Review: The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

Look. At that. Cover.

★★★½

Source: e-galley from edelweiss

Publication: February 24, 2015, Scholastic

I feel like I've been waiting forever to read this book. I first saw it on Scholastic's catalog last Spring when the cover was slightly different (but still very, very pretty) and my coworker and I read the synopsis and both of us were like, "That. Sounds. Awesome." So, since Scholastic rarely, for some reason, sends actual galleys to our store, I've been checking Edelweiss for the DRC regularly for the past — oh, 9 months? And then our rep, who hates fantasy, posted a glowing review, and my hands got even more grabby, but STILL NO GALLEY.

And then, finally, a month before the book is released, it was there.

And then my Nook stopped working.

And then I got scammed on eBay trying to buy a Kindle to replace it.

I did not get to read the book until I went to Best Buy on Super Bowl Sunday to buy a Kindle FULL PRICE (I am defeated and ashamed). I had to deal with a salesman for this book, you guys.

Was it worth it?

Yes, I would say that it was. Probably I could have waited until the book was out to read it, because I was always planning to buy it either way (dat cover), but I'm glad I read it early. Because now I can actually sell it.

Basically, what the book is about is this: Twylla is the Sin Eater's Daughter — her mother is a giant woman who eats food off of caskets to wash the dead of their sins. Twylla grew up knowing that this would be her fate eventually; when her mother died, she was to become the next Sin Eater. She did not want to be a Sin Eater.

Then, the royal family requests her mother's services and end up taking Twylla away to be Daunen Embodied. Without getting into the mythological details, that means that after drinking a concoction of poison and her own blood, her skin can poison other people with a single touch. She is to be the executioner for traitors until she marries the prince, Merek, and becomes queen.

[cue the twist] But then she meets Lief, her new guard who shows her that all is not as it seems, and she must decide her fate.

Bum bum BUUMMMMMM

My favorite thing about this book was the mythology and world-building. I'd never heard of Sin Eating before, and it does not sound pleasant, but I totally believed that it would be something certain religions or cultures would practice. I believed the myth of Daunen Embodied and the gods who created her. There is no other YA fantasy that achieves quite this level of myth-weaving and directly relates it to the main character. I mean, Twylla's relationship to her religion was kind of the driving factor of the whole plot, and it was done very well. The first-person narration allows the reader to suspend disbelief until the very moment Twylla stops doing it herself.

And there wasn't only mythology, either. There were fairy tales so entwined in reality that real people would die for mentioning them. As a sucker for symbolism and all that AP English stuff, I really appreciated the symbolism of all of this, the line between tale and reality, smashed in our faces like delicious pie when Twylla goes to a "House of Glass" (house of mirrors, fun house) with Merek and he thinks the mirrors show the exact truth at all times. She can see that he's wrong, because there is someone in the room whose position hides him from all the mirrors but the one behind Merek— so Merek can't see him, but Twylla can. In her life nobody has ever told her the whole truth, but now she's the one looking out for the lies.

The writing was enough to keep me reading, if not super heavy on style or lyricism. I expected more on that front, but it was unique enough to the story that it didn't feel anachronistic or tone deaf (like, say, Snow Like Ashes).

My main gripe about the book is that Twylla does not get to act much. She spends the whole book reacting to things other people tell her and do to her. Her relationship with Lief didn't convince me that it had to be; it seemed more of a convenience relationship than anything. She fell in love with him in much the same way that Juliette Ferrars fell in love with Adam Kent: because he was the first male around her age to ever be nice to her or take an interest in her. Maybe this was on purpose, because of Big Plot Twist At End, but it made a good portion of the book feel too melodramatic and overdone. If you don't buy into a love story, you can't relish its drama.

There was also the fact that Twylla's emotional stakes rested so much on this love story that she completely forgot about her original emotional stakes: her sister. She only agreed to everything the queen asked because her sister would pay if she didn't, but then she stopped thinking about her sister altogether once she fell in love with Lief (aside from telling him stories about her childhood). No me gusta.

That said, her relationship with Merek interested me a lot. It reminded me a bit of Celaena and Dorian from Throne of Glass, except that for a part of the book you're not sure about Merek's motives. He could be totally evil or totally good, and I liked that ambiguity while it lasted. You don't even have to give me a romance on this one, because I so enjoy dudes respecting ladies after they've been "friendzoned." Or even without any romantic context whatsoever.

Aside from a couple of things that were mentioned and then never addressed again (e.g. Twylla's brothers), I thought the plot was solid and built well into the next book, though I'm wondering if it's going to be more of a companion than a sequel. We'll see.

Overall a very different, compelling fantasy world with somewhat lackluster characters who have a lot of potential.

Review: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

★★★★★
Source: galley from Penguin
Publication: May 12, 2015, Putnam

Well, I figure I should write an actual review instead of just lamenting the fact that the book had to end. [note that all quotes are from the uncorrected galley.]

"It would not be a welcome dawn.

Already the sky told this story, with its sad halo of silver beckoning from beyond the horizon."

Now THAT is how you start a book. Don't you just want to eat those delicious sentences? Don't you just want to keep reading? Do it. Keep reading, because this book is just as mesmerizing as its first sentences. It's a wonder of writing and character, of magic and politics, of love and hate. Mesmerizing, luminous, romantic, heartbreaking, lyrical, beautiful, dangerous, funny, feminist (!!!!), endearing, and so many other adjectives that I thought of and then replaced with others when I turned another page. To be honest, I haven't felt this particular way about a book since I first read The Scorpio Races, which is a high compliment indeed. They're not similar at all except in the most important way: how they make you feel. 

Shahrzad is the heroine of heroines. She's fierce, stubborn, and good with a bow & arrow, yes, but she's also sentimental and "girly" and jealous and flawed. She doesn't let anyone think that being a girl means she isn't strong, and she doesn't let being strong stop her from being a girl. Girls have to put up with a lot of crap, and Shahrzad isn't afraid to call the world out on it. 

"Is that kind of disrespect . . . normal?"

Shahrzad lifted a shoulder. "It's not normal. But it's not unexpected. It's the curse of being a woman," she joked in a morose manner. 

Basically Shazi is fantastic and everyone should be more like her.

Khalid. Okay, so here's the thing about Khalid. Somewhere between pages 1 and 115, I kind of fell in love with him and I couldn't put my finger on why. I mean, the dude has killed dozens of women. That is not a thing that usually works for me. But something about him had me swooning harder than I've swooned in a long time. Before Khalid, I wasn't even sure I did swoon anymore, having become accustomed to dreamy male characters, especially of the let-me-hug-you-and-keep-you-happy variety. I've got plenty of characters who hold my happiness inside theirs—if they aren't happy, I can't be either—but not many who are distinctly unhappy and somehow manage to make me happy anyway. That was what Khalid did.
By page 200, I had figured out the secret ingredient that made me love him.
He's a feminist. A raging, vocal feminist who respects women not because they are women, not because they are someone's mother, wife, sister, etc., but because they are people. While he often wants to stand up for Shazi, she can stop him with a single hand on his chest or arm, because he knows that she can fight her own battles. Heck, he knows that she can fight pretty much anyone's battles.

My favorite thing about this, though? His feminism is learned. It is actively achieved; he hasn't always been this way. He was raised by a father who thought of women as property, and I can't tell you what impact that had on Khalid as a husband because it's a major spoiler, but trust me when I say that he had some poor, ingrained behaviors to outgrow. And he did outgrow them. Which is a beautiful thing.

"You are—remarkable. Every day, I think I am going to be surprised by how remarkable you are, but I am not. Because this is what it means to be you. It means knowing no bounds. Being limitless in all that you do."

"Shahrzad al-Khayzuran! You are not weak. You are not indecisive. You are strong. Fierce. Capable beyond measure." 

Naturally with these two awesome characters (who are both supposed to kill each other haha oops), the romance is off-the-charts amazing. It doesn't sneak up on you the way some of my favorites do, but that doesn't mean it isn't well developed and believable. If anyone tries to claim instalove on this one I will personally fight them on it because it was so slow and steady it was almost torturous. You just want to smash their faces together, to be honest.

Oh, and the side characters are great. I love that Shahrzad could have so many enemies in this book, considering her position on both the inside and the outside of two warring systems, but nobody was unnecessarily cruel to her. She made friends tentatively but easily, and Despina was such an asset to both her and the story itself. Jalal was an asset to Khalid. Everybody loves each other and nothing hurts okay some things hurt, but you'll like it. When people were cruel to Shazi, absolutely nobody was having it, least of all Shazi herself. God, I love her so much.

I've provided a few samples of how flawless the writing is, but what you can't tell from those samples is that the entire book is written that way. The whole book is earth-shatteringly stunning, with descriptions and lines and emotional punches that will knock you over repeatedly. Allow me to flip to a random page and find an example: "He smiled a smile to shame the sun." WHAT IS THIS WORD-SORCERY?

I love this book so much. Good luck finding a copy when it comes out because I'm going to buy all of them.

Now, you say I have to wait HOW LONG for the next one?

Review: A Thousand Pieces of You

★☆☆☆☆

I've decided to be more liberal with my 1-star reviews, because I realized recently that I haven't given a book one star in a few years. Why does the 1-star option exist, if not for books I couldn't even finish?

Which brings me to my confession: I did not finish this book. You can choose whether to take heed of my review or not. I mean, personally, I think the whole "You can't review a book if you didn't finish it" rule is totally invalid — people have reasonsfor not finishing books, and knowing what they are might stop you from wasting your time. Sometimes it's just a "This book wasn't for me" situation, but sometimes it's not.

This one was not.

"My hand shakes as I brace myself against the brick wall."

That, my friends, is the first sentence of A Thousand Pieces of You. Wow, what a rousing start. How am I ever going to put this book down after that?! Forget The Knife of Never Letting Go and "The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say." Forget The Night Circus and "The circus arrives without warning." This one clearly has them beat with that epic line about a brick wall. 

Snark aside: this first sentence tells you absolutely nothing, right? It's not specific to this book at all, which raises a red flag because it's a clear promise of bad writing.

And bad writing ye shall receive! Where do I even start? Okay, I know this book is YA, but here's the thing: I love YA. At least ninety percent of my favorite books are YA. But as a YA reader, I felt like Claudia Gray was talking down to me in this story. Every. single. thing. is right there on the page. There is nothing to infer, nothing to think about. Reading is supposed to be an experience where I can feel with the characters; I don't need their every emotion and question and thought spelled out for me. The writing in this one leaves nothing for me to do other than, well, read. And that's the most unsatisfying kind of writing there is. ("But, Paige," you might say, "you're not a teenager! This book isn't intended for you!" — to which I say, "BALONEY." All books are written for the people who like them. I like YA books, so this book is supposed to be written for me.)

All this transparency left nothing for me to attach myself to. Everything feels flat, like I'm being told This Is The Story You Are Reading instead of getting to feel like I was a part of it. I don't know if Claudia Gray (or whatever her real name is) has a degree in writing, but I'd venture a big no on that one — which is fine, because I don't think you need a degree in writing to be a good writer. But it would definitely help in her case, because reading this book felt exactly like workshopping a grad student's manuscript. It would have been easy to improve the writing quality and make it feel less like the author didn't trust the reader to understand, but nobody put forth that effort.

Unfortunately, the writing style wasn't the only bad thing about the book. The main character, Marguerite, is exactly as unbearable as her name. In the half of the book that I read, she did nothing but complain, contradict herself, fawn over her two love interests, and judge people. I think the fact that she's an "artist" (throw in a couple generic art references and bam! Your heroine is supposedly an artist!) is supposed to make her interesting, but we never actually see her doing any art. She doesn't look at the world with an artist's eye. Being an "artist" changes nothing about her perspective, other than making her the self-declared black sheep of the family, the special snowflake who likes art instead of science. Oh, the poor little runt.

The love interests were not much better. You've got the probable drug addict and the accused murderer, great! I could totally get behind that, if I believed that either of these guys were actually either of those things. But they're not. They're both Bad Boys Lite™, and Marguerite cares more about them than she cares about accomplishing anything. She starts off the book promising to kill Paul Markov, and then not even halfway through it he's all "But I'm innocent!" and she's all "Oh, okay." [implied: "What a relief because I never really intended to kill you anyway, on account of I am way too bland and also have no experience killing people. Also I think, maybe, not sure because apparently I haven't thought about it enough even though it's all I've been talking about, I might be in love with you."] They're both in love with her for some reason (I believe Paul more than I believe Theo, who's basically just a pathological flirt, but neither of them totally convinced me) and she's pretty much willing to go for Theo because he makes it more clear, until Paul tells her his feelings and that's the end of that. The bromance between the two of them totally could have hooked me — I am a bromance fiend, after all — but it was barely even there! Why do you promise me a beautiful platonic relationship and then not deliver?!

At this point I don't think I need to get started on the plot, so I'll just say that it was half-assed at best. So many things go unexplained in this book: questions that characters can't answer because the author couldn't answer them. Other reviewers have mentioned this, so just read the other 1-star reviews if you need examples. I'm off to read something that's actually worth my time.

Shame about that cover, though. It deserved better.

Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

★★★☆☆

I feel like I need to explain myself here. So many people I know love this book, and I just didn't. I'm not even sure it was an "It's not you; it's me" situation. The book simply could have been better—namely, it could have been longer, and not YA, and less confusing.

"Longer and not YA" are not typically suggestions I have for books. I am pretty much open to labeling anything as YA, because I love YA without shame, and I'm not sure I've ever complained that a book was too short before. But the simple truth is that Cruel Beauty would have been so much better as an adult book. An extra 10-20k words would have helped enormously with my biggest issue: there was too much going on in too little time. It got overwhelming. I couldn't keep track of which goal Nyx was trying to accomplish at which points—is she trying to save Arcadia or Ignifex? Is she trying to come up with his name or find the four Houses? Why does it keep mentioning this box? If this is a high fantasy, not set in our world, why does it use gods and heroes from our mythology? (That last one threw me off a lot.) Not to mention Nyx's wishy-washy feelings about everything: she hates her sister, she loves her sister; she despises her family, she owes her family; she wants to kill her husband, but wait she loves her husband; she doesn't trust Shade, she defends Shade. Whiplash, thy name is Triskelion.

After putting this book down for a few days short of a year and picking it back up where I left off, it became pretty clear why I couldn't do it all at once: Nyx's narration. It grated on me more than any first-person narration ever has, and I can't really put a finger on why. I think at certain times it felt more like she was listing events and feelings and legends more than telling her own story. "This happened, and I felt this way, and I thought about it for at least two paragraphs, and then I got over it and this happened," etc. etc. It was extremely monotonous.

The fantasy itself was very unique and creative, but once again I feel like it would have been easier to understand (and also more believable) in an adult novel. Adult novels have more room to go into the history and mythology of their fantasy worlds, while this one felt like it was all cramped in because the author only had so many words to work with—though even as a YA book, it could have been longer. The length of Throne of Glass would have been perfect, I think, but instead this one was shorter than a Stephanie Perkins novel. What? Why?

Now, for the one thing I did like: the romance. Was it insta-love-ish? Yes, but I could kind of understand why these two characters (I'm not giving that love triangle the time of day) would fall for each other fairly quickly: they're kind of the same. Nyx made it abundantly clear that she was kind of terrible, and we knew from the beginning that Ignifex would be kind of terrible. I loved their banter with each other, and how they kept each other on their toes. Ignifex was a fascinating character—he reminded me of the Darkling, if the Darkling had redeeming qualities. Ignifex was no hero, but he clearly cared about Nyx and was not trying to use her, which I think is key in a Beauty & the Beast retelling. The Beast cannot have ulterior motives for taking care of the "Beauty," and even though Ignifex started being nice toward Nyx before he really cared about her, it wasn't because there was something wicked going on. It was because there was more to him than she thought. Which, hi, is the actual premise of [the Disney version of] the fairy tale.

Was it achingly romantic? At parts. Was it beautiful? Sometimes. But you had to wade through the muck of Nyx's monotone and the confusing infodumps to get there. This is one of those books that are almost more satisfying to read when you ignore everything but the relationships. I could have loved the world Hodge created, but that's difficult when it feels less "created" than "described."

Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

I HAVE COME TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT AN ADULT BOOK.

I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT.

★★★★½

Source: galley from Macmillan

Publication: Feb 24 2015, Tor

HERE IS A SUMMARY:

Kell is one of only two magicians who can travel between four different Londons—parallel Londons, three of which feature magic as a regular part of life. Kell's London is Red London, the only one that has both magic and order. He is a ward of the Red crown, an adoptive brother of sorts to the prince, and secretly, he's also a criminal. Kell has a bad habit of smuggling artifacts between the different Londons because it turns out that people from non-magical London are fascinated by magical things, and people from magical Londons are fascinated by mundane things. On one of his travels to White London, where there are a lot of shadows and two evil monarchs, Kell finds himself in possession of a powerful relic from Black London, and he knows he has to return it to where it came from—except that Black London has been permanently closed off because its magic became too dangerous.

Enter Delilah Bard, thief and aspiring Grey London pirate, who wants nothing more than adventure and renown. After picking Kell's pocket and finding the Black relic, she gets caught up on his situation and insists on coming with him to return it. Cue obstacles and enemies and magic.

HERE IS A REVIEW:

The more I think about this book, the more I love it. I don't understand. While I was reading it I liked it just fine for the first half, much more for the second half, but I wasn't prepared to shout my love for it from the rooftops. But now I sit here, having finished the book two days ago, and all I want to do is tell people about it.

Right from the start you can tell that this is going to be a solid novel, because the prose is very sure-footed and consistent. Schwab knew what she was doing when she wrote this book. She explains the world without dumping giant piles of information onto the page; she gives her characters personalities and traits primarily through their actions; and she keeps the plot going while also allowing her characters both reflection and forethought. 

If you like fantasy but struggle to get into those big, sweeping high fantasy worlds, this is the book for you. It's not really set in our world, but our world does play a part in it. You don't have to familiarize yourself with a map or strange names of places that don't exist, and the magic feels entirely organic to the Londons that have it. You won't find yourself flipping back a few pages to recall something that you had already been told, hoping to find an explanation for something else later on. Reading onward becomes a natural state of existence with this one.

If you like quirky, epic, mostly moral characters with penchants for crime, this is also the book for you. Lila Bard owns my soul right now; she's a fully fleshed-out character with a lot of hardness and a little vulnerability and enough spark to start a forest fire (good thing she doesn't live near a forest). You don't really get a sense for Kell until you see him through Lila's eyes—at which point you realize he is kind of a socially inept dork, but somehow he's full of charisma at the same time. And magic. He's really good at magic. Which comes in handy when you deal in dangerous magical artifacts that are wanted by dangerous magical monarchs. What also comes in handy: a thief who trusts no one. These two do so much saving each other.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Two main characters, one male and one female, you see each of them better through the other's eyes... must be a romance, right? WRONG.

Which, of course, is my favorite kind of romance.

You see, there is ostensibly no romance between Kell and Lila, but it is painfully, beautifully clear that there could be. That there should be. The respect and admiration for each other that they develop from enemies to not-quite-friends to okay-sure-we're-friends, all the way to fixed-points-in-each-other's-worlds, are the qualities that I look for in fictional [also real] romantic relationships. I love me a slow burn, and this is the slowest of them all—the kind where you're not even sure anyone sees it but you. But authors do these things on purpose, and trust me, you'll all see it. I know because this is exactly how I felt about Blue and Gansey — right down to the possible alternate-romance Blue/Adam or in this case, Lila/Rhy — and we know how that's going. [Aside: When I tell you a relationship reminds me of Blue/Gansey, you better take note. That is basically the highest compliment I can give.]

The main characters are the life of the party here and they could easily carry the story on their own, but as if they weren't enough, the side characters are interesting as well. I found myself attached to them despite the fact that they don't get nearly as much screen time. Rhy is the perfect foil for Kell: trusting where Kell is not, socially adept where Kell is not, and unsure how to be cynical where Kell is nothing if not cynical. I do declare that this shall be a bromance for the ages. And then there's Holland, Kell's almost-enemy, who I really just wanted to hug even though he's pretty terrifying. We've also got Barron, Lila's father-figure-person who she keeps at arm's length because she's Lila, but he is consistently there anyway, and Parrish and Gen, Rhy's guards who totally did not need to become actual characters but they totally did. Every character is a character, whether they needed to be or not.

The villains were maybe not my favorite thing about the book, but I get the feeling they were not the real villains of this story. Astrid and Athos Dane were evil, no question, but their evil didn't make me shiver. It didn't make me ponder what it means to be human, or give me nightmares—though surely they would be terrifying to look at, what with those black veins and all. All the two of them really did was prepare me for something much, much worse in the next book. Or the book after that (is this a duology or are there going to be more? SOMEONE TELL ME NOW).

And wow, I can't wait to see where Kell and Lila go next time.

Now I'm off to read the rest of Victoria Schwab's books, because strangely this is the first one I've read.

Favorite Books of 2014

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Which is a thing you say when a) It's the holiday season, b) You have that song stuck in your head, and/or c) You are writing a "Favorites of the Year" post.

Which I am doing.

I haven't written a ton of reviews this year, mostly because for the first half of 2014 I was doing a lot of schoolwork and working 25-30 hours a week and when I wasn't doing either of those things, I was reading. I'll try to write more reviews in 2015.

BUT I am still doing this post right now because I love doing these posts, and also I have to tell you somehow what I've been reading this year.

So, I give you: Paige's Favorite Books of 2014*

*That is, 2014-release books that I have read.

I'm starting with the series-enders, because there's no way I could rank them amongst the other books. Also, there were a lot of them:

20. Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan

Fun fact: Unspoken is the easiest YA book in the world to sell to people looking for a book they haven't heard of before. I have proven it to myself by selling 13 copies of it this year — in an independent bookstore with a YA section that does not see a whole lot of action, that's a lot of copies. I have never, ever had a customer reject this book once I have told them about it. Maybe I'm just really good at my job, or maybe this series is magic. I'm betting on magic because Lynburns.

19. In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken

I actually reviewed this one! You know my issues with it, but you also know that it made me cry. Which is basically all that matters, so.

18. Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

I finally read Days of Blood & Starlight, you guys! And this one, too! Man, this book is so good. I read half of it sitting around at my friend's house while she wasn't even there; that's how good it is. I want Laini Taylor's imagination and creativity and also her cats, because look at them.

17. Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

I reviewed this one too! Perfect book is perfect. Juliette showed us what she was capable of. Kenji was awesome. Adam was awful. Warner was unapologetically Warner. My favorite thing about this series is that the prose had as much of a journey as the characters. It reflected its narrator in a way that you've probably never seen before, and Ignite Me didn't just show us or even tell us how far Juliette has come; it made us feel it.

16. The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

THE RETRIBUTION OF MARA DYER FINALLY CAME OUT!!!! I had a near-death experience when I went to work to get my copy only to find out IT HADN'T COME IN YET, so then I went to [mumbles] and got one and read the whole thing that night because TWO YEARS, PEOPLE. And then I had several more near-death experiences while reading it because dang, this book is full of murder and dying and almost-dying and there's even one part that's like Romeo & Juliet and let me tell you something, I had to re-learn how to breathe. I'm pretty sure.

15. Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER FINALLY CAME OUT!!!!! I got it 2 months early and read the whole thing in one night because a) Stephanie Perkins and b) THREE YEARS, PEOPLE. I actually felt guilty about it, because I knew there were people who had been waiting just as long as I had. But to be quite honest, my guilt did not last long — negative emotions never last long when you're reading a Stephanie Perkins book. Isla didn't quite live up to Lola for me, but there was no way I wasn't going to love it anyway. She is such a relatable character (I'm a strange mix of Anna and Isla, I think), I can't help but feel like there are probably legions of girls out there who feel like this book was written for them. [P.S. CRICKET, MY LOVE]

15. Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo

My favorite series-ender of the year, oh man, did I love this book. Haters to the left because Leigh Bardugo knew what she was doing when she wrote this series, even though the majority of her fandom did not. I'm sorry but this is one fandom to whom I am not willing to give ample amounts of credit, because so many people missed the whole point. Alina made choices for herself in this book, she decided what her life was going to look like and who was going to be in it, based on what she wanted. If you ever for one second thought she wanted to be Sankta Alina, you're deluding yourself. So heck yes, I'm happy she got the life she actually wanted with Mal and didn't spend the rest of her life as the Darkling's plaything or being worshipped by a country of people who didn't understand her. The framing of this series is that of a dark fairy tale turned on its head — she had to kill the prince and she didn't want to be a princess or a queen. She was an orphan who just wanted a modest life, wealthy — as my friend Richard Campbell Gansey III would say — in love. A life without sun summoning or ruling is not a life without power; Alina exercised her power by simply choosing.

And now, for the rest:

14. This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This one technically isn't even out yet, but it does come out in 2014 so here you go. It has more characters than the first book and more sources of tension and a woman of color as the protagonist! And she didn't get whitewashed on the cover! Plus, she's an awesome character, and so is her love interest, and this series is awesome at giving us complicated, well-written, believable characters, so read it.

13. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Morgan Matson is so good at writing my perfect read-in-two-sittings books. They're long enough that you can stretch them into two sittings, but fun enough that you want to keep reading them. Plus, friendship and slow-burning romance and music [aside: I felt so validated by the musical options in this book, because Emily's playlists were like my music from 2-4 years ago, which I still listen to occasionally, and Frank's playlists were what I listen to all the time now. So many of the songs mentioned are actually in my iTunes library, which NEVER HAPPENS for me.]

12. Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham

25% of my year was spent in anticipation of the Veronica Mars movie, which was like a superlong, super-epic version of a Veronica Mars episode. Reading this book was like watching an actual, regular episode of Veronica Mars, and I loved it. How many things are better than watching an episode of Veronica Mars? How many things are better than reading a good book? NOT MANY.

11. The Good Sister by Jamie Kain

I think this book has flown under most people's radar. I only found it because I do this thing at work where I stand in the YA section and look for spines I haven't seen before. No, really. Of course, I found this one the week it came out and was like, "Sure, why not," and wow. Wow. This little book blew me away — very emotional, very unique, slightly mysterious. You think you know where it's going, but you don't. Definitely read this one over, say, Belzhar, which I liked but think is a little overhyped when you've got debuts like this one happening.

10. The Young Elites by Marie Lu

I think this was one of the most hyped books of the year, and with good reason. Moral ambiguity for the win.

9. Landline by Rainbow Rowell

I read adult books this year, you guys. This is the only new-release adult book I read this year, and it was the second-most nominated book for the adult Summer IndieNext, and they chose MY REVIEW. That's how you know I think you should read a book: if I force myself to eloquently gush about it.

8. Panic by Lauren Oliver

I told you guys last year that this would be on the list in 2014. I read it so long ago that I don't remember a whole lot other than thinking it was really unique and obviously Lauren Oliver is ridiculously talented, but I will definitely be reading it again sometime.

7. Atlantia by Ally Condie

An atmospheric utopia with elements of politics and mythology? Sign me up. I've found that this is another easy one to sell because it's so different from other "dystopias" (utopias) out there, and it's a standalone! Which tells you right there that this book is never going to do what you expect — and it doesn't. If you want a book that never falls into cliche-traps, you want Atlantia. Honestly, it's made of awesome.

6. Cress by Marissa Meyer

I am so late to this series, I know. The first two books should have been on my lists for the last two years. I live in shame. Do I really even need to say why this book is awesome? Space Adventure Squad, fairytales, Cinder's sass, Kai's general excellence, Cress's adorable optimism, Thorne, Scarlet, Wolf, I could go on...

5. Faking Normal by Courtney Stevens

I reviewed this! So good. So important. I will probably read this book so many times.

4. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

I am ashamed that I never wrote a review of this because there is so much to talk about. Cady is a perfectly flawed protagonist (I hesitate to call her "heroine" because of reasons), you get so far inside her head in this book that you forget to look for the way out until it hits you in the face. Man, I read this book in one sitting with other people in the room and I guarantee if I had been alone I would have required a drainage system in my room so that I didn't drown in my own tears.

3. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

This is the kind of book that's better to go into without expectations, so you can let it completely blow you away. Of course, I can't put this at number 3 for the year and expect you to not develop expectations, so here's what I loved about it: political intrigue (I love me some political intrigue), a solid frenemyship-turned-romance, NO MAGIC. A high fantasy with no magic, have mercy on my soul, this is what I've always wanted. Bless you, Marie Rutkoski, for this world and these endlessly clever and frustrating characters. (Also, I read the Winner's Crime a few months ago and just... wow. PUT THIS SERIES ON YOUR TBR RIGHT NOW.)

2.

1.

sdaofih

I don't know

I JUST DON'T KNOW IF I CAN DO IT

My favorite two books of the year, ALPHABETICALLY BY AUTHOR, are I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson and Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater. I cannot betray one by picking the other as my favorite, though of course they are both perfect books and would probably be all gracious and say that the other one deserved it more anyway, but SHUT UP YOU NOBLE BOOKS I WILL NOT CHOOSE.

Possibly I need to go to bed.

Let me tell you about I'll Give You the Sun. This book is like reading a work of art. Somehow it has bursts of color on every page; it captures the passion of an artist and the relationship of two characters whose lives inspire and defeat them; it is an accurate representation of what it is to be twins. Twins are like other siblings, but not. Nobody who's not a twin quite gets it, and that's not because of """twin telepathy""" or from being so much alike or any of those things; it's from having a built-in best friend from the moment you're born (you could say before, but let's not get carried away). There's resentment and competition, but there's also loyalty and an odd closeness and the ability to say things to each other that you wouldn't say to anyone else because they would probably look at you funny. It's knowing that a rift between you would alter your entire life. This book shows all of that and more, and it's just flawless. I'm going to own so many copies of this, my friends.

Now, you all expected Blue Lily, Lily Blue to be on my list. You expected it to be #1. None of you are shocked right now. What can I say about this book that I didn't already say about The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves? Honestly I've had a hard time finding sufficient words for how subtly different and surprising and somehow still consistent this installment of the series is, which is why I haven't really attempted a review. It definitely parallels TRB more than it does TDT, but it keeps the general excitement and adventure that TDT has as well. The magic, the new characters, the cave spelunking (I just really liked the symbolism of them all being tied to each other in the darkness of the cave — that Stiefvater and her metaphors). The relationships — ugh, the relationships, words, where are my words? It's almost 2am. Adam Parrish, he's gonna save my baby because his character development was through the roof in this book; Blue Sargent, she's gonna have some stuff to deal with and I can't wait to see her deal with it; Gansey, my baby, he's gonna be more human than king and he's gonna figure it all out and let his people save him and he's gonna survive; Ronan is gonna keep surprising us and being the fierce knight we all know he is; Noah is gonna find peace, one way or another. These are the things I want because I care about these characters so, so much. I don't know what I'll do if any of them don't get the ending they deserve — oh god, why does it have to end? Now I'm sad. 2015, please take your time because I'm not ready.

I need to sleep.

But, you know.

GOOD BOOKS, 2014. *pats 2014 on the head*

It's slightly unfortunate that only one male author made it onto my list, but I've already got a couple for next year and also the male authors I read this year were not new releases, so they didn't qualify. Sigh. I really honestly don't even pay attention to the author's gender when I'm picking which books to read.

Review: An Ember in the Ashes (April 2015)

★★★★¾

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Oops?

With An Ember in the Ashes, I let myself do the thing I never let myself do, which is have high expectations before going into a book. It's usually a mistake, and I usually end up resenting the people who give me those high expectations when the book inevitably does not live up to the hype.

But this one. This one.

"You're not like other books," I said to it, because unlike with girls, that is actually a compliment to books.

"I know," it replied.

In her debut novel (debut novel!??), Sabaa Tahir tackles a lot of things. Race, class, slavery, war, gender, family, magic, and a little bit of romance. It takes place in Serra, a Middle Eastern-esque country divided between the conquering Martials and the conquered Scholars, which bear a remarkable likeness to the Spartans and the Athenians. Laia and her family are Scholars, eking out a modest and repressed existence among what is left of their people, while Elias is a Martial soldier who has been training at the military school Blackcliff since he was about eight years old. That's right, these people aren't messing around.

When a Mask (a graduated Blackcliff student and military officer) comes to Laia's home, kills her grandparents and takes her brother, she sets out to find the Resistance—the group of rebel Scholars who have been working for years to take the country back from the Martials—and convince them to help her find her brother, who may already be dead. But of course, nobody in this world does anything for free, and in exchange for their help, Laia must infiltrate Blackcliff in the most dangerous way possible: being a slave for the ruthless Commandant, who's been known to disfigure slaves immediately and kill them after about two weeks.

It's there that she meets Elias, of course, but what I loved about this book is that the two of them have their own distinct stories going on, and while meeting each other certainly affects those stories, it doesn't drive them. The plot does not fall into the black hole of clandestine hookups and constant excuses for the main characters to be together; it allows their relationship to take a backseat to their story. Laia has a brother to save and Elias has a competition to not-win and they both have a few shady characters to figure out. There are hints that the two of them have entwined fates, but the book is written in first-person present tense for a reason: you can look to the future if you want, but sometimes the now takes precedent. Laia and Elias are both suspicious of the Augurs who insist on waxing didactic about things to come, and their refusal to stray toward those enigmatic storylines is, at this point, what will keep readers reading.

The world of An Ember in the Ashes is unique but simple— we are already familiar with the concept of a scholar state and a military state, and even a world where those two states are at war. By adding its own names, magic, and mythology, it designates itself as high fantasy, and does so more naturally and more successfully than others because every element is so organic to the setting. The magic feels Middle Eastern; the legends sound Middle Eastern. It's hard to imagine this world without them.

The setting provides a foundation for the race and class politics that are inextricable from the story— the dynamic being that race has essentially no bearing on class. How refreshing it is to see the "lower," i.e. conquered class comprised of both darker-skinned, darker haired people and fair-skinned, redheaded or blonde people. Likewise to see the Commandant with fair skin and blonde hair, but one of her slaves with the same. I can't wait to see more of this in both this series and YA in general, the way we have already seen some of the female gender role obliteration that Tahir has given us. [Helene and the Commandant are powerful women in the military, one of whom is constantly underestimated by everyone around her, and the other who has only ever been underestimated by her father. But Strong Female Characters are not the only kind of female characters in this story—Laia herself is no warrior. She believes herself weak, has insecurities and makes mistakes, but she is compelling because despite this, she keeps trying. By the end of the novel, she has discovered her own ability to grow into whoever she wants to be, and it's honestly one of the most empowering reading experiences I've ever had.]

Would I have liked to see more male gender role obliteration? Yes. Other than Darin being the one in need of rescue by his little sister, men aren't really presented as being capable of weakness. All of the men in the book are warriors, rebels or swordsmiths, none slaves or kitchen workers. Possibly the closest it came was Zak, the reluctant, softhearted warrior living in his brother's shadow, or Leander, who's always obsessing over his fiancé. But they are both still warriors. Along with that could maybe have been the threat of rape to men, too; the book certainly doesn't shy away from the threat of rape to a slave or even a female soldier in a school full of male soldiers, but why couldn't the Commandant's cruelty have extended to men weaker than her, too*? Why did the boys never have to be afraid of a woman more powerful than them? Rape is not a crime committed exclusively by men with female victims, and while I appreciate the look at what it's like for these women (especially as it reflects so many social orders in the real world), the book could have been a little more empathetic and progressive in that respect. Yes all women, but not just women.

*Though it is fantastic that rape is not portrayed as the only or even the worst thing that could happen to a woman—the Commandant leaves people with physical scars that will affect their entire lives. The women who are victims are not always victims because they have ladyparts.

But this is only the first book in the series, and the next book promises to bring new things. Along with the development of Elias and Laia's relationship (and the changes in their relationships with Helene and Keenan), which has been believable and perfectly-paced, it's already set up the primary goal and destination for the next book. And I am so, so looking forward to it.

Recommended for: EVERYONE, specifically fans of Legend by Marie Lu, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski