Tag: red queen

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Book Reviews Books Booktok/Booktube

Heartless by Marissa Meyer: Why the Origin Story Hurts More Than You Think

Estimated Reading Time: 3min

Normally, villain origin stories feel like a pointless exercise – why can’t we just let bad guys be bad guys without trying to explain it away? This one, however, I actually found myself surprised and maybe considering that some stories might be interesting to tell…

Heartless

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

Grab the book Here

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief
Moderate: Body Shaming, Violence, Blood
Minor: War, Suicide, Kidnapping

My Review

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but honestly with the exception of the inclusion of the three “sisters” (I genuinely have no clue why people like writing about those hags…. Yes offence to the hags intended) there wasn’t a whole ton of creepy magic so that was nice. (Some of my dislike of that is personal taste for reading, but I was happy to see minimal)

The love story was fun and the banter was great. I know we are reading the origin story of a villain (another phenomenon that I don’t understand why people like so much, but here I am reading one so… yup) but it still felt like it wasn’t until the end.

I was rooting for characters, liking the story, then BAM they hit me with creepy and I was annoyed. Ultimately, these fairytale retellings always feel the need to lean more into the creepy/evil but I was impressed that majority of this story didn’t so that.

Would I Recommend This Book?

Yes, I would still recommend this book (even keeping in mind the three witches that unnecessarily made an appearance).

Similar Books You Might Like

If you are thinking what kind of books would have similar feel, themes or content, here is a list that you can consider:

  • The Lunar Chronicles (Marissa Meyer)
  • To Kill a Kingdom (Alexandra Christo)
  • Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo)

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Book Reviews Books

The Powerless Series: Why It Took Over BookTok (And Where It Fell Short for Me)

Estimated Reading Time: 5mins

When I first sat down to read Powerless by Lauren Roberts, I did not finish it. I recognised the similarities with Red Queen, but that didn’t bother me. It was when I got to the Hunger Games part of the book that it felt a little dark and I just stopped. Eventually, I picked it back up and decided to give the whole series a try (even if just to see how similar it was to Red Queen, which I had read)… Let’s see how the experiment went.

Powerless

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Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.

The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites’ powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.

Grab the book Here

Content Warnings

Some things to keep in mind: Torture, Murder, Injury Detail, Death of a Parent, Torture

My Review

Okay. I read half of this book previously then came back to it. My considerations of viewing torture and murder as something characters like still holds. That is pretty brutal. All that aside, I did actually enjoy the book as a whole. Was it dark? Yes. Did I still like aspects of it? Yes.
Banter was fun, trials were interesting, and I quite enjoyed the overall plot (of course I liked RQ so that makes sense).

Original DNF review just after halfway:

So, banter was amazing, characters were interesting, similarities between red queen and hunger games were there but it was still distinct to its own story.
There was a large focus on torture and it was quite dark overall (almost expected when you consider the hunger games aspect). That was a large reason why I stopped reading. It wasn’t too bad, but there was something a little too dark for me in this story to keep reading

Reckless

Content Warnings

Some things to keep in mind: Murder, Injury Detail, Kindapping/Confinement, Torture

My Review

I like this one better than the first. There wasn’t as much focus on an inner dialogue about Kai and the torture he could and does carry out. The book itself just didn’t feel as dark as the first one, which was a lot better for me. I actually really enjoyed seeing how Peyton and Kai interacted with each other at this book a lot more than the first one. I think it did drag on a little bit, but the things that happen made sense and I enjoyed it so I didn’t mind.

Fearless

Content Warnings

Some things to keep in mind: Death, Grief, Torture, Toxic Relationship, Mental Illness

My Review

While Reckless was my favourite book in the trilogy, this one was my second favourite. The interesting high seas adventure, the balance between brothers, and duty versus love, and some other really interesting topics were covered. I thought it was pretty good, but they were some icky relationship things happening…
One characters fate was a little… uncertain.. but I didn’t care that much.

Would I Recomend This Series?

I would recommend the series, but with a caveat. If you don’t mind reading Red Queen meets Hunger Games, and being able to spot the very similar scenes and characters, then go for it! If you are likely to get frustrated by this, then maybe give this one a pass.

Similar Books You Might Like

If you are thinking what kind of books would have similar feel, themes or content, here is a list that you can consider:

  • Red Queen (Victoria Aveyard)
  • The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
  • The Prison Healer (Lynette Noni)

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Book Challenges Book Reviews Books Special Categories

Books about a plague or virus

Estimated Reading Time: 6min

Okay, with the pandemic that swept the world a few years ago, even though some of these books existed before everything went down, they seem a bit more real ever since. So, I have complied a list of books I have read (or are in the midst of reading) that have a plague or virus, oftentimes with very interesting consequences! These are my reviews of said books.

Legend – Marie Lu (5 Stars)

I LOVED Legend.
(The only reason it even took so long to get through was because I was moving, and super busy – otherwise I would have finished it in a day!)

First – the premise.
Loved it. Can’t wait to continue unraveling the mysteries and secrets in the next book.
Second – the world.
It was introduced to the reader in a seamless way. It felt natural, part of the story, no info dumps and was just beautifully done.
Third – the characters.
I found not only the main characters, but the secondary ones as well, so intriguing. I loved all of the interactions, the development, the exploration of each characters stories – just all of it.

The writing style flowed so well, and the story was filled with fascinating turns, dialogue and world building.

Overall, an amazing YA book, and I can’t wait to read more!

Grab the book Here

Airborne – DiAnn Mills

I enjoyed DiAnn’s writing style. The plot had such a relevant feel for the times, and yet was a story all on its own.

The characters were really good. There was a solid amount of Christian themes in this book without it being too overpowering – however I did find that SOME parts felt a little rushed.

The mystery was engaging all the way until the end, and the resolution was fantastic.

Overall, a great read!

Grab the book Here

Red Queen – Victoria Aveyard

I actually really liked this book.
I liked the “super power” element rather than magic, and the separation of Red and Silver is something we can relate to (with various divisions we have in our own world).
I did gloss over the world and surroundings descriptions, but the plot was good. Granted, it was similar to other YA dystopians but if you know what you’re getting into, I don’t see that as a problem.
I liked the characters, but admittedly looked up the spoilers before reading so I didn’t have any shock moments at the various twists and turns.
No graphic sexual content but pretty violent fights and scene depictions. Not really any cuss words either.

Grab the book Here

Fawkes – Nadine Brandes

Mmmmmm
Historical fiction isn’t my favourite genre, but the fantasy element had me interested. Unfortunately, it didn’t grab my attention at all. I skimmed and skipped a lot of this book. I got the big plot points this way, but most of it was pretty meh for me.
There was a lot of color power lore that I had to try and get through, but honestly it wasn’t really all that interesting and instead felt a bit much.
I appreciated the historical plot brought to life with the fantasy additions, and I know that would have taken a bunch of research and work.
Just not for me.

Grab the book Here

Steelheart – Brandon Sanderson

sanderson

I really enjoyed this one!

I liked the world that was created, and the POV of David was really great. I loved his funny character, and his interactions with the others. I really liked Brandon’s writing style too.

I found myself wanting to know more about Steelheart himself, and I look forward to the other books in the series to hopefully fill in more of the blanks about the world created – particularly the things that are still a question mark 😀

Grab the book Here

Powerless – Lauren Roberts

roberts

Okay, this one I am in the midst of reading, so no official review yet. However, I have read enough to see the similarities with Red Queen, and differences as well. Of all the books I have chosen for this post, this one references a “plague” the most. They use it as a curse, as a frame of reference, and pretty much for anything and everything. It’s a catch all.

To be fair, I would probably use it the same way if it had such a large affect on the world I knew.

I’m excited to see where the story goes.

Grab the book Here

Well, those are the books that have a plague or virus of some kind that I have read, how about you? Any others I’ve missed that you liked?

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Book Advice Books Life

Bookstore chain or independently owned?

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Which is better, a bookstore chain with loads of options and a cookie cutter design, or an independently owned store with higher prices (presumably) and less options?

I checked out a smaller store, and a larger corporate one to see what I thought the answer was:

Which do you prefer? Something locally owned that you can support, or a store that has a lot of options that you can browse through? Share in the comments your fav store!

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace