Catch up (books #18-21)

18. Plus One by Elizabeth Fama

It takes guts to deliberately mutilate your hand while operating a blister-pack sealing machine, but all I had going for me was guts.

Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol deliberately injures herself in order to gain admission to a hospital, where she plans to kidnap her newborn niece—a Ray—in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. By violating the day-night curfew, Sol is committing a serious crime, and when the kidnap attempt goes awry it starts a chain of events that will put Sol in mortal danger, uncover a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population, and throw her together with D'Arcy Benoît, the Ray medical apprentice who first treats her, then helps her outrun the authorities—and with whom she is fated to fall impossibly and irrevocably in love.

Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day-night divide, Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights—and a compelling, rapid-fire romantic adventure story.

 

This was an unique take on a dystopian society.  I really wanted to read more about what brought this type of society about and how people were okay with it, but there wasn't very much of that.  I also felt there was a lot of information missing from this book that would have made it better, not just a more thorough history of their society but other parts of the story that were lacking and could have used more description.  Some parts seemed quite unbelievable, but I guess that is what makes is dystopian, right? ;)

 

Overall an interesting read.  Another great thing it had going for it... it is a stand alone novel (I think and HOPE).  Not many of those anymore.

 

Rating: 3.75/5

 

- a book based entirely on it's cover

19. Seraphina (Seraphina #1) by Rachel Hartman

In her New York Times bestselling and Morris Award-winning debut, Rachel Hartman introduces mathematical dragons in an alternative-medieval world to fantasy and science-fiction readers of all ages. Eragon-author Christopher Paolini calls them, "Some of the most interesting dragons I've read in fantasy."

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.  

 

 

I originally read this book in December 2013 and loved it!  Such a fascinating take on dragons!  I felt Seraphina was a character you could really connect with and Lucian Kiggs was another great candidate for a literary crush.

 

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

 

- a book with a one-word title

 

 

 

20. Shadow Scale (Seraphina #2) by Rachel Hartman

 

Seraphina took the literary world by storm with 8 starred reviews and numerous “Best of” lists. At last, her eagerly awaited sequel has arrived—and with it comes an epic battle between humans and dragons.

The kingdom of Goredd: a world where humans and dragons share life with an uneasy balance, and those few who are both human and dragon must hide the truth. Seraphina is one of these, part girl, part dragon, who is reluctantly drawn into the politics of her world. When war breaks out between the dragons and humans, she must travel the lands to find those like herself—for she has an inexplicable connection to all of them, and together they will be able to fight the dragons in powerful, magical ways.

As Seraphina gathers this motley crew, she is pursued by humans who want to stop her. But the most terrifying is another half dragon, who can creep into people’s minds and take them over. Until now, Seraphina has kept her mind safe from intruders, but that also means she’s held back her own gift. It is time to make a choice: Cling to the safety of her old life, or embrace a powerful new destiny?

 

 

I have been eagerly awaiting this book!!!!  It was a long wait between my reading Seraphina and Shadow Scale coming out and as the date for it's release got closer I got more excited.  Maybe that is why I was rather disappointed with this one...

 

Here's what I wrote on Goodreads:

This is a hard one to rate. I thought for sure going into it that I was going to love it. The world Rachel Hartman created is so fascinating and unique, and in the beginning of this book we learn more of Seraphina's history and in particular her history with Jannoula. But at times the story seemed drawn out (for example when she was in Porphyry) and really slow. Despite that, I wanted to continue reading because I was desperate to know what happened to the characters I have grown to love. I was really enjoying the book until the last one hundred or so pages. It seemed as though Seraphina became a completely different person. Up until then I would have given it four stars. Unfortunately the ending was irritating and really put me off, which is sad because I wanted to love this story.

Rating: 3/5 stars

 

- a book with more than 500 pages

 

 

 

 

21. How to Betray a Dragon's Hero (HTTYD #11) by Cressida Cowell

 

High up in the Treacherous mists of the Murderous Mountains, Hiccup and the Company of the Dragonmark are in hiding. The witch's Vampire Spydragons are guarding the shores of Tomorrow -- but Hiccup is determined to become King of the Wilderwest. Can Hiccup dodge the dragons and steal back the King's Things from Alvin before the Doomsday of Yule? And is there a traitor in Hiccup's camp who, in the end, will betray them all?

 

 

This has been a really enjoyable series.  I read the first ten books with my eldest daughter and we have loved them.  This is the first one I read by myself (she also read it by herself before I did), which was a little bittersweet.

 

Hiccup and Toothless and all the rest of the characters in these books are so well written you can't help loving them.  This is the second to last book in the series so things are drawing closer to an end in this installment.  I will be sad to say goodbye to Hiccup and his gang.

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

 

- a book with non-human characters