Review: Throne of Glass

Title: Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass

Volume: 1

Genre: High Fantasy

Release Date: August 7, 2012

Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: Celaena Sardothien was the kingdoms most feared assassin before being captured and enslaved in one of the kingdom's salt mines for her crimes. Now the Crown Prince has come to her with an offer that could lead her to freedom: act as his champion in his father's contest to select the royal assassin, become the King's Champion for four years, and then she will have her freedom. It is an offer with high enough stakes, even without other champions turning up savaged and disembowled, hints of something evil stirring in the castle and Celaena's own interest in both the Prince and the Captain of the Royal Guard. Navigating the dangers that lay in  the palace might be too much for even Adarlan's Assassin to face.

Out of Ten: 6/10 

Review at a Glance: A decent series opening, though the lack of emotional connection to the characters hindered the reading experience somewhat.

Review: Overall I found Throne of Glass alright. The story didn't consistently carry me, and frankly the love triangle could have been improved by not existing at all (as is typically the case with love triangles), but I still found it reasonably enjoyable.

The characters were interesting enough, though I didn't find myself emotionally connecting with or investing in them. There was just something that was missing that stopped that level of emotional connection for me. That said, I found Celaena and interesting character, and she certainly had traits that I could appreciate, and some that I didn't. She's an assassin, trained from the time she was eight years old, when her parents were brutally killed, and has spent the past year enslaved in a mine after her capture. Despite the fact that she is trained to kill, and had killed before, she's also feminine and aware of her own attractiveness (which made a nice change). Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around her as an assassin, though- she just doesn't seem ruthless or manipulative enough. While I didn't really feel an emotional connection to her, I still enjoyed reading her story for the most part. Same goes for the two love interests, Dorian and Chaol. I feel like I need to see them develop more as characters. Nehemia, a visiting princenss whom Celaena forms a friendship with would benefit from some development as well, since she still came off as somewhat flat at times, but has potential as a character. I think that they all do.

The relationships between the three of them weren't something I was completely invested in- likely a symptom of my lack of emotional connection to the characters. While I gripe about love triangles (and don't get me wrong I still think that they are a worn out plot device that is very rarely done well), this one was at least well balanced. Sometimes the endgame is so obvious that it is pathetic, but I'm not sure what will happen with this one. My degree of caring about it will likely be determined by whether or not I develop an attachment to the characters. I just didn't really feel the romance in this one (again, this is probably an emotional connection thing).

I was a bit strange about plot and pacing of the book. I don't know. This is going to sound really strange, but despite the fairly consistent action, I sometimes felt like things were moving slowly. I think that it was a combination of the intervening romantic scenes and that somehow the action didn't quite pull me in completely, though it generally managed to hold my attention. 

The writing in this book was fine. There wasn't anything that stood out to me. The language was typically modern, but fairly consistently so. The world building was decent (I do so love a map, as we all know), though I could have done with more description. It was more fantasy-lite than I was hoping for, but that was more personal than a flaw with the writing, I think. This is to be a six book series, so not everything has been revealed about the world so far. While the plot of this book on it's own was fairly predictable, the arc of the series itself could go any direction.

In conclusion, I enjoyed  Throne of Glass despite it's having some elements that I didn't like, namely the lack of connection that I felt to the characters, which negatively impacted my reading experience a bit. While I am picking up the next book, I'm not sure at this point if I would be in for the rest of the series. I feel like it could have a lot going for it, depending on how the rest is carried out.

Review: The Ring and The Crown

Title: The Ring and The Crown

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Series: The Ring and the Crown

Volume: 1

Genre: Historical Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: April 1, 2014

Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: Marie-Victoria is the heir to the Lily Throne. Aelwyn Myrddn is the bastard daughter of The Mage of England. One to rule and one to serve. Marie's mother Elanor the Second has, with the help of Aelwyn's father, maintained a stranglehold on the magic of the Franco-British empire. Marie will soon come into the throne, though she wants nothing of it. She doesn't want the throne, and she doesn't want the match that comes with it- she's in love with someone else. Aelwyn has recently finished her training, and now she wants more. The two girls stand at a crossroads and must now decide who will rule, and who will serve.

Out of Ten: 1/10

Review at a Glance: With it's aggravating and undeveloped characters and lack of plot, this historical fantasy really wasn't for me.

Review: This really didn't work for me, on so many levels. I actually considered DNFing it, but I pushed through so I could write a review (I don't really like to review books that I haven't finished, in case something happens in the last hundred pages to change my mind). That and the fact that I really don't like not finishing a book. So, without further ado, a review.

My biggest problem was the characters. I really didn't like any of them. They all bothered me, and didn't really seem to have any redeeming features. They all had a propensity for bemoaning every aspect of their lives. Princess Marie-Victoria is constantly ill and doesn't want to be princess-or to be engaged for Leopold VII of Prussia. Aelwyn Myrddn is jealous of all the princess has. Isabelle of Orleans has just been rejected by Leopold, losing her engagement to someone that she thought she loved. Ronan must make an advantageous marriage to save her family's fortune and her future. Wolf has constantly lived in his brother Leopold's shadow. Leopold is viewed as the golden boy of the Prussian empire. He's actually horrible. Beyond this, there is very little to these characters. They came of as shallow, and didn't seem to grow or change. I didn't find myself wanting them to be happy. Wherever there was a hint that a character could be interesting, or even decent, it wasn't expanded on, or didn't come off as true. They all have tangled relationships with each other, and dash about dithering, moping and going to balls/parties. 

The aforementioned relationships range from making me exasperated to making me incredibly uncomfortable. There was absoloutely no development between the characters- it was literally skipped over in some cases, so we went straight from second meeting to mostly undressed snogging, complete with romantic feelings. I am well aware that love and lust don't always got hand in hand, but it apparently did in this case. I say "apparently" due to the fact that despite the fact we are informed that some couples are in love, but they don't really act it. They all fall in "love" at the drop of the hat, and the resulting relationships range from simply annoying to deeply unhealthy. I doubted that there was any actual respect, much less love in several of the relationships.

There was basically no plot. I suppose that you would say Marie's desire to abdicate could be the plot, but it wasn't a very engaging one, seeing as I didn't like any of the characters. I wasn't rooting for her. I was hoping that she would stop being so annoying. What I think was intended to be the plot wasn't introduced until the last few pages, there was no discernible build-up or foreshadowing. In a lot of ways things were resolved too neatly at the end.

I also found the the writing didn't work for me. There was a lack of flow in how the story was conveyed, and it didn't seem to be properly fixed in a time period. It seems a little like, because the monarchy remained in power, nothing else changed- they still acted like it was the sixteenth century, or sometimes the nineteenth (it depended on the character and part of book). While the language didn't necessarily not belong in the time period where it was said to be set (early twentieth century), given that it was often treated in the manner of an earlier century it clashed. And, even a hundred years ago, diction was quite different, and it felt too modern in this novel. If the world had been structured in a way that suited the difference between speech having evolved, while the rest of culture remained stagnant, I might have been able to work with it, but the world didn't really mesh, and wasn't very engaging overall. There was a bit of mature subject matter that I don't feel was handled very well.

Overall this book truly wasn't for me. I didn't like the characters, who seemed flat and were generally very annoying, and if there was a plot it wasn't at all engaging. 

Review: Alienated

Title: Alienated
Author: Melissa Landers
Series: Alienated
Volume: 1
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: It has been two years since aliens made contact. Now, Cara Sweeney is about to be one of the first humans to know one personally. She's been chosen to host one of three exchange students, and later to visit his home planet. Now she'll have the money for her dream school, not to mention exclusive information about the L'eihrs for her blog. Living with Aelyx is complicated, not only because of him, but also because of the anti-L'eihr paranoia. As tension on Earth builds, and the xenophobia gets increasingly violent, Cara finds herself turning more and more to Aelyx. She finds herself falling for him, but he has dangerous secrets, ones that put not only both of them at risk, but the entire planet.

Out of Ten: 3/10

Review at a Glance: This story's poorly thought out science and flat characters didn't win me over.

Review: This story wasn't really for me. I found the premise hard to swallow- I can only suspend disbelief so much in science fiction (or anything). I just couldn't buy it from a biology perspective.

*Miniature science lesson/rant coming your way starting now.*

You see, it is incredibly unlikely to find an intelligent sentient species structured similarly to human, physically. Very, very unlikely. Like "the odds, for the sake of calculation can be considered zero because they are so small" unlikely. Even with the an untold number of planets, we're pretty strangely structured creatures.
First you have to find a planet capable of sustaining life (in the book this planet is very similar to Earth's atmosphere, and has a similar hydrosphere, so Earth-like,which is even more unlikely). There are several criteria for that. Now, only a very small fraction of those planets could, hypothetically, actually have life would- the complicated accident that is life is incredibly unlikely to happen on many of them. Of these organisms, life with DNA as the carrier of genetic information is unlikely. Now, of these planets that support life, and have life, life that uses DNA, most would probably have only single-celled organisms, just due to a difference in circumstances (selective pressures, mutations etc.). Of the life that made the jump to being multicellular, and in that incredibly uncommon multicellular life, the planet would have to have undergone a similar pattern of events (catastrophic and otherwise), that selected for every creature along the evolutionary line that lead to humans, as well as for social societies.Which, is highly, highly highly improbable.

There's a saying, that if you locked a bunch of monkeys in a room with typewriters, eventually, by sheer chance, one of them would write Macbeth-it is less than a 1 a hundred trillion. This is a lot less than that. This is less likely than the chance of a monkey typing Macbeth. Probably about as likely as a sea cucumber typing Macbeth. Do you see my problem here?

*End miniature rant.*

Summarized for those who skipped the block paragraph up there (I don't blame you...): I didn't buy the science behind the aliens, and how closely they resembled humans, it just didn't work for me as a person who has taken high school biology, which a lot of people have done, so I don't think I'm unreasonable to take issue with this. Research is key. Moving on.

I found that I didn't really feel much for the characters themselves. This story is told in third person limited, alternating between Cara and Aelyx. Cara was fine, just kind of cliche and a little bit mean sometimes. Aelyx was, quite frankly, kind of a jerk. I didn't really connect with either of them on an emotional level. Both of them felt a little inconsistent, for one thing, there was no gradual development of the characters. Another problem for me was one that I often have: we are informed that these characters are really smart- really smart, overachieving smart- but I didn't feel like that carried through in the way that they acted a lot of the time. I mean, let's sabotage our species's only shot at survival! What could possibly go wrong? And talk about impulsive decisions. Besides that, I really just didn't care that much about either of them. The supporting cast- I don't know. They didn't really ring true for me, I suppose. They were cliche, and also felt a little like the faceless masses, rather than actual people. Cara's friends were terrible.

It bothers me in romances when one of the people involved literally becomes so isolated that the only person they have to turn to is the other, and the relationship starts there. It just seems like an incredibly unhealthy way to start an intimate relationship, without really knowing each other at all, so for me the romance got off on the wrong foot. I don't know I would say that it felt like insta-love (insta-attraction, maybe?), but the romantic relationship just developed really fast once it started, and probably felt even faster because of the time skips- sometimes a week would pass, and be acknowledged in a sentence before moving on. So I didn't feel like there was emotional closeness, which is kind of important in a romantic relationship.

As for the plot. Well, there was one. It mainly centred around the amount of prejudice humans had toward the L'eihr, and vice versa. And also a certain character making certain stupid decisions for no clear reason besides that he dislikes humans.  I kind of wish that there had been better development of the plot, though it is going to overreach three books, so this was likely mainly set-up. The plot in this book seemed mainly intended to lay the base for the next book, and the final one.

The writing didn't carry the weaker aspects of the book. There wasn't really a flow- the time skips felt like time skips, like they had been cut out, which gave both an impression of things happening faster than they probably did, and the impression that maybe something important had been missed. That said, I was pulled in enough to be compelled to finish the book, and I finished it pretty quickly.

Also (not that this should figure in but it total does because I am a pretentious cover-judge of the highest order). Really not a fan of the cover.

Overall, I didn't really like this one. I finished it, and finished it pretty quick, so points for that, but I didn't really like it. I loved biology in high school, so I just couldn't get past the "the aliens are practically human" shtick, and I didn't connect at all to the characters themselves. I actually wonder if my issue with the science part made me more critical of the rest of the book. I got through it, but my interest declined as the book went on, and I'm on the fence about reading the second one, but I don't think that I will.

Review: The Winner's Curse

Title: The Winner's Curse
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Series: The Winner's Trilogy
Volume: 1
Genre: High Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: Lady Kestrel has two options as the daughter of a general in a empire that lives for war; she can either join the military or get married, despite the fact that either option would be likely to deprive her of the music she holds dear. Things get more complicated- and more dangerous- when she impulsively buys a defiant young slave at auction. As she grows closer to him she realises that the price she is paying is greater than anything she could have imagined.

Out of Ten: 9/10

Review at a Glance: A wonderful fantasy novel with a historical feel and political elements.

Review:  This was wonderful. I adore fantasy, and this one was so interesting. There isn't any magic in the world, which lends the tale a very historical feel. The world was wonderfully structured. Kestrel is the daughter of the general of the emperor's military, so she is constantly exposed to the idea of joining the military. The empire has spread, conquering other lands and enslaving those who lived there before. Both women and men are encouraged to join the army, or marry, and the culture is very much focused around the military. From a young age, all members of the society are trained in endurance, and everyone carries a weapon (however ceremonial they may be). Duels are used to settle disputes, though actually killing someone in a duel has consequences.

Kestrel has been trained to fight, though she has no talent for combat. Her skills lie in strategy, planning and manipulation. She is also a musician, something that is frowned upon in her culture- such things are present in people they conquer, not in members of the warrior empire. Nonetheless, she puts a great deal of effort into her music, honing her talent on the piano rather than with a weapon. Her music is what drives her to make the mother of all impulse buys, buying a slave at auction when the auctioneer says he can sing. Which, of course, he refuses to do. Arin is defiant- he was forced into slavery by Kestrel's empire when he was nine, losing his family in the process. Naturally, he despise his oppressors, including the girl who buys him. It is told in third person point of view, alternating between Kestrel and Arin.

Their relationship gets off to a very tense start- he hates her people- with reason, and she regrets making the purchase at all. It takes them a long time to begin to look at one another with anything besides enmity or extreme guardedness. It is something that would be called a slow-growing relationship. There is a lot going on besides their romance, and there is steps forward and back in their relationship as a result of those.

I really enjoyed the plot as well. I know that some people found it slow, especially at the beginning, but I really enjoyed the buildup, but I enjoyed the detail it offered. It has shades of political drama, or court drama, and it gave a lot of insight into the world, without making the world building overbearing. Once the action itself gets going, it certainly gets going. It does read more as a chess game, or move-and-counter-move. Both of the leads are not untalented strategists, especially Kestrel. It isn't non-stop fighting, the action is more subtle, and very engaging. I enjoyed the cerebral part of the story a great deal.

Overall I really enjoyed this one, and I definitely flew through it. It is a little different from other fantasies in that there wasn't any magic in the world, and it was certainly a lot more political than other young adult fantasies that I have read. Simply put, I found it glorious, and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

Review: Sea of Shadows

Title: Sea of Shadows
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Age of Legends
Volume: 1
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Goodreads

Received an eARC through NetGalley.

A Quick Introduction: Twin sisters Moria and Ashyn have a dangerous task. They are the Keeper and the Seeker, charged with putting the spirits of the dead in the Forest of the Dead, where the empire's worst criminals are exile to their deaths. However, on the day of the Seeking, when Ashyn, the Seeker, must venture into the forest and find the dead, something is wrong. An ancient evil, known only through old stories, attacks the village and separates the girls. Accompanied by their bond-beasts- a dog and a wildcat whom they have been bound to since a week after their birth- a condemned thief and a warrior, the girls must journey across a land populated with monsters that they thought only legends, and they rapidly become entangled in a brewing conflict that threatens the entire empire.

Out of Ten: 7/10

Review at a Glance: A trilogy opening in a dangerous, fascinating fantasy world.

Review: I enjoyed this one a lot. I read Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers trilogy quite a while ago, which I found alright, but the genre and story weren't really up my alley- I'm not usually into paranormal. This is a high fantasy, which has bits of a couple different cultures sprinkled in. There was definitely references to Japanese mythology as well as hints of Native American mythology, and possibly a few others. This I really enjoyed. It was an interesting world to explore, and I'm hoping to learn more about it, and perhaps see it more vividly in the next two books.

For the most part, this is a pretty action-heavy read, interspersed with world-building. The girls have never really been outside of their village before, so the reader is learning about their world along with them once the journey starts. There is also the matter of the monsters, which nobody believed existed outside of old stories, becoming all too real. One complaint I have is the frequency with which characters a) wandered off and got attacked, b) got kidnapped/taken prisoner/hostage, or c) both. That was a little frustrating.

This story is told in third person limited with alternating sections between Moria and Ashyn. Each section is perhaps five to eight chapters long. For me, the dual point of view was effective in getting me to keep reading, since often each section ended on a bit of a cliffhanger and I was curious about what was going to happen in the other story line, though my attention would generally be pretty quick to shift to the plight of whomever the focus was on at the time. However, it did feel as if Moria's story line was a little more developed.

As characters, Moria and Ashyn were foils to each other in a lot of ways. Moria is the tempermantal, impulsive fighter, and Ashyn is more introspective, quieter and more the diplomat. This is something that they both acknowledge. I'm hoping that Ashyn's confidence in herself will develop throughout the trilogy, and that Moria might grow to be able to temper herself more. I'm not really sure what to think about the two male leads that we've encountered so far (I'm thinking there might be another one, and fearing a love triangle, but I might be being paranoid). I have a long history of not being attracted to the love interest(s), but I'm hoping that we get to see them develop more as characters in the next two books, especially given the revelation at the end. They don't really feel like people to me at this point, if that makes sense. I also feel as if the cast is kind of small right now, and I'm hoping for some new faces in the next book.

As for the end, there's a bit of a cliffhanger there, and I definitely feel like there's more to the story (it is part of a series, so this makes sense). While there were some things in the book that I wasn't thrilled with, I still enjoyed it and I think the next book has the potential to be an enjoyable read, just keep the kidnappings to a minimum. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next, and exploring more of what I find a promising fantasy world.

Review: Cruel Beauty

Title:Cruel Beauty
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: Jan. 28, 2014
Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: Nyx has been prepared since she was a child to marry the bargin-making demon who rules her world. To marry him, and to kill him, bring down his rule and free her people. Her father struck a bargain with the Gentle Lord, with the promise that the Gentle Lord would be granted one of his daughters, and Nyx was chosen to be the bride of the demon. So, on her seventeenth birthday, she leaves behind the only home she's ever know, all be it one that she has more or less resented, as she lives with people who haven't been bothered to try and save her. the castle isn't what she expects, a constantly reforming maze of rooms and locked doors. Neither is her new husband. Nyx finds herself torn between her duty to her world and the possibility of loving her sworn enemy, the only one who has ever understood.

Out of Ten: 6/10

Review at a Glance: A fair fantasy with elements of classic fairytales and Greek mythology.

Review: This was alright. There are aspects of fairytales, it is pitched as having aspects of Beauty and the Beast, and there was a hint of Bluebeard's Wives in there too. There was also strong influences from Ancient Greece, with references to Greek mythology.

Nyx is a bit of a hardened character- she's known since she was young that she is essentially a human sacrifice. Her father doesn't care about her, she's bitter toward her dead mother and her aunt, and, while her sister is sweet to her, she can't help hating her. She even seems to feel guilty for wanting to live, or wishing she was not chosen as the bride. There are a lot of negative emotions, and she mentions a few times that she considers herself a monster, though of a different kind than Ignifex, the demon has.

Truth be told, I didn't really feel this story. Somehow, I didn't sink into the world. There were aspects of the worldbuilding that I enjoyed- how the sky looked, for instance, but I feel like there was something that just didn't pull me into it. I guess that I just really didn't feel what Nyx felt. Her constant brooding on her hatred (and how she feels guilty about her hatred) and how she thinks she is awful wasn't something I particularly enjoyed, and I somehow didn't really feel like she faced that as a character. She doesn't seem to reconcile with herself.

This book is really pitched as a romance. I didn't really find myself feeling it. There didn't seem to be any sort of emotional connection between the participants. I understood the idea that there was meant to be one, but I felt that it wasn't really built as well as it could have been. I feel like there could have been more encounters between the characters- there are times where Nyx mentions that weeks (or months...) have passed, but we are lead to assume that they completely avoided each other during these stretches. I just didn't get the emotional connection, so the sudden desperation toward the end didn't fit for me.

Overall, it was an interesting enough concept, and an enjoyable enough book, but I just didn't feel either the emotions of the characters or the world itself. It just didn't jump off of the page for me.

Review: Landry Park

Title: Landry Park

Author: Bethany Hagen

Series: Landry Park

Volume: 1

Genre: Dystopia

Release Date: Feb. 4, 2014

Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: The future of the United States, it is ruled by the gentry and powered by nuclear charges. Madeline Landry has grown up learning that she was born to lead the gentry, like her father does now. He expects her to marry and run the family estate. But all is not well in the illusion of a perfect world, and Madeline begins to question everything she has been taught. With rumours of a war on the horizon and hints of an uprising from the repressed lower class, Madeline finds herself struggling with choosing what is right and her duty.

Out of Ten: 2/10

Review at a Glance: This dystopian novel lacked sympathetic characters or a truly engaging plot.

Review: Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy this one. Part of it may be that I’m a little tired of this particular brand of dystopian novel.

I found there were a lot of things about the novel that I didn’t like about the book, the first of which was Madeline herself. She bothered me, to be frank. I found there was inconsistency to her character, which I think was intended to be interpreted as indecisiveness, was frustrating to read. She wasn’t that assertive a character, she just came off as dithering a lot, and her compassion, once she found it, still came off as somehow false or shallow. The reader is informed that she is quite intelligent, but there isn’t really much that backs it up. I really didn’t feel much of anything more than annoyance toward her. I also disliked the love interest, David for many of the same reasons. They both just seemed inconsistent and felt two dimensional. I truly didn’t find any of the characters to be very engaging or three dimensional.

The plot shuffled between Madeline having a dilemma about the underclass, dying of radiation poisoning from the nuclear charges that power her world, Madeline trying to figure out who attacked one of her friends, and Madeline having a dilemma about David not fancying her. Honestly, I found it tedious, possibly due to my dislike of the narrator. The action really only picked up in the last fifty pages or so, and died down rather quickly.

As for the writing, I wasn’t thrilled by it. There were a couple of phrases (apple-stained? As far as I am aware, apples do not stain hands- fresh apple juice is pretty clear) that bothered me. The storytelling just didn’t manage to pull me into a plot that I really didn’t have an interest in following. The world itself didn’t interest me much either, and I wasn’t sure how it worked- what exactly are they meant to be doing with all of the dirty nuclear charges? There wasn’t that much of a background for the world that was being created. Why the return to some regency era-esque behaviours?

Overall, I just didn’t enjoy this one. I didn’t like the characters very much, and I didn’t really have any interest in the plot, and I don’t think that I will be continuing this series.

Review: Across a Star-Swept Sea

Title: Across a Star-Swept Sea
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Series: For Darkness Shows the Stars
Volume: 2 (companion novel)
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Romance, Retellings (The Scarlet Pimpernel)
Release Date: October 15, 2013
Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: Across a Star-Swept Sea is a companion to For Darkness Shows the Stars, and introduces a new heroine: Persis. Persis is living on the island of Albion, New Pacifica, which stands alone in the world, a on the surface it is a paradise where even the Reduction has receded into memory. But a there is revolution against the aristocracy on the neighbouring island of Galatea, and the revolutionaries are using a drug that damages the brains of their enemies. The only hope for those captured is rescue by the Wild Poppy. Nobody would ever suspect shallow, frivolous teenage aristocrat Persis Blake of being capable of anything more difficult than matching dresses and shoes, much less clandestinely undertaking rescue missions on the other island. But Persis is the Wild Poppy, and her flaky exterior is calculated, her gossip is secret messages and her pet a genetically engineered weapon. Even her highly publicized relationship with Galatean medic Justen Helo, who has more than enough secrets of his own.

Persis knows she plays a dangerous game; if anyone outside of her trusted friends were to find out about her double identity- that she isn't the silly, empty-headed part that she plays, she would become a target. That, if she can't play this fake romance to perfection, there will be consequences- neither can she allow it to become anything more than fake. Especially as secrets come to light and the stakes mount.

Out of Ten: 8/10

Review at a Glance: An enjoyable, adventurous and character-driven companion to For Darkness Shows the Stars.

Review: I really enjoyed this book, though not quite as much as For Darkness Shows the Stars. Persis is a very different heroine than Elliot. Elliot is much quieter, and her version of hard work is very different, though Persis is not stranger to labour. Persis uses her looks as just another weapon in her arsenal- as her mask. While she projects an empty-headed facade within the aristocratic society she was born to, she also fights against a corrupt revolutionary government on the neighbouring island. While the Reduction has been cured on the island, the revolutionaries on Galatea are now using a new drug to destroy the minds of those who oppose them, a drug that is said to imitate the Reduction, but in reality is more brutal. She's a  practiced actor, as well as being intelligent, and usually plays her part well- she does find herself slipping up on occasion, especially when Justen pushes her, but manages to cover for herself. As the Wild Poppy, she risks herself on missions to save the targets of the revolution- those that the revolutionaries have slated for "Reduction". And as herself she deals with the uncertainty of her own future, and the possibility that she may have inherited a debilitating disorder from her mother, a form of dementia that is a side effect to the cure for Reduction.

Now, in addition to her vigilante role as the Wild Poppy, she is faking a relationship with Justen Helo, and trying not to allow herself to become emotionally entangled with a boy she knows she can't trust. As their relationship went, they were excellent foils to each other, even when Persis was doing her best to act empty-headed, she still challenges him and the way he thinks. I think it was harder for her to play that role around him than she usually does, because it bothers her that someone who is so much an intellectual equal thinks she's a shallow socialite, especially when she wants him to appreciate her for herself.

New Pacifica, where Across a Star-Swept Sea is set, is in the area of what is now New Zealand (both books are set in that area, I believe), and I found it to be an enjoyable setting. However, there were some aspects of the setting that were slightly difficult to understand- namely the flutternotes, and how the palmports work. I got the general idea, but I would have liked more background as to what they look like and how they work. It was a just a touch of background information that I would have liked. I enjoyed the location, and would have liked to hear more about it. As a side note, the heroine of the story is a person of colour, presumably descended from the native people from New Zealand, the Maori. The author has mentioned that Elliot's grandfather was also, at least in part, Maori.

As for the plot, I enjoyed it. I found aspects of it to be quite simple, with a main focus on on Persis as a character. A great deal is coming to a head, so to speak. There is a revolution on the neighbouring island, where the descendants of the Reduced, the regs, are attacking the aristocracy, and the young princess regnant of Persis's own island, Isla, is facing a similar threat. Persis's faux romance with Jacen is a way of attempting to diffuse the tensions between her people, the aristocracy and his, the regs. Isla is one of the few people who knows of Persis's double identity, and aids her in her rescue missions, as the revolutionaries on Galatea grow more and more extreme. As Isla and Persis are close, the struggles of the princess, both against the fear of a revolution and with the council are clear to the reader, introducing an element of political drama to the action of the Wild Poppy story line and the romantic and personal elements.

To round off this long review, there are cameos, and I really liked seeing what some of the characters from the first book were up to.

Overall, I enjoyed this as a companion to For Darkness Shows the Stars, and I would have liked to read more set in this world, though as far as I am aware there aren't plans for another book.

My review for For Darkness Shows the Stars can be found here.