Wings To Touch the Sky

Published: July 9th, 2013
Raven Flight (Shadowfell # 2)
By: Juliet Marillier
Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13:  9780375983672

Neryn has finally found the rebel group at Shadowfell, and now her task is to seek out the elusive Guardians, vital to her training as a Caller. These four powerful beings have been increasingly at odds with human kind, and Neryn must prove her worth to them. She desperately needs their help to use her gift without compromising herself or the cause of overthrowing the evil King Keldec.

Neryn must journey with the tough and steadfast Tali, who looks on Neryn's love for the double agent Flint as a needless vulnerability. And perhaps it is. What Flint learns from the king will change the battlefield entirely—but in whose favor, no one knows. 

Review

 

     Neryn is finally with the rebels at Shadowfell, but now she must prepare to leave and seek out the four Guardians for her training as a Caller.  It is imperative that she be trained in the ways of her gift, especially when it becomes clear to everyone that the war will come sooner than they had originally hoped.  With the companionship of gruff and reluctant Tali (who would rather stay behind to guard and guard the leader of the rebellion instead) traveling with her and the intermittent help of the Good Folk along the way, things still are harsh and dangerous.  Can Neryn manage to keep momentum until her task is complete or will she fail and bring down the cause with her?  Also, Flint is still playing double agent to evil King Keldec and with the annual 'festival' approaching his loyalty will be called into question - with potentially devastating results.  Can Flint and Neryn both survive long enough to make it back to each other?

     I thought the first book in this series was decent, so when I spotted this up on Netgalley I requested it.  Just to see if there was a chance Marillier could make me fall in love with this series.  I honestly feel just as ambivalent as ever about everything to do with it.  This book spends most of it's time with long-winded description, little action can be found in the plot and even with an especially big cliffhanger/shocking plot twist near the end I still felt like saying, 'so what?'  Neryn doesn't get on my nerves quite as much as she did in Shadowfell, but I still don't like her enough for her to carry an entire book for me.  This novel didn't have the harsh strength of Flint as her counterpoint to balance things.  Instead it introduced Tali, a guard from the rebel camp who slowly by the end of the book becomes a friend and comes to play a more important role in the uprising.

     I just felt like this book had next to no conflict, in terms of moving forward the plot.  Most of it meanders dreamily with a feeling of disconnect.  The few big events (the encounter with Enforcers, the grisly 'festival' and the surprise violence near the end) do little to break up the monotony of the book, which is mostly a really boring travelogue with a semi-interesting account of a friendship that develops between the two girls.  The Good Folk were another disappointment, with their lack of any real resistance to being enlisted into the troubles of men.  After the conflict within their own ranks over whether or not to help Neryn in the first book, in this one they pretty much agree straightaway.  It felt like Marillier didn't want to bother with giving any more of them TRULY distinct personalities as Neryn's friends (excepting a couple she names close to the end) and having to spend more time on them in the future.  It all came across as very stilted and forced to me as a reader.  And yes, the Neryn and Flint relationship felt somewhat contrived as well.  In the first book I never pegged him as having the same depth of feeling that Neryn did - in this one her borders on reckless desperation during his scant scenes in the book.  Overall, mediocre at best and boring with a touch of annoying at worst.  I probably won't be reading the third book (unless I decide to torture myself, like I do a good majority of the time anyways) and would only recommend to die-hard Marillier fans.

 

VERDICT:  2.5/5  Stars

 

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published on July 9th, 2013.*

Just a Girl In a Frozen World

Published:  December 11th, 2012

Greta and the Goblin King (Mylena Chronicles # 1)

By: Chloe Jacobs

Entangled Teen

ISBN-13: 9781620610022

While trying to save her brother from a witch’s fire four years ago, Greta was thrown in herself, falling through a portal to Mylena, a dangerous world where humans are the enemy and every ogre, ghoul, and goblin has a dark side that comes out with the eclipse. 

To survive, Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young goblin king, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her will to escape. 

But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. An ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal, and with the next eclipse mere days away, every bloodthirsty creature in the realm is after her—including Isaac. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back...

Review

     Greta has been living in Mylena for the past four years, working as a bounty hunter and trying to fit in with the locals.  But she never will, because Greta is forced to hide the fact that she is human due to the complete and total hatred of her race by all the people of Mylena.  But she has drawn the attention Isaac, the young Goblin King, who is determined to have Greta for his own and invades her dreams every night using his powers.  When Greta's identity is exposed and her mentor murdered, she is forced to go on the run from other bounty hunters looking to collect the price on her head.  Also, she just may be the key to opening an escape portal for the bloodthirsty Agramon, the demon who destroyed Mylena the last time he was loose.  Banding together with a hidden group of human boys, Greta is determined to rescue those of her race and send them home again.  But can she stay alive long enough to accomplish it?  This was different from anything that I had read before, with main supernatural characters being goblins, sprites and other beings instead of the requisite vampires/werewolves.  That alone made me want to read it.  But adding in the elements of romance and adventure definitely helped.  I enjoyed the characterization of Greta, as a strong female heroine who has rolled with the punches and done what was necessary to survive.  The whole romance with Isaac just didn't appeal to me though.  The fact that he was pretty much stalking her in her dreams (*cough*FreddyKrueger*cough*)  was creepy to me and not a basis for romance.  Not to mention that he expresses serious distaste for her entire species and makes a point of being willing to overlook that she happens to be human.  And he spends the whole entire book lying about why she's being hunted and whether he knew about Agramon's human slaves.   The interactions with the Lost Boys (a.k.a the other humans) were sweet but realistic.  Jacob, the littlest one was meant to be cute but basically annoyed me and took time away from the main plot.  Wyatt was definitely a major contender for Greta's romantic interest, but as usual the stupid supernatural stalker won that battle.  I was surprised at the ending, but felt that it wasn't a good enough cliffhanger to keep me going as a reader.  Overall, a disappointment and mostly mediocre book that I had hoped would be great.

VERDICT:  2.5/5  Stars

* I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published December 11th, 2012.*

Never Grow Up

Published: July 3rd, 2012
Tiger Lily
By: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Harper Teen
ISBN-13: 9780062003256

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything--her family, her future--to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "Peaches" comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up.

Review

   Tiger Lily is just fine on her own.  She has never needed anyone except for Tik Tok (her adoptive Father and shaman of her tribe), so it's okay that most of her tribe shuns her.  Then she is told that her marriage has been arranged to Giant, a harsh and cruel man in her tibe who is more than twice her age.  Escaping into the woods by both day and night to try and avoid the reality of her situation, Tiger Lily crosses paths with both the pirates and Peter Pan.  Soon she is drawn in to world of Peter and the lost boys, visiting their burrow and developing romantic feelings for Peter, who is just as headstrong and brave as Tiger Lily herself.  But when the Englishman that Tiger Lily herself rescued begins to cause upheaval in the village and problems for Tik Tok, her only real family, she must decide if she will run away and become part of Peter's world permanently or take a position in the tribe and make things right among her people.  But the decision might not be hers anymore when another ship brings the Wendy-bird to the island and she manages to take Tiger Lily's place in Peter's heart.  Can Tiger Lily let him go once and for all or will she do something that she'll regret forever?  I was alternately amazed and ambivalent while reading this book (but mostly amazed).  I loved that Anderson told the story from Tinker Bell's point of view.  It really made for some interesting observations, especially since Tinker Bell can see the thoughts and emotions inside people's heads.  I loved that Tiger Lily's people, the Sky Eaters, accepted Tik Tok's penchant for dressing like a woman AND a man.  The fierceness of Tiger Lily's aloneness and her reluctance to even let Pine Sap (pretty much her best friend in the tribe who is shunned by the other boys for being weak) in her life.  Peter is wild, crude, obnoxious and totally dangerous - yet at the same time he's thoughtful, caring, innocent, loyal and has a wonderful sense of adventure.  I loved that Tiger Lily and Peter were on pretty equal footing and the interactions with the lost boys were pretty hilarious.  The darker undertones to the book and it's semi-not-so happy ending was what made it special beautiful to me as a reader.  Yet at the same time it helped add to the feeling of disconnect that I got from Tink's narration versus having Tiger Lily tell her own story.  It was an innovative and entirely fresh re-telling and I'm glad that I read it.  I highly recommend it for Peter Pan fans, but it's not one that I will personally be re-reading.

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

*No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores and online.*