Waiting on Wednesday: Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly even hosted by Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.

This week's book is:

Strange the Dreamer
By Laini Taylor

Publication date: September 27th

Pages: 432

Summary:
A breathtaking new novel by National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Laini Taylor

Strange the Dreamer is the story of: 

the aftermath of a war between gods and men.
a mysterious city stripped of its name.
a mythic hero with blood on his hands.
a young librarian with a singular dream.
a girl every bit as perilous as she is imperiled.
alchemy and blood candy, nightmares and godspawn, moths and monsters, friendship and treachery, love and carnage.

Welcome to Weep.

Why am I anticipating this book?

Because Laini Taylor, OBVIOUSLY. If you guys have read any of my reviews, you'll know that I'm not one to give five stars very casually, but both Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Days of Blood and Starlight were five-star reads for me (I haven't read Deams of Gods and Monsters because I'm not in the mood to have my heart shredded, thank you very much) so of course, this book goes directly to my auto-buy list and even if that was not the case, the summary looks AMAZING.

What books are you anticipating?

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

They told David it was impossible—that even the Reckoners had never killed a High Epic. Yet, Steelheart—invincible, immortal, unconquerable—is dead. And he died by David's hand. 

Eliminating Steelheart was supposed to make life more simple. Instead, it only made David realize he has questions. Big ones. And there's no one in Newcago who can give him the answers he needs. 

Babylon Restored, the old borough of Manhattan, has possibilities, though. Ruled by the mysterious High Epic, Regalia, David is sure Babylon Restored will lead him to what he needs to find. And while entering another city oppressed by a High Epic despot is a gamble, David's willing to risk it. Because killing Steelheart left a hole in David's heart. A hole where his thirst for vengeance once lived. Somehow, he filled that hole with another Epic—Firefight. And he's willing to go on a quest darker, and more dangerous even, than the fight against Steelheart to find her, and to get his answers.

Rating: 3/5

“’Like, I can spot stupidity, because I know it so well. The way an exterminator knows bugs really well, and can spot where they’ve been? I’m like that. A stupidinator.’

‘Never say that word again,’ Prof said.”

God, how I’d missed David’s crappy metaphors!

Firefight was the fun continuation to the wonderful Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. It was so nice being back in this universe with its characters and humor, although I feel that Firefight suffered from the “second book” syndrome.

The story picks up a few weeks after the end of Steelheart with the reckoners still in NewCago fighting Epics, and the people there trying to learn how to live their lives now that their former ruler is gone. When more and more Epics appear to challenge the Reckoners, and they all seem to have a connection with an Epic from Prof’s past they’ll head over to Babylon Restored and find this woman to figure out her plan.

Now, this was a really good book. Really, it was fun, action-packed and full of twists and turns that kept you hooked. It just wasn’t what I was expecting for Steelheart’s sequel. The story dragged sometimes. There were new characters introduced who barely had any page time before they were gone.

And Firefight was barely even relevant to the story.

Which, in a way, makes sense. This is David’s story; him and his revenge against Steelheart, joining the Reckonings. Even his obsession crush on Megan. In the first book the title character was barely there. He was a presence, a sword hanging on their necks ready to fall at any minute. But Megan had been a part of the Reckoners. Hell! She was one of the most interesting characters in this universe and in Firefight she’s reduced to David’s point of view which is… not so great for her.

We barely see her in the story, she’s constantly in David’s thoughts which I found a bit annoying (I mean, he barely knew her despite all the time they were part of the team. And she certainly didn’t like him, yet he kept going after her. It didn’t make sense that he was “in love” with her, or how he kept doing dumb stuff all the time for that “love”).

I wanted more Firefight, you know? More on her history, her character. But we got only snippets here and there.

The ending, however, was freaking awesome. We see that everything that happens is leading to something, but when it happens I just… man it was good!

Overall, I really enjoyed Firefight but not much seemed to happen in it.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?

This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson's vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication.




Rating: 4/5 Stars

                           “When you are perfect, is there anywhere else to go?”

I always have a problem when it comes to reviewing a book a liked. I become much less articulate and descriptive because all I want to do is shove this book into everyone’s faces and say READ IT until they do.

(imagine this, but a touch less agressive)

The Adoration of Jenna Fox was a book about family, about humanity and friendship. It was so incredible seeing these characters, all so flawed and complex in their own way, navigating through the story which is surrounded by a big mystery.

There’s really not much I can discuss without talking about spoilers, and even if I did want to spoil you guys I know it would take me pages and pages to analyze and discuss this book (yes, I’m that annoying). All I can say is PLEASE READ IT and then gush all to me about it.

The Queen by Kiera Cass

Before America Singer's story began, another girl came to the palace to compete for the hand of a different prince….

Don't miss this digital original novella set in the captivating world of Kiera Cass's #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series. This prequel story takes place before the events of The Selection and is told from the point of view of Prince Maxon's mother, Amberly. Discover a whole new Selection with this inside look at how Maxon's parents met—and how an ordinary girl named Amberly became a beloved queen.

Rating: 1/5 Stars

“Because if it was a choice between him or me, I didn’t think I’d be able not to put him first.”

                                                           

Ok… what the heck did I just read? I’ve always found The Selection series to be a fun and goofy read, perfect for when you are in a reading slump and need something quick to pull you out. That being said, I don’t take many aspects of it seriously (there’s hardly a doubt from the beginning of which guy America will end up with, or the crazy and silly rebels attacks).

So when I saw this novella from Queen Amberly’s point of view about how she became Queen I thought, cool! But no, it was far from it, it was all oh so over the place!

This is not the story of a woman finding love. This is the story of a delusional and emotionally dependent girl, who finally meets her obsession for the last 7 years or so, only to find out he’s an absolute asshole who wants to use her.

Really, right from The Selection you can see that the relationship between Maxon’s parents is odd. His father is too “cruel” and his mother too passive.

This story is no different, there’s nothing sweet or cute about it. Clarkson wants a woman who would do what he wants, when he wants it and without putting up a fight.

“If I ask you for something, you give it to me.”

And he gets a beautiful little lamb who does his every bidding without a second thought!

“He eyed me a moment longer, as if to reinforce the point. But his command was all I needed. I’d never not do anything he asked me to.”

This relationship is unhealthy as hell, Clarkson doesn’t want a wife, he wants a thing that follows his every order and Amberly is the person perfect for it.

The fun in this novel was all lost on me because I was too disturbed by this “romance” to enjoy anything.

Nobody's Goddess by Amy McNulty

In a village of masked men, each man is compelled to love only one woman and to follow the commands of his “goddess” without question. A woman may reject the only man who will love her if she pleases, but she will be alone forever. A man must stay masked until his goddess returns his love—and if she can’t or won’t, he remains masked forever.

Seventeen-year-old Noll’s childhood friends have paired off and her closest companion, Jurij, found his goddess in Noll’s own sister. Desperate to find a way to break this ancient spell, Noll instead discovers why no man has ever chosen her. She is in fact the goddess of the mysterious lord of the village, a man who refuses to let Noll have her right as a woman to spurn him.

Thus begins a dangerous game between the choice of woman versus the magic of man. The stakes are no less than freedom and happiness, life and death—and neither Noll nor the veiled lord is willing to lose.

Rating: 2,5/5 stars

“What I wanted to do now was selfish, and I had been selfish enough to doom all of our kind. But still, my mouth opened.”

This quote alone describes the plot perfectly.

Books like these are hard to rate. What do you do when the story is great, you have fascinating world-building, an interesting premise, even a cool and dark love interest (ala darkling) but the main character is so annoying, so dumb and selfish and learns nothing through the novel that all you want to do is slap some sense out of her? Repeatedly. With a hammer.



This is what happens with Nobody’s Goddess, the story could have been fantastic, a four star read for me, if it hadn’t been for Noll.

The narration can be confusing and slow for the first four or five chapters. That’s because right as we start we’re hit with tons of world-building, but little explanation. 

Boys with masks? Goddesses? Death? Old crone? Castle and earthquakes? 

But after that, the world-building slowly comes to us.

A thousand years ago, women were slaves of men (imagine women in history and you get a clear picture) so the first Goddess appeared and she saved them by turning all women into Goddesses themselves. All men would love women (one man for each goddess) and follow her every command. They would be masked until their goddesses turned seventeen and went through her returning, the ritual by which a woman takes off his man’s mask. If she returns his love, he is free of ever wearing the mask again. But if any woman looks upon a man’s face without his goddess’ love being returned, then he would die.

It can be a bit confusing at first, but once the story truly begins it starts making sense.

Noll is sixteen years old, and no man has found the Goddess in her, and she’s beginning to think that no one will. To make matters worse, she’s in love with her childhood friend Jurij… who found the goddess in Noll’s sister’s.

Noll’s desperate, she doesn’t want her sister to have the man that she loves. But if Elfriede doesn’t love Jurij and unmasks him in her returning, she’d kill him. So Noll goes to the Lord’s castle (the mysterious ruler of the place who buys keeps the village going) to try and convince him to leave Jurij free so she can be with him, and that’s when things began going south.

I found Noll to be an annoying character, mostly because she was such a hypocrite. These kinds of people really bug me, and Noll took it to extreme lengths. No matter what she did or who she hurt, she was never wrong, she never made a mistake. In her mind, all things that went wrong were someone else’s’ fault. 



Her obsession with Jurij wasn’t love. She was friends with him when they were 12/13 but she had never seen him in a romantic way until he was in love with her sister Elfriede. Noll acted like a petulant child, wanting what she couldn’t have.

“’How do you know you’re in love with Jurij, without ever seeing his face?’ It was a silly question. I knew I loved him just the same. But it was different with me.”

Why? Why was it different for her? They had been friends but that was it, and despite her claiming to love Jurij she didn’t really know much about him. At least, not much that she shared with the reader. All she thought was how Jurij just HAD to be with her, but no why she loved him, or what she even liked about him. We know very little about this poor guy, and yet it’s all she can think about?

“The idea of a man weak at the knees and lost without me made me almost as ill as seeing Jurij acting that way with Elfriede. Even if it might have been different if Jurij acted that way with me.”

The concept of men with no choice was one of the most interesting aspects of the story. It doesn’t strike you at first because the narration is from Noll’s point of view, and so she’s used to the privilege but the thing is, men here have no choice.
A woman can refuse her man if she wants to and send him to the commune, or chose to live with him (to have children) but still not love him. Men have no choice, they can’t stop loving their goddesses, even if they don’t love them or even want them near. It’s a sickness and a curse, they are forced to be eternally devoted to them, but they don’t have any say in the matter. When their goddesses give their command, they have no choice but to obey even if that means killing themselves.

It was frankly awful, but super interesting to explore in literature. Now here we have Noll, who thought that the idea of seeing her best friend stripped of his free will was awful!... Unless he was following Noll’s command, then it would have been ok.



Noll justifies her way of thinking by remembering the first few weeks when Jurij had found the Goddess in Elfriede. Her sister was disappointed, she barely knew the kid (and he was two years younger than her) so she didn’t want him to be the only man who would ever love her (only one man for each woman). During that time, Noll’s sister would ignore Jurij or wish he would just go away, and Noll was pissed that she was rejecting her man!

But what happens when a man finds the Goddess in Noll?



She can’t stand him! She doesn’t want him near even though she hardly knows him. So, her sister was an asshole (and totally didn’t deserve Jurij) because she had been reluctant to accept her man, but when Noll doesn’t want her man she’s totally in her to treat him like crap because, where is her choice???

I found a few aspects predictable, and others still confusing. But in the end, the idea of a matriarchal society with POC characters had a lot of potential, if it hadn’t been for Noll.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Midnight Star by Marie Lu

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly even hosted by Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.

This week's book is:

The Midnight Star
By Marie Lu

Publication date: October 1th

Pages: 416

Summary:
The thrilling finale to the New York Times bestselling Young Elites series from “hit factory” Marie Lu.

There was once a time when darkness shrouded the world, and the darkness had a queen.

Adelina Amouteru is done suffering. She’s turned her back on those who have betrayed her and achieved the ultimate revenge: victory. Her reign as the White Wolf has been a triumphant one, but with each conquest her cruelty only grows. The darkness within her has begun to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy all that she’s achieved.

Adelina’s forced to revisit old wounds when a new danger appears, putting not only Adelina at risk, but every Elite and the very world they live in. In order to save herself and preserve her empire, Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest—though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger.

Bestselling author Marie Lu concludes Adelina's story with this haunting and hypnotizing final installment to the Young Elites series.

Why am I anticipating this book?

It's the conclusion to the Young Elites novels, how could I NOT want to read The Midnight Star? Adelina, Magiano, need I say more?? No, I don't think so. If you have no idea what I'm talking abbout, please do yourself a favor and pick up The Young Elites. Granted, the first book didn't leave a huge impression on me, but my God the Rose Society was amazing! I don't know if I'm ready for this series to end...

What books are you anticipating?

The Favorite by Kiera Cass

While America Singer's heart was torn between Aspen and Prince Maxon, her friend Marlee knew exactly what she wanted—and paid the price.

Revisit the captivating world of Kiera Cass's #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series in this digital original novella. Told from Marlee's point of view, this all-new 64-page story returns to the fateful Halloween when Marlee and Carter were discovered, and reveals how that night—and Prince Maxon—changed their lives forever.







Rating: 2/5 Stars

Sadly, I didn’t enjoy The Favorite as much as I did the rest of The Selection novels. When I picked this one up, I was looking forward to getting an insight on the relationship between Marlee and her guard, the relationship that paralleled America’s and Aspen’s (and that showed Marlee was willing to risk everything for love, while America was clearly unsure of her feelings for Aspen).

Unfortunately, this didn’t do it for me. I couldn’t connect with Marlee’s narrative voice, why did the girl giggled so much? She did it so often and so out of place that it threw me off. I don’t remember America giggling so much, but maybe it’s been a long time since I read The Elite and my memory is failing me? Whatever the case, her voice was a tad annoying and nonsensical. I could never see why she would risk her life for love, because it seemed more like a crush than anything else (hell, they had talked a few times and didn’t even kiss when she realized he was her soulmate. What’s up with that?).

I didn’t appreciate that the story not only covered the Elite, but The One too. The description says it’s 2.6 NOTHING BEYOND THAT, yet I got spoiled for The One and haven’t even read it yet.

Overall this was a bit of a disappointment as far as Selection novellas go.