Book Review: Bright Blaze of Magic (Black Blade #3) by Jennifer Estep

Kensington
To Be Published April 26, 2016
368 Pages

Lila wants Victor Draconi, the man that killed her mother and wants to destroy every Sinclair, dead. And although being a thief has helped her thus far, killing the most dangerous man in her world will be a lot harder than smart talking Lila may be able to handle.

This series is one of those series magic lovers should read.  If you haven’t read the series, check out my review for book one here and then check out book two.

I am actually glad this book has ended but not in the ‘Oh thank goodness it is done’ but in the what spin off is the author going to do. I thought this was a well written and entertaining final book but I did have my issues.

My issue was Lila. She was annoying and it felt like she was trying to hard. Not the author, which is weird because the author is the one that wrote Lila but still. Lila was trying to keep that hard ass girl with a soft heart routine too much and throughout the story it just got too much to not roll my eyes at.

The thing about this book is a lot happens really fast to the point where you are scratching your head wondering where the story is going? Estep didn’t disappoint but despite the fast moving/constant issues, the book in a whole was a slow read. At one point I felt the author was doing too much; not that the book was complicated, because it wasn’t, but there was so much going on that kept making Lila the end all be all and it was unbelievable, I guess. It felt like a stretch.

I do wish there was more mythology in this book and the series overall.

What I did like about this book was the surrounding characters, even though they proved to be weak. *Kanye Shrug* I loved the plot, although I wish this was more of group effort and not a one woman show. I also loved the fact that the romance didn’t take over the story and ruin the lives of the characters.

Despite it all this was a good series and I recommend it. I also hope there is a spin-off . . . it feels like there will be a spin-off.

3 Pickles

 

 

Book Review: The Eye of Zoltar (Chronicles of Kazam #3) by Jasper Fforde

Hodder & Stoughton
Published April 10, 2014
401 Pages

16- year-old Jennifer Strange is still running Kazam, a mystical arts management company, in which wizards are rent out for money. When the mighty wizard Shandar tells Jennifer she needs to find the eye of zoltar or pay a fee he encountered during her goodwill mission.

The problem with finding the eye of zoltar is the fact that is was last seen handing around the neck of the legendary Sky Captain Morgan who was last seen in the legendary (maybe mythical) Leviathan.

On top of this Jennifer must take the Princess of Snodd under her wing by the request of the Queen; to teach the Princess how to not be such a brat and to be humble. Believing this will be a quick mission simply to hunt for clues, Jennifer hires tour guide Addie to go through the dangerous Empty Quarter in order to reach Leviathan.

But this simple mission has Jennifer and her crew fighting a darkness no one is prepared for.

I have a love hate relationship with this series. Fforde is a talented writer; there is not a single doubt in my mind.  He is able to develop characters and throughout this series he was able to show real growth within these characters, especially Jennifer.

Jennifer is a great character throughout all three books. She is realistic despite living in a “fantasy” world,  she is smart, logical without being a jerk and she is down to earth. She has grown so much in this series and is very important in the literature world.Along with the character development, the consistent flow of the story, the creativity of this once magical world, the simplicity and complexity of this world is my top loves.

What I hate about this series is how long it goes on for. I feel that Fforde adds a lot into the novel that doesn’t necessarily need to be there. It is a lot of information, a lot of moving parts that are in the novels, especially this one. Is it bad? Yes and no. Yes because it was long. The novels are long and take a certain amount of focus to keep into it when something new is being added. No it isn’t a bad thing because there are not written badly. Fforde is a talented writer and even with all the extra it is still good . . . just a lot.

I love the creativity, I love the development of characters as well the civilization and I really love the growth.

Overall, I would recommend this read.

4 Pickles

Year in Review: Series

I have over 260 books in the year of 2013! I’m extremely proud of myself considering last year I only read 86. But I digress.  Today is the last day of 2013 and I wanted (like so many others) to take the time and reflect and break down my loves and love nots.

 Love

I loved the imagery, the  suspense and the realistic characters of these books.  Yes, there are two maybe three missing from this list but these are the ones that immediately came to mind when I sat down and began to write.

Each of these authors created stories from old stories or themes and created something new.  It showed passion, fire and love. These are series are highly recommended.

Love Not

I hate the fact that these series made the list because they had so much potential. But the biggest flaw to all of these books was characters. These characters were either selfish, bratty, and/or boring.

But this wasn’t the only issue with these books. The stories were undeveloped, lacked personality, and flare. They were a struggle to get through and showed no hope for the second book or third book.

BEWARE! the pretty titles and covers.

Love, Tanya

Book Review: Faerie After (Bones of Faerie #3) by Janni Lee Simner

Faerie After (Bones of Faerie #3) by Janni Lee Simner

Random House Books

Published: May 28, 2013

Genre: Young Adult

What a series!  This is the final book in the Bones of Faerie series and it was a perfect way to end it.

Faerie After by Janni Lee Simner (goodreads)

After fighting the Queen of Faerie, Liza needs a break. The communication with her mother is still weak, she is still training to better her magic and on top of that she hasn’t seen her boyfriend in 5 months (She’s not complaining because she just isn’t that type of girl).

But now there is a new issue. Piles of dust of former creatures and humans are being found in the forest. Although Liza was able to call back the trees in her world, the Faerie realm is slowly dying and turning to dust.  Liza, Matthew, and Allie must risk everything they have and everything they don’t have in order to save the world . . . again.

What I loved loved about this book was the fact romance was the last thing on Matthew and Liza’s mind. Granted if they were allowed to go further maybe they would have but they something always stopped them from moving on from one passionate kiss. Liza and Matthew didn’t allow their feelings for each other to distract themselves from the bigger picture which is a breath of fresh air considering that almost every young adult book with fairies there is some kind of romance or implied sex.

I also loved the how the author made it clear that the sacrifices Liza, Matthew and Allie were making was much more than a normal life. Between dying, watching someone they love die and going through crazy emotional and physical pain these teens gave up their life for everyone to live safely. There was a true passion for life in this book and all thanks goes to the author.

I can’t say that there was something I disliked about the book. Some things needed to happen and it did slow the book down but it was a slow down I approved of.

Over all, the book was a good read and if you don’t believe me you can check out its page on goodreads.com. The series was a great read and it was different. I appreciated the fact that the author didn’t want to make the faerie realm as magical as all other faerie books in the young adult genre. This book definitely deserves attention and recognition for being different.

Book gets 9 out of 10.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 

Tania Lasenburg is a communications major with dreams of owning /working for a publishing company as a high end corporate. In her spare time, she is working to make Motif Ink a house hold name. Follow her on twitter @mrztanyapickles

New Releases: July 2013

Affliction (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Novel) by Laurell K. Hamilton 7.2.2013

goodreads

Awaken by Meg Cabot 7.2.2013

The Arrivals by Melissa Marr 7.2.2013

Mother Daughter Me by Katie Hafner 7.2.2013

A Midsummer Night’s Scream by R.L. Stine 7.6.2013

 

Fifth Grave Past the lIght (Charley Davidson Series #5) by Darynda Jones 7.9.2013

Please Don’t Tell by Elizabeth Adler 7.9.2013

Raven Flight: A Shadowfell novel by Juliet Marillier 7.9.2013

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman 7.9.2013

 

Belladonna (Secrets of the Eternal Rose #2) by Fiona Paul 7.16.2013

The Book of Elsewhere Vol 4 by Jacqueline West 7.16.2013

Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols 7.16.2013

 

A Darkness Strange and Lovely (Something Strange and Deadly #2) by Susan Dennard 7.23.2013

A Really Awesome Mess by Trish Cook 7.23.2013

OCD Love Story by Ann Haydu 7.23.2013

 

Indelible (The Twixt #1) by Dawn Metcalf 7.30.2013

EarthBound by Aprilynne Pike 7.30.2013

All Our Pretty Songs by Sarah McCarry 7.30.2013