Day: October 25, 2016

Teaser Tuesday – October 25th, 2016

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme currently being hosted by MizB @ Books and a Beat. All are welcome to participate!

Rules:

  • Grab your current read.
  • Open to a random page.
  • Share two ‘teaser’ sentences from somewhere on that page.
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! You don’t want to give too much away so as to not ruin the book for others!
  • Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

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Paper and Fire (The Great Library, #2) by Rachel Caine

Wolfe slowly raised his head. His color was terrible and his eyes looked dull and strange, but they were open, and after a blank moment that seemed to stretch forever, he looked directly at Santi and said, “It must have been terrible if you look so worried.”

-page 147

I cannot say enough good things about this series. The first book, Ink and Bone, was a wonderful reimagining of what society would be like if The Great Library of Alexandria had never burned down, but instead became the single place that controls all of the books and writing from history. It was an exciting book and it’s looking like this sequel shall continue that trend. I feel like this is an underrated series and doesn’t have the following like I would have thought it would. But maybe you’ll pick it up, enjoy it as much as I do, and will help spread the word! I mean, this is a book about the importance of books and what booknerd doesn’t love that?

What does your Teaser Tuesday look like? Have you read The Great Library series yet? What are your thoughts on it?

Review: Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)

If I’m being honest with myself, I was kind of wanting to hate this series before I started it. There was just so much hype surrounding it that I was fully looking forward to being a curmudgeon and dog this series. Dammit, my plans were thwarted and I ended up finding Throne of Glass fairly entertaining. I never wrote a review of it but I gave it 4 stars. However, I definitely saw an improvement when it came to this second book, Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2) by Sarah J. Maas. (Side note – I accidentally typed Gals just now and then I started laughing picturing a series called Throne of Gals.)

“A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.

It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend.”

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena’s world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie… and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

The Good

  • Plot – Okay, the plot in this book was 100x more entertaining than in the first. There was plenty of action and mystery going on throughout the story and I didn’t find myself getting bored as I did in the first book. There’s nothing worse than reading a fantasy story and being bored.
  • Chaol – Yeah, I liked him in the first book but he was even better in this one. He went through some growing pains and is starting to feel the pressure of having feelings for Celaena and being able to complete his duties. He’s loyal to a fault and suffers from some serious issues. I like my men to be really flawed and I’ll be damned if that isn’t Chaol all the way.
  • Celaena – I found myself liking Celaena a bit more in this book, than I did in the first one. We actually get to see her in action some – FINALLY. Also, she wasn’t as immature acting as she was in Throne of Glass. We actually get to see that her past is finally starting to weigh on her, which I think added a much needed layer to her character, especially in terms of development.

Roland gave her a courtier’s smile. “And what sort of work do you do for my uncle?”Dorian shifted on his feet and Chaol went very still, but Celaena returned Roland’s smile and said, “I bury the king’s opponents where nobody will ever find them.”.png

The Bad

  • Nehemia – I cannot stand her character. Don’t ask me why that is, because I don’t know. There’s just something very annoying about her and gives me an irrational dislike towards her. I was insanely pleased with where her character ended up. Too mean?
  • Convoluted History – Maybe I’m just too dense to get it, but the history and mythology in this series is so damn confusing to me. All of historical references and explanations are just too messy for me, and bring up more questions than they answer. I’m not really sure I understand all of the different connections between the myths and current events. Every single time there’s some backstory or myth mentioned, all I can think is – WTF are they talking about? I feel like the reader is already supposed to know some of this information and I clearly do not.

Because this book was too damn entertaining for its own good, I’m gonna have to give it all the stars. As much as it pains me to admit, I was hooked. This series is like a guilty pleasure read – you know it’s got lots of issues but you can’t help but love it anyways. I’m curious to see how it progresses (pssst.. I already finished Heir of Fire too). I’ve seen where EoS has gotten some very mixed reviews, so I think this is going to be interesting.

Final Verdict: 5/5 Stars

What are your thoughts on this book or series? Do you think I’m being too mean to Nehemia? Am I the only one who has a hard time following all of the myths and history? Am I taking crazy pills? Why can’t I like Dorian?