Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Story 3 of 5 stars

Heat 3 of 5 stars

Series – The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, Grisaverse

Main characters – Alina Starkov, Malyen Orestsev, Darkling, Nikolai Lantsov

Listened to audio narrated by Lauren Fortgang.

Alina Starkov is the Sun Summoner, incredibly weakened after her face off with the Darkling. She and her followers are under the ‘care’ of the White Church and it’s leader. The priest wishes to use her for his own ambitions but it won’t stop her and her companions from devising a way to escape and face off with the Darkling once and for all.

Their mission is to escape, seek the prince, find the Phoenix and face off once and for all with the Darkling. But as they progress things don’t go as expected and revelations point to a direction they don’t want to travel.

This is the last installment and I am left feeling bleh. It felt like several mini story ideas were forced together, hints from the previous book fizzled, then came a very rushed feeling ending and an epilogue showing their happily ever after. At this point I’m glad it’s over and I can put this series behind me.

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Wait for You by J. Lynn

Story 3 of 5 stars

Heat 3 of 5 stars

Series – Wait for You

Main characters – Cameron Hamilton, Avery Samantha Morgansten

Avery Samantha Morgansten is nineteen years old. Five years ago, she was betrayed, deals were made and everyone turned on her. She choose a college far from home, needing to get away from her family and a town, determined to continue to vilify her, hoping to leave it all behind her.

Cameron Hamilton is a popular man on campus. He’s supremely confident, even though he too has a secret that affected him deeply.

Avery and Cameron met when she almost knocked him over trying to get to class. She’s not interested in any relationship but Cameron knows he wants her in his life. When they discover they live across from each other in the same apartment building, Cameron takes every opportunity to engage with her.

Avery’s past still affects her deeply. She never got help to deal with what happened and struggles with fear and panic attacks. It doesn’t help that she’s receiving messages and calls from an unknown caller harassing her. Avery’s new friends and Cam continue to try and draw her out with mixed success. Cam is sure his charm will eventually win Avery over, but until then he works his magic showing up and being there for her, whether she wants him there or not.

I liked Cameron’s willingness to find ways to be with Avery at her comfort level, even if he was often over the top. I liked that Avery kept trying to take back her life but the hints about what happened, without disclosing what actually happened until so late in the book was really frustrating. It’s mentioned early on that her family wouldn’t hear of her getting help after her ordeal but she was far away at campus… Why didn’t she seek help from the school counselors? especially after she had a big freak out?

I have mixed feelings about this story, I spent a lot of time being frustrated with Avery. I got tired of how often I was told about how beautiful and muscular Cam was and his arrogance was so over the top he could have easily been a villian rather than a hero. There’s a lot of cheesy stereotypical characters that were more of a distraction than enhancement. The characters felt very surface level. I wanted more depth and less caricatures. Not sure I want to continue this series.

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Blood Brothers by Craig Halloran

Story 3 of 5 stars

Heat 1 of 5 stars

Series – Dragon Wars

Main characters – Grey Cloak, Dyphestive

Listened to audio narrated by Lee Alan. Easy listen. Sound effects were just okay for me.

Grey Cloak is a half-elf rogue, determined to find adventure.

Dyphestive is an incredibly strong human fighter, content to follow where Grey Cloak leads.

These two are both fifteen and sworn blood brothers. They’ve been hiding on a farm but have decided to seek other adventures that land them in even more danger than when they started.

A little too campy for me, I didn’t really like these characters, I wanted more depth but it often felt like scenes were created then stitched together.

A simple, easy read, dungeons and dragons story with a to be continued ending.

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How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe, narrated by Suzy Jackson and Steve West

Story 3 of 5 stars

Heat – n/a

Series – Standalone

Main Characters – Yui Shaw, Ken, Kirk Lord

Listened to audio narrated very well by Suzy Jackson and Steve West.

This is an Audible Original which I choose in May’s monthly free selections.

This book attempts to make a fun story out of a role playing game. Their world has a one hundred year cycle, a time for the Demon King to rise and conquer and in a hundred years a Hero will rise to defeat him. Unfortunately the latest Demon King isn’t following the script and after only 23 years has already conquered over half of the world.

With fears that there will be nothing left by the time the Hero is reborn Yui Shaw is determined to find a way to defeat the Demon King before he takes over the entire world. She seeks out skills and training in hopes to acquire the legendary hero sword and acquires a sidekick and a fairy along the way to help her on her quest.

While I like the idea of converting game play to a story, the author sticks too closely to game language, skills and leveling design and less on a believable, seamless story. There are a lot of fun, quirky moments, but the author is always telling us what happens instead of letting us experience it. It’s very clunky reading about her leveling up and how she’s applying her skill points, as well as always using game commands instead of describing the action.

This might be a great story for younger readers or GameLit/LitRPG fans but it missed the mark for me as fantasy fiction.

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A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, narrated by Jennifer Ikeda

Story 3 of 5 stars

Heat 3 of 5 stars

Series – A Court of Thorn and Roses

Main Characters – Feyre Archeron, Tamlin, Rhysand, Lucien Vanserra

Listened to audio narrated well by Jennifer Ikeda.

Feyre is a nineteen year old girl taking on the responsibilities of feeding and providing for her family when her mother dies and her father’s fortunes turn south and his creditors leave him crippled. While Feyre hunts to put food on the table her two older sisters seem oblivious to their dire situation, doing little to help, I pretty much hated her family.

Tamlin is a High Lord of the Fae, who’s been cursed and he and his court pin their hopes on Feyre freeing them all.

Desperately hungry, Feyre kills a wolf about to kill a deer she needs for her family, not caring if it’s one of the Fae. She’s resourceful and smart even if she struggles with her worthiness as a person off and on throughout the book because of her lack of education. I really liked that about her and was surprised it took her so long to solve the riddle.

Tamlin shows up at Feyre’s door demanding retribution for the murder of his friend, but instead of taking her life he takes her to live out the rest of her life in his world, on his estate. I have to tell you this and Tamlin’s court seemed odd and their actions don’t make a lot of sense until MUCH later in the book, like fellow reviewer Ah-Mei I prefer to understand what’s going on much earlier in a book. It’s also odd that she was supposed to be being punished but instead seems set for life. Like I said it makes no sense until a lot later but it makes for frustrating reading.

The first part of the book left me a bit confused, wondering where we were going and the pacing was a bit slow, but when the story finally picks up and it’s unveiled what’s going on, it got better and better. Several of the side characters steal the spotlight from our main couple, especially Rhysand towards the end and that was sad because I feel like we didn’t get to see enough of Tamlin.

The blurb suggests it’s a beauty and the beast type story, but only very loosely, there were also several Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin moments.

Overall I enjoyed listening to this book, it was nice fantasy read, but you’ll have to stick with the slow half of the book before you get to the good stuff.

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