Shadow and Bone By Leigh Bardugo

Release Date: June 5th 2012
Author Info: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henery Holt and Co.
Age: 14+
Recommendation: Buy
Source: Library

Teaser: I twisted and Kicked as the yellow-bearded man grabbed hold of my legs. I looked desperately down to the glen, but the soldiers and Grisha below me were fighting for their lives, clearly outnumbered and unable to come to my aid. I struggled and thrashed, but the Fjerdan was too strong. He climbed on top of me, using his knees to pin my arms to my sides, and reached for his knife. "I'll gut you right here, witch," he snarled in a heavy Fjerdan accent.

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

It’s taken me a while to write this review because it was hard to put into words how much I adored this book. It’s hard for me to put into words the things that MADE me adore this book but I must try. Let’s start off with the world of Shadow and Bone, This world is not too far from our own past, it’s based on an alternate history of a country a lot like Russia. That right there was unique in its own. Although I love reading fantasy books based in London I felt relieved that this wasn’t one of them. As a lover and student of History it also gave me a lot of joy to feel that I was learning about a new culture.

As far as the romance goes you will not find any insta-love in this book. Mal and Alina have known each other their whole lives; they’ve had so much time for their love to grow and to really know each other. I also loved that his was what it claimed to be its FANTASY, FANTASY not ROMANCE disguised as Fantasy. Finally the villain. I have a hard time convincing myself that the villain of this book is actually the villain and I LOVE that.  I felt for him, I understood him and he was believable because he did not see himself as the bad guy but as the savior of a entire race and country.

If you have not read Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo  I recommend that you go out and Buy this book as soon as possible. The Sequel Siege and Storm will be coming out in June and I can not wait!

"Waiting on" Wednesday: Steelheart

Welcome back to The Paranormal Princess! Today is Wednesday and I will be Praticipating for the first time on this blog. First, a little history about W.O.W. "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted over at Breaking the Spine .

So What am I currently Waiting On?

 

 

Steelheart

By Brandon Sanderson

Expected Publication : September, 24 2013

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills. Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.
And David wants in. He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience. He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge. (goodreads.com)

 

 

ITS BRANDON SANDERSON!AND DOES'NT IT JUST GIVE YOU THIS AWESOME X-MEN FEELING? <3



Onyx By Jennifer L Armentrout (Lux #2)

Release Date: August 14th 2012
Author Info: Jennifer L Armentrout
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Age: 16 +
Recommendation: Borrow
Source: Purchased

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…
Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.
Something worse than the Arum has come to town…
The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.
But then everything changes…
I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies… (goodreads.com)

I honestly don’t have much to say about the second book in the Lux series by Jennifer L Armentrout. This book was very confusing coming from the first book that was really fun. Although I enjoyed Onyx I feel that it was a step down from Obsidian as far as my personal enjoyment. It was like one of those books that are just to build a bridge to the next and nothing really happens. At the end we were thrown into something that kind of came out of no where. It seems like the book jumped from point A to C and skipped right over B. I would recommend this book to those that loved the first and just can’t get enough of Daemon.  If you were a bit on edge with the characters and world of Obsidian this may be a book you’d like to borrow or wait on.  Either way, I’m hooked and will be reading the third book in the series to see how Armentrout will fill in the blanks created in Onyx.