Book Blog #20: The Crimson Crown by Cinda William Chima

Title: The Crimson Crown
Author: Cinda William Chima
# of Pages: 598 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: A thousand years ago, two young lovers were betrayed-Alger Waterlow to his death, and Hanalea, Queen of the Fells, to a life without love. 

Now, once again, the Queendom of the Fells seems likely to shatter apart. For young queen Raisa ana'Marianna, maintaining peace even within her own castle walls is nearly impossible; tension between wizards and Clan has reached a fevered pitch. With surrounding kingdoms seeking to prey on the Fells' inner turmoil, Raisa's best hope is to unite her people against a common enemy. But that enemy might be the person with whom she's falling in love. 

Through a complicated web of lies and unholy alliances, former streetlord Han Alister has become a member of the Wizard Council of the Fells. Navigating the cut-throat world of blue blood politics has never been more dangerous, and Han seems to inspire hostility among Clan and wizards alike. His only ally is the queen, and despite the perils involved, Han finds it impossible to ignore his feelings for Raisa. Before long, Han finds himself in possession of a secret believed to be lost to history, a discovery powerful enough to unite the people of the Fells. But will the secret die with him before he can use it? 

A simple, devastating truth concealed by a thousand-year-old lie at last comes to light in this stunning conclusion to the Seven Realms series.

Review: WHAAAAAAA IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe this; the Seven Relms series is complete. Finished. Done with. No more Raisa, no more Han. Not even Micah!

Okay, I'll try to talk about the cover. I haven't actually looked at it very much. But if you actually look at the details, it's pretty amazing. The little fire and magic in the background = fantastic. I love little details like that.

I actually thought this book was a little bland, but it might have been because I didn't read it right after I read The Gray Wolf Throne. The first 100 pages were kind of boring. At first I didn't like the whole dance/celebration thing they were doing, but the thought of Raisa and Han doing that Demon King/Hanalea dance started to grow on me. A lot. It's amazing how I went from Team Amon in the beginning to Team Han now.

I don't know what Chima did with her writing style, but I found that its easier to picture the characters. For example, Han was just a name to me in the first three books. But now I picture him as tall, handsome, and a whole handful of other descriptive words that I probably have got wrong. And Micah, I can faintly see him, but not his face. Everyone else is still a blurry mass of skin. It's funny, I never thought of how easily I can picture characters before. And that goes for any book.

What I really didn't like (it took a lot of sitting around and thinking before I finally found something I DIDN'T like about this book) was how Raisa was so easily deceived. When will she learn not to trust Micah? Jeez.

I expected more out of The Crimson Crown. It's suppose to be the "big ending". The finale. Te thing that leaves the reader in stunded silence, or in a puddle of tears, or a—you get my point. But, even though I didn't actually predict it this time, the ending wasnt a big surprise to me. It wasn't like Eona where I feel like I'm being slapped in the face with twist and turns (I think that's the only time when I would be okay being slapped in the face). I'm a little disappointed that my prediction for Queen Marianna's killer didn't come true. I thought I had that one in the bag. But, I guess I can't win them all!

Because the ending was very anticlimactic, I'm taking off a half of a star. Sorry Chima!

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Book Blog #19: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce

Title: In the Hand of the Goddess
Author: Tamora Pierce
# of Pages: 263 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Adventure
Rating:★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Still disguised as a boy, Alanna becomes a squire to none other than the prince of the realm. Prince Jonathan is not only Alanna's liege lord, he is also her best friend -- and one of the few who knows the secret of her true identity. But when a mysterious sorcerer threatens the prince's life, it will take all of Alanna's skill, strength, and magical power to protect him -- even at the risk of revealing who she really is... 

Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna's second adventure continues the saga of a girl who dares to follow her dreams -- and the magical destiny that awaits her.

Review: I don't know why, but I don't feel anything after reading this book. It's like my feelings are in neutral; I don't hate, but I don't love it.

The cover is better than the first. She doesn't look AS scary as the Alanna in #1, which makes me happy ^_^

The content is alright. All the time jumps are really confusing, and the book is REALLY easy to predict. And who is Pierce's publisher? I'm reading and I find half a billion (alright, maybe not that many) typos and mistakes. That's just not right!

Yeah, so I guess you can say that this boo is pretty average. It almost makes a reviewer like me hate it because I don't have anything to say.

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Book Blog #18: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver

# of Pages: 441 (paperback)

Genre: YA, Dystopian, Romance

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever. 

And I've always believed them. 

Until now. 

Now everything has changed. Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie. 

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

Review: REPOST FROM GOODREADS

Now, before I begin, let me start off by saying that I absolutely adore dystopian novels. I've been reading as many as I could get my hands on (which, unfortunately, hasn't been that many because, apparently, everyone else likes science fiction too). I received this book as a present recently because it "got really high praise." Overjoyed, I began reading it right away. But I noticed several things. Usually, when reading a good science fiction novel, (or any well-written novel), I'm immediately ensnared into the plot, constantly craving more. Delirium? Not so much. Although the book was interesting, I found the whole story line a little....shallow. It might just be me, but I think that it has something to do with the major love factor.  Don't get me wrong; I love to read romances every once in a while. There are plenty of good ones out there. But love is one of the easiest, yet hardest topic to write about. And I felt that the story just kept going on and on without a climax.  I plan on reading the sequel because authors tend to improve their writing style as the series goes along. Or not. We'll see.

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Book Blog #17: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium
Author: Lauren Oliver
# of Pages: 375 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Dystopian, Romance
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: After falling in love, Lena and Alex flee their oppressive society where love is outlawed and everyone must receive the "cure" - an operation that makes them immune to the delirium of love - but Lena alone manages to find her way to a community of resistance fighters. Although she is bereft without the boy she loves, her struggles seem to be leading her toward a new love.

Review: LOTS OF SPOILERS!!!

The cover freaks me out. Her face is too big and her body is made out of flowers. What a creep-o.

Let's cut to the chase; the book was as boring as...I don't know. Stuff. I don't know what I'm talking about. Please hold while i go and get my notes.
...
...
... I'm back!

First off, the book is freakin confusing! Oliver thought it would be all fine and dandy to keep switching back and forth between "now" and "then" which got me all confused. I actually had to READ the chapter title! It's too much work >.<

Um, this isn't a complaint...not really...but Lena keeps reminding me of Beautiful Creatures ^_^ But the story line is really boring :( I had a hard time paying attention to the book. I skimmed over a lot of the details.

My copy of my book has really thin pages! I don't know why I put that in my notes, but it's true. The pages are really, really thin. I was afraid I was going to rip one! And the chapters are too short. Boo. And the scenes with Julian (or whatever his name is) and Lena are awful! I mean, it just so happens that Lena wakes up to see Julian "bathing" himself and IT JUST SO HAPPENS that Julian walks in the room when Lena doesn't have her top on. Goodness. It's way too obvious that Oliver wants them to get together.

It makes me feel a little silly when I figure stuff out before the characters in the book. Like the code that was hidden in the clock? The character are looking around thinking 9 and 3 blah 3 and 9 Bleh. And I'm sitting there shouting "IT'S 0915 YOU BIG FAT DUMBOS!" And then seconds later they're all like "Oh! it's 0915!" *facepalm*

"'Hey, hey, hey!' A policeman is waving to us from up ahead, gesturing with his walkie-talkie..."

Yes, I have a weird mind. But that's just how I think.

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Book Blog #16: Eona by Alison Goodman

Title: Eona
Author: Alison Goodman
# of Pages: 637 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: Eon has been revealed as Eona, the first female Dragoneye in hundreds of years. Along with fellow rebels Ryko and Lady Dela, she is on the run from High Lord Sethon's army. The renegades are on a quest for the black folio, stolen by the drug-riddled Dillon; they must also find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona's power and the black folio if he is to wrest back his throne from the selfstyled "Emperor" Sethon. Through it all, Eona must come to terms with her new Dragoneye identity and power - and learn to bear the anguish of the ten dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered. As they focus their power through her, she becomes a dangerous conduit for their plans. . . . 

Eona, with its pulse-pounding drama and romance, its unforgettable fight scenes, and its surprises, is the conclusion to an epic only Alison Goodman could create.

Review: Oh. My. God. I think I'm going to cry. This book was so fantastic.

Over 18 hours later...

Alright, everyone. I can now write a truthful review. I've learned from past experiences not to write a review immediately after finishing a book with an over-the-top ending. What will happen is that I will find all of these flaws only to forget them by the time I finish the book.

As usual, lets start with the cover. It's beautiful, true, but is that suppose to be Eona? She rarely wears her hair down (based on the structure of society in this book), so I don't think that the drawing is particularly accurate.

The content reminded me a lot of Beautiful Darkness. In Beautiful Darkness, Lena was all crazy because she didn't know what the heck she was. And here's Eona who doesn't know what her power is... Let me be frank. She was a mess. I was very, VERY unhappy with the book. But then the ending came along. And then I was the one who was a mess.

Here's the thing; I lie foretelling events in stories. And I was pretty sure I already knew how it was all going to end.  But Goodman just HAD to throw the reader a curve ball.  I loved the ending. Very much. So much, that I decided to give the book five stars instead of three.

But, one thing.

FOR YOUR CONVINENCE

Please advert your eyes to prevent unwanted spoilers meeting your eyes!!!

I'm mad that Ido turned out to be the rotten person everyone thought he was in Eon. It just seems like a lousy way to get rid of Eona's other love interest.

But the ending was great. If anything, read it for that.

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Book Blog #15 -MANGA-: i am here!

Title: i am here!
Author: Ema Toyama
# of Pages: 496 (paperback)
Genre: Shojo Manga, Romance
Rating:★★★★☆
Synopsis: A Sunflower in the Shade
Invisible to her classmates, Hikage Sumino is and eighth grader with no selt-esteem. Her only friends are the visitors to her Internet blog. One day, the most popular boy in the grade suddenly talks to her. Encouraged by this twist of fate, Hikqge determines to transform her life.

Review: Here's the thing; I don't usually do book blogs on manga. But I have a lot to say about this one, so I'm making an exception.
So, I came upon this manga by chance. I say the cover, thought it was pretty, and bought it. What I didn't know was that it was a T Ages 13+ manga. I'm used to reading Older Teen manga; it's much more interesting to me. But I already bought this one, so why not read it?

...I don't think I've read a manga that takes place in middle school. Until now. Not sure how I felt about that, but I read it anyway.

This manga is a stunning piece of work. The drawings (I'm not sure if I'm using the correct terminology here, but you get my meaning) are cute/pretty and BIG! It was easy to determine what was going on, unlike those manga with the epic fight scenes where there's so much ink on the page that I have NO idea what's going on. Visually, this manga is fantastic.

The story line...I'll give it a B. Middle school drama isn't really my thing. It sends a great message, but it almost seems like a fantasy. Not many of the bully situations shown actually turn out the way they did. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wish it was more realistic. Not that there's anything THAT realistic about manga in the first place, but still. I would have liked a more complex story line.

There's one more thing I'd like to point out about this manga. The blog. The main character blogs!!! Even though after...three years(?) of blogging with only two followers, she hasn't given up. That's really inspirational. It kinda reminds me of myself. I'm a blogger, but I don't think anyone actually reads what I'm saying. But I'm determined to keep blogging now, especially since Hikage had to blog for a year until she got her first comment. If that's what it takes (or more) then I'll keep writing. (Oh, and I saw the link to the blog several times in the manga and its actually a real blog! I can't read it. Of course, and the last post was made several years ago, but here's the link: http://emaema.sakura.ne.jp/blog/)

Overall, I'd give it an A, especially considering that this was Ema Toyama's first manga. I wish more mangaka could draw like her!

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Book Blog #14: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

Title: The First Adventure
Author: Tamora Pierce
# of Pages: 274 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Adventure
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: "From now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight."

And so young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to switch places: Disguised as a girl, Thom heads for the convent to learn magic; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin her training as a page. 

But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and to discern her enemies from her allies. 

Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna's first adventure begins -- one that will leard to the fulfillment of her dreams and the magical destiny that will make her a legend in her land. 

Alanna's journey continues...

Review: Yup! I finally got to reading this book. For those of you who don't know, it's by the same author of Beka Cooper. I thought that I'd read the book that started it all. It's funny cause I kept thinking "Hey, that's  like Beka Cooper's story!" Only to realize that it would actually be the other way around. But that's what I get for reading the books out of order.

The cover first, of course. Kinda creepy in my opinion. I don't like her eyes. She's staring at me. Always. Gives me shivers at night.

The book itself is pretty good. I'm keeping this review short since the book is short (lame excuse, I know). But there were only a few things that I DIDN'T like, and I'm a hater. There's barely anything for me to hate one!

One, the evil ghost stuff. They kept mentioning that and I'm all like "AHHHHHHHHHH!" I'm a stickler for that stuff. Gave me shivers. And the demons at the end. They're suppose to be some big and mighty opponent, but they seemed so wimpy! I would have liked the big enemy at the end to have been something more...scary.

This read seemed to be...easier than the Beka Cooper books. Not that I'm complaining or anything; I got through the book faster than Terrier or Bloodhound. But that might have been because it looked less intimidating.

The book's too short. I could have read it in a day. But a good book.

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Book Blog #13: Terrier by Tamora Pierce

Title: Terrier
Author: Tamora Pierce
# of Pages: 581 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Adventure
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Hundreds of years before Alanna first drew her sword in Tamora Pierce's memorable debut, Alanna: The First Adventure, Tortall had a heroine named Beka Cooper - a fierce young woman who fights crime in a world of magic. This is the beginning of her story, her legend, and her legacy.... 

Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, commonly known as "the Provost's Dogs," in Corus, the capital city of Tortall. To the surprise of both the veteran "Dogs" and her fellow "puppies," Beka requests duty in the Lower City. The Lower City is a tough beat. But it's also where Beka was born, and she's comfortable there. 

Beka gets her wish. She's assigned to work with Mattes and Clary, famed veterans among the Provost's Dogs. They're tough, they're capable, and they're none too happy about the indignity of being saddled with a puppy for the first time in years. What they don't know is that Beka has something unique to offer. Never much of a talker, Beka is a good listener. So good, in fact, that she hears things that Mattes and Clary never could - information that is passed in murmurs when flocks of pigeons gather ... murmurs that are the words of the dead. 

In this way, Beka learns of someone in the Lower City who has overturned the power structure of the underworld and is terrorizing its citizens into submission and silence. Beka's magical listening talent is the only way for the Provost's Dogs to find out the identity of this brutal new underlord, for the dead are beyond fear. And the ranks of the dead will be growing if the Dogs can't stop a crime wave the likes of which has never been seen. Luckily for the people of the Lower City, the new puppy is a true terrier!

Review: REPOST FROM GOODREADS

The book is very...unique. When I started reading, I was immediately turned off, for a lack of better words. The diary entries weren't exactly the easiest to read, so right away, I was bracing myself for a long, torturous 500 pages. It wasn't as bad as I thought. The story itself was pretty good, though hard to units and at times. It's been a while since I've read this style of writing. The main character was one of my favorites; she wasn't outgoing or have an attitude. She was shy, but she didn't let that get in her way of becoming a heroine. What made me give this book four star instead of five was the writing style. It just wasnt to my liking. I know that Pierce was just writing like that character(s) should be (and I praise her for that), but it really bored me at times. And the intentional (though I think there was a typo in there somewhere) writing mistakes were driving me nuts!

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Book Blog #12: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy
Author: Robin LaFevers
# of Pages: 484 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Romance
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others. 

 Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

Review: I'm going to keep this review short. Just cause.

Look at this beautiful cover! For once someone got it right. They made the girl wear a RED dress (draws the eye to it, no?)!  And everything else is nice to. It's a very good looking cover, if anyone cares about my opinion.

Now, I picked up this book based on the cover, something that I rarely ever do. But I thought, "A picture says a thousand words, right? So I can probably look at the cover and figure out what the story's about WITHOUT EVEN READ THE BACK!" I thought that this book was about a girl of higher class, maybe a princess or a lady (I did know that this is a historical fiction), and that she was going to be doing some kinda fighting (see weapon on cover).

Remind me to never, ever, do that again. I think that not knowing what the book was about resulted in me not liking that book. If I knew it was going to be some romance-y nun novel, I probably would never have picked it up. To cliché for my liking (besides the nun part, of course).

I open the book and read the first chapter. So far so good. She's being forced into a marriage, nothing uncommon about that. But then, all of a sudden, BLAM! Suddenly she's part of some convent that serves Death like he's their God.

And then she's got to meet some super hot guy who he hates, but is so OBVIOUSLY going in fall in love with (which SPOILER ALERT she does). 

That's another thing I don't like about this book, the characters. I felt like there wasn't enough description, especially for our dear protagonist. 99.99% of the time, I couldn't remember her name!

But I'm going to stop ranting now because I really don't want to have to think about it anymore. Don't read it.

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Book Blog #11 : Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce

Title: Bloodhound
Author: Tamora Pierce
# of Pages: 551 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Adventure
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Beka Cooper is no longer a Puppy. She's a Dog now - a full-fledged member of the Provost's Guard, which keeps the peace in Corus's streets. Beka's natural skills of observation and tenacity are augmented by her unusual magical talents, which allow her to gather information both from pigeons are from the eddies of dirt and dust that swirl on street corners. But even her magic isn't very useful when unrest comes to Tortall's capital in the form of counterfeit coins, which turn up in shops all over the city. Merchants raise prices to cover their losses, and with winter coming on, hikes in food and fuel costs could spell disaster - most of all for the city's poor.  

The Dogs discover that gamblers are bringing the counterfeits from Port Caynn - and that the Port Caynn Dogs don't seem to be doing anything about it. Beka and her mentor, Clary Goodwin, are chosen to go undercover in Port Caynn and find out what they can. And wherever Beka goes, so do some of her animals. Departing from Corus with her are the scent hound Achoo, who has been newly assigned to Beka, and the pigeon Slapper, who carries the voices of the dead. 

 In Port Caynn, Beka and Goodwin delve deep into the gambling world. There Beka meets a charming bank courier, who may be involved in the counterfeiting ring. Things come to a head just as Goodwin returns home to report in Corus. It won't be enough to Beka to be her usual "terrier" self. She'll have to learn from Achoo to sniff out the criminals - to be a bloodhound.

Review: This book review is not going to be as long as I hoped it would. You will read below that I read the book in two parts due to personal reasons. The first part was written on April 5(?) and will be on the first 250 pages or so. The second part is written today (April 16, 2013) and is on the book as a whole, though there probably will be more on the last half than anything else. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm repeating myself!

April 5

So I kinda sped read through the last part of the book (for personal reasons, I couldn't read that particular copy of the book this past weekend). The beginning was much, much better than the first book, but I really don't know what happened at the end. I'll be rereading it after I finish rereading Grave Mercy.

April 16

 As I said earlier, this book was much better than the first. What I didn't like, however, was the wide variety of characters. I couldn't remember them all! But thank goodness for the character list in the back; even though it was a pain to keep flipping back and forth, at least it was there. And the...canoodling was a bit of a surprise too. I didn't think it would be that type of book. The ending wasn't exactly the super-fantastic fan-grilling ending I was hoping for either. It's one of those endings where the author wants to make sure you know what happens to each single little character. I mean, I don't mind it THAT much, it's just that it got kinda boring near the end. Just saying. And then there was the fight scenes. This isn't just this book; it's any book with a detail scene that has a truckload of details. I get confused really easily with stuff like that, and that's what happened with this book too. If you've read the first Beka Cooper book, and you thought it was decent enough, then read this one. I'm promise, if you're anything like me, it's a good read.

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Book Blog #10 : Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Title: Bitterblue
Author: Kristin Cashore
# of Pages: 563 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle--disguised and alone--to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past. 

 Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

Review: I'm not exactly sure how I want to start this review. Usually, I start with the cover, but I was hoping that I could start with something else, something more interesting. But no ideas come to mind, so I guess I will be starting with my thoughts on the cover, as usual.

At first glance, I didn't notice that there was a girl in the background, so you must imagine how I reacted when I was closely examining the blues and purples of the book to realize that a big, human eye staring straight at me. What's up with Cashore and her eyes? In the Graceling, there was an eye on the sword (but thankful there wasn't one on Fire's cover) and now this!

Second of all, why would the background be blue and purple (other than the fact that there is the word "blue" in Bitterblue's name)? The keys don't really match and, to me at least, make the cover really, really ugly.

The title's creativity annoy's me too. I didn't mention it at all in my Fire review because when I began the book, I was unaware that the main character was named Fire. But this is just getting ridiculous! I can't believe that Cashore couldn't think up a more creative name for her third book other than her protagonist's name. It's very disappointing.

Now onto the content.

When I finished the book, I didn't feel that fan-girl bubbliness that I felt with Graceling and Fire. To be frank, the ending was bland. But I almost fell in love with the story and I'll tell you why. Bitterblue's story has similarities to one of my favorite books; Cinda William Chima's Seven Realms series. Bitterblue sneaks around with a guy that's pretty much opposite to her in status, behavior, etc which is almost EXACTLY like what Raisa was doing! If I didn't love this forbidden love situation so much, I could be ranting on and on about the similarities between the two books. But I'm not going to waste your time with that if it's not exactly bugging me that the stories are so alike.

I don't think I actually like Bitterblue very much as a character. Sure, it's a relief that she's normal; she doesn't have a supernatural power, a grace, or considered a normal. But she's such a baby! She's suppose to be 18 and yet she's constantly crying! I'm glad she's not my Queen!

I think that Cashore should have put more about Fire and her story in the book. But what I'm glad about is that Fire actually got married. THANK GOODNESS!!! While I was reading this book, I couldn't help but think that Cashore had something against men (The bad guys in Graceling were Kasta's uncle and Leck, in Fire it was Leck and Fire's father, and in Bitterblue it was Leck's past advisors and Leck's memory). I'm glad that at least one couple that Cashore created settled down.

What I really wanted to see from Cashore was a book from a male point of view. She wrote all three books from a female point of view, but I think it would have been better if she did at least one (maybe Fire?) with a male protagonist.

The book was alright. If you've read Graceling and Fire, but don't really know if you want to read Bitterblue, then don't. It wasn't that great. Read something else, like The Demon King! If you read that, it's pretty much the same story as Bitterblue except better and stretched out into five books.


This doesn't have anything to do with the book, but when I was reading several gay/lesbian references, it got me thinking. It's funny how in our world, everyone is considered straight unless their not. ...I mean, it's assumed that you are straight, like everyone else, until you come to the realization that your gay (unless your not, of course). Isn't that peculiar? I'm sure that once the world gets used to people liking the same gender as themselves, it won't be like that. Parents will talk to their children and say that they wonder if he/she will end up liking a female or a male. This whole thought blew my mind, and I thought that I should share it with you all.

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