Crimson Bound Book Review

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

Rating: 2.5/5

Goodreads Summary:

When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless— straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.

Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her find the legendary sword that might save their world. As the two become unexpected allies, they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

Thoughts and Opinions

          I had high hopes for this book. I read Rosamund Hodge's Cruel Beauty, and I loved it. I enjoyed it very much and I thought I would feel the same way about this book. Sadly, I didn't. It felt like I've been reading this book for forever.

         This book is about a girl who was training to become a woodwife, a person who has been trained to make charms and protect the village from woodspawns, and forestborns. Woodspawns are animals that have become beasts in a way, and forestborns are creatures who come from the Devourer. Forestborns mark humans to become forestborns too. Once the humans are marked, they have 3 days to choose whether they kill someone in order to live and become bloodbounds, or not kill and die after 3 days. Bloodbounds are like fledglings. They still have their human personalities, but once they give in, they become forestborns. And that's what happens to the MC. She gets marked by a forestborn and she turns into a bloodbound, then the rest of the story happens. 

         I love retellings, the way the characters came from different tales and they have their own spins to it. This was a retelling of Red Riding Hood. Although half of the time, I didn't really see the Red Riding Hood part, there were times where there were similarities and parallels. There's a cottage in the woods, a path, and the forest-theme. 
         I'm not really sure what I feel about the book. There were good times and frustrating parts, but the concept itself is unique and different. I liked how there was action, the plot, and the consistency of the forest-theme. Other than that, reading the words "woodspawn, forestborn, bloodbound, The Devourer, the Forest" over and over again kind of got tiring. I get the importance of repetition to prove a point, but it was one too many. I have a love-hate feeling towards love triangle and this book is one of the reasons why. There's 2 guys and 1 girl, who does she end up with? She works well with both and it was frustrating cause she would have this connection with Armand, and then the next she feels some sort of feelings with Erec. It was just too much and even though it explains it at the end, it was frustrating for me having to go through it. I understand how it helps add more to the book and intrigue the readers, but it ended up ruining the character for me because I got annoyed. It was also hard to understand what the characters were trying to say or what they're trying to get at. It got confusing and I just wished the author got to the point without other hidden messages. 

         It's been a while since I got annoyed with the MCs in the book, but I did. Rachelle had so many mixed feelings I just wanted her to make up her mind. And Armand, what do you want? Just say it out loud already. Erec, even though he was sort of the antagonist, I liked him more than I Rachelle and Armand combined. 

         Overall, the writing style was good and so was the trope, but there were a lot of things I didn't particularly like. I would still recommend it for people who like retellings as well, but it just wasn't for me.

Frostblood Book Review

Frostblood by Ellie Blake

Rating: 3/5

Goodreads Summary:

The frost king will burn.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating—yet irresistible—Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the king’s tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her—and from the icy young man she has come to love.

Before I continue writing this review, I want to apologize to HBG Canada because they sent me an ARC of this a while back and I haven't gotten around to writing a review until now, I am thankful for the copy, but very sorry I've been a terrible reviewer. I'll do better.

Thoughts and Opinions:
         Basically, this book is about a girl, Ruby who is a Fireblood, a person with the ability to control fire and produce fire. They are being hunted by the King's men who is a Frostblood, someone who controls ice. She gets captured, but then gets saved by people who she eventually gets used to and that's when things start to develop. 

         I liked the fantasy part of the book; magic and the power. But the other parts?.. It was kinda similar to most YA book plots. It was a bit predictable for me, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. I liked the both the MC's banters and comments to each other, it was pretty much the highlight of the book. I hoped there were more interactions between the characters and that they had more character into it (ha, pun intended). It took me a while to kind of get excited, but when it did, it was brief.
         I liked the arena part, it was the part in the book where things got interesting because there were a lot of things happening and action.
         Back to the topic of the fantasy part, the myths and the stories of where the Frostbloods and the Firebloods' magic came from appealed to me. Personally, I like reading tales from a backstory within books, it makes it much more interesting and the insight of how things started makes it easier to form an image and how the characters in the book got to where they were now; how things became that way and how their lives and culture changed because of that tale/myth they've been told growing up. For the most part, I genuinely did enjoy and didn't mind reading it. There were moments when it got to me, especially with this one event that happened and I may have shed a tear, but other than that, it wasn't enough to push me over the edge. It was consistent and easy to read, but it just didn't do much. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.
          Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who's into fantasy and the characters have unique powers and they save the world. 

The Orphan Queen, Book Review

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Rate: 3.5/5

Goodreads Summary:

Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne. She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.

Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.

Thoughts and Opinions:

          Before reading the series, I read all the novellas. I wanted to get a sense of how things started and how everything will play out. I was sort of confused with all the "wraith" talk and the things happening in the book. The novellas were about Black Knife and how his journey started. It gave me a background knowledge about The Nameless Girl as well. So when I finally read Orphan Queen, I couldn't help but feel like I'm part of a secret, a secret about knowing who Black Knife is and The Nameless Girl.
          To sum it up, this book is about a group of orphans who were trained with combat and the skills that you would want to have when living in the streets. Wil, the MC is trying to take back her kingdom and claim her rightful place as the Queen of Aecor, however, she and her Ospreys have a lot of groundwork laid out for them to do. As she spends more time in the Palace, she meets this vigilante named Black Knife. He goes out at night stopping glowmen ( people who are transformed by this drug called "firefly" or "shine" that temporarily make them feel what they want to feel, however, it is very addictive and it transforms them, thus creating glowmen). During her stay in the Palace and getting to know more behind the scenes of what's going on, Wil discovers that there's more to just simply reclaiming her kingdom, she has to take into account the wraith, a fog-like thing hovering over lands that cause destruction. The more magic is used, the more it attracts the wraith. Things get complicated and in the end, she has to make a decision that's different from what she was taught growing up. Thus creating more havoc and more action for us to find out.
          I loved loved loved this series. I've decided to start reading more sci-fi and adventure to expand my boundaries. I am glad I decided to choose this. Jodi Meadows did such an amazing job writing this book. The MC, Wilhelmina, in my opinion is a great character. She doesn't just sit and act pretty, she actually gets involved and do something. The story line is also quite interesting itself. It contains drama, romance and very cool magic abilities, it also doesn't hurt that it is hilarious and that the MCs have great sense of humour. It contains characters that you want to strangle because they make you mad, and there are moments where you're just like "I wonder what's happening in *insert character's name*'s mind". The ending, however is a cliff hanger, but that's a good thing the second book is out, because you would want to read it right away.

Who would I recommend it to?
          I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new sci-fi read. Like I said, this book has witty responses, banters, awkward moments and interesting things all in one.