Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

With this book, the Throne of Glass series enters epic fantasy territory. Maas starts writing from multiple points of views, and adds parallel story lines. We're introduced to a couple new character POVs - Rowan, Aedion, Sascha and Manon.

Rowan is tied to Celeana, Aedion is tied to Dorian (atm) and Sascha is tied to Dorian. But Manon is tied to no one at the moment. She is an Ironteeth witch who has been recruited with her clan to ride the wyrvn that the king has been raising in secret. Her clan is rival to Baba Yellowleg's, the woman that Celeana killed in the second book to protect Dorian. Her story shows that the king is planning something big, but maybe the king is not in as much control of everything as he thinks he is. Whether or not Manon's story ends up supporting Celeana's story remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Celeana is in Wendyl feeling sorry for herself. But is discovered by Rowan, who is a fae warrior sent to train her before she is granted admittance into Doranelle, the fae kingdom. Celeana's relationship with men inevitably start in a trainer/reluctant trainee situation. So much so that Celeana mentions it to herself a few times. The cyclical nature of this makes me think that Rowan will inevitably replace Chaol in her heart. However, she still clings to Chaol through most of this book, at least her memory of him. It's not until the end of the novel that she decides to let him go. In this book, you get more of why Celeana broke up with Chaol. It's her knowledge that he would never really truly accept her as she actually is - a powerful fae warrior, who would be queen. While Celeana trains in Wendyl, we learn how powerful she is, as she learns to control her power over fire.

Rowan, I don't have much to say about him. He's there. He's crotchety. Yes, he's suffered a lot, but too crotchety right now for me to say much about him. He definitely cares about Celeana, or Aelin as he insists on calling her. But otherwise... I think we will need to wait for the next book to see what he's really like. In this book, it was mostly just watching him thaw to her, and he's there as her therapy tool to get over the events of the previous book.

Back in Rifthold, Chaol's goal in life is still too small, and his world view too narrow to see all that is going on. He becomes allied with Aedion - Celeana's cousin when he returns from abroad. But the only reason Chaol is allied with Aedion is because he's trying to protect Celeana and Dorian. Everyone keeps trying to make him pick a side, but Chaol can't choose because then he would have to admit that his world view is flawed. And that only happens at the very end of this book.

Not much happens to Dorian in this book. He's still cranky at Chaol for helping too much without helping at all. The major thing that happens to him is that he meets Sascha, a secret rebel who falls in love with him and helps him hide his magical powers.

Now that I think about it, not a lot happens in this book - no, lots happen in this book, it just doesn't contribute to the overarching plot that connects the books. I call this an "inbetween" book, where everybody is just being set up for the events that will happen later. While everyone is being moved around the board, and their allegiances are being defined, we learn a little bit more about the king's plans. Besides the wyvrn and the witches, the king is revealed to also have Volg in his arsenal. The Volg are the legendary enemies of the fae. They're a cross between a doppelganger and a Dementor (from Harry Potter). And Dorian ends up being inhabited by one at the very end after Sascha gets beheaded and Dorian is forced to reveal his magical powers to save Chaol. His father snaps a Volg collar on him... (I've started reading the next book, so I know that we'll get to see his POV of living with a Volg - not far enough to know who wins yet tho).

But yes... all the earth shattering events happen at the very end of this book to set up the next one.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

Wow, so many things happen in this book.

Spoiler alert. Turn away now.

To be fair, I try but inevitably always give spoilers. I like them. It gives me something to look forward to. If you don't like them, you'd be reading the Amazon summary and not any of the reviews, much less Googling other people's opinion of the book.

But wow. In the following chronological order:

Celeana and Chaol get together.

Nehemia dies.

Celeana and Chaol break up.

Dorian discovers that he has untapped magical powers.

Celeana is actually fae and the lost heir of Terrasen.


The first part of the book is adorable. Celeana and Chaol are so cute together. Dorian is super jealous of them, but who wouldn't be when you watch two people first fall in love. But of course, things are not meant to be. Chaol gets kidnapped and Celeana has a flashback of what happened to Sam and goes mental to save him. But after she saves him, she finds out about Nehemia...!!!

All this occurs because of various political machinations. Celeana isn't too concerned about these yet, so I won't go into it until it matters to her. But she gets sucked in by the King, by Nehemia's allegiance to the rebels, by Elena (the first fae queen's ghost)... She feels like a pawn, and can't help by notice that what happened to her before is happening again on a bigger scale.

Nehemia's death affects Celeana severely. She keeps blaming herself, blaming the world and ultimately Chaol for losing her best friend. Chaol, on the other hand, I totally sympathize with. He was just doing his job, like she was. Only she'd been betrayed by people in power before and has since started thinking for herself. Whereas, he has not had to suffer the terrible misfortune of a bad boss who took advantage of him (until now... maybe).

In the meantime, Dorian is all lonesome in his discovery that he has magical powers. He's scared witless because he knows his dad may kill him for it. So he tries to research stuff on his own until he accidentally reveals himself to Celeana. They sort of try to help each other for a bit, but they're a little too wrapped up in feeling sorry for themselves to be effective.

For the last point, only Chaol knows because Celeana revealed herself to save him from a bump in the night that shows up near the end of the book. Finding out that she's fae caused Chaol to get super worried and works to send her away to the last fae allied kingdom in the world, to keep her safe from the king. And just before she leaves, Celeana reveals the last part to Chaol in an obscure way, but he finds out before the end of the book... and cause him to worry some more.

And that's when the next book starts.

!!!

The Assassin's Blade / Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Read "The Assassin's Blade" first.

I'd started reading "Throne of Glass" because it was the first book published. But I quickly realized that I was missing a lot of information. So I did a quick Google search to see what "The Assassin's Blade" was about. I knew it was supposed to be a series of prequel novellas, but didn't want to read it if it didn't tie into Throne of Glass at all. Luckily I found out that Throne of Glass starts where The Assassin's Blade ends, so happily started reading that instead... However, I had just read the first chapter of Throne of Glass and knew something bad happens for Throne of Glass to begin, so kind of read through Assassins' Blade with a lot of dread.

Maas reveals some of the background info in Throne of Glass, but seems to assume that you would know things about Celaena's past.

But yes, read The Assassin's Blade first.

The Throne of Glass series follows the story of Celaena Sardothien and her quest to survive. She was found as an orphan by the lead assassin in the country when she was 8 and was then trained to be his heir. Her training is brutal, but he treated her as well as he could. At first, I was a little annoyed by her because she was always like "I'm the best" and "I'm beautiful". But you later realize that she's just repeating what people have always said to her. Not that it's untrue, but for her, her skills and her beauty are just tools for her to survive the world that she ends up in.

In Throne of Glass, the story goes as summarized in the book jacket. She is pulled into a competition to be the King's Champion (aka, personal assassin), and enters into a bit of a love triangle with the Crown Prince (Dorian)  and the Captain of the Royal Guard (Chaol). I'm totally shipping Celaena and Chaol. Dorian is like the pretty boy you always crush on because he's gorgeous and knows how to talk to girls, but you ultimately know that it's too good to be true (no matter what he thinks at the time). Whereas Chaol is sturdy and takes care of you, and is still gorgeous AF. And gets you. Anyways, I'm not sure Celaena can handle another relationship yet after Assassin's Blade. Throne of Glass is a year and a couple months after Assassin Blade, so... she's still a bit scarred.

And if you ask, "Why are you reading a Young Adult novel? There's no sex in it" - I will reply "EXACTLY". The novels I've been reading have been a bit too focused on that lately and there's been very little character development. Also, I've been annoyed at how short the good books have been (I look at you Ilona Andrews - averaging 250 pages). Maas's books are around 350 pages so far. Harry Potter and Tamora Pierce's book are even longer. I've missed having a full proper plot. Although I haven't missed the mass of characters that are a symptom of fantasy epics - I don't think I could read Robert Jordan again or even attempt George RR Martin just yet.

Touch the Dark / Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance

Remember when I mentioned post traumatic LKH syndrome? Well, Karen Chance brought on a full spasm worth. I only managed to read the first two books before I had to stop because it reminded me too much of LKH.

If you like LKH, you will probably like Karen Chance. Of what I've read, Karen Chance is at least better plot wise - there's more action to the story. They are very similar in that they throw in lots of violence, lots of sex and borderline rape scenes, and very little character development.

The main character of Karen Chance's series is Cassandra Palmer (Cassie), and she is a clairvoyant who was raised by vampires. She is human when the series begins, but according to the subsequent book summaries, she eventually becomes a god. When you meet her, she's been on the run for a few years, after having escaped the vampire mafia that raised her. Somehow, she was raised by the one ugly vampire in the entire series because she is soon kidnapped and forced to endure the attentions of multiple sexy vampires. And of course, ALL the sexy vampires want to have sex with her for one reason or another.

The first book was very fast paced, action packed with very little explanation for what was going on until two thirds of the way through. At which point, the action stopped and there was an extensive dialog between Cassie and the sexy vampires. Of course, this wouldn't be required if Cassie had any skills at listening. Instead, she is extremely stubborn and refuses to acknowledge the danger she's in and constantly runs off to do side missions with very little rationale. She basically annoyed the hell out of me.

The only reason I read the second book is that the first book ended in cliffhanger, and I went for it to see what happened. Story in book two continues a couple weeks (months? it's not clear but definitely not within days of the first book) later, and all I could think was, WHY ARE YOU STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BAD PLACE! And why haven't you been caught yet? Why are the sexy vampires letting you wander off being a fucking idiot with no skills. BTW, they don't tell you why.

There are certainly interesting ideas in there - UN of supernatural creatures, Jack the Ripper is now a vampire, and tattoos that hold spells. If only the main character wasn't so annoying and showed so little growth despite all the things that happen to her.

Also, there is time travel.

There's just too much going on in this series and I have trouble caring for the welfare of the main character. Cassie keeps saying she doesn't want to be Pythia, but keeps running into the fray to use the Pythia's powers. Make up your damn mind woman! She's so fragmented that she doesn't seem like a real person.

Anyways, I won't be reading anymore of this series. Just writing this made me angry at how pointless Cassie Palmer is as a person.

Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews

I ran out of books to read, and finally got around to trying Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series. It keeps coming up in my recommended reading lists, but I just wasn't sure I was up for another Vampire + Werewolf series where the lead is a kickass woman with undocumented super powers... I have post traumatic LKH syndrome. If you don't know, LKH is Laurel K Hamilton, and she writes the Anita Blake series. I read her books in high school, some of them were very good, but most of them had poor character development, random but frequent sex scenes, and very little plot development. But features Vampre + Werewolf + kickass woman with undocumented super powers.

Lucky for me, Kate Daniels was nothing like that. First, vampires are not sexy in this series at all. They are ravenous zombies that can be controlled by necromancers. Second, Were Lion. Third, her super powers are documented, she just has to acknowledge the truth of her power and the current limits to her power... so it's not like Anita Blake who just inexplicably becomes more powerful with each book.

I ended up loving this series. Powered right through the first to most recent one. Super entertaining, with good character development and plot. I like it when long series have individual plot within the novel and then an overarching plot that spans the series of books. It gives you something to look forward to, and you're rewarded for reading all the books in a series. Sherrilyn Kenyon also does that really well.

The relationship between Kate and Curran is very truthful. I was initially afraid that their sexual tension would go on forever without any resolution, but thankfully, the authors were kind and brought them together in the fourth book. I love that they did that, because you get to see more of a partnership dynamic where they must suffer and rely on each other. I feel that's more true to life, and certainly what you hope a good marriage would be like.

The Undoing by Shelly Laurenston

Update, I read book two of Shelly Laurenston's Crows series.

1. Not about Erin. It's about Jace Berisha, the berserker girl in the first book who likes to hide in closets and read depressing books.
2. Better than the first book.

Now that the world has been established in the first book, she spends less time explaining things, which is nice. And you get to see more of the group dynamic between the different viking clans, which is where the humor comes into play.

My only complaint, and this is a big one, is that she introduces the most amazing backstory about Jace and doesn't go into it in more detail. It ends with Jace walking into her grandmother's house for dinner. FULL STOP. Discovering Jace's back story was the best part of the whole book, including how amazing her grandmother is. The second best part being how cute Ski Eriksen (the love interest) is.

I hope there's going to be a whole book just on Jace and her family...

The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston

I came back to blogspot to look for a poem I posted a number of years ago, and discovered that people still look at this blog... which is so weird because I haven't posted in it in so many years. I just forgot about it and I realized that I wasn't very good at giving book reviews. I just consume books now, anything that makes me think too hard makes me roll my eyes because I don't have the patience to analyze it and digest it. I blame my BA in English. *cue Avenue Q soundtrack*

In any case, I'll throw in a new review today, just for kicks, since people seem to still look at this. Or rather, stumble upon it. So, why not.

The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston is a new series by the prolific supernatural romance writer. Although you wouldn't think she was very prolific by her newsletters (lots of complaining and whining about how hard it is for her to meet deadlines). This story is about an ex-marine who has trouble adjusting to normal life, who one day gets killed and is given the opportunity to become a "Crow" or a second chance at life as a warrior under the viking god Skuld. She consents and has to adjust to a whole new kind of life.

The main character is kind of annoying because she constantly refers back to her previous life as a marine, and how awesome it was. While withholding alot of details about her life before her military career. The male protagonist is very one-dimensional, but he's a viking. As usual, the side characters interacting together is far more entertaining than the main storyline.

This book is fun, but is not her best work. This book feels like an extended prologue for explaining the world... the story doesn't feel like it gets going until the very end when *spoiler alert* the bad bitch goddess steps out of Brianna's skin. The whole exposition for the world could have been condensed into one chapter if only Kera wasn't so pigheaded and thick. And alot of the explaining could have been done simultaneously with the plot development, rather than pause the action to have an extended dialog where the Crows freak out about clipboards and how to annoy each other. Don't need to point out when people are being annoying, it stands out on their own.

Anyways, despite my irritation with some of the writing, it was entertaining enough that I would read the next books. Hopefully, the plot picks up a bit and it's focused on Erin... Anyone that doesn't have nightmares is worth exploring.