Review: Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken

Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however I did opt to listen to the final production audiobook via my library.  This is a bit on the longer side, the print book is just under 500 pages and the audiobook comes in just under 18 hours.  Sophie Amoss did a great job with the narration.  She tried to give each character a unique voice so you can tell who is who when there is dialogue and she also did a good job conveying emotion throughout the book.

This is the first book in a new YA fantasy focusing on Aurthurian legend and lore.  I'm a sucker for anything related to King Arthur and Avalon and the many people and places often mentioned in the stories so this was a fun read.  This follows Tamsin as she quests to find a lost ring that will hopefully cure her brother from a curse he's be plagued with all his life.  She is also searching for her guardian who abandoned them years ago searching for the very same ring.  There is a catch though, Tamsin unlike the other members of her order doesn't have magic and she isn't the only one searching for the ring.  To have the best chance at finding the ring Tamsin will have to team up with unlikely allies to save her beloved brother and herself.  In doing so she finds herself breaking down her carefully crafted walls in order to save her new team and a dying world.

This is a solid first book.  It does leave off on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I kept expecting that so I can't say I'm too surprised by the ending.  The book ends with alot of unanswered questions, but it does set us up nicely for book two.  I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and I'm anxious to find out what happens next.  I really loved all of the lore and legend that Bracken wove into the story.  There are alot of characters to keep track of and quite a few different plotlines to keep straight.  This is complex and is action packed; the fight scenes do get a little dark and gory.  There is some character development happening, but we are still missing alot of the backstory on many of the characters.  I suspect we will get to know more about Tamsin's origins as well as the other characters in the next book.  We see the most growth from Tamsin, which makese sense as she is the main character and she really makes alot of growth trusting the people around her and beginning to care about others.  The world building was really well done.  Bracken did a great job crafting a fantasy world that I don't want to spoil.

I found parts of this to be fairly predictable but it didn't make it any less enjoyable.  Part of the reason I enjoy YA fantasy is because it is fun and I know what to expect.  The tropes are familiar and I keep coming back for more.  I think they really work well here and I can't wait to find out what happens next.  This is a fun new take on the legend of Avalon and King Arthur and I'm looking forward to getting  my hands on book 2.

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Review: Lore by Alexandra Bracken

Lore by Alexandra Bracken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  This comes out on January 5th, 2021.  If you like Greek Mythology you need to check this out. Also if you liked The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner this is a good one to check out as it is action packed!

I loved this!  Despite being a touch on the side of too long, it kept my interest the entire time.  Everytime my attention started to stray, Bracken threw in some morsel of information or a twist to peak my interest and get me re-energized and back into the story.  If you are a lover of Greek Mythology, you are going to really enjoy this YA standalone.   

This follows Melora aka Lore who has renounced her part in the Agon as the last surving member of her bloodline.  As the Agon begins again she is reunited with her best friend whom she believed to be dead in the last Agon and she finds herself pulled back into a life she wanted nothing to do with.  As fragile alliances are formed and Lore struggles to keep those she cares about safe until the end of the Agon she can't help but remember the heinous crimes done to her in the past and the person she used to be.

This book has it all, a complex plot, non-stop action, great references to Greek Mythology (which I love), and great characters.  Each time I thought I had the plot figured out the author threw us another twist to keep things interesting.  I really enjoyed the take on the original mythology and gods she choose to use and the creation of the Agon as punishment for their meddling and destruction in the human world.  I also appreciated seeing a strong female lead who called out some of the misogynistic tendencies we've seen in these stories of old.  It was nice to see the old ways challenged and the God of War bested by the same "little girl".  I also loved the other characters.  Castor, Van and Miles all kept Lore grounded and they never compromised themselves for the Agon.  I really appreciated the inner turmoil Lore faced throughout the book regarding revenge, killing other, returning to the Agon, and ending the Agon completely.  She constantly struggled with her feelings and we actually got to see it on the page.  I really enjoyed her growth throughout the book.

I believe this is intended for a YA audience, but much like the Greek myths it is pretty violent and dark at times.  There is alot of violence and death in this book, which is inline with the subject matter.  It is no worse than The Hunger Games or the actual Greek myths so if you are OK with reading those I would say you'll be OK with this.  

I loved this and if you have loved Bracken's other books or like mythology I really think you'll love this too!  So why not 5 stars?  I'd give it 4.5 if I could.  It is a touch on the long side, but it is worth it.  The ending is a bit open ended.  I won't spoil it but I would have liked a bit more of a conclusion about what happened.  An epilogue would have been nice to wrap things up completely, and perhaps there is one in final version.  I'll have to check when it comes out in a few days.  I'll be buying a copy of this for myself for sure!

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Review: The Last Life of Prince Alastor by Alexandra Bracken

The Last Life of Prince Alastor by Alexandra Bracken
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  This was released today February 5, 2019. 

This is the fun and whimsical sequel to The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding, which I adored. This book was a little too whimsical and slow paced for my tastes. It is still fun and has all of the great characters from the first book. I would still highly recommend it to the middle grade crowd.

The plot picks up with Prosper and Alastor heading Downstairs to save Prosper's sister Prue from Alastor's sister Pyra. You would think they would go on some amazing adventure, and they do, it just takes a long time for for the action to develop. This is where the pacing was off for me. The boy and the fiend just kind of wander around dealing with different kinds of fiends and accomplish nothing for about half the book before anything exciting happens. I had so much fun reading the first book, but this one just didn't have the same feel. I think because this takes place in the realm of the fiends, there were many scenes that were just kind of silly that I think middle grade readers will LOVE, I'm going to recommend this series to my 10 year old for sure. This is where the book was just a bit too much on the whimsical side for me.

There is a ton of character development in this book. I was excited that Nell came along for the adventure and we get to know her more and see her develop as a witch. Prosper also develops a ton as a character as he is faced with many tough decisions on his journey to save his sister. We also get to know Alastor better both in the present and in the past as we get quite a bit of his back story when he dealt with Honor Redding and made his original bargain. There are quite a few twists when it comes to the characters in the book that I really liked.

That being said the 2nd half of the book picks up was fairly exciting and a lot happens. There is magic, there are some really interesting fantasy creatures who are really well described, the fiend world of Downstairs is well developed, and I think as far as the story goes it wrapped up nicely.

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January TBR

January starts another year which means new reading challenge prompts and new reading goals.  I have a couple of ARCs to read and review in January and February.  I'm participating in the Popsugar Reading Challenge again, and I think I'm going to try out the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.  Some of the prompts overlap so it shouldn't be too hard.  Bookish also has a 2019 reading challenge that looks pretty interesting if you are looking to expand your reading horizons.

• 2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge
• Bookish’s 2019 Reading Challenge: 52 Ways to #KillYourTBR
Book Riot’s 2019 Read Harder Challenge

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• White Stag by Kara Barberi
• This is the first book in a new YA Fantasy series.  This has some Norse mythology and deals with goblins.  I love a good mythology centered fantasy and goblins isn't something you see very often.  I started this in December.  I really like it.  So far it is brutal, violent, and well written.
• Freefall by Jessica Barry
• This is a mystery/thriller out on January 8th.  There's a plane crash, and a mother/daughter that are separated and determined to find one another.
• Firestarter by Tara Sim
• This is is a January release and the 3rd book in the Timekeeper series.  I've really enjoyed the series and I'm looking forward to finding out how our Clock Spirit and Clock Mechanic fair in this installment.  This comes out on January 15th.
• Moonlight Scandals by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• I love this series about three intimidating brothers and their super creepy house in New Orleans.  You aren't sure if it is haunted or not but weird stuff happens there all the time.  This book follows Devlin the eldest brother and a sexy ghost hunter names Rosie.  This is a romance so I'm sure it will be steamy and awesome like the other 2 books.  I'm really happy I got an ARC.  This comes out on January 29th.
• The Last Life of Prince Alastor by Alexandra Bracken
• I really loved the first book in the Prosper Redding series.  It is a fun middle grade book about a vengeful spirit that has taken up residence in the body of a young boy.  His family is cursed and he's the lucky one that has to pay for past crimes.  To save his sister, Prosper has to make another deal and hope that betrayal isn't in his future.  This comes out in early February.

Audiobooks

I'm not sure what I'm going to listen to this month.  I have a bunch of stuff on hold.  I have a couple of audiobooks on my phone that I can listen to and a ton of stuff on Hoopla that I want to get to.  We'll see where the month takes me.

Review: The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this. This is a very fun, middle grade, fantasy read that follows main character Prosperity Oceanus Redding, quite a name I know. Prosper comes from a very affluent New England family, but it turns out the Redding's family fortune is due to a demonic contract their ancestor Honor Redding made long ago with a fiend we come to know as Alastor. The Redding clan isn't sure if Prosper or his twin Prue is possessed by the fiend who has been dormant for some time, but Alastor makes his presence known and Prosper finds himself in the middle of an age old curse surrounded by witches and other nasty creatures he never knew existed.

Alastor has reawaken an is focused two things, 1. Destroying the Redding Family and 2. Escaping Prosper's body so he can regain his power and return "downstairs" to the fiend realm and take his rightful place as ruler. To do so he has to convince Prosper to make yet another contract, and allow Alastor to destroy the Redding's and all of the success they've had since Honor Redding made and broke the original contract made with Alastor. Prosper is a hard kid to convince, but with Alastor gaining control over his body and controlling him like a puppet antics ensue and poor Prosper wants nothing but to protect his family, even if they aren't very nice. Prosper has to figure out who to trust, all while Al is whispering in his ear and zapping his strength. There are quite a few plot twists and kept me guessing. I can't wait to see what happens next.

I loved the setting of the book, it is set mainly in Salem and a nearby town that is named after the Reddings. I've been to Salem and I've always been interested in the lore and history of the area. Bracken did a great job capturing the feel of the area and the tourist traps that the natives to Salem have to deal with come Halloween and probably the rest of the year.

I'll definitely be purchasing a copy for my son to read, I think he'll really love this.  As a mom of an avid reader, I've taken to screening books I think he will like because you just never know these days.  He reads well above his grade level, so I'm always trying to find stuff that is age appropriate that I think he will like. I read a lot of young Adult Books, and there have been plenty of them that should have been New Adult because of the explicit content.  I don't tend to read middle grade because, well most of it is pretty juvenile for my tastes, but this was great.  The pace was perfect, and the content was interesting and I just really like the characters.