Transitive Verve

Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary:  This is the third book of the Grisha trilogy . This review will contain spoilers for the first two books. You can read my reviews for the first two here and here . After the last major attack from the Darkling, Alina Starkov is severely weakened, and hiding underground among the vast community of Ravkans who pray to her name. They are on the run yet again, and Alina knows that the only way she can truly defeat the Darkling is to find the mythical firebird and unite all three of Morozova's amplifiers in order to gain the power necessary to go up against his shadow army. But as she and her loyal crew embark on their quest and fight battles at every turn, she starts to wonder if the cost is too great. And when she learns the truth about the third amplifier, she finds that the sacrifice required to wield that power may be greater than she's willing to pay.

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: This is book 2 of the Grisha trilogy , and therefore, this review will contain spoilers for book 1. Feel free to read my review for that one here . Alina and Mal managed to escape the Darkling at the end of book 1, but it nearly cost them their lives, and it definitely cost Alina a little bit of her soul, as she is haunted by the memory of lives lost at her hand. They are now on the run. They would both love nothing more than to find a place where they could live normal lives together, but Alina begins to realize that for her, life will never be normal. As the Darkling continues to pursue them, as they take up with privateer Sturmhond to locate a second Morozova amplifier, and as the streets of Ravka fill with people praying to her like a saint, Alina must decide whether to come back for Ravka and whether the cost of her heroism may end up being too high.

Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any graphic sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors.  Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary:  This novella takes place in the same universe as Carriger's other works - it doesn't require that you have read the Finishing School  or Parasol Protectorate  series. (But come on, why wouldn't you?) Preshea, one of the characters from The Finishing School  series, is now grown and known Lady Villentia. She is also known as The Mourning Star, having had four husbands who have all died by suspicious means. Of course, no one else knows that Preshea is a trained intelligencer and assassin. Preshea takes an assignment to protect the Duke of Snodgrove from assassination at his own house party. Little does she know that Captain Gavin Ruthven has also been assigned to do the same, by a separate party....

Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Summary:  In Ravka, there are non-magical humans who end up in the army, and there are magical people called the Grisha, who have a number of different abilities like controlling wind or fire or mechanical abilities or glamouring. Together, Ravka's leadership and forces work to fend off enemies to the north and south. They are also cut off from the coast by a swath of darkness called the Shadow Fold, which is inhabited by dangerous creatures. The Shadow Fold has been there for centuries, and its existence ensures that Ravka remains divided and vulnerable. Enter Alina Starkov. She is an orphan, with no one except her lifelong best friend/secret crush Mal, and together they prepare to make the dangerous journey across the Shadow Fold to the coast. But when an attack reveals a rare power that she hadn't know existed, Alina is taken away by the Darkling (mysterious, seductive, dangerous, and the most powerful man in Ravka) to the palac...

I literally just got my Owlcrate twenty minutes ago, and I was so excited that I had to post about it right away :) So let's just get to it!

This ARC was provided to me for free. Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: Libby Strout is attending school for the first time. After her mother passed away, she became a viral cautionary tale as the nation watched her being airlifted out of her home because of her size. She has lost some of the weight but none of her spirit, and she is determined to succeed at a regular high school, despite the looming threat of bullies and harassment. Jack Masselin, handsome and well-liked, is hiding a serious secret - he suffers from prosopagnosia, a brain condition where he cannot recognize faces. He has learned to get by using identifiers to figure out who people are (counting freckles, noting hair styles, etc.) and also by not letting anyone get too close to him. Jack isn't a bad guy, but it's easier for him to let on that he is one. When a bullying incident throws the two of them together for after school detention, they form a close bond as they both try to ...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: London has been ravaged both by bombs as well as by a deadly virus, leaving no adult survivors. The devastation comes courtesy of the queen of Germany and her son, Captain Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer. Among the few survivors is Gwen Darling and her younger siblings Joanna and Mikey, who are barely scraping by, pilfering whatever is left from the abandoned buildings they find. Captain Hook and his Marauders have been kidnapping children in hopes of finding the one child who might be an Immune, but these children have disappeared, never to be heard from again. When they take Joanna, Gwen must put her trust in the mysterious Pete and his winged companion, Bella. Pete is the leader of an underground city of orphaned survivors, and with their help, Gwen might just be able to reunite what's left of her family. But they will have brave the dangers of a crumbling London - now christened Everland - and face Captain Hook in order ...

This ARC was provided to me for free.  Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) Summary:  This book is the second book in the series The Illuminae Files . Thus, this review will contain spoilers for the first book, Illuminae . You can read my review for that one here . Gemina  picks up just after the end of Illuminae , with the Hypatia  racing towards Jumpstation Heimdall after the mutual destruction of the UTA vessel Alexander  and the BeiTech ship Lincoln , as well as the rescue of Kady Grant. Heimdall is essentially shutting down for a long holiday as well as some wormhole maintenance, leaving behind a skeleton crew that includes the station captain and his daughter, Hanna Donnelly, and her boyfriend, Jackson Merrick; Chief Engineer Isaac Grant (yes, Kady's father); and the members of the Malikov crime family, including drug dealer Nik and his elite hacker cousin Ella. Unfortunately, also joining them for this long holiday is a mercenary BeiT...