World After (One line review)

Penryn and The End of Days: World After | Susan Ee

Published by: Hodder & Stoughton, September 21st 2013

Genre: YA, Post-Apocalyptic, Paranormal

Pages: 438

Format: Paperback 

Source: Purchased

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

All the horror and darkness of Angelfall, with higher stakes and new dangers that make World After a perfect sequel.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world building ★★★★★

Writing Style ★★★★★

Hourglass (One line review)

Hourglass: Hourglass | Myra McEntire
YA, Science Fiction

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting ★★★☆☆

Writing Style ★★★★☆

One hour to rewrite the past . . .

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn't there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents' death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She's tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson's willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may also change her past.

Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he's around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should've happened?

REVIEW

Beautiful and compelling, Hourglass reinvents time travel and tells a story that is haunting, emotional, and will stay with me for a long time.

★★★★☆

(3.5 stars)

The Dream Thieves (One line review)

The Raven Cycle: The Dream Thieves | Maggie Stiefvater
YA, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal

Characters ★★★★★

Setting ★★★★★

Writing Style ★★★★★

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

REVIEW

Delightful and magical as ever, Maggie Stiefvater weaves a story more colourful and complex than even The Raven Boys.

★★★★★

Falling Kingdoms (One line review)

Falling Kingdoms: Falling Kingdoms | Morgan Rhodes
YA, High Fantasy, Paranormal

Characters ★★★★★

Setting ★★★★☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆

In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power—brutally transforming their subjects' lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined:

Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.

Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished—and finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making.

Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.

Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword. . . .

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

REVIEW

Enchanting high fantasy with a brilliantly woven plot and vividly detailed world.