Antigoddess | Book review

Title: Antigoddess (Goddess War #1)

Author: Kendare Blake

Published: September 10th 2013 by Tor Teen

Goodreads summary: The Goddess War begins in Antigoddess, the first installment of the new series by acclaimed author of Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake.

Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god. 

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning. 

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out. 

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

REVIEW

I had really enjoyed Anna dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares by the same author, I was curious about this one but didn’t know what to expect. The main problem when you talk about Greek mythology in your books is that you have to deal with the comparison with the Percy Jackson series. This book was really different from that and I really enjoyed it. Just like in Anna, I really enjoyed Blake’s writing style, her descriptions are always very vivid, though creepy, but that’s why I loved her in Anna anyway.

I felt the plot was a little bit too slow in the beginning, mainly because we had two points of view: Cassandra and Aidan’s, Hermes and Athena’s. Because we had the gods’ point of view, we knew what was going on when Cassandra didn’t, I just waited for her to understand and it seemed so long, when I had figured everything out. I was also tired of waiting for the two points of view to meet, it happened like 55% into this book. However, reading both these points of view made sense. There was a lot more happening for the gods than for the humans.

Athena was probably my favourite character. She looks like a punk, which made me smile a lot, because it’s not how you would picture her. The fact that the gods’ deaths were based on their attributes, like the owl feathers for Athena, was really interesting. During the novel we saw her being more and more human, even questioning her actions in the past. Relationship between the gods was something I really enjoyed reading about, especially that after all these millenniums, they’re now apart.

I’m really interested to see where this story is going, even though I hope the team won’t take down an important god in each book, because it would be repetitive. About that, I liked that everyone is important in this team, secondary characters were added, but they all have their backstories. The ending left me in awe, because I didn’t expect that. AT ALL. I’m excited to learn what will happen in the next book because of that.

Have you read this book? Are you interested in it? Do you have other recommendations for me, books dealing with ancien mythology (exception Riordan's books, because I read them all^^)?

Ice Like Fire | Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine in which we discuss our most anticipated upcoming releases. 

Title: Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2)

Author: Sara Raasch

Published: October 13th 2015  by Balzer + Bray

Goodreads summary: It’s been three months since the Winterians were freed and Spring’s king, Angra, disappeared—thanks largely to the help of Cordell.

Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth something powerful and possibly dangerous: Primoria’s lost chasm of magic. Theron sees this find as an opportunity—with this much magic, the world can finally stand against threats like Angra. But Meira fears the danger the chasm poses—the last time the world had access to so much magic, it spawned the Decay. So when the king of Cordell orders the two on a mission across the kingdoms of Primoria to discover the chasm’s secrets, Meira plans to use the trip to garner support to keep the chasm shut and Winter safe—even if it means clashing with Theron. But can she do so without endangering the people she loves?

Mather just wants to be free. The horrors inflicted on the Winterians hang fresh and raw in Januari—leaving Winter vulnerable to Cordell’s growing oppression. When Meira leaves to search for allies, he decides to take Winter’s security into his own hands. Can he rebuild his broken kingdom and protect them from new threats?

As the web of power and deception weaves tighter, Theron fights for magic, Mather fights for freedom—and Meira starts to wonder if she should be fighting not just for Winter, but for the world.

MY THOUGHTS

I hadn't heard a lot about Snow like Ashes, I was pleasently surprised when I loved it so much! I like how the author based the kingdoms upon seasons, I find it quite interesting. Even if there is a love triangle, I'm not too bothered about it yet, it actually made sense, even if I'm team Theron! Meira is such a strong character, all she ever wanted to do was for her kingdom. I'm really looking forward to see where this series is going, I'm sure it will be epic and I'll have a book hangover after this one!

Did you read the amazing book that is Snow like Ashes? What did you think of it? Are you excited for Ice like Fire? Which book(s) are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Ten Books I didn't finish | Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic allowed us to be a little creative because we had the choice of our topic, among Ten Bookish Things I Want to Quit Or Have Quit (aka ten book series I think I'm going to abandon, ten bookish habits I want to quit, ten authors I quit reading, ten types of books I'm quitting, ten tropes I want to stop reading about, ten books I marked as DNF (did not finish) recently, etc. Get as creative as you want). I choose to present you some of the books I haven't finished. Among them you'll find books by popular authors, but I don't have any regrets. ;) So let's jump into this list!

1. STONE COLD TOUCH (THE DARK ELEMENTS #2) BY JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT (When the love triangle and the plot are the same thing... Well, I quit.)

2. SAINT ANYTHING BY SARAH DESSEN (I don't think I should have started by this book by Sarah Dessen but I did... And really didn't like it...)

3. ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES BY JENNIFER NIVEN (The characters were irritating)

4. THE SIN EATER'S DAUGHTER BY MELINDA SALISBURY (Annoying main character who likes to complain)

5. THE FALCONER BY ELIZABETH MAY (tropes after tropes so no thank you!)

6. THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS BY RAE CARSON (annoying main character)

7. THE CLOCKWORK SCARAB BY COLLEEN GLEASON (I wasn't interested I think, but I can't remember clearly)

8. PERCY JACKSON AND THE GREEK GODS BY RICK RIORDAN (I don't like how it was done)

9. ROSE UNDER FIRE BY ELIZABETH WEIN (I'm not really into WWII fiction, even if I loved Code Name Verity)

10. THE SCORPIO RACES BY MAGGIE STIEFVATER (I tried to read this twice but failed...)

Do you think I'm making a mistake by not finishing these books? Which books did you not finished?

Six of Crows | Book review

Title: Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1)

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Published: September 29th by Henry Holt and Company

Goodreads summary: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. 

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. 

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.

REVIEW

I expected to love it, I wasn’t disappointed. In the acknowledgments, Bardugo said she read a book about Amsterdam to write Ketterdam, it’s exactly what I felt, without knowing she meant to do it that way. Being back into the Grisha world was amazing, I really had missed it, I’m thinking to give the previous trilogy a reread to be honest. I really enjoyed the parts of the world we got to discover, like Ketterdam or the Ice Court in Fjerdan territory.

Each character was unique in its way, I enjoyed reading about every one of them. Truly, changing points of view all the time wasn’t an issue in this book. However, I’m warning you: you might be a little confused in the beginning, because Bardugo talks about everyone as if we already knew them, there are SO MANY NAMES, even of secondary characters. Nevertheless, I liked she did it from the beginning, because I had to be really careful, it gripped my attention this way. I think if I had to pick a favourite, it would be Nina, she’s a Grisha who loves cake, so well.

There is room for so much romance in the second book, but it’s not really the priority for the characters right away in the next book, because some of them will be in big trouble. I ship all the ships and I’m glad there will be an homosexual relationship, because it doesn’t happen that often in high fantasy.

The plot was much about… Plotting. The first chapter was everything. It was from a different character’s perspective, I was disconcerted but it was really necessary, because you see something really important happening, I wanted to read the rest of the book straight away after that, haha. I liked to see how many backup plans the characters had, the main ones like the villains. The heist was truly amazing, it took a big part of the story because every character had a part in it (in the last part, the time was written below each chapter headers, so much things happened, really).

The ending was full of twists and reveals, something went bad because of a second of inattention, that’s crazy. Seriously, I want the next one in my hands right now. I only have a suggestion for Leigh Bardugo: can we have Wylan’s chapters in the next book please?

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween | October TBR

♫ For the first time in forever, Lucie will do a TBR

For the first time in forever, she might even stick to it! ♪

Well, it's not really winter time, so I should avoid to start talking about Frozen already (well, I'm ahead again, brilliant!). I wanted to do a TBR for this month, because my favourite French booktuber, FairyNeverland (a little patriotism here, it doesn't hurt), organizes for the third time a read-a-thon for October:

#HALLOWCTOBER 

You can find her video (I'm sorry, it's in Freeeench). The point is to read Halloween-like books during the month, anything with vampires, witches, Frankenstein, or whatever you want. Personally, I hope I'll get to:

1. A Curious Tale of the in-between by Lauren DeStefano

2. This Monstruous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

3. Slasher Girls and Monster boys by April Genevieve Tucholke

4. Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

5. Beastly Bones by William Ritter

6. Firewalker by Josephine Angelini

(Creepy covers for creepy reads)

I would also like to read some new releases I'm dying to get my hands on The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan (out on the 6th) and Ice like Fire by Sara Raasch (out on the 13th).

The Goodreads Group #ReadwithRebels will read The Accident Season this month, I will join because it's about a family who is apparently cursed to have accident during October, so yeah, it's the perfect month for that and it might be okay for #Hallowctober? We'll see. 

What are you hoping to read this month?

Leave your list in the comments ;)

The Enchantress Returns | Book review

Title: The Enchantress Returns (The Land of Stories #2)

Author: Chris Colfer

Published: August 6th 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Goodreads summary: After decades of hiding, the evil Enchantress who cursed Sleeping Beauty is back with a vengeance.

Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn the famed Enchantress has kidnapped their mother! Against the will of their grandmother, the twins must find their own way into the Land of Stories to rescue their mother and save the fairy tale world from the greatest threat it's ever faced.

REVIEW

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, The Wishing Spell, when I read it last year, but unfortunately, this book wasn't as good as the first one. I had issue with the pacing and there was too many characters at some point.

We go back into the Bailey twins life a year after the Wishing Spell. They're now thirteen, obsessed with the fact they're young adults (teenagers, yes, young adults NO), they haven't been able to go back to the Land of Stories and haven't heard of their grandmother. They have to live the drama of every teenager, like their mom having a boyfriend who wants to marry her. But everything changes when their mom is taken and that their grandmother is back, afraid for their sakes because the Enchantress has returns (dum dum dum). 

I really liked that the prologue was set in the Eastern kingdom (aka Sleeping kingdom) and that Sleeping Beauty was on the run, it put me right back into the story, it was fast-paced and everything. Alas, it wasn't like that for the rest of the novel. For the first third of the novel, the children are confined in their home and then tries to go back to the Land of Stories. Excuse me, but it was too long. Chris Colfer wrote a 517 pages book and it took a third of the story for the characters to go back into the world we're interested in. Did I mention it's supposed to be middle-grade? If I was one, I would have dnfed. 

I really enjoyed to be in this world again, because of course, fairy tales! But there were so many characters. I couldn't even remember who Froggy was and he's really important! I understand that secondary characters are needed and I loved some like Goldilocks, but when there are too many... You get lost! Some of them weren't all that necessary, like Mother Goose, who appeared at the beginning of the novel and then in the last chapters. I really enjoyed her characters, but I'm questionning her usefulness here.

It was a big book but there wasn't that much content, I feel like most of the time, it was just traveling. At some point in the story, the characters have a quest, but sadly, it was one item per chapter, so it was done really fast. Moreover, defeating the Enchantress was a little bit easy, because it's one of those cases where the character had it in him since the beginning. Nevertheless, the ending left me teary-eyed, but I'm not really sure I'm motivated to keep with this series. It doesn't really end on a cliff-hanger, I don't think I'm missing to much by passing this one out.

Have you read this series? Do you think I should keep up with it?

And school is here again... | September 2015 Wrap-Up

Hi guys! My month was so crazy, I was still on holidays the first two weeks of September but uni started on the 14th and since then, I have a hard studying *sighs*. The worst part is that I can't blog much, all the posts you saw were scheduled but I'll have a hard time in October and I barely have time to read.

I now have homework, which I didn't have my first two years of graduation... because personal studying was everything and so took all my time. Still, I'm not really motivated to do homework these days. My boyfriend left for a semester in Germany, which doesn't help because I'm sad... But I'll have better days soon! 

WHAT I READ

I managed to read thirteen novels, three graphic novels and two e-novellas, which isn't bad really, but not as much as I used to read during the summer. I'm not including books I read for history class or the ones I read with my little brothers in French (even if it was so much fun!)

Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by Sarah J. Maas 4 stars

Stolen Songbird (The Malediction Trilogy #1) by Danielle L. Jensen 4.5 stars

The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium #2) by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare 3.5 stars

Saga #2 by Brian K. Vaughan graphic novel 4 stars 

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli 4 stars

The Book of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #1) 4 stars

Saga #3 by Brian K. Vaughan graphic novel 4 stars

Saga #4 by Brian K. Vaughan graphic novel 4 stars

The Girl at Midnight (the Girl at Midnight #1) by Melissa Grey 4 stars

The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa 3.5 stars

The Iron Daughter (The Iron Fey #2) by Julie Kagawa 2.5 stars

Jackaby (Jackaby #1) by William Ritter 4 stars

Queen Song (Red Queen #0.1) by Victoria Aveyard e-novella 4 stars

The Enchantress Returns (The Land of Stories #2) by Chris Colfer 3 stars

Antigoddess (Goddess War #1) by Kendare Blake 4 stars

The Rose Society (The Young Elites #2) 5 stars

The Fiery Trial (Tales of Shadowhunter Academy #8) 4 stars

Six of Crows (The Dregs #1) all the 5 stars

Currently reading: Never, Never by Brianna Shrum, about Captain Hook! We'll see but yay! BTW Regina called Hook 'Guyliner' in OUAT premiere, it made me laugh so much!

I was disappointed in Queen of Shadows to be honest, it was one of my most anticipated releases of this year but SO MUCH HYPE guys. I felt like some characters didn't act the way they usually do and I don't like Rowan so... I think it will be painful to read the rest of the books, unfortunately for me. Stolen Songbird came as a huge surprise, I can't wait to continue on Hidden Huntress when I have time. The Rose Society and Six of Crows were my favourite books of the month, I got copies early and I'm so happy I did! :D

WHAT I WATCHED

Teen Wolf (season 4): I really enjoyed this, but sometimes... I wonder where the series is going... 3.5 stars

Poldark (season 1): I had heard that show was good, but honestly, it was everything. Aidan Turner is bae (awww remember when he was Luke Garroway? and played in the Hobbit?). Plus, a girl with unruly curly hair who is not me ? Yessss. 5 stars and more.

How was your month?