Whispers Of Reviews – A Feast of Fantasy Books

Lately, nearly every book I read is Fantasy.

It’s my new-found love and basically, I’m ADDICTED to this genre. It’s so fabulous and amazing and I could go on forever about why I love it (I am planning to make a post about why I love fantasy so keep your eyeballs peeled). So I thought I’d review some recent fantasy favourites of mine in one post. #smushing. Keep in mind this will be a very long kind of post because there are simply so many books (WELL, 5 but let’s not get into the details here *glares*)! Let the fantasy feast begin!

And when I say ‘recently’ I mean this year because I have been putting off these reviews forever.

THE YOUNG ELITES
Marie Lu

★★★★★

GOODREADS
FULL REVIEW

ALL THE GUSHING. I finished this book in one day and I TELL YOU, I binge read the rest of the series.  Now, I wasn’t expecting much but HELL, this series makes me love Marie Lu so much!

Enzo is the most precious cinnamon roll in existence. FACT. I NEED an Enzo in my life. I just wanted to give him some hot chocolate and cry with him because he has such a sad history. But the was honestly so awesome and amazing and all the love for him. ❤

It’s fantastically written with the best flashbacks of ever, wonderful back stories and an addictive plot; everything a fabulous book needs. I DREAMT about this book the whole night, that’s how good it was (i swear, I’m telling the truth)

I’m not crying, you are!THIS IS THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES and THE ENDING TORE ME UP SO BAD. And it left me in the biggest book hangover of ever because IT WAS SO SAD. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy did this have to happen? I am damaged. help.

My only complaint is that the world-building was bit scraggly. As in it was there but then…it wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely adored the dazzling world and it was so interesting to read about The Malfettos and The Daggers but I want to know more about This Blood Fever and how it worked? I so need more of this because it’s not confusing just it would be nice to clear some things up.

THIS BOOK WILL TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE. I’m warning you. Words cannot explain how much I love this book! READ IT NOW PLEASE.Why? 1)highly addicting 2) so delicious 3)amazing and evil and HELLO I’m in love.

ASH AND QUILL

Rachel Caine

★★★★☆
GOODREADS
FULL REVIEW

Ash & Quill is the 3rd book in The Great Library and IT DIDN’T DRAG!

Okay, I know that seems a little weird and out of the blue but the previous 2 books had middles that drag and this book didn’t! But…moving on. And yes, I might this is a kind-of fantasy but shh.

What I just LOVED about this book is that their friendships are developed SO well. I’m still chuckling away at Dario’s and Jess rivalry which is honestly so prominent in this book? I was just coddling my emotions when they accepted each other as family.(Also there’s a letter between Wolfe and Santi at the end and please excuse me)AND CAN JUST SQUEAL about how amazing the brotherly relationship is?  Oh and Dario and Khalila…I shall not spoil anything for you BUT ALL THE SQUEALS.

Something really repetitive with this series is that the group are always in attacks. LIKE GOSH, where have I heard of them just barely making it out of a massive war zone? Oh, never. You know, doesn’t happen EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK.And the thing is, they ALWAYS MAKE IT OUT ALIVE. Sure, damaged, broken, injured but never dead. Don’t get me wrong, i would be heart-broken if one of them died, but???

What was nagging me at the beginning and throughout the book is how everyone is using Morgan as a weapon and they’re all like ‘we’re sacrificing stuff’ too but your body can heal and so can Morgan’s but her power get’s damaged. Basically, their thought processes make no sense because they care when SANTI is injured but not when Morgan is? Jess is the only one making actual SENSE here. Ugh.

I loved the dazzling writing style, the hilarious jokes, the vivid descriptions, the diverse characters. Initially, I gave this 5 stars because i basically couldn’t put it down but now thinking of all my problem, I knocked off a star. IT WAS AMAZING THOUGH, muuucchh better than boring old Paper and Fire. This was SUCH an exciting book and lived up to my expectations. Also, LEFT ME ON A CLIFF-HANGER which was not very nice as it always does. #smileyface

RED QUEEN

Victoria Aveyard

★★★★☆

GOODREADS
FULL REVIEW

Where do I start? Why do I love Red Queen? Why am I so excited for the next book?

I really don’t know. This book struck a chord with me and I just…let myself get engaged with the story! We have a dystopian plot, a rebellion, and it’s actually unpredictable. As in usual dystopias follow the same old story line yet Red Queen blends magic, rebellion and hope all into one and it doesn’t have your happily ever after. Thank you.

Mare is a very complex character and bordering inconsistent. Some of her characteristics just made no sense to me, but I stuck with her until the end of this book and she developed wonderfully. I found myself liking for no particular reason. At some points, I didn’t understand which side she was really on. Because she’s Red and Silver (not a spoiler. You find this out very quickly) I guess I still think it’s great to have a contrast in her personality.

What i admire about Mare is that she’s realistic. In fact, I think the whole story goes to show that things don’t go according to plan. And I love books when THINGS FAIL, you know why? Because overthrowing the whole government with a small army like that is not going to work. And it doesn’t WHICH I AM GLAD FOR. I am glad this isn’t the ending we were expecting because it just adds more life to the story.

SMOL LIST OF THINGS THAT RATTLED ME

• The whole ‘terrorism’ and Scarlet Guard thing was a little overdone. As in I didn’t like Farely AT ALL.
• I want the side characters to get more attention. Kilkorn I felt nothing for because he was just…something Mare protected, not loved or knew. I guess developing characters individually in the first person can prove to be tricky.I WANT MORE EVANGELINE.
• It was a LITTLE unoriginal kind of like The Selection and The Hunger Games or some other dystopia
• I wasn’t fully invested. Not all my emotions were going crazy. I didn’t care THAT MUCH. I wanted to feel more, sweat more, even shed a few tears but it didn’t quite just reach there. I didn’t feel drawn to the atmosphere of this book either, as I said the whole Scarlet Guard thing felt overdone.

The whole book together was seamless and effortless. Almost as if this book was just always there. The magic in this book was deadly. Things go wrong, there are plot twists that smack you in the face and leave you to bleed to death. Nothing can be assumed, anyone can betray anyone is the message of this book. The writing is vivid and quick, the story builds up amazingly. AGH. SUCH A GOOD DAMN BOOK?

THE HOBBIT
J.R.R. Tolkien

★★★★★

GOODREADS

This book will always have a place in my heart.

It’s weird because I think for fans of YA this would be really hard to get through. And yet I adored it so much.

The writing is simply gorgeous. Tolkien tells the story in his own masterful way and conjures words like magic, You just get the best sort of feels from his vivid descriptions which is just magic dashed along pages.

Bilbo is so squishable. Honestly, I LOVE BILBO SOOOO much. He is the best little Hobbit of ever and he has a wonderful character which develops. He’s smart and smol and I LOVE HIM AND WANT TO SQUISH HIM. Words cannot describe. I’m going to adopt Bilbo okay?

I want to be a Hobbit. Honestly, they eat cake and food all day and live in these marvellous things called Hobbit Holes and they spend most of their time inside and they’re perfect little introverts and I want this life.

Also, there are little creatures. The dwarves are hilarious little munchkins, hello and they have such whimsical names. And Smaug is the most innocent and amazing dragon I have ever met. He’s literally the best ever and he is so misunderstood. OH and GOLLUM, my precioussss is so kind and PRECIOUS and rare and I love him as well with his riddles.

I guess you could say the book dragged a little. You have to get used to the slow pace and weird way of The Hobbit but I ended up loving the world. Stuff, Gandalf, this was full of magical adventures, secrets and everything an all-time favourite of mine needs! Definitely different from what I usually read but 100% recommend!

A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC

V.E Schwab

★★★★☆

GOODREADS

FULL REVIEW

Someone tell me that I’m not the only one thinking ‘WHY DIDN’T I PICK THIS UP EARLIER????’

This book made me question my sanity, THAT’s how freakin’ awesome it is!

So perhaps this review won’t make any sense because I’ll just be rambling about how wonderful it is and my caps lock key MIGHT just die, but first let me warn you, THE WRITING STYLE is to DIE FOR. I’m not even kidding. I surprisingly adjusted to it quite easily and IT SO WONDERFULLY twisted and complex and BEAUTIFUL. It is something where you can just get lost between the words, so engrossed with every new chapter and part, almost feeling PART of the story. I honestly JUST FELL IN LOVE with Schwab’s way to weave words together! I will definitely be reading more of her books.

IT!! WAS!! SO!! DARK!!! Probably the darkest and most twisted book I’ve EVER READ, there’s like black magic, MURDER, ATHOS (who is obviously the best, because, he like controls people and makes them suffer by making their body betray their mind MWHAHAHAHA) and just in general evil.

HEY, DID I MENTION ATHOS IS SO EVIL AND I LOVE IT??? I could gush about Athos Dane for like ever, he’s so cruel, POWERFUL and twisted AND YES I LIVE FOR THIS. I didn’t like Astrid, she was just… rude. Also, Kell’s coat is LIFFFFEE.

The world-building is ACTUALLY PERFECTION. i never got confused between the Londons (yes, there are 4) because of the description and slight hints of information that wasn’t dumped on you so that you’d feel overwhelmed, but actually scattered around, adding to the whole beautiful world Schwab’s fantasy. There is no limit with this idea.

I KNOCKED OFF A STAR BECAUSE

• It didn’t make me FEEL anything. i didn’t laugh, cry, there wasn’t any emotion. I wanted FEELS but didn’t get them.
• The characters weren’t more than just people on the page? I want them to be more fleshed out.

This book is SOOOO worth the hype. AHHHHHHHH, I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

UPDATE: I’ve read the whole series AND I LOVE IT. ACOL CRUSHED ME. A full review of A Conjuring Of Light coming soon!

Have you read any of these books? Do you just LOVE Fantasy? Do you think some books just miss out on the FEELS? Are you going to read any of these? Let me know what you think of my first mini-reviews!