Golden Son (Red Rising #2) by Pierce Brown

Golden Son is amazing from start to finish.  It is full of action from the first page, and keeps readers on the edges of their seats until the last page.  Darrow, Mustang, Roque, The Jackal, and even Ares are given more depth, more challenges, and more strife (and in some cases, a real face and name). 

The backdrops are richly depicted, the scenes often capable of inducing breathlessness, and the last few chapters might just blow your mind. 

 

There is no sequel slump here. The writing is incredible, the pacing is maginificent, and the characters just keep getting better.  Pierce Brown delivers a fantastic tale, and there is no question of wanting to have the finale now. 

Golden Son by Pierce Brown: Awesome.  Amazing.  Might just ruin you for all other sequels.  Available from booksellers and libraries now!

Curse Breaker: Guild Assassin by Berley Kerr

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I intensely disliked this book. I didn't finish it for numerous reasons, the foremost being my extreme irritation with Wendy as the narrator and protagonist. While the first chapter of the book is full of action, the majority is rife with boring details leading her up to the action that takes place in that first chapter. I couldn't relate to Wendy at all. She didn't seem to have any narrative emotion and came across as more of a neutral recording of events, even though some pretty traumatic things happened to her throughout the story.

The writing leaves a lot to be desired. There is so much description that I often forgot what was happening around whatever scenery was being discussed. The cover leads one to believe that this will be an steampunk story, but I was surprised to find out that it takes place on several different planets and involves quantum physics in addition to magic.

Overall the premise of this book was good, with an intriguing backdrop. Unfortunately, the narrator and the writing put me off of the story and leave me with no desire to find out what happens at the end of Guild Assassin, let alone what waits in the next installment.

Curse Breaker: Guild Assassin by Berley Kerr: 1 out of 5 stars.        

H2O by Virginia Bergin

The driving force behind H2O is rain that carries a vicious, transferrable virus that devastates the entire world at the same time is a brilliant concept.  Sadly, Ruby, the narrator, makes this book almost impossible to read.  She's incredibly self-centered, shallow, and even though she knows first-hand the perils of the virus-ridden rainfall, she can't seem to think about anything other than getting her cell phone (which no longer works, anyway). 

I know some of you are thinking that it's narrated by a teenager so what did I expect?  Well, I expected her to be a little less concerned with her gadgets and a little more concerned with the fact that, although they don't get along well all the time, her stepfather is the only person left in her world who truly cares about her.

 Her distracted, stream-of-consciousness recap of events is so wildly documented that I often forgot the point of the story while she was on one of her many tangents.
I couldn't finish this book.  Ruby's voice made me want to beat my head against a wall. 

H2O by Virginia Bergin: 1 out of 5 stars