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!

Isaura by Ruth Silver

In the third installment of the Aberrant trilogy, Olivia finds herself trying to save Joshua, fending off advances from Henry, and keeping herself from being killed by Isaura.  This could have been so much better in so many ways. 

The writing was truly terrible.  The punctuation errors alone had me confused as to the emotional state of every situation.  The entire narration is awkward- not just the conversation. There are so many "plot twists" that they become tedious- time travel, reproduction experiments, telepathic communication, portals, blah, blah, blah.  Because of these, there are also so many holes in the story that one just gives up hope of anything making sense at all.

 Olivia comes across as a whiny narcissist who wants everyone to listen to her because she's the only woman left who can naturally conceive a child. At every confrontation I expected her to stamp her foot and shout "Because that's the way I want it!"  I was so annoyed with her by the end of the book that I almost didn't even care if she had resolved her internal issues with being able to have a child versus wanting to have a child.

Isaura, the evil villain of the tale, was ludicrous.  This ties directly in to the holes in the story.  I still have no idea what her actual motive was.  She hates Olivia.  Okay, but why?  And what is the purpose to everything?  There isn't one, as far as I could tell.

The ending was also overwhelmingly saccharine. Yes, I like a good, solid ending.  I even like endings that others might not find "happy."   Everyone was so happily wrapped up that I wanted to gag. 
I was disappointed in the conclusion of this trilogy.  It started out so well, and went downhill from there, ending with this pile of poorly put together words.

Rival (Unholy Alliance volume 1.2) by Lacy Yager

This short story that fits into a YA vampire series was a good one.  It will be critiqued by many because it's not the same as all other YA vampire stories.  There is little cursing, and it's incredibly mild.  While it's full of vampire-fighting action, it doesn't have the same dark edge
. 
I see these as good things.  For those kids whose parents object to these kinds of stories, this is a cleaner, less nightmare-inducing story.  I believe (and I could be wrong here) that some of the author's other books are of the Christian bent, which makes her a good person to provide a vampire story as a way to give teens what they want, and parents what they want. 

The alternate narration is nice, giving the reader insight to the characters as the story progresses.  Emily and Brett face issues that a lot of teens have to deal with: the loss of a parent; juvenile arthritis; whether or not to rebel against a parent's wishes in order to do what they were born to do.

I didn't know when I started this that it was an in-between volume of a series.  I liked it enough that I'll read all the others.  I might even check out some of Lacy Yager's other works. 

Moirai by Ruth Silver

The story of Olivia and Joshua continues with this action-packed sequel.

Silver does a great job of pulling the reader into the story once again.  There is suspense and turmoil from the first page, making this book hard to put down.  And although it isn't long, there is quite a bit of detail to process. 

My favorite part is the incorporation of the story of the Moirai, or the Fates.  The question of whether different choices lead to different outcomes or if we are fated for the same thing regardless of our decisions arises several times throughout the book.  Is Olivia's fate truly to be the medical miracle everyone wants her to be?  Or is it just a projection on her by those who want a symbol for the reason that they fight? 

The dialog rings true and the reader can really feel the emotion of Olivia, who narrates this tale.  The way Silver writes is strong, well-paced, and full of energy.

There are a few new characters introduced, and some brought back from Aberrant, who mesh well with the rest of the characters.  Tension is felt with some; trust is kindled with others. 

I am looking forward to the next installment!