The Falconer

Title: The Falconer (The Falconer #1)
Author: Elizabeth May
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 10/10

"One girl's nightmare is this girl's faery tale

She's a stunner.
Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title—and drop-dead beauty.

She's a liar.
But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. she's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense the sìthíchean—the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans—and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them.

She's a murderer.
Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons—from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols—ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.

She's a Falconer.
The last in a line of female warriors born with a gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder—but she'll have to save the world first.

The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller combines romance and action, steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read."

***

Life has been so hectic lately, it took me way longer than it should have done to finish The Falconer; especially because there's very little not to love about this book.

I'm a sucker for historicals, so that probably helps. But the plot itself is beautifully woven, and the reveals are expertly delivered. May does a great job of keeping the balance between showing the world and introducing new characters, and keeping the pace at a level that will keep the reader interested.

And Kam was an absolute delight of a narrator. Spunky and self-assured, she is deeply flawed, and she knows it. She owns her flaws and uses them to her strength.

But what I loved, loved, loved about The Falconer was that, while the romantic elements certainly ran in an undercurrent throughout the novel (hard not to, when the society depicted is one that still places so much emphasis on marriage), it by no means eclipsed the actual plot; and, most wondrously, the love interests played other parts in the novel, rather than just pretty furniture for girls to fight over. Even more shockingly, all the attention and love wasn't instantly directed to the boys - yes, they're beautiful, but they also serve as very important plot elements (and I'm saying 'them', when really it's just 'him', but I had to include Gavin in there, because of reasons... though I adore the fact that May didn't try to make it into a love triangle with him).

Definitely give this one a read! It's filled with action, and all around amazing characters (I want a Derrick!)

Forsworn

Title: Forsworn (The Last Oracle #2)
Author: Emily Wibberley
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
Cover: 7/10

I'd like to thank Emily Wibberley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

"It’s been a year since Clio made her sacrifice to the Deities and embraced her destiny as the Oracle to save her people.

The only family she has left is a brother who wants her dead.

The prince, her oldest friend, is a king with his own agenda.

And the man who once loved her, now hates her.

All she can do is try to forget about Riece, the enemy commander whose heart she broke to save his life, as she serves the Deities. Her days are filled with Visions and bloodshed in a never-ending war against the Untouched. To add to her problems, she must pose as King Derik’s mistress to conceal her forbidden powers from the Emperor’s spies.

When Riece unexpectedly returns to Sheehan with a new and beautiful ally, Clio knows she must put him out of her mind once and for all, but first, they are thrust together into battle against a mysterious Untouched warrior with otherworldly power. To reclaim her city, she must team up with the man she hurt, the man she still loves but can never be with, and finally confront the questions about her origin—questions with answers that Clio may not be prepared to face."

***

You can read my review of the first book of the trilogy, Sacrificed, here.

Forsworn was a delight to read. As someone who's been struggling to find a plot that captivates me long enough recently, Wibberley provided me with the perfect place to dive back into books.

Clio, continuing from Sacrificed, is still the strong, spitfire, headstrong girl she was. I loved seeing how accepting the mantle of the Oracle changed her, and it was great to see her relationship with Derik evolve and change.
Most important to me, though, was see Clio flourish on her own. Yes, she is pining after Riece (and, really, who can blame her, right?), and yes, she still loves him. That doesn't stop her from carrying on with her life without him, and kicking some serious butt. It also doesn't stop her from running into his arms the second the opportunity arises. I love that, that we were able to see Clio act on her own, that she was perfectly capable - if reluctant and saddened - to live without Riece, before we got thrown back into the romance.
And I absolutely loved her relationship with Ashira. The speech at the end, about how being strong doesn't mean being hard and unfeeling was truly beautiful, and a message young girls should be told more often. You can still be feminine and be strong and independent (part of the reason why I'm absolutely in raptures over Zarae, I think haha).

Diazon was a surprise, and, while I'm glad that was sorted, I also love the can of worms he managed to overturn while he was still kicking; I'm looking forward to what this will all mean to Clio going forward.

ps: in case you were wondering, I'm in denial over Lireen. And I will never not be.

Cover Love: Head Over Heels

If you've read my review of the last Geek Girl book, All That Glitters, you'll know I'm a big fan of Harriet Manners. And All That Glitters was a brilliant book, so here's to hoping that Head Over Heels will follow suit!
Now, covers have never been Geek Girl's strong suit, with them all being relatively similar, so not much to comment on with this new one. Still, we also got a release date, which is pretty cool ;)

Head Over Heels is scheduled for a March 3rd release.

Cover Love: Glass Sword

This just in! The stunning cover for the sequel to Red Queen. If you, like me, thought they'd have trouble topping the awesome that was the cover of Red Queen... well. I'll let you decide for yourself.
Personally, I think they're both gorgeous, but also incredibly similar? This one has less blood on it, but... yeah...

According to Yahoo! Movies, "When Glass Sword opens, Maven has betrayed Mare and his brother, Cal, and the two have been rescued by the Scarlet Guard. In addition to fighting the segregation that torments the red-blooded masses, Mare will be seeking out other Reds like her. Where the first book cover showed an upside-down crown dripping red blood, the new one follows suit, this time with a crown made of glass swords and dripping both red and silver blood, a symbol, Aveyard told us, meant to show that “both sides are going to have problems this time around.”

(Back) Cover Love: Queen of Shadows

It's up, it's up, it's up! The gorgeous back cover of Queen of Shadows! I have to say, I've never seen back covers provide such excitement anywhere other than the Throne of Glass fandom. Still, who can blame us, since we get these awesome Aelin poses + beautiful dresses, right? ;)

I haven't read the first three chapters, because I know it'll only make the wait worse. Have any of you read it? (no spoilers if you have!)

ps: okay, I know, I know. It's been nearly a month. I'm sorry. Real life got in the way. I snapped my ACL during an (unusual) bout of sport (this is why I don't do the damn things normally, I tell you), so had to have surgery, and now I've got an awesome work experience at Michael O'Mara Books for two weeks, doing publicity. So it's all been a little busy, as you can imagine, and I've had zero time to actually sit down and read more than 10 pages at a time. I have a long train journey in front of me this weekend though, so planning on getting some quality time with my TBR then; hopefully have a review up early next week.

The Heir

Title: The Heir (The Selection #4)
Author: Kiera Cass
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 10/10

"Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.
But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.
Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought."

***

I had forgotten why I loved these books so much. Cass' writing is like a breath of fresh air in the sameness of YA today.
I was a bit wary, because historically, I don't deal too well with authors changing the POV of their books. Usually, that happens after one book though, and the reason I don't like it is because I've only just started getting that character as the protagonist, so to have another one shoved at me is disconcerting and unpleasant. With this though, it was obvious that America's story was done. She'd said her piece, so changing narrator actually felt pretty organic. It helped that Eady was an absolute delight.
It was wonderful to read about this young girl who is terrified to love because she thinks it will make her weak. The thought of Eadlyn being aromantic actually occurred to me quite a few times, but I guess we'll see how that plays out. Seeing her go from "no, I will not find a husband, ew husbands!" to actually wondering about the merit of the entire thing was a great journey.
And for the most part, I loved seeing Mer and Maxon as parents, and meeting all their crazy kids.
And the boys from the Selection were awesome. It feels weird to have finished the book and not have a favourite in mind. I've grown very attached to Henri, Kile and Erik, and I seriously hope that, whatever happens, she and Henri are still friends by the end of it. Really looking forward to the next instalment!

Feminist Fridays: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Welcome to the first Feminist Fridays! This is a new feature I'm trying out on the blog, because of some issues I've been finding more and more in some books. Please, please read the disclaimer on the Feminist Fridays page before going off on a rant in the comments. Understand that what I say in these reviews in no way means the book is bad, just that it has some issues that could do with being changed, to make it more equal. They do not, in any way, shape or form, reflect my views on the authors or their lives, and I am not blaming them for anything.

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses

General Rating: 3/5

FF Rating: 2/5

This review contains spoilers for the ending of the book.

For the general review for ACOTAR, go here.

Like I said in the main review, there were some problematic points with ACOTAR that I feel should be addressed.
First of all, even though Tamlin isn't exactly Feyre's jailor, he isn't warm and fuzzy either; in fact, throughout the first part of the novel, she is terrified of him. Now, I don't know about you, but I find it deeply disturbing that a man who once scared her so much went from tormentor and scary guy, to lover in just a few chapters. Maybe, if the relationship had evolved over the whole book, it would have been less disturbing. Although I know why she wrote it like that, considering the plot, it still didn't sit well with me at all.
It's quite sad that a Disney movie aimed at children, that couldn't have been longer than an hour and half, managed to portray a more likeable and slightly less creepy romance than a book with hundreds of pages. I mean, I get that the naga were meant to be the wolves, and let's face it, there's always been grumblings over Beauty & the Beast and Stockholm Syndrome (grumblings I always sort of ignored good-naturedly, because, come on, it's a fairytale, you have to cut it some slack, especially considering the context of production for that movie. Also, even though the Beast keeps Belle in the castle, there's never really any hint that he'd physically harm her, and we see him actively trying to be nice and make her feel at home. With ACOTAR, not only did Feyre's very physical reactions of distaste and fear of Tam create the idea that he might physically try to hurt her, because the narrative was told solely through Feyre's first person POV, it's hard to see any real evidence of Tamlin actually trying to be nice; instead, he's dismissive, and only offers to buy her stuff to paint with in what feels like almost a way to trap here there. It's creepy, it's scary and it did nothing to help me believe that they could have a healthy, loving relationship). So, maybe the problem was with the nature of the fairytale itself, rather than with the book. Still, in a retelling of a Victorian fairytale, some aspects always need to be changed, because that's what fairytales do: they adapt to the society they're being told to, and that was sorely missing here.

Also, the imbalance of power between Feyre and Tamlin, at the start of the book (because of course, by the end, it's been erased... sort of. More on that later), with Tam being a High Fae immortal who can turn into a beastie and use magic, and Feyre a lowly illiterate human. It's a massive imbalance, and in no way makes for anything even resembling a healthy relationship. Feyre would always be second to Tam, always less important, less noticeable, less valuable... less.
And, yes, by the end of the novel she's High Fae herself. Which breaks some of that imbalance pretty neatly, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that will play out in the second book; but there's still the fact that Tam is still a High Fae of something, while Feyre will always just be Tamlin's girlfriend (or whatever it is we're calling them).
So she's Tamlin's girlfriend, Rhys' property for a week every month... why is it that woman are so defined by men in this book? Can they not exist on their right?

Which brings me on to the thing that quite possibly bothered me the most. I could sort of overlook the creepiness of the romance if I squinted real hard and ignored the first half of the book. What I couldn't ignore was the fact that about 90% of the conversations in this novel would not pass the Bechdel Test. I didn't actually count them all, but around the time Feyre goes back home, this was seriously bothering me.
Not only are there very few women in the book (other than Feyre and Amarantha, who, surprise, surprise, is a seductive older woman, out to corrupt the incorruptible Tamlin *groans*, the only other women are Alis, who is a secondary character at best, and Feyre's sisters, who are maybe tertiary characters if they're lucky), but the few conversations they have between them, generally are about men. I think the only ones that would pass would be Feyre chatting with the worshippers of the Fae at the beginning, and her conversations with her sisters before they found out the truth. And maybe some chats with Alis, though even those mostly were about Tamlin.

All in all, points for the plot and the idea, but dear god, this book pissed me off sometimes. I will read the next one, because I'm curious, but I'm lowering my expectations exponentially.