The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Page (Review)

 

Genre:	YA, Retelling, Fantasy
Publication Date:	March 31, 2015
Pages:	293
Published By:	Harper Collins
Series	Dorthy Must Die #2
Review copy:	Purchased

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In this dark, high-octane sequel to the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die, Amy Gumm must do everything in her power to kill Dorothy and free Oz.

To make Oz a free land again, Amy Gumm was given a mission: remove the Tin Woodman’s heart, steal the Scarecrow’s brain, take the Lion’s courage, and then Dorothy must die...

But Dorothy still lives. Now the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked has vanished, and mysterious Princess Ozma might be Amy’s only ally. As Amy learns the truth about her mission, she realizes that she’s only just scratched the surface of Oz’s past—and that Kansas, the home she couldn't wait to leave behind, may also be in danger. In a place where the line between good and evil shifts with just a strong gust of wind, who can Amy trust—and who is really Wicked?

  Once, I had been an angry, righteous little ball of fire.  Now I was something else.

  But what?

"Remember   don't be wicked.  Unless you really have to!"  Parting words, I guess.  It was good advice.  I promised myself that I would try to follow it.

If it were a movie, the strings would have come in at the very moment that our lips met in a passionate, do-or-die kiss.

  But it wasn't a movie.  Instead, we held each other for a few seconds before awkwardly breaking apart and standing there, not quite looking at each other.

  The Wicked Will Rise was a quick read for me.  It wasn't hard to get into and

    There was this constant battle waging in me when it came to the plot in this one.  The pacing was just right for where everything went, but also so much and so little happened in such a short time.  Maybe this was because I had this preconceived idea about what was going to happen, or maybe more happened than I had expected.  There's a good possibility that the random (I'm sure thoroughly planned out) twist threw me.  I can honestly say that the plot was plugging along when if suddenly did a 180 and left me gaping.  We all love those unpredictable moments but honestly there wasn't even an indication.  There were some other little things that twisted in one direction or the other but nothing a massive as the one moment that changed everything that had made sense for basically two books.

  Amy Gumm remains to be the thing I love most about these books.  She is not your conventional heroine and her growth in each book is fun to read.  She is not the bad guy, but honestly does that make her the good guy?  Even Amy herself isn't sure of this.  She believes that she is doing the best that she can and what's expected of her.  However, she also knows that power corrupts and there is a chance that she could slip.  Heck, she's not even sure the people she helps have good intentions because the good are wicked and the wicked are good.  It's a backwards and inside-out world where there is a very good chance that doing the right thing can mean doing the wrong things.

  I think the missing element is... Well, it's the extra something.  I'm not saying it has to be romance because it doesn't but it does have to be there.  I think in Dorthy Must Die, it was not just the slight element of romance but more the extra people in the journey.  I missed the people that filled the pages instead of having Amy seemingly walking circles.  Well, she wasn't walking circles but she was more on her own than not in this book wondering where everyone that was supposed to be on her side was.  We got glimpses of some of the Wicked and others but it wasn't the same.  I'm not even sure if this makes sense to anyone but me but there is something missing and I think just maybe it was the quirk of the other characters.

  Will I continue on with this series?  Absolutely!  This author has created a female lead that I adore for many reasons, and a twist on what happens after that is wholly original.  I have no doubt that when I pick up the next book it will easily be devoured.

Roses by G.R. Mannering (Review)

Genre:	YA, Retelling, Fantasy
Publication Date:	November 6, 2013
Pages:	311
Published By:	Sky Pony Press
Series	The Tales Trilogy #1
Review copy:	e-ARC from publisher

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A dark rendition of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast!

She bears no name. Her silvery appearance is freakish to the numerous inhabitants of Sago, the cosmopolitan capital of Pevorocco in a fantasy realm. With her mother vanishing at the instance of her birth, she is sent to live with the cruel, rich Ma Dane, where she is punished daily for something, though she knows not what. Tauntingly named Beauty, she flees Sago in a violent uprising that sets out to massacre all Magics and journeys to the furthest point of the country.

But Beauty cannot hide in the grassy Hillands forever. Before long, the State officials find her and threaten to take her back to war-torn Sago where death surely awaits. In a midnight blizzard she escapes them, running into a deep, enchanted forest to a great and terrible beast who will bargain for her life.

But can Beauty accept Beast? Eternity is a long time.

The name stuck.  The child became Beauty, though for a long time she did not realize that it was said in cruel jest.

"Well, maybe I teaches yur to ride and yur can be a stable hand like me?"

She blinked at him.  She had never considered her future.

"I do not know what will become of me," she whispered.

Owaine said nothing for he did not know what would become of her, either.

They galloped on and on for half an hour before stopping again.  Beauty looked over her shoulder and groaned to see the castle just as near as before.  It was all an illusion   they were running and going nowhere.  She reached down and patted Champ's neck. 

"At least we shall never be lost," she muttered, but she did not feel particularly grateful.

   OMG how did I not know about this book before now?!  Seriously, I love retellings and this book has existed in the world for over two years without me knowing!  G.R. Manning created a beautiful and magical story, that weaves many elements together seamlessly.  I was intrigued right from the start and tore through the book with ease.  This felt to me like Cinderella meets Beauty and the Beast, with some unique magical elements mixed in.  It was the type of book that I devoured in one sitting with zero regret.

  Roses is everything you want in a book.  It has strong and complex characters, an intriguing plot and twists that keep you guessing.  I think the twists are mostly because there is so much uncertainty when it comes to Beauty.  There is so much that you really don't know about her.  This isn't because Mannering doesn't take the time to develop her, but because she is uniquely a mystery among everyone.  With the book circling around all of the unknown, and in a world where being magical or different is dangerous, there is much to consider.  The beauty of this read was that there was such vivid and remarkable details when it came to the settings.  I loved how easy it was to envision and slip into this curious world and it's changing landscapes.  Beyond that with everything changing, there was never really a time where I felt the pacing dipped out.  I would have to say Mannering had no problems keeping my attention.

  Beauty was something else.  You don't really get a handle on who she is for the first while.  It is made clear by those around her that she is "different," and you learn quickly she is curious but she is also quite young.  This book passes times in seasons (which might have tripped me up to start), so you kind of get a small feel of who Beauty is as she grows.  Defiant as a child due to the cruelty she was shown, I was pleased by how her spirit never seemed to break.  She may not have spoke much and taken more than she should have, but she never let anyone break her.  There was so much more to her and so much more to figure out with the coming books, I can't help but wonder how many more challenges this girl can face.

  The Beauty and the Beast part was wonderfully unique, and I loved the story behind Beast.  I think the different takes on both Beauty and Beasts characters are really what gave this read so much originality.  The tale itself is twisted into something that could become an original tale if one did not know about the originals.  Every bit of the Beast and how he came to be was revealed at different times, and I found it that it made it easier to mould him into what he was to be to me.  Even the rose itself was not how it was in the more well know Disney version.  Though this was a smaller portion of the book, there were so many important things packed into it.  Little details that I am sure hold much importance for the books to come.

  I loved, the depth in which the author took to twist the tale more than I could have imagined I would.  Mannering and her beautiful writing crafted this book into nothing short of amazing, making it a classic in its own way.  Though I had not heard of this book or author prior to picking the read up on Edelweiss, I must say that this is an author that I will watch for and ensure that her books make it to my shelves.  I would highly recommend this read if you are a fan of twisted tales, and if you normally aren't but enjoy some seriously amazing fantasy...  Well, lets just say that this book is definitely for you as well.

Dorthy Must Die by Danielle Paige (Review)

Genre:	YA, Retelling, Twisted Tale
Publication Date:	April 1, 2014
Pages:	452
Published By:	Harper Collins
Series	Dorthy Must Die #1
Review copy:	Bought

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I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado - taking you with it - you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still a yellow brick road - but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm - and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

  I had been dropped here by a tornado, and now I was standing on something that looked remarkably like a road of yellow bricks.
  This had to be some big mix-up.  Maybe Kansas had finally cashed in on the whole Dorthy thing with a theme park and the tornado had just happened to drop me here.

  This Tin Woodman was not the Tin Woodman I remembered.  By now I shouldn't have expected anything different   nothing was the way it was supposed to be in Dorthy's remade Oz.

  Or was I someone more extreme, someone  I never imagined   a killer.  A warrior.  A girl who could stab someone in the face and know that she was doing the right thing?  A girl who had strength she never even knew about?

 What a fun and unique take on what happened after the classic finished.  So often we are tied up in the before it happened or what we would have preferred to happen, to stop and think about the after.  The aftermath is quite often more interesting than we would expect.  Dorthy Must Die nailed the post Dorthy leaving Oz, and created a masterful story with the power of 'what if'.  

  There is so much to be said about the way this was written, and the way that everything pieced itself together.  There was no one moment where as a reader I paused and couldn't accept the turns that this story took.  No, this was written in such a way that as things changed and people were introduced that it was easy to accept that this was the way things had become.  Basically despite the horror that the beautiful land had become, it was easy to visualise.  This is not saying that there were some questions left hanging in the air because for me there was.  However, there is no good book in which all of the secrets are dished out in the start and it's these little things that keep us turning the pages wanting more... Right?

  Amy herself to start came off as nothing special, and not horribly notable as a character but as this book proves, things change.  Though Oz is not the one she thought she knew, or the Oz that she had hoped she landed in, it proves to be a character builder for her.  Though things were not always what they seemed with her either.  For me Amy's wanting something more became something she wanted less of, and a path to see that things can be what you want if you are willing to go for it.  This being said, she was very much a pawn in multiple games, and all in which no one really knows who the 'good guys' are.  Though I never really connected with Amy I did enjoy her.  She was smart enough to ask questions, quick enough to pick up up on things not to do but impulsive enough to be enjoyable to read.

  There was definitely a lot going on in this book, and many characters that were mentioned.  What is good about this is that Paige does not kill the book with over detailing each one, but does give enough detail to each to allow you to see them the way you need to.  With this comes some new and some old.  I loved the way that the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion were twisted into something spectacularly horrible.  Maybe it is Dorthy's presence that causes this, but either way they are not the friendly characters we came to love in the original.  This is accented by some small surprises from other characters that kind of have always in some way been a wild card and a few new ones that add their own kick to the mix.  Nox was one of the characters that kind of stirred up the mix, but he also caused some mixed feelings that may need to be discussed in future reviews.

  Dorthy Must Die was a fast paced, well thought through twist on the post Dorthy Oz.  Can it be called post Dorthy if she found her way back?  Either way there was almost never a dull moment, and I can't wait to start The Wicked Will Rise (the only benefit of not having picked up this book before now).  Fans of Oz, twisted tales and new takes in general will surely enjoy this read!!

Waiting on Wednesday #2

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine 

and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

 

Genre:	YA, Retelling, Fantasy
Publication Date:	January 10, 2017
Pages:	464
Published By:	Amulet Books
Series	-

In this modern day spin on Leroux’s gothic tale of unrequited love turned to madness, seventeen-year-old Rune Germain has a mysterious affliction linked to her operatic talent, and a horrifying mistake she’s trying to hide. Hoping creative direction will help her, Rune’s mother sends her to a French arts conservatory for her senior year, located in an opera house rumored to have ties to The Phantom of the Opera.

At RoseBlood, Rune secretly befriends the masked Thorn—an elusive violinist who not only guides her musical transformation through dreams that seem more real than reality itself, but somehow knows who she is behind her own masks. As the two discover an otherworldly connection and a soul-deep romance blossoms, Thorn’s dark agenda comes to light and he’s forced to make a deadly choice: lead Rune to her destruction, or face the wrath of the phantom who has haunted the opera house for a century, and is the only father he’s ever known.

Why I'm Waiting

  Well... Cover lust.  There is not a doubt in my mind that I will NEED this one the second I can get my hands on it!   Between the beautiful cover (I'm strangely addicted to covers with red), and the fact that A.G. Howard is totally amazing this book is a given for me.  Admittedly I am also extremely interested in the twist/retelling aspect.  I can only think of one other book that ever did Phantom of the Opera and I loved it.  It's not something that is done really and I am super intrigued to see how it all pans out!

What are you waiting on?!
Link me up so I can see 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Review)

Genre:	YA, Retelling, Fantasy
Publication Date:	May 5, 2015
Pages:	416
Published By:	Sky Pony Press
Series	A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Review copy:	Won

Buy it:
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When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it... or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

  He snorted as I took the knife from the table and turned to procure the bow from my room.  "I think I'm starting to like you   for a murdering human."

  He left me, and I took a gasping breath, not realizing I'd been holding it.

  Not realizing that I craved his warmth, his nearness, until he was gone.

I knew   I knew I was headed down a path that would likely end in my mortal heart being left in pieces, and yet...And yet I couldn't stop myself.

  Why in the heck of it did it take me so long to pick up this book??!!  I am such a sucker for twisted tales and I have heard phenomenal things about Sarah J. Maas, that after reading this book I'm really not sure what is wrong with me!  I mean Beauty and the Beast tossed up with Fey and twisted into something EPIC with brilliant writing, and dazzling characters!!  There's very obviously something wrong with me.  A Court of Thorns and Roses was a blow your mind kind of read and I want more!

  How do you even talk about plot and pacing, when all of the words that I want to say come out garbled.  I mean this is one of those books that makes you go OMG and HOLY ****!! Everything in this book, for me was all kinds of perfect.  How do you express this kind of love for a book in words, because there are none to do it justice.  The setting was fleshed out extremely well, I loved every step through the world Maas created.  Every character that she sculpted vivid and had a depth that was beyond what I had expected.  This is a perfect example of stepping right into the pages and becoming a part of the book.  From the start A Court of Thorns and Roses was the perfect book for me.

  One of the best things about Feyre is her complete honesty.  I'm not even sure that I can properly put this girl into words.  She is strong because she feels she has to be, and then she is strong because that's what she wants to be.  The snark and the personality of this kick ass character was addictive.  This is the type of character that you want to read, you want more of and you route for.  A part of me wants to say that she had some huge character flaw but I just can't find one.  Honest.  She is bad ass, beautiful and everything that so many of us want in a heroine.  Her one mistake becomes her saving grace and yet the end of everything she thought to be true.  She is totally a case of the end is only the beginning and yet she is far beyond a happily ever after.  Feyre's journey is only beginning and yet everything has already changed for her.  Seriously I love her and I cannot wait to see how she handles everything

   I'm not going to lie to and tell you that Tamlin was awesome or that I completely fell for him.  The truth is that up until about 3/4 the way through the book I was even fond of him.  I'm not sure why there was no connection because by about half way I started to feel that Feyre and him could work.  It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast so it was bound to happen, but part of me worried about their lack of chemistry.  Their biggest buffer was his best friend and then Rhys stepped in.  Once again I'm not sure how I felt about that.  I'm sure that they could create some super steamy, sparks flying and review aflame romance but honestly by the end I was so happy with Tamlin and Feyre.  They work in their own way, actually give a crap about each other and after everything I just plain want them to work after everything. I'm not saying I'll rally against the next book if something happens but for all things holy, I really hope the romance can hang in there without adding an extra point.

  A Court of Thorns and Roses was basically everything that I had hoped and wanted.  There are really no words that I can use to express just how awesome this read is.  My first Maas book was a total success and I am eagerly looking forward to reading A Court of Mist and Fury now that I have managed to get a semi acceptable review out on this one.  If you are a lover of twisted tales, fae and/or fantasy this is a MUST read.  I highly doubt we will find many people out there that enjoy fantasy and don't want to hug this book!!