Black City by Elizabeth Richards

A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable--they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash's long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they're caught, they'll be executed--but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

I had never heard of this book until my supervisor recommended it to me, and I'm so glad she did. I couldn't put this book down; it was interesting and it read very easily, and the characters were great and relatable. Some of the secondary characters, like Day, and even Natalie's mother, could have been developed a bit more, and I would have been interested to see a bit more into Beetle's mind/past.

The story is set in a fictional city torn apart by war, racism, and segregation of two races: humans, and vampire-like humanoids called Darklings (so, i guess it's more like segregation between intelligent species). Most of the Darklings in the city are corralled into a ghetto called The Legion, separated from the rest of the city by a huge, imposing wall and constantly monitored by Darkling guards and human Sentry, to ensure that no one crosses over the wall, human or Darkling. it is, however, commonplace for rogue Darklings with an infectious disease called Wrath to somehow cross over. The disease eats away at their minds and flesh, and they go insane, attacking any thing and anyone.

Ash is only half Darkling, and was raised human, so after the war between the two races, he was allowed to stay on the "good" side of the wall, though he often wonders about the rest of his family on the other side. 

Natalie hates it in Black City, and wants nothing more than to leave -that is, of course, until she meets Ash, who at first she detests for his being a Darkling, and his piss-poor attitude, but then he grows on her through random acts of kindness and too many classes with poor seating options.

There was a decent amount of on-going mystery in this story, and just when it seemed like something was about to get boring -BAM! Someone dies because Natalie's being stalked, or BOOM! Natalie's douchebag bodyguard wants to fight Ash, or WHAM! there really ARE more half-Darkling children in the world! Or maybe not. Basically, it's full of twists, turns, conspiracy theories and not-so-theoretical conspiracies, and crazy blood bonds and love connections and laws that don't make sense.

I liked most of this story, so I'm just going to go into the things I didn't like or understand:

1. What are the general time-period laws of this place? One minute Natalie's wearing some kind of corset get-up and riding in an expensive, Sentry-grade horse drawn carriage, and the next she's glancing at her cell phone every ten seconds (which mysteriously wasn't mentioned at all for about 200 pages of the book -I had no idea phones existed in this universe until she was waiting for someone to text her halfway through the story). They need horse-drawn or steam-powered vehicles, but tanks roam the streets regularly, and the Emissary has a fully-equipped high tech laboratory in her basement, in which her own personal scientist is constantly doing DNA testing and experiments with some crazy-advanced technology.
I think I understand the feel that Richards was going for with this mix, but it just sort of confused me for a long time (like, whenever fashion or travel was mentioned).

2. What was the point of Evangeline? She was there for maybe 40 pages, kinda screwed up the relationship for like a day, and then she "left town" after making some threat to Natalie. I hope she has more of a role in the next book, because right now she's serving as not much more than an annoyance and a slight explanation for Ash's and Natalie's sudden bond.

3. I wish the "rules" of this universe had been explained a lot sooner in the book. It was about halfway through the book when we learn that there are some weird creatures in this world, like humanoid-cat things that have poison that can kill Darklings... That information would have been good to have earlier.

4. The last "trial" period of the story went by really quickly, and yet both narrators make reference to how its been about four weeks since the last action-y thing that happened. We had no sort of reference of time, or how miserable these characters must feel simply waiting to find out their futures.

Overall Impression:

Basically, all of my issues are things that should have been caught by a managing editor or even a copyeditor, but whatever.

I still really liked the way the story was narrated and set up, and I think the character of Ash in particular was especially convincing, which isn't common with female writers, so PROPS!

I think that the continuation of this story has a lot of potential, and I can't wait to start Phoenix.

Blonde Rating: 4.5/5
Amazon Rating: 4.1/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.8/5

The second book in the Black City series, Phoenix, comes out on June 4th.

That's all for now,
The Blonde

(Also, it's totally so cool that they blew up a rose to get this cover).

Ten Reason to Read The Iron Fey

10 Reasons to Read The Iron Fey

Hello All,


If you haven't heard about Julie Kagawa's The Iron Fey series, (or if you have) and you, like me a year ago, don't think you like books about faeries, you need to take a look at my list of 10 reasons why you should read this series, or at least give the first book, The Iron King, a fair and unbiased shot.


Reason #1: A Strong, Relatable Heroine
Meagan Chase is the main character in this series. At first she seems like any other ordinary teenager, unpopular, totally in love with the hot-shot jock, and a goofy best friend by her side...until her little brother is stolen from their home and Meagan starts seeing crazy magical creatures all over the place. Suddenly Meagan's world is turned upside-down as her best friend turns out to be the most infamous trickster faery in the world and her search for her brother takes her into the beautiful and dangerous world of the Nevernever, the feary world, too dangerous for mortals.

DeviantArt user: http://skellingt0n.deviantart.com/art/Iron-Fey-196138057

Meagan is an awesome heroine because she has no idea what the heck she's doing, and that fact is completely believable to the readers. It's also great to find a girl who is so determined to reach her goal that she's willing to do anything, even if that means traveling to a poisonous world where no one can protect her! Meagan is clumsy, strong, full of love and passion, and totally and completely believable.

Reason #2: Comedy
These books are hilarious. That's not to say that there isn't a lot of action and drama happening, but the tension is often broken up to let the reader breathe during these high intensity moments -like right in the middle of a life-or-death battle!
Most of this comedy is brought on by Meagan's best friend, Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" aka the most awesome MoFo ever. He has some of the best one-liners in these books, tossed out so non-chalantly in the middle of a serious moment that you HAVE to laugh out loud...even if you're in the middle of your Psychology class -oops!

Reason #3: Grimalkin
The coolest cat you will ever read about in your life. A mix between the Cheshire Cat and (am I crazy?) Professor Snape, he is wise and more than a little blunt. He is an essential character to each book's story arc, because without this feline, Meagan and crew would be stuck chasing their tails, so to speak, never getting anything done. He has a nasty tendency of disappearing at the slightest hint of danger and not returning for some time, but he really does know everything, and grows a reluctant fondness for the heroes of these stories -but he'll never admit to it.

Reason #4: Literary Antagonists
We've all read Shakespeare, some more eagerly than others, so readers should recognize King Oberon, Queen Tatiana, and Queen Mab of the Feary Courts in the Iron Fey series. Mab, mentioned in "Romeo and Juliet," is the cold ice queen of the Unseelie court, the icy, heartless and cruel fey who are constantly at war with the Summer court, where King Oberon and Tatiana from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" rule the Seelie fey, who are equally cruel, but take great and obvious pleasure in tricking and riddling their prey. The two Queens are definitely not Meagan's allies throughout these books, for a multitude of reasons, and Oberon isn't always on her side, either, but he's more "lenient" -if that's what you want to call it -with her than the others. It's really cool to see these characters and their larger-than-life personalities brought to light out of their original stories, especially when Kagawa alludes to their well-known histories in Shakespeare's works.

Reason #5: A Real Sense of Danger
I won't reveal any major plot points here, but just know that all of your soon-to-be-favorite characters are going to be in serious, life-threatening danger in these books. And each book raises the stakes of that danger just a bit more, bringing more tension and urgency to each chapter. Come prepared with a box of tissues and an oxygen tank, for when you start hyperventilating.

Reason #6: A Menagerie of New Magical Creatures
If I tried to name all of the faery creatures in these books, I think this post would be as long as its own novel. Basically every faery-related creature you've ever heard of makes at least a basic appearance in one of these stories. Some of these things include giants, trolls, goblins, wood nymphs, satyrs, unicorns, sirens, kelpies, redcaps, and even The Big Bad Wolf -that's right, THAT one. These creatures are all characters in themselves and often move the plot along or turn it around in a new direction. Otherwise they paint a very colorful backdrop to this already technicolor story.
Reason #7: The Hot Guy
Ash.
'nuf said.
Once you read the books, you'll understand. Strong, beautiful, hiding a dark and brooding past -love him. You'll have no choice.
(Team Ash)


Reason #8: The Forbidden Relationship
Meagan's a human, Ash is an Unseelie prince. All the rules of nature and the Nevernerver say it's impossible for them to be together. What better reason to try it? Love, duh. I love these two together, and screw everyone and anyone who tries to tear them apart! I died a little inside every time Ash had to push his feelings for Meagan away and pretend like it didn't matter! (But not in a Twilight-y way, more like a more intense and they-will-actually-kill-us-if-we-do-this kind of way).
Thank Goodness for The Iron Knight. It restored all of my faith in princely heroes, long nearly unattainable quests, and the possibility for happily ever afters -not that they belong in every story, of course.

Reason #9: The New Enemy
Everyone who reads faery folklore knows that the fey can't stand the touch of iron. Well what could possibly be more dangerous to a world of fey than an enemy made completely out of iron and as powerful as the imagination can dream? No one has ever thought to create this kind of bad guy, and it puts a very interesting twist into the storyline of these books. It makes winning for the good guys ten times as difficult as it would have been, and it puts an extra edge of tension to every encounter with the antagonists.
A brilliant idea for a new twist to the folktales.

Reason #10: A Fun and Easy Read
I hate it when teachers try to make you read books, because those literary fiction novels are so hard to read through with a looming deadline. For those kind of books, you need to be in a specific state of mind and have oodles of time to slowly absorb the atmosphere that the literary fiction is building. I have a short attention-span, and I don't have time to wait for that atmosphere to build.
That's why I like YA so much. It lays out an entertaining story very simply, so you can get lost in the story, not the words.
You will get lost in the Iron Fey. There's no question about it -the descriptions are too vivid and the characters are too lifelike for a reader to remain firmly planted in the real world. The action of the story takes you away from your reading room and into the Summer Court, or the through the halls of the icy palace of Tir Na Nog. There is no escape -once you're in, you'll Never -never! -come back out.
And you won't want to, either.

Sever by Lauren DeStefano (Chemical Garden)

     With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

     Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

      In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

     The end of Fever prevented me the luxury of relaxing between reading it and this sequel. It's not too often that I read a series where the next book is available right away, so I took this opportunity and was soon back into Rhine's world, quickly reaching the conclusion to this trilogy.

     I have a lot of mixed feelings about this installment in the series. I feel like a majority of the front matter in this book was waiting around. Either they were waiting for Rhine to be released from the hospital, or Rhine was waiting for a good time to leave Reed's place, they're waiting for the opportunity to escape Vaughn, etc. 

     However when we weren't waiting for something to happen, SO MUCH was happening, and there was either a lot of action going on or there was a lot of information being fed to Rhine and the reader. So much information, in fact, that I think Rhine was kept a little too in-the-dark in the first two books, because the entire second half of the book is like an information overload. There's intel about Rhine's genetics, and her brother Rowen's actions in the last year, and Vaughn's true intentions with the twins (the sister wives, and Linden, and the maids, and pretty much anyone he could get his hands on). There was a shocking reveal 250 pages in that doesn't really get explained very well by the end of the book, and then there's suddenly a hostage situation. It was a lot to process very quickly.

     

Things That I Liked:

     I really liked Reed and his eccentricities. He was a really interesting character, and I'm almost sad that we only got to know him in this final installment.

     I liked the added layer of this world/disease that was brought about with Hawaii and all that entails.

     I was confused but delighted by Rhine's and Linden's obvious lingering feelings for each other, and I definitely felt Linden's heartache and hesitation to trust his former-favorite wife.

     I liked that Cecily finally decided to grow up.

     THE ROSE REVEAL. So shocking. So good.

Things That I Didn't Like:

     I was confused about the Hawaii-addition and if it was explained how that whole "situation" was possible, I think I missed it.

     I wish there was more Gabriel. Or at least more worry for Gabriel.

     I wanted Rowen's actions/thought process about his attacks/bombings/trusting-of-certain-people to be explained better. Again, if that did happen, I missed it.

     MORE MADAME (and Jared). Wanted it. Didn't get it.

Overall Impression:

     I was once again captivated by DeStefano's prose, and while I still believe that Fever is the better book in the trilogy, Sever does have a lot going on and a lot to love as a final book in a series. 

     I was a little "eh" about the ending, it seemed to come about a little too easily for me, then again I don't know how else I would have preferred it to go. Almost all of my questions were answered, and reading other reviews tells me that most everyone else who read the series had all of their questions answered to their satisfaction. 

     Overall for the series, this story presents a new and interesting concept, and it provided a really fascinating and complex social situation to work a story around. 

I will be waiting excitedly to get my hands on DeStefano's Internment Chronicles: Perfect Ruin book in October. For more information on that, please visit the book's GoodReads page.

Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5

Amazon's Rating: 4.3/5

GoodReads Rating: 3.9/5

Check out the reviews of the other books in the series, Fever and Wither.

Thanks!

The Blonde

Fever by Lauren DeStefano (Chemical Garden)

Book Review:
The Chemical Garden Series: Wither, Fever, and Sever
by Lauren DeStefano

Fever

     Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but they’re still in danger. Outside, they find a world even more disquieting than the one they ran away from. Determined to get to Manhattan and find Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan, the two press forward, amid threats of being captured again…or worse.

     The road they are on is long and perilous—and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and men die at age twenty-five, time is precious. In this sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price—now that she has more to lose than ever.

     When I finished Wither, I didn't know if I was going to continue reading the Chemical Garden series, but i decided that the cover was interesting enough for me to pick it up, and I'm glad I did. I can honestly say that Fever is my favorite book in the trilogy.

     I feel like this book was more "alive" than the last one, and I think that had a lot to do with the constant moving from place to place, the impending danger of being found and caught, and the growing tension of Gabriel's and Rhine's respective illnesses.

     As in her last book, DeStefano has brilliant prose, very lyrical and enthralling. Fever has a lot more of the mystery who/what Rhine is in this dystopic world. The stakes rise as you realize with Rhine that she is slowly dying for seemingly no reason. The people Rhine and Gabriel meet on their way to New York are an enticing mix of good and insane, keeping you wondering when, or if, these two will ever be safe, or just able to get a single good night's un-drugged sleep. At first I was skeptical of the addiction of Maddie, the little malformed child from the carnival-themed scarlet district, but she turned out to be an unobtrusive addition, almost proving more perceptive and intelligent than Rhine, sometimes.

Things That I Liked:

     I really liked the parts of the book that occurred in the Madame's scarlet district. I think these scenes are the most colorful -haha- and the most energetic of the book. Madame is one of the more complex characters in this volume, and her energy is infused into her girls and her twisted carnival. The imagery of the district, as well, really pop compared to the other locations Rhine and Gabriel visit along the way to Manhattan.

     I liked the little mystery of Maddie, her picture book, her mother Lilac/Grace, and her grandmother. I thought it was an interesting twist to give the group something to keep moving for, and I'm glad that it gave them a place to rest for a little while.

     The scenes in the basement after Rhine's brought back to the mansion; they are terribly vivid, and they make my skin crawl with the detail, but I love having a physical reaction to a description, because that's when you know you've got great writing.

Things I Didn't Like:

     I don't know if this first thing is something I didn't like or if I just didn't understand it, but the  part of the book when Rhine was caught up in the idea that she could be dead, or that she could have died a year ago, or any time in between then and now. I thought it was strange that she was wondering and marveling at this fact as she was slowly rotting away, and they didn't come to any sort of conclusive thoughts because -surprise! -she doesn't die at the end of this book.

     Cecily's overall uselessness when she knew Rhine was back "home."

     The fact that Rhine didn't show Gabriel how grateful she was to have him with her, or even tell him. She thinks it a lot, but never lets him know, even when, at a few points, they're both pretty much dying.

Overall Impression:

     I really liked this sequel to the first book, and it leaves you on a note that's impossible to not follow-up on with the third and final installment. There are so many missing pieces of the genetic puzzle that is the living, breathing Rhine that you can't help but long to know why Vaughn is so invested in her and why her brother Rowan is being such a douchebag.

Blonde's Rating: 4/5

Amazon Rating: 4.3/5

Goodreads Rating: 3.9/5

Stay tuned to find out what The Blonde says about Fever's sequel, Sever, and check out Wither's review here.

Thanks!

The Blonde

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (Chemical Garden)

Book Review:
The Chemical Garden Series: Wither, Fever, and Sever
by Lauren DeStefano

Wither

     By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males born with a lifespan of 25 years, and females a lifespan of 20 years--leaving the world in a state of panic. Geneticists seek a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

     When Rhine is sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Yet her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement; her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next; and Rhine has no way to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive.

     Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

     I picked up a copy of Wither about a year ago and didn't get the chance to start reading it until this winter, which was conveniently around the time that the final book in the trilogy was released, allowing me the ability to zip through each of them with just the time between deliveries to wait for the next one.

     At first I wasn't sure how I felt about Wither. I understood that the prose was superb, magnetic, and lyrical; it was impossible to put down. But a part of me thought that the content of the story was (at first) was a lot of the same: rhine is angry that she's trapped, rhine hates linden and is scared of vaughn, gabriel is really cool, rhine misses her brother, oh well maybe linden isn't so bad, cecily is annoying, rhine is angry she's trapped, blah blah. At first it just seemed like an endless cycle of the same thing over and over again. 

     However, going back and rereading the book after completing the third one allowed me see the smallest details that DeStefano worked into this first volume. The smallest mentions in the first book turned up as huge pieces to a complicated puzzle in the last one, and tension grows with the simplest of phrases.

     

Things That I Liked:

     I actually liked that Rhine's feelings for Linden and her new "home" changed and morphed as the book developed. I think that it's important to show that this character isn't a pillar of self-righteousness, and that she can enjoy her surroundings. I think that it's an important detail that more than once she was so caught up in her sister wives and marriage that escaping for her brother would fade into the back of her mind. 

     I like that Rhine isn't a helpless heroine; while she has her moments of being shocked into immobility, that ultimately she is a character of action.

     I like Gabriel and his friendship with Rhine. I also like that, though Linden is clearly enamored with Rhine, he doesn't know how to get to know her, or understand that she had a life before she came to the mansion. Gabriel does understand that, despite living and working in the mansion for nearly half his life. 

     

Things I Didn't Like:

     I didn't like being left in the dark constantly about what Vaughn was thinking/up to down in his funky basement, or the fact that Linden didn't seemed concerned at all that his father disappears into the basement for long hours and doesn't question what he's doing down there.

     I didn't care for Jenna's occasional I'm-smarter-than-you attitude that she would get, but she was my favorite character after Gabriel and I was upset when she dies later in the story.

     I occasionally got very frustrated with Rhine for not confiding in Linden about her life; he is clearly uneducated about the world outside his lifestyle, and I think he would have understood that Rhine was desperate to find her brother and he would have loved her enough to let her go.

     I also got very frustrated with her constantly flip-flopping feelings for Linden/Gabriel. Make up your mind, honey, and stick to it.

Overall Impression:

     Overall, this book wasn't my favorite in the series, but it is a decent hook to get you to read the second one. It leaves you on a satisfactory cliff; I could have been perfectly satisfied having simply read this first book and put the series away. The ending is wrapped up very neatly and, though it clearly hints that there could be more to this story, it closes in a way that the reader would be happy with an ambiguous, imagine-for-yourself ending.

Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5

Amazon Rating: 4.2/5

Goodreads Rating: 3.88/5

Stay tuned to find out what The Blonde says about Wither's sequels, Fever and Sever!

Thanks!

The Blonde