Me on Invictus

Title: Invictus
Author: Ryan Graudin
Release Date: September 26, 2017
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette Book Group imprint)

Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time-traveling Recorder from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in Rome in 95 AD, Far's birth defies the laws of nature. Exploring history himself is all he's ever wanted, and after failing his final time-traveling exam, Far takes a position commanding a ship with a crew of his friends as part of a black market operation to steal valuables from the past. But during a heist on the sinking Titanic, Far meets a mysterious girl who always seems to be one step ahead of him. Armed with knowledge that will bring Far's very existence into question, she will lead Far and his team on a race through time to discover a frightening truth: history is not as steady as it seems.

Invictus is a twisted journey through time and space, a mystery within a mystery. A tale where time is now and then and will be, but unless they can figure out what's going wrong, it might never happen at all.

Far is determined, passionate. Focused on his goal, his dream of exploring history like his mother before him. But he's sometimes reckless, too bold for his own good. It gets him in trouble, into near-impossible to escape from situations. It gets him expelled, but it also gets him a ship that can travel through time. He can finally do what he's dreamed of, even if it involves being part of a black market group taking priceless artifacts from the past. It's time travelling, it's experiencing history. It's living. Until a stranger bursts in on his heist on the Titanic.

This is a curious, fast-paced story of history, complicated math, and the desire to live before dying. To do something meaningful and worthwhile. To see and breathe in history, to not waste life thinking about what ifs and could-have-beens. I don't know that I can say too much else, not knowing what's going on is part of the story, part of the reveal of what is happening to Far and his friends on their ship. If you're looking for a standalone book that's full of time travel and twists, full of impossibility and fate, then you'll probably enjoy this.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Hachette Book Group Canada.)

Me on The Last Magician

Title: The Last Magician
Author: Lisa Maxwell
Release Date: July 18, 2017
Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster imprint)

In modern day New York, magic is all but extinct. The remaining few who have an affinity for magic—the Mageus—live in the shadows, hiding who they are. Any Mageus who enters Manhattan becomes trapped by the Brink, a dark energy barrier that confines them to the island. Crossing it means losing their power—and often their lives. Esta is a talented thief, and she's been raised to steal magical artifacts from the sinister Order that created the Brink. With her innate ability to manipulate time, Esta can pilfer from the past, collecting these artifacts before the Order even realizes she's there. And all of Esta's training has been for one final job: traveling back to 1902 to steal an ancient book containing the secrets of the Order—and the Brink—before the Magician can destroy it and doom the Mageus to a hopeless future. But Old New York is a dangerous world ruled by ruthless gangs and secret societies, a world where the very air crackles with magic. Nothing is as it seems, including the Magician himself. And for Esta to save her future, she may have to betray everyone in the past.

The Last Magician is a story steeped in magic and mystery, set in a dangerous time surrounded by dangerous people.

Esta is quick with her hands, a girl taught to creep and steal. Using her ability to manipulate time, to travel through it, she's gotten good at thievery. She's quick, crafty, and staunchly loyal to those she considers family back in the 21st century. But this next job in 1902, hopefully her final job, will test her. Away from those who are familiar to her, in a different time, surrounded by those who would use her, Esta will have to be smart and cautious if she's going to succeed. And she's not the only one with a plan, with a hope to save all Mageus from the Brink.

There's a lot happening here, a lot of players working secretly in order to make sure their plans are the ones that come to fruition. It gives me the same feel as Libba Bray's The Diviners, the history and charm of early 1900's New York, the intrigue and the mystery, the sly attitudes and the power of the gangs. The rich and the poor, the hope for freedom and safety. The magical and those who would want it for themselves. But with so much going on the story dragged for me. In some ways it was interesting to see all the pieces, all the players as they plotted and planned, but in others it felt like too much. Too many moves and motives to keep track of, which is all on me. I hadn't expected it to be so dense, for it to be so involved. It was too long for my liking, but the mystery and the magic were intriguing. If you enjoyed The Diviners, you might also enjoy this.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Simon & Schuster Canada.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (333)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: No Good Deed
Author: Kara Connolly
Release Date: July 18, 2017
Publisher: Delacorte Press (Random House imprint)

From Goodreads:

Fans of Dorothy Must Die will love this reimagining of the legend of Robin Hood. Girl power rules supreme when a modern girl finds herself in the middle of a medieval mess with only her smart mouth and her Olympic-archer aim to get her home.

Ellie Hudson is the front-runner on the road to gold for the U.S. Olympic archery team. All she has to do is qualify at the trials in jolly old England. When Ellie makes some kind of crazy wrong turn in the caverns under Nottingham Castle—yes, that Nottingham—she ends up in medieval England.

Ellie doesn’t care how she got to the Middle Ages; she just wants to go home before she gets the plague. But people are suffering in Nottingham, and Ellie has the skills to make it better. What’s an ace archer to do while she’s stuck in Sherwood Forest but make like Robin Hood?

Pulled into a past life as an outlaw, Ellie feels her present fading away next to daring do-gooding and a devilishly handsome knight. Only, Ellie is on the brink of rewriting history, and when she picks up her bow and arrow, her next shot could save her past—or doom civilization’s future.

This sounds interesting. I do wonder about the ending, if it ends with Ellie returning to her time period and what would follow.

Me on The Ship Beyond Time

Title: The Ship Beyond Time
Author: Heidi Heilig
Release Date: February 28, 2017
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins imprint)

Nix has spent her whole life journeying to places both real and imagined aboard her time-traveling father's ship. And now it's finally time for her to take the helm. Her father has given up his obsession to save her mother—and possibly erase Nix's existence—and Nix's future lies bright before her. Until she learns that she is destined to lose the one she loves. But her relationship with Kash—best friend, thief, charmer extraordinaire—is only just beginning. How can she bear to lose him? How can she bear to become as adrift and alone as her father? Desperate to change her fate, Nix takes her crew to a mythical utopia to meet another Navigator who promises to teach her how to manipulate time. But everything in this utopia is constantly changing, and nothing is what it seems—not even her relationship with Kash. Nix must grapple with whether anyone can escape her destiny, her history, her choices.

The Ship Beyond Time is mysterious and alluring, dark and deceptive. A journey through time, towards fate and towards fear. Can history be changed? What of the consequences? Is there any hope to finding what was once lost?

Nyx is full of worry and fear. Even though they are now safe, now free to travel the seas once more, she can't help but worry. Worry that she will turn into her father, a broken shell of a man now off drugs but still desperate to make it back to the woman he once loved and lost. After leaving Hawaii, after realizing how she feels about Kashmir, she's not about to lose him.

What is time when you can travel across it? The idea of travelling anywhere at any point in time, as long as you have a map of it, is intriguing. Compelling. But then what is the future? Are you racing towards it or running from it? And what if time could be altered? What if the past could be changed?

A sense of something bittersweet and melancholy runs through this book, like mist swirling about the ankles. What is home? What is time? What is knowledge? What is fate? These are the questions asked by Nix, feared by Nix. An enchanting story of history and myth, of place and belonging, of love and loss. Of the lengths some will go to in order to save those they care about.

(I downloaded an e-galley of this title from HarperCollins through Edelweiss.)

Me on Timekeeper

Title: Timekeeper
Author: Tara Sim
Release Date: November 8, 2016
Publisher: Sky Pony Press (Skyhorse Publishing imprint)

In an alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, a damaged clock can fracture time—and a destroyed one can stop it completely. It's a truth that seventeen-year-old clock mechanic Danny Hart knows all too well; his father has been trapped in a Stopped town east of London for three years. Though Danny is a prodigy who can repair not only clockwork, but the very fabric of time, his fixation with staging a rescue is quickly becoming a concern to his superiors. And so they assign him to Enfield, a town where the tower seems to be forever plagued with problems. Danny's new apprentice both annoys and intrigues him, and though the boy is eager to work, he maintains a secretive distance. Danny soon discovers why: he is the tower's clock spirit, a mythical being that oversees Enfield's time. Though the boys are drawn together by their loneliness, Danny knows falling in love with a clock spirit is forbidden, and means risking everything he's fought to achieve. But when a series of bombings at nearby towers threaten to Stop more cities, Danny must race to prevent Enfield from becoming the next target or he'll not only lose his father, but the boy he loves, forever.

Timekeeper is intriguing, enthralling, mysterious, and more than a little somber. It's a story about lonely souls and missing hours, of hope and love and selfishness.

Danny is sweet and kind. Skilled at his work as mechanic, repairing clocks and helping right time. He's also lonely, bruised and wounded after an accident and after the loss of his father in a Stopped town. He's hiding from his nightmares, from the past, and looking for something that will give him hope in the future. He seems run-down and weary, tired. Then he goes to Enfield. Then he discovers the clock spirit. Then he discovers something bigger than the two of them is happening.

I was intrigued by the world-building here, by the need for advancement in clock mechanisms because of the changes to time. Because of time being something slightly tangible, something that can be reined in and controlled. Something that stems from mythology, from the gods and goddesses of ancient times. I thought it was intriguing and new, the manipulation of time and the clock spirits. I also liked how the author altered other parts of history, like this world's views of homosexuality. Danny isn't ridiculed or hated, but it's the default of most he comes across that, when they ask if he's seeing anyone, they assume he'd date a girl.

As I read this I was struck by a sweet, melancholy tone that carried me along, rising and falling as Danny worked on the clock tower in Enfield and uncovered more and more behind the bombings and the Stopped towns. At times I chuckled and at times I wanted to cry. There were some interesting pokes and prods at a deeper mystery going on, one Danny brushes up against near the end, and so I'm curious as to where the second book will go and what will be revealed. Also if any side characters will appear again, if their roles will get a little bigger. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the next book.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from Skyhorse Publishing.)

Me on A Darkly Beating Heart

Title: A Darkly Beating Heart
Author: Lindsay Smith
Release Date: October 25, 2016
Publisher: Running Brook Press (Macmillan imprint)

No one knows what to do with Reiko. She is full of hatred. All she can think about is how to best hurt herself and the people closest to her. After a failed suicide attempt, Reiko's parents send her from their Seattle home to spend the summer with family in Japan to learn to control her emotions. But while visiting Kuramagi, a historic village preserved to reflect the nineteenth-century Edo period, Reiko finds herself slipping back in time into the life of Miyu, a young woman even more bent on revenge than Reiko herself. Reiko loves being Miyu, until she discovers the secret of Kuramagi village, and must face down Miyu's demons as well as her own.

A Darkly Beating Heart is rough and painful, a look at anger and betrayal, at the harm we do to ourselves and to others. At the things that push us, at the lives we leave behind. At the darkness that can stew and fester inside of ourselves.

Reiko is rage and fury in human form. Nothing matters anymore, nothing but being angry. Nothing but getting her revenge on those that hurt her. Especially if that means killing herself in a way that publicly hurts them. She can't create anymore, she feels nothing from her art, from her photographs and collages. It's not worth it. All she can do now if she wants to feel something in cut herself and look for a way to end it all.

Considering the author's note at the end, I got the feeling that she really wanted to be as accurate as possible when it came to showing modern day Japan and the time slip moments set in the 19th century. She wanted to be faithful to Japanese customs and culture, not just paste the setting over North American values. Not being Japanese or ever living in Japan, I can't speak on the accuracy, but in my own personal opinion the setting certainly wasn't North America. Reiko has American values because she's American. But the other characters? The Japanese characters? From my own perception of Japan, they seem accurate and realistic. But again, this is my opinion. Readers from Japan might feel differently in terms of the author's accuracy.

This is a very dark story with multiple references to self-harm, suicide, and causing harm to others, so this might not be the book for some readers. I certainly didn't expect them and was taken aback for a moment or two before continuing. This was certainly a look at anger and what it does, how it changes us. How destroying it is. And the time slip moments were interesting, the moments in historical Japan with Miyu, her father, and the incoming samurai. I would recommend this for those looking for a darker sort of book, one full of revenge, but to take care in case of being triggered when it comes to suicide and self-harm.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (292)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Timekeeper
Author: Tara Sim
Release Date: November 1, 2016
Publisher: Sky Pony Press

From Goodreads:

Two o’clock was missing. 

In an alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, a damaged clock can fracture time—and a destroyed one can stop it completely.

It’s a truth that seventeen-year-old clock mechanic Danny Hart knows all too well; his father has been trapped in a Stopped town east of London for three years. Though Danny is a prodigy who can repair not only clockwork, but the very fabric of time, his fixation with staging a rescue is quickly becoming a concern to his superiors.

And so they assign him to Enfield, a town where the tower seems to be forever plagued with problems. Danny’s new apprentice both annoys and intrigues him, and though the boy is eager to work, he maintains a secretive distance. Danny soon discovers why: he is the tower’s clock spirit, a mythical being that oversees Enfield’s time. Though the boys are drawn together by their loneliness, Danny knows falling in love with a clock spirit is forbidden, and means risking everything he’s fought to achieve.

But when a series of bombings at nearby towers threaten to Stop more cities, Danny must race to prevent Enfield from becoming the next target or he’ll not only lose his father, but the boy he loves, forever.

The stunning first novel in a new trilogy by debut author Tara Sim, Timekeeper is perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and Victoria Schwab.

Ooooo, time travel. And it's complicated time travel. And the characters aren't straight! More gay and lesbian main characters in fantasy and genre fiction! I'm really looking forward to reading this, seeing how the time travel goes and what the deal is with clock spirits and how everything goes wrong. Because it's bound to go wrong.

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (290)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: A Darkly Beating Heart
Author: Lindsay Smith
Release Date: October 25, 2016
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan imprint)

From Goodreads:

A time-travel story that alternates between modern day and 19th century Japan as one girl confronts the darkness lurking in her soul.

No one knows what to do with Reiko. She is full of hatred. All she can think about is how to best hurt herself and the people closest to her. After a failed suicide attempt, Reiko’s parents send her from their Seattle home to spend the summer with family in Japan to learn to control her emotions. But while visiting Kuramagi, a historic village preserved to reflect the nineteenth-century Edo period, Reiko finds herself slipping back in time into the life of Miyu, a young woman even more bent on revenge than Reiko herself. Reiko loves being Miyu, until she discovers the secret of Kuramagi village, and must face down Miyu’s demons as well as her own.

I've seen a lot of people say how good this book is, how raw and powerful it is. But even without those comments, the description definitely has me hooked. Japan? Flawed, complicated heroine? Some vague kind of time travel? Secrets and demons? YES.

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (289)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Wayfarer
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Release Date: January 3, 2017
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

From Goodreads:

All Etta Spencer wanted was to make her violin debut when she was thrust into a treacherous world where the struggle for power could alter history. After losing the one thing that would have allowed her to protect the Timeline, and the one person worth fighting for, Etta awakens alone in an unknown place and time, exposed to the threat of the two groups who would rather see her dead than succeed. When help arrives, it comes from the last person Etta ever expected—Julian Ironwood, the Grand Master’s heir who has long been presumed dead, and whose dangerous alliance with a man from Etta’s past could put them both at risk. 

Meanwhile, Nicholas and Sophia are racing through time in order to locate Etta and the missing astrolabe with Ironwood travelers hot on their trail. They cross paths with a mercenary-for-hire, a cheeky girl named Li Min who quickly develops a flirtation with Sophia. But as the three of them attempt to evade their pursuers, Nicholas soon realizes that one of his companions may have ulterior motives. 

As Etta and Nicholas fight to make their way back to one another, from Imperial Russia to the Vatican catacombs, time is rapidly shifting and changing into something unrecognizable… and might just run out on both of them.

I enjoyed Passenger, I thought the time travel part was interesting, how it works with certain families, and there were some twists that I hadn't expected. It's interesting when people's motives win out over common sense or reason. I'm definitely curious about how it will end, how Etta and Nicholas will find the astrolabe and how everything will end. Who will live, who might die, and who might end up stuck in time because of reasons.

Me on The Girl from Everywhere

Title: The Girl from Everywhere
Author: Heidi Heilig
Release Date: February 16, 2016
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins imprint)

Nix's life began in Honolulu in 1868. Since then she has traveled to mythic Scandinavia, a land from the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, modern-day New York City, and many more places both real and imagined. As long as he has a map, Nix's father can sail his ship, the Temptation, to any place, any time. But now he's uncovered the one map he's always sought—1868 Honolulu, before Nix's mother died in childbirth. Nix's life—her entire existence—is at stake. No one knows what will happen if her father changes the past. It could erase Nix's future, her dreams, her adventures... her connection with the charming Persian thief, Kash, who's been part of their crew for two years. If Nix helps her father reunite with the love of his life, it will cost her her own.

The Girl from Everywhere is full of adventure, intrigue, danger, and magic. It's a story of searching and hunting and racing across the seas, a story of hope and fear and impossibility.

Nix is rough and opinionated. Her relationship with her father is ragged and jagged around the edges, a constant battle of love and distrust and fearful arguments. For a girl with her whole life in front of her, she fears the past and the future. The past, when her mother birthed her and died. The past her father is desperate to return to, to save her mother. But is Nix continues along with his plans, if they return to a point in time before her mother died, what will happen to Nix? What if she makes plans of her own?

The history here is rich and detailed. The Temptation travels through time, yes, but with an old world magic and glamour to it. Maps have always been the key to travel, the ways we plot out our journeys. Our adventures. In this book, to this captain, they're a way to travel across space and time, gliding across the page and into the seas themselves. Towards distant countries and mystical islands. And the detail in which 19th century Honolulu is portrayed is wonderful. It's so rare to see a book set in this place at this point in American history, mostly because it's largely ignored and often forgotten.

This is a book of possibility, of regrets and hopes and tension, of mistakes and second chances. This is a book about obsession, about how we cannot let go of what we crave. Who we love. Nix's father cannot let go of her mother, of his love for her, and Nix cannot let go of her desire to live. To continue. To be a real girl and not an accident or mistake. This book is filled with adventure and danger, of treasure-seeking and home-searching, of impossibility and mortality. How wonderful it was to find a book with a diverse heroine, a complicated and sometimes angry heroine, and multiple characters of colour. And have it be genre fiction! As I turned the last page, I couldn't help but wonder about whatever could happen next. What's coming in the next book?

(I downloaded an e-galley of this book from HarperCollins through Edelweiss.)

Me on Passenger

Title: Passenger
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Release Date: January 5, 2016
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she's inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she's never heard of. Until now. Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he's known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can't escape and the family that won't let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas' passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them— whether she wants to or not. Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods' grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home... forever.

Passenger is full of danger, deceit, and complication. It's a journey through time and space, a search for something important wanted by those with greatly different plans.

Etta is ready to take her place on the international stage, to show the world her talent as a violinist, but she's being held back. By her instructor, by the awkward relationship she has with her mother. Through bizarre circumstance, she finds herself on a ship in the 18th century. She finds her mother has been keeping a number of secrets from her. She finds herself a victim of someone else's plots and plans. But she has a plan of her own.

Nicholas is working hard to run, to forget, to move ahead. To prove to the world he is more than the colour of his skin while he himself struggles with that fact. To prove to the Ironwoods that he isn't their servant, their mistake, the he won't stand for being under their thumb. But he can't escape the one regret in his past the haunts him every single day. Like Etta, he has a plan, but in some ways those plans differ.

The time travel aspect appeals to me. There are rules and consequences, there are certain paths to follow. It isn't an anywhere or anytime kind of situation, which was exciting to find. Consequences make time travel interesting. It means you have to remember things, places and time periods, or you could ruin everything. It's very likely that they could ruin everything. Etta and Nicholas aren't the only people searching, aren't the only ones with plans. Aren't the only ones driven by determination, jealousy, or pride.

This is a very dense book, full of description, dread, despair, and discovery. Both Etta and Nicholas spend a great deal of time pondering the past, their future. Their fate. I was intrigued by Etta's passionate nature, her desire to search and save those lose to her, her rather obvious hatred of being manipulated by the Ironwoods. She's got some fire in her, that's for sure. And there are moments when she stops and realizes that her way of thinking, the 21st century way, isn't how it works in past centuries. Moments when she feels ashamed for not realizing how different customs in different time periods would feel for Nicholas. As the time travel and the adventure interested me more, I'm curious to see where, when, the story will go next.

(I received an e-galley of this title from Disney Book Group through NetGalley.)

Me on My Most Anticipated Books of 2016

Hi all! Instead of a review today, I thought I'd essentially end the year with a look forward to what's coming out next year.

The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig: How intriguing is this book! Time travel and pirates and history and confused girls and complicated matters. I've got an e-galley of this so I'm thinking it might be my first read of 2016. It just sounds so interesting, and other people I follow have enjoyed it. I'm curious as to how in depth it will get into pirates and different time periods and adventure and danger.

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst: I want to read this so much. How often do you come across a fantasy novel where the princess, engaged to marry and prince from another land, instead falls in love with his sister? Lesbians in YA fantasy? Finally. And there isn't a love triangle, the author said so on Twitter. Exciting!

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab: New YA from Victoria! It could be about almost anything and I'd read it. It's by Victoria. I love how all of Victoria's books play with good and evil, right and wrong, and how vast the shades of grey in between them are. It's not just one or the other, true or false, A or B. It's a giant mishmash of everything. It's going to be a mess of the monsters outside and the monster inside and danger and angst and it's going to be wonderful.

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater: This list is in no particular order. If it was, this would be first. ;) I crave returning to this world with a fiery passion. Rereading just won't cut it, not completely. It's the needing to know what happens next. What happens to Blue and her boys now that things were uncovered and people were rescued and people were left behind. What happens now with the trees and the magic and the ghosts and the possibilities. How will Gansey die? What will happen after he dies? Remember, gentle readers, to think of the 'what will happen after.'

Riders by Veronica Rossi: The only other series featuring the Horsemen of the Apocalypse that I've read is Jackie Morse Kessler's series, so check that out if you're looking for something more contemporary that really nails some tough issues. This appeals to the dark fantasy part of my reader's brain, especially the part of the summary that details their failure.

The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski: This series has been emotional and painful and deadly and full of hidden truths and obvious lies. Kestrel and Arin have been through everything, it's wrecked them so much, and they still have further to go.

Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff: BECAUSE I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. *ahem* Because Illuminae was so enthralling and expansive and dangerous. While each book will feature a different 'pair,' I'm still curious about what was happening during Kady and Ezra's story. There's never just one side to a story.

Of course, these are just the books I'm really excited for right now. There are loads more that I'm also excited for, like The Dark Days Club, Gena/Finn, Places No One Knows, Behold the Bones, etc. It's hard to narrow it down, you know?

What books are you looking forward to for next year? Hope you all have a great holiday and a happy new year! :)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (218)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: The Clouded Sky
Author: Megan Crewe
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Razorbill Canada (Penguin Canada imprint)

From Goodreads:

Skylar never imagined that she'd end up helping a boy from another planet search through Earth's history for a way to end his people's secret control over her world. But now that she's been drawn into Win's group of rebels, she can’t walk away until their mission is completed.

Whisked to the immense space station that Win and the rest of the Kemyates call home, Skylar discovers that even the rebels don’t see her as an equal. Determined to prove herself amid her homesickness in the alien environment, she throws herself into the work to free Earth. Her keen attention to detail and skill with numbers start to earn her colleagues' respect, but that doesn't make her position any less precarious. As the Enforcers escalate their attempts to capture the rebels, it becomes clear that someone within the resistance is leaking information to the enemy. And Skylar may be in the best position to uncover the traitor.

With each step toward the truth, Skylar is pulled deeper into the lives around her and the full horrors of her planet's imprisonment. To see her mission through, she must risk her life, her heart, and the future she's worked so hard to preserve.

As I rather enjoyed the first book, all sci-fi and time travel and patterns and consequences, I'm looking forward to this. :)

Me on Earth & Sky

Title: Earth & Sky
Author: Megan Crewe
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Publisher: Razorbill Canada (Penguin Canada imprint)

Seventeen-year-old Skylar has always been haunted by fleeting yet powerful feelings that something around her has gone wrong. Those impressions have never seemed to reflect anything real, and have only earned her stares and whispers behind her back. But after she meets a mysterious boy named Win, she learns an unsettling truth: we are not alone on Earth. In fact, visitors from beyond the stars are manipulating our planet and the essential fabric of our world; life as we know it is starting to unravel. And Skylar, and her heightened awareness, just may be the key to our salvation.

Earth & Sky is an exciting adventure with twists, turns, and a number of surprises. What if someone else, someone in outer space, was constantly watching us, had been watching us for decades? Centuries? What if they'd done more than just watch?

Skylar is a perceptive girl, but that perception has lead to a fair amount of anxiety and coping mechanisms. She relies heavily on math and numbers in order to stay calm. Numbers can't be changed. There's always a solution. And so, Skylar can trust numbers. But trust Win? Not so much, considering he just appears out of nowhere. Considering he makes what she thought she knew about the world completely wrong. But that doesn't stop her from helping him.

I liked the world-building when it came to the science fiction aspect, the aliens and their purpose. What the author's had to do is craft a whole other world. A new species with new technology. A species with a curious set of motives, all in the name of science. As well as figure out who they are, what motivates them also had to be figured out, their reasoning behind their actions. Sometimes that's hard enough to figure out with human characters, let alone aliens from outer space.

A fair amount of this book has to do with control. There's the control that Skylar exerts over her world, her faith in numbers to keep everything ordered. But there's another kind out there. What if we weren't alone? What if something, someone, was in control instead of us? What if they controlled our destiny, changing events as they saw fit? What if we didn't even know it was happening?

It's an intriguing proposal, the idea that we are not alone in the universe, the idea that we're not necessarily in control but we're trying to fix it. It raises a lot of questions, especially for Skylar. What if she could change certain events in her past? Would those be for the best? But then what would happen to Win and his mission? This is definitely an interesting book with a solid ending still left open for the rest of the trilogy.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Penguin Canada.)

Me on The Spiritglass Charade

Title: The Spiritglass Charade
Author: Colleen Gleason
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Publisher: Chronicle Books

After the Affair of the Clockwork Scarab, Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes are eager to help Princess Alix with a new case. Seventeen-year-old Willa Aston is obsessed with spiritual mediums, convinced she is speaking with her mother from beyond the grave. What seems like a case of spiritualist fraud quickly devolves into something far more menacing: someone is trying to make Willa "appear lunatic," using an innocent-looking spiritglass to control her. The list of clues piles up: an unexpected murder, a gang of pickpockets, and the return of vampires to London. But are these events connected? As Uncle Sherlock would say, "there are no coincidences." It will take all of Mina's wit and Evaline's muscle to keep London's sinister underground at bay.

The Spiritglass Charade is a return to an intriguing late 19th century London, a city technologically advanced in some ways and stunted in others. It's a return to a city filled with secrets, with dark corners and even darker figures. It's a return to the most intelligent Mina Holmes and the most intrepid Evaline Stoker, a return to their ongoing adventures and discoveries.

What's refreshing is that Mina and Evaline haven't changed a single bit. They're still the same young women from the previous book. One is all-knowing, all-presuming, all-problem solving, and the other is strong and fierce, ready to take up arms and fight back against evil. A mismatched couple, to be sure, but they're slowly coming to understand each other. Both their strengths and their weaknesses are highlighted throughout this mystery involving ghosts, spiritualists, and vampires.

I am wholly intrigued by the setting and the world-building. The mixture of the late Victorian era time period, the inclusion of steam and clockwork-based technology, the lack of electricity, the hints of time travel, the vampires. But the combination of Holmes, a fictional character, and Stoker, a real life writer/author make it hard to suspend my disbelief. There's a tiny scrap of it remaining, and it's because of this. This story is interesting, the characters are complicated, but this one small part still bothers me, and it probably will throughout the series.

But I'm still curious, still interested, still entranced by the mysteries that weave themselves around Mina and Evaline. More questions are asked this time around with only a few answered, and I'm still left wondering about the origins and motives of almost every other character. Mainly Pix. Who is he? If you enjoyed the previous book, if you're interested in steampunk mysteries with clever and flawed leading ladies, you'l probably enjoy this.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Now and For Never

Title: Now and For Never
Author: Lesley Livingston
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Publisher: Razorbill Canada (Penguin Canada imprint)

Past and present collide on the high seas when Clare and Allie hurtle back in time once more in a perilous attempt to retrieve Marcus Donatus—Allie's blast-from-the-past crush—and put an end, once and for all, to the Time Monkey Shenanigans. But when Clare and Allie unexpectedly find themselves temporal stowaways on a Roman warship full of looted Celtic gold, sailing straight for the heart of a magic-fueled maelstrom, there's not much they can do but hang on for the ride—and hope Milo can tap into the Druid lore trapped in his genius brain to help bring them home, before it's too late. The only thing that's going to save Clarinet Reid and Allie McAllister now is if they join forces with old enemies, new loves, and unexpected friends.

Now and For Never is the conclusion of the epic adventures of two friends through time, of magic and Druids and Romans, of scheming plots and fate.

Clarinet Reid and Allie McAllister are two average teenage girls. They're friends who laugh together, argue with each other, and travel through time to stop an evil jerk of an enemy together. Well, a few evil jerks. Well, not evil, just misguided and drunk on treasure and/or power. I love Clare and Allie as a duo. They're friends who get each other, who accept each other's flaws and continue to roll on with the crazy, who are always there to help each other.

There's a moment near the beginning where Clare voices her concerns to Allie regarding Marcus. Their separate visits to the past were different, Clare's short visits with the Druids compared to Allie's long stop with the Romans. They're two sides of a brutal war, two different opinions. Clare has her prejudices against the Romans for what they did to Comorra and the Iceni people, and she tells Allie that. She tells Allie that she's biased against not saving him. She tells Allie that she doesn't like having those biased feelings. And Allie understands. Both of them understand. They might argue about sense and reason and whether travelling through time is a shimmer or a zot, but they'll always be friends.

I like how the author goes back in time with Clare and Allie, how she takes what we already know (or presume to know) about Ancient Britain and the Druids and Romans and fiddles around with it a bit. Yes, it's all implausible, but it's still exciting. This series takes history and time travel and, while still treating the history seriously, also pokes fun and makes it entertaining. There's a lot of pressure on Clare and Allie to right wrongs, to fix timelines, but there's still a sense of light-heartedness that runs through the book. It's serious but also fun.

This series has been a wonderful mix of time travel, British history, sass, geek culture quotes, and two best friends. I'm a bit sad to see it end, but their adventures are over. For now. And Stuart Morholt will always be a jerk.

(I purchased a copy of this book.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (151)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Hollow City
Author: Ransom Riggs
Release Date: January 14, 2014
Publisher: Quirk Books

From Goodreads:

In 1940 after the first book ends, Jacob and his new Welsh island friends flee to London, the Peculiar capital of the world. Caul, a dangerous madman, is Miss Peregrine’s brother, and can steal Peculiar abilities for himself. The Peculiars must fight for survival, again.

Okay, the description leaves a lot to be desired, but it's okay. I know that this is going to be just as creepy and different and unique and enchanting as the first book. I hope there will be as many photographs in this as there were in the first. Half of the story is in the photographs, as odd and spooky as they are.

Me on The Clockwork Scarab

Title: The Clockwork Scarab
Author: Colleen Gleason
Release Date: September 17, 2013
Publisher: Chronicle Books

Two young women of similar age and standing have disappeared: one found dead and the other still missing. The only clue to connect them is a small Egyptian clockwork scarab. Only Miss Stoker and Miss Holmes are well-positioned enough, similar in age and stature as they are to the victims, to investigate. An unlikely pair, the fierce Evaline Stoker and logical Mina Holmes must follow in the footsteps of their infamous families, Miss Holmes has inherited her Uncle Sherlock’s keen investigative skills while Miss Stoker has accepted her family calling as a hunter of the undead. The partners must find a way to work together, while navigating the advances of a strange yet handsome American, a clever Scotland Yard investigator, and a cunning thief, to solve the mystery of the clockwork scarabs.

The Clockwork Scarab is intriguing, a unique twisting together of Victorian intrigue and secrecy, steam, Egyptian mythology, and even a bit of time travel. Two intelligent and resourceful heroines follow hidden clues and their own curiosity in order to expose a dangerous group responsible for the deaths of young, privileged women, hoping to keep anyone else from disappearing or dying.

Mina and Evaline, while brought together in order to uncover the truth, are by no means friends. In some situations, they're barely civil towards each other. To Evaline, Mina is an awkward but bossy young woman who spends too much time with her nose in a book, constantly taking charge and analyzing the situation just like her uncle would. Alternately, Mina sees Evaline as head-strong and impatient, more inclined to show off her fighting skills and toss caution to the wind, jumping in straight away without thinking of consequences. Both see the other as foolish and unnecessary, perhaps with potential skills that could assist the investigation. They're forced to work on the mystery with each other, two girls who exist both in and out of polite society because of their skills, and they must learn to work together to keep the rest of London safe.

I'm often pulled into books by creative and intriguing world-building. Here is a re-imagining of a known setting, the past setting of London in the late 19th century, but this isn't the London I'm familiar with. This is a new but old London that runs on steam and gears, that exists in different street levels one on top of the other. It implies a different sort of evolution of the UK, that this, perhaps, isn't the past we are familiar with, that this is more of an alternate history sort of book.

The author has paid a great deal of attention to the grandeur of the setting, the details of the new steampunk machines and vehicles, the thought-processes of a well-bred but unconventional young woman living in London. She is polite but head-strong, intelligent, inquisitive, resourceful, thoughtful, and witty, her corset hiding a strong will and a spine of steel. She is easily dismissed by male counterparts and authority figures but is willing to push forward, to break through society's norms and take matters into her own hands. Mina Holmes and Evaline Stoker are the only ones able to unravel the mystery and they will not stop, even with inquisitive young men following them, poking their noses in unwanted places.

This is similar to Gail Carriger's Finishing School series, both in genre and it connecting to a previous adult series. This book is set some 60 to 70 years after Gleason's The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, but I'm not sure how loosely or tightly connected this series will be to it.

With re-tellings and re-imaginings, a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required on behalf of the reader. In this book, with Sherlock Holmes being a real person, with Bram Stoker writing of vampires because he knew they were real, with London running on steam and mechanical devices, with someone travelling through time and ending up in this steam-filled city, I was both entertained and confused. As thrilling as the mystery and the plot are, as compelling as the characters are, as intricate as the world-building is, I still had a little bit of trouble suspending that much disbelief.

That being said, I did find this thoroughly enjoyable. The mystery and intrigue, the new-old London, the ways in which Mina and Evaline clash and work off each other, all of that worked for me. Considering where the book went and how it ended, I'm rather curious as to what will happen next, what mystery Mina and Evaline will have to uncover while keeping the bossy men in their lives at bay.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on All Our Yesterdays

Title: All Our Yesterdays
Author: Cristin Terrill
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except Finn's voice coming from the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain. Only Em can complete the final instruction. She's tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present, imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside. Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America's most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, his life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina's hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was.

All Our Yesterdays is thrilling, complex, and compelling, a story of making difficult choices in the name of exposing the truth and survival. Dual point of view introduce readers to to very different girls, two girls who are more connected than is expected. Their lives, their timelines, are about to intersect and reveal a surprising and agonizing truth.

Em is imprisoned, trapped. She needs to break free. Em seems to be fully realized as a character, she knows who she is, she knows what has to be done, and she knows it's going to be almost impossible and utterly painful. She has the feel of an end result as a character. Her world is dark, painful, and not what it should be. A number of things are unsaid at the beginning between her and Finn, but what's clear is that they both need to travel back in time to stop something from happening, to stop someone from becoming a monster. To return the world around them to what it once was.

By contrast, Marina hasn't become her own person yet, she isn't as solid. What she is is intelligent, caring, and harbouring a puppy-love crush over her neighbour James. When his life crumbles she jumps right in as someone for him to lean on, as someone to keep him safe. But there's a lot Marina doesn't know that could change her mind about recent events, there are people in her life she doesn't know the truth about. And she doesn't know Em is on her way.

The time travel aspect is treated well, it's roots are in science and deals with complicated equations regarding different dimensions, but it's not overused or abused in any way. Em and Finn travel back in time, into Marina's timeline, to make the one choice that will keep her world from becoming theirs. But can the past be changed?

For most if not all of the book, the focus is on trust and choice. How to we decide who to trust? Is it enough to trust their words, or must we see it for ourselves? What if we make the wrong choice? What if we could go back and not make that choice, knowing what it leads to? Yes, this has time travel, but it's less about the science of it and more about the choosing to go back, more about the moral implications and the repercussions, more about the human side of it. Every time Em went back she was hoping to make the right choice, hoping that everything would work out, hoping that Marina would get the chance to live.

I found this to be such an intriguing story. Given the chance, would we go back and right wrongs, keep the world from changing in certain ways, keep those we care about from leaving? Should we go back? What if those changes are dangerous? What if they require action to be taken on the biggest scale? What if they mean murder? What if realizing the most painful truth means making the most painful sacrifice? Just before I started this book, I discovered it's actually the first in a duology. Taking that into account, along with the abrupt but powerful ending, I'm a little confused but also curious about the next book.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from Disney Book Group through NetGalley.)

Me on Every Never After

Title: Every Never After
Author: Lesley Livingston
Release Date: March 12, 2013
Publisher: Razorbill Canada (Penguin Canada imprint)

Despite their vow, best friends Clare and Allie once more find themselves in trouble, and traveling through time. Indulging in a low-key vacation at Glastonbury Tor, taking part in an archeological dig while soaking up the sights of summertime England, the girls promised each other three things. No time travel shenanigans, no involvement with dangerous Druids or villainous museum thieves, and no weirdness about the fact that Clare is now dating Allie's super hot genius cousin, Milo. But when Allie makes a discovery at the dig site, the skull transports her back in time to a Roman encampment besieged by rampaging Celts. Caught between the Legions and the war band, Allie is rescued from certain death by Marcus, a young Roman soldier with a secret. As she struggles to survive in the past, Clare and Milo race against time in the present to bring her back before she loses her head or her heart.

Every Never After is a welcome return to an entertaining series with witty and intelligent characters. A return to Clare and Allie means a return to 1st century Britain with a little time travel to help them along, a return to blood magic and raging Celts and Druids, a return to complicated time streams and ingenious teen girls. But things are different now, this time it's Allie who travels back in time, and it's up to Clare to help bring her back.

Things are a lot more complicated this time around. Now Allie is trapped in the past and Clare and Milo are racing to find away to bring her back without bringing two worlds together and crashing everything into everything else. The stakes are so much higher than they were before, merely a month ago to Clare and Allie, and so much is at risk of disappearing.

It's never easy for Allie and Clare. Time is fickle, working against them along with Druid magic and villainous thieves. But what makes this book so entertaining is Allie and Clare themselves. They're passionate and sometimes foolish and headstrong, but they're smart, they're ingenious and intelligent, and they always seem to find a way to fix what was broken by a rather pompous time-traveling man.

Time travel is so complicated, so intricate and delicate. There are consequences to messing with time, there are paradoxes, and every loose thread must be tied off. Or everything Clare and Allie have done with be for naught.

With both this book and its predecessor, Lesley Livingston combines history, science fiction, and witty characters to bring readers something entertaining, cleverly disguising a possible British history lesson with a lot of action and intrigue. This book turns up the suspense, the excitement, the danger, the time travel complications, and at the end left me breathless and desperate for a third book.

(I received an e-galley to review from Penguin Canada through NetGalley.)