YA

Review: Deliverance by C.J. Redwine

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Defiance #3

deliverance -cj redwineEverything hangs in the balance, and nothing is certain: Rachel has been kidnapped by enemy forces and is being taken to Rowansmark while Logan, imprisoned and awaiting trial, is unable to leave Lankenshire. Separated from each other and their Baalboden comrades, each must find a way to achieve what they desperately want: to rid their world once and for all of the Commander and the tech that controls the deadly Cursed One.

Fighting through her pain and embracing the warrior she’s become, Rachel will do whatever it takes to escape her enemies’ clutches and join Logan in his fight. But when she learns a secret that changes everything, she realizes that escaping Ian and his tracker friends is no longer an option if she wants to save the people she loves. Instead, she’ll have to destroy Rowansmark from the inside out—if she can survive the journey through the Wasteland.

Logan needs allies if he wants to thwart Rowansmark’s power grab and rescue Rachel. But securing allies will mean betraying his beliefs and enlisting the help of the man he hates more than anyone: Commander Jason Chase. Driven by his fierce love for Rachel and his determination to make their world safe, Logan may be just the weapon the city-states need to defeat the Cursed One.

But as Rowansmark bears down and uneasy alliances are tested, will Rachel and Logan’s love for each other be enough to surmount the unbelievable odds against them?

 

2.5 Drink Me Potions

I don’t know why I thought the conclusion to the series would be any more exciting or action-packed. It most definitely never reached the amount of excitement I was expecting for a finale. Let me put my disappointment into perspective for you.

Logan and Rachel were separated at the end of the previous book, Deception. Logan’s POV is his constant pining away for her alternating with all his Worst Case Scenarios where his enemy the Commander is concerned. Rachel’s isn’t a whole lot better as she’s just basically a punching bag for those who’ve taken her. Especially the traitor that was alluded to in the previous novel. So she’s taking in all this physical and verbal abuse. Some crazy stuff about pain atonement and sacrifice necessary in order to right one’s honour. A bunch of BS if you ever asked me.

So that’s where the novel starts. These two scenarios. And basically these two scenarios continue along those same lines for like… the whole freaking book . It doesn’t matter where they each are, location wise. Inner monologue is the same. Logan’s trying to use the Commander and outsmart him once he knows his enemy’s gonna try to get rid of him. Rachel’s trying to outsmart her captors and even destroy anything that may cause Logan to lose his war against the city-state of Rowansmark.

All of Deliverance is also basically just travelling around the Wastelands. Logan and friends, plus the Commander tagging along, are moving around trying to build alliances to ensure a larger army against Rowansmark. Rachel and her captors are steadily moving towards Rowansmark. Once they’ve each done that, it’s practically the end of the book and that’s when “war” breaks loose.

And I do mean “war”. With the quotations.

For the epic climax of the series, this “war” wasn’t all that epic. The way their enemies were dealt with wasn’t all that satisfying either. Maybe I just have high expectations when it comes to how one’s mortal enemies are taken care of at the end of a long, strung-out battle of the wills (and physicality) that stretched over the span of a few books.

I suppose why I didn’t just DNF the series was simply due to the fact that it was an ebook that I read and I was feeling too lazy to flip through a hard copy novel at the time. Personality-wise, Rachel’s grown to understand healing requires opening oneself to vulnerability and feelings. She accepted that maintaining her humanity was worth the cost of the explosion of emotions that could assault her.

Plus, she had firsthand experience seeing what being consumed by revenge could do to someone when they blocked out everything but the darkness and silence inside of them. Too bad she came to this conclusion SO late into the series, considering this plot element started at the end of book 1.

All in all, Deliverance wasn’t the lowest of the low, but it sure didn’t have a whole lot going for it. Would I recommend this series as a whole? Or even just this one book?

The short answer? I dunno. It may just not work for me, but it seems it’s doing something semi-right with other readers. Either way, the journey Logan and Rachel took, both physically and emotionally, was one heck of a rollercoaster ride. I don’t regret going down this path with them, but I do wish that Redwine could make it more exciting and less angsty next time.

Overall Recommendation:
Deliverance doesn’t pack the proper punch for a series finale. With the usual slowness in plot development and hardly anything that was surprising to curb up the rating, it basically tied up all the loose ends in a predictable manner that ended mostly well for everyone. Logan and Rachel grew a lot, but I can’t say that it made up for the fact that they both just did a whole lot of travelling in this story (just like the last one – what does Redwine love about people walking ALL THE TIME in her stories?) with the same worried inner monologues wherever they went. I think a whole lot of things could’ve been tweaked for the better, but to be fair, it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t finish it. Not sure that’s much better of a recommendation, but it is what it is.

YA

Review: Deception by C.J. Redwine

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Defiance #2

deception -cj redwineBaalboden has been ravaged. The brutal Commander’s whereabouts are unknown. And Rachel, grief stricken over her father’s death, needs Logan more than ever. With their ragged group of survivors struggling to forge a future, it’s up to Logan to become the leader they need—with Rachel by his side. Under constant threat from rival Carrington’s army, who is after the device that controls the Cursed One, the group decides to abandon the ruins of their home and take their chances in the Wasteland.

But soon their problems intensify tenfold: someone—possibly inside their ranks—is sabotaging the survivors, picking them off one by one. The chaos and uncertainty of each day puts unbearable strain on Rachel and Logan, and it isn’t long before they feel their love splintering. Even worse, as it becomes clear that the Commander will stop at nothing to destroy them, the band of survivors begins to question whether the price of freedom may be too great—and whether, hunted by their enemies and the murderous traitor in their midst, they can make it out of the Wasteland alive.

In this daring sequel to Defiance, with the world they once loved forever destroyed, Rachel and Logan must decide between a life on the run and standing their ground to fight.

 

2.5 Drink Me Potions

If I could summarize Deception in one word, it’d definitely be angsty. Chalked full of Rachel’s spiraling darkness as she succumbs to the silence inside of her. Now normally I don’t mind a story focused on getting through the dark times in order to become a stronger person. But I swear every time it’s her POV, it’s just so annoying . It doesn’t stop!

The story is a fairly simplistic one. Maybe too simplistic, actually. It starts right where we left off in Defiance. For the most part, the plot’s all about travelling through the Wastelands to another city-state after the destruction of their home, Baalboden. The only excitement from the endless walking, people complaining and Rachel’s endless thirst for revenge stems from the mysterious entity that’s testing Logan and hurting his people as they travel. I’m always in for a good mystery element in a story, and I think this was the only thing that saved Deception from completely dying in my eyes.

Anyway, Rachel was cutting herself off from anyone, especially Logan, as her need for vengeance against the Commander continues to grow. But her inner monologue doesn’t really suck because of this one thing. Oh no, it’s also due to her own self hatred. How could she have done such a horrible thing at the end of Defiance? How can she live with her actions and seeing the consequences of it? How can she continue on feeling anything after losing her father and Oliver? It didn’t matter that Logan was hurting from what happened as well. She wanted to cut herself off from everything, including him.

Half the time while I was reading, I wanted to just knock some sense into her head. Maybe denying herself from the horrible feelings welling up inside her was a temporary relief, but it was making her very unstable. And frankly, a not-so-nice person to follow around in her head. I’m not sure how Logan could even stand the way she was.

Though I suppose he did have bigger problems to deal with…

Logan continues to become a better protagonist in my opinion. I love his POV, and not just because they seem so much better in comparison to Rachel’s. He’s such a strong character, even before all the events of the previous book occurred. His background story was never pleasant but seeing him taking responsibility for so many people way older than him – he’s only 19 after all – and doing his very best to become the leader he never expected to be was amazing. I loved the gradual change and growth in him through all the craziness that occurred from the mysterious enemy tracking them. Which by the way, its identity completely took me off guard even though in hindsight it also made 100% sense.

Without giving away too much, the last bit of the story really picks up for the finale of the series. Meeting new characters and a surprising twist, I will at least say that Deception does know how to end well. If only the rest of the story could have matched this faster pacing and plot development.

Or cut out most of Rachel’s parts of the story.

Overall Recommendation:
C.J. Redwine’s Deception falls flat from expectations. And I can completely pinpoint its failings on Rachel. Her constant ramblings about revenge and the way she cut herself off from ALL feelings made her overall struggle to regain her humanity a very hard thing swallow as a whole without getting completely exasperated. That was already really bad, but the plot was a little too slow, stuck on their journey across the Wastelands. The one thing I enjoyed was the element of surprise as some mysterious enemy was methodically killing off Logan’s people as they travelled. Overall, it suffered greatly from Middle Book Syndrome, but the ending was worth it, wracking up suspense for the conclusion of the series.

YA

Review: The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: The Impostor Queen #1

the impostor queen -sarah fineSixteen-year-old Elli was only a child when the Elders of Kupari chose her to succeed the Valtia, the queen who wields infinitely powerful ice and fire magic in service of her people. The only life Elli has known has been in the temple, surrounded by luxury, tutored by magic-wielding priests, preparing for the day when the queen perishes—and the ice and fire find a new home in Elli, who is prophesied to be the most powerful Valtia to ever rule.

But when the queen dies defending the kingdom from invading warriors, the magic doesn’t enter Elli. It’s nowhere to be found.

Disgraced, Elli flees to the outlands, home of banished criminals—some who would love to see the temple burn with all its priests inside. As she finds her footing in this new world, Elli uncovers devastating new information about the Kupari magic, those who wield it, and the prophecy that foretold her destiny. Torn between her love for her people and her growing loyalty to the banished, Elli struggles to understand the true role she was meant to play. But as war looms, she must choose the right side before the kingdom and its magic are completely destroyed.

3 Drink Me Potions

“Our lives aren’t ours, darling. We are only the caretakers of this magic. They call us queens, but what we really are is servants.”


The Impostor Queen was surprisingly borderline entertaining to me. I had higher hopes for it, but I shall do my best to break down what I enjoyed and what potentially gave me pause.

The world building was uniquely done, albeit a bit vague in certain areas.What? you may ask. I’ll clarify what I mean in a second.

The Kupari people have a queen – known as the Valtia – that has an unequaled power in all the realm. It’s made of a balance of both fire and ice magic. When she dies, this strong magic doesn’t fade from existence with her. Oh no, it transfers to another girl, thus making her the next Valtia.

The whole idea of the Valtia and the way fire and ice magic exists in varying quantities (whether balanced or not) among the peoples was very interesting. Different and, at least to my knowledge of books, not very overdone in the YA genre. Fine does a great job of going into detail about fire wielders and ice wielders, and what happens when they are unbalanced with a whole lot more of one type of magic.

But here’s where the vague part comes in. The magic element is ALL that Fine focuses on. Yes, it takes up a huge part of the plot and it makes sense to explore this part of her world, but whenever there’s a pretty map drawn out of the world with other places marked on it, well it’s just natural to want to hear about those others places too, right? But oh no, none of those places were really mentioned beyond in passing. And nearer to the end, there are certain questions brought to light about magic that just fizzled into nothing before answering them. I’m not sure if they’re planned to be answered in the sequel, but since I don’t feel very strongly for this novel, I’m not too picky about it.

I think you can already tell that this review’s starting to take a bit more of a sour note. I will start with the characters.

Elli, the protagonist, initially frustrated me to no end. She was naive, spoiled and sheltered. Her curiosity about magic and her future role as the Valtia was understandable, but something about her just grated on my nerves. I’m glad she grows as the story progresses. As she learns to fend for herself for the first time in her life outside of the temple, I rejoiced with her in her tiny victories. And I do mean tiny victories. From learning to wear a dress to grating corn to sewing worn through clothes, she bore each new task with a tired but triumphant smile. This was the kinda girl I could stand behind.

Then there was the love interest. Fine downplays it a lot, and never once does she ever voices it out for what it is, but Elli’s first love was her handmaiden, Mim. I’ve never read a book with a bisexual main character so it was a different experience. Fine doesn’t let it define Elli, for which I’m glad. She’s more than who she may be attracted to. Anyway, Mim’s not even the real love interest anyway.

Enter Oskar. Oh, Oskar. He barreled into the book right where I was starting to get exhausted with the slow pacing of it all. Talk about perfect timing. He’s similar to a lot of male leads of fantasy stories such as this. He’s brave, strong but honorable. So of course I really liked him, maybe even more so than Elli.

Their romance wasn’t fast, yet it was also rather slow. I don’t necessarily enjoy insta-love attraction, but this slow burn was a little TOO slow. Like it took forever to boil over and be ready. I almost couldn’t comprehend their passion for each other near the end since I hardly FELT the heat between them. Sure, there can be compassion but that’s a different thing. Over time they started trusting each other with their secrets. But the depths of their “love” didn’t quite hit me.

Don’t get me wrong. I still liked Oskar and Elli together. I think they truly do balance each other out (haha, that’s a reference joke), but a romance is always more enjoyable when I feel the intensity of it like it’s pressing into my own heart.

Oskar was also more than just the “love interest”. He’s cooler than that. He’s also special in his own way – of which I can’t tell you without ruining some things. And he’s not the only one. As these special characters’ lives collide together due to the events happening, things get slightly more exciting knowing that their destinies were fated in the stars long before they were anything more than dust and ash. If this gets your heart racing at the sound of it…..well, I hate to ruin your excitement, but it takes a while to get to this point in the book.

As I mentioned quickly in the above, the pacing was slooooowwwww. The first several chapters are pretty much expected due to the synopsis. On one hand, this made the world building a little more easily understood as it gave it time to explain itself a bit more, but it could also bore you out before you even got to the good parts.

The plot is only saved when things really start packing heat (and ice!) right near the climax of the story. Unfortunately, that means the story ends with not-quite a cliffhanger, but many questions and major plotlines still left hanging unresolved. It’s good there’s gonna be a sequel, but I’m not sure how I feel that Elli and Oskar aren’t going to be playing major roles. All in all, The Impostor Queen wasn’t as great as my initial expectations had elevated it, but its unique premise makes up a bit for it.

Overall Recommendation:
The Impostor Queen packed a punch with its world of fire and ice magic, and those that are fated to wield such power. Elli was set to inherit the strongest of such power, but when things somehow go awry, she had to learn to deal with a world that literally just turned upside down on her. I initially disliked her a bit, but her growth in self confidence and power in her own way redeemed her in my eyes. With a male lead and love interest that’s equally (if not more) interesting to see grow and develop, I think these characters help make up for the slow pacing. Great powers are rising as this world created by Fine comes to the brink of war. There’s a lot of potential for greatness. This grain of greatness starts here in The Impostor Queen and hopefully it’ll bloom into something more breathtaking in the next one. If you can keep this bigger picture in mind, I think it’ll make the reading of it go by faster