Posted January 7, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
The Sword of Summer by
Rick Riordan Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1 Publisher: Disney Hyperion (2015)
Hardcover (491 pages)
Rating: Also by this author: The Lightning Thief,
The Sea of Monsters,
The Titan's Curse Reading Challenges: 2015 Mythology,
Read 2015 Synopsis
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.
One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.
The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.
When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.
Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted November 5, 2015 in Reading, Review / 2 Comments
These Broken Stars by
Amie Kaufman,
Meagan Spooner Series: Starbound #1 Publisher: Disney Hyperion (2013)
Hardcover (378 pages)
Via: Library Rating: Also by this author: Illuminae,
This Shattered World,
Their Fractured Light Also in this series: This Shattered World,
Their Fractured Light Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive — alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth.
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Library, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted October 1, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
A Thousand Nights by
E K Johnston Publisher: Disney Hyperion (2015)
eARC (336 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling,
Read 2015 Synopsis
Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.
And so she is taken in her sister’s place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin’s court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time.But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.
Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.
Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.
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Tagged as 3 star, Fairy Tales, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted September 24, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Code Name Verity by
Elizabeth Wein Series: Code Name Verity #1 Publisher: Disney Hyperion (2012)
Hardcover (332 pages)
Via: Library Rating: Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun.
When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she’s sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.
As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?
A Michael L. Printz Award Honor book that was called “a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel” in The New York Times, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other.
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Library, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted July 22, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
The Isle of the Lost by
Melissa de la Cruz Series: Descendants #1 Publisher: Disney Hyperion (2015)
Hardcover (320 pages)
Rating: Also by this author: The Ring and the Crown Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling,
Read 2015 Synopsis
Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon and made to live in virtual imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost. The island is surrounded by a magical force field that keeps the villains and their descendants safely locked up and away from the mainland. Life on the island is dark and dreary. It is a dirty, decrepit place that’s been left to rot and forgotten by the world.
But hidden in the mysterious Forbidden Fortress is a dragon’s eye: the key to true darkness and the villains’ only hope of escape. Only the cleverest, evilest, nastiest little villain can find it…who will it be?
Maleficent, Mistress of the Dark: As the self-proclaimed ruler of the isle, Maleficent has no tolerance for anything less than pure evil. She has little time for her subjects, who have still not mastered life without magic. Her only concern is getting off the Isle of the Lost.
Mal: At sixteen, Maleficent’s daughter is the most talented student at Dragon Hall, best known for her evil schemes. And when she hears about the dragon’s eye, Mal thinks this could be her chance to prove herself as the cruelest of them all.
Evie: Having been castle-schooled for years, Evil Queen’s daughter, Evie, doesn’t know the ins and outs of Dragon Hall. But she’s a quick study, especially after she falls for one too many of Mal’s little tricks.
Jay: As the son of Jafar, Jay is a boy of many talents: stealing and lying to name a few. Jay and Mal have been frenemies forever and he’s not about to miss out on the hunt for the dragon’s eye.
Carlos: Cruella de Vil’s son may not be bravest, but he’s certainly clever. Carlos’s inventions may be the missing piece in locating the dragon’s eye and ending the banishment for good.
Mal soon learns from her mother that the dragon’s eye is cursed and whoever retrieves it will be knocked into a deep sleep for a thousand years. But Mal has a plan to capture it. She’ll just need a little help from her “friends.” In their quest for the dragon’s eye, these kids begin to realize that just because you come from an evil family tree, being good ain’t so bad.
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Tagged as 4 star, Fairy Tales, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
