Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine ~ Review

Title: Paper and Fire (The Great Library #2)
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopia
Length: 354 Pages
Publisher: New American Library
Release Date: July 6, 2016
Source: Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Let the world burn.

With an iron fist, the Great Library controls the knowledge of the world, ruthlessly stamping out all rebellion and, in the name of the greater good, forbidding the personal ownership of books.

Jess Brightwell has survived his introduction to the sinister, seductive world of the Library, but serving in its army is nothing like he envisioned. His life and the lives of those he cares for have been altered forever. His best friend is lost, and Morgan, the girl he loves, is locked away in the Iron Tower, doomed to a life apart from everything she knows.

After embarking on a mission to save one of their own, Jess and his band of allies make one wrong move and suddenly find themselves hunted by the Library’s deadly automata and forced to flee Alexandria, all the way to London.

But Jess’s home isn’t safe anymore. The Welsh army is coming, London is burning, and soon, Jess must choose between his friends, his family, and the Library, which is willing to sacrifice anything and anyone in the search for ultimate control…

**********

The Library is winning. Two of Jess's friends have been taken from him and may no longer be among the living and Jess is set off to join the fighting ranks - not what he had originally hoped for. But Jess and his friends aren't quite done yet. 

Much of this story involves trying to free certain companions and running away from the Library higher-ups that are trying to capture/kill them. At times this gets just a tad repetitive. It was more action than a lot of deep story development. It seemed like Rachel Caine needed to get the characters somewhere, and she used this book to get them there without any other real direction.

The end of book one will really leave you hanging, and I was really glad that I could just jump straight into book two of this incredible series.

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The Great Library

Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1)

Arcana Rising by Kresley Cole ~ Review

Title: Arcana Rising (The Arcana Chronicles #4
Author: Kresley Cole
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian
Length: 280 pages
Publisher: Valkyrie Press
Release Date: August 15, 2016
Source: Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Losses mount and deadly new threats converge in this next action-packed tale of the Arcana Chronicles by #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole. 

When the battle is done . . . 
The Emperor unleashes hell and annihilates an army, jeopardizing the future of mankind--but Circe strikes back. The epic clash between them devastates the Arcana world and nearly kills Evie, separating her from her allies.

And all hope is lost . . . 
With Aric missing and no sign that Jack and Selena escaped Richter's reach, Evie turns more and more to the darkness lurking inside her. Two Arcana emerge as game changers: one who could be her salvation, the other her worst nightmare.

Vengeance becomes everything.
To take on Richter, Evie must reunite with Death and mend their broken bond. But as she learns more about her role in the future--and her chilling past--will she become a monster like the Emperor? Or can Evie and her allies rise up from Richter's ashes, stronger than ever before?

**********

Things are going really crazy here! Evie is on her own. Jack seems to be dead, and she is swept away from Arik by a monster wave courtesy of Circe. I liked seeing her on her own a little. She was able to really explore her capabilities and test the limits of not just her power, but of what she was willing to do with it.

In Day Zero, the novella sharing the beginnings of the Arcana, we meet the rest of the deck, and they begin to make their appearance here. They are a twisted lot, some more than others, and some just doing whatever it takes to stay alive. As Evie encounters each one, the decisions she's forced to make on her own have major consequences for everyone. There are new enemies, new friends, and some that I'm just not quite sure of yet.

The love triangle style of romance really comes to a head here after Richter washes Jack away in a sea of lava. Evie no longer has to choose, but that doesn't seem right to her. She wants what she can't have, and she wants what's still around to have. She want's her past, and she wants her present. Another big decision Evie will have to make on her own.

There's a lot of growth and development in the Arcana in this book. They are all forced to look at their lives and their plans for the future, adapting as things change faster than they can really keep up. I'm interested to see what the Fool has up his sleeve, and how it will change the game in the next book - which is supposed to be coming pretty soon!

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The Arcana Chronicles

Poison Princess #1
Endless Knight #2
Dead of Winter #3
Day Zero #3.5

Day Zero by Kresley Cole ~ Review

Title: Day Zero (The Arcana Chronicles 3.5)
Author: Kresley Cole
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Paranormal
Length: 174 Pages
Publisher: Valkyrie Press
Release Date: August 1, 2016
Source: Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Arcana means secrets, and these Arcana Chronicles short stories from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole are filled with them. Experience firsthand the beginning of the end and behold the apocalypse through the eyes of characters you only thought you knew. 

Ashes to ashes . . .
Evie Greene’s story of the Flash is just one of many. All over the world, those connected in some way to the lethal Arcana game—like Death, Jack, and Fortune—must first survive a horrifying night of blood and screams. 

We all fall down.
Some will have to grapple with new powers; all will be damned to a hellish new existence of plague, brutality, desolation, and cannibalism. Find out who they lost, why they endure, and what they sacrificed in order to live past Day Zero. . . .

**********

The first thing to note is that this isn't really a book. This is a look into the notes and stories of the characters we've met so far - with some redactions to keep from giving too much away. Although, The Fool's section had me grinding my teeth! I need to know more about this kid!

I enjoyed seeing how the other cards prepared and survived Day Zero, stories that were 2 or 3 pages and gave a bit of background that helped me understand where they came from a little bit more.

A good addition with some fun facts, but don't go in thinking this is a novella or short story.

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The Arcana Chronicles

Poison Princess #1
Endless Knight #2
Dead of Winter #3

Age of Order by Julian North ~ Trailer Reveal and Giveaway

Age of Order
Julian North
Publication date: February 2017
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult

What if the people who thought they were better than you… really were?
In this world, inequality is a science. Giant machines maintain order. And all people are not created equal. 

Daniela Machado is offered a chance to escape the deprivation of Bronx City through a coveted slot at the elite Tuck School. There, among the highborn of Manhattan, she discovers an unimaginable world of splendor and greed. But her opportunity is part of a darker plan, and Daniela soon learns that those at society’s apex will stop at nothing to keep power for themselves. She may have a chance to change the world, if it doesn’t change her first. 

Age of Order is a novel that explores the meaning of merit and inequality. Fans of the Red Queen, Divergent and Red Rising will enjoy this world of secrets and deadly intrigue, where the downtrodden must fight for a better future.

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Endless Knight by Kresley Cole ~ Review

Title: Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles #2)
Author: Kresley Cole
Genre: New Adult, Dystopian, Paranormal
Length: 320 Pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Source: Goodreads First Reads
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Evie has fully come into her powers as the tarot Empress. And Jack was there to see it all. In the aftermath of killing Arthur, Evie realizes that there is a war brewing between the teens who’ve been given powers following the apocalypse, and it’s kill or be killed. When Evie meets Death, the gorgeous and dangerous Endless Knight, things get even more complicated. Somehow the Empress and Death share a romantic history. One that Evie can’t remember, but Death can’t forget. Evie is drawn to Death, but in love with Jack. She is determined to discover why she’s been granted these powers, and in the process, struggles to accept her place in the prophecy that will either save the world, or destroy it.

**********

Well, Kresley Cole certainly knows how to keep her characters on their feet. After an exciting introduction to the world of The Arcana in Poison Princess, she doesn't miss a beat when Endless Knight starts. Jack has been blindsided by Evie's secret and her abilities, and he's not entirely sure what to do.

Evie is learning more about this deadly game and her abilities as she draws allies to her side. But when Death catches up to them, he isn't anything like she expected. Evie and Death, they have a history, a long and deadly one that she is going to have to face head first if she's going to escape.

Death knows all her secrets and all her tricks, and he's prepared. What he isn't prepared for is Evie. Evie isn't like the past Empresses, and he finds himself falling for her in a whole new way. And Evie isn't immune to his charm. With several of the Arcana already fallen, she finds herself in the middle of a potential love triangle.

Now, I'm not always a fan of love triangles, but this one was a little different. Her feelings for Death belong to the Empress, while her feelings for Jack belong to Evie. She will have to find a way to separate the two, and she needs to do it quickly. The lives of her friends are on the line. 

I loved getting to know Death better. His character is one of more fascinating ones so far, and I'm really excited that we may be seeing more of him. There's a ton of growth and development for everyone in Evie's circle that really keeps things moving. And Kresley Cole doesn't skimp on the action. Holy cow does a lot happen. I devoured this book.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book**

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The Arcana Chronicles

Poison Princess #1

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole ~ Review

Title: Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles #1)
Author: Kresley Cole
Genre: New Adult, Paranormal, Dystopian
Length: 369 Pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: August 19, 2014
Source: Purchased
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

She could save the world-or destroy it.
Sixteen year old Evangeline "Evie" Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future - and they're still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Derveaux.

But she can't do either alone.
With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can't totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?

Who can Evie trust?
As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it's not always clear who is on which side... 

**********

Poison Princess is an amazing story. The entire premise behind the series is incredibly well thought out. The Tarot deck brought to life - so unique and exciting. But we start with Evie - a girl that appears to be your typical rich popular girl from a good family. Everyone likes her and she seems to have the perfect life. But Evie is not what everyone thinks. Visions and dark premonitions haunt her and she can hear voices that seem to be taunting her.

Enter Jack. Jack is the boy from the wrong side of the track. He's hard, violent, and has his eyes set on Evie. When the apocalypse happens, he may be the only thing that can save her. But she doesn't trust him and doesn't like him. Not sure if she should be staying and holding her home as a final refuge or striking out with him to find safety.

I really liked that the apocalypse doesn't happen right away. We get a chance to get to know everyone a little first. We feel the pain as some of them are lost, and we're excited to hear that a couple survived. But when it finally happens, it's devastating. The world really has come to an end and the game has begun.

There's a little bit of everything in Poison Princess. There's a hint at a romance to come, tragedy, zombies, and a ton of excitement. I'm not sure why I waited so long to get started, but I'm glad I'll be able to pick up the next one soon.

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Obsidian Sky by Amy Braun ~ Cover Reveal

Obsidian Sky
Amy Braun
(Dark Sky #3)
Publication date: February 7th 2017
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Young Adult

The final struggle against the Hellions has arrived. A trapped engineer and a desperate marauder scramble to fight an enemy with unspeakable power on its side. Time is running out, and one world will be destroyed…
After sacrificing herself to save the lives of her friends and family, Claire Abernathy struggles to outwit her Hellion captors. They torment and terrify her into working on a weapon with the sole purpose of obliterating the world, friends, and love she has struggled to save. If Claire has any chance of saving those she loves, she must delve deeper into the Hellion world, and witness nightmares she could never imagine.
In Westraven, Sawyer Kendric is desperate to find the woman he loves. To do so, he must finally embrace his family’s atrocious past and heal the wounds it has caused. He will be forced to make new allies, uncover secrets that change all he knows, and find the courage to lead a ragtag crew into the darkest, deadliest battle of their lives.
Claire and Sawyer fight to save their broken world in the final installment of the epic DARK SKY trilogy.

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Previous books in the series:

Author Bio:
Amy is a Canadian urban fantasy and horror author. Her work revolves around monsters, magic, mythology, and mayhem. She started writing in her early teens, and never stopped. She loves building unique worlds filled with fun characters and intense action. She is the recipient of April Moon Books Editor Award for "author voice, world-building and general bad-assery," and the One Book Two Standout Award in 2015 for her Cursed trilogy. She has been featured on various author blogs and publishing websites, and is an active member of the Writing GIAM and Weekend Writing Warrior communities. When she isn't writing, she's reading, watching movies, taking photos, gaming, and struggling with chocoholism and ice cream addiction.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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Here are a couple of sneak peeks!

Highland Secrets, Dragon Lore Book One Excerpt: 

…He hadn’t let go of her hand. Energy flowed into her, and she lapped it like nectar. 

“Ye must be Angus.” She swallowed back an inane desire to giggle like a maid. “Since we’re the only two with human form here, ye’d almost have to be.” 

“Good guess.” His smile warmed his eyes. “Eletea and I have been here for a short time, and I was sent to guide you to the dragons’ council chamber. 

Self-conscious, she tugged her hand from his grip. It would never do to skip blithely into the Dragon Council holding hands like a couple of schoolkids. What if Keene was there? 

So what if he is? 

It’s not as if he’s made even the slightest effort to find me these past hundred years. 

Color splotched Angus’s face, and he glanced at his hand. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Didn’t realize—” 

She didn’t bother telling him how difficult it was for her to sever their connection. Angus was stunning, but he’d been sent here by Ceridwen too. Which meant he lived much too close to home for her to consider smoothing her hands down that magnificent body and tangling them in all that wild, glorious hair. 

“Which way?” She tossed a sunny smile his direction. 

He smiled back shyly, and years fell away, making him look like a bashful boy, albeit a very hot one. “The way I came from.” He rolled his eyes. “Nothing like stating the obvious, huh? Anyway, we should get going, the dragons are waiting for us—and keeping Danne and Eletea from scratching each other’s eyes out.” 

“The dragon who brought me here said something about that. Apparently, Eletea has a mate who’s cheering from the sidelines.” 

Angus frowned. “He doesn’t want her dead, just—” 

“Shuttling on a ball and chain between the bedroom and the kitchen,” Arianrhod cut in. 

Angus tossed his head back and laughed. The sound was velvety, masculine, and it sparked a reaction deep inside her. She wanted him to be joyful, yet she sensed resignation within him and wondered about its source. 

“What you said about Cavet—that’s Eletea’s mate—about nailed it.” Angus half bowed, a courtly, old-world gesture that made her smile. “This way. We probably shouldn’t—” 

A cacophony of dragon shrieks and screams blew through his words, obliterating the last of them. 

Arianrhod had begun walking in the indicated direction, but she stopped dead. “Holy godhead. What the fuck do you suppose that’s all about?” 

“No idea, but it can’t be good.” He took off running, with her at his heels. 

She readied magic, sensing she might need to kill something, and power was quicker than her bow. Besides, it’d be a neat trick to take down a dragon—even with a crossbow. Possible, but very difficult. Smoke billowed through the tunnel, making her eyes tear. Her lungs smarted from inhaling smoke, and she pitched into Angus’s back because she couldn’t see a thing in front of her…h a benevolent sun, and of thriving cities filled with the bustle of humans; memories of quiet and intimate conversations beneath a silver moon, the same silver moon that now graced Malum Turris with its light, though a thousand years older and viewed only from beneath the protection of the dome.

She saw herself as he must have seen her, a much-younger icrathari, still hopeful for the future, never realizing that the Earth they had all known and loved was irretrievably lost. Had she ever looked that vulnerable? Had her smile ever been so beautiful, so filled with love as she looked upon—

“Rohkeus?” Oh, blessed Creator, was that stricken whisper her voice?

Ashra pulled back and stared at the human. Her mouth dropped open. Her heart pounded in her chest, its beat erratic. It couldn’t be. It simply couldn’t be—

She looked up at Tera. The other icrathari nodded.

Rohkeus’s soul reborn…in a human.

Ashra threw her head back and laughed, a despairing sound. Her prince, her love, reduced to a human? Her slender fingers coiled into fists. Her golden eyes glittering, she pushed away from him, though her body trembled from the loss of his warmth. No, the human was not Rohkeus; he could never be Rohkeus.

Steeling herself against the gasp of pain that escaped from his lips as the anesthetizing effect of her kiss faded, Ashra rose to her feet with sinuous grace. “He is not one of us. Not anymore.” Nothing had been more devastating than losing Rohkeus to a human assassin. To see his soul reborn in that contemptible and weak race was an insult to the person Rohkeus had been.

“Should we turn him into a vampire?” Tera asked.

“Kill him. Set Rohkeus’s soul free.”

—

Whisky Witches Excerpt

“Thanks for understanding.” Dexx opened the door to Paige’s room, supper in a bag in his teeth, his left arm full of folders.  

Brian followed him into the room carrying an over-filled case box. “To be honest, the fewer people who know how many rules I’m breaking right now, the better.”  

“Right.” Dexx dumped the folders on the small table and stashed supper in a chair. He pulled the round table closer to the center of the room, then wiggled the crocheted Brian doily out from under the paperwork, setting it on the bureau. He took the bottle of sedatives out of his jacket pocket before draping it over the back of a floral canvased chair.  

“How’s she doing?”  

Dexx sat on the edge of the bed and checked her pulse. Not that he counted her heartbeats like someone who actually knew what the hell he was doing. Half of him checked to make sure it was still beating in the first place. The other saw to the sigil on her arm. Black ink, just the way he’d left her. Good. He popped the top off the orange drug bottle and poured two little blue diazepam pills into his palm.  

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” 

“Sure.” Dexx shoved the two pills down her throat, feeling her tongue work as she fought to swallow and throw up at the same time. “Hand me that water bottle?”  

Brian touched the bottle to Dexx’s shoulder. “Tell me again why she’s not at the clinic.”  

“You really want a demon-possessed person running rampage in the clinic? Trust me.” Dexx dribbled some of the water down her throat, watching her swallow. “Also, I’m fairly certain the good doctor would try to tell you that the dosage we’re giving her would kill her.”  

“Will it?”  

“Doubt it.”  

“Doubt it?”  

“Demon.”  

“Right.”  

Dexx stood, screwing the cap back on the water bottle. “Okay. Where do we start on the case?”  

“Shouldn’t we wait for her?” Brian’s gaze stayed on Paige’s form.  

“I need to see if she’s really in danger or if we have someone out there mucking with stuff they don’t understand.” God, he hoped it was just some moron.  

“Okay.” The chief turned to the table. “What do you need to see?”  

After an hour of studying the pictures, notes, and interviews, Dexx pushed away from the table with a headache.  

Brian crossed his thick arms over his chest. “So what’s the verdict? Are we in danger?”  

“Yes.”  

“Is she in danger?”  

He wished she wasn’t. “Yes.” Dexx sighed and let his hands fall. “I don’t know how they found out about her gift, but someone did. The murders, the inane symbols? They were the bait. I’ve seen these symbols before on a past case. I doubt the sacrifices did much of anything. Whoever is behind this killed those three people to lure her out. The mandala was a test.”  

“What kind?”  

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. 

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