"The Dark City" (Relic Master #1) by Catherine Fisher

May 17, 2011
"Enter the world of RELIC MASTER.
Dark, dangerous and deadly-welcome to Anara, a world mysteriously crumbling to devastation, where nothing is what it seems: ancient relics emit technologically advanced powers, members of the old Order are revered by the people but hunted by the governing Watch, and the great energy that connects all seems to also be destroying all. A master and his scholar, searching for a relic to save the world, will be tested beyond their limits, for there are monsters-some human, some not- that also want the relic's power and will stop at nothing to get it."- the back of the ARC (Won in Early contest on LibraryThing)

I had very high expectations for "Relic Master: The Dark City" and I can honestly say that they were met! I held these expectations because after reading the amazing "Incarceron" and "Sapphique" by Catherine Fisher, I realized that she had this really whimsical, kind of poetic writing style that I absolutely adore. When I picked up this book, I realized it could be very different, I've read books by authors when they have separate books and you can't even tell they're by the same author, the writing is so different.

No, no. If part of the reason you loved "Incarceron" was the writing, then that's one reason you'll like this book. It's very similar! One of my other favorite parts of those books was the poems/excerpts before each chapter, and those are here too!

The story itself was really cool, a classic sort of YA/mid-grade fantasy, that fans of "Inkheart" and "Eragon" will probably enjoy. I liked the characters, my favorite was probably Carys, because I liked how she started out thinking one thing as she was taught to but throughout the story her mind opened to the new ideas, those ideas that the Keepers weren't as the Watch told her. I also liked Galen because the way it turned out how in the know he was the whole time even though you never expected it.

The idea of the 'relics' was interesting, and so was the rest of the world, with the Watch and the Order, it was an interesting book! I liked the occasional journal entries from Carys because that's how we saw how she was changing throughout the story.

Also: In a note that isn't entirely related to the books themselves; the cover. The cover is very cool as it's an element from the book AND IT'S SHINY!!! The next three are supposed to be that way to. Shiny books are just nice, they catch your eye, it's good marketing, it's nice on the shelf, they're fun to look at. The plan with the map pieces on the inside of each book is really great too.

Anyway, to end, I really liked this book and very much look forward to the other three. (and their shiny covers, of course..)

To learn more about the series, go here. Look for it in May and the other three each following month!

"The Dark and Hollow Places" by Carrie Ryan

"There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters. Annah's world stopped that day and she's been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn't feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.
Except, Catcher has his own secrets—dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah's longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah—can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction?" -author Carrie Ryan's website

"The Dark and Hollow Places" was probably the best book in the Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy so far. What better way to end the series? As I've read the three books each one has gotten better, it almost makes me wish there were going to be more- and I would love for there to be more- but at the same time, I loved the ending. It was rather eloquent, it left questions but not the 'live or die because the character is about to fall off a cliff' questions, but more the 'where do they go from here? at least they're ALIVE!' type of questions.

I thought that Annah was the most likeable character to lead the story so far, and her relationship with Catcher was really sweet. I also kind of enjoyed that this time there was no love triangle sort of thing unless you count past feelings for Elias.

I also definitely thought that this was the most emotional driven one yet, the whole novel, all of the writing, it was just so real and emotional. I could feel what Annah was feeling because of the amazing way it was written; even though I have never experienced such fear or desolation or really strong feelings as Annah was.

Of course, there's one of my favorite elements throughout the whole series of the character's abilities to feel and strive for hope where there is none, and defeat all odds through hope. It's just inspiring. Also, an ongoing element that I adore is the fact that while the three books contain tons of zombies, they capture so much thoughts and speculations about said zombies, and also all of the characters manage to fight the zombies and think about the zombies and it's NEVER cheesy. How often can you say that about anything that involves zombies?

 All in all, an AMAZING, EMOTIONAL, INCREDIBLE end to the trilogy. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!

If you would like to find out more about The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy go to author Carrie Ryan's website. If you'd like to see my reviews for the first two books, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves click those <--- book titles! Also, there's that post where I talked about the Dark and Hollow Places tour here.

"Sapphique" by Catherine Fisher

Note: I'm going to try and make this review as spoiler free as possible! If you haven't read "Incarceron" though, you might just want to check out that (admittedly to short to do it justice, but I just... couldn't put my thoughts into words for it properly) review!
"Finn has escaped from the terrible living Prison of Incarceron, but its memory torments him, because his brother Keiro is still inside. Outside, Claudia insists he must be king, but Finn doubts even his own identity. Is he the lost prince Giles? Or are his memories no more than another construct of his imprisonment? And can you be free if your friends are still captive? Can you be free if your world is frozen in time? Can you be free if you don't even know who you are? Inside Incarceron, has the crazy sorcerer Rix really found the Glove of Sapphique, the only man the Prison ever loved. Sapphique, whose image fires Incarceron with the desire to escape its own nature. If Keiro steals the glove, will he bring destruction to the world? Inside. Outside. All seeking freedom. Like Sapphique." -goodreads

I think that Sapphique was an awesome sequel to Incarceron. It had all of the my favorite elements of Incarceron- the characters, the complicated but very enjoyable plot twists, the mysterious worlds of the Realm and Incarceron, and the amazing writing by Catherine Fisher. At first I was weary about just one more book coming out after Incarceron- I was convinced that there had to be more- it just seemed too complicated to fit into two books. The incredibly broad (Or should I say small?) world created by Fisher didn't seem like it could be contained by just two books. All of my questions could not possibly be answered!

All of my questions were NOT answered, and the world could NOT be contained in two books. Did I care? No. The questions I still had at the end of the book and the world that just didn't seem sealed properly into the two books were not a bad thing, I thought they were the best way to end it. The way it ended you wondered what the characters were going to do about the state of the world, and you wondered what the world was going to be like, but in a good way. Maybe you'd wish for an answer, but at the same time it was wonderful, perfect for your own speculation and imagination to come up with the answers.

I liked the way all the characters turned out and the way it was decided who Prince Giles was, by which there wasn't really a *true* answer, I thought that was great in the same kind of way that you just had to decide for yourself. Jared. JARED! AT THE END! That was awesome. I can't say anymore about that, or I'll spoil everything. Everything about Sapphique and the ending. That was just really cool. I know I sound cryptic but you have to read them and find out!

If you like the way this sounds you should really check out Incarceron and if you have, then you HAVE to read Sapphique!

In which I meet Carrie Ryan and reveal my secret!

In a rare break from the flow of reviews, I am here to post about today, in which I went to Borders for a book signing/author event for The Dark and Hollow Places tour, with amazing author Carrie Ryan!

You may recall that I reviewed "The Forest of Hands and Teeth" and "The Dead-Tossed Waves" a while ago. My review of "The Dark and Hollow Places" will be coming SOON, because I bought it today!

Carrie Ryan is awesome. She talked about how she came to start writing the Forest of Hands and Teeth series, her fear of scary movies, her previous book rejections, the books themselves, and answered our questions about the world of zombies (Unconsecrated, Mudo, Plague Rats)! She also signed our books and let us take pictures with her! It was really interesting, to find things out about the books and her motivation and journey to/for writing The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

The sign outside the Borders

Me getting my books signed

Me and Carrie Ryan

The second book, signed! Also, this is the one she put thanks for offering me Diet Coke in because of twitter.

For more pictures check out the facebook here. Also, yes, my secret revealed^ above. You're probably all, did she get Cat's name wrong? No. Cat's my nickname, and it's really not a secret just something I've never mentioned that my name was actually Linda :P

In short, today was AWESOME :) Thanks muchly for Carrie Ryan stopping in IL and having her event!

P.S... If you think the Forest of Hands and Teeth books are awesome or want to learn more about them and see the awesome Carrie Ryan in person you should go to one of her remaining events if she's going to be near you! Check out the rest of the schedule.

"Heist Society" by Ally Carter

"When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.
Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.
For Kat, there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way." -Ally Carter's website

I loved Heist Society. I thought the Gallagher Girls books (I've admittedly only read the first two) were really cute (fluffy cute, but cute), and when I found out Ally Carter had written another book, about a family of thieves rather then a school for spies I had to read it. I'm so glad I did, it was awesome! I liked it better then the GG books, and I finished it and practically wanted to re-read it again. I liked the whole idea of the thieves and 'the family business' and everything. I liked the characters a lot, I thought Kat was a great heroine to lead the story and well, Hale was pretty awesome. Also; are we going to find out Hale's first name in "Uncommon Criminals"?? Anyway, it was a pretty adventurous and cool story. There were unexpected twists and turns and everything, and I just liked the way the whole thing unfolded. For me, there really were no slumps in the story (times where it seemed slower then others, etc..), and it was a pretty quick read. I liked how a lot of it revolved around the different paintings and everything, and that there was travel so the setting changed. It reminded me a lot of an Alex Rider book, except with a heroine and they're thieves, not spies.

Anyway. If a relatively quick read with adventure, awesomeness, good characters, by the author Gallagher Girls with an Alex Rider feel- you should really look into "Heist Society".

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" by John Boyne

"If you start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy named Bruno. (The this isn't a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence.

Fences like this exist all over the world.
We hope you never have to encounter one." -back of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is the incredible story of the Bruno, the son of a Nazi 'commander' who works at one of the work camps, during the Holocaust. Bruno has led a normal life in Berlin, where he's had friends, and a very nice house as long as he can remember. Then, one day, the Fury comes to dinner, and after dinner, everyone is very excited because his father has been promoted, he's a commander. Shortly after this event, Bruno comes home one day to find the servant girl, Maria, packing his belongings. He finds out that him, his mother and father, and his sister are all going to be moving. They end up at place called Out-With, which is a home located right next to the work camp. Eventually, Bruno goes exploring around and finds another nine-year-old boy who shares his birthday, and they become friends. His name is Schmuel. He's a Jew who 'lives' at the camp. The rest of the book is mostly in regards to their friendship and all of the events surrounding it as perceived by a rather naive nine-year-old, who really doesn't understand what's going on between the Germans and the Jews, or even what a Jew is.

It was a great book. It was sad. It was odd, because nothing was very dark or scary in reading simply because you were seeing it through Bruno's eyes, and as I said- he's very naive. He doesn't understand any of the bad things, so you don't really see them- although you know what's happening if you know anything about history-, (the end is a good example). It's great because even though Bruno's dad is a major Nazi, Bruno doesn't get any of that -no one ever told him-, so it's not focused around that and he doesn't hold the same ideas. It was a sad, but good book.

If you're looking for a fantastic historical, or want to read more about that terrible part of history, or just want to read a book that deals with an important issue, you should read "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas". I also recommend it to people that enjoyed "The Book Thief" or the upcoming "Between Shades of Gray".