Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

Cress was locked away in a satellite orbiting Earth, she could hardly remember a time when she wasn’t there. She was a Lunar shell, but rather than have her killed Queen Levana and her trusted advisor Sybil put her away in a satellite orbiting Earth, the planet they hoped to one day soon over take. Cress was in charge of watching the Earthen newsfeeds for information, watching the leaders of the world for weaknesses, for making the Lunar spaceships around the Earth undetectable to any other satellites. It was Cress’ job to spy on Earth, keep the Lunar ship movements undetectable, and report any and all findings to her Queen. Unfortunately for Levana, Cress started to betray her.

Alone, with no one to talk to and with the knowledge that her queen almost killed her, not to mention knowing everything evil that Levana was doing Cress started to rebel. She did her duties aboard the satellite, but when Cinder (the true queen of Luna) was being hunted by all of Luna, and by Earth under threat of annihilation, Cress hid her the way she had been hiding Lunar spaceships for years.

When Cinder and her friends learn of this, they contact Cress and plan on rescuing her from her satellite prison, but they are to slow. Sybil intercepts the message and is waiting for them aboard Cress’ satellite. Just like the evil witch in Rapunzel. Sybil captures Scarlet and heads back to Luna, hoping to use lunar methods of torcher to get the information on Cinder and her plan to over throw the current crown. Before she leaves for Luna though, Sybil blinds the hero Carswell Thorne who was the one on the podship sent to retrieve Cress. The two are left in the satellite as Sybil sets its coordinates to fall out of the sky and toward Earth.

Cinder, the true hero and main character of this story is at a loss. Everyone she had been counting on to help her is hurt, wounded, dead, or captured. She too has barely escaped with her life, and the only person with her is a mortally hurt Wolf. The only thing she can think to do is head to Africa, where the crazy Luna doctor lives in secret. A doctor who has helped Cinder many times in her life, and the man who reveled her true identity and saved her as a baby.

Would you believe that this isn’t even the first half of the novel? That is how amazing this third installment of the Lunar Chronicles is. I love the characters, the way each book introduces different characters and themes of popular fairytales, without over doing it or forcing the story to follow the original fairytale. I loved this book, and couldn’t put it down. The 550 pages seemed to fly by as I read it. Cannot wait for the next novel to come out next year!

Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

I think this book had great potential. It’s a futuristic dystopian novel, set in a time when water is scarce, population laws in cities are harsh and those that live outside the city are left to fend for themselves. It’s realistic, at least in that sense. There are also water witches, woman who can sense where water is and if there are under water streams and lakes. That’s the strain of the book that made me shake my head in annoyance, and made what could have been a great book hardly mediocre.

            Lynn knows no life but the one by her pond. Her mother taught her two things, keep the water safe and don’t trust anyone. Shoot first, don’t ask any question, protect the water because nothing else matters. Lynn has life figured out, its hard and solitary survival is of the upmost importance, and never go anywhere without at least one rifle and a knife.

            There have never been to many people, coyotes usually pose more of a threat than the random starving wanderer, but then Lynn starts to notice things in the distance. Smoke, and a weird eerie light during the twilight and evening hours, and its not the passing smoke of a wanderer. Strangers are in her area, ones who aren’t passing through. They are staying, they are strong, and they are powerful.

            For the first time in her life Lynn knows that she can’t take care of this problem herself, she needs people to help her. Despite the mistrust, Lynn teams up with an old friends of her mother from across the woods, and a young boy and his niece who were left alone after all their family was killing for violating population laws back in the city. Not much, but it’s all that Lynn has, and she would rather go out fighting than give up her pond and become a sexual slave to the strangers.

            Like I said, this book could have been good. Had the water witch thing not entered the story, I know I would have enjoyed it more. It would be a 4/5 star novel if not for the water witch thing, which brings it down to a 2.5 rating. What makes that detail the most annoying, is that the water witch thing isn’t actually a very big deal in this first book of the series, but it will be which is why it gets brought up. Annoying, I wanted a realistic dystopian future novel, not a semi-magical one.

The False Prince (The Ascendance Trilogy #1)

Civil War is brewing in the kingdom. Rival nobles are out for blood and the threat from outside kingdoms grows ever stronger. What most people don’t know is that the royal family is dead, a secret that one of the King’s low ranking regents and advisors has been keeping a secret.

Four years ago, the King’s youngest son disappeared. Rumored to have been murdered by pirates, with his body never found some still hold out hope that the young prince will one day return and unite the kingdom. That is at the root of Connor’s plan. He has searched every orphanage in the kingdom, looking for boys he thinks might fit who the prince would look like now. He has chosen four boys, all of the age and with similar facial and body structures to the king and queen, Sage is one off those boys.

Sage, while young, is head strong and a fairly clever thief. While the other boys look at the possibility of ruling with pleasure and want, Sage scoffs at the idea of being a puppet king for Lord Connor and his agenda. Fighting the training Connor and those in his camp are forcing on the boys, Sage continues to be defiant and headstrong, often at danger to himself and the few people he has come to know and care about.

There is also something that Connor isn’t telling the boys, Sage knows what people look like when they are lying and avoiding the truth, and when one of the other boys gets killed Sage realizes there is much more to Connor’s plan than trying to protect and unify the kingdom.

What Connor and his men don’t know is that Sage has a secret too, a boy living on the street learns tricks, and hears rumors and secrets that people try to keep hidden. Trying to turn Sage into the long lost prince might be the worst thing Connor has ever done.

I loved this novel. I liked the twists and turns the author wrote, some of which I figured out or at least mused on, while others came out of no where and wasn’t until I really thought about it did I realize the hints that Jennifer Nielsen left throughout the novel. It has a historical fiction feel without is being based on a specific event. This is a novel that can stand on its own, but I cannot wait to read the sequel when it comes out!

The Fallen: Enemy Novel #5

As it says at the beginning of The Fallen, this book starts at the same time that The Sacrifice takes place, and ends with a few of the characters from the two novels coming together. This is the fifth installment of Charlie Higson’s absolutely amazing The Enemy Series about a zombie apocalypse that takes place in London, England. This isn’t going to be the most details review, because it takes place far into the series, and the novel is over 500 pages.

This novel centers around the characters who are at the museum and those who have been traveling to the museum. It opens with the kids from Holloway arriving at the museum just as the sickos have broken in. If not for the skills of Jackson, Achilles, and the rest of the crew the chances of Justin or anyone else surviving the night was slim to none. Once the two groups merge they decide to embark on an expedition to the medical center nearby. While there, the small group of fighters and scientists learn a few things about the disease that are not good. And while they lose a lot of people on the way, they also pick up some “freaks,” mutated children trapped in the medical center who know more than anyone they have ever come across.

Back at the museum, they are on the lookout for whoever let the sickos in, and that would be Paul. Paul is slowly killing of other kids, he seems to have caught the sickness. That isn’t the worst part though, in the second to last chapter things are revealed about Paul’s evil deeds that shocked me, things I didn’t see coming. And the cliffhanger at the end, about Small Sam and Ella is just to much to handle!! Such an amazing series, cannot wait for the next one.

The Wide Awake Princess (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty)

            While fairy tale retellings written by people like Gregory Maguire and GThe Wide Awake Princess.

ail Carson Levine are written for adults, or at least a slightly more mature audience, there is something amazingly wonderful and almost Disney like about most of the retellings. Often written at the middle grade level, they are quick and easy one sit reads, and sometimes that is exactly what I want. Such was the case when I read

            I got this book on my kindle coming off of my Alice in Wonderland retelling high, in fact I think I bought some ten new books, all retellings after reading Death of the Mad Hatter. This is a twist on the Sleeping Beauty tale, only the main character isn’t Sleeping Beauty, or anyone from the classis tale, but rather her younger sister Gwen. After the magical bestowing on Annie (Sleeping Beauty), the King and Queen were worried that their new daughter would have a similar fate of sleep and death put upon her. Hearing their worry, the Blue Fairy gave Gwen the one and only magical gift she could ever have, the curse/blessing of being impervious to magic.

            Gwen grew up normal, with normal qualities. She did not have charm, beauty or grace granted upon her, but more than that, when ever someone who had been given a magical blessing (or curse) was around Gwen their charms would start to fade. This made Gwen an outcast in the royal court, but handy around the guards, cooks, and their children who never had gifts. Gwen was able to stop evil witches and sorceresses who attempted to attack the castle, and with the prophesy of Gwen’s 16^th birthday sleep near, Gwen made numerous rounds with the palace guards.

Of course, no matter how much time Gwen spent with the guards and away from her family (because no one wanted their beauty, age, charm, etc to fade) no one can change destiny. When the castle falls under the spell of sleep, Gwen sets out to find the one true prince to kiss her sister and awaken the kingdom. But who will it be? As Gwen travels with one of the palace guards who was making rounds in the village when the spell went into effect, they collect an interesting string of princes all hoping to deliver the perfect kiss of true love. Will it be Digby, the self-centered neighboring prince who Gwen had a childhood crush on? Andreas who loves to play games and make people (especially proper princesses and noble) uncomfortable, the bear who claims to be a prince under a spell, or maybe someone living in secrets and lies of his own making.

Gwen not only is on a mission to save her sister and the kingdom, but find herself along the way. Although, she is so focused on her mission she misses the hints and clues the seemingly simple guard keeps dropping. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs a quick read, an adventure staring a strong minded female character, Sleeping Beauty, magic, and of course retellings of classic tales.