Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

I rated this book 6/10
First published in February 2015

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers. To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change. Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.
But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

An interesting power struggle set in a well-built dystopia...

I found myself really enjoying this book at first. The world-building is wonderful - red blooded slum dwellers are held down by the silver blooded nobility; who have different powers, and those with the stronger powers hold the higher chairs in society. It reads much like political and social satire, and the imbalance of power between the two classes could be a lesson for young adults and teens that decide to pick it up.

But, it was all knocked down a peg or two by the insta-love that everyone seems to feel for the protagonist; by the 'betrayal' of a character that every reader will have spotted as deceptive from act 1; and by the strange whirlwind of an ending that didn't make much sense because one or two characters make really odd decisions. It also looks as if the title of the book has given the game away before you even read the first page.

I'm glad that this is book one of a trilogy however, because I think that there is a lot of potential in some of the ideas Aveyard puts to us, and in some of the relationships that are formed between the main characters. Aveyard's writing style is good - descriptive and full of action. A book for teens that I could safely recommend.

Thank you to Orion Books for the reading copy in exchange for R&R

Available at Waterstones 

The Calling - James Frey

I rated this 4/10

Twelve thousand years ago, they came. They descended from the sky amid smoke and fire, and created humanity and gave us rules to live by. They needed gold and they built our earliest civilizations to mine it for them. When they had what they needed, they left. But before they left, they told us someday they would come back, and when they did, a game would be played. A game that would determine our future.

I wasn't sure about this book. The short sentences and tendency to 'list' ("We came here, we have been here, and we are here now." "But we are not together. We are not friends. We do not call one another, and we do not text one another...") felt quite jarring to me. I also wasn't keen on the use of present tense to tell the tale (personal preference of course, it has the opposite effect of drawing me in and I find it distracting). I also felt that maybe James Frey had written this book solely with the big screen in mind. It reads like a film script, switches back and forth between players with more than a little similarity to Battle Royale and The Hunger Games.

Having said this, I found myself slowly being drawn into the book - more for the characters than the plot. They were good enough, all different in their own right, with Jago standing out the most for me as being well rounded and believable. Chiyoko was fascinating, but why would she clap her hands "yes" and not just nod her head?! Chris and Sarah however, were the usual 'too good to be true' protagonists that I felt were flat and uninteresting.

I wasn't madly taken by Endgame - a lot of incidents felt forced and I couldn't get around the fact that the Endgame was not made public knowledge, causing outright war between nations... I also couldn't get my head around Chiyoko using sex as a weapon (this is YA fiction, we shouldn't be glamorising that), and that An's disability is not portrayed in a good light at all; in fact, quite the opposite.

I read it quickly and it was quite addictive. I can see people who liked The Hunger Games perhaps enjoying this too, but I'm not sure I would be 100% happy recommending this to teenagers.

The Masque of the Red Death - Bethany Griffin

'The charcoal sky spits cold
rain as we rumble to a stop at
a crossroad.'

Rated 1.5/10

A devastating plague has decimated the population. And those who survived live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles to pieces around them... Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for - no matter what it costs her.

My thoughts: I know that this book has had some positive reviews, and I also know that it is heavily influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's drama with the same name - but I just couldn't get on with it.

This is a YA novel, and so there will be inevitable romance and angst as a result, but the protagonist is a whiny teen with absolutely no endearing qualities about her whatsoever; And yet she is at the centre of a heated love triangle (of which I won't go into detail due to spoilers). Araby punishes herself due to her twin brother's death by supposedly never experiencing the things that he will never get to experience in life - and yet here she is in the centre of a club taking drugs and drinking quite casually. This is one of the many plot holes that I just couldn't get my head around.

The coherence of the novel is barely there - it rambles on irritatingly in 1st person, present tense using a myriad of very short sentences and utterances...

And so many unanswered questions! Why can't you catch the airborne plague when you're indoors? the air in a room is completely refreshed on average every two hours, even if all doors and windows are closed. Why do girls wear 'negligible' dresses despite the fact that pretty much every 'penniless' man is horny and dangerous, and it's so cold all the time? Would the need to be safe not outweigh the fashion of showing off you have no plague? And so on.

Not a single strong female character was present throughout the whole book either, not great for the young female teen audience that this book is aimed at.

The motives and actions of the antagonists also did not make sense to me but again, not going to reveal due to spoilers.

This book did survive my scrutiny right until the final sentence however, and I did finish the whole thing. Although it is not to my tastes, I know that others will enjoy it. If you want a really good YA novel that does everything that this one doesn't, then check out 5th Wave by Rick Yancey.

The King's Bastard - Rowena Cory Daniells

Date Read: March 2011

The Kingdom of Rolencia sleeps as rumours of new Affinity Seeps, places where the untamed power wells up. By royal decree all those afflicted with Affinity must serve the Abbey or face death. Sent to the Ab-bey, the King's youngest son, Fyn, trains to become a warrior monk. Elsewhere others are tainted with Affinity and must fight to survive. Political intrigue and magic combine in this explosive first book in an exciting new fantasy trilogy.

My Thoughts: Another gritty fantasy that I found myself absorbed in. This one is shaping out to be a real epic and I only hope that the second book is as good as the first. Dark and bloody, full of betrayal, with some strong characters and grand settings; it had me turning the pages right to the end.

I RATED THIS 8/10

Stormlord Rising - Glenda Larke

Date Read: November 2010

The last Stormlord is dead. War has come to the cities of the Quartern. The violent, nomadic Redunners have put every rainlord they could find to the sword and the cities are left without hope.

Shale has been betrayed, drugged, and left at the feet of his greatest enemy. Now, he must decide to work with those who have plotted against him or let thousands of the waterless die. He has great power but is no Stormlord. At least, not yet...

My Thoughts: Not quite as brilliant as the first book in the Stormlord series, because Shale's character seems to indulge in activities and make decisions that I don't personally believe his character would do.

Having said that, the book is almost as stunning as the first; just as brutal, pacy and the plot really does start to unfold around you. Love, friendship, betrayal, epic battles, slavery, arduous journeys... I just can't stress enough how amazing this series is turning out to be!

I RATED THIS 8/10

The Magician's Guild - Trudi Canavan

Date Read: July 2010

This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work—until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders . . . and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield.

My Thoughts: I really do not understand all of the hype that surrounds these books at all (but then again, the popularity of the Twilight series also has me baffled).

The writing isn't great. The characters are dull. The whole world that Canavan creates here falls a little flat to me and most of the book is spent chasing Sonea about as she is in hiding. There is nothing challenging about it at all - it's a bit like painting your living room magnolia. Unoffensive, no content and no real issues are addressed.

The book completely lacks depth; however, I have been discussing this with a colleague of mine and she insists that the trilogy gets so much better as it goes along. She tells me that you really get into the 2nd book and it's worth reading. I can see how this series has potential and I won't be picking up book 2 myself, but I think that others will enjoy the Black Magician Trilogy.

I RATED IT 3/10

The Last Stormlord - Glenda Larke

Date Read: May 2010

Shale is the lowest of the low; an outcast from a poor village in the heart of the desert. In the desert water is life, and currency, and Shale has none. But he has a secret. It's the one thing that keeps him alive and may save all the cities of the Quartern in the days to come. If it doesn't get him killed first...

My Thoughts: Dark and gritty fantasy at it's finest! The world is brutal and the characters are vivid. It is definitely well worth the 200 page build up to set the scene, so make sure you stick at it.

Shale is awesome and I love the fact that the reader can watch him grow and develop in all of his glory. Larke has such a talent for submerging us head first into her world - it's so deep, a real luxury to explore.

Trudi Canavan take note!!! This is how you really swallow up your readers and leave them desperate for more... there is no competition.

Recommendations: Anybody that likes to be completely submerged between the pages of another land.

I RATED THIS 10/10