Ward Against Death by Melanie Card

 Series: Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer
Author: Melanie Card
Page Count: 306
Published: August 2nd, 2011
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
  4 Stars ★★★★

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. 

Ward is a necromancer and a physician. He also takes part in illegal surgeries, which has left him on the wanted list in many regions. When he is hired to bring a woman back to life for her family's final goodbyes, Celia insists that she has been murdered, and she and a reluctant Ward run away to the sewers. 

This is only the start of their ordeal. Now, they must avoid Celia's father's men, the local authorities, the places where Ward is wanted, and hope that Celia doesn't drop dead again in the streets. While trying to solve the mystery surrounding Celia's murder, neither she nor Ward are sure who they can trust, and they have to be wary of everyone, even each other. 

Necromancy is such an interesting topic. I've always been drawn to stories about necromancy, raising the dead, and magic, but it seems that there are few books that actually specifically feature a necromancer as a main character. One could then imagine my delight as I stumbled across this title featured on NetGalley, and my excitement when my request was approved by the publisher. 

This book had me hooked from the beginning. The action starts almost right away, as soon as Celia wakes up. Throughout the rest of the book, the action never ceased, the characters always had to face an enemy or a threat, and once I got into the story, it took a lot of effort to stop reading. Furthermore, the world that this is set within is captivating. I thought I'd get a fantasy set in the modern, contemporary world. Instead, it was set in a sort of alternative, fantasy world, where things like surgery are illegal and necromancers are a normal part of life. This made for a great world to escape to and lose myself in. The world-building was phenomenal, from the government itself all the way to the world of criminals. 

Ward is such a great character to read about. He's quite funny, often clumsy or partially clueless, and he has his own unique charm. While I don't mind a flawless hero every now and then, to have an imperfect hero like Ward, quirks and all, was very refreshing. I immediately liked Ward and hoped that all would end well for him, which just fueled my need to read and kept me reading until my eyes were tired. 

The other main character is Celia. Technically dead, she is a master manipulator, an assassin, and overall somebody you do not want to mess with. While she may be dead, she doesn't lose herself or sight of her goal: to find out who killed her. She was a complete daredevil, in my opinion. At times, she appeared reckless, but that only added to her character. She and Ward were fairly opposite each other, with Ward more timid and unsure, and Celia courageous and determined. This made for some amusing dialogue and situations, which added much-appreciated humor to this story of death and magic. 

The main issue that I had with this story was the attraction or romance between Celia and Ward. While there isn't a full-blown romance within this book, there are many references to the characters feeling attraction to each other, at the very least. These things certainly can be weaved well into an action-packed fantasy such as this one, but the author didn't balance their attraction to each other with the main issue within the story. I would think, for example, that Ward would not be considering Celia in a romantic or sensual way, as he often did, while they were in such a dire situation. It seemed out of place and somewhat forced. I think that it would have been better if the author had toned down the romantic aspects within this book and saved it for the next in the series. 

All in all, this tale of a charming, somewhat awkward necromancer and the lady that he has brought back from the dead is one that I enjoyed reading. While the romantic bits seemed a bit out of place for the situation at hand, the world-building was amazing and the action kept me turning pages for hours on end. 

I recommend this novel to fans of stories filled with magic and action. If you're interested in a new adult / mature young adult book about necromancy, or a change from the usual vampires and werewolves of the paranormal and fantasy genres, this book is for you.

Find Ward Against Death on Goodreads

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I know that it's technically New Years Eve right now but I really wanted to get this post up.

Do you have any New Years resolutions or goals? I have a few.

- Exercise more! There's a nice park near my house with a path lined with trees. I need to get more fresh air.

- Finish the first draft of my novel. I've been working on it for a long time and I keep abandoning it, but I really want to get it done.

- Read more! In 2016 there was a period of time when I didn't read as much because I got Netflix. This year, I won't let Netflix get in the way of my reading time.

- Go to university. I am applying to university with hopes of being accepted for the 2017 autumn semester.

That's about it for my goals and resolutions for 2017.

My Goodreads reading challenge this year was to read 40 books. I achieved my goal, and as of right now I have actually read 53 books! According to Goodreads, I read 16,770 pages worth of books! That is currently my record. Maybe in 2017, I can reach 20,000 pages. I think my reading challenge goal for 2017 will be 50 books.

What was your reading challenge goal? Did you complete it? How many books do you want to read in 2017? Do you have any New Years resolutions or goals?

Summer by Jeff Mariotte

 Series: Witch Season
Author: Jeff Mariotte
Page Count: 324
Published: July 6th, 2004
Publisher: Simon Pulse
  4 Stars ★★★★

Kerry is far away from home, working a summer job at a resort and staying with some new friends. One night, she returns home to find a man laying on her lawn, possibly near death. Against the wishes of her roommates, she brings him into their home for the night. 

His name is Daniel Blessing, and he explains that he is searching for a witch named Season. She's dangerous, she killed his brother, and she is now after Kerry and her friends. While Kerry starts to fall for Daniel, she realizes that they're all in danger, and she joins in on the hunt for Season. But a witch this powerful is hard to find, and even harder to kill. 

I was mostly impressed with this book, especially with it's take on witches and the conflict between Daniel and Season. Firstly, the powers that the witches had were often brutal or harmful, which is an interesting change from the generally more glamorous magic of witches in other books. For example, when Kerry finds Daniel, he's in horrible condition, with gashes and bleeding to the point that she fears that he will die. This violent style of magic added an air of horror to the novel, especially with Daniel's journals.

Daniel's journals, as mentioned, were provided to Kerry because she wanted to learn more about the whole situation. I really appreciated them, as a reader, because they filled in not only Kerry, but also myself, on the conflict between Daniel and Season. With great detail, often providing more clues to who Daniel was as a character and a person, it assisted in understanding Daniel's relationship with Season, and gave a great back story filled with death and vengeance. Several of Kerry's journal entries are also provided, which gives the reader a glance into her own mind and thoughts, which I also really enjoyed.

I had a bit of an issue with the length of the book. I feel like it was much too short for the story, and I wish that the events had taken place over a longer period of time, and that the author had devoted more effort to characterization. I say this because certain parts of the book felt way too rushed, and I didn't receive as much detail about the general happenings as I wish I had. While the journals and the third person narration went over the events adequately, I feel like something was missing. 

I also thought that the romance wasn't well thought out. Kerry seems to fall for Daniel far too quickly, and the author tries to frame her feelings for him as actual love, while they come across more as infatuation. Certainly, love can be evolved from infatuation, however the author did not convince me that Kerry's feelings for Daniel, and vice versa, were genuine as opposed to a crush.

I found this to be a very enjoyable read, and I am hoping that the issues I found within this first book will be solved in the second! I recommend this book to those who like stories about magic. If you're interested in a book including witches, vengeance, and a darker kind of sorcery, this is a great pick.

Find Summer on Goodreads

50/50 Friday - Sidekicks

This meme is hosted at The Butterfly Reader and Blue Eye Books

This week's topic is sidekick deserving of a spinoff / better off with the group

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Sidekick Deserving of a Spinoff

Ghastly Bespoke from Skulduggery Pleasant most certainly deserves his own spinoff. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us *cries* but if he were, I think he'd deserve his own spinoff series. Or perhaps a prequel focusing on his life before the first Skulduggery Pleasant novel. 

Better Off with the Group

China Sorrows is much better off with the group, in my opinion. I might think this just because I hate her but.... I don't know if I'd enjoy a spinoff based on her. 

What characters would you like to see have their own spinoff, and which should stay with the group?

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

 

   Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Page Count: 360
Published: July 13th, 2010
Publisher: Scholastic Press
  4 Stars ★★★★ 

Sam believes that he's been cured of being a werewolf and that he's going to stay a human for good. He and Grace are happy about this, but they have to consider their pasts and what they want for their future. With Sam hopeful that everything will work out and Grace dealing with tensions within her family, things get a bit more complicated when a new werewolf is brought into the mix.

Cole is adjusting to life as a werewolf, but he seems happy to escape his human life and his status as a rock star. But beneath his arrogant and confident demeanor lies unresolved issues. With the worry that he'll be spotted and that his location will be revealed to the world, Grace and Sam have a whole other problem to deal with.

Personally, I found Linger to be a lot slower than Shiver, and I thought it seemed more character-driven than plot-driven. While it had a great cliff-hanger ending and has made me excited to read the next book, I feel that it didn't live up to it's full potential, especially compared to Shiver.

I was glad to read more about one of my favourite couples in YA, Sam and Grace. I think they're so sweet together! Sam is such a sweetheart, with his concern and love for Grace, and of course, his passion for music. I like Grace because she's so ordinary, she's just a girl who got swept up into a paranormal world because of her interaction with, and love for Sam, and I think that this is a nice change from the whole "chosen one" or "secret past" trends within many YA books. One thing that has made me excited to continue reading this series is my interest in Sam and Grace's relationship and my hope that everything works out for them! I have to know how it ends with them, so I know I will definitely finish this series, even if the rest of the books aren't as great as the first.

Cole was an interesting character because I couldn't decide whether I liked him or not. He was kind of annoying with his arrogance and cockiness, however he had more beneath the surface and his own personal struggles. I thought his evolving relationship with Isabel was a nice touch and I was worried that I might find it turning cliche in the end, but I never found it to be that way at all.

I really like Maggie Stiefvater's interpretation of werewolves because it's not just a paranormal phenomenon within her books, but there's a bit of a scientific basis to it. Discussions of a possible cure throughout the book intrigued me because I wanted to learn more about werewolves and how they worked in this book's universe. Along with Sam and Grace's relationship, I'm going to be reading the rest of the books in this series with an anticipation for the conclusion of Sam's research for a cure. 

Overall, while slightly disappointing, this was still an enjoyable read and I can't wait to see how everything works out in the end. I recommend this series to fans of werewolves and YA fiction! If you like romance with your werewolves, this series is a must-read. 

Find Linger on Goodreads