Winter's Passage

by Julie Kagawa

It feels strange to be reviewing this "book" as it's really quite tiny - only about 66 pages. It's more a teaser for the next book in the series than something to be read on it's own.

However, I love this series, and I loved the teaser! I am now more anxious than ever to get my hands on The Iron Daughter, which comes out at the beginning of August.

Winter's Passage tells the story of Meghan's journey with Ash to the Winter realm. They encounter the menacing Hunter along the way, and of course, there's a little romance thrown in. Happily, Grimalkin makes an appearance as well. Can't wait to read the next full-length entry in this adventure!

The Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows

by Jacqueline West

I finally got my hands on a copy of this book with all the correct pages (thanks Dani!) and was able to finish it!

I love this book. It's like a delightful mix of 100 Cupboards and Coraline.

Olive and her parents just moved into a big, old Victorian house. Her parents are pretty busy with their jobs, so Olive has some time to explore her new house. Olive examines the paintings left on the walls and well as the drawers of dressers and other furniture left in the house when her parents bought it. Before long she discovers and old pair of spectacles, and and even bigger surprise - when she's wearing the glasses she can step into the paintings! However, there is something sinister lurking in the "elsewhere". Olive must muster up all her bravery and resourcefulness now to protect herself and her family from the mysterious presences that wants it's house back.

The book is just the right mix of funny, creepy, and fantastical. I loved it from beginning to end and can't wait to read where this story goes next! (I just hope that the next time I get a book with all it's pages!)

Glimmerglass

by Jenna Black

Glimmerglass is another good faerie book with unique aspects and puzzling characters. It's also a successful beginning entry to a series: it has a complete story unto itself, but there is more than enough material left to expand upon in future novels. This aspect is one of the most crucial to me when reading a series, and I'm happy to say that Glimmerglass provides.

Glimmerglass is the tale of Dana, a high school student who is fed up with moving from town to town and having to deal with her alcoholic mother. She knows her dad lives in Avalon (the one place on earth where the faerie realm and the human realm intersect.) What she doesn't know is the reason her mother has kept her from Avalon and her father her whole life - she's about to find out that it's a lot more dangerous there than she ever imagined. Dana runs away to Avalon and soon learns that she's a Faeriewalker. While humans can't enter Faerie, and the Fae can't enter the mortal realm, a Faeriewalker can enter both. A Faeriewalker can bring magic into the human world, and technology into Faerie - this makes Dana very dangerous, and very desired by those who seek power. As Dana learns who she is, she must also decide who to trust - and it's not an easy decision.

I loved how difficult it was even for the reader to determine who could be trusted and who couldn't. You are forced into trying to make a judgement on very little information - just like Dana does, and it gives the reader a great perspective on what Dana is going through.

If I had one complaint it would be that is was unclear if all humans know about the Fae. Dana speaks of them as if they're no bigger a surprise than a English person, but it's not exactly clear if everyone knows of the Fae or if Dana simply does because of her heritage. It's not crucial to the story, but I was curious about this for the first portion of the book.

Dark Life

by Kat Falls

I am shamefully slow with this update, but here it is finally: my review!

And now I am remembering why I try to be good about writing this right after I finish the book...because now I don't remember as many details!

I will say I enjoyed Dark Life a lot. The world (or rather, ocean) it takes place in is unlike any other book I've read. Kat Falls creates many new technologies to enable the characters of Dark Life to live beneath the surface of the ocean. Things such as "liquigen", bubble fences, and underwater jellyfish-style houses may seem fanciful at times, but are a unique solution to the problem of how exactly a group of humans would live and farm under the sea.

The villains are creepy, and certainly surprising, while the main characters are varied and interesting. I'm not sure if this book is a series, but I wouldn't mind reading more about this underwater world.

The Reckoning

by Kelley Armstrong

I've really enjoyed the unique story of this trilogy, but I have to say, the last book was a bit of a disappointment.

Chloe, Tori, Derek and Simon have just escaped the Edison Group again and are hiding out with the group fighting against the Edison Group. Once again, a large part of the beginning of this book is spend doing very little. The action comes all at once, at the end, and involves a lot of twists, turns, and constantly flipping allegiances (Are these people really on our side? No! Let's run away! Wait, maybe they are. Let's stick around. Wait! We have to run away!)

Mostly, this book did not feel like it should be the end. The ending is pretty ambiguous as far as endings go, and many, many aspects of the plot were left unexplained. Some things were brought up in the storyline of this book only to be dropped casually a few chapters later. If this series was slated to continue in additional books, I would assume these things would come up in the next book, but as this is the final book, it seemed like the plot wasn't as well thought-out as it should have been.

On the positive side, Armstrong does a pretty good job of subtly reminding the reader what has happened previously. I didn't remember many details from the previous books, but whenever I'd start to be confused, there were some helpful hints placed into the narrative that reminded me of what I was supposed to know. Still, this is the 3rd book, and doesn't stand alone. If you're gonna read the series, start with The Summoning.

The Devouring

by Simon Holt

The first half of The Devouring was creepy in a good way. Lots of slightly sinister, psychological stuff happening. The second half, however, was icky. Way too many gross-out, gory events. I was not intending to read a horror novel when I picked this up!

The Devouring is the story of Reggie, a teen girl who loves horror books and movies (as does her best friend Aaron). Reggie's mom left her family last year, and since then Reggie has had to take care of her little brother Henry a lot of the time. One day Reggie finds a mysterious hand-written book called "The Devouring". It tells the tale of the Vours - mysterious beings that feed on fear, and possess the bodies of people on Sorry Night - when that are at their most afraid. Reggie thinks it's an odd, but interesting tale, made up by some crazy person. However, for fearful Henry (whom she reads the story to), the Vours are real, and something to be very afraid of. Unfortunately for them all, it's Sorry Night; and Henry's right.

As I mentioned before, the first half of this book is a psychological thriller. The spooks are all from the dark, or flickering lights, or strange voices, or cold mysterious places. However, at the halfway turning point we are taken into an alternate world - a fearscape, as the book calls it - a world that is filled creepy clowns, swarms of spiders, all sorts of gruesome weapons and their resulting damage. Ick.

*Spoilers* I have a few other complaints that can't be explained without spoiling things, so be warned. When Reggie and Aaron first go to Eben and show him the book and mention that Henry is acting strange, he chastises them for fooling around with the book, but also shrugs off Henry's weird behavior. At the end of the book we learn that Eben knows all about the Vours and has been fighting them for years. Didn't he realize Henry was a Vour? And why didn't he tell them? If there is a reason for this - the author should have explained it, because left unexplained it just seems like a mistake. Also, Aaron just deduces all the answers to the puzzle of what the Vours are, where Henry is, how to get him back, etc. really suddenly! Reggie falls asleep and when she wakes up, he's found no info in his Internet search, but concludes that Henry is trapped in his own fearscape and Reggie went there because she ate the Vour and is now partially Vour, so she can go there by touching Henry. Ta-da! And "fearscape"? - just a little hokey. *End Spoilers*

In short, interesting premise, gross end of the book, annoying non-concluded ending.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

by Stephenie Meyer

I have mixed feelings for this book. It's sad, and I don't particularly like sad endings. However, the ending isn't exactly a surprise, so that helps. Likely, if you're reading this book you've already read Eclipse and know that Bree dies. And even if you didn't, the title is kind of a dead giveaway (no pun intended).

However, on the flip side, it was interesting to see Meyer tackle a story that does not end well. The Twilight series is notorious for its peachy-keen ending, and while I did enjoy that, I also like seeing a different side of Meyer's writing. Does she pull off the sad ending? Yes, I think so. And notably, despite knowing that this character was doomed for destruction, and trying specifically to not get attached to her, I found myself loving Bree anyway! Ah! All in less than 180 pages no less. How do you do that Stephenie Meyer? I always get so invested in your characters!

Now I just want to know more about Fred!