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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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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.

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The post Touch of Power appeared first on Doing Dewey.

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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.

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The post Defy appeared first on Doing Dewey.

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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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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.

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The post The Dream Thieves appeared first on Doing Dewey.

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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.

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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!

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The post Finnikin of the Rock appeared first on Doing Dewey.

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Like the book, this review is going to be a quick, easy read. The plot is almost exactly that of Sense and Sensibility, just a modernized version. My first reaction was disappointment that the author didn’t even try to copy Austen’s beautiful prose or understated humor. Once I got past that, I was better able to enjoy the book for what it was. Elinor and Marianne were both updated very nicely. Like the actions of Austen’s characters, the update wasn’t predictable but just felt right. Of course Elinor would be good at academics! Of course Marianne would act! I was also impressed by the way the update translated events with no modern equivalent. For instance, some of the social constraints on the original characters’ actions have no longer exist, but the author managed to come up with suitable substitutes.

Objectively, I think this probably deserves two starts. The characters were two-dimensional stereotypes and I occasionally found their actions unbelievable. The writing wasn’t anything special. But when I finished it, I would have said I liked it. I had fun reading it and enjoyed seeing the author’s creativity in making the update, so three stars it is.

Do you ever feel like a book “objectively” deserves a different numbers of stars than the rating you want to give it? If so, which rating do you go with?

The post The Dashwood Sisters’ Secrets of Love appeared first on Doing Dewey.

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Earlier in this Persephone/Hades myth based trilogy, John (Hades) and Peirce (Persephone) made a decision that has imbalanced the forces ruling the underworld. Having finally (mostly) worked out their relationship, Peirce is suddenly faced with the possibility of losing John because of this imbalance. As she tries to rescue him and restore balance to the underworld, she’ll have to take advantage of all the connections and cool powers that come with being the queen of the underworld. And it will be awesome.

Initially, I had some trouble getting back into this series. There are some vague references to the previous books, but nothing specific enough to be helpful. At first my disorientation made Peirce and John come across as melodramatic about everything from their relationship to the danger to the underworld. As I got into the story, however, I started to remember everything I loved about the first two books. Peirce is by far one of my favorite Meg Cabot heroines (and they’re all pretty awesome). She’s sarcastic, she’s funny, and she’s a very strong character. And I mean a really strong character. Not one of those characters everyone describes as strong but who is always rescued. She’s a strong heroine who actually rescues her boyfriend at least as often as he rescues her.

I also liked that this book included some enjoyable secondary character development, including the addition of some less well known Greek mythology. It’s nice to see a large number of characters have depth and character growth, instead of just being foils for the protagonist. Like the previous books, once things got started, something was constantly happening. The fast pace was a lot of fun and I appreciated that there were several interesting issues the protagonist had to deal with. Not that awesome fights with furies aren’t enough, but the secondary plot involving her introducing John to her family really fleshed out the story for me. In addition to preserving the things I enjoyed about the previous books, this attention to all aspects of Peirce’s life made this book a great conclusion to the trilogy.

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The post Bookends About Awaken appeared first on Doing Dewey.

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As I mentioned in my previous review of a Goose Girl retelling, the basic gist of both this book and the original fairy tale is as follows. A princess is sent to marry a prince in a foreign land and on the journey, her maid uses some form of magic to take on the princess’s identity. Once they reach the foreign capital, the princess becomes a goose girl and must decide if and how she wants to regain her place as a princess.

Like the previous re-telling, this princess was very unassuming and not so sure she minded being a goose girl. Unlike the previous re-telling however, I felt she had a very good reason for being nervous and mistrusting the prince, so her inaction was less frustrating. Later in the book she does manage to stand up and make a difference when it matters. And at the end, she is required to be incredibly brave, enduring violent trials to save the prince. She made for a very impressive heroine!

In general this heroine faces far darker and more violent situations than were to be found in the other re-telling. I didn’t love that this lost the “fairy tale feel” of the other, but I suspect it would be right at home in an original brothers Grimm collection. I did love that the author added some ethical dilemmas and a villain with a lot more depth. As with the other re-telling, the author did an incredible job meshing original plot with the world and magic system she created. This world was a slightly more grown-up version than the other, but I also enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to people who like character growth and/or fairy tale re-tellings.

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