A reaper at the gates - Sabaa Tahir

Hardcover, 463 pages

Published June 14th 2018 by HarperVoyager 

An Ember in the Ashes #3

Fantasy YA

Library

My thoughts:

Do these keep getting worse and worse? I am really disappointed since I liked book 1. Book 2 messed it up. This one made it a lot worse.

And this one. Ugh. Elias is boring.

Wtf does everyone love Laia and thinks she can save them?

The Shrike, what a stupid country. If you put children to be the second most powerful person and leader then you deserve to fail as a country. I get that she has trained all her life, but hell I am sure there is some 40 year old general left in this stupid world that could have done her job. Bloody idiots. Wtf does she know about anything?

Dunno why I even read it. Ok I do. I want to see how it ends and there is one bloody book left. Arghhhhhhhhh.

Conclusion:

Stupid series. One of the reasons that I do not buy YA fantasy. They all fail.

Blurb:
The Blood Shrike, Helene Aquilla, is assailed on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable, while the Commandant capitalizes on his madness to bolster her own power. As Helene searches for a way to hold back the approaching darkness, her sister's life and the lives of all those in the Empire hang in the balance.

Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. But while hunting for a way to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would aid her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she'd have to fight.

And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that will stop at nothing to ensure Elias's devotion--even at the cost of his humanity. 

A torch against the night - Sabaa Tahir

Elias and Laia are running for their lives. After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both. 

My thoughts:

Two days later, as always...I also want to make this short cos I am 2 reviews behind...

It was good, but nope, not AS good as the first one. That one was darker, and even if this one was dark, it felt...YA dark (that is not a good thing.)

Elias was a ghost of himself and did not do a lot. Sure I wanted him to live, but at the same time meh.

I think I did not really care for Laia in book 1? I can not remember, but here I sure did not. What a forgettable boring girl. She is no heroine in my eyes.  And that whole guy thing, *eyeroll*

Helen, hmm, I do not really want a happy ending for her, because she is killing a lot in this book. I get that she is second to the Emperor now, but sheesh, that guy is insane. Stop killing people. I hope you die, even if you are the most interesting person in the book. Also she was so, oh Elias!

The whole book is about them getting to that prison. It did not have the same edge. It bordered on ok at times.

But I will read more, I want to know what happens. And even if it was good I was disappointed. Nothing was the same as book 1. Not the characters, not the story, not the world.

Cover
boring

Hardcover, 452 pages
Published August 30th 2016 by Razorbill
An Ember in the Ashes #2
Fantasy YA
Library

Fantasy Tuesday: An Ember in The Ashes and Wedding bells, magic spells

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. 

My thoughts:

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Fine I admit, I have YA prejudices, but they tend to be so sweet and blarghhh, Even the fantasy, and then you go but that one is not nice...trust me, they are all nice, even the killing ones.

And then there was the I am scared of triangles and it sure looked like there could be one. But no, I do not count this as that. For it to be a triangle everyone has to you know like each other. Here we have a boy and girl who are bffs, and then the boy meets another girl. Nope, not a triangle. Then I worried that the girl would meet someone, but just cos someone fancies her again does not a triangle make. 

So those were my fears. And to my surprised I got sucked in at once. Sure a lot of people get killed but I would not call it dark, but there is the thing it's not light and romance focused either. No bleeding hearts and angsty drama that takes over the fantasy.

We have Elias who have been drilled to be a perfect solider all his life, but he has doubts and wants to run away. Which will get him killed. I liked his world, the mindless soldiers who only kill, and the Commander, who is a really "lovely" sociopath, she does not give a f about others. Just perfection. She will kill you for looking at her wrong.

Then we have Laia. Ok, so this was the weak spot. But the Commander is a ruthless bitch who whips her! *yawns* Every other slave gets raped, and we are told Laia is pretty much the hottest slave around and no one rapes her. Not that I want that, in adult or YA! But it's a weak spot. Not to mention that the other slave has only one eye, and  the Commander really should have marred Laia's face too. But we can't have that. Instead we will have marks on places you can not see. I would rather have had something like no rapes the Commander's slaves! She wants no bastards or slow working girls. Then it would have makes sense. Now I just focused on this stupid thing, and I have mentioned the r thing too much but damn it, do not mention it as the first thing then when Laia becomes a slave thatslaves are always subjected to that, and then say she is way too beautiful for a slave.

But let's say she was lucky, good for her.

It's a good world, I got the feel of it even if I had some questions that should have been answered. But that is for other books. And I sure hope the next one is not a weak one, because ...let's have hope.

And the world is going to hell...always a good thing. Though I can't see how the Resistance is much of a force, that could have been done better.

Conclusion:

All in all, a great book that kept me reading. I look forward to more 

Cover: ugly

Hardcover, 450 pages
Published June 4th 2015 by Harper Voyager
An Ember in the Ashes #1
Fantasy
Library

You would think that after having successfully destroyed the Saghred (aka, a legendary soul-sucking rock) and sending an evil goblin demigod to the Lower Hells that I would get some time off to plan my wedding to my sexy paladin fiancé Mychael Eiliesor, right? Wrong. Not only do I have to brace for meeting Mychael’s parents and cope with my burgeoning new powers, but it seems there may be another calamity brewing.

After the recent change in goblin leadership, the new—thankfully non-psychotic—king is willing to participate in an elf/goblin/human peace treaty. The Isle of Mid is the site of these delicate negotiations, meaning all hands on deck for Mychael and his Conclave Guardians. When the head of elven intelligence (and my wedding guest) Duke Markus Sevelien is nearly assassinated upon his arrival, I suspect my mother-in-law will be the least of my concerns. Sabotaging these talks may be only the first salvo in a treacherous and deadly new apocalyptic plot! 

My thoughts:

It's not the best time to read a book when you are cranky as hell, but at least it took my minds if things...for a few seconds, and then I was cranky again.

Anyway....Raine should be with Taaaam! Team Tam!!!! But no, she is marrying Mychael, always go with the nice elf. Noo, go with the goblin! Alas those days are over, but in my mind she in Tam will have goblin babies one day. I am so bad ;)

But before they can get married she must meet the inlaws *music of doom*

And they must meet her pirate family *music of doom*

She must deal with the after affects of the Sanghred *music of doom*

Someone is trying to kill everyone *music of doom*

And something bigger is coming...no music of doom, just a note to the author to write more books. pretty please.

Conclusion:

It was fun to see Raine and the gang again, and seriously, one more book is so needed. Just one more. 

Cover

Nice

Paperback, 312 pages
Published February 16th 2016 by NLA Digital LLC
Raine Benares #7
Fantasy
Own