Book: The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Book Info: Published by Harlequin Teen; 359 Pages; Paperback

Source: Library Book

Goodreads Summary: Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan’s own fey powers have been cut off. She’s stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can’t help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

This is the 2nd book in The Iron Fey series, which I’ve recently decided to finish.  I really liked it, and I liked it a lot more than I thought.  It seems like I have really low expectations for sequels, but I was pleasantly surprised with it.

I really liked Meghan in this book, but Ash and Puck were annoying.  I could understand Ash being a jerk, and while I felt *a little* bad for Puck…I don’t know.  I just couldn’t like him.  Iron Horse, though, was awesome!  And I’m glad Grimalkin made random appearances throughout the book.

I loved seeing the Winter Court in more detail, and the Briars was equally cool. And the mansion of the Queen of Exiles was cool too, especially since Meghan comes across her mom’s 1st husband.  The Between was certainly interesting, and I hope we get to see more of it.

This is such a creative series, and I can’t wait to read the next one.  Especially with the way the book ended- it wasn’t what I was expecting, and I’m curious as to how the rest of the series will play out.

I give it a 4 out of 5.  I love the idea of the Iron Fay, and that notable fairies are fairly integral to the story.

Book: Good Fairies, Bad Fairies by Brian Froud

Book Info: Published by Simon & Schuster; 192 pages; hardcover; Source: From the library

Goodreads Summary: Returning the to magical realm of his beloved bestseller “Faeries”, illustrator extraordinaire Brian Froud introduces readers to all manner of fairies–those vibrant creatures who guide, enchant, and disrupt our lives while putting us in touch with out inner natures. 215 illustrations, 200 in color.

I wasn’t sure if I would like this book, but I really liked it!  In fact, I liked it a lot more than Fairies, also by the same author.

I loved the artwork, and it’s absolutely beautiful!  Froud has a talent for drawing fairies, and I’m so glad he’s sharing it with the world.  I loved seeing so many different fairies and Froud’s vision of what they looked like.  As for the text, it wasn’t overwhelming, and it complemented the art rather nicely.  I was expecting huge blocks of text, but much to my delight, there were small paragraphs to go with a lot of the pictures.

I liked that he divided the fairies into good fairies and bad fairies.  A lot of them weren’t familiar to me, so it was cool to see a lot of different fairies.  And for the ones I have heard of…I liked seeing his version of them, and his thoughts on those fairies.

Overall, it gets a 4 out of 5.  Beautiful artwork, and interesting information about fairies.  But I didn’t completely love it.

Book: The Coming Of The Third Reich by Richard J. Evans

Book Info: Published by Penguin Books; 656 pages; hardcover; Source: the library

Goodreads Summary: From one of the world’s most distinguished historians, a magisterial new reckoning with Hitler’s rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. 

In 1900 Germany was the most progressive and dynamic nation in Europe, the only country whose rapid technological and social growth and change challenged that of the United States. Its political culture was less authoritarian than Russia’s and less anti-Semitic than France’s; representative institutions were thriving, and competing political parties and elections were a central part of life. How then can we explain the fact that in little more than a generation this stable modern country would be in the hands of a violent, racist, extremist political movement that would lead it and all of Europe into utter moral, physical, and cultural ruin? There is no story in twentieth-century history more important to understand, and Richard Evans has written the definitive account for our time. A masterful synthesis of a vast body of scholarly work integrated with important new research and interpretations, Evans’s history restores drama and contingency to the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis, even as he shows how ready Germany was by the early 1930s for such a takeover to occur. With many people angry and embittered by military defeat and economic ruin; a state undermined by a civil service, an army, and a law enforcement system deeply alienated from the democratic order introduced in 1918; beset by the growing extremism of voters prey to panic about the increasing popularity of communism; home to a tiny but quite successful Jewish community subject to widespread suspicion and resentment, Germany proved to be fertile ground in which Nazism’s ideology of hatred could take root. 

The first book of what will ultimately be a complete three-volume history of Nazi Germany, The Coming of the Third Reich is a masterwork of the historian’s art and the book by which all others on this subject will be judged.

I’m glad I finished this book.  It took a while, but I finally managed it!

We all know about the Nazi’s- it’s hard not to know about them.  What I didn’t know was the specifics about how they came to power.  It certainly didn’t happen overnight, and it was nice to see the author go back several decades and talk about the events that led to the rise of the Nazi Party.

One thing I thought was interesting was that Evans didn’t focus solely on Hitler.  Evans was very impartial, and I couldn’t really detect any sort of bias.  It was also very detailed.  And considering the amount of detail and research, it was a fairly easy read.  It was dry, and dense, but all things considered, it wasn’t terribly hard to get through.

I liked how it was organized into 6 different sections; and each section was divided into even more sections.  He did jump around a little, mostly at the beginning, but for the most part, it was a pretty linear book.  It was nice to learn about all of the different factors that played a role in the Nazi’s rise to power.

As for a rating, I would give it a 3 out of 5.  It was a little overwhelming at times, but overall, I liked it.

Book: The Forest Of Hands And Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Book Info: Published by Delacorte Books For Young Readers; 310 pages; Hardcover; checked out from the library

Goodreads Summary: In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

One of the things I kept thinking was that this book is zombie apocalypse meets M. Night Shyamalan.  It was an interesting book, and I liked that there’s this secluded village that the world has forgotten about.

I liked the world Ryan built- there’s a clear hierarchy.  While she doesn’t completely explain everything that’s happened, it is pretty easy to figure out.

The characters, though, fell flat.  They were all really annoying, and it seems like this book is much more plot-driven than character-driven.  And as much as I liked the plot, there were too many things going on.  Keeping zombies at bay, romance, staying safe…her obsession with the ocean.  She finally gets to the ocean, but it felt really lame and forced.

I give it a 2 out of 5.  It reminded me too much of The Village by M. Night Shyamalan for me to really get into it.

Book: Candor by Pam Bachorz

Book Info: Published by EgmontUSA; 249 pages; Hardcover; checked out from library

Goodreads Summary: In the model community of Candor, Florida, every teen wants to be like Oscar Banks. The son of the town’s founder, Oscar earns straight As, is student-body president, and is in demand for every club and cause.  But Oscar has a secret. He knows that parents bring their teens to Candor to make them respectful, compliant–perfect–through subliminal Messages that carefully correct and control their behavior. And Oscar’ s built a business sabotaging his father’s scheme with Messages of his own, getting his clients out before they’re turned. After all, who would ever suspect the perfect Oscar Banks? Then he meets Nia, the girl he can’t stand to see changed. Saving Nia means losing her forever. Keeping her in Candor, Oscar risks exposure . . . and more.

This was interesting.  It’s another book where I liked the premise, but didn’t really care for the book.

None of the characters were particularly interesting, except for Nia, but even she got to be boring at the end.  The idea of brainwashing troubled kids is interesting, and Bachorz could have done so much with it.

I didn’t like the ending, and thought it didn’t fit too well with the rest of the book.  It was almost like she was going for shock value with it.  I was surprised that there aren’t any sequels, because it kind of seemed like she was setting it up to be the first of a series.  It was pretty repetitive, with some points coming up in every single chapter.  And overall, it was pretty basic.

I would give it a 2 out of 5.  It was just okay for me, but the premise of it was really interesting.

Book: Exodus by Julie Bertagna

Book Info: Published by Walker and Company; 352 pages; hardcover; checked out from library

Goodreads Summary: Less than a hundred years from now, the world as we know it no longer exists.  Cities have disappeared beneath the sea, technology no longer functions, and human civilization has reverted to a much more primitive state
 
On an isolated northern island, the people of Wing are trying to hold onto their way of life—even as the sea continues to claim precious acres and threatens to claim their very lives
 
Only fifteen-year-old Mara has the vision and the will to lead her people in search of a new beginning in this harsh, unfamiliar world.
 
This compelling and powerful story set in the near future will hit home with teens, especially those who are ever more aware of the increasingly controversial climate crisis we face in our world today.

I liked the premise of the novel.  But I was bored reading it, and I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would.

I couldn’t connect to any of the characters, and I felt like a lot of them were just there.  Not only that, but we didn’t get much info about the world that Mara lived in.  I thought that was a little weird because Mara leaves her island, goes elsewhere, and doesn’t really know anything about what’s going on.

And considering she goes on a journey to a completely different place, you’d think it would be a little more adventurous than reading that there were a lot of people on a boat and there wasn’t enough food or water for everyone.  Seriously, that’s all you have to say about that?  Nothing about what the boat looks like or how many people are on the boat?

I just felt a little confused about what was going on.  Mara didn’t know anything, and so we didn’t know anything.  It just got very irritating.  And it didn’t feel very coherent.  I don’t mind a novel being divided into sections, but the 3 sections in the book felt very random.

I have to give it a 1 out of 5.  I was bored, and I couldn’t connect with anything in the book.

Book: Song Of The Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell

Book Info: Published by Scholastic Inc.; 394 pages; hardcover; checked out from the library

Goodreads Summary: The year is 490 AD. Fiery 16-year-old Elaine of Ascolat, the daughter of one of King Arthur’s supporters, lives with her father on Arthur’s base camp, the sole girl in a militaristic world of men. Elaine’s only girl companion is the mysterious Morgan, Arthur’s older sister, but Elaine cannot tell Morgan her deepest secret: She is in love with Lancelot, Arthur’s second-in-command. However, when yet another girl — the lovely Gwynivere– joins their world, Elaine is confronted with startling emotions of jealousy and rivalry. But can her love for Lancelot survive the birth of an empire?

I thought Song Of The Sparrow was just okay.  I got really bored halfway through, but I wanted to keep reading.

I’m not sure about the fact that it was told in verse.  It was nice to see things through Elaine’s perspective, but there was just something off about it.  Interestingly enough, though, it was well-written.

I liked that it was narrated by Elaine.  It seems like a lot of books based off of Arthurian legend are narrated by Morgan or Guinevere, so it was refreshing to see something narrated by someone else.

As for the characters, I couldn’t really care about any of them.  Guinevere was annoying, all of the men were just there, and I didn’t care about Elaine.  I feel like we were supposed to like her and sympathize with her, but I just couldn’t.  She whined too much- I get she’s the only female in a sea of men, but her thinking about it a lot it got very tiring.

Another thing I didn’t like was the fact that it didn’t feel historical enough.  It felt too modern, and for me, Sandell only included the historical backdrop when it was convenient.

Overall, it gets a 2 out of 5.  I kind of get why people like it, but I was bored.