Fearscape Written by Simon Holt Book Review by Miranda Moses (Fraser) ISBN: 978-0-316-03569-9 Once again I am wondering who this fantastic author is and why he hasn't written anything else. I'm starting to wonder if these aren't published under a pseudonym... But time will tell. After all, Fearscape was only published in 2010. It is very possible he is writing other books and dealing with new publishers. There's also a fan theory that there are multiple author's working on this book. I've seen people saying that they think this because some chapters are amazing and others are just okay... As an author myself, that's just kind of how it is. There are always going to be filler chapters to get you to the next important part. So I don't know how much I believe that idea. If anyone can track him down though, that'd be amazing, lol. But let's get into the world of The Devouring series. Fearscape is the third book and supposed final book in The Devouring series. Now I want to do a recap both for previous readers and new ones deciding if this series interests them or not. In the first novel, The Devouring, we meet our main characters. They are Regina Halloway, her baby brother Henry, and her best friend Aaron. They live in your typical small town (like every high school novel ever). One day a mysterious journal comes into the bookstore where Reggie works and she brings it home to read. She was fascinated by this unpublished horror that she couldn't find any information on anywhere. Her and her best friend decide to attempt the ritual at the beginning of the story, expecting it to be nothing more than a Bloody Mary type hoax. You know, something silly to do on 'Sorry Night'. In the days to come they discover that they unleashed a creature into her home that night. The Vour is a smokey non-physical being who enters a person's body and takes over their lives. These creatures feed on fear and pain- making an 8 year old little boy the perfect Target. Reggie's life is already extremely chaotic but now she must find out what these creatures truly are, how to stop them, and if she can save her brother and her family before it's too late. In trying to save her brother, Reggie discovers that she has a special power and can take on Vours inside the minds of their victims. In a place she calls the Fearscape. These Fearscapes are really cool because they're like a retro mario video game where you just keep running straight through levels until you die. Only these levels are filled with the victims worst fears, starting small and building up. The longer they've been a victim of the Vour the larger and harder they are to get through. (I'm mostly glossing over book two, because, again, trying to be vague, but I will include links to my previous reviews if you're that curious.) So here we are in book three. That's what a lot of this book is. It's Reggie taking on Fearscapes and learning some terrible truths about the Vours and their plans for humanity. Reggie stands on a precipice of either being the greatest weapon against the Vours or their greatest strength against humanity. The clock is ticking with less then a month from the next Sorry Night. Reggie and her friends are in the fight of the lives surrounded by Vours and Tracers alike. This book is also very fast paced like the previous two. What I will say, is from my memory, this novel is more graphic than the previous two. I felt like there were a lot more gory details and I just wanted to warn people about that. It was nothing too bad... but I love horror and true crime so maybe I'm not the best judge of that. I read 200 pages of this book in one night and then realized it was 7am and I had yet to sleep. So believe me when I say it is very hard to put down. There are A LOT of plot twists and jaw dropping moments. I just needed to make sense of it and the only way to do that was to get through the book. I highly recommend The Devouring series. This had a very satisfactory ending, but also one where I could see spin offs or even additional novels being published one day. It's rare that an ending is so satisfactory, so once again big kudos to Holt. Whoever you may be. Read on my fellow book worms! May we one day have Belle's library. And as always links to the author's pages can be found down below. And as I stated earlier here are the links to my other reviews (in order).the-devouring.html and then soulstice.html
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Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake Book Review by Miranda Moses (Fraser) ISBN: 9780062686176 This is the FINAL book in the Three Dark Crowns series! I think I've written a review about each book, that's HOW MUCH I love this series. Kendare Blake has stolen my heart and messed with my emotions more than any other author I've discovered in the past couple years. I just want to pass these books onto everyone I meet! Now, if you don't know anything about this series here is the link to my review on the first novel. https://pickupabooktoday.weebly.com/young-adult-fiction/archives/01-2017 The poem on the back of the first novel goes like this, "Three dark queens are born in a glen, sweet little triples will never be friends - Three dark sisters all fair to be seen, two to devour and one to be Queen". In this world, the Island of Fennbirn is ruled by a queen, always the strongest triplet who kills her sisters. In this storyline we have Arsinoe a naturalist, Katherine a poisoner, and Mirabella the elementalist. They aren't supposed to have any memories of the other or emotions towards them, but Mirabella vividly remembers her sisters and her love for them. And while she is the strongest of the three she doubts her ability to kill them. From there these books unfold into more plot twists than I imagined. There are more players and curses on the board than could ever be predicted. Including other queens, dead and alive. A rebellion against the normal ways of the island. Deaths and heartbreak that rip at the reader's heart. Because no matter how hard you try not to get attached to anyone, you just can't help but fall for some of these characters. The entire series was a page turner. I NEEDED ANSWERS! I was afraid of the results. I feared for the ending of this series... But Kendare Blake... WOW she REALLY blew it out of the water. I mean I cannot think of a single series where I finished the last book and thought "I'm actually content. Heartbroken that it's over. Sad for all those we lost along the way. But I'm okay with this being the ending." WHEN DOES THAT HAPPEN!? I really hope the rest of her writing is this amazing because I'm going to need something new the fill the void as I say goodbye to Fennbirn. Read on my fellow book worms. May we one day have Belle's library. I really hope you check this series out if you haven't yet. And as always links to the author's pages can be found down below. Soulstice The Devouring Book 2
by Simon Holt Book Review by Miranda Moses (Fraser) ISBN: 978-0-316-03574-3 This is the sequel to the novel "The Devouring" that I read last year for the Halloween series. If you aren't familiar with it I'll include a link to the review below so you can see what this world is all about. the-devouring.html I still find it so hard to believe this is Simon Holt's only novel series. His writing is amazing and so well thought out! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading this. And just as with the last novel they really want you to jump right into the next book! First of all, this book takes place six months after the events of the first novel. Which I have to recap in order to talk about where we are now, so please if you're interested in this book go back to my first review and see what it's all about. In The Devouring Regina and her best friend Aaron perform a ritual they thought to be nothing more than a Bloody Mary type hoax. And in the days that follow quickly realized that they actually did set something loose in her home and worst of all it found its way into her brother. The creature called a Vour is a smokey non-physical being who enters a person's body and takes over their lives. These creatures feed on your fear and pain keeping you trapped within your own mind whilst they use your body to harm and torture others. NOW, what is a true spoiler is that Regina discovered a way to save her brother without having to kill him (the previous only other known way to remove a Vour from its host). Consequently, because of Regina's special ability she is wanted by more than just the Vours. While what she is capable of is terrifying to them, it also may unlock the secret to how they can infiltrate bodies without having to wait for Sorry Night. Eben, the book shop owner, is a Tracer. A secret society of Vour hunters. They too are interested in Reggie but also terrified she will fall into the hands of the Vours. With more and more Vours showing up, the towns hunt for Quinn's body, and her brother's own recovery from his Vour attack, Reggie's life is in complete chaos. Finally, the story ends on a flipping cliff hanger so bad that I almost want to throw away the rest of my Halloween book plans and read the third novel right now! I HAVE TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS! Simon Holt has seriously created such a unique horror series and I've loved every minute of it! This was a real page turner. While it was just a continuation of the first book with more details, fearscapes, and information, it was all necessary and entertaining. I highly recommend you add this book to your Halloween reading list. Read on my fellow book worms. May we one day have Belle's library. And as always links to the author's pages can be found down below. Took
by Mary Downing Hahn Book Review by Miranda Moses (Fraser) ISBN: 978-1-338-11406-5 This is another ghost story by the iconic children's 'horror' author Mary Downing Hahn. I've read a few of her books before and two others have made it into previous Halloween series, so it should come as no shock that I revisit her writing once more. 'Took' is a ghost story of missing children and superstitious tales of an old woman in the woods. To begin with this book surrounds a small family who moved from their rich neighborhood to a rundown town in the middle of nowhere. They hear rumors about their home, how a little girl was "took" from there 50 years ago, but they chalk it up to typical small town superstitions. The parents have trouble adjusting to this new life and so do their two kids, Daniel and Erica. They get picked on in school, their unhappy at home, and tension within their family is growing. But to make it all worse Erica insists someone's calling her name and is terrified of the dark. No one actually believes the seven year old until one day she goes missing. When the whole town seems against them and the evidence is pointing more and more towards an abduction, Daniel must accept that something supernatural has happened here. The quest to bring his sister home may be impossible but he is going to try or die trying. With the help of some unlikely people and maybe even a little magic, that is. In conclusion, it was a good story. I can see how it could be spooky for younger audiences. In fact, as a kid I might have eaten this up. But I honestly just found myself mostly feeling sad throughout the story. The poor family is completely falling apart, even before Erica's disappearance, but afterwards it just felt hopeless. While, of course, there's a good ending to the story. I won't be giving any of that info away. I wanted more suspense and an edge of my seat kind of thrills. So, no, this was not my favorite of Hahn's so far, but it honorably makes the list for Halloween 2019 Book Reviews. Read on my fellow book worms may we one day have Belle's library. And as always links to the author's pages can be found down below. A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams Book Review by Miranda Moses (Fraser) ISBN: 978-0-06-240495-4 A Certain Age is a book I didn't particularly care for overall, though I felt the ending was SLIGHTLY redeeming. Using a Goodread's rating system I would say it's 3 out of 5 stars. That's why I placed it under Honorable Mentions, but this book would be listed as: Historical Romance, Fiction, and possibly Mystery in bookstores and libraries. This is definitely an adult fiction novel with a lot of focus on adultery and adult relations. But I do have to say I love the time period it was set in- the 20's! I mean, flappers, women voting/ getting jobs, and all that glamorous stuff. To start with, it took almost 150 pages for the story to actually get interesting. The first 100 something were basically just about affairs. Apparently in the 20's everyone was having an affair, the husbands, the wives, hell even the mistresses had someone else! For me that was honestly so distasteful and hard to read. I know in the real world stuff like this actually happens, but it makes for a terribly boring and offsetting story. HOWEVER, the story begins with the promise of a murder mystery so I held on to see what that was all about. If you can get past the first 134 pages FOR SURE, it will start to get interesting. I must also mention that there are SO many character's I couldn't properly list them all because they all play important roles to the story. Secondly, I appreciated the murder mystery. We didn't jump right into a scene of death and gore, it was subtly played out. Every so many chapters there'd be a newspaper article discussing the court proceedings and evidence. So there is a lot of jumping back and forth in timelines. It took a while to figure out who the killer was, the victim, etc. Now, I can follow that kind of story but I've seen a lot of people complain that it was too hard to keep track of. I however enjoyed that aspect of the story. I also came to care dearly for the one character in the book and her transition from a naive sheltered 19 year old to a woman of the world with dreams and goals. In conclusion, I was very pleased with the ending and how the story ended up playing out. The mystery was good and hard to figure out since they kept so much of it hidden throughout the story. The adultery was hard to handle and follow but if you can get past that the story wasn't a total wash. For someone else this may be a dream story! And there is a sequel, "Coco Beach". There are also other stories that seem to be written off of this same universe. I'm half tempted to check them out even though I wasn't IN LOVE with this book. I think that should say something about the overall quality of the story. Anyways, read on my fellow bookworms, may we one day have Belle's library. And as always links to the author's pages can be found down below. Queens of Fennbirn
by Kendare Blake Book Review by Miranda Moses (Fraser) ISBN:978-0-06-274828-7 Continuing in this universe comes the "Queens of Fennbirn" a novella collection. Kendare Blake has written two novellas for this universe, "The Young Queens" and "The Oracle Queen". I'd like to start off by saying how EXCITED I was to find this book. Novellas are rarely published into hard print, and as someone who HATES ebooks, it always sucks not being able to read more stories involving characters and universes you love. I really wish more publishers would print novella collections. But now let's get into what these short stories are about. Starting with "The Young Queens", this is a bit of a prequel to the first book "Three Dark Crowns". It's just a small story that takes us back to the Black Cabin and allows us to meet the girls before they go off to their foster families. Plus we find out a bit about how their transitions went. They say Queens forget their sisters and that's what makes their tasks so easy, but we know with these queens that is not the case. It was really nice getting to see where things started from and get a little more background on characters we meet differently in the actual series. And finally "The Oracle Queen" is about a queen that existed over 400 centuries before the current series takes place. This was the novella I was most excited for. Throughout the series we find out that there are many gifts that queens can be born with, but all Oracle Queens are drowned at birth. The island does this because the last one went mad and 'murdered three families for nothing'. There's even a sad little song about her, "No Sight no Sound. No Fault was found. No Treason to be had. Yet every one. Would die that day. For Elsabet the mad." Naturally I've been dying to hear what happened with this Queen. And I have to say it's even sadder than I imagined it being. And even more infuriating. As if I didn't already hold a STRONG disliking for a certain poisoner family in the series, I definitely wish them nothing good now. If anything it makes me more anxious to see how this series officially ends. I can only hope for justice all around. And with that I highly encourage you to seek out this book. I hope that the more people who buy this novella collection the more likely it is that publishers will do this more often. I also encourage it if you're obsessed with this series and are struggling to wait for the ending. It was worth it and very emotional. Read on my fellow book worms. May we one day have Belle's library. And as always links to the author's pages can be found down below. Two Dark Reigns
by Kendare Blake Book Review by Miranda Moses (Fraser) ISBN: 978-0-06-287043-8 Returning to the Island of Fennbirn, with book three in the Three Dark Thrones Series, I'm just as in love and fascinated as I was with book one. If this is the first you are hearing about this series I will include a link for the review on the very first one now: three-dark-crowns.html . But if you're a returning fan of this series let me just tell you that Blake does no hold back ANY punches. This book picks up right where we left off in the last one. But the Island isn't through with anyone yet and as things start to fall apart on the island more prophecies and ancient secrets come to light. We even get a glimpse into a very famous queen from the past's life and it gave me chills. Honestly, this book has my head spinning! I'm biting my nails waiting for the next book and to see how this finally ends. And I'm definitely on an emotional roller coaster knowing that the ending of this series just might break my heart. It's crazy to think that this was only supposed to be a two book series! I can only imagine how differently things would have gone had that happened. Read on my fellow book worms, may we one day have Belle's library. And as always links to the author's pages can be found down below. Burning Magic
by Joshua Khan Book Review by: Miranda Moses (Fraser) ISBN: 978-136800842-6 First of all, welcome to a new section I like to call "Honorable Mentions". This is a great addition for continuing to showcase books without having to go into too much detail. For instance, Burning Magic is the third book in it's series and I'd hate to write a review on EACH book and either (a) bore people OR (b) give too much away. And there are also books that I don't particularly care for. But I don't think it's fair to write a cruel review on them, because someone else might love them. I want to make readers of people, not push them away. So, this is where an honorable mentions page comes into play. I can tell you a little bit about the book, link you to previous reviews, and hope to bring new books to your attention my fellow book worms! With all that being said let's jump into talking about Burning Magic. Now, Burning Magic is the final book in the Shadow Magic Series by Joshua Khan. I am so sad to see this world come to an end. I feel like there are so many more adventures he could write about and so many more aspects of this world that haven't been explored. (He seems pretty set on leaving this world behind, but I am going to hold out hope.) Burning Magic once again stars our main characters Lilith, Thorn, and K'leef. If this is the first you're hearing about this series, I'll link to my previous reviews here: shadow-magic.html and dream-magic.html. Go check out those reviews to get some background on this world. In this story we actually leave Gehenna and go to K'leef's kingdom. There is so much to unpack in this story! There's a lot of political turmoil from a murder to a full on fight for the crown. Emotional moments that make you think about your own relationships in life. And a massive breakthrough on this universes history. It was a satisfactory ending, and I am dreaming of how the world will continue on from here on out. *happy sigh* I highly encourage you look into these books. They were excellent and I am so proud of Joshua Khan. These are his first books and he NAILED it! He's also been teasing that he is currently working on another project, so it's a premo time to get into his writing. As always, links to the author's pages can be found down below. Read on my fellow book worms, may we one day have Belle's library. |
hONORABLE MENTIONSThe point of this page is to give books a shout out without a full review. PRIMARILY because I have already previously reviewed books in the series. Archives
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