Rating: B
Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it's hard to escape it. So when a group of men shows up at her house uninvited, she assumes it's just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired. Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi's vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word, and her brothers are dead. Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home—a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers' survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back? Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Wild Swans fuses all the heart of the classic tale with a stunning, imaginative world in which a star-crossed family fights for its very survival.
My thoughts on the book:
I absolutely loved Stitching Snow by this author, and when I saw that a companion novel was coming out, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Spinning Starlight did not disappoint. Some of the writing choices the author made didn't really appeal to me, but overall, I really enjoyed the book. I liked the characters a lot, and they grew throughout the story. The pacing was pretty spot on, and the world-building was fantastically done. I hope that Lewis decides to write more fairy tale retellings.
Liddi was a great leading character and narrator. She was incredibly strong and reliable. She had some hang ups about herself, but that just made her that much more realistic. She had some tough things to go through and some difficult decisions to make, and I think she did her best with the hand she was dealt. Also, she was super smart, and I liked that a lot. We need more highly intelligent female heroines. Tiav was a great love interest. He was her equal and supported her. He didn't act all caveman crazy about things, and he gave her space to do what she needed to do. The rest of the characters weren't focused on much, but they all seemed okay. I wish we could have gotten to know the brothers better. I mean we got flashes of them in the flashbacks, but I didn't feel super attached to any of them.
The pacing was pretty spot on with this book, and I wasn't bored at all. I really wasn't a fan of the flashbacks. I get why they were there, so we'd care about who Liddi was trying to rescue, but they really broke up the story and made things kind of clunky at times. However, Lewis' world-building was amazing. I could fully picture each of the planets that we visited with Liddi. Also, I really loved the idea of a sci-fi version of a fairy tale. That was a lot of fun. The ending made me cry a little bit, but that just means this was a good book.
Overall, I'd recommend this novel to anyone who loves sci-fi and/or fairy tales. Lewis is an excellent author, and you don't want to miss out on these stories.
Order Spinning Starlight today!
Rating: F
Release Date: 10/6/15
Synopsis:
Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.
And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time.But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.
Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.
Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.
My thoughts on the book:
This book has an amazing premise, and I was so excited to read it. However, it really fell flat for me. The writing is awful. The author doesn't use contractions. at. all. I almost pulled my hair out by the end of the book. The story is a bit convoluted. The characters are all the same, and have the same voice, so when conversations were had, I couldn't even tell who was talking. The ending is meh. The pacing is slow. This was just a dud. I say check it out from the library first. Some people really loved it, but I really hated it.
The two sisters are just really boring. I can't even remember their names, or if they had names. I dozed off reading this book several times. Also, they were exactly alike. They talked the same and acted similarly. It was so dull. I didn't like either of them. Lo-Melkhiin is also boring. This villain was supposed to be terrifying, but he was a total snoozefest. I really didn't care if he killed everyone and everything. Maybe the world could start over with more interesting characters then.
The writing was horrendous. In a lot of parts it was unclear, the narrative just didn't fit with the story it was supposed to be re-telling, and the lack of contractions made me want to die. I was hoping Lo-Melkhiin would come for me by the 50% mark, just so I could be put out of my misery. The pacing was so slow that I thought the book would never end. The world-building was unclear at best and non-existent at worst.
Overall, I'd recommend skipping this book, but since some people did like it, I say check it out from the library. If you enjoy it, that's great. If you're like me and lack of contractions, awful writing, and vapid characters make you want to die, then pass on this one.
Rating: C
Synopsis:
In 1818 Geneva, men built with clockwork parts live hidden away from society, cared for only by illegal mechanics called Shadow Boys. Two years ago, Shadow Boy Alasdair Finch’s life shattered to bits.
His brother, Oliver—dead.
His sweetheart, Mary—gone.
His chance to break free of Geneva—lost.
Heart-broken and desperate, Alasdair does the unthinkable: He brings Oliver back from the dead.
But putting back together a broken life is more difficult than mending bones and adding clockwork pieces. Oliver returns more monster than man, and Alasdair’s horror further damages the already troubled relationship.
Then comes the publication of Frankenstein and the city intensifies its search for Shadow Boys, aiming to discover the real life doctor and his monster. Alasdair finds refuge with his idol, the brilliant Dr. Geisler, who may offer him a way to escape the dangerous present and his guilt-ridden past, but at a horrible price only Oliver can pay…
My thoughts on the book:
This Monstrous Thing is an intriguing retelling of the classic novel, Frankenstein. One of my favorite things about this novel is that Mary Shelley was actually in the book. Also, the characters were so real and flawed. It felt like I was reading history instead of fiction. That being said, since the mystery wasn't really that mysterious for the reader, the big reveal(s) didn't stand out to me. I was invested in this story because of the lovely writing and wonderful characters, but the plot was lacking.
Alasdair was an intriguing and trustworthy narrator. I really enjoyed reading from his perspective, though he was a bit emotional for a male narrator, in my opinion. That's not to say that men don't have emotions, I'm just saying that the way he relayed his emotions seemed a bit feminine at times. Also, he was extremely selfish, and that annoyed me at times, but that also made him seem real. Mary was a horrendous character, and I really didn't like her, but I loved the author's take on her in this novel, if that makes sense. Oliver was interesting, and I wish we had gotten to see more of him. I really felt bad for him. Clemence was intriguing as well, and I really liked her.
The plot itself wasn't very exciting because the big mysteries were already pretty obvious and/or well known, depending on which mystery you're thinking about. What really happened the night Oliver died was glaringly obvious, and it was clear that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. That being said, the events that occurred were gripping, and I flew through this book. The writing itself was gorgeous, and Lee is excellent at describing the scenery and world around the characters. The ending was well-done, too.
Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who loves steampunk and classics. This was an interesting novel, and I look forward to reading more by Mackenzi Lee.
