Category: 4 star

4 star, YA

Review: Finale by Stephanie Garber

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Caraval #3

A love worth fighting for. A dream worth dying for. An ending worth waiting for.

It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist.

With lives, empires, and hearts hanging in the balance, Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend or a former enemy. After uncovering a secret that upends her life, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change and define him.

Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time—only those who will win, and those who will lose everything.

Welcome, welcome to Finale. All games must come to an end…

Finally we’ve made it to the end of this trilogy! In this exciting last installment, the confining boundaries of Caraval are left behind, and we are left to journey with the Dragna sisters as they work to battle the immortal Fates. What final secrets will be revealed and how will it all end? It all happens here! Both Andge and I agree the rating is about 4-4.5 for this book, and I will provide the detailed explanations below, as usual.

Finale is book 3 of the Caraval trilogy and follows both the POVs of Scarlett (book 1) and Donatella (book 2) as now they wander the capital city of Valenda as Legend is close to ascending the throne and now that the notorious immortal Fates have been released from their prison in the Deck of Destiny. Each sister tries to find her own way of battling the Fates (and their own fates!) as they delve deeper into magic than ever. As always magic always comes with a price, and will it be too high for the Dragna sisters to pay? What are they willing to give up to save their world?

As much as I love the first two books and experiencing Caraval twice, I’m glad this last book wasn’t Caraval #3, or that might have just been too much. Instead it was the battle of magic in the real world of Scarlett and Tella. Delving further into this fantastical world (and more of the background of Legend) was actually very satisfying for me, as his world of magic and the history between him and the Fates is really the crux of Caraval (after the games itself, of course!)

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4 star, YA

Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Six of Crows #1

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Okay, I know I know, I’m suuuper late to this party, but I’m glad I arrived – better late than never! But honestly I’m so glad Andge made me dive into this one, as I always love a good heist and boy was this a wild journey. Andge felt that this was more of a 3.5 Drink Me Potions for her, based on the hype around this series at her time of reading. I’m rating it a little higher at 4, since this particular story resonates more with my style. While I can’t speak for both of us, here is my review!

Six of Crows follows a motley crew of criminals, or at least sketchy individuals, as they embark on a seemingly impossible heist for a tantalizing amount of money. Each character brings their own unique set of skills to help in the heist, as well as a plethora of secrets that emerge around every bend. The story takes place over multiple POVs, and each chapter features a different character’s perspective. The author takes us on the whole journey, from forming the unlikely alliance all the way to the results of the heist, also giving intriguing and mysterious backstory along the way. Overall such a suspenseful and exciting adventure!

Easily my favourite element of this novel was the suspense of the heist. Yes, I expect the heist to be somewhat successful, or at least what story is there to write about? But the whole journey there, the twists, the turns, the betrayals, the betrayal betrayals, who knew what was going to happen? I thought I had a fairly good prediction of what I would see, yet I was still surprised at some elements, which is always a nice perk for me when reading any novel.

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4 star, YA

ARC Review: Don’t Breathe a Word by Jordyn Taylor

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Present Day:
Eva has never felt like she belonged… not in her own family or with her friends in New York City, and certainly not at a fancy boarding school like Hardwick Preparatory Academy. So when she is invited to join the Fives, an elite secret society, she jumps at the opportunity to finally be a part of something.

But what if the Fives are about more than just having the best parties and receiving special privileges from the school? What if they are also responsible for keeping some of Hardwick’s biggest secrets buried?

1962:
There is only one reason why Connie would volunteer to be one of the six students to participate in testing Hardwick’s nuclear fallout shelter: Craig Allenby. While the thought of nuclear war sends her into a panic, she can’t pass up the opportunity to spend four days locked in with the school’s golden boy. However, Connie and the other students quickly discover that there is more to this “test” than they previously thought. As they are forced to follow an escalating series of commands, Connie realizes that one wrong move could have dangerous consequences.

Separated by sixty years , Eva’s and Connie’s stories become inextricably intertwined as Eva unravels the mystery of how six students went into the fallout shelter all those years ago . . . but only five came out.

**Don’t Breathe a Word comes out May 18, 2021**

Thank you Edelweiss and HarperCollins for this copy in exchange for an honest review

Don’t Breathe a Word is another successful story that combines dual POVs across different timelines that mesh together in a compelling read. In the present day, Eva finds herself sent off to a private boarding school literally last minute (thanks, mean family). Trying to fit into a crowd that has grown up together since the fifth grade is super tough. Enter a group who IS willing to take her under their wing. Little does she know, this group functions more like a secret society than a regular bunch of friends. The question is, are they harmless or are they hiding something more sinister?

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