Review: Shadow Scale

Title: Shadow Scale
Author: Rachel Hartman
Series: Seraphina duology
Volume: 2
Genre: Fantasy
Goodreads
Release Date: March 10, 2015
eARC received through NetGalley.


A Quick Introduction: The alliance between humans and dragons in Goredd, tenuous already, is being tried as the dragons are plunged into a civil war. A war that will soon flood into Seraphina's home country. She sets off on a journey to find other half-dragons, like herself , in hopes they'll be able to help protect her people when the war does break out. But all is not as it seems, and Seraphina might be too late to stop what has been put in motion.

Out of Ten: 8/10

Review at a Glance: Overall, a wonderful, character-driven conclusion to a complex fantasy duology.

Review: That was a marathon. Rachel Hartman takes us back to the world of Seraphina, half-dragon. Things have gotten more complicated for Seraphina, now that the carefully kept secret of her ancestry is out and the clouds of war billow on the horizon.

Seraphina remains a wonderful lead to read (that rhymed, but its nearly one in the morning as I write this, so cut me some slack here). She's determined and delightfully pragmatic (only you, the world says, would find pragmatism delightful). Most of all, she feels human. She struggles with self-doubt, with the fear that she won't succeed. She's a balance of flaws and strengths. Shadow Scale is strongly character driven, by Seraphina's development and her relationships with other characters: her friendships with Abdo and Glisselda, her romance with Lucian, her hopes for kinship with the other half-dragons, her love for her uncle, and with the world in general as a half-dragon.

This book was a journey. The majority of Seraphina takes place in Goredd, but a lot of Shadow Scale is on the road, as Seraphina attempts to locate and bring together the other half-dragons. There's a cast of new characters introduced, and a lot of new places. The world itself was enjoyable in there are recognisable hints of  real-world medieval influences from different parts of our world, but nothing that made the culture feel transplanted. The cultures and places were well formed, and the many of the supporting characters are memorable. And what a cast of supporting characters it was.

The cast of characters grows exponentially from that in the first book. Almost all of the characters from the first book play a role in the second, in addition to 15+ (I eventually stopped counting) new named characters. Rachel Hartman does an admirable job of juggling all of the new characters, while still maintaining the pace of the novel.

Plot-wise, a lot happened. If I had a complaint, it would be that it felt rushed- the climax was sudden and came up fast, and if felt like there could have been more build-up to the resolution than there was. Though I was for the most part very happy with how well the foreshadowing in this book was carried out, it felt that there could have been more in how certain aspects were built up. Another flaw lies in the fact that the magic system was never concretely defined. The writing was otherwise consistent, though this book does start off slowly, and is more slowly paced, with exposition.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. It took me just over twenty-four hours to read six hundred pages worth of words. Fortunately, I was home alone, as my family members might have been alarmed by my shouting "No, no, no, you IDIOT. Don't even think about it! Ugh! Why?" at my computer screen (where I was reading my galley).

Top Ten ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOKS from the past 3 years

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly feature created at The Broke and The Bookish.

I generally can't even give you my top ten for ONE year, much less three, but let's try this. Also, these books are often recent rereads, so they are my favourites at this moment in time. Ask me tomorrow, and bets are off... Also, I'm only allowed to mention each author once.

1. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

2. For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

3. Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

4. Nation by Terry Pratchett

5. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

6. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

7. Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

8. Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow

9. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

10. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

February Wrap-Up

February was a month of unfinished books in a lot of ways. This month in books:

• I'm working my way though The Silmarillion, it is a different reading experience from most of what I've read before, different even from the other Tolkien that I have read. I've got a running commentary going on my tumblr...
• Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson
• The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson (I did a mini-review for this, but I'm tempted to talk more about it)
• Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee
• I also reread Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst for the Re-Read Challenge

Audiobooks:

• These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
• This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Remember the office floor from my January haul? You get to see it again! The lighting is slightly better this time around, because I planned a bit better and photographed during the day.

I said that I didn't usually purchase enough books to do a haul in January, and this is still an abnormal number of books for me to purchase. It was a Book Outlet order, actually, and consists of a lot of books I've wanted to read, or have already read and wanted to buy, for a while now:

• A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix: I've borrowed it from the library a lot, and I've started it before, but it had to be returned. I did enjoy the start, though, so I'm taking a gamble that I'll like this
• A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sarah Biggs Waller: Surprisingly, I didn't already have one of my favourite debuts from last year. I like the hardcover better than the paperback, though, so I jumped when I found it on Book Outlet.
• The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson: It sounded like fun. 
• For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund: I read and loved this in 2013, and I was just waiting for the paper back of Across a Star-Swept Sea to purchase them... then I forgot to until now.
• Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande: This was one of the first YA novels I ever read *reminisces* wow, that was a while ago...
• Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick: I've heard excellent things about this, and I tend to enjoy Printz-award books.
• Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn
• Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff: Steampunk Japan caught my interest. 

February DNF

Title: The Archived
Author: Victoria Schwab
Jan. 9- Feb. 24
108 pages
I've been trying to get through this for almost two months now. It just isn't for me, I don't think. One thing I have a dominant dislike of is when the main character keeps a secret that is clearly dangerous, and to me some of the secrets Mac keeps are just that. Nothing about Mac's character, or the other characters, really. I also just didn't buy the world. Maybe everything is explained later, but I got a good portion of the way though and still didn't find that the world was well formed. There just seemed to be so much that was undefined... it didn't feel complete, which isn't how I like my worlds.

February Mini-Reviews

Title: Gates of Thread and Stone

Author: Lori M. Lee

Series: Gates of Thread and Stone

Volume: 1
Release Date: August 5, 2014

Out of Ten: 5/10
Review: This book is hard for me to rate on a scale out of ten. I quite liked some of the ideas, though I wasn't as much of a fan of the execution. This book tries to do a lot of things, but it ultimately struggles to pull everything together into a cohesive story and world. There are steampunk and fantasy aspects, as well as dystopian aspects. All of these were almost too much for the story to carry. Part of it was that this book fails to breathe new life into the some of the tired tropes it employs, which rendered it predictable or just not engaging at some points. However, there were some parts of the core plot itself that I did enjoy, and, despite times where I nearly lost interest, I did manage to finish the book, though I'm not sure if I'll be picking up its sequel.

Title: The Rithmatist
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Series: Rithmatist
Volume: 1
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Out of Ten: 7/10
Review: This is my second Brandon Sanderson book, and I've found that I quite enjoy his storytelling. While The Rithmatist is marketed as young adult, and has a sixteen year old protagonist, it has the overall feel of a middle-grade novel and it had many of the features that I tend to appreciate about middle-grade fantasy novels. The world is a strange, imaginative one- one where small chalk drawings, when drawn by the right person in the right way, come to life, though they remain two dimensional. They're called chalkings, and the ones who draw them are called Rithmatists. The primary dangers in this world are also fairly small, two dimensional chalk creatures. This almost shouldn't work, but it does. Sanderson combines the chalklings with a more threatening antagonist, and hints that there is much more to the world. My only complaint is that the characters don't quite feel as complete as their vibrant world, but I'm hoping that I'll feel more connection to them in the next book, which I'm looking forward to picking up whenever it is released (which is slated to be in a while... a long while).

Top Ten Favorite Heroines From Books

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly feature created at The Broke and The Bookish.

Shortening this list down to ten is was very difficult. There are a lot of heroines that I love for a lot of different reasons...

1. Kami from The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan

2. Fire from Fire by Kristen Cashore

3. Liyanna from Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

4. Eliot from For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

5. Daphne from Nation by Terry Pratchett

6. Cinder from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

7. Hazel from The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

8. Penryn from Penryn and the End of Days by Susan Ee

9. Seraphina from Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

10. Puck from The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

The Re-Read Challenge: Vessel

First re-read completed for The Re-Read Challenge! Which I missed the link-up for in January, because I'm like that with my  2015 challenges post.

WHEN I First Read

I actually reviewed this two years ago.(I really hope my reviewing style has improved since then...) 

WHAT I Remember

I remember being drawn to the world of the story more than anything. I picked it up from my local library, back when I was still working my way though their collection (now I've read just about all the YA that they have which sounds remotely appealing to me). Vessel is set in a desert, and its about a girl who is to be a sacrifice- giving her body to a god so that she may help the people of the desert survive the hostile environment. Except, of course, there's a complication- when the ceremony is conducted, the goddess doesn't come, leaving the vessel, Liyanna to be abandoned by her clan. It follows Liyanna's quest to find out what has become of her goddess.

WHY I Wanted to Re-Read

I really like the world and story the first time I read it, but by now couldn't remember the finer points of the story. 

HOW I Felt After Re-Reading

I like it just as much as the first time. I didn't remember everything, though I remembered the general shape of the story.

I focused more on Liyanna's character arc this time through, and I found her an enjoyable lead. She's brave,  very determined, which I like, and also very comfortable rising to what a situation demands, especially toward the end of the book. She's just great at rising to the occasion. Someone to use a knife? While she's not super-good at it, she'll be there. Need someone to work magic? She's working on it. Even if it is against the rules, someone has to do it or they'll all die in the desert. Someone to negotiate? She walks right into the enemy camp and demands an audience with the emperor. 

“You do realize that you are addressing the emperor of the Crescent Empire."
"And you are addressing a free woman of the desert. You are not my emperor. Therefore, I am your equal.”

I love books with an emphasis on stories, it gives such a great background to the cultures in the book. In this book, storytelling is often used to communicate another idea or to tell the reader (or other characters) something about a character.

I realised, when I got to it, that I had sort of forgotten the climax of the story and how exactly that came about, so that was enjoyable to rediscover.

For me one of the weaker points of the story was, both times, the romance. I didn't particularly feel much of anything for the romantic aspect of the story... it definitely wasn't my favourite aspect of the story. It was just sort of strangely told, I suppose? I liked how the other vessels grew on Liyanna, when she, in the beginning didn't like them much, and I wish that there was more of that.

This book very much feels like a story. Its something that I often find I like- books that read like stories. I don't know how to explain that. There's just a certain feel to some books that makes it feel like a story being told to you, and I often find that I really enjoy that.

WOULD I Re-Read Again

Probably at some point. I don't know when, but it is a book that I feel like I could read multiple times and still get something out of.

Review: Toads and Diamonds

Title: Toads and Diamonds
Author: Heather Tomlinson
Genre: Fantasty
Release Date: March 30, 2010
Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: When Diribani went to the community's well, she does not expect the blessing from a goddess. Though the gems and flowers that fall from her lips whenever she speaks seem like a blessing to her recently impoverished family, they have unexpected consequences. As do the toads and snakes that manifest whenever her brusque stepsister, Tani speaks. The girls struggle to understand their respective gifts, with more than just their lives at stake.

Out of Ten: 7/10

Review at a Glance: An enjoyable fairy talk retelling in a setting highly reminiscent of historic India.

Review: This is a fairy tale retelling, set in a world heavily inspired by historic India. The story itself reads like a fairy tale, by which I mean that it is more story-driven than driven by characters.

The story is told in third person limited, from the points of view of both Diribani and Tani, as they go on individual and subtly parallel journeys. While I didn't really connect to either of the girls, I still found myself enjoying their stories. They're both, in their way, good people with character flaws, and they just want to figure out what to do with their strange new abilities. Diribani was gentler than Tani, who is more accustomed to hard work, both are trying to figure out how to do what is right. A weakness was that I didn't connect to the characters, or, for the most part, really believe the connections between the characters.

The world itself is fairly firmly constructed. Its based on Mughal Empire India, which was a flourishing of the arts from 1526-1858. Drawing on that culture, the world is built up, with two distinct religions (neither of which exist in reality, though they have recognisable elements). The world was pretty simple, but it worked when built on the background of a real, recognisable past civilization.

The writing is in the spirit of folktales and fairy stories. The writing is simple, but paints a picture of the setting and the plot. The plot itself is juggled between the two girls, on parallel journeys of self discovery in two very different places. There was more substance to Tani's story than Diribani's, and I did find myself more invested in her story that Diribani's. The plots are both straight forward and simple.

Overall, this was an enjoyable little story, a simple and light fantasy about sisters and finding a purpose for even things that would appear as curse.