This one was almost as good as the previous two with the exception of the unbelievable last minute change of heart that occurred at almost the end of This one was almost as good as the previous two with the exception of the unbelievable last minute change of heart that occurred at almost the end of the book. Ordinarily, it would take more than that for me to subtract an entire star from a book’s rating, but this defied reason.
Otherwise, this is one of the very few romantasy series that lives up to the hype.
Can’t wait to see what happens with Mira and Tate. ...more
Gunmetal Magic takes place in the Kate Daniels universe, but it is told from Kate’s best friend Andrea Nash’s POV.
Andrea is enlisted by the Pack to iGunmetal Magic takes place in the Kate Daniels universe, but it is told from Kate’s best friend Andrea Nash’s POV.
Andrea is enlisted by the Pack to investigate the brutal deaths of four Pack members (flying solo b/c Kate is busy doing something else with Curran). When she arrives at the crime scene, she discovers that all four victims died of snake poisoning, venom being one of the few things Shapeshifters aren’t naturally immune to.
Weird thing, though . . . Based on the width of the bite marks, the snakes are people-sized.
All of this is made more fun by the fact that the victims are employed by Raphael, necessitating their first interaction after months of avoidance.
Do they immediately fall into each other’s loving arms, you ask?
N O P E.
Is it worth the painful journey?
Absolutely.
Also, as always, the mythology is super cool. This time it’s primarily Egyptian.
Magic Gifts
Magic Gifts is the story of what is happening with Kate while Andrea is running around solving crime by herself in Gunmetal Magic.
Kate and Curran are just trying to enjoy a nice evening out when a magic necklace chokes the life out of a Journeyman of the People, causing two vampires to attempt a killing spree.
Good times.
The same magic necklace finds itself around the neck of a seven year old child, which causes Kate and Curran to claim the child, in order to save him, and the People to claim the child, b/c the necklace killed an investment and must be investigated.
Guess who wins?
Also, the People suck.
Julie is enlisted to help determine what kind of magic the necklace has, and discovers some indecipherable runes that lead everyone on a merry chase through Norse mythology.
This story was presumably written to appease rabid Kate fans when instead of a new Kate book, a book from Andrea’s POV was published.
Iron and Magic finds Hugh d’Ambray sleeping off the previous night’s booze in his own filth.
His god has turned his back on him. He has no purpose.
He’Iron and Magic finds Hugh d’Ambray sleeping off the previous night’s booze in his own filth.
His god has turned his back on him. He has no purpose.
He’s broken.
Or he thinks he is, until he sees the severed head of a childhood friend, a man killed b/c of his loyalty to Hugh.
Then he’s mad.
He finds a new purpose: providing for and leading what remains of his elite soldiers.
To do this, he needs to find someone who is as desperate for help as he is. When he finds such a group, a partnership is proposed and accepted, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Mysterious White Lady is mysterious.
Suffice it to say that this first installment of Hugh’s story post-Roland is well worth the wait and I cannot wait for what comes next. Definitely a must-read before MAGIC TRIUMPS.
4/4/18
Series title announced: THE IRON COVENANT.
7/7/17:
I read the first four chapters of this beauty yesterday, and lemme tell you . . . I. Am. Excite.
[image]
Ye gods, I love Hugh.
And even if you're a big weirdo that doesn't love Hugh, I don't think your going to be able to help feeling sorry for him. We're going to learn a lot about what it means to be blood bonded to Roland, and superficially it sounds somewhat similar to the Aes Sedai/Warder bond in WoT.* As in when that bond is broken (or in Hugh's case, deliberately severed), the servant half of the connection is consumed by the absence.
You: Consumed how? O.o
Me: It's complicated, but it's kind of like an emotional cancer so intense that it's physically agonizing. Like if you existed in a constant state of internal rot, but it's intangible, so there's no end in sight. ALSO there's an element of compulsion involved (the master can manipulate the feelings of the servant, without their knowledge if said master has finesse, and something tells me Roland has finesse) . . .
Last year, when we discovered that amongst the residents of Rockton lived a serial rapist who would abduct a woman, fake her dReviewed by: Rabid Reads
Last year, when we discovered that amongst the residents of Rockton lived a serial rapist who would abduct a woman, fake her death (by dressing and strategically positioning the mauled and thus hard to identify corpse of another woman of roughly the same dimensions in the clothes the abductee was last seen in), hold her captive for months (more than a YEAR in one case), raping and torturing her until she died (for real this time) before choosing a new victim and beginning his twisted cycle all over again, I thought Armstrong had peaked.
Not that the series itself had peaked, but that future installments would need to seek out alternative avenues to continue the Bigger and Badder trend a series is wont to pursue. The creep factor had topped out.
Armstrong: SILLY HUMAN, I AM KELLEY ARMSTRONG. I DO NOT PEAK. *laughs maniacally* *twirls mustache*
You: What is creepier than diabolical serial rapist guy!?
Me: Thrill-seeking equal opportunity serial killer guy.
Which is exactly what Rockton gets when an unscheduled plane lands and discards:
” . . . a thrill killer,” I say. “He murders because he enjoys it. Tortures and kills. Five victims in Georgia. Two men. Two women. And one fourteen-year-old boy . . . Oliver Brady is a killer motivated by nothing more than sadism . . . An unrelentingly opportunistic psychopath.”
You: Okay, I know we learned the “council” could be a bit sketch on the residents’ backstories in A DARKNESS ABSOLUTE, but a serial killer? Really??
Me: YEP. But he’s not actually meant to be a “resident” this time—more of a temporary prisoner—and at least they’re told up front that this dude is a serial killer . . .
. . . Or is he?
*laughs maniacally* *twirls mustache*
But regardless of whether or not Oliver Brady is what he’s accused of being, his presence wrecks havoc on the town created for those who need to disappear. Numerous well-liked citizens are placed on the chopping block, leaving you with decimated fingernails as you frantically read to learn their fate.
It is b/c of this personally experienced terror that I’m going to—for the first time ever—offer you an unnecessary spoiler. In the spirit of doesthedogdie.com:
BUT. Despite Armstrong clearly not having peaked, I had a couple of minor issues that kept this installment from the 4.5 - 5.0 star ratings of its predecessors.
1. The council threatening to oust Dalton if he doesn’t walk the line is getting effing tiresome.
There’s only so many times you can use a specific threat before it starts to lose its effectiveness, and I reached that point in the last book.
Shut up, Phil. You’re not sending him anywhere. And if you do, he’ll make a new and improved Rockton elsewhere and be happier for it.
[image]
2. There are suddenly a LOT of various “others” in the alleged Yukon wilderness.
More than I could countenance. Especially considering the convenience of some of their identities.
3. Despite the soundness of her reasoning . . .
(view spoiler)[It’s a weak move to repeat the misdirection used in the last book to hamper a body’s accurate identification. (hide spoiler)]
4. All those bombs dropped in the final pages.
(view spoiler)[I mean, really—what is the deal with Petra? And beyond that, why can’t Casey keep a female friend for longer than an installment? Why they all gotta be shady bitches?
It’s disappointing.
Then, adding insult to injury, that revelation is followed by the possible hijacking of Casey’s emotionally defunct sister to save Kenny’s life, and speaking of Kenny, why do we care if he dies? Either my memory is seriously deficient, or a nonessential character was placed in jeopardy, making the lack of resolution on that front just irritating. (hide spoiler)]
All of that being said, THIS FALLEN PREY is still a stellar read in a series of exceptional reads. Armstrong cleanly laid the groundwork for multiple future developments, including some of Casey’s ongoing suspicions concerning the evolution of a “hostile.”
Dalton was his delightful self:
Shortly after we installed the bell someone rang it in the middle of the night. Drunk, obviously. Rang it and ran . . . leaving boot prints in the snow, which I matched to a perpetrator, whom Dalton then sentenced to go to each and every person in town and say, “I’m the fucking idiot who rang the fucking bell at two in the fucking morning. I’m sorry.” No one has touched the bell since.
Casey continues to wrestle with her darker nature:
I want justification for my rage. I do want to see Brady gutshot for this. Gutshot and left in the forest. And that scares me. It’s the sort of thing Mathias would do, and I tiptoe around the truth of what Mathias is, alternately repelled and . . . Not attracted. Definitely not. But there’s part of me that thinks of what he does and nods in satisfaction.
YAS.
In THIS FALLEN PREY, Armstrong keeps you guessing right up to the end about the true nature of Rockton’s newest (sort of) inhabitant, and when you finally get the full story, I can almost guarantee it won’t be what you expected. I don’t know what the future holds for this settlement and its occupants, but once again, I’ll be impatiently waiting to find out. Still very much recommended.
I blew through this book in a few hours, but I refuse to recommend it, b/c GUILTY PLEASURE.
The story is nothing I haven't read before, I've met the chI blew through this book in a few hours, but I refuse to recommend it, b/c GUILTY PLEASURE.
The story is nothing I haven't read before, I've met the characters over and over again, and the writing . . .
“I noticed your eyes from the very first time I laid eyes on you. They’ve never changed. I’m not as stupid as some people. They’re beautiful. Don’t let anyone else make you think any different.” She laughs and it’s the most beautiful sound I have heard from her. I’ve never heard her laugh before and it’s nice to see this side of her. “Yeah, well I’m glad you’re smarter than most. I would hate to have another reason to hate you. I already have too many to count.” She pauses to push my shoulder and smile. “And thank you. Now I have one less reason to hate you. It’s a start.”
He saw her beautiful eyes with his eyes.
He heard her laugh and (like her beautiful eyes) it was beautiful. He'd never before heard her beautiful laugh.
She'd hate to have to hate him more than she already hates him b/c reasons.
I love YA fantasy. I don't know why, I just do. That being said, in recent years, I've become a bit gun-shy, preferriReviewed by: Rabid Reads
4.5 stars
I love YA fantasy. I don't know why, I just do. That being said, in recent years, I've become a bit gun-shy, preferring to rerereread old favorites rather than taking a chance on a new author.
I guess I should say I love good YA fantasy.
And sadly, these days, most of it is crap: instalove, cliches, poor world-building, plot holes, deus ex machina, etc. Any or all are likely present in 90% of new series.
Or maybe I've been unlucky in my reading choices. *shrugs awkwardly*
Regardless, SONG OF THE CURRENT is the exception. I was hooked from the first line:
There is a god at the bottom of the river.
From there it only got better.
Tolcser gives us a heroine with moxie to spare--(view spoiler)[she doesn't swoon the first time the obvious love interest tries to kiss her, she slaps him (hide spoiler)]--who agrees to deliver a package to secure her father's release from imprisonment, and that may not sound like much, but it is.
Caro and her father are wherry folk, their livelihood dependent on river trade, and 1. pirates are out to destroy any vessel that potentially carries said package, and 2. Caro has yet to hear the voice of the river god who guides her people through the language of the small things.
So she's brave. And determined.
She's also subtly hilarious:
Pa shrugged on his good wool overcoat, arranging the collar so it fell just right. His somber manner heightened my worry. He only wore that coat to temple, or to pretend he hadn’t drunk too much the previous night.
Basically, I loved her. Which is important as I'm a character-driven reader. By herself, Caro would have been enough for me to enjoy this book.
BUT.
The world-building and the plot were also fantastic. I was enthralled by the gods who interact with their people, and there was more than one twist that I didn't see until I was right on top of it.
I read the whole thing in one sitting. If you also love YA fantasy I suspect you will too. Highly recommended.
Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁
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