Category: YA

YA

Review: Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Daughter of the Pirate King #1

daughter of the pirate king -tricia levensellerThere will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I’ve gotten what I came for.

Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.

More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden.

But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.

 

3.5 Drink Me Potions

Daughter of the Pirate King is lighthearted and refreshing in a genre where there are way too many darker books and not enough pirates! It surely stands out, in a good way.

I was recommended this book after reading another review, and was very excited to get to it. Like a Captain Jack Sparrow book but for the YA audience, huh? Definitely sounds intriguing. And Captain Alosa is as intriguing as they come. She’s no damsel in distress, captaining her own crew of mostly young women amidst a world that has always been more male-dominant. She holds her own and she’s smart as they come. Of course, she knows that as she’s the daughter of the ruthless pirate king of the seas.

This whole story centres on her search for a 1/3 of a treasure map (of course, that’s what pirates love, don’t they?). It takes her on a course where she’s locked up in another pirate lord’s brig, but on purpose! Things get quite exciting when there’s a dashingly handsome first mate on board as well, who happens to be the captain’s younger brother.

The excitement of the seas and the exploits Alosa goes on weren’t as fast-paced as I had originally thought it would’ve been. It lagged a bit in the middle, considering she could only search a little bit at a time during the shadows of night so as not to alert suspicions about her intentions on being on board. But I suppose the intrigue of pirates and Alosa’s narrative voice kept me flipping intently. There’s also a twist, if you can call it that, that occurs later in the book, but if you really paid attention earlier, it’s not so much of a surprise. That particularly tidbit gave the story a little bit of a bigger push with its potential in driving the story, but it would seem that more of the excitement might be left for the sequel.

The romance, however, was fun. Riden and Alosa flirted with each other all the time. Like elementary school kids. If by flirting you meant by making fun of each other, which is the equivalent to throwing sand at the boy you liked in the playground. They kept trying to best each other, but at the heart of it, they seemed to care for one another even if they didn’t want to initially admit it. Beyond the fun of piracy and the excitement that comes with sailing the open seas looking for treasure and a good ol’ fight, this romance completed the trifecta that made the story interesting enough.

I suppose the lower than best rating would come from highly inflated expectations, but Daughter of the Pirate King does deliver on what its synopsis promises. Adventure, action, some romance and a good ol’ treasure (map) hunt.

Overall Recommendation:
Daughter of the Pirate King reminded me of why pirate stories were so popular. Lighthearted but filled with action, Alosa is a strong character to take up arms with as she navigates a man’s world among the pirates. Destined for more, she still finds it in herself to be fair and to overcome the challenges on her mission for a treasure map. Equally unique is the first mate who captures her interest and his interactions with the future pirate queen. With an added twist that may or may not surprise you later, this book is just what the YA genre needed.

YA

Review: The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Hagenheim #6

the golden braid -melanie dickersonThe one who needs rescuing isn’t always the one in the tower.

Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man around. And her skills as an artist rival those of any artist she’s met. But for a woman in medieval times, the one skill she most desires is the hardest one to obtain: the ability to read.

After yet another young man asks for Rapunzel’s hand in marriage, Mother decides they need to move once again, but this time to a larger city. Rapunzel’s heart soars—surely there she can fulfill her dream. But Mother won’t let her close to a man. She claims that no man can be trusted.

After being rescued by a knight on the road to the city, and in turn rescuing him farther down the road, Rapunzel’s opportunity arrives at last. This knight, Sir Gerek, agrees to educate Rapunzel in order to pay back his debt. She just has to put up with his arrogant nature and single-minded focus on riches and prestige.

But this Rapunzel story is unlike any other and the mystery that she uncovers will change everything—except her happily ever after.

 

3 Drink Me Potions

The Golden Braid brings to life an interesting re-telling of Rapunzel with a Christian twist that fits well with the characters and themes we already enjoy in the world of Hagenheim, and tacks on another good moral for the readers to mull over.

Set partially concurrently with the events of the previous book in this series, The Princess Spy, the next installment in Dickerson’s Hagenheim books met all the expectations that I’ve come to have for her and her novels. Rapunzel, with her name actually sticking to Rapunzel oddly enough, was a very shy girl sheltered from the world by an overbearing mother who could be seen right from the beginning to have more than one side than the one she showed her daughter. She was afraid of all men for fear of becoming entrapped in their lies and being left alone to take care of a babe out of wedlock.

The comes along the hero of the story, Sir Gerek, who is actually quite arrogant. I didn’t think he’d be as prideful as the synopsis depicted him, but he set on marrying a wealthy widow just to prove to himself that he can and does deserve such riches. His interactions with Rapunzel initially didn’t capture too much of my intention as the pace was slow around this point.

It wasn’t until more towards the middle of the book that everything picks up more. We see how the storyline with Margaretha from the previous novel intersects with Rapunzel’s story, and the aftermath of those events in her POV. I rather enjoyed the character development, particularly in Sir Gerek. It was humbling to see the two of them learn to put the other first, and above all, God at the top. The big “plot twist”, although it might not have been meant to be such a surprise, was very predictable. As soon as both points were mentioned in the book, you’d so easily connect the dots way before anyone else does, especially if you know the story of Rapunzel well.

Although predictable and occasionally slow, The Golden Braid is another example of combining Christian elements with a fairy tale we find very familiar. Dickerson continues to write in a manner that’s consistent with my expectations, but maybe one of these days, I hope to be surprised by her to bring up a rating.

Overall Recommendation:
The Golden Braid brings readers a re-telling of Rapunzel in the land of Hagenheim. With wonderful continuity with the previous novels of the series, Rapunzel’s story fits extremely well with what happened in an earlier novel. Rapunzel and Sir Gerek’s character development turned them from slightly irritating people to stronger people with better goals in life. Fitting with my expectations from Dickerson these days, I found myself mildly entertained by the book as it’s not meant to be unpredictable but rather a pleasantly familiar journey to walk through on a lazy afternoon (or night).

YA

Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

before i fall -lauren oliverWith this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today’s foremost authors of young adult fiction. Like Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why and Gayle Forman’s If I Stay, Before I Fall raises thought-provoking questions about love, death, and how one person’s life can affect so many others.

For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—”Cupid Day”—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.

However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.

 

3.5 Drink Me Potions

Before I Fall definitely has that extra something that propelled it into fame when it was first published, where at the heart of it is a girl who learns more about herself and others in death than maybe she ever did in life.

I will be honest with you. I had many chances over the years to read Lauren Oliver’s debut but there was something that always made me hesitant to pick it up. In lieu of the movie that was released not too long ago, I thought it was finally time to do it.

And frankly? I wasn’t disappointed. But at the same time, it was exactly what I thought it would be like and why I was always hesitant in reading it.

Sam Kingston is no nice girl. Not like Mean Girls where the protagonist just kinda fell into the machinations of the popular group but she thrived in this setting for so long. The way she acted towards those she deemed not part of her group, she didn’t think twice about laughing it up with her besties. Now, those girls were all sorts of messed up too. Lindsay’s your typical alpha, although the others seemed to have more say than other stereotypical cliques. Ally isn’t particularly bright but rich, and Elody just seems desperate with the boys. The book is broken down into 7 parts aka 7 repeats of Sam’s last day. The first day was dreadfully long, although I understood the necessity of setting the foundation of what the original day was like.

If the slow pacing wasn’t a killer to get through in the beginning, Sam’s attitude was just a huge turn-off. From wanting to just get it over with, she submits to her unworthy boyfriend Rob to lose her V card that night, to being completely rotten to sophomores and her childhood friend Kent who just wasn’t cool enough for her now. Honestly, I wanted to tell Sam to cut it out half the time.

As the story progresses, I will say that Sam’s character development does slowly change, and at a proper pace. She doesn’t miraculously decide to become an angel after the first time she re-woke on Valentine’s day again. It took looking at these different “days” from different perspectives to start to grasp just how little she really saw of her world. Her classmates’ lives weren’t as simple as she thought they were, or how absent she’d become in her own family. I really enjoyed that part.

It’s a good story when you start feeling for your characters. Even the horrid ones. Although Sam’s group of friends don’t technically change from each rewind, you still see beyond the stereotypical mean girl persona they put up. Each one has their own story and struggles that they hide behind their popular status at school. Everyone had their own fears. And at the heart of it all, Sam was trying to figure out how to move on (or was this how the afterlife should be?).

I will say the friendships and Sam’s strong narrative held the story. Each day and rewind got better. She became braver and less selfish (slightly). She started understanding what her actions led to, and how things should’ve been while she was alive. Even though it took a while, I couldn’t hate Sam even at the start. She wasn’t nice and she wasn’t someone I connected with at first, but I understood she was human and she had her own insecurities, though I’m not condoning how she put down others to lift herself up. I even understood why Sam couldn’t hate her friends after seeing what their summed up actions could lead to in others’ lives. That’s a marker of a true story that resonates with the audience. When you can’t even hate these two-dimensional fictional characters because they’re real enough to you, and you get that people make mistakes, albeit some worse than others.

The romance, if you can even quite call it that, was bittersweet. It’s a part of why I dreaded reading this novel. She finally got to the point where you know that she’s a better person ’cause of the days and moments that passed, but no one remembers it but her after each rewind. Her sweet moments with Kent were erased each time, and of course, she couldn’t stay like this forever. She couldn’t spend more time with her family, or truly find a love that would last. Her moments were now limited to just the one day, repeatedly. And hopefully, that wouldn’t be the sum of her afterlife.

Everything wraps up the way you would think it would/should. It’s as bittersweet as I predicted, but at the end of the day, I can see why it got so popular and won awards, even optioned for a movie. The beauty lay in Sam’s transformation and the everyday lessons she learned along the way. And at the heart of it, it was about friendship and family, and not knowing when that last day will be.

Overall Recommendation:
Before I Fall is everything as I imagined it would be ever since it first came out. Poignant and bittersweet, it follows Sam’s story as she navigates the last day of her life over and over again, picking up on the consequences of her actions and how things didn’t have to be the way it was if only she had made different choices and saw things differently. With a romance that doesn’t take away from the main story, ultimately we get to follow Sam’s journey as she tackles final moments with friends and family in order to move on. It’s a story that transverses the contemporary YA boundary and should resonate in some way with readers.