March Wrap Up

Hey guys! It is that time of month again to look back on everything I have read this month! I feel like I disliked more book than I actually liked… so I guess we shall see!

Read: 

Caraval by Stephanie Garber – 5/5 stars

Dark Dreams and Dead Things by Martina McAtee – 5/5 stars

Rebel’s Blade by Frost Kay, ARC copy, DNF – 2/5 stars

Garden of Thorns by Amber Mitchell, ARC copy – 4/5 stars

The Revenge by Hannah Jayne, ARC copy – 2/5 stars

Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon, DNF – 1/5 stars

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee, DNF – 1/5 stars

Death Knock by Miranda Hardy and Jay Noel, Review Copy, DNF – 1/5 stars

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 5/5 stars

Long My She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas – 3/5 stars

Eternity Fades by Katelyn Anderson – Beta Read 

Acquired:

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – Bought, physical

Long May She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas – Bought, physical

Ravenfrost by Tracy Renae – ARC (Author) Kindle

The Evaporation of Sofi Snow by Mary Weber – ARC (Netgalley) Kindle

Dark Dreams and Dead Things by Martina McAtee – Review copy (author)

Rebel’s Blade by Frost Kay – ARC (Author)

Garden of Thorns by Amber Mitchell – ARC (Netgalley) Kindle

The Revenge by Hannah Jayne – ARC (Netgalley) Kindle

Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon – Bought, Kindle

Death Knocks by Miranda Hardy and Jay Noel, Review copy (Netgalley)

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – Bought, Physical

Asylum by Madeleine Roux . Bought, Physical

Curtsies and Conspiracies by Gail Carriger – Bought, Physical

Waistcoats and Weaponry by Gail Carriger – Bought, Physical

Crystal Kingdom by Amanda Hocking – Bought, Physical

Goodreads Monday:

March 6th – Creeper Man by Dawn Kurtagich

March 13th – Black City by Elizabeth Richards

March 20th – Conversion by Katherine Howe

March 27th – Hunted by Meagan Spooner

Special Posts: 

Cover Reveal – Illusionary by Desiree Williams

The Black Cat Blue Sea Award

 

 

 

Rebel’s Blade by Frost Kay

Rebel's Blade

Rebel’s Blade by Frost Kay

Published: March 8th 2017 – Self Published

NOTHING IS BLACK AND WHITE

Secretly trained, swordsmith Sage Blackwell steps up to run her family’s forge when her father falls ill. Sage desires to help the neglected Aermians but is bound by duty to provide for her own… Until, that is, she’s offered a chance to make a difference.

THE REBELLION

Sage knows the risks; imprisonment or death, and yet, she’s still willing to take them to protect her family. But when plans unravel, Sage finds herself facing the devils themselves, her sworn enemies, the princes of Aermia.

THE CROWN

Tehl Ramses is drowning; crops are being burned, villages pillaged, and citizens are disappearing, leading to a rising rebellion. As crown prince, and acting ruler, Tehl must find a way to crush the rebellion before civil war sweeps through his beloved kingdom. He’ll do whatever is necessary to save his people. Yet, his prisoner is not at all what he expected.

ONE STORY. TWO SIDES. ONE GOAL: SAVE AERMIA. 

Note: I received an ARC of this from the author. This in no way influences my opinion.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. Which is a shame, because the plot itself was actually pretty good as far as I got (about 55%) – however, my issues mostly lay with the characters, which is, ultimately, why I DNfed.

I want to start with the good. I enjoyed the plot as far as I got. It was fast paced, it kept me on my toes and there was always something going on. I do feel like it sort of slowed down towards where I stopped reading, but I imagine it picks back up. I was told the ending by someone else who has read it (mostly because everyone was raving about the ending and I was just being a nosey tyke really) and I just… wasn’t all that impressed? Not sure if it was because I missed a beat by not reading the rest or whether it’s because I have high expectations because I read A LOT of fantasy, but it just didn’t wow me like it did others who finished this book.

My major issue with this book (and the ultimate reason for me putting it back down) was the characters. For me, it is really important that I form some kind of bond with the characters and, as a result, empathise with them. Unfortunately, I didn’t form this bond with the characters, despite the multiple POVs that were shown. I didn’t really care what happened to the characters and who lived or who died – so I found it really easy to just put the book down and do something else.

My other issue with the characters was that the multiple POVs began to bleed together after a time so, when I did put the book down to do something else, I had to try and remember whose perspective I was reading – which I mostly did through the interactions with the other characters. Whilst they were separate at the beginning – they did sort of change throughout and became too similar for me.

All in all, I actually quite enjoyed the plot (mostly) but my issues with the characters led me to stop reading the book. I gave this book 2/5 stars.