[TO THE BOOKSTORE FOR...] January 29, 2012

1. Prodigy by Marie Lu.

This was one of those series that they told you to read after an absolutely amazing series, and you do because you're suffering from withdrawal symptoms because the new book from the absolutely amazing series isn't due to be released for another year. Well the Legend series was recommended for Divergent lovers. Before you start telling me that there is nothing comparable to the Divergent series, I'll tell you that I agree but I was desperate. Very desperate. So I figured why not, let's give this book a try. Well as many other book recommendations, this one fell short...by a lot. I was particularly uninspired when I was done reading, to the point where I didn't even want to write a review, that bad. It didn't remind me of Divergent and to me, it was very amateurish writing. I know I'm bashing the book, and possibly the author completely but hey, at least I'm giving the second one a try...right? I still have hopes for this series, mainly because a lot of people I know rate this very highly. I guess I'm sort of a conformist because I want to fit in and also really like this story but we all have some sort of rebel heart inside us and I guess I might just be rebelling at this point because I'm really not a big fan of this series. But don't take my word for it, read it for yourself. Hey, I mean it made it to the [ TO THE BOOKSTORE FOR...] so at least it has a small place inside of me that says this might just be worth it.

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action. (From Goodreads)

2. Shadows in the Silence by Courtney Allison Moulton

This is the final book in the Angelfire trilogy. A trilogy is a nice number of books but for this series, I guess I would have liked to see one more book. It was too fast paced, but anyway, getting off topic. I've reviewed the first two books in the series: Angelfire and Wings of the Wicked. I enjoyed the first one, it was a good start, but the second one was...not as good shall we say. I blame it on being the second book in a trilogy which is usually never as good as the first since it's an information dump, which means I have mixed feelings for the this book, the third and final one in the series. I still have high hopes if it'll end well.  If it's one thing Courtney Allison Moulton is really good at doing it's writing intense cliffhangers and endings. So hopefully she does this one justice.

Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . .
Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.
The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.
As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world’s darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.
Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion. (From Goodreads)

 

That's all for this week's releases that I'm interested in. Look forward to a review for the Maze Runner by James Dashner that I'll be posting this week.

[REVIEW] Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

Published: January 2012
Publisher: Harper Collins/Katherine Teagen
Age Group:  Young Adult
Series: Angelfire #2

Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined.
Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven’s warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell’s strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night.

She’s been warned.
Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian’s new plan to destroy Ellie’s soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian’s schemes , the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything—including herself.

She’ll be betrayed.
Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be hell to pay. (From Goodreads)

Firstly, it's been awhile since I read the first book so I had to read over my previous review. Well sadly I was not as excited by this one as I was before. I blame the fact that it's the middle book. I always dislike the middle book.

In Wings of the Wicked, Ellie has to face her destiny and her complicated relationship with Will, no different from the first novel. The only difference is the gravity of the situation.  both issues are now huge and play a large part in this book. The first part of the story was more focused on Ellie's relationship.  Honestly it was like a typical teen romance novel. I find Ellie and Will's relationship to be that of a soap opera. There is so much drama and honestly, I hate Ellie. I just really don't like her character.  I mean Will is absolutely  amazing and all Ellie does is hurt him and push him away. Arrrgh, what a stupid girl. Clearly I was frustrated with the majority of this story.  As Ellie says "I don't deserve you" (page 329) Damn right! Ellie, you don't deserve Will. Okay, now that that's off my chest back to the story.

The second part of the story was good. I think the reason why I liked it was because it focused more on the fight as oppose to the drama.  The second part was more similar to the first book (that I quite liked) as oppose to the first part.

Also is it just me, but when I read this series and they mention reapers, I picture something like this:
If anyone's wondering, the picture is from the anime Bleach.

Another problem I found in this story is that Courtney Allison Moulton writing is very basic and it doesn't do much to get me hooked to the story line, characters and plot. In fact there are also very abrupt changes in emotion (sort of like mood swings!) that make it very hard to relate to the chracters situation and what they're feeling. For instance, Ellie may be mad for 4 pages and than all of a sudden, she's happy! Yay...except I had no idea how it happened...

There's also a very obvious plot line.  And the amount of time passed doesn't really make sense either. It's sort of a very predictable, confusing story (for me at least.)

Lastly, there seems to always be a character that is used to explain what happens in the story. Caden was a messanger in this story. He appears out of nowhere, says or does something important and then leaves.  He's also suppose to be the other person in Ellie's love traingle...but he does a pretty bad job at it.

It hurts me to say this but the ending was quite interesting. The cliffhanger was truly a cliffhanger and I felt really attached to it. Its quite sad that it took me that long to finally enjoy this book. 


I think it's fairly obvious that I wasn't pleased with this book.  Like I said before, I usually hate the middle book in a trilogy so here's hoping the last one will be better!

MEH

[REVIEW] Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Published: February 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins / Katherine Tegen Books
Age Group: Young Adult
Series: Angelfire #1

First there are nightmares.
Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

Then come the memories.
When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Now she must hunt.
Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember. (From GoodReads)

Well the cover instantly got my attention. You see a girl (the main character) holding her sword, which is revealed in the book to be a Khopesh sword. She's dressed entirely in black with her red hair behind her. Well besides the cover, the book itself is pretty good. 
The story is about a girl named Ellie who has recurring nightmares and has no idea why. Later she meets a guy named Will who seems vaguly familar to her and on her 16th birthday, she soon figures out why. Turns out, she's the reincarnation of the Preliator, someone dedicated in saving the world from the "reapers" (think demons). 

Throughtout the book, Ellie meets various foes and discovers the plan that those on the evil side are hatching, so to speak. The author really explains the story well and when I read it, I really could relate to the characters. All their emotions and actions are written very well. 
The only part I disliked about the story is when the author writes about Ellie's nightmares, more visions later on in the book. They take away from the story and I feel there was no need to have about three pages dedicated to these visions when it could be summerized in a brief paragraph. I'm pretty sure my reaction would have been the same from either or but I would prefer the paragraph because it would involve reading less of what I considered the boring parts. 

Angelfire is a story about angels, no surprise there. this one, although similar to other angel books with the whole save the earth mission and the whole future angelic war, this story seems to have a seperate plot. Moulton introduces many new ideas that i have never read about in any other books. Her explanation of the reapers in her book is very concise and explains it very clearly. Each character is also developed and described in that you can relate to their personality and behaviours. 
The ending to this book was sort of a let down. I remember getting to the end and flipping the page expecting a new chapter and only getting the acknowledgment section. Angelfire is part of a trilogy so there is more but the transition between each novel could have been better. 

Another problem is that the main character's personal problems often overshadow the main plot at certain points. Of course I do love reading about Ellie's family or friend issues but I feel it takes away from the entire plot as a whole. One page we're talking about saving the world and the next it's about relationship issues. 

Overall this was an excellent read and I can't wait for the second one. To all those who enjoy action, romance, and stories about angels, definitely give this book a try.





4/5
(originally posted in the TPL Word Out program)