The Princess Diaries - New Covers and Series Appreciation

You may or may not know that I am a huge The Princess Diaries fan. Huge. The Princess Diaries was one of the first YA books I ever read and it's pretty much the reason why I now have a massive collection of YA and can't stop buying more books. To celebrate the series' 15th birthday (I feel so old) and the release of the new middle-grade spin off series AND the new adult The Princess Diaries book, Royal Wedding (which I am very excited to read - review coming soon), Macmillan has redesigned all the covers of the series, so I thought I'd do a side by side comparison and share it with you all!

I apologise for my photography - I have as much skill as a llama on wheels

So here you can see the new cover of book one (left) and the old covers for the entire series. I have to say, the old covers will always have a place in my heart, but I do really like the new ones too! I only have the first book in the new cover so far, but here's what they look like together:

Image courtesy of Macmillan

Aren't they pretty? I love the colours, and the faces the model makes on each book. Mia has always been a bit awkward so I think having awkward faces on the covers is brilliant and lets you know that the book is going to be funny (these books are hilarious - if you have not read them, I can't even tell you how much you're missing out). It looks like the books have been renamed too, and I think the new titles match the actual content of each book a bit more (though the old ones made it really easy to know which number book in the series you were reading). The new covers of books 1-3 are out July 2nd, and the new covers of books 4-5 are out August 27th. To find out more, and to see the rest of the new covers, click here.

Here's a direct comparison of the first books (ignore the "only 99p" mark on the old cover. There's a story about that - and about how I first came to love The Princess Diaries series - which you can read here). Very different, but honestly, I adore both. My old cover is very well loved (you can't see the pages but if you could, you'd be able to tell I've read that book many, many times) and the gold is a bit scratched up from when it's been taken off the shelf and reshelved lots of time. I think the old cover is still appealing - great font, a crown on the front, nice colour scheme - but the new one is a bit more modern and will appeal to younger people today more than the old cover. It's also more representative of what actually happens in the book - Mia's surprise at learning she's a princess (whereas the old cover just has a bunch of bottles of random cosmetics on it - and while I still love it, it's doesn't really tell you much).

Here's my entire collection! Ahh it's making me feel nostalgic. I remember waiting for books 9 and 10 to be released (on the right). I'm still pretty annoyed they're not the same size as the rest of my books as well, but I've learnt to live with it! :P. I feel a reread of this series coming on soon... And if you're wondering what those books at the top of the photo are, well, see below:

When I said I was a huge fan, I meant it. The four books at the bottom are novellas that were never released in the UK, so I bought the US editions. And the the large book at the top is a yearbook (from 2008!) that I *think* my mum may have bought for me (honestly, I can't remember, though it'd be fitting if she did, as she bought me the first TPD book and is why I got hooked on the series). I even had that flowery background as my wallpaper on my phone for years (it was a freebie from Meg Cabot's website if I remember correctly) and I used to constantly browse the Meg Cabot Message Boards as well. I was a little bit obsessed, if truth be told.

Now, I'm an adult (just about), and while I haven't read these books in a while, I still look back on them fondly, and I'm pretty sure that when I do eventually read them again, I will love them as much as I always did. So I'm sharing my collection with you, and hopefully you will be as excited as I am for these new covers, and the two new series that have just been released! My review of Royal Wedding should be coming soon, so keep an eye out for that if you're interested.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and please please please, if you've never read The Princess Diaries series before, pick it up. It's so fun and hilarious and a perfect set of books to read in the summer.

(P.S. If you're really old school, you may remember the old old covers of TPD series that looked like this:

Image from Amazon UK

I never had these covers, but remember seeing them in the library. They were redesigned to the gold crown style before the series was finished though - so I'm sort of glad I never had these ones, even though they're really cute, because the later books in the series wouldn't have matched the earlier books at all and that would have been a travesty.)

Read More

Review: Mindwalker by A. J. Steiger

Mindwalker (Mindwalker #1) by A. J. Steiger
Publisher: Rock the Boat
Released: June 4th 2015
My Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads

At seventeen, Lain Fisher has already aced the Institute's elite training program for Mindwalkers, therapists who use a direct neural link to erase a patient's traumatic memories. A prodigy and the daughter of a renowned scientist-whose unexplained death left her alone in the world-Lain is driven by the need to save others.

When Steven, a troubled classmate, asks her to wipe a horrific childhood experience from his mind, Lain's superiors warn her to stay away. Steven's scars are too deep, they say; the risk too great. Yet the more time Lain spends with him, the more she begins to question everything about her society. As she defies the warnings and explores Steven's memories, it becomes clear that he's connected to something much bigger…something the Institute doesn't want the world to discover.

Lain never expected to be a rule breaker. She certainly didn't plan on falling in love with a boy she's been forbidden to help. But then, she never expected to stumble into a conspiracy that could ignite a revolution. (from Goodreads)

I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Mindwalker. I didn’t actually know too much about it before I started reading so I was a bit hesitant, but it ended up surpassing my expectations. I have read so many dystopian books at this point that I really didn’t think anything could impress me anymore - but Mindwalker did! It’s a slightly different approach to the genre that I haven’t seen in many books (if I had to compare it to something, maybe a cross between Minority Report and Psycho Pass?) and I am looking forward to continuing this series!

Lain was a very interesting heroine. She was almost the opposite of heroines you would usually see in dystopians, like Katniss or Tris. She wasn’t a strong fighter, she wasn’t necessarily brave in the face of danger/pain. She wasn’t an excellent strategist. But she was a great character all the same - and this is what I want, guys. Female characters don’t need to kick down doors and throw knives (though that’s pretty awesome too) in order to be strong leading characters. Lain was complex; she was compassionate and sincerely wanted to help people - to the point where it was almost like an addiction. She was also loyal but not stupid, and questioned things when she thought something was wrong. I really enjoyed reading about her, and though we didn’t necessarily agree on everything (how on earth did she think bringing Steven to the party was a good idea?!), I could understand her decisions and motives behind them. The way she was able to deal with experiencing other people’s terrible memories as well, to see and feel everything they did in order to know which memories to erase - I don’t think I could have done that. It seemed so horrible and yet she did it for client after client because she really thought that erasing those memories would help them. And even though she was so empathetic and caring, she wasn’t a pushover. She dealt with things rationally (well, most of the time) and calmly. She was good at calming Steven down and in one scene I liked that she didn’t just agree to his suggestion of sharing memories in order to get him to trust her. She waited until she was ready to share them, until she actually wanted him to trust her fully.

Steven was another fascinating character. He wanted Lain to illegally erase his memories because he could no longer go down the legal path, and he just couldn’t live with them anymore. He had suffered terrible abuse at a young age and he wanted to forget those memories so he could lead a normal life. He didn’t trust people but you could tell he wanted to trust Lain. And I liked that his problems weren’t magically solved by meeting her, you know like in those books where the moral of the story is basically “if you find someone to love you, all your problems will go away and any broken part of you will be fixed!”. Yeah, that didn’t happen here, because this book actually went down a more realistic path. Without the Mindwalking procedure, Steven would always suffer from the trauma of what happened to him. He may learn ways to cope and deal with it so that he may lead a regular life - but it would never go away, especially not just because of a girl he met. Steven knew this, Lain knew this. No-one expected anyone to change just because they had feelings for each other. Lain actually cared about Steven, where no-one had ever cared before. She took the time to know him and I like the slow way their relationship developed. I also liked how they put their feelings aside when they had to in order to accomplish their goals. The romance didn’t interfere with the actual plot, there were no overdramatic miscommunications that slowed things down and dragged things out, which I really appreciated.

Plot-wise, the pacing was practically perfect. The way things developed over time, the way the characters started to realise something wasn’t right…I loved it. Some things were predictable (surrounding Lain’s father and Steven’s true memories) but then again, I’ve read so many dystopians that I would be expected to be familiar with the format. And this book was definitely quite dark, and sometimes disturbing. It explored some serious themes, mostly focussing on mental illness and suicide and the morality behind government intervention (or lack thereof). You sort of have to be in the right frame of mind to read it. I was also very intrigued by certain things that weren’t wrapped up in this book, which is why I’m excited for the sequel. The consequences of the ending, for starters. And also, Ian. He was a curious character. I think he had feelings for Lain but he wouldn’t admit it - and yet he did so much for her. I don’t really want a love triangle, but I would like to see more of him.

Overall, I really enjoyed Mindwalker. If you are looking for a new kind of dystopian, or if you’re a fan of things like Psycho Pass (a great anime, watch it), then I highly recommend this book.

Read More

I Am Officially a Graduate

So I have been absent over the past two weeks because I've nervously been awaiting my exam results. I am happy to say I managed to pass and I am now officially a graduate! Which means NO MORE UNIVERSITY, and lots more free time to blog, so reviews and other things will be coming very soon.

I am now off to prance around the house and revel in the fact that I don't have to retake anything, so see you!

Read More

Review: Fish Out of Water by Natalie Whipple

Fish Out of Water by Natalie Whipple
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Released: February 5th 2015
My Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads

Mika Arlington was supposed to spend the summer after her junior year shadowing her marine biologist parents at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but when her estranged grandmother randomly shows up on the doorstep one day, those plans are derailed. Because Grandma Betty isn't here to play nice—she is cranky, intolerant of Mika's mixed-race-couple parents, and oh yeah she has Alzheimer's and is out of money. While Mika's family would rather not deal with Grandma Betty, they don't have much choice. And despite Mika's protests, she is roped into caring for a person that seems impossible to have compassion for. And if that wasn't hard enough, Mika must train the new guy at her pet shop job who wants to be anywhere else, and help a friend through her own family crisis. Something's gotta a give, but whichever ball Mika drops means losing someone she loves. Not exactly a recipe for Best Summer Ever—or is it? (from Goodreads)

This book. I did not know how much I needed this book right now. After the horror that was my exams I really wanted a book that would just make me feel better, and this was it. This was the exact book I needed, and I am so glad I waited until now to read it.

I loved practically all the main characters. Mika was awesome. I liked that she was so passionate about fish and marine biology and I could understand how disappointed and upset she was about losing her internship to look after her grandmother, Betty. She had been waiting for so long for that opportunity to arise and she had to give it up for some woman she had only just met. And this was a woman who had basically disowned her son for marrying a Japanese woman instead of someone white, who insulted her and made racist comments and was horrible to her whole family - I honestly don’t know if I could have adjusted the way Mika did. Her grandmother had Alzheimer’s as well, which I think was depicted pretty well in the book (though I have never had a close family member with Alzheimer’s so I don’t have a lot to compare to). It was an awful illness and you could see how frustrating it was not just for Mika and her family, but for Betty herself. I loved the way Mika slowly began to start caring for her grandmother and became closer to her (and vice versa). She had an internal struggle; she couldn’t stand her grandmother’s racist and backwards attitude but at the same time, it was her grandmother, and she was sick, and she didn’t want to lash out and make her even more ill. And in Betty’s more lucid days, Mika could tell that Betty no longer truly meant some of the things she said, but that didn't make it any less horrible to hear, so a lot of the time Mika was unsure of what to do. It was interesting to see how accustomed she had become to have Betty in her life and how much things had changed from the beginning of the book.

Dylan, well. He was the new employee at AnimalZone, where Mika worked, and her boss’s nephew. I didn’t like him at first, but you weren’t supposed to. He grew on me though. Oh did he grow on me. I completely loved him by the end. He really wanted to change, to not be the spoilt rich boy he was before and to actually make something of his life through his own efforts. He was trying so hard! To be better, to learn from his uncle (who was like, the world’s greatest boss), to be someone Mika could rely on. He made a few mistakes along the way (that note could not have been more vague. And I know he didn’t know Mika had this fear of people leaving her [which I thought was portrayed very well in the book] and I know she may have doubted him too soon, but seriously, write a more detailed note!). The romance was so cute I wanted to cry. It started off as a sort of love-hate relationship that developed into the most adorable thing ever. These characters definitely had chemistry and ah! I loved it.

I really liked Mika’s friends too. Shreya had her own problems (which were very similar to what happened to Mika’s mum and dad) concerning the fact that her parents had disowned her brother. She turned to Mika when she didn’t have anywhere else to go and they both supported each other through their respective issues, along with their other friend Olivia, and I really like the way their friendship was portrayed. They all really cared about other and it was nice to see such strong friendships. While there was some tension between the friends sometimes, it wasn’t over the top and dramatic or cat-fighty like you see in films where it’s like the creators think cat-fights are the only way teenage girls know how to behave - uh, no, film people. Do some research.

Plot-wise, I sort of predicted the drama-y bit that happened towards the end but I still really enjoyed reading those scenes, especially the part where Mika and her grandmother bonded. I also think that the issues in this book were covered really well. Things weren’t sugar coated, or made extreme. It seemed like really people dealing with issues that could really happen and I liked that. I also liked reading about how each character developed - everyone had changed a little by the end, but Mika and Dylan especially. Mika had gotten over her fears, I think, and Dylan - well he was just an all-round better person. I also loved the way this book ended because ugh, it was so cute. I am such a sucker for these cute romances, I can’t even tell you.

Overall, I really, really loved this book. It’s an absolutely perfect read for summer. Recommended to all contemp fans and people starting out in the genre.

Read More

Review: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1) by Sabaa Tahir
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Released: June 4th 2015
My Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads

What if you were the spark that could ignite a revolution?

For years Laia has lived in fear. Fear of the Empire, fear of the Martials, fear of truly living at all. Born as a Scholar, she’s never had much of a choice.

For Elias it’s the opposite. He has seen too much on his path to becoming a Mask, one of the Empire’s elite soldiers. With the Masks’ help the Empire has conquered a continent and enslaved thousands, all in the name of power.

When Laia’s brother is taken she must force herself to help the Resistance, the only people who have a chance of saving him. She must spy on the Commandant, ruthless overseer of Blackcliff Academy. Blackcliff is the training ground for Masks and the very place that Elias is planning to escape. If he succeeds, he will be named deserter. If found, the punishment will be death.

But once Laia and Elias meet, they will find that their destinies are intertwined and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

In the ashes of a broken world one person can make a difference. One voice in the dark can be heard. The price of freedom is always high and this time that price might demand everything, even life itself. (from Goodreads)

I really enjoyed An Ember in the Ashes. It has been surrounded by hype over the past few months and while I didn't absolutely five-star love it the way many others did, it was definitely a great book, and so worth reading.

The book is split between two POVs, Laia's and Elias's. Initially I preferred Elias's chapters, but Laia's became equally interesting quite quickly and I actually enjoyed switching back and forth, which, let me tell you, is rare for me. I usually always find one POV more interesting and then dread going back to the other, but with An Ember in the Ashes, a few pages in and I was already liking both. So this book definitely gets points for that.

Laia's personality didn't really come through until she had been assigned her mission, but once that happened, I started to really like her. She was so dedicated to saving her brother, willing to endure so much cruelty and yet still thought of herself as a coward because she ran when her brother told her to. Please. If she were really a coward there's no way she would have stayed as the Commandment's slave. She was basically tortured and constantly threatened and always fearing for her life, and yet she stuck it out. Not many people could do that. She was a bit naive (she shouldn't have trusted the Resistance so easily so early on) but she learnt from her mistakes and I just really enjoyed reading about her and what she was planning to do next. I also liked her chapters because we got to see her interact with Izzi and Cook, two other slaves who she sort of formed friendships with and who I really liked (I am so curious as to who Cook really is though because she seemed to know Laia's parents and also refused to give her real name...).

Elias for me was a slightly more interesting character because of his relationship with his mother, the Commandant. She hated him. Hate isn't even a strong enough word, she despised him. We never really got to know why though I get the feeling it's something to do with his father who I'm assuming is bad/evil (though the Commandant was pretty evil herself, and seemed to be before Elias was born so who knows. Maybe she wasn't AS evil before he was born and Elias's father made her life that. Or maybe it was to do with the Nightbringer - how long had she been working with him? I want to know more!). But Elias definitely had a strange upbringing, he really only had his grandfather looking out for him, and coupled with his mother's various attempts on his life, I'm not surprised he was thinking of deserting. He didn't support the Empire and hated himself for going along with their rules. I am surprised he chose to stay based on the words on one man, but then again, that man was an immortal with weird creepy powers, so who knows. Elias's relationship with Helene was pretty interesting as well because they disagreed on fundamental principles (e.g. whether or not to free the slaves) but they had also known each other so long that despite that, they had this really strong connection. And because Elias hated the Empire and disagreed with the laws, and Helene was a strict rule-follower, it put a strain on their relationship that made things difficult as the book progressed.

The romantic aspects of this book were kind of odd, but not necessarily bad. Elias and Helene sort of had a thing (which got very complicated when the Trials started. Like, really complicated guys. I want to tell you so much but I won't, so just read the book), but then Elias and Laia were drawn to each other and then Laia also kind of liked this other guy, Keenan - it was all very mixed up and confusing, as most things are when it comes to these types of relationships. As much as I could sympathise with Helene (who I liked but didn't like at the same time because of her views and love of the Empire but then I felt sorry for her because of Marcus and oh my God Marcus, I loathed that disgusting guy), I did end up shipping Elias and Laia the most, because I just think they had a spark and were working towards similar goals, and I really enjoyed their scenes together.

Plot-wise, I enjoyed most things, though one bit that did confuse me was the introduction of a supernatural element that wasn't really explained. It was sort of randomly shoved in and explained away as "the stories are true" and I really would have liked to know more about some of these creatures and where they came from, as well as just generally find out why the world was the way it was and what made it like that (there wasn't much explanation of the whole Scholar/Military divide). I really wanted to know more about the Augurs too, and what they were really up to. I was also a little bit disappointed by the Resistance because I just think there was potential for more development and I found what was going on very obvious. But apart from that, I don't have much to complain about. Some of my favourite parts (probably because I am twisted) were the Trials, a few of which were just horrible, but interesting to read about because of the way Elias reacted. I also liked Laia's scenes with Spiro Teluman, though I wish they were a bit longer! Speaking of being longer, does this book seriously not have a sequel in the works? It NEEDS one! After the way things ended (I loved the ending, by the way), I have to know what happens next. There's so much left to explore! I think the author has said she would like a sequel, so if anyone important is reading this, I (and many other people, because hello have you seen the reviews of this book) would LOVE a sequel, make it happen please. I would be eternally grateful.
(EDIT: after writing this review it was announced that there will be a second book, so yaaaay!)

Overall, An Ember in the Ashes was a brilliant fantasy and I really, really want a second book. Recommended.

Read More

Waiting on Wednesday #68

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Crossed (Soul Eaters #3) by Eliza Crewe
August 11th 2015
Find it on Goodreads

War is here.

Full-scale war has erupted between the Crusaders and demons and even Chi has to admit isn’t going well. Like any sensible rat, Meda’s eager to abandon the sinking ship but, unfortunately, her friends aren't nearly as pragmatic. Instead, Meda’s forced to try to keep them all alive until the dust settles.

As the Crusaders take more and more drastic measures, the tables turn and Meda suddenly finds herself in the role of voice of sanity. No one is more horrified than she is. When old enemies reappear as new allies and old friends become new enemies Meda has to decide—again—whose side she’s really on.

And then the Crusaders decide that Meda should go to Hell. Literally.

Can’t a monster ever catch a break? (from Goodreads)

I love the Soul Eaters series. It's so addictive, I read the first two books back to back in less than two days. Meda is just such a great character! I like that she's not good but she's trying to be better and you know - not evil, at least. But she struggles with everything because that's who she is and you can't help but root for her and oh I just hope she has a happy ending. I seriously can't wait to see how everything turns out in this last book. I highly recommend this series if you haven't started it yet. It's hilarious and awesome and you won't be able to stop reading. Not sure what the exact genre is...paranormal maybe? Urban fantasy? But if you like anything like that with supernatural creatures and grey areas of morality and academies and amazing characters - then you'll love this, trust me.

What are you waiting on this week?

Read More

Review: The Novice by Taran Matharu

The Novice (Summoner #1) by Taran Matharu
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Released: May 5th 2015
My Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads

Fletcher was nothing more than a humble blacksmith's apprentice, when a chance encounter leads to the discovery that he has the ability to summon demons from another world. Chased from his village for a crime he did not commit, he must travel with his demon to the Vocans Academy, where the gifted are trained in the art of summoning.

The academy will put Fletcher through a gauntlet of gruelling lessons, training him as a battlemage to fight in the Hominum Empire's war against the savage orcs. Rubbing shoulders with the children of the most powerful nobles in the land, Fletcher must tread carefully. The power hungry Forsyth twins lurk in the shadows, plotting to further their family's interests. Then there is Sylva, an elf who will do anything she can to forge an alliance between her people and Hominum, even if it means betraying her friends. Othello is the first ever dwarf at the academy, and his people have long been oppressed by Hominum's rulers, which provokes tension amongst those he studies alongside.

Fletcher will find himself caught in the middle of powerful forces, with nothing but his demon Ignatius to help him. As the pieces on the board manoeuvre for supremacy, Fletcher must decide where his loyalties lie. The fate of an empire is in his hands... (from Goodreads)

The Novice was an interesting start to a new series, and I’m looking forward to continuing on to book two.

It did take me a while to really like Fletcher as a character. At the start we knew so little about him and his personality that I couldn’t really tell whether or not I liked him. Plus, I felt like at times the author was trying too hard to make me like him. There was constant comparison between Fletcher, a commoner, and the nobles, who were mostly all portrayed to either be evil or snobby and horrible and annoying (Didric and Tarquin and Rook being the worst, I seriously hated them). It’s like the author went out of his way to prove that Fletcher was better than that. In the first half there was a real focus on Fletcher making the effort to speak to a servant called Jeffrey - yet in the second half, that character completely disappeared! Never to be seen again. I felt like the only purpose of Jeffrey was to show how great Fletcher was and that he didn’t care about status, and then was forgotten as soon as the point was proved and Fletcher had more important things to do. It was a shame too, because I liked Jeffrey and wouldn’t have minded seeing more of his character in a different context. But it was just one thing that bothered me a little. Fletcher did grow on me though, once he joined Vocans Academy and we started to get to know him more, and I liked seeing his bond with his demon Ignatius (who was probably my favourite character and seriously guys, I want a demon like that). I also liked the fact that although he was talented in some areas, he wasn’t an overpowered super summoner who could do anything without any effort. He really struggled with some aspects and had to put real work in, which I thought was more realistic and made me empathise with him more. I was definitely interested in Fletcher’s backstory as well. He was abandoned as a baby, and had no clue who his real parents were. He was raised by Berden (who seemed like a real decent guy who genuinely loved Fletcher like a son) but had no other family connections. It was interesting to discover a little bit about him later on in the book (I’m sort of half agreeing with Arcturus’s theory at the moment) and I do hope we find out more in book two.

Othello was probably Fletcher’s best friend at Vocans, along with Sylva, and I liked them both. Sylva had a shaky start in the group because she was an elf and originally had chummed up with the two awful noble twins Isadora and Tarquin in order to build connections between their families to relieve the animosity against the elves - but she realised in the end that it was pointless and the twins had no real interest in being allies. She was pretty powerful and brave (as seen in the second half) and she was willing to risk a lot to do what she thought was necessary. Othello was a dwarf - the first ever to be admitted to the academy. The dwarves were denied rights and treated as second class citizens. Despite that, though, Othello wanted to find a way to achieve equality and find peace between all peoples without having to resort to war (which was proving difficult because the nobles were especially hostile towards him). His demon was also really cool (and one of the more powerful ones).

Out of the teachers at the academy, I definitely liked Lovett the most, followed by Arcturus. Lovett was awesome and  as well as being clever in strategy and being able to control a high level demon, she also seemed to really care about her students. I really hope we see her again in the next book and that she has a bigger role to play, because I really liked her character. Arcturus was also interesting because of his past and the way he met Fletcher (as well as his possible connection to him). I absolute hated Rook though. He was so unfair, so biased towards the nobles, didn’t care who got hurt as long as he got his way. I can’t believe he was allowed to teach when he showed such obvious favouritism, it was disgusting.

Plot-wise, the book started off a bit slow but I got really engrossed once Fletcher arrived at Vocans. I would have liked to have spent more time on Fletcher’s training and learning more about all the different types of demons, but I suppose there is time for that in the next book and I enjoyed what we did learn. And while I knew Fletcher’s past would eventually catch up with him, the ending! It was just so unfair (and a massive cliffhanger). I am very intrigued to find out what happens next and how Fletcher will deal with everything.

Overall, despite a few issues, I enjoyed this book overall, and would recommend it to YA fantasy fans.

Read More