The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

TL;DR imperial Russia but with magic

TBR #95, added Jan 12, 2013

finished 1/21/17

I had this checked out for three weeks, and I didn't get around to reading it until the library had sent me an email saying it was due in three days. In all honesty I only decided to read it to see if I could do it before the copy expired. (And I did.)

Historical fiction isn't really my thing, but let me tell you, it definitely becomes my thing when you start adding in magic and the supernatural. I've read a few books about pre-revolution Russia, but those mainly centered on the last tsar and his family. This predated my knowledge a little bit but it was a nice read for me nonetheless.

(Note: I read And I Darken by Kiersten White before I read The Gathering Storm, and that did help me in a few places. Surprisingly they do have an overlap in related history.)

Katerina was a compelling main character, although I feel like she didn't have as much agency in the second half of the book. I felt like her actions were kind of railroaded for an intended ending rather than giving her more opportunity and power to change the course of the plot.

Also, the ending was kind of ... lackluster compared to what I was hoping for. I do have to admit that I marathoned most of the book and then had to stop at 80% and wait a day before I could keep reading. I think that killed some of my own momentum. But for how much Katerina let herself be pushed around, the climax and the resulting consequences didn't seem worth it - I feel like she could've done more and not suffered like she was anticipating.

And I do feel like the romance aspects at the end weren't really earned, despite how much I was rooting for that result. Maybe it's because we didn't get to see them interacting much beforehand, mainly because of the larger plot going on, but to me it didn't feel like we got much evidence of the feelings being reciprocated before the last few chapters of the book.

Other than that, I did end up putting off my own writing and to-do list in order to read The Gathering Storm, so it was mainly a compelling read. I'm definitely interested in continuing this series but I don't know if the library will have the rest of it ...

TL;DR I enjoyed the book overall but I didn't like how the climax for this one was resolved. I'm going to continue with the series granted I can get my hands on the subsequent books.

CWs: injury / death, emotional manipulation and coercion

And I Darken by Kiersten White

TL;DR Vlad the Impaler but as a girl

TBR #1332, added Jul 18, 2015

finished 1/13/17

I ended up liking this a lot more than I expected. I'd been pretty interested in the book beforehand, but this is definitely one of the more enjoyable books I've read in a while. (For comparison: the last book I rated 5 stars on Goodreads was Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine on October 20th.)

The first thing that drew me in was definitely the narration. I think the majority of YA books have first-person narration, especially when the MC is a girl, so the third-person narration was a nice break in that. It also allowed for focusing on multiple events happening concurrently or with different characters. Radu's influence on the story was crucial to me and I definitely enjoyed being able to focus on more than one character over the course of the book.

I also liked seeing how Lada and Radu differed even though they had (mostly) the same upbringing. The book starts with Lada's birth so we get to see their character growth over the course of their lives and how they adapt to what happens. There were a lot of nuances that were interesting to think about - especially the decision to diverge from history and make Lada a girl.

I think part of the reason I enjoyed this so much is because the plot felt very character-driven even though so much was out of their control. They had to be a lot more reactive than they were proactive but I was still very invested in what was going on. I also have very little background knowledge in what historically happened (other than a quick check on Wikipedia halfway through my read) so it was more like speculative-fiction than historical-fiction. If that makes sense.

(Side note: the love triangle was also interesting. I'd like to see more of this type, of the MC(s) competing instead of being competed over.)

I read this just before I read The Gathering Storm, and surprisingly they do have a little bit of common ground in terms of history. Reading And I Darken first definitely helped me have some more background knowledge and understanding than I would've had otherwise.

TL;DR I liked this a lot even despite not usually liking historical fiction, and I'm looking forward to continuing with the series.

CWs: war / death / injuries / blood, abuse / neglect from parental figures

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

TL;DR listen to the corn (lol)

TBR #1762, added Sept 17, 2016

finished 1/19/17

I actually checked this out from the library back in like September, but I never got around to touching it, so my copy expired. I'm not really sure why I decided to put a second hold on it.

Bone Gap took a little while to grow on me -- I hadn't checked the Goodreads description again before I jumped into it, so I didn't really know what direction the book was heading in. And the magical realism (if that's the term for it) kind of threw me for a loop. The narration was a little hard to adjust to, partially because I'd just finished a first-person POV book, but I think it ultimately helped the aesthetic.

This book definitely isn't that straightforward, with the magical realism and the threads of the story that aren't revealed until you're further in. I'd definitely say this would be a good book to read through in one sitting just so it's easier to keep everything straight.

I ended up really enjoying Bone Gap once I started to like all the characters (which didn't take all that much) and it was a funner read than I was expecting. Also, the romance was A+.

As far as I know, it's also a standalone, so I recommend it for that factor as well. It's a good read and everything wraps up by the end so you don't have any cliffhangers or unfinished plot lines. (Well, there are some aspects that weren't explained like I wanted, but for the limited third-person POV, I think it makes sense? None of the characters knew the answers. And it's not a detriment in my opinion.)

TL;DR it might be a little hard to follow because of the magical realism but it was an enjoyable read and would be a good rainy-day book.

CWs: unreality, injuries / blood, kidnapping

Captivate by Vanessa Garden

TL;DR not the mermaid story I was hoping for

TBR #840, added May 8, 2014

finished 1/17/17

Captivate was a solid two-stars for most of the book -- I wasn't enjoying it, but I was at least curious enough to keep reading once the plot got going. (I nearly DNFed this before Miranda even got kidnapped, to be honest, but it got marginally better after that.) I was pretty "meh, it's alright" until the climax started, and then I quickly lost interest in what was going on.

There was enough potential that I held out hope until about the 70% mark, at which point I realized the plot was steadily progressing to a cop-out ending. The climax felt like an arranged order of events (rather than a natural progression) that focused on the wrong problems just to create more ~tension~ and drag out the story.

I was kind of hoping this story would have something about mermaids, but that concept was under-utilized in this book, and I'm certainly not going to go chasing after it in subsequent books. Obviously it doesn't have as much weight to the plot as I was hoping. It's such a good concept, too -- if there was a book focusing on the stuff before Miranda's story, I'd actually read it. I'm much more interested in the mermaids in this story than her or Marko. Or their relationship.

I didn't feel like the two of them had any chemistry, so this was Stockholm Syndrome 100%. And she even admitted that! There wasn't nearly enough evidence to prove why they should like each other, especially considering Miranda was being held against her will and Marko caught her lying more than once. This whole ~compulsion~ thing from the light-crystals only made it worse, because that's confirming that she has no other reason to like him.

All the worldbuilding / aspects of Marin (their city-state) were shaky, actually. None of the science-y stuff is explained in any detail that makes it realistic -- like, how are they surviving the pressure of being so far underwater with no side effects? How is this big city surviving if Marko is the only person trading with the surface, and only once a month at that? How have they not tracked down Damir and killed him already? Is there an actual scientific reason the women are infertile, or is the "lack of a moon" really the cause we're going with here? Because that's not how that works.

Also, if Marin was having such an issue with reproduction, shouldn't they have kidnapped more women? It's hinted in the first few chapters that Miranda isn't the first girl they've kidnapped, but shouldn't they be worrying about more than just the king having a child? I mean, I guess they've got enough "immigration" to sustain their population, but obviously all these women in the city are sad they can't have children. It sounds like they have enough science for artificial means of reproduction for the rest of the city as well.

Side note: there are two instances of attempted sexual assault literally for the ~dramatics~ of the scene and it really irked me. The premise of this story could have used that so much more tactfully, but no, it was just used to add temporary stakes. The only repercussions it has was Miranda getting flak for one of the attackers' punishment, which is a horrible thing to normalize.

I think the book could have used some more rounds of revisions to re-focus the goals and the stakes of the story. There were a little too many things going on -- including the subplot with Aiden that was basically just thrown in for the sad factor -- and most of these subplots got pushed aside in order to raise the romantic stakes. Removing the love triangle and making Damir an actual threat vs a scary bad guy that shows up for literally one scene would've been nice.

TL;DR there were some good concepts in this book, but they were under-utilized in my opinion and way in the shadow of Miranda and Marko's Stockholm relationship, which killed the climax's potential and my willingness to continue with the series.

You Are Mine by Janeal Falor [DNF review]

TL;DR misogynist society to the "~extreme~"

not on TBR

Kindle ebook downloaded for free via Bookbub 12/3/16

DNF 1/7/17

I was gonna stick this in a post with some other reviews of books I didn't finish, but I got significantly further in You are Mine than the others, so I figured it deserved its own post.

I decided to download You are Mine because it went pretty far into the dystopian genre, that women are literally just property and are only valued for having male children. (Usually dystopians don't go this drastic.) I was curious how this was going to be executed, and it was free, so I figured why not?

I hadn't set many expectations going in, so it didn't really fail me, but it definitely didn't try to impress me, either. It came off as a Western adaptation (read: travesty) of conservative, "oh so scary" Islamic countries, like Saudi Arabia. The restrictions and lack of human rights for women in You are Mine were based on vague reasons and I have so many unanswered questions -- where did the women's canon come from? What is this system of magic based on and when was it decided that it was only worthwhile to men? Why is there no mention of women learning to use it at all? This was actually the hardest to believe -- even in regions where groups like the Taliban have prevented girls from attending school, girls like Malala Yousafzai still pursued an education.

(I'm a geography major. I took AP Human Geo in high school and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll admit I maybe nitpicked these cultural worldbuilding elements a little more than the average person would.)

Likewise, it was also hard for me to believe that Serena was actually supposed to be from this world. Her characterization was inconsistent in the sense that she kept slipping up and questioning how their world worked, only to roll right along with something (or sometimes the same thing) a scene or two later. Or she would forget about certain customs / gender roles that should have been ingrained into her since birth (example: when she sat down in the doctor's chair in the first chapter or so).

I was theoretically gonna read this all the way through, but I wasn't enjoying it at all, so DNFing it seemed like a better option. And I will admit that it seems like I might be the minority, since I don't remember seeing many negative reviews on Goodreads.

TL;DR I couldn't buy the worldbuilding and that killed the reading experience for me.