When you read the work of a new author, you're about to step into a new and different world.  You have no idea what you're in store for, not matter how interesting the synopsis of the story may seem.  I find myself feeling both excited and wary, but with as open a mind as I can keep in all situations (which is rather open, I'm always pleasantly surprised to realize).

Before I read Or What You Will, I did not know what metafiction was.  It could be that throughout my years as a reader I came across a story that had meta components, but I wasn't aware of it, or didn't look into it further enough to find out.  I've always loved that about books, however: you're going to learn something new in each one, about the book or about yourself, even if it's the fact that you've discovered an author whose imagination you now enjoy.  And regardless of any other factors, you're going to appreciate the book for that alone.

I certainly do.

I now know that I'm not a fan of metafiction.  It's not my cup of tea and I accept that.  Despite this, this book is worth the read.  Not only is the writing itself fantastic, but the way that you are drawn into the story happens seamlessly.  Yes, you're given a lot of information that is mingled in with the narrative—most of it historical details of Florence, which tie in with the rest of the book—and it can be quite a lot to take in.  But as history stands, they're fascinating facts that will just make your life richer for knowing, especially if you're a fan of art and European culture; it's intriguing, and it does help in becoming further immersed.

It took me some time to go deep into the novel, but once I did, I did not want to come back up until I'd finished it.

Or What You Will won't be for everyone, but there's a special kind of magic that makes it irresistible to read.  After all, as a reader, who doesn't want to explore a story about a fictional character coming to life?

Anne Bonny is considered “one of the most famous female pirates of all time”, which in and of itself, would have been scandalous even in that group.  While I've heard her name mentioned a couple of times, and seen her featured in TV shows like Black Sails, I didn't know a lot about her life.  Readers may take historical fiction in different ways, but for me it opens a door through which I want to learn more about a time, place, or people once I've finished the novel.

Though taken with a grain of salt—because as Meg Caddy states in the Author's Note at the end of the book, “when it comes to Anne Bonny and her lads there is some difficulty sorting the historical from the fiction.”--Devil's Ballast was a pleasure to read.  Not only is it an adventure ride from the moment that you start to read with Bonny on the deck of her Calico Jack's the Ranger about to take over the Kingston, but you can't help yourself from liking Bonny.  She's sassy, she's whip-smart, she's got a mouth that won't shut up and gets her into more trouble than she knows what to do with sometimes.  But she's also a woman who has suffered a lot of physical and mental affront in her past and is trying to build a new life for herself.  

She's impossible to root against; the woman had tenacious strength, and I doubt that she would've been much different in reality considering that she managed to survive eighty-five years on this Earth.  I imagine that that wasn't an easy feat for a person who partook in the lifestyle of a pirate.

Is the story of Devil's Ballast a romanticized version of piracy?  I would say so.  You're on the side of these hooligans from start to finish.  At least I now I was!  I'm well aware that they committed terrible acts of violence in their time, and there was a valid reason why those against them worked so hard to get rid of their kind.  But as this novel stands, the characters are a delight.  Bonny aside, I was so glad to see “Martin” Read featured and play such a strong—and crucial—role in the plot.  His scene with Bonny below-decks on the schooner en route to Nassau, letting the vulnerability slip free on himself, was one of the best.  In the midst of all the fast-paced action, the moments of strong emotion were all the more appreciated.

Despite knowing a thing or two on how history truly wrote itself, the ending to the novel was incredibly satisfying.  I've never been one to root for the “good guys” all the time.  It depends on the story, and it depends on the roles being played out.  And in times like these, with a story such as the one written on these pages, that pays off.  If there's one complaint that I have is that the book ended too quickly.  For all the struggle that Bonny went through, for all the times that she had to fight tooth and nail through sweat and blood and tears, she made it worth the read.  This woman was a badass in her time, and this here novel is a little treasure for fans of one such as her.

I liked Mageborn, it was a good story.  But my attention and enjoyment of it wavered throughout the novel.  With Nightborn, however, I was gripped from start to finish.  I was thriving along that high tension.

In Nightborn, we pick up months after the end of Mageborn alongside Bastien, Grace, and the gang as they move into the Valenti Islands in hopes of an alliance against Rathlynn.  One of the things that made me anxious about the synopsis of Nightborn was the premise that a love triangle might be found in the midst of this second installment.  As a personal preference, I am not a fan of love triangles.  They are cliché, they've been done a million times, and if I do read one, I hope and pray that it will be done in a way that will allow me to still enjoy the story while I attempt to manage my anxiety levels.  I commend Jessica Thorne.  Not only did she deliver on this fervent hope of mine, but she didn't give us the typical love triangle that I would expect in this scenario.  The fact that she still gave the allusion of it, and then threw in a twist, made me like this book even more because I admire and appreciate an author who thinks outside the box.  With just a little tweak of the characters and their personalities, the cliché was averted.

The plot of Nightborn was fascinating.  We are given a hint as to what a nightborn is from the first novel—they are the reason that mageborn paid homage to Bastien.  But without Bastien around, and with the Deep Dark disturbed after Grace's death and return in Mageborn, the nightborn now run rampant.  Their magic is twisted, broken, and they are out to maim and kill and destroy.  In mind of this, if you expect chaos, death, bloodshed and fear, you are not going to be disappointed.  Nightborn more than delivers on this while the main cast of the novel runs for their lives in an attempt to not just solve this problem, but to find a solution for the way that the Deep Dark is affecting Grace.

If she played a strong role before, Grace steals the show in this book, and I am delighted by that.  This is a case of me liking a character at first, but then really appreciating them the more that I get to know them.  Grace is headstrong without being overconfident, and she is not immune from feeling the obvious fear that someone might feel when there is an ancient and powerfully magical force taking over you.  She's more than willing to sacrifice herself for those she loves, but it's not a blind sacrifice.  She wants to find a way to end what is potentially going to ruin an entire group of people, rather than blindly throw herself to the mercy of whatever god might make this happen and hope for the best.  She was very human in her weaknesses and strengths, and her love for Bastien—and their relationship, in general—is not just stronger, but more deeply felt, and I couldn't help but connect with it.

There are going to be some surprises, many coming from the antagonists of this cast.  Asher Kane is a delight to hate, and he almost overwhelms Aurelie in “bad guy” persona.  Where Aurelie is hatred borne of pride and an ego the size of the entire kingdom of Rathlynn, Asher is smart.  He uses that intelligence to his advantage.  He certainly uses it a time or two here.  

If there was anything that made me draw back in doubt about Nightborn, it was likely Kane and company's easy capture of Bastien and coercion into him going along with their plans near the novel's start.  On one hand, I am not surprised.  Bastien has been used before.  But the ease with which it was done, while he still retained his powers at full strength and could defend himself, was unbelievable to me, rubbed me the wrong way, and left me dissatisfied.  I'm still not wholly convinced, and in part feel that it was done so that the marriage with Rynn could happen.  Besides, you would think that Bastien, who has lived in a nest of vipers for years, would know better than to go into another one, on his own, to reason with them.  

You're lovely, Bastien, and I adore you, but that was never going to work out and you must have known it.

Book three must be coming next if the second's end is anything to judge by, and I want my hands all over it already.  The ending to Nightborn was slightly weakened for me by Grace's neat salvation—again.  It happened far too easily, although I'm sure that the Hollow King had/has a plan, and that we may (I hope) later find out about it.  But I am eager, now that I find myself well and truly hooked into this story, to continue following its path.

A popular book or series that you did not like.  I have two answers for this question, actually.  Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey.  Many readers claim that one is the fan-fic version of the other.  I've never cared to look into it, but so I've heard.  Regardless, I gave these books a chance, and sadly they did not do it for me.  I love paranormal romance—I love romance, period—but I wasn't able to connect with these characters or stories.  I'm not a fan of the controlling romantic “ideal” in Twilight, and the same goes for Fifty Shades..., plus, I don't like how the world of BDSM is portrayed in the latter.  But the films' Christian Grey is yummy, so I thank you, Jamie Dornan.

A book/series that everyone seems to hate but that you love.  ACOTAR by Sarah J. Maas.  Anything by Sarah J. Maas, really.  I know that no author's work is perfect—because they're human—and I've had issues with Maas' writing in the past (I'm looking at Hunt, madam), but I have noticed that there are some readers who seem to enjoy hating everything she writes.  I personally love her work, it's a huge guilty pleasure of mine and she's an instant-read author for me.  She just generally seems to attract as much negative attention as she does positive.  The reading community is apparently divided on her.

Pick a love triangle in which you did not ship the OTP.  [POSSIBLE SPOILER ANSWER]  Mal and Alina from The Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo.  It's a sweet couple, I guess.  And it wasn't as if I was horribly disappointed in the outcome of them ending up together.  But one of my favorite things about this trilogy is the Darkling, and the few moments that he and Alina shared that came even close to being considered intimate were full of ten times more chemistry than I felt between Alina and Mal.  The Darkling was complex, had a rich history, and a delightful possibility for a future.  I rooted hard for him.

A popular book genre that you usually do not reach for.  Lately, romance.  I'll still read it, I still greatly enjoy it, but I don't reach out for books in this genre as much as I did in the past.  More than anything, I'm delightfully surprised if a book happens to have a romance, rather than be driven to read it because of that story-line unless the synopsis is radically intriguing. 

A (popular) book character that you do not like.  Audrey Rose Wadsworth, from Kerri Maniscalco's Stalking Jack the Ripper series.  This young lady doesn't cut it.  She was tolerable (and know-it-all) in the first novel, then began to grow on me in Hunting Prince Dracula, but dropped back down again at break-neck speed after I read Escaping from Houdini. She became insufferable, thoughtless, and she's the main reason I keep putting off finishing the last book in the series.

A popular author you can't get into.  James Patterson.  I've read a few books by Mr. Patterson, and it's not that they were bad (although I really did not enjoy Witch & Wizard), so much as the fact that I never want to go back for more.  I've never understood his popularity (probably the same way that many don't understand Maas', now that I think about it).

A popular book trope that you're tired of seeing.  The love triangle.  I see it coming from a mile away, and it is exhausting to get through most of the time.  It's rare that an author writes a love triangle in a way that I will tolerate, let alone enjoy.  Because tied to that love triangle is usually the other trope that I dislike: the girl who thinks of herself as plain and unattractive/uninteresting, but more than one boy always falls for.  Shocking! 

A popular book/series that you have no interest in reading.  The Selection series by Kiera Cass.  There's something almost intriguing to me about these books.  Almost.  The synopsis is nearly interesting enough that I want to pick up the first novel.  Nearly so.  But if I ever come even close to doing so, I quickly dismiss the idea and decide on another story.  It could be a series that I end up falling in love with, but there's just not enough pull in that premise to make me take the plunge.

An adaptation that you preferred to the book.  The Great Gatsby, 2013.  Now that I am a “grown up,” I should give this book a second chance.  When I first read it in high school, it became one of the most boring novels that I'd ever had the misfortune of being forced to read by a teacher, so I got as far away from it as possible and never looked back.  The 2013 film adaptation was gorgeous, wild, exciting, colorful.  Everything one expects when Baz Luhrmann directs.  It made me consider picking up the book again to find out if my opinion of it has changed some seventeen+ years later.  Here's hoping.

The synopsis for this novel is fantastic.  As soon as I read it, I wanted to read the whole book.  Here I thought I was going to read a dark and gritty story, perhaps sometimes uncomfortable and difficult to get through due to its content warning, but full of depth and deeply imaginative.  

I know that pushing boundaries can be risky, especially in art forms.  And writing certainly falls into that category.  Backlash can happen, but sometimes risks are worth taking.  A few quick glimpses of the lead in captivity before she is sold into slavery does not sell the premise of this story.  I don't see how she gets there, I don't see her journey, and therefore I can't connect.  If she is to struggle—as one would, in these circumstances—then I want to see that so that my emotions can be engaged.  The most violent instance that I read in this book, human to human, was a whipping scene.  Past that, things are lightly touched upon to give the idea of the risk and danger of this world into which the lead Sasha has been thrown into, but the reader never really delves into things.  

Sasha is not a likable character.  Considering the fact that she is the protagonist, and the one through whose eyes we view this story, that's a hard pill to swallow.  If she's not throwing a tantrum, she's running away from a situation because she doesn't like what's happening or what she's told.  I get it, this is a young woman who thinks she's suffering from a mental illness, she's scared, her life is in danger, she's confused.  But she has these abrupt and rash reactions to moments that she's in, that she comes across as annoying and childish.  Ironically, she acknowledges this in-story more than once.  And then something else happens that she doesn't agree with, and she behaves the same way.

Abrupt.  That's a great adjective to describe a lot of things in this novel.  I see it too often, where two or more characters come together to have a discussion, they sit down, things seem about to expand...  And then the “conversation” ends in less than ten lines.  Everyone gets up, walks away, and it's over.   This happens not only in times of dialogue, but in scene changes, in information familiarly mentioned in-story as if the reader is already supposed to know about it.  Take your time, expand, give me something to hang onto so that I remember some of these moments, many meant to be full of emotion.

That emotion is missing from so much.  The characters are, for the most part and with the exception of Sasha, one-dimensional.  A lot of them are props to help the story move along, to make certain points happen, but they don't really contribute much else.  They are easily forgettable.  The bonds between them felt weak.  Save for her friendship with Sadra, Sasha doesn't really connect, and a big part of that is the fact that the scenes between characters are hurried along.  After a blatantly obvious moment of instant attraction towards Luca (main romantic interest), we don't so much see their growing romance as much as we are told that it's going to happen.  She keeps insisting in her head that it can't for several chapters, meanwhile he makes moony eyes at her for just as long—which involves a lot of smirking and some blushing—and then we get smacked in the face with the hard fact that they slept together at the beginning of a new chapter.  Well, that was an abrupt surprise.

The writing is very easy to follow, I gladly give it that.  With every sit-down moment that I had to read, I raced through it.  If nothing else, this is one of those books that you might not really enjoy in composition, but you still want to find out how it comes to a close.  The very last scene in the book was sweet, and it was, at the very least, rewarding to see this novel end on a good note.  But there were a lot of setbacks; I wasn't fully sold on the magic system—which was not expansive—overall the book was very weakly executed for me; and the two instances of animal abuse/cruelty that appear (though minor in comparison to the rest of what happens) were poorly forewarned, ultimately unnecessary to the story, and soured some of the experience.  

The Chalice and the Crown has a great concept, gave me a lot of Alice in Wonderland and Swan Lake vibes, but it left me wanting a lot more than what it delivered.

Before I became addicted to NetGalley, I didn't read a book unless I was in the frame of mind for its genre.  I used to be a die-hard mood reader, and straying from that path had catastrophic results.  If I was in the mood to read fantasy, and I picked up a mystery book, the odds were stacked fairly high on me disliking the book or DNF'ing it.  If I wanted to read romance and I pushed myself to read a horror novel, I would have the same results.  This would all lead to unfinished and lowly rated books that I knew I would enjoy under my “usual” reading circumstances, until I would fall into an eventual reading slump that would last weeks, if not months.

I had been a member of NetGalley years back, but I'd never really given it the attention that it deserved.  But once I started my reading blog, I picked up speed on my use of the site. 

I've also dabbled in similar sites like Edelweiss+ and BookSirens, but NetGalley is home.

While the genres available in NetGalley are plentiful, I stick to my favorites of fantasy, mystery, romance, sci-fi, thriller, historical fiction and horror.  The age group that a story is geared towards doesn't matter to me, but I poke along those seven groups as a rule.  

Here's the thing, though: once you request a handful of books that you want, and they're different genres, and they're granted to you—which means that the publishing house is now counting on you to read that book, rate it, review it, and tells others about it—you no longer have the luxury of being a mood reader if you want to take this seriously and be trusted on future requests.

I keep a spreadsheet of all the books that I request and their release dates, so that if they are ARCs, I can try to read them then post a review on Goodreads and here on my blog.  Since this means that I read them in chronological order, I might read a horror book today, and in two or three days when I'm finished, my next book to read might be a romance.  Or a sci-fi story for middle graders.  Or a historical fiction novel about WWII.  If I want to get through that list of books to be read, I have to shove aside my propensity for being a mood reader and get out of my comfort zone a little bit.

My instant fear was that I wouldn't be able to do it.  I figured—prematurely disappointed in myself—that this wouldn't work, that eventually I would have to get over the ARC requests, and that I would go back to living my common reader's life (it's a thrill to read a book before its release, I won't lie!).  But, I challenged myself, and it worked.

Regardless of how much fun I have browsing through those newly listed books in NetGalley on a daily basis, keeping track of my future reads, internally freaking out about being rejected for a novel, writing reviews and being as organized as possible with it all...ARCs changed my reading habits.  I don't know when it was that I picked up the pattern of reading a book only if I was in the mood for that genre—which lasted months sometimes—but I stuck with it for years.  Often, this habit would keep me from reading books that I'd been wildly interested in when they released, because by the time that I was ready to read it, I no longer wanted to do so until I was “in the mood” for it again.

Now, I tackle my next read with the same enthusiasm that I did before, but without worrying about the category that it falls into.  All that I care about is enjoying the book, finding its little special nugget of goodness that makes a story special, and letting others know about it so that they can hopefully appreciate it as much as I have. 

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Synopsis: Best friends have become enemies. Lovers have become strangers. And deciding whose side you're on could be the difference between life and death. For Eve and Lemon, discovering the truth about themselves--and each other--was too much for their friendship to take. But with the country on the brink of a new world war--this time between the BioMaas swarm at CityHive and Daedalus's army at Megopolis, loyalties will be pushed to the brink, unlikely alliances will form and with them, betrayals.

But the threat doesn't stop there, because the lifelikes are determined to access the program that will set every robot free, a task requiring both Eve and Ana, the girl she was created to replace. In the end, violent clashes and heartbreaking choices reveal the true heroes . . . and they may not be who you think they are. (Amazon)

TRUEL1F3 takes the reader on a roller coaster and brings the Lifelike trilogy to a bittersweet ending.  

The dread that I feel at the end of a series is too real.  I dread that a favorite character is going to die, I dread that the bad guy is going to win (although, my love of complex stories also believes this to be a great twist), I dread that a million and one things are going to go wrong.  But, I push through it, read faster than I ever have towards the end of the novel so that I can just rip the band aid off, and come out at the end usually feeling a little worse for wear, but mostly intact.

Save for my emotions.  My emotions always take a hit or two if I'm this invested.

All and any reservations that I felt about Eve's dark twist into hatred and vengeance in DEV1AT3 and the end of LIFEL1K3 were erased in TRUEL1F3.  Thank you, Mister Kristoff, from the bottom of my bruised heart for giving Eve such a big part in this installment.  I'm not going to say that I forgive her for everything she's done, or that I “like” her.  I was rather fond of Eve when all of this started, but along the way she lost her charm and I still can't quite forgive or trust her.  But given what she is put through, given how torturous she's treated and how justified her negative belief in humans has turned, and given the fact that you can see that she wants to change--  Yeah, I give her a break.  She did good here, she has a chance, and the pull that I'd hoped Lemon would have on her came to pass.  That bestest that let her down in LIFEL1K3 brought her back to herself, and it was a lovely moment to see.

I always like to touch on my favorite characters, those that stand out the most, because they make the story for me.  Lemon Fresh, from the start, has been a star.  This young girl shone in this third book, and she brought me most of the feels that I had along the way.  I lost count of the times that she was struck down, either literally or metaphorically, but she got back up every single time.  She kept fighting for what she believed in, for her friends, she never gave up.  Lemon is the little spark of hope that can barely be seen waiting at the end, and she dragged herself to it by tooth and nail.  Her spark, alongside Cricket's amazing little logika affection (I know, I know, “Don't call me little”) made me sit on the edge of my seat and hold on for dear life every time that they dove into danger.

And the danger strikes at these characters from all angles.  It's something that one would think might make a novel drive forward at the speed of light from start to finish.  But I found myself feeling the same thing that I felt in LIFEL1K3, where the beginning of the novel lacked something for me.  There's a certain special touch of snowflake (you get that reference if you've read these books) that's missing almost until half of the book, and then it picks up fast and doesn't let you go 'til its fin.  Just like in book one, this doesn't take much from the story's enjoyment, but it's enough to be noticeable.  It's still merely a small point in the overall good of the plot, however.

There's plenty to make TRUEL1F3 worth the read, especially if you've already enjoyed the first two books: great friendships, beautiful romances, badass fights, more than a few good punchlines.  And at the center of it all is a hell of a showdown during the last few chapters between humanity and those not quite.  A battle that brings enemies close, fighting against a common foe—it's a rush to see that moment pull up in the pages.  

The antagonists Gabriel and Faith...  Eve joined their ranks, but these two have been the constants since the opening chapters, and the wrath that has driven them has been almost frightening.  It's so easy to dislike them, but there's something about these lifelikes, just like there is with Ezekiel, that made me feel sorry for them.  All they wanted was to be their own person, something that we all want.  Something that we all get to have, elementally, as human beings.  Their wants, and what drives them, never wavered until the very end at Faith's hand.  They are horrible, they're wonderfully created in their perfect hostility, and I enjoyed them as much as I do every well-crafted adversary in a fictional tale.

There are times when you really do almost hope that the bad ones win something out of it.

And if you wonder “Did the good guys win?  Did a favorite character die after all?”  Well, let's just say that good and bad things happened, and this reader is still recovering from some of those moments.

This was a great ride.

Synopsis: On an island junkyard beneath a sky that glows with radiation, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap. Seventeen-year-old Eve isn't looking for trouble--she's too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she spent months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, she's on the local gangster's wanted list, and the only thing keeping her grandpa alive is the money she just lost to the bookies. Worst of all, she's discovered she can somehow destroy machines with the power of her mind, and a bunch of puritanical fanatics are building a coffin her size because of it. If she's ever had a worse day, Eve can't remember it.

The problem is, Eve has had a worse day--one that lingers in her nightmares and the cybernetic implant where her memories used to be. Her discovery of a handsome android named Ezekiel--called a "Lifelike" because they resemble humans--will bring her world crashing down and make her question whether her entire life is a lie.

With her best friend Lemon Fresh and her robotic sidekick Cricket in tow, Eve will trek across deserts of glass, battle unkillable bots, and infiltrate towering megacities to save the ones she loves...and learn the truth about the bloody secrets of her past. (Amazon)

Jay Kristoff wastes no time in DEV1AT3: the reader hits the ground running and there's barely a break until the end of this trilogy's second installment.

Picking up right where we left off in LIFEL1K3, the band of friends has split up and they all find themselves along different parts of the Yusay.  Some are stranded on their own and forced to become partners with unlikely new “friends,” others are attempting to come together again, and one of them is determined to make a new path for herself.  

The swiftness with which Eve went to the dark side felt off to me in book one, and it still rubs me the wrong way in book two.  I know that this is a “girl” who has had her life dictated for her from the moment of her duplicitous creation, and she is entitled to feel resentment at that—even outright anger.  But Eve took no shortcuts, she went from surprise and rage to outright evil-doing and a entered a bond with a group that want to destroy some of those that she held dear.  It doesn't help that we don't spend a lot of time in Eve's mind in DEV1AT3, so it's not easy for me to even attempt to see things from her perspective.  She's in the background, causing mayhem, and I see her through the betrayed eyes of those who are as shocked as me to see her murdering who are, for the most part, innocent bystanders in her quest.

And hot on her heels was Ezekiel with Preacher.  Preacher has grown on me.  He is a dastardly character, but an example of how one can still win you over through action and personality, through involvement into his way of being.  I knew what he would do once he and Ezekiel reached the finish line, and still, I can't help but admire the resourcefulness of this man, terrible as it may be at times.  As far as Ezekiel goes, a lot of the shine has been wiped from his eyes and they are opening up, he's growing, and it's good to see.  Now, rather than driving himself forward for the mere sake of the love he feels for Ana, there are much bigger stakes to fight for and he knows it.  This special snowflake is maturing.

My two favorite little ones continue to be Cricket and Lemon...  Both of them, it the thick of the Brotherhood's circle were some of the best and most exciting scenes in this book, and I lived for them.  Not only is the Brotherhood a perfect example of what happens when religious fanaticism goes a step too far and three steps around the wrong corner, but the fight that Lemon and her new crew put up against them is purely badass.  These kids are gutsy, funny, full of life and ready to spit in your face if you try to keep them down.  I am still sad about the loss in this new band, even though I didn't know this character for long, but that just goes to show how easily you fall for this cast.

Building up throughout DEV1AT3, the final chapters were nail-biters.  The anxiety went up a few high notches, and I am still completely in limbo over what happened to some of these guys after that wild explosion may or may not have wiped out an entire settlement.  Whenever you think you know how this plot is going to continue, whenever you start to see everyone get even close to reuniting, whenever anything seems to begin to be solved...  You know nothing, everyone is torn apart again, and there are still so many pieces to gather before the full puzzle is completed.

If LIFELIK3 was intriguing, DEV1AT3 just takes things several steps further.  At this point, I am not sure there are limits to the things that anyone is willing to do to get what they want, but I know that I want to find out.

Publication Date: May 29, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction / YA
Rating: 4 stars

***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

Find me a book inspired by a historical event that intrigues me, and I will devour it.  Better yet, let this fact be a mystery that I don't solve until after I've been reading for a while, and it will be an even bigger treasure to come across.  Enter, LIFEL1K3.  

I've heard and seen content about this novel since its release in 2018, and yet I had no idea that this book bases some of its plot on the assassination of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, and his family.  Like many people, I have been fascinated by Anastasia Romanov(a) for years, but it's not often that I read a work of fiction that takes content from her life or the tragedy that befell her family.  Not only is it neatly weaved into the rest of the storyline, but it jump-starts an exciting and fast-paced ride for the reader.

LIFEL1K3 isn't a good book merely due to originality.  There were parts of it that reminded me a lot of Marissa Meyer's Cinder (not just in personality of Ana/Eve vs. Cinder, but as far as their knowledge on machines goes, how to work them, and robotic side-kicks).  However, LIFEL1K3 has a voice of its own.  It has its own vocabulary, its own identity, and there's a ruggedness to the atmosphere of the story that makes it even more believable when one takes into account the world in which these characters live.

The characters themselves are, for the most part, well shaped.  Cricket is a hoot, as most little robot allies in these books tend to be.  And while Eve/Ana takes the lead, I absolutely loved Lemon Fresh and I am greatly looking forward to seeing how she deals with her struggle to not just figure out who she is, but how to cope with her abilities.  I liked Ezekiel, but he fell a little flat for me, and I was never able to commit to his romance with the lead—then again, there's a good reason for this revealed in the end, so if the lack of full-on chemistry is taken as something purposefully created then it is very well done.

At the heart of the story are Gabriel, Faith and Mercy, the lifelikes turned enemies that were initially created by Ana's father in the perfect image of man.  Not quite human, not all machine, struggling to have their own sense of self and ultimately take over humanity.  I'm a sucker for this type of story, where a group of cyborgs fight against humans so that they may become free, and in return unleash their revenge.  I know that we're “supposed” to root for the humans, but I always feel that the “bad guys” are justified after the way that they're treated.  That belief not only stuck in LIFEL1K3, but it was cemented.  Kristoff does a great job in making you feel for a being that is designed to be, essentially, used by humans while their individuality is supposed to be discarded.  You feel the injustice, and you want retribution for it.

If anything, the thing that grated on me was Ana/Eve's reaction to the revelation of who she is at the end.  As Myriad stated, a secret as big as this one, once revealed, had the potential to make her go insane in her attempt to process it.  But she didn't go insane.  Rather, she turned against those that she was supposed to have loved all this time, so fast and with so little thought, that it left me baffled.  On one hand, I understand her need to distance herself due to the  hurt that she felt, but on the other hand, it came across as rash.  It'll make for a good follow up in the second book, I'm sure (and hope), yet the rush to get there was abrupt.

Full of nonstop action, and with plenty of twists and turns, I hope the excitement holds in DEV1AT3.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Books for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Synopsis: This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings in a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent.

Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows. (Amazon)

Publication Date: June 23, 2020
Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fiction / Mystery
Rating: 4 stars

***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

Welcome, to a Sherlock Holmes and John Watson-inspired mystery with vampires.  And angels.  And werewolves.  Oh my!  

Despite my great love for mystery novels, I've never read an original Holmes' story, much to my chagrin.  And no matter how often I tell myself to remedy this set-back, new books continue to fall into my hands.  Who am I to resist?  I have, however, heard plenty of synopses for a few of these stories over the years, so it wasn't difficult to pick up on the theme of The Angel of the Crows as soon as I began to read.

In the likeness of Sherlock Holmes, we have Crow, the Angel of London.  He's brilliant, amusing, thinks well outside the box, and is highly sought after by Scotland Yard.  And in Watson's stead we have Dr. Doyle, a physician who has been discharged from his service in the military after a run-in with a Fallen angel that has left him not just injured, but in need of keeping a rather big and illegal secret about himself.

The composition of this book is clever: it's told through stories within the main plot of the novel.  Featuring Holmes and Watson, one expects to (hopefully) explore their classical tales.  And The Angel of the Crows does not disappoint.  At the heart of it all is Crow's obsession with finding the murderer we now know as Jack the Ripper.  Constantly called in by Scotland Yard to assist, he usually brings Doyle along so that he may offer his expertise.  And as we close in on Jack, we're taken through the different investigative jobs that many come to Crow given his sleuthing popularity.

Despite the fact that the story is read through Doyle POV, and he is, in essence, the main lead, Crow steals the spotlight.  It might be that as the embodiment of Sherlock Holmes he has no choice, but as his own character, he's fantastic.  Not only was it incredibly enjoyable and interesting to learn, by his own words, how the angels' caste system and politics work in this novel, but Crow is simply endearing to know.  He's intelligent, yes.  And he's certainly quick-witted and fast to take charge. But behind all that, and for all that they state that angels don't show human emotion as much as they rather learn how to mimic it, he's got a protective and warm core that puts Doyle at the top of his small group of cared ones.  You can't help but like him.

Even though Doyle and Crow are the two characters that we naturally become best acquainted with, there's a big cast to enjoy, and even an entertaining handful of encounters with Moriarty in the role of Vampire.  You can imagine how fond of him Crow is.  The various tales that run circles around Jack the Ripper are as absorbing as one might expect with two leads such as these, and full of the supernatural.  I was especially fond of Doyle's visit to Dartmoor to look behind the riddle of the hound of the Baskervilles.

The Angel of the Crows smoothly transports the reader to the streets of London during the late 1800s in its style of writing.  It's fast-paced, compulsory to read, and has a few surprises that were not even remotely expected, and will delight in their reveal.