Life isn't a fairy tale | The Shadow Queen & The Great Hunt

The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire #1) by C.J. Redwine

Published: February 16th 2016 by Balzer + Bray

Genre: young adult, fantasy, retelling

Goodreads summary: Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

REVIEW

I was excited for this one and I was so right! It hooked me from the first page – with a prologue that led Lorelai and her brother to flee the castle – and it was a hard one to put down. I think that it was Russian-inspired, which I loved. It was set in an interesting world with dragons (so basically, yes! It’s so rare to have dragons), witches, faeries and so on. While I really liked learning about this world, I would have liked to know why there were dragons only in this kingdom or faeries only in that one. But that’s a minor issue that I had, since the rest was amazing. It was also a dark world, because Irina was sucking everything up.

I loved the characters. Lorelai wasn’t a damsel in distress, which you would expect from Snow White, she was powerful and tough. I had a hard time liking Kol in the beginning, but he went through a lot of character development and evil influence *cough*, I loved him at the end of the novel. He was the huntsman and the prince at the same time, so of course it was a nice twist. I can’t tell you if it had anything similar with the movie with Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart, because I haven’t watched it. I shipped Lorelai and Kol so much and the ending! Oh, my heart <3. They went through so much together, poor babies. I liked that C.J. Redwine gave a realistic backstory to the Evil Queen, because I could understand why she was doing this. It didn’t mean I liked her but I noticed the effort. The secondary characters were all really enjoyable; they made me laugh a lot.

The plot was captivating and action-packed; I didn’t have a page to be bored. Also, Irina had a pet snake so I was very, very scared, and the story was also brutal, with no one was safe. But well, this world is in darkness and the peasants have nothing so yeah, it made sense. It was such a gripping story that when I got into it… I couldn’t stop until I finished. It was a good retelling where everyone was so much badass than in the original tale. But what would you expect with dragons? *grins like an idiot*

Overall, this one is now a favourite and I’m really excited for the second book. But I’m crying because there is nothing on Goodreads yet and I don’t want to wait another year for that awesomeness. Also, I think it could be a companion series, so the other kingdoms? Please? I just need it.

The Great Hunt (Eurona Duology #1) by Wendy Higgins

Published: March 8th 2016 by

Genre: young adult, fantasy, retelling

Goodreads summary: “Aerity…” Her father paused as if the words he was forming pained him. “I must ask you to sacrifice the promise of love for the sake of our kingdom.”

She could only stare back, frozen.

When a strange beast terrorizes the kingdom of Lochlanach, fear stirs revolt. In an act of desperation, a proclamation is sent to all of Eurona—kill the creature and win the ultimate prize: the daughter of King Lochson’s hand in marriage.

Princess Aerity knows her duty to the kingdom but cannot bear the idea of marrying a stranger…until a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention. There’s no denying the unspoken lure between them…or his mysterious resentment.

Paxton is not the marrying type. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He’s determined to keep his focus on the task at hand—ridding the kingdom of the beast—but the princess continues to surprise him, and the perilous secrets he’s buried begin to surface.

Inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ tale “The Singing Bone,” New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins delivers a dark fantasy filled with rugged hunters, romantic tension, and a princess willing to risk all to save her kingdom.

REVIEW

I think this is another case where I didn’t like the author’s debut but enjoyed her new series: it has been the case with Melissa Landers and Rae Carson already, so that’s basically proving that second chances can be necessary. The Great Hunt isn’t the best book out there, I actually found it pretty average, but I still liked it.

My main issue with this book was that it was so slow. In the beginning, I wasn’t really into it for that reason; I liked it better after but… It was repetitive, there were only small parts about the hunt and other than that… It was really about the romance *sigh*. I’m not surprised, because Sweet Evil focused a lot on the romance, but still, I wished for something else. Moreover, I wished we knew more about the world-building: how did the world come to be? Why are some people Lashed and some others Unlashed? In the end, I would have liked to have answers to these questions, but I think we’ll learn more about the Lashed in the next book.

The plot was alright, but it wasn’t original at all. It’s also a plot you would expect from a fairy tale and the author still managed to make it unique but the fact that it dragged made me lack of interest at some point. I found the characters to be pretty average, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t relate to them. I liked the main characters though, but I just don't think the secondary characters were memorable. I found the romance to have a little instalove: basically, Aerity was drawn to Paxton because he was the only one who wouldn’t talk to her… *coughs* It was so cliché, but the author wrote the romance well, so it was quite bearable.

I didn’t know the tale, The Singing Bone, when I went into this one and I really enjoyed that, it made the book more unique because let’s face it… How many retelling of Snow White (see above) or Beauty and the Beast do we have? TONS. It was quite refreshing to discover a new tale. You can read the tale beforehand, since the story is more inspired by it. It doesn't spoil anything big in the story. I found an aspect of the ending to be unexpected, which made it worth it to endure all the slowness of the book before. Moreover, I was afraid that we wouldn’t see a lot of women in this book, because men are supposed to hunt, not women, but the more time passed, the more joined the hunt. They could have been seen as worthless in the beginning, but they proved that they could be just as good as any men. You rock, Aerity!

Overall, it was better than Sweet Evil, but it was really slow, which killed the story a little. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the writing and reading about this story. I liked the ending and I’m actually eager to read the next book in this duology, because it could be really good! It didn’t really end on a cliff-hanger, because it’s obvious where it’s going, but I’m excited for it.

Nota Bene: I love the cover! Also, the main character isn't ginger but strawberry blonde, the cover designers kinda messed it up and the author didn't have a say in it. :(

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? If not, do you plan on picking them up? Did you liked these authors' previous series?

An entertaining Snow White retelling with a Sci-Fi twist | Stitching Snow

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Published: October 14th 2014 by Disney-Hyperion

Genre: YA Sci-Fi Fairy Tale Retelling

Goodreads summary: Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane’s arrival was far from accidental, and she’s pulled into the heart of a war she’s risked everything to avoid. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

REVIEW

The question everyone is asking about this book is: Is it similar to the Lunar Chronicles? Honestly, it didn't feel like it, even though a lot of people said it. Sure, you can see little similarities here or there, because they're both Sci-Fi Fairy Tale Retelling. The story is based upon the classic trope : "missing princess comes back to reclaim her throne", but I really enjoyed the way it was done, because Essie didn't exactly come back willingly at first, she grows used to the idea of being Windsong's queen, that's all.

Essie was an amazing main character. The first scene of the book shows her fighting miners in a cage, she was pretty tough. She lives on Thanda, a cold planet where there are mostly miners. The area she lives in is only composed of men, but that doesn't stop her from refusing all of them and being an independent woman. She doesn't have a perfect life, but she manages with her seven drones - which were obviously the dwarves. Dimwit, the silly one, was my favourite, he was so funny. Back to Essie, she was an anti-trope character, from her real name (Snowflake) to the fact that she dyed her hair red (which is the typical heroine hair colour) to hide what her real hair looks like. She had a really interesting development during this book, because she started as a character who just wanted to hide, to a taken one, to a rebel, to a queen.

Essie's life starts to change when Dane crashes in a shuttle near her home. She helps him to fix it, even if I wondered why she really did, since she's the kind of character that doesn't trust a soul (and is right). From that starts a crazy spaceship's ride on three different planets. I enjoyed reading about all of them, but I could have done with a little more detailed, actually. Something I really enjoyed about this world was the Exiled arc of the story, because they more or less had the ability to go into other people's bodies. It was really interesting to read about, but I wished we had seen more of it and it would have been explained. Overall, I don't know why they were different from the others: are they aliens? Or was it just special abilities? I wish I knew.

The romance was enjoyable and wasn't instalove-y at all. Even if this book is a standalone, there really is development in the relationship between Essie and Dane. At first, she doesn't know what to do with his friendship, because she wasn't sure she could trust him. It was pretty obvious he liked her, but she wasn't used to that kind of thing, it was so adorable!

The fairy tale retelling was nicely done, with a queen who works with poisons, an unsure king who was actually the villain, a different kissing scene that what would be expected. Dane even has SEVEN freckles, I found it really funny!

The plot was simple but really enjoyable to read about, I wasn't bored a single moment. It's not perfect since I would have liked a little more motives for the "villains", I couldn't really understand them and they were one dimensional, I'm disappointed in that aspect. It was nice to have a last chapter that could be an epilogue, a "what happens next", even if it was set in the near future for the characters.

This book was an eventful and evenly paced read, I was really happy about it since it's a standalone. It was a very pleasing one and I'm looking forward to read Spinning Starlight, even though it's not set in the same universe.

Overall, this book was a quick read that definitely entertained me even if I wasn't blown away with what happened, since it was a classic plot. I really enjoyed the characters, the romance and the fairy tale retelling aspect of the story, but I could have done with a little more world building - even if I understand it was hard to do since it was only a standalone.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Have you picked up the companion, Spinning Starlight, yet?

I CRIED A THOUSAND TEARS | Winter

Title: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Published: November 10th 2015 by Feiwel and Friends

Goodreads summary: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mark her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won't approve of her feelings for her childhood friend, the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn't as weak as Levana believes her to be and she's been undermining her stepmother's wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afterss? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer's nationally bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.

REVIEW

I read Cress in March 2014 (I preordered, but sometimes Amazon sucks…..) and I have been eagerly anticipating Winter, it was like the book I waited for the most since… Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? However, I was a little nervous, because I had been eagerly anticipating Queen of Shadows, which kind of disappointed me (even if it was still great), but I was wrong, because Winter was FANTABULOUS, I devoured it in three days (homework? What are you talking about?) and it was one of my favourite books of the year. By the way, I didn’t take any notes while reading it because I was too busy loving it. If you want a review in one gif, here you have it:

This review will be spoilery for the first three books and maybe Fairest, idk, so be considered warned. 

A wicked grin pulled at Winter's lips. She stepped away from Jacin, faced the people, and raised her arms to her sides. "People of Luna," she said, echoing the broadcast and pulling the crowd's attention away from the dome, "please give your full attention now to the true heir to the Lunar throne, Princess Selene, live from your very own sector." Her eyes flashed as she swooped an arm toward Cinder. "Our revolution is about to begin."

This book was huge and it was almost intimidating, SO MUCH happened. Of course, there was preparation for Cinder's revolution and we saw the characters doing just that in the Rampion, but after that, everything happened in a few days. I can't say much about the plot obviously, it was very fast-paced and I wasn't bored a single moment. The repartition between the points of view was well handled, because characters who were less important to some parts of the plot weren't really mentionned and then we got them again, etc. 

At first, I thought we weren't getting much of Snow White's fairy tale retelling, because Meyer had a lot of characters to handle and was busy with them. We still got the "big" parts of the story, I was so scared because I didn't want anything to happen to Winter, my precious baby. This Snow White retelling was SO WELL DONE I was just so surprised!

It was so well adapted to this world and I totally respect the "glass coffin" here, it was clever. About that, I shipped Jacin and Winter so much, it was so cute when he was like "Hey, Trouble", so casual and everything.

"I'm such an idiot. You should hate me." "You may be an idiot, but I assure you, you're quite a lovable one." He shook his head. "You're the only person in the galaxy who would ever call me lovable." "I'm the only person in the galaxy crazy enough to believe it. Now tell me what you've done that is worth hating you for."

Let's continue with the romance then why am I starting with that anyway?. Kai and Cinder were as cute as always, and wait for their last scene together. I was just crying and repeating myself hysterically "The wheel has come for circle." It was so cute and every fangirl heart will be pleased with that. I was pretty indifferent to Wolf and Scarlet's romance, though, but to be honest I was pretty indifferent to them during the whole book. Cress and Thorne were really cute, because their relationship took its time, but it was everything. I'm just so happy about the ships I might cry wait I actually did.

I had forgotten how the characters were sarcastic (Iko = Queen of Sarcasm) and hilarious, but they reminded me of it real fast!

Thorne glanced back at the pantry. "Did you see any rice in there? Maybe we could fill Cinder's head with it." Everyone stared at him. "You know, to... absorb the moisture, or something. Isn't that a thing?" "We're not pouring rice in my head."

Thorne was such a quirky and funny character, he was definitely one of my favourite! I grew so fond of Winter in this book, because she was so much more than "the crazy princess", she was clever and really helpful, even if the other characters couldn't see it at first. We saw a lot of developpment in Cinder's character, because she realized that she would really become Queen Selene and that Lunars would consider it this way, it was really interesting. 

I was eagerly anticipating seeing Luna in all its glory or not and I wasn't disappointed. Meyer depicted a bipolar world where the courtesans live more than wealthy, whereas regular Lunars are forced to work and live in sectors. It really felt like totalitarism, each sector was named because of what the people were doing in it, for example the L standed for Lumber, and then there was the numbers. Lunars only had artifical days and weather which is horrifying, I'm proud to be an Earthen guys!

The ending was so fast paced and I'm really happy that we got several chapters which were kind of an epilogue. Even if it brought me a lot of tears, we saw where each character is headed for the future, and I'm really pleased about that. It also made me hungry because LEMON CAKE. 

Final Thoughts:

This book was a more than satisfying conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles. I'm sad to let this series go and it will remain one of my favourite, it introduced me to sci-fi and made me learn that I loved spaceships. Meyer knows how to play with our little fangirls hearts with swoony-worthy romances, hilarious characters, fast-paced action and dramatic moments. I'm eagerly anticipating her next book, Heartless, because I REALLY REALLY want to know what she can do now she has finished the Lunar Chronicles.

And one last quote before I'm letting Winter go or at least try to:

"When she catches you," the guard snarled, "my queen will eat your heart with salt and pepper." "Well," said Cinder, unconcerned, "my heart is half synthetic, so it'll probably give her indigestion."

What do you think about this series? Are you a fan of sci-fi? Can you recommend me other books in this genre?