arc – Page 40 – Down the Rabbit Hole

Review: The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins

September 13, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Eurona #1

Kill the beast. Win the girl.

A strange beast stirs fear in the kingdom of Lochlanach, terrorizing towns with its brutality and hunger. In an act of desperation, a proclamation is sent to all of Eurona—kill the creature and win the ultimate prize: the daughter of King Lochson’s hand in marriage.

Princess Aerity understands her duty to the kingdom though it pains her to imagine marrying a stranger. It would be foolish to set her sights on any particular man in the great hunt, but when a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention, there’s no denying the unspoken lure between them…or his mysterious resentment.

Paxton is not keen on marriage. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He’s determined to keep his focus on the task at hand—ridding the kingdom of the beast and protecting his family—yet Princess Aerity continues to challenge his notions with her unpredictability and charm. But as past secrets collide with present desires, dire choices threaten everything Paxton holds dear.

Inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ tale, “The Singing Bone,” New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins delivers a dark fantasy filled with rugged hunters, romantic tension, outlawed magic, and a princess willing to risk all to save her people.

4.5 Drink Me Potions

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

**The Great Hunt comes out on March 8, 2016**

I just gobbled this story up as fast as I could. There are so many things to love about The Great Hunt, but mostly it lies with Higgins’ beautiful descriptions of the land of Eurona as well as her amazingly real characters.

The story starts off a little slow, I will admit. From the synopsis, you already know that Princess Aerity’s hand will be given to whoever can kill the beast that has laid waste to the kingdom of Lochlanach. It just takes a long while for the plot to catch up to that point as the setting of the tale doesn’t immediately begin from there. That was where my impatience grew. However, that is the ONLY complaint I have with it.

Here is what made the story come alive to me (and hopefully to you too).

The chills from the very beginning
Right on the first page, the setting is beautifully told. Imagine a nice night out on the docks with your beloved. It’s the perfect place to be together and away from prying eyes. Nothing can destroy this beautiful moment.

But it does.

The roars of a beast, one that no one can fathom with their own eyes as it looks like nothing anyone has ever seen before — or at least, no one survived to tell the tale if they did.

The cries of the couple. The desperation to get away and keep your beloved safe.

The eventual relief that it left you alone. And the unspeakable, bone-chilling horror that the monster has taken from you the greatest thing possible.

I mean, doesn’t that just set the mood? There’s something wild and dangerous out there, and no one’s safe. I could feel the desperation of the royal family, especially the king, as they had to decide on what they could POSSIBLY do to stop such a monstrosity.

And if that wasn’t enough to get your heart racing, the characters may just do you in.

The very personal connection with many characters
First of all, let me tell you. There are absolutely TONS of characters in The Great Hunt. At first, it was hard to track down who was who in the royal family, and what kingdom was what (thank goodness there was some sort of index for that). But it speaks to how 3rd person writing – which is rather rare these days in YA – can sometimes drive an even greater connection between the reader and the characters that live in this world. You don’t always need an “I” in a story to gain that personal touch/perspective.

So having this ability to follow along several key characters’ perspectives and thoughts, it made it easy to empathize and understand their situation, even when other characters couldn’t understand why so-and-so wouldn’t act the way they wanted them to.

Along with connecting with characters, it was a testament of good writing when you can introduce so many different “nationalities” of people from other kingdoms that make up Eurona as they join in on the hunt for the beast. From fierce warrior women (yay! who says only men can fight?) to people I picture as Vikings with their broad chests and long beards, wearing fur-everything. Each group of people were unique, but so were individuals.

In particular, a few characters just held my heart. I don’t normally fangirl much over love interests….but oh my.

Paxton is just. Perfection.

He’s not necessarily a bad boy character. He has his reasons for what he does, which I will allow you to figure out on your own (although it was fairly obvious once you read some key pieces of information earlier in the novel). He loves his younger brother dearly and would do whatever it takes to protect him. He may act indifferent and downright rude at times, but from knowing his perspective, it’s not his fault he chooses to do so. My heartstrings are just yanking at their ends for the unfairness of it all for him.

If I have fallen for him, you can imagine how crazy it is for Aerity as she notices these very things as well. The underlying attraction and tension between the two of them is….I just have no words. It gets hot . Not with too many physical things going on, but I mean, if you were standing there beside those two, you would definitely feel that tension going on. It was palpable. I don’t know how Aerity’s cousin Wyn could stand to be with those two for long without blushing red FOR them.

As for Aerity, she was a decent heroine. She didn’t want to go forward with the marriage deal in exchange for a dead beast. I guess I could understand that. What if an old fart kills the darn thing and she has to marry him and….?

But she braved through it. Kingdom first, after all. Good, Princess.

She loved her siblings and her cousins more than anything. She had that kind spirit and heart for those in need, even for someone as unpleasant as Paxton was.

Wyn’s storyline didn’t convince me as much. I don’t know how other readers will view it, but I prefer her strong and not in need of some man to help her and bring her out of the darkness that was unfortunately dealt to her. Oh, and I might be biased, but I think if there has to be some guy in her life, I’d prefer it to be the good lieutenant Harrison. Just throwing it out there.

There was one person that I don’t particularly like. Or at least, I’m unsure of how to view him. He’s not necessarily bad, but he also holds views that make me want to slap him and tell him he’s not good enough for anyone. And according to Higgins’ website, only crazier things are in store for this character. ~~I hope he dies in book two~~ Let’s just say I’m suspicious of him ’cause I can’t get a good read on his character…

I must say, the ending was not altogether unexpected, but it’s driving me crazy that the wait is that much longer for me. I hope you enjoy the read as I have, and I am impatiently awaiting the next and last installment of this duology.

Overall Recommendation:
Told in third person, Higgins delivers a beautiful tale of sacrifice, love and courage. A great monstrosity is terrorizing the land of Lochlanach and this brings great warriors from far and wide to help defeat it in exchange for Aerity’s hand. With an amazing cast of central characters, especially my dear favourite Paxton, their perspectives and stories draw you in as you dive into their lives and understand what’s at stake for each of them. Full of action and magical intrigue as something darker is looming in the horizon, The Great Hunt is a fantastic read that can put a smile on my face and break my heart at the same time. A definite recommendation.

Review: Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis

August 30, 2015August 31, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it’s hard to escape it. So when a group of men show up at her house uninvited, she assumes it’s just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired.

Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi’s vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word and her brothers are dead.

Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home-a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers’ survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back?

Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Wild Swans strings the heart of the classic with a stunning, imaginative world as a star-crossed family fights for survival in this companion to Stitching Snow.

4 Drink Me Potions

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney Book Group for this copy in exchange for an honest review

**Spinning Starlight comes out on October 6, 2015**

Can I first just say that I absolutely adored this book? Oh, and that TITLE along with the cover? Just. Gorgeous.

For an adaptation and fairy tale retelling of a story that’s not as famous as some others, Lewis did a fantastic – no, a SPECTACULAR – job of spinning out Hans Christian Andersen’s The Wild Swans in her own way. And going into this, I had not read her previous novel, Stitching Snow, but I think I may have to after seeing the remarkable way she spins a tale. (Yes, I’m really going all out with the word spin here.)

Liddi initially impressed me as some spoiled girl who lived in the spotlight because her family’s big and rich in this interplanetary kingdom. She went to parties, had media following her around everywhere and a house (with a talking operating system as her friend) to herself. But that was just initially, which lasted all of maybe ten seconds. It was immediately apparent that she was none of these things. She hated the paparazzi. She never asked for the attention that came with being born into the Jantzen family, and there was so much pressure to live up to that name and the glory of each and every single one of her 8 big brothers.

Now, the tech speak and the physics of things went beyond me. That’s not my specialty. At all. But the feeling of isolation and the need to create something technological to impress the world WAS understandable. Lewis didn’t immediately make it clear what this world was exactly. It was maybe revealed in the odd sentence here and there. For example, the world is called Seven Points. What’s that supposed to mean? Okay, 7 planets as each individual points? That makes sense. Wait, what are they each called? What is the one she’s on? Is there something special about each one?

Okay, the answers slowly piled in but it took a while to understand it. There was no information dump at all, which is a blessing and curse at the same time. It took more effort on my part to get into the story in the beginning when I was confused with half of what was going on and the terminology that was being thrown around. So maybe a little information dump, more like an information pile, would have been appreciated. That’s my only complaint.

From there, danger dropped onto Liddi and the story unfolded a little slow. Who was the bad guy? Where were her brothers? If you knew of The Wild Swans, you’re just waiting for the pieces to start falling together.

But the wait was worth it. Once Liddi lost her voice and the whole evil plot involving her brothers was laid out, it was better than I thought it could be. A surprising twist there, new characters there, it took me on a wild ride indeed. It was absolutely genius in mixing this tale with sci-fi aspects like portal travelling and being trapped in a hyperdimensional state, not fully in the physical world but not fully out of it either.

Lewis put her own mark on Andersen’s basic plot and really made it her own. I want to say so much more about plot things, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise of just what they are so that limits it.

What I will say is that I didn’t think it was possible to enjoy a book that contained more descriptive writing than dialogue. It wasn’t possible for that if Liddi couldn’t speak. We were just constantly in her head, reading her thoughts and her emotions. The anxieties of time limiting her and the constant fear for her brothers’ safety. Her memories and flashbacks to her past when more of her brothers lived at home with her and when her parents were still alive. There was so much GOOD content and it was written well. It had to be or else all these monologues would just get beyond tiring. It’s an easy trap to fall into and I can’t stress enough how well Lewis did to keep me interested.

And the relationships. Oh my, the feels! There was so much love for her brothers, each and every one of them. It was clear she would do absolutely ANYTHING for them. Come on, there are EIGHT brothers. That’s a lot of people to love, but the flashbacks really helped us understand their relationship with her and how much they all loved and wanted to protect their baby sister, no matter what. There was also a romantic sort of love as well, which didn’t get my heart racing as much as other books may, but it was the sweet kind of love that is reminiscent and suiting for fairy tales. So I’m definitely not complaining.

The ending was not what I expected, but that’s not to say it wasn’t good either. And it was summed up in a quote that I must put down here, which is a testament of how relateable Liddi’s character can be to anyone who reads Spinning Starlight.

“Some journeys can only be made once. Some partings aren’t what they seem. Some endings must be so something else can begin.”

And with that thought hanging on the mind, so did the story end as well.

Overall Recommendation:
Spinning Starlight was a beautifully written prose and modern adaptation of The Wild Swans. With a protagonist who was mute, the writing did centre more on the inner monologue in Liddi’s head than dialogue with others, but that in itself was done so well that it didn’t feel like it dragged the story. It enhanced it. Mixing the old fairy tale with new sci-fi elements and tech speak, it may get confusing in the beginning but I definitely recommend you check out this clever and gorgeous retelling for yourself. I don’t think it would disappoint.

Review: The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling

August 23, 2015August 31, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

When Kat accidentally rips apart an old picture book, she’s magically transported into the world of Cinderella–as Katriona, one of the ugly stepsisters!

Life turns upside down now that she’s a highborn lady and must learn how to survive the social season, including how to get through the door in a huge metal hoop skirt. To get back, she’ll have to complete the story, right to the end of happily ever after.

But the odds are huge: the other stepsister is drop-dead gorgeous, the fairy godmother is nowhere to be found, and the prince, despite being insanely hot, openly dislikes balls. Can she ever return to the modern world?

4 Drink Me Potions

Thank you Xpresso Book Tours and Giselle for the copy in exchange for an honest review

Now, who doesn’t love a good fairy tale retelling? I sure love ’em, and it’s clear that author Aya Ling does too (and that’s not just because I read her exact words describing this in the Acknowledgements –which yes, I do read too). She provided a beautiful backdrop in Cinderella land for The Ugly Stepsister.

The story jumps right to it. Our protagonist Kat is terribly shy with boys and loves to just hide in her room with a good book in hand rather than party it up like the other girls at school. Now why does that sound so familiar?

Oh right. That’s ’cause I can totally relate to that when I was around that age. As I’m sure many other readers out there can also relate to that sentiment.

Anyway, there was an immediate understanding and bond with Kat which made me like her all the more. Soon after, she falls into a completely crazy world of fairy land, but nothing seems to be working right. How does one find a fairy godmother? What’s with all these corsets? And what? The other stepsister is NOT ugly? How can that be? Kat has a lot on her hands to get the story going so that the prince would fall for Cinderella in this tale. Oh, and not to mention, all these crazy antics are pure hilarious entertainment for the goblins that had cursed Kat to this fate.

I loved a whole lot of this book. Kat had to go through a lot to first just even understand how this old historical-like kingdom system worked. And then to do it all alone, with barely any help from the goblin intermediate that would pop up in her room at night occasionally to just ask for progress. She was strong and through it all, it pushed her out of her comfort zone. Talking to hot guys? Check. Facing down lords and other royalty while trying to not completely make a fool of herself? Check. Having to live with a horrible mother who only cared to find Kat a suitor? Check.

It was slow towards the middle, I will admit. I felt Ling didn’t have to drag the plot out so much with all the horrid parties Kat had to attend in order to “find an appropriate suitor”. And man, her awful sister! Did I want to strangle that girl sometimes? And this was coming from the point of view as the sister and NOT as Cinderella? That says a lot how much I hated her.

But overall, the story brought out a lot of greatness. Kat was an amazing girl. She fought hard for things in this kingdom that mattered only in her “normal” modern day life. It didn’t matter that she kept telling herself at night that these people were only just characters in a book. She was living it and these people mattered to her regardless. Haven’t you ever felt that way about characters in a book before?

And the romance . Oh my goodness. Prince Edward was swoon-worthy (of course!). What kind of Cinderella retelling would it be without a gorgeous prince? But he wasn’t just a face. He cared about things that other high ranking nobles didn’t. His cousin was just as amazing, choosing a profession that helped the common people. It’s always good in a book to enjoy the PERSONALITIES of the hot guys the protagonist is vying for.

Alas, the ending melted me. It absolutely did. I won’t say much beyond that so it wouldn’t ruin a thing, but it did make sense from a writing point. I loved it; it was ingenious of course. But it was definitely bittersweet as well.

Overall Recommendation:
The Ugly Stepsister is not just some fairy tale retelling. There are so many of those already, aren’t there? It’s a beautiful twist of possibly the greatest classic fairy tale, and it contains such remarkable elements. With immense detail into what life would be like in Cinderella’s kingdom, and a protagonist with such strong convictions to get home, this story leaves you cheering for Kat to finish the fairy tale story and crying with her when things go so horribly wrong. I love fairy tale retellings and this definitely made it to the list of books I thoroughly enjoyed.