Review: Black Heart by Holly Black

April 28, 2012April 26, 2012 / beckireads / 4 Comments

Black Heart by Holly Black, UK edition cover.

Title: Black Heart (Curse Workers Book 3)
Author: Holly Black
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group (19th April 2012)
Blurb:

Cassel Sharpe knows that he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.

But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob and new secrets coming to light, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong is blurred. When the Fed’s ask Cassel to do one of the things he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what’s a con and what’s the truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet – this time on love.

Rating:***** (5 stars)

Review:

Black Heart is the third and final instalment of The Curse Worker Trilogy by Holly Black. We follow Cassel Sharpe, as he decides what do with his life and who he can trust. Cassel has come a long way from White Cat.

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Review: Fair Game

April 26, 2012April 23, 2012 / beckireads / 5 Comments

Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

Title: Fair Game (Alpha and Omega #3)
Author: Patricia Briggs
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit (6th March 2012)
Blurb:

Death stalks the night.

They say opposites attract, and for werewolves Anna and Charles, this is certainly true. Charles, the pack enforcer, is a dominant alpha – whereas Anna has the power to calm others of her kind. Now that werewolves have dared to reveal themselves to humans, it’s their job to keep the pack in line.

The pressure mounts when the FBI requires Charles’s assistance. He’s sent on a mission to Boston with Anna, and they quickly realise that a serial killer is targeting werewolves. And that they’re next on the killer’s list.

Rating:***** (5 stars)

Review:

Fair Game is the third book in Patricia Briggs’s Alpha and Omega series, which is a spin-off from her Mercy Thompson series. This means that there is some crossing over of characters, but the two series don’t converge – they are very definitely separate stories.

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Review: Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast

April 23, 2012April 9, 2012 / beckireads / Leave a comment

Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast, UK edition cover.

Title: Untamed (A House of Night Novel #4)
Author: P.C. and Kristin Cast
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Atom (4th June 2009)
Blurb:

‘I saw the end of everything’ Aphrodite’s voice was as haunted as her face. ‘I saw all of it happening because you were dead, Zoey. Your death made it happen.’ ‘Ah, hell,’ I said and then my knees gave way and I had to sit down.

A week ago Zoey had a group of special friends, three boyfriends and a (kinda) clear conscience. Now she has none of the above. Luckily, ice-queen Aphrodite is showing signs of melting and ex-roomie Stevie Rae isn’t as dead as she’d thought. Though Stevie Rae’s now hanging out in tunnels with freaks – totally gross.

Assuming she can get them to listen, Zoey will need all her friends as events take a frightening turn at the House of Night school for vampyres. Shocking true intentions are about to come to light, loyalties will be tested and an ancient evil is about to rise again.

Some days being special just doesn’t seem all that . . .

Rating:**** (4 stars)

Review:

Untamed is the fourth book in P.C. and Kristin Cast’s epic House of Night series. This book is brilliant; I almost gave it five stars. The narrative begins a couple of days after the events of Chosen.

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Review: Chosen by P.C. and Kristin Cast

April 20, 2012April 9, 2012 / beckireads / 1 Comment

Chosen by P.C. and Kristin Cast, UK edition.

Title: Chosen (A House of Night Novel #3)
Author: P.C. and Kristin Cast
Genre:Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Atom (27th April 2010)
Blurb:

I guess it had gone okay with Stevie Rae. I mean, she had agreed to meet me tomorrow. And she hadn’t tried to bite me, which was a plus. Of course, the whole trying-to-eat-the-street-person thing was highly disturbing . . .

Zoey’s best friend, Stevie Rae, is undead – in an eww! zombie! kind of way, not in a cool vampyre kind of way. She’s struggling to retain her humanity and Zoey doesn’t have a clue how to help. But she does know that anything they discover must be kept secret.

Unfortunately, trust has become a rare commodity. Sinister forces are at work in the House of Night, where the line between friend and enemy is becoming dangerously blurred.

Rating:**** (4 stars)

Review:

Chosen is the third book in P.C. and Kristin Cast’s House of Night series, and like Betrayed the story takes up pretty much from the end of the previous book (although an indeterminate amount of time has passed).

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Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

April 13, 2012April 9, 2012 / beckireads / Leave a comment

A Great and Terrble Beauty by Libba Bray

Title: A Great and Terrible Beauty
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK (2nd May 2006)
Blurb:

It’s 1895 and, after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she has known in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds her reception a chilly one. She’s not completely alone, though . . . she’s being followed by a mysterious young man, sent to warn her to close her mind against the visions.

It’s at Spence that Gemma’s power to attract the supernatural unfolds, as she becomes entangled with the school’s most powerful girls and discovers her mother’s connection to a shadowy, timeless group called The Order. Her destiny awaits . . . if only Gemma can believe in it.

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Review:

A Great and Terrible Beauty is the first book in Libba Bray’sGreat and Terrible Beauty trilogy.

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Review: Nature Mage by Duncan Pile

April 10, 2012April 9, 2012 / beckireads / Leave a comment

Nature Mage by Duncan Pile

Title: Nature Mage
Author: Duncan Pile
Genre: Swords and Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: New Generation Publishing (7th September 2011)
Blurb:

Gaspi is an ordinary boy, living in the mountain village of Aemon’s Reach, but life, for Gaspi, is forever changed the day magic erupts in him. He discovers he has a powerful gift – he is a Nature Mage, able to control natural forces and creatures and bend them to his will. It is a rare gift, and no-one has been born with it in centuries, but Gaspi’s powers also have a dark side, and without training they will kill him. He is forced to leave his home and travel to the distant city of Helioport, where the Archmages of the College of Collective Magicks will teach him how to use his powers.

Accompanied by his guardian and his best friends, Gaspi sets off on the long journey to Helioport. The journey is fraught with danger, and Gaspi and his friends discover that there are demonic creatures abroad, intent on finding and killing anyone with magical ability.

As Gaspi begins his magical studies, a shadow hangs over him and over the city of magicians. Gaspi’s story of a demonic attack is not an isolated incident. As these stories multiply, Hephistole, the Chancellor of the college, is growing increasingly certain that someone or something is directing the demonic forces, but who, and to what end? As things unfold, Gaspi finds himself in the middle of dark and terrible times, and can only hope that his powerful gift will develop in time to make a difference when the time comes

Rating:**** (4 stars)

Review:

Nature Mage is the first book of a trilogy, Duncan Pile has recently finished (I believe) writing the second book in the trilogy. It is about a boy who lives in an isolated village who one day discovers that he has magick.

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Review: Betrayed by P.C. and Kristin Cast

April 6, 2012March 7, 2012 / beckireads / 1 Comment

Betrayed by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Title: Betrayed (A House of Night Novel #2)
Author: P.C. and Kristin Cast
Genre:Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Atom (5th February 2009)
Blurb:

All any of us could talk about was Chris’s disappearance and how bizarre it was that he had last been seen so close to the House of Night. I didn’t want to believe it. But everything inside me said that the kid would be found, but he’d be found dead . . .

Things seem to be going pretty well for Zoey Redbird. She’s settled in at the House of Night finishing school and is coming to terms with her incredible new powers. It all seems too good to be true. And guess what?

Someone has begun murdering human teenagers, and all evidence points to the vampyres of Zoey’s school. Which means her first assignment as the leader of the Dark Daughters is finding out which one of her classmates or – gulp – teachers is a killer.

Sigh. And she thought her boyfriends (yes: plural) were going to be her biggest problem this year . . .

Rating:**** (4 stars)

Review:

Betrayed is the second book in P.C. and Kristin Cast’s fabulous A House of Night Novel series. The story takes up pretty much from where Marked left-off, though an indeterminate period of time has passed since the events of Marked.

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Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

March 30, 2012March 7, 2012 / beckireads / 6 Comments

Thirteen Reasons Why: A Novel by Jay Asher

Title: TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY: A Novel
Author: Jay Asher
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Razorbill (6th August 2009)
Blurb:

Clay Jensen returns home to find a strange package with his name on it. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker – his classmate and first love – who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

Hannah’s voice explains there are thirteen reasons why she killed herself. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening – and what he discovers changes his life . . .

Forever.

Rating:**** (4 stars)
Review:

I’d heard a lot about this book on the bloggers sphere; all of it good. So I thought I’d give it a go, and see if it lived up to expectations: it did.

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Review: The Rogue by Trudi Canavan

March 23, 2012March 7, 2012 / beckireads / Leave a comment

The Rogue by Trudi Canavan, UK edition cover.

Title: The Rogue (Book Two of the Traitor Spy Trilogy)

Author: Trudi Canavan

Genre: Sword and Sorcery

Publisher: Orbit (5th May 2011)

Blurb:

Living among the Sachakan rebels, Lorkin does his best to learn about them and their unique magic. But the Traitors are reluctant to trade their secrets for the Healing they so desperately want and, while Lorkin assumes they fear revealing their existence to the world, there are hints they have bigger plans.

Meanwhile, Sonea searches for the rogue, knowing that Cery cannot avoid assassination for ever, but the rogue’s influence over the city’s underworld is far greater than she feared. His only weakness is the loss of his mother, now locked away in the Lookout.

In Sachaka, Lord Dannyl has lost the respect of the Sachakan elite for allowing Lorkin to join the Traitors. The Ashaki’s attention shifted, instead, to the new Elyne Ambassador – a man Dannyl knows all too well.

And in the University, two female novices are about the remind the Guild that sometimes their greatest enemy is found within . . .

Rating:*** (3 stars)

Review:

The Rogue is the second book in Trudi Canavan’s Traitor Spy Trilogy, which is sent twenty years after the events of her Black Magician Trilogy. This means that there are plenty of familiar faces and places, for those who have read Canavan’s previous works, but we are also introduced to some new ones in this book.

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