I haven't done mini reviews in a while but here are three! The problem with my thoughts on these: I don't feel passionately enough about them to elaborate more. Trying to come up with 600+ words for them is nearly impossible for me. I really like the latter two but they're pretty solid minus a few discrepancies I have with them. Read on, my friends!
Title: RushSeries: The Game #1
Author: Silver Eve
Release date: June 11, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Genres: action, dystopia, aliens
Rating: dropped
Goodreads
As it tends to go with me, I’ve wanted to read Rush since I first saw the cover. I love it! My favorite color is blue, of course I was drawn to it. Unfortunately, a majority of reviews I saw for it were not nice. I’ve been avoiding it for that reason entirely. I kind of wish I had continued to avoid it, because it’s really disappointing.
At no point did I begin to like any of the characters in the story. I understand they’re under a lot of pressure but passive aggressive arguments and humor laced with anger don’t make a good story. One second she hates everything that’s going on and wants nothing to do with it, and then the second she’s glad to be there because it ~makes her feel something~. All the elements of the story just don’t add up for me and it’s annoying.
The main character’s mother died, so she’s suffering from depression. That makes sense. It’d be more odd if she wasn’t. But it’s such an odd detail/characteristic and I can never figure out what Silver wants to focus on. They’re in a weird game where they’re fighting for their lives. They’re in groups of teams but they’re supposed to only be looking out for themselves. They have some idea of what they’re doing, but not much. Apparently only the love interest knows what’s going on. He’s special, with his aviator glasses. The other two boys are there as comedic relief and potential love triangle add-on respectively. The main character is semi-okay with all the things because she doesn’t have a choice, plus she might be special like love interest.
I don’t know. It’s such an odd book and I really couldn’t get into it. Rating: dropped. I got about halfway through and I didn’t find out anything interesting. Last thing I read, they were crawling through tunnels for 37 hours or something.
Title: SacrificeSeries: Elemental #5
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Release date: September 30, 2014
Publisher: Kensington Teen
Genres: action, urban fantasy, supernatural
Rating: 4.5 stars
Goodreads
I received a copy of Sacrifice from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
As with Rush, I’ve been avoiding reading this one. But for a near exact opposite reason. I really didn’t want to finish the series. Just plain didn’t want to finish it. I didn’t want to let go of the Merrick brothers. But all good things must come to an end!
In the end, I was kind of underwhelmed by Sacrifice. I don’t know if it’s because I took too long waiting to read it or if the story just didn’t end with quiet enough bang, if you get what I mean.
The whole series is done so well in this high school drama sort of way, which is awesome because so much YA doesn’t have the intense emotional current underneath the way these do. It’s kind of emotionally exhausting to read these but not in a bad way, it’s just so weird. I might’ve already mentioned this in my Secret review.
Even though Sacrifice follows the format of the rest of the series - with it only following one Merrick brother - it just feels like the ending shouldn’t have been the same, or that another book should be following Sacrifice with all of the Merrick brothers having a POV in it. Hearing all of their voices for the ending would’ve made it amazing because there was a huge lack of all of them together in the story. Great ending but definitely not as stunning as it could’ve been.
Title: The Witch HunterSeries: The Witch Hunter #1
Author: Virginia Boecker
Release date: September 30, 2014
Publisher: Kensington Teen
Genres: action, witches, magic, high fantasy
Rating: 4 stars
Goodreads
I also received a copy of The Witch Hunter from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. Thank you!
I absolutely enjoyed The Witch Hunter. I just love books like this where there’s a combination of castles, fighting, kick-ass girls and romance. Not that this one only contains those things, there’s also magic and corrupt wizards! As you might’ve guessed by the title.
Based upon the description and the cover, I was honestly prepared for this one to be a lot darker and a bit more tragic. It’s got that whole dark persona thing going on. It’s actually not like that at all and it’s kind of refreshing. The tone of voice that the main character has is kind of light and fun, even if a bit whiny at times. The whole story is more amusing than it is serious and intense. Of course, It does have its somber moments - complex stories really can’t not have them - but they’re smooth and don’t stick out too bad.
I’m not sure if I have a problem with the main character, Elizabeth, but sometimes she comes across flat. I really don’t mind her voice/tone but a lot of the time it feels like she’s letting everyone else come up with the ideas of what to do. It’s really just up to whether or not she agrees. There’s nothing wrong with being passive, but I wouldn’t peg that characteristing onto the main character.
All of the side characters are nice but if you’re hoping for more than a few of them to have significant roles, slow down. A lot of them get pushed off by the end of the story, or they just help Elizabeth out with this or that. It really is the Elizabeth Show so get your tickets!
Riveting story though, and light enough to not feel like you’re getting yourself into something too deep. I really look forward to continuing the series!
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