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The Empress (The Diabolic, #2)
The Empress (The Diabolic, #2)
S.J. Kincaid | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
9
8.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Empress is an excellent follow-up to The Diabolic; Tyrus and Nemesis have claimed the throne, but now they have to keep it. Due in part to ancient machines, that is harder than it sounds. Despite Nemesis' cold practicality, she is also somewhat idealistic. She picks freeing the servitors (slaves, basically) as her big goal for when she becomes Empress - with shocking results.

Tyrus' and Nemesis' combined goal is to bring science back to the people; in the first book we were introduced to the concept of ruined space - space that had been torn apart by hyperspace jumps and now consumes everything it touches. But since the Helionic religion had banned all science, no one knew how to do anything about it other than avoid it. Their solution is to go to the head of the religion itself and talk him into reversing that decree. In doing so, we learn a lot more about why the empire is floating out in space, and why the decree was given.

It's always hard to talk about middle books in trilogies without giving too much away about the first book, or the plot as a whole. So I'll just say that, like the first book, this kept me guessing, and the twists of the plot came as incredibly shocking surprises. S.J. Kincaid has an amazing ability with plot twists. And the end of this book - oh man. I do not want to believe that things truly are as bad as they seem. I want this to be a redemption story. But at the same time, things have been done that can't be undone.

If you read and liked The Diabolic, you should continue the trilogy with The Empress. However, while The Diabolic ends in a way that could leave it as a standalone, The Empress ends on a clear cliffhanger. The third book has neither a title nor a cover yet, but is supposed to release this fall? I'm guessing that will be delayed, which is bad, because I NEED IT.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
  
    Predynastic Egypt

    Predynastic Egypt

    Games and Education

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    App

    ***Localizations: English, Русский, 中文, Español, Deutsch, Français, Italiano,...

    Pascal, Les Pensées

    Pascal, Les Pensées

    Book and Education

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    Les Pensées de Pascal est un livre audio de philosophie proposé par Lecture-audio.fr. Version...

    Oxford

    Oxford

    Martin Garrett

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    Book

    Oxford started as an Anglo-Saxon border outpost, with a bridge replacing the 'oxen ford' from which...

The Burning Girls
The Burning Girls
C. J. Tudor | 2021 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
10
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonist in this book is Jack, a female vicar, that has been sent to a little village to take over the church that has been vacant. Her daughter Flo is a teenager that had to change her life from Nottingham to Chapel Croft. I really loved the brilliant selection of characters. They are all mysterious, intriguing and different. I thoroughly enjoyed Jacks thoughts about being a priest, the church’s role and religion in general. It was very modern and stigma defining. I really liked Flo as well, she seems like a very smart young lady, full of curiosity and teenage rebellion. 🙂

Like always, the narrative is creepy, mysterious and very well planned out. There are multiple stories running through this book. This book is told from multiple perspectives, and I absolutely adored that. Jack’s perspective investigates a story of two young ladies that disappeared thirty years ago and a mysterious suicide of the previous vicar. And Flo’s perspective shares very creepy encounters with local youth. The whole book is covered in a mysterious shroud, suspense is seeping through the pages, and the story simply had me absorbed. The topics discussed in this book are religion, evil youth, parenting issues, over the top religiousness, church work, vicar’s life, tight community nuances, murder and many more.

The writing style of this book is impeccable. C.J. Tudor’s writing is evolving with every single book. The setting and the mood of this book is perfect for horror, and the mystery just drives suspense through this novel. The chapters are pretty short, so it is a fast and gripping book. The culmination and the ending are brilliant, and I loved how the book was rounded up. I have to warn the reader, that this book has murders, pretty gross stories, burning people and psychopaths.

So, to conclude, this was my first book of 2021 and is going straight to my top 10 of this year. I loved everything about this novel, it has very unique and complex characters as well as an amazingly delivered plot full of twists, intriguing stories and mystery. I strongly recommend to anyone who loves Stephen King or a good mystery.
  
Wake of Vultures
Wake of Vultures
Lila Bowen | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wake of Vultures was an exciting, fast paced, interesting read. It was fun and different for me. It wasn’t phenomenal. I would probably read the next one in the series, but I wouldn’t spend money on it.

The biggest problem I had with the story was I felt that it tried to deal with too many things at once. Racism, sexism, sexual identity, slavery, nudity, and religion are all important and heavy topics. All of them together in one YA urban fantasy novel? It’s a bit excessive. Even though I of all people understand that sometimes when a story comes to you, as an author, you can’t change your character! That’s just who they are! And don’t get me wrong, the story was great and I enjoyed listening to it, and I was totally caught up in it. But there were times when I would listen and something would come up and I’d be like “this is too much. this is ridiculous.” It felt like overkill.

That aside, I enjoyed the book and look forward to the sequel.
  
Bloodmage (The Age of Darkness Trilogy #2)
Bloodmage (The Age of Darkness Trilogy #2)
Stephen Aryan | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Bloodmage was a continuation of the story began in Battlemage, with an almost completely new set of characters. There were a few old favorites that were back, but a myriad of new friends to meet as well. The story jumped right in and carried you fast-paced all the way to the end (save a few chapters that dragged a little, but weren’t super slow). It ends in a way that opens up the world to many more adventures in the future.

There wasn’t quite as much a focus on the religion as there was in the first book Battlemage, nor was there as much detail on the essence and mechanism behind the magic. I was hoping for a little more insight into the relm and world of this series. Still, it was satisfactory and fun, adventuresome, and just dark enough to keep me interested.

All in all, fun and interesting, it kept me reading, but a little bit of a let-down because I expected more after the first one was so amazing.