4 Star

Audiobook Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

March 5, 2018 Leave a Comment

8 hours 39 minutes| Hachette Audio | Fantasy | 1/02/18

Jude and her twin sister Taryn were taken from the mortal world as children by their mother’s vindictive ex-husband and raised within the gentry of the Faerie world, where they have always been seen as outsiders especially by Cardan–youngest prince of Faerie–who delights in torturing them. Jude has had enough of being a victim and is ready to show she deserves a place in the Faerie courts. Her ambition gets her mixed up in a world of espionage, power plays, violence and oh so many plot twists.

I just ate this story up, which is saying something because I am def not the ideal reader for a book like this. I have always struggled with fantasy and have no base for Faerie mythology, but Holly Black draws the world so vividly I was able to put most of it together and quickly learn the rules of Faerie, If you like lush descriptions of fantastical beasts, clothes and greenery this is your book.

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The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice and Virture by Mackenzi Lee

December 30, 2017 Leave a Comment

10 hours 47 minutes | Harper Audio | Historical/Fantasy | 06/27/2017

In The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice and Virtue an all around scoundrel is about to embark on a dangerous high stakes road trip to self discovery. It’s hard out there for a YA historical to top the YA bestseller list (I mean except for Ruta Sepetys and just reading the synopsis of her books makes me sad) and I think what helps this book stand out is it’s outstanding originality,

The book is primarily told in a semi-anarchistic self deprecating tone that emanates from our narrator, Henry “Monty” Montague. Monty is about to embark on his Grand Tour, where he plans to spend the year drinking and partying, all while trying to keep the fact that he is madly in love with his best friend a secret.

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Audiobook Review: Gem and Dixie by Sara Zaar

September 10, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: 04/04/17 | Contemporary | 5 hours 45 minutes | Balzer + Bray

I’ve had this book on my radar since I saw Sarah Dessen was just gushing out it on Twitter late last year. It’s the 7th book from veteran YA author Sara Zaar and tells the story of the titular Seattle sisters who grew up with neglectful parents that never wanted to grow up. The sisters have always looked out for each other but when Dixie, the younger, more social sister, enters high school with Gem, the introverted, quiet sister it brings a new strain to their relationships.

This is a short, slice of life novel that I think is what the cool kids call quiet YA. It reminded me a lot of the early 90’s contemporary YA I used to read in high school. While there is a game changer plot point about 50% and they go on an adventure for most of the book you’re just kind of along for the ride, watching their life play out as they manage their mother and responsibilities.

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Audiobook Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

June 11, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: September 9th 2014

Audiobook Hours: 10 hours and 41 minutes
Genre: Literary….Science Fiction ?
Publisher: Random House Audio

I feel like three years ago you couldn’t trip anywhere in the book-sphere without falling into this book. Station Eleven is the fascinating and deeply haunting story of what happens after a flu epidemic kills 99% of the Earth’s population and infrastructure collapses.

Everything I knew about this book happens in the first 20 pages; An actor in a production of King Lear dies on stage in front of child actor Kirsten Raymonde. Jump cut to 20 years later where Kirsten is part of a traveling symphony, a theater troupe that performs Shakespeare in the small towns dotting the the desolate and often dangerous North American landscape.

I am seriously in awe of the narrative structure of this book. The novel moves back and forth through time, telling stories of people who were in the theater that night with Kirsten. Mandel effortlessly weaves her characters fates through and around each other. There is also kind of a twist, I’m not sure how soon you’re supposed to see it, but it took me by surprise.

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Audiobook Review: The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

April 22, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: October 6th 2015

Length: 6 hours and 23 minutes
Genre: Contemporary / Paranormal YA

Publisher: HarperTeen

17-year-old Mikey Mitchell just wants to enjoy his last few months of high school with his best friends and hopefully getting his OCD under control. But he’s also kind of stuck in the middle of your favorite paranormal YA novel, except you know. . . he’s a background character. Strange blue lights and mysterious deaths means the indie kids–those high school kids with the capital D destinies and weird names–are up to something. Mikey just hopes the indie kids don’t blown up up the high school….again.

Patrick Ness is a mix bag of an author, you just never know what you’re going to get. The concept of having a Mikey’s contemporary narrative adjacent to the indie kid’s paranormal adventure made for an entertaining listen. The indie kid’s plot is a parody of e those paranormal YA books of the early 2010’s and Ness creates a loving satire of the genre.

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Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

February 15, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: April 28th 2015

Pages: 309

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: HarperCollins

When Aza Ray Boyle dies in the middle of an unusual storm; one life ends and another begins. Because her true destiny lies with the captain of a ship that sails the sky, but not everyone on Earth is ready to let Aza go.

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