Book Review: Even the Darkest Stars by Heather Fawcett

Release Date: September 5th, 2017
Read: October 18th-29th, 2017
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Series: Even the Darkest Stars, #1
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Source: McNally Robinson

Description from GoodReads:

   Kamzin has always dreamed of becoming one of the emperor’s royal explorers, the elite climbers tasked with mapping the wintry, mountainous Empire and spying on its enemies. She knows she could be the best in the world, if only someone would give her a chance.

   But everything changes when the mysterious and eccentric River Shara, the greatest explorer ever known, arrives in her village and demands to hire Kamzin—not her older sister, Lusha, as everyone had expected—for his next expedition. This is Kamzin’s chance to prove herself—even though River’s mission to retrieve a rare talisman for the emperor means cimbing Raksha, the tallest and deadliest mountain in the Aryas. Then, Lusha sets off on her own mission to Raksha with a rival explorer, and Kamzin must decide what’s most important to her: protecting her sister from the countless perils of the climb or beating her to the summit.

   The challenges of climbing Raksha are unlike anything Kamzin expected—or prepared for—with avalanches, ice chasms, ghosts, and other dangers at every turn. And as dark secrets are revealed, Kamzin must unravel the truth about their mission and her companions—while surviving the deadliest climb she has ever faced.

Review:

   Why do you fear me, brave one.

   At work we have this shelf of Advance Readers Copies that us booksellers are allowed to take to read and keep. That was how I first encountered Even the Darkest Stars. Unfortunately by the time I had finally decided to pick the book up and read it, someone had already taken the copy. I found that by not being able to read it anymore, it made me want to read it all the more. Long story short, I went out the next day and bought my own copy to read.

   Even the Darkest Stars was one of my favourite fantasy books of 2017. After reading it in 11 days, I could not stop talking about it to people and I still can't. I even went on about it WHILE reading it to all my book friends. The book had all my favourite elements of a fantasy; witches, kingdoms, magic, mountains and dragons. They were all blended together beautifully to create a magical world of mystique and adventure.

   I couldn't be happier with how Heather Fawcett wrote her story in a setting of hard cold and snow. I live in a setting where we are known for our harsh winters, we even have nicknames relating to how our only season is winter. Most YA novels take place in biomes that have warm temperatures or just don't have to deal with the same kind of weather as we do. It was fantastic to finally have a story where I could relate to the elements, I hope that other writers take the hint and start to have their own stories be set in a similar element.

   Even the Darkest Stars is the adventure that'll make you realize that even on the the most dangerous adventures, not everything and everyone is who they seem.

   And with that, I begin my countdown to the release of All the Wandering Light, the second and final book in the Even the Darkest Stars duology. 

Rating:

Favourite Quote:

"Your soul is rich like honeycomb. Like strawberries."

Recommend to People Who Enjoy:

Young Adult, Fantasy, Witches, Magic, Mountains, Shapeshifters, Adventures

Book Review: The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin

Release Date: November 7th, 2017
Read: November 16th-December 1st, 2017
Publisher: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers
Series: The Shaw Confessions, #1
Format: ARC, 384 pages
Source: Publisher in exchange for honest review

Description from GoodReads:

Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string.

They’re wrong.

Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future.

He shouldn’t.

And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart.


They’re right.

Review:

   Only play the games you can win.
   When I first encountered the Mara Dyer trilogy, four years ago, I was shocked and completely unprepared. The series was unpredictable, and constantly made me double think everything I thought I knew. It was a thrill to read, and I couldn't have been more excited to pick up The Becoming of Noah Shaw, when I first heard about it. That was until I had the book in my hand, then everything changed.

   I basically hated everything about The Becoming of Noah Shaw. The first, basically starting with the first page. At the beginning of the novel there was a warning for the readers, this warning contained a warning that the novel contained death, self harm, as well as a few other things. Where this should have been a pro thing, the wording of the end of the letter was terrible and completely contradicted the purpose of the letter. The final warning was to warn the reader that the book contained a lot of sex. Which once again, is completely fine, but the final sentence said something along the line of: " but if you need a warning, then you're probably reading the wrong book". I understand that the sentence was directed towards the sex warning, but the placement and wording made it seem like it referred to the entire warning, thus leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

   The Becoming of Noah Shaw can not be read on it's own. I read the final Mara Dyer novel, The Retribution of Mara Dyer, back in 2015, roughly three years ago. With this, I have forgotten many things that had occurred in the series. With this being a new, but connecting series, I had thought that not remembering everything wouldn't be a problem, that Michelle Hodkin would probably recap what had happened. Of course I was wrong, and so everything was so confusing when reading the book.
   From what I did remember from the previous series, it felt as if the entire novel was just erasing all the progress that had happened when the original series had completed. Every little progress that had been made, all erased because the author had no idea what to make the story about.

   Then the final straw that occurred, that made me officially done with the novel, was that the villain of the book was suicide. And before you say anything, it wasn't the villain in the way you think it would be. Michelle Hodkin made suicide the villain in a way that it was as if one of the main characters was messing with the other characters heads in a way that made them kill themselves. The way it was written was as if the characters should be scared that they'd eventually kill themselves too. It honestly felt like such a joke. Why, out of all the different villains you could have used or created, you decide to choose a problematic topic. I hope that anyone with any sort of tendencies, who has picked up the novel, reads the warning and decides not to continue with the book.

   The Becoming of Noah Shaw was a problematic mess, one that I will never be picking up any of it's sequels. The novel has even left a foul taste in my mouth when I think of The Mara Dyer series. I hope for better in the future, from the author. 

Rating:

Favourite Quote:

"The scars you can't see are the ones that hurt the most."

Recommend to People Who Enjoy:

Young Adult, Paranormal, Horror, Abilities