Spider's Bite Author: Jennifer Estep Title: Spider's Bite Series: Elemental Assassin 1 Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Pairing: M/F Rating: Four Petals On the Author's Website: http://www.jenniferestep.com/books/spiders-bite/ Summary: My name is Gin, and I kill people. They call me the Spider. I'm the most feared assassin in the South — when I'm not busy at the Pork Pit cooking up the best barbecue in Ashland. As a Stone elemental, I can hear everything from the whispers of the gravel beneath my feet to the vibrations of the soaring Appalachian Mountains above me. My Ice magic also comes in handy for making the occasional knife. But I don't use my powers on the job unless I absolutely have to. Call it professional pride. Now that a ruthless Air elemental has double-crossed me and killed my handler, I'm out for revenge. And I'll exterminate anyone who gets in my way — good or bad. I may look hot, but I'm still one of the bad guys. Which is why I'm in trouble, since irresistibly rugged Detective Donovan Caine has agreed to help me. The last thing this coldhearted killer needs when I'm battling a magic more powerful than my own is a sexy distraction... especially when Donovan wants me dead just as much as the enemy. Maggie's Review:
Gin is an assassin and what I like most about the book is the fact that Estep doesn't try to romanticize or explain away the fact that Gin kills people for a living. She is who she is and that doesn't change because of a hot guy, because her mentor is killed, or for any other reason. However, it isn't all she is, which is also well written. Gin hasn't allowed herself to become completely cold and isolated. She's a chef and she really enjoys working in any kitchen. There are so many dimensions to this one character that I can't help being impressed by this book. The overall plot and world building were just as interesting. Gin is sent on a mission to kill someone and is double crossed by her employer. Her mentor is killed to keep him quiet and she knows she needs to find and kill her employer before they find and kill her. The story isn't a cookie cutter revenge plot. There are layers to it that if I go into too much detail about will ruin the book. Even the romantic interest wasn't easy for Gin. Caine hates Gin and that doesn't magically change just because she's pretty. I liked that Caine remained strong in his convictions and am very interested in seeing how the relationship progresses in future books. I also really enjoyed the world building. The book is set in a world where magic is everywhere. Some people are elementals while others have different powers. The book is very clear that while elemental power is the strongest, it won't stop a bullet. That means magic users and regular humans can coexist on an even level in the world. I would have liked to learn how these powers came into being. The book implies that they have always been present in the world and that people are either born or not with it, but how Gin learned to use her powers was glossed over. A little more depth into how the magic works would have helped, but enough is given that I completely believed it. Maggie's Recommendation: I do recommend this book. It was well written with a lot of depth of plot and characterization that I really enjoyed reading. I will be reading and reviewing the next book in the series.
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Finding North Author: Allyson Gottlieb Title: Finding North Series: Compass 1 Genre: Science Fiction (Dystopian) Pairing: M/F Rating: Two Petals On the Author's Website: This book is not available on the author's website. Summary: Sometimes you have to lose everything to find what you’ve really been looking for Kat and Tyler were childhood sweethearts, inseparable in all things. When he was drafted into the Alliance army, it was only natural that she would join up, too. Then he dies in battle, and Kat is left adrift, with her heart shattered but her life still tied to the Alliance. Going through the motions and fulfilling her obligations is all she has left, until the day her unit gets caught by the enemy. When Reynan Caverly saves Kat from military prison, the only thing she knows is that his father started the civil war that caused Tyler’s death. Kat is shocked when Reynan takes her to his Las Vegas home, a lavish place in contrast to her impoverished upbringing. Vegas has become a playground for the military elite, and as much of a danger zone as the battlefield. The only way she can stay safe is to rely on Reynan. As animosity fades and affections grow, Kat and Reynan realize that they have more in common than they first assumed. But in a country decimated by disease and divided by war, nothing comes without a price. Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Overall, the plot to Finding North was well written. It wasn't unique, but I did like Gottlieb's take on it. The world was destroyed by plague and subsequent natural disasters and then split in half by civil war. Kat and Reynan's struggle to survive in the fighting and political machinations was interesting to read, but the story was missing some things that would have elevated it to the next level. The most glaring omission was the fact that the civil war itself wasn't properly explained. Somewhere in the first few chapters there needed to be a description of who was fighting for what and why. In fact, description as a whole was lacking in the book. Gottlieb gave us a halfhearted description of the setting, but never said what color Kat's hair was. Reynan was described, but only for the purpose of setting him up as handsome and therefore a possible romantic lead. The characterizations were stereotypical. Every character can be described with one or two words. The bad guy is trigger happy and rude. Reynan's father, the leader of the rebellion, is cold, yet has a kingly bearing. Reynan is sympathetic and gentle, perfect for a romantic partner for Kat, who is strong, yet emotionally weak. There was no depth to any character to make them feel like more than words on paper. I was also disappointed with the romance. Kat is struggling to get over the loss of Tyler, yet the second she sees Reynan she's instantly in lust. There was no acceptance of her loss or willingness to move on, which made her relationship with Tyler seem weaker than Gottlieb wants readers to believe and diminished the believability of her budding relationship with Reynan. Maggie's Recommendation: The plot was interesting, albeit not unique, but it needed more depth and description to really catch my interest. Without those it felt very flat and stereotypical. I am therefore unable to recommend this book and will not be reading any subsequent sequels. HavenAuthor: A. R. Ivanovich Title: Haven Series: The War of Princes 1 Genre: High Fantasy Pairing: M/F Rating: Two Petals On the Author's Website: http://www.arivanovich.com/haven-the-war-of-princes-book-one.html Summary: For hundreds of years, the peaceful country of Haven has remained isolated from the rest of the world. But for adventurous seventeen-year-old Katelyn Kestrel, Haven’s calm has always been a little, well, boring. She can’t help but wonder what lay outside Haven’s seemingly impassible borders, but no one will talk about the mysterious catastrophic event that separated Haven from the outside world. Katelyn has a strange knack for finding things, and when she miraculously finds a passage into the outside world, she thinks she’s solved a longstanding mystery. Instead, she discovers that some things should never be found . . . The outside world is more treacherous than Katelyn ever imagined, full of monsters, magic, and two princes locked in a bloody, centuries-long battle. The moment she arrives, she is kidnapped and held captive in a nearby keep, accused of being a northern spy. With the help of a hardened young soldier and a handsome lord, Katelyn must try to escape and find her way back to Haven. But there are dark forces at work that Katelyn can’t begin to understand, and she’ll be lucky to make it out of the fortress alive . . . Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I knew what I was getting into when I chose to read and review this book. It's strictly a young adult novel, which meant it would appeal to an age group that I no longer fit into. However, a good book is a good book regardless of the age range it was written for. Given the summary, I thought I would still enjoy it despite being too old. Unfortunately, this was not a good book and I did not enjoy reading it at all. Katelyn is a teenager struck with wanderlust. She wants to know what the outside world is like and can't stand being confined in Haven any longer, so when she finds an excuse she makes a run for it. The fact that she has made a bad decision is immediately evident, not only from her petulant attitude but also from the strange and injured soldier she encounters. Then she is captured and must find a way to get back home. Everything in this book was a cliche. Haven is a peaceful place, as indicated by its name. No one fights or hurts anyone. The guard play cards all day because they have so little to do. Everything is the same, day after day, from the happy lives people live to the fact that they all have the exact same color eyes. It's like the Emerald City, except instead of forcing everyone to wear green colored glasses the education system has brainwashed them into thinking this is normal and good. Katelyn herself is a teenaged cliche. Her ex-boyfriend is a jerk telling horrible tales about her, her family would be happier without her strange wanderlust interrupting their peaceful existence, and her friends are the girl overcome by love of the handsome man and the geek who will make everything right with his inventions. She has a special power that allows her to find things, so when she decides to run away she is able to find the only way out of Haven within five minutes. Even the enemy was a cliche. He's a bad man doing bad things while hurting good people. Only Katelyn, with her trusty sidekick, can defeat him and find a way home. It's a plot that has been done before by better authors. The entire plot, therefore, was unbelievably easy to guess. I found myself rolling my eyes through most of it. I did think the story was paced well and overall (if I remove the constant barrage of cliches) it was well written. If the author had managed to tone down the trite nature of the book I might have enjoyed it at least a little bit. I do think it was unfortunate that I was completely unable to get into the story at all, given the potential I saw, but I couldn't overcome all the shortcomings. Maggie's Recommendation: I found this book to be utterly ridiculous. It was full of cliches and the plot was predictable. I know that a lot of preteens and teenagers will enjoy this book, so I will recommend it to them, but to everyone else I recommend you stay away. |
Magnolia's Reviews
Maggie reviews paranormal and fantasy novels and novellas. She also interviews authors and hosts giveaways. Archives
April 2018
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