Review: Black Dawn

Black Dawn by Mallory McCartney
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I’m not sure if the copy I received is an arc or a final copy. It was already published when I grabbed a copy to review. I really hate to give this a bad review but this book was really lacking in all of the things I look for in book.

The cover caught my eye and the description sounded like a promising YA fantasy. Unfortunately, this did not deliver. This book is just shy of 200 pages, which I consider to be novella length. A book needs to be clear and concise in such a short amount of time, and I was confused the entire time. This book needed atleast 200 more pages to tell it’s story. There is little to no world building, no character development, the plot was all over the place and everything happens way too fast.. This story has a ton of potential, but the author takes every fantasy element and trope out there the chosen one, a love triangle, multiple perspectives, time travel, magic, superpowers, witches, shapeshifters, and fae and throws them into this book without really developing any of the plot or explaining anything. That didn’t work for me.

The author has a decent story here and the actual writing isn’t bad. This book needs better explanations and more details especially with all of the plotlines happening and all of the characters that get a voice.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  This book was published in February 2017 and the series is complete.  It does have decent reviews, it just wasn't for me.


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Review: Lake Town by Jane Redd

Lake Town by Jane Redd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this dystopian book. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read the first book, that's purely my fault. I didn't realize it was #2 in a series. I was able to figure out what was going on for the most part pretty quickly, the writing is pretty solid and the book gives enough background info to stand on its own. The alternating perspectives from our two main characters Jez and Sol was done very well. I definitely want to read the first book and will continue on with the third when it comes out.  I recommend reading book 1 first so you aren't confused like I was in the beginning, had I had more time I would have read them in order and wish that had been the case.  Either way Lake Town was a great read.

This is a dystopian book about a civilization that is ruled by the Legislature. It rains all but 2 days a year and everything on the planet has flooded save one mountain top where the remaining 2 million people reside. Emotions are controlled by Harmony implants and those whose implants don't work or choose to remove them face banishment. Our heroine, Jezebel or Jez for short, her implant doesn't work and she's had to pretend she doesn't have emotions for much of her life. She meets some others like her and discovers that she is the key to the rebellion that all of these dystopian books have.   Jez is the only living Carrier and can restart the city's generators and jump start the Lake Town rebel groups revolutionary plans.  They have technology that they hope can reverse the flooding and maybe make the rain stop.  To get their plan going they need Jez to get the power working again, they just aren't sure if it will kill her or not.  In the very beginning of the book Jez is evacuated to Lake Town for her own safety while Sol stays behind to cover their tracks. Sol is the boy Jez has fallen in love with, he's also an undercover agent for the Lake Town rebellion.  He has also infiltrated the cities highest levels on behalf of the people of the Lake Town to learn what he can and send information back to his home so they can prepare their invasion.  Sol is caught, sentenced to execution, and recruited to the other rebel group, The Faction. He finds allies within The Faction, in two hacker types who help him navigate through the computer systems of the city.  They cause some chaos of their own and aid in the Lake Town offensive.  All the while, the people from the Lake Town are preparing their own offensive. Nothing goes as planned for any of the groups involved. The book ends with losses for all 3 of the groups, and everyone trying to regroup and figure out their next steps. I'm axious to see what happens next.

This also cover's my popsugar challenge for a book by an author who uses a pseudonym as Jane Redd is Heather B. Moore's pen name.  I've read some of her other works and recommend her if you like clean reads.  Sometimes you just need something wholesome that's entertaining too.

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