Book Review: 'Til the World Ends

Title: 'Til the World Ends

Authors: Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre, Karen Duvall

Release Date: January 29th 2013

Publisher: HarlequinLUNA

Source: NetGalley

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Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa

Before The Immortal Rules, there was the Red Lung, a relentless virus determined to take out all in its path. For Kylie, the miracle of her survival is also her burden-as a doctor at one of the clinics for the infected, she is forced to witness endless suffering. What's worse, strange things are happening to the remains of the dead, and by the time she befriends Ben Archer, she's beginning to wonder if a global pandemic is the least of her problems...

Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre

After a catastrophic spill turns the country into a vast chemical wasteland, those who could afford it retreated to fortresses, self-contained communities run by powerful corporations. But for Mari Thistle, life on the outside-in the Red Zone-is a constant struggle. To protect her family, Mari teams up with the mysterious Thorne Goodman. Together, they'll face an evil plot in both the underworld of the Red Zone and the society inside the fortresses that could destroy those on the outside...for good.

Sun Storm by Karen Duvall

Sarah Daggot has been chasing storms since she was a child. But after the biggest solar flares in history nearly destroy the planet, she becomes a Kinetic, endowed by her exposure to extreme radiation with the power to sense coming storms-in the cosmos and beyond. And she's not the only one. Sarah believes the Kinetics are destined to join forces and halt the final onslaught of the sun. She'll vow to keep trying to convince the one missing link in their chain of defense, the enigmatic Ian Matthews, up until the world ends.

I haven't read anything by any of these authors—yeah, not even Julie Kagawa—but I've been hearing great things about all of them so even if this book's an anthology, I was excited to read it. Sadly, only one of the three stories satisfied me. 

Dawn of Eden - Julie Kagawa
This story is a prequel novella to Kagawa's Blood of Eden series, and honestly, it didn't encourage me to start the series anytime soon. I couldn't sympathize with the main characters, and I felt like their romance wasn't needed in the plot, either. However, I am curious about the strange man who helped them, who I'm pretty certain appears in the next books.

Thistle & Thorne - Ann Aguirre
Now this is the one that satisfied me. It's perfectly placed as the middle story, really, because it makes up for the first one and prepares for another trip downhill in the next story. 

I loved the badass main characters, Mari and Thorne, who totally reminded me of Tris and Four from Divergent. And as short stories should, the action immediately kicked in and I found myself being unable to put this down.  

Now, while I complained about the romance in Dawn of Eden (as I will in Sun Storm in just a little while), the romance in here felt like the cliffhanger—or maybe that's because I'm a sucker for badass romance. Anyway, that aspect made me wish this will get continued in a full-length novel!

Sun Storm - Karen Duvall
My liking for this one falls somewhere in the middle of the first two above. Sun Storm started out well, but the romance—slight insta-love, even—messed up the awesome equation.

I loved the idea of Kinetics a.k.a. the mutants brought about by the intensified sun rays, especially since I'm one of those who believe that the world will end when the sun does, and the deadly heat waves in this story are one of the signs of that death. And I also really just have a weakness for mutants. But something that I found unrealistic in this story was how only human skin was susceptible to the heat, not buildings or cars or even tents. Also, the more the government and other Kinetics got involved, the more confused I got. And I guess it says a lot that I struggled to read the last 10% of this story.

MY FAVORITE PART was the car/motorcycle (failing memory, sorry) chase in Thistle & Thorne.

RATING:

(cover and summary from Goodreads.com)

{Blog Tour} The Midnight Spell - Rhiannon Frater & Kody Boye

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Title: The Midnight Spell

Author: Rhiannon Frater & Kody Boye

Release Date: February 26th 2013

Publisher: Self-published

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Adam and Christy have been best friends since kindergarten. Always the perpetual outsiders in their small town in Texas, they’ve always had to deal with nasty comments from their classmates. Adam is called “gay” while Christy is called “witch.”

On both counts the bullies are right.

Their junior year in high school seems destined to be the same old same old until Christy decides to cast a love spell for Adam at the midnight hour. The next day an alluring and mysterious new boy enrolls at school and sets hearts a flutter, including Adam’s. Meanwhile, Christy’s mad crush on the handsome Ian seems to be going nowhere fast. Struggling to capture the heart of Ian while trying to come into her full witch powers is tough enough, but when a great evil arrives in town that threatens everything they hold dear, she realizes that finding a boyfriend is the least of her and Adam’s worries.

Soon Adam, Christy, their potential love interests, and their good friends Drifter and Olivia, will have to battle a force of darkness that has killed in their town before and will again.

About the authors:

Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of the As the World Dies trilogy (The First Days, Fighting to Survive, Siege,) and the author of three other books: the vampire novels Pretty When She Dies and The Tale of the Vampire Bride and the young-adult zombie novel The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters. Inspired to independently produce her work from the urging of her fans, she published The First Days in late 2008 and quickly gathered a cult following. She won the Dead Letter Award back-to-back for both The First Days and Fighting to Survive, the former of which the Harrisburg Book Examiner called ‘one of the best zombie books of the decade.’ Rhiannon is currently represented by Hannah Gordon of the Foundry + Literary Media agency. You may contact her by sending an email to rhiannonfrater@gmail.com.

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Kody Boye was born and raised in Southeastern Idaho. Since his initial publication in the Yellow Mama Webzine in 2007, he has gone on to sell nearly three-dozen stories to various markets. He is the author of the short story collection Amorous Things, the novella The Diary of Dakota Hammell, the zombie novel Sunrise and the dark fantasy novel Blood. His fiction has been described as ‘Surreal, beautiful and harrowing’ (Fantastic Horror,) while he himself has been heralded as a writer beyond his years(Bitten by Books.) He currently lives and writes in the Austin, Texas area.

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Giveaways!

Book Review: Two and Twenty Dark Tales

Title: Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes

Authors:
 Nina Berry, Sarwat Chadda, Leah Cypess, Sayantani DasGupta, Shannon Delany with Max Scialdone, Leigh Fallon, Angie Frazier, Jessie Harrell, Nancy Holder, Heidi R. Kling, Suzanne Lazear, Karen Mahoney, Lisa Mantchev, Georgia McBride, Gretchen McNeil, C. Lee McKenzie, Pamela van Hylckama Vlieg, K.M. Walton, Suzanne Young, Michelle Zink

Release Date: October 16th 2012

Publisher: Month9Books

Pages: 340 (paperback)

Source: NetGalley

In this anthology, 20 authors explore the dark and hidden meanings behind some of the most beloved Mother Goose nursery rhymes through short story retellings. The dark twists on classic tales range from exploring whether Jack truly fell or if Jill pushed him instead, to why Humpty Dumpty, fragile and alone, sat atop so high of a wall.

Two and Twenty Dark Tales is probably the best title ever because it tells exactly what the book is. And although I didn't grow up to Mother Goose rhymes - except for Jack and Jill because, seriously, what kid hasn't even heard of it? - I really enjoyed this dark take on them. But before I get to specifics, let me tell you my three favorites from these twenty-two tales of awesome: 

Blue - Sayantani DasGupta

Lyrical and hauntingly beautiful but frustratingly short, this one is about a girl who inks stories into people's skin (or at least that's what I understood she was). She, and everyone else like her, aren't invisible to humans, but they are supposed to be, that's why they come to them only while they are sleeping. Most of the other reviews I've read listed this as one of their least favorites, but I really loved it.

One for Sorrow - Karen Mahoney

This one made me gasp twice or thrice. The romance may seem a little insta-love-ish but it's a short story so that was fine for me - more than fine, actually, because in just a few pages, the author already made me root for the couple. Talk about skill.

And perhaps my most favorite: The Wish - Suzanne Young

While reading, I often write down notes or phrases to include in my reviews, and here's what I wrote for this one: "Grabbed my heart and shattered it against a wall". Yep.

But as with all things, short stories could disappoint. Some of the ones in this collection dived into the action too early, ending up being confusing, which was such a shame because even those were so creative and imaginative and new. Anyway, I really savored the well-done ones; some of which - including my favorites I listed above, of course - were so good, I couldn't help but wish they'd be turned to full-length books.

Which brings me to the main downfall (not really) of this anthology: it's an anthology. I should've known I'd be left hungry for more, but I have no regrets, and if I'd read this back when I was more of a scaredy cat than I am now, I might've slept between my parents for weeks. 

Also, I added this title to my "buy and read again" shelf on Goodreads because a few stories (an extended version of C. Lee McKenzie's Sea of Dew and Nancy Holder's The Lion and The Unicorn: Part the Second, if anything else) can only be found in the finished copy.

MY FAVORITE PART was Michelle Zink's A Ribbon of Blue (not a fave of mine, yes, but still!), which was as close to a happy tale as this book would allow. 

RATING:

(photo and summary from Goodreads.com)