ARC Review: The Shadow Queen by C. J . Redwine

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Book 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.

         I've always wanted to do a trailer for a book. Not the video thing, just to write the text for one. As I got really inspired after reading this book, here it goes:

A world torn between kingdoms

An enormous power is growing stronger

A special snowflake that wields the greatest power ever seen

A bad boy...

with a golden heart (you didn't see that coming, right?) 

Both lost everything they cared for but..

United they find the meaning of it all 

United they will rise against the enemy 

Will their force be strong enough?

Will they make it...?

Find out in The Shadow Queen! Coming out on February 23! 

        Okay that was fun! Needless to say I didn't spoil anything as you can get all of that from the blurb.

        Now, it's time to get serious. When I requested this book I had no idea that this actually is partly retelling. I should have guessed from huntsman, bring her heart and wicked witch, but alas this actually has some elements of Snow White and the Huntsman, minus dwarfs. It does have seven other creatures, though. It was a surprise for me, but not positive one. It just added more to the predictability this book already had in the characters themselves. They weren't bad or undeveloped to say so, but rather predictable and full of sappy lines.

       You might wonder why did I give it 3 stars. Well I must say that the world building was really interesting and the whole idea is not bad at all. It would be a great book, if the characters were less stereotypical. That and the writing which made it easy to jump into the story and fly through it quickly. Basically another good idea ruined by all the wrong choices.

      If you are new to the fantasy part of young adult genre, you might enjoy this one much more then I did. But if, like me, you had read tons of them then you might skip this one. You can already guess the plot and the ending.

      P.S. After reading this you might wonder why is it part of the series. Well this is actually a standalone, which will be followed by companion novels set in the same world. Hopefully the next one will be much better.

Rating: 3 stars.

Until the next time,

*NOTE: Copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher, Balzer + Bray, via Edelweiss. Thank you!

ARC Review: Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan

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Book summary:

Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead.
But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized.
With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.
With lush writing and a star–crossed romance, Reign of Shadows is Sophie Jordan at her best. 

         I might have promised on my Goodreads that I'll complain about the unrealistic things in this fantasy book and I'm actually thinking about that. So beware as I'm not always as logical as I might sound.

         Sophie Jordan and I go a way back, when she blew me away with her debut in YA lit I believe, Firelight. Sadly everything went downhill in that series and our relationship afterwards. Still when I saw Reign of Shadows on Edelweiss I couldn't help myself. It sounded so good, a ruined kingdom, new magical world and what sounds like a good kickass main character and not to mention a possible new book boyfriend. It had some of that, but not enough.

         Reign of Shadows starts in a tower which is isolated in the woods and rarely anybody knows about it. It's occupied only by a hunter, old maid and a girl with a very long hair *hint? hint* Yes, it's kind of, sort of a retelling. Our Rapunzel is Luna, a girl who has been living in isolation. The chaos has destroyed not only her kingdom but also the whole world. They only get a couple of hours of light, and the rest of the day they are cloaked in darkness, where many dangerous creatures hide. She's been a good girl and obeyed all the rules until one day she decided to break some. Of course she meets Fowler (of Flower as I suck at properly reading names) and falls head over heals in love.

       It all went downhill from there, there was attack and they must run. It also means spending more time together and well you know how that ends. Now don't get me wrong, the romance here was quite nice. Yes predictable, but still slow building and sweet. But there is one issue, big issue. Luna actually has, I'm not really sure what's the proper term to use here but I'll say impairment. Still she kicks ass better than I would with four hands and 20 years of training with ninjas themselves. Fine, she is determined, but for the heaven's sake this is as realistic as me winning the lottery. Even there the odds are 1 in 14 million (totally googled that).

      You can assume that it annoyed me more than it should, but I'm a moody reader so it either doesn't bother me or pisses the hell out of me. Not to forget, this is not a standalone. It'll have a sequel for sure, so don't get your hopes up.

Rating: 2 stars. 

Until the next time,

*NOTE: Copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher, Harper Teen, via Edelweiss. Thank you!