The Glass Sentence ~ 3 stars

     The Glass Sentence, by S.E. Grove, is a book that I've had on my read-and-review booklist for a month or two now. I saw it on Amazon and the little blurb about it there looked promising - some pirates, some sailing, a lot of maps, some sort of intricate setting, that kind of thing. It looked like it was going to be a really sweet story, a really interesting beginning to what could be a very interesting trilogy. When I saw that the library had gotten it, I was very excited and of course checked it out.

     The story began fairly interestingly, introducing a world that has been torn and fragmented by the Great Disruption, a devastating event which caused the Ages of the world to fluctuate and change so that all over the world people are trapped in different Ages. New Occident, previously known as the American Colonies, is home to Shadrack Elli, a world-renowned cartologist, a man who makes it is business to map the world and the Ages in it. Living with him in their home in Boston is his niece Sophia Tims. Sophia is effectively an orphan after her parents disappeared on an expedition when she was three. Raised by Shadrack, Sophia has learned a lot about maps, mapmaking, and knows more than most thirteen-year-olds about the Great Disruption and its effects. 

     When her uncle Shadrack is kidnapped by a cult seeking the location of a legendary map called the carta mayor, a map that is said to chart all the Ages of the world, Sophia is the only one who begin the search for him. Helped by Theo, a refugee from the Baldlands, Sophia sets out on a quest to track down her uncle. Along the way they are pursued by his kidnappers, because Shadrack has entrusted her with a valuable map that is key to finding the location of the carta mayor. 

     With this kind of plot, the story sounded good - very good, in fact. I was very, very excited to read it, and maybe my high expectations are part of why I was so disappointed by this book. From the moment Sophia left Boston, I grew more and more confused as to where she was, and even more importantly, what she was doing there. With all the things going on - being attacked by Sandmen, throwing in with gentlemen pirates, and running across Theo's enemies - it was hard to keep track of the main thread of the story and the reason Sophia was going where she was going. Also, because of the Ages being all mixed up and varying from place to place, the world was fractured and cultures in these different Ages were vastly different. Normally this would make for an incredibly rich setting for the story to take place in, but I felt like there was so much extra detail thrown in that the story would occasionally be derailed when some new fact of the particular Age they were in had to be explained. The story would have been simpler and easier to read if some of those extra things had been pulled out and saved for a moment when they would really be important and not just peripheral information.

     The other thing that really disappointed me in this book was the lack of a good villain. Blanca, the mysterious woman who has Shadrack kidnapped, lacked real power. Sure, when she was first introduced into the story, I expected her to be a truly terrifying villain who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted - unlimited power and control of the carta mayor. Not so. Although Blanca seemed like she would be a thoroughly heartless villain, all of her casual acts of cruelty that would have made her seem truly evil never really had that effect because Shadrack never seemed to feel really afraid. He was too much like a robot in my mind, barely touched by his emotions and forever thinking about everything without really feeling anything. S.E. Grove set her up to be a magnificent example of pure villainy, but she tore her down just as quickly by failing to make the characters react as if she were really that terrible. Because of this, Blanca never manages to be the villain who would have made the book really stand out.

     However, the part about the Great Disruption and the maps was very good, the maps in particular. S.E. Grove definitely used her imagination in concocting this setting and the numerous details of Shadrack's trade. All the different kinds of maps - glass maps, metal maps, sand maps, even water maps - add such a unique dimension to the story. Also the emphasis that everyone in this world places on time. Since the Great Disruption, time and how it is measured has become a very important part of everyone's life. That's not a concept that I've seen discussed in a lot of books, and it adds a whole new dimension to The Glass Sentence. I can definitely say that the maps and the issue of time were my favorite parts of this book.

     I also admire what S.E. Grove did with Sophia. She has no internal clock, and she finds it very hard to keep track of time. For her, hours can pass by in a matter of seconds, while a minute or two can drag on forever. In order to keep track of her own memories and life story, she has to map the events of her days, giving her a record of what has happened. In fact, its the fact that time has no hold on Sophia that makes it possible for her to do what has to be done to save the carta mayor from Blanca's clutches and keep the Ages of the world from colliding and destroying each other. 

     In the end, I give this book three stars because although it could have been really good, the lack of a strong villain character and my difficulty in keeping track of where things were taking place made this book less satisfying than I expected. However, I won't judge it too harshly, since it's just the first book of a new trilogy, called The Mapmakers Trilogy. A first book is only intended to start setting up the bigger story, so although I wasn't entirely happy with this first book, some of the issues I had with The Glass Sentence will most likely be resolved and dealt with in the two books to come. It's at least worth 3 stars, and I would definitely point you toward this book if you're interested in quest stories, imaginative settings, and fictional imaginings of the world.

Beyonders trilogy ~ 3 stars

     The Beyonders trilogy, by Brandon Mull, is a story of action, adventure, and courage set in a fantastical world pulled straight from the imagination of the author of the wonderful Fablehaven series. It's one of those books where a kid from our world travels to another place and finds himself the answer to prophecy. That's what Jason is: the answer to a prophecy, the hero who could save the world of Lyrian or destroy it. But he's also just an ordinary, baseball-loving teenager and at heart he's just like every one else.

     Jason comes from the Beyond - that would be our world - and his sudden arrival in a place nothing like Earth couldn't be more startling to him. Lyrian is a place like no other - you won't find another book with a world like Lyrian, and around every corner you're discovering something new about it. It's populated by humans, yes, but there are strange races living there, too, races created years ago by wizards. The food is exotic and varied, and the places Jason adventures to are as diverse as a swampy jungle full of huge frogs to the Tavern-Go-Round, a spinning tavern. All these things provide the backdrop for the story Brandon Mull has prepared.

     Jason, together with Rachel, another teen who has traveled from our world to Lyrian, are set on a quest by the Blind King to find the syllables to a magical world that can destroy the evil, tyrannical wizard Maldor, who seeks to conquer and control the entire world of Lyrian and everyone and everything in it. This quest will be dangerous enough, but no less dangerous than confronting Maldor in his fortress and speaking the word that will save Lyrian. And because of the nature of this series, I can't tell you what happens beyond that. You'll have to read them to find out.

     Now, with this fairly glowing description, maybe you're wondering why I'm only giving this series 3 stars. Here's why.

     In Lyrian, Brandon Mull created an amazingly detailed, intricate, unique world, filled with things and creatures I'd never heard of before, including wizard-born races that you will not find the like of in any fantasy novel you've ever read. Usually that's a good thing. I like to find unique worlds in books, but in Beyonders there was just too much for me to handle. I got lost in all the imagery - and not in a good way. There was so much going on in the background that I had a difficult time following the thread of the story with all these strange names of creatures and things popping up every few pages.

     Secondly, I had problems with the cast of characters in the Beyonders. As far as creating unique characters, Brandon Mull did well, especially with his wizard-born races to draw from. I do have a certain attachment to Ferrin the displacer, and I dare you to read the whole trilogy and hate him. Jason and Rachel were also great people, and the Blind King was...blind, of course, but pretty awesome. The problem for me was that there were other people who would join Jason and Rachel as they set off on each new quest, not so much in the first book, but definitely in the other two. And there were SO MANY of them, each with such a special skill-set that whenever they ran into trouble - and they did - there was always someone perfectly equipped to save their necks.

     Now, having a large cast of characters meant that Brandon Mull could regularly kill a few to remind Jason and Rachel to keep moving, but I find that creating characters and adding them to the story for a bit-part before killing them as a casual reminder isn't a mark of good writing. So between the jack-of-all-trades aspect of Jason and Rachel's ever-growing group of questers and their frequent, sudden deaths just to prove a point, I found the story lacking something. I couldn't get genuinely attached to the characters when I knew they'd be dead in 150 pages or so, only to be replaced by someone just as good or better. 

     Those are my reasons for rating the Beyonders the way I do. Despite having a brilliantly imagined world and a story premise that I loved, technicalities in how the author executed the story just didn't live up to my standards. However, there are lots and lots of people who had loved these books to an insane degree. I've read the reviews on Amazon, and there are fans out there as diehard as any fans of Harry Potter. So if you did like Fablehaven, I think the Beyonders might be worth looking into. It just didn't work for me.

     To sum up my somewhat extended review, let me just say that the first book of this trilogy has already been reviewed on Under Cover Agents by Mountain Gal, my blogging buddy. Check out her review HERE, and hopefully between us we can give a less biased assessment of these books.

Link to author website: http://brandonmull.com/site/beyonders-books

Rebellion Under the Stars ~ 3 stars

Review requested by Copper Dirt.


     Rebellion Under the Stars, by Katherine Marie, is another recent read for me. It's a story of adventure, rebellion, loyalty, and perseverance. The kingdom of Zaracor is about to be attacked by a mysterious and relentless force, led by a man driven by ambition and greed. Help must come if Zaracor is to survive the rebellion - and help is far away. An attack will soon be launched on the City, the home of the King of Zaracor.

     A varied cast of characters find themselves burdened with the task of saving the kingdom. Selena, a commoner girl, and her close friend, Prince Johnathan of Zaracor. Master Jolan, a man with many secrets, but still the closest and wisest advisor of King Charles of Zaracor. MacKenna, the daughter of a blacksmith, who has strange and frightening visions of the future. And Marzena, a powerful and mysterious woman who lives in the forest just outside the City. Working together and separately, its up to them to find out how Zaracor can be saved - or if that's even possible.

     Rebellion Under the Stars is a brand new book that was just published in December of 2014. In fact, it was self-published by Katherine Marie, a blogger and writer and now new author that I follow. The fact that Rebellion Under the Stars is a self-published book, and also the first book Katherine Marie has ever had published makes it more of a challenge to review than other books I've done, but I'll give it my best shot.

     First of all, as a self-published book, it was better than some I've seen. Often I find self-published authors to have poor spelling and punctuation or tons of typos which aren't in books published and edited by big companies. Also, I've read books where the self-published author was too lazy to make sure their formatting was consistent throughout the book - sometimes words are spaced widely in one place and indented from the page in another place. This is just confusing to read and jolts the reader out of the story. Rebellion Under the Stars had none of these problems - there were two or three typos, but formatting was consistent. 

     One other thing I noticed is that there were no chapter breaks. Instead, there would be a bit of a page break when the story switched narrators or an important event was completed. This was a bit exhausting to read after a while. I found that when I didn't have chapter breaks to mark my progress, the story would drag a little bit. Still, it was an interesting choice and gives the book a distinctive voice. But as self-published authors go, Katherine Marie did a good job making sure the outward appearance of Rebellion Under the Stars wasn't disruptive to the story.

     As for the story, I have a few comments to make about that, both positive and negative. The things that bugged me about Rebellion Under the Stars was partly the big cast of characters. In most books, there are lots of named characters, and sometimes more than one narrator. I've read books with as many as four narrators, and that can be hard to cope with. Rebellion Under the Stars had seven or more narrators, I may have forgotten one or two. With that many narrators, you have to use a somewhat omniscient style of writing, otherwise you risk blending the characters together in the story. Unfortunately, in a story the length of Rebellion, I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters very well, which is important. Primarily, though, my difficulty was that I couldn't decide who the main character was out of so many narrators.

     Also, each of these characters has their own story, and with seven or more to deal with, I as a reader wasn't able to discover much about their histories. By the end of the book, I was left with tantalizing hints of secrets and hidden pasts for several of the characters, but nothing concrete. However, Katherine Marie has talked about a sequel/prequel for Rebellion, so maybe another book will clear that up.

     The positive things I have to say about Rebellion Under the Stars have to do with the writing style of Katherine Marie herself, not specifically Rebellion. I enjoyed the story, don't get me wrong, but I just felt like there wasn't enough for it to be special to me. Her writing style and grasp of story mechanics: characters, scenes, dialogue, action - all the stuff that make a story stick with you - were good. She wrote scenes that made sense, she knew what her setting was and could describe it and the characters inside it. And although I doubt she had a professional editor paid to edit her story, Rebellion shows that she put the time and effort into editing herself and did a good job. If she writes more stories, which I hope she does, I'd definitely be willing to try them.

     In the end, Rebellion was a pretty good book from a first-time self-published author. It shows bravery from the author to be willing to make herself the face of her book, and not some publishing company, since she'll have to do all the footwork to get her book known (though maybe my reviews and other reader responses will help). I thought the story was interesting, and though it could have used a bit of tightening to clearly bring the plot together and showcase the characters ideally, it was a nice debut novel. Good job, Katherine Marie!

Link to author website: https://kmariecreativity.wordpress.com/
Links to Rebellion Under the Stars page: https://kmariecreativity.wordpress.com/rebellion/

The Grimm Legacy ~ 3 stars

     The Grimm Legacy, by Polly Shulman, was a spontaneous read for me. I've never heard of Shulman before, or read any of her writing, but when I stumbled across the book on Amazon, I thought it looked interesting, particularly the cover. The description also said that it involved the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales, like Hansel and Gretel, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and lots of the more obscure ones - ever heard of Jordina and Joringel? That one isn't exactly a bedtime story, I can tell you that. But I like fairy tales - even the obscure ones - so I decided to give The Grimm Legacy a go.

     The Grimm Legacy starts out like some sort of modern day mystery-and-magic story, with an ordinary teenage girl called Elizabeth going to an ordinary high school and having ordinary crushes on -- well, not on ordinary guys, but you get the idea. The story quickly takes a turn in a very interesting direction, however, when Elizabeth is hired to work at a library/museum call the repository. The repository contains the largest collection of items in the world. And not just any collection. Not only do they have one of nearly every kind of shoe, household item, tool, article of clothing, and even book that has ever been created, there are also special vaults that hold certain, important, powerful items.

     Items that appear to come straight from the pages of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales. And when Elizabeth is allowed to work in these vaults, she learns that some of them are actually really magical, just like in the stories. These magical items, along with anything else in this enormous collection, can be borrowed. But some of the magical items are losing their power or being replaced with fakes! It's up to Elizabeth and her coworkers, Anjali, Marc, and Aaron, to solve the mystery and return the items - without getting themselves caught, fired, or turned into statues by the thief. 

     For the first five or six pages of The Grimm Legacy, I was wondering if this was going to turn out to be another middle-grade level story about problems in school, witches and wizards, and teen romances. I've read a few of those, and they've never struck me as particularly interesting, or well-written. But The Grimm Legacy isn't one of those - it's amazingly unique. Although it does have elements of a middle-age story about a girl in high school with crushes on boys, it also has a dash of magic that spruces up that otherwise dreary concept and makes it something that's actually very entertaining to read.

     I was, however, a little disappointed by the romance. Elizabeth starts the book with a crush on Marc, a basketball player for her school's team. She also gets to know Aaron, who works with her at the repository. For most of the book, I was never sure which guy she'd end up with, because Marc sometimes seemed to be dating Anjali, who Aaron had a crush on. I know, confusing. And that was part of what turned me off. But the romances were also a little cookie-cutter - a little too perfect. Maybe that's just me, but they didn't really detract from the story.

     In the end, I liked it enough to be interested in how it ended, and I may check out the sequel, The Well's Bequest. It's not a book I'm going to reread frequently, but it was fun while it lasted. And it was a pretty well-written story, with an interesting plot, and just enough characters to be fun, without getting over-complicated. It's not really a boys' book, but my younger sister is reading it now, and I think she's going to like it at least as much as I did.

Link to author website: http://www.pollyshulman.com/

Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends--3 Stars

This particular story was intriguing to me. It wasn't too deep, but it drew me in because I wanted to read what happened. I enjoy books like that, especially when it includes fantasy.

Shannon Hale, the author of these stories, is one of my favorite authors in my book. She always makes me feel like I'm on a first name basis with her characters, and although The Storybook Of Legends gave a younger-reader vibe, I had no trouble feeling that way with this book.

I will continue this series out of curiosity, I think, but honestly, this series was initially geared toward the interests of, say, my little sister. It was amusing to read Madeline Hatter's energy as she talked and played with Raven Queen.
Raven has but one friend in her whole school, Ever After High, which is run by the brothers Grimm. Due to her mother's reputation for poisoning Snow White in her story, no one likes Raven, and everyone ignores her. Except when they feel threatened by her; then they run around screaming and panicking.

Apple White, on the contrary, is the most popular girl in school. Beautiful, smart, and heiress of the perfect story, everyone that runs from Raven runs to Apple. Her destiny and story is entwined with Raven's, so to her it is very important that Raven does everything right. But when Raven refuses to accept that her destiny is to be evil, the stories are mixed and it is up to the girls working together to fix them.

There is not one account that I can remember that included deep gore, and so that was a plus for me. Again, I believe it was geared toward younger children and their interests. I'll have my sister read it and see what she thinks as well!

Agnes Grey - 3 stars (guest review)

Guest post by jayden robyn


     Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte's first of two novels, is a quick, easy read. I liked it, but I found the overall plot to be somewhat lacking, which is why I settled on three stars for my rating.

     Agnes Grey focuses on the story of a young woman who becomes a governess in an attempt to earn her own living. The book opens with a brief overview of her childhood and relations with her parents and older sister, before moving on to Agnes taking up a position as governess at Wellwood House. Agnes struggles to handle her pupils, who are cruel and unmanageable. She is relieved of her position after a year, and after returning home, Agnes then takes up another post as governess to the Murray girls, who are older than her previous charges. She has a much better time with them, even if they are still troublesome, and she also meets the curate Edward Weston, with whom she falls in love.

     Anne Bronte is a very good writer, with prose that is clear and easy to read. She is my favorite of the Bronte sisters. However, I found Agnes Grey to "get going" almost immediately without much introduction to the characters, so I wasn't fully drawn into the story for several chapters. It is a very quiet story without much, if any, action; basically it is a snapshot of the story of a young woman making her place in the world in 19th century England.

     Agnes does not really grow much throughout the story, but Bronte does a good job of portraying the people surrounding her main character (who narrates in the first-person), from the cruel Bloomfield children and their parents to the somewhat shallow Murray girls and their mother, as well as the kind Edward Weston. The romance between Agnes and Weston is very understated and (again) quiet, but I liked that Bronte wrote it that way. Bronte honestly portrays the governess' lot of the times, and she ends the novel well, giving us a glimpse into her characters' futures without stifling the sense of completion.

     Overall, I liked Agnes Grey, but the fact that it took me several chapters to get into the story, as well as the overall tameness of the plot, lowered my rating. I prefer Anne's other work, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but Agnes Grey was still worth a read.

The Spook's Apprentice ~ 3 stars

Book 1

     I don't like lots of horror and gore in books. The Spook's Apprentice series by Joseph Delany has both, so I actually didn't expect to find them at all appealing, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed them. I would classify this series as being a thorough blend of some of the most frightening, bloody writing I've found in non-adult literature and some great characters and themes.

     The Spook's Apprentice books center around Thomas Ward, the apprentice of the local Spook, Old Gregory. As an apprentice Spook, it's Tom's job to deal with the things that go bump in the dark: ghasts, ghosts, boggarts, witches, and other denizens of the dark. They're a terrifying bunch of villanious creatures, and it takes a special kind of person to be brave enough to face them. Tom is a seventh son of a seventh son, and this makes him specially suited to fighting the dark, but even so its not an easy job. He regularly depends on the experience and skill of his master, Gregory, to help him, as well as the abilities of his friend Alice, the daughter of a witch.

Book 2

     Without spoiling the story too much, since there are many unexpected twists and turns in the plot, here's a summary of the series. Throughout the books, the dark is gradually growing strong, and it's almost more than a Spook and his apprentice can keep at bay. To make things worse, the Fiend, who is said to be 'the dark made flesh', has been summoned to the world. The only thing that is keeping him from destroying the world utterly is the fact that Tom's mother has hobbled him, binding him to several conditions. If he kills Tom, he will only be able to remain in the world for a hundred years – a mere blink to a powerful being like the Fiend. But if he can convert Tom to the dark or get one of his children to kill him, his reign can go on forever, unbroken and unhindered. To banish the Fiend back to the dark forever, Tom, Gregory, Alice, and other allies they make along the way are going to have to find a way to kill him. And a being like the Fiend isn't going to be easy to kill.

Book 6

     Hopefully that little summary doesn't give away too much of the story, but did tell you enough to possibly interest you in giving this series a try. Beyond just hinting at the plot, however, I have several things to say about the books themselves.

     Like I said, this story has a lot of elements in it which I would classify as horror. Delaney never lets you forget how close many of the characters are to a really horrible death for extended periods of time. He also describes things in vivid detail, and combining that with plenty of heart-pounding moments for the characters can give readers a shock if they don't have nerves of steel. This is not a comfy story where the heroes eventually win – it's a story where the heroes are going to win in the long run, but lots of them are going to die along the way. And that's not always appealing to every reader.

Book 8

     Also, the gore level of the Last Apprentice is very, very high. I'm not joking when I say that blood, bones, and death is mentioned on every three pages, at least. In particular, the witches of Delaney's story are quite gory and disturbing. It takes a reader who isn't easily disgusted to hang on during the first few descriptions of dead witches and blood-drinking boggarts. You'll have to be the judge of the blood and guts aspect of The Spook's Apprentice yourself. My advice is to at least read the first book and give it a try. You might find it extremely disturbing, or it could be appealing to you. Or you might be like me and enjoy the extra layer it adds to the story while not trying to imagine how incredibly disturbing the story would be in real life.

Book 10

     But just because The Spook's Apprentice can be horrific and bloody in places didn't turn me off. I actually found that although it was a gory story with creatures that wouldn't be out of place in a horror film, it was still a good story. Delaney handles horror and gore without becoming repulsive and revolting. Also, his characters have heart and substance – Tom in particular. Really bad things happen to them, and they get more of a fright than I do, but they're still great, three-dimmensional, extremely unique characters. The books wouldn't be the same without them. Also, Delaney has a wonderful narrative voice. The flow of the story is very natural, even in the most disturbing passages.

Book 13

     In the end I find myself two minds about The Spook's Apprentice. On the one hand, it's got great characters and Delaney is a very good writer. But on the other hand, the series currently contains thirteen books, and Delaney hasn't finished his story yet. And in my opinion, he's sacrificed some of the aspects of his story that I liked along the way to getting to thirteen books. I'll finish the series, but I was not pleased with the turn the series took. So in a few days, I'll follow this review with a breakdown of what I thought of Delaney's continuation of The Spook's Apprentice story. It's going to be full of spoilers, so don't read it until you've gotten to book thirteen. Please don't. It'll ruin half the surprises in store for you.

Link to author website: http://www.spooksbooks.com/