Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Book Review: The Trylle Trilogy (Switched, Torn, Ascend)

Hey guys!

I have clearly fallen behind on my reviews and reads recently, and so to catch up, I'm doing collective and collaborative reviews. This round we've got all of the Trylle books, by Amanda Hocking. Let's start in order, shall we?

SWITCHED
When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of.

Nice Things First!

I LOVE the idea of the Trylle people, and their changelings being all over the country and such. I wish we had gotten a better idea of the people, though, in this first book, because otherwise it's mostly just focused on Wendy's confusion and what Finn is teaching her about Trylle. I think it would have been a better way to "show" this clearly faulty society by bringing Wendy out of her shining palace every now and then.

I wish there had been more about the Vittra in this volume because I was absolutely DYING to know why they wanted Wendy so badly, considering Queen Elora hardly seemed too thrilled to have her back home. I wanted to know why they were supposedly so different from Trylle, and why Finn, and everyone else they were mentioned around, hated them so much. That was intriguing.

Descriptions, descriptions and imagery for days!! I loved it, I could see the palace, and Wendy's room, and her human house, all in my head with Hocking's descriptions and writing style. It felt spot-on without being too long, dry, or distracting. Bravo!

The action at the end was thrilling, and made for some good reading!

Not so Nice Things, Next

I found Wendy as a protagonist annoying, especially when it came to Finn. I'm not a fan of "love at first sight" stories, and for Wendy this was a "lust at first glimpse" tale, no matter how hard she tried to "deny" it in the beginning. There didn't seem to be any point in the book when Finn wasn't being hot or cold simultaneously, often in the same scene, and I'm not sure how or why Wendy found this attractive, but she did, and so much so that she did not want to stay at the palace or be an semi-intelligent person if Finn could not be around. 

The plot sort of lost its momentum not too long after Wendy arrived at the palace, mostly because there wasn't too much pushing it forward, since it appeared that Vittra could not get into town. The biggest "event" was Wendy's debutante ball-thing, and training herself for that night, which get lost in the "OMG Finn is so HAWT"-ness.

Overall Impression:
Eh. 
I probably won't read it again, but I really liked the sequels, so I have to give it a decent review.

Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5


TORN
When Wendy Everly first discovers the truth about herself—that she’s a changeling switched at birth—she knows her life will never be the same. Now she’s about to learn that there’s more to the story…

She shares a closer connection to her Vittra rivals than she ever imagined—and they’ll stop at nothing to lure her to their side. With the threat of war looming, her only hope of saving the Trylle is to master her magical powers—and marry an equally powerful royal. But that means walking away from Finn, her handsome bodyguard who’s strictly off limits…and Loki, a Vittra prince with whom she shares a growing attraction.

Torn between her heart and her people, between love and duty, Wendy must decide her fate. If she makes the wrong choice, she could lose everything, and everybody, she’s ever wanted…in both worlds.


This book started out with a BANG! and kept the tensions high throughout! 

First Wendy is attacked by the Vittra after running away from the Trylle and back to her home and to her human host-brother. There she, Rhys, and Matt are abducted and taken to the Vittra castle *dundunDUNNNNN* where we meet MY NEW FAVORITE, Loki. Wendy doesn't exactly know what his game is yet, but he's sweet and pretty hot, and he's not too subtle about letting them escape.

When she gets back to the palace, political tensions between Trylle and Vittra, not to mention Wendy and Elora, are running sky high, and the histories of both types of troll are revealed to Wendy. 

There's a lot of worrying going on in this book, plus a lot of yelling and crying, between Wendy's fights with her mother Elora, and Finn. There's some side cuteness with host-brother Matt and Trylle friend Willa, but Rhys kinda disappears after they all go back to the palace (like, for the rest of the book). And we can't forget Wendy's new Tracker guard, AND LOKI!!! I wanted MORE LOKI. He is too adorable, and I wish Wendy could have seen how much he obviously cared about her, not like Finn, who would rather hide their feelings than ever put them first. 

Overall Impression:
I liked Torn much more than Switched, and I'm glad I stuck with the series.

Blonde's Rating: 4/5


ASCEND
Wendy Everly is facing an impossible choice. The only way to save the Trylle from their deadliest enemy is by sacrificing herself.  If she doesn’t surrender to the Vittra, her people will be thrust into a brutal war against an unbeatable foe.  But how can Wendy leave all her friends behind…even if it’s the only way to save them?

The stakes have never been higher, because her kingdom isn’t the only thing she stands to lose. After falling for both Finn and Loki, she’s about to make the ultimate choice…who to love forever. One guy has finally proven to be the love of her life—and now all their lives might be coming to an end. 

Everything has been leading to this moment.  The future of her entire world rests in her hands—if she’s ready to fight for it


Okay, I'm not going to lie to you; I didn't read this whole one. I mostly skipped around to get to the Wendy-Loki parts, and I still got a very good idea of what happened, so I'm good. 

It's been a few weeks since the end of Torn, where Wendy has made a temporary truce with the Vittra until she is the Trylle Queen. Tensions are still high, however, as the Vittra have naturally found a loophole in their "truce" and are still hurting Trylle. Not to mention Wendy is set to marry her friend but not-at-all-love, Tove. Oh, and Loki is now a Vittra fugitive. That's cool, because it means he's not Wendy's enemy anymore!

There is a LOT going on, with Vittra attacking innocent Trylle/other trolls, Loki totally trying to be a third in Wendy's marriage, and Queen Elora slowly dying, Wendy has a lot on her hands, and she tries to deal with in her own ways. This doesn't always work out well for her, but it forces everyone around her to act, and it keeps the story moving forward.

There's a little bit of heartbreak at the end, but I think it ends happily (concerning my OTP for these books), so that's all that matters.

Overall Impression:
Like I said, it's a bit of a "blurred" impression, given how much I actually read, but it's a pretty good one.

Blonde (blurred) rating: 3.5/5

SERIES IMPRESSION
Much like my feelings on the Mara Dyer books, you must PUSH yourself through the first one to get to the goods in the second and third.

Do I recommend this series? 
Sure, but I found it at a slightly more juvenile reading level than some of the other books I've read recently. This makes it seem a little young, but it also makes them fast reads. That balances it out, I'd say.

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