Tag Archives: Aprilynne Pike

Book Review: Shatter by Aprilynne Pike

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Book: Shatter by Aprilynne Pike

Published February 2018 by Random House|378 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the e-book from the library

Series: Glitter #2

Genre: YA Fantasy

Danica planned to use beauty, blackmail, and a glittering drug to control her own fate. Her escape from the twisted world of the Palace of Versailles was perfectly orchestrated and paid for. Or so she thought. 

Betrayed by the man who had promised her freedom, Dani is now married to the murderous King. It’s a terrifying position to be in…and yet it’s oddly intoxicating. Power may be an even stronger drug than Glitter–a drug Dani can’t resist, in the form of secrets, manipulation, and sabotage.

In her new position at the head of the court, Dani must ask herself who she really is. Can she use her newfound power to secure her real love, Saber’s freedom and a chance at a life together outside the palace? Or is being Queen too addictive to give up?

After reading Glitter last year, I figured I’d pick up the sequel to see how things turned out for Danica.  Shatter was just okay for me, and I didn’t like it nearly as much as the first book.

I’m still not sure why they’re re-enacting Versailles and Marie Antoinette, and like Glitter, I’m not sure what Pike was going for with this series.  The setting is interesting, but I wanted more backstory.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get it in this book, though we did learn a few things about the world that we didn’t know in Glitter.  Still, it wasn’t enough for me.  I had some questions on the outside world, and they weren’t answered in this one.

Danica is still trying to escape Versailles (and take Saber with her) but being Queen really changes her.  And not in a good way.  She does do some good at the very end of the book, but for me, it was too little, too late.  I didn’t particularly care for Danica in this book, but she is surrounded by some horrible people, and I can understand why she changes into someone who’s terrifying and manipulative.

I don’t remember Saber at all from the first book, but he was barely around in this one, it seemed like.  If he had completely disappeared, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have noticed.  It felt like there was nothing between him and Danica.

As for Danica and Justin, I didn’t particularly like them together.  I know it’s just a way for Danica to get what she wants, which is freedom, but Justin was pretty terrible.  Honestly, it seemed like pretty much everyone was terrible, and I didn’t particularly like anyone.

2 stars.  I had a hard time getting into this one, and I really do prefer her Wings series to this one.  Maybe this series isn’t for me, though the idea behind it is pretty cool.

Book Review: Glitter by Aprilynne Pike

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Book: Glitter by Aprilynne Pike

Published October 2016 by Random House Books For Young Readers|384 pages

Where I Got It: I own the hardcover

Series: Glitter #1

Genre: YA

A royal murder. The promise of a throne she never wanted. And a glittering drug that is her only way out.

Outside the Palace of Versailles, it’s modern day. Inside, the people dress, eat, and act like it’s the eighteenth century. The palace has every indulgence, but for one pretty young thing, it’s about to become a very beautiful prison.

When Danica witnesses an act of murder by the young king, her mother makes a cruel power play…blackmailing the king into making Dani his queen. When she turns eighteen, Dani will marry the most ruthless and dangerous man of the court. She has six months to escape her terrifying destiny. Six months to raise enough money to disappear into the real world beyond the palace gates.

Her ticket out? Glitter. A drug so powerful that a tiny pinch mixed into a pot of rouge or lip gloss can make the wearer hopelessly addicted. Addicted to a drug Dani can sell for more money than she ever dreamed.

But in Versailles, secrets are impossible to keep. And the most dangerous secret—falling for a drug dealer outside the palace walls—is one risk she has to take.

Glitter is a book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for a while, and for some reason, I was in the mood to read something I own but hadn’t read yet.  Since I’ve really enjoyed her books in the past, I decided to go with Glitter.  I liked Glitter, but not as much as I thought.

Some of the world-building was odd.  I know it’s the first book in a series, so while I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t get more backstory, part of me is still hoping that we’ll get something.  Like, why are there people pretending that they’re living in Versailles?  They have a king and queen (Marie Antoinette and I think Louis…whatever Louis they were when Marie Antoinette was around), and they have to dress like they did during that time, but they also have technology.  It’s just strange, and at first I was thinking that it was some sort of alternate history sort of thing, but the more I read, the more I realized it wasn’t.

There’s some corporation involved as well, but I, for the life of me, couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on with that.  Are there other places similar to Versailles, where they have this odd blend of technology and re-eanctments?  Or is it just Versailles?

Also, it kind of defies genre a little bit.  It’s not historical fiction, since they’re pretending to be living in Marie Antoinette’s time, but it’s not dystopic.  It’s like…sci-fi mixed with thriller I guess?  I have no idea but at any rate, the world-building was just not what I was expecting.  It made it seem like the book was having an identity crisis because it could not make up its mind about what it wanted to be.  I loved her Wings series so much, and I was a little disappointed in the world.  I’m still going to read the next one at some point, because I am curious about what happens next, but I’m not in any rush.

This book did have a certain level of ridiculousness, which was a bit much in this case.  It’s ridiculous, but not the kind I’m willing to overlook.  Danica, while determined to get out of the palace and not marry the king, was also incredible selfish and not at all caring about the consequences of selling drugs.  She wasn’t bothered by the fact that she was getting people addicted to drugs, or that it killed people.  I have an inkling she might not see the error of her ways, but I could be wrong, considering marriage is not something she wants.  At least to the King.

I know it seems like I didn’t like this book, but I did.  It held my attention, and the characters are pretty memorable, even though I liked very few of them.  And I do want to read the next book, so I definitely liked it enough to keep going.  Also, I like Pike enough that I’m going to pick up the next one at some point.

3 stars.  I didn’t love Glitter (obviously) but I still liked it.

Book Review: Mystic City by Theo Lawrence and Sleep No More by Aprilynne Pike

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Book: Mystic City by Theo Lawrence

Published October 2012 by Delacorte Books For Young Readers|397 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: Mystic City #1

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

For fans of  Matched, The Hunger Games, X-Men, and Blade Runner comes a tale of a magical city divided, a political rebellion ignited, and a love that was meant to last forever. Book One of the Mystic City Novels.

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City’s two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents’ sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud – and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths.

But Aria doesn’t remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can’t conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place.

Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection – and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city – including herself.

It’s taken me a while to actually review this book, so I’m a little bit fuzzy on what actually happened, and what I thought about the book.  The last months have been…rough…to say this least, but I’ll at least try to review the book.

So, it’s compared to quite a few things.  I didn’t really get why it was compared to The Hunger Games, and I don’t completely get why it was compared to Matched either.  X-Men is a pretty good comparison, though it’s not the best comparison.  And I’ve never seen Blade Runner (nor do I know what it’s about) so I don’t know how that holds up.

The world was…different, I supposed.  It makes me wonder what happened to the rest of the world, but you could probably say that about any other sci-fi/dystopia/post-apocalyptic book out there.  I wish we got a little more of the world than what we got, but this is the first book in a series, so there is probably more about this world in the books to come.

*I feel like I say that about a lot of series, and it almost never goes the way I want it to, information wise, so who knows if that is actually the case in this book.

It does seem very convenient that Aria and Thomas are getting married just when their families need to get along and unite against a rival politician who will ruin everything.  (I’m being slightly sarcastic here, but things do seem very convenient).  It’s also convenient that she loses her memories and that they don’t come back.  I can’t remember if they ever come back. which obviously isn’t helpful, and I know I wasn’t into the book enough to re-read it.  Or continue onto the next book.  Maybe I’ve just read too many dystopias and post-apocalyptic novels to be completely in love with the book.

Maybe I would have liked it a lot more had I read it when it came out.  As is stands, it sounds like a cool idea, but I thought it was okay.  Keeping in mind I have only a vague memory of this book, of course.  Maybe if you haven’t read a lot of YA dystopias, you’d like it.

My Rating: 2 stars.  While I did like the premise of the novel, it wasn’t enough to warrant more interest in the book or continuing the series.

Book: Sleep No More by Aprilynne Pike

Published April 2014 by HarperTeen|352 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: Charlotte Westing Chronicles #1

Genre: YA Paranormal

The blockbuster film Inception meets Lisa McMann’s Wake trilogy in this dark paranormal thriller from #1 New York Timesbestselling author Aprilynne Pike. This supernatural young adult novel is perfect for fans of Kelley Armstrong, Alyson Noël, Richelle Mead, and Kimberly Derting.

Charlotte Westing has a gift. She is an Oracle and has the ability to tell the future. But it doesn’t do her much good. Instead of using their miraculous power, modern day Oracles are told to fight their visions––to refrain from interfering. And Charlotte knows the price of breaking the rules. She sees it every day in her wheelchair-bound mother and the absence of her father. But when a premonition of a classmate’s death is too strong for her to ignore, Charlotte is forced to make an impossible decision: continue following the rules or risk everything—even her sanity—to stop the serial killer who is stalking her town.

I’ve really liked Aprilynne Pike’s books, so I knew I had to read this one.  It’s not my favorite of hers, but it was still interesting and different.  I’m curious about their visions, and Charlotte really was determined to put a stop to the serial killer in her town, even if it meant going against everything her aunt taught her to do.

I feel like a lot of what happens in the book could have been avoided had her aunt just been honest with her.  Then again, if she had been honest, this would have been a very different book.

The concept of Oracles is pretty cool, and I did like that there were consequences to changing things.  It could have easily been very different, but there is something very refreshing about there being actually consequences to changing things.

Charlotte puts her trust in some very questionable people, and why she didn’t go to her aunt is beyond me.  We do see the consequences of that, of course, but still.  If only her aunt actually talked to Charlotte, or if Charlotte went to her aunt for help, things would have been very different.  We can do the what if game all we want, and things went how they went, but I couldn’t help but think how they could have gone differently.

This book is strange too, because it had an open-ending.  I mean, things were pretty resolved, and it did seem like a stand-alone, and yet, there is a sequel…

…that I don’t think I’ll read.  I love her books, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t really have an interest in picking up a sequel.  I feel like I probably wouldn’t like it, and this isn’t my favorite book by her.  There was a lot that didn’t make sense, and I don’t know that reading the sequel would help or add to the world.  Part of me is hoping I’m wrong, but there’s no way of knowing for sure.  Not only that, but I didn’t really like this book enough to even want to pick up any other books in the series.

My Rating: 2 stars.  This was an odd one, and it was just okay.  Certain things were frustrating and confusing, and while I wanted to like it more, I couldn’t.