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The Polish Officer
Book
It is the late summer of 1938, Europe is about to explode, the Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is...
Mission to Paris
Book
It is the late summer of 1938, Europe is about to explode, and the Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl...
Dirty Angels (Dirty Angels, #1)
5.5
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For Luisa Chavez, a twenty-three year old former beauty queen, a better life has always been just...
dark romance new adult contemporary
Gage (Angelbound Offspring #8) by Christina Bauer
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Gage runs the L’Griffe, AKA the dragon shifter mafia on Earth. Since the human realm has no...
Young Adult Fantasy Series
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1) in Books
Jun 23, 2022
112 of 230
Book
House of Earth and Blood ( Crescent City book 1)
By Sarah J Maas
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She'll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss's enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City's underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they'd only let it.
With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love.
I absolutely loved it from start to finish! It was one emotional journey and yes I had a tear escape! For me the book flowed well it kept me interested and I loved the characters. I’m totally in love with Ruhn. I was expecting the slaughter so soon in the book it was definitely a deep breath moment! I do love Sarah J Maas.
Book
House of Earth and Blood ( Crescent City book 1)
By Sarah J Maas
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She'll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss's enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City's underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they'd only let it.
With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love.
I absolutely loved it from start to finish! It was one emotional journey and yes I had a tear escape! For me the book flowed well it kept me interested and I loved the characters. I’m totally in love with Ruhn. I was expecting the slaughter so soon in the book it was definitely a deep breath moment! I do love Sarah J Maas.
Uptown Oracle (24 KP) rated Clockwork Angel in Books
Jun 30, 2017
Clare exceeds expectations with Clockwork Angel
Clockwork Angel is the first in a trilogy of books. This series is a prequel to The Mortal Instruments, also written by Cassandra Clare. Tessa traveled to London to live with her brother, when he appears missing she is captured. Saved by Will, Tessa lives within the institute with the Shadowhunters helping to find Nate, whilst also finding out what the Magister's evil plan is.
I've heard so many times that The Infernal Devices is so much better than the Mortal Instruments. In comparison I can definitely agree the writing and overall plot is improved. The main issue I had was that in some cases, it was too similar to The Mortal Instruments. My instant thought was Will was similar to Jace although I'm unsure if this was intentional or not. The love triangle was also reminiscent of Clare's previous work.
I enjoyed that Clockwork Angel was set in London rather than New York. I was getting fairly bored of being focused on New York so this gave us a chance to see a new institute. The different location and different time means the institute is extremely different to the one in TMI.
The big question of who is the Magister? in the first chapter was important in the book. I found it both predictable and unpredictable. If Pretty Little Liars has told me anything, if a character claims it's one person, it's probably not them. I was however surprised of who it actually was. So well played, Cassandra Clare.
One of the big improvements is that the adults actually take action. In TMI, there were so many times the teenagers acted purely because the adults weren't doing anything. I was so tired of the adults being incompetent that Charlotte and Henry were a welcome surprise. They also really tried to help Tessa find Nate immediately. There weren't multiple meetings with the Clave before they could do anything.
Clockwork Angel seemed to pick up a lot quicker than TMI and kept pace. The fighting scenes were written better. Less filler content was needed as we already know the world. Although there was a love triangle, a lot less content was put towards building on it. It seemed a lot more like a fantasy than a romance.
Please don't comment any spoilers as I haven't finished the other books yet. But I had a weird thought about Tessa's name being Gray. As the dark sisters are called Black and Dark, does the inclusion of the name Gray fit there? Is this an insight into who she will become? Or who she 'could' become if she is a bad guy? I just thought it was odd to use a name so similar.
I've heard so many times that The Infernal Devices is so much better than the Mortal Instruments. In comparison I can definitely agree the writing and overall plot is improved. The main issue I had was that in some cases, it was too similar to The Mortal Instruments. My instant thought was Will was similar to Jace although I'm unsure if this was intentional or not. The love triangle was also reminiscent of Clare's previous work.
I enjoyed that Clockwork Angel was set in London rather than New York. I was getting fairly bored of being focused on New York so this gave us a chance to see a new institute. The different location and different time means the institute is extremely different to the one in TMI.
The big question of who is the Magister? in the first chapter was important in the book. I found it both predictable and unpredictable. If Pretty Little Liars has told me anything, if a character claims it's one person, it's probably not them. I was however surprised of who it actually was. So well played, Cassandra Clare.
One of the big improvements is that the adults actually take action. In TMI, there were so many times the teenagers acted purely because the adults weren't doing anything. I was so tired of the adults being incompetent that Charlotte and Henry were a welcome surprise. They also really tried to help Tessa find Nate immediately. There weren't multiple meetings with the Clave before they could do anything.
Clockwork Angel seemed to pick up a lot quicker than TMI and kept pace. The fighting scenes were written better. Less filler content was needed as we already know the world. Although there was a love triangle, a lot less content was put towards building on it. It seemed a lot more like a fantasy than a romance.
Please don't comment any spoilers as I haven't finished the other books yet. But I had a weird thought about Tessa's name being Gray. As the dark sisters are called Black and Dark, does the inclusion of the name Gray fit there? Is this an insight into who she will become? Or who she 'could' become if she is a bad guy? I just thought it was odd to use a name so similar.
Anne (15117 KP) rated A House of Rage and Sorrow (The Celestial Trilogy, #2) in Books
Nov 4, 2019
I'd say this was probably about a 4 star read for me. I have been looking forward to this book after reading A Spark of White Fire, the previous book, which was an amazing 5 stars for me. This book is more or less a retelling of the Mahabarata in Space and it's different because it's written based from Hindu Mythology, which I don't read a lot of, but have always wanted to read and know more about it.
This book was harder to read for me than the first because it was more emotional than the first, maybe a bit more dark and heavy, but it had to be for where the story's going and with where the story was in the first book. I had a major book hangover from the first book, but the book hangover isn't quite as bad this time. I'm more nervous about reading what comes next because it got pretty intense and emotional during this one.
It picks up right where it left off from the ending of the second book, flows well with the transition, but if you haven't read the first book, you might not get what's going on so I would recommend reading the previous book first before this one.
Without getting too spoilery here, the twins are even more at odds here in this book, Esmae, and Alexi, because of fighting over Kali and who gets to be the ruler and especially because of what happened with the duel and Rama. Oh man, that was a hard part of the story, that's part of why this book is so hard because of what happened with Rama. More family info, dynamics, and things develop and come to light throughout this book and the romance develops more between certain characters like Max and Esmae. There's a lot of information and feelings that are covered in this book and it deals with a lot of grief, sadness, anger with the fighting and everything that's happened, is going on and is going to happen.
I didn't like it as much as the first book because it was so heavy and dark from the emotional standpoint, but it kind of had to be that way in this part of the story. There was also a few instances of profanity/language that bothered me because I prefer to read stories without language and such when possible. Other than that, it was a well written good book that I would recommend to others especially if you loved the first one, which if you haven't read the first one, you should. Also if you want to read a Sci-Fi and Fantasy story in space that is a retelling and involves the Mahabarata and Hindu Mythology then you should read it.
This book was harder to read for me than the first because it was more emotional than the first, maybe a bit more dark and heavy, but it had to be for where the story's going and with where the story was in the first book. I had a major book hangover from the first book, but the book hangover isn't quite as bad this time. I'm more nervous about reading what comes next because it got pretty intense and emotional during this one.
It picks up right where it left off from the ending of the second book, flows well with the transition, but if you haven't read the first book, you might not get what's going on so I would recommend reading the previous book first before this one.
Without getting too spoilery here, the twins are even more at odds here in this book, Esmae, and Alexi, because of fighting over Kali and who gets to be the ruler and especially because of what happened with the duel and Rama. Oh man, that was a hard part of the story, that's part of why this book is so hard because of what happened with Rama. More family info, dynamics, and things develop and come to light throughout this book and the romance develops more between certain characters like Max and Esmae. There's a lot of information and feelings that are covered in this book and it deals with a lot of grief, sadness, anger with the fighting and everything that's happened, is going on and is going to happen.
I didn't like it as much as the first book because it was so heavy and dark from the emotional standpoint, but it kind of had to be that way in this part of the story. There was also a few instances of profanity/language that bothered me because I prefer to read stories without language and such when possible. Other than that, it was a well written good book that I would recommend to others especially if you loved the first one, which if you haven't read the first one, you should. Also if you want to read a Sci-Fi and Fantasy story in space that is a retelling and involves the Mahabarata and Hindu Mythology then you should read it.
Joe Goodhart (27 KP) rated The Batman Who Laughs in Books
Nov 30, 2020
I am really eating up DC's books of late, especially the Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV! Yes, there are some hiccups along the way, as true for even the best of publishers, but the overall good output far outshines the bad/MEH output! I am quite liking this whole "Rebirth" thing and the way it ties into WATCHMEN, can't wait to see it all wrapped with DOOMSDAY CLOCK #12. <i>*ahem*</i> Let's not get ahead of ourselves then, eh? Onto my thoughts on TBWL..
I liked it quite a bit! Yes, it probably could easily have been a 5-issue mini, but I don't feel the story suffered by the added length. It allowed for the crazy roller coaster ride that it was to be even crazier, helped to spread just a bit more darkness in Gotham! Oh, and it showed how Alfred truly is the necessary light in Batman/Bruce's life, something B-Man totally needs, far more than Selina (sorry, Tom King, but I don't think the romance between the two works. Jus' sayin' is all!).
I know a lot of folks absolutely <b>abhor</b> DARK NIGHTS: METAL and anything relating to it, including the Batman Who Laughs! Me? I am enjoying it to no great end! It reminds me of some of the best things about the 90's, just turned up to 11! I think it's an interesting concept, bringing some clever creepiness into DC's "Rebirth"! And besides, it is at least something fresh and different (unlike the umpteenth X-deaths/reboots over at Marvel!)!
One aspect of the mini that really drove it all home was the art by Jock. I loved what he did in the WYTCHES (also with Snyder), and here it is just as good, if not better. The use of shadows and angles brings the creepiness all up and about, leaving with you long after the lights have gone out and sleep comes over you!
I already mentioned it, and several others have as well in their reviews, but Alfred was clearly the MVP here! He was totally on board, taking being a butler to a whole new level beyond 100%! I think sometimes he is under-utilized, but here he definitely got some much needed appreciation and respect! Kudos to you, Scott Snyder, for giving Alfred his due!
And lastly, that ending, the last couple panels? Ewwwww... chills!! Now, I can not wait to read Joshua Williamson's BATMAN/SUPERMAN #1! No spoilers, tho', promise!
So, yes, I was super-impressed with THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS, just as I was with Snyder's DARK NIGHTS: METAL. If you didn't like METAL, then, well, chances are pretty likely you won't like this one!
I liked it quite a bit! Yes, it probably could easily have been a 5-issue mini, but I don't feel the story suffered by the added length. It allowed for the crazy roller coaster ride that it was to be even crazier, helped to spread just a bit more darkness in Gotham! Oh, and it showed how Alfred truly is the necessary light in Batman/Bruce's life, something B-Man totally needs, far more than Selina (sorry, Tom King, but I don't think the romance between the two works. Jus' sayin' is all!).
I know a lot of folks absolutely <b>abhor</b> DARK NIGHTS: METAL and anything relating to it, including the Batman Who Laughs! Me? I am enjoying it to no great end! It reminds me of some of the best things about the 90's, just turned up to 11! I think it's an interesting concept, bringing some clever creepiness into DC's "Rebirth"! And besides, it is at least something fresh and different (unlike the umpteenth X-deaths/reboots over at Marvel!)!
One aspect of the mini that really drove it all home was the art by Jock. I loved what he did in the WYTCHES (also with Snyder), and here it is just as good, if not better. The use of shadows and angles brings the creepiness all up and about, leaving with you long after the lights have gone out and sleep comes over you!
I already mentioned it, and several others have as well in their reviews, but Alfred was clearly the MVP here! He was totally on board, taking being a butler to a whole new level beyond 100%! I think sometimes he is under-utilized, but here he definitely got some much needed appreciation and respect! Kudos to you, Scott Snyder, for giving Alfred his due!
And lastly, that ending, the last couple panels? Ewwwww... chills!! Now, I can not wait to read Joshua Williamson's BATMAN/SUPERMAN #1! No spoilers, tho', promise!
So, yes, I was super-impressed with THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS, just as I was with Snyder's DARK NIGHTS: METAL. If you didn't like METAL, then, well, chances are pretty likely you won't like this one!