pretty suspenseful, didn’t require much of our heroine. After all the bravery she showed early on, I found that a bit anticlimactic. The idea for the plot was good though and the characters were so wonderfully realistic that I found this a very enjoyable read. As the authors first foray into young adult, this was quite impressive and I look forward to seeing what she does next. If you like character driven stories and are getting sick of YA tropes, I would highly recommend her work already.

Edit: After I wrote this review, the author was kind enough to contact me and ask for more specific critiques. Then, she actually and sent me a new ending scene! It fixed everything that made the original anticlimactic. Instead I was on the edge of my seat, cheering as the protagonist figured out a brilliant solution. With this brilliant debut, I’m super excited to read more by Marianne Morea.

The post Hollow’s End appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Title: 

Ten years ago the entire royal family of Lumatere was slain and the kingdom fell under a curse. Surrounded by an impenetrable magic barrier, half of her people remain trapped inside with an evil king and half wander the land outside as exiles. On the outside, Finnikin and his guardian Sir Topher have struggled to find a home for the Lumateren exiles, but when they meet an exile named Evanjalin who claims the heir to the throne is alive, they have to consider the possibility that they have a hope of returning home.

It could just have been too long since I’ve read an epic fantasy story, but I really reveled in all of the great but somewhat expected elements in this book. It never felt cliched to me; just like it was exactly what it should be. It struck me as the sort of story that my history-major friends who wish they lived in the middle ages would dream of living. It was epic. The actions of the characters affect the fate of countries Both great heroism and great sacrifice are called for. There were prophecies, curses, quests, missing heirs, and magic kingdoms. All of the elements a great epic fantasy needs were present and accounted for.

I think what kept all of this epicness from becoming over the top or cliched was the author’s amazing way with characters. All of the characters felt unique and three-dimensional. All had their strengths and their flaws. They didn’t always get along, but they did discuss their problems like human beings, instead of like frustrating characters in some young adult novel. They didn’t make their own problems. Even our hero is portrayed as very human and the author addresses some impressively modern gender role issues through his relationship with Evanjalin. Although this lacked some of the depth and world building you might see in a longer novel, overall I thought this was an incredibly impressive story with great characters.

This review was part of The Journey Home, a series of reviews and discussions of Finnikin of the Rock. You can find participants here. Thanks to Charlene at Bookish Whimsy and Paola at A Novel Idea for hosting!

Amazon|Goodreads

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Title: 

The dictatorial rulers of The Woodlands, known as The Superiors, believe that diversity is the enemy of peace. Disobedience is punished swiftly and violently. Day by day The Superiors are usurping more control over the lives of the citizens, dictating the careers they can have; how many children they are allowed; and who they can marry. Rosa has always been different and her uniqueness will eventually land her in trouble she might not be able to get out of.

At first not much will surprise you about The Woodlands. The setup is a fairly standard dystopian world. However, a few important elements made this book really stand out for me. First, it felt to me like the author had really thought through where The Superiors beliefs would lead them. They repress dissent quite violently. They also take their belief that everyone should become genetically identical and have no community ties to the extreme, disturbing and logical conclusion.  Rosa doesn’t get away with disobedience forever and isn’t a teenager who is suddenly able to take on governments. She needs help, she’s only good at the things she has learned about, and even at the end of the book no major societal changes are in the offering. I felt like this gave the book a realism that is missing from so many teen hero stories.

Another thing that made this book stand out to me were the unique details of the culture of The Woodlands. This included having a non-white protagonist, but also a lot of great detail about the structure of the society and the different cities. The book also gets major points for avoiding cliches I find annoying and for including just the right amount of teen drama. There’s a tiny bit of confusion over who loves whom, but nothing that becomes a full blown love triangle (thank goodness!). Sometimes I found Rosa’s behavior irrational, but she was in trying circumstances and pulled herself together before becoming annoying. I enjoyed that there was a great friendship and that in addition to our stereotypically strong, angry protagonist we were also given her cheerful and quietly strong friend to admire. The book even passes the Bechdel test.

While the writing quality was slightly below that of mainstream dystopians and I missed having a challenging ethical question to consider (the bad guys were just so obviously evil!), I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed recent dystopian YA. This book has a great diversity of characters; a fascinating culture; no love triangle; and a unique feel that makes it clear this isn’t just the same dystopian all over again. I’ll definitely be reading the sequel.

The post The Woodlands appeared first on Doing Dewey.