The Queen’s Secret by Melissa de la Cruz

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The kingdom’s balance is shaken in this duology finale!

The kingdom’s balance is shaken in this duology finale!
In the imaginary world of Avantine, Lilac is now married to King Hansen. The kingdom’s citizens blame her for the odd and scary events that take place. They believe she’s a witch with dark magic. Strange deaths shake the balance in the kingdom and when her mother’s palace is destroyed, no one and nowhere feels safe. Cal and his cohorts have to work quickly to solve the problem and help rebuild their kingdom’s safety.

Likes/dislikes: The repeated mentions of past events became tedious. The relationships fell into place too conveniently and quickly towards the ending of the book. I would have liked to have more background on Jander and the demon wreaking havoc in the kingdom because that would have made the world building stronger and the story more interesting. The unwanted marriage between Lilac and the king overshadowed everything.

Mature Content: PG-13 for implied sex, gentle kissing, urgent nondescript kiss.
Language: PG for 4 swears and no f-bombs.
Violence: PG-13 for bloody deaths by stabbing and falling; messy, bloody death of a horse.
Ethnicity: The ethnicity is mixed.

Master of Iron by Tricia Levenseller

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Suspense, action and humor!

The story opens as the group travels to the healer that will hopefully save Temra after she was injured and received a nick in her lung. The group consists of the captured warlord Kymora, Ziva, Temra, Kellyn and Petrik. Kymora happens to be Petrik’s mother and his father is the deceased king. They’re all on their way to get help from Petrik’s half brother, Prince Skiro. Soon after they arrive at their destination, they’re informed that the healer has been kidnapped by Prince Ravis, Skiro’s oldest and war hungry sibling. Petrik shows Kellyn and Ziva the portals to the siblings’ connected kingdoms. They use the portrait portal to quickly get to Ravis’ kingdom and rescue the healer by Kellyn causing a distraction. Ziva sends Petrik and the healer back to Skiro’s kingdom then she destroys the portrait and goes back for Kellyn. She’s captured along with him and forced to create magical weapons to conquer the other kingdoms. Ziva vows never to create magical weapons again after seeing what Kymora and Ravis do with them. The group moves from one conflict to another after Ziva escapes with Kellyn and goes back to Skiro’s castle. Ravis soon attacks and Skiro uses the imprisoned Kymora against the attack. She’s loose and still wants to conquer the world. Ziva has tough decisions to make involving her magical abilities, Temra, Kellyn and their future. She also works at overcoming her anxiety and undergoes tremendous character development. The suspense and action made the reading go by quickly and I like the snippets of humor woven through the duology, 5 stars!

The Crow Rider by Kalyn Josephson

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The perfect ending to the Storm Crow duology!

Anthia is on her way to the meeting of rulers to gain their help in defeating Razel, the Illucian queen. She has companions with her, Res, Caylus and Kiva. On the trip, the ship stops at retired crow riders’ ports so Res and Anthia can receive training to help him develop and hone his powers. Razel attacks their ship with Malkin‘s crew, putting Caylus in Malkin’s sight once again. Anthia grows as she continues to pull herself out of the pit of depression that almost consumed her after her mother died. Res is fun and fantastic with his attitude and magic abilities. He adds bits of humor throughout the story. It’s going to take everything to defeat Razel, including teamwork. This is a wonderful read and perfect ending to The Storm Crow duology with it’s intense intrigue and strong characters, 5 stars!

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

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The adventure never ends!

The prologue opens with inspiration and excitement for things to come and then ends with horror and devastation. Anthia’s world falls apart when her homeland, Rhodaire, is attacked by Illucians. Her mother is killed and so are the large, beautiful, magical crows that shared their world. Her land is decimated because without the crows’ help, nothing flourishes or grows. Her sister, Caliza, is now queen and has betrothed Anthia to the Illucian Prince Ericen. Of course, neither sister is happy about the deal but they don’t see any other way to try to mend their broken land. Before Anthia leaves her home, she visits the towers where the crows once lived. She finds and hides an egg then takes it to Illucia with her. She has no idea how to get it to hatch but she’s not leaving it behind. She’s searched everywhere for information on the crows and she’s hoping she’s going to figure it out soon. Ericen is difficult to read and Anthia is unsure about trusting him. He seems very loyal to his mother, Razel, the Illucian Queen. Razel is terrible and loves cruelty. She wants to conquer all of the other countries also and doesn’t care about who she harms in the process. Anthia accidentally meets rebels and inadvertently makes new friends in Illucia. She manages to enjoy some of her time there until she discovers a secret of Razel’s. The action and intrigue continues in the sequel, Crow Rider. I enjoyed several characters, their flaws and quirks: Anthia, Kiva, Ericen, Caylus, and the adventure that never seems to end, 5 stars!

Steelstriker by Marie Lu

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The action and fighting keep going as the rebellion tries to end the Premier!

The story opens six months after Skyhunter ends. Talin has been transformed into a Skyhunter for the Premier and Red is in the woods with some Strikers, doing what they can to fight the Federation. Talin and Red haven’t sensed much of each other but they are both missing their connection and they each keep trying to reach out to the other one. While sleeping, Talin sees through Red’s eyes what the rebels are planning. The premier sees everything through their connection and is able to sabotage them. Jeran and Red escape but the rest of the group gets captured. Talin is sick with worry and tries her best to subdue the connection with the Premier, even trying to survive without sleep. The premier forces the captured Strikers to compete in a game against Ghosts. They’re trapped in a maze made up of metal sliding walls. Only two of the four survive. The action and fighting keep going as the rebellion tries to end the Premier. Intrigue, brutality, torture and the horrific making of ghosts kept the story hopping until the very end, 4 stars!

Escaping Eleven by Jerri Chisholm

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Entertaining dystopian for young adults!

Eve is a fighter looking forward to when she can reach the upper level and Earth to see if her younger brother Jack somehow survived being banished nine years ago for being the unlawful second child of the family. He was sent out to the unprotected air and land on his own. Eve meets Wren in a scheduled fight that entertains the crowds. They despise each other at first but soon become allies. While Eve’s friends continue to participate in job tours to help decide their future, she hunts for a way to escape Compound Eleven. Wren is from the upper level so he has access to more and also has a better lifestyle than Eve and her friends in the lower level. He teaches her to shoot a gun and she introduces her to the lowest level of the compound where she helps ration food to the people. They both grow and learn about what they truly want in their futures. Eve is stubborn but loyal and Wren is smart, brave and has integrity. Interesting world building and strong characters add life to this dystopian story, 4 stars!

Namesake by Adrienne Young

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Namesake opens with Fable kidnapped and trapped on Zola’s ship, the Luna. Fable is unsure of why she was captured until Zola tells her it’s because he knows who her parents are. She’s forced to harvest gemstones with other dredgers so Zola can use them for payment for something. She soon finds out what the payment is for, to Zola’s detriment. Fable discovers more than she ever could have imagined about her family and her relationship with West worries her. She goes in search of the elusive gemstone, midnight, that her mother supposedly found before her death. This sequel to Fable is exciting, action-packed, dangerous and full of great character development. The series is so good that I want to read it again, 5 stars!

All the Tides of Fate by Adalyn Grace

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All the Tides of Fate is the sequel to All the Stars and Teeth. Amora is ruling the kingdom after her father’s death. She’s dealing with advisers and others that are trying to show their lack of confidence in her through insubordination and rude remarks, but Amora handles it well. Bastian arrives at the meeting and announces himself an adviser. At the end of the meeting, Amora is asked to prove her magic is working and is told that she needs to be engaged to give the kingdom something to look forward to and as a distraction. Amora manages to trick the advisers into believing her magic is intact with the help of a few others. She travels with her crew to pretend to find a fiancé and search for the artifact needed to restore her magic and make her soul complete. Full of action and loyalty and deception and tough decisions, All the Tides of Fate is a perfect ending to this duology, 5 stars!

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

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Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth involves two peoples that have different beliefs and are enemies. Cyra ends up relying on and becoming friends with the enemy after he, Akos, is captured and forced into serving Cyra. Her brother thrives on hurting others and uses Cyra to accomplish this. Ryzek uses Cyra for everything he wants to gain through fear and intimidation. He wants to conquer all. Cyra and her servant Akos grow a friendship with trust and honesty which gives Cyra something she’s never experienced before. Her family has always been manipulative and cruel. Cyra and Akos are captured and the wound Ryzek gives Cyra made me physically sick. Revenge is all that Cyra wants against Ryzek because of every harm he has ever inflicted on her. This first book in the Carve the Mark duology builds the world setting and the character’s backgrounds and ends with an unfinished rebellion, leaving me ready for the sequel. 4 stars for this science fiction fantasy.