Book Review: The Exiled Queen

Title: The Exiled Queen
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Series: Seven Realms (Book 2)

While I didn't like this as much as The Demon King, it was still a pretty good book and definitely an enjoyable read. I read 20 out of the 36 chapters before I finally convinced myself that I should do what I promised myself and actually study. I don't think studying the events of this book are going to help me pass my exams, but you never know. Maybe a question about the series will pop up on my science exam, it's possible (not).

This book basically takes up where The Demon King left off, but I think it really gives the reader a deeper insight into the characters of Han and Raisa. We get to learn about their experiences at this really awesome school that I want to go to (the classes sound so much more interesting than the curriculum at my school) and the struggles that both of them have balancing their past lives with their current ones. My favorite character is still Han, but I feel like I got to know Raisa a lot better in this book because her chapters were (somewhat) less boy-focused than in the previous installment and they focused more on her developing as a person and less as a princess (although because she is a princess I guess she is still developing as one but you get my drift).

I also really liked that we got to know some secondary characters better as well (Dancer, Amon, and a couple others) because it meant that their stories didn't get lost in the whole huge shuffle of things. I'm not going to lie, this series has a lot of action (at least so far) and it would be really easy to just throw away everyone but the main characters, but China does a great job of making sure to develop the secondary characters as well and even introduce some new ones that help Han and Raise develop as characters/people.

LIKES:
+ Less boy-craziness on Raisa's part and more of a focus on her getting to know the conditions in which other people live and how she can apply what she learns in school to ruling
+ The school, because if it was a real place I would totally go there because the classes sound super interesting or at least more fun than the ones that I am in right now...
+ Still dual narrators! I'm really glad that didn't go away and I hope it continues into the next book, especially because I love Han's POV more than Raisa's and if his went away...
+ Han is a wizard now. Who doesn't like wizards? Plus MAGIC.
+ Character development & more secondary characters! I feel like I got to know everybody's motives better and the story made way more sense
+ Action & plot-twists because those are (almost) always awesome

DISLIKES:
- The last couple chapters of the book. I felt like they were super rushed and it made me feel kinda panicked inside even though I had no reason to be. It was like the rest of the book was going at a reasonable 60 mph on a fun-curvy road and then decided to go 100 mph on this super confusing twisty windy road like what was with all the plot twists at the end? I feel like it would have been better if the book had kept that pace and maybe been a bit longer versus just speeding through the end.
- Love triangles. I'm just going to leave this one here.

So while I liked this book slightly less than the first one (I think mostly because of the ending and how it left me feeling rushed) I still loved it and am definitely going to continue the series! I'm so glad that I found another fantasy author to read and that the series is actually a decent length because nothing bothers me more than awesome series that end too soon. I'd definitely recommend this to basically anyone!

See this review on Goodreads.

Book Review: The Demon King

Title: The Demon King

Author: Cinda William Cima

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Series: Seven Realms (Book 1)

I became acquainted with this book after I recently discovered Hoopla (and by recently discovered I mean that it’s been around for ages but I was too lazy to figure out what it actually was) and was scrolling through the YA fantasy section at my kitchen table instead of, you know, studying or something productive. The cover was what attracted me, but the good ratings on Goodreads didn’t hurt either (and yes, I research my books before I read them…sometimes…). Let’s just say that Hoopla/Goodreads/cover judging didn’t let me down—I loved this book. It was fast enough that I wasn’t bored, yet didn’t rush through the plot like a lot of books that I’ve read recently. The story sucked me in, and instead of duel-reading it with Dreams of Gods and Monsters like I was planning, I wound up reading it all the way through by itself. Whoops. The only major complaint I had was the romance, since it felt like it didn’t fit into the story all the way and both Han and Raisa seemed to fall in love with every single person of the opposite sex that they met. Also, a lot of these romances didn’t seem super well-developed, and I was left trying to figure out when so-and-so came into the picture and how they fit. Then again, I am not a fan of romance by any means so maybe I’m just being picky.

LIKES:

+ Wizards and magic. You can rarely go wrong with wizards and magic (I would say never but I just *tried* to read a trilogy with wizards and magic and it was awful and I wound up not finishing… two books was enough)

+ Fast-paced plot but not so fast that it felt like I was on a runaway train

+ Duel narrators! I love it when a novel is narrated from more than one character’s perspective because I feel like it helps provide a more comprehensive view of the story. Like 360 degree YouTube videos but for books? Not sure exactly how to describe it but I like it.

+ The fact that one of the narrators is a guy. Most of the books I’ve been reading recently (excluding Strange the Dreamer) don’t have male narrators and all the male characters are love interests. It’s nice to have a male character with some actual character development even if, like I said, he falls in love with almost every girl he meets…

+ I liked how Raisa was more down-to-earth than a lot of stereotypical princesses. The development of her character after being exposed to people less fortunate than she was really interesting and I liked it. However…

DISLIKES:

- I didn’t like that Raisa was more down-to-earth than a lot of stereotypical princesses because I just read another book with the same deal going on and it reminded me too much of that. Maybe it was just bad timing for this book, but it rubbed me the wrong way. Also, it wasn’t really a gradual transformation.

- Han fell in love with almost every girl he met and Raisa fell in love with almost every guy she met. It was really confusing and frustrating, especially since there seemed to be no valid reasons for them loving the people that they did. I feel like there was a whole chapter on how these romances developed that I skipped. Also, I feel like the romance was forced, it didn’t really seem to fit with the rest of the story and was just awkward.

- The end of the book felt rushed to me. The rest of the book was at a nice pace but all of a sudden 20 different things happened at the very end of the book leaving me feeling confused and a little robbed. 

Overall I really liked this book! It was super interesting, full of action, and had MAGIC <3. I’m definitely going to continue reading this series and probably all of Cinda Williams Cima’s other books. Because by TBR isn’t big enough already.

See this review on Goodreads

Book Review: Dreams of Gods & Monsters

Title: Dreams of Gods & Monsters

Author: Laini Taylor

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Series: Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Book 3)

This was my second time reading this series and I bumped basically every book up a star because I love it so much. The worlds that Laini Taylor are just so out there that I wish that I could see them in real life because they seem awesome. I love the characters (even if I’m probably pronouncing all of their names wrong in my head), the setting, the plot, just everything about this book. A lot of trilogies get worse as they go along but not this one! Dreams of Gods & Monsters was just as good as the previous two, if not better. One of my only major complaints is that my favorite character is missing but that’s just something that I had to deal with and attempt to get over.

LIKES:

+ The introduction of a new focus character. Eliza was, in my opinion, awesome. I really loved her backstory and how it all tied together in the end

+ Mik and Zuzana didn’t get tossed to the side as most best friend/side characters normally do as a series developed. I liked that we still got to see their characters develop and that they continued to be a part of the series versus gradually fading out.

+ More explanations/connections. This book explains A LOT of the events/people/worlds that were previously mentioned in the other two books and it helps provide context for a lot of the things that happened. You get to understand why a lot of the characters act the way that they do, and the events that led up to the big finale.

+ Betrayal and deception… need I say more?

+ Liraz gets some pretty major page time in this one, which is great because a) I’ve always liked Liraz and b) watching her character develop was awesome

+ Just a lot a lot of new character introductions/getting to know old characters better that made me really happy because everybody felt more 3D after this book versus just names and I-kinda-remember-yous

DISLIKES:

- I’m not a fan of romance so I wasn’t happy that the tensions between Akiva and Karou seemed to overshadow some important parts of the book. It almost felt like it was one of the more major conflicts versus one that should have been more minor.

- The end of the book (not the very end, but the part slightly before that) confused the heck out of me. I had to read it 2 or 3 times and I’m still pretty sure I missed something.

I (still) love this book, and I’d recommend it to pretty much anybody. It’s got action, beautiful worlds, awesome character development, and romance (if you like that kind of thing) but not so much that it makes me squeamish to read it.

See this review on Goodreads.

Book Review: Dead Girls Society

Title: Dead Girls Society

Author: Michelle Krys

Rating: 2/5 Stars

Series: N/A

This book was not my favorite. I didn’t have super high expectations for the book based on the first couple of pages that I had read but I figured that it was worth a shot. A quick disclaimer though: I’m not sure that there was necessarily anything wrong with the book, I think it just might have been geared towards a different (younger) age group, and I was just the wrong reader for it. However, I really did like the premise of the book, just not the execution.

LIKES:

+ The idea behind the book was actually a pretty good one. Secret society coerces players into participating in these “dares," with certain consequences to follow should you not follow the rules. I think that’s actually a really cool idea, I just didn’t like how it was carried out.

+ The suspense was actually pretty good, and it successfully confused the heck out of me trying to figure out who the Society was. It wasn’t one of those books where you just know that so-and-so is the one behind everything because it’s so obvious. It ruins books (and movies) for me when that happens, because isn’t the whole purpose of the book to figure out who committed the crime?

+ It was a pretty quick read. This may have been because it was so short but at least I didn’t have to drag myself through it like I had to for a certain trilogy… 

+ I actually kinda cared about what happened to the characters and how the story ended

DISLIKES:

- I felt like the writing was meant for a younger age group, maybe junior high level? I just felt like it wasn’t up to par with recent books that I had read. It just felt a little…simplistic.

- I also felt like the plot was a little simplistic as well. I can’t exactly describe it but I just felt like it was more surface level? I didn’t feel super drawn into the story or anything like that.

- The cliffhanger at the end, because to the best of my knowledge a) there isn’t a book 2 and b) if there is a book 2 I probably won’t read it but will have to deal with this cliffhanger…

- Certain events that should have been really important were just kinda glossed over and I really didn’t like that. Almost like a plot hole filler?

This book really wasn’t for me, but I think it was more of a wrong-reader type issue than anything else. I know a lot of people seemed to really like it, so I think it was mostly that I was just the wrong audience for this book. However, I definitely won’t be reading any future books in this series if it becomes one.

See this review on Goodreads.