Cracked (Soul Eaters #1) : Ebook Review

5/5 Stars

Cracked
(Book #1 Soul Eater Series)
By Eliza Crewe
November 5th, 2013, Strange Chemistry
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Humor

Synopsis:

Ripping people apart and eating their souls was easy for Meda, especially since they were evil people. That was until she meets three men dressed in suits, men who appear to be like her. Meda believed she was special, one of a kind – guess Mom lied about that. Unfortunately these three sharply dressed men aren’t as happy to meet Meda as she is to meet them. Somehow slaughtering one of their targets, and letting her rage get the best of her and attacking them doesn’t win them over. Tough crowd.

Fortunately for her a Crusader (the mortal enemy of her kind) shows up and save her butt. Unaware that she is a ‘Halfling’ of whatever the three men in suits were, she plays along with the ‘Good guys’ to learn more about what her ‘kind’ is.

Chi (like the tea), a crusader with a hero complex is more than happy to cater to Meda since he believes that she could be a beacon. However his pesky gimpy friend is mistrusting and watching Meda’s every move for a slip up.

But these two are the least of her problems, her world will soon be rocked when secrets of mother, her origin, and her destiny start to stack against her.

What I thought:

I LOVED this book! More specifically Meda! I felt like I was a mind reading parasite in this book piggy backing through her story and reading her every thought. Her inner monologue is so sarcastic, and the way she bounces back and forth with Jo is hilarious. You can't help but be charmed by Meda’s devilish personality.

But narration aside, the book itself keeps you practically on the edge of your seat the whole way through. We open with Meda in an asylum ready to tear a sick-minded nurse apart, then she encounters others of her kind for the first time who try to kill her, then encounters their natural enemy, and then she decides in order to learn more about what she is, is to team up with said enemies that are oblivious –for now- that she is an enemy! You just can’t put it down because you have no idea what’s going to happen and what ridiculous thing is going to pop into her slithery little head! I love it!

Could not put this down, and if you are drawn in by the Crewe’s sarcastic description of the book you will love it as much as I did, :D. Definitely recommend and can’t wait to read Crushed!

P.S. I also loved how all the demons disguised themselves as mid-aged people dressed in suits, it was American Psycho-esk to me. 

Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3): Ebook review

4.5/5 Stars

Bitterblue
(Book #3 Graceling Realm)
By Kristin Cashore
May 1st, 2012, Dial books
Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis:

Eight years ago Bitterblue was a princess, until Katsa was able to kill her psychopath father Leck. Now she is a young queen desperately trying to repair the damage caused by Leck’s 35 year reign. In order to understand the true devastation of what happened during his rule and heal her kingdom Bitterblue delves into the past, but even after his death there are forces at work trying to prevent her from learning the truth.

Queen Bitterblue begins to the leave the castle under the cover of night and hood in order to see how her city is fairing. In a story room she meets two young men – one a graceling – that will help her unearth the past.

What I thought:

Wow, this book was long. I felt like it took me forever to read it, but not in a slow sense but rather it had so much content sense! Oh my goodness there was a lot going on with Bitterblue, Katsa, Po, and the truth seekers!

I was happy to see Katsa, Po, and many other familiar faces in this book. I was even more interested to see how the Dells would weave its way into the book (it does but you have to wait until you’re 75% done the book until it really seems like it’s part of the story).

I also really enjoyed character development on Giddon’s end, you get to see a lot nicer side of him. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Saf, but maybe that’s what the author intended. I found that there was A LOT happening in this book, and a lot of stuff that had to get done. It's over 100 pages more than Fire but it seems there's a lot more that happens.

If you liked the first two books then I would definitely say keep on going because there is much left to the story. I liked this book a lot, but I must warn you everyone cries at least once, and while everything comes together at the end if still leaves a lot open. It just sort of ends you without all the closure you might like.

PS. If the Leinids are named after colours (Bitterblue, Sapphire, Ashen, Greenling (Po))... What the hell colour is Ror??

Fire (Graceling Realm #2) Ebook Review

4.5/5 Stars

Fire
(Book #2 Graceling Realm)
By Kristan Cashore
October 5th, 2009, Dial books
Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis:

Through the mountains there is another world – the Dells. A place of beauty and tragedy. There are no Gracelings in the realm, instead there are Monsters. Creatures that are far more stunning than their natural counterparts: rabbits of sky blue, raptors of magenta, and kittens of jade. These monsters have the ability to captivate those around them making the monsters fierce predators, but most of all they yearn for monster blood.

One such monster is Fire, a human monster. Possibly the last human monster, and the most powerful monster creature of all, for she can make humans do whatever she wants. But Fire will not abuse her power, and she hates to manipulate those around her. She lives under the scrutiny of others because she brings out the worst in those meets. Some want to kill her for her beauty alone or the fact that she is a monster, others want to touch her and be near her. Many hate her because of her father despicable actions, so Fire keeps to herself and stays near her home where she will not be persecuted.

That is until strange people with foggy empty heads whose thoughts she cannot read start turning up around her only to be murdered shortly after by a swift archer. These strange people are only a piece in a larger puzzle.

There is too much turmoil in the Dellian kingdom as powerful people plot to over throw the King Nash – the heir to the disgraced King Nax’s throne. A man has turned up that may hold key information about plots against the king, and a monster could make him talk. Fire agrees to be that such monster and heads to King City where her life will change forever.

What I thought:

This book is quite separate from the series, if there weren’t mention of Leck I wouldn’t even consider this part of the Graceling series. But it is marked as a 'companion' book. So be prepared for a story that has little to do with first Graceling book.

I guess this book is a prequel to the first, as only young Leck is mentioned. There is no Katsa or Po – I don’t even think they would have been born yet. This was a bit disappointing to me because I thought they’d make a cameo L. But I suppose how the first novel went there wouldn’t be much excitement on the Po end of things. 

I liked this book better than the first, but it feels like Leck was only thrown in to keep it in the series and for plot twists.

The monster concept was an interesting idea, especially being told from the perspective of a monster. I don’t agree that they should have been called ‘monsters’ though because a rabbit or a mouse can be a ‘monster’. I think something along the lines of harlequins or mesmerizers or entrancers would have been a better name than just ‘monster’.

Overall I really enjoyed this! Even more so than the first book.

***SPOILER**** One other problem I had with this book was the ending, it played out quite well for everyone except for Fire losing her fingers. Is it possible to have too happy of any ending? Archer gets a few girls knocked up so in a way he lives on, but he dies making it easier for Fire to run into Brigan’s arms without hurting Archer. One of the women he knocks up is a princess, so she’s ok for supporting herself. The other one of Fire’s guards (who is 15), who inexplicably catches the King’s fancy even though she’s a mother of another man’s baby, below his status and half his age. But hey, at least he won’t be pining after Fire either – and he also miraculously lived from a fatal wound. ****Spoiler over***

Graceling (Gracelng Realm #1) Ebook Review

4.25/5 Stars

Graceling
(Book #1 Graceling Realm)
By Kristan Cashore
October 1st, 2008, Harcourt
Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis:

The Graced are an abnormality in the population, for they possess skills beyond that of a normal human. Some are Graced with singing giving them the most beautiful voices in all the kingdom, others cooking, and some have non sensible abilities like being able to eat rocks without getting sick. All Graced children –except in Leinid -  must be turned over to the king and serve them for their purposes. They are easy enough to identify because each Graced person has eyes of two different colours.

Katsa is such a person, and niece to the King of Middlum. While most people want little to do with the Graced, people especially want nothing to do with her. Her Grace is killing, and she can fight 10 men with little effort on her part. Her Uncle is more than happy to take advantage of this Grace and sends her to do his dirty work. Breaking fingers of those who have offended, or cheated him in some way.

As times passes Katsa grows weary of her brutal role that is forced upon her by her uncle, and instead she forms a secret council to help people from the injustices of the kingdom. On a rescue mission to save an old man who had been imprisoned,  Katsa encounters a Graced a fighter, which instead of killing to protect her identity she spares.

A few days pass, and a Graced Leinid Prince shows up at her court. It is no coincidence that his Grace is fighting. She never expects to befriend Prince Po, nor to unravel the true nature of their Graces. She also could have never anticipated the terrible reason Po’s grandfather – the man she had rescued – was kidnapped.

What I thought:

This was a really interesting concept. I did have a hard time getting into it at first. I’m not entirely sure why, I think I may have had a hard time connecting to the characters, or it might have been because they had such odd names. The author did a good job laying out the land, since it was essentially North, South, East, West, Middle, Island, and the Sea. But this isn’t the kind of book I normally read. Once Poe was introduce I started to get more into it, but this wasn’t a quick read for me, it was steady. It takes me a while to get my foot in a completely new land scape like these books.

I did enjoy the book. My only complaint was that there several typos. Once I got over the strange names the characters started to grow on me, and Katsa had a lot of character development in her struggle of wanting to be more than just a savage killer.

If you are into fantasy alternate world, I would say this is a good book. But I have not read a lot in this genre. I found it entertaining enough to continue with a series.