Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars For Karou, being sent on a mission to collect teeth in a foreign country is about as typical as a trip to the local grocery store to pick up some milk. Karou has a bizarre life; she has hair that comes out of her scalp naturally blue, occasionally lives with four monstrous creatures that are her caretakers, and can have many of her wishes granted with magic. Even in the delightfully strange and mystical city of Prague, many things in Karou's life are still unexplained. Despite all of the work she does for her adoptive father, Brimstone, she still doesn't understand what he needs so many teeth for, and Brimstone is strangely reluctant to answer her inquiries. However, curiosity turns to necessity when Karou is cut off from her quirky family and realizes that she has far more questions than she has taken the time to think about. The trouble is that the answers may change everything Karou has ever known. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a unique fantasy novel that puts a twist on Biblical references and Greek mythology. Laini Taylor creates many fascinating supporting characters and incredible world-building within her literary universe and her use of suspense is compelling throughout the novel. I didn't really have much of an interest in reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I actually included it in my reading challenge as "A Book At The Bottom Of Your To-Read List." This area of the fantasy genre isn't necessarily my favorite, but despite some slight issues I had with pacing and characterization at some points, I actually enjoyed the story and there were definitely parts that were legitimately gripping and intriguing. I'm not sure if I'm going to read the rest of the trilogy, but I'll probably look into it someday to see how I feel about the direction the story goes in.
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Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars Darrow is a lowly Red, a slave working in the dangerous helium-3 mines on Mars. He and the other members of the colony of Lykos believe the element is essential to the terraforming of Mars in order to make it habitable for people from Earth. However, after his wife Eo is executed, Darrow discovers that he has been living a lie for 16 years. His desire to avenge Eo leads him to a world that he never knew existed, and he finds that he may play a greater role in the future of the Society than any Red has ever done before. You may notice that my non-spoiler blurb for this book looks suspiciously similar to my description of another book that I've reviewed recently. One of the aspects evident about Red Rising is that it's reminiscent of many popular YA books. I certainly wouldn't say it's unoriginal, but there are parts where I could definitely draw parallels with multiple other novels. Red Rising also has a shocking amount of violence, language, and sexual references and assault; it's one of the most mature YA novels I've ever read, and I would definitely give high content warnings for all of the aforementioned subjects. However, despite the dark content and similarities to other novels, I really enjoyed Red Rising. It was very exciting and entertaining to read, and full of compelling characters that grew on me in a way that I haven't experienced in a while. Despite some of my problems with Red Rising, I had a great time reading it and I'm interested to see what the rest of the trilogy has to offer. |
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Here are reviews of books I have recently read! I'll try to do a general overview of the book and then a more detailed section with my personal thoughts Archives
December 2017
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Turn The Next Page - a YA book blog | Book Reviews |