Tag: YA fiction

Book Reviews

An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir

India
An Ember in the Ashes follows two characters Laia and Elias on their different journeys and how they end up falling in and out of each others orbits. Laia is from a group of people called the Scholars that have been oppressed by the Martials and the empire. Frequently their friends and family go missing in the middle of the night or are killed by raids conducted by the deadly and unfeeling Masks. When Laia’s world gets turned upside down she tries to seek out the group called the resistance, who her parents used to be apart of. Only thing is when she finds them are they going to be the people who she wants and needs them to be, or without her parents guidance have they warped into something different.
Elias is first in his class and on the right path to be the best Mark in Blackcliff history, but he doesn’t want it. Elias wants to be free of all of the non-feeling, brutal, and brutish ways of the Masks, he wants to desert. Punishment for getting caught deserting is death in front of the whole school, so of course Elias can’t get caught. His best friend in the entire world, Helene, suspects something is going on with him, but she has her own feelings to deal with and is loyal to a fault to Blackcliff and the Masks. Elias believes that there is another way to be and he can’t stuff down his emotions anymore.
The two of them find out that they’re lives are not their own and that they have a higher calling to do more than is expected of them. They discover that within all of the hardships they have already faced there are plenty more in front of them, but now they have the chance to do something good and something that can change the world. They just have to survive first.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It honestly gets straight to the good stuff which is awesome because I hate when books take to long to get to where you need to be just to add some pages.  I thought that there was a good mixture of being true to who you are while fulfilling your obligations, but at the same time pushing back at the people who are doing the wrong things. I believed that Laia’s character was believable because even though we always want the heroine in the book to be brave immediately after something bad happens that’s just not always possible. It takes a while to find that inner courage and for awhile you have to fake it until you make it. Elias on the other hand had to make some true life and death situations and then is placed in a situation that he honestly can’t turn down and I loved that we got to see his background to figure out where these thoughts came from. I loved that this book was fast paced and made me keep wondering what the other person was doing at the time. Until next time,
Keep turning the Pages
      India

 

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Book Reviews

Illuminae Files, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

India
Kady thought that her life could not get any worse. She had just broke up with her boyfriend, Ezra, and she thought that she was going to be able to move on and go off planet somewhere after graduation. Little did she know that going off planet was happening a lot faster than she expected. All of a sudden while sitting in class, all of the warning bells go off alerting the planet to an invasion. It is then that all chaos breaks loose and the everything that Kady knows and loves comes crumbling down around her. Kady is forced to try and find a way off the planet and to stay close to the ones she loves, and who love her. She is forced to flee the home that she knows and grow and learn more than she ever thought imaginable. Kady has to overcome her fears and reservations and become  a leader and warrior in her own right. The system is in the hands of a 16 year old girl and a palm pad.
I absolutely loved this book! I listened to it solely on audible. I did not buy the kindle version or the paper version of the book. They did such an amazing job on the audible version with a full cast and everything that I didn’t feel the need for either of those things.  I heard that if you try and read the actual copy it might be a little difficult to do. I enjoyed the story and the twists and turns that were associated with our main character Kady. I also loved the role that Ezra had to play as kind of her humanity and her voice of reason, and of course her anchor. AIDAN was his own character who also had his own role to play, which turned out to be a giant one. Who knew a computer program system could have so much personality when they are not supposed to. If you haven’t picked up the Illuminae Files by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff I definitely recommend it and do it on Audible! You’ll enjoy it even more, I promise. I can’t wait to read Gemina and Obsidio when I get through some of my TBR. I have a review up on my channel now if you want to listen to it as well. You can check it out here. If you’ve read it what do you think? Any other sci-fi fantasy novels that you can recommend? Until next time,
Keep turning the Pages
India
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500 SUBSCRIBER GIVEAWAY!!!

India

I honestly can’t believe that I have reached 500 subscribers on my Youtube Channel!! It’s all thanks to all of you!! Because of that I want to giveaway a signed copy of The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton! It also comes with a The Belles compact mirror. I’m so excited to do this and give this wonderful book away. You can find the link for the giveaway here and the videos for the giveaway and the review of The Belles down below! The give away ends on August 22nd so make sure to enter fast!!

Thank you once again for being a part of this journey with me! I appreciate it so much. Until next time,

Keep turning the Pages

India

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Book Reviews

Everless, Sara Holland

India

– Short Story –

Her whole life has been about time and how much people do not have left. For Jules time is the root of all her problems because time is used as currency for everything. You can sell an hour, a month, a year just to be able to survive. Jules once grew up in the Everless household with her father where they were servants for the Gerling’s family. When Jules witness a terrible event at Everless, her and her father are forced to leave the only home that they know and try to and hide. As her fathers time starts running out Jules has to make a decision to try and save her family, but it is the only thing her father has asked her not to do, and that is to return to Everless and work there. As she returns to Everless she starts to learn more about her past and information that was hidden from her. She decides to take the chance and to dig deeper into figuring out who she is, and why she was told to never come back to Everless.

– My Thoughts –

I enjoyed the concept of this book, but I did not love this book as much as I wanted to. I loved the thought of time as being currency and how that is used to sustain life. It literally invoked the idea of “time is money”. I loved how much of the history of their world was wound through the present. I did not like how it was executed. I did not like the main character and how she went about things. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves when the characters don’t listen and then find themselves getting into trouble. I did love the antagonist in this book and I was surprised on how well the character surprised me. The love interest was a typical YA trope of the boy you don’t think she should fall in love with is the one who ends up doing the saving. It’s a hyped book that I believe could be skipped in my opinion. Let me know what you think. Until next time,

Keep turning the pages

India