The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows. Loved this one! Wil is a fantastic heroine, a queen who goes undercover in order to take back her country. Loved this world, where magic is forbidden because when it's used, it leads to wraith, a physical manifestation of magic that's destroying the world. There's also a masked vigilante, Black Knife, who keeps the citizens safe but also captures magic users. Loved Wil and Black Knife's relationship. Evil cliffhanger!! Definitely recommend.
I Was Here by Gayle Forman. Such a sad book. It's powerful, emotional, raw, hopeful. Even though Cody and Ben's relationship is complicated and somewhat messed up in the way that they meet, it's actually quite perfect and I loved it. This book makes you think. And feel. It's part mystery, part coming-of-age story. Recommend.
Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott. Still love Tella's voice. Fast-paced, full of action, I really enjoyed it. Still have questions that haven't been answered and hated that Tella and Guy have so many issues working as a team. Also not thrilled that a third book is not a sure thing. If the author only has a two-book deal, why doesn't she finish the story in the second book?? Recommend with the caveat that we may only ever get 2/3 of the story.
Posted by: Pam
The Orphan Queen sounds really interesting. I think I need to add that to my TBR. I was a little unsure but now I feel like I am sure. :) Great mini reviews!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to read The Orphan Queen! I hope to get to it next week. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree about Salt & Stone - it's really aggravating that the author has written a 3 book series but she was only guaranteed 2 books. There's no way this series could stand on its own how it is!
I liked I Was Here, but didn't adore it. I'm excited to read The Orphan Queen. I have it on hold at the library.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I didn't like I Was Here or The Orphan Queen quite as much as you I do agree with your recommendation status. I am so upset about the uncertainty over the conclusion to Salt and Stone.
ReplyDeleteI wish I read as many books as you do. I'm seriously impressed by the number of reviews that you are able to post, and then these posts as well???
ReplyDeleteI've heard such great things about Orphan Queen and I do love fantasies and her writing in Incarnate (have you read it?) is beautiful. I've also heard about that evil cliffhanger, ha, so I'm wary.
I love Gayle Forman's writing, but I'm less a fan of the topic for the book (seriously so many suicide books in winter), so I'm unlikely to pick up I Was Here, at least for a long while.
Salt and Stone... I liked some part of Fire and Flood but what you mentioned about Tella and Guy having issues as a team? I got that in F&F and I was less impressed with their dynamic. But then I also saw a starred review in Kirkus and was like o.OOOOO.
As for the two book deal, I think I'm going to reply to post on that, but it may not be the author's fault. Actually most of the time I lean towards blaming the publisher. If the book hasn't sold well, then the publisher doesn't want to buy it, and so the author doesn't have the time to write a book that's not wanted by her publisher. She could theoretically self publish but if she didn't have the sales for selling the book to a pub, she might not have the sales to self pub. And she outlined the trilogy as a trilogy; it's the pub's fault it only ever pubbed 2 of the 3 books she'd planned, IMO. They cut their losses, they should deal with the fall out of that decision.