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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Resilience ( Rise of Iliri book 6) in Books

Jan 5, 2023

Contains spoilers, click to show

4 of 235
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Resilience ( Rise of Iliri book 6)
By Auryn Hadley
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Auryn Hadley's sixth action-adventure in The Rise of the Iliri fantasy series asks how far mankind will go to protect their pride. Because it seems they'll guard it at the expense of all else. Reminiscent of a futuristic Lord of the Rings, this epic fantasy romance traces not only the personal journey of its heroine and her family - a reverse harem made up of nine indomitable warriors who comprise an elite military force called the Black Blades - but also the liberation of a people and a new way of thinking for the whole world. For the source of iliri power is not domination, but connection. They seek it, cultivate it, and use it to defeat their enemies.

It's the iliri - now a rising, formidable race of underdogs - who must decide whether to risk their lives for the ungracious human race. Unbeknownst to humans, their fate lies in the capable hands of the iliri leader, the powerful Salryc Luxx. And she's no longer willing to be yanked around at any price.

Sal and the Black Blades have been summoned to a meeting with Parliament representatives of the Conglomerate of Free Citizens. But this time, she's not serving as their slave. Nor is she about to be captured and brought to trial again. Now the ruler of all iliri in her adopted country of Anglia - and de facto queen - she knows she has the upper hand.

The enemy Terrans have besieged Eastward, engaging in brutal guerrilla tactics throughout the country - hitting without mercy and killing all in their path. The world of humans is desperate.

"Tell me why I should send my brothers and sisters to die for humans that care so little for us?" Sal asks. The answer she's searching for comes from a frail iliri servant, whose telltale snow-colored skin is almost as light as Sal's: If she leaves the humans to die by the Terrans, war and enslavement will continue. History will repeat itself. But if it's the iliri and their allies who manage to defeat evil, perhaps humans can learn to respect them.

She knows she isn't finished fighting. Iliri warriors haven't yet "done enough." Not while so many of their brothers are still enslaved.

Alongside her faithful friends and leaders--and the tireless Black Blades - Sal must choose whether to surrender to her role as their leader and contend with The Emperor's murderous army - as well as the treacherous pride of the human race.

!!! Has a spoiler for book 5!!!

Every time I pick one of these books up I say it’s the best one yet and yes I’m saying it again! After the tears at the end of Book 5 we catch up with Sal and the blades dealing with the aftermath of losing Blaec and finding her feet with her new role and new male. This is non stop from the first word to the last. Brilliantly written it has to be one of my favourite series. Highly recommended for the fantasy readers!

Kudos

graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Queene of Light (Lightworld/Darkworld, #1) in Books

Feb 15, 2019

What could have been interesting, wasn't. What could have been unique, failed. What showed promise, wasn't there. Too bad.

Seeing as this is classified as paranormal romance (instead of what I originally thought was urban fantasy), it might be nice if the main two characters were at least a little likable. Nope, sorry to say, this ain't the case. Ayla is boring, unsympathetic, uninteresting, vapid, gullible, weak-willed, slow on the uptake, need I go on? Malachi is also boring, uninteresting, and slow, but he has the addition of sounding like a robot. Sounds like a winning match, eh? Clearly, these two wooden creatures are made for each other. The secondary characters served their purpose: Mabb, your typical baddie; Garret, Mabb's brother and hopeful usurper, he was almost interesting, but he suffered from the same thing his sister did, cliche; and Keller, who was the only character (or anything really) in the whole book that showed a spark of life.

The pace of the book was plodding. I lost interest every other page if I was lucky. The descriptions are seriously lacking and almost everything is boring, boring, boring. I never quite saw what the purpose of vampires and werewolves served in the book. Maybe they play a bigger role in the next two books, otherwise they're pointless and don't make sense in this world. Speaking of the universe, what the author created, while not altogether original, could have been awesome instead of vague and confusing. A real missed opportunity.

My advice: skip it. Read at your own risk of falling asleep.

Kudos

Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated Dark Matter in Books

Mar 15, 2018

Dark Matter

Blake Crouch | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry

7.9

(30 Ratings)

Book Rating

Also read my review here: http://bookbum.weebly.com/book-reviews/dark-matter-by-blake-crouch

Are you happy with your life?

This book has ripped me up inside. I’m not even that into sci-fi books, but this had me gripped and emotional from the very first page. If you’re looking to be whisked away to somewhere new, then pick up this. Dark Matter is an experience.

I actually don’t know what else I can say about this novel without spoiling the entire thing because I’m a mess of emotions right now and I know I’ll just spill everything out on the page that I shouldn’t. I don’t want to spoil this for anyone. This is the sort of book where you want to go in not knowing anything about it, because if you do, the fantasy and wonderment of this will be completely lost on you.

I guess this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but considering I don’t really like the sci-fi and romantic genres and I loved this, I would still recommend this to everyone! This is a thriller, sci-fi, romance novel all rolled up into one perfect package. I’m also just going to put this out there and say that this is the greatest love story ever, at least for me. Who needs Romeo and Juliet or Elizabeth and Darcy? Pfft.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crown Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.