The Kiss of Deception

 The first book in the Remnant Chronicles was one I was suggested on a social media group and, boy, was I astounded on how much I liked it. 

Lea is a princess and is forced into an arranged marriage to a prince she doesn't know. She doesn't like the idea of being tied down to a old man for the sake of diplomacy, so she runs away with her ladies maid. Leaving false leads and trails, the two girls flee to another nearby country to disappear all together. But leaving behind her past is far harder than she thought. Her marriage cavah (henna tattoo) on her back which was supposed to fade after a few baths, seems to becoming more vibrant and colorful. And the Gift she was supposed to have but never able to tap into starts to bloom in her.  Becoming a tavern waitress and starting a fresh and anew, Lea finds that her past is still very close at hand. Unknowingly, the Prince she was supposed to marry and an Assassin sent to kill her follow her trails and board at the tavern she works in. And slowly, she finds that she is falling in love with these two men and whom they portray. But then when news from home spurs her to head back and turn herself in as a traitor for running away, she finds herself kidnapped by this Assassin who can't quite bring himself to kill her so instead takes her back to his home country, across desserts and plains, through ruins of the ancient and canyons; all the while the Prince is hot on their trail to find her and kill him before they are out of reach. 

I'm not much one for love triangles, but this one isn't so bad. I think the thing that makes this  love triangle okay is that the characters are their own. They are full, deep, and lively characters that push the story on more than just pining over "my love for you" and whatnot. A good part of the second half is the knowing that the Assassin lied to her and he keeps lying to her because he's loyal to his country and yet still doesn't want to kill her, he's saved her--yet obviously this is a bad thing because he's still kidnapped her. Their relationship is very twisted and dependent on one another even if she doesn't want it to be. 

I also liked at the beginning we don't actually know who is the Assassin and who is the Prince. There is enough ambiguity between the two men that the reader is constantly guessing who is who and if this guy is going to kill her by throwing her off a cliff or dagger in the night or other instances. 

The character development for Lea is great and you can see the turmoil that happens for the boys (though I wish there was more of them in the story--specifically Rafe). 

I also really like the Ancients and the ruins and the stories/remembrances that are threaded importantly throughout the story. Lea is "The Chosen One" and has a prophecy about her that we find out more about as she does. I want there to be ghosts in the ruins. I want there to be more that others understand about the prophecy as they nod knowingly. I want more information about these ancient civilizations, specifically the truths behind why and how they collapsed more than just "The Gods did it." And what's fun (because I started listening to book two already), we do. 

I've really enjoyed this series.  

Trickster's Choice

Tamora Pierce is at it again in the Trickster's series. This book is based on Aly, Alanna's only daughter.

Aly has the Sight from her father and a heavy dose of magical power from her mother. Unlike her mother, she has no inclination of being a knight of the realm, but instead wants to be a spy like her father. However, being the only girl in the family and knowing the world of spywork first hand, her parents keep her only in the back rooms transcribing notes and reports from spies in the field. Aly wants more. She wants an opportunity to prove herself. And, boy, does she get one.

While sailing north to get away from her mother's temper, her small dingy gets overtaken by slavers and she becomes sold into slavery in the Copper Isles--which is known for its crazy nobility. However, the family she is sold to has a God looking after it, her father's very own patron God, and has a touch of destiny about it. She makes a deal with the Trickster God: keep the children of the Balitang family alive throughout the summer and he will make sure she gets home to Tortall safely. How hard can keeping a bunch of high ranking nobility safe be right?

This is just not my favorite series of Tamora's, which is sad. I think it has great promise and if I remember correctly, the next one is really good. I hope it's really good. This is actually the first book I picked up from Tamora Pierce which my friend made me put down and pick up Alanna: The First Adventure instead. Don't read this if you haven't read the other books first. You will miss out on a lot of things and be very confused on many of those same things that are presented.

This series is a big change for Tamora and her writing. Here she is doing something very different from her past series. It is her first first-person-point-of-view novel as well as her first single book of such a length. Tamora has slowly been getting long, but this has more words in it than even Lady Knight. With this expense I feel she runs into some problems. I feel like she didn't do enough with the first person POV. There felt like very little emotion, that we normally get through that type of POV, wasn't there. There was very little internal dialog or thought that was conveyed which made it feel like Tamora had simply switched it from third to first by changing the "she"s to "I"s and kept writing. There is supposed to be more of an internal view when it comes to first person that I don't think she grasped here.

The other part I didn't so much like was the long periods of time where nothing seemed to really be happening. This is my second read through (though the first time I read it was probably fourteen years ago (yikes)) and from the time when I first read it to now, I could only recall a few things that happened. They were at the climax and at the very beginning. They were basics. Like crows turning human, the guys name is Nawat, and Aly was a slave. I didn't remember much from the first book at all like I do in other stories where I revisit these awesome moments in my mind over and over (I do this a lot with the Stormlight Archive or in The Immortals series.). I honestly didn't remember that she was a spy (until my friend commented on it and I was like "What? Really?"), because there wasn't much spyness to it. She could pick locks, she searched through people's stuff and waited. I guess that is a lot of what spies do. They wait. But in the need of an engaging novel, it didn't have very high stakes when she was spying. There was not a thought to her getting caught because she was just so good. There was never that tention or her needing to hide in a closet or behind curtains because someone came back to their rooms early. Most of the time I can bust out a Tamora Pierce series in a month, all four books, but this single book nearly took me a month to read by itself. I needed to grab some graphic novels while I was at it because Trickster's Choice was slow and I needed a pick-me-up.

I do also think that when it came to the "slave situation," things were over simplified. It was very much glossed over with "the Duke and Duchess were very kind to everyone" then the grand generalizations of "bad things happened to other slaves by other masters." There were one or two mentions of what 'bad things' were, but not enough to really compare and get a feel for the real world of the Copper Isles.

Now, Tamora's writing in it I think was lacking. It was slow and not as engaging as The Immortals series or Protector of the Small. But there were really good characters. There was a whole cast of different people with different personalities and different things they were good at. Dove and Sarai were dramatically different and very easy to tell apart--whereas sometimes in the past it is hard to tell sisters apart and they almost come in a set. This is not the case for them. The duke and duchess were very different from their peers in that they were kind to everyone in their household, servants, slaves, men-at-arms, etc. They were supposed to be different which made it easy for the reader to like them. I do wish we were given a reason as to why they were so kind to all, not just "because reasons" or "because plot," but something more solid. Kypiroth, the Trickster himself, was fantastic. Very much reminded me of my favorite George in manors and humor. Nawat was very sweet being a crow who turns human to help Aly (reasons are given, so although it's odd it's still valid). His constant talk of fledgelings, hawks, snakes, and mobbings alongside his devotion for her and his own quirkiness made him endearing and someone I really liked. I do wish the little raka committee that Aly becomes a part of differentiated the people a little bit more. The names got to be kind of obnoxious and it was hard to tell some of the men apart.

I do have another qualm with Aly, herself. She's too good at what she does. At the beginning when they are traveling to the outer estate and all is quiet in the woods, she knows better than the Duke's guards and people who are three times her age who had done this before she was born. Yet, she knows better. That rather irked me. She is smarter than practically everyone around her even people who are supposed to be veterans in one thing or another. There also isn't a time when she actually fails. She's perfect and doesn't do things wrong. There are people who die towards the end, but the characters were all prepared for that or plot for the second book needed to happen. I wanted to cry for them especially one character, but I didn't. Aly wasn't even there when the death happened. I wan't emotionally invested because Aly wasn't invested. I also think her Sight is a cop-out for description. There is no other use for it, really, except to describe things for the reader. Other than that it is almost completely unneeded. She doesn't use it for finding mages or looking into locks or something. She hardly uses it at anyway. I feel like she could have used it better.

I wish I liked it more. I will, of course, be reading the second book in Aly's series because it was better. Read on, readers. Read on.

Crown of Midnight

Crown of Midnight is the second book in the "Throne of Glass" Series by Sarah J. Maas and I really enjoyed it. It is one, if you are a dedicated reader, you could probably finish in a day. It took me a bit longer than that, but once I sat down I easily busted through about 200 pages today. It's do-able.

After Celaena becomes the King's Champion, AKA personal assassin, she is told to dispatch lords and ladies who stand as threats against the King. Only the King is crazy, power hungry, and  crazy! so in order to fulfill her contract sends them off into hiding and finds cadavers to pose as her victims. Saving innocent lives while not fullying doing what the King says. But things get complicated when she is told to find and kill one of her old friends named Archer. She doesn't believe him to be capable of being a master criminal. Archer, a male prostitute for the noble class and a friend to the Assassins guild Celaena was a part of, quickly folds under her interrogation and believes that there is a movement to put the lost heir to the Terrasen thone back in her rightful place. She gives him a month to giver her information before she'll let him slip out of the country.

Only getting information from Archer isn't the only thing that has started creeping in. The underground passageway in her room holds more secrets than a tomb, and there happens to be more than one passageway in the castle that has been left undisturbed for what seems centuries. Books and strange markings seem to follow her everywhere. Nehemia also has her own treasure trove of secrets that complicate Celaena's life greatly. And finally her relationship with Choal begins to blossom.

But then, tragedy strikes and Celaena goes bazerk. Crazed with vengeance, her friends don't recognize her anymore and she ends up being thrown in the dungeon. Oops. All kinds of poop hits the fan and she dives deeper into the castles shadows and finds creatures that shouldn't exist. Can she trust anyone within this glass prison?

Aside from the vulgarity of its expletives I really enjoyed the book. The world it created was as well done as the previous book. It expanded the realm and explained little questions that had popped up from  the first book, though more questions had arisen (as it should be for a continuing story).

When the major tragedy strikes, I understand why Celaena goes crazy, but I wanted to cry. I didn't cry. It was such a shock to Celaena causing the scene to be hazy (great narration through an unreliable narrator at the moment) and she snapped so quickly that it gave the reader no time to freak out and cry over the tragedy. I wasn't drawn out as much as I wish I had been.

The fight scenes here and turn of events were great. Some things I didn't seen coming. Though the big surprise at the end, I guessed at fairly quickly. I really enjoyed the underlying mysteries that haunted this book and finding out all the intricacies that have happened in the past of this kingdom, the magic, and the Fae. I greatly enjoyed it.

Celaena and one of the boys also become lovers throughout the course of the story. I have been warned by others that things tend to get steamy and explicit as the books go on. But the scenes in this book are veiled with a "draw curtain" breaks. I am very glad for these because I don't want to read it. I prefer class to vulgarity any day. I didn't choose to skip any scene in this book and I feel it still keeps to it's YA category.

I have the next one waiting upstairs for me to pick it up and start reading soon.

Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass  is a book I've heard nothing but praises for and, after having read it, I completely agree.

The best assassin was previously captured and put into a mining camp to pretty much die. But because she had the will to stay alive, she is invited to the palace of the man who imprisoned her in the first place. Live in a palace and find a way to escape while going through a competition against other villainous peoples to be the "King's Champion" (AKA personal assassin) with a chance of freedom or die in the mines... the decision was easy. In becoming the Crowned Prince's champion in this competition, Celaena is watched over by not only the Crowned Prince (who is a handsome, charming, reputation-holding man who doesn't like the King/his father), but also the Captain of the Guard (a shy, glaring, but kind guy) is keeping an eye on her so then she won't assassinate anyone while she is residing in the palace.

While she is the best assassin in the land, she is also an 18 year old girl. She still acts like an 18 year old girl. There is a slight love triangle that happens, but it's not super heavy so I overlooked it. (Except at the cute parts anyway.) There were a few Cinderella moments (which the author makes reference too in the commentary at the end) where she goes to a masquerade ball where she gets to dance with the prince. But she's also an assassin and doesn't take crap from anyone.

At the same time of the competition to be the King's Champion, there are ghosts and murders among the competitors. Not only are they getting kicked out of the competition but they are also getting murdered and eaten by something that is haunting the palace. There is magic, fairies (referenced, but not so much in the book), assassins, fighting, love, deep backstories, etc. Setting was well thought out and beautiful, different. Characters were entertaining, with witty bantering and simple conversation. There was one part where a Princess of a conquered land makes an appearance and she has a conversation with Celaena in another language while most everyone else didn't know what was being said. Being completely honest about situations and people, while those people around around, and they can't understand you... It was must funny.

My only problem with it would probably be that it was a bit predictable. I could tell who the bad guy was going to be from about the middle on, but I still very much enjoyed it. How things happened were surprises to me. It's an action book, not really a murder mystery. But I am eagerly awaiting the next book that I'm in queue for at my local library.

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