Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (@SJMaas)

Posted on November 2, 2012 by TheHouseworkCanWait

I’ve had Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas sitting on my bookshelf since it came out in August, because I had heard nothing but good things and was itching for an awesome new fantasy to read. But alas, my terrible time management got in the way and weeks kept passing without it getting read. However, then I heard Sarah speak on a YA Fantasy panel at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, and then I got to hang out with her (and the awesome Kat Zhang) for a few hours afterward because they are nice people and didn’t mind me crashing the party even though they’ve known each other for a while, whereas me…notsomuch.

So anyway. After that prolonged Sarah exposure, I concluded two things:

1) Going by her frequent references to Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, Buffy, Star Wars, Labyrinth, Harry Potter, and Legend, she is my kind of people.

2) I really need to read her book (especially when I found out it’s the start of what will ultimately be a 6-7 book series — um, yes, please).

The Plot (from Goodreads)

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her… but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead… quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

My Thoughts

Now this is the type of YA fantasy I can get behind. It’s got fabulously nuanced characters, tons of action, magic, tension, mystery, court intrigue, more action, monsters, a hint of romance, and did I mention action?

From the first chapter, I liked Celaena despite her dark past and hardened nature. She manages to be tough and damaged and brutal while still remaining sympathetic. Her previous life experience has taught her to be wary of everyone she encounters, and her instinct for self-preservation often kicks in before any other thoughts or feelings, but even so, you can sense that aside from being a formidable assassin, she’s still a good person. She eventually manages to form friendships and ties to others that surprise even her, and even though she’s more than willing to kill a man if she must, she does have a sort of self-governing morality that keeps her feeling human in spite of her training.

Then there’s the two male protagonists, the Crown Prince, Dorian, and the Captain of the Guard, Chaol. Sarah managed to pull off something pretty tricky with them: a love triangle that is not annoying. They are both admirable and likable characters, and it’s easy to see how Celaena could be a good match for either of them. While the romance with Dorian is more overt, and the relationship with Chaol more subtle, I really enjoyed both and honestly could be happy whichever way the story goes. I do think the back cover copy (“Two men love her”) is misleading, as Chaol takes the vast majority of the book to try to sort out his feelings and even then, isn’t really sure what they mean. And the romance element is very much secondary to the main element — Celaena has much bigger things to worry about than which boy to choose, and both of the men have a lot on their mind besides Celaena. The book gives us insights into all 3 POVs, and I really liked that while they each definitely thought about romance, it wasn’t the only thing on any of their minds.

We also get the occasional POV of one of the scheming court ladies, who never became likable, but the insight into her thought process kept her from being one-dimensional. It’s always fun when authors let you into the brain of the “bad guys,” because more often than not, that’s not how they see themselves.

The action in the book is mostly centered around the Competition and the training of the Champions. It’s well done, and I could actually visualize most of the fights in my head, as she describes most of them in vivid detail. I always prefer this to fights that are described along the lines of “they fought, their blades flashing blindingly through the air, until she was panting from exertion.”* That’s how a lot of action scenes work in books, leaving pretty much everything to the imagination, and I never really feel satisfied with those. I don’t need a step-by-step recounting of every strike and parry, but my preference is absolutely for more fleshed-out fight scenes.

There’s also some non-Competition-related fighting, which is so cool I don’t want to spoil it by saying anything more about it.

There’s also magic, which was really interesting. It left me asking a lot of questions, like how do Wyrdmarks work if not through magic, and how is the king able to enforce his law against magic? The magical elements were definitely an important part of the plot, but still not the driving force of this book, which was kind of nice. This story focused a lot more on character building and the mechanics of the Competition itself. I strongly suspect that the magical element will evolve significantly as the series progresses, and I’m anxious to find out more about it.

The one complaint I have (which is all a matter of taste, because I’ve read other glowing reviews whose one complaint is the exact opposite of what I’m about to say) is that there are parts where I felt the narrative skipped ahead and I needed a little more information to get from point A to point B. Some transitions felt just slightly jarring. I was never lost, just felt that there was a scene or a snippet missing that I wish was there. I suspect this was because this story is less than half the length that it was in its original form, and while 900 pages would have been far too long, I’m guessing that there was some information lost in streamlining it down to the much more manageable length of ~400 pages that I would like to have had.

However, it’s still a pretty hefty book for YA, and I’ve heard other people say it’s too long. So take what I’m saying with a grain of salt.

Overall, this was a great read that kept me thoroughly invested throughout. I can’t wait to see where Sarah takes the story from here.

Content Guide: Contains a large amount of violence, some gore, devious plotting, references to torture.

*not a direct quote from anything, just a sad little example I made up.

Review: The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron (@CameronSharonE @Scholastic)

Posted on October 17, 2012 by TheHouseworkCanWait

I received a review copy from Scholastic as part of the blog tour

I’ll admit, The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron wasn’t really on my radar until I was asked to be part of the blog tour, but after seeing the cover and hearing the synopsis, I was intrigued. I haven’t read a lot of YA historical fiction without any paranormal or fantastical elements, but this one sounded really interesting. And then after meeting Sharon a few times — who is awesome, by the way — I bumped it significantly up my TBR list. After finishing, I’ve gotta say…this one is good, guys.

The Plot (from Goodreads)

When Katharine Tulman’s inheritance is called into question by the rumor that her eccentric uncle is squandering away the family fortune, she is sent to his estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, Katharine discovers a genius inventor with his own set of rules, who employs a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London.

Katharine is now torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving the peculiar community she grows to care for deeply. And her choices are made even more complicated by a handsome apprentice, a secretive student, and fears for her own sanity.

As the mysteries of the estate begin to unravel, it is clear that not only is her uncle’s world at stake, but also the state of England as Katharine knows it. With twists and turns at every corner, this heart-racing adventure will captivate readers with its intrigue, thrills, and romance.

My Thoughts

From the first page, I knew I loved Sharon’s prose. I just wanted to wallow around in it. Her descriptions of the Tulman estate, where most of the book is set (and which is based on Welbeck Abbey in England, during the time of the Fifth Duke of Portland — a fascinating study in and of itself) are lush and vivid, and she does an amazing job of conveying the feelings of creepiness and mystery, but also wonder and joy, that permeate the story.

Her characters are varied and intriguing. There is prim and proper Katharine, the narrator, who is forced to choose between protecting her own grim future or that of her Uncle and his 900 tenants. There is wonderfully eccentric and childlike Uncle Tully, who brightened every scene he was in while also contributing a note of sadness. Katharine’s wretched Aunt Alice is the “villain” hanging over the entire story, concerned only with securing wealth for her son and making Katharine as miserable as possible, and every mention of her made me grit my teeth in frustration. Then we have the tenants of the estate, the dark and brooding Lane, with his eye for faces and unwavering loyalty to Mr. Tully; mute little Davy, who sees more than anyone realizes, and his constant companion, the rabbit Bertram; Mrs. Jefferies, who protects those she loves with a fiery fierceness; Ben Aldridge, whose fascination with Mr. Tully’s automatons seemed to overshadow everything else; and Mary Brown, Katharine’s maid, whose constant chatter filled many a silence.

Sharon spends just the right amount of time dropping careful clues about what’s going on that I was never lost, but not so many that I knew exactly what was going on. A huge part of the story is Katharine’s inner battle to figure out if she’s losing her mind, and I was right there with her, questioning things that had happened, wondering what was real, and clinging to logic and reason like a lifeline. Meanwhile, there’s tiny questions and inconsistencies that she notices around the estate, and tries to investigate, but we’re left always wondering if those things had really happened, or if they were imagined. It was extremely well done, and I felt very satisfied when the story wrapped up and answered all those questions.

Probably my favorite aspect of the story was Katharine’s interactions with her Uncle Tully. As this story is set centuries ago, when people like him were simply classified as insane, the book never comes out and says what his exact condition is, but I’m guessing it’s autism. He also has some extraordinary savant capabilities, including a penchant for mathematics and his ability to invent amazing clockwork automatons that seem to defy the laws of physics. There is nothing supernatural about what he does; it is simply the outcome of his wonderfully unique brain. Katharine herself seems to suffer from a bit of OCD, even though she doesn’t appear to realize it, and watching the two of them together was beautiful. I could probably have read an entire book consisting solely of their conversations and still been satisfied.

But of course, there’s more to the story than that. There’s mystery and intrigue, a touch of adventure, and a hint of romance. I think a problem the book has is setting expectations accordingly (which is not the book or Sharon’s fault); because it’s different than most other books out there, it’s being lumped in with other stories that are nothing like it. The book is being marketed as “steampunk adventure,” which it’s absolutely not, and some people are even saying there are supernatural elements, which there aren’t. If I had to classify this book, I’d say it’s kind of Victorian Gothic-Light. There’s mystery and creepiness, but no horror, and there’s romance, but nothing blatant. The stars of the book are the intensely atmospheric prose and the beautifully developed characters.

To avoid a 100% gushy review, I’ll touch on my (very few and far between) criticisms of the book. It’s a very contemplative story, so if you’re looking for a fast-paced adventure, this is not the book for you. It picks up towards the end, but most of the book unfolds very slowly. I was never bored — actually, the gradual pacing allowed me to do the wallowing I talked about — but nor was I on the edge of my seat, on pins and needles to find out what happened next. And then the ending could leave you a bit unsatisfied, depending on what you’re looking for in the book. It ties up the plot arc neatly, but leaves some emotional threads dangling. Also, without wanting to spoil anything, I’ll just make the very vague statement that towards the end, something happened that broke my heart in a way I did not expect to have my heart broken in a YA book. So be warned. Sadness awaits.

But honestly, my criticisms aren’t even really criticism. They’re more “proceed with caution” signs, so you don’t rush headlong into a book that is different than what you might be expecting. But if you go in prepared, I think you’ll be in for a treat.

If you are looking for something with beautiful writing, excellent characterization, an intriguing setting, and a captivating plot that unwinds gradually and intricately, then I’d suggest you try The Dark Unwinding.

Content Guide: Contains mild violence, and a couple potentially disturbing deaths.

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman (@gayleforman)

Posted on October 12, 2012 by TheHouseworkCanWait

Where She Went is the sequel to If I Stay by Gayle Forman. In If I Stay, the protagonist, Mia, gets into a horrific car accident with the rest of her family, and the book is about her decision to return to her life, such as it is, or to succumb to her injuries. Where She Went picks up three years later, with a different protagonist, and I can’t really tell you anything else without spoiling If I Stay. So if you haven’t read it and you don’t like spoilers, stop reading here and come back after you’ve read If I Stay. You can read my review of it here.

The Plot (from Goodreads):

It’s been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard’s rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia’s home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future-and each other.

My Thoughts

Strange as it sounds, considering no one is fighting for their life in this one (at least physically speaking), I found this book much harder to read than If I Stay. Reading about Adam’s struggles in the years since the accident, after seeing what he was like before then, was just heartbreaking. And honestly, even though I liked Mia in If I Stay and was rooting for her, I kind of hated her in this book. Partially because Adam didn’t hate her, and I wanted him to. I understood from Mia’s perspective why she acted the way she had, but since the story is told from Adam’s POV, I just ached for him.

And Adam…oh Adam. He was a bit of a knight in shining armor in If I Stay, the kind of character you really need to have a happy ending. But the three years between the two stories have not been kind to him, and he made a lot of bad decisions. I kind of wanted to throttle him in his flashbacks, keep him from going down paths I knew were going to mean nothing but trouble. But I couldn’t, and he screwed up over and over, and it was frustrating and annoying and real.

The one problem I had with the book, other than that it made me feel feelings I’d rather not have (which, to be clear, means it succeeded), was that while the emotions were extremely real and visceral, the external events were a bit hard to swallow. I had a hard time buying that Adam became a famous rock star and Mia a world-class cellist within the 3-year span following the accident (especially considering the physical rehabilitation Mia would have needed). Is it possible? Yes. People become famous, and people date people that also become famous. But that these people would become famous…I don’t know. It seemed like a bit of a stretch. I kind of wish it had been more a case of two people bumping into each other than two famous people being able to follow each other’s lives and seek each other out because they are famous.

And the only other issue is that after spending the entire book working towards the ending, I was left wanting more. After all those painful emotions, I needed something more to balance it out. But I can’t say this is a criticism of the book — shouldn’t all good books leave us wanting more?

I’d have a hard time determining whether I preferred If I Stay or Where She Went, because while they feature the same characters in the same timeline of events, they are two very different books. It feels like an apples-to-oranges comparison. So I’ll just say that Where She Went, once again, made me have all sorts of feelings, both uplifting and painful, made me connect with realistic and interesting characters, and left me thinking for a long time afterward.

Content Guide: Contains profanity, drug use, mentions of sex

Throwback Thursday (October 11) – The Oath

Posted on October 10, 2012 by TheHouseworkCanWait

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

The Oath by Frank Peretti

Oh, Christian fiction, I have a love-hate relationship with you. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but too often it’s like being punched in the face with a Bible and then slugged in the gut by a preacher. Not that I’ve ever had either of those things happen — most of the preachers I’ve known haven’t exactly been the slug-you-in-the-gut type — but you know what I mean.

However, when it’s done well, I really enjoy it. And by “done well,” I mean that the story is interesting, the characters engaging, and it makes its point through illustration and allegory rather than through blatant and deliberate proselytizing. The Oath, by Frank Peretti (one of the biggest names in Christian fiction), is — in my opinion — an example of it being done well.

The basic premise is a town full of flawed people, where the evil in their lives physically manifests via a viscous black goo literally oozing from their skin. And once they’re sufficiently gooey, they get eaten by a dragon. Yes.

There is tension and suspense, great pacing and some gripping action sequences. Obviously, being Christian fiction, there is an underlying spiritual message and moral to the story. It doesn’t just end at “And then they were all eaten by a dragon.” So if you’d rather it did, you’d probably be better off reading [insert story where they all get eaten by a dragon. I have not yet discovered this book, but if you come across it, would you let me know?]

But if this type of book seems like something you might enjoy — I did mention that the townspeople are being eaten by a dragon, right? — then you may want to check it out.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!

Uncontrollable Blog Tour: Building Community & Giveaway (@srjohannes)

Posted on October 8, 2012 by TheHouseworkCanWait

I am excited today to be participating in the blog tour for Uncontrollable, the second book in the Nature of Grace series by S.R. Johannes. She’s here posting her tips for building community in the book world, and I think she’s got some great advice, whether you’re a writer or a blogger. Then you can check out some information on the book, and even win an e-copy of your very own, courtesy of S.R. Johannes. Thanks for joining me, S.R.!

S.R. Johannes Guest Post – “Building Community”

To me, community is everything in this business. Building a community is my main focus in marketing. Some people see marketing as ads and promoting all the time. I see it as building relationships. I always seek to help others first and I always try and keep a personal connection with those I meet.

Tips to building community:

• Find blogs you like and comment
• Choose your networks wisely
• Spread the word about another’s blog or book
• Don’t talk about yourself all the time
• Be present – Stay out there and visible
• Focus on getting to know your users – not what they can do for you.
• Build a network over time, not overnight
• Be yourself and show your personality
• Respond to tweets, emails, and messages
• Be humble and grateful
• Give credit where credit is due
• Give back
• Don’t do auto-tweets – it doesn’t fool any one
• Be interesting and helpful in posts

I am of the belief it is better to succeed with people than succeed alone. So this is where my belief of community comes in. Building a community that supports is essential to any writer’s career – published or not, traditional or indie.

About “The Nature of Grace”

Uncontrollable is the second book in “The Nature of Grace” series by S.R. Johannes. Untraceable, the first book in the series, has won and been nominated for several awards including Winner of the 2012 IndieReader Discovery Award (YA), 2012 Georgia Author of the Year (YA Nominee), and a finalist in The Kindle Book Review’s “Best Indie Book of 2012 (YA)”.

Kirkus reviewed Untraceable as “A thrilling story is a dramatic entanglement of mystery, deception and teen romance. The action flows like a brisk mountain stream interspersed with rapids, holding suspense to last page.”

If you like a page turner, you will love this series!

To continue on with the blog tour, check out the line up! Where SR talks about anything from marketing to writing to her books to personal interviews and giveaways.

Book Summary

As 16-year-old Grace recovers from tragedy, her science class is chosen by Agent Sweeney at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to help with research on the new “Red Wolf Reintroduction Program”.

While she’s excited about helping with the conservation of the endangered wolves, Grace knows this means being outdoors in the worst winter recorded, in a place she no longer feels comfortable. It also means working closely with Wyn (her ex) and his annoying girlfriend (Skyler), a girl whose idea of getting close to nature is picking silk plants and growing fake plants.

After a couple of wolves show up dead, Grace almost quits. However, when a fellow project team member goes missing, Grace continues the assignment under a renewed suspicion that someone might be sabotaging the conservation program. She quietly begins to hunt for clues.

Little does she know, she is being hunted too.

On Sale Now!

Uncontrollable is on sale in paperback and ebook at all major booksellers including Amazon, iBooks/Apple, Smashwords, and B&N.

If you haven’t read Untraceable, you can get it in paperback and ebook at all major booksellers including Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, and B&N.

Author Bio

S.R. Johannes is the author of award-winning and Amazon bestselling Untraceable (a teen wilderness thriller) and new tween paranormal, On The Bright Side. She has also published short novelettes as well as a teen romance anthology with 16 other authors titled, In His Eyes. Uncontrollable, the sequel to Untraceable, is scheduled for September 2012.

S.R. Johannes is a winner of the 2012 IndieReader Discovery Awards (Young Adult) and was also recently nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year (Young Adult). Untraceable was also recently named a Finalist in The Kindle Book Review’s Indie Book of the Year (YA)

After earning an MBA and working in corporate America, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world.